Final Fantasy VIII 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, its characters or anything else for that matter. The only thing I do own is the expansion of this idea. If you want to base a story around it, please email me for permission. Thank you.

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"Talking": Talking

'_Thinking italics':_Thinking

_Italics: _Flashbacks/Reflection

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Edea Kramer frowned as she lay in bed for what felt like an eternity; gazing up at the ceiling and losing herself to her thoughts. So many things had happened to them recently, and it was a small wonder that things were beginning to fall back into place. For instance, little girl named Ellone had just left them, barely a day prior. The ten year old had been removed from this place; her home, and had been settled on a ship that Edea and her husband had taken their time to prepare. It was not safe for the little girl there; not anymore.

This place; the orphanage where the elder woman currently resided, had been the little girls' home for nearly four years. She had come from a small town just outside of the Galbadian Republic after her caregiver had passed from this world. Once she had arrived, the little girl explained that people were after her for a particular reason, and only shared this information with Edea because of her own mystical talents. The little girl possessed the ability to send people's consciousness into the past; allowing them to view what had already occurred. The details behind these powers were unknown; only that Ellone had had them since even before she could remember.

But like most gifts, it became a curse, as many people desired this kind of power. According to the little girl, she had been pursued by Esthar, before the end of the Sorceress' War and the disappearance of the tyrannical country. After that, it was feared that someone may appear to take advantage of the childs' power and, in time, the threat of an invasion had proven too great to allow it to chance.

It had happened nearly a day ago, relatively early in the night; the younger children had already been put to sleep, when Edea had approached Ellone and told her of their intensions. The woman, who was currently nearing her mid forties, had not known what to expect from her. Ellone had always proven to be unpredictable at the best of times and the reaction she gave would always be the opposite of what one would expect. Even when catching onto her temperament, Ellone would prove that she could be spontaneous and throw off ones' expectations when they lease expected it.

That night, Ellone had been surprisingly calm about the situation. Despite this calm, however, the little girl had initially refused the plan. Edea had known better than to accuse the girl of being selfish; that was not the case. Ellone had not refused the suggestion because she didn't wish to leave the orphanage; her home. On the contrary; the little girl didn't wish to bring anyone any harm. It was a particular little boy that she was thinking about.

When Ellone had come to the orphanage, she had not come alone. With her had been a small infant child, having been left behind after his mother; the woman who took care of her, had died. The both of them had been together ever since; Ellone having had a hand in raising the boy, and it was understandable why the little girl would hesitate in leaving him behind. The boy, for the most part, was extremely timid and never made an effort to interact with the other children. If anything, he stuck around his sister like glue, never allowing her to leave his sight for more than a moment (unless of course Ellone had to use the bathroom).

Edea had been especially worried as to how well the boy was going to take this news, but resolved that it was for the best; in everyone's position, if Ellone disappeared for now. Naturally, the elder woman would keep taps on the girl for the time being, but she couldn't afford to allow more people to know her whereabouts; even if both children closely related. The woman didn't want to separate the two. She knew that it would be difficult on both of them. Ellone would be able to overcome the pain eventually, but the boy was merely four years old. He wouldn't understand why his 'sister' left without him, nor would be able to move on easily. Edea understood the pain the child would feel and was willing to help him through the obstacle.

Finally, Ellone had accepted, but only due to the point Edea had crossed upon. The last thing the girl wanted was to cause the people she cared about, and whom cared about her, any pain. She had done that once before, and she was determined not to do it again. If someone were to discover that she resided on Centran land, what was to stop them from invading and taking her by force, as the Estharians had nearly five years prior? The Centran civilization had been destroyed by the Lunar Cry that had occurred just sixty years prior, so there were no neighboring armies to combat the enemy forces. It would be easy to infiltrate and kidnap her from them. Edea refused to allow that possibility to ever occur, and thus was pleased that the child had agreed with the solution, although both of them wished that there was another alternative.

So both Edea and her husband Cid had helped the young girl pack up her belongings and Cid had arranged for Ellone to be picked up by two individuals; both of them sisters and close friends of the couple. Ellone had left with them as soon as they had arrived and Cid had returned to the orphanage, while it was still dark out.

Frowning in thought, Edea looked over to her right and watched as Cid Kramer rolled over onto his side, his back facing her as he slumbered on. She knew that he wasn't satisfied with the decision as well, but she also knew that he managed to deal with serious situations far better than she did. Sighing, she resumed her thinking process, turning her gaze up towards the ceiling above once more.

Cid and Edea had both been the owners of the orphanage they resided since before the war's end. Children were orphaned while Galbadia and Esthar were at war; their parents having been killed in the onslaught and thus resulting in there being no other place for them to go. Edea and Cid had for the longest time been trying to become pregnant, but due to Edea's family history, it was not possible. Instead, they decided to build a place where these children would be able to flourish and grow as they would have had their parents survived. It has begun with only a few children, however as time continued to pass the number began to grow until the end of the war, and even then more children were being discovered and brought to the Centran orphanage located on the Cape of Good Hope.

Six years had passed since they had first begun taking in children, and so far the orphanage held a perfect percentage rating for adoption. The people who came to them had either lost a child during the war or couldn't have any, although a percentage of people who came had their own children as well and wished to adopt. Many children had left the orphanage due to adoption, and although she missed them terribly, Edea felt a sense of accomplishment. She and Cid had begun the business to find a place for orphan children to stay, and with each adoption they fulfilled their task.

The orphanage itself was fairly big; the size of a larger than average house. There were several sets of bedrooms stationed on the second floor of the building, and the master bedroom (of which Cid and Edea resided in) was located on the first floor, in case anyone managed to break into the building and so the children wouldn't get hurt. The orphanage was built together by a combination of marble and concrete, making it virtually impenetrable. Located near the front of the orphanage were a group of tall spires made of marble, strictly for decoration and to allow for shade from the hot sun. Located closer to the front and side doors, which were made of wood, was a vast flower garden that seemed to stretch on for miles beyond. It was odd to most people that such a garden flourished in the everlasting heat wave that struck the Centran island, but to the people who knew better, it was no surprise at all.

Behind the orphanage stood a lighthouse, a building used to alert ships and boats that they were heading towards land. It was made of the same materials as the actual building. Near the lighthouse and stretching nearly the entire width of the orphanage grounds was a beach, the only thing separating the property from the ocean which was also located nearby. Most days, the children were permitted to play outside in the 'backyard', just so long as an adult was with the group. Of course, running the place was difficult for just two people, but they managed perfectly well.

Edea sighed once again as she recalled what occurred after Ellone's so called disappearance. Some of the children had been determined to believe that the elder girl had been kidnapped by some sort of villain from the television shows they watched, while others wondered if she had been adopted. Edea knew that they wouldn't have understood if she had explained it to them, but it was more difficult finding homes for the elder children than it was for the younger ones. It was set up that way because parents preferred to have a younger child join their family, so that way they would feel as though they were becoming a part of it. An elder child who was adopted into a family would always remember his or her old lifestyle, and, for that reason, wouldn't feel too much at home with the new family.

The morning after Ellone's departure had been a strenuous one. She and Cid had both been awoken by the cries of startled children and had tried to calm them all down, all the while trying to figure out what it was that had them so distressed. It turned out that Ellones' sudden disappearance had scared them into believing that something horrible had happened to her. In the end, Edea had had to talk to the children in groups and explain the situation to them in terms that they would understand. The general explanation had gone like; 'Very bad people were after Ellone and she didn't want anything bad to happen to the rest of you if she stayed, so she had to go away for a little while.'

Even with the little understanding they possessed after the explanation, Edea could tell that they were still very crestfallen about the departure of their 'big sister'. She knew that the act had to have been done, but it didn't stop the hurting that it caused her every time she caught sight of one of the childrens' melancholy expressions. Cid had dealt with that extremely well actually. He had told them all that Ellone wouldn't have wanted them to be sad by her leaving, and that it would make her sad when she came back and heard about it. Of course she didn't condone Cid's lying to the children, but it had brought them back into better spirits. It wasn't that Ellone wouldn't be coming back to them eventually. It was just that the future was so uncertain at times, and as long as people were searching for the little girl's power, there was no telling if she would be safe staying in one place for any given amount of time.

But in the end, she realized that her suspicions about what would happen had been correct. The rest of the children, although still saddened, seemed to put that behind them, trying to return to their normal daily activities and talking about her to make themselves feel better. However, there was still one child who didn't seem to be taking the news so well.

The child, Squall, had been devastated when he heard that the elder girl had left, and ever since then he had not been in the best of moods. He isolated himself from everyone else, even more so than he normally did, and he didn't seem to understand why the girl had had to leave. The both of them had been virtually inseparable ever since they first arrived at the orphanage, and this was the very first time they had been apart for more than an hour at most. Although Cid had told her that it was best to leave him be, Edea wasn't so sure. The boy was already beginning to develop a shell that he customarily crawled into, and she knew that it wasn't healthy for such a young child to be forced to deal with this by himself.

And this was the reason why she had stayed up for a while. She just couldn't stop thinking about what this whole situation was doing to the small boy. As a motherly figure, she felt that she should not be the cause of his miserable disposition, but she also knew that she had made the right decision. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret it in the long run.

She also understood that he was probably upset that Ellone hadn't come to talk to him about it. Not that it was really his decision to make, but she figured that he was hurt that the elder girl hadn't even said goodbye before she left. Edea had wanted for that to happen, but two possible outcomes forced her not to. For instance, he was still young, and if someone did come looking for her, he might accidentally allow something to slip that would lead them to her whereabouts. Another reason was that they needed to get her to leave immediately, since they never knew when her pursuers may come looking for her next.

Of course there was the possibility of allowing Squall to accompany her, but that had immediately been stricken from the list of possibilities. He was only four years old; which was far too young to be setting off sail with strangers. Although Ellone would have been there, Squall had a horrible habit of wondering off on his own at the best of times. Besides, a child that young needed to be cared for constantly, and he wouldn't get the proper attention he would need if he had tagged along.

Sighing aloud once more, she could recall to memory exactly what had happened the previous morning; when he had discovered that his 'big sister' had disappeared.

…

"_Squall!_ _Where are you going!" Edea shouted after the young boy that she was chasing. The boy had light brown hair that constantly fell forward and into his face and was dressed in an orange t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. Instead of possessing dark brown eyes like most of the children with dark hair had, he had ice-blue eyes, that seemed to like to jump from blue to grey at certain points. _

_She had just caught up to him when she saw that he had already grabbed his black and white running shoes and ran out the door. Taking in a deep breath, she ran after him, not even bothering to put on her own pair of shoes. As she ran down the steps as carefully as she could, she called out after the distressed boy. "Squall!"_

_The boy stopped in his tracks and Edea felt a shimmer of hope that he would come back after realizing just where he was about to go. Although the flower field was on the ground that she and her husband owned, fiends still occasionally appeared to take over the territory. Usually, the children would end up being kept inside of the building while either Cid or Edea took out the monster themselves. Not exactly the safest of ideas, but with no one else tending to the orphanage, there weren't very many options._

_However, the boy just turned around and folded his arms across his chest before saying, "I'm gonna go find Sis!" and rushing out into the flower garden. Edea frowned and was about to run after him when she suddenly realized that they weren't alone._

_Standing near the entrance of the orphanage grounds, was another boy. This boy couldn't have been older than the late teens, and was dressed nearly completely in black; a white shirt sat underneath his fur-collared black leather jacket, matching the pair of black jeans and combat style boots that he also wore. His light brown hair wasn't short, nor was it long; with strands falling in front of his face, covering his stormy-blue eyes and a scar that ran from his forehead, running diagonally past the bridge of his nose and stopping underneath his left eye. His left ear was pierced; a small bud earring resting on the cartilage on the bottom of the ear and sitting around his neck and on his chest was a chain attached to a strange looking pendent that appeared to be the head of a lion on a cross. A dark red coloured belt sat loosely around his waist, attached to his a scabbard that appeared to be carrying a weapon. _

_The weapon was what caught the womans' eye and she approached him slowly and cautiously. If he had come looking for the little girl that they had just sent away, she didn't want him going anywhere near the children. But there was something about this boy that told her that he wasn't there to cause any trouble. More importantly, Edea felt as if she had come into contact with him before, but she couldn't place the date or time. He was too old to have been among the children in the orphanage, as they had merely begun taking the children in roughly six years prior, and the eldest child they had taken in had been Ellone. _

_Trying her best to appear unassuming, she had smiled at the visitor before asking her question. "Excuse me…" she said as calmly as possible. "But you wouldn't have seen a little boy around here, would you?"_

_The teenager appeared stunned and confused for a moment, and Edea wondered if she had confused him with her question. However, before she could elaborate, she noticed a fleeting expression quickly crossing the boys features. She could have sworn it was understanding, but she couldn't be sure as it had disappeared quickly afterwards. Smiling back at the woman, the boy shook his head quickly. "Don't worry." He said. "He won't go very far."_

_For a moment, she contemplated the meaning behind those words. She had already decided in her mind to trust the teenager, since her sixth sense wasn't sensing anything hostile about him at all, but it seemed very strange that he would just wave off her concerns. A sudden though occurred to her that maybe, perhaps, he had siblings that tended to run off every now and then. He must have figured, from personal experience, that the child she was looking for might not head very far from where they were currently. She chuckled at the notion, also knowing from past experience that Squall would soon be coming back after tiring himself out. "I think so too…" She said after a moment when she gathered back her composure. "Poor thing…" she said as she looked past the visitor and finally spotted the elusive child. Squall was in the midst of searching the flower field, thinking that Ellone was hiding there. _

