I sat watching my group of friends as they ate their meal and joked around like any other friends. But we weren't like any other friends, well not exactly, we were different, we weren't normal by any means. We were made in a lab, in test tubes our embryos developed until we were implanted into a host mother. The government of Galbadia was in need of soldiers, super-soldiers to be exact, so they turned to famous Dr. Odine. We were designed for fighting, Odine mixed human DNA with animal DNA, the DNA that resulted was near perfect there were few flaws. The one and only flaw had to do with the wiring in our brains, no matter what they tried they couldn't get rid of it, so they dealt with it. It was only seizures, pop a couple Tryptophan pills in our mouths and send us on our way. Other than that, we were perfect, we can jump higher than a normal human, we can climb vertical walls without a rope, we have strength that surpasses normal human capabilities. Our senses were more efficient as well, we can hear things from a mile away and see just as far and are able to feel the vibrations of others. We can fight a well trained soldiers without tiring, and we still blend in with normal people. The only thing that can make us stand out is this barcode that is tattooed onto the back our neck.
I remember soon after I was born, yes I remember when I was born it is an experience I do not wish to bestow upon someone more than once, I don't remember how long exactly probably not much more than a couple of months, our rate of growth had been accelerated by a serum they gave us once a week, when something happened. We were given the order to move out and being the good little soldiers we were designed to be, we did. We loaded ourselves into a truck and moved out, there were ten of us inside the back of the truck. The truck drove for hours before it stopped, our trainers opened the tailgate allowing light to flood the dark truck bed and the four closest to the tailgate were ordered off. We saw a large building behind the men who opened the gate, we may have been soldiers but we were still children who didn't know much and one thing we had learned well was fear. We were trained to use our fear when we fought and we were told that soon we forget what fear was and fight on instinct. We were taught to fear guns, mainly because that was the only way normal people could kill us.
The gate was slammed closed and we were plunged back into darkness. The six of us who remained huddled together near the front of the truck, not wanting to be separated. At that time we only knew each other by our numeric designations, I was Z2-322 but was referred to just as 322. There were two girls and three other boys besides me. The brown haired girl was 652 and the blond haired girl was 364. The auburn haired boy was 482, the short other blond haired boy was 945, and the dark haired boy was 761. We were always in the same training group, so we were close. Our trainers would have been furious had they known how we were behaving right then, we had been taught that loss was a key part of fighting, we would lose the ones who fought beside us and if we stopped to help them we would end up dead as well. After hours of riding in the truck, being jostled around by the many potholes that made the road, it stopped again and we were ordered out.
We jumped out and immediately greeted by the sea and a low stone house with a lighthouse behind it. A tall dark haired woman stood, her dark dress was being whipped around by the strong breeze. We were told that she was to be called matron and that we were under her care for now. Matron smiled pleasantly and beckoned us inside but we were still apprehensive, thinking that this was a training session and were given a test of temptation. Would the men with their gun shoot us the second we took a step towards the welcoming house? After a few moments of hesitation were nudged by gun point and we started forwards towards the house. The truck drove off leaving a cloud of dust behind it.
Matron had made us something to eat, I, being a sort of leader, was the first to accept. Slowly the others followed suit. While we ate matron asked questions, simple conversation questions.
"What are your names?" she asked.
"Z2-322," I answered snapping to attention.
"Z2-652,"
"Z2-364,"
"Z2-761,"
"Z2-945,"
"Z2-482,"
The designations came one right after another down the line, our trainers would have been proud.
"You weren't given names?" Matron asked surprised by something we didn't know about, "Well I don't want to go around calling out numbers....."
"They are our designations," I interrupted her, "Given to us when we were designed."
"Yes," Matron said knowing exactly what to say to get us to go along with it, "I know, but, I was told to treat you like normal children. Normal children have names. It is imperative to the mission."
Still not liking the idea of being given a name, I nodded in agreement. Matron smiled and told us that she would allow us to choose our names from a book she had. Soon we had chosen a second identity for ourselves. 652 chose Selphie for herself, 945 chose Zell, 364 chose Quistis, 482 chose Irvine, 761 didn't like any of the names in the book but he was looking through another book on weather and chose Squall. I chose Seifer. Matron gave us some clothes to replace the thin robe we usually wore and we became normal children, well as normal as we could be.
The next day, some people who lived nearby came to visit Matron. When she introduced us the first thing they asked was why we had our heads shaved. Feeling self-conscious we ran our hands over our heads, it was something we had never thought about before, it was just something that had been done since we started training. Matron told them that before we sent to live with her the orphanage we had been at had an outbreak of lice and to get rid them quickly we had our heads shaved. We didn't know what an orphanage was, we just assumed it was we had come from, we were never told what it called. I learned later that an orphanage was place children without family went. I didn't know what family was either, but Matron kept on insisting that we were a family so I saw these other kids as brothers and sisters like she said whatever those were.
