Seifer in Wonderland
: Squall x Seifer
rated : M
A/N : I used Squall's gruffy appearance and age in KH2, and for Seifer to level it up, since he's a year older... so he's 27 years old, and in his FF8's appearance! With macho-ness and a lot more mature than before! xD
Disclaimer : I don't own Final Fantasy VIII and Kingdom Hearts, just this crappy plot i used. Plus, it's my first try with a cross-over.
My apologies for the errors unintentionally made in this chapter, will be corrected soon.
Nonetheless, enjoy!
So, umm... This is actually just a trial, if i get enough support - maybe i'll think of a continuation.
His boots were placed on his side, feet splashing on the calm surface of the sea water as he listened to the rhythmic squawking of the seagulls. Gloved hands gripped on the edges of the hardwood-built jetty, looking down at his own reflection. How many years has it been since then? His appearance, for these years had changed... Quite a lot. He thought to himself, maybe it's for the best. The morning was quiet, dull shouts of the fishermen at the harbour not that far from him - seems like they've caught a lot of fish. Friendly fishermen waved their hands at him as they noticed his stare.
Curving a smile, he returned a wave.
It was all because of such kindness that he was able to live here - the peaceful Fisherman's Horizon.
Gentle breezes of the morning felt nice as he whistled, following the same tune he remembered back at the dance. Turning to the beautiful horizon on far-end, it looked very nostalgic. Wishing that he could slip back to the past, on 'that' time a few years ago - this never would've happened. No more time magic, no more hope for him to return back home. And he just smiled to himself, it was without his help that his childhood friends saved the world.
They were better off without him at least.
In his hand was his tag, the necklace he usually wore back in his teenage years. Wiping on his written name with his thumb, he wondered if he still have a use to this or not. His mind was reeling back to the past, no matter how hard he tried to forget - being under Ultimecia's control really sucks.
Finally, the sound of footsteps getting louder rang to his ears. The wooden jetty creaked as the stranger seemingly walking towards the laid-back Seifer.
Then, the sound of footsteps stripped him back from his troubled mind. It was sauntering towards him, so casually and a bit slow than his two buddies that he knew. The footsteps then halted, the blonde-haired felt a slightly towering shadow a few steps behind him. It doesn't feel like Raijin's, he would usually scream out his name whenever the other's coming to get him.
But this, the stranger stood quietly for a moment, waiting for the sitting blonde to acknowledge of his presence. And this tingling aura he'd sensed, it's someone from the past.
Why now?
"What is it?" Seifer spoke as politely as he could, slipping his tag inside his pocket.
The stranger sighed as he replied, "...Took me a while to search for you."
That voice sounded familiar, a bit gruff. When Seifer looked up from his shoulder, the first thing he saw was that scar. His cyan eyes went wide, he didn't expect it to be him.
"S-Squall..." he stuttered, slightly losing his grip on the jetty's edge.
And so...
His eyebrow was twitching, he gritted his teeth, trying his best not to explode. He was just sitting leisurely at the jetty, how did Seifer ended up in Squall's car?
Feeling quite shitty and extremely grouchy, he grunted, "I'm supposed to be watching out the safety of the fishermen right now... but no, here i am, stuck with you! Why the hell would you want me to come along with you anyway?"
Rotating the steering wheel to the right, Squall kept his full attention on the dangerous road to Timber, sighing yet again, "I need your cooperation to help me get some information."
"That sounds monotonously poetic..." Seifer mocked, overlooking the browns and the greens of the passing trees and vast lands.
The brown-haired, as collected as he always were, kept his sane. At least Seifer still had his usual 'piercing sarcasm' intact - though his appearance had clearly changed : his short spiked-hair had lengthen a bit, catchy silver-piercing of his usual trademark on his left ear, grey coat length down before his knees, black leathered pants and boots, and the usual v-neck cross shirt that he always wear.
