Author's Comments:
Redone. Hope it's better now. Other two chapters I've redone will be posted shortly.
--
Fire walked toward her locker, hands clutching the book in her hands in worry. There was a feeling of dread flowing through her. She'd felt this feeling before, at her home; she had learned to ignore it there. This was several times what she felt at home. And she knew what was wrong.
A LOT of people were mismatched.
Fire swapped the book in her hand for another and a few folders in her locker, then slammed the door shut. She stood up, red hair fluttering wildly, and walked to her first period.
A few people greeted her, but she just nodded an acknowledgment of their presence.
Arriving at her first period, Fire slipped into her seat at the back right corner. Her three best friends soon appeared.
"What's up?" asked a brunette. Her name was Sam.
"Mismatchers," Fire answered, rubbing her temples.
Mismatchers was the nickname given to those who were not meant to be, but had gotten together anyway. It happened a lot, and the only one who could feel it was Fire. Of course, her friends knew of her powers and they thought it was cool to be friends with her. They were the best friends she'd ever had, too, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
Everyone else thought that her matching abilities were just extremely lucky guesses. But they weren't. She could see the aura of people, and everyone had a different one (well, except the ones who were destined for each other). All she had to do was find the match and they'd be together forever. It was rather like that red string of fate thing she'd heard about and a lot of people believed. That was stupid, though. If she could see that, there would be a lot of wire everywhere and it would be almost impossible to match anybody like that. What stupid ideas some people came up with.
Back to the present, though. As I said, everyone has an aura. Fire's friends had strange auras. They were completely white. Since everyone else had an actual color, she just figured they weren't meant for anyone or something.
As for her, she'd only seen hers once. It was when she was five and had been standing in front of her mother's full-length mirror. It had flashed white and then there was nothing. Since then, Fire had never been able to see her own aura. She just put it aside in her mind, though. It wasn't anything to get upset over.
Cat, her blonde friend, snapped her fingers and brought Fire out of her thoughts. "Quite a few people got together over the weekend because of Seph's big party! That's probably where all the mismas came from."
Fire sighed. More work for her. Wonderful. "I wish you wouldn't call them that. It sounds stupid."
"I like it," Cat said, sniffling.
Jenny cut in before any shouting started. "Who got together, then?"
Fire shut her mouth, turning to Jenny and then to Sam as she started talking.
"Let's see. From what I saw this morning since I got here early, Reno hooked up with Yuffie, Zack with Aerith, Cloud and Tifa. Um... Sora and Kairi were looking closer than usual, and his brother Roxas was holding hands with Namine. Then I saw Axel and Larxene, and Vincent was with that new girl."
"You mean Lucrecia," Jenny offered.
"Yeah, her."
Fire went over the list in her head. She'd never actually looked at anyone's auras before (not in the school, at least). Or if she had, it was only a glimpse.
"With the headache I have, I'd say all of them are matched wrong. Maybe one or two are right," Fire concluded. "We'll have to investigate at lunch."
Sam, Cat, and Jenny nodded.
Class started a few minutes after there conversation ended. By the time third period came and went, Fire had made a list and rewrote it five times (she kept messing up and throwing the paper away).
The List of Matched Mismatchers
(Sixth Edition)
1. Reno/Yuffie
2. Cloud/Tifa
3. Axel/Larxene
4. Sora/Kairi
5. Vincent/Lucrecia
6. Roxas/Namine
7. Zack/Aerith
For some reason, Fire had the feeling this list would grow.
--
Fire and her friends trudged down the hallway to the courtyard. Well, Sam, Jenny, and Fire walked while Cat skipped.
They exited the building and headed to their table which was situated in the center of the courtyard. It was perfect for Fire because she could see all the other tables.
Now MHS was your typical school that had all the typical stereotypes. The table to the right of Fire's was the so dubbed 'prep table'. And to the left was the 'gossip table'. It made it very easy to gather info when you sat between people like that.
Cheerleaders, dancers, and generally happy teens hung out at the prep table. Fire and her friends didn't talk to them much because the people who hung out there included Kairi, Larxene, and Yuffie. Namine sat there sometimes, but mostly she was with her art friends halfway across the courtyard.
The gossip table was made up of a ton of girls that Fire didn't care to know. She just knew that they couldn't shut there mouths at any time of the day. Especially when something interesting was brewing in the school. As it was, they were talking animatedly at the moment.
"Ohmigod! Did you hear?" a blonde suddenly exclaimed, catching her friends attentions.
All the girls shook their heads furiously, wanting to know.
"Principle Xemnas, like, totally got engaged! And today in second period, Professor Saix was reeally moody. He gave us sooo much homework," she complained. "Oh! And Zexion is going out with some girl that nobody knows! That girl who hangs out in the library all the time, you know?"
"You mean that really smart girl? I think her name's Shirley," a black-haired girl spoke up from behind her mirror. She finished fixing her make-up and snapped it shut. "I don't know what he sees in her. Ew. He can do so much better!"
