CHAPTER 5 – Stranger Tides

Laguna Loire checked his submachine gun and stood up from his seated position. He looked around the forest he was in and saw that none of his teammates were anywhere around.

Where the hell am I?

The thought had not been his, and sounded strange. It almost sounded female.

What is this place? The voice asked.

Laguna shook it out of his mind as Kiros ran up to him. The slim, dark-skinned man held his curved blades backhanded and away from each other. "Laguna," he said, "we're ready to go."

"Orders?" Laguna asked.

"Came down from Deling City five minutes ago. General Caraway wants our debrief."

"Fine. Where's Ward?"

Ward? And who the hell is Kiros?

"He's at the truck right now."

Laguna nodded. "Let's go."

He lead the way, Kiros following him, toward the truck they had at the edge of the forest. They weaved their way past caterchipillars, bite bugs and giant mantises. When they arrived at the truck, Ward smiled. "Wondered when you guys were gonna get here," the big man said.

Ward was six-foot-six, three hundred twenty pounds and most of it was muscle. He did over indulge himself a little when it came to lobster, but Laguna forgave him for it. They all piled into the truck and drove out of the forest.

After twenty minutes, they arrived at Deling City, the capital of Galbadia, and stopped right outside the Deling Hotel. Laguna got out, slung his submachine gun, and walked right in.

"Laguna? What the hell?" Ward asked, leaving his giant mace in the truck.

"I wanna see her," he said, simply.

Kiros and Ward followed him, leaving their own weapons in the truck. Afterwards, they all regrouped in the hotel lobby. Laguna walked up to the reception desk and asked, "Is Ms. Heartily playing here tonight?"

"That she is, sir," the receptionist said.

Laguna nodded, then walked down the stairs to the dining hall. He, Ward and Kiros were seated at a corner table, where they were given drinks. Then, they waited. Ten minutes later, a beautiful black-haired girl in a red dress walked down the stairs and into the musicians corner. She sat down at the piano. Laguna couldn't tell what she was playing on the piano, but he knew it sounded as beautiful as she looked.

I know that, it's Zaiaks' Found the Lost in F Minor.

Laguna frowned as he watched her play it. He knew, absolutely, that he'd never heard that before. He wanted to know what, in his head, was acting as though nothing was the way it should be.

Twenty minutes later, they were still sitting at that corner table. Twenty minutes later, that beautiful black-haired girl was talking with thirty or forty different people, socializing with Deling City's rich and famous. Among them, General Caraway, Headmaster Martine of Garden, Chief Lexine Kineas of the Galbadian Military Special Ops unit.

Laguna watched as the crowd around her thinned out, and suddenly, she was alone. He took his chance, despite his legs feeling like two ton bricks.

"Uh," he said, losing his voice in the process. "Uh, My name is Laguna Loire," he finally got out, holding his hand out for a handshake. She gently took it, shook hands.

"Julia Heartily," she said in a musical voice. "Did you come to watch me play?"

"Yuh-yeah. I saw. Very beautiful. What was it called?"

"I don't have a name for it, yet."

"Oh."

"Uh, I know this sounds kinda wrong, and all, since we just met, but can you come to my room later? It's 203."

"Um... sure."

"Thanks."

"Whaddya need me for, anyway?"

"Well, I'd like you to—"

Squall woke up, next to Shibiru. She was still naked, but the blankets covered her. Blue moonlight filtered in through the blinds over the window.

What was that? She asked herself. It felt too real. Who was that Laguna guy, and why was he... well, me?

She laid back down and tried getting back to sleep. Unfortunately, even with a great looking guy like Shibiru next to her, she couldn't sleep any more. So, she got out of bed, slipped on her underwear, then started rooting through her drawers for something to wear. Selphie had gotten her a great deal of stuff from those stores in Balamb in the time between becoming a member of SeeD and the dance that almost made Squall cream her panties being held against Shibiru and his less than hard eight inch cock.

Here we go, she said to herself, pulling out a plain black skirt. She'd begun to like skirts, having worn one the whole day. She pulled it on and zipped it up. Next, she rooted through for a shirt and and found a white tank top. She put it on and then grabbed her old jacket from on top of her dresser. Next, she pulled on some socks and her boots. She was going to go for a walk through the Training Center.

When she got there, Instructor Trepe was waiting in the hall outside. "You know you're supposed to be in your dorm, Squall."

"Unless you're going to the Training Center."

Quistis smirked. "Or sleeping with your boyfriend?"

Squall felt her heart stop. "You... uh... know about that?"

"Like I said, I know the appeal of having a hung boyfriend, and you wanted to celebrate."

"So, you're not gonna turn me in to Headmaster Cid, or anything?"

"If I was going to do that, you think I'd be standing here waiting for you to show up?"

"How'd you know I was gonna come here?"

"You do from time to time."

"So, what, you just stand there and wait for me every night?"

"No, I just had a hunch you'd come tonight."

"Oh."

"C'mon. I wanna show you something."

Squall followed Instructor Trepe through the Training Center, where they fought nearly every kind of monster there was native to the Balamb region. At one point, they even fought a T-Rexaur, which Squall killed using Shiva and her own Renzokuken technique one after the other.

Eventually, they came to the area exactly opposite the entrance to the Training Center, and Instructor Trepe led Squall to a door that Squall had never seen before. They walked through the door and Squall saw something that amazed her to no end. The Garden, lit up with almost every light possible, as well as two or three spotlights and the hovering ring above it.

"Wow," Squall said, walking up to the window. "It's so beautiful."

"Yeah. A lot of the time, couples come here at night to make out, but nobody's here tonight. I figured we could just talk—y'know, girl to girl."

