This is my third rewrite of this fic. And yes I took down the old one.

Final Fantasy VIII: The Outcast

Chapter 1: Traumatic Memories

She woke up lying on the floor as Raine, one of her big sisters tried to wake her up, all she could see was some blurry contours and she could smell the smoke. Her vision became gradually better and she saw some small fires and heard screams from the guests.

She tried to rise up but felt an excruciating pain in her left hand and noticed most of it was gone. She touched her face with the hand she had left and noticed blood coming from a gash on her forehead. Then everything came back.

It was her birthday. Her seventh birthday and her father would come home later in the evening from his work as the commander of Balamb Garden. The party for her friends and her grandfather, aunt and cousins who had come the all the way from Esthar to their house in Balamb. There had been a present from somebody unknown and she had opened it. Then everything went black until she woke up to the smoke and small fires in their house wish was decorated for her birthday.

"Mom!" She thought as she struggled up and groggily looked around. There she saw her other big sister Julia desperately trying to wake their mother up. She felt her own consciousness slipping before everything went black as she lost consciousness of the blood loss and she knew that life would never be the same again.

Seven years later

(Friday August 6th)

Quistis looked at the twins in the classroom as she once again tried to figure out who was who, wish wasn't the easiest when they were in their uniforms and the only difference between their regular outfits were that Julia had a red vest with angel wings on the back while Raine had a denim with Griever. Both had the same facial and body features as their paternal grandmother, including the ice blue eyes and the chestnut hair.

She looked at one of the girls.

"Raine, is it?" She asked

"It is Julia." The girl answered with an amused smile. ("She is totally clueless. We even managed to become SeeD last week and got these new uniforms with identification-tags on and still she manages to mix us up. Too bad for Raine that the female uniform still has a skirt to it.)

"Oh I am sorry Julia. What is the typical pattern of a T-rexaur attack?" Quistis said with a small smile. ("Wrong girl once again. Quistis, when will you learn?")

"No sweat instructor. The answer is that it usually attacks with the tail before it tries to bite you." She answered still with the bright smile.

"That is correct. Enough for today. Class dismissed." Quistis said and the class started to leave. ("If these girls were just as easily to tell apart by their looks as their behavior is, it would be nearly to easy.")

("Raine is a tomboy and just like her father very inbound and quiet but she has her mother's short temper and a hell of a temper that is. Julia is outgoing and stubborn like her mother and quite cheerful. She is also a bit calmer like their father and doesn't lose her temper to easily. Then they have their own sides to. Julia is a great chef and field medic, while Raine would try to warm tea water and fail. Instead she is really good with flowers and part of the Garden's scout squad due to her botanical knowledge.")

She packed her belongings together with a sigh as her thoughts about the sisters continued to run through her head. ("Then we have their little sister. The master of mechanics and tactics and if she just got a bit more confidence she would become a great leader. She is the heir of their grandmother's love for music and seems like she also gets along great with animals. Also a real bookworm like her mother.")

("Luna who had inherited their father's quiet inbound attitude wish somehow she has succeeded to mix together with their mother's cheerful attitude. Instead of hiding her feelings by distance herself she always tries to smile. She is also very kind and helpful towards the people around her, even if they treat her bad. I know she get bullied because she received Rinoa's sorceress power, but struggles to not letting it show and don't want to bother someone with it. I am glad I haven't told Kaylee yet about what have happened because she would literally explode and tear down the boarding school she is at now since she got kicked out from Galbadia Garden for punching an instructor. I also know my son Reno is trying to shield her when he can even if he is a class over her and I think he has a small crush on her to.")

"Let's meet up with Tessa and Chris for lunch." Julia said to her sister with excitement as they walked out from the classroom.

"I am going to take the opportunity to change to my normal clothes first. You know I hate these damn uniforms." Raine said as she looked at the uniform with a frown.

"Yeah, we know" Julia said with a small laughter. "One of the very few opinions that you actually voice instead of keeping it for yourself...other when you beat someone up that is."

