note: chars. from ffviii aren't owned by me, they're from squaresoft.
-This is a weird kind of idea, kinda bereft (bereft is the word of the day..*l*) from basis in the actual game, hope you bare with me!~
- It has major shoen-ai themes, so if you aren't into that please don't read. Thanks.
And so...
The white afternoon sun splashed in bright patches across the floor of the Garden. The open hall was quiet, only the light hum of concentration and a whisper of the ocean wafted through the sterile palace.
Slowly, a wobbling shadow emerged and played against the light. Criss-crossing here and there as it followed the soft uncertian footsteps of its creator.
He stood, magnificent and small all at the same time in the cavernous foyer. His long tawny frame with skin bronzed from the sun. Clear, far-seeing eyes, tinted blue-grey like a piece of glass. Shining pale red hair stirring in the slightest breeze and fading to soft black at the tip of each wispy strand.
He looked silently ahead, one thought alone in his mind.
I must find him, I must let him know.
He brought his hand up to his chest and grasped his pendant for comfort.
I am not a monster. I am not a ghost. I am destiny...
Cedar, as he decided he would call himself, stared intently at the information board for the Garden. This place was so large, so strange. Everything was new and baffling. Even walking was an unexpected hardship, his legs seemed unwilling to function like he remembered they should. He walked like a newly born fawn, tripping and stumbling.
Cedar felt like he was floating, an essence suspended in this fragile, unforgiving form.
"Hey! you ok there?" He spun, eyes wide, surprised at the cheerful voice behind him.
"er ..."
"Don't worry, I was new here once and I was lost for-ever, even though the whole damn joint is a circle!"
Cedar eye'd the strange girl in front of him. She smiled with her green eyes so openly that he was put at ease despite himself.
"Tilmitt Selphie, nice to meet you."
She offered her hand, Cedar stiffly took it.
"Cedar ... luh- uh Maeroris... but, please, just call me Cedar."
Selphie gave him a strange grin he couldn't quite explain to himself.
She paused, suspended on one leg and then burst into a volley of conversation.
"cool! so where you wanna go? are you a student? you wanna see Cid? You should go to the cafeteria.. " She wrinkled her nose. "J/K! But seriously, are you hungry? The food is bad, we all go to FH when we can and eat ..fish. Really, its not so bad, you get used to it after a while."
Cedar nodded.
"i'm glad for that."
Selphie laughed.
"you're an odd one, aren't you?"
Cedar stared at his feet.
"hey, i'm just buggin' you ... "
"oh, of course." He paused, unsure of how to continue. "Miss Selphie, I believe the Headmaster is waiting for me."
"oh, gotcha, follow me!"
Cedar followed next to Selphie, she had to take several steps to match his long awkward stride so it was hard for her to keep in the lead for any length of time.
Cedar's belt jingled as he walked, but the noise was only an excuse for Selphie to give him a longer look-over. He was sleek and beautiful, and she breathed in sharply as she followed the line of his body. He was wearing a white t-shirt that didn't quite cover his soft stomach and some faded jeans that hung low around his hips. He had a strange exotic femininity, laced with strength she found inciting.
His belt seemed to have charms on it, attached to chains. She started as she recognized the symbols. Cross-sword, angel wings ... a Griever ...
"hey! hey, wait a second."
Cedar stopped obediently.
"yes?, is something wrong"
Selphie was unsure whether to reach out and touch the chain or just motion to the item of interest. She decided to play it safe.
"that charm there, the monster, umm..." She grinned. "... I mean lion thing. Where'd you get that?"
Cedar stared blankly at her for a moment.
"This? ..."
He fingered the charm of the sleeping lion nervously.
"I don't know, it, just came on the belt, I never really thought about it ..." He scratched the back of his head. "uh, well actually I like it quite a bit. I have a tattoo to match."
Selphie grinned and unconsciously shifted her body language to be much more friendly.
"tattoo? I'd like to see it sometime"
"as you wish"
Selphie sighed.
"So, you call your belt by name or what?"
"What? Of course not."
"heh, at least you're normal ..."
"excuse me?"
"oh nevermind, strange people around here ... Okay, here we are! phew, that was a long walk for being such a short walk"
Selphie laughed, pressed a few buttons on the elevator, gave Cedar a quick squeeze on the arm and bounded away.
He sighed, shook his head and a ruby light splintered across the decorative metal.
Selphie leaned across the table of the otherwise deserted cafeteria, excitedly chewing on lettuce. Rinoa sat across from her, eagerly awaiting the latest gossip. Zell stared dispassionately at his plate of noddle-something, bereft of hot dogs, but was listening despite his circumstance. Only Irvine seemed uninterested and just looked up from time to time to leer at Selphie as stealthily as he could.
"oh-Kay, I met a major hottie like two seconds ago."
Rinoa laughed.
"really?"
"yes'm"
Selphie pretended to fan herself after answering her affirmative. Irvine pulled on the brim of his hat and tried to seem nonchalant.
"what was he like?"
"tottaly weird, but so cute. Actually, he looked a little like Squall, but not as umm ... mean"
Rinoa smiled widely, partly at Selphie's description but also that someone just had to mention Squall and she couldn't help herself.
"oh and get this ..." Selphie leaned in conspiratorially. "He had a thing on his belt, a Griever medallion."
Zell looked up.
"Griever?"
Rinoa answered by proudly displaying Squall's ring.
"His lion thing, he calls it Griever."
Selphie nodded.
"this looks like his necklace though. I asked him where he got it but he didn't really know, said it came with the belt."
She shrugged and continued wistfully.
"Oh, he was meeting with Cid, maybe he'll be a student here ... It's so strange, maybe he's not even that cute, he's just ... fascinating. I can't really explain it."
