Final Fantasy: Scarlet Eyes
Author's Rants: Hey all I'm back! Thanks to all my gracious reviewers and readers. Again, sorry about the long time between updates. So enjoy the new chapter! I don't own Final Fantasy, it characters, locations etc. However I do own my original characters so don't steal them.
Chapter 9: I the Lion, You the knight.
Scarlet, Tyranis, Araina and Sonya all stood outside Xu's office along with all their classmates. Their exam results would be known to them as soon as Xu came out of her office holding the script that contained their grades. The four students all were standing silently and with equal anxiety. Scarlet watched the rest of the students in her year as they congregated in their little groups and discussed their varying issue and problems. A few weeks ago Scarlet would have looked down on this behavior, but as she turned to look at her three friends she realized that she too had become part of her own little group. She smiled at the thought.
They heard a small thumping inside Xu's office and a silence ensued, which seemed like no breath was being drawn in the corridor. The was a creaking and the handle of her office turned slowly, finally Xu emerged carrying a stack of papers. She was quickly surrounded by a crowd of excited students but called for silence almost as soon as they reached her.
"O.K kids settle down." She said calmly. "I just want to say that this has been one of our best years set of exams with only marginal failures by a few students. I am very proud of you all."
Scarlet watched as Xu glanced over the pile of papers, she felt a strange fear come over her; not anxiety or nerves but fear. Fear, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of being viewed as lesser than her fellow classmates. Crossing her arms over her chest, she felt a strange coldness wash over her body. She was a stranger to this emotion and felt the bitterness of her fear wash over her whole being. And she came to know that this was what being human was, to be afraid, and inexplicably his did not bother her.
"Araina Trepe, 96%, grade 1." Xu said, handing Araina her paper.
Araina jumped up and down at her near perfect score and received gracious hugs from Tyranis and Sonya. Scarlet gave her a smile and one of her patented nods, which Araina received and gratefully reimbursed. But, deep in her mind Araina was not as happy as she projected; she still felt a great emptiness inside her heart that she felt needed filling, but by who was still unclear to her. Her smile became more somber as glanced over the array of ticks and praises held within her paper. She close her paper fast and looked on to see what her friends got in the exams.
***
Squall watched the dim light climb over the rocky hills of centra. Sitting in the straw bed Sefeir had provided he lay motionless as the suns rays brushed against his face. He had slept peacefully that and night and the night before that but today he would have to return back to Balamb and Rinoa. He wondered how Sefier would take it.
Over the two nights Squall had spent in the quant little cottage by the sea, he had come to notice a great shift in Sefier's demeanor; no longer the rash warrior with something to prove to the world, not even a hint of his old temper and hot headedness, it seemed that Sefier Almsly had finally grown up. This both gladdened and scared Squall at the same time.
A rustling came within earshot of Squall and he turned to see Sefier enter the room wearing his familiar grey leather jacket. The only thing that he had changed was his hair, it was now longer and hung low enough to brush against the shoulders of his jacket. He also noticed Sefier had started growing his fringe, although barely more than tickling the tip of his forehead it was still very noticeable to someone who had known Sefier. He walked over the bed and sat down at the end, his Gunblade strapped to his side. Squall looked at him with a mix of happiness and confusion and wondered what happened to the Sefier that used to terrorize the Garden. "So today we will go back to Balamb." Said Sefier looking at the rising sun as it rose above the mountains into the cloudless sky.
Squall nodded, but before he could return to the place he came to know as home he needed to know something.
"Sefier." Squall said as he rose from his bed to sit next to him. "Why are you here?"
Sefier let out a somber sigh as he got to his feet. He paced around the small room for a while before facing Squall with his answer.
"Why are we all here Squall?" he laughed. "You ask too general a statement." He grinned.
"Why are you here in Centra, why are you taking care of me and why were you out in the desert that day you found me? Still too general for you?" Squall grinned back.
