Well, here's the first chapter to this story. Hope you like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII.

Chapter One: Rehash

Squall's POV

Squall was too agitated to go to bed, so he decided to take a walk around Garden. Rinoa had been getting on his back a lot lately for letting Seifer back into Garden. It wasn't like he had a choice in the matter, Matron and Cid had practically forced him to. He may be the Commander of Garden and in charge of the military aspects of it, but Cid Kramer and Matron were still in charge of the academic portion and also the living quarters.

Not that he would really send Seifer out there to the world that didn't believe him. No matter what anyone could say, the world would always believe that Seifer had meant to do all those horrible things. (Torturing Squall and attacking Garden among them.) Squall still had that much respect for Seifer, they had been sparring partners after all. Squall could see how he had changed, had acted differently and lost so easily when Squall and the Orphanage Gang (as Selphie had dubbed them) had fought him and Edea while they were being controlled.

He couldn't say the same of everyone else. Zell - The blond martial artist of the group with a red shirt and black shorts and a black dragon tattoo on one side of his face - had hated Seifer from when they were still kids in the orphanage. Seifer had kept bullying Zell because he had made fun of Squall one time. Seifer had held a grudge against him since. Seifer called him Chicken-Wuss because of his chosen hairstyle, but Zell had never really done anything about it so Squall had assumed he didn't hate it as much as he was implying.

Quistis - The blond chain whip user who wore her hair up in a bun, glasses and a pink, short skirt skimpy dress and combat boots - hated anyone who was better than her at something. Seifer had always been better about reading Squall before the Sorceress thing, and because she had had a crush on Squall, she resented him for it. She had felt, and still feels, that she could predict Squall, but he had news for her. She didn't know him nearly as much as she thought she did. She - and everyone else for that matter - thought he hated Seifer. Not even close.

Selphie - the brunette with short hair, wore a yellow dress and combat boots, and used a nunchaku (or, a single nun chuck, but bigger) as a weapon - cared more for Seifer than she let on. She had always thought of him as a big brother when they had been in the orphanage, and though they had only met again recently (before the sorceress took him over) at the SeeD entrance exam, she still cared for him.

Irvine - the brunette with a cowboy fettish and wore a cowboy hat, a trench coat, jeans, and a blue? shirt with boots and used a sawed off shotgun called Exeter as a weapon and was a couple with Selphie - had seriously felt bad when they had had to hunt Seifer and Matron down. He had been the first to remember the orphanage and Matron (other than Seifer) because he hadn't used Guardian Force (or summon monsters) which took memories when they were junctioned. He may have been a play-boy but he took his friends seriously.

Rinoa - a black haired new sorceress who had gotten her powers when Ultimecia had transferred Edea's powers to Rinoa to change bodies; was childish; was clingy; wore black spandex shorts, blue shirt thing that had a tail to it with white wings embossed into the back of it, and a necklace that had both her mother's ring on it and Squall's Griever ring - disliked Seifer. A lot. Squall figured it was because she had liked Seifer just for him to "betray" her and give her to Sorceress Adel so she could steal Rinoa's powers. Or attempt to. Squall and the Orphanage Gang had stopped her before she could Drain Rinoa.

And Squall - brunette; wore lots of leather; wore a Griever chain necklace; used the Lionhart gun blade; Commander of Garden; 18 year old; sparring partner to Seifer; leader of the Orphanage Gang; Edea and Cid's favorite; titled "hero" by the people; son to Laguna (President of Esthar(large city like America in its habits)); and often nicknamed the Ice Prince (or Ice Princess by Seifer Almacy) due to his habit of glaring icily at those who annoy him as apposed to yelling at them - Squall just was mad at Seifer for letting Ultimecia control him in the first place. He knew that Seifer was strong enough to hold her off, so that wasn't the issue. He let her in. He must have been promised something big to have let her get her mental claws into his head.

That thought, that Seifer had just let her in, is what made him state that Seifer had betrayed them. Squall was angry with Seifer, but didn't hate him. Never that.

