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Convergence [2]: Blood Roses	By : currie Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 959 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-1
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 9
- 10
- 11
~ 10 ~

Nida's organizational talents were honed sharply enough to suggest a mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Squall could have let him go within an hour, but chose instead to keep him around, knowing he would be too distracted by his own mental muddling to stay close on track if left alone.

Nida brought an important point to his attention first thing-- that a Centra shelter had been discovered buried in the Kashkabald desert just five days ago, and was being excavated by Galbadian archaeologists as they spoke. If Garden could get a hold of it, the parts would be used to restore Trabia-G in a fraction of the time predicted, not to mention make it moblie.

This good knews came tainted with a pile of curtly worded protest letters and petitions. Quite a few higher-ups, mainly on the western continent, had predicted Garden's interest in the shelter. They didn't take too kindly to the idea of a piece of their ancestral history being dismantled for use as a school-slash-war machine. Much like Esthar, Galbadia as a whole had come to passionately resent warring notions after being the most recent nation to start one. They hadn't even repaired their own Garden.

Squall was skimming lightly over the fifth paper to make it into his hands, barely paying attention to the words as the messages were practical photocopies of one another, when Seifer appeared in his doorway. As it had been left open for air flow, the blond had to clear his throat before Squall noticed him. Wordlessly he returned to his work, suddenly finding some poor old soul's longwinded rant about his great-great-grandfather quite fascinating. Nida followed his lead and remained silent as well.

Six determined strides brought Seifer close enough to pull down the top of the paper in Squall's hands. "What?" Squall finally asked, and Seifer merely dropped a document of his own atop Squall's. By the time he was gone, Nida had returned to his filing. Squall unfolded the gift --

____________________________________

Balamb Garden Official Reprimand Registry
Student Copy

(to be given to the offending cadet for review and compliance)

Student ID: 41269

Violation(s) of Balamb Garden Code of Conduct:
Select [x] all that apply.

[ ] neglect to complete appointed homework
[x] use of inappropriate sexual innuendo and/or sexual harassment
[ ] disruption of the learning process of others.
[x] physical assault of a professor or other figure of authority
[ ] absent without leave (# of courses/days missed: __/__. List details below.)
[ ] tardiness (# of offenses: ___. List details below.)
[x] manipulating a professor or other figure of authority
[xx] fighting in areas deemed inappropriate (outside training centre)
[x] swearing or other offensive language use
--> Inappropriate use of:
[ ] offensive magic.
[ ] defensive or status magic.
[x] curative magic.
[ ] guardian force (automatic expulsion, see below).
--> Other
[x] (1) Mewling like a cat in heat with dishonest motivation.__________________
[x] (2) Attepting to teach a superior a 'lesson.'____________________________

How the cadet was dealt with during/immediately following his/her infraction(s):
Fucked thoroughly._________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Presiding professor/officer: _Seifer Almasy_______

Recommended punishment(s):
(select [x] all that apply)

[ ] detention (# of hours: ___)
[x] solitary confinement (# of hours:_3_)
[ ] suspension (to be served in dormitory) (# of days:___)
[ ] expulsion
--> Relief of:
[ ] junctioning privledges
[ ] melee weapon
[ ] training centre access
[ ] cafeteria access (between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p. m.)
[ ] library access (between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p. m.)
(# of days: ____)
--> Other:
[x] (1) Additional physical restraint.__________
[x] (2) To be revealed._____________
Presiding professor/officer: _Seifer Almasy_______

Summary / further details / notes:
I haven't forgotten that you're still owed your own lesson. My promise of revenge will follow rougrough. You will feel it more than ten fold if need be._____________________________
Presiding professor/officer: _Seifer Almasy_______

Cadet 41269 is to comply with the previously stated reprimand henceforth or face a ipliiplinary hearing to discuss expulsion. If expulsion has already been deemed compulsory, the cadet is to appear outside the headmaster's office immediately after recieving this notice for further instruction.

-- Balamb Garden Staff.

____________________________________

-- and crumpled it in his hands as soon as he computed it.

"What's that?" Nida asked, eyeing him with confusion. It wasn't common practice in Squall's office to destroy important documentation.

"A joke," Squall explained flatly. He put extra effort into keeping his hand steady as he tossed the crumpled ball atop his overflowing wastepaper basket, seriously considering paying Seifer a visit to explain to him just whom was whose superior.

Seifer was getting really good at inflaming him with a wide enough range of emotions to make it impossible to discern between them-- or concentrate on anything but them.

It took him fifteen minutes of dam the the condescending blond across the way (How dare Seifer treat him like a student? And what the hell did he k hek he was going to do? Gods, it would probably end up being enjoyable... Damn it, now he was anticipating...) before he was able to return his concentration to the predicament with Galbadia. If only the site had been discovered and claimed by Esthar instead. He wouldn't have even needed to ask Laguna for the rights. "We'll send six SeeDs to help guard the site, free of charge." Not much, but it was a start.

"Hold on," Nida replied with an interest Squall could never get himself to feel over matters such as these, "We've got an apology from Galbadia's president herself here, for the mishap at the prison." He hastily reskimmed the document, "Says she was 'unaware' who your cell was rented to. D'you believe her?"

Squall slouched. He sure wanted to believe her. "No choice right now."

"The rental's been cancelled, and she wants to reimburse you financially so 'we can put it all behind us.'" Nida grinned, "I bet I know how she can make it up to you."

Comprehension lifted Squall's chin long before Nida finished speaking. "We'll still send the help." He brought his computer to life with a very pointed click, "I'll write back with an offer for the shelter. Would you draw up the contract?" Ack, contract. Mental-facepalm. He still needed to get Rinoa's to her, and as soon a possible, before Seifer got the chance to harass her enough to change her mind. "Yes"Yessiree. Six, you said?"

"For now. You're free to go when you're done."

