Author's Notes (New): The perk of working on a novel for the last several months is becoming more confident in your writing, and coming to the realization that there is always more to learn about writing. You also come to realize that you can always do better on what you have done before. Thus, after such a long hiatus from working on Hyne's War I return to it, hopefully a better writer. With this being what I intend to be the first part of a two part epic regarding what may come after the known timeline of Final Fantasy 8, I what to give it what is my best, and thus I find myself compelled to revision. A truly large one at that. As such I have returned to the very beginning and am reconstructing the story right from the first word. I hope to avoid some of the horrible language and grammar mistakes I have been making, and at the same time I hope to provide a better story altogether.
I ask you to be patient while I catch up with revisions, and please go back and reread old material (you will know it by this verbatim new author's notes preceding all revised sections. I ask this as there will be new things in with the old, and it is quite possible that by the time I reach the point where I started the revision (revision of original prologue through chapter 8) there will be some major changes in the story.
I have every intention of finishing Hyne's War and moving on to Eden's Chosen. Real life, of course, comes first, though I doubt there will be much conflict at this point in time due to the fact that I am currently on the easy side of my final semester of my undergraduate studies. This story also provides me an outlet for the urge to write while enabling a break from the work I need to do to get my novel into a presentable version.
As always, any offers for potential betas are more than welcome, especially for the aspect of 'poke LotP until she gives you more story' role.
With that said, I give you Hyne's War.
Author's Notes (Original): It's long, but it's exposition-ful. And remember, reviewing even to say you came, you saw, you read, is happy.
I had to lengthen the end, otherwise I would have had 5666 words. So sue me.
Hyne's War: Chapter 1
Forests were places of unimaginable life and beauty. If you were capable of staying still for long enough, if you were slow and gentle, it was like a whole new world opened up for you. Your eyes could start to pick out every flickering of leaves in the breeze, your ears locate birds in ways they could not while you were on the move, and if you were really good you could even smell animals around you. Nida was poorest at this latter skill, but his hearing, his sight, these were keen while he was within the limits of the forest, poised high up as he was in the branches of an oak. Already he had been there long enough for the residents he had disturbed with his arrival to renew their posts and lives. It was almost as if he was a part of the bark of the tree for all the care they gave to him.
Nida closed his eyes, sure of his balance upon the limb, and just a sure that he was invisible from the ground. With his eyes closed it was that much easier to give his mind over to the sounds around him. He could pick out a set of larks not five feet away, though they were several feet higher than him in their own tree. On the forest floor below him, Nida could sense a grat wandering around in the bushes, searching for some place to sink its roots in hope of finding some water. The noise that concerned him more, though, was the regular, unmistakable sound of footsteps. They weren't the footsteps of an animal, though, too quick and intent for a browsing animal, too noisy for a hunting beast. No, there was a crack of a twig breaking, and the other sounds of the forest faded, birds fleeing, at this sound. There was really only one thing Nida could apply the sound to: man.
Quickly Nida opened his eyes, seeking to pinpoint the person through the cover the leaves provided him at this height. Sure enough he soon caught a flash of yellow and red amid the rich green of the leaves. Zell, then. Well, better him than one of the others, Nida decided. His other pursuers would think to look up, seek sign of their prey among the branches, but Zell was less comfortable with the woods, and he wouldn't know some of the more subtle signs of Nida's presence. Nida couldn't help but smile at the relative safety that he found with the martial artist compared to the other elite SeeDs. Sure, in an urban setting Zell was by far one of the more dangerous ones, but here the blond was relatively useless.
Nida watched in amusement as Zell drew ever closer to his hiding spot, though for a moment Nida couldn't resist the urge to feel at his breast pocket for the disk and comm stashed there. Even though Nida had checked twice since climbing the tree, having even Zell so close made the urge to make sure that the items were still with him. They were, after all, far more important than his own life.
The movement could have been better timed, apparently, for no sooner had Nida moved to touch his breast pocket than a hawk further up in the tree took flight. The sudden motion caught Nida off guard, even he had not noticed the silent predator not too far above his own head. When the bird took wing with a screech Nida couldn't help but flinch. That wouldn't have been a problem if he had kept both of his hands on the branch, but the compulsion to check for the data had taken an important part of his balance away. Nida started to topple backwards, his arms flailing. Though he caught himself rather quickly, restoring his balance, it wasn't before a curse had escaped him, and a loud one at that.
Even Zell wouldn't miss something that glaringly obvious.
