Chapter 5
Khain sat on a hospital bed while the doctor, Kadowaki or something like that, administered the needle, she had been ordered to report to the infirmary around lunch time every day for the next week or so for a needle to counteract the poison that had been in the bullet, and that something came from a monster, that's all Khain knew, and that's all she WANTED to know. If it came from a monster, was in liquid form. . . I'm sure you get the point. Khain stayed silent as the doctor finished putting the needle in, in the next room, Mat was getting 4 shocks to his body to get the blood around his chest flowing, they wanted to make sure his chest muscles were still good. Sadly for him, Akemi was doing the charges. Mat sighed as Akemi approached with the shockers.
"Ow . . . . . . ow . . . . . . . Ow! . . . . . . . OW BLOODY FU-!!!" Akemi broke into laughter. Khain smirked as Mat rubbed his sore chest.
"Dammit Akemi! That really hurt!"
"Baby." he taunted. Mat suddenly paled.
"You know, all of a sudden I'm scared. You had a head injury, what if- OWWW!!"
"Oops. Tied that a little too tight." Akemi declared with a smirk. Mat continued to swear in three different languages, and was still swearing as Khain walked out of the infirmary.
~~~
The next day, Khain was working on her fighting drills and getting back her flexibility with her arm back, when someone walked up beside her.
"Should you be doing this after just getting out of the hospital ward?" Zell asked carefully. Khain groaned inwardly, there went another practice session. She turned to Zell and bowed lightly.
"It was only a poison-"
"Bullet to the ankle, pneumonia, getting shot in the arm again, and then limping on your bad leg all the way back to the garden from Balamb. Need I go on?" Zell said dully with a tiny grin. Khain looked at him for a moment, then gave a light smile.
"No, I suppose you have a point." She declared lightly. Zell chuckled.
"Aren't I lucky? Anyway, since all the students are almost better, we're holding the announcement of the new SeeDs in a-"
"All candidates who took part in the SeeD test to Trabia report to the 2nd floor hallway immediately." A voice announced on the speakers. Zell smirked.
"Speak of the devil. Well, see you in a few moments, you have to get suited up." Zell said with an easy grin, Khain nodded, bowed once more, then walked out of the training center with ease.
~~~
"Aw man. . . . what if I didn't make it?! What if I get kicked out?! What if I'm disgraced?! What if-?!"
"Enough of the 'what ifs' and sit your ass down before I knock you out for giving me a headache with your damn pacing!" Coroura interrupted Mat . Akemi chuckled as Mat sent Coroura a scathing glare. Khain remained silent. Yumae waited off to the side while her team sat in a little corner talking.
"I think I'll make it!"
"You?! You ran off during the fight you coward!"
"What are you talking about Neko?! So did you!"
"Aw shut up." Neko growled at Koji. Sakura smirked.
"I'm sure I'll make it!"
"Whatever, you lead your team into a trap and disobeyed direct orders, we were only to head for Trabia Garden, you on the other hand just had to take on an entire army didn't you?" Sutta jeered.
"You shut up blondie! You nearly got your captain killed!"
"Hey it's not my fault that Khain is a stuck up b*tch and refuses to let anyone help her just so she can have all the glory." Sutta snapped while glaring at the teen in question. Khain didn't venture a reply, just stayed silent. Akemi however. . .
"Oh shut UP Sutta. If you had any brains in that neon yellow colored head of yours, you'd have realized that everything was your fault. You disobeyed a direct order from your captain, and in doing so put yourself and your captain in danger. Not only that, but you caused the problem in the first place by yelling out in enemy territory, which is about the STUPIDEST thing you can do in a war besides running up and down the area with a foghorn and flashing lights, which you probably would've done had Khain not told you to stop. Then, when Khain tried to help you, you blatantly ignored her and nearly got yourself killed! You want to know something?! YOU will NEVER be a SeeD at this rate because you ignore orders and put everyone around you in danger!" Akemi bellowed. Silence. Khain looked at the young man with shocked eyes. Mat took a breath.
"Whoa. . . dude. . ."
"Ahem." A voice said softly, they all turned to find Quistis standing there.
"Here are the people who made it past the exam." Quistis declared calmly. "Matsuki Kuzaka."
"YAHOO!" Mat was so enthralled that he let the name thing slide and dashed down the hallway laughing.
"Akemi Matasuri." Quistis continued next, Akemi smirked and waved goodbye to the crowd as he walked down the hallway towards the elevator. "Coroura Niona." Coroura grinned and walked down the hallway with a big grin. "Yumae Sukora." Yumae bowed and followed the others.
"Khain Corona." Quistis continued. Khain raised an eyebrow, how had they known her last name? Khain nonetheless followed the others down the hallway. "John Lawrence and Lyski Nitoder. That's all."
"WHAT??" Khain heard Sutta scream as she entered the elevator, Khain smirked to herself.
