A/N: Here's the next chapter, sorry it took awhile. The idea for the weapons not hurting them while training against one another actually came from the Inheritance Trilogy (Eragon, Eldest) and I thought hmm that sounds like a good idea for training, so I threw it in, it's not my idea that I miraculously came up with on my own, lol. Thanks for reviewing for the last chapter, hopefully if you like it you'll review for this chapter, and here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and all related characters belong to SquareSoft/SquareEnix, not me.

Only Hope

EilayAdnayVolieay

Chapter Three: Training Begins

I couldn't sleep again, I had another bad dream. They always seem to be haunting me, no matter how hard I try to get past them. I feel these... powers, surging within me. It scares me, so bad. What's worse is nobody can ever know the truth. I think my father wants me to become a SeeD so I can learn of a way to rid myself of the sorceresses powers. Or to protect myself when they find out the truth.

Squall is so infuriating! He thinks he's better than me, just because he's been going to this Garden longer than I have. He doesn't know anything about me and he's so quick to judge! I have to train with him, someone who can't even stand talking to me! Well, I'm not going to rely on him. I can train on my own... the quicker I get the hang of it, the quicker I can get out of training with him. And if I prove myself in the meantime, that's just all the better. I know for a fact that the Training Center is the only thing open at this time of night. And that's exactly where I'm headed.

Rinoa

Rinoa's eyes flew open, and she sat up in bed, breathing hard. Another nightmare about her powers consuming her completely. She had thought they were over, that those sessions with the psychologists as a child had helped her. Obviously, they had not. Coming to this school had triggered their return, and why not? She would have to use her magic eventually.

I can't believe how Squall just ignored me and acted as if training with me was going to be the worst thing that had ever happened to him. I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled either, but does he always have to be so rude and negative about it? He thinks I'm completely incapable of fighting, of protecting myself. I'm a lot better than he realizes, and I'm going to get even better than that. Well... maybe. With that thought in her head, Rinoa grabbed her pinwheel and got dressed before sneaking through the halls from her dorm to find the training center.

Rinoa walked through the halls, trying to find the training center. So far, she had had no luck, and almost run into staff members of the Garden numerous times. They freaked her out, with the strange uniforms they wore, and she had to hide or press up against the wall to hide from their view while they passed. Regardless of whether the training center was left open at night or not, students were still expected not to be out of the halls at night. She could pretend not to know that rule, since she was new, but she thought it best not to test her luck. Finally, she found the training center, and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She saw several students leaking out from there, mostly couples, and frowned. Was that their idea of a date, going through the training center and defending each other from monsters, barely escaping from death, at four in the morning? Rinoa smiled to herself at the thought of how silly that sounded and continued through the training centers outer doors. Once she was inside, the monsters would start coming at her. It was only for the schools protection that the monsters were harder to get to, so that they couldn't sneak into the school late at night when most people were sleeping.

Taking a deep breath, Rinoa opened the door to the inner part of the training center, and looked around. She hadn't been here yet, and she was glad that they had at least recreated the monsters natural habitat inside the training center. To them, it couldn't be much different than living outside in the wilderness, except for the fact that Garden students were trying to kill them, and there was a restriction to the amount of space they had to roam. Still, she knew the monsters would try to kill her if given the chance, and she shook away any feelings she had of concern and sympathy for them.

Two bite bugs approached her, beginning to attack. Rinoa shot at them with her pinwheel and concentrated on fighting off the sleep spell they were trying to perform. She wasn't going to fall asleep, not in this would-be deathtrap! Jumping out of the way, slightly afraid but feeling exhilarated, she attacked them once more, shooting them with her pinwheel, and defeated them. Pleased with herself, she looked around and didn't see any other monsters coming at her. Not that I'm complaining... she added to herself.

A loud rumbling noise echoed through the training center, and Rinoa felt the ground beneath her shaking. What WAS that? She thought, moving forward quietly, pinwheel ready in case she needed to use it. She flinched as she heard a twig break beneath her foot — she had meant to be quieter, sneak up on whatever had made that noise. If it was any worthy monster, it would have heard her for sure. Rounding the corner, she saw a very large, dangerous, and scary looking monster with the appearance of a dinosaur.

