A/N: First of all, thanks to my knight X Launcher
for the title! It took me forever to
think of one. J This
was just a little something I did when I was supposed to be asleep, took me
about half an hour. Enjoy! R&R please!
Sunsets
on the beach were always so beautiful in summer. Tiny flames of red leapt upon the salty waves, as the last rays
of sunlight disappeared, making room for the darkness sure to come. Night would be coming soon. The children played while they could, for
their Matron wouldn't let them out after dark. There were six of them. All
about 9 or 10 years of age, their clothes wet and sandy from an entire day of
playing amongst the waves. A little
girl, her eyes green as springtime, laughed in joy as the waters lapped at her
tiny bare feet. Her brown hair was
tangled from the wind, and her face was elfin in appearance. She smiled as a young boy ran up behind her,
and put his hands over her eyes. "Guess
who?"
"Irvy!"
the girl exclaimed immediately.
He grinned,
tossing his sun streaked mahogany ponytail over one bare shoulder. "Aw Sefie, how'd you guess?" Wrapping his arms about her waist, he lifted
her high above the water as a wave crashed to shore. She shrieked with laughter clinging to him in mock fear.
"Put
me down!"
"I'm
going to drop you," he teased, blue eyes sparkling with mirth.
"You
wouldn't dare!" she gasped.
He
made to let her go, and then caught her again, carrying her to shore. "Haha! Scared you, didn't I?"
She
pounded her fists on his chest.
"Let
me down!"
He
dropped her…into the sand.
"Ooh! Irvine likes Selphie! Irvine likes Selphie!" a boy with spiky
blonde hair yelled, skipping around the beach in a taunting manner.
"I
do not! Shut up, Zell!" Irvine glared
at him, making fists and waving them menacingly in the air. Selphie blushed, wiping the sand off her
lithe form.
"What
do you know 'bout love anyway, Zelly?"
Zell
stopped skipping and thought for a moment. "Matron watches this show on T.V sometimes, an' people are always
kissing and stuff."
"So? Sefie and I have never kissed, so we're not
in love!" Irvine said matter-of-factly, but was cut short, as the tiny brunette
stood on tiptoe to kiss him hard on the mouth, then scamper off. The boy stared after her, dumbfounded, while
Zell fell onto the sand, giggling.
"Selphie
loves Irvine! Selphie loves
Irvine!" He was silenced by a swift
kick in the side, and Irvine ran down the beach after his little girlfriend.
"Sefie! Wait!"
A
tall blonde boy, noticing Zell on the ground, took the opportunity to attack
while his enemy was down. Zell coughed
and spluttered, spitting sand out and rubbing his eyes. "Seifer! Stop it!" Seifer grinned.
"Sure
thing, Chicken-Wuss!" He threw more
sand at him, and Zell yelped in pain as the tiny grains stung his sun browned
skin. "Owwwww!!! I'm gonna tell Matron!"
"Go
tell Matron, loser. Run to Matron."
Seifer sneered.
"I
will!" the younger boy cried, close to tears, and leapt up, running towards the
house. Seifer almost ran after him, and
then decided against it. Zell may have
been a big crybaby, but no one, not even little Selphie, could run as fast as
the agile 9 year old, even on the beach when the sand slowed him down a bit.
Seifer
decided to go swimming instead, though he knew that Matron expressly forbade
going into the ocean without her. He
was strong for his age, and figured he could handle the undertow. Wading out until the cold seawater was up to
his waist, the blonde took a deep breath and dived in, letting the chilling
water flow over his hot, sunburned body. Then, kicking off the bottom, he burst to the surface, grinning ear to
ear.
A
young girl watched him, the wind rippling her pale peach dress. She moved a hand to tuck a strand of golden
hair behind one ear, as she debated whether to tell Matron what the boy was
doing. Shaking her head, she continued
down the beach, smiling as she saw Selphie and Irvine walking hand in hand by
the edge of the water, laughing and chattering.
Farther
down, perched on a rock, the waves crashing and spraying against the black
granite, a boy sat, staring silently out to sea. He was very still, and his expression was somber, making him look
far beyond his 9 years. Brown hair fell
in front of his face, but he made no move to push it away. He'd been sitting there pretty much all day,
though he had gone swimming earlier with Irvine and Matron and then only
because he had gotten hot. But he'd
much rather sit on the rocks, watching the ocean.
