Three Final Fantasy characters walk into a bar

[silentnarration]

WHO: Squall, Seifer, Cloud, ??
WHAT: Trying out weapons
WHERE: Workshop outside the city
WHEN: Sep 3
WARNINGS: Fight! Potentially blood and injury

Holding a gunblade in his hand again, even if it's just blade without the gun, is exhilarating. Doesn't matter what else Squall doubts about his own future, he won't give this up anytime soon. Plus, it's great stress relief from the hellish invasion of memories just weeks ago.

There's a lot of things making this fun. One, he's never fought alongside Seifer before. Two, Cloud is... remarkably powerful, way beyond what his stature and figure would indicate. Three, the prototype gunblade is a great teaser to what Seifer is going to eventually make.

He falls back to stay out of range of Cloud's buster sword (how is he even wielding that so easily?), eyes flicking over to Seifer to see what he's doing. It's strange having to flip his thoughts from how to counter Seifer's attacks to how to complement it, but all those years of fighting each other is working in their favor now.

He runs in to swipe at an opening from the other side. He's precision and skill even without the trigger component. It's clear he's treating the sparring session like a real battle. Seifer's taught him that much.

Comments

[silentnarration]

Yeah. She took care of me back then.

[So important to his young heart that her unannounced departure made him decide he shouldn't have to rely on anyone ever again.

Squall doesn't get the reason for the bullying. To him it's just how things have always been while he tries to stay in his own corner. He does know Seifer shaped him more than either of them ever realized. Maybe that's why Squall never hated Seifer for anything he did either. He and Seifer have always been considered troublemakers. This time, the trouble just included the whole world and real lives.

He lowers his hand and looks up when Cloud touches his neck. There's only curiosity there before he resumes staring at a random point on the wall. There's the vaguest sense that he's easing into it, shoulders relaxing with his next exhale and a gentle nod. Cloud's right. It's a conclusion he's come to on his own too, but it's nice to hear it from someone else.]

He doesn't want to go home. I'm going to help him find another world if I can.

[Even though he wants Seifer with him in Garden, wants to go with Seifer wherever he decides, but his responsibilities bind him to Garden. He can break free. Of course he can. He can convince Rinoa to come with them, stop being Commander, but is that really the best choice?]

[bravers]

[Not really, unless Squall wanted the older, more cynical men to return the organization to the way it was - chasing gil and not caring about much else. But he doesn't know that. It's not even been voiced, so as Squall looks at him, his hand freezes- raising off his skin a few millimetres before he looks away.

In turn, he (gingerly) lowers it again, adjusting the way the taller man's head rests against his lap to. just. about. not result in a sore neck afterward. There.

Then he brings them back to the bed, at either side of him, fiddling with the bedspread.]

His other friends are at home, aren't they?

[Fujin. Rajin. They've been mentioned, in passing. Or was that a memory? It's a mess.]

What about them?

[silentnarration]

[There's another sigh at being adjusted. It's strange. Everything about how he's been acting since he got here is strange. He changed during the war to defeat Ultimecia, he's aware of that much, but being in Dualis has given him more time than ever to pay attention to these changes.

A few months, maybe even weeks ago, he wouldn't be resting his head in a friend's lap, no matter how injured or sickly he felt.]

I promised to take care of them. They'll have a place in Garden if they decide to come back.

[They're good people. Cared about Seifer more than anyone else. He turns his head again, ruining Cloud's careful positioning to stare at the blond, eyes wide in a way that makes him look his age. Too young.]

You're a soldier too, aren't you?

[bravers]

[Better? Better. Except he's moved again, so it must not have been better. He keeps his eyes downward, watching Boko's eyes slowly close- and watching his face nuzzle against Cloud's chest before the little chocobo's chest starts moving deeply in and out.]

Good of you. If they decide to go back. Telling them that he's gone to another world'll be hard for 'em to hear.

[Hopefully they'd believe him. But he doubts it, somehow.]

...I was one. It's been a long time since.

[silentnarration]

[He makes a half-roll of his shoulder in a shrug.]

We compressed time and time traveled. It won't be hard to believe.

[He's settling back in Cloud's lap, resting again.]

Did you ever leave that part of you behind?

[bravers]

[When you put it like that Squall... yeah. It shouldn't. So he cedes that point with a small sound of affirmation- looking down when his lap when it's claimed again, leaning back on his arms, splayed behind his back.

It's a difficult question. Parts of it couldn't be just discarded. Nibelheim, much less what'd been done to him. He'd carry it the rest of his life. But...]

Yeah. I don't want to be anything like the way I was back then.

[silentnarration]

[Squall shuts his eyes slowly.]

Yeah... I guess I feel the same way. Even though I have to be a soldier for a while yet.

[But shedding the past. He could do that. Despite his earlier protests to the contrary, he's growing tired again and shutting his eyes this long is possibly a bad idea as he finds himself starting to drift.]