Final Fantasy VIII: Griever's Promise
Disclaimer: I don't own FF8, the characters, blah blah blah and other legal stuff.
This is a FF8 A/U. If you don't like OCC then don't bother reading this. I have made this for my enjoyment and decided to share it with others. If you have constructive advice, please feel free to share it. Flames will be used to heat my Smore's. After I get a laugh out of them of course. Now on with the story!
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Chapter 1: Past Friends
Rinoa Heartily lay awake for a couple of minutes. She had had a disturbing dream. Well, more of a memory, she thought. One that had become more frequent in the past three months. It had been 4 years earlier. She and her group of friends were the best at everything they did at Balamb Garden. The four of them could do anything. They always outshone the other students in all of the combat disciplines and every other subject. She had started dating her boyfriend Seifer Almasy then. She knew, and so did the others, that the other guy in their group of four, and Seifer's best friend, Squall Leonhart had a crush on her, but Squall had never made an issue of it. Preferring that they were all friends despite his feelings. Rinoa's best friend Quistis Trepe rounded out the group and had really liked Squall, but had agreed with his feelings on being friends despite anything else so had said nothing. At first anyway.
The four did everything together. After their first year of SeeD initiate training both Squall and Seifer had been chosen to start the Gunblade program. There were no Gunblade specialists within SeeD so all the instructors watched them both carefully, and soon both had become proficient with the exotic weapon.
It was at this time that Quistis had lost her self control and, feeling hurt by Squall's attitude of them all being friends, had convinced Seifer and Rinoa to play a joke on Squall. They had agreed to the plan of Quistis telling Squall that Rinoa wanted to talk about Seifer in the Training Center, then they would not be there and laugh when he finally came out. What the Rinoa and Seifer had not known, though Quistis had, was that a particularly nasty T-Rexuar had taken up residence where they planned to tell Squall to meet Rinoa.
When Quistis had told Squall he had looked confused, having made no secret that he would not help with any of their relationship problems and they had agreed. Quistis had shrugged as Rinoa and Seifer had watched from concealment nearby. Squall still puzzled acquiesced and left. Squall had made his way quickly down to the training room from the dormitory hall where Quistis had told him, not wanting to make Rinoa wait but irritated that she would try to do this to him.
The three others had followed him from a safe distance to the training room, and saw him enter. They waited a few minutes then entered. Carefully they went to the 'meeting' place and heard the T-Rexuar's bellowing challenge. Fear gripped all three, Quistis coming to her senses in a jolt, guilt spreading over her face. Seifer saw her change and ran, Rinoa doing what she could to keep up with Quistis following close behind. They rounded a corner and stopped dead. Rinoa would be haunted by what they saw.
Squall stood his ground, engaging the monster with only his Gunblade, having come without grabbing any of his healing or support items. They watched, first in amazement as Squall fought the monster, landing attack after attack and dodging the beast. Then they watched in horror when he was unable to dodge the tail and got knocked back against one of the many trees. Seifer knew he couldn't save his friend and froze unable to move despite their vows to always help the other. Strange emotions ran through Rinoa as she watched. She didn't know if he knew she wasn't there waiting for him or not, but felt an odd feeling that he thought she was there and was trying to protect her. She saw him stand and engage the beast again. Rinoa ran to get help from the instructors.
That was when she had first met Instructor Xu, the advanced SeeD candidate teacher. Xu had run with Rinoa to the training room and followed Rinoa to the Battle. They got there just in time to see Squall collapse, blood all over the place. Most of it was his, but a surprising amount was the monster's. While she had been gone it seemed Squall had snapped, gone to a berserk level the others had never knew he had, nearly killing the beast. It only took Xu one strike to finish it off. Though her one was comparable to 10 of his, but that was amazingly close for a beginner and impressed Xu thoroughly. Xu rushed to the fallen body and pressed something in her ear calling for medics. She went to work attempting to save the young man. The three others stood. Quistis and Rinoa crying. Seifer was too numb to feel any emotion. He had frozen when his best friend had needed him. Squall had never even seen the three standing back and to his left. Not even when he got up from hitting the tree.
