Chapter 2

The ride back to Balamb had seemed a lot shorter than a couple of hours to Fujin who had been the only one to stay awake with only her annoyingly repetitive thoughts keeping her company in the cold, quiet transport. During the journey her ears had tuned into nothing but the silent hum of the engines and she could immediately tell they were slowing down suggesting they were approaching Balamb harbour. She could feel her heart beating faster as her anxiety grew with every mile she came closer to Garden. As soon as the ship docked, Fujin stood up and punched Seifer lightly on his shoulder waking him up from his deep sleep.

'Wha…?' came his dozy reply, 'What's up? We're back already?' he asked as he noticed Fujin and the others were reaching for their belongings in the overhead compartments. She passed a bag to Seifer who was now fully awake and just as eager as everyone else to get off the ship and onto the concrete platform of Balamb's harbour. One by one the five SeeDs stepped off the transport and lined up side-by-side in the appropriate SeeD posture with feet together and arms straight and at their sides. There they waited for the Mission Director to finish his conversation with the ship's captain and make his way over to them. Fujin had already come to the conclusion that the Director was nothing but a coward. Rusco she believed his name was. She had not had time to get that acquainted with the Director due to her late application for the mission but felt she already knew all she wanted to know about him. He was middle aged and of average height with short dark and was dressed in a smart grey suit. He was not a fighter that was for sure and his clean hair and designer clothes only helped to alienate him further from the group of thin, dirty and exhausted mercenaries. He did not actually go on the mission of course, he only dropped them off and picked them up from Grandidi Forest safely tucked away in the armored SeeD transport. So just how the hell he thought he had the authority to order five SeeDs to spend two months chasing some fucking psycho down in the most monster infested area in the world Fujin would never know.

Fujin calmed herself down when she realized her hands had curled into fists and guessed her facial expression must have been showing the same contempt as her body language was. She knew it was not professional to direct her anger at the Director. After all it had been her decision to go and she was not about to regret it no matter how confused she was feeling over it. Her eyes followed the steps of the Director's as he made his way over to the team. Fujin wasn't really expecting him to do anything; a quick, 'at ease' so they could sit down and rest for a moment before he ordered them back to Garden. What she didn't expect him to do was stand in front of them for a long short while with his arms folded in front of his chest, and then take a pair of shades out of his front pocket and adjust them on to his face with careful precision. The short gesture had striked her has egotistical and terribly unnecessary as the weather conditions were far from sunny. She heard Seifer snort beside her and look to her with a expression which obviously said, 'Who the hell does this guy think he is?' Fujin nodded her agreement to him before focusing her attention back to Rusco. She was glad she wasn't the only one who didn't like the guy.

'Well, team. It's good to see that there were know fatalities,' he made a rather undignified and wry smile to them, 'well…no fatalities that saddens me,' he chuckled quietly. Oh…a joke Fujin thought as she rolled her eye. She agreed with him but she really didn't think it was funny.

'You all did a good job. The Estharian Government is relatively pleased with the outcome,'

Relatively? Just what the hell did that mean?

'Of course they would have preferred that the fugitive had been caught alive but well,' 'it was a dead or alive capture stated in the mission specification and these things can't be helped.' he paused slightly and turned to look upon Fujin,

'Don't worry Kazeno, the people of Esthar already regard you as a sort of hero and it won't take long for everyone else to agree,' he offered her a thin smile and then spoke to the whole team.

'You are all to report to Headmaster Cid as soon as you return to Garden, he expects a full debriefing of the mission when you get back. You are all dismissed, I will see you all later,' and with that he left just as soon as he'd arrived.

Fujin stood still lost in thought, Rusco's words spiralling around in her mind. Don't worry…the people of Esthar already regard you as a sort of hero. She couldn't believe that word of what had happened had already reached Esthar and they regarded her as…a hero? Bloody hell.

'See? What did I tell you? Didn't I say it was gonna be fine?' Seifer's words brought her back to Earth. She followed him and the others quietly as they walked on as fast as their injuries would let them.

'Don't get it,' Fujin spoke barely above a whisper so only Seifer would hear.

'You don't get what?'

'Why I'm a 'hero',' she said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

'Fuj I thought this was the kind of reaction you'd be hoping for when we got back.' He said looking at Fujin with mild confusion. She was beginning to get jealous at Seifer's ability to stay remarkably calm considering the circumstances. Of course Rusco's response was perfectly fine but wasn't he in the slightest bit concerned about what Garden would have to say? Well if he didn't, she sure as hell did.

