4th mission - BALAMB Garden/or Shinji dreams then goes back to school.

Eerie; as peculiar as it might seem, that was the best way to describe this. The only sound was that of metal clashing against metal, sparks ignited by the scraping of the two gun-sword hybrids. The busy and colorful and noisy streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil were far from that warehouse which was completely empty, except for the two young boys lethally dancing with each other. The blond young man, with olive skin and green eyes, pivoted on his left foot, turning on himself using the weight of his lighter, more agile gunblade, swiped the air where the head of the dark haired boy with blue eyes was just a moment before. From his lowered position, he let his heavier, sturdier gunblade scrape the floor as he pushed his blade upward, intending to cleave his opponent, but again only air was met as the blonde easily side stepped the upward blow and again, using momentum, he pivoted and brought his blade on the shorter boy only for him to quickly dodge with a forward roll, putting some distance between them. Hard, firm eyes met cold, calculating ones as the boy slowly raised from the ground, heaving his gunblade on his shoulder in a seemingly relaxed stance, while his opponent simply had his blade beside him, pointing the floor, not moving, just observing his enemy.

"You got better." Said the blonde, eyeing the young soldier as he started moving around him, slowly but firmly, as a beast studying his soon to be meal. Only silence met his statement, which brought a mirthless smile on his dark skinned face. He flexed his left hand, a movement not unnoticed by his always moving opponent, letting magic flow on his fingers, "I don't supposed you might be peacefully persuaded to just go away, right ?" Again only silence was heard, his fingers were clenching and unclenching as invisible energy was coiling around them.

"We're fellow students after all, do you seriously want to keep fighting me ?" Asked with now a clearly amused smile the blonde boy.

The dark haired boy finally stopped circling around him, then, in one fluid movement, pointed his blade at his fellow sword master, "We are not fellow students. You stopped being one when you turned into a traitor."

With mirth never leaving the boy's face, he lifted his gunblade in similar fashion to the dark haired soldier while his fingers never stopped flexing, "And so they sent you after me, a newly appointed SeeD. Tell me, have you ever told our dear headmaster how you never, and I stress never, bested me in combat ?"

"That was just training." Answered the boy without missing a beat.

The smile on the blonde's face never left but changed in a way, amusement made space for coldness, a dark sinister smile now adorned the thin lips of the fair headed boy, "And what do you think all of this is for me, Shinji ?"

Shinji didn't have time to answer as he was forced to raise his gunblade, just in time to block a fireball heading for his face. The blow made him take a few steps back, he regained his balance just in time to block a downward slash aiming to split his skull in two, leaving his whole body unprotected. His opponent capitalized on the opening and kicked Shinji on his stomach, hard; Shinji could only let out a 'oof' as the heel of the blond warrior met the side of his temple, with enough force to push him on the ground. Positively seeing stars from this roundhouse kick, Shinji still managed to roll himself away from the following stab, intended to pierce his stomach, and as he quickly pushed himself up he casted fire at his opponent, which was readily avoided by jumping impossibly high in the air, aided by a float spell. Full of adrenaline, it was like the whole world was moving in slow motion for Shinji.

The blond boy moving in the air ever so slowly as magic gathered itself again on his hand, instinct screamed hell inside Shinji's head as suddenly the flow of time regained its normal speed, and a huge ball of fire, easily ten times bigger of the previous fire spell, urged toward him. Instinctively shouting haste, his powered leg muscles and reaction time got him far enough to avoid being blasted to bits but not far enough to completely avoid the blast, getting pushed into the air by the force of the hellish ball. He started to roll on the ground to minimize the damage, then with one quick push, he got up again and dashed, still powered from his spell, toward his enemy.