And in that instant Squall felt the same feeling towards his now friendly nemesis as he had all those years ago. He saw in him the fire which he thought had been strangled and he felt within a great suspicion towards him. He wondered if Sefier felt the same way. Squall rose to his feet and walked over to the corner of the room. He picked up his Lionhart from were it lay and swung it around a little before strapping it to his belt.
Without words the two left the cottage and headed towards the great ocean that lay before them. Side by side they reached the water's edge and stared out into the seemingly endless blue haze. Sefier looked round at Squall staring out into the water. He thought of the great defeat he had suffered from Squall and his past as the Sorceress' knight. It was strange, even after all that had happened he still thought of himself as Sir Almsly of Ultimicia.
***
Sonya looked over her exam paper laying in her bed. She had received an 86% mark in the mid-term, which although nowhere near as good a mark as her other friends got it still pleased her. In the Balamb Garden, a mark of 75% or above meant the student was awarded a grade 1, which allowed them to participate in the final exam. Sonya opened her bed side cabinet and slipped her paper into the drawer. She then reached into the second drawer a pulled out her mobile phone. Holding it in front of her, she dialed in her friend's number and held the little blue box to her ear.
"Hey Scarlet, it's Sonya, what's up?"
Across in the Lionhart residence Scarlet rubbed her tired eyes as she held the receiver to her ear. Sonya and her had become closer than either had to Tyranis and Araina, guess it was the whole 'new girl' thing that help bring them along as friends. They had frequently had conversations over the phone, but never this late before. Scarlet guessed that she must have wanted to discuss her grades. She rolled over in her bed to lie on her stomach.
"Hi Sonya, I'm fine." She yawned. "What's with the midnight phone call?" She said looking at her bedside clock.
"Oh just wanted to have a chat, that's all. So you must be real pleased with your mark in the midterms?"
Scarlet swiveled over to face her beside table where her exam paper lay, with her 96% printed in red ink. She was please it was the top mark, but slightly disheartened that she shared it with someone else. She reasoned that sharing her mark with a friend is a little better than sharing it with someone totally obnoxious (Image of Trowa Maxwell entered her head).
"Yeah, it's as good as I could have hoped for, I guess." Scarlet said unsurely. "So was there something you wanted to say to me?"
In her dorm room Sonya bit her upper lip tight and wondered if she should tell her the secret she kept.
"O.K, you know in History," She started. "How Instructor Lionhart was talking about Guardian Forces?"
"Yeah," Sonya spoke cautiously. "What about it?"
"What if I told you I had one."
Scarlet span round to a stand, still clutching the phone. She thought of her sleeping Leviathan that rested in her mind. It had never occurred her that others in her school could obtain G.F's the way she did. She knew Tyranis had Shiva and Carbuncle, he told her how his parents had given them, but never had she known of anyone else to poses a Guardian. She stood silently in thought.
"I would tell you I have one too."
***
Rinoa sat downstairs in her armchair. She put down her lesson planner and listened to the mumblings coming from upstairs. She was very pleased and also very proud of how Scarlet had opened up to the people around. She and Rinoa could now have long conversations about varying topics. Rinoa had strange feelings towards Scarlet; when they talked they were like sisters, which really was what they were (Sisters-In-Law to be precise), but she looked at her as a child, her niece, which is what she came as. Mrs. Lionhart lay back in her chair and remembered what she'd seen on the news tha day.
The oppositions party in Esther was kicking up a fuss about President Loire's policies on prisons and penal reform. It seemed that a few activists had started a riot outside the palace gates, some making death threats to Laguna and his family. Scarlet Loire. Rinoa wondered what would happen if she read out that name when taking registration. She had often been tempted to read out Scarlet's real name and pretend it was a slip-up, just to end the lie. But a sense of the trust placed her and Squall stopped her from doing so.
She heard a creak in the house which she first dismissed as coming from upstairs. Rising from her chair she heard it again, she walked over to the living room and saw a handsome figure standing before her. She ran into his chest and wrapped her arms round his back. Squall stroked her black hair gently as she cried into him.
"Squall."
