Final Fantasy Saga

“SoâÂ?¦ one more, just one more,” the man thought aloud while he began to smile darkly, a wicked little look on his face, his dark eyes wandering around this abyss they called a castle. The walls remained stained in blood from that time, the single incident from which this all began. He could still remember the screams, the screams of the men in agony, of the women in tears, of the children watching those who gave birth to them die. ScreamsâÂ?¦ when She arose, that is all this world would be, a symphony of screams and painâÂ?¦ the most beautiful symphony in history. There was but one seal left.

* * * * * * *

“Let me see, let me see, Eliza Knight? Quite a record you have here,” Principle Laguna said, speaking in a surprisingly calm and collected manner for a school principle. Eliza was spellbound by this mans deep eyes and beautiful features, the long brown hair running down his back as his slender, almost feminine, hands handled her files and paperwork. He wore a blue business suit, which would normally look very tacky on someone, but seemed to fit his features quite well. “You’ve worked very hard this past year, you almost didn’t make it in. With all of this effort, are you totally certain you’re ready to come here? If you thought getting in was hard, you’re going to be blown away by what we have you do in this place.”

“I’m certain of my decision,” Eliza responded as she looked up at Laguna sheepishly, her soft and gentle brown eyes conveying how innocent a life she’d lead to this day, “I’ll find someone to help me study if I must, but I’ve started walking this path soâÂ?¦”

Laguna smiled, placing the folders on his desk. Which was quite a mess considering how organized the rest of his office was, a picture of his wife and family beside him, but other than that lone picture most everything was either on its side, strewn about, or stained by coffee. His eyes moving around a bit, taking note of his new student as he spoke, Laguna began, “Don’t say any moreâÂ?¦ the truth is the school is mostly a cake walk compared to the testing.”

“But, why did youâÂ?¦?”

“It’s the last test,” Laguna chuckled a bit, he was a very laid back man, much more so than what Eliza had expected. “I wanted to see your resolve. Many students are so nervous that they blink, and this school isn’t for those who are unable to handle rough situations,” Laguna explained to her, helping her see the reasoning behind his slightly unusual method.

“I seeâÂ?¦” Eliza responded, looking quite sheepish as she began blushing, her voice closer to that of a mouse than of a fifteen year old girl.

Laguna then stood up and walked to a large folder cabinet, seeming to be made from rather nice oak, and removed a second student file, a rather large one. Looking over it for a moment before he put it back and then said, “The one who will be showing you around our school is a very talented young man, one of our honor students. His name is Gren Ashforn.”

Eliza let herself smile, looking up at him, having always had trouble getting to say exactly as she meant, but in a school this size if she didn’t ask she might never find him, “Thank you very much. Can I perhaps ask you something, if it isn’t too much trouble?”

Shaking his head, the principle responded with cheer, looking right into her eyes with warmth and kindness, “It’s no trouble at all, that is why I’m here after all.”

“WellâÂ?¦” Eliza shifted nervously, unable to think of the exact words she had, “Where would a student by the name of Ark d’Speare be right now?”

“Ark d’Speare?” Laguna seemed a little surprised, looking at the girl for a moment, “You wouldn’t by chance be the girl heâÂ?¦”

“It was in Junior High two years agoâÂ?¦ yeah, I was that one,” Eliza responded as she nodded, her cheeks still softly reddened by her blush. “I gave him the three scars.”

“You knowâÂ?¦” Laguna began, his arms moving behind his back, walking calmly to the window and looking out it. “âÂ?¦Ark has changed quite a bit in the last year. The odds are you won’t even recognize him.” Laguna looked out at the field his office had view of, on the seventh floor of this building, the administration building. It was snowing, which was quite odd for September weather, something unusual had been going on with the environment for the past six months it seemed.

“I may not recognize him, Mr. Loire, butâÂ?¦ I can never forget himâÂ?¦ that’s why I’m here,” Eliza responded, closing her eyes, “I could never tell him the full extent of what his deed meant to me, and until I do I can’t stop thinking of himâÂ?¦ this past year, being unable to see him, unable to laugh at his jokesâÂ?¦ I miss my best friend.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to have Gren introduce you again, he and Ark have actually become very good friends in the past couple of semesters,” Laguna explained, “But before that, one more questionâÂ?¦ it pertains to your family. Do you have their permission to live here for the entire four years of your schooling?”

