Chapter 12 Origins
Quistis awoke with a jolt and was immediately pounced on by a very relieved Selphie. "Quisty!!!!"
"Ow, oof." Quistis felt her ribs protesting painfully as Selphie hugged her in a grip of iron. "Selphie."
"Chill, Seffie, she's glad to see you too," Irvine grinned from somewhere beside her bed. Selphie finally released her, beaming. 'I thought you'd never wake up."
She slowly looked around and saw everybody with varying degrees of relief on their faces. Seifer was grinning like a fool, Zell looked like he wanted to hug her, but didn't dare, Selphie let out her pent-up excitement by hugging Irvine, who didn't seem to mind a bit. And.
Squall sat directly next to her, a slight smile playing across his lips. Quistis smiled at him. "Glad to see you too."
"Well, now we can continue," Squall said briskly. He turned to Selphie, who nodded. "We deployed every available SeeD to search for the two. Right now we have a report from a SeeD that they have been sighted approaching Mordred Plains, but we can't confirm anything." Squall outlined every report clearly. Quistis listened, committing everything to memory. She turned to Seifer. "Isn't Ellone here? Why don't you - "
"We tried," Seifer scowled. "She transferred my memory to Irvine, but looks like I had no memory of anything when I was drugged."
"So much for the past," Quistis sighed. Zell shrugged and got up from his seat. "It's almost lunchtime. Sorry, Quisty."
"No problem." Quistis smiled. "I'll be fine." Irvine and Selphie retreated too, pleading fatigue. Quistis wondered what have they been doing. She turned to Squall, who seemed deep in thought. "Lunar Base to Squall." She waved a hand in front of his eyes, and he blinked. She grinned. "You look like hell. You should go and get some rest."
He shook his head. "Rinoa - "
"We'll find her," Her voice quiet and firm. "We've promised her, and we'll do it, even if it takes us forever."
"I'm not worried about her safety."
"Then?"
"Ultimecia."
Quistis was startled to say the least. For a moment she was speechless. He looked at her. "I keep wondering if this is the beginning."
Quistis looked away. He had a point. but she refused to think about it. "Maybe it isn't."
"Maybe it begun long ago." He retorted.
"Then there's nothing we can do!" Her eyes flashed. "Beginning or not, she's our friend. And we can't be certain of anything - except the end." She faltered, suddenly wishing she did not say it, but Squall didn't seem to care. He got up and nodded curtly to her. "Rest."
She waited until he left before jumping out of bed, feeling her muscles throb. "Try me," She muttered, pulling on her uniform. It was a hard job, trying to wear clothes while avoiding her still-healing wounds. But she managed to dress, and pushing the pain away from her mind, cautiously stepped out of the Infirmary.
The corridor was, thankfully deserted. Looks like everyone has the same thinking as Zell - lunch. She quickly skipped to the elevator and smiled to herself.
She arrived at the Bridge to find only Nida there, keeping watch with another pilot. She silently made her way to her desk, noticing that it looked nothing remotely like a desk anymore; the Trepies must have gotten wind of her injuries and pile after pile of presents overflowed to the floor. She pushed several aside, revealing her computer. "SeeD ID A- 0002." She typed in her ID and the screen flickered to life. "You Have 71 mail(s) waiting." Her computer beeped. No time for that. She switched to the World Network and typed in her search. Within seconds the computer had come up with a substantial database.
Deep Sea Research Center, she read. Activities before the defeat of Adel. Confidential. Access code required. "Damn.." She growled, feeling frustrated.
"SeeD ID A-0001." A familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind her, and she jumped in surprise.
Squall was leaning behind her against the tall bookshelves. When he was unmoving, he was almost impossible to detect. He inclined his head. "Go on."
She sat down again and typed in his ID, dubious it might not work. "Your Password." She prompted, and he sauntered over and typed in his password. Instantly the screen displayed a list of activities. 'Wow. talk about power." She breathed as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her. She gave him an odd look. "How did you - "
"Guess I'm beginning to understand you a little more," he almost smiled, and Quistis shook her head. "No, your ID."
