J u l i a
Chapter Three
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W h a t ' s Y o u r R e a l i t y ?
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The night sky was shimmering and sparkling brightly with the moon, stars and the soft, ethereal glow coming from Balamb Garden. It hummed lightly as it glided across the dark ocean beneath, casting its ghostly image upon its surface.
Up high, over the waves and past the slow turning of the rings that mysteriously kept the Garden afloat, and onto a wide balcony, stood a lone, dark figure. His cropped hair swayed and lifting gently as a salty seabreeze blew by. His cool, gray eyes swam with the light from the full moon above and narrowed slightly as another breeze passed over him.
Squall closed his eyes and spread his arms out wide. From a distance, it might have appeared as if he were going to jump off the balcony, falling to his death, into the ocean. But no, that's not it at all. Every night, since his talk with the Garden's doctor, he came out of his room and into Secret Area of the Balamb's Training Center. Usually there were other students there as well, mostly lovers, but none ever paid any attention to him as he walked by and vice versa. But tonight, there was no one. Just him and his gunblade, Lion Heart. There were always various kinds of monsters getting in his way before he got here, but they were no match for him as he took them down easily.
Here, on the balcony of the Secret Area, which really was no secret at all, he would just stand there and think. Only the quiet murmur of the Garden's engine and the soft crashing of waves beneath disturbed and kept his reality in check. Or . . . what he was beginning to think was his reality.
It seemed everyday, every waking moment, new memories of this life rushed in and filled his head. Then after would come the terrible migranes that pounded and screamed in his ears. As each day passed, the man known in another world as "Leon" faded away--as well as his memories of Hollow Bastion. His home and his family.
Though he could only vaguely remember the reason why he always came here. He only knew that he had to remember something . . . or someone. Everytime he tried to grasp a memory or image of someone it would quickly vanish and then he would be standing there wondering what the hell he was trying to recall. Every once in a while, the image of a beautiful, smiling girl flashed before his eyes and in a soft voice she would say his name, calling out to him. She always told him to "come back" or "come home."
But wasn't he already home? The girl was familiar to him and her name was always at the tip of his tongue, but like all his other memories it slipped him by. Who was this girl? Was she anything to him at all? If so, then what role did she play in the life that he so tried to remember each coming day?
The poor guy was so deep in thought that he didn't hear the sound of foot steps coming up behind him until a person's deep voice reverbated softly to his ears.
"Hey. What are you doing here?"
Squall slowly let his arms fall back to his sides before calmly turning to face the new comer. His stormy eyes meet those of deep blue with a tiny hint of amethyst. It was Irvine. He stood just a few feet away, shouldering his rifle Exeter, decked out in his usual cowboy attire.
"I could ask the same of you, Kinneas," Squall said with a raise of his brow. "Running another errand for Rin . . . again?"
"She's onl--" Irvine began, but was quickly cut off by Squall.
"Only worried about me. Yes, I know that. And she doesn't have to be," he replied with slight irritation. "None of you do," he added softly.
Silence was exchanged between the two before Irvine, once again, broke it.
"Squall, I know you're not one for words, but for once, could you please confide in someone other than yourself?" The cowboy asked with a hint of sadness coming into his eyes. "It's kinda depressing, ya know? Always mopping around, keeping things inside like you do."
Having turned his back on his friend and now leaning on the railing, Squall smirked lightly.
"She used to say that. The little brat . . . ," he whispered to himself.
Maybe it was the silence on the balcony, or something, because Irvine stared at his friend quizzically before asking:
"Who? What little brat?"
"Yuffie . . . ," he said.
Her name had passed through his lips before he even knew it and his eyes widened in surprise once it did.
The girl's face that kept appearing to him. The voice. It was hers! That name. Yuffie . . . .
A weird sensation suddenly creeped up on him and Squall doubled over and vomited. His head began to throb painfully and his vision blurred to where he couldn't place where he stood and ended up falling over. He heard someone call out his name as his world became black.
