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batsutousaiTitle: Noblesse Oblige
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison/tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhir
Chapters: 8 of 19
Rating: M
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, Zell/Xu, Quistis/OMC, Fujin/Raijin
Warnings: AU, major canon-buggery, OoC Squall, murder
Summary: No one thought to warn Squall against touching his younger self, and he leaves a part of himself behind when he returns to Time Compression.
A/N: And by 'murder' in the warnings, I really mean 'mass slaughter'. *insert mad cackle here*
-0-0-0-
Not Invincible
-0-0-0-
"Are you planning to kiss the ground again?" Squall asked Seifer as they unloaded their boat at the dock. The scientists had already been bought tickets back to Deling and sent on their way, thankfully. No one died during the trip, either, though their youngest and most hyper passenger had probably been the main cause behind the cooled tempers, as it was hard to threaten an idiot when a small child started giggling at the argument. (Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for the White SeeDs to jokingly threaten each other in raised voices, so Roxanne thought they were just playing.)
Seifer grinned. "Might. Solely for the entertainment value to the beautiful Princess Roxy, of course."
Roxanne smiled and kicked her feet against the bag she was sitting on. In her lap sat the pile of letters that Squall had decided to send out from Garden, especially since he'd spotted a couple for his friends and Cid during a quick flip-though shortly after they'd left the crater.
Squall snorted and dumped the last bag on the dock. Looking over the pile of crap they needed to take back up to Garden, he said, "I wonder if the rental company would let us borrow a car..."
"Cid might be okay with us piloting a ship, but no sane person expects a couple of kids to be able to control a car, SeeD or no," Seifer replied drily. "Do you want me to see if Mrs Chicken-Head is willing to drive us up again?"
Squall rolled his eyes. "Please don't call her that to her face. Or around Zell."
"I don't have a death wish," Seifer replied, glancing towards Roxanne. "Roxy, I'm going to be right back, okay? Behave for Squally."
Roxanne stuck her hands on her hips and gave Seifer her best impression of Matron's 'It's the Soap for You' look. "Roxy is always behaved."
"Yes, you are," Squall agreed, shifting a couple bags around to make it easier to load everything into the car.
Seifer snorted in amusement and moved off. Ten minutes later, Ma Dincht drove up in her car and backed it up as close to the dock as she could. Seifer jumped out to help with the bags while Ma Dincht introduced herself to Roxanne and got the girl buckled into the car.
"Thanks again for the ride, Mrs Dincht," Squall said once they were all in the car and headed out of the city.
"Don't worry about it, sweetie. I know you boys have a lot on your plate right now." She offered him a fond smile. "Whatever I can do to help."
"Mrs Dincht rang up to Garden to let them know we were on our way," Seifer added, "so we should have help with the bags."
Squall nodded. "A couple of them can be left in the carpool cupboard, but that one needs to go to the Training Centre storage and the left over water should be returned to the cafeteria."
The group of cadets were, in fact, waiting when Ma Dincht's car pulled in. They remained standing by the entrance, even when Seifer helped Roxanne out of the back seat, and the two SeeDs narrowed their eyes suspiciously.
"What?" Squall demanded as he started to unload the bags from the trunk with Ma Dincht's help.
"Where'd you pick up the kid?" Zell wondered.
"Chicken-Head, I've been resisting the urge to shoot someone for about a week and a half, now," Seifer said conversationally. "You really don't want to push me."
"Naw, shootin' people's my thing," an accented voice said from behind the group of cadets.
"Irvy?" Squall recognised, surprised.
The cowboy pushed through the others while they all broke out into smiles. "Howdy," he said, tipping his hat to them.
"What are you doing here?" Seifer asked.
"I got a letter a little over a month ago from Sefie, talkin' all about how everyone but me was here at Balamb. So I put in a transfer request." He shot Squall an amused look. "Apparently, you have known I was at Galbadia for three years and kept it a secret from everyone else jest to be mean."
Squall shrugged. "If you really want to vilify me, I knew where Selph was as soon as she joined Trabia four years ago."
There was a moment of silence at that, then Selphie shouted, "Squall!"
Roxanne tugged on Seifer's sleeve. "Sir Squall's been bad?"
"Sir Squall is always bad," Seifer informed her.
Squall rolled his eyes. "Everyone, this is Roxanne Elliot. She's transferring to Balamb Garden." He looked over at the little girl. "Roxy, these are Seifer and my friends."
Roxanne nodded and looked the cadets over with a serious air for a long moment before pointing at each person and naming them, much to the older kids' surprise. She tripped up a bit on Irvine, but she managed to remember the name Squall had called the cowboy by.
"You're the smartest princess ever," Seifer informed the girl with a proud smile.
Roxanne nodded. "I am," she agreed.
"She's so cute!" Selphie squealed, hurrying forward and pulling the little girl into a hug.
Roxanne giggled and hugged her back for a minute. Then she gasped and said, "Oh no! Letters!" She tugged out of Selphie's arms and looked towards the car, only for Seifer to dangle the batch in front of her face.
"Looking for these, Princess?"
Roxanne snatched the letters from his hand and shot him a grateful smile before flipping determinedly through the stack and pulling out one letter, which she handed to Selphie. "Mail!" she chirped before bouncing off to deliver letters to Zell and Quistis, as well. She paused for a moment in front of Irvine, frowning, then dashed over to Squall and held out the bundle. "Did Irvy have a letter?"
"His full name is Irvine," Squall replied.
"Okay!" Then she was running back to Irvine , pulling out the letter for him as she went and almost tripping over her feet. "Mail!" she declared, holding it up to him.
"You're precious," Irvine informed her as he took his letter.
"It's from Matron and Sis!" Selphie realised, opening her letter and finding a photo of the two women.
Seifer and Squall had also received brief letters from Matron and Ellone, as well as their own copies of the same photo, which were safely stored with the photos of them and Ellone in their bags.
"Rai, Xu, Fuu, can we get your help with these bags?" Squall asked, motioning to the bags at his feet. "Seifer, help me move these to the cupboard."
Raijin and Fujin were sent off with the bags of water to the cafeteria while Xu was sent to the Training Centre with the bag of extra weapons and other things the two SeeDs had thought they might need while rescuing the scientists. The others were told to read their letters in Raijin and Zell's room, where they could all meet up once Seifer, Squall, and Roxanne were done meeting with Cid to debrief and introduce their newest cadet.
Rather than send their bags with their friends, the two SeeDs carried them with them, though Roxanne had happily taken Selphie's offer to take her bag to their meeting spot, so she didn't have to carry it with her.
The secretary greeted them with a smile, though she glanced curiously towards Roxanne. "Welcome back, gentlemen."
"Thanks, Julia," Seifer replied pleasantly. "Is Cid free?"
"He's briefing SeeD Liew right now, but they shouldn't be long," the secretary promised, her eyes again glancing towards the six-year-old holding Squall's hand and clutching a bundle of letters to her chest.
Seifer took the hint. "This is Roxy. She's transferring to Balamb. Princess, this is Miss Julia, Uncle Cid's helper."
"Hi!" Roxanne chirped, smiling at the woman behind the desk.
Julia smiled back. "It's lovely to meet you, Roxy."
The door of Cid's office opened and Sung Liew stepped out, a folder in one hand. He blinked in surprise to see Seifer and Squall, then shot off a quick salute. "Leonhart, Almasy."
"Liew," Squall replied as they returned the salute. Then they passed each other, Liew to the lift while the younger three made their way into Cid's office.
"Knock, knock!" Seifer called as they stepped inside.
Cid's head jerked up from where he'd been staring at paperwork and his face lit up. "You're back!"
"Indeed," Squall agreed drily. "The scientists – those who survived – are on their way back to Deling. Two scientists and the crew all died during a storm which wrecked their ship. The other eight only survived by eating a type of psychedelic mushroom." He pulled a small bag of the mushrooms – which he'd gathered while the scientists were still acting insane – out of his bag and placed them on Cid's desk.
