Desperate Souls
Chapter 3: The Sharpshooter
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Final Fantasy 8, nor do I own any of the characters, Squaresoft does. I only own Jade, Nic, and Matt, now on with the story.....I can't believe I have to type this every chapter.
Jade awoke sometime in the early morning hours, she never was one for sleeping late, simply because she thought it was pointless, either way you go you ended up crawling out of bed and facing the day anyway. So why not face it earlier? She looked at her watch, she'd rather not call it a tracking device, and found it was only 5 a.m. She sighed, and walked into the small living area of the dorm, then walked over to the couch and sat down, and proceeded to switch on the television. After a few minutes of channel surfing, she stopped on a television station that was basically news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was basically the same thing over and over again, Dollet and Timber were declaring their independence from Galbadia, and Galbadia was pissed as usual. Every now and then they mentioned bringing SeeD in to help with the repeated attacks on the two small cities, other than that everything was pretty boring.
She sat up, leaving the TV on, and walked back into her bedroom. She looked in the closet and found a cadet uniform, but she prefered not be seen in something like that, and settled on some of the clothes she had brought. Her backpack lay on the floor, so she walked over and picked it up, setting it down on the bed. She rummaged through the few set's of clothes she had brought, and found a pair of black jeans, a white tank top, along with an old black leather jacket. She looked it over, and sighed. "This'll have to do for now, I guess."
She went into the bathroom and proceeded to take a shower, and after she pulled on the tank top, then as she proceeded to put the jeans on, she heard a knock at the door, "Coming!", another knock, "Alright! Alright! I said I'm coming!", she quickly pulled on her jeans and ran to the door.
Irvine stood outside Jade's door. He had his Exeter in one hand, and the old Valiant he had had when he was a cadet at Galbadia Garden, and a sniper rifle slung around his shoulder. He heard Jade shouting a lot of obscenities through the door and couldn't help but laugh. "Her and Quisty would be perfect for one another." He hadn't told anyone yet, and he probably wouldn't until he could be sure that Quistis had feelings for Jade. The door suddenly flew open, and Jade stood infront of him, he could see perfectly why Quistis would like her. Her hair was slightly wet, sending little drops down her tanned shoulder's. Some of her blonde hair was hanging infront of her eye's, which was probably another reason Quistis acted so funny around her, not to mention her body. He was eying her up and down when he heard her clear her throat, which made him look up. "Oh..sorry."
She smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it, I'm kinda used to it. Anyway, what are you doing here this early Mr. Kinneas?"
"Yeah, I wanted us to get an early start. I never could sleep late in the mornings, and now I can see I'm not the only one."
She nodded. "Yeah, well you can let me finish getting ready. Come in." She opened the door, letting him in, then shut it behind her. "I'll just be a minute."
"Take your time." He sat down on the couch, flipping through the channels.
"Gee...make yourself at home." She smirked and walked back into her room, grabbing her black hiking boots from under her bed, and proceeded to sit down on the bed, slipping them on and tying the laces. When she finished lacing up the last boot, she grabbed the leather jacket off the bed and slipped it on. It was about two sizes too big for someone her size, but she didn't care. She walked back into the living area where Irvine was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the small table infront of the couch. "Comfortable?"
He quickly took his feet off the table and stood. "Ready?"
She laughed and nodded. "Yeah..you sure it's okay for me to leave my dorm this early?"
He nodded. "Yes, it is.", he handed her the Valiant he was carrying. "This is now your gun, take good care of it, and it'll take care of you."
She took it in her right hand, pointing the barrel up towards the ceiling and looked it over, it's barrel glinting in the light of the hallway. "Cool, can we go now?" A hint of anxiousness could be heard in her voice.
Irvine chuckled. "Yeah, oh, there's something else I need to give you. Now, I usually don't do this for other cadet's, but I've got a feeling you're going to be really successful here."
She looked at him, her head cocked to the side slightly. "What's that?"
"I need to give you a GF, so you can junction, draw, and use magic. Here, just concentrate for a second."
She nodded and did as he said, and a sudden shock ran through her, ending at her brain. "What was that?"
"Your new GF, his name is Diablos and his attack is non-elemental. Not to mention he has some pretty cool abilities."
