Disclaimer: All characters of FF8 belong to Squaresoft. No infringement is intended.
The message covered in blood
Maria stood in front of the window, looking at herself before she could go to the cafeteria to grab a breakfast or two. Her golden hair that was once up to her shoulders were now up to the lower parts of her back. Her azure eyes looked unstressed, yet inside her, she could feel deep anxiety. For no special reason, she felt anxious. A deep feeling of worry and fear. She found it so weird but yet she cannot part it from her mind. Maybe life just got boring while things were at peace, that she wanted some action and adventure. Maria suddenly broke from her trance when somebody knocked at the door. She went to the door to welcome whoever the visitor may be.
As she opened the door, she was surprised to who she saw. Squall was there, which means--
"Another mission?" Maria said as some kind of welcome note. She could easily read Squall's mind. He has changed over the sorceress war, but he had retained his old workaholic self nevertheless. Squall raised his eyebrow slightly at Maria's remark.
"Good that you know already." Squall told her sarcastically.
"What reason could there be? It's obvious, you have your Lionheart with you." Maria said pointing at his sapphire gunblade that glowed a fierce blue.
"Maria there's not much time for this. We've got a lot of things to do." Squall told her imperatively.
"Yes, yes...but what's the rush?" She asked him while rummaging over her things that were piled on the desk. Maria was usually a tidy person but her desk was swollen with a lot of paper that time. It was ironic that a girl her type would actually fix her dresser rather than her desk. Strange phenomena indeed. It was very disorderly, not much befitting for a woman. She came by a small black that was apparently a sheathed dagger. She hid it hurriedly on the tamono-like sleeves of her dress.
"We have to do some scouting around the vicinity." Squall replied briefly.
"Just us two?"
"Guess so. Any problem with that?" Squall asked her with that usual scowl that he had.
"Nothing...Just asking." She replied on his rather malevolent question.
"Let's go."
Outside the garden, in the outskirts of Balamb, dark clouds enveloped the sky. Darkness prevailed over the horizon, making the area look like a place of eternal darkness. The sun was nowhere in sight, for the sky was overcrowded with dark clouds. No amount of light managed to pass through the dark barriers.
Maria felt a slight feeling of uneasiness. It wasn't because she was afraid of the dark, rather it was because of the unusual darkening of the sky. It was the rainy season all right but it seemed wrong that dark clouds prevail over the sky like that. It was a sign of an upcoming storm perhaps. Lost in her thoughts, Maria slumped when she accidentally stepped into something.
"H-Hey!" Maria said in surprise as she felt her feet trip over something. As she felt the pull of gravity pulling her down, someone caught her before she fell.
"You okay?" Squall asked as her helped Maria regain her composure. "Watch where you're going." He instructed.
"Alright, I'm sorry." She apologized as she dusted the ends of her skirt. She looked at her leg and saw a small gash. it was barely bleeding but nevertheless, it left a mark on Maria's unscathed leg. The sight of it made her furious but it was just a wound, nothing special about it.
They continued trekking in the vast fields of the Balamb plains, searching for something suspicious around the vicinity. Both of them hated this recon missions but it proved more worthy of their time rather than sitting idly by the garden, doing nothing.
As, Maria continued walking behind Squall, she felt her feet trip over something again. This time she fell into the ground, knees first.
"Damn, this is the second time!" Maria cursed quietly as she tried to regain her composure. As she looked to what she tripped at, she was surprised at what she saw.
"Squall!!!" Maria called him who was ahead of her about one meter. He quickly looked back at the girl's direction.
"What is it?" He asked while going to where Maria was.
Maria waited for him to reach her direction before she could speak. Her voice quivered indicating that she was really nervous and scared. (Maybe not...)
"There's a dead body..." She pointed that was unrecognizable because of decay. It must've been there days ago, judging from its state. Almost all of its skin was rotten and what are left are the internal muscles and organs. It didn't smell too nice as well. The stench of the decaying body was sickening. Maria could only stare in horror.
" I found a note on top of his body. I don't know what it means though." Her voice regained calmness as she stood up and handed him the note covered with blood. It was almost nondescript and unreadable. Squall had his usual scowl on his face as he ran over the contents of the note. It says:
You rejoiced, even if the war is not yet over
Now you will feel defeat and you shall see your end
Bid farewell to your beloved sanctuary.
" Some kind of threat…" Squall said as he handed the note back to Maria. She read it again hoping to find some sort of clue or some encryption in the letter. She did so over and over again but still found no answer. Annoyed, Maria violently put the message in her pocket, hoping that someone might tell something about the note.
Squall inspected the corpse, trying to find any trace of identification. He rummaged through the articles that surrounded the body (if there were any…), but nothing appeared to be of any use. It seems that this was planned extensively, not letting any form of evidence pass through. Clever thing indeed.
"Let's go back to Garden and report this. Let them handle this." He said as he stood from his crouched position and shook his hand to expel anything dirty in his black leather glove.
"Okay, I'll go after you." Maria said in reply as she moved one hand forward, telling him to go first. Squall nodded and led the way for her.
What was the letter all about?
Author's note: Phew…I personally think that I screwed that chapter….Oh well…I can only hope that you'll like the upcoming chapters….As the saying goes, experience is the best teacher!