Fools as if their pathetic homes could shield them from the ultimate end? Humans are such an amusing species
The search she could sense rejection, loneliness, betrayal radiating from the poor soul. All the perfect ingredients for the perfect assistant, her own knight already there. It couldn't have been easier.
Seifer sat at a dimly lit table in the middle of his old, decomposing hotel room, which had served as his home for the past month, cleaning his gunblade. He worked at the small restaurant below it to pay rent. It wasn't such a bad life, but the once great sorceress's knight had become nothing but a poor server in a deteriorating hotel with nothing and no one left in his life. That didn't stop him from training though. Still he trained every day, fighting monsters, challenging others, and accepting challenges.
He finished scrubbing the last bits of goo from his gunblade and got up to rinse the rag. He stopped for a moment to look out the window. He swore just minutes ago the sky was perfectly clear and sunny. The townspeople were just saying what a perfect day it would be for fishing. So much for that idea, Seifer thought.
The first crack of thunder was heard. It rumbled and shook the sky. Seifer could feel it shake the old wood boards of the hotel. Some storm, he thought.
Lightning tore through the heavens.
Seifer's window pane creaked and cracked with every sound of thunder as he rinsed the rag under warm water. He did not notice the thin, black smoke seeping through the crack from the black clouds above. He felt a chill run up his spine. His instincts told him something was wrong and he became alert.
"What are you afraid of?" a voice asked. It startled Seifer and he grabbed his gunblade. The voice laughed. "Silly boy. You won't be able to hurt me with that toy of yours."
"Who are you?" Seifer demanded calmly.
"Everything you want to be and more," the voice said.
"Get out," Seifer said.
The voice laughed once again. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you."
"What are you talking about? I've had enough with sorceresses and all that crap," Seifer said in anger.
"Well, I'm not a sorceress. I'm far greater than that. Therefore, I can make whatever wish you want come true. I can give you anything you want. I know there are so many things you want. You want friends, a nicer home, people to accept you, power, purpose you want your life back, and I can give it to you," the voice said convincingly.
"No I fell for it before and it got me here!" Seifer shouted.
"You're not a boy anymore, are you? You were then it's different now, and you're dealing with someone with much more power," the voice said.
"How?" Seifer challenged.
"Very simple. With my power and a little manipulation, and any thing can be granted. Control. The most important thing. I have control," the voice said. With that, the black, smoke-like cloud seeped into Seifer without warning. Seifer cried out in pain as the entity entered his mind, body, and soul.
Her laugh rang through his head.
"Get out!" Seifer screamed and dropped his gunblade.
"I know you don't want me out. The only way I could get in is if your heart wanted me to get in. You want those wishes to come true deep in your heart. Don't worry my dear. They will come true..."
************************************************************************
The storm suddenly cleared outside. The black clouds vanished and the sun shone brightly. The wind subsided and turned into a gentle breeze. Selphie and Rinoa stopped about a mile from Balamb Garden, still clutching each other as the storm dissolved.
"That was way weird," Selphie said, her eyes wide.
Rinoa gently let go of her friend. "Definitely."
"It was sunny out, then it was all black outside, and now it's sunny again. All in half a day," Selphie said brushing leaves and things off her.
"It happened so fast. I know storms come and go, but not like that," Rinoa said.
"Don't spook me out, Rinoa," Selphie said.
"Sorry. Let's get back. It'll be much easier now," Rinoa said.
************************************************************************
The doors of the ballroom finally opened, letting fresh air into the large ballroom. Squall and Quistis entered the hallway, the meeting finally done and over with.
"Now for some rest," Squall said.
"Glad that's finally over with. All that to choose only 150 students," Quistis said.
"I can't believe Seifer applied to Galbadia. I had no idea he wanted to come back to Garden that bad," Squall said.
"Me too. He'll take the news bad," Quistis agreed.
"Hey guys!" Selphie shouted from down the hall. She and Rinoa were standing by the directory. Squall and Quistis walked towards their friends.
"Where've you guys been?" Quistis asked noticing Rinoa and Selphie's appearance. Both girls' hair were blown into a mess and random debris from the wind stuck to their clothes and hair.
"We kinda got stuck in a bizarre storm," Selphie explained pulling a twig out of Rinoa hair.
"Storm?" Squall asked.
"You didn't see the storm? It was really nice out and all of a sudden the sky turned black and the wind started blowing really hard. Selphie and I went to the little café in Balamb and while we were coming back, we got caught in the storm. It was nuts," Rinoa explained.
