A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS

This chapter, and the next, is probably gonna be little bit trippy. I was unsure how to present this section. It would have been simple if it was just an ordinary flashback, but since Irvine and the others treated it as something they were actually seeing, that's how I played it. Talk about making it difficult, guys!

Final Fantasy VIII [2nd Instalment]

Grace Barton

Chapter Twenty-Six

The orphanage that Irvine spoke of was an old stone house built on the edge of the Cape of Good Hope, on the Centra continent on the south of the world. It was an old building that had long been abandoned, one of the few standing remnants of an ancient civilisation that died out almost a century ago. Now the house was home to the many children who were orphaned as a result of the Sorceress War, which had recently come to an end.

Irvine thrust his hands into his pockets as he walked through the corridors of the building. Everything was just as he remembered it to be. There were the grey stone walls, the stone floor with its occasional loose slabs, and the wooden window frames with their thin curtains, letting in the sunlight from outside. Irvine strolled through the building of his memories, taking everything in. His memories of those days were as clear as day, and he remembered every detail.

He entered the living room, just beyond the foyer. The rooms of the orphanage were not large and had a nice, homely feel, despite their age. Irvine stopped and looked over at a familiar face standing by a low table. It was a young boy, a boy whom Irvine knew only too well. The boy, with his smooth face and chestnut-coloured hair, and dressed in a khaki T-shirt and white trousers, was almost an exact reflection of Irvine as he was now.

Irvine went over his childhood self and gazed down at him. The boy was engrossed in a book he had found in the library, and was reading it with interest.

On seeing the book, Irvine smiled. It was a book about warfare, more particularly the weapons used in warfare. The contents of the book were not interesting to Irvine (and he could not read very well anyway), but he was very interested in the pictures. There were pictures of swords and armour, but most fascinating of all were the pictures of guns. An overwhelming variety of guns were portrayed in this book, and young Irvine was fascinated by them. Irvine smiled and shook his head, reminded of where his love for the shotgun was born.

The door to the bedrooms opened, and the two Irvine's both turned together towards it. A number of children came running through, laughing and shouting in loud, excited voices. They did not speak to Irvine but ran straight through and out of the other door, into the backyard. Young Irvine blinked at them, and then turned back to his book.

"Irvy, wanna play?"

Young Irvine almost dropped his book. He turned to look at the girl who had snuck up behind him. This girl was about the same age as Irvine, with a cute, round face that was framed by a bob of brown hair that always seemed to turn outward no matter how many times it was brushed. Her eyes were playful and bright green, complemented by her canary yellow T-shirt and green dungarees.

Irvine walked around the young girl, smiling as he gazed down at her. "I really liked this girl," he said. "And it made me so happy just talking to her."

Irvy, his interest in the book now lost, shut the book with a loud smack. "Sefie, wha-cha-playin'!" he asked her.

Sefie grinned. Then her smile twisted into a mischievous, almost evil smile. "WAR!" she declared, and she ran out of the room. Irvy, after a moment's indecision, went running after her, the book forgotten.

Irvine opened his eyes and looked around at the others. In particular he looked at Selphie, his expression sombre. The young woman stared back at him, confused. Then her eyes started to widen, as the true meaning behind Irvine's words sank in. She took a step towards him.

"Was that orphanage… a stone house?" she asked him.

Without breaking his gaze, Irvine nodded. "You guessed it…" he said.

Next his eyes drifted to Quistis. As he had hoped, realisation was beginning to dawn in her eyes as well. "An old house made of stone?" the instructor asked, sounding hesitant, as though the memories were unclear. "…By the ocean?"

Again Irvine nodded. "You guessed it…" he said. Before him, the two women stood in stunned silence. Irvine gave a small smile and flicked his hat. "I knew right away when we first met!" he told them.

Selphie shared a look with Quistis. The two stared at each other for a moment before rounding on Irvine.

"Heeey, why didn't you tell us!" asked Selphie.

"Yes, why didn't you tell us!" demanded Quistis. Unlike Selphie, she looked angry, hurt at the thought that Irvine had kept something so important from them all this time.

Irvine closed his eyes.

Irvine was once again back in the orphanage's main room. The book that his young self had been looking at had been taken away by the Matron, who had gently chided him for looking books that were beyond his ability to understand.

Irvine was not alone in the room. Cute, little Sefie was here, too, wearing the same shirt and dungarees as she had before. This time, though, there was another person in the room, another young girl by the name of 'Quisty'. Quisty was a year older than Irvy and Sefie, and looked very elegant in her silk blue top and crimson trousers, and long, thick blonde hair that trailed past her shoulders and down her back. Yet unlike Sefie, whose face was open and full of smiles, Quisty's lips had a hint of a scowl, as though she was used to getting her own way and knew what to do if she didn't. Irvine walked around the two girls, talking as he walked.

"'Cause you two seemed to have forgotten! It just kinda sucked that I was the only one who remembered…" The gunman stopped in front of the two girls, looking at Sefie and then at Quisty, smiling at the memories of them. "Spunky little Sefie and bossy little Quisty.

