The Elemental Cycle VII: Summer Dreams
'The train will be stopping at Timber shortly… I repeat… the train will be stopping at Timber shortly… will all those getting off please check your baggage and make sure that you leave nothing behind…'
Seifer Almasy blinked at the sign on the door to the train as the announcement trailed off. The journey to Timber was relatively short, and he'd fallen asleep in the cabin without going into the train corridor itself.
*beep* 'Timber Station, Timber Station. The train will be leaving the station in five minutes. Please make sure you have all your baggage when you get off.'
The tall young man got to his feet, hitching the strap of his carrybag up higher on one shoulder. Without a backward glance, he stepped off the train, and into Timber Station.
Timber… quite garish, the station.
He stepped down from the platform, hearing as he did so another announcement, this one for the train to Galbadia – Deling City. Passing a private train – goddamn there were so many trains going through Timber at one time or another (no worse than the buses crisscrossing Deling though) – he walked to the bridge overlooking the railroad tracks, absentmindedly looking down at the whizzing trains below while trying to decide where to go.
Every summer, Seifer would journey out from Balamb Garden to see the world, get in touch with people, play the gawking tourist, etc. it was usually random – wanderlust drove him. He'd taken the train from Balamb Station to Timber mainly because he could get to almost everywhere just from the Timber Station.
Where to go, what to do… Camping? Nahh, did that last time. I've been to Deling, Winhill, Timber, stayed in Balamb.. maybe I'll take a shot at exploring that 'Tomb of the Unknown King' that I've heard off – it's rumored to be quite scary, though that's probably the overactive imaginations of people like Chicken-Wuss Dincht. Heh.
Hmph… what about camping? Might be fun – camp on the beach, maybe bust up some monsters…
It came without warning. A yelp from his right, thudding of footsteps, a yell of 'Oh, no!' and the announcer's voice saying 'The train bound for Deling City has just left the station… we regret to inform you that there are no more trains to Galbadia... the next train will be leaving for the desert in ten minutes, I repeat, the next train will be leaving for the desert in ten minutes…' mixed into one.
Some slammed into him from the right, sending him spinning. Seifer grabbed the railing for balance, the person who'd bumped him skidding on the floor and ending up in a most undignified position.
'Oops, sorry,' she said with a cheerful smile. It was a girl, getting up with the help of the railing before Seifer had a chance to help her. Jet-black hair hung to her shoulders, highlighted by the three thin stripes of gold at both sides. Quite pretty – young too, probably sixteen or seventeen.
'Well, well… looks like I missed the train again,' she said with a slightly sarcastic twist to her lips. 'Thank you.' She extended a hand. 'I'm Rinoa Heartilly. And you would be-' she gave him a meaningful look.
'Seifer Almasy,' he replied, shaking her hand. 'You don't sound particularly dismayed that you missed the train.'
'Dismayed?' The girl laughed, a tinkling sound. 'Why no! I'm happy! Never wanted to go anyway – just that I didn't have a good 'nough excuse. I do now. And it's not even my fault!'
'Oh hells. Use me for a scapegoat, now why don't you?' He aimed a mildly angry glare at her.
'Oh, come on.' Rinoa laughed. 'My father won't do anything to you.'
Seifer snickered. 'Really?' he questioned sceptically.
'Really! My father couldn't hurt a fl-' She caught on. Grinning, she hit him on the shoulder indignantly. 'You were pulling my foot, weren't you?'
He broke out in laughter. Rinoa gave him an angry glare and finally succumbed to the laughter as well.
'You… meany!' She hit him again.
Seifer simply continued laughing.
Maybe I'll have something to do after all…
'The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?'
'Yeah...'
They had resorted to camping after all, monsters or not. Rinoa had proved to be a decent fighter, taking down quite a few monsters - with Seifer's help, of course. All in all, it was fairly exciting, if nothing else. His companion didn't seem particularly disturbed that she was camping with only a young man as company.
'Do you believe that stars are the eyes of our dead ancestors looking down on us?'
'...Hmm... Tough one...'
Seifer didn't really have any of that on his mind. She was just... a friendly girl. He'd met her friends Zone and Watts earlier in the day and promptly suggested a spot of camping. Rinoa had agreed readily, but the other two had proved less cooperative.
