I don't own any of the FF8 characters and such. Quotes taken from the game are copyrighted to Squaresoft. Sorry this took a long time to be updated. I have the ideas I just didn't have the time to type it all up. Most of the stuff Seifer says about magic in the chapter I got from the game in the tutorial section Squall's computer
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~Chapter 3~
Years past and time covered up the mysterious power that Fujin had. No one really forgot what happened the night of the fight on the docks but it was pushed into the backs of their memories. Seifer had watched Fujin closely for a while but nothing happened again. Fujin was almost exactly like any other girl besides her silver hair and amber eyes. There was nothing strange about her, she was the Fujin Seifer had always known. Everything at the Garden was normal once more. The intense rivalry between Squall and Seifer continued. They fought, their fights were broken up, they were punished, and life went on. It was the norm and Fujin didn't expect that norm to be changed anytime soon. But things did start to change. She started to change. Visions started coming to her. At first she only had them while sleeping, bits and pieces of her past came to haunt her in her dreams. Soon after though the visions would strike during the day, she could just be walking down the hallway to go to class and suddenly she'd black out and see visions. The visions frightened her she didn't know what to make of them but she did know one thing and that was that she couldn't tell anyone about it. She didn't know what was happening to her but she was sure that if some else knew she'd be in trouble. Either every one would fear or hate her or she would be tested to see what her strange power was. She didn't want to be a lab rat and she didn't want to be anymore of an outsider than she already was. Eventually the visions became a normal part of her life. Calm and peacefulness can't last forever and sure enough it didn't. The next step in the ever-changing life of Fujin was that Seifer found a girlfriend.
It all happened much to fast to Fujin. One day she and Seifer were practicing together so in tune with each other then the next day all Seifer could talk about was Rinoa. Fujin despised Rinoa. She had wanted Seifer to be hers not some little twit's who couldn't even protect herself. That's how they met, Seifer and Rinoa. Seifer saved Rinoa from a monster that was attacking her. From the beginning Fujin had a bad feeling about going to Timber for summer vacation with Seifer and Raijin. She had wanted to stay at he Garden like they had every summer before that. Changes bothered Fujin especially this new change. Now no matter how much Fujin hated Rinoa she had to admit that although being a bit ditzy the girl was very nice. Fujin just couldn't see what Seifer saw in her. She was nothing extraordinary as a matter of fact Fujin thought she was too weak for Seifer. She had thought that Seifer would want a girlfriend who'd at least be able to practice fighting with him. He valued strength a lot. Or maybe he liked being the protector a role that he could play with Rinoa. During the summer Fujin felt the closeness that she and Seifer had slip away. She became more withdrawn and didn't talk even to Seifer much. 'I shouldn't be so jealous of her and so angry with him. I should be happy that he is happy' thought Fujin. But still she could not bring herself to be happy for them. When summer break ended Fujin was overjoyed to go back to the Garden. Now she'd have Seifer all to herself again. Seifer did still keep in touch with Rinoa but it was different than it had been during the summer. The closeness between Fujin and Seifer returned almost to its original extent. There was just a part of Seifer that belonged to Rinoa when it had been free Seifer could behave how he liked but now his feelings couldn't wander.
After they returned to the Garden Seifer's feelings all got mixed up. He had spent a wonderful summer with a girl he thought he loved. But now back at the Garden he didn't know if those feelings had been love or just lust. He did care about Rinoa but another part of him was pulling him towards Fujin. He kept pushing those thoughts aside. 'I love Rinoa, I'm with Rinoa, and Fujin is just my friend just part of my posse.' Seifer would think to himself. Over the course of the next few months Seifer managed to hold back his feelings for Fujin. So many new things were happening around him and he didn't have the time to let his feelings interfere with his goals. Seifer was taking his SeeD exam soon but he wasn't worried about that he felt confident in his abilities. What worried him was that after the exam when (not if) he passed he might have to lose his posse. Fujin and Raijin weren't taking their SeeD exams and so Seifer worried about not having his posse around anymore. Fujin and Raijin didn't plan on ever taking the exam. They were content to just graduate and help Seifer fulfill his dreams.