"That is just sooo weird…" said Selphie, coming to stand beside him. She knelt down in front of her younger self, awed that she had once been so small.

Hearing a noise coming from the bedrooms, Quistis turned. "Huh?"

Another child ran into the room. He was shorter than Quisty and only a little taller than Sefie, wearing a white shirt that was just a bit too big for him, and blue shorts. His hair was blond and unruly, flying off in all directions, as though some attempt had been to turn it into spikes. The boy ran over to the two girls, speaking quickly and in earnest.

Zell, who had also entered the room, stood behind the blond boy. "Hey…" he said after a moment. "Do you guys remember setting off fireworks?"

Irvine frowned, trying to remember. "That was…"

He was interrupted when the door to the backyard opened, and Irvy came running inside. His face was red and his eyes wild, full of excitement. "This way!" he shouted to the other children, and then he ran out again.

Sefie and Quistis looked at one another, and then ran out of the orphanage. The other child, the boy with the unruly hair, jumped as he realised he was being left behind and went running out after them. Irvine went over to the door, standing in the stone archway. He smiled at the others and motioned for them to follow him, before he too walked out of the door.

The orphanage's backyard was a simple, plain area, with nothing there apart from two washing lines where Matron hung the clothes to dry in the cool winds coming in from the south. As all the other children crossed the yard and ran down the stone steps leading to the beach, they did not notice the small, brown-haired boy standing by himself next to the washing lines. Not even Irvine and the others noticed him… but Squall did.

While Irvine led the others down the stone steps, Squall waited behind. When everyone was out of sight Squall turned and headed over to the boy, who had a forlorn look on his face as he stared down at the ground.

"Sis…" Squall heard the boy say as he drew near. "Where'd yoo go? Yoo don't like me anymore?"

Hearing him, Squall turned his head away. …What a shameful sight.

He turned his back on the boy and hurried down the stone steps to catch up with the others, who were gathered on the beach below. The children were nowhere to be seen, and it was just the others. The beach was also exactly as they remembered it, a stretch of yellow sand that stretched for more than a mile along the Cape's rising cliffs, bordered by an ocean that was a brilliant shade of blue, crisp and clean, with gentle waves lapping against the shore.

Irvine took a few steps along the beach, feeling the sand crunch beneath his boots. He looked up at the cliffs and followed them along until his eyes fell on an old lighthouse. Seeing the lighthouse, the cliffs, and the beach, Irvine smiled. He spread his arms and took a deep lungful of crisp ocean air. It felt wonderful, full of even more memories. Lowering his arms, he turned back to the others.

"How about this?" he asked them.

Selphie and the others looked around. More memories, once forgotten, began to resurface as they gazed upon the familiar sight of their childhood.

"YEAH!" cried Selphie. She jumped and clapped her hands.

"The ocean!" shouted Zell. "The lighthouse!"

Quistis gasped and put her fingers to her lips. "We did set off fireworks!"

The scenery began to change, and it became night on the beach. The waves could be heard crashing against the base of the cliffs where the lighthouse stood, which shone bright as it sent a signalling white light into the ocean. A cold breeze whistled through the cliffs, making them shiver.

Irvy, Quisty and Sefie were on the beach near the stone steps, along with another blond boy they had not seen before. The four children crouched next to a fire, pouring over a pile of fireworks they had found. The children were talking in earnest as they sorted through the fireworks, reading the names and wondering what each one did, and also wondering which ones to set off first.

"Yoooooo!" a voice called from above them. The four children looked at the stairs as the boy with the spiky blond hair came running down the steps. He stopped halfway down, shouting to them. "Kids aren't suppose't play with fireworks!" He ran down the bottom, almost slipping on the moss that had formed on the last few. He stopped beside them. "I'm telling! I'm gonna tell on yoo!"

The other blond boy, whose face could not be seen clearly in the flickering firelight, got up and stood in front of Zell. "Cry-Ba-by-Ze-ll!" the boy said in a sneering voice. He gave the boy a shove. "Go back to bed!"

But the little boy did not go back to bed. He stood frozen, his fists trembling as he glared at the other boy, who just gave him a scornful smile and then knelt down again. The other children, after a moment, did the same. The thought of setting off the fireworks was now too exciting for them to quit now. Little Zell remained where he was, fists trembling and eyes filling, unable to move.

The images of the five children faded, as did the night, turning the setting back into day. The others stood silent, thinking all this over. Irvine motioned for them to follow him, and he led them back up the steps towards the orphanage.

As they neared the top of the steps, Zell frowned. He looked troubled. "If I remember this," he said, "does this mean I was there, too?"

Quistis nodded. "…We all got in big trouble," she said, laughing at the memory. As she recalled, they were all grounded for a month, including little Zell.

They reached the stop of the steps. Zell stopped and folded his arms. "Then… what about my parents in Balamb…?" he asked, thinking of Ma Dincht.

