With a very special Ari-ga-TOU

With a very special Ari-ga-TOU! to Rute for this chapter. She was the one who came up with the whole idea. ^___^ Go leave something in the review thing for 'er.

And… sorry I haven't updated for so long. No excuse, just kinda forgot about it for a long while. O.o;;

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He felt it. Something was wrong. But he didn't try so hard to get out of the infirmary to just go back to Garden again. But… he had to. Then again, Balamb was just metres away, where he would take the earliest train to Deiling. And when had it started to rain? Better hurry it up to the station, don't want a long train journey with soaked clothes. Seifer started off at a steady jog.

But…

He found that he had turned around, and was heading back towards the Garden. And he was sprinting, a hand gripped on Hyperion. The wind was pushing against him, yet beckoning him to carry on. No matter how Seifer pushed reasons through his mind, he couldn't turn back. Not now.

He didn't just head back towards Garden just because he felt like it. Seifer went, because he needed to.

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Throwing her hands out in front of her, Quistis cast a Blizzaga on a Bite Bug. Damn those things. So many of them. And in this weather, a fire spell would be eliminated before it takes effect. But at this rate, she was running out of magic pretty quickly. Save the Queen was lying coiled at her side. It took to long to aim at the darned things. In her situation at that moment, anyway. Or they'd just hover just out of her reach and dive down for an assault too quickly for her to react.

A swift attack against the back of her head brought a veil of darkness across her eyes, as the young instructor fell under the wing of unconsciousness. As the same bug flitted back down to the still form, it seemingly stopped, hovering for a moment before convulsing wildly, then growing limp. It was flung to the side, off the dark blade that had impaled its abdomen. Hyperion was roughly thrown to the wielder's waist. Seifer bent down, gingerly wrapped Quistis in his trench coat, and scooped up the Instructor quickly, almost roughly, before letting his feet take him towards the mobile building that was Garden.

Ignoring the element of water thrown at him from the heavens; the young blond ran for the grand structure. He flinched frequently, the deeper cuts having been torn open from movement. The forceful wind clung to and bit at his arms, his ears, and his back, yet Seifer carried on. The front gate. Finally, he got to the front gate. After running up and down flights of stairs, he arrived by the inner gate. Emerald eyes flicked to the left. The old man was sleeping at his post. Leaning down, Seifer lowered his arms to the floor. They were glowing a slight red, from that damned rain that had caused Instructor Trepe to slip, and be set on by those bugs. Leaving Quists propped up against the post that held the small flap for a gate, Seifer quickly rapped on the glass off the gateway post, before slipping off, unseen, into the oncoming night.

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"Uh…huh? Ooh! What's that?" A wrinkled hand flew up to adjust the cap that rested on a head, only just trimmed with white. Blinking a few times, the bent old man peered down from his post, to see a gray coloured figure. After waddling out of his small box, he walked over to discover the identity of this person. After peering hard, for a short while, blue eyes flew open, before hands were thrown into the air, and bent legs plodded into Garden.

"Doctor! Doctor?! Someone get the doctor!"

A newly turned SeeD spun around to the frantic old man. After taking a few seconds to register what he was asking, and to realise that he wasn't joking around, she sprinted down the hall, towards the infirmary.

Quistis fluttered her eyes open, to just about make out the stout figure of Doctor Kadowaki. Raising an arm to shield her eyes from the onslaught of light, the instructor shuffled to lean on her arm. Then, she felt it. Her leg. The young woman's nose wrinkled slightly, her lips curling into a scowl. Kadowaki calmly gazed down at Quistis. Her soothing voice met gently with Quistis' ears.

"Broken leg. Just lie back down for now."

Quistis did as she was told. With her arm now resting on her forehead, the instructor managed to murmur "How'd I get… here? I don't understand. Did Squall or Irvine come after me?"

The doctor stood up with a clipboard, scribbled a short note before looking down at the young instructor. "No… but speaking of Squall, he should be on his way here now. He'll explain to you. Just relax until he arrives."

Quistis let out a small sigh, before closing her eyes and resting her mind. After what seemed like hours, the door slid open, and a leather clad man stepped in. Stepping towards Quistis' bed, he sat on a small wooden placed there by Kadowaki, before checking to see whether the instructor was alright or not, then set to explaining the event.

"We found you by the entrance about an hour ago, and Kadowaki has only managed to bandage your leg for the while. We also found Almasy's coat with you." Quistis noted the furrowing of Squall's eyebrows and the slight twitch of his lip. He really didn't like that guy. "We expect that he was the one who brought you back, also the one who hurt yo-"

"Why would he have brought me back if he hurt me?" Questioned Quistis. "Anyway, I know he didn't. I… slipped in a puddle and fell. I don't know who or what knocked me out. Best bet is the cold or the bite bugs. I couldn't see or hear Seifer anywhere near me all the time I was sitting there."

Squall just blinked. He gave a small cough before continuing. "He's obviously hurt, a sample of blood that had dropped onto Garden grounds have been quickly analysed, and it doesn't match yours. There has been no report of Almasy entering Balamb, and he is definitely not in Garden. The weather conditions have worsened over the last hour, and we are in possession of his outer wear." The commander let out a sigh. "We should bring him back. Since you say he actually in a way helped you. We should return the favour." Quistis noted the hesitation, but smiled inwardly as she mentally congratulated Squall for letting the past go.

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Eeee. I've been not writing this chapter for longtime now. But! With a helpful reminder from Rute, I actually remembered to. Ari-ga-TOU again!