In Theory

  "Four weeks." he sneered.

  Quistis narrowed her eyes "Four weeks till what? Til the tooth fairy comes to get the teeth I'm about to knock out of your head?"

  "Four weeks until the operation is ready to go ahead to the final phase."

  Quistis still wasn't satisfied with the answer but decided to drop it. She could figure it out on her own. "Good boy. You get to keep your teeth for now." She turned on her heel and walked away toward the entrance.

  Zone stepped after her. "What do you think they're doing?"

  Quistis shook her head. "I've no idea, Zone, but it can't be good."

  "Why?"

  Quistis sent him a sidelong smirk. "Combining GFs, radicals, and excavations doesn't settle too well with me. Let's call it an instinct."

  Zone nodded, his face twisting in a serious expression as he said, "Yeah."

  Quistis chuckled, glanced over her shoulder back toward the excavation to gauge distance, and then halted and backed Zone against the wall. Zone blinked at her, eyes wide. "Now let's see about that 'make out' insinuation."

  Zone slowly grinned as his hands settled onto her waist. "Okay. Got to keep up appearances."

  Appearances, my ass, Quistis thought as she kissed him.

  Eight

  Objectives

  Quistis hoped that she would be able to keep the mission to the shortest amount of time necessary, unfortunately she couldn't. So, two days before Sally and Zell's wedding she waited around in the hallways looking for Jaxon. She hadn't seen him in the nearly two weeks, since she had suggested he get help, and was getting worried. He hadn't been in the Training Center the preceding Saturday. When she did finally see him in the front entry hall, she grabbed Zone--who happened to be standing next to her--and shoved him against the wall, kissing him.

  "I'm sorry, Zone," she whispered against his lips, knowing she was nothing of the sort, "but I have someone that I have to check up on."

  "That's okay," he squeaked in surprise, a wide grin forming on his lips.

  Quistis smiled when she felt the hand land on her shoulder and pull her away from Zone. One look into Jaxon's face told her all she needed to know.

  "Miss Hark, do we need to have a discussion regarding your conduct again?"

  Quistis shook her head. "No."

  Jaxon turned her around and pushed her toward the security office. "Wrong answer, let's go."

  Quistis entered his office and stopped dead in her tracks, only allowing enough room for him to get in behind her and close the door. She stared at all the new weapons around the room, on the walls and piled in the corners.

  "Wow. When you take up a hobby, you take up a hobby," she said as she slowly sat in the visitor's chair.

  He sat heavily in his chair across the desk from Quistis. She watched him as he roughly ran his hand through his hair and tried to shake the tired look from his eyes.

  "How are you doing, Jaxon?"

  He rubbed his eyes before fixing her with a flat stare. "It's been two weeks of hell. But, it’s getting easier. You know, one day at a time and all that psychological crap they feed you in counseling."

  "As long as it's working. Are you going to the wedding?"

  "Yeah, I'm leaving this evening; the last train out of here. I arrive in Balamb at some insane hour like 5 am."

  "Ouch Jaxon, I'm sorry."

  He waved a hand. "Don't listen to me. I've been complaining about everything lately."

  "You're dealing with some pretty heavy emotional stuff right now. I'd say you're rather brave for agreeing to be Zell's best man when you're just beginning to deal with the death of someone you were going to marry."

  Jaxon brought a hand up to cover his eyes as he let out a heavy breath. "Thanks, Quistis." He dropped his hand and smiled weakly. "The therapist made me laugh the other day. He said I should discuss my feelings whenever I can. My response was ‘And who exactly would you like me to discuss them with?'"

  Quistis leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "We need to get you out of here, don't we."

  "Zell's trying to help me out in that department."

  "That's good to know." Quistis motioned toward him. "So, what happened to you last Saturday?"

  Jaxon sent her a confused look briefly before answering. "Oh, last week I was in Balamb for the wedding rehearsal. I was going to try to get a message to you, but I couldn't."

  "How did it go?"

  "It'll be a beautiful wedding. Sally's going to be a beautiful bride." He paused, a grin appearing on his face, "and Dincht is about to lose his marbles. He's so drunk with love for her... who wouldn't be?"

