REVISED

Seifer Almasy groaned.

Now this was a punishment that he could do without. After about five months of wandering, he had been excepted back into Balamb Garden to resume his training as a SeeD, much to the annoyance of its commander Squall. But he had done so under the favor of Cid and Matron. Edea was till fond of him, owing to the fact that he had once been like a son to her, and Cid shall we say, was whipped.

But due to all the trouble he had caused they thought it would be a little strange to put him back on the Disciplinary Committee, and so he was now especially liable to get into certain scrapes. He'd only been back a month when he had gotten caught re-entering Balamb close to dawn, not drunk, but certainly not completely sober. This was of course against the rules.

Normally he hardly cared what his punishment was as they were usually detentions where he could catch up on sleep, but this, this was horrible. He was actually taken to Squall this time, instead of just an instructor, and obviously Squall knew exactly what to do.

Instead of the usual Garden Festival, Selphie was putting on a musical.

"There is no freaking way I am going to be in a musical!"

"No other punishment has proven effective, " Squall replied simply. His expression was plain, and only the evil glint in his eyes betrayed just how much pleasure he seemed to be taking out of his new idea. The gunblade specialist hit the intercom button.

"Selphie Tilmitt please report to the Commander's office."

Seifer could only glare at Squall as they silently waited for Selphie. While the two warriors had come to a truce since Seifer's return, by no means were the two on comfortable terms. They completely preferred to just ignore each other at all times. Seifer grudgingly respected Squall's position, but he very much disliked it.

Selphie bounded in several moments later, nearly tripping on her own feet. Seifer would have laughed but he was in no mood. He slumped a little further in his chair, angry. Why in the world was he putting up with this nonsense? He knew why though. He'd come back for a second chance and he was nearly on his way to screwing it up. Seifer gritted his teeth. He'd have to suffer through this.

"Hiya Squall! What's up? I'm kind of in the middle of audition screening." Selphie smiled her thousand watt smile at him and then Seifer, waving.

Squall almost smirked. "That's just it. Seifer is now going to try out for the musical."

Selphie's eyes widened as round as saucers and she stared at them. "What did you do this time, Seifer?" she asked.

Seifer grunted unintelligibly.

"Tee hee! You know what we're doing right? Moulin Rouge? Can you sing?" she asked all in a rush.

Another grunt.

"If he can't, he's got to at least be on stage and help out with stage crew," Squall said.

Selphie nodded happily and saluted. "Yes sir!"

"You're both dismissed," the commander replied with a short nod, and nearly rolled his eyes as the tiny brunette grabbed Seifer's hand and dragged him out his chair and out the door.

A little surprised by her strength and caught off guard, it took him a moment to yank his hand away. He leaned back against the elevator wall and scowled at her bright smile. Selphie had forgiven Seifer-she was just that type of person- but it didn't mean they were friends.

"This is going to be fun!" she cheered. "You'll see, just wait!"

Seifer ignored her.

When they reached the quad, everyone was so busy talking that they didn't notice him, thank Hyne. Seifer kept the stony glare on his face as he took a seat in the back and looked around.

Selphie had moved to the front by a long table. The chicken-wuss and cowboy were there as well. Seifer snorted at the people that were gathered. It was a pretty large group, and he wondered why anyone would want to be in such a piece of crap. A musical about hookers, wasn't it? What a joke.

Glinting gold caught his eye near the front and he saw Quistis Trepe sitting in a seat surrounded by Trepies. He smirked. Quistis been given her license back after she and the others had saved the world, and this stupid musical would be the perfect opportunity to irritate his professor without actually doing anything that could get him into more trouble than he already was.

"Attention everyone! I'm sorry about that! Where did we leave off?" Selphie called out, hopping up and down.

Zell jumped to match her aerial exploits and simultaneously handed her a paper.

"Oh yeah! That's right." Selphie stopped jumping and bellowed, "anyone that is no longer interested in this production, due to time constraints or any other reason, may leave!"

In the back Seifer stood up.

"Not you Seifer!" Selphie yelled, and he sat back down with a sigh and put his feet up on the chair in front of him, arms crossed. A few students look confused by his presence and a couple of girls giggled.

No one was leaving, so Selphie continued. "I want everyone to line up and get a disk with the song you need to learn. Girls come to me, and guys to Zell and Irvine! You better learn it quick cause you have to sing it tomorrow, right after lunch! After you get the disk feel free to leave! Okay, come on up!"

There was a lot of noise and commotion as everyone did as told. There was much excitement over which song they might have to learn. Most of the girls were hoping for Sparkling Diamonds, so they could show off their umm, talents.

Seifer sauntered up slowly to the end of his line, and when he reached Zell and Irvine, the martial artist was unable to do anything but laugh. Soon he was on the floor rolling around. Irvine, with a grin, handed him the disk and tipped his hat to him.

"New punishment, Seifer?" he asked knowingly, and Seifer just narrowed his eyes and stalked away. As he was not paying too much attention to where he was going, he bumped into a very familiar figure, and knocked her to the ground. There was a small clatter as the disk she was holding slipped out of her hand.

From the floor, Quistis looked up at him in annoyance. Seifer bent and with one hand he hoisted her up by the elbow, bringing her to her feet. Unable to miss the opportunity to tease her he also picked up the disk.

He chuckled as he read it. "One Day I'll Fly Away."

Quistis snatched it from his hand as he stood there smirking at her. "Like you should talk. I'd like to hear you sing-" She shot a quick look at his disk, " Your Song."

"My dear instructor, unlike you, this musical thing is a punishment. Besides, it's not like I'll be the one dressing up like a whore." Seifer kept his smirk and then walked away, leaving poor Quisty torn between anger and embarrassment.