AN: I would like to say thankyou to my reviewers, every bit of encouragement helps.

There are no warnings in this chapter.

Italics- thoughts

Disclaimer-I don't own final fantasy VIII nor any characters associated, my own characters are stated in the first chapter, I make no profit from this.

Chapter 2- The sorceress knight bond

Squall wished the floor would just swallow him up so he wouldn't have to deal with one more minute of hell, t-rexaurs, evil sorceri even torture, he could handle but public speaking gave him cold sweats, why did Cid give him a commander status?

Squall tried his best not to fidget but the new uniform felt so uncomfortable, he'd much prefer his bomber jacket and leather pants. Fortunately for him, the introductions went fairly quickly and the award ceremony was fleeting.

I don't really give a shit if I get extra benefits for just doing my job.

Squall's blue eyes scanned the audience for Rinoa, she should have been up on stage with him, he'd been surprised when Cid didn't shout her name out surely she deserved as much recognition as the rest of them, however he wasn't the only one looking for her, Odine's greedy eyes were also searching even before they knew she was a sorceress, Odine, the asshole had developed an unhealthy infatuation, which made Squall grind his teeth together he wanted to separate Odine's head from his body

Squall scowled at him which sent him scuttling away like a rat caught red handed with some cheese. The students in the hall went wild they'd heard all about him and his faithful team, many of them were excited to be working with or to be taught by the heroes. Squall's neck started to feel prickly unease settled in deep into his stomach and all oh SeeD instincts kicked in. He looked up from his seat the chandeliers were swaying above the students nobody else seemed to notice or if they did, they didn't care.

"Squall, squall, SQUALL"

"Sorry what" he didn't know who he was replying to

"Squall I've been calling your name for the past five minutes, what are you looking at" Quistis said following Squall's focus. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she looked up to the now still chandeliers.

"Whatever its nothing" Squall said.

"Well me and Selphie are going into Balamb for coffee before classes start, I just wanted to let you know Commander Leonhart" Quistis smirked at Squall's annoyed look, she was going to enjoy winding him up.

"I was going to ask Rinoa if she wanted to come with but I've not seen her so I assume she's still in bed, I don't blame her". Squall didn't like Quistis's tone, she probably didn't mean to sound sarcastic and nonchalant but he couldn't stop remembering the time when she despised Rinoa, not so long ago.

Squall just nodded in acknowledgement, he didn't want to get in an argument with defending Rinoa's behaviour and he also didn't want to accept the position of being everybody's boss and having to deal with any disciplinary actions. He watched her walk away with Selphie and Xu.

Squall walked towards Cid and Edea, he wanted answers.

"Hello Squall how lovely to see you" Edea said sweetly, despite what had happened he harboured no ill will towards her.

"Thank You Edea, it's nice to see you as well, but I want to talk about Rinoa"

" I knew this would come up, let's speak in my office where we have more privacy" Cid exclaimed.

They walked through the brand new reception, the bulletin board that always stood in the middle was now off to one side where the desk sat and the centre had been made into a cadet area with a cafe, seating area and a place to relax and talk to friends. Over the past year SeeD had received a lot of negative attention from the media saying that they were all heartless mercenaries that sided with the sorceress, so to renew the public's faith in them Cid and Mr Belmont had spent a fortune refurbishing and rebuilding parts of the campus to make it look more of a university rather than a military academy.

The trio continued on to the main lift only the highest level of clearance SeeD could travel freely to the command centre where Nida and Xu piloted the garden. There was an awkward silence between them in the lift, Squall thought about what he was going to say and how best to approach the new situation. Cid's office was on the first floor the hallway had been freshly wallpapered a horrible floral pattern, probably Edea's idea to make the place more homey.

Cid's office was exactly how Squall remembered it, an annoying cat motivation picture on the wall, photo frames on the untidy desk, coffee and tea stains covered the little table in the middle where an old fashioned two seater sofa sat.

" Please take a seat, can I interest you in a drink" Cid asked.

Squall shook his head and sat down on the oddly comfortable sofa with Edea sitting beside him and Cid pulling out a computer chair to sit adjacent.

"Well let's just get straight into it shall we, what do you want to know"

"Why wasn't Rinoa acknowledged during the assembly she deserves more credit than any of us"

"It's complicated"

Squall began to get angry "Well uncomplicate it then, Rinoa has a right to be treated like everyone else, she is still a human being."

"But she is no longer just a human and it is for that reason, I could not mention her, Squall we all love Rinoa, she has become part of our family regardless if she isn't a SeeD but no one knows she is a sorceress and we need to keep it that way, since Ultimecia's defeat people have been acting more and more hostile to any woman rumoured to be practicing magic plus all the students would be confused if she came on stage they would find it a bit odd why your client, leader of the forest owls resistance group and General Caraway's daughter had to part to play in defeating Ultimecia; who's going to tell them she's a sorceress!"

