Blossom Hearts-Chapter 3
"I kind of liked it your way
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Did you ever know
That I had mine on you…?" –Faye Wong
The Gummi Ship was amazing. Aerith had saucers for eyes the entire ride through space and watched, flooding her companions with questions as they steered. Soon they arrived at their first destination. Another world. Aerith wondered what kind of people would be here.
The three of them found themselves, after a flash of light, standing by a return portal (which would take them back to the ship) on a smooth concrete ground. They were outside some sort of high tech building; and yet it had a peaceful look, surrounded by a yellow ring that gave off a soft glow, like that of morning sunlight. It was nice, and orderly, and very clean.
"Who are you three? May I have your SeeD number please? The exam starts very soon, you know." A blonde haired, prim looking girl clacked towards them in dark suede boots. Her outfit was a shade of rose darker than Aerith's. She had dark gloves coming all the way to her shoulders that matched the boots, and the zipper to her pink vest was left unzipped, showing a small amount of flat stomach. A fierce looking whip was at her side, and in her hand she held a clipboard.
"I'm Aerith, and this is Sora, and this is Kairi. We...we're not from around here. Actually, we're from another-mphf!"
Kairi had clapped her hand around Aerith's mouth. "No meddling," she hissed into the flower girl's ear. And then, to the tall blonde before them, "We're from a different place. Just transferred."
The blonde held out an arm politely. "Quistis Trepe," she said. "Trabia or Galbadia?"
"Trabia." "Galbadia." Sora and Aerith had given two different answers.
Kairi gave a nervous laugh. "We've transferred a couple times. Galbadia just wasn't the right fit. And Trabia...it got a bit...loud?"
Quistis looked confused. "Up there in those mountains? And without Selphie?" She looked curiously at the three of them for a moment. "Well, back to business. The exam mission is in two hours. You will be put with..." She consulted the clipboard. "Squall Leonhart."
"How do we recognize him?" asked Sora.
Quistis pointed towards the tall building. "He's in the hall. Trust me, you'll know who it is. Has a gunblade. Scar across his forehead. He'll be the one thinking in the corner." With that, she walked away towards other students with her clipboard. "Oh-" she shouted back, "and welcome to Balamb Garden!"
"Huh," said Aerith. "So we're in a place called Balamb. I don't think there are any Thorns here. And I don't see Cloud or Tifa."
"This seems like an unnecessary stop for Riku to make too..." added Kairi.
"Hey, but we just got assigned on this exam! We gotta help out this Squall guy," Sora said. The three of them went inside Balamb Garden.
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"Hey Squall, show me that gunblade! It's awesome!"
"Shut up, Chickenwuss."
"..."
"Got a problem, Puberty Boy? How's the scar on your face doing?"
The dark haired teen lifted his head and looked straight at his opponent. "How's yours?"
Sora, Kairi, and Aerith walked into the hallway and saw the two young men staring each other down.
"They both have scars," said Sora. "And gunblades."
Aerith watched. One teen was tall, wearing a large gray trench coat with a red cross on the side. He was blond, with fiery green eyes. He was saying something to the other person. She didn't think that the blond was Squall. Then Aerith looked at the blond's opponent. He was dressed in a black leather jacket with a chain around his neck, gleaming against the white shirt. His pants were also black, and he wore...a lot of belts. His hair was dark and shiny, stray stands constantly in his face, light eyes pensive. Aerith would have bet money that this was Squall. Because it certainly wasn't the other blond doing flips and punches around the whole lobby area.
"Excuse me," Aerith said, walking between the two teens. She turned to the silent one. "Are you Squall Leonhart?"
Squall nodded, and Aerith gave him a friendly smile. It wasn't returned, but she didn't mind. It had taken Cloud awhile to warm up too. "My friends and I just transferred here, and we've been assigned with you for the exam." She looked back at Sora and Kairi, but they were ignoring her. Instead, she watched in amusement as Sora flicked Kairi on the nose, resulting in a flick war, and then a tickle war, and then almost turning into a kiss when she coughed at them. When she did, they both turned red and ran over to join the group.
