Hunter's Eyes:

A/N: Amazingly enough, this chapter isn't told from Tessa's POV. So to speak. I wanted to show how things were going back at Garden, since it does take a formative role later in the story. And remember, R&R!

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His face itched where he'd slept on it the night before. Up the entire night cramming for his GF test, Hunter Vance yawned and pulled his face off his textbook. On the page covered with his drool was a drawing of Mist, a legendary dragon GF that hadn't been seen in over 500 years, sketched before the invention of cameras.

Hunter wiped his face and glanced at his bed. It was a mess, even though he hadn't slept in it. His blanket was hanging over the edge, obscuring a large portion of his floor. The sheets had come loose and showed bare mattress, which was faded with age. A pillowcase lay on one side of the bed, and the pillow on the other.

I'll worry about it later, he decided as he pushed his chair out from under the desk and stood up. He wobbled slightly because his left foot still asleep, but he quickly stomped it back to consciousness.

His mind was concentrated on his test as he changed into a fresh student uniform. The shower that he shared with his roommate, a muscular jock named Bastion, had been broken for several days and was still in need of repair. Hunter was afraid he would have to remind the Garden staff if something wasn't done soon. However, in the meantime, a girl down the hall had been letting him use hers. Her roommate was out on assignment and expected back later that day.

"What did she say her roommate was named?" Hunter asked himself aloud as he grabbed a towel from the cupboard in the bathroom. He set it on the sink and placed a bottle shampoo and a bar of soap, wrapped in a washcloth, on the towel before wrapping it up like a hobo's suitcase. He slung the makeshift bag over his shoulder and stepped out of the bathroom. Bastion's snores could be heard through his closed door.

"Hey, Hunter," a SeeD hollered as Hunter closed his dorm's door. "What're you doing?"

"My shower's broken," Hunter responded. "The young lady down the hall is letting me use hers until it gets fixed."

"Who is it?" the SeeD asked as he fell in step with the white-haired student.

"Lilith in 35D," he answered.

"Jayne's roommate?" the SeeD said with a laugh. "Dude, you're in for some rough shit if you run into Jayne."

Hunter bowed his head and thoughtfully scratched it with his free hand. "Why should I be worried about this Jayne?"

"Jayne hates men," the SeeD explained. "I mean, she would go to an all-women's Garden if she thought it were possible."

"I know someone like that," Hunter confessed. His mind flew to the red-haired Amazon and a twang of guilt spread through his body, causing him to wince.

"Something wrong?" the SeeD asked.

"It is just a bad memory," Hunter said as he ran a hand through his shock of white hair. "It should soon pass."

"Well, this is your stop."

"What?" Hunter said before realizing he was outside Lilith's dorm. "Oh, yes."

"See you," the SeeD said with a wave.

"Farewell," Hunter said as he turned the doorknob. Who was he?

---

"I feel like crap," Andel Haylen complained to Hunter later that day.

"Go see Dr. Kadowaki," Hunter suggested as he shoved a hotdog in his mouth.

The two students were in the cafeteria, among the last to get hotdogs. Even though it wasn't the same kitchen that the cooks had used during the Third Sorceress War, the common consensus was that the hotdogs were just as good as they had once been. Indeed, they seemed to have even grown in popularity.

"Can't, she's out at some medical convention," Andel countered. "Her timing really sucks, what with this weird flu going around. I mean, that on top of this."

Andel held his left arm out and carefully rolled back the sleeve. The arm had turned an odd shade of green and was beginning to cover in sores. Hunter gagged and dropped his hotdog onto his tray.

"Put that away," Hunter said as he covered his face with his hands. " Go pour some alcohol on it. It's beginning to look infected."

"Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much that would burn?"

"Have Professor Aki take a look at it. He's the Medical Instructor, isn't he?" Hunter suggested.

Andel sheathed his arm and shook his head. "How're things with you and that red-head, Tessa? She's one fine piece of woman."

"Clearly you have spent no time with her," Hunter said, glad for the distraction from his friend's arm. "If Antessence heard you say that, you would be dead."

"I don't see why you're always pining over her. With that accent of yours, you could get any woman you want," Andel said with open jealousy. "I haven't had a date in months."

