A/N: Hi guys. In case anyone's wondering, this account and the account: darkdestiny23 are owned by one person and that is me. I had to reboot my story so I deleted the old one and is now trying to create the same thing on an entirely different perspective.

Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 and all the wonderful characters and plotlines it has. I wish to hell that I was the one who thought it all up but it wasn't me.

-I-

MINUTES

Upon the clock tower

Under the pale blue moon

Tick

Rusted metal gears

Time slows

Stops

Tock

Chapter 1: Secret

The skies were lit only by the pale white glow of the moon. A raven-haired boy slept. His bed was close to his window, illuminated by nothing but the pale gray light from the outside. It was 3 AM. A buzzing noise woke him. It was his alarm clock, situated on his nightstand. He opened his eyes as he slowly sat up from his bed, turning off the buzzing noise while rising.

"Stupid alarm clock" he thought.

He sat up lazily and stared at the small space between the light switch and his bed. His dorm room was terribly small. He looked up. The light switch was barely visible. The boy just sat there for a minute, looking at the switch, as if somehow, he could make it move from a distance.

The raven-haired boy eventually gave up on his little game after a minute. He laughed.

A sigh escaped his mouth. He stood, crossing his room and opening the lights. The fluorescent bulb flickered, and then white light flooded the room in an instant. The powder blue walls were now visible. The boy looked at himself in the mirror. His jet-black hair covered his left eye. He instinctively pulled it back, revealing a second piercing icy blue eye.

The boy in the mirror wasn't smiling. His skin was fair, to say the least. It wasn't too white, yet it had in it some youthful glow that could only be rivaled by another raven-haired girl in the Garden.

"Presentable" he thought as he straightened his plain white t-shirt, which was a little disheveled, and black sweatpants and fixed his hair a bit more. The shirt he was wearing gave away the state he just got out of. Frankly, he didn't care who saw him. Regardless of the state of the shirt, it fit him well. The sleeves were short enough to show a little bit of muscle in his arm and the shirt clung to his chest and hung loosely over his torso, ending just below his belt. On his right hand, a silver ring with the words Leon engraved on it hugged his middle finger.

The boy looked away from the other person in the mirror and saw a long, thin black box that was leaning on the wall just across from the mirror. It was his gunblade case. The letters of his name reflected the white light from above. They were silver and they proudly stuck to the side of the case.

The words engraved on it made him uncomfortable: Louie Leonhart. It was amazing how his own name gave him this sort of unsettling feeling.

The raven-haired boy turned and walked towards the case. He opened it. Inside the thin black box was a shining trophy of the legacy he is bound to. It was a new blade, a present from the folks. In it, reflected the world he was about to enter, the pressure he was bestowed upon, the legacy he never asked for. It was the Revolver - the first gunblade his father used in the beginning of the Second Sorceress War. His heart sank. He wasn't the least bit happy with the new blade. He was perfectly fine with his old one. Besides, this one's too heavy; it's got a lot of baggage.

He hated it.

He could never tell anyone, though. He'd be stoned to death if people found out that he hated it. It's not like he couldn't defend himself from a stoning. Heck, he'd probably be able to keep from any stone hitting his body. It's all the implications that come with it.

He was a Leonhart.

He had to live up to his name.

The Revolver made it all the more pressing.

He'd be stoned to death if the pressure gets too much.

On second thought, maybe being stoned to death is too medieval. The punishment would have the same implications, nevertheless. If there were no punishment for all the pressures he was secretly feeling, there'd still be the implications. The secrets. They never leave.

He grabbed his gunblade with a sigh. A hole in the handle of the blade reminded him of the object that must hang from it. He grabbed a silver lion pendant that was attached to a chain on his nightstand and clipped it on the blade.

"Great!" he thought as he looked at the man on the mirror. It wasn't himself that he saw. He saw his father. He looked away, as if doing so would change how he looked, or who he is. He opened the door out of his dorm. He locked the door. There was relief in his eyes as he escaped the dreaded mirror.

The Garden was quiet at this time of the morning. It was how he liked it. He leisurely walked from the dormitory wing of Balamb Garden to the Training Center, silently laughing at the ever-spitting fishes that were placed in the waters. As soon as he entered the training facility, an all too familiar blonde-haired boy was slashing his way through the Grats with his own gunblade.

