From his throne on the brink of destruction, he tries to nurse his wounds, defeated and alone save for the fire in his veins. He is split between timelines, and the voice that speaks to him has yet to set foot in this world, and has ripped him wholly in two.

In his mind he sees Rinoa on the bed, fragile, porcelain, broken. She is cold, and Seifer is flooded with the memory of her warm, laughing, resting against him while they watched the sun set.

go to her

I can't

but she is me

what have you done?

she will bring you to your dream-

He runs, runs, runs, to the rocks by the sea, and vomits into the sand. (what have you done?)

the sorceress is alive. the sorceress commands.

what have i done?

Miles past the shore he feels the pulse of the moon, and swears her fate will not be in vain.

.

He sees Leonhart, broken beside her.

what can you do?

It is strange to watch a man cry he thought could shed no tears, and Seifer grows angry with the thought that his love could be real.

what can you DO

what can YOU do?

The ocean is vast, and the broken Garden he still commands is no match for the energy that radiates below the surface.

how-

allow me.

.

Leonhart walks along an endless road with her on his back.

i went to timber for you.

She is still.

i wage this war for you.

Seifer hopes the bridge collapses and they die before they hit the water.

.

Seifer wakes inside Pandora, and she shows him all he has missed. He lays in a make-shift bed and tries to ignore her, to ignore the pounding on his skull-

go away

you got your wish

fuck off

we can get your revenge

He sees Rinoa last summer, smiling, innocent, apart from wars and witches and gardens and gods and-

go to hell

He feels the fingertips of Time at his throat and Seifer would let her kill him, except she still needs him.

look

She and Leonhart, caught in each other's arms, drifting towards their death . She and Leonhart, pressed together on the Ragnarok, and she looks so happy, and he has already proven he will die for her. She and Leonhart, against the hiss and steam of Esthar's greatest research, folded into each other and oblivious to all else.

(I'll be your knight)

that's my line

.

The look in her eyes whenever she sees Squall, against the look in her eyes when he stands opposite her, tattered coat weighing on his shoulders and a command that hangs between them:

the sorceresses as one

"Seifer..." Her eyes soften beneath the unfocused gaze of the witch.

No. he won't he won't he won't he won't-

"Seifer!" Squall's voice echoes between them and Rinoa turns -turns- and Seifer draws his lips into a sneer.

"The sorceresses as one."

He watches her break.

You had your choice, he thinks, and her arm is thin under his grip and he knows it will bruise.

You had your choice.

Beneath her cries he doesn't know if his thoughts are for her or for himself.