Knight of Legend

 
          They crashed in through the double doors like they owned the place, stumbling over the broken equipment and power lines I'd cut on my rush to the announcer's platform. Bits of broken glass smashed against the floor as the slamming of the door dislodged the fragments. I didn't glance over, didn't relax my grip on the throat of the man I held in my grasp. Breaking one's concentration was dangerous, especially in a situation such as this. I'd learned my lessons well; now was my chance to apply them. To show them exactly how good I was.
          I'd make them know exactly how good I was.
          I could feel the hot indignation and cold fear of my prisoner. I could feel my own heart pounding, thudding in my chest with the speed of a racing bullet train. I could feel eyes staring at me. Instructor Trepe, Dintch, Tillmet. And him.
          I ground my teeth at the sight of Squall Leonheart standing there so calmly, eyes like ice. As usualy, he did nothing to acknowledge my presence. If it weren't for the scar on his forehead, raised and red between his eyes, he'd probably swear I didn't exist.
          I growled deep in my throat. My prisoner trembled. Yes, I was good. Better than that Leonheart, though he considered himself my equal, even my superior. I could read it in his face now, as I read it in his voice on our mission to Dollet. Putting himself above me even while he acquiesced to my orders. I glared at him furiously as he blinked at me.
          I hated him. Hated him for his arrogance, his ability, the fact that he had gained the rank of SeeD without effort, on the first try. While I, clearly faster, stronger, more able than him, had tested for three years, and been rejected every time. While I, who had a tangible reason for becoming a SeeD, had been pushed aside for this romantic fool without past, without ties, without dreams.
          I love battle... Nothing scares me. Being alive, even after the battle is over... It gets me closer to my true goal... my true dream.
          Huh? Your dream?
          Even someone like you must have a dream...
          Sorry...
          I'd regretted that conversation later. Goal...true dream...Leonheart would think me weak now, childish. Even if I had gone on, told him exactly what my dream was. Why I joined SeeD. For a while I'd thought we were alike, drifters, searchers working our relentless way towards our dreams. To serve, both of us, fighting for glory and honor. But now I saw that while he was a drifter, he was no searcher. He didn't care about honor, his or anyone's.
          Not alike at all.
          I had respected him once. I'd even forgive him now, as any true knight would, if he decided to show me the same respect. But I knew he wouldn't, and that cut the deepest of all.
          He looked away from me, at Trepe, cleared his throat softly. "Uh..Quistis?"
          She swung her head around, as if just noticing his arrival. The Deiling president squirmed in my grasp. I tightened my grip. Trepe rounded on Leonheart, her voice breathless.
          "Well, don't just stand there! We need to restrain him somehow, before he..."
          Leonheart turned to me. "What do you think you're doing?"
          It wasn't the words which rankled me as much as his calm, composed attitude. Couldn't he see how desperate the situation was? I was the link between the life and death of the president of Deiling, this petty dictator who had ruined the lives of so many, and Leonheart couldn't seem to grasp the situation.
          "It's obvious, ain't it?" I snarled, raising my gunblade a little. "What are you planning to do with this guy?"
          Leonheart frowned. So did Dintch and Tillmet. "Planning to do? What are you talking about, Seifer?"
          Gods, what a bunch of fools.
          I am your knight, your rescuer, I wanted to say. Come to aid you in your quest. Instead, I just glared.
          Then before I could say anything else, anything intelligent, Dintch's face cleared and a mischievous light shone in his eyes. "Oh I get it!" His voice gleeful. "You're Rinoa's-"
          "Shut up!" I lunged forward, not bothering to analyze while I suddenly felt so angry. Angry and embarrassed. If there was an emotion I hated the most, it was embarrassment. Nothing could embarrass me. I had to be strong. "Just shut up, chicken-wuss! It's none of your business. We got a job to do here. We don't have time to stand around playing your stupid little games!"
          "He broke out of the discipinary room," said Trepe, "injuring many in the process." She sounded dazed.
