Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8...

Note: I skipped some of the other battles 'cause, well that really isn't very exciting! Now he's fighting Seifer!

~ Chapter 2: What I Earn, It's Not What I Deserve ~

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"Good job, Leonhart." Seifer said with a dark, evil smile as he walked past Squall, blade dragging across the dirt. "But now you won't be so lucky facing me." Seifer said with a stoic face. His face had changed abruptly. Was he hiding something? Squall just decided to forget about it.

"I think that luck you boast of is hanging by the last of its thread." Squall told him with a smirk. Squall poised himself, ready for battle as did Seifer.

"C'mon guys! I hope it hasn't started all ready!" Selphie called, running forward. The rest of the gang followed her closely.

"Don't worry Selphie! Even without us, I'm sure Squall will be fine!" Zell called after her.

"I just don't want to miss a second of it though!" She called back, racing out where a group of people were gathered in a large circle around two people.

"Seifer, prepare to lose, badly!" Squall threatened.

'I know.' Seifer mouthed sincerely. Squall looked at him questionably and continued to do so until a girl with brunette hair that fell down just passed her shoulders walked between them.

"Princess, please do us the honor of starting our battle." Seifer asked patiently to the 'Princess'.

"Of course, Seifer." She said with a warm smile. "Are you ready, Squall?" She asked with a kind smile.

'How did she know me name?' Squall thought, a tad bit scared. She continued to stare at him, her smile gone and in its place a strange look directed to him. "Oh! I'm sorry!" Squall apologized, a tiny blush printed on his cheeks. "I'm ready." He answered, prepping himself once more.

"Good." the Princess said, flashing a smile to him. She stepped back a few feet. "Good luck to you both!" She called out, looking to each one individually. "BEGIN!!" She called out as loud as she could.

"BEGIN!!" came a voice as the gang continued to run closer to the ring of people.

"Crap!" Selphie called out as she began to sprint towards the match, gang still close behind her. Selphie finally reached her destination and pushed several people out of the way for her and everyone else. She stared on as the two figures charged to each other, blades extended offensively. Selphie squinted her eyes hard at the two rushing opponents. It was Squall and Seifer!

"Squall made it to the finals!" Selphie cried happily, jumping for joy. Everyone else smiled and took a mental note to congratulate Squall, regardless if he was to win or not.

Squall threw his blade into Seifer's. Seifer's hands tightened around the blade then slowly began to lose their grip.

"Leonhart.." Seifer whispered under his breath. Squall pulled his attention to Seifer, still pushing his blade into his. "I don't want to fight..." Seifer whispered once more, his lips not even moving as he spoke to Squall. "Take care of her..." Seifer trailed off as his grip on the hilt completely escaped him and the blade went flying, finally landing a good ten feet away from them.

"Seifer.." Squall whispered, surprised at his action. Seifer looked angry at Squall, then stormed away. "What the hell..." Squall whispered as the crowd became dead silent. Rinoa threw her face into her hands and began to cry silent tears as Seifer approached her.

"GO SQUALL!!" Someone screamed from the dead silence. Squall still stood there in shock at the fact his 'rival' had just practically forfeited the match. Everyone remained silent except for the girl with the high pitched voice screaming her head off. Squall couldn't figure out why everyone was so silent. The 'Princess' stepped forward, out of the large circle of men. She walked a few feet towards Squall and the men all dropped to rest on one knee, heads hung with respect. The 'Princess' was just a few in front of Squall until she stopped as Seifer stood in her way. Seifer slipped a ring with a red rose signet off of his ring finger and held it out to Squall. Squall just looked at it questionably.

"Take it." Seifer commanded, a stern look on his face. Squall slowly took the ring from his hand. "Put it on." Seifer once again commanded him. Squall gave Seifer a strange look but slipped the ring on anyways. The men stood up and began to clap until the 'Princess' stepped for Squall. the Princess held her head low as Seifer placed a hang on her shoulder.

"Here is your prize." Seifer told him with a stoic face.

Squall looked around questionably. "Where?" He asked.

