A/N: Moving some things around/changing the content in some of these chapters. The goal of these updates is to build more character development and change the course of the story over time. Thanks for reading!
Beginnings
"Alright-y, agenda for the day," Selphie tapped the tip of her pen against her clipboard methodically a few times before scribbling away, drawing categorized boxes across the top of her sheet of paper. She and Lina shared a table at the Quad, enjoying their separately packed sandwiches for lunch in the afternoon sunlight, papers scattered across the surface of the table. "First stop, library to find you some references for your paper—I'll walk you down there. Then, training center for me—I should run a couple rounds."
"Right and simultaneously attract the attention of a 'particular swanky cowboy'," said Lina, marking quotation marks in air. Selphie blushed and threw a stray crumpled piece of paper on the table at her. Lina giggled and blocked it with the back of her hand.
"As I was saying—then, next stop, the Training Center for a couple rounds, for no other reason than to swing my nunchucks around," Selphie said, giving Lina a solid glare. "And you'll join me?"
"After I drop the books from the library off at my dorm."
"You know where the TC is?"
Lina blinked in concentration, then nodded. "I remember—also luckily, I haven't forgotten how to read a map." Selphie giggled and nodded— guess it didn't take rocket science to navigate the circular halls of Balamb Garden.
"Lastly, we'll call the others for dinner?"
Lina nodded, but exhaled deeply, suddenly slumping in her seat and burying her face in her arms. "Not meeting with my mentor I guess."
"Cheer up!" Selphie exclaimed quickly, patting her disgruntled friend on the back, just barely less methodical than her writing instrument against its canvas.
Since that day Lina had materialized on the Centra continent and found herself confronting a line of professionally trained mercenaries in the stone orphanage, Lina had found her experience at Garden to be surprisingly positive—though things were far from perfect, she had been given her own guest room between the male and female dormitory areas, Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis had donated clothes and belongings to her, and she'd taken up a receptionist job in the Infirmary to make some pocket gil. She was optimistic, with the help of her new friends, she'd have herself on her feet in no time.
She'd even been given a special case project by the headmaster for acceptance to SeeD—a two part project: ten page paper, and a model of Garden to familiarize herself with junior knowledge at Garden. What this proved about SeeD, she had no idea, but apparently Cid and Edea had faith in her abilities on the field to skip the trip to the Fire Cavern—that and Garden was barely ever sedentary anymore. The confidence was flattering, but Lina had to wonder-she didn't even recall what her weapon speciality was, skipping the field test didn't give her much incentive to prioritize that exploration either. And her mentor had been of zero help so far. The thought made her shrink a little in her seat again, second time in the same minute.
"It's like talking to a brick wall," Lina sighed, pressing her palms against her temples—just the thought was setting off her usually mild temper again.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad—Zell's a sweetheart once you get to know him," Selphie said..
Sweetheart, Lina scrunched her nose at the mention, scoffed to herself. The night before, Lina had knocked on her mentor's door to meet about the project as scheduled. After a solid twenty minutes of knocking, pounding, calling, her mentor finally answered the door, headphones in hand, confused as to why Lina was so "goddamn" flustered, and eventually canceled on the spot because he had forgotten and made other plans. A real charmer. "Besides, you two are more similar than you think."
"How so!?" Lina gave her a panicked look.
"That right there. No patience whatsoever. Just relaaax, lady! You just got here, take in the breeze, smell the roses before you dive straight into the work."
"I am relaxed," Lina declared. "I'm totally relaxed, I am! See look, relaxing, right now." She wiggled her arms out in front of her then shuffled in her seat, tall, calm, composed. Selphie raised an eyebrow and Lina immediately lost her posture. "Fine, fine. I just want this badly. And now."
"See? Impatient," Selphie snickered, and Lina scowled at her. "You could just talk to Squall and probably get yourself another mentor."
"Yeah, no...Squall's got enough on his plate," Lina shrugged. Lina's problems with his old roommate were the absolute last thing on his mind, behind Rinoa's safety, the pending war with Ultimecia, and everything in between. Besides, since that afternoon at the orphanage, in the flower field, with the rain dancing about them, it was obvious by the bags under his eyes and restlessness that Squall's nights were long and heavy with the new burden of being his sorceress's knight. If Zell was being a jerk, Squall couldn't help it now, and who was she to bother the Commander Leonhart anyway? A nobody who appeared out of nowhere.
"Hang in there, Lina," Selphie smiled her cheerful green-eyed grin as a sign of reassurance. "I promise, Zelly's really not as bad as you think."