“UmâÂ?¦” Eliza sighed, her hands laying atop each other on her lap, one squeezing the other just a little, “IâÂ?¦ don’t have a family. I was raised in an orphanage, I have no idea who my parents are. So, it doesn’t matter, because I can live most anywhere so long as its safe.” Despite her loneliness whenever she spoke of her lack of family, Eliza couldn’t help but be happy. Since Gren was Ark’s friend, there was no way she wouldn’t see him before the day was out, and since it would be the first time in a year she couldn’t get it off her mind.

“I seeâÂ?¦” Laguna turned away from the window to face her, “There must have been many times when it was very hard for you.”

“There were hard times, good times too though,” Eliza stood up, no longer blushing, but a melancholy look about her face, “Thank you very much Mr. Loire.”

Laguna nodded and then walked back over to his desk, picking up the phone with one hand and dialing one of the schools various extension numbers. When a very unusual voice answered, one Eliza couldn’t quite place the gender of, Laguna spoke, “Call Gren Ashforn to my office, we have a student for him to show around.”

As he hung the phone up and looked back at her, he continued his briefing about the school a bit, “You’re going to see things you never imagined existed in this place. It can sometimes be shocking, try not to get ill or faint while Gren shows you around.”

“Thank you very much,” Eliza replied, smiling at the Principle. After a moment, she then added, “But you don’t have to worry, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Then go ahead and wait out there, I’m afraid I have a meeting with a colleague of mine and have to have a word with her,” Laguna explained, continuing to smile at her, “Though I hope to hear good news about you soon. Gren will be here in a minute.”

* * * * * * *

This feeling was the best in the world, the feeling of two beings fighting a duel, of sweat and muscle tensing. The movements, the fluid actions, the swaying of back and forth in an exhilarating dance where only one would survive. Well, both of them would survive since these were wooden swords, but for Gren the feeling was still the same. As he dueled with his rival, and good friend, Ark d’Speare there seemed to be no greater enjoyment for him in the world. Their bokuto collided with fury, and the tip of his slammed into Ark’s helmet with great force, the match was over. Pulling off his training helmet, sweat dabbling through his dark blond hair, Gren couldn’t help but laugh, “Well you almost got me that time, but you still need more practice!”

He watched Ark get his helmet off next, his friends black hair with red streaks looking as wild and untamed as ever, as if he were some form of beast, and then Ark yelled back, “Damn you Ashforn! I’ll kick your ass damn it!”

“Dream on,” Gren laughed with his friend as they walked to the sidelines of the gym, letting two others use their place on the tatami mat for a while.

As the two sat down, Gren handed Ark a bottle of water, taking one for himself as well and starting to drink. He took a moment to reflect upon how the two had become friends since Ark came to this school for the first time, Gren had always found it quite a fascinating story himself. When Ark had gotten here he truly was like more of a wild boar than a student, fighting anyone who challenged him, pulling random and rather crude pranks, eating like a slob. However in that unusual behavior Gren had seen raw skill, skill which he could shape into making Ark quite a great warrior. The first time the two had met, Gren was breaking up one of Ark’s many fights, only to be dragged into it. Back then Ark fought just with his bare hands, and once again was more akin to a fighting animal than a warrior, so it was quite easy for the disciplined Gren to topple his foe. From then on, Ark’s fury had been focused purely on Gren, the only man on the entire campus who had beaten him in a fight. Their rivalry had spawned quite the friendship, though Gren was still obviously the better swordsman, he was amazed at how far Ark had come in just one year here.

“So who’re these two going at it?” Ark asked, pointing to the two guys now dueling in their spot as they took a breather. Their skills were pretty good, but obviously not of those who followed the way of the sword as Gren and Ark did.

Looking over at the time board, Gren looked at the two names after theirs, “UmmâÂ?¦ appears to be Rinoa and Garnet, from the look of it.”

“I didn’t know they took kendo, when did this happen?”

“Looks like they’re new to the class as of today actually, it is the new semester and all,” Gren pointed out, guessing Ark had lost track of time yet again.

“Wow, this makes for myâÂ?¦ umâÂ?¦ third semester, right?” Ark looked around in an erratic manner, Gren could still see quite a bit of animal nature to his friend, which bugged him quite a bit.

