Chapter 33
It Was All In The past;
Memories In Trabia Garden
Day's went by quickly in Balamb Garden, as it made it's journey north. Selphie Tilmett couldn't wait to see her former home, but on the other hand, she was nervous at the uncertainty of what she might find upon her return. Wanting more days to prepare herself for the shock, of course, cuased time to move all the more quickly.
Once Garden had put some distance between itself and Balamb, Nida announced an aproximate E.T.A.* of four days until they reached Trabia Garden. Now, two days later, they were three-forths of the way there. They'd learned that the Garden was more than prepaed for ocean travel, and was faster than most boats. Not only that, but the thick underside of Garden, and it's abiltiy to hover over solid ground made it niegh immpenatrable. No iceberg or other obstruction could stop the hovering structure.
"We're moving too fast..." Selphie thought to herself. She was in her dorm room, sitting on her bed in her usual fasion, feet pointed away from each side, and upper-legs pressed together. She clutched a large stuffed-moogle close to her chest, and rested her head atop of it.
"I wonder what happened... to my Garden" she wondered. Selphie was well aware that Galbadian missiles had been launched towards Trabia. She was there when it happened. As eager as she was to know if everyone was still OK, if they weren't, Selphie didn't know if she could take it.
Selphie had left behind a lot of friends in Trabia. She'd quickly grown accustomed to Balamb's Garden, and couldn't imagine leaving even before the sorceress problem came into the picture, but Trabia was where she'd spent some of the happiest times of her life as a child, nearly as far back as she could remember.
"What if everyone's.... DEAD?!" Selphie continued her thoughts. She immediatly tried to force the idea away, but it was far too late. She felt her bottem lip start to quiver, and her bright green eyes start to glisten with tears. The unusually cheerful Selphie Tilmett, for the first time in a long time, buried her face into her stuffed animal, and began sobbing uncontrolably. She attempted to muffle the sound of her wails in the fabric of her moogle, but it couldn't be helped.
Suddenly, to Selphie's dismay, she heard a loud, quick knocking at the door.
"Oh no..." Selphie worried. For some reason, sadness was the only emotion she couldn't stand to have people see her express. She was afriad of it.
She quickly began wiping tears away.
"Um... J-just a m-m-m-mo... Just a m-m-moment..." she stuttered. She was still sobbing pretty hard, and it was immpossible to hide with her voice.
A voice sounded from the other side of the door.
"Selphie? Is that you?" the voice asked. It was Rinoa. "What's wrong?! I'm coming in!"
Selphie stared at the door in fear. She lost her breath immediatly, as she heard and watched the door slowly slide open.
Rinoa had slide a small hairpin into Selphie's door's locking mechanism, and forced the door open the rest of the way herself.
She stood there, gazing at Selphie in confusion for a moment, before she realized what was going on.
"Selphie!" Rinoa exclaimed. She immediatly ran over to the bed and sat down next to Selphie.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you alright? Why are you crying? Did Irvine do something to you?"
Selphie merely turned her head away, and sniffed.
"No... I'm fine... I j-j-just..." Selphie began, but she she couldn't hold back the sobs. She turned to face Rinoa, her expression of utter sadness right out there for her to see.
"Oh... Selphie...." Rinoa said. She put her arms around Selphie, trying to comfort her. Selphie released her moogle, and embraced Rinoa, sobbing openly.
"You're worried about your friends in Trabia Garden, aren't you?" Rinoa asked in a soft voice. She could barely make out Selphie's reply through the sobs. She almost seemed to be hypervenalating.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-yes..." Selphie replied. "I-i-i-i-i-i-i d-d-don't know w-w-what to do..."
"I'm sure they'll be alright..." Rinoa said. She smiled at Selphie. "They're all fighters, right? Even if the Garden was hit... You'll still have people there waiting for you..."
Selphie calmed down a bit now, and sniffed loudly.
"...Y-you think so?" she asked, hopeful. "I mean, I know the m-missiles probably hit and everything, but..."
Rinoa smiled a warm, reassuring smile.
"I know so." she said.
Selphie smiled back through the tears, and gave Rinoa a tight squeez.
"Thank you Rinoa..." she said, resembeling her old, cheerful self once again. "I needed to hear that... Sorry for...getting your shoulder all wet"
"Hey," Rinoa replied. "At least you can share your feelings about things... unlike meanie Squall!"
Selphie grinned wide at this and began giggleing loudly.
"Teehee-hee-hee! Rinoa!" she exclaimed. Rinoa chuckled slightly as well.
"Feeling better?" Rinoa asked.
Selphie just smiled calmly.
"You're a good friend, Rinoa."
*(ETA= Estimated Time of Arrival)
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Shortly, Garden had reached the northern continent of Trabia. Squall ordered all open area's to be locked off due to the extremely cold weather. The last thing they needed was for Garden students to start getting ill, or worse... making a mess of Garden by playing in the snow.
Up on the bridge, Squall had Selphie assiting Nida in locating Trabia Garden. It was carefully tucked behind a mountaint range, so it provided a great defensive position if ever the entire Garden was under assualt, but it was also hard to find.
Even so, in a matter of hours, the Garden had been found. But as they got closer to the structure, more and more of the damage could be seen.
Squall gathered everyone to prepare for another outing. Quistis had recomended to him that everyone come to suport Selphie, even Rinoa. Squall couldn't see an reason why they all shouldn't go. They were the ones, after all, who had witnessed the missiles being launched in the first place.
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The winds blew slowly, but strong, pushing each snowflake through the air with a soft force. As the six teenagers approached Trabia Garden in the snowy valley, all looked at the front gate with shock and awe. Even Squall's stoic expression changed to a disturbed surprise.
"Looks pretty bad" he said. Squall brushed some of the snow from his hair. He shofted his feet, sinking his heavy boots deeper into the thick snowy ground beneath him.
The front gate of Trabia Garden hardly what it once was. The gates had been fused together by the explosive heat of the missiles, and metal slag had dripped over the walls, cooling quickly, and shutting the doors to Trabia Garden, seemingly forever.
Sephie examined the wall carefully, with concern.
"A direct.hit?" she asked, unsure.
She looked to Squall, but he merely shrugged. The damage looked incredible from the outside, but that was almost no indication of how the inside might have been affected.
Quistis sighed heavily.
".This is terrible" she exclaimed.
Zell shook his head
" .Man, this really pisses me off!" he cried.
Irvine and Rinoa were both disturbed as well.
"This has got to be bad" Irvine said.
Rinoa cupped her hand over her mouth the enitire time.
