Disloyalty

Chapter I "Bloodshed"

......

Three weeks...

Three, short, peaceful weeks came to a waste on the eve of September. Everything fell in pieces soon after everyone was convinced Rinoa had no trace of evil in her. Besides the fact Ultimecia gave her powers it meant none of her evil thoughts would possess the innocent raven-haired girl.

After the victory over Ultimecia, Adel, and even Edea, there was no longer fear for any power thirsty sorceresses. Or at least that's what most people thought...and hoped.

After their victorious battle that made them all famous, SeeD's Squall, Selphie, Zell, their former instructor Quisits, Galbadian sharpshooter Irvine, and Rinoa returned to Balamb Garden and settled for a few weeks from their hard work.

Irvine was awarded the rank of SeeD and Rinoa was accepted as a student and was personally trained by Quistis since it was too late to attend classes and be left behind.

During the second week since their victory, Quistis had noticed strange signs of mood swings from her pupil Rinoa. She hesitated to tell Headmaster Cid of her odd behavior but he simply told her Rinoa was probably stressed from learning the way of SeeD's and becoming more tolerable of her new powers.

Quistis tried to brush aside her thoughts of the reasons why Rinoa seemed to lose her temper more easily than Zell. After considering what Rinoa had to cope with, she figured she really was under stress and tried to help her out in any way she could.

There was always a tinge of jealously in Quistis when she saw Rinoa, frankly because she still had feelings for Squall that were more than a sister type. But with extreme difficulty, Quistis convinced herself there was no hope in ever gaining Squall's heart and left it at that. Still she could not break her feelings so quickly but she stopped hoping and praying for one day she would win Squall's heart.

On the third week while Quistis was awaiting Rinoa for a T-Rexuar lesson in the training center in the Secret Area, she was unexpectingly knocked off her feet from a sudden and quick jerk of the mobile Garden.

The young blonde SeeD rose to her feet and sprang for the main hall of Garden but was intercepted by twin T-Rexuar's. For any SeeD or student a single T-Rexuar would be greatly complex to battle against but what was a simple ancient animal compared to multiple sorceress'? Though it was not a life threatening battle it still would take time to rid of the monster's.

Once they were dead and gone, Quistis quickly ran out of the training area and grew shocked at the scene before her.

Every student, SeeD, and even Garden faculty member were either on the ground injured or were helping other nearby fallen people. Quistis sprinted for Dr. Kadowaki's office, thoroughly confused by everything, and helped the doctor heal as much as they possibly could.

"Quistis!" A distant voice erupted from the mummured moans of pain from everyone in the main hall.

The ex-instructor promptly looked up to see who called her but she did not see anyone and presumed to healing a young junior student's arm.

"Quisty!" The voice shouted again but noticably from the 2nd floor.

Quistis strained to look up and saw Selphie and Zell running to the elevator. She quickly finished healing the little girl's arm before getting up and headed to the elevator.

Selphie and Zell sprang out of the elevator and nearly ran into their childhood friend. They both paused and leaned forward, trying to catch their breath.

"What's going on?" Quistis asked, putting her arms on her hips.

"It--was--" Selphie panted. "--Rinoa--she--went out of---control--"

"WHAT?" Quistis asked, her eyes wide in shock. She had a sickening feeling this was going to happen soon enough.

"Yeah--one minute she's with us--and the next--" Zell exclaimed, punching his fists in the air. "--she's throwing spells every where and ran out. Squall--he--"

"What about Squall?" Quistis asked immediately.

"He's gone." Selphie said sadly.

"What do you mean he's gone?!" Quistis exclaimed.

"He just went with Rinoa like a lost little puppy dog." Zell grimaced. "He even protected her when we tried to stun her or put her to sleep. He even attacked Irvine."

"Oh no, where is he?"

"He's ok, he's back with Cid and Edea." Selphie answered. "We volunteered to come down and help everyone. Oh I just can't believe Squall betrayed us!"

