~Chapter nine~

"It's been a while Seifer." Squall commented as he adjusted his grip on the hilt of his gunblade. The glowing blue lines of his Lionheart model blade were gleaming brightly in the artificial light of the combat room. Seifer grinned wickedly and shrugged.

"I just hope you haven't lost your edge." Seifer said. "I'd hate to be humiliated by fighting the weak." Squall smiled grimly and saluted Seifer with his blade as Seifer saluted him.

"No injuries and no shots fired off." A grumpy Weapons Mistress called from the side, Seifer had bullied her into giving up the room so he could duel Squall for old times sake. Squall had convinced her that it would be a demonstration for the cadets. She had only just agreed to such nonsense, or so she called it. "Guard."

Squall raised his Lionheart over his shoulder and darted a few steps forward and swung it on a downward diagonal. Seifer's blade was there to block it with a loud crash and a small flurry of sparks. A few of the students let off a cheer as the battle commenced, but Keladryie and Fureya stood on opposite ends of the wall, both watching intently. They'd never seen Squall and Seifer cross blades, only heard about the times they had.

After parrying another fierce blow, Seifer slid his blade underneath and out before swinging it in a high arc and bringing it down towards Squalls shoulder. Squall saw the movement as Seifer's body had taken a step back to free the blade and then his right side had moved forward to attack and was prepared for the arcing blade. Taking a gamble, he shifted off to the right and attacked the opened side of his opponent with the flat of his blade. He was rewarded with a stinging blow that skimmed his shoulder, but Seifer's ribs would ache for a while to come.

Keladryie slitted her jade gaze as she took in the graceful movements of the pair. They were defiantly evenly matched, so much that the outcome of a fight would be impossible to tell until it happened. She also noted that the two fighters knew each other's moves very well and neither of them seemed to land any more blows on the other. She shook out her mane of dark red hair as Fureya came over to stand next to her, thinking the same thoughts as her.

"They are just going to tire each other out." Fureya sighed and ran fingers through her ruffled black hair. Keladryie nodded in agreement.

"Dad always claimed he could best Squall any day. I'm going to assume that Squall said the same." Seeing Fureya's wry grin, Keladryie continued. "They were both making up faerie stories, they are just as good as each other." Fureya shook her head and sighed.

"I think I've seen enough, they actually seem to bore me." She stated softly. "I'm going to go get something to eat." Keladryie stared at Squall and Seifer; they weren't even sweating yet so no doubt it was going to be a lengthy duel.

"Wait for me Fureya." She sighed and the pair exited the room in silence.

"I believe our daughter's just left." Squall commented dryly as he paused in a defensive stance. "Fureya will definitely be grounded for such insubordination." Seifer glanced around the room and arched an eyebrow.

"They must think we aren't much entertainment." Seifer paused and shrugged. "A months grounding shall make Kella see otherwise." They shared a wry chuckle before crossing blades again, this time with more ferocity and determination to beat the other.

~*~

Willard had snuck out of the Garden for the afternoon and was now sitting in the small forest by the Garden. He was leaning against a tree trunk and twisting a blade of grass in his nimble fingers.

His jumbled thoughts were driving him insane, so he'd snuck here to think.

Fureya was the root of most of these thoughts; he couldn't help think wryly how complicated things seemed when she was around. Not bad complicated, just messy.

Firstly, her behaviour was quite erratic around him. Whenever he was in the presence of another female, she'd refuse to acknowledge his existence, otherwise when it was just them, she was normal but distant. She was different since she'd gone away, no since she'd met Annabelle.

Secondly, there was the outburst before she'd left. He knew she was a girl it was kind of obvious.

Willard's brow furrowed as he remember the tone of her voice and the look on her face when she'd said it.

"Hey." A soft voice interrupted his thoughts. Looking up he found that Annabelle was standing in front of him.

"Oh, hey." He murmured as a slight pang of disappointment twisted his stomach.

"Oh, hey?" Annabelle laughed softly and sat down next to him. "Expecting someone else were we?" She teased, pushing a curl of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear.

"Of course not." He lied and mechanically put an arm around her shoulders. "What's up, Anna?"

"Nothing really, just came looking for you." She purred and inched herself on to his lap. "It got boring back at Garden. Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy were duelling. It was so boring even their daughters left." She pouted, her blue eyes fixated on Willard's face.

"Fureya didn't stay to watch?" He asked, but continued without waiting for an answer. "That's strange." Annabelle shrugged her arm curling around Willard slowly.

"Yeah, even stranger, she left with Keladryie." She commented and shrugged again. "But who cares, at least she wont disturb us again." She added bitterly before smiling at Will. She leant in and kissed an unresponsive Willard softly. Pulling back, she frowned and arched an eyebrow.