Cid picked up the bag and considered the mushrooms with a grave look. "That's troubling. Are there any adverse effects to the scientists?"
"It doesn't appear to be addictive," Seifer replied, "nor does it appear to be toxic, although we're unaware of exactly how much they ingested, as their memories were hazy. The only after-effects we saw was an extreme distrust of Squall and myself, though that could have been because Squall threatened to shoot them all."
"I only had five rounds," Squall disagreed. "Unless my aim and their positions were perfect, there was no way I could have shot all of them."
"Technicalities."
Cid shook his head and set the mushrooms to one side. "I'll have to get in contact with the Trabian Society of Wildlife and see if they have more information about this." His attention turned to the young girl who was watching him with wide eyes from between the two SeeDs, her hand having transferred from Squall's to one of the brunet's belts while Squall pulled out the mushrooms. "You seem to have developed a tumour, Squall."
Seifer snickered while Squall rolled his eyes. "This is Roxanne Elliot," Squall told the Headmaster. "She's been travelling on the White SeeD ship and requested a transfer to Balamb Garden."
Cid looked surprised at that. "You met with the White SeeDs?"
"They tend to spend a great deal of time around the Centra crater when they're not gathering orphans or coming ashore to exchange mail," Seifer replied. "Which reminds me: Roxy, don't you have something for Uncle Cid?"
"Oh!" Roxanne dropped her hand from Squall's belt and flipped through her letters. Once she found the right one, she pulled it out of the pile and stepped forward to set it on the desk, informing him, "This one's for you, and these must be mailed." The rest of the pack was dropped next to Cid's letter.
Cid gathered everything up with a serious air. "Thank you, Cadet Elliot."
Roxanne smiled at him, then looked up at Squall as she took his hand again. "I'm a cadet," she informed him.
"So you are," Squall agreed.
Roxanne's smile dimmed a bit and she looked over at Seifer. "Does that mean I'm not a princess anymore?"
"You'll always be 'Princess Roxy' to us," Seifer promised. "And Squally and I will always be your Knights, right?"
"Right!"
Cid chuckled. "I assume you've already met Selphie?" he asked, looking towards Roxanne, but asking the question of all of them.
"She has," Squall agreed.
Cid nodded and ducked behind his desk to get a paper from a drawer. Once he'd popped back up again, he said, "She doesn't have a roommate right now because a couple people shuffled around, including her original roommate. We don't usually room together two students with such extreme age differences, but if neither of you disagree, you can move in with Selphie." He smiled towards the girl.
Roxanne nodded. "I like Selphie," she declared. "She gave me a hug."
"They should be fine together," Seifer said.
"Excellent. Have Selphie come see me if there are any problems." Cid made a quick notation on the paper he'd pulled out, then looked back up at the two boys. "I should be able to keep you in Garden for a few months this time, unless something particularly important comes up. Go unpack and spend some time with your friends. And remember to write Chris and Greg before they come here."
"Sir!" They both performed the salute, with Roxanne a couple seconds behind, which made both Cid and Seifer grin at her while Squall ruffled her hair.
As they left the office, Cid slit open his letter and smiled at the photo of his wife and Ellone. There was also all the official paperwork he needed for Roxanne, much to his pleasure, which he set to the side to be input into the database by the technicians before turning to the actual letter. Edea would be upset with him for making Squall and Seifer SeeDs so young, but she, more than anyone, would understand why he did it.
-0-
Squall and Seifer got a whole two months in Garden, which they spent catching up with their friends and ensuring Roxanne was comfortable enough in Garden for them to leave for months at a time with little to no word. Squall and Seifer spent a large portion of their time while the others were in classes either sparring in the Training Centre or gleefully hacking the Garden database at Cid's request – Seifer quickly came to learn why Squall enjoyed hacking databases so much, especially since the brunet had a mean streak and would occasionally leave nasty 'presents' for the programmers. Evenings were either spent with their friends or tutoring some particularly pitiful student that one or both boys couldn't say no to.
They also got their photos with everyone in it: Squall, Seifer, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Fujin, Raijin, Xu, Roxanne, and October (who had happened to be nearby when they found someone willing to take the picture and had then been dragged over by Selphie). Enough copies were made for all of them, plus extras for the parents who would actually want them, Matron, Ellone, and Cid. When they gave Cid his copy, he happily set it on his desk like a proud father, then asked if the two SeeDs were sending a photo to Christal and Gregory. That required that another copy be generated, then mailed out to Deling. Christal's responding letter gushing with thanks was completely worth the extra trouble.
Eventually, the missions came pouring back in and the two SeeDs were once again out of Garden more than they were in it. Cid managed to get them a couple free weeks during the spring holiday, so they got some quality time in with their friends and were able to celebrate Xu passing the SeeD exam, but then they were right back out in the field again for another year – and once Seifer turned fifteen in December, he started getting higher profile missions, putting him more at risk for being recognised outside Garden because his scar and preferred weapon were so distinctive. (Of course, with Seifer becoming so well known, people also started noticing Squall's own scar and gunblade, forcing him to cover up the scar and use alternate weapons while on even semi-undercover missions.)
That spring, Quistis took her SeeD exam and passed with flying colours. Her first official mission ended up being with October, and they both enjoyed it so much that they ended up becoming quasi-partners – as much as any SeeD ever partnered up with another SeeD.
Squall managed to get his fifteenth birthday free, though Seifer, Quistis, and October were all out on missions. His cadet friends and Xu threw him a huge party and they all stayed up late into the night in Raijin and Zell's room, talking about everything and nothing all at once.
The next morning, when Squall was called to Cid's office for his next mission brief, he was clearly grumpy and irritable, and Cid laughed at him when the teen first stepped into his office. Squall had glowered at him until he stopped, then snapped, "Where am I going?"
Cid sobered at that and slid the folder with the information in it across the desk. "Seifer and Angela King were trying to contain an uprising in one of the villages south of Winhill. I got word this morning that Angela has been killed and Seifer is withdrawing to a more defensible location until backup can get there."
Squall was already out of his seat and headed for the door, folder held in one white-knuckled hand. "I'll be at the train station in twenty minutes," he said over his shoulder.
"Take one of the new subs!" Cid called after him. "It'll get you there faster!"
Squall waved his understanding and was out the office and in the lift with barely a thought, busy scanning the information in the folder as he moved. Things weren't looking good, from what the reports said, with people from nearby villages coming in to support their neighbours against the small force of Galbadian soldiers stationed there. The army had requested backup from SeeD in quelling the revolt, and Cid had sent Seifer, who had just finished another mission in the area with Angela King.
Angela, Squall knew from working with her previously, was a mediocre SeeD who did her best work out of the public eye. Sending her on this mission had pretty much been the nails on her coffin, but the Galbadian army had demanded SeeD back them as soon as possible, and Angela had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially since Cid could never send a SeeD into a battle like this one without some form of backup.
'Please, Seifer, don't pull any fucking stunts and actually retreat,' Squall pleaded with his best friend as he hurried through the early morning halls of Garden. Only a couple of students and SeeDs were up, and all of them quickly moved out of Squall's way, recognising the stormy look on his face.
Squall, like most SeeDs, had a bag packed with all the essentials just inside his door, in case of an emergency. He grabbed the bag and Lion Heart – he and Seifer had both bought themselves the best versions of their preferred gunblades during a mission together in Deling City last year – then was back out the door, folder held in his mouth as he strapped his gunblade to his belt.
"Squall?" Xu called sleepily from behind him, having just come out of her room. She hurried to catch up to his quick gait. "Mission?"
"Yes," Squall said shortly as he slipped his mission folder into his bag. "Say goodbye to the others for me."
"Okay. Be safe," Xu replied, slowing down as they reached the fork and Squall turned towards the garage.
Squall waved a hand over his shoulder in response to her words.
