Listen When Alone

Seifer, along with Fujin and Raijin, sat in the quad, deeply involved in their studies. Spring had finally arrived at Balamb and most students spent their time outdoors, bathing their winter pale skin in the sun in hopes of getting a tan, watching the flowers bloom into life little, by little and of course, boys being boys, the occasional prank with water spells. Under the shade of a tree, Squall sat quietly by himself, experimenting with non-elemental magic junctioning while scribbling down the effects in his notebook.

A sweet little chime rang over the garden speakers, signifying that there would an announcement over the intercom. "Seifer Almasy, please report to the headmasters office. I repeat; Seifer Almasy, please report to the headmasters office." The same chime sounded again, thus concluding the announcement. Fujin looked up from her Rescue Tactics book and eyed Seifer's face carefully with her brown eye. "ANNOUNCEMENT." She said, as if trying to get his attention. "The value of Spirit determines the degree of damage a character can endure from a magic attack. A character with high Spirit suffers less damage from magic attacks…" Seifer mumbled to himself, while reading half loud from his book. "Will ya relax a bit Seifer? Ya passed that written test, with flying ace, y'know?" Raijin cut in, nudging Seifer a bit with his elbow. "That might be so, but I just want to be sure. Squall got 498 points out of 500 possible on the same test. I can't afford any slip-ups." Seifer replied; his eyes still glued to the textbook.

A person's shadow slowly crept in over Seifer's textbook. "Give it a rest will you! I'm trying to read here damn it!" Seifer barked as he raised his head, only to be confronted with Quistis' frown. "Oh, it's just you. For a moment I thought it was someone important…" Seifer grunted with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Didn't you hear the announcement?" Quistis asked, ignoring Seifer's little comment. "Well, whatever it was, it wasn't about me 'cause I've been a good boy all week, ma'am." Seifer smirked back. "Don't you ever read the news on the garden network?" Quistis sighed with a tired expression on her face. "Mmmm… nope." Seifer shrugged, clearly not giving a damn. "A Field Exam is coming up, and you're on the top of the list. Now please report to the headmasters office for details and briefing." Quistis half complained.

From afar, Squall took a little pause in his studies and drank some juice while reviewing his notes. A nearly transparent mini Shiva sat on his right shoulder. He held up the juice carton to Shiva and the guardian force to the hint. A little gesture with her hands, and frost gathered around the carton, chilling the liquid inside. "Hey Squall, looks like I'm going to beat you to becoming a SeeD after all." Seifer gloated as soon as he walked past Squall. Squall on the other hand, made no reply. "Heck, I might even steal Quistis from you. Seifer and Quistis, the prodigy SeeD's…" He laughed a little, as it was no secret that there was some sort of relationship between Squall and Quistis. "…you can have her." Squall mumbled before throwing the juice carton in the trashcan.

The headmaster's office was the same as always. Headmaster Cid's big, brown and throne looking chair in the centre and big windows behind it. The huge red double doors seemed to have been given a new paint job, but other than that, it was as if time stood still on the 3rd floor. "Good day to you Seifer. Please do come in." Headmaster Cid greeted him as soon as he came in. "Headmaster…" Seifer returned the greeting with a short nod. "I'll cut straight to the point. A few days ago we received a request from a client and we've been spending the past 3 days hammering out the details of the contract." Cid began. "The mission is to protect an individual from being kidnapped and used to blackmail the client. Your mission starts tomorrow and will end after roughly speaking 2-3 months."

Seifer just stood there dumbstruck. He was to baby-sit some moron, for 3 months straight? Get real! He wanted to fight battles, not change diapers. "Why me?" Seifer asked. "The client is of great importance to the Galbadian army and he's specified that he wanted the very best that Garden has to offer." Headmaster Cid explained. "Use Quistis, she's good." Seifer replied. Like hell he was going to take on this crappy mission. "I would if I could Seifer, but Quistis is in the middle of taking her instructors licence, so she's out of the question." Cid frowned.

