Disclaimer: As you all should know, I don't own FF8 or any of its respective characters; Squaresoft does ((those lucky b@$+ards...))

I would like to take this time to also thank my sister [Saravien], and my brother-in-law [Judas Priest] for helping me with ideas. Without you, there probably wouldn't be much to this fanfiction.

Heart of the Soul

By Eval Chylde

What is the soul? Where does it come from? Is it born, much like the body? If so, who made the first soul? Why are we reborn? What purpose does it serve us to suffer through life a second, third, fourth, fifth time..

Ours is not to question why; ours is but to do and die.

-----------------------+-

The snow was cold against his body, melting through his heavy clothing and soaking him to the bone. His muscles were tense and sore, trying as hard as he could not to shiver. His mouth was clenched shut in fear, but his eyes were wide open and watching the horror unfolding before him.

He wanted to scream; he wanted to close his eyes and make it all go away.

The creatures had appeared out of no where and taken human form. They attacked his master with weapons not native to their village, but familiar somehow. He couldn't think of where he had seen them before. All he could hear pounding in his brain was the screams of his tutor, his idol.

Master…!

The man he had looked up to for so long fell hard to the ground, his blood staining the snow around him crimson. His eyes were locked open, his face contorted in a look of pure fear and shock. His hand clutched the parchment he had been written on when he had sent his apprentice into the trees after the mistletoe.

Master, no!

They became dark shapes again, blending in with the shadows of the trees and slipping through the darkness from whence they came. Amber eyes gleamed and faded like something from a nightmare. How long did he sit there, clinging to the tree for dear life before jumping down to the ground? He'd lost all track of time.

Muttering nonsense, he stumbled over to the fallen corpse of his beloved teacher and collapsed to the ground beside him. He hugged at the shirt the man's wife had made him just a few days ago to protect him from the cold. Salty tears ran uncontrollably down his cheeks, cascading down and mingling with the blood on his hands.

He screamed his voice echoing through the mountains he had grown up in. "Master!!"

-----------------------+-

"I hate winter."

Zell Dincht sighed for the millionth time, his nose pressed firmly against the window of the train. He watched the snow covered fields whizzing by.

"Zell, I think we figured that out the tenth time you said it," Irvine muttered, not looking up from under his hat. He was lounging on the sofa, his feet propped up on the arm and his head in the corner.

"I'm just reiterating in case you guys had forgotten," the blonde retorted. He pushed himself off the back of the couch and flopped down on the bottom bunk.

"You're not reiterating," the cowboy argued, "you're sounding like a broken record."

"At least I only do it in spurts, Kinneas. You sound like one all the time."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" he huffed, finally sitting up.

A pair of socks hit him in the forehead just as he sat up, and the two looked at the top bunk. Squall looked like he had when he'd laid down; eyes closed, ankles crossed, arms behind his head. But the two knew he had moved at least one arm to toss the socks in Irvine's general direction.

"It means for both of you to shut up," he muttered, not even giving them a glance. They glared up at him, Irvine looking ready to leap up and strangle him right there. Instead he tossed the socks back, completely missing Squall. They hit the wall and bounced back to the floor, hitting Zell on the way down.

The door slid open just as Zell and pulled back to chunk the socks at the gunslinger, and Quistis stepped through the door.

"Hey, Quisty," Zell piped cheerfully, hiding the socks.

"Hey there. Finally decided to come join me, eh?" Irvine purred.

Quistis just rolled her eyes and looked at Squall. "We're nearly there. The apprentice will be expecting to talk to you, since you are the supervisor of the mission. I certainly hope you have some kind of statement ready to assure him we'll find the murderers."

Silence was her only answer. Not that she had really expected one.

"Get your things ready, boys," she told the other two. "We'll soon be arriving in Yukino."

-+-

Sean Tilvin played nervously with the sleeves of his jacket, leaning forward to watch for the train. He had called SeeD nearly four days ago, begging their Headmaster for help with the investigation. Cid had very happily agreed to send his best team to them, including the newest commander of Garden so he could get out onto the field again.

The train appeared around the mountain and the young man's heart nearly leapt out of his chest from pure joy. SeeD would surely discover who had done this. His fellow villagers were eager to battle the neighboring village, willing to completely skip an investigation. They were so certain the people of Mondera had killed their wise man.

