Tanta: Blah!  I can't be bothered with a disclaimer.  Look at the first page if you need one.

Irvine:  That is just being slack.

Tanta:  Who cares?  Nobody reads these little notes anyway.  Thanks to those people who reviewed.  You've convinced me that I should keep working on this fic.  So I now proudly present to you the next chapter.  Warning: A little bit of Seifer/Zell in this chapter.  Also, if you don't like sexual violence then I strongly recommend that you skip this chapter.

Chapter Two: Exodus

"'the hell Irvine.  You can't go now.  Seifer is coming back this afternoon!"

Several students turned to stare as the sharpshooter stormed through the halls of Balamb Garden, Zell Dincht hot on his heels.

"Irvine!" Zell called again when he realised that the other man wasn't going to stop.  "Irvine, please!  I can't face him alone."

Irvine only stopped when he heard the breaks in Zell's usually confident voice and realised that Zell was quite genuinely distressed.

"Irvine," Zell called again, his pleading voice reduced to such a quiet level as to almost be a whisper.

Irvine's more stubborn emotions made him give into Zell's pleading if only for a second, and he turned around to look the martial artist in the eye.

"I don't like the timing of this anymore than you do Zell," he said, "but you have to understand that this is important to me.  The rest of you have been SeeDs since I met up with you in Galbadia.  It's kind of made me feel left out.  This is my chance to truly be one of you.  I wish that the field test was some other day as well, but it's not."

Quistis' announcement earlier in the morning that Irvine's field test to become a fully-fledged SeeD would take place that very afternoon had taken most people by surprise.  The test wasn't scheduled for another two weeks, but the perfect mission for the candidates had presented itself in the form of a request for assistance from a small resistance faction in Timber.

Irvine sighed as he finished speaking, before taking a step closer to Zell.  The martial artist's eyes were roaming over the floor and walls of the garden, trying to look anywhere but at the man standing in front of him.  Irvine placed a hand on one of Zell's shoulders and leaned down slightly so that they saw eye to eye.

"You'll just have to be strong, all right?" Irvine told him.

"Why do you even have to go?" Zell sobbed.  "You helped get rid of Ultimecia.  You deserve to be a SeeD more than anyone else in Garden, regardless of how you score in some stupid test.  Squall should have made you one as soon as we got back to Garden, like he made Quistis an instructor again."

Irvine couldn't help but smile.  He moved his hand slightly to cup Zell's chin.

"I wish it was that easy as well Zelly," Irvine chuckled.

"Don't call me that," Zell muttered.  "It's degrading."

"You'd prefer chicken-wuss?" Irvine asked, meaning it as a joke.

Zell pulled away from Irvine as though the other man's touch hurt him.  He turned his back on the sharpshooter and began walking away.

"Zell."  It was Irvine's turn to call out, stopping Zell in his tracks.  "What did he do to you that makes you hate him so much?"

Zell didn't say anything, or even move from where he stood.

"Aren't you even going to wish me good luck?" Irvine pleaded.  It soon became obvious that Zell was not going to respond, and Irvine left him alone.  When he had almost reached the end of the hallway, he turned and added more, hoping that he wouldn't have to leave an angry Zell behind.  "I'll be thinking of you this afternoon during the test, wishing you were fighting beside me like usual.  It's going to be weird fighting with three other people that I barely know.  Of course, Quistis and Xu are going to be there as our instructors, but it won't be the same."

He stared at Zell a couple of seconds more, waiting for any sort of response that would prove that Zell was not as petrified as he was acting.

"Good luck," Zell finally said, making Irvine smile again.

It was funny, Irvine reflected, the way that Zell controlled his emotions so much.  A single word could either make him feel as though he had just been shot in the stomach, or bring an impossibly large smile to his face.  For a second he remembered Zell's reaction when they had met in Galbadia Garden.  It had been anything but funny for the sharpshooter then, but now the disgusted look and varied insults that had almost thrown Irvine into a near-suicidal depression then brought a large smile to his face.  He chuckled softly to himself, unaware that only a few hundred metres behind him Zell's cheeks were quickly dampening as tears ran unchecked down his face.

