Lion down

Chapter 1 – No one knows

It was time for her to take the final exam at Balamb Garden. As always, the weather was perfect for taking care of Ifrit in the Fire Cavern. The birds were outside annoying her to deafness, while the sun was burning her face. It was one of the most warmest days in Balamb. Just perfect for having her butt kicked by her future third GF, as every day here in the Garden. Zell Dintch was her instructor. It was quite a happy young lad. Nea was, actually, quite angry for having an instructor of her age, and a couple of months younger as an addition to that. She couldn't possibly comprehend how someone so confusing could have become a SeeD in the first place.

"Erm, Nea?" She heard Zell's voice call her from behind, but she didn't turn around. Just the sound of his voice made her ears itch, not to mention what was happening every time he was standing face to face with her.

She hastened her pace, listening to Zell's footsteps getting faster with each breath that she took.

"Nea!" At last, with a simple pat on the shoulder and a mild drag, Zell stopped her with a smile, "Didn't you hear me? I was calling you." He said. She made absolutely no expression on her rose-tinted face, whose color was the outcome of the burning sunrays. She ran her fingertips across her long blond fringes and placed her hands on her thin waist. She said nothing to Zell's question. Instead, to prove her indifference about that issue, she lifted her eye brow and blinked quickly twice. By now, Zell had gotten to know her "mimic answers" as he called it and was very aware of her disliking him — and everyone else in the world.

"Squall ordered all candidates to go to the Fire Cavern today. He is expecting the results of the exam by the end of the day." Zell said. He was one of the many old Balamb Garden inhabitants that called the leader Leonheart by his first name. Also, headmistress Quistis was one of those people, but she called everyone by their first names — even those that she had just met. Nobody was angry at her about that, though. Most of the people that that was cute. "Cute… Bahh!" Nea thought to herself, whilst Zell kept blabbering about junctions and Ifrit's weak points along the way. She wasn't paying much attention, as usual. She couldn't find the theoretical parts more boring than she all ready did.

"Do you understand what I told you?" Zell asked her, concluding their short conversation.

"Whatever." She replied and continued walking alongside with him toward the outside. Zell, suddenly, chuckled and stopped for a moment, trying to restrain the laughter.

""Whatever…" You sound like Squall when I first met him." He explained his rude behavior, on which Nea rolled over with her eyes and turned toward the outside again, "You know you are quite similar to him, I must admit." Zell started a new conversation, which hinted to become long. She wished she could just push a button and turn him off, especially when he would start talking about his adventures with Squall that happened a year ago, "But, eventually, he came to his senses, realizing no one can make it on his own."

"Is this a part of my class?" Suddenly, she interrupted him with a quiet voice that was masked with fake calmness, behind which the burning rage was heating her patience.

"Well, erm… No, but—"

"—Then spare me." She interrupted him yet again and left the entrance. Zell shrugged, doubting that Nea was going to pass the exam having that attitude. He hurried afte her and caught up just when she was attacked by a Bite Bug. The image of an eagle that was carved on the blade shimmered when she pulled out her gunblade. It was rather different than Squall's and completely different than Seifer's. Its blade seemed to have been divided in two, but just on the edge. The sharp arc that was dividing it was found on the third quarter of the edge. It, actually looked more vicious than Seifer's, as Zell saw it.

"This is a Bite Bug. Don't use Fire on him cause it won't do much. Instead, get him with a direct physical attack." Zell explained and lifted his fists, which she knew were a lethal weapon. She glanced at him, angry with him for speaking during a time like this. She couldn't concentrate because of his blabbering. "If you only knew that I've fought this fellow before…" She thought to herself. What the instructor, or anyone else, didn't know was that she was spending a lot of time at the training center and outside, fighting monsters. It would get her mind off things from the past that she hated remembering. Sometimes, the memories that made her the way she was would get to real inside her head and she had to get them out of her head somehow.

The Bite But prepared itself for an attack and headed toward Zell, but he blocked the hit and threw it onto the floor. Even though the strength of his hands was immense, the monster picked itself up again and started recovering for the next attack. In the point of its weakness, Nea headed toward it with her gunblade – just when Zell was trying to explain that she should attack when it's weak.

After the second hit, the beast was down. She took her prize and headed toward the Fire Cavern.

"Nea, have you been here before?" At last he asked her. He has been wanting to talk to her about that for a while, since every time he wanted to explain something, she all ready knew that.

"Yep." She replied shortly, while looking around for more monsters.

"And you fought these creatures?" Another question popped out.

"Yep." She said and spotted a Glacial Eye not too far from them. If they attacked now, it would be a back attack.

"But… You didn't know anything about them. How come you're still… alive?" He stops her and scans her from head to toe in confusion.

"I learn things the hard way." She said and started running toward the monster, which Zell didn't even notice. He grabbed himself by the head when he realized that she was attacking it, because in his eyes she was still a candidate with no theoretical knowledge about these creatures. He couldn't possibly perceive that she has actually taught herself these things.

The way she handled that weapon made him wonder if she were born with it. To him, it seemed as though the gunblade was just a part of her body because she knew exactly how much she was supposed to lift it and how hard she was supposed to strike. And even though it was a big weapon, her 5'4 tall body could still hold it as if it were as light as a feather.

She finished her strike with a thunder and the creature fell onto the ground and disappeared.

