The next morning, at five a.m., Trystan woke up, got dressed, and ran down the hall to Sam's room and hammered on the door.

"Sam, WAKE UP!" She said loudly, still pounding on his door. "We're going to be late for Quistis' briefing!"

Something about that must have worked, because minutes later, Sam appeared at the door, fully dressed.

"Get on my back." Sam said. It wasn't a suggestion. It was an order.

"Why?"

"It will be faster – trust me."

"Okay." Trystan did as she was told.

"Hold on."

"To what??"

"Your hat with one hand and around my neck with the other." Sam muttered. Sam held onto Trystan's legs and started to run as fast as he could to the briefing room. He could faintly hear Trystan yelling, "This is awesome!!" and he smiled. He had always loved hanging around girls and all, but that didn't even compare to the feeling he got when Trystan laughed or even smiled at him.

Sam came to a stop outside the briefing room and Trystan hopped off his back.

"That was awesome!" She said, still laughing. She hugged Sam and went into the room. Sam smiled, shook his head and followed suit.

Quistis entered the room five minutes later.

"I notice that Chloe, Kirojou and the other three are not here yet. They will still be on the quest, but they will receive two silver deludements each." Quistis said, taking ten fine crystal bracelets off her arm where many more – up to her shoulder, Trystan noticed – were stowed. "Trystan, as Sam's assistant, you will be in charge of handing the deludements out to those who fail to listen to the Leader. Take as many as it takes to cover your whole right or left arm. Go on now." Quistis said, opening one of her desk drawers revealing hundreds, if not thousands, of shining crystal deludements. Trystan quickly put sixty deludements on her right arm so that her left arm was still open for using a weapon.

"Trystan, I also want you to take a bullet proof vest. You never know if your gun or someone else's will back fire or if someone will turn on you." Quistis added. Sam grabbed the vest Quistis handed him to help Trystan with and Trystan reluctantly took off her over coat and t-shirt. Sam stared at her back for a couple minutes, not realizing what he saw.

On Trystan's back was a tattoo of a phoenix. The wings spread from her elbows to her shoulder blades on both arms and the top most feather on the phoenixes back to the tip of the tail reached from the bottom of her neck to below the top of her jeans.

"Trystan, I never knew…"

"That I had a tattoo?"

"Yeah…"

"I only got it a couple months ago. It's supposed to represent loyalty. Sam, I'm getting cold. Can we talk about this later?" Trystan mumbled. Sam helped her get the vest on, which Trystan did up herself and Sam handed her t-shirt to her.

"It's just… I never expected that from you. It just surprised me." Sam said. Trystan smiled.

"Everyone does stuff that the ones close to the person in question doesn't expect. Don't worry about it."

"I'll keep that in mind…"

Several minutes later, the other five came in. Without a word, Quistis gave the five their deludements.

"What's this for?" Kirojou asked loudly, glaring at Quistis. Quistis looked at Trystan, and nodded.

"You were late for the briefing." Trystan said slowly. "Therefore, You receive two deludements each. If you get five, you are suspended from one mission. If you receive ten, you are suspended from ten missions. If you receive more than ten, you are expelled from becoming a SeeD." Sameth and Quistis nodded. Trystan raised two fingers in a salute, let her arm drop to her side, then walked over to Sameth and stood beside him.

"Looks like Sameth has got a girlfriend." Kirojou sneered, looking from Trystan to Sameth and back again. Chloe laughed.

"Don't be so juvenile." Quistis warned. "That's exactly what SeeD doesn't need…" Trystan went to take a step toward Kirojou to punch him, but the deludements on her arm reminded her that she was not immune to them.

-I have worked too hard to get where I am… I will not let Kirojou ruin my chance to become a SeeD…- She thought bitterly as she sat on top of a Desk. Sameth looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Trystan saw this and just shook her head. She may tell him later… Or not…

"We set out in three hours." Sameth declared with a quick glance at Quistis, who nodded. "Get your things together as needed… buy your supplies, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. If you're not ready in three hours, too bad for you. You get left behind. We meet at the front gate. Anything you want to add, Trystan?"

"Nothing of importance to the fools we're traveling with." Trystan said bitterly, glaring at Kirojou menacingly. Kirojou shrank back into a corner. Chloe glared at Trystan.

"Don't be so mean." Chloe said hatefully to Trystan, who blinked.

"You know what, Chloe?" Sameth said slowly. "You should respect Trystan a bit more. You could say that she is the Lieutenant. Anyway… and she has the power to expel you from SeeD once we're on the road." Chloe looked at her brother with a blank stare.

"You mean I have to listen to what SHE says?!" She gasped, looking at Trystan. Trystan frowned as she looked at Kirojou, who simply shrugged. Trystan then looked at Chloe as if she were going to kill her. Chloe cringed in fear.

"And that goes for all of you." Trystan said menacingly, glaring at everyone in turn, causing a shudder to pass through everyone. Only Quistis seemed unaffected. Sameth motioned for everyone to leave, which they did. Trystan was about to leave when Sameth called her back.

"Wait, Trystan."

"Yeah, Sammy?" She asked quietly, turning around, smiling a painful smile.

"What's wrong?" Sameth asked, placing a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manor. She smiled painfully again, in her head telling herself not to cry.

"It… it's nothing. My family's just being a bit hard on me for using a shot gun… my mom's worried that it'll back-fire on me…" Trystan mumbled, looking away from Sameth. "Let's just go, okay?"

Sameth looked at her. She was pale again, and she was trembling slightly. Had he seen a bruise on her arm before… by the wing of the phoenix on her back? He shook his head and led her to the front gate, where they waited for everyone else to gather.

"Sam… I have to talk to you…." Trystan mumbled, looking at the ground. Sam just looked at her.

"What's wrong?" Sameth asked worriedly, placing a hand on her shoulder. Trystan looked fretfully around to make sure no one was listening, and then she looked at Sam.

"It…it's Kirojou… He…" Suddenly, Trystan stopped talking and gasped as Kirojou approached them. Sam looked over his shoulder and say Kirojou.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear…" He mumbled just loud enough for Trystan to hear. Trystan tried to smile but couldn't. She was quiet for the rest of the day.