Title: Zyxt
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Chapter: 1 of 10
Rating: M
Pairings: Squall/Seifer
Warnings: AU, minor canon-fuckery, slash/yaoi
Summary: Alone in Time Compression, Squall sets out to make them all a happier ending.

Disclaim Her: This story uses characters and settings owned by Square Enix. No money is being made from the creation of this fanfic, and no copywrite infringement is intended. Some lines at the beginning of this fic and in chapter ten are taken word-for-word from the game.

A/N: So, I really kinda like those 'New Game +' types of fics that take the all-too-common video game shtick which lets you start the game again with certain perks after beating it once. Of course, FFVIII doesn't have a NG+ – none of the Final Fantasy games do, except X-2 – but like that's going to stop me. This idea bit me and I had little chance but to go along for the ride.
This fic, just as a warning, isn't even going to loosely follow the game path. Squall's here to change things, and he's going to damn-well change them.

I may have been reading too many FFVIII fics of late, but I'll try not to steal anyone's ideas, or step on any toes. This fic does owe some inspiration to Second Chances, by emcey squared. Also one or two minor plot points borrowed from Shivani's Snafu, which she okayed.

This fic is finished. It's ten chapters long – about 65,000 words – and I will be updating once a week, on Tuesdays. Enjoy?

-0-0-0-
Won't Make It Alone
-0-0-0-

'...I'm not alone. ...If I call out, they will answer,' Squall thought to himself as the darkness of Time Compression surrounded him again, cutting Matron and his younger self away from sight. He looked around, heart in his throat at the darkness, and shouted, "Where is everyone! Rinoa! Where are you! Rinoa! Zell! Irvine! Quistis! Selphie!"

No one answered and he felt an ancient sinking feeling in his heart. '...Am I...alone? Rinoa?' He started to run, feeling a little desperate at the lack of answer. Had he been abandoned? Again?

'They wouldn't abandon me,' he snapped at himself, swallowing against the knot in his throat. 'They... Rinoa wouldn't–'

But Rinoa had already left him once, hadn't she? She'd been taken over by Ultimecia in Galbadia Garden. And maybe that wasn't her fault, but it was...

'Everyone always leaves me,' Squall reminded himself, halting his mad dash across the desert that had appeared out of the darkness. He tightened his grip on Lion Heart. 'My parents, Sis... Everyone at the orphanage left, adopted. Except Seifer, but even he left me.' A memory of Seifer turning away, walking toward the possessed Edea without a second thought. 'Everyone leaves. Even Rinoa.'

His grip slackened and Lion Heart tumbled to the sand. Squall glanced down at his precious blade, the dimmed blue blade mirroring his own sense of loss.

A chill surrounded him and he relaxed into Shiva's embrace as his long-time companion solidified behind him. Shiva had never left him; she'd always been there, his sense of reason when he was lost. He didn't care if her presence in his mind lost him memories of his childhood; without her, he'd have given up long ago.

"Shiva," he whispered, "I don't know what to do. I don't–"

Shiva gently turned him so she could look at him with icy blue eyes. "You wish them to be happy, even without you," she offered, voice as gentle as freshly fallen snow. Even as Squall made the correlation, the desert faded to a snow-covered field, soothing his aching heart at the sight of his favourite element.

"Yes," he whispered, because he did want his friends to be happy. More than that, he wanted...

~Selphie standing with tears in her eyes over lines of gravestones... Seifer's broken body shoved aside like rubbish as Adel absorbed Rinoa... Rinoa's helplessness at knowing she was a sorceress, that she was a danger to everyone... the list of the dead after Galbadia Garden's attack, the names of people he'd spent years going to class with... Irvine quietly closing the eyes of one of his friends from Galbadia Garden who lined the halls after the attack...~

"We are still in Time Compression," Diablos' voice echoed around them as a bat alighted on Squall's shoulder. "Perhaps we can go back to the beginning. Perhaps we can stop Ultimecia before she terrorises everyone."

