Garden-wide conflicts!

One Instructor permanently expelled!

Local reporter, Jessica Marly, investigated the Balamb Garden incident. Apparently the accused Instructor Jenna was kicked out of Balamb Garden for attempting to kill our beautiful ice queen Instructor Trepe. That's right, our very own #1 rated Instructor in last month's Most Desirable Singles in Balamb was attacked yesterday. She had to go to the infirmary for an all-too deadly head injury. More on page A7

"Damn these reporters," Zell said as he chewed on his favorite breakfast (yes he eats hot dogs in the mornings too), "They always have to exaggerate stuff."

Zell was currently sitting in the cafeteria surrounded by his usual gang of friends. Selphie, Rinoa, Xu and Nida, and Ellone sat with him and read the headlines. Squall was somewhere in his office taking care of his usual business. Rinoa was in her regular nurse outfit, as she had taken (or gave herself) the job as assistant nurse in the infirmary because she thought she wasn't doing enough to help out. Selphie dressed herself in her usual one piece minidress (sorry if I got that wrong I'm not enlightened on women's clothing). After the Ultimecia incident, Selphie had been promoted to Head of Committee; basically she took care of all the non-academic and non-military clubs, festivals, etc at the Garden. Xu, a high ranking Instructor and Cid's personal assistant, sat arm in arm with her boyfriend Nida, the Commander's esquire. She had a few bandages here and there, but she looked fine after yesterday. Zell was just a freelance, prominent SeeD. Ellone lived in Balamb Garden with Edea, and went regularly back and forth to Centra to see "Uncy Laguna." Irvine also got his fair share of power and fame, he reached the zenith of his career as Commander of Galbadia Garden. And Quistis . . . well . . . Quistis was . . . late as usual.

"Guys, do you know where Quistis is?" Zell asked.

"I dunno," Selphie chorused while munching down a spoonful of chocolate cereal.

"Don't you think there's something wrong with Quistis lately?" Xu interrupted.

"Now that you mention it, Quistis does seem to be kinda funny. Maybe it's that time of month?" inquired Zell.

"No she's not prissy-pissy, silly-willy. Booyaka, Zell, you don't know anything about women," Selphie bounced up and down.

"Hyne, Selphie, sit still! What do they put in that cereal?" Rinoa complained.

"A LOT of sugar. It makes it taste very yummy yummy."

"Note to Cid, ban Choco-Balls cereal in Balamb Garden," Xu joked.

Selphie took it very personally. "NO! NOPE! NU-UH! NEVER EVER EVER GOING TO HAPPEN!"

"For Hyne's sake, will you calm down?" Ellone said. Selphie calmed down and sat down. She glared at Xu and shoveled down her cereal while mumbling things like "Never ever."

-o-

Quistis looked at herself in the mirror. Red eyes pained from crying, hair matted with sweat from the throes of her nightmare, hollowed cheeks from the lack of food. All in all, a sad and pathetic face loomed back at her. She sighed at herself, drowning in her ocean of depression. Why do I feel this way? Why does it hurt? Make it stop, please! she screamed at herself. This was the pain she lived with. The pain that struck her awake in the morning; the pain that lingered with her and hammered her the whole day; the pain that was the only companion in bed at night. A troubled girl, lost in her own world of darkness, one of surreal horror. Depressed and self-hating, but hopeful, still hopeful nonetheless, for her knight in shining armor to come. To sweep her up in his mighty arms, to hold her in her times of woe, to love her.

Someday. Someday I will find you. I will wait for you until then.

…Someday…

-o-

In a similar dorm room in Balamb Garden, another troubled soul awoke. With his rising consciousness came the all-too-familiar feeling of fear. His eyes flashed open to look around him. Searching to make sure that he woke up in the same place he slept, scanning every dark crevice for the ones that searched for him. Living in the same surreal world, looking behind his back for the ones he eluded; such was his fate. The fate of the blood that flowed in his veins, the fate of a coward. Doomed to hide and run until he paid his dues and the dues of his family.

Soon I will be free. Soon I will find the key to unlock these chains that bind me.

…Soon…

-o-

"Quistis, you're late."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I couldn't find the ribbon I liked," Quistis stammered as she walked toward her sitting friends.

