DISCLAIMER: This FanFic is copyright 2003-2004 of Phoebe Flessas.  You are not allowed to  
post this fic on your website without my permission. Do not print this document and use it 
for profit or commercial purposes; you are not allowed to post it anywhere using your own 
name. Should the above conditions be violated, you will be hunted down by my lawyer and
have your butt kicked faster than you can say Squall is cool. Over and Out.
Characters remain copyright of Squaresoft Inc. 

                            
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                                  ElvenWorks Presents 
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                          ======================================    
                          A Final Fantasy VIII Mythology FanFic
                          ======================================
                                   
                                     By ElvenGirl
                                        
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                             |      ~*~A Lion Cub~*~     |  
                             =============================

 The wind was waging yet another endless and futile war against the old lighthouse at the very 
tip of the peninsula in Centra's most eastern part. The sea was stormy and angry that day, 
letting its waves crash endlessly onto the ancient granite, formed in untold times by a volcano 
that once bleeded lava there, giving birth to new land. The volcano had died centuries ago, and 
the land was in no threat of being shaken by the earth's wrath. Only the sea possed some sort 
of threat now, slowly eating away the softer parts of the granite. For the lighthouse, the sea's 
threat was a de facto, something that would eventually come, when the rock on which it stood 
would finally surrender to the ocean, hollowed out by the sea's salt, and crumble down in the 
water's wet embrace. But perhaps by that time the lighthouse would've already fallen to the 
ground, worn by time's trickle and the wind's howl. 
 But the lighthouse wasn't alone in its bitter predicament; a large building stood not far from 
it, on the rocks above the small beach that the lighthouse guarded, like an ageless, vigilant
watcher. The waves tormented the beach as well, but there was nothing for the waves to destroy 
there, so the beach let its sand be stroked and pulled away by the voracious sea.
 The building was an old, and rather neglected thing. But, if one looked more carefully under 
the aged ivy that covered most of it, he would distinguish beautifully carved reliefs of the 
ancient times, reliefs of gods that belonged to religions long forgotten, heroes who had long 
ago let their sword drop onto the earth and their deeds be swept away from history's pages. 
Large columns lay fallen on the ground, like trees that had been defeated by the wind, while 
others still stood proudly, under the thick layer of the ivy. The walls of the building were 
thick, out of aged gray stone, and had withstood time's flow. 
 And although long decades had passed where the building lay empty, lonely and in waste, now it
kept within its walls, protected and secured, young lives that were given a second chance in 
life, after losing those whom had brought them to life. Many children, of different ages, 
little, innocent souls, dwelled happily in the old building. The orphanage had about two dozens
of little residents, all with no parents. War scourged the continent of Galbadia, and so it was 
inevitable. The children, most of them aware of the tragedy that struck their lives, knew this
place by one name: home. 
 The orphanage today seemed more crowded than ever, because of the stormy weather. The children 
could not rush out on the beach or the flower-fields around the orphanage, their own innocent 
world, to explore and play, like the children they were. They were forced to stay inside, in the
warm walls of the orphanage and invent new games, occupy themselves with the toys they had, 
even the scarce toys they had at their disposal. Getting toys was hard in Centra. Miles away 
for civilazation, it was hard getting anything at all. The closest place where other people 
lived was really, really far.
 Most of the children were gathered in the fireplace room, sitting on the thick rug of the floor
playing, giggling, rolling on the rug and one or two of the older ones reading some book. One
girl, the one which seemed to be the oldest of all, about eight years old, was sitting on a 
stool near the firaplace, sewing up a child's torn shirt. She seemed skeptical and paying little
attention to what she did. She was wearing a white skirt and a blue sweater. Her large eyes were
skeptical and vacant. 
 A ball rolled by her foot, and the girl looked up. A little girl, no older than four trotted
near her, chasing after the ball. She stopped right in front of the older girl. She was a plain,
skinny little girl, but her face flushed with joy, and childish enthusiasm. She had brown, short
hair and a pair of green eyes large like saucers. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt and green
trousers. She stood in fron of the older girl and giggled.