"You can't change the past," Squall insisted, remembering Ellone's attempts, Ultimecia's hopes to destroy SeeD in the past...

"Ellone didn't know what she was doing," Diablos dismissed. "She was a little girl playing with others for her own ends. Perhaps if she'd told you what she'd wanted, she could have changed things, but she didn't. She remained a silent spectator."

Shiva's chilled hand brushed against his cheek, drawing his attention away from the sneering bat on his shoulder. "You'll never know if you don't try," she pointed out.

Well, that was true. Squall considered those clear blue eyes, taking strength from her cold smile and the heavy pressure of Diablos on his shoulder. "Okay," he decided. "Okay, let's try it."

Shiva's smile widened as she shattered like so many pieces of ice.

"Good, it's cold here," Diablos complained before flying away, back to his dark corner in the back of Squall's mind.

Squall silently considered the icy landscape around him before turning his attention within. He considered his GFs, turned to Doomtrain and asked, 'Perhaps a ride out of here?'

Doomtrain snorted. 'I don't chug through snow if I can help it,' he informed Squall. 'You got through this mess once already to reach your childhood, do whatever you did again.'

'I don't know how,' Squall complained.

'What was Laguna always telling you?' Shiva wondered gently. 'Right, envision where you want to go. You all wanted to go to the orphanage, so that's where you ended up. You want to go to before this all began, so envision your room in Balamb.'

Squall nodded to himself and focussed his attention on his cadet room. His roommate had managed to switch rooms the month before the SeeD exams and he'd been assigned a new boy, so Squall remembered his dorm as it had been with his previous roommate: rubbish on the couch, half-empty lunch containers all over the desks, gun parts strewn all over the place while his roommate learned every part of his back-up weapon, the staff his roommate always left in the middle of the floor for him to trip over...

The chill vanished and Squall opened his eyes to find that same messy dorm he remembered. It was dark and he tripped over the aforementioned staff on his way to his own room. Silently cursing his ex-roommate's inability to clean up after himself, he caught his balance and slipped through his closed door.

The silent lump on the bed tensed, hearing the door snick closed. Squall's eyes darted to where Revolver sat in its case against the far wall, just out of the younger Squall's reach. There was a knife in the drawer next to the bed and he darted forward, slamming a hand over the drawer just as the younger Squall reached for it.

Their eyes met, both glaring in the dark. There was a long moment, then the younger Squall's eyes widened and he jerked backwards, hissing, "Wha–?"

Squall made an angry gesture with his hand, silencing his younger self. "This is important, and I don't have time to explain," he hissed, not removing his hand from the drawer with the knife. "What's the date?"

"...February nineteenth," younger Squall offered, watching him cautiously.

A little over two months before the SeeD exam. It would have to do. "In two months, everything is going to hell; I want to change things; I want to protect the people I love."

Younger Squall didn't relax, his hand already sneaking towards Revolver's case. "This is a pathetic prank," he informed the older teen.

"It's not a–"

But the younger Squall chose that moment to lunge for his case and the older Squall reached out to stop him. He knocked his knee against the edge of the bed, teetered, and fell onto his younger self. There was a moment of excruciating pain, then there was only one of him, arm still stretching out towards Revolver's case.

Squall blinked around at the room as it darkened even further. "Wha–?"

He blacked out.

-0-

"Oiy! Leonhart!" a voice snapped, drawing Squall back to consciousness. "If you don't get the fuck up, you'll be late! And turn off that damn alarm!"

Squall blinked his eyes open and looked at the bare wall across from him. His head felt like it had been split in half and his stomach was rebelling with nausea. 'What the hell happened?' he wondered.

"I swear if you left and forgot to turn off your alarm, I'm going to–" The door snicked open and the irritated voice fell silent. Then, a face blocked Squall's view of his wall, wide brown eyes worried. "Hey, Leonhart? You okay?"