'Come on.'
'...Well, maybe. I pride myself on keeping an open mind.'
Zone and Watts. A pair of pansies - one with a perpetually reoccurring stomachache, the other with a perpetual thirst for knowledge. So it was just Rinoa and him, which suited him fine. He wondered if the others could even fight.
'Maybe? What do you mean, "maybe"?'
'Exactly what I mean. I don't disbelieve it, but until someone proves it to me, I ain't gonna believe it either.'
So - him and Rinoa. Not that that meant anything really.
Said girl drew her knees up to her chest, looking up wistfully.
'Sometimes I just think... maybe my mother's up there, keeping watch over me,' she said dreamily.
Seifer looked up as well and snorted. 'You like that?' he questioned.
She turned defensive. 'Of course! Who wouldn't like their parents watching over them?'
'I wouldn't. Just the thought of my mother staring down at me all the time gives me the creeps.'
'Why? Was your mother really bad?'
Now that he thought of it, he couldn't actually remember. His parents were a blurred, empty space in his mind, and he didn't really bother to try and remember them. All he could remember were the emotions associated with them - fear, disgust, anger... his parents obviously hadn't been good.
'...I can't really remember. I just know they weren't good. Both of 'em - my mother and my father.'
Rinoa glanced at him askance.
'Bad being an orphan, huh?'
'Tolerable. I'm used to it. What's in having a mother and father anyway?'
'...To take care of you?'
'Can do that m'self.'
Rinoa didn't seem to hear him. 'Like my mother... I loved her very much. She used to play songs at the piano. Sometimes she'd sing. Nice songs, and The Song,' she continued dreamily, almost to herself.'
'The Song?' Despite himself, his interest was piqued. He didn't know why. Why should he listen to this girl he barely knew rambling about something? 'What's so special about that?'
Rinoa blinked and looked at him. 'She wrote it for her love.'
Seifer snickered. 'A love song? Ooh, how romantic!'
She hit him. 'Be serious. It's not exactly a love song as most of 'em go. It's something like this.'
Clearing her throat, she began to sing in a high, clear soprano.
"Whenever sang my songs, on the stage, on my own,
Whenever said my words, wishing they could be heard.
I saw you smiling at me, was it real, or just my fantasy?
You'll always be there in the corner of this tiny little bar."
Stopping, she grinned sheepishly at Seifer. 'There's more, but it's quite long. You don't really seem to be the type to enjoy songs - especially this type.'
Seifer shrugged. She read him well. 'What's it called?'
'"Eyes On Me". Because she said the soldier was always watching her.'
'Soldier?'
'Her love was a soldier. He left for war, and never came back. After that she wrote the song, and married my father.'
'At the same time? Wow, what stamina!'
She bopped him over the head. 'Meanie!'
Seifer broke out in laughter. He seemed to do that a lot while with her.
I really like this girl.
Absurdly, he wondered what Fujin was doing.
***
The normal visible population of the T-Rexaurs in the Training Center was seven. At present, it was down to two. More would doubtless appear from whatever hideout they vanished to. It didn't matter one way or another. What mattered was that they were there, seemingly inexhaustible, and they were SeeD cadet fodder.
The quantity, that is. If the T-Rexaurs were truly inexhaustible, the SeeD cadets would be the fodder. So would most of humankind.
None of that mattered to the girl battling them. In truth, she was bored. Completely, totally bored. The library had been interesting, but too long a time spent there ruined a person's eyes. And when you have only one left of something, you've gotta take good care of it. Nothing hid the truth - there was nothing to do now that summer was here, and holidays too. The Garden was as near to being deserted as it could get, with most of the instructors and students visiting relatives or simply spending some time off.
Neither option of which was available to her.
The T-Rexaur roared as a well-honed shuriken bit into its side, drawing blood. A blizzara followed in the weapon's wake, and the monster roared again, ineffective forearms scrabbling at the air. She took pity on the giant creature, summoning her GF to finish it off.
