Chapter 37
A Game
(Quistis)
"Playing politics."
That's what Quistis had said to Zell and Tomomi back in her office, when she first came up with the plan. She said she was "playing politics."
And she could think of no more apt phrase to describe her plan than that. The word "politics" adequately summed up the fact that her plan was not direct, nor simple, nor honest. It was manipulative, deceptive, and required her to withhold information from her friends. Such was the nature of politics. And the word "playing" revealed how pointless and trivial the whole matter was. It was just a game of sorts, where the objective was to gain power and respect in Garden.
When she had first accepted the mantle of Lieutenant Commander, Quistis had hoped that she could lead Garden without resorting to such low tactics, but so far her administration had proven otherwise.
(Circumstances forced my hand.)
(I have no choice in the matter.)
In her office, before she'd asked Tomomi to heal Xu, Quistis had realized that the solution to Garden's problem wasn't as simple as it initially appeared. Once Tomomi had revealed herself to be a sorceress—on board Trabia Garden—Quistis immediately began turning over the various possibilities in her mind. Could Tomomi's powers be used to restore Garden? If not, could Tomomi herself be used to heal the rift in Garden, or to perhaps apply pressure on Mireya's supporters?
Quistis had still been considering these possibilities when Tomomi revealed that—quite serendipitously—her greatest strength was the ability to restore broken things. At first, Quistis thought that Garden was saved. She could bring Tomomi down to the MD Levels, have her fix everything, and then Garden would no longer be a hulking mass of useless metal floating aimlessly in the ocean.
But no, of course it couldn't be that easy. Garden would be fixed and mobile, but what would happen after that? The tech team had spent hours looking at the problem with the Garden's machinery and had determined that it was totally impossible to fix with their available tools. What would happen if Quistis brought aboard some stranger—a stranger from a sister Garden, yes, but a stranger nonetheless—and then suddenly Garden was one hundred percent fixed again?
After the debacle with the assembly in the quad and the growing tension among students when it came to sorceresses, it wouldn't take a genius for some student, perhaps Mireya, to suggest that Tomomi was in fact a sorceress, and that Garden had been repaired with magic.
Quistis wanted to believe that the students would be grateful for the help. That, once word of Tomomi's assistance spread, they would change their minds about sorceresses and welcome Tomomi and the rest of T-Garden with open arms. Perhaps even the students would revise their opinions about Rinoa and decide to let her aboard Garden. After all, if Quistis had been just a regular student instead of Commander, she thought that she would be glad to have the help, even if it came from a sorceress.
(But what if they don't welcome her?)
If they didn't, if Mireya and her supporters chose not to forgive and forget, the results would be catastrophic. In the best case scenario, Tomomi and the rest of T-Garden students would be kicked off Garden and sent in some other direction. In the worst case, the students might try to capture Tomomi, which would immediately ignite a battle between the two Gardens. Quistis simply could not risk alienating one of SeeD's last remaining allies like that. The price of failure was too high.
(Zell said you were getting paranoid.)
And perhaps Zell had a point. Maybe her time as Commander was wearing on her nerves. But she had an excuse. All these high-pressure decisions coming one after another after another. The massive failure in Timber, the flight from Galbadia, the tensions between her and Mireya. Who could blame Quistis if she started to descend into paranoid thinking? Perhaps a little bit of paranoia was necessary in a leader.
As Quistis contemplated her choices, and the risks and rewards of each, she had reached the conclusion that she had previously chosen to do what felt right, what felt logical, and she had been burned every time.
(I've already taken too many chances.)
(And look where we are now.)
She had taken a chance and trusted an unknown sorceress in Timber. That same sorceress then went insane and put Quistis' best friend in a coma and nearly killed two of her comrades. Quistis had accepted a mission in Timber, ultimately resulting in open war with Galbadia and the overwhelming defeat of the Timber rebellion. Quistis had gone to Dollet to gather reconnaissance during what she thought was a lull in the conflict, and in return, Galbadia had struck during Garden's absence, guaranteeing that SeeD could do nothing to save Timber from the onslaught.
Quistis had taken many chances, and she was quite sick of her repeated failures. She had to play it safe this time. She had to play politics. She couldn't afford to expose Tomomi's secret, not while there was the slightest risk that it could backfire.
And so she had come up with a better plan, a way to both fix Garden and keep Tomomi's secret safe—for a while at least.
Once Tomomi healed Xu, Quistis sent Zell away on a pointless errand. Not because she didn't trust his loyalty, but because she didn't trust his discretion. Zell had a way of letting things slip accidentally, so although he was a dear friend to her, she didn't feel comfortable allowing him access to the details of her plan, especially since her plan required so much secrecy.
Perhaps it was a symptom of her paranoia. Or perhaps she was simply growing wiser. She couldn't tell anymore.
Then after Zell was out of earshot, she outlined her plan in whispers to both Tomomi and Xu. It was a modest idea in concept: fix Garden, but don't tell anybody about it.
Quistis took Tomomi out of the infirmary—leaving Xu behind to rest in her bed—and then rode the elevator up to the bridge. There, Tomomi would be out of sight from the average students. With Garden out of commission and most everybody working with T-Garden to connect the two schools, there was little chance Tomomi would be discovered in Cid's office. Quistis left Tomomi there with Cid—she considered letting the Headmaster know about the plan, then decided that there wasn't enough time—before heading alone down to the MD Levels.
Once there, she conducted a quick sweep of the area, ensuring that all the members of the tech team who had been assigned to work on the machinery were now reassigned to work on the project to connect the two schools. When the MD Levels were cleared, Quistis rode the elevator back up to Cid's office, collected Tomomi, and brought her down to the lowest levels of Garden.
