It was a dreary day and was spitting lightly outside when the class of 20 trudged into Mr. Aki's classroom and took randomly chosen seats. Except no one sat next to Squall. They didn't dare. (It would surely be the only seat left in the classroom.) Seifer thought as he counted the seats and the number of students. Fifteen minutes later less than half the mass of people had found somewhere to sit. It was an unofficial ritual at the beginning of every new school day. Finding a seat suited to your attitude. The talkers , that included him, but only to Raijin who sat next to him. They would always situate themselves at the back. When Squall used to sit at the back, everyone would bug him or try to get him into a conversation so now he only sat near the front so the teacher would bark at anybody who tried to talk to him. (Typical Squall.) he thought. (Would do any thing to avoid other people...) After he and Raijin had fought there way to the very back they plopped down beside each other in exhaustion.
"Hey, this year, we finally made it to the back, ya know?" commented Raijin.

Seifer looked over to him. "Yeah... finally." he said leaning his head back only to find out there was no headrest on the seats. Not that he expected there to be.

"Whoa... It's really stormin', ya know?" he heard Raijin from beside him. He looked out the window to his right. He was obviously right. It was absolutely pouring out, and it only came down harder down on the Alcauld Plains. He was about to turn his head back until a small figure, emerging from Balamb, caught his eye. It seemed to be a young boy, from what he could see. He was extremely fast for his size as he ran across the Aclaud Plains, the rain beating down on him intensely.
(Poor bugger) he thought, (stuck out in the rain)

He then realized the boy was headed for the Garden. (I wonder--) he thought before Mr. Aki gruffly calling out his name made him look up. He scanned around the room to see everyone had found there seats and the role call had started. At looking up in the in the front left corner, you could see Squall, with his arms crossed looking at the floor. He was diagonally in the exact opposite side of the room from him. Sitting by himself, of course.

"Mr. Almasy." he said again, quite louder.

"Oh yeah... here." he mumbled.
He was always first on the list. They couldn't start until he'd made his presence known.

He continued on down the list, calling out the names loudly, to receive the same monotone response from every student. "Here."

"Zell Dincht." he called out not looking up. He almost said the next person's name until he realized he didn't get an answer.

"Is Zell Dincht here?" he asked again. Everyone only looked around the room, no one stepping up and claiming to be the suspicious character. Seifer had never heard a Garden student by that name before.

"Hmmmmm..... I'll have to find out who this young fellow is and find out why he's not here. If he's skipping school on the first day--" he began only to be cut of by someone flying through the door at top speed, only to slip and fall face forward from all the wet footprints.

"Oh man." he heard a grumbling over by the door, on the other side of Squall, "Would be late on my very first day."

Mr. Aki wasn't too pleased at this anonymous person's antics.

"Excuse me!" he bellowed, "Your interrupting a class!"
The boy looked up at him from the ground with a nervous smile on his face.
"Leave immediately!" he yelled, pointing out toward the door," I've already had a student skipping, I DO NOT need people barging in my classroom!" he continued to yell.

(That damn teach' is so naive.) Seifer thought, (He'd probably yell at headmaster Cid for interrupting his precious class.) Seifer chuckled at the thought.

Every single student in the room was staring at the young man who had just got to his feet. Seifer didn't understand how he didn't look nervous at all, didn't even break a sweat.  He would of been petrified in a second with an entire classroom staring at him. He may have got nervous but he would never show any sign of it. He would just be nervous in his mind and in his stomach. He hated that feeling you got in your gut when you were nervous.

On glancing him over, he immediately noticed it was the boy he had seen out in the rain. He wasn't exactly your everyday student.... look wise. His head was adored with the purest of blonde hair and was styled rather unusually. (His hair-do kinda looks lika' chicken) he thought. Even though it was dripping wet it retained it's shape. The whole of him was absolutely soaked, he wore an untucked white T-shirt that hung down quite a bit past his waist. It was barely even there because it was so wet. Because of that everyone could see his grey boxers sloppily sticking out more than an inch from his khaki cargo shorts. This caused many of the popular girls to giggle, but he didn't even take noticed. He only looked up at Mr. Aki with intense aquamarine eyes who towered over him. He gripped a blue backpack that was slung over his shoulder. (He musta got ready in one helluva hurry.)  The boy looked very strong, for his whole torso, arms too, were muscular and toned. (God! He's probably only 13! What does he do in his spare time!?) Seifer soon shut up when he looked to his hands. He wore a pair of black leather fighting gloves. (Oh...) he thought, (Punching-bag freak.)

He was rather amusingly though, one of the shortest people standing in the room. Maybe just 4 and a half feet. Seifer was pretty good at judging height for he was and had always been the tallest student in the Garden, even at his young age. The most remarkable and puzzling feature about the boy was that he had a tattoo down the left side of his face. It was completely black and of intricate design. (How in hell do you get a tattoo before your even past 14!?) he yelled in his mind. He assumed the kid must be able to take a lot of pain. He'd heard about tattooing. They used ink and burned it into the flesh with different colours as a design. Just the thought made him shudder as he gripped the left side of his face.

"What are you staring at!?" Mr. Aki yelled in his face again, brining Seifer back to the class room.

"I'm Zell Dincht." he replied, calmly, "I'm suppose ta' be in your class.... I think." he finished. His tone of voice almost defied Mr. Aki's authority as he stared at him.

"So your the little rat who tried to skip school?! Thought taking a swim at the Garden pool would be funner then going to your first day of school!? Who do you think you are!?" he continued to yell.

"In aw' due respec' sir. I wus late." he said simply.

Seifer almost burst into tears of joy. He had just been stood up by a student. A very young and small one at that. Mr. Aki,  He could bring any female student to tears and most of the male students too. He and Squall had been yelled at so many times by him for fighting though that they just took the yelling and screaming that hurt there ears. They had only cry at his merciless ways when they first came to the Garden and were used to a gentle scolding from somewhere neither could remember.

Mr. Aki was confused and ready to explode. He greeted every student that came to the school with a good yelling when he found them doing the slightest thing wrong. That was his way of defining authority. But this particular little boy was completely unaffected by his shouts and screams. He also did something unforgivable in his eyes. He was late.

"Don't you talk to me in that tone!" he yelled back act him.

"What tone?!" he asked, raising his voice so not to be drowned out by Mr. Aki.

"You dare say such a thing!?"

"I didn't say anythang wrong!" he retorted, "You started yelling at me as soon as I walked through the door. I'm new here. I've never been to Garden before so excuse me If I don't know the rules!"

Hoo-Boy. This kid must of had some kinda of death wish. He saw a glint of red come across Aki's eyes. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tightly. He then began shaking with anger not noticing that Zell blew past him and was heading for the only seat left. Beside Squall. His sneakers squeaked as he walked on the tile floor. you could here a squishing noise from the water in his shoes every time he took a step. Not a single student in the class room could believe there eyes. All were certain that after the lesson he would get an earful. Not that the kid couldn't take it. Seifer decided he was going to stay outside the classroom and wait for this kid. He wanted to meet him. He'd never seen anyone dare talk to any teacher in such a tone. Maybe it was because Zell... wasn't that his name? Maybe Zell was just in a bad mood. He was a brand new student to Garden. He got here late on his very first day. He was completely soaked. He slipped on the ground as soon as he ran... er... should I say "flew" through the door way only to have some half brained teacher make false accusations and scream at him. Seifer had like the side of this kid that he saw, not being sure if it was good or bad.

