Chapter 13

Galbadia Garden;

Annoucement of a rival's end.


About a mile outside of the forest was Galbadia Garden. Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, and Rinoa could see the large, red structure from a long distance.

"We're almost there..." Zell thought. "Oh man... I hope they've recived news about Balamb Garden..."

Galbadia Garden held close ties with the Galbadian Military. Information was exchanged, and relations were kept peaceful, if a bit unsteady. Garden's were politically nuetral, though they resided within the territory of their respective coutries. But Galbadia Garden would be most likely to have information regarding Galbadia's actions, if any, agaisnt Balamb Garden.

Galbadia Garden was an impressive, and somewhat shocking sight to the group of Balamb SeeDs. Built in ther middle of a dry land, and surronded by canyon walls, Galbadia Garden's bright red frame shone clearly in the afternoon sun. It was slightly larger than its predececor, Balamb Garden, and, though modernized arcitecture was emphasized in the structure, it was shaped like an ancient collosium.

As they entered the academy grouds, several single-man hover suits flew high above them. Two of the hover-crafts landed on the main walk. The loud engines hummed slowly and eventually died down.

Several of the students looked at Squall's group oddly. All of the students were wearing their cadet or SeeD uniforms, but Squall and the others were wearing their casual attire.

"Which academy are you from? You sure don't look like students from Galbadia Garden." one student approached the group.

"We're from Balamb." Quistis explained.

Galbadia garden's rules were slightly different then Balamb's. Galbadian students were required to wear their cadet or SeeD uniforms at all times. Few student's had a class schedule that allowed for free time mid-day, So there were far less students gathered in the hall. Most were in classes all day long.

They entered Gardens first entrance and saw several student's walking around slowly. Squall heard a few of them talking quietly.

"I heard the sorceress is residing in the capital..."

"...Appointed as a 'peace' ammbasador..."

"They probably knew about this situation before that broadcast..." Squall thought as he and the others walked along.

They finally made it too the Garden's main gate. Upon reaching the it, Selphie looked around.

"Wow... completly different..." she said, not sure if she liked it or not.

"Sure is quiet." Zell observed.

"It's nice." Squall thought.

"...I like it." he said.

Rinoa giggled a little at this. She didn't mean to laugh at Squall, but she was just thinking how much he would probably enjoy something like this. A quiet, rule-enforced atmosphere. His response to Zell's comment was exactly what she had expected.

"What's she laughing at...?" Squall wondered.

Quistis approached Squall. She knew he was, technically, the leader in this situation, but she had more expirience with Galbadia Garden's Headmaster.

"Could you leave this one up to me? she said. "I've been here several times, and I know the Headmaster pretty well."

Squall simply nodded. He knew that it would be much more appropriate for her to address the Headmaster, than it would be for him to. Quistis had been a SeeD longer, and on top of that, she had met the Headmaster previously.

Quistis nodded back and walked through the gate.

"I'll go and explain our situation." she said. She walked off to speak with Headmaster Martine.

Selphie, who hadn't been paying much attention, was still gawking at the strange looks and feeling of this Garden.

"It's totally different than Trabia or Balamb Garden..." she said.

Squall entered the front gate to have a look around. Selphie was right. It was very different from Balamb garden. Most of the students in the hall were either studying or being trained by an instructor.

Everyone else was in class.

The group walked past and saw several students in the hall doing push-ups.

"And I thought Balamb Garden was strict..." Zell thought. Zell loved Garden, but it was a struggle at times for him to remain that disiplined. He couldn't imagine what it would be like here.

"I wish Balamb Garden was this strict..." Squall thought.

After they had explored the Grounds for a few minutes, a voice came in from the P.A. system.

"Attention; SeeD party from Balamb. Please wait in the 2nd floor reception room."

"That was quick..." Rinoa thought. "They must be really efficient..."

Rinoa had never been to a Garden. Though she gathered from Selphie's comments that the other academys were somewhat different than this one, the stern, strict atmosphere made her feel uneasy and out of place. Everything seemed so rigid and restrictive.

Squall led them further into the Garden until he stopped an instructor to ask him where the reception room was.