Matching the weather, Squall guessed. How many years has it been? 9 years? Near to a decade they haven't seen each other. Everyone has grown, including Seifer who ran away from Balamb with his two loyal friends. They were never heard of again, but there were rumours that a small group of vigilantes watches out the citizens in Fisherman's Horizon. It sounded nice, he heard that these vigilantes were more of a helper than pathetic, fame-lusting people.
And it shocked him that the once proud, overly confident Seifer Almasy was the leader of the vigilante. Like he always acted like one back in Balamb Garden.
Even so...
"I had to retrieve you alone, seems like people are still afraid of you," Squall rendered, glancing at his childhood friend who was sitting at the front passenger seat.
The blonde-haired scoffed, "I'm not surprised."
Guess Seifer needed to hear that statement, everyone is afraid of him. There's nothing he could change that, he even admitted that his appearance now looked more terrifying that his teenage years. It was because of that 'possession', he's unable to turn back the ticking clock. The arms of his time had stopped moving, he got stuck in his haunting, humiliating past.
Adding to Squall's presence now, weighted his troubles even more. The brown-haired looked much more mature and a worthy leader than the last Seifer saw him. Seems that at Squall's age, he would still keep on growing as he looked a bit taller than the changing blonde.
'...He's just one centimetre taller!' Seifer mentally cursed.
Compared to the now profound leader of the SeeDs and the headmaster of Balamb Garden, Seifer seemed to stand so small. Squall had promised that he would never see the blonde-haired ever again - which breaks him wholly when all of those past memories from before still haunted him.
How could he do such a thing with a man?
"...We've missed you, Seifer," Squall admitted, breaking the uncomfortable, tensing silence, when he noticed Seifer looking so crushed.
"Thought you promised not to see me again..."
"If it's about work, such promise doesn't matter," he answered as the matter-of-factly.
Seifer clenched his teeth, Squall answered him so bluntly! Too blunt. Still, the latter doesn't even try to understand the blonde-haired's feelings. He felt disgraced, thoroughly ashamed.
"Honestly, i'm glad you're doing fine..." Squall added, curving a small, unnoticed smile as he drove his grand car.
"...Huh," that was quite a shock, Squall's happy Seifer's been eating well?
Arriving at Timber after their quiet journey, there were less resistant groups now after a few years. All thanks to Squall, maybe... that made Seifer looked pathetic. He remembered holding the president hostage and that news was currently broadcast, it was humiliating, but what to do. And that was the time he was lured into that wretched sorceress' trap, he was half-awake through the passing days and weeks he was controlled.
And had started to regain consciousness back when his loyal buddies felt betrayed because of him. He nearly lost them...
Timber, was the start of everything.
Parking on an empty lot at the local pub's, Squall shut off the car's engine and inhaled quietly. Hoping that this problem will proceed and ends well. Seifer was petrified on his seat, why is he doing this?
"I've spent a few years trying to solve this case, and i have finally found my lead here," Squall explained his current mission, placing his hands on the now locked steering wheel.
"This 'mystery' only draws children, taking advantage of their curiosity. Plus, their imagination could be dangerous perhaps."
"How dangerous?" Seifer asked, finally taking an interest.
Turning to face the now decisive blonde-haired, Squall spoke again, "Imagination kills them, is what i call. There were a lot of them, and i succeeded in finding a few - but they all disappeared. And the girl upstairs is my only lead... It's the Garden's top priority, i couldn't afford to lose any."
'Yet you're capable of losing me, huh?' the blonde-haired thought dejectedly.
But... it sounded seductively dangerous.
"And what do you want me to do? You know how i am with kids," he doubted, looking up at the pub's prominent title, 'Aphorora'.
Squall chuckled lightly, unheard by the blonde, "Just act nice. The girl is quite fond of you, and by listening to her story... maybe you can solve this great mission."
"I'm not a SeeD, Squall. I will never be..." Seifer snapped, lowering down his stare.
This was the first on their years apart that Seifer spoke the other's name. It was so bleak. Something in their relationship that made Seifer become a person like this, unapproachable, sullen... abandoned.
Shifting his eyes back to the steering wheel, his hand was on the door handle, "But you're always one of us."