"Talk? About what?"

"Well, I just wanted to know what it feels like?"

"What what feels like?"

"You were just changed this morning, and thrust into so many dangerous situations, and you took all of it. I don't think I could do that."

"Oh, well... I dunno. I guess... I mean, I thought about Shibi a lot. I wanted to see my boyfriend again."

Squall thought about that. When she'd actually been transformed, Shibiru had been the first person she'd seen at all. He'd walked in, told her what she needed to know, then handed her some clothes. She'd taken them and smiled at him, to which he nervously smiled back.

Looking back at it, she thought it was funny. She was treating him as if she'd been going out with him for months or even years. He was her boyfriend, and she didn't find it weird at all. They'd had sex, and it was like they'd been doing it for forever.

"What is it?" Instructor Trepe asked.

"Oh, sorry. Just... thinking."

"Oh."

"Hey, is this what you wanted to talk about?"

"No, not really. Actually, I wanted to tell you something."

"What?"

"Well... Look, I'm telling you this because you've been my favorite student, my most hard working student and even my most pain in the ass student, but you're the first one I wanted to tell. Back on Dollet, the order came down to retreat, and we were supposed to leave who ever was there to the Galbadians. Even though the comms people told me—ordered me—I told the boat captain to stay behind."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't abandon you. I needed to see you all get home, back to the Garden. In many ways, it wasn't a smart idea, but I decided it was the right idea. Anyway, it got me a shitstorm of problems when we got back."

"Like what?" Squall asked, nervously.

"I was the youngest-ever instructor in Balamb or any Garden. I'm now, also, the youngest ever instructor to be bumped back to being a student."

"You mean... you're not a teacher anymore?"

"Nope. Just a SeeD member and a senior, like you."

"That sucks."

Instructor Tre—Quistis—just smiled. "I don't mind. I didn't exactly like being an instructor so young. There were seven students in my classes that were older than me that I was teaching. It didn't feel right." She leaned against the railing on the balcony. "So, from now on, I'm not 'Instructor Trepe' anymore. You can just call me Quistis."

"Quis-tis..." Squall said, almost mangling it. "I'm so sorry, if I ever end up calling you Instructor Trepe, will you understand it?"

"Of course." Quistis giggled. "I'll have a hard time heading to the classroom as a student instead of a teacher. You know how hard it'll be to see Headmaster Cid sitting in my desk instead of me?"

The next day, Squall woke up again, next to Shibiru. She was nestled up against his chest, her face was buried in his chest hairs. She had no clue when she'd gotten back to sleep, but she was glad that she hadn't had any dreams.

Shibiru twitched next to her, grunting slightly. Squall looked at him as he woke up. "Morning, Squall," he said. "You woke up early."

"M-hm."

He sat up, cradling her in his arms as he did. "You woke up in the middle of the night, too."

"Yeah. I had a weird dream."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Uh-huh. I think... I don't know what I think, really."

"Sorry 'bout that. So, how was last night?"

She moaned. "Great. I never... Oh, God, that was awesome."

He smiled. "Awesome, huh?"

"Yep."

"Glad I can be awesome, sweetheart."

"Good."

Squall got up and put her clothes back on. Shibiru did the same. The whole time, they were kissing and fondling each other.

The PA rang seconds later. "Squall Leonhart, Selphie Tilmit and Quistis Trepe: Report to the Headmaster's office."

Squall kissed Shibiru on the lips. "Sorry, babe, gotta go."

"See you later, SeeD Member Leonhart."

Squall smiled, then stuck her tongue out at him. After that, she left.

Squall, Selphie and Quistis all arrived at the elevator to the Headmaster's office together. Each was wearing simple clothes. Squall was wearing her white shirt, black skirt and leather jacket. Selphie was wearing a yellow overall dress, and Quistis a black miniskirt and orange short sleve blouse. Each was carrying their weapon in some way or another. Squall's gunblade was sheathed on her back, Selphie's nunchaku were in a holder on her left fore arm and Quistis' whip was encased on her left hip.

They stood silently in the elevator as it rose upward toward the top floor. It stopped, they all got out, and approached Headmaster Cid, who was sitting at his desk, doing paperwork.

"Good morning, ladies," he said, lifting his head up. "Now that Ms. Tilmit and Ms. Leonhart are members of SeeD, it is time for you to partake on a mission of some importance. Ms. Trepe, you will acompany them as their team leader, seeing as you have the most experience."

"Okay, sir," she said, nervously. Squall could tell that she probably wasn't too happy to be put in charge.

"A group in Timber has hired SeeD to help deal with a unique problem they have over there. It involves the Galbadians."

Squall took the advantage of Headmaster Cid's pause and asked, "Um, sir, how come you picked three females?"

"The group in Timber, the Owls, requested it. Their leader, a Rinoa Heartily, doesn't seem to trust male mercenaries."

Squall thought a second. Heartily? That was a name from my dream... She put that behind her as Headmaster Cid continued with his briefing.

"You'll board a train in Balamb, the last one to head for Timber for a week or so."

"A week?" Quistis asked, confused.

"President Deling himself is going to Timber. Going to the old TV station there. Mere hours after you arrive, the entire town is going to be locked down and placed under martial law." He cleared his throat. "This mission could take days, girls. I hope you understand that."

The three of them looked at one another. Squall could see that both Selphie and Quistis looked as nervous as she felt. Quistis was the one to speak first. "Of course we do, sir, and we'll preform to the best of our ability."

Headmaster Cid nodded. "Your train leaves in an hour, I suggest you leave now."