I do not own FF8 or these characters, but I can still dream, right?

Chapter 21

oooOOOooo

He had slept in this bed for well over a week, but every time he opened his eyes he still felt disoriented by the fact that it was familiar. Since the ending days of his insane romantic dream, he had woken up in different place- not typical a warm bed like this one- as he moved from place to place in order to stay alive. Even with the flimsy order of protection from the Gardens, there were many who sought his death. For a while he wondered if he would welcome it.

Seifer never found any of the attempts on his life of worthy of his death. He always thought he would go out in the heat of some great battle where he would forever become a legend, so when facing a few drunk men who's drinks inspired their "courage" to rid of the world of him, he fought back. Maybe at that time he wasn't really ready to let go of the tarnish life Ultimecia had left behind for him. As much as he wanted to convince others that he had changed since then, the truth was he really hadn't. He still craved a victory; that victory just didn't involve being anyone else's puppet. He still hungered for the world to remember him for more then just the Man who lost his mind and picked the wrong team. He wanted to become a legend, a legend the children enrolled at Garden would look up to in awe and emulate. Only after that, would death be truly welcomed.

Granted, his idea of victory was not involving babysitting a certain raven hair Sorceress either, but here he was, sleeping in her guest bedroom.

Seifer walked into the kitchen with the first thing greeting him was the smell of coffee, which was abnormal since the only other person who normally abused the coffee wouldn't be found out of bed until ten.

That's right. He is accusing Timber's newly elected mayor of faking early morning meetings just so she could sleep in. Leaving Seifer to wonder, who the hell would elect her?

Sure enough, standing next to the kitchen island stood said fair sorceress looking like utter crap. Wearing a light pink cotton robe tightly wound around her this waist, with her raven hair messily pulled up in a disorganized bun. In her hand she held a white coffee mug that appeared to be filled with the last cup of coffee before another pot would be need to made. Seifer walked by snatching it from her grasp making her jump as she only now realized his presence.

"Just what I need." He mocked sipping the nearly cold brew as he passed her on the way to the fridge.

"I hope you know I just spitted in that." Her voice stated in a foul mood.

He turned and gave her a once over, enjoying the bitter glare he was received from his former flame. He couldn't help but crack a smile and lifted the mug to his lips once more. "Well your spit hadn't done much to me in the past..."

Yes, that garnered the reaction he was waiting for. With a roll of the eyes, she shook her head, and headed towards the coffee pot. At lest his next cup would be hot.

"Fine." She said pulling the glass pot out with a forceful jerk. "Just one more thing you're freeloading off of me. Seriously, I should just kick you out."

He so enjoyed when she was feisty. He swung the door to the fridge open to find whatever was edible in the mansion where nobody seemed to cook, and was grateful when he found bagels that had seemed to be purchased within the last few days.

"Hey, I was just fine living in that tent out in the back yard." He reminded her from inside her fridge.

"Right, just the kind of press I need. A psychotic ex-knight stalking me outside of my residence looking for a new romantic dream." She muttered as he slammed the door close behind him

"And if they only knew we had that romantic dream in the past.." He feigned a dreamy look that made Rinoa scowled.

"Right, because the public doesn't have enough reasons to fear from me already." Her eyes refused to leave the coffee pot filling with water in her hands. "If they had any idea I had once been linked romantically to Edea's lap dog, I would be sent on a one way ticket to space. Trust me, Watts reminds me of that every chance he gets."

"Hey as I told you when I got here, that secret can stay safe between us and Garden if you let me do what I'm paid to do."

"Tell me again, why would my father of all people hire you to protect me? Huh? Not only did you single handedly took over his army, but you are the most despised person in the world, not to mentioned you tried to kill me? Remember?" Her hand slam down on the faucet cutting off the water and turned around her eyes trying to get a read on him.

He looked at her smugly pulling out a bagel from the bag and took large defiant bite out of it as her answer. She shook her head and went to start the next pot of coffee. With her back to him, she continued to wear down his patience.

"I already have SeeD watching over me. There's nothing you could possible offer me in terms of protection. So why not just take my father's money and run with it? He would never know." She said placing the empty glass pot under for collection.

