Disclaimer: In no way what so ever do I own, create, or have anything to do with the other stuff with any of the FF8 Characters. They are all creations of Squaresoft and I give them all the credit. Though I would have LOVED to have made them.......I didn't. There are just some things in life you have to deal with, I guess this is one of them. I did make up the rest of the characters though, so if you use them, ask me first or I'll kick your butt. Thanks. It starts off about two weeks after the end of the game, with Squall dead and Rinoa fine and living (what's wrong with this picture here?!). Oh well, life goes on-R&R!
Destiny's Fork
Chapter One
"Hell's Fire"
By Magic
His padded feet left a glide reflection like pattern on the dusty stair well. The small torches on the side of the walls dimly lit the stairs so that you wouldn't fall down three flights and break your neck. The end was in site, and beyond, a dark hall. He would make it in to one of the large stone outcrops in the gray walls. "This is too easy," he thought, grinning at his accomplishment.
"Get me?" He thought, "Yeah, whatever." He got careless and let out a small snort of a laugh, just loud enough to echo down the long labyrinth of halls. He stepped off of the stairs and on to the cool, hard stone floor. This far underground was the coolest place to be in the days that had come with the season. The dungeon smelt dusty, damp, and had hints of different molds here and there. But there was something else there. "What the....?"
He felt his arm being twisted behind him and a jagged piece of metal on his neck. Out of the shadows stepped Zula, her red-orange hair clips shining in the dim candle light. Her dog paws couldn't be heard on the floor as she stepped forward and grinned with delight. She crossed her furry arms across her chest and said, "Stealin' more food from'ta kitchen? Naw on ma watch."
She walked closer to her captive until her long dog snout was inches away from his face. Her pointy dog ears protruded from the top of her head, through her hip length, red-orange hair. The rest of her was covered in short tan colored hair and her laughing, gold eyes could be spotted from miles away. She was a daughter to one of the twelve families of dog people that lived in the desert village and probably the most trouble for rule breakers and thieves. She backed up a step after seeing who the perpetrater was, her dress swishing slightly.
He glared at Zula and then realized that he was still being held from behind. "Who...?"
He was soon flying across the hall with great speed until he collided with a thud on the wall across from him. He turned around to see the figure of his capture in the shadows. The outline took a step forward into the light and his face contorted into a scowl. "Damn it."
"Can't catch you aye? To smart for the girls? This'll be the last time you steal from the kitchen," she spat out. She eyed her dagger in her hand, the one that had been against his neck, and tossed it at his head. Soon the hallow halls were filled with both of the girls' laughter after he flinched away from the dagger. It ended up landing a foot away from his head, deeply implanted in the stone wall. The tall girl lunged for it, picked it up, and again held it at his neck. "No more food for you, right?"
"Bitch," he spat as he looked into her blue-grey eyes. She was in her usual clothes; tall, black leather lace-up boots, a black pleated shirt that fell an inch or to above her knees, and a black short sleeved shirt, covered all but the sleeves, by a white vest with tight laces up the front and looser ones up the sides.
She looked into his green eyes and then up to his jungle green hair that lay flat on the top of his human head. He was about two inches shorter than her five foot nine frame, but obviously much stronger and muscular. She was lucky to have caught him by surprise or else he would have been able to take them both out and still get to the kitchen. Without proof, no one would believe that they had found the thief. She backed away, her fists clenched so that she wouldn't deck him right there for that comment. "Take him up, Zula. I'll go up and stay watch. I don't have time to spend with this kinda trash."
Her best friend nodded and took a hold of Neal's shirt. "Come on."
"What kinda trash?" Neal yelled down the hall at her. "You don't even have a family! You think you're gonna go to the Garden? Well, take a hint, they don't want you. You're just a mut, Hawke!"
