FicWad

Disturbance in the Peaceful Era:

Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VIII. Original characters and names belong to me. All names, places and characters relating to Final fantasy belong to Square-Enix.

Author’s Notes: It’s been a long time since I last updated, I know and it will likely be another long time before I update again. I’m sorry but this story just isn’t my highest priority anymore even though it is my first. If more people show interest in it (expressed most appreciatively in reviews) then maybe I’ll make updates for this story more of a priority. I personally at least try to review every story I read and if I’m subscribed to it, I try to review each new chapter… especially if it’s a long one (by long I include anything over a few thousand words.) Before I get into the actual story I just want to say something. This chapter has perhaps the longest action sequence I have ever written and those of you who have read my Gundam Seed story ‘Seeds Sown under the Earth’s Crust’ may already know that action sequences are not my specialty. Any kind of feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’ve changed the battle system quite a bit and it may at times seem almost like it takes references from anime like Naruto and Dragonball.
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Chapter XII – The Art of Magic

The Instructor – known only by his students as the letter P – walked into the Training centre for the fourth time that day. He was carrying a large box in his arms. There were several boxes just like it littering the floor and around these boxes stood his puzzled students. He placed the box down on the ground with all the others and turned to meet the bewildered youthful faces of his class. “Today” he said − his lip curled upward into an eager smile as he spoke – “I will teach you to use magic.” One arm instantly raised itself above the heads of the crowd.

“I already know all this” Seifer spoke in an arrogant drawl. This display of overconfidence only broadened the man’s snide display of fervour.

“Is that so?” he asked, charging the spiritual energy within his body. He summoned up this mystical energy. He drew it out, shaped it and moulded it in his mind. As he did so, his natural aura changed, giving away his intentions. His aura − normally white, calm, still and invisible – now suddenly flared around him and changed colour. It now flickered around him like a flame, rising a little above his head, glowing faintly with a dim blue hue. The Instructor’s aura subsided as he concentrated the energy into a ball in his palm. Once he had formed it the energy turned a darker shade of blue and froze over – forming an ice-ball.

“You would use ice against the greatest fire-mage in Balamb Garden?” Seifer sneered. He concentrated his spirit energy the way his Instructor had although his own aura was a little weaker. “Fire!” he cried as the summoned energy formed itself into a fireball which he hurled toward his Instructor as hard as he could. His face was a mask of conceited glee as his level sixteen fire spell – the most powerful first tier fire spell possible – flew toward the experienced SeeD. It would hit him before he even got his ice-ball airborne.

The Instructor identified only as P sneered a little more. Even if this punk was the Master’s favourite, a little public humiliation wouldn’t go amiss. Lowering the arrogant ass’ ego a little would do him well. It was good character building. Being a SeeD he had increased the power of his mind and spirit beyond the necessity of yelling out the names of spells. Like all SeeD, he could do it all inside his head. That used to be a requirement but not anymore. If the difficulty of the field exam were reduced any lower they’d be about as powerful as the G Army. Without uttering a word, he launched the ice ball.

The palm-sized ball of ice rocketed from the Instructor’s hand on its way toward Seifer – whose arrogant face instantly lost its gleeful grin as he was finally struck hard across the face with the inevitability of the situation. He didn’t even have time to move. It happened too fast. The ice-ball sped toward him, cutting strait through the fire that fizzled and died out. Seifer’s eyes widened in horror at what he was seeing and his mouth fell open. “What the hell?” he thought “ice is supposed to be the slowest moving spell, isn’t it? I thought fire was one of the fastest, beaten only by wind and lightning.” Seifer had no time to react as the ice-ball hit him hard in the abdomen, sending him flying backward, stopping only after hitting someone who had been standing behind him and as such, causing said person to fall to the ground as well. A quick glance behind confirmed that it was Raijin. The two quickly stood. “What was that?” Seifer said after regaining his composure. “Our spells were the same strength. Fire and Ice are opposing elements. That should have been a draw. Why did yours beat mine? What made your paramagic stronger?”

“Our spells were of the same strength, tier one, level sixteen. The reason why I won should be obvious to everyone here.”

“What?”

“You are simply inferior.”

“What?!!” Utterly unfazed by Seifer, the Instructor completely ignored him as he addressed the class.

“So tell me, do the rest of you know how to use magic?” When no one responded, he continued. “Am I correct in assuming that you haven’t quite gotten that far in your morning classes?” His question was greeted by a series of simultaneous nods and murmurs. “I thought so.” I figured as much. Trepe’s letting them fall behind again. “Well, that’s all right. We’ll take this slowly and simply. These boxes you see before you…” he said, indicating the boxes he had brought in with him. The students all looked around at the various boxes. All were similar but not quite the same. They would have been identical, save for the difference in colour. They were all colour-coded and it was assumed that they would likely have different contents – why else would they be coloured. As it turned out, the assumption would be correct. “These boxes are all filled with stones.” Again he waited for a response.

“Stones?” thought Squall.

“Stones?” sounded Selphie’s whispered voice from behind him. A few others did the same… and then from behind…

“Stones, what the hell, what are we gonna throw ‘em or something?” This was Zell’s wise comment. These were the brawler’s magical words of mystical wisdom. One other voice could be heard.

“Dumbass” Seifer muttered, insulting Zell for his ignorance.

Instructor P merely chuckled. “Obviously, these are no ordinary stones. They are magic stones.”

“Magic?” Zell asked.

P nodded. “Magical stones like these can sometimes be found lodged into the hides of certain monsters. The stronger the magic inside the monster; the bigger the stone and the more power it can hold. Basically, what we are going to do today is use different kinds of magic stones to see which spells you can use more effectively. For example, I myself am an ice user. Seifer here is a fire user, as he previously pointed out. Everybody come up and grab a stone and we can get started” he instructed.

The students did as they were told and walked up to each box one by one to pick out one of each type of stone before returning back to their initial positions and placing the stones at their feet. Within two minutes each and every student had their stones ready and had their eyes fixed on those of their instructor, listening intently for the man’s next instruction, every student except the three in the front: Seifer and his tag-along friends: Raijin and Fujin.

Seifer simply stood strait and tall, a bored expression corrupting his features. He allowed his arms – which had been dangling at his sides – to rise to his chest and cross over one-another. His expression turned from bored, to irritated, to increasingly infuriated, as the intolerable silence dragged on. Needless to say, patience was not one of his virtues.

Instructor P merely widened his grin once more. He knew that all this waiting around would be killing Seifer. “Very well… everyone take a magic stone in your right palm and try to feel the energy within.”

“I already know all this” Seifer impatiently interjected. “Do I really need to be here?” P unknowingly dropped his smile. Seifer’s attitude was really starting to bug him. “I think my time could be more efficiently spent elsewhere.”

“No” P replied “Just wait. I need to explain this to the other students. When I’m done, you can practice. Although you may be a good magic user considering your experience it is also a fact that you have definitive room for improvement. Even though you have mastered the fire spell the spirit energy inside your body is not yet as strong as it could be.” Seifer failed to hide the resulting glare at the Instructor’s comment. “This class will be part of your training. As a member of SeeD it will be your obligation to become as strong as you possibly can.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Selphie whispered. Squall turned to face her and saw the unadulterated confusion in her eyes. The SeeD Candidate then lost all hope. If Selphie didn’t know what to do then how the hell was he supposed to?”

“Tilmitt isn’t it?” the Instructor asked as he walked up to where Selphie, Zell and Squall were standing.

“Ah, yeah” Selphie replied.

“Didn’t you Transfer from Trabia?”

“Yeah that’s me.”

“And you’re telling me you don’t know what to do? I thought you’d be a master at this technique. Shouldn’t you have done this a month ago? Even if Trabia focuses more on the physical aspect of training you should still be able to draw energy from a magical artefact.”

“Yeah, well… actually at Trabia we never did this.”

“Really?” the Instructor asked, bemused.

“Yeah, we went strait to spiritual connections… I mean I could draw it out from a low-level monster, no problem.”

“I see. So Trabia skipped this step altogether. Well, making a physical connection is much the same as a spiritual one. It works on the same basic principle and in fact is a little easier to accomplish. All you have to do is touch the object and try to feel the energy within. Just think of it as a sixth sense.

Sixth sense? Squall thought. He watched as Selphie closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the red palm-sized round stone in her hand. Nothing happened at first but then after a brief interlude Squall felt a change in the air as Selphie’s aura picked up. It began at the core of her torso and spread outward. It flared up and turned blue just like it had done for Seifer.

“I-I can feel it” she said “It’s hot… it’s burning… its fire… it burns… it burns!” the pace of her breathing increased at a steady rate and she let out an anxious moan of pain as though she were being scolded or burned. She began to panic. Squall narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see what was wrong but was distracted by the Instructor beside him making a knowing grunting sound. The brunette turned to face him.

“It hurts doesn’t it?” P sympathised, to which Selphie could only give another high-pitched moan. “There’s nothing I can do to help. Your gonna have to get through this on your own. Don’t worry. I know how painful this kind of think can be.” Painful seemed to be an understatement considering the current state Selphie seemed to be in. It was surprising the girl could respond at all.

“What the hell happened?” Zell asked. “W-what’s wrong with her?”

“Do you know what kind of magic stone she’s using?” P asked. Zell took one look at Selphie’s stone which seemed to be glowing red.

“Fire?” he guessed.

“Right and as painful as it may be, this is by no means an unheard of injury.”

Injury? Squall thought. What was wrong?”

“The magic has taken form inside her body” P explained.

“So?” Zell asked dumbfounded. “SeeD always go into battle with magic inside them, don’t they?”

“This is a little different… but we don’t have time to talk about it now. If we wait too long…” P trailed off gravely and turned to face Selphie. “The fire inside you is currently burning. As we speak your organs and tissue are being used as a fuel. I’m sure you can feel the burning within you. This is a critical problem of the utmost consequence but you’ll be just fine as long as you act immediately. If you don’t wish be barbecued from the inside out then you must force the fire out of your body. Understand? You must get it out of your body by any means necessary.”

“How’s she s’posed to do that?” Zell asked. P merely grinned.

“Have you ever had Timberian Takeaway?” he joked.

Between them the girl in question allowed her eyes to close once more and flung her head back. Squall’s eyes remained on her throat as it constricted and her body gave several aggressive heaves. She looked as though she were about to vomit. “Good” P said “Now… force it out.” Instinctively and violently Selphie opened her mouth and flung her head forward hard as a massive ball of fire emerged from her orifice and shot forward.

P managed to push Squall out of the way of ball’s flight path, saving him from being incinerated on the spot. The fireball sped past them all leaving a line of fire trailing behind it like a comet’s tail. The trail began spinning like an infernal horizontal tornado.

