Chapter 2

The Mission

Squall folded his arms as he entered the classroom, eying the kids fully attentive to Instructor Trepe, who is happily marking away at the keyboard. Squall just went to his desk, which was right next to Seifer who was checking out the nice scar Squall gave him that connected from his right eyebrow to his left cheek, the exact opposite of his own. He'd roll his eyes and turn away from Seifer, planting his head on the desk, folded in between his cuffed arms.

"Alright, class for the day is dismissed." Quistis'd loudly say, her words floating right into Squall's ear, shocking him out of his class time nap. He nodded his head and Quistis turned to look at Seifer. "Oh, and Seifer, do NOT injure your partner while training, before I have to take action against you." Quistis would inform him, her voice stern yet full of heart. Quistis began walking back to the front of the room, shifting uncomfortably in the uniform. "Alright, you are all free to leave." A confidant smile would envelope her face as she perched against the brim of the desk. She waited for everyone to clear the room before she inhaled loudly at him. "Before I tell you anything about the mission- just know I didn't pick the squads, so please don't be angry with me." Squall nodded and rolled his eyes, she motioned him to follow her. "Come on- today's the field exam in Dollet. Come down when you're ready, assure to be in uniform or I cannot allow you to go." Quistis said, filing out of the room.

Down in the lobby, Quistis stood with a clipboard and was directing students around into Squads. "Okay, Squad C- you'll be taking care of intelligence and communications. Your members are Selphie Tilmitt and Nida Luz." She'd say, directing the two into the corner. Instructor Trepe looked to Squall, "Squad B- Squall Leonheart, let's see your with… Zell Dincht. He's quite a lively fellow." She'd say, giving Squall the most ironic glare she could direct from underneath her glasses.

"He's not lively, he's just loud. Can't I just switch members?" He'd beckon, voice still somewhat annoyed.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." She'd say, tightening her grip on the clipboard, she spotted Zell. "Zell, over here!" She'd call, her arm waving him over.

The spry martial artist, Zell he made people call him, was good at his skill and wanted everyone to know. His way of introducing himself was a series of show-off acts, which faintly resembled a terrible Mentos commercial. A quick yet fierce blow to the air as he launched his elbow into the nothingness behind him. He nodded to Quistis and Squall, whose expressions were quite annoyed, as he hurled his body backwards, performing three back flips and landing on his feet- perfectly. He chuckled and toughly walked over, offering his hand. "Nice! I'm with you!" Squall, of course, rejected his hand shake with a mere turn away. "Tch, heard that tool bag and you got into it pretty good this morning."

Quistis choked up a muffled laugh as she announced to the two boys: "I wouldn't talk about him like that. He's your squad leader." A brush of anxiety whipped Zell and Squall into a growl and sigh. Seifer, with his posse, the Garden's own 'Disciplinary Committee' made up of Fujin and Raijin, Seifer's posse. Raijin talked too much and Fujin barely talk at all, though when she did it was always terse and strong. The two were fiercely strong and domineering, alike Seifer. "Good luck to you, Seifer, you're the squad leader."

"Instructor… I hate when you wish me luck.. save that for a bad student who needs it." He'd say, Raijin chuckling and patting his back.

"I did." She'd simply say, turning towards the garage. "Don't bother- we're late as it is." She'd snarl towards Seifer, who in seconds would have been whining. Instructor Trepe immediately gave the salute, upon glance catching with Headmaster Cid. The rest of them hastily followed her as she offered the salute.

"Hello, it's been awhile everyone. The mission will consist of 12 SeeD candidates, in Squads A – D. You will be going to a REAL battlefield in Dollet. Obviously, the battles are for real. Carry with you the pride of Balamb. Good luck, men." The headmaster proudly preached, stepping out of the way to allow Quistis and the three boys to pass towards the garage.

