Disclaimer: Oh come on, you should know this by now. If you don't, check
the other chapters. ^_~
A/N: Yay! Over 100 reviews at last! ^___^ I'm so happy and proud! Thank you everyone for all the reviews once again, and I hope to see more in the future!
A/N 2: Thanx so much to Quistis Trepe, FloralBlackMoon, Megs, and Vamp Queen for inspiring this chapter with their great ideas!
The air was thick and heavy with humidity, and the sweat was just pouring off of the two teens as they silently stalked through the grassy field. None of them spoke to each other once since they'd left Garden, but each one was longing to. Akira gave Shiloh a sidelong glance, trying not to let him see she was doing so. She couldn't help but feel safe and protected with him, despite the fact that he'd probably let her get ripped apart before helping her, just because of who she was.
Shiloh glanced over at her and she took her eyes off of him, resting her gaze on the horizon in front of them. The sun was almost completely set, and curfew was a little over an hour after the sunset. It wasn't a very long time to get much practice, but at least it was a start. She tried to pay attention to what they would do with the time they had, but she couldn't help but feel the heaviness of Shiloh's gaze still upon her. She turned her head slowly, her view of him almost completely blocked by the blonde locks that had fallen into her eyes. "What?" she asked rather rudely.
He shook his head, obviously disgusted. "Nothing. It's just... Forget it."
"Look Shiloh, if you have something to say, then say it. Don't just walk around all silent and mysterious and expect me to read your mind and know what's pissing you off. It's kinda annoying actually..."
Shiloh was just about to open his mouth and respond, when he saw a looming figure out in the distance. He shielded his eyes in the still-bright sun. "What's that thing?"
Akira squinted into the distance. She'd never seen anything that huge in her entire life. Either way, she saw it as the perfect opprutunity to show Shiloh what exactly Akira Almasy was really made of. "Well, whatever it is... it's toast."
She drew Hyperion and began creeping out into the direction of the creature when Shiloh's voice rang out behind her. "Akira, are you crazy?! That thing's about a million times the size of a T-Rexaur! We can't take it with just the two of us!"
"Ah yes, Shiloh Leonhart, the voice of reason," she said with a laugh. She shook her head.
"More like the voice of common sense," he snarled.
She narrowed her green eyes slightly. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"
"Think what you want." She scoffed. "Now come on, let's go back to Garden."
"You wanna go back already? But we just got here!"
Shiloh turned and looked her square in the eyes. "So you'd rather stay out here with that... that thing? Fine, go get yourself killed. I don't care."
Akira took his words seriously and headed in the direction of likely danger, rather than following Shiloh who was veering towards Garden. He kept walking, even though he knew Akira wasn't following him. As he continued though, it became harder for him to go much further, knowing she was in danger. He turned back around, not knowing exactly why he did so, and jogged up to walk beside her.
"Oh, so you're coming with me?" she asked rudely.
"You can't take that thing alone. Besides, if it killed you, *I'm* the one who'd be in trouble." She only smirked in reply.
Up close, the creature was at least three times the size of a T-Rexaur. It looked like a bear and a dragon cross, if it was even possible to imagine. It moved rather slowly, only building up Akira's confidence more. "It's slower than molasses, we can down it easy."
Shiloh didn't respond. He drew his gunblade and a battle began as the creature spotted the pair closing in on it. It reared up and pounded it's fore-paws on the ground, causing a tremor to ripple towards them. The earth shook, crumbled and split beneath their feet, and both of them landed had on their backs as the dust swept up and blinded them temporarily.
"You okay?" Akira heard Shiloh ask.
She stood up, although it was hard to remain steady with the constant quaking. "Since when did you care if I'm okay?" she called back, only half- serious.
The creature appeared from through the thick debris and Akira took her turn at slashing it. It roared in pain and she gave a triumphant yell. Shiloh smiled the smallest bit and shook his head. He as well attacked the creature. It doubled back and Akira glanced over at him. "Nice." She readied a Blizzara spell and cast it on the creature, doing a nice amount of damage, as it was already beginning to back away from them. Shiloh sent a Thunder spell at it. It's face now showed pain as well as fear, and it quickly escaped the fight. "What a wuss..." Akira commented. "For something that big, you think it would've put up more of a fight."
