"Alright class please remember to come prepared for the test tomorrow.
Remember, it counts for 25 percent of your final grade, so study hard.
Class dismissed."
A twenty-two year old Quistis Trepe smiled as she watched her class hastily file out the door.
Humming an unknown tune, she too exited the classroom after getting all her things together.
The halls of Balamb never changed after the war. It was all still the same as before the war. Her boots clicked and echoed off the deserted hallway walls. The skirt of her uniform twirled a bit as she made a sharp turn into another hallway that led to the elevator. The tune she hummed and the bounce in her step never left as she felt a light tap on her shoulder
"We're mighty happy this afternoon Quistis, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were Selphie." Quistis immediately recognized the voice to be Rinoa's. She turned around and grinned at Rinoa.
"Oh please Rin, don't exaggerate. Nobody can be as happy as Selphie. But I do have some great news."
Rinoa looked at Quistis with a look of question and tilted her head to the right making her pony tale sway behind her. Her eyes still had the laughter that they had in them all those years ago but right now her porcelain face turned into a frown as Quistis started walking away.
She called out the name of her comrade over and over again to no avail for Quistis just started walking faster down the hallway until she started sprinting. Quistis was far ahead of Rinoa and by the time she caught up with her, a teary Selphie was with her.
"Where's Sylver?" Quistis asked in her instructor voice.
The next words out of Selphie's mouth were words that Quistis dreaded to hear. It seemed to come out in slow motion as Selphie's lips formed the word 'taken' but any sound failed to come out.
Quistis' eyes visibly widened.
"Don't joke around like that Selphie. Hyne! Do you know how scared you had me? I almost" Selphie bent her head low but looked up to see why Quistis had stopped talking and started laughing "oh, haha I get it. You're playing a joke on me, aren't you? 'Trick the Birthday Girl.' You almost had me going for a while. Those fake tears were really a scare." Rinoa looked at Selphie and Selphie cried even more. She looked at Quistis to see her bottom lip gone and her body shaking.
Selphie choked out a 'Quisty, they took him.' and all hope in Quistis' eyes ceased to exist as she turned around and ran.
~*~
Xu sat at her desk filing files that seemed to just keep popping up. She shut her eyes tight because she felt a migraine coming on. The elevator dinged but she dared not to open her eyes - it was probably just Commander Squall coming up to do some work in his office anyway.
Quistis walked right past Xu's desk and straight into the commander's office. Squall looked up from his desk surprised to see his childhood friend crying a river and talking too fast for him to understand.
"Slow down, Quistis. What happened?" he asked as he extended his hand towards the seat across from his desk and stood up to get a glass of water. She was crying too much that her words came out in uneven breaths that were un-understandable to both herself and the commander. She greatfully took a seat and gulped down the glass of water, but her words were still coming out in gasps.
Squall strained to understand what she was saying.
After a few times of trying to talk Quistis finally calmed down a bit for Squall to sort of hear her
"Sylver. Taken. They took Sylver again. Back. They're Back."
Quistis didn't even have to finish what she was saying for when she was halfway there Squall already knew what happened.
He then did something he rarely did. He got up from his seat, walked over to Quistis, and he hugged her.
He hugged her with all he had and made a declaration. "Seifer. We need to get Seifer. If anyone can help it's going to be Seifer." He felt Quistis nod yes into his chest and one thing ringed in his mind:
How the hell was he going to get Seifer into the garden to work with without there being a big riot.
~*~
Seifer Almasy looked up from his desk and out the huge window adorning his office at g-garden.
Just outside was his old school landed near his new place of employment. A hatch opened and two black cars pulled out and into his new garden.
He blinked as his phone rang. "Commander Almasy of Galbadia Garden here. State your buisness."
"Mr. Almasy, the commander from Balamb Garden and his gang are all here to see you. They're just arriving at the front gates now" It was his receptionist.
"Why did I not know about this visit Allyana?" His voice was the same as it had always been.
"It wasn't scheduled sir. But commander Leonhart said you'd understand, she said it's about 'Sylver?'"
Seifer's heart beat quickened and he mumbled a inaudible 'Thanks' as he slamed the phone down on its receiver but missed, leaving the phone hanging.
He hastily walked over to the metal door and typed in the code on the silver pannel to the right of the door to open it. Sure enough the door opened with a 'Swish' and there on the other side Commander Squall Leonhart of Balamb Garden.
He wore his SeeD uniform, just like himself, except Seifer's uniform was his own G-Garden uniform. They stared at each other and Seifer knew by Squall's expression just what had happened.
They both nodded at each other and Seifer moved back to allow them to enter.