Soon Neal was flying across the room once again. His check and eye stung and would most likely be a lovely purplish color the next morning. Hawke rubbed her hand gingerly. She hadn't thought his head would be that hard. "Well, that explains a lot," she thought as she turned around and walked into the darkness.
"Get up!" Zula yelled at Neal and yanked him by his ear up the steps.
Hawke's skirt swished slightly from side to side as she disappeared into the darkness. "Yeah, you heard me! You anti-social freak!" Neal screamed at her back.
Hawke's hands clenched in even tighter fists, but she continued to walk down the stone hall. "Dun listen to him none, Hawke. He dun know what he's-a talkin' 'bout!" Zula yelled down the hall to her friend, then continued to pull Neal up the stairs. Soon all that could be heard was a bunch of scratching, whining, and scraping sounds retreating up the stairs.
Hawke continued to walk down the hall. Soon the floor inclined upward and the air became dryer. A warm wind greeted Hawke at the end of the hall. She looked upward. Nothing but sky could be seen from the bottom of the tunnel. She guessed she was probably about two floors below ground here and the top of the cylinder shaped tower was probably about four floors above the main ground. She looked forward at the old rust ladder and sighed. Another fifteen minute climb up the tipsy, old ladder to get to the look out point.
She began the long climb, not ever stopping to look down. Being afraid of heights had stoppered her at first, but after ten years of climbing the six floor high ladder to the top, the fact that her knees got shaky while standing on a chair had to be overlooked. Plus, she and Zula were the only ones that knew about the old tunnels under the central building by request of the elders. It was the main escape route out of the village, and it was very important that no one ever found out about it, or else the monthly attacks from neighboring villages would become even more dangerous with no way to escape the circular village untouched.
She reached the top and hefted herself over the edge. She stood up and looked around her. The look out tower was the tallest point in the village. It was stuck in the middle of the center building like a giant periscope and was the only part of the village that could be seen from miles around. Though it reveled the location of the village, it was essential with people attacking from all sides. She walked over to the rounded stone edge. It was generally a giant, round stone with it's top and bottom hollowed out and a hole in the middle to enter it by.
She looked down for a second. The spiral like roof of the center building was about two floors below her. There were two large spirals that reached two floors below the tower. The other four, slightly smaller spirals, twirled around the tower three floors below. The doors were delicately decorated with carvings out of gold and other precious metals. Precious stones mined out of the rocky hills three miles to the west, were place in the doors for the eyes of beasts and animals that had been carved out of the metal. There were several large, gold statues that watched you as you walked to the large front doors. It had an eerie effect with the evilly grinning animals watching you as you walked up to the building.
The center building was the home to all the elders of the village. They decided the laws, rules, and who live and died. The first born to every family must be a male, otherwise the baby was killed. The second babe must be a girl, and the third would be killed no matter what because of the limited area the elders wanted the village to grow by every year. It was require to have at least two children or else you would be killed also. The elders, all of which were over a thousand years old, hated change and human women. They were dog people much like Zula, but male and stuffy. Hawke wasn't even allowed to look at their faces when she came into the center building, but she didn't care now. She was used to being the lowest being in the village by now.
The rest of the village wasn't much to look at. The other buildings were shared by families. One family lived on the top floor and another on the bottom. They shared the kitchen and bathrooms. The houses were made mostly of wood from the forest four miles away. The wood had been painted a long time ago, when the first people came to the village, but now had faded and looked quite drab in comparison to the center building. There were no walls or fences in the village or around it. People relied only on the males of the village to fend off attackers. With the exception of Hawke, who would rather die than sit around and not be able to help.
She sighed. This was now her home and had been for ten years. She was adapted at the age of five by a women who could no longer give birth. The woman needed a daughter and according to Matrin, she needed a home. She walked to the edge of the giant stone and leaned against it. She was so tired......so very tired. Her eyes slowly closed, and she collapsed onto the floor.