"Do you think your father is stupid enough to give me all the money up front?" He said with his mouth full. "I want the rest of it."

"What does he owe you?" She asked dead serious. Seifer ignored the obvious anger attempting to hide in her voice. "I'll double it to get you out."

"What's the rush?" He mocked with a sneer. "Here I have a warm place to sleep, with free food, and a paycheck waiting at the end of this. You think just because you have your commanding boyfriend- Oh right ex-boyfriend…"He waited for a reaction and when he didn't get the desired exploding temper he kept going. "That's the kind of protection you want? Face it, your father picked me because the whole world is against me and STILL can't kill me off. I'm a fighter, a survivor, and his money can buy me. I'm sure there is a bit of double benefits for him being that the world will question my presence around you, but that only will help him won't it?"

He could see her eyes harden slightly as she watched the black liquid pile into the coffee pot below. The rage tightened her jaw, making him smile knowing he could still get a rise out of her when he wanted too. Also was probably the very reason why they didn't last. They both had fire and were passionate to the point of exploding when near each other.

"Face it Rinoa. I might be the only one here who is actually looking out for you. Hell your father doesn't want any SeeD to do it and I don't blame him either. If I were him, I wouldn't trust your knight either seeing he personally assigned his grunts to do his work for him. Face it, you need me."

That was when he saw the seismic shift happen. Her eyes flickered to him, burning him with her stare. Damn, he hoped he made people feel this way when his anger turned on them. Then she did the unexpected, which ultimately made him uncomfortable. He was ready to take her on and take the brunt of her anger. He preferred that she lash out all that anger at him instead of keeping it inside all the time, but instead she turned her back to reach up and grab a new coffee cup to pour her a glass.

"You're right about some of that." She said quietly filling her mug. "That's why I had our contract forward to Trabia Garden."

The bagel he was working on suddenly got caught in his throat.

"You did wha-?" He said spitting half his bagel in the process and managed to recover before dropping his cold coffee all over the floor.

"As you said, his attention is somewhere else. He came over last night, and it was clear that some exes just can't work together." She said her eyes never looking up at him. "Trabia Garden has just rebuilt and is just as qualified to full fill the contract now."

"I'm sure they were just chomping at the bit for what that remodel cost them-" Seifer was now the one who irritated beyond belief. He walked towards her his eyes on the fresh coffee. "Aren't you just the love them, and leave the type."

Rinoa seeing his desired path quickly pulled the coffee pot over the sinking, draining it's contents out slowly.

Seifer laughed taking the direct slam in stride, watching the wasted valuable commodity circle the drain. "Com'on, don't get pissy at me, because you tend to pick assholes for lovers."

She gave a half toxic grin before setting the pot in the sink and stormed out of the kitchen.

The moment she walked out of the swinging doors his attitude soured along with his smile. This was an unaccounted deviation from the plan and of course he was the last person to fucking know about the Commanders unexpected appearance last night. He was being kept out of the loop of things again. He was about to dig out the cell from his pocket when he suddenly heard the sound of glass shattering in the next room.

Instantly, he shifted into action flying into the room searching for the unseen assailant when he slowly realized she was standing in front of the table staring down at her laptop. Seeing absolutely no threat other then Rinoa's own clumsiness, he quickly turned his anger onto her.

"For Hynes sake Rinoa!" Seifer barked rushing over. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

He tried to push her away from the scalding mess, but when she refused to move away he looked up at the laptop in front of her suddenly forgetting himself in the process.

"What the fuck?" He said pushing her out of his way for good this time, and adjusted the monitor for his height.

The widow opened in Rinoa's email was a message sent from Timber mechanics requesting a comment for a photo posted on Garden's Web forum. A grainy black and white photo was then visible, where he could see puberty boy in full throws of passion, which was enough to make anyone sick on their own, but seeing Quistis lying underneath him only centimeters away from his face made him want to hurl.

"Huh." The words lacked his normal confidence. "Looks like he moved on fast."

He wanted to tear his own eyes away from how he was pinning her into the sand holding her hands down. Seeing his lithe body taking over his position with Quistis made him want to throw the laptop at the awfully tacky decor hanging on the wall in front of him. Instead his mind pressed on, studying the picture for answers that had to be hidden somewhere in it to why such a picture exists.