“The flamethrower technique…” the Instructor uttered while deep in thought “even though it was an accident… it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen one done like that. Such size… such power… the form was perfect.” He turned to Selphie once more. “If you could perfect that and use it as an attack on command you could become a great asset to Garden.” Selphie didn’t have the energy to respond. She didn’t have the energy to do much more than stand up. She struggled to remain standing, her mouth open, tongue hanging out. She panted for breath. If a caricature had been taken at that time she would probably have smoke rising from her throat. “Here, try this one next” P said, tossing another stone at her.

The stone flew through the air strait into Selphie’s outstretched hand. Her fingers greedily closed around the item, pressing into her palm. The majority of her body remained lifeless and still like that of a corpse but her arm remained outstretched. As soon as the stone touched the girl’s skin it began to glow white and Selphie’s blue aura instantly flared up once more.

“Good” the Instructor said “Now this one is a little different but just follow your instincts and your next action should become clear. Allow the magical energy to overflow and spill out but don’t try to direct it anywhere. Instead, just have the magic from the stone expand and intensify your aura. Let it engulf you. Trust me. You’ll feel a lot better when you do.

Selphie concentrated on the energy within the stone, focusing it and infusing it with her own life-force. She could feel the energy enveloping her and rather than resisting she simply allowed it to consume her and almost instantly felt a cooling sensation all over her body as the healing power of a cure spell flowed through her body, healing the burned tissue within her.

After the magic had done its job Selphie’s aura died down and she opened her eyes, feeling better than she had before entering the class.

“So, are you felling better then?” the Instructor asked. Selphie smiled and flung her arms out.

“Just great” she said. Instructor P smirked.

“You should have a chat with Spitfire” he informed her.

“Who’s Spitfire?”

P chuckled amusedly. “I can’t do all the work for you. You need to find this person on your own.” he smirked even more at Selphie’s reaction as what he said finally registered. “Don’t worry, chances are that this person will appear before you in due time.”

“So why should me and this person meet?”

“Spitfire is my greatest prodigy so far and a genius with fire-type black paramagic. Spitfire also has the ability to use the flamethrower technique but even so, its power is a mere shadow in comparison to yours.”

“But… that was just a fluke, right? And besides, it nearly killed me!”

“Indeed” P laughed “and I must warn you never to use that technique again… but with proper training you could perfect the art and use it at any time. It would make an extremely powerful weapon.” He then turned to Squall “Alright Leonheart, let’s see what you can do.”

As the lesson progressed the class tried out many different types of basic paramagic ranging from black to white and even the slightly more complicated green style. By the time the class had ended Instructor P had a fair idea of each person’s magical capabilities and was able to give them stocks of the appropriate spells.

As it turned out, Selphie was quite proficient with all types of magic but excelled like none other when it came to Green paramagic – status affecting type. This would make her extremely useful on covert missions since she would be able to send out silence and sleep spells, among others. This would make her the optimum choice as a distraction or for stall tactics. Unfortunately, as it turned out her body was quite weak – meaning she simply would not survive in close combat. Luckily a well placed sleep spell could potentially minimise that weakness so it did not become too much of a burden. Zell on the other hand was the complete opposite. With his muscular build he relished in hand to hand combat but was completely hopeless at anything relating to paramagic. Seifer was clearly most adept with fire-type black paramagic. Raijin was a Lightning type and Fujin was wind but since all three of them had taken the exam before P already knew this and as for Squall…

The brunette held the red stone in his palm and combined the energy within the stone itself with the intangible power he didn’t even know existed inside his own soul. He could feel his own aura rising up above him. He didn’t see it as he had done with Seifer and Selphie, rather he could feel the energy spinning − or more accurately − churning around him. It felt like an exhilarating breeze blowing around and circling him and only him. The rush of power was almost overwhelming. He outstretched his empty palm and felt the arc of his refreshing radiation increase exponentially.

To Squall it was a sense of power like none other but from the outside an experienced eye could see the raw energy for exactly what it was – a threat. Squall had accessed the spiritual energy required to unleash paramagic but was failing to focus it. Right now it was like a wildfire threatening to crush literally everything in its path. It was indeed an impressive power but without discipline and control it was completely useless.

“Yeah, Squall! Waytago!” Selphie encouraged the brunette as raw unfocussed paramagic continued to arc around him. Little did she know that even if the arc had discontinued growing in size, simply having it around him could potentially drain the entirety of his spirit.

“Yo!” Zell agreed “look how big that energy is! You’re even better than Seifer!”

No he’s not! P argued inside his head. The Instructor knew what was going on but as for these kids… they were ignorant. This was a clear sign that they were not being taught well by Trepe. No surprises there he thought. She was too young to ever be given an Instructor’s licence. “Everyone step back” he warned.

“Huh, why?” Zell asked and as he did so the aura gathered around Squall instantly swelled, gaining monumental size, strength and speed.

Shit, he’s completely lost control, the damn fool. P looked strait into the brunettes deep blue eyes and tried to gain his attention. “Leonheart!” he snapped “you’re loosing control of that power! Come on!” he exclaimed, his anger rising “pay attention!” This wasn’t working. The Instructor doubted whether Squall could even hear him. “Damn it Leonheart!” Squall’s eyes suddenly snapped to his Instructor and focused. A look of determination locked itself into his features. Maybe there was still a chance to turn this around before it killed the young fool. “You have to control it Leonheart. Don’t let it overwhelm you!” The aura surrounding Squall neither shrunk nor grew but it began to slow and in a word – harden.

The excess spiritual energy began to gather and concentrate at one single location outside of the SeeD candidate’s body. P allowed a smile to show on his face as he felt the atmosphere grow colder by the second. It seemed the Garden Master was quite mistaken. Perhaps this boy wasn’t so useless after all. In fact everyone here seemed to have much more talent than expected. Untapped and untrained it may have been but all the same, the potential was there.

Squall’s aura gathered around its new location like a space rock sling-shooting around and shifting orbit to a different planet. The energy massed and formed a giant ice-ball… no, more like an ice-boulder. The damn thing was huge. It was much bigger than the one P had used against Seifer in their little demonstration and it wasn’t even done yet. It was still growing.

Zell and Selphie could only stand and watch in awe until the magical boulder of ice was complete. When it was done Squall sent it flying toward the rest of the class. It moved slowly at first but soon its velocity built up like a freight train pulling away from its starting point on the way to deliver its goods, traveling solely on the force of its inertia. Soon the boulder was speeding along its way toward its intended target – Seifer’s oversized head.

Instead of shattering on contact like most ice spells would the boulder remained intact. The density of it was so immense that it actually acted more like earth than ice. It was strange. The aftermath of such an attack led to nothing other than total chaos but luckily for him, Squall was far too exhausted to even notice. As soon as the attack hit Squall’s aura began to die down and he dropped to his knees, straining for breath.

P approached him. “Not bad, Leonheart” he commended “It seems you are like me, a highly proficient ice user.” Just as I suspected he added inside his head he and Seifer are complete opposites in every sense of the word, like two different sides of the same coin. The Instructor’s smile faded. “All of you seriously need to practice this some more. It’s lucky this is just training. If it were a real battle, you’d all be dead!” Zell and Selphie both froze stiff at the gravity of the situation – it was not easy being told such news. Squall merely nodded in complete understanding. The Instructor may have been one of the strictest in Garden but Squall was also pretty tough on himself – especially when facing one of his many failures. “On the other hand…” P said, trying to end on a positive note “if you keep at it and perfect those techniques, you could become powerful SeeD and indispensable assets to Garden.” He gave Squall a fresh ice stone and tossed two new magic stones to Selphie. “Keep at it” he told them “Persevere, this time is precious. Use it well. Before you know it the final exam will be upon you and you all need to train as much as possible.” He then left them to it, walking away to observe others in the class.

Zell left soon after to begin fighting with Fujin, swallowing hard as he walked. Needless to say, he was not looking forward to the outcome. With physical hand-to-hand combat he could easily outmatch his training partner – Fujin – but with magic it was a completely different story. For all the strength that Zell had over Fujin, she had just as big an advantage over the brawler in the massive field of paramagic. Now he knew how she must have felt in their previous training session. He sighed out a heavy breath full of air. “Oh well” he thought “Fujin has gotten lucky on me a few times. I can do the same.” Zell confidently punched his fists together, his resolve held tightly in his teeth. I can do this, I still have a chance to beat her in her own field. He chuckled a little at his own pep talk. He was pretty fast after all. There was always the option of evading her spells. Fire and ice were easy to dodge. The others were a little harder but not impossible. “Alright, let’s do this” he muttered to himself as he approached his partner. Fujin eyed him and nodded her head in acknowledgement and to show him she was ready to begin. Zell punched his fists together a couple more times and gestured for Fujin to go first – not the wisest thing to do. Fujin charged her blue aura and let loose her wind-type black paramagic – she had it stocked so hadn’t bothered to use the available magic stones – and as soon as she did, Zell realised his mistake. Wind was similar to earth and both were near impossible to avoid.

The rest of the class was spent training and in the corner, Squall and Selphie were no exception. Their training bout would not be one of deathly importance nor would it be a grand display of fracas expertise, particularly since they were both partially drained from their previous attempts at casting magic. Squall began by creating an ice-rock from the spiritual energy inside the ice-stone. As soon as it was done, he sent it flying toward Selphie who easily dodged it. Squall sent two more ice-balls on their way, one after the other but the brunette girl was able to evade these as well.

Selphie kept her training partner in her sight the entire time as she hastily circled around him to avoid the Blizzard spells that he was hurling at her. As she ran she observed him and tried to determine his magic skill-level. It seemed as though he had little control over his spells and could only use them to make basic ranged attacks. He used them like bullets and could not control where they went. He could only send them in a strait line and couldn’t even curve them to follow an enemy. He also seemed to have very little control over the movement speed of his paramagic. All Selphie had to do was keep moving and keep her distance and he wouldn’t even be able to hit her.

The girl summoned her spiritual power and shot it out toward Squall to establish a spiritual connection with him, the way she would prior to drawing magic from a monster. Once she was connected to his spirit she could see that he had no magic stocked, the same as her. The only thing he had to use against her was the magic stone in his hand. She grinned. This wouldn’t be so hard. He may have had a magical item feeding his attacks but she had two – if only she knew what kind of magic they contained. All she knew for sure was that they held the power of green paramagic. One way to find out.

Selphie reached out to taste the power held within the blue-grey stone in her left palm and noted it was something she had never felt before. She brought out enough of the energy for a single spell and targeted it at Squall, using her connection with him like the lock-on of an air-to-air missile launcher.