Quistis walked up again, this time with a middle aged man and another girl with black hair behind her. "Right then," she yelled, getting everyone's attention. "Squad A- Squall Leonhart, Sora, Kairi, Aerith. Squad B- Seifer, Selphie, Zell, Nida. Let's get to the docks."
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Aerith sat quietly on the boat, hands folded in her lap. The girl with black hair, Xu, had given the mission brief in a professional way. She had found out in listening- Balamb Garden was no ordinary school. She looked over at Squall, only a few years older (probably closer to Tidus' age). He was in a military academy already? He, and the other students- they were all so young. She looked down at the Bloomstaff in her hand. Then again, she was even younger.
"We'll be in Dollet soon," said Sora. He looked over at Squall. "Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yes."
Sora laughed. "Aha! You talk!"
"Sora!" Kairi scolded. Suddenly the boat jostled and came to a stop. Squall stood first. "We're here," he said. "Come on."
Explosions danced across the shoreline as Aerith and the team exited the boat. Shrapnel littered the sands, and it was certain that quite a few people were probably dead. But there were no bodies. Aerith looked over at Squall and knew he had also noticed- there was a brief confusion across his eyes before they again grew cold.
And then the Bloomstaff vibrated in Aerith's hand and she knew why there were no bodies. "Thorns!" They were swarming in Dollet, attacking both the invaders and SeeDs alike. Sora and Kairi unleashed their keyblades, and Squall swung his gunblade out as well. Aerith gave her staff a spin and then got into attack position. The four of them attacked the Thorns left and right, making their way to the center of town.
"This is where we're supposed to stay," Kairi said. Squall nodded in agreement, an the four found themselves standing in an empty square, listening to battles go on around them.
Footsteps came towards them, and Squall got into a battle stance. However, it was only Seifer. He was running towards the communication tower in the distance.
"What are you doing? Squad B is supposed to secure the outer edge of the city!" Kairi yelled at him.
"I'm going where the action is," Seifer yelled back cockily. "Following my romantic dream! Stay there, wusses!" And then he disappeared.
Squall started to go after him, but Sora stopped him. "We're going to do what we're supposed to," he said seriously. "Whatever that lunatic wants to do is fine with me, but we're not following him."
Squall growled. "He was the one who gave me this scar..."
Another SeeD candidate ran through, this time a petite girl in a small yellow dress. She tripped and caught herself, sticking out a playful tongue. "You guys seen Seifer? He's the squad captain and I have an important message," she said in a high-pitched voice. Squall and the others shook their head as they pointed to the communications tower, where large explosion had just occurred. The tiny girl giggled nervously. "Let me tell you guys real quick!" she practically squealed. "We need to get back on the beach in thirty minutes!" With that, she ran off to the tower, following Seifer.
Aerith turned to try and say something, but was cut off when they heard shrieks. Something massive was coming towards them- the ground vibrated, and the four of them all fell hard to the ground, losing their balance.
A large, robotic Thorn staggered towards them, rushing mainly for Aerith. She let out a shout, leaping deftly backwards and clicking the button on her staff, unleashing the pointed spikes. Kairi and Sora ran to either side while Squall stood in front of them.
The robotic thorn wasn't going to give in easily. Aerith grimaced, striking another blow to its mechanical leg- one of six. They needed to be back at the beach, and soon. She watched Squall slicing away and blasting bullets at the Thorn, as Sora and Kairi performed keyblade dual attacks over and over. She dodged a laser beam that shot across and would have hit Kairi if not for Sora's grabbing her out of the way.
Aerith continued to attack, and ignored everything around her except for the Thorn and the staff in her hand, twirling viciously in rhythm. It was a moment before she registered that the machine had finally fallen, if just for a brief moment, and heard Squall's yell of, "Let's go!"
They ran for a short while when the Thorn stood again and chased after them. They ran down the street; it crushed a car under its talon-foot in pursuit. Kairi was ahead of everyone, her lean legs carrying her into the boat just in time to tell them to wait a minute longer. Sora stumbled in behind her, Squall close at his heels.
