Chapter 4: Revealed Childhood
Squall decided it was time to eat. It was pretty late, but nobody argued when he invited the others to join them. They all could accept a little snack even at this time of the night. They had to hurry though because of the curfew. So they headed for the cafeteria to get something to eat and it was decided they would eat in Squall's room. Seeing the others only took few simple things to eat, Coran was feeling bad to be so hungry. To encourage her, Squall took more food so that he could eat the same as her. She smiled to him.
"You're so kind," she said.
"In fact, I didn't eat anything since my breakfast this morning so I'm kinda starved," he explained with a dumb face.
The others laughed from his face. Once everybody had something to eat, the group headed back to the dormitory and into Squall's room. On the way, Coran was looking around with a hopeful face. Squall noticed it by the corner of his eye and wondered what she was hoping for. When they reached his room, she was looking sad, deceived. The first thought that spread into Squall's mind was that she was hoping for Seifer. He shook his head.
'No way. She just met him how could she be hopefully expecting him?'
Keeping his thoughts for himself, the gang entered the room. Respectful of the curfew, Squall closed his door not to disturb anybody.
Hesitating to sit on Squall's bed with her food, Coran sat on the floor before Squall encouraged her to sit by his side on the bed. With a thankful smile, she obeyed. They leant against the wall aside the bed with their tray on their thighs. Quistis sat down at Squall's desk and Zell aside Squall and Coran onto the bed while Irvine and Selphie were sitting down on the floor.
Quistis looked at Zell's two hotdogs, thinking maybe HE should sit on the floor.
"Two hotdogs, Zell?" Selphie asked in disbelieve.
"I'm not that hungry! It's just a little snack."
They all laughed, amazed that what Zell was calling a snack would have been a whole meal for some of them.
Coran had a soup bowl and a plate with meat and vegetables. She was looking at it like she didn't saw such food for centuries what was close to the truth. She ate well when she was working at the shop in Deling, but she was always feeling a bit guilty and wasn't eating everything offered to her. Now, she could eat anything she wanted. She took her spoon and silently ate the soup. It was the best vegetables soup ever, she was sure of that. She ate everything pretty fast. (And when I say everything, I mean everything!) Nothing was left, not even a tiny little crumb. Squall was surprised she ate all that, but thought twice when he looked at his own empty plate. He has eaten as much as her.
Zell, to his friends' surprise, ate properly his hotdogs and didn't mess up Squall's sheets. Irvine didn't eat half of his hotdog. He held it out.
"Somebody wants it?"
Not feeling shy anymore, Coran took it.
"Thanks," she said.
She ate it all.
"That's good!"
More laughter in the room.
When everyone was done with their food, the trays and plates were put on the desk.
"What do you say you tell me your story?" Squall asked his sister. "I want to know my sister a little if you don't mind."
"Of course not. But I warn you: my life is not pretty."
Then she started, everyone looking at her while she was telling.
"You already know about our birth, maybe," she supposed before looking at his confused face. "Guess you don't. Okay, then. When I was born, I was too fragile and weak so it was said I didn't have a chance for survival. Ready to take the risk, my…our mother sent me to a place of higher technology that could maybe save me."
"Probably Esthar," Squall supposed.
"I don't know. Before it was said I would be okay, I was treated for weeks. When I got better, I was sent back to Winhill only to find out my mother was dead and my twin was gone to an orphanage with his adoptive sister. I don't know why, but I was sent to another orphanage. Of course I don't remember all that, I was just a baby. The Matron from the orphanage told me that. She was told herself by the people who took me there. I grew up alone, knowing I had a brother and a father out there, somewhere. There was other kids in the orphanage and I was enjoying playing with them, but they were adopted one by one, so I decided not to play with them anymore to be sure never suffer from losing them again."
She paused. Squall had this strange feeling of déjà-vu, recalling himself at the orphanage.
"I soon decided I wouldn't be adopted," she continued. "I didn't want to. I told myself the minute I would be able to survive alone, I would leave to find my family. So that's it. At the age of twelve, I ran away. I had to learn how to defend myself from the monsters on the field. I didn't have any weapon so I used my fists and brain to get myself out of every mess I could get into. I traveled from a city to another, trying to find my brother and father… No luck. I worked to pay the food I was eating from people, and to pay my traveling through the seas. I never changed my clothes, that's why the ones I had were so tight and I didn't have any shoes. I was washing them every time I could though, but after a while, just washing them was making them even worse, so I gave up."