".Terrible" she whispered.
Selphie was oblivious to all of their comments however. She had a serious expression on her face, her eyes narrowing in determination. Selphie put her hand above her eyes, blocking the sun so she could see better. She took a few steps back to try and get a look at the top of the gate.
Selphie ran back up close to the gate, and noticed that a rope ladder of sorts had been placed over the wall. A sign of survivors.
" .I'm going in" Selphie said. She looked to Squall for input.
Squall nodded
"Be careful" he said, taking note of the ladder. "We'll follow in a minute."
Selphie scurried up the wall as quickly as she could. Irvine attempted to move in closer to the ladder, but Zell grabbed his collar.
"No way." he said firmly. "You sicko. This isn't the time for that."
Irvine looked truly hurt.
"...What did you think I was trying to do?! I'm just following Selphie!"
"Yeah, right!" Zell yelled. "You just..."
"ENOUGH" Squall commanded. "She's already in, so let's go ahead and follow her."
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As they came down from the ladder, the remaining five looked on at the remains of Trabia Garden. The whole area looked more like it'd been hit by an earthquake than missiles. But considering the circumstances, the grounds themselves seemed to have faired well enough to have survivors. In fact, Squall thought he saw a lot of movement in the distance.
One thing that they all noticed too, was that it was no longer snowing.
"Hey, what happened to the snow?" Rinoa suddenly asked.
Squall looked up, and thought a moment.
"Look just above the walls of the Garden" Squall started. "You can still see the snow, but there's some kind of electromagnetic field keeping it out of the Garden."
Zell looked confused.
"What? What are you talking about?"
Squall sighed.
"Trabia Garden focuses a lot on technology... They developed a way to keep the artificial environment conditioning from being affected by the snow, by keeping it out with a force field" Squall explaiend. "It's pretty ingenius. I'm amazed that it survived the missile attack... might even be the reason they faired as well as they did."
Irvine looked up to the sky, tipping up his hat.
"...You're right, except for one thing" he inserted. "The force field only protects the Garden around the upper sides, becuase the device they developed can't create a full dome" Irvine explained. "So there isn't any protection directly above us. But most of the time, the weather is too cold, and too harsh for the snow to be falling straight down anyway, so it doesn't matter. The winds always hits the Garden at an angle becuase they're so strong."
Irvine looked back down at the ground, solomnly.
"But once in a great while... the weather will calm down just enough... a light breeze will find it's way into the Garden... and the snow will fall ever so softly, right into Garden..." Irvine turned to the group smileing as he paused.
"The students call it a 'gift' from the faieries. It's really calming... beautiful even" he said. "...Or so I hear."
The other four teenagers looked towards to sky as they listened to Irvine's explaination. It sounded quite interesting...
"I'm sure Selphie's seen that happen..." Quistis said. "I wonder what it's like..."
Zell suddenly came to at this. He remembered that Selphie had run off ahead. He tapped Squall on the shoulder.
"Hey, are you sure we should just let her go on ahead like that?"
Squall turned to him.
"She's fine. I'm sure she wants to go investigate things on her own right now" Squall said.
"I would" he thought.
"I bet you she's in shock." Irvine inserted. "Come on, let's go after her. Selphie's in shock, I'm sure of it. She's not herself. Haven't you noticed, Squall? I should say something to comfort her."
Squall raised an eyebrow at Irvine. Unlike before, he seemed geuinuily concerned now, even nervous about Selphie.
Quistis looked around the grounds. The teenagers once again became aware of the massive destruction around them.
"To think that Balamb Garden might have ended up like this." she said, still shocked at the sight of destruction. "Thank goodness we were able to avoid the missiles. I only wish we could have stopped the missiles against Trabia Garden."
Zell slammed his fist to the ground.
"To tell you the truth, I was shocked when I found out Balamb was occupied." Zell explaiend. "I think I understand how Selphie feels. I betcha this Garden was really livley too."
All of the SeeDs remained quiet. The nessesity for a moment of silence for a fallen Garden seemed to arise in each of them... Not for the sake of SeeD, and not for their loyalty to Garden... but becuase the Gardens were homes. This one had been destoryed.
Rinoa broke the solomn quiet.
"So this is where Selphie grew up?" she asked, somewhat nervously. She was really just trying to keep everyone talking. "I'm sure Selphie wanted to come by sooner. I hope she's all right."
Rinoa remembered the conversation gher and Selphie'd had about a day ago, and the way she'd found Selphie, crying in her room. Rinoa hadn't told anyone about it yet, and she didn't know if she was going to... Selphie wanted to be seen as a happy, energetic person. Sometimes, it seemed like that was all that kept her going, and Rinoa gave a great deal of respect to that, as she often kept her hopes up in the same way... staying positive, and trying to keep the people around you happy.
"C'mon." Squall commanded to the group. They set out to search for Selphie, and to view the damage done to Garden.
As they progressed through the cracked and broken plates which were once the main walkway of Trabia Garden, they began to see people amoungst the wreckage. To their surprise, they observed students causually talking, and a few fixing hazards here and there. Though they looked tired, and dirty from the damage to Garden, they seemed almost happy. Most didn't even pay Squall and the others any heed.
The group continued on, relived to discover how well Trabia's staff and students had been dealing with the disaster. But there was no denieing that the death toll had probably reached a staggering number during the missile attack.
They soon appraoched a central are to the main walkways of the damaged Garden. A broken fountain tilted to the right there, and they found a Garden student sitting on it. The girl was wearing a pair of old green pants and a blue-sleeved shirt. In front of her, was Selphie, joking and speaking happily. The girl had hair almost like Selphie's, but not nearly as exagerated. They looked like they could be sisters.
Selphie turned to see Squall and the others there, and she grinned happily, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to introduce her friend to Squall.
Squall didn't say anything, not understanding immediatly what Selphie was doing, but her friend spoke first.
"So you've been looking after Selphie?" she asked rethorically. But Squall was confused at this.
"Not really" he replied indifferently. He considered the idea for a moment... Selphie? Relying on him...? It was true in a way. He was in charge of Garden, but he'd had nothing to do with their escape from the Galbadia military base... That was all Selphie's doing.
Selphie's friend became indignant at this. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth wide, about to yell at Squall, but Selphie interjected.
"Oh, don't worry about him. That's just the way he is." she said, giggleing slightly.
Selphie's friend smiled at this. She eyed Squall curiously for a moment. This made Squall uncomfortable.
"Maybe it's his way of hiding his feelings for you?" she finally said.
Selphie's eyes brightened up at this, and she giggled loudly.