Rinoa suddenly remembered how to move and silently walked away shell shock.

"Hey aren't you gonna clean this up?" He called out to her, but lacked the motivation to really sound sincerely callous.

This must be running in all the papers now. Of course the cock-sucker who wrote this email already tried to get a comment for this news break from Balamb Garden and received their standard no comment answer. He scrolled down letting his eyes skim the letter that followed with a barrage of personal questions that no one in their right minds would answer.

The world was too fucking absorbed into these SeeDs and Sorceress that saved their world now. In their minds, everything they did was now fair game to report on, and any hope for privacy was lost. Journalist like this one ripped peoples lives apart over gossip. He would know, as this particular news reporter had personally shred Seifer apart after Ultimecia. Rodger R. McClain. When that bloody bastard didn't have the facts, he had no problem drugging up "reliable sources" to give false testimonies. He was the scourge of the earth that would go to any lengths that would sell newspapers. This "news man" had been itching for Seifer's blood ever since the end of Ultimecia, and had run several issues about him ever since he started staying in Timber.

Seifer's hands quickly took to her keyboard, and with a quickly few strokes of the keyboard he sent off a letter with a few choice words, and his phone number attached to it. It took a minute after that for Seifer to leave the computer screen that still held the unholy image, still burning itself onto the screen.

Outside the claustrophobic mansion, he felt like he finally had room to breath. The air had a bit of a chill in it still, as the sun was just starting to rise to start warming the ground he walked on. He let his finger hit the only number in his speed dial, and waited as the phone on the other end continued to ring endlessly, until it finally rolled over to voicemail.

"Leave a message." The prerecorded voice muttered making Seifer grind down on his teeth in irritation.

He hit the speed dial once more, but this time it snapped right over to the voicemail. Now the fucker was just messing with him. He pounded on the speed dial a few more times until finally the other side decided to pick up.

"What?" The voice attempted to sound angry, but in it's exhausted state it was muddled frustration at best.

"You're really fucking this up, ya know that?" He said trying to keep his own anger in check. The last thing he needed was anyone to over hear this phone call. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't have tim-"

"You better make time!" Seifer growled in to the phone. "We've got a problem! She transferred over the contract-"

There was a long sigh on the other end and a painfully weak voice cut through the anger, "-I already know."

"Well thanks for the fucking heads up!" Seifer said his eyes scanning the mature wooded area for life. "She really liked the pictures by the way. Why don't you just fucking shoot her and get it over with."

The voice had disappeared from the other side of the phone making his grip on the phone that much tighter.

"What the fuck am I suppose to do over here? When I told you about the threat on her life you said you wanted Balamb to take over, and now you go and fucked yourself over? What's the game plan now, huh?"

"I don't know." Said the tentative voice.

Seifer scoffed. "That coming from the commander of SeeD? Well shit- there goes their reputation…"

"I'll call you back when we regroup. You volunteered for this, Seifer. You can drop out at anytime."

"Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't ya?" Seifer mustered a laugh, under the heavy breath of cold air he took into his lungs.

"Squall…" His voice followed up more serious then he had ever been in his entire life. "Stay away from Rinoa. You remember Dr. Odine's lab right?"

Again the pause made Seifer wonder if this failure of a commander was even awake on the other end, but after a long pregnant pause a muffled sound in the affirmative came through.

Seifer looked up through the tree's seeing the grey sky finally hinting a dash of blue through its low cloud cover.

"Tell Quistis the shots got her good side." And with that he hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

oooOOOooo

The days bled together as he spent time in his sire's home trying to repair his brittle mind that seemed to have too many cracks to fill. Squall's vision had returned to him rather quickly, but from what he gathered from the long and detailed account Seifer had given to Dr. Odine, the longer he was exposed to a Sorceress power, the more devastating the effects would become. Squall moved through the Estharian mansion like a body missing its soul. He watched the people around him make hard decisions about his life, ones he probably would have liked to been involved in, but he couldn't help feeling like he had died and was merely listening into the world continuing on without him. A part of him wondered if he had died in the battle with Ultimecia, because this surely had to be some hell he'd fallen into. Perhaps retribution for all the lives he had encountered and ended with little thought.