"Thank you, sir." Nida always insisted on calling Squall that students or no, and did so with far too much respect. He brought a folder with him as he left for his own desk.

Squall spent more time backspacing than typing when filling in the details of Rinoa's mission. Every sentence seemed to word itself wrong on its own, desipite his having drawn up countless contracts before. It took him another hour to finish after Nida dropped off his work. By then he had the whole thing memorized.

Seifer was still in his own office, his door held open as well. Best to take the printout down to the training centre right away. Squall tried to keep his steps quiet on his way out.

"Leaving without me," Seifer greeted from behind. Ts crs credit, Squall didn't even skip a stride, nor did he reply. Seifer's feet fell quicker than his, determined to follow him into the elevator. Squall couldn't do much about it now. "Thought you'd skip out on being reprimanded?" Seifer laughed, quite close now in the middle of the hall, and Squall spoke right over it.

"Delivering Rinoa's contract."

"Ah." Seifer followed him into the pod. Squall didn't turn around, choosing instead to fist his hands -- creasing said contract in one of them -- around the rail that ran across the back after pushing the button. "Not quite yet, though I'd love to join you when you do." With that Seifer hit the emergency stop, right between floors two and three. Any second now he would pounce and grope and use his mouth like it hadn't been on Squall in a year. Squall waited.

Seifer could clearly see Squall's anticipation in the way he stood, his skeleton strung together by tight cable instof fof flesh. "Why so tense?" he asked before running a pointer-finger from short hair, alreadmpenmpened, down to the collar of Squall's tee.

Squall shivered. "I don't know why you bothered stopping it," he said casually as Seifer played with the washing tag on his shirt, hoping to be the arrogant one for a change, "System-scan only takes a minute and a half. It'll restart when it finds out nothing's broken."

Seifer smiled broadly at the back of Squall's head, more amused by the reference to something breaking than by what he was about to say himself, "Maybe I only demand ninety seconds." He then retraced his finger's path with the tip of his tongue, making Squall feel the weight of his presence without any additional contact as he daintily picked up sweet, sweet salt.

His own lungs emptying much further than usual at the slither and soft inhalation against his neck, Squall didn't catch himself in time to keep from leaning back a little. "You shouldn't be troubling yourself so much with this," Seifer advised, almost soothingly -- almost -- as his arms, prompted by Squall's reaction, slid around his waist with tactical softness. "It's right. I'd swear it on my own grave."

The softness of the following kisses that landed between Squall's neck and shoulder were tactical, too, though so convincing he had to continuously remind himself of the fact instead of letting the hard cradle of Seifer's frame comfort thr through a problem Seifer had created himself. "What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing." Seifer drew a mouth that had no intent to mark ownership up slowly towards Squall's ear, hot and wet all the way.

Ninety seconds. Squall guessed only about thirty had passed since Seifer halted their descent. If it was a quick make-out session Seifer wanted, he would give him that. He granted the request of Sefier's arms and dropped his own from the rail, leaning back into him and turning his head.

The kiss Seifer caught him with tilted his chin up on its own, steely around the edges, sharper than his others. Squall was still furious with him for his witless registry slip joke, his adamance over the issue with Rinoa that should have been left to die, and he let it show in the sweep of his own mouth -- a light clash of teeth that might have drawn sparks.

But Seifer's body s fel felt good, tall and strong and able, pleading to distract from what its accompanying mind, its opposing partner in crime, was trying to do to him. Discplining one by rewarding the other became a notion too tantalizing to disregard as soon as Squall was struck with it.

He dropped the contract on the floor and reached past Seifer's arms, stretching backwards with only slight awkwardess as he eased his hands to the front of Seifer's trousers. Sucking a rush from the air around Squall's face, Seifer took his arms back to give him more room. Now this was setting up perfectly -- Seifer would be hot and bothered and angry enough to spit acid whee ele elevator came to life again. He'd find out what a bitch paybacks were when Squall left him alone in about, oh, forty more seconds.

Seifer grunted permission into Squall's mouth (not that he needed it), a sound that echoed suspiciously like the rattle of a chain. Cold steel snapped around both of Squall's wrists simultaneously before he could decipher the heartstopping meaning of the sound.

Seifer backed out of their kiss, as Squall's surprise hadzen zen it quite solid. "I knew you'd do that," he replied to a decidedly haughty glare, "Good thing I still had them in my pocket."

Luckily the wall was there to catch Squall when he bucked away, as he would have landed on his face without it. His cheek pressed to cold tinted glass, he demanded, "Take them off. Now."

"No."

"Now."

Seifer didn't answer him.

The floor shuddered.

Oh god oh god oh GOD the lift would open to the main hall in no time flat for Seifer to drag him out and parade him around before the weekending student body in handcuffs. The issue of what Seifer decided to call him in front of them became starkly irrelevant. "I'll fucking fire you, I swear it."

Seifer gasped. "Oh, but you wouldn't!" Squall felt that tall shadow move behind him, laughing low and bending slow to pick up the contract, folding it before tucking it into a pocket. He didn't think anything of the soft bhe hhe heard -- couldn't think of anything at all, really -- until the elevator flashed down past its expected destination. He didn't know whether to be relieved or not.

"Three hours solitary confinement, coming right up," Seifer said, taking hold of the short chain between Squall's hands. "A lenient sentence for all you've done."

"Fuck you, Almasy," Squall hissed, "Bring us back up there and take these off."

"You almost sound surprised. It's not like you can say I didn't warn you," Seifer purred as their descent slowed, "Don't tell me you thought I was joking."

Squall's heart pretty much stopped right there. "I don't have time to rot in a cell for half theernoernoon."

"Sure you do. You're not that important to the inner workings of this place."