Nodding, Gren answered, “Yeah, you’re officially a sophomore here at the Mana Academy, and I’m a senior.”

“Senior? SoâÂ?¦” Ark sighed, looking down a bit, some of his usual spunk obviously fading, “This’ll be our last year getting to hang out?”

“You say it like that’s a bad thing.”

“Well I’ll never get to kick your ass if I don’t manage this year is all,” Ark smacked Gren on the back, roughly enough to send the somewhat thinner and more frail man onto the ground, “UmâÂ?¦ oops.”

“Oops?” Gren got up, growling as he gave his friend and nemesis quite the scary death glare, “What was that?”

Just as Gren was about to grab his bokuto and start yet another duel, however, one of the moogles from the office walked up to the two and said, “Hey, Gren, Mr. Loire has an assignment for you.”

Ark made a mischievous giggle, and Gren sighed, looking towards the moogle as he said in response, “Very well, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

* * * * * * *

“Many of the teachers are considering strike, Laguna,” Quistis Trepe said, her arms crossed as she sat on the desk, “Rufus is pointing out a lot of flaws in the system, ones many teachers grow to resent more and more. As your friend I’m telling you that you’ll have to deal with Rufus or it could turn into a war. This school is not a place for you and him to settle old scores, my friend.”

“Oh let him have his fun Quistis, he’s an excellent teacher and I don’t want to get rid of him,” Laguna responded, glancing out the window to see Eliza still awaiting Gren’s arrival outside his office. “Rufus and I go back a long ways, just because we never got to finish our little fight that doesn’t mean I’m clamoring for a rematch, I merely do not wish to act until all of his cards are in play.”

“If this isn’t a fight for you, why are you bubbling out strategy that makes it sound more like a war?” Quistis remarked aloud, looking to Laguna still.

“Looks like you’ve caught me,” answered the principle, “But Rufus deserves his chance. Our fight for being principle of this school wasn’t under the fairest of circumstances, he was ill at the time. If he loses without any excuses, even he will admit defeat and then return to his job as normal. And like I said, that’s what I want to happen. So you’re right, I’m treating this like a war, because he is too.”

Quistis knew Laguna too well to think she could change his mind at this point, so instead she gave out one last bit of advice, “Just don’t let the students get caught up in all the chaos this is likely to bring about.”

* * * * * * *

Cloud sighed, sitting atop the gymnasium along with his friends Squall, Aeris, and Zell instead of partaking in gym class. It’s too bad Tifa was such a teachers pet with their gym teacher, seeing as nearly all of the girls in the school loved hanging around him. He looked over at Aeris, who was wearing a pink leather jacket and dark purple miniskirt, and said, “Come to think of it, why the hell don’t you melt when looking at that Sephiroth guy like all the other girls do?”

“I dunno,” Aeris responded calmly, snacking on a candy bar, “I mean yeah he’s hot and all, but for some reason I get a sort of stabbing pain in my stomach whenever I look at him. And who needs some teacher when I have you!”

“That’s freaking weird,” Zell commented, which was followed up by Aeris hitting the back of his head. “Ow! That hurt!”

“Serves you right, get a haircut already,” Squall added, saying more with that than he usually did in a conversation in this group. Cloud wondered why he was always so quiet, but never thought about it for too long.

“Whatever,” Zell murmured, crossing his arms and sitting down, “Why exactly do we come here all the time anyway? Isn’t it a bad idea to ditch gym class only to sit on the roof of the gym?”

“It’s nice up here,” Cloud answered, “Besides, we’ve never gotten found yet, may as well not worry about it for now right?”

“Yeah,” Aeris walked over and sat on Cloud’s lap now, giggling her sweet little giggle, “And it just goes to show how little some of the teachers really care, Sephiroth doesn’t even miss us.”

* * * * * * *

Calmly reading over her schedule, thinking of the school she was now in and of the adventure she felt like she was getting herself into, Eliza smiled and hummed happily waiting for Gren to come and show her around. Her long black hair tied into a ponytail going down her back, her sky blue eyes glancing over the schedule she had made. She was taking some algebra, writing, and science classes, as well as a class on white magic, on the history of the Cetra, and a fencing class. All of the classes had rather odd names for the instructors, which didn’t surprise Eliza one bit considering the place she was in. This school was a massive facility that covered nearly fifty square miles, encompassing the entire island that it sat upon in the sea. There were many ways to get around it though, ranging from the usual cars and trains to flying chocobos and teleportation pads. It was easily the most unique school Eliza had ever been to, and she hadn’t even gotten to see much of it yet. All she really knew to expect was that anything was possible in this place, and that everyone here was very capable and very intelligent.