He was walked into a room that was a make shift laboratory for Dr. Odine. Kyros, Ward, and Laguna sat quietly talking amongst themselves in one corner, and Cid hugged the wall with a troubled smile plastered to his face in another. Seifer sat uncomfortably in a metal chair with his elbows on his knees, and a single hand propping his head up. He could have been a statue for how still he remained, completely loss in his own mind that he didn't even notice his arrival. Squall wondered if that is what he looked liked to the outside world, now. The indifference of living or dying was obvious on Seifer's face.

"We iz ready to begin!" Dr. Odine from a door that had opened to a smaller room.

It was clear from the bland tope color on the wall, and rich cherry wood trim surrounding this room, that it had once been a conference room cleared out to make way for Dr. Odine. Once further inside the room, Squall saw it had been filled with medical equipment ranging from monitors, to examining tables, to two treadmills that were lined up side by side with various machines next to it already being calibrated by two nurses dressed in white scrubs. The small man begged for them all to squeeze into the small room, and forced the two Knights towards the examining tables, where a tray of needles awaited with needles and empty vials.

Suddenly Squall saw a familiar face enter the room behind them. Even though her smile strained at the sight of how ravaged he had become, she forced herself to remain in a neutral tone.

"Commander Leonheart." Dr. Kadowaki greeted with a solemn sigh. "I wish I could greet you under better circumstances."

Squall looked at Cid who jumped to life. "She is here under Garden's behalf to supervise all treatments. You didn't think SeeD would just hand over one of their own with no conditions, did you?"

Truthfully he hadn't been sure about that.

"That's just great, more of Squally boy's fan club taking up space." Seifer griped, pushing through Squall with his shoulder.

"Seifer Alsmey, if I don't live and breath-" Dr. Kadowaki allowed her voice to lose it's neutrality.

"Don't pretend you missed me, Doc." He warned.

"I don't miss the people you put into my infirmary, Alsmey. But I can't pretend that I am not glad to see you well, knowing the circumstance that brought you here." Her full face asserted. "I'll be over seeing your health care as well."

A skeptical smile cracked of Seifer's lips. "I can't afford you Doc."

"You won't have too." Cid stated.

Seifer turned to Cid for a moment with a look in his eye that brought Squall back to their encounter, back when Seifer was under the control of Ultimecia. His look now was the same look of hatred that had shown in his eyes back then. The scar of Balamb Garden turning their back on him ran deep.

"I don't want SeeD's fucking gil." He hissed.

"It's not SeeD." Cid clarified. "Not that I wouldn't have pushed through the conflict of interest to do that for you, but an anonymous donor-"

"Not so Anonymous." Laguna corrected clearing the air before the questions could arise.

Cid conceded with a bit of a tense look. "- is picking up your care."

Everyone's attention fell to Laguna including Kyros. Apparently even his right hand man was left out in the dark on this one. Seifer evaluated the President for a moment as Kyros shot Laguna a hesitant glance.

"You?" Seifer's eyebrow raised scanning Laguna. "And why would you do that for me?"

The same question had entered Squall's mind, even though this whole situation had nothing to do with him.

"Whether it was your intention, or not, you saved us from another Knight creating havoc in already stressed times. Esthar is in your debt."

"And the fact that the deranged knight would've been your kid had nothing to do with it?" Seifer mocked pleased to get under the skin of all around.

Squall pierced Seifer a glance that warning him that his tolerance for this topic wouldn't be allowed to be breached any further. Laguna shifted his weight to one leg and looked down. "I can't pretend that I don't feel personally indebted for that as well, but as it stands now, it's Esthar's commitment and not my own."

"Huh." Seifer stated suddenly feeling bored with the conversation.

"Enough! Itz waiting time." Dr. Odine said from a computer.

The group refocused back to the medical equipment before them and Squall quickly saw the examining table that was being designated to him by a nurse doing her best to hold her fragile smile in place.

"Please take a seat commander." She nervously smiled.