Against all odds, the blond boy managed to intercept the inhumanly fast slash intended to cut his head off, and responded trying to kick Shinji's face with the plant of his foot, but this time Shinji's was ready and deflected the leg with his arm, then just as quickly, he put said arm around his leg and pushed it tight against his body, effectively blocking it. He slashed downward, intending to cleave the blond's boy leg off, but the boy raised his own blade just in time to parry the heavier gunblade, then, with a flicker of wrist, launched his own gunblade toward Shinji's face, a move so sudden that if it wasn't for the haste spell still powering him, he'd now have the tip of his enemy gunblade on the other side of his head, with his eye on it. Not missing a moment, the blond haired boy launched himself with his supporting leg, trying to kick Shinji's face, but he was simply town off before he could connect. As soon as the boys had disengaged, Shinji rushed forward, magic still powering him. He seemingly stabbed the air in front of him, then he pulled the trigger of his gunblade; heating from the vibrations, the blade got red, and, aiding itself with Shinji's energy, rushed forward with extreme speed, point aiming at its weilder opponent's heart. Albeit managing to avoid the fatal blow, not even his incredible speed could leave him completely unscathed, and so with pained eyes and a small grimace, he could only watch as the heavy gunblade pierced his shoulder. He couldn't help but hissing in pain as he felt the super-heated blade inside burning his flesh.

Shinji let a very small grim smile twist his lips, he had defeated Lucas, former prodigy of Balamb Garden. Never in his years of training had he managed to accomplish such a feat. Fighting with Lucas was like fighting with the ocean or the sky, you simply couldn't defeat the sky or the sea, you can't even compare to those things after all. That's how Shinji always felt. He hated it, it made him feel powerless, made him remember how he felt when his father abandoned him. A chuckle made itself clear in the empty warehouse.

Shine watched with firm and always attentive eyes as his enemy started to laugh, not a hearty one but a low, rumbling and sinister one.

"You've grown Shinji, Commander Squall trained you well, eh ?" A small pained hiss escaped his mouth as he felt the hot blade slowly twist into his shoulder. "Aren't you a sadistic one; that really hurts, you know ?"

"That's the plan Lucas," Said Shinji with a bland voice. "And don't call him commander, you're not part of the Garden anymore. You will be brought in for your crimes though.."

A very sharp pain surged from Shinji's elbow through his whole body, in a blink of the eye Lucas dislocated his elbow with an extremely fast e precise punch. He didn't even have the time to curse himself for losing focus, and ask how the hell did he manage to move like that with a blade piercing one of his shoulder, that he felt Lucas' hand constricting his throat. He tried to to punch Lucas, but he was held at arms length: he kicked him, punched his arm, but nothing moved the smiling teen. The pain from the elbow didn't help at all. With a pained grimace, Lucas used his injured arm to get the gunblade off his shoulder, he grabbed the blade and with one quick pull, he yanked it off then tossed it aside. A loud clang resonated in the warehouse as the blade, red with blood, came to a stop a few meters from them.

Blood poured off him but Lucas paid no mind to it, he watched as Shinji, blue faced, was slowly losing consciousness, his attempts to free himself growing weaker and weaker.

"It seems I won't be brought anywhere." Said Lucas as Shinji stopped squirming, the lost of oxygen draining his remaining strength. "Instead, you will be with me a little while longer. No worries, you will not die. We have a lot to talk about, lots of catching up and all that" Said the teen as if he never was impaled with a sword.

The feeling of dread as he passed out, that feeling would never be forgotten by Shinji's sub-consciousness.


Cold sweat and shivers traversed his body as he stared at the wall. He bolted upright just moments ago, a familiar feeling of dread permeated his mind. It was several months ago he last had this dream, painful memories of a very near past. He…disliked those memories; his first mission, apprehend a former student, turned traitor, failed. The consequence of his failure were grave for himself, not for his career but for the scars that were left from it, literal scars. He didn't even notice his hand rubbing the scar on his leg. He took a look at the clock on the desk not so distant from himself, 4.30 o'clock; the sun wasn't even up yet. Feeling restless, Shinji got up, the dream always did that to him; it always woke him up in the middle of the night or in the very early morning and made him feel restless and with a weird sour taste in his mouth. He needed a shower, a cold one. As soon as the cold water hit his body he felt better, revitalized; he had energy to spare, he needed to unload, he didn't want to go to…school…feeling like this. He hastily dried his body and wore a simple black tracksuit and white running shoes and got out.

