the squall of red ribbons:
C 1 .
The gates of balamb military high were beautifully adorned with gold
and silver, the designs reminisent of mythical artwork and amalgamated
with military themes.
i stood there for a few moments admireing the architecture of theis brilliant
military installation slash high school.
A golden plack on the left gate clearly stated " to commemorate the bravery and
valour shown by the men and women in the esthar and spira war ".
i walked through the iron gates a beautiful path with many steps, plants and
water features showed the way towards the main entrance, the beauty was
astonishing, even though this was a military academy it had so much life and
vibrance which you couldnt expect.
even before my father laguna took over as principal of this magnificent school
i heard the landscape and atmosphere of balamb and its military school were
rivaled to none.
they were aesthetically plaeasing but i had to press on and find the dormitories,
today was only a moving in period for many students who were passing me oviously
confused as to what to do and where to go.
i decided to head to the main reception and on the way even dodging some very rushed
off there feet students, they were lucky i moved out of the way or what they were carrying
would of been broken by a very angry me.
as i came towards the reception desk i noticed there were two females on duty and all the
students seemed lost, strange i thought they must not be doing there job.
god laguna couldnt run a school if his life depended on it i muttered to myself quietly,
i stood before the desk after narrowly escaping a student with boxes stacked so high in her
hands she couldnt see straight ahead.
hi where are the dorms, i asked nonchalantly trying not to make eye contact with the girl as
i did not want to have to listen to the girl muttering on about some shit.
umm... follow the black line sir there are different coloured lines situated to different areas of
this military installation, if you ever need to see the principal laguna walk up the steps towards
elevator and he is 3F.
god she was actually helpful i thought to myself, then she actually analysed me i could tell
by the way she was staring.
she was staring at my face god why do women do this i thought, then she tried to make small talk
which i narrowly avoided by telling her i was in a hurry and walking off following the black line.
i could here her telling her colleauge that i was a catch and its a shame he didnt stay long enough
for me to give him her number, like she'd have a chance ignorant women.
why do they find me so attractive im 6,4 with long'ish brunette hair and a well built physique, it
must be my piercing blue eye's quisitis used to say people would lose themselves in them if they
look into my eye's for too long.
i smirked remembering the times i spent with them all. quisitis, zell, selphie, irvine and even seifer,
if only they were here i'd still ignore them to no avail like the old days.
i followed the black line around for 10 minutes until i got to the dormitory, i entered to see a long path
leading into a seperate building made of white stone.
the long hall had no glass windows and was also made of this white stone but outside of these
large glassless windows were small lunch area's and gardens with beautiful flowers and statues.
there were many students running in and out of here and it would probably be like this for the best
part of the day, all of them running through the automatic glass doors into and out of the dorms.
i entered the doors which might as well be permamently open now walking past student noticing a
sign which stated girls left and boys right, so i went down the right corridor and look for my room.
laguna said it would be 777, bet that was a joke for him or something but i was aparently sharing with
a girl so why would boys and girls be seperate i thought from seeing that sign.
damn laguna's been pulling strings again i bet zell would even be next door, wait no... thats just scary
i whispered to myself.
i came up to room 777 after 20 minutes of looking and damn did this place have alot of rooms i moaned
constantly walking up corridor after corridor, i think this is gonna make me even more physically fitter than
i already am.
the door was black and had the numbers 777 on them as well as a card reader, i took the black card with a red strip out of my pocket and swiped it in the card reader realising the lock on the door, thankfully they sent this
key to me via post so i didnt have to go back to reception.
as i twisted the handle on the door and entered the room i heard what i thought was zell shouting my name, but i dismissed it until i heard it again.
so i turned around to see the spiky blond standing only a small distance down the corridor so i went in my room and shut the door, i couldnt be bothered with him today i just wanted to sleep the flight from esthar was 5 hours long and i was ready to drop.
the room was beautiful, there were two bedrooms adjacent from eachother i would take the left as it alrady had a name plaque on it and the left would be for a rikku, nice name i though it was different like mine.
the rest of the room was dull at the moment i knew laguna and he would have sofa's and tables in here soon, he would even have small gadgets for me every now and then. i told him not to but he is my dad and the principal of this academy shame he was also esthars president i would beat him to a pulp.
