Fire-Cross Knight

Seifer and Squall took only three days. During those three days, they established him as a person at the Garden; people would often see them walking through the halls. The whole thing had been Seifer’s idea; once the students and faculty had grown used to seeing Seifer, and accepted him, no one would be able to say anything otherwise.

The faculty roster was quickly updated on the Garden net to show Seifer Almasy as a teacher of literature, and once word spread that Seifer Almasy, the Sorceress Knight, had come to work for Garden, the students were soon watching him at every chance they had.

After Seifer had returned to Garden with his new clothing, Cid had drawn up a contract for him to sign, making their agreement official. In that contract, Balamb Garden had named Seifer as an “historical figure” and also stated that they would be using him as such. He would sometimes be called into classes to explain certain magics, or the workings of the Galbadian military. He may even be used as an emissary to other countries, ones that might soften up at the sight of him. Seifer had agreed to all these conditions, provided that he be able to terminate the contract at any time, as well as stipulating that he would never be asked to spar, fight, or instruct another in the act. Cid had been very reluctant to agree to the terms, but Edea had proved a helpful friend, believing that Seifer’s conditions were the result of trauma.

Neither Squall nor Seifer led her to believe she was wrong.

The very next day, Squall and Seifer met immediately in the Training Center, an hour before classes were slotted to begin. This had also been Seifer’s idea- they would draw students, who would never again have a chance to see two gunblade masters duel, and this would help cement him in their minds.

Unlike their old matches, these were far more formal. Everything had to be strictly controlled, unless Seifer would get swept into the moment and perform his unique “limit break”. Squall was careful not to push Seifer; he didn’t know if he could handle being crucified again- memories of imprisonment and torture sometimes haunted his nightmares as it was, without giving them a trigger- as well as uncertain they could pull it off as a limit.

Squall had been certain to change the Fire-Cross Knight’s name as soon as he had a chance; he had seen the way some of the students were looking at Seifer, and was certain that he would establish a fan club soon. He couldn’t have them Scanning him for information to find that his name was not Seifer Almasy. It would’ve raised too many questions.

Once their routine was set in the minds of the Garden, and Seifer had been fully and successfully integrated (even people he had typically bullied in classes were saying hello to him in the halls), Zell returned home.

Seifer and Squall were walking past the Directory on their way to the library to see if the book Seifer had ordered had arrived yet; Squall didn’t bother pretending to care what books he read at any given moment, but he was trying very hard to make certain that when anyone in Garden thought of Seifer, they thought of him, and vice versa. It would be easier to explain any uncomfortable questions that way.

Zell was walking into the Garden from his visit, a duffel bag with clothing in one hand, when he saw them. He stopped walking, and dropped his bag. Before it had hit the ground, he had closed half the distance between himself and Seifer, fist moving behind him, gathering power.

About the instant the bag hit the floor, Seifer and Squall looked in his direction. Squall stepped in front of Seifer in a lightning-fast move, and Zell’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying back two paces. Squall kept his balance, hands flying up in front of him, just in time to see Seifer leap forward to counter-attack, Hyperion in hand, nothing more than a blaze of rage in the back of Squall’s mind.

“Stop!” Squall yelled with authority and Seifer’s blade came to a perfect halt in mid-air. Zell’s eyes widened at the blade still hanging above him- he had been ready to dodge, but could not believe what he had seen. Squall took those two steps forward and put a hand on Seifer’s arm, pushing the blade towards Seifer’s left, where he kept its sheath. With his other hand, however, he punched Zell in the arm. He hissed at the force. “What the hell is wrong with you, Dincht!?” He asked, and Zell winced at the sound. Squall rarely called him by his last name- the habit that so became the Commander had made it such that no one wanted to hear his last name from Squall.