"Headmaster Cid said my ID can gain access to almost any government or military site - of course, they'll trace it back to me later," He shrugged. She giggled. 'Better make the most of it." She turned back to the screen and studied it for a minute. "I had a dream of being in the Research Center. and this man." Her eyes were troubled. "He called me by a different name. He might have a connection to my past, Squall."
She studied the panel thoroughly. "First floor, Marine research. Second Floor, Experimental GF. wonder what that is? Third Floor, authorization code required." She frowned. The Third Floor. her instinct told her that this was the thing, but she couldn't access it. she doubted Squall's ID would work here.
She stared at the screen for a long time, willing something to surface from the deep murky recesses of her mind. Something she knew would crack it.
Squall frowned as he watched her fingers fly over the panel, pressing in a long string of codes which held no meaning to him. "Quistis.?"
The panel beeped and the screen displayed another page. "Vincent Thorpe Log." The heading read. "July 17 XXXX"
"Dr. Thorpe's log." It read. "Subject has been identified and tested for compatibility. Subject has been given code name Number Seven and is found satisfactory. Will begin enhancement process as soon as Subject is ready.
"July 31 XXXX. Subject Number Seven has shown incredible progress and is now developing magical skill without the aid of GF. Researchers on the other floor wonders if Subject is compatible with the GF Bahamut, but I wish to observe her further before attempting any cross-research.
"August 07 XXXX. Eshtar has reported their half of the research. Subject Number Seven is now reaching adult mage level. Yesterday Subject has been tested with a Hexedragon and is found to be able to handle it well despite her young age. Will proceed to the next stage.
"January 14 XXXI. Subject is now three and a half years old. Her mental capacity is marked as a 20-year old. It is a great scientific breakthrough! The process is entering the second stage. She can master medium level magic to perfection. Further process will enable her to perform high-level magic. But the process has never been tried and might result in side effects."
"May 23 XXXI. Subject is currently under side-effects of the new process. Research is currently suspended. Eshtar reported Target is getting aggressive. Must complete research as soon as possible."
The feeling of uneasiness that she had been feeling began to flood her until her head was spinning. So there had been a research going on about a secret weapon to defeat Adel? And to do it on a child so young was. inhuman. Squall was still reading intently, so she forced herself to continue reading. The next entry was the second last entry. dated a year after the last one.
"An new discovery has contributed to our research. Odine has extracted the blood from Target to experiment on his Sealing Machine, and a sample has been delivered to us. We injected the blood into Subject Number Seven and apparently it caused a massive reaction in her genes, because she ceased function. But after an hour she revived and became stronger than ever! In addition to that, we found that she developed the Mimic ability; once thought to have failed. When we first injected the Mimic suggestion she did not respond. Now she can mimic abilities that is normally a monster ability. But we did not report to Eshtar for we have violated their orders regarding Target's blood sample.
"This is inhuman." She muttered as she continued to scroll down the screen. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. Mimic. monster ability?
Squall pointed to the last entry. It was short, but he figured he might as well find out what happened.
"Our research has been officially terminated. Eshtar has reported that the Sealing Machine was a success, and orders were given to dispose Subject Number Seven as she has now become a threat. But Subject Number Seven has escaped from the facility, and with her, years of hard work. My partner, Dr. Kadowaki has retired from the research, and now it is only me and the scientists from other departments. There has been talk of abandoning the Research Center for those fools at the Deep Sea Deposit have stumbled on something they shouldn't have."
The two of them were stunned for a while after finishing the last entry. "Dr. Kadowaki.?" Quistis breathed. "Don't tell me it's her - "
"Yes, it is me."
Squall leapt up, his gunblade drawn.
Dr. Kadowaki emerged from the shadows, her face set. The motherly figure of Balamb Garden stood before them in a mask of stony determination. "Please put the gunblade away, Squall, somebody might get hurt."
"Please explain, Dr." Quistis stood up on shaky legs. "Who. who is Vincent Thorpe - and who."
"One at a time." She shook her head as Squall pout away his gunblade. "I was at my terminal and happened to read the same journal - when I was alerted that the site was breached. I traced it back here, to the bridge, and I knew." A smile appeared on her face. "I assume it was Quistis who hacked into the journal?"
"I." She bit her lip. "I didn't know how I did it."
