Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter isn't much in my opinion. It's just to show that this fic is going to be more versatile cast-wise than its predecessor. Really, it's just about how life is going for the refugees onboard the Garden.

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She played with the fringes of the jacket she had been given that day. It was a day that changed her whole life. Somehow, she had gone from her home in Kalm to the Shinra HQ at Junon. AVALANCHE and some people from SeeD helped her escape. A few even died in the process. What caused her the most trouble was simply why. Why had she been taken from her home, and why couldn't she remember being kidnapped? Why did Shinra want her? And, most currently, why did the man with spiky blonde hair keep staring at her?

It had started with glances whenever they passed in the hall. Harmless enough, she believed. It soon became much more. Whenever she turned a corner, he would be there. Nothing was ever said, but his eyes were on her at all times. She knew who he was. Who didn't? Cloud Strife had been the one to save the world from Sephiroth.

That didn't explain why he was stalking her.

Eisis pulled the leather duster tighter around her body and sped past him to the cafeteria for her daily rations. Even though she, like most of the survivors of the escape from Shinra, wasn't a member of the SeeD program, Trabia Garden had allowed her to stay onboard. Apparently, there was some disease going around that killed people and then resurrected them as brainless cannibals. How long it would be until the mobile military academy fell prey to what the rest of the world was suffering from was only a matter of time.

Quietly, as had become the custom of everyone as of late, she grabbed her tray and joined the line of students, SeeDs, and faculty alike. Nobody stared at her, each wrapped up in thoughts and worries of their own families. How she longed to be reunited with her own. She didn't know anyone, and nobody was friendly to her. They weren't unkind to her, either, just indifferent. The only people that paid attention to her were her stalker and the other refugees. There was one boy in particular, a young man with white hair, who often flirted with her. He would smile and tell her how pretty she was. It was much more pleasant to experience than the scrutinizing gaze of her other admirer.

"Are you well, today?"

A smile played at her lips as the subject of her thoughts joined her in line. He had possessed deeply tanned skin when they first met, but in the ensuing month it had paled to almost the same hue as his hair.

"I'm fine," she muttered nervously. Everyone said that she looked like her father, but that Eisis had inherited her mother's extreme shyness. The girl was far from outgoing. "How are you?"

He grinned at her as a pile of mashed potatoes was dumped onto her tray. The cafeteria lady grunted and slapped some of the spuds onto the young man's tray as well. Both grabbed a sandwich before sitting in the secluded part of the cafeteria that they always did. It has become such a habit that Eisis's meals had become the highlight of her day. The rest was spent either asleep or working in the library. It was a mindless task meant to keep her out of the way. Not that she minded. Eisis found that she needed something to do to make the days pass.

"I am wonderful, now that I am sharing the company of such an attractive woman such as yourself," he said before sticking his spoon into the molehill of potatoes. Each resident of the Garden had been given a set of dinnerware during the first week of the siege. It was the individual's responsibility to look after it, though how the utensils were obtained was still a bit of a mystery.

"How are the floors?"

His grin drooped a little, but he remained polite. "It is as well as one is to expect. Dull work meant for simpletons and a waste of my aptitude, but what can I do? My orders are mine alone. Still, a Vance is meant not for common drudgery."

"Shall I say grace today?" Eisis wondered. Despite the fact that Gardens were typically viewed as places of death, what with their mercenary training programs, religion was still an important part of many of the students' lives. However, Eisis and her companion were firmly in the minority when it came to their own personal beliefs. SeeDs and students of Gardens were almost always followers of Hyne. That was not the faith that the two friends subscribed to.

"Everything sounds better coming from a woman's mouth."

Eisis dropped her head, closed her eyes, and took his hands in hers. "Great and benevolent Soa, the fruit of your Tree of Life continues to grow in these dim times. We thank you for the blessings we receive each day. Hunter and I thank you for this food that sustains us, and the protection we receive amongst these peoples. Our gratitude has no limits. In your Holy name, we dedicate this day and every one that follows to you."

When she finished, Eisis look up and gasped. Standing behind Hunter was Cloud, still staring at her. A chill went down her spine.

"Is something amiss?" Hunter asked, turning around and seeing only Cloud leaning against a wall and watching the younger people eat. He turned back around with a huge grin on his face. It wasn't the usual one that he had whenever he had just ogled one of the many girls in their mini-skirts. This was his patented Cloud-is-here smirk. It was a testament to the greatness he felt the man held. "Is it believable that he would decide to remain here? He could have left with his pilot friend on the helicopter and gone to the Gold Saucer. Why would he remain behind?"

She felt sick. Everything that Hunter had just said was true, but she knew one thing he didn't. She knew why Cloud had stayed. It was her. Though he never said it or spoke to her, she knew.

"I'm not feeling well," she said quietly as she stood up and pushed her potatoes away. Hunter looked from the tray to her and back to the tray before asking if she was okay. "A nap should fix me up. I should probably get some sleep before I go to the library, anyway."

"What about your food?" Hunter asked as he pointed to the white mound with his spoon. "You know that you cannot take it from the cafeteria unless you are of a high rank."

Cloud caught her eye again and she dug her nails into the sleeves of her jacket. "You can have it. I'm not that hungry. Besides, you shouldn't be so pale. You might be getting sick."