"Yeah! Right on!" she cheered.
"Whatever." Squall thought.
Selphie began speaking with her friend a bit more, seeming to ignore Squall and the others. quall tapped her on the shoulder though.
Selphie started speaking to huim before he could get the words out though.
"There should be a basketball court in the back." she started. "Wait for me there, ok? I want to catch up with some of my friends."
Squall was about to object, but he realized that there was no reason not to wait. Besides that, demanding that they rush this might seem insensitive... And Squall didn't want to incure Rinoa's 'wrath' again.
Selphie waved goodbye to her friend, and ran off to explore the rest of her former home. Selphie's friend sighed happily as she watched Selphie walk away.
"I'm so glad I saw Selphie" said, looking at Squall and the others. "I feel a lot more cheerful after talking to her!"
Irvine smiled at the girl.
"Yes... Selphie seems to have that effect on people" he agreed. Squall interupted before he could get a conversation started however.
"We're going to look around for a few minutes and find our way to the Basketball court" Squall said. "Let's go."
As Squall led the troop of five teenagers towards the back of the wreckage of the Garden, a older gentleman approached them.
"Young lad." the man said. He was a Trabia faculty member. He began asking Squall questions.
"What was you name and number again? Have you done a good dead for your academy, Trabia garden?"
Squall looked perplexed.
"Good deed?" he asked. "We're not..." But the teacher innterupted him.
"Good deed you ask? It's to help rebuild this place! Let's see..." the old man thought for a moment. "For example, have you donated to the Trabia fund? I'll give you an A."
Squall had all of his SeeD funds in his dorm room, and didn't have any spare gil in his pockets, so he shook his head and merely walked away, without giving an explination.
As the group made their way to the far back corner of the wreckage, they began noticing several bunks set up in small apartment-like nooks. Students were either resting in the bunks, weary from all that'd happened, or helping remove rubble and other debre from the ground. Squall gazed about curiously, and noticed a disturbingly interesting sight to the right... Half of a classroom remained from the missle attack, it's insides exposed to the rest of the Garden. Squall could see the black chared edges of the wall. He led Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis and Zell over to the class. to his surprise, there were students working there.
A girl in a yellow skirt was calculting some figures on a piece of paper. She noticed Squall looking over her shoulder, and tunred to smile at him.
"Ok, let's do our best to calculate our food and daily supplies! The calculator's broken, too, so we have to be extra careful. Ok, do you remember how to multiply.?" she tilted her head, questioning Squall. He merely glared at her strangly.
The girl started multiplying outloud."1X1=1, 1X2=2."
Squall huffed in irritation, and began walking away from the girl. She stopped and looked at him
".. Just kidding!" she yelled. "Sheesh! Take a joke."
There were three other students in the classroom as well. One male student in a blue shirt was examinging a book he'd found in the rubble, while two others were busy replacing some hardware in the classroom's main computer, amazingly still working after the attack. They were bent under the control modual and hard drive storage space, rewiring and reprogramming the system.
The student in a light blue uniform noticed the five newcomers, and looked at them strangly. He didn't recognize them
"Hey. Who are you guys?" he called to them. Squall walked over and began introducing himself.
"We're SeeDs from Balamb Garden" Squall explained. "We're here to see how bad you guys were hit... Looks like you're getting thigns under control fairly qucikly, considering the circumstances."
The student smield in appriciation.
"Yeah, well, you know what they say. Disasters bring out the best and worst in people... thankfully, all the students and faculty have pulled together to get things running again."
"What're you guys doing here?" Squall asked, still amazed that any computer network could have survived the attack. The student looked down at the computer parts laying before him.
"Oh... I'm Lank... and this is Port." he pointed to the stuent beneath him, working on the computer. "We're Trabia's tech squad. We all devided up into different sqauds to utilize each of our specialties" he explained. "We're just getting this system up and running again."
The other student working on the computer spoke up now, from underneath the control panel.
"Leave this baby to me. I'll have it up and running in no time. We're the tech squad!" he exclaimed.
Squall took a look at the monitor for the computer they were working on. Suddenly, a flashign green light started blinking on the keyboard. Impulsivly, Squall hit the button right beneath it, and the moniter flashed on with a loud buzzing sound.
Lank looked up at the moniter with surprise.
"OH!!! Is it up!?" he exclaimed excitedly.
Port dusted his hands off and sat up.
"Whoa! I think so."
The computer's operating system began booting things up, but an error message flew on to the screen
" ... ..WARNING!!! Personal databank!"
"Ahh, oh no!" Lank lamented.
Squall took a look at the message, and began entering commands on the keyboard to override the system's default. He'd had some expirience with this before, and thought he might be able to get the system to not immediatly shut-down, as it was meant to do when personal databanks were shown.
After one last keystroke, the computer's error message went away, leaving a large picture accompanied by a list of information.
The picture was of a girl with light brown hair, curved up at the sides and in the back. She was grinning widely, and had bright green eyes. The name above the picture read 'Selphie Tilmett'.
Squall looked at the picture curiously for a moment. It was Selphie alright, but she looked about three years younger in the picture.
"Must be an old picture..." he thought.
Port looked up at the screen nervously.
"Th.. This is.! Selphie's personal data!" he exclaimed.
Suddenly, everyone heard a loud, fast pace clomping of footsteps coming towards them. Selphie briskly leapt over to the computer controls, and shut down the system as quickly as she could. As soon as the moniter shut down, she fervently ran off again.
"Selphie?" Squall thought. He wondered how she knew to be over here just in time to shut down her personal databank, and why she wanted to...
Squall shook his head, and left Lank and Port to figure out the computer all over again. He made his way back to where the bunks had been made, and found Selphie speaking with two young children.
A young boy, nearly in tears, was apologizing to Selphie
"Selphie!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry Selphie! Can you forgive us?"
Selphie looked at him strangly.
"What? Why? Why are you apologizing?" she asked softly.
"That teddy bear you gave me. I couldn't save it!" the boy said. He looked at the ground, ashamed, and afriad that Selphie would be mad at him.
A little girl accompanied the boy, and appeared eqaully distraught.
"I can hear him crying. He's lonely!" she exclaimed.
Selphie tried to keep herself from laughing at the children. She thought it was cute, how much they cared for her old stuffed bear.
"My teddy bear's a lot stronger than you think!" she told them assuredly. "As long as you're all safe, Mr. Bear's very happy. Heeey! I can hear him! Mr. Bear's watching over you secretly."
The children looked around at this, wodering from where Mr. bear was watching them.
