Chapter 7: Balcony

Hear ye, hear ye! This is all based on a Squaresoft game!

I got some great feedback from the last chapter. Thanks a lot! I really wanted to include the original FF8 cast as their teenage selves, so the time compression idea was the perfect plot device for the job! ^_^ cunning huh? Oh, one more thing. I've been playing a little game while writing this, basically I've been trying to use phrases from FF8 and put them into the text. See how many you can find throughout the whole story so far, there's quite a few! this chapter has "let's get a move on" as one of them.

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Rinoa stared at the sky, her delicate hand clasped around the pair of silver rings that hung on a chain around her neck.

"...Squall. Where are you?"

"Hey Rinoa, are you okay?"

She nodded, and turned around, trying to put on a brave face.

"Yeah. I'm just a little scared."

"You shouldn't worry about Squall. You'll find each other. You always do! You're like a prince and princess from a fairy tale!"

Rinoa smiled. No matter how bad the situation seemed, Selphie would never give in to pessimism.

"You're right. A sorceress always finds her knight, like in the stories right?"

"Right!" Selphie did a little jump in the air.

"How do you still have so much energy? I'm exhausted. We've been walking all day." Rinoa sat down on the floor. They were on a high balcony, the rain had stopped, and far below the wall they could see the sea shifting, glittering in a fantastic neon pink sunset. "I don't think I can keep walking too much further, not without a good rest. But you don't seem tired at all."

"I used to play with the junior classmen all the time between lessons in Trabia, we had huge snowball fights! Compared to that a little walking is easy! That's why I was used as a messenger so often."

"Really? I always thought it was because you persued your victims until you caught them, even with things like ten foot cliff faces being in the way!"

"Tee-hee! Squall told you about that huh? Well, it was the fastest way. Sometimes you should just do stuff, thinking wastes too much time!"

Rinoa smiled, and found herself laughing a little.

"Do I think too much?"

"Of course not!"

"I think you're just being nice."

Selphie grinned. She had a grin that was even harder to decipher than Squall's frown, there was something going on behind it, but instead of repressing happiness, Selphie seemed to do the opposite. Rinoa wondered just how geniune Selphie's apparent unending exuberance really was.

"Well, we'll chill out here for a bit. Woo, Pretty sunset huh?"

"Yeah, sure is..."

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"What a fantastic sunset! It's beautiful! Ella, you have to come and see this!" Sylvie had just got out into the open, and after the dark, torchlit coridoors and huge chambers the sunlight and soft breeze felt wonderful.

"It is pretty amazing." Agreed Ellone.

"Not much cloud, it's gonna be a cold night ladies." Said Genji. "We should find someplace sheltered to dig in for the night."

"Hey Genji, that's probably the most sensible thing I've ever heard you say."

"Woah, complimented by the ice maiden herself, not every day that happens, that's one for my journal."

"You keep a journal Genji?" Asked Quistis.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to forget stuff. How do you cope with that GF? I'd hate to lose my memories."

"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices. I had to make a choice, my memories, or the power to defeat the sorceress."

"Man, some choice."

"I would choose the power." Said Best firmly. "Memories are worth nothing if your world is destroyed."

"And that's what we chose too. Selphie kept a diary so she wouldn't forget, the rest of us never remembered to fill ours in. But I think Selphie had a happier childhood than the rest of us, there were more things she didn't want to forget."

"Yeah, she was the one who gave me the idea. I've got a list of who the important people in my life are too, so I won't forget them either."

Genji got out his journal, a small, red book at show Quistis and Best. But Ellone was distracted. Sylvie was staring out to sea, her eyes distant and a little glazed.

"....Sylvie?"

"If she's here.....My mother....She won't remember me...will she?"

"She won't be your mother. Don't think of her as your mother, it'll be harder that way. Distinguishing Quistis from our Instructor Trepe isn't so hard, just think of Selphie as being a different person from your mother."

"....You're right. Thanks Ella."

"Hey. What's that? .....There's something moving over there."

"Where?"

"That balcony way over there. There's people on it. Can't see them too well, they're a long way off."

"Hey, yeah, I see now. One of them in blue and the other in yellow right?"

Quistis' head jerked up.

"What?"

"Look over there, there's two people on that balcony."

"Selphie and Rinoa."

"...How do you know?"

"Well, Rinoa's just a guess, but even at this distance I can tell it's Selphie just by the way she moves."

"She doesn't stay still much does she?"

('She hasn't changed much then')

"Hm? What are you thinking?"

"Huh?"

"When you think, you look like Squall does when he's thinking. What's on your mind?"

"...I hope she hasn't changed much."

"Why's that?

"Because I like her. She's a fun person to be with. She cheers everybody up."

"Sounds like the same old Selphie. Always smiling, even when she's sad herself she won't let it show, for everybody else's sake."

Quistis watched the little yellow figure fidgeting and smiled.

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"Heeey! Rinoa! There's people over there!"

