Disclaimer: I would totally love to own a piece of Squall. /snicker Break me off a piece of that.

AN:My birthday was yesterday, go me! I got a new game for my DS Avalon code, if you have one you should try it out. Um, the fun stuff starts happening in another chapter or two. /end rambling.

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Nadia felt like she was going to turn into a puddle of water and float away. She had managed to get up for her morning class, her training dagger in hand. The bells had chimed for a school wide announcement. It did not happen often, which is why when the bells chimed she hadn't paid too much attention. It was an announcement of the SeeDs that had, while out on duty or in the line of battle, died. She had bowed her head out of respect. Sometimes the bells only sounded once a month, in times of territorial disputes every week.

The names were rattled off back to back, leaving Nadia with no sense of who the people really were or what they had done in their life. She felt only slightly bad when she had started thinking of materials she would need to gather to start her private elemental practices. She had put it off long enough. It took the events on the way to Balamb to realize Galbadia was a dead end to her as a Sorceress.

The name had only been recited once mere seconds ago. 'Irvine Kinneas' She wanted to shriek and at the same time conjure a portal to fry Doctor Kadowaki on the spot for failing Irvine. She had managed to stop herself out of sheer will. Not to mention conjuring a portal in the middle of the cafeteria was a bad idea. Sam and Reggie, who were never seen during school hours, even by her, were by at her side minutes later.

"It can't be true." Sam said.

"He was fine when we left." Reggie added.

She shooed their insistent talking. "Quiet you two. You knew it was possible. He lost more blood then should be allowed. He was probably only alive for a little bit because I force fed him energy and magic." Her comments stopped their chatter. She glanced at Reggie curious. He was frowning, his eyes filled with regret.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her his arm snaking around her waist. His kindness was too much. She fell into his chest tears gushing forth. She felt foolish, but at the same time awful. She had always made snide comments in her mind when someone else had the same reaction. She had never personally known someone to have died on the SeeD roster. Did it always feel like this when someone you cared about died?

"Aw, what's wrong Candidate Patil?" Instructor Zan said pushing his foot down her on her back. Nadia broke down under the weight and let him stomp her to the floor.

"Sir, She broke out into tear at the Deceased Call." Gregorik interrupted his eyes filled with grief. She looked away from his eyes not wanting his pity. She bet he didn't even know Irvine personally.

"Well, well, Candidate I commend you for coming to class despite your loss. However," He said stomping down on her again, "if you can't function in my class while grieving, don't come at all. Get up and go to your seat."

She did as she was told slumping into her chair behind Gregorik. The boy had his notebook open taking diligent notes as Instructor Zan droned on. Nadia didn't even pay attention anymore. He was saying the same things he said last class cycle. Instead she gently reached into Gregorik's mind and planted a single urging thought.

She found the fruits of her short and boring labor sweet when class let out. The boy walked up to her with a rather proud gait. "Hey Kina, I know you've been struggling in class." She could feel his smugness. "Do you need a tutor?" She wondered if she could open bets with Sam and Reggie to see how long it took Gregorik to realize no one would praise him. Tutoring an Upperclassman could be seen as a sign of honor, but she was Kina, it would be a mark of shame on him. Her mind slipped back to Irvine angered that people were already calling her a slut.

No one had really taken notice of when Sam and Reggie were near her. It was a different story when they had come flocking to her aid when she had cried. That automatically made her a user and a viper. She shrugged it off, if a girl really wanted to lure a man it would take more than tears and breathless weeping. Well, perhaps a weak man, but men like Irvine.

Nadia shook away the thought he was dead and that ship had sailed. He hadn't given her an opening again since the incident in Dollet when she 'bewitched' him. She refused to believe even drunk and injured she would do that to a person. But again, she reminded herself that it didn't matter.

"Kina?" She blinked realizing she had forgotten to answer Gregorik. Well even though Irvine was dead she would take his advice. She still had to graduate as a SeeD.