the room only had one tall glass stand which held a red rose in a see through vase next to a letter, the letter had "to squall" written on the envelope.
i opened the letter from laguna and began reading :
to my son :
hi son sorry for the lack of my prescence which i know you enjoy so much :) but you will have to play
host to an al-bhed girl, her name is rikku and she is a really nice person you mistreet her i will
personally ruin your life more than you think i already do ner ner.
i know relations have been a bit frayed since the world of spira joined ours son and yes the war was a
mistake and now we are trying to make public realations better, 10 years and now were finally getting
alone eh!
i am asking you to do me a massive favour which you cannot refuse, you have to look after rikku and
i mean actually speaking to her son not your usual recluse lone wolf act.
me and your mother need you to do this we promised her father you would protect her so yes that does
he is an important al bhed leader.
still dunno why she wanted to enroll here but it will look good for everyone ok, i know this is gonna
be hard on you since you push every male and female away from you all the time even your friends
but this will come down on you like a ton of bricks if you dont do it ok.
now she will be arriving at 4 and her things are already in the room, all your friends are in single rooms
in the same corridor that means, seifer, zell, quistis, selphie and irvine are there as well.
if you need help ask them i dunno why but they're so loyal to you squall your time in the orphanage did
you well in many ways, me ellone and raine are rooting for you and ellone said she is gorgeous so dont
fall for her ( not that you would ) :).i know im terrible oh and the new leather sofa's and glass table will be
delivered when your in your first class tommorow and yes im treating you both, get over it.
bye son: dont you screw up or i owe your sister 100 gil man!
i closed the letter and shook my head in dismay, was this for real laguna had put all my friends around me and a complete stranger in my room without even batting an eyelid.
god he knew how to annoy me, i punched the wall and returned the letter to its place on the glass stand, she was going to be here at 4 and the clock said it was half 3 now, damn it !.
just then there was a knock at the door so i decided to answear it just incase it was this rikku, i slumped over to the door and opened it fully only to be tackled to the floor by an overly energetic selphie.
can you beleive it squall! were all right next to eachother and we get to have the BIGGEST rooms in the school oh my god this is awesome, without even taking a breath she continued speaking at supersonic speads while i just laid there on the floor.
zell walked in with irvine, quisitis and seifer, dude you seem to be enjoying that to much again, zell laughed.
i threw selphie off my torso and sat up, like hell did i what you all doing here i thought i escaped you lot, they all laughed not realising oviously i was serious by my stern face and im gonna kill you disposition.
dude you would't live without us and ya know it, irvine smugly told everyone, he was oviously more shocked that i threw selphie off me though as he was on the floor with selphie making sure she wasnt hurt.
squalls a meanie irvie! tell him off for me, to which he retorted, yh and have the same done to me how about i just kiss you better and help you up.
ok but no tongue or i kick you again cowboy, so he kissed her passionately and helped selphie to her feet holding her there in place from her torso, its amazing how he doesnt look at another women now ever since he found selphie.
you've lost your touch irvine, you used to be such a ladies man seifer joked only to get smacked round the head by a very annoyed quisitis, he's done something again i thought.
i got up and told them all to leave but as usual they didnt listen, seifer told it straight as usual though, cmon man we come to see the poor girl who has to share a room with you, he was laughing his head off now.
he'll probably freeze her with his presence like he does most people, quisitis joked although now everyone was laughing which was severly annoying me but i let it pass as usual since there friends.
look leave all of you im sure you'll end up pissing me off anyway, i angrily told them, yet they refused to move and just stood there pouting like they usually did until i gave in.
it wont work i told them, yet they continued standing there pouting and zell just kinda giving me a thumbs up ( what an idot ) oh well might as well stand my ground with this one.
i told you to leave now!, i stood there moving closer and closer to the door and they all moved except seifer.
im sure you dont want this to get rough again seifer, i growled in a low tone.
your right i dont but it seems you really wanna be alone with this girl, he smirked as he left the room.