Squall got out from his car, shutting the door with a slight bump as he ambled towards the pub's door. The blonde-haired stayed stupefied on his seat, he was reluctant to get out of the car - but forced himself to move just so that he wouldn't lose his sight on Squall. Noticing the strange faces the citizens of Timber was giving him, he wavered small. No use to be so proud any-more if he doesn't want to get arrested.
Though he once told himself - he's just being him - that motivation suddenly dropped gravely at the moment.
He heard his car door slammed closed and sensed Seifer's presence tailing closer on his back - Squall smirked and had his car automatically locked. The same pub-owner smiled when his eyes wandered to the great Squall Leonhart who just stepped inside his bar, and gestured a hand to come close. The leader spotted him and padded towards the counter, followed by the alarmed, baffled blonde.
"Well, it must've been so important, sir, that you bring 'him' here," the pub-owner sneered, stealing a glance at Seifer who was standing cautiously behind him. The old man grimaced at the blonde's presence, that made the latter frowned.
Noticing the slight uproar of the early busy pub - all because of Seifer's sudden appearance, Squall requested, "Please help me lessen the rumours, you wouldn't want your customers going down..."
Indirectly threatening that the brown-haired will take the pub out of business, the owner grinned hesitantly, "W-Will do!"
Amazed at such skills, he never knew Squall could do that. Following the brown's proud steps to the back alley, out from the pitching noise of loud musics and screams, it's finally settled being outside. Squall's 26 year old guise really astonished him : brown harness boots and black pants, seemingly sleeveless white shirt beneath and his lucky Griever hanging on his neck, no more feathery rib-cut as the black long-sleeved waist-length jacket suited him more - and his hair gotten a bit longer like a certain president he recalled.
"So... what's the girl's name again?" Seifer asked, closing the back-door of the pub.
Looking on his both sides, cautiously scanning for any suspicious resistance, the brown-haired answered, "Her name's Olette, and her father's Angeal."
"How'd you found them?"
Lowering his stare on the solid ground, he replied as he closed his eyes, "...The brother."
Raising an eyebrow, the blonde waited. It took Squall a few seconds to continue as he recollected his memories, "The brother went missing months before i decided to search for you... Olette won't tell me anything, and had asked if she could meet you."
"That's it...? No-"
"My mission requires your help, Seifer. These children, even the slightest bit... they needed your help," Squall assured, his pair of light blue eyes gleamed at his friend.
He was caught stunned. For long last, maybe, that he will have the chance to save somebody and be a hero. A knight to the children, to protect them from the ghastly night and many horrors of the world.
'One thing for sure... you're not that happy meeting me, right? Squall?' Seifer thought, watching the other turning to the stairs of another block of building.
Walking up the stairs of the other connecting building, seemingly apartments, their thumping steps on the metal case stopped on the second floor.
This is it. To save all and the missing children, Seifer kept that in mind. Squall took a glimpse at the nervous friend, it'll be fine. Gloved hand knocking on the wooden door, waiting patiently when they heard a light call inside.
The door creaked open, revealing a little girl looking up at the two strangers.
"Hey, it's me again. And i brought you someone," Squall started as he curved a smile, stepping aside so that Seifer could see the little girl the brown-haired was talking about.
Cyan eyes lowered to take a sight of the said girl, she was just a kid! Really, really a kid! Six, seven years old maybe... Still with her teddy bear between her arm and chest, wearing a slightly larger sweater and a unique style of brown hair. This must be Olette.
Seifer sweat-dropped when her huge, green eyes stared expressionlessly at him, "...Uh... Hi?"
And then...
"Daddy! Daddy! It's Saifa!" Olette squealed, taking Seifer's hand into the small apartment, welcoming him. She took him by surprise as he nearly stumbled on the door entrance. Judging from the lack of pronunciation of his name and her small frame, the blonde guessed that she's about 4 or 5 years old.
The father walked out from his room with a wrinkled smile plastered on his face, "My, my... So he is."
This small, warm family weren't scared of him.
