themainframe | [Video] ♞ Fire Cross III

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[Video] ♞ Fire Cross III

[ Watch From 00:05:33 - 00:06:37 and 00:07:30 to 00:10:23 or read below.

There's a podium with more microphones than necessary. Behind it is a man in a suit, making a rather political speech about how the "people of the world have the power to end all wars." There's the sound of something breaking in the background, but the man continues on regardless, rambling on about how an ambassador, the Sorceress, is a necessity. Again there's another noise, this one screeching in the background, followed by more sounds of things breaking before Seifer bursts on into the scene. Two Galbadian soldiers make an attempt to apprehend him, but he disposes of them quickly, taking the suited president hostage. Feeling as though Seifer has apparently lost his mind, a woman in red—Quistis—orders Squall to come and assist her.

The scene cuts out briefly, to when Squall, Zell and Selphie finally arrive. Quistis insists that Seifer needs to be restrained, so Squall makes an effort to calm him down. ]

What do you think you're doing?

It's obvious, ain't it? What are you planning to do with this guy?!

...Planning to do?

I get it! [ the blond, Zell, exclaims. ] You're Rinoa's...

[ Seifer immediately cuts him off. ]

Shut your damn mouth! Chicken-wuss!

[ Quistis explains the situation: ]

He broke out of the disciplinary room, injuring many in the process.

YOU STUPID IDIOT!

Be quiet.

[ And then Zell blows it: ]

Instructor, I know! You're going to take this stupid idiot back to Garden, right!?

Shut up! NO!

[ The president understands now. Seifer is from Garden, as are Quistis, Zell and Selphie. Now he has someone to blame. As the president explains how he has them all in the palm of his hand, Seifer shakes his head. Great. ]

I see... So you're all from Garden. Should anything happen to me, the entire Galbadian military will undoubtedly crush Garden. You can let go of me now.

Nice going, Chicken-wuss! You and your stupid big mouth!

[ Which obviously means he's not letting go. Zell seems horrified. ]

Take care of this mess! Instructor and Mr. Leader!

[ Seifer, with President Deling still at... gunblade point, back out of the room with Quistis following. In the next room, a masked woman in dark clothing appears from out of thin air and approaches Seifer. As if pitying him, she murmurs: ]

...Poor, poor boy...

Stay away from me!

Such a confused little boy. Are you going to step forward? Retreat? You have to decide.

Stay back!

[ Quistis runs in, but the woman, the Sorceress, paralyzes Quistis. ]

The boy in you is telling you to come. The adult in you is telling you to back off. You can't make up your mind. You don't know the right answer. You want help, don't you? You want to be saved from this predicament.

Shut up!

Don't be ashamed to ask for help. Besides, you're only a little boy.

I'm not... Stop calling me a boy.

You don't want to be a boy anymore?

I am not a BOY!

[ Angry, Seifer releases the president, who scrambles to leave. ]

Come with me to a place of no return. Bid farewell to your childhood.

[ Squall and the others finally enter, but are paralyzed as well. After making his immediate, rash decision, Seifer waves goodbye to his peers with his gunblade and disappears with the sorceress. ]

[ Seifer is frowning down at his D-Terminal. It wasn't so terrible. It could have been much, much worse; at least it isn't something that Squall doesn't remember, otherwise he'd be screwed. ]

At least I can say I was on the first live television broadcast in seventeen years. You can just disregard everything else since it wasn't even interesting, let alone important.

[ Although... it's weird seeing himself like this. He knew he'd made those decisions and acted like a lunatic, but was he really taken in by the sorceress, his matron, that quickly? ]

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Yeah.... That was her. It's complicated, considering she was also my matron. But I guess the "bad things"...

[ And here he uses airquotes. ]

...she did weren't really her fault. She'd gotten bodyjacked by another sorceress.

[Now, it's obvious Cam is a little confused here, but he...tries to follow. And tries to put it all together for himself.

Because everything looks bad, but...]

Sounds like things back were you live really are... [No other word for it than the one he used] complicated.

You were trying to stop the president from invading places, right? Trying to...help?

...Yeah.

[ It's the truth, but... ]

It's not like I tried to assassinate him for fun. I have some restraint. In my world, it's more like kill or be killed. I understand the whole "killing is bad" concept, but Deling didn't give a rat's ass about anyone else. It ain't like he politely knocked on the doors of surrounding countries and asked if they would be willing to have Galbadia occupy them for the rest of its existence. It was an invasion; hundreds of thousands of people died, most of them just because they stood up for what they believed in and for protecting what was important to them. His death meant that significantly less people would die in the future and that countries Galbadia occupied would have a shot at freedom.

[ Was... that his goal? It was, right? He'd known all about Galbadia's history of invasion. He had the opportunity to stop it, so... he made the effort to stop it. Had he gone in with the thought of saving all those lives? Or was that just a secondary goal? At the time, what had been more important? Proving that he wasn't trash Cid and Xu and Quistis could toss aside or saving those people, Squall and the rest of Squad B? Or had he not even been thinking at the time and just did it? ]

I know how it looks. I'm not asking you to believe I'm on Team Good because even if I did, I know you wouldn't believe me. You don't have any reason to believe me. So, I guess if you're scared of me or don't want anything to do with me, you might as well tell me now. I won't hold it against you.

