Final Fantasy VIII: A New Generation

[cetra_aeris]

Sakuya had listened to the many announcements quietly. She’d heard the names of some of her classmates on the list of those now dead as well as many she didn't recognize.

"It has been, a very, hard day for each of us, all of us, at least know of someone who died, fighting for there home, amongst the death tolls, 42 people died, amongst them 11 SeeD, 15 juniors, 3 instructors, and 13 seniors, have been confirmed, though hopes may be fading for others we must remember them, we must remember Dennis Watl, aged 11, Lisa ward, aged 10, Timothy Arc, age 19, Saol tarning, Aged 15, -"

She had been surprised by exactly how many deaths there had been. It felt insecure that so many people died. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of people had attacked the garden to have killed so many. She had listened to the rest of Selphie's speech as the usually hyper instructor finished the names of those now dead.

"Also, in other news, some of you may of heard earlier, Laguna Loire, passed away, Murdered, we do not know if it is related with today’s assault, but we are looking into it, we will keep you all informed, in the meantime school is out until next Monday, Consider this as your midterm break, Good-night, remember, SeeD fight for the greater good, there will always be death."

A few more speeches were given by other instructors and the such, but Sakuya wasn't really paying attention. She'd never met Laguna personally but his death, or murder, startled her. She'd seen him on the news a couple of times and he'd visited Balamb Garden before she had joined. He'd sounded like such a nice guy. She didn't see why anyone would want to kill him.

The awards ceremony had taken place shortly after Selphie’s speech and Sakuya had paid attention to most of it, clapping and saying amounts of praise when appropriate. Throughout most of it though, she had found herself leaning against the wall, hiding her face behind her long black hair.

When it had come to an end she had went and offered to help clean up the school with other volunteers. That's where she found herself now. She was sitting in the library, scrubbing at some of the blood on the floor and wall. A couple other students were in there with her, a guy and a girl, picking up books and the bookshelves. She's offered to do this job, though it was certainitly the more disgusting of the things she could be doing.

She was glad in an odd way that the blood was still fresh enough to be cleaned without to much difficulty. Infact most of it was coming up rather quickly. Although, she did have to switch rags quite a few times.

The two other students came up and told her bye before they headed off to lunch. They asked her if she wanted to come, but she declined. She stayed a bit longer and straightened up a few chairs and put a few books back on the shelves that had found their way back up. She found one book in particular that stopped her from what she was doing when she picked it up. It was an older book, one on the GF or Gaurdian Forces before the Headmaster and his friends had sealed them away.

She flipped through it, glancing at pisctures here and there of some of the GFs. She stopped at one, Ifrit they called it, and read the information on the page. She was surprised that it had been so close to the Garden. The cave in the side of the mountian. She knew that that was where those training for the SeeD exam had gone before going on to their exams. They had to make it through there to even get to go on their exams, but she hadn't known that a GF had been in there. She wondered why it was left out of the textbooks now.

Grabbing the book and taking it with her Sakuya walked out of the library, heading back to her Dorm. She planned on reading more in quiet. Perhaps she'd find out more as to why they had been sealed away. 'Or,' she thought quietly. 'I might just get myself in a whole hell of a lot of trouble...'

[Caije]

Resitch finished packing his bag and turned to Lukas as he swung it on his back. "Then why don't you come with me, I can Introduce you to all my friends, Then when your ready you can go back, and If I ain't dead maybe I'll come back with you aswell."

"But You don't mean that,...." Lukas sighed.

"Look, I'm going, If you wanna come, come, If you wanna stay and be a Outcast, thats your problem, but I've been away too long." Resitch halted."If you want to come, the train leaves in 45 minutes, I've already sent a Email to Claire saying I'm coming,. He made his way out of the room. He suddenly thought that he needed a weapon, his sword had been damaged due to the invaders, when he stopped by Timber he'd need a new sword. A stronger one.

He made his way out of the dormitory and towards the school gates.

[Magi of Worlds]

Dust arose from the ground as the two combatants assualted the Behemoth. Everwhere blood lay on the ground. And, due to Dante, most of it was the Behemoth's blood. Its purpley, slimy, and gross blood. Dante had performed really well in the fight and had sustained only a few minor wounds and one deep gash along his left arm. But that was alright, he used his right hand to hold Shadow anyway.

