Disclaimer: I may have a friend who accidentally pirated Guild Wars, but I still don't own FF8. Please don't sue me.

Remember The Nights
Prologue: The Sorceresses of Days Past

Commander Squall Leonhart of Balamb Garden stood at the front of the class, trying to look as imposing and indifferent as humanly possibly amongst the stares he received from the students. The junior cadets leered up at his figure with their own response of indifference, but with an undertone of intimidation and confusion hidden in their faces.

"As you can imagine," the steely-eyed SeeD began in his best "instructor" voice, "Instructor Hewitz could not come in today for personal reasons. Thus I will be conducting your class temporarily. According to his lesson plans, you have an exam in ancient Gaian mythology coming up, so we will use the day as a review session. Any questions?"

The underclassmen sat in stunned silence. Since when had their terse commander been capable of speaking multiple sentences at once? Perhaps it was something he saved only for meetings and substitute teacher moments.

Squall cleared his throat to counteract the uncomfortable quiet. "Right. So, can anyone tell me who ruled Gaia five hundred years ago?"

After five more seconds of excruciating empty air—Squall hoped that no one recognized the signs of irritation on his features—a petite female cadet with shy brown eyes perked her hand into the air. The commander nodded his acknowledgement of her action and she spoke soft, nervous words that were barely audible to those a seat away.

"Gaia was ruled by three descendents of Hyne. They were three princesses blessed with the powers of the Sorceress, and they combined their powers to protect the planet."

"That's correct," Squall replied, cracking the tiniest encouraging smile in hopes of bringing up her self-esteem without destroying his own infallible reputation. Those who were keen (or awake) enough to notice were shocked for the second time in just a few minutes. Was it possible for the commander to be humane?

He spoke again, cutting off their thoughts. "And Cadet Wellings, try to speak up a little louder. How do you expect your comrades on the field to hear you if you speak like that?" Never mind that humanity quip, the students decided. Everything was militaristic within the mind of twenty-year-old Commander Squall Leonhart, and would always be so.

Squall browsed through the exam material once again as he ran his hand through his brown tresses. "Which lands were under which ruler's domain?"

This time, a redheaded, freckled girl with pigtails spoke up. "Lady Amora ruled the Galbadian continent, which at that time included places like Deling, Dollet, Winhill, and even Balamb and Timber. To the east, Lady Verita ruled the Estharian continent, so she had control of all of Esthar and the Grandidi Forest. And then the northern and southern poles of Gaia—Shumi Village, Trabia, and Centra—were left to Lady Terra."

"Very good, Cadet Philk. But next time, don't speak unless called upon. That is SeeD protocol, remember?" The students sighed inwardly. They were only around fourteen-years-old; what could they possible care about protocol? Then again, what could he possibly remember about being fourteen and wanting to play?

"There will be an extensive section on what each princess was known for and could control. Does anyone recall this material?"

A boy with sandy blonde hair at the front of the class raised his hand this time. He was careful not to speak until the commander issued him permission, then he opened his mouth. "Lady Verita was known for stressing education and intelligence. Most scholars came from Esthar, which is why the country is the world's leader in academics. She also was capable of controlling water, so all of the Navy's exploits and ocean commerce were under her jurisdiction."

"Well done, Cadet Barnum." The young cadet breathed a sigh of relief from coming out of Commander Leonhart's inquisition unscathed. "What about Lady Terra? Cadet Styars, you will put away that comic book and report to the Disciplinary Committee after class. You will also tell the class about Lady Terra while you're at it."

The cadet's unruly mop of chocolate brown hair hung in front of his face while he stashed the copy of Occult Fan II in his desk. "Uhh…Lady Terra was known for being joyous and spreading peace. The reading said that she was carefree and stuff but she sounded kinda bubble-headed to me—" the temporary instructor interjected here with a stern sounding "ahem" "—oh, sorry. Anyway, she could control the earth, and so the army, geological testing, and intercontinental railways were under her command. Most automotive headway was made in her region, too."

Squall rolled his eyes at the end of the cadet's prattling and stifled a habitual "whatever". "Alright then, who wants to tell the class about Lady Amora? Anyone?" A girl with sweeping blonde hair and a dreamy look in her eyes raised her hand. "Yes, Cadet Farns? Go ahead."

