![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batsutousaiTitle: Zyxt
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
Chapter: 4 of 10
Rating: M
Pairings: Squall/Seifer
Warnings: AU, minor canon-fuckery, slash/yaoi
Summary: Alone in Time Compression, Squall sets out to make them all a happier ending.
Disclaim Her: Since people get bitchy if I don't mention it, there's a bit of citrus at the end of this chapter. No, I'm not marking it. Yes, I suck. Shut up.
A/N: This chapter is heavy on the character and relationship development side, but I've given them a month for training and spending time in the same city. I considered skipping over everything and going, 'There was much levelling to be had and some smex on the side', but that sounded like a terrible idea. So you get the development instead. (I suppose it'll make the fic longer, if nothing else.)
The scene at the beginning of this chapter was sort of suggested by Shara. Especially the POV. I kinda like it. XD
-0-0-0-
Stars Collide
-0-0-0-
Xu honestly wasn't certain what had happened. One afternoon, Headmaster Cid had just had a nervous breakdown in his office. He'd had nothing more stressful than any other day, no students or SeeD had received life-threatening injuries and no one had threatened to quit. He'd been a bit on edge for the days before that, admittedly, but when Xu had asked him if he was okay, he'd assured her that he was just fine.
Then, inexplicably, he'd had a nervous breakdown.
Three days later, she still wasn't certain what had happened, even after having gone over all the papers on his desk, trying to keep up with his load while he was in the infirmary. The only thing even the slightest bit unusual was a message from Cadet Leonhart simply saying, "When a client named Rinoa Heartilly approaches you about a contract between SeeD and the Forest Owls, turn her down." Leonhart had up and vanished almost a week before that with Cadet Almasy and no one had any idea where they'd gone. Not that Leonhart was particularly friendly, anyway, and Almasy had already failed the SeeD exam twice, so maybe he'd just up and left. Finally.
But there was nothing unusual about a couple of cadets leaving for a few weeks, even if those two cadets were the only two gunblade specialists in the whole of SeeD and the Garden.
'Maybe that's what he's worried about,' Xu thought to herself, glancing at the message from Leonhart. 'Maybe he's afraid we're about to lose those two. I suppose it would be a loss – gunbladers are notoriously difficult to come by – but it's not like there are any missions that require a gunblader, and Seifer is definitely not cut out for SeeD. Leonhart...'
Xu frowned. She didn't actually know much about Leonhart. He was quiet, but worked hard. He didn't have any friends and glared at anyone who dared to talk to him. The only person he had anything even remotely like a relationship with was Seifer, and that was more of a violent and hate-filled rivalry than anything else. He wasn't much of a team player, by any means, and SeeD went out in teams. Losing him wouldn't be the end of the world.
The door slid open and Cid hurried in, apparently no longer under Dr Kadowaki's supervision – that, or the good doctor had been distracted and missed him fleeing. "Have we had any other messages from Squall?" he asked breathlessly, reaching for his message terminal.
'Squall? Oh, Cadet Leonhart.' Xu shook her head. "No, sir. Were you expecting something?"
Cid sagged, staring at his list of messages. "I... I was hoping... Oh, I hope..."
"Sir?" Xu asked, standing from behind the desk. The Headmaster looked like he was about to topple over.
"Without Squall, all will be lost," Cid whispered, looking up at her with broken eyes. "Don't you see? It's all lost. Everything is–"
The door snapped opened and Dr Kadowaki came barging in, face a storm cloud. "I did not say you could leave the infirmary, Cid. You need to be in bed."
"We're all going to die!" Cid shouted at them. "Don't you see?!" He waved the message terminal around, as if it held all the proof he needed. "We're going to di–"
Dr Kadowaki darted forward at just the right moment and stuck him with a needle. The Headmaster collapsed immediately, unconscious. "You two," Kadowaki ordered a couple of curious SeeDs in the doorway, "carry the Headmaster down to the infirmary. Chop, chop." A glare later and they were running to do her bidding.
"Is he... going to be okay?" Xu wondered as she picked up the message terminal from where it had fallen when the Headmaster went down.
"He's overworked and clearly needs a holiday," Dr Kadowaki replied briskly, slipping the used needle into a coat pocket. "I'll contact his wife and see if she won't pick him up for a bit. You'll be taking over his duties?"
Xu nodded. "Erm, yes. Is that going to be a problem?"
"Just don't overwork yourself; we don't need to track down a second replacement." The doctor turned and stalked from the room, the door snicking shut behind her.
Xu looked back down at the message terminal, eyes drawn to the highlighted title of Leonhart's message. "Say no to the Forest Owls," she muttered to herself, deleting the message. "Will do, Leonhart." Tossing the terminal back in its cradle, she returned to the paperwork overfilling the desk; there were more important things to worry about than rogue cadets.
-0-
Sorceress magic and para-magic weren't all that different, all things considered, but there was one fundamental difference between the two, Squall had discovered: Para-magic was a living entity on its own, rather like the GFs, but without the personalities, so it could be junctioned, but it never, really, became a part of the caster. Sorceress magic, on the other hand, was a part of the caster; it moved with the emotions of the caster and responded to their call far easier than para-magic.
Squall counted himself lucky that his own affinity for ice-based magic had turned the majority of his Sorceress magic ice-based, although there was some non-elemental magic in there, which had been Adel's specialty. Ice-based magic didn't get angry, it got cold. So when his temper flared, his magic cooled him down enough that he could think.
Seifer, however, didn't have that luxury. His Sorceress magic had taken the fire-based route, because of his affinity to the element. When he got angry, his magic simply added to it, so he just got angrier and angrier. He'd always had a problem with his temper, but it was so much worse, now, and Squall wasn't certain letting him near the Council was a good idea.
The Council had eventually called them back the next day. There were insults politely tossed back and forth about who was more worthless and Laguna had spent the entire ten minutes the two ex-cadets had been in there with his head in his hands.
Eventually, one of the Ministers had implied the wrong thing and Squall had noticed a flicker out of the corner of his eye. He managed to shove Seifer out of the Council Room and down an empty corridor before anyone else noticed the growing fireball in the other teen's hand, but that had still left him with an angry male Sorceress that had an affinity for fire.
So Squall, not knowing what else to do, had reached for the fireball and countered it with a ball of ice.
They hadn't gone back to the Council Room – Squall hadn't been about to chance it – and had headed for the library, instead. They'd both gone for books on Sorceresses and devoured everything they could until Laguna had come to see if they would return to the Council Room.
"No," Squall deadpanned before Seifer could even open his mouth. "Neither of us feel like standing there and smiling while we and our home is insulted." He glanced up at his father. "I don't have the patience, and Seifer doesn't have the temper for it. If we go back in there, someone's going to get hurt. I have no intentions of causing an international nightmare, so I'm just going to politely refuse to have anything to do with them."
"At least until they grow up," Seifer muttered, scowling a bit.
Laguna sighed at that and shook his head. "Okay. Why don't you two leave the city for a bit and kill some things. It might make you feel better?"
Seifer's eyes lit up at the prospect and Squall had to admit that it might be nice to get out of the city and see what all, exactly, they could accomplish with their newfound powers. "Okay. We can head out towards the plains."
"I'll go get Hyperion and Revolver!" Seifer called before dashing from the library.
Squall sighed and rubbed at his eyes before standing and starting to put their collection of books away.
Laguna leaned over and picked one of the books up. "Studying Sorceresses?"
"We want to know as much as we can before facing Ultimecia," Squall offered. "We weren't prepared, last time, and we almost lost. I'd like a better idea of what we're up against."
"That's acceptable," Laguna agreed, grabbing a few books and helping put them away.
Squall was quiet for a long moment before offering, "I'm sorry, about earlier. For just leaving without a word."
Laguna shook his head. "Seifer looked like he was seconds away from killing someone." His eyes slid towards Squall. "Or burning them to a crisp."
Squall tensed. 'Shit.'
"That was unusually controlled, for para-magic," Laguna continued lightly, though his eyes were watching Squall a little too closely. "In fact, the only time I've seen a spell that controlled was when Adel hit Kiros with a small Flare."