The older girl laughed lightly, and picked up the ball. 
"Here! Here Elle! Throw it to me!" A little boy from the other side of the room shouted. 
"No! I lost it, I'll bring it back!" the little girl shrieked, stamping its foot, with a cute
frown. 
The older girl laughed again, and gave the little girl the ball. 
"Here you go Selphie." she said.
"Tee-hee-hee!!" Selphie said and taking the ball kicked it across the room at the boy. Elle 
laughed.   
Then, the door of the room opened, and a tall and beautiful woman came in. She was dressed in a 
black, long dress, and her long, black hair fell softly on her back. Her pale face made a great
contrast with her large blue eyes. She was the matron of the orphanage, and her name was Edea 
Kramer. But, most of the children in the orphanage called her Matron. When she came in, the 
children quietened down a bit and a few even ran up to her to hug her. One of them was a little
girl with two long, blond pigtails and blue eyes. Little Quistis really admired and loved 
Matron. 
She knelt down and opened her arms to spread hugs and maternal strokes to the children. The 
children adored her. Then she got up and her look soared all over the room. She frowned. 
"Ellone..." she said to Elle. 
"Yes Matron?" Ellone replied, looking up. 
"Aren't Seifer and Squall here?" 
"No. I thought they were at the other room."
"No they aren't. Haven't you seen them?" 
Ellone shook her head negatively. "The kitchen maybe?" 
"No, I checked...Oh dear, where are those two?" Matron said worringly, cleching her hands 
together. 
 Seifer and Squall...those two children were more troublesome than all the others together. 
Seifer was a terrible trouble maker, and Squall unfortunaly was the one who usually took it up
to face him, one way or another. Although they argued all the time and had so many fights and
ended up punished together in 'detention' -Edea's large closet where she locked in for a couple
of hours the most disobeydient children- it was quite clear that where the one was, the other
was usually close by. Edea could never figure why those two argued so much. They were so 
different children, like all the others anyway, but still it was a mystery what caused that 
dislike between them. 
 Seifer was older of the two, a feisty, bossy and mostly ill-mannered child, who always shouted
out loud and teased and picked on the other children, sometimes even hitting them, and causing
a lot of trouble. Matron knew all Seifer wanted was a lot of attention, and that's why he acted
that way. But deep down he was a good child that had just been through a lot in its little life
so far. He was a handsome little boy with blond hair and hazel-blue eyes that always had a 
clever look in them. He always used to say he would be a great knight someday, and used to run
around with a toy sword made out of wood, playing. He never used to hit other children with it, 
except one: Squall. 
 Squall was a silent, serious and collected child. Ellone always used to say that he was quiet,
clear, like a crystal. Matron thought he was a bit too mature for his age, but still, she let 
him be. Squall never spoke much, never shared his thoughts and rarely did he complain about 
anything. He didn't really care if almost none of the other children wanted him to play with 
them, and he didn't really care if Seifer had chose him to torment all day long and beat him 
with his toy sword. Squall was a more delicate looking child than Seifer, smaller in built, and 
seemingly fragile. He had messy, brown hair with lighter tones, and huge, sea-blue eyes that 
most of the time had the curious and lovely look of a puppy-dog. Other times, his eyes were 
angry -at Seifer mostly- and his little face frowned up. He too had made a toy sword out of 
wood, to defend himself from Seifer. 
 It was rather funny to watch them fight each other with their little swords, because both were
equal. And Seifer had trouble understanding this. He was bigger and stronger, and yet Squall
could match him, even if he was lighter and slimmer. But Squall was -although he ignored it- 
quick and much too stubborn to step back; his will gave him more strength, and his stubborness
more endurance. And they could go on fighting like that for long. Usually until Seifer lost his
patience and threw his sword at Squall and then barged onto him with his little fists to batter
Squall's face. At first, Squall ended up getting a few nasty punches before he could escape. 