"Quisty!" Selphie screeched out loud and climbed over the table to hug her friend.

"Ow, ok Selphie, ok it's nice to see you too."

"Quisty, Xu was being mean. She said she would ban my favorite cereal."

"I'm sure she was just kidding Selphie."

"NO! She was being serious. Honestly, Quisty." Quistis laughed at her friend and took a seat between Zell and Rinoa. They pushed some food toward her, so she picked out an apple. Xu made eye contact with her and told Quistis, "Take it easy all right? SeeD exams are as stressful for instructors as they are for students."

"Don't worry I'll be fine," Quistis declared.

"Bye, Xu, I have to go. Squall had a ton of paperwork, but he put them off and now I have to do them. See ya later guys!" He gave a kiss to Xu and left. The others called goodbye, but Quistis just blushed and looked down. She always felt out of place within close proximity of couples, as if she were poisoning the air around them or something. And Hyne be damned, Xu noticed and gave her an odd look. Thankfully no one else noticed. Quistis ignored Xu and bit into her apple, trying to focus on savoring the sweet mushy juiciness and the soft bittersweet skin. Soon after, she joined her friends in a debate about some random subject, courtesy of Selphie. Quistis made up some excuse and left the table. Zell just got up and left. So Xu told Rinoa, Ellone, and Selphie, "Guys, I think I know what's bothering Quistis."

"What?" Rinoa asked.

"She needs a boyfriend."

"What?"

"It's pretty obvious now that I see it. Look, all of us, excuse me Ellone, have boyfriends, and Quistis must feel left out."

"So whadda we do?" chimed Selphie.

"Women. I have the perfect solution. Come to Squall and my dorm tonight at eight. I'll tell you then," declared Rinoa.

"Alrighty"

-o-

Quistis waited as her students filed in and took their seats. At exactly eight o'clock the bell rang, and the students promptly took their seats and quieted down. Quistis smiled brightly at her class.

"Good morning, everybody."

"Good morning, Instructor Trepe."

"As you all know, the SeeD test will be taking place three days from now. That's Friday. I've finished grading your practice written tests, and I'm glad to say that most of you scored excellently." A cry went up for this. Among the people to cheer the loudest were the three Trepies in her class. #1 whistled loudly, #2 woot-wooted, and #3 shouted, "It's because you're such a good instructor!"

Quistis smiled at her class and continued, "But I'd like to point out someone. This person scored exceptionally well, almost a perfect score. Good job, Terrance Astral, for scoring the highest as usual." The whole class clapped at the genius sitting in the front row. He had a well toned body with firm muscles (after all he was a gunblade expert) and raven black hair. He had a well-chiseled face and a nicely arranged face. He had alluring black eyes set into rich cream-colored skin. He would have had his fellow female classmates crawling (and clawing) over him, had he not had such a fiercely antisocial personality. Seriously, it was worse than Squall.

"Pff. Big deal," proclaimed Seifer, "If I spent as much time locked away in my dorm and studying as much as him, I'd be scoring so high, I wouldn't even be able to count it." Terrance just bowed his head and looked as if he was trying to disappear. Oh Hyne, no one can get under my skin like he can! Quistis thought.

"Seifer, I wanted to keep this private, but since you insist on it I think I'll say it in front of the whole class. Seifer, you have managed to score the lowest grade in the history of Balamb Garden. A phenomenal four out of 165 points."

"Hey, what can I say? It ain't that easy."

"Sometimes I wonder why you aren't in the special-ed class. Oh wait, there is none. Then why are you here? Oh wait, I forgot, you don't have anywhere else to go do you, Mr. Lapdog?" The last comment struck low and hard. Seifer actually felt his ego get whipped on that one. But Seifer Almasy was definitely not the kind of person to just lie down and accept that kind of punishment. Instead, he unsheathed his Hyperion and jumped over desks in a mad charge. And in his scant few seconds of levitation, Terrance reached up and grabbed Seifer's ankle in a vice and slammed him down. Seifer rolled on the floor to recover and swung his gunblade to retaliate. Terrance kicked up his chair into his hands and blocked it with a leg. Seifer then blasted the chair away with a Fire and went in for the kill. He stopped abruptly as he found his neck noosed with Quistis' Save the Queen.