When Mr. Aki had finally calmed down he opened his eyes just in time to see the blonde sit down in the last seat in the front of the class. Gasps and whispered were heard throughout out the room, he could care less through. But he didn't know about Squall. Squall only quickly glanced at him as he sat down but then continued staring at the floor, waiting for the lesson to start.

"All right." said Mr. Aki, in a tone that had lost all the malice it usually had.
"Let's begin the lesson." he said meekly while reaching down behind his desk and tried to pick up a large white container that was used to hold chemicals in normally. He was utterly exhausted by the time he had strained enough strength out of himself to lift it onto his desk. It must have been very heavy or the teacher was extremely out of shape.

"This is a liquid created by Garden for studying purposes." he informed while reaching into the bucket and taking out what looked to be a handful of milk but it oddly didn't seep out between his fingers.

He stopped for a second. "How old are you Zell?" he asked for age reference.

Zell looked up at him. "I'm 13" he answered.

He then continued on without a glitch. "I will be handing everyone a little less then a cup of it. I want you to study it, feel it, play with it. Find out what it's made of if you can." he told everyone as he picked up a glass out of his drawer.

"But I can't carry this heavy thing up and down the rows. it's not good for my back, eh? Which one of you strong, young students would like to hand out this err... "liquid." he said slyly while looking around the room to make the rest of the class think he was making a choice based on hands. But his eyes fell directly on Zell. He would make him do what seem to be a tough job for such a small boy. It would be the first part of his punishment.

Only three hands shot up. One was of the teachers pet who was in the front seat, middle row beside another student from the garden that he didn't know. He had a pale face, and curly black hair. Followed by a usual pair of glasses. The boy's arms were so scrawny that Seifer was sure they would snap in half if he tried to pick up the bucket.

Another student was a snot of a boy who thought very highly of himself. He was a rich kid and only had two other rich friends among the Garden. "I refuse to socialize with commoners" he said one time when he and Seifer had been paired as partners to work on a project. He thought he was also the strongest student in the school. But when he was asked to do something to prove his physical condition, he denied it and said: "I'd never lower myself to touch such a thing" referring to a log in the training centre that everyone told him to pick up about a month ago.

The last other student that raised there hand was the snobby little teen prodigy named Quistis who would always break up the fights between him and Squall. She would do anything to help the teacher.

"Oh, Zell" he said snidely, "Thank you for volunteering."

Zell only looked up at him innocently but he was thinking something not so innocent.

No prob for you Zell. Don't let this jerk get to you. Do exactly as he tells you without complaints or showing any kind of displeasure. He's trying to punish you. Don't let him think he succeeded. That'll piss him off to no extent. And he won't be able to do a damn thing about it.

Zell faked a very believable, kind smile as he walked behind the teachers desk, wordlessly.
Aki watched him with an evil grin on his face as Zell reached to pick up the bucket. Surely it would be too much for him and he would just end up tipping it over on the floor. Then I can keep him in for detention! His mouth dropped slightly and his eyes widened considerably, as the whole class did. Zell picked it up as if it were a empty paper bag. He heard 'wows' and whisper's in the background. (They're already making rumours) he thought, remembering the public school he attended before coming here. Zell had trained with his grandpa as far back as he could remember.
"There's nothing wrong with getting an early start." his grandfather had once told him. He wanted to be just like him. A highly respected war hero who knew what to do in every situation. His old public schoolmates teased him and taunted him, having no clue he was stronger then him. But when he demonstrated his power during soccer game they reduced teasing to rumours and whispering behind his back. He had never got so mad on that day. They're kindly old teacher, Mrs. Giana, had took the students out for a soccer game because they had a large class of 30 at the small school so they could split the class into two even teams. The popular people began yelling at him from the other side of the field. "Hey if it isn't Belly Zelly! Bet he can't even kick the ball as far as his Grandpa!" one yelled. "You mean the old geezer you brang in for "the person I respected the most day'?!" yelled a brown haired boy. "Didn't he croak a couple of days later!? Guess we talked to loud and the old bastard had a heart attack! HAHA!" screamed one he hated in particular.
That was it.
He wasn't going to hurt them. Just make them afraid of him. Then, maybe they'd leave him alone.
He used all the strength had in his body and the sheer anger flowing through him to run toward soccer ball in front of him. With one swift kick a huge 'bang' that sounded like a shotgun going off echoed across the field. A brand new soccer is what Zell had kicked but what went flying up into the air was a ball losing the pattern on the outside as it twirled up in the air. It easily went flying high up into the air and clear out of the school yard. He watched it land somewhere in the houses of the nearby city. He just stood there no emotion on his face as everyone stared in utter amazement and fear.

Zell came up to the first desks, his and Squall's. He dipped the cup in and plopped some of the goop on Squall first then his. Squall only stared at it as it was drooped down in front of him. Next.
 Everyone had different reactions to the new student as he walked by. Seifer watched each one. The rich kid only folded his arms and stuck his nose in the air. Obviously indicating he didn't want to have anything to do with him. Zell probably didn't either. Quistis, Miss. Snobb as he called her only looked at him curiously, not sure what to make of him. The teachers pet only stared at him with amazement.

One special girl who used to be Seifer's friend two years ago had went somewhere last year and finally came back. She sat in the middle of the middle row. He made a point of re-greeting her back to the Garden after this class. She had a very pale face and her skin looked very raw and natural. Her lips were those full and pouty lips. The ones models were supposed to have, except hers were a light pink and they blended into her face more. Her eyes were completely out of set with the rest of her face thought. She had large, clear eyes that had a colourful iris. It changed colours. Depending on what the light level was, what mood she was in. She looked up from her desk when she heard someone come near hers. She had chestnut hair that was pulled back into a low pony-tail except for the two thick bangs that hung at the side of her face, down to just past her chin. She had a very morose look on her face when she looked up a Zell. For a few seconds, their eyes locked, but that wasn't uncommon. She also had a never changing ring of burgundy scratched around her pupils. 'It sorta looked like a little ring of fire' is what Seifer had thought when he first saw her. Then he remembered something about her that everyone now, took for granite because they had already knew about it. She had a pair of Phoenix wings sprouting out of her back since a little after birth. They were quite large and she overlapped them up behind her so they wouldn't be in the way.
Everyone knew she was from Esthar, one of the test babies in a horrid GF experiment. They were trying to create more powerful soldiers by fusing babies minds and bodies with GF's. First someone would summon the desired GF in a controlled room. With nothing to attack the GF would normally return to it's resting place in the person's mind but as soon as it came out the person would unjunctuion it and run out of the room closing the door behind them. After that they would pick the child and try to fuse them. None of the experiments worked. Most would end up with unusually abilities but not any stronger. Some of the freak accidents would have the babies with deformities and attributes form the GF. One that had horns committed suicide when he was ten. He hated himself that much. The children they used were usually from the Esthar orphanage but she was the new born daughter of a scientists that was working on the experiment. His daughter hadn't even been named yet because he was so wrapped up in his work. He decided, on his own, without consulting her mother that he would use her in the experiment with one of the most difficult GF's. The Phoenix. Before they performed the fusion her registered her name as Phoenix with no last name or middle name. So that if she survived the experiment she would be put in an orphanage with no link to her past. Her father never wanted her to know who he was for he had failed her. The only thing she could thank him for besides the wings was a special ability. She could turn into the Phoenix as her limit break and she would cast Full Life on all or if none were fainted they  would be cured. But the enemy didn't go untouched, they would be plummeted in powerful Firaga magic, many, many, consecutive times.

