Wavelengths

A/N: I just felt like adding a lighter chapter to the mix before bad, unfortunate things started to happen. Happy reading and please offer a review!

"Hmm. . . You're getting too good for me," Squall remarked. "You're a really fast learner, you know?"

Rinoa looked up, across the table that Dr. Kadowaki had placed for card-playing, at Squall. "A compliment from you?"

("Why does she always have to be like this when I try to compliment her?")

"Forget it."

Squall looked up at the clock. The digital display read, "13:00." Squall slowly gathered his cards and stood up.

"I've got some work to do before we leave. If you still want to play cards, Dr. Kadowaki's pretty good-"

"Taught him everything he knows!" Dr. Kadowaki interrupted.

Squall sighed. "Well, anyway, I'll be in the 3F office if you need me."

Squall got up from the hospital bench and sauntered away. Dr. Kadowaki yelled after him, "Come back again soon, you hear? I don't have anyone to play cards with!"

Rinoa stood up from her infirmary bed, assuring Dr. Kadowaki that she was fine, then stepped into the hall. She still felt strangely disconnected from the studentry as a whole, who seemed to exist on a different wavelength from her. The students at Balamb Garden seemed to exist in another world - a world in which war and death were commonplace and merely part of the studies. Rinoa couldn't relate to either, especially when the pace picked up and they all left her behind in the field of battle.

Rinoa had already watched some groups leave for missions and come back one person short. This was her greatest fear these days. What if Squall, Zell, Quistis, and Selphie left on a mission, and one of them wasn't there when they came back? Rinoa knew that she couldn't handle that kind of pressure, yet that pressure was what most of Garden thrived on. The only two real, concrete connections that she had with Garden were Squall and the newly galvanized Garden Festival Committee, which she was now a participating member in, but neither of those connections were very strong, Rinoa had to admit to herself. The Garden Festival was a lost cause of sorts, because only Selphie and a few other individuals were incredibly devoted to it, and Squall was too afraid to make a concrete bond with someone. The only times they had really forged their relationship together were in space and at the orphanage. She was actually afraid to return to Timber, because she might have ended up rejoining the Forest Owls with Watts and Zone, and leaving her new life at Garden behind.

Now, however, a more pressing problem was presented to her. What was she going to do for two hours before meeting the crew at the front gate?

"Rinoa!" A familiar voice yelled. Rinoa looked behind her to see Selphie waving to her.

"Where's Irvine?" Rinoa inquired.

"Oh, he wandered off. Said something about Squall needing his help. Sometimes I don't get him. . ." Selphie sighed. "But anyway, the Garden Festival needs your help! Come on to the quad!"

"Okay," Rinoa said, glad to have something to do, "So what's the problem?"

"Everything! The entire stage collapsed when we were decorating it earlier! I knew we shouldn't have asked those FH workers to help!"

"So. . . We're gonna have to rebuild it?" Rinoa asked. She had wanted something to do, but this was more than she had bargained for.

"Of course! Come on, we have to go to the quad and do what we can with the time we have!"

Irvine Kinneas stepped into the elevator and pressed, "3F." As the elevator grunted to a start, Irvine leaned against the wall, formulating his plans to get Squall closer to Rinoa. The problem was that Squall always avoided getting close to anyone, and when forced into a situation, became very defensive. Irvine just needed to find some way to get Squall out of his shell, and that was no mean feat.

The elevator gave a ding, and the door opened. Squall looked up irritably from his desk toward the terrible sound that obstructed his work as Irvine stepped out of the elevator and pulled up a chair on the other side of the desk.

". . . What is it?"

Irvine looked mock-seriously at Squall from across the desk and said, "You need to spend more time with Rinoa."

"Then why don't you do that? I have work to do."

Irvine sighed slowly. "You haven't changed a bit, have you? Rinoa needs you, you know? She never really feels as if she has friends in Garden. Remember what she said back at Trabia Garden last year, about getting left behind in battle? And no, don't blame the GF. Well, everybody at Garden is the same way. In the heat of battle, everyone leaves Rinoa behind, and it hurts her. You're the only one she can really talk to and confide in here. Come on, let me take the paperwork."

Squall looked back down at the paperwork.

"I can guess what you're thinking," Irvine said, "You're thinking, 'I don't wanna place my burden on anyone else.'" Irvine stood up, looking down at the stack of papers on Squall's desk, and the message that he was typing on his computer.