Later on, Squall learnt to predict when Seifer would try to surprise him, and dealt with it more
maturely: he threw his sword at Seifer first. Edea was surprised seeing a little boy make up 
a strategy to beat his opponent. But even greater surprise was to see Squall not attacking 
Seifer if he ever dropped his little sword. Squall had never hit Seifer when he was knelt or 
when he was defenceless. Seifer on the other hand did. Squall was ready to give Seifer a chance,
Seifer never did. 
"Where could they be?" Matron said worrigly. 
"Errr...They can't have gone outside, can they Matron?" Ellone asked. 
Matron lingered at that thought. "No, I hope not...but what in the name of Hyne can I expect 
from those two children? Sometimes I wonder whether I took in two little monsters instead of two
children." she said. 
"No, don't say that. Squall isn't that bad. Seifer picks on him all the time and they fight."
Ellone protested. "They are just so weird." 
Matron shook her head. "Ough, I'll give both a nice little spanking when I find them..." she 
said. "Oh dear...I'm afraid they have indeed gone outside. Cid isn't here, I'll have to go look
for them myself..."
"No, wait Matron. I'll go find them. You stay inside..." Ellone said. 
Matron smiled. "Its alright Elle. I'll go find them. Don't worry, a little wind won't harm me." 
She went to get her coat and go outside to find the two stray children. 

"Are you going to do it, or not?" Seifer shouted, with a teasing look. 
 The wind at the lighthouse's rock was blowing hard, and the sea's splashing made it hard to 
hear anything. 
 But Squall wouldn't reply. He kept looking at the sea, the waves crashing on the rock and the 
water roaring. He looked down at the small cove at the base of the rock that was protected by a 
small harbor of natural rocks. The waves were smaller there, and he could see the bottom of the 
sea, with the rocks, the seashells, the starfish and the sea-urchins stuck on the rocks. Two 
little boys ignoring the storm, the wind and the sea's spray, standing on the edge of the rock, 
over the raging sea, talking. They were either very brave, or just plain crazy. But maybe those
two were both. 
 Squall had followed Seifer outside in the storm and the wind, despite his initial fear, just 
because had called him a coward, and challenged him to prove his courage like the heroes in the
fairy tales they read about. Now, as they stood on the rock, near the lighthouse, he didn't feel
the least afraid. Everything started back inside the orphanage.
 "I could prove my courage!" Seifer had boasted. "I could go right now at the storm and dive in 
the sea and bring up a sea-urchin! I'm not afraid of the sea, nor the sea-urchin's spikes!" 
Squall had been sitting at the other end of the room, at the window looking out at the stormy 
sea, thinking, when Seifer interupted his thoughts. He liked sitting at the window, looking 
at the sea, and called her his friend. She too was silent like him, and when she ravaged, Squall
thought she looked like him when he was angry.  
"You are angry today..." he thought that day, seeing his friend the sea roar and whip the rocks
with waves. He smiled at her. "...But I know why. Because the sky is not blue for you to reflect.
You can't see how pretty you are when the sky's all messed up." 
 Then Seifer started boasting that he was the bravest of them all. The other children all 
admited they'd never do what Seifer said he could do. They admitted he was the bravest. Seifer
wanted Squall to admit it too, and kept boasting, telling about dragons he had slayed with his
sword, nasty people he had beaten easily, and all sorts of lies that were believable by any 
small child. And the other children believed him and shivered with fear at Seifer's 'legendary
deeds'. He kept staring at Squall all the time as he told his stories, piercing him with his 
eyes. Until Squall had had enough. Seifer had made him angry, not letting him watch the sea at
his peace, and 'talk' to her in his thoughts. Squall used to pretend the sea replied when he 
'talked' to her. He looked at Seifer and a with a frown said in his low, determined voice: 
"Stop lying. You're a big lier Seifer, and Matron says its bad to tell lies." 
The other children had gasped to hear Squall talk like that to Seifer, whom they now saw as a
mighty knight. Seifer just smiled with a mean look. 