"You're late." the blonde-haired boy greeted as he slashed through another grat with his one-handed blade.

"You're not my instructor. And it's three in the morning." the raven-haired boy replied, bringing out the Revolver and preparing for battle. He slashed through one of the grats while casting a fire spell at the last one, obliterating it. The two young boys fixed themselves up and got ready to enter the training facility. They walked towards a spot that was full of rocks and far from the lingering Grats and T-Rexaurs.

"Dude. I know you're gonna hate me for saying this but you really look like your father today." the blonde-haired boy said as he started to slash in the air, stretching his arms and getting his gunblade warmed up. The eyes of the young Leonhart pierced the blonde boy. He was his usual self, cocky, energetic and happy. He was happy and Louie was a little envious of his friend's contentment.

"Don't push it." Louie replied, both to the remark and to his thoughts. He fixed his stance. "Enough talk, Almasy. Spar."

"Aren't we a little excited to fight today? What's gotten into you, Leonhart? " the boy smiled. They made sure to spar in the training center at least once a week ever since Louie and Carlos both started going to Balamb. It was great on the first weeks, but as it went on, it seemed like a burden, to Louie at least.

"Just want this to be over so I can sleep again."

"Extra angst today too." The young Almasy was teasing him, as usual.

"Whatever." Was all he needed to say for the sparring session to begin.

Blades were flung here and there and the whole training facility was enveloped in the sound of metal smashing to metal. It was far from quiet. Sparks started flying from the blades. One of the blows was a little too strong and sent them both to the opposite direction. Leonhart ran towards his training partner, with an arm outstretched and a fire spell igniting in his gloved hand. Almasy did the same. The raven-haired boy's spell was faster, thouygh. It hit Carlos before he could even cast his spell.

Carlos fell. The young Leonhart walked towards the weakened body of his training buddy. In an all too familiar scene, he raised his gunblade, seemingly ready to mark his victory with a scar on the face. Carlos closed his eyes, bracing for impact.

"Cure"

The blonde-haired boy felt a sudden surge of energy from the recovery spell. He opened his eyes and saw his training buddy, arms extended and palms open towards him, gunblade comfortably situated on his shoulders with the blade up and the handle on his hands. Carlos smiled. The young Almasy took the hand.

"That was a little harsh." Carlos retorted as he stood up.

"I told you not to push it."

"So I'm guessing you have your GF junctioned?" Louie asked.

"Yup. You?" Carlos replied.

The raven-haired boy smirked at the question, because they both knew the answer.

"No."

"He'll be fine, hun" Rinoa said as she sat on one of the couches in the office of the Commander of Balamb Garden. "Stop worrying and let him live a little."

The Commander of Balamb Garden was pacing in his own office, obviously uneasy and worried.

"Squall, please, would you just relax." Rinoa added.

"How are you so calm?" Squall asked.

"Because, Mr. Commander, I have the utmost confidence in Louie. He happens to be a really good gunblade wielder. And he has amazing magic skills-"

"That's what I'm worried about, Rinoa." Squall interrupted his wife. "He's young. He's a teenager. He might not be able to control his... abilities."

"What makes you think that he can't do it? I was his age when I got my abilities, you know." Rinoa replied.

"And you were completely in control then, were you?" Squall was rarely sarcastic. Maybe it was the situation. Regardless, the remark made his wife stick out her tongue at him.

Old habits die hard, I suppose. The commander thought as he smiled at his wife's gesture. He did that more freely now that he has a kid. Heck, he smiled more often even when they started dating. It still had the same effect though; it made his wife smile back.

"Look, Squall. Don't you think it's time for him to start thinking on his own? We're not raising a robot. He has his own thoughts, his own opinions and his own feelings. He has his own reality that's completely separate from ours, Squall." Rinoa explained. Part of her wondered how Squall could be so paranoid at a time like this, and part of her wondered why they were having this conversation at 3AM.

Recounting the events that led to the discussion, Rinoa sighed and sat on the couch. They had just dropped off Squall's Revolver in Louie's dorm room. He was asleep when they got there so they didn't wake him up, and they figured he would be waking up early today, anyway. Then, they went straight to the office because Squall had some paperwork to finish and Rinoa wasn't that sleepy. They talked about the Revolver, which led to talking about Louie, which led to the paranoia her husband is feeling right now.

Squall sighed as he sat on his chair, facing the computer on his desk.