Squall hated doctors, and not surprising, he hated being placed under a microscope like this. He knew he was nothing more then a test subject for Dr. Odine in his pursuit in better understanding Rinoa; which in it's self troubled him. This Doctor lacked moral ethics and knew no boundaries when it came to getting what he wanted; leaving the concern of what he would do with the information once he obtained it. Squall knew his personal troubles, or whatever outcome they caused, wouldn't matter to Dr. Odine. It all would be data to go into this little black book for research. There was little choice in the matter, but to allow it, being this doctor may be the only person who would have any insight into his predicament, and may hold the only key to keep this plague from ravishing his mind. If he needed to become a rat, then so be it. Still that didn't explain the reason why Seifer was volunteering himself in this little experiment.

Seifer casually rolled up his borrowed loose fitting white shirt, and effortlessly offered his arm to the blonde nurse who flirted shamelessly with him. Squall begrudgingly followed suit, but with much more unease.

"Just a little poke." His nurse, a brunette with thin mousey brown hair brushed smoothly out of her face, cleaned the area of his skin with alcohol. Nothing about her features stood out, making her completely forgettable. Ironically enough, in his eyes that made him watch her a little more closely. In his line of work, that kind of look was of value as she could easily slip in and out of a scene where witnesses would be present. He must have tensed because her murky green eyes flashed up to him once more and she offered a thin smile. "This is the only painful part-"

"-For today maybe." Seifer said nearly molesting the blonde nurse with his eyes, as she quickly withdrew another vial of blood from his vein.

Squall felt a quick pinch and slowly his own blood started to flow out of him.

"Today we juzt note the condition your in nowz. In da future you will come to mez for more recording." Dr. Odine said holding a long metal object that had white metal ball on the end of it. The lights started to flash as he started to roll the transducer over Seifer's skin.

"Watch it." Seifer warned sharply, but the Dr. Seemed too into his own findings to even note the objection of his patient.

The lights at time would flicker yellow, but for the most part, it had remained green. Which must have been a passing grade, as the Doctor seemed genuinely disappointed.

Soon the odd machine started to near Squall when suddenly, without even touching his skin, the lights started to flash red. Dr. Odine's eyes lit up and stared at Squall in a mixture of awe and confusion. Trepidation sunk its claws once more into Squall. Flashing red lights was never good sign, in any situation.

"There! All done." Squall's nurse said sweetly, as she removed the needle to place a cotton ball over the drop of blood that appeared in its place. "Do you feel light headed?"

"No." Squall looked over to Seifer who hesitated near the two treadmills.

"Nowz we ztrap you up to the heart monitor and we will tezt the ztrezz on your body through cardio." Dr. Odine said opening his black book to record his findings.

Squall rolled his eyes as his hand held steady pressure against the cotton ball. Granted it had been a while since Squall had a proper work out that didn't include unconscious fighting that resulted in ripping apart rooms, but he wasn't sure how stead he was on own two feet. The need for an outlet to relieve the overwhelming stress would've been welcomed had it been under different circumstances and without so many witnesses.

The nurses linked blood pressure cuffs around Seifer and Squall's arm and placed heart monitor tags on various spots on their body.

"You will feel the cuff periodically go off, giving your arm a squeeze. Try to keep your arm straight as possible for the best result." The blonde nurse smiled sweetly to Seifer who returned the gesture with a half smile that made Squall sick. Even with a legacy like his, women seemed to flaunt themselves. That was baffling. He couldn't even imagine the kind of woman who would shamelessly pursue such an asshole.

When the last sensor was put into place, they both climbed up on the treadmill. Noticeably absent was the smirk on Seifer's face and was replaced by anger.

"This is stupid. I don't need to do this with an audience." Seifer echoed Squall's sentiments exactly

"Are you afraid of not keeping up?" Squall asked unable to resist the ability to take the opening. There were a million more important things Squall needed to do right and the urge to get it over with made him hit the button starting the preset course. He started to jog slightly as the count down from ten miles started to move the belt underneath his feet.

Seifer still failed to take the bait, and looked at Cid.

"You said you were willing." Cid reminded him returning the Ex-Knights long glance.

Dr. Odine was less interested in playing into Seifer's tantrums, and hit the start button for him, lurching the giant forward making him stumble at the sudden movement.

"Have you been skipping your workouts?" Squall said between the even paced breaths. It was odd for him to be the one to antagonize, but something about his self-righteousness attitude was getting under his skin more then usual. No one has forced him into this, and he could walk away from this at any point. Squall on the other hand didn't have the same luxury.