The constant strides of Zell's pace changed to a run, and in the proper direction too. It was all Nida could do to hold back another curse as he regained his balance and watched the blond through the leaves of the oak. There was no denying the fact that if Zell truly looked he would find Nida, which meant switching to plan b, or h, or whatever he was up to at this point. Carefully Nida waited for Zell to draw abreast of his tree, and just as the blond came to a stop Nida threw away his thoughts and dropped from the limb.
His landing was heavy, and likely would have hurt far more if it were not for Zell making a rather good cushion. Zell fell forward under the sudden addition of Nida's weight, and even Nida had to wince at the thud that came with Zell's face planting hard into the ground. Still, this was no time for pity, and Nida quickly drew a short stick from his belt, dealing a sharp blow to the back of Zell's head. That, in addition to the fact that he had likely knocked the wind of out of the SeeD, would be more than enough for now. Even though they were on different sides, Nida couldn't bring himself to do any lasting damage to the blond. Besides, Zell would have to deal with the humiliation of returning to Garden and revealing that he had been bested by Nida, and that would be injury enough for someone as proud as the martial artist.
Sure that the blond wouldn't be after him any time soon, Nida leapt to his feet and ran off through the foliage. Not only had the noise he'd made lost him the best chance he had to get some rest after his escape, it would likely draw Zell's companions, and neither Selphie or Quistis were likely to fall for the same things Zell would. All Nida could hope was that his blind flight through the forest, startling birds and animals, and likely to draw the others, was at least not headlong into the direction of one of the females.
Yet Nida hadn't even made it a hundred yards when he heard a whistling in the air. It was all the warning he had to move, and even that was barely in time. Nida winced as the tip of Quistis's whip cut across his cheek, though it was better than having found the thing wrapped around his neck. Instantly Nida's hands went back to undo the clasp at his shoulder, freeing a long, oaken stick he had found at the base of his perch. Once the wood was in hand Nida pulled it across his body defensively as Quistis stepped from behind a bush off to his right. Even as her hand pulled back, preparing for another crack of the whip, Nida turned his body to present the smallest possible target to the woman, his stick whipping around to defend his back moments before he felt more than heard a nunchaku strike the wood. For the briefest of moments Nida saw a puzzled look flash across Quistis's face, probably a result of her wondering if she had given away Selphie's present in some way. Nida merely smiled at the whip-wielding SeeD, she didn't need to know that Selphie had let out a quiet little squeal when she had snuck up behind him.
Quistis recovered quickly, her hand flicking the whip at him. Nida had just enough time to twist away from where he had been standing, the large stick coming up between him and Quistis. Without pausing he watched as the whip wrapped around his makeshift weapon, but instead of struggling for it, Nida hurled the piece of wood at Quistis. While she was distracted, likely ducking the unexpected move, Nida twisted back to regard Selphie, pulling another short stick from his belt as he whirled. One, two blows were knocked away before Nida dashed for Selphie. Predictably she raised her nunchaku before her to block his blow, allowing Nida to easily slip behind her, hooking his stick under her chin and holding it there with a tight, two-handed grip. Instantly Selphie went still, likely realizing just as Nida did that if she struggled he could easily jerk the stick tighter, knocking her out. While the dead weight might slow Nida down for a second, Selphie would not be willing to leave Quistis alone is she could avoid it, especially when any lapse in Nida's concentration might give Selphie a chance to attack him.
Silence reigned for a breathless moment as Quistis, her own red mark cutting across her cheek from her failure to dodge Nida's stick fast enough, contemplated Nida's capture of Selphie. Soon enough, though, Quistis smiled and raised her whip again, apparently having decided to sacrifice her comrade for the sake of capturing Nida. With a curse Nida kicked Selphie away from him, thrusting her forward at Quistis, and took off running as far away from the women as he could manage. At least the momentary confusion might result in would buy Nida some time. All he could do was hope that he was faster than Selphie. While Nida knew he could outrun Quistis in almost any situation, having Selphie head him off would easily slow him down so that Quistis could catch up. The question was, then, how fast exactly was that sugar-charged Trabian girl?
There were few options left, Nida realized as he ran in the only direction presented to him: forward. There was little to no time left to climb a tree, and that would require losing the pair first, truly losing them as he had nearly an hour ago. Right now the pair were close enough that even simple trail breaking tricks wouldn't throw them off, and the more complex one would require a bit more time. SeeDs could be worse than bloodhounds when tracking. Hiding was also out, any trail he made would easily guide the pair to his hiding spot. So Nida ran, contemplating the one thing he hadn't wanted to think about. At this point the chances of him making the plains in time for his rendezvous was unlikely, and being out there would make him an easy target for the SeeDs. The only other hope, then, was to try and hold them off for just a bit longer, to find some way to make sure that the disk made it to the ones it was intended for. To do that, though, meant doing something that Nida didn't much enjoy the thought of.
