The time didn't really matter, no one was sleeping anyway. Seifer would find himself starting to drift off only to be woken moments later in a blind panic with the feel of claws in his mind, mockery and laughter, elation and bloodlust. Often he ended up in the bathroom for a while after that, humiliated. It had been periodic but mostly infrequent before the shrine. Now that he was back and his mind wasn't wholly occupied with survival and getting his team back the memories had free reign.

Again and again he felt the blade dig into his side, the cold in his fingers as darkness clouded his vision. Then the blinding, searing bright merciless heat that drug him unwillingly from that comforting dark. Painful air filling his lungs, blood surging back to life. Hyne it had burned. And continued to burn for sometime after.

This morning he still felt it in his finger tips. Like electricity zipping through his nerves, making sure everything was still in mostly working order. Maybe Rinoa was up. No, she'd definitely be up. Probably had tea made.

Clumsy, not at all his usual graceful form, he made his way out with a pair of blankets. One he wordlessly draped over Rinoa's shoulders before moving stiffly to collect the tea he knew was for him. In the early hours when the world should be asleep he found it hard to move sometimes. Old wounds catching up to him, joints not quite cooperating. He felt old. Or dead. Maybe he was and just didn't know any better.

Silently he settled down nearby, letting himself also get lost in her humming and the fire.