Quistis Trepe walked briskly through the halls toward her classroom. Homeroom was to begin in three minutes. She slowed down as she approached the classroom door. Fujin and Raijin were walking toward her, away from the classroom. She continued on, listening half-heartedly to what they were saying, or more accurately, what Raijin was saying.
"I can't believe it, ya know? Seifer beat him, ya know?" Raijin stated animatedly. Fujin shook her head.
"CHEATED."
"Well, Squall was asking for it, ya know?" Fujin noticed Quistis walking slowly by them, listening. She kicked Raijin. "OW! What was that for?" Fujin just kept walking. Quistis watched the pair curiously as they left her view.
(I wonder what that was about…) she thought. The door to the classroom opened with a swish. The students saw her and quickly began to take their seats. Quistis walked to her desk and laid her notebook down. She sat, facing the class and soon saw what Raijin and Fujin must've been talking about. Seifer was sitting in his usual seat, in the very back of the room, and across his nose, running from left to right, looking rather aggravated and painful was a very large, very new gash. Quistis cleared her throat.
"Good morning everyone… Seifer, what happened to your face?" Quistis said pointedly.
"Ah… It's nuthin' Instructor… You should see the other guy…" Seifer grinned as a few people in the classroom giggled at his remark. Quistis sighed. Next to her, the door opened, and Squall Leonhart stalked into the room. He glanced at Quistis, then at Seifer and took his seat.
"Sorry I'm late Instructor…" he murmured. Seifer's grin faded as Squall took his seat. Squall looked at him again and Seifer blinked.
(Wha-fa!? …For a second there it looked like he didn't have a scratch!!) Seifer thought. (Nah! I'm just dreamin'… I felt the blade hit him… I saw the blood, there's no way… I've gotta be seeing things…) Seifer turned his face forward as Quistis began to speak.
"…Pending further interruptions, let's get on with today's schedule… There have been rumours darting around… Yes, the field exam for SeeD candidates is this afternoon. Those not participating and those who failed the written exam last week are to stay here in a study hall. Those participating in the Field Exam will have free time until the exam to prepare. Just be sure you're ready by 1600 hours. You are to meet in the hallway next to the directory, understood?" Quistis glanced around the room. "The team assignments will be announced there, by myself. Any questions? …Good. Class is dismissed… Squall, will you please wait a moment?"
The noise level in the room suddenly rose as the students clamoured out. Quistis stayed by her desk, talking with some of the "Trepies," Quistis's in-Garden Fan Club. Squall waited until most of the class, including Seifer, had left, then stood up. He slowly walked to the front of the class, making the Trepies disperse. Quistis crossed her arms and stared at Squall. He was an extremely handsome boy, with blue-grey eyes, and maple coloured hair. Even Quistis, Squall's greatest supporter, however, had to admit that he was fiercely independent, a bit aloof, and overly taciturn. She noticed as he pushed his hair back, that he had a small white scratch running diagonally across his nose, from right to left. It was almost identical to Seifer's hulking gash, but not nearly as serious, and even as she watched it, it was fading away. Squall shifted his weight impatiently.
"Oh-" Quistis caught herself and remembered what she wanted to say. "Ahem… Um, Squall? Have you been to the fire cavern yet?" Squall rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"…No," he answered. Quistis unfolded her arms and shook her head.
"Squall that is an important prerequisite to the Field Exam… You'll have to use your free time before the exam to do it…" Squall stared passively at the floor.
(I would've gone this morning if Seifer hadn't been such a pain in the…)
"Do you have a good excuse as to why you haven't gone yet?" Quistis asked impatiently. Squall shook his head.
"Not really…" Quistis squinted at him, analysing his answer. She had a feeling that Seifer's cut had something to do with Squall not having been to the fire cavern.
"Alright then, meet me at the front gate in about ten minutes… Don't forget your GF." Quistis turned on her heel and walked out of the room, Trepies in tow. Squall glared after her and left the room. He stalked toward the elevator.
(Of course I won't forget my GF… Does she take me for a fool? …I'm never gonna get a chance to check out my face either…) Squall thought, annoyed. Squall was torn out of his internal conversation with the arrival of a girl. She had run head-on into Squall. She stood up, straightening her blue SeeD candidate uniform and smiled at him.
"I'm sorry! Are you alright?"