  Quistis smiled. "I'm sorry I'll miss it, and her brother is stuck out in the middle of the ocean for the duration. I heard rumblings of them trying to get a live video feed for him.... Oh. And I have another message that needs to get to Seifer."

  Jaxon leaned forward. "Go on."

  "Last week I was sent down into a cavern they've been excavating for the last several months. They're on schedule for the final phase happening three and a half weeks from today. I don't know what exactly it is yet, but I have a bad feeling about it. There's something in that cavern of incredible power, and I'm afraid they want to try to take advantage of it. They've been stockpiling explosives, trafficking the arms to finance the purchase of said explosives. That alone tells me there is no financier. Schalk has to be the one leading the whole thing."

  "Okay, I'll get that note to Almasy first thing in the morning. I'm sure Janine will be thrilled when I pound on the door at 5:30 am." A silence fell between them. Jaxon pulled a behavior report out of his desk. "I should send you off to the detention room, or would you prefer a physical assignment?"

  "It doesn't matter; I'll blow it off either way."

  Jaxon smiled as he wrote some notes. "Spoken with the heart of a true troublemaker." He ripped the paper off the pad with a flourish and handed it across the desk to Quistis. She took it from him and stood to leave the room. She stopped short of the door.

  "Do you have anyone to talk to if you can't find me or your doctor?" she asked quietly.

  Jaxon pulled a phone from his pocket. "I have Zell's number and I have Janine's number. I accidentally woke Sally Regal up in the middle of the night, after a nightmare, I must've touched Dincht 2 instead of Dincht 1 on the phone."

  Quistis nodded and smiled. "I'm glad you're getting help. Good luck, and I'll probably run into you at the reception." She once again submerged into the character of Iselle Hark before tossing the door open and storming out of the security section of Deling Garden.

  *

  The seldom used ballroom of Deling Garden was only slightly decorated with a few holiday lights and a ribbon or two on the food tables. Quistis entered the room after having had her name checked off on the list outside the door. As a problem student, she was required to attend the reception for Sally and Zell, 'a social-skills building exercise' the notice had said. Otherwise the invitation had been sent to the Deling staff and student body. Zone was going to go as soon as he got out of the office in Deling City.

  The ballroom was reminiscent of Balamb's, but obviously not used as often. The happy couple had not yet arrived, so Quistis migrated over to the food table. She was one of only a handful of people in attendance, most of those being instructors and staff who knew either Zell or Sally, even if only by reputation. It's probably better that way.

  Music played and while there was space for a dance floor, no one danced. Quistis looked toward the door as it opened to reveal a comfortable looking Jaxon stepping through. Her eyes followed him as he inspected the room and the tables of food and drink before he turned and his eyes settled on her with surprise. He sent a barely discernible wink in her direction before turning to briskly leave the room again, presumably to make more rounds.

  The door didn't open again for several minutes. Quistis spoke with the one or two instructors whose classes she attended. She looked up as a presence stopped beside he
r. Trebuchet, one of Schalk's lackeys, had stopped to lean against the wall next to her.

  "So, Hark, they're making you come to this thing too, huh?"

  She scoffed. "Yes, can't see why, but I figured I'd get some free food that's probably better than the usual slop they serve in the cafeteria."

  "Yeah, they have hot dogs!" he said as he stuffed one in his mouth.

  Quistis rolled her eyes in disgust. "Great." The sarcasm practically dripped from her words.

  "Are you excited about the project?" he asked quietly.

  "Yeah, it'll be a blast." She didn't expect him to react with guffaws of laughter, so she twitched when he did.

  "That's good, Hark. Very funny. I didn't know you had it in you."

  She only regarded him with a sneer while hoping he would continue talking. Having already had a few drinks in his room, he was ready to oblige.

  "Roman told me we're going to finish the blasting in a little over three weeks. Then we're going to have the greatest power in all the world at our command."

  Quistis could barely restrain her desire to hop around the room. Somehow she managed to contain her joy at the new information. "I just hope we're able to obtain enough explosives by then," she said, trying to string him along.