whatever you think i dont care, you already know i couldnt care less about anyone, at that moment i slamed the door shut and i heard each one return to there rooms except irvine and selphie were probably in the same room.
i locked the door becuase it was ovious rikku would have a card key and went into my new room and sat on the nice kingsize double bed that was fixed to the wall, it had black silk sheets and when you sat on it you could see out of the window which had a beautiful mountain and sea view.
there were weapons compartments in the closets and a stand for my gun blade and even a ammo dispenser in my room, the HD tv was atleast 50 inches and had a ps3 hooked up with shelfs of games and accesories.
damn laguna knew how to treat me it was probably the same for everyone though i thought, knowing quisitis and zell they most likely had replacement weapons due to the fact neither of them used guns or gunblades, i thought.
in 10 minutes she would be here and i would have to pretend i care, damn i cant really be bothered, i cringed at the thought knowing i would have to lie to the girl about myself just to not get annoyed by dad 24/7.
well who cares im being myself to the end, i mumbled out loud as i laid back on the bed trying not to close my eye's cause if i fell asleep now i was out for the night.
there was music i could listen to on the ps3 i thought so i switched it on and realised dad had it set up already with profiles for all of us even him rikku and ellone, god he was planning ahead i thought.
i used the internet to listen to music and turned on johnny cash, aint no gravecan hold my body down, damn i like the oldies and classic rock as well as piano pieces.
it was the soothing melodies and hardcore rock music that kept me going, life was so boring and droll and people so unpredictable just ready to betray you at any moment for whatever pathetic reason they could think of.
i was maybe to hateful i know but the only people who deserved to be in my life were my friends and they know i care in my own way, strange they stay around though i never treat them well, well sometime's i remembered.
the song repeated itself again and again but the song meant so much to me growing up, we all had our own songs i remember the day we chose them all.
zell at age 8 sat in the orphanage and came to an epiphany that if we all died what would define us, yeah it was hard hitting for an eight year old but zell was a man who life in the moment and had alot of moments.
selphie said music was what defined her and irvine, yh she always made descisions for irvine it was kinda cute i thought looking back on it, he chose a small jazz piece from his favourate anime called " julia " and selphie chose " iris by the goo goo dolls ".
quisitis thought it was a game as did seifer, god they were so immature when matron wasnt around, i laughed.
seifer chose " iron maiden can i play with madness " and quisitis chose a beautiful song in japanese called " alumnia by nightmare "
mind we were all young but these songs are played everyday by us because of that promise and what zell said after we chose, " if we dissapeared like most orphans atleast the songs we chose would live on forever ".
we all know he is so much smarter than he lets on but i would never fault him, he brings us together in these beautiful moments and fixes so many situations he is more of a saint though i wouldn't tell him that cause of his damn ego.
i would hold on to my music forever and i hope they do aswell, they are my friends but most of all when i was in that orphanage waiting for laguna to find ellone they became my family, i had to apologise for the way i treated them just then i thought.
i jumped off of the bed and opened my eye's bolting for the door and as it opened i saw a young blonde women standing over a very beaten zell and a very angry seifer, what the hell was going on, i wondered.
zell was on the floor wincing in pain with seifer on top of him who now had a black eye, i walked over to watch this girl move back and go into a defensive position as if she saw me as a threat.
why did you do that its my job to kick there asses, i yelled with a deep commanding voice almost knocking this young blonde girl back with fear.
she looked at them and then towards me, she was about to say something until seifer got up and interrupted her, zell got to familliar squall and when i was trying to protect him she got the best of me sorry man.
he stood there with a genuine look of guilt on his face, he picked up zell who was in real pain holding his ribs but knowing him they were probably only bruised.
is this true i asked the girl and she replied with only a nod signalling a yes, "well dont worry then " i told her as i stepped back and let her go.
im rikku by the way i take it your squall, she smiled a half hearted smile then went into her room with a very angry prescence about her as she slammed the door shut.
seifer was nearly out of the door before i grabbed his arm to stop him, he stopped and turned with zell in a firemans carry staring at me with a genuine look of guilt.
man me and zell are sorry we just wanted her to let us into annoy you and she got the wrong idea when zell got physical as usual who knew she would be freakishly strong for such a small girl man, i thought she was cute until then.
