“Ari!” Quistis screamed, leaping to her feet and stumbling over to the fallen girl.  She turned glimmering blue eyes to Seifer, who stared at Ari’s body in disbelief.  “It’s too late,” Quistis whispered.  “Oh, Seifer, it’s too late.”  She threw her arms around him, as the other SeeDs came running.

     Selphie’s eyes widened as she took in the scene before her and she stumbled back into Irvine.  Rinoa’s hands went to her face and Squall wrapped her in his arms, his winter eyes focused on Lila.  Regaining herself, Selphie scanned the area.

     “Rinoa, Paige is hurt!”  Selphie motioned, and the two girls ran to where the redhead lay bleeding.  Quistis joined them, eyes wide with worry as she brushed Paige’s hair off her face.

      The three men faced Lila, their weapons drawn and at the ready.  None of them needed an explanation, it was quite apparent happened to the girl.

     “It was you the whole time,” Seifer hissed, grip on Hyperion tightening.

     Lila’s mouth spread into a delighted grin.  “Took you long enough to figure that out.”  Then her expression hardened and she rose into the air.  “But enough talk.”  With a flick of her hand, Irvine and Squall were knocked away and an invisible barrier surrounded Seifer, leaving him caught alone with Lila’s snake.  Quistis immediately ran to him, but was knocked away.  Carefully, she inched forward until she was pressed against the wall.  Seifer put his hand up to meet hers, before the sound of Lila’s voice had them both turning.  “You killed Martin, Seifer, but he was a Grat compared to this creation,” she laughed.  “Have fun playing!”  She raised her hand and the smoke snake reared back to strike, its green eyes glowing.

     “Lila…?” a weak plea and everyone turned to the source.  Lila’s eyes widened and flickered: yellow, hazel, yellow, hazel.

     “Zell…” came her whispered response.  “What are you doing here?”

     He didn’t answer, just stared at her in complete disbelief.  “Lila, what are you doing?”

     “I-I’m…” she trailed off lamely, gaping at him.  “You aren’t supposed to be here, you’re supposed to be recovering from my-your suicide.”

     “You tried to kill me?”

     “No!” Lila shook her head vigorously.  “I just made it look…No, I couldn’t kill…You mean so much-“ She cut herself off and pointed at Ari’s corpse.  “Ari tried to kill you!  I found you, remember?  It was Ari!”

     “Because you controlled her!” Quistis spat.  Lila glared at her and waved a hand.  The blond clapped a hand to her throat and cursed inwardly for not having junctioned Silence to her status defense.  The sorceress turned back to Zell, lowered herself to the ground, and hesitantly took a step towards him.

     “Lila,” the martial artist murmured.  “You…killed Lex.”

     Her eyes glinted with sorrow and she hung her head.  “I…I didn’t want to!  But she found things she shouldn’t have in Timber!  I had no choice!  She would have…ruined everything.”  She took another step forward, palms toward the sky.  “Zell, please, I…I love you,” she whispered, eyes shimmering with suppressed tears.

     Zell’s sky blue eyes were wide.  “You what?”  A long silence, before she whispered it again, barely audible.  “You love me and yet you tried to kill me?  You killed the woman I loved, the woman I’d planned to marry, and you say you love me?!”  His voice rose to a shout and he nearly lunged at her, but his weak body gave out beneath him.  He fell to the ground with a loud thud.  The other SeeDs started for him, but he waved them off, hoisting himself up to one knee.  Lila watched his struggles wordlessly.  “You lie.”

     The tears ran freely down Lila’s face now as she sank to her knees.  “Zell, please…please, I didn’t want to!  I had nothing against Lex or you!  Please believe me!  I just used Ari to frame her; I wouldn’t let her kill you.  I swear, I love you.”

     “Then who do you have something against, Lila?” Zell asked, softly.

     Blindly Lila gestured at Quistis and Seifer.  “They killed Martin!”

     “You helped, Lila,” Seifer pointed out, his voice echoing off the barrier he was surrounded by.  “You freed Paige and Joe, and then stabbed your brother in the back!”

     Lila shook her head.  “You don’t understand!”  She turned pleading hazel eyes on Zell.  “Martin wasn’t my brother, he was my knight.  But he…he was power-hungry, and forgot why he was with me.  He came up with the brother-sister plan so we could stay together and he’d have my power, but I…I was unstable!  I needed his love, not his company.  I didn’t know how to control my power and he wasn’t balancing me!  He…he noticed and supported me for a time, but he still just wanted my power.  So when Seifer showed up, Martin tried to…He was sick of being my knight, even if only in words, and he kept Seifer around to take his place.  I didn’t care who it was, I was so unstable, I just needed someone, but Seifer already had someone…and I lost control.”  She buried her face in her hands, small body shaking.  “I wasn’t going to kill him, I was just going to injure him so he wouldn’t be strong enough to leave me!  When I got there, I was too late.  He’d already killed Quistis, but I knew he would lose, killed no matter what I did.  And Seifer killed him…Though I loved him.  So I vowed revenge and Ari overheard the power struggle between me and my abilities.  But I knew who she was the moment I stepped in the infirmary.”  Her eyes narrowed, as she faced Seifer. 

     “I still haven’t forgiven you.  You refused to be my knight and then you killed the only other one I had!  Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a piece of you ripped away like that?  Ripped out of your soul?!  You might as well not even HAVE a soul, you feel so empty!  Do you have any idea?!” she screamed, before sobs wracked her body and made the rest of her words incoherent.

     “Yes,” Seifer interrupted, green eyes blazing.  “Yes, I do know what it feels like.  I felt like that when your brother, your knight, whoever the hell that bastard was, killed the love of my life.  So congratulations, Lila!  Not only did you kill Ari, you made Zell feel the exact same way as you.  Empty!”

     “When Lex died, I wanted Zell to be my knight.  Because he’s empty too and I thought I can fill that hole, just like he can fill mine!” Lila hissed at the enraged gunblade specialist.

     “What makes you think he’d want to?!” Seifer yelled back.  “You fucking killed Lex!  You might as well have killed him!”

     “I didn’t kill him!” Lila wailed, hazel eyes glowing ominously.  She flung herself at the martial artist on the ground, sobbing into his shoulder.  Zell looked down at her, his expression unreadable, before his gaze moved to Seifer, then Squall.  “Zell, please, I’m so sorry!  Please, please, be my knight, we’ll be so happy,” she pleaded.

     “Lila…” Zell said slowly.  “I want to be happy, but…”  Lila drew back from him, mouth opening, ready to beg, but he held up a hand and reached out, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.  Seifer scowled, and Quistis averted her gaze.  Rinoa and Selphie watched in disbelief from their places next to the semi-conscious Paige.  There was no reaction from Squall and Irvine looked as if he were contemplating using Exeter on Zell.  But no one said a word.  “I want to be happy…but how can we be happy when I hate you?”

     The brunette jerked violently, as if she’d been slapped.  Zell pushed her shoulder as hard as he could, which would normally have killed something, but being so weakened, it sent her rolling, crashing into the invisible barrier she’d put up around Seifer. 

     Carefully, she pushed herself up, back to them, and when she turned, her eyes were a hard yellow with no clouds, no changing.  Mouth curving in a feral scowl, eyes brimming with hate, Lila stood, wind blowing up from underneath her.  Her hair flew straight up and her face contorted as she let loose a scream of rage that chilled the blood of those around her.

     “Then you all die now!” Lila shrieked, and rising into the air, she pointed at Seifer.  “And I’ll start with you!”

                                *                              *                              *