Squall sighed in defeat as much as he hated it Cid was right. Rinoa had to be kept a secret otherwise it could provoke an attack.

"I'm sorry Squall I know how difficult this must be for you"

"Thank You Edea I've never really had to care about someone else so its all new to me all I know is war, death and destruction for so long I haven't felt any love nor compassion and Rinoa walks into my life it scares me a little how much I feel for her".

Edea smiled fondly, all the years she had known him at the orphanage and throughout his time in SeeD he had never shown any human emotion for friendship, camaraderie and even himself, right now the fact that he was unsure of who he was spoke volumes of how much he'd changed since meeting Rinoa and they all had to be thankful for that.

"Anyway i'd like to know more about the sorceress knight bond if that's possible, I offered to be Rinoa's knight without really knowing what any of it means, all I think about is Seifer and his fucked up relationship with Ultimecia I hope that's not what it entails."

"Seifer himself didn't know what it meant to be a knight despite his obsession, I can say it should never be like that, Ultimecia was controlling him, she made him worship her unhealthily to the point that if he disobeyed he had to kill himself, a real bond is more magical, loving someone you can trust and love for the rest of your days". As she said this she gazed affectionately at Cid, who returned his own goofy smile.

"Firstly you need to know what a knight is, your main duty is to oversee the welfare of your sorceress, they act as a stabiliser, keeps her grounded protecting her from darkness, nobody knows exactly why you can't have female knights and male sorceri, there are several theories, one is that when Hyne was killed he transferred half of his soul to the nearest living being which was his sister she became the first female sorceress and from then all sorceri have been females, I don't know how much this is true but he definitely had a sister"

"The bond has three main stages to initiate a full partnership this stops the sorceress from becoming evil, I know what you're thinking if me and Cid are married then how did I become evil, the answer possession, Ultimecia and adel as you well know were evil they didn't have a knight, some of her influence infected me"

Squall started to become even more confused, I know the bond is a big thing but I thought it would be the same as a normal relationship, obviously not.

Edea continued " The first stage is trust, this is probably the most crucial stage because without this how can you be expected to live and love each other this stage has several branches but i'm sure you can figure that out, your sorceress must have faith in you ability to protect her from anything including herself. The second stage is Esp otherwise known as extra sensory perception, as you get closer to Rinoa and as her powers grow more she will be able to develop telepathic and telekinetic abilities, you will be able to sense her emotions and Rinoa can temporarily transfer her powers to you if you're in trouble"

"I'm not sure I want Rinoa routing around inside my head"

I shudder as to what she'd find in there.

"I know there are certain things you could do to shield them but you'd have to bring that up with Rinoa, by this stage you will start seeing changes in yourself"

"What do you mean changes, are they good?"

"Don't worry they're not bad, as you get more comfortable in you knight position you'll start seeing everyone as a potential threat unless you trust them overall you'll become possessive and slightly dominating which will make you more intense and stronger both physically and mentally"

Squall started to rub his neck he was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything Edea had said as if his relationship with Rinoa wasn't complicated enough I want to be Rinoa's knight, I...I love her but I don't know how to show her.

"Does Rinoa know all about this"

"She will instinctively know but she may become disorientated once she starts tapping into her magics full potential anyway finally the last stage is well the physical side of the bond, she will always feel peace when she's near you, just holding her hand can relieve anxiety and...umm… sexual intercourse hopefully I don't need to discuss this with you" Edea laughed at Squalls blushing face.

"I think next time we speak Rinoa will have to be present also I have a few books you can take to read to learn more, I must confess that I don't know a lot about sorceri and their powers but i'm positive that you two will be fine"

Cid had been sat at his desk writing reports he'd been impartial to their conversation, he also didn't really understand the sorceress world, the chime from the huge clock outside his window in the courtyard indicated that it was 9:00 am however the hand hadn't moved at all since seven he thought to himself another thing i'll have to get fixed, strange though it's never done that before.

Squall stood up his legs had fallen to sleep with sitting for two hours hyne that was a long talk he headed towards the door.

"Thankyou both for all the help and advice but before I go just as a precaution what do I look out for if...well if Rinoa starts going dark"

An eery silence overwhelmed the room it was Edea that had the guts to speak "I don't know Squall it differs, I would look out for anything out of the ordinary but you can't let her get to that or i fear that even Hyne won't be able to save us"

And with that final note Squall left the office to prepare for his first class.

This chapter is really boring but it's crucial for the rest of the story, anyway the next chapters will be more action packed.

You may think the plot is predictable but wait and see.