25.
In Which Everything Isn't as Ended as Previously Implied
Young, eager faces stared up at the podium with varying degrees of awe and hero-worship, practically radiating all the innocence and immaturity of their age. It made Squall's skin crawl.
"Hey, Princess, check it out," Seifer whispered with an elbow to Squall's ribs. Squall shot him a warning look that Seifer blithely ignored. "Third row, seventh from the left. See anyone familiar?"
With Quistis giving the usual start-of-the-year speech at the podium dominating the front of the stage, partially hiding the Garden faculty sitting in a line along the back, Squall risked leaning to the side. The kid that Seifer had singled out was smaller than the other recruits with a pointy chin and hair that made Squall wonder if one of the chocobos had escaped the stables again. To his left was a boy with hair colored the kind of pale that Squall hadn't seen in nearly twenty years.
"Shit," he exhaled.
As he watched, a third kid, the lanky boy on the other side of the first one, grinned at something Quistis said and nudged the first kid, nearly knocking him right over. One more chair down the line was a girl of the same age, idly playing with her braid and smiling at the furious whispers going on beside her. Suddenly she was looking straight up at Squall and pinning him in place with vividly green eyes that reminded him of yellow flowers and endless white horizons. The magic under his skin shivered.
"What do you think, Squall?" Seifer asked quietly, half amused, half serious.
"...I think this year will be interesting."
end.
Author's notes:
Yes, this turned into reincarnation fic, ahaha, fuckin shoot me.
Imperfect Tense was started about ten years ago back in high school around the same time as Eir's Tomorrow, obviously inspired by Konitsu's Bandages. This one was magnitudes easier to rewrite and finish, however, because it's comparatively much less serious and is basically a loose parody of itself. All my love to arinrowan, who bribed me with pretty things, and to fateofshadow/celtichobbit, who is one of the loveliest people I know.
Jsyk, I originally wrote this just because I wanted Sorcerer!Squall. That's it, that's the story.
From now on I don't plan on posting on FFN anymore. I post under the same name, jukeboxhound, on AO3 and tumblr, so if you ever want to contact me it should be done via one of those sites.