He walked with the slowing train, following the door until the engine heaved to stop. The young brunette rolled forward on the balls of his feet before leaning back, smiling warmly. His heart pounded as the door sighed open and the commander stepped down.

The man, rather boy, was slightly shorter than he was with commanding, stormy blue eyes and wild brown hair. He wore a leather coat with white fur around the coat, giving him a dark animal-like look. One black-leather clad hand rested on his hip, and the other clasped the handle of a weapon Sean had never seen before.

The boy saluted him, his expression never changing. "Squall Leonheart, commander of SeeD Unit 1380. We have been assigned to assist you in the investigation of the murder of Trevor Gillian and bring the murderers to justice." Without waiting for comment, Squall breezed past him and left the train platform.

Then next to appear was a beautiful young woman, whom was as tall as Sean, if not taller. Her eyes were bright and cheerful, and he felt himself smiling and blushing shyly in her presence. Her pale coloured face was framed nicely by her corn-husk hair.

She bowed deeply to him and smiled warmly. "Quistis Trepe. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Tilvin."

"Please," he breathed, bowing back, "call me Sean."

"Very well," she replied, nodding in understanding. "SeeD will assist you in any way we can."

She stepped to the side, and a third person appeared. Another boy, taller and more lanky than Squall, sauntered out and tipped his cowboy hat to Sean. He had long, earthy coloured hair that gleamed in the winter sunlight. His blue eyes were playful and seductive, like a tiger on the prowl for any willing tigress.

"Irvine Kinneas," he said simply, hefting his duffle bag over his shoulder and following the first boy.

The final SeeD to emerge was bouncy and cheerful, practically leaping down all three steps to get to the platform. He was carrying two bags, one looked like it held his possessions and the other looking like it was Miss Trepe's. His guess was proved correct when he saw the nametag on the carry-on luggage. This boy's eyes were wild with excitement, yet dim with boredom at the same time. He grinned a toothy grin at Sean and ran his fingers through his spikey, blonde hair.

"Yo," he smiled, shifting the duffle bag on his shoulder. "I'm Zell Dincht." He let go of the luggage-on-wheels long enough to shake Sean's hand, first wiping it on the lap of his pants. "Nice t'meet ya."

"The pleasure is mine, I assure you." Sean turned to lead the way to the village, only Quistis and Zell walking with him. "I've eagerly awaited your arrival since Headmaster Cid told me he would be willing to send a team of his special SeeDs to help me."

"The Headmaster said you sounded fervent, even scared, when you had contacted him."

"The villagers are ready to go to war already, without finding out if the neighboring settlement even commited the murder. I do not believe they did, and this idea is very unpopular. I fear for my life from both those who killed my master, and my own village people."

Zell snorted. "Jeez. Once people have an idea stuck in their head, it's hard to change their mind."

The young apprentice nodded. "Our people have fought for many years. No one has ever been killed, though injuries and loss of livestock has occurred."

"Where will we be staying?" Quistis asked.

"At my home," Sean replied. "We will get you all settled in first, then I'll take you to the scene in the morning. I'm afraid the funeral has already taken place, so you can't examine the body."

"How come? Wouldn't really be that hard, would it?" Zell questioned.

"I would think," Sean chuckled, "that it would be hard to examine ashes."

The blonde stopped at stared at his back, blinking in shock. He shook his head and jogged to catch up with them, muttering to himself. Sean smiled and laughed softly; it was the first time he had felt relaxed in the past week.

Surely SeeD would solve this mystery.

-----------------------+-

Zell yawned noisily, blinking hard against the harsh sunlight reflecting off the white snow. He'd heard that they hadn't had a fresh snow in nearly three weeks, so investigating shouldn't be too hard. It did, however, mean they were due for a harsh storm within the week.

Sean started from his master's shop and taken them through the course of the evening. He showed them where the two had sat for a rest, and even the tree he had climbed to retrieve the mistletoe. The footprints were still there, though a bit faded because of the wind. There were also more footprints, from when they had removed the body.

