Disclaimer: As the same with all the other chapters, I don't own anything I didn't come
up with. That belongs to Square. I do this for no profit. Blah, blah, blah.
Additional note: Again, a big thanks to Nightstalker for his very in depth description
of Dorin Vachon and the country he comes from, Draconia. Hella kewl ideas you've got, dude! :D
I actually feel honored you're allowing me to work with it. Now, on with the story!
Chapter 9: Proving Grounds
Dorin had not said a single word after the two had left the graduation. He just followed
her, ever silent. It was a little unnerving for Vira, but then she realized, when she came here,
she had done the same thing. Thinking that made their trip to the dorms a little less awkward,
and yet Vira still felt strange with this man following her. Living legend, was a term that came
to Vira's mind. This man was a living legend of the country of Draconia. Completely different,
yet looking like every other person on the planet. A total contradiction of terms. Vira decided
to dismiss these thoughts. Whatever was going on in Draconia and how the situation with Dorin
would be handled, it would have to wait until tomorrow. After all, it was not Vira's decision to
make. Follow orders; that was all she had to do. Escort Dorin to an empty dorm room and leave.
That was all.
At the end of a long stretch of hall in the dorms was one of the empty rooms. Quickly,
Vira walked down the white paint covered halls, trying to reach the room as fast as she could.
Without even looking, Vira could tell this was something Dorin was not as quite familiar with.
She could feel his gaze, scanning the hallway, taking in all the surroundings.
-Yeah, it must be weird being some place you've never been to before. I mean, moving from
Galbadia Garden to Balamb was a little weird, but this must be even more strange. Totally
different culture, different style of buildings, different everything. Must be tough.-
Once they had reached the end of the hall, Vira placed her hand on the last doorknob,
opening the door slowly. Inside was just a regular dorm room, about the size of the SeeD rooms.
It looked identical to Vira's, except for the lack of personal items inside. Dorin remained in
the hallway, looking towards the inside the room, throughoughly inspecting it.
Sensing he was not going to go in until she told him so, Vira motioned her hand to the
interior. "This is it. Just set the alarm clock for whenever you wanna get up."
"Ah. All right." Dorin moved inside, placing his duffle back on the floor. After taking
in the room's look from the inside, he turned to Vira. "Thank you. Good night." Dorin said
nothing after that, Vira getting the idea quite quickly. She turned and walked away, shutting the
door behind her.
-And people think I have don't communicate with others much.-
Exhaustion hit her with the force of a brick wall. She had stopped thinking about how
tired she had been the whole day after everything had happened and now realized that she should
really get some sleep herself. Slowly she trudged to her room, her original destination. Every
step she made was a testament to the way she felt. Her feet shuffled along the carpeted floor,
making her trip that much longer. Sleep was what she needed right now, especially with what was
going on with her. She just hoped that Cid would not find out. Knowing him...
-But you don't know him, do you? You've only been here for a few days. He could do
anything when he finds out what you did. Suspend me from duty, make me take a medical leave of
absence, kick me out of Garden completely. I...just hope he doesn't make a big deal out of it.
Maybe talking to Doctor Kadowaki wasn't such a great idea...even she doesn't really know what
this is about. Hell, I don't even know what this is about...am I losing my mind?-
This hard question stayed on Vira's tired mind as she finally made it to her room,
collapsing on her bed. In only a matter of seconds, she was sound asleep, still in her SeeD
uniform.
For some strange reason, thought the place itself made no sense at all anyway, there was
snow falling heavily outside the navy colored room. It was as dark as it always was, ominous
feelings hung around the room with malicious intent. Two eyes were staring from a plush, yet dark
colored, seat in the corner of the room. Gleaming beacons of light in the otherwise dark room.
They seemed to leer again, seething with hatred. Slowly and gracefully, the eyes travelled closer
or seemed to be travelling closer. Soon they were only a half foot away, the hatred behind the
eyes now more potent than they had been. Another gleaming object could been seen in the room.
