Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Green Flame ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

The Green Flame

Chapter One

By Red (RedFox)

Damn, she thought as she swung her custom gun blade at her opponent. I'm SO screwed now. Her training partner then tripped her and she fell to the ground. Next thing she knew, the Lion Heart was at her throat.

"You need to watch and figure out your opponent's next move before HE even know what he's going to do," Squall Leonhart said to his student, who was lying on the ground. He lent out a hand to help her to her feet. She ignored it and got up on her own. I don't need people like him telling me what to do. I can do it on my own. She didn't like authority figures, and that included Garden's commander. He was a nice person, but he just got into other peoples' business too much. Especially hers.

Lexa was usually a pretty free-spirited person. She liked to spend a lot of time with her close friends. When she wasn't doing that, she spent her time training. While she didn't make the best grades, she didn't do too badly for someone who spent so much time in the Training Center after hours. In fact, that was her favorite place to be, except for right now, with Commander Leonhart giving her that look that said so much, even if he thought it was stoic.

"What did I do wrong, sir?" she asked, hoping for a curt reply to fix her stance or some similar thing that wouldn't take too much more of her time. "Was it the way that I attacked?"

"No," he replied. "I think that you don't want to be here, and that's why you're not concentrating on me and this lesson. I offered to teach you for a reason. I know you can be better than you are with your weapon; your mind isn't on the task and that's why you fell just now."

She knew he was right. In fact, she had anticipated his move just one second too late. She was preoccupied, and she didn't even know the reason why. She thought about it for a moment, and the only thing she could think of was that her SeeD exams were coming up soon, and she didn't think that she was prepared enough to pass. She answered with a curt, "It must be exam jitters, sir. I'm sorry. I'll try harder this time." She thought that this would please him and stopped just short of telling him what she really thought of him, gut that would be insubordination, and she didn't want that just before she took her exams.

"No, I don't think that's the reason you're not concentrating. I want you to go back to your dorm and think about what you might have done wrong this time and meet me back here at 20:00 tomorrow."

"But that's after curfew," she protested. She thought she knew where this was leading, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Like that matters to you, Miss Harper. I've seen you heading here at least three or four times this week after hours. I want you here, and if the Garden Staff bothers you, tell them that I sent for you. They'll let you pass."

"Yes, sir." She didn't dare question the look in his eyes. She couldn't have him angry with her. Not when she was this close to being a SeeD. That's all she ever wanted to be. There was no way that she'd let this arrogant bastard take that away from her now.

"And, Lexa," Squall called after her as she walked toward the exit doors of the Training Center, " I want you to come prepared tomorrow. No more of this cutting corners in training, and then avoiding my questions. I think you know better than to mess with someone who could cut you to pieces, and shoot you in the face, all before you have the chance to say, `shit'. Understood, cadet?" He softened the remark with a sort of smile with his eyes.

She nodded and left the Training Center, lost in thought. On the way back to the dorms, she thought about how she had never heard the commander joke like that with any of the other cadets before. He usually reserved that for his friends: like Zell or Selphie. He reserved his real smiles for his wife, Rinoa Leonhart. They'd been married since she had come here four years ago, at thirteen. She remembered when she had come here, so full of hope and a purpose after parents that had barely paid any attention to her. She had never seen so many people that had a purpose in life, and she adopted their composure when it came to it, and eventually had found her place. She had friends, but she had been busy with training lately, so they understood. Then when she had heard that Squall was thinking of giving tutoring with weapons, she had known hen that she was truly screwed. She was the only gun blade cadet at Garden at the moment, so she knew that she was going to be the unlucky person (in her eyes) that they were referring to. Maybe the commander was giving her lessons because she was the first woman to wield a gun blade that he had ever heard of. Whatever it was, it baffled her to no end. Lexa didn't like to be lost on a subject, and this was no exception. I'll tell him where he can shove his lessons, she thought bitterly. Then she reached her dorm after a slow walk to her room. As she went to sleep that night, she really did think that the problem with her battle that night was that she was shifting her weight too much to one side before attacking. That would enable her opponent to anticipate her attacks, as she unconsciously shifted. She would still be deciding whether or not to attack left or right, and her enemy would be ready to block either way. I was on those thoughts that she drifted off to sleep.

She was awoken the next day, by her friend Sam poking her in the ribs. "Go away," she said. All Sam heard was a mumble, so he took it as an incentive to poke her in the ribs again and say loudly, "You passed the written test!"

Lexa just said, "mmmm-hmmm," and rolled over. She had known she had passed. She had known that information for a while, at least since she had studied with all of her considerable concentration for months before the exam.

She only woke up when Sam then said, "I'm not done yet. I passed, and so did Tom. They announced the teams today. You'll be with us. You'll just die when you hear who the SeeD who'd coming with us is."

Lexa bolted upright and stared at him with disbelief. "I thought Sam wasn't going to take the test! He told me the other night when we were … studying. He said he wasn't ready."

Sam didn't mind the remark about her and Tom's relationship. Sam was one of their closest friends. It didn't matter to him whether or not they were making out. He had known them both and loved them like family. To Lexa, he was as close as any brother. Sam had the kind of face that everyone would think he was a good boy, until you got to speak with him in person. He had blond hair that he spiked up with gel, and blue eyes the color of the sky. You'd never guess that he was a prankster with a sarcastic streak as long as the barrier around Esthar.

"He told me the day before the test that he didn't want to tell you in case he didn't pass. He didn't want to look like an idiot. I told him that it was a bit late, but he hit me like I'd said something wrong." Sam gave that trademark grin that made everyone around him melt into laughter because they just knew that he was going to say something that would end up on the Garden message board the next day. " I calmly told him to quit flirting with me or I'd tell you that he wanted me. I could probably frame him on tape."

Lexa just stood up laughing and went to the bathroom to change. She couldn't go around in pajamas. Instead, she threw on a goldenrod spaghetti strap tank top with a pair of blue denim shorts that came to mid-thigh. Conservative dress for her, when she wasn't in her school uniform. She put up her light brown hair in a tie that just happened to match the shirt. It didn't matter about the color; it was the closest one to her hand at the time. She didn't put a lot of time into how she looked, and this was one of those days that Sam ogled her as she came out of the bathroom. "Girlfriend, that outfit looks just gorgeous with your tan and your hair," he said, sounding feminine on purpose. "Boys will just want to eat your up."

"You're just jealous because I have better legs than you do," Lexa countered, playing along with him for now. If it got out of hand, she could quell him with just a look. Apparently she had that effect on people. "Anyway, I've got to practice again with the commander tonight. Can you believe it? So close to the exam?"

"Well, you spend all of your time training, so I guess it makes sense that he would find out and try to help you if he could. I mean, most of the time, you say that you need to be better, and now that he tries to help you, you turn him away like he has a disease." Sam was trying to get her to go.

"I know I'm always saying I need to be better, who doesn't? Shut up," she said to Sam, who looked as though he was about to reply. "I need to figure it out on my own, I guess."

A new voice replied from the shadows of the door, which Lexa just realized was open "You sound like Squall did when I first met him."

The figure stepped out of the shadows and the two SeeD candidates jumped and said at the same time, "Ma'am!"