Xu watched after him for a long moment, heart aching for how her unlikely friend was always out of Garden. She had never seen him that rushed about a mission before, and it caused a sick feeling in her stomach. She turned, finally, towards the cafeteria, hoping some mint tea would help settle her stomach.
Two hours later, Cid would announce that SeeD Angela King had been killed on assignment. Zell, sitting next to Xu at their usual table, would say, "Hey, wasn't she partnered with Seifer?"
And that's when it would hit Xu, 'He was rushing because Seifer's in trouble. Oh, sweet Hyne, please let them both get through this safely.'
-0-
Seifer grunted as he ripped off another strip of his useless shirt to wrap the jagged cut on his right arm. He'd retreated as he'd promised, but the rebellion was determined to finish what they'd started, and he was the only person left still kicking.
'Kicking is a relative term,' Seifer thought, glancing down at his broken left leg. He wouldn't be running any further, and he could hear the villagers' angry shouts as they came to flush him out. 'Now would be a fucking great time for reinforcements to arrive, you know?' he thought, aiming his question at his exhausted GFs.
"Because you're really that lucky," Quezacotl muttered. "You're so going to die here."
'Bright little beam of sunshine, aren't you?' Seifer thought back sarcastically. 'I have plenty of luck.'
"When the Ice Child is around, sure," Quezacotl agreed. "I think that's his luck, though. Not yours."
'Oh, shut up.' Quezacotl had a point, though, as loathe as Seifer was to admit it; the only missions that had gone off with barely a hitch had been those he went on with Squall. Every other mission he'd ever gone on ended up with either him or his partner – sometimes both, if his luck was especially shitty that day – badly hurt. This time was a new low, of course, as he'd never managed to get a partner killed.
'And now I get to die, too,' Seifer thought as the voices got ever closer. 'I never got anything for Squally's birthday, either... This is a fucking fantastic present. Squall, I'm sorry...' He closed his eyes, throat tight and eyes burning with tears.
The voices reached him, then, shouting, "I found him! We found him!"
Then everything got so very cold and silent and Seifer wondered, 'Am I dead?'
"Shiva!" Ifrit shouted in his mind.
Seifer's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring up at the Ice Queen herself, everything around her frozen with her power. There was only one person in all of Garden that directed a Shiva that powerful and Seifer looked past the GF to where he could just see Squall coming over a rise, pausing to take in the scene before him. Seifer couldn't help but think back to the film he'd watched as a child that had inspired him to become a Sorceress Knight; in the last scene, the Knight stood atop a cliff and posed, gunblade held to one side, at rest.
That image had always remained burned in Seifer's mind, but now he looked upon the son of that actor and realised exactly how poorly Laguna Loire had managed that stance. Squall stood, not at rest, but with a cold fury in his eyes that was untouched by the way the wind drew his hair all over the place and emphasised by the sharp line of his scar. In his hands burned Lion Heart, the same colour as the ice surrounding Seifer from Squall's favourite GF.
Then Squall's gaze caught on Seifer and he was half running, half sliding across the icy ground, Shiva grabbing his elbow to stop him before he could land on Seifer. "You idiot," he hissed, pulling his shirt over his head and starting to tear it into strips to replace the blood-soaked mess on Seifer's arm, untouched by the new chill in the air, "what part of 'retreat' didn't you understand?"
"I got it, but they–" he waved his good hand towards the frozen villagers, "–missed the memo about letting me get away."
Squall rolled his eyes, carefully redressing Seifer's wound. "Why do so many of your missions turn into clusterfucks, anyway?"
"Quetz says it's because you're not there," Seifer informed him.
"She might have a point," Squall muttered.
"Reinforcements have arrived," Shiva warned loud enough for both teens to hear.
Squall balled up another strip and reached it towards Seifer's head. "Nothing hit me in the hea– Ow!"
Squall nodded and pressed the wadded cloth to the cut staining Seifer's blond hair red. "Hold that there," he ordered. Once Seifer had taken over the cloth, Squall stood, grabbing Lion Heart from where he'd dropped it at his side. "I'll be right back. Shiva, protect him."
"I will do so, Ice Child," Shiva agreed. For once, Seifer didn't sense the hatred the Ice Queen usually turned his way, and he couldn't help but wonder if he really looked that shitty.
Squall walked out onto the ice with even steps, watching as the new arrivals gathered at the edge of the ice, looking on in disbelief. Squall offered them a smile filled with death and reached down to extend the special spikes he'd built into this particular pair of boot for when he was fighting with Shiva like this; ice fields had no traction, which was just as much trouble for him as it was for his opponents, hence boots with retractable spikes in the tread.
"You're working with that tyrant, too, aren't you?!" one of the villagers shouted as Squall continued approaching.
Squall shrugged. "Normally I'd say this is nothing personal – just another job – but you killed one of my fellows and almost killed my best friend so..." His eyes narrowed and he swung Lion Heart against an ice formation that had once been a person, slicing the head clean off to roll towards the villagers. "Now it's personal."
"Anyone who sides with Deling must die!" another villager shouted.
Yet another one called, "We're just protecting our families and way of living! Not that a mercenary would know what that means!"
Squall smiled humourlessly at that. 'No family? I have four quasi-parents, a sister, a biological father I've never met, nine friends, and one best friend who mean all the world to me. Being a mercenary is my way of life. You people almost killed one of my reasons for keeping on, and I'm going to fucking rip you apart.'
Squall changed his grip so he could balance Lion Heart one-handed while his free hand drew forth one of his stock of Ultimas, which he then proceeded to slam into the villagers. That was followed quickly by a series of Blizzagas, serving the dual purpose of extending Shiva's ice field and killing a couple of the people standing in the way
Those who survived the Ultima and Blizzagas quickly fell to Lion Heart, run through without a moment's pause. The ice magic junctioned to his blade froze the blood before it could splatter everywhere, leaving Squall unmarked by the violence.
'I'm going into the village to finish this,' he thought toward Shiva as he stepped off the extended ice field.
"I will protect the Fire Child," Shiva promised before turning her attention to the only other GF Squall had junctioned. "Protect him in my stead, Diablos."
"Like I would leave him to die," Diablos shot back, slipping to the forefront of Squall's mind. "Summon me."
It was generally believed to be impossible for one person to summon multiple GFs, but the reality was that GFs simply didn't like each other and didn't share well to boot. They disliked having to share space in a human's mind, but they hated fighting together, especially for the same human. Occasionally, two GFs summoned by partnered humans could put up with each other long enough to do their jobs, but it had to be the right GFs and humans.
Squall, however, was rather beloved by all GFs for his wealth of memories, enough of which he was willing to hand over. He also had experience with every GF in the world, thanks to the Ghost, including Eden, who required a firm hand and strong sense of self to wield effectively. Having mastered Eden, Squall had little trouble with other GFs, and his long-time status as Shiva's favourite kept her from getting jealous of other GFs, though they would occasionally get jealous of her, which he'd discovered when trying to find another GF to steal his overabundance of dark memories.
Diablos didn't care if Squall was the favourite human of Shiva, he just liked violent memories. The two GFs had taken about a day to sort themselves out in the back of Squall's head when he'd first junctioned the gravity-using GF, and then they were perfectly okay with each other. Squall had been as shocked as anyone when Diablos and Shiva let him summon both of them at the same time, but he was actually used to it, now.
As soon as Diablos was solid, the GF flew up into the air and started collecting energy for his Dark Messenger attack directly over the village. Knowing better than to get in the way of the attack, Squall remained outside the village, taking out anyone daring enough to run at him with silent efficiency. As soon as the sphere of gravity hit the ground, Squall started into the village, finishing off the few people who had survived the attack.
Within twenty minutes, the village was a ghost town of twisted bodies and slowly melting puddles of blood. Squall took a moment to consider the destruction with cold eyes, then headed towards the dark alley where he'd seen Angela King's body, left to rot, and picked her up to take her back to Garden, where they could properly send her off. He put her in the sub, then went back for Seifer, dismissing Shiva with a nod of thanks as he helped his best friend up. "Come on, let's get you back to Doc Kadowaki."