"But you did." Dr. Kadowaki nodded knowingly. "Do you know why, Quistis? Because you were the one who devised the security of the site. You were our pride," She held her head high, eyes glittering. "The enhanced child, Subject Number Seven."
Her world seemed to have been sucked in a Maelstrom, and Squall caught her just as she crumbled to the ground. "I.?"
"You were only known by that name," Dr. Kadowaki was pacing the room as Squall helped Quistis into the chair. He turned to the elderly woman, cold steel clashing against deep brown eyes. "What's going on?"
Dr. Kadowaki paused as she saw the anger and confusion in his eyes. And then she smiled. It was a sad, slow smile, as if she had resigned herself to fate.
"I was working for Dr. Odine when I was younger, and he assigned me to the Deep Sea Research Center, to work on his 'latest experiment'. And there was the first time I met you, Quistis.
"But I didn't know your name then. I was only told that you were Subject Number Seven, and all I had to do was attend to you, medically, and be a mother figure to you while you were there.
Can you remember it, Quistis? You were only two years old. but you could walk and talk, and you were crying. but they didn't care. It nearly broke my heart, but you were so determined that it made me proud. You bore the pain, and worked diligently. Maybe it was inborn, but you never gave in. Even after the horrible incident with Adel's blood - you still survived. That was when I knew you had to escape. Because I heard what happened in Eshtar, and I knew they would kill you. They only think of you as a subject; an experiment, but. you had become my child. So I helped you escaped." She smiled ruefully. "But I might as well have killed you. But you. you jumped out into the ocean without a second thought."
Quistis closed her eyes. She was speaking of things she couldn't remember. but it did make sense. "Matron said she found me unconscious at the beach near the orphanage. I was out for nearly a week, and when I came around, I couldn't remember anything except my first name."
"Yes." Dr. Kadowaki nodded. "Of the many scientists who worked on you, only Vincent knew your name. And he never called you Subject Number Seven, rather he called you Quistis. Maybe it was the name that kept you sane, kept you human when everything around you went haywire.
"After I released you, I resigned and traveled around the world, escaping Eshtar intelligence who were tracking the researchers from the Deep Sea Research Center. I was saved by a SeeD, and he brought me to Balamb Garden, where Cid gave me a job as the Medical Doctor." She sighed. "And here I am till today."
"But you didn't recognize me." Quistis whispered. Dr. Kadowaki laughed. "Didn't I? I knew who you were the moment you came in here."
Quistis remembered the first time she met Dr. Kadowaki. The woman had smiled in a strange way. and asked her name. And since then, she had always been close to her. At first Quistis thought it was because Dr. Kadowaki treated her as an equal - as the child prodigy she was... and in a way it was true, but not in the way she expected. Not at all.
"Now you know the truth," Dr. Kadowaki sighed. "I've spent all my years dreading this day... when I have to face what I have done... and - " She paused to smile. "In fact... I am proud of you, Quistis. Even if Vincent thought you to be a failure, I think... you were our greatest success."
She left the room as silently as she had come, leaving Quistis with a thousand unanswered questions. It was getting harder and harder to comprehend by the second, and she wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Enhanced? She should have known this cleverness couldn't be real. A bitter smile played across her lips as she moved the cursor to find out more, only to find Squall had shut it down. She furiously turned to him, but he had calmly got up and was walking back to his desk. "Enough said for one evening."
She opened her mouth to argue, but then decided otherwise. Maybe he was right. She did get depressed easily, and she had seen and heard enough to go nuts. She nodded and got up from her seat. "Good night."
Squall followed her with calm gray eyes as she exited the bridge. It explains a lot of things... things he had never thought about, but now it makes sense. Her sense of justice, duty, but above all, her confusing personality. All these years of being in her class, he had never ceased to wonder at her split personality - how she could be calm and confident - the perfect Instructor one moment and the next - a confused child. Somehow her past had made her more human in his eyes, but never less perfect. No matter what, she will still be Quistis.
I love this chapter!!!!! In the next one, We'll find out what Vincent's going to do with Rinoa, Edea and what has it got to do with Quistis!!!! Oh, maybe I'll throw in some romance if I'm in the mood... Rean and review everyone if you have ideas on how the next chap should go!!!!