"The reception room in the first room up those stairs."

He pointed up the hallway.

Squall led everyone up the stairs and saw the door to the reception room. A guard was standing at attention next to it.

"This is the reception room. Please wait until you hear from the master." The guard said to them.

The doors opened with a loud swoosh. Squall, Zell, Selphie and Rinoa entered a large room, with two couches and a glass coffe table sitting in the middle. Selphie went over to the window. It overlooked the inner parts of the Garden.

"I wonder if they have a Garden festival here too..." Selphie said aloud.

Squall sat down on one of the couches, and Rinoa tried to innitiate some conversation.

"So Quistis attended classes here?" she asked.

Squall didn't pay attention to her. He put his hand to his forehead, thinking.

"I wonder what the Headmaster will say... We seem to be in a pretty tough situation here..."

With what had just happened in Timber, there was a very good chance of Garden taking full blame for the assault. Squall, Zell, and Selphie might have been held esspecially responsible, along with Seifer.

"Why is he ignoring me...? Oh. He's thinking..." Rinoa realized, still feeling nervous about being in the Garden.

Zell, sitting across from Squall, was tapping his feet nervously.

"How long are they gonna make us wait...?" he wondered.

Just then, the doors to the reception room swooshed open, and Quistis entered the room.

Squall walked up to her.

"How'd it go?"

"They understand our situation." Quistis replied. Then she walked over to Zell, smileing. She lowered her face down to meet his.

"And Balamb Garden is safe."

Zell stood up in surprise.

"Yeah, baby..." he thought happily.

Quistis turned her attention to everyone now.

"The attack on the president in Timber was classified as an independent action." she annonced. "There was an official notice from the Galbadian government saying that Balmb Garden is not being held responsible."

Zell breathed a sigh of relife. This was the news he had been waiting for.

"Well, that means that we're off the hook then..." Squall thought. "What about Seifer, though...?"

"So, Seifer's taking all the blame?" Zell asked.

Quistis expression changed from one of relife to one of uneasiness.

"The trial's over, and the sentence had been carried out..." Quistis replied, a little too hastely.

"What?!" Zell thought. He looked at her strangly. "She didn't just say that Seifer was...!!? ...Did she...?"

Everyone else turned to stare at her, too. They were shocked.

Rinoa's eyes widened in surprise.

"Seifer? ...Dead!!?"

"...He was executed?" she said, squatting down to the floor.

She lowered her head, thinking.

"...Of course he was. He attacked the president." she realized, sadly. "He sacraficed himself for the 'Forest Owls'..."

Quistis walked over to Rinoa.

"It was your group that got Seifer involved in all this." Quistis began.

Rinoa turned away. She felt like crying.

"You're a resitance faction, right? You must have been prepared for the worst."

"No... " Rinoa thought. "Not like this..."

"I'm sure Seifer was prepared, too." Quistis tried to make her feel better. "So, don't think of it as Seifer sacraficing himself for you."

Quistis was trying to be consoling, but the news had shocked her, too. She couldn't express her feelings correctly, and seemed like she was lecturing. She quickly realized how her words must've sounded.

"I'm sorry. I guess that wasn't much consolation." Quistis said, sitting down. She shook her head, ashamed at herself for saying such insensitaive-sounding things.

"Nice going, Quistis... You've probably just made her feel worse..." she thought.

A long silence pervaded the room. No one knew what to say.

Even Squall, who had been the first to realize that Seifer may be executed, wasn't truly prepared for this news. Despite his matter-of-fact attitude about the result of Seifer's actions, he had never really expected Seifer to die. He never took the idea as seriously as it had sounded. None of them had, esspecially not Rinoa. But now it had happened. No 'ifs' or 'maybes' involved. Seifer was dead.

More silence. Everyone's thoughts turned to Seifer.

"You really hated Seifer, didn't you, Zell?" Selphie's obnoxious voice came in. She didn't know exactaly what to say, but she couldn't stand the uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah, but..." Zell began. He couldn't help but feel bad now. "He was from Garden... He was one of us." Zell lowered his head, and shook his fists.

