Road to Eternity

Chapter 1: Welcome to My Life

Summary: AUSquall's sick with a fatal disease that has no found cure. Desperate to let him experience life before he dies, his family sends him to a boarding school in America, where he meets a certain blonde and learns that there's no disease that can stand in the way love. SxS SLASH yaoi

Warnings: This story has slash, bad language, Squall angst, and some OCC of some characters

Disclaimer: I don't own. That's life. But… I did buy Squall off on eBay. ;)

Key:
Italics: Thoughts, Dreams, Flashback, Song Lyrics, Break between Sections… uhm, what'd I miss?
Bold: Someone saying something or a title (ex. Squall: What the hell?)

Do you wanna be somebody else?
Are you sick of feeling so left out?
Are you desperate to find something more?
Before your life is over
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?
Are you sick of everyone around?
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies
While deep inside you're bleeding

Welcome to My Life, Simple Plan

: Do you ever feel like breaking down? Do you ever feel out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong, and no one understands you :

Squall scanned the airport terminal with narrowed grey eyes. The bright, flashy Christmas lights did not hide the obvious weariness on the faces of the evening travelers, nor did they illustrate a sense of holiday cheer.

He shifted restlessly from one foot to another, adjusting the weight of the duffel bag that was slung over his back. The line was moving, almost imperceptibly, but still moving.

Squall sighed. Since he didn't make a habit of wearing a watch, he tapped the person in front of him, who just happened to be a teenage Asian girl. She jumped about a foot in the air, before turning and blushing.

"Uhm, yes?"

"Do you know what time it is?" He asked. She glanced down quickly at her wrist.

" Quarter to 7," she answered with a small giggle and a flirty smile.

Squall ignored it, opting to glance at the front of the line, where a heavy-set middle aged woman was gesturing wildly with her hands at a bored looking security guard. She didn't seem to be making any progress in proving the point she was vividly trying to make with all the hand gestures and frantic words.

Fortunately, the green OPEN light blinked on in a new security aisle, and Squall weaved his way towards it. He placed his duffel bag on the belt and took off his boots and placed them in the plastic bin. Reluctantly, he unclasped his Griever necklace and placed it next to his shoes.

The machine did not beep, and soon, Squall was on his way again. He felt for the comforting weight of the necklace against his skin as arcane, stormy eyes searched the corridors for gate 9B. The necklace had been with him, ever since… well, ever since Ellone had given it to him right before she died, which was about seven years ago.

He felt himself wishing to be back there in his cozy home in London, instead of here at the airport with its cold and strange and foreign lights, heading off to America and a posh boarding school full of aristocratic snobs.

He passed a bookstore, where an illuminated display of the 6th Harry Potter book stood next to a life-size cardboard cutout of the said boy and an old man, who he guessed was Dumbledore. He didn't care much for those books, anyway.

Still, his gaze was drawn to several other important things, which were happening simultaneously at that very moment.

First of all, there was the fact that a short, spiky-haired blonde teen was walking towards him, eyes vacant and unfocused on where he was going.

The second crucial detail was that he was apparently walking straight towards Squall, and if he didn't turn either right or left at that very moment, they were going to crash.

The third was that he had just spotted his gate, 9B, but that didn't matter much, since he felt the sharp collision of another person against his chest, and they were both thrown backwards.

Squall was luckier than the other, he stumbled backwards, but fast reflexes and natural dexterity, he managed to catch himself before falling. Only his duffel bag suffered the hard impact with the floor. The other man, however, had landed straight on his ass, and was blushing slightly at his own clumsiness.

"Oh, uhm, I'm so sorry," the blonde uttered, immediately standing up and brushing himself off. Squall shrugged, and bent down to pick up his bag, and the backpack the other had been carrying before it fell and spilt all its contents on the floor.

The blonde was down again to help him gather his things.

A brochure and ticket caught Squall's eye, and he stopped to study it closely. "You're headed to Galabadian Prep, too?" He asked incredulously.

The other nodded. "Yeah, but I got lost, and can't find my gate…" He blushed and grinned sheepishly.

Squall glanced at the boy's ticket. "9B," he read. "You're on the same flight as me."

"Seriously?" The teen's face broke out in a wide grin. "Hey man, that's just so cool! What's your name? I'm Zell."

Taken aback by the zealous introduction, Squall shifted uncomfortably. "Squall. And gate 9B is that way," he gestured with his head.

Zell nodded. "Okay, thanks. I'm not good with finding things and all, you know," he said conversationally as they both stood and started walking towards their gate, more or less next to each other due to Zell's efforts in trying to keeping up with Squall's long stride.

Squall rolled his eyes subconsciously.

