Chapter 2

***

On through the Never
We must go
On through the Never
Out to the
Edge of Forever
We must go
On through the Never
Then Never comes

              Lyrics by: Metallica
                           “Through the Never”
***

“QUISTIS!” Fujin shouts as she nears the train. “ATTACKED. TRAP. MUST LEAVE.”

“Where are Mileena and Seifer?” She asks, as she gives the withdraw order.

“MILEENA STAY GUARD REAR.” Fujin says. She turns to Raijin, “SEIFER WHERE?”

“Fujin, I think he went back for Mileena, ya know. I think she was shot.” Raijin says, 
breathlessly.

“My god, I hope they survive. The most important thing is to get the ones still alive out of 
here.”

***

“Come on, Mileena, don’t you die on me.” Seifer says as he rolls her over. He is rewarded by a 
groan and a punch.

“I’m not dead yet you son of a bitch.” She tells him, clearly in pain. “I thought I gave you the 
order to evacuate.”

“You did but fortunately for you I don’t follow orders.”

“Great. Now we’ll both die. Let’s just say you’re the last person I want to die with.”

“The feeling is mutual.” Seifer says as he drags her up. He then slings her over his 
shoulder and tries to run in the direction of the train. 

She starts squirming, “Seifer, you idiot! You’ll never make it in time if you carry me.”

“I can go a lot faster if you stop moving!” he snaps back.

She freezes and he runs as though all of hell is following behind him. They finally come within
sight of the train station. As he crests the hill, he sees the train pull away and leave.

“Umm, Seifer.” Mileena says.

“WHAT!” He snaps at her.

“I think we’re about to have company.” She tells him. Seifer dumps her on the ground and turns. 
“OUCH! You bastard! Put me down gently next time!”

“We don’t have time for this, Kid. I’m going to make a stand here.” He snarls.

“Great, I hope you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, we’re as good as dead.”

Seifer glares at her as he pulls his gunblade from its sheath. “Congratulations, Dubois, I think 
you pissed them off.”

“What did you want me to do, dumb ass, let them pick us off one at a time from the back?”  She 
rages.

Seifer didn’t have time to respond because the seven things attacked at the same time. So he was 
kept busy trying to protect both Mileena and himself. The battle rages on for what seems like an 
eternity for Seifer when he felt a triple wave of heat roar past him. He sees three of the 
things become lunch specials. He turns his head and sees that Mileena had hauled herself up 
against a tree and had just dropped her arm. The attackers use Seifer’s distraction to their 
advantage as they press the attack. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Mileena collapse in a 
pool of her own blood. In a blind rage, Seifer cuts loose with his limit break, Demon Slice, he 
runs to Mileena’s side as the last body falls. He rips the shirt from one of the creatures and 
uses it to bind her leg. She slowly stirs as Seifer cradles her head.

“Seifer...” She says weakly. “we...have to leave...more are coming. There’s a cave, it’s hidden 
we can stay for a few days. When our trail is cold we can head to Galbadia Garden.” Her voice 
strengthens as she tries to stand. Seifer helps her get to her feet.

“Alright, point the way.” He says as he pulls her arm 
around his neck and wraps the other arm around her waist.

She points off to the right. They begin walking. During the journey Mileena begins to weaken. 
Seifer realizes this and begins to bear more of her weight.

“How much further, Mileena?” He asks gently.

“Around this bend. You should go back and erase our tracks so they can’t follow us.”

They round the bend, Seifer finds himself looking up at the side of a cliff face. At the 
bottom there is huge bushes and underbrush. He was about to ask her where the cave is, 
when a gust of wind sweeps along the floor and rustle the branches. Seifer notices 
something behind one of the bushes and he shoves his free arm through the bush and 
feels...nothing. He backs into the cave, using his body to protect Mileena from the 
branches. He helps her to the ground and he slips off his coat and drapes it across her.

“I’ll be back soon.” He tells her, then he leaves to erase the marks of their passage.

Seifer thinks, “She’s amazing. I’ve never met anyone like her. I wonder how she knew about 
that cave...” He finishes quickly and avoids the patrols on his way back to the cave.

He slips in, to find Mileena asleep, curled up under his coat. She moans and begins tossing as a 
sweat breaks out on her body. She begins mumbling, getting more and more agitated. Seifer shakes 
her and quickly slaps a hand over her mouth as she sits straight up and screams. He feels tears 
run over his hand. He wraps his arms around her as she sobs into his shoulder. 

“This feels so familiar. I remember holding another girl like this. She had nightmares, too.” 
Seifer thinks, as he hold her. “Shhhh, Lee, it’ll be okay. I promise.”

Mileena pulls away from him in shock. “How did you know that name?” She asks him warily.

“I don’t know, it just seemed to be the right thing to call you.”
“Oh.” She says with a twinge of disappointment.

“What did you dream aobut?” He asks, trying to change the subject. 

“My father. He was very abusive. It didn’t matter to him because I was adopted.”

“You were an orphan? So was I.”

“You were?” She asked, worriedly.