_Suddenly, Edea sensed something forming behind her, and turning around, she was surprised to see a billowing smoke appearing between herself and the door. Stepping back and to the side, she noted that the purple and black smoke continued to spread and before she even realized it, she had already stepped behind the teenager. However, rather than follow her example and step backwards, the boy reached towards the hilt of his weapon and unsheathed if from its scabbard. The weapon was a sort of a mix between a revolver and the blade of a weapon, seeming to meld together with each other. The blade itself was short, thin and white, but it pulsed to life with a glowing blue light that made the weapon appear to be far larger than it really was. The handle, which in reality was a grayish-white pistol, was larger than it normally would have been (probably to help balance out the weight of the weapon) and came complete with a barrel in the side for loading bullets. Hanging off the handle of the weapon appeared to be another chain with the same kind of lion head amulet on the end. Along the side of the blade also appeared to be an engraving of the same creature, only more completed, and appeared to be the cross between a lion and a bird with large wings. _

_Edea had always been fascinated about the concept of a gunblade. No one in history had ever been able to wield the legendary weapon, let alone master it. But this teenager, of whom she had only just met by chance, wielded it like an extension of his arm. He must've trained with it for a very long while… She thought to herself._

"_You're still alive!" the boy cried out, surprise apparent in his tone and she noticed him tense up as the swirling purple and black smoke seemed to form into a being. Edea wasn't surprised when a woman dressed in scantily black and red attire emerged, walking slowly and limping, as if she had been seriously wounded. She possessed long flowing silver hair that did nothing to make her appear older than she probably was, with long black tips decorating the ends. Light purple lines decorated her face and amplified her golden cat-like eyes. Her lips were painted red and her hands were covered by long black gloves that seemed to suggest that her fingers were nothing short of long claws. A black and red cape flowed behind her and black and red horns protruded from either side of her head (probably a decoration of sort). Black boots protected her feet from the rubble and broken slabs of stone that had crumbled from the roof of the building behind her and she swayed as she began to approach the both of them._

_Edea was not surprised by what she was, but mainly behind the impossibility of it. There were only two sorceresses that she knew of; one of them having been the ruthless tyrant of Esthar, Adel. The other she knew personally, and, although there was no mistaking the fact, this woman who stood before her was not the second sorceress. "The Sorceress?" she muttered aloud._

"_Yes…" The boy standing before her answer, and she was surprised that he had even heard her. "That is the Sorceress Ultimecia. We had defeated her, but it looks like she managed to survive the attack."_

"_Defeated her?" Edea asked in shock. "Us? What do you mean by that…?"_

"_I'll explain later." The teenager said, shifting his weight as he prepared to attack. "Matron, stand back."_

_Edea was momentarily taken aback by the statement. The only people to call her by her title were the children in the orphanage, and, although she felt as if she knew him, she didn't believe that she had ever seen him before in her entire life. But she understood that her questions could be answered later. Right at that moment, she needed to handle the situation before any unnecessary bloodshed occurred. Placing a calming hand on the boys' shoulder she quickly shook her head as she stepped around and in front of him. "There is no need to draw you're weapon." She spoke as calmly as the situation allowed her to. "Take another look at her."_

_The boy stared at her for a moment before doing as she asked and glanced at the sorceress, who was still steadily approaching them. Edea allowed him to do so for a second before she continued her explanation. "This sorceress is dead. I can't sense any life emitting from her person. She is just a being; a container that is holding her powers in check, and she will continue to wonder aimlessly with this power until she passes it on to another." _

_Swallowing audible, she realized that to have him understand the full situation she would have to allow him to know her secret; one that not many people were privileged to know; not even the children she was raising. The only person who was still around who knew what was, was her husband, and he was the only one she knew could see through that knowledge and see the person she really was. "I know all of this…because I too am a Sorceress, and have been for a long time."_

_She didn't notice any sign of surprise from the boy, and that alone shocked her to the core. It was if he had already known the truth, but there was no way he could have. As more questions seemed to take hold of her, she pushed them aside and continued to press forward. "I will accept her powers…because I do not wish for any of the children that are under my care to become a Sorceress. I alone will continue to possess this burden." _

_With that said, she turned away from the visitor and slowly began to approaching the dead woman, meeting her halfway. She heard the boy behind her calling to her, using the same title the children did, but she ignored him, continuing on until she and the Sorceress were staring at each other, face to face. Biting her lip, she stayed her ground as the Sorceress stared at her with her cold dead eyes. _

"_I…" the woman struggled for words for a moment, before staring blankly at the raven haired woman. "I…cannot…die yet…"_

"_I understand." Edea said, nodding as she did. "I will accept your powers. May you rest in peace."_

_The Sorceress nodded once in understanding before opening closing her eyes. Soon afterwards, a wave of wind passed between the two women and began to lift the Sorceress up into the air. At once, her arms extended to either side of her and a blast of fuchsia coloured light emerged from the center of her chest and flew into Edea with enough force to push her backwards. Still, she stayed her ground as she outstretched her own arms, accepting the power as it began to meld together with her own. After a moment, the force began to die down and Edea felt her strength leaving her as she sank to her needs and pushed her arms forward to prevent herself from landing on her stomach and face. Looking up through the one eye she still had open, she watched as the Sorceress fell forward onto the ground in the same manner as herself, only her body disintegrated in the same fuchsia coloured light as her power and her remains flew up into the sky like purple specs of light. Edea smiled herself as she watched the dead sorceress finally leave the plain, passing onto a new afterlife._

_She suddenly felt strong arms help her into a kneeling position and immediately know that it was the boy she had just met. Placing her left hand to rest on her forehead, she looked up at him wearily and managed a small smile to grace her features. "I am alright." _

_Looking back towards the ground of which the other Sorceress had been a moment ago, she couldn't help but voice another question. "…Is it over?"_

"_It seems like it Matron…" the boy answered as he helped her to her feet. "It's finally over…"_

_Looking at him curiously, she decided that now was as good a time as any to receive the answers she desired. "You just called me Matron." She said, surprising him a bit. "You've called me that a few times since you've been here, but I don't believe we've met before. Who…?" She took in a deep breath to calm herself. This entire ordeal was rather mind shaking and she would have been lying had she pretended it hadn't affected her so greatly. "Who are you?"_

_The boy hesitated for a moment, as if he were trying to reign in his own thoughts to properly address her question, and after a moment he finally spoke. "A SeeD." He said. "I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden."_

_The answer only confused her still. "SeeD? Garden?" The thought sounded absurd, although figuratively, anyone was a seed in the world that was the garden, but other than Cid, only she had expressed that opinion over the years. Hearing it from a stranger just seemed odd to her._

_The boy nodded once in answer to her question. "I don't know why they're called what they are, but Garden was built to train SeeDs. And SeeDs are created to defeat the Sorceress." At her surprised expression, he nodded once again. "And both of them were your ideas, Matron."_

_Just as she was about to question him further, a sudden realization struck her, and even though it sounded absurd, she couldn't help but believe in the explanation since it was the only one that made any sense. "Garden…SeeD…my…?" She shook her head to clear it when another answer came to her. No wonder she had sensed that she had known him before; she had…just in another time._

"_You mean…" she glanced back to see the young boy she had run after still searching amongst the flowers, as if the whole episode that had occur had not happened. "You're…that boy…from the future?"_

_The older Squall nodded once in agreement. "That's how I can see it at least."_

_Edea took a deep breath before letting it out. "I'm sorry if this comes off as abrasive or rude, but… you need to leave here. You do not belong in this time."_

_He nodded once again. "I understand that."_

_Just before he could say any more, however, the younger Squall ran passed him, reaching Edea as he took in a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself down. For all it was worth, he still looked about ready to break down. Edea took a moment to glance up at the child's elder counterpart and smiled lightly at the shocked expression on his features. She could only imagine what it would be like to come into contact with her own younger self. Looking back down at the younger boy, she knelt down, instantly sensing his distress. _

"_I can't find Sis…" he said, looking dejectedly at his shoes. _

_Edea could feel her own heart breaking at the sound of his tone. It sounded so sad; so lost. _

"_Am…am I all alone?"_

_Shaking her head, she pulled him into a hug as he still stared down at his shoes. "Of course you're not alone." She said to him. "You have me, and Cid, and all of the other children in the orphanage. I know it may not be the same as it used to be, but you still have us, and we all care about you very much."_

_Edea could tell that he had only been half listening, as she noticed that he had looked up towards his counterpart, as the elder boy watched the scene with an expression that seemed to say 'I understand'. She smiled to herself, knowing that in the end, her words had stayed with him._

"_Who's that?" The younger boy said, breaking the elder woman out of her thoughts. Edea smiled a bit at the startled expression on the teenagers face, signaling that he had also lost himself to his thoughts. "And what's he doin' here?"_

_Brushing a strand of hair out of the little boys' face, her smiled widened. "Nemo…" she said, speaking in the dead Centran language. "That means 'no one'. But you don't even really need to know." She ruffled his hair a bit as she continued. "The only Squall permitted here is you."_

_The young boy merely looked up at Edea in confusing as Edea looked to the elder Squall. "Do you know how to get back home?" She asked, the maternal part of her personality taking hold. "Do you know where to go? And will you be alright getting there by yourself?"_

_The elder Squall nodded in response before straightening his spine and pulling his right arm forward, his fingers snapping together and curving slightly in front of his face. Although Edea wasn't fully aware of military affairs, she understood that the gesture was intended to be a salute, and that the lower ranked soldiers would always salute to their superior. But she didn't even have a chance to mention it as he suddenly vanished into thin air; disappearing into the fabric of time and, hopefully, back to his own._

_Glancing back down at the young boy, she couldn't help back allow her thoughts to drift onto what the boy from the future had told her. SeeDs are trained in Gardens to defeat the Sorceress. It seemed uncanny to her, but also it provided a glimmer of hope. Perhaps there would be a way to prevent another Sorceress War from breaking out. Perhaps it would prevent Sorceresses like Adel, who would greedily welcome the use of their powers to use to their own gain from doing something horrific and unthinkable. It would give everyone a fighting chance if something like what happened so long ago happened again. The only problem Edea could think of was that the people who held the head position within this organization might use their biased opinion of Sorceress in general to guide their decisions. She didn't want there to be a group of people who could defeat a Sorceress breathing down the necks of the ones who try to keep a low profile in life. _

_That was when the rest of the boy's words rang in her head as if it were a reminder. 'Both of them were your ideas…' _

_Edea chuckled at the irony behind that statement; a Sorceress behind the idea of defeating Sorceress and protecting mankind from the ones who wish to abuse their powers. The idea itself seemed sort of like someone dreaming of a future without war. That wouldn't happen, with everyone within the world thinking differently from one another. But that was also what set people apart from each other; their ideas, their behaviours, their beliefs; all of it shaped and formed the people of today, and it would be barbaric to attempt to take that freedom away from people. Edea herself made it a personal practice to encourage the children in the orphanage to accept everyone's different beliefs. _

"_Matron…"_

_The small voice brought Edea out of her thoughts and she looked down at the boy she still held in her arms. "Yes?"_

"_I'm a little hungry."_

_Edea laughed at the statement before taking hold of his small hand. "I bet you are. All that running around made you very hungry. C'mon, let us go join the others."_

…

'_I remember telling Cid about that strange idea…' _she thought to herself as she glanced over at her slumbering husband. Cid had been ecstatic about the idea of people training people to defeat a Sorceress is necessity called upon it. Edea had waved the idea off almost immediately after she had told him, saying how ridiculous it sounded now that she had said it instead of thinking about it, but Cid on the other hand was determined to make it a personal project for himself. Edea had sighed then; whenever Cid had a personal project, he rarely ever finished what he started. In fact, he still had yet to complete the expansion of the little play set he had set up for the children to play on. In the end, Edea had purchased multiple amounts of them with her own savings money. Sure, Cid hadn't been happy about it, but the children were and that was what mattered.

But something was still bothering her. Fate and Destiny were nice words, but the future was never quite set in stone. What would happen if something were to change the idea behind SeeD? What if something or someone were to come along and use the creation of SeeD for something less noble? She knew Cid was a trusting man, and he saw the best in anyone, but he was also easy to lead around. Seeing the best in everyone was a great trait that Edea admired, but in the end, people tended to use that trust to lead the person astray. She for one had been led around in the past because of her powers, and she would do anything to prevent that from happening once again.

Rolling back over onto her right side, she stared out the window and noticed that the sun was peeking just above the horizon. Sighing, she rose to her feet and headed towards the window and leaned against the railing, her long dark hair blowing as a gentle current flew past. She knew that she wouldn't be getting any sleep as of that night. '_The children are probably starting to awaken as I'm standing here…'_ she thought to herself.

As she reached the bedroom door (careful not to rouse her husband), she suddenly felt a chill, as if something weren't quite right. Following that instinct, she quickly pulled the door open and went to check up on the children. Her main concern was that they were safe. If nothing showed up from there, then she would pursue another possibility. Bandits customarily set up forts in the surrounding area to find precious artifacts and whatnot left over from the Lunar Cry. Edea couldn't understand what they would find, considering the amount of time that had passed between then and presently, but she was concerned that they may try to rob the orphanage of anything that wasn't bolted down.

Walking up the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could, she looked outside to see that the sun was still slowly making its way over the horizon, but she paid it little mind as she entered the room that the girls resided in. Checking up on them, she noticed that most of them, the younger children, were already in the midst of waking up and watching the sunrise from their own bedroom window. One of the little girls, a small brunette with green eyes and dressed in yellow pajamas was propped up to look out the window by one of the older girls.

