Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own anything related to the Final Fantasy series. It's all property of Squaresoft, or Sqare Enix if you prefer. So please, be kind and don't sue me

Important Note: I am yet again working on reposting this story. I found several mistakes in the first chapters, and some things I simply wasn't too happy with. I hope you can forgive the mayhem that this story will be until I actually manage to repost all the chapters I found to be erroneous. Unfortunately, I'm sure that there will still be plenty of mistakes to be found -- Blame it on English not being my first language if you're feeling kind, or blame it on me being a lazy bum and horrible speller if not.

Reposted chapters will be marked by two quotation marks ("). I know that reposting will go slow, but hopefully I'll be finished before the revelation of the very last chapter of "Let Me Make It Alright".

Now, on with the story!

Let Me Make It Alright

Chapter 16: "The Spirits Within"

By Angry Angel

"Ya think we'll luck out this time?"

Zell cocked his head into his neck, hopefully meeting his auburn haired friend's gaze. Irvine was looking back at him doubtfully from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat as they were strolling through the hallway that connected with Balamb Garden's training hall.

"Hell, we better," the taller SeeD replied. "It's been lost for a while now and we've just about searched the entire grounds."

"I really don't get it," the shorter blonde mused, pulling his face into a tight frown that crinkled the intricate design of his tattoo. "I mean it's gotta be here some--"

The martial artist's sentence got caught halfway through his throat as an entirely unexpected scene rapidly unfolded before them. Him and Irvine had barely crossed the tropical entrance hall to the grounds, when they suddenly bumped into someone cursing loudly and scurrying past one of the security doors that kept the school's practice monsters where they rightly belonged.

"Seifer...?"

Seifer indeed.

Irvine arched a thin brown brow at the strange and, frankly, quite unpleasant sight. As soon as his amethyst eyes had fully screened the hated gunblader's body though, his wry look turned into that of bare disbelief. To complete a picture of arrogance that had been mutilated into one of utter incredulity, the smug cowboy's jaw dropped a few inches towards the muddy ground.

"How in Hyne's name..."

"No way," Zell added with a long, rasp groan. "Oh man..."

Seifer adjusted his focus to the two males, whose presence he had thus far been pretty much oblivious to. He had been busy enough dodging out of the sight of two furious T-Rexaurs that he had been unfortunate enough to run into. His features twisted at the look in Zell's eyes, meshing with his ever so typical cockiness and jeer.

"What's the matter, chickenwuss?" he chuckled, voice low and rough.

Neither Zell nor Irvine could or would believe what they were seeing. Seifer Almasy stood proudly before them like some conqueror of the world, his long grey trench coat covered in wild streaks of mud and moss. Nasty brown specks of dirt, which looked suspiciously like T-Rex dung, even graced the tanned gunblader's face and his slightly disheveled, golden crop colored hair. Seifer ran a sleeve across his skin carelessly, trying to wipe a clod of mud from his nose.

Most amazing though was the thing that the blonde held clutched tightly in one hand.

Slender, blue and deadly, it was LionHeart itself - the very blade that had been deemed lost, and almost lost for good for all that Irvine and Zell had known.

"When... how... why... how??"

Annoyed to the core, Seifer rolled his eyes at Zell's miserable attempt at speaking.

"Still haven't learned to talk in full sentences, have ya?"

"Seifer..." the martial artist gulped the name dryly once more, before shutting up entirely.

"Where'd ya find that?" Irvine added, no less dumbfounded than his friend.

"Oh. This?"

Seifer glanced down at the faintly glowing blade in his hand. It shed soft, soothing azure blue light that felt both warm and cool at the same time.

Immediately, the blonde's lips curled into his trademark, feral grin that was much closer to a predator's snarl than his opposites liked.

"In there, genius," he sneered, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the door he had just emerged from.

"How?!" Zell cried out in frustration, crushing his hands to fists and punching an invisible foe that undoubtedly carried Seifer's reflection. "You didn't even know where to look!!"

"Yeah, well," Seifer replied smugly, "If you got my kind of impeccable instincts you don't need directions, chickenwuss."