Quistis awoke with a jolt and was immediately pounced on by a very relieved Selphie. "Quisty!!!!"
"Ow, oof." Quistis felt her ribs protesting painfully as Selphie hugged her in a grip of iron. "Selphie."
"Chill, Seffie, she's glad to see you too," Irvine grinned from somewhere beside her bed. Selphie finally released her, beaming. 'I thought you'd never wake up."
She slowly looked around and saw everybody with varying degrees of relief on their faces. Seifer was grinning like a fool, Zell looked like he wanted to hug her, but didn't dare, Selphie let out her pent-up excitement by hugging Irvine, who didn't seem to mind a bit. And.
Squall sat directly next to her, a slight smile playing across his lips. Quistis smiled at him. "Glad to see you too."
"Well, now we can continue," Squall said briskly. He turned to Selphie, who nodded. "We deployed every available SeeD to search for the two. Right now we have a report from a SeeD that they have been sighted approaching Mordred Plains, but we can't confirm anything." Squall outlined every report clearly. Quistis listened, committing everything to memory. She turned to Seifer. "Isn't Ellone here? Why don't you - "
"We tried," Seifer scowled. "She transferred my memory to Irvine, but looks like I had no memory of anything when I was drugged."
"So much for the past," Quistis sighed. Zell shrugged and got up from his seat. "It's almost lunchtime. Sorry, Quisty."
"No problem." Quistis smiled. "I'll be fine." Irvine and Selphie retreated too, pleading fatigue. Quistis wondered what have they been doing. She turned to Squall, who seemed deep in thought. "Lunar Base to Squall." She waved a hand in front of his eyes, and he blinked. She grinned. "You look like hell. You should go and get some rest."
He shook his head. "Rinoa - "
"We'll find her," Her voice quiet and firm. "We've promised her, and we'll do it, even if it takes us forever."
"I'm not worried about her safety."
"Then?"
"Ultimecia."
Quistis was startled to say the least. For a moment she was speechless. He looked at her. "I keep wondering if this is the beginning."
Quistis looked away. He had a point. but she refused to think about it. "Maybe it isn't."
"Maybe it begun long ago." He retorted.
"Then there's nothing we can do!" Her eyes flashed. "Beginning or not, she's our friend. And we can't be certain of anything - except the end." She faltered, suddenly wishing she did not say it, but Squall didn't seem to care. He got up and nodded curtly to her. "Rest."
She waited until he left before jumping out of bed, feeling her muscles throb. "Try me," She muttered, pulling on her uniform. It was a hard job, trying to wear clothes while avoiding her still-healing wounds. But she managed to dress, and pushing the pain away from her mind, cautiously stepped out of the Infirmary.
The corridor was, thankfully deserted. Looks like everyone has the same thinking as Zell - lunch. She quickly skipped to the elevator and smiled to herself.
She arrived at the Bridge to find only Nida there, keeping watch with another pilot. She silently made her way to her desk, noticing that it looked nothing remotely like a desk anymore; the Trepies must have gotten wind of her injuries and pile after pile of presents overflowed to the floor. She pushed several aside, revealing her computer. "SeeD ID A- 0002." She typed in her ID and the screen flickered to life. "You Have 71 mail(s) waiting." Her computer beeped. No time for that. She switched to the World Network and typed in her search. Within seconds the computer had come up with a substantial database.
Deep Sea Research Center, she read. Activities before the defeat of Adel. Confidential. Access code required. "Damn.." She growled, feeling frustrated.
"SeeD ID A-0001." A familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind her, and she jumped in surprise.
Squall was leaning behind her against the tall bookshelves. When he was unmoving, he was almost impossible to detect. He inclined his head. "Go on."
She sat down again and typed in his ID, dubious it might not work. "Your Password." She prompted, and he sauntered over and typed in his password. Instantly the screen displayed a list of activities. 'Wow. talk about power." She breathed as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her. She gave him an odd look. "How did you - "
"Guess I'm beginning to understand you a little more," he almost smiled, and Quistis shook her head. "No, your ID."
