V;
The little boy hugged the large rock as if it was a person; arms splayed wide against the sunwarmed rock, letting it warm him in return. It couldn't be true, could it? Would it? What Cid had said—that Fujin was sick, and she'd die… He'd promised her, though, promised her never to tell, promised never to say to another anything about the times the wind could come to play with her, with silver wings and flying clothing trailing silver sparkles that hung shimmering in the air (hope). Promised.
But she was dying—
VI;
Edea stepped off the small transport manned by the painfully young, but competent SeeD from the newly completed Balamb Garden (what times are these, that we use children…). The village was small and squalid, barely a muddy road with ramshackle houses straddling it and chickens and pigs running around in the road. Hard to believe that places like this could still exist in the supposedly civilized and technologically advanced world, but there it was.
Some of the villagers looked up curiously as she passed, then turned back to their work, be it washing clothes, hanging clothes up to dry, gardening, or plain sitting on the steps of their houses that looked like a good breath would topple them. Those children who were running around freely were quickly called back home, the shutters and doors slammed down. The rest simply stood and stared unfriendly stares at the sorceress as she moved down the street.
The space that had held the small house Edea remembered was empty of all but ruins and memories. Fire-blackened timbers clawed blindly at the sky, ashes carpeted the ground with a black layer of desolation, and footprints stamped in the ashes showed where the townspeople had trampled over the area, probably searching for valuables. Even in this fire-scorched wasteland, there were bits of green poking resolutely through the black carpet that showed every sign of becoming a green carpet. Edea touched them as she passed, not with her hands but with mind, sorceress power fluttering out on wide wings to impart them with the strength they would need.
"Y'd'be th'witch, ain't ya? Th'witch who took 'way my 'Leanor?" The man looked more haggard than she remembered, a half-growth of beard bristling on his chin, eyes bloodshot and dark-rimmed. There was a bottle in his hand as he weaved unsteadily towards her, the townsfolk parting unspoken for the fallen one.
"You would be the man," Edea responded evenly. "The one who wounded her."
He winced, too obvious. Townspeople who had parted in front of him gathered now behind him, watching the large man stumbling drunkenly towards the small, frail-looking woman in the neutral gray dress. Small and frail, but by no means defenseless, as they had discovered a year ago.
"'M sorry. You'll tel'er that, willya? Really… really sorry." Drunk, very drunk, but there was still a bitter regretful tone to that voice. Edea would have felt sorry for him, but there were some things that could not be forgiven.
"Sorry will not cure her or bring your wife back," she said unsympathetically.
"Yeah," he said, "But just… jus' tell her I'm sorry."
He weaved off through the townsfolk and was gone, and Edea felt as though she should have seen blood somewhere.
VII;
"U-Uncle Cid?" Query; tremulous and hesitant.
"What is it, Seifer?" Response/question; curious.
"I've been thinking 'bout what you said…" Opening statement; thoughtful.
"And?" Prompt; understanding.
"I'll tell you 'bout Fujin." Statement; quietly resigned.
VIII;
"Edea! I've got something to tell you—"
"Cid! There's something you should know about Fu—"
Both broke off at the same time, and then smiled at their simultaneous explosion of words. "You first," Edea suggested archly, "Since I can probably guess what you are going to tell me, you might as well confirm it.
"Fujin has a ghost. Not her ghost, but someone else that keeps following her. Someone she knows, probably—Seifer says that she isn't afraid of it and seems to welcome it. Besides which, what he describes distinctly reminds me of you when I first met you—all mystic and sensing strange things."
Edea smiled faintly. "Why do you think I kept them all this late? The rest I sent to the mainland orphanage. They're sorceress- or knight-potential, all of them. Irvine has less potential, and Raijin oddly feels more like sorceress- than knight-potential, but the point is that I am comfortable with them. We are all magical to some extent, every one of use here at this orphanage, and we get along better with each other. Normal people would feel uncomfortable around us, but we are comfortable around each other. But I digress. I spoke to the townspeople—based on what they told me, I believe that Fujin's mother was also sorceress-potential, perhaps more. Maybe she was a natural sorceress."