The door opened and he was led backwards, stumbling reluctantly, into what had come to be aptly nicknamed Balamb-G's dungeon: an unoccupied reception desk in a room that tapered off into a circular hall at either side, dull iron top to bottom lit by a nasty orange hue of fluorescent lighting. Forboeding and cold -- intentionally. It had always been here, though was much smaller the last time Squall was brought down following a brawl with the very man who currently held him captive.

Shame swept the pits of his lungs to be hastily blamed on the memory of that incident. The dank area was good at making people feel worthless, like they deserved what they got regardless of whether they were in the wrong.

At least it was abandoned, Squall thought, as Seifer led him along the hall on the left by a hand fisted in the back his shirt. All reprimands -- aside from this one, apparently -- were left pending until the week rolled around to Monday. Guards took their weekends just like everyone else.

Fuck, was this ever humililating.

With every ceiling light, with every echoed clanging step Squall counted, it felt less and less like a game. He stopped dead when Seifer slid open a heavy steel door for him. The cell beyond it was equally orange, filthy-looking despite how pristine it was kept, furnished with a single chair. Only about six by nine feet, with a cieling low enough to touch were his hands not currently bound. Just as he remembered. "Aside from being ranked higher than you are and immune to anyone's accusations," he said, "I didn't even do what you marked on that checklist."

"First oI doI don't give a shit what your ranking is --" Seifer shoved him hard and he hit the floor harder, pain shooting up his thighs as he narrowly avoided a faceplant, "-- and secondly, yes you did."

Squall flinched at the roll and slam of the door behind him. "It wasstudent form. Null. Void." Seifer hauled him back onto his feet, and he wondered why he was bothering to argue. Seifer had already chosen to ignore it all. "I haven't been a student in two and a half years. I signed your diploma."

Seifer just shook his head and grinned when he turned Squall around, and guided him with disturbing gentleness to the wall. Deftly he hooked the cuff chain to the wall with a latch designed specifically for that purpose -- a student's time sitting in there could be cu hal half and have the same effect when spent standing, pure efficiency -- and took the chair backwards, crossing his arms over the back. "Your tackle and bite marks sure count as physical assault," he finally explained, "and I think 'Make me feel it in my throat' and 'Fuck me harder, I need it' contain some vague innuendo, don't you?"

Squall didn't bother testing the latch. It was anchored a foot deep in the wall, locked with an e-dig-digit combination, and he only had himself to thank for it. "You liked it, and you were--"

"Hm, yes, I did, and yes, I was." Seifer scratched the side of his nose, his eyes black pits in the overhead light, "I would have let it slide if you hadn't been using that dirty mouth to gain such an underhanded advantage. Tsk. So manipulative."

"I learn from the best." Squall didn't catch what a reluctant pissed-off-at-teacher grumble the words came out in until after he said them. He was sulking. Fuck. He straightened and hoped Seifer hadn't noticed.

"Flattering."

"Damn it, Seifer, I played the game by your rules. I'd hoped that by now you'd be able to handle losing."

"I never lose. You know that."

Seifer sat there and watched him for a long time. After what Squall guessed was at least five minutes, he decided to bring it up. "So you're just gonna sit there and stare at me?"

Seifer's chin jerked a little, like Squall had awakened him. "Not exactly." With a downright dirty smile he swung his leg back over the chair and closed most of the distance between them. "Couldn't call it solitary if I stayed, now could I?" He took Squall's chin into his hand and straightened it, "You're going to do something for me, either befI leI leave or when I return, your choice."

Squall was sure Seifer could feel his imagination quicking his breaths when he kissed him, as much as he tried to calm them. The way Seifer did it didn't help distract him, either, softly swiping his tongue over Squall's lips, entry a request rather than a demand -- one that Squall denied regardless. "You'll talk like you did before," Seifer continued, observing with eyes like green coals, "But this time, you'll mean it. Every word, every sound."

Squall shook his head stiffly. He could already feel the lightly burning warning of where his muscles would ache within an hour of being forced to stand. "Not like this." Seifer could make him perform a number of physical acts, but he couldn't make him feel the kind of passion he had faked in the Ragnarok. Lust, yes. Passion, no. "I won't -- I can't -- mean what you want me to mean down here."

Seifer slowly untucked Squall's shirt to reach up beneath it, his palms cool on the lightly quivering plane of his stomach. "Good thing I have help, then."

He then lowered his lips to brush the acute curse of a spell into Squall's ear.

When it was over, after Squall's forward lurch died down under the arrest of Seifer's hands, once the cerulean rush they emitted began to fade, Seifer uttered another.

And another.

'Curaga' found rhythm, and Squall lost count.

His skull ground his hair into the was hes he disappeared, convulsively swallowing on every breath he tried to take in a self-devised vacuum. Seifer must have eased up when he saw how hard he was struggling to breathe, or maybe he just ran out of stock. His hands slid to Squall's sides, holding him up on buckled knees, waiting for him to regain his composure. "Idiot," Squall managed to gasp, his eyes still shut to the cieling, "Probably just set off about six alarms."

"Mmm, but didn't you know?" Seifer asked, practically feeling Squall's rush himself as he sweetly rubbed their cheeks together, "The output's in my office, and I already muted it. There's nothing but a teeny red light blinking beside my door. No one'll find us." He caressed Squall's back with his fingertips, light like a spider's crawl, and was alert enough to step away when Squall's hips thrust forward again -- aftershocks as his body took on all Seifer had filled it with.

"Hurts," Squall choked out truthfully. That jerk made it feel like Seifer had shoved hot coals past his waistline, but still he moved again, hoping maybe a crossed belt would stay in place long enough to give him enough friction, so close without even a touch. He couldn't believe that once he had wished for this, as fleeting as the thought had been. "It fucking hurts Seifer, help me."

