Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or any of the characters from FF8.
AN: Thought I should get back into the swing of things and update sooner. Thanks to all of you who reviewed. Hoping more of you guys will review this chapter! Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8: The Best of Friends
After the mission we all got our grades immediately. They didn't waste any time in telling you whether or not you failed. Commander Steele was waiting for us back at the transport and once we got in, he whipped out a pile of notes and stuff and he began looking over them before announcing our marks.
Marks were given according to how well each cadet handled the situation. Following orders was a priority but knowing how to adapt in different events was a bonus. For our mission, it was all about how we dealt with the criminals.
"Alright" Commander Steele began "good mission. I'm pleased to say that you all passed. No doubt your instructors will be pleased with you." he smiled a little. "Here are your individual marks. You may share them if you wish, but because some people do not like that, we have them on different sheets of paper. Also, your sheet will be different from your fellow members' sheets because of the different roles you all played. Don't worry, everybody got fairly good marks." he said. He began handing out the sheets, they all had a pure black backing and the text was insanely small so that spying metasite eyes would not be able to see them unless they were shown.
He handed sheets to Emi, then Zone, and finally me. I focused my eyes to maximum on the tiny print and saw it like it was size 12 font. It read:
First Mission Evaluation
Name: Leonhart, Squall Age: 8 Age when admitted: 5
Instructor: Kiros Seagill/Ward Zabac
Squad: C (Strike Team)
Position: Squad Leader
Grading:
Leadership-20/20
Good coordination of attacking, splitting up the group was an effective attack. Going before your group during the second attack was a
hasty but well executed maneuver.
Obedience-20/20
Astounding, followed orders exactly and didn't do anything out of
line. Perfect.
Skills-20/20
Smooth and flawless movement. Bullet dodging is exceptional and senses are almost entirely developed. Impressive for such a young person.
Bladework- 20/20 +5 Bonus
Never seen a cadet pull off such deadly and quick strokes. Style is perfect and to the book. Pistol-gripped blade is wonderfully effective and
used to maximum extent. Bonus for not using ranged attacks.
Tactics- 20/20 +5 Bonus
Excellent scanning of opponents. Very smart in taking out the knife
users first. Bonus for killing all opponents and not getting injured at
all.
Total- 100 +10 Bonus = 110
Congratulations you have set a new record, previous record was a perfect 100. Your name will be down in the awards room on the board saying "First
Mission High Scores".
(Below that in even smaller writing) If you don't want your score posted,
then please talk to your instructor as soon as possible.
I wasn't sure I wanted my score posted for everyone to see. I was never one to go showing off contrary to my "best bud" Seifer. He had his name on the top of that list right now. To tell the truth, I didn't want to post it because I was afraid Seifer would be pissed or something if I beat his score.
Emi and Zone poked their heads over and asked what I got.
"Err..." I didn't want to tell them because I didn't want everyone to go make a big deal out of it.
"Let's see!" Emi said. She was quite happy it seemed with her score.
I sort of just gave it to them. The two of them looked at my score then their eyes went wide.
"Whoa!!! That's insane!" Zone said.
"Good Job!" Emi had to add her two cents.
I felt some blood rush up to my cheeks at the compliments.
"I-it's nothing. I just got lucky." I said.
In fact I DID consider myself lucky. I never expected to pass with a perfect score let alone a bonus. I rushed ahead of the group and just slaughtered everyone. But Galbadia works that way. The more you kill, the better marks you get. It's a brutal system, very unlike Balamb.
Emi and Zone kept insisting that it wasn't lucky all the way back to the Garden. We had a good laugh in the transport car. When we left, Emi and Zone accompanied me to see when the next Open day was. Looking down the schedule, it seemed like the next one was two days later. I agreed to meet with them at the park at three. Then we went out separate ways.
I had a few errands to run before heading back to my dorm and getting some sleep.
First, I had to go see Kiros. I didn't want my name on that wall. It was fine if only Emi and Zone knew, but I wasn't too keen on having the whole damn Garden know and then get in the way of my eventual plan of avenging the death of my parents. I had to stay totally focused on this plan and didn't want the extra attention as it would mean more people would be watching me.
I found Kiros in the cafeteria. He looked over at me when I entered and smiled.
"Nice job. Knew you'd do well. I got the results sent to me just now." he said.
"Right. I don't want my name on that wall though." I cut straight to the point. Didn't want anymore pointless conversation.