The beast stood up and opened its mouth again and aimed for Dante. It was going to shoot another black thing out of its mouth again. "That's meteor watch out!" the other SeeD shouted to Dante. Dante somehow avoided being hit with the blast but instead it fried his ally. The SeeD desintigrated just like his friend.

Dante got pissed off and used draw on the beast. Sure enough, Meteor was one of the spells it knew. Dante called it out and cast it at the Behemoth. The brunt force of the magic attack hit it full force in the stomach. Before it died Dante drew and stocked a few Meteor spells for himself.

Then as he headed out he stopped by the entrance and cast a meteor spell at the wall making it dusty with black ash and such. Then Dante dipped a finger in the ash and wrote in capitols on the wall 'Two SeeD died here today from a Behemoth. Please respect their deaths and stay out of here.' Then he left.

[Storm]

"Wait! Resitch!" Lukas cried, running towards him.

"I don't have much here, and Squall won't let me go exploring since i'm 'not experienced enough and i'm a student of his garden'. I really want to get out and... I uh guess I over-reacted a little. Lets go together. We can watch eachothers backs and be partners in crime!" Lukas said, his trademark cheeky grin speading over his face.

Resitch sighed, a smile of recognition on his face. Lukas knew what his answer was, doing a little hop in his step.

"You will have to be a little discreet... we are sneaking out you remember?"

"Aye, I remember!" Lukas smiled. "But... don't you need to bring your sword?"

"It's busted," Resitch sighed. "But i'm going to get a new one. A better one."

Lukas grinned. "Well it is good i'm coming then... I can help if anything happens... though i'll have to use my fists twice as hard and fast!"

"Thanks, but we have to hurry to catch the next train."

[cetra_aeris]

Sakuya was off in her thoughts, paying hardly any mind to her surroundings. She often did this, but more so in class. She was always chiding herself about that. How was she going to become a SeeD if she didn't stop day-dreaming.

Now her thoughts trailed to her classes. When would they start up again? She wondered if it would be soon... She hoped so, because if she made sure to keep up her grades she might would get to take the written test in a few monthes. And after that, she'd just have to wait for the field exam and she knew she could ace that.

Her gunblade was her ohnly weapon and she was proud to know how to use it. Not only that but she was skilled with it too. That weapon was her treasure, but not only because of the engravings in the blade. It had been a present from her parents in Balamb before she started going to the Garden.

Thinking of Balamb brought on new thoughts. She found herself wondering if Balamb had been attacked as well. She hoped her parents were okay. While her thoughts were wondering on the many things that might have happened, she bumped into someone and dropping the book. "Oh! Sorry! My bad." she said quickly. She looked up to see who she'd bumped into and stood quickly. "Hey! You're the one ffrom the ceremony. Restich right?" She smiled and held out her hand. " I'm Sakuya. I heard about what you and the others did. it was really brave... wish I could have helped. She looked over and saw another face from the ceremony. "And you're Lukas, right?" she said in his direction, making sure to keep the book in her arm.

[Fehrant]

(OOC: This takes place a bit before Sakuya's appearence)

Once in her room, Selenia glanced over the documents inside the folder. Standard information. It was simply the profile of Resitch Vance. It described age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, place of birth, preferred fighting style, preferred weapons, among other information. She put down the file, quickly losing interest. She took the profile picture, and put it one of the inner pockets of her trenchcoat after taking one last glance, since she had never noticed the student, or most of the students, for that matter. They all looked the same to her.

The nature of this task annoyed her. She lived by her own strength, and did not rely on others. Moreover, she had never protected anyone by herself, and with her constant recklessness, even protecting herself was sometimes a hard task. However, she wasn't foolish enough to let this chance go.

Selenia got up from her bed determined. She wasn't going to think about it; she was just going to do whatever it took to get a hold of this information. Thus she donned her trenchcoat and left her room, heading straight to room 203, which was Resitch's room. Her room was on the first floor, so she used the stairs to reach the second floor. Once there, she went door by door until she found room 203. Standing in front of the door, she was about to knock to see if anyone was there, but she heard two male voices inside, and decided not to.

"Wait! Resitch!" One of the voices called. "Good," thought Selenia. "He's here." The same voice said something else, although apparently not loud enough for it to come clear through the door. Then, a different voice spoke.

"You will have to be a little discreet... we are sneaking out you remember?" This time the voice was different. Selenia was pretty sure it had to be him. In fact, she realized her timing was good; as Squall had predicted, he was planning to escaping.