The two SeeDs really did want to lock their jaws back into place, but at the sight of an utterly satisfied Seifer patting the long lost gunblade in his hand, said intention proved to be rather difficult.

"On top of that," Seifer added in a fit of gracious mercy, "This thing glows like a fucking beacon. You'd have to be either blind or stupid to miss it."

A not-so-merciful and in fact quite devilish glint came alight in Seifer's feline eyes, and he fixed them upon Zell in almost cruel jeer.

"Then again, maybe both?"

"It never glows! It glows only in Squall's presence!" Zell snapped in rising despair.

Seifer actually had to tilt his head aside in confusion at that odd remark.

'Only glows in Leonhart's presence? Come on, even chickenwuss can't be that thick.'

"I know you ain't the brightest chicken in the flock and all," he declared with a drawl, "But even you should recognize that it's glowing just as we speak. Now, considering that Leonhart is tucked into his sick bed in the infirmary, maybe you can see that there's something seriously wrong with your theory."

"But he's right," Irvine butted in to Zell's aid. "I've seen it when Squall wasn't around. The blade looked just like a piece of glass."

Seifer couldn't help but frown slightly at that statement. He didn't necessarily believe that Irvine and Zell were lying to him; they didn't seem to be in the right mind to. However, nothing they were saying was actually making any sense.

"Why the fuck would it only glow when puberty boy is around? It's a fucking sword, so either it glows or it doesn't. It can hardly have a mind of its own."

"That's not quite correct now, Seifer."

The three men turned at the sound of a new voice. Quistis came walking towards them, whip in hand and her high heels snapping over the concrete floor.

"I can't believe you actually found it, Seifer," she said as she stopped before him, her cobalt gaze nailed to Seifer's jade one. "As a matter of fact, I can't even believe you went looking for it."

Seifer shifted uneasily at that statement and the fact that she seemed to be looking right through him rather than at him. Trepe sure was creepy in a way, and he really hadn't meant to make such a public deal out of the situation. All in all, he had merely tried to find the sword that the dark haired gunblader was so attached to, and for some reason (he blamed it on his brilliance) he had actually succeeded. The idea of everyone knowing about his "good deed" however didn't appeal to him at all. The idea of them wondering just as to why he had bothered to search LionHeart in the first place appealed to him even less.

"Yeah, well, no big deal, here ya go," he grunted, carelessly shoving the blade into Quistis' hands and quick to flee the training grounds.

Surprisingly enough, she held him back, swiftly catching him by the shoulder and rooting him to the spot with astonishing force.

"No, hold on."

"What now?" he sighed, exasperation soaking the words.

"You really went in there? Without any weapon or spells?"

He shrugged.

"What of it?"

"I can't believe it. You could have gotten hurt, you know?"

"I'm not sick little Leonhart, I can handle myself pretty well on my own, thanks."

"That's not the point, Seifer!" she announced, shaking her head from side to side. "That was really foolish."

'Oh god, here we go again.'

With his patience having run pretty damn thin by then, Seifer twisted his gaze to the ceiling in mute plea and shrugged Quistis' hand off his shoulder.

"Look, if you're just here to school me then do me a fucking favor and can it, alright? I'm not one of your SeeD cadets anymore, instructor."

"I know that," she suddenly muttered almost soothingly. "Here."

She thrust the sword out for him to grasp, causing the tall blonde to lace his brows together and cast confused glances back and forth between the blade and her face.

What was this all about?

"Now, since when do you trust me to have a sword inside your precious Garden facility?" he asked with unnecessary edge to his voice.

"It's not your sword, it's Squall's. Besides, who do you think I am? I know perfectly well that you could get a hold of a weapon any time you wanted, if you seriously tried. I'm not that naïve. Hyperion, however, I will keep a bit longer, and you wouldn't bail without it."

Seifer let out an irritated hiss of air but said nothing.

So fucking what if she was right?

"Anyway, you should give it to him, Seifer. You're the one who found it."

"I couldn't care less," Seifer replied coolly. "I don't give a damn. Just makes sure he gets it."

"No. I want you to give it to him. Please?"

