As It Begins Again
Stacey Lui

Chapter 8

Elsewhere, Taryn walked into the cafeteria. If she was right it was about dinnertime. A crowd of students scurried around the luncheon counter. She hated waiting in lines. Discouraged she walked out abruptly. Glancing around she had nothing to do for the rest of the night; she headed out to find Selphie.


"Zell, I swear you do eat like a pig sometime," Selphie stated as she walked through the school gates.

"What are you talking about? I'm just a growing boy that's all," Zell said in his defense. Selphie rolled her eyes.

"You just better pray to God that your growing in height and not in width," Selphie teased. Zell grumbled under his breath. They had just enjoyed an afternoon at the local celebration at Fisherman's Wharf. It was apparently the city's 100th birthday. And in a food-eating contest, Zell had surpassed all his opponents by eating 75 hot dogs.

"Man, I'm still kind of hungry." Selphie stared at him in horror.

"Unbelievable."


"How about this one?" Irvine asked Quistis as he handed a piece of paper to her. Quistis studied it for a minute and handed it back to him. "Well?"

"Yes, I believe that he has the ability to work well with the school." Irvine tossed the paper into the 'Yes' pile. "Geez, this could take all night," Quistis sighed as she looked at the piles of paper surrounding Irvine and herself.

"Why don't we go and take a break?" Quistis looked uneasily at him. "Come on...just for a sec, we'll be back to finish those papers in no time."

"Okay," Quistis responded reluctantly.


"Hey Selphie, Zell!" yelled Taryn. Finally, something to do...

"Hey Taryn," Selphie yelled as the girls started to run toward one another. Zell just lagged behind and walked at his own pace. "You seriously missed out!" Selphie exclaimed. "There was a festival at the Wharf earlier." Zell finally reached them.

"Wait," Taryn said, inclining that Selphie to stop for a second. "I have a question first of all, its been bugging me for hours."

"Okay, shoot." Zell rolled his eyes.

"Well I see that this is going to be one of those girls 'one on one' conversations...so ...I'll be at the cafeteria," with that Zell took off. Selphie looked at him in disgust.

"Seriously, that boy has got to stop eating..." Selphie mumbled to herself. "Well what's your question?" Selphie asked as she turned her attention back to Taryn.

"What happened last year?"


"What do you mean what happened last year?" asked Selphie as they sat on one of the conveniently located benches.

"I'm not entirely sure but I heard Rinoa and Seifer talk about an incident that happened last year. It looked like it dissolved their friendship or something like that."

"Well are talking about the sorceress incident?"

"What sorceress incident?"

"How can you not know?" Selphie replied in a mild shock. "I mean it affected the whole world." Taryn shrugged in response. "You had to be dead not to notice what happened last year."

"Well now I think about it I don't remember much of last year. Like I had brief amnesia."

"Perhaps. Well long story short sorceress's started to take over the world. Actually Edea was one of them."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but she was also Seifer, Irvine, Quistis, Squall, Zell, and my matron when we were younger. We were in this adoption agency. We didn't realize we all knew each other until last year when the sorceress incident jarred our memories. So I'm a bit grateful for it because I found my old family again."

"Wow, so you guys are pretty close."

"All of us except Seifer. When we were little Seifer bullied us around and he despised Squall. That is why whenever Seifer is in the same room as Squall you can feel static in the air." Selphie shuddered for effect. "Anyway, we have Squall to thank for getting rid of the sorceresses."

"Is that why he is the Commander of the Garden?" asked Taryn. Selphie nodded.

"Though he deserves a whole lot more than that. He practically saved the world, but you will never hear him gloat about it. Rinoa practically does that for him," she replied smiling.

"Rinoa does adore him doesn't she?"

"Yeah, and that only makes Seifer hate Squall more," Selphie said with a sigh. "They had a bit of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship until Rinoa met Squall. She didn't dump Seifer right there and then, it wasn't until he decided to join the Sorceress Edea and became her knight. Well after then he kind of..." Selphie circled her finger around her temple, the universal sign of insanity. "He actually tried to sacrifice her to Sorceress Adel."

"So that is how Squall and Rinoa got together."

"Yeah, at first Squall found Rinoa unbelievably annoying, but I guess she grew on him." They contemplated in silence for a few seconds. "I hope I find love like them someday," Selphie said in a dream-like state.

"Hmm."

"Well speak of the devil," Selphie said as she snapped out her trance. Squall and Rinoa just exited the elevator with Irvine and Quistis in tow. Selphie jumped up and grabbed Taryn's arm as she ran toward her friends.


"Have you guys eaten yet?" Rinoa asked Selphie and Taryn as they approached.

"No, not yet but..." Taryn's voice faded as she saw Seifer approach with his henchmen. She would have ignored him completely if he wasn't waving a pink book and had that damned smirk on his face.


******Chapter 8******