Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Green Flame ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

After their little muchie session, the trio of friends went back to the dorms to fetch Lexa's things, and then headed to the Training Center. Even though they got there five minutes early, they still found Commander Leonhart waiting for Lexa. He was sweating as though he had been there for a long time, and not for the reason that he said he would be. The anger was apparent in his eyes as the three walked to him.

"This isn't a spectator sport, gentlemen," he said with mock calmness. His eyes still spat fire, and it was starting to `freak out' his students more than a little.

"Excuse us, sir, but we're here for moral support. Lexa is a little nervous about the SeeD exam coming up tomorrow, and we just wanted to make sure that she gets to bed on time and to comfort her. No offense, but she's been stressed because of these little training sessions, sir." Sam came to all of their defenses, though Lexa had wished that he hadn't been so brutally honest. She didn't want her tormentor to know that she was getting the jitters before her exam. Now he would try to take it easy on her, because everyone knew that girls got more nervous than boys. Blah, blah, blah.

"That's good to hear. I would be worried if she wasn't worried. That doesn't mean that we're going to stop any sooner tonight than we have on previous nights. You could be doing back to back missions when you're a SeeD, and this will just give you practice. But as for you two, I don't mind you staying. I suggest you go and get your weapons. This area has monsters in it, and I wouldn't want any of my students to get caught unprepared after all the training they've gone through. Come to think of it, if there's time, I might help both of you with you're technique. It couldn't hurt any. Now go and get your weapons. I'll wait until you both get back before we start." Squall finished his large (for him) speech with a motion to get them going. Sam and Tom were quick to comply and jogged out of the area, leaving Lexa alone with the imposing man.

"No offense, sir, but that's the longest I've heard you speak in a long time." Lexa spoke quietly, not meaning to make him any angrier than what she saw in his eyes. She paused. "Permission to ask a question, sir?"

"None taken, and ask away."

"You seem angry. Might I know why?" She still spoke softly, just in case.

"Just a bad day, Miss Harper," he said, then seeming to consider for a moment, continued, "I just found out that a few SeeDs have been taken during a reconnaissance mission and are being held by Galbadian troops. As you know, we're battling for Timber's independence. Rinoa feels very strongly about this issue, as she used to be part of the Timber resistance. She wants to come along with us tomorrow, and I can't have her there when we storm the place, take out the Galbadians, and take back our people. It's a complicated mission, but the only one I have for the candidates to take. The problem is, Rinoa won't be persuaded to stay here, but I can't keep an eye out for her, grade the candidates, and lead a battle at the same time. Got any solutions to that one, cadet?" He asked her hopefully and rhetorically at the same time, if that was even possible.

"Take her with us, sir. She'd be able to help and you'd be able to keep an eye on her, and one on us. Hell, I'd help you, if you'd let me. Mrs. Leonhart is an amazing woman, and one that everyone around here respects. I may not like you that much, but I'll do almost anything to save her. Her, Tom, and Sam." She had blurted this out so quickly that it didn't have time to register until she had finished, but by then the commander had picked up on her comments and was returning fire.

"You may not like me, Miss Harper, but I've taken a shine to you. You're confidant, and brash, and everything that I wasn't a few years ago. I like that in a student, and I'd like to have that in a friend. Someone I can trust to watch my back and not to kill me in a duel, the way that Mr. Almasy might have if given the chance. What do you say Lexa? Give me a chance?" The question was sincere, if the look in his eyes was any indication. She knew she looked confused, and was even more so on the inside. Her tormentor wanted to be friends with her? It just didn't make any sense to her mind. This man had been putting her through hell for days on end. She didn't want to think of him as a friend because of that. But she liked the was that he treated her, kind of like Tom did, but without love, more like a brother would have, if she'd had one.

"Sir, I don't know what to think. You've put me through hell and back these past few weeks with training, and I don't know how you can do that to someone and still want to be their friend." Now she was speaking reflexively and to hell with the consequences. She wanted her opinion to be heard, and now wasn't the time to go all girly on the commander.

Now he was staring at her with open amusement. Apparently his students didn't talk this way to him on a regular basis. But Lexa had a head full of steam and she wasn't about to let it all go to waste. "I want to know why the hell you wanted to train me in the first place. You and Mr. Almasy never had anyone to train with other than each other, and you never went easy on each other either. Yet you two were the best gun blade specialists the world has seen in a while. How do you think that a simple training session with you will help me be better than I already am? Practical experience works much better than these sessions that we've been doing, and I want to know if you've been taking it easy on me because I'm a girl." She finished her rant with a huff of air and waited rather nervously for Squall's reply.

It took him a minute, but finally he looked at her rather appraisingly, and seemed to change what he was originally was going to say. "I haven't been taking it easy on you. In fact, I've been giving you lessons on that would have been hard for Siefer and me back during the Second Sorceress War. You are just so good with a gun blade that you think they are simple lessons. I've actually been trying to get you a couple of times, and you repelled the attack with such ease that I've had to break out battle tactics to get you down. If this had been a normal training session that Siefer and I used to have, I would have barely won, even with all of the experience that I acquired during the war. You see, Lexa, I've been training with you for two reasons. First, I wanted you to be the best that you could be. Which, after training with you recently, I've realized might be greater than what Siefer and I would be combined. And the second reason is that I might be able to better myself. I haven't seen battle in a while. This mission to Timber will be the first time that I've been out for a long time now, since I've been here in Garden with Rinoa. If not for the training, I might have gotten into serious trouble. But training with you has made me find my battle tactics again. I want to thank you for that." But Lexa wasn't listening at this point. He had lost her at some point before `barely won.' Now she was just staring at him as if the Lunar Cry had transformed him, and she had to fight him.

The commander noticed this, and tried to regain her attention with something that would normally be scoffed at. "I can tie my own shoes now. Aren't I a big boy?" Lexa still didn't snap out of it, so he tried waving a hand in front of her face. Now the commander noticed that she wasn't even looking at him anymore; she was looking at a point some thirty feet behind him.

Now sensing the trouble they were in, he turned slowly to look at what held his trainee so transfixed. Now standing there, was none other than …

"Oh, shit," he whispered.

Author's note: There you have it, something other than teenage angst. I wonder what awaits our heroes in next week's installment? Wait, that's some outdated Batman thing, I've been watching too much late night TV. I've realized that I've only gotten reviews from Starzie, and that's cuz she read it while it was still in its fledgling stages. Anyway, PLEASE review and tell me what you think. I know I'm bad, but it shouldn't be that bad. Geez. Later, RedFox.