Squall watched the timer tick down and the resistances rise and fall reenacting one of Esthar's popular running paths. It was hardly strenuous so Squall let his mind drift back to Rinoa, which ultimately drugged up the memories of their short time in Esthar. Right before his world had caved in on him.

Before all of this they called a flat in Esthar's business district home on the theory that that part of town would turn into virtual ghost town during the evening as the businessmen returned home to their families. Only then could they leave together, and indulged in what Rinoa called normal everyday life activities. But truthfully, nothing they did had any sense of normalcy for him. He had never experienced the world as a civilian, like she had growing up in Deling, or her time in Timber. As a child he was isolated off the beach of Centra's coast, where he had nothing but his imagination there to occupy his time. Going to the movies, and late night dinners at restaurants were part of a life he never lived, and it was a bit unnerving to have so much down time. For Rinoa though, it revived a part of her that had been missing and he could see it in her face every time they left their one bedroom studio.

For their first night in Esthar, Squall had taken her to a small restaurant that specialized in Galbadian cuisine that came as a recommendation from Laguna through Cid. The place was a small hole in the ground, off of a corner between two businesses complexes, that one had to go down a flight of stairs into the basement to find. The solid wood doors lead to a dimly lit restaurant decorated in heavy wood trim stained black and red velvet curtains between each booth granting it's patrons a certain amount of anonymity, which was invaluable since the over zealous world wanted to know more about their unusual heroes. Squall could remember the black dress she wore with it's plunging loose neckline that delicately framed her necklace that held her mother's ring with the copy of his griever ring together. And not far below that traces of her breasts that had him diverting his attention frequently or risk caving into his weak will for her.

The look that crossed her face seeing the menu would be etched into his memory forever. The way her warm eyes floated up from the menu, at the same time her smile grew wide realizing his consideration of her. She was always a hard one to predict, as she often let her emotions run away with her, but in this instance he hadn't expected her to slam her menu down on the table and strain over the small table to kiss him. Still the warm affection was so sporadic that he hadn't had time to over think it, allowing his body to just simply accept it and enjoy it despite the public setting. That night he hardly said more then a few sentences, instead he had spent hours listening to Rinoa open up about growing up with a famous general as a father and a famous singer as a mother.

At one point Rinoa had caught herself rambling and concerned that she was boring him to death she asked him more about the orphanage he grew up in. He obliged and told her a memory he had by the sea when he had waited for sis to come back, but all his memories paled in comparison to what she could remember of her life. He could hardly remember his life before Garden and he wasn't sure if that was because he was just so little at the time or if the Gfs had just really robbed him of so much. Uncomfortable with the realization, he turned the focus back to her, because truthfully he was fascinated by her stories of her family, and only now he had wished he had told her that at the time. He was so struck by the foreign concept of a family where something like dinners out was normal. It was part of her life he just couldn't share in. Even though his fathered turned out to be very much a live, he still considered himself an orphan. When he told her so, he saw only compassion and understanding in her eyes as she leaned over the table to take his hand. Her next words to him had really resounded in his mind, even to this day. Even though her father was a live and in contact, she had felt that her father died in that car crash along with her mother. The man was only an empty of shell of man he used to be. He couldn't help watching her through the candlelight thinking that in the end they really had more in common then it first appeared. Both of their father's were alive and yet they had that piece missing in their lives.

Their first night in Esthar he couldn't sleep in the same bed with her. Even though the notion of him sleeping on the spare couch was ridiculous to her, after the night they had in Garden he wanted to take it slow and do things the normal way. Well, as normal as it could possible be feigned in their situation. Now reflecting back, maybe a small part of him had been holding back because he was afraid of the stirring emotions building in him. The passion for her and the fear of what would result from loving her that much.

A week later he had brought her to a movie. Neither one had any idea what was playing, nor could his memory recall what they had ended up seeing. Sitting far back in an empty run down Movie Theater, innocent handholding had turned into something else entirely. For sure if anyone was to blame, it had to be himself. For most of the beginning of the film he couldn't look away from her face that was lit up by the movie screen. He was so captivated by how she innocently reacted to the story being told on screen, envious at how she could escape from her reality and empathize with what was going on.

