Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters.

Chapter 2: Frosted glass

It has been two and a half hours since the first shriek of a monster, and it has been going on continuously. The blue blade slashes through the last of the grats, its blood slipping away from Lionheart's tip and dropping on the ground. Squall doesn't bother to clean the blade and continues to walk around the Training Center. From behind, a T-Rexaur roars not very far away.

Perfect.

He anticipates the dinosaur, not even facing the direction it would come out from. He closes his eyes as if to challenge himself further. The trees rustle in the wind. He could hear the stomping of the monster as it charges towards him, but he does not move until it is close enough. He spins around, crouched low enough to duck the attack of T-Rexaur with the sword in his hand outstretched to slash the monster right in the stomach, it's blood staining his already dirtied white shirt. His blow does not kill the monster immediately. As if to cling on to the last moments of its life, it flails erratically, momentarily catching Squall off guard and clawing his back. The blood makes his clothes heavy and stick to his wound. He does not cry out in pain. He grips the hilt of his blade and opens his eyes as he summons Shiva who appears with her body swirling in crystallizing snow. She looks at her master momentarily with his back bleeding and eyes locking onto her with a cold that could rival her own. She raises her delicate eyebrow before she waves her hand to send a wind of solidifying ice to the T-Rexaur which instantly kills it, turning the creature into nothing but dust.

There was no need for you to summon me. Her voice tingles into his mind like cold wind chimes while she observes how her master struggles to stand with his two hands weighing down on the hilt of his sword. You could have killed that T-Rexaur easily even without my help, she continues. What is bothering you?

His breaths come in short, small puffs, and he does not respond. Instead, they both look at the remains of the monster Shiva had eliminated. She closes her eyes and looks at her master again. Hyne knows when the last time she was comfortable with a master, or with anyone really. At first, she approved of him because she believed that they were so very similar, like that moment. She also finds her master amusing at times, but it wouldn't do if he died on her. But sometimes, she would have a feeling of warmth that would breeze pass her, also like that moment. She does not linger on it though. Besides, it also wouldn't do well for them both if she would show affection; he'd probably push her away too.

You really should heal that wound, she says as nonchalantly as possible while slowly turning into powdered snow. He breathes in the last of the cold from Shiva's wake and breathes out, "Cure." Warm green light surrounds him and he feels the broken skin on his back stretching and mending. The spell has yet to be finished when he starts to walk again, swinging Lionheart to flick the blood from the sword away.

"Squall, please tell me you didn't finish off all the monsters here again." A familiar, child-like voice whines from behind the trees. Squall glares at Zell who emerges with his hands resting on his hips while admiring the path of dead gnats from where Squall once was.

"Yeah, well good morning to you too," the tattoo-faced boy mumbles with slight annoyance. For all the years they've known and fought together, Zell has learned to roll with Squall's silences, specially with the increase during the past year, but that didn't mean that there were some days when he just can't, just like how he turns around to see that Squall has started to walk away. He sighs and starts to jog up the path.

"Hey Squall, wait u—"

The brunette turns his head at Zell, giving him a disinterested look before pointing him towards the side where a Gnat is rapidly charging towards the blonde. It whips up one of its vines and, before Zell could even turn his head towards the monster, it grabs a hold of his ankle and lifts him effortlessly.

"Yo man, couldn't you give me a heads up at least?!" The blonde, now upside down, screams out to Squall who has stopped walking to watch with indifference before walking away again. Zell swings to dodge the other free vines and the Gnat's mouth. "A little help would be…" his loud voice dies out as he realizes that his former comrade has started walking away again, taking a path towards the exit of the Training Center. "…great." He dodges a vine one more time before reaching towards the one that held him up and rips it with his hands. He lands on the ground and stands up with clenched fists up. "Well, at least he saved some for me."

The elevator opens with a ding. Squelching boots echo the relatively short hall towards the Headmaster's room and private elevator to the office, one of the few luxuries Squall was ever grateful for since the position was given to him, not that privacy was hard to find. In fact, he's had an abundance of it for the past two years.