Lina chuckled and nodded, "Thanks Seph." Selphie had really been a rock for Lina through all this madness and transition.
When Lina was transferred into the Garden's system, she found herself mostly alone in an empty room without belongings. After two full days of wandering the halls aimless, but shy, and sitting quietly on the bed in her room with her legs pulled against her, Selphie was her first visitor. Selphie rapped against the door with her knuckles repeatedly, both scaring and exciting Lina. When she opened the door, Selphie, whose original intention was a simple introduction, saw Lina, standing with a lost gaze in the terribly square Balamb uniform, a meagerly furnished, undecorated quarters visible over her shoulder. That's when she realized—Lina didn't need a simple "howdy-do," she needed direction, organization, a hand to navigate her through the world as it is today.
Luckily, direction and organization were high on Selphie's extensive list of strengths. This was perfect timing for Selphie—after Trabia, filling her day with training Lina was proving to be a worthwhile investment.
They were similar, Lina had found. Optimistic, fun-loving Selphie—her smile never failed to light up the room, and she wore her emotions unabashedly in the open like a badge on her chest. Live life to its fullest, every minute, Selphie had told her once, only to be followed with a theatrical eyeroll and laughter quickly after. Lina's disposition on life was similar, but mostly fueled by the fact that she had no history to build off of. Though it caused her deep frustration, she held no point of reference to anchor her, no excuse to be weighed down.
The girls finished their meals and headed off towards the library, Lina out in front, excited to get her application on the road, Selphie trailing on a few steps behind her, untangling and readjusting the position of her nunchucks in her belt against her hip with tender care.
Lina concentrated down at the titles passing as she strolled along, planning for what books she would seek out when she arrived. She was meant for SeeD, she knew she was—and she wouldn't let this project, or a bad mentor stand in her wa-.
Bump!—she collided headfirst into another body. "Oh, sorr-"
"Whoa! Watch the road there," that snarky tone—Lina looked up to find herself making eye contact with the devil himself. Lina took a deep breath as she felt her blood grow hot. Polite, direct, and usually cheerful, she was, but patient she was not.
"Sorry—didn't see you coming." She did her best to even her voice to appear calm, but the impatience came seeping through.
"That much I got," he said with a scoff, but Lina's eyes flared at him as she took it offensively. "What's your problem, Lina?" At that moment, Selphie caught up with her, her eyes darting back and forth—the scene clearly looked like a standoff, Lina, feet firmly planted in her spot, arms crossed, fists coiled tight, Zell, one foot forward, an atypically aggressive distance. She strategically jumped in between the two before the scene burst into a fistfight, forcing the two to take a couple steps back in their place.
"Heey, Zelly! Long time, no see-where ya been?" Selphie quickly changed the topic. As if a switch had been flipped, Zell's demeanor immediately changed, his brow unfurrowed, a knowing smile on his lips as he spoke to an old friend.
"Ah, yeah.. just got back from Ma's house in Balamb—needed some ocean breeze after all the heavy stuff," he said, chuckling weakly. Right, and you didn't think to leave a message for your mentee? Lina bit her lip to hold herself back—the thought was irrational, emotional, and Zell was in the right, and she knew it, but her insides were still brewing from the encounter earlier, and her embarrassing failed attempts to get her mentor's attention throughout the entire duration of her stay at Garden so far. "Where the hell you been?"
"Oh, ran around Centra, collected some materials, went to the shop—check these babies out," Selphie said, reaching to her side and in one quick swoop, swung her new modified nunchucks out in front of her, striking a threatening pose for display. The juniors walking by in the area, visibly startled, jumped at the sight, then quickly clamored away.
"Sweet, let's see 'em," he said, unaffected by the sudden motion and pulling one end out of Selphie's firm grasp. He turned the pole once over in his gloved hands and with a furrowed brow looked closely at the fine metallic and organic material that made the body of the weapon. Lina took a breath—the conversation had carried on long enough that she'd finally felt the heat in her forehead simmer to a tolerable temperature.
"Brand spankin' new. About to go break them in."
"Perfect timing, saw Irvine headed to the TC just now. I'm meeting him down there after the library." Selphie gave him a suspicious eye.
"Great, that's where Lina's headed—you could walk her there!" Lina shot Selphie a look, but Selphie purposely ignored it—all part of the plan. Zell threw Lina a cautious look, had he forgotten that she was standing there? "So, I'll see you guys soon, ya?" With that, Selphie bounced out of the hallway towards the TC.
