Kindred Spirits Part One: Voices
The sound of rain pattering against the window brought Quistis from a sleep best described as troubled.
It was a hard rain, the kind Quistis associated with the harsh storms that besieged Balamb Garden in the winter, the wind howling around the superstructure of the main complex. It was not odd for this kind of storm to strike during the late spring as this one had, rare, admittedly, but not odd. Quistis lay on her back, looking up at the familiar ceiling of her quarters, and listened to the rain lash the glass. For a rare change of pace, she did not want to get out of bed, even though her duties, other than the after-action report with those who had taken the field exam, were mostly administrative today. She had known a few people in her time that had suffered from slow-sleep insomnia, where you found it hard to sleep and sometimes had nights where your sleep was so light that you thought you had lain awake all night. That described the night that she had just gone through; she could swear that she had watched the digital clock on her night stand pass the top of every hour, and there was no comfort to be had. She reached over and plucked the clock from its place and saw it read 5:24. "Six minutes early," she grumbled, putting the clock back and covering her eyes with an arm. "Come on, Quisty, get up," she said to herself. "Things could be worse. They might have recycled Aiko." That was enough of a good thing to get her moving, relatively speaking. She by-passed her normal morning routine of first checking her messages on the Garden net (Cid was notorious for thinking of something he needed to pass on to the faculty at all hours of the night and firing off an e-mail at three in the morning ) and instead headed for the shower. If that doesn't wake me up, I can always try the coffee in the faculty cafeteria. That would wake the dead.
The shower did not quite do its job, as when she got out she felt half dead. Given that she had felt fully dead a few minutes ago, however, she supposed it was an improvement. She wrapped a towel around herself and studied her reflection in the mirror above the sink; she had seen worse. She was about to start drying her hair, her mind already turning to the after-action report and how she would use it to teach the candidates that had failed the field exam, when a cheerful ringing tone came from her bedroom. Quistis thought a few dark thoughts as she went to the night stand and picked up the palm-top that every member of the faculty had been given recently. She saw from the message icon blinking on the screen, a terribly cute flower, who was calling, and wondered what was up. She touched the icon and said "Hello, Selphie."
"Hiya, Quistis," the constantly energetic Selphie Tilmitt cried. I should count my blessings, Quistis thought. She could have said "booyaka" again. "You have been a very, very naughty girl." Selphie added.
"I beg your pardon?" Quistis sat down on the edge of the bed. "Do you mind telling me what I did that was so naughty?"
If Quistis knew Selphie, then the girl was grinning ear to ear. Nothing seemed to get her down for very long. She had only recently returned to Balamb, having overseen the Esthar effort to rebuild Trabia Garden, and she had returned for a simple reason. Her relationship with Irvine Kinneas had come to a rather sudden end, over something Selphie refused to discuss. She had been depressed about that for nearly a week, the longest time Quistis had ever seen her upset. Since then, though, she had been her normal, hyperactive self, the unofficial queen of Garden spirit and an Instructor as well. Selphie was teaching cadets how to fly the Ragnarok, since Cid was negotiating with Laguna Loire to acquire five more of the relatively obsolete aerospace craft. None of this had anything to do with why Selphie had called her. "I heard that a certain Head Instructor was seen at the Nest with a rather delicious former pupil. Come on, give with the details."
Quistis sighed. She had hoped that going back to the inauguration party, when Eric hadn't, would deflect some of the rumours that their presence at a rather legendary make-out point were bound to create. "There aren't any details, Selphie. He just wanted to thank me for putting up with that obnoxious friend of his. Nothing more."
Selphie giggled. "You aren't just saying that to cover up the fact that he's really there, are you?"
Now that's a leap in logic, Quistis thought. "He had better not be, because I don't see him, and he has an after-action report to give to me in an hour-and if you make a joke about what kind of action, I'll get irked."