~~~
"You all did exceedingly well. Congratulations." The headmaster declared as he handed out the reports, Khain accepted hers dully and noticed that from the shadows, Squall was watching them. She smirked, bowed to the headmaster and walked out of there. Once in her new room, she looked over her score, aced. Khain tossed the card onto her desk table and began to change, some damned party tonight. Thank god they have given her the male uniform, if she had been forced to wear a skirt, things would not have ended well.
~~~
"On a first note, over 50% of the candidates passed, at which I am very happy for you all." Rinoa declared while speaking into the mike. "And secondly, here is the SeeD commander here to say a few words!" She stepped back and waited for Squall to take the mike, he looked at her for a moment, then walked up to the mike and said two words.
"Good work." Then stepped back. Mat snickered.
"You must've meant VERY few words." He called out, Rinoa giggled.
"Yes, I suppose. On a second note, Trabia has been fully restored and the Vernery army has been stopped dead in it's tracks!" Rinoa waited for the applause to subside once more. "Thirdly, thanks to this battle, Balamb Garden is now rated number one in the world for military services!" More cheers erupted. So they had finally beaten Galbadia for that position, whoopee. "And now, believe it or not, Squall has an announcement." She stepped back again, this time, everyone was silent. Squall Leonheart was going to say more then three words in one breath? Unbelievable. Squall stepped up the mike and looked calmly at the scene before him.
"During the mission, I won't deny it, the Vernery General lured me away with a false message, however, reported by the other SeeDs, I was informed, that just before the attack, they were gassed and lost conscious. Which meant Trabia's defenses went down a substantial amount, they had not only lost 4 professional fighters, but also the only ones who could lead them, I know for a fact, that if it weren't for one individual, Trabia Garden, and 12 of our students would be dead at this moment." Squall paused for a moment.
"This student, not only gave Elite level orders for her first time on the battle field, she also protected her team from danger and kept a calm and cool head in the battle field, applying science, logic and common sense to the battle." Khain suddenly paled, she knew where this was going. "With her abilities and skills, she is a prime candidate as a SeeD leader. Therefore, I hereby announce that Khain Corona is my second in command." Cheers erupted as a shocked Khain was pushed up the steps and deposited next to Squall who nodded and fastened a pin onto her uniform jacket. Khain then had the mike shoved under her mouth and silence claimed the room again, she. . . . was speechless. The heck could she say?!
"Uh. . . ." She stammered out, Zell smacked himself on the forehead. Time for some saving. He stepped out and smiled.
"Why don't you tell us how you did it Khain?" Khain looked at him for a moment. "Like when you were ambushed on the plains by the Verneries, why don't you tell us how you escaped!"
"Okay. . . I guess." Khain, for once in her life, was unsure. "Uh, well." She cleared her throat. "We had just given away our position when-"
"Who gave away your position?" A voice chimed out from the crowd. Khain looked at the boy.
"Oh, Sutta. She yelled out." Khain then mentally smacked herself on the head. 'Moron!' She yelled at herself.
"Er. . . anyway, I don't think I should-"
"So what happened after you lost your position?!" Another voice called out.
"Er. . . they ambushed us and launched fire." Zell sighed.
"You're too humble you know Khain? Here's what happened." He said and turned to the crowd. "See, there they are, making their way across the plain, and Sutta is just complaining about the weather, and everything possible! So when Khain tells her to be quiet, Sutta screams her anger, and gives away their position! Then, when the Verneries attack, Khain tells Sutta to get out of there and that if she doesn't make it, Akemi is in charge, so Sutta leaves, and next thing, Khain is diverting the enemy's attention to her so that Sutta can escape, but Sutta comes back and starts attacking, which I thought was kind of nice, until Khain yells at Sutta to get down because a Vernery was about to shoot her down! Sutta ignores her, so Khain tackles her down saving her from a bullet wound, unfortunately, the first scrapes her arm, and the second hits her ankle. At which I spring in the help them out. So after we reach the Garden, she's in the infirmary, and next thing I know when I visit her again, she's gone!" Zell smirked, probably shouldn't tell anyone about the graveyard thing.
"I find her, and she's death cold! Ends up getting pneumonia! So she's in the infirmary again, when I was in the control room with Irvine and Selphie, that's when we got gassed and I don't remember much after that except telling Mat they were about to get attacked." Zell looked at Mat who grinned.
"So after Instructor Dincht declares we're about to get attacked, on cue, we are, and boy let me tell you, what a mess! No one was working as a team, attacks were random, I tell you, the messiest strategy, if you can even call it that, I've ever seen! Then, suddenly Khain walks, out, skin paler then flour and she's only wearing a white shirt and black shorts! That as well as sneakers, I tell you, crazy! So first she secures the main door with spell casters and long range archers! Once that was done, she started giving everyone orders, and believe it or not, here's where it gets interesting! First she ordered that all healing spells be passed to one person from every squad and taken to the front hall where people could be healed, then she had runners, whose job was to assist all areas! I was assigned to protect the front door so I'm not sure what happened after that." Mat finished.
