A/N: I'm too lazy to bother with a disclaimer every freaking time I upload a chapter so you can just assume the first chapter's disclaimer still applies. And it does, I have not yet magically become CEO of Square...


~Chapter 2~ (At Garden the following day)

Quistis thudded her cafeteria tray unceremoniusly next to Irvine at the table occupied by the 'Hero' group, so dubbed by the rest of Garden. She sat down and rubbed at her drooping eyes. She was still stressed out after her meeting with Seifer, but she never told her


"Morning Quisty!" chirped Selphie cheerily, her voice like three million squawking birds in Quistis's head. She had the headache of the century pounding through her ears and Selph's high pitched greeting grated on her brain.


"Morning..." she grumbled, rubbing her temples uselessly. "Oh Hyne..." She reached in her pocket for an aspirin, and finding one, gulped it down quickly with her coffee.


"Gee Quisty, you don't look that well! Maybe you should go back to bed." Rinoa offered.


"Rinoa you have no idea how much I would love to do that, but Cid told me I'm going to start tutoring a new student today. He's coming half-way through the year and needs to catch up fast. Cid says the instructors have enough work, and I'm the only other one familiar enough with the material."


"Ouch...that sucks! You can't just back out?" Zell's library girl asked...what the hell was her name again? Anyway she looked very sympathetic.


"Unfortunately no I can't. It'd look really bad if I copped out on the very first day!" Quistis looked defeated, she would have to spend the day teaching stuff she was too tired and sick to care about. She pushed her chair out, taking a last sip of her coffee. "Ugh, speaking of I have to get going, I'm meeting the guy in Cid's office in five minutes." She walked out of the cafeteria with a last half-wave at her friends.


Strolling as confidently as possible with her head pounding, she went to Cid's office and sat down in a stiff-backed chair near his desk.


"Good morning Quistis," greeted Cid pleasantly, "I'm afraid the young man you will be tutoring is a bit late. While we wait for him, I just want to give you a bit of information to make this easier for you. This is a student who has been, after reconsideration, re-admitted to Garden. You won't have to teach him everything new would-be-SeeDs need to know, since he's taken most of the course before. Just give him a refresher course over the Christmas break, and he'll be ready to go by the start of the new semester."


Quistis, being tired and all, only caught the last bit of the speech gratefully. ~Ahhh only a refresher course...that's good I won't have to teach him the whole bloody thing in two weeks.~


"Quistis I chose you not only because you have familiarity with the material, but also because I expect you to be more tolerant of his being back at Garden. He's been through a lot and you are the only one I would trust not to make him feel unwelcome."


Her ears perked up at these sentences. "What's his name sir?"


"What?" Cid smacked his forehead in frusteration. "Xu was supposed to tell you!"


"Who is he headmaster?" she asked more forcefully than she intended.


"Why, naturally he's..."


The door opened, and Quistis turned her head toward the newcomer. She gasped in shock, taking in the familiar (and dreaded) silohette of a man in a trench coat. Stepping into the light from the window, she could clearly make out the scar zig-zagging down one side of his face.


"...Seifer Almasy."


The last thing Quistis saw before the world went black and she slumped to the floor, was the infamous smirk that graced Seifer Almasy's face.