As I said before, I don't own Final Fantasy, its Squaresoft's masterpiece. However, Kylee, Chad, Andrew, and Tess are MINE.
A Power Within
Chapter 3
A Reluctant Daughter
The next morning, Kylee was anticipating the return of her mother. She wondered if she would have any idea of what was going on. Since it would be about half an hour before Rinoa arrived, Kylee decided to visit Tess in the infirmary.
She stopped by the front desk and asked if she could see her. The attendant nodded, and Kylee swung open the heavy door to Tess's room. The doctor was standing beside her writing something down on a clipboard.
"How is she?" Kylee asked. She felt partially responsible for what had happened the previous night even if she couldn't help what had happened to her.
The doctor looked up and answered, "She's very weak, but she'll be just fine after a few days of rest."
Kylee breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked at her watch. It was almost time for her mother to be here. She left the infirmary and walked down the corridor to the directory. She then saw a sight that filled her with relief. Her mother! She ran up to Rinoa and gave her a hug.
"I'm so glad you're happy to see me, Kylee. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" She asked.
"Mom, you have no idea," Kylee sighed as they took the elevator up to Squall's office.
After Kylee finished telling the story again, she looked at Rinoa expectedly.
Rinoa frowned, "Well, my guess is the enemy may be connected to the same thing Laguna was talking about. As for what happened to you, I'm not quite sure. It's impossible for a sorceress to pass on her powers by heredity, so you're not a sorceress and that power sounds completely different from any power a sorceress has been known to have. However, maybe Edea might know something. She studied all kinds of supernatural phenomenon, not just sorceress stuff."
"I hope she has an answer. It's really freaking me out. Since I know I'm not allowed to visit her by myself, Dad, will you please go with me? I know it's not really good timing, but I got to know." Kylee begged. She hated the thought of begging to anybody about anything, but she knew this was extremely important.
"Kylee, I have a lot of work to do here and…" Squall started but was cut off by his daughter.
"SEE! I KNEW YOU'D SAY NO!!" Kylee exclaimed.
Squall looked at her calmly and said, "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say, 'I have a lot of work to do here and I can get it done later. Of course I'll go with you.'"
Kylee's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her father, putting off work?! That was unheard of. Even Rinoa looked at him in a state of shock.
'Wow,' Kylee thought. 'Maybe something's gotten into him too.' She chuckled.
Later that day, Squall and Kylee were waiting for Edea's advice after she heard the story.
"I agree with Rinoa about her theory. It's possible that this could be a hidden power that Kylee has. It's a legendary power that is passed down from generation to generation but lays dormant in most generations. It will only appear when it is truly needed to defeat the ultimate evil. It appears that Kylee is the chosen one. This maybe the "ultimate evil" that we're dealing with and the only thing that can defeat it is this power. It is also very likely that we haven't seen anything close to the force Kylee can unleash with this power." Edea explained.
Kylee gulped, "Just what exactly is the ultimate evil?"
"Many hundreds of years ago, there was an evil force that tormented the world and brought it into turmoil. Thousands of warriors tried to defeat it but ended up losing their lives for it seemed to be invincible. It was called the Force of Darkness, and its main plan was to shut out all light from the earth and bathe it in darkness and ice. No one could live in a world like that, just the evil force. When it seemed like it would succeed, a brave, young girl appeared. Everyone admired her courage, but were saddened by the fact that she was easy prey for the evil force. Suddenly, when it seemed like all hope was lost, they discovered the one thing that the Force of Darkness could not fight: a truly pure heart, a heart of light. The force was engulfed by the light this girl cast and was banished to another dimension. Legend has it that if the force was ever to break free, the power to defeat it would appear again and justice will prevail."
Kylee looked down at her feet. She possessed a power that would save the world? How could she do something that big? She suddenly knew how her dad felt many years ago when he was given the mission to defeat Ultimecia. Everyone was counting on her. She blinked back the tears that stung her eyes and threatened to come. She quickly got up and ran out of Edea's house before she could completely lose her composure. Edea started to say something, but Squall looked at her and shook his head.
"Let's leave her by herself for a minute. I know how she feels." He said.
