Ellone tucked the blanket around Laguna's legs and dropped a soft kiss on his cheek. He was getting old now, and his leg didn't just bother him when he was nervous. But his eyes were still the same bright, mischievious green that she remembered from her childhood. He smiled at her, rather ruefully, she thought. "Presidents aren't supposed to go around taking care of washed-up old grandpas, Elle."

She smiled back at him and settled into her own chair. "Esthar can wait for a while. I want to spend some time with you, Uncle Laguna. Besides, you're not a grandpa, yet."

The former president snorted. "Not for lack of trying on Rinoa's part, though, I'll bet." He sighed. "Squall...wonder what he's doing right now."

Ellone frowned and glanced to the side. Her little brother and adopted uncle had never gotten along well. Even with Rinoa working at Squall's emotional barriers over the years, the pain of abandonment still came between father and son. It's my fault... If Uncle Laguna hadn't left Winhill to get me back from Adel, he would have been with Raine when Squall was born... She'd tried to send Squall back to make that happen, but it hadn't worked. "Do you ever wish that you'd stayed in Winhill, with Raine?"

"Elle, if I had just let the Estharians take you, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself – and Raine would have hated me for it. I would have lost both of you."

"But you did lose both of us, and Squall, too." Ellone pulled her knees up to her chin and stared out the window. She wouldn't lie, that bothered her a little, as well. She had never grown to hate Laguna like Squall had, but she had missed him a lot, for a very long time.

"And that, Elle, is the only thing I regret. I thought the two of you would be safer with Edea than in a country recovering from civil war, especially with Odine wanting to get you back in his labs. I didn't realize that waiting a few years would put you both out of my reach like that, force you into hiding and Squall into becoming a soldier... If I could do anything to change that decision, I would."

The young president of Esthar bit her lip. You can't change the past. But what if I sent someone back into their own body? Could they influence their own decisions? Squall kept Rinoa from giving up on life... Could Uncle Laguna keep his younger self from giving us up? We could finally be a real family. "We could try, you know. I could send you back... They say you can't change the past, but I don't see the harm in trying." She was filled with the same reckless determination that she'd felt when she'd laid eyes on Squall in that infirmary after all those years. Her family should be together – Elle and Uncle Laguna and Squall.

Laguna glanced up, naked hope flashing in his eyes. "You think we could do it?"

Elle smiled and reached out with her mind. "Only one way to find out."

I cannot believe this shit. Stuck taking orders from some random asshole from Trabia, with Chickenwuss Dincht for a partner and Trepe watching me like a hawk. This field exam is going to suck, just like the last three have. Seifer sighed and leaned against the wall in Dollet's central square, hand curling around Hyperion's handle. There was no getting around it – standby was fucking boring.

A bell tolled in the distance, shattering the silence that had enveloped the area for the last hour or two. The stupid stray that had been hanging around whimpered, and the squad captain (Seifer had promptly forgotten his name) scowled and kicked at the dog, trying to shoo him away. He ran to the square's northern exit, howling in indignation. Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because that helped."

Dincht shushed him – what were they, five? – and pulled the captain down into a crouch next to him as several Galbadian soldiers snuck through the square, off to the north. The blond idiot followed the road with his eyes, squinting and screwing his face into weird expressions. It looked painful – Seifer guessed that that was his thinking face. Obviously he didn't do it often. "Where the hell they goin'? What's up there?"

Their captain shrugged. "None of our concern. We were ordered to hold the central square, and that's what we're going to do."

Seifer clenched one fist, hard. If I have to stay here for a minute longer, somebody's losing a body part. A vital one. He took a deep breath and concentrated on not killing someone. Instead, he raised an eyebrow at the captain. "You saw the way they were acting. They needed to get up that mountain, without being seen. Whatever they're doing, it's important. Do you have any idea how many bonus points we'd score if we figured out what the Galbadians were doing here?"

