Author's note and update (8-10-07): After spending a lot of time revising my first chapter, I decided to go on and revise the second. Please remember to read and review. Thank you!
Chapter two: Return of the infamous knight
People scurried from every direction as Quistis and Selphie forcefully pushed their way through the endless crowds of students trying to make their way to class on time. As Selphie and Quistis came closer to the pathway leading to the elevator doors, they noticed a mob of students waiting at the opening. They were shouting protests against the re-admittance of Seifer. Boy, news sure does travel fast, Quistis thought to herself.
"Move it! Out of the way!" shouted Selphie with a loud, high-pitched voice. "Make way for official SeeD business!"
As they moved closer towards the door, Quistis couldn't help but hear one of the people in the mob say, "Damn Balamb if it'll allow that lapdog to come back."
Shaking herself mentally, the blue eyed ex-instructor ignored the crude comment and made her way into the elevator. Pushing the button for the third floor, she and Selphie both stood in silence. The only sound that could be heard was the soft humming of the elevator making its way to its inevitable destination.
Moments later the elevator came to a stop. The metal doors slid open and Quistis and Selphie hastily made their way into Headmaster Cid's office.
"Glad to see you two finally made it." said Cid with a semi-annoyed expression on his face.
Quistis looked around the room. It seemed like she and Selphie were the last ones to report to the meeting. Commander Squall, Irvine, Zell, and even Rinoa were already there. They were the last ones to join the party.
"I'm sorry Sir, but a mob of people were blocking us from reaching here on time." replied Quistis cautiously. Cid held up his hand motioning to her that the matter was forgiven.
Finally after the commotion settled down, Commander Squall cleared his throat and spoke in that clear resonating voice of his whenever it was time to be "Commander" to everyone. "We are all here today in terms of discussing the re-admittance regarding the former student of Balamb Garden, Seifer Almasy."
Everyone in the room gasped except for Quistis and Selphie, who had known what the meeting would be about beforehand.
Squall continued, "I'm pretty sure that all of you have already heard about this information beforehand so I'll get straight to the point. Seifer was found unconscious a few days ago near Lake Lamia in the Trabian territories. The Trabian officials immediately recognized him as the former Sorceress's Knight so they quickly turned him into the Galbadian military leaders. They decided that his fate would lie on the hands of the Galbadian Senate. However, although half of the Galbadian Senate wanted to charge him with war crimes, the other half did not favor any negative charges pressed on Seifer until they could retrieve hard evidence that Seifer had indeed done all the crimes on his own will. So a few days later, they took him to the Odine Laboratory in Esthar and found out crucial evidence that the Sorceress had indeed controlled him during the time of where he committed these crimes. In other words, Seifer is not to be held accountable for his crimes during the time of the Ultimecia crisis."
"Wait a minute," interfered Zell, "So you mean Seifer is actually innocent?"
"That's precisely what I mean." replied Squall with his usual expressionless face.
So Seifer has been innocent all along. I knew he would never try to kill us with his own will. I should know—I used to be his Instructor, Quistis thought gloomily.
"Continuing with my summary," stated the already annoy Squall, "Galbadia decided that since Seifer was legally proven innocent, they would release him, meaning he is now a free man. Now you can imagine how furious some people were when the news was publicly announced. Even though he didn't commit any crimes, most of the public still couldn't forgive him completely for his previous actions. Because of this, the Galbadia government decided that public security was imperative. They concluded that the public would feel safer if he lived in a military supervised institution, hence a Garden."
"But why our Garden?" interrupted Zell. "I'm sure the other two Gardens would love to take him in," he ended with a tone of sarcasm.
"Zell! Didn't you even hear Squall? He's innocent and you should keep in mind that he used to be one of our childhood friends." Selphie said sympathetically. Irvine smiled.
"Aw my Selphie is always such a sweet girl," He cooed. Selphie squealed and hugged Irvine. Everyone else in the room just shrugged. That was the typical case scenario in the Selphie and Irvine relationship.
"Ahem! Like I was saying," Squall said, now even more annoyed at the various interruptions throughout his briefing. "To answer your question Zell, evidently, our Garden would be the ideal choice. Certainly Galbadia didn't want to recruit him to their academy because it is too strict and military-like for our newly freed man. Trabia is still under heavy construction, which left our Garden as the last choice. Seifer has already agreed to these terms with one condition, to become a SeeD. So, Balamb Garden held a conference with the two other Gardens and decided that we would get custody of Seifer. He will, starting tomorrow, live and study as a Balamb student, cadet rank, once again. He will be trained to become a SeeD. Once he gains his SeeD title, Seifer will no longer be forced to stay here. He will be able to roam freely and serve as a SeeD like he desires. Any questions?" Squall finished. At that moment, commotion rang out in the room.
"Is he still gonna get some sort of punishment?" asked Zell eagerly.
"What about Seifer's attitude? We all know it's not going to be easy to handle." exclaimed Rinoa.
"Who are you going to assign to personally instruct him?" asked Quistis.
Lots of questions sprang out, leaving poor Commander Squall to answer them all. I'm beginning to get annoyed at this Commander stuff, Squall thought to himself. "No, Seifer will not receive punishment. Yes, Seifer needs to improve his attitude and behavior, which leads me to the answer of the last question. Cid and I have already discussed this issue beforehand and we've decided that Instructor Devon will be Seifer's private instructor from now on." For just a slight moment, a flicker of disappointment ran through Quistis's eyes. Squall continued, "She has the right experience and the right credentials to instruct somebody like Seifer. From now on, she will decide what lessons and training Seifer needs to become a SeeD. I hope that will answer all your questions for now."
Relieved, Squall took a sip from a glass of water on top of Cid's maple wood desk. He sat down and looked at everyone in the room. Rinoa smiled at him, silently congratulating him on being a good Commander. Selphie and Irvine were hugging each other, looking like they were in their own worlds again. Zell was throwing punches in the air, doing his usual routine when he was bored. Then, glancing over at Quistis, Squall noticed that she was being extremely quiet, as if she was thinking about something real hard and serious in matter. Something was bugging her. But then again, with the return of Seifer, what's not to be bugged about. Squall shrugged off his thoughts. "Well, everyone should get back to their rooms now and get some rest. I think we've all gotten enough stress today to last us a lifetime."
The group of teenagers nodded and each of them slowly left the room. However, Cid motioned for Quistis to stay behind. Puzzled, the blonde took a seat.
"Quistis, I noticed that lately you seem like there's a lot going on in your head, is there something that you want to talk about?" he questioned.
Startled at this question, Quistis put on her usual "I'm ok" façade. "No Sir, I'm fine. Thank you for worrying about me but I assure you, I'm ok. The SeeD training and missions have been giving me some grief lately so I'm pretty tired." she lied.
"Are you sure?" he continued with eyes filled with worry.
"Yes I'm sure." Quistis insisted.
"You know you can always tell me or Edea about anything that bothers you ok? Just know we are always here to listen and help out. Remember to take care of yourself. You always did back in the orphanage." Quistis smiled. "In fact you did it so well you started taking care of all those other kids too." Cid said with a laugh. "Well anyways I shouldn't be holding you here anymore. You should get some rest."
"Thanks Cid, I'll be sure to take your advice to heart. Good Night." Quistis said with a genuine smile while she turned and left the office. Cid is right, I should take care of myself better. I'm actually starting to get damned blue circles underneath my eyes. Well, guess tomorrow is going to be quite an extraordinary day. The return of the infamous knight, Quistis thought to herself. It would be a day she would look forward to indeed.
Ending Author's note:
Please remember to review. Compliments, constructive criticism, random comments are welcome. Thanks!