Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Final Fantasy series. They belong to Squaresoft.

Let Me Make It Alright

Chapter 40: Mistaken

By Angry Angel

Cursing at the top of his lungs, Seifer had actually been chasing Squall all the way to the car. He was tripping over his own feet more than once in the darkness of the proceeding night, flailing his arms for balance and raising his voice in futile anger. For a moment, he went from roughly swearing at Squall, to swearing at Balamb City's mayor for not installing any street lanterns along the harbor. When Squall wordlessly circled the car and jumped into the driver seat of his convertible though, Seifer instantly remembered who the original cause for his uproar had been.

"What the fuck are you doing, Squall? What-"

When he saw how Squall violently thrust the silver car key into the key hole and flipped it around to start the engine, his fervid words abruptly jarred inside his already hoarse throat.

"Goddamn it!!!"

Quickly, Seifer flung himself across the door and into his seat, and not one second too early. Squall mercilessly floored the gas pedal, which caused Seifer's head to connect sharply with his headrest. Stars were dancing in front of Seifer's eyes at the impact, and for a minute, his vision was blurred and his body was protesting vigorously against Squall's harsh driving. The brunette, however, seemed rather unperturbed and devoid of any regrets as he was hauling the Estharian sports car out of the parking lot and out of the city.

Groaning, Seifer turned around in his seat.

"Fuck, Squall, you're gonna get us killed!"

He hadn't seriously expected a reaction to his chiding, and of course, Squall didn't prove his presentiments wrong, either. The brunette's gaze was nailed to the road in self destructive ignorance, with skin that was paling sickly in the moonlight and eyes that were looking strangely hollow. Whether or not he had live cargo on board apparently did not concern him in the least on his reckless drive out of the city.

While Seifer was once again resorting to cursing at the younger boy, he desperately tried to remember what the hell it was that he had done to provoke such dire fury. For the life of both of them, he could not figure it out, and his head was starting to spin painfully.

"Stop the fucking car and talk to me!"

Gradually losing his cool, he slammed the side of his right hand into the glove box with brute force, and he glared at his driver out of dangerously glinting, virulent green eyes.

Squall didn't do so much as flinch.

"I swear to fucking Hyne, I'm gonna jump out if you don't stop the fucking car!" Seifer growled threateningly.

As a reply, Squall's eyes narrowed, and he wordlessly shifted gears with a few fierce movements, thus increasing the already lethal speed of their vehicle. Once again, Seifer found himself thrown back into his seat and robbed of his flattened breath.

"You're crazy, I swear, you fucking lost it!" Seifer gasped in shock.

The engine was howling and grinding as Squall slammed his foot down onto the gas pedal once more. He couldn't possibly coax any more speed out of his car, but he was willing to try it rampantly all the same.

Blonde hair was whipping sharply into Seifer's face, and he felt the insides of his stomach churning unpleasantly. He actually went so far as to curl his hand around his armrest, to support himself against the strong centrifugal force created by Squall hurling them across windy roads and narrow turns. The loud wind rendered every attempt of talking to the riotous brunette useless, and soon Seifer's throat was so scratchy that he quit yelling altogether.

Silently, and praying to Hyne that he would make it out of that vehicle in one piece, Seifer melted into his seat. He kept glaring at Squall, but he could as well have tried to glare down a brick wall; the effect, most likely, would have been the same. His eyes had avoided the speed meter ever since they had flown by the 200km/h marker, and he had come to the conclusion that it'd be wiser to sulk in silence rather than to distract Squall from his reckless driving.

The brunette was the only thing that stood between them and the fate of ending up as nasty dead splatter on the road, after all.

In the end, their five minute trip from the city to the Garden garage had seemed considerably longer than anything that Seifer had ever had to endure, including all of his school exams and forced reading hours in the library. He decided against thanking his berserk driver for not killing him after all, dreading that Squall would change his mind and put an end to their miserable lives at last by steering into the next best tree or ditch.

Squall did nothing of the like. Instead, he reached over and popped the glove box in front of Seifer, which promptly swung open and hit the sensitive spot on the blonde's knees. Jumping at the acute pain, and of course once again cursing, Seifer watched out of tear rimmed jade eyes how his brunette torturer produced a small, black remote control. Quietly, he thumbed a couple of buttons, which caused the gates to the underground garage to open and grant them admittance.

Carelessly, Squall tossed the remote back into its respective container, which he slammed shut with a loud crack that suggested a broken lock. Seifer cringed at the sound and was half-tempted to grab a hold of Squall's wrist, but the younger had already returned his hand to the steering wheel.

Somehow, Squall managed not to hit one of the garage's concrete pillars or walls and safely brought the car to a halt in a secluded parking spot. They had barely come to a full spot, when he was already out and stomping towards the exit, with a speed that again and again succeeded in amazing his blonde companion. This time, however, Seifer was following his friend closely, as he had been well prepared for another rampant take-off.