The mousy brown-haired man blinked. The thought had clearly never crossed his mind. Dincht flailed around somewhere in Seifer's peripheral vision – he didn't bother to look over, keeping his gaze steady on his target. "Yeah, but this is an exam. If we disobey orders, we'll get in serious trouble!"

The captain glanced around, frowning. "I don't want to do that..."

Seifer saw his chance and seized it. "Then send me. That way the square is still protected, we can find out what's going on, and you won't be disobeying orders."

What's-his-name nodded, expression slowly becoming more confident. Seifer knew that he had pegged him correctly – the man was a follower, who would bow to any strong personality that came along. And no one had a stronger personality than Seifer Almasy. The next words out of the Squad B captain's mouth threw him a little, though. "Take Zell with you. It looks dangerous up there, with all those soldiers. This place should be fine." Seifer's eyes widened slightly and he opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut when the man amended his statement with "And that's an order, both of you." He sounded like he was mimicing some old action movie, all macho and fake bravado.

The blond man gritted his teeth and nodded. Some action with a tagalong was better than no action at all, that was for damn sure. He could hear Dincht bitching off to his left, but ignored it, and strode off to the north.

A few snake monsters and Galbadian soldiers obstructed his path. Hyperion shone like the sun in his hand, clearing the way forward with little effort. Chickenwuss was panting and yelling for him to slow down as he tried to catch up, making more noise than anyone that short should physically be able to, but Seifer didn't slow. He had a mission – a real one, not some stupid "guard this completely useless area" order – and nothing was going to get in his way.

The path curved abruptly along the edge of a cliff overlooking the tower that seemed to be the object of interest for the Galbadians. Seifer dropped to his stomach, watching the soldiers babble about generators and boosters. Zell crouched somewhere behind him. Seifer glanced back at him, a sharp look in his green eyes. "You better not start dragging me down, Chickenwuss. Anyone that gets between me and my dream gets left behind."

"...The hell are you talking about? Your dream?"

Seifer's lips just curled in a smirk. "You'll understand when you're older, shrimp." He pulled himself to his feet, taking off for the installation up ahead. He thought he heard a shrill feminine voice somewhere behind him, but ignored it. Dincht could handle one screechy girl, surely. Though with the way I've seen him wolf down hot dogs, maybe I shouldn't be trusting him to know how to do anything with a woman...

He settled his gunblade on his shoulder and strode into the tower. Galbadians were everywhere, weapons set to the side as they worked at various access panels. Seifer conjured a small ball of fire in one hand and lobbed it at the nearest engineer while brandishing his gunblade in the other. "You guys have two choices: either try your hand at taking me on, or get the hell outta here. What's it gonna be?" He could feel his mouth pulled tight in a feral grin – never did he feel more alive than when faced with a challenge.

Unfortunately, several Galbadians took one look at their screaming, smoldering comrade and ran past him, out of the tower. A couple grabbed their guns and aimed at him with shaky hands, but Seifer cut them down with swift, well-placed slashes. The rest fled while he was mopping up what little resistance they gave. Seifer scowled and stomped over to the door. "Cowards!"

Zell stood just over the threshold, with some tiny brown-haired girl in a cadet's uniform. She flailed a hand in the air and yelled "HEEEY!" at him, but Seifer just turned and walked off. Time to see what they're really doing here. He made his way to the previously-guarded elevator and slammed the heel of his hand against the button. The small lift rose quickly past floors and floors of machinery, the walls shuddering as the long-abandoned tower came to life. Seifer made it to the roof at the same time that the satellite fanned itself open. A large man in the red Galdbadian commander uniform whirled away from the large control panel he was tinkering with.

"Hey! Who they hell are you? What...what happened to all the soldiers down below? Wedge! Deal with this twerp!" Seifer just smirked as the man's expected backup didn't appear. Instead, the lift behind him whirred and clunked. Dincht and the little brown-haired girl stepped off and flanked him, cutting off the man's escape route. An idiot on one side, a loud woman on the other... This feels familiar. Seifer briefly wished that his posse was here instead of the Chickenwuss and some girl he didn't even know, but he shrugged it off and lifted his gunblade, sighting down the blade as he pointed it at the commander.