"Are you confident that you are not in need of medical care? I can escort you to Dr. Welsh," offered the snowy-haired teen. "It is not far."

"Really, I'm fine," she lied before rushing out of the cafeteria. All the while, she knew she was being watched.

---

"The girl still has not spoken to you?"

Quistis shook her head and leaned back into her sofa. The man standing in the chair across from her wiped his gun off with his tattered red cape before returning it to one of the many holsters on his body. She doubted that even he knew just how many there were.

"She hasn't volunteered anything. And after her interruption of the ceremony yesterday… I'm just running out of ideas of what to do with her. Why can't you just tell me what they did to her while we at Shinra?" the Instructor asked. "We've known each other for awhile, Vincent. It's time that you were honest with me."

He scoffed and set another of his guns on the glass table between them. The significance of the gesture was not missed.

"We can kick you out of here, you know. Just drop you off on any island that we choose," the woman threatened with absolutely passion. It was hollow, and they both knew it.

"There is not much that I can tell you," he admitted before looking directly into Quistis's eyes. "And it is not my place to tell you what I can. All I can say is that this girl, this Antessence, is very troubled. She experienced horrors that rival even my own. No to mention her own personal losses. She is without friends or family, yes?"

"Many are," Quistis confirmed sadly.

"You?"

She was taken aback slightly by the question. Nobody brought up her friends around her anymore. Whether it was because they were simply too concerned with their own relatives and companions or they knew the pain thinking about them caused her was unclear. "I have Xu, Nida, and Matron."

Vincent's face remained void of any expression as he asked his next question. "What about family? Surely, you have relatives somewhere."

"No. I was in an orphanage. My family was slaughtered during the second Sorceress War." It wasn't something that brought any sadness to the woman. She had never known them. They were merely facts for her.

A small grin found its way onto Vincent's face, but only for a moment before disappearing. "Were you not adopted? Do you not have another family somewhere in the world?"

The thought of her adoptive family was something that did stir feelings in Quistis.

"Why are we talking about me? We're here about Antessence," Quistis reminded her acquaintance. "You're the one hiding information about one of the residents of this Garden."

"You cannot lecture me. I am not one of your students. If you wish to retain my counsel, you would do well to remember that."

"Just answer me this." Quistis could feel the beginning of a headache and was not eager to have someone around to irritate it. "Why is it so important that I talk with her? Why can't someone else, Matron, perhaps, deal with it?"

"That is simple enough." Vincent chuckled. "She likes you."

Quistis shook her head. "She doesn't like me. Not anymore, anyway. You saw what happened yesterday. She all but attacked me."

"But she didn't, did she?" Vincent posed. "The girl is clearly one with violent tendencies. Why she did not react so violently with you as she did those young men is obvious. What isn't obvious is just how much she likes you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He just smiled and leaned back into his chair.

"You don't think she could…"

"Could what? Be in love with you? Definitely not. I saw how she looked at that girl's body back in Junon. That is not how she looks at you. She holds admiration, not infatuation.

---

She looked the book over and chewed on the end of her pencil. Even though the world had indeed gone to hell, that didn't mean that classes had ended. She still had to learn. Why that meant the study of the creation of Materia she didn't know. It was illegal to create Materia through Mako concentration anymore, anyway. The Arklay Conventions had seen to tha"Hey, Satis," a girl with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail said brightly as she sat beside her friend. "Laen just told me that you've been placed in another room. Is it true?"

The teen sighed as she wrote an interesting line from the book onto a piece of paper. She did have an important test the next day, and the events of the current day weren't doing anything to calm her down. "Yeah. Matron told me, personally."

"Really?"

Edea, the Headmistress, insisted on being called Matron, choosing a more familial model in the running of the Garden, as opposed to her husband's more academic musings or Martine's insistence on military protocols. The students were happy to oblige. It was more relaxing for them than the traditional title.

"Did I not just say so? And people say I don't listen."

"No, it's Renea who doesn't listen. How is she, by the way?"

Satis laughed and set her pencil down. She had hoped to get some quiet by studying in the library, but it seemed that wouldn't happen. "You would know better than me."

"Right, I keep forgetting about that," her friend said. "So, who's your new roommate?"

"You remember that bald chick from the other day?"

"The one from the memorial service? No way. Why would Matron stick you with her?"

She scratched her ear and stuck the pencil behind it. "Something about our unique histories. Something tells me that it might be more about Renea than me, though. Nobody ever wants to worry about the good one. It's all about Renea. Renea this. Renea that. I wish someone would just get rid of her already."

"Why don't you?" the girl inquired.

"You think I haven't tried? I can't. Renea is one of those things that just won't die. She makes my life a living hell. Remember when she beat up Instructor Ross?" Satis groaned. "Nobody would speak to me for a week."

"It's not like we blame you for what she does. People here just expect you to have some sort of influence over what her. She doesn't exactly respect the whole chain of command."

The green-haired girl closed her book and looked up at the clock. "Shit! I was supposed to be in the training centre twenty minutes ago!"

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A/N: It's a little short, and the ending is weird, but I just didn't know what to do with this chapter. It never really found a foundation. The whole Eisis being stalked by Cloud thing is interesting, though. Isn't it? What am I going to do with that?