Seifer grimaced and took careful steps on his broken leg, which Squall had used a snapped pitchfork to fashion a crude brace for. "She's going to be so mad."
"Yeah, well, stop getting badly wounded on missions."
"I'll get right on that."
Squall snorted and carefully manoeuvred them into the sub. Seifer was left stretched out on one of the couches, a Sleep spell helping his body recuperate naturally while Squall piloted them home.
In Balamb, he took a moment to ring up to Garden from Ma Dincht's place – she had already heard that Seifer might be badly hurt and was reassured to hear that he would be fine – and ask for Zell and Raijin to meet him in the garage. When he arrived at Garden, his grim-faced friends were waiting for him, relieved to find Seifer alive, but clearly upset at the sight of both his wounds and Angela's body.
"Rai, could you take Seifer to the infirmary?" Squall asked quietly. "He's just under a Sleep spell right now, but his leg's broken, so take care."
"You got it," Raijin agreed and carefully picked their sleeping friend up.
"You want me to take Angela to the morgue?" Zell asked as his roommate made for the main hub.
"Please. I need to report to Cid."
Zell touched his shoulder and offered a pained smile. "I got it."
Squall nodded his thanks, then hitched his bag over his shoulder – he hadn't seen Seifer or Angela's things, but they had hardly been a priority and there would have been nothing indispensable in them anyway – then made his way up to Cid's office. Julia, the secretary, waved him in as soon as he stepped out of the lift, so he shoved his way into Cid's office.
Cid was out of his seat in a flash, though he remained behind the desk. "Is Seifer okay?" he asked, worry lines aging his face far beyond his forty-seven years.
"Rai's taking him to the infirmary," Squall replied quietly as he took up a stance on the other side of the desk.
Cid fell back into his chair, relieved. "Thank Hyne. Is the rebellion under control?"
"The rebellion is dead," Squall reported in a cold tone.
Cid shot him a faintly worried look, but the dark gleam in Squall's eyes told him he wasn't about to get any apologies for destroying an entire village. He'd almost expected something like it when he'd sent Squall as backup, knowing how close the two boys were. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I see. Anything else?"
Squall considered that for a moment, then nodded his head. "Yes. I'm requesting you make myself and Seifer permanent partners."
Cid frowned. "You know SeeD doesn't do that," he reminded the teen. "We prefer to have operatives free from partnerships–"
"In case something comes up where you only need one of the pair's abilities and the other one would only be a liability," Squall interrupted. "Yes, I'm aware of that. But Seifer and I specialized in the exact same things and, though our styles are a little different, we work better as a team than we do apart. Every single mission he's gone on without me has turned into a clusterfuck, though he always gets the job done, one way or another, and my best missions have been with him, too."
"I can't afford to have my two best SeeDs tied up together all the time–"
"If I hadn't arrived right when I had and had the exact amount of control over Shiva as I do, we'd have two corpses on our hands right now," Squall snapped, eyes flashing with anger. "You can't afford to continue separating us."
Cid pressed his lips together and took in the furious emotions radiating off of his best SeeD. Squall and Seifer were best friends, had practically been together from day one; it made sense that a near-death experience would bring one of them raging to him about keeping them together – it had been an ongoing argument over the years – but Squall was usually the more sensible of the two and would talk Seifer down. "Your emotions are clouding your better judgement," he pointed out in a carefully gentle tone.
Squall shot him a disturbing parody of a smile and said, "Yes, in fact, they are. Are you sure you want to push me right now? Because I am so not capable of rational thought, and we wouldn't want me doing anything stupid because I'm simply incapable of thinking it through. Like killing you because you're ticking me off. Or resigning and stealing Seifer away to live in Esthar with my biological father."
Cid paled a bit at that, because the darkness in the teen's eyes said he might very well be willing to do either of those things. "You've made your point," he managed, clearing his throat. "You and Seifer can be official partners; all future missions together."
The darkness in Squall's eyes faded a bit and his posture, which had turned just the slightest bit hostile while Cid hadn't been paying attention, relaxed. "Good. Now that's sorted, I'm going to go sit next to my partner's infirmary bed and calm down." He turned and stalked from the room.
Cid had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to undo the partnership in the future, not now that he'd agreed to it.
-0-
Seifer woke slowly to the familiar smells of the infirmary. He had a brief moment of drowsy contentment, only vaguely curious as to what stupid thing had happened on his most recent mission to end him up in Kadowaki's domain, then the memories struck him: weaving between buildings with Angela a few steps behind him; her choked scream as a pitchfork hit her from behind, striking straight through her heart; managing to get a priority message for backup out before having to run, run, run; lying in the dirt and waiting for death; Squall coming over the rise, all cold fury and violent death...
His eyes snapped open and he stared up at the ceiling for only the briefest of moments before Squall's voice said, "Good evening."
Seifer turned his head to the side and felt his racing heart calm at the sight of his best friend, sitting there with a half-eaten dinner tray on the small table next to the visitor chair. Judging by the black emergency bag, Lion Heart, and Hyperion resting against the wall next to the chair, Squall hadn't returned to his room yet, and Seifer was torn between being grateful that Squall had stayed with him and irritated that the younger SeeD had decided to waste time at Seifer's bedside instead of resting before his next mission. The irritation won out simply because Seifer was too stressed by his recent mission to be grateful and he snapped, "Why are you here?"
Squall's expression blanked for a moment, then cleared, understanding bright in the blue-grey eyes. "I can't go on any missions if my partner is stuck in the infirmary," he stated quietly.
It was Seifer's turn to be surprised by the comment, but understanding didn't come to him and all he could manage was, "Huh?"
A wry smile touched Squall's lips for the briefest of moments before it vanished. "I'm not letting you go off on missions without me anymore," he said, the smile remaining in his voice even though it was no longer on his face.
Seifer snorted, then winced as the action made a headache he hadn't even noticed flare. 'Right, head wound,' he thought before returning his attention to Squall. "And good luck getting Cid to sign off on that one." Hyne knew Seifer had tried enough times.
"I already did," was Squall's factual response.
Seifer blinked at him in disbelief. 'What? But... Cid would never...'
"I told him that if he didn't make us official partners, I was resigning and taking you with me to live in Esthar with Laguna," Squall explained with a shrug.
Seifer stared at him for another moment before announcing, "You are so many kinds of awesome right now; I hope you know that."
Squall's lips curled with one of those rare, honest smiles that Seifer and all their friends had come to treasure. "I care about you too, Seifer. Now go back to sleep."
Seifer smiled to himself and closed his eyes to do just that. Then a memory of the date came to him and he murmured, "Hey, Squally?"
"Hm?"
"Happy belated birthday. Sorry I didn't get you anything."
Squall's hand came to rest on top of Seifer's and he chanced the pain from the healing cut on his upper arm to turn his hand over. Squall's slightly smaller hand rested in his and squeezed. "You survived until I got there," he said.
Seifer smiled again and he drifted to sleep.
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
A/N: I almost got them together in this chapter, but then I had a brilliant thought while getting ready for bed. They'll probably get together next chapter. And I might get a bit more about the others in here, now that they're not stuck in Garden all the time. XD Or, well, Xu and Quisty aren't, and the others will be aiming to graduate in the coming spring, so... (Except Rai, who I sorta decided is a year younger than the others, so he's got another year.)
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - Touch of Memory ||| 2 - No One Here to Save
3 - Burn Up the Tracks
4 - Orphans and Widows ||| 5 - Close the Last Window ||| 6 - Melodies of Life
7 - Lie Under the Night |||8 - Not Invincible ||| 9 - Don't Want the World
10 - Dance With the Enemy ||| 11 - Everything I Have in This World ||| 12 - Running Out of Days
13 - Wake Up and Fight ||| 14 - Crimson Sky ||| 15 - Heroes Waiting
16 - Light in My Eyes ||| 17 - Lying Next to a Ghost ||| 18 - Living For Today
19 - Some Things Are That Simple
..
