Chapter8
What You Are
The hurt, guilt and worry that burned in Rave's heart was amounting to be more then he could bear. His parents were in danger, and here he was with a bunch of strangers, unable to help the two people that meant the most to him.
The others tried to console him, but none of them would ever be able to understand.
That night he had everything planned. Earlier that day he had snatched Davis' keys to his boat. His plan was simple; he was going to sail home. Shiva only knew what he be sailing home to, but Rave had to at least try.
Late that night when he was sure everyone else would be sound asleep, Rave snuck out of his hotel room. He walked down the dead streets of Timber and to the coast of the Timberian country, where Davis' boat was being stored.
Arriving at the docks; Rave started searching each dock up and down. He found Davis' boat tied to the last dock, but that wasn't all he found. There waiting inside the boat was Kriye, Ceila and Davis. They all looked tired, but the same determination illuminated from each of their eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" He yelled at them, for some reason enraged.
"Were stopping you from going on, and doing something stupid," Kriye told him calmly.
"I have to save my family!" He shouted at them desperately.
"We know that, but that doesn't mean you have to do it alone," Ceila reasoned.
Rave threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "This isn't something that I want a crew with me for, this is something that I have to do myself. You guys shouldn't get involved," Rave then points over to Kriye "especially you."
As soon as the words left his mouth Rave expected Kriye to yell at him, to curse him for daring to use her family against her. Instead Kriye got out of the boat and gently took his hand. Her piercing steel eyes bore into his own, and when she spoke Rave could feel his entire heart stop.
"Rave since that day you challenged me to a duel I got involved, we all got involved. Were not going to sit by and let you go off alone, we all mean more to each other then that."
"Kriye," Rave addressed his friend, his voice finally under control. "You're in enough danger. I am not going to place you in even more."
"And I'm not going to let you get into any without me," she told him firmly. "So it looks like you're just shit out of luck."
Knowing a loss cause when he saw one, Rave took one hard look at each of his friends, before finally nodding.
"Thank you," he told them all earnestly.
Getting back into the boat Kriye smiled. "Come on, we have a lot of water we have to get behind us."
Following Kriye's lead Rave hopped into the boat. Immediately as his feet hit the carpet Davis was off.
With water splashing all around them Rave took a seat in the back next to Kriye. She was staring intensely into the ocean; Rave had thought her mind was a million miles away when out of the blue she asked him.
"What or who do you think that great power was that destroyed Deling?"
Rave looked at her carefully. "Are you thinking it has something to do with the scientist experiments...do you think it has something to do with you?"
"It has to, doesn't it? I mean I'm taken, experiments are done on me, and now there's this great dangerous threat to the world walking around. None of this could all be just a mere coincidence."
"Maybe, but either way there's nothing you can do about it right? Your dad has already sent SeeDs out there, and President Loire sent his troops. The way I see it, that's all that can be done."
"It's 'my' blood out there. It's because of me that Deling was destroyed, it's because of me that your parents..." Kriye stopped there.
There they were two hurting souls. Rave would have never of thought he had much in common with Kriye Leonhart, but as he sat on that boat next to her he realized, there was no one in the world that he related more to.
Taking her hand just as she had taken his, Rave said to her. "Kriye, it might be your blood out there, but it isn't your heart. Some works of evil are out there, we just have to have faith in the people that we trust that they'll find that evil, and more importantly they'll stop it."
Kriye stared at him, her eyes flowing with emotion. Neither of them dared to look away from each other. Time that Rave didn't realize had flown by, because before he knew it they had approached the far end of the Galbadian coast, and Rave could see his farm.
There are some sights that you witness throughout your lifetime that will haunt you forever, seeing his home half burned to the ground was one of those sights. It was a sight that Rave would never forget.
Taking a moment to get over the initial shock Rave threw himself out of the boat, and started to yell out for his parents.
"Mom, Dad!" He ran all around the farm calling out to his parents over and over again, they never answered.