"I'm not lying. I am a brave knight while you're a little icky coward." he replied. "I've done
all sorts of things to show how brave I am, and you sit all day and think. You're a loser! 
A big, cowardice loser!NAHNAHNAH!" 
 Squall's blood started boiling. He hated it when Seifer started picking on him. He hated it 
when Seifer called him names. But most of all, he hated it when Seifer called him a coward. 
Squall believed that being brave wasn't just slaying dragons and kicking the butts of nasty 
people. He thought brave was being able to face up to stuff you feared. 
 Right then, Matron called the children for cookies, and all dashed out of the room, leaving 
Squall and Seifer alone. They kept staring at each other. 
"Well?" Seifer snorted. "Do you wanna prove me that you're not a coward?" 
"I don't need to prove you anything Seifer." Squall said. His low voice contradicted Seifer's
louder one. 
"Hahahahah!" Seifer laughed. "You say so cause you're afraid of me! You don't wanna prove you're
a coward!" 
"..." 
"Coward! Coward! Coward!NAH-NAH-NAH!" Seifer with a sing-song, teasing voice. 
"I'm not a coward!" Squall shouted, stamping his foot. "I'm ten times better than you! You say
you want to be a knight, I'm going to be something ten times better!!" rarely did Squall break
out like this, but when he did, it was worth watching the passion he showed. 
"Aw yeah? What's ten times better than a knight? Whatcha gonna be, coward?" 
Squall panted with anger, trying to maintain his composure against Seifer's mocking. "...I'm 
going to be a...a lion." he said, with a sudden inspiration. 
Seifer fell about. "A lion!? Hahahahah! You mean, you're gonna walk on your fours and roll in 
the dirt all day? Hahaha! You're gonna roar too? Hahahahaha! Knights slay lions by the dozens!
When I become knight, I'll hunt you, and you'll be my rug 'Mr. Lion'! Hahahaha!"
Squall cleched his teeth and his fists tightened, trembling from the tension. "Lions are brave
and strong and proud..." he said. 
Seifer kept laughing. 
Seifer's laughing really got Squall out of control. If there was one thing he hated the most, 
that was when people were laughing at him. He hated it. 
"You say you're brave. I don't believe you. You can't go out in the sea now and bring up a sea-
urchin with bare hands. You're afraid of the storm, and you're afraid of the sea-urchin." Squall
said, to cut Seifer's laugh. 
It had an immidiate effect on him. Seifer stopped laughing and pierced Squall with his eyes. He
was anrgy. 
"I'm not afraid at all." he said arrogantly. "You are. I dare *you* to go jump in the sea now, 
and fetch up a sea-urchin!" he added. 
 Squall was surprised. He wondered whether Seifer was joking, but he thought that Seifer never
joked about those things. He was really, actually daring him. For a moment he thought of 
accepting right away, but he lingered. It was mid-November and the sea was frigid cold. And the
sea-urchin's had large, pointy spikes that were scary. But, he didn't want to be a coward. No 
way. If he wanted to be a lion, he had to be tough and brave, accepting every challenge. His
youth didn't allow him to know that he also had to judge the challenges, and know which one to 
accept. Squall wasn't stupid to put himself in danger. After all, if Matron found out, she'd 
really gt angry at them and punish them. But...being a coward in Seifer's eyes and in extent, 
all the other children was too much for him. He liked challenges by nature, and a challenge by 
Seifer was the best thing. 
"Ok. Let's go right now if you want." he said slowly. 
 Now it was Seifer's turn to get surprised. He really didn't think Squall would accept that 
challenge. It was the most farfetched thing his young mind could invent, and yet Squall had 
agreed to do it. Seifer was reluctant about actually pulling that off, but he couldn't step 
back. His rpide depended on it, so he took his scornful look again. 
"Hehehe...didn't think you'd agree. Alright, let's go out at the lighthouse now." he said.
Squall half regretted his decision. "After you Seifer." he said. 