The sky was now pitch black, and you could barely see your hands in front of your face anymore. "I think we'd better head back though. I don't want to miss curfew." Shiloh put his weapon away and began walking towards Garden.
All of a sudden, a shadow fell upon them. It was hard to tell, but the area right around them had suddenly become darker. They gazed up to see the creature hovering above them. It had sprouted long, bird-like wings.
"What the...?" Akira didn't get the chance to finish her thoughts as the creature swooped down, attempting to lift them in it's back feet. Shiloh grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, the creature flying after them the whole way. It was much faster with it's wings than it was on it's feet, they found out.
"C'mon, c'mon! Hurry up!" Shiloh shouted to her.
"Will you let go?! Why don't we just stay here and fight? We'll get rid of it easier than just running from it!"
All of a sudden, they were consumed in a blast of heat and energy. The creature had used some kind of magic on them and they were thrown in opposite directions. The creature then landed inbetween them, letting out an ear-shattering screech.
Akira looked down at her body. Burns covered her arms and legs, and blood pourd out a large wound on her hip from where she'd just landed. She tried to find Shiloh, but the creature was blocking her view. "Hey Shiloh, you all right?" No answer. "Shiloh!" Still no response.
Suddenly, the creature let out a second screech, but this time, it fell to the ground as well. "But how...?" She looked out in front of her to see Shiloh had killed it, quite easily actually.
"I've had my share of training already."
At first, she was about to compliment him on his skills, but she held her tongue, feeling better if she used sarcasm. "I could've done that."
"Now do you think we should head back?" he asked sounding slightly annoyed.
She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her flared jeans. "Fine. We'll go back."
As they walked back to the luminously lit structure, Shiloh spoke up. "You know... you were pretty klutzy back there."
Akira looked at him. "Excuse me?"
"You kept telling me that you were this awesome fighter, or at least that's the way you acted. A lot of the attacking you did was really shaky. I'm surprised you hit it at all."
"You're surprised?? Well geez Shiloh, do you really think I'd miss something as big as a house?"
"Hey, all I'm saying is -- "
"All your saying is my fighting skills suck!" She redrew her gunblade and Shiloh gave her a funny look. "Comeon, we'll have a one-on-one and I'll show you what fighting's really all about."
"Akira, come on. That's so stupid."
"You're just afraid I'll beat you."
"No way!" He drew his gunblade as well and the two of them immediatly went at it. Their gunblades meeting in the space between them, screeching sounds filling the night air as the metal slammed up against each other. Their eyes desperately locked on one another's, trying to figure out what they would do next and try to disrupt it.
Akira took a swing at Shiloh's left leg, but he placed his gunblade there and blocked it. She growled as she realized she'd given too many body signs that she was about to do that, making it easy for him to stop.
Shiloh wasn't used to her dirty fighting, as she'd learned everything she knew from her father. He was clumsy with his swings and a few of the blocks, because as their battle went on, Akira's movements were simply one blind swing after the other. She was moving so fast and doing so many different things simultaneously, it was getting hard to keep up with her.
Soon, he saw an opening in which he could strike. He slashed her arm roughly, and she backed up in surprise, holding her wound. Her eyes burning with anger, she sent a Fire spell at his torso and he fell back onto his rear. She came up and stood over him slowly, smirking down at him. She raised Hyperion and brought it down onto the bridge of Shiloh's nose, creating a deep diagonal slice.
As the blood fell from the fresh wound, Shiloh swung his gunblade back, trying to do the same thing to her. She was too quick for him though; she blocked his strike.
All of a sudden, Squall came charging through the grass towards them. He took one look at the scene before him and was appalled. It sent a chill down his spine. It looked exactly like what had happened between him and Seifer years and years ago. Only this time, Akira hadn't recieved a scar back.
Squall knelt down beside his son. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah Dad... I'm fine." He sounded angry, but more so embarassed.