Kiros just smiled and shook his head a little.
"I knew you'd say that. But I don't want that to happen." he said.
I was puzzled. I was sure Kiros would have let me do what I wanted since this wasn't anything big. It was just a name on the wall!
"Why?" I demanded.
"I need you to change. Forget about your past. If you keep dwelling in the past like that, you're going to destroy yourself from the inside out. I understand you got along quite well with your two teammates. That's good. I need you to open up and start enjoying your life, the attention of your top marks will help. Consider this the next part of your training." he said. Then he laughed and gave me a good hearted pat on the shoulder. I was just as puzzled as before but I didn't dare question my instructor twice. The first time was a big enough mistake, you're just not supposed to question instructors, PERIOD.
I left the cafeteria thinking about Kiros' words. What did he mean "I would destroy myself from the inside out"? That made no sense to me. But I was only eight at the time.
The next place I had to go was Ellone's room. I wanted to tell her about my first mission and how I met Emi and Zone.
The light in her room was on so I knew she was there and wasn't asleep. I entered her room and saw her on her bed studying her notes for being a full- fledged doctor instead of a nurse.
"Hey" I greeted.
She looked up and smiled just like Kiros did.
"So you passed huh?" she teased. She knew I did a lot more than just "pass"
"Yeah I guess I did. 110% so I got the record and Kiros wants me to put it on that stupid wall." I said with a slight smile. Like I said before, Ellone has a way of making people feel better instantly.
"Good job! You beat Seifer then!" she said. She seemed quite happy with the fact that I beat Seifer.
"Yep, and I also made new friends." I grinned. Now when I look back, that line always seems really corny. But what the heck, I was eight. That seems to be my excuse for everything...
"Oh really? Who?" Ellone acted as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"Emi Carrelo and Zone Liger. They were my teammates for the mission." I said.
"Good for you Squall. About time!" she said, the teasing smile back on her face.
"Yeah yeah I know. Thought I'd just pop by and let you know. I'm going out with them on the next Open day . But now I gotta go get some sleep. Been a pretty tiring day. Night" I said and then I left her room hearing her faint goodbyes as I walked away.
I got back to my dormitory and changed into my white chocobo pajamas then flopped onto my bed and fell asleep.
The next day was quite uneventful. The only thing that happened was that I bumped into Emi and her mom in the hallway. Emi introduced me and I could see the resemblance of mother and daughter.
Julia Carrelo was like an older version of her daughter. Dark hair, dark eyes and a pretty face. She was a nice lady and worked for Galbadia as a computer programmer. Over time, Julia would almost act like a mother to me. She owned an apartment in the city and shared it with Emi. After finding out I lived in the dorms, she often had me over at her place for dinner then gave me a ride back to the Garden. I took a great liking to her, but that is later. For now, I only just met her.
"What do your parents do Squall? Maybe I know them." she asked me.
Emi looked sort of scared since it was clear she had not told her mother about my parents.
"They're dead." I said.
Emi dropped her head as if ashamed. And I felt sort of bad making her feel so guilty. But the truth was I didn't mind telling her mom about my parents.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! So you live here?" she asked again.
I nodded and the conversation didn't really go anywhere after that. We parted and Emi confirmed the meeting in the park at three.
Unlike Emi, Zone lived in the Garden as well. His parents were poor so they sent him to live full time in the Garden under Galbadia's sponsorship just like myself. But the difference between Zone and I was two things which are connected.
Zone still HAD parents and I was loaded. The money collected from my parents was given to me and kept in my own bank account. And it was quite a bit. My dad was a very famous reporter and the sums of cash he collected were huge plus the insurance money from their deaths just added more onto the staggering sum I already possessed.
After my encounter with Emi and her mom, I went for my training. Training is a boring procedure so I'm not going to go into details. Let's just say I was pretty bummed out after all of the fighting.
I took a little detour while heading back to my room and went to the awards room. Sure enough, my name was at the top of the list of First Mission ranks. Below me was Seifer, then Emi and then Zone. Emi scored a 96 and Zone a 94.
Well, I guess I wasn't the only one who was a pretty good student.
I met up with Emi and Zone at the park and was immediately introduced to Isaiah and Phil. Both of them were metasites as well. We ignored the playground where most of the kids played. The five of us started walking towards the city talking and joking about just about anything.
