So far so good…
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Fifty Days
Chapter 3: A New Day
Quistis stood outside of the Training Centre, trying to resist the urge to pace as Seifer noticeably failed to turn up on time. Where was he?
Almost automatically now, she closed her eyes slightly and chanted under her breath. A small barely visible blue glow surrounded her for a second and then faded. She sighed. She had found Cures were easier and more simple than pills.
Footsteps alerted her to his presence long before his voice did. She was turning in his direction before he had opened his mouth. "And were have you been?" she asked, acid in her voice.
Seifer stopped. Damn. He had been hoping to sneak up on her… "I overslept," he said with a small smirk.
Quistis' eyes narrowed. "That's no excuse. You want to be a SeeD?" she asked dangerously.
"Hell yes," Seifer replied, just as intensely.
"Then you act like one. Which means following orders from a superior officer. Now come on." She turned suddenly and began to walk off into the Centre, not even checking to see if Seifer was following her. He did anyway.
"What's the lessons then?" he asked after one minute of walking deeper into the greenery of Garden's personal Danger Room.
"Since you're already proficient in combat and magic skills, we won't spend long on them. Today will be a test to see what you can do, and then it'll be mostly knowledge-"
"You mean book-learning, right?" he asked.
Quistis tutted in annoyance. "Yes. Come on. We brought this one in special for you,"
Seifer followed as Quistis brushed aside a clump of branches that were thicker than most, and then smile and shout something to someone beyond it. Seifer pushed through the undergrowth, and looked around to see who she was looking at. His mouth dropped open.
Someone, since he had last been here, had cleared a small area of grass and trees from the centre of the facility, and smoothed it into an arena. In the middle of the circle stood Xu, dressed as usual in immaculate SeeD regalia.
Stood next to a fully-grown Blue Dragon.
The beast didn't attack her. It didn't even seem to see her. It just stood next to her. The only movement it sowed was when Quistis and Seifer walked into the area. Instantly the creature's massive set of eyes began to track them both.
"Stay back here," Quistis whispered to Seifer.
"Fuckin' A," Seifer muttered feverently.
Quistis walked towards Xu. "All ready?" she asked.
Xu grinned the grin that a people grins when they're about to begin inflicting suffering on someone she particularly despises. "I've been waiting for this all my life," she said.
Quistis turned back to Seifer. "This will be your test. It's had its claws clipped, so it shouldn't maul you too badly." She gestured to Xu, who threw something shiny and long into the middle of the arena. The Hyperion…
"Do not tell me you tamed that thing!" Seifer exclaimed, eyeing his Gunblade..
Xu smiled evilly. "Sure we did." She turned to the domesticated dragon, and patted its flanks. It made a noise not unlike a thousand cats being tortured. She pointed at Seifer. "Kill."
It leapt at him instantly. Seifer ducked under it and rolled past it. He came up right net to the Hyperion, and grabbed it without stopping, swinging around and firing once. The pin fell on an empty chamber, and he barely had time to glance at Xu murderously before the Dragon had recovered from its failed leap and lunged at him. He sidestepped past it and aimed a swipe at its eyes, seeing the Gunblade swing against it's side and watching for the blood to-
Fshhhh
Seifer watched in astonishment as the Hyperion bent in on itself, and instead of scoring a deep gnash in the side of the beast literally bent and ran along it. He ran past the monster and took a closer look at the blade that Xu ha given him. It wasn't the Hyperion.
Observing from the sidelines, Quistis raised an eyebrow at Xu. "Cardboard?"
Xu sighed in happiness. "I thought we only wanted to see how long he would last. Ten gil says three more minutes."
"You're on."
"He better not annoy Tiddles."
Quistis snorted. "Tiddles?"
