Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. Everything belongs to Squaresoft. Except the fic, of course.
Author's note: I've had this idea floating around in my head since I finished the game oh, say, 6 years ago. And because I'm obsessed with the idea of redemption, I got it in my head that perhaps Seifer just isn't as bad as he's portrayed in the game. And that smile he had at the end looked almost kind. Okay, enough rambling. On with the story!
Missing in Memory
Seifer Almasy looked up as the place he once called home flew overhead. It seemed that Garden wasn't returning to Balamb just yet. Perhaps the newly elected Commander had other things in mind.
Seifer barely noticed his 2 most - his only - loyal friends, Fuujin and Raijin, staring at him in bafflement, the latter still half submerged in the clear waters of Balamb. For the first time in a long while, a genuine smile graced the young gunblader's handsome face. If his companions had heard what he'd whispered to the wind as Garden flew overhead, they would have been utterly lost.
Because for once, the thought of the youngest SEED Commander to ever be elected in history, saviour of the world, exalted Knight, everything he had wanted to be but wasn't... for once, it brought no resentment, no bitter hatred to Seifer. Just a certain feeling of melancholy, regret and an odd sense of peace.
For unbeknownst to anyone except his posse, Seifer had been caught in the Time Compression. He had seen the past. Their past. And he had regained what the Guardian Forces had taken from his memory. Their memory. Even if none of the others ever would, he'd remember for all of them. For the little brother he'd had and lost a lifetime ago.
"Be well, little brother;" words that flew with the wind into the infinite sky, never to be heard by the one they were meant for.
Onboard Garden, Squall Leonhart's eyes widened as he was suddenly struck by the strangest feeling. It bordered on realization, laced with panic. It was as if he'd realized he'd forgotten something important, but couldn't remember what it was. Was something amiss? His cool, stormy eyes did a quick scan of the cafeteria.
There was Zell at the lunch queue, trying to persuade the lunch lady to give him some extra hotdogs while some female junior cadets were giggling at his antics. Quistis in another part of the cafeteria, surrounded by her adoring Trepes. Irvine and Selphie slinking off to the Quad together. Squall had a feeling he knew what those two were up to and he almost smiled at the thought. Almost. Squall Leonhart doesn't do smiles.
But then his eyes rested on the raven-haired beauty sitting across the table from him. As he watched Rinoa happily feeding Angelo some leftovers from her own plate and ruffling the big dog's fur, his eyes softened. If anyone had been looking at him just then, they would have been shocked out of their minds. Because Squall Leonhart - who usually either wore a blank look or a scowl black enough to scare a Behemoth - for the first time in anyone's recollection, was smiling.
Okay, so Squall Leonhart didn't do smiles. But these days he's a different young man.
Inwardly, Squall heaved a sigh of relief. Everyone was accounted for. Everyone that mattered to him, that is. So what was this feeling?
He shook his head, dismissing it as probably a side effect from Time Compression. It would come to him in time. And if it didn't, then he wouldn't miss it.
This is a oneshot. But I've got ideas for a back story. Howthings were when they were kids, and how things got to the point theywere atwhen the game started. So let me know if you'd like me to continue.