Thanks to those that reviewed and encouraged, The remainder of this work is for you. You know who you are. Nudge, nudge; wink, wink. At the risk of losing some of you, I'm not yet sure if this will become a Seifer/Quistis or not. Rest assured, there will be allusions to it if nothing else.
It seems I forgot this in the previous chapter. As a disclaimer I am inclined to inform that I do in fact own Final Fantasy VIII and all of the characters, settings, and situations thereof.
Later that night after the Garden technical staff had briefed them on security capability and equipment usage, the posse reminisced about previous times. Mostly they recalled funny happenings from their old patrols. Such as the time they found Squall had broken out of his room after curfew, apparently sleepwalking. He had attached himself like a limpet to a terrified junior cadet and repeatedly exclaimed how happy he was to see 'sis.' The poor girl was institutionalized to Kadowaki for a week. Other times they enjoyed soliciting 'volunteers' to test the brig for means of escape. In the interest of improving security, of course. When Raijin was forced to guard the brig, a friend of the captive thought to take advantage of the guard's requirement to stand rigid and remain speechless by conducting a ridiculous dance and slapping him in the face with small, pungent Badam fish. Fujin walked by after the end of the spectacle and, coincidentally, Raijin's watch to hand the big man a healthy sized tuna, which he promptly used to smite the wretch into the indoor moat.
On this night they made additional memories. Apart from Seifer's little collision with the Messenger Girl, the day proceeded almost uneventfully. Almost, until Fujin discovered a certain Chicken Wuss on a charge to procure his recently re-confiscated T-board. Knowing where confiscated items were kept, Fujin quickly excised it from said premises and ferried it to the security offices. Seifer later decided that the very expensive board would serve a higher purpose by becoming an automated intra-Garden parcel service. After Zell broke into where he was sure that the board would be he was extremely dismayed to find it gone and a planted box of fake hotdogs being eaten by equally fake rats in the dark room. Raijin managed to report between fits of hysterical laughter just before the end of their first day that he had seen Zell run weeping to his dorm after the preceding event.
After the stories ended they each retired to their dorms to get some sleep. Tomorrow they would begin their new classes.
Contrary to popular belief, Seifer Almasy was, in fact, a morning person. He awoke bright and early the next day to shower, eat, and be significantly early for his first class. All right, maybe 'bright' wasn't a good description for this particular morning as it was quite overcast and foggy. Once he had dressed himself in his charcoal slacks and royal blue buttoned shirt he headed for the cafeteria.
He knew that his two companions would not be down to eat during the same time period as he, but he did expect that Selphie or Squall or someone he knew would be. When he entered his expectations were not met however, so he ate in solitude. Nothing wrong with solitude.
Breakfast was nearly done when he noticed two particularly familiar and oddly downtrodden faces came into the cafeteria; those of Zell Dincht and Selphie Tilmitt. He motioned Selphie over to him and when she walked over Zell followed as hesitantly as the one before him. She wasn't even dressed quite as brightly as usually when she shuffled over to Seifer, mentally checking to ensure that she had violated no cardinal rules since waking up.
Since Seifer had returned to Balamb, he and Selphie developed a growing platonic relationship. Certainly it had a rather rocky beginning. In fact, she was the first one at Garden to go berserk and try to kill him, but after she saw that he would not retaliate and seemed even to seek death at someone's hand, she stopped. After that she was overcome with grief and pity for the circumstances that made the one who was essentially her big brother into a broken husk of a man. Now she tried to spend almost as much time with him as with the rest of the orphanage gang. He was quite grateful for her acceptance because he still wasn't on the best terms with the rest of the heroes, especially Zell and Rinoa.
No one really knew how he and Squall got along. They weren't often seen together and when they were they still appeared as rivals though they acted ambiguously amiable towards each other. Much like they always had really, though maybe to a greater degree. More ambiguously or more amiable, you ask? 'Yes' would be the answer anyone would give you.
"What did I do this time?" She was pouting.
