Zack leaned forward. "Can you get me down there?"
Quistis laughed, but when she focused on his face again, she realized he wasn't joking. "Oh, no, absolutely not, Zack. It is guarded 24/7 and they'd recognize you, especially with me, but...," she paused while digging through her bag. She produced a small piece of technology that looked like a computer chip. "There are pictures of everything on this, the office, the cavern, even the warehouse." She handed the chip to him.
His face brightened considerably. "Thanks Quis. You've made my job ten times easier."
"You're welcome." She looked away for a brief moment. "Did you get the live video feed they promised you?"
"Of Sally's wedding? Yeah. It was beautiful. I wish I could have been there. I really hated to miss it. Like I said, she's only going to get married once, unlike me."
Quistis patted his shoulder briefly before she stood up. "We have to go. Zone and I are due in Deling City in an hour."
"Okay, thanks for everything, Quis. I'll see you when you get out."
Quistis smiled and turned toward Deling with Zone beside her.
*
The three weeks following the wedding went much as the one preceding it. Quistis went to a class here and there but spent most of her time in the radicals office in Deling City. She made several more tips down into the cavern supervising crews and reporting back to SLC Schalk. Operations were speeding up and Quistis barely had time to get messages out through Jaxon. She would be prepared with a piece of paper in her hand and literally run into him in the hallways. She didn't risk speaking with him as the final days were approaching.
The attack on the train from the Galbadian missile silos went much as she had expected. Schalk removed several of his people from duty for the error, including his second, which meant Quistis was pulled into the position. She thought it odd that she never saw them again either at the Garden or anywhere else. She began to wonder if she could put murder down on Schalk's list of offenses against the Network and the World.
One particular sunny day, Quistis sat outside waiting for Zone when she saw Seifer walking toward the building. She glared toward him, hoping he was there to tell her the mission was over. Unfortunately, he passed by without a second glance, stopping just a few feet away. "Lieutenant, I have some information for you."
Quistis tried to turn around to watch the exchange as subtly as she could. Jaxon had met Seifer on the front quad, neither man looked particularly relaxed. Jaxon's arms were crossed tightly on his chest. His expression betrayed little as he listened.
"Every transfer request you put in came to a dead halt at SLC Schalk's desk. We haven't figured out why he would want to keep you here."
Quistis watched as Jaxon dropped his gaze to the ground and swallowed hard. He reached up and tightly gripped the tree branch above his head.
"I know why. He used my own weakness against me. He thought no one was going to make me pull my head out of my ass."
Quistis' lips twitched as she saw a multitude of thoughts cross Seifer's face. The now familiar clench of his jaw was apparent.
Seifer gestured toward Jaxon "This weakness, it's a non-issue now, correct?" The knuckles on Jaxon's hand turned white as he gripped the tree harder. "Correct." He lifted his eyes from the ground to look over Seifer's shoulder toward the building. "It's the hardest damn thing I've done in a long time."
The stern expression on Seifer's face wavered for only a moment. "We all have to grow up and move on sometime."
Jaxon's hand dropped from the tree. He rotated his shoulders, "Yeah, we do. There has to be something else waiting in the future or the powers-that-be would have offed me a long time ago."
Seifer smirked widely. "Interesting philosophy, Lieutenant." Seifer looked around briefly, his eyes hesitating on Quistis for a moment. "I'm going to be back in a week, be ready to leave on the transport to Balamb at that time."
Jaxon smiled weakly. "Thanks, I'll be there."
Seifer gripped Jaxon's shoulder briefly, stern expression back in place, "Good, it's time for you to face your future and stop living in the past."
Quistis ducked her head as Seifer strode past her toward the transport landing area. She looked up again to see Jaxon moving back toward Deling Garden. He briefly turned his head to send her a barely discernible wink before disappearing into the building. She shook her head slightly as she picked up her book from the grass and looked around for Zone. She was glad she could help Jaxon, and it looked as if he was going to make the most of the opportunity he had been given.