Falling to his knees Rave buried his face in his hands, the pain that was burning in his heart was more then he could take. Silent sobs started to shake his shoulders. From behind him he could hear his friend's footsteps.
"Go away!" He barked at them.
The footsteps, however, didn't go away. They kept creeping up closer and closer to him until Rave could feel a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. He turned around to yell at whoever that hand belonged to, but stopped immediately.
There standing behind him was his mom and dad. Not even controlling his own actions Rave jumped up from off the ground, gaining his balance he threw his arms around his mother.
"Mom," he cried "I thought I never see you again. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I should have never of left. I'm so sorry." The words just poured from Rave's mouth, all joining together in one big mumble.
"Rave," his mother said calmly "You're here, were here. That's all that matters." Rave tightened his arms around his mom. Then let go to turn to his father.
Rave didn't know what to say to his old man. There was so much too say, and he was never good at displaying his emotion to his father.
His father, however, didn't need to hear it. In a very Seifer Almansy like fashion his dad tenderly punched him in the shoulder and said.
"Looks like you bulked out a bit Rave. Life experiences can do that to you."
Rave smiled at his dad.
The world was still in mortal danger, Rave knew that, but at that moment with his parents safely with him everything was at peace.
Smiling widely at both his parents he said to them. "Mom, dad, there's a few people I would like you to meet."
* * *
Squall had just recuperated enough to get out of bed rest. Normally Rinoa would have seen this as a good thing, but under the current circumstances...
With this new sorceress running around causing havoc, it created bad feelings within Rinoa. A lot of things were occurring that couldn't be just a coincidence. Scientists doing tests on girls, Samson Green being assassinated, the attempted assassination of Squall, Kriye's kidnapping, and whoever or whatever this new sorceress was. It all added up, but a problem remained that Rinoa just didn't know what it added up to.
Besides the world's problems Rinoa was having family problems as well. With Squall out of bed he was already thick into the sorceress situation. He sent several SeeDs to investigate the area around Deling, and sent several more to go searching for the sorceress herself, a search that he planned to join as soon as possible. Rinoa had already almost lost her husband once this week; she didn't think she could go through all that again.
On top of her worry for Squall, Kriye once again was missing, along with her three friends. And once again Squall had no clue.
Rinoa didn't know where Kriye was for sure, but she had a feeling her daughter was somewhere in Galbadia. What worried her was what she was doing there.
Lying on Squall's hospital bed, Rinoa was trying to desperately sort out her thoughts when Squall came rushing in. He told her that he and Zell were going to go to Trabia to see what Selphie and Irvine wanted to do about the new sorceress threat. When Kriye's name came up Rinoa could feel her heart tighten.
"I want you, Kriye and her friends to go to Esthar. You'll be safest there."
"Squall," Rinoa could hardly find her voice as she addressed her husband. "There's something that I have to tell you."
Always taking her dead serious when she spoke with the tone she now used, Squall stopped whatever he was doing to listen to her.
"What is it?"
"It's Kriye...she's gone again."
"She's what?!" Her husband exclaimed.
"I found out early this morning," Rinoa told him, retreated back a few steps from his furious scowl. "She and the others must have gone off somewhere."
"Where's somewhere?" Squall asked irately.
"I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling somewhere in Galbadia."
"Galbadia?! That's the very last place that Kriye should be right now! What the hell is she thinking?!" Squall started storming around the hospital room, talking mindlessly until he suddenly stopped.
"It's that Almansy boy, I know it!"
"Squall, please."
"Just like his father, the filthy"-
"Squall," Rinoa interrupted before he could finish his sentence "You don't know if it was Rave. Your daughter had a mind of her own you know."
"She got that from you, you know that," Squall said sharply.
Rinoa would have laughed if the situation wasn't as serious as it was.
"Anyway, being the child of someone doesn't make up the entire person that you are. On top of that it's been a long time, people change. Even people like Seifer Almansy can change, he married Quistis after all. Nobody ever saw that coming."