Inspecting the room, she counted the girls quickly before nodding to herself and heading towards the boy's room. Just as she was about to grab a hold of the doorknob, the door swung open and out ran a little boy with blond hair and blue eyes dressed in light blue pajamas. Running after him was another boy with blond hair, and he was fully dressed in a blue sleeveless shirt with white lines crisscrossing at the center and a pair of dark pants.

"MATWON! HELP!" The littler of the two screamed as he ran down the stairs.

"Seifer!" Edea shouted behind her. "It's far too early to be picking on Zell!"

The second boy, Seifer, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Edea. "But I can't pick on Squall, coz he's not here."

Edea stopped herself from entering the bedroom and approached the blonde boy, stopping him from running after the younger boy. "What did you just say?"

"I said I can't pick on Squall coz he's not here."

Kneeling down to Seifer's level, Edea looked the child in the eye. "Seifer, this is important. Was he there when you woke up?"

Suddenly jumping backwards, Seifer stared at Edea wide-eyed. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it!"

"I know you didn't do anything, aside from picking on Zell, which we're going to be talking about, but was he Squall there when you woke up?"

"…No…I went to wake him up but he wasn't there so I got dressed and started chasing the cry-baby."

"Seifer, that is not a nice thing to say about Zell. We're going to have a talk about that later." With that said, Edea quickly left the child alone to wonder what it was she was talking about and headed back down the stairs towards her bedroom. If Squall had done what she thought he had, then they needed to find him quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

He was alone.

If someone could describe in terms that would be easily understood by someone who had never been exposed to such a situation with such finality, they would most likely use the word empty. It felt barren and isolated from the outside world; knowing that there were people around you and within arms reach, but also knowing that no matter how hard you wanted to, you just couldn't, wouldn't entrust your very life within the hands of a stranger. The feeling of being utterly alone in life is a painful feat, one that is extremely difficult to describe let alone live throughout, especially for that of a child.

It had been just like every other day when he had awoken in the morning on the fateful day of his sister's disappearance. He had climbed out of bed early enough that the other children who co-resided within the room were still sound asleep, and quietly headed towards the opposite end of the second floor in search of his sister's room. The elder children were grouped together in a separate room, so that when they went to bed they didn't disturb the younger children while they slumbered on. Having crept into the elder girl's room, he had been disappointed when he noticed that her bed had been made and that she was not sleeping in it.

The tell tail signs of frown began to crease on the little boy's features as he wondered about the reason she would abruptly change the daily routine, which had not been broken for as long as he could remember. Early in the mornings, he would awaken and after, rousing his older sister from her own sleep, they would spend the solitude with each other; whether it was reading or just simply watching the television. Because the other children in the house adored her just as much as he did, this was the only time they had between the two of them.

As far as the boy knew, his sister had never broken their tradition for any reason in the past, and he wondered what was so different about this day that would cause her to start.

Carefully climbing down the stairs, he had made his way over towards the sitting room, where the pair normally ended up. Because of this fact, he had assumed that she would be there before him, having trouble sleeping the night before and just watching the television alone before he appeared. However, he had been sorely disappointed when all he had been greeted with was an unoccupied sofa and a television not in use.

Beginning to feel the first remnants of panic taking form, he had immediately begun searching the rest of the house; the kitchen, the playroom, the bathroom, even the attic and crawlspace, only to come up empty. By this time, the other children were beginning to arise and soon enough everyone had discovered the disappearance of the girl. By the time one of the elder children had run off in search of Matron to tell her the news, the whole orphanage had been in an uproar, desperately searching for the missing girl.

As soon as Matron had appeared before the large group of children, she had calmed everyone down by explaining that Ellone had been forced to leave the orphanage. He hadn't heard the rest of the explanation; so much in shock he had been. Out of the entire information he had received, he understood only one thing; that she had gone away.

Instantly afterwards, Squall had run outside to search for his older sister within the flower garden, knowing how much she loved to spend her time there. Besides, she couldn't have gotten that far away, and he hoped that he would be able to catch up to her. But he had given up his search shortly after beginning it, and had returned to Matron absolutely devastated. He hadn't immediately noticed the strange person who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and whom was currently speaking to Matron and watching him in shocked awe, and when he had asked who he was, Matron had answered him in a way he was positive only an adult would have understood, because he certainly hadn't.

For the majority of the day, he had sat underneath an oak tree that had been growing in the flower garden, staring at his hands in numb shock as the other children around him carried on with their regular routines; laughing and playing with one another. The boy couldn't comprehend how the others could act so normally if they cared about her as much as he had, and he didn't know if he really wanted to. To him, they were just showing how much Ellone really meant to them by acting as if they had never known her, and it disgusted him to keep watching them. Eventually, he had gone inside and away from the sounds of laughter, which was where Matron had asked him if he wanted help her out in the kitchen.

It was later in the day that he began to wonder what would have driven the elder girl away from the orphanage. He knew she enjoyed staying there, and that if she left she would miss all the other kids there. This made him believe that his sister must have been taken by force. He recalled all of the times she had told him about the mean people who had kidnapped her from where she used to live and how her uncle had saved her. Maybe they came back to kidnap her again, and succeeded this time. Matron and Cid normally checked on everyone throughout the night, so the men had to be extra sneaky and quiet so that they didn't get caught.

Just thinking about how scared Elle must be at that moment was enough reason for the child to figure out how to rescue her. He didn't want to tell the other children, mainly because he didn't think they really cared about her since they were just playing around. Cid and Matron would just think he was getting an over-active imagination too, so that just left him going out to find her alone. Squall didn't exactly revel in the notion of going out onto the plains by himself, since he had been warned that monsters liked the roam the grounds, but he also knew that he had to do something other than mope around and feel sorry for her.

Which was exactly why he had awoken as early as he had that morning.

Quickly getting dressed in the clothes he had worn the previous day (since of course he couldn't reach the drawers that held the clean ones), he quickly crept down the stairs so as not to draw attention towards himself from Matron and Cid (who would be upset at how early he was awake and dressed at). Sneaking into the kitchen, he grabbed a hold of a little red wagon with the black handle that was sitting beside the counter and began the task ahead of him by opening the refrigerator door. He began to pile peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on top of the wagon, knowing that he was going to need them if he was going to search. He remembered Ellone having told him about the one time she had persuaded her uncle to take her camping with him just outside of her house, and how much they had had to pack. Keeping that in mind, he managed to fill the wagon with fifteen sandwiches, four big bottles of juice, and a big bottle of water before shutting the refrigerator door and exiting the kitchen.

Heading towards the front door, he grabbed a yellow raincoat, just in case it rained, a small bag that he could use to carry some of the sandwiches when they started disappearing, and a red and black baseball cap. Putting the raincoat on top of the pile of items he had collected, he pulled the cap over his head before putting on his shoes and opening the front door.

It was still dark outside; very dark in fact, and the only lights that the child could see were the small white dots that blanketed the sky. Looking back into the dark house that had yet to awaken, the small child took in a deep breath, released it and closed the door behind him as he trekked outside.

That had all taken place a long while ago and, since the child couldn't really tell time all too well; he had absolutely no idea as to how long he had been walking. He knew that it had been a long while, since his legs and feet were beginning to hurt and the sun was high up in the sky; as high up as Squall could have imagined at least. Looking back, he realized that he could only barely see the Orphanage now, but he also knew that it was too late to turn back. Everyone would have noticed his disappearance by then and if he did go back, he would not only get in trouble as well as return empty handed. If he was going to get into trouble and have to stand in the corner or sit alone in his room, he was prepared for it. It wasn't like this was going to be the first time he ever got punished for being bad. Since he and Seifer always fought, they always ended up being punished.

He didn't care what the consequences for his actions were at the moment anyways. The only thing that really mattered was finding his sister and bringing her back to the orphanage with him. This thought was enough to keep him walking for a little longer.

Periodically, he would stop and take a gulp of juice or water, but he had not stopped once to eat. This was the reason for his stomach growling once the sun had begun descending from the sky above and Squall decided that since he couldn't see the Orphanage anymore anyways, that this was as good a time as any to sit down and grab a bite to eat. He hadn't actually realized how hungry he was until having finished his first sandwich and immediately reaching for his second, but shrugged it off. He hadn't eaten since before he went to bed later in the night, so it was expectable that he was hungry. After finishing his second sandwich, he was contemplating eating a third when he heard something from nearby.

Turning his head in the direction he had heard the sound, he realized that they were nothing but birds. He had been apprehensive about running into any monsters, and sighed in relief that he wouldn't have to. Realizing that the birds were eyeing his food, Squall grabbed one of the crumbs he had let escape and threw it at the nearest bird. The bird looked at the offering before looking back at the boy and staring at him for a moment. Finally, the bird decided to eat the crumbs, and before long, more birds had decided to appear, begging for more food.

After a few minutes of watching the birds eat one of his sandwiches, he heard a sound that definitely did not sound like the winged creatures. It was long and rough and caused him to jump in surprise. The birds heard it too, because they grabbed whatever crumbs they could find and immediately took off into the air, leaving him alone with whatever it was.

Packing up quickly, he decided to leave before whatever it was caught up to him. When he had packed up, he had put as many of the sandwiches as he could inside, as well as a bottle of water. The only reason he had gone for the wagon was that it held the other bottles.

However, just as he was about to run for it, he felt the ground shake under him. Since he hadn't expected it, he suddenly fell forward, losing the grip he had on the wagon. He felt himself scrape his knee slightly and resisted the urge to cry over it as he tentatively looked behind him.

A huge monster was stalking towards him; it's stomping causing the shaking that had forced him off his feet. It had a long tail and huge spider-like feet, but the most intimidating feature of this creature was that its mouth was on sideways, the teeth coming from both left and right instead of up and down like they were supposed to. The monster drooled when he saw him and moved closer to him.

Squall didn't like the sound that whatever it was was making and decided that now was as good a time as any to get out of there. Unfortunately, when the monster got close enough, Squall stumbled once again, only this time, he was able to keep his footing.

Turning to look behind him, Squall realized that the monsters teeth were just getting ready to bite him. He grabbed the nearest thing he could find, which just happened to be one of the bottles of juice he had scrounged up and, with both hands, threw it at the monster as it opened its mouth. The monster's teeth caught the bottle and broke it apart, juice splashing everywhere.

Just before the monster could attack him, however, something loud sounded nearby, and the creature screeched, the loud sound hurting the four-year-olds ears. Looking over to where the sound had come from, the child noticed a car that looked similar to the one Matron and Cid drove. It was a dark green in colour, with thick looking tires and no roof over the top.

Three adults jumped out of the vehicle, holding weapons like the heroes on TV, and start shooting at the monster. Squall quickly crawled of the way just before one of the curved feet could hit him, keeping under the monster. The men started shouting, but they were talking too quickly for him to decipher. Instead, he saw the back of the car open and ran over towards it, despite the bulk of the bag. He tripped and fell suddenly, and as he pulled himself up onto his feet, he realized that one of his shoes was missing. Looking back towards the monster, he saw the shoe underneath it. He knew that his sock was going to get dirty, but he really didn't want to go back to where the monster was.

He was just barely tall enough to reach the bottom of the compartment and, with all the strength he could muster, he pulled himself up and into it, landing in some seedy stuff that he couldn't identify. He pulled the hatch over top and left a small gap between the lid and the bottom to see what was going on. He had done this many times when he and his sister played hide-and-seek; his favourite hiding place was the laundry bin.

Just as he turned his attention towards what the strangers were doing, he realized that the monster wasn't moving and the three men were laughing and cheering. He didn't know how they could be happy at a time like this, when the monster had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tried to turn them into its dinner, but he was happy that it wasn't attacking them anymore.

"Hey…" one of the strangers said. He had blonde hair and was wearing dark colours. "Someone drop a shoe?"

Squall noticed that the blonde man was holding up his running shoe, but he didn't want to come out of his hiding spot just yet. First, he wanted to make sure that the monster was definitely not going to move again.

"Little small to be mine," another one said, this one had dark hair. "Maybe there was a kid here or something."

"What's a kid doing in the middle of nowhere?" The last one, with red hair, asked. "And where's their parents?"

"Well there is an orphanage around here." The first man said. "Maybe the kid wondered off." Looking back at the shoe, he frowned. "I hope the little guy's okay."

"If we only found his shoe, and the monster was around here…" the dark haired man trailed off. "You don't think that it…"

There was silence for a while that no one broke and Squall was wondering what it was they were talking about. He must have been a great hider if they couldn't see where he was.

The red haired man noticed the wagon and frowned. "Yeah, there was definitely someone here. I guess we came too late to save him… or her…"

"After we've finished delivering our goods, we'll head over to the orphanage and ask 'em if they're missing a kid." The blonde one said.

The strangers walked towards the car and out of Squall's line of view. Then, the car started to vibrate and they were moving, the child watching everything through the gap at the back of the car.

…

During the car ride, the sun had set, illuminating the sky with stars. Squall didn't know exactly how long they had been moving but just as his eyes were about to droop shut, they slowed down, shaking the child and waking him up. Looking out of the gap, he noticed they were still moving, but not nearly as quickly. They looked as though they were moving in a circle until they suddenly stopped. When Squall had righted himself, he saw that he was facing the ocean and hoped that they hadn't turned around back towards the orphanage.

He heard something slam shut and, looking for something to hide, he crawled into one of the boxes that had tipped over, landing inside of more seed-like stuff. He ducked down inside of it, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted.

The sound of the lid to the back of the car caught his attention and he held his breath, looking through a small hole in the box. He saw the blonde haired man who took notice of the tipped over box and frowned. "Dammit…" he put the box back right-side up and placed the lid over it, telling the young child that he had avoided detection.