Quistis searched in her mind why he would do such a thing to them. They grew up with each other, despite most of them didn't remember a thing of their childhood. But they also fought and bled together while fighting in the second sorceress war. She could not find a reason why he would betray--

--Rinoa's diary. Yes she remembered now. Once, after tutoring Rinoa one night Quistis stayed behind at the library to catch up on some new released novels when she came across Rinoa's diary. She didn't bother reading it but when she got up hours later to retire to her dorm the book fell and opened to a random page. As Quistis bent down to pick it up, Squall's name caught her eye.

She grabbed the book and read what Rinoa had to say about Squall. She said Squall promised her he would be her knight no matter what, if she was good or evil he would still be at her side. She thought it was romantic and sweet of Squall to think that way but Quistis thought he was helplessly blinded by love.

She never mentioned what she read to anyone, not even Selphie, whom she was closest to out of all her friends.

"Quickly!" Selphie cried, jumping from the full gush of andrenaline in her system. "Headmaster Cid wants you to report to his office immediately. He says he has a new mission for you."

"Ok." Quistis nodded. Her first guess for her "mission" was to follow Rinoa and Squall to see where their first place to head would be. Her second guess was that the couple would be hiding at Rinoa's father's mansion in Deiling City.

...

Quistis angrily blew onto her hands for warmth. Three days after the incident at Balamb Garden, she was of course sent to follow Rinoa and Squall to where they would hide and to find out, if possible, of their future plans.

In Deiling City, the middle of September is just as cold as the middle of December. Yet Quistis could still not find enough warmth despite what she wore, black jeans with a white tank top and a black leather jacket.

A nearby car honked at the crossing blonde even though she already half way across the street. Obviously whoever was driving was in a real hurry, but luckily he stopped or else he would have pulverized Quistis.

Apparently Squall and Rinoa had decided to stop by a club, for an unknown reason, and Quistis had to be there.

Once inside the club, Quistis presented her fake ID and quickly scanned the large area for any sign of the Balamb Garden best couple but they were no where to be seen.

Selphie, from the telephone, warned Quistis of Squall and Rinoa recognizing her and to come up with a disguise. The young blonde decided to change into a completely different atire to keep anyone from recognizing her and she added extra makeup and left her hair completely down. So far, from what seemed to be impossible, she's gotten even more male attention from within the club. Almost every time she lifted her drink a new guy walked over and sat next to her and asked her to dance.

From most of the good looking men asking her, she would have easily accepted their offer, but she was still in the middle of a mission and forced herself to remember her objective every time she nearly got lost from looking upon a guys eyes.

"Why hello there miss." An awful familiar voice rang in Quistis' ears.

Lowering her empty drink on the table, Quistis looked beside herself at the now occupied stool.

"Is...something wrong my dear?" The man asked Quistis.

No...it can't be.

Quistis at first thought it was the drinks she consumed that were playing tricks on her vision. But after she rubbed her eyes and looked again, the man sitting next to her still looked identical to Seifer Almasy. Good thing he didn't recognize her, her disguise must really be worth it.

"Could I buy you another drink miss?" Seifer asked Quistis. If he knew it was really his ex-instructor, he showed no signs that he knew.

"Sure...why not?" Quistis smiled sweetly. If she was to be pretending to be another person, she had better do a good job at it.

Seifer nodded to the bartender that was cleaning a few glasses in front of them and ordered two new drinks and offered one to Quistis.

"My name is Seifer by the way miss...and what's yours?" The ex-knight grinned as he took a sip from his drink.

"Oh, my name is--" Quistis stopped dead in her tracks. She obviously couldn't tell him her real name, she would blow her cover. "--Kelia."

"Hmm..." Seifer smiled. "Nice name."

"Thank you." Quistis whispered before she took a taste of her drink Seifer bought for her. She suppressed a cough, the liquor was quite strong but good nonetheless.

Just then a slur of Griever's pendant passed beside Quistis. She quickly turned and caught Rinoa and Squall brushing through the thick crowed on the dance floor. Once through the crowd they turned a sharp left and into the restricted area.

