I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY 8 CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(

Chapter Three

Siblings

"I really don't want to go."

"Come on, Lucia." Rayna glanced at her roommate from her closet. "Have a little wild side. You just graduated. You're now a SeeD. Be proud and have fun."

~That's just it~ Lucia quietly sighed to herself. ~I only do this because of my sister…~

The group hung out at the city for a few hours; it actually turned out to be a lot more fun than Lucia had been expecting. Squall stayed his normal, silent self but he seemed to enjoy himself as well as Zell and Kieran joked around with eachother.

Everyone but Seifer had passed. Lucia felt a little sorry for the older teen but at the same time he should have known better.

"Here," Lucia looked up in time to see Rayna toss her the SeeD uniform.

"Do I really have to wear this?" She asked.

"Unfortunantly," Rayna sighed. "I understand how you feel." She paused for a moment. "You know what? No, you don't have to. Come here. I've got something else for you!"

Holding her hand over her face, Lucia fought the blush that fell over her face as Rayna pushed her into the ballroom. The music was nice and the talk was smooth but she still felt so out of place here.

"Lucia, you all right?"

The young teen turned to her sister's voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She then heard a whistle as Keiran and Zell walked up behind the three of them. "Damn, Lucia. Why don't you dress like that all the time?" the older man asked.

Lucia went to reply but Lurena beat her to it. "What was that, Kieran? You want me to gouge your eyes out with my nails?"

They all laughed as Kieran begged the teacher not to do anything to him. Rayna had placed Lucia in a pale blue dress with silver jewelry; it was quite the change compared to what she was normally dressed in.

As the event continued, everyone else looked like they were having so much fun. Lucia shook her head and leaned against a wall and just watched. She wasn't the only one that looked bored. Squall was on the other side of the room, doing exactly what she was. Zell tried to talk to him, as did Selphie, but Squall just wasn't in to it as he stood there, drinking from his glass. A small smile spread across her lips as she tilted her head back, gazing up at the stars for a moment. One shot across the night sky and she pushed herself off of the wall. She didn't want to stand there by herself so she began to make her way towards Squall but froze when another woman in a white dress approached him first. She looked strangely familiar.

Lucia watched as they talked for a moment, or rather SHE talked, and then raised a brow as Squall was dragged off onto the dance floor with the woman. A frown spread across her face

~Poor Squall~ She thought to herself as he was dragged onto the floor. She winced, noticing plainly that the Leonhart did NOT know how to dance. The girl tried to show him but it just wasn't working. He tried to move away but the woman in white grabbed him again and pulled him back. For some reason that made a fire build up in her blood and Lucia stomped onto the dance floor; she didn't hear the people behind her calling her name.

She moved right onto the dance floor and grabbed Squall's arm, yanking him away from the other woman. The woman and Squall both looked shocked as the others around them watched in confusion.

"If he doesn't want to dance, then don't force him to do it." Lucia told her.

"I-I'm sorry." The woman whispered.

Now that she was this close, Lucia now realized why this woman looked so familiar. "Hey, you look like-"

"Lucia, what are you doing?" They all turned to find the Heartilly twins behind them. "Is something…" Kieran's voice fell flat as he stared at the woman in white.

"Rinoa?" Rayna's voice was surprised.

"Keiran? Rayna? This was where you two have been?"

"You three know eachother?" Lucia demanded, looking between the three of them.

"Nope! What makes you think that?!" Rayna waved a hand nervously as she scratched the back of her head. Behind her, Kieran had grabbed the other woman and took off across the floor, leaving them behind. "Well, I gotta go. Have fun with the rest of the ball!"

Lucia tilted her head to the side, watching after them for a moment before hanging her head. "That made no sense at all." She told herself.

Fireworks went off above them and Lucia smiled, lifting her head to watch them. Squall stood there, watching her for a moment with a soft grin on his own face. "Lucia," He began quietly. "Thanks."

She looked back at him for a moment and gave a small wave. "Don't worry about it. I understand. I can't dance either. I know how embarrassing it would have been." She saw from the corner of her eye as the dancing continued and sighed. "You wanna get out of here?" She asked him. "I'd rather go watch a movie or train then dance here."

"Train? Really?" Squall asked her in shock.