After all of Quistis' wandering about, plotting, and secrecy, the act of fixing Garden was rather anticlimactic. Tomomi saw the ruined gears and the devastated machinery. She looked at the holes in the hull that had filled with water. She looked at the devastation that had utterly stymied Garden's best technicians and she'd shrugged.
"Looks doable," she said.
She laid her hands upon the drive shaft, which was composed of several interlocking metal spheres, each one large enough to crush the two women if it came loose and fell. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Then, as if Garden was a living organism that was capable of healing itself, the pieces came back together. Gears realigned, broken scraps of metal fused back into place, pipelines and wires reconnected, warped components twisted and screeched, then returned to their original shapes. The holes in the hull were sealed shut. The water couldn't be sucked out just yet, but it didn't seem to be causing any problems with the machinery, so it was allowed to stay in salty-smelling pools at the bottom.
"Done," Tomomi said. She clapped her hands together. "Really, the damage wasn't that bad."
Then Quistis had brought Tomomi up to the second floor and sent her to go help with connecting the schools. There was no need for the two to continue to stay together, and in fact, the longer they remained together, the more suspicious it would seem. So Quistis sent her away, while she herself went back into the elevator and found a little key in a hidden cabinet beneath the elevator control panel. That key allowed access to the MD Levels. She popped it out and stuck it in her pocket, preventing anyone—even the Headmaster—from gaining entry to the lower levels. As far as she knew, there were no spare keys in existence, so she had effectively made it impossible for anyone to see that Garden had been fixed.
She went back up to the bridge and told Nida to keep a lookout and be sure not to touch the Garden controls or let anyone else touch them. She told him that she was afraid that messing with the machinery might cause further damage, and Nida had accepted the story without question. Once that was done, her deceptive and convoluted—and perhaps paranoid—scheme was in place. Garden had been repaired and only herself, Tomomi, and Xu knew about it.
(Everything is set.)
An hour later, Balamb Garden was successfully attached to Trabia Garden. Tomomi brought all of her students onto her Garden and ordered them to fire up the school's engine.
The water churned all around T-Garden as the smaller, broken school fought to tow its hulking sister through the water. At first, nothing happened. Quistis pursed her lips in concern. If Trabia lacked the power to pull Balamb, that would be a serious problem.
There was a great deal of sound and vibrating and a frightening metallic screeching sound, but then, gradually, Trabia Garden began to move forward, bringing Garden along behind it.
Both schools erupted into triumphant cheers as T-Garden gathered momentum and moved faster and faster through the waves. It eventually stopped accelerating when it reached about half its original top speed, but that was still rather speedy—and definitely faster than floating aimlessly in the ocean.
Then there was only the final step of Quistis' plan left to consider. She directed the students on T-Garden to bring them to Fisherman's Horizon, so that both Gardens could be repaired. Obviously, since Garden had already been fixed by Tomomi, this was a somewhat useless order, but it was vital towards keeping Tomomi's secret. Once at FH, Quistis would invite a few technicians into the MD Levels, have them poke around and waste time, and then send them away. Thus, both Gardens would be "fixed" and no one would be any the wiser. The school would be back up and running again, Tomomi's secret would be safe, and everything would work out in the end.
All she had to do was maintain the lie until they reached FH.
(Easier said than done.)
"You're really too hard on yourself, Q," Xu said. She was sitting upright in her infirmary bed, with a tray of food balanced on her lap. With the tight food rationing and lack of supplies, all they had to offer her was more mushroom soup and some stale bread, but Xu was frantically eating her meal as if it was fine dining. She stuffed the last bite of bread into her mouth, barely chewed, and then swallowed.
"On the contrary," Quistis said. "I don't think I'm being hard enough."
She sat on a small stool beside Xu's bed. There was barely enough room in the small aisle for her. Her gloved hands were folded neatly in her lap, her whip and her radio clipped to her waist in case of an emergency.
Xu gave her a doubting look and continued to eat.
"I'm not joking," Quistis said. "I didn't take the position of Lieutenant Commander as seriously as I should have when I first accepted it. I thought that Squall would always be around to give a second opinion, so I wasn't prepared to handle this alone. I've made mistakes, and now I'm paying for them. If I'd been more careful from the start, or used better judgment then—"
"Bah," Xu said through a mouthful of soup.
"Bah?" Quistis said, wondering if she'd misheard her.
"Yeah, bah," Xu said. She swallowed. "Nonsense. Fiddlesticks. Whatever. Being too self-critical doesn't make you a better leader."
(It seems to work for Squall…)
"I still think you'd be better suited for this job than I am," Quistis said. "You seem to have much more wisdom than I."
Xu swallowed another quick spoonful of soup and then set her spoon down gently on the tray. She stared down at her lap for a moment, in unblinking introspection as she gathered her thoughts, then turned towards her friend.
"No one's a perfect leader, Q," Xu said. "So you gotta accept that fact and stop holding yourself to impossible standards."
"I didn't say anything about perfection," Quistis said. "I only said that you'd be a better Commander than me."
(Although perfection would be nice.)
"So… what? Does that mean you're planning on stepping down?" Xu asked. She gazed levelly at Quistis and took a sip of water from a glass.
"I've… considered it," Quistis said. Ashamed of her confession, she looked down at the floor.
"C'mon, Quistis," Xu said. She slapped the mattress with one hand. "I've only been out for a week. Has it really been that bad without me?"
(That bad and worse.)