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How long had it been since he had seen the other blonde?  Zell took a couple of minutes as he tried to figure it out in his mind.  It would have been almost two months.  Then they had been enemies, and the two times that they had met before that as well, but before that, just after they had taken the SeeD test together…

"You'll never be a SeeD.  Calling yourself Captain is a joke!"  Xu's words left Seifer more broken then Zell had ever seen him before.  Once Xu and Squall had gone, leaving the broken down Seifer alone, Zell debated about comforting the other blonde.  True, they had never gotten along that well, and Seifer could be a real jerk at times, but there was no way Zell was going to leave him alone.  Nobody deserved to have their emotions hurt so badly, no matter how much of a bastard they could be.

It also occurred to Zell that Seifer was one of the most beautiful men he had ever met.  He had been admiring Seifer for a while now.  He would have been a fool to let a chance like this pass without at least trying.

He approached Seifer quietly and placed a hand on the other blonde's shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly.  Seifer jumped at his touch.  When he realised that it was Zell he chuckled as though he found Zell's very presence amusing, even though Zell knew it was just a disguise to try and hide the fact that he had been crying only a couple of seconds earlier.

"Chicken-wuss," Seifer grimaced.  "Shouldn't you be up there with puberty boy waiting to find out if you're a SeeD or not?"

"Yeah, but it'll be a while before they announce anything," Zell explained.  "You're not too crushed by what Xu said are ya?"

"I'll be fine," Seifer told him.  The presence of Zell's hand still on the taller man's shoulder finally seemed to register.  Shock passed quickly over Seifer's face to be replaced by a knowing grin.

Zell blushed fiercely and quickly took his hand away.

"You're gay, aren't you?" Seifer said, the grin on his face widening as Zell blushed an even deeper red.

"Maybe," Zell admitted, highly embarrassed by what Seifer had just discovered about him. 

"I've got to go," he said, pointing towards the elevator.  "They'll be calling out names soon."  He turned and began running as fast as he possibly could, not wanting to hear the taunts he was sure would soon come from Seifer's mouth.

"Hey, chicken-wuss!" Seifer called after him.  Zell was reluctant to listen to whatever Seifer said, but stopped nevertheless.  "Thanks for asking if I was all right," Seifer said, surprising Zell and making him blush yet again.  "No-one else gives a damn about me.  If I can't be a SeeD then I hope you can.  Good luck."

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a blur.  First there was the announcement that he was going to be a SeeD, then there was the surprise of seeing Seifer actually applaud the fact that they had become SeeDs when he wasn't, and then…

It hadn't taken long for Seifer to find Zell while he was alone.  A couple of too-friendly touches led to a couple of more-than-friendly kisses, and then finally an invitation back to Seifer's room.

At first Zell had been happier then he could ever remember being before.  Seifer wanted him, perhaps even needed him, but it soon became all too clear that Seifer would never love him.  He pushed Zell down onto the bed thrusting harshly into him without a care for the smaller man's comfort or pleasure.  Tears covered Zell's face as the other man finished.

Zell knew that it wasn't supposed to be that way.  He almost hoped that Seifer would offer some sort of apology, but the other man only ignored him for the short while that they were both in Balamb Garden before Zell left for his first mission.

Of course no-one else knew what had happened, and as far as Zell could see, no-one ever would.  Who could he talk to?  What would he tell them?  No-one would ever believe that it was rape.  He had wanted Seifer.  He had made as many moves to start the relationship, if it could be called that, as Seifer had.

He had kept it as a secret, hoping in time that his GFs would swallow up the memory and it would never return, but it remained one of the sharpest, clearest memories he had.  Every time he saw Seifer or heard the all-too-common 'chicken-wuss' insult, the memories came back.

How could he not hate Seifer?

Zell glanced at a clock on the nearby wall.  It was almost one o'clock.  Irvine would probably be in Timber by now, starting the mission which would determine his SeeD ranking.  Zell had almost two hours before Seifer returned and the taunting and bad memories came back with him.

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Irvine glanced at his watch.  One o'clock.  He had been in the truck for barely ten minutes.  It seemed almost like ten hours.  They had arrived in Timber not too long ago to meet their employers, Hagan and Togun, the leaders of the revolutionary group known as the "Forest Racoons."