Aerith was caught in a blow from the Thorn and fell into the soft beach sands, falling behind the others. She scrambled quickly off the ground, trying to catch up with the others. Squall had turned and was motioning for her to hurry. The Thorn was closing in though...Aerith took a daring leap...
Quistis pumped the Thorn full of bullets from the turret on top of the ship before the thing knew what had hit it. The boat pulled away from the destruction on the shore of Dollet.
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Sora twisted around, checking out his SeeD uniform from all angles. "This is awesome! We're like, official military people." Kairi walked in, showing off her own SeeD attire. Sora grinned. "Lookin' awesome, Kai."
Aerith laughed at both of them, wearing her same pink dress as always. "They're cool, but you don't need to wear them to the banquet. Squall!" she called to the room in the back of the dorm. "Come out and let us see already."
"..."
"You look great!" Kairi said genuinely.
Sora just gave a thumbs up and said, "Let's hit that party."
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Sora and Kairi were having a blast dancing. Aerith giggled from the wall as she watched them spin, out of synch with all the other dancers. A waltz was playing; it was gorgeous. She looked around the dance floor. Tifa would have loved it. She looked over at a wall by the window where a taciturn Squall sat, drinking the sparkling cider. Cloud would have been over there with him, probably. They really needed to meet.
A shooting star blazed through the sky. Aerith barely caught it out of the corner of her eye, and she turned her head quickly, catching it blaze a trail across the inky night. She missed Tifa's laugh, and the warm sun of the island, and his bright eyes.
Thinking of you, wherever you are...
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"You're the best looking guy here."
She had seen him from across the room, watching the stars. He'd have her small smile implanted in his brain forever. But whatever. Squall turned his head and didn't answer.
"Let me guess: you only dance with girls you like." No, he just didn't dance. She should go and find one of the other guys that were staring at her. She was beautiful. What made her want to dance with him?
"You're going to dance with me...you're going to dance with me..." He was going to dance with-No. "Did it work?" Maybe a little. Squall finally cleared his throat.
"I don't dance."
The girl in the white dress had a laugh like wind chimes. "Come on- I can teach you. After all, I'm looking for someone and I don't want to be out there alone." She dragged him off the wall before he could say otherwise.
At first they danced in silence, Squall struggling to remember the dance moves. But not really-he figured if he was a bad partner she'd finally leave. But the strange girl didn't. Every mistake, every time he stepped on her toes, she simply smiled at him again, and more and more until finally, after embarrassing himself long enough- that one couple did not appreciate the interruption- Squall finally decided to dance for real.
The look of surprise on her face was worth it, Squall decided. But she recovered quickly and started dancing along side him, the two of them performing more complicated dance moves now that the charade was done. She must have grown up in a high class; the average person did not know ballroom dancing. The pair soon became more graceful than the other partners until it seemed like everything else was simply the background, the white noise, there but not completely. He swung her out, and then pulled her back in tightly, when the music suddenly died low.
Fireworks. They were...nice. He turned back at her. She was...gorgeous. Whatever. But Squall only added 'whatever' half-heartedly, because it felt like something inside his heart was opening, or growing, or maybe just warming up.
"I'm Squall Leonhart," he said. It was the first time he'd ever been the first person to introduce himself.
The dark haired girl smiled in return. "I'm Rinoa. Rinoa Heartilly."
The name sounded familiar...Rinoa laughed. "Like the singer, yes. Julia is my mother." She looked past Squall's shoulder briefly and her face brightened a bit more. She turned back to him and made a motion with her finger. "Wait right here, okay?"
But then Squall suddenly grabbed her arm, like something had forewarned him of the explosion that followed. Shards of glass flew everywhere as Squall yanked Rinoa onto the ground.
"Stay down!" he yelled, taking out his gunblade.
"You always have your weapon at parties?" asked Rinoa, starting to get up.
"Stay down!" Squall yelled at her. But Rinoa got up, in her pretty white dress, and took out her weapon, a pinwheel.
"I'm helping," she said.
"You always have your weapon at a party?"