Squall didn't respond he just stood there silently. Rinoa watched as a resolve started to wash over his her husbands' face.
"I'm going after her," he said at last.
Rinoa nodded. "I had a feeling you would," Walking past him, she grabbed her suitcase that was resting against the door. Picking it up she set it on the bed and popped it open. Digging to the bottom Rinoa pulled out her Blaster Edge.
"What do you think your doing?" Squall asked testily.
"I'm coming with you," she told him firmly.
"No your not," Squall protested "Your going to Esthar."
"Squall, she's my daughter too."
Walking over to her Squall gently took a hold over both her hands.
"Forgetting for one moment that I'm headmaster of Balamb Garden, what kind of husband would I be if I placed you in any kind of danger."
Staring intensely into Squall's steel blue eyes, she told him. "And what kind of wife would I be, if I let my husband go into any kind of danger without my help."
"Rinoa"- Squall tried to protest, but Rinoa wouldn't let him.
"Squall, if you go, I go."
The two stared at each other for a moment. Seeing Squall give in, she watched as he lowered his forehead so it was leaning against her own.
"I love you so much Rinoa," he whispered to her.
"I love you Squall," she whispered back.
The two gave each other that moment. A moment when their heart's were one, and to each other they were the only two people in the world.
At last Squall pulled away from her, but never taking his eyes off of hers' he said to her. "Let's go get our daughter."
Rinoa nodded, together the two left the hotel room.
* * *
Meeting Rave's parents was a bit of an odd experience for Kriye. The Almansy's seemed more then a perfectly nice couple, but the way that they reacted to her name...it was a bit more of an elaborate reaction then most people have.
When Kriye told them that her name was indeed Kriye Leonhart their eyes grew really large, and their mouths dropped to the floor. They did react to Ceila's name too, but not to the same extent. Mr. Almansy even went as far as to say.
"Well if that ain't that son-of-a-bitch's kid." It didn't take Mrs. Almansy to shove an elbow in her husbands gut for Kriye to realize that the Almansys' knew her parents.
Later that night the four of them went fishing for their dinner. It was there that Rave explained his parent's reactions.
As chance would have it, Rave's mother, Quistis, was one of the six that saved the world along with her own parents. It was an odd coincidence to say the least.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" She asked Rave as they all sat along the Galbadian coast, ocean waves washed against their feet.
"I don't know," Rave told her "Probably for the same reason that you told me that your name was Kriye Heartilly."
The answer was fair enough, and for the remainder of that evening Kriye didn't bring the subject up again. However, for the rest of their stay with the Almansys Kriye barely took her eyes off of them, she was fascinated by both of them.
Mrs. Almansy had a gentle manner about her that reminded Kriye greatly of her own mother. Mr. Almansy on the other hand, was a very charismatic man, he voiced his opinions regularly and wasn't afraid to turn anyone's insight into a debate.
At first Mr. Almansy eyed Kriye with the same curiosity that she watched him with. He wouldn't talk as openly with her as she did the others, and seemed to always avoid direct conversation.
Later during their visit Kriye had asked Rave how his father knew her parents, Rave just shrugged. Apparently Mr. Almansy's connection with her parents was just as much a mystery to him as it was to her. He would never talk about it, and whenever Rave would even ask about his father's past he would quickly become angry.
On any other occasion Kriye would have taken what Rave had told her for face value, and not think twice about it. However, there was something about Mr. Almansy that Kriye couldn't get out of her head. Maybe it was how his past was such a clouded mystery, or that he shared a mirrored scar that her own father wore across his forehead, it could even just have been that aura that Kriye got whenever she was around him. Whatever the reason, Kriye had to know.
One night Mr. Almansy was sitting outside his half burned home alone, his gunblade was out and Mr. Almansy seemed to be entranced by the glow that the blade let off at night.
Kriye, deciding that this was a good of time as any, slowly walked up to the blond haired man. He didn't even turn to look at her as she sat down in the grass next to him.
