Okay I just wanna say that this is
the third part of the "Hidden Pasts" trilogy. You should really read the other
two first, but you don't need to. The story would make more sense though.
Twin
Destinies
By Katie Herdman
Prologue
Two figures lay next to each other. Bound together
in sleep, they dreamt. One, a great lion, proud and strong. The other was a
fearsome warrior, a woman wild and free. They held each other close, as if they
could never be separated.
In the bed, the woman stirred in her sleep. Around
her neck was a necklace of silver; the pentagram protected her from harm.
Slowly she opened her eyes and looked up at the
sleeping lion. He opened his eyes and met hers. Tenderly they kissed each
other, not aware of the rest of the world.
After
a minute the woman pulled back and smiled. "Why?" she asked.
The lion blinked then she was gone, like she had
never been there. He was alone in his bed…
* * *
Squall woke up suddenly. It had only been a dream,
but that was the problem. Every night Andria visited him in his dreams and
asked him why. It was a question that he could not answer, but it disturbed
him. What did she mean?
In his cot, Jake stirred. Squall slowly and quietly
got out of his bed, not wanting to disturb his son, if he was asleep. Jake was
a light sleeper and would wake at any noise.
Jake
was a good kid, he never cried, and smiled a lot. He had Andria's nature, and
Squall's looks. As long as he didn't have Squall 's temper, then people were
happy as to them one Squall was bad enough.
Squall wasn't happy. Every day it hurt, a raw pain
inside him, which wouldn't go away. If only he had done something, then things
could have been different. Rinoa tried to understand, but she didn't. If only…
Chapter
1
Selphie Tilmitt took out her shinobou sticks. Beside
her Zell Dinct placed his gloves on his hands and smiled an encouraging smile
at her.
The
Grats in front of them growled, their tentacles flailing in anger at having
been disturbed. Selphie laughed, they would be easy to defeat with her and Zell
fighting. They were a good team, even better when Irvine was there, but he had
been busy and couldn't join them.
One
of the Grats rushed at her suddenly. Selphie quickly jumped out of the way and
then countered. The Grat screamed in pain as her weapon cut right through it.
It screamed again, and then fell. Selphie grinned at Zell.
"Think
you can do any better," Selphie taunted. Zell's tattoo moved as he grinned back
at her.
"Watch
and learn little girl," he said, and then called Bahamut. The torrent of blue
light surrounded and above the roar of the mighty dragon, they heard the Grat
scream. When Bahamut left, the Grat was gone.
"Still
not as good as me," Selphie said then hi-fived Zell.
Turning
they walked out of the Training Centre.
* * *
Rinoa sat on the seat, meditating on the gurgling
sound of the water. The soothing sound enchanted her and she felt more relaxed.
Placing her hand into the water, the coolness rushed up her hand. Calling on
her power, she manipulated the water to start spinning round. Concentrating
hard Rinoa pushed the water away from her hand, and a hole appeared through the
water to the bottom. A shout stopped her concentration and she looked up in
annoyance.
"Hiya Rinoa," Selphie called, "we're gonna go to the
cafeteria. D'ya wanna come?"
Rinoa nodded, practising her sorceress power now
would be impossible. Maybe later…
* * *
Squall sat in the corner table, as far away from
other people as possible. He preferred it that way. Jake sat next to him eating
his breakfast. He was almost two now and wanted to do everything for himself.
Squall was extremely proud of him and couldn't imagine life without Jake.
Rinoa entered the room and scanned the room until she
saw Squall and walked over to the table.
"Can I sit here," she asked. Squall nodded and she
sat down next to him. There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a
moment, then they both tried to talk at the same time. Squall stopped and let
Rinoa continue.
"Did you dream again last night, of her."
Squall nodded, he had thought of nothing else but the
dream. A year on and Andria was still pretty much in his thoughts.
"Tell
me about it."
Squall
took a deep breath, and proceeded to tell Rinoa about his dream. Rinoa listened
intently. Squall knew it bothered her, him talking about Andria, but she
listened and gave good advice. Squall felt at ease talking to her, and he knew
that she knew that they would never be lovers again. Things had gone too far.
Now they were just good friends.
"Squall
you think about her constantly. She's always there, and you're torturing
yourself," Rinoa said, then held his hand. "Try to forgive yourself, it wasn't
your fault," she said gently.