The middle-aged father gestured Squall to come inside and close the door, which the brown-haired complied. Angeal told the young leader to sit on the couch while he go make some tea, smiled at his little girl as he practically bounced happily. The blonde-haired was led to the girl's drawing corner of the cramped living room : papers and dusts, pencils, crayons and markers were scattered all over.
"You looked different..." she mumbled, letting go of her grip and stared at the tall man in front of her.
Seifer scratched the back of his head, laughing hesitantly, "It's... been many years, kid. I changed a lot."
He spotted the packed walls with papers instead of pictures in frames. All of them were drawn, some in a mess, some were left blank. Thumbed on the walls, Seifer unconsciously admired each of them... but the pictures were getting a bit gruesome. Did Olette drew all of this?
'Imagination kills them.'
Crouching down, he looked a bit closer to one of the drawing that caught his eyes. It was a monster... a pair of sharp glowing yellow eyes, figure-less shades of black and grey, menacing aura and letters drawn that seemed to hound some noise.
"My brother drew that..." Olette mumbled, sitting down on the floor.
"He did?"
Nodding her head, she rummaged through her box of drawn papers and spoke, "He said it's the monster that took away his friends..."
Looking back at the drawn creature, he wondered either this was just children's fairy tale or reality. Both seemed like it wasn't a place where this creature belonged to.
"Here! Look what i draw!" Olette said merrily, pulling Seifer out from his stare - handing out the papers stapled into a book.
He sat down on the floor with her as he kindly took the bundles of papers, chuckling at the buff figure drawn with a stick-like Hyperion. It looked like him, with yellow coloured hair instead of his usual blend. Turning on the nect page, the girl's high-pitched voice said to him, "I imagined this one... Thinking that you're a hero."
Olette's innocent words, struck him like lightning.
Seifer smiled sadly and confided, "I wanted to... But i never got the chance to be one."
Next paper, the drawn figure stood proudly on a mountain of dead enemies, Raijin and Fujin was there too. For a little girl, it was amazing that she could blend the ambience of the place with just crayons and shades with tiny fingers. But... the drawing was extreme. Red and black dominated that victory.
It seemed like it was an alternate version of Ultimecia's defeat.
"And! And! I just finished drawing this one story, please read it!" she pleaded, biting on her lower lip and her eyes gleamed hopefully on the stunned blonde-haired.
Stealing a glance at Squall who sat nearby, he noticed the latter nodded his head. For the sake of the other missing children, just say 'yes' to anything that Olette says. Seifer answered reluctantly, "...Okay."
And watched the girl skipping towards her room, to get more of her drawings out. Seated on the couch with his arms crossed in front of his chest, Squall spotted the nearly desolated emotion Seifer was holding, and called out his friend's name, "Seifer?"
Stripped back to his senses, he replied, "...What?"
"Are you fine?" curving a worried frown that looked so alien to Seifer's eyes.
This is something, Squall became so caring now. Might be Rinoa's influence. Speaking of Rinoa, are they still together? Squall didn't mention her name before.
Angeal then walked out from the kitchen area with a tray of tea and biscuits to serve to two guests, as he spoke in his hoarse voice, "I'm so sorry about Olette again, sir. When you said you'll bring Mr. Almasy here, she couldn't stop drawing. I don't have the tendency to stop her doing what she likes the most..."
"It's understandable, and don't worry. Everything will be fine," Squall assured the poor father with a smile.
Looking back at the previous drawing on the wall that caught his attention, after a few pause, Seifer finally voice out, "When did she started to draw these kind of things?"
The father sighed as he thought, sitting on a chair opposite to Squall's, "... All i remember is my son, Zack telling her about this... 'Wonderland'."
"Wonderland?" Squall's silvery voice rang.
"Yes... Zack said his friends told him the story, but, they all went missing... Including him," Angeal heaved, clearing his sore throat as he continued, "I can't afford to lose my daughter next...!"
The young leader frowned, "The question remains the same : 'who' told them of this story?"
