Author's Notes: Nice long chapter. I typed it out and it was like, only 700
words long. And I'm like... WHA? And I had told myself that starting with
this chapter, I was going to make longer chapters of at least a thousand
words. So I had to add... Most of those details about Rhiale's family is
added. I was glad when I broke 1000 words. So this chapter is 1067 in
length excluding this up here. And Today I am dedicating my chapter to
Firefly-Dreams, for not only was she the second to review the end of the
last story and one of the most often to review, but she was the first to
have a signed review of this story, PLUS she put me on her favorite
author's list! YAY! Okay... Like I said, chapter of at least 1000 words,
though the next one is very long and not even finished yet, probably only
half way and is already over 1111 words. But I lost the last page, left it
in another notebook, so don't expect a new update until after June 11, the
last day of school for me. That is all I have to say for this.
Firefly-Dreams: Thanks for the trophy hun. Squall and Seifer... I mean Darus and Valen will be involved big in the next chapter. Didn't I promise in Curse of the Mercale that I'd add Chapters 19, 20, epilogue, prologue for this and chapter 1 for this all at the same time? I kept such promise. Nida will not stop existing until I decide to kill him off, and until then he's gonna be MAJORLY important... I just haven't mentioned his wife or his twins yet... but hey... I DIDN'T just say that, okay? The whole what SeeDs wore was something I needed to make more words in the chapter. I already had Selphie as the SeeD commander and decided she'd make SURE she wore yellow. The violet was for Irvine. And you won't understand the whole sorceress thing till later. I've got a plot bunny in there I wasn't even expecting until I was working on chapter three today. Well... You'll see. Wow... I've almost written as much to you as I did in my Author's Notes Alone!
Chapter 2: Rhiale
It was going to be a busy day. People from Gardens like Trabia had to be checked out to see if they were what we needed for the mission, this being one that was not only for becoming SeeDs, but to help the world. All day I'd been interviewing candidates. Just now I saw two more gothic freaks who claimed to be hackers and thieves, well... If two more like them came in, I'd go crazy. Annoyed, I couldn't help but look at my schedule and smile at the name of my next person to interview.
"Sir?" the soft, but happy voice of the female asked as she stepped in.
"Close the door and sit down," I instructed her.
As soon as the door was closed, she leaned across the desk to hug me, "My my Reyn, you've really grown!"
"You too Rhiale," I chuckled, "How are the folks treating you?"
"As good as could be expected. Though they run Trabia Garden, they still find time for us kids. Dad's happy because Kyle can finally shoot as good as him. Mom's going crazy over Lance's new girlfriend because they are talking about marriage... Both are proud of Ward because he's made SeeD level 15 at Galbidia Garden... And Jason, you know him... Mom and Dad get so little sleep now that Jason has finally gotten a boyfriend and comes back to his dorm after curfew. But since he's part of the DC in Galbidia no one will stop him. Shoot, Raijin and Fujin laugh about it, saying Jason and his guy are a lot like Squall and Seifer. But as for Drew... Well...."
Of course I chuckled at the antics of my extended family as of late. Rhiale was the youngest and only daughter of the large family. Like her mother she had soft brown hair, but hers was longer than Selphie's and in a braid. The sixteen year old had emerald eyes, and was happy and hyper like Selphie was when I was a kid. Unlike her mother, she dressed, could I say, more appropriately. She used her mother's old Strange Vision nunchaku, but dressed in tight black pants and shirts when out of Garden Uniform, it suited her hacker self, and even her dabbling in basic thief skills.
Rhiale was the only girl other than her mom in that family of men. Irvine was Headmaster at Trabia and Selphie, after showing her actual tactical genius, was SeeD commander. Ward was the middle at 18, born a month after me and named for a man I never knew. He wasn't as slender as the rest of the family, but managed to use his father's eyes and his short ruffled hair to get girls. Jason was Ward's twin, younger by an hour, though he was slim and a killer swordsman, and always worrying his family. He'd recently started to explore his power and sexuality, giving his parents nightmares. Kyle, at 17, was the youngest son, and a mirror image of his father, down to the clothes and weapons. He also had about just as much luck with females, but stayed with his family in Trabia where the others all went elsewhere for their chances in Gardens. The oldest and favorite son was Lance at 22, that being because he was out of the house, and still in touch. He looked like his mother, her eyes, smile, and hair color, though it was spiked. Of the boys, he believed the most in love, and worked now with his fiancé as a guidance counselor in Trabia Garden. Always expected him to settle down, I'd recently told Aunt Selphie when she'd last called about a week ago. But then again, she'd wanted to talk more of Rhiale's latest boyfriend that no one was fond of. That boy was going to have some trouble seeing as no one messed with Rhiale without having to deal with everyone in her family... Well... Almost everyone.