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/
batsutousaiBeta: Shara Lunison/
tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhirChapters: 8 of 19
Rating: M
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, Zell/Xu, Quistis/OMC, Fujin/Raijin
Warnings: AU, major canon-buggery, OoC Squall, murder
Summary: No one thought to warn Squall against touching his younger self, and he leaves a part of himself behind when he returns to Time Compression.
A/N: And by 'murder' in the warnings, I really mean 'mass slaughter'. *insert mad cackle here*
Not Invincible
-0-0-0-
"Are you planning to kiss the ground again?" Squall asked Seifer as they unloaded their boat at the dock. The scientists had already been bought tickets back to Deling and sent on their way, thankfully. No one died during the trip, either, though their youngest and most hyper passenger had probably been the main cause behind the cooled tempers, as it was hard to threaten an idiot when a small child started giggling at the argument. (Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for the White SeeDs to jokingly threaten each other in raised voices, so Roxanne thought they were just playing.)
Seifer grinned. "Might. Solely for the entertainment value to the beautiful Princess Roxy, of course."
Roxanne smiled and kicked her feet against the bag she was sitting on. In her lap sat the pile of letters that Squall had decided to send out from Garden, especially since he'd spotted a couple for his friends and Cid during a quick flip-though shortly after they'd left the crater.
Squall snorted and dumped the last bag on the dock. Looking over the pile of crap they needed to take back up to Garden, he said, "I wonder if the rental company would let us borrow a car..."
"Cid might be okay with us piloting a ship, but no sane person expects a couple of kids to be able to control a car, SeeD or no," Seifer replied drily. "Do you want me to see if Mrs Chicken-Head is willing to drive us up again?"
Squall rolled his eyes. "Please don't call her that to her face. Or around Zell."
"I don't have a death wish," Seifer replied, glancing towards Roxanne. "Roxy, I'm going to be right back, okay? Behave for Squally."
Roxanne stuck her hands on her hips and gave Seifer her best impression of Matron's 'It's the Soap for You' look. "Roxy is always behaved."
"Yes, you are," Squall agreed, shifting a couple bags around to make it easier to load everything into the car.
Seifer snorted in amusement and moved off. Ten minutes later, Ma Dincht drove up in her car and backed it up as close to the dock as she could. Seifer jumped out to help with the bags while Ma Dincht introduced herself to Roxanne and got the girl buckled into the car.
"Thanks again for the ride, Mrs Dincht," Squall said once they were all in the car and headed out of the city.
"Don't worry about it, sweetie. I know you boys have a lot on your plate right now." She offered him a fond smile. "Whatever I can do to help."
"Mrs Dincht rang up to Garden to let them know we were on our way," Seifer added, "so we should have help with the bags."
Squall nodded. "A couple of them can be left in the carpool cupboard, but that one needs to go to the Training Centre storage and the left over water should be returned to the cafeteria."
The group of cadets were, in fact, waiting when Ma Dincht's car pulled in. They remained standing by the entrance, even when Seifer helped Roxanne out of the back seat, and the two SeeDs narrowed their eyes suspiciously.
"What?" Squall demanded as he started to unload the bags from the trunk with Ma Dincht's help.
"Where'd you pick up the kid?" Zell wondered.
"Chicken-Head, I've been resisting the urge to shoot someone for about a week and a half, now," Seifer said conversationally. "You really don't want to push me."
"Naw, shootin' people's my thing," an accented voice said from behind the group of cadets.
"Irvy?" Squall recognised, surprised.
The cowboy pushed through the others while they all broke out into smiles. "Howdy," he said, tipping his hat to them.
"What are you doing here?" Seifer asked.
"I got a letter a little over a month ago from Sefie, talkin' all about how everyone but me was here at Balamb. So I put in a transfer request." He shot Squall an amused look. "Apparently, you have known I was at Galbadia for three years and kept it a secret from everyone else jest to be mean."
Squall shrugged. "If you really want to vilify me, I knew where Selph was as soon as she joined Trabia four years ago."
There was a moment of silence at that, then Selphie shouted, "Squall!"
Roxanne tugged on Seifer's sleeve. "Sir Squall's been bad?"
"Sir Squall is always bad," Seifer informed her.
Squall rolled his eyes. "Everyone, this is Roxanne Elliot. She's transferring to Balamb Garden." He looked over at the little girl. "Roxy, these are Seifer and my friends."
Roxanne nodded and looked the cadets over with a serious air for a long moment before pointing at each person and naming them, much to the older kids' surprise. She tripped up a bit on Irvine, but she managed to remember the name Squall had called the cowboy by.
"You're the smartest princess ever," Seifer informed the girl with a proud smile.
Roxanne nodded. "I am," she agreed.
"She's so cute!" Selphie squealed, hurrying forward and pulling the little girl into a hug.
Roxanne giggled and hugged her back for a minute. Then she gasped and said, "Oh no! Letters!" She tugged out of Selphie's arms and looked towards the car, only for Seifer to dangle the batch in front of her face.
"Looking for these, Princess?"
Roxanne snatched the letters from his hand and shot him a grateful smile before flipping determinedly through the stack and pulling out one letter, which she handed to Selphie. "Mail!" she chirped before bouncing off to deliver letters to Zell and Quistis, as well. She paused for a moment in front of Irvine, frowning, then dashed over to Squall and held out the bundle. "Did Irvy have a letter?"
"His full name is Irvine," Squall replied.
"Okay!" Then she was running back to Irvine , pulling out the letter for him as she went and almost tripping over her feet. "Mail!" she declared, holding it up to him.
"You're precious," Irvine informed her as he took his letter.
"It's from Matron and Sis!" Selphie realised, opening her letter and finding a photo of the two women.
Seifer and Squall had also received brief letters from Matron and Ellone, as well as their own copies of the same photo, which were safely stored with the photos of them and Ellone in their bags.
"Rai, Xu, Fuu, can we get your help with these bags?" Squall asked, motioning to the bags at his feet. "Seifer, help me move these to the cupboard."
Raijin and Fujin were sent off with the bags of water to the cafeteria while Xu was sent to the Training Centre with the bag of extra weapons and other things the two SeeDs had thought they might need while rescuing the scientists. The others were told to read their letters in Raijin and Zell's room, where they could all meet up once Seifer, Squall, and Roxanne were done meeting with Cid to debrief and introduce their newest cadet.
Rather than send their bags with their friends, the two SeeDs carried them with them, though Roxanne had happily taken Selphie's offer to take her bag to their meeting spot, so she didn't have to carry it with her.
The secretary greeted them with a smile, though she glanced curiously towards Roxanne. "Welcome back, gentlemen."
"Thanks, Julia," Seifer replied pleasantly. "Is Cid free?"
"He's briefing SeeD Liew right now, but they shouldn't be long," the secretary promised, her eyes again glancing towards the six-year-old holding Squall's hand and clutching a bundle of letters to her chest.
Seifer took the hint. "This is Roxy. She's transferring to Balamb. Princess, this is Miss Julia, Uncle Cid's helper."
"Hi!" Roxanne chirped, smiling at the woman behind the desk.
Julia smiled back. "It's lovely to meet you, Roxy."
The door of Cid's office opened and Sung Liew stepped out, a folder in one hand. He blinked in surprise to see Seifer and Squall, then shot off a quick salute. "Leonhart, Almasy."
"Liew," Squall replied as they returned the salute. Then they passed each other, Liew to the lift while the younger three made their way into Cid's office.
"Knock, knock!" Seifer called as they stepped inside.
Cid's head jerked up from where he'd been staring at paperwork and his face lit up. "You're back!"
"Indeed," Squall agreed drily. "The scientists – those who survived – are on their way back to Deling. Two scientists and the crew all died during a storm which wrecked their ship. The other eight only survived by eating a type of psychedelic mushroom." He pulled a small bag of the mushrooms – which he'd gathered while the scientists were still acting insane – out of his bag and placed them on Cid's desk.