*
On the day of the final phase, Quistis arrived in the radical faction's office at her assigned time for the day of 3:00 pm. SLC Roman Schalk waved her over and gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
"Well, would you looky at what I have here."
Quistis shifted uncomfortably, not liking the tone in the sub-commander's voice. He rose from his chair and walked around the desk stopping next to her. A file folder appeared under her nose. Every instinct Quistis had was telling her to get out and her cover had been blown, but she stood her ground.
Roman slowly opened the folder and showed her the first picture. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized the pictures were of her at Balamb, this particular one had her standing with Squall and Zell, posing during some SeeD social event.
"You're Quistis Trepe, what the hell are you doing here?. Are you going to tell me that the Network actually thinks a dye job and a phony story about you eloping is going to give you enough cover?" his voice was low and dangerous.
Quistis turned furious eyes on him. "Is this what loyalty gets me? Accusations?". She only had a moment to register his coiling for the jaw shattering backhanded hit that he released. She landed on the floor hard and she idly wondered if she would have a black eye in the morning. She shielded her face as Roman hurled the folder at her, pictures flying everywhere.
He came to stand in front of her, the sun coming in the windows behind him so strongly that Quistis could not really make out his facial expression.
"I'm going to beat you until--" he didn't get to finish his threats due to the shattering of the door, the entrance of a large contingent of Network Security Officers and both of Marshal Beita's .45 caliber pistols being aimed at his head.
Marshal's voice cut through the sudden silence with deadly implications, "Try it. Please."
Several security officers pushed past him into the room, including Jaxon.
Quistis blinked, her jaw dropping slightly at the sight before her. Marshal Beita, head of Galbadia Garden security, was fully into his role. Dressed from head to toe in black, complete with sunglasses and a full length black leather duster, he looked like something out of an action movie. To Marshal's left, Seifer was holding several of Roman's underlings at Gunblade point, grinning like a fool. The only one who seemed remotely concerned about her was Zell who occasionally glanced at her while holding another underling off the floor by his shirt. Each of the other officers had donned a black flack-jacket emblazoned with the letters "GNS". Quistis had to wonder just how big of a fight they expected.
The building trembled slightly under their feet. Quistis' eyes widened in surprise. Did they start the blasting early? She struggled to her feet as the tremble grew in intensity, watching as the security officers tried to keep control of the situation. As pieces of the ceiling began to crumble and rain down on the people, Quistis realized something was going horribly wrong down below. She charged toward Marshal and slammed into him, pushing him, Zell, and Seifer outside. They landed in a heap, slightly tangled together. Zone ran up to them and gave Quistis a hand up.
"Is everyone okay?" Marshal asked. Quistis absently nodded, taking a count of officers.
She cast her eyes around, looking for one more person, Jaxon. Where is he? A horrible thought passed through her mind and before anyone could stop her she dashed back inside.
The air was heavy with dust, making it hard to breathe and see. Q
uistis coughed as she looked around, her eyes finally settling on Jaxon holding his Landesknechte to the throat of SLC Roman Schalk.
"Take it outside, Jaxon." she yelled in his ear above the increasingly loud rumble.
His slightly wild eyes took a moment to focus on her. She tugged on his arm while grabbing an arm of SLC Schalk. Together they hauled the dazed man out of the crumbling building. Seifer and Marshal met the pair outside, taking Schalk away. Quistis and Jaxon moved away from the building before stopping to bend over and catch their breath.
As suddenly as it had started the noise and motion stopped and a heavy silence descended over the area. An odd feeling of calm blanketed Quistis' mind just before the ground heaved in front of them. Quistis was knocked to the dirt along with Jaxon, her breath getting taken out of her for a moment. More dirt and dust flew everywhere around her and she tried to shield her eyes. When the dust began to settle again she slowly lowered her arm from her eyes. Her jaw went slack as she watched Tiamat, the GF she thought had been defeated during the sorceress war, ascend from the gaping chasm in the ground. Astride Tiamat was the GF she was sure was Asura.