"By any measurement you can imagine, I've been a failure as a leader," Quistis said. The words began tumbling out of her, faster and faster. "I brought SeeD into a hopeless mission that almost destroyed us. I nearly got you killed in the process. I've got the Galbadian military hunting us across the world. I accidentally stumbled into a trap in Trabia and as a result, Garden was broken and left adrift in the ocean. Half the school hates me, and there's serious talk among the students about whether or not to capture Rinoa and hand her over to the Galbadians. Everything I've done has been a failure, so tell me, why do you still insist that I'm some great leader?"
Xu looked at Quistis, then smiled comfortingly. She reached out with her arms and wrapped Quistis in a gentle embrace. The tray on her lap tipped and threatened to spill, but there was so little food remaining on it that it didn't seem like it would matter.
Quistis bowed her head, grateful for Xu's closeness, but she refused to return the embrace. She refused to cry, or to release her emotions. So she sat, motionless, her head bowed and her hands in her lap. She was trembling slightly, but she could do nothing to stop that.
"Why haven't you talked to anybody about this?" Xu whispered.
"I can't…" Quistis said. She choked a little, then cleared he throat. "Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, and Selphie are gone. Zell's a great guy, but he's like a lost puppy. He needs a leader above him or else he can't function. I can't very well ask him for advice. And the Headmaster… he won't listen. He insists that I'm infallible, that all my ideas are great ideas. Every time I…" she coughed, fighting down a sob. "Every time I try to talk to him about my concerns, he just brushes them off. Not that he doesn't care, he just… doesn't understand. He thinks I'm like Squall, but I'm not. I'm not like Squall."
(And that's why I'm a failure as a leader.)
"Of course you're not like Squall," Xu said soothingly. "And you have to stop comparing yourself to him. Squall's not perfect either, and I don't think he's any better of a leader than you are. You're just different, that's all."
"You're being too kind," Quistis said. "I mean, look at me! I'm crying on the shoulder of a wounded girl in the infirmary. Hardly leader-like of me."
"Hey!" Xu said, with mock anger. She pulled Quistis back to arm's length and gripped her by the shoulders. "Now you're starting to lash out at me. This wounded girl can still kick your ass, you know."
Despite herself, Quistis chuckled once.
"Okay, I take that part back," Quistis said. "But Squall—"
"What about Squall?" Xu said in anger. She released Quistis' shoulders and raised her hands in a dramatic shrug. "Personally, you know, I've never seen what his appeal is. He's sullen and rude and terrible at managing people. The only things he's good at are fighting, keeping secrets, and inspiring loyalty. Because he's so quiet, people assume that he's really deep and thoughtful, but I'm pretty sure that half the time he's just daydreaming about girls or motorcycles or something."
Quistis fought down a smile. "I'm fairly certain that's not true."
"Think about it, Q," Xu said. "The guy took his girlfriend and left SeeD in the middle of a crisis. Now, I can kinda understand that. It seems all heroic and romantic and stuff. But you do remember that he tried to walk to Esthar, right? This is our Commander, ladies and gentlemen! A guy who is so incapable of talking to people that he'd rather walk halfway across an ocean than hire a boat or ask for help. And you're comparing yourself to him? What's worse, you're comparing yourself to him, and you think you're worse? Don't be ridiculous!"
"But I—"
"But what?" Xu asked. "When you told me the story of everything that happened after I got knocked out, did you leave out the part where you took your whip and started flogging the underclassmen in a secret dungeon?"
Quistis was taken aback. "What? No!"
"Did you try to sell Garden to the Shumi or arrange a hit on the president of Esthar?" Xu asked.
"What are you talking about?" Quistis said, both angry and confused.
(Has she gone mad?)
"I'm just saying, I don't know what you did that was so terribly wrong," Xu said. "Because the story I heard tells me that you've had a really, really rough week. That's all. I've heard nothing that indicates that you're a bad leader."
"I've made mistakes," Quistis said.
Xu shook her head. "Then let's talk about them then! One by one. Number one, trusting Ciel and taking the Timber job? Not your fault. I was there, Quistis. So was the Headmaster, Edea, Zell, and a bunch of other people. Everyone thought it was a great idea. So you can't blame yourself for that. We all made that mistake. Not just you."
(All right. Fine. Point taken.)
"What about going to Dollet and leaving you alone in Timber?" Quistis said. "That was entirely my call."
"So you can't see the future," Xu said with a shrug. "Big deal. No one could have predicted that Ciel was going to hop a train to another country and assassinate General Caraway in the middle of the night. In fact, I feel more responsible for that than you do because I was there, and I was the one who let Ciel go, unsupervised, wherever she wanted. And then who would have predicted that the Galbadians would just forgo their election process and put Martine in charge by default? Or that Martine would then order an immediate counterattack on Timber? Nobody. The whole thing was a chaotic mess, and it's all Ciel's fault and Martine's fault. You and I were just bystanders of that debacle."
"You're just making excuses for me," Quistis said.
"Because you have legitimate excuses!" Xu said. "The events of the past week or so have been totally out of your control. Anyone who expects you to do everything flawlessly—given these circumstances—is insane. You didn't know that Ciel was going to turn out to be a crazy girl with the emotional stability of a caffeinated toddler. You didn't know that Martine was warmonger with a grudge against sorceresses. But you handled yourself well, despite all that. With Timber literally on fire, you brought SeeD into a warzone and successfully extracted me, Zell, and Dax. And tell me, how many SeeDs did we lose in the rescue effort?"
"None…" Quistis said.
"Pardon me, I'm a little deaf after my coma," Xu said. She made an exaggerated show of cleaning out her ear with her pinky. "Say that again?"
"Zero casualties," Quistis said, a little louder. "We suffered no losses."
