Kyonae's Secret

Disclaimer: Damn all disclaimers everywhere! If disclaimers didn't exist, everyone would think that the Final Fantasy 8 characters belong to me! *sighs dreamily* But disclaimers do exist, dammit, and everyone knows that FF8 belongs to Squaresoft. Only Kyonae belongs to me, and everyone else you don't recognize.
A/N: This starts out as a sweet, sad, and maybe a little scary story about a girl who attended Trabia Garden before it was blown up, and how she searches for two people: the person who almost took her life away, and the person who saved it. But don't worry. Once Zell and his passion for hot dogs kick in, it will be funny, I promise. I mean it. Stop looking at me like I'm crazy or something. Just read the dammed thing!*sweatdrop anime style*

Chapter One: The Search

Kyonae Falcona sat in a large, old oak tree, watching the sunset. Tomorrow she would travel to Balamb Garden, but right now she would enjoy the solitude and peace while she could, if she could...
She was 18 years old, dark brown hair and pale gray blue eyes, illuminated by her pale skin. She wore skintight black pants, a long weather-beaten white shirt, shinhigh boots so she could tread through water, and black knuckle gloves. She owned a gunblade, which stayed at her side always for now on...
Suddenly she was having difficulty breathing. She slammed back against the tree trunk, her eyes wild and her mind clouding.
No, she pleaded with her mind. Not again, I don't want to see it again...
Kyonae had gone to Trabia Garden, and had received all her training there, all her friends had gone there, her life was in Trabia. And her mind had a painful, taunting method of reminding her what had happened there...
One day, something told Kyonae that she should leave Trabia for the woods. As soon as she had stepped out of the front gate, Trabia burst into flames, hit by four Galbadian missiles...
She ran, but was struck down by flying debris...she couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't breathe...only feel the blazing heat of the flames, the unbearable weight of debris crushing her, and hear her friends and fellow classmates screaming and dying at the same time...she closed her eyes and squeezed them tightly together, hoping it was only a sick, twisted nightmare...but it wasn't...not at all.
When Kyonae awoke a few days afterward, pain and cold numbed her. Every bone in her body was broken; shock had erased every happy memory she had ever had. Snow had fallen thickly while she had slept, blanketing the horrible scene with innocent whiteness. Trabia had turned into a graveyard. Tombstones were scattered here and there, the jackets and weapons and personal items of her friends draped upon them. She had woken where she had been struck down, under a large piece of wall or something, covered in snow. She tasted blood in her mouth, and saw its terrible redness staining the snow around her head. Shell-shocked survivors stumbled about, seeming oblivious to their surroundings. One man, bruised and bleeding, actually came up to her, not noticing her state. "Excuse me... could you tell me where the cafeteria is? I seem to have lost my way..."
"Help me...please help me..." she rasped.
"You don't know where it is either? Oh, well..." the man limped away, leaving her there.
Kyonae didn't bother trying to call him back. She looked up at the snow-riddled sky. Death wasn't far now...it couldn't be as bad as people made it seem...
Suddenly she heard footsteps at least ten feet away, and voices, two of them...
"I can't believe this, Squall... Hyne, look at this place! Destroyed, completely gone..." one voice murmured.
"I know. All because of Seifer," the other whispered darkly.
Seifer...
"I'm tellin' ya, when I meet face to face with that Almasy fellah, I'll...BAM! BAM!"
Seifer...Almasy...Seifer Almasy...
"Keep your thoughts to yourself for a while. We're supposed to be looking for survivors, not plotting revenge."
"I know, I know..." More footsteps occurred. "Hey, look, Squall! Here's a guy!"
Silence for a few moments... "Dead," Squall said gravely. "I don't think we're going to find anymore survivors. We should just start looking for bodies."
Kyonae made as much noise as she could, which wasn't much. "Help...don't leave me... please...I don't want to die..."
It caught their attention, and she heard them running toward her. "Oh, good sweet Hyne..." a man in the cowboy hat and tan trenchcoat moaned, looking slightly squeamish as he came forward. He tried to lift the heavy piece of wall from off of her. "Squall, help me!" he cried. Squall, a man in a leather jacket, came up and together they lifted the wall, and while he held it up, the other man pulled her out from under it. Kyonae felt an uncomfortable sense of release; she felt her maimed body bleed freely, and it became, if possible, harder to breathe. She gasped desperately for air, while crying out in pain and renewed fear for her life. " I don't want to die, please don't let me die, I don't want to..."
"Don't worry, miss," the cowboy said assuringly, taking his coat off and spreading it over her and he knelt down beside her. "I'm a...SeeD member from Balamb. I'm here to help. You're not gonna die."
"SeeD...Balamb...? Wha-"
Squall rose a pistol in the air and shot off a green flare, signaling for help. The noise frightened Kyonae terribly and made her tremble. The cowboy held her frozen hand in his warm one, looking at her dearly with his striking violet eyes. "Don't be afraid. I know this looks like hell, it's a damn good resemblance. But you're gonna make it, I just know it. Don't give up on us."
A wave of fatigue washed over Kyonae, her vision growing foggy. "You're... SeeD...from Balamb Garden...?" she whispered.
"Yeah..." he whispered back, his grip tightening greatly on her hand. "That's right..."
Kyonae tried to smile, but then everything started going dark...

Kyonae snapped out of her trance, her head drooped limply in her lap, cold sweat running down her face. The sun had set, and she was shrouded in darkness. She lay back against the tree trunk, shaking. Sometimes the memory came rushing back in bits and pieces, sometimes only the sounds, or just pictures, like a badly tuned television. But never had it come back so clearly, so graphic, so audible...what did it mean?
For many months she had been bed ridden because of her injuries, and many, many panic attacks. But once she was healthy enough to leave the hospital, she fled to the woods, traveling, searching for that man. She had never gotten a chance to thank him, for without him she surely would have died...he had given her back her will to live...
Then she remembered. He said he was from Balamb! Of course! What better place was there to look for him but there? She needed to finish her SeeD training anyway; she was still only a candidate.
But also...Kyonae searched for one other, the man who had caused her pain, who had indirectly murdered all of whom she loved and cherished as her friends. She knew he couldn't have possibly launched the missiles, but from what he had caused he might as well have pushed the button himself...
Yes, he would get his comeuppance, that Seifer Almasy...
She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. Tomorrow she would reunite with the stranger who saved her... and hopefully, come face to face with her enemy.


(That's it for now! I'm not putting up Chapter 2 until I get at least one review! Come on, guys, it's not that horrible. Is it? *bites lip nervously* No flames please. I'm very sensitive! Suggestions about what to put in the story are always welcome! Thanx! :):):)