Uncertain Memory: With You
Part Eleven - After the Ball
DISCLAIMER: Okay I want to say this now and get it over with. I got the story structure for this story from a book called Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey. She is my goddess author and I love her to death. While I was reading it one night, I got the idea for a prequel to the game and decided to write it because I wanted to give props to my fav author. There were 4 specific scenes that I needed from the book to make this story work.
The scenes are:
1. Savil teaching Tylendel about shielding and their conversation before he leaves.
2. Vanyel overhearing about Tylendel (if you read it you know what I’m talking about).
3. Vanyel seeing Tylendel read a book through the window.
4. Tylendel comforting Vanyel after his nightmare.
I’m really REALLY nervous about posting this because I don’t want flames about me ‘stealing’ Misty’s work. It’s hers, not mine! NEVER MINE! I just own the books and read them over and over cause I love them so much. I’m only doing this because they gave me an idea. All of the aforementioned scenes are hers that I have changed to fit the FF8 world, the rest is my own crappy writing ^_^ I hope you enjoy it all the same because it’s a fic, and I don’t get paid for this anyway. ^_~
Uncertain Memory: With You
Part Eleven - After the Ball
Squall sighed as he closed the door of his dorm behind himself. The last few hours were just a whirlwind inside his brain. He hadn’t really paid attention to the events and kept wondering who the heck he’d danced with at the ball. The girl was striking and he would have remembered seeing her before.
As he glanced into his room, Squall saw his lover curled up on his bed and he smiled. His smile faded as he realized something. Seifer never curled up—he was always sprawled across the bed comfortably. The brunette quietly slunk across the room and around the bed to see Seifer’s face. His cheeks and nose were red and raw. Squall’s face fell, as he regretted not going after the blonde at the ball. He could have at least consoled the older boy about the exam. Maybe they both would have felt better.
Squall leaned closer and kissed the sleeping blonde’s forehead. He stepped back and began to undress feeling rather tired from the festivities and wanting to sleep. After he kicked his clothing into the corner, he heard a quiet raspy voice.
“Squall?”
The brunette didn’t say one word and instead silently climbed under the covers behind Seifer. He wrapped his arms around the broad torso in front of him. Warm hands clutched his as if grabbing a safety line. Squall squeezed Seifer’s hands and nuzzled his nose into the blonde’s back.
“Why did this have to happen?” Seifer’s hushed voice carried in the dark. “I even failed on purpose last year to wait for you. I can’t believe I failed three years in a row.” A sniffle escaped into the darkness. “I just wish I could forget it all.”
“No.”
“Yes,” came the sad reply. “I even thought about junctioning the whole time you were gone.”
“Don’t.” Squall held the blonde tighter. “You might start to forget about us. I wouldn’t want that to happen.” He kissed Seifer’s shoulder. “Don’t make the same mistake I did. Please.”
“I won’t.” Seifer assured him. “I started to think about you and what you’d done when we were kids.”
“I did it again when I found Greiver.”
“What?” The blonde sat up and Squall went with him, holding tight to his back. He felt the warm hands around his squeeze tighter, coaxing him to talk. “Go on.”
The brunette sighed and went on. “I had blocked people out for so long, but somehow you weaseled your way in. I don’t know why, but I started to like you. I used Griever to try and forget my feelings for you. It didn’t work and when they took the GF away, the whole thing just got worse.” He paused for a moment. “I’m just glad you came in that night. If you hadn’t, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Seifer turned to the brunette and put a hand to his cheek. “And don’t ever think I regret it.”
“Exactly.” Squall smiled and kissed the blonde. “I don’t want to forget again.”
“I won’t let you.” Seifer nuzzled him.
“You look like you’ve been to hell and back.”
“Well, I have.” Seifer chuckled. “I guess I’ll live if you’re here with me. I just hope they don’t assign you right away.” He looked away. “Cid said he might send you out right away.”
“I’m sure it wouldn’t be for long if he did.” Squall coaxed the blonde to lie down again.
“I guess you're right.”
“Let’s get some sleep hmm? In case I have to go tomorrow. And you need the rest.” Squall wiggled his way closer and rested his face in the crook of Seifer’s neck.
“You’re always right.”
“I’m Mr. Obvious remember?”
Seifer chuckled and yawned. “Now I bid you adieu.” He kissed Squall’s forehead and the two drifted into a peaceful sleep.
First mission:
‘I bid you adieu.’ Those were the last words Squall had heard him say. The next morning, Zell had started banging on the door to wake Squall for an assignment they’d been given. While Squall got ready, Seifer didn’t say a thing. He just watched the brunette ready himself quickly. When Squall said goodbye, Seifer just kissed him. He looked like he was about to say something, but hesitated and decided against it. Looking back on it, Squall knew something was bound to go wrong if Seifer was under the weather. The blonde tended to be unreadable by anyone but Squall when he wasn’t happy.
After having a hallucinatory dream on the train with Zell and Selphie, Squall was stuck helping the Timber Owls try to capture President Vinzer. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the president they captured ended up to be a dummy and transformed into a hideous undead monster. Once that was dealt with, the group headed back to their base to discuss what to do next.
Squall then waited in a train compartment, watching 3 members of the Timber Owls—the only 3—trying to come up with another plan now that their first one hadn’t worked. Due to the contract Cid had given the Timber Owls, Squall, Selphie and Zell had to stay until the whole thing was over—that being the independence of Timber. Squall had to agree with Selphie; the statement was quite vague. This was all taking too long. He wanted to go home, back to the garden and back to Seifer.