All six of the popular girls sat in front of Seifer and Raijin. All in the row to the far side so they could chatter to each other quietly. When Zell came by they all giggled and smiled. One even said, "Hi Zell." in a very unshy way. Zell said "Hi" out of politeness but nothing more. He didn't care he just continued shovelling goop onto there desk's. Most went "ewwww.... what is that!?" or grimaced in it's sight. Then he came to Raijin and Seifer. Raijin on the outer edge, Seifer by the window. Seifer had a horribly smug look on his face, accompanied by his trademark smirk. Zell thought, (Oh great, I got the bully of the school already thinking of a trick to play on me.) but Seifer was far from doing any such thing. Raijin sat there quietly and completely anonymously.

Zell didn't look at either of them as he gave out the last cups of it. Seifer stared at it. (What the hell is this stuff?!) he wondered. "It drips like it's wet but it feels like plastic when you touch it!" he murmured aloud as he manhandled it. He looked up when the teacher cleared his throat, readying himself to tell him to shut up. Seifer did it for him.

"Yeah, I know, Shut up." he mumbled while looking down at the goop. He caught the teacher off guard. He was going to tell him the same thing. Seifer would have smirked if this wasn't Mr. Aki. He began to open his mouth to say something and then stopped and glared at him.

"Um, yes." he said while clearing his throat again. He didn't know why Zell didn't think this was fun. He looked so serious when he talked to the teacher is his defiant tone. Seifer just loved hearing him talk like that to the teacher. Was that why he was going to wait outside the classroom. Just to hear Zell mouth of? But the way Zell talked to Aki wasn't mouthing of, it was his tone that was mouthing off. His slang type, street kid accent that was mouthing off. Not the words he used. His words would be considered polite and gentleman like by any other teacher. He also had a funny feeling that there were 2 side's to this kid. One that behaved in class, did his work and was polite and the other was a passionate, unconstrained youth who just wanted to have fun and live life to his fullest. Seifer wasn't very perspective but It was just the way he looked. That's how he guess what people were like. There looks. True, It's not the best way to judge character, but hey, It worked for him... most of the time.

Seifer looked up just in time to see a note thrown by a popular girl at the front of the class. It was headed for a girl in front of him. She stared at it as it hurdled towards her. Seifer leapt out of his seat and leaned across his desk to grab it out of the air above her. He was so tall he had no problem reaching it. As soon as she saw a hand make a grab for it she turned around and whisper yelled "Seifer!"

"Yes?" he said mockingly while opening up the note. He stopped to look up at her angered face.

"You wouldn't dare!" she whispered. Seifer leaned forward, closer to her.

"What's stopping me?" he asked as he opened the note to its full piece of paper. He was going to humiliate the entire group of girls in front of the class if this note said enough to let him. He had all six of the girls in front of him, glaring at him evilly. He only smirked. A few had very fearful looks on their faces.

"Actually, I think I'll keep it." he said to than as he folded it up and put it into his pocket.
He heard all the "you littles" and "jerks" mumbled in front of him.

"Ah ah ah. Ladies. Do you want me to read it in front of the entire class?" he said, acknowledging not to piss him off of say anything about him. Now he had a blackmail tool. He'd make them do  something very humiliating in front of the school. If they refused he'd read the note to the entire class. Either way he won.

A deep silence fell through the room as Mr. Aki wrote a note on the board.

Someone left the door to the classroom open and a particularly large fly buzzed in. It was a very annoying one because it's buzzing was loud and it would fly near your face or ear and then you could really hear it. Most people he knew hated when you could hear a buzzing noise near your ear. Much to his amusement, half the class smacked at the fly when it came near them but missed and only hit themselves in the head. When it was there turn the whole class was watching the fly as it zoomed around the room. Raijin must have hit himself and least twice in the process but Seifer just flung his arms around trying to scare it away. This fly was very annoying. So much, that no one in class was paying attention. After making another round the small insect finally found a resting place. The teacher had began to write a note on the board a while ago The fly thought he'd land maybe 5 inches away from the teachers hand. It moved around slightly as the teachers hand moved about, forming words. Everyone stared at it. With everyone's attention diverted no one noticed Zell take a very small part of his goop and form it into a tiny ball. With that everyone blinked when some of the goop hit the chalk board, directly on top of the fly. It was probably dead. This caused the teacher to stop writing and look to his left at the goop with the fly smothered in it. He then turned, rather angered and looked at the whole class.

"Who-threw-that!?!" he barked. But before he could barely finish Zell put up his left hand so it was level with his head.

"You did!?" he yelled again, glaring at him.

"It was bothering everyone in class sir. No one could concentrate on their work." he said, pausing for a moment, " wouldn't uh thrown it if I couldn't uh hit hit." he finished.

He was getting the teacher mad again. Seifer did not want to listen to him again so he got an idea.
He took his whole cup of glop and whipped it across the room, only for it to smack the teachers pet square across the head. "Goop Fight!!" he yelled. As soon as the word was uttered everyone in class stood up and white stuff went flying everywhere. As soon as some of it would hit the floor kids would pick it up again and rethrow it. All the popular girls ran behind the desk for cover and began using what was left over in the bucket. Only Squall and Zell remained in their seats until Seifer whipped a blob across the room aimed at Squall. Much to his disappointment, Zell noticed it and he pulled him and Squall down behind their desks. Now the teacher had no control over this situation. No matter how loud he yelled he was drowned out by the shrieks and screams of laughter by the entire lass. That was until Headmaster Cid walked through the door and got hit with a particularly large blob across the head. Everyone stopped mid throw and the room became completely silent as they stared at the headmaster.

Headmaster hadn't got mad at first. He laughed until he almost cried actually. But then they were forced to clean up the entire room spotless. Zell was told to stand by the door while every one left. Many students made snide remarks about "him starting the goop fight" but he didn't care. The popular girls giggled once again as they walked by causing Zell to roll his eyes. Squall didn't even looked at him. He only hurried out the door. Zell could only guess what he was thinking. He watched Phoenix go out but she didn't go far. She waited outside the classroom for her best friend Fujin, who sat next to her in class. Fujin came out. She was a bit taller then Zell and her hair hung down to he shoulders in a glorious silver colour. Curiously she had an eye patch on he left eye. She didn't look at Zell or say anything either. They stopped when they met and talked while they waited. Seifer had a huge smile across his face as he walked out the door. He said nothing as Raijin obediently followed behind. Seifer, Raijin, Phoenix and Fujin met in the hallway by the elevator and started to talk.
Zell's attention was diverted to the teacher as he called him to come over to his desk.