Quistis couldn't see much from her angle so she excused herself from Seifer and pretended to be heading toward the restroom which was closest to the restricted area.

Why would they get access to the restriction area? That place is only for the person in charge of this club and their friends.

Quistis slowed her pace a bit to catch what Rinoa and Squall did once they found a place on a warm leather couch and sat. Squall ordered drinks while he wrapped his arm around Rinoa. At first she snuggled close to him but she seemed to have barely remembered something. She stood before planting a quick kiss on Squall's cheek and walked down the clear stairs and headed for Quistis.

Oh shit, does she recognize me?

But no, Rinoa wasn't approaching the blonde SeeD. She didn't even recognize her as she smiled and walked right into the restroom. Quistis heaved a sigh of relief and followed suit into the girls room.

Inside Quistis headed for an empty stall and tried to collect her thoughts over everything.

First Squall and Rinoa come to a club for no important reason. And now Seifer shows up when he was last spotted living peacefully as a fisherman in Balamb city.

Now, if you are a new evil sorceress, why would you want to come to a club when you can easily be climbing your way into power?

Quistis' thoughts were interrupted from multiple voices inside the restroom.

"Lock the door." Rinoa ordered. "And check under the stalls to see if anyone is in here."

Quickly Quistis stood on the toilet and leaned forward to place her hands on the door and keep it closed.

"No one's in here, and door is locked." Another female voice reported.

"Good." Rinoa said again and her voice was drowned out by the water from the faucet.

"So is it true?" A different female voice asked. "Did you really attack those students at Balamb Garden and have Leonhart wrapped around your finger?"

Quistis swallowed, her mouth suddenly became very dry despite the many glasses of coke, water, and liquor she consumed earlier.

"Yes." Rinoa chuckled. The faucet was shut off and the hand dryer turned on. "Its amazing how men will follow you around if you give them your heart. I don't even have to put him under a spell to order him around. He's simply pathetic."

Quistis straightened and peeked over the top of the stall to see who was in the room.

Rinoa was drying her hands and three girls stood around her.

"What do you order us to do, angel?" The tallest girl out of all of them asked.

Angel? Is that the name Rinoa has given for herself?

"You three just keep an eye out. No doubt there could be SeeD's in here. I wouldn't be surprised if half this club is full of them." Rinoa said as she played her with her hair in front of the mirror and took out lipstick from her purse and placed some on. "If you see that blue mage, don't kill her. Keep her somewhere and report to me at once. I'll send Squall to her for information on that stone."

"Yes ma'am." The shortest girl cried.

Rinoa sensed eyes staring at her and she turned in Quistis' direction. The young SeeD quickly ducked and prayed she wasn't seen.

Her heart thumped loudly and nearly painfully in her chest. She broke into a cold sweat and her hands were starting to shake.

There was no sound except the sudden compact from foot against stall door directly beside Quistis.

They know I'm here.

Quistis stood, still on top of the toilet, and waited for her door to swing open. Soon enough it did, and Quistis quickly jumped forward and kicked the girl right between the eyes.

"Intruder!" The second girl yelled and charged for the blonde SeeD.

Quistis simply took a step to the side and outstretched her arm out and caught the girl between her chest and neck and sent her flipping onto the ground. The third girl sprinted for the intruder and wrapped her hands around her neck.

The girl was still within arm reach and Quistis sent a quick jab to her face and sent her reeling back, clutching a bloody nose.

Quistis grinned as she glanced at all three fallen girls. Junior students could put up a better fight, and she didn't even have to use magic or her whip.

"So...speak of the devils themselves...you must be a SeeD." Rinoa said bitterly. "Too bad your about to die anyway, you look awfully young."

"Keep your mouth shut Heartily, I'm older than you." Quistis growled.

She sprinted forward but was caught off guard from a unique spell Rinoa hurled at her. The small blue orb flew out of Rinoa's outstretched palm and slammed right into Quistis' stomach.

Not only did it knock the breath out of her but it also sent her reeling violently onto the wall and kept her whole body from moving, even blinking was impossible.