She had a confused look on her face, and asked as they entered the main hall area and started for the training center. "Mr. Kinneas, I have no what you're talking about, think you could explain a little?"
He brought a partially gloved had up to his cowboy hat and adjusted it. "Sure. GF's are Guardian Forces, they allow you to use Magic, and you can draw magic from an enemy. The abilites I was telling you about are different attacks and special tricks you can use in battle, to give you an advantage over your opponent. You have to obtain AP, which you receive after every battle, to learn these abilities."
"Okay, anything else I need to know."
"Yeah, there's lots, but I'll leave that to Quistis. I'm just here to teach you how to use that gun."
She shrugged and they turned down the hall that lead to the training center. Jade was anxious to use the weapon on her hands. They reached the entrance and she followed Irvine to the left and through the gate.
He turned around. "Okay, here's how you use the Valiant, it's really simple. You just take your ammo", he held up a shotgun shell, "and you place it in this slot right here.", he placed the ammo in the barrel, then clicked it shut, "see, simple right?"
"Yep, how about this large chamber right here?" She pointed to a large chamber near the barrel of the gun.
"Oh, that's for when you use your limit break, which'll most likely be like mine, Shot. You just place as much of one type of ammo in there, then you close it and start firing away at your enemy, just know this, you only have a certain amount of time to do this."
"Okay, got it."
"Alright, then let's find a couple of Grat's for target practice. While you're at it, you might want to get started on drawing some magic. It's really simple, just concentrate on what you want to draw, and Diablos will do all the work."
She nodded. "Alright. I'm ready."
Irvine nodded one last time, then motioned for her to follow him. They walked into the area of the training center where the Grats were common, and soon were initiated into a battle with two of the plant-like monsters. Irvine easily finished off the first one with one shot from his Exeter, then stood off to the side to let Jade handle the last one.
She drew the Valiant Irvine had given her earlier, loading a round of ammo into the chamber faster than Irvine had seen anyone do before, and took careful aim at the monster, and with a certain gentleness, she pulled the trigger and sent the bullet whizzing at the Grat. The bullet pierced the rubbery skin of the Grat, going through it's brain, and exiting out of the back of it's head.
Irvine stood there with his mouth gaping open, amazed at how she killed the monster. He walked over to her, clearing his throat. "Jade, have you had any type of experience with a gun before?"
She shook her head. "No..why? Did I do something wrong?"
"Ohh..no. I mean, that was an amazing shot you just took there. Especially for someone who's never handled a gun like that before.", he paused and a thought popped into his head, and he reached behind his back to unshoulder the sniper rifle he was carrying. "Here, this is what I want you to do.", he pointed to a boulder of some sort on the side of him, "Climb up there and set the gun up towhere you can shoot while laying on your stomach."
She gave him a "what are you going to do look?", "Why?"
"I'm going to lure a T-Rexaur into your sights, and what you're going to do is use one shot to take him out."
"Are you nuts!? How can I do that?"
"Simple, just fire a shot into his eye, the bullet will go straight into his brain, killing him instantly."
She took the rifle from him and slung it across her shoulder. "Okay, I'll do it."
He grinned. "Good, I'll wait til you get setup, then I'll head off to find your target. Just be ready."
She nodded and headed over to the boulder, climbing up with ease, and laid down on her stomach. She proceeded to set up the small tripod stand that was attached to the weapon, and once she was comfortable, she gave an ok sign to Irvine. He immediately ran off into the jungle, and it wasn't soon after he came runnning back out with a T-Rexaur hot on his heels.
The T-Rexaur came bursting out of the trees, sending a roar that shook the ground at Irvine, Jade calmly rested the butt of the rifle against her shoulder, and looked into the scope. The T-Rexaur came into view, and she slowly brought the crosshairs up to it's head, but couldn't get a clear view of it's eye's because of the way it was facing her. Still, she didn't get nervous, she simply waited for Irvine to get him into position. She kept the crosshairs aimed at where she estimated it's eye to be, and when Irvine finally managed to get it to turn, the eye landed exactly where she figured it would be. She paused for a second, then gently pulled the trigger. The bullet flew from the barrel, a small snapping sound coming from the built in silencer. In less than a few seconds, the large monster was lying on the ground, lifeless.
