Hey! I Could Be A Messenger From Hyne, Ya Know!-
A Misadventurous Romance Story
Chapter Six-Could Things Get Worse?
AN~Okay, you know I have to do this---THANX FOR ALL MY REVIEWS!!! There. That said, I want to dedicate this chapter to Quis, Queen of Camelot, SouthwestEggRoll(who reviewed all of my chapters in one go! whoo-hoo!), and AmyAngel(an anonymous reviewer, unfortunately I can't E-mail her to tell her how much I appreciate her reviews). I really like to see people continuing to read this, but then again, maybe it's just because I keep pestering them with reviews and E-mails otherwise. LoL. Well, where will the insanity of us all take you, the reader? Continue on to find out! ~tigerofthewind~
I was awakened the next morning by something promptly swinging from out of nowhere and bashing me in the face. After jumping awake and shouting half-articulated curses that would have made my mother turn over in her grave if she had heard them, I just contented myself by giving Seifer(the cause of my agony, as you might have guessed) a rather obscene gesture.
"And the same to you with bells on,"he said, laughing."Didn't think you'd be the swearing type, messenger girl."
Once again, more name-calling. I instantly felt better, and jumped to my feet, rubbing my aching nose with my hand."Tee hee! I guess I asked for that one, hunh? Well, I'll be late for class if I don't hurry! We've got training with Vienna today, don't we? See you then!"
I will admit, he did look rather baffled at my upbeat exit. I think that made me happier than the thought of having two free periods all to myself today.
First class was tutorial. Grrrr.
"Doctor Odine of Esthar was the first scientist to ever perform research on a sorceress,"I told the class, watching them as they pretended to listen to my boring lecture. Mira was leaning heavily on her elbow with her head propped on her fist, Trussel was pretty much doing the same thing except chewing vaguely on his pen, Kendis was off to the side giggling at the strange faces her boyfriend was making at her across the room, and Pan was putting a haughty expression on his face and pretending to talk importantly, clearly mocking either me or one of the other teachers. Not to mention the countless others who weren't even TRYING to hide the fact that they were asleep.
"You guys have all heard of Sorceress Adel, right?"I asked, trying to involve them in some way, shape, or form. A few unfocused nods from all around."Well, you know what my theory is? I think she was actually a HE!"
THAT got their attention. Mira's head slipped off of her elbow and banged loudly on her desk."W-What?!"she gasped.
"I told you,"I repeated."I think Adel was actually a man. It would make sense, since no records of sorcerers in this timeline have ever been recorded."
"B-But............WHY?!"Kendis wanted to know. I shrugged.
"She just looked like a man, that's all. Think about it. Odine was this scientist. If he made some big discovery, don't you think he'd want to........you know, keep it to himself for a while? Dig up a little more info on the subject, then present it when there was enough research?"
There was a reason the kids were all shocked. Adel had once been their ruler---well, their parents ruler, at least. It was still forbidden to speak ill of her(or him, tee-hee!).
"Woah, that's whacked,"admitted Branton, Kendris's boyfriend."You think she was actually SORCERER Adel?"
I shrugged again."Maybe."I paused."But you guys could formulate your own theories if you'd actually pay attention in class, instead of creating your own little amusements off to the side."
It worked. They all looked appropriately abashed. I cleared my throat before going on."Back to the subject. Odine was the first scientist to perform research on a live sorceress---or sorcerer, whatever the case may be. Because of his research, the system of para-magic was developed. Para- magic is actually a subsystem of the Ancient Magic that pertained to the now-extinct Centra. The Centra were the first sorcerers and sorceresses. Humans came not long after that, being created by the Great Hyne herself. Hyne was actually the first sorceress, and was the creator of the Centra and of mankind. The rumor goes that several of the more powerful Centra were actually descendants of Hyne."
The class had sunk back into it's usual stupor. I cleared my throat for their attention again before I went on."Both Esthar and Balamb Gardens use Guardian Forces in conjunction with para-magic to give us great strength. However, it has now been proven that because GF's make a place in our subconcious that makes us lose our memories, Gardens are only allowed to junction GF's to volunteers. As a matter of fact, GF sign-up ends this week, so those of you who haven't signed up and want to, had better get a move on."
"What are your GF's, Instructor?"someone in the back piped up, and I sighed.
"Might as well show you,"I said, figuring that it would be good for them to get up and move around. "Come on, let's go to the training center."
"Yeah!"
"All right!"
"Cool!"
Those and several similar cheers met my ears as I got to my feet and sifted through my magic, before properly junctioning Confuse, Berserk, Sleep, and Silence to my status defense, and Bio, Life, Shell, and Quake to my elemental defense. Esthar Garden's training center was full to the brim with Malboros.
We entered the training center and I told the class to stand near the doorway, and to not move until I told them to. Instead, I ran around in circles and threw sticks, stones, and even one of my boots at the walls, trying to provoke a monster to come out.
Aha! Sure enough, crawling around the side was a Grat, a not-to-diffucult monster that we had back at Balamb. So, I took the oppurtunity to summon some of my weaker GF's.
"Hell Fire!"I shouted, trying out a new summoning motion that I'd been working on. Instead of making my nunchaku into the shape of a Z, I tried making it into the shape of an N.
Ifrit appeared and sent his blast of molten lava at the Grat, completely obliterating it. As his roars faded away into the back of my mind, I heard applause from my students. I smiled, and dredged up a T-Rexaur---a little more diffucult.
First thing I did was cast Protect, so when it lashed out at me with it's giant teeth, the blue shield softened the blow. Some bruises, but it didn't even draw blood."Dark Messenger!"
A few casts of Diablos, and the T-Rexaur was dead. I hadn't gotten through this battle unscarred, though, and opted to cast Recover on myself. Searching around, I got two more Grats, and swamped them with a single casting of Leviathan. Another Grat, so I showed the class Cerberus's Counter Rockets, and cast three Meteor spells in a row to get rid of it.
Aha! Finally! Making some disgusting crunching noise, a Malboro waltzed around the corner like it owned the place. I took a deep breath, and formed my nunchaku into the shape of an X with a line at the bottom. "Eternal Breath!!!"
As I suspected, the class was wowed by the spectacular performance of Eden. I was so busy concentrating my powers to Boost the darn thing, that I missed it. The Malboro was no more, thank Hyne. After that, I fought one more T-Rexaur to show the class Alexander, Cactuar, and Bahamut. Then, sweaty and panting, I led my students back to class. They were still talking about which GF was their favorite.
"Eden was SO ass-kickin'!"
"But Bahamut's the King of Summons, isn't he? I read that somewhere!"
"No way! Diablos beats them all!"
The girls were relatively quiet, not preferring any of the brawny things I had summoned. So, just for a few kicks, I called on Carbuncle to cast Ruby Light on some of them, and they gushed over how cute it was. I recalled it's fear as the junior classmen back at Balamb tried to plunge it down the john.
Blessedly, basic knowledge class was over not long after that. I ended early, because during a lecture about the Great Salt Lake, Trussel's pen exploded in his mouth and I had to take him to see Doctor Fars, Esthar Garden's physician.
On the way back, I checked my watch and realized that I was supposed to meet Vienna and Seifer in the training center for her lesson ten minutes ago. Groaning and wondering what sort of reproachment I was going to get for being late, I broke into a run.
As I neared the facilities, I heard several shouts and the noises of metal against metal. I ran faster. Stopping at the entrance, I saw that the two of them had already begun sparring, and that Vienna was losing horribly. Try as she might, she couldn't seem to move fast enough to follow Seifer's orders.
"Downstroke! Parry! Advance! Parry! Evade! Evade! Retreat! Downstroke! Parry! FOR HYNE'S SAKE, LOIRE, USE YOUR HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Beast had shouted this last statement as Vienna overestimated a slash and tripped over her own feet, before falling facedown in the dirt. Quick as a flash, Seifer put the heel of his steel-tipped-booted foot on her back, the Hyperion aimed directly for the back of her head. He made a noise of disgust and spun around abruptly, coming face to face with me."Good, you're here. Maybe you can teach this idiot a little bit of accuracy. Apparently those archery lessons weren't worth what her father paid for them."