Squall swallowed. "I suppose that explains why he's so afraid of ma–"
"Squall."
"Hey, Squall, Seifer asked m–" Ellone stopped at the edge of the bookcase, blinking at the father and son who were standing in silence, watching each other for the slightest hint of breaking. She cleared her throat. "Uncle Laguna, I thought you had meetings all day," she said in a rather good attempt at her normal cheerful tone.
Laguna looked away from Squall and offered Ellone one of his obnoxious grins. "Hi, Ellone! I got a small break from the meetings and thought I'd help Squall put these books away!"
Squall turned and shoved the books in his hands on the shelves. "Sis, you said something about Seifer?" he asked, carefully not looking at his father.
Ellone nodded, watching her brother with a faint frown. "Yeah, he had your gunblades. He said he was going to meet you by the main entrance."
Squall nodded. "I should go catch up to him, then. Thanks, Sis." He slipped past the other two and made for the door.
"Squall," Laguna called before the teen could leave the library, making him tense. "We don't have any meetings tomorrow; maybe you and I should talk a bit. Catch up, right?"
"Whatever," Squall managed before hurrying from the room and through the halls of the presidential palace.
When Squall reached Seifer just outside, the older teen gave him a worried look and Revolver, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Not here," Squall replied, eyeing some nearby guards and motioning for them to leave the area in front of the large building. "Do you want to train on the Esthar continent, or go outside?"
Seifer glanced at him with a frown. "Here's fine."
Squall nodded and, once they'd sat on one of the quick transports, set it for the car rental. They had to use Seifer's Garden account to pay for the car, since Squall's meagre funds had been depleted from travelling with Ellone and paying for all their supplies.
"I hope the Council works something out soon," Seifer commented neutrally as they climbed into the car. "We don't really have the gil to keep doing things without a job. Imagine how hard this would be without Laguna housing us." When he saw Squall tense out of the corner of his eye, he reached over and ensured the small emergency radio that came with the car was unhooked, then demanded, "What happened?"
Squall clenched his jaw and remained silent as he navigated the bright blue streets out of the city. Once in the open, he said, "Laguna saw your fireball. He can tell the difference between para-magic and real magic."
"Shit."
Squall shot a quick glance at Seifer's pale face, then added, "Your temper is going to get us caught."
Seifer opened his mouth to give the other teen an angry response, only to snap it shut when his mind caught up with him. "Hyne damn it." Because Squall was right, he was going to get them caught.
They remained in silence for a long moment until Squall finally said, "We can try junctioning ice magic to you, or even find a copy of Shiva, if you think that will help."
Seifer grimaced at the thought. "I don't know..."
Squall sighed. "We need something to help calm you down. Ice seemed to help this time–"
"I know, I know." Seifer rubbed tiredly at his face. "I don't like it, but it's worth a shot. Where would we get a copy of Shiva? Garden?"
Squall sighed at the thought of having to return to Garden for another Shiva, but there wasn't much choice.
'I will junction with him for now,' Shiva offered from the back of Squall's mind. 'I'm stronger than your average Shiva, anyway, so I'll have a better chance of calming him down.'
Squall frowned, but admitted that they didn't have a lot of options. He put the car into park and held out his hand, where Shiva's miniature form appeared in crystal. "Shiva says she'll junction with you for now, and I can give you some of my high-level ice spells. Hyne knows I don't have much use for them right now."
"Yeah, I suppose." Seifer took Shiva and shuddered as she settled into the back of his mind, glowering at Ifrit. His magic did seem calmer with her there, however, so he let it be. On the other hand, "Do you want Ifrit? I know you never went to the Fire Cavern, and I doubt you junctioned him before..."
Squall considered that. He didn't much care for the fire-elemental, never had, but he admitted that Ifrit probably wasn't helping Seifer's temper. "I'll take him."
They traded Ifrit and Squall stocked Seifer with his whole collection of Blizzaga as well as a handful of Blizzara that he hadn't bother to refine before they'd faced Ultimecia.
Properly stocked, the two gunbladers got out of the car and Squall locked it before dropping the keys into his pocket. "Let's see what we can do with our magic," he suggested.
Seifer grinned a bit madly and nodded, so they started off across the plains at an easy pace, gunblades securely strapped in place instead of in their hands.
They took down two Malboros in quick succession and any number of hopeful Mesmerizes. The magic came quick and easy to their hands and packed more of a punch than even the best para-magic equivalent.
"I suppose I can see why Sorceresses go mad for power," Seifer commented as he flicked a fireball at an approaching Mesmerize, burning it to a crisp in a matter of seconds. "This is distressingly easy. I'd hoped that the Malboros, at least, would have been a challenge."
"It doesn't help that fire and ice are a Malboro's weakness," Squall replied drily, stretching a bit.
"Still..." Seifer got rid of another Mesmerize and asked, "What are you going to do about Laguna?"
Squall sighed. "He wants to talk tomorrow. No Council meetings, or whatever. I don't know."
"You could tell him it's just me."
Squall glanced at Seifer, eyes grateful. "No. If I have to tell him anything, I'll tell him the truth. There's no point in me lying to him. Not about this." He paused, then added, "I've already set up a precedence for telling him the truth; it wouldn't be fair if I lied to him now."
Seifer nodded. "Whatever you end up doing, you have my support," he promised.
A very faint smile touched Squall's lips. "Thanks." He glanced at an incoming Malboro. "Gunblades?"
"Oh, I suppose..."
The following twenty minutes were spent in silence as they decimated the monsters of the plains with the ease of years of training. Having spent so many years training against each other, they knew each other's fighting styles in and out and there wasn't a single misstep in their dance, even when surrounded.
Eventually, though, the monsters stopped coming and the two made their way back to the car, sipping from water bottles Seifer had grabbed with their gunblades. "Maybe the Council can hire us to keep the continent monster-free."
Squall snorted. "It might terrify them too much to consider that we could."
"Oh crap!" Seifer exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "They can clear an entire plain in an hour? Get them out of the city before they kill someone!"
Squall snorted again, amusement dancing in his eyes. "I don't know. They might go straight for the firing squad."
"Like that's going to stop us."
"Maybe they'll try something while we're sleeping..."
Seifer laughed. "Oh, I hope so. I'd love a reason to kill someone in my sleep."
"As long as you didn't set your room on fire in the process."
Seifer shot him a grin. "I'd have to call you to put it out."
"I am not cleaning up your messes. No. Not happening." He narrowed his eyes when Seifer's grin just kept widening. "If you don't get rid of that creepy grin, I'm going to–"
"Freeze my balls off, yes, I know." Seifer snorted and looked towards the car. "And you wouldn't."
Squall set his water bottle on the roof of the car and tossed a thread of ice at Seifer's crotch, who countered with a fireball. A minor duel with magic started then, both of them tossing their element at the other.
After a couple of minutes, they had to stop and deal with the minor burns and strips of ice that had frozen on their clothing, Seifer laughing the whole time.
Squall looked up, smiling, when Seifer had finally started to calm down, and the older teen felt his breath catch. "You– ah, you smiled," he stuttered, his heart beating unusually fast. 'What the hell?'
Squall blinked and the smile vanished. "Whatever."
Seifer took a deep breath and shook his head. "It's getting towards evening," he commented, looking up at the darkening sky instead of at his rival. 'What just happened?'
Squall nodded and fished the keys from his pocket. "Come on, then," he said agreeably, unlocking the car.
They both got back into the car and Squall turned them back towards Esthar. Just as they re-entered the main city, he asked, "What is it?"
Seifer shook his head. "I don't know."
Squall glanced at the older teen's troubled expression and sighed. "I'm here."
Seifer smiled faintly. "I know. Thanks." He leaned forward and hooked the emergency radio back up. "You said something about some islands that're good for training?"
Squall nodded. "The Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell. Heaven is north-east of Esthar, Hell is to the far west of Galbadia. Heaven has a lot of Malboros and Ochus, as well as a couple Chimeras, which are nasty if you're not packing Holy. Hell has T-Rexaurs and some dragons. There's also the Deep Sea Research Centre to the south. Bahamut and Eden are both there."
"I know you've got your talk with Laguna planned tomorrow, but maybe we could try one of those spots the day after?"
