Squall and Seifer sat across from each other, just outside the garden gate. The gate guard's face was like stone, no matter how many attempts Squall made to read something from it. They sat in silence for ten long minutes, wondering who was looking for them. All the while, Seifer squinted through the gate, trying to catch sight of anyone at a distance. He gulped, and Squall looked up. At the far end of the courtyard, they could see the solemn, robe-clad guards accompanying Headmaster Cid, and Quistis following on their heels. Squall shifted uncomfortably, and finally Cid got to the gate. He too had a solemn look on his face, and Squall felt as if he could cut the tension with his gunblade. The guards stepped aside, the gate opened, and Cid strode through.

"A good morning to you both."

"Sir," Squall and Seifer said simultaneously.

"You were absent from role call, this morning, and I'm sure you're pretty hungry as well."

"Sorry sir, we-" Seifer began, but Cid lifted his hand, cutting him off.

"I don't know where you went, but my only hope is that you did something worthwhile with your time."

Squall stood.

"Permission to speak, sir."

"Dispense with the formalities, Squall."

"I...we went down to the beach to train."

Seifer swallowed, noticing the conspicuous lack of gunblades with each of them. Cid noticed it too.

"Without your gunblades?"

"We can't always have them, sir. I don't want to be helpless without it."

Finally, Cid's expression broke into a smile. Seifer let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

"That's the spirit, boys. If only we had more trainees like you two, we could beat any Garden."

He reached into his pocket and withdrew some passes.

"Here. These will get you into the cafeteria for some breakfast, and these will get you into the Fire Cave. I think it's about time you both got opportunities."

He turned and walked off, and Quistis winked at them before she turned as well, walking back towards the garden. Seifer grinned at Squall, and they went to the cafeteria.

*****************

Coffee in hand, breakfast burrito in the other, Squall made his way back to the table where Seifer was working furiously on a stack of pancakes. They ate in silence, except for the occasional loud slurp coming from Squall, who refused to wait for his coffee to cool down. They split up afterwards, heading to their dorms to get ready.

Back in his dorm, Squall narrowly avoided having to explain everything to Zell. Zell's eyes questioned several times, but Squall avoided his gaze. He took a long shower, dressed, and grabbed his Gunblade. As he walked out into the hall, he saw Seifer making some last minute adjustments to his hair with a pocket mirror. Squall snuck up behind him and ruffled his hair.

"You bastard," Seifer said, annoyed.

"Do you think Ifrit's gonna care if your hair looks good?"

"Would you care?"

"Yes, but that's me. Of course, if I was an elemental beast, I might see things a little differently."

"Aw, hell. Let's just go."

Seifer grabbed his gunblade, which was leaning against the railing, and they walked towards the gate. The guard nodded, barely, as he opened it. They headed through into the open fields, and headed towards the Fire cavern.

The hike took them about half an hour, and they did it mostly in silence, except for the occasional shared joke. They arrived at the Fire Cavern, and were greeted by the solemn guards, spears crossed over the entrance.

"YOU CAN'T PASS," one of them said in a monotonous voice.

"We have permission from Headmaster Cid," Squall said calmly.

He withdrew his pass from his pocket, and Seifer did the same. The two guards uncrossed their spears and Squall and Seifer both held their gunblades at ready, and entered the cavern. Almost as soon as they did, two fire creatures attacked them. Seifer ducked and swung his gunblade around, batting one creature into the other, causing them both to detonate. The blast knocked a bit of shrapnel around, and after dusting themselves off, they continued on. The cavern radiated with heat, and finally it got so bad that Seifer removed his trenchcoat and threw it over his shoulder. Squall did the same, tying his jacket around his waist.

Something flew past them, and they almost ignored it because of the breeze it created, but Squall turned around just as the creature was bringing it's gnarled beak towards his neck. He brought up his gunblade, swatting the bird aside. The creature tried to pull up, but crashed haphazardly into the stone ground. Squall kicked the carcass aside, and they walked on, soon reaching the end of the cavern.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Seifer asked.

Squall was thinking it over as the lava around the path bubbled. They heard a splash, and two long horns, followed by a lion-like head and a monstrous body emerged.

"WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?" Ifrit boomed.

Squall and Seifer both held their gunblades at ready. Seifer winked at Squall out of the corner of his eye, and rushed forward. He swung his gunblade up, but Ifrit simply swatted it aside. Squall gulped. Seifer, temporarily stunned from the shock, didn't notice Ifrit's other hand coming back at him. Squall ran, knocked Seifer down, and took the hit. The giant hand knocked him across the room into a pillar of stone. Seifer screamed in pain; he had cut his leg on a sharp rock when Squall had knocked him down. Ifrit surveyed his challengers - one slumped against a pillar, and one incapacitated - and submerged himself underneath the lava. Squall came quickly to his senses, picked up his gunblade and walked over to Seifer. He could see that Ifrit was gone, and kicked a rock into the lava in anger.

"Dammit! We could've had him. Now we have to wait another three months to test for it."

He stooped over and helped Seifer to his feet, grabbing his gunblade as well. Seifer tried to walk on his leg, but couldn't, and Squall threw his arm over Seifer's shoulder and they walked back to the entrance of the cavern. He couldn't see the expression on his face, but Squall was sure that Seifer was just as upset about the whole thing as he was. It was supposed to be their big opportunity, and they had failed so miserably. As they came out of the cave, one of the guards radioed in, and shortly, a car arrived. Quistis and one of the younger nurses got out, and immediately began bandaging Seifer's wound. Squall collapsed into the car, and the nurse helped Seifer into the opposite end.

The ride back was completely silent, despite Quistis' attempts to break the tension. Squall and Seifer barely acknowledged each other's presense. When they arrived at the Garden, the nurse helped Seifer to the medical center. Squall tried to help as well, but Seifer threw his hand aside, as Quistis looked on.

"Squall, are you okay?" she pried.

"Fine. Just fine," Squall replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He walked towards his dorm without a look back.