For five minutes he ran in as straight of a line as he could manage, making for where he thought the plains should be. What he intended to do required him to be as close to the edge of the woods as was possible. It was the only way.
"I hear him!" Selphie's should echoed through the trees. "This way!"
There went what little hope Nida had entertained that he could hold out. They were close, drawing closer. Still, Nida had no intention of losing the war, even if he lost the battle.
With this in mind, Nida leapt from the path he had been cutting in the woods, as far as he could in hopes that the temporary path change wouldn't be noticed. In the end he intended to head back there, to let himself be caught. The mission was, after all, far more important than his own safety. This done Nida made for the nearest tree, seeking an uplifted root. Upon finding one he carefully swept twigs and leaves aside, making a small nook for the data disk. After a moment he set the homing beacon on his comm and tossed that in as well before restoring the twigs and leaves as well as he could. From there it was a simple matter of hiding his footprints as he returned to his trail. A minute, tops, lost. But it was an important minute none the less. Finally, hopeful, Nida set off running towards the plains once more.
For another minute he managed to run on without incident, only to hear a noise to his left just before he found his ankle to be tangled in something. The briefest glance as he froze revealed it to indeed by Quistis's whip wrapped around his boot. The thought barely had time to register before the whip was tugged, hard, and Nida lost what balance he had managed to find by standing still. As much as it was a pain at this moment, Nida had to admit that Quistis was far stronger than she looked, even without a junction. That thought lasted but a moment as Nida fell forward, his hands flashing out to catch him and save him at a mouthful of dirt, even if the rest of him hit the ground. Well, at least this way there was an even better excuse for his dirty hands than just two hours in the forest, so it was unlikely any of them would call on that when they noticed the disk was missing. Nida just had to hope that they didn't think to point out that there was dirt under his finger nails as well.
The relief quickly passed as a great weight settled itself on his back, Zell more than likely.
"Gotcha!" Zell cheered as Nida tried to move the bulk of the martial artists off of his back.
All this earned Nida, though, was Zell pushing him back down. Then Zell moved, shifting his weight to make sure that Zell was truly securely pinned. Quistis and Selphie, apparently having decided that Zell had things under control, moved up at this point, and quickly Nida found his wrists and ankles being lashed together by Quistis's whip and some extra bit of rope that Selphie apparently had. With this done Selphie moved in front of Nida, squatting down to look in his eyes.
"Comfy?"
Nida couldn't help but laugh. What was the point of that kind of question when they had him trussed up like a wild animal?
"Shut up and tell us where the disk is!" Zell demanded.
The contradiction only served to make Nida laugh all the harder. Of course that managed to earn him a strike on the head from Selphie's nunchaku, but Nida was sure it was worth it. Better to laugh than do anything else, right?
"What's so funny?" Selphie finally asked.
"Chicken's choice of words and the fact that you think I'd actually tell you just because you caught me," Nida gasped out between breaths. "Face it, you haven't won yet. Ifrit knows I wouldn't tell you anything willingly. I won't make it that easy on you."
"Fine then. We'll do a strip search if we need to," Zell said.
"Only if you do it personally," Nida laughed.
"You're enjoying this."
"Every moment. But be careful what you do, Zell. If you seem to enjoy it too much as well the girls might think less of you."
This comment earned Nida another buffet and a full twenty seconds of swearing from Zell.
"Search him," Quistis finally ordered. "If he doesn't have it on him, we'll make him talk."
"Here?" Zell asked. "In the dirt and fust and all of that?"
"Have you got a better idea?"
"Well..."
"He couldn't come up with one even if he tried to," Nida offered, which got another round of cursing.
"How dare you..."
"Face it," Nida said, his voice deadly serious now, "I've won."
Time.
The echo of the guardian force's words in his mind made Nida's declaration all the sweeter, though he'd meant the words to be yet another attempt at stalling.
"SHIT!" Zell cursed, and from the sounds of countless birds taking off in the forest, it was more than just loud. "Ifrit, you sure you have that right?"
"Leviathan agrees," Quistis said with a sigh, already moving to untie Nida. "Our two hours have passed. Nida's reinforcements would be surrounding us right about now. We'd have ten, maybe fifteen minutes maximum to recover the disk and return to base. And that is provided it was on him, not that we had to resort to torture or a search."
"And," Selphie chimed in, "We had no clue where he was for an hour. The disk could be anywhere in the forest. Nida won."
Zell grumbled in annoyance and stood, removing his weight from Nida's back, something for which Nida was immensely grateful. Immediately Nida stood and started to massage the life back into his wrists. Apparently Quistis was as good with knots as she was with whips. Who would have thought it?