"I had a cat called Tiddles when I was six. A tame dragon is so much better though…"
Seifer threw the fake sword away in disgust and watched as the dragon swung its tail around. Timing himself, he jumped over the swinging appendage and landed next to its leg. Aiming a kick, he jammed his foot into its knee, and was rewarded with a roar of pain. Faster than he could dodge, it swung around again, knocking him on the head with its front foot and sending him reeling. He fell hard against the floor, and without thinking about what he was heading into rolled to the left, hearing something large and heavy smash down centimetres from his chest. Opening his eyes, he spun around and over the tree branch he was about to hit, and came up next to Xu's feet. He looked up at her, and she sighed.
"Alright, that's enough."
On command, the Blue Dragon stopped its manic attack, and just stood there in the centre of the quad, watching him with it's compound eyes. He could see himself reflected from them.
Quistis smiled. "Well, I think we can safely say that you don't need any combat training again. Good, I hated doing that with you." You always wandered off and killed everything… "We can start you off on basic GF Usage and Theory. You look pretty tired. Go take the rest of the morning off," she said, looking at Seifer's haggard appearance. From cool and collected to battered and bruised in three minutes flat. Tiddles, I love you… she thought.
Seifer glared at the two woman with a gaze he reserved exclusively for Things Not Fit To Live, and stalked off, trying to massage some life back into his arms.
Xu turned to Quistis with a smile on her face. The best day of my life ever… "Well, not a bad first les- Quistis?"
Quistis was lying against a tree, eyes closed, whispered something under her breath. Xu watched as a blue glow enveloped her and left. She opened her eyes again and stared at Xu glassily. "Yes?" she whispered.
"Are you alright?" Xu asked, sitting down against the tree at her side. She held up her hand against Quistis' forehead, and drew it away instantly with a small yelp. She was cold… "We have to get you to the doc," she said, and looped Quistis' shoulder around her arm, lifting her from the ground.
Suddenly Quistis' eyes snapped back into focus, and she jerked away from Xu. Standing shakily against the tree, she breathed deeply, and when she knew her voice would be steady, said; "I'm OK."
Xu shook her head. "The hell you are."
Quistis waved away her friend. "It's just a bug. It'll go away in a few days," she said. It ebbs and flows… "Really," she said, after seeing the expression on Xu's face. She leant back against the tree and closed her eyes. "Xu?" she asked.
Xu looked around in surprise as Quistis addressed her. "Yes?"
"Are you afraid of death?" she asked frankly, looking directly at her eyes.
Xu sighed, and wrapped her arms around the back of her head. "Toughie. Why do you ask?"
Quistis waved dismissively. "No reason. I just wanted to know," she said.
Xu slid down the side of the tree, and looked up at the sky. "I'm afraid of dying without finishing what I'm here to do," she replied.
Quistis smiled wanly. What do you think you're here to do?"
Xu shrugged. "I have no idea. I suppose I'll know it when I see it. What about you?"
She laughed softly. "I think I've already done what I'm here to do." She coughed, and Xu handed her a handkerchief. She nodded in thanks and coughed into it, removing it from sight before Xu could look at it. Some small sunlight filtered through the canopy, and she closed her eyes against it as the leaves made it flow across the clearing like liquid gold.
"Judging by that little display with my pet, I think you still need to domesticate Seifer before your work is done. Good luck with that. Are you sure you don't need to see the doc?" Quistis nodded, and Xu shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm off. Cid needs me to dig him out of paperwork." She stood and stretched. Turning to the Blue Dragon that was sitting contentedly in the centre of the clearing, she whistled once at it, and pointed away into the underbrush. Instantly it bounded away into the foliage, and disappeared into the centre proper, where it would terrorise unsuspecting students. Xu glanced back once at her friend, sitting against the tree and staring up at the sky. "Well, looks like you have your work cut out for you. Take it easy this time with him will ya? You'll kill yourself trying to break him in."
Quistis laughed and stood, ignoring the throbbing headache that ran down her body at the slightest movement, and walked over to her friend. "You don't have to worry about that," she said.
Walking from the quad, they saw Seifer storm off into the dormitories. Quistis pressed her hand over Xu's mouth to stop the other woman shouting something to the downtrodden cadet. The two wandered into the cafeteria, and-
"Heyyy!"
Quistis and Xu sighed resignedly and walked over to where Selphie and Irvine were sitting at the back of the cafeteria.
