A/N: Round 16...this will be ending very shortly, don't worry...I know you're all getting bored with it.

Chapter Sixteen

Quistis sat at the computer, her longfingers dancing across the keyboard. She had thankfully a free day with no classes. She paused her typing and looked at the screen, silently cursing the student who wrote the paper. "Never heard you use that kind of language before," a male voice called out. She looked up, seeing Irvine standing in the doorway. She frowned slightly, wishing that it was Squall. He had been avoiding her like the plague and every time they did see each other, Quistis was too bitter to even go up and talk to him.

"Yea, well...you try grading these papers. I swear, if I find one more spelling mistake in this guy's paper, I'm going to murder him," she mumbled.

Irvine walked over to the desk and looked at the screen from behind Quistis. "You missed one." She blinked. "He spelled 'deadly' wrong."

Quistis read the line. True enough, she did miss one. She sighed and leaned into the keyboard, random amounts of letters and numbers dancing across the screen. "I hate teaching cadets..."

Irvine laughed and patted her back. "I thought that you wanted your old job back?"

"It was never this bad..."

There was a soft knock at the door and Quistis looked up, seeing Squall standing at the door. "Quistis, Irvine," he said in an all-too-professional tone. She stood up, nodding her head at him.

"Yes, commander?" she said with venom

Irvine and Squall both cringed. "Headmaster Cid would like to speak to all of us."

She nodded her head, grasping her briefcase in her hand and immediately left the room. Irvine shrugged towards Squall and immediately walked after Quistis. Squall sighed, grasping his forehead tightly in his hands. He followed the other two, reaching the elevator last. Quistis stepped in and waited for Irvine and Squall to enter as well. She sighed and pressed the button, waiting for the minute to go by. She leaned against the window as Irvine slowly twiddled his thumbs and as Squall watched her.

The doors opened and each one stepped off of the elevator, sitting down on that same bench that started it all, except, this time, Quistis sat in the corner closer to the doors, and Squall sat closer to the elevator. Xu looked up from her desk, noting how sullen they each looked. The door opened from Cid's office, and Cid stepped out, smiling brightly. "Please, come in!"

One by one they each filed into the office, taking their seats appropriately. "So, what's up this time?" Irvine said, finally breaking the silence. Cid smiled at him and took his seat as well.

"Seeing as how you three made such a wonderful team in Esthar," he paused, glancing at Quistis' turned head, to Irvine's dead set gaze, to Squall's...normal...stare, and began again, "I am sending you three on a mission to Dollet."

Irvine sighed, leaning back into the chair. "What's it this time, Cid?" he moaned out. Squall shot him a death glare.

"Well, there have been attacks." Each one of their heads perked up some. "Attacks from bugs." And they dropped again.

"Bugs, sir?" Quistis asked from her turned down head. "What types of bugs?"

Cid shrugged, leaning back in the chair. "We're not sure. It'll be you three...I want you to collect samples. You leave immediately, kill the hive, take samples, and come back. That simple." They all froze. Nothing ever started off that simple. Squall shook his head, leaving the room first. He was followed by Irvine and then Quistis. "Nida will take you three to the docks, from there, you'll hop on the Garden mini-sub and go to Dollet. You return when you're done. Squall," he said before Irvine interupted him.

"Yea, we know. He's in charge."

Cid coughed gently, causing them to look at him. "Actually, I was about to say, Squall will not be in charge of this mission." Squall shrugged, opening the elevator doors. "Instead, Quistis will be."

Quistis blinked, dumbfounded. He shooed them away and entered back into his office. Irvine clasped Quistis on her shoulder, only to result in recieving a death glare from Squall. "Congrats, boss." Quistis laughed slightly, entering the elevator with Irvine trailing behind.

ooooo

They sat on the boat and Quistis stood behind the holographic map of Dollet. She breathed in and released the tension in her body. She spun around to face them, staring through the image and then at the image. "Our mission is to dispose of these bugs. The most information that we have is that the workers stay by the sea, and the queen stays near the hive. We don't have to worry about the worker bugs, but the guard bugs need to be eliminated."

Irvine nodded, pulling out his Exeter. "Easy as pie..."

