Chapter 9

"I had an inkling that Odine was a few clowns short of a circus, if you know what I mean."

-Quistis Trepe

"Extracted?!" I echoed Murphy with a tone nearing hysteria. This was not right. Even though I was an amazing fighter..and not to mention brilliant and charismatic... I was only one SeeD. One SeeD against four GF's seemed like a little bit of an unfair fight to me. "Why?"

"Why?" Murphy gave me a chiding look. It was only the anxiety flooding my mind which kept me from injuring him for doing it. "Well, Quistis my dear, there are many reasons. Most importantly, they are harming his mind. If we would ever hope to hear about his past, we need to extract the GF's that are wiping his memory clean."

I took a breath, preparing myself to not scream out my rebuttal. "Okay, Murphy.. How long has he been in that coffin? Thousands, millions of years? I think whatever memory he had was wiped out long ago."

He took in my argument and then calmly explained his own. "Well, as I see it, he most likely has a higher resistance against Guardian Force memory loss. He certainly has a higher life span, and time is definitely not the same with him. I think if we remove these now, it wont be long until he will receive all of his memories back."

I was speechless. Congratulations, Murph, you finally proved yourself as a scientist. All in all though, I was still pretty skeptical about the 'other reasons'. That, and being ripped to shreds by some pissed off monster from being caged up for so long.

"Alright, that's all well and good, but I'm a little concerned about the safety measures. I don't really want to tarnish my image or anything, but I think you may have to call for backup." Well, I was being honest for once.

"Nonsense!" He tried to assure me.. Although not convincing me, "Extracting GF's are 100% safe. You must have done it at least once in all of your journeys."

Okay, yes, I've done it a million times. Back at the Garden, GF essences were stored in large tubes. Very safe, and very efficient. I was guessing that was what they were going to here, but there was still a small twinge of uneasiness in the back of my mind. This was extremely unorthodox, and probably wouldn't follow the exact same procedures that every other GF did.

It was most likely going to be dangerous... but I guess that's why they had me for. "So, when do we start?"

"This afternoon," Murphy stated, making me relax a little, "I need to do a few more tests, and he needs to be moved to the extracting room. Go and ease yourself for a few hours. Meet back here two o'clock."

I had a few hours to blow, and I knew exactly where I should go. I stretched in a library chair, preparing myself to get down to some hardcore studying. It had been a long couple of year since I had learned about GF extracting, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to brush up on some of the information.

And besides that. It wasn't class season anymore, and no one visited the library. Oh Quistis, how clever are you? I chuckled silently to myself as I cracked open Dr Odine's book.

I always thought that Odine must have been a tall, handsome man. His writings were so passionate, my imaginations always turned him into a romantic hunk with brains bursting out of his head. I thought that we would get along so great, and would develop something very special. I guess this is what someone would call pathetic, as a young girl dreams of scientists. Then again, I had a weird childhood to begin with, and believe me, this doesn't even scratch the surface.

You know, a smart man is hard to find... but a handsome, smart man is even harder to find. As I walked into Ester, all of my dreams were smashed, as I finally met Odine. Not tall, not handsome, and without a smidgen of passion that I had read in his books. Not to mention the wardrobe. I had an inkling that Odine was a few clowns short of a circus, if you know what I mean. And of course, like every man that I had been interested in... all of his attention had been towards Rinoa.

A shut that book with vengeance, as I frowned. I couldn't even study without despising that girl. What did everyone see in her? Sure she was sweet.. and attractive... and very dependent on a strong man to be her god...

Ok, maybe that's everything I'm not. But I don't want to be that way. It sickens me.

"Oh hi Samone!" I heard that same sickly-sweet voice from across the room. Speak of the devil, Rinoa was in the library of all places. It was suddenly bizzaro world, and I was caught in the middle. So quickly that I cut through the air, Odine's book went up over my face, in hopes of deceiving her.

But of course, what had I learned about my luck?

"Quistis! Come over here a second!" Rinoa had caught me, and I cursed myself for wearing my peach ensemble that she must have known so well.

I slowly put the book down and smiled weakly, giving a little wave. This was it, she had finally outsmarted you, and there was no where to run this time. Well.. I might as well get this over with. It took me only a few precious moments of peace to reach her as she finished talking to the librarian, Samone.

"Well, hi, Rinoa," I said to her, as we sat at a nearby table. "What brings you here to the library?"

I tried to keep the disbelief out of my voice as I again marveled at her appearance here of all places. "Oh, I was just asking Samone if she and Zell wanted to do something soon."

Of course! Looks like I wasn't as clever as I thought. "Oh, that's nice." I said as I nodded, "How is Squall?"

She frowned a little, as I my mind played happily around the idea that they had finally broken up. "Well, he hasn't come home yet from his mission."

Mission? Oh yeah.. The one that I wasn't good enough to go on. Not only did the memory of that bring back all new annoyances, Rinoa and Squall still hadn't broken up. Oh well.. that was close, Quisty.

"Oh, the mission near Trabia, right? How's that going?" I might as well get as much information out of her as I could.

She paled a little, and I felt a little twinge of pity. Yes, I was actually feeling bad for Rinoa, Hyne help me. "Not too good at all. Promise you wont tell anyone any of this ok?" she near whispered, as I nodded and leaned in closer to her. "Trabia Garden had to be evacuated. The monsters are multiplying like crazy, and the SeeD's can hardly handle them all. Most have been sent back because of the danger, and a lot of them have been injured. Even Zell is recovering from some injuries in ward."

I let out a breath. I had no idea that it was this bad. "Is Zell okay?" I asked sincerely.

"Yeah, he's going to be fine. But it's not Zell I am worried about." She absent mindedly traced a circle on the pine table as she tried her hardest to keep tears back.

My heart was going out to her in a manner that surprised me like no other. What was happening to me? "Who is?"

"Squall... he can be so stubborn sometimes.." You don't need to tell me that. "He wont leave because he thinks he can take the monsters on, even though he knows how strong they are. Just because he feels like he has a responsibility to stay there because he's the head SeeD..."

I held out my hand to cover her's for a second. "Hey, don't worry Rinoa. Squall knows what he can handle. If this gets over his head, he will know when it's the right time to leave."

She looked up at me with a smile, her old self returning. "Yeah, I guess you're right... He's a smart guy, he knows what he's doing, I guess. Thanks Quistis!"

She stood up and gave me hug. "I have to go now, I'll see you around!"

As she walked out the door, only one thought encircled my head: Do I still have enough time to get a shower?