I rolled my eyes at him."If you'd stop being such an ass about it, maybe she could concentrate a little more!"I retorted, helping a shaking Vienna to her feet."Okay, Vienna. My guess is, because it's a gunblade, your Nemeris should have an accuracy rate of 255%, right?"
She nodded. Seifer snorted his lack of believing that."Well, you've got to draw on that. My nunchaku here, the Strange Vision, has that hit percentage, too. So what you do is, you let the WEAPON guide your hands to where they want to go. With other weapons, you have to direct them, but not with these. Just draw on the Nemeris's accuracy, and you'll do fine."
"I---I'm not fast enough to follow orders,"she said, in a voice barely over a whisper. In a second, I checked her junctioning. It was all good; Ultima on strength, Triple on speed, Meltdown on vitality, Curaga on spirit, Pain on magic, Aura on luck, and Stop on evade. The only thing I fixed was her elemental defense junctioning, replacing the Tornado that she had there with 100 Firaga, knowing as well as I do how much Seifer liked to use fire magic.
"Well, you're junctioning's good,"I told her."The thing is, you're just not utilizing it properly. You have to LET the magic and the GFs give you strength. It's the same thing with the hit percent of the Nemeris. Concentrate on the para-magic, Vienna, and you'll be fine."
"I, uh........."She looked around the room as if searching for a means to escape. I didn't blame her. She looked ready to drop dead from fear. I smiled at her.
"You wanna try sparring with me, first?"To ease her mind and(although not willingly) bloat his ego, I added:"I'm not as good as Commander Almasy, though."
Tee-hee, it worked. Vienna swallowed hard and looked over at the Beast, who nodded his approval. I undid the Strange Vision from it's usual knot and took my battle stance. Vienna stood in a stance that reminded me so much of Squall that it was nearly heartbreaking. I think I wanted to go home. Besides, what about the Garden Festival?
At that moment of my absentness, Vienna charged, striking low. Hyne, she was FAST! I'd never had a good speed stat, and her's was out of this world! I guess my advice on drawing on the strength of her GFs really worked. I mean, I didn't expect her to get it the first try.
Phew! I prevented myself from nearly being beheaded. In it's stead, I felt myself swirling upward under the full-fledged power of a Tornado spell. Good thing it was junctioned to my elemental defense, and instead I felt some of my strength returning as I landed.
I took the oppurtunity to cast Cerberus on myself, and three Water spells on her. The damage was halved because of the Life and Shell she had there, but it damaged nonetheless. After the last couple of drips faded away, she darted in to strike. The battle was really heating up.
I just managed to block her attack in time. She danced out of striking distance, her eyes narrowing. It was a calculating look, the look of someone who was planning their next move. I was glad to see that she was learning so fast.
Another hit, and this time I wasn't able to dodge it. I fell back, bleeding freely from a wound on my arm. I sifted through my magic searching for a Full-cure, but instead I found.........
"Rapture!"I cried, and the pretty white angel wings attached themselves to Vienna's back and flew her promptly out of the training center. I sat down on the ground hard, my legs seemed to have given way. I found the Full- cure I was looking for and cast it on myself.
"Tilmitt, where did she go?!"Seifer looked pretty outraged. I wished that I hadn't cured myself, then I could just cast Rapture on him to and get him away from me."How are we supposed to tell President Loire that we've lost his daughter?!"
I grinned."Tee-hee, we haven't LOST her! She's just in the parking lot. Don't worry, she'll be back soon."
His anger faded to confusion."...........Say again?"
"It's Rapture, you doofus! My special magic! It flies an enemy out of battle! Don't worry, she's not hurt."
He folded his arms across his chest.".............Show me."
"Erm........I can't."I climbed to my feet."It's part of my Limit Break."
He muttered something that I took to be a swear to himself, then something else, and a yellowish glow spread itself up my body. I recognized it to be an Aura spell.
So, I found a Rapture spell and cast it on him, sending him out to the parking lot where Vienna was. During the time I was waiting for them to come back, I sat down to think.
(Man, I miss Balamb), was the first thought that flew through my mind.(The field exam would be starting right about now, the kids would be trying to see if you could light Ifrit on fire and have it actually hurt, and that same asshole who casts Triple on himself and uses Death spells on students walking down the halls would be back at it again............)
(Why did I have to be here? I mean, I like Vienna and Mira and Trussel and all of them, but why me? There's so many who are more qualified for this job! It's getting harder and harder for me to stay all sunshine and smiles, you know! Plus, there's the Garden Festival going on back home, and all of my classes!)
I wondered what everyone else would be doing now. Squall would probably be worrying himself to death because it had been at least three weeks since my last transmission, Rinoa would be telling him to STOP worrying, Quisty would probably trying to get the pervert down at Fisherman's Horizon who keeps pretending to hang off of the bridge just so he could look up her skirt thrown in jail, Zell would promptly be devouring every hot dog in sight if he got to the cafeteria early enough, or throwing a huge hissy fit if he didn't get there early enough, and Irvine.........
Well, I didn't know WHAT Irvy would be up to.(Probably busy flirting with some air-brained chick right about now), I thought bitterly, my first real bitter thought in a long time. It looks like 'Peace! Love! And Happiness!' had finally committed suicide or something to that effect.
"Interesting magic, Tilmitt,"I heard the Beast say from behind me, and I sighed heavily, getting to my feet. Poking her head out sheepishly from behind him was Vienna, the Nemeris trailing slightly along on the ground. I shrugged.
"I could never cast it on you before. The End would have worked, but I could never find it in time. Usually, I just settle for Wall or Full-cure."
"Hmmm............."I think he'd forgotten that Vienna was there, because he looked a little startled when she spoke up.
"Ummm, sir? Did I do better with Instructor Tilmitt?"
Seifer managed to hide his surprise."What? Yeah, Loire. But I'm a lot harder to beat."I snorted off to the side, preferring instead to study a spot on the wall."We'll try your luck with me, this time."
Vienna looked terrified at the thought. I turned to her."Don't worry. You did quite well against me. Just remember what I told you, 'kay?"
She didn't look as though she believed me, but she nodded nonetheless. To me, something seemed off about Vienna, something about her weapon. Aside from the fact that it was nearly three-quarters her size, that is.
She and the Beast took their stances."This time, try to follow orders, Loire,"he told her, a little more harshly than what I thought was necessary. Then again, at least he wasn't shouting at her."Advance! Downstroke! Evade! Downstroke! Retreat! Parry! Advance!"
She seemed to be doing better this time, I noted. While still not being able to place on decent hit on him (although she did slash a tear in his coat, which I knew I would never hear the end of later), she had managed to avoid all of his, as well.
My mind started to wander again, as it usually did. I was quickly snapped back to reality, however, as a sharp cry made me nearly bite my tongue in half. It was Vienna, a huge gash in her right calf. And I mean, HUGE. I was surprised her leg didn't fall off right at that moment.
As it was, she collapsed to the ground. But just before she fell, more a spasm of pain than anything, she got one more slash upward............
I could see the headlines:'STUDENT AND TEACHER KILLED IN SPARRING LESSON WHILE DORKY AND TOTALLY UNHELPFUL INSTRUCTOR SAT BY AND WATCHED." I thought this as soon as I saw Seifer collapse on the ground next to Vienna, her hit having been a good(if albeit a lucky one, at least) one across his side.
I paused. Did I dare? I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I'd done something to this proximity, but if I messed up, then I could very well end up killing us all.............
I checked my elemental attack, and my elemental defense. The Life and Shell still held. Shaking slightly, I took the 100 Bio off of defense and put it onto attack. Status attack was Blind, but I could live with that, seeing as how the Strange Vision had that 255% accuracy thingy, anyway.
Drawing a deep breath, I swung my nunchaku around and slammed them promptly back into my head. Stars swam in front of my vision, and I could feel my elemental defense absorbing half in the impact. Damn. It still wasn't enough. Since I was officially Blinded, I had to let the Strange Vision do it's work. I braced myself and hit myself again, this time on the stomach. Stars swam in my head, and I really felt like I had to puke. But it worked. I had my Limit Break.