"Each of us will have a sample case attached to our safety belts. We must collect a sample of the hive, one of the guard bugs, and then a sample of the queen bug herself." She paused and pressed a button under the image. Suddenly, a red light lit the screen. "The hive and the queen are located by the communications tower, the exact spot, however, is unknown."

"So, are we going off alone or staying in a group?" Squall asked. Quistis turned to look at him. Cid hadn't briefed her on that. But they each had a sample kit.

"...I leave it up to you two to decide."

She turned off the image and sat down. They had a half an hour to go. Squall scowled. "I say we go as a group."

She blinked. "Well, I think we should go off alone," Irvine responded.

Quistis sighed. Another fight...

"Group."

"Alone."

"Group!"

"Alone!"

She sighed and stood up. "Stop it! We'll let a coin decide this. Heads we go as a group, tails we go alone, ok?" They each nodded their heads. She pulled a piece of gil out of her pocket, flipping it into the air. They heard the chime of metal hitting metal, and Quistis bent down, looking at the top side of the coin. "Heads."

She sat back down, adjusting her hair. Silence loomed in the air as the three of them sat in a perfect triangle, with Quistis right at the peak. The boat rocked and Quistis immediately stood up. She walked over to the bridge to step out on deck. Neither of the guys looked up at her, or even at all. She stepped onto the deck, the wind immediately lifting her hair back. She stared at Dollet, her memories flooding her head. She hadn't been here in the longest time.

They docked and Quistis turned around, motioning for the two to follow her. They each stood up, holding their weapons. Squall walked out first, staring at the shore. Sure enough, there were bugs dancing on the seafoam. Irvine stepped out next, noting there were larger, more frightening bugs looming the area. "So...we kill the guards, right?"

Quistis nodded her head, slowly pulling out her whip. "Just...be careful."

They took a few steps, and within an instant, three guard bugs flew at their heads. They each dodged carefully. Quistis silently casted a scan spell. She opened her eyes, reading the information in front of her. "Level eighty six! Health is over ten thousand! They're weak against ice!"

Squall nodded his head and immediately casted triple on himself. Irvine loaded his gun, shooting at the furthest one to the left. It only took off a few hundred points. "Good defense!"

The bugs flew at them, and Quistis countered, knocking one back and away from herself. Squall was hit, but ignored the measily scratch on his arm. Quistis slowly reached into the depths of her mind, closing her eyes and melting into her thoughts. 'Shiva...,' she whispered into her head. She slowly felt the chill of ice crawl over her body. She heard Squall cast blizzaga, once on each of them. She then heard Irvine's gun echo out. She opened her eyes, only to be pulled away from the battle. They returned, the three bugs falling limp to the ground.

Irvine placed his gun in his other hand, grabbing a small test tube with a lid attached to his belt and bent down, scooping up a few reminents of the dead guard bug. He sealed the tube and stuck it back on his belt. "Done. So...are there anymore around here?"

"Probably. Let's just head up to the communications tower and collect the other two samples we need. After that, while we head back down here, we'll see if there's anymore." Quistis placed her whip back onto her hip, walking past the beach and onto the road. Irvine followed behind her, with Squall in the back. His head was hung down.

They entered more and more battles the closer they got to the communications tower. Quistis sighed, looking around. There was the doorway to the elevator that led to the top of the tower. No need to go in there. She looked around from the cliff, kicking a stone gently. Squall walked over to her, letting out a huff of air. "Careful. Selphie slipped doing that..."

"...whatever." Quistis merely shrugged and turned to Irvine who was looking around. She went to walk towards the center of the two boys, only to feel the ground give way underneath her. She first heard the few stones hitting the ground, and then felt herself tumbling sideways and backwards and forewards then backwards again and hitting the ground with a thud. Squall looked down at her, his eyes filled with fear. Irvine rushed over next to him, braking exactly at the spot where Quistis fell.

"You ok?" she heard Irvine call out.

She saw Squall turn his head, his mouth moving. She then saw Irvine push him to the side. She groaned and laid back, her eyes staring at the sun. There they were...fighting again. "Maybe I could get transferred to Trabia...or even Galbadia...perhaps I could get a job with the Priestesses...they all seemed to like me," she said, talking to no one in particular.