No one turned to see who was rushing up, but were amazed to see Garden Master NORG's personal attendants pick up Squall and rush him from Xu's ministrations, calling back for her to take the other someplace safe and find out what had happened. Xu picked up Squall's Gunblade and ordered them to follow, then left the training center. They all trooped behind her up to the second floor classroom. It was after dinner so no one else was around. Xu said only a few words.
"What happened?"
Seifer still could not speak, only stared in the distance. Rinoa was looking at the floor, her throat was constricted. Only Quistis answered in between sobs.
"I… only wanted to … play a…a…joke…it wasn't… supposed t-t-to b-be like this..." Quistis completely broke down.
Very little else was said. Things got fuzzy in Rinoa's memory at this point. She remembered trying to see Squall in the Infirmary but was told he had never been taken there. Garden Master NORG had taken him directly to the basement to try and treat him with his brand of Magic. A few days later Rinoa learned Squall had lived but had been taken from the Garden to another training facility to finish his SeeD training. No one had ever said it, but Rinoa always had felt they blamed her, Seifer and Quistis. And they were right to. They said it was best he not be around with the 'painful' memories. She assumed that meant their group.
Things had really gone down hill for the group after that. Seifer became more and more aggressive, egging people on for fights and generally being insulting. Quistis had become withdrawn and cold. Even a little sadistic. Rinoa took a path somewhere down the center, going out of her way to bully others, cause pain on the Junior Classmen, and picking fights with more aggressiveness than even Seifer. People had started to whisper that they had all been like that before but only Squall's strength had stopped it. Now he was gone and they had no controlling influence in their lives. Rinoa wondered, to herself during the miserable nights when all she could think about was what they had done to their friend, if they were right.
She lay in bed, letting these memories bring back the lingering pain they could provide, though four years had dulled it measurably. Now she was feared and thrived in that fear. Rinoa just did not feel her day was complete at the Balamb Garden without making some other persons life miserable. And, as that she was 17 and one of the senior students who also helped in the younger students training, she had ample opportunity to do this.
She had woken at 6:30, her usual time and prepared for the day by showering and putting on her blue skirt and blouse, finding a pair of clean matching socks and shoes that made up her uniform for the first part of the day. She fixed her long black hair so it hung straight down her back to her waist and left for the cafeteria to get breakfast.
Quistis and Seifer were already waiting for her and fell in behind her to get their food. As the nastiest of the three, Rinoa was naturally the leader. Seifer was in his usual dress, not quite conforming with regulations at the military school, but close enough for the instructors. His grey slacks, white long sleeved shirt were the correct cut even if they were the wrong colors. Quistis however wore the orange slacks and shirt that marked her as an assistant to the headmaster.
As they entered the line, Rinoa saw a brown haired male in all black, wearing a black duster leaning against the far wall, watching everything while he ate his food. This attire was against Garden policy as it could get, and so peaked Rinoa's interest. She wondered if this was new sport that she could come down on, being part of the disciplinary committee or he was just a visitor.
"Quistis, who is that?" She said pointing. She couldn't see his face because of the long hair, but caught the flash of his glacier like blue eyes when he saw her. She instantly was wary of this man, but not enough to put her off of tormenting him if possible.
Quistis looked to where Rinoa indicated and pulled out her PDA, using its direct access to the school admin computers to pull up a roster of the 250 students at the Garden. She scanned through the pictures quickly, failing to get a match that resembled the man across the hall.
"He isn't in the system. Probably a new student. He the new target?" Quistis grinned sadistically. Seifer grunted his approval.
"Oh, my yes. I think we will need to know more about this young man first though." The malevolence in her voice caused those standing in front of her to shift noticeably, though they were glad to not be the current target of Rinoa's hateful ways.
The reaction from these other students only made Rinoa happier. Every student in the school feared her and her two friends. Well not everyone. There were three that just had such different personalities that they were able to get along with Rinoa, Seifer and Quistis, and everyone else for that matter. This sometimes was a cause of irritation for Rinoa, and so was also a cause of irritation with Seifer and Quistis.
Rinoa continued to watch the stranger as she got her food and sat at her customary table. No one else dared to sit there. The new man stood as far away from it as possible, probably already having been warned. The three students who got along with absolutely everyone walked in, got their food and sat down with Rinoa's group. Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, and Selphie Timmit. Nothing seemed to ever phase these three. And for once Rinoa was happy to see them. She had thought of a job for these three so she could begin making the new kids life hell.