seifer and zell im sorry i shouldnt of had a go at you earlier, i apologised and saw a smile appear on both of there faces, it was as if they were pleased to hear such words escape my lips.
seifer was loving it though, no problem man were always your friends yknow stop being so dark and gloomy now and then, he laughed then left with a very hurt but now pleased zell in his arms.
i closed the door only to realise now i would probably get told off by quisitis for not apologising to her as well, ah damn it oh well... might as well just leave it, i mumbled to myself.
as i crossed the expanse of the room to enter my own living space i looked over at rikku' s door, i thought well dad wanted me to look after her even though its ovious she can do that herself.
should i knock on her door or just leave it, i heard there aint no grave still playing quite loudly so i went in to change the song and i chose ' to zanarkand ' a favourate piano piece of mine which calms me down when i lose my temper.
i left my door open so i could hear the beautiful song as i crossed the room and knocked on rikku's door, it took her awhile to answear but she open the door fully and stood there eagerly awaiting what i had to say to her.
she was 5.9 with long blonde hair and quite a petite frame, she was wearing black levi jeans with a red silk shirt but what was even stranger is that she seemed to cover her arms with scarlet silk ribbons.
these ribbons were beautiful and were tied so skillfully around her arms all apart from her hands, i thought i should not ask about them as it was probably a personal matter or a strange al-bhed style that was in at the moment, ( not that i would know or care oviously ).
her eye's were a striking emerald green with little swirls inside them that hit the light and glistened whenever you saw them, i was shocked to see such beautiful eye's like hers i had never seen anything like them before.
i snapped myself out of the gaze of her beautiful emerald swirl eye's and got to the matter at hand, so im squall by the way i told her.
yh i guessed that it said that on your door which i noticed before you came out of it, rikku smirked at me and stuck out her tongue oviously she was a cheerful person just easily angered and i can see why if it was those two.
well look im sorry for those idiots they're friends, your gonna have to get accustomed to that living in this room which may i add was not my choice blondie.
i stood there nonchalantly awaiting her retort witty or otherwise, the song was playing in the background still and she seemed to be listening to it rather than thinking of a reply.
she stood there until she started to walk over to my room as if to inspect where the music was coming from, she stopped just outside and mutter ' this is my favourate song, i never imagined such a cold man would appreciate such beauty '.
so she said as she turned to look up at me and meet my gaze, you actually have a taste in music, she stated with a solemn look.
yes i do rikku why are you so suprised, i tilted my head and was actually genuienly concerned as to why she thought what she said and then it hit me.
i was actually that cold and emotionless that she would assume i have no interests, how strange i thought but anyone's honest reaction i guess.
well i just assumed since you have such a cold disposition and quite a muscular frame you would be a war mongering lunatic with a fetish for guns, she giggled and mimicked out me loving a firearm which was actually a very ammusing process.
your very speacial aint you, but you should learn how to caress a gun i smiled and even let out a small laugh that she heard and even smiled back to.
its ok you can be as cold as you want, rikku said, it honestly wont bother me just be yourself cause to many people piss me off by pretending there something there not yknow.
yh i guess your right, i have to tell you though my father told me to look after you and make sure your all right, i know it sounds weird but im sure he already told you himself.
i walked into my room and sat on the bed so she edged towards the door and leaned against the frame stating that she already knew because her father and laguna had talked, nowone is fond of us al bhed even in spira after my cousin saved them all from sin.
yh i heard i have studied your history and i thoroughly enjoyed it including your architecture and machinery ( or machina as you call it ), its been ten years but i guess you have even more problems since our worlds have combined.
she looked around the room and then back towards me with sadness in her eye's, yh your right but i like this world it also has such vibrance and life to it even with its destructive past you still live in peaceful times looking forward to an uncertain future, i guess our worlds are more alike than you think, she sadly looked to her feet.
yh i guess so make's you think the world were lovers who came together atleast thats what i think, dont you, i smiled as she brought her head back up and met my gaze and she smiled back to me.
i guess your right squall just two lonely planets coming together, then an alternate version of ' to zanarkand' came on and it was the piece i wrote for piano even with my introduction on it, damn you laguna.