“He-“

“I don’t want to hear it. If you took just one more second to think about it before you tried to kill him, you would’ve realized it was a pretty bad idea,” Squall said in a tone that actually carried anger. Seifer’s surprise ran through Squall’s mind and he realized that he might have been reacting to Seifer’s anger. He put a hand on his forehead. “Look, you’re not kids now,” he said to them both. “If you want to kill each other,” he inwardly winced at the use of the term, “then I’m not going to stop you. But do it on your own time, and do it far, far away! I won’t be responsible for the influence you’re having on these kids.” Zell looked around, seeing all the students (and faculty) watching their exchange. He looked down, thoroughly abashed. After a few moments of quiet, Squall added, “Have you thought about it now?” He didn’t look up from his hand.

“Yeah,” Zell said, quietly enough that only Seifer and Squall could hear him.

“Bad idea?” He asked, still not looking up.

“Yeah,” Zell said, remorseful. “…Didn’t mean to punch you in the face,” he added, serious.

“It’s fine,” Squall said, though he could already feel it swelling. No one could throw a punch like Zell- and he’d even had time to get a full Rush Punch together. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Squall knew he had to say something, or Zell would be kicking himself for days. He might even go so far as to shadow Squall; trying to make it up to him- Squall couldn’t do that to him. So he chose to change the topic. “How’s your mother?”

“Ma?” He asked, and then smiled. Brightly. “She’s doing great. She told me to tell you she sends her love. And also she bought you some chocolates and you have to go pick them up.” Squall raised an eyebrow, finally looking at Zell. He shrugged. “Just an excuse to see you, I guess.” Zell, having taken this as Squall’s forgiveness, now began staring at Seifer, who stared back. Squall had hoped to get Zell alone and tell him about this before he had seen Seifer, so that nothing like this would happen. Still, what’s done was done.

“Seifer why don’t you go pick up those books and I’ll catch up with you later. I think I want to talk to Zell for a while,” Seifer nodded, almost too eager to do what Squall asked, and took off at a slow jog- Zell watched him go as if he were a friendly pink Ruby Dragon.

“Did Seifer just jump to do what you asked?” Zell asked, and Squall nodded.

“He’s grateful.”

“Grateful? Seifer?!” Zell asked, amazed and horrified simultaneously. Squall walked to where Zell’s bag was, speaking, so that Zell could hear him as well as remember to pick up his things. The activity in the hallway had finally picked back up again.

“I found him living in a cave,” Squall said, quietly. He intended to tell some of the truth, but not all. And not much.

“A cave? You mean like, homeless?” Squall shook his head a little. Zell was kind, but not brilliant.

“Yes,” he answered and began the walk back to Zell’s dorm with him. Luckily, Zell stayed exactly across from Squall himself, so it was easy to remember where he lived. “He didn’t have any money, and he didn’t have any place to go. Ultimecia wrecked him,” Squall said, even more quietly, and Zell’s eyes grew wide and somber.

“That sucks,” Zell said succinctly, slinging the huge bag over his shoulder without so much as a thought. “And he was brainwashed by her, too, wasn’t he?” Squall shrugged.

“I don’t know for sure. But when I found him I knew that no one would forgive me if I left him like that.” Zell gave him a look that spoke volumes- Selphie would have carved Squall into pieces with nothing but her nails. And teeth. “Yeah, you did the right thing.” After a few moments of silence, Zell asked, “Is he… okay?” Squall nodded.

“Just as good as any of the rest of us. Maybe… He’s been almost normal,” Squall added. “…Hasn’t been a prick at all.” Zell blew out a gusty breath. Hearing this seemed like the end of the world in a way. A world where Seifer wasn’t an asshole?

“That’s heavy stuff.” Squall nodded. “…I probably shouldn’t have tried to punch him, huh?” Squall shrugged, and Zell laughed nervously. “Wouldn’t want to screw up a chance at… being friends with the guy.” He shook his head a few times, slowly. “This is heavy stuff.”

“Yeah.” They walked into the dorms in silence before Zell finally thought of something else to talk about.

“So… is he gonna be SeeD?” He seemed to be asking it cautiously, and he was- he didn’t know whether that news would be good or bad. Only that he didn’t know if he could handle a world where Seifer wasn’t a prick, but was a SeeD.

