Cry Not Seifer, You'll Have Your Retribution

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII, not the rights to it anyway, heh. By the by: Seifer kicks Squall's ass a thousand ways from Sunday!

Chapter I: Leonheart

Seifer Almasy sat up from his small home in Balamb, his friends Raijin and Fujin had just left to Timber to meet a friend of Raijin's. Raijin thought his friend would be compatible with Fujin, so he immediately forced her to go. Of course he could not do it alone, and needed Seifer's help to get the gray haired woman to go.

Seifer really did not miss his friends; he always thought he stuck around with them too much, and that they needed a breather as well as he did. He looked out the window, and saw that it was still early, very early. Nine in the morning, which was early for the new Seifer.

Seifer got up and put on his trench coat, the only garment he took off before he went to sleep. The trench coat was in tatters at the hem, due to the multiple encounters he had with Squall and his band. If only Squall had fought him alone in the final battle, Seifer would have won no doubt; at least he thought so.

Seifer ate a breakfast of two eggs and the end part of a T-Rexuar's tail. He then entered the local forest, and looked around for the monster that ran off last he was there. The T-Rexuar he ate that morning he had only cut off the behemoth's tail, and the beast ran away. The local monsters knew to avoid the man in the white trench coat, he was more fierce a fighter than the T-Rexuar and five times as powerful.

Seifer found the one that got away, and climbed a tree above where it was dining on a Grat. He leapt on the back of the monster, and stabbed it in the back of the neck with his Hyperion gunblade. The T-Rexuar tried to run, but did not get far and fell; Seifer would eat well that month.

It had been a month, and the T-Rexuar was finally digested. Seifer began to worry about his posse, and decided to go to Timber where they were heading. He walked to the train station, and received the same reception he received every day.

' Go to hell Almasy!' A fisherman says.

' Get away from our children!' A mother yells.

Seifer was used to their squawking, and just ignored them, sometimes giving them a cocky grin just to let them know he did not care what they called him. He heard it all: Sorceresses' lap dog, torturer, the "it" deserving a blast into space from Eden. Seifer sometimes would ask some of them if they were being original, or if that was the most creative they could get.

He approached the man selling the tickets for the train.

' Hey I want a ticket to Timber.' Seifer told the man.

' You better not come back Almasy!' He replied.

' I gotta come back, this is the only place I'm allowed to live, remember?'

' Yeah it's a pity, I just hope the people of Timber run you off a cliff. It'll be three thousand gill for the ticket.'

' It's one thousand for one person, the price is cumulative after that numbskull.'

' Three thousand or you ain't getting on that train Almasy!'

' There are three ways to get on a train, one: pay money, two: kill everyone and hijack the train, and three: tell the stupid bastard selling the tickets to sell him one ticket normal price, or he'll torture his family and sell them off to slavery in the Trabia mines. What one do you think I'm leaning towards?' Seifer leered.

' Just get on the damn train Almasy, you're good for it…' The man said, knowing that Seifer never did act thinking of the consequences.

' That's better!' Seifer put his leer away and put on his trademark cocky grin.

Seifer boarded the train, and relaxed in his chair. The transcontinental trains were fast, but it still took several hours to get from point A to point B. He ignored the angry faces, and tried to enjoy the train ride.

Seifer listened to the music Raijin made on his computer; it was what he thought Seifer's theme song would be if he had one. Raijin made one for Fujin and himself, but his was the one Seifer listened to most, obviously. He reveled at how accurate these music tracks were, it captured the very essence of the personality of the subject, in music.

He arrived at Timber and was immediately recognized, he heard boo's coming from everywhere.

' I was expecting this one tenth of a second ago!' Seifer told them, making them to stop and think about what he just said.

Seifer went to where Raijin said he and Fujin were staying; he just entered the place not bothering to knock. Inside he saw that the place was empty, he did not hear sounds of life, nor any evidence that three people had been living together for a month.

' More like three days…' Seifer said to himself.

Seifer looked around, and saw that a wastebasket had been turned over; in the trash he noticed there was a piece of paper, the only of its kind among the food and such. Seifer could tell Raijin's handwriting, it was the most disturbing scribbles one could see: Hey Trajin, Fujin and I had a talk while you were at work. We want to go back to Garden ya know. Sorry man, but Fujin really didn't like ya, I guess I was wrong. Oh well, there are other fish in the sea. Ya know. We're going to try and contact Seifer, and tell him we're heading back to Garden. If we can't get to him, will you drop him a message. Thanks man.