The brunette continued circling around her opponent wondering whether her spell had even taken effect. Sure, Green paramagic was normally of the indirect variety but still… perhaps it didn’t work. Suddenly, Squall ceased with his sending Blizzard spells in her direction as if he were an artillery gunner who had run out of ammunition. Has he completely expended the power of his magic stone? Selphie found that hard to believe. It wasn’t like their fight had gone on for an exceptionally long period of time. The Candidate took her chance in this ceasefire and sent another spell at Squall – the same one as before. She tried target him using her connection once more when she suddenly realised that she couldn’t sense his aura at all. What was this? Was this phenomenon the effect of her spell? Perhaps it was a support spell used to help in stealth but she had never heard of such a condition. “What the…?”

Squall tried several more times to form more Blizzard spells before realising it was futile. “What is this? Is it the stone?” The magic stone in question continued to sit in his hand but had ceased glowing and Squall could no longer feel any kind of power resonating from the item. He heard a snickering from behind him. “It looks like you’ve been silenced by her spell.” Squall looked around and saw the Instructor watching him again. “Silence is a status abnormality caused by paramagic as well as some monster’s attacks. While under this condition you won’t be able to do anything whatsoever related to paramagic or Junctions.” Squall opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. His voice had left him. He closed his mouth, confused. He heard the snickering once more. “You also won’t be able to talk or make any sound with your vocal chords. For all intents and purposes you are now mute. Then again, it’s not like it really makes too much of a change for you. You don’t say shit anyway” he laughed “but seriously, that stone you are holding is now useless… unless of course you want to use it to bash someone’s brains out. You can always use it as a crude melee weapon.” P walked away again to observe another student, leaving Squall to look at the stone in his hand. If he didn’t think of something, he’d be in trouble.

He looked from the stone, to Selphie and back to the stone then back to Selphie again. What could he do? If he charged at her she’d just use her other magic stone – whatever it could be. He threw the stone. Suddenly as the item flew toward her Selphie’s eyes were on it rather than Squall. Even if it didn’t hurt her too much it would still serve as a semi-decent distraction. Maybe he could use this to run around and tackle her from her right flank. With his battle-plan set in motion he took off in a sprint.

Selphie saw the stone coming toward her and guessed it must be some kind of trick or trap but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. The stone was even carrying on a perfect path. Selphie tossed her Silence stone aside and outstretched her left hand. The Blizzard stone travelled through the air and landed smugly in her palm. Selphie grinned. This was perfect! Soon after, she felt a sharp pain on her right side that sent her tumbling to the ground.

The first impact of being hit closely followed by the next of hitting the dirt caused her to inhale sharply. As soon as she could move Selphie squirmed about, manipulated her position and managed to kick Squall away from her and then after rolling away from him, leaped backward a few times to create some distance between the two of them. Selphie was an excellent magic user but her physical abilities were lacking – especially in terms of strength and defence. After two more attacks like that she wouldn’t be able to continue. Still, she smiled all the same. All she had to do was keep a distance between them and Squall wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on her. He could do nothing at all. Now it was her turn to go on the offensive. A wide grin crept onto her face. “Squall!” she said.

What? the brunette thought…

−then he saw it…

−two stones…

−one in each hand…

−one blue…

−one red…

−she had his ice Stone!

Damn! Squall screamed inside his head. Selphie’s aura instantly flared and a ball of ice instantly began forming in the air before her. She works fast… I can’t let her hit me with one of those.

The tables had most definitely turned.

Selphie launched the ice-ball at Squall and created another as soon as the first was on its way. She created another and another and soon enough there were ten large balls of ice hurtling toward the unfortunate Candidate like slow, oversized frozen bullets.

Squall instantly turned and ran at a flat-out sprint in a serpentine-like fashion to avoid the ice-balls and had successfully run a full ring around Selphie when he at last realised that there were far too many balls of ice chasing him. When he had been shooting them, Selphie had easily managed to evade them but this was different. Not only could Selphie churn them out faster as if she were an automated construction line but they were also much more difficult to avoid. It was almost as if… Wait a minute. Are these things… are they following me? The boy continued to run and came to a conclusion. Are these things somehow following me? Indeed they were. Squall’s eyes widened as he was stricken by the conclusion that Selphie was at a different level altogether when it came to paramagic. Just how far behind was he?

Squall decided his only choice was to get as far away from Selphie as he could. His only chance to avoid being hit would be to weave in and out between all the other training bouts. Maybe he would be able to shake off all these Blizzard spells. It was his only choice. There was a slight window of hope. All magic had a limited range and would fizzle out when it travelled too far away from the one who cast it.

He ran all over the place in a random pattern fully expecting some near misses as he crossed the path of other student’s spells but received none. Apparently the rest of the class had stopped fighting to watch Squall exchange spells with the new transfer student. What a pity. It’s not much of a show is it? They’re probably all laughing at me like I’m some kind of sideshow freak running from all this flying ice.

As it turned out Squall was only half right. The rest of the class was all watching but they weren’t laughing. They were too busy staring awestruck at the awesome finesse on display. Out of the lot of them, only Seifer and Fujin could use their magic so well.

Selphie continued to fire off shot after shot of her paramagic, all the while smiling with pride the amount of skill she possessed – and to think she wasn’t even a SeeD yet. Just then, she lost mental contact with the red stone in her left hand. She looked down at the stone and her smile faded. “All out, oh well” she said, allowing the stone to drop to the ground. She then turned her attention to the blue stone in her other hand. She connected with it and sensed a familiar energy – Sleep. Her smile returned and she drew in as much of the energy as she could. The Stone began to glow with a blue hue and she felt her own aura pick up as she absorbed the stone’s power into her being. Before long the stone ceased glowing and returned to its dormant state – dull and lifeless. This too dropped to the ground at the girl’s feet.

“Hey, that was amazing, ya know!” Raijin exclaimed. The entire class had been intently watching and studying the fight between Squall and Selphie.

“Yeah” Seifer agreed “Didn’t know they had it in ‘em. Too bad he’s never fought like that against me. If he did our little matches might even be a little interesting.”

“Wow” Zell commented under his breath “was that a compliment, from Seifer? What’s this world coming too?” His comment was met by a smirk from Fujin. Their fight was over. Fujin had been victorious within a couple of minutes. It was a unanimous decision between the both of them.

The Squall/Selphie fight was certainly a most excellent one but now it was over. Selphie had apparently run out of paramagic – since she had stopped casting spells – and the ones she had already cast had all fizzled out like candlelight suffocated in an airtight glass jar. Squall turned to face the class – once again panting for breath, exhausted and completely drained – and took a few steps toward them. He seemed to be completely exhausted. He took several more steps before stopping… and fainting.

The common assumption was that Squall had simply passed out from exhaustion from his fight with Selphie. He had merely pushed himself too far. This was the thought running through everyone’s mind as they gathered around the unconscious boy. “Too bad” Seifer sneered “and he was so close, too. Oh well, I guess Squally was a little too sleepy. Zell must’ve kept him up too late last night!” he added the last part loudly for emphasis and it needn’t be said that he got the reaction he was looking for. Fujin smirked. Raijin guffawed and some of the other students laughed as well. Zell did little more than snarl.

“Enough jokes” Instructor P ordered although even he wore a slight grin. “This is a serious offence. You should love this, Seifer. You finally get make a black mark against his record” he said, nodding his head in Squall’s direction.

“What the hell for?!!” Zell demanded.

“Sleeping during class is against academy regulations” P announced in a matter-of-fact tone.

“But it’s not like that!” Selphie defended “He’s only unconscious because I used a sleep spell on him!”

“Then he should have defended against it better.”

“Against green paramagic… without a status-defence Junction?” the brunette challenged “that’s impossible!”

“Is it…? Perhaps but then again, sleeping during class is a terrible crime, no matter the circumstances. This will go on record and rest assured the Garden Master will be notified. Dismissed” he said before silently and casually strolling out of the Training Centre. One by one, the students all walked out the exit and each went their own way, perhaps to the cafeteria, perhaps to the Dormitory. Soon there were only three people remaining.

“Hey, do you want any help waking him up?” Zell offered the brunette girl. Selphie shook her head.

“No, I’ll be fine. He’ll be awake soon.”

“Alright” Zell replied, leaving the girl to tend with the unconscious Squall. She knelt down on her knees and placed a hand on the unconscious Candidate’s shoulder, gently shaking him awake. When that didn’t work, she tried calling his name. After a couple of minutes of this she sensed the presence of someone standing behind her.

“I said I could handle it, Zell. Don’t worry.

“I’m not Zell” the taunting voice of Seifer replied.

“Oh great.” Selphie had only been at Balamb Garden for a few days and she was already beginning to really hate this guy. She let out a sigh of exasperation. She really didn’t need this right now. It was amazing that Squall had managed to put up with him for so long. “What do you want?” she impatiently asked.

“Hey? What’s with the attitude? We just want to help.

I guess that means those other two are here – Raijin and Fujin.

“You can go now. We’ll take care of him.”

“What do you want with him?”

“Don’t worry” Seifer assured her “I just want to help him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah” Selphie considered this for a moment. “I’m sure you have other things you need to do. Just let me take care of this for you.” Selphie eyed him suspiciously.

“How stupid do you think I am?” she asked.

Damn. Seifer thought. “Why do you care so much about him, anyway? Why can’t you mind your own business?”

“Squall is my friend… I think. I’m not gonna just leave him to someone like you.”

“Friend huh, what’s your real reason? Squall doesn’t have friends. He’s always been alone on purpose.”

“So what, that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna leave.” Seifer laughed at the girl’s determination. “Then let’s see how prepared you really are. Fujin, would you do the honours?”

“Affirmative!” she complied. Selphie swallowed hard. “You… You wanna fight?” Fujin nodded.

“Hah, not so confident now, are you?” Seifer taunted.

“This isn’t even fair. I don’t have any magic!” Seifer picked out a red magic stone from the box labelled ‘fire’ and tossed it to the brunette.

“Happy?” he asked.

“Ecstatic” she replied dryly. Her tone oozed sarcasm Great one Selphie, you didn’t back down but now you have back it up with actions… just great. She drew the magical energy from the stone – which just so happened to be lightning – and tossed the expended item to the floor along with many others. The Instructor had apparently not considered the job of tidying up terribly important. Selphie swallowed once more and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and exhaled all her doubts in one slow audible sigh. When her eyes opened they were completely focused. This was no sparring session. It was real. This was important. There was no room for fear or uncertainty. She made eye contact with Fujin and nodded her head, indicating that she was ready to begin. “Let’s go” she said.

Fujin merely smirked in return and summoned up the basic air-type spell – Aero.