"I'm just kidding, Quistis. And a little disappointed. That Eric boy is superfine. Kind of hoped what I heard was true, 'cause it would show you have awesome taste in guys. Too bad. Got to run-I'd guess by the weather that I'm not doing any training flights today. See you later."Selphie logged off before Quistis could ask where she had heard about Eric, not that Quistis really needed to ask. Selphie practically lived on-line, coordinating most of her school-related activities on-line. Probably read something on a message board. I can deal with it, but what about Eric? She decided that it was unlikely that Eric would be bothered by something so relatively trivial as that. Not that rumors that a student had started an affair with a woman who, until yesterday, was his teacher would be trivial to most, but Eric was different. The faculty had believed that he and Aiko were lovers; what the cadet corps believed was probably irrelevant to him. Hopefully Selphie would nip this in the bud. Quistis got on with the business of getting prepared for the day, dressing in her uniform-most of the class were still cadets, and she believed in approaching them as their teacher-and her mind drifted away from the restless night she had. She decided to check her e-mail at her workstation in the second floor classroom and set out on her way.
Outside of Quistis' window, the shadow, lithe and limber, reached out and caressed the inch thick pane of glass. "That should get things rolling rather nicely," it hissed, words lost in the wind. "Now things get really interesting."
Kai Hallen was waiting for Quistis in the classroom, working furiously at one of the desk top workstations. Kai was the closest thing to an everyman at Balamb Garden; he was perhaps five foot six inches tall, and weighed perhaps one hundred and thirty pounds. He was pale, almost to the point of being ashen; he wore his hair long not out of fashion, rather out of a lack of concern over his appearance. Kai was not much of a fighter, which he would proudly admit to.H owever, he was an exceptional magic user and perhaps the best electronics man at Balamb. He was also a devastating Triple Triad player, the best she had ever seen. Upon hearing of the existence of the CC Group, the collective of card players of which Quistis was "King", Kai had decided to go avoid the usual practice of challenging the lower members and had gunned for her. "Your little group needs an Ace," he had said. He had lost the first time, which only raised his intensity. Now they traded victories and cards at such a rate that it was dizzying. "Hello, Quistis," he called without looking up. "Strange things are afoot on the Garden Net."
Quistis sat down at her desk and shook her head. "Are you talking about what I think you are?"
"Unfortunately, I am. It seems some of the "Trepies" dislike me because I have beaten you at cards. Funny how they don't pick on the Combat Master for doing the same thing."
Quistis managed to hide her relief. "They'll get over it. You're a SeeD now, Kai. You have more important issues to consider." Kai looked up and beamed at her, his pride visible for miles. The skinny geek, the guy who had fainted after a five mile run, was one of only three cadets to pass the field exam, along with Eric and Aiko. "What my students think of you is irrelevant."
"Well, that's true," he admitted. "Now, what they're saying about Eric, that might not be."
"Damn." The grapevine was getting cruel, she thought. She could understand it if some one had seen them, say, kissing passionately or such. This seemed a little out of hand. "There's nothing to it, you know," she replied, hoping she did not sound too defensive.
"I know that. Thing is, most people think that he's with Aiko. They expect there's gonna be a hellacious cat fight between you two."
Oh, that's it. If Eric had been seen with anyone, that would have been enough to start the ball rolling. Watching Aiko was a spectator sport at the Garden; predicting her next move was nearly a tradition with the cadet corps. "Well, we all know nothing will come of that, right?"
Kai nodded as a grouping of cadets, two male, two female, entered the classroom. All were "Trepies", apparently so enamored of her that they had chosen to be recycled so they can stay near their idol. Kai could not resist. "So, when you going to let me win my Eden card back?" he called. The two men glared at him.
Quistis booted up her workstation. " When you earn it back, Kai." She checked her mail-none for a change-and called up her draft report for the field exam mission. As she worked on it, wanting to polish it before she appended her report on the after action session, she found herself dwelling on what had happened with Eric. All she had done was go to her favorite place to be alone
(to honor her memory to never forget what happened)
and this was the result. It was enough to make a lady rather mad. To act rather unladylike, in fact. She decided that there was no need to waste energy on it and worked on her report as her class drifted in, the usual grumbling about the early hours filling the air. Rather suddenly, the room went silent. She looked up to see Eric walking in and taking his accustomed place beside of Kai. Kai looked over at Eric, who had an expression of absolute calm on his face. "Hi, Eric," he offered. "What's up?"
"Not as much as some people probably think," Eric responded. Quistis could not help but smile at that. Boy doesn't miss a trick. The rest of the class returned to their business a moment later, doubtless expecting the main event to come later. She went back to work, noticing that Kai had leaned over to talk to Eric.
"Yes?" Eric said, not looking up at Kai.
"You do have some explaining to do. Why did you follow our rather lovely teacher to the Nest? You could have thanked her later."