After a while, a young man with dark blond hair, deep green eyes, and a very slender but strong figure walked to Eliza. He was wearing dark green pants and a black T-shirt, with a backpack slung over his shoulder and a wooden training sword in his free hand. The way he moved held an unusual elegance and grace that Eliza hadn’t seen in her entire life, though from a distance the man might be mistaken for a girl with short hair. When he finally got close enough, he sat down in the chair next to Eliza and smiled, “You’re Eliza, right?”

Nodding, Eliza then said in response, “And so you must be Gren?”

“Indeed I am, shall we get star-“

“Please, where’s Ark?” Eliza couldn’t stop herself from saying, having lost nearly all the patience she’d exercised for the past year in a mere instant of feeling close to her goal.

“He’s in the sword gym, where fencing, kendo, and tai-chi get taught,” Gren answered, looking awkwardly at her, in confusion over this girl knowing his best friend, “Do you know him?”

“I doâÂ?¦” Eliza explained somberly, looking downwards, “I studied as hard as I could to get here because I wanted to see himâÂ?¦ he’s my best friend.”

“What a coincidence,” Gren stood up and offered Eliza his hand, “The beast happens to owe me twenty Gil from our last match, I suppose we should go and collect.”

As Gren said this, the bell rang, it was lunchtime now. Eliza hoped that Gren would know where to find Ark on this massive campus for lunch, since she didn’t want to wait another moment. To her luck, however, he did. The two began to walk in the direction of one of the schools subway connections, Eliza slightly embarrassed at her rushed behavior now as they went. As a result of this, she didn’t really say anything as they walked, just taking note of where they were going. However, after a few moments, Gren asked in a very playful manner, “So how does such a kind, quiet, and cute girl like you know the loudest and most obnoxious man in the entire school?”

“We were best friends in Junior High, we’ve only known each other for two years really, and he’s been away for one of those, but I feel like I’ve known him for my entire life,” Eliza replied, sighing, “It felt like a part of myself was gone when he left for this place, a part I couldn’t live without.”

“Those are some pretty heavy words, you must really love him,” Gren said, not even realizing exactly what he’d just implied until the words left his mouth, “OhâÂ?¦ umâÂ?¦ sorry, I didn’t mean toâÂ?¦”

“It’s all right, he really is like my brother, so I don’t mind,” Eliza assured him, “He’s always looked out for me and helped take care of me when nobody else would. When someone treats you like that, you love them, it just seems natural to me.” She knew Gren had meant love in a different sense, but Eliza didn’t, Ark was like family to her.

The two finally got to one of the places where students came to eat, an outdoor area with green grass and nice tall trees. Eliza smiled in wonderment at the beauty, it was actually a very pleasant place despite how many students were there. Then, a little ways off, sitting alone under a tree, she saw him. Ark, with a large object wrapped in cloth, was eating as he usually did. Her smile only grew as she watched him, he was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt, with blue jeans and black shoes. He was a little crude, but deep down Ark was by far the most kind and sensitive human being Eliza had ever known. She began to slowly walk towards him, Gren following her as she went, and she found herself even more nervous than she imagined she’d be. Her stomach was racing and tense, her eyes watering, she was going to cry. However, before Eliza could come much closer, a large man walking up to Ark broke her concentration on the moment.

* * * * * * *

“Mmm, such a delicious feast!” Ark said in joy, taking a large bite of the burger he’d gotten from his friend in the school cafeteria, his super secret contact that helped him get special meals. He’d helped the guy win a fight, though it was against a girl – food was food. Not to mention that girl, Tifa had been her name, was tough as nails anyway, Ark was happy to have gone at it with her a little. Though he still felt a little bad hitting her. As he was happily enjoying his lunch, though, a large black man came up to him and knocked the burger out of his hands. Ark’s rather enraged eyes looked up at the perpetrator, whom seemed to have a metallic hand and a bad buzz cut. Thinking about it, he’d seen the guy hanging around with Tifa once or twice, likely a friend of hers looking to reclaim her honor, though she had enjoyed her fight with Ark as well. The guy was very tall though, which made Ark a little nervous. “UmâÂ?¦” Ark began, “Can I help you? You better have a good reason for messing with my lunch.”

