Her first day
It is Gem Darkheart's first day in Balamb, as well as Balamb Garden, where she was supposed to be. She has short cropped cherry red hair, petit build, blue green/eyes, and is clad in a tight fitting black sleeveless shirt and some loose dark green trousers. A silver pendant hangs around her neck, in the form of some twisted kind of angel.
Having spent a long time walking in circles, Gem is understandably lost. Having been born and raised in a small town called Luco, and it was her first time away from home. Or so she thought anyway; she had dreams of a past that she couldn't remember; all she knew was her name, and her new home. She had been swept downriver, and someone from Luco had found and saved her. Apparently, they had met, and it hadn't been the first time that she had been swept down that river with no clue of who she was or where she had come from.
"Uhm...Hello?...Hello sir? Please sir, can you direct me to Balamb garden?"
Her melodious voice is tinged with a little ice and exasperation, despite her politeness, but it was as if she had never even spoken, as so many times before. It seemed that everyone was too busy for her around the town of Balamb. Looking around for someone who seemed a little bit nicer, she spots a fairly portly woman sorting out her washing. She had a very friendly smile, and was humming softly to herself. Approaching with caution, she stands a little way away uncertainly.
"Uh...Madam?" She calls.
"Mrs Dincht." She says kindly. "What is it that you want?"
"Which way is it to Balamb Garden?"
"Oh, Balamb Garden. It's over there dear. My son goes there you know. If you see him, tell him to pop by okay? His name is Zell. Zell Dincht."
"M'kay. Thank you very much" She says, flashing her a brief thankful smile before turning away.
"Any time dear, any time."
She begins at a comfortable jog, but ten minutes later, she is out of breath and forced to stop.
"How long is this road!" She exclaims, catching her breath.
She sighs deeply and gets to her feet and begins her trek to the military building. Nearly twenty minutes later, she reaches the building and stands in awe at the majestic sight. The curved facility was certainly bigger than she had expected, and she stands in the distance before it.
She steps towards the entrance, and a man at the barrier calls her over.
"Are you a new arrival?"
He asks, smiling at her.
"Yes sir, I am."
"You're supposed to be seeing the headmaster now. You're late."
"Oh! I am! Oh no! Where is his office?"
"Take the elevator up to the third floor. The meeting should still be in progress."
"Thank you"
Gem hurries for the stairs that led up to the elevator. Entering the lift, she takes it up to the third floor and gets out. She finds herself in a sort of secretary's office, where a young woman with dark hair was stood, wearing SeeD uniform.
"Are you another new arrival?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I'm late."
"Don't worry, go right in."
"Thank you."
The small red head obediently walks into the door that the woman had indicated. The headmaster seemed to be halfway through his speech, a quite short man wearing a red vest and glasses. Gem slips in unnoticed, and stands at the back, listening intently to what the man had to say. Once he has finished, the group disperse, heading to their allotted dormitories to unpack their belongings Gem didn't have any of her own belongings, and so she goes to the weapons cupboard within the training centre.
"Now let's see what weapon I should start off with." She murmers to herself.
Looking at the array of sharp and wide variations of weapons, she eventually decides on a par of twin daggers.
"I know how to use these..."
Walking into the large room, the heat of the tropical rainforest setting washes over her as she looks around in awe. It takes barely any time at all for her first creature to attack, a simple grat. She slashes at its tentacles as they wave in the air. Growling angrily as it manages to bat her leg, she lashes out in retaliation, cutting off a few of its stems and dodging out of the way of its sleeping powder. She is completely unaware that she is being watched by a handsome brunette in the rafters. Squall was on watch in the training centre that day, so if any new candidates decided to try a little training, he'd be there to make sure that they would be okay, and that n harm would come to them. He folds his arms over his chest, watching her. He'd been there for a long time, so anything instead of monsters was appealing to him at the moment. He watches as a T-Rexaur lumbers out of the forest and charges at her. Jumping before she was caught within its jaws, she is amazed that her reflexes reacted so quickly, and in such a good way. The way she moved indicated that she had never fought before. Squall keeps an eye on her, but rather than fly to her aid, he simply watches, though always alert in case she was in dire need of his help, his hand on his gunblade. Running away, she gives a final ditch attempt at getting away, kicking the giant monster and slashing its muzzle rolling out of the way. It roars and brings down its claws in a downwards slash, which catches her ankle as she rolls away. Wincing in pain, she instinctively stabs it in the forehead and it roars, falling heavily to their floor. It dies right before her. She frowns, that was the first time she had killed something, or so she remembered anyway. Exiting the training centre, she hides the limp as best she could and heads to her room. Squall watches curiously. The cut had looked pretty deep, and was bleeding pretty badly, but unlike the others who had come in and had shallower cuts than that and cried, she had covered it up and left.
