Chapter I: The Recruit
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8, or any of its characters. I did however, create Matthias, Xavier, and Andrica for this fanfic. Sue me not.
The setting of the sun reminded Squall that tomorrow was another day, another duty. Cid had renounced his place as Headmaster, and Squall had taken his position. He placed his paperwork for the day in a folder, then in a neatly organized drawer. He had a lot on his mind lately. It had been roughly three months since the day Ultimecia vanished from the face of the planet, yet Squall was still a bit apprehensive that the fearful sorceress would surface. What he needed was a new group of SeeDs. He needed Garden to rise to power again. He needed new protection in case of emergency. Just wanting to get all these thoughts out of his head, he walked to his bed to find some peace, along with a sound sleeper. Rinoa lay there limp, breathing lightly on the deep scarlet pillow. He gently kissed her forehead, and joined her underneath the blanket.
The next morning, Squall was up earlier than usual. He didn't get much sleep anyway, having an abundant amount of responsibility, so he'd expect himself to sleep late. He rolled over, and to his surprise he was alone in his bed this morning. 'Rinoa must be in the Training Center', he thought to himself. She would occasional go there to work on her strength. She didn't like to use her fairly new powers in battle, for she felt weak depending on them. She loved the battles though, for it made her forget about her powers as a sorceress.
Squall stretched, and walked himself to the shower. He turned the knob so that his water would heat up to a perfect temperature. After awhile of lathering his body with soap, he rinsed, and shut off the spraying liquid. The day was just awakening itself, so Squall went to see if the cafeteria was open yet. He needed something in his stomach.
The cafeteria was, indeed open. There was only one student there, eating a bagel with cream cheese. She appeared to be deep in thought. Squall ordered some pancakes with blueberry syrup and some apple juice. With his breakfast, he walked over to the table where the young girl sat. "Mind if I sit next to you?"
She looked up at Squall and smiled. "Headmaster Squall! Of course, have a seat."
"Let me think. You're…"
"Andrica."
"Yes. Studying hard?"
"Yeah. Big written exam today. I hope I pass. I want to be in SeeD some day. I want to be just like Instructor Trepe."
"I'm sure you'll do fine. You seem like a hard worker. SeeD needs more of people like you, Andrica." He took a bite of his pancakes. They were perfectly fluffy and sweet.
"Ready for the exam, Andrica?" A voice was heard, and Squall turned to see who it was.
"Of course, Instructor Trepe. I've been studying so much. If I don't ace this test, I don't know what'll become of me." Andrica stated.
"Morning Quistis." Squall interrupted.
"Morning Headmaster."
"No need to address me like that. I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you after breakfast. Will you be in your classroom?"
"Yes, Squall, I will. What is the big hurry?"
"We'll discuss matters then." With that, Quistis walked away. Three students came into the cafeteria, greeted Quistis, and went on their way to grab a bite to eat.
"Well, it was nice chatting with you Headmaster. I must get on my way so I can get ready for class." Andrica stood up, shook Squall's hand, and showed herself out. Squall was nearly finished with his breakfast, but he was full, so he made his way out of the cafeteria as well. Squall went up to his room, and heard the shower running. 'Rinoa must be done training.' He went over towards the open window and sat on his bed. He put his hand on his forehead, in that way that Squall always does, like he's contemplating deeply. The shower had stopped running, and Rinoa stepped out. She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her thin body, and walked over to Squall.
"Morning honey." She said with a smile. She kissed his cheek and paced over to the dresser to get something to wear. He followed her and stopped to wrap his arms around her. His ring, as well as a piece of paper, was on the mahogany dresser. He went to pick up the letter to read what it said, but Rinoa got to it first. She placed it behind her back so that it was out of reach for Squall.
"What is it? What does it say?" Squall questioned, attempting to grab it from her.
"Oh, nothing important. It's for me. Don't worry about it sweetie." Rinoa nervously stated.
"You have me curious now. Come on, tell me."
"Really. It's nothing."
"If you say so Rinoa." Squall said, and walked back to the bed to take a seat. 'Why are you being so secretive Rinoa?' he thought. She folded up the piece of paper, stuffed it in an envelope, and put it in her purse. "Well, I have to go talk to Quistis about recruiting more SeeD members. I shall see you this afternoon."