The red-uniformed man rolled his shoulders and charged at the three SeeD cadets. The girl knocked him off balance with a well-timed fire spell, and Dincht lept forward, fists flying. The blond's punches didn't seem to be doing much against the commander's body armor, so Seifer grabbed him by the back of his jacket and pulled him aside, ignoring his yelp of protest. A lightly-armored trooper in blue ran up, so Seifer pushed Dincht towards him, and then turned his own attention to the commander.

Seifer half-dodged his opponent's next charge, landing a strike against the man's shoulder plating. Hyperion skidded across the metal, throwing sparks. The commander held his hands up to the sky, calling down a tiny violet lightning bolt that shuddered all the way through Seifer's large frame. He staggered backwards and shook off the pain. Out of the corner of his eye, Seifer caught a glimpse of Dincht and the girl handling the trooper with ease, as the man was stumbling and scorched in several places. Then he cast a fire spell on the ground at his feet, briefly cutting the cadets off from the central part of the tower. The commander and the trooper both retreated back towards the lift, and Seifer was just about to lunge forward when a gust of wind swirled out of nowhere. The Galbadians screamed as they were flung into the main tower structure.

A huge form descended from the air above. What the fuck is that? Seifer stared up at the bizarre creature, with its massive bat wings, beefy purple arms, and stinger. Dincht and the girl ran up next to him – apparently the wind had put the fire out – and took up battle stances. Seifer pulled himself up to his full height and smirked. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Come on, you ugly bastard!"

The thing - "It's an Elvoret! Earth and poison won't work on it!" – roared as if in challenge. Seifer charged at it, evading its heavy claw-swipes as he slashed at its lower body. Flames caught his sleeve, so Seifer flung off his uniform jacket, fleetingly glad that he hadn't worn his favorite grey trenchcoat, like he'd been tempted to. A lightning bolt struck the ground off to his right, but Seifer kept hacking at the stinger, shaving off small pieces of the armored carapace. Bright blue lines of magic streaked past his ear as someone drew something from the creature, and fire bloomed all along the thing's left side.

Seifer staggered a little as the air pressure around him shifted. He glanced up to see the Elvoret drawing in a huge breath, and barely managed to flatten himself to the floor before a miniature tornado buffeted him. He groaned and clenched the fingers of his left hand in the grating below him, fighting to not be swept away.

A small hand settled on the middle of his back as the pressure faded, and the cool, tingling sensation of a cure spell suffused his limbs. A pair of concerned green eyes met his for a moment, then the girl was dragging him back, away from the enemy. Seifer fought her half-heartedly, but was too groggy to stand on his own just yet, so he just watched as green orbs swirled around Dincht for a moment, and then disappeared as he slammed a palm forward. Superheated air blasted in his face as flames erupted in midair, coalescing into a brown-skinned, red-furred demon beast. Ifrit roared and flung a huge ball of fire and molten rock into the flying enemy. The Guardian Force shimmered back out of existence as the Elvoret crashed to the tower's floor, twitching and smoldering.

The young woman next to Seifer punched a hand into the air and whooped with triumph. He pulled out a potion and chugged it, eyeing her speculatively. "And you are?"

The girl turned a megawatt smile on him and started talking a mile a minute. Seifer instantly wanted to strangle her. "Selphie Tilmitt, Squad A! I have new orders! 'All SeeD members and SeeD candidates are to withdraw at 1900 hours. Assemble at the shore!'"

Already extremely annoyed at having been shown up in a fight by the fucking Chickenwuss of all people, Seifer snapped at her. "Withdraw! We've almost secured the damn place!"

Selphie stiffened and her smile faded somewhat. "Sorry. I'm just a messenger." She shrugged apologetically.

Zell piped up from somewhere off to the side. "No way do I wanna miss our ride home."

