Author's Notes: "Sweet Surrender " is by Sarah MacLauglin. Square owns Final Fantasy and all of its characters. Yeah. I decided to do this song over "Do What You Have To Do," because I couldn't get it written. And yeah... no sex so far... but it moves the plot along!

Get better soon, Genna!

All That I have to Give

By Mikata

Doesn't mean much

 

/Sometimes,/ Squall thought as he stalked the darkness of the bridge, /talk is cheap/

 

Doesn't mean anything at all

 

Silence.

Their eyes locked together, and the world of sound that Squall had lived with his entire life had just stopped. His entire world was funneled into watching Seifer's eyes, illuminated by the guttering flames of the torches perched on Edea's float.

"So, this is what you've become. A lapdog for the Sorceress?"

Seifer smirked at him, the guttering flames making his face more wicked, accentuating the cruel lines of his jaw, the high cheekbones, the fiendish gleam in his eyes.

"If it makes you feel better to think that," he said, that evil smile never leaving his face, nor his eyes never leaving Squall's.

"What makes you think that anything there's anything to feel bad about?" Squall's gaze was even, impassive.

Seifer's face darkened slightly with the blood that raced through his veins. Despite his attempts to hide it, his temper spiked noticeably, angered by the lack of disquiet from his opponent.

"I was just curious. You never swallow you massive sense of pride for anyone. Why her?"

Seifer's smile returned to his lips. "Jealous? I never thought you the type to feel something so common as jealousy, Squall."

Squall's face still didn't crack.

Seifer's smirk began to fade again.

"You think I care?"

Anger crossed Seifer's features. The statement; it was so simple, it had destroyed everything that Seifer had done for all of the life that he could remember.

Was there life before Squall?

Really?

Squall brought his gunblade forward, swiping at Seifer's left. Seifer dodged, ducked and sent his own gunblade at Squall's legs. He jumped back, and brought the butt of it down onto the crown of Seifer's head. He stumbled, crashing into the ground a few feet away.

 

The life I've left behind me
Is a cold room

 

Seifer stood slowly, staggering aside as Edea swept in, her coldness surrounding her like a cloak, spreading across the float, covering him, threatening to blanket the whole world.

 

I've crossed the last line

 

The lances of ice, turned green by the unnatural light coming out of the dying torches, came as a shock to everyone as they flew though the air. Most of them shot off, as though they were never intended to hit the party that had vanquished her, but then, that last one...

That last one buried itself into Squall's shoulder, bursting through on the other side, so quickly and violently, he couldn't tell where the pain ended and the ice began. It shoved him backwards, off the side of the float, making him fall farther than he climbed, as though he were falling into the depths of Hell as an angel tried vainly to reach for him, screaming his name.

 

From where I can't return

 

Squall shuddered, pulling in on himself unconsciously. He looked around, trying to orient himself to his environment. The stainless sterile steel twisted his reflection, broken on the floor, and spun it around the room like an endless fun house. His body was wracked with pain as he felt himself over for injuries.

He found himself miraculously uncut, but deep within the tissues of his body, something remembered the injury. Remembered, and wouldn't let Squall forget, either.

 

Where every step I took in faith betrayed me.

 

The prison cell shook as it moved from its place on the base level. Inside, it was as though Squall was in a can that was about to be opened with a sharp opener. He bounced around, helpless to grab something to steady himself.

 

And led me from my home.

 

Seifer entered the cell as a royal emperor would, his step light and regal, his back proudly straight, and his eyes cast downwards in scorn.

"Well, look who's finally awakened." He said with a smirk.

Squall looked up from the floor, his head spinning. Seifer loomed over him like a dark monolith, his head crowned in the fluorescent light of the ceiling. Seifer reached down, grabbing Squall by his hair and wresting him from the floor, throwing him against the bed.

"I told you to stay away from Deling City." He said harshly. He leaned over Squall's shoulder and breathed in his ear. "I'm going to make you regret it. It, and everything that you said. You may be a little soulless whore, but I will make you see the error of your ways, or my name ain't Seifer Almasy." His voice shaped each word delicately, letting each syllable tumble from his mouth like water pouring over the edge of a trickling waterfall.

 

Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give.

 

"For what, Seifer? What ways?"

"All of them." He said composedly.

Squall's lips moved into the ghost of a smirk. "What are you talking about? Are you just that uninteresting that you can't think of anything better to say?

Seifer growled and slammed Squall's head against the bed, mashing his face into the bland cotton sheets, gray with decades of use. He forced Squall's head down, smothering the air out of him, twisting his nose and grating it against the rough blend of the cloth.

 

Take me out

 

Squall felt blind panic. His lunged burned, his mouth and nose trying to breathe in the fabric. His limbs jerked uselessly, unable to get leverage. Above him, Seifer sneered.