"Squall! Squall!!!"

Within seconds, they had flown by the vehicle office and reached the main hall, which was completely deserted. Most students spent their free Friday nights either downtown or in their rooms, having more or less legal private parties that usually consisted of illicit drinking and naughty spin-the-bottle games. Seifer knew all about it, but had other things on his mind as he was charging past the beautiful Garden fountain and after his out-of-control rival.

"Will you fucking stop?! Squall! Hey, I'm fucking talking to you!"

Needless to say, Squall appeared unwilling to acknowledge Seifer's presence as he stubbornly led the way. Hating nothing more than being ignored, the blonde picked up his pace until he finally caught up with his friend. Quickly, he snapped his hand forward and took a firm hold of Squall's shoulder, roughly severing the younger gunblader's flight and spinning him around to face him.

Both having been forced to halt in their steps, they were staring at each other mutely in the center of Balamb Garden's main hall. Squall's look was that of pure venom as he tightened his muscles and violently tried to shake off Seifer's arm, but the older blonde was completely unwilling to let go. Concerned, he studied Squall's face. The earlier warmth and softness had yielded completely from the SeeD's eyes, leaving them cold and devoid of even the slightest spark of gentleness.

'Why the fuck is he so angry? He's been mad at me a bunch of times, but why this? Fuck, give me a break.'

"Squall-"

Once more, Seifer was cut short when he saw how Squall quietly raised his left hand towards his face; a gesture that was both simple and dangerous in nature. A strange, bodiless purplish black glow was flowing from the boy's pale fingers and pooling in his palm; an unmistakable sign of an erecting spell. Judging by its minacious color, it was no incantation to take lightly, either. At best, it was merely a thundaga, at worst, an ultima that would be able to knock Seifer out on the spot.

"You wouldn't..." the blonde gulped.

"If you don't take your hands off me, Almasy, I swear you'll be sorry."

The threat in Squall's voice was sharper than the edge of a razor's blade. There was no doubt left in Seifer's mind that the brunette would hit him with a spell, even if he had nothing to defend himself with. Again, the blonde cursed his own laziness as a spell collector; he would have given much for a shell that moment, or anything for that matter.

Rendered without any real means to oppose his shorter rival's temper, Seifer very slowly retracted his hand. Whatever mistake it was that he had made, he finally realized that it must have been a grave one. Never, not once, had Squall ever threatened to attack him, particularly not when he had been completely unarmed.

It wasn't like Squall at all.

Mutely, Seifer tried to hold the SeeD's attention for as long as he could. Squall was standing before him like a roughly jotted down picture, breath tumbling low from his chest in an erratic rhythm and dark eyes narrow in attentive rage. Despite his open display of fury and resentment, though, the boy hadn't run away yet. Maybe there was a slim chance that he would listen this time around, instead of punishing his opposite with stubborn ignorance and callousness.

Just as Seifer was about to raise his voice again, though, somebody was squealing deafeningly from a loudspeaker located somewhere in the distance behind him.

The blonde almost jumped in terror.

"Hiiiii all, it's me again, Selphie! What are you all doing hooooome? You should be out having fuuuun! Oops, guess I'm here, too, hihi. I'm stuck in the office sorting papers, blaaaaaa! Damn you, Quisty! Hah, but at least I get to mess with the intercom!"

Both boys groaned at the high-pitched static giggle that followed. Apparently, Selphie had taken control of the microphone in Squall's office, and the brunette SeeD commander wasn't pleased.

"Sooooooo anyway, I have this cooooool CD with me and thought I'd share it with all you poooooooor guys and girls that had to stay home like me! It's something for the love birds, yay! Ohh... Irvyyyyyy where are youuu?"

Another giggle followed, but before Seifer could be forced to listen to any other mush that Selphie possibly had to share, his attention was once again split. Squall had distracted him by rolling his dark grey eyes towards the ceiling and spinning around to resume his flight to their apartment, or wherever else he was headed.

For the length of a moment, the blonde seriously considered to just let Squall go. He was getting sick of chasing a childish eighteen year old that was obviously not interested in talking to him. How could he possibly fix a slip-up if Squall wouldn't even tell him what he had done wrong?

Maybe he should just give in and hope that Squall would calm down eventually.

Then again...

'No. No, fuck this. You ain't getting away this easily. Not this time.'

Growling like a predator, Seifer shook off his doubts and carried forth in his pursuit. He hadn't spent weeks raking together his last bits of patience to just give up like that. He had been treating the younger boy with velvet gloves, always making sure not to unsettle him or his wayward temper, and apparently he hadn't done Squall a favor by doing so.

If the brunette really thought that he could run off and pout like a snotty little brat, he was mistaken.

=To be continued!=

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