I slowly walked along the walkways and towards a huge staircase and looked up to an elevator. I turned around and gazed at my surroundings. Outside there were more students at this "Garden."

I walked up the stairs and headed for the elevator. Just as the doors were shutting I heard someone yell," WAIT!!!!"

I reached over and touched the door open button just as a girl came running in.

She had shoulder length brown hair that curled upwards on the end. She had soft brown eyes and she was just a little thing. She looked like she was about thirteen years old.

"Gee…Thanks. I thought for sure that I was going to miss it."

"No problem."

"This place is a lot bigger than my old Garden."

"So you're about as lost as I am." I said.

"Probably. My name is Selphie. Selphie Timlett."

"Chandra. Chandra Stone."

"Where are you from?" she asked innocently.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Sure I would. I'm from Trabia Garden."

"Angel Grove, California. On the planet Earth."

"You're an alien?"

"Not quite. It's more like a parallel universe I'm assuming."

"Oh weird. You look normal."

I wanted to laugh and say the same thing but I didn't

"I mean, you're not green or anything."

"Not as far as I know."

"And you speak Estharine quite fluently."

"I guess I do."

"I think you'll be okay, then."

"I think so, too."

We got off the elevator at the second floor. She was in a hurry and ran off. I took it slowly and tried to get adjusted to the new surrounds.

I walked to the edge of the bridge and looked over the side. It was a long way down but you could land in water. Maybe that's why it was there, in case some student decided to try and end it all.

I walked to the edge of the corridor and saw that Selphie had crashed into another student. It was a guy and if he was any indication as to what the rest of the guys were like, I knew I was going to like Esthar.

He was wearing an old beat up bomber jacket with a white wife-beater underneath. He also had on leather pants that left little to my wild imagination. He had long, floppy dark brown hair and grey eyes that looked like they yielded a lot of pain. He also had finely chiseled features. He was quite handsome.

He helped Selphie to her feet and they walked back down the corridor. I heard her say something about the field exam and I was curious as to what that was.

I walked to the first classroom I could find and lucky enough, it was Quistis.

"Quistis, what's a field exam?"

"In the classroom, you will address me as Instructor Trepe."

"Okay, fine. Instructor Trepe, what is a field exam?"

"It's one of the tests for SeeD." She said matter-of-factly.

"How do I become one of these SeeD candidates?"

"You're not serious, are you?" She said sounding surprised.

"Yes."

"Well, it takes years of training and testing and…"

"No offense, Instructor Trepe, but you have no idea what to do with me."

"True. We will have to talk to the Headmaster about this of course,"

"Okay. So lets do it!"

She looked at me curiously. "Do you know what you're getting yourself in to?"

"No but at this point, I don't have anything to lose."

"You do have a point." She said with a smile. "Let's go see the Headmaster."

She was very pretty when she wasn't serious. She'd be a bombshell back home.

We took the elevator up to the third floor where a short, I guess, Asian woman met us. She had shoulder length dark hair and brown eyes.

"Xu, we need to see Cid."

"What for, Quistis?"

"It's about the situation that has come up."

"Okay."

A few minutes later, we were let into a huge office area. There was a desk in the center of the room and a short little man with balding hair and wire-rimmed glasses was seated at the desk. He looked like Mr. Rogers on crack.

"Instructor Trepe. I see you brought the visitor."

"Yes, Headmaster Cid, I did."

"And what is your name, child?"

"Chandra Stone, sir."

"Very pretty name, my dear. So what would you like to speak to me about, Quistis?"

"Chandra would like to enroll in SeeD training right away."

"You'd like to become a member of SeeD."

"Yes, sir. I figure since I really don't have a purpose yet that I might as well try to become a SeeD."

"It is very grueling both physically and mentally." Quistis began again.

"And as I've said before, Quistis, I have nothing to lose."

"Well very well, then. Let her go on the field exam first. Let's see how she does. If she passes, we'll have her take the written test and do some training with the crew."

"Would you like to do that?" Quistis asked me.

"Absolutely. When do I begin?"

"Why don't we have one of the candidates take you to the training room to build up some skills. I think we'll arm you with a gun blade. It will give us another specialist on the team."

"And she can do the GF training during the field exam, if time allows."

"Okay. Miss Stone. I wish you Good luck."

"Thank you, Headmaster Cid. But I really don't need luck, sir."

"If you don't want to end up dead, then you will."

"Yes, sir."

Quistis and I walked from the office.