Jade slowly stood up, slinging the rifle's strap across her shoulder, and climbed down from the boulder. She walked over to Irvine, who was grinning like a child on Christmas morning. She cocked her head to the side, "Why are you grinning like that?"
He slapped her shoulder. "That was some mighty fine sharpshooting. You know that what you just did took me years to master?"
"Uhh...no. Actually, all I did was what you said to do."
"Well, it took me year's to learn how to do that. It only took you one damn try, so that means you've got one hell of a talent. C'mon, we'll talk more over some breakfast." He took off his cowboy hat and placed it on Jade's head, then slapped an arm around her shoulder and started ushering her out of the training center.
She looked at the arm around her shoulder. She didn't really mind, she thought Irvine was a pretty cool guy, anyway, it was more like he was treating her like a little sister than trying to make a pass at her.
They walked to the cafeteria and took their places in line. She looked around the cafeteria, which was empty except for a couple of SeeDs and Instructors. She looked back to Irvine, "So, Mr. Kinneas, what was it like to go up against the Sorceress Ultamecia?"
He smiled. "It was exciting, yet scary at the same time. And please, call me Irvine, Mr. Kinneas makes me feel old and mature.", he looked at the front of the line, "Dammit, why doesn't he just wait in line like everyone else?"
She looked to the front of the line to see who he was talking about and saw a man in mostly black, with a white tee shirt, leave and head for one of the tables. "Who was that?" She looked at Irvine for an answer.
"That, is our great Commander Squall Leonhart.", he mumbled, "..Asshole."
She sensed the hostility in his voice, "Care to fill me in here, I thought all the heroes were best friends?"
They grabbed their food and trays, then walked to a table in the back of the cafeteria, so no one could hear their conversation. Irvine took a bite of his bacon and eggs while Jade ate a spoonful of cereal. Finally, Irvine started explaining. "Well, I can't stand him. Zell and Selphie, they tolerate him because they've known him since they were kids, but hell, so did I. But I sure as hell don't think that makes him special. I mean, I could care less that he doesn't talk to us or anything, or that he's Commander. No, that's not what pisses me off."
"Then what is it that does?", she asked while taking a sip of orange juice.
Irvine looked over at her, not being able to understand why he was telling Jade all this. He guess because he already kinda thought of her as a little sister or cousin of some sorts. "Well, ever since we were kids, Quisty, I mean, Instructor Trepe, had always had the hugest crush on him. She spent years trying to make him open up to her, and all he did was ignore her.", paused to drink some of his coffee, then continued, "Well, the night of the SeeD inauguration ball, Quisty had gave him one final order. That was to meet her in the training center's Secret Area. That was where she told him she had lost her instructor's liscence, and a few other things. And all he said was, hold on, let me get it right...", he paused to think, "Oh, he told her to, "Go talk to a wall.", and just left."
She glared over at the Commander, who was just sitting there eating breakfast, and just from what Irvine told her, she couldn't stand him. She turned her attention back to Irvine. "Why do I have the idea that's not all of it?"
"Because it isn't. The next day him, Selphie, and Zell were sent on a mission to help a small resistance group in Timber. This is where Rinoa comes into the picture. Now, don't get me wrong, I happen to like Rinoa. She's a good person, and fun to be around. Well, when Squall isn't around anyway. Anway, her and Squall didn't get along at first, but pretty soon she got him to open up to her, and they got together. What irks me and the other's is that, after all those year's of Quisty trying to get through to Squall, Rinoa manages to do that in less than a week."
"Are you serious? God, I don't even know the guy and I already don't like him."
Irvine chuckled, he liked this kid. "I know. Hell, I liked Seifer more than Squall, and Seifer was a smartass."
"Smartass..? Sounds like someone I'd get along with." She smirked and ate a spoonful of cereal, then looked at her watch. "Shit, I gotta go Irvine. I'm gonna be late for my first class.", she quickly stood up and grabbed her tray. "I'll catch ya later."
"Okay. You can probably find me in the Quad with Selphie."
She nodded, the brim of his cowboy hat falling infront of her eyes and walked over to the nearest trash bin, dumping her plate, then ran out of the cafeteria.
"Damn...she took my hat." Irvine shrugged and went back to eating his breakfast.
