Wonderful World (the extension package):
Scenes From The Back
Prequel to the parody Wonderful World, based on the AU parody inspired by "As Good As It Gets".
Sorry I took so long for this - as I said in Whale Song, I had several ideas. My problem was finishing the thoughts as I laid them out.
Well, here's where I want to mention and thank the inspiration for this short: I managed a rare chance to have a nice, long talk with Flypipe (he was online instead of Howling, who was asleep over her assignment storyboards at the moment). I asked him what inspired Pride Leonhart's character development in the first place, and he told me a story about his own experience growing up with his uncle. It was good talking to him, and in turn drove me to write something for Leon and Pride, in the style of an incident between a young Flypipe and his own relative.
This is the result - please sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Growing up in a military academy was not as easy as one would expect. Although Squall was the physical instructor's grandson, the only "allowance" he was given - and later shared with Cloud - was staying in the staff lodges instead of the dorms. Each day of his young life was still filled with the same discipline, training, learning, training, tests, and yet more training that was expected of his fellow junior classmen. What few reprieves they had from their routine was breaks, curfew, and weekends. Of these reprieves, there were two activities that were, ironically, routine. One was sitting on the academy's front steps and waiting for Sis' return.
The other was the road trips to the nearby cities.
Once every few weeks, an instructor would go to the cities to pick up job offers for the graduated students, prospective field examination locations for the graduating, and other newsletters addressed to the academy from the government. Each time, Instructor Leonhart would drive them there. Each time, Squall and Cloud - both barely old enough - would clamber into the bed of the old pickup truck along with Lefty, a scruffy blue Merle that had "adopted" Squall one day and had since refused to leave despite any amount of persuasion and threat alike.
Occasionally, their peer mentor Zack Fair would come along for the ride - so he could get a "decent drink" - and would fill the trip with idle, one-sided conversation. Mostly, he talked about his dreams of seeing the world. Mostly, he spoke of doing everything possible while he was still young. Mostly, Cloud was his only interested audience, the young lad also considering such things for his future; Squall, on the other hand, felt such talk to be empty, and chose instead to ignore him.
Most of the time, though, they were without a fourth, and the ride was filled with accustomed silence. Squall would sit with his back to the cab, Cloud in the middle of the bed, with their legs bent slightly in what little space there was with the dog between them, nose on Squall's knee and tail over Cloud's thigh. There they would sit, and all that would echo around them was the constant complaining of the engine, the panting of the dog, assorted sounds from occasional curious desert monsters, and the clacking of the metal against metal.
It was on a particularly long day such as this one, after Instructor Leonhart dropped off Zack for the evening, that then eight-year-old Cloud suddenly raised his head and looked up at the sky as he pondered on their peer mentor's words.
"...Squall?"
"...?"
"How big do you think the world is?"
"I dunno," Squall answered, trying unsuccessfully to nudge Lefty off his knee. "Didn't think about it."
"...think we'll get to see it all some day?"
Squall shrugged. "None of it is going anywhere."
"How do we know that?"
Squall looked up, forgetting the dog as it snuggled down even more. Cloud did not look back at him, his focus still on the sky and the many colors of sunset that streaked through it. Not even as he continued his thought.
"...what if it isn't there? I mean...they gotta rebuild some time. What if we don't see it before they do that? What if...you know, Zack did say that some of that stuff was still in planning or construction...what if they don't actually finish it, so it doesn't really exist?
"What if what we're looking for isn't there?"
Squall did not answer, once again glaring at Lefty as it continued to lay on his knee, panting.
As the truck continued diligently on its unseen path, Cloud's attention drifted to the sandy desert that surrounded them.
"...sure is a long trip."
"...we'll get there."
Cloud looked at Squall out of the corner of his eye, posing a silent question.
"This desert...everything looks the same. There's no actual road or road signs...nothing but sand. It's like we'll always be on the move, like there's no end to this journey...
"...but we'll get there. We can't say for sure...probably never...but we know it's there. And we'll get to it. It's a long trip, but we'll get there in the end."
Again Squall looked away from the dog, and their eyes met.
"...we'll both go. Someday. We...well...we might not see it all, but...what we're looking for. It'll be there.
"And we'll find it."
Time seemed to slow down in that moment, the droning around them suddenly less obvious to their perceptions. Squall was the first to look away, taking interest in the grooves along the length of the truck bed. Cloud stared at him for a while, and then returned his own gaze to the sky once more. It was now nightfall, and stars filled the darkness with tiny specks of light.
Then, there was the scrape of leather against metal, and a grunt of lazy protest from Lefty, then Cloud felt something nudge against his foot. It was Squall's leg, fully stretched, so that their boot caps were touching. Ever the easily embarrassed one, Squall was still devoting his interest to the truck bed.
But Cloud felt a second nudge.
That was a promise.
Smiling, he continued to gaze at the stars in the sky, as the pickup rumbled along, ever approaching their destination.
I know.
"In the short time that my uncle raised me, I remember most fondly the road trips before, between and after work, when he let me ride in the back of his delivery truck as he drove through the state. As a young boy, I'd look out from my seat, at the people, at the buildings, at the parks, at anything that came into view, but what I looked at most was the back of his head, and the road before him that never seemed to end.
"It's been many, many years since I was returned to my parents, but I'll never forget him. Even as I close my eyes now, I see myself on that endless road, riding in the back of that truck. I'd turn and look at the back of my uncle's head, and watch him drive on toward his destination - not seeing it, but knowing that it is there, that he will reach it in the end, no matter what." - Flypipe, by special request from P-J.
runkie: Well, thanks for being the first! I like reviews, and getting them really makes my day. That first one, I wrote in the week right after Wonderful World was finished, but I never had the guts to upload it. Until now. And thanks for the support - after I let Flypipe read your comment on Pride, his mood considerably lightened up for days (or so, as Howling told me). Yeah, he's really proud of that character.
DanteMoon: Thanks for the support! I'll keep it up as much as I can.