Although he was pretty desperate to get out of this mess, Seifer didn't dare to suggest Squall. There was no way he could just hand Squall a golden ticket to SeeD on a silver plate. "Xu then, she's practically overqualified for this one." He suggested as a last attempt to sneak away from the dullest SeeD Field Exam ever. "She's still trying to smooth things over with our clients in Dollet, after that incident things took a rather… unfortunate turn over there." The headmaster coughed.

Later that evening, Seifer sat in his bed looking over the papers describing his mission. The target that he was supposed to protect was a skinny, dark haired girl named Rinoa Heartilly. She was the only child of a general Caraway, who was commanding the Galbadian forces in Timber, a little shit-hole that Galbadia had taken by force some 13-17 years ago. The general had made a few smart career moves during his time in Timber, though as a consequence, the Timber residence had started to hate his guts. The various rebel forces had been gathering around, joining forces and plotting a way to get the "good" general out of the way.

Apparently, this girl, Rinoa, was the key to the whole ordeal. At least, that's what Intel suggested. Protect the girl until things cool off, time window was approximately 2-3 months. Great, at least it wouldn't be a freaking 5 year-old who would be too scared to watch cartoons on the TV. Then again, even though this Rinoa was roughly at his own age, she could be the biggest bitch in the world for all Seifer knew. What bugged Seifer the most was that this was a general. He must have dozen of troops right at his fingertips. Why drag a SeeD into it all? Maybe he had too much gil on his hands? Not very likely, as gil was something you never could get enough of.

A polite knock on the door brought Seifer out of his thoughts and back to reality. What a drag, he thought as he got out of bed and opened the door. Fujin and Raijin stood on the other side of the doorway. "What's up guys? Curfew is kicking in soon. If the staffers catch you in the boys dorm after curfew, you'd be disciplined Fujin." Seifer sniffled a yawn as he spoke. "Go on, tell him y'know what." Raijin gently shoved Fujin a step forward. Seifer raised his eyebrows with interest. "G-GOOD LUCK." Fujin said with a quick bow before turning on her heel and dashing out of the room. "Yeah, good luck Seifer. You show 'em who's the boss, y'know." Raijin gave him thumbs up before leaving. "For Hyne's sake…" Seifer grumbled to himself before closing the door.

Breakfast was the same as usual, dull, sleepy and rather uneventful. Of course Seifer had to get up 2 hours earlier than normal in order to catch the right train. The cafeteria was huge, dark and gloomy looking so early in the morning. A single candle burned on his table and aside from the chatter from the kitchen, there was just the dead silence that can only be found in the few hours before sunrise. Dr. Kadowaki dropped by after a while, just making sure that Seifer had a fresh supply of potions and giving him some encouragement about giving it his best. Yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat. Seifer just hoped that boredom wasn't lethal.

In the garage, janitors were bringing in new supplies of weapons, items and ammunition. Seifer glanced at his watch. 04:15 it said. While he was waiting for the car to pick him up, Squall came walking in, his clothes a total mess. "Where have you been? Chasing girls?" Seifer asked as he passed him. "…not really." Squall replied, scratching the back of his head. "Don't tell me you pulled an all-night'er and trained on your own outside Garden, again?" Seifer asked, grabbing a hold of Squall's right arm and holding him back. "What if I did?" Squall mumbled. "You're good Squall, very good. But as long as I'm around, you'll always be second best, see?" Seifer smirked at him, his face illuminated by car front lights. "Your ride is here…" Squall grunted as he nudged himself free from Seifer's hold.

Seifer looked bored as some SeeD he'd never seen before drove him to Balamb train station. 3 months he thought, 3 freaking months if not even more. He, a gunblade specialist, Balamb Garden's #1 student, only matched by Squall's own talent and skill, would be baby-sitting some general's brat. The world was spinning towards the surreal as far as Seifer was concerned. "Well then, best of luck." The SeeD said, trying to sound cheerful. "Shut it, it's not like I'm going to need luck on a blue milk run like this." He snapped back at the SeeD. Throwing his bag over his shoulder and carrying the gunblade case in his left hand, Seifer climbed the stairs to the train station.