"I wanna meet him." Seifer said simply, not changing his mind. "I'm going to wait for him right here." he said pointing at the ground under his feet.

All looked at each other and shrugged.

"If you want to meet him that bad..." Phoenix commented quietly not having any words to finish.

Phoenix was a quiet child who never spoke up much in class. Kinda like Squall but the difference was she was ONLY like that in class. Around her friends was a different story. She loved to make people laugh and feel good. She loved laughing too. Seifer nor anyone else had no objection either. They were always on the brink of an outburst one way or another with her and Seifer together.
But Seifer was so serious about it that she didn't dare to make a joke.

Then all had decided to just wait. He couldn't be that bad. Seifer doubted his perspective or personal view on Zell was shared by anyone. That's why they weren't too apt to meet this young man.

They waited for a few minutes, hearing Mr. Aki raise his voice here and there, but he didn't make it too yelling before he sent Zell out. Probably with loads of homework. Zell was staring at the floor as he walked. He headed straight for the elevator not noticing any of them there.

"Where'r you going?" Seifer asked before Zell reached the elevator.

Zell stopped in his tracks and sighed. "What'u want?" he replied rather annoyed not turning to face him.

Seifer only shrugged and talked to the back of his head.
"New student, eh?" he continued questioning. Everyone else left him to do the talking. Just hoping that he wouldn't anger this particular student. They didn't want a fight where Seifer would get a black-out on the first punch. Phoenix crossed her arms as Seifer went on. Zell turned to face him carrying no emotion he gazed up at Seifer soon realizing he was probably the school's bully.
(I mean cumon', look at the size of him!) he thought taking in the amazing 6 foot 14 year old.

"Obviously." he mumbled and began to make a break for the elevator.

"Hey! You know, it's rude to just walk away from a conversation!" he bellowed as Zell pushed the button for the first floor and disappeared from their sight.

"That went well." Phoenix said with sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know, I know." he said waving his hand.

"I think you intimidated him." Fujin spoke up, "He probably thinks your the school bully coming to pick on him. He's really short so it's probably not unusual." she said grabbing her left arm with her right hand.

Seifer's eyes widened. He'd never thought of that. And it was probably truer then he thought.

"And no, I do not consider that meeting him! I'll try later today or maybe even tomorrow." he reminded them before Raijin could say, "Well we met him..." and shrug.

"Wonder where'd he'd go in the Garden?" Raijin said, giving him a great idea.

"That's a great idea!" he said, yanking Raijin into the elevator with him after it came back up. Soon followed by Phoenix and Fujin squeezing in. It was crowded but they managed.

(Great... now where do I go? Don't even know where I am.) he though as he stood on the steps leading to the elevator.

He then proceeded to sit on the step until 4 people came up behind him yelling, "Hey Zell! Wait!"

He gritted his teeth and whirled around. "I'm right here!"
All looked down.

"Oh... sorry." Seifer shrugged.

Zell rolled his eyes and began to walk away only to be cut of by Seifer jumping in front of him.

"Outta the way." he said flatly without taking his eyes of the ground

"Oh aren't we in a lovely mood." Seifer said without moving. He crossed his arms.

"I said move!" he hell fired while trying to go around him. Seifer only moved in front of him again. Zell let out a little growl of anger before he looked up at Seifer.

"Unless you want a fight get the hell outta my way!!" he yelled

"Fight? Fight?!" Seifer made another melodramatic act of innocence. He even tried to sound insulted that Zell assumed he wanted to fight.

Zell didn't want to get into a scrap fight with the school bully on the first day of school but he also wasn't going to be picked on, on the first day of school either. He tried to take the in-between again.
He harumpfed and violently pushed Seifer out of his way causing him to fall down on the steps as he hurried away. Seifer did his best to not sound angry. Zell probably thought he was out to pick on him. He couldn't blame him.

"Where'r you going? It's not like you know your way around here!" he called to him as he stood up.

Zell only began to run and turned around, not stopping. "I'll manage." he yelled back.

"Wouldn't it be easier if someone who was actually from here showed you around?" he raised his voice to be heard by the young boy who was slowly getting farther away. The boy stopped for a second and turned his head.

"Well guess what Einstein, I don't know anybody here!"

Seifer shook his head and ran over to him, near the Library's entrance. Everyone else following close behind.

"Zell, Zell, Zell" he stringed the words together in a scolding matter as he took Zell under his arm, "You know us." he said with a huge smirk on his face.

Zell sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't like where this was headed. All he could do was play along and maybe get a free tour of the Garden.

"All right." he said looking up at Seifer, losing his hostile attitude and replacing it with a rather enthusiastic one.

The scene was rather frightening to the rest of them.

Seifer standing there with his arm over the shoulder of a small kid. Zell looked up at Seifer and they both grinned in unison, with the exact same smirk. Phoenix couldn't take much more of this and acted on impulse.

"Arghh! C'mon!" she yelled while grabbing Seifer by the wrist rather violently and dragging him to the library. Everyone followed with Zell in tow.

Phoenix sighed. Mr. Aki babbled endlessly about when he was a kid he would of been pelted with a leather strap if he had talked back to the teacher the way Seifer just had. Seifer was rolling his eyes occasionally, trying to keep from smirking. He had enough detentions as it was and every time he missed one he got two more.
Zell groaned loudly and let his head hit his desk with a loud thump.
(Seifer just had'ta open his big mouth. Now wu'll be here forever...)

"Is there a problem Zell?" Mr. Aki snapped while walking toward the front of the classroom. Seifer smirked because now Zell was gonna get chewed out.

Zell's head shot up and glared at the teacher.

"No 'ser." he sighed, his voice slightly gargled by something in his mouth.

Seifer then realized he was chewing gum when he began to make sticky noises when he chewed it.
While the teacher concentrated on writing another note on the board Phoenix crawled on the ground over to Zell and tugged at his sleeve. She held her hand out flat and stuck out her bottom lip.
Zell rolled his eyes and quickly lifted his hips up so he could reach into his pocket. After rummaging around in it he pulled out a square cube of pink gum in a white wrapper. She smiled and winked at him as he dropped it into her hand and then proceeded to crawl back to her desk.

"Looking for something?" the teacher's voice boomed out causing Phoenix to jump a little. She was maybe three feet from he desk, on all fours.

"Uhhhh... uhhh ...yeah!" she mumbled while stealthily pulling a pencil out of her pocket. She looked up at Fujin and melodramatically dropped it on the floor causing her best friend to slap her hand over her mouth and giggle.

"My pencil, I found it!" she announced while holding it straight up in the air triumphantly causing Zell, Fujin and a few other people who had seen her little stunt to laugh louder.

Mr. Aki frowned and put his hands on his hips. "Then what's that in your other hand? Hmmmmm?" he countered slyly while pointing at square, pink object held loosely in her other hand. Phoenix's eyes widened and she stared down at the piece of gum that she had unwrapped before moving back toward her desk. She then stared back at the teacher, grinning slightly.

