Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Summer in Garden ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Title: Summer in Garden

Author: Yorda

Raiting: NC-17

Status: WIP

Couple: Seifer/Squall

Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon, mild angst, mild fluff

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Square. I own nothing.

Summary: One year before the events of the game, Squall and Seifer spend the summer together at Garden, forcedly at first, but end up becoming each other's only friends for the one summer.

**I had an inspiration to write so here's the second chapter. I think I might be posting it a bit too hurriedly, so there are probably some spelling errors. Sorry.**

Chapter 2

Squall turned around in his bed and stared at the digi-panel on the wall, right next to his bed. The clock there told him it was almost midnight. 'How can it still be this damn hot!?' He kicked away his sheets and sat up on the bed. 'Who can sleep in these hellish conditions...'. Squall twiddled his bare toes and turned his face to look out of the window. There was a moon shining out there somewhere; you could probably see it from the other side of Garden, but Squall's room only received some of its pale light. As the brunette boy looked around his small dorm room, he fixed his eyes on the case of Lion Heart.

'I guess I'm not that tired anyway...' Squall stood up and walked to the wardrobe. He got dressed in a pair of loose sweatpants and in his white tee-shirt. Before exiting the room, he grabbed Lion Heart from its case. The dormitory hallway was empty and silent. Just like it had been earlier that day. The holiday had started yesterday and no one from his wing had stayed for the summer. Squall headed into the direction of the lobby, walking in a slow pace. He really enjoyed the silence and wished the Garden was always this peaceful.

Squall reached the lobby which was fully alight. There was no Garden faculty around to guard the areas that were usually off-limits during night time. Now there were simply small gates at the entrances to the Library, the Quad, the Infirmary and the Parking. They stayed that way through the summer, except the Parking. You could always get a special permission to use a vehicle from one of the few faculty memebers that stayed for the holiday. Squall realized it was more silent than usual and noticed the fish-shaped fountains had been turned off. No sound of rippling water.

********

A warm breath of wind caressed Squall's face as he walked in the hallway, leading into the Training Center. But when he entered through the big gates and stood inside the small jungle, it was like a hot wall had hit his face. The air felt heavy and humid. Squall blinked his eyes and blew away the strands of hair that hung in front of his eyes. He listened to any sounds from the surrounding bushes. Warily the boy proceeded deeper into the Training Center, glancing around with every step.

Squall stopped as he sensed something was coming.

`Probably just a Grat...' he thought and readied Lion Heart. To Squall's surprise he wasn't attacked by a mere Grat but T-rexaur himself. He had fought the beast only a few times and never alone.

"Damn!" Squall cursed, his eyes wide with shock and mild panic. The huge beast let out a menacing roar, giving Squall a good look of its sharp set of teeth. `Okay...just calm down...focus...this thing...it's weak against...against...oh shit! I-I can't remember! Was it ice spells?' The monster didn't really give him time to think. Squall gasped as he narrowly dodged a blow from the dinosaur's huge tail.

*****

Seifer lounged on one of the benches in the lobby, utterly bored. He hadn't been able to sleep, so he'd taken a little stroll to the surroundings of the Garden. Now that he was back, his small dorm room still didn't feel very inviting, so he had decided to stay up and roam the empty hallways. Seifer stretched his long legs and yawned.

`Yeah...what a grand holiday you've had so far, Almasy...' the blonde snorted and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black sweat pants. `And tomorrow there's that stupid punishment to be carried out...I can't believe Cid's making us clean this whole damn lobby! And the next day it's some stupid gardening and picking up trashes at the front gates...community service work! For some harmless swordfights!' Seifer looked around at the huge area and tried to estimate how long it would take to clean it.

`Only the whole god damn day!' he cursed in his mind and used his other hand to rip the leaves of the plant, placed next to the bench. His attention was suddenly caught by a small cleaning-bot, coming his way. The robot was about knee-high and made a low swishing sound as it cleaned the floors. Seifer watched it with an amused look on his face.

"Well now...what's this?" he stood up from the bench and came to stand in the middle of the path of the little cleaner. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, a wicked smile playing on his lips. As the machine was right in front of him, Seifer used his right foot to stop it. He managed to jam the bot and laughed as he watched its attempts to move on. After some time of bumbing against Seifer's leg, the machine stopped and a little red light lit up on the control panel. The blonde boy blinked his eyes, his brows knitting together.

"Huh? What-" Seifer's eyes went wide as the robot suddenly started to rotate, a high-pitched alarm siren sounding in the hall. The blonde boy took a few steps back from the robot and glanced around. He knew it wouldn't be long before one of the Garden faculty would come running to the crime scene. Seifer decided he didn't want to get caught.

"Right...I'm outta here!" He quickly grabbed his Gunblade from the bench and ran towards the nearest area that wasn't off-limits. As Seifer neared the gates of the Training Center, he finally allowed himself to stop running, still laughing to himself. "Oh man...I can't believe that thing had an alarm in it!"

Seifer entered through the steel gates and stood still. The humid, warm air of the jungle got to him, too. "Wow! A bit warm in here!" he exclaimed, tugging at the collar of his sleeveless black shirt.

"Okay, little Grats! Where are you! Come out!" the blonde called as he ventured deeper into the forest. It didn't take long for him to find Squall, still fighting the T-rexaur. Even an idiot could tell the younger boy was on the losing end. Seifer stopped dead on his tracks, his eyes widening at the sight.

`Isn't that...Squall!? And he's fighting a T-rexaur!? What the hell is he thinking! Why hasn't he escaped already! Those things can kill you! Even SeeD rarely fight them alone!' Seifer tightened his hold on Hyperion as he watched Squall block the monster's hits.