"If I can, I wanna get revenge."

Selphie didn't know Seifer all that well, she had only just met him the other day.

"Kinda sad..." her voice trailed off. She didn't know quite how to feel either.

"I didn't like the guy, but executed...?" Zell continued. "...That...bastard..."

Quistis remembered everything she had gone through with Seifer. None of it was a pleasent expirience.

"I don't have any good memories of him." she started. "I've seen troubled children, but he was beyond troubled."

Quistis and Seifer were always butting heads. As students, they fought often and had to be seperated by instructors and Garden staff all of the time for their disruptive arguments, most of which had been instigated by Seifer. When Quistis became his instructor, it made things even more tense between the two. Except then Seifer was her student, and had to watch his tounge. If he didn't, he would be disiplined by the Garden staff severly for showing disrespect to an instructor. He seemed to still find ways to irritate Quistis from time to time, however.

Quisits stopped to think about what she was saying and thinking, though. Even though they had never been friendly, her words sounded pretty cruel. She didn't like Seifer at all, but then again, she didn't really hate him.

"Well, he wasn't really a bad guy." she said.

Rinoa stood there, her back turned, and her head lowerd. She listened to everyone's thoughts about Seifer, but her memories were different. It hurt to have people saying things like this about him.

"I... really liked him." Rinoa finally said."He was always full of confidence, smart..."

Everyone looked at her, surprised that anyone would have such good memories of Seifer.

"Just by talking to him, I felt like I could take one the world."

Rinoa realized that Seifer could have an abrasive personality, but he had never treated her badly. He was always ready to encourage her, and make her feel stronger. Despite his all-to obvious flaws, his temper and his cocky attitude, Rinoa always looked for the good in him, and she seemed to find it with ease.

Selphie had heard enough from Rinoa, and from the 'Forest Owls' earlier, to guess what Rinoa's realtionship to Seifer was.

"Your boyfriend?" she asked softly.

Rinoa turned, and smiled a little with a tear in her eye.

"I don't really know." she began. "I... I think I was in love." she said, her voice shaky, and a little unsure. "I wonder how he felt...?"

"Do you still like him?" Selphie asked.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be talking about it." Rinoa replied wiping a tear from her cheek.

Rinoa sat down on the couch and pulled her knees close to her chest.

"It was last summer..." she explained. "I was 16. Lots of fond memories..."

Seifer had taken some vacation time in Timber last year. That's where he'd met Rinoa. Though he never participated in the 'Forest Owls' operations, he spent a lot of time with her, and he always encouraged Rinoa to 'give em' hell' when they fought agaisnt Galbadia.

Seifer liked Rinoa. They had even shared an intimate expirence or two that summer. But neither of them had ever told the other that they wanted to 'date'. Seifer just assumed that the feelings were mutual. However, his ego wouldn't allow him to talk seriously about something so emotional, and Rinoa has been a little too shy to ask him about it. She'd never had a boyfriend before.

The announcment of Seifer's execution shocked her. But Rinoa's eyes brightened as she thought back on the time she had spent with him last summer.

"Goodbye, Seifer..." she thought.

Quistis didn't know how to feel about Rinoa's comments. She lowered her voice to an audible whisper.

"Seifer... Never to become a SeeD..."

Everyone was quiet now. No one knew what to say anymore.

Squall shook his head, disturbed by everyones comments.

"'I liked him'... 'wasn't really a bad guy'... 'He was one of us'..."

Squall traced his finger along the scar his rival had given him.

"Seifer... You've become just a memory."

The way everyone was talking made Squall feel uncomfortable. He had known Seifer for as long as he could remember, and now he was gone. It didn't feel right. All that was left of Seifer was these people's thoughts and memorys of him. Anymore, he was only what they'd said he had been.

An unsettleing thought occured to Squall.

"Will they... Will they talk about me this way if I die, too? 'Squall was this and that', using past tense, saying whatever they want?"

Squall put his hand to his hip, and looked down at the floor.

"So this is what death is all about..."

He walked over to the door. Squall began to feel a sudden rush of powerful emotions entering his mind.

