Chapter 2: The Truth Is There
Audrey finallly caught Carole in the junk shop talking with the owner.
"Yes, it's done," the owner said reaching for a long case behind him.
Carole bent over the counter, imparient.
"Here you go."
He put the black case with silvery pieces on the corners and her name carved on a silver sheet. With shining eyes, Carole opened the case and stared at the blade with great emotion.
"Wow! A gunblade!" Audrey exclaimed over Carole's shoulder making her jump.
She quickly closed the case like she was caught doing something wrong.
"Whose is it?"
"Mine."
Audrey stared at her friend in disbelief.
"You chose a gunblade for your weapon?!"
"So what?" she turned to the owner. "How much?"
"If you want to keep the case, 15 000 gils like I told you."
"15 000 bucks?!" Audrey exclaimed.
Carole reached for her wallet and handed the man the money without hesitation.
"Here, 15 000 gils."
The owner smiled taking the money.
"Come again when you want to upgrade it," he said.
"Sure!"
Carole took the case and left with Audrey just behind.
"Can't wait to use it!"
"You'll have to wait. You're not permitted to use your weapon until you pass the Garden test."
"It's tomorow. Besides, who said I wanted to fight with it? I just want to know how it feels to have it in hands."
Carole entered a house still followed by her freind.
"I'm home!"
A 40 years old woman's head got out of the kitchen.
"Hi, Carole. How was your day?"
"Interesting as always."
"New friends?"
"Nope. Look mom! I got my gunblade!"
The woman totally came out of the kitchen. Carole put the case on the dinner table and opened it before closing it right away, changing her mind.
"On second thought, I'll wait for everyone to be here."
Audrey suddenly remembered why she came after her friend.
"Oh, yeah! You forgot your books."
"Oh, thanks! That's all Squall's fault! I was so angry at him I wasn't thinking right!"
"Squall?" her mother asked. "You mean Squall Leonhart? The one thanks to whom we still have a world to live in?"
"Yeah, that jerk!"
The middle aged woman glanced from a girl to another.
"Did I miss something?"
"Forget it, mom. Come on, Audrey."
She climbed the stairs to her room. There she put the case on her desk and her books too. She laid on her bed with a sigh.
"What are you thinking?" Audrey asked sitting beside her. "Squall?"
"Yeah. Think that he really pisses me off!"
"I'm sure that deep within you like pretty much."
"Come-On!"
"Why didn't you tell your mother about it?"
"Maybe because I don't
want to be teased by her too!"
Audrey guiltily looked away.
"Anyway, she'll find out sooner or later. Rachel knows and my bros probably know too. If they don't learn about it at Garden, they'll do from Rachel. Then mom will know it and say how sweet it is and blahblahblah… then dad will do and say I should take advantage of his experience and advices and blahblahblah… Such a pain!"
A knocking sound at the door interrupted the girls.
"What is it, mom?"
"Supper's served."
"Great! I'm starving!"
"I'll be going then," Audrey said.
The three girls went down. Rachel, Robert and Pierre were already sitting at the table. Audrey walked to the door waving at Carole.
"Good luck for tomorow in case I don't see you before."
"See ya!"
Audrey left and Carole saw there was mail so she reached it to see if anything was for her. Then she saw a big brown envelop with her name on it.
"Great! Weapons Monthly!" she exclaimed going to her seat.
"Lemme see!" Robert asked.
"Get lost!"
She opened the envelop and took the precious magazine out. She opened it and caught a sight of her gunblade on the first page. Her eyes shone with pride seeing she had a new model. While Robert was trying to see over her shoulder, their motherwas serving the soup: vegetables, Carole's favorite. Then she put a sandwiches plate on the middle of the table.
"Wow! This gunblade is even more powerful than the Revolver!" Carole read in disbelief.
"Big deal," rachel said taking a sandwich.
Carole got her eyes off her magazine and frowned at her sister.
"You don't know anyting! You don't like gunblades!"
"That's right! I don't like them! So heavy and big and dangerous!"
"Not this one! It's a new kind much lighter than the others."
"Every weapons are dangerous, dear," the middle aged woman cut in sitting down. "Robert go to your seat, and Carole put that away."
Robert obeyed and Carole reluctantly put her magazine back in the envelop. She left it on her knees. The family ate quietly.
"Hey, where's dad?" Pierre inquired.
"Repairing a car at the renting shop. Somebody from Garden even came and asked if he could take a look on the Garden's vehicles."
"Great!" Carole exclaimed happy for her father.
She took a bite of her sandwich and ate her soup.
"Anyhting new at school?" the mother asked to start a conversation.
"I won all of Pierre's cards!" Robert said. "Plus one from Rachel!"
"He cheated!" Pierre protested.
"No, I didn't!"
"Cut it out!" Carole said.
Her mother turned to Rachel with a smile.
"What about you?"
"Started a fanclub for Zell Dincht and I learned ther is one on me too! Look! I got Zell's card from Robert?" she exclaimed proudly showing the card.
"You won it?" her mother asked a bit surprised. She knew how good her son was in Triple Triad.
"Nah, he gave it to me."
"How kind!"
Then she turned to Carole who was frowning with her head down on her bowl.
"And you, Carole?"
She shrugged indifferently.
"Got a test tomorow. Gotta study tonight."