“The name’s Barret, you beat my friend up and I have to talk to you about that,” the rather grizzly guy said, he was obviously a senior based on his size, and Ark wouldn’t of been surprised if he was on the football team either.

“Well, um, she had started the fight really. I just-” before Ark could finish explaining, the mans metallic fist came crashing into his face, sending him straight through the tree he’d been leaning on while eating. Flying a good ten feet before colliding with another tree, which exploded in a mass of splinters and sawdust, Ark stood on his feet and groaned. “Oh now you’ve done it,” he cracked his knuckles, and pulled the sheet off his broad sword, “In case you don’t know, the name’s Ark d’Speare, I’m the head of the Sophomore Division of the Duelist Club.”

Barret raised his fists and grinned, Ark had to admit that he was a bit nervous about fighting this giant, even with a sword to a metallic hand. Then, Ark’s opponent said gingerly, “Bring it on.”

Normally, a teacher would stop this sort of fight. However, in Ark’s past fights, when a teacher would try to stop it Ark sometimes accidentally hit or even bit them, and so now teachers tended to steer clear of his encounters. Ark’s outfit was tattered from the explosions of splinters due to his impacts, revealing his back through his shirt, three scars running along it. The scars went diagonally, and were all three parallels to each other. After a few moments of waiting, Ark leapt into the air and brought his sword down towards Barret, the larger man blocking it and grabbing the blade with his metallic hand. As he took hold of the blade, Barret then swung Ark into another tree, the smaller boy grasping the handle of his sword and not letting go as he collided with the tree. Barret didn’t let go and didn’t stop, and Ark found himself quite dizzy. He had to find a way to get past the metallic hand, but how? He kept being slammed into trees, other students running away and watching the fight now from a safe distance. Then, it came to him, he remembered the most fundamental thing he’d always wanted to do. How could he forget? He let go of his sword, and landed with his feet firmly on the side of a tree, bouncing off of it. With great speed he slammed into Barret, punching the man in the chest as hard as he could. With that one powerful impact, the larger man toppled over, the wind knocked from his gut. As Barret gasped, Ark took his sword again, and held it at his opponent’s face.

“Do you give up?” Ark then said, grinning, a small little trail of blood going down his chin from his lips, likely a cut from a splinter. However, instead of answering, Barret passed out. Ark took that as a win for him, and sighed, “Too easy.”

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

Ark recognized that voice, it was the voice of his conscience, a voice he hadn’t heard in a very long time. Looking over, his suspicion was correct, there stood a person he never expected to see again. Eliza Knight, the best friend he’d ever known, was standing a few feet away, in tears, with Gren behind her. Ark’s eyes widened with surprise as he had no clue what to say, the sheer amount of emotion from this encounter was more than he’d expected, and without her aroundâÂ?¦ he had forgotten something that was very important.

“You promised meâÂ?¦ howâÂ?¦ how could youâÂ?¦” Eliza dropped to her knees, sobbing, “How could you break your promise?”

To Be Continued

Author’s Thoughts: Konichiwa! ^_^ This is a special section that will be in the end of each chapter, giving my personal thoughts on the events of the chapter, on the events in the world around when the chapter was written, or some sort of interesting factoid you may not have noticed while reading! It’s a section akin to the Leave it to Kero-Chan segment of Card Captor Sakura fame, only with thoughts from the author rather than an adorable and interesting stuffed animal! There may be a few slight spoilers here and there, so read at your own risk! Seeing as this is the very first entry, I won’t ramble on much, but let you in on a little secret! This fanfic was one I envisioned originally as a possible Final Fantasy anime, and was even going to pitch it one day to Square executives (with some artwork made by my dear friend Hoshi, who did the character designs for Ark, Gren, and Eliza!). Seeing as the storyline is actually rather massive, this is only the beginning of a very epic saga. I do hope you’ll be here for the rest! Until the next time, Final Fantasy Saga Chapter 2: Fight Night! Look forward to it!