Burning Cold

Chapter 1

He was slowly becoming an even more boring and lonely person than ever before. It was not as if Squall Leonhart was ever alone as in isolated from company. In fact with being the youngest Commander of Garden, a war hero of sorts and newest celebrity, his privet time was close to zero, also he had kinda found himself in a relationship after the war had ended and even though he normally disregarded this, it sure consumed part of his rare time. That was what really made him feel lonely, even empty of sorts.
Someone or something just always seemed to push itself between himself and the things he would like to do.
Whether it was some posh politician or his resinously clingy girlfriend or the 'gang' as they had started calling themself.
He would rather have some private time at the training center for once, slaying some T-Rexsaurs or even Grats would be fine for him if he would only finally be able to feel adrenaline rushing through his veins again, numbing his thoughts, his memories, his crippled mind.
He caught himself glimpsing at Lionhearts closed case, leaning on the opposite wall, he swore he saw a thin layer of dust on its dark surface already. He tore his gaze away, redirecting it at the crookedly towering heap of paper work.
He kept wondering if this was actually some sort of personalized purgatory. That had to be it, he had actually died in that war, after all it is rather strange that no one ever asked or mentioned how it had even been possible for him to survive being impaled on a giant icicle, so this had to be his hellish never ending punishment a shitload of bureaucratic synaptic atrophy.
Yawning he lay his cheek on his desks surface, enjoying the pleasantly cool feeling against his warmed skin. When had he last drunken something other than cold coffee? Maybe he should go for a short walk and fetch some water? Maybe a snack too?
Or maybe he should get his lazy ass up and stop procrastinating!
His right eyelid twitched in time with the seconds hand of his clock.
Maybe he should relax them for a moment, a short break could not hurt.
When grayish blue eyes opened again, a little over three hours had passed, he sat up, straightening his shoulders, which resounded in an unsatisfactory 'plop' of his spine, the soreness stayed still.
"Whatever",he groaned hoarsely, closing his laptop.
He stood up and left his office, remembering to lock the door.
This early end of work might just be what he needed to recollect himself a little.
He made a beeline for the elevator that would take him to the first floor, once he stepped out through the automatic doors, he made a mental note to change the music, so they wouldn't be sued for mental torture. Being deep in thought over whatever his sleep deprived brain settled on for a mere second or less, Squall missed the person sneaking up on him.
"Hey princess, what you up too? Set your office on fire? Or is there possibly a lesser reason for your pert ass to be wandering these sacred halls during daylight?"
Squall groaned inwardly, of all people inhabiting Garden, it had to be him, he ran into.
"Let me get a word in too, will ya?, Seifer murmured clearly sulky about not getting an answer at all.
The brunet however did not feel like being the one interrogated, least by this cocky, arrogant, self centered ass, who worked so hard to keep his act up. This conclusion upon previous observations, had led to a string of questions Squall wanted to ask. But what if the ex-knight couldn't handle a reminder out of the blue or maybe wouldn't want to give away such personal detail or maybe he had imagined it?
He wasn't even sure just when those questions first came up within his own mind, he sorted it roughly into the time span between D-district and the end of the war. This confusing time, this time he had found out that he still had family, but all he had cared about had been that hurt expression, that self hatred, dulling those green eyes he'd seen in that damn prison. He had debated the reason for Seifers treason ever since and had come to certain conclusions himself.
For one had he been the one demanding to rid Seifer of all crimes he'd been accused of, further had he been the one to accept Seifer back to Balamb Garden.
In his opinion Seifer should be the one celebrated as a hero after all. The remaining society howe-
"What?", Seifer had spun him around, just as he had been about to open the door to the training center, why was he still there anyways?
"What the hell are you doing? Trying to finally get yourself killed? Come on 'RinRin' can't be that horrible, can she?"
Squall was staring at Seifer unblinking, his face emotionless as ever, taking a moment to comprehend what he had just heard.
"It's the training center, what do you think I'll do in there?", he asked back, staring Seifer down.
"Cut that Shivas bitch stare Squally, you know it's no use with me anyways and you're no use in the state you're in. You do realize you didn't bring Lion Heart, do you?"
No he had not noticed, he also could not refrain from flexing his very empty hand as he stared into the blondes face.
"So you either took material arts training from chicken wuss or you're fulfilling your dream of becoming a T-Rex snack OR you haven't slept in Hyne knows how many hours and are henceforth acting mentally incompetent.", he finished grinning rather smugly, his expression changed however as he let go of Squalls shoulder and crossed his arms in front of his chest instead.
"When did you last sleep princess?"
Squall shrugged, averting his gaze from those piercing eyes, why though? He was not obliged to justify his actions for Seifer.
"Before your tired brain gets all defensive on me, let's get you into bed.", Seifer started steering Squall back towards the elevator, Squall let him.
When he entered his office the next morning, the first thing he noticed, was a flask, a bagel – salmon, his favorite – and a snippet, lying on his desk.
'The Docs prescription: three meals a day and at least six hours of sleep – S'
Hadn't he locked his office last night?