"That's the best you should do."
The family ate in silence for a while until there was no soup or sandwiches left. Then Carole got up and served juice. She had her envelop on her knees ready to be opened as soon as she would be done with her meal. Rachel suddenly had a mocking smile and innocently looked at her mother, her hands under her chin and her elbows on the table.
"Guess what, mom? Carole got a boyfriend!"
Carole's eyes widened as she choke with her juice and she spat it on her sister in front of her, coughing. Rachel stared at her uniform in disgust.
"Mom!"
"That'll teach you!" Carole exclaimed getting up.
"Carole!"
"She's liying! I don't have any boyfriend and will never have any because I got such a temper and all guys are attracted to Rachel!"
She ran to the stairs and climbed it at incredible speed. A door was slamed and there was nothing but silence for a few minutes. Then Rachel was scolded.
"You know how sensitive she is to that boyfriend stuff."
"Sorry," Rachel said guiltily looking down.
"We'll talk about it later. Now you wash the dishes."
"Aw, mom! I hoped I could find other members for my fanclub…"
"Now!"
The teen reluctantly got up and took the dirty dishes in the sink, trying to clean her uniform on her way. Meanwhile, her mother was going up to Carole's room and the boys were talking about how the next day would be like.
A little knock on Carole's door received no answer. Her mother was about to knock again.
"Who's there?" a voice asked in the room.
"It's me. Can I come in?"
"The heck I care…"
The woman took that answer for an agreement and entered. She saw her daughter lying on her bed on her front, her legs up crossed on the ankles and slowly swinging. She was reading her magazine. The elder one approached looking around and amazed to see how clean the room was. When they were living on the Lunar Base, her quarters were always a mess.
She approached from behind and bent over Carole's shoulder to look at the magazine.
"That's a gunblade, isn't it?" she asked to start a conversation.
"Yup. This is a new model and it's mine!"
She got up and went to open a drawer from her desk. She took out a pile of Weapons Monthly magazines.
"Where did you get those? We're only here for a week and that magazine is monthly."
"They're secondhand. I bought them from an old man who didn't need them anymore. This one's the greatest."
She opened the first issue.
"Squall's gunblade is the most powerful of all: the Lionheart. And obody can stand a chance against it's limit break!"
She showed her mother the blue blade weapon.
"Mine is really no match for that one but it,s still more powerful than the Revolver, Squall's original gunblade."
She opened another magazine and showed her mother another gunblade.
"So they all have a specific name? What's yours?"
"The Sunset. And when you'll see it, you'll understand why it's called that way."
She went back to her bed and took her magazine to turn the page.
"What's that? A bow?!"
Her mother went to her and looked at the old type of weapon.
"That's pretty old, isn't it?"
Carole read the description under the picture.
"It's made out of a new material that makes it very strong but still easy to use and it's not very heavy. There are different kinds of arrows like there are different kinds of ammo for the shotgun. When the bow is upgraded, it can shoot with higher precision."
"Wow! It's pretty long!"
"Different sizes. It,s a magazine of new kinds of weapons."
Carole frowned and turned to her mother.
"But I guess you didn't come here to talk about weapons."
"No, that's true. It was about what your sister said, that boyfriend stuff."
Carole grimaced, turning her head away.
"She's crazy!"
"What made her think such a thing, then?"
Carole told what happened with Squall without forgetting to comment on how a pain he was. Then she frowned seeing the smile on the elder's face.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing," her mother answered with a shrug.
She walked to the door. Before she left, she slapped her forehead and turned back to face her daughter.
"With all those things I forgot! Someone called you from Esthar today."
"Esthar?!" Carole said arching an eyebrow.
"It was a girl and she said she'll come to Garden tomorow. She sounded pretty excited to me! Good night, dear."
She left Carole wonder who could have called her from the biggest city on Earth. She closed her eyes and frowned, pinching the top of her nose between her eyes, trying to remember if she knew anybody from Esthar. She suddenly stared in front of her.
"Could it be? No, impossible! I was just five and a half when we left Esthar for the Lunar Base! She can't remember me! And if she does, how could she have found me here?"
She walked to her desk and put her magzine on it before taking one of her books.
"I'll try to figure it out later. I have to study."
Then Squall's words came back in her mind..
You should study some more.
She shook her head and concentrated on her studies. Two hours later, she changed for her pijamas. She laid on her bed and took her Weapons Monthly again. She looked at the bow again and turned the page.
"A rope? With a metal ball on each end?!"
She turned to the last page.
"Two large steel rings, one for each hand…"
She put the magazine away, yawning.
"So much new kinds of weapons… Only the gunblade is still in each Weapons Monthly."
She got up and walked to the mirror hanging on her closed door. She looked at her reflection. With no glasses and her hair loose, she wasn't the same girl but she didn't like her hair, she never liked it.
She took a brush on her desk and brushed her hair. Once she was done, she just stared at the mirror and sighed. The image of a brown haired boy flew in her mind and made her frown. She scratched her head then shook it.
"Why am I thinking about him?! He's such a… such a… dream.."
The word surprised her but then, she knew it was true: she was in love, no use denying it. She let herself be filled by his face and voice and sighed.
"What's the use… We keep arguing everytime we see each other."
She walked to her bed and went to sleep, hoping she would dream about him…