"So don't be naughty or sad all the time!" Selphie said. "Just remember, Mr. Bear is watching you!"
The girl smiled slightly at Selphie.
"Okay. I. I promise to be good! Tell Mr. Bear I won't be sad or cry all the time, ok?"
Selphie nodded, smileing happily.
The boy smield as well.
"Thank's Selphie!"
And with that, the two children ran off to play happily.
Squall appraoched Selphie after she'd finished talking with the children. Before he could say anything however, Selphie spoke up.
"Sorry. I'll be there in a sec. Wait by the basketball court, ok?" she said quickly. Without waiting for response, she ran off again.
Squall huffed impatiently. Rinoa patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey..." she said. Squall was surprised to have her speak so calmly to him, gentle even, since her outburst at the concert. Nearly two weeks had past since then, and she hadn't really made any effort to approch Squall about the subject, or speak with him unless absolutly nessecery.
"Selphie just needs to catch up with her friends, and deal with this in her own time..." Rinoa continued. "Let's just look around some more until she's ready."
Squall stared at the ground as she spoke. He was anxious to regroup with Selphie, and begin disscussing a plan of action, but he knew what Rinoa was saying made sense. For the first time, Squall truly respected her input as an equal... no longer just a client.
"Alright." He agreed. "But I'd rather that everyone stay together right now, until we decide on what to do."
"Awww...." Quistis said, teasing Squall. "You must really care about us, huh?"
Squall immediatly gave Quistis a dirty look.
"No... I mean... " Squall began. "...Look I just don't want to have to go searching around for anyone when we have to leave, OK?" Squall asserted.
Quistis chuckled slightly.
"I was just teasing, take it easy."
"Whatever" Squall thought.
The group continued exploring the remains of Trabia Garden, until they came back to the fountain that Selphie's friend was resting on. She waved to the group, regognizing them from earlier.
Irvine aproached her, smileing, but not flirtatiously, strangly enough.
"Hey, I was just wondering if you happened to see where Selphie had run off to?" he inquired. The girl seemed surprised.
"Selphie?" she said, somewhat nervously. "Oh, she's by the cemetary. I didn't want her to feel sad, but." the girl shrugged at this, and her voice trailed off sadly.
Irvine's self-asured smile turned into a worried frown.
"Where is the cemetary?" he quickly asked.
The girl pointed in the direction of a make-shift cematary created for the victims of the missile attack.
"Com'on..." Irvine demanded. "Let's go."
Zell and Quistis followed Irvine without reservation... But Rinoa and Squall were unsure as to whether appraoching Selphie now would be a good idea. She would no doubt have found the graves of her freinds by now, and may not want to be spoken to. Squall and Rinoa glanced at each other, correctly guessing and agreeing with what the other was thinking... But they followed, if nothing else, to keep the other three in line.
As they found the cemetary, they saw Selphie off in the distance, near a tombstone. She didn't notice them, and they all remaiend quiet. Irvine wanted to apparoach and comfort her, but Squall put his hand in front of him, so that he wouldn't disturb her. Selphie sqautted down and placed her hand over the name carved into the stone. The group could hear her speaking aloud.
"I ... I. I did it, everyone.!" she started. "I know the stage got destoryed, but I preformed. My dream band.. .I was able to carry out my dream. you remember how we promised. that we'd do something memorable for ourselves. .Right? Remember? My preformance. Our preformance we were supposed to do. You all saw me, right? You heard me.?" her voice cracked, and tears b looked towards the sky, and clutched the air with her fist.
"I. I'll keep playing for however long it takes for you to hear! Our dream. It's much bigger and better than before!"
With one last statment of resolve, Selphie began to break down in sobs.
"Com'on" Squall said calmly, to the group. "Let's leave her be for now."
Even Irvine had to agree with Squall. He took one last look at Selphie, wishing to heaven that he could do or say something to comfort her... But he knew that nothing could console one dealing with that kind of loss in their moment of mourning... nothing.
Irvine followed the group away from the cemetary, and back to the central fountain of Trabia Garden.
The group once more passed by Selphie's friend... she smiled at them as they walked by, but suddunly shivered.
"It sure is getting cold out. Perhaps there'll be a gift from the faeries on a day like this" she said to no one impaticular.
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Squall began leading the group to the the basketball court Selphie had spoken of. They passed children playing happily, and a few student's still working hard.
As they went along, Squall noticed that they were standing right next to a missile, loged into a wooden platform. There were about three students examining it closely.
Squall caught the attention of one of the male students, he nodded at the missile.
"Is it still live?" Squall asked nervously
The student shook his head, but glanced nervously at the missle.
"No..." he replied. "But we have to remove this missile as soon as possilble..There's no more threat of an explosion, but if it falls over it could crush someone."
Squall nodded, feeling safer now. He looked ahead, and motioned for everyone to follow him.
"Alright" he said. "the basketball court should be back here... we'll wait"
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Sure enough, there was the remains of a basketball court in the back. the ground was split and cracked severly in all areas of the court however. Playing any games there would be out of the question... not to mention dangerous.
Everyone took a spot against the fence, which had remained standing around the court. All seemed quiet, and solom. Squall, surprisingly, broke the silence.
"We're occupation. He didn't want to be caught unprepared for an attack.
"We're on standby ‘til then" he said.
Squall folded his arms, and closed his eyes. The wind began blowing briskly around them, chilling Squall's face. He ignored the discomfort, however, in favor of focusing on his own thoughts.
"Doesn't seem like Galbadia had invaded this Garden yet. Are they on their way? Where's the sorceress? We have to find her and."
Squall was innterupted however, by Rinoa. She spoke up, addressing everyone.
"You know. ever since I met all of you," she began, trying to express her feelings. "I've been doing some thinking. I can't stop thinking about it." Rinoa paused, unsure of what to say next. For the first time, Rinoa couldn't find a way to express herself.
"I can't come up with an answer either." she ended, rather incompletly.
Zell voiced his frusterations as well.
"Why did the sorceress come into the picture all of a sudden?" he asked. "Was she actually waiting for this oppurtunity?" Zell huffed, becoming depressed. "Hmm... wonder if she was living a normal life before all of this?"
Quistis too began expressing her thoughts and questions.
"Why the search for Ellone?" she thought. She began thinking about Squall's report about Ellone, and what she'd told him before she'd been taken away from Garden.
"Ellone. inviting Squall back to the past, whereas the sorceress searches for it." Quistis thought aloud. "Could it be the sorceress is trying to make that journey into the past too?"