"Headmaster Cid said my ID can gain access to almost any government or military site - of course, they'll trace it back to me later," He shrugged. She giggled. 'Better make the most of it." She turned back to the screen and studied it for a minute. "I had a dream of being in the Research Center. and this man." Her eyes were troubled. "He called me by a different name. He might have a connection to my past, Squall."
She studied the panel thoroughly. "First floor, Marine research. Second Floor, Experimental GF. wonder what that is? Third Floor, authorization code required." She frowned. The Third Floor. her instinct told her that this was the thing, but she couldn't access it. she doubted Squall's ID would work here.
She stared at the screen for a long time, willing something to surface from the deep murky recesses of her mind. Something she knew would crack it.
Squall frowned as he watched her fingers fly over the panel, pressing in a long string of codes which held no meaning to him. "Quistis.?"
The panel beeped and the screen displayed another page. "Vincent Thorpe Log." The heading read. "July 17 XXXX"
"Dr. Thorpe's log." It read. "Subject has been identified and tested for compatibility. Subject has been given code name Number Seven and is found satisfactory. Will begin enhancement process as soon as Subject is ready.
"July 31 XXXX. Subject Number Seven has shown incredible progress and is now developing magical skill without the aid of GF. Researchers on the other floor wonders if Subject is compatible with the GF Bahamut, but I wish to observe her further before attempting any cross-research.
"August 07 XXXX. Eshtar has reported their half of the research. Subject Number Seven is now reaching adult mage level. Yesterday Subject has been tested with a Hexedragon and is found to be able to handle it well despite her young age. Will proceed to the next stage.
"January 14 XXXI. Subject is now three and a half years old. Her mental capacity is marked as a 20-year old. It is a great scientific breakthrough! The process is entering the second stage. She can master medium level magic to perfection. Further process will enable her to perform high-level magic. But the process has never been tried and might result in side effects."
"May 23 XXXI. Subject is currently under side-effects of the new process. Research is currently suspended. Eshtar reported Target is getting aggressive. Must complete research as soon as possible."
The feeling of uneasiness that she had been feeling began to flood her until her head was spinning. So there had been a research going on about a secret weapon to defeat Adel? And to do it on a child so young was. inhuman. Squall was still reading intently, so she forced herself to continue reading. The next entry was the second last entry. dated a year after the last one.
"An new discovery has contributed to our research. Odine has extracted the blood from Target to experiment on his Sealing Machine, and a sample has been delivered to us. We injected the blood into Subject Number Seven and apparently it caused a massive reaction in her genes, because she ceased function. But after an hour she revived and became stronger than ever! In addition to that, we found that she developed the Mimic ability; once thought to have failed. When we first injected the Mimic suggestion she did not respond. Now she can mimic abilities that is normally a monster ability. But we did not report to Eshtar for we have violated their orders regarding Target's blood sample.
"This is inhuman." She muttered as she continued to scroll down the screen. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. Mimic. monster ability?
Squall pointed to the last entry. It was short, but he figured he might as well find out what happened.
"Our research has been officially terminated. Eshtar has reported that the Sealing Machine was a success, and orders were given to dispose Subject Number Seven as she has now become a threat. But Subject Number Seven has escaped from the facility, and with her, years of hard work. My partner, Dr. Kadowaki has retired from the research, and now it is only me and the scientists from other departments. There has been talk of abandoning the Research Center for those fools at the Deep Sea Deposit have stumbled on something they shouldn't have."
The two of them were stunned for a while after finishing the last entry. "Dr. Kadowaki.?" Quistis breathed. "Don't tell me it's her - "
"Yes, it is me."
Squall leapt up, his gunblade drawn.
Dr. Kadowaki emerged from the shadows, her face set. The motherly figure of Balamb Garden stood before them in a mask of stony determination. "Please put the gunblade away, Squall, somebody might get hurt."
"Please explain, Dr." Quistis stood up on shaky legs. "Who. who is Vincent Thorpe - and who."
"One at a time." She shook her head as Squall pout away his gunblade. "I was at my terminal and happened to read the same journal - when I was alerted that the site was breached. I traced it back here, to the bridge, and I knew." A smile appeared on her face. "I assume it was Quistis who hacked into the journal?"
"I." She bit her lip. "I didn't know how I did it."