          I smirked, hefting the gunblade. The conversation was back on safe territory. I could handle this. For all the hype about the talent of SeeD, I'd accomplished this mission in less than half the time it took for them to get here in the first place. No matter what anyone might think, I deserved that title more than these half-witted morons.
          I might have looked too gleeful. Dintch stared at me in shock. "You stupid idiot!"
          I could feel what was coming. Leonheart obviously did, too, for he made quieting motions with his hands. "Zell. Zell, please. Be quiet."
          I glared at the blond boy, forcing all of my anger into that glare. Choking the president tighter, I shook my head at Dintch.
          No, chicken-wuss. Shut up. You're going to get us all killed.
          But Dintch didn't stop, gesturing wildly. "You're gonna take this stupid idiot back to Garden, right? Right?"
          Leonheart lept at him. "Shut up! No!"
          I closed my eyes in pure desperation and anger. The man in my grasp suddenly straightened. He chuckled softly.
          "I see...so you're all from Garden."
          I grasped him in a choke hold and put the gunblade to his head. He gasped but kept talking, his words coming in little gasps.
          "Should anything happen...to me, the entire Galbadian...military...will undoubtedly crush Garden." He tried to move his head and I jerked my arm inwards. He choked, wheezed. "You can...let go of me...now."
          "Over my dead body," I sneered. "We'll see what this sorceress of yours has to say about this." I felt him stiffen at the word sorceress. Very good. Either there was a real sorceress and he was afraid of her, or there was no sorceress and he was afraid that I'd uncover his ruse.
          Either way, I win this round.
          That thought jolted me into reality. Who did I care who won here? Deiling knew about Garden now, and if he got this information to any of his lackeys, we would be finished.
          Never mind we. I'd be finished. My career at Garden gone for good.
          A true knight trusts in his companions.
          Teamwork, Trepe's voice echoed in my mind. Trust your teammates.
          How could there be teamwork when my companions didn't warrant my trust?
          I glared over at Dintch. His face showed white under the ridiculous tattoo as he realized what he'd done. "Nice going, chicken-wuss. You and your big mouth." I felt like punching him in the face. So much of my work for nothing. Instead I began backing towards the side door, dragging the protesting dictator with me.
          "Take care of this mess!" I called back into the room. "Instructor and Mr. Leader!"
          I didn't bother to hide the scorn from my voice. Those brainless fools had cost me my prize. I'd never be a SeeD now. My plan that I had worked out so well...
          I ground my teeth as I emerged outside the station, the president struggling in my grasp. I shouldn't worry about his escape. He was just an overweight ball of fat who had never known any environment but the inside of an office. Still, he was threat to Garden. A threat to me. And there was only one way I could be sure that the threat would be eliminated.

          For my honor. The honor of a SeeD...of a knight.
          I raised my gunblade, feeling curiously calm. Perhaps this was how Leonheart felt when he was about to kill.
          "No! Wait!" The idiot waved his hands wildly in the air. "Don't-"
          I felt a cold sensation at the back of my neck, a chill tingling down my spine. The president fell silent, mouth open, looking away to my right. I should have done it then. Should have pulled the trigger, should have finished the job. Instead, I glanced over at the object of his fascinated gaze.
          What looked like a rippling wall of light and water was forming in the shadows, sparkling in the darkness like a thousand bright gems. My eyes hurt, but for some strange reason I could not look away. The tingling sensation grew stronger. I knew I shouldn't watch. My danger sense was urging me to run, and yet I felt rooted to the spot where I stood. The light shifted, spun, formed into something solid.
          The figure of a woman, with golden light at her back.
          I took a step back involuntarily. Her form was tall and slender and her eyes glowed in the blackness like fire. Even from where I stood, I could feel her tangible presence, blazing like a bonfire. I swallowed. Her presence...
          Power.
          I had never felt such power.
          In a corner of my mind, I felt faint surprise.
          Well, it seems his sorceress is real enough.
          I felt my thoughts divide, knew in one corner of my mind that I should run, run as fast as I could. I was no coward. I'd not run away from any enemy before, but I knew somehow that I would not stand a chance against this woman, so much more than I ever thought a sorceress could be. As any true knight would know, evil comes in many guises, and there was none more dangerous than that of a woman.
