Chapter One:

Awakening.

The glass double-doors hissed open and Quistis Trepe trekked into the infirmary, the heels of her leather boots clicking gently with every passing step. She pulled her reading glasses off her face and pocketed them before reaching out and shaking the hand of Dr. Kadowaki.

"Nice to see you, Quistis," Dr. Kadowaki greeted as she lifted a clipboard and pen off her desk. "Just sign here and your student is all yours again."

Quistis gave a half-smile to Dr. Kadowaki before taking the pen and clipboard. Dr. Kadowaki was a short, plump woman with short, curly black hair and always kept a pleasant smile on her face. That was not Quistis at all. Quistis was a nineteen-year-old teacher at the Balamb Garden. She was a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair that she always kept in a kind of ponytail above a red and black uniform.

She replaced her reading glasses to sign her name in a graceful cursive she'd perfected over the years before handing back the clipboard. "Great," Dr. Kadowaki said, smiling as she took clipboard from Quistis's gloved hand. "He's just this way."

Quistis removed her glasses and pocketed them again before asking, "How bad is it?"

"It's going to leave quite the scar across the side of his nose, but he's completely recovered now and all set for his test today." Dr. Kadowaki said as she escorted Quistis to Room 06. She slid a card through the reader and the door hissed open and she left Quistis to see Squall for herself.

He was sitting up in his hospital bed, wrapping his black jacket lined with rabbit fur over his white shirt when she saw him and he saw her. "Squall," Quistis said, shaking her head and letting out a small chuckle, "I knew it would either be you or Seifer."

"From what I understand," Squall said, speaking as he laced his boots, "it was both."

"Yes, well, Seifer did get quite a cut as well, but he just needed a bandage." Quistis said. She smiled and turned, "Come on, you've still got to take your SeeD application test. Get to your dorm room and prepare. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for you at the front gates. Got it?"

(Cut Scene)

Squall walked out of his dormitory room, holding his gunblade at his side. It still had a bloodstain at the tip, but he chose not to clean it off just yet. He knew what happened at tests like these.

He walked down the long hall of room entrances, the numbers on the doors descending in number with every passing door. He was a tall man of seventeen, with long, dark brown hair and matching eyes. His lips were solid and crimson and his left ear held an earring embedded with a white jewel.

He wore three belts; one lining the belt-loops of his black pants, the other two criss-crossing across his waist. On his right belt, there was a custom leather loop were he could carry his gunblade like a holster. His boots thumped on the red carpeting as he progressed down the hall and out into the open campus of Balamb Garden.

Above him, the bells of noon rang out into the open air. All around him, classmates were chattering and laughing and singing as they walked around on the paths. In areas around the open paths, fountains of various designs spat water into small pools where, at the edges, students would go about their daily lives of studying, eating, talking, etcetera.

Squall stopped to watch the bells as they rang in the towers high above, listening to their melodic chiming that reminded him he was alive. Then, he walked toward the front gates. He passed the cafeteria where, once again, they were fresh out of hot dogs. At the front of the line, a man in blue wind-pants and a red vest with bleach-blonde hair complained at their lack of hot dogs. When he was told off by the waitress, he instead ordered nachos and sat at a table in the corner.

He's in my Drawing class, Squall thought as he continued down the path toward the front gates. Zell, wasn't it? I don't know.

He turned his attention back to where he was walking in time to watch a girl in a yellow outfit and tall brown boots run right into him, knocking him onto his back. She scrambled to her feet nervously and said, "Sorry, mister! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up!" She held out her hand, brushing back her light brown hair, curled at the tips.

Squall ignored the offered hand and got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his back and pants. His eyes wore a surprised expression, but he kept cool. "You ok?" He asked politely.

She nodded a smiled and wrapped her arms behind her back. "Sorry about that, mister. I'm new here; just got transferred from Trabia Garden up north, and I'm still adjusting to the change!" She cocked her head, "Hey! Are you busy? I was hoping to find someone who could maybe show me around, if you don't mind?"

Squall turned his head and rolled his eyes (Now look what you got yourself into, he thought) before turning back. "Ok, come here." He progressed further toward the front gates, to a box-like object only a few yards from where they crashed. "This is a directory of the entire school."

He pressed the on button and the screen turned on. "We're here at this bottom area, at the front gates." It was a map with eight keys, each labeled with their correct area. "This key to the right is the library. The key to the left is the infirmary, where you go if you aren't feeling good or if you've broken something."

"A clinic. Got it." The girl said, "What's the doctor's name?"