Sifting through my special magic, I found the Full-cure I was looking for, and hurriedly cast it on the three of us, dropping to the ground in weak-kneed relief. I was so afraid that I would end up KOing myself and screw us all over. But I couldn't have just done some Curaga's, they were some pretty serious hits. Something could have came along and KOed us all again when I was still casting cure spells.
"........Damn............."The Beast arose first, grumpy and complaining as usual. I think his ego was hurt more than he was; it made me happy."Tilmitt, what'd you do?"
"Me?!"I shrieked, putting an indignant look on my face. How DARE he?! After it was ME who just saved him from imminent DESTRUCTION! What a lousy, ungrateful---
"Yeah, you. I know you used your Limit Break; I've seen it often enough to know. But HOW?"I closed my mouth abruptly, and put on a sheepish grin.
"I whacked myself a couple of good ones,"I admitted, showing him the bruises. I would have a granny of a headache tomorrow, I knew it. Just to save a beauty and a beast. Tee-hee. I saw that Vienna was still unconcious, but thanks to MY Full-cure, she was unhurt.
Seifer's eyes narrowed, but not at me. Hyne, if he had even SLIGHTLY narrowed his eyes at me, it would take more than a Full-cure to save him, I swear it!"Tilmitt."He put a hand on my shoulder, then used me as a support to haul himself to his feet, before bending down and offering me a hand up himself."........Thanks."
Then he went over to check on Vienna, still upset at her one lucky stroke, I could tell. A fly nearing zooming into my mouth made me shut it hurriedly. I had been standing there with my jaw dropped open.
".......Loire. You all right?"Vienna's eyes snapped open and she sat up, hurriedly giving the Beast a salute that nearly ended up smacking her in the face.
"Y-Yes, sir. I......I didn't mean to---"
"..........Nice stroke. But a lucky one. You can't go through a battle relying on just luck. I'll want to see you in my office at 08:00 tomorrow. Until then, dismissed."
Vienna managed another salute before beating a hasty retreat, barely stopping to grab the Nemeris from where it lay in the grass near the exit. Frowning slightly, I dusted myself off before picking up the Strange Vision, slinging it over my shoulder. Seifer did the same with the Hyperion. However, as I started to walk away, he called after me.
"Tilmitt! Come here for a second."
I did so. He seemed to be thinking hard about something(once again, I was getting pretty used to the sight). After a few seconds, though, he suddenly tossed me the Hyperion. I was so startled, I nearly dropped it.
It was the first time I had ever held the thing. It was black with a silver edge, narrow-bladed, and there was a design etched into the gun handle part of it, something I couldn't quite see. On the side, in fancy, twirling letters, was the word 'Hyperion'. I liked it. At least, I liked it better than Squall's. Of course, the narrow blade was interesting, but I guess it made for even deadlier hits. I knew for a fact that it would draw less blood.
"S-Sir?"I managed. He shrugged.
"Been looking for a new battle stance. One of your students told me you were good at that, so I thought I'd ask. My old one left too much of me open, but at least it kept one of my hands free. I'm lookin' for something in between."
I frowned; knowing him, there was definitely more to this than what originally met the eye. But I shrugged it off, and tried to think of something to suggest that wasn't totally retarded. I was determined to find out which student had informed him of my abilities as an instructor, and promptly murder them on the spot.
"Vienna and Squall hold their gunblades in an upright position, which is great defensively,"I said carefully, hoping I didn't sound like I was reading right out of a textbook. Picking stances for my students was one thing, but Seifer? The self-proclaimed 'best soldier in the world'? Self- proclaimed being the key words here, folks."But then again, you have to use both your hands in holding it up. I'm not even sure WHAT the hell you do, but maybe holding it sideways? Like, it puts more strain on your dominant wrist, but you can still guard yourself and have one of your hands free."I demonstrated, he scrutinized.
"All right, Tilmitt."I was surprised to hear an undernote of something that sounded like SATISFACTION in his voice. He bent down and found a good- sized rock, before throwing it into the bushes and calling out a Grat. It charged towards me, making that indistinct clicking noise that it makes with it's mandibles."Now, let's see how well it works."
I gaped at him. HE was expecting ME to fight off this Grat with his Hyperion?! I'd never even HELD the thing before this, and now he wanted me to fight with it?! No WAY!
Well, I didn't exactly have much choice. Maybe he did want to see how well the new stance worked. Or maybe(I suspected this more) he just wanted to see me make an ass out of myself and get beat up in the process.
The stupid thing tried to cast it's Sleeping Gas on me. Which of course didn't work, because of the Sleep I had junctioned to my status defense. Thinking fast, I tried to concoct a way of slashing. Vienna and Squall did the basic downstroke, which I had to admit was predictable and easy to defend against, while Seifer did this odd diagonal-upwards thing, which was only useful if you were hoping to slice your enemies' legs right out from underneath them. Which I guess was useful, in a sense.
I envisioned myself picking the most gory way possible to slice up a Malboro(by now, I had harbored the world's biggest grudge against the abominations). Of course. A nice one, right across the middle. Chop it in half! Watch it's guts ooze out of it's body! And then, BLOW IT TO SMITHEREENS!!!!!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!!!
The violent half of me took over. I decided that a side slash was perfect, and darted in for the Grat. I was right. It did more damage than a downstroke, and even more than an uppercut. Perfect! Not too much longer, the Grat was defeated. And off to the side, Seifer was still watching me with that calculating look.
"Tilmitt,"he said, after I had wiped all the Grat ooze from the Hyperion and given it back to him,"I want you to meet me up in my office with Loire tomorrow, at 08:00 hours. Don't be late."
I tried to talk to him some more, but he wouldn't say anything else. Dispirited, I gave up, and headed back to my classroom. After this morning's sparring lesson, today's instructions on close-range combat seemed almost dull. ALMOST dull, considering the fact that Fujin came in to instruct students with her Zan, and nearly got her other eye put out. Vienna was in the back, subdued as normal. I still couldn't believe that she was Sir Laguna's daughter.
During lunch, when I was supposed to have been checking the new list of GF volunteers, my thoughts floated to Sir Laguna. I know, I know! I just couldn't help it. He was SOOO cute! All the funny little things he did, the way he got embarrassed over them, his adorable way that he wore his expressions right out on his face...............
I couldn't help it; I gave a little girlish sigh at that. If this were a cartoon, I'd have little hearts drawn in where my eyes should be.
A giggle interrupted my swooning, and I turned sharply towards the doorway. It was Mira, standing there in a cute little tee-shirt with cats on it and a pair of shorts. Most certainly NOT her Esthar Garden uniform, by the way."Instructor T.! You're in love! I knew it! I just knew you were in love with him!"
Oh, no! Was I that transparent?! Would she tell anyone?! Vienna would be SO mortified if she found out! "Mira, you can't tell anyone---"
"Oh, of COURSE not!"I saw past her innocent face."I think it's cute, Instructor T. Anyway, you said you've give me some close combat training, right? Instructor Tora doesn't know a single thing about quarterstaffs, just like I thought. I mean, I know you said you fight with nunchaku,"she went on hurriedly,"but maybe you could help me out a little? This is your free period, right?"
I closed the manila foldier with the list of names inside and put it inside the drawer of my desk."Yeah, it is."I guess I would have to do the grading during my other free."Okay, let's get started. First, I---"
"Erm, Instructor."Mira looked really embarrassed about something."I've brought some friends along, if you don't mind."
I smiled; what more harm could two or three kids do?"Of course not, Mira. They can come in."
Oh, Hyne, that was a mistake. Two or three kids actually turned out to be a number roughly the size of Mira's quarterstaff class. And just as loud.
"EVERYONE, QUIET!!!!!!"I shouted, and I swear that some of the plaster fell from the walls as I yelled it. They all stopped doing whatever it was they were doing to turn and stare at me."Okie, now that I've got your attention, can someone please tell me what is going on here?"
