Hello! I'm basically a lurker who de-lurks every couple of solar
eclipses. I would apreciate every comment I could receive
about this story, since English is not my native language.
Thanks in advance!

A Fated Child: Pages in the life of Quistis

A Final Fantasy VIII fic
by Andr�s aka Faethin

A year later...

As Quistis finished the welcoming speech a thunderous
applause filled the hall. The new students were all
divided into three groups and led to the dance hall by
the graduated SeeDs. One by one, they left the
auditorium until the only remaining people were the
high-ranking SeeDs and Headmaster Cid.

She was again instructor No. 18, Quistis Trepe, and
she was in charge of the first and seventh years of
the Garden. "Because you look a lot like the big
sister we all need" had said Headmaster Cid when she
had asked why she had been chosen to instruct the
young cadets, and "Because you are by far our most
talented SeeD apt for teaching in the final levels
of the training" he had said when she had asked why
she had been given the last year as well. True though
it was, it was also very tiring for her, and she
was not yet too sure about being fit for the job.

"Great work, as usual," said Xu approaching her, some hours
later, when the ceremony was over. "Let's just hope they
don't forget everything you said about honour and courtesy
the first time they get to try the cafeteria's hot dogs".

"Let's hope so," said Quistis, laughing. "It's too bad not
even the rank allows for privileges in the cafeteria. At
least for someone I know." She smiled as she saw Zell just
entering the hall along with the Pig-tailed Girl.

"Hey, Quistis! I mean, Instructor Trepe, uh, yeah," he
said blushing a little and looking at the Pig-tailed
Girl. "D'you hear the latest? Rinoa is gonna be made
honorary Instructor!"

"Yes, I had heard," said Quistis, noding. "Honorary Instructor
No. 20, Rinoa Heartilly, in charge of Magical Training."

"Yeah, that's it!" he said. "'Course, I'd forgotten that
you are the unofficial Garden Intelligence officer!" The Pig-
tailed Girl burst into giggles. "Anyway, I was looking
for Squall. Rinoa told me that he's supposed to meet
her at the Secret Place tonight at eleven."

"But that's technically not allowed..." said Xu.

"Indeed, it isn't," said Quistis with a sigh. "But since
when does Rinoa care about rules? And I think she's
sticking the habit to Squall too."

"Well, she *is* an Instructor." Zell said, scratching his
the back of his head.

"Have you ever seen me or Quistis sneaking around the
garden almost at midnight at will?" inquired Xu, raising an
eyebrow.

"No, least not you," said Zell, but as he was about to add
something else, Quistis narrowed her eyes at him.

"Anyway!" he said, quickly. "We gotta go! Catch up with
you later!"

He left speedily, the Pig-tailed Girl following behind.

"Sometimes I wonder..." Xu started.

"How can he be graduated SeeDs?"

"How can I really feel no remorse in breaking some rules
just because."

"Ah! Ladies!" Headmaster Cid said loudly, seemingly coming out of
nowhere. "Wonderful job! I'm so proud of my students right
now I could burst! And, just between you and me, I sure feel
relieved that I did manage to pick up the right choices of
Instructors to handle the ceremony."

"Thank you, sir," both girls answered.

"Seriously, a truly wonderful job! Edea as well thought of
it great. I especially liked your speech, Quistis, the whole
part of the pride and will to fight along you fellow soldiers
 It almost made me want to enlist myself in the program."

"Is Matron here?" asked Quistis.

"Yes, well, I mean, she was. She felt a bit tired and left
early. You'll find her up at first our in the morning on
monday, though. I heard she wanted to remind all students
about the true meaning of SeeD and how they should always
behave properly, in accordance to the rules, for that is truly
the role of SeeD: to maintain peace and order, and all that
stuff... She's probably going to stop at every classroom to
tell them that. You know, the Edea way.

"The Edea way," repeated Xu, laughing.

"I wish she hadn't left so early," Quistis said, looking away.
"I wished to have a few words with her."

"You'll get your chance soon enough, Instructor. And now, one
last congratulations isn't out of order, I suppose. And with
that, I'd send everybody off to bed. I feel as if the
ceremony had been going on for days now. Guess it's the age,
you know. Or maybe I had a little too much champagne?
Nah, it's not that, maybe I *am* getting old..."

"Or maybe it's just that it's already half past two," Quistis
said."

"Yes, of course. Now, then! Everybody back to the dorms! Great
work, you two, and everybody else involved! Quistis, make
sure the hall does remain locked up. I've heard rumours that
some of the older students have been sneaking around at night
and using this same hall along with the training center as
some kind of nightly rendezvous point. Must be that CC group again."

Quistis smiled and dropped her sight. "Yes, it must be them
again."

Headmaster Cid let out a yawn. "I'm almost in the need of
a Full-life. Good night, ladies. I'll see you again tomorrow."

"So, the CC group?" said Xu, raising her brow again but smiling,
when the Headmaster had left.

"I could tell them to meet at night right here and make
the rumour true, you know," Quistis said.

"Or you could simply tell the Trepies to make them do so."