*
"What a great guard you are, Hawke," Zula mumbled when she reached the top. She guessed she shouldn't be that hard on her friend since she had been awake for thirty hours straight waiting to catch Neal. She walked over and kicked her best friend lightly in the stomach.
"Ugh!" Hawke coughed out as she doubled over on the floor. "What was that for!?"
"Fallin' asleep on 'our watch, lazy-'ead!" Zula teased her friend as she walked over to the edge.
"Wha'?" Hawke asked and looked around. " I must'a dosed off for a sec." She stood up and shuck some of the dust off herself. "Sorry."
"Nah, it's fine. Just dun let it happen again. I 'ave to go see what to do for supper so you've got tonight's shift all to yourself," Zula said as she walked back to the ladder and started descending.
Hawke followed her friend with her gaze. "Not that it's gunna happen again, but I hate havin' the night shift, Zula! You know that!"
"Well, you can't cook, so I have to do that and I can't cook up here. 'Orry 'bout 'is Hawke, but there's just no other way. Anyway.....'ve got myself a date with Zaden," Zula said with a smile before sliding down the ladder.
"Bitch!" Hawke yelled back teasingly.
"Of course I am!" Zula said as she landed on the ground. "And don't you forget it!"
Hawke let out a laugh before going back to the side. This is most certainly not going to be fun, Hawke thought as she gazed out over the desert. The sun was setting, creating a orange red glow, much like Zula's hair, over the land. Soon the light was gone and there was nothing left but a sliver of a moon and billions of twinkling stairs in the sky to be Hawke's light.
The night gave the desert and eerie effect, the sands becoming ghostly white. It was cold now, and Hawke shivered as a breeze wafted from the sands below. She looked down, out onto the desert sands. Nothing was out there. It was a white void.
She then spotted something out in the distance. It looked like fire, but that wasn't possible for the desert had nothing to burn. She blinked and checked again. It was still there. The light over the sands grew until suddenly Hawke could see them. An army of some kind was riding over the desert sands on the backs of chocobos. Each one of them carried a torch, giving them the effect of a raging wild fire. Hawke was frozen; she had did not know what to do. The army of men was quickly approaching and she couldn't think.
She looked all around. They were approaching from each side besides to the West. She saw something there, but what was it? It quickly came into view. Spirals and towers outcropped from the flying school as it glided towards the village. "Balamb Garden!" Hawke yelled in surprise and relief, just as the army hit the village. She turned gazed down at her village.
They had already come through the neighborhoods and were not almost at the central garden. Balamb landed near by and SeeD's started piling out of the garden.
*
"What's going on?!" Zell Dincht asked as he slid, almost tripping, into the main hallway.
"They've attacked the village," Selphie Tilmitt replied as she readied her giant Nunchaku.
"We're helping them??" Zell asked in utter confusion. He had just gotten in line for hot dogs (first one too) when the alarm had rang.
"This shouldn't be too hard," Irvine Kinneas said as he entered their little group.
"Don't get too cocky," Quistis Trepe muttered to him as she appeared behind Selphie. "They've destroyed six desert villages already and aren't stopping anytime soon." She looked them all over. "Everyone ready to go?"
The group nodded and headed out into the battle with the others.
*
Hawke watched as the soldiers clashed with the army. Soon women and children began running out of the houses and towards the center building, ready to exit the village. Hawke started to climb down the ladder when something caught her attention. Apart from the fire every soldier in the army carried, there was a band of lights around the exit from the tunnel way out in the desert. "No...." Hawke muttered as she realized the truth. They knew about the exit. She could here the mothers and children running through the tunnels below her. She glanced down at the bottom and saw nothing but darkness.
She continued to climb down the ladder. She had to tell them to go back. She got to the bottom and was surprised to find something wet splash up upon her side. She reached down and smelt the liquid. "What the...?" It was gasoline. She looked down to the end of the tunnel. There were two men standing at the end, outlined by the torches they carried. The both started to run the other way until they were no longer visible. She heard a splash as something was dropped into the gas. Soon a wall of fire was rushing towards her. "Holy shit!!" She screamed as she climbed back up the ladder, faster than she ever had before.