Eric was quiet for a moment. Kai did not know Eric as well as Aiko did, which did not mean much; Eric was pretty much a blank slate once you got to know him. So it was no surprise when Eric's answer was a total mystery. "It felt right," he finally said.
Further discussion of the matter was tabled when Aiko Hayshibara entered the room.
Aiko would garner attention if she were the quietest person alive based solely on her looks alone. She was tall, long legged, her slim waist only drawing more attention to a rather ample bosom. Her oval shaped face was dominated by the most exotic almond shaped eyes, which were a shade of violet that Quistis had never seen. Her hair fell down her back in a blue black wave that one of her ardent on-line admirers had described as being genetically engineered for a man to plunge his fingers into. Aiko had reportedly hunted her fan down and had told him "get a life." Aiko's looks were wholly secondary as far as she was concerned; she only used them to torment underclassmen. She would march up to them, square her shoulders back, and bellow "DO YOU LIKE MY CHEST?" at roughly one hundred and twenty decibels. Squall had been forced to get on her about that, Quistis recalled; Aiko had been accidentally traumatizing thirteen year olds. Or so a few had claimed. Aiko scanned the room with her customary impish grin, then strolled over to Quistis' desk and leaned over it. "Yes, Aiko, what is it?" she asked her now former student.
"Just wanted to tell you to be careful. Eric steals the covers."
Quistis had a decent reply for that. "And how do you know that, Aiko?"
Aiko raised a finger to illustrate a point, then lowered her hand and gave up. "You are taking all the fun out of my life," she said, retreating to her desk beside of Eric. "Your girlfriend is getting too used to me," she told him.
"Always said you had a radioactive half life of a few years," Kai informed her. "Your effect has run out."
"Remind me to maim you later."
Quistis stood, bringing the class to order. "Good morning. The purpose of this session is to review the field exam mission and to provide you with an overview of what succeeded-and the reasons why most of you did not make a qualifying score. I want all of you to understand that none of you failed yesterday, that by the standards of most military organizations, you all are very effective soldiers. The standards by which a SeeD is judged are the highest in the world, and very few attain them at first. This is your first step in achieving what your fellow classmates already have." She turned her attention to Eric, Aiko, and Kai. "As for you, this is the last day that you will be considered students. If SeeD had a mission for you, you would not be here now. Youset the example that they will follow."
(example? What kind of example were you, Quistis?)
That stopped her for a moment. That had almost sounded like someone speaking to her, not her own thoughts. A brief flash of pain stabbed through her temple, as if someone had pricked her with a needle made of ice. She shook it off and continued. "The field exam involved units of the cadet corps supporting the main SeeD force during our contracted mission from Esthar." Esthar had an open contract with SeeD to deal with the hordes of monsters drawn by Lunatic Pandora to Tear's Point during the Lunar Cry. Quistis privately believed that Esthar was perfectly capable of dealing with the monsters, only using SeeD to study their techniques in the event another sorceress arose. Or Rinoa, let's be honest, she thought. Rinoa was still a sorceress, still possessed the frightening potential for power that Adel and Ultimecia had displayed. Worse, Rinoa had the strongest warrior on the planet as her guardian, which made targeting her a problem. Quistis hated thinking along those lines, and had no choice. Someone in Esthar had already, in all likelihood. "Cadet squads A,B, and C were assigned the duty of protecting the left rear quadrant of the sweep area…" She read her report, only mildly bothered by the mild residual ache from whatever had gone through her head. It was probably just tension, she decided, and continued reading. The fun part would come when she told a group of sixteen and seventeen year olds, who had seen the plains of Esthar swarm with unearthly monsters, why they had failed.
