Thanks to David Johnston who kindly helped correcting some minor
errors. I'd appreciate any comments or sugestions aimed at
improving my writing quality.
A Fated Child: Pages in the life of Quistis

A Final Fantasy VIII fic
by Andr�s aka Faethin

One of the students skipped her class, and she was rather quick
to notice it. The seventh-year had promised to read his paper on
the handling of victmims to the whole class, as Quistis had found
it quite interesting and particulary eloquent. Soon after
dismissing the Monday class she went looking for him. The cafeteria
Trepies told her (among many other flowery things) that they
had not seen him nor heard anything about him. A little puzzled,
she asked around the library, were she had thought she might find
him, if anyone had seen Dack Baum. The Pig-tailed Girl, whom she
had found turning dreamily the pages of a poetry book Rinoa had
recomended her, told her that someone had been talking about a
little spar at the Training Center and that someone had mentioned
the name Baum as well.

Quistis rolled her eyes. Why did they insist on *meeting* in the
Training Center? And having spars outside of a training session
had sometimes drawn hard feelings among the students. But since
it was technically not forbidden she could do little more than
watch and take care of them in case things went wrong.

She was done with going through the first-years' homework, so
she decided to take a little break and practice her violin while
the night came. She had been studying violin since that day when
Selphie had arranged the impromtu concert for Squall and everyone
had had to learn what they could, in three or four hours, about
any kind of instrument. She had immediately taken a like for the
violin.

As the mellow sounds of "Eyes on Me" filled her dorm, an hour or
two later, there was a sudden knock on her door. Startled, she opened
it; there stood a short, very pale girl with a little cut across her
forehead.

"Instructor Trepe!" she cried, barely holding back her tears.
"There's been an accident! Dack! He, he's gone! He disappeared!
We told him not to! But he wouldn't listen, he wouldn't listen!
He, he, he just took off to the lagoon! Then we heard it roar!
And there was a yell! He, he, he didn't come back! He-

"Calm down!" Quistis said, holding her arms out. The girl buried
her face in her chest and burst into sobs. "Calm down, Irene,
tell me what's happened."

"It-it's Dack, Instructor," said Irene, between hiccups. "We were
gonna have a friendly match, nothing big, I swear! And we went
down to the Training Grounds. Dack was saying that if we stuck
together there was nothing to be afraid of, 'cause I was scared.
I was scared! Because what if we came a-across T-Rexaur?"

"And Dack got lost, to make it short. Got it," Quistis said a little
sharply. Perhaps she felt bad about it a few days later, but she
was quite annoyed at the girl's lack of nerve at the moment.
"Let's go! You go find any of the other SeeDs and tell them
that I need assistance. I sure will if it's T-Rexaur we're
talking about. Send them to the Training Grounds."

"Hurry up, Instructor!" the girl cried as Quistis made her way
to the Training Center.

The entrance showed no sign of strife, but further into the
hallway Quistis found another student: a tall, blond teenager
with freckles. He was holding a gunblade in his left hand and
was clutching his shoulder. As she drew near he let out a
moan and dropped to the floor, unconscious.

"Quistis!" somebody called from behind. It was Rinoa. She had run
into Irene and had sped to the Training Grounds as soon as she could.

"Take care if him," Quistis said, kneeling in front of the boy. She
felt his pulse. "He's hurt, but he'll make it." She stood up and darted
towards the Grounds.

"Where are you going?" asked Rinoa.

"I have to find Dack still!"

Since the safe zone had been taken down two days before, Quistis had
all sorts of trouble reaching the inner pool. There seemed to be
more Grats lurking about than any other time, and she had to slash
her way through a good half a dozen before reaching the little
bridge that took her to the pool.

She found no sign of Dack, except for a long, wide and deeply cut
track on the dirt. *Like the one a huge tail would leave behind.*

Suddenly, there was a shout, a flash and out of the bushes sprang
Dack, with his notched gunblade, a Hyperion, still smoking. He barely
seemed to recognize Quistis when he hoarsely yelled: "Run! Run! Get out
of here! It's right at my tail!"

He stumbled and fell at her feet. She helped him stand up and tried
to lead him out to the other side of the gate, but he seemed to be
in pain (or perhaps he was to scared) each time he tried to take a
step. He moaned and moaned and hung to her neck until his weight
was too much and she fell down.

"It's no use!" she yelled. "Pull yourself together!I can't carry
you all the way to the exit!"

There was a great roar from behind. Quistis turned round and gasped.
T-Rexaur had emerged from the bushes and had opened his terrible jaws
as it lunged his head at her. She leapt forward and the beast missed
by a hair. It immediately spun around and swung its tail like a
massive whip. Dack, with what strenght he had left, rolled away and
avoided it; but Quistis, having just landed and turned to face the
monster, received the full brunt of the attack. She afterwards recalled
it was like being hit by a huge, scaly log. It sent her flying several
feet in the air and splashing into the pool.

"Instructor!" Dack cried, terrified. He got up as he could and tried
to make it to the pool, but the beast roared and charged at him.
Its jaws again were shown and they barely closed with a horrible noise
little more than an inch away from him, as he had thrown himself in
a roll to his left again. With a last effort, he tried to stab the
monster's foot, but he failed to pull the trigger at the right time.
T-Rexaur let out a howl and dark blood flowed out from the wound;
but the brave attack had done little more than upset it. Its tail
again swirled in the air, poised to strike, but as it was about to
smash the student it was ensnared by a golden strand that held it tightly
away from Dack. With a roar, the beast turned to it and tried to
bite it off. Its razor-like teeth would have teared any kind
of chain to bits as if it were a silken thread. But not Save the Queen.

Quistis stood like an adamantine statue at the pool's shore. She was soaked
and a thread of blood ran from her lips and nose. There was a look of
pure sternness on her stained face. She pulled away her chain whip and
whirled it around her. With a deafening roar, T-Rexaur raised his head
to the sky. There was a rumbling noise and Quistis knew what was coming.

"Dack! Get out of here! It won't attack you while casting the spell!"

Dack stumbled his way across the Grounds. Before he disappeared behind
the door,  he tossed something at Quistis.

"Instructor, catch!"

Then the ground beneath her feet broke, and with loud, crashing sounds
it seemed to twitch, groan and scream in anger, or so Quistis told Rinoa
a few days later. The earth sprang and she was sent flying through the
air again. Oddly enough, she felt little pain as she landed just a few
feet away from the monster. When she saw the approaching maw she was
still too dazed even to scream.

Suddenly, there was a shout, a flash and out of the bushes sprang
Squall. The Renzokuken was not enough to drive the beast away, but the
Fated Circle was enough to daze it just enough for Quistis to stand up,
painfully raise her arms, stretch them towards T-Rexaur and whisper:

"Degenerator."

There were lights, flashes and then utter darkness, as the mighty
T-Rexaur roared and roared, yet each roar seemed to grow fainter
and fainter, until it was no more than an echo in the distance. When
all the lights and all the blackness were gone, there stood only
Quistis and Squall. There was no sign of the monster, except for
the same tracks that she had found earlier. They were indeed the tracks
of its tail.

She felt a sharp pain in her chest and in her belly that made her
bow. 

"Are your all right?" asked Squall.

She coughed, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

"No."

The pain was increasing. The excitement of the battle had temporarily
lessened it, but now that her heart would be slowing down to her quiet
and collected rythm, she was beginning to notice how hurt she was.

"I haven't go with me a cure spell or anything," said Squall. There
was note of concern in his usually apathetic voice.

She coughed again, and again politely covered her mouth. A
bloodstain appeared on her hand.

"I better go to Dr. Kadowaki soon, then," she said.


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