"You went one-on-one against G-Garden and came out without a single lost student," Xu said. "Not to compare you to Squall or anything, but I know for a fact that he can't claim the same thing."
"We lost eight SeeDs from the Decoy Team before that," Quistis said. "That—"
"—Was less than half of what we predicted," Xu said. "Once again, you're forgetting that I was there at the strategy meeting, Q. The Headmaster said that we could expect up to twenty to thirty SeeD casualties in that operation. We had eight. And they didn't die, they were only captured. I mean, for crying out loud, Quistis, what do you expect from yourself?"
But Quistis didn't relent. Even though the things Xu was saying made sense, Quistis' self-doubts and her demons would not be dismissed so easily.
"And what about everything that's happened between me and Mireya?" Quistis said. "Surely you must admit that I've handled this situation poorly."
"Mireya's a psycho, and we'll deal with her later," Xu said. She waved her hand dismissively. "She seemed pretty nice at first, but the more I hear, the less I like her. It's pretty obvious that she's plotting a coup of some kind. From everything you've told me, it sounds like her only objective is to either get you to step down willingly or to force you out of office. She doesn't give a damn if you're a good leader or not. All she wants is to take your job away from you. So she focuses on your shortcomings and spins all your actions so that you look like an incompetent idiot. And she's so good at it that she's even managed to convince you that you're worthless."
Quistis stopped. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
(My goodness…)
(She's right.)
It wasn't that Xu was telling Quistis things about Mireya that she didn't already know. Quistis had realized very early on that Mireya was being hyper-critical, as well as the fact that she was using the power of hindsight to pass judgment on Quistis. But hearing it from Xu—hearing another person share Quistis' thoughts—was incredibly reassuring. It allowed Quistis to know that she wasn't alone in her concerns about Mireya. That yes, there was something definitely wrong with Mireya. That, in this situation at least, Quistis' paranoia was justified.
"You have people who doubt you," Xu said. "So does every leader. The only mistake you've made—and I mean, the only mistake—is that you allowed those doubters to get into your head. You listened to what they had to say, and then you began to believe that they were right and you were wrong. That was your mistake."
Quistis shook her head. With her thumbs and forefingers, she cradled her head in her hands. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I've been… very foolish."
Xu scoffed. "Of course I'm right. You know I'm always right, Q."
"But if anything," Quistis said, lifting up her head. "You've only strengthened my belief that you should be the Commander of SeeD. You were able to see logic and reason where I could not."
Xu turned away and waved a hand. "We'll talk about that some other time. Just trust me, I'm not cut out to be a leader."
(I think you're wrong.)
But Quistis thought it was best not to argue at that time.
"So what other doubts and concerns have been plaguing you?" Xu asked. She gestured around her tiny patient room. "Doctor Xu is in, so tell me what's ailing you."
Quistis nodded. "I think…" she said. She smiled. "I think you've already helped me enough. Thank you, Xu. It's great to have you back."
"It's good to be back," Xu said. "I'm glad—"
But she was interrupted by a crackling noise at Quistis' belt. It took her a moment to remember that it was her radio—her nearly constant companion these days—sputtering to life.
"Commander, do you read?" Nida asked over the radio. Quistis glanced at Xu, then pulled the radio off her belt and held it to her mouth.
"What's going on, Nida?" Quistis asked.
"I just saw some kind of signal to the southwest," he said.
(A signal?)
"Is it the Galbadians?" Quistis asked.
"No, it looked like magic," Nida said. "Like a fire spell. A really big fire spell. I don't think the Galbadians have any weapons that can do anything like that."
(I don't believe so either.)
"Someone was casting fire magic at us?" Quistis asked.
"No, no, not at us," Nida said. "Straight up into the air. Like a signal flare."
"Someone's trying to get our attention?" Xu asked.
"Maybe," Quistis said, taking the radio away from her mouth. "But who would want to flag down SeeD in the middle of the ocean?"
"Could be a trap," Xu said.
(Perhaps…)
Quistis brought the radio back to her mouth. "What else can you see? Anything?"
"Nothing, Commander," Nida said. "I just saw the fire spell and then it was gone. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would say all's clear. The horizon's empty in all directions."
"If it was the Galbadians," Quistis said, speaking to Xu, "Then I can't imagine that they'd bother luring us anywhere. It would be far easier for them to just track our course and then intercept us, rather than waste time with pointless trickery."
Xu shrugged. "Depends on what they're planning."
"Wait a second," Nida said. "Another flare just went up. It's definitely magic. Looks like third-tier fire magic or even higher. It's pretty powerful."
(A sorceress?)
Quistis gulped and exchanged a glance with Xu. Judging by Xu's expression, she'd come to the same conclusion. Running into another sorceress out in the middle of the ocean would be bad, no matter who it was. If the sorceress proved to be hostile, then SeeD would be obligated to fight her off, possibly losing students in the process. Furthermore, such a battle would only serve to cement the image in students' minds that all sorceress were evil and needed to be dealt with by force.
But even if the sorceress was an ally—or potential ally—that could prove problematic. Regardless of the sorceress' intentions, bringing her aboard Garden would tear open the very same animosities that Quistis was trying to keep closed. It seemed to be a no-win situation either way.
(But if someone truly needs help, I can't just leave them there.)
Quistis sighed, then looked at Xu. "I'm going to go investigate. Does that sound like a good idea?"
Xu nodded. "We can't abandon people to die in the ocean. We have to at least take a look."
Quistis brought the radio back to her mouth. "Nida, make an announcement saying that all students should go on alert. Not battle stations just yet, but they should begin making preparations to that end. Tell them about the situation, and then go down to the second floor balcony and have the T-Garden pilot set a course for the signal. Can you do that?"