"That was impressive," Selphie continued, as if she hadn't even noticed that Zell was upset. "You outlasted three Class-A Elite SeeDs for two hours, outwitted too, even though we had Quisty! I bet you pass your next examination so easily that you will barely even notice that you had one. Though, you d id kind of get caught in the end."
"And?" Nida asked, laughing genuinely this time. "Avoiding being caught isn't always the important part. There are times when the mission comes first."
With that Nida gestured for the trio to follow him and started back through the woods towards where he had hidden the disk and his comm.
"What is the important part then?" Zell asked.
Nida didn't answer at first, only walked until at last he came upon the tree with the uplifted root. After a split second taken to savor his victory, Nida moved to the root and started to push leaves out of the way. At last he pulled out the dick and the comm, holding them up for the trio to see.
"The mission briefing said nothing about me having to get out immediately or at all. What was stressed was that the disk make it to my people. Nothing about mandatory evacuation, survival, or successful evasion of enemy forces. I followed my orders, to the letter."
There was silence from the other three SeeDs for a moment. Then Quistis sighed and shook her head.
"I'll give you that it is true, but I don't think anyone would want to be so reckless on a mission. Completing a mission is one thing, but being so reckless with your own life is just..."
"Something expected of us if it is what it takes to complete our mission," Nida pointed out. "We are mercenaries after all. Besides, if I'd had access to Siren or magic under the rules of our little contest here, or even one of my weapons, this might have gone differently, I might have been able to make it back. Then again, if you guys had been allowed to use your own Guardian Forces of magic, I would not have stood a chance. In that case I'd have had to have done more than just trick you to win, I'd probably have to do something truly reckless. Hyne knows I'm lucky to have even managed to win with the rules we had."
"Don't say that!" Selphie insisted.
Nida shook his head, "You and Quistis are by far the best magic users in Balamb or any other Garden. Zell, fully junctioned, has the most brute strength, which is terrifying when you put it behind his martial arts. When you add in the enhanced hearing, sight, or speed a GF can grant, do you really think I could be a match for you guys? Let's face it, I'm not match for a Class A Elite SeeD in a real fight."
"Maybe," Selphie said with a frown, "but it's not like we wanted to test that, right? Besides, look at it this way, there probably isn't anybody, except maybe Squall or Seifer, that could pull off what you just did. Like you said, the rest of us are too specialized."
"What do you mean?" Nida couldn't help but ask. "I took almost all of the same classes as Squall and Quistis..."
"But you're really good with computers," Selphie pointed out cheerfully. "Plus you just proved you've got survival skills, or at least better ones than Zell. Face it, Nida, the fact that you managed to outrun and outwit pursuers of our level, without magical backup and only improvised weapons, is awesome. And the only one I have seen who can improvise so well on mission orders and still follow what is written to the letter is Squall."
As nice as it was to be compared to the Lion of Balamb in a complimentary way, Nida shook his head, dismissing the comments. Squall would have been able to complete the challenge that had been set before Nida without getting caught. Squall was the best of them, and no one questioned it. Why else, after all, had everything been put in his hands?
With a sigh Nida started to discard the last of the sticks he had tucked into his belt. During the course of the two hour challenge Nida had collected many different lengths and thicknesses of sticks to use as his only weapons. Improvising weapons had been important to the challenge the other three SeeDs had designed, intended to better simulate a lose-lose situation. The challenge had been based on the idea of Nida having been captured during an information retrieval mission, only to escape with the desired data but with none of the rest of his gear. His actual weapon, unlike those of the others, had been left at the Garden, meaning he had to face not only the other SeeDs, but any violent creatures he encountered, with only what he found.
"Here, you wanted this," Nida said as he finally tossed the blank disc they had used at Zell.
"Imagine, hiding the thing so close to where we took you down," Quistis sighed, "and with your comm. Your rescue team could follow the tracker to the disc, and likely with a big enough team to handle the situation if they signal had been faked or intercepted."
Nida nodded in agreement, and smiled about his thrown together plan. It wasn't necessarily the best plan, thrown together quickly as it was, but it had been effective. At least, it had been in this situation.
"Who can say how I would have handled it if there had been actual threat, though? I might have acted differently if I thought there were a real chance of torture or death, if this forest wasn't so close to Balamb, if I had magic... If a lot of things. I mean, I've spent a lot of time in these woods these last few months, not to mention before the war. I had an edge here because of that, even though it was you three after me."
"This is great and all," Zell cut in, smirking though at Nida's compliment, "but I'm hungry. Can we at least get some lunch before you girls start grilling Nida on when he's going to do his Class A exam yet? Please?"