"Yes! That would be wonderful I really want to pass." She wondered how people could keep living with such pain. How had her Grandfather Laguna done it?

It had been a month since Irvine's death and already Nadia and settled herself into her new place. People were still calling her a slut, often asked Gregorik how loose she was. It had been an ethical battle with herself when she found she had to impress more upon Gregorik to keep training her. He had expressed concerns with the rumors deciding he no longer wanted anything to do with her. However, she was not ready to let him go and pressed the ideas in his mind. She had already improved by leaps and bounds with his one-on-one training, though her depression deepened.

When Irvine had been around her what people thought of her had always been on her mind. Now that he was gone, he was all she could think of. In her drive to forget about him she had read more, practiced more, listened to more music, and even had mastered making mini-portals. Her father could now send her care packets whenever he felt like it and often held conversations with her. Of course Rinoa still could not see, hear, or be in the same room when a portal was open. Her presence was still too detrimental to Nadia.

The old system of receiving mail from her friends had left Reggie and Sam with far too much free time. Nadia in annoyance of seeing their boredom sent one of them off at any given time to retrieve information about Galbadia movements. She didn't like that President Garland was increasingly interested in her progress. He often asked when she thought she would be promoted to SeeD. In fact she didn't like President Garland one bit anymore.

"Alright are you ready Nadie?" Reggie grinned clearly enjoying his old SeeD uniform again. She pressed her lips together in annoyance. She didn't want to go to Zell's wedding. She would have to see all the people happy about his marriage. All the smiling and laughter might just induce vomiting.

"Ready when you are," She droned back looking away from him. Sam was off doing as he was told, something about military movement on the Windhill borders. Either way, she had to attend the wedding, her increased contact with her father forced her to. She couldn't very well promise to show up, accidently talk about her free schedule, then not show. He would be furious with her.

She raised her pointer finger on her left hand. A silver ring with a set ruby winked back at her the connection forming. She could almost hear the spell asking for a general size, duration, and destination. She had to applaud herself. All her research into binding spells into objects ensured the she couldn't depletion her core. She never wanted to be unable to summon a portal to escape again, the incident in Balamb still fresh in her mind.

A portal just big enough to allow Reggie to slip through opened just in front of her desk. She was still very careful about what she let her parents see. Squall was waiting on the other side with a view of Reggie, herself, and the bare wall behind them. He gave a warm smile and moved away so they could step through into his office.

"Your mother says Hi." Squall forced smile. She gave a regretful nod. Rinoa had made plans with Laguna. He was allowed to attend Zell's wedding and she would take over the running of Esthar City for a day. The citizens had protested, but Laguna had assured them Rinoa was no Adel and he would be back by day break the following day.

Apparently Rinoa felt it was important for her daughter to experience a wedding. She had shrugged of the argument saying her own wedding was enough of a wedding to last her a life time. Nadia was still not sure how her mother agreed to an outdoor wedding in Deling City. The streets had been packed with people gawking at a sorceress taking marital vows.

"Well let's get this show on the road. The sooner the better, I have places to be at the crack of dawn." She said trying to dispel the depressing atmosphere.

"Not just yet we're waiting on Cooper."

She was about to question who Cooper was, when Squall's office door opened. A man completely decked out in a Galbadia SeeD uniform entered. He had closely cropped ebony hair with a tuff of bangs covering his left eye. His visible eye was a starling electric blue that took her breath away. "Aw, how cute she has her daddy's face."

Nadia could almost feel the depressive atmosphere get swallowed whole by aggression. "Now we're ready to go." Squall said in a strained voice. Shaking away her uneasy stomach she strode forward passed both Squall and the man she assumed was Cooper.

"Meet you in the parking lot." Reggie taken by her sudden movement rushed after her, both Squall and Cooper mere foot steps behind him.

"Nadia why are you rushing so much?" Reggie whispered to her.

"I don't want to be here." She shot back hoping her voice didn't carry to her father.

