Disclaimer – All characters/events in Final Fantasy are, contrary to
popular belief, not real and belong to Square.
- What the hell did I just do? – Timshel thought. – How did I win? –
Timshel ran over these thoughts as he ran back to his dorm. He was still considerably shaken by his triumph over Rinoa. He heard quick footsteps behind him, and he whirled around nervously. Lirian and a few other cadets were right behind him, with faces of disbelief. Lirian was the first to pipe up.
"Dude." As concise as the statement was, it summed up the attitudes of the three onlookers. "What happened out there?" Lirian asked.
"I couldn't tell you," Timshel replied, "I just don't know."
"You're a mess."
"Did you expect me to be all sunshine and butterflies? I scared the hell out of myself."
"Well, you do tend to scare me on occasion, so welcome to my world," Lirian said, in his usual jovial tone. Timshel gave a weak smile. "You alright, buddy?"
"Not really," Timshel said, his voice still shaky, "I need some time. What happened out there's never happened to me before. I'm kinda scared." Lirian smiled.
"Figures that you'd be the one to be all bummed out after something like this." Lirian grinned. "I made 300 gil off you."
"Thanks for the support."
"No prob." Lirian patted his friend's back. Timshel turned back around and headed off to his dorm
------------------------
"That's quite a cadet you've been training," Rinoa said.
"Apparently there's something in him I haven't seen," Instructor Langston stated, gathering up the day's weapons.
"What do you mean?" the Headmistress replied, tilting her head with curiosity.
"Timshel's always been a..." the instructor paused, "well... a slacker student. He's scored low in most of his courses, save Combat History, which is a blow-off subject anyway-"
"I hate to think I'm running a school that has 'blow-off' courses," Rinoa said with a grin. The instructor immediately started to backpedal. "Well, blow-off doesn't mean what it used to... uh..." The instructor blushed. Rinoa gave a melodic laugh.
"Don't worry about it. As you said, it doesn't mean the same thing anymore," Rinoa said with a wink. Langston smiled.
"Glad we could find some common ground," Langston agreed. Rinoa prepared to make a witty reply, but an interrupting aide flew in through the door. Langston was startled as the aide greeted Rinoa in a rather loud fashion. The quarterstaffs flew from the instructor's hands and he jumped back. The aide blushed and bashfully offered to assist the instructor. Langston shook his head.
"I was going to get around to it myself," Langston said with a smile. Tension lifted from the aide's features for a moment, then the emotion returned as he turned to face Rinoa.
"Your Headmistress-ness!" The aide saluted. Rinoa raised an eyebrow.
"First day at this post?" Rinoa asked. The aide reluctantly nodded his head. "Just call me Rinoa; I hate all the formality I get sometimes." Standing corrected, the aide began.
"Your Headm- I mean, Rinoa, Navigation found something a while ago that I think you should see."
"What sort of thing?"
"Beats me. Nida told me to get you, though." Rinoa rubbed her chin.
"Excellent work, Aide. I'll be up to see Nida in a few moments." She saluted the young man in front of her. In response, the aide nervously bowed, then ran off to complete his usual lackey duties. Rinoa nodded to the instructor in front of her, and he smiled back, still collecting the day's tools. The woman then left for the navigation deck.
---------------------------
Bright sunlight poured in through the opening elevator doors as Rinoa stepped onto the Garden's deck. She could see Nida fussing over a rather large plastic box to the left of the control platform. A trainee was at the helm, running over scores of holographic gauges and readouts surrounding the main control fin. Nida heard the elevator bell ring, and he looked up at Rinoa.
"Get my message?"
"Sure did. Your new aide's doing a fine job." Nida rolled his eyes. He never liked to have someone following him around. The navigator hated the limelight, and having an aide that worshipped his every step was the antithesis of this life philosophy. "Don't be too hard on the kid." Rinoa smiled. The pilot shrugged. "So... what do we have here?" Rinoa raised her eyebrows with interest as she walked over to the crate. "Well, frankly, I have no idea." Nida said, scratching his head. "Someone on the lower levels picked it up and brought it here. It's heavy as all hell." Rinoa tried her hand at one of the grips on the side of the box, and she could only lift it a few inches. She exhaled heavily as she placed the box back down.
"Let's see if all that Garden training paid off;" Rinoa said, "did we think about opening it?" Nida sighed and gave the woman a blank stare.