Cid picked up the bag and considered the mushrooms with a grave look. "That's troubling. Are there any adverse effects to the scientists?"
"It doesn't appear to be addictive," Seifer replied, "nor does it appear to be toxic, although we're unaware of exactly how much they ingested, as their memories were hazy. The only after-effects we saw was an extreme distrust of Squall and myself, though that could have been because Squall threatened to shoot them all."
"I only had five rounds," Squall disagreed. "Unless my aim and their positions were perfect, there was no way I could have shot all of them."
"Technicalities."
Cid shook his head and set the mushrooms to one side. "I'll have to get in contact with the Trabian Society of Wildlife and see if they have more information about this." His attention turned to the young girl who was watching him with wide eyes from between the two SeeDs, her hand having transferred from Squall's to one of the brunet's belts while Squall pulled out the mushrooms. "You seem to have developed a tumour, Squall."
Seifer snickered while Squall rolled his eyes. "This is Roxanne Elliot," Squall told the Headmaster. "She's been travelling on the White SeeD ship and requested a transfer to Balamb Garden."
Cid looked surprised at that. "You met with the White SeeDs?"
"They tend to spend a great deal of time around the Centra crater when they're not gathering orphans or coming ashore to exchange mail," Seifer replied. "Which reminds me: Roxy, don't you have something for Uncle Cid?"
"Oh!" Roxanne dropped her hand from Squall's belt and flipped through her letters. Once she found the right one, she pulled it out of the pile and stepped forward to set it on the desk, informing him, "This one's for you, and these must be mailed." The rest of the pack was dropped next to Cid's letter.
Cid gathered everything up with a serious air. "Thank you, Cadet Elliot."
Roxanne smiled at him, then looked up at Squall as she took his hand again. "I'm a cadet," she informed him.
"So you are," Squall agreed.
Roxanne's smile dimmed a bit and she looked over at Seifer. "Does that mean I'm not a princess anymore?"
"You'll always be 'Princess Roxy' to us," Seifer promised. "And Squally and I will always be your Knights, right?"
"Right!"
Cid chuckled. "I assume you've already met Selphie?" he asked, looking towards Roxanne, but asking the question of all of them.
"She has," Squall agreed.
Cid nodded and ducked behind his desk to get a paper from a drawer. Once he'd popped back up again, he said, "She doesn't have a roommate right now because a couple people shuffled around, including her original roommate. We don't usually room together two students with such extreme age differences, but if neither of you disagree, you can move in with Selphie." He smiled towards the girl.
Roxanne nodded. "I like Selphie," she declared. "She gave me a hug."
"They should be fine together," Seifer said.
"Excellent. Have Selphie come see me if there are any problems." Cid made a quick notation on the paper he'd pulled out, then looked back up at the two boys. "I should be able to keep you in Garden for a few months this time, unless something particularly important comes up. Go unpack and spend some time with your friends. And remember to write Chris and Greg before they come here."
"Sir!" They both performed the salute, with Roxanne a couple seconds behind, which made both Cid and Seifer grin at her while Squall ruffled her hair.
As they left the office, Cid slit open his letter and smiled at the photo of his wife and Ellone. There was also all the official paperwork he needed for Roxanne, much to his pleasure, which he set to the side to be input into the database by the technicians before turning to the actual letter. Edea would be upset with him for making Squall and Seifer SeeDs so young, but she, more than anyone, would understand why he did it.
Squall and Seifer got a whole two months in Garden, which they spent catching up with their friends and ensuring Roxanne was comfortable enough in Garden for them to leave for months at a time with little to no word. Squall and Seifer spent a large portion of their time while the others were in classes either sparring in the Training Centre or gleefully hacking the Garden database at Cid's request – Seifer quickly came to learn why Squall enjoyed hacking databases so much, especially since the brunet had a mean streak and would occasionally leave nasty 'presents' for the programmers. Evenings were either spent with their friends or tutoring some particularly pitiful student that one or both boys couldn't say no to.
They also got their photos with everyone in it: Squall, Seifer, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Fujin, Raijin, Xu, Roxanne, and October (who had happened to be nearby when they found someone willing to take the picture and had then been dragged over by Selphie). Enough copies were made for all of them, plus extras for the parents who would actually want them, Matron, Ellone, and Cid. When they gave Cid his copy, he happily set it on his desk like a proud father, then asked if the two SeeDs were sending a photo to Christal and Gregory. That required that another copy be generated, then mailed out to Deling. Christal's responding letter gushing with thanks was completely worth the extra trouble.
Eventually, the missions came pouring back in and the two SeeDs were once again out of Garden more than they were in it. Cid managed to get them a couple free weeks during the spring holiday, so they got some quality time in with their friends and were able to celebrate Xu passing the SeeD exam, but then they were right back out in the field again for another year – and once Seifer turned fifteen in December, he started getting higher profile missions, putting him more at risk for being recognised outside Garden because his scar and preferred weapon were so distinctive. (Of course, with Seifer becoming so well known, people also started noticing Squall's own scar and gunblade, forcing him to cover up the scar and use alternate weapons while on even semi-undercover missions.)
That spring, Quistis took her SeeD exam and passed with flying colours. Her first official mission ended up being with October, and they both enjoyed it so much that they ended up becoming quasi-partners – as much as any SeeD ever partnered up with another SeeD.
Squall managed to get his fifteenth birthday free, though Seifer, Quistis, and October were all out on missions. His cadet friends and Xu threw him a huge party and they all stayed up late into the night in Raijin and Zell's room, talking about everything and nothing all at once.
The next morning, when Squall was called to Cid's office for his next mission brief, he was clearly grumpy and irritable, and Cid laughed at him when the teen first stepped into his office. Squall had glowered at him until he stopped, then snapped, "Where am I going?"
Cid sobered at that and slid the folder with the information in it across the desk. "Seifer and Angela King were trying to contain an uprising in one of the villages south of Winhill. I got word this morning that Angela has been killed and Seifer is withdrawing to a more defensible location until backup can get there."
Squall was already out of his seat and headed for the door, folder held in one white-knuckled hand. "I'll be at the train station in twenty minutes," he said over his shoulder.
"Take one of the new subs!" Cid called after him. "It'll get you there faster!"
Squall waved his understanding and was out the office and in the lift with barely a thought, busy scanning the information in the folder as he moved. Things weren't looking good, from what the reports said, with people from nearby villages coming in to support their neighbours against the small force of Galbadian soldiers stationed there. The army had requested backup from SeeD in quelling the revolt, and Cid had sent Seifer, who had just finished another mission in the area with Angela King.
Angela, Squall knew from working with her previously, was a mediocre SeeD who did her best work out of the public eye. Sending her on this mission had pretty much been the nails on her coffin, but the Galbadian army had demanded SeeD back them as soon as possible, and Angela had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially since Cid could never send a SeeD into a battle like this one without some form of backup.
'Please, Seifer, don't pull any fucking stunts and actually retreat,' Squall pleaded with his best friend as he hurried through the early morning halls of Garden. Only a couple of students and SeeDs were up, and all of them quickly moved out of Squall's way, recognising the stormy look on his face.
Squall, like most SeeDs, had a bag packed with all the essentials just inside his door, in case of an emergency. He grabbed the bag and Lion Heart – he and Seifer had both bought themselves the best versions of their preferred gunblades during a mission together in Deling City last year – then was back out the door, folder held in his mouth as he strapped his gunblade to his belt.
"Squall?" Xu called sleepily from behind him, having just come out of her room. She hurried to catch up to his quick gait. "Mission?"
"Yes," Squall said shortly as he slipped his mission folder into his bag. "Say goodbye to the others for me."
"Okay. Be safe," Xu replied, slowing down as they reached the fork and Squall turned towards the garage.
Squall waved a hand over his shoulder in response to her words.