"We were kind of locked in a cave all morning and part of the afternoon with the selection meeting," Quistis said.
"How'd it go?" Rinoa asked.
"Fine and boring as usual," Squall said. "I'm going to go take a nap."
"Rest up. You need it," Rinoa said.
"Thanks," he said. Squall yawned and headed to his room.
"Sounds like you guys had an exciting day," Quistis said. "I can't believe I missed the storm. Those meetings really seal you away from the outside world."
Rinoa laughed. "I guess so."
"It was so intense," Selphie said.
"I'm sure it was judging from the look on your face," Quistis said. "I think you guys might want to clean up a bit."
"Yeah, we probably looked like we just crawled out of a trash can," Rinoa said.
Selphie pulled a leaf out of her tangled hair. "Ouch yup. Gotta clean up."
************************************************************************
After getting cleaned up, Selphie, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis and Irvine sat in the shade of a large tree in the quad. The day was sunny, warm, and pleasant. It was hard to believe that a dark storm had passed by just an hour ago.
"Hey, you guys see the cool storm?" Zell asked.
"Cool? I thought it was weird," Selphie said.
"It was kind of scary too," Rinoa said.
"Yeah the sky was really dark. It didn't rain at all. I thought that was the strangest part," Irvine said.
"I can't believe I missed it," Quistis said shaking her head. "I need a vacation."
Rinoa laughed. "Yeah, I think you do."
"Never seen anything like it," Zell said laying on his back.
"Let's forget about the freaky storm. Wanna go do something tonight?" Selphie said changing the subject.
"We could go see a movie or something," Rinoa suggested.
"How about sleep?" Zell said through his yawn.
Selphie poked Zell's stomach. "That's all you think about."
"Oh, hey that tickles," Zell complained. "Seriously I just want some rest."
"I guess the movies are out of the question?" Rinoa asked.
"No, not yet. We can get Zell to go," Selphie said poking Zell again.
"Hey! Stop that," Zell said. Selphie poked him again. "Okay, okay! I'll go!"
"Tee-hee. I knew you'd give in," Selphie said.
"Why don't we go to dinner instead," Quistis suggested. "I think by the time Squall wakes up, we won't have much time to see a movie."
"Hmm that sounds good too," Irvine said.
"Yeah, I think dinner sounds better. We can all talk and stuff and eat good food," Zell said. Selphie rolled her eyes.
"So dinner it is? No movie?" Rinoa asked.
"No movie, but dinner," Selphie confirmed.
"Okie dokie. Now we have to wait for Squall to get up or we can wake him up if we need to," Rinoa said.
"Poor Squall. He's so tired," Selphie said sympathetically.
"Yeah, he's been pretty busy the last couple of months," Irvine agreed.
"There's so much work to do. It's crazy," Quistis said. "I'm really exhausted too, but not as tired as Squall. He's definitely got more to do."
"Makes me glad I'm just a student," Selphie said.
"The students will be busy pretty soon. Final exams are coming up," Quistis reminded them.
"Great..." Selphie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Finals are gonna be pretty hard from now on with all those stupid super heroes coming in," Rinoa complained.
"You're lucky their still not in your classes yet," Irvine said. "My class is half filled with them."
"I really don't like them that much. They really think they're all leaders and can complete missions all by themselves," Rinoa said.
"That's true. There have been instances where missions nearly failed because of lack of team unity and team work," Quistis said seriously.
"Working with those people is very difficult. They never listen to anyone but themselves," Irvine said crossing his arms over his chest. "They all want to be the hero, the one who gets the credit for getting the job done. And then they get the medal."
"It was better the old way," Rinoa said.
"I agree with you. Squall doesn't like it either, but we can't do anything about it because the committee won't have it any other way. They say we have a reputation to uphold," Quistis explained.
"Who cares about the damn reputation? I mean I think we had a good reputation from the beginning," Rinoa said.
"SeeD had the great reputation. Balamb Garden's reputation wasn't held as high. Now the academies have high reputations, not just the force after graduation from the academy," Quistis further explained.
"Blah, blah, blah. Wait a few months and SeeD's reputation will go down the drain because of the arrogant new students," Irvine said.
"And it'll be too late to save it because no one listens to us," Selphie finished.
"Exactly," Irvine said.
"That's how things work out," Selphie said shrugging a little.