He enters his room, taking off his boots and placing them beside the door along with Lionheart to prevent getting dirt on the floor, and looks at the time: 6:37. He goes in the bathroom to strip and bathe when he realizes that his bomber jacket has been ruined. The back was ripped in the middle and the fur had splashes of his blood and the T-Rexaur's from the last fight. A memory of feathers flashes in his mind but before a concrete memory comes into mind, he removes the rest of his clothes and takes a warm shower. He watches as the caked mud and blood swirl around his feet, feeling the water come down on his skin like rain. He doesn't linger for long, changing into a new pair of leather jeans, a clean shirt, and the last of his jackets. He'll have to restock that later on; after all, no one would do it for him now.

The Cafeteria usually opens much later but, because of Squall's habit of going in much earlier than everybody else, it now begins to come alive as the day starts, something the young Headmaster usually avoids but could not help as of the moment because he started the day a bit later than usual. Of course, everyone in Balamb Garden would know of Squall Leonhart, the famed hero who saved the world. While others would know him by another name (and would not dare to call him that), some would only know of it as they experience it first-hand.

"Oh my gosh, you're Headmaster Squall! Can I please have your autograph?" a young freshman girl bounces happily towards him just before he enters the Cafeteria. Students present in the area gape at this rare show of courage, with some others covering their faces in horror. The brunette glares at her with slight irritation as she walks alongside him. "I am well aware of my own ranking and identity. The only signature you'll get from me is on your diploma if you survive the rest of your training. That's if you can," he tells her in a deadpan tone, leaving her embarrassed as she slows to a stop while he heads towards the line to get breakfast.

Before he could do so, he spots his secretary talking seriously with two other instructors on a table. Their eyes meet and, almost immediately, they stop talking and instead turn their heads towards him. "Hey Squall, I thought you'd be upstairs by now," Quistis greets him while Selphie and Irvine smile at him nervously. "Yeah, I don't usually see you this late here," Selphie adds. He raises an eyebrow at them.

"I was at the Training Center a bit later than usual," he replies to them after giving them a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Oh, I guess we'll have to check it out, see if there are any monsters left for the kids to train with, right?" Quistis turns to Irvine with an over-enthusiasm that could match Zell's. "Oh yeah, Selphie and I will check it out and we'll tell you all about it later, right sweetie?" Irvine replies with a slightly high-pitched tone to his voice, making Squall's eye twitch in the process. "Wha?" she replies, jumping on her seat and looking like a deer caught in headlights. The petite girl could never keep a secret even if her life depended on it and it was showing at the moment. Meanwhile, Irvine tries to discreetly step on her foot, which doesn't leave unnoticed by Squall. Rather than question them, Squall closes his eyes from second-hand embarrassment while Selphie yelps. "Ow! Oh yeah! We better get goin' then, huh?" The three stand up from their place, grabbing their leftovers from breakfast.

While the other two hurry along, Quistis lightly puts a hand on Squall's shoulder. "Don't worry so much, it's nothing I swear. I'll meet you upstairs, alright?" He brushes her hand aside. "Yeah, whatever," he replies back to her, walking away. She lingers for a second more and sighs before throwing her trash. At that moment, Zell comes in bouncing and spots Quistis. "Hey Quis, what did I miss?"

Meanwhile, Squall exits the Cafeteria and goes up to his office with a small paper bag and a large cup of black coffee. He gets off the elevator as it opens to his office and is greeted by the rays of the sun. He squints his eyes, cursing under his breath for forgetting to turn the knob on for the windows. It baffles him to think how previous Headmaster Cid was able to work under such conditions, with the sun blaring down or blinding him at all angles. Thankfully, saving the world made it a bit easier for Squall to ask a little redesigning of the room, including the glass dome that sat as the roof of the office as well as the windows around it. While the knob could turn the glass dome and windows into any color or make it as translucent as he wants it to be, he has always been a minimalist. Black or white for most days, or leaving it translucent when it's dark enough or it's raining outside. Right now, he must've left the settings the night before while watching the stars.

