Prologue
"Thank you Cid for relaying the planet's wrath"
-Quistis Trepe
*********
The walk did nothing to calm my mood, and the more I walked along the circular halls of Balamb Garden, the more irritated I became. Good old Balamb Garden.. Home sweet home... home? The only thing this flying prison is home to is misery. And yet I remain here. Why? Well.. There's nowhere else I can go. There's no way I'm going back to that hole in Dollet; not with the dear old step parents. The only thing they were good for was a cheap laugh.. Pathetic. I could only imagine their conversation on adopting me.
"C'mon Harold, lets get the little youngster. She's worth a couple hundred bucks a month for child support."
Not far from the truth actually. Lazy idiots.
So, unless I want to wander aimlessly around the world, searching for that 'something' to give me back the passion of living, I'm stuck here. But let's face it. Living with Harold and Betty rubbed off on me, and their motto was: Life's a bitch, so make someone else's worse. I've started to believe the first part, but I'm sure the second is a myth. How could someone else's life be worse than mine? Here I am surrounded by the happy faces, the laughing couples. I pass Squall and Rinoa, all snug and in love.
"Oh Squall! You're so cute when you do that!" I hear Rinoa giggle. I hate that giggle.
"Whatever.." Nice catch phrase. Only it didn't have the original scowl. Instead we have that cheery smile that has been plastered to his face since our 'thanks for saving our asses' ball.
More giggling. "I love you so much Squall!". Enter the googily eyes.
Gag.
"Oh hi Quistis!" Rinoa noticed me walking by. Wasn't this the miracle of the century?
I quickly put on the friendly Quistis mask. No need to bring everyone else down. Hey, I wasn't Harold and Betty.
"Hey Rinoa. Squall"
A nod from Squall. Wow.. Acknowledgement. Be still my heart.
"How are thing's with you? It seems like I haven't seen you around in ages!" Rinoa, much too sweet for her own good. I had my fingers crossed that her teeth would rot out soon.
"Oh, you know, same old same old" You know, murderous thoughts, punching holes in walls. The usual.
"Oh, yeah," she nodded. Looks like she understood the whole masochist thing, "You should stop by more often. Me and Squall and Selphie and Irvine and Zell and Samone are getting together tonight. You should come."
Well, as much as I enjoy watching the tonsil hockey tournament, I think I'd rather pull off all my toe nails. Instead, I said, with that ever present smile "I'll try and drop by if I get the time."
"I hope you do. We've missed having you around."
"Me too". Like an infected body rash.
This is about the time that things get awkward. We haven't really found that much to talk about, the three of us. Well, Squall is understandable, because the only one he speaks full sentences to is Rinoa. I'm sure he'd look good with Angelo's leash around his neck. Lapdog. Hey, that just made me give a genuine smile!
"Well, I guess I'll see you tonight." Rinoa finished. Thank Hyne. Get me out of here.
"Sure, I hope to see you." Damn, by this rate I'm sure to be flying down the highway to hell with all the lying I'm doing lately.
"Bye!" She waved as her and Squall walked off hand in hand into the sunset. Why do I always forget my whip at the most genuine times? I scoffed. Rinoa was doing a pretty good job with that whole "whipped" thing anyway.
So where was I going anyway? No where. I was just walking around the garden for the hell of it. At least it was a big prison... with pretty good regular meals. Nice comfy bed. Big.. Empty bed. Okay, so maybe I was a tad bit jealous. I was the only one in the Garden not getting any, and lets put it this way, even Nida was getting some. I was starting to wonder if I'd enjoy that whole mindless puppy love. Everyone else seemed pretty happy.
At this point I thought nothing would ever make me happy. It's not like I even had anything to fall back on when the big adventure ended. I can't be an instructor anymore. Maybe that would have made me mildly happy. After all, all the lovesick teenager's grades were in my hands. What power. I frowned. I knew I would never do that, that's why I am a good teacher. Was. So why couldn't I go back to my position? I was too much of a celebrity and the students would never learn anything. Thank you Cid for relaying the planet's wrath.
So what do I have left? The group are only my friends in name. I am too mature for them, and they feel uncomfortable around me. Yes, that's vice versa. The older staff of Balamb? They don't want to hang around a youngster. So.. That's no parents. No boyfriend. No friends. No Instructor job.
All I have left is SeeD and the broken shards of a life. Well.. At least the money was good, and I got to kill things. Believe me, that starts to become a comfort when you want to kill people. Killing monsters has a much lower possibility of being convicted for murder... and that's something that I don't really want added to my plate.
I was itching for another mission, I really didn't want to drink myself into a stupor again tonight. There's something about the morning after that just doesn't appeal to me lately. I needed to get out. Feel important for a little while.
The buzzing of the intercom startled me out of my thoughts. It was Headmaster Cid.
"Good morning students. Would Squall Lionhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe please report to my office. That's Squall Lionhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe."
A mission? Sounded like it. Good timing Cid. A ghost of a smile played on my lips as I made my way up to the elevator. Squall, Zell and Irvine met me there. The mute stared at the floor and Zell and Irvine argued on whose girlfriend was hotter.
This day just kept getting better and better.
**********
A/n: hope you like the beginning... this is going to be a long one. Expect the unexpected :). please review.