"T-Rexaur," she breathed. She had heard that some of the Gardens had this monster, but she had clung desperately to the hope that Balamb Garden was not one of them. The T-Rexaur was a rare monster that was hard to find, and it was very unlikely to come across one because they were so sparse. But in a small training center, it was impossible to NOT run into it eventually. Rinoa tried to remember what she had read in her school book earlier that day in class. It was best to run from the T-Rexaur, because it was very difficult to fight. The best way to beat it, or successfully run away from it, is to cast... sleep. Of course.

Rinoa heard running from behind her, coming closer. She ignored it — T-Rexaur was an enormous foe, and she needed complete concentration to cast sleep on it. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, but soon she shut out all noises. Holding up her hand, she cast the sleep spell on the T-Rexaur. She could feel it trying to fight off the spell, but she held strong, not allowing the spell to be thrown off. She opened her eyes fiercely and backed up a step, lowering her hand. The T-Rexaur began to sway on the spot, and Rinoa turned around to run, running right into the arms of...

Squall. So it was Squall that had been running behind her, maybe even trying to protect her again because he thought she couldn't handle herself. She pushed away from him, saw the stunned look in his eyes at her successfully casting sleep on the T-Rexaur. Rinoa looked down at the ground and saw a shadow growing larger, and suddenly realized that the T-Rexaur was falling towards them.

"Move!" she shouted, running. Squall ran beside her, and they jumped out of the way in time before the T-Rexaur fell to the ground. Breathing heavy now, Rinoa leaned over and tried to catch her breath. She stood up straight and realized Squall was watching her. "What are you doing here?" she asked him suddenly. "It's early; were you following me?" she asked suddenly. Squall came the closest to laughing as she had ever seen him, but he was laughing at her, at the thought of her thinking he had followed her. He seemed to realize what he was doing, though, and caught himself.

"...training." he told her briefly, before walking away. She ran forward, not quite sure if she should bother.

"...so am I. If... we're both here anyway... you are supposed to train me... m-maybe we could get a head start. The quicker I meet their expectations, the quicker I get out of your hair, remember?" Rinoa added lightly. Squall was... not exactly much company, but she didn't know her way around the training center; she could get lost. She was still getting adjusted to her pinwheel, having changed weapons. She could use an extra hand in battling, and she didn't know why, but she wanted to try to talk to Squall. Despite how rude he had been in the past, and even how rude he was being now, she wanted to know what made him that way. When he wasn't completely making her red with anger, his presence was... in an awkward way... comforting.

Rinoa, realizing she had gotten lost in her thoughts, looked up and saw Squall staring at her, and she stared back defiantly. Finally, he sighed.

"...whatever." he replied. Rinoa stood there, confused, when he began to walk away. He turned around, glaring. "...I'm not going to wait for you," he warned, and Rinoa smiled, running up to him.

"...how long do you think the T-Rexaur will be knocked out of it?" Rinoa asked, trying to make some kind of conversation. A caterchipillar snuck up on them, and Squall easily defeated it with a swing of his gunblade. Rinoa felt suddenly very unimpressive compared to Squall's abilities, and sighed. It wasn't her fault she had never been allowed to train properly.

"...your spell was pretty strong," Squall replied finally. Every word he managed to get out looked as it was torturing him, and Rinoa smiled, taking pleasure in watching him try to string words together and form an actual sentence. She was sure he'd go back to ignoring her completely soon, not that he was very talkative now.

"Tha—" Rinoa began thanking him, but he cut her off.

"Long enough to get in some training before it wakes up." Squall told her, and started walking. Rinoa groaned and followed behind him. He couldn't even manage to give a compliment without ruining it. He probably didn't even mean it as a compliment, he probably doesn't even care. Why do I have to train with him? Why not... God, Seifer would be better and everyone knows I can't stand him. Rinoa realized Squall had gone on ahead and narrowed her eyes and let out a cry of frustration.