'No. I feel like someone took a gunblade to my head, then stopped to kick my stomach for a bit after, just for fun.' He tried to turn away from his roommate, but the motion made his ears ring and his stomach jump to his throat. He couldn't help the moan of pain as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Stay right–" the other boy stumbled over his words as he stumbled to his feet. "I'll be– Just stay there, Leonhart!" he ordered, hurrying from the room.

Squall chose not to offer up a response to that, since moving made his head split in half even further; why would he move again?

It seemed like no time at all passed – though it must have been quite a few minutes – when a cool hand touched his forehead and the soothing feeling of a Cure spell washed over him. As the pain in his head faded, he opened his eyes to find Dr Kadowaki kneeling in front of him while Quistis stood behind her and his roommate hovered in the doorway.

"How are you feeling now?" Dr Kadowaki asked, eyes coolly assessing.

Squall took a moment to consider that. His head felt better, but his stomach was still trying to rebel. "Nauseous," he admitted.

Dr Kadowaki nodded and pulled out an orange potion from the bag at her side. "Alright. I'm going to help you sit up and take this," she warned him.

Squall managed the faintest of nods, so the doctor helped him up enough to take the potion, then helped settle him back against the bed once he'd finished it. His stomach was already feeling better and he quietly blessed the woman; she'd patched him together more times than he could count, and she had been essential during the attack on Garden.

'Attack on Garden? There's never been–'

Memories flooded back to him, then, of another life, another future, and he moaned, bringing his hands up to cover his eyes.

"Squall?" Quistis called, clearly worried.

The cool hand was back on his forehead and Dr Kadowaki murmured, "He's still got a fever. Quistis, I'm going to prescribe him bed rest. It's probably nothing more than the bug going around right now, so he should be fine in a couple days."

Quistis let out an understanding sound. "Of course. Mr Stromb, let's head to class, then."

Squall's roommate let out a quiet, "Yes, ma'am," and the door closed behind the two of them.

"Squall, do you think you can manage to turn around?" Dr Kadowaki asked kindly. "You'll be more comfortable with your head on the pillows, I think."

Squall blinked at her tiredly from behind his fingers. 'Turn around? Why am I– Oh. Right. I was reaching for Revolver to attack the–' He paused, considering his new memories. 'I don't suppose it was another one of Seifer's ideas of a joke, then.'

"Squall?" Dr Kadowaki tried.

'Oh, right. Turning around.' Squall shuffled around, glad that his head wasn't splitting in half anymore.

Dr Kadowaki sighed and pulled out a new bottle from her bag. "Take this and get some rest," she ordered him. "You'll feel much better if you give your body the time to heal."

Squall obediently took the sleeping potion and rested back, eyes closing as it started to work. He was distantly aware of someone tucking him in, but it didn't seem to matter right that moment.

Memories of death flickered at the edges of his consciousness and he was glad to let them go; he had no interest in watching his classmates die. Not now, not ever.

The other Squall had been right: The future needed to be changed.

-0-

When he woke again, his room was dark and silent. He felt much better, the memories having settled while he slept. Similarly, the para-magic and GFs that had been passed on to him from the other Squall had settled. He could feel the GFs resting quietly in the back of his mind, the other Shiva having merged with his own. Quezacotl had curled up in her own corner, eyeing Doomtrain, Diablos and Tonberry distrustfully. She was wary even of Shiva, who was much stronger now than the lightning elemental.

He gently reached out and soothed Quezacotl, feeling better about his new memories, but still a bit out of place in his own skin. 'They're not going to do anything to you, Quetz,' he reassured her. 'They're our friends.'

'They're too strong,' Quezacotl complained.

'You're too weak,' Diablos snapped, shifting threateningly.

'That's enough, Diablos,' Shiva ordered before turning to Quezacotl. 'Quetz, I haven't changed, and those three are our friends, even if Diablos is a giant prick.'

Squall snorted. 'That's quite enough out of all of you, I think,' he ordered before Shiva and Diablos could get into an argument. It surprised him, sometimes, how well he and Diablos got on, considering how different their personalities were, but after he'd called the GF from his lamp during his first mission, he'd become desperately close to the other, as unwilling to give him up as he was Shiva. Quezacotl had been leant to Zell, since the sprightly youth had bonded with her, and it was only now that he realised how much he'd missed her presence in his mind.