"Oh this, just my eraser, see?" she replied while holding it up with other hand. She sat there on the floor, legs folded under her, holding up a pencil and her 'eraser' like they were a trophy she had just won.

The teachers eyes narrowed. "Care to demonstrated how your eraser work's?" he asked.

Phoenix's wings drooped and both item holding hands fell in her lap.
"No, That's ok, I'll just go back to my desk and--" she tried while crawling slowly back to her desk.

"Phoenix." he warned in a dreadfully serious tone. She sighed heavily and stood up beside her desk.
Mr. Aki pulled a huge piece of paper off of his desk and taped it up onto the board so the whole class could see it.

"How about you take that pencil of yours that just can't resist the pull of gravity from inside of your pocket, draw something on this here paper and erase it with that lovely eraser Zell gave you that had a white wrapper." he ordered, with no emotion in his voice.

Both Phoenix and Zell paled.

"A-Alright, sure." she obliged sheepishly. Not like she had a choice.

Phoenix walked up to the board and hesitantly pressed her pencil against the paper. She did a quick drawing, a very lopsided circle.

"Glad to see someone in this class has some talent." he remarked, with what was supposed to be a joke, but didn't sound like it because his voice carried no sarcasm or ridicule.

Phoenix secretly frowned as she began to erase it. The 'eraser' left a sticky pink residue that only covered up the 'circle' instead of erasing it.

Zell had his gloved hand over his mouth. Phoenix could tell he probably had the biggest smile in his face by his eyes and glared at him through narrowed ones which only caused him to look to his side and laugh into Squall's shoulder. Squall glared at him evilly and 'accidentally' jabbed his shoulder into his forehead. Zell quickly stopped laughing, not wanting to get in the young man's bad side.

"Zell, spit out your gum. Phoenix, throw out yours. I'll see both of you after class. You'll be scrapping gum off the bottom of tables, desks and chairs." he ordered while tearing down the large piece of paper and tossing it into the garbage.

Phoenix growled and Zell sighed as they walked over to the garbage to throw out there gum.

Mr. Aki grabbed Zell by the shoulder before he could get back to his desk.

"All of it." he snapped manually turning Zell around and pushing him back toward the garbage can.

Zell sighed as he rummaged through his pockets.

"Gum, gum wrapper, pencil... lint?" he shrugged while tossing various items from his pockets into the garbage. Mr. Aki was about to tell him to sit down but he continued over to his other pocket.

"Paper, note, more gum, broken pencil, old eraser." he continued on monotonously, discarding unwanted items from his pocket.

"Zell Dincht! You have three detentions!" Mr. Aki's short patience span finally snapped.

Zell whirled around with his eyebrows knitted. "Bu' I didn' do nothing!!!" he shouted.

The teacher blew up... again. Zell didn't do anything except what he told him to. So how would he be able to punish this little menace? The instructor quickly looked up at the clock. It was about five minutes to dismissal.

"Class dismissed. Phoenix, wait outside." his voice cracked slightly when he tried to make it sound calm.

Everyone quickly snapped up there bags and books and hurried out the door as fast as they could.
When Seifer walked by he took his index finger and slid it across his throat as to say "Your dead."
Zell smiled fakely and narrowed his eyes while nodding at him as if to say "Gee, thanks." sarcastically.

"ARGHHHHHH!!!" Zell shouted as he embedded his fists into the grat, instantly killing it.

He then sighed and sat down on the Training Centre floor with his legs crossed. He came here to do some training and let off some steam after scrapping gum off desks for two hours. Phoenix only had to do it for an hour instead because he inadvertently starting scrapping paint off one when he wasn't paying attention.

(Why'do I always get in trouble?) he sighed while holding his head up with his hand.

Zell shifted slightly when he had an idea. Right now he needed advice. If he got anymore detentions his work would suffer. He only knew one thing that could help him.

"Here goes." he said while rubbing his hands together tensely. Zell rubbed his temples for a few few seconds, his entire face wrenched with concentration. When his forehead started to hurt he gently placed his hand over it.

"Bahamut." he murmured.

Seifer Almasy twirled around in a computer chair at the back of the library with his head leaned back, gargling his own spit.

"Excuse me?" a pale faced young woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes leaned over and  stared down at Seifer.

Seifer didn't even move, only looked up at Quistis, with his mouth gaped open, still gargling.

"If your not using this computer could I please?" she asked kindly.

Seifer thought for a moment and then sat forward and spit all he was gargling onto the ground beside his chair.

"Yeah, sure." he replied while wiping the back of his hand across his lips.

He smirked as she pulled out the chair, glaring at him like she was plotting murder.

"Thanks." she said as coldly as possible while sitting down and putting her books beside the computer.

"Anytime." he gestured cheerfully while heading out toward the hall with only one thing on his mind.
Training.

The Training Centre was extremely humid. The glass windows on the large steel doors was even fogged up. This was the ideal living conditions of grats and *Seifer gulped a little* T-Rexaurs.
Seifer philosophy was if you ran into a T-Rexaur alone you were dead. Heck, if you ran into a T-Rexaur at all you'd probably end up dead.

He pulled his trench coat off and slung the heavy thing over his shoulder. Then quickly checking that his Hyperion was in working order headed into the depths of the deathly tropical centre.

"I still don't get why I always get in tru'ble!" Zell harumphed, resting his chin in his hands, making his face look rather smooshed. Not complimenting at all with the ugly look on it.

Bahamut. The extremely wise, powerful and slightly poetic Guardian Force his grandfather pass on to him just before he died four years ago. His grandfather was on his deathbed in the Dincht family home. Dyeing of old age. Zell had practically lived in the cushy chair beside his grandfathers bed. He was holding tightly onto his grandfathers hand just before he let go late at night one September. That is when he passed the GF to the young boy physically and said, "You've learned so much. Take care of Bahamut and he'll be as good a friend to you as he was to me."
The cold feeling made him shudder and the last thing he remembered seeing was an odd glow in his grandfathers eyes, probably followed by one in his. It was the last sign of life the old man had before Zell ran to his parents bedroom, yelling.
This caused Zell to realize something. He'd never cried when his grandfather died. (Outta'  respec' maybe?) he wondered to himself.

Bahamut slinked over to him on all fours and held a wing over the strong young child that wished to be his former owners successor. The shade of the large dragons wing helped cool off the area beneath it, keeping Zell from sweating to death from the humidity. The young man was apparently having trouble keeping out of trouble with a particular teacher.
(Humans. Especially their offspring must deal with such physically trivial matters that are mentally exhausting.) he pondered, (I have suffered the most, not from being attacked while summoning but when Jean Dincht was going through emotional pain....)
Bahamut then invertantly sighed aloud.
(That happened a lot during the war.)

The large dragons sad gesture caused Zell to look up at him. Eyes wide with curiosity. Bahamut would always listen to him when he needed it and give him advice but did he ever have his own problems. Did he ever need to talk to someone? Zell cocked his head as he stared up into the creatures saddened eyes.
"W-Whats wrong?" he cooed, trying not to sound like a fool to this creature who probably had a higher mental capacity then the average human.