' What? Go back to Garden? What Garden, Balamb? Galbadia? Trabia? Why the hell would they do this without telling me?' Seifer questioned himself, ' Oh well, they always were in love with the Garden, who could blame their going back.' He calmed down a little.

Seifer exited the building, he thought that Trajin must have really liked Fujin, and hearing she really did not care for him would have made him angry enough to destroy the whole place.

Some townspeople had organized themselves, and were bearing weapons such as pikes and some small guns.

' Let's chase this bastard out of Timber!' The one who appeared to be the leader yelled.

Seifer noticed that the leader was Trajin, Seifer had seen a picture of him before and could recognize him at a glance thanks to SeeD training. Trajin looked a lot like Raijin, however was not as large and wore an all black version of Raijin's outfit. Seifer then remembered that Timber was an independent town, and they were their own masters making chasing out people they do not want in town very legal.

Seifer realized he should not kill any of them, and just ran for the exit. Normally he would never run from such a minute threat, but he had gotten wiser and knew that he did not want to make people hate him even more than they already did.

' Ahh, what the hell, I'll get a little revenge for him not telling me about Raijin and Fujin, would have saved me a trip.' Seifer said to himself, and cast fire on Trajin before turning and fleeing.

It was not long before Seifer exited the town of Timber, hearing various screams and taunts from the crowd. Seifer ran straight for Dollet, so he could get a boat back to Balamb, he figured that Raijin and Fujin would have gone to their old Garden.

Seifer expected boos, but instead heard only silence from the people of Dollet. Seifer found the silence more disturbing than the taunts, but decided to forget about it, and head for the harbor. He managed to get seat in a transport heading for Balamb, just as long as he did not mind doing a little work.

He did mostly lifting, Seifer silently thanking the powers that be that he did not have to do anything that could possibly harsh his ego. It was not long before he heard a scream.

' It's a monster! A monster's got my baby!' He heard a woman.

' Damn, that sure is bad…' Seifer said to himself, continuing with his duties.

After hearing several grunts from would-be-heroes, Seifer saw the person the let him on board run up.

' Hey Almasy, I know there's a misunderstanding between us and you, but we need your help!'

' And what's in it for me?' Seifer replied.

' We'll acknowledge you as a human being, might even forgive ya! Besides, that's the mayor's kid, if you do the rescue it'll look very good for you in Dollet!'

' Fine…' Seifer agreed slowly, ' I'll see what I can do…'

On the deck, Seifer saw the huge winged monster with the girl in its claws. Bodyguards were knocked down, and unable to help, the mayor was also on the ground. Seifer gathered that just about everyone around the scene tried to help, but they just were not able to do anything.

The monster screeched in victory, and landed on the deck to eat the young girl. No more than fourteen to Seifer's guess.

' An Elvoret. I saw Squall, chicken wuss, and little messenger girl fight one of these things before…' Seifer recalled, and ran to the monster with his Hyperion drawn.

Seifer first cut off the Elvoret's two arms, and used a fire spell to push the monster away from the girl. The Elvoret screeched in terror, and confusion as it flew away. It was not used to being pushed around by a creature smaller than it was. Seifer saw the fleeing Elvoret, and decided that it should not get away that easy.

' No, that will not be happening… No Mercy!' Seifer yelled, and cast fire on the monster, stunning it. He then twirled the Hyperion at his side, and charged up a ball of chi focused in the blade part of the gunblade. Seifer let loose the sphere of pure energy, and it connected the Elvoret.

The ball of chi ripped through the monster, and it fell to the ocean. The mother ran up to her daughter who was kneeling on the ground.

' Great Hyne, are you okay Schiria?'

' Yes mom.' Schiria told her mother, ' Thank you mister, I owe you my life.' Schiria looked up at the man who saved her.

Seifer said nothing at all, and left to the cargo hold where he was working. The mayor got up from the floor, and put his hand on Seifer's shoulder.

' Almasy, this is a great service you have done. I will see to it that the people of the world will hear of this. You might be forgiven by the entire world populous.'

' I sure as hell hope so, I paid for the sorceress' knight thing one hundred times already.' Seifer replied.

' Yes… I personally owe you a favor, so just don't forget me.' The mayor said, offering Seifer his hand.

Seifer looked at the mayor's hand, ' What the hell is this? I don't shake hands… But then again, I don't want to lose this ally… I guess I'll just shake his hand then…' Seifer thought, invisibly hesitant in shaking the mayor's hand.

' So people can forgive you, I told you so Seifer.' Said a serene feminine voice in his head.