"Instructor Trepe, is he always this weird?"

"Sometimes, he is. But never mind that. We need to get you to the training center. I think I know who will take you, too."

"Okay."

She walked to an intercom and pulled the switch.

"Will Cadet Dincht please report to the directory? Cadet Dincht, please report to the directory."

We walked back down the stairs and waited by the directory. It didn't take very long for someone to show up. That someone was the student from the infirmary.

He was taller than I was, about 5'10'' tall. I remembered him as the guy from the infirmary. He was definitely better looking up close. He flashed a crazy smile that made me grin.

"Yes, Instructor Trepe."

"Will you please take Cadet Stone to the training center. She's taking the field exam and she needs to be prepared for some kind of combat."

"Okay. No problem."

"And Cadet Dincht."

"Yes, Instructor."

"Try to behave yourself."

"Yes, ma'am."

After she walked away, he and I headed towards the training center, which was on the north side of the building.

He looked at me and all he could do was smile.

"Let me re-introduce myself to you. Quistis didn't do a very good job of it. I am Zell Dincht. I'm from Balamb."

"I'm Chandra Stone. Although, I think I like Chandra Haley a lot better."

"Haley?"

"Yes, my middle name."

"It's very pretty."

"Well, thank you."

"So where exactly are you from? You just washed up on the shore of Balamb the other day."

"Trust me. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Sure, I would. I'd believe anything."

"I'm not from here…whatever this place is. I'm from a totally different planet."

"Are you?"

"Yes. I'm from the planet Earth."

"Wow, that's a long way away from here. It's gotta be at least 300 or 400 million light years away."

"Holy shit."

"Are you okay?"

"For the time being, yes."

We walked towards a hallway that led to the training center; it was definitely a tropical setting. There were palm trees and other plants all over the place. There was also water running through the park. I was deeply fascinated by it.

"Okay, Chandra. You have to be very careful. Monsters will attack you at any point. You have to be on guard at all times."

"Okay."

"Do you have your gunblade?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Not the slightest idea."

He took the gunblade from my hand.

"It works like a sword. But when you prepare to strike, pull the trigger. It causes more damage to the enemy."

"Okay, like I've used a sword before…"

"It's easy. Trust me. I'm a martial artist. I use my hands."

"I see that."

"You do?"

"Yes." I said taking his hands.

"How do you know?"

"They are all calloused and rough. You must do a lot of training."

"The martial arts are really the only form of discipline that I have."

"Quistis doesn't seem to think so."

"No one does."

We started walking through the training center. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling behind us. By the look on Zell's face, I knew that we were in trouble.

"What is it, Zell?"

"Turn around."

We both turned around. Standing behind us was a twenty-foot tall dinosaur of sorts.

"Chandra, that is a T-Rexasaur. It's one of the toughest creatures in here."

"Oh well. Let's go after it."

"Okay."

Zell gave the sword back to me.

"Okay, Chandra. This is definitely a tough fight."

"Okay."

I watched as Zell ran up and started attacking it. I followed suit and started stabbing at the T-Rex. It fought back and knocked me on my ass.

"Oh, shit."

I jumped back to my feet and started attacking it again. I remembered what Zell had told me and pulled the trigger. It seemed to cause more damage.

"Okay, Chandra. If you're really smart, you will try to draw magic from the thing."

"How do I do that?"

"Concentrate and then say draw. It should draw some kind of magic stone from it."

"Okay." I started to concentrate on the creature and then stood still in front of it.

"Draw!" I yelled. Suddenly, little stones fell at my feet.

"You can grab those after the fight. I think you got an Ultima from it."

"Is that good?"

"Yes. It's very strong."

"Okay."

We kept fighting. After fifteen minutes, it crashed to the ground with a terrific thud. It disappeared from sight.

"Holy cow."

"No, that was a…"

"I know. I've never seen anything like that."

We went around the training center and fought a few more creatures.

I saw Quistis come into the room. She walked over to us.

"So, how is the training so far?"

"It's tough but I kind of like this."

"That's good. I have a SeeD uniform for you. You'll need it when we go onto the field exam."

"Okay."

"I also have a dorm room for you."

"Okay."

"You may want to go up there and get acquainted with your roommate. You can also take a nap before the field exam if you like."

"That'd be great."

"I'll see ya later, then." Zell called out.

"Okay, Zell."

Quistis and I walked down the corridor towards the dorms.

"He didn't try anything, did he?"