The others were silent, amazed how that girl learned to be by herself at a so young age. Her eyes shone when she continued.
"The last year was the most hopeful of all those I spent looking for you. The only thing I had to look for you was your name and the fact that we were twins. I kept hearing about the exploits of the SeeD Squall Leonhart and his friends. The fight against the Sorceress Edea: the first when you lost, and the second you were victorious. Then I heard about Sorceress Adel freed from space and Squall's team to take care of that. I heard rumors of Sorceress Ultimecia from the future willing Time Compression. I learned later she was defeated. All the time I knew you were living in Balamb Garden. When I finally managed to get to the island it was on, it was gone. There was a big hole instead. From the look of it, missiles came. At first I thought the Garden was destroyed but there was no pieces, just a hole. Later I learned Gardens were mobile so I gave up running after it, thinking destiny would probably let me be lucky enough to find my hero for a brother."
She had her head down.
"I was in Deling for the last week, hoping you would be there since I knew you already went there before. Then I didn't know you had a girlfriend."
She turned to him and smiled, willing to talk about something else than her.
"What about you? How did you grow up?"
Squall looked up at the ceiling.
"Not as sad as yours, but not easy either. I have to warn you there is a lot of things I can't remember because of the GF junctioning."
"Huh?"
"You know what GFs are?"
Coran nodded.
"When we junction to them, we end up losing parts of our memories."
"Yeah, it sucks!" Zell exclaimed.
"We'll add the details you forgot, Squall," Quistis offered.
"That is if we remember ourselves," Selphie said.
Squall nodded.
"We all grew up together, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Seifer and I. Only Rinoa wasn't part of the gang. Our Matron was in fact Sorceress Edea we fought years after…"
He told her everything about their childhood he could recall. About Ellone that suddenly left, leaving Squall more alone than ever, about Seifer always teasing everyone, how the others were as kids…Everything he and the others could recall.
"Wow, pretty sad," Coran said. "Now can you tell me about your life here in Garden before and after you became a SeeD? I want to know the whole story out of your mouth. The rumors I heard all those years only made me want to know the real and complete version of that story."
Squall looked at his watch.
"It's getting pretty late…" he looked at his friends who shrugged to tell him they didn't bother.
Squall then told what Coran wanted to hear. From the SeeD exam to the party after Ultimecia's death. Coran didn't show any sign of tiredness during the whole time he and his friends spoke. She was sometimes wide opening her eyes from horror when he told he was attacked directly by Edea, when Seifer tortured him and when he went into space to save Rinoa. The others had to add the romantic parts because Squall was reluctant of telling that. Those parts only made Coran's eyes shine. Those eyes were frowning when it was question of Seifer's doings for the Sorceress.
The sun was up when the others finished telling.
"And they lived happily ever after," Selphie finished with a humorist tone.
"What a story!" Coran exclaimed.
Then she frowned.
"I can't believe the Seifer you told me about in that story is the same one I met earlier. He doesn't look that bad."
"He has changed," Squall said. "A little."
He remembered how he was looking at Coran. More staring that looking though.
'I think he's not done changing,' Squall thought.
He looked at the window.
"God! It's morning already!"
Everyone looked at the window two, unable to believe that.
"Already?" Zell asked. "Did we really talk all night? I don't feel tired at al!"
"Me neither!" Irvine said.
The others all nodded too.
Coran sighed and leant backward at the wall.
"I wish I would have shared that life of yours."
"You can."
Coran looked at him with wide shining eyes.
"How come?"
"You can become a SeeD if you like. I'll ask the Headmaster about that."
"I don't know. As I told you I'm not using any weapons."
"So what?" Zell exclaimed showing her his gloved fists. "I don't either and I can fight!"
Coran looked at Zell a while then switched her gaze to Squall.
"Can I… think about it?"
"Of course, you can."
"The purpose of SeeD is to kill Sorceresses?" she asked low.
"At first, yes, that's what it was. But now there are only two Sorceresses left and both good ones: Rinoa and Edea."
Coran nodded, thoughtful.
"It's time for breakfast!" Zell exclaimed jumping up of Squall's bed.
The others laughed when he felt pain for being sat too long.
"Ha!! Try to get up yourselves and we'll see who gets the last laugh!!"
They all got up and moaned from pain then laughed as they were stretching themselves to get rid of that pain. Then they all headed for the cafeteria, hungry from that whole story telling night.