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One (Last) Chance	By : RotSeele Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Seifer/Squall Views: 3719 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Eighteen - Squall POV

Balamb had been much as I expected it to be when we arrived home: in a complete state of chaos as the Garden Faculty faced off against the SeeDs “loyal” to Cid. I didn’t bother answering any questions - I plowed right through the monsters and anyone who opposed me, and headed straight for the middle ring of the Garden. There, I sent Fujin and Raijin to warn everyone about the missiles’ inevitable arrival, and then I sent Zell and Irvine to find the Headmaster. Once they were off running that mission - and I had made it clear to them that they were to search everywhere, instead of telling them that Cid was in his office - I took Rinoa with me to the elevator. I still had the key with me from Before, so with her in tow, I headed down to the MD level. Taking the elevator early, I had avoided having to climb out of it when the power shut off.
Between the two of us, we managed to get the Garden into its mobile mode. Rinoa was grinning like a loon by the time Zell and Irvine managed to join us - apparently, they worked faster than we had Before... or they had just gotten lazy and had decided to check the obvious first - and as much as Zell pestered her about her “date” with me, she remained tight-lipped and only shrugged when he asked her more personal questions. I ignored them all, even Cid, as I took control of the newly mobile Garden and steered her out of the way of the incoming missiles. That done, I relinquished control of Balamb Garden to the ocean, knowing it would be some time before we reached our crash course with Fisherman’s Horizon.
There was one more thing I would have to take care of before then, too.
Well.
Besides taking a well-deserved nap.
I made sure to lock my door, too.
After giving Rinoa her desired tour (and this time I was a little more engaged about it, considering she was going to need to know her way around Garden when shit hit the fan), I knew what was coming. I was feeling a little more amicable toward Cid this time around, so I said nothing during his tirade against NORG, and I merely nodded when he addressed me personally. I didn’t bother to remind him of my report; I was sure he’d ask me eventually, and I had more important things to worry about. I did tell him, however, that Dr. Kadowaki was looking for him.
I wasn’t feeling too generous with NORG though.
I let the Shumi talk, gave my report when asked, and barely reacted when NORG informed us that we would be the sacrifices used to calm the sorceress’ anger. I let him enjoy his moment of triumph as he revealed Cid’s secret, and I let him think we would just roll over and die to save his own skin. Rinoa and Zell, who had joined us minutes after Cid had left, looked at me with wide, fear-filled eyes. I ignored them, merely canting my head to one side.
“Do you really think I’ll just let you use us to save your own skin?” I asked NORG in a voice so soft it was thunderous. “Do you think I’ve gone through all this just to bow my head to a fat Shumi who failed in the eyes of his people?”
That made NORG regard me fearfully. Since I was expecting the battle, I went into it with Renzokuken ready to go. Zell and Rinoa were helpful only in the fact that they managed to keep NORG from using any of his pod’s attacks on us, while I focused on him to the exclusion of everything else.
After it was over, at Rinoa’s insistence, we went to find Cid in the infirmary. I summarily made my report, and listened to him explain his side of the story. Since I had told Ellone to head to Esthar when I had met her for the “first” time, I wasn’t expecting the White SeeD ship to show up, so I headed back to my room to try and get some rest. I knew that, by now, Seifer, Quistis, and Selphie were on their way to Fisherman’s Horizon in the machine that had blocked them from escaping the missile base. I still worried that they hadn’t made it, of course - Seifer could be extremely stubborn when he wanted to be - or that something had gone wrong and I had gotten them all killed this time around. I didn’t get much sleep because of it, falling into waking nightmares of fire and blood. Whether I was rested or not, I knew that I was going to have to deal with my next challenge sooner rather than later.
Which was, by some miracle, preventing Garden from slamming into Fisherman’s Horizon.
I was standing in FH now, overlooking the mayor’s house. Rinoa was standing nearby, watching me. Since I had avoided a collision with FH, there really was no need to talk to the mayor, but Cid had cornered me into doing it anyway. Said that I needed to see the world and broaden my horizons. High expectations. SeeD is not just a special force for combat. I didn’t argue. It probably wouldn’t hurt to go tell the mayor that we came in peace and the big floating military base wasn’t going to suddenly start bombing the pacifist city. I was almost tempted to warn him that Galbadia was going to come in guns blazing, so to speak, but I knew where that would get me.
Pacifists are crazy.
I had already warned Rinoa and Zell not to engage in any violence, and that was reiterated by the two elevator guards. I stayed quiet as one of them talked about Esthar, knowing at some point in my future we’d be heading there, whether I wanted to or not.
“Keep frowning like that and you’ll get premature wrinkles.”
I glanced at Rinoa. She had silently approached me and was standing beside me, slightly leaned over so she could look up at my face. She smiled as I looked away.
“You know, you’re going to have to make a decision sooner or later.” she said.
“Or I could keep standing here.” I replied, hoping I put enough lemon in my words to get her to back off.
“Or you could do that.” Rinoa agreed. “But it would be dreadfully boring, and we have to go see him anyway right? That’s what Mister Cid said.”
“Yeah.”
Her slight smile dropped into a serious expression. “Squall, are you okay? I mean, like really okay? I know you haven’t slept in a little while, what with all the excitement, but that doesn’t explain why you’re suddenly so stoic with people who are your friends.”
I glanced at her, confused. Stoic? I thought about it for a moment. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“I figured.” She edged a bit closer, then set her hand on my arm. It took effort not to jerk under that touch. “Look, I’m going to go all sappy on you right now but, you can talk to me, you know. It’s not good to keep all that stress bottled up inside. Believe me, Seifer would do the same thing and then just suddenly explode. Not that I think you’d explode.”