Casey Wellon was a sixteen year old girl, a member of Selphie's flight class who had, through a call from her instructor, had found out that she had the larger part of the day free. While most of her teachers would find something to replace the flight training ended by the combination of the Ragnarok being serviced after bringing the cadet class back from Esthar and the weather. They weren't Selphie Tilmitt. She had told her pupils to do, "oh, whatever" and had left it at that. Casey had decided to work on her beauty sleep, and had done so until 8:30, when she finally got up. She supposed that her roommate was not there; the poor girl had gone down to Esthar for the test and had failed. Stuck in class while I get to play, she thought as she went to the window. It was still raining hard, enough to cancel the afternoon flights as well. Things are looking up, she told herself. She turned and saw that the door to her dorm room was open a crack, and she swore to herself. Here I am in a nightshirt and Sally leaves the door open. Enough perverts drooled at her over her uniform, but this was worse. She stalked out into the common area that the double dormitory room shared, hoping no drooling underclassman saw more of her legs than the law allowed-
-and the last thing she saw was a shadowy form, possibly a girl if the build and long hair were any indication, rushing at her out of the corner of her eyes. Then something cold struck her head and Casey spiraled into the dark. The shadow girl stood over her victim and smiled, a flash of light in the darkness. "She's perfect," she said. "Just my size, in fact." She bent over and touched Casey's face. "You made me do this, Quistis. More's the pity."
Quistis found herself thinking about her field exam as Kai Hallen had, rather impressively, given a report on the disposition of the cadet squads in relation to the on-site tactical situation.
She was not thinking about the actual mission, which was unusual, given what the subject of the meeting was. Rather, she was thinking about a conversation that she had had on the amphibious transport on the way to the combat zone. She had been discussing the mission profile with Xu, who was also taking the field exam, when Aileen Navarre had interrupted. "C'mon, Quistis, the Headmaster already told us this back at Garden. Why rehash it now?" She had flipped a hand through her black hair before saying "It's not like you're going to fail. You need to loosen up."
"If I loosen up today, I'll fail," she had told Aileen, and she lived by that credo in combat to this day. Aileen had smiled and said "Just don't try that with a guy, Quisty. Men don't like them tense."
(they don't do they quistis?)
This time, it sounded as if the speaker was right behind her, and she turned, startled. Kai stopped giving his report and said, "Uh, Instructor, I haven't perfected my ventriloquism act yet. I'm still over here."
She saw that Eric was staring rather intently at her, and Aiko was actually paying attention for a change. "Sorry, I thought I heard something. You were saying, Kai?"
Kai continued giving his report, of which Quistis heard perhaps every third word. She was now utterly certain that something was wrong. She had experienced her share of abnormalities before; Ellone's hijacking of her spirit to re-live the past of Laguna had been particularly strange. This was different, though. As odd as it had been to journey to the past, she had never felt the way she did right now while she had been looking through the eyes of Laguna's friends. For the first time in a long time, Quistis Trepe was scared, and she had no idea why. Kai finished his report, and she picked up where he left off almost on auto-pilot, a sign of her training if nothing else. What's the matter with me? What is there to be scared of?
Perhaps mercifully, the class ended, and she sent the candidates who had failed the exam off with just the sort of words that would encourage them without seeming too condescending. She told the three SeeDs in the room not to get too comfortable with doing nothing, as at any moment they could be sent to the SeeD garrison in Esthar or to any other mission that came up. She dismissed the class and stood, hoping to find a means to understand what was happening, and was not surprised when Eric walked over to her. Behind him, Aiko and Kai exchanged knowing glances and apparently decided that it was time to try out for the Garden track team by sprinting out of the classroom. A ghost of a smile crossed Eric's face. "Those two'll be the death of me," he said.
Quistis sat back down. "What do you want, Eric?"
"I'm almost afraid to ask this, since it will probably wind up all over the net in fifteen minutes. It's just that, well…are you all right? You seem a bit distracted."
"I'm fine. Just had a bad night's sleep. Thanks for asking. How are you doing?"
"Do you mean in general or about our specific situation? If it's the latter, I'm not really concerned. People will think whatever they want about you. When you let it get to you they've won."
"An admirable philosophy, Eric. Wish it always worked that way." She stood again. "I suppose I'll see you around. You aren't my student anymore."
"Look on the bright side. Neither is Aiko."
Quistis almost managed a laugh for that line. "Tell you the truth, I'm almost going to miss her. She kept me on my toes." She walked out of the room, seeing out of the corner of her eye Aiko leaning against the door. Aiko ducked back into the room, leaving Quistis to wonder what was going to happen next.
Eric was looking at the screen behind the desk, his mind clearly somewhere else. Aiko stepped up behind him and asked "What is it?"
Eric did not turn. "Something's coming, Aiko. Something cold."
Aiko frowned. "What is it? The usual sort of trouble for this place?"
Eric shook his head. "It's worse, far worse. I can feel it."
