Chapter 4 – Memories of the Past

It was like the world replayed itself. Except this time, Ayori replaced Squall. Seifer picked her unconscious body up and ran to the Infirmary. Dr. Kadowaki dropped her coffee mug in surprise, letting it smash onto the floor. "Get her on a bed!"

Seifer did as he was told, placing the smaller girl on the bed. The same bed that Squall had been on... Seifer snapped to attention. Now was not the time to think about him. He sat in the nearby chair and watched as Dr. Kadowaki immediately started using Potions on Ayori.

"She's going to be fine then," Seifer concluded. He watched the Potions eat away at her scars. "You don't need me here any longer?"

"No Seifer, it's fine. You can go," Dr. Kadowaki looked up briefly. A flicker of a smile appeared, but then disappeared as she continued. Seifer nodded and left the Infirmary, and stopped in the cafeteria to tell Zell about Ayori. Waiting through his yells, curses, and threats, Seifer watched him run off. He then continued on his normal routine as though nothing had happened.

---

Zell stared at the wall in Ayori's hospital room, thinking. 'I haven't felt this helpless since…'

A young Zell scurried through the hallways of the orphanage, searching for the room Squall was in. Ellone had been gone for a week, and he was as depressed as ever. Zell smiled, remembering that it was April 1st, and cautiously entered Squall's room. He snuck up next to the sleeping boy's bed, and shook him awake.

"Squall, hey Squall!"

"Nnn… What? Zell? Is something wrong?"

Zell swallowed slowly, trying not to smile. "Squall, Seifer died."

"What?" the small boy hissed, eyes growing wide. "No... No!" Squall sat up, grabbing the sides of his head.

"April Fools, Squall! …Squall? Squall, are you okay?"

"No no no no no no…" Tears streamed down the brunette's delicate face, and Zell shook him lightly.

"Squall... hey… Squall! I was… I was kidding, Squall! Squall!" When he didn't get an answer, he took one last look at the boy and ran out into the hallway. "MATRON! MAAAATRON!"

Seifer'd been adopted days earlier, and Matron phoned his adoptive parents to ask if Squall could see him. They agreed quickly, and brought him back later that day. They said they'd be back later on, and left Seifer at the orphanage. Zell watched from the doorway as Seifer entered the room.

"Squall?"

"Nononono…"

"Hey, Squall. Squall it's me, Seifer!"

Squall stopped. Literally, he froze. He didn't even breathe. Zell would never forget what happened next…

"Oh Hyne! SEIFER!" Squall had launched himself at the taller blonde, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and shaking. He started sobbing, and Seifer rubbed his back, letting him cry.

Zell had left then, not wanting to spy on them. Eventually Squall calmed down, and for the first time in hours, he came out of his room. Squall didn't leave Seifer's side the entire day, and started crying again when Seifer told him he couldn't stay.

"I gotta go, Squall," Seifer shrugged. "I have a family now."

Matron told Squall to be strong, and to be happy for Seifer. Squall didn't cry anymore, and they all waited for Seifer's parents to return for him. But they never came. Seifer had been heartbroken, and Squall had been there when he'd needed to lash out.

"This is YOUR FAULT! If I hadn't come back they wouldn't have left me here! I HATE YOU!" Seifer stormed off, leaving Squall on the steps at the front of the orphanage. He sat there for hours, and nobody had approached him or Seifer for the rest of the day. Not even Matron.

Zell sighed, closing his eyes. Things between Seifer and Squall had never been the same since then. Although Seifer had said he didn't blame Squall, neither of them ever worked it out. And he couldn't do anything to help them. Just like he couldn't do anything now. Zell frowned and settled back in his chair, preparing himself for what was shaping up to be a long wait.

---

Squall growled, marching through the hall with a determination in his eyes that hadn't been seen since before the defeat of Ultimecia. There was a fire burning behind those normally dull gray eyes, and all that saw him in the hallway were quick to move out of the way. No one felt like dealing with an ornery headmaster. Especially when the headmaster was equipped with a gunblade.

More than once he had almost calmed himself and stopped his patrol of the halls. But then he'd hear it: the taunting, baritone laugh of his childhood rival. He would see that cruel smirk as Seifer eyed him as if HE were the lesser one. As if HE were the one that couldn't even become a SeeD, instead of being the headmaster of Garden. Squall told himself that the smirk did nothing to determine his actions anymore. It didn't quite matter what he told himself; that didn't change the fact that he still did. He doubted himself because of that smirk, those taunting blue eyes, and that cocky stance. He let himself because he'd almost lost him, and he vowed never to let it happen again.