He was carried a moment later and, from his vintage point, he could see that he was heading towards a boat on the water. Since he hadn't seen a sign of Ellone during the car ride, he figured that they might be on their way to the elder girl now. Squall tried to stay as quiet as he could, but it was difficult whenever the seed stuff was all around him, itching him and trying to fall into his mouth whenever he shifted position.

The box he was in was placed on the boat and the three guys climbed in, started the motor and the boat came to life, taking all of its passengers towards the nearest island.

…

The moon was sitting high into the sky when the boat stopped moving. Having closed his eyes during the trip, Squall opened them wearily when the box was suddenly picked up once again. A moment later, the box was on the ground and the three guys moved towards the boat. Squall couldn't tell what they were saying, nor did he really care. He just wanted them to turn around so that he could climb out of the box and continue his search for his sister.

Finally, all three guys turned to look at the water and Squall found his opportunity. He climbed out of the box quickly yet carefully, replacing the lid and running to hide behind a boulder before they turned around. Sure enough they did, just after he secured his hiding place. The three strangers went back to what they were talking about, picking up the box full of those irritating seed things and walking past him, towards the mountains.

When he figured that the coast was clear, Squall quietly crept out from behind the boulder and looked up at the sky, wondering exactly where Ellone could be. Turning to look behind him, he suddenly noticed a large building nearby and figured that his sister could be there. His resolve returning, he took in a deep breath and headed towards it.

It was huge; far larger than the orphanage was. It stretched up into the sky and was designed in all kinds of shapes, like triangles and squares. He followed the dirt path that lead him inside of the place and looked up at the large triangular shaped object at the very top. He wondered if Ellone was being held captive in there.

"If thou does not wish to perish, thou will leave at once!" A voice from nowhere called out.

Squall looked up and wondered exactly where the voice had come from. He didn't see anyone nearby, but he was sure he had heard someone talking to him. He knew he didn't have an invisible friend, so he was positive he couldn't have been talking to someone no one else could see, especially since he couldn't see them either.

_Maybe that's the voice of the mean people who kidnapped my sister._ He thought to himself. _Maybe they're hiding her and they don't want anyone to find her._

His mind made up, he continued down the dirt road, towards the structure towering in front of him. Soon, the road changed and had bricks covering the dirt, something he had seen Matron do outside once. The newly made road stopped soon after, and a set of stairs started upwards. Squall took his time in climbing the stairs, since they were nearly half his frame.

Finally, when he had finished climbing, he realized that he was standing on a circular platform, a statue positioned on the right of him. More stairs were set in on the opposite side he was standing on, but he didn't see too many people there.

As he walked towards the stairs, he did notice someone standing nearby however. It was a small creature wearing a light coloured cloak. From what Squall could tell, the back of the stranger's head was green, but he had always been told by Matron not to judge a book by its cover. His back was to him, so he couldn't get a look at his face or the front of him.

_Maybe he can tell me where Sis is…_ He thought to himself.

Taking in a deep breath, Squall released it before shouting at the creature. "Excuse me! Can you help me find Sis Elle?"

The stranger turned around and Squall couldn't help but compare the stranger's appearance to a frog, or was it a lizard? Whatever it was, Squall also noticed that the stranger was holding a lantern, making the dark place appear somewhat lighter. The stranger's other hand was inside of his cloak-sleeve. Squall assumed that it was because the stranger was cold.

Instead of answering, however, the stranger started walking slowly towards him, the lantern swinging back and forth every time he moved.

Frowning slightly, Squall decided to ask his question again. "I said, 'Can you help me find Sis Elle?' She likes blue and she's taller than me and –"

Before the child could finish what he was trying to say, he noticed the stranger removing his hand from inside of his sleeve and he stopped talking all at once. In the stranger's hand was a knife, a pretty long one in fact and the strangers eyes glowed yellow for a second before he continued moving forward.

Squall immediately took a step backwards. "Never mind. Sorry if I made you mad." He turned back towards the stairs and walked quickly towards them.

As soon as he reached the first step, he realized that he'd have to climb them awkwardly again, so he pulled himself up onto the next step, just like he had when he had pulled himself up into the back of the car. After he had accomplished this feat three times, he looked back, wondering if the stranger had decided to go back to whatever he was doing. He knew that when he accidentally interrupted Cid or Matron, and he left them alone, they always went back to whatever they were talking about.

Unfortunately, he saw that the stranger was following him, the light shining from his lantern easily recognizable.


	3. Chapter 3

After the discovery of the missing child in the early hours of the day, both orphanage owners had formed a search party, enlisting the assistance of the elder children to look for the small boy, while the others were watched closely by one of the corresponding adults. Cid had volunteered to cover the search for Squall and insisted that Edea take the moment to calm down and to reassure the other children that everything was going to be alright. The disappearance of Ellone had been a bad enough discovery, but knowing that another child managed to vanish between then and now was very alarming to them and they needed reassurance that no one was in danger. It had taken a couple of hours for the children to calm down, but eventually, they were back to acting as they were, although a concerned aura filled the building's structure.

Edea bit lightly onto the nail on her thumb; a nervous habit she had possessed since she was a child. No word had come back from Cid concerning Squall's whereabouts and the Sorceress couldn't help but worry. Of course, this wasn't the very first time Squall had done a disappearing act, but normally they would find him within the Orphanage. A very thorough search of his usual hiding places as well as just about every inch of the structure proved that he had, indeed disappeared.

It hadn't helped that his shoes were missing, along with a bundle of sandwiches, and two water bottles, one filled with juice. She recalled that the very child they were now looking for had assisted in their preparation and couldn't help but think that he had planned to run away all along. Despite the explanation of his sister's whereabouts, Squall had remained closed off for the remainder of the day and it worried to raven haired woman that such a child clearly as sensitive as him could be out there by himself, doing Hyne knew what.

'_He must think he has to find Elle,'_ Edea surmised, recalling the incident the day prior in the flower garden. He had been so desperate to find Ellone in the garden, had run outside before anyone could stop him. She wouldn't put it past him to try to search again. '_Perhaps he just wandered too far off. But if that was the case, we would have found him already.'_

Even as the children were playing in what could only be described as the living room Edea allowed her thoughts to wander. In the four years they had taken in children, not once had they ever lost one and Edea would never forgive herself if anything were to happen to the dark haired child. He was only four years old, and who knew what kind of monsters liked to wander about in this environment. Normally, it was far too hot to stay outside for very long, which was why Edea and Cid preferred to limit the amount of time the children stayed outside to play, but during the last few days the weather had been somewhat bearable; a cool breeze having swept past them in a refreshing change of weather.

This did nothing to stop Edea's worrying; if anything the change of weather amplified her anxiety. Although the orphanage was located away from civilization, they still managed to receiving cable television, although the weather forecasts were less than accurate, being three months behind. The children didn't seem to care all too much; cartoons were cartoons after all. Besides, Edea didn't need a weather man to tell her the changes in the forecast. Her powers amplified all of her senses; her hearing, sight, sense of smell, taste and touch being on a higher scale than anyone else she knew, and even those she had never had the pleasure (or displeasure) of meeting.

Right now, her sense of smell was warning of rain, and Edea knew exactly what that meant. While Centra was mostly a bone-dry continent, were very little could thrive in its harsh environment, every two months the area would suffer from severe rain storms, often bringing thunder and lightning in their wake. They would last for the next week and a bit, and would bring water to the parched lands, but the fact that a child was lost out there right before the storm would break out was alarming to the woman and she could not simply sit back and wait for it to happen.

By midday, Cid returned with the rest of the elder children who were assisting in the search of the missing child, but when Edea went to greet him, she found him to be empty handed. As the children settled themselves for lunch (the younger children had already eaten and were settling down for an early afternoon nap), Edea tried to busy herself with things she needed to tend to. She knew that her husband could see through the façade, however, but she ignored his constant worried glances as she cleaned the counters and sinks in the kitchen before preparing herself to tend to the flowers in the front yard.

The flowers… that had been one of the last places she had seen the little boy; running amidst them and calling out to his older sister, in hopes that she would hear him and come running. Edea remembered that the pair had often played hide-and-seek in the garden when they played outside; and every time they were found they would come running back to the Orphanage, a precaution all of the children had taken to in order to avoid getting lost.

Edea was wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off of her pale skin, gardening gloves to protect her fingers from the thorns of the flowers within the area, and boots to prevent said thorns from scratching at her legs. As she climbed down the steps leading away from the front of the Orphanage, she paused in her venture, staring at the place where the mysterious boy from the future had stood merely a day again and her thoughts wandered to the things he had told her about the future.

'_You shouldn't even be thinking about that,' _Edea chastised herself, forcing herself to tear her gaze away from the ground. '_Those instances occur in the future. You shouldn't know what happens in the future; it could shift the balance and prevent certain events from taking place.'_

Still, she had to admit she had been slightly intrigued about the idea of people formed for the sole purpose of defeating a Sorceress whose powers became too much for her to control. It would prevent another war from breaking out and another tragedy from befalling the children and adults of the world; no one deserved to lose anyone; be it young or old.

Just thinking about it brought back unwanted memories from her own childhood and as quickly as they came, Edea banished them from the forefront of her mind. She could not and would not dredge up such horrible events from the past and allow them to take hold of her in the present, and possibly steer her actions in the future. She never wanted anyone to feel the same way she had while growing up, and hoped that with raising the children the way she was that she would be taking the steps necessary to get rid of such prejudices. The world definitely could do without them.

But the past was the past, and there was no way she would be able to change it. She could learn from past mistakes and create a brighter future. Besides, she had more pressing matters to turn her attention towards besides the murky waters of her childhood. Cid had related his search of the east, up towards the Chocobo Forest located nearby, coming up empty and had mentioned something about searching to the west after lunch. Edea wanted very much to search with him, but she couldn't just leave the children unattended. The only reason she was taking the time to tend to her garden was due to the fact that Cid had yet to leave. She knew that she would have to manage with the sheer thought that Cid would return with Squall, safe and sound, and it would be something in the past that would never happen again in the future.

When she had finished tending to her flowers, she had gone back inside, just in time to bid her husband farewell and good luck. Afterwards, she had busied herself with more housework that needed to be done and occupied the children's minds with stories and games once they had awoken from their naps. It was in the early evening when Cid returned, once again empty handed.

Edea was at her wits end. The young boy had been missing for almost a day now, and there didn't appear to be any hope of finding him. Edea couldn't even imagine being lost out there by herself at his young age; he wouldn't be able to defend himself against the roaming monsters in the area, or from the bandits that had taken to living in the surrounding area. She knew she couldn't just sit there and wait for something to happen – she would need to act herself.

Thunder cracked and lightning flared, breaking the Sorceress out of the torrent of thoughts that had consumed her mind for the past eighteen hours and it was then that she had made up her mind. Nearly leaping up off the couch, she raced towards the front door, passing Cid as she grabbed a pair of black rain boots and a dark blue rain jacket. "Edea? Where are you going?"

"I can't just sit idle and wait for something horrible to happen to that little boy." Edea said, even as she buttoned up her jacket and secured a rain hat atop her head. "I'm going out to find him."

"In this weather?" Cid sounded astounded. "Edea, there's no hope of finding anything out there, let alone a four year old little boy."

"In this weather, a four year old boy has a greater chance of being struck by lightning or being killed by one of those monsters roaming about." Edea finally had the jacket on and immediately grabbed a hold of an umbrella, black in colour, and, opening the door, she opened it up to protect herself from the rain.

Cid looked as though he wanted to say something, but a look from Edea silenced him. "I'll look north since no one could find him east or west, and I'll take the jeep. I'm not coming back until I find him."

Before she could leave however, Cid grabbed a hold of her right arm and she stared at him, waiting for him to do something – anything – but after a moment, he released his grip on her, smiling and trying to appear reassuring. He only accomplished appearing even more worried about the circumstances as he had a mere moment ago. "Be careful." He said softly. "And bring him home."

Edea nodded in response and leaned forward, kissing her husband on the lips, of which he returned. She cut the gesture short and, stepping outside, she waved back at Cid before closing the door behind her.

The Sorceress hadn't realized just what time it was when it had suddenly begun pouring, but the sky was pitch black, the crescent moon sitting back in the sky and watching as the events flew by it, even as Edea climbed inside of the dark green jeep, closing the door behind her and grateful that Cid had remembered to keep the roof up this time. She still had vivid memories of the ruined seats as well as remembering how much they had cost to replace. Placing the keys inside of the ignition, she turned them towards her, nodding to herself as the engine began almost immediately. Pulling her seatbelt in front of her, she shifted gears and drove out from beside the Orphanage towards the north, hoping to see some sign of the little boy she was looking for.

She didn't know how long she had driven, only that she couldn't see him anywhere, but she stopped the jeep when she noticed a monster's carcass lying in the middle of nowhere. Stopping the car instantly and stepping out into the miserable weather, she crept towards the monster, instantly recognizing it as a Giant Mantis. It wasn't that sight that terrified her, though. Lying beside the dead creature was a red wagon, having been tipped onto its side, a broken bottle, the contents unknown, having been washed away during the storm, and the undeniably familiar black and white shoe.

Ignoring the other two objects lying nearby, she quickly grabbed the shoe, hoping that she was merely hallucinating and allowing a sob to escape her when she felt the fabric. He must have been attacked by the monster while he was wandering around. There was no mistaking that revelation. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he must have felt; seeing something that big towering over him.

'_Take a deep breath Edea; you're jumping to conclusions…' _Her mind stated soothingly. '_Maybe he just left the shoe behind trying to escape. You won't know for sure by standing around wallowing in pity and grief. Focus your powers; see if he's still alive.'_

Although she could not sense a person's whereabouts without having them open their minds to her, she could sense whether or not someone was still alive, especially if she knew what she was looking for. Having practically raised the young boy since infancy, she held very little doubt that she would miss him if he was still alive. So she managed to force herself to stand and return to the jeep, the running shoe held tightly in her grasp. Once she was in the driver's seat, Edea closed her eyes and tried to concentrate solely on the little boy whom had appeared so depressed the day before.