"Alas, I know," Hunter said dramatically. He played up his accent, drawing admiring looks from a couple of female SeeDs from the next table. "However, there is something irresistible about the unattainable."

"So you're into dikes?"

"What do you mean?" Hunter winked at the SeeDs and turned back to his friend. "What is a dike?"

"You know, a lesbian, a carpet-eater," Andel said with a laugh. "She doesn't like meat, if you know what I'm saying."

"Antessence is a vegetarian?" Hunter said out of confusion. "And she eats carpet? This doesn't sound like the Antessence I knew back at Lotia Garden."

"Listen, you've only been here for a few days and all of Garden already knows who you are. I really recommend you learn some of the lingo. The accent will only get you so far."

"Well, what is a dike?" Hunter asked rather loudly, drawing snickers from the same SeeDs that he had been flirting with just moments before.

"Quiet!" Andel said as he held his hands up. "A dike is a girl who likes other girls. You know, sexually."

"Oh, you mean a tocaro," Hunter said with a laugh. "Antessence isn't a 'dike.' She's just incredibly, shall we say, bold."

---

"I can't believe you let him get away with it!" the young girl screamed in Junonian as she pointed her index finger at Hunter. He cringed at the words, trying to hide his shame-riddled face. Little success went his way, because she seemed be underneath his eyelids. Her shrill voice burrowed its way into his skull and the words pounded his brain. "You were supposed to protect me!"

"I tried," Hunter pleaded as he shook his head. Tears were flowing down his tanned cheeks and his breathing was ragged and sporadic. He slammed his hands over his ears and tried to block out her voice, but his heart seemed to beat in tune with it.

"You failed, Hunter! You let me down!" she yelled at him. The girl had her fists clenched at her sides and her faced scrunched up. "I'm dead, thanks to you!"

"I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do," he sobbed. Hunter choked back vomit and covered his head. "I'm so sorry, Alex."

"Quiet!" Alex screamed as Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. "You let me die, so now I'm going to make you pay!"

"STOP!"

Hunter sat up in bed, his skin covered in cold sweat. His sheets were drenched and had a slight odour. He blinked until his vision cleared. He was worried because the last thing he heard hadn't been a part of his dream.

Warm feet met the cold floor as Hunter got out of bed and walked to his door. He placed his ear against it and listened, but didn't hear anymore screaming.

His wet, standard-issue pyjamas clung to his body as he grabbed the fighting stick by his desk. The main thing that Hunter had gone to Lotia Garden to study was Magic, and he transferred to Balamb Garden after he surpassed the instructors at Lotia. However, it had been impressed upon him to study something other than Magic, just in case.

The GF lying on the desk was Lakja, a grey dragon that blasted ice when summoned; Hunter grabbed and junctioned it before cautiously opening his door. The common room that he shared with Bastion was empty and Hunter's roommate couldn't be heard, which worried him. Bastion's snoring often woke him.

A scream wafted through the thin wooden door, a bloodcurdling shout that made his bronzed skin turn an ashy white. Hunter ran to the door and threw it open.

He glanced down the hallway and saw nothing, even as he heard another scream. He then turned his head and looked down the other end of the hall, toward the dormitory's exit. Vomit sprang up into Hunter's mouth and he slammed the door.

"That wasn't happening," the white-haired youth told himself. "That can't have been happening."

Bastion's door opened and the large teenager spilled out of his room and onto the floor. Hunter dropped his fighting stick and ran to his roommate's side.

"Are you well?" Hunter asked. "Do you need help?"

Bastion roared and launched himself at Hunter, who fell back on his haunches. Hunter kicked Bastion in the face, but the bigger student didn't seem to notice. That was when Hunter saw the infected bite on his arm and the large sores on his face. It was incredibly similar to what Andel had shown him earlier that day.

Hunter moved away from Bastion by kicking at, and sliding across, the floor. His roommate crawled after him, so Hunter raised his right hand and launched a Thundara spell. It hit bastion in the head, stunning him. Hunter scrambled to his feet and ran into his room. He slammed the door and locked it before stumbling back and falling on the bed in shock. After what he had seen in the hallway, he didn't know what was going on.