DISCLAIMER: I do not own final fantasy, if I did I would I be writing these? Heh heh, joking of course!
Warnings: Bad language, OOC, violence.
-denotes thoughts-
//denotes GF speak//
------------------------ denotes a shift in time or P.O.V
Long before things started getting serious, Squall could tell that there was something wrong with this training exercise. Seifer was being much more aggressive than usual, if that was even possible. Squall mused over Seifer's distemper, wondering why he would drag him all the way out to this barren rock just to have a really good go at him…then he stopped wondering. This was Seifer we're talking about.
Squall parried another adrenaline blow from Seifer and dodged to the right as the blonde summoned a thunder spell. The dark haired student only just managed to dive out of the way as the large hissing bolt crashed into the ground making it shake violently. Looking back at the smoking patch where the spell had been cast Squall was confused by the amount of damage he saw it had left. The small crater that had been left could only be caused by a very effective thundara spell. There was no creature in Balamb that held such powerful spells, and Seifer hadn't been sent to any exotic places on training lately, which only left the fact that Seifer must have had someone get it for him.
-That must have cost him,- Squall thought as he dodged another swipe and parry, thrust and bow, -but then knowing Seifer, being the bully he is, he probably didn't pay. So there's only one last question…why use it on me?-
There was no time to think further however as Squall found himself back on the defensive. Seifer's blows were becoming stronger an faster; Squall parried each one with skill, just hoping that Seifer would soon get bored and call it a day.
"Dammit Squall, why wont you give me a good fight!?" Seifer sneered as he sent his fellow student stumbling to the ground with his special fire cross attack, "Fight back, FIGHT BACK!"
A man could only take so much, especially from Seifer. Squall leapt from the ground and locked blades with his rival, getting close enough to share air with him.
"Come on, come on," Seifer sneered as the two struggled against each other for dominance, "give me a reason to hurt you, please."
They split apart throwing each other to opposite sides of the clearing. Squall took Seifer's off balance posture as a chance to go on the offensive. If Seifer wanted to use magic, then Squall saw no reason not to use some of his own supply. Raising his left hand and readying his gunblade. Preparing the fire spell he hoped that he would be able to stun Seifer long enough to get him on the ground and end this pointless scrap. Seifer, of course, second guessed him. Before Squall could even start the spell the blond student had retaliated with Fira. The full force of the powerful spell sent Squall reeling to the ground in a hail of smoke and flames, only his instincts and training stopping him from falling flat on his back.
-Where the hell is he getting these spells!?- Squall thought as he shook his head and blinked the stars from his eyes, steadying himself with his free hand.
Then he opened his eyes. Seifer was raising his gunblade. Squall knew that he wouldn't be able to block the blow…but then Squall could see that Seifer knew it too. The dark haired teenagers eyes widened as he saw that the blonde wasn't going to stop. The blade descended. The blade cut through flesh, staining the pure steel crimson. Seifer smiled. Through the pain and the sickening thudding of blood in his ears, Squall managed to scrape together a few thoughts. One of them was that Seifer was within range of his own blade, and the other was FUCKING HELL!!! He had known that Seifer was petty but… The rage boiled inside him, pumping his blood fast through his veins, fuelling his anger, his resentment, fuelling his thrust as he scraped his own blade along the ground and brought it up to meet Seifer's face. He vaguely heard the other student let out a cry, not so much in pain but surprise. The blood was roaring in his ears now and he blinked groggily as blood began to flow into his eye. He saw Seifer stumble, recover, blood dribbling through his fingers as he clamped his hand to his face. Squall didn't even hear the blonde utter the sleeping spell. He just remembered the dull ache surging along the bridge of his nose as the shock began to wear off. He was asleep before he hit the ground.
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"Seifer!" Squall jerked into a sitting position and instantly regretted it.
"Ouch," he moaned softly, lowering himself back against the soft pillow that he found there, glad that he wasn't still laying out on the bare rock where he and Seifer had been practicing.
It would have been just like Seifer to leave him there. Squall kept his eyes closed and tried his best to stop his head from spinning.
"I would take it easy if I were you," a familiarly stern yet kind voice said from behind Squall's eyelids, "Seifer didn't do any serious damage, but I seriously doubt that you don't have a headache."