          But her eyes held mine in a gaze that I was powerless to break. A gaze that the other part of me did not want to break. Her lips curved in a lazy cat's smile, though those eyes did not change. "Poor, poor boy," she said softly. Her voice dripped power. I felt lightheaded.
          It was...not right.
          "Stay away from me!" I barked, thrusting the gunblade at her. Leave. Yes, I needed to leave. Needed to get back to Garden with the president and a warning. Needed to...before she...
          She laughed, and I felt my thoughts dissipate, the bravado of my words melt away. I suddenly felt very small, very lost and frightened and alone.
          It was a feeling that made me very, very angry.
          "Such a confused little boy," the sorceress purred. "Are you going to step forward? Retreat?" She moved forward a few steps. "You have to decide."
          Step forward? Step forward where? What was she talking about? It made no sense. It was all a ploy. To get me to lower my defenses. Well, it wouldn't work.
          "Stay back!" I snarled, trying to project the force of my anger at her. Again, my words seemed lost in the vast ocean of her presence. Embarrassment burned me. Since when had anyone's presence intimidated me? Her words were a brand across my memory.
          A boy. She called me a boy.
          You'll never be a SeeD.
          Even someone like you must have a dream.
          Sudden light flashed around her form and I had to close my eyes for a brief second. I felt hot, suddenly. When I opened them again, the sorceress was several steps closer. She smiled. It was cold.
          "The boy in you is telling you to come. The adult in you is telling you to back off."
          Boy. I was no boy. I was a man, an experienced fighter, a man who they'd accept into the SeeD forces once they'd seen what I had done for the honor and glory of Garden. And nothing was going to stop me from gaining that title, not when I had already failed three times. Sorceress or no sorceress.
          A knight in shining armor...striding towards me...
          I frowned. Where had that thought come from? I tried to raise my gunblade, but it had become curiously heavy. Should I be alarmed? I didn't know. I knew I needed to do something..something...
          "You can't make up your mind. You don't know the right answer. You want help, don't you?" Her voice raised and lowered in pitch, a regular singsong of hypnotic melody. I could feel its power.
          Striding towards me...raising his head...his face..o look at me...striding out of the light.
          I shook my head, glaring at her. Something was happening. She was trying to do something to me...something...not good. I had to...run...get away. Back to...back to...
          I looked into his face, saw the raised scar between the gray eyes.
          "Shut up!" I shouted again. My voice cracked in desperation. I felt myself breathing hard. I was forgetting something. Something important. Mission...mission to...needed to...
          "Don't be ashamed to ask for help." Her eyes fixed me in their hot, heavy-lidded gaze. I felt myself surrounded, trapped, yet strangely secure. "Besides," the voice cooed. "You're only a little boy."
          And I could see her, standing in the distance...my champion. My sorceress. The one I served.
          Be valiant, knight, and true.
          I sagged. I couldn't stand up straight any longer. Her words...they should be making me angry. "I'm not-" My voice felt strange. "Stop calling me a boy."
          "You don't want to be a boy anymore?"
          "I am not a BOY!" I unleashed all the fury I could muster against that voice. Trying to...trying to...to what? I was angry. I was angry...because...I couldn't remember. I felt my arm drop. What had I been holding before? It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, except for her. She was my savior. She came to stand before me. Gazing into my eyes with her own, hot and golden and full of power.
          Power. Power and promise.
          "Come with me to a place of no return." The voice was a whisper. Seduction. I could not tear my gaze away. Why would I want to? It was where I belonged. I would go with her. I would be her champion, her one true defender.
          "Bid farewell to your childhood."
          I felt warm. The world around me had become dim, insubstantial, shadowy. It didn't matter. She was there. She was there for me. A lady...for a knight.
          Light flashed around me, all around me. Its warmth felt familiar, somehow. Something I had needed, something I had missed. But I'd not miss it anymore. She had told me so. I would follow her now.
          Power and promise.
          Honor and glory.
          Knight of legend.