' Like I care Fairir. But what will happen if I am forgiven?' Seifer said in his mind, which was sufficient to speak with his Guardian Force.

' Believe it or not Seifer, but life does get better.' Fairir replied.

' Yeah, well we'll see. I'm still banned from Garden, and even if I wasn't, I'm still too old to join SeeD.'

' Raijin and Fujin? They are not that much younger than you, and they joined. What does that say?'

' Still banned.'

' Go to Balamb Garden, you'll see.'

' In case you haven't heard in all of my rambling, Squall is the "Commander" of all Gardens…'

' Cid controls Garden, not Squall, and Cid always admired you. Just try.'

' Geez, okay. I'll see what I can do, but I'm blaming this on you.'

' Yes master.'

The transport arrived at Balamb, the mayor had to meet a figurehead in the harbor town, thus explaining his presence on the ship. That did not concern Seifer, so the ex-sorceress' knight just headed straight for Balamb. For two things: one to meet up with Raijin and Fujin, and two to see headmaster Cid about a job. He walked along the roadway that leads to Balamb Garden; the Garden was secured back in its former location. This was necessary, because having a mobile Garden meant that students had a more "mobile" frame of mind. A stationary school made cadets more "moldable".

Fate dons on Seifer, as he meets with his rival, and most hated person on his way to Balamb Garden. Squall was on his way to the train station, to go to Galbadia on a mission.

' Ah shit, its Squall!' Seifer cursed his luck; he did not want to see Squall until after his meeting with Headmaster Cid.

Squall immediately recognized Seifer.

' Almasy! What the hell are you doing? Have you forgotten that you are banned from Garden?' Squall stared at Seifer.

' Hey Leonheart, ever stop to think that I may be on my way to the other end of the island for training?' Seifer replied, also angered by the presence of his long time enemy.

' What's the difference between the monsters on both sides?'

' The monsters over there give more experience!' Seifer taunted Squall.

' Yeah, right Almasy. Just go back to Balamb, its better over there for you.'

Seifer did not like the tone Squall had when he said "you".

' How's about this? If I can break past you over this line.' Seifer drew a line on the ground with is foot, ' You'll let my go to that end of the island, and you can continue to your end.'

' I don't have time for your games Almasy.'

' Don't be a coward Leonheart!'

' A coward! Seifer, if you can unarm me you may pass.'

Squall drew his Lionheart gunblade model, the eldest and most powerful of them all. Seifer drew his Hyperion, a gunblade made for his erratic fighting style. Squall presumed Seifer did not have the finesse to unarm him, as Seifer presumed Squall had gotten lazy and not too much more powerful than when they last met. However both men had presumed wrong.

Seifer's fighting style was as erratic as before, yet he parried blows, and struck at every weak spot he could find. Squall had actually pushed his training to a new level, and frequented the island closest to Hell alone every time he had time away from his friends at Garden.

This duel was merely to disarm the opponent, and both Seifer and Squall only attacked at each other's gunblade. Even though it had been one year from the time Squall and Seifer had their first duel near the Fire Cavern before the SeeD field exam, both rivals were almost reliving the feeling.

Seifer struck with more speed and fury than he had ever shown, and Squall seemed much more powerful than Seifer remembered. Seifer evaded a pass from Squall, and spun the Hyperion around to meet a backhand blow from his rival.

' So predictable.' Seifer thought to himself, and flipped over Squall.

' That's new!' Squall muttered to himself, and raised his Lionheart to strike the incoming blow.

Seifer ducked a high swing form Squall, while his rival leapt into the air. Squall did a flip in midair, and on his way down slashed at Seifer's Hyperion. Seifer, instead of parrying the blow, sidestepped and the Lionheart harmlessly hit the ground. Squall backed away from Seifer, and cast Stop on him.

' I'd stay and play Seifer, but I still have a mission to carry out, and I'll be late if I stay here with you.' Squall said, and hurried off to Balamb.

' Damn you Leonheart! Come back here and fight like a man!' Seifer yelled.

Squall did not reply. It was the average two minutes for the spells effect to wear off, and Seifer continued to Balamb Garden.

' That was very cheap…' Fairir told Seifer.

' Tell me about it!' Seifer replied angrily.

' Don't worry, you'll beat him one day.'

' I already beat him; he just won't admit it. I beat him before any of this ever happened.'

' But… He did beat you every time after that.'

' With help! Squall never could beat me alone.'

' There was that time in Deling…'

' Shut up Fairir.'

' Alright…'