Suddenly, Rinoa seemed to get angry. "Why do you need more SeeD members? Wasn't SeeD formed so that they could defeat a sorceress? The only sorceress on this planet, Squall, is me. Why would you wanna create something to destroy your love?"
"Actually, I'm not recruiting more SeeD members for that reason, Rinoa. I just want to have more members for times of need. If a war breaks out anywhere, I want to make sure I have enough of an army. If SeeD is ever needed for any reason, I need to be positive that we can handle it. Not everyone in SeeD is going to be young forever. We need a new generation of members."
"Well, let's just hope that one of the reasons SeeD is needed, is not to kill me." Rinoa said, calming down.
"Never." Squall reassured her. He gave her a quick embrace and left the room. Rinoa sighed, and pulled the letter out from her purse. She looked at it for awhile and shook her head.
"Why am I even considering this?" she said to herself.
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Squall went to Quistis' classroom, so that he could tell her about the SeeD exam he had planned. As his luck would have it, class was still in session. He peeked his head through the door to find quite a few students concentrating at the paper placed on their desks. A teenage boy, about 16 or so, looked up and spotted the Headmaster.
"Is there something distracting you, Matthias?" Quistis asked sharply.
"Um…no…um…well…Headmaster Squall is at the door ma'am." The striking blond boy said.
"Thank you. Anyway, time's up. Please pass your tests forward." Quistis stated. The children all groaned, hoping for more time. "I'll have the results posted up in the library at 2 o'clock. You are all dismissed." The children all rose from their seats, and walked out of the classroom. Squall walked in, and sat at his old seat.
"I remember these days. It seems like forever ago."
"Just think, I was your instructor then. And now, you're ahead in line." Quistis spoke.
"Whatever. Anyway, I was thinking that we need a new SeeD field exam."
"What ever for? You don't think Rinoa's going to turn on us do you?" Quistis questioned.
"No. But just trust me, we need new members."
"Yes, Headmaster. But what will be their exam? Nobody's needed SeeD for quite some time now."
"Please, Quistis. Don't call me that."
"My apologies."
"Well, first of all, do you have possible candidates? Are there any of your students strong enough and able to handle the pressures of SeeD?"
"Quite a few come to mind, actually. The boy that spotted you out today, Matthias, he's an excellent student of mine. He reminds me a lot of you."
"I'm sure. I'm going to need about twenty students to participate. There is not going to be a prerequisite this time, but they must have passed the written exam with a 90 or higher."
"90? Isn't it usually 75?" Quistis objected.
"This is because there is no prerequisite in the Fire Cavern this time."
"Ah, I see. Scores to the written exam will be posted this afternoon. I'll have everyone who passed meet in my classroom later today."
"Thank you Quistis. I'll meet again with you then, and talk to the students. I have a field exam, and I don't think it's going to be easy."
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Rinoa was now in Balamb, purchasing a ticket to Timber. It had been awhile since she had last seen her friends there, but that was not the reason she was going. She had another motive. She received a letter a few days back from Seifer asking her to meet him in Timber at the pub. She wasn't going to do it, for she didn't know his purpose. Curiosity got the best of her, and she left Garden without a word spoken about it. She just wanted to keep this a secret from everyone. If they all knew about her wanting to meet with Seifer, they might be ashamed to be her friend. Worse yet, she might lose Squall.
She arrived in Timber, got off the train, and made her way to the pub. Along the way she bumped into a few old friends. She didn't make too much conversation with them, however, for she was in a hurry. Afraid she'd be late, she actually made it to the pub a little early. It was always better to be early than late. Rinoa had a seat at the bar, and ordered a Pina Colada. About halfway into the drink, a man sat next to her and touched her shoulder.
"Hello Rinoa. Long time no see. To tell the truth, I didn't think you'd show up."
"Get on with it, Seifer. What are your intentions here?" Rinoa barked at him.
"Can we go somewhere a little more private?"
"What, so you can endanger my life once again? Push me into something else that'll kill me?"
"Thou hast reminded me. I'm sorry. My intentions are good here, Rinoa. Trust me." She didn't know why, but she did trust him, at least a little bit.
"Fine. We'll go to the hotel, the only place I can think of with some privacy around here."
"Ooh, kinky." She slapped him across the face and muttered, "Why am I doing this?"
Once they entered to the hotel room, Rinoa slipped off her jacket and placed it on the bed. Seifer did the same. She sat on the bed next to where they had thrown their unnecessary attire. Seifer squeezed a spot next to her and looked her straight in the eyes. "Remember when we had our little fling?"
