this one will be a teensy bit different than the first chapter... so bear with me, because it was just an idea i had. i'm still not sure quite how i feel about this one, i may change it quite a bit in the very near future. we'll see! ohh... and thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter, it was very encouraging and made me happy. anyway, enjoy!
disclaimer!!- i do not own FFVIII... other than my own copy of the game.
It had been around ten minutes since "the incident," and Squall still couldn't believe it had happened. Some people in this town were simply unbelievable! To send a newcomer to fetch him just because they knew he'd say no to them had been rather stupid. Hadn't he told them over and over again that he didn't want to spend his day doing stupid things when he could instead spend it being productive? He laughed to himself, remembering how she had called after him, "You could have at least thanked me!" as if Squall should have thanked her for disturbing his privacy! But, he did sort of admire her guts. She may have stuttered a lot, but at least she got some words out. Then again, the fact that she had actually spoken to him irritated him to no end.
I just don't get it, Squall thought, most girls take one look at me and run away. Although, I do prefer it that way… but still, this girl was a complete new girl here! To think they would actually send her over to me… And I'd bet my gunblade that one of the people she wanted me to hang out with was that hyper girl… Sophie? Or that over-emotional one with the tattoo. Why am I even bothering to think about this? Get a hold of yourself, Squall.
After he had gotten up from where the dark-haired girl had asked him to go "hang out" with her and the others, he'd decided to head toward the docks. The docks were his favorite place in all of Balamb, because no matter what, he could always be a hundred percent alone there, with nothing but him and his thoughts. He enjoyed being alone because then, he could be safe in his head. If he was always alone, then he would never have to worry about getting close to someone and having them leave him. If he was always alone, he never had to worry about depending on others who would eventually just let him down.
He sat down on the edge of the oldest, most rickety wooden dock, swinging his feet back and forth. Staring out at the ocean, he felt a sense of peace steal over him. Here, he felt free from the crowds of people that usually surrounded the small town of Balamb. He sat, motionless, immersed in his deep thoughts. Gradually, the sky changed from a bright blue to a light, gray-blue, then from gray-blue to orange-red, and from orange-red to pink-purple. The sun disappeared slowly below the gently rolling waves of the ocean, and Squall realized he'd been sitting in the same position for hours. So, he laid his head back on the dock, and stared up at the steadily darkening sky.
He had a sudden, fleeting thought.
I wonder if Sis is looking at the sky right now, too?
He pushed that thought aside immediately, burying it in the corners of his mind somewhere. It wouldn't do him any good to think of things like that, because then he would go home in a bad mood and ignore his father again. His father always felt like a failure if Squall ignored him.
Sighing heavily, Squall stood up. A little ways ahead of him, he could see a group of people starting to leave the beach. He slowed a little so he would run no risk of walking too closely behind them. Looking a little more closely, he discovered that it was the dark-haired girl and her friends. And, of course, he had been right. He saw, not only the hyper-active girl and the tattooed guy, but that annoying cowboy and his old instructor, as well. He rolled his eyes as the hyper-active one tripped. Then, sighing, he turned and slowly made his way to his home.
When he walked through the door, his father was immediately standing directly in front of him.
"Hi, Squall! You hungry? What were you up to all day?"
Must you always ask me multiple questions at once? Try one at a time someday…
"I'm not hungry, thanks. I've been down at the docks," Squall replied.
His father looked at him, worry showing on his usually joyful face. "You sure, Squall? It wouldn't be any trouble to just—"
"Yeah I'm sure. I'm going to go to bed or something. I'm… tired." With that, Squall turned and went up the stairs to his room. When he arrived, he all but threw himself face-down onto his bed. He couldn't help but allow his thoughts to return to his sister.
This was one of the few times he actually wished that he had friends. He knew that if he had friends to talk to or hang out with or do stupid things with right now, he wouldn't be thinking about his sister, Ellone.
He didn't want friends, though. He just missed his sister. He hadn't seen her in almost ten years, because she had been kidnapped when they were little. She was one of the only two people in the world whose existence he didn't find pointless. She had always seemed to know exactly what to say. The other person whose existence he thought served a purpose was, of course, his father, Laguna.
