A gun pointed towards a woman's head; gruff orders to hand over everything she had. She obeyed, her child clinging to her, scared out of his mind. Would they live? It didn't seem likely; these attackers acted as though they wanted far more than simple money. They acted as though they wished to take not only whatever money the woman had in her pockets, but also the very life of her and her young child. Fear ripped through the boy as he heard the gun click, and he let out a raw-throated scream for his mother as she fell to the ground, lifeless.

Hayner shot up into a sitting position, gasping for breath. He clutched at his chest, feeling his heart hammer against his ribcage. He was sitting in his own bed, in his own room. The noise he had imagined as gunshot was his alarm clock going off by his bed. The slight skater grumbled and shut it off, still spooked by the nightmare. He hadn't dreamed of that years...and suddenly it had been appearing nightly.

It had begun a week ago: dreams about the night his mother had been killed nine years ago, just before he and his father had moved to Twilight Town. Hayner hadn't been able to sleep properly since the first night. The nightmare would appear just after he'd gone to sleep, and he wouldn't be able to fall back into slumber until long after, or it would attack his psyche after a few hours' sleep and leave him so shaken that all he could do was sit in his bed and wish for something more pleasant to dream.

He climbed out of bed, taking a deep breath to stabilize himself. It was early in the morning, with the sun just barely a sliver over the horizon. It was Sunday, according to the calender in Hayner's room, so Hayner didn't really need to be up at this hour... He smiled tired and climbed back into the bed. The nightmare had never appeared more than once a night, so he was sure he was safe for now. His breathing calmed and Hayner slipped back into the realm of sleep.

Hayner once again heard the gruff, demanding voice, but this time it seemed to come from a different source. Instead of looking up at the barrel of a gun pointed towards his mother, Hayner was the one pointing it. He was the one who stared into the pleading eyes of his mother who was begging for him to spare her child. He looked down into the terrified face of his younger self, and Hayner tried to let out a cry, but all he did was aim the gun between the eyes of his mother and fire it.

Hayner once again woke with a start. This time, instead of fear, he was gripped with a terrible sadness that seemed to choke his whole body. He lifted a hand to rub at his mysteriously blurry eyes and found them wet with tears. He wasn't surprised, and curled up into the bed again. This time he vowed not to fall back asleep, lest such horrors visit him again.

--

Hayner spent the rest of the morning in bed. His mother's murder was something that had haunted Hayner for a long while. He mostly felt rage towards the attacker for what they had done, but a part of him -- some small part of him, unable to be convinced otherwise -- had always felt responsible. There was no way to explain it (Hayner had always known that it wasn't his fault) but somehow that feeling would creep back without his knowledge.

Manifesting itself in such a dream, though, was certain new. Hayner thought about it all through his very late breakfast, at which he ate little. His stepmother of two years protested this. "Don't you want something?" Her tone was motherly, sending a pang into Hayner's heart.

Hayner smiled and shook his head. "Not feeling that hungry today. Thanks, though." And then Hayner left the house, walking aimlessly in the sun of afternoon Twilight Town.

With his hands rested in his pockets, he found himself walking into the sandlot, where he spotted Seifer having a Struggle match with Rai, Fuu sitting on the sidelines watching. Rai wasn't very good at Struggling, so Seifer was having an easy time of it. The blond bully faced Rai with the arm holding his bat outstretched.

"Is that the best you've got?" He challenged the larger man. Rai might have had more pure brawn on his side, but brawn wasn't all that mattered in a Struggle match. Speed was essential as well, and Seifer had that over Rai easily. Hayner paused to watch as Rai lunged towards Seifer, bat swinging widely. Seifer dodged the blow and struck Rai's arm, the bat flying from the dark-haired male's grasp.

Seifer twirled the bat in his hand, looking bored. Obviously Rai wasn't enough of a challenge for him and his gaze drifted as Rai went to retrieve his struggle bat. Seifer's blue-green eyes widened momentarily as Hayner came into view. His trademark smirk lifted the corners of his lips.