Akira bravely spoke up, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. "How did you know we were here?"
"Chloe said you two were going to train. When I looked in the Training Center and didn't find you, I figured you must've come outside. But you know better than to leave Garden after dark, Shiloh. Why did you?"
Shiloh glanced over at Akira, but didn't say anything. "Sir, um... I'm the one who made him come out here. He told me it was dangerous, but... I didn't listen."
Squall looked over at her, narrowing his icy blue eyes. "I'm going to see to it personally that you're thrown out of Garden. I thought maybe you'd turn out to be different. Because of Quistis I thought maybe I could learn to trust you. But you're nothing short of an Almasy. I should've known you'd stab someone in the back. I just didn't think it would be me this time."
"Look, it was an accident! I didn't mean to really hurt him!" Akira said defensively.
Squall took the gunblade lying at Shiloh's side, unbeknownst to Akira. "Well you did. And you know what, this is exactly what happened between me and your father when we were younger. It's haunting to have to see it again. But there's one thing that's missing."
"What?" Akira asked hesitantly.
"Your scar." Squall swung hard and made a connection with the young girl's face. He created a cut along the bridge of her nose as well, one that would scar as well.
~*~*~*~
Akira and Shiloh sat in Headmaster Cid's office, along with Squall. They were waiting for Seifer to arrive as well. "I don't understand," Headmaster Cid began. "How can the blood running through your veins be so important that you'd cause harm to each other this way?"
Akira didn't say anything, though she wanted to very much. Shiloh had only recieved a scar like Squall's out of the ordeal. Akira got one that matched her father's, but her eyes were black as well. Squall had more muscle than she did, and when he'd slashed her, he'd broken her nose too.
The doors at the other end of the room opened, and Seifer came in quietly. He looked around at the solemn faces. Squall looked miserable, as usual, and a young boy sat beside him, the carbon copy of Squall. Seifer knew that this boy was Squall's son, it wasn't hard to tell. Then he saw his daughter. Her face had lost that glow it once held. Her eyes were blackened, and he saw the scar on her face, causing his stomach to tighten. He somehow already knew what had happened.
"Seifer, please sit down." Headmaster Cid's voice was full of concern. "This simply cannot go on. I cannot have such rough-housing going on in Garden."
"Sir, can you please tell me what went on?" Seifer asked, hoping no one thought it was rude that he was interuppting.
"Oh, of course. Well, your daughter and Squall's son went out after dark to train. Somehow, on their way back, they got into quite a brawl. Things got out of hand, and the result is this. Two teens with scars to match their fathers'."
Seifer gave Akira a disapprovingly glance, and she let her gaze fall to the floor.
"But it is not entirely their fault," Cid continued. "I also blame the two of you. Putting such ideas into their heads such as this... It's ridiculous. Even after all these years, the two of you still can't learn to at least be civil? You've brought your children up to hate each other simply because you hate each other. It isn't right, and I won't have it.
"I need time to make a decision about you. I'll let you know when I do. You're all dismissed."
~*~*~*~
Akira and Seifer sat in her dorm. Akira had been unusually quiet, and Seifer was nagging unusually. "I can't believe this Akira. I never expected you to start trouble this way. Especially with Puberty Boy's kid..."
Akira giggled. "Excuse me? Puberty Boy? Is that what you call Squall?"
Seifer smiled a little. "Yeah... Long story. But don't change the subject, okay? What on earth made you go medevil on him?"
"He was... Well..." She sighed. "He was making fun of me, and... I couldn't help it."
Seifer ran a hand through his spikey blonde hair. "Out of all the things you could've gotten from me... it had to be my temper."
"Genetics suck," Akira said with a smile.
"Ha, tell me about it honey," Seifer replied, a smile creeping it's way to his lips.
There's another chapter done. Hope you liked it. It's pretty long, and pretty exciting... at least I think it is. So don't forget to review, okay? Suggestions? Lemme know!! And also, ya weren't expecting to have SQUALL be the one to give Akira the scar, were ya? Haha, I'm tricky, ain't I? ^_~
A/N: Yay! Over 100 reviews at last! ^___^ I'm so happy and proud! Thank you everyone for all the reviews once again, and I hope to see more in the future!
