Disclaimer: I don't own Squaresoft or Final Fantasy 8... yet. If I get enough

positive reviews I'll continue the story.

It was a beautiful day near the city of Balamb, the sun was shining and the

water was cool and clear, but one man was not enjoying this scenery at all. This

man wasn't well known to the people of Balamb but those that lived in nearby

Balamb Garden knew him all too well. This young man was of course Seifer Almasy,

the SeeD cadet turned knight turned rebel that had released the Sorceress Adel

and caused indescribable pain to many that had been close to him.

This man... this proud warrior... after evading SeeD had ran to Deling

City along with his dearest friends Fuujin and Raijin. He had been out going for

a walk when a few soldiers had happened to recognize him and attacked him

immediately, he had foolishly left his gunblade Hyperion behind and he had paid

for it dearly. The soldiers had taken him down with relative ease... or so they

had claimed. It had taken five of them to take him down, one had a broken arm,

another had a broken nose, and all of them had their fair share of bruises. He

had been handcuffed and brought to General Caraway who, with an extremely

satisfied grin, sent him back to Balamb Garden saying that it was "Garden's

business."

Garden business my ass, he thought to himself, the bastard just wants to give me

to them so they can get the honor of killing me. He still hadn't recovered from

the little run-in with the guards; he had several bruises but was no worse for

wear. Getting off the train then with his escort of two Galbadian soldiers he

would be lead to an "official car" that had been sent by Garden to pick him up.

He would try and fight the two guards as they forced him in to the car but he

would be forced in to the back seat while one guard sat next to him and the

other went in to the driver's seat. Soon the car would lurch in to motion and he

was once again on his way to Balamb Garden, only this time he wasn't a young man

full of hopes... he was a broken man preparing for his death.

Cid Kramer considered himself an intelligent man... but he was also

somewhat of a gambler in his younger days. That will to gamble is what was

allowing him to go through with the plan that had been formulating in his mind

when General Caraway had contacted him and told him of Seifer's capture. The old

man had been happy then, finally he would get a chance to speak to Seifer and

maybe help the young man change, he firmly believed that Seifer had been

manipulated from the start and that young man simply needed a second chance. He

had called a meeting that afternoon calling in his most trusted young SeeDs, he

would sit at his desk with a grave expression as Squall, Zell, and Quistis made

their way in to his room, stood in front of his desk and gave their salute. He

would have liked Selphie and Irvine to be there but they both had insisted on

going to Trabia to rebuild, meaning these four were all he had to keep an eye on

Seifer.

"I'm glad your all here," Cid said as he stood up and started to pace in front

of them with his arms behind his back, "I have something important to tell all

of you..." He would continue pacing as he tried to build up the courage to tell

them, he would give a soft sigh, best to just tell them, he thought. "Seifer

Almasy is returning to Garden..." he immediately held up his hand stifling

Zell's loud protest, Squall and Quistis had not been as verbal with Squall's

eyes narrowing and Quistis's widening. "I know you are all troubled by this...

but I think that we can get him to change his ways..." Squall would only snort

in derision and Zell would speak then.

"Headmaster! You can't be serious in letting that psycho back here!" Zell

exclaimed, one couldn't really blame him, after all he had been tormented by

Seifer relentlessly.

"I agree..." Squall said in all seriousness, "he's a danger to Garden and all of

us..." that and he was worried about how he was going to tell this to Rinoa.

"They're both right Headmaster..." Quistis chimed in with her calm voice,

"there's no way he could change." The Headmaster would just nod then.

"I understand your concerns but this is my decision to make... if it makes you

feel better I want you all to be keeping an eye on him... if he tries anything

then I'll send him back to Galbadia and let them worry about him." That seemed

to mollify them to some extent when he said that. "He'll be here soon, until

then I want you all to wait here with me while discuss what I have planned for

reforming him..."

Seifer felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as the gates of Balamb

Garden loomed in to view and he grit his teeth, he really was going back and he

had no way to avoid it. This couldn't be happening... he had evaded death

twice... led an army... and here he was captured like a common criminal and

walking right in to a death sentence, there was no way they would let him live

after all he did. Stopping in the parking lot the guards would step out and try

to drag him out and once again he fought them tooth and nail, there was no way

he was going to die like this. But the guards would just grin and soon Seifer

was on the ground with another bruise to his cheek, which seemed to knock the

fight out of him as he was led towards the office of the Headmaster with his

eyes downcast.

Many of the young students saw him and those that recognized him started

to spread the word all around campus, Seifer Almasy was back.

"Great," he muttered to himself, now everyone was going to know that he was back

on campus. As they rode the elevator to the top he gathered himself up to save

what dignity he could as they reached the top floor and outside of that office

was his old friend Quistis, at seeing his old instructor he felt a pang in his

heart, after all, she had been the one among them that he had disliked the

least. When he saw her he would get a huge arrogant smirk on his face, his voice

was oozing with sarmcasm "Instructor! I'm so glad to see you... how long has it

been? A year? Two years?"

"Not long enough Seifer," Quistis said in a cold voice that really didn't seem

to suit her in his opinion, "and I'm not an Instructor anymore... so stop

calling me that..." The smirk and the sarcasm... usual Seifer she thought.

"Oh of course Instructor... I'm so sorry Instructor... I won't call you

Instructor anymore..." he was getting some satisfaction out of this, if he was

going to die then he was going to insult them as much as he could before that

happened. Quistis would roll her eyes and she would grab him by the collar and

drag him in to the office, he would have cursed her loudly and struggled but he

was still feeling weak. When he was in the office he shot an icy glare at

Squall, Zell, and at Headmaster Cid. The Headmaster would look at him with a

grave expression.

