Rating

Rating: R

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

A/N: Yay!! You all have no idea what a relief good reviews are...I'm so insecure! I feel better now though. Anyway, I hope my characterization is okay here...especially with Seifer, he's a rough one. Feel free to let me know that "Seifer would never say/do that!"

Chapter 2: Timber

"I can't believe Seifer's coming," Selphie shook her head. "I was amazed when he became a SeeD...but this really takes the cake!" Quistis nodded in full agreement. Selphie and the others wouldn't be a problem to lead, but Seifer seemed to despise authority. He'd never given her a break as an instructor, and he certainly wasn't go to go easy on her as the team leader.

"At least you can depend on him in a fight," Quistis offered. "He is one of the best."

"But he's so...so...Seifer," Selphie shook her head. Quistis was well aware of the fact that Selphie's last experience with Seifer had been a negative one. Her normally genial nature didn't allow her to be outright hostile against him, but his presence made her understandably nervous.

"Maybe he's changed," Quistis replied, secretly hoping that he'd undergone a complete transformation, but knowing she couldn't possibly be so lucky. No, he would be the same grating, caustic Seifer she'd taught so many years ago. A little older and in possession of a SeeD uniform, but Seifer nonetheless.

They found him waiting at one of the Garden's cars. His long body was leaning against the hood as he idly swung his gunblade from side to side. As usual, he wore his long, gray trench coat. The coat made him look slightly bigger than he actually was, not that he was a small man by any means. Seifer, who was easily over six feet tall, dwarfed Squall. He wasn't scared of anything or anyone...he was one of the most intimidating people Quistis had ever met.

"Good morning, Seifer," she smiled.

"Morning," he replied, his voice a little bit more rich than she remembered it being. Of course, her memories of him were a little bit warped. The strongest ones she had were of his darker days, of seeing him standing in a frayed coat, his frame bent in pain, and his eyes wild with an emotion she could never hope to understand. He'd had the look of a rabid animal, his body weary but his blood running hot with impurity...with disease.

Presently, he looked strong and stony. His eyes were locked on her as if he was challenging her somehow, and he was chewing on a rather large wad of gum.

"Where are the others?" she asked, mentally chastising herself for having already forgotten their names.

"How the hell should I know?" he shrugged. "You're the leader."

"So I am," Quistis smiled, then turned to Selphie who had completely turned her attention to a loose thread on her dress. "We'll wait for them...we're still ahead of schedule." Selphie glanced up, meeting Quistis' gaze. Her expression was mixed, excitement at the mission, and foreboding concerning Seifer. Strangely, Quistis had thought that Selphie would be one of the quickest to forgive. The spunky young, woman, however, was much more than she appeared. She was an excellent fighter and was ruled by her impassioned emotions, even if that emotion was an unforgiving anger.

"Sorry we're late!" The last two came rushing into the garage, huffing and puffing the whole way. Two male students, both of whom had unremarkable physical appearances. They were as average as average got...not tall, but not short...not ugly, but not handsome...not outgoing, but not shy. Quistis tried for a few more moments to remember their names, but they proved to be elusive creatures.

"It's alright," she finally replied. "Just don't be late again...everyone into the car." The two recent arrivals got in first, followed by Seifer, who shoved one of them out of the way so he could sit in his favorite spot. Quistis could clearly see the fear in the two young men's eyes when they looked at their blonde comrade. She almost hated them for showing it, knowing Seifer would only use it to his advantage.

"Alright," Quistis climbed into the car last and sat in her usual spot with Selphie across from her. Distantly she realized that she'd been doing the same thing much too long if she had a favorite spot. "We'll be taking the train from Balamb City to Timber. We'll spend a few hours in Timber and then board the train going to Deling City."

Selphie rested her hands in her lap and hummed lightly under her breath as things fell silent. Her yellow dress seemed almost neon in the dark interior of the car, and the motion of the vehicle made her hair sway gently back and forth to the rhythm of her song.

"Knock it off," Seifer growled, breaking the relative silence.

"What, do you have something against someone being happy?" Selphie demanded and promptly started humming again. Seifer's lips curled up into a snarl and Quistis could almost see his muscles bunch with irritation. Sitting next to him, she felt tension radiating from him, and was thankful that the trip to Balamb was a short one.

Seifer was the first one out of the car when they stopped, nearly knocking everyone else down as he blazed out the door in a flash of gold and gray. Selphie had a smug look on her elfin face and waited patiently for everyone else to get out before she did.

