A little blonde haired girl sat on a cliff top watching an azure sky and an azure sea with penetrating azure eyes that regarded the world with adult comprehension.

"Someday I will go to the farthest reaches of the sea and see all the lands that it flows from" She said quietly but clearly. The man who stood silently behind, watching her sighed at his unperceived discovery.

"Why do you think that?"

"I know it because my mother told me it would be so." She stated never taking her eyes off the ocean

"I believe both her and you, I could almost believe that you could see them whilst sitting here." This time she did turn to look at him, her sparkling azure eyes seeming to penetrate his very soul.

"Not yet" He gave an involuntary shudder as she got up and walked towards the orphanage. And he wondered, not for the first time, what he and his wife had got themselves into.

1 Year Later (Quistis is 6years old)

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"No Irvy! We have to use these bwanches for guns, but mine is going to be a Bazooka! BOOM!" She shouted jumping around while the auburn haired boy called Irvine pretended to explode trying to please the girl in the sunshine yellow dress.

"Could you please be quieter or move further up the beach?" Quistis asked in her usual soft tone but with a note of command. The older girl had been sitting silently watching the sea when her two exuberant peers had interrupted her thoughts.

"Bossy Quisty!" she heard one of them mutter as they walked away.

"Bossy Quisty, Eh? That's a nickname I'll encourage to be around for a long time" Quistis looked round and grinned at her tall, blonde twin.

"That's fine then, Seify" he winced at the name. She got up and hugged him, smiling happily. "I didn't hear you come?"

"I'm not surprised with all the noise those two were making" he pointed to a distant part of the beach where "Bangs!" and "Booms!" were floating to them from. "You probably wouldn't be able to hear a train passing right over you."

She looked at him with suspicion. "You know as well as I do that's not what I meant"

"… Matron taught me a new technique that blocks me from you"

"Why?" Quistis pondered.

"Why what?" Asked Seifer

"Come sit with me" They both sat down on the sand dune and faced the sea. "Why bring together 8 children and start teaching us things like that? And we are children very specifically chosen I am sure"

"Us for our mother and what we received from her?"

"And perhaps even our father."

"Yes perhaps but how would then know?"

"The only way would be if Edea sensed his power in us and even that wouldn't give away his identity, and she may not have even sensed his power. They could not know who he was"

"Or is" their eyes locked in mutual pain and hope.

"Or is she repeated him quietly, her throat dry.

"Why Squall?" he asked after they had sat in silence for a while

"Huh?"

"Why Squall? I just about understand everyone else, not him"

"Hmm, Irvine has good eyes he would make an excellent scout or sharp shooter, I'm not sure why that would qualify him for here but who knows. Selphie has great potential for magic and vast amounts of energy, I think Edea plans to let Selphie inherit her powers. Perhaps Irvine would be her protector? They do seem to be encouraged to spend a lot of time together. Ellone reeked of magic"

"I overheard matron say it was something to do with time?" Quistis nodded.

"And Zell's parents? His mother or father was some sort of power I think? But I don't sense anything of the sort in him."

"They may be waiting for it to develop?" suggested Seifer.

"I agree. But the question remains, why squall? And why here? What are we here for?"

"We're being assessed" Comprehension began to dawn in Quistis' eyes.

"Explain please?" Seifer pointed to a man in a maroon tank top not half a mile away who was watching them intently.

"That man Cid he does nothing but observe us and Matron, Edea, teaches us small things to see how we well learn and if we can"

"It makes sense but what for?"

"And Ellone, her power and suitability was proved and now she's gone"

"Now you're just speculating"

"But it still makes sense, and I think you will be the next to go"

"Why?" Quistis asked, fear written in her eyes.

"Because your power is also very obvious and very great. Everyone else has none"

"You have some."

"Not as much as you. You will be next"

"No!"

"You will be next"

A tear slid down her face and she hugged her brother.

"I know"