Tired. So tired.
A slight figure hauled herself out
of the water on the Alcuald Plains of Balamb and collapsed on the shore. She ignored the presence
of a floating Jellyeye and a Fastitocalon-F,
simply getting the rest she needed after her swim. Not that she swam the entire
length of the bridge…only since she had to jump off the train, because someone
discovered her in the baggage car. The girl snorted inwardly, loving the feel
of solid ground underneath her body. Stupid skinny woman had to go and tell the
conductor. It’s not like she was harming anything, and the only thing she’d
stolen was a piece of bread from some lady’s gift basket.
The girl popped an eye open and
slowly got to her feet, eyeing the monsters that were floating closer. Strength
not yet returned, she placed her hands on her thighs and pushed herself up the
slanted shoreline, trying to keep the distance between herself and the monsters
large. Forcing a last large spurt of energy from her tired legs, the girl
propelled herself up the hill, stopping when she saw the Jellyeye
and Fastitocalon-F lost interest and travel back down
the beach. She straightened and looked around.
The hilly plains
of Balamb. There was the town, but Garden was
nearly three times as big as the actual town, so it wasn’t there. The plains
were dotted with forests, large and small and she could vaguely see a road.
Deciding that that’s where she wanted to go, she started for the winding
asphalt, light breeze sending her soaked clothes rippling and she shivered.
A buzzing sound behind her had her
biting her lip and hesitantly she peeked over her shoulder to see three
abnormally large insects hovering behind her, obviously ready to attack. As if
she’d read their mind, one flew at her, stinger extended, and she jumped out of
the way, but not before a second one caught her in the shoulder. She staggered
as she felt the cold poison run through her blood. Realizing that she had no
way of winning in the state she was in, she spun and ran for the closest
shelter: one of the forests. Gasping for air and feeling her life leaving her
with every step, she launched into a roll, avoiding the Bite Bugs last attacks
by ending up in the brush. The girl closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a
moment, making sure the offending things were gone before she rose to her feet
and slowly picked her way through the silent forest. The very
silent forest.
She blinked and stared at a puddle
beside her. Sure enough, it was rippling and not from her imagination. “This is
NOT good,” she managed to get out, before the large T-Rexaur
came ripping through the trees at the smell of human. Her eyes widened and she
sidestepped a swing from its enormous tail. “Definitely not
good!” Clutching at her heart in hopes that the poison was moving slow,
she ran.
Branches scraped her exposed limbs
and she tripped over a few protruding roots. Soon her body was covered in
bleeding scratches and purpling bruises, but still she ran, breath coming
harder with every step. The T-Rexaur was on her
heels, trampling everything in its path and coming very close to trampling her.
A light at the edge of the trees grabbed her attention and she headed for it,
diving out of the forest, the large red dinosaur right behind her. It roared at
the light and the sight of an enormous white building, quickly smashing the
girl in the side with its tail and disappearing back into the forest.
Holding her aching side with her
left hand and clasping her chest with the other, she limped towards the
entrance, stumbling inside. She passed no one as she went through the front
gate, making her way in a straight line to a turnstile-like entryway. The old
man in the booth stood up, his jaw dropping at the sight of her and quickly let
himself out to come around.
“
* * *
“Careful now, Quistis,” Seifer
warned. “The Grats aren’t tough for your level, but
the whip might-“
“I know,” she spat, cracking her
whip on the ground, blue eyes alight with preparation for battle. “Let’s get on
with it.”
Seifer smirked and led the way into
the training center, and across the tree trunk bridge. He stuck out a hand in
front of Quistis and raised a finger to his lips. Sure enough, there was a
crawly scratching sound followed by a twitter. Two Grats
leapt out of the grass.
Quistis’ smirk mirrored Seifer’s as
she readied herself for the battle. Almost immediately, she jumped forward and
struck, her whip cracking across the back of a Grat,
leaving a deep slash that began to ooze with their green blood. She looked at
Seifer, but he hung back, letting her take the monsters down at her own speed.
Three more cracks of her whip and both Grats lay
dead, sucked back into the earth. Seifer raised an eyebrow at her and she
cracked the whip in front of him. He threw his head back and laughed.
“Think you’re ready for a T-Rexaur?” he asked, pausing at the end of “Tito’s”
territory.
Quistis’ brow furrowed.
“Not alone, quite yet,” Seifer
assured her. “Maybe soon, but I’ll be fighting too.” At her nod, he went into the
caged area where the T-Rexaur everyone referred to as
“Tito” and took a fighting stance. On command, the dinosaur appeared, snapping
his large jaws.
“Quistis!
Make sure you have Sleep junctioned to your attack!”
Seifer mimicked, and Quistis threw him a dirty look.
“That’s not all I’m gonna junction to my attack, Instructor Almasy. What do you
think of Maim?” she retorted and Seifer grinned at the back of her blonde head.
The fight was long, but not
terribly hard and soon Tito lay on the ground, dead. Quistis reached her arms
over her head-not too high- and stretched, before letting them drop. Seifer
slashed Hyperion through the air, before sticking it in the ground and leaning
on it. “Not bad, cadet.”
She looked at him sternly. “Seifer
Almasy, what is the first rule of gunblade
treatment?” At his pause, she snapped her whip. “First rule: Never lean on your
weapon as it dulls the blade when it rubs against the ground! You’d do well to
remember that.” The blonde hooked the whip to her belt and disappeared into the
Seifer stared after her for a
moment, before letting an arrogant smile cross his face. That “instructor”
voice she used was so adorable when she wasn’t really an instructor. But he
swung Hyperion onto his shoulder and strolled after her, tossing a Phoenix Down
on Tito so he could once again rampage through the training center. He set
Hyperion against the wall before wrapping his arms around her and resting his
chin on the top of her head, inhaling the scent of strawberries.
“Seifer…”
“Yeah?”
“…I like this.”
Seifer smiled. “Me
too, strawberry.”
“…….’Strawberry’?!”
She turned her head to glare at him.
“Yep, strawberry.
Because you turn bright red when you’re embarrassed, you are plump in all the
right places, and incredibly sweet,” he replied smoothly. And would taste good
with chocolate, he added silently. Unable to help herself, Quistis grinned and
leaned back against him again. There was a long pause as they both stared at
the main building of Garden.
“Seifer?”
“What now?”
“Why’d you really choose
‘strawberry’?”
“Cause you smell like ’em.” Quistis laughed in delight and they were silent again,
simply enjoying the other’s company.
A beeping noise interrupted their
reverie, and an announcement came over the intercom, so loud that both Seifer
and Quistis had to cover their ears.
“Seifer Almasy, Zell Dincht, Rinoa Heartilly, Irvine Kinneas, Squall Leonhart, Selphie
Tilmitt, and Quistis Trepe…please report to the
infirmary immediately.”
“See that?” Seifer let go of Quistis
and preened. “I was first. Moving up in the world.”
Quistis raised an eyebrow at him.
“It was alphabetical, hon,” she returned and watched as he went back through the
names in his mind.
“DAMMIT!” he sulked, grabbing
Hyperion and resting it on his right shoulder. Quistis patted his arm.
“Don’t worry, you’re first to me,”
she winked and they started out of the secret place. Then they stopped and
looked at each other.
“The infirmary?!”
Both SeeDs
broke into a run.
Why were they needed in the
infirmary?