"Mira said you could help us out, because Instructor Tora doesn't know shit about combat,"said a tall boy, I think his name was Macks. A girl I knew to be called Peili piped in, too.
"We didn't want to leave your class anyway, Instructor T.!"she said, looking indignant."But because the Commander had to be a total asshole, we got booted!"
"Look,"I said, trying to keep patience."Seifer's asshole level(as high as that might be, grant you) isn't the issue here. I offered Mira some extra help, but I can't teach a WHOLE CLASS full of quarterstaff students! I don't know anything about it! Go see Raijin if you want some extra help."
I had expected that it would settle the matter, but it didn't."Jeez, Instructor Tilmitt!"It was Mira."When'd you get to be a total stiff?"It was also the first time she hadn't called me Instructor T.
"I'm not a stiff,"I protested, and felt my resolve slipping. I knew the kids would win, anyway. Kids were damn persistent."All right, all right. I'll try and help you out. But no complaining if Tora yells at you because I've been teaching you wrong."
Collective shouts of 'yeah' and 'awesome' met my ears. I sighed.
Could things get worse?
After some basic tutorial stuff(NO!!!!!! THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE CLASS WAS COMING BACK TO BITE ME IN THE ASS!!!!!!) I let the kids start sparring with their weapons. Some considerable hours later, I watched the last of the students leave, desperately wanting to soak in a nice hot bath. I was bruised(and even a bit bloodied) all over from quarterstaff smacks. Hyne, how I wanted whoever invented the quarterstaff to die(if they weren't dead already, that is).
Stretching my aching limbs, I sat through three more classes before my last free came. Oh, thank Hyne, it was at the end of the day. Finally sitting down and being able to eat my lunch, I sifted through the rest of the GF sign-up papers and began to grade the test I had given today on Odine and Sorcere(r or ss, whichever way you looked at it) Adel. Indeed, most of the students had written wisecracks during the question dealing with some of the things Odine developed from studying Adel('a boner' and 'a homosexual lifestyle' were the most popular ones, by the way).
Just as I was getting ready to pack up and leave, the Beast entered without knocking. It seemed to be in a rage today.
"Tilmitt. Walk with me."Well, since he asked that of me just about every day after class, I shrugged noncommittingly and stuffed my papers in my bag, before tossing it over my shoulder, before following him out of the room.
"Sir?"I asked, wondering how much farther I could go along on this thin ice before it broke. He stopped in a deserted hallway, turning to face me with a dangerous look on his face.
"Tell me why,"he said, starting towards me slowly,"you've been going around saying that the former ruler of this land was a CLOSET-ROOM CROSSDRESSER...............?"He spoke the last part in nothing more than a venomous hiss; I was really scared now. For every step he took towards me, I took one back.
"S-Sir? What......what do you me---I mean.........what?"Thump! My back hit the wall. I cast my eyes around desperately, searching for a way to escape. I mean, he wouldn't REALLY kill me, would he?! There was too many people around, and............!!!
"You KNOW what I mean. It's all over this place, how you've told your students that Sorceress Adel was actually a man in disguise."With each word, he was bringing his face deliberately closer to mine, until I finally turned my head towards the wall, my eyes shut tight. At least I wouldn't have to WATCH him kill me."A laugh it might get for you, Tilmitt, but you know what it gets for me?"
WHERE WAS MY STRANGE VISION?!?!?!?!?! If I ever needed it more than anything, now was the time!!!!!!!
The Beast went on, in this low growling voice that made him sound more like a beast than ever."Phone calls. And LOTS of them. Parents wanting to know what sort of corrupt garbage my instructors are teaching. Some threatening to revoke their kids' enrollment. So, you know what YOU get to do?"
I had a good idea."P-Pack my stuff, hunh? Tee-hee......."I managed a shaky laugh."I always wondered when you'd fire me............"
If he was surprised that I said that, he didn't show it. I turned away from the wall long enough to see him shaking his head. THAT was confusing; unnerving at best, too. That sealed it. Of course he was going to kill me. I'd die a virgin, and without ever planning a proper Garden Festival---
WOAH?!?!?!?! I did NOT just think that, did I?! Ew, gross!!!!!!!! That should be the LAST thing on my mind right now! No, instead I should be trying to ask forgiveness for all the bad stuff I'd done, and make peace with Hyne before I went to Nemeris, the Underworld---
"No, instead you get to make a formal apology to the Esthar government, or else,"corrected Seifer, so close to me that his lips were touching my ear. That 'or else' held a mountain of threats in it, none of which I wanted to envision at the moment. Hyne, how I hated confrontation! I liked fighting, but not........Fighting, with a captial 'F'! And Hyne, he was scary! I knew how Vienna felt.
"O-Or else..............?"I squeaked, not staring at him, but at everything else. I had to admit, it was quite the suggestive position, him with his arms pinning me to the wall. I wondered, should I scream for help? No, the lights were going down, so it was past curfew. All the instructors would be going back to their rooms, or meeting up in the lounge.........
The Beast laughed, a laugh I didn't like. It was low-pitched, and seemed to almost vibrate in my ear."You actually want me to go on, Tilmitt? Or, are you just seeing how far you can try my patience? I'm a generally patient guy, you understand, but a certain little messenger girl seems to have been grating on my nerves as of late.............."
No need to ask who THAT was. I was just about to break away and possibly make a run for it, when something caught my eye.
Of course. That insignia on the arm of his coat, the flaming sword. THAT was the mark I had seen on the Hyperion. I honestly don't know what had made me think of it now, maybe a combination of too much coffee and a pyschopath pinning you to a wall could make you think of strange things.
He caught me looking. I guess it was kinda hard for him NOT to, I was staring like I had done when he ever-so-politely thanked me for saving his lousy ass."So, you remembered. If you'd studied your history properly, you'd know where it came from, too. A flaming sword on a field of white.........."
He seemed a bit pensive. I wondered if I could use his lack of focus as a chance to break away. But something about that bothered me.'A flaming sword on a field of white............'
'...........in the hands of those who bear the light'!!!!! That was IT!!!!!!! The.........pledge to the last house of the Dollet Dukedom!!!!!!!!!!! NO...........WAY!!!!!!!!!!
A strangled noise of something I couldn't quite discern escaped my mouth; a gloved hand hurriedly cut it off."Not a word, Tilmitt. Not a word. Your supervision still stands. Don't forget our meeting with Loire tomorrow at 8."
He starting walking away calmly, like nothing had happened."I've bought you a bed, by the way,"he added nonchalantly, and cut off whatever it was I had been about to say with a flick of his wrist."Don't forget."
I stood, flabbergasted.(If he was............then he could............HOLY HYNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Shaking my head to clear it of any thoughts whatsoever, I felt the sudden urge that I wanted to go to a bar. I couldn't believe it. If he'd known, then why hadn't he told any of us up until now.........? It seemed like something he would want to flaunt in our faces.
I watched him walk away; long legs taking long strides, his hands stuffed down deep in his pockets(a gesture more custom of Zell; he'd never had his hands in his pockets since I'd starting working here), that golden-blondish hair shining in the moonlight. I JUST talked to him. I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it.
For, if everything was the way I thought it to be and the insignia was truly his; then, the man I had just been talking to was Sir Seifer Almasy, the last emperor of the Dollet Dukedom.
AN~Tee hee! Isn't this great?!?!?!*drinks more Vanilla Coke and wonders how she could possibly be so hyper* Freaky plot twist, hunh?! The first of many, I predict! So, a little confused? Don't worry, I am, too. I'll try to explain everything in the next part, don't worry. Key word---TRY. Until then, pester me with E-mails and beg to know what's going on! LoL. BTW, I know you can't have an emperor of a dukedom, but I just think 'Dollet Dukedom' sounds so much cooler than 'Dollet Empire'. Alliteration kicking in, or something.*drinks more Vanilla Coke* Anyway, if I'm going to get about explaining all this, then I'd better go! Byes!*uses magical tigerofthewind powers to vanish in the blink of an eye* ~tiger~*is vanished*
Chapter Six-Could Things Get Worse?