Selphie quickly latched onto Zell's idea and started bouncing around. "Yeah! Last one to the cafeteria is... A rotten Ochu!"
That was all of the encouragement that Zell needed, and with a shout he ran after Selphie as she bolted off towards the Garden. From the corner of his eye Nida could see Quistis smiling fondly after her friends, as if she were a young woman watching the children she baby-sat playing. Or maybe like an older sister. Nida frowned at that thought, unable to do more than wonder what it would be like to have an older sister. Quickly Nida shook off the thought and looked after Selphie and Zell, who already had quite a lead on Nida and Quistis's walking pace. It was almost amazing to watch them, how energetic and cheerful they were, as if the trials of war had done nothing to affect who they were. Yet you could see the changes on them, mostly in the way that even after two hours of chasing a lone man through the woods, there had not been a bit of sweat on either of them. Mostly Nida envied their energy and stamina, especially since at the moment he longed for a nap.
"Will you look at that?" Quistis said, almost sounding shocked as they finally exited out into the plains. "Those two will be back to the Garden in no time. What in the world do they even run on?"
"Hot dogs and sugar,' Nida offered, trying to sound helpful rather than teasing. "Not a dietary change that I could handle though."
"Yes, I suppose that is true."
"Well," Nida said with a slight yawn, "At least you won't have to worry about being a rotten Ochu."
"Why would you say that?"
"Well, I'm faster than you," Nida said cheerfully before taking off. He did call back over his shoulder though, "So you can be sure you're a rotten Ochu and not have to worry about it."
Laughing, he left Quistis behind.
When Nida saw Quistis again, it was almost ten minutes after he had already started into his meal in the cafeteria. Upon her arrival in the noisy cafeteria, Zell and Selphie had forgotten all about rotten Ochus. Zell's main source of distraction was the pile of hotdogs before him, and Selphie's had been Irvine. The gunner—instated to the position of Class-A Elie SeeD at the end of the war six months ago with the understanding that he would have to earn the full rank within the next year to make the honorary status official—had recently finished one of his long meetings with Squall.
The pair met almost daily now, discussing what changes needed to take place curriculum wise for Galbadia Garden to train their own full-fledged SeeDs, though exams would be handled by Balamb Garden and it's group of Elites. Selphie consulted with Squall in the time after lunch to achieve the same thing for the recovering Trabia. Even with the war over the three Garden Headmasters had agreed that the idea of Squall—who had been forced to keep his position as SeeD Commander—had offered them regarding this. Squall had apparently pointed out that reserving the final training, advancement, and maintenance of SeeDs to Balamb was a foolish idea. All Gardens should train and house SeeDs. If only Balamb was allowed to do this and dispatch SeeDs, then another attack like the missiles could easily destroy over eighty percent of the mercenary forces in the world. Sharing the SeeDs among the three Gardens and countries showed renewed trust between the Gardens, something vital now that the war was over.
Irvine, Nida remembered as he brushed a finger over the cut on his cheek, just recently healed with the brush of a basic cure spell, had been responsible for today's challenge. About two months back Irvine had decided—after a rather long period of contemplation apparently—that he needed something to back up his gun as a weapon, and that he'd need training with it. In the apparently unlikely event that he lacked ammo or a gun, Irvine had to be able to defend himself with something more than close range magic. It had been a decision, though, that he had not shared with the others of what Selphie called 'the Orphanage Gang.' Maybe he had been worried about teasing, or debates over weapons, but either way Irvine had turned elsewhere for advice. The gunner had gone to Xu in the end for a recommendation on a teacher, swearing her to secrecy. Her initial recommendation had been Elijah Zale, a level 20 SeeD specializing in swords and quick, debilitating techniques. When Irvine had refused Xu had suggested Nida, who at that time had just reached level 25. Of course Xu had pointed out that Nida himself was often overloaded with work learning more about the Garden's flight systems, the Ragnarok, and testing for his own SeeD levels—the latter of which was by far the most draining considering Nida had drilled himself in the subsequent month and a half to achieve another three levels to put himself at 28, the highest ranking non-Class-A SeeD in the Gardens.
It had been that overworking himself that made Nida welcome the distraction of training Irvine, not to mention the fact that he had felt flattered to have Irvine ask him for help. Nida knew how useful it was to have a SeeD to train with, though, as Nida had worked with Elijah before Nida's own SeeD examination. The extra training had paid off, and Nida had gotten through the exam with the highest graduation level, putting him at 10 to Squall's 8 and the 7 of Zell and Selphie. Still, Nida had understood why Irvine had come to him rather than Elijah, personality issues aside. Nida's combat specialty was with polearms and improvised weapons, something that would be better suited to the situations where Irvine would face melee combat.