"She is your fiancée. Who ever wins the dueling games wins the 'Red Rose' ring which signifies your relation with the Princess of Sword." Seifer answered as he pushed the Princess forward lightly.

"FIANCÉE!!??" Squall screamed as loud as he could, getting awkward stares from the men. The gang's mouths dropped open.

"Fiancée???" Quistis asked, almost appalled.

"It's nice to meet you." The Princess said with a sweet smile. Squall just stared on, dumbfounded.

"Aren't you going introduce yourself?" Seifer asked, an annoyed look on his face.

Squall took a deep gulp, almost as if he had just swallowed all of this information in. "Nice to meet you to Princess." Squall said as politely as he could, still shook up by it all. "My name is Squall Leonhart." Squall told her, trying to get his body to come down as much as possible. The Princess just smiled sweetly as everyone around them cheered, except for the gang as they were all to shocked to convey any other emotion.

The soon to be wed couple walked down the halls of Garden as passer bys gave them awkward stares, wondering why this quiet girl was with everyone's crush, Squall.

"So..." Squall began, not to sure of himself. "What's your name?" Squall asked.

"I'm surprised you're speaking to me, you seemed so shocked before." She reminded him as she looked up to him.

"Well, let's just say I understand everything now." Squall told her with a smile.

"Okay." Was all Rinoa said as she looked back ahead of her.

"But, you still need to answer my question." Squall reminded her.

"Oh! Of course! My name is Rinoa, Rinoa Heartilly." She told him with a proud smile.

"That's a pretty name." Squall commented. Rinoa blushed furiously with a small smile on her face. Desperate for something to take the attention off of her for the moment she looked to her watch. She held her wrist up and looked to the time. "Wow!" Exclaimed Squall as he lightly grabbed her wrist. "That's a cool watch!" He exclaimed again. The watch was in the formation of a pink rose and its hands were twisty, thorny, branches.

"Thank you." She said as she looked to the watch's details, after a few seconds of her gawking over her own watch she finally remembered what she looked to the watch for. "Oh! I'm sorry I'm going to have be leaving you for a few hours." She said apologetically.

"Huh? Why?" Squall asked, liking the 'talk' they were having at the moment.

"I tend to the Garden's roses." She told him as she began to walk off in the opposite direction of him.

"Hey! Wait!" Squall called, she turned to him as he ran up towards her. "Can I come with you?" He asked.

"Sure, I guess." Rinoa said, looking at him questioningly. "But all I'm gonna do is water them." She told him.

"That's alright, I don't mind. Unless, you mind." Squall said, down casting his eyes to the floor.

"I don't mind at all." Rinoa told him lightly touching his arm. "Follow me." Rinoa said with a wave of her hand.

"How can Squall be so calm?" Zell exclaimed as the gang watched the two from a distance.

"I have NO idea!" Irvine exclaimed. "The man's getting married!" He said dumbfounded. "Uh ho! What will his fan club think!?" Irvine exclaimed quite loudly, becoming frightened.

"Relax Irvine!" Selphie shouted, calming him down. "Squall, will figure all this out! He's a smart boy!" Selphie said with a smile, reminding them of his of abilities.

"You're right, Selphie! He'll figure this out!" Quistis exclaimed, hope beaming through her voice.

"Or maybe he just wants to settle down." Selphie added quietly, but everyone heard.

"WHAT!?!? My man Squall doesn't want to settle!" Irvine exclaimed, infuriated at Selphie who would dare think such things.

"Squall has better things to do than settle down! Like, dating other girls from his fan club!" Zell exclaimed.

"Only you'd want to do that, Zell." Quistis reminded him with a slight glare.

"I know..." Zell said in a defeated manner.

"Everything will turn out for the best, I know it!" Selphie told everyone with a happy smile. Everyone sighed, but agreed with her anyway.

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A/n: Well! Ta da! The second chapter!! Next chapter should be up in about a weeks time or some time around there.

P.S. Squall and Rinoa's marriage thing isn't the only problem in this story, they'll face other problems so this story isn't very straight forward... Just to let you know...