"Squall! Get out of there!" Seifer called to him but the younger boy kept on fighting. "Squall! Now!" His words seem to have no effect. Seifer rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. `Stupid kid...' Quickly he raised his right hand and let a spell flow from his palm. Seifer watched as the big lizard fell temporarily asleep.

****

Squall watched the monster fall asleep in the middle of its attack and frowned in confusion. `Huh? I didn't use a sleep spell...' The brunette boy turned around and frowned as he saw Seifer, running towards him.

"Seifer! What the hell do you think you're doing?! I can handle this!" Squall yelled, motioning for Seifer to stay away.

"Sure you can! I can see you were doing an exellent job...in taking a beating from that T-rexaur!" The older boy yelled back at Squall, now standing beside him. He received a dark glare from Squall and in answer, glared back.

"I said I can handle it, Seifer." The brunette repeated, clenching his teeth together, his heaving chest rising rapidly. He refused to admit, even to himself that the hand he held Lion Heart with, was shaking violently. Squall was exhausted.

"Oh yeah? What were you planning on using to kill it? Your icy heart maybe? `Cause I know you don't possess a GF of ice elemental yet, you're only sixteen. You probably don't even have Blizzaga, do you?" Seifer raged, annoyed by Squall's stubborness. For some time the younger boy merely glared at him.

"Shut up, Seifer." Was his answer when he finally spoke. `Icy heart? Well this is the way I am. I have my reasons and I prefer it this way. Not my problem if he can't handle it.'

"You're so stupid, Squall. You wanna get yourself killed!?" Seifer continued as he eyed the younger boy. "Look at you; you're exhausted! Yet you wanna continue a fight you were already losing? What the hell is wrong with you?! "

"Nothing! You're the one with the problems, Seifer!" Squall suddenly yelled, heated by Seifer's words. "You're such a fake. Always putting on some stupid `tough guy' act, tormenting everyone in Garden! I'm sure that's not the real you; no one is that much of an asshole for real! So why do it? Don't you realize everyone in Garden hates you!? I hate you! And I'm sick and tired of all the fights you constantly force me to have with you!" Squall raged, his grey eyes drilling into Seifer's green ones.

Seifer was taken aback by Squall's sudden and unusual outburst. It took him a while to get words to come out from his own mouth. "What?! Why you little...you're gonna feel the blade of Hyperion right now! I'm gonna-" Seifer never got to finish his threat. His eyes went wide with alarm as he suddenly saw movement just a few meters away from them.

"Oh shit...Squall, watch out!!!" Seifer pushed the younger boy aside, saving him narrowly from the sharp teeth of the T-rexaur. The sleep spell had worn off and the beast was attacking again. Seifer took a hold of Hyperion with both hands and took Squall's place in the battle field.

Squall lay on the ground behind Seifer's back and looked up, realizing why the older boy had pushed him down. The huge lizard was wide awake and going for the kill. Squall realized Seifer had most likely just saved his life, or at least prevented the beast from biting off Squall's arm. He watched how Seifer prepared to do something what seemed to be a very powerful attack. The blonde raised his hand and opened his palm, letting a mighty fire spell burn the lizard's skin. The T-rexaur let out an agonized roar but refuced to die. Squall blinked his eyes as he suddenly saw Seifer's Gunblade start to glow with pale green light, as if it was charging up with energy. He could do nothing but stare, his eyes wide as he witnessed Seifer use his oddly glowing Hyperion to kill the T-rexaur with one powerful slice.

`W-what the....I...I hacked it with Lion Heart for at least twenty minutes, with all my strength, hardly even wounding it and Seifer kills it with one strike!?' Squall shook his head, bewildered as he watched the carcass of the dead beast slowly disappear. `Was that...his limit break?' Squall blinked his eyes as Seifer suddenly fell down on his knees, his legs failing to support his weight. Squall got up quickly and approached the exhausted Seifer. The blonde remained on the ground, seemingly out of breath. Performing his special move had taken all his strength.

"Umm...you ok?" Squall asked hesitantly, kneeling beside Seifer. The older boy lowered his face and tried to get his rapid breathing to slow down, not wanting to show Squall his exhaustion.

"Yeah! I'm just fine!" he snapped, licking his lips. "Just a little tired...that's all."

Squall let his eyes travel on Seifer's body, noting how his every limb seemed to tremble. A shadow of a smile rose to his lips. `Just a little tired, eh?' he thought, amused, wondering if he should offer a hand and help Seifer up to his feet. Squall decided it was best not to do so. He stood up and walked to pick up Lion Heart from where it had landed when Seifer pushed him down. Squall turned to look at the older boy and realized he hadn't thanked him yet.

"Seifer...thanks. You...umm...well, you saved my ass." Squall muttered, realizing just how recless his behaviour had been. He now knew he should have escaped the moment he saw the T-rexaur appear.

"Ah...don't mention it..." Seifer waved with his hand, getting up to his feet. He wiped a thin layer of sweat from his forehead and started to walk towards the gates of the Training Center. "So, you really hate me?" Seifer asked, knowing the younger boy was walking behind him. There was a long silence and Seifer felt the urge to stop and turn around to see the look on Squall's face. When the brunette finally spoke, Seifer let out a breath he hadn't even noticed he was holding.

"I don't hate you, Seifer." Squall spoke and came to walk beside Seifer. "But I still think we should stay out of each other's way...or else this will be a long summer indeed." He added, hoping this would maybe prevent them from getting into fights in the future; or at least the following days when they had to work together.

To be continued....

**AN: I'm not sure if I remembered Seifer's limit break correctly ^_^

-Yorda