"My turn!" Coroura said with a grin. "She took me with her and we ran into Yumae who was protecting her injured teammate. Khain took them down and we got a boy to take Inaba to the infirmary while the three of us went for the team leader, Khain's idea of course, at first the guy wouldn't call off the attack, but Khain really got him with her illusion spell!"
"You're not kidding!" Yumae put in. Then put on a smug and cold voice like Khain's. "It's funny, I never knew humans could be so stupid. Of course, most humans don't realize there's a god in their midst." Yumae giggled. "And when that bullet went straight through the illusion's head! My god, I thought that guard was going to pee his pants!" Coroura grinned.
"When we got back, she created a plan to light the old oil pipeline system to burn all the enemies outside Trabia to a crisp, and I'll tell you, jesus, I'll never forget it. That was one hell of an aftermath." He finished. Khain scowled.
"Yes, yes, are we done telling my life story?" Khain growled out.
"Not the half of it! For a list of your injuries, you got; a shot to the arm, a shot to the ankle, poisoned may I add, pneumonia, then another shot to the same arm! You're lucky you still have all your limbs!" Kadowaki declared. Khain groaned and rolled her eyes.
"I wish I knew what I did to get the gods so pissed at me." She mumbled. Mat slung an arm around her shoulder and laughed.
"You know we love you, heck! Even Almasy over there has a soft spot for you!" Mat declared jerking a thumb at Seifer who smirked in reply.
"Hmph." Khain declared, unconvinced.
"Hey Rinoa." Irvine called out chuckling. "Those two remind you of anyone?" Rinoa giggled.
"Zell and Squall."
"Dead on!" Selphie whooped out laughing. The two in question glared.
"Whatever."
"HEY! SELPHIE! RINOA! IRVINE?? C'mon you guys!!" More laughter. Khain, sick of it all, grabbed the mike and yelled into it
"You! Start playing those instruments or I'll bash one over your head!" the band leader gulped and started. Once the music got going, so did the dancing. Khain smirked, with dancing in progress, hopefully they would forget about her and she could sneak off, she has just slunk back to the shadows, when Seifer grabbed her wrist and yanked her onto the dance floor.
"ACK! Seifer, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Seifer smirked.
"Well, Quistis is dancing with one of the other instructors, and I need a dance partner." Khain flushed.
"B-but-!"
"You can't dance? I know, but doesn't mean I won't teach you." Seifer declared winking. Khain glared.
"Seifer. . ." She growled warningly.
"Calm down, a dance lesson won't kill you, and besides, what if you have to dance for one of your missions?"
"Then I politely decline."
"And if the entire mission depends solely on you dancing?"
"Then I find some other way to make it work."
"Khain, stop avoiding the inevitable, you know that I'm right."
"And I damn you for it." Seifer chuckled.
"Okay, now step first with your left, then right and spin, see? You're getting it! Left, right and spin!"
"Dude . . . Seifer is teaching that girl to dance!" Zell cried out in shock. "And holy shit, he's smiling! NICELY!" Seifer on the dance floor grinned as he twirled Khain, the girl scowled. Once the song ended, she yanked her hand from his and walked off the dance floor.
'Dammit, they just don't get it.' Khain thought angrily. 'I want so much to be able to have fun, and be like everyone else . . . but I just can't. I can't.'
~ Flashback ~
"Karou, watch yourself."
"Aw you worry too much!"
"Karou I'm serious. It's dangerous in this cave."
"What? Just some big bats, those weird spinning things and whatever. We can take them!"
"Karou!"
"Chill out 'kay?"
"Watch your step! This is molten lava, it can kill you with it's heat alone!"
"I said chill out! Jeez, it's not like- wha-? WHAT THE???"
"Karou! Get back now!"
"Holy shit that's one big GF!"
"Karou!"
"Relax, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Bring it on Ifrit!"
"Karou!!"
"I said I can *grunt* Handle it! Relax."
*Pitiful mortal.*
"Wha-? HEY! LET GO OF ME!"
"KAROU!"
*You will die here mortal.*
"HELP!"
"KAROU NO!"
~ End ~
"KHAIN!" Khain snapped out of it.
"What?!" She called out. Seifer raised an eyebrow.
"Try not to zone out when you're walking, you tend to walk into walls that way." He said smirking. Khain shook her head one last time.
"Er. . . I'll try to remember that." She mumbled. Then attempted to walk out of the dance area. Didn't work, stopped by another male, this time John, he asked her for a dance, smiling happily. Khain scowled and was about to refuse, when her voice spoke from the back of her mind.
'Accept it.'
'What?! Why?!'