"Yeah whatever. Well see you later. I am also going to pick up Luna on the way." Raine said as she walked towards their dorm. ("This time I will try to get her before they do.")

"See you later Raine." Julia called back.

Julia walked into the cafeteria while thoughts ran through her mind. ("I hope she won't fall victim to them today again.")

"Hey Julia! Over here." Tessa squealed happily as she waved from a table. "Where is Raine?"

"She is changing from the uniform into something a bit comfier." She answered with a playful scowl.

"She still hates the uniform I hear." Tessa giggled.

"Well, she rather hates the skirt that comes with it." Julia answered. "She is also going to get Luna."

"Yeah, that poor girl is quite brave for not letting them get to her." Tessa said with sad frown.

Well inside the dorm wish Raine shared with her twin sister she changed out of the uniform and into the original style consisting of a black T-shirt and blue jeans. She also putted on her denim vest with some pockets with various surviving tools and the Griever on the back and a pair of trekker boots. ("Ah, finally I got out of that uniform and into something a bit more comfortable. I don't understand those cadets who constantly run around in these uniforms.")

On her way out she stopped in front of a photography they had hanging on the wall, picturing the three sisters, their father and mother. ("It is over seven years since mom passed away now. This photo is the last full family portrait we have.")

Raine looked at the picture and felt a sting in her heart as a small tear emerged from her left eye.

("I wonder how life would have been if you hadn't died mom. Sure dad has been taking really good care of us, but sometimes it would have been nice to have had a mother to talk to.") She sighted as she strokes away a tear.

("Then we have Luna. She is having a hard time right now with bullies who seems to dislike her only because she is a sorceress as she got found out two years ago...Just because I was sick. Even her best friend betrayed her. Damn it, she is even wearing an Odine bangle to block her powers and trying to live like a normal girl. Everything just to get accepted. In a way it is my fault she is in this situation. If I just hadn't been sick she wouldn't have had to expose her power. At least we have been trying to have her forget what happened back then at least.")

She looked at the watch and hurried to wipe away the tears and walked towards the elevator to meet up with Luna.

The now fourteen-year-old Luna Leonhart walked out from the elevator on the bottom floor, only to once again get tripped by another cadet and fell flat on her stomach while the other cadets laughed at her.

"Oh, did the little stumpy witch fell? Did you get a boo-boo?" A girl said with a voice filled with mockery referring to Luna's missing hand wish she had a cybernetic prosthesis in place for.

("Here we go again, but I will not let this ruin my day.") She thought as she struggled against the tears while she lies still on the floor. (" I will not let them win.")

"Hey nice panties." She heard another girl shout out between the laughter referring to the fact that her uniform skirt had lifted as she fell flashing her undergarments wide open for everyone to see.

The words hit her as they were daggers right into her very soul.

("I understands why Raine hate the skirt so much. It almost hurts worse than when they slashed my back in the training class") She thought as she felt how the eyes became watery and her lower lip started to whimper but tried hard not to let it show. ("Words can't hurt me, words can't hurt me.")

"HEY, KNOCK IT OF. Leave her alone." An angry voice was heard as Raine came running with a flare in her eyes that could almost incinerate anybody she looked at. "If you are going to pick on someone, then pick on me."

The crowd around Luna dissolved as they saw the butterfly swords in Raine's hands were shaking like the rest of her body in pure anger.

("Thanks Hyne, sis came. I don't know how much longer I would have been able to fight back the tears.") She thought with relief as she started to rise up and collected her belongings with the help of her sister.

"Did they hurt you?" Raine asked her sister who was a spitting image of their mother.

"Well no, not physically at least." Luna answered with a small smile like she always did because she didn't want to worry her sisters, but Raine instantly noticed the teary look in the dark brown eyes her sisters had.

"Come, let's get something to eat." Raine nodded. ("Damn, why can't they just let her be?")

Raine and Luna walked into the cafeteria, ordered their food and sat down with her friends.