 So the two of them took all precautions so that neither Matron, nor Ellone, nor any of the 
other children saw them, and snuk out of the orphanage. Squall wondered whether their absence
would go for long undetected. They went till near the lighthouse, where Seifer had head on 
spotted the small cove with the sea-urchins. They climbed down the rocks till the surf, and
then stood there. Squall wanted to evaluate the whole thing, and stood, looking at the sea. 
Seifer started taunting him again. 
"Well? Are you going to do it, or not?" Seifer shouted. 
Squall didn't reply immidiatly. He looked at the sea. She was his friend, so he thought, but,
for the first time he wondered how the sea felt about it. 
"I will. Let me take my time." he said. 
 Would the sea really try to harm him? He wondered about that. But, if he considered her a 
friend, and let her know about it, there was no reason she shouldn't consider him a friend.
"...I know you. So do you. I tell you my secrets all the time. Because noone will talk with you 
so their safe. But, I have to take something from you now..."  
Ceremoniously, he started taking off his shoes. He had read about knight christening ceremonies
and irrationally he started thinking of this challenge as a 'lion christening ceremony'. Lions
were wild and fierce animals, and so was the sea today, so it only felt right for a lion to be 
cristened by the sea, same way a knight was cristened by a sword. He took off his shoes and 
socks, and threw his shirt off him. The wind of mid-November felt very cold on the tender
skin of the child, and the sharp rocks were a pain under the small feet. His face was all red 
from the cold, and the wind messed up his hair. He stared at the sea he was about to dive into. 
He could see the sea-urchins well. Seifer watched him nervously. He was about to jump in, and 
Seifer -though he didn't admit it- admired his calmness. 
 "You won't harm me..." Squall thought to the sea. "I just want to pick a sea-urchin and prove 
that I'm a lion." 
 And the wind stopped being cold, the rocks didn't hurt his little feet and there was just the    
wild, pleasant feeling of the wind on his undeveloped chest, and the hard but pleasant feeling
of the rocks under his feet. Squall felt odd, and trying to make this moment more of a ceremony, 
closed his eyes. Seifer thought he lingered and wouldn't do it. But Squall did. He blindly dove 
in the cove's water. Seifer was stunned. 
 The touch of the water was a bit painful, as he splashed in rather ungracefully. And when he 
was whole in the water, he was abruplty surrounded in very cold water, and a deadly silence, 
but for the roar of the sea. Squall ignored the fact he was threatened by hypothermia at such
low temperature, and that he would get tired quickly and even suffocate. he kept thinking: 
"I am a lion...I can prove it. I can beat Seifer's challenge." 
 He looked at the ocean floor. There was a large sea-urchin right under him, prefect to choose
as a 'cristening proof'.   
 He let his head out of the water to take a deep breath, and dove again, while Seifer watched 
him in awe, wondering how come he didn't beg to get out. Squall went down, kicking hard with his 
feet till the sea-urchin. Without going up again for air, he lingered to catch the sea-urchin. 
He had started feeling the first symptoms of hypothermia. He felt tired and drowzy, unwilling to 
finish what he was doing and leave. But then he thought again that he had to prove he was a 
lion, and went for the sea-urchin. He was getting dizzy from the lack of air, and just grabbed 
it, to dart upwards to the surface. But he had clenched it too hard, and all its needles were in
his little hand, and the little wounds bleeded, and the sea's salt made them ache terribly. 
 He emerged his head out of the water with a loud gasp, holding the sea-urchin up so that Seifer 
could see. Looking over at him, Squall gulped. Matron had just came over to Seifer, and when she 
saw Squall in the water, holding the sea-urchin with a bleeding little hand, she let a terrified
shriek. And just then, Squall started loosing touch with the enviroment, and a wave swalloed 
him. The next thing he knew, he was underwater again, spinning in the wave with no control. He 
kept holding onto the sea-urchin. His belief that the sea was his friend gave him right. The 
waves brought him to surface again, and he filled his lungs with air, and then they pushed him 
till the rocks. He felt a hand grasping his hair, and another one his hand, and then Matron 
pulled him out of the water, with a terrified look. She held him in her arms, and shouted at 
Seifer to follow her back inside. 