There was Drew, and he wasn't like the others. It didn't surprise me because he was adopted. The twenty-year old had dark brown hair unlike the rest of the family's yet like my mother's and gray-blue eyes as well. Yet he had added burgundy and blood red highlights to it. I'd only ever spoken to him once. He was as stoic as mom was when he talked to ambassadors and stuff back when he was president. When Rhiale left him out of her comments, she meant the man was missing as usual. In truth, the other gunblade user hid here in Esthar with his Black Knights, and we dueled often enough.
"What you thinking about?" Rhiale questioned me.
"How much trouble your boyfriend is gonna be in if he is ever alone with any of your brothers," I chuckled before taking a serious tone, "You're a bit to young for this, and your parents would kill me if you got hurt."
"We've worked together on missions before. Don't say I'm not capable. And you know my parents have heard from Nida and yourself as to what is going on. We know Garden has hired a Merc with gunblade skills..."
"Now listen, let up. We're doing what we have to do, and if I can avoid using you, I will. I've gotta use Drew, I need his skill. We have no clue what is going on in there, and that is a bad thing. It's why we are trying so hard to get the information!"
"I can do it! I know I can Reyn! Shoot, I've already broken into the records room here."
That was impressive because the latest Estharian technology was used to keep that room safe.
"I don't believe you."
She pulled a file from under the coat she'd had over her arm, "Reyn Almasy. Mother: Rinoa Heartily. Father: Squall Leonheart-Loire and Seifer Almasy-Leonheart. Age: 18. Blood Type: O.... I could go on to height and weight, but I've found something more interesting. You have an incident with GFs when you were young. You seem to have a problem with junctioning, because it seems they weaken rather than strengthen you...."
"RHIALE!" I growled as I lunged across my desk to grab my personal file, "Fine... You can come on the mission... But I swear... If you mess with Drew, I'll abort the mission so fast your head will spin!"
Firefly-Dreams: Thanks for the trophy hun. Squall and Seifer... I mean Darus and Valen will be involved big in the next chapter. Didn't I promise in Curse of the Mercale that I'd add Chapters 19, 20, epilogue, prologue for this and chapter 1 for this all at the same time? I kept such promise. Nida will not stop existing until I decide to kill him off, and until then he's gonna be MAJORLY important... I just haven't mentioned his wife or his twins yet... but hey... I DIDN'T just say that, okay? The whole what SeeDs wore was something I needed to make more words in the chapter. I already had Selphie as the SeeD commander and decided she'd make SURE she wore yellow. The violet was for Irvine. And you won't understand the whole sorceress thing till later. I've got a plot bunny in there I wasn't even expecting until I was working on chapter three today. Well... You'll see. Wow... I've almost written as much to you as I did in my Author's Notes Alone!
Chapter 2: Rhiale
It was going to be a busy day. People from Gardens like Trabia had to be checked out to see if they were what we needed for the mission, this being one that was not only for becoming SeeDs, but to help the world. All day I'd been interviewing candidates. Just now I saw two more gothic freaks who claimed to be hackers and thieves, well... If two more like them came in, I'd go crazy. Annoyed, I couldn't help but look at my schedule and smile at the name of my next person to interview.
"Sir?" the soft, but happy voice of the female asked as she stepped in.
"Close the door and sit down," I instructed her.
As soon as the door was closed, she leaned across the desk to hug me, "My my Reyn, you've really grown!"
"You too Rhiale," I chuckled, "How are the folks treating you?"
