Spark

Part One

"Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing." – Eckhart Tolle

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Squall Leonhart could be his own saboteur but also his own cause for inadvertently shoving his own feelings to the forefront. Taking a risk, a chance.

There was an explosion of personality of a woman that came into his life when they bumped into each other on the day of his Fire Cavern exam. He shrugged it off as a mere case of déjà vu. The feeling never faded, and it only came to fruition when a certain Galbadian sharpshooter mentioned being at the same Orphanage as all of them. That included her, the brutally honest young woman that had a penchant for explosions and enjoying trips on the transcontinental railway.

Quietly, Squall found that he enjoyed the quiet and realistic moments with Selphie, the woman in question. Staying the night in Trabia with Selphie and Zell after the former finally witnessed what her original Garden had been reduced to. A trying time for her emotionally and for all of them coming to terms with the fact they all knew each other upon a time ago. Emotions were entangled and thought processes alternating... it was an experience to say the least. Squall admired Selphie's steadfast and grounded nature to swoop in to check in with everyone, but he worried... was anyone checking up on Selphie? The fact she could just smile through everything and keep her emotions so resigned, was a strength Squall wished he possessed. Yet he thought further about it and wondered if Selphie could be strong in these times, who was being strong for her?

Squall found solace in the quiet teamwork that the Trabian students had. The team's ray of sunshine appeared next to him in the night, curious about what was keeping him awake. He was aware that it was well past 22:00 hours at this point. Plenty of confusing and tumultuous thoughts were on his mind and he worried that sharing them would burden her or anyone. But...

...Since she asked, he thought, might as well share.

He disclosed his irritation with all of them pushing their opinions about how he should feel about a certain other brunette resistance leader of the Timber Owls. He realized that Selphie didn't suffer too much of his ire since she was one to make the fewest comments regarding Rinoa. Then the timid lion shared that he wished everyone would stop trying to project onto him how he felt or how he should feel. He did not even realize what the term meant until he found himself listening in on a conversation about how a cadet felt that way earlier that evening.

Not intentionally eavesdropping but his resistance in asking for information, including help just didn't sit right with him yet. The more he processed that material, the more frustrated he found he got and he would just shut down in an attempt to try and think about it now. He can worry about managing it later. It was bad enough that he was having a hard time articulating how he felt emotionally about everything, but the constant peer pressure from everyone was bothering him.

Squall expressed how he felt silenced before he could even get the words out, stunted before he could understand why. He was remiss of Seifer's own prideful feelings he received no recognition for his hard work, as Squall received praise instead. Resentment was a word for how the brunette felt. Not to the deep-seated levels of Almasy, but a budding form.

The young man clad in leather belted this out to his auburn-haired companion, someone that was willing to listen to him and not cover his mouth about how he wants to express himself. It was comforting, to say the least.

From that moment onward, he found he could unapologetically be himself around the auburn-haired young woman from Trabia. After sharing all of that, she smiled at him and simply responded, "Don't worry about it! This conversation and your feelings are safe with me." Later on, Squall learned for himself that she genuinely meant it.