Irvine hadn't been paying attention to anyone so far. He spoke as well, but more to himself than anyone else.
"I've gotta do something to show that Selphie can depend on me!" he declared.
Suddenlly, a basketball rolled onto the court before Irvine's feet.
A young girl in a yellow overall-skirt ran up to collect the ball.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Selphie exclaimed, picking up the basketball.
"Thanks so much for coming all the way out here, everyone" Selphie said, adressing the group. She sounded somber now... almost sad. Everyone knew what she had just been through in the cemetary.
Irvine smiled at her.
"Cheer up, eh?" he encouraged.
Selphie looked back at him, somewhat surprised, but grateful for the concern.
"Thanks" she replied sweetly.
Selphie now turned to Squall with determination in her eyes.
"Take me with you when you fight the sorceress, ok? I wanna get even. I want my revenge!"
Everyone paused at this, surprised at Selphie's violent tone.
The group was quiet for a moment, until Rinoa broke the silence, walking out into the center of the court. She spoke nervously.
"Um." she began. Rinoa put her hand to her chin. "Do we. have to fight? Isn't there another way? Y'know, to aviod any bloodshed?"
Zell jumped up suddenly, and swung his hand back in surprise.
"Yo!? What the.!? What are you sayin' all of a sudden!?"
Rinoa felt the entire groups eyes on her now, and it made her nervous. She began breathing heavily, and couldn't find the right words to explain herself... but she tried.
"Maybe someone really smart can come up with a way, so that we wouldn't have to fight anymore."
Squall gazed at her oddly.
"What are you getting at.?" he thought. "If someone can come up with soemthing, that'd be great. But no one's doing anything."
Squall turned away from the group, focusing on his thoughts.
"They're all scared, uneasy. All they do is complain. They just pretend to be thinking" Squall thought. He took a few steps away from everyone else.
"They critisize others, but in the end, they can't do anything either." Squall truned around and faced Rinoa. "Rinoa, why all this, all of a sudden? What do you expect from me? I grew up in Garden. I'm a SeeD. Do you understand?"
Rinoa was breathing a little easier now, and she looked back at Squall, somewhat confused.
"Squall?" she asked. She cocked her head to the side.
"You have to voice your feelings, or else I won't understand" she said.
Squall sighed, reluctant to explain what he was thinking, lest Rinoa become upset with him.
"You were." Squall started. "...part of a resistance movement in Timber, right?"
Rinoa nodded, lowering her head. She knew what he was getting at.
"Unlike others who were all talk, you took to your weapons and fought." Squall continued. He spoke calmly though, trying not to lecture her.
"And now you're saying all this? What happened to you?" he asked.
Rinoa's eyes were focused on the ground, and she frowned sadly.
"I guess. I'm getting scared" she finally replied.
"Sometimes. when I'm with all of you,. I .fell like we're on the same wavelegnth. you know?" she looked all around the group, hoping they would understand her.
"But when the battles start happening, it's different" she explaind. "Everyone's tempo seems to pick up and." she apused. ".I get left behind. I try to catch up, but it's no use." Rinoa held out her hands in a sad gesture.
"How far is everyone going?" she asked, rethorically. "I can't. hear anyone."
Everyone gazed at the ground as they listened to Rinoa express her feelings.
"Once I catch up, I wonder." Rinoa continued, "Is everyone safe? Will they welcome me with open arms? ..Is everyone ok?Will we all make it back together?" Rinoa shook her head When I start thinking like that."
Rinoa stopped, realizing that she was making herself upset...
Irvine stepped forward.
"Rinoa, I understand" he began. Everyone looked surprised at this.
"Someone might not be there" Irvine continued. "Someone you love may dissappear before you very eyes. It's tough when you live your life thinking that way." Irvine sighed.
"But that's why I fight."
Irvine picked up the basket ball, and began toying with it as he spoke.
"When I was a little kid. I was about four or so. I was in an orphanage" Irvine started. He took a shot at the hoop, and missed.
"Plenty of kids." he continued. "All with no parents. It was around the end of the sorceress war, So I guess it couldn't be helped. Anyway, that's where I was."
Irvine turned toward Selphie, smiling at her.
"And out of all the kids there, one was very special to me."
Images of his past came fresh to Irvine's mind. He thought back happily on his childhood.
"Irvy, wanna play?"
"Sefie, wha'cha playin'!?"
"WAR!"
"I really liked this girl, and it made me so happy just talking to her" Irvine said, chuckleing slightly as he spoke.
Selphie narrowed her eyes as Irvine told his story. She appraoched him slowly, looking up at his eyes.
Was that orphanage." Selphie asked cautiously, "a stone house?"
Irvine smiled wide at this.
"You guessed it" he said.
Quistis, too, looked oddly disturbed.
"An old house made of stone?" she asked. ".By the ocean?"
"You guessed it" Irvine repeated, smiling knowingly.
Quistis and Selphie gasped in unison. Both of them realized that they had been at the same orphanage, at the same time as Irvine, when they were all children.
"I knew right away, when we first met!" Irvine cried happily.
"Heey!" Selphie cried out. "Why didn't you tell us!?"
Quistis frowned at Irvine, more confused than upset.
"Yes, why didn't you tell us!?" she asked.
"‘Cause you two seemed to have forgotten! It just kinda sucked that I was the only one who remembered." Irvine explained. He laughed.
"Spunky little Sefie and bossy little Quisty" he said, remembering the nicknames they had used for each other.
Selphie shook her head, half confused and half overjoyed to recall these memories.
"That is just so weird." she said.
Zell listened to the conversation carefully before speaking up. He cleared his throat nervously.
"Huh?" Quistis said, turning to Zell. Something about him suddenly seemed very familar to her as she looked at him.
Zell raised an eyebrow
"Hey. do you guys remember setting off fireworks?"
Irvine smiled at Zell now as well
"That was." he began.
"This way!
Squall feighned disinterest at the conversation, but he couldn't prevent his own memories from surfacing. He felt a familiarity with their descriptions of the orphanage, and suddenly began to remember Quistis, Zell, and Selphie as Children... Squall recalled one little boy impaticular that he had tried for years to detach himself from.
"Sis. Elle."
"Matwyn! Sis isn't here! Where's sis!?"
"Sis. Where'd'yoo go? Yoo don't like me anymore?"
Squall looked upon his former self with disdain and disgust.
"What a shameful sight" he thought.
Irvine felt overjoyed to have Quistis, Selphie and Zell remember him, and the orphanage.
"How about this?" he exclaimed. They all started recalling the familar settings.
"YEAH!" Selphie agreed.
