In case you're wondering, yes! Riku, Sora, and Kairi have been aged a little for this story. Riku kind of looks like a white-haired Seifer without the scar and with kinder eyes. Kairi and Selphie are friends. Should I continue? Anyway, I hope you enjoy my rendition of FF8.
.oO(One Day Too Many)Oo.
Chapter 2: Preparations
Ifrit smashed into the ground where Squall had been moments before. Squall leapt into the air and brought his gunblade down in a fierce vertical strike, followed by Seifer's Hyperion in a diagonal slash down the beast's backside. Quistis cracked her whip against the beast's skull, but none of them were prepared for its counterattack: a massive heat wave flew out from Ifrit's body and threw all three of its opponents off of their feet.
"Damn!" Seifer growled, jumping to his feet. He charged the fiery beast and slashed it violently four times before it was able to turn and retaliate with one massive punch to the gut. Seifer went flying into a rock wall and fell to the ground.
Squall stared for a moment as Seifer's consciousness began to seep out of him, leaving him ripe for the slaughter. Squall felt the passion of revenge build up within him. Seifer was a strong warrior, but he was also Squall's property, and no one treats Squall's property like that!
Squall shot to his feet and charged the fiery tyrant with a massive battle cry. Quistis' eyes went wide as she jumped back, out of his path. Squall leapt into the air, striking Ifrit's chin with his blade. Bringing the blade down on his opponent's skull, Squall slashed vertically, twisted around for a left-horizontal slash, followed up by three rapid blows to the skull, and finally a roundhouse slash across the beast's face. The beast staggered back, away from the gunblade specialist, and finally collapsed to the ground. Its body seemed to melt away into nothing, leaving Quistis staring at the ground, amazed by what she had just witnessed.
Squall jumped over to Seifer, who was coming to very slowly. Squall brought the blonde in for a hug, just glad that he was alive.
"Squall?" Seifer breathed. Squall nodded and brushed the blonde's hair.
"Shh. Don't worry about me. Save your strength."
"Good job, Squall," Quistis said, turning her back to the two. "Now let's get back to Garden. We've got a little paperwork to fill out before the Exam later this evening."
Squall sighed and helped Seifer to his shaky feet. The three of them made their way out of the Fire Cavern, Quistis not bothering to help the other two in their struggles out.
Riku and Sora looked around the Front Gate, waiting for Quistis to return. They'd been asked by Headmaster Cid himself to have Quistis quiz Selphie so that everyone was kosher going into the Exam later. Selphie was waiting for the Instructor in the Library.
Sora heard someone approaching the two boys. Turning his head, he saw Kairi walking up with a disgruntled teen attached by the shirt collar to her fist. She threw the teen at the two boys and grumbled. "Look after this one, would ya, guys? He was just caught on a T-Board. Again."
The blonde kid with the tattooed face stood up and laughed nervously, waving to Riku and Sora.
"Zell," Sora mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, guys, what's goin' on?" Zell asked, not ceasing his nervous smile.
"Why do we have to watch him, Kairi?" Riku asked with a sigh.
The girl huffed. "Because I don't have time to deal with him right now. Please, it's only for a couple of minutes."
Just then, Quistis appeared from around a tree. She stepped up to the three boys as Kairi walked away. "What's going on here?" she asked. Sora and Riku explained the Headmaster's wishes to their Instructor.
Quistis nodded after they were done, acknowledging the Headmaster's request. "I'll get right on it," she said. She started to walk past the boys, but she stopped and said over her shoulder, "Go find Squall and Seifer. They should be nearby. Seifer was injured during our little outing, and Squall's helping him back to Garden."
"Sei's hurt?" Zell's eyes went wide and he dashed out of Garden's Gate, into the wilderness. Sora and Riku were right behind him.
Seifer growled as Zell sat down on the bench next to him. Dr. Kadowaki had administered a couple Cure-style spells to Seifer's backside, healing him over the course of a couple hours. Squall was in his dorm, getting some rest after lugging his boyfriend back to Garden by himself. Sora and Riku were at the Directory with Selphie, trying to explain it one more time to her. Selphie had aced her quiz and Quistis had been happy to report that she was able to participate in the SeeD mission that evening.
But Seifer and Zell weren't worried about the others.
"Get away from me, Chicken-wuss," Seifer growled, averting his eyes from the blonde.
Zell laughed. "One of these days, I'll get used to you calling me that. So, Sei, what are you going to do once you're a SeeD, eh?"
Seifer's head snapped around and his hand shot up to Zell's throat in a chokehold. "Don't call me Sei," he said in an almost inaudible whisper. "Only Squall can call me that. Got it, chickie?"
Zell 'urk!'ed and nodded. Seifer let the younger teen go and turned his back to him, but didn't move from the bench. Zell massaged his throat and gave Seifer a 'Go to Hell!' look.
"You're not nice, you know that?" Zell remarked, not easing up his glare.
"I'm so glad you noticed," Seifer said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I wonder why Squall likes you?" Zell said, thinking aloud. "You're no Prince Charming when it comes to personality."
