Lydia ducked into Balamb Arena, letting the glass door slam shut behind her. There was a short line of people waiting in line for last minute tickets.
"Hey baby," a large man in a torn dirt-stained t-shirt chewing on a wad of gum called to her from the back of the line. "You gonna put on a good show for us, ain't ya?" he asked, winking suggestively.
Without acknowledging, she headed for a small room to the left where she could hear Xu speaking to the candidates.
"Lydia, where have you been?" Xu demanded as she attempted to take a seat behind her unnoticed.
"I uh, met up with an old family friend out front, that's all," she lied, smoothing her hair hastily.
Xu nodded. "Lots of family and friends out there, but as some of you might have noticed, a whole hell of a lot of them don't care whether you live or die. They just want a good show to watch while they drink their seven Gil beers. You have to do this for yourself.
You're not here to please the trailer trash out there, you're here to fulfill your dreams. Don't worry about them. You have to allow yourself to become one with the opponent, to block out the crowd. I tell this to the candidates every year. You can't let the pressure get to you, because if you do, you don't stand a chance. You need to listen to your instincts and don't allow yourselves to think about anything but victory. Don't think about what the crowd's doing or what you're mom's doing or any of that shit, just concentrate on the task at hand. But we're all rooting for you. There's been a critical shortage of SeeDs in the past five years and we need you guys." She glanced down at her clipboard. "And one more thing. We also have medical personnel on hand in case anything goes wrong. But I think you guys' will be just fine. We haven't lost anyone on this exam yet," she said, flashing a rare smile.
Lydia was starting to feel nauseous. Just nerves, she scolded herself. Relax.
Suddenly the intercom on the wall beeped. "We now ask that all SeeD candidates take their places in the arena, we'll be beginning shortly," a young woman's voice called through the intercom.
"Okay, listen up," Xu instructed. "I want you all to have a seat in the front row out there. We'll be going alphabetically, so.....Ann Marie Asioto, you're up first," she said, nodding to the overweight, bespeckled teen sitting in the back. "Good luck, guys."
"What the fck are we up against, anyway?" Zane Garnett, the blond boy who couldn't finish a sentence without an obscenity of some kind stuffed in for good measure demanded.
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Xu replied simply.
After leaving the "briefing" room, Lydia stopped outside the restrooms and pulled out some change, quickly stuffing it into the vending machine that offered a wide selection of medicine. "Oh come on!" she grumbled, giving the machine a slap after it failed to give up the box of Albien.
"Not working?" Zane asked, stopping beside her. "Here, step back," he commanded. He suddenly kicked the machine full strength, nearly tipping it over. The box of tablets immediately fell down the chute. "Here ya go," he said, handing her the box.
"Thanks a lot," she said, opening the box and tearing open a purple tablet.
"No prob," he said, sprinting to catch up with the group.
She groaned, popping the tablet in her mouth. She was getting queasier by the minute. And a little dizzy.
She took a long drink from the drinking fountain and headed to the arena. Once inside she gasped. She would never, in a thousand years have imagined that so many people would have turned out to watch. Almost every seat was full. Her temples began to throb with the noise. Struggling to ignore the watchful eyes, she quickly made her way to her seat.
"Hey, Lyd!" She craned her neck and saw Zell sitting three rows behind her. She smiled and waved. To her surprise, she also saw Kyle Damon sitting behind Zell, flashing her a smile of encouragement. She waved back cheerfully, trying to hide her nerves and the pain she was in that was slowly worsening.
"Hello, Lydia," a voice said sweetly. Her heat skipped a beat as she turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. And there, behind her, sat the blond woman who she had met in the parking lot. "I thought I'd come to see your big day," she said, smiling, her voice dripping with honey. "How do you know me?" Lydia demanded, keeping her voice just loud enough for the woman to hear.
"Good luck, Lydia," the woman said, avoiding her question. "I'll be watching you out there."
She decided to simply ignore her so not to make a scene and turned around. The lights went out slowly and a spotlight clicked on a moment later, highlighting a man standing in the center of the arena, holding a microphone.
"You all feelin' alright out there?!" he shouted into the microphone, more as a statement than an inquiry. Jeez, Lydia thought. This is a SeeD exam, not a goddamned Ritchie And The Destroyers concert.
The audience screamed in reply.
"Alright! Let's give a big welcome for Balamb Garden's SeeD candidates of 2036!"
"Yay, Lydie!" the woman behind her clapped.
There came a sudden, loud snort from off to side of the arena.
"Each candidate will be facing a most difficult battle indeed. For each candidate today will be facing none other than the great.....BAHAMUT!"
A second spotlight clicked on, illuminating a large, dark blue winged creature who was grooming his wings, his yellow eyes trained on the crowd. The crowd erupted in cheers.
