With a tap of his slender index finger, the ash from Squall's guilty cigarette crumbled away and was captured in a gust of cold wind, scattering it across the rippling hillside outside Garden. He sat down on the dry, soft earth, his smoking arm balancing gracefully on his one raised, bent knee. The wind sent a shiver down his neck and raised goosebumps down his arms; when ignored, the wind blew again, stronger, colder, until the boy took notice, pulled up the collar of his worn leather jacket and hugged his knee closer to him.
As always, people were running in and out of Garden, totally focused on their tasks; busy worker ants weaving in and out and between each other, each with it's own 'important' mission; each completely useless on it's own, but every single one of them holding dear the knowledge of the safety of their numbers.
Squall brought the cigarette to his lips and closed his eyes, taking a slow breath of comforting toxicity. As he gently released the cancerous swirls from pursed lips, watching the dancing ghosts slowly fading into the grey above him, the distant sound of bells sang out from Garden, calling to all the students, letting them know they would soon be leaving.
The cigarette, half smoked, half wasted, leaped like an acrobat from Squall's skilled fingers, joining it's cremated remains in the wind.

The secret area was just as cold and as Garden rose from the ground, the air whipped across the small balcony with a force almost strong enough to throw Squall off his feet. Wedging his toes underneath the sturdy, rusty fencing, he pulled another cigarette from a pack in his breast pocket and guarded it well enough for a flame to light it, in spite of the wind.
Leaning on the railing, he heard the door open behind him and close again, uneasily.
Waiting in vain for some kind of greeting and unsure as to whether there was actually someone there or whether they had uncomfortably left, he bent his head slightly, to see over his shoulder and clenched his jaw tightly as he saw the last thing he wanted to see.

"You really shouldn't smoke so much" came the deep, calculating voice as its owner struck the thumb-wheel of his own lighter against it's flint, lighting his own, sarcastic, badly-rolled cigarette, "You'll die."

Squall turned angrily to him, his eyes hot and filled with hatred "How could you? He's jut a kid! A weak little kid..."

"He's only a year younger, Babe. Besides, I didn't do much of anything to the boy."

"Didn't do much?! Do you even know what you've done?! You KILLED him, Seifer" he rubbed his cheek roughly, desperate for understanding, "you ended his life and now he's going through it again..."

The blonde man opposite him strode intentionally slowly towards him, towering over him with a menacing shadow "Babe, don't get upset...I didn't mean it..." he whined, his face denying whatever sincerity was supposed to be placed in such a sentence, with a sneer and lowered eyes.
The two men stared at each other in a silence obviously full of plans and calculations, before Squall stepped around Seifer and stated to walk away.

"Ah-ah-ah" Seifer corrected "I don't think so. We need...to talk" and without a sound, he pulled at Squall's passing arm and swung him round. "Don't be like that...come on..."
Each, fake word bubbling from the playful, intimidating sulk which Seifer so expertly played, made Squall feel more uneasy and anxious about what this man was planning next. He knew Seifer liked to play games with his victims, but he was so unpredictable and Squall had no idea when the games would stop and what his next move would be.
Until now, Squall had always scoffed at the success of such psychological attacks, with a raised eyebrow and two readied fists, but recently, Seifer had been stronger, smarter, more uncontrollable than ever and perhaps now, it was time to immerse himself in Seifer's strangeness and play for himself.
He cocked his head to one side and raised his free hand to take a drag of his cigarette. He stepped forward, so that both their bodies touched aggressively and blew the smoke into Seifer's smiling face.

"I'm not scared of you, Seifer. I hate you...but I don't fear you. All you've ever done is aim to prove you were better than me...braver than me, stronger and more dominant than me. And guess what? I have never cared. Not a bit. I could deal with you hurting me directly; sabotaging my life for the pathetic fulfillment of your own...but you've crossed the line. Zell had nothing to do with me, which means you've either acknowledged defeat and moved on, or you think you've proved all you can and needed a fresh challenge. Either way...and it makes no difference...I've got you all figured out...and you lose," Squall pushed his chest against Seifer, forcing him to step backwards with confused, painful steps, "So, Babe...what's next?" the pair reached the railing and Squall kept pushing, Seifer leaning back over the cold bar in his back, "Are you not going to do anything?" He tugged his arm loose of Seifer's grip and reached up to grab the blonde's long neck and pull him down. Squall clung to the taller boy's body, forcing him into a passionate, hateful kiss; as deep and as forceful as Seifer ever did. His tongue flowed viciously inside the stunned mouth, sucking away every last, shocked breath until Seifer could no longer breathe and pushed Squall away with all the strength he had. Seifer wiped away the saliva from his panting mouth with the sleeve of his windswept trenchcoat and seemed genuinely speechless for the first time in his entire existence; his arm retracted and his hand swept across his mouth, revealing a wide, amused grin.

To Squall's horror, Seifer chuckled and took a deep, successful breath. "Got me figured, eh? Well, good. It's about time." He brushed a thoughtful hand across his jaw, stroking his chin with his fingertips and holding onto his neck, which he then leaned from one side, slowly to the other, cracking it loudly. "If you've got me figured, you know what comes next, then(?)"
Suddenly, Seifer lunged through the wind and pinned Squall against the nearest wall, holding him by the throat. His breath, heavy and arrogant, burned Squall's face. "You made the first move...so enjoy it."

Seifer returned Squall's vigorous kiss, pushing his mouth so hard onto Squall's that the unwilling boy could hardly kiss back, had he wanted to. Squall's wrists burned as Seifer's controlling grip crushed them, strangling the blood of his hands and trapping them against the rough bricks of the cold, uncared for wall at his back. As his knuckles started to bleed, his struggles only causing more pain, he tried to turn his head away from the violation he now so regretted initiating.