Strange.
Her trousers were soaking up the blood, and without any clothes, she had nothing to change into. She was only sixteen, so she couldn't drive, and didn't at all fancy the journey back to Balamb by foot to some clothes with what little money she had. Squall frowns at the trail of blood she had left as she binds her wounds with the bottom of her trousers, but he couldn't go to her aid in case someone got into trouble and he wasn't there to help. Finding nothing to use in her room, she ignores the pain and groans inwardly. She wouldn't be doing that again in a while. Heading to the cafeteria, she buys a plate of chips and sits at a table on her own. She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing here, no idea what she could do, didn't know if she would be capable to follow orders. She didn't know anyone at all, and was too afraid to put herself out to ask to join a group. Too afraid of rejection, she takes the safe -if lonely- road. Sighing, she lowers her gaze to her food, becoming oblivious to the world around her. She doesn't notice someone walk up to her until a bright yellow dress catches the corner of her eyes.
"I'm so screwed." She mutters quietly to herself.
"Huh?" A perky voice cuts through her thoughts.
Startled, she looks up, finally taking in the bouncy yellow blob.
"What? Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Selphie. Who are you?"
"I'm Gem."
"You look kinda lonely."
"..."
Selphie sits down beside her, placing her own plate of chips on the table. She smiles, her hair flipped up at the ends, and her light hearted attitude and appearance relaxing her and coaxing her into being friendly and conversational.
"Your ankle is bleeding you know." She says offhandedly.
"It is."
"The cafeteria people probably won't be happy."
"I'll go then..."
Gem rises, only for Selphie to grab her hand.
"Nah, they'll be fine. You should still go to the infirmary though. How did you do it?"
"Training."
"Yeah? What against?"
She shrugs
"I'd never fought before, it was only minor."
"Hmm. Squall is looking over the training centre. You should've been helped. Oh well. I'm sure he had a legitimate reason."
"I fought really badly though. Daggers against big dinosaurs isn't particularly smart I guess, but I didn't know what level monsters were in there."
"A T-Rexaur!"
"A what?"
"Didja kill it?"
"Yes..."
"And you're sure that you've never fought before?"
"Yeah..."
"Hm. You started pretty big. So you took it on huh?"
"Not really. It came at me and I ran. Ran like hell." She smiles a little.
"Smart move" Selphie nods, also smiling.
"But...I only managed to kill it because it was gaining, and about to eat me. I hit out and well...it just fell. All dead like..."
She shudders and looks away. Selphie looks sympathetic.
"Don't worry. You'll get over it. If it didn't kill you, it could end up killing someone else. You did what you had to."
Gem nods and then sighs.
"What's up?" Selphie asks.
"I just don't know what's gong to happen." Gem replies. "I don't know where to go or how to get there. I don't even have any stuff."
She sighs again, and the brown haired girl looks surprised and concerned.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Well, come on, let's get you some!"
"But..."
Gem tries to protest, but Selphie interrupts her.
"Don't worry. It's on me. We'll take a garden car.
"Are we allowed?"
"Yeah, of course. As long as we're careful."
