Wrong Intentions
Ch. 7, Christmas time again.
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I stood there watching Squall walk off, "He's probably going to talk with his Grandfather." I thought.
I turned around to face the woman who Squall said wanted to talk to me.
"So,what did you want to talk about?" I asked, as I sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table.
"First you must promise me that you will believe what I say...no matter how...different it might sound." She said.
"O...k sure, but can you please just tell me." I said, kind of confused at what she said.
"Rinoa you...you...are a Droganite." She said slowly.
"A what..." I asked.
"A Droganite, it is a race of humans that is different from any other, you might have noticed that you can hear things that other people cant, and can run faster, jump higher, and can do just about anything better than everyone else." She said at length.
"...Yeah, I have always felt a little different about that, but I cant do everything better than everyone else." I replied.
"Well, it is good to see that you are humble about it." She said with a smile, while taking a seat next to me.
"I just don't want to think that I am better than everyone else." I replied.
"And that is good, but I know better, you see...I have been watching you ever since you were born, so I know things about you that you might not even know yourself." She said, and this confused me even more.
"Are you an aunt of mine or something?" I asked curiously.
"No, but I am your guardian, so I know everything about you." She answered.
"Guardian? What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Every Droganite has a guardian to help and protect them, and also give advice to help them along the way to prove to themselves." She answered.
"So...in other words, I can pretty much tell you what to do? And what is this stuff about 'proving myself'?" I asked.
"Yes I am at your command, no matter what, and when I was talking about proving yourself I mean proving to yourself, and to the leaders of my world, that you are fit to rule." She answered.
"What do you mean help rule?" I asked.
"Let me explain this better, I come from a world, this is in a totally different dimension. There are eight dimensions that are still good, but there are four that have become corrupt, evil and darkness is all that is in them, and all that will come out of them. The race of Droganites are the only ones permitted to rule over my country. There are very few Droganites, for there are only four born into the world of humans every three thousand years. Two Males, and two Females, they are separated into two pairs, consisting of one Male, and one Female, then sent into different dimensions. Once they are old enough, they are contacted, then told what they are, after that they will each acquire a Guardian to help and guide them along the path to becoming the ruler of Gowhalere, which is name of my home world." She explained.
"Wow...so...I am supposed to be a ruler of a country?" I asked, shocked and amazed.
"Yes, if you can prove that you can rule, then you will be chosen." She answered.
"Cool! so...who is the other Droganite in this world?" I asked curiously.
"I could tell you now, but I think you already know him...or them." She answered.
"Them? I thought you said that there was only two for each dimension." I said half-confused.
"Yes, but I will tell you some other time." She said.
"So, your going to stay?" I asked.
"Well what would a guardian be. If he or she is always somewhere else." She said, getting up from the table.
"Yeah, I guess your right, but when do you think we can continue this conversation?" I asked.
"How about...sometime tomorrow." She said.
"Alright, I'll be waiting." I said, then watched her disappear through the door.
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I left Rinoa to talk with Alma, "Hopefully she'll take it better then I did." I thought, as I neared the doorway to the living room. It had been so long since I seen or heard from my Grandfather, but right now I was really happy to see him.
"Ah Squall, I was hoping that you would follow me." He said with a smile, as I entered the room.
"Yeah, Rin is talking to...someone right now so I decided to come and see my Grampa." I said, sitting down on a couch.
"So...who is she? I know she is your sister, so girlfriend?" He asked.
"No, just a friend from school." I replied.
"So, what was going on earlier?" He asked.
"...(sigh)...We're in big trouble, do you remember Seifer Almasy?" I asked.
"...Yes, I remember him, the little boy who was always doing something, how is he?" He asked.
"Bad I hope." I said bitterly.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Well, it was a couple years ago, and....well just forget about that...once we got older we started going separate ways, and right now he is probably our worst enemy." I explained.
"Oh...how sad, but what is going on? The way you were acting earlier I don't know what to think." He said.
"Grampa, Balamb is under attack, or at least will be in a couple days, the stadium has already been attacked, and just a couple hours ago, Cale...my friends...and me were almost killed, and seifer is the leader of all the attacks, and will be the leader of all attacks in the future." I explained.
"Hmm...well I'm sorry for bringing it up, and if there is anything I can do for you just ask." He said with concern.
"Actually, there is, uh...can I get a shower? I feel really grimy." I said, while standing up.
"Sure, it's just down the hall, and where will you and your friend be staying?" He asked, getting up also.
"Well, I was thinking about getting a couple rooms at the inn." I said.
"Why don't you both stay here." He said.
"Really? Well only if it's alright with you." I said excitedly.
"Well, to have my grandson staying with me tonight, I would be happy, but to have my grandson and his friend stay here tonight, I would be even happier." He said with a smile.
"Alright, thanks...well I'm going to go and get a shower now." I said, and started walking towards the bathroom.
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Ah, it felt so good to feel clean again, I was really surprised at how much dirt I had on me "No wonder I felt so grimy." I thought.
"Hey, your finally out of there, geez I've been waiting for like...an HOUR." I heard a voice come from my right, I turned and seen Rinoa standing there.
"Why, you haven't been waiting for the bathroom...have you?" I asked playfully.
"Yes! Geez, you take a shower slower than me." She said, while walking towards me.
"Hey! You try going for a week while falling in dirt, getting blown up, and getting into fights, then you see how dirty you are." I said, raising my hands up in defense.
"Ok, your off the hook...for now." She said, trying to hold back from laughing.
"So...uh, what day is it tomorrow?" I asked, half-talking to myself.
"It's Christmas eve, man where have you been." She said, while walking towards the door.
"Wow, Christmas eve already?" I asked.
"Yeah, so what would you want...if I was to get you something?" She asked.
"Ah you don't have to get me anything." I answered.