Squall clenched his hands on the wheel. 'Why not go right after the talk with Laguna?' he wondered.
'You're going to run away? From your own father?' Diablos mocked.
Squall tossed a mental icicle at his GF and smirked at his howl of pain. "We can go to Hell," he decided out loud while Diablos cursed him and the others all laughed. "I don't feel like facing off against Chimeras right now. Or in two days, even."
"Okay. Not the Research Centre?"
Squall shrugged. "That place is practically worse than both Heaven and Hell put together. I'd rather get some training in before going there, personally." He parked the car at the rental and climbed out. "Hungry?"
"You bet."
-0-
"You wished to speak with me?" Squall asked as he stepped into his father's office. He was relieved to see Laguna alone, for once, and vaguely recalled that the man had talked Kiros and Ward into showing Ellone, Seifer, Fujin and Raijin around the city.
Laguna sighed at the teen standing in the centre of his office, looking like he was about to salute. "I'm not your commanding officer, Squall," he commented.
Squall swallowed and kept his gaze out the window behind Laguna. "You're the President of Esth–"
"I'm your father," Laguna interrupted, a note of impatience in his voice. "I don't expect military perfection from my own soldiers, why would I expect it from you? Sit down."
Squall faltered, his stance loosening for just a moment before he dropped into the nearest chair, looking stressed.
Laguna sighed again. "Squall, what happened?" he asked gently.
Squall's jaw tightened for a moment, then he said, "Seifer and I are both Sorceresses. Sorcerers. Whatever."
Laguna considered the stormy eyes across from him, taking note of the fear and panic hidden in them, then offered, "It was Adel, wasn't it?"
Squall nodded, refusing to elaborate.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" he wondered. When Squall looked away, Laguna sighed again. "No, I suppose not."
"I... hadn't decided yet," Squall allowed, looking back at his father. "Seifer thought I should, but I didn't know and I've never had a parent before and I wasn't sure what you'd do or, or–" He snapped his mouth shut. 'Or if you'd abandon me for it.'
"I'm not angry with you, Squall," Laguna offered, managing a smile for the teen. "I wish you'd just told me, but I'm not angry. Kiros had mentioned that none of you were sure what would happen to Adel's magic once she'd died, and we'd all wondered. But you came back without seeming any different, so we thought nothing had happened."
Squall shrugged. "When Rinoa became a Sorceress, it wasn't even obvious half the time. Unless she was actually using her magic, she wasn't any different. Even when Ultimecia was possessing her, she didn't appear any different, not really."
Laguna nodded. "Adel was the only Sorceress any of us have ever had any experience with."
"I know. And she was sort of obvious. So was Ultimecia, really. And Matron, while she was possessed. I think... The magic can twist a person, if they're not careful, if they're not watching for it. It's..." He took a moment to chew his lower lip. "Have you ever used para-magic?"
"Once, just before we sealed Adel," Laguna answered, looking curious.
"Para-magic sort of sits there, in the back of your mind, but it's got its own thoughts, sort of," Squall tried to explain, frowning. "It only reacts when you call on it, when you actually focus on it. But real magic... It's a part of us." He touched his chest. "It... It reacts without you even having to think about it, without you even realising it's there, ready to be used. When you get angry, it's there, waiting to be used, influencing you. It's not a problem for me, since I lean more towards ice magic, but Seifer is fire..."
"His magic just fuels his anger," Laguna realised. "We'll have to keep him away from the Council."
Squall nodded, looking tired. "I know. I gave him Shiva and some ice para-magic, which seems to be helping..." He shrugged. "Training helps, too. Back at Garden, when he was about to lose his temper – really lose it, I mean, not just turn into a bit of a bully – we'd spar and he'd calm down. Fujin and Raijin would sometimes come find me when Seifer was about to explode, once they realised I helped. It was..." He shook his head. "We've always calmed each other down, really."
Laguna cocked his head to one side. "That's what a Knight does," he pointed out.
Squall shot him a sharp look. "What are you implying?"
Laguna carefully said, "After Hyne, there has never been a male Sorceress – or Sorcerer, if you'd prefer – so I can't say what is or isn't true for the two of you. History, as you know, says that a Sorceress requires a Knight, to help protect her from those intent on persecuting her and to assist her in controlling her own powers."
"We're both capable of protecting ourselves," Squall announced, a biting edge to his tone.
"I'm not saying you're not," Laguna agreed, "but you just told me that you calm each other down, and that falls under the whole 'controlling the Sorceress' magic' clause." When Squall narrowed his eyes, Laguna hurried to add, "Maybe you don't think you need a Knight, Squall, and maybe being male will help you control the magic better, I don't know, but Seifer obviously needs one, and I'd prefer you had someone there, too."
Squall snapped his mouth shut and considered that, the concern in his father's voice catching him off guard. 'Become each other's Knights? Is that even possible?'
'Maybe,' rumbled Doomtrain. 'Sorceresses tend to be rather inclusive, and prefer not to share their power. Moreover, they often require a Knight for protection from others, which another Sorceress can't always provide.'
'You do possess opposing elements,' Ifrit added, shifting behind Quezacotl when Squall's – and his magic's – attention shifted to him. 'You've already discovered that trading Shiva and myself helps, at least a little. Imagine how much control you would have over your own magic if an equally powerful opposing magic was there to help soothe it.'
Laguna watched the faraway look in his son's eyes, wondering what in his mind was distracting the teen so. Perhaps he was considering his magic. Perhaps he'd already formed something of a bond with Seifer and hadn't wanted to mention it.
Squall's focus finally returned to Laguna. "I need to talk to Seifer," he decided. At Laguna's curious look, he grimaced and admitted, "I can communicate with my GFs, and Ifrit made a good point."
Laguna nodded, accepting that. "Tell me about Garden," he requested.
Squall blinked and his gaze flickered to the console to the left of Laguna's desk where flickering images of happenings from all over the globe were collected. "Don't you already know everything?"
Laguna smiled and shook his head. "I know what Garden is for and some of what it entails, but I don't know what it's like. I don't know what your own experiences were like, what friends you had, or what enemies. Did you have a favourite instructor, perhaps? A girlfriend?"
Squall blinked again, looking a little lost. "This is... I don't understand."
Laguna chuckled. "Squall, you're my son, and I've missed seventeen years of your life. I can't go back in time and fix that, but I'd like to know more about you. Will you tell me?"
Squall stared at him, startled, for a long moment, then relaxed back in his chair and started talking about the first time he'd used a gunblade. Laguna just smiled at him and settled in to listen, completely ignoring the pile of papers at his elbow that demanded his attention.
-0-
Squall didn't get a chance to talk to Seifer until everyone had already gone to bed. Laguna had distracted him until long after the others were back from their tour, and once Squall was freed, Ellone had kept him busy. After dinner they'd watched a few old films, which had been nice, but it hadn't given him the chance to speak with Seifer.
Finally, after the last door had fallen closed in the hallway, Squall slipped out of his own room and knocked lightly on Seifer's door.
Seifer slid his door open just enough to see out. Upon seeing Squall, he pulled the door open the rest of the way and motioned the younger teen inside. After closing the door, he commented, "I had wondered if you were going to come by."
Squall grunted and dropped onto the end of Seifer's bed. "Whatever."
Seifer snorted and sat near the head of his bed, twisting to face the other teen. "So? I assume, since we're not being experimented on, that it went fine?"
Squall sighed and nodded. "Yeah. He wasn't bothered or anything, at least. We talked about it for a bit and–" His eyes slid over to Seifer, who raised an eyebrow at the uncertain cast to Squall's expression. "–he suggested that we become each other's Knight."
Seifer's other eyebrow joined the one that was already raised. "Can you do that? Be a Knight and a Sorceress, I mean."
Squall shrugged. "Fuck if I know. And even if they couldn't, what's to say we can't?"
"We're hardly average," Seifer agreed, rubbing at his chin. "Well, it's worth a shot, I suppose. Not sure how the connection forms, exactly..."
"With Rinoa, it just sort of happened," Squall volunteered. "We were standing by the flower field at the orphanage and I thought, 'I'll be her Knight' and then I was."