"The Dincht's in Balamb must have adopted you," Quistis suggested.

"Yep, that's probably it," said Irvine.

Zell frowned, trying to remember. The others headed over to the orphanage, disappearing inside. Realising that he was being left behind, he ran after them.

They gathered inside the orphanage's main room. The four children were here as well—Irvy, Sefie, Quisty and Zell.

Zell walked over to his younger self and stood over him. The memories were becoming clearer now, but he still could not believe it. All this time he had thought Ma Dincht to be his real mother. Zell had often joked about how he did not look like his mother, but it never even occurred to him that she wasn't. How could he have not realised that if he had been here, at this very orphanage, along with Irvine and the others? How could he have forgotten such an important part of his past?

He knelt down in front of his younger self. Little Zell's face was red and there were tears in his eyes, his jaw clenched as he tried so hard to hold them back. Irvy, Quisty and Sefie were laughing—they appeared to be teasing him.

"Yooo!" Zell shouted at the other kids. "C'mon! Stop it! Matwyn, help!"

Another person walked into the room, but it was not Matron. It was the other blond boy they had seen on the beach. In the light they saw that his bright blond hair was slicked back along his head, and he wore a sleeveless blue top with a familiar white cross motif on it. The boy had a cruel smile on his face as he went right up to Zell and stood over him, which was an easy feat considering he was almost two inches taller. He laughed at Zell and began to taunt him.

"CRY-BABY-ZE-ELL!" he said with a laugh.

Selphie raised an eyebrow and pointed at the sneering boy. "Who's THAT!" she asked, looking at Zell, but he did not look back at her. Zell was staring straight at the other boy, his own face turning red with anger.

As they watched, the sneering blond boy gave Zell a shove. "NAH-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAH!" he taunted, and he shoved him again.

Little Zell stamped his foot. "Stop teasing me, Seifer!" he shouted back.

"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Quistis, shocked.

All eyes were now on the sneering boy, who was laughing. Yes, they could see the resemblance now, and they could not believe they did not recognise him sooner. That haughty, cruel smile was a sight that was all too familiar to them, as was his cocky stance and the way he laughed as he mocked Zell's attempts to stand up to him.

"Seifer…" whispered Zell, his eyes on the boy. "My archenemy…"

"Wow!" remarked Selphie, leaning over the two boys. "He was there, too!"

She, Quistis and Zell watched as the scene continued to unfold before their eyes. Their respective younger selves were laughing now. Little Zell was arguing with Seifer, who just laughed over him and gave him another shove. While they were distracted, Irvine left them and went over to Squall, who watched all this from the doorway.

"Well?" he asked the swordsman.

Squall looked at Irvine, wondering what he was expected to say. Irvine's gaze was firm, so Squall sighed and glanced around the room, taking in each child in turn.

Seifer… he thought, looking at the laughing form of his old rival. Seifer was always Seifer. He looked at little Zell was crying now. Zell… Always crying and screaming. Selphie… Always full of energy. Quistis… I think you were difficult to deal with. Irvine? Squall frowned, gazing at the small boy and then comparing him to the man who stood before him now. Sorry, don't remember you.

Reopening his eyes, Irvine put his arms behind his head and leaned against the distorted basketball pole. "Seifer was there, too," he summarised. "Except for Rinoa, we were all there."

Selphie nodded. She then frowned and looked up. "Heeey, that means…"

She turned around and looked at Squall. Everyone else did the same. Squall, who was sitting down on a rock, gave a sigh and pushed himself up.

"Yeah…" he admitted. "…I was there, too."

Squall found himself standing in the orphanage's front garden. Dark clouds hung low in the sky and rain poured into the garden, soaking everything. Squall crossed the garden with purpose until he reached the archway.

Sure enough his younger self was here, just as he always was in Squall's dreams. The boy looked at the ground, and every so often his gaze drifted to the gate at the end of the garden.

Squall stopped next to his younger self. Together, they looked at the ground.

"…Sis…" the boy said in a low voice.

Squall shook his head. "I was always waiting for 'Sis' to come back."

His young self raised his head to look up at the clouds. "I'm… all alone. But I'm doing my best." He wiped his ears, his lips trembling. He nodded. "I'll be ok without you, sis. I'll be able to take care of myself…"

Hearing those words again made Squall's heart ache with painful memories. He had tried so hard to bury those memories but now they flooded back to him, and the pain was just as strong as it was back then. Nothing had changed at all. Everything remained the same. Sis was still gone, and he was still all alone.

Squall held his head. …I didn't turn out ok at all, he realised.

Then, something unexpected happened, something that never happened in his dreams. His young self, still looking at the ground with tears rolling down his cheeks, muttered a name.

"…Sis Elle…"

"Elle…" Squall repeated. He paused. Then his eyes widened, as a memory he should never have forgotten resurfaced at last. Hearing the name had awakened that memory, and he knew the name now, and to whom it belonged.

"Ellone."