Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy Series. Please do not sue me.
A.N.: In this chapter, I am going to change Quistis name, so don't get confused when I do so. Just a little warning.
Ding
"The next stop is Galbadia. I repeat, the next train stop is Galbadia. Thank you."
Ding
Quistis stood up, aching all over. She lifted her arms over her head and arched her back. Being cramped all day made her muscles throb and twinge.
"May I take your bags, Miss?" An old man that worked on the train offered his hand.
Quistis looked at him. "Sure." She handed him her bags and followed him off the train. As soon as she got off, she was greeted with the beautiful sight of Galbadia Garden. There were people scurrying around everywhere, not stopping to talk to anyone. It looked so....homely.
"There you go, Missy," the train man said. He set her bags on a near-by bench and gave her a smile.
"Thank you," Quistis said. She handed the man a small stack of gil.
"Oh, no," he protested. "I make enough gil off of this train and I couldn't think of taking some from a lovely lady like yourself. You keep that gil and buy yourself something nice."
Quistis smiled. "Alright. Thank you." She tossed her bag over her shoulder and grabbed the other with her hand. This was the start of her new life.
"Hello," a bright woman said to Quistis. "Are you from the hospital?"
Quistis nodded and handed her a piece of paper.
The jolly woman took it and read it very quickly. "Come this way....what is your name?"
Quistis smiled. "My name is Adrienne. Adrienne Andrews."
The woman nodded. "Alright, come this way, then. I'll show you where your dorm is."
Quistis followed the woman down the hall. She glanced at the people walking by. They all gave her peculiar stares as if saying Who's the new girl? She felt as if she were a freak.
"Here you go, Adrienne," the woman said.
It took a second for Quistis to response to her new name. The doctor helped her pick out one that she liked and suited her. "Oh, well thank you." She walked into her dorm and smiled. It was nicer than staying in a hospital room for more than three weeks.
"And here's your key card. You'll need this to get in your dorm. Don't lose it."
Quistis nodded as the woman smiled at her, then left.
Home sweet home, Quistis thought and put all her belongings down on a couch. She unpacked through them and put them into a dresser. It wasn't much. Just some clothes that the hospital was more than happy to supply her with and a pair of boots. She had the one outfit that was on her back, so that made a total of three outfits for her.
It didn't take her long to unpack. Less than a minute, really. This gave her plenty of time to look around now.
Quistis got up and grabbed her card key. She opened the door and walked of into the Garden to get a more familiar sight of things.
"Hello," someone said suddenly, jumping out in front of Quistis.
Quistis was taken a back for a second, then responded. "Hello." In front of her was a jumpy girl, a few years younger than her. She had short red hair that bounced everywhere.
"What's your name?" she asked. She didn't wait for her to respond. "My name is Carrie. Carrie Holmes. I've been in this Garden all of my life. If you need anything just ask me, all right?"
Quistis nodded. "All right."
Carrie waited. "So...."
"So what?" Quistis asked.
"So what's your name, silly?"
Realization dawned on Quistis and she smiled. "My name is Adrienne. Adrienne Andrews."
"Cool!" The jumpy girl said. "Well, I'll see you around. Bye!"
"Bye," Quistis said a little more unenthusiastically. She could never be that hyper. Not ever.
Well, at least I made a friend. Quistis thought. She walked around the Garden a little more happily.
At Balamb Garden.
"We need to conduct a search party." Cid Kramer said. "We'll divide the team into two groups. Squall, Selphie, and Rinoa, go search the east coast of the regions. And of you can't find her, then search wherever your instincts tell you to. Squall will be the team leader. And for the second group, out newest SeeD will lead you. Seifer. So you take Zell and Irvine and search the west part of the regions. Take as long as you need to find her."
Seifer nodded and said quietly, "All right."
"This is what we need to do," Seifer said as the team got into his car. "We need to search all of the near-by Gardens. We need to search all of the towns. We need to find her. So, let's go check Deiling City first. Then after that, we'll check Timber. Then we'll check the Gardens. She has to be somewhere around here."
His team nodded and they drove off to find their beloved Instructor.
Back at Galbadia Garden.
"Thank you," Quistis said to the lunch lady. The lunch lady disregarded her politeness and gave the person behind her their food. What a grouch, Quistis thought. She took her food and headed out to the cafeteria tables. She looked around. Where do I sit? She thought. She found a table near the back and decided on sitting there. The perfect place for the new kid.
She pulled out the chair and sat in it, her back facing the rest of the cafeteria. She didn't like to be watched when she ate. Being alone isn't so bad. Quistis thought. It gives me time to think to myself and time to study so I can stay concentrated on schoolwork than hanging out all the time.
All of a sudden, she felt something hit her back. Confused, she turned around and saw a wad of balled up paper on the ground. She picked it up and opened up the sheet of paper, trying her best to flatten it out before she read it. She didn't know what it was, but she guessed that it might have been bad, considering that she was the new kid.
