"It doesn't seem real, does it?" She opened the leather folio again, running her fingers along the raised crest embossed in gold onto the parchment. "All that work in all those years," she chuckled, "and all that money, for this."
Her two friends smiled. It was a beautiful day in late spring. The sun's last rays beat down on them, making them all the warmer in their dark, heavy robes. The ceremony had ended, and now the three women sat on the edge of the fountain in Midgar plaza, enjoying the quiet after the festivities. A gentle breeze soothed the heat of the sun, a luxury that had not been afforded to them during all the pomp and circumstance.
"An expensive piece of paper indeed," her friend agreed, looking at her own. "But it's not the paper, so much, as where it will take us."
"Hmm," the first hummed, gathering her wild, auburn hair in her hand as the wind billowed it backward. "Where it will take us..."
"You should care less about your hair than your hood, Minnie," a third said, rolling up a long trumpet sleeve to grab the soaked satin folds from the water. "The wind got it too."
Minnie frowned and took the fabric from her friend, leaning over the water to wring it out. "Who puts such a long thing on their back, anyway?"
"It's a mark of our accomplishments! We've worked for years to be able to wear these!"
"Only once," Minnie protested. "I'm not staying in academia for anything."
"I should say I've had enough of it myself."
"Me three."
The three women looked ahead, suddenly somber. Before them, the ShinRa building rose, a formidable building touching the sky.
"Well, Lu," Minnie said, laying a hand on her friend's knee, "at least we know where you're going."
The woman with a long, brunette braid also reached back to capture her hair before the wind could play with it more. She pulled its lengths over her shoulder, and then adjusted her peaked bangs so they no longer fell over her eyes.
"So you got that internship with Dr. Valentine?" the third cried. "That's wonderful! To be working for ShinRa so early in your career!"
"I'll have to work hard," she said, closing the leather folio around her diploma with conviction. "So I can prove I have what it takes to stay!"
"If anyone can do it, you can, Lucy."
"I just sounds so right... Doctor Crescent."
"Oh stop that, Doctor Hewley," she scolded. "It makes me sound old."
"She's right, Gil. Don't even think about calling me that."
"Don't worry," Gil said, picking up Minnie's soaked hood again and draping it across her friend's lap. "You'll always be Mischief Minnie to me."
The women got a good laugh from that, but the gravity of the day would not be defied for long. Soon, all three were quiet again, looking up beyond even the tip of the ShinRa building. There, in stark contrast to the gray of the city, the sky flared with color. Across a vivid blue stretched rays of gold, violet, and crimson.
"So this is goodbye," Minnie said.
"It doesn't have to be," Lu said. "You can come visit, and I'll put in a word for you the second an opening appears! We can work on our theses together, just like when we were students!" Neither of her friends responded, and she sighed, dipping her chin so her friends could not see her eyes through the veil of her bangs. "Are you...angry that I got the internship...over you?"
"There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the Goddess," Minnie said.
"Minnie's right, Lu," Gil added. "I don't have the theatrics she does, but I'm not jealous at all. Truly. We're happy for you and you deserve every inch of that position."
"But what will you two do?"
"We'll figure something out. We always have. We're doctors now, right?" Gil held up her diploma as if the other two needed any more reminder. "There's plenty to do in Mideel, and the ShinRa extension in Junon is opening some labs too."
An unexpectedly strong gust of wind bellowed straight at the young women, and all three hands flew to their caps to keep the wind from claiming them captive. Gil's tassle, however, was torn loose in the assault, and fell into the fountain behind them. They looked it for a moment, until Minnie, disregarding her long sleeve, slowly dipped her arm all the way in to retrieve it from where it had drifted to the bottom.
"The wind sails over the water's surface, quietly, but surely."
"I never thought I'd say it, Minnie," Lu said with a sad smile. "But I'm going to miss you quoting that."
Minnie returned the tassle to Gil, who kept it in her hand instead of putting it back. "Want to toss our caps?"
"It's a little immature, don't you think?" Lu asked. "I haven't done that since high school."
"Come on, we've been studying so hard that we didn't have the time to learn to grow up. Let's celebrate our last moment together," Minnie said, taking her cap in her hand. "We're never going to wear them again, and they're made of cardboard anyway."
"I think that sounds like a good idea," Gil said, removing her own. "We can make a wish, too, for luck."
Lu followed her friends and removed her cap. "On three?" she asked.
"Together."
"One...two..."
The last count was silent.
With a breath of relief and release the three women tossed their caps to the wind. They were caught by the breeze, and for a flicker in time, they remained suspended, as tenuous as their own positions as new graduates, but all the more free for it.
The three black caps scattered every which way. It was as spellbindingly beautiful as it was heartachingly sad.
Junon...Mideel...it's all so far away!
"What did you two wish for?" Lu asked.
"Doesn't it break the luck if you tell?" Minnie asked. "...Besides...I'm not sure I could even say all the things I wished for."
It was getting noticeably dark, and it went without saying that it was time for them to part ways.
"So I should..."
"Yeah, me too."
"It's getting late."
The three women looked at each other and shared a sigh.
"My friend, the fates are cruel," Minnie said.
"Don't talk like that. This is the beginning, not the end!"
"Whichever it is," Gil said, "I'm...so glad we could study together...for so many years."
Gil extended her two hands, and each of her friends took one. They entwined their hands so their arms were crossed, but each woman clasped one hand from each of her friends.
"We'll see each other again. I know it."
The three embraced, breathing hitched and heavy. It was a scary, uncertain world out there, and now they were losing each other as well.
And then it ended. With dignity befitting the robes they wore, they said formal farewells and parted, eyes firmly forward.
Only Minnie looked back, eyes brimming with tears. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return."
And she saw that, in some twist of the wind, their three abandoned caps had converged in their paths, coming to rest on the road leading to the ShinRa building.
Something about the sight chilled her to the soul.
A/N: So if you haven't figured out who the three women are yet, I'll make it explicit next chapter. This is a side-story I'm working on while I suffer with vicious writer's block in my other one. We'll see where it goes.