"Lighten up, you'll have tons of fun."

"Mmm." Content with her dream Nadia sat up in bed. Irvine had been there and they had done what the other students had called the nasty. She mused for a moment with a grin on her face. It took a human to create so many words for an event in a person's life that could mean nothing, or an all encompassing event proclaiming at the highest levels, the devotion of their love. She mentally ticked off all the ones that didn't mean anything; fuck, sex, the nasty, getting down and dirty, hop on the good foot and do the bad thing, breeding, even missionary and all variations of the possible position. She found 'making love' to be her favorite, as that would be her only reason. Sorceresses were barren and didn't have sex to breed.

Her hands ran through the sheets the difference in the texture putting her on alert at once. She wasn't in her dorm and her internal clock was warning her of her impending basic weapons test. Turning her head to survey the area she recognized it as a room at the Balamb Hotel. She also realized she was not alone in a bed far too big for her.

"Great Hyne what have I done!" She cried out throwing herself to the floor. Cooper had been asleep on the bed when she looked over. Cursing herself for being so loud she stood up making mental notes of her clothing. Her dress was pooled at the foot of the bed on her side. Her bra was somehow hanging from the light fixture and her underwear were nowhere to be found. She couldn't even remember the last conscious thought of when she had been wearing shoes.

"Morning Princess." Cooper grinned propping himself up on one arm.

She forced a smile on her face, still trying to mental recap the rest of yesterday. She had gone to the wedding. It had bored her to tears, literally. After a few glasses of wine she recalled pouring out her heart to Cooper about her much she missed Irvine. Squall had interjected telling her to stay away from Cooper. That Galbadian men were not the sort to involve herself with. She ignored him for an hour or so later thinking of her Uncle Laguna. He had been Galbadian. It took Cooper one night to bed her, she couldn't remember having sex with him, but she did have the results littered on her body. She huffed at least Laguna married his bed mate.

"I have to go." She wasn't sure what else she could say. She reached for her dress ruling out the effort it would take to retrieve her bra. She wouldn't need her underwear as she would change the moment she reached the Garden. She couldn't even remember where Reggie was, how had he let her get into this situation?

"You know the men are usually the ones doing that." Cooper frowned sitting up.

She squeaked in distress. "No need to get up! I can help myself out. Um, it was a lovely night, but I must go." He seemed amused at her antics. She staggered to her dress nearly tearing the delicate material in her rush to put it back on. She noticed a bangle she was wearing that she hadn't been when she first arrived at Balamb Garden. She jerked it off. Tossing it on the bed she stepped back wondering how she was going to cast her portal without Cooper seeing.

"You don't like my gift?" He questioned his face confused. She was thankful he wasn't expressing hurt.

"I have to go to the bathroom." She said sharply turning for the door. She was happy that at least the room layouts where the same as she slammed the door sharply. Resting her back against the door she saw her panties hanging off the bath tub. "Oh Great Hyne how many times did we do it?" Shaking away the mortifying thoughts, she raised her hand.

The portal was small and open for only five seconds this time. She jumped through it panicking when she heard the door knob turning. She hadn't locked the door, but she watched the portal wink out of existence before the door swung open. She was back in the safety of her dorm room, her digital clock warning her she was about five minutes from being late to her test.

Giving a sigh of annoyance she willed her illusion to change. She was in her typical school outfit and would just have to put up with the lingering filth until her test was over. She only half worried about where Reggie was; the man could take care of himself.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Reggie shouted. It had taken the poor man two days to get back by typical transport. Sam was still out checking Windhill territory. Nadia would not readily admit that it had been hard for her to fall asleep those two lonely nights. She would sure as hell not divulging what happened between her and Cooper. It didn't matter anyway, she would most likely never see him again.

"What do you mean?" She questioned.

His face was red now. She could see he was on the verge of either picking something up and throwing it, or picking her up and shaking her until she saw stars. "I don't know how you did it, but you ran off! I couldn't find you Nadia. I was so worried someone found out you were a sorceress and killed you! It's what normal people do!"