"How long will it take to heal?" Squall asked flatly, not opening his eyes.
"Squall-the-ever-practical," the voice sighed, "why don't you open your eyes so that I can check for concussion?"
"Concussion?" Squall asked peeking out from under his eyelids.
As the words slipped from his lips a sharp pain made itself noticeable on Squall's right temple. He winced as the pains hot through his skull and cursed under his breath.
"Mind your language young man," Dr. Kadowaki warned him as slowly came into focus before Squall's bleary eyes, "you hit the ground quite hard. It was a good thing you were asleep when it happened."
"Sorry," Squall sighed looking up at the ceiling as the small torch glared into his eyes, and he couldn't help but smile as he asked the next question, "how's Seifer?"
Dr. Kadowaki shook her head, "Well he's isn't as knocked up as you, but he has a nasty cut across the bridge of his nose, exact opposite of your own. It will scar as will yours. Why does it always have to come to blood and tears with you boys?"
Squall closed his eyes again once she finished examining him and the doctor sighed resignedly at his lack of response. She administered some painkillers for the headache and checked his bandages once more before informing him that his instructor was coming to pick him up. Squall just grunted and stared at the backs of his eyes until he heard her move away from the bed with heavy steps, the doors hissing open as she left and closing with a sigh. He allowed the pain killers a slighting glance through half closed eyes. They were small, red and shone dully in the morning light. He wouldn't take them, he never did. Squall didn't believe in trivial pain relief, the side effects outweighing the benefits. He didn't like to have his senses dulled in any way, that meant a lack of control.
Just laying back on the soft bed and letting the cool breeze from the window wash over him was a much more appealing option. He ignored the door as it hissed open, knowing that his instructor would already be wearing that disapproving look and be standing there with her hands on her hips as she always did. The sound of shoes clicking over the well polished floor didn't help his head any. But then, that heavy tread was familiar, but it wasn't hers, it was…
-Oh great,- Squall just kept his eyes closed and tried to ignore his headache and his unwelcome guest, -he's come to gloat.-
"Pathetic," Seifer sneered, "still lying around? It's only a cut."
"Go away Seifer," Squall warned with a sigh, knowing that threats wouldn't do any good, but he couldn't be bothered wasting energy on thinking up a better reply.
"Or what? You'll bleed on me?" Seifer drawled, walking round to the side of the bed and peering down at Squall, "what's the matter with you anyway?"
"None of your business," Squall said flatly, opting for falling back on his old routine rather than give Seifer the satisfaction of a challenge.
"Well actually it is since I did it," Seifer laughed nastily, "and anyway, I want to see what sacrificing my beauty bought me."
"A severe lack of intelligence?" Squall suggested before he could stop himself.
"Shut up!" the blonde snapped smacking Squall smartly on the forehead, pulling a groan from his fellow student, "ah, I see a headache is one symptom then?"
Just then the doors slid open and Quistis Trepe strode purposefully into the medical room. She was dressed in her formal SeeD outfit, knee length navy skirt and jacket with trim, with her flail tucked at her side. Her glasses fell down her nose as she stopped before the bed, eyeing Seifer with a less than amiable eye before pushing the gold rimmed specs back up and addressing him.
"Good day Seifer," Quistis' voice held none of the anger that her eyes showed towards the tall blonde, "I need to talk to Squall alone."
"Well," Seifer immediately went on the defensive, folding his arms over his chest and smirking at the instructor, "isn't that convenient? Get him on his own when he's lying down and incapacitated?"
"Seifer, I am in no mood to deal with you," Quistis Trepe shook her head, her hair dancing around her face as she kept her eyes focused on Seifer, "so just leave before you are forced to leave."
"Was that a threat?" Seifer smirked dangerously as he accepted the Instructors gaze with a cold glare.
"Seifer," Squall growled, breaking the tense moment before t could escalate, "just go."
"Hmph," Seifer shrugged and walked towards the exit, "I'm sure I'll find ample gloating time later. Don't be too long Instructor, or I'll have to send in security to make sure you're not abusing your position."
Quistis just shook her head again as Seifer left. She hadn't dismissed the long cut over the bridge of Seifer's nose, and she could also discern, from under Squall's arm which lay draped over his eyes, the end of an almost identical injury.
"Do you two ever just give it a rest?" Quistis put on a despairing face and sighed as she looked down at her student.