"Lady Amora was known for being the kindest of the princesses. It was said that she could even turn the most hardened beasts into domestic animals with her care. Some people even said that she was using some sort of crazy witch power to make everyone fall for her, but I don't think that's true. I mean, it's not her fault that she had a true princess-like heart!" Cadet Farns clicked her gum in her mouth, and upon receiving the commander's disapproving grimace, swallowed the cud before she could meet the same fate as Cadet Styars. "Umm…sorry, didn't mean to go off like that. Anyway, because of her reputation for stirring love, lots of marriages occurred in Galbadia. She got her powers from the air and sun, and so she was in charge of the Air Force and all aeronautics."

"Thank you, Cadet Farns. Next time, I better not catch you chewing gum in class, understood?" Squall glanced at the clock on the wall as inconspicuously as possible and decided to expedite the review. He simply could not take anymore of their blank-eyed stares and regurgitations from the assigned readings.

"Each of the sorceresses had a knight by their side, as all sorceresses have in the past. These knights protected them when the Lunar Cry occurred. The Lunar Cry threatened to drop millions of terrible beasts from the moon, but the princesses gathered their powers to banish the monsters back to outer space. Legend has it that if the Lunar Cry starts again, the sorceresses will be reborn and reawakened to protect Gaia again."

The young commander shut the lesson book and rubbed his weary eyes for a minute. "Alright, make sure you study for the exam. It's in two days, so be prepared. Class dismissed."

Behind the classroom door, a tiny figure in blue spied the brown-haired SeeD.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this, ladies? It's a really big mission." The blonde-haired elf inspected each of the three fairies from behind the dark black ink on his face. He had nothing to worry about, really, having had personally monitored the progress of each of the girls since their childhood.

"Even if we weren't ready, we have to go now," said the blonde fairy with the pale, rose-colored dress. "We don't have anymore time to question our skills."

Beside her, a blue-clad fairy with caramel-streaked raven locks nudged the blonde fairy in the side playfully. "And that's why you're the practical one, Truth. There's no ifs, ands, or buts with you."

The shortest one ran up and hugged the blonde elf. Her maple brown hair flipped up at the ends in a way that matched the cut of her pixie-style dress. "Oh, Zell, don't worry about us. You just take care of your pigtailed lady fair, you got that?"

"Right, right, just…be careful, okay? Love, don't let anyone take advantage of you. Earth, no getting distracted by trains. And Truth, don't be such a hardass, alright?" Zell shook his head with a laugh and handed them a few extra potions to take on their way. "Find the knights, wake up the princesses, and then come home safe and sound, please!"

"Yes sir!" the three fairies chirped together. With a final reassuring smile sent to their guardian, they put their hands together into a circle for what would be the last time in a while.

"Zellie's fairies, out!"

Squall had trudged his way back to his office on the third floor and stared wearily at the overwhelming stack of papers on his desk. His office was a mess but no one truly cared. All that mattered was that he got the job done. He settled into his plush leather chair and dove into the numerous papers waiting for his signature. He never heard the door close, but he was far too busy too care. As soon as he got the paperwork done, he could leave. To do what, he never was quite sure, but whatever it was would be better than signing papers mindlessly all day long.

"You know, they say that Lady Amora's knight was a workaholic from Balamb, too. She was the only one who could give him enough love to break him out of his reverie."

"Xu, what did I tell you about coming in when I'm working—"

For once in his regimented life, Squall Leonhart was taken by surprise. The voice couldn't belong to Xu—she was on vacation in Winhill. He looked up and saw the sun clad in a sky blue dress standing before him. And he could have sworn he saw the faintest glimmer of wings behind her back.

"Rinoa the Sun Fairy, servant of Lady Amora, at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you, Knight Leonhart."

Author's notes: Okay, so the prologue's a bit ambiguous, but I swear it'll make more sense in the next chapter. I hope you're at least liking the premise, though… This is my first FF8 fic.

Here's a teaser for the next chapter!

Rinoa the fairy tries to get the ever-skeptical Commander Leonhart to listen to her story. What will it take to get him to agree to come with her? Do monsters have to fall from the moon to get him to believe her? Well, if he doesn't, they just might!