Seifer sighed. "1900 hours, right? That's...shit, 30 minutes. Let's get the hell outta here, then." He turned away and strode towards the lift, leaving the other two to follow in his wake.

Zell and Selphie were chattering about something – Seifer wasn't really paying attention – as they walked out of the communication tower. A god-awful screeching noise sounded above them, and all three SeeD cadets glanced up to see a weird, spider-like shadow on the top level of the tower. It skittered towards them and launched itself off the tower. The giant metal thing threw up a huge cloud of dust as it landed between them and the door they had just exited, and Seifer fell back, coughing.

Selphie flailed her arms at Dincht, who was getting ready to charge the thing. "What are you doing? That thing's made out of steel or something – you can't just run up to it and punch it! Use thunder, metallic enemies are usually weak to it." She shook her head and proceeded to take her own advice. Seifer straightened and unsheathed Hyperion, running at the mech and slicing the front panel open. He danced back and forth, out of the range of the pincer-like claws, as lightning bolts rained down on it. It wasn't long at all before the thing crumpled, but instead of falling silent, the internal workings began to whir and click loudly. A speaker proclaimed repairs at being twenty percent complete.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" Dincht and the messenger girl both ran off, but Seifer hesitated. Running away wasn't very heroic, or honorable, or any of that other bullshit that knights usually did. The mech began to struggle back to its feet. Fuck it, I'm not wasting my time with this.

The metal spider was hot on Seifer's heels as he ran back towards Dollet. It nearly caught him several times, like when it sprang over him on the bridge – thankfully he noticed and began to run back the other way, prompting it to try to cut him off again – but Seifer made it into the city without incident. He figured the thing would give up once he made his way into Dollet's tiny one-way streets, but the mech just walked along the walls of the buildings. Have to give it credit for persistance, I guess. Other SeeD cadets were spilling out into the streets in front of him, and he'd long since lost sight of Tilmitt and Dincht.

Seifer was nearly out of breath by the time his foot touched beach sand, but he was greeted with one of the most glorious sights he'd ever witnessed in his young life: Quistis Trepe, and a high-powered machine gun. He dove and rolled into the ship her gun was mounted on, turning to watch the annoying piece of shit get drilled with more holes than a Deling City prostitute. The hatch closed on the sight of the mech shuddering and finally dying for good as the ship peeled away from the shore.

Seifer slouched in the driver's seat of the Garden car he was driving, one arm resting on the frame of the opened window. It was sort of tempting to just drive into the distance, just him and his posse, no rules to break or authority to sneer at. Hard to do, though, on a tiny island. Someone'd find him eventually. Not to mention years of sitting in class and taking their stupid tests going to waste.

Raijin leaned forward from the back seat. "Did you guys get to see some real action today? 'Cause you said that last year's was some real boring guard duty, y'know?" He had this sort of eager, puppy-like look on his face that normally made Seifer feel important, but right now was just annoying. It reminded him of the fucking Chickenwuss, eating up everything Trepe had said on the way back from Dollet. It made him sort of uncomfortable to think that a member of his posse and the biggest idiot on the Garden campus might have more than a little bit in common.

Fujin turned and regarded Seifer with one blood-colored eye. She must have understood his mood – Fu was good for that sort of thing – because she smacked Raijin upside the head and yelled "QUIET!" Rai crumpled back into the back seat and whimpered (quietly) at the injustice of the world.

Seifer wordlessly turned the car towards Balamb Garden. It all comes down to this, huh? Been taking the fucking field exam for four years now, only have one more chance before I hit twenty and they throw me out on my ass. What can they fail me on this time? I was a good little soldier, followed my captain's orders to the letter. I didn't punch the instructor, or accidentally set another cadet on fire, or any of the bullshit I pulled in the past. I was a model fucking citizen. And everyone knows I'm the best damn fighter in Garden, AND the only gunblade specialist. Old man Kramer's wanted to pass me before, I can tell, but he never does...