"In time," Seifer answered, pleased by the obscene way in which Squall had begun trying to gratify euphoria's misery. "As much as I'm enjoying the display... can't have this." He swiftly removed the belts, letting them fall to the floor with a clank and clatter; unfastened Squall's button fly and exposed him. Squall groaned at the lack of touch and cut himself off sharply. "And, although I said we won't be found, don't think no one else will know what I've done to you."

Squall's brow, already misted, furrowed sarcastically. "Right, go ahead. Anyone you tell'll be on my side."

"I don't mean to tell." Seifer took the confused look that statement drew from Squall and gestured it with his chin to a far upper corner of the room. At first, Squall only saw a tiny green light. He nearly lost his balance when he figured out what that light meant. "What would you say if I told you the entire Garden will be able to see you in a moment?"

Squall lost his ability to speak as his mouth went dry, his synapses struggling to compute over the panicked pulse in his ears. Louder than all of this was a deft snap of Seifer's fingers, followed by a roughened laugh. "Oh, come on. You know the basement network is self-contained."

How the hell was Squall supposed to know when Seifer was joking and when he wasn't? He kept his mouth shut and did the same with his eyes, his breath coming in little gasps. The effects of the spells were doing anything but wearing away.

"In truth, I'm coinsidering passing this on to little Zell."

"Don't," Squall snarled, opening blazing eyes that failed to counter his far-from-threatening state of sticking wantonly out of his pants. "Don't show him."
fer fer made an interested sound and stepped forward, a hand on Squall's chest to keep him from trying to find his relief against a thigh. "Would you prefer someone else?"

Squall hung his head. "... I don't know."

"He's seen so much already..." Seifer said airily, as though merely thinking aloud, "Why is it that you wouldn't prefer him to a stranger?"

Certain expectations came along with accepting Zell's earlier declaration, even if Squall had done so in silence. Expectations like... not begging Seifer to touch him and then babbling about how good it felt in front of Zell. If Zell saw that now, it would probably upset him. If Zell saw it now, he might just give up.

He might leave.

"Honestly, Leonhart, I wouldn't think you'd be too worried about dashing his dreams after what you asked him for this morning. You went from selfless to completely fucking selfish in two days. I didn't know I'd rub off on you that quickly."

Squall tensed agaithatthat jab and pulled his temple away from Seifer's touch. Instead of following the movement, Seifer began to massage his shoulder, agonizing when Squall so deeply wanted to feel it far lower. "You're lucky," Seifer continued, "That his head's too full of sunshine to let him get hurt by that. I wouldn't have stood for it for one fucking second." His fingers tapped thoughtfully on Squall's chest a few times. "I don't know why I'm standing for it now."

"What the hell do you care?" Squall snapped.

"If his affections were directed at me," Seifer explained, his soothing fingertips burrowing nearer to Squall's throat, "I'd at least have had the decency to tell him they weren't mutual. Or, like in your case, that they were." His lips turned into a downward smile that Squall couldn't see, his tone as happy-to-soothe as his hand. "It's true. Why else would you have asked him to say it?" An expectant ear cocked to the side. Squall saw it in the corner of one eye, and didn't even offer a blink. "He and I both know you prefer to tell the truth -- and that when you can't, you'd rather keep your silence than lie. I don't need to take it from you."

"Then... then... What do you want?"

"To offer you some well-earned thinking time, away from duty, away from people." Seifer dropped both hands from him and backed away, licking his lips and leaving a glint on them as his words finally broke Squall's daze.

"'Thinking time?'" Squall grappled for control of breaths already too heavy to hold, "Like this? You want me to think like this?"

Seifer yanked in the door's handle and rolled it slowly open. "Mm-hm. Three hours should be plenty of time for you to learn to miss me."

"Seifer, I'm all you have left! Are you going to push my boundries until I hate you as much as everyone else does?"

Jumping with a short laugh, Seifer shook his head at the doorframe as he passed it. "You love this."

"I don't."

"You do."

The door closed, and within what felt like half an hour but was probably half a minute, Squall began to want.

He whispered a flurry of curses as he tried to turn and meet his hips to the wall. Thrashing voilently, ignoring the runner's-cramp in his sides, he searched for something to get him past the edge. He could have moaned or groaned his frustrations out if he wanted to and nothing but that camera's microphone would absorb the noises. Every cell had been soundproofed to give full truth to the word 'solitary.'

Maybe he could find friction against his own thighs. A desperate act of self-humiliation, but whoever saw this (if anyone saw it), would understand, if they'd ever been inflicted with the darker side of 'good' magic. After seeing however many spells Seifer had used on him, they would have to.

Squall crouched, but the movement tore at the ligaments in his shoulders, his biceps screaming at him for trying to bend so far. He strained until a thin warm line bloomed slowly to the pit of his thumb, sticky inside his glove-- his struggles had finally worn him enough to bleed, but he could barely feel that pain. And he couldn't reach. He stood back up.

Cobwebs itched at his face, crept into his mouth, and a shake of his head displaced them. Hair; it had only been his hair, caught in both corners of his mouth, but even though it was gone sticky silk still crawled inward, drying and suffocating, down behind his ribs to keep him from breathing and fuck had the room ever gotten hot and he itched everywhere --

Recognizing his panic, Squall calmed it with a labelled number for every out and intake until the air cooled down enough to tease at the searing ache between his thighs, bringing a relief that he really only felt in hind.ind.

If he couldn't do it physically, maybe he could calm the need mentally. Maybe he could turn himself off.

He thought of what he hated.

The first person he'd ever killed, a soldier in Dollet he hadn't realized was a woman until she screamed.

Zell smashed and sobbing with sand crystals stuck to to the curve of his jaw, ready to shatter again if Squall tried to brush them away.

Of D-District, with a Seifer he didn't know, whose eyes were brighter than he'd ever seen them. The last time Seifer had attatched him to a wall, the agony of helplessness and electricity and the sparks of hovering death that dangled before his eyes.