In the snow's dim light, it was revealed that it was a knife. Glittering, shining, the knife
almost screamed out its intent. The hate filled eyes came from the woman as she held the knife
high. Another scream arose, also accompanied by the cry of the man. Before striking down with the
knife, the man violently wrestled it from the woman. The knife itself clattered to the floor,
the angry shrieks of the woman following it. Again she claimed that it must be destroyed, and
that it was never meant to be on the planet. With desperate action, the woman dove for the knife,
too fast for the man to catch her. Using inhuman speed, the woman again raised the knife high
into the air, striking it down with a terrible force. A loud scream rose from beneath,
contrasting the peaceful snow that fell outside.
For the first time in a long while, Balamb was under a thunderstorm. Although it was a
light one, the rain and gray clouds hung heavily over Garden, casting a depressed feeling
around the place. Inside the Garden, Dorin calmly walked the immense path on the first floor,
his sights set on Cid's office on the third floor. Even thought his intent was to reach the
office as soon as he could, Dorin could not help but gaze around the massive first floor. The
architechture was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was so...so...slick, and
streamlined. Softly laping blue water was underneath all the walkways, with lush green bushes
and plants surrounding some of the benches. So unlike his home in Draconia. Dorin had been used
to more gothic buildings. Buildings of dark brick and menacing gargoyle statues, not to mention
the tall spires that reached high into the sky. Deep with the connection to the dragon GF's that
they worship. But, this, Garden, was so completely different. Round, brightly colored, even
cheery. As Dorin walked to Cid's office, he constantly would look at one particular thing and
think at how it would be back at home. All the differences stood out, ringing loudly. He shook
his head, almost thinking of how much better the place could be if they had only done it the way
he would have.
-Two statues would have been wonderful right there, but they don't know about that sort
of stuff. This place is so different. I can't tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.-
"We'll have to spilt up the groups." Cid placed a hand behind his neck, massaging it
gently. After hearing Squall's report on the Dollet situation, Cid had decided the best course
of action was to send SeeD to Timber, Deling City, and some staying at Garden to deal with Dorin.
He paced back and forth slowly, trying to debate over who to send where. Suddenly, Cid stopped,
and turned to Squall who was standing nearby. As usual, Squall looked like he was ready to take
his leader's orders. "You can choose who you want to go where, Squall. You know them better than
I do."
Squall sighed, exasperation laced within it. "All right. I guess I should send Rinoa,
Quistis and Seifer to Timber, and Zell, Irvine and Selphie to Deling City. I'll stay here to
deal with this Draconia situation, along with Vira. The less fighting she does right now, the
better."
"That sounds like a good plan." Cid agreed, nodding his head. He went over to his desk,
sitting down in the chair behind it. "This Draconia business comes at a bad time. We're having
enough trouble with Galbadia as it is, without it trying to sink its claws into a place that fell
off the map a long time ago. Who would even know where the place is?" The last question Cid
asked mainly to himself. "I don't know why General Caraway hasn't returned any of my calls. It
would make dealing with the country a lot easier if its leader would take responsibility."
Squall became uninterested in his leader's rambling; he knew it. All of it. He had been
paying attention. All the legends of Draconia, all the trouble Galbadia was causing again, he
knew it all. Leadership was again thrust on Squall's shoulders, demanding him to live up to the
lionhearted nature within him. He had never wanted to be a leader, but for some reason, everyone
had chosen him. A mystery to him that would plague him till the day he died. Let someone else be
the leader for once, Squall had thought on many occasions, I want to be left alone. But they
never did leave. Finally, the reluctant leader would assume his position that everyone believed
he deserved, and forever he thought he would have to stay there. Even to that day, Squall would
still not take Cid's, or anyone else's, rambling about something he already knew. To save Squall
from further inner turmoil, the rest of his team entered Cid's office, walking around the large
structure that led to the cockpit; where the Garden controls were kept.
Hopping happily, Selphie pertly smiled. "Hi, Squall! Good morning, Headmaster Cid!" She
waved her hand in a perky manner. Always hyper, even when facing a new mission.
"Good morning, Selphie." Cid greeted, rising from his chair. "Squall will tell you about
the new mission for you all."
Squall scanned his friends, noting each one of them was there...except for Vira. "Where's
Vira?" He asked, making everyone else look to each other for an answer. Selphie shrugged, looking
to Irvine for an answer. He did the same in return to her, now looking over to Zell. Zell threw
his hands in the air and shook his head. "Forget it." Squall dismissed the idea of looking for
her at the moment. "She's probably still asleep."
Snorting, Seifer sarcastically remarked under his breath, "Doesn't know how to set an
alarm clock."