"You make it sound so simple," Seifer commented drily, rolling his eyes. "Did it feel like anything specific?"
Squall frowned the slightest bit. "It felt... sort of like she was there, next to me, even when we'd moved apart. Like she had this... this presence, and after I became her Knight, it was always there, next to me..." He shook his head. "I don't know if that made any sense."
Seifer snickered. "It made perfect sense."
Squall shot him a disgusted look. "Don't mock me, Seifer."
Seifer shook his head. "I wasn't... Oh, whatever. So I just say, 'Squall, I'll be your Knight'?" he asked in an overly dramatic voice.
Squall glowered at him. "You're an ass."
"Come on, Squall. Play along."
"Play al–" Squall moved towards Seifer on the bed. "Don't you dare treat this like some sort of game!"
"I'm not," Seifer insisted, shivering slightly. "Fuck, it's cold in here. Did you do something?"
Squall paused, poised over Seifer, and frowned. "Cold? It's really warm in here. Are you su...r... Oh."
Seifer frowned. "Oh? Oh, what? And stop looming!" He shoved at Squall's leg, only for the smaller teen to lose his balance and land in Seifer's lap.
They stared at each other for a long moment, surprised. Then, not even thinking about it, Squall leaned forward and pressed his lips against Seifer's. A jolt of energy lanced up his back and he gasped at the sensation, only for Seifer to take the opportunity and slip his tongue into Squall's mouth.
Seifer's hands slid up, under Squall's sleeveless tee and and brushed up the smaller teen's back, enjoying the feel of muscles shivering at his touch. He was more than used to kissing girls – had even taken a couple of them to bed – but there was something about wrapping your arms around someone who could so obviously take care of themselves.
Squall's legs slid under him and both teens moved to compensate, ending up with Squall nestled comfortably between Seifer's legs. Their crotches brushed, making them both moan, especially with their magic fizzling between them.
"Fuck," Seifer gasped, pulling away from Squall's mouth and groaning as the younger teen nipped at his jaw. "Fuck, Squall, fu– Ngh! Damnit, wait!" He grabbed Squall's hair and tugged his head back and away from his neck. "Slow down, damnit."
Squall stared down at him for a moment, eyes dark and wild, before they got some of their grey colour back, the wildness calmed. "Fuck. Seifer, I'm so–"
Seifer tugged on Squall's hair, shutting him up. "I'm not saying no, I'm just saying slow down," he hissed.
Squall's chest heaved and he disentangled one of his hands from Seifer's vest and reached up to cover the hand tugging his hair. "Okay. Can I–"
"Yeah, sorry." Seifer smoothed his hand in Squall's hair, no longer pulling, but not about to remove it from the brown locks. He'd always wondered if Squall put gel in it, since it remained in that shape even in the rain, but it was soft and un-gelled.
Squall slid down a bit, in a more comfortable position, and they both groaned as their crotches rubbed together again. "Ah, fuck," Squall whispered, resting his forehead against Seifer's chest. "Damnit."
Seifer closed his eyes and tried to get his breath back, fingers still tangled in Squall's hair. "It's our magic, isn't it?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I think so. We–" Squall choked on a laugh, "–we're Knights, I think. Your magic is really..." He flushed. "It's really hot..."
Seifer couldn't help but grin at that, and the hand that wasn't in Squall's hair moved to trace a line down Squall's back, making the other teen gasp and arch against him.
"S-stop that!" Squall ordered, breathless. "I can't...Fuck!" He moaned as Seifer stroked his back again. "D-damn you."
"You said my magic is hot," Seifer purred, stroking Squall's back again and earning himself another moan. "I can't help it if that turns me on."
When Seifer ran a hand along his back again, Squall reached down and cupped the bulge in Seifer's trousers, earning him a strangled sound. Dark blue eyes leaned up to meet equally dark green ones. "You're an ass."
"Fuck. Not a whole...lot more tha...n a... Ican'tthink!" Seifer got out in a rush, pulling his hand out from under Squall's shirt in defeat.
Squall slid his hand around to rest on the outside of Seifer's thigh and dropped his head back against Seifer's chest. They both took a moment to just breathe.
Finally, Squall whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Neither do I," Seifer whispered back, running his hand through Squall's hair. "But it feels..."
"Right," Squall finished.
"Yeah." Seifer let out a heavy breath and lightly touched the back of Squall's neck, smiling at the shudder that caused. "Can we stop talking about this now?"
Squall leaned up and brushed their lips together once, gently, and whispered, "Yeah," before pressing their mouths together more insistently.
Seifer jerked his hips up and slid both hands under the back of Squall's tee, soothing over the lightly muscled back, damp with perspiration. Squall moaned in his mouth and arched against him again in response, one hand catching in Seifer's vest at the shoulder while the other tightened on Seifer's thigh.
They developed a stuttering rhythm of rocking against one another while Seifer played Squall's back like the strings of a puppet, pulling moans and gasps from him that Seifer swallowed down. During it all, Squall flexed his hand against Seifer's thigh, ice magic occasionally seeping though his fingers and Seifer's trousers to make him jerk in surprise and let out his own moan into Squall's mouth.
Squall pulled away from Seifer's mouth as he came, head tossed back and eyes clenched tight. Seifer drank in the sight for only a moment before his own eyes slid closed and he rode out his own orgasm, gasping profanities.
Squall fell back against Seifer and nuzzled his chest, drowsy and content. The hand that had been holding Seifer's thigh reached up and soothed over Seifer's chest, making the larger teen groan at the ice magic still seeping through his fingers.
"Squall, please," he whispered.
The ice faded. "Sorry. Didn't even realise..."
Seifer wrapped his arms around the other teen's waist and leaned up just enough to nuzzle his hair. "We can't sleep in these clothes," he murmured. "Unless you want to be crusty tomorrow."
Squall grimaced. "These are my only clothes," he complained before gently extracting himself from Seifer's hold.
Seifer snorted and watched as Squall shimmied out of his leather trousers. "Take it up with Laguna; I'm sure he'd be thrilled to buy you a new wardrobe."
"As long as it's not made up of Estharian robes," Squall muttered before disappearing into Seifer's en suite bathroom.
Seifer had thought to ask Fujin to bring him his extra changes of clothing, so he wasn't worried about how dirty his outfit was at the moment. His trousers and pants were tossed in a pile near the bathroom, while his vest was dropped into the chair in the far corner of the room, covering his coat. He pulled out a couple pairs of sleep trousers from his things and slipped one pair on before walking over to the bathroom door and knocking lightly. When Squall opened the door a crack, he held up the trousers and offered, "They're probably a bit big, but..."
Squall's eyes smiled as he took the offered clothing. "Thanks. I'll be out in a minute." Then the door slid closed again.
Seifer returned to his bed and slipped under the covers, taking a moment to sort out his pillows so Squall would have one too – Seifer knew he was a pillow-hog, and if he didn't ensure now that Squall had his own pillow, the younger teen would lose it as soon as they were both asleep.
Squall exited the bathroom after another couple minutes and stood in the doorway for a long moment, uncertain.
"Get in," Seifer ordered, pointing at the empty spot next to him.
Squall padded over and climbed under the covers. He tensed when Seifer draped an arm over his waist, but made himself relax when nothing more happened. "Good night," he whispered.
Seifer leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to one bare shoulder, murmuring, "Good night."
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
A/N: OMG. That was kind of fun and exciting to write. And the cats and Shara kept helpfully distracting me before I could get too stressed. (I don't know what it is, but writing citrus – even a tiny lime – sort of stresses me out a bit, anymore. Used to type them up all the time, now I avoid them if I can help it. But, mmm, wanted to write one for this piece. Maybe I'll write a proper lemon later, dunno.)
I think that's all. I'm gonna go flail a bit before starting the next chapter. Ta.
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - Won't Make It Alone ||| 2 - Give Up Everything
3 - Fly Over Me |||4 - Stars Collide
5 - Stars Shedding Tears ||| 6 - Never Felt So Far From Home
7 - Voice From the Past ||| 8 - Hold Me Without Touch
9 - Diebus Fatalibus ~ Fated Day ||| 10 - Never Let You Go
..