The three fallen girls slowly climbed to their feet and stepped toward the lone mercenary. Two of them had their noses bleeding and possibly broken while the other one looked to have recovered completely.

"Finish her." Rinoa commanded.

Three knocks slammed on the bathroom door. "Hey--let us in--what are you doing in there! I'll get the manager!"

The four girls fun was cut short. The girl free from a bloody nose cursed under her breath and glanced back at Rinoa for her command.

"Take her outside and kill her there." Rinoa replied. She snapped her fingers and headed for the locked door. "Alright, alright, take it easy. I'm opening the door."

Quistis still couldn't squirm out of the paralyzing spell and could do nothing as the three girls lifted her up and threw her out of the small bathroom window at the very end wall and squeezed in themselves. Quistis landed hard on the ground face first and tried to get up but her body was still hard to move.

The three girls landed one by one behind her and the first girl, the one who was kicked, picked up Quistis roughly by her shirt and threw her deeper into the empty alley they were in.

...

"Hurry open the door, we all have to pee so bad!!"

"Alright already!" Rinoa yelled, unlocking the door.

The moment the door clicked open, dozens of girls sprang into the bathroom and nearly fought each other for who got to get in a stall first.

Rinoa grinned and quickly left the bathroom before she was questioned why she kept the door closed.

Once she escaped the screams and nature sounds from the bathroom, Rinoa walked up the stairs and forced on an innocent smile. She found Squall sitting on the same coach playing with his drink and his foot tapped a little to the beat of the music.

"Hey, what took you so long?" He asked once he spotted Rinoa climbing the stairs.

"Oh you know, it was a horribly long line in there." Rinoa lied as she sat down and cuddled up next to Squall.

...

Quistis was knocked violently down onto the wet ground, it had been raining for a few hours now, and another kick was given to her stomach.

"Stupid SeeD's!" The girl who was punched in the face by Quistis yelled. She picked up Quistis' face from grabbing the back of her head and slammed it onto the wet ground. She continued kicking her ribs until another girl stopped her by picking up Quistis.

She lifted her up from her shirt and slammed her back onto the wall and started punching her in the stomach.

"Hey...look what I found." The girl without the bloody nose grinned, lifting up a brown wooden baseball bat and showed it to the other girls. She gripped it tightly and swung it about. "I can have fun with this."

"We all can." The shortest girl, who was kicked in the face, snorted. "Three swings each, whoever can knock her out first wins. I bet fifty gil I'll knock her out first."

"Your on!"

"Oh bring it on."

Quistis closed her eyes and awaited for the sudden impacts. It was horrible. The baseball bat was slammed in her stomach, back, her sides, her head, even her face. One of the girls, she couldn't see who due to the rain and blood blinding her eyesight, had hit her head on all three tries she had. And sure enough, that did it to knock the out numbered SeeD.

Before her senses failed her and darkness engulfed her, she could hear such a familiar voice calling her fake name and she could have sworn she saw Hyperion reflecting the moonlight.

"I don't normally hit women, but you three don't seem to be anything near girls. Women as cute as yourselves don't beat up other girls." Seifer spat, swinging his Hyperion around to scare the trio.

"Another SeeD?!" The girl without the bloody nose warned.

"Don't insult me miss, but I ain't no SeeD." Seifer winked. "Now, who wants to play?"

All three girls, stupidly without any magic or an equipped weapon, sprinted towards the lone blonde man but were suddenly all knocked to the ground with a sleeping spell.

Seifer chuckled slightly as he hid his trusty Hyperion and kneeled beside the fall girl. He was going to heal her but she had too many bad wounds that might not heal within time permitted until the girls woke, and perhaps they had more friends on the way.

His flat was only a few blocks away from the club and if he went now, he could get Quistis back before she bled to death. What scared him most was that she wasn't only bleeding from the wounds but from her mouth as well. He quickly picked her up and ran out of sight.

A/N: How was that? Good? Bad? Well this is my first fic so...don't be too harsh . I'm on the process of learning how to write stories. Please Read and Review!!! Please?