"...Not for me." he thought. "I won't have it!!!"

Squall wanted badly to fight agaisnt death now. He didn't want to let anyone talk about how he, 'used to be', or what he, 'used to do'. The idea of merely being a resident of the past, never again to live in the present or look towards the future, frightened and upset him all at once.

Quistis noticed Squall's expression. His usual frown was intensified. He didn't just look irriated or annoyed now. He looked saddened and angry.

"What's wrong, Squall?" she asked.

He glared at her.

"I won't have it!" he yelled sudennly.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"W-What?" Zell said, confused.

Selphie ran over to Squall, concerned.

"Are you MAD!?"

Squall backed away towards the door.

"I'm not having anyone talk about me in the past tense!" he cried out.

Zell was about to try and calm him down, but Squall ran out of the room before anyone could reply.

After a long pause, Rinoa spoke with concern.

"What's wrong with him...?" Rinoa asked. "Will he be okay...?"

Quistis looked at the door, confused. Squall had never been that emotional. Never.

"...I don't know... I really don't..."

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*--------------------------PLACE MARKER---------------------*

(Sick of reading right now? Take a break, and find your spot right here when you come back to the story!)

In the empty hallway, irrational thoughts swirled through Squall's mind.

"Not for me..." he thought. "Not death... I won't end up like Seifer..."

He marched down the stairs. Squall felt his eyes begin to water, but he fought the urge to cry with all his strength. He had already made a scene, he realized, in the reception room. He wasn't going to let himself 'sob like an idiot' now.

As Squall made his way to the Garden's main hallway, he heard someone calling his name.

"Yo! Squall!"

Squall looked up. Above the stairs, he saw two people that he had never expected to meet here.

"How on earth did they get here...?"

Fujin and Raijin, Seifer's 'posse', came down the stairs quickly when they saw Squall.

"What are you doing here?" Squall asked in surprise.

"What am I doin'? I'm a messenger, ya know?" Raijin replied.

He looked over to Fujin, and they both nodded.

"Brought you a new order from Headmaster Cid, ya know?"

He nodded at his sister again.

"What kind of order?" Squall asked impatiently.

Raijin shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. Gave it to the head honcho here. Just did what Headmaster Cid wanted, ya know?"

Again, Fujin and Raijin nodded at each other.

"EXPLAIN." Fujin commanded, in her usual manner.

"We were suppose' ta go to Timber." Raijin began again. "But the trains have stopped, so we had no other choice but to come here. Kinda relived to see you guys here."

Again, they nodded.

Fujin looked around.

"SEIFER?" she asked.

"Oh yeah! Wasn't Seifer with you?" Raijin chimmed in.

Squall sighed.

"I belive Seifer may be dead..."

Fujin gasped and put her hand to her chest.

"I heard he was tried in Galbadia and then executed..."

Fujin glared at Squall now.

"LIES!" she exclaimed.

Raijin, oddly enough, started laughing.

"BWAHAAHAAHAA! That's gotta be a lie, ya know!? There's no way he's put up with a trial, ya know!?"

"That actaually makes sense..." Squall thought to himself. He couldn't picture Seifer just sitting there, waiting for his judgment. But Quistis had told him what happened. Seifer was gone.

Raijin continued.

"Or an execution for that matter! It's just so not Seifer, ya know!?"

"FIND!" Fujin exclamied.

"O'What...! We're gonna meet up with Seifer?" Raijin asked. He turned to Squall.

"Well, see ya Squall. We're gonna head off to Galbadia to look for Seifer."

Fujin and Raijin raced off.

"...Whatever." Squall thought, shaking his head. "He's dead. They're gonna have to accept it sooner or later..."

Squall walked around Galbadia Garden on his own for a while. Thoughts raced in and out of his head.

"Why would Headmaster Cid give orders to Fujin and Raijin...? They aren't even SeeDs... Why are they so sure that Seifer's not dead...? He is dead. Right...?"

Sudennly, Squall's thoughts were innterupted. The Garden P.A. system sounded again.