"Zell, Irvine, Selphie. I was wondering if you three know that young man over against the wall."
The three turned and looked. The stranger had finished eating and was still looking at everything in the cafeteria. Zell shrugged and looked at Irvine and Selphie who both shook their heads. Zell turned back to Rinoa.
"I'll go talk to him." He said and was off before anyone could stop him.
Zell walked over to the young man and found he couldn't see his face any better then before, but the man's eyes stood out even more. Colder than the northern regions. The glare didn't affect Zell at all though and tried to strike up a conversation.
"Hi, you must be new here, I'm Zell. Zell Dincht. Put it there!" Zell held out his hand. The stranger looked down at it then looked back at Zell's face, glancing over the tattoo, then glared again.
"So, er, what's your name?" When the stranger said nothing Zell spoke again. "Hey man, just trying to be friendly. Everyone needs friends, ya know?"
The stranger spoke. Hate making every syllable quiver. "The last people I counted as friends played a joke on me. They thought it would be funny to tell me to meet one of them in a particular area of the Training Center. This particular spot had become the nesting spot of the worst T-Rexaur that had ever been in there. I thought one of them was back there and only I stood between my friend and the monster. This 'friend' was actually watching and laughing nearby with the other two." The rage made his eyes flash the color of flint. "I need no friends. They will betray you in the end. Even when you had grown up like brothers with one of them, they will betray you. Oh, and if I hear you mentioned this to anyone, I will kill you. Slowly and painfully."
"Training Center? You mean you were a student here?"
The stranger still said nothing, just glared at him, then the stranger stood up straight. He towered over Zell's 5' 5". Although Zell was a good fighter, he decided this was not going to be pleasant if he stayed so excused himself and sat back down.
"So, who is he?" Quistis asked.
"Didn't say. But that guy is huge. He's bigger than you are Seifer." Zell said with a shrug. No one noticed his reticence of speech, neither did they notice he failed to meet anyone's eyes.
Shortly after this statement, the young man was approached by Instructor Xu. Whatever was said, he nodded to her and followed her out. The six people watched until both were out of site.
"Could you three do me a favor?" Zell, Selphie and Irvine nodded. "Good. I would like you guys to find out about that young man for me." Rinoa grinned like a Cheshire cat.
Zell, Irvine and Selphie said their goodbyes shortly after, heading for classes. Rinoa Seifer and Quistis followed shortly thereafter. The reached the classroom that the most experienced students met in several minutes after class had started. As it was mostly independent study at their stage, it did not matter too much that they were late.
The room was designed to hold 50 students, however only 20 met in this room. As such they were fairly spread out. Though they still stuck to their groups. When Rinoa and her passed Zell, he was working on his thesis about combat philosophy they all had to finish before they could take the Fire Cave test which was a pre-requisite to the final SeeD candidate test, but nodded politely to them. Selphie was nearby working on a design for her personal combat weapon. They needed to have those finished soon as well, as they couldn't keep using Garden equipment forever. Selphie smiled and waived before engrossing her self in the design program once more. In contrast, Irvine, who was sitting right next to Selphie, was to engrossed in assembling his personal weapon to notice anyone. He lovingly assembled and checked the pieces for what looked like a rifle.
Sitting in their usually spots near the center of the room, Rinoa and the others started on fairly similar projects. They had became quite absorbed doing this when the door opened and Instructor Xu asked for everyone's attention.
"Everyone, we have a student who will be finishing his Garden training with us here in Balamb. Now I know that some of you have the power to administer punishments for not conforming to the dress code," She looked at Rinoa and her two friends who were the entire disciplinary committee, "so per Headmaster Cid's orders, you are not to use this with the new student. His attire has been officially sanctioned for his stay with us by both the headmaster and Garden Master NORG." Xu motioned for the student to come forward. The black clothed boy from earlier entered. "Everyone, this is our new student. I will let him introduce himself when or if he wants to." He nodded slightly. No one said anything. Up close he was intimidating. He easily passed Seifer for height and must have and a good 40 pounds on him. A black leather wrapped handle was now above his shoulder, sticking out of a special opening in the back of his duster and at an odd angle.
Xu turned to him. "Now the headmaster has told me you have already given him your thesis on combat philosophy. Feel free to work on your personal weapon." She said the last glancing at the handle over his shoulder.
