Disclaimer: The characters and places belong to Square. Yeeeep.

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Chapter 5: The Knight

Quistis picked up the paper from the table, bringing the cross sketch close to her face. She quickly put it back down and stood up, her eyes still locked on the drawing. It can't be him. No, it's just impossible. "Seifer?" she asked hesitantly, desperately hoping no one would reply.

"Boo," a voice behind her breathed.

She whirled around, fear gripping her mind. There standing less than a yard away from her was the infamous Seifer Almasy, decked out in his trench coat and smirking. "I didn't think you'd be one to get scared easily, Instructor."

"How did you get in here?" she asked, her nervousness edging into her voice more than she would've liked.

"Room service."

"That doesn't exactly answer my question."

"Deal with it."

"Why are you here?" she asked bitterly, slowly regaining her composure.

"I thought instructors were usually glad to see their former students, to catch up on old times and all that other crap," he replied with a mocking warmth in his voice.

He hasn't changed a bit. She could see her Save the Queen from the corner of her eye. It had gotten knocked onto the floor between the beds when the music boxes fell. "Not when that student has tried to kill the instructor and almost destroyed the school," she snapped.

"I'm hurt," he replied, holding a hand to his chest in mock pain.

"Let me repeat myself, why are you here?"

"You have something of mine," he responded, taking a step towards her.

"What are you talking about?" Quistis replied as calmly as she could, although she knew exactly what he was referring to. She slowly inched her way around the edge of the bed.

"Hyperion. You have it. I want it back. Need me to make it any more simple for you?" He tilted his head slightly.

"Why do you think I have it?" Just a few more feet… She thanked Hyne that she had hidden the gunblade in between the mattresses of the extra bed earlier. She hadn't wanted housekeeping to mess with the weapon while she was out.

Seifer pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was the sheet they had signed yesterday at the police station, naming everything they took, "Because of this, that's your signature right there, isn't it? I doubt there's more than one person from Garden named Quistis Trepe," he sneered.

He was the one who broke into the station, she realized. Quistis started to bend down to pick up her whip when suddenly, Seifer grabbed her wrists. He forcefully pulled her up, away from the weapon. "Don't test my patience, Instructor," he growled, his emerald eyes glinting dangerously.

There was a loud knock on the door, diverting both of their attentions. "Hey Quisty? You awake?" Zell called from the other side. Quistis used the distraction to pull out of Seifer's grip. She jumped over her bed and hurried to the door. The ex-Knight cursed under his breath.

"Come on in Zell," she said, opening the door.

"Hmph, Chicken wuss hasn't changed a bit," Seifer mumbled as Zell stuck his head in the doorway.

Zell looked curiously at Quistis and then around the room, "Yo, are you okay?"

She quickly looked between Zell and Seifer. Zell didn't seem to know that Seifer was in the room.

"Quisty, seriously, is something wrong?"

Quistis turned back to her friend, "I'm fine."

"Well I just wanted to let you know we're back. We didn't find much out. Did you?"

"Yeah a couple things, I'll come over there in a minute and fill you guys in on everything."

"Alrighty." Zell shut the door behind him as he left.

"Why couldn't he-" Quistis started to say as she turned around, but Seifer was gone. There was a new note written below the cross. 'I'll be back for it.'

Quistis turned the note over and slid it under the police reports. She was ashamed that he had frightened her, but then again, Seifer was an intimidating person. After all, he was a little over a half a foot taller than she was and by far much stronger physically. She shook her head and headed over to her teammates' room.

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"...And that's about all we found," Irvine finished up. He and Zell had basically wandered around the city all day. There were a couple of people who had heard of D but none knew anything else besides the fact that 'they weren't a group you'd want to mess with'. "What about you, Quistis?"

"Well, Selphie called back. She couldn't get in touch with Raijin and Fujin. There was also a break in at the police station late last night."

"Yeah I saw that in the paper," Zell replied grinning. He was quite proud of the fact that he had actually bothered to read the newspaper that morning.

"I checked out a couple of eye witnesses. Only one of them had something useful to say though. She saw Raijin walk out of D's HQ that night it was bombed."

"So Raijin has something to do with this too," Zell concluded.

"Obviously. And Fujin was probably involved too," Irvine said.

"Anything else happen?" Zell asked.

Quistis wondered if she should tell them about Seifer. They'll think you've gone insane. Wait until you have some solid proof, she told herself. "Nope, that's it."

"Oh by the way, we picked this up when we were in the Shopping District," Zell tossed the latest Weapons Monthly over, the December issue. "The new weapon upgrades are awesome."

Quistis smiled, catching the magazine, "Thanks guys. I'm going to go get some sleep. See you in the morning,"

"Night Quisty!" both of her friends called.

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Quistis made sure the door was locked when she got back to her room. She also checked to make sure her windows were shut and locked. She felt overly paranoid, but she didn't want to risk another run in with Seifer that night.

Tossing the new magazine on her nightstand, she headed into the bathroom, shutting the door and turning on the shower. She hadn't had a chance to bathe today and she felt quite grimy.

Stepping into the shower, she reflected on the day's events. Two days in Esthar and things had already gotten much more complicated than she was expecting.

Seifer, how could he have gotten into my room without me noticing? Or the police station too for that matter. And why couldn't Zell see him? It's not like he blends in with the room. I should have told Zell and Irvine. But no, I didn't. And who knows when he'll come back? Maybe he won't. What am I thinking? I still have Hyperion. Of course, he'll be back. He won't let something like that go so easily. He always was a stubborn person. Stubborn, violent, and pretty unpredictable…

Her hand moved to her other wrist, massaging it. It was sore from where he had grabbed her. Memories flashed in her mind, of the Sorceress Parade and Lunatic Pandora. She saw him dragging an unwilling Rinoa up to Adel, yelling something to Squall and pushing her to the ground. The look in his eyes was frightening. Panic, regret, rage, and arrogance all mixed together. Adel reaching out to grab Rinoa, Squall yelling her name. Seifer laughing from the side.

Quistis shook her head, willing the images away, and turned off the water. She wrapped a towel around herself and tried to rationalize the situation the best she could, He had been under Ultimecia's control then, right? Like Matron said, he didn't have complete control over his actions. She said he wasn't a danger anymore. But then again, why is he involved with D? I hope Matron is right.

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