"Really?" Rinoa jumped up and ran to the edge of the blacony. "Please, let it be Squall!" She whispered to the sky.

"Is that Quissy?" Selphie took a huge breath and yelled extremly loud;

"HEEEEYYYYY! QUIIIISSSTIIIIIISSS!!!!!"

Rinoa winced and covered her ears.

Selphie jumped up and down exitedly.

"She's waving! Woohoo!"

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"She can make alot of noise for such a small person." Said Best.

"Yes. She's hardly as delicate as she looks." Quistis stopped waving for a second. "Genji. You can probably shout pretty loud, could you shout 'Booyaka' back at her?"

"Heh, no problem! ...Wait, are you sayin' I'm loud?"

"Well, you are a l-"

"Just shout Genji."

"Tsh, fine...HEY YOU GUYS! BOOOOOYAAAKKAAAA!!!!!"

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"Was that Zell?"

"I dunno...It really sounds like him. But he looks different...bigger."

"How do we get to them? They're all the way over on that other balcony."

"Well, the long, boring route would be to walk aaaaall the way over there. Hmmm....there must be a faster way..." Selphie looked down off the balcony. "Long way down, I don't think I'd jump that if you paid me a million gil."

"We could just walk."

"But that'll take forever!"

"It's not that far, if they're walking towards us, and we're walking towards them, we'll meet in the middle in about twenty minutes right?"

Selphie kicked up her heels, looking at her boots.

"Okay, we'll do that. Let's go!"

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"Huh? Where are they going?" Questionned Genji.

"They're walking towards us. If we walk towards them, we'll meet up before it's dark." Said Ellone.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Asked Quistis, "Let's get a move on!"

Twenty minutes later the group of youths had yet to find the pair. The path to the other blacony was not straight as they had thought, but twisted aroung misleadingly. It was becoming dark. Ellone scowled to herself.

('Just my luck. We're lost aren't we? True I was getting a little jittery about meeting-')

"Quissy!"

Ellone looked up into the inky blue doorway on heaing the familliar voice. ('Instructor K- ...!') She suddenly remembered, and tried to hide the shock of seeing not her Instructor, but a small, sticklike teenager with huge eyes and the wackiest hairstyle she had ever seen, dressed in a daringly short minidress and knee high boots.

"Selphie! I'm glad to see you!" Said Quistis.

"Wooo! That was a longer walk than I expected! Seriously."

"Selphie! Slow down!"

Ellone froze. She had told herself she wouldn't be phased. She had told herself that really it wasn't her mother at all, but on hearing that voice, she could feel her heat beating in her head. Her hands curled compulsively

"Hey, Rinoa! Look it's Quistis!"

"Really? Yesss!" Rinoa rounded the corner. Extremely beautiful. Now Ellone could see exactly how those clothes should have looked. And she also wondered how anybody could compare her to her mother.

('How can they make such a comparison?! Compared to her I'm nothing! How can anybody look at her, then call me beautiful?')

She couldn't look any more, she looked to her left. In the dim blue light she could see that Sylvie's eyes looked overly shiny. She was crying, small suppressed spasms occasionally made her convulse, and her breathing was shallow.

('No, please don't cry. You'll make me want to.')

"So, who are these guys?"

"Um, perhaps we should find somewhere to sit down first? I'm tired. We passed a good place just a few paces back."

Quistis looked behind her and saw Sylvie shaking slightly. She couldn't see Ellone's face.

"Good idea." She said swiftly, and followed the rapidly disappearing Selphie.

Best turned to Ellone.

"Be strong." She said, "I will not tolerate seeing my leader show weakness."

Ellone burned with anger immediately and drew herself up straight backed and stone faced.

"Don't worry yourself. You'll get no weakness from me." She growled.

"Good." Replied Best, and to the SeeD's suprise, she laughed. "Very good."

"Hey."

"Aaagh!" Ellone jumped sideways, Rinoa was stood right next to her.

"She's mean. Is she like that all the time? Oh, I'm sorry I scared you. I'm Rinoa."

('She's Rinoa, she's not my mother, She's Rinoa...')

"H-Hi. I'm Ella."

('I can't say Ellone, how would I explain it? 'Oh by the way, I'm your daughter'? She'd be freaked!')

"Nice to meet you. So...who was that mean girl?"

"That was Best. She's not really mean, she's just...uh...kind of...fierce."

"I see...And who are you?" She asked, leaning her head towards Sylvie.

"Sylvie." She answered horsely.

"You sound like you're as tired as I am." Rinoa tossed back her head with a short laugh as she walked. "C'mon, it's not far!" She jogged after Quistis and Selphie.

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The boy finally opened his eyes and stirred, groaning a little. Squall blinked and looked up, he had been watching the small campfire that he had built, but now his attention was fixed on the strange young man. Irvine was asleep, his hat had fallen over his face and he was snoring lightly.

He opened his eyes to see a bright fire, and a man behind it who looked so familliar. His fine face, his floppy hair, his clothes....his scar.

"Squall Leonhart?"