  "Oh we will. There's a train next week from the old missile silos in Galbadia. With Almasy's top hacker gone on her honeymoon, how could they possibly find out?"

  Quistis turned abruptly toward him, grabbing his shirt. "By drunk idiots like you flapping their lips together too much." She shoved him away hard enough to make him run into the pillar behind him.

  "Ow! That hurt, Iselle!"

  "Go cry to your Mommy about it," she snapped, dragging him back toward her until he was inches from her face. "If you screw this up for the rest of us, you'll be very unhappy about it for the rest of your life." She shoved him away again, enjoying the reaction on his face.

  A hand landed heavily on her shoulder. She smiled inwardly. Good timing, Jax. I need to speak with you. She let the hand turn her around to face its owner.

  Quistis gaped as her blue eyes met the hard green ones of Seifer. The smirk he wore was more satisfied than usual.

  "What is going on here? You getting beaten up by a girl?" he asked the equally surprised Trebuchet who rubbed the back of his head.

  Quistis tried to think through the surprise induced fog, so she did the only thing she could think of that would get her hauled from the room. Her fist connected with Seifer's jaw, solidly. He staggered back a few steps from the blow. Quistis shook her hand out, her knuckles protesting the abuse.

  She let Seifer manhandle her out of the room to the temporary security office. He shoved her into the room, slamming the door so hard the building seemed to shake.

  "Damn it, Trepe. Where'd you learn to hit like that?" he asked rubbing his jaw.

  Quistis smirked. "Do you have any idea how many bad characters live here?" She watched Seifer pull a bag of ice out of the refrigerator in the room and hold it to his face. "Did I really hit you that hard?"

  "Yes, you did. Now, report."

  "The only things you don't know are: 1) The final phase of blasting is supposed to be in three weeks; 2) They're after 'the greatest power in all the world.' and 3) they are expecting to hit a train bound from the Galbadia missile silos next week."

  "Well, I'm glad to know my leaks work," he replied.

  Quistis raised her eyebrows in surprise. "There's no train?"

  "There's a train, but it'll be filled with duds."

  Quistis nodded her head, considering the information. "Oh, that's good to know."

  "I want you to get back into that reception and see what else you can get. Get me the date of the final phase and we'll be there. Use Crest."

  "You've met Jaxon?" Quistis brought her eyes up to look at Seifer.

  "Yes. He's a good officer. We could use more SeeDs like him."

  "No argument there. How exactly am I going to explain that you just let me go back to the reception?"

  Seifer shrugged. "I touched you. You reacted. It's all part of the training."

  Quistis exited the room and ran into Zone on the way back to the ballroom.

  "Hi, hot stuff," she whispered in his ear.

  Zone jumped back from her, his face turning bright red. "Iselle, you've got to quit doing that to me."

  "Why? I'm just having a little fun."

  "Your fun is going to kill me," he said with a poked finger at his chest.

  "Fine, ruin my fun. It's okay," she said with a twinkle in her eye. She turned back to the room at the sound of the main doors opening and a light applause beginning. Sally and Zell descended the stairs into the room, happy as could be. They didn't seem to notice the few glares sent their direction from candidates who had been forced to attend. Quistis tried her best to hide her own happiness for them, slugging Zone lightly on the arm when she caught him smiling.

  "Remember, they put you here," she whispered in his ear. He nodded at her, changing his expression from a smile to a dark frown.

  The couple began making their rounds of the room saying 'hello' to instructors and staff and largely avoiding the students who glowered at them. As they approached Quistis, Zone ducked behind a pillar. Quistis watched Zell's face as realization dawned who he approached. She restrained the laugh when Zell tugged on Sally's arm who had stopped to take a second look at her.

  "Zell, does Quistis have a sister?" she heard floating back to her. Quistis only hoped that no one else heard it.

  *

  Sally and Zell didn't stay too long at the Deling reception. It had begun raining, and as the sun set on the day, the room got darker and darker. It didn't take too long for the lighting to become soft as the heavy cloud cover outside didn't allow for much natural light to filter into the room. Quistis stood in a shadowy corner with Zone sipping from her club soda.