She began to read what it said: Meet us at the front entrance at midnight. If you do not, prepare for the worst.
Quistis' heart began to speed up. Is this some kind of a joke? There's no way I am going. Quistis turned back around to see if anyone was looking at her, waiting for her to read the note. No one was even paying her any heed.
She stared at the paper once more and read the lines aloud. "Prepare for the worst."
At Timber
"All right," Seifer said, exasperated. "We checked Deiling and here. There is no sign of her. Next is the Gardens. The only one near here is Galbadia, but it's already late, so we need to get some rest. Let's go check into the hotel."
At Galbadia.
Meet us at the front entrance at midnight. If you do not, prepare for the worst.
Quistis read the lines over and over again. What can they do if I don't go? Should I go? She looked at her clock. It read 11:55. She had five minutes to decide if she wanted to go or not. If I go, then I'll see who wrote me the note, but if I don't then the worst will happen to me. What's the harm in going?
She decided. She was going.
"Hello?" Quistis asked. She had already walked through the Garden and it was dead quiet. There was nobody around and that made her feel uneasy. She waited by the entrance, all alone in the dark.
"Hello?" Quistis asked again. She was becoming more and more irritated. She had been waiting for five minutes and there was a no-show. I should just leave. She turned around and took a step, but then she suddenly heard a creak from behind her. Startled, she turned back around to be face with by a group of girls.
"Are you the Quistis Trepe?" One girl asked. She stood out from the rest. She must have been their leader.
"No," Quistis said. "I'm Adrienne Andrews. I just transferred here."
The one girls face got pink. "You have a Save the Queen." Quistis looked down at her waist at the whip that was attached to her. The girl continued. "The only existing ones are Quistis Trepes and my own." She patted the whip attached to her waist. "So you must have stolen it from Quistis. I am Miniki and I shall challenge you to a duel."
Quistis shook her head. "No. I am not fighting now. I just transferred her and I am not getting into any kind of trouble." She turned to leave.
The air was cracked by the sound of a whip. Quistis didn't notice it until she was unable to move. She looked down. The girls whip was wrapped around her wrist. Quistis looked back up at the girl.
"What's wrong?" Miniki taunted. "Are you some kind of mediocre fighter? Then this should be easy."
Quistis' eyes narrowed at the word "mediocre". For some reason, she hated that word. She grabbed Minikis whip from her wrist and unwrapped it from her skin. It left behind a deep red indentation. "Bring it on," she said.
The girl smiled. "Happy to." Then without another word, she cracked her whip once more at Quistis, aiming for her face.
Quistis quickly dodged the attack and unknotted her Save the Queen from her belt loop. She snapped her whip at Minikis, causing both of their whips to become tangled into each others.
Miniki tugged and pulled, but it wouldn't come free.
"What's wrong?" Quistis asked, mimicking her. "Are you some kind of mediocre fighter or something?"
Her face changed to a crimson red as she struggled to free her Save the Queen. Quistis shook her head at her attempts and she tugged her own free. "Now this time really bring it on."
Miniki snapped her whip once more, aiming dead on at Quistis hand. Quistis failed to dodge it and the searing hot pain of the whip caused her to drop her weapon.
Miniki laughed. "Ha. You have no skill what-so-ever. Why are you carrying a Save the Queen? If you stole it off of Quistis Trepe, then she is as bad as a fighter as you are." Miniki took aim once more to hit Quistis.
Quistis knew it was coming and she turned her body away from the whip. With her hands, she grabbed the tip of the whip and with all her might, pulled it out of Minikis hands.
Miniki stared at Quistis in shock and hurried to grab the other Save the Queen from the ground and held it up to defend herself with.
Quistis and Miniki circled each other, daring the other to make a move. They both stared into each others eyes, trying to predict what move was next. Miniki saw Quistis blink and she knew it was her move. She swiped Quistis with her whip, but it didn't give her the satisfying crack that she wanted. The whip slowly snapped towards Quistis, but she easily ducked out of the way and she used that advantage to its fullest. Quistis snapped her own whip and it caught on Minikis left ankle. Quistis pulled hard and Miniki fell to the ground.
Some of Minikis friends gasped.
"What were you saying about no skill?" Quistis asked. She stood over Miniki and took the whip from her hands. "I believe that this is mine." Then she handed Minikis whip to her. "Get up." She held her hand out to her and Miniki took it, looking ashamed and sulky.
"You were a good fight," Quistis said, patting her on her back.
Miniki nodded. "And you were too. This fight inspires me to work harder. Thank you."
Quistis nodded and walked back to her dorm with an extra boost of confidence in her step.
The next day in Timber.