Aerith, Sora, and Kairi ran over. "What happen-"
"KURSE ALL SEEDS!" The group turned to see a lady in red, white hair streaming down between the dark wings on her back. There were purple markings across her forehead, odd horns protruding from her skull. Behind her was an army of Thorns, greatly outnumbering the SeeDs, who were unprepared to fight anyway.
The Bloomstaff appeared in Aerith's hands and she started to run forward but Squall's outstretched arms stopped her.
"We're surrounded," he said. "Just see what happens."
Aerith stared him down. "I'm fighting," she said," whether it is futile or not." Sora and Kairi nodded in solid agreement. They all ran forward to attack when Ultimecia raised an arm.
Icicles, appearing out of midair, shot towards Rinoa. She screamed and covered her face for the blow that didn't come.
Squall pushed her out of the way, and an ice blade lodged itself in his shoulder. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Rinoa's worried face.
"And now, you all are koming with me to the Distrikt Prison," Ultimecia cackled.
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The walls were damp, and cold, and unforgiving. Aerith hugged herself, trying to make the short sleeves of her red denim jacket longer. Kairi was still unconscious; Sora was sitting silent in a corner, idly tapping his fingers to an unknown beat. Squall was pacing, like a caged lion. No one knew where Ultimecia had taken Rinoa.
After they had submitted to Ultimecia's surprise attack, the sorceress blasted them all with a round of powerful thunder spells. Aerith's skin still tickled a bit.
There was an anti-magic field around, and they were weaponless. Aerith sighed, but then got an idea. She shut her eyes and concentrated hard. Bloomstaff…Bloomstaff. There was a flash of light and the reassuring staff was in her hands once more. Squall turned to her and made a motion that she didn't understand.
A couple of guards were running towards their cell. "Get down on the ground," Squall hissed to Sora and Aerith. They hastened to obey the commanding tone and listened as Squall yelled for the guards.
"Guards! My cellmates are unconscious! I think they were bitten by a…a snake or something!"
As soon as the guards walked through they were punched in the face by Squall, and the other one was conked on the back of the head by Aerith's staff. Sora got up, lifting Kairi as well.
"Kai, wake up," he said, slapping her face gently. Kairi slowly blinked to life and jumped when a shrill alarm sounded.
"We need to find Rinoa now!" Squall said.
"And some weapons would be nice too…" Sora added.
The four of them ran out of their cell, picking a direction (up) and going with it. Two floors above them, after fighting several patrol Thorns with their fists, they found the gunblade and the two keyblades lying in a pile on the ground. There was a collective sigh of relief when this happened.
"Let's keep going up," said Aerith. "I bet Rinoa's at the top."
The prison wound on and on- between battles Sora counted the steps. On the one hundred and seventy fifth step, they heard a scream.
Squall started running ahead of them and ran to the next level, somewhere in the middle of the entire prison. It was different than the other ones they had climbed through. The whole level was loaded with panels and buttons. He stopped suddenly and the rest almost bumped into him.
Seifer was there, holding Rinoa as his captive.
"Do you want her, Squall?" he sneered. "Ultimecia needs her- she's got some special talents."
Rinoa, wearing a black and blue outfit now, struggled in his grasp weakly. Aerith noticed a bandage around Rinoa's middle, from the icicles spikes.
Squall ran forward in a bold attack, causing Seifer's hold on Rinoa to loosen in surprise. The dark haired girl took the opportunity to kick him in the shin and run away to Aerith, Sora, and Kairi.
Squall and Seifer were locked in a duel that the four others knew better than to try and help with. It wasn't their battle. The two gunblades shimmered as they struck each other, creating small sparks. Seifer ran forward boldly, swinging wildly. Squall just barely blocked that one, backing up against the onslaught.
Seifer gave an arrogant grin and knocked Squall onto the ground. In a fit of fury, Squall knocked him back and rushed him, bringing his gunblade in a wide arc. Seifer ran to meet him, spinning around as he attacked- it was again blocked. The two broke apart from their duel for a brief moment, sweat dripping from their hair. Rinoa tried to take this moment to run forward and help, but Sora and Kairi kept her back. The fight continued.