"Hi Raine! Hi Luna! We started to wonder if you ever would show up." Chris said jokingly as he sat there in the same outfit his father Zell favored. They were quite alike except for the tattoo.

"We got caught up into something." Raine answered with a dark look in her eyes.

"What happened this time?" Julia said as she to noticed the dark look in her twin sister's eyes and the watery eyes of her younger sister.

"They tripped her once again by the elevator. Next time I am going to slit their throats open with my butterfly swords." She hissed with a venomous voice.

"Why can't they just give it up? They must somehow get some kind of weird kick by doing this." Julia said as she shook her head.

"Can't your father do anything about it?" Tessa asked as she adjusted the brown leather vest she wore over a white shirt along with a brown leather skirt, brown knee-high boots and a cowboy hat. "He is the commander after all."

"He does all he can, but the bullies never leave evidence enough to make the boarding members to kick any of them out." Julia said. "At the most they will get punished by the disciplinary committee lead by Seifer."

"Man, that sucks." Chris said as he gulped down another hotdog. "All because she happens to have a gift she didn't even ask for."

"Yeah that is so damn unfair as it can be." Julia said. "She didn't even hurt a fly and still she gets treated like a bag of shit, just because she is different."

"Um hello, I am still here. Please don't speak over my head. It is enough that the others are doing it." Luna said as she tried to lighten up the mood. "It is okay; I am getting used to it now so it doesn't hurt so much anymore."

"It isn't okay at all. We know you are trying to be strong not to worry us, but still it is wrong" Raine said as she looked down on her almost half eaten plate of sausage and macaroni. "The question is where we shall go after the lunch."

"We have four places to choose between." Tessa said. "The Quad is one place, but it is quite cramped there with people now for the coming Garden Festival and that is what we are avoiding."

"Then we have the library, mom is not going to let anyone bug you. Especially not since she became the head of the library." Chris said. "But it is not a great place to relax in."

"Then we have the training center, everybody in there is too busy with training to notice us." Julia said.

"But as we said before, we are going to relax a bit." Luna said.

"Then we only have one place left." Raine said. "The landing ground for the Ragnarok."

"That sounds great." Julia said.

"Then it is settled. Let's finish our meals and get changed and then we meet up there." Raine said and looked at Luna. "I am already changed so if you want I can make you company to your dorm."

"That would be great sis." Luna answered relieved. Every time she walked to her dorm she became an object for taunts, pranks and mean glares.

They finished their meals and each walked away to their dorms.

Raine and Luna walked through the corridor leading to her dorm as some of the cadets they met either glared or whispered comments to each other.

"Don't listen to them. They only want to make you cry." Raine whispered as Luna nodded.

"Nice rear view you gave earlier. Going to show us again anytime soon little witch?" A grinning cadet said as he met them but immediately got pressed up against the wall by Raine with one of the big daggers against his throat.

"Say something like that again to my sister and I am going to take your tongue." She hissed as she brought out the other butterfly sword and placed it against the crotch. "And you will certainly never father any children. Have I made myself clear?"

The cadet just nodded terrified and left pretty quick.

"He won't bother you anymore at least." Raine said with a satisfied smile as she tucked away her weapons.

"He certainly wet his pants at least." Luna answered giggling.

When they came to her dorm Luna walked in while Raine waited outside.

Luna's room was a single dorm despite that she was still a cadet. Her sisters had requested that she would get a single dorm instead of them when they made it through their exam, so she at least would have one haven away from her tormentors.

("Even if the boys are really rude towards me, the girls are the worst at bullying because they know what buttons to push to bring you down on your knees completely.") She thought as she let a few tears come out.

("Even my roommate and only friend May did betray me when she let some of the other cadets walk into our shared dorm last year and then threw nearly all my undergarments into the fountain for everybody to see. Dad was furious and for once he even got a few cadets expelled for it including May...But who can blame her? She had quite pressure against her and the others treated her bad to just because she was my friend. I tried to make him spare her and let her stay, but I was too late. She had already been kicked out.")