"…" Squall just stared at her, horrified that she had actually come into physical contact with him.
(He looks at me as if I'm going to disintegrate…) the girl thought.
"Hey… Did you just come from that class?" she asked cautiously, pointing in the direction of Instructor Trepe's class. Squall nodded. "Is class… over?" Squall nodded again. "OH NOOOOoooo!!!!" she moaned. "This place is sooo enormous!! Much bigger than my last Garden! …Hey, since I'm new, do you think you could show me around? I might be able to get around more easily…" Squall thought for a second and then sighed.
"Alright… I'll show you the directory, but I'm in a hurry right now, so it'll be really quick…" The girl grinned widely.
"Thanks!!" Squall rolled his eyes and walked toward the elevator, the girl following excitedly behind. Squall and the girl stepped into the elevator and he pushed the first floor button. The elevator descended quickly, allowing no time for Squall to brood over this morning's scuffle with Seifer. He exited the elevator with the girl pursuing close behind. Squall stopped at the top of the stairs and pointed.
"That's the directory… I'll show you how to use it." The girl grinned and followed Squall down the stairs to the large computer in the centre of the floor. "It's just like a big map of the main floor… Each section is labelled in a colour; that should make it easier for you to find things, just remember the colour. Anyway, here's the gate…" Squall pointed to the map, "And there's the real gate…" Squall pointed past the map at a large opening with traffic control doorways. "Everything else is just around in a circle, the Infirmary, the Quad, the Cafeteria, the Dorms are directly opposite from us, then the Garage, the Training Centre… careful, there are real monsters running around in there… and the Library… You know where the 2nd floor class room is, and the Headmaster's office is on the 3rd floor, but you have to get permission to go up there…" The girl nodded eagerly.
"What's the Headmaster's name?"
"Headmaster Cid Kramer… but we just call him Headmaster Cid…"
"Oh, okay! Thanks!" Squall just nodded and started to walk away. "Hey!" Squall turned around again. "You're taking the exam today right?" Squall nodded. "Good luck!" She smiled again and sprinted off. Squall just shook his head and made his way to the front gate. He walked through the traffic gate and down the main, outdoor staircase.
(Why do I let Seifer get to me? …He's nothing but an attention hog, he probably just wants to tell everyone that he beat me in combat…) Squall walked slowly along, thinking. He stopped as a student ran across his path to the draw point on the other side. Squall scowled and shook his head.
(…Junctioned magick is so annoying… I'm glad I don't have to put up with it…) He started walking toward the front gate again. Behind Squall another girl was watching him. She had short brown hair, a blue shirt, a white skirt, and a green shawl wrapped around her small frame. She watched him slowly walk out of view, and smiled to herself.
"So we meet again, Squall…" she whispered to herself. Squall kept walking, not paying attention to anything around him.
(I wonder how Seifer's gonna react to him having a scar and me not having a mark…) Squall chuckled silently to himself. (I'd love to see his face when someone tells him…)
"There you are! Are you ready to go?" Squall looked up and found that he was at the front gate, and the person speaking was Instructor Trepe.
"…Yeah."
"Good! Do you have your GF junctioned?" Squall nodded, somewhat annoyed. "Alright! I was just making sure… Okay, the fire cavern is east of the Garden, on the other side of the forest… Are you ready?" Squall nodded again. "Let's go!" Quistis ran off of Garden property and toward the forest a few kilometres away. Squall shook his head exasperatedly and sprinted after her.
***
"There's the fire cavern," Quistis said, coming to a stop. The sprint over had gone without incident, and now here they were. "Are you nervous?" she asked, hoping for a little emotion from the silent boy. Squall shrugged.
"…Whatever…" Quistis rolled her eyes, that was Squall's universal answer to anything.
"Fine… Before we go in, I want to explain magick junctioning in a little more detail, we don't really cover it well in class…"
"That's okay… You don't need to," Squall interrupted impatiently; he had caught up on a lot of lost sleep the day they covered magick junctioning. Quistis frowned.
"Okay… If you don't think you need it… Then let's go." Squall and Quistis walked up the path to the two Garden Faculty members standing at the mouth of the cave.
"Your objective is to obtain a low-level GF. A SeeD member must support… Are you ready?" the Faculty member asked. Squall came to attention and saluted.
"I'm ready."
