Anew

It was yet another day in Balamb Garden, Squall found himself walking the hallway of the second floor. He passed a familiar classroom. He was part of that classroom only a year ago, he still remembered the boring days of sitting in the back row and listening to the lessons. He still heard the familiar lectures given by Instructor Trepe but it was no longer intended for him, it was now for a new batch of would-be SeeD candidates.

Squall gave a breath of relief as he reminisced of the year that had passed. He continued walking as he headed for the deck.

"Good Morning, Squall." Ellone greeted him as they passed ways.

Squall paused, to think. He felt obligated to give an answer, a decent reply, though he felt no need for such.

"Squall?" Ellone repeated.

He nodded and went on his way, once again seeing her smile fade. His thoughts were shifted to Ellone, Laguna… his father?

"A father indeed…", Squall thought to himself. "No… Ellone's… Ellone's father…" He stepped into the deck and caught a breath of fresh air. He placed his hand on his forehead trying to shake the thoughts off his head, he was beginning to tell himself that he was truly thinking too much. What was the use of blaming Ellone… Laguna. Blaming either? A father was no longer the center of his life, somehow… it seemed, he learned of Laguna too… late.

"Hey, Squall!" A voice abruptly disturbing his thoughts exclaimed. "A penny for your thoughts." Said the fully equipped cowboy behind him.

"Irvine! Can't you see the COMMANDER's thinking." Selphie teased.

"Commander?!" Squall thought to himself. "What's the deal with calling me that?" he asked himself, as he decided to leave the deck.

"C'mon Squall, how 'bout a dollar for your thoughts?" Irvine joked as Squall passed him.

"Whatever", Squall replied in his I don't care voice.

"Alright, alright" Irvine shrugged his shoulders and gave Squall a sly grin. "Anyway, I feel you need to know that Rinoa just arrived from Deling this morning and is resting at your dorm!" He shouted at him as he walked away from the deck.

"Heeeey! Irvy, you hear we'll be having some new enrollees this year?" Asked Selphie in her usual lively tone.

"Yup!!" Irvine replied as he leaned to feel the breeze. "New kids, huh?"

"Yeah! I can't wait, more junior classmen!" Selphie paused to contemplate on a thought. "Irvine…"

"…Sephie?" Irvine replied, somewhat surprised by her sudden seriousness. "What is it?"

"…I love kids, um… do you?" Selphie said in an uncomfortable manner.

"Sure Sephie." He replied as he placed his hand over her.

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"Balamb Garden…" it was the first thing that got into her mind as the ship docked at the harbor of Balamb.

A young child, not more than thirteen years, a would-be classman of Balamb Garden. She sifted her fingers through her auburn hair as the breeze tangled the strands. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked up to observe a worried father, he expressed it in silence, she knew he wasn't the mushy type. She looked in another direction and saw her mother.

"Dear, we'll stop at the hotel first, okay." She said striving to contain her worries in a smile.

"Yeah, mom." She said hoping to assure them of her safety. Though she was unsure how.

They reached the Balamb hotel (where the breeze will blow you away!) after a short walk from the harbor. But, she felt the walk was too long, filled with the silence of worried parents. She often hated too many words but, just now, she felt a longing to hear the chatter of comfortable hearts. She couldn't do much to make them feel better.

"It's time… I lived my life…" she thought to herself as she leaned at the balcony of their hotel room. She felt one day she would look back and laugh at how terribly uncertain she felt at this time!

"Uncertain?!" she asked herself, shocked by her own thoughts. "What were… what was my reason for joining garden…?!" she asked herself in pure uncertainty.

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"The new enrollee was supposed to be here five min---"

"Quistis, new enrollees never come in time!" Zell interfered in a rather irritated manner. "It's not an easy thing to do ya'know!"

"Why Zell, you seem to have adopted Raijin's quote." Quistis joked, vaguely dismissing the fact that Zell was right.

"Ah! C'mon!" Zell replied feeling insulted.

"Calm down, Zell. Just a joke." Quistis giggled. Zell decided to keep quiet as he crossed his arms and legs and proceeded to lean on a wall.

Quistis took advantage of the silence and decided to do some thinking. "Zell's right." Quistis admitted to herself. "I left my foster family at the age of ten… with hatred in my heart. Well, for sure my foster father disgusts me, though I don't remember the reasons clearly now, but I guess it's better that way. Quistis shrugged and took a deep breath, remembering this was heavy on the chest. This child…" she thought as she glanced at the information sheet. "She isn't looking forward to leaving a family, she'll go back to that family once in a while to make sure she wouldn't forget them , despite the GF."

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She sat there, wrapping her arms around herself. She was shivering, with tears running down her cheeks, not cold. The house was well heated and elegant, the old stone orphanage was nothing compared to this, but still she longed for the cold stone walls and the friends who were always with her, in the old stone orphanage by the sea. She was shivering with fear. She could hear her father, foster father shouting at her mother again. Though she tried to get away from their quarreling, she couldn't... the voices were subdued but still audible. She only wished for silence, silence!

"Quisty, Quisty, sweety? Please open the door," said a voice outside her door, with it came a few knocks. It was her mother, the mother who never left her father because she had to take care of Quisty.

"Come on Quistis open the door!!" demanded the scary voice of her father. He banged on the door when she refused to answer.

The atmosphere was once again filled with noise. Finally, she couldn't bear her silence,"NO!!!" she cried out. "I WON'T!!!!"

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"Hey, Quistis!" Zell interrupted once more.

"What is it Zell!" Quistis replied with an annoyed glance.

"Don't be like Squall, okay! No deep thoughts, well at least none when there are other people to talk to. You might scare off the new enrollee." Zell joked as he pointed his thumb towards a newly parked vehicle.

"That should be them." Quistis uttered as she prepared to meet the enrollee and her parents.

But instead of meeting a family, only a child went out of the car…

"Mom, Dad, I'll be fine, don't worry too much, I'll be fine, promise." she affirmed. The child leaned towards the car to allow a hug that would not come again in a time too long. As quickly as it began, it was over. The child gripped her backpack with her left hand and walked towards two new faces. She felt like dirt in their presence.

"I wonder how many monsters they've encountered?" she asked herself. "I've never even fought a bite bug." She was feeling a tad bit insecure now, a feeling she thought she had rid herself of when she graduated elementary school. "dang! This is stupid!" she told herself as she continued to walk.

"So you must be Mikole Grey, well Mikole welcome to Balamb Garden." Greeted the lady in the light pink dress.

"I'm Quistis Trepe, I'm an instructor here… I'll be looking forward to meeting you in class." She smiled.

Nicole smiled, realizing they were still human despite the fact that they were far, far ahead of her. "…um… hi!" She paused and stared at the two in front of her. "Know? I think I've seen you guys in Deling before…hmmm… during that parade thing, with the sorceress."

"So Micky, you from Deling city?" asked a brash looking guy with a real cool tattoo on his face.

"…….yeah."

"She okay?" Zell thought to himself. "Uh… want me to carry your bag?"

"no thanks…"

"Uh… by the way,… uh… I'm Zell." He introduced himself as he scratched his head feeling an uneasiness.

"We should be on our way now." Quistis interrupted as she felt the discomfort. "Come on Mikole,… Zell."