Tonberry chirped to get his attention and he glanced over at the small creature. 'What is it, Tonberry?' He paused to consider the mental images his wordless GF sent him and sort the meanings out, then replied, 'Yeah, I know. I'm just not sure how to change things. I mean, there was no way we could have taken down Ultimecia without the others, no matter how strong we were. I can't see a way to fight her without–'

'We have two months,' Shiva soothed as Squall's thoughts whirled helplessly. 'We'll figure something out.'

'If nothing else, we're prepared this time,' Diablos agreed, flexing his muscles pointedly. 'You're stronger for the magic you've got junctioned, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't train anyway.'

That was true. His body hadn't been through a war, through months of rigorous training. He would have to train hard to reach the same levels of skill he'd possessed when he met up against Ultimecia the last time, and it wouldn't be easy.

'Take on some T-Rexaurs in the Training Centre,' Doomtrain suggested. 'I can hit them with sleep, poison, Doom...'

Doomtrain would make fighting T-Rexaurs distressingly easy, Squall had to admit. Equipping his hard-won auto-haste ability would help, too, giving the large monster little chance to attack at all.

'No time like the present,' Diablos added.

Squall considered his own body. Having rested, he felt almost one hundred percent again. And, judging by the lack of light through his window, it was late enough that there shouldn't be too many people in the Training Centre, which was good; no one needed to see his new-found abilities quite yet. 'Let's go,' he agreed, jumping out of bed and grabbing for his everyday wear.

He had an entire world to save, and only two months to do it in. There was no time for procrastination.

-0-

Classes were mind-numbing once you'd already made SeeD and fought a war. He could have easily been teaching most of his classes, but there was nothing to be done about it. He sat through them, silently considering his options. Meals were eaten while working on homework and evenings were spent training until he was sore all over and stumbling through the halls to his own room.

He didn't have any friends to wonder about his sudden change in study habits, and his roommate already knew better than to ask what he'd been up to – they'd worked that out when the idiot had first moved in with Squall five months ago – so he wasn't worried about anyone noticing his change. Which was all the better, because he had no interest in getting people involved in his plans unless he absolutely had to. He came back to protect his friends from the future, not to get them involved in it again. He would find a way to handle Ultimecia without dragging them into it. Somehow.

His solution quite literally ran into him one afternoon while he was in the library. He'd been looking up things about sorceresses – there was no reason for him to not utilise the resources at his disposal to try and find another way – when someone backed right into him. He spun to glare at the other person, only to find Ellone, who was watching some cadets warily.

Squall considered the confrontation for a breath, then carefully moved in front of his adopted sister, eyes hard as he looked over the other cadets. "Can I help you?" he wondered in an icy voice.

One of the boys moved as if to grab a weapon, but Squall snapped out a Stop and he froze.

The other boys immediately held their hands up in surrender. "Sorry to bother you, Leonhart," one of them offered. "We'll just be going..."

Squall tossed a Dispel at the boy he'd stopped, then watched the group of them flee with sharp eyes. Once they were gone, he turned to Ellone and raised an eyebrow. "Where's your protection detail?" he wondered, having vague memories of a White SeeD following her around in the past.

Ellone blinked in surprise, then flushed. "Oh, uhm..."

Squall sighed. "Sis, you can't just–" He paused at the strange look in her eyes. "Sis?"

"You... remember me?" Ellone asked, watching him curiously.

Squall almost smacked himself for his mistake – he'd run into Ellone before, but never recognised her – but decided to ignore that and continued, "You can't just lose the SeeD assigned to you when you're tired of them. They're there for your protection."

Ellone winced. "I know that, Squall. But–"

"But nothing," Squall snapped. "What would have happened if I hadn't been here. You could have been hurt!"

Ellone considered that, still looking a bit shame-faced, but then her eyes lit up and she reached out to entwine her arm with Squall's. "You'll have to protect me, then."