"Drop it, Seifer, now." Seifer complied and felt the whip loosen its hold. "Go back to your seat, and don't cause any more trouble. Oh, and you've lost all your afternoon privileges, and you have detention all this week too." Seifer swore under his breath, and as he moved back to his seat, he growled at Terrance, "You're dead, buddy, you are fucking dead."

"Mariette, hand back these exams please. Open your notes everyone, this is the final review." Hyne this is going to be a long day.

-o-

Five hours passed. Five long, grueling, painful, hellish hours of reviewing every single military and academic concept. Covering the dreadful theories of osmotic pressure, sine curves, and subordinate clauses. Going over every single tactic like divide-and-conquer and rear/flank attack. And only a half hour lunch break in between. And now the final hour and the final subject. In a nutshell, a godsend to all.

"Oh, Hyne! My brain feels like its going to explode," exclaimed Trepie #1.

"Now, now, class, this is the final topic. Lets hang in there. Ok, so can anyone explain to me the concepts of GFs and magic junctioning?" Trepie #2 raised his hand to answer, so Quistis called on him.

"A GF is a paramagic entity that was only discovered recently. They can be equipped to provide help in battle. To summon them, one must go through the normal magic using sequence. It requires great concentration, and if successful, the GF will use your body as a medium into the physical realm; they will rearrange the atoms in your body to suit their forms, and after attacking they will disappear. They are extremely useful, but one of the few known drawbacks is the loss of long term memory."

"Very good. Now, Jason, explain the concepts of magic junctioning, please."

"Well, uh . . . after equipping a GF, you can draw paramagic from monsters or item, and store them. The GF will use the stocked magic to project a spherical aura around the bearer to protect them from physical harm. The more magic stocked, the stronger the affects, but the sphere can still be penetrated by magic, other GFs, or physical attacks." (AN: this is important to my story so remember it!)

"Nice job. Now let me tell you about Limit Breaks. Limit Breaks can only be activated when under extreme conditions. The body senses it and releases chemicals that trigger different feelings like fear or pain to the body. If a GF is equipped the body sends out a certain chemical that alerts the GF of impending death. The GF then shifts its power to you, causing a tremendous boost in speed, strength, etc. Everyone's limit break is different since we all have different bodies. Be warned, exceptionally skilled fighter can trigger off their Limit Breaks even if they aren't in near death status. Got all that?" (AN: this is also important) The whole class nodded (except Seifer who just seethed with anger in his seat).

"Ok now, everyone get up, and we'll do something fun." Quistis brought out a Stop stone. "Everyone draw some Stops, and stand where I'm standing. Aim at that clock and try to stop it. This will count as part of your participation grade, and so you will be graded on proficiency of magic, time needed to cast, and effectiveness. Now start."

One by one, the students drew some Stops and blasted away at the clock. Most of them succeeded. Quistis smiled at he class's success. But there were two students who failed. The first was Terrance. And the other was Seifer. Here's what happened.

Terrance walked up to the Stop stone, a little unconfident in his stride. With a little more difficulty than the rest of his classmates, he drew out one Stop. Only one? Quistis thought. He turned around and aimed for the clock. Taking a deep breath to help him concentrate, Terrance closed his eyes. He exhaled and the room went unearthly silent. The pressure seemed to shift as Quistis' ears felt like they popped. A strange tranquility resonated through the air. The calmness before the raging storm. He opened his palm and traced an upwards arc, aiming at the clock.

"Stop"

Like an uncoiling snake eager for a hunt after a long rest, the spell commenced. With giddy speed it collected in the palm of its caster's palm. And then . . . nothing happened whatsoever. No grand rapture of vigorous paramagic. No surge of power that sped its way to stop the clock. Not even a fizzle. That was it! I could even feel how powerful it was going to be and that's it! What happened? This is impossible; he's at the top of the class. . . Quistis questioned.

Apparently Seifer saw this as the funniest that ever. "Oh, my, Hyne! That sucked! I thought you were a genius! Go back to the intermediate class, sissy."

"Seifer!"