She looked away. It was true. Ever since the Sorceress Ultimecia incident the children with mild sorceress powers where under even tighter White SeeD watch, some still managed to get killed. She had led a rather eventless life, because she and her mother had the best of the best. For their pairs of SeeD the other children needed five to have the same security.

"I don't even remember what happened to be honest. I just woke up in a strange place and used a portal to come home." She answered as honestly as she was willing to.

"That's all? You aren't lying to me are you?" Reggie said glaring down at her.

"Look I'm fine, I even passed my basic weapon's test! Let's just forget about it and move on."

"Yes and No. I won't forget about this incident, whoever did whatever to you might want to do it again." He said sharply staring her down to emphasize his point. She gave a nod her stomach growling. She gave up another prayer to the fates or Hyne, whoever was listening. The mood was broken and Reggie gave a sympathetic sigh. "Let's get something to eat."

Nadia hated eating in the cafeteria, but sure as her pray had been answered for one thing she was ignored the next. She had forgotten Cooper had been wearing a Galbadia SeeD uniform, so when she found him in the cafeteria Reggie managed to catch the shock on her face. "Whose your friend here Nad-"

"Kina!" She snapped, "Kina is my first name. My last name is Patil." She could feel Reggie going from confused to intense anger. Cooper waved her comment off with disinterest putting his hand on her shoulder as he slipped into the lunch line next to her.

"You didn't stay long enough to tell me that, sorry Kina," He stressed her name with a smirk. "You were too wasted the night before to tell me much else." She was seething. This man was despicable to have taken advantage of her like that while she had been drunk. She swore she would never drink again. She blinked with annoyance having remembered that vow from before but… why was it getting so hard for her to remember the little things?

"I didn't peg you for the kind of guy to take the easy bait." She shot back eyeing the food, anything to keep from looking at Reggie.

"Hah, you aren't easy I will tell you that. And I fully intend to keep my promise to you." He winked back. She wanted to slap him and run off, but what would that accomplish? He should know that if she was so 'smashed' as to forget to tell him her full name, how could she remember a promise he made.

"What did you promise?" Reggie was poking her other arm trying to get her to look at him. She wouldn't do it.

Cooper shrugged off her question, "Who's this handsome fellow with you? Your boyfriend?" She shook her head pulling her arm from his grip. She waved Reggie off with the other and decided she wasn't hungry anymore.

"No, he's my friend. If you know what's good for you, you will stay away from me. People talk trash about me and if you stay by me long enough, they will talk trash about you too." She snapped grabbing an apple, just in case, and made for the double doors to escape at least one of her nagging male entourage.

Cooper watched Nadia- or Kina as she preferred, dash off her not-boyfriend in tow like a lost puppy. "Hey man." Some random student addressed him. He turned to the boy who had a long sword strapped to his back.

"The name's Cooper."

"Whatever, look if you want a piece of ass, don't tap that one." The teen insisted, "She's been around if you know what I mean. Not to mention she's slow as a box of rocks, she's been taking Basic Weapons for two cycles now."

"First," Cooper said sharply crossing his arms, "I've already tapped that ass and girls that get around don't bleed when you screw them. And I've been around enough to know first blood from menstrual blood when I see it." The teen blanched at such a blatant comment. "Second, I don't give a damn how slow she is to learn a weapon. The Garden would have tossed her long ago if she was as slow as you said."

He let his arms drop as he stepped closed, "Thirdly, I am not 'Hey Man.' I am a ranking officer to the likes of you. I don't wear this uniform to pick up the girls, though," He gave the teen a very dramatic once over, "I'm sure you would."

Content with the look of shock, fear, and humiliation crossing the teens features Cooper walked off.

Nadia was crying so hard her body hurt. Her throat had long since stopped protesting and just took the pain. Reggie was off in the distance somewhere, she could feel him. Even though he was furious with her, he was still doing his duties as her guard. She had run off to the Quad knowing no one would get near her as late as it already was.