Seifer abruptly released him, red and bleeding, and kept his hands poised as if he were still holding him; he raised his head curiously to peer down at Squall over the bridge of his nose and his half open mouth.
Squall's chest heaved as he regained his breath, as silently as he could manage to and lowered his arms, briefly checking the condition of his broken skin. He waited for whatever torment Seifer was blatantly preparing for.

"I'm still making an effort, Chickadee, but you just won't play. You should really learn to be nice every once in a while," Seifer glanced casually at the door, standing less than a metre away from him and calmly lowered both arms, his open hands relaxing naturally into half-fists before his arm shot up underneath the handle of the door he'd examined; the sharp force of his crooked elbow jamming the weak metal upwards, transforming it into an unconventional bolt.

"Seifer...I've had enough. I've had enough of trying to work out your stupid games, I've tried ignoring you, playing along, fighting...it's all useless and I'm just fed up. What we had was NOTHING! I'm sorry about it all, I am...but you've become a real asshole, man. I mean, come on...me, I could totally forgive, I hurt you and it's just YOU to take revenge and prove your strength...but...Zell? I don't get it..."

"He wanted it. I gave it to him."

"You don't believe that, Seif...you...raped him" Saying that word brought anger back to Squall's heart and he leaned forward to repeat himself through clenched teeth, "You...raped...him"

"Don't start again, Princess...you'd just settled into the pathetic weepiness which suits you so well...don't work yourself up again. You can't beat me. You're a loser, Squall and you can't run away this time. It's my way," Snarling, Seifer choked Squall with his bruised elbow, dragging him round to be bent backwards over the railing in a reversal of roles, gritting his teeth as Squall had done moments ago, "or the fucking highway..."

Garden flew miles above the mountains, headed for Galbadia, ignorant to the events on board, roaring through the damp clouds. One wrong move and Squall would be heading through those same, moist clouds, towards the ground.
The wind grew stronger, whipping Squall's hair across his face relentlessly; Squall was blinded and deafened by it's howling, his remaining senses all focused on screaming 'DANGER!'.
"Back off, yeah?" Squall almost begged Seifer, as he pushed gently, his touch negotiating the situation.

"Scared? I thought you were meant to be 'lion-like' and strong?" Seifer denied negotiations by bending Squall almost double over the bars, Squall's feet barely touching the tiled, cracked ground.

"Seifer, come ON!" Squall turned desperately to measure the fall below him, the actual distance masked by layers upon layers of grey and white, which themselves looked miles away.

"I thought you were supposed to be brave! I thought you were always right?! I thought you were MIGHTY?!" Seifer flung him to the ground by the door, glaring crazily down at him. He flung his arms high into the busy air in anger, his trenchcoat flapping wildly around his thin waist, "I thought you would always FIGHT me?!"

Squall rose from his dusty heap, wiping away the one, terrified tear that had managed to escape and he trudged easily up to the monster before him. He shrugged off his jacket, cigarettes falling clumsily to the ground as he lifted it in one hand and gave it to the wind. It vanished into the clouds and gusts as Seifer studied it's shrinking form.
"It's your way, now, remember?" Squall stated calmly, as he pulled the hem of his dark t-shirt over his head and let it tumble to the floor. His bare chest tensed and quivered as it was exposed to the cold air, each toned muscle nervously shuddering.

Seifer stood like a statue, evaluating every, unexpected, captivating move, not daring to make one of his own until he knew Squall's strange motive. Squall reached an arm out to touch Seifer's silken cheek, "I hope you're not getting shy, now..." he teased "I really am waiting...you shouldn't have stopped..." he placed one arm each side of Seifer, resting his bruised arms on the frozen metal and nuzzled Seifer's poised chin with his nose and gently kissed along his neck and across his jawline.
Seifer, skeptical as ever, knew Squall couldn't be serious...it wasn't possible and he would be an idiot to believe that it was, but still he closed his eyes and rolled his head backwards, his parted lips betraying longing, as the breath from them became faster and deeper. Squall's mouth brushed against his own; not possessively as before, but soft and tender.
Memories flooded through Seifer's mind, happy, distant memories and sadly, he raised a hand to stroke the back of Squall's neck as he kissed back; desperate to dive back into those times when they had been like this together.
Squall broke the embrace and looked up, his eyes darting to and fro between Seifer's, both boys shedding silent tears, "And you also shouldn't have pulled me back up..."

Squall's sad mouth rose into a cruel, lopsided grin, his eyes twinkling not only with tears, but with anger, hate and victory. He leaned forward and whispered harshly into trembling ears "I beat you..." and he pushed both arms hard into Seifer's hollow chest, forcing him backwards, over the ledge and into the unknown below. His light trenchcoat engulfed him as he sank through the thin air, his terrified, heartbroken face the last thing Squall saw.

Collapsing to the ground in a quivering, sobbing mass, Squall curled up and rocked himself to sleep, the hostile wind rushing around him, an avengeful blanket of cold, bringing with it not only waves of trembling, freezing flesh, but punishing nightmares made of memories; dreams; falling, heartbroken faces and the feeling that the soul Squall was sure he once had, was no longer there.
As he slept, Garden thundered through the sky, leaving behind the mountains, the clouds and the cold, until it's cold, blue glow was once again visible, illuminating the otherwise green landscape. The mountains which had become Seifer's last resting place were far behind; distant specks of brown and white. Garden and ll the people within, still oblivious to all that had happened, were heading straight for Galbadia Garden, now visible and as beautiful as any of the Gardens.

Squall dreamed of the mountains they had passed and the man from his past who slept there. Sleeping, but never to rest...as Squall was doing now, as he flew closer to the rest of his life.