The warm Balamb air hit Quistis just as hard as it usually did, heavy with the smell of salt. The quaint little harbor town was cute, even peaceful, but Quistis had placed it on her list of places she would never want to live. She wasn't quite sure what it was that turned her off about Balamb, but she'd never felt anything but unease there. A few townspeople wandered by as she started toward the train station, her team walking obediently behind her.

"Hello," the man at the train station greeted her warmly, recognizing her from dozens of missions before. He grinned, showing off his too perfect teeth.

"Hi," Quistis returned the smile. "I'd like five tickets to Timber."

"Alright...would you like to register for one of our SeeD discount cards?" he asked.

"SeeD discount cards?" Quistis shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms. Everyone always had something to sell.

"Yes!" The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, red card that had "Balamb SeeD" written across it in thick, black letters. "For every ticket you buy, you get a punch, and when the card is full, you get a free ticket."

"I see...and how much does it cost to get the card?" she asked skeptically.

"Only 200 Gil," he replied as if 200 Gil for a little red slip of paper were the best deal in the world. "Of course, since you've been a frequent for so long, I could probably knock that down to 175."

"No thanks," Quistis shook her head. "I'll just take the five tickets."

"You're passing up an amazing deal..." he shook his head and reluctantly handed her the five tickets she'd asked for in the first place.

"Maybe you should contact the Balamb Garden Headmaster about you're little plan to discount for SeeD trips," Quistis offered along with her money. The man was completely undaunted, and took her money with a light shake of his head, muttering something under his breath about what a shame it was for her to pay more than she really needed to.

"Okay, anyone need anything before we head out?" she asked. No one replied, so she motioned toward the train. "Alright then, let's get going." As she walked up to the train and handed the uniformed man standing in front of it their tickets, she could hear Seifer dragging the end of his gunblade along the ground. The high pitched, metallic shriek it created made Quistis' skin crawl, and for long moments she considered turning around and screaming at him to stop. Somehow, she managed to restrain herself and got everyone onto the train without any major incident.

"Quistis! Quistis! Quistis!" Selphie jumped up and down in front of the door that lead to the next car in the train. "Open it!"

"Selphie! Selphie! Selphie!" Seifer mocked her. "Shut up!"

"Just a second, Selphie," Quistis replied, sending Seifer a heated look before walking over to the key pad to open the door for her. Anyone who'd ever traveled with Selphie knew that she loved to be in anything big that moved. When the door slid open, she squealed and sprinted toward the windows.

"Don't we have our own room?" Seifer asked, leaning against the wall and watching with distaste as the other two followed Selphie inside.

"Yes, but we're not going to be using it," Quistis replied. "The trip to Timber is short." The door slid shut with a bang, leaving Quistis alone with him.

"So what?" he scoffed. "You need to learn to let loose every once and a while. You're so stuffy...look at you. Collar that goes up to your neck, hair pulled back...you look like a fucking librarian, Quistis."

"You know, I really don't see how the way I dress has anything to do with the mission," she replied, refusing to back down to him. She was the boss, and Seifer would have to respect that just like everyone else.

"Just commenting, Squad Leader," he replied and turned his back on her. "Selphie's in there...I'm staying out here."

"Whatever you want," Quistis shrugged. "But you'll still be able to hear her out here." Seifer grimaced and wandered around like a caged tiger. There had always been a feral side to him, and Quistis could easy place any variety of wild animals in his place as he stalked back and forth in front of her, tapping his gunblade against his shoulder. His upper body was hunched forward, and he idly popped his jaw in and out of place.

"You know," Quistis leaned back against the wall, "this whole thing would probably go a lot faster if you and Selphie would just leave each other alone."

"Not my style," he shrugged.

"So, what you're saying is that you're going to make this entire thing as difficult as possible?" she demanded, angry at him for being so unreasonable.

"Believe whatever you want," he replied, facing her with the broad expanse of his back. Quistis frowned, wondering if his turning his back to her was an act of defiance or a signal that he just wanted to be left alone. With Seifer, she could never tell. Quistis liked to consider herself an observant woman, she generally could see past people's exterior to what was happening under the surface. Seifer's outer walls were so thick and so high, however, that she'd never been able to see beyond them. Not that she'd really ever put a lot of effort into it, her lack of understanding for Seifer was most likely a result of her in depth knowledge of Squall.