His train of thought was rudely interrupted by a harsh feminine voice yelling his name from about two feet away. Seifer jerked his head to the side and glared at Fujin. "WHAT, Fu?"

Raijin tentatively leaned forward again. "You just seemed to be worryin' about stuff, and me and Fu, we were thinkin' that that's not like you, y'know?"

The blond man straightened and shook his head as he pulled into the parking lot. Worrying wouldn't do him any good, and it made him look weak in front of his posse. "I'm good. Let's go see if we need to beat the shit out of anyone this year."

Raijin whooped as Seifer got out of the car, striding purposefully for the second floor. The cadets would all gather in the hallway, and squirm as the asshole instructors made them all wait on purpose. At least one person usually cracked – two years ago, some guy had thrown up on Seifer's shoes. He'd been the one on the receiving end of Seifer's rage that year, even though he'd been three years older.

As Seifer walked past the directory, he overheard Trepe and Xu debriefing the Headmaster. Apparently the Galbadians had been after the Communications Tower, and had pulled out after taking a beating from SeeD, but not before ordering Dollet to leave the tower alone. Seifer snorted in annoyance and turned to his posse. "We'd almost completely secured the tower when that withdraw order came through. We could have been heroes." I guess messenger girl and the Chickenwuss deserve some of the credit. Frankly, I don't give a damn as long as they give me my due.

Trepe overheard him and turned that laser-blue gaze on him. Seifer had heard cadets say that she could fry T-Rexaurs with a look when pissed off, but he figured that as much of a pain in her ass as he'd been over the last few years, he would have been crisped to nothing by now if that was true. She actually looked somewhat pleased this time, though. Seifer wasn't sure if he should take that as a good sign or not.

She pushed her wire-rimmed glasses up on her nose. She thought they made her look intelligent and authoritative – Seifer thought they made her look like a trumped-up librarian. "Seifer. You do realize that you defied orders by leaving Squad B's designated area, right?"

The blond just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Captain's orders, Instructor. What was I supposed to do?"

"From what your captain says, it was your idea to leave."

Seifer's smirk hardened a little bit. Need to remember to find out his name, and add him to 'the list.' "I merely suggested a course of action. It's not my responsibility if he acted on it or not."

Trepe inclined her head and smiled fractionally. "Get to the second floor, Seifer. Results are going to be read soon."

As soon as the elevator doors closed on them and they were out of ear shot, Raijin turned to his leader with a confused expression on his face. "What was up with her? She looked happy, but she was kind of chewing you out, y'know?"

Fujin nodded. "MESSAGE."

"Message? For Seifer? I don't get it."

Seifer tuned out their voices – and Raijin's yowl of pain when Fujin kicked him – and stepped out of the elevator. Fu was right. Trepe had been trying to tell him something. His lips turned up in a fierce grin. No way could they fail him this time.

When they entered the second floor hallway, it was the usual scene of anxious cadets waiting for their futures to be decided. Dincht was the worst of them, pacing the length of the hallway, muttering to himself. "We disobeyed orders...we are gonna be in so much trouble...man, how could this happen...?" Apparently Trepe hadn't taken the same initiative with him. Seifer smiled. Let the idiot stew for a while. Apparently the messenger girl was Trabian, since they always gathered elsewhere to wait for the results.

Seifer picked a wall and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. He briefly wished that he'd had time to change into his coat – he'd always hated the cadet uniform, hated being made to look the same as a bunch of mouth-breathing useless wastes of space. He was different from them. Stronger, smarter, better.

One of the red-robed instructors made his pondering way into the hallway. "Dincht. Almasy. Please proceed to the Headmaster's office on the third floor. That is all. Dismissed."

The Chickenwuss whooped and trotted off to the elevator, looking happier than Seifer had ever seen anyone. Raijin had a similar look on his face as he cheered, and Fujin was smiling faintly. Seifer just smirked and strolled out of the hallway, feeling eyes on his back and whispers following in his wake. All those asshole instructors who had always told him that he'd never make SeeD – too violent, too headstrong, too angry – could eat it. He'd finally made it. One less obstacle between me and my dream.