"Squall!"
He
sighed. That would be Quistis, come to
check on him. He made no move to answer
her, or even show that he'd heard her call. He listened to her footsteps as she scrambled up beside him, dangling
her legs down the side.
"What
do you want?" he asked finally. She shrugged,
and reached up to fix her hair again, fastening it back in its golden
ponytail.
"Nothing. You looked lonely, is all."
"I'm
not."
"Oh…"
They sat there for a while in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, but the silence of two kids who have known
each other their entire lives and felt no need to clutter the air with mindless
talk. Idly, Squall watched Seifer swim
about, only his shock of blonde hair visible above the dark waves. And then he was gone. Squall blinked, trying to figure out if it
was a trick of the light. But no,
Seifer had disappeared. He didn't stop
to think, didn't stop to consider the danger of what he was about to do. His mind reacted automatically and he stood
up, and dove off the rock.
Dimly,
he heard Quistis screaming for help, but the water blocked his hearing as he
swam deeper and deeper, farther out into the ocean, to where he had last seen
Seifer. His young, untried limbs became
sore and heavy as lead, his muscles numbed completely until he could no longer
feel the icy chill of the seawater. All
he could focus on was finding Seifer, and bringing him back to shore. It became a sort of chant. Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…He
didn't know where he was going, the salt blinded him. Once he thought he felt something grab at him, but he swum faster
and the thing fell away. Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…Seifer…I
am a lion. I will not give up. A lion. It was only a stroke of luck that Squall found him. Diving underwater again, he could see the
water churning as the boy squirmed about frantically, trying to get free of the
reef his foot was stuck in. He stopped
moving, and his eyes opened wide as Squall kicked off the upper edge of the
reef, gliding down to where Seifer was trapped. Weak as he was, Squall tugged at the rock with a burst of inner
strength, and the rock rolled away, freeing Seifer's foot. The older boy floated to the surface limply,
guided by Squall's pushes. Both gasped
as they reached the surface, and the blonde tyrant allowed Squall to pull him through
the water towards shore.
Everyone
stood at the shore anxiously, and Matron ran into the shallow water, her glossy
black hair flying behind her. She bent
down and scooped Seifer up, cradling him tightly to her. Quistis waded in to help Squall to his
feet. "You all right?" she asked
softly. The tired boy could only nod
meekly, and didn't protest as the golden-haired girl put an arm about him as
they walked back to the house.
The
stone cottage seemed dark and cold that evening, and the children huddled
around the fire, whispering quietly. Matron had said that it was a miracle that Squall had found poor Seifer,
a miracle that Squall had gotten to him in time. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Once Selphie had fallen out of a tree and broken
her leg, but after a month or two she was fine. Another time, while Ellone was there, she had gotten very sick,
and had to stay in bed for three weeks. But she had gotten better too. No one had ever been close to dying. Seifer lay in Matron's own bed, asleep. Irvine, being the strongest after Squall, had helped Matron with Seifer,
and he had told the others that he thought Seifer had swallowed at least half
the ocean. Selphie, Quistis, and Zell
had just laughed nervously, and watched the doorway, anxious for Matron to
appear with the verdict. When she
finally came, her beautiful young face was tired, and Squall could have sworn
there was one line too many. "Seifer is
awake." The room buzzed with
excitement. "Children!" Silence again. "Seifer is awake, and Squall…" Squall looked up from his place by
the fire, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "He wants to see you."
"Me?" Squall raised a questioning eyebrow, but
nodded and padded past Matron into the bedroom.
The
room was dim, and Seifer's pale face seemed strange in the flickering
lamplight. He looked…weak, and that
frightened Squall. The two boys never
knew it, but they were each other's strengths. As long as one was good at something, the other would fight to be better. But Squall took no pleasure in seeing his
enemy like this.
"Seifer?"
His voice seemed hesitant, not willing to break the silence.
Seifer
turned and gave the younger boy a steady look of appraisal. "Squall…" So many things were said in that one tiny utterance. Thank you for saving my life,
Squall. I don't hate you. I admire you. We'll never be friends, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry Squall. Things
that Seifer would never say out loud. Squall burned these things into his heart. Nothing else needed to be said. Squall smiled, and went back to the hearth.