I never sang my songs
On the stage, on my ownI never said my wordsWishing they would be heardThose words are what he woke up too; someone singing them in a familiar melody. A soothingly, beautiful voice.I saw you smiling at me
Was it real or just my fantasyYou'd always be there in the cornerOf this tiny little barWho . . . ? He thought, his eyes fluttering open. His gaze landed on a middle-aged man with long, graying, black hair sleeping in a chair peacefully beside him. His hair was pulled back in a low ponytail that rested at the nape of his neck. He wore casual looking clothes and a couple of old, silver dogtags hanging from around his neck. His features really didn't look that old, just a few laugh lines around his mouth and squint lines on the sides of his eyes. The only thing that betrayed his old age was his hair. Obviously, this wasn't the person singing the nice song as it continued on the other side of him.So let me come to you
Close as I want to beClose enough for meTo feel your heart beating fa--It was cut off suddenly as the voice that had been singing it exclaimed, "Oh! You're awake!"His eyes wandered over and up to a dark-eyed woman. She was young and fairly beautiful with short, chin length, brown hair and wide, brown eyes. She was wearing a light blue, sleeveless top and a long, pale skirt. The green shaw, which was held loosely by her lithe arms, finished off her outfit nicely, giving her a laid back and casual look.
Squall was a bit disappointed that she didn't finish the song, but didn't press her to do so. He watched her walk around the bed he was lying on and tap the sleeping man lightly on the head.
"Uncle! Uncle 'Guna!" She whispered loudly in a cheerful voice.
The man mumbled something incoherently under his breath while swatting her hand away. The woman sighed and smiled at Squall before trying once again to wake the man.
"Uncle 'Guna! Wake up!" She said, this time in a normal tone of voice. But while she did this, she began to tickle the man's sides. The man, whom the woman called "Guna," coughed before waking into a fit of deep laughter.
Squall looked on at the two with raised eyebrows, thinking them both clinicly insane people.
Finally, after several moments of catching his breath, the man blinked his eyes open and stared up at the woman sternly. Or what he thought to be a stern stare. From Squall's point of view, the man just looked ridiculous with his narrowed eyes and goofy smile.
"Elle! That was uncalled for. Why couldn't you have woken me up in a normal fashion?" He asked while poking the woman lightly in the side, making her jump back and turn away with a squeal.
"Well, I did. Or should I say 'tried'! But you must've been snoring too loudly to hear me," she retorted lightly, playfully sticking her tongue out at the man before her.
The man snorted lightly, grumbling under his breath. "I don't snore . . . ," he mumbled out. He then turned to Squall with smiling, aqua colored eyes.
At this, Squall narrowed his eyes slightly at the man, muttering, "Who are you?"
A sharp intake of breath brought his eyes onto the woman, who held a hand over her mouth in shock. When he returned his gaze back to the man beside him, he found him looking at him incredulously. All play and cheerfulness was gone from his eyes as he stared down at the young man before him.
"Squall? What do you mean 'Who are you'? I'm . . . I'm you father," said the man. From the horrified expression that suddenly turned up on the young man's face, did the older man realize it was a mistake saying so.
Squall began to hyperventilate, his mouth forming the word "no" as he covered his face with his hands.
The man tried his best to calm his son down, but was shoved aside roughly.
"Ellone! Get Kadowaki in here! Hurry!" He yelled out to the woman, whose eyes were wide and tearful. She nodded her head frantically and rushed out of the small room to get the doctor.
Yuffie had no clue as to what was happening and knew she'd only get in the way of Aerith if she tried helping, so she just stood by watching helplessly.
Why is this happening to him!? She thought fearfully. None of this is fair! He doesn't deserve this!
Yuffie climbed on top his massive bed and grabbed hold on his hand, squeezing it gently.
When she heard him inhale, she became happy, thinking that her friend was finally waking up. But she was dead wrong. She didn't know that his condition was worsening and that he was slowly dying before her very eyes. Her hold on his hand tightened as she leaned over whispering over and over for him to please get better into his ear.
While in his room alone, Yuffie did this often, whispering in his ear to get better and come back home. Even though she knew that he couldn't hear her, she just all of the sudden started talking to him as if he were awake and listening to her endless chatter. It just proved that she cared about her friend deeply, even if she didn't take notice to it right away.
