Seifer, Zell, and Nida made it back to the beach without any further difficulty. The Galbadians seemed to have completely withdrawn from the city, and they even saw a few Dollet soldiers back walking the streets. The SeeDs were nearly all gone as well; only a single transport was still waiting on the beach.
Standing on the transport's loading ramp was Instructor Trepe, watching the trio approach. "Hurry!" she called as they approached. Nida noticed that the craft's engine was already running.
The transport's doors swung closed as soon as all of them were aboard. "What took you so long?" Instructor Trepe demanded, over the hum of the vehicle's engine as it slid back into the sea. "Squad A's messenger was gone for over an hour!"
Nida winced, and Zell tensed up like he wanted to explode. Seifer just shrugged. "We were engaging the enemy," he said, and walked straight past her into the transport's waiting room.
Instructor Trepe let out a small sigh. "I see. Well, I'll need full reports from you all on this, made individually." She paused. "I'll start with you, Nida."
Nida's eyebrows jumped when he heard her say his name. The two of them hadn't ever been in the same class, either back when she'd been a student or after she became an instructor. Considering that a lot of his actual instructors would forget he was in their class sometimes, her recognizing him name could be the strangest thing that had happened today.
Unless someone from Squad A's transport had told her when they decided to leave without him. Nida almost slapped himself.
Instead, he saluted. "Yes, ma'am."
"So by the time you reached the Central Square, Seifer and Zell had already left?"
"Yes, ma'am." Nida was several minutes into the debriefing, alone in the conference room with Instructor Trepe and an audio recorder. Because Instructor Trepe hadn't been involved in in Squad A's operations, she'd had him go through his entire time on the beach before they even got to the part that involved Squad B.
"And Ross was at the square by himself?" she asked.
"Yeah. He said, uh…he was obeying your orders to stay there."
Instructor Trepe frowned at that. "Do you know why the others left?"
"Just what Ross told me. He mentioned something about a group of Galbadians heading into the cliffs, but I…didn't really ask about the details."
It was dawning on Nida that he really hadn't examined the situation very well. He hadn't thought much of Ross for letting himself get separated from the rest of his squad, but then he'd told the guy to head back to the shore instead of saying they should go after Squad B together. Maybe he'd been so sure that Ross wouldn't listen that the idea hadn't even occurred to him—but that wasn't exactly a positive thought, either.
He told himself to focus on thoughts that were actually useful like now. "Um…it looked like the soldiers installed some kind of transmitter on the communications tower. That's where Seifer and Zell were when I found them."
Finally, glancing down at the notes she had been taking, Instructor Trepe nodded. "All right. Well, I think that's all we have for now." She switched off the recorder. "Sorry it took so long, but this was a fairly unusual circumstance."
Nida nodded, trying not to wince. "Unusual" wasn't exactly the word he wanted associated with his mission evaluation.
Instructor Trepe seemed to pick up on his reaction. "But don't worry," she added. "Obviously Squad A's instructor will handle your overall assessment, but it seems you acted reasonably and in accordance your orders. You shouldn't be held accountable for this."
There were a lot of students in Garden who practically lived for the chance that Instructor Trepe might praise them someday. Nida wouldn't have minded the experience himself, but he couldn't quite convince himself that this counted.
She stood, saluting. "You had a difficult mission," she said with a friendly smile. "I'm sure it'll reflect favorably. Good job."
Okay, that counted. Didn't it? While he was wondering just how much he should read into her remarks, Nida remembered to salute back and leave.
"SEIFER!"
Seifer was the last of the students to leave the skiff at Balamb Harbor. Naturally, Fujin and Raijin were waiting.
"How'd it go?" Raijin asked.
"Man..." Seifer shook his head. "All they did was get in my way. Being a leader ain't easy."
"SAFE?" asked Fujin.
Seifer didn't answer, at least not loudly enough for Nida to hear. He and the rest of the Disciplinary Committee headed off towards the parking lot.
Instructor Trepe stepped off the transport shortly afterwards, joining Zell, Ross, and Nida on the dock. "Where's Seifer?" she asked, frowning.
Nida glanced over to the parking lot, but the entire Disciplinary Committee seemed to have left already.
"He just ran off again," said Ross. "Quistis, that guy doesn't respect you at all! Just doing whatever, acting like it's all about him…aaaarrgh! It makes me so mad!" He really did seem to be getting worked up about it.
"...Just be back at Garden by sundown," Instructor Trepe said, with a little sigh. "You're free 'til then." She took one more look around. "Ok, dismissed!"
Nida and Zell nodded, heading for the Garden car that was still parked in the lot. Ross hung behind, saying something to Instructor Trepe about how sorry he was that she had to deal with guys like Seifer.
Just as they reached the parking lot, the car lurched into motion, tearing right past them and off down the road that led out of town. "H-Hey!" exclaimed Zell, trying for a few seconds to chase after it. "Not again, man! There goes Mr. Ego..."
Nida sighed. "Guess we're walking."
"Figures." Zell groaned, scratching the back of his head. "Actually, man, I think I'm gonna stop by my mom's house? It's right here in town, and I'll bet she's wonderin' what's going on since I couldn't talk to her yesterday." Before Nida answered, he was running off down the street, with just a brief stop to wave goodbye. "See you later!"
Left alone, Nida just shook his head. "Right."
Nida couldn't remember a greater relief in his life than when he finally reached the steps of Balamb Garden. The mission was over.
He was hungry.
That was a stupid thing to think, he thought. The course of the rest of his life would be decided sometime this evening. Still, he'd missed dinner, and now he'd been walking across country for more than an hour.