The training had been almost a relief for Nida, a change from the normal days of memorization, testing and training, and from what Irvine had said, he enjoyed the fact that he could be away from the frequent prying of the Orphanage Gang. The group, save Squall, were apparently prone to trying to get more and more memories from Irvine, who still preferred not to work with GFs so that he could remember his past. Teaching Irvine had been like a breather for Nida every day, a relaxation before his own training, and a release from the strain that came with the constant testing that had enabled Nida to climb from the level 19 he had reached at the end of the war to level 25 in only four months.
In the end Irvine's training had made Nida think about what it meant to be a SeeD all over again; the pleasure of knowing just how much your body can take, and the importance of having physical skills to back up knowledge. More than that, the training had made Nida think about the sheer difference in what motivated him and Irvine, and reminded him just how great the gap between his own skills and the Elite SeeDs could be.
Still, the training had gone well, and about a week ago Irvine had challenged Selphie to spar. She had asked how they could spar when he had a gun, but when told that Irvine wouldn't use it, she had laughed. The laughter hadn't been there when Selphie had arrived earlier than agreed, and had seen Irvine warming up with the bo Nida had given him. Though Irvine had lost, Selphie had still applauded Irvine's skill and asked how he'd learned. Three minutes later Selphie had been flat on her ass, the tip of Nida's practice bo at her throat, the result of her challenging him. Nida had pointed out that the victory was likely because Selphie had tired herself a little fighting Irvine. Still, Selphie had called Quistis, and Nida spent five minutes fighting the two women together, edging out a win by playing the two against each other and taking advantage of their lack of experience with his style of polearm fighting. Luckily they had agreed not to use magic or junctions against Nida, to 'even it up,' which Nida had been thankful for. He was fast, but no where near as fast as a junctioned SeeD. Granted Nida could have used Siren, who had been lent to him after the war due to his high initial bond with the spirit, but he had wanted to prove to himself that he could face the heroes of the war. Finally Zell had been called in, and the martial artist had managed to make it inside of Nida's defenses, rendering the fight short and in the blonde's favor.
Thanks to that Nida had spent the last week being tested by the trio of SeeDs in countless ways, including the occassional three-on-one sparring sessions that Nida was slowly getting closer and closer to winning. All of this meant that Nida was spending more and more time with the Orphanage Gang, minus of course the ever busy Squall and still missing Seifer. Even Xu, Quistis's best friend, didn't spend as much time with the foursome as Nida was starting to. Then again, Nida almost envied her. As nice as it was to have them recognize his skill, he wasn't as happy to listen in to malboro mating habits, which Selphie and her overactive imagination loved to speculate upon.
Quistis settled herself at the table between Irvine and Nida, and Irvine tipped his hat to the instructor. Nida merely scooted his seat over a bit more to give Quistis more room.
"So," Irvine drawled, "How did it end up going?" The other two at the table had been too busy eating, or stealing Irvine's hat in Selphie's cas, to ask for details, and Nida hadn't been about to part with them.
"I think he could pass the Class-A exam right now," Quistis responded.
"That good?" Irvine chuckled.
"Not really," Nida quickly said, "and I'm not that good yet. I've told you that Quistis. The magic practical alone..."
"Is nothing," Zell mumbled around a mouthful of hotdog.
"And I bet you're way better than you say," Selphie agreed, bouncing around in her chair.
"Maybe," Nida said, though he doubted it. Instructor Aki had always given him grief for his lack of magical prowess.
"Well, either way, will you be free to practice tonight?" Irvine asked. "My schedule has opened up a bit and I was hoping to work on that jump you showed me."
Nida shook his head. "Sorry. I've got some new specs to study for the Garden's flight systems, as well as sword practice with Elijah."
The name brought a scowl to Irvine's face, as it always did. For some reason the two SeeDs just did not get along.
"Why sword practice?" Selphie asked curiously. "Didn't you say something about him having taught you the bo?"
Again Nida shook his head. "Elijah only ever tried to teach me swords, but I used metal practice bos with simulated edges to imitate my weapons to practice with him. I needed to understand how to deal with a bladed weapon because of the wood of the shafts of my polearms. He is, though, the one that taught me that wall flip trick..."
Selphie squealed at that, remembering what Nida was talking about. Originally they had been on the same team during the SeeD graduation exam, their team the first on the beach and responsible for securing it. Unfortunately they had been pinned down by a turret. Their SeeD support, Elijah, had been pinned down to the point where even magic had been useless. Nida had taken Elijah's curse that someone had to take the turret down literally—something Elijah had yelled at him for later. Nida had run across the sand as fast as he could, finally putting first one foot then the other against the wall the turret sat atop. Momentum and strength had carried Nida up to the point where he could get his polearm planted on the top, flip over, and sink the blade at the top of the weapon into the neck of the gunner, allowing the whole mission to continue. It had been, Nida learned later, the exact method that Elijah had intended to use to take out the turret.