"Squall, wait up!" she called, running forward. Suddenly, she saw Squall running towards her, and she felt the ground shaking. Oh no! I thought... my spell was powerful enough! Rinoa thought, as she realized that it was the T-Rexaur running towards her. Squall stopped running and turned around, casting a spell on the T-Rexaur, but not Sleep. What's he doing? Rinoa thought suddenly. "Squall! Cast sleep on him!" she shouted. He turned to her, and suddenly she realized it — he couldn't do that spell.

Rinoa stepped forward, and jumped out of the way as the T-Rexaur tried to attack her. Closing her eyes, she felt the power of the spell flowing through her, and she opened her eyes and yelled, "Sleep!" casting the spell on the T-Rexaur. It crashed down again, and Rinoa felt herself being shoved out of the way from its path. She realized it had been Squall, saving her. She smiled gratefully.

"T-thanks," she replied finally. Squall stood up without offering her help up, and narrowed his eyes at the monster.

"That's not right..." he replied quietly. Rinoa looked at him confused as she stood up next to him.

"What's not?" She asked.

"T-Rexaur... your spell was powerful... he shouldn't have woke up from that for at least another hour. Yet he did. You didn't... do anything, did you?" he asked, suddenly turning to her. Rinoa felt her cheeks flush. Did he really think she was that incapable that she would accidentally take a spell off of something?

"No!" she replied defensively. "I can control my magic, can you?" she asked suddenly. She immediately regretted saying that; Squall's glare was ice cold, his expression completely blank, but she knew he was angry. Something had happened with the T-Rexaur, Squall had barely been able to cast the fire spell, and he hadn't even tried sleep.

"...forget it," he replied finally, and he turned around and walked out. Rinoa sank to her knees and sighed. What had she done now?

Several hours later, Rinoa groaned when she heard her alarm clock going off. Noo... she thought tiredly. It isn't fair; my three hours can't be up already! But they were, and she sighed as she threw the covers off of herself and sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes and stretching as she let out an enormous yawn. Glancing at the clock, she turned off the alarm and glared at it, as if somehow it had sped up time as she slept and made her get up earlier than necessary.

Once she was sure that she didn't look completely hideous and what she was wearing was suitable, (even if she was only doing classwork and training, a girl had to look her best!) before heading to her first class.

By the time Rinoa got to her training class later that afternoon, she was already almost running late, and she felt strange as the students stared at her, entering the class. It took her awhile to remember that she would be Squall's training partner, and as this realization hit her hard, she groaned. A few minutes of training just a few hours earlier had been more than enough for her, and she wasn't looking forward to training with him. As the same stricken expression came across Squall's face, Rinoa had a small feeling of pleasure that he was just as discouraged with the arrangement as she was. Good. At least now she wouldn't have to fake her aggressiveness as they trained together.

"Class, I've been asked by the faculty and of course Headmaster Cid to stress again that training sessions are NOT to be treated like actual fights. You are NOT to actually harm your training partner; you are partners, training with each other so that you can work alongside one another later on in the field. You want to be SeeD's? That's great. But you're going to need to learn how to work together if you want to get anywhere in this field. You never know who you're going to be stuck with, or who you may be against, but you need to learn to deal with it. You can't pick who you work with, and those who try will find that they'll soon be considered disposable. You do the job, you do it right, and you don't take it on yourself to get it done — use the help of those working alongside you, it's not a one-man job. Because of some... minor difficulties some people have had in the past... there have been some partner switch-ups. Seifer, you'll now be working with Lyndon Sanders, and Squall will be with Rinoa Heartilly. Lyndon's partner recently dropped out of this course, so there are no needs for anymore mixing up the partners. I don't want to hear about anyone getting injured while training again for any reason. Seifer, Squall — stick to your own partners, and stay out of trouble, okay?" Quistis told them. Some people in the class snickered, but with a hard cold look from Squall that Rinoa noticed, they soon hushed to near dead silence.