She sensed Cid and the rest of the children's presence, and this reassured her; telling her that her powers still worked and that they would be useful in discovering the truth. She blocked them all out and concentrated hard, almost bringing on a mild headache when she suddenly sensed him, alive and very well.

Smiling for the first time since his disappearance was discovered; Edea hastily started the engine and was just about to continue her journey north when she was rocked with a violent feeling, her headache intensifying as her surroundings changed from the interior of the vehicle she sat in. Now she found herself standing in the middle of a man-made building, ruined and decrepit from years of inactivity. There was a statue in the very center, and thousands of creatures wandering aimlessly wearing brown cloaks and wielding flashlights in one hand and a knife in the other.

Before she could make sense of what she saw however, she blinked and found herself sitting behind the wheel of the jeep, as if nothing had happened. Her smiled vanished as a horrible feeling took hold of her gut. Whatever she had just seen was some sort of warning; a sign of danger, and she somehow knew that Squall was involved. Shaking visibly, Edea took control of the wheel and stepped on the gas peddle so hard she was touching the floor as she sped further north, hoping that she would make it in time.

She pulled the jeep to a stop and jumped out, slamming the door shut after making sure the car keys were in her pocket, searching around for a boat or anyone for that matter. If it came down to it, she was prepared to use her powers to get off the island. She had a feeling that what she saw was located on the next island over.

Just as she was about to give up and cast a spell, however, she noticed a boat pulling up onto the beach and ran towards it, hoping that they would be willing to do her this favour and take her across. One of the men saw her; a red-haired man dressed in dark colours, though specifically, Edea couldn't tell, and began to trek towards her, climbing out of the boat even before it had been secured to land. Her brisk walk turned into a slight run as she met him halfway.

"What're you doing here so late at night?" the man asked, catching the attention of his partners; a blonde male and a dark haired man, both wearing dark clothes like him. "Aren't you afraid that the monsters might attack?"

"I'm looking for a little boy." Edea interrupted, ignoring the commentary. "He has dark hair and light eyes, and is probably wearing a light coloured shirt and dark coloured pants. He was wearing these running shoes," she held up the shoe for the men to see. "and he disappeared sometime this morning. Have any of you seen him?"

"Where did you find that?" the red-head asked, his smile having faded as he exchanged glances with his friends. "Are you the orphanage owner?"

"Yes," Edea was slightly taken aback by the second question, forgetting entirely about the first. "Yes, I do. Why is that relevant?"

"We found a shoe like that near a monster we killed earlier today." The red haired man explained. "We were just on our way to visit you, to see if you're missing one of the kids you're caring for. Looks like you found us first."

"Did you see a little boy there?" Edea asked frantically, to which the red head shook his head.

"Nope." The blonde answered for him. "I just found the shoe. Thought the kid mighta gotten…" he paused in mid sentence, clearing his throat as he did. "Just like Austin said thought; we found the shoe, had to go about business and were planning on dropping by to check in."

"Sorry about your loss, ma'am." the dark haired male said. "How old was he?"

Edea shook her head as if to clear it before suddenly blurting out what was on her mind. "He's alive. Don't ask me how I know, I just do. Please, you need to take me to that island over there!" she pointed behind them, the men following her finger as they looked at the island in the distance.

The red-head, Austin, was the first to speak. "We just came from there; and we didn't see anything there."

"Please, just humour me." Edea was beginning to become frantic. Here she found people who could take her to the missing child, and yet here they were, debating with her as if she were insane. The raven haired woman could feel the tears staining her cheeks amidst the rain water that was continuously coming down. "I just have this feeling that he's still alive, and that he's in danger. Is there anything that someone could hide in?

"Now that I think about it," the blonde man said, just as the dark haired man was about to interject. "there is a building on that island. We could take a look over there."

"Are you insane!" Austin shouted, just before Edea could respond. "You know what happens over there; you wanna put a woman in danger because she's looking for a little kid?"

"Well what if she's right?" the blonde retorted back. "What if the kid is still alive? And what if he's hiding in that place. You know better than I do that that place is worse for little kids than it is for adults like us!"

"What if she's wrong?" Austin said. "I know it's heartless of me to say this, but what if the kid is dead already? We shouldn't have to risk our lives and the life of a woman because of a 'what if'?"

"I'll pay." Edea jumped in, before the blonde could protest further. "I'll pay you all for this, anything you'd like, just please. I know he's over there, and I know he's in some kind of trouble. Please help me find him."

Edea didn't know about any kind of rumour, but after hearing that children were in danger of a structure that stood on the island in front of them was enough to steer her into action. The thought of Squall being alone with someone or something that would try to kill him was heartbreaking and she needed to find him before anything bad could happen. She could obtain answers to her inquiries later; right now her first priority was Squall's safety.

"Ma'am, you don't need to pay us anything." The dark haired male interjected, shooting the two men beside him glares and rendering them silent. "We'll take you where you need to go. We'll even go in with you."

"What!" Austin shouted, but was silenced once again by the dark haired male's glare. Throwing his hands up into the air, he headed back towards the boat. "Damn, man; I knew working with the two of you was going to be the death of me…"

"Thank you." Edea said, sighing in relief, and she followed the remaining two towards their boat. It wasn't very large, but it was adequate enough to fit four people. Austin sat behind the driver's seat of the boat, and started the ignition, the boat rumbling and roaring to life as the remaining three climbed aboard. Soon afterwards, the boat set off towards the island in front of them.

Austin kept an eye on the ocean in front of him while the blonde man sat next to him, neither one offering each other words or even looks. Edea hoped that she hadn't done anything to upset anyone, and her thoughts must have given her away, since the dark haired male smiled at her reassuringly. "Don't worry about them. Curtis and Austin always butt heads. It's usually me who has to break them up."

"Thank you so much for going out of your way." Edea beamed gratefully.

"It's not a problem. My name's Mark, by the way."

There was a moment of silence before Mark spoke up again, sensing her tension. "You're worried about what the guys said about the structure up ahead, right?"

Edea nodded in affirmation and he nodded back. "Thought so. I might as well tell you the reason Austin didn't want to go. You see, when Centra used to be this huge civilization, there was this temple that sat on that island. Many people went there to worship Hyne or whatever deity they believed in. It was considered holy ground."

Edea nodded, signalling Mark to continue when he paused. "Well, after the Lunar Cry eighty years ago, everything was destroyed. The continent had broken apart, creating these islands and almost nothing was spared its destruction. The building that is on this island is the only thing that remains of the entire Centran civilization."

"I fail to see what's so terrifying about an old building." Edea said, although she didn't believe the words even as she spoke them.

"Well the fact is that there were many settlements who managed to escape Centra before the Lunar Cry destroyed it, right? Some of those settlers came back and tried to build the civilization anew, and they discovered that the Temple was still around. It was a mess, but it was the most intact building anyone could find. Anyway, they started setting up camps there, but rumour has it that something survived in that Temple, and that it would protect it's holy ground to eternity and beyond. And slowly, one by one, people were disappearing, until there was no one left, and the temple was silent once again."

Edea frowned deeply, the story making sense to her, even as Mark grinned widely at her. "Don't worry though; it's just a stupid story. Nowhere near the truth."

"Not true my ass!" Austin shouted from behind the steering wheel. "People actually do disappear if they get too close. About twenty minutes after they go in, they don't come back out."

"You're not still harping about Jacob, are you?" Curtis snorted. "Look, that jackass –" Curtis whirled around in his seat and offered Edea an apologetic look. "S'cuze the language. Jacob just got lost is all, fell of one of the platforms and broke his neck. It's as simple as that."

"Bull." Austin continued. "Look lady, that story Mark told you is true. I swear it on my Grandfather's grave."

"You're Grandfather's still alive." Mark pointed out.

"Not the point! Anyway, I went in with Jacob one time, and this voice from nowhere just tells us to leave now or perish or something like that. Jacob told the voice to suck his…" Austin trialed off before continuing with his explanation. "Anyways, he told him what he could do with his threat, and the voice said something about twenty minutes. I left, he stayed. I lived, he didn't. That's what happened, and I'm sticking to it. Heard loads of kids managed to disappear too. Lot's of 'em found dead. I even heard that some of 'em are turned into the same creatures who kill anyone who goes in and doesn't head the warning."

"Austin, stop it!" Mark shouted, leaning back to smack the red-head up the back of his head. "You're scaring her!"

Edea had turned her attention towards the water, taking in Austin's words, even as Mark leaned forward in his seat. "Listen, Austin's full of it, okay. He'd believe anything you told him, as long as he thinks it's happened to him or someone he knows. It's not true. We'll find the kid and he'll be safe and sound. Promise."

Mark offered her a smile and Edea smiled back, nodding in agreement. But even as Mark went back to chastising his friend, Edea couldn't help but feel doubt running through her as she thought back on the story, her worry for the child intensifying as she stared back out into the ocean surrounding them.

'_I just hope you're right, Mark.'_


	4. Chapter 4

He hadn't thought he was doing anything wrong.

Well, aside from sneaking out of the orphanage so early in the morning to look for Sis, but other than that he thought he had been on his best behaviour.

Matron had always told him and the rest of the children to be polite to people when asking a question, and if you felt nervous about a stranger to find her immediately. He had done just that; asked his question and when the stranger became too scary for him, he back-peddled and decided to look on his own, since Matron was nowhere around.

That should have made the stranger go back to what he was doing.

Right?

So then why was he being followed by the strange person in the brown jacket holding that lantern and knife and staring at him strangely?

Squall didn't want to find out, so he quickly resumed climbing the stairs as fast as his little hands and legs could move. The stranger was around the same height he was, so he should be having trouble with the stairs too.

But when the little boy turned to look behind him, having propped himself up onto the second last step and taking a break, he saw that it was the opposite.

The green skinned stranger suddenly grew a little and just dropped onto the step, returning to his short height before approaching the next step in front of him and doing it all over again. Being five big steps ahead of the stranger, Squall immediately pulled his tired body up over the last step and stopped, finding nowhere else to go. Looking back behind him once again, he noticed that the stranger was creeping closer towards him and it was then that he noticed another set of stairs to his left; much smaller in gap than the previous set where.

He didn't know why the stairs were smaller; all he knew was that theyled to higher up and farther along than where he was at the moment, so he raced up them, trying not to trip and fall onto his face as he continued scrambling away from the frog man, who had just reached to top step as well.

Just when he didn't think it could get any worse, a loud booming sound was heard and the child gripped his ears in fright, his arms covering his head as the sky went white for a second before darkening again. Then he felt a couple of rain drops, which turned into more rain, and the next thing he knew, he was drenched, his clothes and hair clinging onto his skin.

He had been hot outside of the building, having had nothing but sun as a companion on his search for his sister, but now he was freezing.

When Squall was a good distance away from the creature, he suddenly stopped and fell forward, hitting the stairs that sat in front of him, tell tale pain shooting up from his legs and his arms letting him know that he had hurt himself again. Blinking back the tears that threatened to spill from his blue-grey eyes, he looked down to see what it was that had grabbed him and screamed in terror when he saw bones.

On the cartoons that the older kids liked to watch, he had seen plenty of bones lying around and the group of heroes who found them always looked unhappy to see them. The younger boy haddecided that bones were a bad thing to see and that he was glad he never would while living in the orphanage, but having seen bones grabbing his ankles and holding tightly, he realized that they were even worse than when they were just lying on the ground.

One of the stick-like hands tightened their hold on the child's leg, the other following suit almost immediately afterwards and Squall saw them grinning widely at him, their eyeballs missing, only black holes staring at him from underneath the stairs. They must have been hiding underneath them, waiting for him to find them.

Squall swore then and there that he would never play hide-and-seek ever again.

He looked behind him and saw the stranger was just standing where he had been when the child had begun climbing the second set of stairs, watching him with his big yellow eyes, the hood having fallen off during the chase. Squall didn't like that the stranger who had been following him since he found him was just staring at him and tried to get free again, bending down and trying to pry the fingers off of his skin. When that failed, he looked back at the green man, who was beginning to swing his lantern back and forth, in his direction before pointing his knife at him.

Pink and purple curved lights shot out from the lantern (Squall had never seen anything like it before) and headed straight for the little boy, even as he tried to break free from the monsters holding him there. The lights suddenly slashed into the child, tearing through skin and cloth and he screamed, covering his face with his hands in a vain attempt to protect himself.

Suddenly, the pressure on his legs lessened and he fell forward, landing once again on his scrapped knees and arms, having removed his hands from in front of his face to brace himself. He looked back around, wincing as his back was starting to sting, and saw that the skeleton's hand had been cut through; broken apart like when Seifer was playing with a stuffed animal.

But, unlike the stuffed animal, the pieces were slowly moving back together.

Squall didn't need to be told anything to know he shouldn't stick around and, after climbing to his feet, continued to scale up the stairs, the green man walking past the skeleton and following after him.

Finally, the small child managed to make his way to the very top of the stairs, huffing and trying to catch his breath as he did. Blood was oozing from the cuts and scrapes he had received, and his back was stinging. He didn't care that his clothes were probably ruined; he just wanted the pain in his back to go away. But he knew that Matron was going to be mad at him when he came back the way he was.

Trying not to think about it, he focused all of his attention on finding his sister. Now that he had found those monsters and the strange person, he was certain that she was being kept there. Elle would know what to do when he found her; would know how to get out of there without running into the monsters.

