Chapter 2: Inauguration

Zell yawned sleepily as a knock on the door pulled him to consciousness, making him give an aggravated mumble as he stood up from his couch. Awaken by a knock on the door. He took a quick look around, Carbuncle was laying next to him, and Bahamut was gone, though that wasn't unusual. "I coming, I'm coming..." He called out as he made his way toward the door, rubbing his eyes to softly.

He opened the door "Nida? What are you doing here?"

"Zell? Your not ready yet?" Nida looked over him in surprise "Do you know what time it is?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Nida could tell by Zell's dazed expression that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "Hello, SeeD inauguration, one hour."

"Hour?" Zell rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, I forgot about that."

"Figured as much." Nida shrugged, this is why he came in the first place. "So where's Carbuncle? How's he doing?"

Zell tilled his head toward the couch as he walked past to get to his room. "He's a little better, still doesn't remember much...I'm sure he never will."

"Seriously?" Nida looked over Carbuncle solemnly, it saddening, Carbuncle knew so much. And now... "There's no way to get it back?"

"Nope." Zell sighed, shifting through his closet for his uniform "That damn thing that did this to him..."

Nida sat down next to the small GF, rubbing his head softly "Yeah, what exactly happened to him?"

"A shadow." Zell told him. "When he went after me in Time Compression, one of those shadows possessed him. I think that's how they all got here in the first place, it led them all through to our time from Carbuncle...If he had only listened to me..."

"Hmm..." Nida didn't respond, he just kept his eyes down on Carbuncle "We'll, it could have been worse, he could have forgotten everything completely."

"Yeah, your right I guess..."

! - ! - !

Seifer looked around as he walked into Cho's room, tapping his Gunblade against his shoulder almost impatiently. The first thing he noticed was Shadow laying across the couch, the second he noticed was his expression, he was tempted to make a smart comment but he decided to tone it down. Shadow didn't look exactly in the best of moods, even though he had been a little off since he injured Cho, this was a little too off. "Whoa, what happened to you?"

Shadow's eyes shifted towards him and then back towards the wall he was glaring at.

"They finally cut all that hair." Seifer sat on the couch next to Shadow, laying his sword on the table nearby "Your letting Cho groom you, your really turning into a dog now."

"I am not a dog!" Shadow growled, literally a growl came out at the same time as he spoke.

"Yeah yeah." Seifer waved discardingly, "What's with you anyway."

"There's nothing wrong with me." Shadow told him firmly.

Seifer placed his feet on the coffee table next to his Gunblade and let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling. "Come on, your not good at hiding things."

Cho emerged from the bedroom, one arm resting behind his head and the other lazily hanging from his side. "Seifer." He gave a small wave as he stood over him "Are you going to the inauguration party?"

Seifer snorted, internally scowling to him himself that set back. "Not a SeeD, remember?"

Cho shrugged "That doesn't mean you can't come."

"Alright, I'll make it clear brat. I'm not going."

Cho looked at him for a moment, almost disappointedly "Alright then."

Seifer watched the boy leave, noting the drastic change in appearance and the obvious effort put into it. Then he glanced over at Shadow, then he was able to easily put it all together "Your going with him to the inauguration party."

"...Yes." Shadow was hesitant to answer, Seifer noticed.

Seifer smirked "Sounds like you don't want too."

"No, I don't" There was no uncertainty when he spoke of it this time.

"Your still going though with it?" Seifer knew Shadow wasn't the type to do anything he didn't want to do, stubborn as he was.

Shadow shifted lightly and continued staring at the wall. "I'm not sure I'm going to even bother. This is too much trouble."

Seifer laughed "Oh you are so full of it, too much trouble my ass. If you didn't do everything that was too much trouble then you would have left last week."

Shadow glanced up at him "You--...I'm still not going. I don't want to be bothered with all of these humans. I barely tolerate you."

"You know what it is?" Seifer lifted his head and looked down at Shadow completely "I think your scared."

"Scared, I fear nothing, especially in this world." Shadow shot back.

Seifer looked at him for a moment, then laid his head back again and continued staring up at the ceiling "That's not the kind of scared I meant...you know all of those people hate you, and you don't want to go."

Shadow looked up at him completely now "If they hate me...Then what's the point of doing this? There's no reason I have to go, there's no need for me to be there."

Seifer paused for a moment. "Your doing it for Cho, because if you back out, the little brat will probably back out too. And you know he really wants to go."

Shadow turned back towards the wall, "Why aren't you going?"

"I'm not a SeeD."

"Neither am I, But I'm going." Shadow said, "Go with me."

Seifer continued looking up, his mind deliberating the thought. He couldn't tell Shadow to go and then not go for the same reason Shadow didn't want to. "If I go, I'm sticking in the back by the drinks...I'm going to need one." He said, finally deciding to get up.

