Chapter Four

Rinoa watched as Squall entered the office, she noticed how he had a sad expression on his face and wondered why. The next thing she knew Squall had taken her by the hand and was leading her to the elevator without saying a word. When they reached the elevator Rinoa turned around and noticed Quistis talking in a serious tone of voice to Selphie, Irvine and Zell and their faces looked as though somebody had died.

Rinoa turned to Squall and asked, "Squall, what's wrong? What's going on?" Squall looked at her; he didn't really answer her question but told her that he would tell later, when they got to the guestroom in the dormitory. Rinoa was getting worried, she was concerned about Squall, and Aurora. "Shouldn't we wait until Aurora to get back before we leave, Squall? She'll be worried? We have to wait!" Rinoa exclaimed.

Squall stared at her and replied. "Quistis will tell her where we are, Rinoa. Aurora is 15, she'll be fine, don't worry." Rinoa turned back towards the elevator and waited for it to arrive. The elevator door opened and Rinoa glanced back at Quistis and met her eyes. Rinoa became extremely worried when she noticed the look on all of their faces. She stepped onto the elevator and went down with Squall.

Aurora walked beside Dean as they walked through the beautiful Garden. They were walking through the empty corridor in the Quad when Dean looked at her and said, "So, Aurora… what do you think?" Aurora looked around some more "Oh it's beautiful, I've never seen anything like this place before! How long have you been here?" Aurora replied in an awed tone of voice.

Aurora and Dean walked up the stairs and out of the Quad. "Hmm, how long… I believe around 10 year's maybe? I'm not exactly sure." Dean said. Aurora quickly turned to him, beginning to be less grumpy about her parents sending her off, like they usually do when they're hiding something. "Oh my… ten years, that's a long time! How old are you anyway?" Aurora said. Aurora over that the amazing fountain, then up to the ceiling as they headed towards the Cafeteria. "I'm 16, how old are you?" Dean said pointedly. "Where are you from anyway? Are you here to become a SeeD? Is that why you were up in the Headmistress' office?" Aurora, who was still looking up at the ceiling, stumbled and Dean caught her and Aurora started to giggle.

"Opps… Sorry, Dean! Umm, I'm 15 and from Winhill. What's a SeeD?" Aurora said recovering from her stumble. Dean looked surprised. "You mean, your not even from a Garden!?! And you don't know what SeeD is! Dean said in a surprised voice. "Well, SeeD is a mercenary force, we help out people that pay us to settle their matter's, including country's matter's so a lot of the time we end up in big battles!" Aurora, who was now interested in passing students looked back over to Dean, "We? You mean that you're a SeeD too!" said Aurora.

Dean looked sort of taken aback, as if she didn't believe him. "Of course, almost everyone here above the age of 14 is a SeeD. Ever since I came here when I was 6 I wanted to be one. I'm still surprised that you don't attend a Garden!" Aurora took her wandering eyes off the passing students and looked at Dean. "You know, not everyone attends a Garden. My mother, Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart, taught me along with my father Squall Leonhart who taught me with weapons!" said Aurora beginning to get angry and grumpy again. "Whoa! Your parents are Rinoa and Squall Leonhart! Your Aurora Leonhart!" Dean said excitedly.

Aurora looked away at the passing students again and said, "What's so special about that? They're just my parents…" Dean looked at her as if she were a crazy person. "You mean you don't know! You don't know that they saved the world alongside four of they're friends! You don't know that your father's Lionheart Gunblade pierced the most evil sorceress' heart of all time!" exclaimed Dean. " Wow, they really must be keeping things from you or something! Everyone knows! Your mother helped immensely! She is known as one of the greatest sorceresses of all time you know. It's also rumored that you're a sorceress, is it true?"

Aurora now had her complete attention on him. "What the…. My mother is not a sorceress! You know nothing! They would have told me. And I am not a sorceress, I don't know what you're talking about!" Aurora said angrily. Aurora glared at Dean who looked completely confused now. "Ok, so you may not be a sorceress, I believe you… but your mother is, it's been proven. They also did defeat that evil Sorceress Ultimecia!" Dean said defensively.