As the SeeD exam came closer and closer Fujin helped Seifer practice fighting more and more not because he didn't think he'd pass but because he needed to calm his nerves. His life had become rather stressed out lately and Fujin sensed it. She knew he was stressed but she had no clue it was because of her. She thought that all the changes that were going on were making him stressed out. Because she was part of his posse and because she loved him Fujin always tried to help him relieve his stress. Fujin was also very stressed out herself. She had begun to find magic stocked on her that she had never drawn. This new strangeness about herself scared her. Why was all this happening to her? What was going on? Fujin didn't want to be anymore different than she already was so she didn't tell anybody. The more strange things that happened to her the more withdrawn Fujin became. She felt as if she could talk to no one about anything anymore. She felt that they wouldn't understand what was happening. Seifer became worried about Fujin. He wanted her to be able to tell him what was wrong. Instead of being repelled by Fujin's withdrawnness Seifer actually found himself wanting her even more. He wanted to take her in his arms, comfort her, and tell her that everything would be all right that they would work together and fix things.
The morning of the SeeD field exam came. Seifer and Fujin were up at the crack of dawn in order to prepare for the test. They practiced for a while until Seifer decided he needed to practice with someone he wasn't so in tune with. He sought out Squall and challenged him to a practice match. Well it was supposed to be a practice match but Seifer and Squall always took things too seriously with each other. They ended up having an all out brawl that didn't end until both of them had wounded each other. Upon having slashed Seifer across the forehead Squa ll collapse from his own head wound that had previously been inflicted to him by Seifer. Seifer remained standing and considered himself the winner. He had a garden faculty member take Squall to the infirmary and went back to his room with Fujin. In his room Fujin made his cut stop bleeding and cast a cura spell.
"Cura huh? I didn't know I was that badly cut. Hey where'd you get that spell anyway? No monsters or draw points around here carry that spell." Seifer said.
"DUNNO" Fujin responded but didn't meet his eyes. It was one of the spells that had just appeared with her.
"I don't believe you but I can tell you don't want to tell me. You'll have to tell me one day but for now I'll let it go. And because I'm being so nice and not pressuring you into telling me you should let me draw some cura from you for my exam."
"OK" Fujin smiled at him.
Seifer started to draw the magic from her but halfway through cried out and broke the connection.
"WHAT'S WRONG?" Fujin asked concerned for his safety.
"I couldn't draw it. I started to but it cut me off. It was too powerful and pure. It's not like the magic from draw points. It's different. Have you ever read some of Dr. Odine's research on magic?"
Fujin shook her head she was no longer worried about Seifer's health she was now worried that he would think that she was a freak. "Well he says that the magic that we humans use is actually para-magic meaning it's magic but not in its full pure form. We use a toned down version of magic but sorceresses use the pure form. Their magic is much stronger and only they can use it. I dunno but the magic you have is way too pure and whole to be para-magic. It's natural and I can't draw it. How did you get it? Could you be a sorceress?" Seifer was confused even more about Fujin. She had always confused him from the first day they had met but he had always accepted her.
"NO!!!" Fujin yelled at Seifer. Seifer looked shaken. "I'M NOT A SORCERESS!! I'M FUJIN I'M NOT ANYTHING SPECIAL!!" Fujin looked strange now. Her hair was being blow around by a nonexistent wind and her eyes were glowing. Another person in that situation might have been afraid of Fujin but Seifer wasn't. He was amazed at her but he knew she wouldn't hurt him. He walked closer to her and said, "Fujin…" Fujin looked down at him and his vision went black. She caught the unconscious Seifer before he hit the floor and held him up until he awoke a few seconds later. At that time her appearance returned to normal and she passed out.
'What the hell happened here? Last thing I remember was Fujin making my cut stop bleeding. Then I blacked out. What happened to Fujin?' Seifer thought as he placed Fujin on his bed. Fujin had made Seifer and herself forget what had just happened. Deep inside her she wanted to be normal so bad that when she was accused of being something that was hated and feared her body and powers acted on their own. She had no control over what they had done and now she and Seifer didn't remember what had happened. Fujin woke up a couple minutes later and wasn't surprised to find Seifer hovering around her looking concerned. Anytime she was sick or injured he was always around worrying about her.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" Fujin asked.