Once we reached the city, all of them called their metasite armors. Not wanting to be left out, I did the same and followed them. When you're a metasite, you don't need a playground to play on. The whole city becomes the playground.
We launched ourselves across the rooftops playing a tag, metasite style. It was fun but a lot of times I purposely slowed down and allowed myself to get caught. Emi was the only one who was really fast enough to pose a threat.
After our little game, I followed them to the ice-cream parlor and ordered one scoop of peach ice-cream. I enjoyed sitting on the roofs eating ice-cream with Emi, Zone, Isaiah and Phil. Much better than going to Open days by myself.
That trip out to the city was the beginning of a wonderful friendship that would blossom between Emi, Zone, and I.
The other kids were coming and going, but the three of us always stuck together. Instead of training alone, I would train with Emi and Zone. And my training time was actually cut down since now that I had some friends I wasn't such a loser and training when people were having fun. Funny thing is that Kiros didn't seem to mind. My skills were still way above par and I even seemed to be performing better when I was happier. We became inseparable, almost like Seifer's posse.
Speaking of Seifer, he also had something to say. The day after my trip to the city, Seifer found me in the cafeteria and sat beside me, alone. Surprisingly without Fujin and Raijin. I scanned the whole cafeteria but could see not signs of them.
"Hey, how's it going?" I asked. It seemed like an eternity since I last spoke to him alone like that.
"Good. Saw your name on that board. Congrats." he said. But those words were not backed up by his voice or his eyes. He had a gleam in his eye that I sensed was something wrong.
"Thanks. I just got lucky I suppose." I used the same excuse.
Seifer just shrugged. The look he had when he congratulated me was gone and replaced with his usual kind smile. We talked for awhile just like we used to and had some good laughs but I could feel that I was growing further apart from Seifer, like I was talking to him through a pane of glass or something.
Little did I know that in a year's time we wouldn't be the best of friends anymore, but instead would be participating in the greatest rivalry of any Garden's history.
AN: I actually quite enjoyed this chapter. Not very dark at all, in contrast to the last one =P This chapter was almost entirely about developing characters, the relationships between all the characters and Squall were explained in this chapter. Trust me, all the characters mentioned in this chapter will play a huge role in the upcoming chapters. In my opinion, the real story actually starts after this chapter so keep reading and keep reviewing! I always give shout outs so just review if you want one! 5 reviews this time, a little under my average of 6 a chapter but thanks to the 5 of you who reviewed!
Selphie Tilmitt-Kinneas : Thanks =) Keep your eyes out for errors, I'm too lazy to proofread lol Bloodbaths are very hard to write. Lots of detail and you have to make it make sense and a good amount of people and stuff. Hope you like this chapter, no bloodbath though hahaha!
Etherealist: Now that you mention it, Squall might be a bit thin lol But my sister's 10 and she weighs around 60 pounds. Plus, girls are bigger than boys when they're kids and the metasite adds a bit of height onto Squall. Might be around right *shrug* oh well hahaha! Or maybe Galbadia DID starve him..._ anyways...hope you like this chapter and keep reviewing!
angel-brokensorrow: You're right, the fight was brutal. More like a massacre by Squall. It was meant to be that way, I wanted the reader to have the "omg, a 8 year old is doing that!" sort of feel hahaha! I agree with you about the description of carnage. Blood is ok in my books since if it's done well, blood can be used almost artistically. But gore is just nasty so I try to stay away from gore =P This chapter has no blood and no gore so it's a big difference!
Ari-Morrigan: You guessed it, the friendship continues in this chapter! Much lighter in tone as well. I release a little bit more information about Squall's past in each chapter and then by the end there will be a huge piece of the puzzle that is solved. By the end of this story I hope people will go back and re-read it and catch all the little clues I put here and there and in the first metasite story ~_^ Stay tuned!
Lugia-mew: Hmmmm I like action movies, but not movies with a lot of killing unless it's artistically done. For example, I really liked "Kill Bill". I try to make the fight scenes brutal but at the same time have a sense of beauty to them as well, just like the metasite's design. The design of the metasite is supposed to be beautiful but deadly at the same time so most of my scenes play out that way. As mentioned above, blood can sometimes be used to good effect but not gore in my opinion. Thanks for the review and keep reading! =)
That's it for now. Hopefully I can get it back to my average of 6 reviews per chapter! Thanks guys!