Squall turns the knob until nothing could be seen from outside, making the windows into a wall of white, and goes up to his desk where a small pile from yesterday's work was left behind. He has a habit of leaving a few minor things for the next day, knowing that he'll be able to finish it just before Quistis comes barging in with more work to be done.

After finishing a piece of toast and a quarter of his coffee, Squall finishes the last of the previous day's work as Quistis comes in through the main elevator. "Not much work today but, aside from the Training Center which needs replenishing of monsters again, there are a few requests that you need to approve," she says as she places the papers on his desk. "Yeah, thanks," he replies as he hands her his work. "One other thing –" "No worries, lunch will be taken here," she cuts him off with a smile before walks away. While she was also responsible as an instructor, Squall decided to put her in as his secretary because of her efficiency. Putting the guys in meant no work to be done with Irvine flirting with every girl he sees and Zell messing up the paperwork. Selphie's no different, while Rinoa...she was always herself.

"Thanks," Squall manages to say before she leaves as he picks from the relatively small pile of work up and starts to read through the first request. Judging by the crumpled up form and the messy handwriting, Squall could already tell that it was Zell. Hotdogs? Squall reads mentally and sighs. For Hyne's sake Zell I wish you would stop sending these stupid requests. His eyebrows crease as he balls up the form and throws it in a bin under his desk.

Apparently, being Headmaster also meant being behind a desk while doing paperwork, including answering requests from anonymous students and instructors. The worst he has ever received was a request for a supposed surprise birthday celebration for him and that he should act surprised. It didn't surprise him that people would try to pull up a sort of celebration for him, but what really stunned him was the decoration of bright colored balloons as well as confetti covering the school grounds. Gray and blue streamers hung on the ceiling. It didn't help that Selphie took over the intercom and blasted out pop music. While Squall groaned at each student that tried to greet him a happy birthday, he saw Rinoa from the corner of his eye, smiling as if to coax him to do the same. Now, he just throws the useless requests in a trash bin. He looks as the bin, almost filled to the brim, and makes a mental note to take out the trash later.

The day rolls on slowly as Squall checks his emails and the reports to be made as well as the various requests that come in to recruit or enroll a student. Squall, who has received all sorts of training, did not expect his current life to play out behind a desk and not on the field. Almost makes me wish there was another sorceress who'd try and conquer the damn world, Squall thinks as lunch comes in.

He has barely finished eating his lunch when suddenly Quistis buzzes through the intercom on his desk, clearing her voice before speaking. "Squall, there's someone down at lobby who wants to see you." There was a squeaky tone to her voice that reminds him of that early morning. "So let them come up here," he replies. "I think it would be better if you go down there." His eyebrow rises up. He takes a last drink from his already-cold black coffee and goes back to finishing his lunch when his secretary buzzes in again. "Don't worry, I'm not playing with you. Just go there," she tells him almost in a motherly tone. He doesn't answer back and pinches the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed for a moment as if to delay the beginnings of a headache before standing up. He leaves his office, not noticing that his secretary is not at her desk, and takes the main elevator.

On the way down, he looks through the glass elevator to get a first look on the person who wants to see him. What catches his attention first is how the cadets are running like their lives depended on it, away from the entrance of the lobby. "What's going on here?" Squall mutters under his breath, watching until his view gets cut short. The elevator slows down to a halt as he hears panic ensuing amongst the cadets as they run away. He curls his fingers into fists to ready himself as the doors open.

"Leonhart, I'm touched. You went all the way from your crummy office to see li'l old me." Squall would know that arrogant voice anywhere, could see the familiar smirk etched across his face without even looking. The other man runs his fingers through his short blonde hair as he observes the students running away from him. Meanwhile, the brunette looks at this, his hands slacking on his sides.

"…Seifer?"

A/N: It's been years since I've revisited this story and something's bound to change while editing. I'm not promising to update regularly but I want to at least follow through with what I've created.