Rinoa couldn't help but tease Selphie.
"Even more fascinating than sir Laguna?"
Selphie blushed furiously.
"Arah! Shut up!"
They both laughed and began to chat away the time noisily, but an uneasiness had grown in Rinoa, Griever had always been squall's secret power, his inner-strength, something he had shared only with her, and now, a stranger had a piece of that.
Cedar stared in amazement at the reflection of a person he didn't recognize. The reflection blinked back at him when he closed his eyes, it moved when he moved, it breathed when he breathed ... but ...
The blue Garden cadet uniform didn't fit him quite right, the reflection eye'd him warily as he turned to examine every angle.
"Who am I?"
He placed his slender hand on the mirror's surface. It felt the same to touch the cold glass as to touch his own skin.
"What am I?"
His own eyes were empty as polished stones. They looked like two jewels, sparkling in his fine face. This face was a decoration, a pretty mask to cover the unpleasant truth underneath ...
Never, in all his memories, had he ever felt alone, had he ever felt afraid, ... but now, he wasn't so sure. Looking at this stranger who was somehow supposed to be him, supposed to fulfill his higher purpose he could feel an icy feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach.
He swallowed hard and ran his hand from the tip of the reflection's forehead and down the side of the bridge of it's nose.
"please ..."
Quistis half-smiled and adjusted her glasses. She was listening to professor Aki describe the unfortunate exploits of his newest student. Despite her unceremonious dismissal from the teaching staff she still felt more at ease with the other professors then the regular seeDs and students. Not that she didn't enjoy the students company from time to time ...
"Quis, you wouldn't believe it, this poor freaky kid. Can't walk right or something ..."
Aki shook his head and mid-thought took a sip of tea.
"... I don't know what Garden is coming to ..."
"Oh, Aki, he must have talent somewhere, you're so quick to judge."
Aki laughed.
"guess so. I haven't seen him with his weapon yet."
"Well, there! I know a few students who don't come off as quite ... right ... but are excellent fighters, and soldiers."
Aki raised his eyes brows.
"We'll see I suppose."
"What's his specialty anyways?"
Aki leaned back until just two legs of his heavy wooden chair remained on the ground.
"that's another thing ... the sword."
Quistis rubbed her chin lightly.
"just ... sword?"
"yup"
"Well ... A few of our students do use the sword as their primary weapon ..."
"Quis, in the face of a G machine gun how is a sword going to save your life? We are AT war."
Quistis sighed.
How do I end up always defending people?
Aki could sense Quistis' discomfort and took a long sip of tea to make time to redirect the conversation.
"He'll do all-right Quis, he's got a good heart, maybe not at garden ... but somewhere."
She smiled her radiant smile, but her blue eyes held back.
Selphie balanced on her left foot, hopped, then switched to the right. "Cedar watch headquarters", also know as "casually standing outside the dormitories" was beginning to get a little uncomfortable. Rinoa sat on an out-cropped edge and patted Angelo's heaving belly. Angelo de Roma lay happily on her side, tongue lolling.
"good puppy! who's a good puppy?"
Selphie let out a long sigh.
"oh, I don't think he's ever coming..."
"maybe we missed him?"
"... maybe"
Angelo's dark ears suddenly perked up.
"well, somebody's coming at least!"
It was Squall.
He was walking down the hall in heavy, measured steps. It was easy to tell when Squall was around because of the musical rattle of his belts and charms.
He paused for a moment when he saw the two of them and it was only a split second before Angelo was sniffing his leg with her wet nose, leaving a small shiny impression on his pants. She was wagging her tail ferociously.
Squall rolled his blue eyes, wondering what sort of social torments Selphie and Rin had planned for him tonight. Not that he wasn't glad to see Rinoa ...
He had other plans anyways ...
Since Cid had returned temporarily, Squall had more free time, but it wasn't time he cherished. Too many thoughts in his mind he couldn't shake, he was sure that keeping busy was his only hope for sanity, at least until he could put recent events into some kind of rational scheme.
He was torn between his solitary cocoon and a need to stop thinking, to just do something. He even found himself missing his job as headmaster, a surprise to himself, but not to Cid ...
"Squall! hiiiiiiiiiii!"
Selphie waved despite the short distance between her and the towering shadow of Squall. He was partially silhouetted by the way the hall threw the dusk light so that the fur on his jacket melded with his shaggy hair.
He really looked like he had a mane, and if it had been anyone in the world but Squall, Selphie would have growled at him.
But that would have made her seem immature ... and Squall wouldn't have laughed anyways.
Rinoa looked like she was stifling a giggle or smile or something.
Maybe she saw it too?
Of course Rinoa sort of always looked like that, just on the edge of smiling, if she wasn't already.
Rinoa's clear lip gloss shone off her pink lips, and the mirror image of the ceiling lights broke as she quietly greeted Squall.
Squall shrugged in reply.
Rinoa toyed with the feathered end of her hair, this piece was thoroughly black.
"we weren't actually waiting for you."
"good."
"I was going to say that I was glad to see you anyways."
He stood in silence.
Selphie tried to smile, silence made her uncomfortable. Silence meant loneliness.
"sooo, where are you going Squall? If you're not busy, you can come watch videos with us."
"I have plans."
"oh ... "
"what's up?"
Rinoa's voice quivered despite her best efforts.
All the hard-won closeness between her and Squall had been fading and slipping away, and irrational jealousy grew in her heart. Irrational anger ... irrational sadness ...
"I'm going to go spar, at the training center."
"with?"
"I don't have to answer to you."
Rinoa's soft black eyes clouded.
"and that was confrontational, how?"