"Ok, suit yourself." She said with a shrug, then walked into the bathroom, and closing the door behind her.
I walked down the hallway until I found the living room, but my Grandfather wasn't there so I started looking around the house, until I found him sitting in the kitchen.
"Hey Grampa, where is the room that I will be staying in?" I asked, leaning on the doorway.
"Down the hall to your left, take a right, then the last room at the end of the hall, why you turning in already?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm kind of tired, anyway see you tomorrow." I said, and walked away, I followed all the directions, and found my room at the very end of the hall, just like he said. I walked through the door, and found myself in a small room, it had a window, a small dresser, and a bed. I was really tired so I just walked to the bed, and found a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
"I guess after all these years, he still remembers that I don't like PJ's." I said to myself, as I changed out of my torn clothes, and into the other ones.
After I was done changing, I heard a soft knock on my door.
"Who is it." I said, as I walked to and opened the door, to see Rinoa standing there.
"What do you need Rin?" I asked.
"You forgot your ring in the bathroom." She said while handing it to me.
"Thanks, I swear if my head was this ring, I wouldn't have one." I said.
"Haha, yeah I'm kind of the same way, but that is a really cool ring." She said, with a small laugh.
"Yeah, I got it from Grampa when I still lived in this town." I said, remembering the time that he gave it to me.
"Wow, you've had it that long?" She asked amazed.
"Yeah, I got it for a Christmas present when I was five, it didn't fit then so I kept it in a safe place until it would fit, and well here it is." I said, while putting it back on my finger.
"Ok, well I'm tired so I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow." She said, while walking down the hall.
I turned around, shut the door then did the same.
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I slept really good all night, but the stupid sun woke me up the next morning, I threw the blankets aside and walked out of the room rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I heard voices coming from the kitchen so I made my way there.
"Hey sleepy head, you finally woke up." I heard Rinoa say as soon as she saw me enter the kitchen.
"Yeah man, it's two-thirty in the afternoon, I can't remember the last time you woke up late, and even then it was like eight-thirty." I heard another familiar voice coming from the table, I looked to see Irvine sitting there, along with Cale, Zell, and Selphie.
"He---(cough)...(cough)...Hey guys, I see that you've made it here in one piece." I said, getting the grogginess out of my voice.
"Yeah, we slept at the hideout last night, but we got here around nine so we've been waiting a few hours for you." Cale said.
"So...are we going somewhere else today?" Selphie asked.
"Um, it's Christmas Eve, I don't think we should go out of town, what dose everyone else think?" I asked.
"Yeah! I think we should stay here, at least until Christmas is over." Irvine quickly agreed.
"Well, it's not my decision, it all depends on what my Grampa says." I explained.
"Well then, we should ask him." Cale said, getting up from his seat.
"I'll let you go Cale, but it's no big deal if he says no alright." I said, while taking his chair.
"Alright, I'll be right back guys." And with that I watched him walk out of the kitchen.
"So, what do you think he will say?" Irvine asked.
"He'll probably say yes but...I don't really want to be intruding on anything." I answered.
"Oh, ok, so where do you think we should go next?" Irvine asked.
"I was thinking about going back to Balamb." I answered.
"Are...you...serious? I mean what if Galbadians attack again?" He asked seriously.
"Well, I want to get you three back to your parents." I said, pointing at Zell, Selphie, and Rinoa.
"Yeah, I'd like to see my parents again, I mean we've been gone at least a couple weeks." Rinoa said.
"Alright then, it's settled, we'll head back to Balamb when we leave here." I said.
"Hey guys, He said it wasn't a problem, and that he would like to have company over for Christmas." Cale said happily as he walked through the door.
"Ok then, after Christmas we'll head back to Balamb." Irvine said.
"Are you sure about that? I mean what if Galbadia attacks again?" Cale asked.
"Well, we all kind of want to see our family's again." Rinoa answered.
"Ok, I'll let you guys decide where we go." Cale said.
"So, what do you guys think we should do today?" I asked.
"RELAX!!" Irvine yelled excitedly.
"Ok...what does everyone ELSE want to do today?" I asked again.
"I don't know...I'll probably just do the same as Irvine." Cale said, then Zell after him.
"Ok, well I guess we have a few boring old fart's that want to rot in a house all day." I said half laughing.
"Well, what are you going to do Squall?" Cale asked.
"I don't know...but I definitely don't wanna stay cooped up in a house all day." I said.
"Ok, well see ya." Irvine said with a wave.
"Haw haw, I see I will be missed." I said sarcastically.
"Yup, just make sure not to come back, we can't have all these young people with all their energy hanging around here." Irvine said jokingly, then Cale, and Zell started laughing.
"Ok, well I'll leave you old men to fend for yourselves." I said, then I stood up and headed for the bathroom to take a shower.
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"Whew, He's gone." Irvine said after a few minutes.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, Cale and me only told Squall that we weren't gonna do anything so that we could get him something without him knowing." Irvine said, with a big grin.
"Oh! Cool! But...what are you going to get him?" I asked, immediately liking their idea.
"I...don't...know...what do you think we should get him Cale?" Irvine asked, and I could tell that he was thinking really hard.
"Um...I don't know...but we'll definitely have to get him something really cool." Cale answered.
"Well, while you guys are discussing what your going to get him, I already have a plan for what I'm going to do." I said with glee.
"What is it Rin." Irvine asked quickly.
"I was thinking about getting his gunblade upgraded." I answered.
"Well, that would be a good present, but how do you plan on getting it?" Cale asked.
"Well, He's in the shower now...right? then now would be our chance." I answered.
"What if he finds out?" Cale asked.
"Well we cant let him, now can we." Irvine said, getting up from where he was sitting.
"Ok, now how about we all chip in and get him the best upgrade that we can." Cale suggested.