A/N 2: Thanx so much to Quistis Trepe, FloralBlackMoon, Megs, and Vamp Queen for inspiring this chapter with their great ideas!
The air was thick and heavy with humidity, and the sweat was just pouring off of the two teens as they silently stalked through the grassy field. None of them spoke to each other once since they'd left Garden, but each one was longing to. Akira gave Shiloh a sidelong glance, trying not to let him see she was doing so. She couldn't help but feel safe and protected with him, despite the fact that he'd probably let her get ripped apart before helping her, just because of who she was.
Shiloh glanced over at her and she took her eyes off of him, resting her gaze on the horizon in front of them. The sun was almost completely set, and curfew was a little over an hour after the sunset. It wasn't a very long time to get much practice, but at least it was a start. She tried to pay attention to what they would do with the time they had, but she couldn't help but feel the heaviness of Shiloh's gaze still upon her. She turned her head slowly, her view of him almost completely blocked by the blonde locks that had fallen into her eyes. "What?" she asked rather rudely.
He shook his head, obviously disgusted. "Nothing. It's just... Forget it."
"Look Shiloh, if you have something to say, then say it. Don't just walk around all silent and mysterious and expect me to read your mind and know what's pissing you off. It's kinda annoying actually..."
Shiloh was just about to open his mouth and respond, when he saw a looming figure out in the distance. He shielded his eyes in the still-bright sun. "What's that thing?"
Akira squinted into the distance. She'd never seen anything that huge in her entire life. Either way, she saw it as the perfect opprutunity to show Shiloh what exactly Akira Almasy was really made of. "Well, whatever it is... it's toast."
She drew Hyperion and began creeping out into the direction of the creature when Shiloh's voice rang out behind her. "Akira, are you crazy?! That thing's about a million times the size of a T-Rexaur! We can't take it with just the two of us!"
"Ah yes, Shiloh Leonhart, the voice of reason," she said with a laugh. She shook her head.
"More like the voice of common sense," he snarled.
She narrowed her green eyes slightly. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"
"Think what you want." She scoffed. "Now come on, let's go back to Garden."
"You wanna go back already? But we just got here!"
Shiloh turned and looked her square in the eyes. "So you'd rather stay out here with that... that thing? Fine, go get yourself killed. I don't care."
Akira took his words seriously and headed in the direction of likely danger, rather than following Shiloh who was veering towards Garden. He kept walking, even though he knew Akira wasn't following him. As he continued though, it became harder for him to go much further, knowing she was in danger. He turned back around, not knowing exactly why he did so, and jogged up to walk beside her.
"Oh, so you're coming with me?" she asked rudely.
"You can't take that thing alone. Besides, if it killed you, *I'm* the one who'd be in trouble." She only smirked in reply.
Up close, the creature was at least three times the size of a T-Rexaur. It looked like a bear and a dragon cross, if it was even possible to imagine. It moved rather slowly, only building up Akira's confidence more. "It's slower than molasses, we can down it easy."
Shiloh didn't respond. He drew his gunblade and a battle began as the creature spotted the pair closing in on it. It reared up and pounded it's fore-paws on the ground, causing a tremor to ripple towards them. The earth shook, crumbled and split beneath their feet, and both of them landed had on their backs as the dust swept up and blinded them temporarily.
"You okay?" Akira heard Shiloh ask.
She stood up, although it was hard to remain steady with the constant quaking. "Since when did you care if I'm okay?" she called back, only half- serious.
The creature appeared from through the thick debris and Akira took her turn at slashing it. It roared in pain and she gave a triumphant yell. Shiloh smiled the smallest bit and shook his head. He as well attacked the creature. It doubled back and Akira glanced over at him. "Nice." She readied a Blizzara spell and cast it on the creature, doing a nice amount of damage, as it was already beginning to back away from them. Shiloh sent a Thunder spell at it. It's face now showed pain as well as fear, and it quickly escaped the fight. "What a wuss..." Akira commented. "For something that big, you think it would've put up more of a fight."