Zell closed his eyes, remembering the sights, sounds, and smells of the orphanage.
"The ocean! The lighthouse!" he cried out.
Quistis placed her hand over her chest in shock.
"We did set off fireworks!"
"Yoooooo!!! Kids aren't supposed ‘ta play with fireworks! I'm tell-ing!!! I'm gonna tell on yoo!!!"
"Cry-Ba-by-Ze-ll! GO back to bed!"
Zell shook his head. He couldn't understand having these memories, when he had parents in Balamb... Before today, his earliest memories took place on the Balamb docks, and his home.
"If I remember this," Zell started, "does that mean I was there, too?"
Quistis was still thinking about the fireworks
" ..We all got in big trouble."
Zell was trying to sort out the memories.
"Then. what about my parents in Balamb..?" he asked.
Quistis thought for a moment. She had a small image of Zell clearly in her mind now, and she knew that he was part of ths group
"The dinchts in Balamb muct have adopted you" she offered.
Irvine nodded
"Yep, that's probably it" he agreed.
Zell sighed, still confused, but the memories were undeniable, though they were still fuzzy.
"I. was here." he said, closing his eyes again.
"Yooo! C'mon! stop it! Matwyn, help!!!"
"Cry-baby-Ze-ell!!!"
Zell frowned as new memories started puring in.
"'Cry baby... Zell'?" he said, quoting a small child he recalled at the orphanage. "Someone .... called me that..."
Selphie too faintly remembered this.
"Who's THAT!?" she excalimed.
Everyone recalled the vicious laughter of a little boy teasing a young Zell.
"NAH-NA-NA-NA-NAH!!!"
"Stop teasing me, Seifer!"
Quistis gasped as another child was recalled to her mind.
"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed.
Zell shook his head in disbelife
"Seifer. My archenemy."
Selphie's eyes went wide as she pictured Seifer as a child.
"WOW! He was there, too!" she cried excitedly.
Irvine was smiling, but he frowned as he took a look at Squall, who had withdrawn from the group.
"Well?" he asked expectantly. Squall raised a wary eyebrow at this.
"Seifer..." Squall thought. He began lisiting off the children in his mind.
"Seifer was always Seifer... Zell. Always crying and screaming. Irvine... and... Quistis. I think you were difficult to deal with. Selphie.. always full of energy."
Irvine sighed.
"Seifer was there, too" he finally said. "Except for Rinoa, we were all there."
Selphie turned to look at Squall. He'd been suspiciously quiet during the whole conversation.
"Heeey that means." she started.
Squall was leaning against a large pile of rubble at this point, arms folded. He pushed himself up, and nodded reluctantly admitting his past.
"Yeah..." he began. "I was there, too. I." Squall paused.
"Sis.."
"I was always waiting for ‘Sis' to come back" he said. Squall thought back to his childhood.
"I'm. all alone. But I'm doing my best. I'll be ok without you, Sis. I'll be able to take care of myself."
" .I didn't turn out ok at all." he thought to himself.
".Sis Elle."
As Squall recalld his past, he suddenly had a revalation.
"Elle." he said aloud. "Ellone."
Everyone immediatly looked at Squall. Ellone was one of them... another orphan.
"So, Ellone was ‘Sis'" Squall started to remember. "She was a bit older than us, and we all used to call her ‘Sis'."
Squall looked at everyone, recalling their faces as small children.
"Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer, Ellone, and myself." he listed. "Yeah. I'm not sure what the meaning behind all this is, but we were definatly together."
Zell put up his hands in further confusion. He remembered someone called Sis... but she was Ellone?
"You mean, Sis is Ellone?" Zell asked.
Selphie thought for a moment.
"She's the one that takes us back to Laguna's period" she observed.
".She said she wanted to change the past" Squall said. "I don't know why."
Quistis spoke up now.
"There can only be one reason for that" she said. She looked at Selphie.
"She must not be happy with the present" Selphie said, completing Quistis' thought.
Zell nodded, seeming to understand now.
"It that's the case, I'm definatly up for helpin' her! She's part of our orphanage gang!" he exclaimed.
Selphie laughed at Zell.
"You didn't even remember who she was!" she chidded.
"Hey, Selphie." Irvine letured playfully. "That goes for you, too!"
Quistis put her hand to her chin contempativly
"It's pretty scary we've forgotten all these things." she said.
Everyone was quiet now. It took a while for the silence to be broken.
Zell sighed.
"So, ma and pa aren't my real parents." he said sadly.
"I wonder where the orphanage is.?" Selphie said.
Irvine looked at Squall.
"Hmm. So, Sis was Ellone, eh? Everyone was fond of Sis, but you Squall, you kept hoggin' her for yourself"
Squall gave Irivne a mean look, embaressed to have him recall so much about Squall's childhood.
"You sure have a good memory." Squall said somewhat suspiciously.
"This is really strange, though" he continued. he tried to recall what happened to all of them after the orphanage.
"I don't think I was adopted because of the way I am" Squall observed.
"Probably the same with Seifer, too" Irvine offered. "You two must have been at Garden by the age of 5 or so."
Squall shook his head.
"Even so, he's never mentioned anything about growing up in an orphanage. And nothing about this has ever crossed my mind when I see him, either. Don't you find that odd.?"
Selphie gazed at the ground. smirking slightly.
"That IS strange.!" she exclaimed. "In my case, I had loads and loads of fun after going to Trabia. That's probably why I forgot all about my childhood. That's what I think." she explained. "But I don't know what's up with you guys! It's so odd that you would forget!"
"I.. remember" Quistis started. "Yes, I remember now. Things didn't work out too well at my new home. So I came to garden at the age of 10. That was when I first noticed Seifer and Squall" she said. "Seifer and Squall were always fighting."
Squall frowned at the memory.
"Yeah. Quistis always used to break us up" he said.
Quistis' eyes went wide, as if she had started to remember much more now.
"Yes! That's right!" she exclaimed. "Seifer was a kid who always needed to be the center of attention. But Squall always used to ignore him. But eventually they would end up fighting." Quistis shook her head with disdain. "Squall could have easily walked away from it, but he always took up the challenge. He should've just ignored him, but Squall, almost in tears, would say. ‘I gotta do my best by myself. Or else I won't be able to see Sis."
Squall didn't like hearing this, but he new that all of it was true.
"I guess I was trying to take Sis.. I mean, Ellone's place" Quistis offered. "I tried, but to no avail. That;s probably it! Even After becoming an instructor, I couldn't stop thinking about Squall..." Quistis was lost in her explination, and nearly forgot that everyone was listening to her.