Yuffie couldn't believe this was happening to him. He was a lion. Fierce, proud, strong and invincible. That's how she saw him in her eyes. She just couldn't imagine something like this happening to him and yet here he was, practically killing himself with mental trauma.
Though all of this scared the shit out of her, she was pissed at this man whom she always thought highly of since early childhood.
Where was the lion now? Where has he disappeared off to?
During all of this, Aerith managed to finally calm him down and got him to breath normally once again. Or as normally as he was breathing in his comatose state, which he practically wasn't. If you were standing from the doorway, you would think he was dead by his stillness, but if you got close enough, you could see his chest raising with every intake of air slightly.
Yuffie smiled and let out a rush of air from her lungs that she hadn't known to be holding. For a moment, she thought that she was going to lose him, but soon her confidence in him came back. She just knew he was going to get better soon. How? She didn't know. A gut feeling perhaps?
The ninja turned her gaze over to Aerith and found her leaning wearily against the wall.
Must've over done the spell casting again, the girl thought, feeling a small tinge of sympathy for the young woman.
"You should go rest a while, Aerith. You don't look too good," Yuffie said, eyeing the woman worriedly.
The woman lifted an arm to wave the girl off, but found she was too exhausted and let it drop back down to her side. Aerith gave Yuffie a small smile of gratitude and a nod.
"I think I'll do just that, Yuffie," she replied. She stood upright and wavered on her feet for a bit before regaining some strength and her balance and walked towards the door. When she got there she hesitated and then turned to Yuffie with a worried expression.
"Maybe I should st--"
"Go," Yuffie said firmly. Then grinning widely, she said, "I'll take care of him, Aerith! Don't worry!" The grin turned into a smirk, "Why don't you have Cloud give you a nice massage, eh?"
At this, the Flower Girl's face glowed bright red and she glared at the snickering shinobe over her shoulder before stomping out the door.
"Heh heh heh."
After her friend left, Yuffie lied herself down next to Leon. She propped herself up on her elbows and studied his handsome features. She then reached over and brushed a lock of his hair out of his eyes before reaching down to grab the hand she had been holding earlier.
"Come home soon, Squall. It's not the same without you around here," she whispered, letting her eyes close in sleep.
Little did the ninja know, a pair of sad, emerald eyes watched her from the open doorway.
Soon, Yuffie, the Flower Girl thought. You'll go to him soon.
She reached forward and quietly closed the door with a soft click before heading to her own room to rest.
Laguna held Ellone's body close to his own as Doctor Kadowaki examined his son.
She sighed loudly and turned to leave, but not before being stopped by a firm hand.
Laguna looked at the aging woman with sad, almost pleading eyes. "What's wrong with him?" He asked softly.
The older woman shook her head sadly, before motioning for him to follow her.
"Let's not discuss this here, Mister President. If you would, please follow me to my office," she replied gently.
Laguna nodded his head and moved to follow but was stopped by Ellone, whose feet didn't seem to want to move.
The doctor left the two alone with a look of understanding and waited for the man to come when he wanted.
"What's the matter, Elle?" He asked, putting a hand on top the young woman's head.
"It's nothing, Uncle. I just want to stay here with Squall a bit longer. You can tell me what the doctor says later, alright?" She replied softly with a small smile. Her eyes appeared to be bright with tears.
Laguna smiled down at her and turned to leave, ruffling Ellone's short hair awry like he always did when she was little. She laughed lightly and swatted his hand away before reaching up to set her hair right again.
"I hate when you do that, 'Guna," Ellone said with a pout.
Laguna only made a silly face at her before turning to leave the room.
"Watch over him for me, Elle," he said softly, exiting out the door.
"Of course," she whispered to herself, knowing he didn't hear her.
She then turned to the sleeping boy on the nearby cot and sat on the edge of it beside him. She knew she could easily find out what was wrong with him by reaching into his mind with her powers, but decided against it. She didn't want to do such a thing without his consent; it would be mind rape.
My dear little brother, she thought sadly. What happened to you?
She bent herself over his form and lightly pressed her lips to his forehead. Pulling away, Ellone sat there, just keeping the boy company, while gently brushing his hair back in a motherly fashion.
Her last thoughts: I won't leave you all alone again. This time I'll be here for you.
