The Secret Garden
Based on: Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. The OCs featured in this fic belong to various friends. Note that while the characters belong to friends, I am the one writing the fic itself. Thank you to my friends for allowing me to borrow your characters. If you wish to appear, please send me a message and we can work something out.
Notes: This is the sequel to Records of Keeper Canti. It's wibby-wobbly, timey-whimy in its execution. I care not. If you care, shut the fuck up and go away. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Warnings: Cursing, potential OOC, OC x Canon, stupid fluffy romance, sex, angst, self-insert author avatar
FIC START!
Chapter Eight
Rest
The rest of the school day passed by without any major events. Canti spent time in the library with Minwu, reading from his Mysidian textbook about the translation between it and the common language. He studied his own book, which was written entirely in Mysidian. The two shared a table, sitting across from one another. When the bell rang, signaling that the day was over, Canti noticed that Minwu's weapon was that of a staff. It was a different kind of staff than the one Mateus carried, and she could tell by how ornately decorated that it was not a school issue. Instead of being wooden and curvy, it was finely polished. The top had a lovely little gem in the shape of a star at the top that when Minwu put his hand on it, it gave off a faint little glow. She stared at it for a little while, before he noticed her interest in it.
"That belonged to my father," Minwu said quietly. "It's called the Stardust Rod. It's known for giving extra power to white magic, helping the user grow in spirit as its used."
"You're a white mage?" Canti asked. "I… I was told I could be one."
"I am in training," Minwu said, gathering up his things. "We all are, until we graduate."
"Graduate?" Canti cocked her head to the side.
"We start at year one, at ten," he said. All his books were in his bag, and he had his staff strapped to his back the way she had her spear strapped to her own. "And we go all the way up through year ten, when we're twenty. After that, we are given the Choice to decide how we want to better our community by using our talents we have spent time training."
"And you are certain you wish to be a white mage, even now?"
Minwu nodded. "I am going to look after all of those who are wounded by the fighting that is sure to come when the enemy breaks through," he said, his eyes staring off into the distance. "I can see it. I have no idea what it is, Canti, but I know it's coming."
Canti looked up at him, worried about that distant expression. "Don't… don't say such scary things…" she said, frowning. "Let's just… head home, okay?"
He turned to look at her. He stared into her deep sea-blue eyes, sensing something about her. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he knew there was a connection. Minwu placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair gently. He knew he was going to need to take some time to meditate on this connection, because it was going to bother him until he knew exactly what it was. This tugged not just as his mind, but at his heart. He had never sensed anything like this with anyone else before, and it gave him a sense of foreboding. "Yes, we should," he agreed, taking a few steps to head toward the exit. "Oh. Canti…"
"Uh huh?"
"...would you like to be friends?"
"Minwu. I thought we all ready were, after you sat with us during the Blitzball game," Canti said, following him. "I would love nothing more than to be friends! Papa Cid says we all need friends. He said he was worried about me not having any friends my own age, but I seem to have made plenty."
"I am glad to hear that. I know of your difficulty in social situations… I am very glad to hear that you're adjusting to school life well enough," Minwu said, his encouraging only making Canti feel that much better.
They came out of the library to find all the other students across the school were out of class. Conversations about all sorts of things were going on everywhere around them, kids of all ages laughing, teenage couples holding hands and flirting, a few battles going on between rivals in the distance. Life continued at Dagurreo Garden Academy like any other day. As Minwu and Canti made their way around campus, Kain suddenly came like he was falling out of the sky right in front of them.
"Whoa!" Canti said, hiding behind Minwu. "Cousin!"
"I can see your cousin is continuing the Highwind tradition of fighting in the style of the dragoon," Minwu said. "Though perhaps you should aim your jump at something that isn't Canti."
"I wasn't aiming for you," Kain said, walking up to Canti to hug her. "Don't think I was trying to get you. I would never." He held her tight. "I've missed you today… I know I promised I'd look after you, but I didn't realize how apart we'd be. We should at least walk home together. I'm sure Uncle Cid is looking forward to hearing all about your adventures today."
"That's fine, Kain. I've made friends… and I have my weapon picked out… and I'm a soprano in the Chorus…" Canti said, grinning. "…oh, and Instructor Bismark went missing so I had to go in for a health scan at the office."
"Sounds like a full day, for sure," Kain said. "You think you can put up with this place for ten years before you graduate?"
"I think I'll be just fine."
"That's the spirit!"
Minwu parted ways with Kain and Canti once they came to the Cosmos statue out front of the school. He said he was going to head to the hospital, as he had training hours over there after school. It was clear he took his goal to be a white mage very seriously. His goodbye was simple, even though Canti wished he could stay with her longer. The two shared an embrace before he simply had to go.
