Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Really, if I owned Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters, do you think that I would be sitting here writing fanfiction?
This chapter is dedicated to one of my best friends, Erika (aka Divine Sorceress on Fanfic, check her stories out!) because she's the one who finally got me writing on this half-finished chapter again. Erika, this Bud's for you!
The halls of Garden were filled with the excited chatter of the student body as Irvine and Selphie weaved their way through the crowd of people standing around in the circular hallway of the Garden. It seemed that the mob of teenagers was eager to find out what the light was as well, and many had placed bets already to who would find the source first. Needless to say, something that should have been a low-key mission had turned out to be a fun day for most of the students, as Squall gave permission to the teacher to let the students have an off day. Any help would be good though, because small or not, Centra was still a continent.
They strolled into the infirmary arm-in-arm, noticing that the resident doctor wasn't present at the moment. Neither of them gave it much notice though as Rinoa was sitting up with her legs swinging over the side of the bed, a distant look in her eyes.
"Hey girly!" Selphie exclaimed, bouncing over and sitting herself beside the young sorceress. The beige blanket crinkled up and Irvine noticed with a slight grimace of disgust that there was a small, faint blood stain on the sheets that had not come out with the many washings he knew the sheets of the infirmary went through.
"We brought you your weapon, in case we meet some trouble on Centra," Irvine said, tossing the pinwheel lightly on the bed toward the wall so it wouldn't harm either of the females. He grinned mischievously, trying to goad a reaction out of Rinoa. "I was kind of surprised that a delicate little girl such as yourself could handle such a heavy weapon."
Rinoa forced a thin smile on her face, grateful at his attempt to lift her mood, but the vision from earlier still plagued her mind and she couldn't seem to rid it from her waking thoughts. Still, her friends were trying; she should at least try to play along.
"Actually," Rinoa began, a comeback forming in her mind, "I was surprised that you could even lift it at all Irvine."
"Ugh!" Irvine held a hand over his heart as though he were shot. Selphie began to giggle uncontrollably, glad to see both her friends in better spirits. "You've speared me with your biting wit!" Irvine continued playfully, a large grin plastered across his face.
"C'mon Rinny, let's go see what's going on." Selphie smiled at her and slipped her arm through Rinoa's left. Irvine, grinning and picking up on Selphie's subtle non-verbal clues laced his own arm through Rinoa's right.
"You're stuck with us now." Irvine grinned at Rinoa and winked over at Selphie.
Rinoa felt a genuine smile flirt with her mouth. "But how can I get my weapon now?"
Laughter burst from the three of them as Rinoa readied her weapon and they made their way to the front entrance of Garden.
"Squall, I've been looking for you, man!" Zell exclaimed breathlessly as he caught up to the serious swordsman. Squall glanced back and saw that Zell had a very flushed look to his visage and slowed his pace a little so that the duelist would have no problems keeping step.
"What for?" Squall asked rather coldly, although he couldn't deny the fact that his interest was slightly piqued. Zell was always running around but when he ran around with a purpose it usually meant something important.
"I dunno." He shrugged and put his fists into his pockets, eyeing Squall out of the corner of his vision. Zell wanted to test the waters a little before he might get Squall upset. The others had tried to teach him as much when he was dealing with the pensive commander.
"So..you ran all this way for no reason?" Squall knew something was up. Zell wasn't the type to have a good poker face.
The blonde man ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "Well.. I actually was talking to a few people and-"
"You were talking to Quistis weren't you?" Squall accused, slightly irked at the way his emotions were made everyone's business to fix.
"What!?" Zell exclaimed, unnerved at how quickly Squall had seen through his little façade.
Squall sighed inwardly. It seemed that everything was destined to be topsy- turvy today. "Look, Zell, I don't have the time at the moment. I have to go to the bridge and see what our plan of action is."
"Alright," Zell acknowledged, stopping in the hallway to let Squall go the rest of the way in peace.
Squall cursed inwardly. He was so callous to his friends, even though he didn't mean to be. "Hey Zell." The blonde man smiled to Squall, hoping that he would tell the duelist he could come along as well. "Get prepared for battle, alright?" The words sounded a little hollow, and Squall wished that he had the grit to tell Zell what he really meant, what his friend wanted him to say.
Zell smiled a little sadly, then shook it off like a dog coming in from the rain. "See you on Centra, Squall."
"Yeah, see ya."
Quistis sat silently on one of the benches by the directory, unconsciously fondling the whip coiled in her lap, her lips pressed into a tight line across her face. Her sapphire eyes were clouded and unreadable to the passerby, and by her rigid posture she looked almost like a marble statue, one so perfect as to spring to life any moment. That is, if she stopped her fidgeting.
Her eyes lit up briefly as Selphie, Irvine and Rinoa approached her, then went back to their earlier state as she watched the student body running around and basically causing as much havoc possible. The trio noticed the sterility of her demeanor, and decided that it was an act of the Great Hyne thrust upon them to cheer this forlorn teacher up.
