Chapter Seven

Rinoa awoke the next morning, miserable, with her eyes sore and achy from crying most of the night before. She looked around for a few moments, delirious of her current location, and looked up at the white ceiling. For a moment, she thought she believed she was back in her own dorm with Squall sleeping beside her after eating such a big dinner. But as she looked beside her, she found herself alone.
She slowly closed her eyes as the reality of what happened, or what didn't happen, hit her like a brick wall. She sighed deeply and sat up from the bed in which she found herself laying in and swung the sheets from her bare legs and slid out of bed (she found herself wearing a pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top, which both weren't hers). She crossed her arms tightly in front of her chest and stumbled sleepily through the bedroom door and into the living room where she saw a note laying on the dining room table. As she walked tiredly across the floor, she smelled the slight aroma of eggs and pancakes. She, however, ignored the smell and read the note saying:

'Good morning! I hope you slept well last night after what happened. My dorm is open to you whenever you need somewhere to go, and you can stay as long as you like. I'm sorry that I can't be there for when you wake up, but I have a battle exam that I need to attend in the Training Center this morning. But to make up for it, I made you some breakfast! It's in the oven on low heat to keep it warm, enjoy! If you need me, I'll be in the Training Center.
-Quistis
Ps: orange juice is in the fridge'

Rinoa smiled as she read the note and placed it back onto the table and turned around towards the kitchen. As she walked over to the oven, she thought of how after all that Quistis had done to help her after Squall had forgotten about her, she had no reason to feel guilty about leaving in the morning. She had been there for her all night and slept on the sofa while she had slept in her bed.
As Rinoa opened the oven and pulled out the warm plate of eggs and pancakes, she somehow felt a sense of release. She somehow felt less horrible about what had happened the night before. She smiled as she placed the food down upon the dining room table to begin eating her well-made breakfast with a small glass of orange juice.

Inside the Training Center, Quistis stood, back erect in her orange vest and skirt, sternly in front of her eldest students who had lined up at attention facing her. She turned to the right and began walking slowly parallel to the front line of her stone-like students with her hands behind her back.
"This is the second-last battle exam that you as a class shall experience before your final exam!" She barked loudly as she paused, did a slow about-face and began walking in the other direction to observe her entire class, "This is NOT a game! Before you have arrived this morning, I have personally set the TCS (Training Center System) to provide us with a number of much stronger battle monsters in which you experience on a normal basis here in this facility!"
A few students groaned from hearing this and began to dread the soon- to-be burden that they would have to deal with in the exam.
"You shall be graded on precision, awareness of your surroundings, tactics, and strategy during battle!" Quistis barked louder as she heard the groans of her class. As she looked to her side, she noticed Squall standing beside a tree, arms crossed, and staring dead on her. A sense of frustration swarmed inside of her as she looked at him, but ignored him and turned to continue to instruct her class.
Squall leaned off from his tree without warning, "Instructor Trepe, may I have a word with you?"
Quistis didn't bothering to turn her head to acknowledge him, "I am sorry, Commander Leonhart, I am currently preoccupied with my current task at hand," she responded snidely. She turned her head slightly to look at him, "Perhaps another time would be more convenient."
Squall sighed and lowered his head before walking up to Quistis' side to take hold of her arm and pull her aside. The students turned and looked at each other, confused at the current conflict that was unfolding.
"Where is Rinoa?" Squall whispered to her, still holding onto her arm. Quistis yanked her arm free from his grip and snarled.
"How should I know?"
Squall frowned at Quistis and stood up straight, "I know that you two have been getting closer lately. And after what happened last night, I figured she would go to you-"
Quistis stared coldly into Squall's eyes, "What could have happened to make her come to me in the first place?" After a long pause of silence and stare-downs, Quistis broke her cold eyes from their lock, turned away, and walked away to leave him standing in the corner.
A student raised his hand, "Lady Trepe, will you be fighting beside us?" he asked curiously.
"No, Marcus, I will accompany you and your class during your class and only intervene when I am needed in an emergency," She answered as she crossed her arms in front of her.
"I wonder how strong she really is..." a student whispered rudely to the student beside him with a cruel grin.
Quistis stared forward, "Stronger than you could ever become if you don't follow my instruction, Alan," she snapped.
"How strong are you, Quistis?" Squall asked as he stepped closer to Quistis. Quistis took a deep breath and didn't bother looking back at him.
"How, sir, does that have anything to do with-"
"These students need to witness what a real battle looks like. Not these pampered controlled battles," Squall said as he pulled his gunblade out from his sheath.
"Oh wow! Witnessing Commander Leonhart in battle!" A student exclaimed excitedly.
Quistis turned and looked over aw Squall and whispered, "I am not playing this game with you."
Squall placed his two feet firmly on the grassy floor and held tightly onto the hilt of his gunblade. "Quistis, if you just tell me where Rinoa is, this doesn't have to happen…" he whispered emotionally, his eyes beginning to moisten. "You don't know the whole story; I didn't mean to forget about last night. I didn't mean to hurt her..."
Quistis paused and glared darkly at Squall. All the things that she had been holding inside of her were now revealing themselves. All the countless hours she spent training, the wounds that she had suffered and pained over, all to be able to be on a same level as her former student. He had become stronger and better than his instructor and had everything that she couldn't ever achieve. While he had become a great leader, a powerful commander, she was simply only an instructor and nothing more. And now, Rinoa was suffering because of him also. He had forgotten about her, the one person who loved him the most, he forgot about completely. Quistis remembered finding Rinoa weeping on the balcony, alone, and feeling as if she had done something wrong. But now, she had the ability to fight back.
Quistis, without saying a word, reached behind her back and grabbed her wrapped-up chain whip and unhooked it from her belt. She took a step forward and unraveled the whip and pulled her arm high into the air and angrily slashed it down to lash out against the awaiting Squall with the roaring cheers of her class echoing throughout the Training Center.