The two of them were silent. Kriye didn't know what to say, what seemed like such a big deal mere seconds ago now seemed completely silly. She was about to just give up and walk away when Mr. Almansy said to her.
"You want to know how I met your parents don't you kid?"
"Ahh, yeah," she replied stupidly, she was caught off guard by his bluntness.
"You know it's not an easy story to tell," he started to explain "I was young, naïve and most importantly I was arrogant. Those three are a dangerous mixture."
Kriye just sat there silently, letting Mr. Almansy's mouth get the better of him.
"I went to school with your old man; we were rivals from the beginning. Everything that Squall did I was obsessed with doing better. Looking back it was all pretty fucking ridiculous, but back then my ultimate goal was becoming someone more then Squall Leonhart could ever wish to be, to become the better man."
Seifer sighed, bringing his eyes off his gunblade and onto Kriye.
"Anyways, time at Balamb Garden went by. I eventually met your mother. We dated for a summer, but then something got in our way...my ambition."
For a second Kriye just stared at Seifer dumbly. She couldn't believe that this man, sitting right next to her, had once dated her mom. Kriye had always imagined her mom being with only one man, and that being her dad. It was childish to believe that her parents were never with anyone else, but it was an innocent thought that Kriye liked to hang onto.
Shaking away the thought Kriye continued to listen to Seifer.
"I wanted to be something great, frankly I wanted to be the shit. Your mom, she just wanted to liberate Timber, live a simple life that she never had as a kid. I introduced your mom to, at the time, Balamb's headmaster Cid Kramer. He in return sent Squall along with the messenger girl, and chicken wuss to help her with the liberation. From there I believe that rest of your parent's story is 'history.'"
Laughing bitterly at his own pun, Mr. Almansy returned his attention back to his gunblade.
Kriye now knew how Seifer Almansy knew her parents, but still she wasn't satisfied. Daring to maybe break Seifer's limits she asked him.
"When my parents and their friends were off saving the world...where were you?"
When Seifer looked back at her, his eyes were filled with guilt and shame.
"I...I was the stick up everyone's ass. I was the sorceress' knight, but unlike your old man, I wasn't in love with the sorceress I was sworn to protect. I was in love with becoming 'someone.'" Seifer looks around his farm with empty eyes. "Looks like I really accomplished my goals."
"You're a husband and a dad, those are pretty good accomplishments," Kriye told him honestly.
"I know, I know. Don't get me wrong I love my life. It's just sometimes... sometimes I wonder..."
As Seifer's voice faded off Kriye was going to take the opportunity to leave the man to ponder. As she started to walk away Mr. Almansy called after.
"Go get your gunblade Leonhart."
"Are you serious?"
"Hell yeah I'm serious. Now go get your blade. Show me that you truly are your father's daughter."
Quickly running back into the house Kriye got her gunblade, and the two dueled. She expected their battle to be rigorous, but Seifer's abilities far surpassed anything that Kriye expected.
It was getting late into the night when a thought struck Kriye. As the two took a moment to catch their breathes, Kriye asked her father's rival.
"Was it you who gave my dad his scar?"
A small smile crept onto Mr. Almansy's face. "Yeah, that was me," he told her "But he also gave me mine."
"Who gave whose first?" She challenged him.
"I gave him his first...but he gave me mine last."
And that was it. The mystery of Seifer Almansy was solved. He was just another person living in her father's shadow.
As the two of them walked back to the Almansy's half burned down home, Kriye couldn't help but feel a strong connection with her father's one time rival.
AUTHORS NOTE: My favorite seen in this whole story is the confrontation between Kriye and Seifer. I like to think it was a moment that neither expected, but in a way both needed. At least that's what I hope I conveyed.
It should also be added that the title to this story is from the band LIVE, I thought it was fitting. Also I failed to mention this but in the last couple of chapters the titles 'Bright Lights,' and 'Beautiful Mistakes,' come from Matchbox Twenty and Frankie Perez. I just wanted to give credit where credit was due.
I hope everyone is doing great, and that the spring time is treating you well.