"I thought it was. love" she started. "I had to hide my feelings because I was an instructor... but I don't think it was love..."
Quistis eyes glistened slightly.
"It was my childhood feelings as a big sister that lingered. " she realized.
Squall overheard her, and blushed a bright red immediatly. He had no idea that Quistis had felt like that about him... or thought that she did, and he felt both embaressed to have this announced to everyone, and guilty for being so insensitive to her his whole life.
Zell slapped his forhead in shock.
"Yo. this is gettin' outta hand. We forgot way too much" he exclaimed. "To not remember ANY of this until Irvine mentions it... It still seems like there's so many gaps..."
Selphie nodded in agreement.
"Hmm. I can't remember. The orphange was located... where?" she asked.
Quistis was still lost in her thoughts. She muttered to herself,
"A misunderstood love.? ...Actually, I had completely given up when Rinoa came into the picture..."
Squall blushed once again at this.
"Hey!" Quistis exclaimed. "It must be the same for Seifer! I'm sure Seifer has forgotten his childhood, too. But whenever he sees Squall, his inner feelings start to boil, and."
Zell looked towards Quistis.
"Is that why he's always pickin' fights with Squall?" he asked. Quistis nodded.
Squall narrowed his eyes in frusteration.
"..Why is it that we forgot? We grew up together as kids. How's that possible.?"
Irvine sighed. Everyone looked at him, sicne he seemed to have all the answers.
"How about this?" he offered. " ..The price we pay for using the GF. The GF provides us its power. But the GF makes its own place inside our brain."
"So you're saying that the area is where our memories are stored? No! That's just a rumor the GF critics are spreading..." she spoke loudly, and defensivly. But at the same time, she doubted her convictions.
Zell raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"So if we keep relying on the GF, we won't be able to rememebr a lot of things?" he wondered.
Quistis shook her head.
"There's no way headmaster Cid would allow such a dangerous thing!" she cried.
Irvine shrugged his shoulders.
"Then how is it that I rememebr, while everyone else has forgotten? Well..?" he asked. No one had an answer.
"In my case, I hadn't junctioned a GF until recently. That's why I rememebr a lot more than you guys."
Quistis looked to the ground, searching for answer. A thought suddenly came to her.
"How about you Selphie?" Quistis asked. "Your first expirience with the GF was when yoiu came to Balamb Gardenb, right?"
Selphie shifted her eyes around nervously.
".yeah" she said plainly.
"Is it because of the GF that we forget.?" Zell wondered aloud. "Is that why other forces refrain from using GF?" He'd often wondered about this, but had paid little heed to GF critics. Now, though, it seemed undeniable.
Quistis thought and thought, but coldn't come up with any explination as to why they would not remember each other... Except for the GF.
"We gave up our memories in exchange for power" she finally admitted, disturbed by the idea.
Irvine placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to be consoling.
"There are some thigns we're better off not remmebering. Especially whern your life revolves around batles." he lamented.
Selphie suddenly giggled and started dancing about.
"I have a confession to make!" she announced. "When I was 12, I went on an outdoor training session. I found a GF inside one of the monsters I defeated. I junctioned that GF for a while. So I have experience with GF, too..."
Quistis nodded, finally and fully acepting the truth of the matter... all evidence of their memorie loss pointed to Irvine's thoery... the Guardian Forces.
"But." Selphie continued. "But it's really weird! I can't remember the name of that GF!"
"It must be the GFs fault" Quistis said. She turned to the whole group, anxious.
"...What should we do?" Quistis asked.
Squall thought back to his expirience with Gaurdian Forces... He also recalled the so-called 'link' he had established with Shiva, and the ensuing conversation. He gazed at the others around him, realzing that they had not yet had the same expirience... He decided not to tell them about it just yet, but he spoke in defense nonetheless.
"What should we do?" Squall repeated. "...nothing."
Zell went wide eyed at this.
"What do you mean nothing!?" he cried loudly.
Squall huffed in irritation.
"What do you want to do? You wanna stop using GF now?"
Squall look every person in the eye, one by one, as if to say, 'well?'. He knew, and they knew, that they weren't nearly as strong as they were without the aid of the GF.
"As long as we continue fighting, we're indebted to the powers of the GF" Squall lectured. "If there's a price I have to pay for that, I'll gladly pay it."
Everyone was surprised at Squall's conviction. They knew that what he was saying was probably right. It was scary, and disconsourting, to know that your memories were slowly being erased, but the powers of the GF gave them a huge upper hand. Losing that would mean certain defeat.
"Heeey, I know!" Selphie suddenly cried out. "Let's all keep a diary! That way we'll always have something to remind us!"
Zell grimaced uneasily.
"Are you sure that's what you want!?" He looked around to observe everyone's expression. He sighed, somewhat dissapointed.
"Maybe. that's for the best" he conceded. "Yeah.. .I don't care if I forget about my childhood, when Seifer used to pick on me..." he chuckled slightly.
"What's important to me now is having the power to protect my parents in Balamb. They adopted me. There's no way I'm lettin' go of that power!" Zell asserted.
Quistis suddenly spoke up.
"Hey. Do you all remember Matron?"
Zell squinted for a moment, trying to remember.
"She was always wearin' black." he said.
Squall, too tried to summon these memories.
"Matron dressed in black..." he thought. Several familar images swarmed through his mind as he tried to pinpoint a woman they knew as 'Matron'.
"Let's see." Selphie said.
Quistis was thinking aloud.
"Very kind. long balck hair. Yes, I really admired her" she recalled.
"Whoa" Zell said suddenly. "Guys... d'you remember what Edea looked like...? ...I see a resemblence" he said in a disturbed tone. "Matron. They look alike.."
Everyone looked at Zell oddly.
"Wait." Selphie said suddenly. "I just pictured her face, and." Selphie gasped in horror.
Irvine sighed deeply.
Look alike, Zell? Selphie? I wish."
Irvine took a deep breath before his next sentence.
"Matron's name is Edea Kramer. Matron IS sorceress Edea" he revealed.
Selphie placed her hand over her mouth, terrified.
"Matron. Sorceress Edea." she said slowly.
Quistis' eyes were wide in confusion.
Why is that Matron.?" she started.
Irvine shook his head, and cut her off.
"Why? You're wondering why matron would take over a country, or fire misiles and whatnot?"
Quistis nodded, distrubed.
"At this point, we probably wouldn't comprehend it even if we talked about it" Irvine offered, shurgging his shoulders sadly.