"Thank you Cid for relaying the planet's wrath"
-Quistis Trepe
*********
The walk did nothing to calm my mood, and the more I walked along the circular halls of Balamb Garden, the more irritated I became. Good old Balamb Garden.. Home sweet home... home? The only thing this flying prison is home to is misery. And yet I remain here. Why? Well.. There's nowhere else I can go. There's no way I'm going back to that hole in Dollet; not with the dear old step parents. The only thing they were good for was a cheap laugh.. Pathetic. I could only imagine their conversation on adopting me.
"C'mon Harold, lets get the little youngster. She's worth a couple hundred bucks a month for child support."
Not far from the truth actually. Lazy idiots.
So, unless I want to wander aimlessly around the world, searching for that 'something' to give me back the passion of living, I'm stuck here. But let's face it. Living with Harold and Betty rubbed off on me, and their motto was: Life's a bitch, so make someone else's worse. I've started to believe the first part, but I'm sure the second is a myth. How could someone else's life be worse than mine? Here I am surrounded by the happy faces, the laughing couples. I pass Squall and Rinoa, all snug and in love.
"Oh Squall! You're so cute when you do that!" I hear Rinoa giggle. I hate that giggle.
"Whatever.." Nice catch phrase. Only it didn't have the original scowl. Instead we have that cheery smile that has been plastered to his face since our 'thanks for saving our asses' ball.
More giggling. "I love you so much Squall!". Enter the googily eyes.
Gag.
"Oh hi Quistis!" Rinoa noticed me walking by. Wasn't this the miracle of the century?
I quickly put on the friendly Quistis mask. No need to bring everyone else down. Hey, I wasn't Harold and Betty.
"Hey Rinoa. Squall"
A nod from Squall. Wow.. Acknowledgement. Be still my heart.
"How are thing's with you? It seems like I haven't seen you around in ages!" Rinoa, much too sweet for her own good. I had my fingers crossed that her teeth would rot out soon.
"Oh, you know, same old same old" You know, murderous thoughts, punching holes in walls. The usual.
"Oh, yeah," she nodded. Looks like she understood the whole masochist thing, "You should stop by more often. Me and Squall and Selphie and Irvine and Zell and Samone are getting together tonight. You should come."
Well, as much as I enjoy watching the tonsil hockey tournament, I think I'd rather pull off all my toe nails. Instead, I said, with that ever present smile "I'll try and drop by if I get the time."
"I hope you do. We've missed having you around."
"Me too". Like an infected body rash.
This is about the time that things get awkward. We haven't really found that much to talk about, the three of us. Well, Squall is understandable, because the only one he speaks full sentences to is Rinoa. I'm sure he'd look good with Angelo's leash around his neck. Lapdog. Hey, that just made me give a genuine smile!
"Well, I guess I'll see you tonight." Rinoa finished. Thank Hyne. Get me out of here.
"Sure, I hope to see you." Damn, by this rate I'm sure to be flying down the highway to hell with all the lying I'm doing lately.
"Bye!" She waved as her and Squall walked off hand in hand into the sunset. Why do I always forget my whip at the most genuine times? I scoffed. Rinoa was doing a pretty good job with that whole "whipped" thing anyway.
So where was I going anyway? No where. I was just walking around the garden for the hell of it. At least it was a big prison... with pretty good regular meals. Nice comfy bed. Big.. Empty bed. Okay, so maybe I was a tad bit jealous. I was the only one in the Garden not getting any, and lets put it this way, even Nida was getting some. I was starting to wonder if I'd enjoy that whole mindless puppy love. Everyone else seemed pretty happy.
At this point I thought nothing would ever make me happy. It's not like I even had anything to fall back on when the big adventure ended. I can't be an instructor anymore. Maybe that would have made me mildly happy. After all, all the lovesick teenager's grades were in my hands. What power. I frowned. I knew I would never do that, that's why I am a good teacher. Was. So why couldn't I go back to my position? I was too much of a celebrity and the students would never learn anything. Thank you Cid for relaying the planet's wrath.
So what do I have left? The group are only my friends in name. I am too mature for them, and they feel uncomfortable around me. Yes, that's vice versa. The older staff of Balamb? They don't want to hang around a youngster. So.. That's no parents. No boyfriend. No friends. No Instructor job.
All I have left is SeeD and the broken shards of a life. Well.. At least the money was good, and I got to kill things. Believe me, that starts to become a comfort when you want to kill people. Killing monsters has a much lower possibility of being convicted for murder... and that's something that I don't really want added to my plate.
I was itching for another mission, I really didn't want to drink myself into a stupor again tonight. There's something about the morning after that just doesn't appeal to me lately. I needed to get out. Feel important for a little while.
The buzzing of the intercom startled me out of my thoughts. It was Headmaster Cid.
"Good morning students. Would Squall Lionhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe please report to my office. That's Squall Lionhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe."
A mission? Sounded like it. Good timing Cid. A ghost of a smile played on my lips as I made my way up to the elevator. Squall, Zell and Irvine met me there. The mute stared at the floor and Zell and Irvine argued on whose girlfriend was hotter.
This day just kept getting better and better.
**********
A/n: hope you like the beginning... this is going to be a long one. Expect the unexpected :). please review.