"Nothing. Go get something to eat and sit down. I want to talk." She did so, taking the time to fetch a large espresso. Would have thought her a latte or cappuccino type wouldn't you? 'Nope. Not nearly enough coffee in those' she'd always say. "You shouldn't drink that stuff, you know. Stunts your growth." She ignored him and downed a large gulp of it before she sat down, almost immediately perking up.
"What did you want to talk to me about Seifie?" Selphie smiled her disproportionately large smile as she sat next to him. He'd long ago decided that whatever companionable love was, it was what prevented him from strangling her every time she used that childish nickname. Theirs was almost a manic relationship. They were close but resurfacing memories of his days as a Knight and his often-intimidating aura occasionally dampened their rapport. Not to mention that his mood often tends to be less predictable than lakefront weather…
"I just don't want you to take what happened yesterday personally. It was strictly business and I expect that you can keep those affairs separate. I just needed to use you as an example for all the other miscreants."
"You mean you don't hate me?"
"Of course not."
Zell was just returning from his painstaking selecting of his breakfast to sit across from Selphie. He nodded to Seifer somewhat grudgingly who reciprocated the greeting.
"Zell! Seifer doesn't hate me! I'm so happy!" She launched herself onto the lap of the man she spoke of to give him an energetic hug.
"That's great Selph." He returned picking at his food. Returning to eating, Selphie turned around on Seifer's lap to face the table. Seifer was going to ask her about Quistis' current plight but wasn't sure if Zell had the ability to withhold the secret, so he whispered his concern to her.
She looked pointedly across the table.
"Him?" She referred to Zell looking a bit quizzical. "I dunno Seifer, it's kinda risky." Zell was curious as to what they were talking about but remained silent. Seifer told her of the situation and she said she knew nothing of the cause but that she would try to discreetly find out. He told her to use her own judgment with regards to telling Zell or anyone else about it. She nodded and looked pensive.
Looking up to see Zell still in a depressed state she inquired, "What's wrong Zell? Library girl go on vacation?" She delivered the last line with a knowing wink.
"Just had a bad night is all."
Trying to keep his laughter limited to strictly inside, Seifer chimed in, "Oh? What happened?" Both of his companions looked at him a bit strangely because of his alien curiosity for Zell's life. He just shrugged. Why should he have to explain himself all the time?
"I saw bunch of rats eatin' a shipment of hotdogs, man! It was horrible! I bet I won't be able to eat any for a week." He slouched in his seat and shook his head, blonde spikes coming dangerously close to removing Selphie's eye.
"That not true Zell. I saw the cafeteria lady making some for today, so the rats must not have eaten them all!" Selphie piped in happily. This caused Zell to turn a sickly shade. Seifer hadn't expected that perfect line to be delivered so had to hide his face in Selphie's hair. "Since when did you get so affectionate, Seifie?"
He quickly picked up his head and asked "So, Dincht. How did you come to see this? Snooping around in storage 'eh?" He threw out his steno and flipped it open while clicking his pen.
"W-well you see I just happened to run across it and…" He noticed that Seifer was writing something down on the infamous 'list.'
"You decided not to report it? What would compel you do that? Failing to report a health hazard is a Garden violation in and of itse…" It was at this time that a shipment of floating beverages floated by behind Zell just as he was trying to come up with a further excuse. Seifer was forced to hide behind Selphie again to cloak the shaking of his silent mirth. Selphie saw the flying soda and opened her mouth to speak only to find a large hand covered it. She scowled pitifully. Another student saw the drifting package.
"Hey, is that a T-…" But a vicious scowl from the former Knight silences him quickly as well. With that scene escalation narrowly averted, he picked up Selphie and sat her back down in front of her tray. He bid his companions adieu and walked to his first class.
When he reached his classroom on the second floor he found a circle of five Trepies loitering outside and another few already sitting down inside. He was a full eleven minutes early, probably a personal record. Hell, being early at all was probably a record. Plastering his trademark smirk on his face he sauntered to his old desk, eagerly awaiting the moment when his favorite instructor realized she had a new (old) student. It didn't take too long. At five minutes before class she swept the room with her eyes, which quickly passed him over only to return and widen slightly.