"Yes, we tried." Nida rolled his eyes. "The thing's locked up from the inside. There's no keyhole or controls on the outside. So, other than using harsh language, we have no way of getting in." Rinoa smirked.
"Can we cut it open?"
"Tried. Sent two SeeDs to the infirmary when the chainsaw exploded while cutting."
"Blow it open?"
"And destroy whatever's inside? That's kinda counter-productive."
"And harsh language still doesn't cut it?" Rinoa laughed. The man groaned. "Sheesh. Someone's a little stressed."
"Stressed? I've only been up here for an hour staring at a box that won't open," Nida said sarcastically. "Hell, the goddamn thing probably can't open!" The navigator kicked the box. As the kick connected, the box lid popped open, with a small amount of gas escaping as the seal broke. Nida's eyes lit up. "Guess it just needed a little love." Nida opened the interior compartment of the box. Almost immediately after he unlatched the second door, he slammed it and stepped back.
"What is it?" Rinoa queried.
"Oh... nothing big. Just a girl." Nida said incredulously.
"What?"
"There's a girl in that box." Rinoa gasped and flung the second door open. Lo and behold, a teenage girl was curled up in the box. She had brilliant red hair, the likes of which Rinoa had never seen. The girl was wearing what appeared to be a wetsuit-like garment, and she had deep green eyes. Upon further exploration, the Headmistress found a small control panel that was alive with light. All of a sudden, the panel went dark, and the mechanical hum that had been emanating from the crate ended. Rinoa put her ear to the girl's chest and heard a weak pulse.
"She's still alive... barely. Get her to the infirmary, now!" Rinoa commanded. The navigator jumped to his feet and recruited some nearby staff members to help him move the girl off the deck. Rinoa rushed to the intercom and paged Dr. Kadowaki. The floor clicked with the sound of hurried boots as the navigator and his crew rushed into the elevator.
-END NOTE- Short chapter. Meh. I was happy with it. Expect another update sometime. Also, I'm going to apologize for the noticeable (to me, at least) tone change in the last two chapters. Guess it's what I get for putting this off for a few months. Getting back into the swing, though. Also, my apologies go out to those of you who have seen the previous three versions of this chapter, without proper scene breaks
- What the hell did I just do? – Timshel thought. – How did I win? –
Timshel ran over these thoughts as he ran back to his dorm. He was still considerably shaken by his triumph over Rinoa. He heard quick footsteps behind him, and he whirled around nervously. Lirian and a few other cadets were right behind him, with faces of disbelief. Lirian was the first to pipe up.
"Dude." As concise as the statement was, it summed up the attitudes of the three onlookers. "What happened out there?" Lirian asked.
"I couldn't tell you," Timshel replied, "I just don't know."
"You're a mess."
"Did you expect me to be all sunshine and butterflies? I scared the hell out of myself."
"Well, you do tend to scare me on occasion, so welcome to my world," Lirian said, in his usual jovial tone. Timshel gave a weak smile. "You alright, buddy?"
"Not really," Timshel said, his voice still shaky, "I need some time. What happened out there's never happened to me before. I'm kinda scared." Lirian smiled.
"Figures that you'd be the one to be all bummed out after something like this." Lirian grinned. "I made 300 gil off you."
"Thanks for the support."
"No prob." Lirian patted his friend's back. Timshel turned back around and headed off to his dorm
------------------------
"That's quite a cadet you've been training," Rinoa said.
"Apparently there's something in him I haven't seen," Instructor Langston stated, gathering up the day's weapons.
"What do you mean?" the Headmistress replied, tilting her head with curiosity.
"Timshel's always been a..." the instructor paused, "well... a slacker student. He's scored low in most of his courses, save Combat History, which is a blow-off subject anyway-"
"I hate to think I'm running a school that has 'blow-off' courses," Rinoa said with a grin. The instructor immediately started to backpedal. "Well, blow-off doesn't mean what it used to... uh..." The instructor blushed. Rinoa gave a melodic laugh.
"Don't worry about it. As you said, it doesn't mean the same thing anymore," Rinoa said with a wink. Langston smiled.
"Glad we could find some common ground," Langston agreed. Rinoa prepared to make a witty reply, but an interrupting aide flew in through the door. Langston was startled as the aide greeted Rinoa in a rather loud fashion. The quarterstaffs flew from the instructor's hands and he jumped back. The aide blushed and bashfully offered to assist the instructor. Langston shook his head.
