"I believe in second chances. That's the only reason you're back at Balamb Garden, Seifer Almasy. However, what you did was unforgivable. My mercy for you is at its end. Step one inch out of line, and you're out of here. I am also not going to punish anyone who makes any rude comments to you. This all the mercy I can force my self to give you, Seifer. I make no promise you'll have a place or any friends here at Balamb Garden any longer."

And naturally, Cid was right. He didn't belong anywhere at Balamb, nor did he have any friends. Fuijin and Raijin refused to speak to him after the Ultemecia incident. Even Rinoa wouldn't spare him the time of day.

No one spoke to him unless it was to tell him to get out of the way, or to tell him off. The teachers never called on him in class. His name was only spoken in a tone used to describe the worst of society, or unless it was followed by a couple of curses.

And, in all honesty, he wasn't sure how much more he could take. Each and every day he came closer and closer to losing it...

And one day he almost did.

~//~

Chapter One: An Unlikely Savior

He stood in a secluded corner of the training center, late at night, a firm grip on his gunblade. His tired eyes warily searched the training center for any form of life, and much to his satisfaction saw none.

This is it...the only alternative to this is living through the shit they put me through...there's nothing left me for...it won't hurt much, it won't hurt much....

After weeks of consideration, he had finally decided to carry through with his original, secret plan.

They'll find me here tomorrow morning, dead...Will Fuijin and Raijin care? Will Rinoa care? Will anyone care? Will they just leave me here anyways, alone in my own death? He slowly shook his head. Doesn't matter anyway...I won't be around to deal with it.

He frowned, carefully positioning his gunblade.

One shot....

But suddenly it clattered to the ground. He hadn't lost grip on it...he frantically stared around, trying to find the monster that had knocked his weapon from his hands. He had caught sight of it in a slight moment, purple and green and seemingly metallic...It must have had perfect accuracy too...

"S-Seifer?!"

How peculiar it was, to hear his name without the typical stream of curses following it. Or, really, even to hear his name spoken in such a sweet, yet hesitant, voice.

Speaking of the voice, he didn't recognize it either. It wasn't Rinoa, he knew that. Rinoa wouldn't even speak to him anymore, regarding him only with disappointed eyes...

He jumped, startled, feeling a hand on his shoulder. The person jumped as well.

"U-um..." she stuttered, seeming at a loss for words.

Well, he thought to himself, this is certainly a surprise. He stared at Selphie Tilmitt, quite shocked. She held her nunchuku tightly, dressed in her school uniform. She seemed quite pale and tired, but that could easily be blamed on the fight with Ultemecia. All of the six who faced her in her final phase always seemed so tired...

It was strange to think about it, but had he encountered Selphie Tilmitt like this about two years ago, he would have been completely rude to her. Or had he encountered her last year...who knows what he would have done...

But after Ultemecia...he frowned. He had changed, and he had changed for the better. But no one even cared to know...

"W-what were you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"What did it look like?" he replied calmly and coolly. What else was he supposed to do or say? Nothing made sense anymore...

"W-why would you do such an awful thing?! There's--there's always hope!!" She was so obviously horrified...

"Not for me," Seifer shrugged. And it was true...no one had any hope left to place in him. He was a failure to society...

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Maybe she was tired. It was, after all, nearing two in the morning. Her grip on her nunchuku tightened, as if squeezing that thing would inspire her to say something.

"W-why though, Seifer? W-why?"

Isn't it obvious?

"You deal with it for a year, Tilmitt. You're the first person who's even spoken to me civilly since...well, a long time."

"B-but that's no r-reason t-to do such an awful thing!"

"Oh, please...you don't understand. Go talk to Irvine or something."

She went pale, even paler than she already was. Obviously, without even meaning to, he'd hit her hard. Seeing the sad, miserable expression in her eyes, for some reason, made him want to take back every harsh thing he'd ever said to her...though the exact reason for this feeling was completely oblivious to him...

"I didn't mean nothin' by it, Tilmitt..."

"I know. You didn't know, and I know that. I'm not gonna hold it against you..."

She still looked sick, though, as her eyes traveled from him, to his gunblade, and back to him.

"What?" he replied, slightly annoyed. "I'm not gonna 'Fire-cross' you or anything..."

"Actually, I'm more afraid of you fire-crossing yourself..." she frowned, paused, and a half smile crossed her face. "Y'know what I think?"

"Do I look like I can read minds?" he asked honestly.

"I think that since Headmaster Cid gave you a second chance, you should give life a second chance."

He blinked a few times in surprise, staring at the completely serious for once girl.

"What would change?" Seifer sighed.

"Well, um, you'd make friends. And in turn, you'd be happier. Kinda like you were before, I guess. I didn't really know ya before, but you were obviously happier than you are now. And then, you'd realize how truly wonderful life really is..."

"One problem with your 'perfect dream world', Tilmitt. How the heck would I make friends?" he frowned seriously. Was this girl clueless? Was the completely blind to the fact that everyone in the entire school hated him?

"Well, I'll be your friend!" she beamed.

Well, Selphie wasn't exactly his choice of a best friend, but he really, really wanted an alternative to suicide...and at the moment, being 'friends' with her seemed to be the best alternative. But still...

"Why don't you hate me? You fought me...you saw all the awful stuff I did in person...don't you hate me too?"

Selphie quickly shook her head 'no'.

"I don't hate you, Seifer...at one time, maybe, I thought I did, but then I started seein' the truth in life...I don't hate you, Seifer. I don't know what made you wanna be a sorceress's knight, but you ended up getting manipulated by Sorceress Ultemecia, which I doubt was in your original plan. So I forgive you, at the very least."

Forgiveness...wasn't that really what he wanted all along?

"I'm serious, Seifer!! You need someone to talk to, and I'm gonna be there for you! I'll meet you tomorrow at lunch, and we'll start your counseling sessions!"

Wait, counseling sessions?! Wait a second, what the--

"You'd better be there. I trust you. I know you'll be there. So I'll see you then."

Nunchuku in hand, she walked off.

~//~

a/n: I own nothing but the storyline.  There is no chapter fourteen….it's just blank…I read about fanfiction.net's new rule of making sure we don't do an entire chapter on disclaiming something, which I had done, so I moved my disclaimer to here (squaresoft and yoko ishida get all my credits) because I couldn't figure out how to delete a chapter.  If you work for ff.net and you're mad at me for having a blank chapter fourteen and whatnot, I'm incredibly sorry and if you tell me how to delete my disclaming chapter, I'll be more than happy to.  ~Xifa~