"Well, Mister President, I don't know where to start," she said, her voice soft and sorrowful.
"Can't you just tell me what's wrong with him?" The Esthar President, Laguna asked, furrowing his brows.
The doctor shook her, "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Sir. Squall has . . . not been his self these past two weeks. It's kind of like when he was trap in the Time Compression. He didn't know where to go. He became lost and then slowly started to loose his memories. It was a good thing Rinoa got to him before he was lost to us completely. He would have been trapped there forever."
"Yeah, I got that down, Doc," Laguna replied with a wave of his hand. "But what does this have to do with his condition?"
"I'm not quite sure as of yet. I do know that he lost some of his vital memories. So far, he seems to remember his childhood friends, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, Irvine and even Rinoa," she said. Then at the man's hopeful look, she continued, "But all of these memories he has now are of those that happened way before the battle against Ultimecia."
Laguna looked chestfalled and woman across couldn't help but give the man a look of sympathy.
"So . . . he wouldn't remember me then or Elle," he mumbled sadly.
"There's more," she continued. "Squall seems to be carrying memories of another lifetime, or world. When I talked to him the week before, he told me of this life he had in a place he called "Hollow Bastion." I wrote most of what he told me down, if you'd like to have a look at them." She seemed to reach down for something and then came up with a worn, brown portfolio in her hands. She opened it and shifted through the papers it contained before pulling out and handing him a small stack of paper bound together by a paperclip.
As soon as the papers were in his hands, he began to read over the hasty, yet neatly written passages carefully. His eyes widened and he turned his gaze back to the woman across him.
"Good Hyne!" He exclaimed incredulously. "Twenty-six!? But Squall's only eighteen, Kadowaki!!"
"Yes, I know. In my years as a doctor, here at Balamb, I've never seen any of the other kids come down with something like this. It's very . . . unusual," she stated with a calm air.
"And he all thinks this is some kind of dream? This is all really weird!" He sighed with a slight grimace.
The woman sighed wearily, saying, "I think it might be best, if you took him to Esthar, Mister President. He could get better treatment there than he can here. As much as I'd like Squall to recover, I'm afraid I can't give him what he needs. I'll inform Cid about all this. I'm sure he'll understand."
The aging President of the Estharian Nation sighed remorsefully before nodding his head in silent agreement.
Squall's not going to like this. He never really liked Esthar City very much, he thought with a slight cringe. I'll have to keep him away from that crazy bastard Odine.
Laguna slowly made his way back to the room Squall was in and as he drew closer, he heard Ellone's voice singing once again in that sweet melody of hers.
Darling, so there you are
With that look on your faceAs if you're never hurtAs if you're never downHe closed his eyes against oncoming tears as the image of a beautiful, long-haired brunette came wavering into his mind.Shall I be the one for you
Who pinches you softly but sureIf frown is shown thenI will know that you are no dreamerHyne, I wish you were here, Raine. You'd know how to deal with this, he thought. A small chuckle escape through his lips and a corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile. Little Elle's all grown up now and she sings your favorite song beautifully.Laguna didn't bother entering his son's room just yet, having come too overwhelmed with emotions. He instead pulled a chair up to sit on and listened to the song filtering through the door.
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"Are you sure about this, Aerith? She's going to be really pissed off when she wakes up," Cloud muttered to his Flower Girl.
The two were walking silently to Leon's room from the dinning room after they had eaten. Both stumbling occasionally as they silently tread their way with in the dark passage. Cloud sighed with a bit a frustration and seemed to whimper at the woman before him, whose grip on his wrist tugged at him to follow her relentlessly.
"Yes, Cloud, I know that!" She whispered harshly under her breath. Then giggling lightly to herself, "And don't be such a baby!"
The spikey haired man stopped suddenly, making the young woman jerk back in surprise and yelp as she flew face first into his chest. The hallway was pretty dark and didn't have nearly enough light to see where they were going, but Aerith caught the glint in Cloud's glowing blue eyes as she looked up.
Though she couldn't make out the rest of his face in the dark, she knew he was smirking down at her.
"You know, Aerith," he whispered huskily, his breath caressing her face gently, "I kind of like having you in my arms this way."
