.

(A Need for Discipline)

Rinoa stepped out of the infirmary, she was unpleasantly surprised to see Squall approaching. "Oh...no." She said under her breath. "Squall," she rushed to meet him, "where are you going?" She couldn't let him see Seifer yet.

"I'm going to ask Dr. Kadowaki if she's seen Seifer." Squall said walking past her.

"Seifer isn't here," Rinoa stepped in front of him, "she hasn't seen him."

"How do you know?"

"Because I was just talking to her and she didn't say anything." She smiled, Squall walked around her, he was now at the entrance. She quickly stepped in front of him again. "How did Seifer get in?" She asked attempting to stop him from going inside.

"Why don't you want me to go in there?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Rinoa smiled again.

"Is Seifer in there?"

"No!"

"Yes." Came Seifer's voice from behind Rinoa, startling her.

Just wonderful, Rinoa thought, he had just succeeded in making her look incredibly bad. There was silence for a few moments, Seifer and Squall seemed to be involved in a staring contest, neither moved his gaze away.

"Seifer came to help us." Rinoa finally said.

"We don't need his help." Squall said keeping his eyes on Seifer.

"You need me more than you think, Mr. Leader," Seifer said coldly.

"He came to warn us about Elise," Rinoa said.

"What?" Squall turned to Rinoa. "What do you mean? She already told me everything."

"What did she tell you?" Seifer demanded.

"That you came to kill her because you were jealous."

"That's ridiculous, she's the one who nearly killed me!" Seifer pointed to his own chest.

"Please you guys," Rinoa said, "calm down. Squall, please listen to what Seifer has to say."

"Why are you defending him, Rinoa?"

"I'm not!"

"Seifer, you are coming with me." Squall said walking toward him.

"Make me, I ain't goin' anywhere with you!"

"You will be staying in the disciplinary room while I make the arrangements."

"I will not! And what arrangements are you blabbering about?"

"The arrangements to take you to the D-District Prison." Squall said menacingly.

"On what charge?" Seifer asked outraged.

"Conspiracy, war crimes, treason-"

"I was cleared of all that."

"Here's some news you may find interesting," Squall said turning to Rinoa, "let's see if you still want to defend him after you hear this," he turned to face Seifer. "He was never under Ultimicia's influence."

"Shut up, Leader Boy! You know damn well that's not true!"

"Don't lie, Seifer, you always knew what you were doing!"

"Squall stop, please," Rinoa begged.

"Why should I stop? I'm only telling the truth."

"I'm warning you to shut the hell up." Seifer's voice took on a dangerous tone.

"You would like me to do that, wouldn't you? You don't want me to tell people the truth, you don't want me to tell them that when your plans got ruined you lied because you're nothing but a COWARD!"

Without warning, Seifer punched Squall in the face forcing him back a few steps. Seifer knew that he was many things, but a coward was not one of them.

Squall launched himself at Seifer knocking him to the ground, he punched him in the face causing his lip to bleed.

"Stop it!" Rinoa tried to pull Squall away from Seifer, but to no avail.

Hearing the commotion Dr. Kadowaki came out of her office. "Squall what's wrong with you!" She said when she saw him wrestling with Seifer on the ground.

"Doctor, help me separate them!" Rinoa said.

Dr. Kadowaki spotted Zell and another student walking by the infirmary. "Zell, Help us!"

Zell and his companion rushed to the scene. "Squall?" He asked surprised when he saw Squall on the ground hitting someone. With the help of the other student, Zell succeeded in pulling Squall away.

"Let me go!" Squall tried to squirm away. A crowd began to form around them.

"YOU!" Zell yelled when he saw who Squall had been fighting with. He dove at Seifer knocking him to the ground once again. Seifer managed to hit Zell in the face, Zell proceeded to hit him back.

Irvine was walking back from the Disciplinary Room. He had gone to visit Selphie but didn't stay long, he had quickly grown tired of Selphie's conversation. All she would talk about was what a horrible leader Squall was. He decided to visit her when she had cooled down a little.