The Highwind cousins headed to Junon Ave, which was the street Canti lived on. They talked about different teachers and the classes they were placed in. How Canti found Starlet to be a very nice lady even if her dress was a bit flashy. Kain spoke of one of his teachers, Bahamun, to be incredibly strict to a needless degree. But Kain made a mention that dragoons were known to be very careful about their training, and his father, her uncle Richard was very much like that too. Canti wondered if she wanted to be a dragoon as he detailed the strict regimen required to fulfill such a job, but as Kain spoke of it, his eyes beamed with pride. He was not only ready, but willing to accept the title of Grand Dragoon, and he didn't care who or what he had to do to get there. He spoke of his mother and father's expectations of him, even though they were high, he wanted to meet those expectations. He clearly knew his path in life, and it only made Canti reflect that much more on her own choices. If he was only a year older than she, how could he have known so much about himself all ready?
Canti pulled the keys out of her satchel, unlocking the front door to the little house she had called home for just a little over a year now. "Papa Cid?" she called out, leaning her spear against the wall and hanging her bag up on one of the nails nearby. "…Papa Cid, are you home?"
No response.
"Still working at the shipyards, I guess," Kain said, his hands on his hips. "Now what do you want to do?"
Canti kicked off her shoes and put them in the closet close to the door. "Nothing!"
"First day is always hard," Kain said. "I suppose I'd better head home, too. Do you need anything? Anything at all? I'll go bring back something to eat if you need…"
"...cousin…"
"Yes?"
"Just go home." Canti stood at the little fridge and pulled out an apple. "I'll be fine." She took a bite and stared at him. "Just wanna… be alone right now."
Kain nodded. "All right. I'm sorry if I…"
"...you didn't do anything, but if you don't go, then I'm gonna be upset. Just go, Kain."
He went for the door immediately. "Good night, Canti."
"Night, Kain."
The door closed behind him, and Canti curled up on the couch. So much stuff happened all in one day, and while at school she didn't show it very much, right now, she was beyond exhausted. She didn't even reach to turn on the Sphere. Even though she was pretty sure that My Little Chicobo had to have been on by now, and on any normal day, she wouldn't have missed it. She liked Feathershy, the softspoken yellow chicobo that seemed to have problems dealing with others just as she did, and all her other feathered friends too, but… right now… just wasn't the time.
…
Cid packed up his toolbox and lunchbox, tying it to the handle to easier carry it back home. He clocked out at the terminal close to his workstation, smelling of his cigarette smoke and motor grease. He had splotches of the blackness all over his body and uniform as he gave Setzer a salute and started to walk home. He was more than tired. It took some adjusting to, having gone back to work after being just a stay-at-home dad for a year. Of course, he did notice that he wasn't willing to put up with anyone's bullshit, especially if it came from one Otto Bunansa. He uttered a string of curse words too mean to pass censorship towards his coworker as he went around the corner away from the shipyard.
He came home to the door unlocked, which worried him at first, but he noticed Canti's uniform hanging up on the wall to prevent wrinkles and her satchel hanging right next to it.
"...hey," he called out, "You home, baby girl?"
Canti stuck her head out of the walk-in shower in the corner of the room. "Papa Cid!" she said, smiling. "Let me finish."
Cid walked over to the kitchenette. "I'm using it after you," he said, using the anti-greaser he kept under the sink to scrub his hands free of all gritty sludge those engines produced. "So if you use all the hot water, I'm going to be a little annoyed." Respecting her privacy, when he knew she was coming out, he kept himself turned away. She wrapped herself in a robe and darted off to her room to put on her nightgown. "So… you hungry? I'm famished… been a long day."
Canti came out in her nightgown the same color as the sky, her twin braids having been unraveled and brushed out flat, the curls weighed down by the fact that her hair was just washed. "Not really," she said. "It has been a very long day."
"Is that so? Tell me. I want to know everything."
"Papa… you smell like engines and smoke…"
"Talk to me while I'm washing up, then."
"I can do that," she said, sitting on the couch.
The house was too small for an entire bathroom, so one corner of the living room just had a makeshift walk-in shower and the toilet was in a smaller room by itself. Cid went to his room to pull off his work uniform, pulled a towel around himself, and headed to the shower to take care of business. "So," he said, speaking over the loudness of the rushing water. "How did it go?"
"I have four classes assigned to me," Canti began. "Combat Basics, Magical Mastery, Chorus, and… the one that seemed kinda weird to me is Advanced Placement Mysidian… but the headmaster and all of my new assured me that the placement tests are never wrong, and that I am one of the only two students in the Garden who can even handle it." She looked over at the wall at her school issued spear. "I selected a weapon to study for combat training."
"I imagine you have a staff. The tests said you were highly adept with magic, from what I understood of the report," Cid said laughing. "Blasting things from the back row sounds like so much fun."
"Nope. I have a spear. Just like you, Papa Cid!"
Cid stuck his head out of the shower. "You didn't just tell me that you picked a melee weapon… you know that's dangerous as hell…"
"I had to test all sorts of weapons while I was there, but the only one that seemed to come to me naturally… was the spear," Canti said. She giggled at the sight of his head being covered in bubbles and having that concerned look on his face, as it just didn't seem to match very well. "You still have shampoo bubbles in your hair!"
"I know, but… well, I guess that proves you are a Highwind. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. You did spend a lot of time watching me practice out in the training grounds…" Cid said, going back in to finish his bathing. "…we should celebrate."
