A/N: I gave chapter one and two some more page filling now, because I wasn't really satisfied with how it was. In my opinion it was too short and it wasn't that good anyway. Now that I've expanded the story, I'm more pleased with it. Hope you enjoy it! Read and please review. I'd really appreciate that.

Well, I know they're all short chapters, but I still don't have a lot of free time on my hands to think of better things to say, but I got the idea of writing this and I'd like to know what you people think of it.

Fading memories

Quistis stepped into the lab. There were more people there already. She saw that 5 of their Balamb Garden Scientist were already walking around from table to table to bring each other the samples they had to study. Behind her the other people she worked with walked in and wished her good morning. The scent of coffee filled the large white room.

Quistis was the leader of the project and had many people working under her. There were the five scientists as mentioned before, two biologists who had specialized in monster studies, a computer programmer, six field workers (who you couldn't find in the lab of course), four guards and even a vet. The former instructor started her usual tour of checking the test subjects. She walked across the lab, went through the door and found herself on some sort of balcony which had a view over a very large round room where she could see all three test subjects. They were held separately in large rooms with a glass ceiling so you could see them from above. Quistis walked down the stairs to take a closer look.

"Good morning, Quistis." Emma said as she saw her project leader coming towards her. It was hard to believe that such a young girl could be a vet, but then again they'd said the same about her when she became a SeeD.

"Good morning, Emma. How is she doing today?"

"I just examined her and everything is alright. If you don't mind, I'm going to check up on the rest."

"Of course, go ahead." Quistis smiled at her and saw her heading towards the other rooms before she turned to look at the GF in the room where she was standing at. They had done everything they could to make every room as close to the natural environment of the creatures as they could. Siren was sitting on a rock in the middle of a pond. Quistis walked into the room and sat down in the grass which was surrounding the water. She stared at the GF and wondered how such a beautiful being could take away someone's memory. But then again, that was the reason why they were studying it.

The young woman stood up, not wanting to waste any more time. She had a hard day of work ahead of her. She went to check the two other GFs quickly before returning to the lab, where she sat down at her desk. She turned on the computer. While waiting for the thing to start up, she took a sip of her coffee that her assistant had left there. The young boy was still a student, but before and in between his classes he always came to check if she needed anything. She thought that the assistant job was a good experience for him, and on top of that it earned him a little more pocket money. He was doing great but she was sure that he also was a Trepie and that that was the reason why he was so devoted.

She turned back towards the screen and saw that the computer was ready. She opened her emails and as usual there were the two field reports. Quistis had divided the field workers in two groups of three and dispatched them to different places to look for places where they might find traces of GFs. They also had to look out for very strange items which in some way could have something to do with the creatures, for example a mystery lamp. She didn't really remember the item anymore. As a matter of fact, she was already starting to forget a lot of things that happened during the Sorceress War.

It's been a year since they had defeated Ultimecia and they were honored for that. Headmaster Cid had been reluctant when she had asked for her instructor's license back. He had had something else in mind and here she was, leading a group of scientists. He had advised her, her friends and every SeeD using GFs to keep a diary and write all the important things down, because in time they would forget again. And he was right. For the second time, she had lost her memories of the orphanage. Now she only knew of it when she reread her diary, but it all seemed so farfetched to her, that all of them had known each other then and in some way had gotten back together during the Sorceress War.

She opened the report of Field Group 1 and quickly went through it. They hadn't found a thing and were moving on to their next destination. The report of Field Group 2 basically said the same. Quistis sighed. They had been trying to find things out about the GFs for the past year, but still nothing useful. The field reports she got every day practically always contained the words: "Didn't find a clue." But when they did find something it always appeared to be a false lead. She opened the file of Ifrit and reviewed it again, thinking of something that they might've missed. She reread the interview she had with him, but again she concluded that questioning the GF wasn't helpful at all. She clicked on another of his files, which contained his medical data. The vet had concluded that he was in perfect health and that there wasn't anything abnormal to find. The findings had been studied by the biologists too, but they also couldn't find anything that could help the investigation. His files also contained the investigation of the Fire Cavern, in which they had found him. But they weren't helpful either, since practically every GF has a different natural environment. So it couldn't be that. Ifrit was the first one they had studied. But it was hard to keep the environment room powered, so they let Quistis junction him again and went on with the others.

The clock indicated it was noon, the exact time when her assistant, Greg, would walk through the door with her lunch. And not a second after she had thought that, it happened. The student put down the tray on her desk and gave her a big smile.

"Thank you, Greg."

"You're welcome, miss Trepe. Oh, and by the way, something came for you today. I'll go get it."

And he ran back out, coming back in just a couple of seconds later with a bouquet of red roses. Quistis looked surprised. Sure she had gotten a lot of mails and letters from Trepies, but never flowers.
The young boy put the flowers down and handed her the letter that came with it. Curious as she was, she opened it and started reading. Her mind was puzzled as she had no clue of whom had written it. The letter was not signed.

"Probably from a Trepie," she told Greg, who was dying to know what it said, even though it was none of his business. She put the piece of paper back in the envelope and lay it next to the flowers. Her assistant looked kind of down now that it was clear that he wasn't going to find out who it was from and quietly walked out of the lab, leaving Quistis to eat her lunch.

----

"Good evening, Emma."

"Good evening, Quistis."

They were the last ones there and she was ready to close up.

"The guards are in place?"

"Yes, they are. Nothing to worry about. They will look after the GFs. After a year of not causing any problems, you should know that they won't break out."

"You can never be sure."

"True."

And they parted ways. Quistis walked up the stairs and headed for her dorm room. It was a quiet walk. Curfew had already set in for the students. The young woman sometimes wished that her job didn't exist out of sitting in a lab from six a.m. 'till 10 p.m. But besides that, she liked studying the GFs.
She arrived at her room, opened the door with her key card, switched on the light and put down her stuff. Tired as she was, she went straight to bed. She changed into her sleeping shirt and crawled into her bed, flipping off the light. She lay there in the dark, but since that was the perfect time for thinking things you didn't want to think off, Quistis turned the light back on. She walked back into the other room, where she had left her bag. For a while she stared at it. But eventually she decided to get the letter out. For the second time that day she read it.
The one who had written it implied that they had had a relationship before. She went through her mind but couldn't think of any relationships she might have had. She decided to check her diary. Something important like that should be in it somewhere.
The writer also said that he had hurt her and her friends. Quistis found that that was a strange thing to say. But she also thought that about the rambling about being her knight.
Besides the fact that she still regarded the letter as being from a Trepie, she thought it was very romantic. Not that Quistis Trepe was into the romantic lovey-dovey thing. Far from it. She had never gotten close with any guy before. As far as she could remember…

Putting the letter down, she walked back to her bedroom. The SeeD sat down on the bed and picked a book up out of the drawer of her bed stand. She hadn't looked at her diary for a while now. But her life had been boring. All she did every day was getting up, showering, going to work, getting home, and sleeping. Quistis opened it and started going through it.
After two hours she had read the whole thing, but it didn't mention any kind of relationship. She decided that the letter came from a Trepie who had a very good imagination.
She was even more tired now and got back in her bed, putting the diary back in her drawer. It didn't take long before she fell asleep and dreams of things she wouldn't remember in the morning.