Listening to the poor man's view, Seifer cyan eyes observed the tacked papers on the wall beside the kitchen. He was drawn to it. A few letters like a scream shrieking out from a forest, figures falling, locked bird-cage, chased by shadows, cornered by terrifying monsters, hiding in the woods, found by their companions, discovering 'wake-me-up' potions and returning back home.
It looked something else. Like an answer hiding in these drawings.
"...Didn't this look suspicious to you, lion?" Seifer pointed out, frowning at the 'cornered' drawing.
As fas as his mind can digest such drawings, ones that he could see - tattered skin, ripped flesh, blood spurting out and the character's crying face. Tear drops were falling heavily from its face, struggling to get out from the clutches of the hideous looking creature.
Standing up from his seat and padded near the blonde, he grunted at the gory images of red. Slightly towering Seifer by 0.5 centimetre, Squall admitted, "...Too wicked to be in a children's Wonderland."
"Oh, what's taking her so long?" Angeal sighed, standing up from his seat and walked towards his daughter's room.
Leaving the two alone in the living room, Squall whispered, "Something in your mind?"
"Don't you think it's weird? She knows me, and i'm sure her brother wasn't there during the succession," Seifer spoke as casually as he could, knowing that every memories of being a Sorcerer's Knight were still vivid in his head.
Squinting down, the heaps of drawings on Olette's corner made Squall quite sceptical, "...I noticed that too, it couldn't be Ultimecia. And her drawings weren't this much the last time i checked."
Noticing that there were some drawings painted on the ceiling, things started to grow awry.
"Did you tell her about me?"
"No, she mentioned you herself... Everything that had happened were kept a secret. It is possible that the missing children talked about you too," Squall whispered, turning back to face the blonde's repudiating expression.
"You think i've got something to do with this?"
When Squall was about to reply, the father shouted as he trampled out from his daughter's room, "Sir! O-Olette...! She's missing...!"
A few undercover SeeDs surrounded the pub and the apartment building, toning down the people's rumours about the recently missing child. Angeal sat in grief, crying as he was calmed down by the carefree Selphie and bad-boy Irvine. The mission plan has changed, no longer a solo - the old team-mates have come for a helping hand. Pictures tacked on the walls, the drawn papers that were scattering on the floor were all taken, including the book the little girl had handed to the blonde-haired.
He was not allowed to enter the small apartment again, he missed that warm-feeling of a family. Being a non-SeeD, he had no authority to poke his nose. Although the others knew that he'd accepted to help Squall out.
Waiting outside Squall's car, Seifer stared hard on the wet ground. He was looked down like an ant ready to be squashed by giant foot. He knew the people started to blame him for the children's disappearance, it wasn't that much of a surprise of how shallow their minds could be.
It was showering a few hours before when the other SeeDs arrived to Timber, all of his childhood friends with Rinoa and a few cadets. The first thing he thought of was to be nice to them, but at their first glance of the blonde... Rejection was the first to go.
Zell simply passed him by, Irvine and Selphie merely grimaced disgustingly at him, Rinoa had her usual worried expression but walked away following her previous three friends and Quistis... she looked at him, not with happiness to see a friend who had ran away, but with a suspicious scowl that Seifer was the one who started all of this mess.
The day was getting darker, the gates to Fisherman's Horizon should be closed by now. Raising his head up at the massive Garden outside Timber, Seifer gleamed - he wondered why such trivial things could be so painful. Wondering where he should go for the night, he closed his eyes, hoping that the day and night will end shortly. He didn't want to stay in Timber anyway, being a place of much resistance to a notorious guy like himself.
The now forcibly closed down pub's door swung open, footsteps walking down the few steps as it crunched down on the ground. The familiar jingle of belts rang, he's aware that it was Squall. As he turned, he spotted that the brown-haired was holding onto something in his hand.
Squall stopped in front of his quiet friend, and explained as he flipped the pages of a booklet, "This is the pack of papers that was lying in front of her bedroom door... Probably the one she wanted you to see."