"Roger," Nida said.
After the two Gardens had successfully fused together, leadership of both schools had tacitly shifted to Quistis and the Headmaster. Since almost all of Trabia Garden's authority figures had either been annihilated in the missile attack or left the school immediately afterwards, Trabia had no real power structure remaining. Tomomi had been drafted as a sort of leader after she became a sorceress, but other than that, T-Garden seemed completely content to follow any of Quistis' orders. So she assumed that there would be no arguments if she told the other school to alter their course to investigate the source of the signal fires.
Quistis clipped the radio back onto her belt and stood up. "I'm going to go check it out."
The intercom chimed and Nida's calm, professional voice repeated what Quistis had told him to say. Quistis and Xu ignored the message as they talked.
"I'm going with you," Xu said, setting her food tray aside and throwing off her bed sheet. Quistis grabbed the sheet and tossed it back over Xu.
"No, you're not," Quistis said. "You've only been awake a short time. Get some rest and let me handle it."
"I'm fine, Quistis," Xu said. "I want to help."
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Quistis said. She crossed her arms. "If something goes wrong, you'll want to be right in the thick of it. Give it another day or two before you start recklessly jumping into battle, okay?"
Xu frowned. "Fine. I'll stay here. But only if everything's okay. . If I hear fighting outside, then you'll have to lock me in the infirmary to keep me away."
"That can be arranged," Quistis said with a raised eyebrow. She turned to leave, then stopped. "Oh, and remind me to get you a radio at some point so we can keep in communication. There should be a spare or two that you can have."
"Gotcha," Xu said.
"I'll be back," Quistis said as she walked out of the patient room and into the main area of the infirmary.
"Be careful," Xu called out. Quistis raised a hand in acknowledgement and then walked past Dr. Kadowaki's desk. The doctor was sitting there, writing something down on a piece of paper. Whether or not she had been eavesdropping on the whole conversation was impossible to tell, but Quistis knew that she could depend on the doctor to maintain her neutrality and not repeat anything she'd heard to anyone else.
(Sometimes I wish she wasn't so neutral.)
(Then I could factor her into my plans.)
But as it was, Dr. Kadowaki had made herself totally a non-player in the SeeD game of politics, and no matter what angle Quistis chose to take, Dr. Kadowaki would refuse to play along.
Quistis stepped out of the infirmary and walked down the hallway. Throughout Garden, SeeDs and cadets were milling about in a low-level state of emergency. A few were gathering their weapons, and some—despite the fact that Quistis had not told them to—had already gone into their battle stations. A boy with a double-edged sword stood up and spoke to Quistis as she passed.
"Is it Galbadia, Commander?" he asked, appearing neither worried nor excited.
"I doubt it, but we'll see," Quistis said without stopping. "Stay alert."
She passed a few more students on the way to the elevator and she gave them whatever answers and comforts she could. After Xu's pep talk, Quistis could almost feel herself walking taller and her responses came quicker and with more surety. She felt like a leader again and for the first time in many days, she did not regret her choice to become Lieutenant Commander of SeeD.
(I'm so glad Xu's back.)
Quistis climbed the steps to the central elevator and pushed the button to call it. The elevator arrived, dinged, and then carried her up to the second floor. There were a few dozen students lined along the second floor hallway, standing guard. Quistis didn't speak to any of them as she passed. At the end of the hall she headed through the heavy door and climbed the steps up to the balcony.
Although the balcony wasn't the most structurally sound part of Garden, it was the easiest for both Gardens to access while they were out at sea, which is why they chose to attach the two Gardens at that point. As a consequence, Balamb Garden was actually being towed at a slight angle, with the front of Garden pointing towards the southeast whenever T-Garden traveled due south. That was a non-issue, however, since Garden could travel in any direction equally well. It only resulted in Balamb Garden looking off-kilter as it sailed along.
All around her were thick chains, heavy ropes pulled taut, and a junkyard's worth of scrap metal welded to T-Garden from the balcony and walls of Balamb Garden. It made the balcony look like SeeD was planning to host some peculiar festival.
A few SeeDs were out on the balcony, leaning over the railing and trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that had sent up the signal. Among those SeeDs were Nida and Mireya. Quistis frowned when she saw Mireya, but—remembering Xu's words—decided to simply ignore her for the time being. She moved towards Nida. He jumped, startled, when he saw her behind him.
"Oh! Commander," he said. He snapped a quick salute. The other SeeDs on the balcony turned to face their Commander. Some saluted, others did not. "You're just in time."
"Any idea what it is?" Quistis asked. She peered over Nida's shoulder, trying to see what lay beyond. Nida handed her a pair of binoculars, but even with the binoculars, she couldn't figure out what it was. All she could see was that the object was tiny and red.
"No clue, Commander," Nida said. "But whatever it is, it's small and it's alone. I doubt it's the Galbadians, but it is red after all, so it might have something to do with G-Garden or something."
"Let's hope not," Quistis said. She raised her voice to address all the students assembled on the balcony. "Everybody, prepare for the worst. Get your battle junctions ready and your weapons drawn. Nobody makes a move or says anything until I give the word. Understand?"
"Yes, Commander," everyone said in unison—even Mireya. Mireya had brought her Galbadian Military Saber. She unsheathed it in a quick flourish and turned her back on the Commander, facing out towards the sea. Quistis turned to Nida.
"Nida, get back on the bridge and keep your radio with you," Quistis said. Nida's mouth dropped open with disappointment. "I know you want to be out here, but I need someone on the bridge to relay any messages to the students on the intercom. Understand?"