AN~Okay, you know I have to do this---THANX FOR ALL MY REVIEWS!!! There. That said, I want to dedicate this chapter to Quis, Queen of Camelot, SouthwestEggRoll(who reviewed all of my chapters in one go! whoo-hoo!), and AmyAngel(an anonymous reviewer, unfortunately I can't E-mail her to tell her how much I appreciate her reviews). I really like to see people continuing to read this, but then again, maybe it's just because I keep pestering them with reviews and E-mails otherwise. LoL. Well, where will the insanity of us all take you, the reader? Continue on to find out! ~tigerofthewind~
I was awakened the next morning by something promptly swinging from out of nowhere and bashing me in the face. After jumping awake and shouting half-articulated curses that would have made my mother turn over in her grave if she had heard them, I just contented myself by giving Seifer(the cause of my agony, as you might have guessed) a rather obscene gesture.
"And the same to you with bells on,"he said, laughing."Didn't think you'd be the swearing type, messenger girl."
Once again, more name-calling. I instantly felt better, and jumped to my feet, rubbing my aching nose with my hand."Tee hee! I guess I asked for that one, hunh? Well, I'll be late for class if I don't hurry! We've got training with Vienna today, don't we? See you then!"
I will admit, he did look rather baffled at my upbeat exit. I think that made me happier than the thought of having two free periods all to myself today.
First class was tutorial. Grrrr.
"Doctor Odine of Esthar was the first scientist to ever perform research on a sorceress,"I told the class, watching them as they pretended to listen to my boring lecture. Mira was leaning heavily on her elbow with her head propped on her fist, Trussel was pretty much doing the same thing except chewing vaguely on his pen, Kendis was off to the side giggling at the strange faces her boyfriend was making at her across the room, and Pan was putting a haughty expression on his face and pretending to talk importantly, clearly mocking either me or one of the other teachers. Not to mention the countless others who weren't even TRYING to hide the fact that they were asleep.
"You guys have all heard of Sorceress Adel, right?"I asked, trying to involve them in some way, shape, or form. A few unfocused nods from all around."Well, you know what my theory is? I think she was actually a HE!"
THAT got their attention. Mira's head slipped off of her elbow and banged loudly on her desk."W-What?!"she gasped.
"I told you,"I repeated."I think Adel was actually a man. It would make sense, since no records of sorcerers in this timeline have ever been recorded."
"B-But............WHY?!"Kendis wanted to know. I shrugged.
"She just looked like a man, that's all. Think about it. Odine was this scientist. If he made some big discovery, don't you think he'd want to........you know, keep it to himself for a while? Dig up a little more info on the subject, then present it when there was enough research?"
There was a reason the kids were all shocked. Adel had once been their ruler---well, their parents ruler, at least. It was still forbidden to speak ill of her(or him, tee-hee!).
"Woah, that's whacked,"admitted Branton, Kendris's boyfriend."You think she was actually SORCERER Adel?"
I shrugged again."Maybe."I paused."But you guys could formulate your own theories if you'd actually pay attention in class, instead of creating your own little amusements off to the side."
It worked. They all looked appropriately abashed. I cleared my throat before going on."Back to the subject. Odine was the first scientist to perform research on a live sorceress---or sorcerer, whatever the case may be. Because of his research, the system of para-magic was developed. Para- magic is actually a subsystem of the Ancient Magic that pertained to the now-extinct Centra. The Centra were the first sorcerers and sorceresses. Humans came not long after that, being created by the Great Hyne herself. Hyne was actually the first sorceress, and was the creator of the Centra and of mankind. The rumor goes that several of the more powerful Centra were actually descendants of Hyne."
The class had sunk back into it's usual stupor. I cleared my throat for their attention again before I went on."Both Esthar and Balamb Gardens use Guardian Forces in conjunction with para-magic to give us great strength. However, it has now been proven that because GF's make a place in our subconcious that makes us lose our memories, Gardens are only allowed to junction GF's to volunteers. As a matter of fact, GF sign-up ends this week, so those of you who haven't signed up and want to, had better get a move on."
"What are your GF's, Instructor?"someone in the back piped up, and I sighed.
"Might as well show you,"I said, figuring that it would be good for them to get up and move around. "Come on, let's go to the training center."
"Yeah!"
"All right!"
"Cool!"
Those and several similar cheers met my ears as I got to my feet and sifted through my magic, before properly junctioning Confuse, Berserk, Sleep, and Silence to my status defense, and Bio, Life, Shell, and Quake to my elemental defense. Esthar Garden's training center was full to the brim with Malboros.
We entered the training center and I told the class to stand near the doorway, and to not move until I told them to. Instead, I ran around in circles and threw sticks, stones, and even one of my boots at the walls, trying to provoke a monster to come out.
Aha! Sure enough, crawling around the side was a Grat, a not-to-diffucult monster that we had back at Balamb. So, I took the oppurtunity to summon some of my weaker GF's.
"Hell Fire!"I shouted, trying out a new summoning motion that I'd been working on. Instead of making my nunchaku into the shape of a Z, I tried making it into the shape of an N.
Ifrit appeared and sent his blast of molten lava at the Grat, completely obliterating it. As his roars faded away into the back of my mind, I heard applause from my students. I smiled, and dredged up a T-Rexaur---a little more diffucult.
First thing I did was cast Protect, so when it lashed out at me with it's giant teeth, the blue shield softened the blow. Some bruises, but it didn't even draw blood."Dark Messenger!"
A few casts of Diablos, and the T-Rexaur was dead. I hadn't gotten through this battle unscarred, though, and opted to cast Recover on myself. Searching around, I got two more Grats, and swamped them with a single casting of Leviathan. Another Grat, so I showed the class Cerberus's Counter Rockets, and cast three Meteor spells in a row to get rid of it.
Aha! Finally! Making some disgusting crunching noise, a Malboro waltzed around the corner like it owned the place. I took a deep breath, and formed my nunchaku into the shape of an X with a line at the bottom. "Eternal Breath!!!"
As I suspected, the class was wowed by the spectacular performance of Eden. I was so busy concentrating my powers to Boost the darn thing, that I missed it. The Malboro was no more, thank Hyne. After that, I fought one more T-Rexaur to show the class Alexander, Cactuar, and Bahamut. Then, sweaty and panting, I led my students back to class. They were still talking about which GF was their favorite.
"Eden was SO ass-kickin'!"
"But Bahamut's the King of Summons, isn't he? I read that somewhere!"
"No way! Diablos beats them all!"
The girls were relatively quiet, not preferring any of the brawny things I had summoned. So, just for a few kicks, I called on Carbuncle to cast Ruby Light on some of them, and they gushed over how cute it was. I recalled it's fear as the junior classmen back at Balamb tried to plunge it down the john.
Blessedly, basic knowledge class was over not long after that. I ended early, because during a lecture about the Great Salt Lake, Trussel's pen exploded in his mouth and I had to take him to see Doctor Fars, Esthar Garden's physician.
On the way back, I checked my watch and realized that I was supposed to meet Vienna and Seifer in the training center for her lesson ten minutes ago. Groaning and wondering what sort of reproachment I was going to get for being late, I broke into a run.
As I neared the facilities, I heard several shouts and the noises of metal against metal. I ran faster. Stopping at the entrance, I saw that the two of them had already begun sparring, and that Vienna was losing horribly. Try as she might, she couldn't seem to move fast enough to follow Seifer's orders.
"Downstroke! Parry! Advance! Parry! Evade! Evade! Retreat! Downstroke! Parry! FOR HYNE'S SAKE, LOIRE, USE YOUR HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Beast had shouted this last statement as Vienna overestimated a slash and tripped over her own feet, before falling facedown in the dirt. Quick as a flash, Seifer put the heel of his steel-tipped-booted foot on her back, the Hyperion aimed directly for the back of her head. He made a noise of disgust and spun around abruptly, coming face to face with me."Good, you're here. Maybe you can teach this idiot a little bit of accuracy. Apparently those archery lessons weren't worth what her father paid for them."