There were three others lined up in Cid's office – Dincht, Tilmitt, and some random brown-haired guy that Seifer had never seen before. The Headmaster started in on some long-winded speech about the 'meaning of SeeD' or some bullshit, but the instructor with him cut him short. Cid then started handing out the pieces of paper that would mark where they would all stand in Garden's SeeD hierarchy. Seifer's fingers itched. The higher the ranking, the more likely he'd be to get his own command in whatever missions they sent him on.The old man was giving each person some sort of heartfelt advice or some shit, and it was taking him forever to get to the end of the line where Seifer stood.

Finally, it was his turn. Cid leaned in to say something about being glad that Garden finally had a gunblade specialist, but Seifer's eyes were glued to the paper in front of him. Rank 10? Are they fucking serious? I deserve at least a 15... Most of his scores were decent, and his Attack rating was excellent, but his marks in the Attitude section were incredibly low. He stifled his scowl. At least I did better than Chickenwuss. He had seen the spiky-haired blond's lips form the words "SeeD rank seven" when he'd been handed his own scores.

Pocketing the paper, Seifer turned on his heel and followed the other new SeeDs out. They had a speech to give to the kiddies, and then the big inauguration party. The four of them emerged into the hallway, to be met with applause – led by his posse, of course. He slipped his hands into his pockets and favored them all with his most winning smile. Once the failed cadets wandered off, Seifer grabbed Raijin by the shoulder. "Find out which SeeD dorm is my new room." The large man's face fell for a moment. No doubt he'd forgotten that Seifer would be moving out of the room they shared. Seifer, for his part, was mostly just glad that he'd have some peace and quiet for a change. Rai snored. Loudly. He and Fujin went off in search of the person in charge of housing.

Seifer strolled back to his old room, glancing around. Most of his things were packed up, just like they'd been after every other field exam, but for the first time, it hadn't been a waste of time. He stared at the SeeD uniform on his bed for a minute. The cadet uniform was one thing, it had been given to him. Even the non-combatant students wore it. There was no glory to be found in wearing it. The SeeD uniform was a different beast altogether. He'd earned this, earned the right to stand with Garden's elite fighting force – and earned the right to prove himself to be stronger, smarter, and better than all of them, too.

He shucked his old uniform (maybe he'd burn it, like the jacket had been, seemed fitting) and pulled on the new one. It was kind of scratchy and needed to be washed, but it fit him like a glove, unlike the too-tight cadet uniform he'd worn up until then. Seifer made sure that he took his time getting ready – let Chickenwuss and the messenger girl give their speeches about what it was like to be a SeeD. He didn't really feel like inspiring the youth of tomorrow or any of that stupid shit.

What Seifer was interested in was SeeD ball. There was a certain someone who had promised to be there, and he'd bet everything on passing the exam this year. He was relieved that he wasn't going to look like a total failure in front of her. The door to the dorm room slammed open and then closed, and Seifer heard a whistle behind him.

"Lookin' good, Seifer! Rin won't know what hit her, y'know?" Raijin was grinning like an idiot, and Fujin nodded.

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Seifer smirked at his posse. "Thanks. Though I'd rather her know exactly who 'hit' her, if you catch my drift. You guys find my new room?"

Raijin nodded. "Yeah, no sweat, y'know? Here." He handed Seifer a small piece of paper with the new room number on it.

Seifer gave the number a cursory glance before pocketing it. "Go ahead and move my stuff to my new room while I'm at the party. I don't trust those faculty guys to not rifle through things that they have no business with." He sauntered out the door, tossing his hand up in a lazy wave as he left. Fu and Rai might not be the brightest bulbs in the box, but they were loyal, and they followed orders. The SeeD program had taught him to value those things in others – they just wouldn't be getting it from him.