He was surprised to hear her talk to him in such a civil, almost friendly manner. Usually, Quistis was the first and most eager to lash out at him - well, second after her dear boyfriend Zell perhaps. The spunky martial artist held a deep grudge against Seifer, and the older blonde was fully aware of it. Quite frankly, he wholly enjoyed to toy with Dincht's sensitivity.

"Trust me," Quistis spoke with emphasis. "Even if it doesn't make a difference to you, it just might make a difference to Squall."

Though he really did not like to admit it to either himself or anyone else, Seifer did see some sense in her statement. Secretly, he did want Squall to know who exactly had retrieved his sword, though his intent was of a different nature than the SeeDs may have thought.

Well, not like it was any of their business anyhow.

"Fine," he growled, seizing the hilt of LionHeart with unnatural reluctance.

Not that they'd possibly think he was enjoying this, either.

"And just so you know," he added, "I had some ultima stones on me that I borrowed from some student, so it's not like I risked my life for the stupid thing."

Considering his little chase with the T-Rexaurs this wasn't particularly true, but at least it wasn't a blatant lie, either.

"That you 'borrowed'?"

Quistis cocked an eyebrow in disapproval. Judging by the blithe smirk smacked down into the guy's face, her assumption of Seifer's definition of the term "borrow" was probably quite correct. She heaved a quiet sigh, knowing perfectly well that somewhere in Garden a student was probably scared out of his wits and a few ultima stones poorer.

"You really are hopeless, Seifer."

He merely grinned and tossed her a set of stones that he retrieved from his coat pocket. She caught them nonchalantly, and as she briefly studied the stones' jet black surface, she suddenly remembered something.

"By the way," she started blankly, "Zell was right."

Irvine and her boyfriend Zell exchanged dumbfounded looks. Seifer seemed incredulous at the mere concept of Zell being right about anything except for the right amount of mustard needed to create the perfect hot dog.

"Oh, is that so?" he chuckled mischievously. "Astounding. See what I care."

"I am talking about LionHeart. It really only does glow in Squall's immediate presence. During our battle with Ultimecia, the spirit of her Guardian Force Griever apparently connected with Squall and LionHeart somehow. It ended up trapped inside his sword."

"Hmph."

"I don't know how or why, but apparently the spirit connects with you as well. I wasn't really surprised to see it link to Squall since he has that strange Griever pendant and the soul of a lion to begin with... but you..."

She suddenly paused, rubbing the fine angle of her jaw in deep thought.

"What, are ya saying I'm a wimp compared to puberty boy or what?" Seifer mocked outrage.

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. It's just... I always kind of thought that you and Squall share a strange bond of sorts. It seems like Griever feels it, too."

He was surprised. Surprised and perhaps even touched, but he masked his emotions well, merely shrugging at Quistis and her friends in mopish and cold indifference.

"All sounds like funk and fairy tales to me, but whatever floats your boat, instructor."

In all honesty, it did surprise him that Squall's sword would respond to him in such an unusual way. He had always thought that him and Squall shared an unspoken bond, but he had never expected anyone else to feel it, too. Least of all Quistis Trepe, Queen of all things useless and shallow.

Perhaps not so impeccable after all...

'Oh well.'

"Yeah, well, enjoy yourselves or something. Later."

He winked at them in typical Seiferish manner and turned with a swirl of his coat, this time stopped by no one as he exited the facility.

Zell had his light green eyes zeroed in on the blonde's back until he finally disappeared out of sight.

"You know... he's still an ass, but maybe he does have a heart after all."

=To be continued!=

Awwwwwwww sweeeeeet little Seify, such a cute one =pats Seifer on the head= eek what you planning on doing with that sword??? o.0 =runs screaming like a chickenwuss=

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this one too, thank you to all the ones that reviewed, Seifer plushies for everyone!! =gulps at the expression on Seifer's face= eehhhhh here you go Seify, a Squall plushie for you! watches Seify squeeze the Squall plushie aww isn't that cute, there you go, that's a good Sei... =watches Seifer do outrageously kinky things to the Squall plushie=... ewww... sicko... o.0... !!!

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