Disclaimer: Whatever Square… Enix owns, they own it. The rest are mine. This is actually a more inspired story, but still I have to give credit J
Chapter 1: Reiina, Motherland"Yo Claude! Weather's great huh?" Jedd shouted as he sat down to rest in a shady Narra tree.
"Whatever…" Claude muttered under his breath as he continued to roll into his sleep. The weather had always been great here, especially since it was the Period of Dawn. The breeze was gentle and cool and had a tickling sensation as you strolled in its bright cloudy sky. Trees, flowers and plants bloomed gracefully as it grew merrily within the period.
" Wish it was High Sun already and we could go to the beaches and surf, and babe-watch, and eat outdoors, and swim…" Jedd daydreamed on, blankly staring up towards the sky.
"Jedd, always wishing for the next season to come, how naïve and child-like of he," Claude retorted in his mind and smirked softly.
"Hey guys! Wanna play deck tennis?" some girls invited as they passed by.
"Sure! Claude, comin'?"
"…"
"Aight! See yah then!"
"Good…" Claude sighed as his mind finally relaxed. He was about to roll to his sleep again until someone else came again.
"Mr. Seablu, I have been looking for you in the Terrain."
"Early announcement of the results, Ms. Gabeill?"
Ms. Gabeill giggled her soft mature voice as she sat down near him.
"Knew that you would've guessed it quickly. What scale are you already?"
"Physical Arrangement: D.G., Mage Position: b5."
"Impressive." She complimented as she started walking away. She looked back and wink, then left.
"Did I fail…?"
"Good luck, son."
"Thank you, Father Barde." Claude greeted as he suit himself into his uniform and drank the remaining contents of his drink.
"Father…?"
"Yes, son?"
"T-thank you… for being my guardian."
"Not at all. You hadn't given me much trouble, young man. Been gladly to take responsibility over you." The elderly man patted his head as Claude straightened himself once more.
"I'm truly grateful. Good-bye then, father."
"Yes, take care!"
"Uh… good morning Claude! Or is it already afternoon since your brain is so much advance then ours?" Jedd had frantically spoke everything to Claude just to snap out of his 'own world'. Nodding that Jedd was able to get through to him, he sat down in victory and exhaustion. The P.A. crackled with news that had tensed the whole room.
"Koran Tres, Jedd Gaill, Claude Seablu, please report to Point A, A.S.A.P. I repeat…"
"Whoa! You know what that means! Claude! CLAUDE!!" Jedd hollered as he shook Claude and was jumping up and down in his hyper mood.
"Let's just go there." Claude said as he dragged the overly excited guy to the Point.
"Good Morning dear trainers, and I congratulate you for passing the exams for becoming EnPro units of our region." The head, Mr. Rexo greeted as he shook his hands with. " It is very fortunate and even gladly honored of myself to meet you in person, and so I would like you to feel… comfortable with me from here on," he tried to joke as he shook everybody's hand.
"For a general, he's not so bad. Too friendly though," Claude commented as he blankly shook with the Head.
"Oh, a Mage! Such a rare profession as an Enpro. Good, good!" he praised and moved on.
"Yeah, too nice."
"WOHOO! WOHOO! We passed! We passed!" Jedd shouted in a singsong voice as he was jumping throughout the halls.
"Mr. Gaill! Restrain yourself from shouting!" Ms. Gabiell warned. Korran smirked and patted his back.
"Dude, though we are now EnPros, we're still students. Chill," she said as Jedd blushed and nodded stiffly.
"Oh yeah, Claude we goin' to help fix the party for tonight, wanna join?" he asked. Claude just shrugged and walked away.
"What is wrong with that guy?!" Jedd wondered in frustration.
"Wow, I'm in the most amazing place in the world. Here, helping them decorate the party and let me just stand here like an idiot." Claude said as he was busying himself in practicing his killer staff. Sure, it was made for mage stuff too, but it had a twist that when low in power, he could attack his opponent and can still do physical damage to them.
"Whoa, watch were you fling that!" Korran teetered as she barely avoided the sharp blade of the staff.
"Sorry," he mumbled back and leaned on the wall. "What am I doing anyway? I'm even doing NOTHING!" he complained in annoyance.
" Hey Claude! Been a while huh?" a muffled voice greeted.
"Tanya?"
"Yup!" she continued, as it was obvious she was having a hard time. Claude helped her in carrying the load in box and put it down to see a better look of her.