"What is it?" She demanded, slightly miffed by him. Willard's grey eyes turned serious as Garret's words floated back into his head.

Denial over the love she has for you. She found you with Annabelle remember?

"Annabelle now is not a good time." He said firmly. Annabelle shrugged carelessly.

"I don't care." She said simply and leaned forward to kiss him again. Willard grunted and shoved the girl off of his lap and stood up. Annabelle paled with anger and stood up, brushing dirt off of her uniform. "You jerk." She snapped and strode off, reminding Willard of an offended cat.

In his mind, he knew things wouldn't be the same until he spoke to Fureya.

~*~

Willard Trepe strode down the hall with purpose. He was so wrapped up in this purpose that he wasn't watching where he was going.
"Oof." Came the soft voice as his body rammed into something soft. From the feel of things, something soft and female.
"I'm sorry." He said instantly with sincerity.
"It's okay." Chimed a familar voice, causing him to really look at the person he'd ran into.
"Fureya!" He blurted out, suddenly nervous by being at close proximaty with her.

"That's me." She replied calmly. "Also, class is that way." She stated, pointing the way he'd came. "We have an early morning lecture about something, remember?" Frowning, Fureya noticed that Willards uniform collar was slightly skewiff and his shirt was hanging crookedly.
"Fureya." He started with a slight hesitation, his nervousness growing by the minute. "I heard that you have... Well that you-" He paused as she reached up and straightened his collar, her knuckles brushing softly against his cheek. "Like knuckles, my cheek.. told me so.." He blurted, his composure lost. Fureya looked at him oddly as she yanked the bottom of his shirt as Macen laughed. He'd joined them intime to hear what had been said.
"Fureya likes knuckles? Your cheek told you?" Macen let out a whoop of laughter and draped his arm across Fureya's shoulder. "C'mon, we'll be late if we listen to him babble any longer." He stated cheerfully as he guided Fureya towards the classroom leaving a red cheeked and confused Willard Trepe behind.

"Fool." He whispered to himself. It had been a simple task for him to do, find Fureya and ask her if what Garret said was true. If she'd said yes, he was just going to say that he didn't feel the same. He liked things the way they were, for now anyway. But he'd stuffed it up, he'd gotten nervous and forgot what he was going to say. He reminded himself of the times Macen or Garret had fallen for a girl and tried to confess to her. He paled in color when he realized what he'd just been thinking before looking around and fleeing to class.

~*~

Jan leant against the instructors desk as cadets almost his age filed into the classroom. Most of them stopped to stare at his uniform before taking their places with a slight spark of interest. He was happy to note one familiar face even if he didn't know her name, the girl who had boldly told him his uniform was wrong and that the headmistress would punish him for it.

When at last the door closed precisely the time class was due to start, Jan stood up straight.

"My name's Jan Fionn." He stated cheerfully. "And I am a SeeD member, but not your ordinary special force SeeD. I lead a squadron of airborne support SeeDs named Red Devils." He paused as the door slid open again to admit a late cadet.

"You are late, Trepe." Whippet said firmly. "Take your seat and see me after." The late cadet slunk into his seat and looked up curiously at Jan.

"Anyway." Continued Jan. "The airbourne support SeeDs have been around for only a short while which is why none of you have probably heard of us. Now, you are probably wondering why I'm telling a bunch of SeeD exam candidates this." He paused and scanned the classroom with cheery hazel brown eyes. "Well, seeing as how your exam is in three days, I was asked to bring myself and a specially equipped ship here to help." Instructor Whippet stood up and looked around sternly.

"Your field exam will consist of you splitting into groups and scouring the mountains of Trabia for a pair of kidnapped females. But the mountains are also riddled with the Galbadian army, so you will also need to liberate the area. We were employed to do this a fortnight ago, but due to a handful of blizzards, the Trabian passes wont be cleared for another few days, three to be exact. So SeeD Fionn will fly you to Trabia Garden in two days and you will then scale the mountains in your groups." As he spoke, a map of the Trabian mountains sprang up on everyones computer aswell as a picture of a little girl and a woman. "You will eradicate every Galbadian force you come across and meet at the top, they have also been stuck their for a fortnight so they will be weakened. Weakened or not, they wont be easy." He warned. "The pictures on your screen are Ellone and Melody Loire, they were kidnapped for their link with Estharian President Laguna Loire. They must be recovered." He paused and scanned the room again. "The written exam is tomorrow, those of you who pass will be taking the field exam. You have the rest of the day off to study. Dismissed."

As the class filed out, Willard tried to sneak out but was caught by the Instructor and given the punishment of helping the women in the cafeteria all of the upcoming Sunday.