He took a quick look around at the other people in the large truck with him.  There was Xu and Quistis, who were chatting quietly together, and the other three candidates in his squad, Millie, Kelly and Trida.  Millie and Kelly were almost identical, both with short black hair and blue eyes.  The two had been best friends for as long as Irvine had known them, and rivalled Selphie for their energy and enthusiasm.  Trida was a different story.  He was the only member of the squad that was the same age as Irvine.  His hair was a light brown and was draped over one side of his face so that only one of his black eyes could be seen.  He had barely said a word the entire trip.  Hagan was in the other truck along with the other five candidates and two instructors.  His partner Togun had come with them however, and was sitting next to Quistis looking very nervous.  He couldn't have been much older than Irvine himself, but he was obviously the reason the group had been called the Racoons.  Two wide black rings circled each of the man's eyes.  This, coupled with the man's spiky white-blonde hair made him look very much like a racoon to Irvine's eyes.

The tattoos also reminded him of Zell.

Togun cleared his throat before standing up and walking to one end of the truck, almost falling over as the driver hit a hole in the road.

"Thank you for coming," he spoke in a deep rich voice that almost appeared to be too mature for his boyish face.  "The situation is as such.  Our base lies a couple of miles from where we are now, near the cliffs.  A group of Galbadian soldiers have begun setting up a camp close to where we are.  If they discover our base then they will more than likely destroy it and all our work will be for nothing.  We request that you get rid of them."

He nodded towards Quistis and Xu who stood up and began explaining the finer points of what would happen.  Irvine let his mind drift off as they ran through all the usual precautions.  In a couple of hours he would be fighting Galbadians and Zell would be fighting his own fears.  He certainly wouldn't want to be in Zell's position right now.

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Zell sat down on a rock in the training centre and casually brushed his hair away from his face, accidentally dying some of bangs blood red.  His hands and clothes were covered in the sticky red liquid; some of it his own, but mostly that of the Grats and T-rexaurs that had come across his path over the past few hours.

He cast a water spell on himself, hoping to get rid of the stench and cool his temper down a little.

He had felt the small shakes as Balamb Garden had landed next to his home town little less than an hour ago.  It was more than likely that Squall had welcomed Seifer back into Garden with a nod and a threat that if Seifer even so much as touched Rinoa he would be thrown off Garden once again.  Zell probably should have gotten off and strolled into Balamb to visit his mother and do a little necessary shopping, but he didn't want to chance running into Seifer.

He was horribly frustrated then, when a couple of minutes later he saw the tall blonde come into sight round a corner.  He considered getting to his feet and running away from him as fast as he possibly could, but Seifer had already seen him.

"Hello Zell," Seifer said casually, waving a hand in greeting.

Zell sighed and tried to summon a smile for the older man.  Perhaps he would finally apologize, a small part of him suggested.  Perhaps they could get together again with a little bit of work.

"You weren't there to welcome me," Seifer said, the predatory grin that Zell remembered returning to his face, shattering any hope that Zell had fostered previously.  "I would have thought that you would be ready to welcome me back with a hug and a kiss."

Seifer winked suggestively, making Zell's stomach churn.

"Why should I welcome you Seifer?" Zell asked him.  "I haven't forgotten last time, you know."

"Neither have I," Seifer chuckled.  The taller man bridged the distance between the two of them in two strides.  Zell looked behind himself hoping for an easy way out, only to find the way was blocked by trees.  Seifer leaned over him, smirking at the younger man.  "Last time you were clinging to me like your life depended on it and moaning like a whore."

"Shut up Seifer or I swear I'll..."   The threat sounded empty to his ears.  He couldn't imagine how weak it would sound to Seifer.

"Or you'll what?" Seifer asked, leaning in closer.  "You'll sick you're precious Irvy on me like you used to do when we were kids."  For a second Zell wondered what Seifer meant.  A memory swam before his mind's eye, so close that he could almost touch it, but every time he tried to grasp it and finally remember it slipped out of reach again.  Something told him that he was forgetting something very important, but before he could quite remember what it was Seifer's voice interrupted his thoughts once more.

"I happen to know that you can't," Seifer said, grinning.  "Irvine isn't here right now, is he Zell?  There's no-one to come to your rescue."

Seifer leaned in even closer; so close that Zell could feel the other man's breath on his cheek.  Seifer's lips brushed against his own for just a second before Zell brought his fists up in an arc and Seifer flew backwards and onto the ground.

Zell wiped his arm against his lips, hoping to get rid of the taste of Seifer from his mouth forever, replacing it instead with the tangy taste of blood.