"Aye, I remember!" Replied the other voice. Apparently he was escaping too. Selenia waited the conversation to die down. The last tidbit of useful information was that they planned to go by train. Also, Resitch's sword was busted.

Selenia slowly twisted the door's handle, half-expecting it not be opened. Much to her surprise it gave out, as the door slowly slided open. Even though it had virtually made no noise, she wasn't planning on sneaking. She pushed the door open by a violent kick, making a loud bang. Bursting in, she easily spotted the two students.

To the right, an unknown student lay against the wall. He was stall, around 6 feet, with scruffy brownish hair. He was wearing a pair of dirty blue jeans, with a black and blue shirt. To the left, recognized in that very instant, Resitch stood, his face exactly like the picture's: short black hair, hazel eyes. He was making preparations to depart.

They both obviously looked shocked at the sudden barging in. They would surely recognize her, Selenia realized, but she didn't care. They might get funny ideas, or take her lightly because her arm was still broken, but that wasn't anything that couldn't be reverted. If it came down to that, she just needed to prove otherwise.

"I'm going too," Selenia blurted. "And I'm sticking around you," she declared with a pointing finger towards Retisch, "whether you like it or not. I'm going to wait outside." And as sudden as she had come in the room, she left, closing the door behind her. From someone else's standpoint, those two would not understand why she had done or said that, but in Selenia's mind, she simply did not care to think about it deeply enough. She leaned on the wall and waited for them to come out when ready.

Briefly after her entrance, they came out, just as a girl was coming their way. She seemed distracted, and she bumped with Resitch. "No," Selenia thought aggravated. "I'm not protecting you from those kind of lame attacks; deal with them on your own."

The girl had wavy, shoulder length hair. She was wearing a black from head to toe, except for her silver bracelets. She picked up the book she dropped." "Oh! Sorry! My bad;" she apologized. "Hey! You're the one from the ceremony. Resitch, right?" She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Sakuya. I heard about what you and the others did. It was really brave; wish I could have helped." She also became aware of Risitch's companion. "And you're Lukas, right?"

[Caije]

"Oh, Hi," Resitch shook her hand. "Well, I am busy now but I'll seeya later..." He walked off. He didn't do this purposely, he would of liked to stay and chat but he was wasting time and now this new girl who he wouldn't disagree with him was coming, The grey eye demon.

He walked out of the school gate with Lukas and Selenia present.

"So Resitch....., What will you do in timber..." Lukas asked.

"Meet up with some friends,.... you know....see whats going on...". He replied. He kept on moving quickly as they followed the path. Balamb could be seen in the Distance.

"Anyone in particular?" He asked.

"Well, there is this girl I know, She's seifer's girl, You know Seifer..." Resitch asked.

"He's a Total p*ssy...." Selenia sighed.

"I couldn't agree with you more...." Resitch stated. Lukas and Resitch laughed while Selenia took the lead into the town. Balamb hadn't been attacked but many of them wanted to know what was going on in the school now. The once quite town was bustling with news reporters and tourists all to see Balamb garden.

It was hard to move pass everyone, they somehow managed to stick together and make there way towards the Train station. Resitch stepped to the counter and purchased three tickets. He moved in across the rail and showed the Guard his ticket. He stepped into the train and sat beside the window.Lukas sat opposite him, Selenia glared at him as if he had somthing on his face.

"Baby-sitting, I hate this job already, The runt needs to be protected though, ....I hate you Squall,". She thought to herself.

"So Selenia, why are you coming...?" He asked politely

[Fehrant]

The group was departing. It was composed of three members: Resitch, the reason for everyone else to come this further, either willingly or unwillingly, a student named Lukas, who was Resitch's friend and had decided to join him in this dangerous side-quest, and Selenia, a student with a grim purpose in life who had come here because of the circumstances that had been played out for her.

They easily made it to the town of Balamb. Since the attack had been upon Balamb Garden directly, they had sustained no damage whatsoever. Many citizens, and people from other towns wanted to know what was going on. They were parents, mothers, news reporters, and even tourists. To Resitch's party, it was not easy to reach the train station. They had to make their way through the huge crowd of people. Resitch and Lukas were trying their best to do it in a civilized manner; Selenia, despite her handicap, simply pushed people out of way.

Eventually they reached the station, and Resitch purchased three tickets, which reminded Selenia she didn't have much gil with her, if any at all. One had to pass an exam to join the SeeD institute, and they covered all the fees. That's why gil had never been much of a problem to her.