"Dr. Kadowaki. She's a nice lady once you get to know her." Squall said, "The key here above the library is the training center. You've got to go there with a serious attitude though, because there are fiends in there that can get you killed if you aren't careful." He watched her expression go from a smile to more of a nervous smile before she nodded. He continued, "This area here above the infirmary is the quad, where some students go to socialize during free periods. And above that is the cafeteria. They have good food there every once in a while, but it's also kind of expensive. I usually walk to Balamb for cheaper food, but it's up to you. Just above the training center is the parking lot. Do you have a car?"

"No," the girl said shyly.

"Then it doesn't matter." Squall said.

"It's kind of off-subject, but what's the headmaster's name?" The girl asked, standing up straight and crossing her arms. "I have to ask him some questions of my own."

"Headmaster Cid, and you can find him in his office on the third floor, but you can only get there with permission from an instructor." Squall said, reminding himself subtly that he still needed to get back to Quistis… "Finally, this area at the top of the screen is the dormitory hall, where all our rooms are located. They're ok rooms, but kind of small."

"Thanks," the girl said. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, "I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself!" She held out a hand, "The name's Selphie Tilmitt."

Squall turned his back to her, "Squall," he said before walking toward the front gates. Ignoring it when she called him impolite, he walked slightly faster so as to not lose Quistis's faith in his appearance.

(Cut Scene)

"Do you have your captor card from class yesterday or is it still in your dorm room?" Quistis asked when she saw Squall. He opened a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a blank card with a chip built into the middle, called a captor card, and he showed it to her. "And your drawing chalk?" She asked, smiling when he drew three sticks of white chalk from the same pouch. "Good work, Squall, you're doing great."

She reached into a pouch on her belt and drew two cards and handed them to him. "Quetzalcoatl and Shiva; your two Guardian Force cards. You remember how to use them still, right? It's been a while since we reviewed GFs in class."

Squall took his two cards and flipped the titled sides against his palm and showed her the red button on the back of both cards. "Hold down the button for three seconds until it turns blue, then throw the card down on the ground and get as far away as possible."

Quistis smiled and gave him a pat on the back. "Good. Let's get this over with then."

(Cut Scene)

Fire Cavern was located only half a mile east of Balamb Garden, so the trip there didn't take long. Along the way, Quistis briefed Squall about what to expect inside the cave; fire, fire-based fiends, and Ifrit; the Guardian Force of fire. But he had confidence that he could do it. This was a mission for Level 4 students. He was a Level 6, due to intense training and studies in his free-time, since he didn't have much a social life…

"You'll have ten minutes to get to Ifrit's throne and defeat him and get out again. I won't be helping unless it's absolutely inevitable." Quistis continued as they walked up to two monks guarding the entrance to the Fire Cavern.

"Halt." The one on the right called out with a strong voice, his face never showing beneath the straw of his wide-brimmed hat.

"Name and title." The monk on the left demanded.

Quistis cleared her throat, "Quistis Trepe, Level 4 SeeD Instructor, requesting a ten-minute test challenge."

Both monks nodded and cleared the path to Fire Cavern between them. "Ten minutes, starting now." The monk on the right said. Squall led the way into the small hole, with Quistis following soon after.

All around them, lava flowed into the ground toward the ocean floor many miles away and Squall's forehead immediately beaded with sweat. "Let's make this quick," he said to Quistis. She nodded and followed as he began to run down the path of hardened lava.

They came to a wall where, on both sides, waterfalls of lava crashed down into the pools they'd seen before. Squall dug his hands into the small pits and climbed as fast as possible, not wanting to waste any time.

"You're handling this well." Quistis said, unhooking her whip. She snapped her arm upward and the whip fastened around a spike of hardened lava protruding from the cavern's wall. She pulled herself up and did a flip at the top to land on her feet at the peak of the wall Squall climbed. She reached down and helped Squall up the last bit of climb, and he accepted her offer.

"Usually my students will start freaking out by now," Quistis said, the light of the lava glowing off her bright blue eyes. "But you're keeping cool." She continued as they ran again.

"… ok." Squall said as he saw Ifrit's throne in the distance. It had to be it; there was nothing else of interest in the entity of the spacious cavern that was reachable by this path. It was massive, shaped like a thumb rising from a ring of hardened lava. What bothered Squall was…

Where's Ifrit? He thought as, behind him, Quistis trailed off in her speech to him.

They continued further until they reached the ring surrounding the thumb of hardened lava. "This is it, Squall," Quistis said, walking ahead of him to a small control panel. It was odd to Squall, in a way, to see the panel – technology – amongst the entire natural that was the lava. "Are you prepared?"