Seifer looked up at Zell from where he lay on the ground.  He sat completely still for a moment as if he couldn't believe that Zell had just hit him.  Slowly he reached a hand up to his jaw to find that Zell had broken his skin.  He took a drop of blood between two of his fingers and rubbed them slowly, spreading the red liquid, still clearly shocked by Zell's actions.

Zell had expected hysterics.  He had expected a shocked laugh from Seifer at the sight of his own blood.  As far as Zell knew, Squall was the only one who had ever managed to draw Seifer's blood before.  Zell had not expected the look of anger and rage that Seifer immediately directed at him.

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Irvine dropped behind a pile of rocks to reload.  So far the mission had been a lot more difficult than expected.  There had been a lot more soldiers than intelligence had told them.  Hagan and Togun had disappeared a while after the fighting had started as well, saying that they had things to do.

Irvine heard a satisfying click as the last bullet fell into place.  He got up once more, expecting to charge straight into the fray only to come face to face with a Galbadian soldier.  The man's gun was pointed straight at his stomach.  There was just enough time for him to realise that there was no way he would be able to get a shot off before he died, when the man suddenly fell to his knees in front of Irvine, a blade sticking out of his back.

The sharpshooter looked up to discover Trida pulling one of his katals out from the dead soldier's torso.

"Thanks," Irvine said quickly.

Trida nodded.  "There's a small group of them left a couple of hundred metres from here.  Instructors Xu and Trepe are taking care of the rest."

"What about the other candidates?" Irvine asked, concerned for the girls' safety.

"They can take care of themselves," Trida admitted.  "I'm not so sure that they can take care of the remaining soldiers though."

Irvine followed Trida across the small battlefield, stepping over the few bodies in their way.

"You've killed many of them," Trida said, no emotion in his voice to betray his feelings.  "You can tell that you're used to this.  Millie and Kelly just fell to pieces when the actual fighting began, but you just went for it.  I'll be surprised if you don't become a SeeD."

Irvine looked at the bodies around them.  Trida was right.  Many of them had been killed by his gun, but almost as many showed the telltale gashes that came from being killed by Trida's katals.

"You've done well too," Irvine replied.  "You'll probably pass."

The two men came to a stop as they spotted the remaining soldiers.

"We've got to get rid of these four before any of us pass," Irvine added.  "You take the two on the left and I'll take the two on the right?" he suggested.

Trida nodded once and the two men charged.

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"You little bitch!" Seifer roared, his hands moving to his hip and to the gunblade that had been hidden beneath his long jacket.  Zell hadn't even realised that Seifer had it until that moment.

Seifer drew the gunblade swiftly and charged at Zell.  Before Zell had a chance to block Seifer had brought the blade around in an arc to slice open the side of Zell's face.  Zell winced slightly before preparing himself for the next attack.  Seifer charged again, more clumsily this time, allowing Zell to dodge the attack.  Zell was just considering which magic he should use when a voice cried out from the other side of the clearing.

"Stop!"

Seifer whirled around as though he was ready to attack anyone that was trying to stop their duel.  Zell looked over to find that Selphie was frowning at the two of them, her arms crossed as though she was scolding a couple of junior classmen.

"I don't believe you two!" she yelled, walking towards the two of them.  "You're lucky that Squall is so forgiving Seifer, otherwise you might be kicked out of Garden for that!"

Seifer muttered something under his breath, threw his gunblade over one shoulder and stalked away from the scene, still rubbing the jaw that Zell had punched in his fury.

"Come back here Seifer!" Selphie squealed.  "I haven't finished with you!"

If it had been anyone else that Selphie was yelling at, Zell would have probably started laughing.  As it was Seifer completely ignored Selphie and continued to walk away, and Selphie's wrath turned on Zell.

"What did you think you were doing?" she said.  The look on her face was one that Zell had never seen before and never wanted to see again.  "Did you even think what might have happened if Irvine was to come back from his exam and find that you were seriously injured or dead?"

Zell shrugged.  Irvine wasn't exactly the easiest person to predict.  He couldn't even figure out why the sharpshooter seemed to care so much about him, or why it was that Selphie was more worried about Irvine's reaction than Zell's actual well-being.