 Squall was breatheless, frozen and nearly out cold. He dropped the sea-urchin, whispering:
"I did it...I'm a lion...". He let himself be carried back into the orphanage by Matron. Seifer
stared at the whole scene with shock. He had been beaten. He'd never dare to do such a thing and
he knew it. But Squall, that piny, fragile-looking, silent twig just had. When he managed to 
pick himself up again, he realised that he had to admit that Squall was brave. He hated that, 
and kicked a stone from his fury. Then he looked at the sea-urchin. It was large and had a lot 
of needles. Most were still dipped in blood by Squall's hand. He hastily picked it up as 
carefully as he could, and ran after Matron, who was striding towards the orphanage, with a
senseless Squall in her arms, talking to herself. Nearly all the other children of the orphanage 
had gathered at the top of the path that led to the lighthouse, squeezed near Ellone, who with
them watched Matron carry in Squall. They all knew what he'd done once Seifer came after her 
with the bloody sea-urchin in his hands. They all stared in awe and some even started crying.
 But they all thought that Squall was very brave. They all admired him now. Squall didn't care.
He was happy to know that he was a lion in the making. 

 But, his happiness wasn't meant to last for long. One night, not long after the event with the
sea-urchin, Squall woke up abruptly by the noise. He sat up in bed, and listened. He heard 
people talking, but he couldn't make out what they said. He heard someone crying, but then, 
whoever it was, he stopped. Squall kept listening, but he heard nothing more, aside from a door
that slammed shut. He wondered what it was, and then drowzy, drifted asleep. 
 The next morning when he woke up, Squall felt odd. He heard most of the other children crying, 
and curious, jumped out of bed and went to find out what was going on. He ran into the kitchen, 
to see most eating quietly, their eyes still red from crying. Matron was there, looking 
dreadfully down. But what struck the oddest to Squall was that Sis wasn't there. His sight
soared all over the room. She wasn't there. Squall got stratled. He wanted Sis, she had to tell
him what was going on. He darted out of the room to go looking for her, as Matron called his 
name. 
"Sis!" he cried out. "Sis!" 
 He dashed through the corridors, the rooms. He came to the fireplace room. Seifer was there. 
"Where's Sis?" he asked him. 
Seifer snorted. 
"You know, tell me!" 
"She's gone diddly-squat." Seifer replied sternly. 
"G-gone?" 
"Yeah. She left in the middle of the night." 
"No!" 
"She left, and she's never comin' back!" Seifer said with meaness. 
"W-what?" Squall was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that Sis would leave and abandon him. He 
refused to believe it. "No. You're lying to me." He said determined. 
Seifer sneered him. "No I'm not. She left. I saw Matron hurrying her out of the house and into a 
boat down at the sea last night." 
Squall still refsued to believe. "I don't believe you." 
"Fine! Have it your way, stupid! She left! What did you think? That she'd stay forever? She 
wasn't our real sister! Why should she stay? No one ever stays! They all leave! All the people you
think'll never leave you always go in the end!!" 
"Shut up!!" Squll shouted. He ran out of the room, his eyes watery, running wildly around the house,
looking for her. "Sis! Sis!" He shouted. 
"Squall!" He heard Matron's voice, then her footsteps as she pursued after him. "Squall!" 
Squall reached the front door. He pushed it open with a bang, and tumbled down the stairs, and ran
towards the field. He was so blinded by his tears, that he didn't see a man standing there...a young
man about seventeen that was staring at the orphanage awestruck and gasping. A man with a scar 
crossing his forehead...
He ran into the field, jumping over blumps of grass, shouting for Ellone. He stood in the middle of 
the field, and as the wind blew softly, making the grass dance to it, he shouted for her, the wind
carrying his voice through the air, across the land, into inexistance. He shouted until his little
throat got tired, until his voice cracked. 