He would look up on the screen every now and again, and what he saw were mere actors trying to portray a flawed attempt of the reality of war. It had been written by a writer who clearly had never held a weapon or seen combat from wherever he or she sat. It was all what the movie studio wanted its customers to think war was like and it made Squall feel awkward watching it from this perspective. That was when her eyes met his and devilish smirk appeared before her lips before he moved to make her lips disappear against his lips. Then both had lost interest in the move, and found more entertainment in each other until a coughing from down in front had alerted them their previous notion of being alone was sorely mistaken. Being less then enthralled by the movie, Rinoa and Squall left out the emergency exit, and walked hand in hand through the back streets of Esthar for hours. That time neither of them said a single word to each other. His mind was too tied up with how he could just fade away in this life and never return to Garden. There was no need for him to carry a weapon on him for protection and how they could walk for miles without meeting another soul or run into anything that would harm them. They were protected in the walls of Esthar. They were just another anonymous set of people amongst the millions of others. That thought plagued Squalls mind for the rest of the night.

He finally gave in and agreed to share the bed with her, where he held her all night wondering if this was the life she wanted. She seemed to content, but Squall realized he was the one dying inside. He missed the fields of Balamb and the feel of a gunblade in his hand. This was not his normal and none of it was his reality. He held her tighter in his arms as the questions petrified him. He remained sleepless wondering if her Knight may have an unseen weakness after all.

Squall looked down at the mile counter. He had reached mile four and now was at the top of the resistance. He was pushing his body to the limit, running as fast as he could for sometime now without even noticing it. The troubling memories were good distraction as beads of sweat were beginning to roll down from his hairline. He looked over to Seifer seeing him ghostly white and sweating profusely. Even his breaths had fallen out of pace.

"Seifer?" Squall's alarm only raised when he saw the knights hand suddenly claw at his chest.

It was Dr. Kadowaki who rose to her feet first, staring at Seifer's heart monitor in alarm.

"Shut it down." She ordered.

"What?" Cid asked cautiously.

"I can't breath-" Seifer gasped between labored breaths fumbling to keep his self up right.

"We iz Not Done." Dr. Odine said ignoring the woman entranced by the screen.

"Yes we are!" Kadowaki shouted, before a large crash interrupted everyone from the sudden fight that was about to break out.

Seifer seemed to stumble unexplainably, slightly catching himself on the rails by his arms, but the speed the treadmill took his body down throwing the behemoth against the wall behind it. Then the room exploded with noise of panic. Shouts from Dr. Kadowaki to the nurses, as well as sirens from the machines monitoring him, made Squall quickly jump to the sides of the machine and hit the emergency stop button on both machines. He watched the chaos in the room as the Nurses quickly grabbed Seifer who clutched his chest taking short breaths, as his face redden in pain.

"There's pressure in my chest!" Seifer Gasped as the Blonde tried to secure him down to the ground.

"Get the man Oxygen!" Dr. Kadowaki snapped reading the papers coming from a small machine reading his heart waves. Erratic lines inscribe the paper and with one look she let the papers fall to the ground and assisted the nurses trying to lay Seifer out flat. Squall silently watched over him in horror as the ex-knight held his heart in chest as if it were going to explode.

Like, Squall the rest of the room remained out of the way, silent in shock. Laguna had his arms folded across his chest straining to keep calm. Both Kyros and Ward looked on much in the same way from behind Laguna, but soon Kyros whispered to Ward who gave a short nod before leaving the room.

"What the hell is happening? Do something! He's having a heart attack!" Cid was frantically shouting at Dr. Odine who was doing nothing more then writing in his black book of notes with little more then care for his patient lying on the floor.

"Yez, it zeems that way. There iz more then that going onz here." Dr. Odine picked up the papers that had fallen to the ground and read the findings.

"How the hell can someone in his shape have a heart attack? Less then a month ago he was in fighting condition-!" Cid shouted.

"Waz he?" Dr. Odin turned to Cid who suddenly lost his voice. "The power he gain from the Zorcerezz came at a high prize phyzically."