"Yeah, that would be a good idea, besides...I don't have that much money anyway." I said.
"Hey Zell, an Selph, are you gonna help out too?" Irvine asked, looking at them.
"Sure, I'll do it." Zell answered.
"Yeah me too." Selphie said also.
"Ok, I'll go get his gunblade, you guys think up an excuse alright." Irvine said, and quickly ran out of the kitchen.
"So, what should we say, and not tip him off on what we're doing?" Cale asked, leaning over the table.
"I don't know, maybe if we distracted him or something...he would leave the house without even thinking about it..." Zell said, half to himself.
"Hey! that's a great idea Zell! But who do you think should distract him?" I asked.
"How about you, I mean you two are...good friends right?" Cale asked.
"Yeah, but...I don't know if I could get him to leave the house without his gunblade..." I answered.
"Ah, I'm sure you can think of something." Cale said with a grin.
"Yeah...maybe...alright I'll do it." I said, trying to think of what to say.
"Great! Just leave the rest up to us!" Cale exclaimed excitedly.
"Alright guys, hear it is, now what are we gonna do to get him outta here without this?" Irvine asked, walking towards the cupboards and hiding the gunblade inside one of them.
"Rinoa's going to distract him, and hopefully he won't notice." Cale answered.
"Ok, cool, but Rin I think you should know that it won't be very easy, do you have a plan?" Irvine asked.
"Um...I'm still thinking about what to say..." I answered.
Thump...thump...thump "Ok guys, here he comes, don't give him any clues, we gotta keep it a secret." Irvine said hurriedly.
"Hey guys...why do you all look so guilty?" Squall asked, as he came through the doorway, and looked at us.
"Ah, it's nothin, just thinkin about what to around the house all day." Irvine said, trying to cover for all of us.
"Yeah, I was thinking about watching tv all day." Cale said, backing Irvine up.
"...Ok...whatever, anyway does anyone want to come along with me?" He asked.
"I will!" I said, as I jumped up from my chair.
"Ok, cool, just let me go and get my stuff." He said, heading for the hallway.
"Wait! Do you have to change?" I asked, stepping in front of him.
"...No...why?" He asked, giving me a weird look.
"Do you have your money with you right now?" I asked, with the same tone.
"Yeah...right here." He answered slowly.
"Alright then! What are we waiting for, sooner we go, sooner we'll get back." I said, pushing him towards the door.
"Man you guys are acting weird...but yeah lets go, besides I don't want to be out all day." He said, totally forgetting about what he was going to do.
"Whew...that was easier than I thought it would be" I thought inwardly.
"Alright, well see you old geezers later." He said, getting his coat and boots, and walking out the door.
"Yeah see you all later." I waved, then followed Squall.
"So...why was everyone acting so weird all of a sudden?" Squall asked, as soon as I shut the door.
"I don't know, they have been acting like that lately..." I lied, hoping that he would believe me.
"Ok, well guess it cant be helped." He said, with a shrug.
"Ok, so where do you want to go first?" I asked.
"Uh, I was thinking about the General Store." He answered.
"Yeah, I was thinking about going there too, then I could probably find stuff for everyone." I agreed.
"Well, let's go." He said leading the way.
We looked around the store and found a lot of things that I would have never thought would be in a store like this.
"So, what do you think your brother would like?" Squall asked, looking around at different things.
"Umm...he likes chocolate." I answered, saying the first thing that came to mind.
"Wow, He's probably going to be the easiest person to get a present for." He said.
"Yeah, I always get him candy for Christmas." I said.
"Haha, well then I don't think we should break tradition." He said with a laugh.
"Nope, guess not." I said, laughing also.
I followed Squall through all of the aisles until we reached the candy section, Squall picked up a box chocolate, and started looking at it, I looked at the window he was facing, and seen Cale and Irvine taking their time, and walking slowly across the front of the store.
"Geez, whats wrong with their heads, what if Squall sees them." I thought. "Hey Squall, what kind of stuff does Cale like." I asked, trying to get him facing me instead of the window.
"Uh, well...it's kind of hard to say...I mean, he likes a lot of things..." Squall answered, turning towards me.
"Well, what do you think I should get him?" I asked, looking back at the window again, but Cale, and Irvine were still there, walking slowly.
"I know he needs another one of those Mortar and Pestle things, the one he has is kinda old, and he's complained about it a couple times, so you could get him one of those." He answered.
"Alright, well lets go find one." I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along with me.
"Hey! Whats the rush?" He protested, as he pulled away his hand.
"Oh, nothing, I just wanted to get it now." I said innocently.
"Man, what is it with everyone? Your all acting weird today." He said, picking up a basket.
"I don't know, probably just all the excitement about Christmas." I said, trying to think up another excuse really fast.
"Yeah...I guess..." He said, following me towards the ingredients section.
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After we found everything we needed at the General Store, we headed towards the Weapons Store.
"Why are we going here?" I asked, hoping that his gunblade wouldn't be any place where he could see it.
"I still have to get something for Cale and Irvine." He explained, as he opened the door for me.
"I thought you got everything at the General Store." I said.
"Just about everything, I just have to get something for Cale and Irvine." He answered.
"Alright, but what are you thinking about getting them?" I asked, as I followed him through all the racks of weapons.
"Well, I know that they have special ammo here, so I was thinking about getting some for Irvine, but I will probably have to look around a little bit for Cale's present." He explained.
"Ok, I'll just be over here." I said, as I walked towards the weapon rack that had caught my eye.
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I was really glad that she wasn't following me, now I could get her present and she wouldn't even know what it was. I walked towards the counter, and asked for the pulse ammo that I knew they always had in stock.
"Hello sir, can I help you." The man behind the counter asked with a friendly voice.