Suddenly she stopped her tears and looked into his pearly eyes, before hitting him across the shoulder. "Where the hell have you been?" She shouted. Squall smiled back at her and her scowl softened to a grin.
"He was with me." A voice from the other side of the room said.
Rinoa turned to the blonde figure beside her. She looked him up and down, berely believing who was standing beside her. She put her arm on his firm shoulder and smiled.
"Good to see you Sefier."
Sefier smiled at her somberly before looking back at Squall. His face had become saddened and pale. Rinoa walked back to him and touched his face, running her soft hand down its side. Staring straight into his eyes she saw what he had seen and felt the pain he had felt. "Edea, she's.." Rinoa winced.
"I'm sorry, I was too late."
Rinoa scowled with darkened features. Her face grew pale and motionless but it was her eyes that shocked the most. They had become red like spilt blood. The orbs burned brightly and illuminated the room and Squall and Sefier backed away from the energy that now formed around her. Her sorceress powers had been reawakened. Purple energy swirled around her body.
"Who!" She screamed.
"It was a demon, Crimson." Squall whispered.
"Call the others," Rinoa said, the energy around her receading. "He must be destroyed."
Sefier watched Rinoa drift up the stairs and recalled the last time he'd seen her powers unleashed. Crimson, he'd heard that name before. A demon that had claimed the domain of Odin, the Guardian Force he himself had killed. Sefier had also heard rumors of Crimson's secret army that he was forming in the shadows of Odin's dark castle. He wondered what else hid in that castle, for he knew a demon just released from the under realm would not yet have the strength to fight and kill an established sorceress, even one who not used her powers for a while. He kept his thoughts to himself, rumors and legends were of no use to the Lionhart's situation. Another thought entered his head.
"Wonder what the rest of the gang will think of me turning up." He laughed mentally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that's it for the ninth chapter. Hopefully you won't have to wait another month and a half for chapter 10. Just a note, please review this chapter with any comments on the story. It is only by reviews that I know if my story is reaching people. So drag your cursor to that little button and left click.
Dark Eva.
Author's Rants: Hey all I'm back! Thanks to all my gracious reviewers and readers. Again, sorry about the long time between updates. So enjoy the new chapter! I don't own Final Fantasy, it characters, locations etc. However I do own my original characters so don't steal them.
Chapter 9: I the Lion, You the knight.
Scarlet, Tyranis, Araina and Sonya all stood outside Xu's office along with all their classmates. Their exam results would be known to them as soon as Xu came out of her office holding the script that contained their grades. The four students all were standing silently and with equal anxiety. Scarlet watched the rest of the students in her year as they congregated in their little groups and discussed their varying issue and problems. A few weeks ago Scarlet would have looked down on this behavior, but as she turned to look at her three friends she realized that she too had become part of her own little group. She smiled at the thought.
They heard a small thumping inside Xu's office and a silence ensued, which seemed like no breath was being drawn in the corridor. The was a creaking and the handle of her office turned slowly, finally Xu emerged carrying a stack of papers. She was quickly surrounded by a crowd of excited students but called for silence almost as soon as they reached her.
"O.K kids settle down." She said calmly. "I just want to say that this has been one of our best years set of exams with only marginal failures by a few students. I am very proud of you all."
Scarlet watched as Xu glanced over the pile of papers, she felt a strange fear come over her; not anxiety or nerves but fear. Fear, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of being viewed as lesser than her fellow classmates. Crossing her arms over her chest, she felt a strange coldness wash over her body. She was a stranger to this emotion and felt the bitterness of her fear wash over her whole being. And she came to know that this was what being human was, to be afraid, and inexplicably his did not bother her.
"Araina Trepe, 96%, grade 1." Xu said, handing Araina her paper.
Araina jumped up and down at her near perfect score and received gracious hugs from Tyranis and Sonya. Scarlet gave her a smile and one of her patented nods, which Araina received and gratefully reimbursed. But, deep in her mind Araina was not as happy as she projected; she still felt a great emptiness inside her heart that she felt needed filling, but by who was still unclear to her. Her smile became more somber as glanced over the array of ticks and praises held within her paper. She close her paper fast and looked on to see what her friends got in the exams.