The two girls finish their food quickly and Selphie takes Gem firstly to the infirmary, where Garden's kind doctor uses a potion on her leg to heal it. It still stung, but had stopped bleeding. Next she takes her to the underground car park. Getting into a relatively cool car, they soon find themselves in Balamb. Dragging Gem through shop after shop, the clothes that the shorter girl buys, mildly surprises the hyperactive female. Some black leather trousers and numerous belts fill a few bags, as well as more casual jeans and t-shirts. Most of her clothes were black, but some were green or blue. Also filling a bag is a few SeeD uniforms and SeeD candidate as well. A few hours later, the pair are laden with bags, which fill the boot of the car. Driving back to garden, the two sit in comfortable silence.
"What's happening tomorrow?" She asks.
"Well, your lessons will start, and I have a mission."
"You're SeeD?"
"Yup."
"For real?"
"Yea. I was one of the ones who...saved the world from Ultimecia..."
"Wow! So you're like a hero! But you seem so carefree!"
Selphie smiles. "I'm the optimist. I like to blow things up." She chuckles.
"Thank you so much." Gem says.
"It was nothing. Don't worry about it. We're here."
The two get out of the car and Selphie helps to carry the bags to Gem's room.
"Wow. It's so empty." Selphie exclaims.
"I know. That's why I wasn't in here."
They dump their stuff and return to the cafeteria to get some more food. On the way, they see a bland male bolt past them, speeding into the cafeteria before them. Stepping in after him, his voice reaches their ears, a slight whine in his voice.
"Awww man! They're gone again! No more hotdogs!"
Selphie giggles and drags Gem over as she goes to greet the male. His blue eyes were sparkling with joviality, and his hair was gelled up at the front, a totally unique hairstyle. A large tribal tattoo spread over one half of his face, and his face shifts immediately at the sight of his friend.
"That's like the millionth time! Oh, hi Selphie!"
The two hug and then Selphie pushes Gem before him.
"This is Gem."
"Um...err...hi?" Her uncomfortableness is obvious, and she lowers her gaze to the floor embarrassedly.
"Hey! I'm Zell. Nice to meet you." Hew extends a hand, and she shakes it. He has a surprisingly strong grip.
"Zell? Dincht? I met your mom. She said to say 'hi' and to pop around when you have some free time."
"Cool! You met my ma? Thanks for the message."
"Do you know when your lessons are?" Selphie asks.
"No. I don't know anything." Gem replies.
"Go to the second floor tomorrow at nine in the morning and you'll get your timetables. I think you're allowed to pick your own lessons, as long as they aren't stupid."
"Cool. Thank you."
"Anytime. Well, bye!"
Zell leaves and the two buy a plate of chips between them.
"I bet classes suck."
"Yeah. But it's really handy to know what they teach you. It's all relevant. Even the history and stuff. You never know when you'll find a need for the stuff that you can learn. You know?"
"Yea...I guess we probably won't meet up again in a while. With you going on missions, and my working, that won't leave much free time, let alone time when we're both free at the same time. Not that it matters, it won't take long to get over being alone. So loneliness isn't going to be an issue." Gem mutters, downcast.
"What?"
"I won't care about being alone."
"You won't be alone. I'm sure you'll be able to make lots of friends your age." Selphie assures her.
She snorts, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah. Helps if I know how old I am."
"What do you mean?"
"I fell off a waterfall, and lost my memory. I don't know who I was /then, all I know is /now/."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. Don't worry. I've dealt with it, though it does get bad when people make fun. Then...then I'm not so pretty." She shrugs.
"Anger troubles?"
"Yes, but only over certain things. There are a few giveaways when I'm about to hurt someone, but I guess that doesn't really matter."
"Oh."
"I'd better go. Sort out my stuff and gets some rest and stuff."
Gem finishes her final chip and raises into an upright position. Giving a half wave to Selphie, she turns to leave.
"See you some other time."
"Bye."
Gem leaves the cafeteria, and her new friend, and heads to her dorm. It doesn't take her long to finish unpacking and soon her head is resting on the pillow of her rather uncomfortable SeeD candidate standard bed. She had to share a room, but it seemed that she was late. Falling into a fitful sleep, her first night in Garden wasn't as pleasant as she'd hoped.
I hope you like the story, it is the first one I have ever done on and I doubt it'll be the last. Please. R&R.