"I think you're well enough for an interrogation," he paused and looked around the room before speaking again. "You should be quite a challenge. Maybe I'll even get you to break your daily word quota."

Roughly, he yanked Squall's head back up, yanking him to his feet, then throwing him back down against the wall. Squall slid bonelessly, half laying on the bed, half slumped on the floor. Seifer alighted without a backward glance.

"Take him away!" he declared harshly to the guards waiting his orders outside of the door. Squall turned his head, and like more times than he wished in his life, the last he thing he saw was Seifer's wicked smirk as the doors slammed shut and the cell lurched again and moved away.

 

No questions asked.

 

Seifer strolled up the stairs, not in any particular hurry to get to the twelfth floor. His smirk had been replaced by a thoughtful frown, his eyes cast towards the ground as he walked.

 

You strip away the ugliness that surrounds me

 

/Do you have to go? Do you really?/

/Why do you care?/

/Because..../

 

Are you an angel?

 

Squall's body shook slightly, the pain of the cuffs on his wrists biting into his flesh beginning to become unbearable. His head lay against his chest, too heavy to be supported.

The doors slid open with a hiss of air which carried throughout the dark room. All of the light in the dim room seemed to surround Seifer as he entered the chamber, the steel tips of his boots clicking slightly against the corrugated metal floor. He lifted his eyes to meet Squall's, feeling their weight from the moment he had entered the room.

 

Am I already that gone?

 

"It's so good to see you were well enough to be interrogated today."

Squall remained silent.

Seifer smirked. "I know it'll be hard, but I'm fairly confident that I will get something coherent out of those pretty lips."

 

I only hope that I won't disappoint you
When I'm down here on my knees

 

"What it the purpose of SeeD?"

Squall looked up. "Don't you know already?"

"Not the lies that they feed the cadets! You're a SeeD! They must have told you something!" Seifer shook with anger, and thrust his gunblade up at Squall's chest before thinking better of it.

"If you're not going to talk, then I'll have to..." Seifer gestured to the officer standing in the other room. "give him some juice."

 

Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

 

Squall's body jerked; his voice raised out across the space in the cell, crying out in pain. His voice so similar to when...

It was irrelevant.

 

And I don't understand
How the touch of your hand

 

Seifer sighed heavily and gestured to the soldier at the controls again. "Turn it off... let's see what he has to say."

The power was turned off. Squall slumped down in his chains, trembling from the shock still contracting his muscles. Seifer reached up, and carefully brushed some of his hair away from his face, brushing it back behind his ears, only to see it fall forwards into his eyes again. Squall opened his eyes slowly, his gaze meeting Seifer's.

 

I would be the one to fall.

 

Seifer backed down for just a moment, away from Squall's accusing stare, before remembering that he had the upper hand, he was the one with the cards.

 

Wasn't he?

 

His gaze returned back to Squall's eyes, the smirk back on his face. "We'll see how much you don't know." The hand in Squall's hair tugged roughly, twisting his head to the side. A pitiful cry seeped from Squall's lips before he could stifle it.

I miss the little things

Seifer's smirk broadened. "I think that when you sound your best, Squall. When you cry out-"

"Shut... up, Seifer." Squall said haltingly, his breath labored.

"Well, if you can still talk," he said, twisting Squall's head a little more, "maybe you can answer my questions!" the hand fisted in Squall's hair pulled back violently, pulling Squall's body off the wall. The old cuffs creaked as Squall's wrists pressed against them.

 

I miss everything
About you.

 

Seifer stood up on his tiptoes, pulling Squall's face down to meet his. The kiss was gentle, their lips barely touching.

 

Doesn't mean much
Doesn't mean anything at all

Seifer threw Squall's head back, then turned on his heel.

"If he doesn't cooperate, you know what to do."

 

The life I've left behind me
is a cold room

 

Squall watched as Seifer left the room without even a backwards glance. He tried his hardest not to allow his eyes to blur with tears. What did he have to cry about? He always knew Seifer didn't give a damn about him, so why did it matter now? He could hear the guard say something, but the words were indistinct, a slow monotone.

The pain started again, but all he could do was watch the door, waiting for Seifer to come back.

 

Sweet surrender is all that I have to give

 

Seifer looked back at the door, after he had gone through it. The last thing he wanted Squall, wanted anyone to see, was his weakness. Even after growing up, he still couldn't let go, and if he stayed in that room much longer, it would have been plain to all.

Worst of all, maybe, it would be plain to Squall.

 

Sweet surrender

 

Under the clear blue sky, the vehicle kicked up tan dust as it sped towards the prison, occasionally swerving violently off the road and back on again, the sand leaving a cloud behind it, settling down slowly after it was long gone.

 

Is all that I have to give.

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