"Yeah, I would like to buy some pulse ammo." I said, then watched as he walked through a door, at this time I looked to make sure that Rinoa wasn't watching and pulled out my ring.
"Ok here you are sir, anything else?" the man asked as he laid down a box of pulse ammo.
"Yeah, I wanted to know if you could take and duplicate this." I said quietly, and showed him the ring.
"Wow, this is an original, I haven't seen one of these in a very long time." He said as he examined it.
"I was wondering if it was possible to have it duplicated." I said again.
"Sure, I can have it ready for you tomorrow." He said.
"What! Tomorrow? Couldn't you have it done anytime sooner?" I asked.
"Well...tell you what, if you can come by early tomorrow I will have it done for you." He said.
"How early are we talking about here?" I asked.
"When the store opens at six." He answered.
"Ok I'll come by at six to pick it up." I said.
"Great, now what metal do you want it made out of? Zinc? Copper? Nickel?"
"Could you make it all pure silver?" I asked.
"Sure, but it will cost a little more." He explained.
"How much will it be?" I asked.
"About...250 dollars sir." He answered.
"Alright, I'll be here by six to pick it up." I said.
"Good, now will that be all?" He asked.
"No, I still have to look around for something." I answered then turned, and headed toward one of the weapon racks.
"Ok, take your time." He called from behind me.
Now I had something for Rin, and Irvine, but I still had to get something for Cale. I looked through all of the swords, but from the looks of his I was starting to think that he got it upgraded, so I had to look for something else.
"Hey Squall, have you got everything that you need yet?" I heard Rinoa ask as I came close to where she was standing.
"Just about, I have have to find something for Cale." I answered, as I found a rack full of armor.
"Wow, I didn't think it would take you that long to get something for Irvine." She said, as she followed me.
"Yeah...well...the shopkeeper had trouble finding the right ammo." I lied, coming up with a good excuse.
"Oh, ok." She said quietly.
I had looked through all of the weapons, and now pretty much all of the armor, but I still couldn't find anything. That was until I came across a pair of red armored gauntlets. I knew that they would be better than the leather ones that he had now.
"Hey Rin, what do you think of these?" I asked, as I showed her the gauntlets.
"Wow...they look really cool, I bet that he would really like them, besides they match the color of his other armor." She answered, as she looked at them.
"Ok, now we both have stuff for everyone, lets get back to my grandfathers house." I said, as I went to the counter, and paid for the ammo, gauntlets, and the ring.
We made our way out of the store, and I was walking towards the house when I felt a ball of cold wet snow hit the back of my head.
"Hahaha...gotcha!" Rinoa laughed from behind me.
"Oh! You think your pretty funny don't you." I laughed as I dropped our bags by a tree, and made a snowball of my own.
I wasn't a very good shot, for every snowball that I threw she would only step out of the way, but it was totally different in her case for she hit me just about everytime she threw one.
"Haha, your terrible when it comes to snowball fights." She said, trying to hold back her laughter.
"Oh, I'll show you." I said as I picked up another one, but it had the same results as all of the other ones.
We kept up our little snowball fight for another fifteen minutes, and it still had the same results, I was terrible, and she was creaming me.
"Haha, bow to the queen of snowball fights." She yelled as she made a mock hero stance.
"Haha, did you learn that from Irvine?" I asked as I tried hitting her again, but to no avail.
"Well...guess the secret is out." She said with a smile.
We kept it up for a little while longer, until I tackled her and myself down in the snow, I guess I did it a little too hard, because we went skidding. When we came to a stop, I found her face only an inch away from mine, I felt heat rising quickly to my face as she got up.
"Um...sorry about that." I said after awhile, and found that she was blushing also.
"It's ok, but lets go inside, I'm getting kind of cold out here." She said, trying to hide her face.
"...Sounds good to me." I said, as I got up and helped her to her feet.
"Thanks." She said quietly, and started walking towards the house.
I went back to get our stuff, then followed her into the house. Once I got inside, I found no one there except Rinoa.
"Hello! Is anybody hear?" I yelled, as I took by boots and coat off.
"Yeah, in the living room." I heard Irvine's faint voice answer.
I walked to my room and dropped my bags off, then I went and knocked on Rinoa's door, she opened it and thanked me for bringing her stuff, then shut the door.
"Guess she doesn't want to talk to me." I thought, as I walked towards the living room.
As soon as I arrived, I found Irvine and Cale sprawled out on one couch each, lazily watching tv.
"So did you have fun?" Irvine asked, with a sly grin.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason, but we were watching your snowball fight." Irvine said, trying to hold back from laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked, as I sat down on one of the chairs.
"Your a good fighter, probably one of the best, but when it comes to snowball fights you suck." Irvine said, breaking into laughter along with Cale.
"Yeah...I know, but do you have to rub it in." I said.
"Nope, but we are." Irvine said, laughing harder.
"Ok, ok, you can shut up now." I said irritably.
"Ok, whew...but what a way to end it." Irvine said, calming down, then breaking back into laughter again.
"Haw, haw, I can tell when I'm not wanted." I said, as I rose from my chair.
"Aww man, you can never take a joke can ya." Irvine said.
"No, not when it's personal like this." I said, heading for the doorway.
"Aww c'mon Squall, alright I'll stop." Irvine yelled.
"Ok, but...where did Zell and Selphie go?" I asked, turning around.
"Oh, they went shopping, they'll be back soon, and Grampa said he wanted to go and get a Christmas tree with all of us." Cale answered, and right after he said that Zell and Selphie could be heard coming through the door and taking off their boots and coats.
"Ok, well thats them, I'll go get Rinoa." I said, and walked down the hall until I came to her room, I knocked and waited for her to come to the door.
I heard the click, and then the door slowly opened, "Hi Squall, what do you need?" She asked.
"Well, Grampa wants to take all of us and get a Christmas tree." I explained.
