The sun started its ascent over the horizon, indicating that morning had begun. A couple of behelmels came out of their forest home to capture their usual breakfast. The two of them hovered over the great plains of Centra, searching for their meal. By the time they were ten meters from their forest, they were caught in a great beam of light, which left them lying on the ground without any life. Just then, a ruby dragon stomped out of the forest to survey its catch. It sniffed the two behelmels one after another. It, finally, picked out the biggest monster and carried it off into another forest to the west. Upon doing so, the ruby dragon passed a Greek-looking house; an orphanage to be exact.
The sound of laughter started coming from the orphanage. Inside, a small girl jumped out of her bed and ran over to the window of the children's bedroom. Outside of the window, the lighthouse was shut down and allowed the sun to do the lighting. The small girl ran away from the window and over to the door. "Sis!" She called to one of the middle beds, where a slightly older girl sat. "Let's go eat breakfast now. Please?"
The older girl climbed off of her bed and said, "Let's get dressed first, Sefie."
Selphie let out a heavy sigh, and then said, "All right."
As Selphie ran over to the large dresser, Ellone started waking up the rest of the gang. She shook a five year old with long blonde hair, which awoke the girl. "Good morning, Quisty." Ellone said, as Quistis rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Good morning, Sis." Quistis said, and then climbed out of bed to join Selphie.
Then, Ellone ran to the next bed and shook a spiky haired boy out of sleep. However, the boy did not wake up. Ellone tried shaking the boy a little harder, but the boy remained asleep. At that moment, another young boy walked up and stood beside Ellone. "Can I try, Sis?" The boy asked.
"Okay, Seifer." Ellone responded.
Seifer climbed onto the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. He counted on his fingers, until he got to three. Then, he jumped up as high as he could go and bounced off of the bed shouting, "Wake up, crybaby!"
Zell awoke from his deep sleep, screaming in horror. Seifer climbed off of the bed, pointed at Zell, and laughed. Ellone sat down beside Zell and comforted him. "Seifer, that wasn't very nice." She said.
Seifer bowed to Ellone, as he said, "I'm sorry, Sis. I'll never do it again."
"Ok. But if you do, I'll tell Matron." Ellone warned.
Seifer put on a surprised look and said, "No, please. Don't tell her!"
"Then, don't do it again."
With that, Seifer walked over to the boy's dresser and looked for a change of clothes. Ellone jumped off of the bed and walked to the next bed, only to find that it was empty. She looked around as she said, "Where's Squall?"
Upon looking behind her, Ellone found that Squall was already out of bed and had been following her around the room. Ellone nodded to the brown haired boy, and then made her way to the last bed. Once there, she shook awake the last of her friends, Irvine, and then got dressed, helping the others in the process. When everyone was fully clothed, Ellone led the way to the kitchen. As they made their way to the kitchen, Squall slipped his hand into Ellone's and walked along side of her. The children marched smoothly all the way to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Cid and Edea Kramer were working together on making enough food for all of the children. All of the children entered the kitchen and sat down in a chair, some in the kitchen and some in the playroom. While the food was still in the midst of preparation, the children chatted amongst themselves. "Hey, guys." Seifer said from his seat.
"What?" Selphie said, while everyone else looked at Seifer.
"I found something awesome in Matwyn's room. Wanna see?"
"Sure." Selphie and Quistis said at the same time.
"Ok. Meet me on the beach tonight."
Selphie started feeling excited and couldn't wait until that night. At this time, Cid and Edea finished making breakfast and started serving the children. Everyone got their share of food and, calmly, ate. One after another, the children finished their breakfast and ran to play outside in the flower field. Selphie jumped out of her chair simultaneously with Quistis. She ran to one of the side exits and turned around to face Irvine. "Irvy! Wanna play?" She asked.
"Sefie, whatcha playin'?" Irvine asked.
"WAR!" Selphie answered, while running out of the door. Irvine followed her shortly after.
Back at the kitchen table, Seifer was sliding out of his seat. He stepped over to Ellone and took a hold of her hand and pulled her, lightly. "C'mon, Sis." He said. "Let's go play war."
Ellone swallowed some of her food, and then nodded to the blonde boy. She slid off of her chair and was led by Seifer to the exit. Squall finished his breakfast and watched Ellone leave him. He tried his best to stay calm, but he failed. The next thing he knew, he was out of his seat and running over to Seifer. Seifer was pushed away from Ellone and fell to the floor. "Squall, what you doing?" Ellone asked, as Squall took her hand.
"I don't wanna be alone." Squall said, looking up at Ellone with puppy dog eyes.
"I wasn't leaving. I was just going outside." Ellone explained.
Just then, Seifer was back on his feet and returned the push to Squall. Squall fell back on his behind. He sat on the floor and watched as Seifer leered down at him. Slowly, tears crept their way out of Squall's eyes. Ellone noticed the tears and sat down beside Squall, draping her arms around his neck to comfort him. "Seifer," Ellone looked to the blonde. "You go without me. Ok?"
Seifer looked at the young girl, and then down at Squall. "Don't waste your time with him. He's such a crybaby." He said. With that, Seifer turned and exited the orphanage.
Ellone looked back to Squall and said, "It's ok. It's ok. I'm here with you."
Squall began calming down. He ran his arm over his eyes to wipe away his tears. With one last sniff, he was calm again. "Do you wanna go outside?" Ellone asked.
Sadly, Squall nodded his head. Ellone helped Squall to his feet and they both headed for the exit. Upon getting outside, the two of them spotted the midst of the 'war'. "Let's go sit over there." Ellone said, pointing to a spot in the flower field.
They reached the spot with no trouble and sat down. Ellone kept glancing over at the 'war' and wished that she were out there. Squall picked something up out of the grass and held it in his hand. Then, he held his hand up for Ellone to see. "Look." He said.
Ellone looked down and seen a tiny caterchipiller walking along in Squall's hand. "Hey!" She said. "That looks like a bunbun. Uncle Laguna always caught them sneaking into our town."
"Who's that?" Squall asked.
"Who?"
"…Uncle Laguna."
"Oh. He's my uncle, of course. He helped take care of me. I wonder where he is now."
"What happened?" Squall asked.
"I don't know. He sent me back home and didn't come back with me." Ellone said.
Squall returned the caterchipiller to the grass and just sat. A sudden 'woo-hoo' was heard, then. Upon looking over at the 'battlefield', it was clear that Selphie's team won the battle. Selphie was jumping up and down shouting, "Woo-hoo!"
Meanwhile, Irvine and Zell were engaged in a high five, which showed that they were on Selphie's team. Out of the flowers, Seifer and Quistis stood up and brushed themselves off. Seifer walked over to Selphie and said, "We're gonna get ya next time!"
"We'll see about that!" Selphie countered. "Another round?"
"Let's do it." Quistis said. "But this time…"
Quistis looked over at Ellone. "Sis is on our team!" She said.
Ellone looked at Quistis, and then at Squall, who looked worried. "And Squall, too!" Ellone shouted, as she jumped up from the ground. "C'mon, Squall."
Squall smiled, happy that he wasn't being left behind. Together, Ellone and Squall ran over to unite with their team.