im squall leonheart and i will be performing " to zanarkand " just with a bit more force and a softer ending piece, enjoy.
rikku sat there listening amazed at the fact i could play piano and so well, she came into my room and sat on the computer chair next to the computer desk and listened intently.
for 5 minutes and 35 seconds she had heard something i never wanted another living soul to hear and it turns out laguna had put it on here and knew about it.
i sat on the bed embarrased with my head in my hands, after then song was over she stood and clapped me even praising me for an amazing job, cmon squall that was amazing why dont you get a piano in here your dad said to mine he liked to treat you.
she was jumping up and down until i rose from my seat on the bed and turned off the ps3 stopping the music dead before it had another chance to play, she even followed me out of the room and closed my door behind us.
rikku was now standing behind me waiting for me to answaer her and i really didnt want to so i just said " whatever " and walked out of the room leaving her there not even saying a word.
damn laguna putting that song on there i didnt even know he knew about it, he is gonna pay but first im hungry so cafeteria, i started walking only to be followed by rikku which i only noticed when i got to the cafeteria and sat down with a lasagne and a glass of coke.
she ordered the same and sat down on the same table directly facing me and not even saying a word, so we sat there and ate in silence which she didnt seem to mind other then the odd look of confusion.
i finished my lasagne and sat there watching her eat and at times saw her look up to make sure i was still there, she was waiting for me to say something but i didnt want to disturb her she looked happy just sitting there with her food.
when she finished i waited for her to speak but she didnt so i had a sip of coke and decided to say something and i mean anything, nice weather were having i said.
ummm... yh i guess so she giggled, rikku sipped from her glass as well and placed it silently on the table and looked at me as if to say your very strange.
yh i know what you want to talk about so just forget you ever heard it i didnt expect laguna to know it existed let alone put it on my computer, i grimaced at the thought he damn man nearly knew everything about me.
she sat there with a smile on her face which made me look at her rather strangely, dont worry it will be our secret i promise, im sure your friends dont know you can play piano that, whats there names again she asked.
zell and seifer but dont worry you will probably meet selphie, irvine and quistis later, and yh your right your the first person to know i play ( i think ).
wow kinda honoured i guess, she got up and left her plate and drink on the cafeteria table, cmon then squall we gotta be up early for our first lesson tommorow lets go get some sleep yh.
i got up from my chair and followed her to the dorms chatting along the way about the military academy and why she enrolled.
it turns out she defied her father and this was a punishment and it was all because she flew his new airship before him, so his excuse was its a great education and a career to go into.
his name was cid and aparently he was quite an easy to anger man, the complete opposite of laguna who was a crazy bastard with absoloutely no fear in the slightest.
the world spira had combined with our own causing many large earquaked and landscape changes but in ten years everything returned to normal planet wise and spira was situated on the other side of the world and all our continents were situated adjacent to spira.
there was a war for a year mainly due to fear and panic but in the last few years we have built quite a relationship with spira to the point there are even bridges and airports connecting us to the land of spira which is unique in itself.
rikku was telling me of her home but seemed to leave many details out probably for her own personal reasons i guessed but it was fine i wasnt telling her anything about me and i think she knew i wasnt going to, which was probably why she was asking me about balamb itself.
i told her all i knew, it was a seaside town with unique architecture and landscape and people here always lived in peace and harmony with nature up until the esthar spira war where everyone fought for there world.
we had now entered our room and passed a very bruised zell in the hall who seemed to be very wary of rikku but also quick to get into quistis and seifers room, probably to stir shit again i guess.
i was about to go into my room before rikku apologised for the zell and seifer thing, i told her not to worry but she was probably over it anyway i thought.
look its ok rikku they were both stupid and unprepared to deal with your ovious fighting skill, you did a good job im sure you'll get to know and like my friends soon anyway, just remember im only looking after you cause laguna will make my life a living hell if i dont ok.
ok thats fine squall good night yh, she smiled and went into her room locking the door behind her as did i that night and as i got undressed and hit the bed i just feel into a deep sleep under the silk covers of warmth and comfort.
