Dark Stratos: This fic is the most taxing thing we ever type. I have no idea why, but it's incredibly hard to do.

Star Shadow: No kidding. I keep telling myself I'll do it, but I can never follow through.

Dark Stratos: It's bad enough we were on writers block so long that we had to scrap the chapter every time we started it, but after we finished it… GAH!! We've actually been trying to come up with something ever since the same weekend we posted the last chapter. We somehow got enough reviews in one day to start writing/posting the new chap.

Star Shadow: We just kept trying and nothing worked for writing it. You people should love finals. We were so bored that we came up with a chapter. A mildly pathetic chapter, but hey… Whatcha gonna do?

Dark Stratos: I know what I'm gonna do it your mom doesn't stop singing 'My Baby Does The Hanky Panky' soon!

Star Shadow: Er… On with the fic! Heh heh…

Disclaimer: Please refer to the other chapters. If we didn't own FFVIII then, why in the name of the seventh level of the unholy hell would we own it now?

The Journal

Star Shadow and Dark Stratos

Chapter Nine: The Music

Edea smiled at the music in her hands before looking back up to Seifer who was currently sitting across her kitchen table. He'd grown so much since the last time she'd seen him like this. It wasn't physical growth mind you; he just seemed to have matured. She smiled again, the action causing Seifer to smile as well, and across the table she saw not only this Seifer, but also the image of the young child she helped raise.

"Matron?" he asked, snapping her from her thoughts of the older days when she and Cid raised a house full of children.

"I'm sorry, Seifer," she said, feeling bad for not paying attention to what he had said. "Could you repeat that?"

"I asked if you could play the music," he said, pouting slightly. Ah… The more things changed the more they stayed the same.

"I could," she said, looking over the pages again, "but I don't think I'd be able to play it correctly. This isn't the most difficult music I've ever seen, but it's far from easy."

"Oh…" was all he said as she slid the pages back across the table. His face had fallen slightly, but he didn't look too disappointed for some odd reason. "I'm sorry to bother you, Matron."

When he looked down at the pages in his hands, Edea knew something was wrong with the teen other that the fact that she couldn't easily play the sheet music in his hands. He looked lost in thought, staring at the page before him as if it were some kind of puzzle he couldn't solve. In a way, she was correct, but the pages were really just a small piece of a much larger puzzle that came in the form of a journal, a girl and something that he couldn't seem to put his finger on. Something like the dried blood at the bottom of the last page of the music.

Looking up, Seifer saw Edea looking at him curiously, as if she could read his mind and he smiled, beginning to tuck the pages back into the journal. Seifer trusted his Matron and he knew why she looked at him with that small amount of worry in the back of her eyes. He had told her --she promised to keep it a secret after all-- about how he had found the journal. He had told her about everything that had happened since he had returned to the Garden after he had found out she now lived in Balamb. She had held him just like she had when he was younger, with his head in her lap, after his first attempt to tell her what he had been about to do right before he found the journal. She had been quiet and attentive through his story.

"Matron?" he asked, not looking up from where he sat in his chair. "You believe me, don't you?" he asked, feeling like a child again as a wave of uneasiness flooded over him as he realized he had never asked her if she thought he was lying. He still didn't understand how she managed to bring out the little boy he thought he'd buried six feet under out.

"I do," she said, surprising him with a smile. "And I'm going to have to find a special way to thank that girl."

Seifer smiled just as someone knocked on the door. A knock wasn't really the best way to describe it. It was more like a continuous beating on the door. And as the pounding continued, Edea rose from her chair, still as graceful as ever, to answer the door.

A loud voice removed Seifer from his happy place just as soon as he got there.

"Matron!" Zell whined. Didn't he have a mother he could whine to? "You wouldn't believe what Irvine said to me today! That guy is such an ass!"

Seifer stood, not wanting to sit in the same room as the overly energetic teen, remembering how much hate shone in his eyes when he had first been re-admitted to the Garden. He collected his things quickly, and after picking up his coat and the journal and headed for the door as Edea and Zell entered. He bowed slightly to Edea, coat in his arms.

"You're leaving already?" Edea asked, smile faltering. Zell just looked shocked.

"I'm sorry, Matron," Seifer said. "I promise to come visit again soon."

Zell watched, still gaping as Seifer passed, not sure what he wanted to think about the older teen. Edea's door closed with a click.

"You know Zell," Edea said, looking at the still shocked blond. "This could be one of the reasons--" she stopped herself. He didn't need to know Seifer's secret, and besides, she had promised not to tell.

"M-Matron?"

"Never mind Zell."

Seifer walked through the town, surprised at how little it had changed as he headed to the town's entrance, pulling on his jacket. He had a feeling that something was out to happen. Seifer opened the journal as he walked down the asphalt road that lead to the Garden, He smiled as eh read about Rachel's sisters latest adventure in trying to catch their new dog when they'd let him out in the backyard and how Ren and Trinh had come over to visit. It wasn't anything major, but it still made him want to smile.

Edea's eyes widened as she stopped, yet again, mid-sentence. Zell noticed it too. The piano was being played, but they were the only ones in the house. The sad melody floated around them. Edea stood, staring at the door of the room where she kept her piano, Zell following her as she moved towards the door. He wasn't about to let his Matron open the door and get hurt.

The entries flew by as he walked. Trinh had been visiting her more often, but so had her father. That man seemed to get worse and worse as time went on. The more information he found out about her father, the more he seemed to despise the man. He stopped as he read one more line, closing the journal with a snap. It felt wrong to read anymore. What kind of man beat his wife and children?

Zell opened the door and the music stopped. Edea stared, shocked into silence. No one was there…

Star Shadow: Oooohhhh! Creepy!!

Dark Stratos: This was so hard to type. You people have no idea what it's like working with her. She has to get up every few minutes to run around or jump on her bed or dance or just do something. She started doing laundry people! LAUNDRY!!!

Star Shadow: It's not my fault that I can't stay still! ::fidgets::

Dark Stratos: Whatever… Read and Review…