He thought about that for a long, long time, and when he finally numbed his ability to react to the scene with any sort of emotion, he was still hard.

Seifer had done this to Rinoa, made her feel the same as Squall currently did for what were probably the same reasons. He'd done more-- he'd hurt her, hit her, and left her too deeply shaken tell a soul about it. To tell her Knight about it.

Why hadn't Rinoa told him?

So hard with unnatural need his skin threatened to split at the lightest touch.

Fuck Seifer. Fuck him, the fucking bastard, probably humming his favourite cheery tune between chuckles on the other side of that door. Fuck Seifer when these 'three hours' were up, the instant Squall was freed. Squall didn't have to hold himself back; he'd take Seifer down, order him into one of these cells himself. Squall had full rights to chain him to the wall to spend time in his company. Not alone.

Seifer would be tight, virgin-tight in every way the term could be meant to shame, fighting wounded by how badly he didn't want it but Squall would take it anyway, with his gloves on when he touched him, all the more impersonal drag of sharp cool leather fingertip corners, hollow-tipped because these ones had belonged to Seifer and were just a little too big. Seifer might get off on being prepared by the fingers of his own glove, so no preparation for him, no getting off, that would be Squall's task.

Animal hide cutting around hard muscled edges too taut with denial to feel anything else and Seifer crying, fucking wailing for everything he craved and spurned and it would be nothing short of consummate to see, to feel him falter.

Oh, Hyne.

The door brought a breeze with it when it opened, cooling Squall's drained cheeks, streaked with the wet of stress. He heard Seifer near him, the click of Seifer's tongue, and remained still, turned and tall. An observant thumb smeared down down his kbonkbone, but Seifer didn't say a word -- he knew the difference. Squall's breath didn't hitch when he opened his mouth, steady, unforced. "Unhook it."

"Mm, but your sentence hasn't quite been ful --"

"I don't care about the cuffs. Leave them on, if that's what you want to do, but let me off the wall."

A rumble of piqued interest emerged from Seifer's throat, and he backstepped to the keypad beside the door. Eight shrill whines cut the air, a click sounded. Squall's hands were free to fall against his bottom, bare and cold to the touch. He didn't take a step until Seifer had returned to him, more curious by the second, and when Squall felt his bodyheat near, he simply leaned into it. "No more games."

Seifer welcomed the face that came to rest against his jacket collar, impressed by how tactfully Squall kept from creating selfish friction. "That a command or a promise?"

"Both. Whatever, just... none we don't both want to play," because a minute ago, Squall hadn't been playing at all, and it was downright disturbing. "Tired of it." He didn't bother repeating his suggestion that Seifer learn to shoulder being bested with the same detached grace he afforded his victories. Any dissatisfied words wrought from Seifer then would be taken not in retaliation to Squall's criticisms, but to his thoughts, and he didn't want them.

"So, what do you suggest instead?" Seifer's syllables were the cool pull of a trigger against Squall's temple -- he crouched, dropped to his knees forthwith and nudged at a particular double-fold of rough denim. Although Seifer was taken aback, it wasn't enough to take words from him too. "Overlooking your own needs just for me..." His teasing note was completely weightless -- he was already stiffening beneath Squall's cheek, hinting lightly of musk at the mere suggestion.

"Me after."

"Think you can handle me..." Seifer unbottoned hastily and Squall leaned out of his way, "...Without falling over?" A quiet scoff emitted from the deep shadows below, and he was seized within supple heat, just barely, just a tease. He swore.

Squall knew full well Seifer was more worried about unwanted interruption than his getting a bump on the head -- or was at least pretty sure, as Seifer's steadying hand took his shoulder, sure to sneak to the back of his neck quite soon. Seifer tasted of an unoffensive strength not present in Zell, and Squall did only what he knew how to: relied on instinct, let Seifer move forward to embed himself deeper, explored the pulse hammering his tongue.

Seifer could already feel his knees trembling, soexteextended a hand to the wall. It was about time he'd gotten his favours returned. "Yeah, you're really sorry, aren't you?" he breathed.

Squall let that slide, as his savouring cadence was an apology offered for something Seifer didn't even know he'd done to him. Seifer's fingers tangled in his hai pre predicted in no time, urging further, and he complied without protest. "Fuck yes... Squall..."

Gods, how much sweeter it was to reap this, simple words ringing dirty enough for Squall to taste the grit, almost enough to drown out the accusatory hum of the lower levels.

"Fucking natural, should'n known you'd be... Mouth like that..."

Vibrations, the turning of gears and pistons Squall doubted anyone fully understood, could never be heard in these cells -- just a throbbing hum without sound, an accusation sinking heavy beneath his shoudlers. Seifer's sandpaper rasp took it right from the air; offered a finer, heavier throb of flesh sliding between his lips that tasted almost like forgiveness.

And yes, Squall needed that, because he'd lost his grip and thought something he really fucking shouldn't have. Seifer's fault he'd been on the right plane to think it in the first place, but it was Squall's mind, and if he didn't have control of that, he didn't have anything.

So, he was sorry. Really damn sorry for both of them.

"Fair bargain, my come down your throat for the last hour cut off your... uhn... sentence..."

It might have been frightening how warm Seifer was to the thought of Squall being a student, might have been if it didn't sound so good, and if the stinging starpoints of his hair being pulled countering the blunt ache of knuckles against his skull didn't turn him on like it did. He hesitated, testing, just so Seifer would shove him back into motion, and the force of the blond's frustration earned him a muffled whimper.

"You like that." It took a trained ear to recognize the amusement in Seifer's following jagged breath, "Fuck your mouth... just past... what you can take," and Squall just kept taking because Seifer was right, though both knew he couldn't have had Seifer truly let loose on him.

Yes, much better than a shudder of pain, a scream that echoed horror in Squall's ears as he imagined it for being such a distant cry from a persona time-hardened to stone. A tear like that from Seifer would turn the floor into the cieling as soon as it splashed down.