AN: Thought I should get back into the swing of things and update sooner. Thanks to all of you who reviewed. Hoping more of you guys will review this chapter! Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8: The Best of Friends
After the mission we all got our grades immediately. They didn't waste any time in telling you whether or not you failed. Commander Steele was waiting for us back at the transport and once we got in, he whipped out a pile of notes and stuff and he began looking over them before announcing our marks.
Marks were given according to how well each cadet handled the situation. Following orders was a priority but knowing how to adapt in different events was a bonus. For our mission, it was all about how we dealt with the criminals.
"Alright" Commander Steele began "good mission. I'm pleased to say that you all passed. No doubt your instructors will be pleased with you." he smiled a little. "Here are your individual marks. You may share them if you wish, but because some people do not like that, we have them on different sheets of paper. Also, your sheet will be different from your fellow members' sheets because of the different roles you all played. Don't worry, everybody got fairly good marks." he said. He began handing out the sheets, they all had a pure black backing and the text was insanely small so that spying metasite eyes would not be able to see them unless they were shown.
He handed sheets to Emi, then Zone, and finally me. I focused my eyes to maximum on the tiny print and saw it like it was size 12 font. It read:
First Mission Evaluation
Name: Leonhart, Squall Age: 8 Age when admitted: 5
Instructor: Kiros Seagill/Ward Zabac
Squad: C (Strike Team)
Position: Squad Leader
Grading:
Leadership-20/20
Good coordination of attacking, splitting up the group was an effective attack. Going before your group during the second attack was a
hasty but well executed maneuver.
Obedience-20/20
Astounding, followed orders exactly and didn't do anything out of
line. Perfect.
Skills-20/20
Smooth and flawless movement. Bullet dodging is exceptional and senses are almost entirely developed. Impressive for such a young person.
Bladework- 20/20 +5 Bonus
Never seen a cadet pull off such deadly and quick strokes. Style is perfect and to the book. Pistol-gripped blade is wonderfully effective and
used to maximum extent. Bonus for not using ranged attacks.
Tactics- 20/20 +5 Bonus
Excellent scanning of opponents. Very smart in taking out the knife
users first. Bonus for killing all opponents and not getting injured at
all.
Total- 100 +10 Bonus = 110
Congratulations you have set a new record, previous record was a perfect 100. Your name will be down in the awards room on the board saying "First
Mission High Scores".
(Below that in even smaller writing) If you don't want your score posted,
then please talk to your instructor as soon as possible.
I wasn't sure I wanted my score posted for everyone to see. I was never one to go showing off contrary to my "best bud" Seifer. He had his name on the top of that list right now. To tell the truth, I didn't want to post it because I was afraid Seifer would be pissed or something if I beat his score.
Emi and Zone poked their heads over and asked what I got.
"Err..." I didn't want to tell them because I didn't want everyone to go make a big deal out of it.
"Let's see!" Emi said. She was quite happy it seemed with her score.
I sort of just gave it to them. The two of them looked at my score then their eyes went wide.
"Whoa!!! That's insane!" Zone said.
"Good Job!" Emi had to add her two cents.
I felt some blood rush up to my cheeks at the compliments.
"I-it's nothing. I just got lucky." I said.
In fact I DID consider myself lucky. I never expected to pass with a perfect score let alone a bonus. I rushed ahead of the group and just slaughtered everyone. But Galbadia works that way. The more you kill, the better marks you get. It's a brutal system, very unlike Balamb.
Emi and Zone kept insisting that it wasn't lucky all the way back to the Garden. We had a good laugh in the transport car. When we left, Emi and Zone accompanied me to see when the next Open day was. Looking down the schedule, it seemed like the next one was two days later. I agreed to meet with them at the park at three. Then we went out separate ways.
I had a few errands to run before heading back to my dorm and getting some sleep.
First, I had to go see Kiros. I didn't want my name on that wall. It was fine if only Emi and Zone knew, but I wasn't too keen on having the whole damn Garden know and then get in the way of my eventual plan of avenging the death of my parents. I had to stay totally focused on this plan and didn't want the extra attention as it would mean more people would be watching me.
I found Kiros in the cafeteria. He looked over at me when I entered and smiled.
"Nice job. Knew you'd do well. I got the results sent to me just now." he said.
"Right. I don't want my name on that wall though." I cut straight to the point. Didn't want anymore pointless conversation.
