Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Green Flame ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

I'm gonna need the lives of a cat to get through this one alive, Tom thought as he walked through the Monster's Lair. He was waiting here near the entrance. Sam and Lexa were going to be here any minute. Contrary to popular belief (Sam's opinion), he had passed the written exam. He thought that his girlfriend was going to be furious with him.

He tousled his short black hair and sighed. Thank goodness they're late. I could use the extra time to think. Okay, he would need to talk his way out of things, or accept the way she felt about what he did to her. He preferred the latter, of course, but he was prepared to take action on the former.

Now he was getting worried. Where the hell is Sam? He didn't need to sit here all damn day and tempt fate. He didn't have his guns with him here, and if he happened to run into any of the monsters, he was screwed. So he decided to wait in the corridor of the Training Center instead. He would wait there five more minutes and then go kill Sam. It was the only reasonable thing to do.

"Ma'am!" Sam and Lexa said in unison. Lexa continued, "I didn't know you were coming."

"I should hope not!" Rinoa Leonhart laughed and looked at each of them in turn. "I heard who passed the written test and came to congratulate each of them personally." She looked at them again, this time seemingly taking a count of how many of them there were. " I assumed that Mr. Jackson would be here with you two. Do you know where I might find him?"

Lexa passed an uncertain glance at Sam, only to see that he was already heading toward the door and saying, "Of course, he was waiting for me to come and get Lexa. If you'll follow me, ladies." Then he gave them his most charming smile, and Lexa saw how most of the girls that went out with him had gotten into their predicament.

He went out of the dormitory area and started to lead them towards the Training Center. Sam looked surprised to see Tom waiting for them outside of the main center, and walking towards them. When the commander's wife stepped out from behind the corridor corner, though, he stopped dead with a question in his glance. Sam, as always, took initiative to explain things to one of his best friends.

"Mrs. Leonhart came to congratulate Lexa and I on passing the written test. Since you weren't in the vicinity of your lovely girlfriend, she asked us where you were, and here we are."

Tom gave Lexa his most apologetic look and graciously shook Rinoa's hand, which was proffered to each of them afterwards.

Rinoa moved on to the pressing topic, which was their mission to become SeeDs. "I expect each of you to pass the field exam tomorrow. You will have today to prepare, and you and your SeeD leader will leave Garden at the first opportunity tomorrow. I know this is last minute, but we have a priority mission tomorrow. They haven't cut it this close to the written exams in years, but we have no choice. As the commander's wife, I have spoken to Squall, and he has agreed to let me brief the candidates for the mission, so that we … they … can begin first thing tomorrow. Are there any complaints about the schedule? You will most likely be leaving under the cover of darkness. So go to sleep early and wake the same. Understood?" She barely waited for their acknowledging nodes before she continued, "Good. We received a call from our client this morning. In this case, our client happens to be Timber. Even though the Second Sorceress War is over, Galbadia refuses to release its hold on the town. The clients seem to think that five years after the war should have been more than enough to remove Galbadian troops from their home. Apparently not. We are to meet the client at the Timber Maniacs building and take further action from there. These clients are friends of Squall's and mine, and this mission is important to us. We have waited for years to rid Timber of its Galbadian occupants, and now that we have our chance, we are going to take and utilize it until Timber becomes independent." Rinoa was raising her voice.

This must mean a lot to her, Lexa thought. Do I have that type of loyalty to anything? She thought to herself a moment, and then she had her answer. Not to a place, but to Sam and Tom. I would do anything for them.

"Meet in the lobby tomorrow morning at 4:00 am. Squall will be waiting for all of the candidates with the SeeD accompaniments. See you then. As I said before, this mission is important to both Squall and I. We aren't going to just send candidates in. This one is going to be big, very big. Be prepared." And with that, she walked off.

There was a full minute of silence before they spoke. Of course, the first one to speak was Sam with a quiet, "Whoa. I didn't know that she felt that way about anything that had to do with missions."

Tom and Lexa silently agreed. Normally she would talk about fighting as if it were something to be avoided. Which it was, but they thought she was like Mayor Dobe; all nonviolence. But then again, how could she have married a mercenary if that were the case? Oh well, Lexa thought. It doesn't concern us. Instead she turned to Tom and said, "Now what is this about taking the exam without telling me? I would have been fine if you had told me, you know. Instead, you take it behind my back in hopes that I wouldn't find out. I think I know why you did it, too. You thought that if you failed, that I would think less of you." Tom had a very guilty look on his face and Lexa knew her words had hit a mark. "I knew it! You had better have a DAMN good way to make this up to me, before I send you into the Lair without your weapons, buck naked." Lexa put on her most evil grin, hoping that she had convinced him that she would actually do it if he didn't do as she asked.

Sam interrupted, probably saving his friend from a most unfortunate fate. "Um … Lexa?"

"What is it Sam dearest?"

"Before you go punishing Tom for what he did, I'm getting my news out of the way first, so that I don't have to stick around and see him naked. Remember how I told you in you dorm that I knew who our accompanying SeeD would be? Well … " He trailed off and Lexa felt her stomach plummet.

"No. Dammit, NO! Not Commander Leonhart!" Sam nodded and she felt her knees go weak. Tom was there in an instant, to hold her steady as she went to punch Sam in a futile effort to make him pay for those words. As he held her, she turned into his embrace, and said, "Fuck. Tom, I can't do it with his criticizing stare looking at me, ready for me to do something wrong. And I have to train with him tonight, too. What the hell am I going to do?" She paused. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to throw you into the Lair naked. Though it would be nice for a little payment. Forgive me?"

"How could I not? Same?"

"Duh. Sam, I don't want to kill you anymore. Hug?"

Sam moved to envelope both Tom and Lexa. He turned back on his feminine voice. "I don't know what I would do without you guys … I love you both soooo much!" He said the last with a hint of fake sadness, and the couple couldn't help but laugh within their friend's embrace. "Now, have you forgotten? All of us are going to be together for this, and there's no way that he'd criticize you on your test. I don't think he's allowed to. As for tonight's little training session, Tom and I will come with you to make it better. And for right now? Let's head to the cafeteria and get some snacks, then talk about which questions on the written were a pain in the ass. Kay?"

"What would we do without you, Sam?" Tom asked.

"Hell if I know," he answered.

The group headed off to the east block in search of munchies hand in hand.

Author's note: Okay, end of chapter two. Thanks to Starzie, who read this when we were still in school, and I had nothing else better to do but write fiction. I don't own Squall, or any of the other characters or things from Final Fantasy VIII. I do own Sam, Lexa, Tom and other upcoming characters. PLEASE REVIEW!!! It will tell me if I should just shoot this idea or post the other 5 or 6 chapters that are already written. Thanks again to my best friend Starzie.