Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to FF8. Square does. I only own characters and
situations, and places I create. I make no profit from this. Now, again, on with the story. :)
Chapter 3: A New Home
The elevator stopped at the second floor, letting both Zell and Vira step out. Zell
bounded out in an excited motion, Vira follwing walking with her usual confident stride. Near by
a few students saluted, once again Vira hearing one calling her Squall. This time, Vira could
not take it. She turned to the student, a SeeD canditate, most likely a few years younger than
she was. Before Zell could stop her, Vira looked straight in the eye on the cadet and asked, "Do
you think I'm Squall?"
Realizing the error of his way, the cadet replied nervously, "No, ma'am. I'm sorry I
called you Squall. I now realize that you are not him." The cadet's body shook with fear from
Vira's intimidating stare.
"Make sure it doesn't happen again." Vira ordered coldly, letting the cadet run off in
near fright.
Shaking his head, Zell said, "Y'know, you don't gotta be so cold to them. They didn't
know."
"They'll go on thinking what they want if I don't tell them different. Everyone here sees
me and sees Squall." Vira explained, remaining stone cold.
Zell chuckled nervously and ran hand through his blonde hair. "N-no, not everyone. Just
some people who don't see you up close."
"You and your friends think I act and look like him, right?" She had hit the nail right
on the head with that statement. Zell remembered only a little earlier seeing Vira walking down
the street and thinking she was Squall, and when Irvine grinned knowing how much Zell would be
reminded of Squall when talking to her.
All this made Zell even more nervous. He began wringing his hands together quickly.
"N-n-nah. 'Course not. We don't all think you're like Squall."
"Zell, that's your name, right?"
"Yeah." He replied, still wringing his hands together.
"I don't care what your friends think of me and if they think I'm like Squall. I'm Vira
Eronwill and no matter how much people think I'm like him, I can't be. I can never be Squall
beacuse there is only one of him. There's only one of everyone. That's what makes each human an
individual. If I seem like Squall, then all the better for him to lead me into battle. I'll have
no arguement of orders with someone I can relate to, but if you think I'm going to care about
you and your friends whispering behind my back at how remarkable it is to see someone like him,
you're mistaken. I do not care. I am who I am, and I can never be anyone else. Got it?" Vira
explained, being the most Zell had heard from her since he met her.
Dumbstruck, Zell nodded slowly, "Yeah...I get it. You're not Squall. I mean, c'mon,
you're a girl and all."
Vira tilted her head to the side and sighed slightly, "Yes, you're very observant to see
that. Just one of many things Squall and I do not have in common. Can we get on with this tour
now? Where are we?"
"Oh, oh. Right. Yeah, sure." Zell had recovered from Vira's near outburst. Waving his
hand around as he walked, Zell explained, "We are on the second floor. This is the place where
all the classes are held, with sparring battles being an exception. Tests are held in these rooms
and students learn about the history of our planet, GF's, and sorceresses. The GF classes have
recently been improved on since some new discoveries about them. You might wanna take a class
on that sometime."
Vira kept her walking pace next to Zell quite well. "Yeah, maybe."
Zell then pointed his hand down to the left of the hall. "Down there is the emergency
exit. If we travel to Fisherman's Horizon with the Garden, we can get to the town that way."
"Got it. That it for this floor?" asked Vira.
Silence came upon the two as Zell quickly contemplated if anything else on the floor was
worth mentioning. Shaking his head a second later he answered, "Nah. Not on this floor. C'mon,
I'll take ya down to the first floor. Most of the places you'll need to go are down there."
"Fine." Vira said, already heading back to the elevator.
The glass door on the elevator opened with a swift motion and a swishing sound, letting
the two off on the expansive first floor. Vira still marveled at the sheer simple beauty the
place had. She looked at the marble floor below her, as it stared back at her with her own
reflection. Looking up, Vira saw that Zell was already walking down the stairs towards the kiosk
at the bottom. She followed, catching up to him as soon as he had stopped at this brightly lit
map.
Putting his hand on the kiosk, Zell leaned on it and said, "This is the directory. If
you need to find where something is, just look here. First, let's head over to the Infirmary.
I'll introduce you to Dr. Kadowaki if she's in."