Always,
Leah
What You Are
The hurt, guilt and worry that burned in Rave's heart was amounting to be more then he could bear. His parents were in danger, and here he was with a bunch of strangers, unable to help the two people that meant the most to him.
The others tried to console him, but none of them would ever be able to understand.
That night he had everything planned. Earlier that day he had snatched Davis' keys to his boat. His plan was simple; he was going to sail home. Shiva only knew what he be sailing home to, but Rave had to at least try.
Late that night when he was sure everyone else would be sound asleep, Rave snuck out of his hotel room. He walked down the dead streets of Timber and to the coast of the Timberian country, where Davis' boat was being stored.
Arriving at the docks; Rave started searching each dock up and down. He found Davis' boat tied to the last dock, but that wasn't all he found. There waiting inside the boat was Kriye, Ceila and Davis. They all looked tired, but the same determination illuminated from each of their eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" He yelled at them, for some reason enraged.
"Were stopping you from going on, and doing something stupid," Kriye told him calmly.
"I have to save my family!" He shouted at them desperately.
"We know that, but that doesn't mean you have to do it alone," Ceila reasoned.
Rave threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "This isn't something that I want a crew with me for, this is something that I have to do myself. You guys shouldn't get involved," Rave then points over to Kriye "especially you."
As soon as the words left his mouth Rave expected Kriye to yell at him, to curse him for daring to use her family against her. Instead Kriye got out of the boat and gently took his hand. Her piercing steel eyes bore into his own, and when she spoke Rave could feel his entire heart stop.
"Rave since that day you challenged me to a duel I got involved, we all got involved. Were not going to sit by and let you go off alone, we all mean more to each other then that."
"Kriye," Rave addressed his friend, his voice finally under control. "You're in enough danger. I am not going to place you in even more."
"And I'm not going to let you get into any without me," she told him firmly. "So it looks like you're just shit out of luck."
Knowing a loss cause when he saw one, Rave took one hard look at each of his friends, before finally nodding.
"Thank you," he told them all earnestly.
Getting back into the boat Kriye smiled. "Come on, we have a lot of water we have to get behind us."
Following Kriye's lead Rave hopped into the boat. Immediately as his feet hit the carpet Davis was off.
With water splashing all around them Rave took a seat in the back next to Kriye. She was staring intensely into the ocean; Rave had thought her mind was a million miles away when out of the blue she asked him.
"What or who do you think that great power was that destroyed Deling?"
Rave looked at her carefully. "Are you thinking it has something to do with the scientist experiments...do you think it has something to do with you?"
"It has to, doesn't it? I mean I'm taken, experiments are done on me, and now there's this great dangerous threat to the world walking around. None of this could all be just a mere coincidence."
"Maybe, but either way there's nothing you can do about it right? Your dad has already sent SeeDs out there, and President Loire sent his troops. The way I see it, that's all that can be done."
"It's 'my' blood out there. It's because of me that Deling was destroyed, it's because of me that your parents..." Kriye stopped there.
There they were two hurting souls. Rave would have never of thought he had much in common with Kriye Leonhart, but as he sat on that boat next to her he realized, there was no one in the world that he related more to.
Taking her hand just as she had taken his, Rave said to her. "Kriye, it might be your blood out there, but it isn't your heart. Some works of evil are out there, we just have to have faith in the people that we trust that they'll find that evil, and more importantly they'll stop it."
Kriye stared at him, her eyes flowing with emotion. Neither of them dared to look away from each other. Time that Rave didn't realize had flown by, because before he knew it they had approached the far end of the Galbadian coast, and Rave could see his farm.
There are some sights that you witness throughout your lifetime that will haunt you forever, seeing his home half burned to the ground was one of those sights. It was a sight that Rave would never forget.
Taking a moment to get over the initial shock Rave threw himself out of the boat, and started to yell out for his parents.
"Mom, Dad!" He ran all around the farm calling out to his parents over and over again, they never answered.