I rolled my eyes at him."If you'd stop being such an ass about it, maybe she could concentrate a little more!"I retorted, helping a shaking Vienna to her feet."Okay, Vienna. My guess is, because it's a gunblade, your Nemeris should have an accuracy rate of 255%, right?"
She nodded. Seifer snorted his lack of believing that."Well, you've got to draw on that. My nunchaku here, the Strange Vision, has that hit percentage, too. So what you do is, you let the WEAPON guide your hands to where they want to go. With other weapons, you have to direct them, but not with these. Just draw on the Nemeris's accuracy, and you'll do fine."
"I---I'm not fast enough to follow orders,"she said, in a voice barely over a whisper. In a second, I checked her junctioning. It was all good; Ultima on strength, Triple on speed, Meltdown on vitality, Curaga on spirit, Pain on magic, Aura on luck, and Stop on evade. The only thing I fixed was her elemental defense junctioning, replacing the Tornado that she had there with 100 Firaga, knowing as well as I do how much Seifer liked to use fire magic.
"Well, you're junctioning's good,"I told her."The thing is, you're just not utilizing it properly. You have to LET the magic and the GFs give you strength. It's the same thing with the hit percent of the Nemeris. Concentrate on the para-magic, Vienna, and you'll be fine."
"I, uh........."She looked around the room as if searching for a means to escape. I didn't blame her. She looked ready to drop dead from fear. I smiled at her.
"You wanna try sparring with me, first?"To ease her mind and(although not willingly) bloat his ego, I added:"I'm not as good as Commander Almasy, though."
Tee-hee, it worked. Vienna swallowed hard and looked over at the Beast, who nodded his approval. I undid the Strange Vision from it's usual knot and took my battle stance. Vienna stood in a stance that reminded me so much of Squall that it was nearly heartbreaking. I think I wanted to go home. Besides, what about the Garden Festival?
At that moment of my absentness, Vienna charged, striking low. Hyne, she was FAST! I'd never had a good speed stat, and her's was out of this world! I guess my advice on drawing on the strength of her GFs really worked. I mean, I didn't expect her to get it the first try.
Phew! I prevented myself from nearly being beheaded. In it's stead, I felt myself swirling upward under the full-fledged power of a Tornado spell. Good thing it was junctioned to my elemental defense, and instead I felt some of my strength returning as I landed.
I took the oppurtunity to cast Cerberus on myself, and three Water spells on her. The damage was halved because of the Life and Shell she had there, but it damaged nonetheless. After the last couple of drips faded away, she darted in to strike. The battle was really heating up.
I just managed to block her attack in time. She danced out of striking distance, her eyes narrowing. It was a calculating look, the look of someone who was planning their next move. I was glad to see that she was learning so fast.
Another hit, and this time I wasn't able to dodge it. I fell back, bleeding freely from a wound on my arm. I sifted through my magic searching for a Full-cure, but instead I found.........
"Rapture!"I cried, and the pretty white angel wings attached themselves to Vienna's back and flew her promptly out of the training center. I sat down on the ground hard, my legs seemed to have given way. I found the Full- cure I was looking for and cast it on myself.
"Tilmitt, where did she go?!"Seifer looked pretty outraged. I wished that I hadn't cured myself, then I could just cast Rapture on him to and get him away from me."How are we supposed to tell President Loire that we've lost his daughter?!"
I grinned."Tee-hee, we haven't LOST her! She's just in the parking lot. Don't worry, she'll be back soon."
His anger faded to confusion."...........Say again?"
"It's Rapture, you doofus! My special magic! It flies an enemy out of battle! Don't worry, she's not hurt."
He folded his arms across his chest.".............Show me."
"Erm........I can't."I climbed to my feet."It's part of my Limit Break."
He muttered something that I took to be a swear to himself, then something else, and a yellowish glow spread itself up my body. I recognized it to be an Aura spell.
So, I found a Rapture spell and cast it on him, sending him out to the parking lot where Vienna was. During the time I was waiting for them to come back, I sat down to think.
(Man, I miss Balamb), was the first thought that flew through my mind.(The field exam would be starting right about now, the kids would be trying to see if you could light Ifrit on fire and have it actually hurt, and that same asshole who casts Triple on himself and uses Death spells on students walking down the halls would be back at it again............)
(Why did I have to be here? I mean, I like Vienna and Mira and Trussel and all of them, but why me? There's so many who are more qualified for this job! It's getting harder and harder for me to stay all sunshine and smiles, you know! Plus, there's the Garden Festival going on back home, and all of my classes!)
I wondered what everyone else would be doing now. Squall would probably be worrying himself to death because it had been at least three weeks since my last transmission, Rinoa would be telling him to STOP worrying, Quisty would probably trying to get the pervert down at Fisherman's Horizon who keeps pretending to hang off of the bridge just so he could look up her skirt thrown in jail, Zell would promptly be devouring every hot dog in sight if he got to the cafeteria early enough, or throwing a huge hissy fit if he didn't get there early enough, and Irvine.........
Well, I didn't know WHAT Irvy would be up to.(Probably busy flirting with some air-brained chick right about now), I thought bitterly, my first real bitter thought in a long time. It looks like 'Peace! Love! And Happiness!' had finally committed suicide or something to that effect.
"Interesting magic, Tilmitt,"I heard the Beast say from behind me, and I sighed heavily, getting to my feet. Poking her head out sheepishly from behind him was Vienna, the Nemeris trailing slightly along on the ground. I shrugged.
"I could never cast it on you before. The End would have worked, but I could never find it in time. Usually, I just settle for Wall or Full-cure."
"Hmmm............."I think he'd forgotten that Vienna was there, because he looked a little startled when she spoke up.
"Ummm, sir? Did I do better with Instructor Tilmitt?"
Seifer managed to hide his surprise."What? Yeah, Loire. But I'm a lot harder to beat."I snorted off to the side, preferring instead to study a spot on the wall."We'll try your luck with me, this time."
Vienna looked terrified at the thought. I turned to her."Don't worry. You did quite well against me. Just remember what I told you, 'kay?"
She didn't look as though she believed me, but she nodded nonetheless. To me, something seemed off about Vienna, something about her weapon. Aside from the fact that it was nearly three-quarters her size, that is.
She and the Beast took their stances."This time, try to follow orders, Loire,"he told her, a little more harshly than what I thought was necessary. Then again, at least he wasn't shouting at her."Advance! Downstroke! Evade! Downstroke! Retreat! Parry! Advance!"
She seemed to be doing better this time, I noted. While still not being able to place on decent hit on him (although she did slash a tear in his coat, which I knew I would never hear the end of later), she had managed to avoid all of his, as well.
My mind started to wander again, as it usually did. I was quickly snapped back to reality, however, as a sharp cry made me nearly bite my tongue in half. It was Vienna, a huge gash in her right calf. And I mean, HUGE. I was surprised her leg didn't fall off right at that moment.
As it was, she collapsed to the ground. But just before she fell, more a spasm of pain than anything, she got one more slash upward............
I could see the headlines:'STUDENT AND TEACHER KILLED IN SPARRING LESSON WHILE DORKY AND TOTALLY UNHELPFUL INSTRUCTOR SAT BY AND WATCHED." I thought this as soon as I saw Seifer collapse on the ground next to Vienna, her hit having been a good(if albeit a lucky one, at least) one across his side.
I paused. Did I dare? I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I'd done something to this proximity, but if I messed up, then I could very well end up killing us all.............
I checked my elemental attack, and my elemental defense. The Life and Shell still held. Shaking slightly, I took the 100 Bio off of defense and put it onto attack. Status attack was Blind, but I could live with that, seeing as how the Strange Vision had that 255% accuracy thingy, anyway.
Drawing a deep breath, I swung my nunchaku around and slammed them promptly back into my head. Stars swam in front of my vision, and I could feel my elemental defense absorbing half in the impact. Damn. It still wasn't enough. Since I was officially Blinded, I had to let the Strange Vision do it's work. I braced myself and hit myself again, this time on the stomach. Stars swam in my head, and I really felt like I had to puke. But it worked. I had my Limit Break.