"I'm too tired to celebrate right now…" Canti yawned. "Let's just have dinner and go to bed. I have more school for four more days before we have the weekend."
"Then this weekend, we'll celebrate. And I'll give you a real lesson in fighting like a dragoon," Cid said. "Comin' out. Be warned."
"Okay!" Canti covered her eyes and Cid opened the curtain of the makeshift shower, grabbing his towel and running out to his room to put on his usual sleeping clothes. "You in a safe place, Papa?"
"Yep."
Canti pulled her hands away from her face. "Since we're all ready in our pajamas, we can't go anywhere now. That's fine. I don't really wanna."
"We can call a pizza delivery service, if you want. I have a menu pinned up on the corkboard," Cid said from his bedroom. He pulled on a shirt and his shorts, his typical sleeping clothes. "How's that sound?"
"I guess that sounds okay," she said, shrugging. Canti went over to the corkboard and pulled the menu off of it. She read through the list of toppings. "Lots of greens and veggies, different kinds of meats and cheeses…" soon she came to a few things she didn't quite understand. "Huh? I don't even know what this is…"
Cid came out, combing his short blonde hair. "What what is?"
Canti held up the menu. "What is Carob powder?"
Cid laughed bashfully. "That's a pizza ingredient now?" he asked, taking the menu from her hands. He read the paragraph above it, noticing how it had a little blurb about being for that 'special somebody'. "…it's a grown up thing. Certainly not for children your age. I say you wait until you're at least thirty. Maybe not even then."
"Everything seems to happen when we turn thirty… I had to tell a boy today that you said love doesn't happen until then, too," Canti said, crossing her arms.
"...a boy?" Cid's eyes narrowed.
"He said he wanted to be my boyfriend…"
"He… I'm sorry, he what now?"
"I told him that I have lots of boys who are my friends… Tidus is nice even if he's loud and Minwu is kind and helps me study and Kain is my cousin…" Canti explained, looking up at him. "I have no idea why he would ask that. I don't even know what the difference is between a boy who is a friend and a boyfriend." She sighed. "He gave me a flower."
Cid eyed his spear, the Venus Gospel, thinking of all the ways a human body could be skewered. "A flower…"
"Yeah. He gave me a purple rose."
"...now that sounds familiar," Cid said. "Very familiar… one of the richer families from the north side of town has that as their insignia. If I'm not mistaken, the Palamecian Monster Ranch has a purple rose as their crest."
"That was his name! Mateus Palamecia! He is in Chorus with me as a baritone. A Third year."
Cid shook his head. "I don't like that. I might have to find the time to speak with his father… there's no way I'm letting you get drawn into that life, pumpkin. Not a chance in hell. Senate member Matteo Palamecia is infamous for starting corrupt deals with other senate members, including taking bribes. Ohhh no. Not even. You need to steer clear of that boy."
"I don't understand…"
"The Palamecian family has done some pretty bad stuff, and the last thing I want is for you to get dragged into that," Cid said, sitting her down on the couch. "Dragon meat, extra cheese sound good for our pizza?"
"Sounds yummy!" Canti said, though she was still confused about his commentary. Must have been a grown up thing. Mateus gave her a creepy vibe, but she didn't think there was anything wrong with him.
"I'll call it in on the Sphere."
Canti went up to the bookshelf and grabbed one. Once Cid was done placing the call, he saw her sitting there with a black book emblazoned with big white letters. "…let's read!"
"...hey, that's the choose your adventure book I got you right after I brought you here," Cid said, sitting with her again. "We haven't read it since then. Undertale."
"It's my favorite book!" she said. "So let's read it!"
Once she curled up on him, he held the book open so they both could see the contents of the book. "A long time ago, there was a country that had both humans and monsters. For a while, they lived in peace. A war broke out between the two, and the humans sealed away the monsters underground." Cid stopped to let her read the words on the page herself before he moved on to the next passage. "A barrier was placed to keep the monsters underground forever, and only a magic spell could break it. In the year 201X, a child from a nearby human village climbed up the mountain and fell into a hole that led into the underground world of monsters."
"Papa…"
"...hmm?"
"What's 201X mean?"
"It means any year that begins with the number 201… so, from 2010 to 2019. The x is just a variable."
"Why didn't they just pick a year?"
"I'm not a writer, sweetheart, I have no idea."
"...ah well. Let's just continue the story."
Cid moved on to the next passage. "The child woke in a place full of bright yellow flowers, and in the center of them was a very big flower with a face. The flower said 'Hi. I'm Flowey the Flower. I'm your best friend!"
"Mean old flower!" Canti shouted at the book.
"...yeah, he sure is…" Cid agreed.
Together they kept reading until their pizza was delivered. And they shared their pizza while they kept reading, making their decisions and turning to the appropriate page to see how their choices unfolded. Cid let Canti make all the decisions to see where the story would go, and it seems that just like the first time they read the book together a year before, Canti made the choice to save the monsters. By the end of it, the two had shared half the pizza and Canti was falling asleep against him. Cid carried her to bed and tucked her in after wiping her face of the pizza sauce, leaving her to fall asleep to her dreams of wandering the underground and meeting all sorts of funny monster friends.
