Author's Notes: NO, this is NOT a Nida/Xu. I'm trying to go through this whole 100 without actually putting Nida in a pairing beyond hinting at one, okay? And Nida/Xu is just WRONG. This one comes from a really long trip to a family reunion and some beautiful music I heard on the way. Um, in-game, maybe an hour after the orphanage gang plays music for Rinoa and Squall. Assumes that they chose to use the piano.

Theme: Choices

Sacrifice

Everything had been quiet after Squall and Rinoa had stormed off and the others had given up on their attempts to make something of the night. Instruments had been taken back to the Garden, save the piano. It had been left, along with the stage, until the faculty could be convinced to bring it aboard the Garden with the help of the mechanics of FH. It was for this that Xu had come outside. Being unable to sleep she had chosen it would be better to try and figure out how to get it all back onboard. What she had not expected was to find another person stricken with insomnia. What she expected far less was for that person to be playing the piano that had been left behind.

When she had started down the stair she had first caught the sound of the song being played, and she'd been forced to pause and admire it. The tune was low enough, soft enough to not disturb the peaceful slumber of the fishing town, but also sweet enough, pure enough, to be beautiful and alluring. While she could not see the person playing because the stage was not lit up and for the person was not facing her, she could tell it was a Garden student. It was evident in the perfect posture, in the strong shoulders, in the solemn silence that surrounded him as he played. There was as much focus in that playing as there was in the summoning of a Guardian Force.

Inside she knew who it had to be. He was as much of one of Garden's mysteries as Squall had come to be over the years. No one was completely sure what had compelled the youth to join Garden, especially since he was almost 15 when he joined, and was definitely not a fighter. While Nida had above average intelligence, superior speed and amazing skills with stealth, he lacked all combat skill and magic was far from his specialty. The good thing was that what he lacked in battle Nida had more than made up for the technical skills. Even when they'd accepted him it had taken the faculty a week to find a weapon that suited him. Nida lacked the accuracy needed for guns, whips, nun chucks and throwing weapons. His body had not been strong enough to lift or handle a sword or gunblade. Even his delicate fingers, so good with repairs and electronics had lacked the strength needed for martial arts. For a while they'd just told him to work on raising muscle mass, giving him a long, old, oak staff to use for general weapon training. Of course, they'd quickly learned that his long fingers and agile body had been perfect for handling spears, staffs, pikes and anything else pole-like. Quickly the student no one had expected much from had gone from useless to a fighter that one might not want handling the tough stuff, but still perfect even in a tight place.

While Nida had been able to keep perfect scores in all of his classes, he barely scraped by in magic practicals. Casting spells took twice as long for him, and they were half as strong. Despite the instructors attempts to make him average by giving him Guardians like Phoenix who boosted magic power and allowing him to junction with stronger magics to make his magic level acceptable, he'd never have been good enough in Garden's eyes to be a SeeD. There had not been a single instructor that wasn't surprised when the youth had managed to make it through the Fire Cavern test with flying colors, even though he had only been a student for a year and a half while all the others his age had been in Garden for at least three years. And when he'd passed the SeeD Graduation Test… Only the Headmaster himself had not seemed surprised, as if he'd been betting on the dark horse all along.

Xu knew that through all of this her prize student had suffered more than people had expected. Sure, he had proved he could handle a Garden life, even becoming one of the elite rank that was SeeD, but he did not seem happy with this. At least twice she had gone to Doctor Kadowaki, trying desperately to figure out why he always seemed so sad with the older woman's help. If the doc knew anything though, she was damn good at hiding it. After this Xu had tried a new approach that had also failed. Yes, she had become very close to Nida in the process, even fond of him in a way that might be frowned upon, but she could still not figure out what had caused the quiet young man so ill-suited to warfare to join a military academy. Tonight she told herself that she would find out.

Now, with the resolution in herself to discover at last the story behind the SeeD, Xu continued down the stairs towards the stage where the piano was perched. The closer that she got, the more she became sure that this was Nida. It was not all in the lean body and pale skin and dark clothes, but in the perfected posture, and the short cut hair, and even the way the hands danced over the ebony and ivory keys like they danced over the keyboards of so many computers before. Her dark eyes, sharp enough to suit her rifle expertise, could not catch even the smallest glimpse of sheet music. The only thing that could mean was that Nida truly knew what he was doing. Soon enough she was within spitting distance of the pianist, and afraid for some reason of disturbing him.

For a moment the music called to mind the image of the waves of the sea, breaking against the beach. It was this that caused the instructor to freeze again. Okay, maybe she could accept some kid his age playing around on a piano. Maybe she could accept him knowing a few tunes without needing sheet music. But to play well enough to mimic the sound of the ocean around them with a piano… Who was this kid?

Finding that strength within herself again, Xu climbed onto the stage and moved behind Nida to watch his fingers dance over the keys. It was certain that at this point Nida had to be aware of her presence, but neither hinted at this knowledge. The male continued to play, and she watched, marveling at how right those long, slender fingers seemed to be against the brilliant white of the keys and the deep black of the piano. How could no one have noticed now that Nida was meant more for this sort of magic than for the magic used in war?

No sooner had Xu thought this than the music stopped. The sudden absence of the melodic sound sent a shiver down her spine. The way those deep green eyes examined her as the 17 year old finally turned to her presence was unnerving.

"You're good," was all she could manage.

Slowly Nida turned back to the keys and stretched out his fingers above them, as if he was about to play once more. After a second he shook his head, though the shake was so small one could barely see it, and pulled back. Another second found the appendages laced together and resting in his lap.

