Chapter Ten:

A/N: Anyone else remember their worst rejection in high school? R&R!

"Tessa, get the door!" Latasha yelled from the common room.

"Make the cripple do all the work!" Tessa retorted with a laugh. "You sound just like a man!"

Tessa was wearing (another) new student uniform and her left shoulder appeared much larger than her right. It was a result of the bandaging of her wounded shoulder. Dr. Kadowaki had ordered Tessa several to attend several "Recovery sessions" with the Garden's only trained counsellor, Quistis Trepe. Tessa was more than agreeable.

"What do you want?" Tessa asked as she opened the door. She was slightly taken aback to find Phelan standing there outside her door, a copy of Lord Avon's "Wish Upon A Star" held out to her.

"It's Friday, we're supposed to have our date," he said hopefully. "Or did you forget?"

"Sorry," Tessa said lamely. "But with the stabbing and all, I was ordered to stay in the Garden. Maybe some other time?"

"Oh," Phelan said sadly, his face falling. He shoved the copy of the play into her hand. "Well, I brought you this."

"Thanks," Tessa said as she slammed the door in his face. Men, she thought. Why can't they just leave women alone? We do have more in our lives than dates and plays.

"Go with him," Latasha said as Tessa plopped onto the sofa. "Get out of here, you've been driving me crazy, staying here all the time."

"What, I've only been here as long as you," Tessa pointed out. "In fact, it's only been a couple of days that I've stayed here."

"I know," Latasha said as she looked up from her artillery guide. "And you're driving me crazy. All you do is end up listening to Lenne and whine about how you were attacked. Get over it and get out of here. Get a guy already"

"Bite me," Tessa said as she stood up, throwing the play over her shoulder. She stomped to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

I will not "get a man," Tessa thought angrily as she kicked her bed. Her shoulder itched and that only served to make her madder. I don't need a man.

"I don't need a man!" Tessa screamed at the top of her voice, her hand violently shaking in the air. "I don't need a man to be complete!"

"Congratulations!" Latasha yelled from the common room. "Now shut up and let me study!"

"Tell me what happened," Quistis said as her whip slapped her side. It was Tessa's first Recovery session and they were out walking the grounds of the Garden. There weren't many students out because it was raining, but Tessa loved the rain and was delighted to learn that her favourite instructor did as well.

"About what?" Tessa asked as she raised her right hand and danced around, fat raindrops falling onto her upturned face. "My attack?"

Quistis laughed and brushed a wet strand of hair on her forehead. "For starters. And don't worry, I'm just here to listen and offer insight, not judge."

Tessa stopped dancing and looked at Quistis with a puzzled look, her frizzy red hair plastered to her head by the rain. "No telling me that I was attacked by a T-Rexaur?"

"No telling you that you were attacked by a T-Rexaur," Quistis promised. She stepped over a large puddle of water as the wind picked up and began wildly blowing the hair of the two women.

"There was another student that I had treated and she became incredibly ill. I can't tell you who it was, doctor-patient confidentiality and all," Tessa said soberly.

Quistis brushed away a long trail of rainwater that had been traveling across her face. "You're not a doctor," she pointed out. "You're only a medical student."

"I know, Instructor," Tessa said as she kicked a large rock in her path. Her foot sunk into the mud and when she pulled it out there was a loud sucking noise. "Shit! This is going to take forever to clean."

"Antessence," Quistis said, trying to regain the attention of her pupil. "Forget about the mud and concentrate on me. What happened to you?"

Tessa scraped a large bit of mud from her shoe and stood up. She was glad that she hadn't been wearing her student uniform because she had to wipe the mud off on her pants. "Like I keep telling everyone, a blonde woman in a blue suit attacked me."

"Can you describe her further?" Quistis asked. She shook her head, her ponytail flying about. "What did she look like? Did she have an accent?"

"Actually," Tessa said as she thought back. "She did have an accent. In fact, it's very similar to mine."

"You think she was a student at Lotia Garden?" Quistis asked as she put her hand to her head in thought. "But why would she come here?"

"She wasn't from Lotia Garden," Tessa told her Instructor. "It was a small Garden, so I would've known her immediately. No, this woman had to be from Junon. I grew up there, and it's not that far from Lotia Garden."

"Junon?" Quistis said thoughtfully. "Isn't that one of the main Shinra headquarters?"

"It is the main Shinra headquarters," Tessa said. "Midgar was taken over by Galbadia last year during the Sorceress War, remember?"

"Actually, I hadn't ever learned that," Quistis told Tessa. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Instructor," Tessa beamed. She blinked several drops of rain out of her eyes. "Have you heard, though? Apparently the citizens of Midgar are preparing to try to overthrow the Galbadian representatives."

"I haven't," Quistis said with a laugh. "It's pretty clear I haven't paid enough attention to the current world. Now, let's get back on track. What else happened?"

"She kept talking about using Materia, and even managed to summon Odin!" Tessa gushed; excited to have someone listening that didn't immediately dismiss her. "Also, she compared SeeDs to something called SOLDIER."

Quistis stopped in her tracks and raised her right hand to her mouth with a gasp. "Did you just say SOLDIER?"

"Yes, Instructor," Tessa told Quistis with a curious look on her face. "The assailant mentioned SOLDIER. Why do you ask? Do you know what SOLDIER is?"

"Yes, I do," said Quistis, her voice filled with an emotion Tessa couldn't place. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut this session short. Excuse me." She turned around and ran away from Tessa, toward the main building of the Garden.