He wasn't overly fond of jogging, it was an excellent way to stay in shape and so he did that, but he didn't find joy in it. It did let him unload his energy while literally thinking of nothing though and that was exactly what he needed right now. Shinji breathed in the chilly air as he jogged throughout the almost empty streets of Tokyo-3, Bach blasting his senses with melodious cellos playing through earbuds. He loved music, he discovered the classic masters through his caretaker before he enrolled into Garden; music was one of the only things that eased his mind, which was mostly occupied with missions and training. He used to have an SDAT given it to him by his father, he threw it away on his fifth birthday. Quistis gave him a much more practical mp3 player. To this day, he never changed it, sweet memories were locked into this small listening device as it was the first real gift given it to him by a loved person, since he couldn't really remember his mother all that much, while his father.. well he could hardly be called a loved person, plus, if he ever received a present from that person, Shinji couldn't even remember it.

He began to slow down, the sun has risen and he was getting close to Misato's apartment. His thoughts weren't clouded anymore by his dreams, he needed to be focused on the present mission, not on past ones. He entered the building and soundlessly went up the stairs. As soon as he got inside the apartment he started undressing and headed toward the bathroom, ready to take the second shower of the day, this time a warm one. After drying himself he went to take his school uniform, with quite some distaste for it, he felt so.. bratty in it. He was still a teenager, but he couldn't consider himself a kid, even as he was technically one. He had seen and done things that no kid usually see or do. Shinji quickly put the horrible uniform on then went to have some breakfast, setting up for Misato as well. A few slices of bread with cherries jam and orange juice. Just as he took his first bite, a zombie looking remarkably like Misato entered the kitchen, head low and half closed lids, wearing only shorts and a tank top, no bra as Shinji gingerly, and with a bit of guilt and embarrassment, noted.

"Morning'" Said Shinji as he pushed a slice of bread toward Misato, as she sat herself to his right. She mumbled something incoherent and began to munch on her breakfast; she took a couple of bites then began to search for something on the table, not finding what she was searching for, she turned to the top of the kitchen, eyes searching for something that seemed to be of high importance to Shinji's curious eyes. Misato turned her head toward Shinji with confused and pleading eyes, it was obvious that there was something of vital importance that was missing.

"….Coffee ?" Asked Misato with low, raucous voice. Shinji had to stifle a snort as he listened to her pleading voice, "Haven't thought of making it, sorry." Said Shinji, clearly not feeling sorry at all. Misato almost growled, but resumed to eat, she was still too sleepy to make some herself, so she gave up to the notion that she wouldn't have coffee to start the day. "What kind of breakfast is this, with jam and juice but no coffee ?" She grumbled. "A good one." Answered Shinji with an almost dry tone. Misato actually growled at that. It wasn't like Shinji didn't like the beverage, he simply enjoyed other things for breakfast. Although he might start brewing coffee from now on for the irascible woman in front of him, it might spare him in the future the very foul look he was receiving.

"You should hurry up soldier, you'll be late for school." Misato took a lot of satisfaction from the scowl in her younger roommate, sweet revenge was hers, for he did dare overlook the importance of the best morning starter. Other than beer, that is.


It was a relatively short walk. Shinji had droned to his destination, impassible, hiding all the dislike he had for this situation. He was a SeeD, if some mission parameters were..unpleasant then he'd just suck it up and deal with it. He did admit, seeing all those kids in the school grounds kind of reminded of his own, albeit with very very different subjects taught. He strode in the corridor, in search of his own classroom, aware of the attention he was receiving, especially from the female population; he was the new kid there, and quite handsome too for the girls there. High stature, fit lean body, sky blue eyes, it was no surprise, really. The young SeeD was aware of his good looks, he never honestly did think much of them though, growing learning about warfare, espionage and guerrilla, taught to man and woman alike, did that to a guy. Good looks were useful too, although he was simply too young to effectively use them in some kind of mission. He arrived in front of his class and got in.