Falling to his knees Rave buried his face in his hands, the pain that was burning in his heart was more then he could take. Silent sobs started to shake his shoulders. From behind him he could hear his friend's footsteps.
"Go away!" He barked at them.
The footsteps, however, didn't go away. They kept creeping up closer and closer to him until Rave could feel a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. He turned around to yell at whoever that hand belonged to, but stopped immediately.
There standing behind him was his mom and dad. Not even controlling his own actions Rave jumped up from off the ground, gaining his balance he threw his arms around his mother.
"Mom," he cried "I thought I never see you again. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I should have never of left. I'm so sorry." The words just poured from Rave's mouth, all joining together in one big mumble.
"Rave," his mother said calmly "You're here, were here. That's all that matters." Rave tightened his arms around his mom. Then let go to turn to his father.
Rave didn't know what to say to his old man. There was so much too say, and he was never good at displaying his emotion to his father.
His father, however, didn't need to hear it. In a very Seifer Almansy like fashion his dad tenderly punched him in the shoulder and said.
"Looks like you bulked out a bit Rave. Life experiences can do that to you."
Rave smiled at his dad.
The world was still in mortal danger, Rave knew that, but at that moment with his parents safely with him everything was at peace.
Smiling widely at both his parents he said to them. "Mom, dad, there's a few people I would like you to meet."
* * *
Squall had just recuperated enough to get out of bed rest. Normally Rinoa would have seen this as a good thing, but under the current circumstances...
With this new sorceress running around causing havoc, it created bad feelings within Rinoa. A lot of things were occurring that couldn't be just a coincidence. Scientists doing tests on girls, Samson Green being assassinated, the attempted assassination of Squall, Kriye's kidnapping, and whoever or whatever this new sorceress was. It all added up, but a problem remained that Rinoa just didn't know what it added up to.
Besides the world's problems Rinoa was having family problems as well. With Squall out of bed he was already thick into the sorceress situation. He sent several SeeDs to investigate the area around Deling, and sent several more to go searching for the sorceress herself, a search that he planned to join as soon as possible. Rinoa had already almost lost her husband once this week; she didn't think she could go through all that again.
On top of her worry for Squall, Kriye once again was missing, along with her three friends. And once again Squall had no clue.
Rinoa didn't know where Kriye was for sure, but she had a feeling her daughter was somewhere in Galbadia. What worried her was what she was doing there.
Lying on Squall's hospital bed, Rinoa was trying to desperately sort out her thoughts when Squall came rushing in. He told her that he and Zell were going to go to Trabia to see what Selphie and Irvine wanted to do about the new sorceress threat. When Kriye's name came up Rinoa could feel her heart tighten.
"I want you, Kriye and her friends to go to Esthar. You'll be safest there."
"Squall," Rinoa could hardly find her voice as she addressed her husband. "There's something that I have to tell you."
Always taking her dead serious when she spoke with the tone she now used, Squall stopped whatever he was doing to listen to her.
"What is it?"
"It's Kriye...she's gone again."
"She's what?!" Her husband exclaimed.
"I found out early this morning," Rinoa told him, retreated back a few steps from his furious scowl. "She and the others must have gone off somewhere."
"Where's somewhere?" Squall asked irately.
"I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling somewhere in Galbadia."
"Galbadia?! That's the very last place that Kriye should be right now! What the hell is she thinking?!" Squall started storming around the hospital room, talking mindlessly until he suddenly stopped.
"It's that Almansy boy, I know it!"
"Squall, please."
"Just like his father, the filthy"-
"Squall," Rinoa interrupted before he could finish his sentence "You don't know if it was Rave. Your daughter had a mind of her own you know."
"She got that from you, you know that," Squall said sharply.
Rinoa would have laughed if the situation wasn't as serious as it was.
"Anyway, being the child of someone doesn't make up the entire person that you are. On top of that it's been a long time, people change. Even people like Seifer Almansy can change, he married Quistis after all. Nobody ever saw that coming."
Squall didn't respond he just stood there silently. Rinoa watched as a resolve started to wash over his her husbands' face.