"Instructor!" Tessa yelled over the strengthening wind, but Quistis didn't stop. "Instructor!"

"Nasty out, isn't it?" Latasha said when Tessa walked into their dorm. She looked up from her book and saw Tessa soaked and dripping. "I'll take that as a yes."

Tessa didn't say anything. Rather, she just went into her room. She grabbed a fresh change of clothes and walked back into the common room. "I'm getting a shower."

"Knock yourself out," Latasha said. She stood up, snapping her book shut. "I'm meeting some friends at the library in a few minutes, anyway."

Tessa walked into the bathroom and set her clean clothes on the toilet lid. She grabbed a clean towel from a cupboard and heard the closing of the entrance door as Latasha left. After setting the towel on top of her clothes, Tessa painfully took off her wet shirt and tossed it into the hamper.

She looked in the mirror and touched her face. Her fingers lingered by her eyes for several seconds and she took a deep breath. The doctors said that it wouldn't hurt to leave them in, she thought as she turned her head from the mirror.

The bandage didn't have to be removed, and that relieved Tessa. She didn't want to see Dr. Kadowaki again. Tessa had been told that she'd attacked the doctor in a traumatized rage, though she remembered nothing that had happened.

Light grey rather than white, the bandage was flexible and completely waterproof, which meant it didn't need to be changed as often as other bandages. It was a new, just-released type of bandage. Dr. Kadowaki said that it was of the Umbrella brand.

Tessa knew that Umbrella had been shut down when she was little for some scandal, though details were limited as to what it was. When questioned about it, Kadowaki told Tessa that it was merely a change in management. However, when she tried to push the issue, Tessa was told that it was of little importance.

She finished undressing and climbed into the shower. She reached down and turned the coldwater tap. The water fell out of the showerhead and onto a startled Tessa, causing her to give a little yelp of shock. She jumped back from the main force, to where she was only receiving a misty spray, even if it was still incredibly cold.

Edging her way back to the taps, Tessa turned the hot on full blast. Within seconds the freezing water was steaming. Gritting her teeth, Tessa fiddled with the taps until she reached a happy medium. She then lifted her head and doused it in the stream. Her red hair, which had begun to dry out, fell flat and stuck to her head.

She grabbed a bottle of shampoo and popped open the lid with her thumb. Tessa turned the bottle upside-down and squirts an ample amount of clear gel onto her wet head. She lifts her right hand and begins to massage the shampoo into her hair, developing large, white foam.

Tessa frowned, though, because her mind was concentrated more on the events of earlier in the day than on her shower. She was wondering why Quistis had left in the middle of the session and was she had said to set her off.

What the hell is SOLDIER? Tessa thought as she dipped her head under the water, rinsing away the shampoo. What does it have to do with me?

"Tessa!" someone shouted as they pounded on the door to the bathroom. She spun her head around and Latasha dashed in.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tessa screamed. "Get out!"

"It's Sonje, something's happened. I need your help!" Latasha screamed back. "Some guy just attacked her!"

"Then get the Disciplinary committee," Tessa said as she shut the water off. She stepped out of the shower and grabbed her towel. "What good am I?"

"She's dying!" Latasha cried hysterically.

Tessa began to quickly dry herself, ignoring Latasha's blushing stare. "Then get Dr. Kadowaki. I'm only a student."

"Get Dr. Kadowaki?" Latasha said indignantly. "Don't you think I tried? Get dressed and let's go!" She grabbed the towel from Tessa's hand and threw it to the side.

Tessa glared at Latasha and picked up her shirt, a red and black bit of flannel. She didn't wear civilian clothes often but it was Eidan, the fifth of the five-day week. On Eidan all students and SeeDs were released from their Garden duties, though active SeeDs weren't. Also, the library and cafeteria closed early.

"Fine, I'll be right there. It's the library, right?" Tessa asked angrily. She believed that Latasha was dramatizing the situation.

"No, it's the lobby," Latasha said as she grabbed the shirt and helped Tessa put it on. "We were on our way to the lobby."

"And the guy that attacked her?" Tessa inquired.

"I don't know him. This Garden is huge, how could I?" Latasha said. Her breath was coming under control and she was calming down. "I just need your help."

Tessa finished dressing and followed Latasha out of the dorm. A few minutes later, they were in the lobby and Tessa was looking around for Sonje's body. "Where is she?"

"Over there," Latasha said as she pointed at the directory. "They dragged off the guy, though. He bit a lot of people."

"How was she injured?" Tessa asked as she walked over to Sonje. She knelt beside the girl and lifted her limp hand.

Sonje was a young girl of twelve with strawberry-blonde hair. She wore a pink shirt and was known to be a friend of the boy that was always seen running around the Garden.

"He grabbed her. She tried to push him away and fell, hitting her head on that thing," Latasha said as she pointed at the directory.

"She's fine, just unconscious," Tessa said as she let the girl's hand drop. She looked at the directory and saw a large blood spot. "Don't move her, though. Wait until Dr. Kadowaki gets here."

"Where is she, anyway?" Latasha asked.

A young student stepped out of the gathering crowd and raised his hand. "I saw her heading to the Administration Building about half an hour ago."

"Well, why didn't you get her?" Tessa said angrily. She stood up and walked over to him. Her finger jabbed itself painfully into his chest. "You are an ass. I'll go get her, then."

Tessa retracted her finger and pushed the student. He tripped and fell backward, landing on his butt. As she walked by, Tessa kicked his foot out of her way with a glare of contempt.