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Epilogue
 
Chapter Five: Times Change

The alcohol was bitter. Squall placed the glass down, still full, and pushed away from the table. Seifer remained sitting, nursing the drink.
“So,” Squall covered his face with his hands, “they rebelled. Just like that?”
Seifer solemnly nodded, “Just like that.”
Squall, “You’re damn lucky, you know that?”
“I’ve always been a bit lucky, Squall.”
“So. We’ll just drop you off… where?”
“I’ve got nowhere to go now.”
“Don’t Fujin and Raijin live in Balamb somewhere? I’m sure you could stay with one of them until you go your own place.”
A bitter smile crossed Seifer’s face, “I don’t know where they are. They left Balamb about the same time as me.”
“I see. So how about we just drop you in the ocean.”
“Squall…”
“Fuck Seifer! How many jams do we have to pull your ass out of? Huh? Nobody likes you, and I don’t know how long I can keep you here, because quite frankly, if anyone does it, I’ll be the one to break your damn nose!”
Seifer pushed himself up and slammed on the table, “I’m not asking for your protection!”
“Good! Because you won’t get it!”
There was a long, awkward silence. Squall turned away from Seifer, rubbed his temples vigorously, then turned back, “Where are you going?”
Seifer thought for a moment, “Edea’s house.”
“What?”
“You heard me. She’s been welcoming of me in the past. I’ll drop there and go where I go. I don’t want to be too much of a burden.”
Squall raised an eyebrow, “Fine. It’s about five days travel time from here. You stay away from trouble in that time.”

***

Miles lethargically opened the door to his room. Without even looking inside, he walked in, and laid on the bed, ready to collapse into sleep. Suddenly, an armed draped over him. He started.
“Who the hell?”
A soft giggle emanated, and the lights came on. Jasmine lay next to him, dressed in her combat gear, still. She grinned widely and kissed him on the cheek, “What’s up?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Taking a nap, what does it look like?”
Miles shook his head, “I just searched all of Garden for you.”
“You didn’t look here first?”
“Somehow I didn’t think you’d come in here.”
“Well that was foolish of you.”
Jasmine rolled over on top of him and pushed herself up. Miles complied with the position, placing his hands on her arms. Then he felt it; a cut, on her left arm.
“You’re wounded.”
She looked at her arm and back quickly, causing her short hair to bounce around a bit, “It’s nothing.”
Miles groaned and slammed his head back, “I can’t believe this.”
She pouted, “What’s the problem?”
“I wasn’t there for you.”
A quick laugh came, “What do you mean?”
“You were hurt and I wasn’t there for you.”
She grinned wildly, and kissed his forehead, “You worry too much. It’s sweet.”
She kissed him again, on the nose, then pulled back, flashed a smile of perfect teeth, then kissed his lips. They locked for a while, then she let go, and they stared into each other eyes for a few moments. She then reached down, and slowly pulled off her shirt.
Miles reached to the desk, and groped for the room control pad. Without taking his eyes off of her, he locked the door, and dimmed the lights.

***

Of course, the staying of Seifer was not announced publicly. It would be silently done. With any luck, he would be in and out before anything could happen.
Of course, Seifer wasn’t one to enjoy being in and out without any sort of event. It was about eleven A.M. and Miles and Jasmine were enjoying the afterglow in the cafeteria. Without warning, a Hyperion hit the ground by Miles, who jumped and looked behind him.
Seifer stood, in all his pride, wearing the same intense grin everyone knew him by.
Miles glared, “I could have sworn you were going to be confined somewhere.”
“Well, I’m not. I wanted to see YOU.”
Miles swallowed, “What?”
“I want to see how good you are. What would you say to a duel?”
Miles turned back to Jasmine, sitting across from him. She slowly mouthed ‘no.’
“C’mon then kid! Squall thinks highly of you, let me see how good you are!”
Miles shook his head, “No Seifer, this kind of behavior shouldn’t be encouraged in Garden. Testosterone-filled duels aren’t my thing.”
“You’re just afraid, is that it?”
Miles felt himself tense up.
“C’mon kid. Everyone around here seems to think I’m not up to snuff, you don’t want to prove them wrong and back down, do you?”
Miles felt his hands ball into fists, and tried to release them, but couldn’t.
“Fine, be that way.”
Miles felt Jasmine grab his arm, but he just slowly shook his head, “Fine. Let’s go. Training center, fifteen minutes.”
Seifer grinned and walked off.