The train cabin wasn't all that bad. At least that was something, though Seifer was pretty convinced that it would go downhill from here. As soon as he could, he'd like a word or two with this Caraway character. He better have one hell of a reason to hire an elite SeeD such as himself to do a shitty job like this one. Then again, this was an exam. He would be evaluated and he had already failed several exams before. Lying down on the sofa, Seifer closed his eyes. It was going to be quite a trip all the way to Timber, so he might as well get some shuteye time. THAT exam he thought as his mind faded into a sleep filled with dreams and memories from the past.

It was in Dollet, autumn and raining badly. A whole pack of VIP's would gather at some conference and it had fallen down on SeeD to stand for security. Greedy trading corporations and slimy politicians gathered under one roof was a temptation certain terrorist cells just couldn't resist. The nature of the conference was confidential, not even headmaster Cid knew what it was all about, only that it was vital that nothing bad happened. It was one of those few coordinated Field Exams where members from all Gardens were present.

Seifer had been given the roof of a nearby building to guard. Late at night, soaking wet, tired and hungry, Seifer had stood his post. A few SeeD candidates not taking the exam were also present. They would mainly observe since the three headmasters were confident that so many SeeD's and SeeD candidates in one place, would scare off most attackers. One of these SeeD candidates was Fujin. Back then, her speech had been normal and she'd joined SeeD along with her life long friend Raijin.

The sounds were blurred with an echo feeling and the images half lost in the fog of dreams as Seifer's mind replayed the incident second for second, far to life like for comfort. The door, the dark brown wooden door that opened and the timid looking silhouette that stood in the doorway. Cold drops of rain dripped of from his nose, tiny rivers of cutting coldness floating around on his face, down his neck and on the inside of his already soaked clothes.

The silhouette hesitated for a moment, but decided to step into the rain. As the lights from the streets below illuminated the silhouette, it became clear that it was Fujin. She was holding a thermos in her hands, close to her body. "Sure is a rainy night, huh?" She said, raising her voice a bit so it could be heard over the winds. "You're quite good at stating the obvious." Seifer had replied. "I brought some hot soup for you." She said with a small smile and handed him the thermos. "Instructors orders." She quickly added as if hiding her own embarrassment. "…thanks." Seifer smiled back as he put down his gunblade and took the thermos.

Steam floated from the cup and danced a violent dance in the air before disappearing into the night. "How long have you been up here?" She asked him after a pause filled with sounds of heavy rain. "I have no idea. 5 hours?" Seifer shrugged while blowing at his soup to cool it off a bit. "And no break?" Fujin asked in amazement. Seifer shook his head while drinking carefully from his cup. Silence followed.

Seifer tossed his head about on the sofa, he was sweating a little and waved his arms about recklessly. Why did he do it? Why did he say it? Why on earth was she so kind to him? Why was he the bastard to take advantaged of her kindness? She was just a kid!

The thermos was empty and Seifer let out a small burp before screwing the cup back on top of the thermos. "Thanks Fujin, that was a life saver." He has as he handed it over to her. "No problem, though I think you should change clothes or at the very least get a raincoat. You'll catch your death in those soaked rags." Fujin gently pointed out while poking Seifer's drenched clothing. "Nothing's going to happen tonight at any rate and you do have a point." Seifer mused to himself. "Listen Fujin, could you just hold the fort for a few moments? I'll be back in a few minutes." He asked her. "Isn't that against orders? Shouldn't you ask another exam participation?" Fujin asked with a puzzled expression. "If 120 SeeD's isn't scaring them away, then this shitty weather sure will." Seifer joked. Fujin giggled and nodded her agreement. "Be quick though." She warned him jokingly.

Downstairs, Seifer slipped into the bathroom and changed clothes. He also found an unused raincoat in a hallway closet. If the instructors find out, I'll just loose a few points, but they'll probably cut me some slack considering my skill level, he thought to himself. He was about to get back to the roof, when he suddenly remembered that he'd left his gunblade in the bathroom along with his drenched clothes. Picking it up and checking the clip installed, Seifer thought he heard a small thud like sound. It sounded like it came from above. Strange, there weren't any floors above this one, meaning that the thudding sound must have come from… the roof!