Heat from the fire under her burst up the tunnel along with tons of smoke. Hawke coughed as she reached the top. NOW WHAT?! She thought as she looked over the edge. The village had erupted in chaos. She could here the screams of women and children down in the tunnel. She tried not to think about it and looked a way of escape. The village was burning, and she was stuck up there like a helpless bird.
.....bird...., she thought and looked over the edge. You can't be serious..., Hawke began to argue with herself. "NO WAY...." she said so herself and yet at the same time, lifted herself onto the edge. The largest spiral was just around fifteen feet down, if she could leap down to it, she might be able to slide on it to the roof. Or else fall and die trying, Hawke thought as she swallowed hard. She closed her eyes, opened them again, and looked up at the sky. She continued to look up as she let herself drop. Her skirt flapped as she plummeted to the spiral. She looked down at the last second and grabbed hold of the edge of one of the loops.
She gasped out of relief but didn't have much time for relaxing. Her arms were getting tired. She glanced down at the building before dropping the next twenty feet to reach it. She landed with a clunk and straitened up. The ground was at least thirty feet down so dropping was out of the question. She was stuck.
A car filled with students crashed through the narrow road to her left. She looked towards it. The fighting continued under her. The car either couldn't slow down or didn't want to. It turned at crashed straight into the wall below her. Not even stopping to think, Hawke jumped down onto the top of the car. She landed, slipped on the surface, and rolled off onto the ground.
"Uff!" Hawke said as she landed like a sac of potatoes on the sandy ground. She looked up as a pair of red sneakers, black shoes, and four boots approached her. It was Quistis, Selphie, Zell, and Irvine. Of course they had no idea who she was for they had forgotten about her long ago, but she knew them.
Hawke quickly stood up and nodded to the others before running off into the fray. Quistis blinked and gazed after the youth as she disappeared into the fighting mob. Something about that girl seemed familiar. She looked over to the others to see whether or not they saw anything, but if they had, they hid it quiet well. She motioned for the others to follow her as she followed the girl's trail into the battle.
*
Everyone seemed to be paired up with someone, fighting hand to hand, one on one. Hawke dashed through the middle of the hostility without gaining a scratch. She reached the start of one of the long, narrow streets that lead to the desert. The buildings seemed to have taken on a dark, grim look to them as she dashed down the street. Hawke was too busy trying to get to Zula's house in time before something happened. She had to warn her the exit was blocked. She didn't even notice the can in the middle of the road before she tripped over it and was sent flying through the air. She landed on her shoulder and skidded for awhile.
Slowly regaining posture, she stood up and took a short breather. She reached over to lean her hand on the nearest door, but swiftly brought it back to her side. The wood door was wet. She walked over to it and smelled it. Her eyes widened and she took a step away from the building, into the middle of the street. It reeked of gasoline.
"But.....how...?" Hawke mumbled out. She ran over to a door a ways down. It too was socked with the same flammable liquid.
She gasped. There was nothing she could do. Everyone in the buildings were doomed unless they got out now. She started running down the streets screaming for everyone to leave their buildings. Some heads looked out into the street in wonder. A little girl looked down at Hawke, dropping her stuffed animal in the process. The girls wails filled air. People, realizing what was going to happen began running out of their houses and down the streets. The area was packed so tight Hawke could hardly make out where she was.
"HAWKE!!"
Hawke whirled around to find Zula calling for her from the center of the city. She started to run against the crowd, but the panicky people carried her along. She gave up and jumped into a doorway and into the house. The only way to get back was the roof. She climbed the stairs up to the second floor and looked out of the window. She carefully pulled herself out onto the window sill and reached up for the roof. She clambered up there and looked towards the center.