"Hey!" Irvine heard a student call to another. "There's a fight at the Infirmary! It's between Zell, Squall and Seifer!" He said excitedly.

"Cool!" The other responded. "Let's go see!"

When Irvine reached the Infirmary, he saw two SeeDs holding Squall back and a student trying to separate Zell and Seifer. He rushed over to help the student, with Irvine's help they were finally able to pull Zell back.

"LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARD!" Zell yelled pulling away from them. He stared at Irvine, anger burning in his blue eyes. Without warning he hit him.

Meanwhile, Squall squirmed away from the two SeeDs and proceeded to fight with Seifer once more. Zell and Irvine were also busy exchanging blows.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Boomed Cid's voice. There was instant silence. Seifer was about to punch Squall again, but stopped himself and turned his eyes to the Headmaster. Zell had Irvine pinned against the wall, they too turned to look at Cid. "The four of you! To the Disciplinary Room!"

Silence.

"NOW!" They all hesitantly followed Cid.

Cid Kramer paced back and forth in front of the two cells in the Disciplinary Room. He and Xu had separated the guilty party into two groups. It had taken them several minutes to figure out the correct combination of people to put in the cells. They found that Zell could not be within fifty feet of Irvine without trying to hit him. He also couldn't be in the same cell as Seifer for obvious reasons. Seifer and Squall was another pair they could not afford to put in the same cell.

Cid and Xu decided to put Seifer, Irvine and Selphie, who had been taken there earlier under Squall's orders along with Quistis, in one cell and Squall, Zell and Quistis in the other. Quistis was extremely unhappy to be in the same cell with Squall, but she had no choice. They had quickly found that putting Selphie and Squall together was not a good idea, to say the least. Selphie repeatedly challenged Squall to a fight and had tried to hit him twice.

Cid finally stopped pacing and faced the two cells. He looked from one guilty face to the next, shook his head and finally said:

"I can honestly say that I have never been more disappointed in all my life. Four of my best SeeDs." They all looked down. "My commander for Heaven's sake!" Squall shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Squall," Cid continued, "I know I don't even have to say how disappointed in you I am. This is your first and last warning, any more trouble from you and you will be stripped of your title." Squall's face was expressionless, what could he say to that?

"Zell and Irvine, other than Squall you are the last people I expected this from. In all the years you have been here Zell, you have never given me any trouble, and now twice in two days!" Zell turned to face the wall.

"I haven't known you for very long, Irvine, but I always saw in you a model student, and you have proved me wrong." Irvine opened his mouth to say that he had merely defended himself but thought that now was not the best time to do that.

"Seifer, I always thought that when you came back it would be to join our Garden once again, not to start fights and make trouble. And to make matters worse, you forced your way in! We found the unconscious gate guard, he's in the Infirmary now."

Seifer looked down, he knew he had done wrong. He never thought that Cid would want him to come back, but from what he'd just heard it sounded like he did. But with the things he had just done, would he still welcome him?

"And to add to my disappointment, Quistis and Selphie, disobeying and publicly humiliating their leader!"

"He asked for it!" Selphie said louder than she had intended.

"I did not give you permission to speak!" Cid yelled. "Why are you all behaving this way?"

"Elise must have something to do with this," Seifer concluded.

"Don't blame her for your actions!" Squall defended Elise.

"If you knew who she really is—"

"Shut the hell up, Almasy!" Zell interrupted.

"Make me, Chicken Wuss!"

"SILENCE!" All eyes turned to Cid once again. They way they were behaving in front of the headmaster surprised even them. "If you all insist on behaving like children, I will treat you as such!" He lowered his voice. "You will stay here and think about what you've done." He turned to Xu, who had kept quiet all this time. "Go find whoever is supposed to guard the Disciplinary Room today."

"Yes, Sir." Xu saluted him then quickly walked out.

Cid turned to the two cells again. "I will come back later today, and I will demand an explanation, individually from each of you." He made his way to the door, then turned around. "Make it a good explanation."