A cheery chattering greeted him as soon as he came in, boys talking with boys, girls talking with girls and a few boys and girls talking among themselves. A lone figure stood out the most, she was sitting beside the window, an expression of utmost boredom adorned her otherwise pretty face. She had a bandage on her left eye, the other gazing out of the window, the most brilliant red Shinji had ever seen. As if she could feel his gaze of her figure she turned her head toward the boy, their gaze met and lingered for a lone second, then she seemingly lost interest and went back to look outside the window while Shinji simply shrugged and went to find a free chair to sit on. Chatter quieted down for a bit as the child soldier got inside, curious looks from both boys and (especially) girls followed him as he sat down. A freckled girl got closer, wearing a small shy smile, "Hello."

Shinji raised his gaze to met hers, his intense and always focused gaze on her eyes, almost making her take a step back, brilliant blue eyes on her; feeling shyer Hikari resolved herself to talk, since it seemed that the boy in front of her was resoluted not to do that, "I'm Horaki Hikari, class representative. You're a new student, right ?"

The new boy was making her nervous, for his bored, uninterested look or for his good looks, she couldn't say. She was about to give up when she finally heard his answer, "I am. Ikari Shinji, nice to meet you." Hikari felt relieved to finally hear him answer; he still seemed slightly bored but at least his expression came a tad more relaxed. She smiled, "Nice to meet you too ! For any doubts, feel free to ask me." she was the class rep, she took her role very very seriously, and he was quite handsome which didn't hurt at all. All her cheer vanished when she heard a voice interrupt them, "Trying to hit on the new guy, class rep ?" Asked Suzuhara Toji. Just like a clear blue sky could suddenly turn into gray and rainy so the smile on her face turned into a scowl; few people managed to irk her as much as he does, a boy she was crushing on for a long time at that. Oh, the irony.

"I'm simply being nice to a new student, Suzuhara-kun. Opposite to you, there are people who deserves it," She answered with quite the acid tone at which he openly growled. They two started bickering with each other, nobody really paid attention to them, it was probably an usual occurrence thought Shinji not all that interested, frankly, after all he'd done and seen, teenager bickering was really boring to him.

"Don't mind them, they always do this." Said a new voice to Shinji's left. He turned and saw a boy standing beside him, blond messy hair and round glasses his most distinguishable features, a wide grin on his face. Shinji wasn't really minding them in the first place but he didn't feel the need to point that out to the admittedly slightly dorky boy. "Must be a married couple thing." That comment from the blond boy got quite a few chuckles from those who heard him and an embarrassed and affronted look from the bickering duo, Shinji couldn't care less. "Aida-kun !" Squeaked the class rep, a light blush making space on her cheeks, "Ken-man, c'mon ! Of all the pretty ladies, don't you put me with the class rep !" Said Toji instead just as embarrassed, his comment though attracted a very sour look from Hikari, who replied in an even sourer tone, "As if I wanted to be paired off with a brute such as you." She then did a complete 180 and stalked off toward her seat. Ken shook his head in apparent disappointment toward his best friend, while actually laughing internally, "Toji, Toji.. You'll never win her heart if you keep your brutish behavior with her." Said Ken, whereupon Toji raised his fist in a menacing manner and a scowl on his face. Ken raised his hands in a placating manner then went back to Shinji, "So, what made you join our lovely school ? I've never seen you around." - "Especially now that science fiction shit's going in Tokyo-3." Said Toji with good measure still looking at Ken feeling kind of annoyed. Shinji shrugged, he wasn't interested in making friends to be honest, as soon as his assignment was over he would go back to Garden after all. It didn't hurt to blend in though.

"I'm not from here. I transferred a little while ago, moments before that monster attacked the city actually.." It was technically true thought Shinji, as the two boys observed him. "Jeez, talk about being unlucky.." Said Toji, Kensuke, instead, had a wide grin on his face, "Unlucky ? At the contrary ! You guys did see that robot, right ? It was awesome !" Shinji looked at Ken with wide eyes, what part of that battle was awesome ? As much as he did a good job, being the first time he piloted and all, he knew there were several collateral damage. Toji shook his head exasperated, "Only you would think of that as awesome Ken…" Shinji was compelled to agree with Toji.