"So you're going to that school, too? This is just so awesome," Zell continued, unaware that Squall had stopped listening a few sentences ago. "My parents decided it would help me and all to see America and meet new people… You know, just to cool my head a little." He winced. "I don't know what they're thinking, exactly. Somehow everyone just tells me to shut up when I'm talking to them and then ignores me, but I get the feeling you're not like that, Squall. Hey, wanna sit together on the plane? We should get to know each other if we're gonna be seeing each other for the next 4 years."

Squall felt something crumble inside of him, and he felt a pang in his chest. 4 years.

'…There's no cure for it. I'm sorry. Ellone died in a month.'

Squall felt bitterness well up inside of him whenever the thoughts about his sister and the disease that killed her, and threatened to kill him as well, came up.

"Hey man, are you feeling OK? You're looking a bit pale." Squall turned his head a little to look at Zell.

"Never been better," He muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for the hyperactive blonde to hear. Zell grinned a little, before continuing to talk.

"I wasn't from around here, you know," he said, waving his arm around theatrically, causing several people to stare at them. Squall sighed quietly. He hated attention, since it made him feel like everyone knew

"…but we moved here when I was only 8. Oh, hey, look, there's our gate!" Zell bounced on the balls of his feet, trying to stretch his short frame to see above the tall warning signs against taking unknown baggage from someone.

They should include how to shake off annoying hyperactive blondes that could be potential terrorists, Squall thought wryly, heading towards an empty seat. To his dismay, Zell followed.

"So, how old are you?" Zell asked. Squall glanced over at him.

"Seventeen. You?"

"Sixteen. Aw man, does that mean you're gonna be a second level student? I'm still a first level."

Squall shrugged. He never really bothered to read over the welcome information packet to Galabadian Prep School, despite how many times his mother had warned him to.

The usual monotone announcements about security and baggage was interrupted as a male voice suddenly crackled to life over the speakers.

"Okay, folks! For all of you headed for America, the plane has just arrived and we'll be boarding shortly. We've just missed a big snowstorm, so we're very lucky not to have been delayed. Now if all the people in rows 14-23 would line up…"

Squall tuned him out, just as he normally did to anything that wasn't exactly piquing his interest. He felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go."

Squall looked at the blonde, who was already shouldering his backpack. Squall did the same and led the way towards the winding line. The man checking the tickets winked at a gaggle of girls in front of them, who giggled and blushed behind their hands.

Women, Squall thought with a sigh. He handed the man his ticket with a bored, aloof glance.

"You guys have a nice flight," he told them with a wink, to which Squall responded with a harsh glare. Zell just grinned.

"I want a window seat!" He chirped, plopping down in the first seat he saw and looking at Squall expectantly, waiting for him to sit down next to him.

"Uhm, don't we have to sit in our assigned-"

Just then, a flight attendant reached for a speakerphone and said, "Good evening, folks! Happy early holidays! Go ahead and grad any seat, this plane is surprisingly empty." She let out a sharp, feminine laugh. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

Squall looked despairingly at Zell, who missed the look and just smiled. "Com'on, Squall!"

The brunette sighed wearily at sat down slowly. "This is great," Zell crooned, stretching and yawning at the same time. "Ah, think I'm gonna take a nap. Night."

Squall stared in disbelief as the hyper blonde closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. Most people hadn't even boarded yet!

Grunting, he leaned down and unzipped his bag, reaching for his novel that he kept close at hand in case he was ever stuck some place without a source of entertainment. It was a habit he'd picked up from Ellone.

Squall sighed. Somehow, his thoughts kept drifting back to his late older sister. It had been seven years, he reprimanded himself, and… well, he still hadn't gotten over it. And now, it looked like he didn't have a lot of time left to sit there and brood.

He glanced desolately out the darkened window, where people in bright orange reflective vests were waving flags out in the chilly weather. In the plane, the heat was kicked way up, and the warm honey glow of the lights shone down through the reading bulbs. Above his head, a woman was snapping shut overhead compartments, working her way towards the back of the plane.

Squall opened his book, eyes scanning over the dog-earred page for his previous page. Catcher in the Rye. So far, he didn't think much of it, and the Holden Caulfield who was so cocky and arrogant. He hated people like that, point blank. Still, he was only on page 20. He had learned to give books at least 40 pages or so before giving up on them entirely.

The blonde next to him groaned and shifted. Briefly glancing at him, he started to read, just as the flight attendants voice filled the air, and the plane began to move.

: To be on the edge of breaking down, and no one's there to save you. No you don't know what it's like :

It was around early morning when the plane finally landed in the Baltimore Washington International Airport, or BWI. Winter in Maryland was chilly, he'd been told, so he'd packed extra thick sweatshirts and jackets. The blonde hadn't stirred the entire trip, but Squall was a bit paranoid about falling asleep on a plane that he was riding on alone, so he had slept only in fits.