That was when he heard the very familiar footsteps behind him and all thoughts left the frightened child as he chanced a look back, finding that the man with the lantern was still following him. Holding back the tears that were threatening to fall, he quickly raced into the building ahead of him, hoping to find a hiding spot or something to get away from the stranger.

When he entered the room, all he saw were two sets of stairs and a floor after that, with light flowing from the hole in the roof, but nowhere to run or hide. The stairs didn't lead anywhere, and there was no way that he could climb that high up to reach the hole in the ceiling. He just hoped that the man with the lantern had gone in a different direction than him.

As he turned back around, his soaking wet clothes making it difficult to move around and making his skin irritable, he noticed a very familiar looking outline blocking the only exit to the room, a crash of thunder putting emphasis to the ominous being as lightning glinted off the knife the green man was holding. Squall backed away from the entrance, even as the being stepped forward, his beady yellow eyes staring hollowly at him as he came closer. Soon, Squall couldn't find anymore room to back up into, his back colliding against the wall as he sank to the ground, his back protesting as pain shot through him, wishing more than anything to just disappear.

"I said I was sorry," he called out, hoping to appease the stranger. "I didn't mean to bother you; honest. I was just looking for my sister."

If he heard any of what he was saying, he wasn't showing it as he continued to creep closer, closing the distance between the two until he was three adult sized steps away from him. His pleading falling upon deaf ears, Squall covered his head with his arms and shut his eyes tightly, hoping that this would all go away; hoping that he would wake up from this nightmare and that his sister would reassure him that it was just a bad dream.

The thunder boomed overhead, Squall could literally feel the stranger's presence towering over him; gripping the knife in his hand and staring blankly back at him. He wished for someone to come save him from this creature; his sister, Cid, Matron, the men who had brought him here, anyone. Tears cascaded down his cheeks as he waited for the pain to come, a shuddering sob escaping him even as he bit down on his lip, trying to calm himself.

But nothing happened.

No pain, no slashing, no nothing.

Slowly, the four year old lifted his head over his knees and cracked an eye open, only to see a small floating ball of white light dancing in front of him. The stranger was also staring at it, tipping his head to the side in wonderment, even as Squall lowered his arms to his side. The stranger backed away a couple of steps, the knife still in hand, but Squall was glad that he wasn't nearly as close to the green man as he originally had been.

The light still sat between the two; not really doing anything special; just floating there. Squall shifted himself so that he was kneeling and leaned forward, curiosity overriding the initial terror of the situation, his left arm extended in front of him as he physically inspected the ball of light. Hesitantly, he pointed his index finger at it, moving slightly closer to the object, brushing the tip of his finger with the light and feeling calming warmth from it, despite the cold rain storm outside.

Suddenly, the ball of light started to expand; its glow intensifying and forcing Squall to sit back against he wall, wondering feebly just what it was he had done this time, shielding his eyes from view. He didn't know what the stranger was doing, nor did he care as he shut his eyes tightly, hoping that someone would be able to save him from whatever it was that was happening.

Suddenly, the light faded and Squall slowly cracked his eyes open, only to push himself against the wall in a vain attempt to turn invisible.

There was a new monster in the room; far taller than the little green man he had been running from. It had a mane of white fur underneath its chin and had five red horns sticking out of its head. It was dark brown in colour, with red long stick-like thing sticking out of its elbow with a long red-tipped tail that swished back and forth like a cats. It was flying; it had brown and white wings that were keeping it up in the air, and this confused Squall, since he had never met a cat with wings before.

Either way, the number of monsters had increased and Squall didn't want to be stuck in the same room as either of them.

"Trust me when I say you do not wish to attack." The bigger monster said, though Squall thought it sounded more like a growl. Its tail continued to swish around, and Squall hoped that it wouldn't suddenly touch him and bring his attention towards him.

Deciding that it would be better if he took this opportunity to run away, Squall rose up onto his feet. However, before he could even take a step, the room echoed with the growl of the newer creature, who wasn't even looking at him. "Sit back down, child. I refuse to have to scour this continent in order to retrieve you."

Stumbling back into the wall, he winced as his back came into contact with the cold object and he slid back down, tucking his knees under his chin and trying to still his trembling. He didn't know what scour meant, but he wasn't too keen on finding out the hard way. The child merely watched the events in front of him unfold, wondering if the brown monster had eyes in the back of its head like Matron seemed to.

The green man looked from Squall to the monster and back towards Squall, looking like he couldn't decide who to go after. Despite the blank expression on its face, Squall could see the indecision in its eyes before it finally made its decision, stalking over towards the dark monster. The child didn't think that was a good idea, but he wasn't about to interrupt and tell him that; interrupting had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

The green man stopped really close to the monster before raising his knife and stabbing forward, catching the monster in the foot. Squall winced as he saw some blood drop from its appendage, staining the floor beneath it, but the monster didn't even seem to care. Squall looked from the green man, to the monster and to the blood on the floor, wondering exactly what it was that was going to happen next.

The dark monster growled loudly, and Squall tried to shrink back against the stone he sat in front of, hoping that he didn't make the monster angry enough to attack him. There was nowhere to hide, after all. Finally, after a moment of silence, the monster spoke again. "Child, cover your eyes and ears. I do not wish to scar you at such a tender age."

Squall blinked in confusion. What was that supposed to mean exactly? The monster didn't want to give him a scar? Did that mean he wasn't going to get hurt? Was there such a thing as a good monster?

The monster growled once again, causing the four year old to jump as it turned its head to look at him, Squall noticing for the first time the yellow and black eyes it possessed. "I said cover your eyes and ears. Do not make me repeat myself again!"

Squall immediately did what he was told, shutting his eyes tightly while placing them on top of his knees while placing the palm of his hands against his ears, trying to block out all sound as much as he could. He pushed against his head so hard that his ears started to hurt, but he didn't care. The dark monster was scary, and he didn't want to get on his bad side.

He didn't know how long he sat like that, but all of a sudden, he smelt something burning. It wasn't a pleasant smell either, and he tried desperately to cover his nose with his knees and was forced to breathe through his mouth. He tried to keep from making any sound, hoping that the monster would just leave and forget about him.

Suddenly, something light tickled the bottom of his right foot and hepulled his leg closer to his chestto get away from the feeling. It returned once again and Squall kicked out instinctively, only to have his foot impact with something hard. He looked up slowly, wondering exactly what it was, his hands still covering his ears and he immediately pulled his foot back, pressing up against the wall even further as the monster loamed over him. He looked back down to see that the monster's tail was closer to his foot and realized that the appendage was what he had felt tickling him.

The monster merely reached forward, his claw-like hand outstretched and Squall turned away, clenching his eyes tightly until he felt that same calming warmth he had felt with the ball of white light. He cracked an eye open and saw a bunch of blue light surrounding him, the pain in his back, legs and arms disappearing, almost as though the pain hadn't been there to begin with. When the light faded, Squall looked himself over, seeing that his shirt and pants were badly torn, but that there wasn't a single scratch on him. There was plenty of dirt, but there wasn't any blood or anything. Even the knee he had scraped earlier was feeling better.

He looked up cautiously at the monster, expecting him to do something else, but all he did was return his claw hand to his side. Squall gulped audibly, knowing that he needed to say something, but was at a loss as to what it was. Finally, he decided on something simple. "…Sorry I kicked you." he muttered quietly.

The look on the monsters face didn't change, but Squall noticed that his eyes looked a lot friendlier than the green man's had. He looked like he was laughing at his apology.

Thinking back on the green man, Squall wondered where he had gone. Looking behind the monster, he noticed that his cloak was there, same with the knife and the lantern, but the yellow-eyed frog man had somehow disappeared. He didn't know how, but he was glad that he was gone. Sighing in relief, Squall looked back up at the monster towering in front of him, no longer feeling scared. "Thank you for saving me."

The monster's eyes softened before he spoke, surprisingly without opening his mouth. "It was my pleasure," he growled out. "I never did like those things."

Squall was a shy child by nature, keeping out of sight when a new person appeared, and mostly kept to himself. The only people he really even spoke to were Ellone, Cid, his matron and, when he was fighting with him, Seifer. Other than that, he kept very quiet and tried to become invisible around anyone else. But there was something about this monster that compelled him to say something else. It was as though he knew he could trust him, even if he did look scary. He even managed a small smile as he whispered, "I don't like them either."

Before anything else could be said, however, it started to rain. Squall knew that it was raining outside; he was still soaked from running away from the green man, but it had been dry inside the room before now. But it couldn't rain inside a building; they had a roof.

The monster seemed to agree, because the softness in his eyes disappeared and Squall couldn't help the fear from creeping back up again. He didn't like it when the monster looked angry, but at least it wasn't because of him.

Suddenly, the wall behind Squall rose up and unbalanced the child, forcing him to fall onto his back and look up, watching as the section of the wall climbed up to the very top, making the hole in the ceiling disappear. Squall vaguely wondered how that was possible; was there an invisible string pulling it up or something?

Something snaked around the child's leg, and pulled Squall away, as the wall slowly began to return where it had originally sat. The monster's tail, which Squall now realized was responsible, gently returned him to the ground, directly behind him as both watched the wall come back down with someone on top of it.

Squall was so amazed, his jaw dropped in wonderment as he gasped in surprise. He remembered Matron showing him a picture of a horse, and it only had four legs. This one was white in colour, and had six legs, two in the middle, and Squall wondered how it was possible. It was also a lot bigger than what he had imagined a horse to be; coming up to the dark monster's waist while he was in mid air. The man who was sitting on the horse wore black, grey and white armour and had a greyish-white cape draped along his back. His face was dark yellow, and he only had one red coloured eye, the other was pitch-black. A striped black helmet sat atop his head, the hat turning into two horns with four points to them. The scariest part about this man was that he had a sword that was nearly taller than the child was, and almost as wide too.

The monster didn't attack the man, and the man didn't attack the monster. Instead, the man climbed off the horse and took the steps down in order to stand face to face with him, coming up to the monster's chest. Squall chose to stay where he was; he didn't want to get yelled at again.

A moment past where nothing happened and Squall miserably realized that he was getting wet again. He shivered slightly, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to keep warm when at last; the man who owned the horse spoke. "Griever," he said. "Many eons hath passed since we hath last discoursed."

Griever…so that was the monster's name. Squall decided to keep that in mind, rather than just continuously referring to him as 'the monster'.

"Odin…" Griever growled back. "So you have taken up the habit of killing children, have you? How noble of you."

Squall didn't think Griever meant the last comment; he didn't sound like he was telling the truth, and quickly moved to the right of him, so that Griever could keep a better eye on him, all the while keeping an eye on the man named Odin.

"What is this? The mighty sure hath fallen. Our Lord; the strongest of our kind, who hath been beckoned here by an infantile bairn no less, hath the nerve to enter my domain and speak ill of my person?" Sighing slightly, the man continued. "I spoke a warning. T'was their own fault for taking no notice ."

Squall didn't know what Odin was talking about; a lot of the words he was saying didn't make any sense to him. What exactly did a barn have to do with Griever being here? And how come it was infantile, whatever that meant? And what was a domain exactly?

"You expect a mere child to be able to understand what it is you are saying?" Griever growled again before gesturing towards Squall, who jumped when he saw movement. "This child has no idea what it is you just said! Of course he's not going to listen to you or your warning! He probably thought it was an invitation!"

'_Actually_,' Squall thought to himself. '_I just want to find my sister.'_

"What say you," Griever continued, ignoring the child. "to the charge of murdering small children?"

"Tis but an unpleasant pastime," Odin waved off. "among my numerous pastimes. T'is undertaking is dour to I; but this land is sacred, and must not be tread upon."

"Do you think he understood what you just said there?" Griever asked, in a tone that reminded Squall of Seifer. "The best way to deal with children is, if you want them to leave, to just tell them to leave. That usually works well, since they understand that word oh-so-well."

Thinking about the reason he was there in the first place, he suddenly realized that Odin's voice was the one from when he had first come into the strange place. '_Maybe he knows where Sis is.' _He thought before starting to move towards the man.

Before Griever could say anything else, he spotted the child's movement and changed his course of words. "Child! Stay where you are!"

Squall ignored him; no matter how scary he was, he needed to find his sister.

Griever frowned deeply as he noticed the child press onward. "Child! I said stay!"

"Oh how the mightiest have fallen further!" Odin laughed aloud. "Thou act the part of servant to protect a family who have not the power to summon thee, and when one emerges from the shadows he takes heed not of thy words. This truly is a remarkable day."

Once he was within reaching distances of the man, Squall reached upwards and grabbed a hold of his cloak and tugged lightly. Odin gave no sign that he had felt the gesture, so Squall tried again, harder this time. Odin noticed it then and stared down at the small child, who backed away out of sudden fear. "What is it thou desire of me?"

Gulping slightly, Squall fought the urge to run and hide before Griever. "Do you know where Elle is?"

Odin's frown deepened and the urge to run got stronger. "What is an Elle?"

"My sister." Squall piped up. He raised an arm above his head and straightened it before pointing both hands to the side of his face. "She's this tall and has hair up to here, and likes blue and green, and she has brown eyes." As if an afterthought, the child continued with his description. "And brown hair. Oh, and her name is Elle, or Ellone, or Sis. Or Sis Elle."

Odin stared at him for a moment before turning to look at Griever, whose eyes said that he was shocked and surprised. "I do not know if the bairn has a sickness of the mind, or is brave beyond his years."

Squall didn't know what Odin meant by what he said at first, but he definitely knew what he had said before he stopped talking. Tilting his head to the side, he looked curiously up at the figure. "I'm fine."

Griever snorted at this, and Squall turned to look at him curiously. "What did I say?" he asked, seriously not knowing what it was that made the monster laugh. "I'm not sick."