Selphie immediately knew which kind of paramagic her silver-haired opponent had used. Even though wind could not be seen, the change in it could be easily felt as the once-calm atmosphere began to stir and whip the brunette’s skin. There was nothing Selphie could do by way of defence as she was attacked by a miniscule whirlwind spinning around her petite frame. The speed of it was enough to hurt but as an added effect, if any object on the ground were to be picked up – like the many used magic stones littering the ground for example − the mini-cyclone could repeatedly send them slamming into it’s target and if such a thing were to happen, puncture wounds were not just possible but also potentially deadly. If a wind-based attack managed to get beneath the skin while spinning fast enough, all kinds of trouble could be caused.

Selphie raised her arms and crossed them over her face to protect her eyes but in doing so, lost the gift of her sight. The air around her got heavier as though the Aero spell was changing speed or objects were being picked up. The girl peeked out from between the arms that were protecting her face from shrapnel and her emerald eyes widened.

No…

−it was just as she feared.

There were stones circling around her at a pleasant cruising speed.

Selphie’s eyes snapped to Fujin just in time to see her sneering face before the intangible prison winded her. The stones spinning around her were the only visible indication and where they had once been slowly rotating they were now spinning around her at impossible speeds. It was like standing in the middle of a blender as small chunks of fruit and other solids whizzed passed and around her. The Aero spell was actually spinning fast enough as to create a vacuum and Selphie could only flinch as she saw the accelerated orbit of the magic stones zooming in closer to her.

Every muscle in the girl’s body tensed and she hid her head behind the only shield she had.

Time dragged on as seconds passed like minutes in the dark void of Selphie’s tightly closed eyelids. She knew nothing of what was happening. She could hear naught but the whipping of wind against her ears and see even less. The wind seemed to tauntingly dance around her skin until…

The girl gasped as she suffered terrible friction burns along both of her arms. The oppressive wind then continued its unrelenting assault on the rest of her body, even ripping her uniform.

Selphie desperately tried to regain her breath but it was impossible. She was surrounded by air on all sides but alas she could not inhale a single gasp. It was just like the old proverb ‘water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.’ The difference here of course being that one could survive a lot longer without water as their cells gradually dehydrated but to go without oxygen for even a few minutes was exceedingly dangerous. Soon enough she would go down and eventually, that’s precisely what happened. As the seconds dragged on and on she could feel her awareness leaving her. Fujin must have noticed it too because the Aero spell died down, its purpose complete.

Selphie allowed herself to fall. She landed hard on her back – no energy – just… struggling… to breath. Darkness had completely blinded her and her ears were deafened by a loud buzz. The next thing she felt was intense pain from a sudden impact as a foot landed heavily on her abdomen. The pain was too much for her. She had already been finding it more than difficult to breathe. She had thought of herself as a skilled paramagic user – especially for her age – but in this fight she didn’t even get a chance to defend her self, let alone fight back and now she could do nothing but lie back as she – voluntarily or not – slipped out of consciousness entirely.

After a brief silence passed, Seifer celebrated his victory by doing no less than throwing back his head in cruel mocking laughter. He stood with his foot still applying pressure to the unconscious girl’s body as though standing on the corpse of a vanquished foe. “Well, that was easy” he said “It seems Leonheart picks friends as weak as he is. I guess the lion cub is afraid of being challenged for leadership of his pride. Oh well, go ahead and wake up the sleeping prince” he ordered. Immediately, Raijin nodded and half walked, half jogged over to where the unresponsive boy lay and picked him up by the collar. He held him up in the air for a minute and looked at his sleeping tranquil face before throwing him hard to the ground at Seifer’s feet.

The blond removed his foot from Selphie’s frame and turned his attention to the other brunette at his feet. The impact of hitting the floor was enough to cancel the effects of the Sleep spell he was under. Squall awoke feeling a little groggy as the magic’s effect slowly loosened on him. He looked up and was met by Seifer’s superior gaze. “Morning Leonheart” he said. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Squall narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to ask what the blond was talking about but no sound came out… then he remembered.

It looks like you’ve been silenced by her spell.

“Don’t you remember that giant boulder you made out of ice?” Seifer asked. Squall thought back to when he first tried to use that ice stone. He had put all the contained energy into one single attack. He hadn’t planned to do it that way. It just happened. He couldn’t control it. He didn’t even know where the boulder had wound up. “Do you remember what you did with that boulder?” Squall tried to think back but couldn’t remember. “Let me give you a clue. You casually tossed it in the direction of the class – an incredibly stupid thing to do at the best of times but more importantly – you hit someone. Do you have any idea of whom it was that you happened to hit with that giant fucking boulder?” Squall shook his head. Seifer glowered at him. “It was me.” The four of them said nothing. “What, no apology? Seifer asked. Squall’s eyes widened. This was not good. Whatever happened would not be good in any way. Squall was not ready for any kind of fight right now. First of all, he was still exhausted from his fight – or perhaps flight would have been a better word – against Selphie. Then there was the fact that he had no weapon and finally, even though there were plenty of magic stones around he was still under the effect of Silence so he could not use them. Seifer wasted no time in kicking Squall in the head while he was down and sending him backward in the direction of his large Acauldian friend. “Raijin, I think you should teach this lion cub the proper respect for the Disciplinary committee.”

The large Acauldian pulled Squall to his feet with a single hand although the brunette was still so weary that he almost collapsed again. Since he was still under silence, he merely stood still − albeit a little wobbly, looked Raijin strait in the eye and gave him a look that said such things as “go ahead” or “lets just get this over with.” Truthfully Squall just wanted to go to sleep. The two Candidates stared each other down but it was not the most epic of staring contests since Raijin was only doing as he was told and Squall being entirely drained couldn’t be bothered with even giving the slightest of glares. Their contest was soon put to an end by way of a punch to the face.

Squall allowed the force of the point-blank attack to send him falling backward. When he had landed he rolled onto his stomach and slowly forced himself to get back up. As tired as he was he couldn’t just roll over and let Seifer do whatever the hell he wanted. If the Blond got his way then things would only get harder.

A savage punch to the gut caused Squall to double over in pain but he soon straitened up again after getting hit with an uppercut to his jaw. He lunged forward to fight back but his tired attacks were far too sloppy and weak. They were easily blocked and his face pummelled by a right hook, then a left, then a right. Another left hook sent his entire body swinging out from the force of the blow.

Raijin put his fists together to create one massive blunt weapon which he raised above his head. He took a step closer to the brunette who still happened to be recovering from the last combo. The Acauldian glanced at Seifer to catch an approving nod before bringing his sledgehammer hands down hard on the crown of Squall’s head.

Squall went down. He landed on his knees and dropped down on all fours. Before he had the opportunity to get up Raijin raised his fists above his head once more and brought them down sharply onto Squall’s back.

The brunette’s knees gave out and he collapsed into a feeble heap on the ground. Raijin looked at Seifer who only grinned from enjoyment. “Good” he encouraged his friend and subordinate. “I’ll take it from here.”

The blond walked toward Squall while Raijin traded places with him, standing beside Fujin. Seifer bent his right leg back and allowed gravity to do the rest for him, adding enough power to inflict pain as his kick landed in the side of Squall’s chest. The brunette lifted his head and saw Selphie’s unconscious body just before feeling his own useless frame being flipped over onto its back. Lying back, Squall looked strait up into Seifer’s malicious jade eyes and his sneering scornful smirk. The blond leaned down and picked up his rival by his collar, lifting him off the ground into the air. “Pathetic” he commented before tossing him to the side. “Now, how can I have more fun? Maybe I should have gone first after all. It’s not even amusing when he doesn’t try to fight back.

“Yo, what the fuck?!!” Seifer turned around to see two people enter the Training Centre – Zell and Xu. He could only laugh. “Impeccable timing you chicken! You managed to arrive just when the danger was over.”

“Really, that’s too bad” Zell replied. “I hope you’ll excuse my lateness but I’m here now and that’s what counts, right?” he asked before charging strait at the arrogant blond. He managed to get half way there before Raijin intercepted him. The muscular dark skinned boy popped him into the air with an uppercut. He caught the blond by the leg and began spinning him, getting faster and faster with each passing revolution. “Ahh” Zell managed to say “shit!” After the sixth spin, Raijin let him go. The velocity from the spin sent Zell flying right at Seifer and causing him to land painfully against the arrogant bastard’s outstretched foot.

Having seen the whole thing Xu let out a sigh and took off in a sprint toward the impending battle. Her lean legs carried her closer and closer toward the first obstacle – Raijin. Rather than try to get past him, Xu kicked off hard against the ground and leapt high into the air. Her jump carried her up and over Raijin and as soon as she was, her aura flared for the briefest of moments and with the simple gesture of putting her arms out in front of her, a large orb matching her aura shot forward.

The orb flew right past Seifer and hit Squall, bathing him in a light that was instantly absorbed into his body, rejuvenating him. While he stood to his feet, Xu positioned her body to perform a full front flip in the air and land on her feet. The others just stared at her, awestruck. Before any of them had a chance to react the girl stuck her leg out behind her, catching Raijin in the abdomen and sending him back. Her aura flared for one more instant as she summoned more of her paramagic. She formed it into a fireball in her left palm. Immediately after, she summoned up another fire spell, also forming it into a ball, this one in her right hand. She tossed the first at Raijin, allowing it to burn into him.

The girl turned around and threw the second at Fujin and immediately ran after it, summoning a third fireball as she ran. She hurled it in Seifer’s direction, continuing to sprint toward Fujin. Upon reaching her Xu jumped and pivoted in the air. Her left leg passed over her target’s head, further increasing her momentum. Her right leg came around fast, kicking her hard in the side of the head and causing the one eyed girl to loose balance. Once Xu had landed she sent her right leg strait upward, kicking Fujin under the jaw and while she was airborne, summoned her paramagic once more. This time she used a lot more of the spiritual energy, creating a level-one Fira spell. She didn’t focus it into any complicated shape or form, instead simply allowing it to burn in a one metre radius around her.

Once the fire had burned itself out Fujin dropped to her knees and fell flat on the ground. Xu turned to face Seifer. “You and your friends must be tired after a training session with Instructor P. I strongly advise you to leave and get some rest.” Seifer merely laughed.

“What are you talking about?” he asked “It’s three on three, finally a fair fight.”

“Not really” Xu replied “I have real combat experience, much more that all of you. I could take you all on by myself if I wanted.

“You’re pretty cocky.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Pfft, I’ll show you to underestimate the Disciplinary Committee!”

“Can you guys take the lackey’s on your own?” the girl asked, talking to Squall and Zell. The latter punched his fists together confidently.