"Ok, I'll be ready in a minute." She said with a small smile, then closed her door.
I waited a few minutes, wondering if she was mad about what happened earlier, but my thoughts were interrupted as she opened her door and walked out.
"Are you ok?" I asked, before slowly walking down the hallway with her.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you upset...about what happened earlier?" I asked hesitantly.
"Well...it was the last thing I expected, but no I'm not upset about it." She answered.
"So...are we still friends?" I asked.
"Yeah." was all she said, and I was relieved.
"Great! Now come on, lets not hold up everyone else any longer." I said, walking a little faster.
"HEY! So THERE you two are." Irvine yelled as we came through the kitchen doorway.
"Yeah, well are we leaving or what." I said, as I put my boots on.
"Yup, just waitin for you." Irvine said, as he walked out the door.
"So Grampa, where are we going to get a tree?" I asked, as I closed the door behind me.
"There's a place just out of town, we'll get one there." He said, as he led the way.
We walked for about ten minutes, until we came across a large building, that looked like a log cabin...only bigger.
"So Grampa, is this the place?" I asked.
"Yeah, we'll be able to buy one here." He answered, as he walked up to the outpost, and started talking with the man.
While he was doing that, I turned around, and got blasted in the face buy a tightly packed snowball. "Oh no, not again." I thought.
"Pah ha ha ha!" Irvine laughed, as he seen the outcome of his snowball.
"Oh, you think your reeeeal funny don't you." I said, as I bent down and made a snowball of my own.
"Yes, now I get to whoop your butt in a snowball fight." He laughed, but was quickly silenced as my snowball hit him in the face.
"Wow, looks like I'm getting better." I laughed, as I seen the look on his face.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" He yelled, as he ran for a tree in cover.
I turned my head to see Zell and Cale, standing there. They both looked at each other, then ran for a tree. I made another snowball, and walked quickly from tree to tree looking for Irvine to pop up, but he never did. I stopped and looked around, then I heard a noise from behind me, I tried to turn but it was too late, for I found myself on the ground, with my face pushed in the snow.
"That's not fair Irvine!" I yelled, spitting snow out of my mouth.
"Ha ha! All is fair in the games of love and war my friend!" He laughed, as he ran behind another tree.
"Great! Now I won't be afraid of playing a little rough." I yelled, as I imitated what he had just done.
"I made two more snowballs, and ran out from behind my tree, I seen a brown coat, and quickly threw a snowball, but it only knocked off his hat, then I threw the other one and hit him in the back of his head, after that I ran behind another tree so that I wouldn't get hit.
"HEY! Not the hat!" He yelled.
"All is fair in the games of love and war my friend." I laughed as I made two more.
I seen a flash of red come from my right, I looked over quickly, and dodged a snowball, then I threw one of my own, hitting him in the chest, then I turned to see Zell hiding from Cale.
"Hey, what do you say we team up." I said, as I made another snowball.
"Sure, sounds like a good idea to me." Zell agreed.
"Ok then, lets go." I said, and started running again.
I ran, looking around to try and find either Cale or Irvine, until I finally seen both of them jump out in front of me at the same time. One snowball had already hit Cale by the time I raised my hand up to throw my own, then mine found its place on Irvine coat, Zell and me kept on throwing snowballs, then ended up running after them as they tried to get away from us.
"Ok...hahaha...ok...we give up...STOP!" Irvine yelled, from where he was on the ground.
I looked over at Zell, then helped Irvine up from off of the ground, as he did the same with Cale.
"You giving up already." I laughed as I dropped my snowball.
"Yeah, I'm tired of getting hit with snowballs." Irvine answered, as he started walking back towards the outpost.
"Ok, well now I know I don't suck that bad." I said triumphantly, then followed Irvine.
Once I walked out of the woods, I seen Rinoa and Selphie pointing and laughing at us.
"What's so funny?" I asked, as I came closer to them.
"You...you looked...and sounded like monkeys in a food fight." Rinoa answered, trying to stop laughing.
"Heheh, you can thank Irvine for your laughter." I said, as I walked to where my Grandfather was standing.
"So who won?" Selphie asked, after she stopped laughing.
"We did." Zell answered her, gesturing at himself, then pointing at me.
"So Zell must have done all the work huh." Rinoa said playfully, while directing her words at me.
"Actually no, I don't know what happened, but I could hit pretty good." I answered.
"Ok, so which tree do you want?" I heard my Grandfather ask.
"How about this one?" Selphie asked, as she ran up to a tree that was about five and a half feet tall.
"Sure, let's get this one." Irvine agreed, as he took the saw and cut it down.
"So, we have to carry this thing all the way back to your house?" I asked with a grunt, as I grabbed a part of the tree and held it up.
"Well, not unless you brought a car." He answered with a smile.
"Ok, well let's get going, I'm starting to get cold." Zell said, and also grabbed a part of the tree.
After we got back to the house, we got out all of my Grandfathers old ornaments, and decorated the tree together, we probably got it done in a couple hours, then just sat there and watched it in the dark.
"So what did you guys do all day?" I asked Irvine and Cale.
"Uh...we...stayed here and watched tv...all day..." Irvine answered, pathetically trying to come up with an excuse.
"Suuure, c'mon what did you do?" I asked again.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing, except reelaax, just what we told ya we were going to do." Cale answered, but I could tell that there was something he wasn't telling me, so I decided to drop it, because I knew I couldn't get it out of them.
"Ok, whatever, but it's late and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed." I said with a yawn, then lazily got up from the couch.
After I got in my room, I realized that I hadn't wrapped the presents that I had gotten everyone, so I made my way down the hall to where Rinoa's room was, and knocked on the door, I waited a couple seconds then heard some shuffling from inside the room, then she opened the door.