Aurora looked down trying to withhold her anger and finally swallowed it down. She looked back at the fountain then to Dean and realized that they had finally reached the Cafeteria. "Ok… so… maybe your right, my parents have been known to keep things from me. But I do know that I am not a sorceress!" Aurora said quietly. "I know, I believe you… but at least you have parents… when I was 6 they died, I'm not sure how. I was very mature for my age so they left my house in Timber one day and they never even came back. My next door neighbor enrolled me in the Garden, I was old enough so I didn't have to go to an orphanage." Dean said softly.

Aurora stared into his sad eyes then looked away; she didn't want to feel any worse then she already did. "Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't realize…" said Aurora who was cut off by Dean. "No, don't worry… forget it. I'm sorry I was the one who told you about this whole thing anyway." Aurora looked back into his eyes and told him she didn't care and just wanted to forget it for now.

They walked into the Cafeteria and sat down at a table near the back. "Thank you for showing me around a bit, Dean" Aurora said after she calmed down a bit. Dean looked back at her after looking around to see whom else was in the Cafeteria. "Oh…. No problem at all. It was my pleasure!" he said happily. "You know, there's this SeeD party tonight, like a once a year annual ball-dance party type thing. I don't have anyone to go with and I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me, if you're staying here tonight that is." Aurora was taken by surprise, this was the last thing that she expected. Aurora looked back to Dean after glancing around, and said quietly, "I can't dance!". Dean stared at her for a second then said, "Oh, no problem, you don't have to dance if you don't want to… we can just hang around! I think it would be fun, maybe when we're there I can teach you how to dance!" Aurora began to get excited. "Oh, alright then… I'm sure that I'll be staying here tonight anyway so it should be fun! Where do you want to meet?" she said. "Umm, well, we will meet at the directory, you know that big computer thing down the stairs from the elevator! We'll meet there around 9'o'clock." Dean said happily. "Oh, its 7'o'clock now actually, I've got to go to the training center for an hour. Do you want me to walk with you to the elevator again?" Aurora looked around again then replied, "Well, no, that's fine… I'll stay here for a few more minutes; I just want to look around. See you later though!" Dean looked at her a moment while getting up. "Umm, alright then, see you!" said Dean beginning to run off.

Aurora stared after him as he left the Cafeteria. She stood up and walked over to window of the cafeteria. She looked down through the window at the rotating rings and noticed that the Garden had once again begun moving, towards the ocean. She looked back to the sky and saw as the last glimpse of the sun disappeared then she walked out of the cafeteria.

She walked rather slowly, just thinking and watching the excited people who passed by her. After a while it occurred to her that she never really had friends. In Winhill the people she met always left and she was never able to keep any real friends. She also was never able to voice her thoughts or feelings to anyone except to herself.

After what seemed forever of walking she reached the stairway headed to the elevator. She climbed the stairs and stopped outside the elevator. She thought for a minute about what she would say to her parents. She wasn't quite sure what, yet, but she knew that she would have to confront them sooner or later, if she wanted to know the truth. Was she a sorceress? Was the entire story that Dean told her true?

She stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button to the 3rd floor. When she stepped off the elevator she stopped abruptly. Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, and Zell all had solemn-sad expressions on their faces and they stopped talking immediately after she entered the office and stared at her. Aurora looked at them and noticed that her parents were no longer there. "Umm, hello… where are my parents?" she said warily. They all kept staring at her and finally Quistis told her that her parents were down in the dormitory and wanted her to come down there right away.

