In Who's Name? Chapter 10: New Developments, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Characters and universe borrowed from Final Fantasy VIII. Not owned by Gold.

About Gold:

I am not from England. I am not British-born. I am 100% Chinese. I am not from China. I don't live in China either. I live in Asia. I am very young, less than twenty-three, but no longer eighteen. I adore Final Fantasy VIII, because of the characters. My favourites are obviously Quistis and Seifer. ^_^ I love Quistis best, because like her, I too was a teacher once, at eighteen, teaching smart sixteen-year-olds. Too bad none of my students were as cute as Seifer Almasy. Fortunately, none of them behaved as badly as he did. Still, I faced the same problems as Quistis, because I was so very young—not like the usual senior teachers in manner etc. Similarly, I was able to connect well with my students because our ages were so close.

Title: In Whose Name?

Part 10: NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Quistis had finished her classes for the day. She stretched a little as the evening sun came through the windows, reddish gold light draping across the desks and chairs. She paused a moment to admire the effect, wishing that she could paint it, or at least have a camera handy to capture the pretty play of the sunset light that transformed the Spartan furniture from prosaic every day objects into things that could almost be called beautiful.

A cough at the door alerted her to the presence of another.

"INSTRUCTOR." Fujin nodded to her.

"Just Quistis, please." Quistis returned the nod with a quick smile. "Are you here to see Seifer? I'm afraid that he's gone out for the day and I'm not sure if he's back yet. Would you like me to give him a call?"

Fujin shook her head. "NEGATIVE. SEE YOU."

"Oh." Quistis thought for a moment. "Will you give me a few seconds?" she asked apologetically. "I need to get this cleared up." As she hastily piled books and papers into her arms, she kept up a conversation, occasionally turning to look back at the silver-haired girl who was patiently leaning against the doorjamb. "Seifer went with Zell to see Matron—you know, Edea Kramer, the Headmaster's wife. She's at the Kramer Orphanage—still running it."

"CHICKEN WUSS?" interjected Fujin in a surprised tone.

Quistis decided not to argue with her over the right way to address Zell. "None of us were free and Zell wanted to see her. I thought it best for Seifer to see Matron as soon as possible."

Fujin folded her arms. "EDEA. WHEELCHAIR?"

"I'm afraid so. But she's managing really well and we all go to see her every now and then. Someone always trots down every week or so, and we have dinner together when we can. Rinoa's idea." Quistis straightened up. "There, I'm done. Shall we go now?"

As they walked out and along the corridor, Fujin glanced at Quistis, who was laden with books and papers. "HELP?"

"No, thanks," answered Quistis, with a smile.

They ran into Rinoa outside the staff room.

"Fujin!" exclaimed Rinoa with a delighted smile. "Hi! How are you? How's Raijin?"

"FINE," responded Fujin.

"Have you eaten?" inquired Rinoa. "No? Then join us, do. The cafeteria has just started serving dinner, I think. "

"It'll have to be just the three of us," said Quistis meaningfully.

Rinoa's eyebrows shot into her hair, but she nodded quickly. "We can go to my room."

"What about Squall?" asked Quistis.

"Girl talk," said Rinoa promptly.

"Selphie?" pointed out Quistis, with a vivid memory of Selphie's attempts to interrogate her after she had unceremoniously cast Sleep, Float, and then bundled Seifer off to the showers.

Rinoa thought for a moment. "We'll just tell her it's about her birthday present. If she comes near us, she dies."

Quistis couldn't help smiling. "Well done. All right—I'll deposit these books and papers on my desk, and then I'll go get us some dinner. I'll see you both at your room, okay, Rinoa? Fujin?"

"Okay."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Quistis had just emerged from the cafeteria, carrying several plastic bags of food in one hand and drinks in the other, when her mobile phone rang. It took her a little while to re-juggle everything before she could pull out her ringing 'phone and answer it. "Hello?"

"Instructor, " drawled a familiar male voice.

"Seifer?" She caught her breath at the sound of his voice. "Where are you?"

His answer nearly made her eyes pop out of their sockets. "Having dinner at Mrs Dincht's."

Despite popping eyes, her reply was swift. "Get me Zell."

"Why?" demanded Seifer on the other end.

Quistis rolled her eyes. "Because I don't believe you, that's why."

"Have it your way. By the way, our car got totalled."

Quistis' jaw dropped. "WHAT? Almasy!!! Hello?! Hello?!"

"Uh, Quistis? It's me."

Quistis' blue eyes narrowed in a flash and her lips thinned. "Zell Dincht," she said between her teeth. "What—is—going—on?"

He coughed. "Uh, well, Seifer and I are having dinner at my ma's house…" His voice trailed off.

There was a long silence.

"Quistis…? Are you still there…?"

Quistis cleared her throat. "Yes, I am. I thought I heard you say that you invited Seifer to dinner at your house."

"Quisty, you know my ma."

Yes, she did. Ma Dincht had a heart of gold, and she had been fiercely on the side of Seifer Almasy for reasons Zell would never fathom and could never know. But that was another matter. Now that the dinner issue was settled—"Zell, what was it Seifer was saying about the car being totalled?"

Meanwhile, Rinoa and Fujin were comfortably ensconced in Rinoa's room. Rinoa was curled up on her bed, waving her hands animatedly as she told Fujin all about her last mission. Fujin, sitting a little stiffly in the only armchair in the room, was to all appearances listening closely. Then someone interrupted with a knock on the door.