"And her sorceress powers however minor let her bind herself to her child?"
"To protect her, I think. The problem lies in the fact that no mortal can hold enough power to stay on the living plane like this. I suspect Fujin's mother has been using Fujin's strength to keep herself here—thus causing the girl to be weak not physically but spiritually. That is why I sensed nothing wrong. Fujin may well be a natural sorceress—this kind of power is usually hereditary."
"Hmm… Is that why she and Seifer seem drawn to each other? He has some natural power too, doesn't he?"
"Yes, and Raijin, I think. I would not be surprised if the three of them become best friends. This kind of strength tends to attract each other."
"So—"
"We have to send her back."
IX;
Seifer grinned, kicking his heels in the sea. Beside him, Raijin laughed out loud, splashing large dark hands in the salty seawater and flinging handfuls of sand out to sea. Behind them Fujin was a quiet gray presence, leashed wind sitting quietly on his rock staring out to sea. As time went by, Seifer found that he minded Raijin less and less, almost as if he was growing accustomed to the boy's simplemindedness.
A few yards down the beach, the rest of the orphanage crew frolicked gaily in the water, laughing and playing and splashing water on each other. One of the young SeeDs that had come with Cid watched them while holding on to his handful of slippery Zell. The little boy had gotten sand in his eye earlier and had fled to the SeeD in Matron's absence. His eye dealt to, Zell refused to budge from the SeeD's presumably comfortable lap, happily playing with a hapless crab. The SeeD was too spineless to just put him down.
A brush of wind past his cheek, too solid to be real wind, announced the presence of the being Raijin nicknamed Ruiya, after the sorceress said to hold particular mastery over wind in the Centra wars. Ruiya had apparently become accustomed to Raijin and Seifer, frequently appearing before Fujin even when they were there. In company, as they were now, she would curl around Fujin, and indistinct shimmer in the air.
Seifer's grin faded form his face as his eyes swept across Fujin and the shimmer of wind that surrounded her. Fujin and her—what? What was it, anyway? He still wasn't sure of his telling Cid about Fujin's… visitor. The feeling that he was betraying her wouldn't be shaken. Was Cid lying to him? If Cid lied, then he—he'd whap him one! Hard. A wide grin spread across Seifer's face at the thought of hitting Cid. He'd never like the guy anyway. Matron was theirs. No man would take her away from them. And if Cid tried to take Ruiya away, Seifer'd defend her, for Fuj's sake. It was what a knight would do.
"Matron!" The childish yell alerted them to the arrival of the woman who was almost their mother. The shimmer uncurled itself and brushed past Seifer again on its way back out to sea.
Fujin screamed.
Everything happened at once. Seifer and Raijin both whirled; Seifer leapt up and ran to Fujin, while Raijin gaped at the figure forming where that shimmer of wind had been, the woman with long silvery hair and the pair of wings scattering feathers that vanished in seconds. Edea half-ran down the path to the beach, hiking her skirts up, Cid preceding her. The silvery woman was writhing, caught in the grip of something net-like and shining golden to her silver.
Seifer reached Fujin; grabbed her shoulders in panic and shook her. The little girl's teeth clacked together once and she fell silent, breath heaving like a trapped animal in her chest. Abruptly she shoved at Seifer and ran past him, reaching towards the shimmering shape outlined in gold. Squall and the others were staring in shock, frozen in their positions watching the drama unfolding on the beach—even the young SeeD. A dark form swept the running girl up: Cid, brown hair flying in the suddenly strong wind that tore at all of them as if trying to blow them off the face of the earth.