"That was so cool!" Selphie cheered. "Can you teach me?"
Nida chuckled and sat back to finish the end of the stew that was his meal as Selphie told the others about the stunt Nida had pulled during the exam. Soon, though, the conversation turned towards the status of SeeDs at other Gardens, and how Squall was asking for volunteers to help jump start training programs, as well as dealing with the promotion of some talented military trained youths at Galbadia Garden to SeeD status. Nida stayed silent for that conversation, not wanting to share the fact that Nida had been one of those offered the transfer, and that he had yet to figure out what to do about it.
The conversation abruptly died when a loud series of beeps came from Nida's pocket. Everyone stared at him, frowning, and Nida found himself raising his hands in an almost defensive manner.
"Just a reminder alarm. I have to get going. FH engineers, for how laid back they are, aren't very big on me being late to my lessons. And I think they might have a surprise test on the stabilizers today."
The others bid Nida farewell as he rushed to return his tray before making his way to the second subbasement of Garden, where machinery few ever saw rested, waiting for Nida to understand it all.
"You're not focused," Elijah hissed, his voice mingling with the sound of steel on steel. "Come on, you're fast enough to avoid this. Put your mind on the blade dammit."
Again there was the scream of steel on steel, though this time it was the piercing sound of metal pieces sliding against each other instead of slamming together. And then, before he could react, Nida watched as Elijah twisted the sword in his hand and somehow managed to flick Nida's sword out of his hand. Within a breath the tip of Elijah's practice sword was at Nida's throat, and the blue eyes of the red haired man flashed with fury.
"What the hell, Nida? Focus if you want to live. Do you know just how damn easy it is to kill a swordsman who isn't focused on their weapon?"
Nida snarled at the mocking tone in Elijah's voice, but said nothing about it. Whenever they sparred, whether it was for fun or training, Elijah talked, always talked. It was annoying, distracting, infuriating, and Nida every word was a taunt that pushed all the right buttons to make Nida angry. And soon enough Nida would find himself disarmed and with Elijah's practice sword at his throat. Now, just as always, Elijah's foot wrapped around Nida's, and jerked back. The sudden loss of support found Nida falling and his body twisting into a roll that led him away from where Elijah smirked to where Nida's own practice sword rested. Quickly Nida snatched it up and flipped quickly back to his feet, raising the sword defensively before himself.
"Well, are you going to come at me or not?" Elijah said, still mocking Nida. Nida lunged forward, blade raised for a strike, only to find it parried easily to the side.
"You're angry. But I would be too if I was sucking at this as bad as you are right now."
Nida twisted, bringing the sword up for a head level strike, though this too was deflected with ease by the red-haired swordsman. Instantly Elijah pressed the attack, forcing Nida to dance back a few steps. As fast as Nida was, Elijah was better, more agile and flexible too, and soon enough Eljiah was dancing into, under, through Nida's guard and ramming his shoulder into Nida's chest, knocking him to the ground once more. This time, though, Nida stayed down. It was already the tenth time this evening that Elijah had knocked him down. Nida, on the other hand, had not even managed to make Elijah take a serious step back.
For a while the red-haired SeeD stood over Nida, looking at him with sheer contempt, as if he thought Nida a failure, as if he wasn't even sure how the younger man had ever managed to earn a place among the SeeDs. Then his expression abruptly softened, becoming almost affectionate as he offered his hand to Nida. The urge to smack the hand away flashed briefly across Nida's mind, but in the end Nida ignored it. It was obvious that Elijah was no longer in the mood for sparring, so Nida just reached for the hand and stood, leaving his blade where it lay.
"Okay, now, what did you do wrong today?" Elijah asked, sheathing his practice sword before tossing it into the grass off to the side. Quickly his foot darted out, coming up under the edge of Nida's fallen weapon, and deftly flipping it into the air, where Elijah caught it, sheathed it as well, and then tossed it aside to join its mate.
"I got angry," Nida said with a sigh, trying to calm his breathing.
"Exactly. You told me once that when you fight with your polearms that you avoid me so well because you relax. Your mind had plenty of time to react, to turn away my blade when you wanted or block when you needed to."
"It's different with a polearm," Nida grumbled, shaking his head and moving towards where Elijah had thrown the blades. Once he reached there Nida plopped down in the grass and sighed. "I don't know how. It just is."
