A small 10 year old girl with big blue eyes and waist length blond hair stood by the beat up front door to her and her father's apartment in the violent and desperate back streets of Deling city.

Deling city was home to some of the richest people in the world. Many high-flying figureheads of society owned homes here and It was the large city centre and buzzing night life that brought many here looking for work, looking for a life and most of all a hope. Naturally only a handful found what they were looking for. The rest ended up here, here the same place as that little girl.

The back streets in Deling were filled with run down houses with broken front doors, smashed and boxed up windows. Rubbish lined the streets and the grey building continued to peel paint. The homeless and the hopeless cowered in door ways and alleyways, huddled under layers of dirty blankets. The needle scars stretching far up their arms. The people here wallowed in self pity. Their was little chance of anyone ever leaving this place. The police stopped caring long ago. Rarely did they respond to any distress calls. They found it simply wasn't worth it. Many were just prank calls while the police found they had better things to do than serve the city scum. It was easier to let them sort out their own problems, let them shoot each other. Hopefully eliminate each other.

But none the less the little girl carried on waiting. Her nightshirt was down round her knees as she stood there by the front door. Clutching a small teddy bear. Its arm ripped and an eye missing, daddy couldn't sew you see. She looked at the clock, 9:10pm. Daddy would be home any minute now. She didn't like this place at night. Daddy couldn't afford to get electricity. So candles lit the living room and caused an eerie glow. Mind you it wasn't like their was much to light.

Their crummy ground floor apartment had 3 rooms. The living room also had a kitchen in it. Well it was kind of a kitchen, the living room walls were pale green wallpaper peeling off the walls, the sofa was a nasty brown colour with ripped patches and stains all over it. But the sofa was also a bed, daddy slept here. their 'kitchen' was nothing more than a sink, a stove and small wooden table, with two wooden seats, one for her and one for her farther.

The bathroom was equally as grand and her daddy made she got the only real bedroom in the house, he even painted it sky blue, her favourite colour, he made sure that her room was the best room in the house.

9:15, her daddy still wasn't home she pulled the teddy closer to her chest. Where could he be? She hated it when daddy as late. Daddy was hardly ever late. He had to come home soon to put her to bed. She looked at the clock again and before she had time to register what time it was now, she heard the keys turn in the lock and her daddy walk in.

she screamed his name and ran into his arms and he crouched down onto his knees and swung her up into his arms. She giggled loudly. After a few words, he picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. He took her into her room, tucked her into bed and blew out the candle before wishing his little princess good night.

10 years ago her eloped with his daughter. After everything he went through and put others through he was still allowed to return balamb garden, what a relief a second chance at everything. He kept his head down and worked hard, he wouldn't mess up, no not this time; he was luck to get this second chance, so damn lucky. It was only 2 years later, that a relationship, a short relationship, Okays very short one night relationship developed with a female cadet. And funnily enough she was pregnant. She refused to kill a defenceless baby and agreed to go full term and left garden (secretly) for a 9month long 'training exercise'. Upon her return, much to his surprise she told him she'd been pregnant given birth and had given her baby up for adoption.

he wouldn't let that happen, he didn't have a mother and farther. They were killed and not a day went by where he didn't wish he knew them, had a picture of them, anything, he wished he had had a real family. Someone to aspire to, someone to make proud. He would not let his child go on thinking that it had no one out their to love it. He left the garden, his safe heaven and took her from the orphanage and raised her himself. Yeah okay it was bloody hard work. His name was dirt in most places and no one wanted to hire him. But he managed to find some work, not much. Jobs with real money wouldn't want someone like him. With help from an aging lady across the road he raised his little girl. He made her understand how important it was to work hard in school. he trained her in martial arts. He was a warrior and he felt his daughter should too become one. She was out going and rarely refused a friend, but the homework schedule and martial arts training didn't allow for much time to play, but she didn't mind, he knew all she wanted to do was please her daddy. She was young but she had such a good understanding for the world around her. She understood they were poor and she understood why. He kept nothing about his past from her, he told her everything he had done. The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, she deserved to know. She knew that full acceptance in the real world would be a dream.