She started to pull out some clothes from a dresser and started to change.

After a few minutes she was dressed in a white T-shirt, a black denim tool vest, black jeans and combat-boots plus a black cap, a fingerless leather glove on her remaining hand and a pair of wielding goggles she wore around her neck. She had pulled up her raven hair into a ponytail like her sisters often did and buckled her gunblade onto her belt and then placed a flower on a small shrine she had made in memory for her little kitten who had passed away in a tragic way three months earlier.

("Moonbeam, I really miss you. Why did that had to happen? If I just had been more careful they wouldn't have been able to get you... It was my fault... Just like I somehow get the feeling that it is my fault mom is gone.")

("I never have told my family that I feel guilty over her death. I just don't want to have them worry about me...even if I think they know.")

She then walked to her bed and took up her pillow, just to see if it had dried up yet or if it was still wet as it usually was after the countless nights she had cried herself to sleep. At least in here she could let out her frustration and other emotions without the possibility that anyone would get the pleasure of see her crying. ("That is at least something I am not going to let them get.")

She then looked down on her prosthesis that replaced her hand and part of her forearm. ("Like it isn't enough I am trying to figure out how I lost my hand. I have two whole weeks gone from my memory…And ever since that I have had a very strong aversion against Guardian Forces. At least my grandpa got me this made from the finest cybernetic technology Esthar can offer.")

She readied herself before walking out to her waiting sister.

"In those clothes, no one can mistake you for not being a Leonhart." Raine said with a smile.

"Well, that is the point." Luna said. "Even if the others are mean I am not going to hide away who I am. That would be like to let them win."

"That is right. Never be ashamed for who you are." Raine said with a supporting voice.

The friends met up by the Ragnarok Raine, Julia and Tessa sat down and started talking while Chris made some tricks on his T-board. Luna brought out her violin and started to play and sang on a song she had written the night before.

Lyrics

"The star in the sky shines so bright"

"You have been my guide from the start, and I know you always will"

"I don't know who you are, but I know you are watching me from afar."

"I never met you, I never will"

"But somehow I feel your presence from that star, calling out to me"

"Oh please give me strength when the times turn bad to make it through the day"

"Oh please give me peace at night for at least one decent moment of sleep"

"You heal my soul and setting me free because you are my star"

"As an angel in the sky"

End

Raine who had been inside the left engine had crouched out to listen to her little sister sing. And she knew right away what the meaning of her song was about. ("We knew that she one day was going to ask about mom. That day seems to have come.")

"Nice song you have written." Julia said as she walked to her sister. "Where did you find the inspiration to that song?"

"Well, actually I have thought about this a long time." Luna said. "There is a few things I want to ask you about if it is okay."

("I guess we both know what it is about.") Julia thought as she saw her twin's facial expression.

"You want to know more about mom, right."

"Well yeah, I don't really remember anything about her more than how she looked alike. My memory is as you know even more messed up than the regular GF-amnesia." Luna said as she looked her sisters in the eyes.

"Um, I think mom wants some help with the festival plans." Tessa said as she started to walk away, stopping just to elbow Chris in the side.

Chris first looked a bit confused but then he understood the gesture Tessa had made. "Um, I think mom would need some help in the library."

When the sisters were alone they sat down on the ground and started talking.

"Please tell me about her." Luna said.

"Well, we don't remember too much of her either because well you know the GF's effect." Julia said. "But I still remember some abstract things like the scent of her perfume. It smelled like spring flowers."

"Yeah I remember that. Do you remember the apple pie she used to bake?" Raine said with a big smile at the memories.

"Yeah, I have tried to make that pie for years, but I never succeed in making it as good as she did it." Julia answered with an equally big smile as she saw the look of her younger sister who listened very close, even she with a smile. Suddenly they noticed that another figure moved into the landing ground.

"Hi girls. Am I interrupting something?" Squall asked his daughters.

"No, you are not interrupting anything at all." Julia said. "We were just talking about mom."