"I dunno. One minute you were fixing up my cut the next we're both unconscious. This is strange do you remember anything else?"
Fujin shook her head. "Hmmm maybe we should see Dr. Kadowaki about this," Seifer said then looked at his watch and continued on, "Oh shit not right now though I got an exam to get to. We gotta hurry." Fujin and Seifer set off at a run towards the front gates. Raijin joined them about half of the way there and the three of them hurried onward. When they arrived Fujin frowned when she found out that Squall was in Seifer's group but it made her happy to know that Squall would have to follow Seifer's orders. After the silly instructor annoyed Seifer they all went to get into the car that would take them to Balamb town. Fujin and Raijin were going to walk to Balamb later on and wait for Seifer to return but the exam lasted for a while so they didn't need to leave yet. Since she had some time to herself Fujin decided to check out Seifer's room to see if there were any clues to why they both passed out. The only thing that seemed odd about the room was that although the window was closed all of Seifer's paper and stuff all looked blown around. Fujin wondered why but decided it wasn't important he could have had the window open before and just never cleaned up his mess. About a half and hour before the SeeD exam was supposed to be over Fujin and Raijin walked over to Balamb. They waited around by a car from the Garden. Finally the SeeD candidates arrived back. Seifer was one of the last to exit the pier. He went straight to the car that Fujin and Raijin were by and entered it. They followed his lead and got in the car. A second later Squall and two others exited the pier and the blonde boy looked angrily at the car as Seifer made it speed away from the town. Seifer also seemed angry at something. "PROBLEM?" Fujin asked. "Yeah a stupid withdraw order. I had something good going and we got a withdrawal order. Dammit we could have stopped the Galbadia soldiers from taking over the radio tower but we had to go back because some little messenger girl gave us the withdraw order." Seifer was rather angry now. His anger was reflected in how dangerous his driving was. The car screeched into the Garden parking lot and Seifer slammed on the brakes. They pulled into a parking spot and Seifer walked off towards the training center to let some steam off. Fujin wanted to follow Seifer but she knew at that time she couldn't help with anything. Raijin decided to go back to his dorm room for a while until the exam results were given so that left Fujin standing by herself in the parking lot. She went and sat on a bench by the entranceway. She figured that she would wait here for Seifer then go up with him to find out whether or not he had been made a SeeD. Fujin saw Squall and two others enter the Garden. The three of the broke up and went their separate ways, Squall went off in the same direction as Seifer had gone. At last after waiting for what seemed to be hours the exam results were going to be given out. Seifer walked towards the elevator with his head hung.
"PROBLEM?" Fujin ran up to him and asked.
"Yeah. I'm in trouble again only this time it's the worst that could happen. Xu and Quistis said I didn't have a chance at becoming a SeeD because they said my lack of ability to follow orders. I don't see it that way I would have helped them and became a hero if it wasn't for that withdrawal order. I wasn't disregarding orders I was following the enemy. We were supposed to protect Dollet was I just supposed to let the enemy get away." Seifer spoke quietly and didn't raise his head.
"NO. you did the right thing." Fujin lowered her voice for once trying to comfort him.
"I have to spend some time in the disciplinary room too. Arrg!!" Seifer punched the wall.