As the class headed outside, Rinoa was confronted by a fellow classmate, who was pointing at Squall a few feet ahead of them and giggling.

"I can't believe Instructor Trepe stuck you with him!" the girl whispered to Rinoa. The girl's name, Rinoa later learned, was Mika, and she loved gossiping about all the students at Balamb Garden. Rinoa followed the girls gaze and saw Squall already gaining ground and getting further away from them. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. Jerk.

"Why?" Rinoa asked, feigning naivety, although she knew all too well why the girl couldn't believe that Quistis would stick a new student to the school with what had to be the most anti-social student at the school.

"Because Squall's a loner. I mean, he's a cute loner. Hot, even. But he doesn't talk to anyone! And he takes everything so seriously... you'll probably get a new partner soon, he's so rough on his opponents. Seifer's the only one who can normally train against him and those two are always at each others necks, so it's not like the teachers are overly eager to stick them together. I mean, did you see that cut on Squall's face? I bet that will leave a scar," The girl added. Rinoa had noticed the cut; she had seen when Squall had gotten it, and she shivered as she remembered her first encounter with Squall.

"I've noticed..." Rinoa replied quietly. She saw that already Squall was standing, arms crossed, impatiently waiting. "I better go — bye!" Rinoa shouted, starting to run. The girl shrugged and went on to find her own training partner, and Rinoa was suddenly regretting getting up this morning. I should have stayed in bed and said my alarm clock was broken. Squall was pretty upset with me when I mentioned his magic... Rinoa thought, biting her bottom lip. She got to where Squall had been standing pretty quickly, and she pulled out her pinwheel, getting ready.

"Rinoa..." Squall started to speak, and Rinoa's head shot up in surprise. He was going to talk to her, on his own?

"Yeah?" Rinoa asked, waiting for him to continue. He shook his head and didn't say anything, and instead started to come at her with his gunblade. Rinoa jumped to avoid the attack and shot at him with her pinwheel, narrowly missing his shoulder. She smirked, but it was short lived her glory, for Squall hit her with his sword and cut part of her shirt. She got down to the ground, holding her shoulder, making sure he hadn't touched her skin, and then stood up.

"This is ridiculous," She said suddenly. Squall smirked.

"Yeah? And why's that?" He asked her. Rinoa held up her hand and started muttering words that she knew Squall couldn't understand, and he suddenly seemed suspicious, and backed up away from her. "This isn't magic training," he reminded her. Rinoa didn't say anything to that; she didn't say anything at all except what she was muttering under her breath. Suddenly, magic spurt out and went around their weapons, creating what appeared to be almost a shield. It was in fact something to prevent their weapons from hurting each other, should they 'slip' and actually hit one another when training. Squall didn't know that, though, and he looked at his gunblade, and then glared at Rinoa. "What did you do?" he asked her, suspicious.

"You want to attack me full on, make me train hard, fine, but we're not going to actually hurt each other. You heard the Instructor. All I did was make it so that if you hit me, it won't hurt. I can take the spell off when we're done," Rinoa added. Squall opened his mouth to speak, but ducked as she shot her pinwheel at him. She had aimed to miss, but he didn't know that. "...you can talk, but I'm going to train," She told him, smiling at the dirty look that had suddenly crossed over his face. He started running at her with his gunblade, and he saw Quistis coming up just as he did to watch them train, and the look on her face when she thought that he was going to attack Rinoa.

"Squall, no, this is —" Rinoa jumped out of the way of the attack again, silently congratulating herself on her avoidance skills (hey, you got something sharp and deadly coming at you, you're GOING to get out of the way!) and turned to Quistis.

"It's alright, Instructor!" She shouted, shooting her pinwheel at Squall, missing, and getting struck down to the ground by him. She glared up at him and jumped up, and when she had a chance to look around for Quistis, she was gone.

A/N: So there's the latest chapter and I'll try and have another one out soon for you. R&R!