"What are you say?" Squall asked in a low tone visibly shaken from seeing his rival writhing on the ground. Something deep down finally understood why Siefer had been going along with all of this. He had too much pride to admit it in front of Squall but he had been sick and it was clear he couldn't make it on his own anymore.

"I'm zaying the extend expozure haz weakened his heart muzclez. He'z got a ticking time bomb in hiz chezt."

Fear dug it's nails in to Squall as Seifer suddenly went limp in Dr. Kadowaki's arm from something she injected into his arm.

"Help him." Squall demanded turning back to Dr. Odine. "You are the expert in this, fix it!"

"The damage Iz done. Hiz dayz on the battle field iz numbered." Dr. Odine said simply not looking up from the black book. "I'm no Hyne boy. He haz hiz own fate to follow and theirz nothing I can doz about it."

The pent up rage in Squall exploded all at once as he targeted the cruel man who had no idea what kind of death sentence he had just laid out unsympathetically for a solider. This was their life! And giving up wasn't an option Squall could easily take from a mad man.

Kyros seeing the incoming fist quickly intercepted grabbing Squall's arm, and with the help of Laguna, they restrained Squall from pounding the Man to an inch of his life.

"Squall get a hold of yourself!" Cid shouted, who was now by Seifer's side.

He couldn't though. The anger he felt at the world was pressing him on to the point of insanity. If he could just connect one blow he felt he could release the pent up anger that was killing him inside.

"Squall!" Kyros strained as Squall did everything he could to shake to the two men off of him. Dr. Odine looked up calmly to observe his rage.

"You thinkz hurting me iz a good idea?" His eyebrow rose pretentiously.

It was the best idea Squall had heard of in a long while, actually. Nothing would have pleased him more then to wipe that indifferent look right of his face.

"I cantz change hiz future, but I ztill have a chance at yourz." He said then pointing at Squall's heart berating his own chest. "Takez a good, long, and hardz look at thatz boy down therez. Diz iz your future with out me. With outz me you will becomez that…"

Even with the words ringing true, Squall couldn't find forgiveness in his heart to stop trying to take the man's life.

"Squall, he's right!" Laguna's words pierced deep. "This isn't his fault. So keep it together for Rinoa-!"

Her name was like a lightening bolt in his mind making him able to restrain himself- but barely. Even Kyros didn't fully trust Squall enough to remove his grip from his arms. Squall turned his sights away from the mad man. "I need to find her. Rinoa has no idea where I am-"

A sudden look came over the president's face.

"What?" Squall asked knowing something more had been kept from him.

Kyros gave Laguna a long look and eventually Laguna nodded slowly in agreement that it was time to be more open with his biological heir.

"She showed up at my place when you were… not yourself."

"What?" Squall looked at Kyros who seemed to be on edge. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Honestly, I wanted to wait till you were more… recovered and had more of a game plan. When she showed up on my door step I told her I had no contact with you-"

"-Squall the world thinks you have returned to your post at Garden." Cid took over the conversation. "As far as the world knows, you're in Garden resuming your post as Commander. We've gone to great length to have sightings of you, and even have paperwork released with your signature on it. I can even get pictures of you at your desk to be released if need be. You need to recover at your pace, and we need to get our head wrapped around this thing. Despite what President Lore thinks, I have to respectfully disagree with him. I urge you, as commander. to keep your distance from Ms. Heartilly."

He couldn't believe the world that was surrounding him. His arch rival, once the only one who could offer a real challenge, laid on the floor recovering from a heart attack which in a way was a presentation of what could become of his own future. Not long ago his only worry had been living a mundane life, not knowing that life would be ripping them cruelly apart. He wished he had spent less time worrying about the future and just living in the peaceful moment they had. If given another chance he vowed he wouldn't waste another second not living in the moment with her. Only if Hyne could give him one more chance, he would embrace a mundane life if it meant he could be close to her once more.

Ok, longest chapter yet. Nearly 7,500 words here for you to read and as always I thank anyone who might be reading this. I'm going to dedicate this chapter to Al Rio (a famous comic book artist from brazil) may he rest in peace. Artist like him come inspire many, and he was gone too soon. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm on vacation till Valentine's day so I wouldn't expect anything up till after that. Please R&R. Good or the bad, it's always appreciated.