"Holy Hyne." she breathed out in a near whisper.
"My thoughts exactly." Jaxon replied as he grabbed the sleeve of her Deling Cadet uniform and easily hauled her to her feet. They slowly backed away from Guardian Forces hovering above them.
"What the hell is going on?" Seifer asked in the new silence.
Quistis knitted her eyebrows in a confused fashion. "It's over." she said, her voice full of wonder at how exactly she knew that.
The others regarded her with surprise. "Trepe, how do you know?"
"I don't know, I just do. I... I think she told me." Quistis pointed at the multi armed spirit hovering high above them.
"Women." Seifer muttered behind Quistis. He suddenly yelped with surprise and jumped as if someone had pinched him. The GF known as Asura, despite the barely discernible smile on her face, solemnly nodded to the assembled group of SeeDs before she and Tiamat disappeared from sight.
"Trepe, you okay?" Seifer asked as the security officers took control of what was left of the radicals.
"Yeah, they're all here, all the evidence you need is here too. Can I go home now?"
"Tomorrow, Trepe, tomorrow. You're going to have a black eye. We should get you to the doc."
Quistis waved him off, "I'm fine, Seifer," she turned to Zell. "I'm sorry I missed your wedding. I wanted to go so badly but--"
"It's okay Quis, Sally will understand too, once she gets the true story. Right now she thinks you and Zack are having boat trouble. The entire shin-dig is on eight hours of video tape for you to watch back at Balamb." He grinned evilly while wiggling his eyebrows at her.
A hand gripped her upper arm tightly and drew her away from the group in the waning afternoon sunlight, "Trepe, I need you to do two things for me right now." Seifer's voice held a no-nonsense tone.
"What?"
"The first thing is I need you to go see the nice little white coated person over there," he pointed at a transport off to their right, "regarding the fine looking bruise forming under your eye. And second," he pulled a small piece of plastic from his pocket, "I need you to take this."
A sense of joy welled up through Quistis as she looked at the new Balamb Garden ID she was holding in her hands. Under her name was the title "Head of Instruction" and under the title in a smaller font was "Evil Sorceress Killer". Before she even thought about what she was doing, Quistis had thrown her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek.
Realization as to who it was she had her arms around hit her like a ton of bricks and she leapt away, wiping the back of her hand across her lips. She looked up to see Seifer wiping his hand across his cheek with a look of amused disgust. They both broke out into laughter as Seifer gave her a shove toward the medical transport.
After being checked out by the medical staff, Quistis watched the security officers load members of the radical group into transports bound for Balamb Garden. Zone was several feet behind her talking to Seifer. A shadow fell across her vision.
"Hey Quistis. How does it sound to have your name back?" Jaxon asked with a smile.
"I was getting used to Iselle, it's so much more graceful than Quistis."
Jaxon nodded, looking in the direction of her gaze. "I got good news today."
"Yeah? What about?"
"My transfer came through I'm going in as third from the top at Balamb."
Quistis tried to read his expression, but couldn't discern one emotion from another. "That sounds like a step up, Jaxon."
"It is, and things are going to be so different working for Ahndra and having Seifer breathing down my neck all the time.
Quistis reached up and patted his back. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but he's not all bad. And I've heard that he's calmed down since I hired Janine Larabie. Apparently they've really hit it off."
The noise from the prisoner area startled Quistis, but she didn't have time to react before she found herself on the ground. There was shouting and her face burned where it had been scraped as she hit the rough surface. She became aware of Jaxon's body shielding hers and then the small group of people surrounding them.
Above her Quistis heard a groan of pain as she saw Jaxon's body stiffen. Two pairs of hands helped Jaxon move away and lay gingerly on the ground nearby, leaving Quistis staring at the blue sky above. Zone appeared in her line of sight, concern evident on his face.
"What happened?" Quistis asked as she sat up with the help of Zone.