Xu watched after him for a long moment, heart aching for how her unlikely friend was always out of Garden. She had never seen him that rushed about a mission before, and it caused a sick feeling in her stomach. She turned, finally, towards the cafeteria, hoping some mint tea would help settle her stomach.
Two hours later, Cid would announce that SeeD Angela King had been killed on assignment. Zell, sitting next to Xu at their usual table, would say, "Hey, wasn't she partnered with Seifer?"
And that's when it would hit Xu, 'He was rushing because Seifer's in trouble. Oh, sweet Hyne, please let them both get through this safely.'
Seifer grunted as he ripped off another strip of his useless shirt to wrap the jagged cut on his right arm. He'd retreated as he'd promised, but the rebellion was determined to finish what they'd started, and he was the only person left still kicking.
'Kicking is a relative term,' Seifer thought, glancing down at his broken left leg. He wouldn't be running any further, and he could hear the villagers' angry shouts as they came to flush him out. 'Now would be a fucking great time for reinforcements to arrive, you know?' he thought, aiming his question at his exhausted GFs.
"Because you're really that lucky," Quezacotl muttered. "You're so going to die here."
'Bright little beam of sunshine, aren't you?' Seifer thought back sarcastically. 'I have plenty of luck.'
"When the Ice Child is around, sure," Quezacotl agreed. "I think that's his luck, though. Not yours."
'Oh, shut up.' Quezacotl had a point, though, as loathe as Seifer was to admit it; the only missions that had gone off with barely a hitch had been those he went on with Squall. Every other mission he'd ever gone on ended up with either him or his partner – sometimes both, if his luck was especially shitty that day – badly hurt. This time was a new low, of course, as he'd never managed to get a partner killed.
'And now I get to die, too,' Seifer thought as the voices got ever closer. 'I never got anything for Squally's birthday, either... This is a fucking fantastic present. Squall, I'm sorry...' He closed his eyes, throat tight and eyes burning with tears.
The voices reached him, then, shouting, "I found him! We found him!"
Then everything got so very cold and silent and Seifer wondered, 'Am I dead?'
"Shiva!" Ifrit shouted in his mind.
Seifer's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring up at the Ice Queen herself, everything around her frozen with her power. There was only one person in all of Garden that directed a Shiva that powerful and Seifer looked past the GF to where he could just see Squall coming over a rise, pausing to take in the scene before him. Seifer couldn't help but think back to the film he'd watched as a child that had inspired him to become a Sorceress Knight; in the last scene, the Knight stood atop a cliff and posed, gunblade held to one side, at rest.
That image had always remained burned in Seifer's mind, but now he looked upon the son of that actor and realised exactly how poorly Laguna Loire had managed that stance. Squall stood, not at rest, but with a cold fury in his eyes that was untouched by the way the wind drew his hair all over the place and emphasised by the sharp line of his scar. In his hands burned Lion Heart, the same colour as the ice surrounding Seifer from Squall's favourite GF.
Then Squall's gaze caught on Seifer and he was half running, half sliding across the icy ground, Shiva grabbing his elbow to stop him before he could land on Seifer. "You idiot," he hissed, pulling his shirt over his head and starting to tear it into strips to replace the blood-soaked mess on Seifer's arm, untouched by the new chill in the air, "what part of 'retreat' didn't you understand?"
"I got it, but they–" he waved his good hand towards the frozen villagers, "–missed the memo about letting me get away."
Squall rolled his eyes, carefully redressing Seifer's wound. "Why do so many of your missions turn into clusterfucks, anyway?"
"Quetz says it's because you're not there," Seifer informed him.
"She might have a point," Squall muttered.
"Reinforcements have arrived," Shiva warned loud enough for both teens to hear.
Squall balled up another strip and reached it towards Seifer's head. "Nothing hit me in the hea– Ow!"
Squall nodded and pressed the wadded cloth to the cut staining Seifer's blond hair red. "Hold that there," he ordered. Once Seifer had taken over the cloth, Squall stood, grabbing Lion Heart from where he'd dropped it at his side. "I'll be right back. Shiva, protect him."
"I will do so, Ice Child," Shiva agreed. For once, Seifer didn't sense the hatred the Ice Queen usually turned his way, and he couldn't help but wonder if he really looked that shitty.
Squall walked out onto the ice with even steps, watching as the new arrivals gathered at the edge of the ice, looking on in disbelief. Squall offered them a smile filled with death and reached down to extend the special spikes he'd built into this particular pair of boot for when he was fighting with Shiva like this; ice fields had no traction, which was just as much trouble for him as it was for his opponents, hence boots with retractable spikes in the tread.
"You're working with that tyrant, too, aren't you?!" one of the villagers shouted as Squall continued approaching.
Squall shrugged. "Normally I'd say this is nothing personal – just another job – but you killed one of my fellows and almost killed my best friend so..." His eyes narrowed and he swung Lion Heart against an ice formation that had once been a person, slicing the head clean off to roll towards the villagers. "Now it's personal."
"Anyone who sides with Deling must die!" another villager shouted.
Yet another one called, "We're just protecting our families and way of living! Not that a mercenary would know what that means!"
Squall smiled humourlessly at that. 'No family? I have four quasi-parents, a sister, a biological father I've never met, nine friends, and one best friend who mean all the world to me. Being a mercenary is my way of life. You people almost killed one of my reasons for keeping on, and I'm going to fucking rip you apart.'
Squall changed his grip so he could balance Lion Heart one-handed while his free hand drew forth one of his stock of Ultimas, which he then proceeded to slam into the villagers. That was followed quickly by a series of Blizzagas, serving the dual purpose of extending Shiva's ice field and killing a couple of the people standing in the way
Those who survived the Ultima and Blizzagas quickly fell to Lion Heart, run through without a moment's pause. The ice magic junctioned to his blade froze the blood before it could splatter everywhere, leaving Squall unmarked by the violence.
'I'm going into the village to finish this,' he thought toward Shiva as he stepped off the extended ice field.
"I will protect the Fire Child," Shiva promised before turning her attention to the only other GF Squall had junctioned. "Protect him in my stead, Diablos."
"Like I would leave him to die," Diablos shot back, slipping to the forefront of Squall's mind. "Summon me."
It was generally believed to be impossible for one person to summon multiple GFs, but the reality was that GFs simply didn't like each other and didn't share well to boot. They disliked having to share space in a human's mind, but they hated fighting together, especially for the same human. Occasionally, two GFs summoned by partnered humans could put up with each other long enough to do their jobs, but it had to be the right GFs and humans.
Squall, however, was rather beloved by all GFs for his wealth of memories, enough of which he was willing to hand over. He also had experience with every GF in the world, thanks to the Ghost, including Eden, who required a firm hand and strong sense of self to wield effectively. Having mastered Eden, Squall had little trouble with other GFs, and his long-time status as Shiva's favourite kept her from getting jealous of other GFs, though they would occasionally get jealous of her, which he'd discovered when trying to find another GF to steal his overabundance of dark memories.
Diablos didn't care if Squall was the favourite human of Shiva, he just liked violent memories. The two GFs had taken about a day to sort themselves out in the back of Squall's head when he'd first junctioned the gravity-using GF, and then they were perfectly okay with each other. Squall had been as shocked as anyone when Diablos and Shiva let him summon both of them at the same time, but he was actually used to it, now.
As soon as Diablos was solid, the GF flew up into the air and started collecting energy for his Dark Messenger attack directly over the village. Knowing better than to get in the way of the attack, Squall remained outside the village, taking out anyone daring enough to run at him with silent efficiency. As soon as the sphere of gravity hit the ground, Squall started into the village, finishing off the few people who had survived the attack.
Within twenty minutes, the village was a ghost town of twisted bodies and slowly melting puddles of blood. Squall took a moment to consider the destruction with cold eyes, then headed towards the dark alley where he'd seen Angela King's body, left to rot, and picked her up to take her back to Garden, where they could properly send her off. He put her in the sub, then went back for Seifer, dismissing Shiva with a nod of thanks as he helped his best friend up. "Come on, let's get you back to Doc Kadowaki."
