Final Fate Forever

Chapter 6: Apprentice

"Desiray, I can't believe you brought her here!" Venas cried as they walked into Balamb Garden.

"Hey, how am I supposed to 'watch her' if I don't take her with me?" Desiray argued.

"You could've slammed her in the brig, I don't know!"

"Hey, guys look at me!" Dalena said happily, performing cartwheels in the background.

"Yeah, that's nice," Venas said, not really paying attention, "Desiray, now we have to deal with taking care of her, training her and making sure she doesn't drive Balamb Garden insane!"

"Look what I can do!" Dalena continued to do cartwheels.

"Yeah, we see ya," Desiray said annoyingly, "well, we still have that crowd taser we could use..."

"You guys look!"

"Nah, we've used it too much already," Venas rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"You're not looking!"

"Well, we have to introduce her now," Desiray sighed.

"Yeah, you're right," Venas grabbed Dalena by the arm and dragged her towards the others.

"Hi, guys what's up?" Dalena winked at them.

"Ugh, guys, this is Dalena Angel. Don't let the name fool you, she's a pain in the ass," Venas growled. She looked to the side to see that Dalena was no longer there. "Shit!"

"Boo!" Dalena jumped over Venas as if they were playing leap frog.

"Damnit! I hate when you do that!" Venas reached for her, only to have her jump out of the way.

"Catch me if you can!" she teased and kept dogding Venas.

"That's it," Venas pulled a gun from her leg strap and pointed it in Dalena's face. "Sit down and shut up," she ordered. Dalena immediately sat down in the chair behind her only to have it spin several times.

"Whoa, this chair spins!"

"Sorry guys, but apparently there are laws against killing annoying people," she glared at Dalena.

"Exactly what is this nusense doing with you?" Seifer asked.

"She's my apprentice," Venas sighed, "though she's not learning much."

"Apprentice for what?" Selphie asked.

"Hey guys and gals, what's going on?" Irvine walked up to them and eyed Venas. "Who's this lovely lady?"

"Blow off," Venas glared at him.

"This is Venas Saberhardt," Zell said.

"Venas Saberhardt?! You're that rouge SeeD aren't you?" Irvine asked in astonishment.

"Damn straight! It's about time I got some recognition around here," Venas shifted her weight.

"Rouge SeeD? That's you?" Quistis asked.

"The one and only," she smirked. "Seifer, you and Zell knew, why didn't you tell them?"

"Cause I'm the legend around here," Seifer lied.

"Ha! You, you're kidding right?" Venas laughed. Seifer growled and threw her over his shoulder again. "Whoa! Seifer, quit it!" She pushed off his back and flipped them both head over heels. Venas landed on her feet and dusted herself off.

"Damn," Zell whistled.

"Anyway! I'm supposed to be training Dalena," Venas answered Selphie's question.

"Well, why?" Selphie asked.

"Because, if I don't my charges won't be dropped in some town that her grandfather is the president, or mayor or something," Venas said.

"If it's such a small town, why do you care?"

"Because of their resources, plus they're not big on publicity so it's a great place to hide out," she said.

"Speaking of which, they're not exactly crazy about us in Balamb either," Desiray reminded her.

"Right, we'd better leave," Venas said.

"Isn't there a way you could stay?" Rinoa asked.

"No can do sis, only way would be to do some act of justice for them and that ain't happening," Venas said.

"Oh, yes it is," Seifer said.

~*~

"Tell me again why I agreed to this?" Venas asked, holding a bag full of clothes and make up as well as some other items.

"Because then we can stay here as another hideout," Desiray said she pulled out a small box from the bag. "Plus, I think Seifer likes you," she smirked.

"Yeah right, so what's this?" she looked at the small box in her hands.

"Hair dye, you're going blonde!"

"What!?"

"Have fun, I'll be out in the van, this sting has to be perfect. I've got to make a sound check for your mic," she closed the door to the dorm and left. Quistis, Zell, Fujin and Irvine followed her. Selphie was going to keep Dalena company and quiet. Raijin, Seifer and Squall waited for Venas to get ready.

"This is just perfect," Venas grumbled as she finished curling the last strand of her hair.

"Hurry up in there!" Seifer growled.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" she yelled through the door. She donned the mini skirt and tube top. After strapping on the spike heels, she applied the excessive make-up and grabbed a small purse before walking out the door.

"Good god," Squall stared at her wide-eyed.

"Geez, I've never dressed up as two cent whore before, gimme a break," she scoffed.

"Now there's a surprise, ya know," Raijin snickered.

"I have spike heels on, don't tempt me," she threatened.

"Give me your magic spells and all your weapons," Seifer ordered after he had recovered from his initial shock.

"What? Why?"

"Because you have to look completely innocent and vulnerable to this guy, he can sense if you're armed or not," he explained.