Aiko sighed. "You really know how to ruin a perfectly good mood, Eric."
Quistis rode the elevator down to the first floor, her head pounding. The same ice-sharp pain that had struck her earlier had returned as she had waited for the elevator to arrive, hard enough to cause her to actually wince. Whatever she had intended to do was going to have to wait; she was going to have to go to the infirmary and try to get to the bottom of this pain. The sensation reminded her, in a painful way, of the feeling that one had as his or her mind junctioned with a GF. Is this another side effect of long term GF usage? I've been junctioning for longer than anyone here at Balamb. She hoped that was not the case-despite the dangers of using the GF, they allowed SeeD the advantage of their power. She stepped off of the elevator, and the pain thundered to a crescendo that caused her to sway on her feet. She put a hand against the wall beside of the elevator to steady herself. She was utterly certain that she was dying
(well not yet Quistis…)
Her eyes moved as if compelled by an outside force to rest on a girl, leaning against the directory display with her back to Quistis. She wore a cadet's uniform, and had long black hair that went to her waist. She raised a hand and flipped it through her hair in a gesture so familiar that Quistis barely believed she had seen it.
(but I'm working on it.)
The girl turned, her face briefly showing in half profile, and Quistis thought that her heart would stop. That-that isn't possible!!! It can't be her!!! Quistis screamed to herself. The girl flashed her a truly malicious smile, then started walking for the entrance. She found herself following on unsteady feet at first, the girl walking at a brisk pace. Quistis increased her pace as the girl passed through the entrance and headed for the reception area. She figured that the gates there would slow her down, yet as she came into the area, the girl was nowhere to be seen. She scanned her surroundings and saw the girl, maintaining the same distance that had separated them at first sight, beneath the archway at the far side of the reception plaza. Quistis hurdled the gates and broke into a full run, ignoring the rain that hit her as soon as she reached the open air.The girl went down the steps beyond the arch, still the same distance away from her. Sure enough, when she stood beneath the archway, the girl was already at the wrought-iron gates that marked the end of the Garden property.
(good girl Quistis you always were the brave one, weren't you?)
"Who are you?" she shouted, her voice lost in the storm.
The girl walked past the gate, which opened without her doing anything apparent to move it. This time, Quistis heard the same voice that had been speaking to her with her own ears. "You know who I am, my dear. You know."
(first squad pinned down by sniper fire and concentrated magic use! Request immediate support! Request immediate support!)
Quistis fell to her knees, caught wholly off guard by that. This time, it had not been the girl who now was walking across the plains speaking. No, this time, it was her voice, younger and scared. "What's going on here?" she wondered.
(follow me and find out, Quistis. the fire cavern. I'm sure you remember the way)
Quistis considered turning back and getting someone, anyone, to go with her. She was bewildered by voices in her head, and gripped by the utter certainty that something was terribly wrong here. And yet, she went out into the gloom alone, her hand on the comforting weight of Save the Queen on her hip. She knew, somehow, that involving anyone else was likely to be fatal to them, and she could not live with that on her conscience.
She did not notice, so intent on the girl, someone come down the steps behind her and stop at the gate. That person peered into the rain, then, after a moment, followed.
The fire cavern was five miles from Balamb Garden, surrounded by a thick band of forest that was home to a variety of wild monsters that were usually among a cadet's first kills. Quistis walked through the forest in a daze, only remembering that she had killed a caterchipiller with a single crack of her whip when she saw its greenish blood on her leg, dripping from the tip of Save the Queen. That was not a comfort to her. She sometimes saw the girl, moving from tree to tree as if she was some sort of mythic spirit. Soaked to the bone, Quistis left the forest and, away from the undergrowth that had slowed her, ran again. She thanked whomever would listen to her that no one was going to be visiting the fire cavern for a few weeks, as all the candidates who were qualified to visit the cave already had. Otherwise, there would have been Garden masters there, and that probably would have been bad for them.
No one waited by the mouth of the cave, which was not exactly unexpected. Quistis stopped just outside the cave, feeling the heat from the lava that pooled inside. Her tactical options weren't all that good, with the cavern having only one clear path for half it's length and rather bad visibility due to the heat haze. She thought about the time that she had come here withSquall, the same day that Seifer had scarred him during training, the same day that she had, in a clumsy fashion, tried to connect with Squall on a personal level.
