**Author's Note: The sequel…..dedicated to Sharon (whitefeather) and Alia…**
**Please Read and Review!! Please, please? Please?**
**In my epilogue to Kurse All SeeDs I gave the impression that the SeeDs were no longer at Balamb Garden. For the purposes of this story they are still studying there…**
*
She smelt of chocolate and spices; the redolent, aromatic
scent of a bazaar in Istanbul. He bent his head closer towards her, and caught
the floral nuances – the flowers in the meadow where they had promised.
Lavender, roses – he could smell them all, and he felt them in his heart.
He combed the black hair, still slightly damp, from her
face and kissed her forehead tenderly. She lay in his arms, her head in the
crook of his neck, content just to be with him. Content just to be one.
He looked down at her and kissed her softly on the lips. "Your
eyes are soft in the moonlight…" He whispered to her. "You're my shooting star."
Her lips pressed against his, and he sensed her smile
beneath his lips. When they broke apart, she kept her arms loosely around his
neck. Her eyes were pensive, thoughtful – radiant.
"Penny for your thoughts, Rin.." He whispered huskily,
drawing her close to him. Her hair brushed his cheek. The feeling made his
senses overflow.
"I – Squall." She turned around so that she was facing
him, and cupped his chin in her hands.
"What were you thinking before I found you? In…in
compressed time?"
He looked at her, half in wonder, half in amazement. They
hardly ever talked about Ultimecia's reign – the memory was painful for both of
them. But –
"I tried to believe I could live without you, Rin. I – I couldn't.
I can't. I love you. I – I thought you were dead. I was giving up on life."
His voice sank until it was only a whisper. It was a long
time before he turned his face to look into hers again. To his surprise, her
eyes were gleaming with unshed tears.
"You know I love you too, right?" Her voice was soft,
with an unspoken sob behind it.
"Always."
*
On a bitter, chill frostiness of a day sometime in winter, when the sun was barely penetrating the bleakness of the cloud above and the sea was a silver expanse of ribbon, 19 year old Selphie Tilmitt hurried along the thin concrete of the path that swirled almost artistically between the silvered forests, and thought that things were…well…not good, but almost.
She was happy with her home; well…her home was Balamb Garden, and always would be, but her cottage in the woods for work leave and holidays was beautiful. She thought of her husband, Irvine…thought of snuggling up to him in front of the crackling fire while watching the snow fall outside. She thought of her daughter, Aglaia, thought of her fine infant hair and the roses in her delicate cheeks, and was happy, and her soul was at peace. She thought of Anastasia, the smiling, chestnut-tressed, sienna eyed au pair they had hired to take care of their child until she was old enough to begin training as a SeeD, and felt secure, contented, and full of love for her husband and child. She was part of a family, for the first time in her life. After all, she had never known hers. She swelled with pride and devotion for her own child. She would grow up with two parents who loved her, and loved eachother.
The tall, polished domes of Balamb Garden reared into view, and Selphie's good mood faltered. She loved Garden, it was her second home. Literally. She treasured her friends. Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis…Seifer. Even Seifer. But the mission they'd been called to do…she didn't know what it was, but Headmaster Cid had sounded so grave…it was forboding.
The flowers were silvered in their shoons of hoary mists, turned to face the watery sun like minions before Hyne. Hundreds of thousands of them, flecked into the landscape like tiny jewels underneath a diaphanous layer of clear, crystalline water. They flickered, and the sculptured candles in Selphie's eyes shone with a glowing patina of reds, oranges, golds…even the emerald onyx green of her irises were blended into the flames.
*
The footsteps echoed emptily into the entrance hall. He could see his own, tousled dark head in the gleaming marbled floor, the strands reflected glossily in every facet of polished stone. The silence was crashingly silent; he would give anything, everything for somebody to speak.
Well…not everything.
He glanced sideways at Rinoa, the russet, the emerald and the sapphires of his eyes meeting the deep sienna-amber of hers. Her dark lashes flickered, innocently, slowly. She bent her beautiful shadowy head and played with the satin ribbon on her arm. A multi-faceted stone – a diamond – glittered on her left hand. He smiled to himself, involuntarily. It – it would be soon. And he was waiting for that day with every atom of his being. United. Both of them. Forever.
Hurried, echoing footsteps. He heard the swish of everybody's head as they looked up to see flushed, yellow-decked Selphie Tilmitt come dashing into the hall.
"Am I late? Is Cid here yet?" Her voice rang out into the silence. The tension was gone. Quistis rose, gracefully, from her place on the arm of Seifer's chair and placed a pale hand on Selphie's tanned one. "No, Sefie. Not here yet."
Selphie breathed a sigh of relief at the same time that everybody else drew a sharp breath inwards. A breath of anticipation, of – things to come.
Cid's shadowly silhouette appeared in the shrouded doorway. His breathing was sharp, heavy, and fast-paced. The silence roared and revolved around those quick, panting, almost – eerie breaths. He was gasping, almost – crying – yet they could not see his face.
He was trying to move forwards, but something was holding him back. Someone? They couldn't tell. All they could do was stand there, motionless, watching and waiting as Cid put one foot forwards. A beam of light from the entrance fell across his face.
It was shiny, beaded with sweat, red with exertion, and white with – could it possibly be fear? His eyes widened in disbelief, shock, relief and maybe even…panic? There was so little time – he was trying to say something, but his words were slurred, crossed over eachother, babbling, horrific - but in that next one second, so many things happened that they were hardly distinguishable from one another. He had barely time to register their existence, barely time to breathe one last breath, even, before –
There was one, pure, simple jolting shot.
The luminosity in his eyes flickered.
And died.
*
What do u think so far? Shall I continue with this sequel? I will be basing the existence of my next chapter on the number of reviews I get!!!
Thanx 4 reading