Though, the thought of being inside a willing Seifer was getting nicer by the second, even more so in contrast with submission. Wouldn't be long now, not with how hard Seifer was nudging the back of his throat, sweat and need pungent and perfect in the hanging air. Maybe he'd get his chance yet. Maybe tomorrow.

"Fuck... gods... Next time... next time you'll let me watch those... pouty bitch lips, slut by intuition so much better than -- fuck -- by practice..."

Leave it to Seifer to be able to pronounce 'intuition' when so far past his halfway mark. Squall wanted to smirk at him, almost embarassed for his sake -- he wondered, would Seifer even remember what he was saying?

This was on tape. If Seifer needed a memory jog, it was right there. Excellent.

Squall tightened his mouth's vise, testing again by scraping his teeth so lightly the move probably wouldn't have been felt at all if teasing any other nerves. Here it made Seifer buck for him, murmured groans replacing words for a few heartbeats before he lost what little consideration for Squall's reflexes he had left. He thrust too deep, needing too much, and Squall fought to lean back but Seifer had the advantage, flowing thick and all Squall could do was swallow every surge as Seifer let it out in curse words from where he had doubled over above him.

Seifer's fingers unwound from Squall's hair as soon as he realized Squall would no doubt be livid for what he'd done. Squall released him to catch hissing breaths but remained otherwise soundless, quivering on his knees, resting his head against Seifer's thigh. "Mehe whe whispered. No point in cussing Seifer out for that now. He had more important needs to worry about, because that had turned him on enough to hurt again.

"Stay there," Seifer advised as he backed away. Squall heeded the warning, felt Seifer beside him, a jingle and tug of being liberated from the cuffs -- but Seifer refused to give his hands back, holding them to gingerly inspect. "You weren't supposed to cut yourself."

"I've had worse," Squall replied blandly. Seifer sure picked great moments to bother caring.

Letting go of one hand, Seifer sat back, raising the other to his lips to plant another of his ironic kisses on it. "Hope you've got a Cure on you, else you'll be facing some questions I doubt you want to answer."

Squall scowled at him, still quietly heaving for a number of different reasons, "What, did you use all yours up again?"

"I only had one to begin with, Squall. I was fucking with you."

Squall turned his stare to the floor, Seifer's quiet laughter tickling his eardrums. Only one; no worse than what he'd done to Zell days ago, nothing like what Rinoa had been burdoned with. The bundle of words droned in his ear had been nothing but that: words, and he'd been to taken to figure it out.

... Unless Seifer was lying. Working through the fuzz in his head, Squall was disappointed to find that he probably wasn't.

"Here," Seifer offered, hands on Squall's shoulders guiding ho leo lean back against the wall, "We'll finish this off quickly. Painlessly. You earned it."

Bare fingers curled around Squall's shaft before he could even straighten his legs out in front of him; thank Hyne Seifer wasn't wearing his gloves. A few tight strokes and some strange low sound from a mouth nearby sent him away. Orgasm roared through him like a slingshot freight train, a snap and flash and his mouth opened to the cieling for several long seconds. Gods, he just wanted a body to touch; Seifer was there and his arms were free to grope so that was what he did, as clingy as a wounded child, surrounded first by Seifer's trenchcoat and then the man himself. "Don't ever do that again," he mumbled, but Seifer didn't seem to hear him.

"Soundproofing or no, I'll bet they heard you in the dorms," Seifer said into the top of his head, sounding a little breathless himself, "Sure meant that."

Squall hadn't even known he'd made a sound, he was so consumed by the sudden intensity of it. Little white sparks were still prickling his vision, even. He disentangled himself to give Seifer a look. "Don't do it again. Ever." Blond eyebrows raised, silently asking if the reference was to Seifer making him come. "No spells," he clarified, "Don't use them on anyone for this, ever again."

Shrugging, Seifer smiled. "I wasn't planning on it. I find that..." He played at groping for words that were surely already lined up, "The cake always tastes best when I bake it myself. And now, the evidence." A kiss brushed Squall's forehead before Seifer stood, picked up the chair and placed it below that green light Squall had nearly forgotten about. Squall's heart jumped; he readied to warn Seifer with an empty growl of his name, but a plastic diskette struck his chest before he could get a word out. "Take good care of it."

~* O0 o 0O *~

"Where the fuck were you?" Sneakers thunked and countersqueaked along the near-empty curved hall, Zell's sprint automatic as soon as he caught sight of the freshly-preened pair, "I've only been calling you over the intercom for an hour." He skidded to a halt before Squall and Seifer, and didn't bother to comment on how brightly Squall was beginning to blush. "She's gone crazy. Snapped," he spurted breathlessly, quite red in the face himself, as Squall's drained completely.

"'Crazy?'"

"Come on. Talk her out of it." Zell turned back and careened back towards the training centre. Seifer and Squall exchanged sickened glances and swiftly followed.

As soon as the bulk of the heavy metal doors slammed behind them, the dread in Squall'smachmach and the excitement in Seifer's bursted unmeasurably. Zell was waiting for them just inside, his back to a fence post. "Look. Look at that."

He didn't need to tell them to. A scar of charred grasses and fallen palm fronds had been drawn to the left, curving off around a corner past the next doors, several trees bent at sharper angles than Squall remembered marking the way. Even more stark was the litter of bodies: more grats than could be counted at a glance, not to mention at least four t-rexaurs, with Rinoa's name written all over them.

A distant roar rippled the makeshift humidity, skirted with a titter of laughter.

"I tried to tell her she'd totally screw up the population," Zell continued, bouncing anxiously from foot to foot, "but it was like she couldn't hear me. And Angelo, don't know where the hell he went to, prob'ly as scared of her as I am."

"It'll take a month to recover from this," Seifer calmly observed, "at least."