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/
batsutousaiBeta: Shara Lunison/
tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhirChapter: 4 of 10
Rating: M
Pairings: Squall/Seifer
Warnings: AU, minor canon-fuckery, slash/yaoi
Summary: Alone in Time Compression, Squall sets out to make them all a happier ending.
Disclaim Her: Since people get bitchy if I don't mention it, there's a bit of citrus at the end of this chapter. No, I'm not marking it. Yes, I suck. Shut up.
A/N: This chapter is heavy on the character and relationship development side, but I've given them a month for training and spending time in the same city. I considered skipping over everything and going, 'There was much levelling to be had and some smex on the side', but that sounded like a terrible idea. So you get the development instead. (I suppose it'll make the fic longer, if nothing else.)
The scene at the beginning of this chapter was sort of suggested by Shara. Especially the POV. I kinda like it. XD
Stars Collide
-0-0-0-
Xu honestly wasn't certain what had happened. One afternoon, Headmaster Cid had just had a nervous breakdown in his office. He'd had nothing more stressful than any other day, no students or SeeD had received life-threatening injuries and no one had threatened to quit. He'd been a bit on edge for the days before that, admittedly, but when Xu had asked him if he was okay, he'd assured her that he was just fine.
Then, inexplicably, he'd had a nervous breakdown.
Three days later, she still wasn't certain what had happened, even after having gone over all the papers on his desk, trying to keep up with his load while he was in the infirmary. The only thing even the slightest bit unusual was a message from Cadet Leonhart simply saying, "When a client named Rinoa Heartilly approaches you about a contract between SeeD and the Forest Owls, turn her down." Leonhart had up and vanished almost a week before that with Cadet Almasy and no one had any idea where they'd gone. Not that Leonhart was particularly friendly, anyway, and Almasy had already failed the SeeD exam twice, so maybe he'd just up and left. Finally.
But there was nothing unusual about a couple of cadets leaving for a few weeks, even if those two cadets were the only two gunblade specialists in the whole of SeeD and the Garden.
'Maybe that's what he's worried about,' Xu thought to herself, glancing at the message from Leonhart. 'Maybe he's afraid we're about to lose those two. I suppose it would be a loss – gunbladers are notoriously difficult to come by – but it's not like there are any missions that require a gunblader, and Seifer is definitely not cut out for SeeD. Leonhart...'
Xu frowned. She didn't actually know much about Leonhart. He was quiet, but worked hard. He didn't have any friends and glared at anyone who dared to talk to him. The only person he had anything even remotely like a relationship with was Seifer, and that was more of a violent and hate-filled rivalry than anything else. He wasn't much of a team player, by any means, and SeeD went out in teams. Losing him wouldn't be the end of the world.
The door slid open and Cid hurried in, apparently no longer under Dr Kadowaki's supervision – that, or the good doctor had been distracted and missed him fleeing. "Have we had any other messages from Squall?" he asked breathlessly, reaching for his message terminal.
'Squall? Oh, Cadet Leonhart.' Xu shook her head. "No, sir. Were you expecting something?"
Cid sagged, staring at his list of messages. "I... I was hoping... Oh, I hope..."
"Sir?" Xu asked, standing from behind the desk. The Headmaster looked like he was about to topple over.
"Without Squall, all will be lost," Cid whispered, looking up at her with broken eyes. "Don't you see? It's all lost. Everything is–"
The door snapped opened and Dr Kadowaki came barging in, face a storm cloud. "I did not say you could leave the infirmary, Cid. You need to be in bed."
"We're all going to die!" Cid shouted at them. "Don't you see?!" He waved the message terminal around, as if it held all the proof he needed. "We're going to di–"
Dr Kadowaki darted forward at just the right moment and stuck him with a needle. The Headmaster collapsed immediately, unconscious. "You two," Kadowaki ordered a couple of curious SeeDs in the doorway, "carry the Headmaster down to the infirmary. Chop, chop." A glare later and they were running to do her bidding.
"Is he... going to be okay?" Xu wondered as she picked up the message terminal from where it had fallen when the Headmaster went down.
"He's overworked and clearly needs a holiday," Dr Kadowaki replied briskly, slipping the used needle into a coat pocket. "I'll contact his wife and see if she won't pick him up for a bit. You'll be taking over his duties?"
Xu nodded. "Erm, yes. Is that going to be a problem?"
"Just don't overwork yourself; we don't need to track down a second replacement." The doctor turned and stalked from the room, the door snicking shut behind her.
Xu looked back down at the message terminal, eyes drawn to the highlighted title of Leonhart's message. "Say no to the Forest Owls," she muttered to herself, deleting the message. "Will do, Leonhart." Tossing the terminal back in its cradle, she returned to the paperwork overfilling the desk; there were more important things to worry about than rogue cadets.
Sorceress magic and para-magic weren't all that different, all things considered, but there was one fundamental difference between the two, Squall had discovered: Para-magic was a living entity on its own, rather like the GFs, but without the personalities, so it could be junctioned, but it never, really, became a part of the caster. Sorceress magic, on the other hand, was a part of the caster; it moved with the emotions of the caster and responded to their call far easier than para-magic.
Squall counted himself lucky that his own affinity for ice-based magic had turned the majority of his Sorceress magic ice-based, although there was some non-elemental magic in there, which had been Adel's specialty. Ice-based magic didn't get angry, it got cold. So when his temper flared, his magic cooled him down enough that he could think.
Seifer, however, didn't have that luxury. His Sorceress magic had taken the fire-based route, because of his affinity to the element. When he got angry, his magic simply added to it, so he just got angrier and angrier. He'd always had a problem with his temper, but it was so much worse, now, and Squall wasn't certain letting him near the Council was a good idea.
The Council had eventually called them back the next day. There were insults politely tossed back and forth about who was more worthless and Laguna had spent the entire ten minutes the two ex-cadets had been in there with his head in his hands.
Eventually, one of the Ministers had implied the wrong thing and Squall had noticed a flicker out of the corner of his eye. He managed to shove Seifer out of the Council Room and down an empty corridor before anyone else noticed the growing fireball in the other teen's hand, but that had still left him with an angry male Sorceress that had an affinity for fire.
So Squall, not knowing what else to do, had reached for the fireball and countered it with a ball of ice.
They hadn't gone back to the Council Room – Squall hadn't been about to chance it – and had headed for the library, instead. They'd both gone for books on Sorceresses and devoured everything they could until Laguna had come to see if they would return to the Council Room.
"No," Squall deadpanned before Seifer could even open his mouth. "Neither of us feel like standing there and smiling while we and our home is insulted." He glanced up at his father. "I don't have the patience, and Seifer doesn't have the temper for it. If we go back in there, someone's going to get hurt. I have no intentions of causing an international nightmare, so I'm just going to politely refuse to have anything to do with them."
"At least until they grow up," Seifer muttered, scowling a bit.
Laguna sighed at that and shook his head. "Okay. Why don't you two leave the city for a bit and kill some things. It might make you feel better?"
Seifer's eyes lit up at the prospect and Squall had to admit that it might be nice to get out of the city and see what all, exactly, they could accomplish with their newfound powers. "Okay. We can head out towards the plains."
"I'll go get Hyperion and Revolver!" Seifer called before dashing from the library.
Squall sighed and rubbed at his eyes before standing and starting to put their collection of books away.
Laguna leaned over and picked one of the books up. "Studying Sorceresses?"
"We want to know as much as we can before facing Ultimecia," Squall offered. "We weren't prepared, last time, and we almost lost. I'd like a better idea of what we're up against."
"That's acceptable," Laguna agreed, grabbing a few books and helping put them away.
Squall was quiet for a long moment before offering, "I'm sorry, about earlier. For just leaving without a word."
Laguna shook his head. "Seifer looked like he was seconds away from killing someone." His eyes slid towards Squall. "Or burning them to a crisp."
Squall tensed. 'Shit.'
"That was unusually controlled, for para-magic," Laguna continued lightly, though his eyes were watching Squall a little too closely. "In fact, the only time I've seen a spell that controlled was when Adel hit Kiros with a small Flare."
Squall swallowed. "I suppose that explains why he's so afraid of ma–"
"Squall."