"I was going to get around to it myself," Langston said with a smile. Tension lifted from the aide's features for a moment, then the emotion returned as he turned to face Rinoa.
"Your Headmistress-ness!" The aide saluted. Rinoa raised an eyebrow.
"First day at this post?" Rinoa asked. The aide reluctantly nodded his head. "Just call me Rinoa; I hate all the formality I get sometimes." Standing corrected, the aide began.
"Your Headm- I mean, Rinoa, Navigation found something a while ago that I think you should see."
"What sort of thing?"
"Beats me. Nida told me to get you, though." Rinoa rubbed her chin.
"Excellent work, Aide. I'll be up to see Nida in a few moments." She saluted the young man in front of her. In response, the aide nervously bowed, then ran off to complete his usual lackey duties. Rinoa nodded to the instructor in front of her, and he smiled back, still collecting the day's tools. The woman then left for the navigation deck.
---------------------------
Bright sunlight poured in through the opening elevator doors as Rinoa stepped onto the Garden's deck. She could see Nida fussing over a rather large plastic box to the left of the control platform. A trainee was at the helm, running over scores of holographic gauges and readouts surrounding the main control fin. Nida heard the elevator bell ring, and he looked up at Rinoa.
"Get my message?"
"Sure did. Your new aide's doing a fine job." Nida rolled his eyes. He never liked to have someone following him around. The navigator hated the limelight, and having an aide that worshipped his every step was the antithesis of this life philosophy. "Don't be too hard on the kid." Rinoa smiled. The pilot shrugged. "So... what do we have here?" Rinoa raised her eyebrows with interest as she walked over to the crate. "Well, frankly, I have no idea." Nida said, scratching his head. "Someone on the lower levels picked it up and brought it here. It's heavy as all hell." Rinoa tried her hand at one of the grips on the side of the box, and she could only lift it a few inches. She exhaled heavily as she placed the box back down.
"Let's see if all that Garden training paid off;" Rinoa said, "did we think about opening it?" Nida sighed and gave the woman a blank stare.
"Yes, we tried." Nida rolled his eyes. "The thing's locked up from the inside. There's no keyhole or controls on the outside. So, other than using harsh language, we have no way of getting in." Rinoa smirked.
"Can we cut it open?"
"Tried. Sent two SeeDs to the infirmary when the chainsaw exploded while cutting."
"Blow it open?"
"And destroy whatever's inside? That's kinda counter-productive."
"And harsh language still doesn't cut it?" Rinoa laughed. The man groaned. "Sheesh. Someone's a little stressed."
"Stressed? I've only been up here for an hour staring at a box that won't open," Nida said sarcastically. "Hell, the goddamn thing probably can't open!" The navigator kicked the box. As the kick connected, the box lid popped open, with a small amount of gas escaping as the seal broke. Nida's eyes lit up. "Guess it just needed a little love." Nida opened the interior compartment of the box. Almost immediately after he unlatched the second door, he slammed it and stepped back.
"What is it?" Rinoa queried.
"Oh... nothing big. Just a girl." Nida said incredulously.
"What?"
"There's a girl in that box." Rinoa gasped and flung the second door open. Lo and behold, a teenage girl was curled up in the box. She had brilliant red hair, the likes of which Rinoa had never seen. The girl was wearing what appeared to be a wetsuit-like garment, and she had deep green eyes. Upon further exploration, the Headmistress found a small control panel that was alive with light. All of a sudden, the panel went dark, and the mechanical hum that had been emanating from the crate ended. Rinoa put her ear to the girl's chest and heard a weak pulse.
"She's still alive... barely. Get her to the infirmary, now!" Rinoa commanded. The navigator jumped to his feet and recruited some nearby staff members to help him move the girl off the deck. Rinoa rushed to the intercom and paged Dr. Kadowaki. The floor clicked with the sound of hurried boots as the navigator and his crew rushed into the elevator.
-END NOTE- Short chapter. Meh. I was happy with it. Expect another update sometime. Also, I'm going to apologize for the noticeable (to me, at least) tone change in the last two chapters. Guess it's what I get for putting this off for a few months. Getting back into the swing, though. Also, my apologies go out to those of you who have seen the previous three versions of this chapter, without proper scene breaks