"That must be Quisty!" Rinoa tumbled off the bed and ran to open the door. "Hey! Ooh—food!"

An annoyed-looking Quistis stalked into the room, grimly depositing bags of food on the desk. Rinoa and Fujin exchanged glances.

"Something happen?" asked Rinoa brightly.

Quistis rolled her eyes and began undoing the packets of food. "Nothing unexpected," she said dryly. "Zell and Seifer called to tell me that they had totalled the car."

Rinoa winced. "Ooh. That's a lot of gil gone up in smoke."

Fujin snorted. "IDIOTS."

"Are they all right, though?" Rinoa put in anxiously. "They're not hurt? How did it happen, by the way?"

"Apparently they had a near run-in with another vehicle. They miraculously escaped injury, thanks to air-bags." Quistis' hands trembled a little as she spoke, and her neck tensed visibly. "Now they're having dinner at Ma Dincht's house."

Rinoa shivered a little. "Thank goodness," she murmured.

Fujin, however, looked worried. "ACCIDENT?"

"Yes, but they're all right." Quistis began opening the packets of food, hiding her shock behind a brisk manner. "The other vehicle got away unscathed—it was a lorry or something like that." Her hands shook and she bit her lip. "I'd just like to know what possessed them to go off together in a car, for Hyne's sake." She viciously stabbed a straw into a cup and turned to hand it to either Rinoa or Fujin. "Fujin! What happened?"

Rinoa's gasp echoed Quistis' horror. Fujin had lifted one arm. The sleeve of her dark blue-and-silver cardigan had fallen back from her wrist and revealed a bandaged forearm. "ATTACK," stated Fujin when she saw the alarm on the other girls' faces.

"On you?" exclaimed Rinoa, a little too loudly. She lowered her voice to the other extreme, speaking in hushed tones. "But why? And when? I thought you said you were fine," she added reproachfully to Fujin.

Fujin frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "I'M FINE." She pointed to the bandage. "LONG CUT."

"When?" asked Quistis, also with a frown.

"YESTERDAY. ROBBERS." Fujin gave a grin that was surprisingly reminiscent of a shark. "THEY RAN."

Rinoa gave her an anxious look. "I'm glad you're all right," she said sincerely. "Here—this is yours, I think. It's the curried chicken." She passed Fujin the first packet of food Quistis had handed her. "That mine? Thanks, Quistis. Okay—let's start."

Fujin swallowed a mouthful of curried chicken and took a sip of her drink. Then, much to the other two girls' surprise, she reached for her left boot. She unlaced it halfway and then reached into it without taking it off. After appearing to scrabble around it for a while, she produced, as if by magic, a floppy disk. Rinoa and Quistis stared at it.

"Is that—would that happen to belong to Seifer?" asked Quistis.

Fujin gave her a look. "OF COURSE. IMPORTANT."

"How would you know—I mean, surely he has lots of disks lying around," pointed out Rinoa sceptically.

Fujin did not take kindly to Rinoa's tone and her single visible eye flashed fury. "RAGE," she snarled, slamming down the floppy disk.

"Wait, wait," said Rinoa hurriedly. "Don't get angry with us, please. What I mean to say is, well, did you look through the disk to be sure?"

Fujin snorted. "NEGATIVE. DISHONOURABLE."

Quistis quietly pressed a sympathetic hand on Rinoa's knee and hazarded a cautious guess. "Was it the only unusual thing Seifer had?"

Fujin nodded. "AFFIRMATIVE."

"How is it unusual?" asked Rinoa, rather subdued. She didn't feel pleased with Fujin—the girl had practically accused her of being dishonourable—but then, this involved Seifer's life.

Fujin held up the disk. "NOT LIKE HIS."

"If it isn't his, then we should be able to look through it," said Quistis decisively. "If it's Seifer's, then neither Rinoa nor I would dream of looking through it without his permission, but this is different."

Fujin blinked. "MAYBE." She appeared to be considering the matter. Then she turned to Rinoa. "SORRY."

Rinoa relaxed and smiled. "It's okay. I really didn't mean to be dishonourable. You're right—if it's Seifer's, we shouldn't just look through it without asking him first."

At that moment, Quistis' mobile phone rang again, and her face darkened. "I hope it isn't Zell or Seifer," she muttered as she reached for it. "I swear, if they create any more—hello? Zell!" She listened for a few seconds and then grew very pale. "What? Is—is anyone hurt? All right. Yes." She turned to Fujin and Rinoa.

Fujin had also gone very pale. "SEIFER?"

Quistis went a little whiter as she glanced briefly at Fujin. "Yes, and Zell. Mrs Dincht's house was amongst three houses firebombed twenty minutes ago. Zell called to say they're in trouble. Fire spread to other houses in the area. He and Seifer are helping out there." She stood up. "Rinoa—"

"I know." Rinoa was already heading towards the door. "You and Fujin head on down. I'll tell Squall and the others." She stopped and turned, her eyes huge with worry. "You take care, okay, and make sure Zell and Seifer and Ma Dincht are all right. Don't worry about Garden—we'll be there."

Fujin spoke. "THANK YOU."

Quistis didn't say anything, but she and Rinoa exchanged a quick, tight hug. Then they headed their separate ways.