Squall's attacks were becoming sloppy, and Seifer blocked several in quick succession. Squall backed off and prepared another charge, holding his hand out, when Seifer stunned him with a sudden fire spell, knocking him onto the ground. Seifer swung at Squall's head…
Rinoa flew forward, white and feathery wings sprouted from her back, and she released the strongest ice spell she had on Seifer, blowing him back across the floor of the control room, rendering the arrogant blond unconscious. Her bandage fell off, revealing her to be totally healed.
"She's a sorceress too," Kairi said with wonder. They watched as the wings faded away and Rinoa sank to the ground. She walked over and held out a hand fro Squall to take. He didn't take it, but for a brief moment Aerith saw the grateful look he gave Rinoa before the stoic face was on once more.
"Are you okay?" Sora asked. Squall nodded, breathing heavily. He was about to say something to Rinoa when there was a sudden aura of darkness in the room. Through a portal of dark, Ultimecia floated in.
"Kurse you all," she hissed. "Kurse kurse kurse!" With that, she slammed her fist on a button, causing the ground to tremble. She grinned wickedly, yellow eyes glinting.
"Want to know a sekret? This is not Distrikt Prison; this is a spaceship!" She cackled and disappeared as the five of them tried to regain their footing.
The prison was going up, so quickly that Aerith dropped to the ground simply to feel less dizzy. She shut her eyes, gripping the Bloomstaff tightly, and waited until the prison leveled out. When her emerald eyes opened, she realized she was floating.
Sora laughed, doing a midair cartwheel towards Kairi, who was trying to keep her short skirt from drifting up too high. Rinoa was doing cartwheels as well, but Squall was trying to move towards the control panel, by way of amusing swimming motions that he was trying not to make too much. Aerith hid her giggle. Squall pressed the button he was looking for, and they all tumbled to the ground.
"So, we're in space now," Rinoa said. "That means Ultimecia must be on this ship somewhere."
Squall nodded and started handing out orders. "There's several floors, so we're splitting up. Aerith, you and Sora and Kairi head up, while Rinoa and I head down." With that, the two started down the steps, leaving the three others to head in the opposite direction.
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"Thank you," Rinoa said, after the two had been walking quietly down stairs. She looked around. "Does this spaceship even have a bottom?"
"I bet it does," Squall answered solemnly. It took Rinoa a moment to realize he was joking. When she realized, she laughed.
"Squall Leonhart, joking around? From the first moment I saw you I figured you weren't the type to do that. You know when you start thinking, you go like this?" She placed her hand on her forehead and frowned.
"I'm a complex guy," Squall answered.
'That's what I like about you," Rinoa answered softly. She glanced up at Squall's surprised face. "When those icicles has, for lack of better words, speared me," (Squall winced) "my first thought wasn't what I'd thought it'd be." She stopped walking and stared into his eyes. "I simply thought, 'I won't be seeing Squall again'."
Squall stopped walking too, and turned to look back at her. "You would have…missed me?" he asked. "Of all people to miss…?" Rinoa nodded.
"I know this sounds silly- we've only just met. But I feel like you and I know each other, better maybe than anyone else could know us…is that…a weird feeling?" She looked down at her shoe.
"It would be weird," Squall answered, "But…"
Rinoa nodded. "I don't want to miss you, Squall," she said.
Squall walked towards her until they were only inches apart. "Listen, " he said. "I'll be…" he struggled to come up with the right words. "I'll be in your heart, okay?" Rinoa cocked her head, a small half smile coming to her lips. It was obvious Squall hadn't had a lot of practice with this one.
"Why?" she asked in return.
"I'll be in your heart, and you're in mine...and if you feel me," he finished, " you'll find me. I promise."
Rinoa blushed slightly, bringing a hand up to tug at the silver ring around there.
Squall slipped another ring off of his finger and placed it in her hand. "It's Griever. Take good care of it."
Rinoa nodded eagerly and hooked it onto her necklace next to her mother's ring.