"Hello Selphie," Quistis said, drawing out a seat and sitting next to the bubbly teenager.
Irvine looked up at her from under his hat. "Heard you got stuck with teaching Seifer. Tough job," he said in sympathy.
Quistis shrugged. "He'll come around in the end."
"I heard Xu introduced him to Tiddles," Selphie said with a smile.
Quistis gaped. "That happened only fifteen minutes ago!"
Irvine shrugged. "News gets around," he said simply.
Quistis rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "I don't know guys. What makes Cid think I'll do any better this time?" she asked.
Selphie reached across and patted her on the shoulder. "You'll do great!" she said enthusiastically.
Quistis suddenly realised something, and looked up at her. "Don't you hate him for what he did?" she asked quietly.
Selphie shrugged and looked serious for a second. "He proved he was under control. He may be a pushy meanie anyway, but he wasn't doing it on his own. I can forgive him that much," she said. "And Irvy feels the same, right Irvy? Irvy! Stop waving at those girls!"
Irvine's gaze swung back at Selphie in panic. "Sorry! Sorry! Just being polite," he muttered quickly, averting his gaze from the three cute cadets on the next table across. "I don't really care, so long as he doesn't do anything nasty again," he said unconcernedly.
Quistis sighed. Just me then… She took a deep breath. AT least, she tried to. Something caught in the back of her throat and she bent double over the table, coughing again. She felt a reassuring hand rub her back and waved Irvine away. "I'll be fine," she gasped. For a while, anyway…
"You sure?"
When are people going to stop asking me that! "Yeah. I just need some air," she said haltingly, and stood, walking out of the cafeteria, face calm.
Selphie, Irvine and XU watched her go from concern.
"Is she alright?" Irvine asked.
Xu shrugged. "Summertime. Flu bug gets around, you know how it is. She denies it of course. You know Quistis. It'll go on it's own," she said without worry, leaning back in her chair and re-running Seifer's confrontation with Tiddles over again in her mind. She smiled. If she had been teaching that bastard he wouldn't have had any energy left at the end of the day for sleeping. If she knew Quistis though, she was going to rebuild him from the ground up.
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Quistis almost ran down the corridor away from the cafeteria, and reached into her pocket, drawing out her phone, she dialled the number the doctor in Dollet had given her.
"C'mon, pick up," she prayed feverently.
"Hello?" a voice said from the other end.
Quistis jerked upright in relief.
"Yes hello doctor, this is Miss Trepe, I visited about three days ag- Oh good. They want to see me? When? Is this about the- is that good or bad?" She took a deep breath. Maybe there was hope. "Do they think they can do anything?" she asked quietly.
"…Maybe. The man is the best in his particular field. Do you want me to make the arrangements for the appointment?"
Quistis nodded, as if the person on the other end could see her do it. "Please. As soon as possible."
"Don't give up just yet Miss Trepe. Even if it seems hopeless," the doctor said gently.
Quistis heard a click as the woman on the other end of the line put the phone down, and she placed it back into her pocket, the last lines repeating in her head over again.
There is hope. There has to be…
Quistis smiled gently to herself. All her life, from the first second a stray round from another cadet in her class had nearly taken her head off back when she had been a student, she had always thought she had been ready. If anything being a SeeD had only made that sense even higher, because the probability of capture in a game where losing meant a bullet to your temple and an unmarked grave – if your adversary was feeling generous – was so much higher. Standing I the corridor, surrounded by the sights and smells of home, Quistis realised something she had tried to hide her whole life.
I'm afraid. I don't want to die.
As if on cue, or a warning not to tempt fate, another coughing fit took hold of her, and she quickly drew out Xu's handkerchief, holding it tightly against her mouth. When she fit passed and she could find the energy to stand up straight again, she looked at it and saw that it was red. It had been white when Xu had given it to her. Using it to wipe away the thin trickle of blood running down her lip, she tossed it in the nearest waste bin and walked away back to her dorm.
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The new Harry Potter book was released today. Should I go and buy it?