  "So, what are we going to do after this?" Zone asked, looking down into his own glass of soda.

  Quistis looked over at him, studying the way the small stringed holiday lights glinted off his hair. "Go to sleep, I guess."

  A chuckle came from Zone. "That's not what I mean."

  She nodded her head. "I know, but I'm trying not to think about it. We have another three weeks before we can really do anything but concentrate on this."

  Zone hesitated, letting out a relieved breath. "But you are thinking about it?"

  Her expression relaxed into a smile. "Of course I am."

  She turned back to the dance floor where there were a few people dancing to the music in the dim light of the evening. Due to the architectural lighting on the outside, she could see the droplets of rain coursing down the clear dome. Her eyes settled on the tall frame of Jaxon standing near a doorway leading to a balcony. She watched him as he sipped from a glass, his posture straight as he stood just inside enough to keep from getting wet. He bowed his head as he pulled something from the neckline of his dress jacket and brought it to his lips before tucking it back into his jacket and briskly walking from the room. She didn't know what had happened or why it touched her so deeply, but Quistis had to blink back the tears in her eyes and swallow the knot of emotion that had risen in her throat.

  Nine

  Mission Resolve

  A few days after the wedding, and after a morning training exercise, Quistis was surprised to find a piece of paper in her bag. She looked around and caught a glimpse of Jaxon quickly disappearing into building.

  Tomb. 1100.

  Quistis pressed her lips together committing the note to memory before tearing it into the tiniest pieces her finger could manage. She found Zone in the hallway talking to another member of the radical faction.

  "Hi Zone, Miko," she said as she leaned against the wall close to Zone.

  The cadet named Miko swept Quistis' body with his eyes. "Iselle, why do you go to these training sessions? No one cares if you do."

  She gave a delicate shrug, lea
ning her body suggestively closer to Zone. "I like to be in shape for my man. I might as well use the opportunity."

  "Whatever," Miko scoffed. "I gotta go. Roman called me this morning." And the cadet disappeared into the milling crowd.

  Zone grinned, "You like to be in shape for me?"

  "Of course, Zone," she purred with a sly smile, a finger running down the front of his shirt. "It's all for you." Zone sounded a silly chuckle, which caused a laugh from Quistis. She shook her head and straightened, lowering her hand from the wall. "We're taking a little trip to the tomb out on the peninsula," she informed him.

  His face drained of color. "The tomb? Iselle, you know I'm not up for that."

  "We won't have to go too far inside." She again leaned toward him, a hand taking hold of his shirt, "And I'm the only thing in there you should be afraid of."

  His answering grin made her laugh as she turned and walked with him out of the building.

  *

  Approaching the Tomb of the Unknown King, Quistis took her staff out and held it ready. She only assumed the message came from Jaxon...

  "Hey, Iselle, over here!" Quistis spun around at the sound of the familiar voice of Zack Regal. He was lounging under a tree with her double, Terrie, standing guard.

  "Zack, what are you doing here?" she asked accepting the hug he gave her.

  "I want to know what's going on, Head Goon promised to set up the meeting, and here you are. Hey, Zone."

  Zone shook Zack's hand before the four settled into the grass.

  "So, what's the scoop, Quis? What's going on?" Zack asked eagerly.

  Quistis' expression changed, becoming much more serious. "A lot, and it could be a lot more serious than we originally thought. We've got the guy who is third in command of this Garden, SLC Roman Schalk, recruiting cadets. Both Zone and I were recruited by him. The arms sales aren't about profit."

  Zack wrote notes furiously, "What are they about?"

  "Explosives, big ones, and lots of them. From what I've gathered the explosives are not going to be used offensively."

  He looked up from his paper. "Why?"

  "There's a cavern under Deling City they've been excavating for over two years. Something of awesome power is down there. I've felt it myself. I think, and this is pure speculation, I think there is a sentient GF down there. Someone like Odin or Gilgamesh. Before I left I heard something about a GF they were calling Asura. Of course, I've been out of the loop for a while now."