Elements of Life
This fanfic is based on and within the Final Fantasy VIII game by Squaresoft.
Any characters owned by them, are borrowed, all others are property of myself.
The story takes place both during and after the events within the Final Fantasy VIII game.
Prologue
The pristine blue sky stretched out as far as her eyes could see. In every direction, it lay before her unmarred except where the distant horizon fell into the deeper blue of the sea. Samma Whitestone leans back against the sun-warmed dunes of the beach, watching the waves crash in.
Closing her eyes, she lifts her arms and settles them beneath her head, digging her bare toes deeper into the warm sand. A soft sigh escapes her as the cool sea breeze ruffles her silver hair and blows the white sand over the navy cloth of her uniform. Off to on side, discarded and half buried by the blown sand, lay her jacket and boots.
Absentmindedly, she reaches up to brush the hair form her face, shifting her position ever so slightly. The large gunblade that was balanced on her lap, slips off it's perch and slides toward the sand. Without opening her eyes, she brushes the arrant hair with one hand and catches the gunblade with the other. Carefully she replaces it within her lap, growing still once more.
She was at peace. Opening her crystal blue eyes, she stares vacantly up into the blue sky. Far above, a small black speck was circling, a sea gull riding the thermals. She strains to watch the bird gliding carelessly on the winds.
"It's beyond blue." She whispers to herself, barely able to make out the words over the roar of the ocean. The faintest ghost of a smile washes across her face. There would be hell to pay, for this little excursion. Truthfully, she didn't care. Summer had come early this year and the day had started out beautiful. The urge to escape the stuffy classrooms of the Garden had too much for her too resist. The smile grows and a quite chuckle leaves her lips.
Relaxing, she lets her mind drift, lulled by the repetitive sound of the waves, into a light doze. Her thoughts drifted aimlessly, flitting here and there. Suddenly a strange one wanders across. She had seen a sky just like this one before. Before, she couldn't place a name on that particular shade of blue, know she could. Whitestone. It was the same odd blue as her eyes, the blue, which somehow managed to be both every shade of blue and colorless at once. The though amused her at the same time it alarmed her. Trying to relax, she feels sleep pulling at her, but somewhere deep within her, a long forgotten memory wakens.
Every so slowly the smile fades and she opens her eyes, all thought of sleep wiped away. She stares straight up, her eyes unfocused and glassy. She wasn't watching the gull far above, but focused on some vision within her own mind. Visions of her childhood, where she had seen that sky and the replay of those horrible events. The events that, though they occurred over a decade before, had proven so disturbing and startling that she had hidden them deep within. Sitting up she stares out over the sea, struggling to regain control of both her emotions and her mind. Suddenly the chaotic mess dies down replaced by a single particular notion. Tomorrow was her birthday.