One by one they entered his office and stood single file in front of Seifer's desk.
"Have a seat."
Irvine opted to lean on the wall with his new black cowboy hat covering his eyes and now short hair. Zell and Rinoa took the sofa by the window while Squall and Selphie both sat in the chairs in front of Seifer's desk.
Quistis just stood there. Looking blankly at nothing in particular, just staring. Seifer decided to just leave her there.
A dead silence followed.
Squall was the one to break it.
"As most of us know, Sylver has gone missing. There is no doubt that they took him. I think we all know who 'they' is.
We felt that I'd be better if we presented you with the news face-to-face."
"Of course." Was Seifer's only reply. His breathing became rougher.
He used the intercom to buzz Alyanna and proceeded to tell her about what had happened and that he'd need the Lt. Commander to fill in for him.
"Where to begin commander?" Seifer asked Squall stressing the word commander.
"Esthar. Where else would they be?"
"To Esthar then. My garden will provide for the transportation there."
Seifer sounded as professional as they came, but inside he was dying. They all nodded and walked out of the door just as they had come in. Quistis, however just stayed there. Selphie was about to pull her out but Seifer told her to just wait outside.
"Seifer, what if we never find him? What if he's dead?" her voice was trembling and it was scaring Seifer.
"Quistis, don't talk like that. They need him alive and you know that. I've never seen you like this ever since the last incident, calm down he'll be okay."
"How do you know? What if. Hyne!" Quistis couldn't finish her sentence because of all the emotion inside of her.
"We're going to get him back. Quistis. I'm going to get him back. I'd never let anything happen to that boy or to."
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
They both looked towards the sound of the beeping noise and Seifer noticed that his phone was up. He slammed it down properly this time and turned back to Quistis. "We'll get him back, just be at your best."
Quistis nodded and walked out the door with Seifer on her heel.
They walked to the end of the hallway to meet the others in silence but both halted as they heard a feminine voice call out for Seifer.
"Commander Almasy!" It was Alyanna. "You never gave me a reason for your sudden leave of absence. I need it for the papers."
"Sylver's gone. I'm going to get him back." Quistis smiled at Seifer's never ending confidence in getting Sylver back; at least it upped the odds of getting him back.
"Who's Sylver, sir?"
It was Quistis who answered the question.
"Our son. Sylver is Seifer and my son."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
End of chapter one. Please review!
A twenty-two year old Quistis Trepe smiled as she watched her class hastily file out the door.
Humming an unknown tune, she too exited the classroom after getting all her things together.
The halls of Balamb never changed after the war. It was all still the same as before the war. Her boots clicked and echoed off the deserted hallway walls. The skirt of her uniform twirled a bit as she made a sharp turn into another hallway that led to the elevator. The tune she hummed and the bounce in her step never left as she felt a light tap on her shoulder
"We're mighty happy this afternoon Quistis, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were Selphie." Quistis immediately recognized the voice to be Rinoa's. She turned around and grinned at Rinoa.
"Oh please Rin, don't exaggerate. Nobody can be as happy as Selphie. But I do have some great news."
Rinoa looked at Quistis with a look of question and tilted her head to the right making her pony tale sway behind her. Her eyes still had the laughter that they had in them all those years ago but right now her porcelain face turned into a frown as Quistis started walking away.
She called out the name of her comrade over and over again to no avail for Quistis just started walking faster down the hallway until she started sprinting. Quistis was far ahead of Rinoa and by the time she caught up with her, a teary Selphie was with her.
"Where's Sylver?" Quistis asked in her instructor voice.
The next words out of Selphie's mouth were words that Quistis dreaded to hear. It seemed to come out in slow motion as Selphie's lips formed the word 'taken' but any sound failed to come out.
Quistis' eyes visibly widened.
"Don't joke around like that Selphie. Hyne! Do you know how scared you had me? I almost" Selphie bent her head low but looked up to see why Quistis had stopped talking and started laughing "oh, haha I get it. You're playing a joke on me, aren't you? 'Trick the Birthday Girl.' You almost had me going for a while. Those fake tears were really a scare." Rinoa looked at Selphie and Selphie cried even more. She looked at Quistis to see her bottom lip gone and her body shaking.
Selphie choked out a 'Quisty, they took him.' and all hope in Quistis' eyes ceased to exist as she turned around and ran.
~*~
Xu sat at her desk filing files that seemed to just keep popping up. She shut her eyes tight because she felt a migraine coming on. The elevator dinged but she dared not to open her eyes - it was probably just Commander Squall coming up to do some work in his office anyway.