"Where are you going?" Shadow asked.

"I need to talk to somebody."

! - ! - !

Squall took a look around the familiar place, now deemed his new office, or at least it would have been if the cockpit wasn't sitting in the way. The thought of him running the Garden still gave him a headache, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice so he had to except it.

But it did leave a question to be answered, 'What the hell am I supposed to do now?'

He didn't have a shortage of work, off the top of his head he knew there were still some repairs that were still needed to be done. Which meant they would be heading for FH again tomorrow, and he still needed to get the assignments ready for the new SeeD's first mission tomorrow. How both were going to work out...

He could think about that latter, SeeD inauguration was less then an hour off.

"Squall?"

Squall looked back, finding himself staring into Ifrit's chest. "Where is this going?" Ifrit asked, holding a large box on his shoulder.

"Right there is fine." Squall said, wondering how he was going to fit all of his things up here...Maybe if he went under the cockpit... Squall slid past the long pillar that held up the cockpit above them, finding it basically as much as room as before and completely empty, but as much as was needed for a bed room, better yet least storage. If he put a door behind the lift then it'd work out. "Never mind, back here is even better."

Ifrit nodded and crossed the room, sliding through from in-between the poll and setting the box down next to Squall.

"Lionhart, Where the hell are you?"

Squall rubbed his head and sighed 'What the hell dose he want.' "What is it Seifer?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"So you going to take him?" Nida asked, still petting Carbuncle who had made his way into Nida's lap as he slept. He felt bad that he hadn't had time to talk to Carbuncle since they got back to the garden, he knew it had to be hard not being able to remember anything.

Zell emerged from the bathroom, soaked from just finishing a shower, he ran the large towel through his hair as he walked past when he knew Nida wasn't looking. He was pressed for time. "Yeah, I don't think I can leave him alone. It'd be too hard on him."

"Yeah, I guess it would." Nida nodded, just barely catching a glimpse of his watch.. "Oh man! I was supposed to help set up...to late now." He might as well stay, it was too late to do anything now anyway, he just couldn't believe he forgot so easily...His sudden elevated voice was enough to wake Carbuncle.

"..." Carbuncle shifted a little under a touch he knew was familiar and opened his eyes to an unfamiliar placed. "Wha...what?" Carbuncle lifted himself on to his feet from under Nida's hand and then looked up questioningly at him. He felt a small pang telling him that he should have remembered something about this person, this person was important but it was barely a blur if anything.

"Carbuncle, do you remember me?" Nida asked.

Carbuncle tried, he tried his best, straining his mind to it's limit trying to think of this person and why he was important, but there was nothing "No..." Carbuncle said with an annoyed sigh, Nida looked hurt when he said that, making Carbuncle feel even worse, "I'm sorry, but feel like I should...I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Nida rubbed his head lightly, "My name is Nida, nice to meet you." He had to admit, that did hurt. Carbuncle remembered Cho but not him, but it wasn't his fault, he shouldn't have felt bad about it, but it still felt bad.

Carbuncle nodded "I really should remember you and I know it..."

"Don't worry about it to much. It's not your fault." Nida reassured him, rubbing the small GF's head again. Carbuncle sighed and laid back down, he knew this touch, it felt familiar, to have soft hands that rarely saw battles rubbing him in this way. He should remember this person.

Zell emerged from the bed room in SeeD uniform and all, "So, how do I look?" He asked standing in front of them both.

"Great." Carbuncle immediately responded.

Nida looked him over closely "Cleaner then usual." Then he picked up the small GF and set him down in Zell's arms, "We better go, it's almost time."

Zell nodded and looked down at Carbuncle "Ready to go?"

"Junction?"

"Uh-huh."

! - ! - !

! - !- !

Cho looked around the ballroom in amazement, he'd never seen a room so big. Marble floors laid out in intricate designs, reflective enough to see the bright lights from the ceiling in. Nicely laid out decorations, food, champagne, and there were so many people here, a good amount not even SeeDs. "Whoa! Look at this place." He said excitedly.

"Well you made it." Nida said, taking a look around. It amazed him how they could make this so much different every year. "I'm proud of you Cho."

"Yeah Yeah." Seifer waved off his comment, still unable to believe that someone Cho's age became a SeeD before he did, and he was coming here with him. Of course he had to clean up his own appearance a bit, change his cloths from the usual. "This is going to be a long night."

Shadow looked around, finding eyes slowly averting towards them, Seifer was right, this would be a long night.