Zell frowned, slugging Seifer in the arm lightly. "No one asked you."
"Shut up, Chickenwuss." Seifer snapped back.
Having enough of this little squabble, Squall put up a hand at the two. "Stop. We have
something bigger to deal with." He took one of his index finger's out, pointing it first at
Rinoa, then Quistis and Seifer. "Rinoa, Quistis and Seifer will head to Timber's TV Station. Find
out if Galbadia is going to run their announcement from there. If not, come back here
immediately."
"So who's gonna lead our little team?" Demanded Seifer.
"Quistis." Squall answered sharply.
Disgruntled, Seifer grunted at Squall's order. Taking the lead immediately, Quistis
looked at Seifer and Rinoa. "Come on, guys. We have to get going now." She ordered. Grudingly,
Seifer followed, Rinoa tagging along behind. Though, before disappearing down the elevator, she
blew a small kiss to Squall. The boy's face softened for a second, a smile creeping at the
corners of his mouth. Feeling the weight of the rest of what he had to do, Squall's face returned
to serious as he looked back at the rest of the group.
"You three will head to the new TV station in Deling City. Same thing goes for you. If
they're sending their announcement from there, see what it is. If not, come back here. Zell,
you're in charge."
"Booya!" Exclaimed the now proud Zell. "You won't regret that decision, man."
"What about you and Vira?" Questioned Irvine, the thought sticking in his mind the whole
time. "And that guy who came last night?" Even when Selphie and Irvine had been happily dancing,
they had noticed the strange man who had invaded the ball. Irvine knew that he came from
somewhere he had never been, but was not sure why the man had come there at all.
Squall waved his hand around lightly. "Vira and I will stay here, deal with Dorin Vachon,
the man from last night."
Satisfactory answer to Irvine's pressing question. It had definitely been enough for the
cowboy. Irvine stood beside Selphie, now silent. Zell looked at his two friends. "Let's go, guys.
Time's a wastin'. See ya later, Squall."
Zell walked towards the elevator, followed by Selphie and Irvine. The three stopped as
the elevator doors opened to reveal Dorin inside. Regarding them oddly, Dorin slowly walked by
them, not saying a word. Shrugging it off, Zell pressed the button for the first floor, a second
later the three now gone from sight. Dorin purposefully walked to Headmaster Cid's desk, not even
acknowledging Squall's presence. He was wearing the same military fatigues that he had the day
before, or at least they looked to be the same ones. Bowing slightly, which seemed to be a
greeting from Draconia, Dorin finally spoke. "Good morning, Headmaster Cid. I trust you are ready
to talk to me now."
"Yes, yes, I am. Please, begin. What is it that you request SeeD for?" Cid took a small
sip from his glass of water, placing it down onto the desk afterwards.
Clearing his throat, Dorin began his story. "Just a few days ago, the ruler of Galbadia
sent our Head Magistrate a notice stating that she would be setting up a embassy in our country.
They say it is to put to rest the desputes the two countries had in the past. Our Houses all
agree that this is not the way to patch things up between us and we demand to have the Galbadian
ruler halt all plans on building the embassy. The Houses also all agree that it is time we
opened more relations with the veruchii, what we call you foreigners. So, while I am here to hire
SeeD to stop Galbadia from building an embassy in my country, I am also here to learn some of the
ways of your people."
"Ah." Cid responded, an expression of thought crossing his face. "How could General
Caraway know the location of Draconia?"
Dorin looked back at the man with surprise. "Sir, the ruler of Galbadia is not called by
General Caraway. Her name is Naxa Noerliw, but that is all I know about her."
At this point, Squall made his presense known. "That is why you have not been able to
reach him, sir. General Caraway must have been taken from his position as ruler, most likely by
force. This might mean that the TV broadcast they are going to make is supposed to reach all the
way to Draconia, a declaration of their new leader."
"Hmm.." Cid looked around, now just noticing Vira's absence. "Where's Vira? I know she's
supposed to take it a little easier, but she should be here."
Squall shrugged, a tad annoyed he had to go through this again. "She's probably still in
bed, sir. Well...I need to stay here to ask you about what I should do...who's going to wake her
up?"
