A/N: If this chapter seems a lot different from the previous 3, it's becauseit has been over a year sinceI wrotethe first 3 chapters. Now a year later I continue this story, andif there are any apparent changes I hope those are for the better.

Chapter 4: "In the nick of time"

Squall had never been good at controlling his own emotions, he preferred to try and not feel anything at all honestly. He could be in turmoil on the inside, and no one would ever notice. He'd be as calm as he always was, or tried to be at least. More or less keeping up a facade of serenity, hiding behind his position and rank using formality as an excuse not to either enjoy or regret any moment whatsoever. But right now it felt like his organs had been put into a blender set to full speed. This was testing the limits of his self-control, limits that had been rarely surpassed.

For a minute there he had contemplated snapping the woman's neck out of shear frustration. While fire burned at the back of his throat he had managed to maintain his composure and hadn't even flinched as the woman repeated her earlier statement after he exclaimed "What!" with disbelief filling his voice. Swallowing hard and keeping any words of anger from flowing forth he had nodded as she explained further. Clenching his fists as she spoke, he had taken in as much information as his thoughts could let in at that moment, a barrage of emotions flooding almost every corner of his mind.

He finally reached the courtyard of Galbadia garden, walking as fast as he could without actually jogging. He was in a hurry so it would be best not to get interrupted. The few students that were idling around didn't really seem to mind him at all, thank Hyne. Perhaps the fear of being overwhelmed by freshmen wanting to have a talk with 'the commander' had been exaggerated a bit in his mind. Or maybe they just hadn't recognized him yet. As long as they just didn't talk to him, all would be fine.

So Seifer was at Trabia then? No matter. Good thing he had requested to look up his current location, or he would have been strolling around Galbadia all day looking for him. There were some people ill-informed over here if even Caraway didn't know Seifer was at Trabia. Apparently he had requested to be sent away as an exchange student, and since they needed help there, they had eagerly fulfilled his request. Did they even realize just who they were sending over there?

But, whether he'd be buried here at Galbadia or over there, it didn't exactly foil Squall's plans. There were so many people that died in Trabia in the missile attack that Seifer caused, he was sure they'd have one more spot open for him on the burial grounds. It would be a suiting end, the witch's lackey buried next to the people that he caused so much pain and misery. Squall couldn't wait to have him rotting away in the soil. After he was done with him of course. Oh the things he was going to do to him would make him wish for the same fate as his victims had.

"E-Excuse me?"

Squall was snapped out of his train of thoughts and fantasies about the amount of agony he would bestow upon his archenemy by the voice of a young boy. The boy was around thirteen years of age he reckoned, with short curly hair in a complete mess, probably because he had been late for school this morning, and holding an issue of today's newspaper. Why Squall immediately noticed these things and subconsciously speculated about the reasons for all of these details, he blamed on his SeeD training.

"A-Are you…?"

With eyes wide open the boy was staring back and forth from Squall to the newspaper. The frontpage displayed a picture of Squall in his usual attire, exactly the same as the man standing before him. Slightly startled at the sight of this celebrity in front of him he never managed to even finish his sentence.

"What?"

Squall spat his words at the young boy, effectively forcing him a few steps back. The boy must've been mistaken, this was probably just a big bully that wanted to look like that man so that he could mess with people's minds, and attract attention to himself. How mean. But Squall wanted to achieve the exact opposite of attracting attention.

"N-Nothing…"

Without another word he resumed his stampede towards the outer gates of the garden. He wouldn't let some casual talk get in his way, nor any young children that wanted to idolize him. He had enough time for that the rest of his life, right now he had someone to meet, and to let that someone meet his Lionheart up close and personal, preferably the blunt side of it to make it hurt more and last longer. But right before his thoughts got back on the tracks of revenge and payback again, he got interrupted a second time, by someone not willing to step aside for him. He moved to the left and back to the right, but he moved along with him untill they were face to face, it was only then that he realized just who was standing in front of him.

"Zell?"

"Hey Squall! Long time no see!"

The martial artist stood in front of him with a smile as wide as the gates behind him. What was he talking about? He just saw him the day before when he said goodbye. Weren't they going to organize a party of some sorts? Forget that, what was he doing here in Galbadia?

Zell stood in front of him shifting from side to side, and scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin on his face.

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here, huh? Well, after you left it got me thinking, and I decided to do my three months here along with you. The same rules go for me since I wanna be a martial arts instructor and all…"

Squall didn't really care about that at the moment, he just wanted to get out of here and off to trabia, chopping heads off and everything. His trigger finger was itching.

"So I'll be going to school here with ya! Awesome right! Oh and Irvine told me about all the girls here and everything and I didn't really believe him but when I got here I was like WHOA! There are so many they are all over the place, and cute too! AWW MAN! I can't wait! Let's go to the cafetaria here right now and pick up some chicks! I'll swipe them off their feet with my awesome moves!"

