Prologue:

I was the girl that no one else wanted to be. That was, with the exception of myself, of course. In the small town of Timber where everyone knew who you were and everyone knew your business, I was known as Rinoa Heartilly, the victim of misfortune. But was it misfortune or was it fate that led me to my destiny? After all, had everything in my life not happened the way it did, I wouldn't have met him. And that in itself would have been the most unfortunate misfortune of all.

My so-called misfortune began eighteen years ago with Caraway, a young man whose life revolved around Triple Triad, the most competitive gambling card game. Though it was the quickest way to lose gil, it was also the quickest way to win it. This was the way he lived his life, until the day he gambled his way into the biggest debt he'd ever had. Unable to pay, he was given a short period of time to gather the gil he needed to pay off his debt. If he couldn't do so, he'd have to pay with his life.

He was aware that he was a hopeless cause. Every negative emotion known to man had hit him, but more strongly were fear, anxiety, and frustration. He found himself wandering into a pub and ordering drinks he couldn't afford, but nonetheless, even if he got thrown out of there and beaten to a pulp, he'd make sure he'd be so out of it he wouldn't be able to feel a thing.

Many hours and shots later found this young man drunk out of his mind. He managed to sneak out of the pub without a scratch on him, but ended up stumbling his way to a house of prostitution. This marked the next part of my misfortune.

Her name was Julia and she was one of the best, or so they said, which could either be taken in a good or a bad way. I chose not to think much of it. Business was business, and if she was doing her best, then you were getting your money's worth. With all the money she made, drugs were easy accesses to her. She must have been stoned out of her mind, because when that young man walked into the room, they both didn't know what hit them… Me.

It was then that my mother became my mother, though she wouldn't find out until she realized she was late a month later. She thought it was a disaster. She didn't want having a child to ruin her assets, which were the only things she could use to make the gil that she did. And she especially didn't want to take care of some kid. Sadly so, I almost never came into existence, but blessed be, I did, and because of that second chance I was able to meet him.

It was rather ironic how my father was the one responsible for giving me that second chance. I'd like to say that it was done out of fatherly love, but it was actually for self-interest. Even though I wasn't born yet, he managed to use me to manipulate my mother into paying off his debts with all of her savings.

So when I finally came into the world, I met a gambling drunk and a whorish druggie for parents. Of course my father kept on losing in Triple Triad while my mother lost most of her business, so we ended up living off of whatever we could afford. Eventually, my father's gambling started to take a toll on my mother's savings and she decided to cut him off from whatever gil she had left. Because of this, he started abusing my mother for not giving him gil, as well as me because he thought I was the reason for him being cut from her savings.

Soon, he was involved with the wrong people. It didn't matter what he had to do; he was desperate and willing to earn gil in any way he could. As long as he could gamble, he'd be ok. That philosophy didn't last long when he was later sent to prison for the crimes he committed.

We found out later that he went insane within the claustrophobic jail without any means of alcohol and gambling, and then he committed suicide, though no one ever told me how he did it. I'd like to say that he peacefully died in his sleep of old age. That wouldn't work though, because he was a little more than twice my age.

As for my mother, she dropped me off at a relative's house, and I never heard from her again. It was a while later that I received news of her death from overdosing on various drugs.

I was just a kid when I lost both of my parents. Some said I had no obligation to call those people my parents, but either way, they created me and brought me into the world. They weren't all tender, love, and care, but just the fact that they kept me around when they could have easily abandoned me was enough to make me happy.

I never knew what it meant to be a family, at least, not the traditional kind. My parents may have had issues in their life, but there were times where they were good to me. It was a relationship no one but us could understand. It may have been their hypocrisy that saved me from the world they indulged themselves in, but whether or not that had anything to do with my decision, in the end it was my choice to not live like that.

Even after my parents' deaths my misfortune followed me. I had never met my relatives until the day that my mother sent me to live with some of them. It was more like being shipped from foster home to foster home, because no one wanted to take in a stray child that was no more than a stranger to them. And from the way that they treated me, it was likely because they had lost respect for my mother the day she started working at that house of prostitution.