"As good as could be expected. Though they run Trabia Garden, they still find time for us kids. Dad's happy because Kyle can finally shoot as good as him. Mom's going crazy over Lance's new girlfriend because they are talking about marriage... Both are proud of Ward because he's made SeeD level 15 at Galbidia Garden... And Jason, you know him... Mom and Dad get so little sleep now that Jason has finally gotten a boyfriend and comes back to his dorm after curfew. But since he's part of the DC in Galbidia no one will stop him. Shoot, Raijin and Fujin laugh about it, saying Jason and his guy are a lot like Squall and Seifer. But as for Drew... Well...."
Of course I chuckled at the antics of my extended family as of late. Rhiale was the youngest and only daughter of the large family. Like her mother she had soft brown hair, but hers was longer than Selphie's and in a braid. The sixteen year old had emerald eyes, and was happy and hyper like Selphie was when I was a kid. Unlike her mother, she dressed, could I say, more appropriately. She used her mother's old Strange Vision nunchaku, but dressed in tight black pants and shirts when out of Garden Uniform, it suited her hacker self, and even her dabbling in basic thief skills.
Rhiale was the only girl other than her mom in that family of men. Irvine was Headmaster at Trabia and Selphie, after showing her actual tactical genius, was SeeD commander. Ward was the middle at 18, born a month after me and named for a man I never knew. He wasn't as slender as the rest of the family, but managed to use his father's eyes and his short ruffled hair to get girls. Jason was Ward's twin, younger by an hour, though he was slim and a killer swordsman, and always worrying his family. He'd recently started to explore his power and sexuality, giving his parents nightmares. Kyle, at 17, was the youngest son, and a mirror image of his father, down to the clothes and weapons. He also had about just as much luck with females, but stayed with his family in Trabia where the others all went elsewhere for their chances in Gardens. The oldest and favorite son was Lance at 22, that being because he was out of the house, and still in touch. He looked like his mother, her eyes, smile, and hair color, though it was spiked. Of the boys, he believed the most in love, and worked now with his fiancé as a guidance counselor in Trabia Garden. Always expected him to settle down, I'd recently told Aunt Selphie when she'd last called about a week ago. But then again, she'd wanted to talk more of Rhiale's latest boyfriend that no one was fond of. That boy was going to have some trouble seeing as no one messed with Rhiale without having to deal with everyone in her family... Well... Almost everyone.
There was Drew, and he wasn't like the others. It didn't surprise me because he was adopted. The twenty-year old had dark brown hair unlike the rest of the family's yet like my mother's and gray-blue eyes as well. Yet he had added burgundy and blood red highlights to it. I'd only ever spoken to him once. He was as stoic as mom was when he talked to ambassadors and stuff back when he was president. When Rhiale left him out of her comments, she meant the man was missing as usual. In truth, the other gunblade user hid here in Esthar with his Black Knights, and we dueled often enough.
"What you thinking about?" Rhiale questioned me.
"How much trouble your boyfriend is gonna be in if he is ever alone with any of your brothers," I chuckled before taking a serious tone, "You're a bit to young for this, and your parents would kill me if you got hurt."
"We've worked together on missions before. Don't say I'm not capable. And you know my parents have heard from Nida and yourself as to what is going on. We know Garden has hired a Merc with gunblade skills..."
"Now listen, let up. We're doing what we have to do, and if I can avoid using you, I will. I've gotta use Drew, I need his skill. We have no clue what is going on in there, and that is a bad thing. It's why we are trying so hard to get the information!"
"I can do it! I know I can Reyn! Shoot, I've already broken into the records room here."
That was impressive because the latest Estharian technology was used to keep that room safe.
"I don't believe you."
She pulled a file from under the coat she'd had over her arm, "Reyn Almasy. Mother: Rinoa Heartily. Father: Squall Leonheart-Loire and Seifer Almasy-Leonheart. Age: 18. Blood Type: O.... I could go on to height and weight, but I've found something more interesting. You have an incident with GFs when you were young. You seem to have a problem with junctioning, because it seems they weaken rather than strengthen you...."
"RHIALE!" I growled as I lunged across my desk to grab my personal file, "Fine... You can come on the mission... But I swear... If you mess with Drew, I'll abort the mission so fast your head will spin!"