"Well, I'm sorry. He sucked so bad it was hilarious." Terrance looked like he had two heads. He turned a bright red and slumped as if to disappear. "Oh by the way, you're new name is now Sissy, got it?" he launched toward Terrance.

"Well, Seifer, if you think you're so good, why don't you be kind enough to demonstrate to us your magnificent skill?" Quistis said disparagingly.

"I was thought you would never ask." With pompous gait, he drew four Stops and got into position. "Watch my marvelous skill." Focusing his mind, he summoned waves of powerful paramagic. With lightning quick speed the spell was charged.

"Stop"

With a flash, the Stop spell blasted across the room. As it hit the target a blinding flash burst out. When the class was able to see again, everyone looked anxiously at the clock. Tick tock tick tock. The rest of the students let out crudely hidden snickers so as not to arouse the wrath of Seifer but still make it obvious they were laughing at him. Quistis wasn't afraid, so she burst out with ego-lashing bwah ha ha ha's.
"Well, Seifer, I must say . . . poor, very poor indeed."

"The joke's on you Ice Queen."

"What did you call me?"

Seifer pointed. "Looks like I didn't miss after all." Quistis followed his finger, and sure enough, there stood Terrance frozen in time. Staring out with a surprised look, he remain motionless, affixed into place like a human statue.

"Let that be a lesson to you, Sissy, and to everyone else –"

"Seifer, you cheating little bast—"

"No one –"

"– going to report –"

"– messes with Seifer Almasy."

"– to Headmaster Cid!"

"No one," he repeated with deadly finality for implacable emphasis.

"Lift the spell. NOW!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Seifer gloated with an excess of sarcasm vomiting from his mouth, "I don't have any more Esunas stocked. Looks like it's too bad for him."

"Seifer, you little f–" Quistis was cut off by a high-pitched noise. The same noise as the sound of a precious glassware artifact being hurled to the ground: the shrieking shrill of shattering glass. With that smashing sound, Terrance broke free from the spell.

"What the hell? How did you . . . ?" Seifer stopped in mid sentence and brought out his Hyperion to parry the blow from Terrance's Revolver.

"Wow, I have to admit it, you're pretty fast, Sissy." With a deep grunt, Seifer put his both hands on Hyperion and shoved Terrance back. Recovering his footing with supernatural grace, Terrance dove in for another assault with a two-handed overhand slash. And with ease, Seifer knocked him away.

"Both of you stop this right now!"

"Double: Fira"

Two fiery explosions followed consecutively. The first explosion blaster Terrance off his feet, and the second explosion accelerated him through the classroom walls and singed his uniform.

"For the love of fucking Hyne –" Quistis started.

"Limit Break: No Mercy"

"NO! Blue Magic: Electrocute"

Before Seifer could pull of his finishing moves, Quistis paralyzed him. The classroom was shocked into silence. Normally, Quistis was a cool and patient woman (right?) but even she had her boundaries. And Seifer had just trespassed that bound.

"Go," she said through trembling lips, "Cid's Office. Now." Seifer turned around to leave, still walking proudly as if nearly killing someone was a casual for him. "Selene, take –"

"I'm fine." Terrance lifted himself up and dusted the broken plaster off his uniform (otherwise in perfect condition aside from a gaping hole in the chest).

"Don't count on it next time, Sissy, you're lucky Ice Queen was here to save your a–" A crack, a flinch, and a scream later, Seifer looked at a piece of skin on the ground that should have been on his cheek. Blood oozed down the side of his cheek as his brain processed what happened.

"You Hyne-damned whore!"

Save The Queen snapped once again, this time a lot more murderously. The very tip of it cracked at the surface of his nose. Guided by the extreme precision of Quistis, this was Save The Queen's coy warning, "Don't piss me off, buddy." Swallowing his injured ego, he turned and left for Cid's office (even if you are the cockiest guy in the world, you have to listen to Quistis, especially a mad Quistis, right guys?).

And (thank the lord Hyne almighty) the final bell rang, signifying the end of classes. But no one dared to move for fear that their Instructor might blow. Quistis let out deep breath, "Class dismissed. Remember to study hard for the written exam. Selene, go alert the janitor of our broken wall. And Terrance please stay for a word."