Out of no where, screams began erupting from the edge of the village. Hawke looked towards the edge and fell to her knees. They had surrounded the village and were killing off everyone that came out towards the desert. A cool breeze from the desert blew her hair into her face. She blinked. All she could do was sit there and watch. Children, mothers, her friends fell to their knees in heaps of bloodied bodies on the sand. The people running out had no idea what hit them before their bodies were racked with thousands of bullets.
The screams floated around her like ghosts in the air. She couldn't do anything, she was helpless. Her eyes just watched dully as person after person was violently brought to their end.
"HAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWKKKEEEE!!!!"
Hawke turned around at the sounds of Zula's cry. Her eyes easily found her orange-red hair in the middle of the fray. She dully looked down at her friend. She was standing glancing up at Hawke and pointing to something on the opposite side of the street. But behind Zula, a man carrying a sword stepped up to her. Hawke's heart leapt from her chest as she watched her friend get run through.
Zula's eyes widened slightly and her body swayed. Blood from the wound seeped out onto the sand. The man quickly reclaimed his sword and ran off. All Hawke saw of him was a bright, red blur. Her eyes blurred as tears swelled up. "Zula," she choked out as her friends eyes closed and she fell to the floor and was lost underneath the boots of those still living.
Her best friend, only friend, dear friend, was dead. Tears streaming down the sides of her face, she stood up on the roof and turned to look at what Zula had been pointing at. A man was standing on the opposite side of her, across the street. His eyes blazed with the intent of blood as he met her gaze. Hawke was indifferent to the torch he held above his head. Nothing was registering in her head. She couldn't think. She watched as the flame, as if in slow motion, flew from the mans hands and onto the roof in front of her. The gasoline around her quickly caught fire, but Hawke didn't care. The flames ate at her and the world became hot.
The first thing she remembered was the heat. It was what snapped her out of it. I'm going to die, she thought as the flames swiftly ran towards her. Suddenly, a great gust of wind could be felt over head. She looked up and saw a machine hovering above her. On the end of a rope was a young man, slightly older than herself. He stretched his hand out to her, and she grasped it firmly with hers. The machine took off higher into the air and she was lifted from the burning building.
The rope was reeled up and Hawke and the youth with it. She looked up into his eyes, cold blue eyes, with all the sadness in her heart and held his eyes with hers as if wishing for someone to save her. He blinked and looked away as if he couldn't help her, didn't want to, or couldn't stand the look of anguish deep within her. When she reached the top, she collapsed onto the floor and closed her eyes. She just didn't care anymore.
*
"Is she okay?" Zell asked as Quistis looked over the strange girl they had rescued from the roof top.
"I think she'll be fine," Quistis said as she stood up.
Selphie and Irvine were piloting the hover craft up front on the way back to the garden when they spotted a figure about to be, in Zell's words, barbequed on top of a nearby roof so they dropped down to save her.
Quistis took a few steps back. It was definitely the girl that gave her a weird feeling before.
"Isn't she the girl that jumped down on our car?" Zell asked, taking a closer look at the girls clothing and face.
Quistis just nodded.
"Seems she has a thing for roofs," a voice jested from the seat next to Zell. Quistis walked over to him.
"You say ONE mean word to her if she wakes up and I'll have Zell hang you by your hair to the ceiling and use you as a punching bag," Quistis said with much venom.
The youth raised his hands in mach defeat and went back to gazing out the window. His silver hair was messily arranged around his head. His eyes that gazed out the window in deep thought, were even colder than his hair. A small blue tint in them was the only thing that converted the cool silver to a slight human color. His build was slightly 'buff' as the girls at the lunch tables would say, and his head reached the 6 foot mark. He face was as cold as his eyes, yet beautiful all the same. He could have any girl at the school, if he wanted, but the idea just didn't appeal to him. Quistis shock her head. This was a weird one.
She turned back to the girl laying on the floor and began to start asking herself the main question that had racked her brain throughout the fight, who was she?