"ENOUGH BULLSHIT!" Bahamut roared, flapping his wings angrily. "LET'S GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!!"
"Of course, you won't be able to destroy Bahamut, but he'll decide whether or not you've passed. If you can inflict enough damage upon him, he'll let you pass through to the exit, where you'll be given your certificate. Any questions? Alright! Ann Marie Asioto, come on down! You're up first!"
"Oh dear, the woman behind Lydia said quietly. "If it's alphabetical, you'll be last, now, won't you? How unfortunate that you'll have to wait so long...."
Lydia resisted the urge to shout at the woman and leaned back in her seat, her stomach pain beginning to abait slightly.
Ann Marie stepped out into the center of the arena and turned to face Bahamut. She pulled out her weapon, a long, plain blade (but not a gunblade like Squall used) and tossed its holder aside, standing poised to strike.
"One the count of three," the announcer said. "One...two...THREE!"
Before Ann Marie could take a step forward, Bahamut bounded forward and whacked her casually with one powerful wing, as if swatting a fly. She shrieked as all two hundred pounds of her slammed into the side of the stands. The crowed cheered as she struggled to climb to her feet, disorineted. Bahamut watched in amusement as she bent down to find her glasses. The battle ended two minutes later with Ann Marie being helped to safety, her glasses smashed, and her face bloodied.
"LET'S HAVE A BIT OF A CHALLENGE NOW SHALL WE?" Bahamut taunted. "WHO'S NEXT?!" he thundered, the walls of the arena shaking.
Josh Bowie came next (Lydia had never seen so much blood in her life), and as the announcer went down the list, one by one, (Caldwell, Crandall, Doorman, Dykstra, Field, Fry, Funk, Garnett, Golden, Harcourt, Hart, Howser, Jelsma, Lane, McCoy, Nausadana, Otto, Reiner, Ritter, Saranetti, Shriver, Shumaker, Tate, Trivedi, Ulrich, Williams, Van der Lind, Van Zandt)
As Jonathan Van Zandt came down to the center of the arena, his bright red nunchakus in hand, the crowd cheering wildly, Lydia's stomachs pains that had slowly abated during the exam came back with the force of a charging bull. She was hit with a cramp that smashed into her full force, knocking her breath away. She stood up, panicked, and felt saliva dripping down her chin as she was overcome by dizziness.
"Lydia, are you alright?" the woman behind her said, a slight note of concern in her voice. "Lydie?"
She began retching, hard, and horribly dry heaves. Her eyes watered as her neck snapped forward with each heave.
"I don't know, I think she's puking...." she heard a voice beside her say.
"Lydia?" an alarmed voice called.
She climbed out from the stands and began to rush to the bathroom, her hand over her mouth.
But before she could leave the center ring where the battle had just begun, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she suddenly passed out, collapsing on the ground, and she became engulfed in darkness.
"It hurts so bad," a woman's voice echoed through a deep, dark tunnel. "You're supposed to be taking care of me....."
".....nothing but a rotting piece of meat on the couch......you bitch....."
"Doug......what's happened to you....I don't know what's happened to you......"
There was a loud woman's scream. A scream of agony.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" a man's voice thundered off in the distance.
"Mr. Saw.....I'm scared...." a little girl's voice whispered, her voice echoing off the walls of this deep dark tunnel. ".....never acted like this before....."
"Hush, sweetheart," a deep voice called. "Everything will be fine. Hush a baby."
"YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU LITTLE-"
"Saw, help me!"
"LYDIA!!"
"If it'll make him stop…"
"Mr. Saw!!"
"What have I done? What have I done?!"
"Lydia!"
Lydia's eyes flew open. "So disfigured....she's so disfigured.......Mr. Saw.....back's twisting....drinking again.....we'll be better off, so I'll do it.....Das Nuessan...." a series of meaningles, random phrases flew from Lydia's mouth as she lay sprawled on the packed dirt floor of the arena, her brown eyes wide, her forehead drenched in sweat, her chin soaked with saliva.
"Lydia, snap out of it!" her eyes slowly came into focus. "Zell?" she whispered. "That you?"
"Lydia, what happened to you?" He asked, trembling. "It was like you had a fit or something..."
The lights in the arena had been turned on, and paramedics were at her side, moving her onto a stretcher. The sounds of her dream had vanished, erased from her memory as though it had never happened.
"What happened? I'm fine...I don't need-"
"Lydia, we're taking you to the emergency room to have you checked out," the female paramedic above her said, strapping on a neck brace. "Are you epileptic? Do you have any illnesses or allergies you know about?"
"No."
"Let's get her out of here."
And before she knew what was happening, she was being carried away from the arena.