The GF jerked a little in surprise at the question.
(My, he's quite an observant young man. An unusual one you are Zell, brimming with passion.)
The GF looked down on him and smiled slightly, yet it was unnoticeable.
"Nothing you should worry of, I am nothing but a Guardian Force, I live in many minds. That can get you to think sometimes young Zell." he said, trying to divert the question.
(What am I doing? Why is this young man getting at me? Could it be what they call child innocence? Hmmmm.....) Bahamut asked himself not expecting an answer.
"Iz it 'bout my grandpa?" he pushed, hoping he didn't sound like some other naive human.
This time Bahamut couldn't help but smile warmly, enough so that Zell could see it.
(Such an unusual speech pattern this one has. One could almost become fond of it...)
"Actually, I was thinking about your grandfather." he replied.
This caused Zell's ears to perk. He even smiled slightly. He was getting Bahamut to talk to him.
"Well.... what wer' ya thinkin' 'bout him for?" Zell's tone then saddened at the thought of his late grandfather.
Bahamut, being extremely perspective, picked up on his mood drop. He formed a plan that would help fulfil a request. One by Jean, that he asked of him before his mind became desolate. Garden technically junctioned and unjunctioned GF's. Physical junction was much more simple instead of being torn away from a sleeping state inside of someone mind with out warning. Physical was always passed through the hands and usually was voluntary.

"Come." Bahamut ordered, his deep, human like voice would probably be attractive to the female of the human species from what he had seen and learned through his journeys. Bahamut leaned down so Zell could climb on his back. The tiny martial artist only raised on of his eyebrows in confusion the rest of his face distorting with it. The look was priceless. Of all the people he had been junctioned to in his short three hundred years of existence, Zell had been the most interesting. So full of passion that he could hardly control himself yet he wanted to be calm, upright and collected man like his grandfather.
(Not in an eternity.) he thought. The boy would never change no matter how hard he tried to do good and behave he had a monstrous flame that burned within him that Leviathan couldn't put out with a Tsunami.

"I want to take you somewhere, young one." he explained while closing his eyes.

"oh... ok" he agreed in a small voice while struggling to climb onto his back.

Bahamut chuckled softly before picking him up by the waist to help him up.
"Hold on.... tight." he bellowed before taking off, heading for the Training Centre door. A dance was on at the moment so the GF didn't think anyone would be out in the halls. Just as he landed in front of the exit door it swung open to reveal a very tall young boy with short blonde hair. He had a long, bulky garment slung over his shoulder and he was carrying a black gunblade in the other. He was staring at the ground and walked right by Bahamut, who had crept into the shadows as soon as the door had opened. Zell watched Seifer stroll around the Training Centre. Probably looking for grats.

In fear of being discovered Bahamut spoke to Zell telepathically.

-Zell? Can you hear me? Bahamut?- he hissed quickly.

Zell looked around from left to right for a second, thinking he was hearing voices then understood.

-Whoa, never knew ya could talk ta me through the head...-

Bahamut ignored the innocent comment and continued.

-Can you get rid of your friend? If I'm discovered I shall be taken by the Garden staff as an unauthorized Guardian Force. Then I shall be taken back by Esthar.-

Zell's eyes widened. Lose Bahamut? ...No way! Wait.... Why would Esthar want him? That mysterious city that lay hidden somewhere in the east. Supposedly technologically advanced by leaps and bounds next to the rest of the world.

-I can distrac' him but what 'bout Esthar?-

-I was originally a Guardian Force owned by Esthar. Stolen by a Galbadian spy for their army during the sorceress war. I was passed on to worthy war general's. Your grandfather being one of them. If they ever find me again they will surely want to do tests and experiments. I'll tell you the story of 'Battleship Island' when we get out of the Garden.-

-Battleship Island!? Sounds cool! .....I'll distract Seifer, no problem! Get ready baby!!- he exclaimed, forgetting that he wasn't exactly talking. He immediately jumped the ten foot drop off of Bahamut's back, landed unfazed on his feet and bounded off toward his 'friend'.

After Zell shot the breeze so long that he was sure it was dead and that Bahamut was home-free he made up the old 'I've got loads of homework' excuse and left Seifer all on his lonesome as he ran out the the Training Centre with his hands in his back pockets. Seifer wouldn't of believed that excuse from anyone else to run away from a conversation with him but with all the trouble Zell got into it was believable.

The sun was beginning to set outside of the Garden and the cold, night air made Bahamut's hot breath fog. How long did it take to weasel your way out of a conversation with Seifer?

Black lightening against pale skin popped it's head around a coloumn outside of Balamb's Gardens gate.

"Bahamut?" he whispered.

"Here." he said quite loudly, forcing a foggy cloud of his breath to appear. Zell slowly walked toward the dark mass that was hiding in the shadows of the Garden.

"Sorry took so long, Seifer doesn't like when people walk away frum him." he faltered after almost tripping on an unseen rock but Bahamut caught him with a quick, clawed 'hand'. Then he gently lifted him onto his back.
Zell immediately fastened himself onto two spikey protrusions in Bahamut's natural armoured hide. From the looks of it they were his shoulder blades. When Zell was safetly secured he flappped his enormous wings and took off to the west.

(Where on Hyne's earth is Zell?! Wouldn't he be doing his homework in his dorm or at least the library!?) Seifer was becoming rather annoyed that he couldn't find Zell. Surely he could finish his homework in a half hour. He could. Just write in random answers or give your paper to the teachers pet and scare him so much that he'll do it.
Being so caught up in learning instead of hands-on experience, Seifer was at level 3, which was unusually high for his age and the class grade he was in. Younger students never had to worry about physical training until much later. Not until they had proper emotional training. Seifer didn't care he wanted to be stronger and better before everyone else. He always had to be better. To be noticed. Being the best was the fastest and his personal favourite way. (Damned Leonhart. He WOULD just happened to choose the same type of weapon that I did. But maybe that's for the best. I have someone to prove I'm batter at.) He thought while smirking.

Seifer wanted to go training with Zell. Zell was very strong. A whole level 5 proving so. It was also starting to get dark at 6:03 p.m. That's when the T-Rexaurs came out, at night. Seifer wanted someone who was as strong as him or at stronger with him in fear for his own life. Most of his friend's went to the dance, even Raijin went with Phoenix and Fujin.
(What a wuss.) Seifer thought, imagining Raijin going to the ball with two girls, neither of them his date. He'd look like such a loser.

Bahamut and Zell sat on the top of the high plateau, a waterfall cascading into a small river beneath them. Night had finally made it's way to the Galbadian continent. For the sun would set in the west and rise in the east. Bahamut had left Balamb Garden at night and they had made it here 20 minutes before night could. They had outrun the night, but only for a short time since nothing could escape it.
Nature was untouched where they sat. Even the sky that stretched miles around them was crystal clear, no pollution, not even a cloud dared to corrupted their view of the endless night sky that's colour became emerald blue in some areas speckled with tiny diamond-like stars.

"So.... What is 'Battleship Island'?" Zell finally broke an unbelievable twenty minute silence.