'Because I told you to, trust me, if you don't, there will be dire consequences.' Khain frowned for a moment, then sighed and glared at John.
"One dance, then you get off my back." John grinned like a kid in a candy store and grabbed her wrist, he then proceeded to yank her off to the dance floor.
~~~
Half an hour and a violation of the 'one dance' rule 6 times later, Khain finally got off the dance floor growling angrily. She was almost out the door, when her voice kicked in again.
'Stop.'
'NOW WHAT??'
'Turn around and go to Squall.'
'What's with the delays?!'
'Trust me.'
'Trust you?! The hell I will!'
'NOW!' And suddenly the screeching pain in her mind returned again, she winced.
"Okay, okay." She growled. She spun around and walked up to Squall and friends, who were in midst of having an arm wrestling match. Mat was against Akemi.
"Getting tired I bet. Give it up!" Mat grunted. Akemi smirked calmly.
"Tired? I haven't even broken a sweat little boy." He taunted. Mat swore defiantly. Akemi laughed, then started using his full effort, Mat was down in seconds.
"Hah, weakling." Akemi teased. "Anyone else who want's to lose?" He spotted Khain. "I'll take you on! Oh SeeD of mystical power." He declared playfully.
'So?'
'What?' The voice replied.
'Do I accept or not?' She asked sarcastically.
'I suppose, in fact, why don't you let me out, I'm eager to burn off some of my excess energy.' The voice declared, Khain obeyed grudgingly, her eyes turned full silver and her red hair flecked a bit with the same color. Khain sat down. Then set herself up.
"300gil." Kay, using Khain's voice, declared.
"Huh?" Akemi asked in surprise.
"I wager 300gil that I'll win. Wouldn't want to go higher, might put you into the poor house." Kay taunted. Akemi scowled.
"Fine! 700gil!"
"Why not 1000gil?"
"Done!" Akemi declared angrily and locked his hand with hers. Kay smirked.
'All too easy.'
'Oh boy. . .' Khain thought dully.
"3! 2! 1!" Selphie cried out happily. It began, Akemi began pushing down using all his force against his newest team leader. Kay's hand went down ever so slowly.
"Ha! You're going to owe me 1000gil!" Kay was silent, then she grinned evilly.
"Think so? Maybe I should try now." Kay declared, her hand one inch away from the table, it suddenly stopped, and suddenly Akemi was being pushed back.
"What the?!" He cried out shocked. His hand was against the desk side in seconds. Akemi scowled.
"REMATCH!"
"Okay then." They tried again, Kay won again. The third result was the same.
"DAMMIT!" Akemi yelled out frustrated. Kay laughed.
"It's okay, keep your money. It was just a joke Akemi." She declared, and still chuckling, stood up, letting Khain back in control.
"I'll head back to my room now." Khain suddenly announced, and started to walk off, that is, before an explosion rocked the floor, Khain grabbed Mat's shirt as he pitched forward.
"WHAT THE??" He screamed. Khain, face white, ran for the dormitories, she didn't know why, it was just a feeling, and when she got there, she nearly fainted. Her new room, was in flames. Quickly regaining composure, she launched a water attack at it, flushing out the flames. Zell and Squall appeared next to her.
"Booby trapped." Khain declared as she went through the ashen remains, holding up what looked like a cracked crystal globe, it's sides scorched. "Set to explode 10 minutes after 1 am. Probably on the assumption I'd be in the room." Khain informed the others, she tried keeping her voice straight, but it quivered a bit, not from anger or fear, but a little of both.
'I told you. . .' Kay whispered smugly, then her presence vanished. Khain scowled.
"My guess is someone out there isn't too happy with what I did in Trabia, or they don't like my new position. Either way, it seems I'm now a target." She said softly. Squall nodded. He turned to Selphie and his group.
"Selphie, Irvine, Seifer and Rinoa. Fan out, I want you to wake every student here and take them to the Quad, Quistis, you head to the training center and get those in the secret area. Zell, you are to keep a watch on Khain here, Mat, Yumae, John and Lyski, you come with me and we'll do a sweep of the area. Akemi, and Coroura, I want you to first go to the top floor and inform Nida there that he is in charge of protecting the bridge and to keep the speakers on at all times in case something happens, Akemi will stay with Nida. Coroura will go down to floor B1 and search the area. Khain, and Zell since you're watching her, I want you two to go with him. You know what's down there Zell." Zell nodded.
"The remains of NORG." Zell replied softly, Khain raised an eyebrow.
"I'll ask later." Khain murmured, saluted, then walked off. Coroura and Zell in tow.
'Someone's after me, they want to kill me, now is it for SeeD reasons? Or is it for my personal past?' Khain wondered.
Disclaimer: I own Sutta, Hiro, Khain, Mat, Akemi, Yumae, Inaba, and basically all the people who took the test. Squall, Zell, Quistis and others all belong to Squaresoft and whatever.