"Hey, Squall, Seifer asked m–" Ellone stopped at the edge of the bookcase, blinking at the father and son who were standing in silence, watching each other for the slightest hint of breaking. She cleared her throat. "Uncle Laguna, I thought you had meetings all day," she said in a rather good attempt at her normal cheerful tone.
Laguna looked away from Squall and offered Ellone one of his obnoxious grins. "Hi, Ellone! I got a small break from the meetings and thought I'd help Squall put these books away!"
Squall turned and shoved the books in his hands on the shelves. "Sis, you said something about Seifer?" he asked, carefully not looking at his father.
Ellone nodded, watching her brother with a faint frown. "Yeah, he had your gunblades. He said he was going to meet you by the main entrance."
Squall nodded. "I should go catch up to him, then. Thanks, Sis." He slipped past the other two and made for the door.
"Squall," Laguna called before the teen could leave the library, making him tense. "We don't have any meetings tomorrow; maybe you and I should talk a bit. Catch up, right?"
"Whatever," Squall managed before hurrying from the room and through the halls of the presidential palace.
When Squall reached Seifer just outside, the older teen gave him a worried look and Revolver, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Not here," Squall replied, eyeing some nearby guards and motioning for them to leave the area in front of the large building. "Do you want to train on the Esthar continent, or go outside?"
Seifer glanced at him with a frown. "Here's fine."
Squall nodded and, once they'd sat on one of the quick transports, set it for the car rental. They had to use Seifer's Garden account to pay for the car, since Squall's meagre funds had been depleted from travelling with Ellone and paying for all their supplies.
"I hope the Council works something out soon," Seifer commented neutrally as they climbed into the car. "We don't really have the gil to keep doing things without a job. Imagine how hard this would be without Laguna housing us." When he saw Squall tense out of the corner of his eye, he reached over and ensured the small emergency radio that came with the car was unhooked, then demanded, "What happened?"
Squall clenched his jaw and remained silent as he navigated the bright blue streets out of the city. Once in the open, he said, "Laguna saw your fireball. He can tell the difference between para-magic and real magic."
"Shit."
Squall shot a quick glance at Seifer's pale face, then added, "Your temper is going to get us caught."
Seifer opened his mouth to give the other teen an angry response, only to snap it shut when his mind caught up with him. "Hyne damn it." Because Squall was right, he was going to get them caught.
They remained in silence for a long moment until Squall finally said, "We can try junctioning ice magic to you, or even find a copy of Shiva, if you think that will help."
Seifer grimaced at the thought. "I don't know..."
Squall sighed. "We need something to help calm you down. Ice seemed to help this time–"
"I know, I know." Seifer rubbed tiredly at his face. "I don't like it, but it's worth a shot. Where would we get a copy of Shiva? Garden?"
Squall sighed at the thought of having to return to Garden for another Shiva, but there wasn't much choice.
'I will junction with him for now,' Shiva offered from the back of Squall's mind. 'I'm stronger than your average Shiva, anyway, so I'll have a better chance of calming him down.'
Squall frowned, but admitted that they didn't have a lot of options. He put the car into park and held out his hand, where Shiva's miniature form appeared in crystal. "Shiva says she'll junction with you for now, and I can give you some of my high-level ice spells. Hyne knows I don't have much use for them right now."
"Yeah, I suppose." Seifer took Shiva and shuddered as she settled into the back of his mind, glowering at Ifrit. His magic did seem calmer with her there, however, so he let it be. On the other hand, "Do you want Ifrit? I know you never went to the Fire Cavern, and I doubt you junctioned him before..."
Squall considered that. He didn't much care for the fire-elemental, never had, but he admitted that Ifrit probably wasn't helping Seifer's temper. "I'll take him."
They traded Ifrit and Squall stocked Seifer with his whole collection of Blizzaga as well as a handful of Blizzara that he hadn't bother to refine before they'd faced Ultimecia.
Properly stocked, the two gunbladers got out of the car and Squall locked it before dropping the keys into his pocket. "Let's see what we can do with our magic," he suggested.
Seifer grinned a bit madly and nodded, so they started off across the plains at an easy pace, gunblades securely strapped in place instead of in their hands.
They took down two Malboros in quick succession and any number of hopeful Mesmerizes. The magic came quick and easy to their hands and packed more of a punch than even the best para-magic equivalent.
"I suppose I can see why Sorceresses go mad for power," Seifer commented as he flicked a fireball at an approaching Mesmerize, burning it to a crisp in a matter of seconds. "This is distressingly easy. I'd hoped that the Malboros, at least, would have been a challenge."
"It doesn't help that fire and ice are a Malboro's weakness," Squall replied drily, stretching a bit.
"Still..." Seifer got rid of another Mesmerize and asked, "What are you going to do about Laguna?"
Squall sighed. "He wants to talk tomorrow. No Council meetings, or whatever. I don't know."
"You could tell him it's just me."
Squall glanced at Seifer, eyes grateful. "No. If I have to tell him anything, I'll tell him the truth. There's no point in me lying to him. Not about this." He paused, then added, "I've already set up a precedence for telling him the truth; it wouldn't be fair if I lied to him now."
Seifer nodded. "Whatever you end up doing, you have my support," he promised.
A very faint smile touched Squall's lips. "Thanks." He glanced at an incoming Malboro. "Gunblades?"
"Oh, I suppose..."
The following twenty minutes were spent in silence as they decimated the monsters of the plains with the ease of years of training. Having spent so many years training against each other, they knew each other's fighting styles in and out and there wasn't a single misstep in their dance, even when surrounded.
Eventually, though, the monsters stopped coming and the two made their way back to the car, sipping from water bottles Seifer had grabbed with their gunblades. "Maybe the Council can hire us to keep the continent monster-free."
Squall snorted. "It might terrify them too much to consider that we could."
"Oh crap!" Seifer exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "They can clear an entire plain in an hour? Get them out of the city before they kill someone!"
Squall snorted again, amusement dancing in his eyes. "I don't know. They might go straight for the firing squad."
"Like that's going to stop us."
"Maybe they'll try something while we're sleeping..."
Seifer laughed. "Oh, I hope so. I'd love a reason to kill someone in my sleep."
"As long as you didn't set your room on fire in the process."
Seifer shot him a grin. "I'd have to call you to put it out."
"I am not cleaning up your messes. No. Not happening." He narrowed his eyes when Seifer's grin just kept widening. "If you don't get rid of that creepy grin, I'm going to–"
"Freeze my balls off, yes, I know." Seifer snorted and looked towards the car. "And you wouldn't."
Squall set his water bottle on the roof of the car and tossed a thread of ice at Seifer's crotch, who countered with a fireball. A minor duel with magic started then, both of them tossing their element at the other.
After a couple of minutes, they had to stop and deal with the minor burns and strips of ice that had frozen on their clothing, Seifer laughing the whole time.
Squall looked up, smiling, when Seifer had finally started to calm down, and the older teen felt his breath catch. "You– ah, you smiled," he stuttered, his heart beating unusually fast. 'What the hell?'
Squall blinked and the smile vanished. "Whatever."
Seifer took a deep breath and shook his head. "It's getting towards evening," he commented, looking up at the darkening sky instead of at his rival. 'What just happened?'
Squall nodded and fished the keys from his pocket. "Come on, then," he said agreeably, unlocking the car.
They both got back into the car and Squall turned them back towards Esthar. Just as they re-entered the main city, he asked, "What is it?"
Seifer shook his head. "I don't know."
Squall glanced at the older teen's troubled expression and sighed. "I'm here."
Seifer smiled faintly. "I know. Thanks." He leaned forward and hooked the emergency radio back up. "You said something about some islands that're good for training?"
Squall nodded. "The Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell. Heaven is north-east of Esthar, Hell is to the far west of Galbadia. Heaven has a lot of Malboros and Ochus, as well as a couple Chimeras, which are nasty if you're not packing Holy. Hell has T-Rexaurs and some dragons. There's also the Deep Sea Research Centre to the south. Bahamut and Eden are both there."
"I know you've got your talk with Laguna planned tomorrow, but maybe we could try one of those spots the day after?"