No! He launched himself at Cid, aware only of the wind and Fujin's screaming (but he thought she stopped?) and his promise to himself. If Cid tries—Cid, trying to hold on to Fujin—kicking and screaming—grabbed Seifer's arm. Seifer promptly tried to kick Cid in the nuts. Missed (too bad). If Cid tries to—He tried again. Edea was a shadow moving down the beach towards the trapped shape. Cid was trained, but not even he could deal with two screaming kids and an equally screaming wind without harming said kids. Fujin tore free—almost—Cid snagged her arm as she tried to run, and Seifer latched on to Cid's arm and bit him, that being his only weapon. Edea was talking to the gold-and-silver figure, quick urgent words like love, and loss, and hurting her by your presence. If Cid tried to take Ruiya away, I'll—Fujin took advantage of Cid's response to the bite to yank free a second time, tearing out of Cid's reach only to be caught by the SeeD who'd finally woken up form his shock. With Fujin caught, Cid was free to turn his attention on Seifer, immobilizing the boy easily without the added distraction of Fujin, and suddenly, the wind.
If he tried to take Ruiya away from Fujin—
Ruiya flowed over the sands; Edea stood where she had been, a sad look on her face. The—ghost?—stopped in front of Fujin; the SeeD released the girl and Ruiya hugged her almost tenderly.
I'll defend her, 'cause that's what a knight would do—
The wind-ghost flowed away. Turned, as if unwilling. Smiled a last time and faded into nothingness, peacefully. Fujin started to wail.
But if she wanted to go, I'd let her—
'Cause that's what a person would do—
X;
Seifer Almasy looked up in surprise as wind skimmed across his face—almost solid, like Ruiya's touch. He blinked at the little dark object that carved a curving trail of displaced air out over the water, and followed that action by flailing desperately at the air as he lost his balance in his surprise and slid unstoppably down the side of his rock to land flat on his back in the warm sand.
He heard Raijin's delighted laugh just before the darkskinned boy appeared in his field of vision grinning, wide brown innocent eyes sparkling guilelessly. "You did it, Fuj! Ya startled the boss!" Seifer wanted to laugh, but forced himself to choke the laughter before it exploded out. It was an admission of weakness and in invitation for more of the same.
"Very funny, Raijin. Help me up, will you?" As much as it galled him to accept help—
Behind Raijin, Fujin was a quiet palpable presence in the blue shirt she favored and loose black pants borrowed form Squall. She smiled, a bare twitching of her lips as she held up the little dark object—a boomerang, one of the things that Edea had brought back from her recent trip to Balamb and promptly commandeered by Fujin. The tiny silverheaded girl had barely spoken since her mother (Edea had explained most of it to the children) had left, but she had gotten better and lost that haunted, underfed look. She'd finally started learning English, too.
As the most excitable member of their little group went on to pick up the seashells washed up on the beach, Seifer grinned at Fujin, not worrying about showing weakness. They were equals, after all. The girl smiled suddenly; a real smile, not a mere twitching of her lips. Her free hand dove swiftly into one of the voluble pockets of her trousers and brought out something round.
"What's that?" Seifer asked, and she showed him.
Light glided off the faintly translucent ball nestled in the center of Fujin's palm, lighting up the curves of pale flesh around it. It glimmered, seeming to pulse with inner life. There was a silvery swirl in the center; for just a moment, Seifer thought he saw Ruiya's figure, shimmer-wings and hair and body, and then it was gone. Fujin smiled again.
She said: "Pandemona."
A/R (author's rant) 22/8: Unknown to anyone but myself, I once had this series of GF-origin stories written. Y'see, GFs in FF8 were, like, just things, which is not really very good. Considering that FF8 has so many holes in the history, it's the job of us fanfiction authors to fill said holes up, and one of said holes is "where does a (all) GF(s) come from?" I had this idea thought out that GFs were 'created by Hyne to aid people in some big battle in the future et yadda yadda'. I had a series planned and all stuff, but, oh… Some time ago I rooted out the old idea, and had this little flash of a scene that would go, Fuj and Seifer together, and Fujin holds out this GF and says, "Pandemona," blah fun stuff, and the result… well, you've just read it. Incidentally, this fic has ten parts, the same as the FF series (at the time I wrote it, anyway). ^__