"I'm going after her," he said at last.
Rinoa nodded. "I had a feeling you would," Walking past him, she grabbed her suitcase that was resting against the door. Picking it up she set it on the bed and popped it open. Digging to the bottom Rinoa pulled out her Blaster Edge.
"What do you think your doing?" Squall asked testily.
"I'm coming with you," she told him firmly.
"No your not," Squall protested "Your going to Esthar."
"Squall, she's my daughter too."
Walking over to her Squall gently took a hold over both her hands.
"Forgetting for one moment that I'm headmaster of Balamb Garden, what kind of husband would I be if I placed you in any kind of danger."
Staring intensely into Squall's steel blue eyes, she told him. "And what kind of wife would I be, if I let my husband go into any kind of danger without my help."
"Rinoa"- Squall tried to protest, but Rinoa wouldn't let him.
"Squall, if you go, I go."
The two stared at each other for a moment. Seeing Squall give in, she watched as he lowered his forehead so it was leaning against her own.
"I love you so much Rinoa," he whispered to her.
"I love you Squall," she whispered back.
The two gave each other that moment. A moment when their heart's were one, and to each other they were the only two people in the world.
At last Squall pulled away from her, but never taking his eyes off of hers' he said to her. "Let's go get our daughter."
Rinoa nodded, together the two left the hotel room.
* * *
Meeting Rave's parents was a bit of an odd experience for Kriye. The Almansy's seemed more then a perfectly nice couple, but the way that they reacted to her name...it was a bit more of an elaborate reaction then most people have.
When Kriye told them that her name was indeed Kriye Leonhart their eyes grew really large, and their mouths dropped to the floor. They did react to Ceila's name too, but not to the same extent. Mr. Almansy even went as far as to say.
"Well if that ain't that son-of-a-bitch's kid." It didn't take Mrs. Almansy to shove an elbow in her husbands gut for Kriye to realize that the Almansys' knew her parents.
Later that night the four of them went fishing for their dinner. It was there that Rave explained his parent's reactions.
As chance would have it, Rave's mother, Quistis, was one of the six that saved the world along with her own parents. It was an odd coincidence to say the least.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" She asked Rave as they all sat along the Galbadian coast, ocean waves washed against their feet.
"I don't know," Rave told her "Probably for the same reason that you told me that your name was Kriye Heartilly."
The answer was fair enough, and for the remainder of that evening Kriye didn't bring the subject up again. However, for the rest of their stay with the Almansys Kriye barely took her eyes off of them, she was fascinated by both of them.
Mrs. Almansy had a gentle manner about her that reminded Kriye greatly of her own mother. Mr. Almansy on the other hand, was a very charismatic man, he voiced his opinions regularly and wasn't afraid to turn anyone's insight into a debate.
At first Mr. Almansy eyed Kriye with the same curiosity that she watched him with. He wouldn't talk as openly with her as she did the others, and seemed to always avoid direct conversation.
Later during their visit Kriye had asked Rave how his father knew her parents, Rave just shrugged. Apparently Mr. Almansy's connection with her parents was just as much a mystery to him as it was to her. He would never talk about it, and whenever Rave would even ask about his father's past he would quickly become angry.
On any other occasion Kriye would have taken what Rave had told her for face value, and not think twice about it. However, there was something about Mr. Almansy that Kriye couldn't get out of her head. Maybe it was how his past was such a clouded mystery, or that he shared a mirrored scar that her own father wore across his forehead, it could even just have been that aura that Kriye got whenever she was around him. Whatever the reason, Kriye had to know.
One night Mr. Almansy was sitting outside his half burned home alone, his gunblade was out and Mr. Almansy seemed to be entranced by the glow that the blade let off at night.
Kriye, deciding that this was a good of time as any, slowly walked up to the blond haired man. He didn't even turn to look at her as she sat down in the grass next to him.