Squall stood there for a few seconds with a disturbed look on his face, glancing over at the gates a few times wishing he was behind them already, ignoring the martial artist's fancy-move-show he started. Why did Zell have to come over here now? Here he was vividly imagining using Seifer's head as a football, why did he have to get interrupted?

Zell noticed the odd look on his face and stared at him questioningly.

"What they don't have hot dogs here? SAY IT ISN'T SO!"

Zell started clawing at his hair in fear, and Squall, as intent as he was on killing people, couldn't help but shake his head.

"Maybe later ok?"

-Hyne, just make him go away, please.-

"Aw come on! It'll be fun!"

"I kind of have something I need to take care of right now"

"It can wait I bet. You're heading out of the garden, so it has nothing to do with classes right?"

"It does. I just have to go."

Why oh why was he giving him such a hard time? Maybe he just had to knock him down and make a run for it, it'd be quicker. This was starting to piss him off.

-For Hyne's sake man, let me through.-

"You're a bad liar you know that? Come on you can show me my room, I asked them to place me near you!"

Zell put his arm around his buddy and started to move him back towards the garden. He was really starting to give him a hard time and this was delaying him more and more. He had to think of something. Perhaps the knocking out thing wasn't such a bad idea after all. He was forced back a few steps and then shrugged Zell's arm off of him.

"Let me go! I have to leave!"

His sudden outburst of anger got all the hatred for Seifer flowing again. With fire seering in his eyes he looked at the startled Zell and noticed he had instinctively already reached for the handle on lionheart. Not that he would use it on him, not unless it was absolutely necessary, but he knew Zell would've noticed as well. Last thing he wanted was to give away his true intentions. Zell simply looked back at him a bit surprised, and then got a more serious look on his face.

"Look…"

Zell put his bag on the ground started fiddling with his gloves. Squall was now certain that he had noticed him grabbing for his gunblade.

"I know what you're about to do, ok? Irvine filled me in on Seifer… I can't let you go man."

He knew. Did everyone know but him? It would make sense that they didn't fill him in if he thought about it, they probably knew him better than he did himself. But Squall wasn't in a reasonable state right now, and both of their actions were edging towards a fight. He wanted to go, Zell wanted him to stay. He unsheathed his gunblade further and got ready for an attack from Zell. Not that he was expecting it, but you can never be too sure.

-Then you know you won't stop me. -

"Don't have to fight you know? Just stay here today and we can talk about this. I don't like Seifer either but you gotta give him a chance."

"Shut up."

He was looking quite calm on the outside, but an inferno was raging within him. Withe those words he stepped forward and took a swing at Zell as a warning. His gunblade would cut him up in seconds and he knew he was faster and stronger than him. There was no way in Hades he was going to stop him from going to Trabia. He just needed him to back down now or he would be forced to hurt him, something they would both regret. He halted his swing right before he would strike, only to find out to his shock that Zell had disappeared.

-What the…? -

As he was about to speak the words out loud he saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye, and instinctively dodged down and to the side to avoid catching Zell's fist in the eye. He swung his blade up at where the hit would have landed but only caught air, as his opponent was fast enough to dodge it. This would be the first move of an elaborate dance between the two.

-Too slow-… -

His thoughts were interrupted as he was still leaning back from the dodge he performed and felt his feet lift up from the ground. Now hanging in mid-air he glanced to the side where Zell was and caught a short glimpse of his elbow moving towards his face at high velocity. How did Zell get so fast? Or did he himself slow down? Was he using magic? No, Zell was a truly horrid magic user… Just what the hell was going on here? He was no match for Squall, how could this be?

Too many thoughts raced through his mind and finally combined into a mindnumbing pain in his fore-head as Zell's hit landed. The sounds quickly became distant as he couldn't open his eyes anymore, and the last thought crossed his mind.

-He knocked me out…? -

"What if… it were different?"

"What do you mean?"

"Too vague for you?"

"Your question can have a thousand different answers. It's too complicated."

"Not complicated. It is the simplest of questions. What if? Two words. How complicated can two words be? Or three…?"

"It may be a simple question, but what you're asking is impossible to answer."

"Not impossible. Tell me, do you believe in fate?"

"Fate? I don't know."

"Do you believe that everything happens the way it's supposed to happen?"

"That would mean we have no control over our lives. If that were true then why are we here?"

"We are here because we are here. The real question is, will it matter?"

"Will it matter…?"

"It is a matter of choice. Left or right? Back or forth? Now or later? Black or with cream? One or two lumps?"

"What does coffee have to do with fate?"

"Not fate. Choice…"

"You're not making any sense."

"It's all a matter of choice. Your choices to be exact."

"What about my choices? I don't understand."

"You don't have to understand. You just have to be aware."

"Aware of what?"

"Most of the time people make choices and they don't even know it. Maybe it's because of habit, or maybe it's because they let themselves be led by their hearts, rather than their minds."

"How can you make a choice without knowing it?"

"Emotion. Whether or not to act upon it may be a choice, but for most, that choice is made with their hearts. To run scared from a frightening situation or to fight through it. To embrace someone you love or to decline and send them off for 'the greater good'. To push the blade through or not. To allow the world to be destroyed or not."