"Ah... Seifer... it is nice to see that you are back... though I wish it oculd

have been under better circumstances..." he wasn't vindictive and seeing one of

the most promising students he had ever seen in handcuffs and bruised was not

something he was glad to see. When he said that Seifer would just chuckle and

when he spoke his voice was icy and filled with hatred.

"Your right Headmaster... I agree... maybe next time you'll be the one in the

handcuffs and I'll be the one deciding your fate..." he would look down at the

ground before once again meeting Cid's eyes with defiance, "and cut this

politeness garbage... I know your going to kill me... probably by torture..." he

smirked at Squall then "just like I tortured Leonhart over there..." he felt

some satisfaction when Squall took a menacing step forward and Cid placed a hand

up making Squall stop in his tracks, Seifer turned and look at Cid once again,

"so just get it over with already..." At that Cid would laugh out loud at what

Seifer had said.

"No Seifer... we're not going to execute you... we're not barbarians," Cid said

in a smooth tone, "no we've got something worse in mind." He would clear his

throat then, "for the damage you have caused to Garden you are going to make

amends... to start... your going to be doing community service here at Garden...

and quite a bit of it I might add." He inwardly grinned at Seifer's wide eyed

expression, he knew that the young man would rather die than have to do

community service.

"You've got to be kidding!" Seifer exclaimed, he didn't notice the satisfied

smirks of the others in the room, "I'd rather take the torture!" He almost ran

at Cid then but Squall took another step forward and stopped in front of the

Headmaster ruining any chances of that happening.

"Yes... I know that... and that's why your going to be doing it... your death

won't change anything but at least now you can do something positive with your

life... and until I decide otherwise your sentence is indefinite... so get

comfortable..." Cid would just stand there waiting patiently while Seifer

yammered out several half completed insults, the young man was so angry he

wasn't sure which insult to use, so it just all came out at once. "Quistis...

show Seifer to his room... and make sure to lock the doors... I don't want

anyone attacking him in the night..." Quistis didn't like being the one that

would have to take Seifer there but orders were orders, saluting she would grab

the still yammering Seifer by the handcuffs and once again forcefully drag him

out to the elevator. He would stand there with a dour expression on his face and

remained silent as he walked with Quistis to the dorms ignoring the continued

wide-eyed stares.

"This will be your room Seifer," Quistis said as she opened the door, it wasn't

anything special, just a bed with blankets and drawers for his clothing. A room

for a servant he mused to himself, he heard a clang then and turned around as

his handcuffs fell to the floor. He immediately started rubbing his wrists then

and looked at Quistis with a puzzled expression, she would cut him off before he

said anything, "I just took them off of you Seifer," and she had hesitated

greatly doing it.

"I can see that..." he said dryly, "what's your angle Quistis?" He figured he

owed her after she took the cuffs off of him, "what's to stop me from running

away right now?" Quistis would just smirk at him.

"There is no angle... I just took them off of you so you could sleep...

besides... even if you do run away all of Garden would be after you... you've

nowhere to go... no one would help you... your stuck." He just grumbled then and

walked in the room and Quistis chuckled, "that and your room can only be opened

by the outside..." The door closed then and he heard it click telling him that

he was stuck in there until his captors decided to let him out. He sighed then

and moved to the bed, he would insult her later, right now sleep seemed very

inviting so he took off his shoes, trenchcoat, and shirt and lay down on the bed

falling asleep before his head had even hit the pillow.

Quistis would return to the office then where Zell and Squall were both

in a heated debate about what to do with Seifer, when she had entered they had

looked at her and fallen silent but soon they would continue the conversation

they had been having with Zell being the first one to speak.

"But Headmaster... what makes you so sure that he'll change?" Sell asked

completely baffled at the way the day had turned out. Cid would answer him

without flinching.

"Because Seifer was being controlled by something and he didn't even realize

it... the least we could do is give him a second chance... we're the closest

thing he had to a family and we turned him away when we may have been able to

help him," Cid couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the way Seifer

had turned out, he always felt that there was something he could have done that

would have made things turn out for the better.

"Seifer is as stubborn as a starving T-Rexaur," Squall said and he did know

about T-Rexaurs, he had several bad experiences with them in his life. That and

he knew what made Seifer tick, the two of them were rivals and they both always

seemed to understand the other. As much as he hated to admit it Squall couldn't

help but understand how Seifer felt, Seifer was a man of pride and to be

degraded was a fate worse than death. Cid nodded again. "I know this Squall...

but even T-Rexaurs give up eventually and I think that deep down... Seifer wants

to come back but is just too proud to admit to it," Cid said with resolution,

Squall was about to speak when Quistis interrupted him.

"I agree with the Headmaster..." Quistis said firmly as they all turned and

stared at her in confusion, "I could see the look on Seifer's face as we walked,

he wants to be here, it's in his eyes." She knew what longing was like; she had

felt it for Squall for a long time, she still felt a pain in her heart when she

saw Squall with him. Squall would look at Quistis and the Headmaster for a

moment before speaking again.

"If Quistis and the Headmaster think it will be fine then I'll agree to it...

for now anyway..." Squall said finally, he of course would be keeping an eye on

Seifer and the second he saw a problem he would take care of it. Zell would

stare at all of them before rubbing the back of his head with a frown.

"You turn on me to Squall? Alright fine... it's alright with me... but I'll kick

his ass if he tries anything..." that was the closest thing they would get to an

alright from Zell and they knew it. Cid would smile a bit and look at them all.

"I'm glad you all see it my way... we'll start tomorrow..."