Squall blinked at that, a thought coming to him, 'Protect her? It's not all that safe here, especially not with Ultimecia's rise coming, but Esthar was safe. And they fought Adel. And Laguna...'

Laguna would believe anything, even a story about Squall coming back to change the future.

'I can't do this alone,' he admitted to himself, 'and I don't want to get the others involved, but Laguna has the entire Esthar army at his beck and call. Not to mention all that technology, and if I could get my hands on Ragnarok...'

"Squall?" Ellone interrupted, smiling. "Lost in thought?"

"Let's go on a trip," Squall decided, shoving the book he'd been holding back onto the shelf.

"A trip? Where?" Ellone wondered, walking complacently beside him as they started out of the library.

"It's a surprise," Squall informed her. Then, after a moment's thought, "Sis, do you trust me?"

Ellone blinked at that. "Do I...? Of course I trust you, Squall!"

"Good." Squall nodded and led her towards the carpool, glowering at anyone who looked at them funny. Admittedly, Squall Leonhart with a girl hanging off his arm was quite the sight, but there was no reason for any of them to stare at him because of it.

Once there, he checked out a car and walked over to it.

"We're going into town?" Ellone wondered, eyes bright. "I haven't been out of Garden in months!"

Squall offered her the smallest of smiles, understanding well the feeling of being trapped in Garden – he'd been made Commander, after all, for all that he often left Garden with the others, they'd still needed him up in that office more often than he would have liked. "This should be a proper treat, then," he offered as they slid inside. "If your SeeD protection detail tries to kill me afterwards, though, I'll claim I was kidnapped."

Ellone laughed at that, bright and happy. She waited until they could see Balamb in the distance before saying, "I've missed having you around, Squall."

Squall swallowed against the lump in his throat. "I–" His pride choked his words, but he managed to fight it off long enough to admit, "I missed you too, Sis. I... cried. A lot."

Ellone looked away, ashamed, and whispered, "I'm sorry, Squall. I had to leave, though."

Squall shrugged. "You never even said goodbye." And, really, that's what had bothered him the most. She'd vanished without a word, no guarantee that she'd ever return, that she'd even cared to begin with.

Ellone sucked in her bottom lip and chewed on it, looking lost. As they pulled into the town, she admitted, "You were sleeping. I didn't... I didn't want to wake you. I thought you'd be okay."

"I survived," Squall informed her, a bite to his voice that he hadn't intended, and Ellone flinched at it. He considered apologising, but decided not to in the end – she sort of deserved it – and pulled into the lot next to the train station. "Come on."

"The train station?" Ellone wondered, getting out of the car with a curious expression.

Squall glanced at her, shrugging. "You said you wanted out of Garden, right? Why not a trip? A proper trip, not just to Balamb."

Ellone shot him a faint frown. "I don't know, Squall. Like you pointed out, the SeeD will be worried."

Squall shook his head. "I won't let anything happen to you," he promised, "and we'll be back by Monday." A lie, but once they got to Esthar, he doubted Ellone would care. If it came down to it, he supposed he could just knock her out and carry her there, but getting her to come on her own would be better. For both of them.

Ellone glanced up at the train station, chewing on her lower lip again, and Squall silently waited for her to make up her mind, readying a Sleep spell.

Finally, Ellone nodded. "Okay. But once we get to Timber, I should call Garden and let them know I haven't been kidnapped." When he glanced at the phones standing outside the train station, she smiled and offered, "If I called them from here, we'd never get out of Balamb. And..." She shrugged, looking away. "I would like to get out of Balamb for a bit. Travelling with my little brother..." She smiled up at him, eyes bright.

Squall swallowed against the knot in his throat and managed a crooked smile in response. "Okay, then. Come on."

Ellone took his arm again and they moved swiftly up to the ticket window and bought two tickets to Timber.

In their seats on the train – Squall really missed the SeeD compartment – Ellone pleaded, "Are you sure you won't tell me where we're headed? Timber's not much better than Balamb, really, so it can't be there. Right?"