By the time they had got off the plane, Squall had dark shadows under his eyes. Still, he'd stayed up far longer than a night. Shuddering slightly from a combination of the reminder of his sickness and the sudden chilliness in the air, Squall, followed closely by a lethargic Zell, made their way out of the airport.

"Let's hail a taxi and get to the school," Squall told Zell, for he had gotten used to the blonde being next to him, and, truth be told, he felt safer traveling around in America with someone that he was at least vaguely comfortable with. Zell nodded sleepily, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

The trouble with that plan, however, was that everyone else was apparently thinking the same thing, so after about 45 minutes of standing there waving at taxis that just passed by them and freezing their asses halfway to Maine, they settled for a bus, and gratefully hopped on one.

Besides a haggard old man sitting in a corner, the bus was deserted at around 4 AM in the morning. The driver was a droopy woman with deep set black eyes and a large scar running across her face, and Squall tried not to stare. She stunk of strong, black coffee, and was dressed in tattered wool sweaters and worn jeans.

Grunting briefly at them, they paid a few dollars, and then sat down. The bus was old and creaky, and Squall and Zell lapsed in and out of sleep, too tired and exhausted to try and stay awake.

The bus finally stopped at the closest bus stop there was to the school without actually going into the high-class neighborhood of cobblestone streets and colonial buildings. The duo made their way onto the sidewalk, collapsing on the bench to rest for a while.

"So…" Squall ventured at last, not feeling like keeping up an icy façade this late at night. "Do we walk to the school?"

Zell blinked awake, before processing his statement and nodding slowly. "Yeah, I guess," he said, flashing a small grin. "They must but open 24/7 now that students are arriving all the time and stuff."

Squall didn't reply, focusing instead of adjusting his duffel bag and standing up casually.

"Well, lets go," he said, and they started off. It was about a mile walk, and at around 5 in the morning and temperatures of about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, they weren't exactly happy campers. Even Zell, who Squall had learned was the type of bear-it-and-grin, glass-half-full type of guy was feeling a little droopy, yawning every 5 minutes.

Finally they saw a sign with fancy gold script reading Galabadian Prep School, although it was hard to see in the inky blackness.

Squall felt a twinge of pain, and frowned. "Great," he muttered, so quietly that Zell couldn't hear. He knew he kept pills in his bag, but he didn't feel like digging them out to show Zell and the rest of the world his condition. Best to keep him in the dark.

For as long as possible, Squall thought gloomily. A sharp, biting cold wind picked up through the night air, making him shiver and contract. Rubbing his gloved leather hands over his arms, he felt his teeth chatter.

We should get in soon, before we catch a cold, Squall found himself thinking. They walked up through the tall, imposing wrought-iron gate, which swung open with an ominous creak. If Squall were superstitious, he would have definitely taken that as an omen.

The courtyard was green and lush, littered with benches and trees and the occasional flower garden or memorial. A lamppost cast the building in sharp relief, light and shadows contrasting sharply across the entranceway, which was a double door, and painted a deep wooden mahogany.

The light inside the lobby was bright, and both boys blinked at the sudden change as their irises changed and contracted. Zell's bright blue eyes squinted as he looked towards the desk. A dozing brunette girl sat at the desk, and had jumped up, alerted to the intrusion. Bright green eyes surveyed them curiously, before they closed shut in a yawn.

"Mmm… Hello!" She chirped, a chipper note in her voice that was not entirely normal for the ungodly hour in the morning. "I'm Selphie! Are you guys some of the students?"

They nodded mutely, fascinated by the strange décor the room sported. Everything was done in red velvet; from the curtains to the couches. A huge, towering ceiling and a grand chandelier made the place look more like a fancy ballroom than a welcoming lobby for tired, boarding school teens.

"Yeah, pretty, huh?" The girl, Selphie, noted, following their gaze around the room. "Ya get used to it after a while… well, so what are your names?"

Squall blinked and focused grey eyes back on the girl. "Squall Leonhart, and Zell…"

He paused, looking over at the crested blonde. "…Zell Dincht." He finished with a slight grin. "Leonhart, huh? Like a lion?" He mimicked a roaring sound which made Selphie grin.

"Oh… here! Found ya! Both first level…" She laughed, nose scrunching up. "Now I think… huh, what's next/ Ah, right. Room keys. Right. Room key, room key…"

She muttered to herself as she got up and opened several drawers, before reemerging with two shiny, golden keys. "Don't lose those," she warned, "They're 50 dollars each."

Then she handed them both packets with their room information and numbers. Since they were first level students, both their rooms were on the first floor, but Squall was room 129 and Zell was room 145.

