Disclaimer: FF8 and its characters not mine, unfortunately.  Which really stinks.  Oh well.

Sorry guys, I haven't written.  Been busy with school work and personal issues.  Enjoy, though I think this chapter is a little boring.

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It was too bright. 

Quistis groaned as her eyes fluttered open only to be forced shut again as the piercing beams of the sun melted around her room.  Her body felt as if it had wakened from a thousand years of sleep, and it took substantial effort to clear her head and lift herself from the ground to her bed. 

What time was it?

Slowly, she recounted the few previous events.  She had met Selphie for breakfast.  Had fell into a fit of coughing.  Stumbled back to her room. 

Quistis sighed mentally.  She still had a month left, but the effects of the disease were starting to show already.  Hiding it under the excuse 'I'm just tired' wasn't going to fool her friends for long. 

Suddenly, she felt unbearably tired.  As if the strength she had had decided to retreat and left her feeling barren and wasted.  Was she fighting a losing battle? 

Am I even fighting at all?

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Seifer felt like his head was going to explode.  It would've been better yet if it did.

In front of him, Hyperion sat still across his desk and the coffee that had been left over from yesterday sat next to it.  Outside the room window, the sun was starting to reach its peak height, showering Garden and its surroundings with startlingly bright beams of yellow.  It was an incredibly beautiful day.

And he was bored senseless. 

He groaned inwardly.  Ever since he had been readmitted back into Garden and given a "second chance that must be taken seriously", as Cid put it, he had passed the SeeD exam and had been completely excited to be sent on some mission that would give him the rush of adrenaline he once knew. 

This did not happen.  Seifer had yet to be sent on one important mission and spent his days lounging around Garden's facilities.  He would've gone up to Cid and demanded to be sent on a mission if he hadn't been warned by Matron.

The woman could make me do anything, Seifer thought without much feeling.  He loved Matron as a mother figure that he never had and would've probably done whatever she asked of him.  She never asked too much of him though so when she did, he was bound by his conscious to do as she bid. 

A weak point, he supposed, but it didn't bother him to have just this one. 

Restless, he stood up with Hyperion and opened the door just as Xu was raising a hand to knock.  Surpised, and then irritated, Seifer lifted an eyebrow.

Xu lifted her eyes to his in firm defiance before speaking.

"Headmaster Cid would like a word with you Seifer."  With that, she turned on her heels and walked at a steady pace down the hall and towards the elevator.

Irritation replaced by curiosity, Seifer closed and locked the door behind him before following suit.