"It's not Timber," Squall replied. When Ellone smiled hopefully, he snorted. "It's a surprise, Sis."

Ellone sighed and slouched in her seat. "Remind me to pick up something to read in Timber," she muttered.

Squall nodded absently. He would need to ask around about ways to get across Horizon Bridge, especially with someone who wasn't used to walking long distances. Timber wasn't really a coastal town, but maybe they'd have access to boats that could be used to get to Fisherman's Horizon. There wasn't land-fall on the eastern continent, he knew, but FH had a port they could dock at. Cutting the distance in half would help a lot.

'I'll worry about it when we get there,' Squall decided, relaxing back in his seat. 'I suppose I could have looked into borrowing a boat in Balamb, but that was still a bit too close to home, and I'm sure where the White SeeD ship is. They seemed to dock in Centra a lot, but with Sis at Balamb and Matron soon to be possessed and wandering around near Deling City... I didn't want to take the chance that we'd run into them out on the ocean. At least travelling along Horizon Bridge means I can weave the boat out of range, assuming I can find a good-sized ship.

'Nothing to do about it now, Squall,' he reminded himself. 'When we get to Timber, I'll ask around about boats while Sis calls Garden. We can pick up some provisions with something to read, then head out.'

-0-

Timber did not, in fact, have boat access, but there was a small coastal town to the north of them that the train station manager had pointed him to, so once they were fully stocked with provisions, Squall rented a car and they made their way there.

"So where are we going?" Ellone wondered. "I expected you to catch another train from Timber."

"No trains where we're going," Squall allowed, glancing briefly down at the map he'd been given to check that he was still going in the right direction. He hated driving without a road, but he was better than Zell, who, according to Selphie, almost got them lost en route to the Missile Base. Quistis had been required to take the map and give directions to Selphie, lest they miss their chance entirely.

"There aren't a lot of places that can't be reached by train," Ellone commented carefully.

"Lots of small towns," Squall agreed, eyes darting over to her and back to the uneven ground ahead of them. The small village was just coming into view, Horizon Bridge stretching past it and far into the distance.

Ellone eyed the bridge for a long moment. As they pulled into the village, she offered, "You can't land a boat in Esthar."

"You can dock in FH," Squall replied, seeing no reason to deny where they were headed when she'd already caught on. "We'll walk the other half of Horizon Bridge."

Ellone nodded. "And if I don't want to come?"

Squall pulled the break and raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't want to see Laguna?"

Ellone's expression lit up. "We're going to see Uncle Laguna?"

Squall leaned into the back seat to grab the sack of provisions. "Coming?" he asked before getting out of the car.

Ellone was much more cheerful once Laguna had been mentioned. She offered to use her own Garden account to pay for the boat, especially since Squall's funds were running low, but he waved her off, commenting, "If they find out where we are, they'll stop us."

"Oh. Right." Ellone had frowned a bit at that, but Squall was able to get them a boat for an acceptable price and they both hopped in. "You know how to drive one of these?" Ellone wondered as Squall set about looking over the controls.

"In theory," he admitted. "This is an older model than I'm used to, but we're trained how to drive all sorts of vehicles, boats included."

Ellone sighed a bit and reached a hand down to flick at the water. "I almost wish I'd tried for SeeD."

"No, you don't," Squall shot back, voice harsh with memories of war. "You're better off as a civilian, Sis." Then he turned the key he'd been given and flipped the choke, sending them quickly away from the dock and towards the large bridge rising over them.

Ellone eventually came to join him at the controls, leaning forward and enjoying the breeze. "Will it be hard to get into Esthar?" she wondered.

Squall shrugged. "We should be fine. I'm a little concerned about the Abadon in the Great Salt Lake, but we'll manage."

Ellone shot him a worried look. "An Abadon? Are you sure it'll be okay?"

Squall pulled out a handful of Phoenix Downs and showed them to her in response, earning a quiet giggle. "We'll be fine," he promised, shoving the healing items back in his pocket. "Maybe I'll let you be the one to toss it."