***
Squall watched the dim light climb over the rocky hills of centra. Sitting in the straw bed Sefeir had provided he lay motionless as the suns rays brushed against his face. He had slept peacefully that and night and the night before that but today he would have to return back to Balamb and Rinoa. He wondered how Sefier would take it.
Over the two nights Squall had spent in the quant little cottage by the sea, he had come to notice a great shift in Sefier's demeanor; no longer the rash warrior with something to prove to the world, not even a hint of his old temper and hot headedness, it seemed that Sefier Almsly had finally grown up. This both gladdened and scared Squall at the same time.
A rustling came within earshot of Squall and he turned to see Sefier enter the room wearing his familiar grey leather jacket. The only thing that he had changed was his hair, it was now longer and hung low enough to brush against the shoulders of his jacket. He also noticed Sefier had started growing his fringe, although barely more than tickling the tip of his forehead it was still very noticeable to someone who had known Sefier. He walked over the bed and sat down at the end, his Gunblade strapped to his side. Squall looked at him with a mix of happiness and confusion and wondered what happened to the Sefier that used to terrorize the Garden. "So today we will go back to Balamb." Said Sefier looking at the rising sun as it rose above the mountains into the cloudless sky.
Squall nodded, but before he could return to the place he came to know as home he needed to know something.
"Sefier." Squall said as he rose from his bed to sit next to him. "Why are you here?"
Sefier let out a somber sigh as he got to his feet. He paced around the small room for a while before facing Squall with his answer.
"Why are we all here Squall?" he laughed. "You ask too general a statement." He grinned.
"Why are you here in Centra, why are you taking care of me and why were you out in the desert that day you found me? Still too general for you?" Squall grinned back.
And in that instant Squall felt the same feeling towards his now friendly nemesis as he had all those years ago. He saw in him the fire which he thought had been strangled and he felt within a great suspicion towards him. He wondered if Sefier felt the same way. Squall rose to his feet and walked over to the corner of the room. He picked up his Lionhart from were it lay and swung it around a little before strapping it to his belt.
Without words the two left the cottage and headed towards the great ocean that lay before them. Side by side they reached the water's edge and stared out into the seemingly endless blue haze. Sefier looked round at Squall staring out into the water. He thought of the great defeat he had suffered from Squall and his past as the Sorceress' knight. It was strange, even after all that had happened he still thought of himself as Sir Almsly of Ultimicia.
***
Sonya looked over her exam paper laying in her bed. She had received an 86% mark in the mid-term, which although nowhere near as good a mark as her other friends got it still pleased her. In the Balamb Garden, a mark of 75% or above meant the student was awarded a grade 1, which allowed them to participate in the final exam. Sonya opened her bed side cabinet and slipped her paper into the drawer. She then reached into the second drawer a pulled out her mobile phone. Holding it in front of her, she dialed in her friend's number and held the little blue box to her ear.
"Hey Scarlet, it's Sonya, what's up?"
Across in the Lionhart residence Scarlet rubbed her tired eyes as she held the receiver to her ear. Sonya and her had become closer than either had to Tyranis and Araina, guess it was the whole 'new girl' thing that help bring them along as friends. They had frequently had conversations over the phone, but never this late before. Scarlet guessed that she must have wanted to discuss her grades. She rolled over in her bed to lie on her stomach.
"Hi Sonya, I'm fine." She yawned. "What's with the midnight phone call?" She said looking at her bedside clock.
"Oh just wanted to have a chat, that's all. So you must be real pleased with your mark in the midterms?"
Scarlet swiveled over to face her beside table where her exam paper lay, with her 96% printed in red ink. She was please it was the top mark, but slightly disheartened that she shared it with someone else. She reasoned that sharing her mark with a friend is a little better than sharing it with someone totally obnoxious (Image of Trowa Maxwell entered her head).