"Can't you send someone else?" Nida asked. "I don't mean to be insubordinate or anything, Commander, but I'm really getting bored of sitting up there by myself all the time."
(I can't risk sending someone else.)
(If they mess with the controls, they may discover that Garden's been fixed.)
"You're the only one I trust," Quistis said. She put a hand on his shoulder. "You have your radio with you?"
Nida tapped his radio, which was clipped on his belt. "Always, Commander."
"Then hurry up," Quistis said. "Be ready for my signal."
"Yes, Commander," Nida said, with no energy or enthusiasm behind his voice. He saluted quickly, then loped off the balcony and headed back inside Garden. Quistis watched him go for a moment, then turned her attention back to the sea.
The red speck in the distance had drawn closer, and with the binoculars Quistis could see that it was a large, red orb. There was a flat space just slightly off-center from the top, which she assumed was some sort of porthole or doorway. Whatever it was, it didn't look like a boat, or anything that belonged in the sea.
(What could it be?)
"It doesn't look Galbadian," a tall muscular SeeD said. It took a moment for Quistis to realize that it was Dax. She'd only seen him a few times before.
"But who else would it be, way out here?" another student asked.
A few seconds passed, with the students talking amongst each other, describing what they could see and ruminating about the possibilities. Mireya and Quistis kept quiet, watching carefully to make sure that the mystery object didn't do anything suspicious.
"What if it's like, a Galbadian bomb?" Dax asked. "A bomb that size could take out both of our Gardens, easy."
"If the Galbadians want to bomb us into oblivion," Mireya said coolly, "Then they could have done that at any time. They want to capture Garden in the best condition possible so they can immediately use it for themselves."
Quistis didn't object. Mireya was still under the impression that Galbadia's primary objective was to seize Garden, not to destroy it, and Quistis could find no evidence to contradict her. After all, Galbadia had been presented with a number of chances to completely wipe out Garden, but instead had pulled back. Even the missile attack in Trabia had been softened, the brunt of the damage being done to the engines, rather than to the school itself.
(She's probably right.)
(Galbadia won't destroy Garden unless they have no choice.)
By now, the red object was close enough to where the pilot aboard T-Garden had to begin throttling back on the engine to keep from overrunning the target. It looked like a sphere capsule of some kind, barely large enough to accommodate a half dozen people at once. There was a window on one side and a square-shaped outline at the top, where—presumably—there was a door.
As soon as Quistis identified the door of the capsule, the door separated from the rest of the capsule and flipped open to the side. Pushing open the door was a girl with long black hair and a blue dress—stained with blood.
"Rinoa!" Quistis said in surprise.
"The sorceress!" Mireya said. She hesitated for a moment in thought, then spun to face her Commander. "Remember what happened in the quad," she said. "We voted to capture Rinoa if we found her. And here she is."
"Indeed," Quistis said, not trusting herself to say anything more until she'd thought the situation through.
This was not good. Quistis recognized that much immediately. The people who were against Rinoa and the students who still supported her were able to coexist together so far, but only because they hadn't been provoked by the immediate presence of a sorceress. As long as there was no sorceress around, everyone seemed content to allow life to go on as usual.
But now that Rinoa had returned, that rift would split open again. Quistis couldn't forget how a clear majority of the students had voted against Rinoa, against their Commander's girlfriend. If Quistis used her authority to override the students' vote, then it could lead to a conflict, maybe even outright battle. And if Quistis allowed the students to follow through on their intended actions, it would mean turning against Rinoa. Imprisoning her. Possibly handing her over to the Galbadians.
Quistis ground her teeth.
(Everything seemed like it was beginning to look up.)
(And now…)
But then Quistis was struck with another thought. If Rinoa was there inside the capsule, then it meant that Squall wasn't far behind. A wave of relief washed over her. Perhaps the students wouldn't listen to Quistis, but they almost certainly would listen to Squall. With Quistis and Squall working together, perhaps the situation could be resolved peacefully.
"But we'll see what Commander Squall has to say about the matter," Quistis said.
"The students voted to—" Mireya started to say.
"The students' vote doesn't technically have any weight to it," Quistis snapped. "This is still a military school, and you must obey the will of your superiors. If Commander Squall is aboard that capsule, then his judgment is law, not yours."
Mireya narrowed her eyes and looked away. She didn't have a response. She kept her blade drawn and turned back to look down at the capsule. At that time, the pilot aboard T-Garden had completely killed the engine, allowing the school's forward momentum to carry it towards Rinoa and the capsule. Although Quistis felt more relaxed after managing to argue Mireya into a temporary silence, she was becoming increasingly worried about the fact that she had seen no sign of Squall yet.
(What if Squall's not aboard the capsule?)
That was a possibility. If something had happened, if Squall and Rinoa had gotten separated, then finding Rinoa by herself would pose a problem. Without Squall to support Quistis with his rank and his established authority over the school, Quistis would have more trouble keeping the anti-Rinoa students in line.
And then there was the matter of the blood on Rinoa's clothes. There was a lot of it. If all that blood came from a single person, then that person would almost certainly be dead.
(Please… don't let it be Squall's blood.)
The edge of Trabia Garden drifted ever closer towards the capsule. A half dozen T-Garden students stood clustered around the edge of the school near the water, leaning forward, extending hands out to catch Rinoa if she chose to jump. She wasn't yet close enough to try to leap, but she began climbing out of the capsule and planting her feet on the edge of the door as if she would jump any moment.