"I'm just, uh..," Lina started. "Looking for reference books. You know...for this project."
"Right. Ah, good luck with that, hope you find what you need," Zell said awkwardly. Lina nodded shortly, wasn't sure why she was expecting a follow up there, maybe an effort to collaborate would have been nice, but again—not sure why she had expected anything at all.
Decidedly, she gave him a curt wave, then started walking. Unfortunately, she felt his presence walking right along behind her, footsteps in tow. At the library's entrance, she still heard him, a few steps behind, tapering—what business would he have here, she wondered.
Lina disregarded him and leaned down to check out the encyclopedias on the lower shelf of the front row of shelves. While Lina doubted the actual content of the essay would be looked into very carefully, Lina wasn't one to cut corners. And besides, she was actually interested in Garden. Secretly, in her pocket, she still kept the sheet of paper she had held in her hand the first day she found her new friends.
For some reason, she felt attachment to this little piece of paper. This little piece of paper, whose origin she could not remember-for she could not remember anything before the day the SeeDs had found her-had catapulted Lina into a new life of normalcy and routine. And she liked it. She didn't want some silly boy to stand in her way from accomplishing her normal goal for a normal life as a normal girl in an extraordinary Garden.
"H-hey Sadie, know if that book's in?" she heard Zell's voice wreck her train of thought from a close distance and looked up. For some reason, he seemed less formidable, a little less confidence in his stature—not so tough guy anymore, and she wondered why.
Then she saw her: a fragile looking girl, petite and pale-skinned, with a pretty set of brown eyes, dark brown hair braided into a low pigtail, and a timid smile, standing shyly with a book held against her chest.
"Oh, um... not yet, sorry," she said, her tone a little shaky. Zell stayed silent in response. "So, um...how is the SeeD mission going? You know, with the sorceress and all?"
"Oh, um, it's busy. Yeah," he said. Lina hadn't been paying much attention before, but it was hard not to notice how he was clearly throwing any chance of the conversation going anywhere out the window. Lina glanced back at the girl—who was this girl to have so much power over the bane of her existence right now? "I have barely any time at all to do stuff besides, you know, train and focus and stuff."
"Oh..." Lina glanced slyly at Zell, his face was completely flushed red, and the girl looked thoroughly disappointed. Lina almost felt bad for him, but shook the thought remembering how foolish she felt waiting for him to answer the door the night before being turned away. She picked up the encyclopedia she was looking for, then Balamb Garden, a Fruitful History. She headed to the counter to check out: no one was there. Lina looked around; she then realized the girl Zell had struck conversation with was the librarian.
The girl came over a second later to take care of Lina, she cheeks flushed just as red as Zell's. Lina thanked her and walked out. She noticed immediately that Zell was following her yet again.
She spun on her heel and caught him at the exit. "Can I help you, Zell?"
"Aren't we partners or something?"
"You're supposed to be my mentor, Zell..." that he wasn't even sure about his role was discouraging to Lina to say the least. She sighed and started walking past him. Next destination, the Dormitory. "Look if you don't want to do this, I'll talk to—"
"No, I got this. What do you need mentoring on?" Lina blinked at him—it was so frustratingly aggravating that he didn't even know or seem to care about what she had set to focus all her energy on these past few weeks.
"Actually..." Lina sighed, and said rather firmly. "I'd rather do this project without your help. I just need your signoff at the end of the project."
"What? Why."
"You seem a little too preoccupied to help," Lina said, gesturing back towards the library. Zell paused, flushing a little red and blinking as he processed what she was suggesting.
"Sadie? I just...we just chat sometimes." Lina stopped walking and looked at him—his ears were red again. It was then Lina realized that Zell had no idea what he was doing in terms of the librarian, or how their conversation had made it seem like he was pushing her advances away.
"She's busy because you said you're busy," Lina blurted out. Zell looked taken aback. "Nevermind. Look—I'll just talk to you la—"
"Wait." She stopped in her tracks. "How about this. Help me. I'll help you on your project if you help me learn what to say around Sadie."
"I don't want your help-" Lina said.
"I'll... write you a good critique," Zell said. Lina hesitated, but thought about it. She desperately did want to get into SeeD. She knew that the answers to her future, and her past must be locked somewhere within the SeeD facility. What would it hurt to sit around for an hour a week with this knuckle-head to help him out with this girl Sadie? Lina didn't see too much harm, especially if it meant a good mentor critique for her.
"Alright... deal." They shook on it.