Aurora looked at them once more before turning on her heel, her hair whipping around her and she left down the elevator wondering why they all looked like that. When the elevator was just about to reach the 1st floor she thought about how she didn't know where the dormitory was. Dean hadn't showed her that. Just as the elevator stopped and Aurora was about to step out she bumped into a girl with short curly blond hair, she wore a kneelength long sleeved dress that was a light blue covered by a navy blue vest that went to the ground. She had black high boots on that were just below her knees.
"Oh hello, I'm Dawn!" the girl said. "Are you knew here?" Aurora looked at her for a second, unsure what to say. "Oh, umm… hello… I'm Aurora. No I'm not new here, I'm just visiting." Aurora finally said. Dawn looked at her then stepped onto the elevator just as Aurora was stepping off. "Oh, well, see you then!" said Dawn. "Oh, hey wait, can you tell me where the dormitory is?" said Aurora quickly. Dawn looked at her a moment then told her where to find it. Right before the elevator door closed Dawn asked if Aurora was going to the SeeD ball and Aurora told her she was going with Dean.

The elevator door closed before Aurora could hear what Dawn said. Aurora shrugged it off and headed in the direction of the dormitory thinking. She wondered if Dawn were a SeeD and if she was going to the ball but figured she was. After walking what seemed a fairly short time she reached the dormitory doors. She headed to the room that Quistis told her, the guest dorm room.

After reaching the door and entering she saw her mother and father both sitting on the bed opposite the second room with a single bed, looking at her. Her father, sitting beside her mother with his arm over her shoulder, had a deeply concerned look which Aurora knew wasn't a good sign. Her mother sat slumped over with a tear rolling down her cheek then looked at Aurora, some more tears rolled down her face and she looked away.

Aurora walked over to the window and looked out and saw a shooting star. She knew she a wish, a wish that her parents would tell her the truth. For them to realize that she could handle it. After making her wish she sat down on a chair across the room and asked what was going on.

Rinoa looked up at Aurora; she was sitting across the room in a chair staring at her and Squall. Rinoa out her head down again and heard Aurora get up and walk out of the room, she slammed her door so hard that the picture on the wall fell off. Rinoa thought for a moment then glanced up at Squall who was staring at the door that Aurora had just slammed.

"Squall? Should we tell her, do you think she should know?" Rinoa said in a soft voice. Rinoa stared at Squall who was still staring at the door. "Yeah, Rinoa, she has to know. We're going to be here for a fair amount of time and Aurora is bound to meet people and they're gonna know all about us and tell her things." Said Squall after a long silence. "We should be the one's to tell her the whole truth, and if you want I'll talk to her. I know that this is hard enough on you as it is."

Rinoa looked at Squall pleadingly, not knowing what to say or think so she decided just to agree. "Ok… Squall… ok, if you think that's best. You should go and talk to her, I'll stay here." Rinoa looked up at the door and then to Squall who had turned to her and nodded solemnly.

Rinoa walked as her husband, her beloved, got up to tell her daughter what they had hid from her for 15 years. She watched as her husband entered the room and closed the door so quietly that there was barely a click. Rinoa lay down and looked at the ceiling wondering what was going to happen.

Squall closed the door and walked over to Aurora who was lying on the bed looked straight up into the skylight out towards the stars. He noticed that there was tear streaks along her cheeks that had just dried.

Squall walked to the opposite side of the room and sat down in the window seat and looked out into the horizon. "Beautiful night, isn't It." said Squall quietly. Squall turned back to look at Aurora who seemed surprised someone was there but also angry. She must not have noticed he came in, thought Squall.

Squall glanced back out towards the horizon then put his attention onto Aurora who had sat up and was cross-legged holding a cushion on her bed, tear streaks still on her face. "Dad? Are you gonna tell me of make up some lame excuse." Said Aurora sarcastically while playing with the edge of the pillow.

Squall stared at her a moment then figured that there was no use in sugarcoating what he was going to tell her. "Aurora, I'm going to tell you, but just… well listen and don't interrupt me."

Squall sighed deeply and looked up at Aurora who nodded in agreement. He began telling her all about his experiences as a teenager and how he was a loner and became a SeeD and started going on missions with fellow SeeD's being Quistis, Selphie and Zell.