"Is that so strange?" She smiled. "I suppose for a girl it would be, huh?" Lucia looked back at him. "Shall we change and meet in front of the Training Centre?"

Squall nodded his head. "Sure."

It didn't take too long for her to change and she found herself standing outside the Training Centre, waiting on Squall to show up. ~What am I doing?~ Lucia asked herself as she stood there, waiting. ~I don't do stuff like this, and especially not with people who annoy me!~ She was surprising herself. Squall and Seifer were the two biggest annoyances to her in the entire Academy, next to Kieran, and she was going to go train with him. Maybe the drinks were getting to her head, or maybe she was just going through a wild-streak tonight. She had graduated after all. Maybe she had taken to her sister's words and decided to 'live a little' for the night before she got her first assignment. This might be the last time she truly associated with Squall and the others.

The footsteps behind her made her turn to find Squall behind her in his normal attire. She grinned, happy that he had actually shown up. She had feared that she was going to get bailed on. "Ready?"

He gave a small smile. "Yeah."

The plants were easy to take care of and they stacked up on magic to use in future battles. Lucia actually found herself having fun. Squall was actually talking himself; this was the most she had ever heard his voice as they conversed about their battle tactics and tried moves that went together. Lucia might not have wanted to be in SeeD but she did enjoy fighting. That's one of the few things that she and her sister had in common.

When they reached the halfway mark, they entered the side balcony for a moment of rest they found several people already there; they were on romantic circumstances, though.

"I wondered where you had disappeared to,"

Kieran, jumping slightly, turned to find Lucia and Squall standing behind him and Quistis. He gave a smirk. "Yeah, and I didn't expect you two to be together either."

"Please," Lucia waved a hand. Squall's reply was "Just training."

"Here's a question," Lucia began. "Who was that woman that you and your sister ran off with and where are they now?"

"Don't worry about that," Kieran told her. "Just something that's not important enough to worry your head about."

Lucia stared at him for a moment before glancing at Quistis. "So, teach, what are you doing here?"

Quistis gave a sad grin as she scratched the back of her head. "You don't have to call me teacher anymore, Lucia. I have currently been pulled from teaching and placed back onto missions."

"What? But why?"

"I'm apparently too young."

"But you're only a year or two younger than my sister!"

"I'm not too clear with the details, Lucia." The blonde told her sadly.

"I…I'm sorry." Lucia folded her hands together.

"Don't worry about it." Quistis replied.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Kieran told them, breaking the talk and leading the way.

The four of them were heading back to the exit, Squall had returned to his silent shell now that Quistis and Kieran had joined them, leaving Lucia to talk to them instead.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," Kieran covered a yawn.

"A bath and then bed," Quistis replied, stretching out her arms. "Or maybe something to eat, t-" A cry for help cut her off. They all paused for a second before taking off without a second thought. Not too far away, a young woman in white and blue was being attacked by a set of Raldos and a huge Granaldo. She saw them and a look of relief passed over her face.

"Squall! Quisty! Lucia!"

Lucia and Quisty exchanged a look. ~Do we know her?~ The monsters were down in moments, telling the four of them that they were stronger that the enemies in the center when they were trying to save someone.

"Are you all right?" Kieran asked the woman as she fell to her knees. He went to step forward but two men jumped down out of nowhere and blocked his path.

"It's not safe here," One of them told her. "Please, let's go."

"All right." She sighed. They helped her to her feet before leading her way. She turned to say something but they halted her.

"Who was that?" Quistis wondered.

"Who knows?" Kieran shrugged. "And who cares. Let's go."

They were all going to head for bed; Quistis left them for her own place, leaving the trio to head for the barracks in silence.

"Finally! There you are!" They watched as Rayna and Zell approached them. "Where the hell were the three of you? We were lookin' all over the place!

"You were?" Lucia tilted her head. "Why?"

"We're all members of SeeD now, right? Guess what that means!" Rayna giggled happily.

"We got our own rooms, baby!" Zell cheered. He passed out keys and numbers. "Catch ya'll later!" He took off down the hall.

"Gotta admire that energy." Rayna sighed.

"Not really." Squall replied.

"That's just 'cause you're a sourpuss." Kieran told him.

Lucia wasn't up for that this evening and so she left them behind, heading towards her new room with Rayna right behind her.

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