Chapter 3: The Sharpshooter
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Final Fantasy 8, nor do I own any of the characters, Squaresoft does. I only own Jade, Nic, and Matt, now on with the story.....I can't believe I have to type this every chapter.
Jade awoke sometime in the early morning hours, she never was one for sleeping late, simply because she thought it was pointless, either way you go you ended up crawling out of bed and facing the day anyway. So why not face it earlier? She looked at her watch, she'd rather not call it a tracking device, and found it was only 5 a.m. She sighed, and walked into the small living area of the dorm, then walked over to the couch and sat down, and proceeded to switch on the television. After a few minutes of channel surfing, she stopped on a television station that was basically news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was basically the same thing over and over again, Dollet and Timber were declaring their independence from Galbadia, and Galbadia was pissed as usual. Every now and then they mentioned bringing SeeD in to help with the repeated attacks on the two small cities, other than that everything was pretty boring.
She sat up, leaving the TV on, and walked back into her bedroom. She looked in the closet and found a cadet uniform, but she prefered not be seen in something like that, and settled on some of the clothes she had brought. Her backpack lay on the floor, so she walked over and picked it up, setting it down on the bed. She rummaged through the few set's of clothes she had brought, and found a pair of black jeans, a white tank top, along with an old black leather jacket. She looked it over, and sighed. "This'll have to do for now, I guess."
She went into the bathroom and proceeded to take a shower, and after she pulled on the tank top, then as she proceeded to put the jeans on, she heard a knock at the door, "Coming!", another knock, "Alright! Alright! I said I'm coming!", she quickly pulled on her jeans and ran to the door.
Irvine stood outside Jade's door. He had his Exeter in one hand, and the old Valiant he had had when he was a cadet at Galbadia Garden, and a sniper rifle slung around his shoulder. He heard Jade shouting a lot of obscenities through the door and couldn't help but laugh. "Her and Quisty would be perfect for one another." He hadn't told anyone yet, and he probably wouldn't until he could be sure that Quistis had feelings for Jade. The door suddenly flew open, and Jade stood infront of him, he could see perfectly why Quistis would like her. Her hair was slightly wet, sending little drops down her tanned shoulder's. Some of her blonde hair was hanging infront of her eye's, which was probably another reason Quistis acted so funny around her, not to mention her body. He was eying her up and down when he heard her clear her throat, which made him look up. "Oh..sorry."
She smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it, I'm kinda used to it. Anyway, what are you doing here this early Mr. Kinneas?"
"Yeah, I wanted us to get an early start. I never could sleep late in the mornings, and now I can see I'm not the only one."
She nodded. "Yeah, well you can let me finish getting ready. Come in." She opened the door, letting him in, then shut it behind her. "I'll just be a minute."
"Take your time." He sat down on the couch, flipping through the channels.
"Gee...make yourself at home." She smirked and walked back into her room, grabbing her black hiking boots from under her bed, and proceeded to sit down on the bed, slipping them on and tying the laces. When she finished lacing up the last boot, she grabbed the leather jacket off the bed and slipped it on. It was about two sizes too big for someone her size, but she didn't care. She walked back into the living area where Irvine was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the small table infront of the couch. "Comfortable?"
He quickly took his feet off the table and stood. "Ready?"
She laughed and nodded. "Yeah..you sure it's okay for me to leave my dorm this early?"
He nodded. "Yes, it is.", he handed her the Valiant he was carrying. "This is now your gun, take good care of it, and it'll take care of you."
She took it in her right hand, pointing the barrel up towards the ceiling and looked it over, it's barrel glinting in the light of the hallway. "Cool, can we go now?" A hint of anxiousness could be heard in her voice.
Irvine chuckled. "Yeah, oh, there's something else I need to give you. Now, I usually don't do this for other cadet's, but I've got a feeling you're going to be really successful here."
She looked at him, her head cocked to the side slightly. "What's that?"
"I need to give you a GF, so you can junction, draw, and use magic. Here, just concentrate for a second."
She nodded and did as he said, and a sudden shock ran through her, ending at her brain. "What was that?"
"Your new GF, his name is Diablos and his attack is non-elemental. Not to mention he has some pretty cool abilities."