He hadn't needed to yell are her so long. She hadn't even been given a chance to explain herself. She understood that Reggie was there for her safety, but it had been one mistake. She didn't even know how she had lost him at the Wedding and she had taken the proper precautions to keep herself safe when she realized her situation. She had tried to explain as much, but he continued on shouting at her about things that could have gone wrong. When he started making threats about telling her father she gave up trying to talk entirely.

Squall would have just as much as a fit as Reggie had had. More so even, he had warned her to stay away from Cooper. She was an awful person ignoring the wishes of those around her. She thought of Gregorik and the tears redoubled. She really missed Irvine he would have stopped her from doing stupid things. Why could she listen to him and no one else?

"Why are you crying?" Cooper said appearing on the path. She turned away from him, but he wasn't undiscouraged. He jogged off the path towards her. "Hey don't ignore me, why are you crying?" He sat down on the bench next to her. She was thankfully he didn't try to touch her.

Forcefully she tried to quell her sobs and whines enough to talk. It took several minutes and Cooper's gentle hand stroking her back, when he could see she was trying. She took several deep breaths before she started to talk. "I made some stupid mistakes."

"Enough to be crying like your favorite dog died?" She felt a shiver her mind connecting to Irvine's death. She wanted to cry again, but she resisted the urge. She balled up her fists willing the wave of depression and pain to go away.

"Irvine did about a month ago. But that's not why I'm crying. I pissed off Reggie and he's going to tell Papa."

"Irvine your boyfriend?" He asked his eyes serious. She shook her head and heard his little sigh of relief. "Well Reggie, is he your boyfriend?" Another shake, why did it matter who was, or was not her boyfriend? "Well I mean, whatever you did couldn't have been that bad!"

"Reggie is my body guard and he lost me for like two days." She could see the impact of her actions on his face. "And Papa told me to stay away from you. He doesn't like you for some reason."

"You know, I doubt the famous Squall Leonhart would like being called Papa. You should call him like Dad, or Pops, maybe even Daddy-o. And as for not liking me, it's a Balamb-Galbadia thing. Did you even get to see the Garden War? It was only for a day, but Gardens pitted against each other left emotional scars. All had been forgiven politically, but I'm sure there are quite a few Balamb SeeDs who wouldn't mind helping a Galbadian SeeD right under a speeding car and the other way around.

"Don't even get me started on the injustice done to the Trabia Garden students and the SeeDs." He said hotly looking away.

Finding a topic she understood and could drive away from her emotional wreck she jumped on it. "I am well aware of the plight of the Trabia Garden. Least the restorations are complete. I was there when I was younger, watching them put it back together. I didn't really understand why Trabia Garden was always so much emptier then Balamb Garden for the longest time."

He stared at her blankly. "You really are dense. You'd only be like fourteen, fifteen? How could you not realize the smaller amount of people was from the rockets."

She wanted to kick herself, of course she had been younger. She was still learning how to walk and often clung to Zell's legs last time she had been at Trabia Garden. Had she grown so much in so little time? Thinking on she realize she was roughly one and a half years old. Cooper would never understand. "I'm a bit dense yes. If it doesn't involve me, I usually don't care."

"Everyone has flaws I guess." He responded clearly distracted. He was silent for a moment staring at the ground. She took the moment to wipe off her face. "You know my mother was from Trabia Gardens. She worked there." She didn't dare question the past tense.

"Why are you here though? If your mother was Trabian, why aren't you a Trabian SeeD?"

He gave a harsh laugh. "Once a son of Galbadia, always a son of Galbadia. I am told that's what my father always said." She felt even worse for continuing the topic. "You know your bodyguard is good. I almost didn't notice him."

She was only mildly surprised when Reggie appeared out of nowhere, grimacing. "I've given you ample time to be nice," he looked sharply at her, "now it's time for Kina and I to turn in for the night." Cooper gave a grin in return. He stood up his arms raised in defeat.