When the capsule came within a pace or two of T-Garden, Rinoa jumped. The T-Garden students caught her and brought her aboard. Rinoa quickly shook them off and pointed at the capsule. She was saying something to the students, but far up on the second floor balcony, Quistis couldn't hear what was said. Rinoa looked anxious—not to the point of being frantic, but certainly distressed.
The T-Garden students tossed out a couple of grappling hooks on thin ropes and managed to snag the open lip of the capsule. They tugged the object against the side of the Garden. Then they secured the ropes to the school and a couple students climbed inside the capsule.
"What's going on?" Quistis shouted down to the T-Garden students.
Rinoa turned and looked up at the balcony, spotting Quistis. "It's Squall. He's…" Rinoa paused, swallowed, and clutched a hand to her chest. "He's hurt…"
(No…)
Quistis fought aside her emotions and tried to think rationally.
"How badly?" Quistis asked. But Rinoa wasn't looking anymore. She stood on the edge of T-Garden, still holding a hand to her chest and trying to peer inside the capsule. A moment later, two T-Garden students climbed out through the open door, hauling Squall's limp body along with them. A third student carried Squall's feet off the ground as they carefully brought him out of the capsule and laid him down on the floor of Trabia Garden.
Squall's clothes were dark red—almost brown—and hard with dried blood. Even from a distance, Quistis could see at least two bullet holes torn through his clothes.
(Oh no…)
As Quistis was considering her next options, she saw movement from down below. She turned to look and saw Tomomi cutting a path through the cluster of T-Garden students that had formed around Squall and Rinoa.
(She wants to heal him.)
(She's going to use magic!)
Quistis gasped through her nose. Tomomi was going to use her sorceress powers. With Mireya standing right there, watching everything. Soon, all the students aboard Garden would know that now there were suddenly two sorceresses in their midst—Rinoa and Tomomi. Quistis couldn't predict what the reaction would be, but she knew she couldn't take such a risk.
"Nobody touch him!" Quistis yelled to the students down on T-Garden. "Bring him up here to the infirmary. Hurry!"
But no one was paying attention to her. Everyone was stepping aside to let Tomomi through. She took a spot beside Rinoa and knelt down beside Squall. Wordlessly, she set both her hands upon him, one on his chest and the other on his head, and closed her eyes to concentrate.
(Too late now…)
As when Tomomi had healed Xu, there were no visible signs of magic being used. However the unmistakable sensation of energy filled the air, palpable even up on the balcony. Worse still, anyone with any magical training would be able to tell that the energies that Tomomi was using were above and beyond the average cure spells—possibly beyond the range of traditional para-magic as well. There was no lie in the world that could convince Mireya that Tomomi wasn't a sorceress.
(Damn!)
"So she is a sorceress after all," Mireya said, seeming unsurprised by this revelation. She turned to Quistis. "Did you know all along?"
The worst thing she could do, Quistis thought, would be to admit that she knew Tomomi's secret. Doing so would prove that, not only did Quistis knowingly bring a sorceress into Garden, but that she also took steps to hide the sorceress' identity and then lie about the events afterwards. Quistis's credibility would be ruined.
"I didn't ask her about it," Quistis said coolly. It was the best kind of lie, because it was—on the surface—completely true. Quistis had never asked the question; Tomomi had admitted it freely, without being prompted.
Mireya held Quistis' gaze for a few seconds, then broke away to watch what was happening down below. Tomomi continued to concentrate, but her face was adopting expressions beyond simple effort and focus. Instances of concern, confusion, and surprise flickered across her face. She continued pouring in her energy, but Squall remained lifeless and still on the floor of the Garden.
(Is it not working?)
(… Is he already dead?)
After another few tense moments, Tomomi opened her eyes and pulled her hands away. She looked at Rinoa apologetically. She spoke loudly enough for Quistis and the others on the balcony to hear. "I did everything I could. His wounds are healed, but… he's not waking up. I'm sorry."
Rinoa nodded. "But he's alive, right? You said his wounds are healed?"
"Yeah," Tomomi said. "But there's something else wrong with him. I don't know what it is. I've never seen it before."
(Is he in a coma too?)
(Then why can't Tomomi heal him?)
Brushing her questions aside, Quistis moved to take charge of the situation before Mireya or anyone else could cause further problems.
"Bring him up here and take him to the infirmary," Quistis shouted. "We'll have Dr. Kadowaki take a look at him."
Tomomi stood up and looked at the balcony, using one hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "How are we going to get him up there?"
To facilitate travel between the two Gardens, the students had constructed a durable rope ladder that hung from the edge of the balcony and went down to T-Garden. But with Squall completely unconscious, it would prove difficult to haul him up that way.
"See if you can make a harness down there," Quistis said.
A lot of leftover building materials were strewn around T-Garden. A group of students broke off from the rest and began digging through the scraps, looking for appropriate materials. Meanwhile, Quistis looked down at T-Garden's pilot, a mousy looking girl with glasses that took up half her face. "Resume our course for Fisherman's Horizon."
The mousy Trabian girl nodded, then went back to her rusty control panel and pushed a couple buttons and turned a large iron crank. T-Garden slowly began to grind into motion.
"We have to take Rinoa and the other sorceress into custody," Mireya said to Quistis. "We can't afford to take any chances."
(I doubt that Rinoa will cooperate.)
"I'll gather together a team that can handle her," Mireya said, as if sensing Quistis' thoughts. "Give me a moment and—"
"No, don't bother," Quistis said.
She knew that when Mireya talked of "gathering together a team," what she really meant was, "rally her supporters." Oh sure, Mireya would get a group together. A group composed entirely of her allies, staunchly anti-sorceress members of Garden who would leap at the opportunity to fight another sorceress.