Nida sat down on the stairs for a moment, then lay down on his back to look up at the sky. It was very blue.
He was very hungry.
Maybe there'd be time for a quick snack before they announced the results.
Standing back up, he headed for the entrance. The Garden, at least, seemed just as calm and peaceful as when he'd left; the more time passed, the more his experience in the war-torn streets and towering bluffs of Dollet just felt like a really strange dream.
Just inside the main entrance, two other students from the field exam were talking. Hearing something about the mission, Nida stopped to listen. Neither of them noticed.
"Hey, did you hear?" said one, whom Nida thought had been on Squad C. "Looks like Galbadia's real target is the communication tower."
"But radio signals are useless, even if they get the tower to work." Nida recognized the other student from class, but didn't know which squad he'd been on.
"Why?" asked the first.
"It was on last week's exam, remember? How any form of communication using radio signals can't be used?"
The other student looked at him blankly.
"Because of the worldwide signal interference," Nida offered.
Both students jumped. "Aah!" exclaimed the second. "Don't sneak up on people like that, Nida! …Anyway, that's right: worldwide signal interference. It started without warning 17 years ago. That's why we communicate online, and use chocobos as messengers now. And that's why there's no reason to get the tower up and running."
Nida walked on. He hadn't given much thought as to why the Galbadians had been trying to fix the tower. When he thought about it now, his mind kept going back to that beam of light it had been shooting into space. Dollet's comm tower was one of the biggest in the world, so maybe the Galbadians thought they could use it to penetrate the interference somehow?
His stomach derailed his train of thought by reminding him how hungry he was.
Headmaster Cid and Instructor Trepe were standing by the Directory. With them was another woman whom Nida recognized as Xu.
"Mission complete!" Xu was saying. "I think we did a pretty good job. The candidates are back safely, right?" She glanced to Instructor Trepe, who nodded. "Although we didn't realize the Galbadian Army was after the abandoned communication tower…."
"We've just received word from the Dollet Dukedom," said Cid. "The Galbadian Army has agreed to withdraw so long as the communication tower is repaired and the uplink remains operational."
"Well, in any case, Galbadia is out of there," said Xu. "Though we could've made more money if they'd stayed and caused more ruckus."
"Cid?" asked Instructor Trepe as Nida walked past. "What's to be done about Squall?"
Nida didn't wait to hear the answer, walking away before he realized he was taking the long way to reach the cafeteria. He thought about turning around, but then thought about just heading straight to the dorms; in addition to the hunger, he was also very tired. So he kept going.
"Hi, Nida!" The greeting came from a girl sitting on one of the benchchairs that lined the hall. She waved at him to accompany the greeting, and Nida's mind felt it necessary to note that the long pigtail that secured her hair was swinging like an odd sort of pendulum. He decided not to share this observation.
"Hi, Paige," he replied.
"You just got back from the field exam, right?" she asked. "How'd you do?"
Nida shrugged. "Okay, I guess. They haven't told us the results yet."
"Yeah." She paused, shifting her weight uncomfortably. "So...I heard you ended up in the squad with Zell…didn't you?"
"Huh?" Nida blinked. "Uh, kind of. Why?"
"Just wondering. Um…so…how do you think he did?"
"…I really don't know," said Nida, wondering where this line of conversation was going. "Why don't you ask him?"
"No!" she replied, a little more shocked than she should be. "Um…well, I should get back to the library. Good luck." And she hurried off.
Nida frowned. "O…kay," he said, though she was well out of earshot. "Well, it was nice talking to you. See you around."
As he watched her retreat towards the library, he noticed another encounter taking place not far down the hall. Sometime during his conversation, Instructor Trepe must have passed by him, and was now talking with a frustrated-looking Seifer.
"Well, you can say that," Seifer was saying, "But you know what Galbadia was up to. We would've been heroes if it weren't for that withdraw order!"
Instructor Trepe shook her head. "You were only looking for a fight, Seifer."
Seifer feigned a wounded expression. "My dear instructor, I'm hurt. Those are rather cruel words for an aspiring student. A mediocre instructor like you will never understand."
"Seifer, don't be so stuck on yourself." Xu stepped up to join the two of them as well. "You'll take all responsibility for leaving the designated area."
"Isn't it the captain's duty to take the best possible action?" asked Seifer haughtily.
Xu put her hands on her hips. "Seifer, you'll never be a SeeD. Calling yourself a captain is a joke." Shaking her head, she turned and went back towards the directory area, passing by Nida without notice.
Next, Headmaster Cid came up. After a few hushed words with Instructor Trepe, he turned to Seifer, as the Instructor left with a clouded expression on her face.
"Seifer," Cid began. "You will be disciplined for your irresponsible behavior. You must follow orders exactly during combat." He paused. "...But I'm not entirely without sympathy for you. I don't want you all to become machines. I want you all to be able to think and act for yourselves." He paused again. Nida got the impression that he was trying to say something important. "I am..."
"Headmaster Cid."
Nida blinked. A faculty member stood now where he was certain none had stood before. Those guys had an uncanny way of getting around that did not seem quite natural.
"You have some business in your office," the man continued.
Cid nodded. "There are so many issues at hand here." Without any explanation, he turned and left. Seifer stood completely still, staring down at the floor.
With the moment passed, Nida remembered how hungry he was. He didn't really want to attract Seifer's attention, so he was weighing how much time he'd lose by doubling back to reach the cafeteria going the other way around when the Garden's intercom chimed. "All students who participated in today's field exam, report to the 2nd floor hallway, came the calm voice of the announcer. "I repeat: All students who took the field exam, report to the 2nd floor hallway."
So it looked like he was going to get his future decided on an empty stomach after all.