The class hurried out. Looking a little ashamed, Terrance slung his backpack on and took long, slow toward the now-calm instructor.

"I'm sorry for –"

"It's fine. Just don't lose your temper like that, ok?"

"Yes, Instructor Trepe."

"And be careful with Seifer, ok? He may not seem like it but he's way above your level. I'm not saying you're bad, but Seifer would be on par with Squall, so don't do anything rash."

"Yes ma'am."

"About your little problem today, I don't get what happened."

"Neither do I."

"Hmm." It's obvious your lying. Quistis caught a glance at his quickly averting eyes, and she didn't need the student communication skills from the Instructor's Seminar to see he was lying.

"Well that's ok then. I'm sure you'll get it. Now go along and have fun. Don't forget to study; not that you'll need it since you're at the top of the class. You can always come in for extra help if you need it."

"Thanks, Instructor Trepe. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good-bye Terrance, have a nice day."

When Terrance left the room, Quistis let out a sigh. I don't know how much more I can take! She gathered her stuff and left the room unlocked. Just three more days until the SeeD test. Then the field exam. Then I'll finally get a good long summer break. She looked at her watch and saw the time was 2:45. Oh great, another Instructor meeting. This time under Squall's supervision. He's probably going to give a lecture on proper Garden behavior and role models. Dear Hyne, that man is incredible, but he is just not cut out to be a public speaker. She sighed once again. Being an Instructor is really hard.

-o-

At the risk of sounding anti-feminist, women are a people with a soft spot for emotions. When a man falls, he picks himself up, throwing off help for fear they break their prideful necks. But a woman is a different story; they seem more civilized, should one fall, their fellow women rush to aid, and they accept it gratefully. Such was the case for Quistis; unknown to her, Rinoa, Selphie, and Xu were sneaking behind her to catch her before she fell. So in Squall and Rinoa's grand suite, they gathered.

"Alright, gals, first we have to take our secret oath of silence. Whatever goes on in here, stays in here, got it?"

"Sure."

"I'll die before I speak."

"Good, now let's start. Here's my plan. I saw this off a reality show once, and it worked perfectly. One of the privileges of being married to the Commander of SeeD is that I get free access to classified info."

"Really?"

"Well . . . just as long as no one finds out."

"Uh-oh, naughty-naughty Rinoa!" Selphie teased.

"Hey! It was to help out a friend." She glared at the other two, "And remember the secret oath of silence, don't make me have to go Angel Wing Limit Break on your asses."

Selphie snorted. She flatly stated as if mocking one of the most powerful sorceresses was an everyday thing, "My Slot Limit Break can kick your Limit Break's ass any day."

Rinoa shot straight up. "Oh yeah? You wanna' go for it now?"

Selphie shot straight up also. "Hell yes! I can take your ass!"

"Selphie, Rinoa for the love of Hyne, will you two cut it out? Remember why we're here please."

"Oh right, right, ok sorry, Rinny."

"Its fine." They sat back next to each other, and it looked like nothing had happened. "Ok so anyway, the plan. I have assembled a portfolio of all the Garden residents age 18 to 20. We'll split up the biographies and examine them carefully. We'll deem five that are worthy, and then set up a blind date. This'll all happen three weeks from Saturday, after all the test during the summer break. That Saturday night we'll have Quistis come and interview all five guys and choose the one she wants to 'court.'"

"Wow, that's a pretty awesome plan."

"Yeah, I like it a lot."

"I know. It's perfect, isn't it?"

"Well let's get started with these biographies, shall we?"

"Yeah!"

-o-

Terrance let out a frustrated sigh. So much to study . . . But I have to pull through . . . for them. Looking up from his crammed desk, he stared at the picture of his family. Smiling fondly as he reminisced on far-off, he thought For you, I'll walk to the end of the world, for you, I'll endure any pain, for you, I'd kill the world thrice over. There he was, a child of 8 back then. Just like any innocent child, he was carefree and naïve. Standing in front of his grandmother, with her old wrinkled face, her kind hands, her loving disposition. Arm in arm with his two older twin sisters. Granted beauty of ethereal angels with their snow white hair and deep green eyes. Eyes like his. They'd both be twenty-five had they not died in an accident when he was twelve. His parents would have been fifty and forty-nine had they not died in a different accident when he was four. His grandmother was now eighty-eight. The last he'd heard of her was a year ago. He was now nineteen. A man now; bound and sorrowful, but a man nonetheless.