“You mean two on two? I like these odds” he declared. Even if they lost, getting beaten by a fully fledged member of SeeD would surely put Seifer in his place. “Squall, are you okay with working with me?” The brunette shrugged. SeeD were required to be able to cooperate in small teams anyway.

It’s not like I have a choice he thought. Being unable to talk, he merely nodded his head. Zell took his answer as an affirmative.

“Then lets do it!” he bellowed, charging strait into Raijin. Squall took one last look at Xu before he launched into his own fight. Xu’s aura flared up one more time before dying down again. Squall wondered if she had used Silence like Selphie had. Next, Seifer’s aura flared as well except… this was different. This aura was black and when it died down, the blond was nowhere to be seen. The brunette narrowed his eyes. Did he use some kind of paramagic to escape? He glanced at Xu who wore a knowing smirk and before he could even blink she faded into nonexistence right before his eyes – just like a ghost. What the…?

He had no time to think about it since Fujin now stood before him, ready to fight. Neither had a weapon and he figured he was at least a little better than her at hand-to-hand so he had an advantage there but then again Fujin could use her paramagic to manipulate the air current. She was not the kind of opponent one could simply ease up on. If she wanted to she could probably strip him of not only his clothing but also his skin. Wind was a difficult element to master but it was also very lethal. Squall got the feeling that the girl before him could kill at any time if she felt like it. Fortunately this was just the equivalent of a training fight and needn’t be taken seriously to warrant death. Killing a training partner was against regulations. There was no way a member of the disciplinary committee would do something so extreme just to win a fight like this.

Squall stood in a battle-ready stance and took a deep breath. He would have to strike first. If he kept attacking she wouldn’t be able to gather her paramagic. He would just have to knock her unconscious as soon as possible.

Zell delivered blow after blow after blow to Raijin’s muscular frame and the Acauldian just seemed to take it as though he could barely feel anything. Damnit – the blond thought – I need to hit him a lot harder than that.

Before the Acauldian had a chance to retaliate Zell grabbed him by the shoulders and jumped, pushing against Raijin to gain extra lift. Once he was in the air the blond savagely swung his leg inward, hitting Raijin square in the face with his knee. Without wasting any time Zell made his next move by pushing up against his larger opponent once more and swinging his left leg over the boy’s frame, kicking through the left side of his head. He then reverse kicked back the way his leg had come, this time hitting Raijin’s head on the right side and while still in the air he turned, positioned both legs before his opponent’s face and double kicked as hard as he could with the soles of both feet. Raijin fell backward and Zell landed in a forward roll before springing to his feet and turning to face Raijin once more.

The Acauldian rose to his feet and walked toward Zell, a big vacant-looking smile on his face. “Hey, that kinda hurt ya know!” he exclaimed as though this were all in good fun.

“Shit!” Zell exclaimed. He ran once more at his opponent – blocking several hard attacks as he did so – and grabbed the back of Raijin’s short black haired head with his left hand, pulling it down as his right fist smashed forward into his face. Zell’s knee dug into Raijin’s chest and as he allowed his foot to rest on the ground his right arm swung back and violently thrust forward to allow his fist to smash into the Acauldian’s dark-skinned face once more. “How about that?” the blond demanded “Do ya like that, Huh?!!” He brought his fist back again and what followed was a barrage of rigid punches to Raijin’s face.

While the spiky haired boy continued to pummel the Acauldian’s face into a mashed pulp-like substance, Squall launched into his fourth attack on Seifer’s other subordinate. Fujin had an enormous advantage in terms of agility and reflexes. Even so, Squall’s physical attacks were a lot stronger but the silver haired girl had powerful wind magic. She was built as the perfect ranged soldier whereas Squall – like Seifer – was more akin to a knight. While neither was the perfect hand-to-hand combatant, if the two were joined as a single entity, the merged warrior would likely have enough broad skill to successfully fight Zell or Raijin.

Fujin dodged the brunette’s fifth punch with ease and delivered one of her own, landing it in Squall’s shoulder, causing it to turn numb. The brunette grimaced and swung his arm out in turn, jabbing Fujin roughly in the side of the neck. The girl may not have been the greatest close combat competitor but it took more than that to knock her down. She quickly shook it off and launched another attack of her own.



“What the hell?” Seifer demanded immediately after taking in his surroundings – or lack of them “where the fuck are we?!!” he asked. Both he and Xu seemed to be standing literally in the middle of nowhere. Around the two of them a black void of nothingness seemed to spread out for eternity. To get lost in a place like this would be a death sentence. The only reason they could see at all was because there were tinges of grey and purple. If one concentrated they could almost make out the ground and the monotonous horizon – if it could be called that. Once having blinked, one would loose sight of everything as it all became a blur of shadow. Seifer gave a growl of impatience while Xu merely smirked.

“This is a realm of darkness.”

“Say what?”

“Can’t you feel our surroundings pulling at your soul? We are being continuously drained of our spirit energy. If I were to leave you here you would not be able to live very long… or rather you would live but you wouldn’t survive.”

“If you don’t start making sense…” Seifer threatened. Xu merely laughed at the blond’s impatience. He was so predictable.

“The longer you stay here, the more the very environment of this evil realm will drain you. The atmosphere itself is filled with a venomous toxin and there is no water or food supply to speak of. To be left alone here would be a fate worse than death for your very soul would corrode and even if you could adapt to this venomous plain… you would be condemned to wander alone and lost. Your eyes would go blind from the darkness and your mind would loose all sense of self and sanity. Therefore one can not survive very long in such a vile place as this. Fortunately for us this fight will not last very long.” She gave another arrogant smirk and cracked her knuckles. Seifer joined her in her display of arrogance and strength.

“So that’s why you brought us here?”

“Naturally, I thought this place fitting since there is a vast surplus of room for us to move about. Just try not to get lost. If you do, there’s no going back” the dark haired girl added seriously.

“Yeah yeah” Seifer said, utterly missing the heaviness of her tone. “So now I know the what, how about the how?”

“I transported us here using Arcane-type purple paramagic known as Dark.”

“An apt title” Seifer joked “I get the feeling that faggot lion cub would fit right in here… Alright” he said in all seriousness. “Let’s get on with it!” without further ado Seifer lunged at Xu with what should have been a powerful jab – had it actually hit its target. Just as Seifer’s fist was coming in contact with the girl’s face her entire body dematerialised. It completely faded into the darkness. Seifer ran forward, squinting in the darkness to find his target. It was futile. He suddenly stopped dead as cocky laughter rung in his ears. He frantically searched left and right. “What the Fuck?!!” he demanded.

“While fire may be my speciality, I was trained personally by Instructor P and I have developed a natural ability for the white, green and purple groups of paramagic.”

“Where the fuck are you?!!” the infuriated blonde asked with anger seething in each syllable. Suddenly, Xu rematerialized directly behind him.

“Boo!” she barked, delivering a powerful right jab to the middle of Seifer’s upper back, sending him flying though the darkness. “This place is a separate world altogether” she explained “existing outside of our own. It is a pocket dimension in which time passes slowly, much slower than in our world anyway. One could even suggest that it does not pass at all, that time simply ceases to exist. Even the laws of physics can be bent in here. This is where I spent much of my free time training with the Instructor.” She paused as though reminiscing. “Let me show you what I learned!” she roared in a voice of confidence, flying toward Seifer at impossible speeds.

The blond was ready for her this time – or so he thought. Just as he was ready to block her impending attack she faded out of existence once more, phasing behind him and delivering a powerful kick that popped him up into what he assumed to be the sky – this abstract dimension was just too much to take in.

Xu phased in before him once more and caught the blond by his throat. She gazed into Seifer’s emeralds with a look of superiority and slapped him hard on the face. She drew back her hand and back hand slapped him. She repeated the motion several more times, each slap harder than the last. Overall she had slapped the blond’s cheeks – now turning red from the harsh contact – no less than six times before sending him flying away yet another crushing jab.



Zell kicked right into another punch rush combo and kneed Raijin in the face once more. The Acauldian countered by slamming his right fist into Zell’s chest. The spiky-haired brawler cried out from the impact before striking back with one more kick to the head, following that with a flurry of high speed jabs. Three left hooks connected with the side of Raijin’s head before a roundhouse kick sent him to the ground. Zell then proceeded to dive over the Acauldian’s body, sharply landing on him with a well-placed elbow but even that was not quite enough to stop the juggernaut formally known as Raijin. The invincible buffalo just got up again, eager for more punishment.

Squall did not fear quite so well as Zell. He and Fujin were more evenly matched than he had at first thought. His only hope was to shoot for an early knock out but that plan had gone down the drain once he discovered just how difficult it was to land a successful blow on the girl. She was able to evade him quite easily and even the attacks that could not be avoided were simply blocked with an arm or a knee. Squall was about to strike her head as hard as he could with his open fist when she said something that caught him off guard. “Seifer!” she cried in a hoarse voice. Squall’s hand stopped mere millimetres from her face as his head turned around to search for his self-imposed blond rival.

Xu stood behind him, a smug look on her face and draped over her shoulder like an old curtain ready to be thrown out – Seifer. He had clearly been knocked unconscious in their fight and that wasn’t all. Xu didn’t look tired or worn out in the least. Even if she was a SeeD Squall didn’t think it was possible for anyone to defeat Seifer so easily. As much as he hated the arrogant blond’s guts, he had to admit that he’d grown to look up to him – as a rival, at least. It wasn’t something as cheesy as ‘brotherly love,’ more like a respect for his fighting power. Seifer could never be considered a friend. The only label he could be given was ‘obstacle.’ Seifer was a tree stump in Squall’s path but once he finally defeated him, he’d be powerful, oh yes. After beating Seifer Squall would be able to take on the whole world.

“Hey, it’s Seifer, ya know!” Raijin commented “What’s wrong with him?” Xu carelessly tossed the unconscious blond to the ground.

“He’s just unconscious. I had to show him what it is to fight against a true SeeD. He may be a promising candidate but until he passes the SeeD exam he’ll be nothing but a failure in my eyes.”

Squall took in what she said. If Seifer’s a failure then what does that make me? he wondered. Xu walked over to Selphie and pulled out a small plastic vial containing a clear liquid from within her SeeD uniform. She unscrewed the top to reveal an eye-dropper.

“What’s that?” Zell asked – a prudent question since even Squall was interested although he’d never vent his curiosity even if it were possible.

“Have you ever heard of the ancient practice of using phoenix feathers to revive someone who has been knocked unconscious?”

“Yeah” Zell replied.