"Instructor Number 14, Quistis Trepe… I'm his support," Quistis said, also saluting.
"You have a twenty minute time limit. Good luck." The two Faculty members parted as Squall and Quistis walked in.
"This is it… Let's get it done!" Squall nodded and ran down the narrow pathway. It was very hot, and there were lava pits on either side of the path. The pits made Squall somewhat nervous, but he kept going, this was gonna be easy. "You know, boys get really nervous when I come with them for this… I guess my winning charm upsets them…" Quistis smiled. Squall stopped and looked back at her.
(…Whatever…)
"Hey! I was just kidding! Tension breaker type thing…" Squall just rolled his eyes and turned around again.
(Jeez… He's so serious…!) Squall just kept running trying to make it to the end sooner so he could have more time to fight the GF.
"WAIT!" Squall slid to a stop and turned, thinking they had been attacked. Quistis was just standing there, arms crossed. He looked at her confused. She pointed to the right. His eyes followed her hand and saw a draw point a little ways away, behind a rock. He sighed and motioned for her to go draw.
"Don't you want it?" Squall put his hand on his hip and sighed again. "Alright! If you're sure…" Quistis jogged to the draw point and absorbed a few fire spells, then rejoined Squall. He resumed his sprint toward the fire pit at the end of the path.
"I was right, you and Seifer are in a class of your own. You both are amazing…" Squall ignored her and slowed down as he came upon the fire pit. "This is it… Are you ready?" Squall shrugged.
(Whatever…) Suddenly a large object flew out of the fire pit, landing in front of the two teenagers. It was the GF. Squall quickly analysed the hulking beast.
(…He lives in a fire pit so the obvious is to cast ice spells and to use Shiva…) Squall glanced at Quistis.
"You cast blizzard spells, and I'll summon Shiva!" he shouted at her. Quistis nodded. She closed her eyes and pulled one of her junctioned blizzard spells out of the recesses of her mind and threw her hands in front of her, causing a large block of ice to form and fall on the GF's head. Squall wiped all thoughts out of his mind and called silently upon Shiva. Suddenly he felt himself become very light, almost like he was flying. He opened his eyes and watched as Quistis became transparent, then disappear completely. Near him, a large chunk of ice shot out of the ground. Incased in the ice was Shiva. Squall watched as Shiva broke out of the ice and threw her hands out, causing a large path of ice to form in front of her, and then shatter, as she disappeared. The GF was visibly hurt by the powerful ice attack.
"THEY HAVE SHIVA!" he roared. Squall looked back at where Quistis was supposed to be and saw her reappear slowly. She was already casting another blizzard spell. He smirked a little and prepared to call Shiva again. Quistis threw blizzard after blizzard at the GF as Squall readied Shiva. Suddenly, Quistis called upon another blizzard spell, and nothing happened.
(Shit! I ran out of spells!) She thought quickly and jumped forward, snapping her whip on the flesh of the GF. He roared loudly and jumped into the air.
"IMPUDENT HUMANS!" he snarled as he came back down upon Quistis. She screamed as he hit her and jumped back again. Squall's concentration was broken by Quistis's scream. He looked sharply at her and saw blood running down her face. She straightened uncertainly and stood ready.
"I'm out of ice spells!" she shouted at Squall.
(Dammit! So much for the fun way…) Squall closed his eyes again and put his hand out in front of him. Quistis watched as his arm turned a light blue colour and the GF froze. Suddenly a shaft of ice shot out of the ground underneath the GF and splintered.
(A blizzaga spell… Where did he get one of those?) The GF roared in pain.
"I LOST TO HUMAN! VERY WELL, I WILL JOIN YOU…" The GF disintegrated into small red particles, floating in the air… suddenly the particles flew at Squall and disappeared. Quistis walked slowly over to Squall.
"Very good, the GF's name is Ifrit, he is an elemental GF. You know about those right?" Squall nodded.
"…Are you… alright?" Squall asked awkwardly. Quistis touched her head; it was pretty painful, but not serious.
"Nothing a cure spell won't fix…" she smiled. "Come on, let's go back to Garden."
***
Author's Note: Ah, more updating. ^_^ Bet it's easier to read now. Enzyvay, disclaimer junk… yada yada… I had to upgrade this fic's rating to R due to language that gets really bad later. R&R.
-Rhyein