A half sigh escaped Dorin's lips as he simply stated, "I will." Quickly he walked over to
the elevator, disappearing to the floors below. Inside the elevator, Dorin's head whirled with
annoyance at this establishment.
-How unprofessional, they can't even have someone go get one of their own. Makes me
wonder why they bothered to send me to a place like this. How...just unprofessional is all.-
Darkly, he truged back to the Dormitory where a sleeping Vira was still laying on her
bed.
Dorin first knocked on the door to see if Vira would just come to it herself. All he got
in return was the hollow sound of his hand rapping on the thin wood door. An annoyed sigh came
from Dorin while he attepted to slowly open the door inside, luckily for him, Vira had been too
tired to lock it the night before.
Slumped on her stomach, in her SeeD uniform, was a not-so-soundly sleeping Vira. Even her
shiny black boots were still on her feet. To Dorin, this was such a disgraceful sight. A SeeD, a
professional trained fighter for Balamb Garden, was sleeping in her SeeD uniform no less, on her
stomach. Vira's usually managable dark chocolate hair was now everywhere; strands draped over her
face, clouding it from view. One stray arm hung over the side of her small bed; the whole scene
looked as though she had collapsed into slumber at the very sight of her bed. Shaking his head
with an amount of disgust, Dorin looked down at Vira and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. The
only thing from Vira was a terribly muffed noise and some slight movement. Getting more annoyed
by the second, Dorin now was shaking Vira's shoulders. "Come on, Vira. It's time for you to get
up! You're very late for your meeting."
That did it; Vira's eyes opened suddenly as she rolled over, only to fall onto the floor.
Dorin took a few steps back, hearing Vira curse under her breath when she landed. Then she fell
silent, as if she had remembered something terrible. Like a scared animal would, she bounded to
her feet and looked around her room with anxious eyes. In only a second she had spotted Dorin,
quietly standing not too far from her.
Vira grunted when she saw Dorin. "What are you doing here?"
"Do you SeeDs sleep in your uniforms?" Dorin seemed to want to point out how Vira had
slept. The girl glanced down at herself and groaned disappointedly.
"Not normally." She curtly answered. "I was just so tired I fell asleep when I got in.
What do you want, Dorin?"
Dorin cleared his throat, his aristrocratic accent shining with the proceeding sentences.
"You are late for your meeting. Your leader, at least that's who I think he is, Squall, asked me
to come down here and fetch you. Quite late, you are. Very unbecoming of a professional."
In anger and frustration, Vira slapped her right hand to her forehead; ignoring the
stinging pain that accompanied it. Her alarm clock. Why hadn't it woken her up? Vira looked down
to find she had shoved the device off her bedside table while she was asleep; it now looking
quite broken. Another groan came from Vira. She pointed her index finger of her left hand to the
door sharply and nearly growled, "Out. Now."
"What?" questioned Dorin. "I was only doing what he asked me to."
"I have to get changed, and you can't stay here when I do that-" Vira started, but Dorin
interupted.
"Of course not."
Vira grimaced at herself, knowing this was a bad way to start her day. "So, go outside.
And quit rubbing it in that I am unprofessional, all right? I am a little stressed out now."
"I should say so. Anyone who falls asleep so quickly, in their clothes, and breaks their
alarm clock without knowing it," Dorin gestured with his hand to the broken alarm clock on the
wood floor. He had noticed it too. "Is definitely stressed out. Have you thought about taking
some time off?"
"Not right now." Vira answered, already picking up her boots and laying them on her bed.
"Ah." Dorin simply replied, turning towards Vira's door. "Well, I suppose I should
apologize. I am probably being a little too judgemental towards this place. It's just so
different from home." The tone in his voice almost sounded sad. It did seem like he really missed
his home, and the way things were done where he lived. This made the apology sound all the more
sincere.
Vira bent over her drawers, reaching out for a shirt. "...whatever." She said coldly. It
wasn't that Vira didn't appreciate an apology where it was due, but he had been right. She needed
to be more professional in what she was doing. Falling asleep like that and being so late for an
important meeting was incredibly wrong in her eyes. Somewhere inside her a tiny voice agreed
with Dorin; maybe she should take some time off. Vira shoved the voice farther down, ignoring the
message. She could not stop; it would give her too much time to think.