“Well this is Phoenix Down – a concentrated potion containing among other things a fibre extracted from the phoenix feather. It’s more or less a potion concocted from the essence of the feathers. The phoenix is a wonderful creature. Even its blood and tears were once used in healing potions. Of course now we have been able to produce a synthetic substitute.” The girl leaned down over Selphie and placed the vial down on the ground. She placed her free hand behind the unconscious girl’s back, lifting her into a tilted not-quite-sitting-up position, allowing her head to roll backward and her jaw to hang limply open. Xu hovered the dropper over the girl’s waiting mouth and squeezed in a single drop of the clear liquid, waiting for the single dose of Phoenix Down to slide down the back of Selphie’s throat before laying her back down to rest and moving on to Seifer. “It’s such a shame” she commented “Seifer is almost tolerable when he’s quiet like this. An unconscious Seifer is kinda like a dumb Squall” she added.

Xu returned the dropper to the vial and returned it safely to her right breast inside pocket. Within two minutes the potion had done its job and both casualties were awake. “You should be fine” Xu informed them “but just to be safe I’d go and get checked at the Infirmary. You all need to stay in top physical condition until after the Exam. Especially you three” she said, looking Squall directly in the eyes. “You haven’t taken the exam before so be careful. Not many people pass on their first try.” What she said was definitely the sugar-coated version. No one passed on their first try. Quistis Trepe was the one and only exception.

She turned her back on the sextet and swiftly left. Seifer eyed down Squall and the other two for a long while then his lip turned upward in a brief smile. “You’d better keep improving” he told them “Next time I want a real fight.”

“The hell?” was all Zell said “you just got your ass kicked!”

“Yeah, well this time doesn’t count. I wouldn’t even call it a draw, next time I want a fair fight, us three against you three and no Instructors or SeeD or anything else coming in to interrupt the fight, got it?” Squall nodded. Seifer did the same before leaving. Raijin and Fujin followed him out.

“Well” Zell said, interrupting the moment of silence “I have to get started on that assignment.” Squall nodded. “What?” the blonde joked “You not talkin’ ta me now? Well… see ya!” he then turned and quickly made his exit. Squall turned from the leaving boy and shifted his gaze to Selphie whose eyes were wide as though a realisation had just struck her like a mace in the face.

What? Squall asked inside his head.

“Are you… still under that spell I used?” Squall nodded. “I thought so. C’mon, we should go to the Infirmary to get that status removed.” She then led him out of the Training Centre, around the central elevator shaft and toward the Infirmary.

When they arrived there they found a disgruntled Doctor Kadawaki staring at them. She gave an exasperated sigh. “Have you been fighting again?” she accused. Squall just nodded in his response. “Then just wait here. You are not the first one that I must treat.” With that she withdrew into on of the cubicles.

What followed was a long silence disturbed by a loud crack accompanied by an audible “Ow!” and then silence again. Soon Raijin walked out from the cubicle and walked past the two new entrants as he silently left. Soon Doctor Kadawaki appeared once more.

“Broken nose” she sighed before turning to look at Squall. “Nothing seems to be wrong with you. What is it?” she asked. When he said nothing she continued to prod him with questions. “What is it, are you too embarrassed, what, why can’t you tell me?” Still nothing. She turned to Selphie and noted the many scratches and cuts lining her arms as well as the tears in her uniform. Then is he here for her? That would explain the awkwardness but it’s not like him… “What is it, is it you? Those cuts look rather bad.”

“What?” Selphie asked confused. Then she looked down and remembered her fight with Fujin. She had completely forgotten about the state of her arms. “Oh no, don’t worry about me. It doesn’t even hurt. We’re here for Squall.” Kadawaki eyed her suspiciously.

“Nothing seems to be wrong with him.”

“Na-uh, He’s under Silence.” Kadawaki’s eyes widened and then she smirked. “Oh” she said “I see.” She retreated into her office and returned momentarily with a potion in each hand. One was a familiarly foul red liquid which the Doctor handed to Selphie. “Drink this Elixir and all your injuries will be healed by the time you wake up tomorrow morning.” She turned to Squall “and as for you…” she handed him the other potion – this one a light aqua blue colour. “This is a multipurpose potion known simply as ‘Remedy.’ It will instantly cure most afflictions.”

Both brunettes quickly downed their respective potions and headed back to the Dormitory.

When they got there Squall would have given anything to just lock himself in his room and fall into a deep sleep. This SeeD training seemed to get more and more exhausting with each passing day. If the brunette were not so responsible then that’s probably what he would have done but he remembered that Quistis had set them an assignment. Squall had no idea what could have possessed her to give them an essay to write about Esthar at a time like this. Her job was to assist them with revision and ensure that they knew all they would need in order to pass the final theory test so why then was she setting assignments? It didn’t make sense.

“Ding”

Squall and Selphie stepped out of the Dormitory Elevator and into the space that they shared. It was set out like the way roommates would share a flat or apartment. There was an area for them both to share as well as a bathroom and of course they each had their own room to sleep in.

Squall walked over to the computer terminal they shared and turned it on. “Hey” Selphie said rather loudly in an attempt to get his attention “we just finished a theory class, a tiring training session and a fight with that corrupt clown Seifer. You’re gonna start studying now?!!” Squall thought it best to simply ignore the petite girl’s childish complaints.

Just then the Elevator made it’s “ding” again. The door opened and Zell stepped into the room. “Sup?” he simply greeted. Squall let an impatient sigh slip past his lips.

Honestly, you fall asleep on a couch with these two and all of a sudden they think their bound to you for life.

“Hi Zell!” Selphie replied a little too energetically for Squall’s liking. The brunette sitting at the terminal simply stared at the blond as if waiting for some kind of explanation. When none came he was forced to ask.

“Zell, is there any particular reason why you’re here?”

“Oh… right” Zell began but was unable to finish.

“Squall?!!” Selphie scolded “don’t be so rude! He just got here, don’t shoe him away.”

“Nah, it’s alright, really” Zell said in his own defence. “Actually, I got a reason ta be here.” Squall looked at him, still waiting for some kind of explanation. Zell blinked.

“Well?” Squall asked expectantly.

“What?” Zell asked him confused. Squall rolled his eyes in frustration.

“Well… I dunno about you guys but I’m beat. I’m just gonna go get some sleep” Selphie informed them, making her way toward her room.

Who’s being impolite now? Squall thought. A tiny smile crossed his lips but it soon faded as the blond in the doorway made no intention of moving.

“What, already?” Zell asked her “It’s only eighteen hundred.”

“Yeah but I’m tired.”

“Zell” Squall said, trying to keep the impatience seething his voice from dripping out. “Why are you here?”

“Huh? Oh, right” the blond answered with a stupid smile. “I’m here coz my partner for the assignment just dropped out. Instructor Trepe just told me to join your group so… yeah, I just came to tell you that.” Squall nodded to show that he understood. “So when do ya wanna start?”

“Don’t worry about it” Squall replied.

“What do you mean ‘don’t worry about it?’” Selphie – who had not quite made it to the door – asked in a voice that was loud with disbelief.

“I mean I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. I’ll get it all done.”

“Oh, is that what you’re doing?” she asked the brunette sitting at the terminal. He nodded his head in response.

“Wow, you starting already?” Zell asked him.

“Yeah, I want to get it done as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, but we still got some time right? I mean we don’t have to get it done tonight, do we?”

“Like I said, I want to get it out of the way.”

“So what are we writing about then?”

“I told you not to worry about it.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Selphie asked.

“I’ll do the project. Just leave it to me.”

“No” the girl replied.

“I can do it” Squall insisted “I’ll have it done by tomorrow. Trust me, I can do it.”

“That’s not what I mean. You’re not doing the whole thing on your own.” Squall looked up at her. “This is a team effort. We should all take part.”

“It’s alright, really” Squall convinced them “When I was Seifer’s partner I used to do the whole thing on my own.”

“Yo!” Zell said, almost running across the room to get his face right up against Squall’s to emphasise his point. “Do I look like Seifer to you?!!” Squall shook his head. “Good. I’m Zell, That’s Selphie, You’re Squall and we’re all doing our own part. We’re not Seifer or the Disciplinary Committee.”

“…Fine” Squall finally agreed.

“What are we writing about anyway?” Selphie asked him. “Do we even have a topic yet?” Squall shook his head slowly.

“Not yet” he replied seriously.

“Any ideas?” she asked.

“I was considering doing something near the end of the war, in the climax.” All three of them remained silent... then Selphie gasped.

“I know!” she said suddenly. She then hurried into her room, leaving the other two to uncomfortably wait on her return.

Squall had no idea what Selphie was doing but he could hear her rummaging around as though looking for something that had been long since lost. What could she be looking for? Squall wondered. “Is it really going to help?” With Her out of the room she left Squall alone with Zell. His eyes locked on to Zell’s. The blonde gave a short smile before Squall could look away. Why do I have to be with him? I guess he’s saying the same about me. Still, I suppose it could be worse. At least he’s not Seifer.

Selphie came bounding back into the room. “Hey, I found it!” she said. She was holding an old, worn magazine.

What is it?

“Yo, what’s that?” Zell asked her.

“Just wait a minute” Selphie said, flicking through the pages to find the one she wanted. After a minute of turning pages the sound ceased. “Here it is” she told the other two. “If we’re gonna write an essay we’ll need facts, right? I knew I still had it. This is an article about the ‘great city of Esthar.” She gave the magazine to Squall to read.

The brunette skimmed through the information on the double page before handing it over to Zell. The Article was nothing special and offered no information that Squall didn’t already know. It more-or-less simply described the state of the city near the end of the Sorceress war just before the mysterious ceasefire. It was nothing special although it may have come in handy when they first learned about it. It probably had done for Selphie back in Trabia. For this assignment though, Squall couldn’t help but think the article would be of little use to them. “…Yeah” Zell said after finishing with the tourism magazine’s content “We’ve already covered all this in class.” That confirmed it.

“Yeah, so did I but I thought it might help with checking dates but we don’t have to use it… “Selphie said, defending the magazine “What are we writing about, anyway?”

“Search me” Zell replied. “Squall?” he asked “you got any ideas?” The Candidate in question simply shrugged his shoulders.

“I dunno” he quietly admitted. “I’d probably do it on… I don’t know.”

“What if we all do one mini-essay each?” Selphie suggested. Squall had to admit it wasn’t too bad an idea. “We each do one paragraph tonight on our own topic. Make it at least a hundred words and give it proper structure and everything. You know? A start, middle and end. Should be easy enough right?” Squall nodded.

“Yeah, we c’n do that!” Zell said, practically roaring with confidence. Squall couldn’t help but think that Zell would make a good cheerleader.

“Okay. Then, when we’re done one of us can do an introduction, add a conclusion and we’re all done.” They all agreed.

“I’ll do that” Squall offered.