He turned to face Xu and said something. No one could her what was said, nor was anyone in the position to even see his lips move.
"Very well. You may want to choose a station and begin to familiarize your self with the monsters in our training area. The last portion of the day is spent there. You may also want to get acquainted with some of the students as the beasts can be best defeated in groups."
Instructor Xu left the room. He went straight to the back of the classroom, sat at a terminal and immersed himself in learning every available statistic about the local variety of monsters in the Balamb area.
"I wonder what his weapon is," Rinoa thought to herself. This was only a secondary thought though. She was much more interested in making this new guy miserable. She thought contently on how to do this, and only put in a partial effort into her own thesis. Seifer however was totally engrossed in the final stages of design for his weapon and paid no attention to the newcomer. Quistis similarly paid no attention, but went back to cleaning her weapon, already assembled. It was a wicked looking whip with barbs down its length and a steel blade at the tip.
Rinoa had already finished her weapon. A wrist mounted launcher, sending objects that resembled nothing as much as saw blades at great speeds. It was in her dorm, waiting to be tried out today after lunch in the training area. Seifer gave her a quick kiss as he printed his design and left the room to reach the machine shop in the basement to make the required components for his new Gunblade.
The room was quite for sometime until Irvine let out a giddy laugh, startling everyone. He held in his hands up above his head the completed sniper rifle, showing it to Selphie with such enthusiasm as she assembled her own weapon, a three segmented nunchaku, from parts she had machined shortly before. Rinoa let out an irritated sigh that silenced the whole room. Not even Zell, Selphie and Irvine liked to annoy Rinoa. It was a painful experience.
By the time lunch had come around, every one had finished their individual projects and were either polishing their weapons, or printing their thesis for the Headmaster. Zell, had finished his thesis and pulled out the metal backed gloves that he favored as weapons, being the best fist fighter among the student body, though many doubted he could take on any of the full SeeD members. Instructor Xu walked in and dismissed them for an hour, warning them not to eat to much because of the training center exercise that would commence that afternoon.
They all filed out after Rinoa, Seifer and Quistis with Zell and the new guy bringing up the rear. Zell looked like he was bout to ask a bunch of questions, like where he was from and such, but the look the new guy gave him unnerved Zell so he remained silent. After a few minutes, Zell gave up and hurried to join Selphie and Irvine. The stranger had watched the trio who left first. A boiling anger like he had never felt before, despite all that had happened, surged through him. It was all he could do not to kill them right then and there in front of the entire class. He would have felt justified, even if Garden Master NORG and the Headmaster would not have approved.
After a few minutes he had control back. He would get them, in the end he would take his revenge on them. The icy exterior he had developed after all he had seen and experienced hid all feelings from everyone. He decided to forgo lunch and headed straight to the training center. The place he had first seen Hell. He was surprised to see Irvine there talking with Instructor Xu.
"Instructor?" His deep voice startled Xu and Irvine who had not noticed his arrival. "I would like permission to enter and warm up."
Xu looked him over. She knew about his previous training from the Headmaster as well as his past. She knew exactly who stood before her. She felt she needed to ask one question. She had seen how Rinoa, Seifer and Quistis had not recognized him. "Ok, feel free. But first, you didn't tell them who you were, did you?"
"No, nor will I. They will find out soon enough. You will have to use my name sometime." His face was perfectly blank. Letting no emotion show.
The statement took Xu off guard. "Umm, yeah, Go ahead and enter. Did you want to do this as a practice or as your test?"
"As my test. Then I will return to my dormitory." He looked at the Instructor, devoid of all feeling.
"Irvine," Xu turned back to the long haired gunman in his combat cloths of brown leather pants and a white shirt, "I want you to observe him as you have already passed this section, though with a different weapon. Observe but do not interfere."
Irvine nodded and entered the training area with his rifle over his shoulder and moved to a position far above the ground were he could observe and not be attacked by the roaming monsters.
Over the course of the next 45 minutes the other students showed up. All of the them wearing white shirts, the easier to identify friendlys with, but the girls wore a variety of different colored sweat bottoms while the men wore either brown or black loose leather pants like Irvine. Once most of them were gathered, Irvine walked out of the training room and headed straight for Xu, the new guy right behind him. Not even sweating, his hair still preventing anyone from seeing his face.