[ Why was he getting so upset? He can't even tell if he's angry or sad now. Seifer hadn't minded at first that the D-Terminal had broadcast this moment, but... Is he finally dealing with the consequences of growing up in a military from the age of 6? ]

[Cam's never seen Seifer this... He doesn't know; it's not exactly visible, but something's different. What is it?

...Doesn't matter right now. He can think on that later. Cam's not the best at reading people.]

...I believe you. And I'm not scared, either.

That's f—

[ Wait. That's the opposite of what he was expecting to hear. He'd been prepared to act like a "decent human being" and give Cam the choice of avoiding him, but Cam... believes him? He supposes as a holder of the Crest of Courage, Cam wouldn't be sacred but... ]

...Why?

I'm not naive. I know there's shades of gray. ...A lot of 'em.

[That's not just it. He takes a moment to try and...really put it into...

Why try and deceive them all otherwise? Wasn't he proud of his job? His military training? Protecting others? Why care about him, and Squall? Why show fear when it looked like Cam hurt himself? Why try and help at all?

...all that doesn't really come out, though.]

And... 'Cause you don't seem like the kinda guy. And I guess I'm trusting, and...

You're my friend.

Edited 2013-09-04 09:05 (UTC)

[ If he could figure out how much of it was his fault and how much of what he did was due to Ultimecia's influence, maybe then he'd be able to figure out how he felt. To him, it felt like in the end he'd been weened off her magical influence, that he was so far down the path he'd stumbled onto that there was no going back so why not press forward? It was like she was the only one who gave a damn whether or not he was there; the only one who trusted him to do anything. For a while... until he outlived his usefulness to her.... ]

You're such a dumbass.... You know I ain't a good influence on you. You're really gonna sit there and accept me exactly the way I am?

[ He'd be more touched if Cam had known everything Seifer had done. The assassination attempt was just the tip of the iceberg, something he'd done on his own without the magical influence of a sorceress. What he'd done to Squall in the D-District prison, ordering the guard to electrocute him for not spilling the beans on what SeeD was... worse. Military tactics all the same, and sure he didn't personally flip the switch, but he knew deep down half the reason he ordered it was because he could. He's not sure Cam would make the same offer if he'd seen that. Hell, in the short time between leaving with Sorceress Edea and arriving here, he's not sure he did one "good" thing aside from protect one of the people important to him. Maybe he's trying to subconsciously make up for it now. ]

You try to keep me from doing reckless things, and try to keep me alive. Don't really see how that's a bad influence.

[Funny thing about it all, the occasional bouts of...hating himself, thinking himself the worst, imaging the things he could do-- it leaves others as categorically better people, or maybe that's not it. Maybe that's just...the way Cam is. Even when his team bullied him, it wasn't that he hated them, it was that they hated him that made him upset; he still wanted them to like him, he still saw something good.

Always, always. His older brother once said Cam can't hold a grudge to save his life.

Maybe he'll find out here if that's true. But until then?]

Might be a dumbass, but that's that. You're stuck with me.

[ He laughs silently, making a sweeping gesture with one hand that might be hard to see properly on video. Why do there have to be such innocent, naive people here? Or even back home? Seifer is surrounded by all of these genuinely brave, noble people who want to "do good" and save the world not for themselves, and not for the glory, but because they've taken it on as their responsibility.

How can they do that? How can they be so selfless? And how can people believe he's just as noble as the rest of them? Seifer knows his desire to save the world and open the gates is nothing more than a cover-up for wanting to go back home and getting some much needed glory. Glory he'd been consistently passed up for because he was always second best.

And he knows if he went home and reached the end of the path he'd been walking, there would be nothing left. Literally. If he succeeded, time would cave into itself and the only person left alive would be Ultimecia. And although he didn't have as firm a grasp on time magic as an experienced Sorceress, he was pretty sure those ripples of collapsed time would affect the entire universe. This world, Cam's world, every single world out there would cease to exist. And now, as he thinks about that for the first time without being under any kind of magical influence or being in too heated of a situation to think clearly... that's not the kind of thing he wants to go down in history as doing. If, by chance, someone survived... he didn't want people to think of him as "that guy who killed everyone." Besides, if he succeeded, people like Rinoa and Cam... wouldn't exist, either. And neither would he. So he hopes that if he had to keep walking down that path that he could find a section that branched off elsewhere before he reached the end.

When he finally speaks, his voice is surprisingly gentle. It can apparently do that. ]

I've been stuck with worse people. You're still a dumbass, but... you can't be all that bad if you're holdin' the Crest of Courage. Just... don't be too nice for your own good. You don't want people walkin' all over you, me included.

[Cam's completely oblivious to the -- possibly literally -- world-changing decisions made in Seifer's mind. How could he be anything more than that, after all?

Of course, he can notice the tone of voice. That's impossible to miss. His surprise takes shape as a bemused smile, one that spreads; maybe this week hasn't been so bad.]

Whatever you say. [An echo from an earlier conversation.] I'll work on it.

Edited 2013-09-05 18:27 (UTC)

[ Seifer smiles in return. Having learned from last time: ]

Thanks, Cam.

[ Though truth be told, he's not thanking Cam for doing what he says. He's glad that Cam is willing to accept him, at least for now. ]

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