He told her about how a sorceress had made a treaty with the president of Galbadia and how she turned on him and took over Galbadia. He also told her about how they had to try and kill her but didn't succeed and were taken prisoner in the Galbadia Prison and escaped and ended up beating the sorceress who was possessed. He described how she was their childhood Matron at his orphanage where the entire group except for Rinoa was raised until they were of age for the Garden's.

He told how after the sorceress Edea's defeat she accidentally passed on her powers to Rinoa and she became a sorceress and she became possessed as Edea was by an evil sorceress of the future, Ultimecia.

Squall kept talking and told her about his long journey to Esthar and to the Lunar Space station to find his "sis" Ellone to have her help Rinoa out of her coma. He paused before telling her about Adel's revival and travelling through the time compression after defeating Sorceress Adel in order to reach Ultimecia's time to defeat her.

After telling Aurora all of this and telling her about after Ultimecia's defeat and the trouble getting back to their own time and Rinoa almost losing him, Squall stopped talking for awhile. He thought for a minute about how it was all coming back to him and he didn't like it.

Squall looked at Aurora who was staring back at him with a mixed expression of interest and confusion. Squall wasn't sure why see looked some what confused but decided to keep going on his story that would lead to telling her what was going on.

Before Squall could continue Aurora lay back down on her bed a looked up out into the skylight and asked, "Is that all, is that what the big secret is?"

Squall stared at her. "No, Aurora… its not… just wait this out, you'll know if a minute." Said Squall frowning.

Squall watched as Aurora sat back and hugged her knees and looked at him, waiting for him to continue so he did.

"As you know, Aurora…. Your mother is a sorceress." Squall said, his frown turning into a straight face again. Squall looked at Aurora a minute as she nodded and then he continued. He explained how each sorceress has a certain amount of powers and how one of them is stronger then all of them put together.

He explained how Edea had her power of Peace and passed it on to Rinoa; how when Ultimecia was defeated and she traveled time and gave Edea her powers before she died, the powers of "time and power". That since time continued that when Rinoa received Edea's powers that "time and power" were included and that and Rinoa became even more powerful.

She had two main powers as if she had always had them and that since she was so powerful she was a danger to herself and needed to pass some of them on.

Squall paused again, unsure of how to put what he was going to say next. He looked away from Aurora and to the door, hoping that Rinoa would come in and save him from having to tell her but the door remained closed.

Squall sighed and turned back to Aurora who now had a concerned and worried look on her face. Despite that look the continued, he explained that when a sorceress has to many powers and has to pass them on she'll either pass them to the person she is fighting of in the case of having a baby…. To her baby. Squall explained that since, at that time, there was no more need to fight that her extra powers were passed on to…. Aurora.

Squall, who's eyes had wondered out to the window while telling her this shot right back to Aurora after he was finished and he saw the look on her face and regretted everything. He regretted telling her everything!

Aurora's eyes shot to the window, she was unsure what to think. She knew that her expression must not have been too good because her father was looking at her, very worried and scared.

"Wha--- a… sorceress…. Me?" Aurora managed to stutter. She looked at her father again who looked as if he was unsure of what to say and she didn't blame him, she didn't really know what to say either.

"Why did you keep…. This…… from me all this time, dad…. Why?" she stuttered again. Aurora stared at her father and waited for an answer. Aurora watched as he opened and closed his mouth again… and again… she knew he was trying to say something but he just couldn't get the words out.

"Aurora… please don't be angry… we were just trying to…. Protect you." He said after what seemed to be forever. Aurora stared at him, angrily, but understood, she didn't want to though. For once she wanted to have an excuse to be angry at him, at her parents but for some reason she just understood, she knew that she would have done the same thing.

Aurora looked at her father, Squall, as he looked at the ground and back at her and apologized. "Don't… don't apologize for protecting me… I understand… just… tell me the rest, ok?" Aurora said quietly.