"Oh, don't say things like that! Sometimes, I just don't know
what to make of them. Did I tell you about that poem I found
on my desk?"

"The one about the Gold that flows like a River from your
forehead?" said Xu with a giggle.

"No, the one written with permanent ink on my datapad. It
took me forever to clean it up. And I didn't make it before
Irvine came and claimed the authorship."

"Irvine Kinneas? A Trepie? I wouldn't think so..."

"I never gave the thought a chance. I never *will* give the
thought a chance," she said, almost shuddering.

She sighed then.

"Now that I think about it, I never give any of those thoughts
a chance."

***

"Whirl!"

The seven students raised their chain whips at the same time
and whirled them above their heads, waiting for the command
word.

"Slash!"

They slashed at their respective dummy. Six of them barely
touched it and the seventh completely missed it.

"Whirl!"

Again, the whips were raised and held in a whirling motion;
yet, this time, Quistis did not speak the order to attack
until about a minute had gone by.

"Slash!"

The students slashed at their dummies and not one of them
hit their target.

"Whirl!"

The students, some of them groaning, raised their whips for
the third time and stood whirling it above their heads.

"This is precisely what happens when you do not exercise your
arms," she said, taking off her glasses and placing them on
the small desk besides her. She then took her own chain whip.

"If you're feeling a little sore in your arms, it is because you
do not have the skill it takes to wield your weapon of choice.
Yet.

She walked up in front of the eighth dummy.

"It does take a quite a lot of practice, and patience, for that
matter. But in the end, as with everything that so requires,
it all depends on your own will to see things through."

"But there is something you must always, *always* remember."

She joined them in whirling her own chain whip, Save the Queen.

"This is not a lasso, it is a weapon."

The glimmer emanating from it made it look like a dancing strand
of pure gold around her.

"This was no order, it was your own choice to join SeeD."

Some of the students were already wavering and their motion
was begining to lose rythm.

"And this will be no dummy. Attack!"

All eight of them slashed at their own dummy. There were many
loud *cracks* but none of them made it even close to hit the
target. Except Quistis, whose dummy's head was cleanly cut
off its stuffed body.

"It will be another person, another living, breathing person,
just like me, just like you. And the end will probably not be
any different from this," she said, pointing at the dummy's head.

None of the students dared say anything; in fact, the silence
was so awkward that Quistis thought that maybe she had
gone a little too far this time. She relaxed her back and
stretched out her arms, as she had done countless times
after a battle, and said soothingly: "But you shouldn't trouble
yourselves much. There will be times in which this kind of
decision will be laid for you; and that's why you're here: to
learn how to properly make those decisions."

"I think we've had enough for today," she said, smiling just
to confort them. "You are far from ready to engage in actual
combat, but I feel that begining to know the Training Center
is just right for you. I will prepare a safe zone and we'll
visit the Grounds tomorrow at noon."

She noticed the puzzled looks on their faces.

"Don't worry. You'll be quite safe with me. And now, dismissed!"

One by one they left, whispering amongst themselves. Quistis
sat down again to her desk and put on her eyeglasses. She
leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes.

*You'll be quite safe with me.*

She spent the rest of the day going through the last years'
essays on the handling of victims after a conflict. A full,
ten-paged paper for each of the thirty five students. The after-
noon came and she was still writing down several points that
would have to be revised in class the next day. "One must
proceed with extreme empathy towards the subject. This is
basically the key to your success in the handling of victims."

She did not like the term *subject*, not in such a context.
But since it was part of the guidelines there was no way of
underlining it in red.

Three hours later, she was finally done. Since she had taken
a small meal Selphie had brought to her, she decided to skip
dinner and head already to the Training Grounds and make the
safe zone ready. On her way she came across Irvine, who
reasserted her authorship over the poem, and Zell, practising
her acrobatics in front of the Pig-tailed Girl, who was staring
at him with her eyes shining. Bowing her head politely in
a ver Quistis-like way, she made her way through the hallways
and into the Grounds' entrance.

There was a small computer terminal in which she entered her
password and began the security level routines. She chose level
10, the maximum security level, and proceded to the Center. It
was necesary to make sure personally that the security levels had
been correctly set in order to avoid incidents. A tall fence had
been raised on both sides of the left path leading to the inner
pool, and even if she did hear noises coming from the thick mass
of bushes to her right she knew the steel fences were more than
enough to bar any hostile approach.

Suddenly, there was a laughing sound. Very faint, but definately
laughter. Quistis felt curious and decided to come closer to
whomever was the source. How strange to find someone cheering
at night in the Training Grounds. She came up to the entrace of
the Secret Spot, and stood silent. There was a whispered
conversation, but the light was very dim and she could not make
out anything yet with her eyes, still used to the brighter
twilight of outside. Then she heard a word she had heard hundreds
of times before and smiled.

"Whatever."

Why did it not occur to her? Why did she not think that...?

As she was about step in and say hi she noticed something lying
on the floor.

A single white feather.

She stared at it. She understood it all now. She felt quite
ashamed, even stupid. Before her eyes could get used to the dim
light, she turned away, not really angry. She just did not want
to hear anything anymore.

To be continued, I guess. ^_^

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'