Fujin was angry also. Seifer was probably the only person in this Garden that actually deserved to be a SeeD but now it seemed that he wouldn't become one. Even though the odds were against them Seifer and Fujin went up to the hallway by the classrooms. There any small shards of hope they had left were smashed to pieces when only four new SeeDs (none which were Seifer) were inducted. Despite his anger Seifer kept a straight face and clapped for the new SeeDs. Fujin and Raijin followed his lead. After the SeeDs speeches Seifer and his posse went back to his room. His stay in the disciplinary room didn't start until the next day so this was his last night of freedom. Seifer threw himself down on his bed and Fujin and Raijin stood around awkwardly for a few moments until Fujin sat down next to him and stroked his hair. His disappointment in himself showed so clearly that Fujin didn't know what else to do. His back was trembling indicating either tears or powerful anger. Without stopping from stroking Seifer Fujin took his hand into her other hand. Seifer didn't know what to do anymore. He felt cursed. His dream was shattered and any hopes of anything getting better vanished from Seifer's mind. He didn't know what to do only to lie there not crying but trembling with such disappointment. He had always looked forward to the day that he would become a SeeD but now that day probably would never come. But at least…at least he'd always have his posse behind him now. They were the only people he could count on. They cared about him and wouldn't let him down. Fujin continued to stroke Seifer's hair until he stopped shaking and rolled over onto his back. "Thanks Fujin," he said with a half smile. Fujin smiled timidly back at him. She wanted him to cheer up. Right when his dreams got smashed to pieces Fujin had wanted to run to him and hug him and comfort him. But too many things were happening at once and she couldn't make sense of anything anymore. Everything and everyone that was important to her was changing. Things were becoming too different. So the only thing that made her feel the safest she had felt in a while was when she sat on Seifer's bed and he smiled at her. His smile always helped her over come any fear she might have. They had learned to lean on each other. Together they made it through the ordeal of the SeeD exam. Seifer got off his bed and said, "Well now that we're done being upset we shouldn't sit around here all night. Although I didn't pass we're still invited to the SeeD ball. Let's go." Seifer said all this with a smile but it seemed odd to Fujin. 'Won't it be too painful for Seifer to see the new SeeDs and know he won't become one. Especially since Squall is now a SeeD.' Fujin thought. But instead of saying anything Fujin followed Seifer to the ball.
Seifer froze in the door way and Fujin who was just a step behind him wondered why. She pushed past Seifer a little and she caught a glimpse of what had made Seifer freeze before he pushed her back out the door. It was too late to hide anything Fujin had seen Rinoa dancing with Seifer's rival Squall. Not only had Squall stolen Seifer's SeeDship he had also stolen his girlfriend. Fujin didn't know how Seifer felt at that moment and all she could do was stand behind him and watch him grow angry. He wanted to go after Squall but Raijin was holding him back. At that moment Rinoa noticed Seifer and left Squall's arms to run to Seifer. Seifer turned away at first but Rinoa followed behind him and grabbed his arm. Fujin and Raijin left them alone and returned to their dorm rooms. Fujin was boiling mad. 'How dare Rinoa hurt Seifer like that and expect him to forgive her. That stupid girl doesn't even realize what she did. She doesn't deserve Seifer she can't help him like I help him,' thought Fujin. Fujin had intended to vent her rage but instead she was taken by the visions:
There was a woman crying and begging. Fujin stood by a table and her mother stood next to her. On the table was the woman, weeping…weeping so loudly and begging too. Begging for her life. But no matter what the woman was powerless to stop what was coming. Fujin also couldn't stop what was about to happen. She didn't want it to happen. She wanted the crying to stop. Fujin stood by the table with her eyes wide open not able to blink. She was too afraid. Finally her mother made the woman stop crying but in a different manner than Fujin had hoped. Her mother had killed the woman. Suddenly Fujin felt some sort of power enter her veins and then the next thing was unconsciousness.
Unconsciousness in her flashback turned into unconsciousness in her body. She remained where she had fallen unconscious. While Fujin was having her vision Seifer was still at the ball with Rinoa. After apologizing for hurting Seifer Rinoa had clung to Seifer's arm biding him to spend the rest of the evening with her. He found himself no longer mad at her but at ease. Her carefree spirit made him feel happy and relieved. He forgot about his troubles for the time being. Rinoa and Seifer talked for a while until Rinoa told him about her request for SeeDs that kept getting denied. Her resistance group really needed some help for their plans to succeed but she was having no luck getting SeeDs to help out. Seifer took her with him to introduce her to Headmaster Cid right away. After talking with him for a while he agreed to let Rinoa's resistance group have three SeeDs. Rinoa thanked Cid and Seifer a lot before she went skipping out the door on her way home for the night. Seifer hadn't realized how much he had missed Rinoa until he had seen her again. It was just too bad that Seifer wouldn't be one of the SeeDs that were going to help Rinoa out. Seifer went to back to his room and to sleep soon after Rinoa left the ball. There was nothing left for him in that place. The next morning Seifer was promptly taken to the disciplinary room. It wasn't until he was already inside did he find out about the three SeeDs that were going on Rinoa's mission. Instructor Trepe was the one that had broken the news to him. And he was very upset about it. "What!? They might end up fightin' the whole
Galbadian force! And all they dispatch are 3 rookie SeeD members!? Dammit! I'm going to Timber!" Seifer said when he found out. Since no one believed that he was going to escape and go to Timber is was easy to get away. He made it out of Balamb Garden quickly and hopped the first train to the station closest to Timber since all the Timber trains had stopped running. He was worried that that had something to do with Squall and Rinoa.