"Hey Quistis, what's up?" Irvine asked, sliding next to her on the bench and wrapping a friendly arm around her thin shoulders, snapping Quistis out of her reverie.
"Oh, nothing Irvine," Quistis said slowly, choosing her words and not looking at him full in the face, rather at his pointed cowboy boys. "I was just thinking."
"You've been hanging around Squall too much," Selphie giggled, flopping herself down on Irvine's right.
"I agree." Rinoa sat down on Quistis' left, surrounding her if she tried to bolt..although since it was Quistis it wasn't it very likely possibility. "If there's one thing that'll make you old before your time, it's thinking too much."
Quistis smiled thinly at that, feeling some of her good humour come back. At once they were interrupted though by Zell coming down the stairs, polishing his brass knuckles on his shirt as he made his way toward them.
"Well, look who finally made it here," Irvine joked, winking at Zell.
The duelist seemed a little steamed at the comment, although Irvine had not meant it to be goading. "I was checking on Squall, making sure that he was alright since Rin-" he shot a quick glance at Rinoa, noticing for the first time that she was also there. "Ahh..nothing."
"Since I was in the infirmary?" the young sorceress stated bluntly. Everyone started to shift a little uncomfortably, as though the mere mention of Rinoa being in the medical wing would be enough for her to be sent back there again.
Suddenly, a rather concerned looking Squall made his way down the stairs, not noticed the tangle of his friends had gathered by a bench not far from where we was.
"Hey Squall, over here!" Selphie jumped up and waved, breaking Squall's concentration and he was clearly uneasy when his stormy-blue eyes focused on the group of comrades that had been there for who knew how long.
Rinoa immediately sensed Squall's distress, and she stood and walked over to the SeeD commander, looping an arm through his. "What's wrong?" she muttered, hardly above an audible whisper.
"Nothing," he whispered back in the same conspiratorial tone before addressing the rest of the people attending, "Well, the orders are."
§A/N: Heh, a little bit of a cliffhanger I suppose. This chapter is rather uneventful, sorry readers! ~dodges thrown shoes~ But the next one will be better, I promise. A big, personal thank you will ensue to all the reviewers who reviewed the last chapter!
~goes to the site and realizes it was only 2 people~ .... O_o
Divine Sorceress: You rock gurlie! And yeah, the person who died is an incredibly casual connection until.BOOM! Hehe.
AllieMarie4: ~is glad you think my fic has purpose~ Actually, the only thing I really had envisioned in the beginning was, in fact, the grotesque beginning, and I kinda ran with it. But now that I know where I'm going, I'm sure that you'll love it! ^_^
Disclaimer: Really, if I owned Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters, do you think that I would be sitting here writing fanfiction?
This chapter is dedicated to one of my best friends, Erika (aka Divine Sorceress on Fanfic, check her stories out!) because she's the one who finally got me writing on this half-finished chapter again. Erika, this Bud's for you!
The halls of Garden were filled with the excited chatter of the student body as Irvine and Selphie weaved their way through the crowd of people standing around in the circular hallway of the Garden. It seemed that the mob of teenagers was eager to find out what the light was as well, and many had placed bets already to who would find the source first. Needless to say, something that should have been a low-key mission had turned out to be a fun day for most of the students, as Squall gave permission to the teacher to let the students have an off day. Any help would be good though, because small or not, Centra was still a continent.
They strolled into the infirmary arm-in-arm, noticing that the resident doctor wasn't present at the moment. Neither of them gave it much notice though as Rinoa was sitting up with her legs swinging over the side of the bed, a distant look in her eyes.
"Hey girly!" Selphie exclaimed, bouncing over and sitting herself beside the young sorceress. The beige blanket crinkled up and Irvine noticed with a slight grimace of disgust that there was a small, faint blood stain on the sheets that had not come out with the many washings he knew the sheets of the infirmary went through.
"We brought you your weapon, in case we meet some trouble on Centra," Irvine said, tossing the pinwheel lightly on the bed toward the wall so it wouldn't harm either of the females. He grinned mischievously, trying to goad a reaction out of Rinoa. "I was kind of surprised that a delicate little girl such as yourself could handle such a heavy weapon."
Rinoa forced a thin smile on her face, grateful at his attempt to lift her mood, but the vision from earlier still plagued her mind and she couldn't seem to rid it from her waking thoughts. Still, her friends were trying; she should at least try to play along.
"Actually," Rinoa began, a comeback forming in her mind, "I was surprised that you could even lift it at all Irvine."
"Ugh!" Irvine held a hand over his heart as though he were shot. Selphie began to giggle uncontrollably, glad to see both her friends in better spirits. "You've speared me with your biting wit!" Irvine continued playfully, a large grin plastered across his face.
"C'mon Rinny, let's go see what's going on." Selphie smiled at her and slipped her arm through Rinoa's left. Irvine, grinning and picking up on Selphie's subtle non-verbal clues laced his own arm through Rinoa's right.
"You're stuck with us now." Irvine grinned at Rinoa and winked over at Selphie.
Rinoa felt a genuine smile flirt with her mouth. "But how can I get my weapon now?"
