Unrequited

Squall

Back at his office, he contemplated the evidence collected. Irvine was still out investigating, so he had minimal material to work with. The SP's on duty that night had been brought in and questioned, both men in question earning themselves two weeks suspension and a strong warning. They tried to feed him bullshit about not seeing the knight, then switching to the camera for the sector being broken. Even if he hadn't checked the security footage before hand, he could see the lies strewn cross their faces, their distaste for the blond blatantly obvious.

The security footage itself was of little help. The streamed images were terrible in quality, not surprising as the camera's were meant solely for the purpose of keeping an eye on cadets fighting thus details weren't important. The only sure fire evidence he had was the uniforms worn by the perpetrators. They were SeeDs. The five of them had snuck up behind the blond, knocking him unconscious with a hard blow to the head before actively beating him.

They were cowards.

Partway through the beating, two of them backed away from the blond and left, but he wasn't sure why. It occurred to him that they were probably afraid of killing him or maybe just afraid of killing in general. That meant they were probably inexperienced, new SeeDs. Shortly after the other three left, again Squall was unsure why. Well, he'd find out personally after they were brought to him. As much as he entertained the though of returning the favor and giving them a good work over, he knew he wouldn't. He was commander and revenge wouldn't be very professional. Besides, it was Seifer's fight; perhaps he would just overlook this particular...incident, excuse the older boy for the damage he would probably be inflicting on the men. Men, not SeeDs, because he would be damned if he kept cowards working in his academy.

A knock at the door drew him away from his thoughts and he barked a 'come in' to the visitor. His mood hadn't improved from the training he'd gotten in earlier that day. A sudden though came into mind and he started a reverent prayer of 'please don't be Rinoa, please don't be Rinoa'.

"You called for me Squall?"

Sighing in relief, Squall waved the energetic blond over to his desk. He had called Zell, but that was over an hour ago and with the SP's coming in, he'd actually forgotten about it. But now that he was here, Squall was unsure of how to continue.

"Zell, I need a... favor" Holding up a hand, he motioned for the other man to keep his silence. "I need you to do this, to keep this quiet and to..."

Thinking a moment, he realized he wouldn't be able to convince the man to do it if he wasn't willing. Either he'd refuse or he wouldn't. Taking the silver choker out of his coat pocket, he lay the broken object on his desk. He'd cleaned it up as best he could, but the metal still shone with a reddish hue. "I need you to..." He shook his head slightly before continuing. "I'm asking if you could fix it."

Zell looked down at the object with surprise, suspicion and a little bit of what looked like disgust. He obviously recognized the choker, knowing full well who it belonged to. The immediate reply of no was being held back though, maybe by the unusual request. Or unusual for him.

Still not reaching for the object in question, he gave Squall a questioning look. "Why? I mean, you know who that belongs to right? Just throw it out." He paused as he received a threatening glare.

Quickly covering up the harsh look, he search his brain for something to say, something to convince the other man to do this. Unable do think of anything believable, he wen't with the rarely used plea, the one he only used in special occasions.

"Zell, please..."

The blond looked taken aback by the unexpected and almost unheard of word, but there was no hesitation as he nodded and reached for the choker. Pleased that the conversation was over, he offered a small smile in thanks before returning to his work. Or pretending to, as he watched Zell out of the corner of his eye. The stunned blond gaped at him, then looked down at the choker, and back up him. With a slightly confused look on his face, he left the office.

Sighing in relief, he let his head drop noisily down onto the desk. At least he knew he could count on Zell to keep it quiet.

Seifer

He was bored. No he was beyond bored. Stuck in a hospital bed all day was boring. BORING. He'd already read all the magazines, bugged his nurse enough that she threw something at him and had gotten scolded three times for trying to leave. Geez, you'd think they would have a tv or something in here, but no...

Glaring at nothing in particular, he thought about the current 'investigation' being done in his honor. In a way he was glad it was being done. Once he found out who had done this he was going to beat them into the ground. Maybe he could take advantage of Squall unusual mood and get off the hook for it to. Probably not, but it would be worth whatever punishment Squall would hand him. He could think of several punishments he wouldn't mind receiving from the little ice prince. Now that was an interesting train of thought, defiantly would keep him busy for a while. Too bad he was stuck in the infirmary. Maybe he could hide out in the bathroom for a while...

Irvine

It had taken all day and most of the night, but he finally knew who'd done it. In fact, they were now huddled together in Squall's office, and probably pissing themselves. Squall was angry, and no one wanted to be on the receiving end of an angry Squall. He almost laughed at the expression on there faces as they were brought in, that was until he remembered what they did. So they got themselves an Irvine Glare, which, although not as frightening as a Squall Glare, was still menacing in it's own right. At least he thought so, but then... Selphie and Seifer had laughed pretty hard the one time he'd asked. They'd reassured him, but still; how do you take something seriously if it's sniggered to you?

He thought he heard someone crying in the office, but he couldn't be sure. The guard's posted at the door looked like they were trying not to laugh, so maybe they were. Ten minutes later the door to the office opened and the now Ex-SeeDs stepped out. Sure enough, there was a big wet stain down the pants of Greggory Silts. He couldn't repress the smirk that came on his face and as Squall come following them out of the office and he saw a similar, though slightly subdued look on the commander's face. They were informed then that they would escorted out in the morning and in the meantime they would return to their rooms to pack.

Relieved that the ordeal was finally over, he made his way back to his own dorm. Glad that the problem was taken care of, he was still unsure. Although the students responsible for the attack were no longer a threat, there were still plenty of people in Garden who wanted the knight gone. He wasn't even sure if the letter's had been written by the SeeDs. Sighing, he thought about asking the commander about changing rooming accommodations. The blond would be safer staying with someone instead of being alone in his dorm. Well... maybe he could stay with Selphie, girls didn't woo so well with roommate around. Well, for the moment the blond was safe. Figuring he would think better after a good nights sleep, he resolved to speak with blond in the morning about it.