The group then decided they were going to attack the President at the TV Station. What a lark. Squall was now following Rinoa out the back of a bar where they’d had to haggle with some drunk guy to even get out. And yes, he did bother to recall ever five minutes that this Rinoa girl that Seifer had been ‘dating’ was the one he’d danced with at the SeeD Ball. The brunette shook his head knowing the situation had gone from bad to worse when the trains were halted. This whole ‘no escape’ thing was really making his skin crawl. If things went bad, how would they get out of the town and back to Balamb? This was bad—very bad!
“Whoa, an outdoor TV!” Zell sputtered and stopped as the group was running up a set of stairs.
“This is creepy...What is it?” Rinoa asked cautiously, referring to the noise that the television emitted.
“This noise is broadcast over most of the frequencies,” Squall replied, his SeeD protocol kicking in again. “Something has to be done about this before they can broadcast it over the air.”
“Oh, really? Actually, I was wondering myself,” Zell mused aloud.
“The president's in the studio now, sir,” Watts told the group. “Too many guards now, so we won't be able to storm the place, sir.”
Squall frowned. Why did he always say sir? He scratched that question out of his mind, suddenly not wanting to know at all.
“So we can't just rush in…” Rinoa began to think aloud as everyone listened in. As she formulated a plan, the SeeDs agreed to follow her until the end—due to the contract of course.
Squall then accidentally insulted the black haired girl that resulted in a small disagreement on her decisions. Afterward, Squall regretted what he said, but still stood by it. He could tell Zell and Selphie thought he was being hard on Rinoa. What more could he do? Before Squall could say much more, Rinoa muttered her apologies and stated how serious she was about her cause. She then ran off to the station before the SeeDs could stop her.
“…Heeey?” Selphie called after the girl only to shrug and turn to the television that began to stutter.
“They starting?” Zell asked quietly as a picture began to appear.
So the Galbadians had used the Dollet tower for something. A live broadcast hadn’t been attemped for years. Why now? Why broadcast now?
As Squall listened to the speakers on the television, he was confused as to the events that were happening. The President urged those watching to stop all wars, which made Selphie bounce for joy. But all too quickly, Squall sensed that there was something else behind all of this. That was when the President tried to introduce a new embassador, one he called The Sorceress. A frown took over the brunette’s forehead as he tried to think.
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the set of the television and a flash of a gray coat was seen. Squall’s stomach dropped. He knew that coat. He pleaded with Hyne that it couldn’t be him.
Two Galbadian soldiers tried to grab the man from behind, but he threw them off and revealed his face to the camera. Squall winced as Seifer threw one soldier into the camera, knocking it down, and then threw two more soldiers off. Within a matter of seconds, the blonde had his gunblade to the President’s throat.
Quistis’s face appeared on the screen and was yelling into the screen that the Timber Owls had to help her. Squall had no choice. Due to the contract, he had to help Quistis and confront Seifer. What in the world had he done now?
fubar…
“We need to restrain him!” Quistis hissed into Squall’s ear only to be ignored.
“What do you think you're doing?” Squall yelled at the blonde.
“It's obvious, ain't it!? What are you planning to do with this guy?” Seifer demanded.
The brunette frowned. “…Planning to do?” Recognition hit him. Seifer knew Rinoa. Was that why he’d come? As Squall tried to think, a verbal dispute erupted between Zell and Seifer and only proved to make matters worse.
“YOU STUPID IDIOT!!” Zell hollered angrily.
“Be quiet,” Squall tried to calm the raging blonde.
“Instructor, I know.” Zell turned to Quistis. “You're gonna take this stupid idiot back to Garden, right!?”
Squall grimaced and held his ground against Zell, knowing their cover was blown. The blonde’s face fell as he realized what he’d done.
“I see...So you're all from Garden,” the President grinned knowingly.
“Nice going, you dumb chicken!” Seifer yelled back at Zell. “You and your stupid big mouth! Take care of this mess! Instructor and Mr. Leader!” the blonde finished and began to drag the President he held captive out of the room.
“No,” Quistis muttered and ran after him.
Squall turned to Zell. “You blew our cover! How could you let your emotions get the best of you!?” The brunette pulled futilely at his hair as Zell looked away in guilt. “N-never mind, let’s just get Seifer out of here.”
Squall ran toward the door he saw Quistis disappear into only to see her kneeling on the floor. He stopped in confusion as he realized she was struggling to stand. He too was then paralyzed as he looked up.
Seifer stood atop a platform with a willowy woman. She then smiled at the blonde, turned and walked right through the damn wall. Squall was shocked. Was this the sorceress the President had mentioned? Wait, where was the president? With a heavy heart, Squall turned his gaze to Seifer. The blonde’s eyes seemed dead to the world, no spark could be seen in their oceanic depths. The brunette felt his body go numb. Was that really Seifer? No, it couldn’t be. For a split second, Squall thought he saw a look of pain pass through Seifer’s eyes before the young man passed through the wall right behind the sorceress. This couldn’t be happening.
“Where’s Seifer?” Rinoa surprised the group when she walked in.
Squall gazed at Quistis, who bit her lip. “We don’t know,” he replied.
“He’ll be ok… right?” Rinoa asked. A nod from Squall seemed to convince her and she turned to walk out of the building.
“Let’s get out of here shall we?” Quistis whispered.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” Squall replied and lead everyone out the door.