Sure enough when he arrived in Timber he found out from Rinoa's friend Watts that Rinoa's group had tried to kidnap the president but it had failed. The next step in the plan was to storm the TV station. Seifer decided to help with that. He made his way to the TV station unaware that some one was following him. Quistis Trepe was trying to get Seifer to return to the Garden peacefully. Back at the Garden Fujin was worried about Seifer. She had heard from someone that worked in the disciplinary room that Seifer had escaped. Fujin was both hurt and worried. She was hurt that Seifer didn't take her with him, what if he needed backup? And she was worried that he'd get into serious trouble. Fujin and Raijin were left waiting at the Garden for news of Seifer.
Seifer had stormed the TV station a moment after the broadcast began. Squall's team watched on the television as Seifer proceeded to beat up the guards and hol the president hostage. After Quistis gave them the okay the too burst into the station.
"We need to restrain him!" said Quistis
Instead of trying that tactic Squall said to Seifer, "What do you think you're doing?"
Seifer answered him by saying, "It's obvious ain't it!? What are you planning to do with this guy?
Squall asked stupidly, "…Planning to do?"
"I get it! You're Rinoa's…" Zell was cut off by Seifer with a, "Shut your damn mouth! Chicken-wuss!
"He broke out of the disciplinary room, injuring many in the process," Quistis explained.
"YOU STUPID IDIOT" Zell yelled.
Then Squall said the first intelligent thing he had said all afternoon, "Be quiet."
But Zell didn't listen instead he didn't think before he spoke and blurted out, "Instructor, I know! You're gonna take this idiot back to the Garden, right?
"Shut up! NO!" Squall yelled at him.
"I see…So you're all from the Gardens. Should anything happen to me, the entire Galbadia military will crush Garden. You can let go of me now." President Deling said.
Now Seifer didn't know what to do. "Nice going, Chicken-wuss! You and your stupid big mouth! Take care of this mess! Instructor and Mr. Leader!" he said.
Seifer dragged the president out of the room. In the next room Seifer pondered for a moment what to do. Then a woman appeared before him, but not just any woman a sorceress.
"…Poor, poor boy" she said.
Not knowing what else to do Seifer shouted, "Stay away from me!"
"Such a confused little boy. Are you going to step forward? Retreat? You have to decide," the sorceress said in a mocking voice.
"Stay back!" Seifer was panicking now.
The sorceress continued on, "The boy in you is telling you to come. The adult in you is telling you to back off. You can't make up your mind. You don't know the right answer. You want help, don't you? You want to be saved from this predicament."
"Shut up!" Seifer couldn't calm down.
"Don't be ashamed to ask for help. Besides, you're only a little boy," the sorceress was really mocking him now.
"I'm not…Stop calling me a boy." Seifer was trembling.
"You don't want to be a boy anymore?" the sorceress asked innocently.
Seifer shouted, "I am not a BOY!" and let go of the president.
The sorceress' voice got less mocking and more inviting then. "Come with me to a place of no return. Bid farewell to your childhood," she said.
Seifer followed the sorceress into an unknown place. Many obstacles littered the path in front of Seifer but he didn't care. He thought only of how he was managing to fulfill his dream. In another place Fujin was now pacing her room because of her anxiety. More changes. Fujin felt afraid of the future. Afraid of what was advancing on them all.