Squall nodded and reached to his belt and drew his gunblade. A small pendant hung from the butt of the handle, depicting a lion's head made of pewter. It was this pendant that Squall's memories of childhood were protected and enclosed. Quistis pressed three buttons on the panel and there was a humming that seemed distant, but Squall could feel the earth vibrating beneath his feet.

Then, from the lava, a great beast rose. From its mouth, magma dripped and it looked at Squall with glaring eyes. Its fists and feet were chained, the chains running into the lava, serving as restraints to keep it from murdering students like Squall. It was built somewhat like a gorilla – with fur on all areas of its body except for the thick-skinned chest plates – but it looked more like a bipedal wolf with ram horns on its crown.

Squall crouched to his fighting stance and watched as the creature lifted its powerful, flaming fists above its head and brought them down. He rolled out of the way to dodge them, watching as the ground rose in a wave of broken chunks of the lava rock. He kicked off the ground and flew high above Ifrit, breaking his blade into the groove of its forehead and dragging the sharp metal down its spine. He kicked off the beast's lower back and landed on the ring of lava rock just behind it.

The beast roared and whirled around to face Squall, blasting fire out its nostrils at him. He held up his gunblade and smacked the fire with the flat of the blade, deflecting it back at the creature. Then, he swiftly drew a stick of white chalk from his pouch and drew an asterisk into the lava rock, symbolizing a snowflake. He tapped the center of the snowflake with his index finger and it rolled into a small white ball. Squall took the white ball and threw it at the beast and a large rock of ice grew into its left breast, sizzling as it evaporated with the difference in temperatures.

Ifrit roared into the space of the cave and began the thrash around, breaking stalagmites off the ceiling, and shattering stalactites from the ground around Quistis and Squall. Quistis drew her whip as a chunk of rock came at her and she snapped her weapon forward. The edge of the whip cracked the rock and broke it into two pieces that went around her and into the lava pools around them. She looked up at Quistis and then to Squall. "Squall, use Shiva before he destroys the entire cave!"

Squall looked up at her before replacing his stick of chalk with a card with Shiva's photo and status drawn upon its face. He held down the red button on the back for three seconds, watching it fade to blue before he threw it down on the ground. Then, he jumped to his feet and ran after Quistis, taking her hand before leading them both toward the path they'd come from.

An explosion of light blasted from the small card and a woman in a rock of ice appeared amongst the light. Ifrit stopped thrashing and instead opened his eyes wide at the sight of the woman. "Not Shiva!" He shouted, feeling his chains restrain him from fleeing.

The woman's eyes opened, her skin blue and long hair golden amongst the entire-black color to the space between the eyelids. She whispered a soft word and the rock of ice exploded all around her. Wind blew outward from his blue-skinned body, blowing billions of small snowflakes that lifted at the ground beneath her feet. She reached out slowly with her left arm, keeping her fingers collected above the palm and her violet lips spread gently. "Diamond Dust," she whispered and Ifrit screamed as her fingers snapped.

An explosion of sound fled out from her fingertips and Squall and Quistis ducked behind a rock as another flash of light burst with the wave of sound…

And then there was silence.

Squall opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet. He smirked at the sight. All the lava in the room was coated in ice. Every stalactite and stalagmite was completely white with snow. Then, soon after, the atmosphere became quite cool instead of oven-like.

Beside him, Quistis rose to her feet and began to walk back toward Ifrit, who was now a half-frozen statue. "Alright then," Ifrit breathed, "I'll join you."

"Not me," Quistis said as Squall lifted his Shiva card from behind Ifrit. She nodded to Squall, "Your debt is to Squall." She looked form Ifrit's eyes to Squall, "Got your captor card still?"

Squall nodded and drew his blank card. Unlike a GF card, the captor card's button was already blue. "What do I do with it?"

"Here," Quistis said, taking the card from him. "Just hold down on the blue button, like this, and tap it to the GF you wish to capture." She looked to Ifrit from behind the pressed button held down by her thumb. "You ready, Ifrit?"

Ifrit nodded, cracking the ice attached to his neck. "Do it." He said and Squall cocked his head. Quistis tapped the blank card to his nose and there was a dim light as Ifrit evaporated into tiny light particles that gathered around the card. Then, they were absorbed into the card and Quistis handed it over to Squall. Now, the card had a photo of Ifrit and his status.

Squall looked confused, but decided he would ask some other time. "How much time left?"

"Three minutes," Quistis said, giving him a pat on the back before running on the ice and snow toward the exit. Squall smirked a little before shaking his head and running after her, placing the new Ifrit GF card into his pocket.