“You sure?” Zell asked. Squall nodded his head.

“I was going to do the whole thing on my own anyway.”

“Okay, if you’re sure” Zell replied. Squall nodded again.

“We should all decide what to write about now so we don’t accidently all do the same thing” Selphie advised them.

“Oh yeah, otherwise we might have the same paragraph three times and I don’t think we’d get a very good grade for that” Zell added.

Obviously Squall thought inside his head.

Squall may have been a little concerned about the prospect of writing a joint essay with those two but it wasn’t really so bad. With them each doing their own part it was just like working on their own but with the workload cut down to a third. Once they were done Squall would read over the other two segments and edit them all together, then add an introduction and conclusion. When he thought about it, it really was just like working alone. It would just be easier on him. That was the only difference.

Perhaps the cerulean-eyed brunette was worried for no reason. The next half hour went by in silence save for the scratching of pen on paper. Once they were finished Zell and Selphie gave their drafts to Squall to read over and work into a full essay in his own time.

As Squall finished his part of the assignment, Zell and Selphie sat back and talked quietly, just creating enough noise to stave off boredom but not so much as to disturb and interrupt Squall.

After about another hour or so Squall was done, he looked up from his work and sat back in his chair. The other two noticed this. “So, all done?” Selphie asked him.

“Yeah, it’s all finished. I’ll hand it in tomorrow.” Both sets of eyes trained on the brunette instantly widened.

“Wait, you mean you’ve finished the whole thing?” Zell asked in amazement. “You do know it’s not due in yet right? Don’t we have a month or something?”

“I like to get things like this done as soon as I can” Squall replied matter-of-factly. Even when I was partnered with Seifer I used to try and get it all done on the first night.”

As a whole, Squall’s opinion of the essay was among the highest he could give for his own work. It was nothing special but he thought it would be good enough to pass. Squall had done the first paragraph about the fall of Adel whereas the third – written by Selphie – had been about the nation’s sudden plunge into exile. Since Zell’s grandfather had actually been one of the fighting men who actually took part in the war, the blond brawler had been more than happy to do the middle chunk of the essay on the war itself – from Balamb’s point of view, of course.



When Squall awoke the next day and departed from his room he found the larger apartment-like Dorm room empty. “Selphie must have gone already” he thought. He picked up the essay they had all written the evening before and took the Dorm room elevator, exiting the Dormitory.

With the Junior Classmen and slightly-older students and Cadets out on their summer break The Garden was half empty and a lot more peaceful. Only SeeD and SeeD Candidate remained behind and since many – if not most – SeeD were out having been distributed around the world for various missions, it was even more empty and tranquil. It was not uncommon for Squall to find himself wandering alone without a single soul entering his line of sight. Even so, nothing else had changed. Garden life was still run to a strict routine and every day students were required to report to their theory class and in the evening – their practical or physical.

Squall walked to Balamb Garden’s central Elevator shaft without distraction to burden him and rode the vertically-moving car up to the second floor on his way to Quists’ classroom.

As he approached the hallway leading to his destination the brunette noticed people waiting outside. Some things haven’t changed at all he thought to himself. The Disciplinary Committee never split up, Zell is still annoying, Seifer’s still a prick and Instructor Trepe is still running late. With a sigh he leaned against the wall with the young Instructor’s other students, albeit leaving a significant gap between him and they. He clutched the Essay in his right hand as he waited for Quistis to show up and unlock the door.

The brunette didn’t have to wait long for his Instructor to arrive – at least not as long as he had expected to. The sleep-deprived blonde came walking down the hall in her SeeD uniform, walking right past her class without uttering a single word on her way to the door of her classroom. She unlocked the automated sliding door with her cardkey and let her class in.

Squall brought up the rear of the class. He handed her the essay without a word as he slipped past her. The Instructor had been expecting Squall to be the first to hand in his assignment. He always had. Quistis didn’t know why but she assumed it was just the boy’s way of wanting things like this to be out of the way as soon as possible. She accepted the brunette’s assignment with a grin, matching his silence. She followed him into the classroom and the door automatically closed behind her.

Squall walked to the back of the class and sat in his usual seat. He had always sat here and the fact that Selphie happened to be in the seat next to it had no bearing on his decision to sit there one way or the other. “Hey Squall” he said just loud enough so that only he would hear. He turned to face her to let her know he was listening without having to actually say anything. “Did you hand the assignment in?” Squall nodded and turned his attention back to the Instructor.

“I believe that you have begun Paramagic in your afternoon lessons” Quistis addressed her class. Am I correct?” A lacklustre murmuring from the class answered her in the affirmative. “Very well then, we will begin the theory content. Some of you will know this but a few others will not. Can anyone tell me exactly what the power we call ‘magic’ is?” Selphie raised her hand. “Yes?”

“It’s like an energy force that we can draw out from items, monsters and even from the planet itself.” The brunette sitting next to Squall paused to recall information she had previously stored in her mind like an old filing cabinet. “Before we can use it we must first draw it and store it inside us but there is a limit of how many spells we can keep inside us. I don’t know what that limit is but I also heard that you can only draw up to one hundred of each spell.” Quistis smiled at the brunette’s answer.

“That’s quite a common misconception” she replied. Selphie’s face contorted. “You see, there is no limit to how many spells we can store, only how much of the spiritual energy our minds can hold on to. Also, this limit is not a set number. It will be different for everyone.” Selphie nodded in understanding. “Some people believe that drawing magic is like drawing money from the bank but these people are mistaken and ignorant. Spells should be thought of like a mystical force, not like physical objects. Monsters have a very high amount of this energy and regenerate it at an incredible rate. This is why powerful monsters can be bred for magic drawing purposes. Now, does anyone know the different classes of magic, Seifer, do you know?”

“Black – elemental-type” the blond began “White – restorative and support-type, Green – status-afflicting and indirect-type, Red – forbidden type…” he paused before naming the last one “Also, purple – arcane type.”

“Very good Seifer, very few people know of the mysterious purple arcane paramagic. Do you know what it does?”

“It’s pretty strange and broad, kind of vague really. Some spells affect space and time, speeding or slowing time on the target or even transporting them to another dimension.” Quistis nodded.

“Like Dark and X-zone. Magic is popular among SeeD and also the military because although it can be avoided, if it hits then it is almost impossible to defend against without some kind of magic barrier.”

“Oh, like Squall did yesterday” Zell piped up.

“What?” the Instructor asked him, amazed.

“Yesterday when we were using magic stones Squall brought out this massive arc of energy. Is that what you mean by barrier?”

“Yes” Quistis replied after some thought “I suppose that would be a very crude and primitive way to do it. It is also very dangerous, since it is possible to completely drain your spirit that way.”

“What happens then?”

“The caster will then feel exhausted and may even loose the will to fight.” Squall’s eyes widened. To loose the will to fight on the battle field means instant death. “In severe cases the spirit could be so crucially drained that death is a certain possibility. Creating a defensive barrier that way – if ever – should only be used in a life-and-death situation.”

“Then how else can you make a barrier?”

“There are white spells designed for that very purpose. As far as I know, three spells have been discovered. They are ‘Protect,” ‘Shell’ and ‘Reflect.’

The class proceeded in that fashion with Quistis both asking questions and lecturing them on the effects and uses of magic before releasing them. The class had actually gone by comparatively quickly and when it was over the students all walked to their own destinations in order to do their own thing. Squall was joined by Zell and Selphie as he exited the class – yet another aspect of his current routine – and as he walked down the hall he found Seifer waiting for him.

Squall stood in the hall with Zell and Selphie standing on either side of him. Across the hall Seifer stood opposite with Raijin and Fujin. The arrogant blond sneered at the newcomers and beckoned Squall over with his right hand. The brunette took a deep breath and let it out before allowing himself to be baited for whatever Seifer had waiting in store for him.

He walked toward the expectant blonde and shot him an angry look. He really wasn’t in the mood for this. “What?” he asked with as much venom as he could muster.

“Get your weapons” Seifer simply said through his trademark smirk. Squall shook his head. “Come on Leonheart, you owe me a rematch!”

“Yeah but…” Squall said in a quiet voice “not today, not now.”

“Oh, yes now. Seeing as how you don’t want to… it only makes me more eager to mop the floor with you, all of you. You three against us” he said holding out his arms to point out Raijin and Fujin standing at either side of him. “The Training Centre, ten minutes. Be there” he threatened.

“No” Squall answered “Find someone else.” He turned his back on Seifer and walked back to his initial position.

“Why, you afraid?” the blond taunted.

Squall froze. “…Whatever” was all he said before starting to walk again. The next thing he knew, he was down on his hands and knees and he had a sharp pain on the right side of his neck.

“You can’t stop it now Squall, the fight’s already begun! As head of the Disciplinary Committee cannot condone battle in the hallways so I highly suggest you move it to the Training Centre… or face the dire consequences.” Squall gave an exasperated sigh as Seifer and his posse left him in the hall. Once they were gone Zell and Selphie rushed over to him.

“What the hell was that all about?” Zell asked. Squall looked up at him.

“Seifer wants to fight” he simply said “him, Raijin and Fujin against the three of us.”

“Where?” Zell asked “If that bastard wants to initiate fights with cheap ass moves like that then bring it on!” Squall stood to his feet.

“Then it’ll be in the Training Centre.”

“When?”

“Now.” Zell nodded and headed in the direction of the elevator. Selphie gave him a concerned look. “Do you really wanna do this?”

“I don’t have much choice.”

“Sure you do!”

“You don’t understand. Me and Seifer… it’s complicated. Ever since I can remember… I don’t know why but I just can’t stand down to him.” Selphie nodded.

“Then let’s go” she said, following after Zell. Squall gave one last sigh before following after as well.

After a detour to the Dormitory to pick up their weapons the three headed strait for the Training Centre and strait into their waiting confrontation. They found Seifer, Raijin and Fujin all waiting for them in the Safety area of the Training Centre. “You’re just in time” the blond said to them as they were entering the area – literally as soon as the came into view.

“Can we just do this and get it over with?” Squall asked impatiently, his right hand gripped the hilt of his sheathed gunblade. Seifer saw this and smirked.

“You seem eager” he commented.

“Hey, wait a minute” Zell said “who’s fighting who?”

“Free for all” Seifer replied. “There are no set rules. Just open three on three combat. That alright with you guys?” he asked although the way in which he said it implied that he was going to go with it whether the other accepted it or not.

“I can live with that” Zell replied.

“Sure!” Selphie added.

