Decliner: I don't own any of these characters with the exception of Murray, Allene and Adrian

Decliner: I don't own any of these characters with the exception of Murray, Allene and Adrian.

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Silent Call

Chapter 1: The beginning

By: Butterfly

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"... Sea-nymphs who had the power of charming by their songs all who heard them, so that the unhappy mariners were irresistibly impelled to cast themselves into the sea to their destruction."

-Thomas Bulfinch

19 years ago…

"Hey Murray, is the ship ready to sail?" echoed a voice from the distant. A young man in his late 20's placed the enormous box that he was lifting into a little vessel. He sighed as he dried the sweats that were falling uncontrollably from his forehead, results of a really exhausting job.

"Almost" yelled back the boy who apparently was Murray. He looked at all the boxes that were neatly placed in order of the merchandise's name and smiled at his well-done work.

"Good job, my son. Ready to take her to sea?" asked the older man as he patted Murray on his head.

"Ready father" he answered. The father chuckled at his son fixing his mess up blond hair. "Not funny, I lasted about twenty minutes to fix my hair, and look, you mess it up!"

"Let me tell the crew to hurry up with the rest of the cargoes, we are leaving in about thirty minutes" Murray's father said as he placed his hand on Murray's shoulder and squeezed it a bit. He smirked and left his son lost in thoughts.

"I hope that the storm warning I heard in the news was just a mistake from the forecast," Murray murmured to himself as he headed to get more cargoes.

Hundreds of excited mariners embarked and disembarked the ship as they brought with them supplies boxes. For about twenty minutes or so, all men worked hard to finish the job as quickly as possible. Afterward, the job was done and everything was ready to sail. The engine was turned on and the vessel, slowly at first, stared moving toward its destination, Fisherman Horizon.

The day was fair, not to hot or to cold. The sun shined brightly, making the ocean seem like a chain of pearls. Yeap, the day seemed promising for the mariners…or so did they think. As the ship got father away from Balamb's dock, the atmosphere worsen. The wind, that once blew tenderly, now became as wild as a pack of hungry wolves. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees Celsius and rain, accompanied by lightings and thunders, stared to pour. The mariners, scared for their lives, tried everything they could in order to keep the vessel on float, but their attempt turn out to be futile as the ship crashed and sunk.

Even then, the sailors struggled to live, but slowly, one by one lost the battle and drown. Murray tried very hard to stay conscious, spotting a small island not so far away from him he swam towards it and prayed. Prayed that his body would be strong enough for him to reach the isle. Prayed that God would be kind to help him out. After what seemed like an eternity to Murray, he reached the island.

"I made it" Murray whispered to himself as he scanned the area around him. He tried to walk but he was too weak and so he fell to the sandy seashore. "Tired…need sleep." He closed his eyes and went out cold.

A gorgeous woman watched everything from behind a tree. The strong wind played with her long golden hair. She blinked a couple of time as she saw how the man she had been watching fell to the sand and lost consciousness. She gasped and rushed to his aid in hope of still finding him alive. She turned him around and sighed as she saw his chest rising and dropping rhythmically.

"Good. He is still alive but I have to take him somewhere safe before the other finds out" the young women uttered. Just as if of cue, her older brother came and wheezed when he saw the young man on the seashore.

"Allene! What have mother and father told you about being around humans?" he reminded the blonde woman.

"I know Adrial, I know!" Allene replied nervously, "But can't you see? He's weak. He could die any moment soon! I have to cure him"

"But if mom and dad finds out…"

"Please Adrial, you have to help me!" she interrupted, "I know that we are not supposed to be around humans, but I don't care!"

"Do you love him?" he inquired.

"Pardon me?" she asked a little taken aback at her brother sudden question.

"Do you love him?" he repeated. Allene turned to face the fallen Murray and gently caressed his face.

"I…I think I do" she responded. She closed her eyes expecting to see or hear some kind of reaction coming Adrial, but saw none. She opened her eyes slowly and saw how her brother gently lifted Murray's body and walked.

"Come on, let's find a safe place for him to stay" he intoned. Allene nodded and silently followed her brother in the search for a place for Murray to stay.

At last the storm subsided, and Allene and Adrial had finally found a good hiding place for Murray to stay. Allene decided to stay with Murray until he woke up so Adrial had to leave to stop any suspicions and also to bring some healings herbs from the sea.

Hours later, Adrial brought some sea herbs to cure Murray, and went back to the sea to make more excuses for Allene's absence. Allene tossed another blooded handkerchief away, and picked a new one. Wetting the handkerchief in the bowl of water placed by her right side, she cleaned the remaining blood on Murray's body. She sighed as she finally finished. Placing her soft hands on Murray's cheek, she caressed it. A sudden chill went through Murray's body, making Allene gasp and freeze. Murray's eyes slowly opened trying to adjust to the little light in the room, that to his sensitive eyes made blink several times before finally opening completly.

"Where…Where am I?" he asked. He blinked a few more time and turned his attention to the girl beside him, "And who are you?"

"You are in Althaea Island, and my name is Allene," she replied, "What's your name?"

"I'm Murray. And thanks for saving me," Murray declared, "So, what am I doing here?"

"Your ship sunk. Luckily you had the strength to reach the shore," she stopped, swallowed and continued, "Unfortunately, your friends didn't made it, and they drowned with the ship."

"Everyone drown? What do you mean everyone? My father was on that ship for Hyne's sake! Are you sure that no one else made it? Are you sure?" he snapped as he grabbed Allene by the arms forcefully.

"Yes I'm sure! Now please, you are hurting me!" she declared. Murray's eyes snapped open of horror, his father, the person who gave him life and love died. This couldn't be happening. It just had to be a dream, though regrettably for him, it wasn't. Murray sat on the old bed again. With all his sadness and angriness, he had forgotten that he stood up to scream at someone who wasn't even guilty of what had happened.

"I'm sorry," he said miserably.

"Don't be. I understand. You were really hurt by the news and you try to take it out with someone. For my bad luck, I was the only person besides you." She proclaimed.

"Thank you," he murmured high enough to hear.

"For what?" she asked.

"For saving my life. I'll be forever grateful," he stated.

"My pleasure. Now get some rest, you are still weak and you'll need it if you want to recover. I have to go, see you tomorrow," she announced.

"Allene" he called back. She turned to face him once more with the most beautiful smile that he'd ever seen, "Thanks again…and good night." She nodded and soon afterwards, left.

A/N: Hey everyone. I know what you are thinking, "wait a minute, this isn't a FF8 fan fiction at all" well it is. As you may see in the top, this story happens 19 years ago. In order for you to understand the story, this MUST happen. I never thought that it would last 2 chapters, but I guess it will. Don't worry though; pretty soon the Quifer will start. If you are thinking that I'm kind of rushing this part, yes I am. I want to get to "19 years later…" were the Quifer really begins.