Squall nodded.
"You're probably right" he thought.
Irvine put up his hands to gather everyone's attention.
"..hear me out" he said. Irvine cleared his throat.
"SeeD and Garden were all Matron's idea, right?" he started. "I'm not a SeeD, but I share the same ideals, and code with all of you, and I know that SeeDs are supposed to fight sorceresses..."
Squall rolled Irvine's words around hin his mind.
"This is strange" he thought. "That's right. It was when I was being tortured by Seifer. He wanted to know what SeeD was. Matron should know. but Matron is Sorceress Edea. There's no denying that."
Squall shook his head in confuson.
"What does this all mean?"
Irvine shot a quick galnce at Squall
"Squall, you listening?"
Squall gave his attention back to Irvine now.
"So like. this is what I wanted to say" Irvine continued. "I understand what Rinoa's saying" he said. "I understand, but I'm still gonna fight. I want to stay true to everything I've stood for."
The wind blew harshly on them now, as Irvine continued his speach. He was filled with conviction, but his voice also denoted a dissapoitment with the cruel irony of the situation that they had now been put it.
"I'm sure it's the same for everyone" Irvine said. "That's why I thought it'd be best if everyone knew we would have to face Matron."
Irvine tipped up his hat, trying to find the words to express himself.
"You've all heard ths before" he continued. "...how life has infinite possibilities? Well, I don't belive that one bit. There weren't many paths for me to choose. Somtimes, there would only be one.
Though they weren't sure exactly what Irvine was getting at, everyone understood what he was trying to say.
"That's why I value the path I choose... I want to hold true to the path that HAD to be taken." Irvine looked at everyone, the expression on his face nearly pleading with them to understand him.
"I know our oppenent is Matron, whom we all love very much. We might also lose something very important on account of the GF. But I don't mind. I didn't have many choices, but it's not like I drifted here on the tides of fate, either. I'm here because I choose to be here." Irvine paused, gazing happily at all of his childhood friends.
"And more importantly." he continued, "we all grew up together." His next words were spoken sadly. "But due to various circumstances, we were all seperated."
Irvine continued explaing his choice.
"As a kid, you couldn't really go out on your own. There were no other paths to take. All I did was just cry. But. Somehow, we;'re togther again. Just like old times, though a lot's changed." He smiled confidently at the group. "We're not kids anymore. We're strong enough to take care of ourselves. Make our own decisions. We're confronting a big one right now. Do we fight Matron or not..?" He looked around, as if expecting an answer.
"You know what I think..." he continued. "I say we fight. Shoot for a common goal... Hey, at least it'll keep us together a little longer."
Zell smiled wryly.
" .Yeah. Let's do it" he agreed. "We can't run from her for the rest of our lives."
"It;'s just such a bummer." Selphie said. "I can't belive we havre to fight Matron" she lamented.
Quistis nodded.
"I know. but Zell's right" she said. "We can't run from her forever."
Squall nodded as well. He knew that it had to be done, somehow. But he turned his mind now to someone else... Rinoa.
She'd been left out of the entire conversation, and stood behind the group, staring at the ground feeling sad. Squall felt guilty, the same way he'd felt guilty all the times he'd hurt Rinoa when they had first met her. But it was genuine now, and he found himself truly caring about her feelings.
"Rinoa" Squall said softly, trying to get her attention. ". It's up to you. We're gonna fight. I think it's the only way we can move on with our lives. If that makes any sense at all, come with us."
Rinoa was speechless. She tried to respond, but the words got caught in her throat.
"I'm sure that's what everybody wants" Squall continued.
Rinoa blushed a deep red at this. At that moment, surronded by the five Garden students, she felt more accepted, and more loved than anytime on her life that she could recall.
Rinoa smiled at Squall innocently. She didn't want to fight, but if it meant staying with Squall and the others, it was worth it.
A suddenly icyness came over them all, and Selphie looked up at the sky
"Look! Look!" she exclaimed. "A gift from the faeries!"
Sure enough, it was snowing right down on Trabia Garden. The cheers of Students could be heard resonating throughout the remains of Garden.
After a moment's silence, Zell spoke up.
"Yo, you wanna go check out Edea's orphanage?" he asked Squall.
Irvine nodded in agreement.
"We might find a clue" he offered.
Quistis looked questioningly at Irvine.
"Clue? You mean as to why Matron turned out like this?"
Squall thouht placed his hand on his chin.
It probably has something to do with something that happened in then past. But the past is the past. it's over, done with" he thought.
Despite what truth we find, it's not going to change the present." Squall warned. But he softened his tone. "But.I wanna see, too" he admitted. "I don't know what we'll find, but let's head for Edea's house. Let's get going now."
Squall motioned for everyone to head back. He remained behind, until all but one other person remained on the basketball court.
Rinoa and Squall gaze at each other for a moment, awkwardly at first, but Rinoa smiled, creating a comfortable atmosphere between them.
"I guess that's it." Squall said, somberly. "We're fighting."
Rinoa shook her head, laughing slightly.
".You guys are fearless" she said.
Squall shrugged, unsure of what she meant.
"Fearless? I don't think that;s quoite right. If you think too hard, you become lost. I think that's what everyone's afraid of." he thought. He looked at Rinoa, sympathetically. She wasn't ready to fight... but that was alright with him.
"I wish we didn't have to fight, either" Squall said softly. Rinoa smiled slightly at him, put her arm around his, and they walked out of the court together.
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End Chap. 33
...but not 'together' together. Not just yet anyway. (I just thought that was a sweet way to end the chapter.)
So, the backrounds of our charecters are revealed... But their former gaurdian, Edea, has turned against them? What for? Will they find out?
Yeah, so, I hope this chapter was enjoyable. I found my self lacking the proper language to fully express the scenes... But I hope you didn't feel something was missing...if so, let me know and I'll re-write the entire thing... @_@.... And even though, yes, this was a LONG chapter, I hope i was able to shorten things up a bit text-wise...
And BTW, this starts the 7-chapter coutndown until the end of Disc 2! How exciting!
anyway, stay tuned for some neat mini-quests as Squall & co. search the world for Edea's house.
Also, please make sure your reviews have something constructive to say. even if it's a positive review, give me some tips, or point out a paticular point you liked. Just a reminder! And one more thing, you'll notive that some of my formatting in the previous chapters hasn't carried over to the latter ones... it seems that FF.net has either blocked paticular formatting options, or the text doc. converter i am using doesn't agree with ff.net's set-up. I'll attemp to remedy this, but i just didn't want anyone to think I was being lazy.
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