Chapter Twenty-One
sincerity
Irvine lay in the grass outside Balamb Garden, leaning into the cusp of a hill, twirling the black hat around on his index finger. Sunshine pouring down over a green hill, a couple birds, and a breeze in his face - it truly was the only religion he had ever known. Peace seeped in through his pores, soaking into his bones: a sense of belonging. Strength. Love. Sunshine itself was with him, at his side, giving him warmth and comfort.
Selphie shifted her head where it lay on his chest and sighed in her sleep.
Irvine bent his gaze down gently, so as not to wake her, and then turned his eyes back to the sky with a deep chuckle. She looked like a little child, or an angel, curled up in her sleep like that, one arm lying across his chest, fingers crumpled towards her face. The little golden ring on her finger winked at him as the sunlight teased a sparkle out of the shimmering green stone.
The ring had belonged to Irvine's mother.
After Selphie had received the information about her family, after she had sent the case worker in hot pursuit of her brother and sister, she had gone after Irvine's family with a fervor, a passion lit by determination. Little hacker Selphie did it herself, actually; tracing Irvine's name back through Edea and Cid, through his foster family, following the clues until she came up with a birth certificate, and names, and addresses, and dates. Surprisingly enough, his surname had actually been Kinneas; the family that had taken him were some sort of distant relatives, the first Edea could find, distant enough that they had never had anything to tell him about his past, really; most of Irvine's closest and immediate family had all vanished under different names due to a batch of sisters, all of whom had married. Selphie looked down at the copy of the birth certificate she had been mailed for Irvine M Kinneas and couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad.
Selphie had taken him out in the Ragnarok to an old farmhouse, crumbling into ash slowly. Irvine stared, and stared, and finally said softly: "Yes, this was it," and then cried; large, horrible, manly tears. And little Selphie had taken him into her arms and comforted him (though it was difficult, mainly because she was too short to reach him) and told him everything else she had found out. They had cried together for a while, each holding the other tighter than they had held anything in their lives.
And then they had heard voices; the folks from the neighboring farm had seen the huge spaceship and had come to check in an old beat-up pickup truck. They invited Selphie and Irvine back for tea and when they found out who Irvine was they burst out in tears as well. They had been close friends to the Kinneas farm folk; they had been the ones who had pulled young Irvine out of the barn and cared for him until that kind Kramer family had taken him. They had gone back to the Kinneas farm, gotten rid of most of the rubbish, and saved everything that was left; they had been caring for the old crumbling building as much as they could ever since. Irvine went home with a box of his own that day, holding it with shaking hands.
They had gone through it together; a couple books, a set of candlesticks. Some pictures in tarnished frames and broken glass. And in the bottom, a small jewelry box: inside was a pair of cufflinks, a tiny little brooch, and a golden ring set with a bright green stone. Irvine had pinned the brooch to the inside of his cowboy hat.
The next day he had offered Selphie the ring.
Their engagement was, of course, the news of the century. Balamb Garden was in an absolute uproar, as was Trabia, as far away as it happened to be. Everyone had expected Squall and Rinoa to be the first to tie the knot - and so this new engagement from this (relatively) new couple was a shock to many. Selphie and Irvine simply shook hands and received hugs and through it all exchanged secret glances and smiles.
We're meant to be together, the glances said. I'll be your family and you can be mine.
Everyone was talking eagerly about planning the wedding and the party and figuring out where they could go for their honeymoon. Selphie and Irvine slipped away and went for midnight strolls, or peaceful star-watching nights on the second-floor balcony, or naps in the afternoon sun. Their plans could wait: right now, they were just kids in love, trying to find a way to be happy.
Irvine was set to take his Instructorship exam within the week. The two of them were then heading to Trabia, where they would head up the Reconstruction Committee underneath Headmaster Shain. They would both work and teach until Trabia was functional; Selphie's Festival had turned up some money, yes, but it had been better for publicity. Now that everyone knew about Trabia's plight, donors from all over the world were offering serious cash to the injured Garden. The job would take much less time than they had expected with all the help they were receiving.
And once Trabia had been restored they would be married. The plans after that merely included a return to Balamb, where they could both take permanent Instructorship status and stay with the rest of their friends and family.
Family. Not only the kind related by blood; but the stronger kind, the kind tied together by strings of memories, held by forces of the heart.
For now, Irvine simply stared into the clouds, sunshine on his face and Selphie at his side, thinking about everything and nothing.
I'm so brilliant.