"What are you doing, anyway? Coming up with creative ways to deny people assistance from SeeD?"

". . . That about sums it up."

Irvine extended his hand toward Squall. "That sounds like fun. Let me help you up, and I'll take over from here for the next couple of hours. You go out and talk to Rinoa."

". . . Sure," Squall said, getting up without the help of Irvine's hand. "Just don't mess things up, okay?"

"Sure thing! It'll be no problem at all!"

". . . You're welcome!" Irvine yelled after Squall. The faux-cowboy sighed. It was like talking to a wall. . .

Squall stepped into the elevator, checking the time on his way out. It was 1:12. How was he going to spend almost two hours with Rinoa? Squall relaxed, assuring himself that something was going to come up to consume time. The elevator made its familiar screech as it began to slide down toward the first floor. Something really needed to be done with that elevator. If nothing else, Squall himself would get out and grease the elevator cable. If nothing was done, the elevator would probably fall sometime, and that would put Squall up to his ears in paperwork. The elevator dinged open and Squall stepped into the open hall.

("I hate that noise. . .")

Squall looked about in the hall, wondering where Rinoa could have gone.

("I guess the first place to check would be the Infirmary.")

Squall paced down the hall, deftly deflecting greetings. If there was one thing Squall Leonhart had become skilled at over the years, it was ignoring people. He hated it, but his goal was to finish his life in Garden and move on without developing any bonds with people to be broken. Move on, though? To what? What did he have outside of Garden? Squall dismissed those thoughts, as in his opinion, they only interfered with his work, and continued through the large, circular, hub-like hallway. He turned down the hall to the Infirmary and was greeted by Dr. Kadowaki.

"Come to play more cards, have you, Commander?"

Squall bluntly responded with, "Did Rinoa leave?"

"Well, that's a nice way to greet someone."

Squall performed an all-too familiar motion with his right hip jutting out to the side and his arms limp at his sides, and muttered, "Whatever."

Dr. Kadowaki began to set about organizing various clutter, and said, "I guess there isn't time for cards anyway. If you're looking for Rinoa, she left with that Selphie girl."

("Damn. I do not wanna get mixed up in that Festival.")

"Okay, thanks," Squall replied as he walked away.

("I guess I don't have a choice, though. It's time to head to the quad. . . I wish I could just go to the Directory, click on the place that I want to go to, and pop up there.")

Squall stepped out into the quad area, which was still not fully repaired from the encounter with Galbadia Garden. Selphie dashed out to meet him, shouting, "Hey, Squall, you're just in time to help rebuild the stage!"

("Oh, Hyne, no. . .")

Squall put his hand to his forehead and breathed a deep sigh. ". . . I don't have a choice, do I? Sure."

"Okay!" Selphie shouted. "What can you do. . . Oh, I know! You can help to fill in the motorcycle tracks from those Galbadians!"

"Okay," Squall said as he saluted and strolled down the stairs toward the stage, where he spied Rinoa ineptly wielding a shovel, attempting to fill in motorcycle tracks.

("Damn it, they set me up for this.")

Squall stealthily stepped over to Rinoa's position, grabbed a shovel from a wall to the side, and stepped to the side of Rinoa.

"Here, you use it like this," Squall said, demonstrating the correct method to handling a spoon-like digging utensil.

Rinoa looked up at Squall, surprised. "Wow, you never leave your paperwork! What brings you down here?"

("I feel like she's mocking me.")

"Irvine's picking up the slack for now, so I decided to help out down here. Is something wrong with that?"

Rinoa was slightly flustered by this response. "Oh, nothing at all! It's great that you're helping out!"

("Why does this always have to happen?")

An awkward silence ensued as Squall and Rinoa commenced digging.

". . . Thank you," Rinoa said. "You know. . . For helping out here."

Squall leaned forward and put his hand to his forehead.

("How am I supposed to respond to that? I always feel so awkward whenever someone compliments me. It kind of discourages me from helping out. . .")

"I can tell you're thinking," Rinoa said. "Tell me what's on your mind. It'll be good for you."

". . . It's nothing," Squall replied bluntly. "Don't worry about it."

Rinoa continued to dig up dirt and fill in holes, determined to keep her silence.