Rinoa noticed and eased closer to try and hear the conversation, curious that one of the students had been in there already.
"Ma'am," Irvine said saluting, "he performed perfectly. That's the most amazing fighting I have ever seen. Nothing touched him. The biggest monsters still hadn't shown up when he reached the time limit, but I have no doubt from what I saw that he could have even taken a T-Rexaur."
Before Xu could respond, the new guy reached her and had a hushed conversation then left the training area. Still wearing his black cloths. Rinoa just stared. There was not a scratch on him. Though she should have been impressed, she wanted to humiliate this man more than ever. Just as much as she wanted to know who he was.
"Alright class, fight individually or in teams. You will be in there the rest of the day, so take it easy and try to not get yourselves killed. I would recommend that you stick with the easy and medium areas. The other instructors will be watching and report your grades directly to me. Go to it!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" The students entered, Irvine rejoined Selphie and Zell. The rest of the students following shortly after. The group all did well and passed, Irvine having taken the test twice, just so he could test out his new gun design. After the test, the group left to the cafeteria, starved after their battle.
It was well after the dinner hour for the rest and Rinoa was surprised to see some one still there. And although he was doing his homework and not eating, the black clothing easily gave away the new guy. Rinoa wanted to start in on this man, but would not until she knew more about him. Irvine had seen him fight. She would talk to him. She didn't have to wait long, as Irvine, Zell and Selphie grabbed their food and followed Rinoa to her table.
Before Rinoa could ask any questions, Irvine started to speak knowing what she would ask.
"I have never seen anyone fight with such speed. He took on every one of those monsters, killing the Grats in groups. He never even looked tired, though I could never see his face. I couldn't even see his weapon or hear the sound of it. The monsters just seemed drawn to him and their cries were the only sound." Irvine shuddered at the memory. A sniper shuddering at the slaughter usually meant something, and now was no different.
No one said anything as they all ate, brooding in the silence. It was just as Rinoa was coming up with a plan to find out who this man was, perhaps by feigning interest in him, when the need was taken from her. Doctor Kadowaki had walked in, and seeing the new student, walked quickly over to him, her voice clear in the silence of the tired students. She had known this young man since she came to Balamb Garden when he was accepted into the SeeD candidate program four years before.
"Well, well. Squall Leonhart, it has been a long time. You seem to have recovered just fine. My how you have grown." She was smiling widely, as Squall looked up. He flicked his hair back and there was the face so well known to so many, though now it had a large scar from his forehead down his cheek and looked hardened from years of fighting.
A partial smile flickered on his lips as he spoke quietly to her. She responded in a like manner, to soft for anyone to grasp the meaning in the shocked silence. Squall stood, gathered his homework and followed the doctor out of the Cafeteria. No one spook for a long time.
Finally Rinoa said, turning her shocked face to Seifer next to her then Questis across from her, "Did she say Squall Leonhart? Was that HIM?"
"Now I know why that story sounded so familiar." Zell looked up suddenly panicked. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. Especially if he was as good a fighter now as he had been then. Zell had fought Squall in training once. He had no doubt Squall had held back, but Zell had been beaten badly.
Rinoa's head jerked to look at him. "What story?" Her tone was furious. Seifer and Quistis were looking murderous. Zell blanched.
"When I went to talk to him this morning, he told me about how he needed no friends and said that he had been betrayed by the people he thought had been friends. They had tried playing a joke on him and he was on the wrong end of a T-Rexaur. He told me this with such… hatred… in his voice that I had no doubt that he would keep the promise to kill me if I told anyone. They story had struck my memory but I couldn't recall the exact story. Now I remember that it was what was rumored to have happened to Squall Leonhart."
Seifer's face had gone suddenly blank. Quistis had her head in her hands. Rinoa just looked like she had been slapped across the face. It made sense to her. She thought she had seen something in those eyes from across the room that morning. Something that did not bode well for her. Now she knew that it was hate. The man who had once had a crush on her and who, she thought though she would not tell another soul this not even Seifer, had kept her from giving into her own darkness.
She remembered the feelings she had when she saw him fighting that T-Rexaur. She had never taken a close look at those feelings. Afraid of what she would find. She had felt a certain fondness for him, she knew, but what she felt was beyond fondness in that Training Center. Her chest constricted as her heart beat faster. She couldn't admit the emotion she remembered to herself. Nor could she look at how she felt now. She just wanted all emotion to shut down.
