Xeranthemum
Rinny Leonheart
Summary: AU SQUINOA. An orphaned commoner enters a prestigious boarding school overseas and faces the toughest challenges of her life to date just to get by and create something better for herself. The heir to a vast empire, struggling in a sea of phoneys and lackeys seeks a life of normalcy and freedom from the chains of responsibility. What happens when these two personalities collide?
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.
In short; I don't own FFVIII and I never will. I only possess a copy of the game, the authorized walkthrough guide and some related game paraphernalia. I use Squaresoft's (Square Enix) idea for a personal formation of my own creativity and I do not make any monetary gain from this story. The same can be said for any branded items and song lyric one liners that may crop up in my stories. Thank you very much, now I can breathe easy! XD
Author's Note: And yet another new story from me! Perfect timing to post this story which I started last January while setting up my own business. It's not been easy and I'm persevering! Happy Birthday Rinoa-san!
About this story- I guess I felt inspired when I re-read Imadoki last week. Seeing snippets about the language of the flowers and so on, it made me want to write something partially based on that story while coming up with other ideas on what to put in. Also I liked the idea of doing a story set in a boarding school- Garden is like a boarding school in the game so why the heck not? Oh, and the Chinese proverb that is in the opening line played a small part in the title, as well as the actual flower used in the title.
Xeranthemum is a flower of the genus Xeranthemum native to Southern Europe. It has silvery flower heads with purplish tubular flowers. It is a symbol of eternity and immortality.
In flower language it means "cheerful in adversity". Which is sort of what I wanted to write this story about as a whole. All chapter names are after flowers/plants with their respective meanings explained at the end of the story.
A clue for you all: the flower/plant names reflect the contents of each chapter. I am aiming to have each chapter at between 2500 and 4000 words, slightly shorter than my previous work but I'd like to get this story completed in about 15-20 chapters total and not stretch out the plot (which I already have 50% written down) so much that it detracts from the main story. I seem to do that a lot and it isn't fair on you when I get a case of writer's block and leave the story unfinished.
Adult themes and situations, some mild to strong language, violence, bullying.
XERANTHEMUM
"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all."
Prologue: Bryony, Wisteria and Chrysanthemum
5:26 AM March 8th
Timber, Galbadia
"Edea Kramer?" a police officer enquired as the front door opened on the small wooden cottage. The young woman who answered gave a slight nod, rubbing her tired eyes.
"Yes?" she answered sleepily with a yawn. "How can I help you officer?"
"My name is Sergeant Sheppard ma'am. Please excuse my call at such a late hour but I've been travelling all night from Deling City trying to find you."
She had a puzzled expression on her face when she focussed her eyes in the porch light and saw a small child sitting in the police car down the path pressing her face up against the window. She was a pale but dear little thing, with brown eyes that seemed too large for her small face. They were red at the rims, indicating the child had been crying prior to the arrival of her home. Edea had a startling revelation that she'd seen that child somewhere before. A great sense of dread overwhelmed her as the officer continued speaking.
"I have reason to believe you know Fury and Julia Caraway?"
"My husband and I know them, yes…" Her blue eyes widened as she recognised the little girl in the car. "Is… is that…?"
The officer nodded with a grim expression on his face.
"That is their daughter Rinoa. I understand you are aware of the circumstances concerning her arrival here to your home?"
"Y-yes but…" she stammered, feeling a terrible sense of dread rising up in her chest. Her throat felt tight, like she was choking on an invisible object. "A-are you saying they're…?" she asked shakily, gripping the handle of the door to steady herself.
She was met with another nod from the officer and her legs gave way beneath her.
"Ma'am? Are you alright?" Sergeant Sheppard enquired offering her his arm.
"Cid!" she cried out. "Cid come quickly!"
Her husband Cid came running down the stairs. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his wife on the ground in convulsions then rushed to her side.
"Edea, my darling, what's happened?"
"Oh C-Cid…" she choked. "It's F-Fury and Julia…. They're dead!"
That day was a dark one for Cid, Edea and young Rinoa. Not twelve hours earlier Fury, Julia and Rinoa had been travelling back to Deling from Dollet when a stray Chocobo had ran into the road, causing Fury to swerve; crashing their car into a large tree and rolling over into a muddy ditch. The car was not found for several hours; it was only by chance that a local cyclist had been travelling the same road at dusk, their reflective gear lit up from the headlights of the crushed car. They alerted the authorities immediately.
Fury had died on impact according to the post-mortem, while Julia had escaped her seat just before they crashed to protect their daughter. She was found unconscious, shielding a frightened Rinoa beneath her broken body. Her injuries had been so severe that she had passed away in hospital two hours later.
Fury had been a major political figurehead in the Galbadian army and Julia had been a famous singer and songwriter. The combination of their popularity and ceaseless harassment from the paparazzi had forced them to keep Julia's pregnancy and Rinoa's birth a secret from the public eye. With the help of the local police force and certain members of military staff, when the story of their death emerged- as far as the world was concerned, Fury and Julia Caraway had died alone and with no heirs.
With no other living relatives to speak of, Rinoa was left all alone at the age of five, her birthday only a week previous. Edea and Cid Kramer had been named as her guardians some years earlier and were immediately given custody of the young girl.
The road to recovery was not easy for them, as Rinoa suffered from a minor form of amnesia as an effect of the crash, it took months to recover her memories and even longer for the recurring nightmares to cease. She would re-live the car crash every night, waking up in cold sweats and floods of tears. Edea and Cid never once scolded her like the other orphans for this, it wasn't her fault. The trauma had been too much for a five year old to cope with.