"Unfortunately," she said, "but then you had to turn against me. Do you know how much pain that caused me, Seifer? How much I have suffered because of you!?"
"I know. But I'm willing to make it up to you, Rinoa." He paused and grabbed her shoulders to forcer her to face him. "Let me be your knight, Rinoa. Let me guard you, be your servant. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you from harm."
Taken by surprise, Rinoa stuttered, "W-w-what?" She almost started to cry. She was in disbelief of what she was hearing. "I can't believe this Seifer. You write me this letter to meet you here. I didn't know what to make of it. I almost didn't even show up because I was scared half to death of the many possibilities. And now you're saying that you want to be my KNIGHT!?. Do you think I'm that ignorant? What did I do to make you think that I would want you by my side, 'protecting' me?"
"You didn't do anything. I was alone, Rinoa. Fujin and Raijin pretended to be my friends after siding with the sorceress. But our friendship wasn't the same. I always have to be doing something. I just can't let my life go to waste."
"Well, you should have thought about that before becoming the puppet of Ultimecia." Rinoa stated harshly.
"I know that. I feel that the only way I can show people that I've changed is to become the knight of a good sorceress. You are my only hope."
"Never. I will never let that happen. I don't need you Seifer, and I can't trust you. Forget this ever happened. I will." She grabbed her coat and angrily walked out of the room, slamming the door shut.
"Damn! Now what am I going to do?" Seifer placed his head into the palm of his hands. He then looked up at the ceiling, "I'm sorry."
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"C'mon Andrica! Let's go see how we did on the exam!" Matthias pulled her arm and dragged her to the library. Andrica Knowles was a striking young girl, about five foot five, short red curly hair, and sharp green eyes. She was very quiet, yet intellectual.
"Please stop, Matthias. I'm coming, I'm coming."
"Oh, you're no fun!"
He entered the library first, and Andrica stumbled in as he released her arm. All the children from class were standing at the front desk, looking in awe at the sheet of white paper. Some sounds of disappointment, and others of excitement were coming from the group.
"What if I did awful, Matthias? I'll never forgive myself." She said this quivering with anticipation.
"I'm sure you did fine. You studied your ass off. Knowing you, you probably passed with flying colors."
"Hey dudes! Oh, sorry, and dudettes!" A voice was heard from the library entrance.
"Hi, Xavier," mumbled Andrica.
"Hey Xavier. How do you think you did?" Matthias questioned.
"I don't know, man. I didn't study very hard. Too busy tryin' to pick up chicks at the secret area last night. Man, there was this one girl. She was so ho-…"
"Spare the details. Really," Andrica butted in. "The last thing I need to hear right now is you scoring BIG this time. When in actuality, you NEVER score. Get over it, Xavier."
Matthias chuckled, "She has a point."
Xavier brushed a few strands of his black as night hair from his face. "Fine. I see how you two are."
Andrica finally moved her way past the group of students to see her score. "98!!! I'm so happy!!!" Her smile then turned to a frown. "What did I miss? I don't understand. I worked so hard. I should have received a perfect score."
"Oh shut up, Andrica. A 98 is good. What did I get?"
"Let's see, Matthias Tyler. It looks like you got a big fat 48!!!"
"WHAT!?!"
"Heh heh. Just kidding! You got a 95. And Xavier Casares, you barely passed with a 91."
"Woo hoo! SeeD, SeeD, here we come! All the chicks will want me now!"
Andrica and Matthias shook their heads in shame.
"Oh, whatever. Let's just go to class now. We're supposed to meet with Instructor Trepe if we passed, right?" Xavier spoke.
They all took each other by the arm and skipped up to the classroom, like they were following the yellow brick road. As they danced to the designated area, they were singing, "SeeD, SeeD, it's a great group. We'll kill some things and be a troop. SeeD! SeeD! SeeD!"
They entered the classroom, sat in their assigned seats, and waited for everyone else, including Quistis, to arrive.
"I'm so excited. I know I'm going to be apart of SeeD, I just know it!"
"Settle down, Andrica. It's going to be ok. Breathe in, breathe out." Xavier chuckled.
"Shut up, ladies' man!" Both Andrica and Matthias cracked up in hysterics.
