Chapter 6: Admittance and Amnesia

Fujin's POV

We were finally here. The great building of Balamb Garden rose up above us in all its glory. The sun shone brightly down on the raised circular structure. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I thought that the skyscrapers of Esthar were impressive, but there were like slums compared to the prestige of this military campus.

The busy streets around the entrance of the campus were bustling with people running around to and fro from doorway to doorway. Everyone was wearing the same uniform and coming out of the same exit.

"Come on Fujin." Rajin called by my side. I looked up at his tall stature a little scared of what was coming.

"Ok." I followed him into the huge curved entrance of Balamb Garden. As we ventured further and further into the brightly-lit hallway, we gained look from the passers by, which made me even more nervous. I didn't know why I was so scared, but there was something inside my heart that was trembling with the thought of being in a new environment.

We stopped at the gateway and stated that we wanted admission. The gate went up and we walked through with instructions to go to the head masters' office. Rajin and I then came to the enormous centre hall. The fountains and indoor streams gushed out surrounding the walkways, and the greenery complemented the water perfectly; it was like an indoor garden. The rooftops soared to the highest part of the structure, and as I looked up towards the sky I could see the main lift tower and suspended walkway to another sector of the campus.

"Fujin!" My head came back down and looked to see Rajin waiting for me again. It seemed as though he didn't care about the splendour of this building…

I ran and caught up with impatient Rajin and we walked up the stairs to the lift. The lift came down and opened to take us up to the third floor. We stepped in and the tinted doors closed and took us up to the centre point of the building. I looked down at the circle of Eden disappear and become smaller and smaller. The walkway to the second floor flashed before my eyes and I saw someone standing there, walking towards us.

Everything seemed to slow down for that instant. The tall boy strode towards us with a stern look on his face. His short blonde hair flowed in the air him as he walked, and his hands were clenched in black gloves. The boy's long white trench coat drifted behind him as he continued to advance towards the lift entrance. His head looked up and his eyes locked with mine for that one second in time. I saw each one of his angry expressions soften and turn into the complete opposite. I saw his mouth hang open slightly and his pace quickened…but all this passed as quick as an eye blink.

I didn't recognise him at all, but it seemed a little disturbing that he recognised me, or at least seemed to by his momentarily behaviour. I put the strange event to the back of my mind and continued to worry about what was going to happen next.

A bell rang out and the doors pulled back with a humming sound as we stepped out in the reception area of the head master's quarters. The huge doors opened and before us was the office of the head.

"Come in children." His warm voice beckoned us forward. As I got a better look at him, I saw that he was a young but ageing man. He had a broad and soft face, and a fairly big boned body. He wore mall glasses and had a gentle smile planted on his face.

"I am the head master, Cid Kramner, and you, I understand, want to join our garden yes?" we both nodded. "Well. I'm sure that you will both fit right in. We will find accommodation for you straight away and will send word of our entrance exam. All the details will be sent to your terminals in your rooms."

"What exactly will we have to do?" Rajin asked.

"You will have to pass a small combat test and a written exam on basic scenarios of battle."

"A written paper?!"

"Yes, but you won't need to know anything apart from common knowledge. If you can't pass the tests, then I'm afraid that you will not be the right sort of seedling for our garden. But you will pass from looking at your array of weapons…" his mouth curved into a smile again as he finished. A bleep came from his desk computer.

"Oh…your rooms will be 235 for the lady, and 574 for the gentleman."

"We don't get to share rooms?" we said in unison.

"I'm afraid not…we can't mix the two genders. But feel free to visit each other before lights out." A sigh of relief came from both of us as we looked at each other. "Now, run along to your rooms. A future classmate will guide you to your dormitories. You are dismissed."

"Thank you." We both said and bowed our heads. We turned and left, glad that we finally had a home to live in. The lift faced us again and we walked into the capsule that took us down to the first floor.

The doors pulled back again and revealed the peaceful atmosphere to us again. I almost gasped as I saw the same boy from the second floor standing there in front of us. I saw his eyes widen for a split second, but his features returned to the light grimace that they were originally.

"I'm the one who's taking you to your rooms. Follow me" He turned and started to walk away from us, not waiting to see whether we were following. We walked quickly and caught up with him. There was an air about him that seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it. He led us round the circle of walkways, and veered off down a corridor with a sign labelled 'Dormitories'.

Rajin was shown first to his room, although I could have sworn I'd seen some girls enter their rooms a while back. I said goodbye to Rajin and that I'd see him later. I then waved farewell and turned to be taken to my own room.

I almost had to run to keep up with his brisk walk, and I could tell that he was in a bad mood. But the strangest thing was, was that he led me out of the corridor that we had just come through. He didn't know where he was taking me, but I kept following.

"I thought the dorms were back there." I questioned, but he made no reply and I thought it was best if I didn't pursue the matter. He took me down a different corridor named 'Quad'. It opened out to a big park like area. Benches lined the low hedge walls and concrete tiles lined the floor. The boy stopped and kept his back facing me.

"Why have we stop…?" I asked feebly, but he cut off my sentence.

"Don't you recognise me?" he shouted. He swirled round and faced me with an angry look on his face.

"No?"

"Fujin! You're Fujin right?" I nodded as he pointed at me. "Don't you know me?" I shook my head.

"This is great! Just great!" he shouted around the quad as he turned around swinging his hands towards the ceiling. One came to rest on his face and he mumbled something along the lines of a bad day, which I didn't quite hear.

"I'm sorry…Have I meant to have seen you somewhere before?" I really didn't know what he was going on about, but it was scaring me slightly. I knew that deep down his face had a flicker of memory stored somewhere, but I couldn't piece together anything that would make sense. All I had was his face embedded in my head. I knew I had seen it somewhere before…

"Of course you are! We went to the orphanage together! Please tell me you're joking when you say you don't recognise me!"

"I know your face…but that's all. I'm sorry. What's your name?"

"Seifer. You know what? I'm not even going to bother with this anymore. Follow me to your room." I stalked off again leaving me there in the quad confused. "Are you coming or not?" I obeyed his command and followed: I didn't want to upset him further.

As I walked back into the main hallway, I couldn't help but think about my guide. The thing about the orphanage I couldn't remember. I had no memory of such a place. I might have been to one but I couldn't remember that far back. The only thing I could remember from my past was that I forever wondered the fields in search of shelter. I had no home. I had no parents and I had no friends, except Rajin.

Something suddenly hit me at that moment. Something had awakened in my brain and the information shocked me to the core. He was the boy from my dream! He was the one who had been killed. He was the one who I couldn't remember. His words were the same, everything was the same. But where did I know him? Why was this figure haunting me?

All this forgotten and blank memories were beginning to frighten me even more. I never really thought about it before, but I really had nothing to remember. My hands began to tremble with shock as everything piled up inside me, waiting to burst the dams of my soul. I suddenly felt dizzy and my vision grew hazy as I continued to walk began my forgotten friend.

"Umm…Seifer?"

"What?" he said continuing to walk in front of me.

"I feel a bit dizzy…could I…lie down for…a" my knees buckled under me as my consciousness failed me. The last thing I heard was Seifer calling my name and turning to catch me before I hit the floor…