Ghost of a Good Thing
By: Sefie Lynne Tilmitt and Xifa
…Still don't own the characters, still don't own Squenix, technically don't even own the title. Just the idea, Sayaki, and any other OCs you see wandering the area.
Onto chapter six!
Chapter Six
"Um, good morning students, SeeDs, administrators, faculty, and anyone else I've forgotten...I'm supposed to tell you all that lunch tickets are on sale half-price today, the Garden Festival Committee's next meeting has been postponed until this entire GF incident is out of the way but they're still looking for new members, and anyone who had over twenty GFs junctioned to them at the time of the unjunction should report to Dr. Kadowaki immediately. Today's hot-dog day at lunch, and all students with detention today should report to Quistis Trepe's classroom during detention. Um, the detention list just says 'the usual' on there, so I guess you guys know who you are. Also, whoever's leaving the door to the training center open and letting out all the annoying little grass-like vermin had best stop lest they be expelled. Commander Leonhart, could you report to the office? Thank you," Sayaki said. "Um, I think it's this one..." you could hear her mumble, and a click signaled that she'd figured out how to hang it up.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the sunshine for a minute more. Only now did I realize these were simple things I'd taken for granted…I wish I would have seen them earlier, but it was too late to go back now. I finally got out of bed, put on jeans and a white t-shirt, and made my way to the office to see what Sayaki wanted this time.
"Morning, Sayaki," I smiled cheerfully.
"Good morning, Commander," she nodded, saluting me. "Timber contacted us. The GFs aren't cooperating with them anymore and are causing a bit of a disturbance…they ask that we remove them."
"Alright then," I nodded. "When should we leave?"
I have to admit I was kind of nervous about doing this for real, but I wasn't about to just come out and tell the world about it or anything.
"Whenever you're ready," Sayaki shrugged.
"Okay…I'm ready now, so we need to put Xu and Quistis in charge again, if you're ready."
"Well, I'm ready to go, so if you want to alert them or if you want me to…"
"I will. Meetcha at the Ragnarok?"
"Okay," she nodded, darting off.
I didn't waste any time chatting with Quistis and Xu, just giving them the orders they needed. I quickly dashed off towards the Ragnarok. Sayaki was inside waiting patiently on me. As soon as I was in and buckled up, she drove off towards Timber, unusually silent. I remembered that last time she'd talked a lot…
"…you okay?"
"My instructor contacted me this morning with good news and bad news. The good news is that he and some of his friends have been helping us out by sealing GFs. The bad news is there's some that are just too strong for them that we'll have to fight. That's my report. I forgot to tell you that earlier."
"Thanks," I said, pausing thoughtfully. "…at least we don't have to seal quite as many now."
"Yeah," she nodded. "But, Commander…the ones we're gonna have to fight…" she shook her head. "You're right. I should look on the bright side."
"You almost had Siren," I nodded, "so together we can do it."
"Right," she echoed grimly. "Together we can do this…"
I hope. I stared out the window, feeling about as grim as she sounded. I bit my lip. If she got hurt… I shook my head, not allowing the thought. She put the Ragnarok on autopilot and stared out the window, her hands folded in her lap.
"What's gonna happen when this is all over?" she asked quietly.
"I dunno," I shook my head. I hadn't thought of that yet. Uncertainty made me uneasy for some reason, and I had tried to focus on the moment and not think ahead.
"I guess nothing will," she shrugged. "I guess Galbadia-Trabia'll go park back where it normally stays and everything will go back to normal."
I knew it was bad of me, but I didn't really want things back to normal. I would probably never see Sayaki again, and I would go back to my training every day, and life would be boring again. I didn't want that. I wanted to have a Sayaki as a friend, and, as an annoying part of my brain kept saying, something more than a friend, forever. She sighed, playing anxiously with the end of her braid. I gazed at her, and then looked away, the thought of her leaving painful. She had become a part of my life, so now…. I couldn't imagine life without her.
"You'll be my penpal, right? Seeking permission to get your address, sir?"
"Of course," I smiled, inwardly relieved. I would not lose contact all together. But, I thought grimly, I would lose all chances of a future. I scribbled down my mailing address and e-mail address, handing it to her.
"Thanks, Commander," she smiled sadly, folding it up and putting it in her pocket.
"No problem."
Maybe Cid could send me on a few missions to Galbadia…I didn't want Sayaki to leave, but that was selfish of me. I just wanted her to be happy. But if her being in Galbadia made her happy, then her being happy would result in me being miserable. But that was okay. I would deal. I had been in tough situations before.
"I…" she trailed off, looking at the map. "No…we'll talk about this another time when it's more important..." she said, almost silently. "Almost there," she took the Ragnarok off autopilot and prepared to get ready to land.
I nodded, wondering how such an awful disaster could bring something like our friendship, but with the end of the disaster, our friendship was probably going to end as well. That stung, but I would get over it… Although, I wondered worriedly, would getting over it mean my heart icing over again?
"Guess I shouldn't be so gloomy," she smiled a little. "I'm not fun to be around."
"It's okay," I said, "It's not like everyone's always in a good mood."
"Nah, even if I'm not there's no reason to ruin everyone else's day."
"Whatever you think."
She glanced over to me, opened her mouth to say something, and then abruptly closed it. I wondered what she was going to say… Her ghostly-pale face had turned slightly pink. She was cute. I smiled.