("Why does he always close up like that? I hate it when he starts thinking. . .")

"Hey! Wanna help rebuild the stage for the Garden Festival?" Selphie's voice yelled out loudly.

"Uh, well, I. . . I, um, just remembered. . . Something, you know? Oh, damn it! I hate that Raijin guy! But, hey, I gotta go now!" another voice rang.

Rinoa looked up as Selphie dashed clumsily to the workplace.

"I can't ever get Zell to help out with the Garden Festival! I don't get it!" Selphie said.

("I definitely get it,") Squall thought to himself.

As Squall looked back toward the hallways, he spied a vague silhouette of Zell running away in the distance. One could always tell Zell by his hair, even from a great distance. During Master NORG's shadowy reign of Balamb Garden, Zell had received many warnings about his radical hairstyle. Upon one occasion three years ago, the Garden faculty had finally put their collective foot down, and had his head shaved in order to make an example to students who might be following the trend that Zell had started. To make matters worse, Zell arrived the day after wearing an embellished cowboy hat much like Irvine's, and the faculty promptly confiscated it, leaving Zell's head exposed, much to his humiliation. Zell was always an outlaw in the eyes of the faculty, armed with long, baggy shorts, drastically overdone hair, and tattoos lining the sides of his face.

Now, Zell ran down the hall in an effort to escape the Garden Festival. He didn't have anything else to pass time with, but there was no way he was going to be spending his free time working on something that he didn't especially care about. Rather, he sprinted away to the Training Center after checking his Junctions.

("Let's see. . . Carbuncle, Cerberus, Diablos, and Doomtrain,") Zell thought to himself as he mentally linked himself with the Guardian Forces.

("What do you require from me?") Doomtrain telepathically said to Zell.

("Junction Drain to Status Attack, and Blind, Bio, Death, and Berserk to Status Defense. Oh, and I need Blizzaga on Elemental Attack, and Firaga, Flare, Thundaga, and Quake on Elemental Defense.")

A chilling sensation that Zell was accustomed to rushed through his body as the GF used its powers to imbue Zell with para-magic. The one greatest breakthrough that Dr. Odine in Esthar had inspired was the application of the powers of the GF to create para-magic, some of which could rival the power of a sorceress of such terror as Adel.

After receiving a grant to study magic, Dr. Odine set forth to subdue a GF - Doomtrain, in particular. After successfully defeating it in battle, thanks to highly advanced weaponry, Dr. Odine was shocked to hear a voice in his mind separate from his own.

("You have defeated me in combat. My powers are now yours.")

Dr. Odine returned to his laboratory, too hurried even to report his findings to his associates. Through weeks of experimenting, holed up in his laboratory, refusing to meet with anybody, he discovered the secret to drawing magic from monsters. It was not the same as a sorceress's magic, but it had many of the same qualities. Dr. Odine had desired to name this new power "pseudo-magic," but the general public, once they learned of it, oddly began to call it "para-magic," much to the dismay of Dr. Odine.

After the breakthrough of para-magic, however, the sorceress Adel outlawed research in such realms that could prove disastrous to her dictatorship over Esthar. Dr. Odine was forced to seal away Doomtrain in a ring, and return it to the place where it was discovered, Tear's Point. Dr. Odine, though, placed a key in the ring to unseal it when exposed to the proper conditions, so that he may someday return in order to research the GF's powers.

Now that Adel was sealed away, Dr. Odine and many contemporaries boldly set forth where no scientist had gone before - the exciting new realm of Guardian Force and para-magic research. Many varieties of para-magic were discovered and classified into groups: Elemental, which was further subcategorized into Fire, Ice, Thunder, Earth, Poison, Wind, Water, and Holy, Life and Recovery, Time and Space, Status, Support, and Forbidden, which was declared illegal for use by the general public. Most spells were classified as Low-, Mid-, and High-level magic depending on their difficulty to obtain and their effectiveness in combat. Also, the GF was used to drastically further chemistry through Refinement abilities, and through the abilities of select GFs, certain monsters could also be converted to cards, which could be further refined into many rare substances. This turned monster hunting into a profitable career, and many freelance fighters roamed the lands Carding monsters and selling the products.