My lips twitched.
Rinoa took that as a good sign. “And I’m not saying this as like, a come-on, but because you’re my friend. You’ll go crazy if you keep all that stress bottled up inside you.”
Now I really smiled. Here was the girl I knew from Before, the one who wasn’t a ditz but a sensitive, caring young woman. I just shook my head, though, only because what I was keeping bottled up inside wasn’t something I wanted her to know. I had told Seifer for a purpose; telling anyone else would only cause more undue stress and perhaps someone else trying to change the timeline. But, knowing her as I did, she wouldn’t let the subject drop without a satisfactory answer. So I said, “I’m just worried.”
“Worried?”
“About Selphie and the others.”
Rinoa’s gaze softened and so did her smile. “I’m sure they’re fine. You’re a good leader, Squall. You wouldn’t have sent them if you didn’t believe they wouldn’t get the job done and that they’d come back to us.”
I inclined my head and made a gesture toward the mayor’s house. “Shall we get going? The sooner we introduce ourselves, the sooner we can go around town.”
“Sounds good.”
I ushered Rinoa down ahead of me, and Zell and Irvine fell in behind, and together we walked to the mayor’s house. I wasn’t surprised to see Martine sitting there, and nothing would’ve given me more pleasure than to push that son of a bitch off the platform, but I ignored him and headed into Mayor Dobe’s house.
The meeting was short and to the point. Because the Garden hadn’t crashed into FH this time, it didn’t need any repairs, but that also meant there would be no one on board to teach Nida how to pilot it. To remedy this, I asked if Dobe would be opposed to having his technicians check the Garden out for problems. He agreed, if only because doing so would get us out of Fisherman’s Horizon faster. That taken care of - along with getting Nida the piloting lessons he needed - I assured the mayor and his wife that we would leave as soon as the Garden was serviced and ready, but I refrained from promising that we wouldn’t engage in any violence, considering I knew what was coming.
When we finally left the mayor’s house, I headed back up the hill with Zell and Rinoa on my heels. I could hear Zell grumbling to Irvine about Dobe, and I let him. It was better he let it all out anyway rather than keep it inside. He’d get to take it out on Galbadian soldiers in a minute. That minute came faster than I had expected; I cut Flo off with an icy glare and watched the woman shrink back under my gaze. After that, we chased down the mayor, and managed to save his life (again) even though he would look upon us like we were trash. I wanted to tell him that his belief system was flawed, that if one had to choose between a belief and survival, one needed to choose survival. But I kept my mouth shut, and just fought, knowing that in just a minute, just one more minute, I would see Seifer again.
When he climbed up from the Iron Clad, I somehow restrained myself from rushing over to him and grabbing him in a tight hug. He looked right at me and gave me his most irritating smirk, as if to tell me he knew exactly what I was stopping myself from doing. Then his arms were full of Rinoa, and even Zell and Irvine rushed forward to exchange hugs with Selphie and Quistis. I felt my lips twitch in response to the sight before me, and judging by the way Seifer’s eyes suddenly became more focused on my face, I realized he had never seen me truly smile before. He was committing it to his memory, as if me smiling was an event that occurred only when the stars and planets aligned.
I don’t know if the feeling of joy I had at seeing all of them - Seifer included - had been diminished by the fact I knew that they would survive, but I knew that I wasn’t as excited as I had been Before.
“Hey, Ice Prince.” Seifer called, grinning broadly, “you succeed?”
My smile vanished and I scowled at him for using the nickname he had for me. “The Garden is safe.”
“Really!!!?” Selphie jumped in the air, punching her fists high above her head. “Whoo-hoo!!!”
I focused on Seifer as I asked, “What happened to you guys?”
Before Seifer could answer, Quistis stepped forward and frowned at me. “Squall, let’s save that for later.”
Seifer tilted his head to the side and glanced from Quistis to me and back again. I lifted my shoulders slightly in a shrug, and for once, Seifer smirked and nodded once to let me know he would let it go for now, but nothing he would tell me about the missile base would be something new. It would be what he learned while on the mission that would impress me, and I was fairly confident he knew it.
I glanced at Mayor Dobe, but he was already leering distrustfully at us, and I knew that whatever speech I could give him would do nothing to change his view about us. I sent the others on ahead back to the Garden and I moved over to the mayor, silently helping him to his feet. I met his hot glare with an icy one and I walked away, knowing he was staring at my back. Seifer was waiting for me on the tracks, his arms crossed over his chest. I didn’t glance at him as I passed him, but even with my back turned, I knew he was focused on Dobe with as much intensity as he focused on me when we fought. After a minute, he caught up with me.
“You still think the world needs people like him?” Seifer asked.
I smirked. “I think the world needs all kind of people. But I’m not going to let someone walk up and kill me. I will fight first, and if it’s my time, it’s my time.”
“Did you at least say thank you?”
“Would you?”
Seifer laughed in response and shook his head. “I don’t know if having you know everything that’s going to happen is a good thing or not, but you certainly know how to show a guy a good time.”
I looked up at him through my bangs and was surprised to see his cheeks color a little bit. So I smiled a little and said, “I haven’t even gotten started yet.”
And then I walked away from him.
I heard Seifer splutter behind me, cursing in a rather colorful string as he followed me, and I couldn’t help the pleased smile that bloomed on my face.
- 17
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- 19
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One (Last) Chance