disclaimer: dont own FF8

Chapter 7

Selphie chewed her lip a bit as she watched Irvine. The Galbadian Cowboy seemed alright now as opposed to yesterday during that news broadcast. Currently, the cowboy was trying to decide who would go with who while they searched the near by towns and cities for any indication of where Squall might be. She would be going with Carl and Adam would be going with Zell. The two other SeeDs that had accompanied Zell would be a group and Irvine and Seifer would pair off as well. The only thing left to decide now was who was going to search which cities.

"Why can't we just get bloodhounds or something?" one the SeeDs asked.

"Because the rain would have washed the scent away by now," Irvine answered. Seifer pointed to a spot on the map and Selphie looked over his shoulder.

"Irvine and I will check out the area of Leben (1) City, Ulrich Town and any other towns not mentioned on the map near Leben City," Seifer said. Selphie nodded.

"Sounds good," she said and straightened. "Let's get to work, people!"

Lony sighed heavily as she slid the deck door closed. Sunlight fluttered into the kitchen and danced along the granite countertops and the blue and white tile on the floor. The pale ocean green cabinets glittered ever so slightly as the light danced upon them. Lony opened the refrigerator door and looked around. She grabbed a bag of grapes from the fridge and set them on the counter. Laughter would be heard from the back yard where the children were playing. She grabbed some apples from one of the hanging baskets and some peanut butter from on of the cabinets. She pulled out the apple corer and grabbed the cutting board, setting the apples on it. Star ran into the kitchen from the living room and tugged on her pant's leg. She turned her sapphire eyes down to the little moomba and quirked an eyebrow.

"What's up Star?" she asked. Star squealed and motioned to the door.

"Lony?" a soft voice inquired. She looked up and blinked. Squall stood in the doorway clad in a pair of jeans that were a size or two to big for him and a white t-shirt. Lony put the apple corer down and walked over to him

"I thought you weren't going to try and walk till later," she said as she put an arm around his waist. Squall draped an arm over her shoulders and let her help him to one of the stools that sat in front of the counter.

"Sorry," he murmured. Lony smiled down at him and ruffled his hair a bit.

"It's alright. Does your leg hurt?" Squall shook his head and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. The bandages around his arms and legs were gone and it did seem like he had walked fine when she had helped him over to the stool. Lony went back around the counter and began to extract the cores from the apples. Squall looked around the kitchen curiously and fiddled with his shirt hem. Lony smiled and grabbed a plate from the drying rack next to the sink. Placing the apple slices and some grapes on the plate she then grabbed a bowl and a spoon and opened the peanut butter jar.

"What are you doing?" Squall asked. Lony smiled at the shy sound of his voice and scooped some peanut butter out of the jar and into the bowl.

"Making a snack for the kids," she answered.

"Kids?" She nodded.

"Yep. Me and May take care of some kids here when their parents have to go to work,"

"Oh," Lony glanced up at him as the put the half empty peanut butter jar in the cabinet. Squall reached over and took an apple slice from the plate. He seemed scared when he looked up at her and asked if he could have one. She smiled at him and nodded. Star squealed a bit and tugged on her pant's leg again.

"Alright, Star, you can have one," she said and tossed the little moomba one of the slices. Star ran and caught it before it hit the ground and began to munch away on it. Lony laughed a bit and picked the plate and bowl up.

"I'll be right back, Squall," she said and slid the door open before walking out onto the deck. May looked up from her spot at the table playing a game of go fish with some of the children and smiled.

"Snack time!" she called. Lony set the plate and bowl down on the table and ducked back into the house as the kids stampeded onto the deck. Star scrambled up onto a stool beside Squall and looked outside. Lony shook her head a bit and walked back over to Squall. His blue gray eyes were staring at the wall behind him, his eyes roaming over the mural of a cliff over looking the ocean at sunset. She smiled and leaned against the counter dividing them.

"That's where the story begins," she said softly. His blue gray eyes turned to regard her before going back to the painting.

"What story?" he asked. She smiled and swept some of her bang out of her face.

"The story of the greater beings,"

"Greater beings?" he turned to her as he asked the question. She nodded and looked around.

"Not many people know the story so we'll just have to keep it between us ok?" He nodded and she saw the familiar spark of curiosity that always entered a person's mind whenever someone told the story.

"This story is about the greater beings, both of darkness and of light, young and old, protectors of right and wrong," she said as she began to tell the familiar tale…

The sun danced along the waters and painted the sky with brilliant shades of blue, red, orange, yellow and purple as the blanket of darkness began to descend upon the world. The wind fluttered and played with the leaves upon their branches and combed her gentle fingers through the woman's hair. The woman's ebony hair billowed around her as she watched the horizon for any sign of boats. Music from the festival in the village danced through her ears and urged her to move away from the cliff where the darker spirits would soon arise from the sea and the very earth beneath her feet. The charms on the bracelets around her ankles tinkled slightly as she turned and made her way through the woods towards the village.

Her bronze and silver colored dress fluttered lightly around her thin frame as she walked and met up with her chestnut haired sister. Her sister knew that from her expression the boats had made no sign of their return to the island. The warriors would most likely return in the next few days as spirits or in coffins for them to bury. The war between the Dark Hemisphere and the Light Hemisphere had been going on for centuries and only now, from recent news, had they learned that it only created a gray are where there was no fighting and lights and darks could mix and create half breeds and other things. The ebony haired girl turned her gray eyes to her sister and smiled softly. She had known of the war since their father had left years ago and ever since then had dispised it. They both knew that they would have to leave their island soon and travel to the gray area to discuss peace between their people. Even though they weren't nobles they were still requested to come. The reason why was still unclear to her.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked, peering at Lony from underneath his bangs. Lony only smiled and went to rummage through the cabinets again.

"It's time to start on lunch, that's why," she answered. Squall sighed and stared at the countertop. He glanced up again once he felt someone's hand on his head. Lony peered at him and smiled.

"Would you like to help me?" she asked. He blinked at her and nodded slightly.

Dollet

The orchestra was playing loudly again. The black eyed demon's stone heart was beating rapidly as he watched the dancers and listened to the music play. The steel of his knife was humming with pleasure by now as it cut down its next victim. The sweet slightly metallic ambrosia filled his parched throat and the canteen that he had brought with him. He could feel her presence shaking in pleasure as the ambrosia filled his hollowed body. The orchestra grew louder as sirens joined in and more screams filled the air. He could feel the souls dancing as they fled their fleshy hosts. He knew that this would draw their attention. The attention of everyone would be on these strange fires and on the burning of Dollet. He could a darkness begin to grow in him and knew that it was almost time for her to be released upon the world yet again. But there were still many things to do before she would be able to be released. He licked his lips and continued on into the city.

Balamb Garden

The students stared in shock at the television screen. Flames were lapping at the slowly burning city of Dollet. People were screaming. The area around Dollet was burning as well. Soon there would be nothing left except a dark wasteland littered with the burned corpses of children, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and many others. Quistis ran out of her classroom and up to the head master's office. She knew who it was. And she knew where it was going next.

AN: (1) Leben means Life in german.