After inspecting the map on the kiosk briefly Vira replied, "Sure."
Zell glanced around the infirmary, first looking at Dr. Kadowaki's desk, then onto the
rest of the room. She wasn't there. Oh well, he had shown Vira what the infirmary looks like and
that was enough. Odds were, she wouldn't end up there much anyway. After checking out the room,
he shrugged and turned to Vira. "The doc's not in. I guess we'll have to come back later."
Vira stared at the small room, and the two even smaller room adjacent. She noticed the
sea foam green that was featured in much of the room. Every place that treated people for
injuries seemed to have this color in their scheme. Vira never really spent much time in these
kind of places, her physicallity always being at a peak. Still, this room kept the friendly,
open feeling the entire Garden had. "Yeah, okay." She finally answered. "Where are we goin'
next?"
"Hmm...well, the Quad's the next place, but since the next Garden festival isn't for a
while, I don't think there's anything there for you to see. You've been to the dorms....how
about the cafeteria? They've got the best hot dogs! Seriously! They are the best! But, that
means that everyone gets their hands on them pretty quickly. You gotta be lucky to get one. I
can see if I can snag ya one, if you want."
Vira shrugged. "...whatever. Let's go."
As usual, the cafeteria was packed with students and SeeDs enjoying their lunches. Some
of them were regaling others with stories of recent endevors or gossip from other students. A
few Trepies sat at one table, two of them playing a card match, while another dreamily talked
about Quistis. A long line formed near the entrance for food, all the cafeteria workers yelling
that there were no more hot dogs. Disappointed groans eminated from those on line, all slowly
scattering to other parts of the room. In one corner, the Disciplinary Commitee stood watching
the students. Rajin poked one student and told him to, "Move on, y'know?" as Fujin just stood,
not saying a word. Seifer stood next to his friends, smirking in his usual way, but not saying
anything. Zell and Vira stood near the entrance of the cafeteria, watching all these events
unfold before their very eyes.
"I guess we're outta luck with the hot dogs." Zell commented.
"It's fine. I'm not hungry." said Vira, still looking around.
Seifer had taken notice to the two standing. He looked at Raijin and Fujin, motioning
them to follow him. They complied, though they were not sure what he was up to. With an arrogant
stride to his walk, he stopped in front of Zell and Vira. In one quick motion, he wrapped his
arm around Zell's neck, rubbing his other fist into Zell's head. Zell struggled furiously to get
out of this grip, and soon doing so. "Hey, Chicken-wuss. You know that you're not supposed to
just stand around in the cafeteria without a reason?"
Zell reached up to his now messed up hair, fixing it as he talked. "I've got a reason,
Seifer. I'm showin' Vira around."
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Me." Vira interjected, staring at Seifer.
"Who are you?" He asked her, his eyes looking like he had expected someone else to be
standing there.
"Vira Eronwil. From Galbadia Garden. I'm an exchange student."
Seifer grinned, shouldering his gunblade confidently, "So you're a new student, eh? I'm
Seifer Almasy. I can give you a few pointers on how to become a SeeD sometime, if you want. I
can show ya around here better than Chicken-wuss over there could."
"Shut up, Seifer. Headmaster Cid asked me to show her around. Don't call me
Chicken-wuss." Zell snapped, more than a little annoyed.
"I am a SeeD so I do not need any instruction from you." Vira suddenly said.
Seifer's grin now turned to a smile, taking his gunblade down. He swung it around a few
times. "Well, that's impressive. What weapon do you use?"
"Kamagunblades." She replied, now her voice sounding monotonous.
A sparkle of impressed jealousy was seen in Seifer's emerald green pools of eyes. Again,
he grinned, but this time it had more of the impression of a shark. A preditor. He swung his
gunblade again. "Kamagunblades, huh?" He asked. "That's a weapon I thought only existed in the
books. Outdated a long time ago. You wanna match?"
"No. Today I have to learn my way around here. Maybe some other time." Vira said.
"I can't blame ya. Even if you do use those legendary kamagunblades, it still doesn't
match up to the power I can weild with my gunblade." Seifer arrogantly remarked.