"Ok, team," Seifer said to Zell and Irvine. It was 7:30 in the morning. They both looked at him, tired and curious on what the next move was. "We go to Galbadia today. If we do not find Quistis there or we don't have any kind of lead onto where she is, then we go to other places where she may have headed. Possibly the orphanage, or even the Deep Sea Research Center. We have to look everywhere. Even if the other team has already looked there, we will check again. We have to find her. Even if it takes us forever to search for her."
Zell and Irvine nodded. "All right," Seifer said. "Let's move out!"
The next day in Galbadia.
"Oh, no! I'm late!" Quistis sat up straight in her bed and glanced at her clock. It read 7:45. Classes started fifteen minutes ago. She groaned and sank back down. "There's no use now. I might as well not go to class."
Sighing, Quistis fell back into a deep sleep.
"Any sign of her?" Seifer asked Zell and Irvine. They both shook their heads. Seifer sighed. "Well, let's keep looking."
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
"Huh?" Quistis gasped. She flinched awake and hit her alarm clock. It had been beeping for the past half an hour now and she even dreamed that she was talking to aliens that kept beeping.
Tiredly, she got up and slinked to the bathroom where she turned the shower on full blast. She jumped in after getting undressed and applied peach body wash on her bath sponge. It lathered to a frothy white and the shower was filled with the scent of peaches. Quistis breathed in the fragrance and slowly began to massage her aching muscles with the sponge. Then she worked her way to her long blonde hair. She worked some shampoo into her scalp and let the water rinse the soapy substance out. She just loved the smell of peaches.
"Leave the President alone," I said to a blonde man. He held a scar between his eyes that ran down from his forehead to the base of his eyes. It was a very distinguishing trademark of his.
"No!" he yelled back, holding the President of Deiling City on front of him. "He will pay!" He held his large blade to the mans neck, daring to press harder.
"This is not the answer," I persuaded. "You're just making things worse by doing this."
The man hesitated. "No, I will fulfill me dream in becoming a knight!" He dragged the President off.
Not knowing what to do, I looked at the camera that was broadcasting everything live. "Squall!" I shouted. "We need your help. You do have permission. I need you right away."
Startled, Quistis jerked back into reality. She was breathing a little hard and realized that the shower was over flooded with hot steam. "I was just day dreaming," Quistis told herself. She shut the water off and wrapped a towel around herself. She dried herself off quickly and threw on her clothes and walked to the next room. She was greeted with a chilling air that made her shiver in response.
"I am so hungry," she whined to herself. She walked to the small refrigerator, hoping for some kind of food that the Garden may have supplied for her. No suck luck. "And the cafeteria's probably not open just yet," she realized. "I have to go shopping for food then."
"By any chance, was there a young woman who may have come here between now and eight weeks ago?" Seifer asked. He was standing impatiently at the front desk.
The woman just stared at him. "Well, there are a lot of young women who come to train here, Sir."
Seifer shook his head. "But I mean, has anyone transferred here in the past month or so? Specifically a young woman with long blonde hair and she carries a Save the Queen."
The woman smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere. We have a young woman who uses a Save the Queen right in our very own Garden."
Sefier sighed, relieved. "Can you please page he, or something."
The large woman shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no, no. We can only page someone if there is an extreme emergency and this doesn't seem like one."
Seifer was red in the face. "This is an emergency! We have strict orders from Balamb Garden to bring her back to the Garden where she can live!"
The woman nodded. "All right." She picked up a small phone behind her and began to talk lowly into the receiver. After a few seconds, she hung up the phone. "She will be down here in a few minutes."
Seifer nodded and closed his eyes.
Quistis grabbed her backpack and laced it through her arms. She grabbed a stack of gil and headed out of the door.
"Yes?" Miniki asked. She stood at the front desk, waiting to see why she was called down from her class.
"You have visitors," the receptionist said, pointing.
Miniki looked at the three young men who sat down in the lobby. She walked down. "Yes?" She asked. She stood in front of the blonde one with the healing scar between his eyes.
Seifer stood up, confused. "Who are you?"
Miniki crossed her arms. "Well, you should be able to tell me that, considering that you called me down from my class."
Seifer looked at her hip. She had a Save the Queen looped around her belt. "Where did you get that from?" He asked.
Miniki uncrossed her arms. "I have always had this. This is my weapon."
Seifer strode back towards the receptionist desk. "Uh, excuse me, but this is the wrong person. I asked for a girl with blonde hair and a Save the Queen. Not a girl with brown hair."
The woman shook her head. "There's no one here with that description. Sorry."
Seifer cursed and sat back down.
Miniki turned to Seifer. "Yes there is."
Seifer looked up. "How do you know?" He stood up and faced her. So did Zell and Irvine.
"Well, a girl just transferred here yesterday. She has blonde hair and a Save the Queen."
"Are you sure?" Zell asked.