"Chicken-wuss!" He called. "Come to check out the competition?" The blond bully lifted his bat and rested it on his shoulder.

"Shut up, Seifer. I'm not in the mood today." And to be truthful, Hayner really wasn't. He had only come out here to clear his thoughts, not get in yet another argument with the local jackasses.

"Aw, little baby afraid he's gonna get his ass kicked?"

"Fuck off!" Hayner began to bristle. "I don't have time to fight with lowlifes like you."

Seifer's smirk flashed into a satisfied grin for a moment. "You are afraid."

"Am not!" Hayner threw his arms down to his sides, thoroughly irritated now. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself now. "Fuck you. I don't have time for this." He turned around and began to walk away.

"Runnin' home to mommy, huh?"

Hayner froze at this. Of course Seifer didn't know about how that simple sentence made Hayner feel; the only people who did were Pence, Olette and Roxas. He turned around slowly, glaring daggers at Seifer.

"Fine! You want a fight, asshole? I'll give you one!" He stalked back over to Rai and grabbed the Struggle bat from the other man, intending to use it to beat the crap out of Seifer as best he could. Rai looked like he was going to object, but was silenced by a look from Seifer and stepped away from the two blondes.

Hayner waited, barely containing his fury, until Seifer made a slight move. He immediately lunged forward and swung quickly at Seifer's head. It was easily blocked by the stronger male, who aimed a strike towards Hayner's midsection. There was more force behind it than Hayner had expected and he was knocked sideways, nearly losing his balance. Seifer took advantage of this and moved in quickly and pushed Hayner down with his free hand, pointing the bat at the thinner boy's neck.

"Jesus, Chicken, you're off your game today," Seifer said flatly. "I figured you'd put up more of a fight than that."

Hayner growled, breathing more heavily thanks to the physical exertion. He didn't want to hear insults, he just wanted to tear off that hat of Seifer's and beat him with it. He shoved Seifer's bat away and sprang to his feet. His head began to swim from the sudden blood rush and he dropped his Struggle bat to hold a hand to his head, trying to steady himself.

He vaguely heard Seifer calling his nickname and looked towards the elder male, but his vision swam as he swayed on his feet. Hayner waited for a few seconds but the feeling wouldn't go away. Hayner took a step forward and suddenly the dizzy feeling increased tenfold and everything was dark.

The next thing Hayner knew was that he was lying on the ground of the sandlot and someone was calling to him, patting at his face. Hayner moaned and batted the hand away from his face; he wanted to sleep.

"Hayner! Wake the fuck up!"

At that voice Hayner's eyes snapped open to see Seifer looking down at him. He blinked twice before shooting up into a sitting position. Seifer just managed to dodge away from Hayner's head smashing into his chin. Hayner groaned and held his head as the dizziness returned, but it faded some as he sat there.

"You think you can stand without fainting again, Chickie?" Seifer's voice came from higher up now; Hayner saw that he was standing and brushing himself off. The slighter blond immediately frowned at the comment.

"What are you talking about?" He stood in a show of defiance to Seifer and wobbled only slightly.

"You were wobbling around like you were dizzy and then you fell. In fewer words, you fainted."

Hayner looked downwards at the ground. The last thing he remembered doing was dropping his Struggle bat...but he also recalled the events prior to that. He was ashamed that he'd lost control like that, but Seifer's comment still pissed him off.

"I'm going home," he grumbled. He felt Seifer's eyes burning into the back of his head as he walked, forcefully steadying his gait, away from the sandlot and back home. Hopefully the nightmare wouldn't plague him again, and Hayner could get some damn rest.


A/N: Hi! :D This is my first fiction featuring Seifer and Hayner. Please, leave a review telling me if I got characterization things and other stuff like tht wrong; it really helps! :3 And it gives me motivation for another chapter, which I intend to have on this story...