Seifer was left to his own devices in Cid's office whilst the others assisted the Headmaster in making arrangements for the new arrival. The peaceful silence was accompanied by the occasional chime of the academy's bells, signaling the beginning and end of each class. He felt oddly at peace being able to actually relax for once, almost forgetting what was at stake for being back at Garden.

However, the amount of time he was spending seated on the couch was starting to get on his nerves, so he decided to stretch his legs, pacing back and forth from Cid's desk to the massive double doors that lead out to the reception. After a couple of laps he started to feel the blood flow come back through his legs, every so often having a stretch to keep his actions from feeling to repetitive.

On his final lap he stopped mid step, heading the sound of chains clinking together behind him, then came a woman's sobs. He spun around to meet an all too familiar scene unfolding in front of him; there was Dios, surrounded by blackness, suspended from the ceiling with the rattling chains, her back to him. He could see the blood slowly flowing down the right side of her body, staining her long platinum blonde hair and ending up pooling on the illuminated floor beneath her.

Seifer felt a huge lump form in his throat as he slowly edged closer to his sobbing friend, his hands began to shake with ingrained terror. He had dreamt of this scene many times before, but this time it felt real once again, too real, feeling his heart rate increase, it almost felt like it was going to explode in his chest. But he swallowed his fear and made his way to her.

The sobbing descended into almost silent whimpers as he reached her, extending an arm to turn her around. Golden eyes and a wicked smile greeted him, her demented gaze starting into his shocked eyes as she began to cackle, never once breaking the contact they shared. He couldn't move, completely frozen in terror as the volume increased, watching the once blonde hair slowly turn deathly white and her skin began to burn away, those telltale tattoos rising from the bubbling flesh, laughter still violating his ears. She was there, mocking his memories, sending him into a blind panic. Seifer could not shake the fear rising up in him, her features fully contorted from the form of Dios to the nightmare that has been haunting him since she left a year ago.

The terrified teen heard the soft click of a door behind him, but he was too scared to see who was there, he was too transfixed on the woman in front of him, laughing at how pathetic he had become. Seifer was suddenly broken out of his trance, jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder and the scene in front of him faded away, her laughter and golden deranged stare the last to leave. He was turned around and found that the intruder was Cid, showing a look of extreme concern. As Seifer regained slight awareness of his surroundings he noticed that he was breathing quite erratically, his palms feeling extremely clammy under his leather cloves and his chest felt constricted, controlling his breathing was near impossible.

"Alright Seifer, I need you to try and slow your breathing, you're having a panic attack. It's just the two of us here, no need to be scared." Cid said soothingly, leading the teen back to the couch on the other side of the office. "Squall and I came to get you to take you to the Infirmary, but we heard screaming as we came into the reception. No need to be worried, I left Squall out there, we need to settle down your breathing before we get you out there." Seifer barely understood Cid's words, only responding to the names he heard, completely unaware that he was screaming whilst he saw his vision.

He looked into Cid's eyes; he saw the reflection of his own cyan hues in his glasses, his pupils almost completely retracted in panic. Seifer felt Cid put a hand on his heaving chest, kneeling down in front of him, not once breaking eye contact. He still couldn't think straight, the vision of Dios turning into her still very fresh on his mind, refusing to budge and keeping the panic attack in its place longer. He felt heavy, trapped in his own nightmares, helpless.

"Seifer." Cid spoke again, "I know you're in there. I need you to try and slow your breathing. It's the only way we can get you out of this." They seemed only like jumbled words to Seifer, who was close to losing his grip on reality again, feeling the wicked laughter beginning to plague his hearing once more. His blank eyes continued to stare at Cid, who contorted his face into a frown.

"Seifer Almasy! I know you can hear me! How will you be able to face Dios like this?" Dios? Hearing that name caused the laughter ringing in his ears to cease and his eyes darted around the room looking for her, but it was still only Cid in the room with him, still kneeling in front of him, his wrinkling hand still placed on the teen's fluttering chest. Seifer acknowledged he heard him, the silent whisper of his best friend's name escaping his lips. Cid Smiled.

"That's right! You can't really see her with your heart going a million miles an hour, she'd have kittens! Now let's begin this breathing exercise, shall we?" Seifer slowly nodded in response, his fists clenched has he tried to listen to Cid's words of encouragement.

"Breathe in." Cid breathed in deeply, holding his breath after a few seconds and waiting for Seifer to follow suit. He drew in a slow, stuttered breath only for Cid to shake his head.

"Breathe out." Cid exhaled and Seifer followed, noticing his breath was much shorter than the Headmaster's. "A bigger breath this time Seifer. Breathe in." He breathed in again, attempting to take note on how long Cid inhaled before holding his breath. Anything to make it work.

"Breathe out." Another exhale, longer this time. He could feel his heart slowly settle. "That's a lot better, remember Dios is waiting. Again."

After several rounds of the breathing exercises, Seifer completely regained awareness of his surroundings. Visibly satisfied, Cid stood, making his way to the water cooler beside the couch and filled a glass. Sitting down beside the still trembling Seifer, he offered up the glass in which he silently accepted, taking small sips as he stared vacantly forward, ashamed that he let himself get to the point where the Headmaster had to break him out of his stupor. But most of all he felt powerless to stop what was happening to him, the thought of needing help humiliated him even more.

"Would you like to talk about it Seifer?" Cid sounded concerned for him, but now that he was back to his senses, it was not well received.