Squall closed his eyes, turning his face to the side.
I must be crazy… he thought, wishing I had friends and talking to someone other than my father all in one day. Maybe I need sleep. Yeah, that must be it.
He shut his eyes tighter and was asleep within minutes, the worries of his day forgotten.
------
A couple weeks later, Squall sat on the old, rickety dock again. He had been here every day for the past week, but he didn't know why. He felt that lately, he needed more peace. And I should, he thought, what with that new girl running around here, causing trouble…
The dark-haired girl had managed to end up wherever Squall went. He didn't think she did it on purpose, only that it was such a small town that she couldn't help but be everywhere he was. However, the good thing about it was that she hadn't talked to him again since that one day when she had asked him to hang out with her friends.
Squall was, as usual, submerged in his thoughts as he sat on the dock. He watched as a few boats went sailing by. He remembered one time when he, his sister, and his father had gone on a boat. Its rocking had caused Squall to fall asleep within minutes of boarding it. Now, Squall wished he could be on a boat, or anything else that would put him to sleep, for that matter. The past couple of nights had been mostly sleepless.
Suddenly, Squall felt a hand on his shoulder. Immediately he turned, a glare already plastered onto his face, to see what kind of an idiot had dared invade his privacy like this. Of course, glaring right back at him was Seifer Almasy, God's punishment to all of mankind. He shook Seifer's hand off and stood up, turning to face him.
"What do you want, Seifer?" Squall asked, still glaring.
Seifer laughed. "Is little Squally having a bad day?"
"…Whatever," Squall said, turning to leave.
"Oh-ho-ho! So Squall's a coward now! Running away from a fight, huh?"
"I don't know where you've been, but that wasn't any kind of a fight," Squall said, continuing to walk away.
Seifer was beside him in moments, matching his quick stride effortlessly. "Well, are you interested in making it a fight, Leonhart? Haven't seen you around here lately… I was beginning to think you and that pathetic father of yours had finally decided to get out of here. But then I thought, no, there's no way I'd be that lucky."
Squall was finding it very difficult to keep his hands from balling up into fists. It's a good thing I left my gunblade at home, he thought, because otherwise Seifer would currently be missing a limb or two. If he wasn't so utterly desperate for attention, maybe he wouldn't be such a damn problem!
"Also," Seifer continued, "I figured you would stay here just in case that sister of yours came running back home."
Squall's face snapped up in attention, his jaw set.
"You know, it really is too bad she ran away, Squall. I mean, if I remember correctly, she was such a pretty little girl. Who knows, by this time she's probably pretty ho—"
But what Ellone might be by this time, Seifer never managed to get out, because Squall's fist had smashed into Seifer's jaw. In response to this, Seifer managed to aim a hefty blow to Squall's right eye. However, that was the only blow he managed to get in, because Squall pushed him to the sandy ground and walked away.
Stupid Seifer. If I go back to the docks now, all he'll do is provoke me more. Not that I wouldn't love to bash his face in, but I know what I'm capable of. I don't want to cause too much trouble for my father to deal with.
Squall looked around, trying to decide on a place to stop so he wouldn't have to go home just yet. He spotted a rather flat rock in the middle of nowhere and figured that was as good a place as any. He sat down and put his face in his hands, which was somewhat of a mistake. The moment his hand touched his right eye, pain shot through the entire right side of his face. Seifer must have given him a black eye. Wonderful. So, he looked up instead, watching the waves come and go.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there was a very ugly distraction from the ocean in the form of Seifer Almasy. Squall sighed.
Not again! he thought.
Surprisingly enough, Seifer didn't make his way over to Squall. Instead, he kept walking straight for the town.
Good. I am really not in the mood to deal with him again.
Squall sighed once more. Ignoring the pain that immediately came, he put his head in his hands again, and silently wished the sun would set so he could go to sleep.
a bit shorter than the last one... sorry about that. anyway, you can review if ya wanna!