"I must admit," Odin said. "You certainly have valour."

"What does…" Squall trialed off as hestruggled to pronounce the word correctly. "Val…er mean?"

Odin's face fell slightly before he spoke again. "It means courage."

"And what does that mean?"

"…Bravery." Odin said, and upon seeing the understanding cross the youth's features, he turned to look at Griever. "T'would seem thou art correct in this case. I doth take interest in him, and wilt not see harm come to him this day."

"But what about my sister?" Squall interrupted, suddenly realizing that his question had gone unanswered.

Odin smiled a smile that wasn't a happy one. "How impetuous thou art."

This time, Squall didn't care what that meant. "Do you know where she is? She left the orphanage and didn't say goodbye. I wanna see her again; I miss her."

Odin frowned and Squall suddenly had the feeling that the man wasn't going to give him the answers he wanted. "She hath not travelled through this land; I would know if she had."

Squall's face fell as he looked at the floor beneath him. "So she's not here?"

"No child; she is not."

The conversation continued after that, but Squall didn't pay it nearly as much attention as he had before. His hope had suddenly dropped from underneath him and the panic he had felt earlier; the very moment he had found out that his sister was no longer there with him, came back harder than before. It didn't matter that strange men in cloaks or monsters had tried to hurt him; it didn't matter that he had left the orphanage and probably worried his Matron and Cid and it didn't matter than when he went home he was going to be in serious trouble.

It didn't matter because sis wasn't here, and he didn't know where she had gone.

His tired knees finally gave out as he fell to the ground, the panicked tears he had held back finally giving way and trailing down his face as he clenched his fists tightly into the torn material of his pants. The rain still fell inside of the building, but he didn't care that his bangs were suddenly matted to his face, or that his clothes were sticking to him uncomfortably. He finally covered his face with his hands, and cried.

He realized that something was towering over him again, but this time his curiosity couldn't force him to look up and see who it was. But when he suddenly was lifted off the ground, and he looked up to see that Griever was responsible for the action. He saw that the softness that had been in the monsters eyes had returned but this time he couldn't bring himself to care. Ellone had gone away and she had left him alone.

He didn't like the feeling of being alone and he continued to cry.

"This is your fault." Griever growled, and Squall could only guess that he was talking to Odin.

"I spoke but the truth."

"Yeah, well, the truth hurts." Griever shot back. "You don't need to say that much truth to a four year old."

"He is not of my responsibility." Odin waved off. "Thou art bound to his family; thou shalt deal with thy crying babe."

Squall didn't like being called a 'crying babe' (he knew what that meant at least) and started to dry his eyes, no matter how upset he was that his sister was gone. He knew well enough that to be a cry-baby meant non-stop bullying; he had seen it enough times with Zell.

"You're afraid of a 'crying babe', aren't you?" Griever said, the Seifer tone coming back into his voice.

Odin stared at him in disbelief. "I am not."

"It appears that you are."

"He is thy charge! Thou shalt with him!"

Griever was silent for a moment before turning his attention towards the dark haired child. "…Did Odin make you cry?" The look in his eyes was telling the small child that he wanted to do to Odin what he did to the green-man… whatever that was.

Odin looked surprised for a moment, but Squall shook his head in response to Griever's question. Just because Odin was telling him the truth didn't mean he had to get punished for it; Matron had always told him that telling the truth was the best thing anyone could do, even if it made someone else sad. When Squall went to explain, he had to take a few breaths of air to calm himself down. "My, sister's, gone, away."Even as the words came out, the tears threatened to fall once more, only Squall stubbornly held them at bay.

"Do not cry, little one." Griever said, and Squall could tell he wasn't comfortable at the moment. "You're sister may have gone away, but do you think she'd want to see you like this?"

Squall stared at Griever, blinking in confusion and, when he said nothing, Griever continued. "Your sister would wish that you be happy. I know you miss her, but she wouldn't want you to dwell on things of the past. She would want you to continue on and not put yourself in any danger for her sake."

"But she's –"

"Yes, she's gone." Griever interrupted. "For now. But that doesn't mean she has left for good. You will find her someday, but to do this you must be strong."

Squall blinked in confusion. He had to be strong in order to find Sis? When he became strong, he'd be able to see her again? He clung to that thought desperately, wanting it to be true…

…But how could he become strong? And when would he know if he was strong enough?

"When will I be strong?" Squall asked. "How can I be strong enough to find my sister?"

"Tis a simple endeavour," Odin said, approaching the pair and staring right at the child. "All thou need do is come to me. Ifthou art powerful enough, thou wilt find thy sister, and I will assess thou strength personally."

Before Griever could say anything, Odin interrupted. "Tis my grounds for the pair of thee to leave unscathed and virtually unharmed. For thy life, I wish a challenge later. If he doth hath potential, as thy claim he doth, then thou wilt not hath difficulty with my terms."

Griever appeared to want to argue, but Odin held up a hand to stop him. "But then, t'is not the choice thou hath to make. T'is the child's life, t'is the child's decision." He turned to look at the child once more, who was eying the pair in curiosity. "What say thou?"

Squall didn't know why Griever didn't like this idea, or why Odin kept interrupting Griever, but he didn't see a problem to these rules. Even if there were big words being used, he knew what the underlining result would be; he would be able to find his sister…

A chance to see his sister again… it was something he would trade anything for.

He didn't care about anything else; he just wanted to see his sister again; wanted to see her happy. He didn't care how long it would take him to get stronger; it was better to see his sister after a long time of hard work then to never see her again.

Having made up his mind, the small child nodded without hesitation. Odin seemed to accept the answer and, for the first time since their encounter, he truly smiled back at the boy.

* * *

_Phew... writing in the form of Shakespearean English is difficult. I had to search the internet for a list that would translate some things for me, and my friend Avion Jade helped me out as well. Hopefully I didn't screw it up; I can barely understand what he's talking about and I know what he actually meant! Oh well. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. And thanks to those who reviewed or looked at the story. We've almost doubled the hit counter number from the last time I posted a chapter. _


	5. Chapter 5

_I apologize in advance for the short chapter. I hope you enjoy it regardless._

* * *

The boat ride had probably only take about fifteen minutes, but to Edea, it had felt like an entire lifetime. 

After hearing about the legend of the ruins of the continent, Edea's senses had taken over; standing alert in case anything out of the ordinary took place. Two out of three of her travelling companions agreed that the tale was just something used to scare small children, but Austin seemed adamant that it was true. Edea could not say first hand whether it was or not, but her instincts were telling her that there was at least some, if not complete, truth in the myth.

Although she hoped in her heart that he had not ventured towards the ruins, she knew that it was quite possibly the only place he could have gone, had he left the continent. The fact that there were ruins on the exact isle these men travelled to earlier was no mere coincidence. Squall was not on the island where the orphanage stood, but at the ruins that lay ahead. She was certain of it.

She was worried about the vision that had taken hold of her upon finding the burial site of the monster Mark, Curtis and Austin had taken care of earlier in the day. Her powers very rarely were capable of placing her in a specific location before and Edea believed that her powers were, in fact, growing despite the knowledge that they were quite powerful already. She didn't know if this sudden 'new sight' she had experienced would force her to lose control of herself, but for now she counted it as a blessing; it might be the only way she would be able to find the missing child.

Edea had had ample amount of opportunity to tell the three men assisting her in her endeavour about her powers, but had thought better of it. In the past, those who had learned of her sorcery had fled in terror of her presence, used her for their own personal gain or simply hunted her. As nice as these men appeared, Edea also knew of the many masks mankind was accustomed to wearing, and had many times seen those masks shatter upon discovering this knowledge, revealing their true selves to her, most of the time it was the prejudicial actions of a man or woman terrified of something they could not possibly understand.

The only exception had been Cid, who had been fascinated about the knowledge, but overall had not taken a great concern of the risk she could pose. Instead, he feared for her safety, given people's previous experiences with the Sorceress and had opted to create their orphanage where the children would not be in constant danger towards those with direct prejudice towards her powers. Edea had agreed, knowing full well that she would not have forgiven them nor herself if anything had happened to the children.

Even while the boat was in the process of docking along the shore of the isle, Edea had climbed out, her rain boots sloshing against the ocean and wet sand that lay beneath her feet, and even when she emerged from the waters, the quick 'pitter-patter' of rain hitting barren rock. Once the boat had come to a complete stop, all three men climbed out, but did not question her actions. They knew from the expression on her face that she was worried. She knew they believed the child she searched for to be dead, but she knew better.

After searching the area, she noticed that there was a structure further ahead, nearly lost to sight by the distance and the storm they were in. The three men noticed it as well, and Austin came to stand beside the raven-haired woman, never removing his eyes from the structure that lay before.

"I still stand by what I said." Austin stated. "That story is true, and if anything, that little kid could be…" he trailed off, appearing to not want to express anything as depressing as a child's death. "Are you sure you still want to go in."

"I am." Edea stated evenly, her gaze also fixed upon the structure up ahead. "You do not need to accompany me any further if you do not wish to."

"Well, I'm going." Mark declared. "No use going in alone. Even if the rumours aren't true, there are monsters crawling all over this place. There are strength in numbers."

"I'll go too." Curtis said and, after a moment's hesitation, Austin nodded as well.

…

When they had first arrived at the ruins, Edea was amazed that something so ancient could still be found to be pretty much intact. There was a set of stairs leading onto a circular platform complete with a statue of a man on a horse. There were little green frog-like monsters dressed in beige cloaks holding lanterns and knives, wandering about in every which direction, and Edea had to breathe a sigh of relief for her powers; they were the only thing making sure that they could not be seen or heard by the creatures.

Beside her, Austin shuttered suddenly, and when all three of his companions turned to stare at him, Austin sighed in a sort of frazzled manner. "I hate Tonberries."

"Thought you said you only came into the front." Mark said.

"No, never said that. I just said I left after the damned voice sounded out of nowhere tellin' us to get the fuck –" he paused and turned to Edea before clearing his throat. "to get out. But that was after I saw one of those things. They give me the creeps, that's for damned sure."

Edea wouldn't say she blamed him for that. They appeared harmless enough unless of course you accounted for the rather large knife they held in their hands. Their yellow eyes also managed to cast a shiver down her spine; they reflected no soul and were entirely empty.

'_If these really were children killed when entering, I feel for their loss…'_ Edea took a moment of silence in remembrance of these children; killed and then resurrected as the very creatures responsible for their loss of life. She prayed to Hyne that she wasn't too late; that Squall hadn't become one of them.

"Let's keep moving." Curtis said. "For once, I have to agree with Austin; they really are creepy."

The quartet continued their movements, watching out just in case the monsters turned on them and chose the moment to attack and, although Edea knew better, she couldn't help but keep vigil as well. Edea had to wonder about the voice who cautioned warning about trespassing upon this territory; having not heard it when she had first entered. Mark and Curtis had reprimanded Austin for telling tall tales, but once again her instincts were telling her that Austin had indeed been telling the truth. But if the voice did not caution them, then it must mean that the being whom the voice belonged to must be busy at the moment.

'_Which could very possibly mean Squall is still alive.'_ Edea thought to herself. '_It means I still have a chance to save him.'_

A long set of stairs were positioned directly ahead; starting upwards before stopping and moving towards the left and right. The left path appeared to come to a dead end; the remainder of the steps having been destroyed from the Lunar Cry or from age, but the right path continued upwards until it reached another platform. Without hesitation, Edea crept up the stairs and approached the junction, heading right, the others following her closely until she stopped when she found a skeletal hand on the steps. The Sorceress took a quick sense and realized that there were Forbiddens lying in wait beneath the steps for anyone who appeared.

Edea was very familiar with Forbiddens; they were long dead warriors; their skeletons having been reanimated by some unseen force. They would kill others out of instinct and Edea had surmised a long while ago that it was because they were jealous of the living, having been killed in their prime. She felt for these creatures; wanting them to have been able to live to a right-old age, but the world was cruel and did no favours to those who were doomed to a fate worse than death, and surely, in Edea's opinion at least, becoming Tonberries or Forbiddens was a fate far worse.

Before Edea could move another step up the stairs, she noticed a familiar piece of orange cloth lying on the ground near the hand, and, upon further inspection of the appendage, she also discovered a torn black material being clenched tightly within its grip. '_Squall must have come this way…'_ she concluded, worried etching itself into her features. '_Hyne if there is one thing you must do for me, it is to allow me to find the boy still alive and well.'_

She immediately ran ahead of the men, their startled shouts and cries the only thing she registered in her mind as she made her way up the stairs, despite her clothes heavy with rain water. A flash of lightning and a crash of thunder sounded above, but the Sorceress didn't care; all she cared about was finding Squall and bringing him back him.

The race up the stairs was an unwise idea; the rain soaking the steps and making them slippery. More than once on her way to the top, she had nearly slipped and fallen down the steps or over the side, but she had quickly picked herself up effortlessly and forced herself onward. Finally, she reached the top step, but what she was forced her to stop in her tracks. She saw the child she had been searching for; proving her instincts right all along, but rather than feel joy for finding him alive and well, she felt great horror when she took sight of the two creatures standing with him.

The first was easily recognizable to the Sorceress as the Guardian Force of Death and War, Odin. He was a rogue guardian who refused to serve any mortal without fighting and defeating him in battle. No one had ever survived a battle against the man whom was known to ride a six-legged white horse called Sleipnir, and wielded the powerful sword known simply as Zantetsuken. Most of the stories she had heard about him was that, while waiting for a worthy challenge, he would sit upon his throne, Hlidskjalf, and watch the surrounding area for people trespassing on the land.