Aurora looked at the floor and waited for him to begin talking again, and after what seemed a long time he began to talk. She listened carefully as he explained that Rinoa noticed herself weaker after having her and she knew she just knew that Aurora had become what she was. A sorceress.

Aurora's attention stayed fully on listening to what she was and what her powers were. She listened to him telling her that he had inherited the "time and power" powers. That she was a very strong sorceress that had not exercised her powers yet.

Aurora listened even more intently when he began explaining why they had come here. She got somewhat worried when he told her about the evil Sorceress Adel coming back. She wondered why and how but decided to wait until he was done to ask.

Aurora began to become afraid when Squall told her about Adel's goal, the same as Ultimecia's goal. Time Compression, and in order to get that she needed the sorceress with the power of "time and power". She listened as he told that how the power of strength plus the power of "time and power" was a bad mixture, that if she got hold of Aurora then she would surely achieve what she has waited all this time for.

Aurora sat in a trance of thought as Squall stood up and walked over to her bed and sat down beside her and put his arm around her to comfort her. She snapped out of her trance when he began to talk about how they would know more the next day. Quistis would tell them about what they needed to do.

Aurora looked up at her father reassurance that everything would be ok after he was finished talking. She got it, Aurora sat there, and her father reassuring her that nobody would do anything, ever, to her. That she was safe.

Aurora hugged him and then Squall stood up. "You know, Aurora… you took this much better then I would have expected." He said with a sort of grin beginning to spread over his face. Aurora stared at him and answered, "Thanks… I really appreciate you telling me the truth, I needed to know."

She watched as her father nodded and began to leave the room to go and see her mother. Right before he left she remembered something, the ball.

"Dad! Wait!" she said quickly as she hopped up and ran over to him. "Umm, this may not be a good time… but when I went on that tour, well, the guy I was with asked me to go to the SeeD ball with him and I figured that since we would be here for a fair while I should make some friends."

Aurora looked down at her feet and twiddled them a bit then looked back up her father surprised to see a wide grin spread across his face. "Well… it is a ball you can't go in that…." He said as he walked out of her room.

Aurora looked confused, she waited there a minute and then her father came back in holding a white dress. "Aurora, this is your mothers… its what she wore when I first meet her, at the SeeD ball!" he said smiling. Aurora stared at the beautiful dress and then looked at her father and saw his face turned serious again.

"Aurora, I want you to have fun but you have to understand that you are in danger, so be careful will you. Be back by 11." Said her father, looking down at the dress then to her. "Don't tell your mother, she's sleeping so she won't know, hurry now!"

Aurora looked up at him, a wide smile spread across her delicate featured face and she hugged him. "Thank you, dad!" she said happily. She watched as he left the room and then she shut the door and clicked the lock.

Aurora glanced at the clock, it was 8:30. She knew she had to hurry so she slipped on the knee-length white dress and the white high heels that he gave her along with it and then ran to the mirror. She brushed her hair straight down and curled the tips and let her hair hang loosely like usual.

Aurora cracked the door open and inch and saw her mother fast asleep, exhausted and her father lying next to her. She slipped out the door and sneaked over to the way out and looked back to see that her father sat up and smiled. She waved good bye and slipped out the door and shut it with a soft click.

Aurora walked to the directory, getting excited. She was Dean standing there waiting with another couple. "Wow, you look great!" Dean said right away. "Thanks, Dean. You look good yourself." Aurora said shyly.

Aurora looked at the other couple and noticed that the girl was Dawn whom she met near the elevator hours earlier. Dean introduced them, Dawn whom she already knew greeted her politely and to Jem her date who looked at Aurora for a moment before greeting her in a humorous way.

"Shall we go then?" Dean said looking at Aurora happily then to the others. They all agreed and they headed towards the ballroom. Dean opened the doors and Aurora looked around in awe… she loved it. It was the more beautiful then all the rooms in the garden put together!