Hello again! I found this chapter easier to write than my previous one. I'm hoping to delve into more character interaction in the next few chapters but wanted to set up a bit of a timeline and a little back story to make things less confusing. This may stray (or possibly already has) from the game's timeline for the orphanage so I apologize but I changed it to fit the idea for the story I have in my head. If you have any questions (that I don't plan on addressing in future chapters) feel free to shoot me a pm. As always, thanks for reading.

Lighthouse

Chapter 2

"Hey hey hey hey HEEYYYYY! Rise and shine sleepy head!" A cheerful voice rang out. Rinoa groggily lifted her head from her pillow to be greeted by a pair of bright green eyes staring at her intently mere inches from her own. "Ugh, Selphie! Go away!" Rinoa whined into her pillow, "Gimme five more minutes, please."

With surprising strength the auburn haired girl pulled Rinoa's pillow from underneath her. "Nope! You've been here three weeks, Rinoa, and you're always the last one up. I've been easy on you because you were new but Quisty says I shouldn't do that anymore and that you should correct things like this early before they become habit and blah blah blah."

"Whaa?" Rinoa blinked and stared at Selphie blankly. Rinoa knew Quistis was bossy from her short time here but this was just crazy. Cid and Matron did turn out to be nice people as well but the way they had everything planned and coordinated, one would think they were running a boot camp rather than an orphanage.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said too. All I know is it's my job...to...get...you...UP!" Selphie's words were strained as she proceeded to tug at the blanket Rinoa had wrapped herself up in. With one final pull she managed to unroll the stubborn 'princess' out of her self-made cocoon. Rinoa rolled off of the bed and landed onto the floor with a thud. She shot the green eyed girl a dark glare.

Selphie ran over to the girl on the ground and extended her hand. "Sorry 'bout that." She said sheepishly, "You should hurry up and get changed and grab some breakfast before it's cold. First lesson starts in 0700 hours!" The sprightly girl grabbed the claps of her green overalls, gave Rinoa a grin, and ran off to join the other children.

Rinoa emerged a few minutes later, dressed in a simple white cotton dress. However she had ended up here, the details were still fuzzy in her mind, she had arrived at the orphanage with a few of her own possessions which she was grateful for. Most of the other children were already finished with breakfast and tasked to their own clean up duties. Zell was still sitting at the table, stuffing his face with as many eggs as he could fit in. He glanced up at Rinoa and smiled awkwardly. "Mo'nin," He began to say but was immediately admonished by Quistis to not to talk with his mouth full. Rinoa giggled, smiling sympathetically at the goofy boy and helped herself to what was left of breakfast.

Once breakfast was over and everything was cleaned up, the children took their places on the floor waiting for Matron to begin the lesson. Rinoa snuck a peek at the brooding boy named Squall. He hadn't initiated any sort of contact with her since their first encounter. Squall was just like that, everyone had told her, and seemed surprised that he had even taken the time to acknowledge her presence. Quistis, in particular, seemed the most off put by the out of character gesture he had shown Rinoa. Going as far as to ask the girl if she was telling the truth. Rinoa pouted slightly at the memory of the accusation. Why would she lie about something so silly? 'There's a caring person underneath his meaness.' Rinoa thought to herself, 'Why would he have done that if he was just a jerk? I'm going to be his friend and everyone will see that they are wrong about him!' She decided firmly. She didn't tell anyone, but she had kept the tissue box he had given her. Rinoa kept it tucked away under her bed and had decided she would fill it with special things, like a memory box. Just then, Squall caught her staring. For a moment he didn't look so angry, just surprised and curious even. Rinoa smiled at him warmly, his expression lingered but then darkened as he turned away from her. As she dropped her gaze from him, Rinoa thought she saw Quistis shake her head at her out of the corner of her eye. 'Hmph let them doubt me. I know when someone ACTUALLY doesn't care. I've lived with my father after all.' She thought sadly to herself as she hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, thoughtfully.

"Good morning, children." Matron's melodic voice called out. The children of the orphanage all stopped what they were doing and looked up to their beloved Matron. Though she dressed plainly, it was easy to see that she was a naturally beautiful woman both inside and out. Her smile glowed as she spoke kindly, "I know a lot of things have changed over the last few months and it may seem like Cid and I are just being mean, but we only have your best interests at heart. We are thinking of your futures and we thank you for being so good and patient with us during this time. I know it must be hard and confusing. Big changes are ahead of us but I know you are all brave and strong little boys and girls. Now, where did we leave off in our last lesson?" A blonde pigtailed girl with glasses rose her hand diligently. "Ah, yes my dear Quistis, I knew you would remember." Matron smiled sweetly, causing Quistis to blush in delight.

As Quistis began to recite where their last lesson had ended, Rinoa was lost in her own thoughts, 'Big changes? What could that possibly mean? So things hadn't always been so strict here? What was it that Cid and Matron were preparing them for?' She knew from her father being in the military about the Sorceress War and the destruction it had caused in it's wake. Rinoa looked around her for a moment and realized sadly that the orphanage had so many children in it because they all had lost their parents in the war. Once again, she felt completely out of place and wondered if the other children would be mad at her if they knew she still had one parent alive. 'I don't really belong anywhere...' Rinoa thought again to herself sadly. She hastily brushed away tears that had started to form at the corners of her eyes, unaware that Squall had caught the act from across the room. Rinoa also failed to notice his expression had changed as well, maybe just maybe, to one of kindly concern.