Sifting through my special magic, I found the Full-cure I was looking for, and hurriedly cast it on the three of us, dropping to the ground in weak-kneed relief. I was so afraid that I would end up KOing myself and screw us all over. But I couldn't have just done some Curaga's, they were some pretty serious hits. Something could have came along and KOed us all again when I was still casting cure spells.
"........Damn............."The Beast arose first, grumpy and complaining as usual. I think his ego was hurt more than he was; it made me happy."Tilmitt, what'd you do?"
"Me?!"I shrieked, putting an indignant look on my face. How DARE he?! After it was ME who just saved him from imminent DESTRUCTION! What a lousy, ungrateful---
"Yeah, you. I know you used your Limit Break; I've seen it often enough to know. But HOW?"I closed my mouth abruptly, and put on a sheepish grin.
"I whacked myself a couple of good ones,"I admitted, showing him the bruises. I would have a granny of a headache tomorrow, I knew it. Just to save a beauty and a beast. Tee-hee. I saw that Vienna was still unconcious, but thanks to MY Full-cure, she was unhurt.
Seifer's eyes narrowed, but not at me. Hyne, if he had even SLIGHTLY narrowed his eyes at me, it would take more than a Full-cure to save him, I swear it!"Tilmitt."He put a hand on my shoulder, then used me as a support to haul himself to his feet, before bending down and offering me a hand up himself."........Thanks."
Then he went over to check on Vienna, still upset at her one lucky stroke, I could tell. A fly nearing zooming into my mouth made me shut it hurriedly. I had been standing there with my jaw dropped open.
".......Loire. You all right?"Vienna's eyes snapped open and she sat up, hurriedly giving the Beast a salute that nearly ended up smacking her in the face.
"Y-Yes, sir. I......I didn't mean to---"
"..........Nice stroke. But a lucky one. You can't go through a battle relying on just luck. I'll want to see you in my office at 08:00 tomorrow. Until then, dismissed."
Vienna managed another salute before beating a hasty retreat, barely stopping to grab the Nemeris from where it lay in the grass near the exit. Frowning slightly, I dusted myself off before picking up the Strange Vision, slinging it over my shoulder. Seifer did the same with the Hyperion. However, as I started to walk away, he called after me.
"Tilmitt! Come here for a second."
I did so. He seemed to be thinking hard about something(once again, I was getting pretty used to the sight). After a few seconds, though, he suddenly tossed me the Hyperion. I was so startled, I nearly dropped it.
It was the first time I had ever held the thing. It was black with a silver edge, narrow-bladed, and there was a design etched into the gun handle part of it, something I couldn't quite see. On the side, in fancy, twirling letters, was the word 'Hyperion'. I liked it. At least, I liked it better than Squall's. Of course, the narrow blade was interesting, but I guess it made for even deadlier hits. I knew for a fact that it would draw less blood.
"S-Sir?"I managed. He shrugged.
"Been looking for a new battle stance. One of your students told me you were good at that, so I thought I'd ask. My old one left too much of me open, but at least it kept one of my hands free. I'm lookin' for something in between."
I frowned; knowing him, there was definitely more to this than what originally met the eye. But I shrugged it off, and tried to think of something to suggest that wasn't totally retarded. I was determined to find out which student had informed him of my abilities as an instructor, and promptly murder them on the spot.
"Vienna and Squall hold their gunblades in an upright position, which is great defensively,"I said carefully, hoping I didn't sound like I was reading right out of a textbook. Picking stances for my students was one thing, but Seifer? The self-proclaimed 'best soldier in the world'? Self- proclaimed being the key words here, folks."But then again, you have to use both your hands in holding it up. I'm not even sure WHAT the hell you do, but maybe holding it sideways? Like, it puts more strain on your dominant wrist, but you can still guard yourself and have one of your hands free."I demonstrated, he scrutinized.
"All right, Tilmitt."I was surprised to hear an undernote of something that sounded like SATISFACTION in his voice. He bent down and found a good- sized rock, before throwing it into the bushes and calling out a Grat. It charged towards me, making that indistinct clicking noise that it makes with it's mandibles."Now, let's see how well it works."
I gaped at him. HE was expecting ME to fight off this Grat with his Hyperion?! I'd never even HELD the thing before this, and now he wanted me to fight with it?! No WAY!
Well, I didn't exactly have much choice. Maybe he did want to see how well the new stance worked. Or maybe(I suspected this more) he just wanted to see me make an ass out of myself and get beat up in the process.
The stupid thing tried to cast it's Sleeping Gas on me. Which of course didn't work, because of the Sleep I had junctioned to my status defense. Thinking fast, I tried to concoct a way of slashing. Vienna and Squall did the basic downstroke, which I had to admit was predictable and easy to defend against, while Seifer did this odd diagonal-upwards thing, which was only useful if you were hoping to slice your enemies' legs right out from underneath them. Which I guess was useful, in a sense.
I envisioned myself picking the most gory way possible to slice up a Malboro(by now, I had harbored the world's biggest grudge against the abominations). Of course. A nice one, right across the middle. Chop it in half! Watch it's guts ooze out of it's body! And then, BLOW IT TO SMITHEREENS!!!!!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!!!
The violent half of me took over. I decided that a side slash was perfect, and darted in for the Grat. I was right. It did more damage than a downstroke, and even more than an uppercut. Perfect! Not too much longer, the Grat was defeated. And off to the side, Seifer was still watching me with that calculating look.
"Tilmitt,"he said, after I had wiped all the Grat ooze from the Hyperion and given it back to him,"I want you to meet me up in my office with Loire tomorrow, at 08:00 hours. Don't be late."
I tried to talk to him some more, but he wouldn't say anything else. Dispirited, I gave up, and headed back to my classroom. After this morning's sparring lesson, today's instructions on close-range combat seemed almost dull. ALMOST dull, considering the fact that Fujin came in to instruct students with her Zan, and nearly got her other eye put out. Vienna was in the back, subdued as normal. I still couldn't believe that she was Sir Laguna's daughter.
During lunch, when I was supposed to have been checking the new list of GF volunteers, my thoughts floated to Sir Laguna. I know, I know! I just couldn't help it. He was SOOO cute! All the funny little things he did, the way he got embarrassed over them, his adorable way that he wore his expressions right out on his face...............
I couldn't help it; I gave a little girlish sigh at that. If this were a cartoon, I'd have little hearts drawn in where my eyes should be.
A giggle interrupted my swooning, and I turned sharply towards the doorway. It was Mira, standing there in a cute little tee-shirt with cats on it and a pair of shorts. Most certainly NOT her Esthar Garden uniform, by the way."Instructor T.! You're in love! I knew it! I just knew you were in love with him!"
Oh, no! Was I that transparent?! Would she tell anyone?! Vienna would be SO mortified if she found out! "Mira, you can't tell anyone---"
"Oh, of COURSE not!"I saw past her innocent face."I think it's cute, Instructor T. Anyway, you said you've give me some close combat training, right? Instructor Tora doesn't know a single thing about quarterstaffs, just like I thought. I mean, I know you said you fight with nunchaku,"she went on hurriedly,"but maybe you could help me out a little? This is your free period, right?"
I closed the manila foldier with the list of names inside and put it inside the drawer of my desk."Yeah, it is."I guess I would have to do the grading during my other free."Okay, let's get started. First, I---"
"Erm, Instructor."Mira looked really embarrassed about something."I've brought some friends along, if you don't mind."
I smiled; what more harm could two or three kids do?"Of course not, Mira. They can come in."
Oh, Hyne, that was a mistake. Two or three kids actually turned out to be a number roughly the size of Mira's quarterstaff class. And just as loud.
"EVERYONE, QUIET!!!!!!"I shouted, and I swear that some of the plaster fell from the walls as I yelled it. They all stopped doing whatever it was they were doing to turn and stare at me."Okie, now that I've got your attention, can someone please tell me what is going on here?"