She had a confused look on her face, and asked as they entered the main hall area and started for the training center. "Mr. Kinneas, I have no what you're talking about, think you could explain a little?"
He brought a partially gloved had up to his cowboy hat and adjusted it. "Sure. GF's are Guardian Forces, they allow you to use Magic, and you can draw magic from an enemy. The abilites I was telling you about are different attacks and special tricks you can use in battle, to give you an advantage over your opponent. You have to obtain AP, which you receive after every battle, to learn these abilities."
"Okay, anything else I need to know."
"Yeah, there's lots, but I'll leave that to Quistis. I'm just here to teach you how to use that gun."
She shrugged and they turned down the hall that lead to the training center. Jade was anxious to use the weapon on her hands. They reached the entrance and she followed Irvine to the left and through the gate.
He turned around. "Okay, here's how you use the Valiant, it's really simple. You just take your ammo", he held up a shotgun shell, "and you place it in this slot right here.", he placed the ammo in the barrel, then clicked it shut, "see, simple right?"
"Yep, how about this large chamber right here?" She pointed to a large chamber near the barrel of the gun.
"Oh, that's for when you use your limit break, which'll most likely be like mine, Shot. You just place as much of one type of ammo in there, then you close it and start firing away at your enemy, just know this, you only have a certain amount of time to do this."
"Okay, got it."
"Alright, then let's find a couple of Grat's for target practice. While you're at it, you might want to get started on drawing some magic. It's really simple, just concentrate on what you want to draw, and Diablos will do all the work."
She nodded. "Alright. I'm ready."
Irvine nodded one last time, then motioned for her to follow him. They walked into the area of the training center where the Grats were common, and soon were initiated into a battle with two of the plant-like monsters. Irvine easily finished off the first one with one shot from his Exeter, then stood off to the side to let Jade handle the last one.
She drew the Valiant Irvine had given her earlier, loading a round of ammo into the chamber faster than Irvine had seen anyone do before, and took careful aim at the monster, and with a certain gentleness, she pulled the trigger and sent the bullet whizzing at the Grat. The bullet pierced the rubbery skin of the Grat, going through it's brain, and exiting out of the back of it's head.
Irvine stood there with his mouth gaping open, amazed at how she killed the monster. He walked over to her, clearing his throat. "Jade, have you had any type of experience with a gun before?"
She shook her head. "No..why? Did I do something wrong?"
"Ohh..no. I mean, that was an amazing shot you just took there. Especially for someone who's never handled a gun like that before.", he paused and a thought popped into his head, and he reached behind his back to unshoulder the sniper rifle he was carrying. "Here, this is what I want you to do.", he pointed to a boulder of some sort on the side of him, "Climb up there and set the gun up towhere you can shoot while laying on your stomach."
She gave him a "what are you going to do look?", "Why?"
"I'm going to lure a T-Rexaur into your sights, and what you're going to do is use one shot to take him out."
"Are you nuts!? How can I do that?"
"Simple, just fire a shot into his eye, the bullet will go straight into his brain, killing him instantly."
She took the rifle from him and slung it across her shoulder. "Okay, I'll do it."
He grinned. "Good, I'll wait til you get setup, then I'll head off to find your target. Just be ready."
She nodded and headed over to the boulder, climbing up with ease, and laid down on her stomach. She proceeded to set up the small tripod stand that was attached to the weapon, and once she was comfortable, she gave an ok sign to Irvine. He immediately ran off into the jungle, and it wasn't soon after he came runnning back out with a T-Rexaur hot on his heels.
The T-Rexaur came bursting out of the trees, sending a roar that shook the ground at Irvine, Jade calmly rested the butt of the rifle against her shoulder, and looked into the scope. The T-Rexaur came into view, and she slowly brought the crosshairs up to it's head, but couldn't get a clear view of it's eye's because of the way it was facing her. Still, she didn't get nervous, she simply waited for Irvine to get him into position. She kept the crosshairs aimed at where she estimated it's eye to be, and when Irvine finally managed to get it to turn, the eye landed exactly where she figured it would be. She paused for a second, then gently pulled the trigger. The bullet flew from the barrel, a small snapping sound coming from the built in silencer. In less than a few seconds, the large monster was lying on the ground, lifeless.