Bahamut turned and pain tainted his eyes and facial expression slightly. That being the first time he had ever seen Bahamut grimace at two single words.

He clear his throat, to begin a story he never thought he would hear or think of again.

"Battleship Island is a project by Esthar. It still exists. Somewhere in the ocean's endless mirth. It was an mechanical 'Island' that was used for GF experimentation. Terrible, inhumane undertakings have been done there. Dr. Odine first invented it and had it constructed to be used for the GF fusion testing. That happened when Adel was in control and she wanted a super human Esthar Army. All the experiments were unyielding disasters. That was cancelled and it was piloted away from civilization for private research and in case and anti-Adel organization would try to destroy it. Dr.Odine just ended up making Cyborg humans later on. Much, much stronger then normal humans, they are. Then I was imprisoned there. I was trapped in a core for it was the only device they had that was powerful enough to hold me. They found some type of ruins in the ocean and were planning on excavating them but I was stole by a Galbadian spy and never found out the rest of the tale. Should Esthar ever find that I still exist they will surely take me back there. I was a key to the excavation and entire experiment. They for some reason couldn't proceed the project without me. They needed me. For some thing terrible I'm sure. That were looking for something called a Weapon. Not just any weapon though. I have no idea what it is but they called it the Ultima Weapon." Bahamut finished, actually feeling good and bad at the same time. Better for releasing the anguish in his heart form being trapped in that confound core, unjunctioned and completely vulnerable. Horrible for telling such a small child that if his friend was ever taken away from him it could mean the beginning of another bloody war. A child should be in complete innocence of such profanities.

"Wow." was all Zell could say between a yawn. It was getting very late and the martial artist had been traing extremely hard in the centre.
Bahamut immediately raised a wing and wrapped it around him as the young man fell asleep against his hide. Bahamut had always had this strange attachment to the child. he would always talk to him. More so then Jean or any other junctioning partner. he would even release him from the depths of his mind to talk, for help, or just so he could 'stretch his legs'. Bahamut smiled slightly as the young boy snuggled into his side and he too fell victim to sleep.

Zell held a pillow over his head as his alarm clock went off, blaring that same aggravating tone every day.

"Bleep, Bleep, Bleep, Bleep, THUNK" Zell sighed as he smashed his hand over the 'off' button.

He then began absent mindedly going through his daily routine.  Shower. Face. Clothes. Shoes. Door.
Zell then halted in his tracks in front of the door. There was a calendar on it. Today was Saturday.

"No School!" he yelled, probably waking up the entire male dormitory. Having Saturday and Sunday off was almost the only thing the garden had in common with normal school. Zell then clasped his hands together. It was 6:30 in the morning, no school and the cafeteria ladies were just beginning to cook the hotdogs for the day.

"Life is good." Zell said to himself as he broke into a run toward the Cafeteria.

Seifer was a bit taken when he saw Zell sitting in the Cafeteria by himself, happily munching on hotdogs. it was 7:00 in the morning. He usually never got up until 1:30 p.m. on weekends. His sudden pause in surprise caused the small crowd of three starving Seed cadets to pile into his back.

"What's the hold up, you moron." Phoenix snapped as she heard her stomach rumble. Neither her, Fujin or Raijin had had anything to eat last night at the party because the cafeteria was closed so they could cater it. Of course they were to busy goofing around to get something to eat.

"Yeah, were hungry, ya know?" Raijin whined for about the 80th time but Seifer was already headed toward the counter with a tray.

After they all finally sat down with their precious rations Phoenix and Raijin began scarfing down their food and Fujin just ate polite and quiet all the same.

When he just couldn't bear it any more Seifer broke the silence by asking Zell a question that had been nagging at him all yesterday and this morning.

"Zell, where were you last night?" he inquired, setting his hotdog on the plate and staring his friend down.

Zell immediately stopped eating and looked up at Seifer. For a couple seconds he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Homework." he shrugged off the question and continued eating.

"Hey..... How DID I get into my dormitory last night?' Zell thought to himself. "Bahamut must have brought me back....."

"Did you hear about how Mr. Aki decided to plan OUR Saturday?" Seifer asked everyone with a toss of his hand. He looked so casual leaning back in his chair to the point that it was almost tipping over backwards.

The entire table grew silent, stopped gnawing on their food and slowly faced Seifer.

"What do you mean, 'planned'?" Phoenix demanded, not liking the direction the conversation was going at all. And it hadn't even started yet either.

Everyone listened intently as Seifer explained. Some even leaned forward a little.

"Ya see. I had detention last night, right? He starts yacking on and on again to me because I'm the only one there. It went somethin' like this." Phoenix rolled her eyes and Seifer began talking in Mr. Aki's gruff celtic accent.

"Tomorrow all of you little mischief makers are going to get a surprise. No day off for you tomorrow. None of you children will ever make SeeD the way your going so I asked one of my former students who is now a SeeD to come down here and take you guys on a training day, mission included. His name's Cyril Gaven. My best student. That boy thrived off discipline. That's why when he became a SeeD he transferred to Galbadia Garden. It's a military garden. They can go to further extremes and rely on discipline to make the system work. He's an 'A' rank SeeD."

"And I said some stuff like, "And I'm supposed to be impressed by this?" Seifer paused. "That's when I got an extra hour of detention and shut my yap for the rest of the night."

"A training day and mission?!" Zell exclaimed and seemed to be the only one happy about it. Everyone else looked rather grumpy.

"Please tell us Seifer, did he tell you when this field day would begin." Phoenix asked and then sighed when he shrugged, obviously indicating that he had no clue when it was.

As if on cue, the intercom three little dings sounded, indicating an incoming message.

::Your attention please.:: The intercom was incredible loud because it was also being broadcasted to all the rooms of the students in Mr. Aki's class.
::All students of Mr. Aki's class must report to classroom 18 on the second floor at 800 hours. It is absolutely essential to be on time. Come on you lazy kids, WAKE UP!::
Zell flinched at his loud yell.
::That is all:: as the intercom clicked off there was a loud bang.
Everyone began to giggle as Seifer chair flipped backwards, leaving him sprawled out on the ground on his back, grumbling to himself as he tried to get up.

[800 hours (7:55 a.m.) at room 18, 2nd floor classroom]

"Here." Phoenix mumbled as her name was called off.

Mr. Aki set his pen back down on the desk. "I guess that's everyone." Mr. Aki sighed while looking up at the clock apprehensively. He had already briefed the class on their mission and his 'A' rank former student, Cyril Gaven, who would be teaching them. The SeeD that Mr. Aki had been bragging about was supposed to be here in five minutes. They were going on a field trip to Deling City to complete a mission that had been previously set up for them. Details on the mission were next to nothing.

Mr. Aki almost ran to the classroom door when their was a knock at it. Everyone sat up straight, maybe trying to impress such an achiever or maybe just so that Mr. Aki wouldn't lecture them about being polite and sitting up straight when such a formal guest arrives. He'd probably teach a class on manners if they didn't behave, and then that would get them behind the other classes on their SeeD training and basic knowledge. So sitting up straight and being polite seemed to be the best idea.