The dream froze and then shattered. Seifer shot out of the sofa, soaked in sweat and panting heavily. Where was he? The train, to Timber, another Field Exam, he began to remember now. Calming down wasn't easy, his knees were trembling and guilt was wrapping around his heart like a fishing net made of razor sharp wire. At least that won't happen again, not on this mission. Goddamn blue milk run, he grumbled to himself before collecting his things and leaving the cabin.

Timber train station was big and open compared to the one in Balamb. A lot of train lines, many of them multi-continental, were connected through this little town. So small, yet so important, all thanks to that the huge bridge that connected Galbadia, Fisherman's Horizon and Esthar was no longer in operation. Overall, it was a miracle that the thing managed to stay intact throughout the Sorceress War. Well, Seifer could reflect over history some other day, right now he had a 3-month long Field Exam to beat. The thought alone made him groan.

"Mr Almasy?" A male's voice asked from behind. "Who's asking?" Seifer replied, only half turning. "I'm private Wedge, general Caraway sent me." The Galbadian solider introduced himself. What's with the crappy looking uniform, do they pay extra to make you wear it? Seifer thought to himself, but said nothing. "This way please." Wedge said, gesturing towards a car parked at the feet of the platform stairs.

It wasn't much of a drive, since Timber is a small town, but Seifer was grateful that he didn't have to drag his luggage half across town. It didn't take long before Seifer stood in front of the local Galbadian HQ. Although the building itself looked rather new, the surrounding fence looked… well used to say the least. "Right this way Mr Almasy, the general is anxious to meet you." Wedge led the way through the gates and into an office that appeared to belong to the general's secretary. "Please inform the general that Mr Almasy is here." Wedge said to the lady behind the desk. "Sir?" She buzzed the general from a small device located at the corner of her desk. "What is it?" A man's voice grumbled. "Private Wedge is here with a certain Mr Almasy." The secretary said. "About time, please send in Mr Almasy." The man replied.

The double doors opened and a nervous looking Wedge excused himself, assuring Seifer that he'd take good care of his luggage. "Don't be a stranger Mr Almasy, please do come in." A middle-aged man greeted him from behind his desk. He wore a richly decorated Galbadian uniform, his hair was black with hints of grey in it and he wore the face of a warrior. "General." Seifer nodded briefly his greeting.

"I'm not quite sure how much your headmaster told you about this mission, Mr Almasy." General Caraway began. "I'm to look after your daughters safety for the next 2-3 months. You've made yourself a little collection of enemies in Timber. They want to get to you through her, I'm here to prevent that from happening." Seifer summarized the mission briefing like a tape recorder.

General Caraway rose from his chair and walked over to a mini bar. He picked up the bottle and poured himself a drink, before he cast a glance at Seifer as if asking if he'd like one as well. Seifer raised his hand and quietly shook his head. No drinking on duty he reminded himself. "You're quite right Mr Almasy, however you don't know the full extent of the story. I feel it is important that you know the whole story in order for you to protect Rinoa as best you can." Caraway sat down on the edge of his desk and gestured to Seifer to take a seat.

He sank into a chair, collecting his thoughts. "Why wasn't I told the full story to begin with?" Seifer asked. "I don't know. Headmaster Cid is a very professional man, so I assume that he wanted to keep this as business like as possible since you have a record of being too emotional." Caraway drank a mouthful and allowed his words to sink in before carrying on.

Seifer bit his lower lip. That one incident is probably going to haunt him for the rest of his career. On the other hand, this was a golden chance to set things right. "Why SeeD? You're a general, it shouldn't be much of a problem to get some of your thugs to hold your daughters hand." Seifer asked. "You've backbone Mr Almasy. It's not like SeeD to question the decisions of the client is there?" Caraway smirked. Shit, he had a point. This wasn't going the right direction, was it? Stick to the book, Seifer thought. "The reason is two sided. First of all, these rebel forces in Timber know the Galbadian forces like the back of their hands. The only reason why we keep control is because we outnumber them with both manpower and resources." The general explained, putting his drink aside.