Chapter 3

Dollet Follies

About ten minutes of driving, they had reached the piers, and there was only one boat left docked into the shallow pier. Not even before Zell fully got out of the truck, one of the SeeD captains, Xu called over. "Come on, hurry up! You're the last ones to get here!" She'd command, furiously pointing to the boat, where Seifer, Zell, Squall, Quistis and Xu quickly piled into. "Hello, everyone. I'll explain the current situation." Xu confided strongly. Xu was the fair skinned girl with dark maple-shaded locks, who appeared to be of or just a year above Quistis' age, was a more calmed rival with Quistis, as she made SeeD one induction after Quistis and stealing the title as the youngest recruit. "Our client for the mission is the Dollet Parliament. A request for SeeD was made around 18 hours ago. Dollet has been under attack by the Galbadian army for about 72 hours. We'll be landing on the Dollet shoreline. The objective is to eliminate the remaining G-Army troops and liberate the city A.S.A.P."

Zell clapped his hands: "Sounds important!"

Seifer just yawned slightly and snapped back. "Sounds boring." He rolled his head to Xu. "So, what you're saying is we do the dirty work?"

Jasmine pinched her eyes shut and ignored Seifer. "…." She cleared her throat and proceeded. "This hardly means anything, but the order to withdraw is your number one priority. You shall drop everything you are doing, and report to the shoreline. Do not forget." She'd nod and returned to the cockpit.

Seifer turned to Squall. "Go check if our arrival is imminent." His voice was quite strong and advanced sounding, as if he adopted Quistis' dialect. "You know, since it's my order and everything." Seifer would command, gloved hand patting on the hard leather seat.

"Whatever…" Squall would just lightly say, rising to his feet. His muscled body would pivot to face the ladder, where he'd position himself in front of and climb up. Squall pulled himself on top, where he'd be standing on deck and on the faintly orange horizon- he saw it; Dollet under siege. Squall's fingers gripped the iron railing tightly as the sound of his heartbeat overlapped reality- almost as if all other sound was negated and channeled to that of his beating heart.

The other SeeD boats raced to the shoreline, trails of white foam lapping against the vessels behind them. Squall would tighten his eyelids around the blue eyes they contained, he would look back up to face Dollet - fire and missiles coated the city. Xu pushed the boat into high gear as she plowed against the beach, flattening a Galbadian soldier against the sand. Squall pulled his body back in haste, and ripped forward. He leaped over the ten foot ledge and landed on the sand, Seifer and Zell already ahead. Squall turned to face the ship and nodded to Quistis as she shut the heavy metal doors, breaking their stare.

Within moments of getting to city level, three Galbadian soldiers rushed the unexpecting boys. Seifer hastily slashed his way right through the soldier that opposed him and kept running- disregarding the other two completely. Zell viciously inserted his fist directly through the helmet of the soldier, his eyes turning back to Squall, who was already finished with the soldier, evidenced by the two large pieces squirming in the sand. "Let's go!" Zell barked, both following Seifer through the coble-stoned shopping district where eye contact was met between a clumsy looking brunette, their eyes fixated on her unusual curls for a moment.

"Come on, buddy!" The brunette commanded, clocking out a soldier with her nunchaku's, sending him to the ground. "Who said the communications squad can't be badass, HUH!?" She yelped, kicking her foot at the helmet of the downed troop- and missed, sending her skinny frame into a spin.

"You need an answer after that one?" Zell asked the newfound ballerina as they ran by. All they heard was an angry, angry grunt.

Upon reaching the town square, which was a suffocated fountain in the center of tall stores, all fenced in with a cobblestone street, a lone troop launched himself at the boys, sword curling back as to swing. Zell charged him, grabbing at his iron collar and using his bulky muscle to hurl the flailing man right at Seifer. "Batter up!" Zell called out, Seifer swinging as if his sword were a bat, and essentially slicing the foolish troop. "HOMERUN!" Zell cheered, letting out a small victorious laugh. Zell's macho display of muscle distracted Squall and Seifer, only catching a last glimpse of two more soldiers running past them, and up a wide alleyway. It seemed for a moment, all three of them got along.

Seifer grunted. "Well, great. Y'let them go." Seifer walked past Zell, who was twitching with frustration, looked up the winding path. Seifer felt his eyes connecting with the old communications tower, just on top of the cliff. The body of the aged machinery was lighting up for the first time in decades. The other two joined Seifer in their amused gawk.

"WOAH! What's that?!" Zell screamed in question, clapping with his fists.

"It's our next destination." Seifer would snarl, taking off in high-toe towards it, has gray coat tail swaying behind him. Zell and Squall looked at each other, knowing Seifer would get the blame for leaving, they ran after their leader.