Five more students showed up, and Quistis entered the room with Squall. Quistis sat down at her desk, and Squall put his finger to his lips as if to tell the class to be quiet. "Congratulation on passing the written exam. However, becoming a SeeD takes more than studying. Hard work and discipline come hand in hand for SeeD members. Do you have what it takes?" Squall realized that he was beginning to sound like Cid. He cleared his throat and continued, "Our White SeeD Ship has reported a suspicious group of women on the Centra Continent. It is believed that they are trying to resurrect the evil and powerful Sorceress Adel. If this happens, chaos will break out. Your job, as SeeD candidates, is to find this covet, capture them, and we'll do the rest. They may have forces protecting them, so be aware at all times. SeeD members will be there as well. If you cannot handle the operation, they will take care of things. Instructor Trepe has the squad arrangements. Quistis, will you do the honors?"
She rose from her seat. "Thank you Headmaster. We had planned to have twenty of you to participate, but since only sixteen of you passed, we made four groups of four. Here they are. Squad A will be Brady, Skylar, Ethan, and Tandy. Squad B is Amy, David, Rakel, and Frerich. Squad C is Xavier, Matthias, Marcus, and Andrica. And finally, Squad D will be Teta, Ivan, Jerold, and Titus. Squad leaders will be Skylar, Frerich, Marcus, and Teta. They make the orders, so listen to what they have to say. This is key to becoming a SeeD. Ok, that about wraps it up. Assemble at the front gate at 1500 hours. You are all dismissed for now."
The students rushed out the door, leaving Squall and Quistis alone. "Do you really think that this is the best thing to do?" Quistis questioned.
"I'm positive. Now, let's get something to eat before the day gets short."
Squall and Quistis walked together to the cafeteria. When they got there, they noticed Selphie, Zell, and Irvine all sitting together. Zell was stuffing his face with hotdogs as usual, trying to play Triple Triad at the same time. Zell had become the CC club King in such a short time, and Irvine was on his way to taking his place. Well, trying to at least.
"Hiya Squall!!! Hey Quisty!!! Come join us!!!" Selphie was her usual self; all hyped up like she just downed a five-pound bag of sugar.
Zell swallowed a bite from a hotdog, and spoke. "Hey Squall, wanna try to gain your place back as CC club King? Irvine will never beat me. You never know, you might beat me this time. Shyeah!"
Squall rolled his eyes as if to say 'whatever'. "Actually, we came here to get a quick bite to eat. But now that I think about it, do you three want to do a favor for me?"
Irvine pulled out his gun, "What do you need, Headmaster?"
"Irvine, please put that away. Quistis and I have a group of students together for a new SeeD field exam. I'm going to need your help with it. I need you to be judges, looking after them, to get the job done if they don't."
"Sure, Squall. Anything to help. What's the mission?" Selphie jumped up, excited like always.
"There's a group on the Centra Continent. Supposedly they are trying to resurrect Adel. We're just going to capture them to get some information out of them."
"Rowns Imorant" Zell said with a mouthful of food. He gulped it down. "When is this taking place?"
"This afternoon. At 1500 hours."
"Woah!!!" All three shouted. Irvine looked at his watch, "That's in 30 minutes."
"Yes, I know. I apologize for the short notice. Will you still help me?" They all shook their heads yes. "Thank you. Meet us at the front gate then."
Quistis and Squall rose from their seats and walked towards the entrance of the cafeteria. They both grabbed a quick snack, and made haste. "I'm going to go get changed, and I'll meet up with you in awhile." Squall stated. Quistis nodded.
At the front gate were sixteen students, all in uniform. They were all lined up perfectly, like little soldiers. Quistis approached them as they saluted her. "We will all depart Garden on the Ragnorak, and will be landing on the Centra Continent shortly. Squad A, you're job will be to clear of any resistance that may be protecting the covet. Squad B will be their back up, clearing the way for Squad C. Squad C will capture as many women in this group as possible, attacking them if necessary. And Squad D will help hold this evil group hostage if Squad C has any difficulties. Does everyone understand the mission?"
No one spoke. Quistis saluted her cadets, "Good. Shall we?"
A.N. There is significance to the name Matthias. Matthias was a man in the New Testament of the Bible. After Jesus was crucified, the apostles needed to find another apostle to take the place of Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthias was the man chosen to take his place. This doesn't have anything to do with this story now, but it will. Trust me.