Quistis walked right past Xu's desk and straight into the commander's office. Squall looked up from his desk surprised to see his childhood friend crying a river and talking too fast for him to understand.
"Slow down, Quistis. What happened?" he asked as he extended his hand towards the seat across from his desk and stood up to get a glass of water. She was crying too much that her words came out in uneven breaths that were un-understandable to both herself and the commander. She greatfully took a seat and gulped down the glass of water, but her words were still coming out in gasps.
Squall strained to understand what she was saying.
After a few times of trying to talk Quistis finally calmed down a bit for Squall to sort of hear her
"Sylver. Taken. They took Sylver again. Back. They're Back."
Quistis didn't even have to finish what she was saying for when she was halfway there Squall already knew what happened.
He then did something he rarely did. He got up from his seat, walked over to Quistis, and he hugged her.
He hugged her with all he had and made a declaration. "Seifer. We need to get Seifer. If anyone can help it's going to be Seifer." He felt Quistis nod yes into his chest and one thing ringed in his mind:
How the hell was he going to get Seifer into the garden to work with without there being a big riot.
~*~
Seifer Almasy looked up from his desk and out the huge window adorning his office at g-garden.
Just outside was his old school landed near his new place of employment. A hatch opened and two black cars pulled out and into his new garden.
He blinked as his phone rang. "Commander Almasy of Galbadia Garden here. State your buisness."
"Mr. Almasy, the commander from Balamb Garden and his gang are all here to see you. They're just arriving at the front gates now" It was his receptionist.
"Why did I not know about this visit Allyana?" His voice was the same as it had always been.
"It wasn't scheduled sir. But commander Leonhart said you'd understand, she said it's about 'Sylver?'"
Seifer's heart beat quickened and he mumbled a inaudible 'Thanks' as he slamed the phone down on its receiver but missed, leaving the phone hanging.
He hastily walked over to the metal door and typed in the code on the silver pannel to the right of the door to open it. Sure enough the door opened with a 'Swish' and there on the other side Commander Squall Leonhart of Balamb Garden.
He wore his SeeD uniform, just like himself, except Seifer's uniform was his own G-Garden uniform. They stared at each other and Seifer knew by Squall's expression just what had happened.
They both nodded at each other and Seifer moved back to allow them to enter.
One by one they entered his office and stood single file in front of Seifer's desk.
"Have a seat."
Irvine opted to lean on the wall with his new black cowboy hat covering his eyes and now short hair. Zell and Rinoa took the sofa by the window while Squall and Selphie both sat in the chairs in front of Seifer's desk.
Quistis just stood there. Looking blankly at nothing in particular, just staring. Seifer decided to just leave her there.
A dead silence followed.
Squall was the one to break it.
"As most of us know, Sylver has gone missing. There is no doubt that they took him. I think we all know who 'they' is.
We felt that I'd be better if we presented you with the news face-to-face."
"Of course." Was Seifer's only reply. His breathing became rougher.
He used the intercom to buzz Alyanna and proceeded to tell her about what had happened and that he'd need the Lt. Commander to fill in for him.
"Where to begin commander?" Seifer asked Squall stressing the word commander.
"Esthar. Where else would they be?"
"To Esthar then. My garden will provide for the transportation there."
Seifer sounded as professional as they came, but inside he was dying. They all nodded and walked out of the door just as they had come in. Quistis, however just stayed there. Selphie was about to pull her out but Seifer told her to just wait outside.
"Seifer, what if we never find him? What if he's dead?" her voice was trembling and it was scaring Seifer.
"Quistis, don't talk like that. They need him alive and you know that. I've never seen you like this ever since the last incident, calm down he'll be okay."
"How do you know? What if. Hyne!" Quistis couldn't finish her sentence because of all the emotion inside of her.
"We're going to get him back. Quistis. I'm going to get him back. I'd never let anything happen to that boy or to."
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
They both looked towards the sound of the beeping noise and Seifer noticed that his phone was up. He slammed it down properly this time and turned back to Quistis. "We'll get him back, just be at your best."
Quistis nodded and walked out the door with Seifer on her heel.
They walked to the end of the hallway to meet the others in silence but both halted as they heard a feminine voice call out for Seifer.
"Commander Almasy!" It was Alyanna. "You never gave me a reason for your sudden leave of absence. I need it for the papers."
"Sylver's gone. I'm going to get him back." Quistis smiled at Seifer's never ending confidence in getting Sylver back; at least it upped the odds of getting him back.
"Who's Sylver, sir?"
It was Quistis who answered the question.
"Our son. Sylver is Seifer and my son."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
End of chapter one. Please review!