*
Cool water flowed on both sides of the gold thrown. The tiled floor was damp and slippery and the air so cold you could see your breath. It was perfect in her eyes. She played with a dancing ball of magic between her hands. It dimly lit the otherwise dark room along with two large candles on either side or her.
She looked towards her visitors with distaste. They were so weak and puny. She could have crushed them with one blow, and possibly maybe later she would. She nodded for the taller one to speak, he was her favorite of the two. His red hair resembled that of fire, and did she ever love fire. Every wish of hers was full filled through him, how wonderful. Her elegant robe made of gold thread glittered in the candle light as she moved her arm to toss the ball of magic to the other.
"My Lady, we have returned from your last request," the taller one spoke, his voice strong and clear in the open room.
"And the city?"
"Burned to the desert floor."
"And the elders?"
"All dead by your wish."
"No one knows of your actions? Who you were?"
"Not a clue, we had no identifying persons there at the time, besides myself and him," he nodded to the youth beside him.
"And you were disguised?"
"Of course."
A cruel, happy, heartless smile crept up the side of her face. "Then all is good. No survivors I take it?" She asked as she leaned forward ever so slightly in excitement in her chair.
"As my Lady ordered, no one but those from the Garden left alive."
A bloodcurdling laugh rang throughout the chamber. It rattled the wine glass sitting besides her left arm and caused the magic to scatter into a thousand individual shimmering lights. Then the girl is dead, she thought as she reached for her wine. They're both dead, no one to stop me. She took a sip of her wine. It's great to be back again.
*
"Get that animal out of here!" A high shriek rose from somewhere in the room.
Hawke slowly opened her eyes in reaction to the sound. A wet nose rubbed up against her cheek, and she bolted up in the bed.
"SageJames!!" Hawke screamed, wrapping her arms around her fox friend. He crawled up and licked her face with his ruff tongue before breaking out of her arms and snuggling in her lap.
Hawke smiled, then suddenly the night before began to reappear in her memory. She glanced around the room. She was still in the hospital. She vaguely remember being carried out of the ship and down the halls of the garden. Though she had been to the school, she had never been in the hospital wing. She blinked a few times to get used to the light and looked back down at her small friend. How'd he get in here? She asked herself.
The nurse, as if by reading her mind, walked over to the bed and said, "he just ran in here a couple minutes ago. No idea where he came from." She glanced down at the red fox and nodded. "He's yours I take it."
Hawke just nodded. The lady seemed nice enough, but she didn't really know what to say. She was still slightly dazed and the world began to spin so she lay back down. It most certainly smelled like a hospital, the smell was so strong it was choking her. She had to get out.
"Is there any reason for me to stay here?" Hawke asked as she sat up once again.
The nurse looked her over. "Not that I can see. Just take is easy for awhile. I'm sure the boss will want to talk to you so listen for announcements." She nodded at SageJames. "And make sure you keep a good watch on the little one." She smiled and walked back to her desk, leaving Hawke alone.
Hawke stood up slowly and took SageJames into her arms. He was light, but his weight seemed to be heavier this day. Hawke placed a hand on her heart. His weight seemed light compared to the pull her heart had. The scene of her friend's death played through her head again. It had haunted her dreams and caused her to wake, drenched in sweat, several times in a panic only to find that she was safe, but her friend actually dead.
Hawke started to walk out of the door when she noticed someone in the room next to hers. It was Irvine. She smiled and waved before exiting, leaving Irvine utterly perplexed at who she was. The hall was empty except for Selphie who was running full speed towards the hospital. She whooshed past Hawke without even a glance and straight to Irvine.
"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?!" Hawke heard Selphie's voice squeal through the doors.
