The passing rate of the exam was as usual, sixty-five percent of the exam candidates passed. Those included were Keladryie, Fureya, Willard, Amelia, Macen and Garret.
For the Field exam those six made up two of the five groups of three. Keladryie, Willard and Amelia were squad A and their Squad leader was Instructor Whippet while Fureya, Macen and Garret made up Squad B with Weapons Mistress Kumara as the Squad leader. Everyone was surprised the finicky old woman was SeeD and very capable.
The squads were huddled in the Ragnarok II; the ship was almost a carbon copy of the one Squall had brought back from space but with more modern technology.
"I hope we find the pair." Fureya murmured to Macen as she glanced around at the faces of her fellow cadets. "They look familiar." Willard scoffed softly and stared at Fureya.
"That's your Aunt Ellone and your cousin Melody, of course they are familiar." He stated. Fureya's eyebrows shot up.
"Obviously another thing Father forgot to tell me." She muttered and shot Willard a sweet smile as the Ragnarok II landed. Willards stomach did a flip at the sight of her smile, but he put it down to nerves.
They all disembarked and were given maps of the areas that were theirs to survey and patrol.
"Willard." Fureya called softly, as Quistis was telling them that the order to withdraw takes prioriety.
"What is it?" He whispered, looking down at her.
"Don't get hurt, okay?" She whispered back softly and pulled on his collar, bringing his face close to hers as she kissed him.
"Move out!" Quistis called out as Fureya pulled away. She saluted Willard with rosy cheeks and followed Kumara, Macen and Garret as they headed up trail B.
Willard put his hand to his lips and stared down trail B until Keladryie elbowed him savagely.
"Stop acting like a girl and lets go." She demanded and followed Whippet and Amelia up their designated trail.
~*~
"Weapons out!" Fureya called softly as she lead the group around a turn a couple of hours later. She squatted next to a patch of churned snow riddled with footsteps. Shaking out her damp hair, she gripped her naginata tightly and slowly proceeded around the corner with Macen, Garret and Kumara close behind her.
Frowning, she noticed that the snow became almost untouched a few scarce metres ahead. Holding her hand up, she signalled for those behind her to stop and be silent. Gripping the wooden staff tightly, she moved the bladed end in a circle around her, searching warily for any clue of where the enemy was hiding.
Hearing a slight rustle to her left, she swung around to face the noise, her actions signalling to her party members as uniform clad Galbadian soldiers sprang from the snow coated bushes.
Macen sprang forward, his gloved fists meeting targets solidly as Garrets sword flashed in the sunlight everytime he attacked. One nasty looking soldier circled around Fureya with a machine gun firmly planted in his hands. Skipping forward as the opponent slipped on a bit of ice, she thrust her glaive point deep into his abdomen before yanking it upwards and pulling it out. Her nose wrinkled and her stomach turned as the stench from the mans sliced intenstines reached her. Looking around, she saw only dead soldiers and proceeded to throw up in the snow. Macen came over and patted her shoulder as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and took a deep drink from her water flask.
"So children." Kumara spoke up as Garret and her dragged the bodies into the bushes, to cover their trail. "You have blood on your hands and weapons, its not all glory. Shall we continue?"
There were more battles and more killings, some with honour and some with dirty tricks. But it was pretty uneventful, each team member took turns at leading the squads under the watchful eyes of their squad leaders.
It was Keladryie who found the missing pair. They were wandering down the side of the trail, lost. Ellone had sent them to their past and slipped out with Melody after she'd heard the passes were clear; they'd kept her drugged but due to the snow in, they'd ran out of supplies. So with the pair secure, the group headed straight for the pick up point.
Fureya cursed softly as she realized what predicament her squad was in, they had been caught on an icy ledge by four soldiers, two behind them and two infront, cut off completely.
Signalling each other, they attacked their foes and engaged in fierce battle.
Fureya had opened many shallow cuts on her enemy when the sword welding male realized he was going to lose unless he pulled something sneaky. Working his way around the ledge so he was standing on the very edge, he purposefully left an opening that Fureya could lunge for. Just as Kumara and Macen's foes were beaten, she skipped forward and thrusted the bladed end of her glaive towards the mans heart. He sneered at her as he pivoted out of the way. Fureya let out a soft gasp as she tumbled over the edge and down the long drop of the cliff.
"Fureya!" Called Garret as he sliced open the thick vein in his opponents neck. Racing forward, he ran Fureyas opponent through with his sword and kneeled at the edge of the icy cliff, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
"We have to keep going." Kumara said gently. "She couldn't of survived that fall, and if she did, we have to finish our mission and then come back, you know the protocol in these situations. She has training, she'll be okay."
Garret and Macen stared helplessly at the edge before continuing their ascent.
~*~
At the pick up zone, they were the second squad there. Squad A with Willard, Keladryie, Amelia and Instructor Whippet were waiting with Jan and Quistis.
Willard scanned the small group quickly before staring at the rise they'd come over.
"Where is Candidate Leonheart?" Headmistress Trepe said quietly.
"She went over a cliff ma'am." Kumara started firmly. "Some Galbadian forced her over, she went down fighting.'
"Fureya." Whispered Willard as he brushed gloved fingertips over his cold lips. Numbly he walked to the rise and stared down at the trail. Quistis came up behind him and gripped his forearm tightly.
"If you go down after her, you'll lose your chance to be a SeeD." She warned softly. "Wait til everyones here and then Ill send a search party." Willard sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"What if she's hurt or in danger, Mum?" He growled unreasonably and pulled his arm from his mothers grip and stalked back to the waiting group. As he sat down and stared at the stark white snow, he realized that Fureya did mean something to him, she meant a lot to him and was probably the first person he'd ever wanted to love more than he'd wanted to fool around with.
"Please come back, Fureya." He whispered hoarsely.
~*~
As Fureya fell, she realized she was going to die. She was going to hit the ground and break. Tears slid down her cheeks, four in quick succession.
They swirled around each other and smashed into the ground and formed a huge ice crystal with a pale blue figure encased inside. The ice shattered harmlessly and slender blue arms reached out, catching the falling girl in her arms.
Fureya opened her eyes and stared up at the smiling pale blue face with mesmerizing sapphire eyes.
"That was quite a fall." She said softly as Fureya slid to the ground and stood on her own two feet.
"Who are you?" She asked in confusion as she stared at the scantily dressed ice blue figure with long flowing blonde locks.
"I'm Shiva, first born of the Guardian Forces and you are my reborn form." Leaning over Shiva pressed her icy lips against Fureya's.
Information instantly flooded Fureya's mind. Fureya lived through memories that weren't hers and life times of people she didn't know. Falling to her knees, she covered her ears and screamed as her nose started to bleed from the shock.
"I'm sorry Fureya." The ice maiden cooed softly and laid an icy hand on Fureya's forehead, retracting the information that she deemed unnecessary. "I can't control the information I give, just what I take and you needed to know what I had to tell." Fureya turned her pain-glazed eyes up to the Guardian as her nosebleed slowed and stopped.
"I-I don't un-understand." She stammered and her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted. Shiva smiled wryly and gathered her reincarnate in her arms and started to carry her down the mountain and out of the cold because she'd heard it was bad for humans.
~*~
Willard stared around the bottom of the ledge in despair for any sign of Fureya, but there was none. It was like she'd never existed.
"I'm sorry Will." Quistis said softly. "We have to go back to Trabia Garden, it's getting dark. We can come back tomorrow morning, okay?" Willard agreed begrudgingly and looked around one last time before plodding down the side of the hill behind his mother.
I'll be back tomorrow to find you Fureya. He promised silently. I have to tell you…