A/N: Expect this to be updated every, like, seven years. Because I'm a pineapple and, silly, everyone knows that pineapples can't write! So...yeah. I'll finish this because I don't start things I don't finish but that doesn't mean I won't take 119 years to finish it. So, yesh, pineapples.

In terms of the actual fic, I have a loose idea of what I want to do with it though I have no idea how it's going to be structured. Chances are it's going to be more like a series of vignettes than an actual story-story. I'll try to keep it styled similarly but I don't know if I'm going to keep the prose style the same or just screw around based on the topographical matter. We'll see, I guess. Things can change a lot in seven years!

Prologue: Blue Magic

She's twelve—Quistis was ten when they first met. Xu had found her in a corner of the Balamb Garden Library poring over a book. The first thing she noticed about the Quistis was how striking the other girl's eyes were, how brilliantly and piercingly blue they were. Even though Quistis's gaze wasn't focused on Xu—she was, after all, staring intently at the book—Xu could tell that there was something special about the younger girl. There was something about Quistis that shone so brightly. She had heard the gossip—the excited whispers—about this girl from many of the faculty members and instructors. Rumor would have it that this girl, this Quistis Trepe, was a child prodigy.

Except for her eyes, Xu didn't think Quistis looked much like a child prodigy—not that she knew what one would (or should) look like. Quistis's hair was tied into two braided pigtails and her face was soft and childishly pudgy. Her knees were scrapped and she sported a large bandage on her right cheek. She was sitting on the edge of a library table and her feet were unconsciously swinging back and forth as she read. This revealed the untied laces of her well-worn shoes. Despite her unkempt appearance, Quistis still looked unusually studious and proper for someone her age. Xu thought this discrepancy was odd, but she ignored it for something else.

Xu's first impression—the only thing she completely registered in her mind at first— was how many rules Quistis was breaking by sitting on the library table and the various regulations about how to keep one's personal appearance. She, after all, knew all the Garden rules by heart as she was the both her class's representative and the youngest officer ever on the Health and Safety committee. Section 8, Article 15 of the Balamb Garden's Student Handbook specifically stated that "student attire should reflect the Garden reputation, and thus be clean and properly kept" and Section 10, Article 4 indicated that "all property of the Garden should be respected and not mistreated." Xu was quite proud of her position and already had a reputation for policing. In fact, every time she walked down the hall her classmates and even some of the older students unconsciously stood straighter. Some of more frazzled students had been known to salute her.

However, for some reason, instead of scolding her like she should have, Xu took a step towards Quistis and asked:

"What are you reading?"

Quistis looked up and immediately Xu was struck again by the blueness of her eyes. It wouldn't be until Quistis was fourteen that she would wear glasses."Magus and Arrowny's Theory of Magic and its Derivation from Beasts," she replied.

"Do you like it?"

"Oh yes, they write about the intricacy of magic and how it's tied to monsters and its historic applications and utilizations," Quistis said, her voice breathlessly high. It was the excited tone that Xu recognized when other girls Quistis's age would talk about fluffy chocobos or cute clothes. "It also has pretty pictures—do you want to see?"

Xu looked at the book that Quistis had already helpfully turned her way. In it she saw a very lifelike picture of a Caterchipillar. Though she had already begun fighting the monster outside the Garden, she still felt a little disgusted by realistic drawing of monster's gaping maw and spindly appendages. At least she had fought it—some of the girls in her class just shrieked and ran away. Quite a few boys had blanched as well.

"Are you reading it for class?" Xu asked as she looked back up to Quistis. The younger girl was smiling brightly. She looked ecstatic at the chance to share her excitement with someone.

"Instructor Branford recommended it to me. I wanted to learn more after the lecture we had on what to salvage from defeated monsters. I think it's interesting how it's all connected, how everything can be tied to each other."

"Everything?"

"Well yes, I mean," Quistis blushed, shyly backtracking. She seemed embarrassed to share what she thought. But with Xu's insistence stare, she finally said, "We draw our magic from monsters, refine their parts for our tools, but at the same time we also have our own innate powers. They're so different but at the same time, it's similar the way we call out our power. Each movement, each step, every action can be interpreted, mimicked, and translated. I think that's really interesting, you know? It means that everything can have meaning—purpose—and because it's all tied together and…"

As Quistis rambled on, Xu focused in on the way the library lights reflected through the young girl's golden hair and the way she talked and gestured. It was then that Xu began to notice as she would in the many years to come that everything she—that rebellious-yet-proper Quistis Trepe—did was magic.