"Hey Squall, did you decide to finally get yourself off of that couch?" She asked jokingly.
"Heh...yeah, I just realized that I still need to wrap the stuff I got everyone, and I don't have any wrapping paper, so I wondering if you had any left." I explained quickly.
"Oh sure, just wait a minute." She said, and disappeared into her room, I heard things being moved then she appeared again, "here's the wrapping paper, and do you have scissors and tape?" She asked, as she handed me the paper.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to scrounge some up, anyway thanks." I said, holding up the paper.
"Oh, no problem, I mean what else was I going to do with it." She said.
"Yeah, good point, anyway see ya tomorrow." I said, and started walking down the hall, then I thought of something, and turned around, "Hey Rin...it's only eight...would you want to go for a walk later on?" I asked.
"...Sure, but how late are we talking here?" She asked, leaning up against her doorway.
"As soon as I'm done wrapping stuff." I answered.
"Ok, yeah, I'd like that." She said with a smile.
"Ok, cool, well I'll see ya in a little bit then." I said, and went back into my room. "Geez Squall, that's the best you can come up with." I thought to myself, and I pulled out everything that I needed.
It only took me about a half hour, but I wasn't one of those people who cant wrap very good, and the presents that I wrapped ended up looking like deformed junk, but at least they were wrapped.
(A/N Hey kinda sounds like the way I wrap...I can't do it very good...welp anywayz back to the story)
I put everything in a bag and slowly walked out my door, then made my way towards Rinoa's room. I knocked a couple times and waited for her to come to the door.
"Hey, are you ready?" I asked, as soon as she opened the door.
"Yeah, lets go." She answered, and shut her door behind her.
"I just got done wrapping stuff, and I was going to put them under the tree before we left." I said, and held up the bag of items.
"Good idea, but I already did that with mine, so I'll be waiting at the door." She said, and walked into the kitchen.
I walked down the hall towards the living room, then heard hushed voices, so I slowed down and walked more quietly, when I got to the living room, I looked and seen Irvine and Cale shaking presents and trying to figure out what was in them.
"Cant you guys wait till tomorrow?" I asked, as I walked in.
"No, we wanna see what we got tonight." Irvine said, then picked up another present and shook it.
"Alright, whatever, just don't tell me what I got, I can wait till tomorrow, and you better hope that there is nothing breakable in those packages." I said, while taking everything out of the bag I was holding, and setting them under the tree, then I walked back to the kitchen to find Rinoa waiting for me, I put on my boots and got my coat, then we were out of there.
"So, where exactly are we going?" She asked as I shut the door.
"Oh...you'll see soon enough." I said with a smile.
"C'mon tell me." She said impatiently.
"No, it will only take us a few minutes." I said stubbornly.
"Alright...I guess I can wait a few minutes." She said, and we started walking.
We walked through the forest, past a few frozen ponds, then up a hill.
"Wow...it's...beautiful." Rinoa said, as soon as we got to the top of the hill. We were over looking the forest, and in the distance we could see the small tranquil town of Akthah, with smoke slowly rising from the chimneys.
"Yeah, I thought this would be something that you would like to see." I said, as I brushed some snow off of a large rock, then sat down, and motioned to Rinoa to do the same. We sat there in silence for a couple minutes just looking at the scenery until I finally looked over at her and seen that something was bothering her.
"What's the matter Rin?" I asked concerned.
"Nothing...it's just...what's going to happen as soon as we get back to Balamb, I mean will we all go back to the same way life was a couple weeks ago...or...what." She said, and I could here the sadness in her voice.
"I...don't know...I'll probably be called back to the Garden, and I might even have to go to war if Galbadia attacks again." I said thoughtfully, trying to come up with an answer.
"So, I probably won't see you again...right?" She asked sadly.
"Well, it's not like I'm going to die or something." I said, trying to cheer her up.
"Well, if you have to go to war...then what if you don't come back." She said, and I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Hey, what did I promise before, didn't I say that I'll always come back, besides...what about this whole Droganite thing, we still have to figure out what's going on with that." I said, as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
"So your the other one, Alma told me that I knew who it was, and I was starting to think that it was you." She said, looking up at me.
"Yeah, I've known since I woke up at the stadium, but they didn't tell me who the other was until a little later, but I was starting to think that you were the other one in this world." I said, thinking back to the time I was talking with Apock.
"So, who is your guardian?" She asked, bringing me from my thoughts.
"His name is Apock, he is the reason why I'm here right now, I think they made a good choice when they chose him to be my guardian." I answered, remembering the different times that I would have died if he wasn't there.
"Wow, he sounds really cool, but I still don't know about all of this, I mean one day I'm just a normal girl, then before I know it...I'm told that I am supposed to help rule over a world that I never knew about." She said, and I could tell that she was brightening up a little bit.
"Yeah, that was what I was thinking when I first found out about being a king or whatever, but I have been thinking about it a lot and I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, I might actually want to become a king." I said, while standing up and looking at the town again.
"Yeah, I'm slowly starting to think the same, I don't know if I'll be any good at being a queen or whatever, but I could learn, and hopefully I could be good at it." She said, standing beside me.
"Yeah, same here, but...I don't know if I will ever be able to see my friends again, or my family, or be able to continue in the army, I know it's dangerous...fighting in wars, and fighting period, but there is something there that draws me, to feel the adrenaline rush coursing through my body, sensing the heat of battle, there's not a feeling like it in the world, but I still don't know why I would like something like that...my Grandfather was once in the army, he was the best soldier that was they had, there was no one that could defeat him in battle, and there was no one that was ranked higher than him, so he has always been the person I looked up to the most, and I want to be just like him, so that is probably why I fight, and why I go to wars." I said, once again losing myself in my thoughts, and memories.
"Wow, that's a dream that you will probably be able to achieve." She said, looking up at me.