Hawke blinked a couple of times and walked farther down the hallway. Had something grown between those two? They had been together the night before......Again, the pain that Hawke felt before weighed her down. She looked out the windows as she walked on. They had obviously landed the school somewhere in the desert. Hawke looked away from the windows, not being able to think about her village. Orphaned again, Hawke, good job, she thought to herself. She glanced down and began watching her feet as she walked-straight into someone.
"Ooff!" The someone exclaimed and Hawke looked up into the green eyes of a cat-girl. Her green-yellow hair fell to her shoulders and matched her eyes almost perfect. A brown pleated skirt matched the collar on her khaki shirt and her ears and tail. She carried herself confidently, with more than just a hint of self worth in her eyes. Behind her, to each side, stood two more cat girls. One had white hair, the tallest of the three, and had a very steadfast look to her. The other one was taller than the green hair one and had curly black hair, worn in pigtails and buoyant gaze.
Hawke, being the same height as the one with white hair, had to gaze down at the green eyed girl to say sorry. "Er, sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Hawke said as she moved to get out of the way and walk past them.
"I'd have to second that," the green eyed one said with annoyance.
"Don't worry about it, Seania. She just probably couldn't see your vertically challenged figure," the dark haired one commented with a sneer.
For the comment, she was rewarded with a elbow in the stomach from the green haired one, Seania, and a giggle from the tall one. Hawke just kept on walking until Seania grabbed her arm and stopped her from continuing further. "I've never seen you around here, stranger....where are you from?"
Hawke stopped and faced the group. "What does it matter? Can't go back." She began to continue walking.
"Oooo, so you're the survivor." Seania articulated each of her words carefully, a cruel smile forming on her pink lips. "You know, your family is dead. Everyone is dead. There's nothing left of that run down, old, derailed village anymore. Poor, poor you."
Hawke blinked at Seania's comments but then spoke coldly and clearly, "I had no family to begin with, no one to loose. Your distasteful comments bother me none." She whirled around and walked defiantly towards the main hall.
The three girls smirked and walked down the hall in the opposite direction.
*
"Now what are we to do?" Quistis asked, nearly in a frenzy. The village burned, the people killed....it all seemed to be her fault. Only one person was rescued from the burning walls of the village. She clenched her fists tightly and slammed her hand on the table. "If only we could have gotten there sooner!!"
Zell, startled by the remark, fell backwards over the top of his chair. His blonde head poked up from between his legs, challenging anyone to laugh at his slight introduction to gravity. No one laughed. Selphie sighed on the inside. If the situation wasn't so serious this would've been the perfect opportunity to try out one of the many remarks she had saved up for Zell's occasional clumsiness. She looked around the room. Every face showed grim disbelief. They had been sent to save these people and had accomplished nothing.
"Don't be to hard on yourself," a woman's voice sounded from the corner. The ex-sorceress Edea was sitting rather comfortably in one of the cushioned seats across from Quistis. "You could hardly think to have won this, there was no way of predicting her next move."
Quistis looked up at Edea and frowned. "Then what are we going to do? We have no way of competing with that form of power, not again."
"What I want to know is how?" Irvine's voice sounded across the room from where he was leaning against the wall.
Edea looked down at her hands. "Ultimecia has her ways. She's gotten a second chance, a spare life so to speak." She looked up at them all. "And this time, she will be much stronger. After being killed once, there is only one way to kill her...."
The rest looked on intently as Edea finished her sentence.
"The only way to kill this sorceress...after all of the spells of protection she set on her second life, is....the same person must defeat her."
The room, already silent seemed to take on a thickened air. Quistis blinked a couple of times and then spoke as quietly as humanly possible. "But Squall killed her last time, he is no longer with us."
" We're doomed," Zell set in at the appropriate moment.
The eyes of the rest seemed to become heavy with sadness as Edea continued. "There is a way." She paused in thought. " Squall can be brought back." The crowd in the room all gazed at Edea in wonder. "With the soul of a sorceress, cut out by a certain blade, someone can be brought back to life. But," she grew quieter as she continued. "He can only be given this soul, this second chance, but one of his own blood, family."