Taking a break from his studies, he walked to the window in his small three-room standard Garden-issued suite. Looking at the dark sky filled with many bright dots he remembered the last thing his grandmother told him before sending him off to Balamb Garden.

-o-

It was a medium sized shack; nothing fantastic, just good enough to keep the cold and bugs out and the heat in. It had seen through better times, but now it was being drenched in torrents of stormy rain. It was surrounded by a tide of black night, the kind of night that inspired negative connotations: walking undead, sea monster, and evil demons. Inside sat two people. An old woman, hunched over, held the hands of a pubescent boy. There was a bond of love between them; not pedophilic love, but familial love. The second strongest love.

"You are fifteen now, Terry, nearly a man. I've revealed the truth of our family; the curse of what it means to be an Astral. You are special child, the first boy to enter our clan ever since . . . the original problem. You are destined for greatness, the fates have blessed you, and you must receive their gifts."

"I know, Gramma, but why do I have to go?"

"You must learn to fight. Fate has pitted you against our worst enemy. She has locked you in the cell with it. Before it can find your presence, you must learn how to protect yourself."

"But I don't want to go, I want to stay here."

"I know, sweety, I know." Gramma squeezed Terry's hands. "But you have to. You understand right?"

"I do. I'll go Gramma, I'll do it for you."

"That's a good boy."

It was a heart-wrenching moment. Fate, Hyne-damned, picky Fate, had taken a dagger and cut the bond that had formed between these two. A bond that had formed over fifteen years. Like a child, Terry still sought comfort in the unknown, naïve enough to believe in foolish hope.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Of course dear. I promise, one day we will meet. And we will celebrate."

-o-

Oh dear Hyne Squall thought as he entered his grand suite. He had heard Rinoa's raucous laughter, accompanied by Selphie's annoying, high-pitched giggle, both synchronized with Xu deep, melodic snicker. When was spontaneous laughter from three feisty, self-confident teenagers ever a good thing? Especially when Selphie was involved as one of those feisty, self-confident teenagers. Please Hyne, don't let them be plotting something. With a self assuring deep breath, he walked in and made his presence known. Abruptly the laughter choked off, and quick as a flash, the girls pick up whatever they were looking at and stuffed it away from his sight. What the . . .?

"Oh, hi honey!" Rinoa made a show at an overly-enthusiastic welcome to divert his attention. "Good day at work?"

"If I may ask –"

"Don't ask Mr. Nosy," Selphie interjected.

"Uh . . . ok . . ."

"Dinner's on the table, sweetheart, better eat it before it gets cold."

"Sure. What about you guys?"

"Oh, we already ate something."

"Oh. Ok."

"And after you're done make sure you go straight to bed, so you don't hear our plotting."

"Plotting?"

"SHHHH!" Rinoa shushed.

"Ooops!" Selphie quickly covered her mouth with both hands.

"Oh please, don't plan another party, the last one was cataclysmic."

"It wasn't that bad!" Selphie stated a little insulted.

"'Not that bad'? You nearly launched six AFR-13 Smart Missiles at Centra!"

"Hey! It wasn't my fault! I wasn't the one who forced Zell to chug a gallon of beer!"

"Ok that's quite enough now." Rinoa cut off. "Why don't you go eat, honey. I promise I'll keep Selphie in check."

"Do you swear on it?"

"Yes."

"Swear on the Sacrosanct of Hyne?"

"Yes."

"Swear on your –"

"OK! That's enough asshole! I'm standing right here, and I can hear you! Why don't you shut up and go eat your dinner!"

"Alright, I'm going, I'm going." Please Lord Hyne Almighty, I am not normally a praying man, but please.

A/N: Did you like it everybody? Is it fun? Is it boring? Once again you're all welcome to review and criticize Since I'm on a two week spring break the updates will be a lot more frequent, I promise.