Selphie squealed suddenly, making Zell jump along with her.  She ran towards him and began inspecting his face with a sense of urgency Zell had only ever received from his mother before.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Your face!" she exclaimed.  "And your tattoo!"  She grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a pool of water.  She scooped some water up and began to clean up Zell's wound.

Zell leaned over the water as she worked, almost dreading what his reflection would look like.  The ripples began to die down slowly and Zell was able to see why Selphie had gotten so worked up.  He had feared that the wound would be jagged and rough, but it crossed his face in a red line as perfect as the scars on Squall and Seifer's faces.  It began in the middle of his cheek and ran up to his hairline, breaking his signature black tattoo cleanly in half.

It would be easy to fix once the wound had healed, as long as the wound didn't leave a scar.  Curing spells had the disadvantage that they often left some scarring behind, which meant that he would have to let it heal naturally.  He would just go back to a tattoo parlour and get it fixed up in a couple of weeks. 

It shouldn't have been a big deal, but to Zell it was.  The tattoo was a part of him.  It was what identified him, and even though everything would be fixed soon, at that moment his face was marred by an ugly black line as broken as his heart felt.

"Damn you Seifer," Zell said under his breath.

It would be hard to pass Seifer in the hallways; harder than Zell wanted his life to be.  Balamb Garden just wasn't big enough for the both of them.  Zell had soon decided that if Seifer was going to live there again then he certainly couldn't.

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Squall was there to greet them when Irvine and Trida stumbled off the hired minibus together.  They had both escaped with only minor injuries, but not everyone had fared quite so well.  Quistis had a rather nasty bullet wound in her shoulder that had taken two Curaga spells to heal, and Millie's arm was broken.

"Congratulations." Squall nodded towards the two of them before walking off with Quistis and Xu.

Irvine began scanning the group of people that had come to greet them, hoping to see Zell's face among them.  Irvine was only mildly surprised to find that he wasn't there.  They hadn't exactly parted in the best possible manner.  He found Selphie instead and walked up to her.

"Where's Zell?" he asked.

Selphie didn't answer, choosing instead to look down at her feet.

Irvine was about to press her further when a voice announced over the speaker that they were meant to meet in the second floor hall.

"They decided that rather quickly," Selphie said, obviously eager to change the subject.

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It was no big surprise when a half hour later Irvine found himself standing in front of Squall alongside Trida as the two of them were given their SeeD rank reports.  Irvine scanned it quickly to find that he had been given a rank that would immediately make him Zell and Selphie's equals.

He stayed as long as was required for civility, congratulating Trida and thanking Squall before he walked briskly out of the room.  Several people congratulated him as he walked out, but his eyes only looked for one person.

Zell should have been there to share the excitement with him, but he was nowhere to be seen.  Irvine spotted Selphie once more and almost ran towards her.

"Where is he?" he demanded.  "He should have been here!  He wouldn't miss something like this, no matter how angry he was with me."

"Well," Selphie began cautiously.  "Seifer came back while you were gone."

Irvine's face paled as various horrible possibilities came to him.

"I know that," he almost snapped.  "But where's Zell?"

"He said…" Selphie hesitated.  "He and Seifer got into a fight and he said that he couldn't stay here and left," Selphie blurted out.

Selphie said this so quickly that it took a couple of seconds for Irvine to register exactly what she had said.  When he did however, his face managed to go even paler.  Sweat began to form on his forehead as he turned to look towards the Garden's front gate.

"Where did he go?" Irvine asked her.

"I don't know," Selphie replied.  "He didn't tell me."

Irvine's thoughts raced as he tried to work out where Zell had run to.  The Garden had been parked just next to Balamb for most of the day.  If he knew Zell at all then he knew that the blonde would visit his mother for at least a little while.  Zell couldn't have left Balamb yet.  If Irvine was quick then he would be able to catch Zell before he went anywhere.

"Don't leave me alone again Zell," Irvine whispered.  He took one more look around at his surroundings before swinging his gun over his shoulder and running towards the front gate.

"But the celebration ball is tonight," Selphie called after him.

"I don't care!" Irvine called back.  "Make some sort of excuse for me will you?"

Irvine turned his attention back to where he was running.  He hoped that his assumptions were right with every bone in his body.  Zell couldn't have gotten too far away.  He wasn't aware of it, but tears had begun to stream down his cheeks, and as he ran he repeated one thing over and over again.

"Don't leave me again."