"Attention SeeD party from Balamb garden. Please assemble at the front gate."

"Guess I'd better get going..." Squall thought. He didn't want to show his face after his emotional outburst in the reception room, but he had to go.

He lingered a little bit, but he found his way to the front gate. Quistis was waiting there.

"Ok, it's time to meet. Let's go." she said. She wanted to ask Squall if she could do anything for him, or if he was okay. But she was sure she knew what the answer would be...

"'Not really'. 'It's none of your buisness'..." Quistis thought about Squall's usual responces, and remebered how he had acted in the 'secret area' last night.

"Better just let him be..." Quistis realized.

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On the Garden's front walk, Zell, Selphie, Rinoa, Quistis and Squall all waited for the Garden Headmaster to meet them. Squall and Rinoa were sitting on the railing of a fence, calmly, but Quistis was pacing about frantically.

"Let's just wait here." Quistis said, partly to herself. "The Master should be coming with the orders soon."

Zell and Selphie were getting really impatient.

"Erghhh..." Zell mumbled. He started to practice sparing again, hoping around and hitting the air.

"He's pretty late..." Selphie complained.

Sudennly, a car started driving up from the front gate. Rinoa caught sight of it.

"Oh! I think that's him." she said. She leaned over to Squall and whispered.

"(Just pretend I'm a SeeD too. It'll be less complicated that way.)"

"....Whatever." Squall thought. "Client's orders..."

The car pulled closer and Headmaster Martine stepped out. Squall and the others lined up and stood at attention, saluting him.

"Good day." the Headmaster addressed them. "I have official orders from headmaster Cid, addressed to you." he explained. "Following regualtions, I have gone over these orders." He began pacing back and forth.

The Headmaster carried his authority well, even if it seemed a little arogant.

"After careful consideration of our options, we have decided to fully assist and cooperate with Headmaster Cid." He paused. "Actually, we too, have been planning for this for quite some time now."

He stopped pacing and looked directly at the SeeD members.

"In order to stress the importance of this mission, I must first brief you on the current situation." he began. He stopped and noticed that they were still standing in line and at attention.

"At ease." he commanded. The SeeD members, and Rinoa, stood more relaxed now.

"You all know about the sorceress being appointed as the peace ammbassador for the Galbadian government. However, this ambassador thing is just a cover up. there will be no peace talks, only threats."

He eyed the young SeeDs carefully. He wanted to make sure they understood the signifigance of this.

"The sorceress creates fear among people. Therefore, peace talks are immpossible. Galbadia is planning to use this fear to negotiate favorable conditions for itself. It is clear that Galbadia's ultimate goal is world domination." He paused again. "Garden is no exception, either. It is a fact that the sorceress is planning to use this Garden as her base... We have very few options available to us."

He looked at the group before him, and sighed.

"We entrust world peace, and the future to you." he said proudly.

Everyone saluted the Headmaster.

"Details of the mission are enclosed in these official orders." He handed Squall the document containing the mission order.

"Any questions?"

Squall looked over the order quickly. He hadn't fully digested it yet, but he spotted somthing that might be a problem.

"The orders say by means of 'a sniper'."... We have no one with that skill." Squall informed the Headmaster.

"Don't worry about it." Headmaster Martine assured him. "Let me introduce an elite sharpshooter from Galbadia Garden." He turned around and yelled.

"Kinneas! Irvine Kinneas!"

A tall young man with a cowboy hat was lying in the grassy yard surronding the walkway. He didn't seem to notice that the Headmaster had called his name at first.

Irvine had his finger pointed upward. A small butter fly landed on it, and he held his hand very steady. Then he moved it quickly, 'shooting' the insect with his finger. Irvine Kinneas stood and picked his gun up with him, smirking as he walked over. Wearing a long fur lined coat and raw-hide pants, Irvine looked just like a cowboy. He stood at about 6 feet tall, and had light brown hair.

"This is Irvine Kinneas. He will be your sharpshooter." Martine informed them."Leave whenever you're ready." He started walking back to the car.

"Failure is not an option." he warned, and then he turned his back, walking to the car again.