"It has nothing to do with me," Squall replied monotonously, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed with as much grace as his headache would allow.
"You can't just brush something like that off," the blonde woman said tugging at Squall bandage, restraining a laugh as he glared at her.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" he growled as he stood up to face her, moving slowly so as not to lose his balance.
The Instructor merely smiled and nodded, stepping away from the bed to give Squall enough room to manoeuvre. She followed him silently as they left the medical bay, arms folded, hands cupping each elbow. Now it wasn't that Squall didn't like Instructor Trepe, but her almost smug silences did tend to grate on him after a while, and the way that she always finished his sentences, or the way she was always right about him, knew what he was thinking…especially when he was trying to get her to leave him alone.
"So where are /we/ going?" Squall asked, stressing the "we" hard enough to show that it was through no intention of his own that they were walking together.
Balamb Garden was mildly busy, students and SeeD walking the platforms, chatting, playing cards. The sound of running water filled the air with a calm melody, mingling with their voices and the sunlight giving a pleasant atmosphere. Yet still Squall's expression was expressionless, even the blue sky of the perfect day doing nothing to lighten his mood.
"/We/," Quistis mimicked, "are going to class. Jus because you're injured doesn't mean you get time off you know. Dr. Kadowaki informed me that you're in good enough shape to work which is lucky, considering today is the field exam. Squall?"
Squall stopped at Quistis' sudden change in tone, from chatty to serious. He looked at her as if she weren't there, but she ignored his dead expression and continued.
"Aren't you worried?"
"…Whatever."
Squall stepped into the elevator and pressed the panel for the 2nd floor, barely giving Quistis enough time to hop inside before the doors closed. It was going to be one of those days, he could just tell.
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Drawn blood. He had fucking well drawn blood. He'd almost splattered his stupid little brains all over the ground…and did it help? Did it hell!
"Why can't I get you out of my head you little prick?" Seifer murmured to himself into his coffee as Rajin and Fujin both looked on concernedly.
The commissary was fairly empty, not that the disciplinary committee of Balamb Garden would had to have worried about finding a table, but it made a drink of coffee and a chat so much more pleasant. That's if you're not trying to banish thoughts about your arch rival from your head while ignoring your friends that is.
"Hey Seifer, you okay ya know?" Rajin asked as he fiddled with the small bowl of sugars and sweeteners in the middle of the table, "you seem a little distracted, ya know, about sumthin'."
"TROUBLE?" Fujin cocked her head and fixed her eye on her blonde friend.
"Nah," Seifer tried to brush them off but couldn't wipe the dark scowl from his features as he threw his coffee carelessly onto the table and swung round to slouch into his chair.
The cup teetered a bit before sloshing to a stop against the bowl of sugars. Rajin looked at it a little tensely, as if waiting for it to spill all over him while Fujin sighed at his childish behaviour and straightened it up. She hesitated a little before asking her next question. She knew that Seifer was the only one who could make her hesitate about anything, his temper was so intermittent; but then that wasn't the only reason for her unwillingness to bring up a certain dark haired prospective SeeD in Seifer's presence. He was her one true friend besides Rajin, and she hated to see him upset and brooding. She hated it even more when she added fuel to the fire, but she had to ask.
"SQUALL?"
"I thought I told you never to say his name to me," Seifer shot her an angry glance and pushed roughly up out of his chair.
"Hey, we only wanna help ya know?" Rajin defended their concern, a little hurt seeping into his voice.
"Yeah well you can help by keeping your mouths shut," Seifer snapped before sweeping out of the commissary leaving his friends with nothing but dazed expressions and a cold cup of coffee.
"He needs help ya know," Rajin rubbed the back of his head and flopped back in his chair, "before he does sumthin' crazy. It is the exam today ya know."
"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin nodded her head and flicked a stray strand of silver hair from her eye.
"Hope nothing goes wrong is all, ya know what I mean."
Fujin did hope…but then, this was Seifer we were talking about. The idea of him, Squall and exam all mixed into one didn't bode well with the silver haired girl.
Author notes: Ummm, okay, I forgot the notes on the prologue! Hey gimme a break this is my first final fantasy fanfic so don't be too harsh, but criticism is very welcome and appreciated. Please R&R!