That was it. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Vira had had enough of
Seifer's egotistical banter. It was time for him to put his money where his mouth was. No one
acted like that around Vira for long. She'd put them in their place. And she intended to put
Seifer in his. "I can take you on easily. When and where?" She narrowed her dark chocolate eyes
at Seifer's, her eyebrows jutting downward, her face fixed in a determined frown.
He met her gaze, trying to size her up. "How about tomorrow? In the training center? I'm
looking forward to seeing what you can do." After this proposed proclamation, Seifer smirked.
He was obviously pleased with prospect of this upcoming match.
"Fine. In the morning. 10. I'll be there. You'd better be too, and on time. Or I'll come
looking for you." Vira agreed, sternly.
Her opponent laughed almost bitterly. "I'll be there. You can count on it." Seifer said.
Although both his friends had not said throughout the entire conversation, Raijin
extended his hand. "Hey, I'm Rajin. Pleased to meet ya, y'know?"
Vira just stared back. "Hello."
Raijin's outstretched hand rushed up to the back of his head, nervously. "Yeah, well,
nice meet ya, y'know. C'mon, Fujin."
Before turning around to join her friends, Fujin said, "HELLO." Without waiting for a
reply, Fujin walked off to join her friends.
This left a very confused Zell next to Vira, still frowning in the direction Seifer and
his friends had walked off in. Zell scratched his head, and looked at Vira. "Y'know this could
get you in trouble. Only a day after transfering here and you're already gettin' into fights
with Seifer."
"I don't care." Vira curtly answered. "He pushed me. I push back. Where are we going
next?"
"Uhm...uhh...training center, I guess." Zell half-hearted suggested.
"Then let's go." She ordered.
* * * *
A few hours later the two were finally finished with the complete tour of Balamb Garden.
Zell had pointed out a few finer things about the Garden. When all was said and done, the two
ended up in front of the dorms, Zell still not having accomplishing his mission to make her
smile. Discouraged, Zell kicked the slick marble floor futilly. Vira still seemed angry from her
encounter with Seifer, her inner self being hidden by a mask of serious intent. With a depressed
face, Zell looked at Vira. Her rich cocoa hair fell just to her shoulders and shined brilliantly
in the quickly fading sunlight. What Zell hadn't noticed before was the two golden streaks that
adorned her dark chocolate ocean of hair. They were both in the front, a brightly shining deep
gold, even more so than Zell's hair. Hyne, she was beautiful. If not for the hard shell of cold,
unfriendly feelings she had built around her, she would be stunning in her appearance. Instead,
she seemed distant, cold, uninterested in anything going on around her unless she was directly
involved. Her body looked strong, like she could really take care of herself, but still had the
feminine curves given to her by genetics. Inside, Zell knew that there was something beneath that
hard exterior. Some part of her that could soften up to someone and let them in. Squall had it
so she must have it to. Unforunately, years of building up that wall that surrounded her were not
easy to break down. Zell realized this and knew if he ever wanted to get to know Vira better, he
would have to give it time. It was only fair. He sighed inwardly, Vira was a girl who seemed like
a boy to everyone else. How could someone end up so alone? And want to keep it that way?
-There's got to be some way to get through to her. Some chink in her armor that I can
chip away at until I can see something. I have to get through to her. I have to. She-
"Zell?" Vira broke him out of his stream of conciousness.
"Huh? Wha? What is it?" Zell said, stumbling over every word that came out of his mouth.
"The tour's over. I know my way around here now. I think I'm going to go to my room and
be by myself for a while." Vira announced, already beginning her walk to her room. From behind
she waved at Zell, saying, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah...see ya tomorrow...." Zell whispered out. Vira's dark figure slowly disappered
down the hall, leaving Zell all alone. Alone to his thoughts about Vira and just what she was
keeping hidden behind the brick walls that lined her personality.
Author's comments: That's all I got for chapter 3. Wow. Three chapters down already. This
one's going by faster than I thought. :) The next chapter will introduce the mission that will
start the epic adventure awaiting our heroes. Plus, Vira goes head-to-head with Seifer in a
battle which is much like the opening of FFVIII, but with a surprising ending. Please let me
know what you think of my work by R&R. :) Thanks.