Miniki nodded. "Yes. I know because I challenged her last night to a duel."
Zell and Irvine slapped hands. "She's here! Quistis is here!"
Minikis eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Quistis? That's not her name. She told me that her name was Adrienne Andrews."
Seifers face went dark. "Are you sure?"
Miniki nodded. "Yes I am sure. I even asked her if she was Quistis Trepe because she was holding a Save the Queen and there are only two people that hold that weapon. Me and her. So I assumed that she may have stolen it from Quistis or maybe even fought her and won."
Seifer cursed again. "Great." He turned to the front desk. "Can you please page Adrienne Andrews?"
The woman nodded, exasperated. "All right."
Quistis walked down to the lobby towards the front entrance. The place where she beat Miniki in the duel less than twelve hours ago. How did I learn to fight that good? She asked herself. I guess it must be in the genes or something. She continues to walk towards the front entrance.
"I'm sorry, Sir," the woman said, even though she didn't sound sorry. "There is no answer at her room and her teachers said that she wasn't in class today."
Seifer hit the desk. "Can you try again?"
The woman sighed. "All right."
"Wait!" Miniki said. "There she is!" She pointed all the way down the hall. Quistis was walking out of the gates.
"Quistis!" Seifer yelled. He ran down the lobby, closely followed by Zell and Irvine. They dodged past students and out the gate.
"Quistis!" Seifer yelled again. She didn't turn around. He kept running and when he was close enough, he grabbed her shoulder.
Quistis spun around, startled. She looked at three men who crowded around her. "Yes?" She asked, timidly.
Zell hugged her happily and twirled her in the air. "It's really you!"
Quistis struggled to get away from him. "Excuse me," she said, confused. She pushed Zell off of her and took a step back. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Seifer took a step towards her. "Quistis," he said quietly. She took a step back.
"No. My name is Adrienne Andrews. Why is everyone mistaking me for a Quistis Trepe?" She turned around and continued to walk away.
Seifer ran in front of her. "What are you talking about? You are Quistis Trepe. Don't you......remember....." Seifer stopped short. He hadn't forgotten about that one day when she jumped off the pier to end her life. This had to be the result of it. He never got the chance to tell the rest of the guys it, though, because he thought that everything would have been alright.
Quistis tapped her foot. "Stop playing games with me. I am tired of those, Seifer." She kept tapping her foot, but then stopped. How do I know his name? Is that even his name?
Seifer grinned. "You see? You are Quistis Trepe. You live in Balamb Garden and-"
"Stop!" Quistis yelled. She covered her ears and closed her eyes. "My name is Adrienne Andrews and I live in Galbadia Garden. I have always lived here."
Zell and Irvine looked at her confused. "Quistis, what are you talking about?" Irvine asked her.
"No, not Quistis. Adrienne." She looked at each of them. Their faces seemed to blur. She vaguely remembered the blonde one with the face tattoo from her dream on the train. And she vaguely remembered the blonde one with the scar from her day dream in the shower. But what about the one with the long brown hair?
"And here is your assigned sharpshooter. Irvine Kinneas. Come here."
A young man in a beige trench coat and a cowboy hat laid on the grass. A small butterfly landed on his index finger, which he held out as if it were a gun. He made a small noise imitating a gun and the butterfly flew away.
He sat forward and stood up, carrying a large gun on his side. He was nearly six feet three when he stood up. He propped his gun on his shoulder and turned to face us all. A ladies-man smile played on the corner of his lips and he walked towards us.
Quistis shook her head to clear it as she came back to reality. "Stop it. Just leave me alone!"
Seifer reached for her and grabbed her wrist. "Quistis. You have got to remember."
Quistis shook her head and struggled to free her arm. "No! I-I can't. Just leave me alone." She pulled hard away from him and freed her wrist, but he just grabbed her other arm. She pulled even harder.
"Damn, you woman," Sefier rebuked. "Just stop struggling. You're coming with us."
"No, I'm not," Quistis protested. She pulled away more urgently now. The blonde one with the tattoo was approaching her. He grabbed her feet and Seifer and Zell carried her to his car.
"No!" Quistis cried. She kicked and struggled to get free.
Irvine held the door open for Seifer and Zell and they both put her in it.
"We're not going to hurt you," Seifer said. "We're just taking you to where you belong."
"That's real comforting," Quistis said and kicked her legs out. "Please. I like it here. I just want to stay here."
Zell got in the car next to her and Irvine sat on the other side of her in the backseat of the car while Seifer got in the front to drive. "If you like it here, then you'll like it even better at Balamb."
Without another word, he drove off towards her other new home.
A. N. : I'll keep writing ASAP. I'll try to finish this in the next chapter or maybe in another one. We'll see, depending on how quickly my dad gets us hooked on to CompuServe. Review, please. Thanks.