Khain sat on a hospital bed while the doctor, Kadowaki or something like that, administered the needle, she had been ordered to report to the infirmary around lunch time every day for the next week or so for a needle to counteract the poison that had been in the bullet, and that something came from a monster, that's all Khain knew, and that's all she WANTED to know. If it came from a monster, was in liquid form. . . I'm sure you get the point. Khain stayed silent as the doctor finished putting the needle in, in the next room, Mat was getting 4 shocks to his body to get the blood around his chest flowing, they wanted to make sure his chest muscles were still good. Sadly for him, Akemi was doing the charges. Mat sighed as Akemi approached with the shockers.
"Ow . . . . . . ow . . . . . . . Ow! . . . . . . . OW BLOODY FU-!!!" Akemi broke into laughter. Khain smirked as Mat rubbed his sore chest.
"Dammit Akemi! That really hurt!"
"Baby." he taunted. Mat suddenly paled.
"You know, all of a sudden I'm scared. You had a head injury, what if- OWWW!!"
"Oops. Tied that a little too tight." Akemi declared with a smirk. Mat continued to swear in three different languages, and was still swearing as Khain walked out of the infirmary.
~~~
The next day, Khain was working on her fighting drills and getting back her flexibility with her arm back, when someone walked up beside her.
"Should you be doing this after just getting out of the hospital ward?" Zell asked carefully. Khain groaned inwardly, there went another practice session. She turned to Zell and bowed lightly.
"It was only a poison-"
"Bullet to the ankle, pneumonia, getting shot in the arm again, and then limping on your bad leg all the way back to the garden from Balamb. Need I go on?" Zell said dully with a tiny grin. Khain looked at him for a moment, then gave a light smile.
"No, I suppose you have a point." She declared lightly. Zell chuckled.
"Aren't I lucky? Anyway, since all the students are almost better, we're holding the announcement of the new SeeDs in a-"
"All candidates who took part in the SeeD test to Trabia report to the 2nd floor hallway immediately." A voice announced on the speakers. Zell smirked.
"Speak of the devil. Well, see you in a few moments, you have to get suited up." Zell said with an easy grin, Khain nodded, bowed once more, then walked out of the training center with ease.
~~~
"Aw man. . . . what if I didn't make it?! What if I get kicked out?! What if I'm disgraced?! What if-?!"
"Enough of the 'what ifs' and sit your ass down before I knock you out for giving me a headache with your damn pacing!" Coroura interrupted Mat . Akemi chuckled as Mat sent Coroura a scathing glare. Khain remained silent. Yumae waited off to the side while her team sat in a little corner talking.
"I think I'll make it!"
"You?! You ran off during the fight you coward!"
"What are you talking about Neko?! So did you!"
"Aw shut up." Neko growled at Koji. Sakura smirked.
"I'm sure I'll make it!"
"Whatever, you lead your team into a trap and disobeyed direct orders, we were only to head for Trabia Garden, you on the other hand just had to take on an entire army didn't you?" Sutta jeered.
"You shut up blondie! You nearly got your captain killed!"
"Hey it's not my fault that Khain is a stuck up b*tch and refuses to let anyone help her just so she can have all the glory." Sutta snapped while glaring at the teen in question. Khain didn't venture a reply, just stayed silent. Akemi however. . .
"Oh shut UP Sutta. If you had any brains in that neon yellow colored head of yours, you'd have realized that everything was your fault. You disobeyed a direct order from your captain, and in doing so put yourself and your captain in danger. Not only that, but you caused the problem in the first place by yelling out in enemy territory, which is about the STUPIDEST thing you can do in a war besides running up and down the area with a foghorn and flashing lights, which you probably would've done had Khain not told you to stop. Then, when Khain tried to help you, you blatantly ignored her and nearly got yourself killed! You want to know something?! YOU will NEVER be a SeeD at this rate because you ignore orders and put everyone around you in danger!" Akemi bellowed. Silence. Khain looked at the young man with shocked eyes. Mat took a breath.
"Whoa. . . dude. . ."
"Ahem." A voice said softly, they all turned to find Quistis standing there.
"Here are the people who made it past the exam." Quistis declared calmly. "Matsuki Kuzaka."
"YAHOO!" Mat was so enthralled that he let the name thing slide and dashed down the hallway laughing.
"Akemi Matasuri." Quistis continued next, Akemi smirked and waved goodbye to the crowd as he walked down the hallway towards the elevator. "Coroura Niona." Coroura grinned and walked down the hallway with a big grin. "Yumae Sukora." Yumae bowed and followed the others.
"Khain Corona." Quistis continued. Khain raised an eyebrow, how had they known her last name? Khain nonetheless followed the others down the hallway. "John Lawrence and Lyski Nitoder. That's all."
"WHAT??" Khain heard Sutta scream as she entered the elevator, Khain smirked to herself.
