Dissidia Academy

Chapter I - An Unlikely Trio

Squall scanned the noisy classroom, slightly irritated. His classmates, Zidane and Bartz had been making a ruckus since Kefka had left, and had been joined by both Tidus and a silver haired boy named Luneth. The group was disrupting Squall's thoughts. He tried to ignore them, but suddenly someone bumped into him.

"Sorry" said Luneth. Squall's eyes narrowed, his lips pressing together in irritation. Luneth took a step back, glaring as well.

"C'mon, Squall, it was an accident. You look like you're about to kill him" Bartz intervened, putting an arm around his new friend. The situation defused Squall went back to ignoring them. The brunette sighed, fetching a book from his bag and beginning to read.

Cloud, who had been talking to Vincent, noticed this exchange and approached Squall. "Hey, Squall?" he said, unsure how to approach "are you alright?"

"I'm fine" Squall said, not looking up from his book. Cloud, knowing full well what Squall was like, left the lion be. He went back to his seat and resumed conversation with Vincent. Leaving Squall on his own until the bell rang, time for lunch.

After a slow walk to the cafeteria, Squall sat down at an empty table and  got his lunch out of his bag.

He gazed across the cafeteria as he ate his sandwich. The class had divided into groups. The largest, and loudest, was made up of Luneth, Arc, Refia, Ingus, Desch, Bartz, Zell, Garnet, and Tidus. The next largest was Cloud, Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, Firion, and Rinoa. Another of the big ones were Cecil, Rosa, Edward, Rydia, and Terra, but they were a little quieter. Reno and Rude sat by themselves, leaving Squall to be the only one eating alone. Zidane was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly a lunch tray was placed next to Squall's. Zidane sat down without speaking. He flashed the taller teen a smile, but he responded with an indifferent stare.

"Look, I know you don't necessarily like people, but ya can't sit all alone, Squall" said Zidane in response to Squall's expression "I know you'd never sit in a group, so I figured I'd keep you company."

"What about your friends?" Squall inquired.

"They'll live without me until I can break you outta your shell" said Zidane. "You should feel honored, I'm choosing to eat with you over any of the lovely ladies in our class." The blonde chuckled a bit, but frowned at Squall's passive expression. He removed a deck of trading cards from his pocket and began to shuffle, hoping to break the ice. "Do you know how to play Tetra Master?" he asked.

"No, but I do know how to play Triple Triad" replied the brunette, seemingly interested.

Zidane's eyes lit up and he adopted a pleading look. "I've always wanted to learn to play Triple Triad!" he said "please teach me Squall!"

"Settle down" Squall told him, annoyed, but also slightly amused. Maybe he was working too hard, and he just needed to relax. "I'll teach you after class."

"When and where?" Zidane asked with contained excitement, a goofy grin on his face.

"I.....don't know" Squall admitted "I don't normally leave my room"

"Then I'll just come over to your room" the short teen sang.

"No" Squall snapped, a little too harshly.

"Then where else could we go?" Zidane pouted. "unless you want to come over to my room"

Squall weighed his options, then sighed. "Fine."

"Awesome!" Zidane said with another goofy grin. "I'll teach you Tetra Master while we're at it!"

"Whatever" Squall sighed, and took another bite out of his sandwich. "I suppose this could be fun.

Squall sighed as he came to Zidane's door later that night, box of cards in hand. He already regretted agreeing to this. Zidane was loud and rambunctious, something Squall could NOT stand. Just as he was about to knock, a blur of motion from the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned swiftly to the right, but found nothing. The dorms halls were simply organized. One hallway stretched up from the staircase and made a right turn to bring them to a community of doors. It was like this on every floor and if someone was there he would see them. All complete with a cream colored wallpaper and hardwood floors. However, something bothered Squall. Something drove him to slowly stride down the hall. Some sort of instinct drove him to search. Suddenly he heard a noise from around the corner. A metallic ringing followed by a wet squelch. Squall dashed around the corner, only to be met with nothing other than a slightly disheveled Sephiroth.

"Hm, good evening Mr. Leonhardt, what brings you here at this hour?" He asked causally.

"I live here" Squall replied a bit defensively.

"But your room is on the next floor down, isn't it?" The teacher said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I-" Squall sighed, holding up the box in his hand. "Another student asked me to teach him to play Triple Triad, and I was on my way to his dorm when I heard you."

"I see. Well, I'm sorry to disturb you. Goodnight" Sephiroth said with a smile. The tall man turned and headed for the stairs. Squall watched until he was through the door. The teen pressed his palm against his face and sighed. There had to be something about this school, or Squall was just going insane. In all honesty, the brunette didn't know which was worse. He was so caught up that he flinched in surprise when a door suddenly opened. Zidane popped his head out and immediately the blonde's eyes locked onto the taller male.

"Evenin', Squall, why so jumpy?" He teased. The brunette sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets.

"I just ran into Sephiroth out here" he replied, glancing over his shoulder. While it may not have been the real reason, at least it wasn't a lie. He looked back at Zidane, who had gone slightly pale.

"Then get in here before he comes back" the blonde said, standing aside. Squall stepped past him and found Bartz lounging on the floor in front of the coffee table. "I invited Bartz, I hope you don't mind" Zidane explained, closing the door. "I taught him Tetra Master earlier and figured he could join us.

"Hey, Squall, thanks for waking me up earlier, by the way, I thought Sephiroth was gonna kill me for sure" said Bartz.

"No problem" Squall shrugged, glancing around. The dorms all seemed to be the same. From the front door there was a bathroom to the immediate right and a TV mounted on the left wall over a dresser. Past the short entry way and there was a bed by the window and next to that was a nightstand. Around the corner was a couch and a coffee table in front of it, which was currently covered in cards.

"Well then" said Zidane as he walked past Squall and nudged the taller boy's side with his shoulder before sitting on the couch. "Who gets to play teacher first?" Squall actually smiled softly, stepping closer and setting the box on the table.

"I think it'll be easier if you did" the taller male replied, taking a sear next to the blonde. Maybe he had been overthinking things, maybe this was just a normal school, and maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all.