The sky was now pitch black, and you could barely see your hands in front of your face anymore. "I think we'd better head back though. I don't want to miss curfew." Shiloh put his weapon away and began walking towards Garden.
All of a sudden, a shadow fell upon them. It was hard to tell, but the area right around them had suddenly become darker. They gazed up to see the creature hovering above them. It had sprouted long, bird-like wings.
"What the...?" Akira didn't get the chance to finish her thoughts as the creature swooped down, attempting to lift them in it's back feet. Shiloh grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, the creature flying after them the whole way. It was much faster with it's wings than it was on it's feet, they found out.
"C'mon, c'mon! Hurry up!" Shiloh shouted to her.
"Will you let go?! Why don't we just stay here and fight? We'll get rid of it easier than just running from it!"
All of a sudden, they were consumed in a blast of heat and energy. The creature had used some kind of magic on them and they were thrown in opposite directions. The creature then landed inbetween them, letting out an ear-shattering screech.
Akira looked down at her body. Burns covered her arms and legs, and blood pourd out a large wound on her hip from where she'd just landed. She tried to find Shiloh, but the creature was blocking her view. "Hey Shiloh, you all right?" No answer. "Shiloh!" Still no response.
Suddenly, the creature let out a second screech, but this time, it fell to the ground as well. "But how...?" She looked out in front of her to see Shiloh had killed it, quite easily actually.
"I've had my share of training already."
At first, she was about to compliment him on his skills, but she held her tongue, feeling better if she used sarcasm. "I could've done that."
"Now do you think we should head back?" he asked sounding slightly annoyed.
She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her flared jeans. "Fine. We'll go back."
As they walked back to the luminously lit structure, Shiloh spoke up. "You know... you were pretty klutzy back there."
Akira looked at him. "Excuse me?"
"You kept telling me that you were this awesome fighter, or at least that's the way you acted. A lot of the attacking you did was really shaky. I'm surprised you hit it at all."
"You're surprised?? Well geez Shiloh, do you really think I'd miss something as big as a house?"
"Hey, all I'm saying is -- "
"All your saying is my fighting skills suck!" She redrew her gunblade and Shiloh gave her a funny look. "Comeon, we'll have a one-on-one and I'll show you what fighting's really all about."
"Akira, come on. That's so stupid."
"You're just afraid I'll beat you."
"No way!" He drew his gunblade as well and the two of them immediatly went at it. Their gunblades meeting in the space between them, screeching sounds filling the night air as the metal slammed up against each other. Their eyes desperately locked on one another's, trying to figure out what they would do next and try to disrupt it.
Akira took a swing at Shiloh's left leg, but he placed his gunblade there and blocked it. She growled as she realized she'd given too many body signs that she was about to do that, making it easy for him to stop.
Shiloh wasn't used to her dirty fighting, as she'd learned everything she knew from her father. He was clumsy with his swings and a few of the blocks, because as their battle went on, Akira's movements were simply one blind swing after the other. She was moving so fast and doing so many different things simultaneously, it was getting hard to keep up with her.
Soon, he saw an opening in which he could strike. He slashed her arm roughly, and she backed up in surprise, holding her wound. Her eyes burning with anger, she sent a Fire spell at his torso and he fell back onto his rear. She came up and stood over him slowly, smirking down at him. She raised Hyperion and brought it down onto the bridge of Shiloh's nose, creating a deep diagonal slice.
As the blood fell from the fresh wound, Shiloh swung his gunblade back, trying to do the same thing to her. She was too quick for him though; she blocked his strike.
All of a sudden, Squall came charging through the grass towards them. He took one look at the scene before him and was appalled. It sent a chill down his spine. It looked exactly like what had happened between him and Seifer years and years ago. Only this time, Akira hadn't recieved a scar back.
Squall knelt down beside his son. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah Dad... I'm fine." He sounded angry, but more so embarassed.