The other girls laughed and one shouted out, "What? Like you?"
"Yes!"
As they calmed down, Fire leaned closer to hear.
A curly-haired brunette spoke up. "So, like, five people in the Organization are dating?"
The Organization, or Organization XII, was a group in the school for elite students and the teachers who taught them. Only seven kids were in each year. There were six professors: Xigbar, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Luxord, Saix, and Principle Xemnas.
Fire was jolted from her seat when the girls next to her started shrieking with laughter right in her ear.
"Maybe Prof. Saix is in love with Principle Xemnas," the only red-head of the group 'whispered.'
Saix, who happened to be walking by the table, twitching visibly.
I can never understand why people at MHS always make fun of gays. It really gets on my nerves.
And the weird thing is, after years of matching people and looking at auras, I have never matched or seen two guys with the same color. I feel that's going to change this semester...
--
The girls had been lectured by one of the older science teachers about respecting their elders and had shut up. Fire was free to ponder on what she'd heard.
Two new couples could be added to the list. And by what she'd seen when the gossipers were being chewed out, she could add an extra three to that.
Lunch past without Fire getting a chance to see anyone's auras, but fourth period let her make an updated list.
The List of Matched Mismatchers
(Sixth Edition)
1. Reno/Yuffie
2. Cloud/Tifa
3. Axel/Larxene
4. Sora/Kairi
5. Vincent/Lucrecia
6. Roxas/Namine
7. Zack/Aerith
NEW:
8. Xemnas/???
9. Zexion/Shirley
10. Vexen/Some Science Girl
11. Marluxia/Some Flower Chick
12. Sehpiroth/Angel
Bye the time fourth period was over and Fire was on her was home, she had a clever plan to get close to each of the couples. Okay, that's a lie. She had a plan for some, but the rest she was just gonna wing it. She would need to make a list for each of their colors. But that would be the easy part.
--
The next day, Fire's bus got there very early. She was happy because that would give her a good chance to catch a glimpse of some of the couples.
She hastened to get her books out of her locker and went straight to the courtyard. Few people were there, but luckily Cat was sitting at the table, nodding her head to some music she was listening to. Fire hurried over and pulled a headphone out, gaining the blonde's attention. Cat directed a curious glance in her direction while still bobbing her head. Fire whispered something in her ear and she smiled mischievously.
Kids had slowly filtered into the open area and taken seats at their respective tables. The most populated at the moment happened to be the 'popular' table. There was a buzz of talk and laughter as kids crowded it.
Cat got up, stuck the headphone back in, and leisurely headed across the perfectly cut grass. Her eyes were closed, and she looked just as if she didn't know where she was going. Perfect.
Fire waited, holding her breath, as Cat approached the table. She went to turn but tripped over her own foot causing her to fall flat on her face. Immediately, a fair number of people ran over to her, kneeling down and asking if she was okay. It was weird how most of the popular kids were nice.
Fire ran over from her table –where she'd been acting nonchalant, like she didn't know what Cat was doing– and dropped to the ground in front of her friend, worriedly dusting her off. Zack was kneeling next to her, smiling and just making sure Cat was going to be fine. Fire pulled down her mental barriers enough to get a color around his head and turned back to Cat.
"Cat, are you alright?"
Cat laughed, sitting up and pulling her headphones out. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Really, Fire," she stressed as her friend didn't stop patting her clothes to get dirt off.
"Well, if you're sure," Fire relented and stood up, taking her friend with her.
As everyone was heading back to the table or to some other place, it cleared out enough for Fire to have a clear sight of Sephiroth and Angel sitting on their table. They had the same expression: they couldn't care less. Fire got a reading on their auras and tugged Cat back to the table.
Zack called to them as they walked across the yard. "Watch out next time!"
Sam and Jenny had arrived while we'd been gone, and Fire sat down next to Jenny. "Make a list."
Jenny rustled through her bag and pulled out a piece of clean paper, then scrounged around for a pen. At last, she was ready to write and Fire started dictating.
--
Fire found the rest of the couples on her way to her first classes. She past some in the hallway and had a few in her first and second period. By lunch, she'd seen every last one. She had even been lucky enough to see the principal's fiancé.
Fire sat down at the table and made another list.
Couples
1. Reno/Yuffie
2. Cloud/Tifa
3. Axel/Larxene
4. Sora/Kairi
5. Vincent/Lucrecia
6. Roxas/Namine
7. Zack/Aerith
8. Xemnas/???
9. Zexion/Shirley
10. Vexen/Some Science Girl
11. Marluxia/Some Flower Chick
12. Sehpiroth/Angel
Auras
1. Red, Pink
2. Blue, Orange
3. Grey, Yellow
4. Baby Blue, Lime Green
5. Purple, Periwinkle
6. Grey, Peach
7. Yellow Orange, Yellow Orange
8. Silver, Brown
9. Green, Indigo
10. Black, Bronze
11. Black, Maroon
12. Blue, Gold