Now, at Balamb Garden, the Guardian Force was a key tool in combat, despite it's draining effects upon the user's memory. Thus far, this impediment was impenetrable to scientists such as Dr. Odine, and the only tool that could help to prevent memory loss was a studiously kept journal. Due to the efforts of people such as Selphie who were determined to keep their pasts alive, a writing class was part of the required curriculum at Garden.

Zell arrived at the conspicuous green stripe leading down the pathway to the Training Center, and began to randomly hop about, boxing the air around him. Confident that he could even challenge a T-Rexaur, he jogged in place momentarily, then ran into the heart of the metal-plated forest.

The jungle inside of the Training Center was quite a surreal experience. Large steel plates were haphazardly tossed amidst gargantuan trees that stood like silent guardians of the monsters waiting inside of the forest. No deaths had been recorded inside of the Training Center thanks to a dutiful and persistent security team, but many illnesses had been caused by the venoms of the malicious carnivorous plants, the Grats, and several injuries had been incurred by the mighty king of the realm, the T-Rexaur.

Zell glanced about confidently, feeling incredible Ultima magic pulsing through his fists. Forbidden magic was allowed to any sort of military, and Balamb Garden was no exception. Few students, however, had the means to utilize this magic. Meteor spells could only be drawn from very rare draw points, along with certain monsters of incredible power, and the only two known ways of acquiring the Ultima spell were the Elnoyles that were recently extinguished permanently from Esthar and a single draw point that the mysterious Shumi tribe had monopolized, charging outrageous fees for a single Draw. The orphanage group, as well as Rinoa, though, had perused the abandoned Deep Sea Research Center upon obtaining the Ragnarok, and encountered not only the lethal GF Bahamut in its depths, but the monstrous Ultima Weapon, bearing not only huge stores of Ultima magic, but the most powerful GF discovered to date, Eden. The entire group drew hundreds of Ultima spells for use in the battles against Adel and Ultimecia, and this made them one of the most elite SeeD teams in Garden.

Zell jumped slightly as he heard a noise in the distance, and turned toward it. All that could be seen was vegetation, but Zell wouldn't let himself be fooled. At a closer glance, a trio of Grats could be seen approaching slowly. Zell rushed into the forest to meet them, eager to test the power of his new fighting tools, entitled Ehrgeiz. Dodging flying vines with Tornado magic, Zell delivered a brutal punch forged with the raw strength of Ultima, the frozen chill of Blizzaga, and the revitalizing effects of Drain to one of the Grats, using the enfeebling yet empowering strength of Diablos's Darkside technique, effectively demolishing the creature. Zell muttered to himself, "Too easy!"

Suddenly, the loud roar of a T-Rexaur rang out. Zell, wondering if he had time to fight, checked his watch, and it read 3:11 P.M..

"Damn! I guess this'll have to wait. Sleep!" Zell shouted as he effectively incapacitated the monster and sprinted away.

At the front gate, Squall, Selphie, Quistis, Rinoa, and Irvine stood and paced about, waiting for Zell.

"He's fourteen minutes late. Should I look around for him?" Rinoa asked.

Quistis shook her head. "Knowing Zell, he could be anywhere right now. If you left looking for him, chances are he'd show up here and you'd still be searching."

A voice rang out in the distance. "Yo! Sorry I'm late!"

Zell dashed to the front gate, where the group stood waiting and the Garden car was parked, and stopped to take several gasping breaths.

"Just get in the car," Squall said.

"How are we gonna fit six people in this thing?" Zell asked.

Selphie glanced at Zell and replied, "We could always tie someone to the top of the car!"

Zell took a step back away from Selphie. "Woah, no way! Count me out!"

"We'll just have to squeeze in," Quistis remarked. "Let's get moving."

Irvine glanced at Quistis and Selphie, and said, "Okay, you two get on either side of me, right?"

"How about the girls get on one side and the guys sit on the other?" Quistis replied, much to Irvine's dismay.

"Let's just go," Squall said, climbing into the driver's seat.

"Oh, come on! Why do you get to sit alone, with all that room, man?" Zell complained, readying himself to begin punching the air.

"We don't have all day," Squall said, beginning to become irritated. By now, Zell was the only one outside of the car, and realizing that, he climbed in alongside Irvine as the car sped toward Balamb.

Hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope I have everything accurate from the game and all of the characters pretty much accurately portrayed! I also hope that I didn't digress too terribly much. . . Please review, and thanks for reading!