Rinoa didn't even notice when Zell, Irvine and Selphie left the table, talking quietly to each other about this ghost, back from the dead. She had never told anyone that he had been transferred. She had only shrugged when Seifer and Quistis had asked her. 'Why didn't he tell us it was him?' She thought. But then she remembered what Zell had said. 'He believes that Seifer and I did that on purpose. He's right that Quistis did it on purpose, though she didn't mean for it to go that far. He…' shock made its slow path through her numb mind, 'He hates me.' The pain this caused was so great that she stood and run to her dormitory, not paying any attention to the startled looks that anyone gave her.
The fourth member of the Elite group of SeeD candidates, alive after all this time, and the cruel, sadistic Rinoa, with tears running down her face, fled in the direction exactly opposite from where Squall had gone. The other students looked away, as Seifer and Quistis ran to catch up with Rinoa.
They got to her room shortly after she had and found her on the bed. No longer crying but looking like that could start again at any moment. They looked at Rinoa, old emotions and memories that they had kept locked away started to the surface. Seifer sat heavily in the chair by Rinoa's desk. Quistis joined Rinoa on the bed.
"What do we do now? Do we tell him the truth? Do we apologize? What if he just snaps and lashes out at us?" Quistis spoke in a voice that was not hers. It kept getting higher as she became more hysterical. "Seifer, could you protect us? I don't think I could stop him! Could you Rinoa?"
Seifer shook his head. "I was never his match. I could not have taken that T-Rexaur like he did. For all my training, if Irvine is right and we have to believe he is, Squall could probably rip me apart. Especially if he is still using a Gunblade." This pronouncement was met with a noise of fright from Quistis.
Rinoa had focused on the first question. What do they do now? Could they even approach Squall?
The three discussed possibilities until after midnight. When they could not come up with anything, Seifer and Quistis returned to their own rooms. Seifer didn't even give Rinoa her goodnight kiss, but Rinoa was in no state to receive it. Rinoa lay awake for over an hour, until exhaustion took her stressed mind. She dreamed again that night about Squall fighting the T-Rexuar
Several floors up, the Headmaster had called Irvine, Zell, and Selphie for a private meeting. Word had made its way to the Headmaster that they all knew Squall was back. He needed to make a desperate decision now. NORG and he had decided it would be best if Squall had no interaction with his former friends. They had know his hostility towards them the moment that NORG had returned Squall to the land of the living. He was… different… ever since. They knew he would be better off elsewhere and had sent him to a private training ground to the north that NORG set up on extremely short notice.
They rest of the faculty thought he just had received some special training. They didn't know that Squall had been used as a guinea pig for some extreme and dangerous experiments to increase his speed and power. NORG was not even sure if Squall was even stable after that. Cid decided to not take any chances.
"Zell, Irvine, and Selphie. What I am about to tell you is top secret and may not leave this room. The only reason I am telling you this is because you three seem to be able to get along with everyone here in the Garden.. As such, I hope that you will be able to guide others reactions, though you are not to reveal this to them. Understood?" Cid waited until all three had nodded then continued. "Squall is a black ops project. Now I need you to understand this, he isn't a part of a black ops project. He IS the project. Squall is not all human anymore. Some fairly dangerous and horrific experiments were done to him to try and create the perfect warrior. He will kill without a second thought if it falls within the guidelines that he has been indoctrinated with. This is a project that Garden Master NORG and I approved. And now it is Balamb Garden's job to see if he is stable and will become our top SeeD. I want you three to try and guide the other students behavior to avoid any … incidents."
"Yes sir!"
A knock sounded at the door and Squall walked in. Just as menacing as he had always been, with a placid expression on his face. The others were dismissed and left the room quickly.
"You wanted to see me Headmaster?" Squall stood at attention.
"Yes Squall. I know you want to take out the last four years on your friends," Squall's eyes flashed though no other emotion crossed his face, "I suppose I should say former friends, but that will not be tolerated without their independent provocation. And IF such confrontation arises, you are NOT to use deadly force. Do I make myself clear?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Dismissed." As Squall left, Cid thought about his ulcer for the hundredth time that day.