Laughter burst from the three of them as Rinoa readied her weapon and they made their way to the front entrance of Garden.
"Squall, I've been looking for you, man!" Zell exclaimed breathlessly as he caught up to the serious swordsman. Squall glanced back and saw that Zell had a very flushed look to his visage and slowed his pace a little so that the duelist would have no problems keeping step.
"What for?" Squall asked rather coldly, although he couldn't deny the fact that his interest was slightly piqued. Zell was always running around but when he ran around with a purpose it usually meant something important.
"I dunno." He shrugged and put his fists into his pockets, eyeing Squall out of the corner of his vision. Zell wanted to test the waters a little before he might get Squall upset. The others had tried to teach him as much when he was dealing with the pensive commander.
"So..you ran all this way for no reason?" Squall knew something was up. Zell wasn't the type to have a good poker face.
The blonde man ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "Well.. I actually was talking to a few people and-"
"You were talking to Quistis weren't you?" Squall accused, slightly irked at the way his emotions were made everyone's business to fix.
"What!?" Zell exclaimed, unnerved at how quickly Squall had seen through his little façade.
Squall sighed inwardly. It seemed that everything was destined to be topsy- turvy today. "Look, Zell, I don't have the time at the moment. I have to go to the bridge and see what our plan of action is."
"Alright," Zell acknowledged, stopping in the hallway to let Squall go the rest of the way in peace.
Squall cursed inwardly. He was so callous to his friends, even though he didn't mean to be. "Hey Zell." The blonde man smiled to Squall, hoping that he would tell the duelist he could come along as well. "Get prepared for battle, alright?" The words sounded a little hollow, and Squall wished that he had the grit to tell Zell what he really meant, what his friend wanted him to say.
Zell smiled a little sadly, then shook it off like a dog coming in from the rain. "See you on Centra, Squall."
"Yeah, see ya."
Quistis sat silently on one of the benches by the directory, unconsciously fondling the whip coiled in her lap, her lips pressed into a tight line across her face. Her sapphire eyes were clouded and unreadable to the passerby, and by her rigid posture she looked almost like a marble statue, one so perfect as to spring to life any moment. That is, if she stopped her fidgeting.
Her eyes lit up briefly as Selphie, Irvine and Rinoa approached her, then went back to their earlier state as she watched the student body running around and basically causing as much havoc possible. The trio noticed the sterility of her demeanor, and decided that it was an act of the Great Hyne thrust upon them to cheer this forlorn teacher up.
"Hey Quistis, what's up?" Irvine asked, sliding next to her on the bench and wrapping a friendly arm around her thin shoulders, snapping Quistis out of her reverie.
"Oh, nothing Irvine," Quistis said slowly, choosing her words and not looking at him full in the face, rather at his pointed cowboy boys. "I was just thinking."
"You've been hanging around Squall too much," Selphie giggled, flopping herself down on Irvine's right.
"I agree." Rinoa sat down on Quistis' left, surrounding her if she tried to bolt..although since it was Quistis it wasn't it very likely possibility. "If there's one thing that'll make you old before your time, it's thinking too much."
Quistis smiled thinly at that, feeling some of her good humour come back. At once they were interrupted though by Zell coming down the stairs, polishing his brass knuckles on his shirt as he made his way toward them.
"Well, look who finally made it here," Irvine joked, winking at Zell.
The duelist seemed a little steamed at the comment, although Irvine had not meant it to be goading. "I was checking on Squall, making sure that he was alright since Rin-" he shot a quick glance at Rinoa, noticing for the first time that she was also there. "Ahh..nothing."
"Since I was in the infirmary?" the young sorceress stated bluntly. Everyone started to shift a little uncomfortably, as though the mere mention of Rinoa being in the medical wing would be enough for her to be sent back there again.
Suddenly, a rather concerned looking Squall made his way down the stairs, not noticed the tangle of his friends had gathered by a bench not far from where we was.
"Hey Squall, over here!" Selphie jumped up and waved, breaking Squall's concentration and he was clearly uneasy when his stormy-blue eyes focused on the group of comrades that had been there for who knew how long.
Rinoa immediately sensed Squall's distress, and she stood and walked over to the SeeD commander, looping an arm through his. "What's wrong?" she muttered, hardly above an audible whisper.
"Nothing," he whispered back in the same conspiratorial tone before addressing the rest of the people attending, "Well, the orders are."
§A/N: Heh, a little bit of a cliffhanger I suppose. This chapter is rather uneventful, sorry readers! ~dodges thrown shoes~ But the next one will be better, I promise. A big, personal thank you will ensue to all the reviewers who reviewed the last chapter!
~goes to the site and realizes it was only 2 people~ .... O_o
Divine Sorceress: You rock gurlie! And yeah, the person who died is an incredibly casual connection until.BOOM! Hehe.
AllieMarie4: ~is glad you think my fic has purpose~ Actually, the only thing I really had envisioned in the beginning was, in fact, the grotesque beginning, and I kinda ran with it. But now that I know where I'm going, I'm sure that you'll love it! ^_^