Seifer sighed and stood up. He started to make his way across the hall, towards the Directory.
"But look at that ass go!" Zell cried out after Seifer with a laugh.
Seifer held up the bird without looking back.
Riku and Sora watched as Seifer went past the Directory, the bird flying high over his shoulder. Their gaze followed where he was coming from, to see Zell in hysterics on a bench.
"Damn that Zell," Riku muttered. "He's always hitting on Seifer."
Selphie looked at the two in shock. "You mean he's gay?" she asked, astounded.
Sora nodded. "Zell, Seifer, and Squall are all gay. Seifer and Squall have been together as a couple for as long as anyone can remember, and Zell's always been the fifth wheel of the relationship. He's got a crush on both of the others, but neither of them seem to return the attention."
"It's sad, really," Riku muttered, his gaze still on Zell's shaking form. "Zell's turned it into a game to see how many times he can irritate Seifer or Squall a day with his flirting. I wonder what the count is right now."
Selphie giggled and shook her head, looking at Zell. "He is cute. Too bad he's gay. I'd go out with him."
Riku shrugged. "Yeah, there are quite a few disappointed girls around Garden."
"Disappointed about what, Riku?" a woman's voice called from behind the silver-haired teen.
Turning, Riku was looking into Xu's face pretty face. His heart quickened and he backed up, right into Sora, who nudged his friend out of his trance.
"Never mind, Xu," Sora said, pushing his friend off of him.
Xu nodded. "I see you are prepared for the Exam," she said, eyeing the three teens' Garden uniforms. They nodded in response. "They should be announcing the teams here in a moment. Good luck. We need some good SeeD lately. There have been some bad…SeeD, if you'll excuse the pun, lately."
Riku laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard, issuing disturbed looks from Sora, Selphie, and Xu.
The intercom chime sounded. "All students participating in this evening's SeeD Exam should report to the Directory immediately," the Headmaster's secretary's voice announced over the loudspeaker. "I repeat…"
Squall sauntered up and Seifer found him rather quickly. Zell appeared from his bench as well, standing off to the side, but keeping his eyes on the loving couple.
Quistis appeared with a clipboard in front of the Directory as other students arrived in the hallway as well. A total of twenty-four students were assembled for the Exam.
"I shall now list off the teams for the Exam in the following order: Team Leader, then his or her two supporting students. The role of Team Leader is very important, and the Leader of each Team shall be weighted more heavily upon deciding who shall be admitted as SeeD. Team A will be Aria, Demson, and Madison, Aria being the Team Leader." Quistis proceeded to read off each individual team.
"…Team D will be Seifer, Riku, and Zell," Quistis announced. Seifer shot Squall a worried look. The listing continued. "…Team G will be Squall, Sora, and Selphie. Team H will be Marcus, Renee, and Leya. Are there any questions about Team Assignment or Team Leadership?" Not a hand raised itself among the students, but Seifer and Squall were eyeing each other with worried glances.
"If not, then you are dismissed to the Parking Garage, where you will be escorted to Balamb. Board the vessels in the Harbor and you will be briefed onboard," Xu explained. "You have an hour to be in the Garage, and two hours to be in the boats in the Harbor. Dismissed."
As the crowd broke, Zell skidded to a halt in front of Squall and Seifer. "Well, well, guess who I get to be a partner with?" he asked mockingly with a huge grin on his face.
"You want me to chop your balls off, chickie?" Seifer demanded.
Zell quieted for a moment and noticed Quistis and Xu talking off to the side. He decided to go annoy them one last time as a student.
Sora and Selphie appeared next to the gunblade users. "Zell's a bit out of hand, isn't he?" Sora quipped.
Seifer shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's kind of cute how he continues to try, despite the fact that we're both spoken for."
Squall didn't say anything, as usual. He just kind of glanced over at Zell with a gleam in his eye.
"Aye," Selphie sighed. "Zell's not always like that, is he? He could come off as annoying to most people like that."
Sora shook his head. "No, normally he's just a lighthearted kid who loves to crack jokes. It's just around these two that he gets all pushy and in-your-face."
Squall nodded, affirming this statement.
"We've got fifty-five minutes to get to the Garage," Seifer said, nudging Squall. "I, uh, wouldn't suppose you would want to try to find some time for a little something extra? I mean, our last time as students, right?" the blonde grinned.
Squall blushed, but returned the grin. The two gunblade specialists jogged off towards the dormitories. Sora blushed and Selphie burst into hysterics.
"How…cute," Selphie laughed.
"Kind of gross, if you ask me." Sora made a face.
"Oh, you're no fun!" Selphie pushed Sora playfully.
"I'm heading to the Cafeteria for something to eat before the Exam," Riku said, passing by the duo. "Want to come?"
Sora nodded and Selphie gave an excited "Sure!" before following the silver-haired kid off.
O.o Well, well, well…things are getting a little steamy in the Garden, eh? Muahaha…if you think you're getting a lemon, you're way offbase. This is a T fic. (evil grin) Read and review if you're into that kind of thing.