"Yah, from this, if this was all there was, but she's makin' her way around to the other side and it's like this all the way there, gonna cost a million gil I bet -- Where'd Squall go?" Zell followed the turns of his head in a spin, "Shit, he went off by him --"

"Thought you'd take care of this without me, eh?" Seifer was already jogging towards the double-doors to his right, the only route Squall could have taken to have vanished without his noticing. He found him in the very next area, striding with impressive balance across one of the thinner planks stretched above the water. Rinoa hadn't touched this part yet -- Squall had been stricken with the same idea as he, to meet her head on somewhere in the middle of the maze and cut her off.

And hopefully not be set aflame or frozen solid when they did so.

The toe of Squall's boot caught on the end of his plank and sent him nearly sprawling, giving Seifer enough time to catch up and grab the back of his jacket. "Good thing we went back to get these," he said before unsheathing Hyperion, sounding much too excited.

Seifer's voice brought Squall a light wave of calm. He already had his own blade in his hand, though he couldn't precisely remember drawing it out. "Think we can stop her?" he asked absently, staring towards the next curve. An earthshaking thud followed another roar, more laughter.

"You think we can't?"

"She could kill us."

"She won't." Seifer nudged Squall's elbow with the butt of his blade, and they were off, disregarding any grats that tried to get in their way, dodging giant ferns and naturally downed trees, area to area in carefully kept silence.

Rinoa brought them to her with her beckoning cries and the squeals of the creatures she dispatched. Her next use of a Firaga was reflected in yellow sparkles by the dew on a wall of foliage. Rounding a final corner, they came face to face with her -- her arms, in preparation to cast another spell, dropped to her sides, though her adrenaline grin stayed in place. She winked at them both and chose to off the last grat in the vicinity with a bullet inst

The crash of sound left the training centre eerily silent in it's wake (the insects had even ceased their buzzing), and after spurting copious amounts of goo from its new hole, the grat collapsed in a flurry of fallen branch limbs atop another of its kind. Rinoa put her hands on her knees in a lazy stretch, then straightened, pulling at the sweaty remnants of her bangs that had plastered themselves to her face. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" she offered pushing those bangs behind her ears.

"A bit warm for my liking," Seifer replied, casually shrugging off his coat. He tossed it -- carefully -- over a nearby branch and didn't bother to take his weapon back into his hand.

"Are you insane?" Squall asked evenly, his arms crossed tightly, "D'you have any idea how much this'll co --"

"Take it out of my pay," Rinoa shot back. "I'm having the time of my life right now. Do you have any idea how long it's been? Wait, yes, of course you do -- since I left. I haven't been able to do this since I left! It was like a -- like -- like a time bomb inside me, and now that I won't get caught --" she howled a cheer at the high ceiling, then cast Fire on an innocent bystander: a palm, which proceeded to burst into flames, "-- I can do whatever I want!" She put the fire out with a Water and quieted, her smile turning dangerous with the narrowing of her eyes, "I guess I am insane. Just a little insane, mind you."

"I want you to stop," Squall replied.

"Can it, Squall, she's having fun."

"Yeah, a millionaire's fun, which she isn't. And she could hurt someone."

"Mm. Who?"

"You, me, Zell, students. Herself."

"No worries," Rinoa injected, "No classes today, remember? As for stopping, I don't think I can, and the great thing is, I don't have to."

"When I said to train, this isn't what I had in mind." Squall dropped his arms, a gesture to frustrated defeat, "You won't be able to use magic when you get to Timber." Plus, she had more natural talent than all but an elite unknown few, less than a fraction of a percentage of the world's population -- she didn't need practice.

"What the hell did you guys do?" As much as Zell complained about being snuck up on, he was darned good at doing it himself. Six eyes rolled to find him lazing on his kiester with his back against the fencing. "She didn't even answer me."

Rinoa's face scrunched. "You said something?"

"I only screamed your name about sixty times, Rin. You scared the bejeebies outta me."

"Hm," Rinoa squeaked, shrugging, "Sorry. You okay?"

"Barely. Lucky I was fast enough to get out of the way. Tree almost fell on me." Squall reached a concerned hand out, and Zell waved the gesture off with his own, "'M fine. Like I said, it missed." A second of pause, and his eyes widened -- he jumped to his feet without rattling the chain links. "Company, guys."

Rinoa was the first to bellow out excitment. Two of her favourite prehistoric beasts had smelled her challenge and looked far from ready to turn it down as they stalked in the group's direction side-by-side, the thumps of their feet already audible. "I think I wrecked a nest earlier," Rinoa mused detachedly, "Must be peeved with me."

"We have time to run," Squall warned.

Seifer laughed at him, "Sudden case of degenerative backbone disease, dear?"

"These could be the last lef left. We won't be able to repopulate until winter break."

"Well, too bad. Too late." Seifer gestured with Hyperion's tip to Rinoa's back, already shrinking with distance. Zell soon followed her, whooping a request for their company.

"Shit," Squall muttered before they both took off.

"I killed your babies," Rinoa shouted, as if such tiny brains needed taunting, "Crushed their little heads! You wanna take it out of me, I know it." She stopped running at the end of her sentence, and Zell had to veer sideways to avoid crashing into her. "You might want to stay back, hun."

Zell turned without skipping a step. "Why?" he asked as he obeyed.

The sorceress seemed to hesitate, shaking her head and blinking once, before she answered his question with a flick of her hand and a whisper of 'Meteor.' The roof opened up into the night sky -- quite odd for the middle of the day -- before engulfing the monsters with chunks of rock and other summoned bits of space junk in a howling rain. Once it had cleared, the debris dissolving back whence it came, both t-rexaurs had fallen. Rinoa pouted. "Aw, and I was hoping for some close range ass kicking," she grumbled, "Damn me, being so good at this..."