He knew there were rumors flying around about he and the former Sorceress' Knight; he didn't really care about them. Everything that they said was wrong anyway. They were not lovers, they did not have a secret affair going on. Squall had just finally realized that Seifer was the closest thing to a best friend he'd ever have. Zell was a great guy, but he just wasn't Seifer. Squall needed his insults and his challenges to function properly, and without him he'd ended up falling in love and almost killing the person that had taken care of them since childhood.

Once he'd seen his rival again, his mission seemed to clear up and everything fit into place. Squall hated surprises more than anything. The girl, Ayori, had been a surprise. He admitted that he didn't outright hate her at first sight, but there was something about her that made him cautious. It could have been her uncanny resemblance to himself, but he dismissed that easily. She had red hair; he had brown. She had blue eyes; he had gray. There were too many differences for him to dwell on it. He had also entered the Training Center and was working down his anger. He didn't want to kill his best friend, now did he?

"Leonhart." The noise of a gunblade being triggered followed, along with a gut-wrenching scream from what had been a monster and was currently a puddle of organs and sticky green liquid. Seifer stood in front of the kill, eyeing him evenly. He didn't cower like the other students when coming face-to-face with the headmaster. Squall appreciated that more than Seifer would ever know.

"I hear it got a little rough in training today. Tell me, Seifer, why is our newest student currently in the Infirmary with potions healing her left arm while unconscious?"

His inquiry was met with a shrug and Seifer wiped his gunblade with a cloth to clear it of marks and gore. "How the hell should I know, Leonhart?"

Squall arched a thin, brown eyebrow. "Aren't you the one she was training with?"

A swipe with the cloth. "Yup."

"Then shouldn't you know?"

Another swipe and a frown. "Nope."

"And why the hell not?" Squall was beginning to get impatient with the blonde's one-word answers.

Seifer glanced up at him, eyes narrowed. "I was fucking SLEEPING, Squall. Do you know how goddamned humiliating it is to fall asleep in the middle of a battle?"

Squall's eyebrow twitched and he forced his anger down. He would ignore Seifer's tone; just because he was headmaster didn't mean he wanted respect every second of every day. And he let Seifer get away with it because, somewhere deep down, he enjoyed being equal and missed being a regular student. "I can't issue you a Guardian Force, Seifer. I'm sorry. You know the probation..."

"Fuck the goddamned probation! Squall, you know me better than anybody. I didn't ditch her like everybody says. I don't plan on telling anybody what really happened, but if the kid wants to, she can go ahead. I don't care. She ripped the fucking T-Rexaur to shreds; she deserves the credit for it."

Squall's brow furrowed. "What?"

Seifer smirked. "It was interesting, really. I thought newbies weren't allowed Guardian Forces?"

"They aren't," Squall replied, shaking his head.

Seifer blinked in surprise. "Well, that's interesting. It helps explain why I couldn't recognize the GF, though…" Seifer trailed off, lost in thought.

Squall chewed the inside of his lip. He could almost see the wheels turning in the blonde's head as he was crouched behind his gunblade. "Seifer." Said boy glanced up at him, regarding him distractedly. "I think you should tell me EXACTLY what happened." Seifer's eyes narrowed, before his face calmed and the two stared at each other for a moment.

"I think you should get your head out of your ass!" Seifer hollered suddenly, glaring into the stormy eyes of the Headmaster. He stood and sliced through the air forcefully with his right arm. "I think you should stop and actually CONSIDER the things that you say, Squall! You knew that by sending her in here with me that I wouldn't have any means of protecting her. You KNEW that! Are you TRYING to humiliate me? Because I have to say, you're doing a pretty bang-up job! If that kid died, it would be my fault! Not yours. It wouldn't be your fault because you left me in charge, even though you knew I had no protection against elementals or spells. You just don't get it at all."

Seifer shook his head, walking forward and brushing past his shorter rival. He disappeared through the doors of the Training Centre, leaving Squall staring after him in shock.

"I… knew. I knew that he was helpless. How could I not have realized…" Squall trailed off, dumbfounded. He shook his head. Having people obeying him so often had given him an attitude, expectancy that his orders would be followed to the letter with no questions asked. Squall smirked; it was ironic. "Even when you're doing everything you can not to be helpful, you end up helping me in the end, Almasy. Thanks," he murmured, taking one last look around the massacre within the Training Centre before walking through the airlock door.