"Nonsense." Said Ken with a wide grin plastered on his face, "C'mon guys, giant robots fighting against giant monsters ! Basically, all we dreamt about when we were kids." Concluded Ken with an even wider grin. "Yeah, when we were kids." Said exasperated Toji, "Wonder who's the pilot of that thing." Ken kept on, seemingly ignoring Toji completely, not looking remotely worried at his menacing growl at being ignored. Shinji felt compelled to say something there, while it was not a strict secret about being the pilot of EVA, he just didn't think that the extra attention that would ensue would be beneficial to the mission. "Who tells you there's a pilot ?" - "Huh ?" Ken had an expression of confusion on his face while Toji looked at him with curious eyes. "Think about it," Said Shinji, "They managed to build a monstrosity like that, it's not that much of a stretch to think of it as pilotless right ? Maybe it might even be remotely controlled, who knows." Concluded Shinji with a shrug. Toji nodded with understanding, agreeing with Shinji, Ken kept grinning instead. "While your reasoning is sound Shinji-I can call you Shinji right ?" Seeing Shinji shrug unbothered by his familiarity, as Shinji hadn't grown up in Japan and thus never acquired the need to use japanese honorifics, he pressed on "I know for certain that there is a pilot." Shinji raised an eyebrow at that, wondering how Ken could be so sure of that information. "My dad works at Nerv, he's an engineer." Concluded Ken with an even wider grin. Shinji mentally sighed, 'that's that.' he though irritated, then he asked the obvious question. "Do you know anything else about this pilot ?" He asked simulating at the best of his capabilities a curious tone. He did good as Ken nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Hear this, the pilot is a dude our age !" Shinji mentally growled, while it's true that nobody made his pilot identity a secret, anybody could see that keeping their mouth shut about it would only be beneficial, he needed to have a talk with Ken's dad, before he babbled about his other identity being the pilot. At least there was no mention of SeeDs yet.

Kensuke started babbling about the awesomeness of giant robots, kid pilots and monsters, with Toji only mildly interested, both of them still in close proximity of the young SeeD, why, Shinji didn't know. Shinji tuned the enthusiastic boy completely off while his eyes turned on the red eyed girl. Ayanami Rei, Misato briefed him about her. Albino, red eyes, aloof and with no apparent social skills, the girl was unusual to say the least. Still, it seemed like it was a common feature for EVA pilots. Although unusual wasn't the only feature of the albino girl. Something about her was…off. He couldn't very well describe it, but he knew there was something strange, his battle hardened instincts whispering worried in his head. He didn't think she would be trouble though, not for the mission anyway. His father might be a heartless bastard, but a fool he was not. She would help slay the Angels, of that he was sure. He made a mental note of keeping an eye on her.

And so, with a shy class rep, a weird fellow EVA pilot, a babbling dork, a brutish jock, to use the class rep words, and a droning, utterly boring teacher that cam moments later, Shinji's second first day of school went on.

end of chapter 4…

As i stated in the first chapter, the title is based of ff8 soundtrack. Balamb garden is heard in, well, balamb garden, basically SeeD school, so there's the connection with the chapter.

So, there's an ugly thing called college, right ? And there's an even uglier thing called writer block, right ? Well, I've got both. Luckily i seem to have got around to this chapter, which is still quite shorter than what i intended it to be, but I wanted to publish something as soon as possible, so… And, in a good note, I at least know how to structure the next one with the material I was going to use in here, so the timing should be MUCH shorter !

Stay tuned and please, for the love of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus Christ, let me know what you think of this lil story of mine ! Every notification of a new story alert of someone putting this thing in their favorites is a a moment of pride for me but seriously, i need the reception. Let me try to get better in this, the best way for me to do that,other than write,write and write, is to read your reviews, positive or negative they may be. So keep em coming! Thanks to everybody reading this, till next time.