“No,” Squall said. “He wrote up a contract with Cid. He’s going to be a teacher.”

“Teacher?” Zell asked, his voice incredulous. “Of what?”

“Literature,” Squall answered and Zell’s jaw dropped dramatically. After a moment he nodded his head in approval.

“He always had his nose in those old… romance books, didn’t he? I think they were romance- all about… knights… and sorceresses.” Zell shivered. “Kinda cruel.” They had arrived at Zell’s door, and they stopped and looked at each other.

“I wanted to tell you,” Squall said after a moment of thinking to himself, “that one of Seifer’s requirements on the contract was that he wouldn’t be asked to fight anyone. Not even training,” Squall continued, and Zell’s face went blank in shock. “So you should probably not try to punch him again. I don’t think he wants to do any of that anymore.”

“Oh Hyne,” Zell said, miserable now. “And I tried to punch him in the face. D’you think he went all pacifist on us now? Maybe he’s got PTSD?” Squall looked thoughtful, knowing the answer but unable to say. “Have you had him get a psych eval? Maybe they can fix him. I mean, yeah, he was a prick, but that was just Seifer, ya know?” Squall nodded, but he knew he would never take Seifer to see a psychologist. It would only raise more questions.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see on that one.” Zell nodded.

“Yeah. Tell him… I’m… sorry? Damn, it’s just too hard,” Zell said, dropping his bag so he could punch one fist into his other palm. “I mean, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“I bet he expected it,” Squall said, so tired now of talking about other people’s feelings. It was important to keep everything straight with the people in his life that we his only family, but at the same time he never could get used to playing diplomat. “I’m going to go,” he said.

“Alright. I’m gonna unpack and maybe I’ll see you later.” He grinned and waved, heading into his room. Squall had already felt Seifer’s quiet surprise and grim enjoyment, which meant that his book had arrived, and Squall didn’t really know what to do at this point, anyway. Usually when he was between missions and had no other business, he slept, but he couldn’t sleep with so much going on that he could neither see nor control.

When he took a deep breath, he felt the muscles in his jaw scream, and knew he should probably heal it. Still, it seemed such a waste of time. Instead, he walked to his room and the computer terminal there- it had been installed during the Second Sorceress War (as it was now being called) and showed the departure and arrival dates of everyone who was not in the Garden.

It showed that, within the next 48 hours, Irvine and Selphie were both slated to return. It looked like their return-issue had been sent to them two days ago- right after Seifer had returned. The signature on the order belonged to Edea Kramer.

If she hadn’t given her powers to Rinoa, Squall would have thought Edea knew more than she appeared. Still, he would be glad to have them back. Only Quistis and Rinoa remained unaware; he didn’t want to tell either of them, really. And with Rinoa’s quietude, Squall had begun to wonder if she’d already found a replacement for him.

He tried very hard not to run his mind along the spidery thread of awareness that linked him to her always. When she left, they’d agreed to give each other their privacy. He wondered if she would ever sever that thread- he wondered if she could.

He agonized, thinking. So much more thinking than he had been forced to do in some time. He wondered if that sense of obligation he had always felt for Rinoa called for him being so forthright he actually contacted her with this information- what good would could it do, with the history between them all? He didn't want to deal with this, so he decided someone else could tell her. For all he knew, they would never speak again.

As for Quistis, Irvine, Selphie... would he even need to speak to them about this? He shook his head; they would see Seifer in the halls, and leaving Seifer to explain himself when just seeing Zell's righteous anger had brought Hyperion out would be like giving away more information than necessary. He hated juggling information almost more than he hated needing thinking about these things.

He would wait until they came back into town. Maybe he would get lucky and Zell would tell them. Somehow, he knew that would be more luck than he had ever possessed.

He shut down the computer and decided to lie in bed- maybe sleep would come, anyway. Anything to keep from thinking about the way he reacted to Seifer's rage, or the what he would need to say to the others. Leave that all for someone else, or at the very least, for later.