Chapter 2 - Leave Me Alone

Squall

Squall stood, leaning against one wall in the small waiting room in Esthar for a Presidential meeting with the other five. He had his head down like he used to, and was silent and deep in thought. After a few seconds he placed his forehead in his palm.

Rinoa was sat on the edge of the sofa, watching Squall with a worried expression, putting her at odds with the others with her anxious poise. Selphie was leaned into Irvine and the two were chatting animatedly with Zell and Quistis about something or other. They cast a few glances every now and again, concealing their own small worries by diving back into conversation.

Eventually, Rinoa gave up thinking of ways to deal with an anti-social Squall once again and turned to join the banter, which had somehow turned, much to Squall's dismay, to Seifer.

"Didn't even know the guy" Irvine commented uselessly.

"Well good, he was a jerk" Zell said, pumping his fists in his regular practice.

"Hmm, I dunno really, I mean I don't really know whether to blame him or not" Selphie cut in with a thoughtful frown.

Quistis looked irritated, "Selphie, he kidnapped Rinoa and took her to Adel, to a sorceress bent on killing us all. Not to mention he was an obnoxious moron who never attempted at anything." Then as an afterthought; "Well, other than trying to best Squall." She cast another quick glance to him at this, to which he didn't respond.

"She twisted his mind, I don't blame him" Rinoa muttered. Squall twitched, but otherwise didn't respond.

"He's ready to see you now" the secretary looked up blandly from his work, looking somewhat surprised to find a group of teenagers rather than the regular band of plain suits.

"Thank you" Selphie sang in her high cheerful voice, and dragged Irvine along by the hand as they entered the office.

All of them, except Squall, had been eager for a chance to meet the quirky President again. He had been extremely helpful and comforting to them all, and they felt a deeper connection to him after all the dream phases Ellone had sent them through, to which Laguna had more than happily returned. Squall had been dragged along, and persuaded by the fact that this was very relevant to the mission. He wanted to hear about these 'Black Soldiers' in person.

The door clicked shut as Squall was the last to enter, and he remained at the back to avoid any confrontation as the leader. But, it was too late for that as Laguna was looking directly at him after greeting the others, waiting for him to speak.

He sighed inwardly, then before he could even open his mouth Irvine noticed a photograph sticking out from between two files on his desk. It was folded over slightly, probably from the mess that was spewed all over the place.

"Hey Laguna, what's that? Did you keep a picture of Raine and Elle?" He said, grinning at the man's sloppiness and that he had left it amongst important documents. Squall frowned, then suddenly realised, and sincerely hoped….

"Awww, its so cute!" Selphie chimed, noticing the content of the picture, Squall thought he saw Quistis smiling adoringly at the picture. What could make professional and upright Quistis smile like that? Considering her injury to her head after the rebel confrontation, she had been a bit impatient and short tempered to them all.

"It, err...It's just.." Laguna hastily tried to put away the picture, failing each time as he couldn't find any empty pockets. Then eventually ended up shoving it in a drawer, nervously shooting a glance at Squall.

(Unbelievable…)

Squall's face remained passive, as he concealed his irritation at the man's tardiness. He didn't have to be so damn obvious about it all. He didn't need that useless publicity, not to mention the nags and whines he would get from the others when the truth finally came out, because he wanted nothing to do with him. Not out of spite, partly out of shame, and mostly just because he didn't need a parent. He had been fine so far hadn't he? He supposed he appreciated the others company, but still, he didn't need them, despite what Rinoa would like to believe. He only saw that, sure, they were great for now, but things can only get worse, why put yourself in that position?

He started, "Sir, I'm sure you know what we came to find out, we-"

"No need to be so formal! We've all been through a lot, I'd like to think you can all speak normally to me now. After all, you saw me from a Galbadian soldier, a small town defender to a captive worker in Odine's laboratory!" He waffled, clearly hoping that Squall in particular would open up, seeing as the others already clearly have.

Zell smirked knowingly, having thought Squall hadn't made the connection yet from when they visited Raine's house in the Dream Sequence. But Quistis knew better, she knew this probably wouldn't end well. Rinoa hung her head slightly, arms behind her back and smiled at Squall, somewhat encouragingly.

In sharp contrast however, Squall said stiffly "Sir, It's about the Black Soldiers, we were hoping for some information, if you don't mind." His face remained blank, hoping he would take the damn hint and get on with it.