Seifer almasy took a deep long look at himself in the mirror. What a long way he had come. From a wanna be SeeD to a knight, to nothing, to a trainee again to a loving farther. Hmmm Farther. Farther. That word made him smile. Times with his daughter had been rough but he felt like he once again had purpose in his life. He was raising a child. Not any child but HIS child. And she was amazing. Okay more money would be good. but to come home every night to a warm hug from his child was all he needed. SeeD was all well and good but what was its purpose? To kill enemies? He had killed enough in his life time, now he needed to do something else he needed to cultivate and help life grow. Slowly but surly he was paying his dues.

It had been another day of working hard for little money and sleep was approaching upon him very rapidly, the sofa bed was made up and it was to get some rest, he'd needed to make sure he was up at 7 to start getting everything ready for the next day, his daughter would need her packed lunch made for school.

Remember that saying…nothing lasts forever. Well it might just be true…

The moment Seifer sat down a loud knock came on the door. A loud harsh forceful knock. Adrenalin rushed through his body, his mind immediately flashed to the worst possible scenario. His daughter, he had to make sure she was safe, she was top priority. Before answer the door he lightly and inaudibly lifted the sofa and produced a long black leather case, he opened up and pulled out that infamous gunblade. He approached the door. Pushing himself up against the wall he slowly unlocked the door. As soon as the 'click' was heard, the door flung open with such a force Seifer was knocked back, whoever was there was not alone, that was not the force of one man along. He through himself into the door way gunblade readied. Opposing swords flew down and was matched by the quickness of the blade. It maybe had been 10 years since he was last in combat, but it was like riding a bike. You never forgot. The opposing soldiers dressed in heavy amour black with their faces covered by black cloth, their bare arms covered in a series of identical and elaborate black tattoos ran in, screaming for him to drop his weapon and come quietly. Hmmm. Trade mark smirk time. Go down without a fight? A knight needs to protect his princess. The guards dressed in black amour came straight at him. This was real combat. Slice after slice, dodge after dodged. This wasn't looking good. he grabbed one guard form behind without even thinking he drew the blade across the neck of the enemy, blood everywhere. Years of skill and lack of conscious came flooding back, without thinking he spun around, The blade piercing the stomach of another. But this was getting too much, there were too many, he couldn't do it. In the corner of his eye he saw his daughter. Standing in the bedroom door way. Her big blue eyes wide. No! in his foolishness he let his guard down. The last thing he felt was blunt cold metal colliding with his head. The last thing he saw was one of those bastard solders taking another blunt object to his daughters head, she fell to the floor. Everything went black. All he heard were muffled sounds. He swore he heard the high pitched cackle of a woman.

When little sapphire Almasy woke up She was alone. Her blurred vision corrected itself slowly but surely. Figures and objects can back into focus. Her hands and feet were wet. She could feel the dampness has she twisted and wiggled her toes and fingers. she lifted her hands up to her face. They were red. Red? She took them down from her view. She screamed and screamed and carried on screaming. blood-spattered, dead solders lay all over he floor. The 10 year old girl had seen her first dead body. She ran over to where she last remembered seeing her daddy. He was gone. His gunblade lay their covered in dried blood, she remember how it shone in the light when her daddy used to take it out to show her. But today it didn't shine. It looked lacklustre. She picked it up. Daddy had let her use it a few times when they were training together in the forests just outside Deling. Realising that on one was coming back for her she started to call out for her daddy. No answer, panicking she ran round each room calling form him. She ran into the street calling his name. He didn't come to her. Tears became to flow freely again. The elderly lady across the street. Grandma able, who had helped her daddy bring sapphire up, ran over to her. She saw the blood that covered the child and went pale. She ran into hr house and let out a penetrating scream. She called the police who in turn contracted the galablian army. When sapphire saw the soldiers arrive she ran over to the man who looked to be in charge. A man who called himself Martine. She tugged on his long jacket. He looked down at her over the top of his long nose. She asked if daddy was coming home. He shook his head. It was obvious to little sapphire that who ever took her daddy must have been very important if they were going to send the army to sort it out and not the regular police men.

He looked down at her one last time an quite simply said. 'Someone's taken your daddy and they don't plan on bringing him back, not yet anyway.'