"Oh no. He was a perfect gentleman. He actually showed me how to use this gunblade."

"I'm surprised. Usually when Zell gets around a beautiful woman, he gets all giddy."

"Nope. No problem here."

We walked down a hallway and down to the girls' dorm. She knocked on the door of a room.

"Hello."

"Are you Selphie Timlett?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm here to introduce your roommate to you. Her name is Chandra Stone. Chandra, this is Selphie Timlett."

"Um, Instructor Trepe?"

"Yes, Chandra."

"I changed my name. It's Chandra Haley now." I said correcting her.
"Okay."

I looked at the girl. She was the girl from the elevator.

"Hi! I'm from Trabia Garden. Where are you from?

"The Angel Grove Garden. " I quipped. Quistis just gave me an odd look.

She was too perky for her own good. She was sunshiny and happy. Even her dress was bright yellow.

"I don't mean to be a stinker but I'm really tired and I'd like to take a nap."

"Oh, sure. Go ahead. Hey! You're the girl from the elevator! You're the alien." She said, laughing.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess."

"Very funny about the Angel Grove Garden thing. Well, I'll let you rest. I'll wake you before the SeeD exam."

I lay down on the bed. It was firm yet kind of stiff. I fell asleep instantly.

I was woken up a short time later by a shake.

"Chandra. Wake up. It's almost time for the field exam."

I opened my eyes to see Selphie standing over me.

I groaned, stretched and sat up. My eyes re-adjusted as I looked over at the wall. I saw a uniform hanging up. It almost reminded me of the Holy Angels uniform. It had a navy blue jacket with a pair of navy blue shorts.

"That's the uniform?" I asked Selphie.

"Yes and you have to change into it before we leave."

"Okay."

I walked into the bathroom and put the uniform on. It was a tight fit but it looked good on me. I threw my platinum blonde curls up into a ponytail and walked from the room. I saw Zell standing down at the end of the hallway.

"Zell!"

"Oh, hey, Chandra!!"

Selphie and I walked down the hallway to where he was standing. He was wearing a similar uniform but he looked much better in it, I thought.

We walked down to the directory together. There was definitely a bond between us.

"Instructor Trepe is about to announce the teams." I heard a SeeD candidate say.

We just stood around and talked for a while. They looked a little nervous. I stood there. I didn't know what to think.

Quistis popped up a few moments later. She walked in with two cadets, one of which I'd never see before.

One was about 6' 2" with stark blonde hair and piercing green eyes. He wore a dark gray trench coat. He was glaring at the guy on the other side of Quistis.

It was the guy from the hallway; the one that Selphie had crashed into earlier in the day.

"Okay, Cadets. We're breaking you up into four different groups."

She went into detail. Selphie was put in group "B".

"And group "A" is made up of Cadets Almasy, Dincht, Haley, Leonhart and. Siefer, you will be the leader of the group."

Quistis walked over to us.

"Squall, you haven't had the chance to meet our newest and brightest cadet, Chandra Haley. Chandra, this is Squall Leonhart." He just nodded in my general direction. Siefer walked over.

"Instructor Trepe, why didn't you introduce me to her?" he said as he took my hand. He kissed it and cold shivers tingled down my spine. Something told me he was not to be trusted.

"Come on, troops. We have to get to Balamb. We'll receive further instruction once we get there." Quistis said.

We got into a car in the parking lot and drove through the plains towards the city of Balamb. We were also given a salary. I bought a few extra supplies.

It was a quaint little ocean-side town. It was like an adobe village. Everything looked like it had been made out of red clay. The people were really friendly.

We walked towards the harbor and got aboard a ship that was waiting for us. It sailed through the ocean towards Dollet. Xu went over some more detailed instructions and then we sat down.

We were enlisted to help a small resistance force fight off the Galbadian army and liberate the small town.

I suddenly started to get just a bit nervous. Butterflies started to flutter in my stomach. I looked around at the rest of the troops.

Squall was being quiet and stoic. Siefer was acting like a prick and Zell and I just sat back.

Zell whispered to me. "Chan, I don't like him."

"I got that feeling, too."

Suddenly, Siefer piped in. "Oh, come on, chicken-wuss. You don't need to be hogging her."

"Siefer, shush! I'm not here to be ogled. I'm here to become a SeeD. So back off!"

That caught Squall off guard and he looked right at me.

"Chandra. Do you always fight like that?"

"Yes. I usually do."

He smiled at me. "You'll do just fine."