At the mention of the Black Soldiers, Laguna's face fell and some signs of worry seem to crawl back on to his features. Apparently this had been a problem for him too, and for a while. The others turned to him, looking concerned and quite curious.

He shuddered very slightly, and said, "they're quite a sight, aren't they? The darkest of black clothes, cold resolution in some of them, and that weird black aura…" The others all nodded in understanding, remembering themselves.

Squall spoke up "Appearances shouldn't be something that det- Wait, what aura are you talking about?" He frowned at the President's childish comment.

Zell turned to him, hands waving and exclaiming "You know! That weird black air that seemed to follow them all, as if they didn't belong in so much light."

(Well this is getting stupid) He waved a hand dismissively, "Right, well anyway-"

"Are you sure you didn't see it? Because my guess so far is that those who cannot see their darkness are already accustomed to it." Laguna cut in gravely. Several heads turned his way, and Squall just about lost it.

"Does it really matter at this point? Maybe I was too busy trying to fight the rebels and keeping my head on its shoulders to notice some shadow." He hadn't raised his voice, and it was the first time he had been angry in a long while, he was mostly just irritated or impatient.

"It's just my theory, Squall, other soldiers don't even see it, and some select few who aren't soldiers can't see it either." He replied quickly and curtly.

"And what kind of people were they?" Rinoa inquired, worried.

"Well, those who have seen a fair amount of darkness themselves. Not necessarily bad people just-"

"Whatever!" Squall interjected, finding the whole situation highly irrelevant. Even not being able to see shadows was drawing attention to himself. Why did every small detail make them think he was not okay? What does it matter anyway?

(I thought they had given the whole thing up after I jumped out into space to find Rinoa…)

Laguna looked concerned for a minute, staring at him and biting his lip, almost as If he was deciding how to say what he was thinking. Which, Squall figured, he probably was.

Couldn't they just stop all this for once, and leave him alone?


Seifer

Seifer sat looking smug and triumphant, but really quite nervous, on the chair in front of the desk in the Headmasters office. Raijin and Fujin sat on either side in chairs of their own, waiting patiently. Cid turned and regarded the trio with warm but calculating eyes and said;

"Well I suppose you should really get settled in right away, I've smoothed things over with the help of Edea and Esthar's President…I don't think there's anything else." He said consulting some documents on his desk, which was just as messy as Laguna's.

Seifer shifted uncomfortably, but appeared indifferent to these comments. Fujin peered discreetly at him, noticed his discomfort but voiced nothing of her concern. Raijin was ignorantly oblivious.

He looked up, papers still in hand, piercing Seifer with his blue eyes. He spoke, "I hope you and the others in the Garden, in particular Squall, will not come to any disputes in the future. Your apology will be announced -" a small twitch from Seifer "-and I will personally assist in your re-admittance here. I hope you settle in well, you were a valued cadet." Cid spoke kindly, noting in his head the trouble Seifer had caused before everything, with Squall and the other students. But he was sure that was better than wherever Seifer would be forced to go if he did not stay here, and better than when he was under Ultimecia's control.

Besides, the Garden needed all the SeeD's they could get, and Seifer really was an accomplished Gunblade swordsman.

"So like, if were done…" Seifer said dismissively, waving a hand. Get on with it, jeez.

"Oh yes, of course." Cid said, smiling warmly.

- FFVIII - FVIII - FVIII -

A quick solo tour of the Garden got Seifer back up to speed on how things had changed, even if it had only been a month there were some notable changes. For instance the Garden Festival Committee had become a lot less neglected, but Seifer couldn't have cared less about that. Still it was good to be home, he had already started picking on anyone younger than him. He didn't need to be any of their damn friends anyway, even Fujin and Raijin had to give him his space.

But he really wanted a rematch with Squall, he really wanted to thank him properly for that scar he received. It ended way too evenly…But then what about those time they fought in the past? Whenever things got serious, he realized, something weird would happen.

Griever

Damn Griever, stupid Squall depended on it and despised it all the same. He couldn't believe he hadn't realized it until Griever was exposed with Ultimecia. He had known about his revealing, but did no one realize what that really meant?

He didn't care, though, as long as that stupid monster had nothing to do with him. It had been damn annoying enough by intervening when he used to pick on Squall. What the hell was all that about anyway?