"Yeah, it's as good as I could have hoped for, I guess." Scarlet said unsurely. "So was there something you wanted to say to me?"
In her dorm room Sonya bit her upper lip tight and wondered if she should tell her the secret she kept.
"O.K, you know in History," She started. "How Instructor Lionhart was talking about Guardian Forces?"
"Yeah," Sonya spoke cautiously. "What about it?"
"What if I told you I had one."
Scarlet span round to a stand, still clutching the phone. She thought of her sleeping Leviathan that rested in her mind. It had never occurred her that others in her school could obtain G.F's the way she did. She knew Tyranis had Shiva and Carbuncle, he told her how his parents had given them, but never had she known of anyone else to poses a Guardian. She stood silently in thought.
"I would tell you I have one too."
***
Rinoa sat downstairs in her armchair. She put down her lesson planner and listened to the mumblings coming from upstairs. She was very pleased and also very proud of how Scarlet had opened up to the people around. She and Rinoa could now have long conversations about varying topics. Rinoa had strange feelings towards Scarlet; when they talked they were like sisters, which really was what they were (Sisters-In-Law to be precise), but she looked at her as a child, her niece, which is what she came as. Mrs. Lionhart lay back in her chair and remembered what she'd seen on the news tha day.
The oppositions party in Esther was kicking up a fuss about President Loire's policies on prisons and penal reform. It seemed that a few activists had started a riot outside the palace gates, some making death threats to Laguna and his family. Scarlet Loire. Rinoa wondered what would happen if she read out that name when taking registration. She had often been tempted to read out Scarlet's real name and pretend it was a slip-up, just to end the lie. But a sense of the trust placed her and Squall stopped her from doing so.
She heard a creak in the house which she first dismissed as coming from upstairs. Rising from her chair she heard it again, she walked over to the living room and saw a handsome figure standing before her. She ran into his chest and wrapped her arms round his back. Squall stroked her black hair gently as she cried into him.
"Squall."
Suddenly she stopped her tears and looked into his pearly eyes, before hitting him across the shoulder. "Where the hell have you been?" She shouted. Squall smiled back at her and her scowl softened to a grin.
"He was with me." A voice from the other side of the room said.
Rinoa turned to the blonde figure beside her. She looked him up and down, berely believing who was standing beside her. She put her arm on his firm shoulder and smiled.
"Good to see you Sefier."
Sefier smiled at her somberly before looking back at Squall. His face had become saddened and pale. Rinoa walked back to him and touched his face, running her soft hand down its side. Staring straight into his eyes she saw what he had seen and felt the pain he had felt. "Edea, she's.." Rinoa winced.
"I'm sorry, I was too late."
Rinoa scowled with darkened features. Her face grew pale and motionless but it was her eyes that shocked the most. They had become red like spilt blood. The orbs burned brightly and illuminated the room and Squall and Sefier backed away from the energy that now formed around her. Her sorceress powers had been reawakened. Purple energy swirled around her body.
"Who!" She screamed.
"It was a demon, Crimson." Squall whispered.
"Call the others," Rinoa said, the energy around her receading. "He must be destroyed."
Sefier watched Rinoa drift up the stairs and recalled the last time he'd seen her powers unleashed. Crimson, he'd heard that name before. A demon that had claimed the domain of Odin, the Guardian Force he himself had killed. Sefier had also heard rumors of Crimson's secret army that he was forming in the shadows of Odin's dark castle. He wondered what else hid in that castle, for he knew a demon just released from the under realm would not yet have the strength to fight and kill an established sorceress, even one who not used her powers for a while. He kept his thoughts to himself, rumors and legends were of no use to the Lionhart's situation. Another thought entered his head.
"Wonder what the rest of the gang will think of me turning up." He laughed mentally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that's it for the ninth chapter. Hopefully you won't have to wait another month and a half for chapter 10. Just a note, please review this chapter with any comments on the story. It is only by reviews that I know if my story is reaching people. So drag your cursor to that little button and left click.
Dark Eva.