Edea and Cid would spend many nights staying up with the young girl trying to console her. Because of the crash, Rinoa developed an alarming fear of the dark, sleeping only in fully lit rooms; she would panic whenever she was in small rooms, feeling claustrophobic. And the following winter when she caught Scarlet Fever, it came to light that she was afraid of hospitals when they tried taking her in for treatment. No amount of coaxing would convince her to go, even when it seemed to everyone else that she was going to die. Thankfully she recovered from the illness and her health improved.
Sometime later, she transformed from the shy, sensitive little girl she had been when she arrived, into a helpful and cheerful young lady. Orphans came and went over the years but Rinoa remained with the Kramers. Legally she was not adoptable by prospective parents, but she was not adopted by Cid and Edea either.
As per her parents' last wishes, they raised her as if she was their own daughter but kept her last name as Heartilly- in memory of her late mother.
10:26am January 22nd
Timber, Galbadia. Eleven years later.
"Well? What does it say Rinoa?" Edea Kramer asked the young woman sitting opposite her on the sofa. Rinoa Heartilly, aged sixteen, was reading a letter from Gaia Academy, the elite boarding school of Esthar. The sheet of paper she was holding in her palms was quivering from the young girl's anxiety, making her hands very shaky.
Her rosebud lips were gaping open as her wide brown eyes scanned the document in shock. She couldn't even look up into the face of her guardian; her eyes were laser-focussed on the print before her. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat fifteen minutes earlier when she first received the flat looking and rejection implying correspondence and forced her sight from the page in front of her. A bright smile formed on her mouth and she cried out with joy.
"I don't believe it… Edea… I got in! They want me at Gaia Academy at the start of the new school year and are offering me the full scholarship!" she squealed excitedly as she jumped from the sofa and began pirouetting around the tiny living space clutching the sheet of paper to her chest.
"Oh Rinoa, that's fantastic news! I told you that you would pass the entrance exam with flying colours!" Edea smiled proudly as she stood up and wrapped her arms around the elated young woman.
Suddenly the door burst open wide and half a dozen children rushed into the room and began jumping around her excitedly.
"Did she get in Matron Edea?"
"That's so amazing!"
"I knew you could do it!"
"Oh wow, I am thrilled for you!"
"Well done Rinny!"
Edea's husband Cid followed the cluster of children who were clamouring for Rinoa's attention, carrying a one year old who also held his arms out wide for a cuddle.
"Rinoa we are very proud of you, congratulations." He said with a large grin on his aging features.
Rinoa smiled with tears streaming down her face.
"Thank you everyone. Thank you for supporting me this whole time. I couldn't have done it without your encouragement."
3:42pm
Royal Palace, Esthar City, Esthar
"Well according to the delivery status, our scholarship candidate should be receiving the news as we speak Laguna." Kiros Seagill announced from his computer desk as he examined the courier page stating that the acceptance letter had been signed for an hour earlier.
The man called Laguna deposited his crossed legs on top of his own desk and rested his hands behind his head with a smile.
"Excellent, we should be hearing from her shortly then." he said with glee in his voice.
"Laguna, are you sure that it was a wise idea? To offer scholarships to common folk?" Ward Zabac queried as he looked out of the windows of the grand palace and looked at the glittering metropolis below them.
"Of course it was a good idea! I've wanted to set this up for almost eight years now since I founded the school." Laguna stated simply. "Why shouldn't we offer the commoners the same opportunity as those born to prosperous families?" he asked as if it was almost unheard of.
"I see what you mean but why now, and not when the school opened?" Kiros asked as he stood from his desk.
"Well that wasn't my decision; the other board members insisted we began with our own families and connections." Laguna said with a huff. "They kept putting off the acceptance of commoners and I finally managed to convince them this past year. As the man who financed and constructed the school I should have had the authority to do this much sooner."
"Well sir, you do have other commitments that take precedence over those decisions. Running the country takes up a lot of time." Kiros reminded him. Laguna stood from his seat and began pacing the floor.
"Yes, and then I have to raise my children, which leaves very little time to do more. Which is why you were appointed to take over some of the public issues Kiros so I could focus on the education system."
Kiros removed his spectacles and rubbed them on his sleeve. "Sometimes Laguna I believe you can be rather soft on those less fortunate."
Laguna laughed and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yes I know, but when you consider my background, I'm just as average as all of the commoners in the world put together."
Ward looked at the manila folder sitting on the desk and raised it to his face. His eyes roamed over the information contained on the first page and gave an approving nod.
"Rinoa Heartilly, welcome to Gaia Academy."
Page break
Author's Note II: Well I hope you are enjoying this so far, it's kind of unusual for me to write about something I have no experience or knowledge about, but I must say that I have been learning a lot from this story. Like the flowers and their meanings but also any history behind them, it's been very interesting and fun, so the saying that you learn something new every day can be right.
Chapter Title flowers and their meanings:
Bryony/Bryonia is a genus of flowering plant in the gourd family. Bryony is its best-known common name. They are native to western Eurasia and adjacent regions, such as North Africa, the Canary Islands and South Asia. Bryonies are perennial, tendril-climbing herbs with palmately lobed leaves and flowers in axillary clusters. The fruit is a smooth, globular berry. The name translates to: Support.
Wisteria is a purple flowered tree that has vines which can grow up to 20m tall and 10m wide and the name means: Welcome.
Chrysanthemum flowers are a cluster of petals upon a stem, they have alternately arranged leaves divided into leaflets with toothed or occasionally smooth edges and are generally found in yellow, pink, red and white colours. The flower was adopted by the Emperor of Japan sometime in the eighth century as his official seal. The Japanese "Festival of Happiness" celebrates this flower every year. It means: Joy, Optimism, Perfection