Akira bravely spoke up, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. "How did you know we were here?"
"Chloe said you two were going to train. When I looked in the Training Center and didn't find you, I figured you must've come outside. But you know better than to leave Garden after dark, Shiloh. Why did you?"
Shiloh glanced over at Akira, but didn't say anything. "Sir, um... I'm the one who made him come out here. He told me it was dangerous, but... I didn't listen."
Squall looked over at her, narrowing his icy blue eyes. "I'm going to see to it personally that you're thrown out of Garden. I thought maybe you'd turn out to be different. Because of Quistis I thought maybe I could learn to trust you. But you're nothing short of an Almasy. I should've known you'd stab someone in the back. I just didn't think it would be me this time."
"Look, it was an accident! I didn't mean to really hurt him!" Akira said defensively.
Squall took the gunblade lying at Shiloh's side, unbeknownst to Akira. "Well you did. And you know what, this is exactly what happened between me and your father when we were younger. It's haunting to have to see it again. But there's one thing that's missing."
"What?" Akira asked hesitantly.
"Your scar." Squall swung hard and made a connection with the young girl's face. He created a cut along the bridge of her nose as well, one that would scar as well.
~*~*~*~
Akira and Shiloh sat in Headmaster Cid's office, along with Squall. They were waiting for Seifer to arrive as well. "I don't understand," Headmaster Cid began. "How can the blood running through your veins be so important that you'd cause harm to each other this way?"
Akira didn't say anything, though she wanted to very much. Shiloh had only recieved a scar like Squall's out of the ordeal. Akira got one that matched her father's, but her eyes were black as well. Squall had more muscle than she did, and when he'd slashed her, he'd broken her nose too.
The doors at the other end of the room opened, and Seifer came in quietly. He looked around at the solemn faces. Squall looked miserable, as usual, and a young boy sat beside him, the carbon copy of Squall. Seifer knew that this boy was Squall's son, it wasn't hard to tell. Then he saw his daughter. Her face had lost that glow it once held. Her eyes were blackened, and he saw the scar on her face, causing his stomach to tighten. He somehow already knew what had happened.
"Seifer, please sit down." Headmaster Cid's voice was full of concern. "This simply cannot go on. I cannot have such rough-housing going on in Garden."
"Sir, can you please tell me what went on?" Seifer asked, hoping no one thought it was rude that he was interuppting.
"Oh, of course. Well, your daughter and Squall's son went out after dark to train. Somehow, on their way back, they got into quite a brawl. Things got out of hand, and the result is this. Two teens with scars to match their fathers'."
Seifer gave Akira a disapprovingly glance, and she let her gaze fall to the floor.
"But it is not entirely their fault," Cid continued. "I also blame the two of you. Putting such ideas into their heads such as this... It's ridiculous. Even after all these years, the two of you still can't learn to at least be civil? You've brought your children up to hate each other simply because you hate each other. It isn't right, and I won't have it.
"I need time to make a decision about you. I'll let you know when I do. You're all dismissed."
~*~*~*~
Akira and Seifer sat in her dorm. Akira had been unusually quiet, and Seifer was nagging unusually. "I can't believe this Akira. I never expected you to start trouble this way. Especially with Puberty Boy's kid..."
Akira giggled. "Excuse me? Puberty Boy? Is that what you call Squall?"
Seifer smiled a little. "Yeah... Long story. But don't change the subject, okay? What on earth made you go medevil on him?"
"He was... Well..." She sighed. "He was making fun of me, and... I couldn't help it."
Seifer ran a hand through his spikey blonde hair. "Out of all the things you could've gotten from me... it had to be my temper."
"Genetics suck," Akira said with a smile.
"Ha, tell me about it honey," Seifer replied, a smile creeping it's way to his lips.
There's another chapter done. Hope you liked it. It's pretty long, and pretty exciting... at least I think it is. So don't forget to review, okay? Suggestions? Lemme know!! And also, ya weren't expecting to have SQUALL be the one to give Akira the scar, were ya? Haha, I'm tricky, ain't I? ^_~