Kiros just smiled and shook his head a little.
"I knew you'd say that. But I don't want that to happen." he said.
I was puzzled. I was sure Kiros would have let me do what I wanted since this wasn't anything big. It was just a name on the wall!
"Why?" I demanded.
"I need you to change. Forget about your past. If you keep dwelling in the past like that, you're going to destroy yourself from the inside out. I understand you got along quite well with your two teammates. That's good. I need you to open up and start enjoying your life, the attention of your top marks will help. Consider this the next part of your training." he said. Then he laughed and gave me a good hearted pat on the shoulder. I was just as puzzled as before but I didn't dare question my instructor twice. The first time was a big enough mistake, you're just not supposed to question instructors, PERIOD.
I left the cafeteria thinking about Kiros' words. What did he mean "I would destroy myself from the inside out"? That made no sense to me. But I was only eight at the time.
The next place I had to go was Ellone's room. I wanted to tell her about my first mission and how I met Emi and Zone.
The light in her room was on so I knew she was there and wasn't asleep. I entered her room and saw her on her bed studying her notes for being a full- fledged doctor instead of a nurse.
"Hey" I greeted.
She looked up and smiled just like Kiros did.
"So you passed huh?" she teased. She knew I did a lot more than just "pass"
"Yeah I guess I did. 110% so I got the record and Kiros wants me to put it on that stupid wall." I said with a slight smile. Like I said before, Ellone has a way of making people feel better instantly.
"Good job! You beat Seifer then!" she said. She seemed quite happy with the fact that I beat Seifer.
"Yep, and I also made new friends." I grinned. Now when I look back, that line always seems really corny. But what the heck, I was eight. That seems to be my excuse for everything...
"Oh really? Who?" Ellone acted as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"Emi Carrelo and Zone Liger. They were my teammates for the mission." I said.
"Good for you Squall. About time!" she said, the teasing smile back on her face.
"Yeah yeah I know. Thought I'd just pop by and let you know. I'm going out with them on the next Open day . But now I gotta go get some sleep. Been a pretty tiring day. Night" I said and then I left her room hearing her faint goodbyes as I walked away.
I got back to my dormitory and changed into my white chocobo pajamas then flopped onto my bed and fell asleep.
The next day was quite uneventful. The only thing that happened was that I bumped into Emi and her mom in the hallway. Emi introduced me and I could see the resemblance of mother and daughter.
Julia Carrelo was like an older version of her daughter. Dark hair, dark eyes and a pretty face. She was a nice lady and worked for Galbadia as a computer programmer. Over time, Julia would almost act like a mother to me. She owned an apartment in the city and shared it with Emi. After finding out I lived in the dorms, she often had me over at her place for dinner then gave me a ride back to the Garden. I took a great liking to her, but that is later. For now, I only just met her.
"What do your parents do Squall? Maybe I know them." she asked me.
Emi looked sort of scared since it was clear she had not told her mother about my parents.
"They're dead." I said.
Emi dropped her head as if ashamed. And I felt sort of bad making her feel so guilty. But the truth was I didn't mind telling her mom about my parents.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! So you live here?" she asked again.
I nodded and the conversation didn't really go anywhere after that. We parted and Emi confirmed the meeting in the park at three.
Unlike Emi, Zone lived in the Garden as well. His parents were poor so they sent him to live full time in the Garden under Galbadia's sponsorship just like myself. But the difference between Zone and I was two things which are connected.
Zone still HAD parents and I was loaded. The money collected from my parents was given to me and kept in my own bank account. And it was quite a bit. My dad was a very famous reporter and the sums of cash he collected were huge plus the insurance money from their deaths just added more onto the staggering sum I already possessed.
After my encounter with Emi and her mom, I went for my training. Training is a boring procedure so I'm not going to go into details. Let's just say I was pretty bummed out after all of the fighting.
I took a little detour while heading back to my room and went to the awards room. Sure enough, my name was at the top of the list of First Mission ranks. Below me was Seifer, then Emi and then Zone. Emi scored a 96 and Zone a 94.
Well, I guess I wasn't the only one who was a pretty good student.
I met up with Emi and Zone at the park and was immediately introduced to Isaiah and Phil. Both of them were metasites as well. We ignored the playground where most of the kids played. The five of us started walking towards the city talking and joking about just about anything.