Accepting the handed papers, he held them guilty. It already seemed like her disappearance was because of him, his presence had caused Squall's sole evidence to be lost. It's over. Regaining his posture as he slipped the papers in his coat, Seifer turned his heels passed the silent brown-haired.
"Stay with us in the Garden, we have a lot of catching up to do," Squall spoke, his voice broke the tensing silence of the atmosphere between them.
Seifer tightened his hands to fists as he halted.
"...'We've missed you' my ass," he roared, "Did you see their faces when they looked at me?! I have no room for misses any-more! It's like they see me as a fuckin' perverted paedophile who kidnaps children with monsters!"
"Since when have you even bothered about things like that? You know it's not your fault," Squall retorted back, his blue-grey eyes glared, infuriated.
"What if it's my fault?! I-"
"Seifer...?"
"Looking at Olette's family... that warm, irritating feeling i get..."
And continued quietly as he murmured, "I don't want to be here..."
"You've changed..." Squall mumbled, unheard by the depressed blonde-haired.
It's not that hard to guess on the blonde's withdrawing character. A new Seifer who doesn't want to be a part of anything. Squall sighed and shook his head, "Come on, i'm taking you to Winhill..."
On their road, an unexpected turn of events took its toll on them.
"At least you could spare a little gasoline in your empty trunk...!" Seifer mocked angrily, he was rather uptight to be stuck on a darkening road in the middle of nowhere. Adding with the agitation to be alone with the last person he wanted to see.
Squall's eyebrow twitched, "Irvine borrowed my car before this, who knows what he's been doing with it."
"Yeah... Who're you gonna blame next, the chicken-wuss?" he scoffed, slamming the car door as he started walking on the opposite side of Timber's road.
The brown-haired closed the engine's lid down and before he could say anything, Seifer shouted, "Hurry up! And quit your complaining!"
It was interesting to see Seifer like this.
Their long, walking journey on the dark, empty route towards probably Deling City seemed to be so far-off. Squall shuffled a few steps behind the irritated blonde who was muttering to himself. He noticed at Seifer's already weary state, the way his feet stepped onto the ground seemed to stagger a bit. But being as stubborn as he originally was, Squall couldn't help but keeping a close eye on the latter.
"I see you're not wearing your necklace..." Squall's voice rang through Seifer's ears, making him slipping his hand inside his pocket to make sure his tag was still inside.
Keeping his eyes on the road, Seifer admitted quietly, "Why should i wear them if it reminded me of you...?"
The young leader was taken a-back.
"I desperately wanted to forget that D-Dictrict memories..." Seifer continued, taking out his tag from his pocket and threw it towards Squall. The brown-haired caught them, and felt rather downed that Seifer became drastically withdrawn especially from him.
Without warning, a loud, terrifying shriek echoed from a nearby forest. It sounded familiar... like a child's crying, twisted voice. It sounded like...
"...Olette?" Seifer mumbled, cyan eyes frowned at the darkening, mystifying forest.
The two switched glances at each other, and quickly bolted towards the forest without wasting much more time than they already were. Hoping that Olette wasn't eaten alive by monsters in this haunted forest - Squall pondered, how did she ended up here so far from home?
"Olette...!" the blonde-haired shouted, running towards the origin of the continuous twisted scream.
Running through thick bushes, sharp branches and cracking twigs that they've stepped on, the two halted and realised... they were going in circles. Squall turned to the path they just took, and the path at their front - both looked the same. He panted from the run and the bizarre reality the two got reeled into. The forest was just like a huge maze with no short-cuts nor an exit. Everything seems like a dead-end.
"What the hell's going on here...?" Seifer's voice sounded so taut as he stepped a few steps back.
Gritting his teeth, he felt a rather foreboding aura looming against them. Swivelling to the unnoticed blonde-haired, his clear blue dilated - shadow like water was stretching up in the air and crawling towards them. It didn't look like the usual enemies that he fought, this one, looked more formidable than Ultimecia's.
"Run..." Squall whispered, his eyes glared and fixed at the looming creature.
"What?"
"Run!" he shouted, tugging on Seifer's arm - urging him to run as quick as he can.