'I don't know,' she said dejectedly. She was really beginning to feel the pain of her injuries again now she was back on land and by watching her fellow SeeDs limping and wincing she could tell she wasn't the only one. They'd run out of cure spells close to the end of the mission and they'd paid the price for under-stocking spells. Looking back she should have seen it coming

'You haven't done anything wrong and you know that. You've got nothing to worry about,' Seifer looked down at her reassuringly. She smiled lightly feeling very grateful for Seifer's comforting words. He really had come a long way since the Sorceress War.

'Come on. Looks like Garden's sent us a van to take us back. I don't know why they just didn't fly here.'

---------------------

'We've received word from Representative Rusco that the Grandidi Team has completed their mission and are requesting transport to pick them up,'

Cid the Headmaster of Balamb Garden looked thoughtfully through ageing eyes at Xu for a moment before speaking.

'Well deploy a boat to collect them all immediately to bring them into Balamb town and then send an armored car to bring them here.'

Xu nodded and proceeded to carry out the Headmaster's orders but before she could leave his office he stopped her with a question,

'Were there any casualties to the team?'

'Rusco said there were injuries but nothing seriously life-threatening, Sir'

'Was the fugitive caught alive?' he asked although he already had a feeling what the answer would be,

'No Sir. I'm afraid that's all I know,'

Cid smiled softly at his faithful assistant,

'Not to worry. Please inform Rusco that I want a full debriefing from the team when they get back. Thank you Xu,'

She bowed and made her way out of the office to leave Cid alone with his thoughts.

The mission had been long and had certainly not been without doubts but Cid had accepted it nonetheless. Only open to volunteers, the mission was one of the most serious and risky that Garden had ever taken on and he was almost ecstatic that none of his 1st class SeeDs had been killed. Cid folded his hands and placed them under his chin with his elbows resting on the huge oak table. He had no responsibility letting Esthar know of the situation. That was Rusco's responsibility so all Cid had to do was organize a committee to be present at the debriefing. He didn't imagine there would be need for a large number of people. The team had spent the last two months in the most secluded but dangerous place on Earth and he didn't want to intimidate them at all. Cid was fairly sure that the mission had gone well without a hitch but it was standard procedure to have a committee of SeeD superiors present at every debriefing. Cid was very curious as to why the fugitive had been killed considering that the five SeeDs who had volunteered happened to be five of the best and more than capable of catching one man. Well anything can happen in Grandidi Forest even the most unlikely and unexpected things can occur. He settled his thoughts on the matter at that and continued with the rest of his responsibilities while he waited for the squad to arrive.

------------------

Quistis sighed heavily in relief as the last of her students left the classroom at the end of a busy day of instructing. She didn't know why but lately the time just seemed to drag on and on with the more lessons she had to take. She remembered when she'd first started teaching she had been so much more passionate about it then she had been of late and had looked so forward to instructing a whole group of young hopeful candidates. But now she just didn't have a drive for it anymore, which kind of disappointed her as she'd worked so hard to gain back her instructor's license.

She gathered all her things and stood up slowly wincing slightly as she felt a twinge in her neck. She must have slept awkwardly last night. She made her way to the lift and waited patiently for the car to arrive. She yawned for what must have been the hundredth time today and she begun wondering what she might do tonight. She knew she should catch up on her sleep before she fainted with exhaustion but she really didn't want to be alone. She decided she might see her friends tonight, as it had been such a long time since they'd spent any proper time together apart from the occasional breakfast in the cafeteria. Unlike her, they were always usually away on missions all over the world and at times she missed them terribly and wished they were around the Garden more often. But as she thought about it more she realized she didn't really wish her friends were around the Garden, she wished she was going with them on missions in Galbadia, Trabia, Esthar and so on. She missed the excitement she experienced when she had travelled and fought with her companions in the War and it was starting to weigh down on her teaching. Maybe she should reconsider her SeeD occupation?

Quistis was woken from her thoughts by the ding of the elevator and she stepped in to the car and pressed the button for the ground floor. As she stepped out again when the elevator reached the bottom she started thinking about her plans for the evening and about her future as an instructor again and soon became oblivious to what was happening around her. The only thing she was aware of was a sudden silence in the area near the front gates but she kept on walking. A voice that stood out from the hushed words and whispers jolted her into looking towards its origin.

'Look Fuj my adoring fans have all come out to greet me!' the voice said sarcastically.

Seifer.

Her breathing jumped, as she looked closer ashe saw an unmistakable figure standing just in front of Seifer with familiar stunning silver hair.

Fujin?

To be continued…