Final Fantasy VIII~Quistis Trepe

Quistis Trepe

"You know, the boys often choke on this test when I come with them. I guess my charm makes them nervous..."

—Quistis Trepe

Quistis Trepe is a playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. She is a child prodigy and Blue Mage Instructor No. 14 at Balamb Garden. Her fans are known to be referred as "Trepies" after her in-game fan club.

Quistis was an orphan at the end of the Sorceress War, growing up in Edea's Orphanage with Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer, Squall and Ellone, and admired Edea Kramer, their "matron". She was nicknamed "Quisty" by her friends and was considered the "bossy" one of the bunch. When Ellone left, she attempted to take her place in being Squall's "big sister", always being there to break him and Seifer up when they fought.

Eventually she was adopted but, due to unknown circumstances that resulted in her adoption "not working out", she was entered into Balamb Garden at the age of 10 and, at the age of 15, she became one of the youngest students to become a SeeD and went on to become an instructor, receiving her license at age 17. When she had entered the Garden she first noticed Seifer and Squall, as the two were always fighting. Even when she became an instructor she could not stop thinking about Squall, confusing her childhood feelings as a "big sister" for love. She hid her feelings though, even more so when she became his instructor.

Quistis with Squall in a corridor on Balamb Garden.

During her time as a student Quistis became close friends with Xu, another Garden student, and together they climbed the ranks of Balamb Garden's Card Club with Quistis eventually becoming the card master "King"; the highest ranked and skilled member in the club, at age 14.

Three years later Quistis had become something of an idol to some of the students, so much that they had even created a fan club around her. Naming themselves "Trepies", they respect and idolize everything she does and are also slightly protective of her. Quistis herself takes their actions in stride and ignores them for the most part, concentrating only on her job as instructor of her class. Two students she keeps specific attention on are Squall and Seifer, the former due to her hidden feelings, the latter due to his misconduct.

When the two injure each other in a training match Quistis is called to personally retrieve Squall, who had been admitted to the infirmary. Due to the mishap she is aware Squall is behind in his prerequisite tests for his field exam and goes out of her way to assist him in passing. During the field exam Quistis aids him again by fending off the X-ATM092 with a mounted machine gun.

Quistis attempts to find counsel from Squall

Despite these admirable actions, during the inauguration ball, she receives a letter of dismissal. Informed that she has failed as an instructor and her Instructor License is revoked as of midnight, she attempts to confide her feelings to Squall, but only receives a cold demeanor in return.

Acting now as a SeeD, Quistis is called to track and contain Seifer when he breaks out of the disciplinary room. Following him to Timber, she calls for assistance from Squall's team, who are also in Timber, as Seifer holds the Galbadian President Vinzer Deling hostage in the TV Station. When Seifer disappears, presumed captured, Quistis stays with Squall's team, lying low for a while before they are given word it is clear to leave town. When Zone hands out the train tickets for their route out of town he hands his ticket to Quistis. She vows she would repay him one day, and Rinoa offers a tidbit that Zone likes naughty magazines. In Timber forest, Quistis experiences the "dreams" of Laguna with the others.

Arriving at Galbadia Garden, Quistis offers her help in talking to Headmaster Martine and reveals she knows him because she used to attend to classes there. Later she, along with the rest of Squall's group and a Galbadian student Irvine Kinneas, are selected to participate in a mission to assassinate the Galbadian Ambassador Sorceress Edea.

Quistis calls Rinoa out on her childishness

With Squall as the group's leader, they take a train to Deling City to meet with their contact, General Caraway. Caraway tells the SeeDs of his plan to assassinate the sorceress using two teams; one to trap her under the gateway and the other to snipe her from afar.

Squall elects Quistis to be the leader of the gateway team. When the briefing finishes Quistis is momentarily diverted by Rinoa, who has another plan to stop the sorceress, but Quistis berates her; thinking that Rinoa's plan was only contrived to oppose her father. As the ceremony begins Quistis begins to feel guilty over what she said to Rinoa. Heading back, with her group in tow, to apologize, she instead gets locked inside the Caraway Mansion. After discovering a secret door to the sewers they manage to make it back to their position in time to trap the sorceress.

The assassination fails and both teams are captured and imprisoned in D-District Prison. Quistis, Zell, Rinoa and Selphie are imprisoned together, while Squall is imprisoned separately without their knowledge. Using Zell's knowledge of the prison layout and martial arts skills they recover their weapons and escape, finding Squall and Irvine in the process.

Quisits serving as an assistant for Squall

In retaliation for the attack on Sorceress Edea, Galbadia targets Balamb and Trabia Gardens for missile attack. Splitting into two groups, Squall's group and Selphie's group, the escapees manage to save Balamb Garden from destruction and finally reunite in Fishermans Horizon.

Overseeing the care of the students with Dr. Kadowaki, Quistis serves, along with Xu, as Squall's assistant while on board the mobile Balamb Garden and, as his first command as the new "Commander," Squall liberates Balamb from Galbadian occupation. The group next heads to Trabia Garden, Selphie's home Garden. Squall offers the Trabia students Balamb Garden's support and, while waiting for Selphie to return and due to a segment in Rinoa's conversation, the SeeDs remember their past together in the orphanage.

It is during this that Quistis realizes her feelings for Squall were not that of love but of "sisterly caring" and voices her revelations out loud. Decisions are made and the Garden embarks to the old orphanage, but is intercepted by similarly mobile Galbadia Garden. The Battle of the Gardens ensues, ending in Sorceress Edea's defeat and Rinoa becoming comatose.

Quistis teases Squall over his relationship with Rinoa

After Edea's defeat, it is discovered that throughout their journey the sorceress they had been fighting against was not their matron Edea, but in fact an evil sorceress from the future called Ultimecia. The sorceress Ultimecia had been using Edea's body and name as her own as a means to reach her goal of time compression. With these new discoveries, Squall carries on with the mission, and begins the search for Ellone in order to find a way to revive Rinoa from her coma.

Learning from the White SeeD that Ellone is in Esthar, Squall opts to go alone, carrying Rinoa on his back, but Quistis and her friends follow him, and together they enter Esthar and from there the Esthar space station. It is discovered Ultimecia had possessed Rinoa and forced her into a coma on purpose so that she could successfully free Sorceress Adel from her space-bound tomb. The station is evacuated as the Lunar Cry begins, but Squall goes after the re-awakened and free Rinoa as she is left in space. Coming across an abandoned spaceship called Ragnarok the couple use it to return to the planet. Squall, with his friends' urgings, declares his intentions to protect Rinoa and defends her from Esthar, and declares himself her Knight. They return to Esthar by Laguna's request to stop Ultimecia once and for all.

Quistis being recorded by Selphie's video camera.

Using the Ragnarok they invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight through Seifer and Ultimecia (now in the body of Adel). Using Ellone's powers, they are able to start the time compression, and enter Ultimecia Castle in the future, where Ultimecia awaits. Upon Ultimecia's demise the group is momentarily trapped in a time warp, but due to their belief and reliance on each other, they manage to return to their time safely. Quistis is later seen on Balamb Garden celebrating their victory with her friends.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Quistis_Trepe