“Yeah I grew up in an orphanage on the Centra continent.”

“By an ocean?”

“Yes. There was a light house there, too.”

“I remember...we used to call the lady who ran it...”

“Matron.” They finished together.

“Seifer...we grew up together, didn’t we?” Mileena asks softly.

***

“Squall, Cid!” Quistis shouts as she enters the office. “The exam was a trap.  A half hour after 
the squads were in place we were attacked.”

“How many were injured?” Squall asked.

“All the ones that returned were injured, except for Fujin and Raijin. Two squads never 
returned. The only two students that have not been accounted for are Seifer and Mileena Dubois.
The rest are dead.”

Cid sits down hard and places his head in his hands. “No...not Seifer and Lee. Please not the 
both of them.”

“Sir?” Squall and Quistis ask at the same time.

“Cid...” Edea whispered to her husband. “Perhaps we should leave him. I will explain to you 
about Mileena.” She guides the two young people out of the office. Leaving Cid to 
cry in peace.

“Matron, I understand why the loss of Seifer would upset the Headmaster, but why the girl.” 
Squall asks.

“Mileena was at the orphanage. She was the first. We had her since she was a baby until she was 
four.”

“Matron, I don’t remember her.” Quistis said, confused.

“I doubt you would, Quistis. She was with you all for only six months. Seifer was her constant 
compainion, her only friend.”

“Seifer...and Mileena...were friends!?” Squall squeaked. 

Even Quistis was shocked at that simple statement. “But, Matron, all they due is fight!”

“They didn’t always. I remember a game they used to play. I told them a story about Sorceresses 
and Knights. Seifer was enthralled, while Leena was more confused than anything. But she’d play 
because it would make Seifer happy. Infact, one day...”

***

Two children run out on the beach, watched carefully by who should have been their parents, 
had the children not been orphans. The girl was frail looking, with large purple eyes and short 
black hair, while her playmate was tall for his age with blond hair and blue eyes.

“Seifer! Slow down! My legs are too short!” The girl cried out.

“Sorry, Lee. It’s just nice to be outside. I’m glad it stopped raining.”

“Me, too! What do you want to play?”

“Hmmmm.” Seifer thinks then he brightens. “I’ll be a knight! You can be the Sorceress and I can 
save you from that dragon over there.” He says, pointing at a boulder near the cliff.

“Why do I have to be the Sorceress? I wanna be the Knight.” Leena tells the young boy.

“You can’t be a knight. Only boys can.”

“Says who?”

“Says...says...I don’t know! That’s the way it is! Only girls can be Sorceresses, so only boys 
can be Knights.” Seifer says, proud of his logic.

“I guess so...but if I’m a Sorceress, doesn’t that mean I can use my magic to kill the dragon?”

“No, cause that’s not the way it’s done.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so you go over there and scream. Then I’ll slay the dragon and rescue you.”

“Okay.” Leena says, walking over toward the rock as Seifer pulls out his wooden sword. “HELP, 
SAVE ME, SIR SEIFER!” She screams, not very convincingly but it was good enough for Seifer.

Seifer immediatly begins to fight the “dragon”. A few minutes later Leena asks him, “Seifer, how 
much longer are you gonna be?”

“I gotta do this right.”

The battle rages on and Leena begins to get more and more agitated. Then she shouts, “Seifer! 
Hurry up! I’m gettin bored.”

Seifer ignores her and continues the fight. Leena begins clinching her fists and frowns. 
Finally she’d had enough. She stomps over, grabs the largest piece of driftwood she can carry, 
and smashes it over the “dragon”; nearly breaking the board.

“There! It’s dead! Let’s play something else.”

Seifer gawks for a little while then says, “You can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Cause...Cause I’m supposed to rescue you!”

“Well you took too long! So I rescued myself!” She says with a grin. “Next time you should be 
quicker.”

“Yeah...I guess I was a little slow. Next time I’m gonna kill it in one mighty stroke!” He 
laughes.

***

“We had some good times together.” Seifer says with a small smile.

“I guess.”

“Guess...Guess!?” Seifer says pretending to be angry. “I wonder if you’re still ticklish?” He 
threatens moving closer to the wide-eyed woman.

“No, Seifer. You wouldn’t dare!” She stammers.

“Oh, I wouldn’t...?”

Seifer punces on her, being careful of her leg, tickles her unmercifully. She tries to defend 
herself but begins laughing too hard to put out much of an effort. He stops to let her breath 
for a bit when he notices her turning blue.

“I guess you are.” He says between laughs. “I’ve missed you.”

“You didn’t even remember me how could you miss me?” She asks between gasps.

“My heart never forgot, Lee.”

“We should get some sleep.” She says, curling up with her back towards Seifer.

He notices her shivering, so he pulls her into his lap and wraps the trench coat around her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She asks.

“You’ve been shot, lost a lot of blood, and the last thing you need is hypothermia. You need to 
stay warm. So go to sleep.”

“Okay...thank you...Seifer...” She draws off as sleep claims her.