Seifer picked up a glass off of the tray of a passing waiter, "Anyone feeling claustrophobic?" He took a sip, Then glanced over at a boy walking past who didn't seem to happy to see him or Shadow here "Let me rephrase that, any dogs feeling claustrophobic, because I think I need some air."

"I'm not a dog." Shadow barked.

Cho immediately stepped in front of them "Hey wait! You can't go now. We just got here."

"Relax, just going to the balcony..." Seifer said "Before I hurt someone."

"Uh...wouldn't want that I guess." Cho shrugged disappointedly, but he knew how bad Seifer's temper could get, and he didn't exactly have self control. "Well, I still got you Nida."

Nida smiled and ruffled the boy's hair "Of course. Now go have some fun."

Cho nodded and grabbed his arm, "Yeah!" He ran forward dragging Nida behind, nearly running into the passing Zell.

"Whoa...someone's happy." Zell rubbed his head as he watched Cho and Nida. 'So, Carbuncle, Bahamut, how dose it look.'

'Whoa...' Carbuncle looked around in amazement through Zell's eyes 'This is so cool, look at this place.'

'This place looks amazing.' Bahamut commented, 'I've never seen something this extravagant.'

"Glad you like it, how about we go get some Champagne, I'm not leaving this party sober."

'Why, what's wrong Zell?' Bahamut knew something had to be wrong.

"Nothing." Zell told him, but of course there was something bother him. He ignored it for the moment and looked around, "Hey Squall."

Squall, in full uniform, glanced back and mentally groaned in his head. He liked Zell, considered him a friend, but he didn't feel much in the mood to deal with him right now, he was still pondering how he was going to manage Garden repairs and assign a mission at the same time. "Zell."

Zell wrapped his arm around Squall's shoulder "How you doing Commander. How's running the Garden going?"

"Horribly." Squall sighed, giving him a subtle look.

"Whoa." Zell removed his arm and patted Squall on the back "I'll leave you too it."

Squall sighed in relief, at lest Zell knew when to leave him alone. "I shouldn't even be here, I have too much work."

'Squall, Behind you.' Griever prompted.

Squall listened, and turned around questionlessly. He found himself looking down at a boy about a foot shorted to him and 2 years younger "Can I help you?"

"Are you Squall Lionhart?" The boy asked, looking at him with odd black eyes, running his hand through his short brown hair, "Need your help...I need SeeD help."

"What kind of help?" Squall asked curiously, 'What could someone his age need SeeD's for, I thought he was a student.'

"Dollet." The boy said "The short version is I need body guards to get me from Dollet by train to Timber."

'Is he serous?' "SeeD's aren't free you know." Squall informed him, just incase he didn't know.

The boy nodded "I'm sure, but I will pay you...I'll find away to pay. But I really need body guards, and I heard that Balamb Garden was the best."

Squall folded his arms 'Hmm...He need's body guards, but he can't pay...' "...What are the details?"

The boy smiled "My name is Matthew. And I've seem to have pissed some very dangerous people, I'm not sure how exactly, possibly something my father or brother or some other family member has done. But the point is they want me dead, so I have to pick up something's in Dollet and get to Timber where it's safe. I really need to do this, please, will you help me?"

! - ! - !

"..." Shadow walked at Cho's side, feeling like hell, unable to figure out why he was still here. If he could count every look, scowl, or anything hateful directed towards him so far...

"Shadow, what's with you?" Cho asked, holding his arms behind his head lazily. "Come on, this is great."

"..." Shadow didn't respond, he just glanced back at Nida with red eyes then stared forward.

"You know..." Cho reached over and rubbed his head, "I'm really grateful you actually came, I thought you would have left by now."

Shadow was still silent, it made this whole experience a little easier but this was still unbearably hard.

Seifer came from behind, poking a finger into Cho's had and rubbing Shadow's head hard enough to push down his ears. "Sorry brat, I need to borrow spiky again."

Cho didn't feel regretful this time, he knew Shadow didn't want to be here, and he was forcing himself to stay mostly from pride, pride wouldn't permit him from leaving just because humans. That didn't mean he was unaffected by what they thought, "Yeah, if that's ok with him."

"It's fine." Shadow walked behind Cho and over to Seifer, though he didn't show it he was very relieved to have a break. Shadow followed him through the scores of people and out to the door near the back of the room and into the main hall.

"What would I do with out alcohol." Seifer said with a breath of relief as he finished off the last of his glass.

"How can you drink that?" Shadow said, pacing around lightly in the silence of the circular hall.

"Why not, You seemed to like it." Seifer set the empty glass aside on a near by railing then leaned against it, looking down at the fountain that lay behind him. "The key to alcohol is control, drink too much and you get drunk and a hell of a hang over the next day, might even black out, like you did."

"I'm not going near that again."

"Yeah yeah..."