The owner of the blue-and-silver shuriken stared unemotionally at the giant corpse. Silver hair clung close to pale skin and dark eyepatch, made sticky by the damp, humid heat of the imitation jungle in the Training Center and the blood, both hers and the T-Rexaurs. A slender body was swathed in blue and black - blue shirt, trousers and black boots. She had always preferred blue. Well - mostly purple now, with blood both dried and fresh. A single reddish -pink eye smoldered in its socket, betraying feelings and emotions its owner had no way of expressing.
And no one to express it to.
It didn't matter to her anyway. Turning her back on the stricken reptile, Fujin Kazeno strode out of the Training Center.
She needed a bath.
Three-quarters of the normal Garden population was gone; on errands, trips, holidays, visitations, etc, etc... Those that remained were mostly nineteen-year-olds cramming and training like bloody hell for their last chance at being SeeD, instructors giving extra tuition or preparing for the next semester, and of course the headmaster and assorted assistants including the Garden Masters and faculty.
So it was something of a surprise when Instructor No.11, Lyhsa Reandale walked into the library to see a slight girl curled in a chair at one of the desks. She had chosen a good one, Lyhsa'd give her that - the girl had a clear view over the top of her book at everyone entering the back area of the library.
The book lowered; the girl looked up. Lyhsa smiled, recognizing the girl. One of her students - Fujin Kazeno - and the only one she shouldn't be surprised at for being in the library on a glorious summer day. An introvert if she ever saw one, with the exception of Squall over in Quistis' class and Saiville in Aedin's. Tight-lipped, too - the most words Lyhsa had heard from her at one time was five.
'Evening, Fujin,' she called out. 'Shouldn't you be out? The others all are.'
Fujin continued to watch Lyhsa calmly. It was unnerving, to say the least. No sixteen-year-old had the right to look so vulnerable and hard at the same time.
'Don't you have anything to do outside of Garden?'
'NO.'
'Why didn't you follow Raijin?' The dark, clumsy boy was away on some errand or trip, as were most of the other students.
'PRIVATE BUSINESS.'
Lyhsa smiled. 'I see.' Sitting down in a nearby chair, she asked casually, 'What book is that?'
In return, Fujin swiftly but quietly slipped the book underneath her and sat on it.
Lyhsa snickered to herself. 'Never mind.' Standing up, she left the library. Behind her, Fujin warily curled up again and resumed her reading.
What a desperately lonely little girl...
***
'...You really can't remember your parents?'
'Yeah... dunno who they were, what they look like'n all...'
Second day of camping, and this time they had their backs against a cliff, still watching the sky. An evening downpour had soaked both of them, and two coats, blue and gray respectively flapped in the breeze. Modesty dictated that they shed no more. His vest and trousers dried quickly, anyway.
'How do you just forget like that... my mother died when I was six, and I can still remember her.'
'Dunno... I can't really remember anything before I was fifteen...'
Rinoa was incredibly easy to be with. He found himself telling her things he'd never told anyone. There was a little insistent voice at the back of his mind saying, over and over again, 'this is wrong! You shouldn't tell a stranger this much...' but it was overruled by the rest of him. Anyway, Rinoa had told him just as much about herself. Seemed only fair to return a favor with a favor.
'Before fifteen?! That bad?'
Pillowing her head on her hands (the stone was hard, Hyne damn it), Rinoa stared upwards for a moment. Then-
'Must be bad to have to have so little memories...'
Seifer snorted. 'Don't encourage me in self-pity... enough of me anyway. How about you?'
'What about me?'
'Your family - from what you said at the train station, you don't really like your dad, huh?'
'No... he never paid any attention to me anyway... plus he's general of the Galbadian army.'
'Caraway? Heard of him, I think.'
'Yes... I don't like Galbadia, and I don't like him, so I came here.'
'What do you do, anyway?'
She glanced at Seifer, as if evaluating him.
'...Resistance faction. I'm the leader of the Timber Owls - we seek to free Timber from the Galbadian overlords!' The last few words were delivered in ringing tones.
'Galbadian scum... nest of snakes, all of 'em.'
'Couldn't agree more...'
***
Balamb Garden had never been haunted by ghosts in the time it had been around. However, it was nowadays on occasion haunted by one live ghost, that of a blue-dressed girl with silver hair.
