A/N: Wee! Reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Eheh…^_^; ignore me. Anyways, here's chapter two. Sorry if this one chapter moves a bit slow. And it's a little short. I'll try to make the next one longer.

Disclaimer: No, sad to say, I don't own any of these characters. I'm just borrowing their little universe for my story.

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Chapter 2: Assignment

Quistis woke up fairly early the next morning. She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and debating whether or not to fall back asleep. She didn't have anything planned for today besides the meeting with Headmaster Cid. The day after the Induction Ball was always a free day for both instructors and students.

After several minutes of deliberation, she decided it would be best to get up. She took a shower and got dressed. By the time she had finished getting ready, there was only a half-hour till her meeting. Might as well head up now. She picked up the music box and headed out into the hallway, locking the door behind her.

The halls were almost completely empty. Most students and SeeDs went to the nearby town of Balamb on days off, or spent them training in the Alcaud Plains. Those that had stayed at the Garden were either eating breakfast in the cafeteria or enjoying the autumn weather in the quad. She pressed the button for the elevator and waited for it to descend. I guess the students haven't found out anything about last night yet. Well that's just as well. Who knows what kind of rumors would be spreading? And the Trepies… , she shook her head, they wouldn't give me a moment of peace if they knew. 'Oh Instructor Trepe, are you okay? Are you sure you're okay?' Quistis shook her head. She had to admit, it was flattering being admired, but sometimes they just didn't know when to leave her alone.

The elevator announced its arrival with a ding. Quistis stepped in and pressed the third floor button, inserting her keycard to gain access to the floor.

At the third floor, she stepped out into the Headmaster's lobby. Xu smiled at her from behind her desk. "Hello Quistis, you're early as usual."

Quistis gave her colleague a small smile, "Is the headmaster ready to see me?"

Xu nodded and motioned for her to go on in. Quistis pushed opened one of the doors and walked in.

"Quistis! Glad to see you," Cid greeted.

"Good morning, sir." She resisted the urge to salute and sat down in one of the chairs positioned in front of his desk. Cid always lectured her about saluting to him, 'You're like a daughter to me Quistis, you don't need to be so formal…' She still got away with calling him sir however. That was one habit she'd never be able to get rid of.

"I'm glad that you were in the Training Area last night. We probably wouldn't have found out what happened otherwise till this morning or later, which might've been too late for some of those students. You handled the situation very well."

"Thank you sir. If you don't mind me asking, do you know what exactly happened?"

Cid stood up and started pacing, a habit he had when he was concerned or concentrating really hard on something. "Well, as you probably figured, two bombs were set off near the 'Secret' Area. From what we've learned from witnesses, they heard what they thought was music from a music box playing right before the bombs went off. We have an idea of who could've done it but…" Cid trailed off into thought.

"I guess that would sort of explain this then," Quistis said, placing the music box on the desk. Cid picked it up and opened it, listening to the music thoughtfully.

"Hmm. Yes," he closed it. "Just as I thought."

"Excuse me sir?"

"During the last field exam, one of the SeeDs that accompanied the students reported hearing a music box before a small grenade went off near Squad A. At the time, we figured it was the enemy. After last night, I had a feeling the two incidents were connected, but now this confirms it. Several groups, mainly independent organizations from Galbadia but the Esthar police force contacted us also, have been asking for help in investigating the threats they've been receiving. It's amazing how many requests we've been getting on it. They all mentioned music boxes in their letters. I think that whoever is sending these threats was trying to scare us off of accepting the deals with those bombs.

"Students have been hurt, and the other administrators including myself have decided it'd be best for us to find out who's behind all this. I'm going assign this investigation to you, Quistis. You'll have access to all Garden transportation and train passes."

"Yes sir, is this going to be a solo mission or will I be working with someone?"

"You'll have two other team members, Irvine Kinneas and Zell Dincht."

Quistis nodded, "Have they been briefed on the mission yet?"

The Headmaster shook his head, "No, they're both in the infirmary, getting treated for a black eye or something along those lines."

Quistis bit her lip to keep from laughing. I guess Selphie remembered the ice angel. "Well if that's all Headmaster, I'm going to head down to the library for some research."

Cid nodded with a smile. "I'll send Irvine and Zell down after I've informed them on the situation."

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Quistis sat at one of the computers in the library, clacking away on the keyboard. She was surprised at how much information she had found on crimes similar to this and others linked to them. Most were bombings, but there were several murders and accounts of arson too; all with a music box found at the scene of the crime. There was one that particularly caught her eye. It had happened several weeks ago in Esthar. An entire office building had gone up in flames. There were many casualties and one woman found outside the building still hadn't regained consciousness. It didn't seem like there was a motive behind this attack. There were rumors flying around that the building actually belonged to the organization responsible for the crimes.

"Quistis!"

She turned around, "Oh hey guys." She let out a small laugh when she saw her teammates. Zell's head was bandaged up and she could see the end of a strip of gauze hanging out from Irvine's sleeve.

Zell went crimson, "Hey, it wasn't exactly our fault! The wing just kind of…fell off while we were near it."

"Sure it did. I bet Selphie believed that too," Quistis replied, arching a brow.

Irvine scratched the back of his head, "Uh… well… no, she didn't. Sefie sure is a fast runner, isn't she?"

"Where'd she find you two?"

"In the hallway outside the ballroom. We tried sneaking out while she was recruiting people to help with the Garden Festival but she saw us," Irvine explained.

"Well anyways, I'm glad you guys finished up in the Headmaster's office so quickly. I assume Cid told you about everything."

"Yeah, strange huh?" Irvine replied pulled up a chair.

"Very," Quistis agreed.

Zell read the article on the computer screen from over Quistis's shoulder. "Why would they set their own base on fire?"

She shrugged, "That's what I'm wondering."

"Maybe they pissed off someone?" Irvine guessed.

"Who knows." Zell replied, rubbing his head where the bandaging was.

"I think we should head to Esthar first," Quistis announced. "I'm sure the police will have a file on whoever these people are, and we can probably find out some info from the locals too."

"Alright! I'm flying! I never get to fly," Zell said jumping up from his seat.

"Flying? Who said anything about flying?" Quistis looked quizzically at him

"We're taking the Ragnarok, aren't we?"

Quistis shook her head, "No, I already checked to see if it was in. Rinoa and Squall are using it to take Matron back to the orphanage. We'll be going by train."

"Aw man, the trains are so boring though!"

Irvine cracked his neck and stood up. "Well, lets go pack and get going then! I haven't been to Esthar in ages."

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