"You think I'm going to let myself be stalked by a serial killer and not be armed? How stupid do you think I am!?" she glared at him.

"Technically you will be armed. We'll be in contact the whole time, if something goes wrong we'll know and jump in the second it happens," Seifer reassured her.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "And you won't leave the monitors for any reason?"

"I promise," he said.

"Alright," she gave in and gave him her gun, whip and all her magic spells.

"Let's go," Squall ordered.

~*~

"Ready?" Desiray asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she sighed and started walking down an abandoned part of town and into an alley. After waiting for a while, she decided to keep walking. "Are you sure this guys's gonna show?" She asked, walking down the sidewalk. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. Her eyes darted to the side, acknowledging his presence behind her.

Venas walked into an alley and whispered into the mic, "you guys better be on edge."

"You're very beautiful," he said behind her, causing her to spin around, "it's a shame I'll have to destroy that pretty face." He charged up a thunder spell and shot it at her. The force of the blow sent her crashing towards the wall behind her.

~*~

Desiray immediately ripped the headphones off her ears as a high pitched whirring echoed through them and then static. Nothing but static. "Damnit... that stupid attack must have damaged the mic."

"Well, how are we going to know if she needs our help or not?" Squall asked.

"Go..." Rinoa whispered. "She's in trouble, go now!"

~*~

Venas let out a cry as he continued to use magic spells on her. "Seifer where are you?" She rose to her feet against all protests of her muscles and tried to evade the spells. Unfortunately, she was already worn, battered and bruised leaving her with little energy to dogde attacks.

~*~

Seifer, Squall and Zell jumped out of the van and into the alley where Venas was laying on her back on the ground with the guy hovering above her. Venas instinctively raised her hand and used a magic spell, sending him crashing away from her. Zell ran over to her side and helped her up.

"What the hell took you guys so long?!" she growled at them, leaning on Zell for support.

"The mic blew, we couldn't hear anything," he explained as they ran back to the van and left the guy in handcuffs.

"I thought I told you to give me all your magic spells?" Seifer glared at her.

"I did! I don't know where that came from," she defended herself.

"You guys don't think..." Rinoa trailed off.

"What?" Venas asked.

"I think you have Rinoa's sorceress powers," Squall said.

~*~

"Leave me alone, you're the last person I want to talk to right now," Venas shouted from in her dorm. She got undressed and jumped into the tub for a bubble bath.

"Venas, open this door!" Seifer demanded. No reply, Venas ignored him as he slammed the door open. He looked around and started pounding on her bathroom door. "Damnit, Venas, I know you're in there, now open up!"

When Venas didn't reply he slammed his elbow on the door knob and turned it at the same time, opening the door. He looked in to see that Venas, luckily, was covered in bubbles and around her were a few lit candles. She was wearing headphones and listening to some music. She glanced over at him, her eyes narrowed, before shutting them slowly again.

"Go away," she said softly.

"No," he stated.

"Jesus, Seifer, I'm freaking naked, get out!" she growled at him.

"I'm not leaving," he said slowly.

"Then at least turn around so I can get out of the damn bath tub!" She yelled, making Seifer turn around while she yanked the robe off the hook and wrapped it around herself. She pushed her way passed him and out of the bathroom to sit on her bed.

"We have to talk about this," he said to her.

"What? You, the great Seifer wants to talk to a girl because she's pissed at him? I don't buy it, you wouldn't give a shit, what's the catch?"

"There's no catch damnit, now just listen to me!" he grasped her shoulders and pinned her down to the bed.

"Let go of me," she said lethally. Seifer did as she said, but stayed in front of her.

"Look, I know I said I'd protect you, but the mic fucked up, and we couldn't hear what was going on," he explained as she furiously rustled her hair with a towel. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah, the mic fucked up your hearing," she said, obviously not paying attention.

"I'm sorry alright," he looked at her as she got up and laughed.

"Yeah right! You, sorry? I don't think so," she started to comb her hair in the mirror, sitting down at the vanity.

"Why are you acting like this?" he glared at her.

"Why are YOU acting like this?! What did a sorceress possess you or something!?" she glared back at him in the mirror.

"Venas," he said softly.

"What?" she replied haughtily.

"Rinoa was possessed by a sorceress and now you two share those powers," he explained. Venas rolled her eyes at this and continued to brush her hair. "Don't fucking roll your eyes at me brat!" he snapped.

"Now, that's the Seifer I know," she stood up and faced him. "Now what is all this damn talk about me having sorceress powers?"

"Try it, dry your hair," he ordered. Venas looked up at her still blonde bangs, thinking it silly she crossed her arms. "Just do it!"

"Fine," she growled and closed her eyes to concentrate. "This is stupid," she opened her eyes to see Seifer glance up at her hair before looking back into her eyes.

Venas looked up to see her bangs to be dry, "whoa..."