(the day you chose to remember.)
Quistis took Save the Queen in one hand and took a deep breath. You stared death in the face when we fought Ultimecia, when we defeated Adel, when we faced Ultima Weapon. Why are you so scared? For that, the teacher had no answer, and she went into the cave.
The heat struck her like a living thing, the lava, so incongruous after the greenery of the forest, bubbling and spitting. The air was charged with the presence of the fire elemental Ifrit, and with something else. She guessed it was her fear. She walked down the center of the winding path through the cave, every sense attuned to her surroundings. There was no attack, not even from the Bombs and red bats that called this place home. That was somehow more disquieting than being attacked, she decided.
Presently, she reached the part of the path that widened to both sides, an intersection of sorts. The girl stood there, still looking away. Quistis stopped, at the extreme edge of her whip's range, and cried "Who are you?!"
The girl turned, and Quistis' worst fears were confirmed. The same face, marked by a star shaped beauty mark on her left cheek, the same grey eyes, the same crooked grin, all of it the same. The girl locked eyes with her and said, in a whisper that was somehow heard over the tumult of the fire cavern, "You know. You've been thinking about me for the past two days."
"Aileen." She took a step back, unwittingly. "That's impossible. You-you're…."
"Standing right in front of you. And look at you, terrified at my very sight. You'd think that after what happened, you'd be pleased to see me." Aileen crossed her arms over her chest. "We wouldn't have some issues here, would we Quistis?"
"I-what am I supposed to think? You-I saw you…"
"So you did. And yet here I am, against the odds." Aileen looked over her shoulder. "Do you remember the day that I came here with my instructor to battle Ifrit? You had already been here to do that, of course. You were waiting outside for me."
"I remember. You used most of your time limit to defeat Ifrit." Quistis' heart was about to pound out of her chest, and every instinct told her to flee, to leave this impossibility behind.
"Yes. You were waiting outside, already acting like a teacher instead of a pupil. As if I needed your damned help, Quistis." Aileen raised her right hand and closed it into a fist. "I defeated Ifrit with ten seconds left on my limit, and do you know what I heard from my Instructor? I heard that you did it with one second left. The highest possible score on the Judgment part of the exam. Perfect little Quistis Trepe, never makes a mistake." She opened her hand and a perfect blue globe of energy appeared there. "Except for one time!" The globe flashed towards Quistis, who had a split second to throw herself aside as it passed. It hit the cavern wall and exploded impressively. Quistis rose to her feet as Aileen hurled two more globes at her. She leaped over them and rolled towards Aileen, Save the Queen slicing out in a lethal arc. Aileen avoided it by the barest movement of her head, catching the chain in her left hand. She pulled, her strength impossible, and Quistis soared towards her. Which actually worked in her favor. She caught Aileen with a perfect kick across the jaw, then, as she fell to the ground, she cast a Blizzaga spell. The ice-based spell struck Aileen square on, enveloping her in a momentary frigid prison. Aileen shattered the ice with a wave of her arms, then she rushed towards Quistis, faster than she could imagine. Aileen kneed Quistis in the stomach and blasted her away with a back fist. "Are you enjoying yourself, Quistis?" she mocked.
Quistis tasted blood on her lips and hoped that it came from the blow to her face. She had never been hit that hard in her life, and it was possible that the knee to her stomach could have caused internal injuries. "Why are you doing this, Aileen? I don't want to fight you."
"You had better. Because I'm going to kill you. It's just more dignified for you to die on your feet." She generated energy in her hands again, and this time sent it at Quistis in the form of a beam that, defying the laws of physics, she could actually see coming. Quistis jumped into the air, riding the explosion into a perfectly timed leap past Aileen. On reflex, she cracked her whip, and it slapped across Aileen's ribs. Her opponent fell back, giving Quistis the second that she needed to end this battle. She reached deep within her and cast the best spell for the situation, Holy. A white light surrounded Aileen, a pure aura that expanded with a concussive impact that drove Quistis to one knee, one arm covering her eyes. I'm so sorry, Aileen. Forgive me.