"No. I'm fine." He spat, glaring at the glass.

"But talking about it will-"

"Don't." Seifer grumbled, cutting Cid off. "I don't need it. Why are you here anyway?" Cid looked at Seifer puzzled.

"I told you as I came in, Squall and I are here to take you to the Infirmary for your physical, remember?" Squall… He thought about it for a moment, he remembered hearing his rival's name, but he must not have heard all of Cid's words during his meltdown. Just how much time went by when the attack began? Seifer responded with a sincere shake of his head causing Cid to sigh as he stood up. "Well, it's time for us to go. I think it would be rude to keep those two lovely ladies down there waiting." With that, Seifer followed suit and stood as well, following the Headmaster to the entrance of the reception.

Squall was waiting in the reception, sitting on the receptionist's chair, staring at the two men; the receptionist herself was nowhere to be seen. Cid must have given her the day off… In an attempt to diffuse the severity of the earlier incident, Seifer scrunched his nose at the SeeD's concerned look.

"What's the matter Squally-boy? Have I got something on my face?" He joked, pointing at his features. Squall stood, ignoring his attempt at humor.

"Are you alright?" He asked the taller blonde, which annoyed him greatly. He felt like this was going to become a common occurrence and that didn't sit right with him at all.

"Of course I'm alright, who do you take me for, Chicken-wuss!?" Seifer quickly made his way to the elevator to avoid the discussion from continuing any further. As the two followed him to the elevator, he hoped that they would take the hint and not talk about what happened any more.

He was relieved when the ride down to the ground floor was enjoyed in silence, Cid and Squall clearly understanding that Seifer was not going to divulge any details about what happened while he was alone in the Headmaster's office. The soft ding of the elevator prompted the trio that it was time to disembark. As they exited they saw that the circular foyer was brimming with SeeD and cadets alike, all discussing their late afternoon plans in their respective groups. But it wasn't long before some noticed the former Sorceress Knight descend the stairs, the excited chattering slowly turning into hushed whispers and awkward stares. Seifer was not going to let them get to him; he was welcomed back into Garden by Cid and Edea and that was his main concern in his opinion.

But what about Dios? He thought. Would she be exactly like those who were currently scrutinizing him? Already prepared to shun him like they were?

The anxiety swelled inside him the closer they got to the infirmary, but he was determined not to let it get the best of him this time, there was no need for this to dissolve into another panic attack. Seifer had to face this demon and know once and for all whether Dios was still going to be on his side.

Squall and Cid trailed behind him, side-eyeing the curious students with caution as they walked down the hallway leading to the Infirmary, the vision outside the windows showing the sun had already begun to set, yet some younger students chose to take advantage of the good weather, spending their time outside. As they drew closer to the Infirmary doors, they could hear the excited chatter of small children and that made Seifer feel a little more nervous. Were those children now orphans because of him?

He didn't have time to think on it as the automatic doors opened revealing the mostly white, sterile smelling Infirmary. The familiar patient rooms curtained off to his right, but he could hear the chatter behind one of them. Seifer's breath was caught in his throat when he recognized one particular voice over all the others.

"How many times to I have to tell you lot to stop running in the hallways? One day someone is going to break a bone and I will be flogging that kid off to Dr. Kadowaki!" A flurry of children ran through the curtain and hurried past the three, giggling as they left. Dios appeared next from the curtain, she looked like she was about to yell at the escaping kids but stopped, mouth agape at who was standing just a few meters shy of her.

Seifer couldn't speak, he felt like he had lost his voice as he looked into Dios' blue-grey eyes. He studied her features closely, noticing that she had barely changed since they had last met. Her waist length platinum blonde hair was lazily tied into a high ponytail; bangs shaping her pale face, bright red lipstick bringing colour to her porcelain skin. She was habitually covering her scarred neck with a sleeveless black turtleneck top and wore black jean shorts that slightly allowed her toned torso to be seen. Her doctors coat was hung over her shoulder, but it slowly slid to the floor, unnoticed by the girl whose complete attention was on him.

It felt like forever that they were staring at each other. She needed to say something; he needed to say something, anything to kill the silence. He watched as her eyes darted around him, observing him top to bottom, they were both stuck in stunned silence that both of them were unable to break.

Dios made the first move, slowly shuffling towards the elder of the two, not once breaking eye contact with him. To Seifer's surprise he felt her small arms slink underneath his trench coat and wrap themselves around his waist; a small thud was heard as her cheek made contact with his chest. The scent of strawberries overcame his senses, the oh so familiar smell that was always attributed to Dios. He reciprocated the embrace, burying his face in her soft hair in relief; he was not hated by her, she was happy to have him back.

Seifer could feel his vest dampening as sobs escaped Dios' lips, causing him to embrace her harder, wanting the crying to stop.

"This is fine." She said in between sobs, clutching the fabric of his vest. "Having you back is perfectly fine." The sobbing turned into full blown crying, her emotions were so raw that even Seifer choked up for a moment, he had never felt so much relief in his life.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm back." He gingerly rubbed her back, feeling the heaving in her chest lessen. Dios then pulled away still sniffling, her eyes still puffy and red, flowing with tears. She smiled warmly at him amidst all her crying.

"You're home." Home… He acknowledged her smile with one of his own, wiping the tears away from her eyes with his thumb.

"Yeah. I'm home."