It was a few months later that one of my relatives in Balamb took me into his care. His name was Irvine Kinneas and he was my mother's cousin. I'd been told that they grew up together with a very strong bond. However, it was her adolescent years that severed their relationship when she became the rebel and left home. But despite all of that, he had enough heart to send me to Balamb Garden, a private school where I could live and get an education. It was possible that he didn't want to be responsible for me, except for the bill of course. It wasn't a problem for him, as long as I didn't end up like my mother, he had said. And it wasn't a problem for me. I had never gone to school before, and it was easier to do so when I lived on my own.

At the time, I was thankful. Perhaps my misfortune had come to an end after all. But that was not so. I was lucky to be able to go to class, but not lucky enough to be liked by my teachers. I figured it was because they thought I was hopelessly dumb. It couldn't be helped; I had never gone to school in my life until then. I was lucky enough to live in a single dorm, but not lucky enough to make friends with my neighbors. Even though I was surrounded by classmates young and old, no one wanted to be my friend. I wondered if it was because word about my life got out and no one wanted to have anything to do with the girl that came from such a past. I felt so alienated on campus, and as frightening as that was in the beginning, it slowly turned into loneliness afterward. But I lived with it because I had a roof over my head, food to eat, and a chance to learn. That was my only purpose, getting an education.

However, that purpose alone couldn't help me escape the cruelty of my classmates. The boys would harass me because of the profession my mother was in, and the girls would ridicule me for all the attention I was getting from the boys. She must get it from her mother, they would say. What made it all bearable was that I had accepted and came to terms with my past. They couldn't tell me what I didn't already know. But it still wasn't enough to keep their words from cutting like a knife.

From then on, I always felt that I needed to stay invisible. I never joined any clubs or organizations. I never tried out for any of the teams. I never did anything other than study. After all, I had years of material that I was behind on, and I knew I had to catch up in order to keep up with them. But most of all, I never made myself pretty. I'd notice how the girls around me would fuss over their hair and constantly reapply their make-up and how often they'd go shopping for the latest trends. It was something I never had the leisure of doing; after all, any money I received from Irvine went to my living expenses and my education, but never for me. Why make myself pretty when I didn't feel pretty at all? Why do something that would draw attention to me? Why would it matter anyway? It wasn't important, but I couldn't help wish that for once, I could just be a normal girl that didn't have to hide around the judgment of others.

It was in high school that I became a girl transformed. I was a full-time student earning respect from my teachers with my straight-A's in advanced placement and honors classes. And while I wasn't studying, I worked as a waitress in an expensive restaurant. It wasn't the most glamorous job in the world, but the pay was great. Irvine was still providing for my finances, which gave me the opportunity to save up for college. I didn't know how, but I wanted to repay him for everything he had done for me. I asked him once when I went to visit him over vacation, and he told me if I go to college, that would be enough to pay him back. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted to do more, which was why I secretly got a job. I wanted to live on my own and go to college, all expenses paid out of my own pocket, and not out of his.

And while life was beginning to look a little brighter for me, I was still pretty much alone. It was fine though. As long as I kept myself busy, I wouldn't have to deal with anything my classmates had to say about me.

Years later, the end of my senior year of high school had finally arrived. I had graduated with the highest honors of my class and was accepted into many different colleges. However, my dream was to go to school abroad. I wanted to leave the place where everyone in my family, with the exception of my mother's cousin, never wanted me, the place where no one wanted to befriend me, and the place where no one loved me. This was the place where my past existed and would continue to haunt me if I didn't leave.

I wanted to go to a place where everyone didn't know who I was and everyone didn't know my business. A place where I didn't have to be the girl that no one else wanted to be. A place where I wouldn't be known as the victim of misfortune. But little did I know what misfortunes I would meet upon going to this place and that this place would be the place where I would soon meet the boy that will change my life.