"Have you been playing for a long time?" she asked, seeking to fill the void the music had somehow left.

"Since I was very young," Nida finally spoke. For some reason she could not help but compare it to the tones of the melody he had just stopped playing. Once more she berated herself for not assuming earlier that he was a musician of some sort. Now that she knew the fact, it really seemed to fit together well with his demeanor and appearance.

"You must practice a lot."

"Every night," he confirmed.

That explained a bit then, like why the piano they had found for the 'concert' had not only been in tune, but also dust free. It also explained why a few of the underclassman claimed there was a ghost in the music room that played the piano at all hours of the night. Maybe it even explained why Nida had looked so depressed that one time he'd hurt his arm and had to wear a sling for a week. It even explained why his hands would occasionally flicker through the air, something she had first thought was an urge to type something or fiddle with a computer, but was probably just a desire to be back to making his music. Still, it did not explain why he had joined Balamb Garden in the first place. What could possess him to pass up his obvious talent for a military life?

"I hear there is a really great school focusing on performing arts in Deling City," she said, hoping to bait him into giving her the answers she wanted.

"Yes, I've heard that as well," his response came. He was quite good at dodging questions, yet he was still answering somehow. His knowledge of the place meant he must have considered it.

"I even heard that Julia Heartilly went there when she was your age." When this brought no response, not even a twitch of the eye or the lip, she continued, "Have you heard of Julia Heartilly? You probably know her because she sang that song 'Eyes on Me'. She was really famous back when I was about three. My mom played her music all the time. I was kinda sad when I came to Garden because I was the only one that listened to her."

Again the SeeD did not answer. But this time there was signs of life. His fingers unlaced from each other and rose to the piano. The youth took a deep breath, held it, and released as he played the introductory notes of 'Eyes on Me'. Every note was as flawless as she remembered from this one record Xu had known her mother to play constantly. It was not the version played behind Julia's singing, but the piano solo that the stories said Julia had played many a night in the bar at the Deling City hotel, the music that had drawn a young soldier in the army to her every night… This was the music that the song had been written because of. Few people remembered this song anymore, much less the piano version. And to have someone play it who was less than two years old when Julia died was amazing.

"You know of her and her music then? It's beautiful isn't it?"

"She was Rinoa's mother you know," Nida said, ignoring Xu's words all together.

Xu looked down at her own hands now. She had not thought that anyone other than herself and the Headmaster had made that connection yet. "Is it easy to tell?"

Nida shook his head and continued playing. "Not really. I mean, sure, they kinda look the same, but they act really different."

"How would you know?"

"My mother knew Julia very well. They grew up together."

"Ah. So you're Julia's best friend's son then?"

"No. I'm Julia's nephew."

The words fell so naturally from his lips, as if he had said them many times before. Could he be lying that easily or…

"It's okay Xu. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. Ask the obvious question if you must."

"Obvious question?"

"If I'm related to Julia and if I can play even half as good as her, why am I in Garden?"

Yes, that was the question on her mind, but saying it aloud… She was almost afraid of the answer.

"Okay then. If you're related to Julia, why are you in Garden?"

There was no response, just the sound of the piano serenading the sleeping town. For a while she left it like that, willing to just let the music continue. Why did she really have to know anyway? Who was she to pry into his business?

"My mother lives in Balamb you know. A few times Julia offered to have her come live with herself and General Caraway, but my mother always refused. The president there, before Edea killed him that is, he was very cruel. Mom always wanted me to grow up safe and free, and have the rights that Balamb has, you know? Wanted me to be anything I wanted to be, without having to deal with the problems of Galbadia… Then we heard about towns like Timber and Dollet. We learned about what the President did to them in school. We learned that how after Galbadia beat back the forces of the Sorceress Adel in Esthar, it turned cruelly upon its own people. Our teacher told us that since Balamb was so small and so close to Galbadia, they might not hesitate to claim us next. I didn't want my mom to have to live with that."

At this point the SeeD moved over a bit on the piano bench, giving Xu room to sit. She gladly took the silent offer of the youth. There was more, and it was likely that she would be the first and last he ever told.

"I tried out for that school in Deling. They really wanted me in, but they said my mother would have to move to the city with me or I wouldn't see her much again. I turned them down and joined Garden instead. I want to protect my home in any way I can. Garden is the only place I can do that. Sure, I'm not the best fighter like Squall and Zell. I'm not the best with magic like Quistus and Selphie. Hell, I can't even fire a gun like Irvine and I don't have the resources Rinoa has, but I can still do something. I can still protect people."

With this the music stopped, and Nida rose. She watched him, amazed that for the first time in all the time that she had known him, he didn't seem fragile at all. He was stronger than most, because he was fighting for more than just orders or because people wanted him to. To give up such a chance at life like that was something few could do.

"I am sorry Instructor, I must be going. The mechanics of FH are working on the new bridge and the navigation systems. I'm helping them out so that they don't short the computer systems out in the process. They even said they'll teach me how to fly Garden so I can be more useful around there. I'll see you in the morning."

She watched as the young man turned away and hopped down off of the odd stage. It was almost sad to watch him like that, walking so easily back towards Garden, and away from his dream once more.

'I turned them down and join Garden instead. I want to protect my home in any way I can,' was what he had said. But why did the way he picked have to be so destructive towards his dreams? How could this be the lesser of two evils?

Even when he had completely receded from view, Xu couldn't help but feel heartbroken for him, and maybe a bit fonder of him in the process.