Such a cold response to his apology, sent Dorin into a myriad of questions. Although, he
would only choose to ask one. "Is it your custom here to accept someone's apology by saying
'whatever'?"
"Umm..." Vira started, not sure how to answer. She hadn't expected Dorin to ask her about
that. The prospect that he was offended, or confused had crossed her mind. This was turning into
a more terrible day with the passing of each moment. Quickly she finished, "No, sorry. I'm busy
right now and can't think. Please, get out so I can change. I'm late enough as it is."
Satisfied enough with the answer, Dorin walked out; leaving Vira feeling guilty about her
actions, all of them. The silence he had given her when leaving was enough to tell her that this
was a bad move on her part.
-Try not insulting a person from a mysterious country in the future, okay?-
Vira tried to remember that thought over and over while she pulled out a pair of her
pants. While she was changing, Vira did not notice the small scar on her right arm, and how it
was bleeding in small trickles of scarlet blood...
Dorin had waited for Vira to change, standing diligently outside her door. When she
emerged, he took notice of her all black attire. Inwardly, he almost smiled. Where he came from,
most of the military there wore a nearly all black uniform. He doing the same with his as well.
Instead of the normal long black leather jacket Vira wore, this time she had a short one. The
reason being she didn't have the time to look for it and just grabbed whatever was closest to
her. She had made it out in record time, impressing Dorin. At least when they were put under the
pressure, the SeeDs would be able to stand up and be responsible. Vira opened and closed the
door with her right hand, Dorin noticing the crimson liquid that was spreading on it. He looked
at her hand, then back at her. Vira's face was impatient, wanting to get her day over with as
quickly as possible.
"What?" She demanded impatiently.
Dorin pointed to her right hand, making her finally notice the red blood that was
trickling down onto it. "You're bleeding. Why?"
Quickly Vira pulled up the sleeve of the jacket, seeing the scar on her arm was bleeding.
Odd how she hadn't noticed it much before. It was just always there, but Vira barely saw it
since she normally kept her arms covered by clothing. Why it would be bleeding now was a mystery
to her. "The scar...on my arm is bleeding. I don't know why."
Vira's thoughts flashed to her dream, remembering the glittering knife in the dull light
of the snow outside. She remembered it coming down with a violent flash; the scar throbbed with
pain, surging another trickle of blood forth. This brought up another question: where had she
recieved the scar? For the life of her, she couldn't remember. But it bothered her that whenever
the thought of the dream came to her mind, the scar would start to bleed more profusely or throb
with pain. She covered it with her left hand, trying to stifle both the blood flow and the
memory of her dream. She had no time to think about it now. "It doesn't matter. Let's go."
Looking a little worried, Dorin remained silent and followed Vira back up to Cid's
office. He found it quite odd that this girl would just slam her hand on a bleeding wound, just
completely write it off, and go on with her life as if it didn't exist. It looked painful, and
this one simple act raised Dorin's confidence in SeeD greatly. If they can just ignore a bleeding
cut to get onto business, then the Houses had chosen the right team to help. These veruchii had
a lot more going for them than Dorin had originally thought. He now knew that there would be
somethings that he could learn from these foreigners, but just how much he could learn Dorin had
yet to find out.
Author's comments: My, my this took a long time to write but actually isn't as long as
the past ones I've been doing. Weird, eh? Oh well. It has been hard to write lately, so I've
been emersing myself in some reading to get myself motivated. Finally I read the Harry Potter
books, which are pretty good actually, and starting on a little Stephen King as well. I figured
this was a good place to stop because if I went any further, I'd have to start getting into
something I probably shouldn't be writing this early in the story. I'll just leave it for the
next chapter. What's in the next chapter you say? A whole lotta stuff! Quistis's team is in
Timber checking out the TV station there while Zell's team is in Deling City checking out the
new TV station. A TV announcement will shock the world (not as much of a shock to Squall and co.)
and allow everyone a first glimpse at Galbadia's new ruler, Naxa Noerliw. Just who is this new
ruler? Or do you guys already know? I've given you some hints, so some of you might just catch
on. ;) Please R&R! Tell me which station you want the announcement to come from! Timber or Deling
City? I'm gonna put the choice in your hands. Reader involvement. :) It's nice to get that from
time to time, y'know? Well, I've said enough this time. Stay tuned for the next installment,
which hopefully won't take as long to write. :D