~~~
"You all did exceedingly well. Congratulations." The headmaster declared as he handed out the reports, Khain accepted hers dully and noticed that from the shadows, Squall was watching them. She smirked, bowed to the headmaster and walked out of there. Once in her new room, she looked over her score, aced. Khain tossed the card onto her desk table and began to change, some damned party tonight. Thank god they have given her the male uniform, if she had been forced to wear a skirt, things would not have ended well.
~~~
"On a first note, over 50% of the candidates passed, at which I am very happy for you all." Rinoa declared while speaking into the mike. "And secondly, here is the SeeD commander here to say a few words!" She stepped back and waited for Squall to take the mike, he looked at her for a moment, then walked up to the mike and said two words.
"Good work." Then stepped back. Mat snickered.
"You must've meant VERY few words." He called out, Rinoa giggled.
"Yes, I suppose. On a second note, Trabia has been fully restored and the Vernery army has been stopped dead in it's tracks!" Rinoa waited for the applause to subside once more. "Thirdly, thanks to this battle, Balamb Garden is now rated number one in the world for military services!" More cheers erupted. So they had finally beaten Galbadia for that position, whoopee. "And now, believe it or not, Squall has an announcement." She stepped back again, this time, everyone was silent. Squall Leonheart was going to say more then three words in one breath? Unbelievable. Squall stepped up the mike and looked calmly at the scene before him.
"During the mission, I won't deny it, the Vernery General lured me away with a false message, however, reported by the other SeeDs, I was informed, that just before the attack, they were gassed and lost conscious. Which meant Trabia's defenses went down a substantial amount, they had not only lost 4 professional fighters, but also the only ones who could lead them, I know for a fact, that if it weren't for one individual, Trabia Garden, and 12 of our students would be dead at this moment." Squall paused for a moment.
"This student, not only gave Elite level orders for her first time on the battle field, she also protected her team from danger and kept a calm and cool head in the battle field, applying science, logic and common sense to the battle." Khain suddenly paled, she knew where this was going. "With her abilities and skills, she is a prime candidate as a SeeD leader. Therefore, I hereby announce that Khain Corona is my second in command." Cheers erupted as a shocked Khain was pushed up the steps and deposited next to Squall who nodded and fastened a pin onto her uniform jacket. Khain then had the mike shoved under her mouth and silence claimed the room again, she. . . . was speechless. The heck could she say?!
"Uh. . . ." She stammered out, Zell smacked himself on the forehead. Time for some saving. He stepped out and smiled.
"Why don't you tell us how you did it Khain?" Khain looked at him for a moment. "Like when you were ambushed on the plains by the Verneries, why don't you tell us how you escaped!"
"Okay. . . I guess." Khain, for once in her life, was unsure. "Uh, well." She cleared her throat. "We had just given away our position when-"
"Who gave away your position?" A voice chimed out from the crowd. Khain looked at the boy.
"Oh, Sutta. She yelled out." Khain then mentally smacked herself on the head. 'Moron!' She yelled at herself.
"Er. . . anyway, I don't think I should-"
"So what happened after you lost your position?!" Another voice called out.
"Er. . . they ambushed us and launched fire." Zell sighed.
"You're too humble you know Khain? Here's what happened." He said and turned to the crowd. "See, there they are, making their way across the plain, and Sutta is just complaining about the weather, and everything possible! So when Khain tells her to be quiet, Sutta screams her anger, and gives away their position! Then, when the Verneries attack, Khain tells Sutta to get out of there and that if she doesn't make it, Akemi is in charge, so Sutta leaves, and next thing, Khain is diverting the enemy's attention to her so that Sutta can escape, but Sutta comes back and starts attacking, which I thought was kind of nice, until Khain yells at Sutta to get down because a Vernery was about to shoot her down! Sutta ignores her, so Khain tackles her down saving her from a bullet wound, unfortunately, the first scrapes her arm, and the second hits her ankle. At which I spring in the help them out. So after we reach the Garden, she's in the infirmary, and next thing I know when I visit her again, she's gone!" Zell smirked, probably shouldn't tell anyone about the graveyard thing.
"I find her, and she's death cold! Ends up getting pneumonia! So she's in the infirmary again, when I was in the control room with Irvine and Selphie, that's when we got gassed and I don't remember much after that except telling Mat they were about to get attacked." Zell looked at Mat who grinned.
"So after Instructor Dincht declares we're about to get attacked, on cue, we are, and boy let me tell you, what a mess! No one was working as a team, attacks were random, I tell you, the messiest strategy, if you can even call it that, I've ever seen! Then, suddenly Khain walks, out, skin paler then flour and she's only wearing a white shirt and black shorts! That as well as sneakers, I tell you, crazy! So first she secures the main door with spell casters and long range archers! Once that was done, she started giving everyone orders, and believe it or not, here's where it gets interesting! First she ordered that all healing spells be passed to one person from every squad and taken to the front hall where people could be healed, then she had runners, whose job was to assist all areas! I was assigned to protect the front door so I'm not sure what happened after that." Mat finished.
