in the dark
zell & selphie
( sun's heartache )
disclaimer: I do not own final fantasy eight.
He has a box hidden under his bed, in the darkest corner, pressed against the wall and covered by clothes and dust.
It contains many things, trinkets of his childhood: his first pair of gloves – torn, tattered and used too many times; magazines; a photo of his Grandpa, a photo of his Ma; one of all three of them together, smiling grins too wide and that are able to spread into the sky.
He doesn't remember much before them, those dusty memories, those distant days in the orphanage: with Matron, Big Sis, Squally, Irvy, Quisty, Seify… and Sefie.
These are recollections that he will forget.
But… when he arrives on the sunny beaches, lost fragments come back with the white foam of the sea and the scent of flowers, with spectres of their childhood, ghosting on the plane – skipping and skimming stones, structuring sandcastles and spending time with Sis.
Those phantoms brought the sun to life.
And he does not want to forget her.
Selphie, who smiles, waves, cheers. Selphie, who wears her heart on her sleeve and puts brambles in her hair. Selphie, who bounces with sunlight in russet curls and hops, leaps, jumps with brown boots and boogies with a yellow dress, twirling red nun-chucks in her hand.
Zell does not want to forget her.
And yet his box does not have a photo or her, new or old.
He wants to think that such a bright and lively girl is timeless; knows that she is not.
Yet he hopes that he will never go too far and forget her.