"What?"

"It was your choice that allowed the entire ordeal to occur in the first place."

"My choice?"

"During the sparring fight. You could've struck deeper."

"That isn't fair. I didn't know at the time."

"Maybe you should have known. Shouldn't you have seen it coming? The eternal rivalry. The never-ending quest to be better than the other. It couldn't end up any other way. Two opposites can never be on one side together."

"Then how could I have known on wich side I'd be?"

"You couldn't have known. You could've merely guessed."

"I…"

"What if you struck me down right now? Ended my life. It would not change what I have done. Nor would it give me any chance to make amends. How could you be absolutely sure that killing me now would be the right thing to do?"

"I feel as though I must."

"You are letting your heart choose, not your mind."

"Even so, how can I know what is the right thing to do?"

"You'll have to guess."

"What if I guess wrong?"

"What if you already did?"

What was this pounding pain in his head? It felt like that time he had eaten Selphie's cooking, It looked awful, smelled even worse and the taste was beyond description. It took him days to recover from it. Oh the horror. He promised his intestins never to let them go through something like that ever again.

He tried to open his eyes, the bright white light felt like it was burning holes into his synapses. He closed them again and swallowed hard and almost choked on his own tongue. Water. He needed water. With great resolve he opened his eyes a second time and managed to look around a bit. He was in the infirmary? It would explain the terrible pain searing through his mind. Suddenly it all came back to him. His mouth opened and he whispered his name in a broken voice.

"Zell."

He heard no response and lifted his head up to look around the room. He wasn't alone. Zell was asleep on a chair in the corner, surrounded by empty hotdog wrappers and snoring louder then a chainsaw. Squall quickly searched around on the table next to him in search of some form of projectile. Preferably something sharp and heavy, Zell would pay dearly for his actions. He would have to make due with a plastic cup and threw it at the fighter, striking him in the middle of his face, startling him greatly as he fell of the chair in surprise.

"No Selphie I said not in the face!"

For a few seconds he looked around him cautiously before he slowly started to get up, as if he was expecting multiple enemies to come in at any time. After everything seemed clear he looked around again dazed and confused, only to find Squall looking at him with a questioning look on his face.

"What… were you… dreaming…?"

Zell ignored his question and got back on his chair, took a quick glance at the plastic cup and then looked around again as if to make sure there wasn't anyone else in there, before he relaxed again.

"So how's your head?"

-It feels as though my head got caught between two trains colliding at topspeed, you monkey. -

"Fine."

It wasn't fine at all, he was almost writhing in agony. Just how the hell did it happen anyway? Did he put concrete in his gloves or something?

"Sorry if I hit you too hard, I just had to stop you, you know. You weren't thinking straight."

Squall looked away. This wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he knew Zell wouldn't let it go that easily. That thickheaded short-fused fighter somehow could persuade him into almost anything. Like, say, stealing hotdogs from the cafetaria in the middle of the night? He had this way of getting him to do what he wanted, and a weird way of actually getting through to him. Not that he'd ever let him know that.

"I know you want to make Seifer pay, and I used to be all for that as well… but lately I've been thinking… what good does it do to kill him you know? Sure he'd be dead and we'd be playing football with his head and he'd got what he deserved…"

Playing football with his head was my revenge damnit, get your own.

"But wouldn't it be better if we like, let him try to help make things better? You don't have to like it, but it's better if he's alive and helping out instead of him just being dead."

What Zell was saying was making sense, in a weird way. Even though he wanted to kill Seifer more than anything, the idea of using him as a slave and make him do chores and work his hands to the bone sounded appealling. Of course, in reality things were a little different, but the idea he got this way seemed more bearable.

"He's over with Matron right now, let's wait what she has to say ok? At least have a little trust in her?"

Hoping his words would convince Squall to stay he sat on the edge of his seat, not knowing he had already persuaded him.

"Besides, you can always kill him later right? And he's away to Trabia for months, chances are you'll never have to meet him anyway. By the time you go to Trabia he'll be going back to Galbadia so you won't run into eachother, Quistis already arranged it and I'll be going with you all the way so you wo-"

"Wait, you're going with me?"

"Yeah baby! I asked Cid if it was ok and he said sure so I was like WOOHOO! You know? We can be roomies and stuff but no wait you're the commander you have your own room I forgot but that doesn't matter because we can still go out at night and go to the girl dorms and everything and steal hotdogs in the cafetaria here! Hotdogs Baby, yeah!"

Squall rested his head back down on the pillow again with a loud sigh, completely oblivious to the ranting fighter nearby. This was going to be a long three months. Hold up, six months even. Partly it was comforting to have Zell with him. Partly he was a great nuisance to have around. But at least this would help him to keep his mind off of Seifer for the time being. He could always kill him later, Zell said so too. He's probably expected to not kill Seifer… the thought of his name alone created a ball of disgust churning in his stomache.

-I make no promises. -

A/N: If you're confused about the conversation part, it's kind of a dream sequence.