"My turn!" Coroura said with a grin. "She took me with her and we ran into Yumae who was protecting her injured teammate. Khain took them down and we got a boy to take Inaba to the infirmary while the three of us went for the team leader, Khain's idea of course, at first the guy wouldn't call off the attack, but Khain really got him with her illusion spell!"
"You're not kidding!" Yumae put in. Then put on a smug and cold voice like Khain's. "It's funny, I never knew humans could be so stupid. Of course, most humans don't realize there's a god in their midst." Yumae giggled. "And when that bullet went straight through the illusion's head! My god, I thought that guard was going to pee his pants!" Coroura grinned.
"When we got back, she created a plan to light the old oil pipeline system to burn all the enemies outside Trabia to a crisp, and I'll tell you, jesus, I'll never forget it. That was one hell of an aftermath." He finished. Khain scowled.
"Yes, yes, are we done telling my life story?" Khain growled out.
"Not the half of it! For a list of your injuries, you got; a shot to the arm, a shot to the ankle, poisoned may I add, pneumonia, then another shot to the same arm! You're lucky you still have all your limbs!" Kadowaki declared. Khain groaned and rolled her eyes.
"I wish I knew what I did to get the gods so pissed at me." She mumbled. Mat slung an arm around her shoulder and laughed.
"You know we love you, heck! Even Almasy over there has a soft spot for you!" Mat declared jerking a thumb at Seifer who smirked in reply.
"Hmph." Khain declared, unconvinced.
"Hey Rinoa." Irvine called out chuckling. "Those two remind you of anyone?" Rinoa giggled.
"Zell and Squall."
"Dead on!" Selphie whooped out laughing. The two in question glared.
"Whatever."
"HEY! SELPHIE! RINOA! IRVINE?? C'mon you guys!!" More laughter. Khain, sick of it all, grabbed the mike and yelled into it
"You! Start playing those instruments or I'll bash one over your head!" the band leader gulped and started. Once the music got going, so did the dancing. Khain smirked, with dancing in progress, hopefully they would forget about her and she could sneak off, she has just slunk back to the shadows, when Seifer grabbed her wrist and yanked her onto the dance floor.
"ACK! Seifer, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Seifer smirked.
"Well, Quistis is dancing with one of the other instructors, and I need a dance partner." Khain flushed.
"B-but-!"
"You can't dance? I know, but doesn't mean I won't teach you." Seifer declared winking. Khain glared.
"Seifer. . ." She growled warningly.
"Calm down, a dance lesson won't kill you, and besides, what if you have to dance for one of your missions?"
"Then I politely decline."
"And if the entire mission depends solely on you dancing?"
"Then I find some other way to make it work."
"Khain, stop avoiding the inevitable, you know that I'm right."
"And I damn you for it." Seifer chuckled.
"Okay, now step first with your left, then right and spin, see? You're getting it! Left, right and spin!"
"Dude . . . Seifer is teaching that girl to dance!" Zell cried out in shock. "And holy shit, he's smiling! NICELY!" Seifer on the dance floor grinned as he twirled Khain, the girl scowled. Once the song ended, she yanked her hand from his and walked off the dance floor.
'Dammit, they just don't get it.' Khain thought angrily. 'I want so much to be able to have fun, and be like everyone else . . . but I just can't. I can't.'
~ Flashback ~
"Karou, watch yourself."
"Aw you worry too much!"
"Karou I'm serious. It's dangerous in this cave."
"What? Just some big bats, those weird spinning things and whatever. We can take them!"
"Karou!"
"Chill out 'kay?"
"Watch your step! This is molten lava, it can kill you with it's heat alone!"
"I said chill out! Jeez, it's not like- wha-? WHAT THE???"
"Karou! Get back now!"
"Holy shit that's one big GF!"
"Karou!"
"Relax, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Bring it on Ifrit!"
"Karou!!"
"I said I can *grunt* Handle it! Relax."
*Pitiful mortal.*
"Wha-? HEY! LET GO OF ME!"
"KAROU!"
*You will die here mortal.*
"HELP!"
"KAROU NO!"
~ End ~
"KHAIN!" Khain snapped out of it.
"What?!" She called out. Seifer raised an eyebrow.
"Try not to zone out when you're walking, you tend to walk into walls that way." He said smirking. Khain shook her head one last time.
"Er. . . I'll try to remember that." She mumbled. Then attempted to walk out of the dance area. Didn't work, stopped by another male, this time John, he asked her for a dance, smiling happily. Khain scowled and was about to refuse, when her voice spoke from the back of her mind.
'Accept it.'
'What?! Why?!'