Getting
up from her chair, Rinoa leant over and kissed his forehead. She then went over
and joined Zell and Selphie.
Squall
mulled over what she had said, but how could he forgive himself. She had died
to save him; to her, his life had been more important than her own. That was
wrong; Andria should have been there to see Jake grow up.
* * *
"No, no Irvy, we need the band set up there."
Selphie
shook her head in exasperation and pointed to the other end of the sheet of
paper.
They
were planning the next garden festival, only plans were going slowly, as
Selphie had agreed to Irvine's help, but they couldn't agree on anything.
Selphie was just about to order Irvine out of the room when Zell entered, an
odd expression on his face.
"Hey
guys, Squall's just left Garden. When I asked where he was going, he ignored
me. I'm telling you, we have to do something about him, he's getting too hard
to handle."
Irvine
leapt immediately to Squall's defence saying how Andria had died and how he'd
found out he was a father and how hard that must have been for him, but Selphie
shushed him.
"He
has been difficult lately Irvine, and we've made excuses for him long enough.
His work as a SeeD is starting to suffer and I don't think anyone can take much
more of him," she said thoughtfully.
Thinking
for a few minutes she finally said to Zell, "When he comes back, I want you to
talk to him Zell. Try and make him see sense. I'm worried that he may be
dismissed from Garden indefinitely if his behaviour doesn't improve."
"Okay,"
said Zell, he saluted then ran out the room, knocking Rinoa out of the way in
the process. He apologised then continued running.
"Whew,
is everyone in such a rush today?" she said.
* * *
The sun shone peacefully on the hillside. There was a
gentle breeze, which rustled the soft grass. The sun reflected rays off the
marble stone of Andria's grave. It was almost as if the grave was a beacon,
calling to Squall as he walked slowly towards it.
Sitting on the cool grass as her graveside, Squall
thought about their time together. When she had asked for him, he had taken her
then rejected her for another, only now did he see his mistake.
"Please Andria," he whispered to the breeze; hoping
it would take the message to her. "Tell me how to bring you back."
Squall felt extremely tired from lack of sleep; his
dreams kept him awake every night. He couldn't hold on to his sanity any
longer.
Holding
his head in his hands, he cried. All his problems, his hurt had to get out.
Bitter tears fell onto the grass; the blades shrank away as they didn't like it
very much.
Finally
Squall fell asleep when he could cry no more.
* * *
Yet again Squall dreamed. Only this dream was
slightly different. Yet again he was in his dormitory, but Andria wasn't there.
In front of him was a chest, Andria's chest. It was open and lying on the top
was a thick, black book.
Suddenly Squall felt her presence, she was all around
him, though he couldn't see her.
"Why?" she whispered, "why have you not come for me
yet?"
"I… I." Squall couldn't find the words to speak. He
now knew her question, but could not answer her.
"Wake up now Squall," she whispered again, "and you
shall have your answers."
* * *
Storming into his dormitory, Squall slung his jacket
to the other end of the room, and then reached down under his bed and searched
for something long forgotten. Grasping his fingers round the handle, he pulled
hard. Eventually he pulled out the large chest.
Exhausted, Squall sat for a moment, getting his
breath back. He had ran all the way from her grave and with his lack of sleep,
he wasn't half as quick as he had been before.
Finally ready to look once more inside, he checked
the lock. Damn, he thought, for Andria's pendant opened the chest and he had
thrown it away almost two years ago.
Loosing
patience Squall looked around for the only thing that he could think of to open
the chest with. His gunblade gleamed silver, inviting him to use it. Grasping
the handle, a wave of emotions entered him. Fear, love, despair… all that he
had felt with Andria.
Channelling
those emotions, Squall hacked at the lock; not wanting to stop in case anything
that might help him bring back Andria disappeared suddenly. He needed to know.
Finally
done, Squall slowly opened the chest and peered inside. Disappointed he opened
it up completely. The book was not lying on top as it had been in his dream.
Squall
then started throwing things out of the chest. Anything that was not breakable
was flung across the room. Then Squall saw it, the book from his dream, right
there at the bottom of the chest, its black cover inviting him to pick it up.
Carefully
cradling the book in his hands, Squall ran from the room. All his answers were
there, maybe he could…