Ellone laughed and shook her head. "Maybe not." She fell silent again, smiling, and watched the passing bridge. After a good twenty minutes, she asked, "How long until we get there?"

Squall considered the sun in the distance, then the beeping radar on the console. "I'll try and get us in tonight. We can sleep over in FH and start for Esthar in the morning."

Ellone nodded, chewing on her lip.

Squall glanced over at her. "What is it?"

"We're not going to make it back by Monday, are we?"

Squall looked away. "No."

Ellone sighed, nodded again, then headed back to her magazine.

-0-

They pulled into the FH docks a few hours after the sun had set. Squall was glad for the lights that had been installed on the boat, because he'd almost run into the dock twice. Once they were securely moored, he walked back to where Ellone was dozing. "Sis, we're here."

"Hm?" Ellone blinked up at him, then glanced around at the dark docks. "Oh, right. Help me up?"

They gathered their things and Squall helped her out of the boat and to the inn that stood just over the tracks.

Inside, they were greeted by the owner, "Evenin', folks," he offered with a bright smile on his face. The smile dimmed when he saw Squall's gunblade and he opened his mouth to comment on it, but Squall held up his hand.

"I know about your laws against violence," the SeeD cadet offered, "and I have no intention in drawing my weapon in FH. Could we get a couple rooms for the night?"

The man blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Uhm, let me get you keys..." He shuffled back towards the counter.

"Two rooms?" Ellone wondered quietly.

"They're pacifists," Squall returned equally quietly. "You should be fine on your own for one night, unless you'd prefer to share a room." Squall shrugged. "I don't care either way."

Ellone nodded and accepted her room key when the owner handed it out to her, asking, "What brings you folks to FH?"

"We're travelling to Esthar," Ellone replied, smiling. "My uncle's there, and Squall offered to take me." She looked fondly up at Squall. "Even if he was being obnoxiously secretive about it."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Come on, Sis. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Good night!" Ellone offered to the owner as Squall ushered her up to their rooms.

The owner laughed and waved her off. "Sleep well, then."

Once in his own room, Squall laid out all his supplies and checked everything against the mental list in his head. It had taken them four days to get to Esthar last time, but that was with Rinoa and Matron. Ellone would probably need occasional breaks like Matron had, but her deadweight wouldn't be slowing him down, so it should go a bit faster. Also, he could always carry her if it came to that.

Prepared for the worst, he had supplies for five days, as well as sleeping bags and a tarp for a shelter. He knew there were a few dead train cars along the tracks that could be slept in – they'd done so the last time – but if they got caught out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake, he wanted to have something for Ellone to sleep under. He didn't care either way, but she probably would.

'I don't know why they wouldn't have taught her at least something about taking care of herself,' Diablos commented in the back of his head. 'She's pretty much useless right now. Are you sure we need her?'

"Diablos, if you don't shut up, I'm un-junctioning you," Squall warned out loud as he carefully replaced everything in the small, magically expanded sack. He checked through his medicine inventory next, mentally noting that he'd need to stock up on Hi-Potions before setting out in the morning.

With that figured out – and Diablos wisely silent – Squall shed his clothing and slipped into bed, resting Revolver within easy reach. He trusted that nothing bad would occur inside the FH city limits, but he saw no reason to not be prepared. (Not that he would be disarmed without his gunblade – he had some of the strongest para-magic in the world junctioned and had no compunctions against unleashing it on anyone foolish enough to think him defenceless – but having his preferred weapon in easy reach helped him relax.)

His only true sorrow about leaving Garden without any forethought was that he had left without his gunblade case. He could get a new one in Esthar, easy, but he still missed the dark case with Griever's face glaring out from the front.

-0-

Squall was alert suddenly, not certain what had woken him. It took him a second to sense the other person moving around in his room. He was just preparing a Stop to hit whatever poor bastard thought to sneak in on him when a weary voice said, "I'm not here to attack you, just sleep."