Quistis didn't doubt that Rinoa could handle herself in a fight—if it came to that—but Quistis still wanted to do everything possible to avoid or at least delay open conflict. Instead she said, "Leave her and Tomomi on Trabia Garden."
"What? Why?" Mireya said.
"We don't have the facilities to incarcerate a sorceress," Quistis said. "And definitely nothing that can handle two sorceresses. But as long as they're down there, it should be fine. It's not a prison, but it is some form of isolation at least."
(This is the best compromise I can offer.)
Mireya appeared like she was going to respond, then she glanced away and nodded.
"That will work for now," Mireya said. "But we'll need to decide a long-term solution before long."
(Good. She agrees.)
Quistis was rapidly losing her patience and didn't care to argue about the subject anymore. Her primary concern was seeing to Squall's well-being and all this pointless quibbling about sorceresses was doing Squall more harm than good.
Meanwhile, on board T-Garden, the students had constructed a waist harness out of lengths of discarded rope and slipped the harness around Squall's legs. Another bit was wrapped around his shoulders to keep him from tipping out of the harness. A second group had found a length of rope long enough to reach up to the balcony. They tossed it up to Balamb Garden and Dax caught it. The T-Garden students secured the other end of the rope to Squall's harness. Then all the SeeDs on the bridge—Mireya and Quistis included—grabbed their end of the rope and began to haul Squall's limp body back onto Garden.
With all of them working together, the process was quick and easy. Squall was back aboard the balcony in less than thirty seconds. The students took care to lower him to the floor and then removed his rope harness.
Although his clothes were ragged and bloody, Squall himself didn't seem too distressed. His skin was pallid, but clean and smooth. And as Tomomi had said, all his wounds were healed. Quistis wondered what could possibly be wrong with Squall that prevented Tomomi from reviving him, but she was thankful that at least he was still alive.
Quistis pointed to four of the students around her. "Carry him to the infirmary immediately. Mireya, you go ahead of them to alert Dr. Kadowaki about the situation."
Mireya hesitated, then nodded. She jogged off the balcony and disappeared inside Garden. The other four students each grabbed Squall by an arm or by a leg and lifted him up off the ground. They walked quickly towards the door and then slipped inside.
There was no real reason for Quistis to send Mireya away. Quistis just wanted her gone, and sending her with Squall seemed to be the easiest way to remove her without causing a fight or giving Mireya a chance to work any mischief.
As soon as Mireya was out of sight, it was as if some invisible pressure had lifted off Quistis. Instantly, she felt more relaxed and in control of herself.
(Xu's right.)
(Mireya has indeed gotten into my head.)
Quistis turned around and walked to the edge of the balcony. She leaned over and glanced down at T-Garden. Rinoa was halfway up, climbing the rope ladder. One of her shoes had gotten tangled in the lines, and she was busy looking down at her feet and kicking, trying to free herself.
(I've still got to play politics…)
Quistis knew she had to maintain order in the school. She had to delay the conflict between the students for as long as possible. And that meant that she had to go along with Mireya's plan—and the plan voted for by the students in the quad. Distasteful as it was, Quistis couldn't afford to do anything else.
(I have to do this…)
"Rinoa," Quistis said gently. Rinoa looked up at her. "Stay down there, okay? We've got it handled up here."
"I want to be with him," Rinoa said. "In case something happens."
"I know, I know," Quistis said. "But it's really best if you stay down there for now. You too, Tomomi." Quistis glanced at Tomomi, who was standing at the bottom of the ladder.
Rinoa hesitated. "Why?" she asked.
"It's…" Quistis said.
(Tell her the truth.)
(I'm tired of lying to people.)
"It's because you're a sorceress," Quistis said. "I'll explain everything soon. Just… stay down on Trabia Garden for now."
For a moment, it looked like Rinoa was going to disobey. Her eyes were firm and unwavering as she stared up at Quistis. Her hands clenched the rope ladder and a gentle breeze buffeted her from side to side.
Then a big, hulking mass stood beside Quistis. She realized it was Dax.
"Stay down there, sorceress," he snarled. He made a show of cracking his knuckles. "You're safer down there than up here, you got it?"
Quistis was almost sure that Dax's harsh words would trigger a fight. Rinoa snapped her gaze on to him, fury filling her eyes unlike anything Quistis had seen before. Dax sneered, unmoving.
(She's going to attack him.)
"Rinoa, it's okay," Quistis said. "Look, I'll come down there and explain everything to you."
Without waiting for Rinoa's response, Quistis climbed over the edge of the balcony and began descending the rope ladder. When Quistis met Rinoa in the middle of the ladder, Rinoa paused, then finished kicking her boot free from the rope ladder and quietly climbed back down.
(Oh, thank you.)
Rinoa hopped off and stood next to Tomomi, allowing Quistis to climb all the way down. All three stood together at the base of the ladder. Quistis sighed and massaged her forehead with one hand.
(No sense dragging this out.)
"Things have been really bad since you've been gone," Quistis said. "I hate that I have to do this to you, but I don't have a choice. Don't worry, we'll do everything we can for Squall."
"I understand," Rinoa said. She nodded. "And I'm sorry, but I have to do this too."
Quistis narrowed her eyes. "Sorry about wh—"
Rinoa raised her hand and slashed the air at Quistis. A terrible, focused gust of wind hit Quistis hard in the chest and hurled her towards the middle of Trabia Garden. She flew through the air and collided with a pair of T-Garden students, the three of them falling down hard on the ground.
Quistis lay on the ground, stunned and disoriented, while around her were frantic shouts and the sounds of magic spells being cast.