Magnificent.
"Yeah, it has been a while."
"Uh-huh. I see you grew." Tanya complimented and giggled. He nodded and helped in decorating the walls and hung the extra chandeliers here and there.
"Thanks! I needed that." Tanya said and playfully punched his arm.
"I'm more grateful. I would've died of boredom, " he replied nonchalantly. She laughed.
"Well, I guess some parts of you hadn't changed at all."
"I guess…"
"Ok, see you later alright? Don't be K.J. about this it'll be fun! Thanks again!" she said as she skipped away in checking the other task in the decorations.
Truly Magnificent.
Soft jazzy music played in the hallway up to the ballroom when the party was held. It was lit by dim yellow, adding the natural night show by the glass dome above. Everyone was formal this evening, and everyone was enjoying. Including Claude himself. He was alone again, but he was used to it. It's all right with him, quite natural. A waitress handed him a drink as he was staring at the scattered lights up in the night sky. "Lookin' good!" Jedd teased as he gave him the macho look. Claude smirked and shook his head. That guy will never learn. He looked up in the night and watched the luminous moon crowned by the stars that glimmered and twinkled now and then. Often or not, there was something in the back of his mind that wanted to reach some sort of imagination-or even a memory- that had the scene that was so similar that he was having one now. Yet, there was something missing.
"Nice night, huh?"
He looked at where the voice came from and saw the familiar girl she had met awhile ago. Again, he found himself at a loss of words. No comments, sarcastic remarks, anything. But, it wasn't much of a big deal for the others. They didn't know the difference of him being of not saying anything or not being ABLE to say anything. Except for this girl, that is.
"What's wrong? Uh, Claude, can you see me?" the girl caught his attention by waving at him wildly like he was wearing thick dark shades in a dark room.
"My sensory system is fine. Don't treat me as if I were a retard," he replied back. She chuckled since she knew that it was it meant to be funny. Claude smiled back at her reaction. He didn't know how or why, but she had always made her feel comfortable. As a matter of fact, he vaguely remembered how they exactly met. But, past was the past, and the present is now.
People began bumping into them since they were near the dance floor. Claude ushered the girl if she wanted to go somewhere else. She agreed and they both went outside to where the Outer Halls were positioned. It was a structure that was made out of marbled pillars and no artificial light had protruded through its smooth texture. Only the moon was its source of light.
"Tanya…"Claude started, but he had really deleted his vocabulary at the moment. Plus, he was no conversationalist. Oh well, whatever happens, happens, he thought.
"Uh… why hadn't you… danced with anyone yet? I mean… don't you want to dance?" he asked but his voice tuned into low to almost mute. Tanya blushed as he asked the question.
"You mean, that I'm like all the girls, that my dream is to dance with the valiant knight of my dreams and wished that moment was eternity?" she replied, hiding what her emotions really meant.
Claude slightly winced at the comment. He shouldn't have said that. But hey, Tanya was a friend. It'd be her problem if she made this talk a big thing in her life.
"Well, I for one makes no difference with those girls," she finally said, which made Claude sigh in relief.
"But, my big problem is, I can't dance." She added, in a whisper, which for Claude it was audible enough to hear.
Claude wanted to laugh, but held it due to respect for Tanya. She looked at him with an uneasy smile, waiting for some kind of reaction. Claude sighed and thought of something to say.
"I think, you don't really need to dance just to make this… dance wonderful." He finally said.
"How would you say that?" she asked.
"That dance thing is just a tradition. Even if there are no special occasions, you could probably dance anywhere, anytime right?" he answered. Tanya laughed.
"Coming from you doesn't seem right." He laughed at what she said.
"Yeah. Anyway, I think there are better things to do in a dance, basically something other then the dance."
"Like?"
"A stroll in the night, being bathed by the moon, and holding hand and hand?" he answered in which he scooped Tanya's hand gracefully and gazed at the moon. Tanya smiled at him and gave him a warm look.
"Some things have changed, Claude Seablu, but some of haven't, the good ones luckily," she thought and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Thank You for enduring that horrible scribble of writing up there. It might improve a little, but don't get your hopes up much. And greetings to you, reader, and to terra, kyoy and friends. Also, no flames please. You can complain, but bashing will simply make you eat your rotten heart of guilt. *Huuuuuuuuuuugs*