Chapter Eight

Rinoa sat in Quistis' dorm room sofa as she looked through a large photo-book sitting on her lap. As she flipped through the thick pages of various photos, she felt as if she was seeing into a person whom many hadn't had to opportunity or desire to know. She saw pictures of her when she was a small girl living with Matron and Cid, and she saw pictures of her growing up before her eyes. She looked very happy, and the she seemed to smile even more when Matron was holding her, or she was playing with Ellone or the other children.
As she watched her become older through the photos, there seemed to be a large gap between when Quistis was a young girl, and when she began her schooling at the Garden. Unlike when she had seen her as a child and happy, Quistis had somehow changed to be very serious and driven. She had then finally reached when Quistis had graduated and become a SeeD and an instructor. There was a sparkle that showed even through the plastic of the picture, and Rinoa grinned as she thought of how Quistis loved and felt pride for her title of SeeD.
As she flipped the photos, Rinoa felt a great urge to own a few pictures in her possession of her old friends at Timber. She had promised her return, but had fallen behind on that promise after she had stayed at the Garden after the end of the war. She missed them, and she felt a sense of guilt in her for forgetting her fight for Timber's freedom.
As Rinoa sat on the sofa with the book opened on her lap, the dorm's door knocked, rapidly and loudly.
"Miss Rinoa!" a child's voice yelled loudly as the knocking continued. Rinoa, lifting the book from her legs to place them on the coffee-table, rushed to the door and swung it open to see Damien, panting and worried, standing in the doorway.
"Damien, what-?"
"It's Lady Trepe! She and Commander Leonhart have begun battling in the Training Center!" he yelled, worried, between his heavy breathes.
Rinoa stood, shocked, in the doorway completely speechless as she heard this. She closed the door behind her as she took his hand and began running down the hallway towards the elevator.

"AAH!" Quistis shouted loudly as she landed on the grassy floor, blood rolling down the side of her face from underneath her hair. Her arm was extended, holding onto the handle of her chain-whip, which was tightly wrapped around the sharp blade of Squall's gunblade. He held tightly onto the handle of his sword in attempt to not lose it to Quistis' powerful pull against the steel.
Both fighters' muscles trembled tiredly as sweat dripped off from their skin as the class stood, in awe and amazement, at the sight in front of their eyes.
"Tell me where she is!" Squall shouted angrily as he dashed forward, releasing the tension held up by Quistis' chain. As Squall pulled his tightened fist back, Quistis jumped into the air to avoid Squall's crushing punch. She twisted in the air to land behind him as she grabbed onto her chain and tug it back to her, releasing it from his sword.
Squall turned around and extended his arm, "FIRAGA!" A fiery blast of fire erupted from Squall's extended hand to engulf Quistis' in a cloud of fire and heat.
"Lady Trepe!" A student called out as Quistis fell backwards from the cloud of flames to land heavily on her back, bleeding from her arms and legs.
Rinoa ran into the Training Center with Damien running closely behind her and witnessed Squall running, sword high in the air, towards the fallen Quistis on the grassy floor.
"No! Stop it!" She yelled as she tried to run towards them. Damien, however, took hold of her hand and stopped her from interfering.
"Miss Rinoa, you'll get hurt! Please don't!"
Quistis looked up to see Squall about to swing down his sword upon her, when she lifted her feet into the air, caught him in the chest, and pushed him high into the air and sent him flipping back behind her onto the ground. Leaving her whip on the ground, she arose from the ground, turned around, and lifted her fists in front of her face.
"Get up..." She whispered angrily as Squall slowly raised himself off from the ground and turned to look at her.
"You've gotten stronger, Quistis…" he mumbled as he dropped his sword, realizing that the fight was now purely fists and strength.
"Shut up," she snapped as she dashed towards him, pulling her tightened fist back behind her. He ducked to the side, avoiding her punch, and lifted his knee into the air to knee her in the gut. She, however, ignoring the pain, turned upwards to swung her elbow up and jack Squall in his chin to throw his head back. At this, Quistis spun around and used her other elbow to jab him powerfully in the gut.
"Ah!" he groaned as he crouched forward, blood dripping from his lips. He fell forward onto his knees, but quickly re-gained his composure and placed both hands on the ground to extend his leg and kick Quistis' knees, causing her to fall backwards onto the back of her head.
Rinoa watched in horror as she covered Damien's eyes. The battle went on, punch after punch, kick after kick. It was so fast that some felt it hard to follow the fight or believe the strength that both fighter's possessed. They had given up on their weapons; this wasn't a fight about skills anymore. This had become a fight for pride, a fight for honor. They were now battling for something more important than showmanship. Quistis' students couldn't believe the sight, they hadn't any clue just how strong Quistis was, and they soon found a new and fresh respect for her.
Quistis leaned on her right leg to kick high into the air at Squall's head with her left foot. He, however, caught the kick and grinned at his seemingly clever block. Quistis snarled as she kicked herself up into the air, twisted her right leg around above her left leg, to crack Squall in the face. He released her foot and staggered a moment as Quistis fell on the ground, but soon stood again, exhausted, bloody, and sweaty.
Quistis stood up, straight and tall and placed both hands in front of her, "THUNDER STORM!"
Squall, regaining his composure, turned and placed both his hands in front of him, "HELL FIRE!"
An eruption of light and power exploded inside of Training Center. The light, so powerful and bright, blinded all who watched the battle. The students, Rinoa, and Damien, covered their eyes from the bright, blinding light and were deafened by the enormously loud thundering roar of the clashing power. The ground began to shake and tremble from the powerful explosion, and some kneeled or crouched on the ground to save themselves from losing balance.
When the light faded and silence overtook the roar, all looked to see the results and who was left standing. As the light faded, two figures were still seen standing, barely. Both Quistis and Squall stood hunching over, bloody and bruised, and ready to fall over.
Squall looked down at his feet to notice his sword sitting on the ground. As he breathed heavily and gasped for air, Squall crouched down and took the handle of his sword weakly in his hands.
Quistis watched this as blood rolled down her arms, chest, and sides of her face to drip from her sweaty chin. With the last of her strength, she closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists and teeth. A bright light began to illuminate from the bottom of her feet, surrounding and engulfing her until she slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes now glowed a dull and fog-like blue that seemed to spill out from her eyes like fog in the breeze.
Quistis took a deep breath and straightened her back before quietly uttering, "Laser Eye..." As she said this, her eyes opened widely to allow two beams of light to explode out from her eyes and shoot straight through Squall's head, knocking him back into the air, eyes open, and fall, unconscious, on the torn ground.

The entire room stood silent and unmoving. The light which engulfed Quistis faded away to leave her wobbling and staggering. She stared, in a daze, at Squall who lay, unmoving, on the ground a few yards away.
As Quistis turned to see her class staring unbelievingly at her, she looked up to see Rinoa and Damien in the entrance, worried and amazed. She struggled to stand, and was left to wobble and stagger to stay standing. She had, finally, lost herself and closed her eyes and lost all strength in her legs and body to collapse, limp, onto the ground.
The last thing Quistis could hear before completely passing out or what she thought might be possibly dying, was Rinoa's voice calling out her name.