The two of them were silent. Kriye didn't know what to say, what seemed like such a big deal mere seconds ago now seemed completely silly. She was about to just give up and walk away when Mr. Almansy said to her.
"You want to know how I met your parents don't you kid?"
"Ahh, yeah," she replied stupidly, she was caught off guard by his bluntness.
"You know it's not an easy story to tell," he started to explain "I was young, naïve and most importantly I was arrogant. Those three are a dangerous mixture."
Kriye just sat there silently, letting Mr. Almansy's mouth get the better of him.
"I went to school with your old man; we were rivals from the beginning. Everything that Squall did I was obsessed with doing better. Looking back it was all pretty fucking ridiculous, but back then my ultimate goal was becoming someone more then Squall Leonhart could ever wish to be, to become the better man."
Seifer sighed, bringing his eyes off his gunblade and onto Kriye.
"Anyways, time at Balamb Garden went by. I eventually met your mother. We dated for a summer, but then something got in our way...my ambition."
For a second Kriye just stared at Seifer dumbly. She couldn't believe that this man, sitting right next to her, had once dated her mom. Kriye had always imagined her mom being with only one man, and that being her dad. It was childish to believe that her parents were never with anyone else, but it was an innocent thought that Kriye liked to hang onto.
Shaking away the thought Kriye continued to listen to Seifer.
"I wanted to be something great, frankly I wanted to be the shit. Your mom, she just wanted to liberate Timber, live a simple life that she never had as a kid. I introduced your mom to, at the time, Balamb's headmaster Cid Kramer. He in return sent Squall along with the messenger girl, and chicken wuss to help her with the liberation. From there I believe that rest of your parent's story is 'history.'"
Laughing bitterly at his own pun, Mr. Almansy returned his attention back to his gunblade.
Kriye now knew how Seifer Almansy knew her parents, but still she wasn't satisfied. Daring to maybe break Seifer's limits she asked him.
"When my parents and their friends were off saving the world...where were you?"
When Seifer looked back at her, his eyes were filled with guilt and shame.
"I...I was the stick up everyone's ass. I was the sorceress' knight, but unlike your old man, I wasn't in love with the sorceress I was sworn to protect. I was in love with becoming 'someone.'" Seifer looks around his farm with empty eyes. "Looks like I really accomplished my goals."
"You're a husband and a dad, those are pretty good accomplishments," Kriye told him honestly.
"I know, I know. Don't get me wrong I love my life. It's just sometimes... sometimes I wonder..."
As Seifer's voice faded off Kriye was going to take the opportunity to leave the man to ponder. As she started to walk away Mr. Almansy called after.
"Go get your gunblade Leonhart."
"Are you serious?"
"Hell yeah I'm serious. Now go get your blade. Show me that you truly are your father's daughter."
Quickly running back into the house Kriye got her gunblade, and the two dueled. She expected their battle to be rigorous, but Seifer's abilities far surpassed anything that Kriye expected.
It was getting late into the night when a thought struck Kriye. As the two took a moment to catch their breathes, Kriye asked her father's rival.
"Was it you who gave my dad his scar?"
A small smile crept onto Mr. Almansy's face. "Yeah, that was me," he told her "But he also gave me mine."
"Who gave whose first?" She challenged him.
"I gave him his first...but he gave me mine last."
And that was it. The mystery of Seifer Almansy was solved. He was just another person living in her father's shadow.
As the two of them walked back to the Almansy's half burned down home, Kriye couldn't help but feel a strong connection with her father's one time rival.
AUTHORS NOTE: My favorite seen in this whole story is the confrontation between Kriye and Seifer. I like to think it was a moment that neither expected, but in a way both needed. At least that's what I hope I conveyed.
It should also be added that the title to this story is from the band LIVE, I thought it was fitting. Also I failed to mention this but in the last couple of chapters the titles 'Bright Lights,' and 'Beautiful Mistakes,' come from Matchbox Twenty and Frankie Perez. I just wanted to give credit where credit was due.
I hope everyone is doing great, and that the spring time is treating you well.
Always,
Leah