Boots normally clattered noisily on the floor, but she had perfected a soundless ways of walking. Thus hidden, Fujin could drift past people invisibly, which was just the way she liked it.
No wonder some of the junior classmen thought she was a ghost.
Nighttime at Garden was quiet... with every place except the Training Center restricted, Fujin drifted twice around the central Garden area, three times around the lift shaft, one more around the central area, and then headed for the Training Center.
Hot, humid air hit her with a blast in the face, stirring the silver hair in the exact place to cover her unsightly eyepatch. No matter how she pretended not to care, she did, and the hair hiding her eyepatch was one indication.
Shuriken in hand, Fujin headed for the right side of the Training Center. T-Rexaurs awaited.
Summertime was supposedly a time for dreaming. Damn if she could dream. What was there to dream about, anyway? Seifer? Being a SeeD? It was pointless to dream, she'd found out. Times she'd dreamt before, and then been shocked violently awake... she didn't like that. Why not live in reality, stay practical... life couldn't surprise you much that way.
For some reason, the T-Rexaurs weren't showing. Maybe she'd scared them off. Who knows anyway?
For some reason, she was feeling a little under the weather. Maybe because she was bored. Who cares anyway?
No - scratch that. She did know the reason. Today was the day she'd realized that her mind was full of wormeaten hole where memories should be. She couldn't remember anything past the last two years. That worried her. What was wrong? And the main reason - why hadn't she noticed this before? It was as if her brain had been swathed in cotton wool until she didn't notice, didn't care what was going on.
Damn, how could I have not noticed I was forgetting... I don't know anything of my past, even of the time I arrived at Garden... or even how I met Seifer or Raijin in the first place. I remember Cid forming the DC, but I already knew Seifer... did I? Or is it a creation of my mind? Damn, I don't know anything...
Impressions were there - a flash here and there, pain, further back: taunts, emotions she couldn't name, and far beyond... fire and death, pain, bloody useless... something flashing and screaming... oh Hyne what happened...?
Wake up, girl. This is no time to be daydreaming.
Turning around, Fujin stalked out of the Training Center and back to her shared dorm room (with Raijin, no other). No monsters challenged her.
Summertime was supposedly a time for dreaming and having fun.
Fujin would do neither.
***
'You're always welcome in Timber!' she called out.
'I'll be back!' he promised fervently. 'To help with the resistance if nothing else.'
'What, not to see me?' She pouted. Standing there, dark hair swirling around her face bewitchingly and full lips pursed indignantly, she was irresistible.
Leaning forward, Seifer kissed Rinoa, flashing her a grin as he drew back. Waving and blowing another kiss to her, he boarded the train. Seifer was happy. Life was good.
He'd spent the rest of the holidays camping with Rinoa, spending happy days traveling the plains and forests around Timber. They'd hiked as far as East Academy Station and back again, talking and fighting.
He'd found himself liking the dark-haired girl enormously. They'd gotten quite close in those few weeks, confiding in each other. Almost a couple. He'd learnt about her role in the Timber Owls...
'Me? I'm a princess...'
'Oh yeah?'
'Yeah! Princess of the Timber Owls - that's what Zone and Watts call me, anyway...'
Her dislike for Galbadia...
'Filthy Galbadian scum!'
'That bad, huh?'
'I'll rid Timber of their plague!'
And plans for the future.
'Kidnap Vinzer Deling! Hold him for ransom!'
'I'll help.'
'Can you?'
'Sure - once I get to be a SeeD. You do have the money to hire SeeDs, do you?'
'I'm not sure...'
'Maybe if we pool funds...'
Choosing a window seat, Seifer looked out the window and grinned as he saw Rinoa waving cheerily at him from the platform. Waving back, he mouthed a quick 'I love you' and grinned at her reaction. He'd said that before, but she still looked pretty happy.
'Next destination: Balamb Station.'
The train moved out, Seifer giving Rinoa one last wave and settling down to rest his head on the wall and stare at the countryside. The passing fields lulled him in to sleep, Seifer welcoming it happily.
Summertime was supposedly a time for dreaming.
Seifer dreamt.
Next story: Dreamseeker
Have fun!