"Are you all right?" He asked her, while she was placing her weapon into its sheath on he waist. She just looked at him shortly, her eyes telling him everything he needed to know, "Then let's get Ifrit. Have you junct—"

"—Junctioned Shiva?" She finished and smiled vaguely, thus letting him know everything he needed to know. He shook his head again and headed toward the two of the faculty staff that were standing at the entrance and taking notes of all candidates that have been here.

Nea never stopped surprising him. Besides from her natural beauty, her brown-red eyes were beaming with intelligence that she had developed herself, without having someone teach her. He wondered why she was so familiar to him, though. This attitude of hers reminded him on something that he couldn't put a finger on. Ever since she showed up to sign up for a SeeD candidate, he knew there was something special about her.

She sliced every creature that passed her way without even making an expression on tension on her face. She had such energy and anger gathered within her that she wasn't letting anything slip her grip.

"Lead the way." She said to Zell, not knowing which way was Ifrit's lair.

"What? So, you haven't been here? But, you knew that the Bomb absorbs water and… Ah, never mind." He swung his hand across the air and headed forward, "I am not sure if I have to tell you that Ifrit is hard to beat if you don't act quickly. His jump-attacks are very powerful and they take a whole lot of your HP." He added, before they entered to fight Ifrit.

"I understand." She replied, even though she knew everything about Ifrit. She just wanted to make Zell feel like he actually taught her something she did not know. A bright smile on his face confirmed her successful "mission" of making him glad.

Making people happy was not her thing, actually. She just wanted to be left alone to deal with her own problems that she had more than enough. Starting from the heartbreaking memories of her childhood in the orphanage, where no child wanted to play with her. Loneliness does terrible things to people, sometimes. Perhaps, that was the reason why she was so distanced from everyone – because she has embraced her loneliness and made it her best friend.

Zell had no idea that beautiful Nea was, actually, one of the kids in the orphanage where he lived with the others. Nobody remembered her because she was always withdrawn, quiet and somewhat sad because she had seen her parents die in Dollet City in the middle of the war. And, even when she wanted to play with them, they would always play war and that just gave her terrible flashbacks.

"All right." Zell said, "Let's take him down."

They entered what seemed to be a pool of magma boiling in front of their eyes. Suddenly, Ifrit arose from it, scolding them for disturbing him.

First, she used protection on her and then she threw a blizzard on him, which didn't take much, obviously. While Zell was punching him with his metal gloves, she decided to summon Shiva:

"Diamond dust!" She shouted and crossed her arms, since that was her pose for summoning and casting spells. She felt coldness tickle her chest from the inside, while it was getting stronger with each moment. Suddenly, Ifrit headed toward her and smacked her, but she felt nothing because Shiva took the hit for her.

"Impudent humans!" Ifrit snarled and prepared himself for a jump-attack just when Nea disappeared. Shiva was just in time to show him how impudent humans were. She opened her eyes and broke the eyes with her strong, womanly arms.

"Ifrit, how much is five hundred HP minus five hundred HP?" Shiva asked him and gathered her bright ice ball in her hand.

"Erm… zero?" He replied confusedly. Shiva smiled and, just before she threw the ice ball at him, she said:

"Exactly!"

When he recovered from Shiva's strike, he started swinging a bit, hanging his head and trying to come to his senses again.

"You've got Shiva!" He shouted worriedly.

"I've got more. Come and get it!" Nea shouted to him and prepared a blizzard to cast.

"Nea, mocking him will just make it worse." Zell whispered to her.

Suddenly, Ifrit roared and jumped into the air, placing his elbow forth to use it as his primal weapon.

"Incoming!" Zell shouted and threw himself on the side, but Nea just made a somersault in the air and landed not too far from Ifrit. The elbow caught her shoulder and she felt the bones cracking, "Cast cure!" Zell shouted and jerked his hands forth to make her feel better. She jumped onto her feet and, still feeling her shoulder a bit sore, she lifted her gunblade and attacked.

"Diamond dust!" She howled and crossed her arms, as Zell cast a blizzard on him again. Shiva showed up and asked Ifrit another "fun" question, as she would usually do:

"Ifrit, how many ice attacks do you need to finish off a fire beast?" Then, without letting him answer on that one, she put in: "Just one."

After Shiva's final hit, he was down on his knees. Nea took the opportunity to use her one Limit Break and shouted, whilst she was running toward him:

"Brutal slash!" She shouted and jumped into the air, landing in front of the fallen beast and slashing him five times wherever she got a chance. The adrenaline that gathered within her during this enabled her to use a Special and she did not hesitate: "Eagleton!" She shouted and, turning in the air, she sliced Ifrit horizontally.

"Oh… Defeated…" Ifrit murmured, "No more. I will join you."

"Summoning spell?" Nea asked him before he disappeared.

"Hell fire. It's… hell fire." He replied and dissipated into the air.

Zell smiled and patted Nea on the shoulder, forgetting her fresh wound She jolted backwards and made a hissing sound, whilst grabbing her arm in pain.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot. Good job!" He threw in, "Let's get you to the infirmary. Dr. Kadowaki will fix you up. She's the best. You know, when Galbadia Garden attacked us —"

"Instructor!" Nea stopped him and shook his head as she was gazing into his blue eyes, "Not now." She added.