Squall merely nodded and drew his Revolver – the most basic model of Gunblade. He stood in a battle-ready stance, holding Revolver diagonally in both hands ready to defend any frontal attack. Everyone else scrambled around him whereas Seifer charged strait for him, drawing his own gunblade – a more complex lightweight one-handed model known as Hyperion with a more powerful semi-automatic gun – as he ran. Just before reaching slashing range of Squall the blonde pivoted into a full three hundred and sixty degree spin, flinging out Hyperion’s blade at the end of his pivot for added reach and speed. If Squall had not been ready the first strike would have made a nasty gash right in the middle of his torso.

The battle between them raged on, not ending until the time had come for their afternoon class to begin. The high-speed battle ensued until Squall fell, too tired and sore to continue. In a battle to the death he may have fought a little longer but he simply couldn’t afford to go all out right now. He still had another class to go and if today’s physical segment was to be as physically exhausting as usual he’d need to conserve his strength.

“You see” Seifer said, sneering down at the brunette in triumph. “That’s the way it should’ve been yesterday. This is the way it is. This is the way it will always be.” Squall rose to his feet after catching his breath and was surprised to have the sound of clapping hands greet his ears. He turned and noticed Instructor P as well as the rest of his class had been watching. For how long had they had an audience?

“Not bad Leonheart” P commended “Not bad at all.” Without another word the Instructor’s aura flared up, swirling around him for a good while, growing stronger by the second, after the extended period of silence – broken only by the swirling of P’s spirit energy – a magnificent beam of energy shot forward from the Instructor before curving upward into the sky.

The beam seemed to disappear but before anyone had the chance to question this display the sky darkened as they were surrounded by gathering storm clouds. The wind swirled around them as though blowing in a cyclone. Squall looked around to see a few bewildered faces. Seifer was not one of these faces. The brunette’s vision was drawn back to the sky by a blinding flash of lightning and simultaneous roar of thunder. Squall strained his eyes to see where the next one would hit and to his astonishment, it hit the ground before him.

“Don’t worry” a voice said “Lightning never strikes twice.”

“Yes it does” P disagreed and to their astonishment – sure enough as proof of the Instructor’s strange outburst – a second bolt of lightning struck the ground before Squall in exactly the same place. Then as if that weren’t enough it struck a third time before the ground exploded in a magnificent light. When the light died down, levitating in its place was a titan – a massive bird that seemed to be made of living electrical energy. “Now” he said “Let us begin the lesson.”

“What is that?” someone asked.

“It is a Guardian.”

“A what?”

“A Guardian Force… a sacred elemental spirit and the secret weapon of SeeD. Today I will teach you all how to establish a spiritual connection – a Junction in its simplest form. This Junction will allow you to draw magic and even give your spells a ‘heat-seeking’ effect. Leonheart, you must know what I mean by that.” Squall thought back to the previous day when Selphie’s blizzard spells seemed to follow him wherever he went. He nodded his head.

So that’s how she did it he concluded.

“Junctions come in many different forms. As a SeeD you will be given the opportunity to Junction a living entity such as a Guardian Force… or ‘GF’ to your spirit. This will not only enable you to summon said Junction in battle but also give you special advantages. As a Guardian Force gets stronger the one it is Junctioned to will gain special abilities ranging from boosting your natural parameters to the ability to magically revive a fallen comrade. It is these Junctions that make SeeD such a powerful fighting force.”

As the class progressed the Instructor taught them all to establish a basic spiritual connection and draw out the spiritual energy required to store paramagic in ones mind and soul. Once he was satisfied that everyone had mastered the elementary skill of Junctioning he released the class early.

While the rest of the class exited the Training Centre to relish in their afternoon off Squall picked up his Gunblade and headed into the Monster’s Lair to do the only thing he ever did in his free time. Since he had just learned the basics of Junctions and drawing magic, he decided to go out and practice his newly learned skill.

As he walked deeper into the humid jungle he concentrated his spirit energy and felt the accelerating sensation of his own spiritual force churning around him like a cooling breeze. The Candidate sent out his spirit to search for enemies and found three equal powers. They weren’t too strong so Squall naturally assumed them to be Garden’s own bred plant-type monsters – Grats. He was about to head out in the direction of the closest one when he suddenly sensed another powerful soul – one with greater power than his own. Must be someone else with the same idea – Squall assumed. He nodded his head as if that made it final before finalising his basic Junction with one of the Grats.

With that complete the Brunette allowed his aura to calm itself down. His spiritual vision – explained by Instructor P as a ‘sixth sense' – died down into perfect blindness while still allowing him to sense the Grat he had targeted. He knew its location and the magic it possessed. Without wasting anymore time Squall reached out to feel the Grat’s magic and extracted the mystical energy from the plant’s very essence. His aura flared up involuntarily as he did so. He felt the energy coming closer to him until it enveloped his own spirit and he absorbed it into his body. The magic found its way into his previously empty stock. He wasn’t sure where exactly it went but it must have been inside the mind somewhere.

Before anything further could be done Squall noticed the Grat’s energy change, the plant began moving. It was coming in his direction.

−It was aware of him!

It came steadily closer when suddenly Squall froze. He felt an overwhelming power from behind him. The person he had noticed from before had flared up. The next thing Squall knew, the gathered energy had separated from the person and was speeding in his direction. Judging from its energy signature it had to be a Fira spell. It came closer and flew strait past him. The next sound to enter Squall’s ears was a shrill cry of agony.

Squall opened his eyes in time to see the Grat before him writhing in flames. By the time the fire had burned out the plant’s stems had dropped and what remained was little more than smoldering ash, laid out in the shape of the former monster. Squall’s Junction was cancelled with the death of the foul creature.

Squall turned around and Saw that Seifer was standing behind him. “Just because you can use the Sixth Sense in battle” he began in a serious tone “doesn’t mean you should rely on it blindly. You have five other senses you should use… especially your regular sight and hearing.” Squall nodded before walking past the blond on his way to the exit. “What, you done already?”

“I just wanted to try it out for myself” Squall replied “I never came for serious training. I just wanted to make sure I understood the concept.” With that being said the brunette returned to the Dormitory.

When the brunette arrived at the Dormitory he found Zell and Selphie already there. Funny Squall thought to himself sarcastically If anyone saw them they would think this was their room. Why was Zell in here again? Didn’t he have his own Dorm room to go to? Why did these to have to come here to talk? Isn’t the Cafeteria for that sort of thing? He let out a sigh and walked right past them saying nothing at all. He doubted they would even notice him anyway.

When he arrived in his sleeping quarters he unsheathed his gunblade and put it safely back in its case before returning the large polished black container to the foot of his bed. With a sight Squall loosened his belts and removed the strangely shaped gunblade ‘holster’ since he would no longer need it for the remainder of the day. He put it in its rightful place and tightened up his one remaining belt once more. With nothing else to do he took a step outside his door.

“Hey, Squall!” Zell greeted him a little too energetically.

These two have something in common.

“Ah, Squall?” the blond asked “Is somethin’ wrong?” Squall shook his head.

I just want to be alone.

“Sit down with us then.” Squall narrowed his eyes slightly. What he was really looking for right now was a quiet place to think and go over everything that had happened throughout the day. Sitting here with theses two somehow didn’t seem like the ideal place for such a purpose. He shook his head slowly and walked to the Elevator. It was still in this room so he stepped in and descended to the ground floor. Zell turned to Selphie for some kind of explanation for the brunette’s strange behaviour, or considering who it was… “What’s wrong with him?” he asked. Selphie merely shrugged.

Squall exited the Dormitory and sauntered around to the main lobby. He wasn’t quite sure where to go but thankfully no one else happened to be around. Perhaps a quiet walk would do him some good. Things were starting to get complicated.

Hopefully Seifer would be content to leave him be for a while. Over the last few days the two rival Candidates had seemed to do nothing but fight. It was exhausting and not something Squall could keep up with forever. He needed a break, both from training and from Seifer. He had never realised that the summer break between semesters could be so sorely missed. Especially since the Candidate had always seen it as a big waste of time. Without it people could easily run out of steam. The thing was, if Squall actually passed these exams and graduated; He’d become a fully fledged member of SeeD and never have the structure of school-life again. He’d spend the rest of his life travelling and fighting any enemy depending on what faction paid Garden. Time between missions could possibly be used to either train or recuperate but he’d never have actual vacation time again.

Squall stopped walking for a minute. Wait… What was he thinking? Was he suddenly having second thoughts? Was Squall Leonheart having doubts, over this, over his dream? How could he possibly be considering not joining SeeD? This had been his life’s one aspiration for so long, ever since… How long exactly? It was then that Squall realised that he didn’t even recall. He couldn’t even remember making the decision to try and become a SeeD. This is too confusing. If I keep thinking like this I’ll just end up going around in circles and getting lost. Squall shook the thoughts from his mind and before he knew it, found himself going up the Garden’s main elevator shaft.

“Ding.”

Squall exited the elevator on the second floor and crossed the bridge to the corridor on the west side. He continued in this direction, heading down the main hallway toward the second floor deck – a nice quiet place that offered a beautiful view of Rinaul Coast. Squall hadn’t been here in a long time.

The Candidate had often come here to be alone and to think. He approached the edge of the deck and looked out at the waves rolling onto the beach. His eyes took to watching the sky, defiled by not a single cloud. Without a sound Squall turned around and sat down in the sun with his back to the deck’s safety rail. He rested his face in his right hand and his right elbow on his right knee.

After a while of silent contemplation Squall’s solitude was interrupted by the sound of the electronic sliding door opening. The brunette looked up and saw someone walk out. The door closed behind them. Remarkably, this person was none other that Fujin. She looked surprised to see anyone out here. That was not surprising. Not many people had the time for trivial luxuries that a view could offer. Fujin walked over and sat beside him, leaving enough space between them so they could both be considered alone should anyone see. She looked at him.

Did she come here for the same reason I did? Squall wondered. Perhaps she had been thinking along the same lines as he was. After a both awkward and curious silence had ensued Fujin spoke to him – something that neither of them had expected. Fujin was never the first to speak.

What followed was a brief conversation – a very slow one. When it was over, Squall was left wondering. Had she spoken to Seifer? Why did she talk to him? Why was she here? Did she have the same thoughts running through her head? Were they… could they be similar?

No Squall decided. Fujin smirked. Squall looked at her through curious eyes.

“Pathetic” she commented before standing and leaving.

Am I? Squall asked himself Maybe… Squall’s eyes widened. That was it, his reason. That was why he trained so hard each day. It no longer mattered when – and even why – he had made the decision to become a SeeD, that was so long ago. It was not important. He had new goals and aims now and they all started with passing the exam and finally achieving the rank and status of SeeD.

His lips curled upward in a grin. One day he would manage to defeat Seifer and wipe the smug smirk off the arrogant bastard’s face.
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