"But you did." Dr. Kadowaki nodded knowingly. "Do you know why, Quistis? Because you were the one who devised the security of the site. You were our pride," She held her head high, eyes glittering. "The enhanced child, Subject Number Seven."
Her world seemed to have been sucked in a Maelstrom, and Squall caught her just as she crumbled to the ground. "I.?"
"You were only known by that name," Dr. Kadowaki was pacing the room as Squall helped Quistis into the chair. He turned to the elderly woman, cold steel clashing against deep brown eyes. "What's going on?"
Dr. Kadowaki paused as she saw the anger and confusion in his eyes. And then she smiled. It was a sad, slow smile, as if she had resigned herself to fate.
"I was working for Dr. Odine when I was younger, and he assigned me to the Deep Sea Research Center, to work on his 'latest experiment'. And there was the first time I met you, Quistis.
"But I didn't know your name then. I was only told that you were Subject Number Seven, and all I had to do was attend to you, medically, and be a mother figure to you while you were there.
Can you remember it, Quistis? You were only two years old. but you could walk and talk, and you were crying. but they didn't care. It nearly broke my heart, but you were so determined that it made me proud. You bore the pain, and worked diligently. Maybe it was inborn, but you never gave in. Even after the horrible incident with Adel's blood - you still survived. That was when I knew you had to escape. Because I heard what happened in Eshtar, and I knew they would kill you. They only think of you as a subject; an experiment, but. you had become my child. So I helped you escaped." She smiled ruefully. "But I might as well have killed you. But you. you jumped out into the ocean without a second thought."
Quistis closed her eyes. She was speaking of things she couldn't remember. but it did make sense. "Matron said she found me unconscious at the beach near the orphanage. I was out for nearly a week, and when I came around, I couldn't remember anything except my first name."
"Yes." Dr. Kadowaki nodded. "Of the many scientists who worked on you, only Vincent knew your name. And he never called you Subject Number Seven, rather he called you Quistis. Maybe it was the name that kept you sane, kept you human when everything around you went haywire.
"After I released you, I resigned and traveled around the world, escaping Eshtar intelligence who were tracking the researchers from the Deep Sea Research Center. I was saved by a SeeD, and he brought me to Balamb Garden, where Cid gave me a job as the Medical Doctor." She sighed. "And here I am till today."
"But you didn't recognize me." Quistis whispered. Dr. Kadowaki laughed. "Didn't I? I knew who you were the moment you came in here."
Quistis remembered the first time she met Dr. Kadowaki. The woman had smiled in a strange way. and asked her name. And since then, she had always been close to her. At first Quistis thought it was because Dr. Kadowaki treated her as an equal - as the child prodigy she was... and in a way it was true, but not in the way she expected. Not at all.
"Now you know the truth," Dr. Kadowaki sighed. "I've spent all my years dreading this day... when I have to face what I have done... and - " She paused to smile. "In fact... I am proud of you, Quistis. Even if Vincent thought you to be a failure, I think... you were our greatest success."
She left the room as silently as she had come, leaving Quistis with a thousand unanswered questions. It was getting harder and harder to comprehend by the second, and she wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Enhanced? She should have known this cleverness couldn't be real. A bitter smile played across her lips as she moved the cursor to find out more, only to find Squall had shut it down. She furiously turned to him, but he had calmly got up and was walking back to his desk. "Enough said for one evening."
She opened her mouth to argue, but then decided otherwise. Maybe he was right. She did get depressed easily, and she had seen and heard enough to go nuts. She nodded and got up from her seat. "Good night."
Squall followed her with calm gray eyes as she exited the bridge. It explains a lot of things... things he had never thought about, but now it makes sense. Her sense of justice, duty, but above all, her confusing personality. All these years of being in her class, he had never ceased to wonder at her split personality - how she could be calm and confident - the perfect Instructor one moment and the next - a confused child. Somehow her past had made her more human in his eyes, but never less perfect. No matter what, she will still be Quistis.
I love this chapter!!!!! In the next one, We'll find out what Vincent's going to do with Rinoa, Edea and what has it got to do with Quistis!!!! Oh, maybe I'll throw in some romance if I'm in the mood... Rean and review everyone if you have ideas on how the next chap should go!!!!