Squall clenched his hands on the wheel. 'Why not go right after the talk with Laguna?' he wondered.
'You're going to run away? From your own father?' Diablos mocked.
Squall tossed a mental icicle at his GF and smirked at his howl of pain. "We can go to Hell," he decided out loud while Diablos cursed him and the others all laughed. "I don't feel like facing off against Chimeras right now. Or in two days, even."
"Okay. Not the Research Centre?"
Squall shrugged. "That place is practically worse than both Heaven and Hell put together. I'd rather get some training in before going there, personally." He parked the car at the rental and climbed out. "Hungry?"
"You bet."
"You wished to speak with me?" Squall asked as he stepped into his father's office. He was relieved to see Laguna alone, for once, and vaguely recalled that the man had talked Kiros and Ward into showing Ellone, Seifer, Fujin and Raijin around the city.
Laguna sighed at the teen standing in the centre of his office, looking like he was about to salute. "I'm not your commanding officer, Squall," he commented.
Squall swallowed and kept his gaze out the window behind Laguna. "You're the President of Esth–"
"I'm your father," Laguna interrupted, a note of impatience in his voice. "I don't expect military perfection from my own soldiers, why would I expect it from you? Sit down."
Squall faltered, his stance loosening for just a moment before he dropped into the nearest chair, looking stressed.
Laguna sighed again. "Squall, what happened?" he asked gently.
Squall's jaw tightened for a moment, then he said, "Seifer and I are both Sorceresses. Sorcerers. Whatever."
Laguna considered the stormy eyes across from him, taking note of the fear and panic hidden in them, then offered, "It was Adel, wasn't it?"
Squall nodded, refusing to elaborate.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" he wondered. When Squall looked away, Laguna sighed again. "No, I suppose not."
"I... hadn't decided yet," Squall allowed, looking back at his father. "Seifer thought I should, but I didn't know and I've never had a parent before and I wasn't sure what you'd do or, or–" He snapped his mouth shut. 'Or if you'd abandon me for it.'
"I'm not angry with you, Squall," Laguna offered, managing a smile for the teen. "I wish you'd just told me, but I'm not angry. Kiros had mentioned that none of you were sure what would happen to Adel's magic once she'd died, and we'd all wondered. But you came back without seeming any different, so we thought nothing had happened."
Squall shrugged. "When Rinoa became a Sorceress, it wasn't even obvious half the time. Unless she was actually using her magic, she wasn't any different. Even when Ultimecia was possessing her, she didn't appear any different, not really."
Laguna nodded. "Adel was the only Sorceress any of us have ever had any experience with."
"I know. And she was sort of obvious. So was Ultimecia, really. And Matron, while she was possessed. I think... The magic can twist a person, if they're not careful, if they're not watching for it. It's..." He took a moment to chew his lower lip. "Have you ever used para-magic?"
"Once, just before we sealed Adel," Laguna answered, looking curious.
"Para-magic sort of sits there, in the back of your mind, but it's got its own thoughts, sort of," Squall tried to explain, frowning. "It only reacts when you call on it, when you actually focus on it. But real magic... It's a part of us." He touched his chest. "It... It reacts without you even having to think about it, without you even realising it's there, ready to be used. When you get angry, it's there, waiting to be used, influencing you. It's not a problem for me, since I lean more towards ice magic, but Seifer is fire..."
"His magic just fuels his anger," Laguna realised. "We'll have to keep him away from the Council."
Squall nodded, looking tired. "I know. I gave him Shiva and some ice para-magic, which seems to be helping..." He shrugged. "Training helps, too. Back at Garden, when he was about to lose his temper – really lose it, I mean, not just turn into a bit of a bully – we'd spar and he'd calm down. Fujin and Raijin would sometimes come find me when Seifer was about to explode, once they realised I helped. It was..." He shook his head. "We've always calmed each other down, really."
Laguna cocked his head to one side. "That's what a Knight does," he pointed out.
Squall shot him a sharp look. "What are you implying?"
Laguna carefully said, "After Hyne, there has never been a male Sorceress – or Sorcerer, if you'd prefer – so I can't say what is or isn't true for the two of you. History, as you know, says that a Sorceress requires a Knight, to help protect her from those intent on persecuting her and to assist her in controlling her own powers."
"We're both capable of protecting ourselves," Squall announced, a biting edge to his tone.
"I'm not saying you're not," Laguna agreed, "but you just told me that you calm each other down, and that falls under the whole 'controlling the Sorceress' magic' clause." When Squall narrowed his eyes, Laguna hurried to add, "Maybe you don't think you need a Knight, Squall, and maybe being male will help you control the magic better, I don't know, but Seifer obviously needs one, and I'd prefer you had someone there, too."
Squall snapped his mouth shut and considered that, the concern in his father's voice catching him off guard. 'Become each other's Knights? Is that even possible?'
'Maybe,' rumbled Doomtrain. 'Sorceresses tend to be rather inclusive, and prefer not to share their power. Moreover, they often require a Knight for protection from others, which another Sorceress can't always provide.'
'You do possess opposing elements,' Ifrit added, shifting behind Quezacotl when Squall's – and his magic's – attention shifted to him. 'You've already discovered that trading Shiva and myself helps, at least a little. Imagine how much control you would have over your own magic if an equally powerful opposing magic was there to help soothe it.'
Laguna watched the faraway look in his son's eyes, wondering what in his mind was distracting the teen so. Perhaps he was considering his magic. Perhaps he'd already formed something of a bond with Seifer and hadn't wanted to mention it.
Squall's focus finally returned to Laguna. "I need to talk to Seifer," he decided. At Laguna's curious look, he grimaced and admitted, "I can communicate with my GFs, and Ifrit made a good point."
Laguna nodded, accepting that. "Tell me about Garden," he requested.
Squall blinked and his gaze flickered to the console to the left of Laguna's desk where flickering images of happenings from all over the globe were collected. "Don't you already know everything?"
Laguna smiled and shook his head. "I know what Garden is for and some of what it entails, but I don't know what it's like. I don't know what your own experiences were like, what friends you had, or what enemies. Did you have a favourite instructor, perhaps? A girlfriend?"
Squall blinked again, looking a little lost. "This is... I don't understand."
Laguna chuckled. "Squall, you're my son, and I've missed seventeen years of your life. I can't go back in time and fix that, but I'd like to know more about you. Will you tell me?"
Squall stared at him, startled, for a long moment, then relaxed back in his chair and started talking about the first time he'd used a gunblade. Laguna just smiled at him and settled in to listen, completely ignoring the pile of papers at his elbow that demanded his attention.
Squall didn't get a chance to talk to Seifer until everyone had already gone to bed. Laguna had distracted him until long after the others were back from their tour, and once Squall was freed, Ellone had kept him busy. After dinner they'd watched a few old films, which had been nice, but it hadn't given him the chance to speak with Seifer.
Finally, after the last door had fallen closed in the hallway, Squall slipped out of his own room and knocked lightly on Seifer's door.
Seifer slid his door open just enough to see out. Upon seeing Squall, he pulled the door open the rest of the way and motioned the younger teen inside. After closing the door, he commented, "I had wondered if you were going to come by."
Squall grunted and dropped onto the end of Seifer's bed. "Whatever."
Seifer snorted and sat near the head of his bed, twisting to face the other teen. "So? I assume, since we're not being experimented on, that it went fine?"
Squall sighed and nodded. "Yeah. He wasn't bothered or anything, at least. We talked about it for a bit and–" His eyes slid over to Seifer, who raised an eyebrow at the uncertain cast to Squall's expression. "–he suggested that we become each other's Knight."
Seifer's other eyebrow joined the one that was already raised. "Can you do that? Be a Knight and a Sorceress, I mean."
Squall shrugged. "Fuck if I know. And even if they couldn't, what's to say we can't?"
"We're hardly average," Seifer agreed, rubbing at his chin. "Well, it's worth a shot, I suppose. Not sure how the connection forms, exactly..."
"With Rinoa, it just sort of happened," Squall volunteered. "We were standing by the flower field at the orphanage and I thought, 'I'll be her Knight' and then I was."