"One of the prisoners had a knife and he threw it at you." Zone gently held a gauze pad to her face.
A yell of agony behind her made Quistis turn abruptly. Jaxon was on the ground, his uniform slacks already slit to his hip. Seifer leaned over him holding a six inch dagger in his hand. A med tech was holding a gauze pad to Jaxon's leg. From the stream of expletives coming out of Jaxon's mouth, Quistis could tell he would be fine.
"Augh! Holy Hyne! You couldn't have pistol whipped me first?" he complained at Seifer.
"I'm not sure I want such a baby on my staff! Look at this thing." Seifer held up the dagger. "It barely scratched you!"
"It was lodged in my leg you overgrown lout!"
"Whine, whine, whine, you're still alive, so deal with it--Nice chocobo boxers there, Lieutenant."
Quistis giggled, turning back to Zone. "They're going to be an interesting pair."
Zone watched the two SeeDs squabbling before turning back to Quistis. "I know, but I was hoping to see another interesting pair."
"Really? Who?" Quistis asked, laughing.
Zone leaned closer to her, inches from her face. "You and me."
A smile spread across Quistis' lips. Things were finally falling in to place for her. She had a man who cared for her, a job she loved in a place she knew. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I'll see what I can do."
Epilogue
New Missions
The leather chair behind her desk beckoned after a long hard day in front of her classroom. Quistis gave in to its call with a sigh as she settled into it. She turned the chair toward the window and looked out over the green plains. In the two weeks since she had returned from Deling Garden, she had been even busier than usual. There were meetings to attend, reports to write and file, and instruction rosters to juggle.
As much as she still wanted to be a thorn in Seifer's side, Quistis was ready to give up that pursuit. Janine had become one of the most popular instructors, second only to Zell, so there was no reason to try to send her back to Trabia. Quistis had to admit Seifer had begun to change for the better thanks to his involvement with the spunky and spike-haired rebel. Squall and Rinoa had thrown a dinner party the week before, and Quistis had actually spoken with Seifer for over five minutes without a single insult being tossed between the two.
Zone accompanied her to that same dinner party, appearing much mo
re comfortable than he had on their first date. He made small talk and even took her hand into his on occasion. Afterwards they walked outside to the front entrance of Garden where Zone had left his car. Quistis blushed now as she remembered the kiss they shared.
"Is this what you do all day?"
Quistis' gaze snapped from the landscape outside to the doorway, settling on Seifer.
"No, I just got here. Is there something I can help you with?" she asked as she self-consciously straightened her uniform jacket.
Seifer placed a folder on the desk. "I was just dropping this off, it contains the reports covering each member of the Deling Group. The case is closed. They won't be bothering you or Garden anymore."
Quistis picked up the folder and glanced through it quickly before setting it back onto the desk. She waved a hand at the chair across from her. "Have a seat."
He uncomfortably sat down, folding his hands in his lap. "Feels like old times, Trepe."
Quistis laughed lightly. "We were never this civil, Seifer. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Seifer shifted in the seat. "I just needed to say thanks for going on this mission and doing so well."
Quistis gaped at him. He's saying thank you? I really need to get a tape recording of this. "Sure Seifer, it was fun to get out of Garden again."
Seifer looked around the room, his eyes finally settling on his hands "And I want to thank you for hiring Janine. If you knew things would have turned out this way, I know you wouldn't have hired her."
Quistis let the back-handed compliment slide. "It's doing us all some good. I heard Sally telling Zell about a joke you told in the office. I was surprised to find out that you knew how to laugh."
Standing again, Seifer presented his hand to Quistis over the desk. "Truce?"
She stared at the hand a moment before taking it in her own. "Truce."
Quistis watched his retreating back with some bewilderment before turning her attention to the folder he gave her. She stared at the cover for a few moments before deciding to file it away. Then she spent a few minutes clearing files and papers from the desktop before she heard another knock on the door. She couldn't withhold the smile that spread across her face when she saw Jaxon leaning against the doorframe.
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