A silence followed. Seifer leaned forward in his chair, nodding his head slightly both to show the general that he understood and that he should carry on with his explanation. "The other reason is that my daughter is very… free spirited, much like her mother. I could of course either assign a whole platoon to guard her or simply just lock her up in this HQ 24/7, but she would hate it more than anything. As a parent, I have to take my daughter's feelings and well being into consideration." Caraway carefully explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hence you wanted only one SeeD, but one highly skilled." Seifer concluded. "That is correct. Once I made it clear that I'd rather have quality than quantity, headmaster Cid recommended you right away." Caraway said.

The intercom on the desk buzzed into life. "Oh? Please excuse me for a moment." General Caraway said. "Yes?" He pressed down the talkback button on the intercom. "Sir, your daughter is here to see you." The secretary replied through the intercom. "Ah, perfect timing. Please send her in." Caraway smiled. The double doors opened and a young girl entered. She was roughly speaking 5'3" tall, black shoulder long hair, big brown eyes and a rather cute and round dolly looking face.

A little poor in the breast department perhaps, but Seifer wasn't here to chase skirts, so it didn't really matter. "Rinoa, I want you to meet Seifer Almasy, he'll be your bodyguard for the summer." Caraway did a short introduction. Rinoa eyed Seifer from head to toe, before sending her father a cold stare. "I thought we agreed on a female bodyguard." She said with a hard voice. "Beggar's can't be choosers my dear." General Caraway actually sounded like he was apologizing to her. "Don't dear me…" Rinoa sniffed before leaving.

Seifer rose from his chair and after bidding the general goodbye; followed her. "Hey, wait up!" He shouted after her once they were in the hallway. "What?" Rinoa grunted. Oh shit, don't tell me she's a bitch after all, Seifer mentally groaned. "I'm coming with you." He patiently explained. "I'm just going home, so no worries. I'm not helpless." Rinoa mumbled. "Look, if you've got a father complex, fine. However, it is my job to make sure nothing happens to you, so whatever issues you have with daddy, throw it at him, not at me." Seifer tapped his pointing finger at her chest a couple of times to make his point clear. "I don't care about you, you're just another lap dog of his." Rinoa didn't even flinch and had the circumstances been different, Hyne help him, Seifer would have slapped her far into next week.

The two of them spent the rest of noon to go a little window shopping, watching people at the train station and feeding stray cats with leftovers from lunch. The whole time, Rinoa showed coldness towards Seifer that just drove him up the walls. Who the hell does she think she is! If she starts playing smart-ass and talk back to me, I'll spank her, Field Exam or no Field Exam!

When Rinoa "accidentally" closed the front gate to her garden fence in Seifer's face, thus crushing his foot, Seifer reached his boiling point and blew his fuses. "What the hell was that for? That hurt damn it!" He barked out loud, violently grabbing her shoulder and turning her around so that they faced each other. "It was an accident." Rinoa said as if it explained everything. "Accident my ass, even a dork like Zell could tell that was done on purpose!" Seifer snapped back, feeling his anger rising. "Who's Zell?" She asked. "The biggest moron in a pair of shoes. Male moron that is, I think you're a bigger ass than he is." Seifer grunted, calming down just a tad as he spoke. "You're no different from those Galbadian troops stationed here." Rinoa sighed with disappointment.

Seifer felt like he was loosing what little anger management he had. What was riding this bitch anyway? "I'm not a Galbadian thug, don't you dare compare me to those half-hearted, wanna-be soldiers. I'm a SeeD, there's a world of difference." Seifer said with clenched teeth. "Spare me the whole SeeD business. It is no secret that the Galbadian army recruits straight from Galbadia Garden." Rinoa replied, her voice also rising with anger. "NEWSFLASH! I'm not from Galbadia Garden, I'm from Balamb Garden." Seifer was just a few inches from slapping Rinoa flat in the face.