"You really think so?" I asked, looking back down at her.
"Yeah, unlike my dream, I could probably never be able to make that come true." She said looking back down at the ground.
"Well, what is it? I just told you my dream, so you should tell me yours." I said enthusiastically.
"No, you would laugh." She said.
"No I won't, come on just tell me." I said once again.
"Alright, alright...I always wanted to be a singer, like my mom, she was the one who wrote and sang 'Eyes on me', and I always wanted to be able to sing like my mom, and write my own songs and stuff like that." She said, looking up at me.
"Hey, that's a good dream, but why don't you think it will ever come true?" I asked.
"I cant sing, I have tried, but I never could sing as good as my mom." She answered.
"Ah, that's all, well you know...you shouldn't give up just like that, I mean when I was younger, I was never what you would call tough, I was always really skinny, and I couldn't even throw a punch without falling on my butt, I was always laughed at by the other boys that lived in town, and when I was about fourteen I decided that I wasn't going to take it anymore, so I started training myself, I ran, lifted weights, did everything that I knew to make my dream come true, and look at me now, I'm well on my way to fulfilling my dream, so if you start working towards your dream, it will come true." I said.
"...Thanks Squall, I'm glad to know someone like you, someone who I can count on, and that you think I can do it." She said, looking up at me with a teary smile.
"No problem, glad I could help you out." I said, and when I looked into her eyes, then something clicked, I felt my stomach feel really weird, my legs felt like goo, and then I got this weird feeling all over me, I felt myself moving closer to her, then our lips met...it felt REALLY weird...I had never felt like this before, it wasn't pain...it wasn't sadness...I felt...happy, like I was jumping around...or something, and I guess she felt the same way, for she wasn't trying to pull away, we stayed like that for a couple more seconds, then slowly pulled away. I felt heat rising to my face, and looked to see that she was blushing also.
"Um...sorry about that...I don't know what got into me." I said embarasedly, then tried looking at anything other than her.
"No need to be sorry, I felt the same way." She said quietly.
"Y-you mean...you liked it?" I asked in disbelief, she slowly nodded, then smiled at me. "Wow...you actually...like me?" I asked.
"...Yeah, I've liked you for a while." She said, blushing a deeper red.
I stood there not believing what I was hearing, I never thought that a girl would actually like me, especially a girl as pretty and nice as Rinoa. "Well, I feel the same way about you, whenever I was around you I always got this weird feeling, and I never knew what it was...until now." I said, watching her face become happier. "Well, it's getting cold out hear, I think we should start heading back, what about you." I said, as I started walking down the slope.
"Yeah, I agree." She said happily, and followed me.
It took us about ten minutes of walking, and we finally got back to the house, we said our good-nights, and I started walking towards my room, thinking about all that had happened tonight.
*************
I woke up early, and made my way quietly out the door, and headed for the weapons shop, hoping that Rinoa's ring was done. I walked through the door, and walked up to the counter to find the same guy who was there the day before.
"So is the ring done?" I asked.
"Yes, just wait a minute, I'll be right back." He said, and disappeared through a doorway, then came back after a couple minutes with both rings.
"Wow, you did a really good job, thanks a lot." I said, looking at the ring, it had the same designs on it as mine, only it was silver instead of the bronzish color that mine had.
"So is she someone really special?" the man asked.
I looked up, "Yeah, very special." I answered, and remembered what had happened the night before.
"Well that's good, now will you be needing anything else?" He smiled warmly.
"No thanks, but why are you open on Christmas?" I asked.
"Well, I'm not open all day, just till nine, then I'll lock up and go home." He answered.
"Ok, well have a nice Christmas." I said, and started walking towards the door.
"Thanks, you too." He called from behind me.
I made my way through the town, the sun was starting to rise, and I could feel my nose turning into an ice cube, I got back to the house, and surprisingly Irvine and Cale weren't up yet, "Sometimes I don't know if they're little kids, or grown men." I thought to myself, then decided to go back to bed.
*****************
"WAKE UP SQUALL IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!" I heard Irvine yell excitedly, and barge into my room. "COME ON SLEEPY HEAD GET UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!" He yelled again, while jumping in the air.
"Go away Irvine, I don't want to get up yet." I said groggily, and put my pillow over my head.
"Ok, I didn't wanna hafta do this but...oh well, I'm gonna do it anyway." I heard him say, then felt my mattress being picked up and then I landed on the floor with a thud.
"Ok, Ok, I'm up, I'm up, now can you leave, I'll be out in a minute." I said, with a yawn, and started rubbing my eyes.
"Sure, but I will come back if you don't come out soon." He said, and walked out of my room, closing the door behind him.
I looked at my clock, and it read 9:21, "Wow they let me sleep in that long? normally him and Cale would be bugging me at seven." I thought, and changed into some pants and a shirt, then walked out and headed for the living room.
"Whadya get! Whadya get!" I heard Cale's voice yell with excitement.
"Did you know that you sound like a five year old right now." I said, directing my words at Cale, as soon as I walked into the room.
"Hey the grumpy old guy has awaken, bowt time." He said, as soon as he heard my voice.
"Yeah, Irvine can do a pretty good job at getting grumpy old guys out of bed." I yawned, and plopped down on the couch, Rinoa, Irvine, and Zell were the only ones missing, but wih Irvine's foolproof way of getting people out of bed, I knew that they would be here very soon, and I was right for Rinoa and Zell slowly trudged into the room, followed by a giddy Irvine.
"Alright everyone is here, now we can open stuff!" Cale exclaimed, as he practically dove for his pile of presents.
I waited until everyone was done opening theirs, then I slowly walked towards my pile, the room suddenly went quiet, and I felt like everyone's eyes were on me, but I just reached for one of my presents instead of paying attention to them, a big one caught my eye, and I grabbed it and walked back to the couch, I looked up and everyone was staring at me.