"Careful. They're not dead," Squall called from behind, following cautiously alongside Seifer.

As it turned out, he was only half right. One didn't even twitch, while the other, shifting helplessly on the ground with a broken leg, still looked able to tear off a limb or two if anyone got within range, snapping its jaws between foghorn growls. The blood from a deep slash to the creature's armored belly had begun beating a river in the dirt. Although it would have died with no more help if left for an hour or two, Rinoa decided to take pity on it, unloading a full clip in its head to make sure she broke through the bone. She looked up to find Squall staring at her, completely abashed. "What?"

"You used to cry," he replied, "That's all."

Rinoa smiled at the pocket she had begun to dig around in. "I used to do a lot of things." She shoved the clip she found into the butt of her weapon with a pointed click, "I still cry."

Seifer turned fromm tom to Zell, who appeared as amused as a cat by the way the tip of the monster's tail was twitching. He swiftly removed it -- making Zell jump, to his pleasure -- and his blade was caught by a pair of smaller ones before he could lift it.

"Fight me." Rinoa smirked when she caught his eye, feeling tall. "There's only so much Zell can teach me. Er, sorry."

Zell, who had been holding a mock-threatening grin and one fist up in Seifer's direction, dropped it and shrugged. "Don't be. It's true. I already showed you enough." They exchanged subtle winks, then, bringSquaSquall a tiny pang of unease. He stepped up, watching Seifer silently consider Rinoa's request, and shut his mouth before he finished opening it. He had been about to ask her to spar with him instead.

"Although..." Rinoa bit her lip, "I don't know if you'll be a great enough challenge." Seifer scoffed at this, only serving to brighten her smile. "You too, Squall. I want both your hides on my wall." Squall, shaken by his impulse, just stared at her. "Hyne, lighten up. Come on, we'll practice." She backed up, loudly scraping Seifer'sde, de, and dashed from the area beneath the arch of branches by which the others had entered.

"No fair, her getting a head start," Seifer grumbled with a betraying twinkle in his eye. He shouldered Hyperion and only got to take two lazy steps before Squall caught his wrist.

"Seifer --"

"I know, it's a test." Seifer wrenched is arm from Squall's grasp. "And it's one that, for the first time in my life, I'll ace. You shouldn't have any trouble at all." Tossing Squall a final smirk, he began his string of wide strides after Rinoa, high-chinned and tall.

Squall's stomach rudely requested that he throw up. Snubbing it with a mental no, he dragged his feet over to the wire fencing nearby and eased his fingers into the holes, purely for an excuse to stall.

Was this even worth it?

He was ready to throw up his hands, offer a pleasant 'fuck it,' and go take a nap. Tell Rinoa she wasn't needed anymore, send her and her dog and her little boy home, let that group take over the world if they wanted. Shut himself up with Zell in his bedroom and just let the chatter put him to sleep. It wasn't his responsibility anyway.

Then he imagined himself telling that to all the SeeDs who asked him why they would have to live the rest of their lives blind, or dumb, or puking; himself explaining why nothing could be done for the ones driven too insane by prolonged afflictions of Berserk or Confuse to speak for themselves. It was only a matter of time before the serum was perfected. When the time came, he'd be held responsible for doing nothing.

Controlling Rinoa was the only alternative to nothing, and even with that fact recognized, he wasn't ready to go through with it.

He too too lost in thought to hear the swish of sneakers on plush turf until the sound rose from directly behind him. The wide pads of two thumbs took to his lower back, below his jacket hem, dug deep and rotated with psychic accuracy. He exhaled a breath that he hadn't actually been holding.

"Do what you think's right," Zell advised softly, his words coming with a slow ease that sounded oddly natural, "You don't gotta go with them. You don't gotta stay here. Nothing's holding you down."

Squall touched his chin to his shirt collar, unable to believe that or move his boots from where they'd firmly planted themselves. "What would you do?"

"Doesn't matter what I'd do." Not liking that answer, Squall favoured Zell's right hand and leaned into it instead of saying so. Zell continued, "Me and Rin did some talking today, before she went all ape on me. Small talk, big talk."

Squall's grip on the fence tightened in time with the loosening of a knot. "About?"

"Oh, y'know, stuff.... Okay, fine... You."

"Hyne..."

"What, you think I'd kiss and tell?"

Fighting the urge to lean his forehead against the wire because it would only turn him orange, Squall quietly cleared his throat. "No."

"I said it was okay, with me, what's going on. Not my decision anyway. That's when she went off, when I said that. Told me she didn't need you."

"Is it alright with you?"

Zell didn't seem to mind the thought of being left out at all -- he stopped his massage and wound his arms loosely around Squall's waist, unknowingly pushing the corner of the video disc in Squall's pocket into a hipbone. "Sure is," he said, his cheek pillowed in fluff, "Go with your gut. I trust you."

"Trust me?"

"Not to forget about me." Squall nodded at a ladybug making its way across the wire towards his right hand in quick, precarious footsteps, the same colour as the rust flecked over his gloves. "She's a good girl," Zell continued, verbally tiptoeing, "And she's lonelier than I thought anybody could be."

Squall lifted a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "I know."

"You've got us to fall back on this time, just in case it ends up too much."

One in the trenches with him, and one far removed. Squall had to admit the setup couldn't have gotten much better. "I already swore I'd do what she asked me to. I'll just... go from there."

Zell understood the cue. He let go so Squall could face him, then impulsively squeezed his shoulder. "Nervous?"

Not really, not unless the icy volcano currently erupting in Squall's midsection counted. He sighed, mentally readying himself for what was bound be so much more than a simple sparring match.

-----------------------------

Because AFF's been going wonky lately, I'll just let everyone know, you can go to my website (http://www.geocities.com/rhapsodisiac) for updates if I finish a chapter while it's down. :)

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Convergence [2]: Blood Roses