"Simple," Elijah said, moving to join Nida, though pausing to pick at an imaginary grain of dust on his red cotton shirt. "Somewhere inside, you're imagining the kind of situations you might be forced to rely on a sword in rather than one of your toys. You start to over analyze, you get annoyed with the unfamiliar, and then my taunting can easily turn that into anger. Anger can be useful, don't get me wrong. It makes your blows stronger, it can make you faster, but your mind gets slower, sloppier, and you end up dead. Get it?"
"Of course," Nida sighed.
"Good. So the important thing for you to remember about swords is that you need to relax. After that it will come to you naturally. Trust me, I know swords and I can see you have the potential to be skilled with them. It's because you're smart. Swords are as much a mental weapon as a physical one after all."
"Do you think I'll ever be good at it?" Nida asked, lying back in the grass to look at the distant sunset.
No sooner had he put his head down than his eyelids started to droop. Nida had to shake his head just to keep awake. It was at times like this that he regretted how busy his schedule kept him. These days Nida was so busy that it took things like this morning's challenge for him to get outdoors to enjoy the natural world. That in and of itself was almost depressing, for it was pleasant to be outside like this, relaxing under the setting sun. The sky was beautiful at sunset, and Nida did so love the sky.
"Nida, if you were ever to discard all those emotions and treat a sword as calmly and rationally as I've seen you treat, say, a halberd, you might even be able to beat me in a fight."
That made Nida scoff, "Somehow I doubt that."
Elijah laughed, as if Nida's denial was funny. Then again, maybe he did. "Of course. I said so, right? Hell, you'd be able to take on the Lion too. The way you deal with people when you've got your weapons, hell, it's almost like you know what they are going to do. I see it even when we're sparring and you get a little bit mad. Sometimes you move to block me even as I'm only just deciding how to attack. It's amazing."
Nida rolled his eyes. "I've fought you so many times here, and in my dreams, that you're almost predictable. Or you would be if you didn't keep coming up with new insults to sling during a fight."
"And yet I hear you held off three Elite SeeDs at once this morning. And with only improvised weapons. You've only ever fought them a handful of times before. Are you going to claim it's the same with them as it is with me?"
"Hardly. I got lucky."
"Lucky my ass. Geez, Nida, do you really think I'll fall for something like that? I've known you since you came to Garden, and I can read you better than that. There is one thing, though, that I haven't figured out about you after all of these years?"
"And what is that?"
"Who are you trying to prove yourself to?"
Nida blinked once, twice, and then sat up to look at Elijah. "I don't..."
"Please don't lie to me, Nida. Ever since you made SeeD you've acted like you've had something to prove. You scrabble for levels, you over work yourself. At the rate you're going I'm surprised you haven't completely burned yourself out. So who in the world are you trying to prove yourself to?"
"Nobody," Nida lied, though he knew Elijah wouldn't believe it.
"If you're not going to tell me then I'm going to guess."
"Elijah..."
"And if I had to put my money on anyone, it'd be Cid. After all, Cid was the one that made the assignment for the group that was supposed to go to Timber. He all but chose the people who saved the world."
"Cid knew they would get the job done," Nida pointed out, though he didn't even believe his own words.
"But you don't believe that, do you? You think he picked them not because they were the best for it, but because they were all in his orphanage so long ago. Why them and not you? What made them a better choice than you when you'd done better than them on the test anyway?"
Nida shook his head, trying to ignore Elijah's words, but he couldn't. They had run through his own head many times since the war. Why Selphie, Zell and Squall instead of having him somewhere in the group? Hadn't he proved himself enough by making level 10 during the exam? Even now people barely remembered Nida's name, or that he even existed, and yet Cid had pointedly told Nida upon conferring his rank that Nida should try his best, even if other people didn't notice.
Hadn't he been good enough?
"Shut up," Nida growled. "Just let it go."
"Nida, please, I'm just worried. It won't kill you to relax once in a while. Whatever you think you have to prove can't be nearly as important as just enjoying life, now can it?"
That Nida ignored, looking instead into the sunset. Sometimes it was better just to ignore Elijah until he dropped whatever subject it was that you didn't like. The avoidance worked this time too, Nida was sure of it when Elijah sighed and moved to sit closer to Nida.
"Stubborn bastard."
"You've never complained before," Nida countered.
Elijah chuckled, then leaned in and placed a light kiss on Nida's cheek. "Yeah. But you're cute when you're stubborn."
Nida rolled his eyes, and yet he couldn't help but smirk. "Must you always do that?"
"What? Call you cute?"
"You make me feel like I'm a girl or something."
"Nope. Not a girl. Just cute," Elijah said, before leaning in for a real kiss.