The second creature she did not recognize, but upon sensing it, she realized that it was also a Guardian Force, though nothing along the lines of what she had seen or heard before. The creature was lion-like; with brown and white wings protruding from its back, and seemed to float off the ground, its hind legs longer than its arm-like front legs, and a long tail seemed to nearly touch the ground. It possessed a mane of white fur underneath its chin, and possessed bronze-coloured eyes with a cat-like shaped pupil sitting in the very center.

Seeing them so close to one of her charges made the fear for his safety return fresh and as she took a step away from the stair case she had arrived from, she immediately shouted towards him, calling him by name, if anything to get him away from them.

The child turned around at the sound of his name, and Edea could see even from her vantage point the cuts in the material he wore. Strangely enough though, he didn't appear to be hurt at all and immediately ran over towards her, Edea herself crouching down in order to catch the running child and wrap her arms around him. After a moment, she pulled him away slightly, checking him for the scratches and bruises he should have possessed, only to find that there was nothing. In fact, if it wasn't for the boy's ripped clothing; she wouldn't have even realized he had been hurt to begin with.

But it amazed her that, when other children had died such horrible deaths, this young boy came out of this entire ordeal without a single scratch on him. A bit dirty and his clothes ripped of course, but otherwise unharmed.

"How did you…?" Edea trailed off in her shock, even as she was examining the boy. "Why did…"

Even as the woman stuttered in her shock, Squall gave her a confused look, no doubt wondering why it was she pausing in mid sentence. Finally, she managed to force out a full question. "What happened?"

"I came here to look for Sis." He answered simply. "The green man started chasing me when I interrupted him -" Edea couldn't help but smile at the naivety of this child as he continued. "- and when he was gonna hurt me, Griever came to save me."

"Griever?" Edea asked. "Is that the brown one's name?"

At this, Squall nodded. "He scared away the green man and he left his clothes behind. But then the other one showed up," he trailed off as he went to point out the two creatures and, when Edea looked with him, she realized that they had suddenly disappeared. "Where'd they go?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion.

As Edea rose to her feet, the child secured in her grasp, she left his question unanswered. She knew perfectly well that bound Guardians returned to their casters mind, but Unbound Guardians went about and did as they pleased. It wouldn't have surprised her if they had managed to make it a thousand miles away from the ruins.

Even as Curtis, Mark and Austin were making their way towards the top of the stairs, Edea looked down upon the child she was now holding in her arms, wondering exactly what had transpired within the amount of time he had been there. Why had he emerged alive and perfectly healthy while every other child died? Not that she was complaining of course, but what made him so special?

It was then that she remembered the boy from the future; telling her that she was the one who would come up with a legendary force who's sole purpose was the protect the world from corrupted Sorceresses and it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps he would play a vital role in the distant future. Still staring at the child, she recalled that the teenager who had appeared in front of her, wielding a legendary weapon and protecting her against the already dead Sorceress would come from the small child she had searched all over to find and bring home. It didn't make it any easier to believe however.

Still, there was the problem at the present moment to sort through. Despite his shy and quiet tendencies, Squall was a very stubborn little boy who would stop at nothing until he was satisfied with an outcome; the entire day's search of him had been proof enough of just how far he would go. He felt that an injustice had been done when Ellone had disappeared and he had searched farther than any four year old she had ever come across would just to bring his older sister back home. She even believed he would consider not even returning to the orphanage until he had found her. It was going to be difficult to convince him to give up the search for the time being; Ellone was nowhere in Centra, and he would only set himself up for more heartache if he continued searching for her.

"Matron…"

Edea looked back down upon the child she was holding, smiling at him. She had drifted off into thought again, and she wondered just how long he had been trying to claim her attention. After a moment of searching his features, she realized that they were not set in determination; like they were the day he searched the orphanage all over for the elder girl, but rather there was a tired resolution in his gaze, almost as if he had come to terms with himself.

The next words he spoke were still tinged with despair as they had been when he had first discovered he could not locate the girl, but there was something else hidden within their depths; something Edea did not believe she would be able to discover for a while yet. "Can we go home now? I'm tired."

Edea forced a laugh that sounded surreal even to her own ears and ruffled the child's hair. "Yes, yes, let us return home."

Turning around to face the men who had helped her on her journey, she couldn't help but acknowledge the shocked expressions on each of their faces. It was remarkable that a small child was the first to ever make it out of these ruins alive and for that Edea was grateful. She didn't believe it was due to luck however; luck was a fleeting response to those who believed in it. No, his survival was partially earned, a reward for the loyalty a small child could display for the one he believed to be of his family.

Besides, fate had plans for this child, and they had yet to play out.

…

The boat ride back to their home isle had taken far quicker than it had originally, and Edea believed that it was due to her worry and anxiety. Worry always made time more slower than it did, and once an endeavour was done, time sped up to the point where the ones responsible could look back and laugh.

Somehow, Edea doubted she would be laughing at the remembrance of this day and night, but she would be relieved that Squall had managed to get out of there alive, well and seemingly in better spirits. There was still a small sense of hopelessness and despair that she felt radiate from him, but she knew that he would be able to move on, albeit slowly at first, with his life. It finally appeared as though her words had sunk in, though she had no doubt in her mind that she had not been the one to truly have them take an effect.

Once they had reached the shore, Mark, Austin and Curtis had offered to drive them home, but Edea had refused, telling them that she would be fine on her own. She had left them behind as she drove the green jeep she and her husband owned together back towards the stone orphanage she resided within. Squall had fallen asleep in her arms on the boat ride, and Edea had felt it to be intrusive if she were to wake him up.

Once the vehicle had been parked in front of her home and the engine shut off, she had carried the small boy into the orphanage with her, only to find that Cid had spent the entire time sitting up for her. Upon looking at the clock, she had discovered it to be nearly three in the morning; it was a small wonder the child hadn't collapsed when she had first found him.

'_His experiences this night should have also affected him,'_ she had thought to herself before relating her events of the night to her husband. Cid had also been surprised to learn everything she had, especially when he didn't appear to have come to any harm whatsoever.

It was when she was preparing to put him to bed that she had discovered how wrong she had been. It had seemed too perfect for the young boy to have come back without anything wrong, but upon brushing his bangs out of his face she had felt that his skin was far too cool for it to have been normal. Wondering why she hadn't noticed before, she came to the conclusion that it was because the pair had been outdoors in the rain at that time. He was also shivering and his skin had taken a paler tone.

She called the tele-health system that she and her husband had applied for, since there wasn't a doctor immediately within the vicinity. That was one of the many sacrifices they'd had to make when they began the Orphanage away from civilization. After explaining the symptoms and recalling when they had begun, the nurse had placed them on hold to contact the on-call doctor. Edea had recalled how Squall had asked if they could go home simply because he was tired, and mentally berated herself for not realizing it sooner. During this time she held the shivering boy on her lap, wrapped snugly in the comforter she had found, frowning thoughtfully as she mentally went through the previous days events. He had gone missing, wandering off in the baking heat that Centra was renown for, and was then caught up in one of the worst thunder storms the continent had ever seen. Of course he was bound to catch something, even if a cold could only be caught through bacteria and germs.

After a long wait, Edea finally heard the sounds of someone picking up the phone, and upon speaking with the doctor, she had discovered that he had a moderate case of hypothermia, the signs consistent with the prognosis. She was then told to, aside from keep him away from wind and cold areas and to cover him up in a warm blanket of which she had already done, keep him lying down and to keep his neck and shoulders warm, but to initially heat his chest and torso to prevent any afterdrop of body temperature. Further instructions were given to administer warm fluids only when he stopped shivering and to avoid suddenly jarring him in order to prevent an abnormal heart rhythm. The doctor had asked if he had lost consciousness, but Edea, after giving a sense to the boy through her powers, had told them that he was merely asleep.

After getting the child out of the damp clothes and placing him into his pyjamas, Edea and Cid both stayed up for the remainder of the night, keeping a close eye on the formerly missing child, who was obliviously sleeping through the entire ordeal. Once he had stopped shaking, Edea managed to get a warm drink down his throat before he drifted off again.


	6. Epilogue

When he opened his eyes, it was still dark out. He didn't think he had slept for a long time, and he couldn't care less. All he knew was that the wet clothes were gone and that he was much drier than he had been earlier. Taking in his surroundings, he noticed Cid fast asleep on the couch in front of the TV not too far away from where he was lying and, after poking him a couple of times, decided that he wasn't going to wake up any time soon.

Crawling out from beneath the blanket, Squall wrapped his arms around himself as he slowly made his way towards the front door, his feet quickly thudding atop of the cold floor. He decided that the first thing he needed to do was to look out the window; in case it was still raining and, when he did, he realized that it was, even harder than it had been when he was at the strange place.

His hands tightening their grip on his arms, Squall took a breath before moving his left hand to open the door, making sure not to make a sound. He kept the front door open; he didn't want to lock himself out and make himself sick. He was probably already in a lot of trouble, and he didn't really want to be sick on top of it all.

The ground outside was even colder than the floor inside and, for a fleeting second Squall considered going back inside to close the door. Instead, he convinced himself to step outside, his toes curling in an attempt to keep them out of the rain, but he didn't move any further than the roof providing him shelter from the water falling from the sky.

He sneezed once, covering his mouth with both hands, and replaced both hands atop of his arms. He looked up at the sky, noticing the stars staring back at him where the moon wasn't positioned, and frowned slightly. He didn't want to stand outside for too much longer – who knew how much longer Cid was going to be asleep?

Changes were going to have to be made, that much he understood. He may only be four years old, but that didn't mean he was stupid. His sister wouldn't be around to keep him company anymore. She wouldn't be around to tell him stories about her uncle, or to tease him about being shy, or to step in when he and Seifer started fighting. He was going to have to take care of himself from them on, and to not depend on anyone else.

"I'm…" he managed to mumble. His throat was hurting him – a clenching feeling was making it painful to talk, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. "I'm all alone…"

He looked back up at the sky, trying to picture where exactly Elle was right then; wondering if she was scared or if she was happy with the people who took her away. He hoped that she was happy – he really wanted her to be okay, not sad and moping around like he had since he had found out she left. '_She probably thinks I'm being a big baby…'_ he thought to himself, even as tears began to pool in his eyes. He raised an arm and wiped furiously at his face. He wasn't going to cry; he had to be strong if he wanted to see his sister again.

"But…" he forced himself to speak, even as the clenching feeling in his throat got worse. "I'm doin' my best." He had to admit that much at least; he managed to keep himself from getting hurt from the scary people and monsters in the strange building where Odin seemed to live. The fact that both Odin and Griever came to his rescue didn't make him feel any weaker; if anything they just came in when he couldn't protect himself anymore. Even if he was being a baby about being left alone, he still had taken care of himself.

Nodding to himself, as if that would make the thought come true, he fought the clenching feeling and continued to speak. "I'll be okay without you, Sis. I'll be able to take care of myself."

He managed a smile even though it hurt, and as a result he dropped it as quickly as he had formed it. His gaze returned to the ground beneath him as he watched the rain splash into the puddles that lay on the ground in front of him, where there was no roof to stop it. He remembered how Elle used to run outside and splash in the puddles until Cid or Matron brought her back inside, telling her that she was gonna catch a cold if she didn't stay inside. She never did, but they still stopped her.

'_Elle always liked the rain best…'_ he remembered, the tears fighting through his restraints as he desperately struggled to hold them back. He didn't want to cry – that was going to make him weak and if he wasn't strong then he'd never find his sister again – just like Griever and Odin had told him.

"Sis Elle…" he muttered, his dark coloured hair falling in front of his face and blocking the ground from view. He squeezed his eyes tight, hoping that it would make his tears go away, but when he felt them slide down his cheeks he couldn't hold them in anymore. A shuddering sob escaped him as his legs gave out on him, forcing him to fall onto the ground. He hunched forward, so that his arms were resting on the ground beneath him and, resting his head on top of them, he let himself cry. It was only for this one time – he promised himself at that moment that it would be the last time he ever cried – the last time he felt weak and helpless, and the last time he would ever depend on another human being for as long as he lived -

- for as long as it would take.

He vowed then and there that he would not give up until he was strong; until he could take care of himself; until the day he could see his sister once again.

* * *

_The reason why I uploaded so fast was because I knew it was a short chapter, and there's no need to make a reader wait for a 1000+ chapter. It's not fair to you or to myself._

_Now onto more important things:_

_That's the end of that; the final chapter of Truth of Griever. This is my interpretation of what took place after Ellone left the orphanage and the events that formed the Squall Leonhart that we all know and have come to understand throughout the course of Final Fantasy 8. I hope you enjoyed this story as a whole; it's actually the shortest multi-chaptered story I have ever written throughout the course of my membership on ffnet. _

_Of course though, this doesn't mean that the story is over._

_Anyone can use this story as a basis of another story; feel free, just so long as you let people know that this is my un-official prequel to the story of Final Fantasy 8. However, I wrote this story with a purpose of my own – originally it was just out of curiosity when I began to develop the plot, but as I was revising it, I suddenly came to the realization that I have left quite a few questions unanswered and, in it's place, came the birth of an alternate universe novelization of Final Fantasy 8. Feel free to take a look at it once it has been posted, though the process of the story will take longer than Truth did (though I'm hoping it won't take me two years to update after the first chapter – once again I'm really sorry about that). _

_I'm very grateful that so many people enjoyed this story and, whether or not they reviewed, the number of hits this story has received has shown to me that the story has kept the interest of some, while others just pop in occasionally. In short, I hope you will enjoy the AU will be posting in the near future, and if anyone has had a spark of inspiration from this story, send an email my way – I'd love to read it._


End file.

Final Fantasy VIII, Adventure, Angst