In Fair Verona
One: As I hate hell
~**~ For many months now the Galbadian State, led by the Sorceress Ultimecia, has waged terrible destruction on the other nations of the world. Until one day, when the SeeD from all the Gardens that opposed Ultimecia struck back, under the command of Headmaster Cid. Their main base of operations was Balamb Garden, whereas Ultimecia based herself in Galbadia Garden. But from these two sworn enemies, two lovers emerge and place everything on the line so that they can be together. But what is the price for eternal happiness? ~**~
The dark streets of Dollet were today quite lively with light and activity. A sale was taking place in the shops along the way, and many people wanted to pick up some fine bargains while they were there. Dollet was normally a very quiet humble town, but sometimes it bore witness to some tragic chains of events. As the shoppers made their way from place to place, talking amongst themselves about all of the things they'd acquired, a group of people, belonging to Ultimecia's faction, entered the town. A tall dark-skinned man, a grey-haired woman wearing a black patch, and another man with dark messy hair.
"Fujin, this could really be our night tonight, ya know," the dark skinned man said to the woman. She glared over at him, not saying a word. He gulped uneasily.
"Wonder if we'll find any SeeD while we're here?" the other man asked the other two. Fujin stepped forward.
"CONFLICT. NO." she said. "RAIJIN. DISARM." she added, turning to the dark skinned man. He sighed heavily.
"But Fujin! There isn't any point disarming ourselves! There could be SeeD here, ya know?" he complained. Fujin proceeded in kicking Raijin sharply in the shin. He howled in pain, hopping backwards. The other man sighed.
"Will you two grow up!" he said finally. "Jeez, if Seifer were here he'd sort you two out good."
"But he isn't ya know," Raijin pointed out.
"IDIOT." Fujin sighed. Raijin looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.
"What did I do?" he asked. At that moment Fujin caught sight of a group of SeeD in the Square.
"SEED. HERE." She stated bluntly, running over to the direction of the Central Square.
"Fujin! We aren't that fast ya know! C'mon Dixon!" Raijin called, beckoning the other man to follow. They reconvened with Fujin in the Central Square, also coming face to face with a group of SeeD. There were five of them, two women and three men. The one who appeared to be the leader of the group had soft brown hair and blue eyes. He also had a scar running in-between his eyes. He stepped forward.
"If you're here to cause trouble I suggest you leave," he stated firmly. A man with blond spiked up hair and a large face tattoo stepped forward also, a powerful smirk on his face.
"Yeah! We're on patrol here to protect the citizens! Right Squall?" he said, turning to the leader. Squall nodded. He looked behind him to the two women and the other man. One woman had long black hair and a strange aura about her. The other had short brown hair and a cheery persona. The man had long brown hair tied into a loose ponytail. On top of his head rested a cowboy hat, and at his hip in a large holster was a gun. These SeeD meant business.
"I don't want to cause a fight in front of Rinoa and Selphie," Squall began, turning back to the Galbadian group. "But if you're going to pull off anything stupid then I'll have no choice." Selphie stepped forward next, her hair bouncing underneath her chin.
"And I'm more than willing to help these people! Even if it means spilling a little blood!" she chirped. Looks were indeed deceiving.
"FIGHT. NO." Fujin said. "UNNECESSARY."
"Irvine," Squall turned to the other man, who had remained quiet throughout most of the conversation. "Anything to say?" Irvine stepped forward. His appearance was deceiving also, as up close he seemed a lot more sinister. He smiled.
"Nope," Irvine commented, his hand still resting on his gun. Fujin took a dangerous step forward.
"KEEP. PEACE." She said. Irvine snorted with laughter.
"Peace! Ultimecia followers like yourselves do not keep the peace but you break it! You make me hate the word as I hate hell! As if there is no hope for peace!" Irvine said in a loud yet firm tone of voice.
"That's it lets rumble!" Dixon said, reaching for his katana. The SeeD group saw no choice but to also draw out their weapons. A fight began within seconds. Locals and tourists ran around in a panicked frenzy, frightened for their lives as the fight between the seven soldiers raged on. It continued in this way for a good half an hour before the sky darkened suddenly and a Thundaga attack was shot into the centre of the battle arena. The fighters all looked to where the attack had emanated from. It was the Sorceress Edea. She seemed furious.
"End this pointless quarrel now. Put all your weapons to the floor!" she demanded. Everyone's weapons clattered to the floor. Edea took them up herself and led all seven of them away.
~~***~~
"That's the third time this week a brawl of this ferocity has happened in a highly populated area!" Edea told Headmaster Cid, evidently disgusted. "I will not let this fighting continue! I have told the Sorceress Ultimecia the same warning: if a fight like this is ever to escalate again your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly," Cid replied frankly. Edea frowned and turned to the door.
"I hope I won't have to come here again. But if I do I will come with a warrant for your execution." She left sharply, leaving Cid to contemplate what she had said. He sighed. You'd never believe she was his wife the way she treated him. Well it was her new job, keeping the peace despite the fighting, so he had to let her off for that. He went over to the Garden's intercom system and held down the transmission button.
"Would Squall, Irvine, Zell, Rinoa and Selphie please report to my office at once," he said over the intercom.
In the Cafeteria, with the group involved in the brawl earlier, sat a young blond-haired woman, her hair gripped neatly back, her blue eyes shimmering as the lights reflected off of them. She raised her head slightly at the announcement, then looked at the friends facing her. She sighed.
"Again?" she asked. "Why in the world have you started up another fight! Squall you should know better!" Squall looked at her.
