The sun shone in throught the windows of Balamb Gardens cafeteria. In a dark shady corner right at the back if the room Rayner Mezame was sat cleaning her huge sword. As she watched the light flicker off of the cold steal a familiar voice rang through the air.
"I see you've got a new hunk of metal to pamper Mezame." Rayner slowly lifted head head and let her cold green eyes scan the caped individual stood before her.
"Maybe so, but it could still slice that spindly little spear in half." she retorted. The man in the cape began to laugh as he swifty drew his Dragin Lance from the holder on his back.
"We should test your theory out..." he replied as a beam of sunlight bounced off of the head of his spear. Rayner grunted and casually flicked her black fringe out of her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Shouldn't you be doing your field exam Talonstrike?" she asked coldly. Nick then mounted the spear back in it's holder. He then casually pulled up a chair and sat so his chest was leaning on it's back, that way he didn't have to take his spear off.
"Not if I've already done it" he grinned "Instructor Tilmitt has taken anoth student out on hers." he explained.
"I see... So how did you do?" she asked as she looked back to her sowrd and continued to polish to dark steal. "I passed with flying colours, as expected." he said whislt making himself more comfortable on the chair by resting his chin on his hand.
"Well done. What Guardian Force did you get?" she saidly cooley.
"Pandemona" he said simply. She nodded in acknowledgement before speaking again.
"I take it the actual exam is tomorrow? Not that you need to take it, Squall already treats you like one of us..." nick sighed and began to examine her beautiful new sword he quickly changed the subject.
"He says I need to pass officially even though I've already been on missions.... Lets go to the training center Mezame. I want to test out this new sword of yours." Rayner nodded and stood up.
"Have you seen Kazuki recently??" she asked with a soft concerned tone flooding her usually cold voice. Nick stood up and pushed the chair away before starting to make his way across the cafeteria. Rayner quickly and smoothly lifted the great sowrd from the table and sheathed it in the holder that was attached to her back. Nick stopped and looked back to see where she had got to. He was startled to see how much she had changed.
"You've changed a lot, Mezame. You seem a lot stronger than you were before I left." He called back to her. She smiled briefly and began to follow him as she did her long black hair elegantly flowed behind her.
"Lets go" she said as she walked past him.
As they walked towards the training center Rayner began to think about Kazuki more and more, she was bursting to ask Nick about him. She looked sadly to the floor before saying anything. "You never answered my question about Kazuki... It seems like forever since he went away on his mission into Galbadia. How is he?"
"He's fine, he said he was coming back tomorrow for the Graduation ball when his little sister and I pass our exams." he explained. Rayner blinked and frowned.
"I forgot his little sister was in your year." She said. Nick shrugged the comment off. I didn't matter either way to him as he had never met her or remembered her name being called out in the register. "When did you get your new sword?" he asked once again changing the subject.
"About two months ago. I collected the items for it while I was on a mission in Esthar. They custom made it for me." she explained proudly.
"What's it called? you have given it a name right?" he asked. He was eager to test the beautifully crafted thing out.
"The Organics sword." she said "I guess you like it?" she smirked as they entered the training center.
"You realise I'm going to have to try it out..." he replied as he stopped and held out his hand.
"You never could resist the temptation of a new toy could you Talonstrike?" she said as she drew the great sword from it's holder. She then gripped it carefully in both hands whilst she place the hilt in his palm. As she let go he could feel the weight pull down on his arm. "Not bad..." he complimented as he got the feel of it by slicing it gracefully through the air.