"Mira said you could help us out, because Instructor Tora doesn't know shit about combat,"said a tall boy, I think his name was Macks. A girl I knew to be called Peili piped in, too.
"We didn't want to leave your class anyway, Instructor T.!"she said, looking indignant."But because the Commander had to be a total asshole, we got booted!"
"Look,"I said, trying to keep patience."Seifer's asshole level(as high as that might be, grant you) isn't the issue here. I offered Mira some extra help, but I can't teach a WHOLE CLASS full of quarterstaff students! I don't know anything about it! Go see Raijin if you want some extra help."
I had expected that it would settle the matter, but it didn't."Jeez, Instructor Tilmitt!"It was Mira."When'd you get to be a total stiff?"It was also the first time she hadn't called me Instructor T.
"I'm not a stiff,"I protested, and felt my resolve slipping. I knew the kids would win, anyway. Kids were damn persistent."All right, all right. I'll try and help you out. But no complaining if Tora yells at you because I've been teaching you wrong."
Collective shouts of 'yeah' and 'awesome' met my ears. I sighed.
Could things get worse?
After some basic tutorial stuff(NO!!!!!! THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE CLASS WAS COMING BACK TO BITE ME IN THE ASS!!!!!!) I let the kids start sparring with their weapons. Some considerable hours later, I watched the last of the students leave, desperately wanting to soak in a nice hot bath. I was bruised(and even a bit bloodied) all over from quarterstaff smacks. Hyne, how I wanted whoever invented the quarterstaff to die(if they weren't dead already, that is).
Stretching my aching limbs, I sat through three more classes before my last free came. Oh, thank Hyne, it was at the end of the day. Finally sitting down and being able to eat my lunch, I sifted through the rest of the GF sign-up papers and began to grade the test I had given today on Odine and Sorcere(r or ss, whichever way you looked at it) Adel. Indeed, most of the students had written wisecracks during the question dealing with some of the things Odine developed from studying Adel('a boner' and 'a homosexual lifestyle' were the most popular ones, by the way).
Just as I was getting ready to pack up and leave, the Beast entered without knocking. It seemed to be in a rage today.
"Tilmitt. Walk with me."Well, since he asked that of me just about every day after class, I shrugged noncommittingly and stuffed my papers in my bag, before tossing it over my shoulder, before following him out of the room.
"Sir?"I asked, wondering how much farther I could go along on this thin ice before it broke. He stopped in a deserted hallway, turning to face me with a dangerous look on his face.
"Tell me why,"he said, starting towards me slowly,"you've been going around saying that the former ruler of this land was a CLOSET-ROOM CROSSDRESSER...............?"He spoke the last part in nothing more than a venomous hiss; I was really scared now. For every step he took towards me, I took one back.
"S-Sir? What......what do you me---I mean.........what?"Thump! My back hit the wall. I cast my eyes around desperately, searching for a way to escape. I mean, he wouldn't REALLY kill me, would he?! There was too many people around, and............!!!
"You KNOW what I mean. It's all over this place, how you've told your students that Sorceress Adel was actually a man in disguise."With each word, he was bringing his face deliberately closer to mine, until I finally turned my head towards the wall, my eyes shut tight. At least I wouldn't have to WATCH him kill me."A laugh it might get for you, Tilmitt, but you know what it gets for me?"
WHERE WAS MY STRANGE VISION?!?!?!?!?! If I ever needed it more than anything, now was the time!!!!!!!
The Beast went on, in this low growling voice that made him sound more like a beast than ever."Phone calls. And LOTS of them. Parents wanting to know what sort of corrupt garbage my instructors are teaching. Some threatening to revoke their kids' enrollment. So, you know what YOU get to do?"
I had a good idea."P-Pack my stuff, hunh? Tee-hee......."I managed a shaky laugh."I always wondered when you'd fire me............"
If he was surprised that I said that, he didn't show it. I turned away from the wall long enough to see him shaking his head. THAT was confusing; unnerving at best, too. That sealed it. Of course he was going to kill me. I'd die a virgin, and without ever planning a proper Garden Festival---
WOAH?!?!?!?! I did NOT just think that, did I?! Ew, gross!!!!!!!! That should be the LAST thing on my mind right now! No, instead I should be trying to ask forgiveness for all the bad stuff I'd done, and make peace with Hyne before I went to Nemeris, the Underworld---
"No, instead you get to make a formal apology to the Esthar government, or else,"corrected Seifer, so close to me that his lips were touching my ear. That 'or else' held a mountain of threats in it, none of which I wanted to envision at the moment. Hyne, how I hated confrontation! I liked fighting, but not........Fighting, with a captial 'F'! And Hyne, he was scary! I knew how Vienna felt.
"O-Or else..............?"I squeaked, not staring at him, but at everything else. I had to admit, it was quite the suggestive position, him with his arms pinning me to the wall. I wondered, should I scream for help? No, the lights were going down, so it was past curfew. All the instructors would be going back to their rooms, or meeting up in the lounge.........
The Beast laughed, a laugh I didn't like. It was low-pitched, and seemed to almost vibrate in my ear."You actually want me to go on, Tilmitt? Or, are you just seeing how far you can try my patience? I'm a generally patient guy, you understand, but a certain little messenger girl seems to have been grating on my nerves as of late.............."
No need to ask who THAT was. I was just about to break away and possibly make a run for it, when something caught my eye.
Of course. That insignia on the arm of his coat, the flaming sword. THAT was the mark I had seen on the Hyperion. I honestly don't know what had made me think of it now, maybe a combination of too much coffee and a pyschopath pinning you to a wall could make you think of strange things.
He caught me looking. I guess it was kinda hard for him NOT to, I was staring like I had done when he ever-so-politely thanked me for saving his lousy ass."So, you remembered. If you'd studied your history properly, you'd know where it came from, too. A flaming sword on a field of white.........."
He seemed a bit pensive. I wondered if I could use his lack of focus as a chance to break away. But something about that bothered me.'A flaming sword on a field of white............'
'...........in the hands of those who bear the light'!!!!! That was IT!!!!!!! The.........pledge to the last house of the Dollet Dukedom!!!!!!!!!!! NO...........WAY!!!!!!!!!!
A strangled noise of something I couldn't quite discern escaped my mouth; a gloved hand hurriedly cut it off."Not a word, Tilmitt. Not a word. Your supervision still stands. Don't forget our meeting with Loire tomorrow at 8."
He starting walking away calmly, like nothing had happened."I've bought you a bed, by the way,"he added nonchalantly, and cut off whatever it was I had been about to say with a flick of his wrist."Don't forget."
I stood, flabbergasted.(If he was............then he could............HOLY HYNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Shaking my head to clear it of any thoughts whatsoever, I felt the sudden urge that I wanted to go to a bar. I couldn't believe it. If he'd known, then why hadn't he told any of us up until now.........? It seemed like something he would want to flaunt in our faces.
I watched him walk away; long legs taking long strides, his hands stuffed down deep in his pockets(a gesture more custom of Zell; he'd never had his hands in his pockets since I'd starting working here), that golden-blondish hair shining in the moonlight. I JUST talked to him. I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it.
For, if everything was the way I thought it to be and the insignia was truly his; then, the man I had just been talking to was Sir Seifer Almasy, the last emperor of the Dollet Dukedom.
AN~Tee hee! Isn't this great?!?!?!*drinks more Vanilla Coke and wonders how she could possibly be so hyper* Freaky plot twist, hunh?! The first of many, I predict! So, a little confused? Don't worry, I am, too. I'll try to explain everything in the next part, don't worry. Key word---TRY. Until then, pester me with E-mails and beg to know what's going on! LoL. BTW, I know you can't have an emperor of a dukedom, but I just think 'Dollet Dukedom' sounds so much cooler than 'Dollet Empire'. Alliteration kicking in, or something.*drinks more Vanilla Coke* Anyway, if I'm going to get about explaining all this, then I'd better go! Byes!*uses magical tigerofthewind powers to vanish in the blink of an eye* ~tiger~*is vanished*