"This is a very important mission," Quistis straitened her back, trying her best to look as impassive as he did. "I would appreciate it if you'd take a break from being an ass for the space of two seconds and see that. You're a SeeD, Mr. Almasy...you'll follow my orders or you'll go back to Garden."

Seifer spun around to look at her, no longer with a cool, stoic front but with his fiery, angry disposition taking over. "You don't have the guts to send me back! You're a shitty leader, just like you were a shitty instructor...face it, you need me on this mission." He looked her up and down once, challenging her to reply.

She didn't know how to reply to his attack. She didn't want to counterattack, but at the same time, she wanted to reaffirm her position of authority. As she franticly searched her mind for the right thing to do, for the perfect thing to say, Seifer sent her a cocky grin.

"See, even you know it," he laughed, waving one gloved hand in the air. With that, he walked away from her and into the next car, roaring at Selphie to stop singing with an implied threat attached to his demand.

"Damn," Quistis spun on her heel, angry at both him and herself. "Damn, damn, damn."

***

"I'd like five tickets to Deling City." Quistis smiled at the man in the green uniform who, without offering to sell her anything else except the tickets, quickly retrieved what she wanted.

"Here you go, Miss," he smiled back. Quistis had let everyone go off on their own for an hour while she ran a few errands, hoping none of them would get in trouble. Selphie had gone shopping, saying that Timber had the best selection of shoes anywhere. Paxx and Krik - Quistis had finally remember their names - went to the weapons store to check on any upgrades they could afford. She didn't have any idea where Seifer had gone, and she didn't really care. She was still angry with him for insulting her.

"Thanks." She slipped the tickets into her pocket after paying and started toward the building that the new Timber government had set itself up in. Technically, they were her employers, and she wanted to have a short meeting with them before departing. She'd met some of then before on her first trip to Timber, almost all of them had been part of the resistance that had employed Squall, Selphie, and Zell. They all knew Rinoa, and she'd insisted that Quistis send them her well wishings.

Timber was a charming community that Quistis was remotely fond of. The trees that had given the city its name were no longer prominent on the landscape, but the city still had the feel of a town protected on all sides by thick woods. The people had gained confidence after being liberated, and their culture was once again flourishing.

"Quistis! Good...you're here!" She turned at the sound of her name, and saw a man she recognized dimly, but couldn't quite place, rushing up to her, the look on his face one of relief.

"Yep," she shrugged. "I'm here."

"Is Rinoa with you?" he asked, his compact body virtually shuddering with excitement.

"I'm afraid not..." Quistis cringed inwardly. Why wasn't anyone ever happy just to see her?

"Oh...Squall then?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "Squall and Rinoa were unavailable. Rinoa sends you her best though."

"Oh..." he paused, and then a brilliant smile broke out on his face. "That girl's so sweet. Isn't she? I'm a little jealous that you've all taken her away from me."

Quistis cocked her head, a little irritated. She guessed that he was more that just a little jealous. Rinoa seemed to have everyone's heart in the palm of her delicate hand, it boggled Quistis' mind to think of how she possibly had the time to enamor so many different men to her beauty and charm. It was a talent that seemed inept, one that Quistis lacked completely. She'd had other things to worry about more for most of her life than men. She seldom dated and was still struggling to force herself to move on from Squall.

"Well, I'm sure she'll make her way back here to visit soon," Quistis replied sweetly.

"I hope so," he shook his head. "I miss her, a lot. Do you want me to walk with you to the town hall? You've got a meeting there today...don't you?"

"Yeah," she nodded and fell into step with him.

"It's too bad really..." he sighed wistfully. "Rinoa not being with you I mean."

"Yeah, well...she's pretty reluctant to leave Squall's side," Quistis replied a little acidly, knowing it was childish of her to be so bothered by the man's fondness for her friend. She groaned inwardly as he started into a long story about something he'd once done with Rinoa. She didn't care, and she didn't want to know, but he seemed sweetly oblivious to that fact.

Rinoa...I'm so sick of hearing that name. Just once, can't it be Quistis?

"Quistis!" She almost swallowed her tongue.

Seifer came striding up to her, his gait smooth and determined. He held out one hand as he approached, and for a wild minute she thought he was offering it for her to hold.

"I need some money."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's too bad that shitty leaders and shitty instructors don't get paid much, isn't it?" she spit out with venom and angrily walked away.