Irvine turned around and cocked his hand at the Headmaster.

"BANG!" he yelled, pretending to shoot him.

After the headmaster had left, everyone circled around Squall.

"So what's our new orders?" Zell asked.

"Our next mission..." Squall began. "This is no ordinary mission. It's a direct order from both Balamb and Galbadia Garden." he paused.

"We're to... ..Assassinate the sorceress."

Everyone became quiet.

"Yikes..." Selphie thought. "That's kind of a scary order..."

"We're to shoot her from afar. Kinneas will be our sharpshooter. We're to supprot Kinneas to our fullest."

Squall walked over to Irvine.

"Should the sniper fail, we are to attack head on."

Irvine looked at Squall and smirked.

"Thanks for the support, but I never miss my target."

His voice was smooth, but he spoke with extreme arrogance. Squall ignored his cocky comments.

"Eliminate the sorceress. That's our order. We're going to head to the capital of Galbadia, Deling City. There, we'll meet up with General Caraway to go over the details for the plan."

Rinoa's ears perked up at this.

"General Caraway...? What does he have to do with this...? Why would he work with SeeD agaisnt the president...?" she thought.

Squall finished reading the mission breifing and looked at everybody.

"Let's get going." he said.

"Well then..." Irvine began. "We'll need to split up for the trip to Deling city... two groups..."

Irvine pulled Selphie and Rinoa over to him.

"How's this?" he asked, smileing ear to ear.

Selphie and Rinoa looked at each other questioningly.

"What does he think he's doing..." Squall thought.

"I'll decide." Squall commanded. " I guess if we have to split into groups... Irvine, you come with me and..." Squall paused.

"We're still under contract with Rinoa and the 'Forest Owls'..." Squall thought. "She'd better stay close to me..."

"Rinoa, you come with me. So that means, Zell, Selphie and Quistis will follow us. Okay?"

"Excellent choice 'Mr. Leader'." Irvine said, eyeing Rinoa as he tugged on his earring.

"...Whatever." Squall thought.

Everyone agreed and set out.

The squad of SeeDs left Galbadia Garden in two groups. Their next objective; To kill Galbadia's newly appointed ambassador... The sorceress.

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End chap 13.

Well? What do you you think? Squall actually lets his feelings out a little eh? How about that. Now he'll just revert to being a jerk again... probably.

N-e- way, the part that I didn't like writng was when Rinoa was describing her and Seifer's relationship. (I REALLY can't wait until the story reaches the point where Squall and Rinoa start falling for each other...)

So Seifer's dead. Roadkill. six-feet under, etc... uhhh....

boo-hoo. So sad....

...Or IS he really dead?! Fujin andf Raijin don't seem to think so... I guess we'll find out, won't we?

I really never liked Irvine, by the way. He's a womanizer at first and then he's a wimp, and then he starts trying to manipualte people... *sigh* At least he has an important role later on. What do you think about him so far? Maybe I'll learn to appriciate him later on or something... (Yeah, right.)


Was this chapter okay? I'm starting to feel like I'm not doing a very good job on some of these chapters, and that I'm relying too much on the script in the game, and not enough on my own injections... What do you think? Is there room for more depth or have I dug too far already?

Is the writing quality starting to lag? ...Please tell me!


R+R!

P.S. How the heck are you supossed to explain 'switching party members' corectly? There are some parts in the game where it makes sense, but mostly you just do it for no apparent reason. (Ok! In the game you can only have three people in your group at a time, but that doesn't make 'real-world' sense!)

P.S.S. Okay, I'm having a small debate with my cousin here. He thinks that Raijin's name is pronounced RYE-GIN (Like a long 'I' sound in the 'YE'.) and I think it's pronounced RAGE-IN (Like a long 'A' sound)

Also, he thinks, 'SeeD' is pronounced, 'See- Dee', as in how you would say 'CD'. Whereas I think it's merely pronouced 'Seed', as in the thing that grows flowers....

Which is it? I'll bet someone out there knows for sure... (Actually, no matter what you say, I'm still gonna think it's 'RAGE-IN'.and 'Seed'. ^_^)

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