"I'll be damned… Mister Almasy. And early too. The world must be ending." The instructor mused with a hint of sarcasm.
"Surely this must be true," he returned, clutching his heart in feigned hurt and surprise "For my beloved Instructor has just uttered a curse." They smiled slightly at each other. At the sound of 'beloved' several students turned to glare at him. He just looked smug and spread his arms across the back of the bench. The rest of the students came in, many whispering either about him or Quistis, or both.
Well, her popularity didn't seem to be affected, he noted. Attendance was among the highest he'd seen in a single class before and if at all possible the Trepie ranks seem to have grown. As class began he noticed that many of the males openly gaped at Quistis. He remembered her fan club being intense but not nearly so bold and open about their infatuation.
This would be the class he would need to observe her most closely in, as this was the only one that he was enrolled in with the undergraduates. He began taking notes on her mannerisms, teaching style, subject matter, and her apparent temperament. Also he tried to gauge the students on how well they paid attention, answered questions, worked on in-class work, and acted in general. Soon, though he had taken extensive notes, he found himself beginning to be distracted by thoughts of the past, when he was Cid's staff evaluator before the Sorceress fiasco.
At the age of fifteen, shortly before he was expected to become SeeD along with Quistis, Cid, along with NORG's faculty approached the head of the disciplinary committee and asked that he become the objective staff assessor. He obviously accepted, relishing the power with it and the means to weed out the ineffective and/or money grubbing. Cid originally chose him and convinced the faculty headed by NORG to back his decision because, after all, they were too preoccupied with finding sources of funding for Garden and unnecessary people cost money too, didn't they? Besides, Seifer was a very promising cadet, never mind that he had a mind a bit too open for them. Regardless, he was set to work immediately.
With Cid's direction and the help of the few powerful people the headmaster had in his favor, Seifer quickly set out to remove the faculty and directors of NORG. He was quite successful; garnering time and again irrefutable proof of laundering, smuggling, bribery and other crimes to remove the power structure the Garden Master had set in place. NORG soon discovered this plot. By then however, he lacked the power to remove either Cid or Seifer from power. He could though, easily prevent an aspiring cadet from attaining SeeDship. And that he did.
The results of his first SeeD exam were heavily skewed. Later false rumors of his behavior being extraordinarily poor were laced throughout the campus. At times Seifer became angry enough to fall almost true to form with the rumors, despite their seeming incredibility. Sure, he wasn't the most well behaved kid in existence, but wasn't nearly so bad as NORG made him out to be. You know what they say about prophecy…
"Seifer! Standard SeeD procedure for an attack on Garden!" She must have noticed him deep in thought and decided to try embarrass him because of it. To her mild astonishment he just sighed and rolled his eyes, proceeding to give the perfect answer in a sharp, crisp tone.
"Place and protect junior classmen in basement. Form chokepoints at all major entrances. Attain mobility if possible and advantageous. Position gunmen at turreted windows, indirect magic users in the center, a…"
"That's enough Seifer. Class, this is how I expect you to be answering my questions. With knowledge and confidence and clarity. Dismissed. Physical training is at 1400." She wonders why few of her other students seem to be able to correctly answer her at all: she'd tried to make the material more interesting, but there is only so much that can be done when teaching military policy. She tried to be strict and to punish the poor students, but nothing seemed to work. Quistis was growing frustrated and then Seifer Almasy, her most 'difficult' student comes back to in all likelihood make things even worse. Another reminder of her failures. She was frowning deeply.
"Look, Instructor. I know you're happy to see me and all but you could try and hide it a bit. You injure me with your frown." He was wearing that perpetual and insolent smirk again.
She gave a depressed sigh. "I should have known better than to try and one up you. I must be losing my mind."
"Really instructor? This recently?" He left with a laugh and short wave. She couldn't help but crack a smile. Seifer's presence, however trying, was somehow missed.