Rinoa froze solid, as if she had just received the most shocking news in her life. "What? If you keep gaping like that, Chocobo's will start building a nest on your tongue." Seifer grunted, not the slightest impressed by Rinoa's state of shock. "You're from Balamb…? Not Galbadia?" She asked with a weak voice, as if she just had to make sure it was true. "Yeah, that's what I said." Seifer grunted, still pissed 'cause of the whole fence gate episode. "Seriously?" Rinoa asked, now her voice was trembling. "What part of 'yes' don't you get? The first, second or third letter?" Seifer was about to loose his temper once again. Not only was she rude, she was dense as well.

The whole scene changed atmosphere in less than a heartbeat. Suddenly Seifer found himself with Rinoa clinging around his neck, hugging him warmly and sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know… I didn't mean to be so cruel… I'm so sorry." She kept on saying this while clinging to Seifer as if her life depended on it. "OI! What's gotten into you all of a sudden!" Seifer tired to get Rinoa to let go, but that only resulted in her tightening her grip.

After what seemed to be like a life time and a half, Rinoa finally calmed down. "Come inside please. I'll tend to your injured foot." Rinoa said, holding Seifer's hand and guiding him inside the house. "Hey, hey… slow down. What's with the changed attitude?" Seifer just tagged a long, limping slightly with his right foot.

Well inside the house, Rinoa had Seifer sit in the living room while she went for a first aid kit in the bathroom. Women, Seifer thought. She must be on her period or something. Fujin went through the roof once a month too, when he thought about it. "Here we go." Rinoa said as she sat down on a little stool with a first aid kit in her lap. "Look, just what the heck are you up to?" Seifer asked as Rinoa removed his shoe, revealing that his big toe was sticking out from his sock. "You need a new pair of socks I see. We better buy you some tomorrow." Rinoa said, humming softly to herself as she gently removed the sock to closer examine his bruised foot.

"Are you listening to me? I'm not a baby, besides, I'm the one that's suppose to look after you, not the other way around." Seifer waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. "It's just a light bruise. Just don't walk too much, don't wear those tight shoes of yours and you'll be fine by tomorrow." Rinoa sighed with relief. "Listen doll face, tell me what's going on with you rather than with me." Seifer said, leaning forward in his chair.

Rinoa's face frowned into a sad expression. "Just as you said… I've a father complex. I don't like him, in fact I recent him so much I hardly look at him as my father anymore." She explained. "When we first got here, things weren't all that bad. We didn't talk much, we never did after mother died, but somehow we were a family." Rinoa put away the first aid kit and brushed her hair backwards, resting it behind her ears. "Over time however, I learned more and more about this place and its history. More over, there was the local news. Almost every news broadcast mentioned him."

Rinoa took a pause, as if gathering the courage to continue her story. "By him, I take it you're referring to your father." Seifer said. Rinoa just nodded her head slightly. "What he did brought prosper to Galbadia, but the price he paid so lightly was the well being and interests of Timber. I just couldn't…" Rinoa broke off, her voice trembling as a small tear leaked out from the corner of her eye.

The pieces fell into place. Although Rinoa despised her father, he still cared for her. He wanted just the best for her, by not only looking after her safety, but also take into account her own feelings. Not locking her up in a fortress, not followed by a platoon of armed thugs, or chaining her up to a person that represented the very things she'd grown to hate, but instead finding an alternative that would result in a win-win situation.

She was safe, her feelings and freedom remained intact and she wouldn't be forced to be with someone that she couldn't bare being with. Rinoa most likely saw all of this just as well as Seifer, if not even better. The fact that her father accepted her disgust with him, but that he still cared for her enough to do such a thing must leave her with mixed feelings.

Seifer took a moment to consider this new discovery, before he straightened himself in his chair and handed out his right hand. Rinoa looked at it then into his face, puzzled. "Let's start from the top again, shall we? Hello, I'm Seifer Almasy, I'll be your bodyguard this summer. I'm looking forward to working with you Ms Heartilly." Seifer smiled at her. It took a small moment for it to sink in, but Rinoa responded with a warm smile, took his hand and shook it. "Hello Mr Almasy, I'm pleased to meet you. Oh, and you can call me Rinoa, mind if I call you Seifer?" She said, still smiling that warm smile of hers.