The whole room almost burst out in outrage. Zell was the first to speak his voice. "What's the point of even tell us this?! We all know that Squall like the rest of us has....had no family!"
Edea stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "But that, my dear friend, is where you are wrong."
*
His back was beginning to hurt from leaning against the cement surrounding the fountain. He tossed a small piece of his hotdog down into the water, causing his reflection to ripple. He shifted his weight and moved his silver hair out of his eyes. He starred absent mindedly at the ceiling, not because the ceiling was necessarily the most interesting thing to stare at around here, but because he couldn't get a certain picture out of his head. The look that girl had given him, in that one instant when their eyes had met, had just penetrated his very soul. He had tried to shake it off, but the truth was he had wanted to help her but couldn't seem to find the way how.
He closed his eyes. There was something about her eyes that had captivated him, a sadness that couldn't be human, and a passion that shouldn't be held within the eyes of someone who had so little to loose. Her eyes...they reminded him of.....a vision of a girl in a green dress flashed across his mind. Her long, dark green hair blew in the wind as if it had no care. She turned to face him, her emerald eyes filled with love, and she fell. She was gone from him forever, dead, with the angels. He opened his eyes. How many times must he relive that? His eyes seemed wet for a moment, but soon they dried and became as cold as ever.
He stood up and began walking towards the elevator. Quistis had wanted him some time ago, but he hadn't really felt like socializing. Seania and her gang had been around looking for him, and he had to make himself scarce. It wasn't that he didn't like Seania, it was just that right now he couldn't deal with her endless flirting, loving gazes, and generally her attitude that he was hers. He liked her, as a friend, that was all.
His footsteps seemed hallow on the floor, echoing through the large room. Everyone was sleeping after the fight even though it was midday. He heard a small yip from around the corner. Curious he continued on. Most likely just someone playing with an animal that shouldn't even be in the building. He turned the corner and looked straight at the red fox running off with a toy in its mouth around the next corner. Damn it, now I'm going to have to be the bad guy telling a little kid he's got to release that animal out to the wild. He tossed the rest of his hotdog into the trash can and started off after the little fellow. He kept the fox within his view as he followed him around the next bend. He turned one last corner and came to a screeching halt. It was her.
The fox leapt up into her arms that she held outstretched from her body. She smiled as the fox licked her face and then looked up to see him standing there. The same eyes that he couldn't seem to forget looked him straight in the eyes again and held their gaze. Somehow he expected this and walked forward towards the girl. She seemed about five foot ten inches tall, maybe a tad shorter. Her blue eyes seemed clouded over by a hint of grey and were slightly hidden by her thin bangs that hung around her face. Her hair was up in a high ponytail while some layers fell around her face, framing it. She was pretty yes, not drop dead gorgeous but there was something that made her seem distant and elusive, making her even more attractive. She stood defiantly, not the type to back down he guessed.
Most girls at the first sight of him would throw themselves head first at him. If she found him attractive at all, she didn't show it. For some reason this caught him of guard and wasn't ready for her question.
She held his gaze and simply said, "Are you the one that pulled me off the roof?"
Not used to being caught by surprise, he just nodded, his silver hair slightly falling over his face.
Holding his gaze with hers, she added, "thank you. May I ask your name?"
His composure regained, he replied with his usual air about him, "yes you may."
The girl's eyes continued to hold his, unblinking, "What is your name then?"
"I said you could ask it, I never said I would give it to you," he replied with his usual cocky smirk that would've sent many girls to the hospital.
This girl, on the other hand, surprised him yet again. She seemed slightly annoyed by this comment and didn't seem at all affected by his smile. She stretched out her hand and simply said, "Well then, if you don't mind me giving mine in hopeful exchange of yours, I am Hawke Leonhart." She kept her hand out and her eyes on his as they stood there in silence.
*
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