Jade slowly stood up, slinging the rifle's strap across her shoulder, and climbed down from the boulder. She walked over to Irvine, who was grinning like a child on Christmas morning. She cocked her head to the side, "Why are you grinning like that?"
He slapped her shoulder. "That was some mighty fine sharpshooting. You know that what you just did took me years to master?"
"Uhh...no. Actually, all I did was what you said to do."
"Well, it took me year's to learn how to do that. It only took you one damn try, so that means you've got one hell of a talent. C'mon, we'll talk more over some breakfast." He took off his cowboy hat and placed it on Jade's head, then slapped an arm around her shoulder and started ushering her out of the training center.
She looked at the arm around her shoulder. She didn't really mind, she thought Irvine was a pretty cool guy, anyway, it was more like he was treating her like a little sister than trying to make a pass at her.
They walked to the cafeteria and took their places in line. She looked around the cafeteria, which was empty except for a couple of SeeDs and Instructors. She looked back to Irvine, "So, Mr. Kinneas, what was it like to go up against the Sorceress Ultamecia?"
He smiled. "It was exciting, yet scary at the same time. And please, call me Irvine, Mr. Kinneas makes me feel old and mature.", he looked at the front of the line, "Dammit, why doesn't he just wait in line like everyone else?"
She looked to the front of the line to see who he was talking about and saw a man in mostly black, with a white tee shirt, leave and head for one of the tables. "Who was that?" She looked at Irvine for an answer.
"That, is our great Commander Squall Leonhart.", he mumbled, "..Asshole."
She sensed the hostility in his voice, "Care to fill me in here, I thought all the heroes were best friends?"
They grabbed their food and trays, then walked to a table in the back of the cafeteria, so no one could hear their conversation. Irvine took a bite of his bacon and eggs while Jade ate a spoonful of cereal. Finally, Irvine started explaining. "Well, I can't stand him. Zell and Selphie, they tolerate him because they've known him since they were kids, but hell, so did I. But I sure as hell don't think that makes him special. I mean, I could care less that he doesn't talk to us or anything, or that he's Commander. No, that's not what pisses me off."
"Then what is it that does?", she asked while taking a sip of orange juice.
Irvine looked over at her, not being able to understand why he was telling Jade all this. He guess because he already kinda thought of her as a little sister or cousin of some sorts. "Well, ever since we were kids, Quisty, I mean, Instructor Trepe, had always had the hugest crush on him. She spent years trying to make him open up to her, and all he did was ignore her.", paused to drink some of his coffee, then continued, "Well, the night of the SeeD inauguration ball, Quisty had gave him one final order. That was to meet her in the training center's Secret Area. That was where she told him she had lost her instructor's liscence, and a few other things. And all he said was, hold on, let me get it right...", he paused to think, "Oh, he told her to, "Go talk to a wall.", and just left."
She glared over at the Commander, who was just sitting there eating breakfast, and just from what Irvine told her, she couldn't stand him. She turned her attention back to Irvine. "Why do I have the idea that's not all of it?"
"Because it isn't. The next day him, Selphie, and Zell were sent on a mission to help a small resistance group in Timber. This is where Rinoa comes into the picture. Now, don't get me wrong, I happen to like Rinoa. She's a good person, and fun to be around. Well, when Squall isn't around anyway. Anway, her and Squall didn't get along at first, but pretty soon she got him to open up to her, and they got together. What irks me and the other's is that, after all those year's of Quisty trying to get through to Squall, Rinoa manages to do that in less than a week."
"Are you serious? God, I don't even know the guy and I already don't like him."
Irvine chuckled, he liked this kid. "I know. Hell, I liked Seifer more than Squall, and Seifer was a smartass."
"Smartass..? Sounds like someone I'd get along with." She smirked and ate a spoonful of cereal, then looked at her watch. "Shit, I gotta go Irvine. I'm gonna be late for my first class.", she quickly stood up and grabbed her tray. "I'll catch ya later."
"Okay. You can probably find me in the Quad with Selphie."
She nodded, the brim of his cowboy hat falling infront of her eyes and walked over to the nearest trash bin, dumping her plate, then ran out of the cafeteria.
"Damn...she took my hat." Irvine shrugged and went back to eating his breakfast.