Kylee ran until she could barely see the house in the distance. She stood by a stream that ran through the land and leaned against a tree. How could everyone expect so much of her? 'I don't even know for sure, what I'm supposed to do' she thought. Finally, after holding back most of her emotions, she let the tears come. It felt so good to cry. Her father had always made it difficult for her to let any sadness show, but now he wasn't here and couldn't stop her. For the next fifteen minutes the sobs wracked her body uncontrollably. She cried for the fear she had, for herself and for others. She cried for what had happened to Tess. She cried because her life would no longer be the same, as she once knew it. She cried because she never had the chance to be a normal child or a normal teenager, nor would she be a normal adult. She would die before she told her father that she, Kylee Leonhart, had never wanted to become a SeeD, as she had when she was at the mere age of 15. All she had ever wanted was to be an ordinary girl, but she had never experienced normal school, with extracurricular activities, boyfriends, parties, none of it. Nor would she ever get a chance to experience any of it. She had never even had a birthday party and with her 18th birthday around the corner, she knew it would be the same: miserable. Thinking of all these things, Kylee just cried her heart out.
Finally, when she felt like she could not cry another tear, she took a ragged breath and sighed. After a few minutes, she got up and walked back to Edea's house. She would never let them see her fear and uncertainty. She had to be strong and brave for herself, her family and the world.
That night, back at Balamb Garden, Kylee sat on the same bench she had been sitting on the day before. However, she was not waiting on Tess, Kylee just wanted to think. While she was deep in thought, a shadow that loomed over her, and snapped her back to attention. Startled, she looked up and saw Andrew Almasy.
"Uh…hi," she said, not knowing really what to say. Why was Andrew out so late at night? She had met him once, long ago, but they had never really gotten along.
"Hey Leonhart. So you were a little rough on your friend yesterday in the training center, huh?" He curtly replied.
Kylee narrowed her eyes, "Shows how little you know, Andrew. Tess and I weren't fighting, we were practicing and anyway, what's it to ya?"
"Just wondering if you were up to a little practice now, since Tess is out of commission. From what everybody says, you're one of the best of the best. Should make this more fun for me too. All these other wimps are way too easy for me."
"I don't quite understand what you're getting at, Almasy." She said.
"Well, how 'bout us having a little duel. Seems like you need to keep in shape, and I've always wanted to fight a SeeD." Andrew said arrogantly.
"Then I guess I'll have to show you how it's done. I have one piece of advice for you: Never get too overconfident. Meet me in the training center in ten minutes." Kylee said, taking up the challenge. She had heard about Andrew from Quistis. He was beginning to look like he'd pass the SeeD test before his other peers. He seemed to be extremely talented with a gunblade. Little did he know, she wasn't so bad herself. Although, it wasn't her weapon of choice, she was, after all, the daughter of Squall Leonhart, one of the few people to have actually mastered a gunblade.
Ten minutes later, she met Andrew in the training center hallway with her gunblade, which had once been her dad's. Andrew couldn't hide the surprise on his face when he saw what weapon she had decided to use. 'Well, more fun for me,' he thought to himself.
Five minutes later, he was eating his words. Kylee was extremely strong and fast. She could dodge and attack at the same time. He was beginning to understand why all the junior classmen looked up to her.
'Man, she's good,' Andrew thought as he blocked an attack. He brought his gunblade down one more time but it didn't come down too far. She easily blocked it and proceeded with another attack of her own. He barely evaded it and noticed they were both getting tired but neither one of them were going to give up before the other. After a few more minutes, both were breathing hard and had lost most of their strength. She swung one more time. He easily missed it but when he took a step back, his legs gave out and he fell against the wall. Kylee, herself knelt down. She was too tired to boast about her victory. She also knew he was too out of breath to do anything if she did. They glared at each other for a minute or two and then Kylee got up and brushed herself off.
"Maybe next time, Almasy." She growled as she left the training center.
He watched her leave and slowly got up. She was far better than he had expected and was angry with himself for letting her go. He would just have to try again next time. He also would find a way to find out what really had happened the other day in the training center that left the whole garden buzzing with rumors.