"You make it sound so simple," Seifer commented drily, rolling his eyes. "Did it feel like anything specific?"
Squall frowned the slightest bit. "It felt... sort of like she was there, next to me, even when we'd moved apart. Like she had this... this presence, and after I became her Knight, it was always there, next to me..." He shook his head. "I don't know if that made any sense."
Seifer snickered. "It made perfect sense."
Squall shot him a disgusted look. "Don't mock me, Seifer."
Seifer shook his head. "I wasn't... Oh, whatever. So I just say, 'Squall, I'll be your Knight'?" he asked in an overly dramatic voice.
Squall glowered at him. "You're an ass."
"Come on, Squall. Play along."
"Play al–" Squall moved towards Seifer on the bed. "Don't you dare treat this like some sort of game!"
"I'm not," Seifer insisted, shivering slightly. "Fuck, it's cold in here. Did you do something?"
Squall paused, poised over Seifer, and frowned. "Cold? It's really warm in here. Are you su...r... Oh."
Seifer frowned. "Oh? Oh, what? And stop looming!" He shoved at Squall's leg, only for the smaller teen to lose his balance and land in Seifer's lap.
They stared at each other for a long moment, surprised. Then, not even thinking about it, Squall leaned forward and pressed his lips against Seifer's. A jolt of energy lanced up his back and he gasped at the sensation, only for Seifer to take the opportunity and slip his tongue into Squall's mouth.
Seifer's hands slid up, under Squall's sleeveless tee and and brushed up the smaller teen's back, enjoying the feel of muscles shivering at his touch. He was more than used to kissing girls – had even taken a couple of them to bed – but there was something about wrapping your arms around someone who could so obviously take care of themselves.
Squall's legs slid under him and both teens moved to compensate, ending up with Squall nestled comfortably between Seifer's legs. Their crotches brushed, making them both moan, especially with their magic fizzling between them.
"Fuck," Seifer gasped, pulling away from Squall's mouth and groaning as the younger teen nipped at his jaw. "Fuck, Squall, fu– Ngh! Damnit, wait!" He grabbed Squall's hair and tugged his head back and away from his neck. "Slow down, damnit."
Squall stared down at him for a moment, eyes dark and wild, before they got some of their grey colour back, the wildness calmed. "Fuck. Seifer, I'm so–"
Seifer tugged on Squall's hair, shutting him up. "I'm not saying no, I'm just saying slow down," he hissed.
Squall's chest heaved and he disentangled one of his hands from Seifer's vest and reached up to cover the hand tugging his hair. "Okay. Can I–"
"Yeah, sorry." Seifer smoothed his hand in Squall's hair, no longer pulling, but not about to remove it from the brown locks. He'd always wondered if Squall put gel in it, since it remained in that shape even in the rain, but it was soft and un-gelled.
Squall slid down a bit, in a more comfortable position, and they both groaned as their crotches rubbed together again. "Ah, fuck," Squall whispered, resting his forehead against Seifer's chest. "Damnit."
Seifer closed his eyes and tried to get his breath back, fingers still tangled in Squall's hair. "It's our magic, isn't it?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I think so. We–" Squall choked on a laugh, "–we're Knights, I think. Your magic is really..." He flushed. "It's really hot..."
Seifer couldn't help but grin at that, and the hand that wasn't in Squall's hair moved to trace a line down Squall's back, making the other teen gasp and arch against him.
"S-stop that!" Squall ordered, breathless. "I can't...Fuck!" He moaned as Seifer stroked his back again. "D-damn you."
"You said my magic is hot," Seifer purred, stroking Squall's back again and earning himself another moan. "I can't help it if that turns me on."
When Seifer ran a hand along his back again, Squall reached down and cupped the bulge in Seifer's trousers, earning him a strangled sound. Dark blue eyes leaned up to meet equally dark green ones. "You're an ass."
"Fuck. Not a whole...lot more tha...n a... Ican'tthink!" Seifer got out in a rush, pulling his hand out from under Squall's shirt in defeat.
Squall slid his hand around to rest on the outside of Seifer's thigh and dropped his head back against Seifer's chest. They both took a moment to just breathe.
Finally, Squall whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Neither do I," Seifer whispered back, running his hand through Squall's hair. "But it feels..."
"Right," Squall finished.
"Yeah." Seifer let out a heavy breath and lightly touched the back of Squall's neck, smiling at the shudder that caused. "Can we stop talking about this now?"
Squall leaned up and brushed their lips together once, gently, and whispered, "Yeah," before pressing their mouths together more insistently.
Seifer jerked his hips up and slid both hands under the back of Squall's tee, soothing over the lightly muscled back, damp with perspiration. Squall moaned in his mouth and arched against him again in response, one hand catching in Seifer's vest at the shoulder while the other tightened on Seifer's thigh.
They developed a stuttering rhythm of rocking against one another while Seifer played Squall's back like the strings of a puppet, pulling moans and gasps from him that Seifer swallowed down. During it all, Squall flexed his hand against Seifer's thigh, ice magic occasionally seeping though his fingers and Seifer's trousers to make him jerk in surprise and let out his own moan into Squall's mouth.
Squall pulled away from Seifer's mouth as he came, head tossed back and eyes clenched tight. Seifer drank in the sight for only a moment before his own eyes slid closed and he rode out his own orgasm, gasping profanities.
Squall fell back against Seifer and nuzzled his chest, drowsy and content. The hand that had been holding Seifer's thigh reached up and soothed over Seifer's chest, making the larger teen groan at the ice magic still seeping through his fingers.
"Squall, please," he whispered.
The ice faded. "Sorry. Didn't even realise..."
Seifer wrapped his arms around the other teen's waist and leaned up just enough to nuzzle his hair. "We can't sleep in these clothes," he murmured. "Unless you want to be crusty tomorrow."
Squall grimaced. "These are my only clothes," he complained before gently extracting himself from Seifer's hold.
Seifer snorted and watched as Squall shimmied out of his leather trousers. "Take it up with Laguna; I'm sure he'd be thrilled to buy you a new wardrobe."
"As long as it's not made up of Estharian robes," Squall muttered before disappearing into Seifer's en suite bathroom.
Seifer had thought to ask Fujin to bring him his extra changes of clothing, so he wasn't worried about how dirty his outfit was at the moment. His trousers and pants were tossed in a pile near the bathroom, while his vest was dropped into the chair in the far corner of the room, covering his coat. He pulled out a couple pairs of sleep trousers from his things and slipped one pair on before walking over to the bathroom door and knocking lightly. When Squall opened the door a crack, he held up the trousers and offered, "They're probably a bit big, but..."
Squall's eyes smiled as he took the offered clothing. "Thanks. I'll be out in a minute." Then the door slid closed again.
Seifer returned to his bed and slipped under the covers, taking a moment to sort out his pillows so Squall would have one too – Seifer knew he was a pillow-hog, and if he didn't ensure now that Squall had his own pillow, the younger teen would lose it as soon as they were both asleep.
Squall exited the bathroom after another couple minutes and stood in the doorway for a long moment, uncertain.
"Get in," Seifer ordered, pointing at the empty spot next to him.
Squall padded over and climbed under the covers. He tensed when Seifer draped an arm over his waist, but made himself relax when nothing more happened. "Good night," he whispered.
Seifer leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to one bare shoulder, murmuring, "Good night."
-0-0-0-
A/N: OMG. That was kind of fun and exciting to write. And the cats and Shara kept helpfully distracting me before I could get too stressed. (I don't know what it is, but writing citrus – even a tiny lime – sort of stresses me out a bit, anymore. Used to type them up all the time, now I avoid them if I can help it. But, mmm, wanted to write one for this piece. Maybe I'll write a proper lemon later, dunno.)
I think that's all. I'm gonna go flail a bit before starting the next chapter. Ta.
~Bats ^.^x
1 - Won't Make It Alone ||| 2 - Give Up Everything
3 - Fly Over Me |||
5 - Stars Shedding Tears ||| 6 - Never Felt So Far From Home
7 - Voice From the Past ||| 8 - Hold Me Without Touch
9 - Diebus Fatalibus ~ Fated Day ||| 10 - Never Let You Go
..