'Because I told you to, trust me, if you don't, there will be dire consequences.' Khain frowned for a moment, then sighed and glared at John.
"One dance, then you get off my back." John grinned like a kid in a candy store and grabbed her wrist, he then proceeded to yank her off to the dance floor.
~~~
Half an hour and a violation of the 'one dance' rule 6 times later, Khain finally got off the dance floor growling angrily. She was almost out the door, when her voice kicked in again.
'Stop.'
'NOW WHAT??'
'Turn around and go to Squall.'
'What's with the delays?!'
'Trust me.'
'Trust you?! The hell I will!'
'NOW!' And suddenly the screeching pain in her mind returned again, she winced.
"Okay, okay." She growled. She spun around and walked up to Squall and friends, who were in midst of having an arm wrestling match. Mat was against Akemi.
"Getting tired I bet. Give it up!" Mat grunted. Akemi smirked calmly.
"Tired? I haven't even broken a sweat little boy." He taunted. Mat swore defiantly. Akemi laughed, then started using his full effort, Mat was down in seconds.
"Hah, weakling." Akemi teased. "Anyone else who want's to lose?" He spotted Khain. "I'll take you on! Oh SeeD of mystical power." He declared playfully.
'So?'
'What?' The voice replied.
'Do I accept or not?' She asked sarcastically.
'I suppose, in fact, why don't you let me out, I'm eager to burn off some of my excess energy.' The voice declared, Khain obeyed grudgingly, her eyes turned full silver and her red hair flecked a bit with the same color. Khain sat down. Then set herself up.
"300gil." Kay, using Khain's voice, declared.
"Huh?" Akemi asked in surprise.
"I wager 300gil that I'll win. Wouldn't want to go higher, might put you into the poor house." Kay taunted. Akemi scowled.
"Fine! 700gil!"
"Why not 1000gil?"
"Done!" Akemi declared angrily and locked his hand with hers. Kay smirked.
'All too easy.'
'Oh boy. . .' Khain thought dully.
"3! 2! 1!" Selphie cried out happily. It began, Akemi began pushing down using all his force against his newest team leader. Kay's hand went down ever so slowly.
"Ha! You're going to owe me 1000gil!" Kay was silent, then she grinned evilly.
"Think so? Maybe I should try now." Kay declared, her hand one inch away from the table, it suddenly stopped, and suddenly Akemi was being pushed back.
"What the?!" He cried out shocked. His hand was against the desk side in seconds. Akemi scowled.
"REMATCH!"
"Okay then." They tried again, Kay won again. The third result was the same.
"DAMMIT!" Akemi yelled out frustrated. Kay laughed.
"It's okay, keep your money. It was just a joke Akemi." She declared, and still chuckling, stood up, letting Khain back in control.
"I'll head back to my room now." Khain suddenly announced, and started to walk off, that is, before an explosion rocked the floor, Khain grabbed Mat's shirt as he pitched forward.
"WHAT THE??" He screamed. Khain, face white, ran for the dormitories, she didn't know why, it was just a feeling, and when she got there, she nearly fainted. Her new room, was in flames. Quickly regaining composure, she launched a water attack at it, flushing out the flames. Zell and Squall appeared next to her.
"Booby trapped." Khain declared as she went through the ashen remains, holding up what looked like a cracked crystal globe, it's sides scorched. "Set to explode 10 minutes after 1 am. Probably on the assumption I'd be in the room." Khain informed the others, she tried keeping her voice straight, but it quivered a bit, not from anger or fear, but a little of both.
'I told you. . .' Kay whispered smugly, then her presence vanished. Khain scowled.
"My guess is someone out there isn't too happy with what I did in Trabia, or they don't like my new position. Either way, it seems I'm now a target." She said softly. Squall nodded. He turned to Selphie and his group.
"Selphie, Irvine, Seifer and Rinoa. Fan out, I want you to wake every student here and take them to the Quad, Quistis, you head to the training center and get those in the secret area. Zell, you are to keep a watch on Khain here, Mat, Yumae, John and Lyski, you come with me and we'll do a sweep of the area. Akemi, and Coroura, I want you to first go to the top floor and inform Nida there that he is in charge of protecting the bridge and to keep the speakers on at all times in case something happens, Akemi will stay with Nida. Coroura will go down to floor B1 and search the area. Khain, and Zell since you're watching her, I want you two to go with him. You know what's down there Zell." Zell nodded.
"The remains of NORG." Zell replied softly, Khain raised an eyebrow.
"I'll ask later." Khain murmured, saluted, then walked off. Coroura and Zell in tow.
'Someone's after me, they want to kill me, now is it for SeeD reasons? Or is it for my personal past?' Khain wondered.
Disclaimer: I own Sutta, Hiro, Khain, Mat, Akemi, Yumae, Inaba, and basically all the people who took the test. Squall, Zell, Quistis and others all belong to Squaresoft and whatever.