Squall was jerked from his contemplating by his phone going off. Pulling it out of his pant's pocket as he continued to walk on auto-pilot, he flipped it open and looked at the caller id. He glared at the phone when he saw who it was: Rinoa. She just wouldn't let it go. She wanted him to just chuck Seifer out, damn what Cid or Matron thought.

It was always cold in Garden in winter because so much of it was exposed to the elements. Only the Dorms, classrooms, cafeteria and offices were warm. So, as he answer his cell, he failed to notice where he was going.

"What is it Rinoa?"

"Where are you, Squall? Everyone wants you to come to Selphie's party on Christmas Eve, and I wanted to take you out present shopping."

"Rinoa, we've been over this," Squall said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance and taking deep breaths to keep calm. "I am perfectly capable of doing my own shopping."

"But I want to go with you!"

"How would it benefit you? I wouldn't be able to get you a present if you come along," Squall used his best persuasion voice. Sometimes, you could get your way with Rinoa just by mentioning something she disliked.

"Well…, then you could just go get me my present after we're done!"

"Rinoa, I am not interested. Besides, I have most of my shopping done."

"What! Since when? Irvine said you hadn't left Garden for the past month."

Sighing, Squall grumbled, "I did it a couple months ago. Now. Let. It. GO!"

"Fine," she sulked. A few moments later, she piped up, "I hope he doesn't show up to Selphie's party this year. He totally ruined the mood last time."

"Rinoa!"

"What? You can't tell me it's not true. He sucked the fun out of last year's party. And the one before too."

"Just…leave it alone. You don't need to mention him at all." he said tiredly. He knew she would misconstrue that as him not wanting to hear about Seifer at all because he hated his guts, but he really didn't want her talking shit about Almacy.

"Sorry, Squall, but he just…How can he get away with everything he's done, and just pass it off as being conveniently controlled by Ultimecia? He should just kill himself and get it over with."

Squall's feet had stopped him inside the Quad, only a few feet from a brooding Seifer, but he didn't even notice through the fog of anger he was in.

"JUST SHUT UP RINOA!" he screamed into the cell before he angrily tossed it to the ground where it crunched satisfactorily.

He finally caught his surroundings when Seifer's voice drawled, "Something wrong?"

Glaring to keep the embarrassment from showing (he had just been talking about Seifer after all) he ground out through clenched teeth, "Nothing you need to know about, Almacy."

"Really? 'Cause I thought that property damage was my field, not yours." Seifer smirked. He had recently been appointed the grounds manager by Cid, that and he just liked to destroy stuff sometimes while training.

"I don't care what you think, so shut up," Squall snapped. He immediately felt bad though, when he saw the flicker of hurt and something else flash through Seifer's eyes. Squall could always tell what Seifer felt through his eyes.

"Alright, fine. Don't say I never told you so when it comes up at tomorrow's meeting." Seifer shrugged. Squall could tell he was going for flippant, but he could see Seifer's eyes glaze over with hidden emotions. Concerned by the deep frown that Seifer had adopted, Squall could tell something was bothering him.

"What?" Seifer asked, frowning.

"Just…You seem more down lately." Squall answered without really giving it much thought. He flinched when he saw Seifer glare instead.

"And that matters to you why? It's not a secret you all hate me. Everyone. Matron and Cid are just trying to make up for what I've gone through. They don't actually care. You can breath a sigh of relief now." Seifer smirked, but Squall could see the sadness and depression in his eyes that he hadn't seen there before.

'How could you think that?' Squall thought. 'They've been your biggest supporters throughout this whole thing'

Ignoring Seifer's sarcasm, Squall looked worried for a moment before, "Are you sure there's nothing else wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sure alright." Seifer half-smirked in a poor attempt to hide what Squall had already seen in his eyes.

Seifer stood up stiffly and waved good bye to Squall as he left the Quad, leaving Squall to stare at his back. He was slouched and seemed almost worse from their talk.

Squall wasn't going to let that be. He knew what that slouch meant, when mixed with all the other things Seifer had unwillingly shown him.

And he would be damned if he let Seifer give up. He wouldn't let Seifer walk away from him like that. He wouldn't let Seifer die that way. He would make sure of it.