"Cooper." She watched him turn to her a hint of aggravation still on his face. "Thank you." He smiled warmly dropping his arms. "Good night."

"Night." He winked pausing a short moment to look at Reggie. She could feel the tense atmosphere and was ready to disrupt it. However Cooper turned sharply and jogged off like nothing had happened.

"Go to sleep Nadie." Reggie snapped once more. His charge grumbled before throwing up her sheets and diving into the bed. Content that she had finally approached the bed, he left her room and exited the shared living space. When the door to their dorm finally clicked shut, he whispered. "You can come out now stalker."

Two doors down where the hall split into another wing Cooper appeared. "Oh yes, you are definitely a White SeeD. Aren't those only issued to people with the Witch Embodiment." He said a sly grin on his face.

"You are awfully nosy for a pretty boy SeeD." Reggie retorted turning to look at his annoyance. He really wanted to stomp back into the room at shout at Nadia again, but what would that do? She would only break into tears again and he didn't like Cooper at all. He hoped that Sam would return soon so he could feel more at ease with Nadia's safety.

"You should do some studying. I'm not some pretty boy." Cooper's voice lost all sense of playfulness. His face reflected his tone, stony and expressionless. "If you check the garden records you'll find I'm a Class A Elite SeeD. I bet that I'm just a few steps or training sessions away from being a White SeeD. I mean I have to be if I sensed you and your own Sorceress couldn't."

"I trust this is something of a mission for you. Find the Sorceress, kill her, and get paid." Reggie was already running plans in his mind on how to kill Cooper and make it look like an accident. Keeping Nadia's secret was worth a few lives.

"Now really, common sense would tell you. If I was being paid just to kill her I wouldn't have even bothered sticking my wick in the candle." Reggie was on him in the blink of an eye. A small dagger he had hidden in his sleeve against Cooper's neck. The man was unphased. He stared back at Reggie waiting.

"Who hired you?"

"Now wouldn't that be telling? And you shouldn't bother trying to find that out. I'm doing under the table work for a friend. If you leave me alone, nothing bad will happen. Just rest assured I'm not out to kill her. I'm out to keep her safe."

"Taking her virginity is keeping her safe? You have a twisted sense of safety." Reggie said retracting the blade. He needed to find out as much as possible before Cooper clammed up.

"Well, I took the job, didn't say I wasn't going to have some fun doing it. Don't worry I was nice to her. I never had a virgin before. I made sure to be extra nice to her. Not like it wasn't hard though, she was toasted- she's a light weight. Next time you should make sure she doesn't drink at an event. She might not end up with someone as generous as I am in bed."

"Would your employer be cross if he found out you bedded her?"

"Never said my employer was a man, again if I admitted to that or not, would be telling. You won't get anything out of me." Cooper said that sly smile back on his face. Reggie seriously considered just cutting his throat open for kicks.

"You aren't going to spread around her middle name or her parents' names are you?"

"I'm not that dumb. I have some ideas what some of the students and SeeDs would do if they found out she was a daughter of Balamb's Commander. In fact, I bet they would burn her at the stake if they knew she was a sorceress, just for theatrics sake." Reggie really wanted Sam back now so he could deal with this bastard properly.

"When did you find out she was a sorceress?"

"Oh, now that I will tell," He gave a soft chuckle, "remind her when she tries to make an escape you shouldn't use magic to wink out of a bathroom with no windows and one door. Oh and would you ask her if she wants her panties back, the ones with the little yellow ducks on it."

Reggie couldn't contain himself anymore. He took a swing at Cooper his fist connecting with his lips. He stumbled back a grin still locked on his face. "Ah- finally I found a button to push. It seems by saying nothing I've still said too much. I think I will leave you to sleep now." To blind with furry he let Cooper walk away. He would definitely have to have some words with Nadia and Sam next time the moment arose.