Fate (Final Fantsy VII and VIII)

Chapter One

Chapter One

"Rayna?" Dad's voice called.

"Ugh..." I groaned. I opened my eyes. Five fourty-five A.M. on a Saturday. Why was he getting me up again?

"Rayna! Are you still asleep? You need to get up! You have to leave for school in five minutes!"

I shot up into a sitting position. Was boarding school today?

I jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes, then thundered down the stairs.

"You need to get the six o' clock taxi to be on time," Dad smiled, holding my backpack in one hand, my breakfast in the other hand, and my bags at his feet.

I had to go to boarding school because my father couldn't take care of me alone. Mom was on "buisness trips" all the time, but I was old enough to guess that my parents divorced. I was seventeen, for Pete's sake.

I was so disappointed about leaving my friends. I had to leave my best friends Hana Bryne and Brooklyn Shoin for who knows how long.

"You'll meet so many new friends at Balamb Garden that you'll feel right at home," Dad had said. I prayed he was right.

I wanted to cry. I loved my father dearly, and never wanted to leave him. And I loved my friends so much! I would always have so many good memories with Brooklyn and Hana. Such as that one day we skipped around the school singing that "Wizard of Oz" song. Or that day I decided I had a deadly allergic reaction to normal people, and they forced my to touch a football jockey. I had "died" seventeen times since then. Maybe leaving Rose Garden High, my old school, would make me "die" an eighteenth time, and never be the same. I'd still see the girls, though, just not in person often.

"You need to Skype us every day," Brooklyn ordered. She had long blonde hair and red eyes, and she was kinda tall for her age.

"Yeah!" Hana replied. She also had long blonde hair, but her eyes were blue-gray. She was really tall for her age.

I promised I would. I wouldn't see them otherwise.

I sat down at the table and ate Dad's amazing waffles. I was going to savor them. Who knows what the food at my new school would taste like?

Then the feared moment came. Time to leave. Dad and I stood on the sidewalk for the remaining two minutes hugging, crying, and bidding goodbye.

"Look at my little girl," he whispered as I stood in his strong arms for the final time before summer. "Seventeen and looking so much like her beautiful mother. I'll miss you, Ray."

"Yeah," I whispered in reply, "I'll miss you, too." He kissed my forehead, then hugged me again.

"Now," he said, letting go and putting his cheesy cheering-up smile. "You'd better go! You'll miss the train if you don't get a taxi now."

"Yeah," I smiled. "Bye. Love you!"

"Love you, too, Ray."

I waved again, then put my pinkies into a triangle, put the tips into my mouth, and whistled sharply when the next taxi came driving down the street. The driver slowed to a stop in the street in front of me, and I holled my backs in, then got in myself.

"Rose Garden Station, please," I said. He nodded. Dad and I waved and blew kisses to each other as the taxi started moving again.

Wow. It was finally here. The horrid Saturday I had to leave my father and friends to go to some stupid boarding school called Balamb Garden to live. At least it was two months until summer vacation.

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I took a deep breath as I set foot off the train. This place was called Balamb. Only a whiles East was Balamb Garden, one of the Three Gardens of the world. Yeah, my town was called Rose Garden. It was just founded not long ago and added to this country (like Hawii and America). But it wasn't a major Garden like Balamb Garden.

I didn't know how I would get to the Garden from here. I would find a way. Maybe walk?

At the same time I got off the train, another girl did, too. She had brown hair that curled on the ends and emerald green eyes. She wore a short yellow jumper with a zipper down the front, and brown boots.

"I know," she was saying. She was talking on the phone with someone. "I'll be there soon. I'm in Balamb; I'll get to the Garden in a few minutes. ... Alright, see you then. Bye." She hung up the phone, then was about to leave when I stopped her saying, "Excuse me?"

"Hm?" She looked at me with puzzled eyes. "Me?"

"Uh... yeah... I... um... are you going to Balamb Garden?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm starting school there, but I don't know the way." I bent down and got into my carry-on for my enrollment form. I got it out and showed her.

"Oh!" she said. "Well, in that case, why don't you come with me?"

"Um... okay...?"

She gestured for me to come with her. We walked for a bit, then she turned to me.

"I'm Selphie Tilmitt." She held out her hand for me to shake.

"Hi," I replied. "I'm Rayna Stone. Nice to meet you." I smiled, and shook her hand. I already made a friend, and I didn't even set foot into the school.