The glow faded, and Aileen stood, unscathed, at the heart of the holocaust that she had unleashed. She wagged a finger at Quistis, a wry and familiar smile on her face. "I'm not what you think I am, my friend." She raised her power, a corona of blue energy surrounding her. "As you'll find out." With a wordless scream, she unleashed her power in all directions, waves of force rippling the lava and shaking the cave. Quistis fell, barely conscious, her ears ringing from the force Aileen had wielded. Where is she getting that power from? Even a sorceress would have trouble matching that. She felt Aileen grab her by the collar of her uniform and lift her, one handed. She playfully, maliciously, slapped Quistis across the face. "All these years, I somehow thought it would be harder than this. Mind you, I'm not complaining." She gripped Quistis by the neck and squeezed, her grip iron. Quistis wanted to struggle, but she could not find the strength to do it. "I did expect more of you, though. Goodbye."
Something blurred past Aileen, a flash of silver catching her between the shoulder blades. She released Quistis and clutched at her back, turning to reveal a deep slash that did not bleed. "Who the hell are you?" she spat.
Quistis shook her head to clear it and saw Eric, standing in a combat stance, his sword in his hands. "Let's just call me an interested observer," he replied. "Sorry I was so late, Quistis."
Aileen chuckled. "Funny you should mention the word 'late'. It will describe you soon."
Eric did not speak, he just charged, his sword at his side. Aileen hurled a globe of power at Eric, who, much to Quistis' shock, batted it aside with the flat of the blade. He unleashed an overhand strike that Aileen avoided, his weapon cratering the ground from the impact. Quistis spotted an opening and called one of her Blue Magic skills, Laser Eye. The beam hit Aileen in the small of the back, dropping her like an unstrung puppet. Eric closed on her, and for a moment Quistis thought it was over. Until Aileen disappeared, reappearing the instant Eric passed where she had been. She laid a palm against his spine and her power caught him, tossing him out over the lava. Eric should have died there, burned to death in an instant, yet somehow he found an outcropping of rock to save him. He pushed off with his feet on the spire and flew back at Aileen, his sword slicing into her shoulder. She howled, more in frustration than pain, and she retaliated, grabbing Eric by one wrist and throwing him into the rock of the path. "You are a stubborn sort, aren't you?" she asked him. "Are you driven by her charms or by your duty, little SeeD?"
"I'll ask him later," Quistis said into Aileen's ear. She deftly wrapped the length of Save the Queen around Aileen's neck and with all her strength threw her over the shoulder into the lava. Aileen thrashed her arms and legs wildly, the flesh melting from her bones, as she sank beneath the surface. Quistis watched, tears forming in her eyes. I don't understand how it happened, but it's over, she thought.
Eric got to his feet, sheathing his sword over his shoulder. It dawned on Quistis that she did not know the name by which Eric called his blade, if he even did. "I'm glad I didn't believe you when you said nothing was wrong. Who was that?"
Before Quistis could answer, the ground began to shake beneath their feet. The lava poolquivered violently, and a bubble formed on the surface. Acting on instinct, Quistis cast a Protect spell on herself and threw herself in front of Eric as the bubble exploded, flinging lava everywhere as Aileen, impossibly unscathed, the cadet uniform she had worn burnt away, soared out. Most of the lava hit the barrier she had cast, some streams burning her and Eric. Aileen hovered over them and shook her head. "I did not expect to be double-teamed, Quisty. That was the point of linking with your mind, to bring just you to me. If your boyfriend wants to play, though, he's welcome to join in." She began to fade from view, her voice still maintaining its volume. "If you wish to keep playing, then you must follow me home. I'll be waiting." With that, she was gone, although Quistis knew it was not over. It might never end.
Eric cast a Cure spell on himself and did the same for her. It eased the physical pain at least. "You know, everyone thinks I'm your boyfriend," he said in a rare burst of humor. "Who, or should I say, what was that?"
"Aileen Navarre. She was the cadet that I told you about last night."
Eric digested this bit of information. "The one you said was killed on a mission. Could you have been mistaken? She was just missing in action, perhaps?"
Quistis waved at the lava. "Disregarding the fact that she just melted in there and came out without a burn mark on her, there's the matter of her power. She did not have that kind of power when I knew her. And…and there's one more thing to consider."
"And that is?"
Quistis walked towards the exit of the fire cavern. "I was there when she died, Eric. She
was shot twice in the head. There's no possible way that she could be here alive." And I can't figure out why she wants to kill me. In fact, I don't know how I know how Aileen died, or even where it happened. And that scares me more than Aileen being alive at all.
To be continued…