Irritated and irked he jumped from his bed with a groan. Something beyond his control was happening.

He couldnt stand that.

Pushing the thought to one side in his mind, he fully stretched once releasing all his muscles from the feeling of tenseness and anxiety and rubbed his eyes. Walking over toward the bathroom, he stopped and glanced out of the window, noting it was still dark.

"Lovely. Still awake at this ungodly hour." he murmured looking over to his alarm clock which read 3.45am on the LED display.

Entering the bathroom, he peered in the mirror. He stood straight, his 6ft 2ins slender muscular frame reflecting back at him in the long mirror. His impeccable slicked back blond hair was now ruffled and unruly, much the same as his personality. He was thinking about having a shave as he noticed the stubble infecting his perfect features. His eyes, deep green were staring back at him from the reflection in the mirror. "I wonder what its like to be that side of the mirror" he wondered, and then mentally gave himself a ticking off for being stupid.

He kept looking at himself. As if he was searching for an answer to a question which only he knew. He had a scar running downward on his forehead from the beginning of his hairline to the beginning of his nose. This was gained in a fight between himself and his rival a few years back when they were both training to become part of a military group called SeeD, created by a sorceress to protect orphans from when she reached the time when she would become a fully fledged sorceress capable of killing and destruction. It didn't work out for Seifer Almasy. He became the Sorceress' Knight. A lapdog doing all her dirty work in the sorceress war a couple of years back. His rival, Squall - whom he grew up with, and trained with, managed to save the world from her clutches, and stop Seifer from turning into something that he would never return from. For which he would always be grateful, but never show it.

"They said we hated each other, but it was never like that" he blurted out. It was true. They never hated each other. They had very different outlooks on life, were two very different boys who had grown into men with different ideals and different ways. Seifer never understood how Squall could ignore things, dismiss things as if they weren't even there. Squall never understood how Seifer could never read between the lines, always see things in black and white. Squall disliked the bully boy tactics Seifer had grown accustomed to, for instance another orphan who lived with them and went to the same classes as them called Zell Dincht was weaker than the two. Seifer sniffed that out immediately, and therefore bullied him. Well - Zell was a tell tale. That was always Seifer's excuse.

Seifer disliked the fact that Squall was favored by a bigger child than them both who was the eldest of the orphans. Her name was Ellone, and all the children called her Sis. She always spent the most time with Squall. He wanted her all to himself. And one day, she went missing. Squall had never recovered. Seifer watched him, day after day - night after night. "Where's Sis?" Squall would cry out. To be answered by the sorceress who at the time was called Matron by the children: "She has had to go somewhere important, Squall."

It was the same story. Squall pining, Seifer bullying.

In time, they hit puberty. Inevitable as are all things growing. Their other friends at the orphanage: Selphie Tilmitt, a bright and cheery young woman, who wore short skirts, had hair that flicked out at the end and was quite small and petite in size. Irvine Kinneas, a cocky young long haired lad with a penchant for cowboy gear, girls and guns. Zell Dincht, the bullied one who owned spiky blond hair, a tattoo on his face and liked to wear funky clothes also liked to learn and liked to punch the air a lot. And Quistis Trepe. Nobody could deny she was beautiful. She was admired by all. Tall, long legged and slim, with fiery red hair and piercing blue eyes. She had a fanclub who swore to die to protect her, The Trepies.

Seifer knew that Quistis had a thing for Squall. And that had hurt a bit. Nobody could say Squall was not good looking. He was 5'8" tall, slim in build, wore mostly black, with three belts that were sort of a fashion statement. His hair was brown and it spiked up. He had a scar in the same place as Seifer, only slanting toward the right whereas Seifer's was to the left. His browny blue eyes spoke volumes, because Squall never liked to speak. He kept things held inside. "Too bad" Seifer thought. "She never got a piece of the Almasy legend". He grinned. She never got a piece of the Squall legend either. For there were things that happened that changed both of their lives.

Enter Rinoa.

Black haired, brown eyed, small in stature, she was beautiful, but not as in Quistis' stunningly beautiful way. The daughter of General Caraway, a famous General who ran the Galbadian Army and Julia Heartilly, a famous musician, Rinoa Heartilly's beauty spoke volumes. She never noted her good looks as being an advantage to herself. She never noted herself as good looking.

Rinoa was the type of girl who had the knack to look past the appearances, filter out all the expectations of looks. She had the ability to see right into your heart. And that is what enchanted Seifer to her when he first met her. They dated a while. He helped her to enlist the help of SeeD, who she wanted to help to free her town and make them independent again. Squall was incharge of the mission. He also fell enchanted, and she brought him out of his shell. Seifer wasn't angry in the least, he knew it would happen. After all, he was never in love with her, he just admired her for her qualities. She was an amazing woman. And it was never destined to be.

Rinoa had aquired sorceress powers in the war. Sorceress Edea was saved and could live her life dedicated to the children and her husband, Cid who owned and was also headmaster at the SeeD base called Balamb Garden. Cid faced many hard choices in his life, and always made the right decision. He was a good man. He loved Edea more than anything in the world, and yet he was faced with the decision to kill her if she became too much of a threat to the children and SeeD. Thankfully, that never happened.