"Squall..." Rinoa said.

"I understand, Rin. It's just hard not to think about the consequences once his powers get exposed." Squall argued.

"If his powers get exposed, Squall. You have to trust in our child a little bit more. Louie may be a bit stubborn sometimes, but he is one smart kid. Just like someone I knew when I was seventeen." The raven-haired sorceress walked to her knight and sat on the chair across his own, with only his wooden desk separating them.

Squall smiled. "You thought I was smart back then?"

"And stubborn." She smiled back.

His smile grew. After all the years of being together, Rinoa still wasn't used to that smile. It was never shown to anyone else but her. It was like their little secret. Maybe that's why she never really got used to it; it was never a public matter.

"Regardless, Squall. Trust him a little bit more."

Squall looked at her knowingly. She knew he trusted Louie. It was his fear, his paranoia that was rattling him, and she had to admit, she was paranoid as well.

"Look, I'm scared for him too. I experienced everything firsthand. I fear for him too. But I also trust him. And to hell with those people who judge our son. They're stupid."

He wished it was all that simple. He wished they could just say they were all stupid and just not care. Squall sighed in defeat, because maybe nothing bad is going to happen. "I'll disable the tracking device in his gunblade." Squall said as he clicked through some apps in his computer.

"What the hell, Squall Leonhart? You installed a tracking device on our son's gunblade. That's crazy. I mea-" Rinoa was interrupted by a knock on the door.

.Knock. .Knock. .Knock.

"Commander... I have some... uhmmm... news to report." it was the familiar giddy voice of Selphie Kinneas.

"Come in, Selphie." Rinoa answered.

The doors opened and Selphie entered with two young boys.

"Louie?" Rinoa was confused. "What's the meaning of this, Selphie?"

"Well, if you must know, these two have been leaving a trail of gore and mess in the Training Center" Selphie answered.

"They were Grats." The young Almasy answered back.

"Be quiet, Carlos!" Louie silenced him

"Selphie it's four in the morning. The maintenance people will take care of it. It's normal for these two to go on a hunting spree in the Training Center in the wee hours of the morning. What's the problem?" Rinoa asked.

"This." Selphie said as he turned Louie Leonhart around and revealed the two holes in the white shirt he was wearing. If he was a normal teenager, the wholes would mean nothing but some accident while playing or sparring. But all of them knew exactly what it meant. Wings. Shocked, Rinoa quickly stood from the couch. Squall sighed. He knew he spoke too soon.

"Louie!" Rinoa shouted.

"It was Carlos's fault, mom!" Louie quickly defended himself.

"What?!" the young Almasy glared at his training buddy.

"Then why did you not just use para-magic?" Rinoa angrily asked.

"I... kinda forgot to... Junction my GF." Louie replied. Squall gave Rinoa an "I-told-you-so" look. "Mom, no one saw us."

"Selphie, please lead Carlos to his dorm room. Thank you for bringing this to our attention." Squall stood from his office chair and told the brunette and the young blonde she was holding. Selphie walked out of the room and shut the door. Louie gulped.

"How many times have I told you that it is dangerous to go to the training center without your GF on? And you had to bring out your wings?" Rinoa started her usual rants.

"Mom, I can handle the monsters."

"It's not the monsters inside the Training Center that I'm worried about, Louie. It's the monsters outside that are scaring us. People are way more dangerous. They're smarter." Rinoa added.

Louie was silent.

"Louie, do you know that there are cameras in the Training Center?" Squall said.

"No."

"The headmaster had them installed as soon as we had the money." Squall added. "Now what would you do if anyone other than the people we trust, saw you use your abilities."

"I... I don't know." Louie said before collapsing on the couch. His head hung in shame, and probably sleepiness.

"Can we do this tomorrow?" Louie said as he stood up from the couch in the office.

"No, Louie, we cannot do this tomorrow."

Louie stood up and looked straight at the eyes of his mother. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll be careful next time." he said as he walked out of the double doors.

Rinoa looked at Squall and sighed a sigh of exhaustion. Squall sat in the chair in front of his computer again.

"Tracking Device?" Squall asked looking up at his wife who was still standing. She walked to the couch and her body collapsed. She finally opened her mouth to speak, but her hand was covering her face probably because of a migraine.

"Tracking Device."

And with that, the commander looked at his computer screen. It was their own little secret.