Squall sat up at that and snapped the light next to his bed on, staring at Seifer, who had fallen into the other bed in the room. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he snapped.

Seifer sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm following you."

"Why the fuck are you–?"

"Because you've been acting strange!" Seifer hissed back, eyes narrowed. "A week and a half ago, you stopped letting me bait you into a fight and started taking on T-Rexaurs instead!"

Squall paused at that, surprised. He honestly hadn't thought anyone had noticed his change in behaviour. "So, what? You decided the only way to find out was follow me on a road trip to FH?" He snorted. "Try again, Seifer."

"You're going to Esthar," Seifer informed him. When Squall narrowed his eyes in response, the older gunblader added, "The owner asked when I mentioned we were friends."

"We're not friends," Squall spat, mentally cursing Ellone's earlier comment to the owner.

"Well, I don't think the residents of Fisherman's Horizon understand the concept of 'rivals'," Seifer snapped back.

Squall clenched his jaw. Seifer had a point about using the term 'rivals' in FH, but still, he didn't want the other gunblader coming with them. "You know where I'm headed, so why don't you just go back?" he bit out. "If you're not back for class on Monday, they might very well kick you out of the SeeD program." Which was true, since Seifer had already failed the exam twice, and he was no one's favourite person.

Seifer considered him as he pulled off his boots. "And when are you going back?" he wondered. "Not by Monday, not if you're headed to Esthar."

Squall looked away, because he had no intention of returning to Garden. He'd done the whole SeeD thing – become the Commander, even – and it hadn't impressed him enough for him to need to go back. Perhaps, once the world was safe, he'd look into it again, but he had more important things to do right now.

Seifer snorted and stood to unlatch the strap holding Hyperion in place. "That's what I thought." He set the gunblade carefully to one side, commenting, "It's not worth it without you around, you idiot. Who else am I supposed to train with? Chicken-wuss?"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Suddenly you don't care about making SeeD?" he wondered. He knew becoming a Sorceress' Knight had been Seifer's big dream, but wasn't SeeD second best?

Seifer snorted again and reached over to snap the light off. "Don't be an idiot, Squall. We both know I'll never make SeeD."

Squall sat there, listening to Seifer climb into bed, heart sinking. 'Was that why you joined Ultimecia?' he wondered. 'Because you knew they'd never make you a SeeD? Then why did you stay? Why remain at Garden if you knew...?' Squall closed his eyes and rested back against his pillow. 'Seifer, I don't understand.'

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A/N: I know Ellone's timeline isn't really canon, but it worked out better that way. Bah, it's fanfiction. Who cares if it's canon or not? XD

I know, I know, Squall should probably be a bit more broken up about never seeing Rinoa and them again but, honestly? I thought that whole relationship was OoC. I mean, Squall has abandonment issues, yeah? So why in Merlin's name would he take Rinoa getting knocked out well? That's just proof that everyone's going to abandon him, whether by choice or not. Honestly, he shouldn't have opened up to her at all. And he shouldn't have let the others talk him into putting Rinoa's life above the members of the Garden during the fight with G-Garden – he's the bloody Commander, damnit, not Rinoa's personal body guard! Rawr.
Yeah, whatever. I'll stop ranting now. Anyone who's reading this fic probably agrees with me, anyway. Bah.

The calendar for this fic gave me so many fits. I started writing it with a mind towards western schooling – end of the school year falls in early summer and starts back up again at the beginning of autumn – but then, while writing chapter four or so, I realised that the Garden calendar of events in the game follows the Japanese school system, with the end and beginning of the year falling during spring. ARGH! So I had to re-work the calendar.
It's still not particularly canon – the school year should end during the latter half of March and start back up again mid-April – but it's better than it was. Currently, the SeeD exam is falling in late June, which is still way too late, but... Bah.
There's only one point where a date is mentioned, and that's in this chapter, so it doesn't matter all that much. But still.

'Til next time.
~Bats ^.^x

Chapter Two: Give Up Everything

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