"...What are you guys staring at?" I asked.
"Just open it." they all said at the same time.
"Ok, whatever." I said, and slowly ripped the paper off.
"Geez man, we aren't saving the paper, just rip it." Irvine said impatiently.
I decided to listen to him for once, and just tore off all the paper, it was a big box, and I could tell that there was something heavy inside. I slowly opened it and my breath caught in my throat, it was my gunblade, only it was updated, it had a gold handle, and the blade was made out of silver, it was polished so well I could see my own reflection perfectly, and all of the little nicks and dents, and scratches were completely gone. I slowly raised it out of the box, and held it with one hand, it was a whole lot lighter than before it was upgraded, the handle fit my hand so perfectly it was like it was made for...me, and when I flicked the side if the blade it gave off the perfect ring.
"Wow...you guys didn't have to do this." I said in awe.
"Aww man, coarse we did, jus think of it as a really cool Christmas present alright." Irvine said, walking over then giving me a pat of the back.
"So...you like it?" Rinoa asked.
"No, I love it, but whose idea was it to do this?" I asked, looking around at everyone, and they all pointed at Rinoa. "It was your idea to do this?" I asked.
"Yeah, but we all chipped in, so it's from all of us." She explained.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed, as I walked over and kissed her like what I had done last night.
"Hey! It's about time!" I heard Irvine yell, over all the noise.
I stood back and looked at it again, it was the best looking gunblade I had seen in a long time, sure I liked my old one, but this upgrade totally blew it out of the water.
"So, you really like it?" She asked.
"Well...it's probably the best present I've gotten for Christmas in a long time." I answered, looking at it again.
"Whew, I didn't think that you would like it." She said, letting out a long sigh.
"Well, you were wrong, and now I have something for you, just wait here a minute, I'll be right back." I said, walking out of the living room, making my way towards my room, once I arrived, I got the box that held her ring in it, and started heading back to the living room hoping that she would like it.
"Ok, your gonna have to close your eyes." I said, hiding her present behind my back. I watched her close her eyes, and I moved closer to her. "Ok, you can open them now." I said and handed over the box. I watched her open it, then seen the look of complete shock.
"It's...beautiful..." She said in awe, taking the ring out and looking at it closer.
"do you like it?" I asked.
"Yes, thank you so much!" She said, then threw her arms around me.
"Yeah sure, no problem." I said, and returned the hug.
The rest of the day was very relaxing, I spent pretty much all of my time with Rinoa, Zell was watching tv all day along with Selphie, and Cale and Irvine went outside to 'play' with the stuff that that they had gotten earlier, every now and then we could hear a painful howl followed by "STOP HITTING ME!" and we knew that they were training, then we had a really big Christmas dinner that night, followed by more sitting around and doing nothing, so just as I said, the day was very relaxing.
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Whew...(sigh)...well that's the end of chap seven, an I'll start workin on chap eight very soon, an YEAH I KNOW that it's not Christmas anymore (sniff) but hey! Who says I cant write what I want when I want, so I decided to put in a Christmas chap, an hopefully it turned out ok.
And WHOA!!! I never knew that this romance stuff would be so hard to write, I am normally writing blood n guts n stuffs, and it was REALLY hard to keep out a fight scene, but I did it, so hope ya liked this chap.
Ok now to say GEEEE TAAAANKS to everyone who reviewed my story.
Berlinbrowneyes: Hay looks like I gotsa new frend...cool, anywayz thanks for readin my story, and im looking forward to you updating, and to all the people who like Zelda fics check her story (it's WAYYYYY better than what I could ever do, but don't tell her I said that) and she also has a really good FF8 story too * cough* coffin nails * cough* she dont think it's a good story but I do, anywayz I got more peepulz'z to thank so C YA
Aloneandnotafraid: Yo , glad ya like the idea of bein put in anudder stry, I'm prolly gonna put you in the nex chap, an hopefully it wont take ya so long to come an reed my new chap, an hope that you can get yerz up before the end of the month, anywayz hope you enjoyed this chap, an still more to come, alrite well I still have more peepulz'z ta thank to C YA
Rhi-an: Yo, hope you liked this chap, I know you asked if I would make it more on the upbeat, so hopefully this was on more of an upbeat, but the next ones will be fightin and training and....stuff, and sonce everyone except BerlinBrownEyes is sayin that I should quit spellin all rong an stuff...well I'm tryin to, it's just when I dont hafta spell rite I wont (needs one of those cool smily faces rite here) alright well I got more peepul to thank so C YA
Zelda's fairy...or Lost Soul 01...whatever your still the same person: Hey why did ya change your author name...well I guess thats for you to decide, an I'm trying to come up with a new author name for me so I think I should shut my big yapper, anyway glad to see that you updated your story, just too bad that I cant get to chap 4...but hay at least I could read chap 5 so it's not all that bad, and as I said before, dont worry about spelling stuff wrong, I wont take it offensively (trust me I wont) besides I still have trouble spelling Draco...drogdite...dragos...Droganite ah there we go, see I still cant spell it rite without messin up a few times (needs another smily face right here) anywayz hope ya liked this chap and there will be more to come so C YA
Clyde: Lolap only I know who this is, could be me...or could be sumone else...lolap anywayz C YA
Dark Eva: Yo man, where'dya go? Welp hope to hear from you soon so C YA
Ok well that everyone, counts how many readers I have on one hand...ok well I think thats everyone...could be wrong...sorry if your not in the thanks an stuff.
Anyways, I'll try and get my new chap up soon, it will have more fighting in it but mebbee if you all ask nicely I'll try and put in a little romance and stuff, (I'm no good at it) anywayz see all you peepulz'z later (waves) C YA