"I had no choice Quistis, I'm sorry. They could have caused some real damage if we'd let them be," Squall replied.
"Anyway," Irvine piped in. "Them Galbadians shouldn't have been wandering around a public place like that with their weapons!"
"Would Squall, Irvine, Zell, Rinoa and Selphie please report to my office IMMEDIATELY!" Cid's voice boomed over the intercom once more. The five got up. Squall put a hand on Quistis' shoulder.
"We'll be back soon OK? And I promise I'll try not to let a fight like this happen again," he said softly. Quistis smiled thankfully at him. He had been such a close friend to her, in her eyes he was the brother she had always wanted. All her friends were like her family, as most of them had all grown up together. She watched them leave and smiled to herself, focusing her attention back onto her lunch.
~~***~~
"What in the world did you think you were doing?" Seifer yelled, outraged and annoyed that, once again, his friends had instigated another civil brawl. "You don't start fights like that in public places! People could get hurt!"
"APOLOGY." Fujin said. Seifer looked at her, sighed and smiled.
"Accepted," he replied. He ran a hand through his short blond hair then focused back onto the matter at hand. "Why were you all in Dollet anyway? And why did you take Dixon? He's inexperienced in the combat arena!" Raijin hung his head.
"We heard there was gonna be a big SeeD party in Dollet, and we wanted to get in, ya know," Raijin replied meekly. "We stole three tickets in from these old folk so, seeing as Dixon is in the infirmary, you can come with us if you want to, ya know."
"SEIFER. ACCOMPANY." Fujin requested. Seifer looked at the faces of his two closest companions. Seifer used to get such a kick out of pummelling a few SeeD, but as of recent he had lost his taste for it. It was all because he had fallen in love. It then dawned on him that the woman he had craved for so long was now with the SeeD, so chances were that she'd be at this party. Seifer smiled at the pair.
"I'll come with," he agreed. Fujin and Raijin smiled.
"That girl Rinoa you like is gonna be there too, ya know," Raijin added.
"I know, that's why I'm coming with you," Seifer grinned and walked away. "Come on! Let's get ready to go!"
~~***~~
Seifer, Raijin and Fujin made their way up the grand staircase to the large ballroom where the party was being held. Luckily for them it was like a masked ball so no one would be able to tell that they shouldn't be there. The room was packed with SeeD and their superiors and officials. They also noticed that Sorceress Edea had attended, most likely in the company of her husband Cid.
"This is a pretty swanky shindig, ya know," Raijin commented. Seifer ignored him; he was too busy looking for Rinoa.
"Where is she?" Seifer muttered to himself. His eyes scanned the room several times before he spotted her. His face lit up when he saw her. She was dancing, on her own at first glance, but as Seifer drew nearer, it was evident that she was dancing with someone. For this dance, Zell played company to Rinoa, and she appeared very happy with him. Seifer watched on, downtrodden for a few minutes, before walking into the men's room. Fujin noticed that he had walked away, and she was intending to follow him but he had taken sanctuary in the men's bathroom before she got the chance.
Seifer stared at himself in the mirror, infuriated with himself for allowing this to get so far. How could he have fallen for a woman who was surrounded by men better looking than him? He looked over to a wall on the other side of the room that appeared to have a fish tank embedded into it. Seifer approached it, to see if any fish actually inhabited it. Whilst watching the fish move gracefully in-between the coral and water plants, he noticed something else. Through the glass he could see a blond woman staring back at him. He jumped up, as did she. They just looked at each other for a little while, before finally smiling.
"Wow," Seifer muttered. "She's beautiful…" as he said this another woman, Selphie, entered the room with the blond woman.
"Quistis come on! Irvine wants to dance with you!" she giggled happily, pulling Quistis out of the room. Seifer left the room in a hurry, trying to find Quistis. He watched her as she was pulled across the dance floor. Quistis couldn't take her eyes away from Seifer. Seifer pushed past everyone he possibly could so that he could get closer to her. He saw her join Irvine, and he began to dance with her. But instead of focusing on the dance, Quistis kept her attention on Seifer. She was entranced by how handsome and brave he looked. Seifer went over to the dancing couple.
"Excuse me," Seifer said, stealthily taking Quistis from Irvine and dancing with her himself. Irvine watched on in horror, and automatically figured out who this masked stranger was. As the blond couple danced under the diamond chandeliers, Seifer had never felt so content in all his life. "You're a very beautiful woman," Seifer complimented her. She smiled at him.
"I suppose you tell every woman you meet that," she replied.
"No. Just the special ones."
"So tell me, how many special women have you met?"
"Just one. You." Quistis flushed with embarrassment yet still took his words as a compliment. He leaned over to her and kissed her cheek gently.
"Are you trying to tempt me?" she asked coyly. He smiled back at her and kissed her again.
"What do you think?" he asked. They then stopped dancing and stood in each other's embrace, perfectly happy kissing each other. Squall sat and watched on happily. He was glad that she had finally found someone.
"This is great isn't it?" Squall said to Irvine as he approached him. "She looks so happy." Irvine looked at the pair in disgust and immediately stormed over. He pulled Quistis away, as Fujin and Raijin did to Seifer.
"What's wrong with you Irvine!" Quistis asked, outraged.
"He's a Galbadian soldier! He serves under Ultimecia, he's the knight to your sworn enemy!" Irvine said sharply. Quistis gasped in horror.
"Are you two crazy!" Seifer exclaimed crossly.
"SEED. BALAMB. INSTRUCTOR." Fujin told Seifer as gently as she could. He looked over to Quistis as she looked over to him. Neither of them could believe it.
"No…"