Aerith became flustered and began to squirm in the man's arms. The blond's smirk grew into a grin and then he began to chuckle at the woman's discomfort. Moments later, though relunctant to do so, as he began to feel a bit sorry for the woman in his arms, he released her.
Aerith bristled and punched his arm with a scowl.
"Cloud Strife! Don't ever do that to me again," she seethed quietly under her breath.
The young man grunted in reply while absently rubbing his arm where the little vixen had hit him.
Aerith may appear frail on the outside, but damn . . . , he thought with a wince.
"OK, Aerith. I'm sorry," he sighed. "You have one hell of a fist. You made of iron or something?"
The woman eyes twinkled deviously before replying, "Care to find out?"
Unlike Aerith, Cloud could see just fine in the dark and caught the mysterious glimmer in her emerald eyes.
". . . Depends . . . ," he said with a bit of caution, then smiled widely. "You won't hurt me too badly, will you?"
She flushed and began to stammer, "U-um . . . I . . . I--Arrgh! Cloud!"
Just for that remark, he received another punch on his arm. He grimaced when he realized it was in the same spot where she hit him before.
"Now come on. We have to get this done before she wakes up!" she said, turning on her heals and storming the rest of the way to Leon's room.
A golden brow lifted at her reaction. Is she mad? He thought, continuing to follow the pink clad woman.
Once he had caught up to her, he wrapped his strong arms around her body, hugging her close to his warmth. He kissed the top of her head while apologizing.
The Flower Girl leaned back into his arms and giggled lightly. "What? You think I'm angry at you?"
"Well . . . yeah," he replied softly.
"You silly! Well, embarrassed maybe, but not angry," she said. She patted his arms gently before stepping out of his warm embrace. "Now let's get this done before it's too late."
Cloud smiled inwardily to his self, happy that his little Flower Girl wasn't mad him, before turning serious at the matter at hand.
For the past two weeks, Aerith had been preparing a new spell that would hopefully bring their friend Leon back. But she couldn't cast the spell alone, so to help, Cloud volunteered to offer her his support and energy as she cast the spell onto the comatose man and the young shinobe.
Well, what did Yuffie have to do with any of this?
Through her subconscious, Aerith and Cloud are going to try and send Yuffie into the Leon's mind. Since Yuffie cared for Leon and was closer to him than anyone else, they both knew that the ninja would fulfill and get things done. If she could some how convince Leon--where ever he was--to come back to the real world, then Aerith can resurrect the man from the castle. They knew it was going to be hard on the young girl, but knew that she was the only one in the castle able to do it.
So now, Squall Leonhart's fate now rested within the hands of Yuffie Kisaragi.
Whether the man decides to come back of his own will or not, is up to him however.
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A u t h o r ' s N o t e s
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To those that have already read this before! I moved all my character notes of the FF8 characters and stuff to a different page that can now be found at:
http://ff8.amekaze.net/.
I also uploaded some images, so that you know what the characters look like. So if you're one of those people that are confused by the story, then please go there to find some helpful info. Sorry for not posting a new chapter! I'll make up for that real soon! I re-read the chapters and found that there were some major grammatical errors that I had overlooked and so I went back to edit and then re-posted them. Again, I'm sorry! Like I said, I'll make it up to you. Maybe even extend the next chapter a few pages more? How's that sound? Anyway, please review and thanks for reading....again.
- - N a t s u
Thanks to these amesome people that reviewed or left a comment for Chapter Two:
SunMoon,EarthSky, Deplora, Yuleen75, Emrelle Elendal, ZTX, immortalbreeze04 and October Breeze! Thank you!!
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D i s c l a i m e r s a n d C o p y r i g h t s
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Julia the piano score NOT the story, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy characters, settings and anything/everything, EXCEPT FOR the plot and storyline of THIS PARTICULAR STORY/FANFICTION TITLED 'JULIA', is and copyrighted to their respectful owners of Squaresoft, Square-Enix, Nobou Uematsu, Disney and any other who have any rightful claim. Original characters, that may come into play, settings, plot, storyline and this story/fanfiction is copyright and claimed by J.Watson aka Natsu/Natsumi.