"Ah!" A Thorn came out of nowhere and shoved her into a wall. The two were reminded of their mission and continued fighting Thorns, moving towards where Ultimecia might be.
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'There are no Thorns up here," Kairi observed. "And this is the uppermost level. The control panel must have been closer to the top than we thought."
Sora walked over to what looked like a giant metal box. "Wonder what this does?" He pressed a button, and a door opened, revealing the box to be a prison of some sort. Aerith walked inside and was startled when it started to lower. "Sora! Stop pressing buttons!" she said.
"We should use that to get down," Kairi said suddenly. "Because if the Thorns become scarce the farther up we go, and Thorns are attracted to darkness…"
"Squall and Rinoa!"
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There was a final door until the last floor. As they had gotten closer, the Thorns had grown stronger and more numerous. They were certain: Ultimecia was in here.
They opened the door to see Ultimecia, high on a throne above them. It was the bottom level of the spaceship. There was an odd indentation in the center of the room; it was shaped as a rectangle.
Ultimecia floated down towards the two of them, Squall stepping in front of Rinoa slightly, the latter readying her pinwheel. The sorceress just laughed.
"Only two of you?"
The ground began to shake and Squall immediately cast a protect on himself and Rinoa, thinking it might be a quake. But instead they watched as a metal cell descended upon them, fitting into the indented floor. The doors opened and Aerith, Sora, and Kairi came out. Ultimecia looked startled; Squall stepped towards her and held out his gunblade. The fight began.
Rinoa cast protective spells on everyone before attacking Ultimecia with her strongest magic, while Squall, Aerith, Sora, and Kairi all attacked with their weapons. The sorceress was tricky to beat, but she was also more confident than she should have been and the fight was over soon, ending with Ultimecia sprawled out on the ground, beaten.
"So…you SeeDs have conquered me…" she wheezed. "There are more difficult enemies for you to face, chosen one," she said to Aerith, cackling even as she was dying. "But you know nothing of our true plans…" With that, the sorceress faded away into the final oblivion.
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It hadn't taken them long to find the control panel that could land the ship; Squall was a computer genius. The other SeeDs had welcomed them back with joy, bestowing some medals on them. Sora was proudly showing them off.
Rinoa came running up to wish them goodbye. She gave each a hug and asked Aerith, "Have you seen Squall anywhere? I can't find him at all. Even in the Secret Place at the training center." She fingered the Griever around her neck when suddenly it began to glow.
Aerith felt the Bloomstaff vibrate strongly in her hand as, much to everyone's amazement, Squall's ring rose into the air, fazing through Rinoa's chain.
It rose into the air, and as Aerith's arm rose, pointing her staff towards it, translucent petals blooming around the ring, creating a light blue flower with Griever at the center.
At the end of the staff a beam of light shot out into the center of the flower, and Aerith heard a faint locking noise, as though a door had closed. The petals closed as well and the ring wafted back down into Rinoa's outstretched palm, light as a feather. Rinoa closed her hand around it.
"I need to find him, and return this," she said passionately. "If it can do something like that, I don't know if I'm the one he meant to give it to."
"He gave it to you?" Kairi asked. Rinoa nodded her head in answer. "Then you're the one who should have it," the redhead told her.
"Are you sure you haven't seen him at all?" Rinoa asked again.
Aerith shook her head. "I'm sure you'll find him," she reassured. Rinoa nodded and drifted away to search more. Aerith turned to Sora and Kairi.
"Let's go," she said. "What world is next?"
Voila! This chapter was a bit longer…it's hard to try and make a shorter story out of a Final Fantasy plot. (Final Fantasy characters belong to Squaresoft, and so does the whole plot of my story- I've just twisted it a little). And sorry for anyone who doesn't like Rinoa, I'm someone who actually does, haha. Thank you for taking the time to read it! Some of the Disney worlds will still be in here, as there are key plot things in a few, but the annoying ones (such as Alice in Wonderland) I have replaced with different sort of worlds . The next world? I'm sure you gamers know. And PLEASE REVIEW! Tell me if it's good, or lame, or whatever. Criticism helps.