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017. Think

I think that when we first met, I was interested, but I wasn't heartbroken when we parted. He was handsome, sure, with soft, brunette hair and deep, steely-blue eyes. And I just knew that under his suave uniform, he would be toned and muscled from the extensive training I knew they went through. Sure, I thought he would've been better as a rebound, but he was nice for that evening. He was a good dancer, and his voice was deep, but pleasant; gravelly, but not nails-on-a-chalk-board. Of course, when I left him, taking far longer than I should've done to let go of his hand, I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn't anything major. If I saw him again, I'd flirt with him until he was mine, but if not... Well, there had to be other steel-eyed, brunette, mercenaries on the planet. Maybe I'd go and scour the other two gardens for men like him.

As it was, I didn't need to.

Much to my surprise, delight, and perhaps slight horror, he was the one sent to us. With two others, who were both very nice, but he was my main focus. I spent that night and a few others speaking to Angelo, the only one who truly listened to me, about him. About how my first impression of a suave, smooth personality was completely off and how he was actually cold, uncaring, and a bit of a jerk. But still...

"He's got such nice eyes, Angelo." I muttered into my dog's soft fur. "And soft hair. And such a nice jawline."

Angelo whimpered and made a small bark. He was probably telling me I was being silly, he was too rude and mean to like, and that I was being too shallow. Of course, that was true, but I think that maybe it was around that time when the first string of my heart began to fall for him.

I think that when he carried me halfway around the world, he might've realised that he loved me. If only I'd been able to remember what he said to me... I could just hear his voice; the gentle sound that relaxed my mind and softened the infinite blackness just a bit. He was so kind to me then, and wouldn't hear of putting me down, nor giving me to anyone else until they reached Esthar. Such a long way to go, such a selfless thing to do... And all for me, of all people. I'd thought he might be a nice rebound at first, and now he truly loved me, and I think I was starting to love him... Even when his shoulders caved and his legs faltered, he wouldn't share the burden with anyone else. So different from the man I'd first met, the slightly selfish, cold, closed-off man who'd just been there for the money, and lack of anything else to do. How people change.

He followed me into space too. He put his own life on the line, to save mine. Me, a sorceress; the ultimate outcast. If the hadn't taken me into space... Maybe they would've killed me. They probably wanted to kill me, after I released the old sorceress, the evilest of them all to have walked on this earth. Adel. And I was trapped once more, my mind an infinite blackness. I don't know how long I was there for, or for how long we floated once he released me from my prison, but it felt like years. I felt trapped, claustrophobic within my own blank mind. But I think that when he piloted us back to the welcoming earth, and I sat on his lap for the safety he gave me; with my mother's song floating through my head, I think that looking into his eyes I realised I loved him.

But he almost left me, almost disappeared from my life just as ours was beginning. He almost disappeared in the frantic blobs that were time; never to have been, never to be. He would've been wiped like a boring dream from my memory. He promised to be my knight, and he was not there. He promised to be with me, forever, but he would not keep that promise. I suppose I felt betrayed that he couldn't find me. He said he'd be able to, but I thought it must've been a lie. Despite the frantic pleading of my friends as the tears raced down my face, I jumped back into the hectic sprinting of time to find him. And there he was, lying there half-dead on the cracked, grey, dying plateau of earth. I wept more tears for him, and I think that then, I'd given up all hope. I think that I really believed the two of us would be swallowed up by time. But then that refreshing spring breeze proved me wrong.

We'll be joined together for life today, with a ring and a few pretty words. The white dress and the suits feel almost too much for what it is at its heart. But the both of us are famous now, and Laguna, the poor man, said that he'd always wished he could've married Raine. Squall wanted a wedding that he could attend, so that even if he couldn't have married Raine, he could see his son get married. And my father wanted to walk me down the aisle, even if it was just because of how much I looked like my mother.

I can see him, standing there with a smile on his lips. We'll be happy together, I think.

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