They handed the tickets to the guard, and got in the train. Their pick was a four-person spot next to the window, Lukas and Resitch sat in front of Selenia. She took the katanas from the belt, and placed them standing next to the wall. Selenia could not help but glare at Resitch. "Baby-sitting, I hate this job already, The runt needs to be protected, though... damn you, Squall." She thought to herself.

Her hand went to one of the pockets of her trenchcoat, taking out her sunglasses. As she was about to put them on, Resitch asked a question.

"So Selenia, why are you coming...?"

She stopped trying to put the glasses, and placed them again on the inner pocket. She stood up, and her only usable hand thrust forward, getting a hold of Resitch's shirt collar, raising him to her level, next to her angry face. "The only reason I'm here is because Squall pulled one on me, the bastard;" Selenia explained through her teeth. Lukas tried to calm her down. "But I don't care about you, or your friend, so let's avoid the stupid small talk. And if you pull something stupid, I'll freaking kill you, and tell Squall someone got you." She let go of his shirt, as Retisch returned to his seat. Selenia sat also. She took out her sunglasses and put them on. "Don't worry though," she assured with now calmer voice. "Anyone giving you a hard time will get his ass kicked."

[Storm]

Lukas sat down on his seat, shuffling backwards, a little scared by Selinia's sudden mood burst. He didn't know many girls exept the quiter kinds in the libary and some of the bitchy ones in class. He had never seen a woman, or anyone with that kind of anger before.

"Don't worry though," She seemed a little calmer, "Anyone giving you a hard time will get his ass kicked."

She spoke in a more re-assuring tone, but Lukas was still weary.

"I... I'll help... If anyone tries to hurt you, they'll have to go through me."

He tried to minimalise conversation, resisting the urge to try and lighten the mood with one of his silly jokes or an impression of an instructor. Instead, he dug into his coat pocket and took out a book about Guardian Forces, turning to the marked page in the centre of the book. Curling his legs up comfortably into the seat, he looked over at Sakuya, who seemed pretty quiet. He noticed a book in her arms. He felt curious, how she kept it neatly tucked into her.

"Errr... Sakuya? That book... what is it?"

[cetra_aeris]

Sakuya had followed out of mere curiosty. After bumbing into them, Restich, Lukas, and Selinia had begun to walk quickly out of the gates. She really hadn't planned on following them any further, but had found herself walking a distance behind them as they headed to Balamb. She was glad that she never left her dorm without her weapon because of the monsters that prowled around waiting for someone to stray from the road.

She made sure to stay back enough so not to bug them, or make them mad at her for following. In a way she was going for her own reasons as well. She had wanted to see how Balamb was doing, and she could tell now as she approched that it was fine.

She stopped near the entrence to Balamb to see the scenery. She had missed it but she enjoyed the Garden. She glanced around and saw the trio heading towards the train station. She made one more look around the town and hrridly followed. She saw them buy tickets for the train at the station and walkonto the train. She went to the booth and reached in her pocket, grabbing out enough gil for a ticket. "Uhhh.... I'd like one ticket for the, please." She said handing the guy her money. He handed her the ticket and went back to reading a magizine.

'Why exactly am I getting on this train?' she thought to herself. She was terribly confused, and she didn't even know where the train was going. She looked down at her ticket, juggling the book to her other arm. "Timber...'

She walked onto the train right as the annoncement for the trains departure sounded over the intercom. "We will be departing for Timber shortly. Please take your seats and enjoy the ride." She glanced around the car and took the seat near the others. She gave a slight wave and smiled. She looked out the window for a moent and then settled in her seat putting the book in her lap.

"Errr... Sakuya? That book... what is it?"

Sakuya looked over at Lukas, a bit surprised that he had talked to her. "Oh! Uhh... It's just something I found when I was helping out in the Library. It's on the Guardian Forces.... A kind of, older volume." She shifted and looked at the book he was reading. It was a newer volume about the infamous GF's. She looked back to the one she had and turned to the page she had left of at when she had bumped into Restich. It was giving a detailed description of a GF known as Leviathan. She looked back over at Lukas. "It's really detailed... But I don't think it was supposed to be in the Library anymore. It's dated back to before Squall was headmaster."