Seifer grimaced and took careful steps on his broken leg, which Squall had used a snapped pitchfork to fashion a crude brace for. "She's going to be so mad."
"Yeah, well, stop getting badly wounded on missions."
"I'll get right on that."
Squall snorted and carefully manoeuvred them into the sub. Seifer was left stretched out on one of the couches, a Sleep spell helping his body recuperate naturally while Squall piloted them home.
In Balamb, he took a moment to ring up to Garden from Ma Dincht's place – she had already heard that Seifer might be badly hurt and was reassured to hear that he would be fine – and ask for Zell and Raijin to meet him in the garage. When he arrived at Garden, his grim-faced friends were waiting for him, relieved to find Seifer alive, but clearly upset at the sight of both his wounds and Angela's body.
"Rai, could you take Seifer to the infirmary?" Squall asked quietly. "He's just under a Sleep spell right now, but his leg's broken, so take care."
"You got it," Raijin agreed and carefully picked their sleeping friend up.
"You want me to take Angela to the morgue?" Zell asked as his roommate made for the main hub.
"Please. I need to report to Cid."
Zell touched his shoulder and offered a pained smile. "I got it."
Squall nodded his thanks, then hitched his bag over his shoulder – he hadn't seen Seifer or Angela's things, but they had hardly been a priority and there would have been nothing indispensable in them anyway – then made his way up to Cid's office. Julia, the secretary, waved him in as soon as he stepped out of the lift, so he shoved his way into Cid's office.
Cid was out of his seat in a flash, though he remained behind the desk. "Is Seifer okay?" he asked, worry lines aging his face far beyond his forty-seven years.
"Rai's taking him to the infirmary," Squall replied quietly as he took up a stance on the other side of the desk.
Cid fell back into his chair, relieved. "Thank Hyne. Is the rebellion under control?"
"The rebellion is dead," Squall reported in a cold tone.
Cid shot him a faintly worried look, but the dark gleam in Squall's eyes told him he wasn't about to get any apologies for destroying an entire village. He'd almost expected something like it when he'd sent Squall as backup, knowing how close the two boys were. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I see. Anything else?"
Squall considered that for a moment, then nodded his head. "Yes. I'm requesting you make myself and Seifer permanent partners."
Cid frowned. "You know SeeD doesn't do that," he reminded the teen. "We prefer to have operatives free from partnerships–"
"In case something comes up where you only need one of the pair's abilities and the other one would only be a liability," Squall interrupted. "Yes, I'm aware of that. But Seifer and I specialized in the exact same things and, though our styles are a little different, we work better as a team than we do apart. Every single mission he's gone on without me has turned into a clusterfuck, though he always gets the job done, one way or another, and my best missions have been with him, too."
"I can't afford to have my two best SeeDs tied up together all the time–"
"If I hadn't arrived right when I had and had the exact amount of control over Shiva as I do, we'd have two corpses on our hands right now," Squall snapped, eyes flashing with anger. "You can't afford to continue separating us."
Cid pressed his lips together and took in the furious emotions radiating off of his best SeeD. Squall and Seifer were best friends, had practically been together from day one; it made sense that a near-death experience would bring one of them raging to him about keeping them together – it had been an ongoing argument over the years – but Squall was usually the more sensible of the two and would talk Seifer down. "Your emotions are clouding your better judgement," he pointed out in a carefully gentle tone.
Squall shot him a disturbing parody of a smile and said, "Yes, in fact, they are. Are you sure you want to push me right now? Because I am so not capable of rational thought, and we wouldn't want me doing anything stupid because I'm simply incapable of thinking it through. Like killing you because you're ticking me off. Or resigning and stealing Seifer away to live in Esthar with my biological father."
Cid paled a bit at that, because the darkness in the teen's eyes said he might very well be willing to do either of those things. "You've made your point," he managed, clearing his throat. "You and Seifer can be official partners; all future missions together."
The darkness in Squall's eyes faded a bit and his posture, which had turned just the slightest bit hostile while Cid hadn't been paying attention, relaxed. "Good. Now that's sorted, I'm going to go sit next to my partner's infirmary bed and calm down." He turned and stalked from the room.
Cid had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to undo the partnership in the future, not now that he'd agreed to it.
Seifer woke slowly to the familiar smells of the infirmary. He had a brief moment of drowsy contentment, only vaguely curious as to what stupid thing had happened on his most recent mission to end him up in Kadowaki's domain, then the memories struck him: weaving between buildings with Angela a few steps behind him; her choked scream as a pitchfork hit her from behind, striking straight through her heart; managing to get a priority message for backup out before having to run, run, run; lying in the dirt and waiting for death; Squall coming over the rise, all cold fury and violent death...
His eyes snapped open and he stared up at the ceiling for only the briefest of moments before Squall's voice said, "Good evening."
Seifer turned his head to the side and felt his racing heart calm at the sight of his best friend, sitting there with a half-eaten dinner tray on the small table next to the visitor chair. Judging by the black emergency bag, Lion Heart, and Hyperion resting against the wall next to the chair, Squall hadn't returned to his room yet, and Seifer was torn between being grateful that Squall had stayed with him and irritated that the younger SeeD had decided to waste time at Seifer's bedside instead of resting before his next mission. The irritation won out simply because Seifer was too stressed by his recent mission to be grateful and he snapped, "Why are you here?"
Squall's expression blanked for a moment, then cleared, understanding bright in the blue-grey eyes. "I can't go on any missions if my partner is stuck in the infirmary," he stated quietly.
It was Seifer's turn to be surprised by the comment, but understanding didn't come to him and all he could manage was, "Huh?"
A wry smile touched Squall's lips for the briefest of moments before it vanished. "I'm not letting you go off on missions without me anymore," he said, the smile remaining in his voice even though it was no longer on his face.
Seifer snorted, then winced as the action made a headache he hadn't even noticed flare. 'Right, head wound,' he thought before returning his attention to Squall. "And good luck getting Cid to sign off on that one." Hyne knew Seifer had tried enough times.
"I already did," was Squall's factual response.
Seifer blinked at him in disbelief. 'What? But... Cid would never...'
"I told him that if he didn't make us official partners, I was resigning and taking you with me to live in Esthar with Laguna," Squall explained with a shrug.
Seifer stared at him for another moment before announcing, "You are so many kinds of awesome right now; I hope you know that."
Squall's lips curled with one of those rare, honest smiles that Seifer and all their friends had come to treasure. "I care about you too, Seifer. Now go back to sleep."
Seifer smiled to himself and closed his eyes to do just that. Then a memory of the date came to him and he murmured, "Hey, Squally?"
"Hm?"
"Happy belated birthday. Sorry I didn't get you anything."
Squall's hand came to rest on top of Seifer's and he chanced the pain from the healing cut on his upper arm to turn his hand over. Squall's slightly smaller hand rested in his and squeezed. "You survived until I got there," he said.
Seifer smiled again and he drifted to sleep.
-0-0-0-
A/N: I almost got them together in this chapter, but then I had a brilliant thought while getting ready for bed. They'll probably get together next chapter. And I might get a bit more about the others in here, now that they're not stuck in Garden all the time. XD Or, well, Xu and Quisty aren't, and the others will be aiming to graduate in the coming spring, so... (Except Rai, who I sorta decided is a year younger than the others, so he's got another year.)
~Bats ^.^x
1 - Touch of Memory ||| 2 - No One Here to Save
3 - Burn Up the Tracks
4 - Orphans and Widows ||| 5 - Close the Last Window ||| 6 - Melodies of Life
7 - Lie Under the Night |||
10 - Dance With the Enemy ||| 11 - Everything I Have in This World ||| 12 - Running Out of Days
13 - Wake Up and Fight ||| 14 - Crimson Sky ||| 15 - Heroes Waiting
16 - Light in My Eyes ||| 17 - Lying Next to a Ghost ||| 18 - Living For Today
19 - Some Things Are That Simple
..
