AN: This is where I keep my promise to explain why Seifer didn't use a fire spell in the first fight for this fic.  Woo, many Fs :) *giggles*

Disclaimers: No originals (yet), so I don't own the two hottest guys in ff8 *cries* someone persuade Squaresoft to sell them to me ;_; *sniffles*

Warnings: Um, language (again - Seifer's never really bothered about 'polite' language), but that's still all

Book One of the Sorcerer Arc ~ History Repeating ~ Chapter Three ~ Confession

"Did you ever wonder how I'm a year younger, but always as good as you?"  Squall asked conversationally, hand lingering on the catch of the pendant.  Seifer nodded dumbly, wondering what the hell Squall – normally blunter than a wooden spoon – was leading up to.

"This never leaves this room, understand?"  The harsh command made Seifer blink in surprise.  Something strange was going on.  Sure Squall could jump from emotion to emotion quicker than a Cactuar could run away, even if he never showed it, but this...  He suddenly realised Squall was glaring at him impatiently.

"Alright, alright."  He muttered.  The brunette slowly pulled the Griever pendant away from around his neck.

Seifer's mouth dropped open as the ice-blue eyes staring at him slowly melted into a solid yellow.

"Holy fucking Hyne..."  Seifer whispered, feeling like someone had just punched him in the gut.  "You're a sorcerer?"  Squall nodded wordlessly, and replaced the pendant.  The yellow melted away, and Seifer was staring into two cold blue eyes once more.  Two cold blue eyes that now looked infinitely weary, but otherwise showed no emotion at all.  Squall had retreated behind his wall of ice once more, waiting for the inevitable rejection.

"B...b...but...so...how long...who...why..."  Seifer stammered, making no sense at all.  Squall sighed in relief and raised a hand to lightly rub the wound from that morning.  She had healed it – whatever her name was who had presumed to possess him – just as Ultemecia had healed Seifer's scar that morning long ago.  Seifer wanted details of course, he would too in the blond's place, but he hadn't rejected him.  The blond hadn't run away screaming – not that he could imagine Seifer doing that for anything – or rejoicing that this was his chance to redeem himself in the eyes of a biased world.  He had just accepted the brunette for what he was.  That was enough for Squall to trust him with the rest, for his own reasons.

"Even I don't know much," he gave a harsh laugh, "sorcerers tend to be much more secretive than sorceresses..."  He broke off to sigh and gesture at the chair in front of his desk.  "If I'm going to start from the beginning, you might want to sit down."  Seifer thought about staying where he was, simply out of pride, but then his shoulder throbbed painfully, reminding him that this was Squall, master of the understatement.  This wasn't just going to be long, it was going to be an epic.  Sense winning out over pride, Seifer went and sat in the indicated chair.

"There's very little written about sorcerers, and what little there is isn't very helpful.  Only if you're interested in the history."  He sighed again.  "There's only ever one sorcerer in a family at a time – but the lives of two will overlap, the emergence of the new sorcerer signals the death of the old one – unlike sorceresses.  A sorcerer is born – the powers aren't passed on – but the pendant," he tapped it with a finger, "is."  Seifer was frowning, understanding now what the brunette had meant about the information being unhelpful.  But Squall continued.  "The powers increase over the years, and only when they began to mature did I realise, or suspect, what was going on."

"How?"  Seifer finally found his voice, and a break in which to insert it.  Squall grimaced.

"Waking up with yellow eyes was a rather big giveaway."  He shrugged, the lack of emotion not lost on the blond.  "Anyway, that was a couple of years before Ultemecia.  You remember when Cid packed us all off to Deling for that festival?"  Seifer nodded, remembering the trip – which had involved him, Squall, Zell and Quistis – but confused by the sudden topic jump.  Then it struck him.

"The pendant..."  He unintentionally breathed aloud.  Squall nodded, then leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

"That was where my Grandfather – on Raine's side – found me and told me what I was.  He explained a few things, gave me the pendant, then died, right in front of me."  Seifer suddenly felt guilty for every time he'd teased Squall, trying to hurt him.  Determined to hurt him and force the younger man to show some emotion other than his usual apathy.  Not knowing the pain that the brunette already carried inside.  Hyne.  To have a double blow like that delivered; discovering you were a sorcerer, discovering you had family, and then seeing that family die in front of you. 

Seifer looked up in time to see Squall's eyes open again.  They were colder and harder than ever.  Six years – such a long time to keep everything bottled up inside.  Too long.  But for some reason – the powers? – the brunette seemed unwilling, or unable, to let his emotions out.

"That was when I started wearing the pendant.  I told everyone I'd picked it up at a junk shop – remember?"  Seifer nodded mutely.  He did remember, vaguely.  But he understood now why Squall had changed suddenly.  He'd gone from being Seifer's companion in havoc-making around Garden to the most studious of them all, rivalling even Quistis for his time hunting through the library's stockpile of mouldering tomes, searching for something he would never talk about.  Seifer guessed the brunette had been looking for something, anything, about what he was, and what he could expect in the future.  From the fears that he had seen in the SeeD Commander's eyes as he admitted to being a sorcerer, Seifer could easily guess just what the brunette had managed to find.

"So...Ultemecia..."  Seifer wasn't sure how to phrase his question without sounding critical, or accusing.  But Squall seemed to understand, and even looked relieved as he shook his head.

"No.  I wasn't strong enough..."  There was a pause, and Seifer waited patiently.  "Then..."

AN: OK.  Third chapter down.  I'm on a roll here people... shame it's going to come crashing to an end in, oh, an hour or so, as I have lectures!! 

An explanation as to the lack of fireball in the first duel.  Squall is a sorcerer, so Seifer's fireball would've been absorbed and would have given him away big time – at least to Seifer. 

Another thing, these first three chapters were originally written as a result of IDWTDH (I Don't Want To Do Homework) Syndrome, when frankly the amount of work I had to do sucked.  On the other hand, writing them gave me less time to do the piles of work I had to do. 

The least that could be done is to give me Squall and Seifer as consolation *gets down on knees and makes hopeful puppy eyes at Squaresoft* and I still feel this is true ;)

RxR, flame, call me a lunatic (which I am), ~I DON'T CARE~ o.O 

REVIEWS FROM VERSION 1:

Reviewer: Yoink Daydurfurits

Date: 08/10/2002

For Chapter: 3

Review: Wow... I mean wow.  It's good.  I love Squall being a Sorcerer...er...yeah I hope that's how you spell it. LoL.  Good job on all three chapies so far.

They are really good.  I LOVE SQUALL!!!!!

WhyDee

aka

YD

Author's response:   Well thanx :)  Yes, that is how you spell it ;)  Hope you enjoy the rest (and the new version) just as much 8-)