Early in the morning of a Balamb Garden hallway was the distant footsteps of a young SeeD candidate. He knew he had plenty of time to get to class, but today was a day like no other, it sent chills up his spine just thinking about it.
The written portion of the SeeD Exam, sure, if he passed this one he would have to go through the field Exam, but that was only if he passed. And how did he know he would pass the field Exam as well? Many Students failed miserably every year after the Field exam, making their hopes of becoming SeeD's mere dreams. Why even those who had what it took, like Seifer Almasy who he heard had taken it four times, failed the exam again and again. It was something to be feared, and this student didn't like it.
The brown haired cadet entered the classroom to receive an expected nod from the instructor. He then sat down with his book to get whatever last bits and pieces of information he needed. Soon more students flooded into the classroom. It wasn't long after that that the bell rang and the kids stood around talking about the tension and excitement of possibly becoming a SeeD. The lone boy however took no notice to them as he read his research notes over and over again.
"Good Morning Class!" The instructor greeted.
No one spoke back in return. It seemed they were all getting themselves mentally prepared for the exam.
"Today is the SeeD Exam, please log onto your usernames and wait for further instructions"
The boy put his notes down and sighed as he entered his user data onto the screen.
Username:KS48245
Password:
Student KAIN confirmed…
Loading please wait…
As soon as Kain was logged into the system a screen popped up indicating that he was being sent to the test's website.
"You may begin as soon as the questions appear. Good luck."
Kain's gray eyes stared at the screen as it changed to a page full of questions and bubbles. To the side was a timer indicating how long he had to finish before his results were forwarded.
Setting his hands on the keyboard the boy started the exam hoping to pass.
Sunshine warmed his face, welcoming him to another day. Slowly Squall opened his eyes, taking in the scenery of his bedroom. He looked over at his clock and slapped his forehead as punishment.
"Great. I forgot the written test was today, now I'm late."
He wasted no time getting ready. Once he was out the door he bolted down the hallway toward the SeeD conference room where Xu, Nida, Quistis, and a couple of other high rank SeeDs greeted him.
"I see Nida's message was in vain after all," Xu teased.
"It's not his fault" Squall said sitting down at a chair.
"Seems like you're just in time though Squall, the results should be coming in very shortly." Said Xu
"Yeah lucky you that we can take care of everything else by ourselves!" Nida said proudly. Xu glared at him, and then looked at the huge computer screen at the end of the room.
"It looks like the files are uploading. Nida, please go over the directions with Squall for this years exam"
Nida nodded and stepped in front of Squall still bearing a proud look on his face. He cleared his throat and started to recite the rules
"This year approximately 235 students are taking the written exam. The exam itself has a limit of 200 questions of multiple answers. Only those with the average of 195 points or higher can pass to the Field Exam. There are five different sections of the test:
Basic Knowledge of Magic
Handling a G.F.
History of the Sorceress' and the world
Combat knowledge and Remedies
Ways of Transportation"
Xu spoke up "So do you have all of that, Squall? Here's the answer sheet. You'll take group 2" she handed Squall his papers. He nodded and sat down near a computer to start checking his tests.
All the SeeD's were still in the room a few hours later, glued to their computers as they checked each test properly.
"This is taking forever…I've been checking these tests for hours…and so far no one's passed." Squall sighed and continued checking his current test. His hands hurt and he wanted so badly to get out of that room and do something else, anything else but this.
"How are you doing Squall?" Said Quistis coming up from behind him, she clutched a warm mug of coffee in her hands.
The taciturn cadet looked at his current test and resumed checking the final answers before submitting the score. Quistis leaned over Squall's shoulder and smiled broadly.
"Wow! A perfect score! That's rare. In fact I think the last ones to get such a score would be… you and Seifer two years ago."
"Seifer had already taken the test 3 times before that though…whatever…. at least I got ONE passing test"
"Keep up the good work Squall; we'll be done in no time!" Quistis said walking away to go check on the others, apparently she had already finished her test checking. Squall failed to see how she could do so much in such little time.
"Aww man! I thought I was going to pass that test for sure!" Said a young SeeD candidate outside the dorm rooms.
"It's not surprising, all you did was goof off the whole week before the exam," A girl explained to him.
Kain walked passed them trying to stay calm. On the outside he didn't talk much, and could even be described as cold, but on the inside, his emotions were surging. Reluctantly he walked through the hallways and straight to his homeroom class. He figured he would wait to see if his appetite would be ruined by the results.
Since it was a beautiful Saturday morning the only students in the classrooms were ones that wanted to use the desk panels, talk with the instructor, or, like Kain, find out their exam results.
"Good Morning Kain" his instructor greeted in her cheerful way.
Kain smiled and sat down at a desk terminal. Once he logged on he took a deep breath and entered his inbox.
"What the…" Kain couldn't believe his eyes, after just one try and one night of cramming every single note into his head, he had passed the written SeeD exam. He noticed an attachment on his E-mail. Once he opened it he realized that it was actually the commander, Xu, congratulating him on his perfect score.
"Dear student Kain,
I happily congratulate you on your excellent performance on the written SeeD exam. Please bear in mind that the Field exam is on Monday. I hope that your performance on the battlefield is as great as your knowledge.
Warm regards,
Xu, Commander and Vice Headmaster of Balamb Garden Academy."
"Short and to the point" Kain thought as he continued reading the information on the Field exam. By the time he had logged out of his screen name, he had made the decision to meet Xu face to face, if he became a SeeD.
On his way to the cafeteria, Kain could tell that a majority of the students had failed their written exam. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt a sense of pride over them all, especially since he had spent the whole week before them exam at the Quad.
By the time Kain had gotten his place in line at the cafeteria he could tell that he would be late for the school hot dogs. Of course he knew most of them went to the high rank SeeD Zell Dincht alone. That was all right, Kain wasn't a huge fan of them anyway, although he would admit they were the best around.
"Just think, in a few days I'll be taking the SeeD Exam. Then I'll finally see if I'm cut out for this…or not."