[Caije]

Resitch could tell Lukas was nervous around girls. He smiled to himself and listened in on there conversation. He actually wondered why Sakuya was here, though he didn't say anything. He remembered somthing slightly as he listened into Sakuya's conversation with Lukas. Rinoa and Squall were bickering about the Gf's earlier.

"Because the Galbadians have got a Gf,...." Squall had said.

He kept this to himself for now but he was curious, If the Galbadians had got a Guardian Force, woudld they use it on those who oppose Galbadia and its Military.

"Next stop, Timber, Timber next stop!" The announcer had told them.

Each got off his or her seat and waited for the Train to come for a halt. As it did they stepped out of the platform. Selenia was the last to get off the train. Everyone was shocked what they had seen. Except for Resitch, he remembered this place well. The air was stuffy and it made it hard for them all to breath. Timber was in ruins.

"Resitch, this, this piece of crap is your home...."

"It's timber, been like this for 10 years, Though things didn't get bad at all until 2 years ago, were galbadia troops moved in," Resitch sighed."To find me.....

"So what happened 2 years ago...?" Sakuya asked curiously.

"Perfect, the runt brings me a place were the Galbadia have a zero-tolerance law.....," Selenia thought to herself. She took the lead and turned to Resitch."Where is Seifer's girls place...."

"I'll take the lead...." Resitch sighed. He moved past Selenia and walked swiftly trough the city ruins. Everything was total chaos. The Galbadians ruled this city now, they hit anyone who went out of line and killed there family or the people they cared most about. He made his way trough a small alley.

"Well look who came out to play...2 girls and there pipsquek boyfriends..." A few Galbadian Guards had emerged from nowhere. There leader who was dressed in red spoke as they came up from behind them. More guards came from the front and the group realised they were surrounded.

Resitch and Selenia looked at eachother and smiled. "What!? Me, Boyfriend, with...her.." He shuddered at the thought.

"Look who's giving cheek, take the male's into custody, the girls, bring these two lovely ladies to my suite..." He smiled.

"You touch me, I kill you...." Selenia said, she grabbed her Katana's with great speed and already had ran forward to get the Leader.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gunshots came from the ed of the alley. A female held a gun. She had just shot the guard who Selenia had gone after, the other guards retreated as soon as they heard the gunshots and left there captin for dead.

"What, who dares..." Selenia growled turning around to see who the female shooter was.

"Claire...." Resitch sighed. A attractive young girl stood at the end of the alley. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a Black top which went hung over her belly. She wore black trousers. She smiled and put her gun into its holster."I thought you were hiding..."

"Sorry, I needed the Galbadians to believe that..., I've been home all along."

"Hey wait, You thought she was hiding, well then, why were we going to her house, you said you had contacted her aswell...?"

"I was gonna sneak in," Resitch told Lukas. He turned to Claire "How did you know I was coming,"

"Squall called...., Told me you were on your way,

Resitch then approached her and hugged her. He grabbed her off the ground and after a long hug let her come back to her feet.

"I missed you...." He sighed.

"Not as much as I missed you..." She looked up at him and smiled.

"Cram, the reunion, Hey blondy, get us back to your place, now! Selenia ordered.

"Who's she...?" Claire asked.

"Thats Selenia, Lukas is the chap behind me and Sakuya, is behind him." Claire waved and they waved back. She led the way towards her place. It was almost night.

[Omega OwA]

Kitere had sat in his bed for quite a while since the attack. He had skipped the ceremony and held his ears tight when Selphie gave her speech on the intercom. It pained him to find so many lives just thrown away.

For hours, Kitere stared up at the ceiling. He did not feel the need to get up and find out what else was going on; it was something he had experienced for the first time. He thought about why those troops would need Rinoa for.

Why didn't I die back there? Why am I alive...

He needed to know. He wanted to fufill his purpose. For a long time, he felt he was useless. Thats why he trained hard and studied, never giving up. Kitere thought this would give him something. But all it ever did was expand his knowledge. Nothing more.

His stomach gave a small growl and he twitched. Finally getting off, he picked up his sword and headed down to the cafeteria. He ordered a small meal and ate quietly. He noticed how quite the large room really was. Everyone was silent.

Once he finished his meal, he walked out to the courtyard where he sat at a bench. There he saw a group of students talking to eachother. They seemed to be discussing about Laguna Loire's death.

Kitere got up. There was nothing to do here for a week. He decided to go Laguna's funeral. He wanted to find out more about his death and if it is in any way related to the invasion.

At least It'll keep me busy for a while

He thought to himself.