"Irvine Kinneas," Zell read from his packet. "Huh. Who's your roommate, Squall?"

The brunette bit his lip. "Seifer. Seifer Almasy." He frowned. "I thought that we got our own rooms."

"First levels?" Selphie laughed. "Nah, only fourth level kids get their own rooms, if they want them," she said with a lazy grin. "Most of the time they still prefer sharing with their friends. Although, first levels have to share a community bathroom/shower." Her face curled a little. "Sometimes the guys try to sneak into the girls showers with video cameras."

Zell and Squall looked at each other. Community showers?" They both echoed, faces incredulous.

"How do you know so much about these things?" Squall asked, frowning. Zell noted that the frown seemed to be a permanent addition to the stormy eyed boy, and to see him smile would seem completely strange and abnormal.

"I'm a student here," she said, shrugging. "But I was caught sticking gum under the desk in class… so this is my punishment. Night Lobby Duty. Blegh," she made a face.

Zell chose that moment to yawn. "Man, I'm beat," he said, rubbing his eyes. Squall snorted, and decided not to mention the long nap the blonde took on the plane. Figures, he reasoned, I just want to get my pills down and catch a few hours of shuteye.

They walked through another set of double doors, into where the first level students' dorms were located. Set off in four pods of 25 rooms, Squall and Zell both set off for pod 2 in the boys' dormitories, saying goodbyes and setting off.

Squall tried to drink in as much as he could of the building in the dimmed lights, but all he managed to see were several bathrooms and the community showers that Selphie had mentioned. Finally, he found his room and slid the key in with a soft click.

It was dark, except for a small fluorescent bubble light that glowed a flickering glow-in-the-dark blue. It was the kind you saw in the back of Spencer's, which made white shirts seem to turn to a light cerulean.

Squall set down his bag as quietly as possible, hearing the soft breathing of his roommate. Their welcome wagon is kinda loopy, he thought, quickly fumbling for his bottle of pills. Grabbing two and gulping them down with a swig from his water bottle, he replaced the cap just as the other teen in the room shifted and groaned.

Squall froze, debating whether to call out or not. However, the boy beat him to it.

"Hello? Who's there?" His voice was groggy and sleepy. Squall coughed lightly. "Uhm, me." He said lamely, before realizing the guy wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his voice and a serial killer come to rape him blind.

"I'm your roommate. Squall."

"…huh? Squall? As in, storm?" The voice was fully alert now.

Squall sighed, annoyed. "Yes, and no," he said, "It's my name. Squall."

"…Oh." The was the sound of rustling sheets, and the light flickered on, revealing a tall, muscular blonde dressed only in boxer shorts.

"The name's Seifer." Squall nodded mutely, eyes wide and staring before he blinked and turned away, mumbling.

"What was that?" Seifer asked curiously, a hint of a smirk on his face. Squall shook his head.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Didn't hear you," Seifer said again, this time really smirking and crossing his arms over his chest, knowing he was irking the brunette. "Were you checking me out?"

Squall blushed and shot the blonde a heated glare. "No, dumbass, I wasn't," he shot, taking his bag and slamming it on his bed with more force than was necessary.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so defensive," Seifer said with a lazy grin, enjoyment shining through sharp green eyes. Squall snorted but didn't reply.

The truth was, Squall had been staring at Seifer's chest. Sharp and smooth, he felt like he was looking at a model, straight from the pages of a Photoshop edited magazine. The other exception was that this guy was real, his roommate, and as cocky as hell. Apparently, the blonde and Holden Caulfield had many similarities.

Seifer grinned a little, before sighing. "Hey, Squall, you gonna stand there all night talking to yourself, or are ya gonna go to sleep? Cuz I know that I'm not gonna get up until noon tomorrow."

With that, the blonde flopped back down on his bed, immediately burrowing into the covers and going back to sleep. It took Squall a while to realize that tomorrow was Saturday, and that classes wouldn't begin officially until Monday, due to the incoming rush of new students.

Wincing a little as the pills started to take effect in his stomach, he set his bag on the floor beside him and followed the eccentric blonde's lead, lying down on the soft, comfy down mattress and closing his eyes.

However, the images of Seifer and the bus driver and the haggard old man keep popping up in his mind's eye, and he kept hearing the Asian girl's flirty smile and high giggle at the airport, playing over and over again like a broken record, until it reached epic proportions in his ears, like a symphony of ringing screeches and flutes.

Soon, he drifted off into a fitful sleep, plagued by incandescent golden hair and lucid green eyes.

TBC…

AN: Hmmm… I wonder… should I continue? This is, like, my first try with FF8 slash, not to mention a looong (intended to be, anyway) story… So… This is new for me! Review! Please. ) Anyone read Catcher in the Rye?

SHOULD I CONTINUE?