The apprentice was babbling on, giving every single last detail like it was happening that very moment. Zell guessed watching his role model and teacher get killed would be rather devastating, and hard to forget. He tried to imagine watching Quisty or Chen-san being murdered, but swiftly banished the thought.

His feet and mind began to wander as Sean talked on, and he found himself strolling through the woods. Jeez, and I thought I could talk on forever about nothing, he thought as he kicked at some snow. Occasionally, he would come across some more footprints in the snow, but not very many.

Hey, there's more over there. How exciting. He walked along, mindlessly following the trail and staring at the prints.

Whoa!

The blonde SeeD froze, staring in disbelief at the tracks. They started out human, which wasn't really all that odd, besides the fact they were bare feet. But, gradually, the same trail of tracks became an animal's. He crouched down and brushed his fingers along the first set. They were broad, five-toed… Almost like a wolf's, but much larger.

"Hey, guys!" he called, looking over his shoulder at the others. Sean stopped in mid-sentence to look at him. His teammates turned to look at him, Squall glaring at him. Probably angry I wandered, but he won't be once he sees this!

"What is it, Spikey?" Irvine called, making his way through the snow over to him.

"Quit calling me that!" he huffed. "Come check this out! You wouldn't believe me if I just told you."

The four came up to him, leaning to look at where he was pointing. "See these tracks? They change from human," his finger followed the trail as he spoke, "to animal. Practically in one stride they change. Looks wolf to me"

"They're too large to wolf tracks, Zell," Quistis argued. "Perhaps some kind of riding animal?"

"But where's the tracks from where the animal came in? And the prints aren't extra deep, like the animal dropped from the trees. Plus, compare the size of the two prints. The wolf print isn't that much different from the human's."

"Are you suggesting some person turned into an animal?" Sean whispered.

"I don't know what I'm suggesting," the blonde replied.

"Well, I suggest we follow them and see where it leads," Irvine sighed as he stood. He lead the way deeper into the forest, following the tracks. Squall wandered a ways from the tracks, reappearing to announce he had found more, similar tracks in other places.

"What do you think we'll find at the…?"

Behind Zell, Sean let out the most high-pitched scream the martial-artist had ever heard escape a male throat. The SeeD team whirled around, seeing Sean thrown to the ground by a massive animal. Thankfully, it had grabbed his walking stick and not his arm.

Quistis was on it in a flash, her whip snapping out and cracking against the animal's flank. It yelped out in pain and jumped away. The beast rounded a tree and came after them, two more appearing from the woods and charging down on them.

"They're huge!" Zell screamed, jumping to the side to avoid the jaws of the massive wolf coming at him. He felt its hot breath brush his cheek, his own breath catching in his lungs. The blonde landed hard in the snow, the cold instantly soaking through the seat of his pants.

The creatures ran around the trees again, circling back toward the small group. They pounded through the snow like the train the SeeD had ridden to this place. Irvine fired a shot, and struck one hard in the shoulder. It barely seemed phased by the gash in its shoulder, slamming hard into him and grasping the boy's gun with its fangs. Zell ran over to help him and jumped on the animal's back, the three wrestling to the ground.

Quistis' whip snapped out and struck the second in the ear. It yelped and circled around her quickly, slamming into her opened side. A well placed thunder bolt sent the beast flying backwards through the air and into a tree. It recovered faster than Quistis did and was tackling her again, tearing at her weapon.

Even Squall was having difficulty with his opponent. He swung his gunblade, each time narrowly missing the creature's shoulder. Its claws reached out and grabbed his side, slicing under the jacket and through the soft flesh. The brown-haired boy fell to the ground, his weapon tumbling from his hand.

"Squall!"

Gunshots rang through the air, hitting one of the animals in the shoulder. It yelped out in pain, the flesh around the wound sizzling like it was hot. The three stopped to look, growling softly. More shots were fired, and another wolf's ear was struck. It yelped in fear, and the beasts turned and retreated back into the forest.

The trio turned to look at Irvine, whose gun was lying several feet away from him. He shook his head, as if to say, "It wasn't me."

"You kids still need protecting, huh?"

They turned to the sound of that all-to familiar voice, staring at the young man jumping down from the trees with his gunblade hoisted over one shoulder and a handgun in the other hand.

"Seifer!"

[ end prologue ]