Once we reached the city, all of them called their metasite armors. Not wanting to be left out, I did the same and followed them. When you're a metasite, you don't need a playground to play on. The whole city becomes the playground.
We launched ourselves across the rooftops playing a tag, metasite style. It was fun but a lot of times I purposely slowed down and allowed myself to get caught. Emi was the only one who was really fast enough to pose a threat.
After our little game, I followed them to the ice-cream parlor and ordered one scoop of peach ice-cream. I enjoyed sitting on the roofs eating ice-cream with Emi, Zone, Isaiah and Phil. Much better than going to Open days by myself.
That trip out to the city was the beginning of a wonderful friendship that would blossom between Emi, Zone, and I.
The other kids were coming and going, but the three of us always stuck together. Instead of training alone, I would train with Emi and Zone. And my training time was actually cut down since now that I had some friends I wasn't such a loser and training when people were having fun. Funny thing is that Kiros didn't seem to mind. My skills were still way above par and I even seemed to be performing better when I was happier. We became inseparable, almost like Seifer's posse.
Speaking of Seifer, he also had something to say. The day after my trip to the city, Seifer found me in the cafeteria and sat beside me, alone. Surprisingly without Fujin and Raijin. I scanned the whole cafeteria but could see not signs of them.
"Hey, how's it going?" I asked. It seemed like an eternity since I last spoke to him alone like that.
"Good. Saw your name on that board. Congrats." he said. But those words were not backed up by his voice or his eyes. He had a gleam in his eye that I sensed was something wrong.
"Thanks. I just got lucky I suppose." I used the same excuse.
Seifer just shrugged. The look he had when he congratulated me was gone and replaced with his usual kind smile. We talked for awhile just like we used to and had some good laughs but I could feel that I was growing further apart from Seifer, like I was talking to him through a pane of glass or something.
Little did I know that in a year's time we wouldn't be the best of friends anymore, but instead would be participating in the greatest rivalry of any Garden's history.
AN: I actually quite enjoyed this chapter. Not very dark at all, in contrast to the last one =P This chapter was almost entirely about developing characters, the relationships between all the characters and Squall were explained in this chapter. Trust me, all the characters mentioned in this chapter will play a huge role in the upcoming chapters. In my opinion, the real story actually starts after this chapter so keep reading and keep reviewing! I always give shout outs so just review if you want one! 5 reviews this time, a little under my average of 6 a chapter but thanks to the 5 of you who reviewed!
Selphie Tilmitt-Kinneas : Thanks =) Keep your eyes out for errors, I'm too lazy to proofread lol Bloodbaths are very hard to write. Lots of detail and you have to make it make sense and a good amount of people and stuff. Hope you like this chapter, no bloodbath though hahaha!
Etherealist: Now that you mention it, Squall might be a bit thin lol But my sister's 10 and she weighs around 60 pounds. Plus, girls are bigger than boys when they're kids and the metasite adds a bit of height onto Squall. Might be around right *shrug* oh well hahaha! Or maybe Galbadia DID starve him..._ anyways...hope you like this chapter and keep reviewing!
angel-brokensorrow: You're right, the fight was brutal. More like a massacre by Squall. It was meant to be that way, I wanted the reader to have the "omg, a 8 year old is doing that!" sort of feel hahaha! I agree with you about the description of carnage. Blood is ok in my books since if it's done well, blood can be used almost artistically. But gore is just nasty so I try to stay away from gore =P This chapter has no blood and no gore so it's a big difference!
Ari-Morrigan: You guessed it, the friendship continues in this chapter! Much lighter in tone as well. I release a little bit more information about Squall's past in each chapter and then by the end there will be a huge piece of the puzzle that is solved. By the end of this story I hope people will go back and re-read it and catch all the little clues I put here and there and in the first metasite story ~_^ Stay tuned!
Lugia-mew: Hmmmm I like action movies, but not movies with a lot of killing unless it's artistically done. For example, I really liked "Kill Bill". I try to make the fight scenes brutal but at the same time have a sense of beauty to them as well, just like the metasite's design. The design of the metasite is supposed to be beautiful but deadly at the same time so most of my scenes play out that way. As mentioned above, blood can sometimes be used to good effect but not gore in my opinion. Thanks for the review and keep reading! =)
That's it for now. Hopefully I can get it back to my average of 6 reviews per chapter! Thanks guys!