"Dad, why don't you join us if you have time?" Luna asked as she looked her father in the eyes.

"Then you maybe could share the things you remember of her."

"Well, I guess I could take a break." He said as he sat down with his daughters. "Your mother was a fantastic woman. She had a stubbornness strong enough to bring down the moon if she wanted to. That same stubbornness was also the thing that helped me change from a cold loner into the man I am today. She even helped me to accept Laguna as my father after I more or less had told him to go to hell when he told me the truth."

"Was it love at first sight when you met?" Luna asked as she sat with her knees curled up against her chest.

"Oh no." Their father laughed. "We first met at the inauguration ball just when I had become a SeeD. She practically dragged me out on the dance floor. I tried to fake that I couldn't dance, but she had decided that it was me she wanted to dance with and she didn't take a no for an answer."

"We danced for quite long, but then she disappeared and I thought that I never would see her again." He took a small pause before he continued. "But we met the next day again when I had been sent out on my first mission for the Forest Owls along with Zell and Selphie. It turned out that she was my employer and we met again."

"Aw so romantic. It was then you felt you wanted to spend your life together with her right." Julia said as she tried to imagine the scene in her head.

"Hell no." Squall laughed. "I thought she was quite annoying and naive about her thoughts of changing the world. I even made her cry a few times. But during the whole fight against Ultimecia I started to feel that I couldn't live without her, especially when she fell into a coma. I walked the whole way from FH to Esthar, just to get help because I didn't want to lose her and even took a leap out into space with no plan on how to get back. Luckily this piece of junk happened to float by."

"She was an extraordinary woman, and a great mother. She was really good at taking care of you. She often baked together with you Julia and planted flowers together with you Raine." He said as he leaned against the Ragnarok. "It pains me that you Luna got so little time with her. She was very proud of you all."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Luna sighted.

"She will always watch over you girls. Of everything she has done for me, you three are the best." Squall told his daughter but he felt a nagging thought in his head. (" I wonder how Luna will manage until tomorrow without her sisters as protection.")

"Well even if I liked talking with you about your mother, I searched you up for another reason." Squall said in a bit more business tone. " Winhill have gotten problems with monsters again and have hired SeeD to clean up. I wished I could send someone else right now, but as you know I can't do any exceptions. The mission takes lesser than one day and the two others on the team are Tessa and Chris."

"It is okay. As you know, we don't want any special treatment." Julia said.

"Yeah, this is the life we have chosen." Raine followed, even if he could read in their eyes that they worried for their little sister now when they couldn't protect her.

"Well, I think I will be able to fend myself for at least one day." Luna said with a confident smile as she saw the worry in her sister's eyes. "So I just say go. I would feel bad for stopping you."

"Okay, then it is settled you leave in about an hour with the Ragnarok. Be prepared." Squall said and made the SeeD-salute wish all three girls returned.

Luna was at the landing site when the new SeeD were boarding the Ragnarok.

"Are you sure about that you will be okay?" Raine said worried to her sister.

"Yeah, I will be fine." Luna answered with a smile. "Just go. It is just for a day after all."

"Raine, it is time to go." Julia called after her and she disappeared into the big ship.

("Well, then it is up to me to manage until they come back.") Luna thought as she saw the Ragnarok take off.

She walked back into the Garden and back to her dorm. Luckily she succeeded in sneaking past most of the other cadets and thereby receive a minimum of insults this time. She took the opportunity to study and then went to bed. But the next day wouldn't become a pleasant matter for her.

Author's Note: As you may have noticed I have changed some things in this first chapter and the changes will be bigger in coming chapters. Also how Luna wears the wielding goggles is pretty much the same way Rikku wear her goggles in Final Fantasy X. And Reno you will see more of here and Kaylee will be more prominent in the sequel. Also I played harder on Raine as the botanical one just like her namesake and made Luna the mechanic and why I gave her the robot hand is that I am working pretty much with making people with disabilities more visible and take away the taboo around it as I am hearing impaired and have arthritis since childhood myself.