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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
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Two - Seifer POV

Squall was acting strangely. Stranger than usual. He’d fought with the usual intensity and concentration, which always got my blood running hot. I lost myself in the fight - it was supposed to be training, but it got out of hand. It always did where Squall was concerned. Maybe it was the way those stormy grey eyes stared at me, seeing me, watching for the slightest tell. Maybe it was the way he moved, as lithe as the cat on his pendant. When we fight, it’s like we’re the only two people in the world; he’s solely focused on me and nothing else. I gave him the same sort of respect when we fought, but something about our last duel made me want to win no matter what the cost. And I won. I cut that beautiful face of his right between the eyes and it should’ve ended there. But then he came back in the very last second and returned the injury.
Then he passed out.
I carried him to the infirmary and dumped him there, not waiting around to get myself lectured by Kadowaki or anyone else. I don’t know why I bothered. I could’ve just used a Cure spell on the two of us and no one would’ve ever known what had happened. But I didn’t.
Now we were in the ship, listening to Xu talk about the SeeD exam mission in Dollet. I wasn’t paying much attention to her. I never did. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to obey orders, it was that I always saw an opportunity to do the right thing. The last exam mission I’d gone on showed me the SeeD didn’t care about anything but the mission - get it done, no matter what. I’d saved the lives of five cadets on my squad by ordering them to flank the enemy instead of sending them head on into the midst of them. And I had been the one punished.
But as Xu talked, I focused on Squall. He was sitting in his typical position, arms crossed on his knees and head bowed. He wasn’t looking at the board, at Xu, or anyone else. I knew he was listening because his head was slightly cocked to one side, but otherwise his eyes were riveted to the ground. He hadn’t said one word during the meeting where Quistis assigned us to the same squad, and he hadn’t paid much attention to Zell other than to tell him to sit down and shut up and no, he wasn’t going to show him his gunblade in the car.
“Any questions?” Xu asked when she finished. When we remained silent she said, “Oh, I know this goes without saying, but the order to retreat takes priority.”
When she left, Squall abruptly rose from his seat and headed toward the door of the ship.
“Squall, where are you going?” Quistis asked.
“I’m going to check outside.” He glanced at me then, his face emotionless. “That’s what you were going to order me to do, right?”
I blinked. I’d been about to tell him to do just that, too. I smirked. “That’s what I like to see in my squad. Initiative. You could learn a thing or two from Leonhart, chicken-wuss.”
“Stop calling me that!”
Squall was already topside when I turned to look at him. When we landed, I caught him staring blankly at the sand, his eyes unfocused. It was a brief moment, and when he met my gaze, I felt a cold fist grab hold of my spine. Those stormy grey eyes weren’t filled with nervousness or fear; they were filled with a quiet determination, as if he already knew he was going to succeed here. Then he looked away and waited for the order to move out.
When we reached the square, I knew something wasn’t right with the lion. He was holding back during the battles, letting me and Zell take out the Galbadian soldiers. And when I asked him where he’d gotten the beautiful blue gunblade he now held, and when I asked him why he hadn’t used it during our duel, he just stared at me. Then he turned away and went to lean against the wall of a building, arms folded over his chest.
“Don’t kick the dog.”
I froze, one leg half raised to do just that. Squall was standing behind me, arms at his sides, eyes locked on mine. I set my foot back down and pointed at his gunblade. “Tell me that beauty’s name and I won’t.”
“...Lion Heart.”
I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing. I sobered only when his expression didn’t change. He continued to stare at me. “What?” I asked, as I calmed myself. “Something on my face?”
“Why didn’t you use Cure?”
“Huh?” The question threw me. Squally-boy definitely wasn’t the same kid I’d fought this morning. There was something different about him. It was like there was a different person standing in front of me, rather than the Squall I’d known all my life. I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling the puckered skin of the scar each time my finger swiped across it. “I guess I wanted proof.”
“Proof?”
“Proof that we really did have a knock-down drag-out no holds barred fight.”
One elegant eyebrow rose. “That’s why?”
I sighed. I glanced at Zell, making sure the chicken-wuss wasn’t close enough to hear our conversation. I caught Squall making the same look before focusing back on me. I pointed casually at the scar between his eyes. “You had my mark. It’s only fair I had one of yours.”
“So... like a claiming?”
There was that cold fist again. What the hell had gotten into Squall? Had I hit him harder than I thought? Beyond him saying more words today than he had all the years before, he was definitely being un-Squall-like. Before I could say anything, Squall stiffened.
“What is it?” I asked, half thankful I didn’t have to answer, and now more curious than ever before.
“Soldiers are coming.”
Zell chose that moment to wander over and frowned at Squall’s comment. “I don’t hear anything.”
Squall just glowered at him and headed toward the alley. I pushed Zell ahead of me and followed after Squall. Just as we crouched down, several Galbadian soldiers trotted into the square, then headed down the road across from us. When they were gone, I stepped out of the alley and moved closer to the road until I could see where the soldiers were going.
“What’s up there?” Zell asked.
“The communications tower.” Squall answered.
“Why would they go there?”
“Does it matter?” I asked, grinning widely. “We obviously can’t let them get there and do whatever they want to it.”
Zell frowned at me. “But we’re supposed to stay here.”
“Do what you want.” Squall said, hefting Lion Heart onto his shoulder. “I’m going.”
I stuck my arm out to stop him. “I’m the leader. I make that decision.”
Squall looked up at me through his bangs. He didn’t say anything, but I could see it in his eyes. He was going to go, whether I made the call or not. He was jeopardizing his SeeD promotion! Why? So I pulled him aside and told Zell to stay put for a second. “Squall, what the hell is going on with you? You do realize your insubordination will cost you the exam?”
“You know the same thing will happen if you make the decision.” Squall snapped back. “You might still get blamed anyway. At least if I take the initiative, maybe you won’t catch so much flak.”
I gaped at him. “Are you trying to protect me?”
“...”
“What is wrong with you?”
He didn’t answer me. He shook my hand off and started for the road. Having no choice, really, because I wasn’t going to pass up watching this new Squall in action, I followed him. Zell came at our heels, complaining, loudly, that we were disobeying orders and we were going to get into so much trouble.
And, you know what?
I didn’t care.
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One (Last) Chance