We all lived in the stone house by the sea, just one big happy 'family' for a while. Life was different than before, we weren't forced stay underwater until we turned blue, we didn't have to fight animals with mouths big enough to swallow us whole. Stuff like that we didn't have to do anymore, Matron said that children shouldn't have to do those kind of things. When we asked her where we lived before we came to live with her she said we lived in a small part of hell called Atlantia. The place where we were designed to be any well trained soldiers worst nightmare.
We lived in the stone house by the sea for a few months, doing what we thought normal children did. I had thought that sooner or later Atlantia would come back to get us and I didn't want to go back, I don't think any of us did, so I made sure we still did some training. We didn't think Matron knew what we were doing, we just told her that we had read about the war that was going on some other continent called Esthar and we made up a game about it. She probably figured that there was more to it than that but she allowed us to do what we wanted as long as we didn't hurt ourselves. We went through our training routines everyday, we had a field to do combat procedures in and there was a forest to practice guerrilla tactics along with the ocean where we could work on our aquatic training.
One day during lunch, a man came to talk to Matron. They went outside where they thought we wouldn't be able to hear, but with our enhanced hearing we heard every word. He said something about the facilities being ready and we could move in as soon as possible. She said that we were to young. They argued for a while, he thought we should go as soon as possible and she was against it. He said we would be safe there, that we would be able to train and exercise our abilities and maybe someday we would be able to take down Atlantia. Matron didn't want to force us into that kind of life again, that they should give us the chance to be normal children, that we should have the chance to have parents and let our parents decide what would be best. They finally agreed on letting us be adopted, whatever that was. They knew some people that would be willing to take in children.
The next day a sleek black car pulled up in front of the orphanage. A young couple stepped out and were greeted by Matron. We were lined up in the kitchen, it reminded me of Atlantia. The young couple, excitedly surveyed us for what seemed like hours, finally they chose Irvine. We were allowed to go back outside and play, but it wasn't the same.
After lunch another car pulled into the driveway of the orphanage, this time they didn't come out of the car. I think they made their choice just from watching us play, this time little Quistis was led away. She tried to look brave but I knew she was scared, loss is hard even for soldiers. Matron encouraged us to play and stay outside, she wanted to keep our minds off our coming fate.
The next to go was Zell, then Squall, then it was just me and Selphie. We sat on the stone wall and waited, we didn't talk because there was nothing to say, we probably would never see each other again. The sound of a car coming down the road caught our attention, Matron came out and greeted them. I didn't fell like listening in but I heard bits of the conversation. They wanted girl, but not a brunette they wanted a blond or redhead. I felt like asking what was wrong with a brown haired little girl or a blond haired little boy? We'll do the same as any other child, we'll grow and mature and than move out. They took Selphie away, she was crying silently she didn't like the idea of going to a family that was already disappointed with her.
That left me, little Seifer. I didn't care, I didn't need a family, I don't someone to answer to. I had always been the leader of the squad, never the follower. Then realization set in, I'm on my own, my comrades were taken away and I had to continue on my own. Matron came and sat down next to me and put her arm over my shoulders. I heard her say something about my new family coming soon. I didn't want a new family, I told her, I wanted my real family back. I wanted it to be all a dream, that I'd wake up and Zell would be stuffing down hotdogs, Selphie and Quistis would be running along the beach with Irvine chasing them, and Squall would be sitting quietly in the common room with the older girl named Ellone he became attached to.
But it wasn't, around dusk the last car came up the drive. I hopped off the wall and walked over proudly. The back door opened revealing the gentle face of a woman the kind face of a man, my new mom and dad.
"My name's Seifer," I stated.
"Hello Seifer," the women said, "I'm Corrine and this is Josh, but you can call us mom and dad."
"Do I get to choose which one I call you?" I asked smirking.
The women gave a gentle laugh, "Sure," she answered, "Come on, hop in and we'll get something to eat."
"Ok Dad," I said grinning as my short legs made the ascent into the large car.
I watched the scenary as the car moved through the field that I played in. I could almost see us practicing the maneuvars. I never went far enough that I couldn't see the house so I hadn't explored most the surrounding terrain. We travelled farther away from the ocean and I noticed as the air got dryer and less salty. A small town came into view and we dropped the car off at the rental place and walked the rest of the way into town. We ate dinner at a small diner, I learned that I was going to live in a place called Deling and my last name was to be Almasy.
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