"That's just like any SeeD. Be five minutes ahead of time for anything." The entire class was quiet for once so Mr. Aki voice could be heard over it. The only problem was that he was obstructing their view of the SeeD as he shook the man's hand and stood in front of him. Mr. Aki finally retreated to a out-of-the-way chair so the young man could introduce himself. Every student body study his every feature as he walked to the front of the classroom.

The thing that was noticed first about him was that he was about 5'10. Seifer smirked to himself.
This should be interesting. he thought while crossing his arms across his chest.

The man had short, dark brown hair. No more then 2 inches long. His skin was so pale some could have sworn it was almost white. It made his dark, almost black eyes stand out. His eyes. Just bye looking at them you could tell he was a no nonsense man. He eyes had an angry look in them. A look of malice almost. He scanned over the students in his SeeD uniform. He looked like he had been pulled directly out of the bloody Galbadian army. Seifer could have sworn he saw each student shiver as he looked at them. The man was intimidating them and telling them that they would behave just by looking at them. Seifer scoffed in his head.

I'll show him.

When Cyril Gaven's eyes fell on him, Seifer didn't shiver or get that scared little look. He smirked. Seifer Almasy smirked one of those horribly smug smirks of his that he always did when he was enjoying defying authority. For some reason he had a feeling that this man wasn't going to like him on this mission or the training. And some sixth sense told him that he was going to give this so called 'A' rank SeeD a hard time the whole, entire day.

Finally he spoke.

"As you probably already know my name is Cyril Gaven. You will address me as Gaven. In SeeD and Galbadia Garden it is a rule to go by last names." his voice was a deep male voice but it had this whispery touch to it that the girls seemed to like because half of the popular girls in front of him were on the verge of fainting. Seifer rolled his eyes then remembered that note that he caught. The one the girls in front of him were passing around. Seifer pulled it out of his pocket and first time began to read it.
He skipped the junk about them discussing make-up, hair nails and going to Balamb's store on Saturday to shop. It happened to be this Saturday too. Then, when his, Zell's, among a few other boys names caught his eye, he really began to read.
The note went something like this:

Katie: What do you girls think about that Zell kid?
Cami: Ohhhhhhh! he's so cute and short too!
Mimi: And he looks so strong for being so little!
Amelia: He's 13 too! But I still like Seifer, even if he is a complete moron and a stupid jerk.
Cami: I agree with the, 'even if he is a complete moron and a stupid jerk.'
Seifer's eyebrows furrowed.
"Hey!" Seifer accidentally said aloud. Lucky for him it was so quiet it couldn't be heard. Or so he thought.

After reading on for a couple lines Seifer quickly crumpled up the note and shoved it in his pocket.
He couldn't explain it but he froze in fear and his entire body locked as a hot breath bent over and whispered into his ear. The whispering in his ear was that deep, frightening voice of his made his neck hairs on end. It was Gaven.

"I can guarantee if you don't behave you will have a very long, hard and tiring day. So how about we start off on the right foot and we'll both be happier."  His tone had no compassion or kindness in it and he did not sound amused. He sounded so serious it was almost sickening. He was mocking THE Seifer Almasy just by talking like that. Normally Seifer would have said some smart remark or at least countered with a rude comment but something stopped him from saying anything. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, it was fear.

The man then straightened back up.

"Got it?" he asked, his voice betrayed no emotion.

Seifer gulped nervously and the fear that was controlling him very slightly made him shake his head in a desperate attempt to make him go away.

But he didn't.

"What was that? I can't hear you." he said and cupped his hand on his ear and leaned toward Seifer.
The entire class giggled. For once Seifer Almasy was being put in his place and he was damned afraid of the man who was doing the deed. He was mocking Seifer, making fun of him at the same time too. that was the real treat. Most of the class never thought they'd live to see the day. There was something about this young man that demanded respect, demanded his orders to be followed. And the amazing thing was he actually had a sense of humour unlike Mr. Aki.

"uhhhh... yeah.... right." was all Seifer could falter out.

Gaven smirked slightly.
"I still can barely hear you but I guess that's good enough." And with that Gaven went back to the front of the room to explain the mission. When he made it to the front of the room and started talking Seifer sunk into his chair, half listening and half grumbling about how much he hated Gaven and how he was going to make that man's life a living hell for as long as he could for making a fool of Seifer Almasy. Nobody. And I mean Nobody makes a fool out of Seifer Almasy.

When one of the popular girls, Amelia in particular asked one of the stupidest questions, Seifer began to listen fully.

"How old are you?" she asked trying not to giggle.

Gaven paused for a moment, expecting a question about the mission but answered anyway.

"16..... now no more stupid questions." he said, but there was a lighter, slightly amused tone to his voice indicating that he wasn't angry about the question.

Seifer could have sworn he heard the entire class gasp. No one EVER made a SeeD until they were 17 or 18.

Amelia put up her hand again anyway though.

"Yes?" was his automatic response.

"Can I ask just One more stupid question, please?"

"For you 'yes', for him." he replied gesturing toward Seifer in the back of the class, "No." was his very flat reply. Seifer opened his mouth to protest as the entire class began to giggle again but was drown out when she began to speak.

"When did you become a SeeD?"

"When I was 14 years old, ok? No more questions about me."

Seifer sighed and zoned out any talking around him. Especially Gaven. Screw him.

Some how Seifer found himself being pushed out the door by Zell Dincht. He was the last one out of the classroom besides Gaven, who was having a light conversation with Mr. Aki. The rest of the students were told to pack and get anything they will need or want on the 9 hour trip to Deling City. They were going to train for three days and then the mission would be the very next night. The only upside Seifer could see to this was that they got to miss some time staying at the Garden for this five day mission. When they would get to Deling city it would be night. They would erect their tents, sleep, and then the three days of training would begin.

"C'mon Seifer we, gotta pack, it's a long trip!" Zell was already getting himself hyped up about this.

As Seifer followed Zell out the door he tentively glared at Gaven. The young man turned his head to emotionlessly watch Seifer leave. He then quickly turned back to Mr. Aki, hoping the teacher didn't notice the small part he missed of his never ending babblings.

An hour after everyone had packed they were all crowded on a train headed for Timber which would be their first stop. The trip to Timber would be the shortest part. It only took an hour.

Seifer squirmed uncomfortably as Raijin sat down beside him and as Zell took the previously unoccupied seat next to him. When everyone had been somewhat comfortably seated Gaven entered carrying a green, canvas duffle bag that was obviously his.

"LISTEN UP!" he barked over the talking. Seifer heat skipped a beat. Did he ever yell loud.

"See this sign here." he said as he pointed to the 'Rules' sign above one of the train windows with a tent pole.

"I'm assuming you can all read so I'll let you do that."

Gaven allowed a two minute silence for everyone to read the rules then spoke up again.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and use these wonderful rules on all of the transportation we will be taking to get to Deling City. So memorize these rules and then you can follow them on any buses, boats, planes, spaceships, cars, trucks or any other type of transportation that we might be using."

With that said, Gaven put his bag up on the luggage shelf above the seats and comfortably sat down next to Mr. Aki. Seifer could of sworn he saw Quistis blush. He was also sitting beside her.