***

Of course, a crowd had gathered. This was going to be one hell of a show, and someone decided to tell everyone about it. Miles didn’t think too much about who had told. After all, the figure wore a triumphant grin and a silver coat that seemed to complement his blonde hair.
Miles, for his part, took care in his appearance, donning his own dueling outfit. A gray, hip length coat, over a white shirt, along with black, baggy pants, tucked underneath leather boots and a chain hanging from his waist, gave him the appearance of someone serious and ready to go.
Seifer nodded to him, and then turned and walked deeper into the training center, towards the ‘main room.’ Miles followed, then the entire crowd that had gathered followed him. The air in the training center was humid, and smelt horribly. Miles always hated the place, but it served its purpose. Seifer stood silently in the middle of the room, and Miles stepped up to him. They exchanged a quick, curt handshake as the crowd formed a circle around them. Miles and Seifer stepped a few feet back then drew their weapons.
With that, it was on.
Miles expected a quick lunge, and took a step back to counter the possible move. Seifer did nothing of the sort, and instead remained still. He grinned wildly, and Miles realized his first move had given a psychological victory to Seifer.
No more.
They circled each other for a minute, each hesitating slightly to make any sort of move. As they did, Miles went over the three rings of defense in his mind.
Outer ring. Four guard positions. Upper right, upper left, lower right, and lower left. Middle ring. High, low, left and right. Inner ring, hold close and parry.
Finally, Seifer charged, and swung in a slashing motion that would have cut Miles from head to groin, straight down, but Miles cut straight to the middle ring, high defense, twisting the blade parallel to the ground and above his head, deflecting the blow. It hurt a bit, but Seifer was knocked back, his own force working against him. He backed off a few steps, and Miles used it to his advantage, charging in and swinging his blade in a half circle downwards, leading up to an attack that would slash from Seifer’s lower left to upper right. For his part, Seifer did a good job recovering, tossing the blade to his other hand and twirling it downwards, effectively blocking the attack. Miles pulled back and twirled himself around, bringing in the blade for an attack on Seifer’s right side. Seifer backed up, and the swing just missed him. Miles found himself off balance from the attack, and his chest felt a sudden dull pain as Seifer kicked him. Miles fell backwards and slowly pushed himself up, too late. Seifer single-handed the Hyperion, and the blade began a downward fall towards Miles. Miles yanked his own arms out from under him, allowing himself to fall to the ground. With just under a second gained, Miles threw the Dual Hyperion right above his head, and managed to halt Seifer’s attack. Using what little strength he had in a fully prostrate position, Miles pushed Seifer back, then struggled back and away while getting up. They stared at each other for a while, then they both charged at the same time. Seifer swung down from his right, heading right for Miles’ left shoulder. Miles threw his blade into the upper defense again, deflecting the shot. Sparks flew from the sheer power of the weapon’s collision. Instead of knocking Seifer back, the two held together, then Miles slowly, exerting all his strength, took his right hand off of the gunblade. He pulled it back, then swung with all his might, knocking Seifer square below the ribs. At the same time, Miles pushed the gunblade with whatever he had left. Unfortunately, he lost his grip, and the Dual Hyperion flew off to the left, about fifteen feet. Seifer lost his grip too, and the Hyperion flew backwards about twenty feet. Instead of scrambling for the weapons though, the pair continued going at it. Seifer swung his fist high, and Miles threw his head back, barely dodging it. Miles thrust himself into Seifer, knocking both of them to the ground. Miles raised his fist, and prepared to throw a punch, when something smashed into the ground next to them. They both looked over, where the Lion Heart was now in the ground, and standing right next to it, was Squall Leonheart.
“You two had better have a good explanation for all this.”

***

Seifer and Miles both sat at Squall’s desk, staring blankly in Squall’s direction, but not looking at him at all. Squall, meanwhile, was facing the other way, staring out the window. He had just finished a rather long rant, and seemed to be cooling himself off.
He turned, “Miles, leave the room.”
Miles raised an eyebrow.
“Now.”
He shrugged, and then slowly walked away, resting himself on the wall outside. Seifer meanwhile, remained still, and watched slowly as Squall reached under his desk, opened a case, and pulled out the Lion Heart. His eyes widened as Squall stood up again, and held the blade centimeters from Seifer’s nose.
“Now listen very closely Seifer. If you want a duel, a fight, whatever, you come to ME. Don’t screw around with the students, or the SeeDs. Me. You’re a coward at heart, but you’re not getting away with that bullshit here. You got that?”
Seifer nodded.
“Good.”
Squall put the weapon away, “Now, I think I have a promise to fulfill.”
Seifer gulped, “Promise?”
A wicked grin spread across Squall’s face.

***

When the door opened, Seifer stepped out of the office, his nose bleeding, and obviously injured. He grimaced, and then motioned to the office. Miles stared for a second, then walked inside. Squall stood, facing Miles, with the most serious look he had ever seen. Miles stopped right past the doorframe, and didn’t dare step forward.
“Miles, what was that display?”
“A duel, sir?”
“I thought you were better than that, Miles. Seifer is a lowly conniving jackass, and you took his bait. You could have been killed! There is a difference! When you train, you’re fighting someone with control. Seifer doesn’t have that control, or he doesn’t use it, I don’t know which. He wouldn’t stop his swing, even if it threatened to kill you. You’re damn lucky you survived! You’re not that good. Not yet. I’m giving you the same offer as Seifer. If you want a match, come to me. I don’t want to see that crap anymore. If I do, you will not live to regret it. Understood?”
Miles nodded nervously.
“Now get out of here.”