Snapped twigs and branches fell down on the forest grounds as they ran passed, led by Squall - the two turned their direction to the left then right, running away from the chasing shadow. Knowing that this shadow had placed an unknown spell against this very forest, preventing them from escaping. Roaring shrieks and twisted cries filled the stillness of the forest, the shadow was too fast for them to lose. They halted at the clear centre of the forest as a large seemingly bottomless hole blocked their route. They had nowhere else to go.
Letting go of Seifer's hand, Squall sheathed out his gunblade(!), gripping on the handle of his Lionheart with two of his hands. The blonde-haired wielded his favourite Hyperion on his right, taking his notorious stance of using his left hand as his magic defence. The creature then laughed horridly, taking pride on its humongous size - finally in its form which stunned the two, the exact same image they've seen back at Olette's.
"Squall..." Seifer called quietly, somehow he felt like he's in danger.
"Stay close to me."
Each in their own stances, the creature shrieked again. When they were about to lunge towards the laughing shadow, the cold, chilly air suddenly grew stronger until the night gentle breeze abound into a powerful gust. The two shielded themselves with their gunblades but then, a small, strange bunny-like flew towards them.
"Oh dear...!" the talking bunny screamed, as it accidentally bumped on the two.
"Whoa...!" Seifer missed a footing and slipped into the pit-less chasm.
He cried out the brown-haired's name, stretching out his hand when the latter reached for him.
"Seifer...!" Squall shouted, missing a few inches to Seifer's reaching hand. His eyes went wide, fixing in disbelief until the falling figure of his friend disappeared into the darkness. The looming shadow then laughed hysterically, taking advantage of Squall's stunned yet vulnerable state - it thrusts a tail-like needle through the young leader's back as it impaled on his chest.
It was painful, like the one he had when possessed Edea struck him with her ice cold magic.
He wheezed.
As the shadow snapped its tail out, with body running limp and weary - he fell down and lost into the chasm. The light of the moon that night, didn't shine on the two.
He spotted the familiar brown-haired waiting for him at the end of the wharf. It was the night of their celebration, the victory they've won against Ultimecia. The cool, breezy night felt nice in such a long while, as he shuffled towards the now, officially new leader of Balamb Garden. Being how much of an ego he was, he had respected and was proud to see a childhood friend noted for his bravery in saving the world from the powerful Sorceress Ultimecia.
Halting a few steps back from the shorter brown-haired, Seifer knew that the latter already acknowledge of his presence.
"...There's something i needed to tell you," Squall spoke, swivelling around to face the dubious stricken blonde-haired.
He simply told him, "Okay, spit it out."
Sighing, he fixed his eyes to the cyan coloured, "You're free."
"Meaning?"
"The soldiers and the SeeDs won't hunt you any more, you'll have your life back..."
Seifer sighed in relief, "Well, that's good news. Couldn't wait to get back to my dorm!"
"You can't."
"...What?"
"I'm severing your ties with everyone in the Garden, and at Balamb. Don't ever return to us and i promise you, Seifer... I'll never meet you again," Squall professed, bumping his shoulder with the tall blonde-haired as he passed.
Realizing that the brown-haired had slipped Seifer's tag back in his own hand, his expression turned gloomy.
"So...That's it then...?" Seifer's voice halted the brown-haired, making the latter seemed hesitant about the whole thing.
Closing his eyes, he answered calmly, "I am being as thoughtful as i could-"
"You're missing the point here! Back at D-District-!"
Then, he finally snapped.
"There is nothing between you and me, Seifer! D-District was just Ultimecia's play with your head and it's effecting us both! You're just merely in her trance... What you feel right now, will just disappear after a few moments. Just... Go, before i had a second thought..."
Hesitant to walk away, Squall shouted, "Go!"
'I didn't run away. I never ran away. I was just... simply abandoned.'
Ready, online!
(!) - means, i don't know where it came from xD It was just automatically there!
If you have any ideas to share, please do! :D It'll make my day!
Ready, offline.