She heard a loud buzzing noise echoing in the background. "QUISTIS!"

She sat up, looking up at Squall. He leapt with ease down the cliff, his gunblade drawn and the fur around his collar blowing in the wind. She turned her head as he was nearing, seeing a huge bug with three horns and six wings flying straight at her. She spun around, now facing the Queen, grasping her whip. Within a second, Squall landed with a thud, his gunblade threatening the Queen. Shots fired down from the cliff and she looked up, seeing Irvine holding his Exeter, wheeling it around his hand.

The Queen buzzed back to her place, each pair of wings moving rhythmatically. "Where the fuck did she come from?" Quistis announced. Irvine inched closer to the edge, his fear of heights over coming him. He closed his eyes and leapt, causing Quistis to look at him flapping in the air.

"HOLY SHIT!" he screamed out as he landed with a thud. He tumbled forward, now just inches in front of Squall.

He immediately stood up, regaining his composure. "From the hive. I told you to be careful!" Squall scolded her. He turned his head towards her, his face angry at her but his eyes worried. Within seconds, the Queen charged towards his distracted body.

"Look out!" Irvine called, pulling Squall to the side he was on. Quistis ran out of the way just in time as the Queen horned the cliff. Rocks pelted down, causing her to go into a berserk state.

Quistis released her whip on the bug, causing the Queen to stare directly at her with her fly-like eyes. Quistis' face turned to total disgust as a slime seeped out of its mouth. She cracked the whip again, causing the bug to reel up some, threatening Quistis.

"Quisty! Get over here, NOW!" It was Squall's voice.

"How the hell do you propose I do that?" she yelled angrily.

"This is no time to be angry at me! GET OVER HERE, that's an order!" he yelled.

She then heard Irvine's voice as the bug reeled more. "Hey! Isn't she the leader?"

"SHUT UP!" Squall yelled. He sighed, shaking his head, seeing the bug start to corner Quistis. "Listen, if anything goes wrong...it was NOT Quistis' fault, ok?"

Irvine blinked and simply nodded his head. "What are we gonna do? That thing has too much defense..."

"Well...hit it with as much as you have. I'm gonna get Quisty out of there."

"...Quisty? When did you start using that?"

"Um...guys!" They both turned to see the bug had moved a good ten feet, and Quistis was whipping it repeatedly. Every time she had tried to summon Shiva, the Queen attacked.

Irvine immediately casted blizzaga, causing the bug to spin around. Squall charged, spinning and slicing at the bug. He was now on Quistis' side. "You ok?" he asked, briefly looking at her as Irvine casted another blizzaga.

"No damage done to me. Shiva's dead though."

Squall nodded his head, turning it slightly to face her. "Hey...I'm sorry..."

"WATCH OUT!" she called as the Queen immediately stung its stinger into Squall's arm. He yelled in pain, swinging his gunblade directly at its face. The bug reeled back, running away to the hive. Irvine rushed over to the pair, looking at the large stinger embedded in Squall's arm. "Shit!" she cried out.

"Oh Hyne...I think I'm gonna puke..."

Green pus oozed from the wound as Squall blinked. "Irvine! Heal him!" She immediately threw the first aid kit and her own Curagas at the cowboy, her face red with anger. She cracked her whip, immediately healing Shiva afterwards.

"Quistis! You are not facing that alone!" Irvine cried out. He was torn. Squall wasn't moving and Quistis was too fired up to even note that the bug was basically immune to everything. She ran off to the hive, her whip flying out, causing the Queen to emerge once more, buzzing wildly around the ground, picking up dust. "Ah...shit!" he cried. He bent down and casted a Curaga spell on Squall, causing Squall to jolt some. Irvine looked at the stinger, his eyes ready to tear. "Squall?" he called out, finally, his face churning as more green pus oozed. "Squall? Answer me..."

Squall merely dozed off, his eyelids fluttering.

Irvine turned around, watching Quistis unleash limit break after limit break after summon on the Queen. Within a few more minutes, it was dead. Quistis panted, her body going limp. Irvine rushed over to her, pointing at Squall. She mustered up all the strength she had and walked over to him, ordering Irvine to take plenty of samples of the queen and the hive. He did as he was instructed.