"Preparing to land," she mumbled, landing the Ragnarok without harming anything this time.
I looked at her for a second, not even figuring that she would continue, but listening anyway.
"Alright…"
She didn't reply, but grabbed her weapons and got out of the airship, checking them over. I got out after her, hand on my gunblade, and hoped everything would be okay.
"Let's go," she smiled nervously, darting into the city straight towards the center of the town. Ifrit stood in the middle, smirking, looking much like he had on our first encounter, with the exception of the different setting.
"Remember, we get his health low and I'll signal when we're ready to seal," she nodded to me seriously. "Remembering to stop, drop, and roll might help too…" she tried to joke but couldn't force a smile.
"Be careful," I nodded to her. I knew she would, but… Maybe I was paranoid. I would rather die than see her hurt though.
"Don't worry about me," she smiled, and then darted into battle.
I followed immediately after her, dreading the fight against one of my own GFs. Sayaki repeatedly attacked it, occasionally crying out when she got hit, but never backing down, even if she wasn't really that strong of a fighter.
I remembered fighting Ifrit in a time that felt like forever ago, and surprisingly he had gotten stronger then when I last had him junctioned. I quickly renzokukened him repeatedly, limit breaking it occasionally and paying attention for Sayaki's signal.
"Commander!" she called, frantically waving me over. I ran over to her, heart thumping.
"Now?"
She nodded quickly. She looked okay, but tired. The only injury she seemed to have was a cut that ran from the left side of her forehead to her left ear, but it didn't seem to be life-threatening. She reached out and closed her hands tightly around my wrists, closing her eyes.
"On three. One, two, three…" she said, and started chanting.
I followed along, chanting with her, unwavering, concentrating hard to remember the words and the rhythm. She nodded enthusiastically to tell me I was doing okay. A bluish aura surrounded us and Ifrit, feeling somehow cold and warm all at the entire time. Her grip on my wrists tightened, and she was struggling to keep a steady rhythm. Judging by just how scared she looked, I was beginning to wonder if this, too, was her first time doing this for real…aside from that time she tried against Siren, of course.
Maybe this was the first time she'd made it this far too…I could tell she was scared, but yet at the same time she wasn't about to let that stop her. I willed her to stay strong, wondering how long this would last. Unexpectedly she started speaking the chant louder, pouring all of her soul into it. Ifrit suddenly disappeared with a howl and a very disturbing sounding small 'pop', just as if we were in a cartoon show or something. Of course, that was the last thing on my mind.
"We did it!" I exclaimed, grinning.
"Yeah, we did," she smiled shakily, though obviously just as happy as I was, letting go of her death-grip on my wrists. "Wow…"
"You were great. I don't know how you did that towards the end…" I smiled enthusiastically.
"It's like a limit break," she said simply. "It's just…there. You know what I mean? It just comes…naturally. That and I've been learning this since I could speak…"
I smiled at her happily.
"You alright?"
She traced a finger along the cut, wincing.
"It's not deep, luckily. Feh. A box of band-aids and I'll be just fine. How about you?" she quickly looked at me for any visible signs of injury.
"I'm okay."
"Sure? I've got grape-flavored antidotes!" she grinned, still looking me over carefully.
"Yeah." I smiled at her. Grape potions and antidotes. What a girl.
"Great," she grinned dazedly. "Well, let's get outta here. Hmm…maybe I'll stop by the cafeteria for ice cream. I think I deserve ice cream after that," she said to herself, singing happily on the way back to the Ragnarok.
She had a pretty voice…. My face turned red.
"Mm hmm," I nodded, smiling at her.
She…I didn't know what I was feeling, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I had let myself fall all over again.
Xifa's notes:
Hi guys…Xifa here…I want to give my many online thanks to—
Sefie Lynne—when I wrote down the plot synopsis and character sheet for Sayaki down in my old green notebook I was kind of sad, because I knew I had the inability to portray Squall as a character. Many many thanks for helping me write this! It's been another fun project! Now we just need a title for our FF8 fanfic with Ayane and gang in it and we'll be posting like crazy! WE HAVE TO WRITE THE SEQUEL TO THIS! I WILL FORCE YOU TOO!
Ultrabeing—Because Shrek 2 is awesome and you mentioned that - I heart Puss 'n' Boots and Donkey! Whoo! …the best song in that was the fairy godmother song! - so funny…
Mr. giggles-- -every- fiber of your being? Whoo! Thanks!
Anonymous – Aww, Sayaki's my character, I'm glad you like her - I haven't found much of a chance to throw too much information in on her yet…some of it gets revealed as you go through the chapters, if it makes you feel any better. I'll try my hardest to throw some info in there before it ends, it's just…it's from Squall's point of view and it's more about him than her, so…y'know…well, I know I give out a bit of her past in the next chapter, like who the 'instructor' is she's always talking about who taught her the spell and whatnot…
Svgfvsa—it is fun writing this -
Valec—we plan on writing more, definitely -
You—for reading, which is enough to at least make me happy, you know, if I know you've read this or whatever…instead of having review counts this should have hit counts on it too for how many times someone's read the story or whatever…
Sefie and I have finished all the way through chapter nine, methinks, so keep watch out because as soon as I have the next internet option, I'll post the next chapter! Yay!
Love and peace,
Xifa