Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN, M.E, and various other corporations own Buffy. They can keep 'em, too. Final Fantasy is owned by Square and their subsidiaries. Also, a mention of the 'Sword of Truth' series by Terry Goodkind. Although I wish I owned the rights to those games, it's never going to happen…
Title: Vampire's Final Fantasy
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: 15. What, you expect me to write something that isn't?
Feedback: Much appreciated, and craved.
Thanks: The usual three: Bobby Cox, Teri and Trevelyan. And Luis, for getting me to go back and start this again.
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Alex stood nervously in the Main Hall, watching the other students that were applying for Garden standing just as nervously. Cid watched from a corner, in plain, unassuming clothes, hidden from immediate sight and watching the reactions of the potential students when they were left uncontrolled like a hawk. There was nothing in the Hall that could be damaged irreparably if someone got rowdy, so it was the first entrance exam, of a sort.
Looking around, he saw a group of children terrorising a smaller child, one that was obviously entering at the Primary level rather than the Secondary, which assumed that some lessons and skills had been learnt. Frowning, he walked over, catching the last of the comments that the apparent 'leader' was making.
"We don't need little squirts like you in SeeD, Mouse!"
The others of the group joined in with "Yeah's" and jeered at the younger child.
Alex stopped behind the leader. "I don't think that's really necessary, do you? After all, she'll be entering far lower in the course than you... you'll hardly ever see her."
"What's it to you?" the leader asked belligerently.
Alex stepped round him, neatly positioning himself between the gang and the younger girl. "If one person's unhappy here, it'll throw off the whole Garden."
"That's that whole point innit?" the leader crowed, "We don't want her here!"
A voice that held Eastern promise whispered over to Alex from behind the group. "What you want is immaterial. You will leave that child alone."
The new attack caused the group to turn again. "Yeah? And who's gonna make us? You?"
"If I have to." Alex still couldn't see who was talking. Deciding to let whoever it was handle it, since they seemed to know what they were doing, he turned to the girl.
"You OK?" Alex asked gently.
The girl nodded.
"What's your name?"
The girl seemed to hunch in on herself. "..." She said.
"What was that?" Alex asked quietly. "I didn't hear you."
"Mouse." She replied, voice barely above a breath.
"Is that your real name? Or one that they" he indicated over his shoulder, "gave you?"
"Them."
"OK. So they gave you that name. That wasn't very nice, was it?"
"'S true." Mouse whispered.
"It's not." Alex denied softly. "What's your real name?"
Mouse shrugged. "Don't know."
"You don't know your name?"
Mouse shook her head.
"So... how were you going to register?"
"...gonna register as 'Mouse'."
"Why don't you have a name?"
Mouse looked scared. "Orphan," she blurted.
"That's no reason not to have a name..." Alex said.
Mouse just shrugged again.
A gasp from the crowd drew Alex's attention away from her. He turned to see the gang leader drawing a knife from his jacket, to attack the girl. He started forward, but a firm hand gripped his arm. He turned, ready to argue, and saw Cid holding his arm. "No, don't interfere."
Alex bristled. "But I started this... its got way out of hand! She could get hurt!"
Cid did not let go. "She knew what she was doing. And she knows what she is doing now."
Cid let go of Alex's arm, confident that Alex would do as he wished, and the two watched the display...
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"What you want is immaterial. You will leave that child alone." Xu stood behind the group, hands on her hips and a calm but dangerous look on her face.
The new attack caused the group to turn again. "Yeah? And who's gonna make us? You?"
"If I have to." Xu said with certainty.
The leader looked at the rest of the group, and then looked Xu up and down, his eyes fixing on two locations for longer than was polite. "Well, you've got guts, for a girl. Tell you what, after I've roughed you up a bit, I'll stop the boys from having a go too."
"I don't think so."
The punch from the leader came out of nowhere. Xu parried it away with a smooth move of her arm, and stepped backwards, away from him.
Xu frowned. "I don't want to hurt you."
A snarl was her reply. "Oh, you wont be the one doing the hurting, girl. Once I get through with you, you'll beg to be put out of your misery!"
With his next move, it was obvious what he intended to do. Grapple his opponent to the floor where his superior weight and height would give him a serious advantage, and minimise the bonus she got from her agility. Arms spread wide, like a bulls horns, and bellowing loud enough to distract the rest of the hall, he charged.
Cid began to drift in the direction of the disturbance, but at the questioning look of one of the SeeDs that stood guard around the hall, gave a curt shake of his head. He wanted to see what was going to play out from this situation.
Xu ducked under the charge, and spun, her leg catching both of her opponents as he went past, and turned his charge into a sprawl on the floor.
This was fuel for the rest of the gang to spread out to surround Xu. Cid met the eyes of the nearest SeeD and gave him a hard look, followed by tilting his head at the spreading group. The SeeD nodded and looked to the other SeeDs around the room. In a second, they were moving as a group, converging on the fight.
The others in the hall breathed a sigh of relief that SeeD was going to put an end to the fight, but were shocked when the SeeDs simply stopped behind each of the gang. A hand rested on a shoulder, and as the gang looked round questioningly, the SeeDs merely shook their heads.
"No." one of the SeeDs said simply as his charge began to open his mouth.
Xu stood in the middle of a sea of calm; still, motionless. The leader of the gang was even now rising to his feet, ready to continue.
Xu stood down, "I don't want to hurt you. Really."
Leader didn't take the hint, and reached inside his jacket for a flick knife. "You got lucky, bitch... let's see how lucky you are now."
Xu realised that this had gone far beyond a simple scuffle. With his standing with his fellows jeopardised, the boy was now going to attempt great harm. This step up in the fight meant that Xu could no longer pull that last little bit away from her punches, not allowing them to hurt as much as they should. If she won, he would be unconscious. If he won, she would be dead.
She remained motionless, watching the roundabout route he wove around her; wary of her abilities even now he had a weapon.
Suddenly, he charged.
Xu stepped sideways, bringing an arm up to the side he was heading toward as she did so, and caught his elbow. Pressing her thumb hard into the joint, she watched dispassionately as the knife dropped from now completely numb fingers.
He got to his feet slowly, his arm limp as his side, and charged again. Xu simply sidestepped once more.
"Stay still, bitch!" Leader snarled.
Xu shook her head. "I don't think so. Before it was one thing... but you have taken this entirely too far."
Leader seemed to choke on his tongue. "I've taken! I'VE TAKEN? I'll show you who's taken..."
He charged again.
Xu grabbed an arm as he went past, and spun him round like a hammer thrower. She let him go after a two turns, and he became airborne, before landing painfully on the marble floor of the Hall.
Next to his knife.
Xu's eyes didn't show any emotion as he shook his head and reached groggily for the switchblade that was inches from his fingers. If anything, more emotion drained from them.
The next twenty seconds would be engraved on Xander's memory until the day he died.
Finally realising that he stood no chance in close, Leader backed off. The next thing Xander saw was Xu catch the thrown knife, and send it right back at the thrower. It thudded meatily into the thug's shoulder, and he squealed as he sank backwards onto the marble.
Xu turned away, the frightened stares of the spectators not bothering her at all. She was here to become a SeeD, not to be liked.
She blinked the tension away, and the next thing she knew, there were three people standing in front of her.
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