He knew she wouldn't come. He fell on his knees and started crying. Warm tears fell over his cheeks 
and moistered the grass, as he sobbed quietly. Then he got up, and wiping his face with his sleeve, 
he ran back to the orphanage. At the entrance, he saw the man he had ran past a while ago, talking 
with Matron. 
But his curiosity about him was less than he sorrow for loosing Sis, and he went up to Matron, and 
whimpered: "I can't find Sis..."     
Matron turned, knelt in front of him, and stroked his hair kindly, but with some sadness and pity
in her voice. "It's alright..." 
Now that he took a better look at him, Squall saw that the stranger was tall and broad-shouldered, 
but not very muscular. He was rather thin and quite delicate looking. And he looked strangely 
familiar. Squall drew close, and observed the man. He had blue, fiery eyes, and a large scar on his
forehead. He had a large and broad sword-like-weapon secured to his belt, while two others, worn 
loosely crossed over his groin. He was dressed in black, and white, and he looked very imposing. 
As Squall stared up at him, and then man stared back curiously and amazed, Squall's eyes peeled in 
awe: That man had eyes like a lion's!  
"Who's he?" Squall asked. 
Matron looked up at the man with meaning, then back at him, and said something Squall had found very
mysterious: "No one. You don't need to know. The only Squall permited here is you."
He got so dazzled by that and his confusion, that he didn't hear what Matron told the man as she got 
up and faced him. The man nodded, and saluted her in a way that looked like military, and gave Squall 
a small shiver up his back. The man gave him a last look, and then turned and took a few steps towards
the orphanage's door. Then, to Squall's awe, he started growing paler and transparent, until he 
dissappeared. Squall's breath was cut, and he couldn't muster the courage to ask what had just happened.
He just followed Matron inside. 
The following days, Squall changed. He grew even more silent, even more serious, even more skeptical. 
He would sit for hours at the window, looking at the sea with persistance, with an accusatory look. 
"Seifer said you took Sis away. Why? Why did you? Was it because I took the sea-urchin?" he thought, 
and his eyes streamed.
He started to believe it was all his fault that Sis left, that she was taken away from him. From 
now on, he couldn't think of the sea as a friend. Never again. He just sat there, looking at her 
angrily, blaming himself. 
"Aren't you sick of looking out, Mr.Lion?" 
Squall bellowed angily. Seifer was mean enough to tease him now that he felt the saddest. White-hot
anger boiled in him, and he turned and gave Seifer and side-look that was rather fierce. Seifer wasn't
dawnted. 
"All you do is look outside. You haven't grown stupid, have you? What, did Sis take your brain with her
leaving? And--" Seifer never finished the sentence. 
WHACK!!
Upon hearing Seifer mock him and Sis, Squall's self-control collapsed. His little, childish fury exploded
in an adult anger. He turned abruptly, his arm stretched wide, and slapped Seifer hard with the back of 
his hand, right on the face. And it had such force, that Seifer was knocked off his feet. 
The other children in the room shrieked and pulled away from both. They stared at Squall in awe, and then at 
Seifer, then back at Squall. Squall stood up and towered over the fallen Seifer. His voice, although young
and boyish had grown hard and a little hoarse. 
"Don't talk about Sis like that." 
Seifer got up, and was taller than Squall. "I'll say whatever I want." He gave Squall a light push. 
But instead of stumbling backwards, Squall sustained, and pushed back, hard on Seifer's chest. 
Seifer got angry, and punched Squall on the stomach. Squall sustained, and rammed Seifer with his shoulder, 
and both children fell down, and tumbed on the floor, fighting. Matron came running and split them up. 
"Enough!" she bawled, and both Squall and Seifer stopped shouting and trying to poke each other's eyes
out. 
She was angry at them. "Both of you get detention." she said firmly, and dragged both along her. She locked 
Seifer in her large closet, then dragged Squall, who followed obidiently, consious of his flaw, to the coal
cellar, and locked him in there. Squall had all the time to think, and he was very quiet, whereas Seifer 
was whinning and battering the closet's doors with his fists. 
Squall smiled in the half-dark of the cellar, as he heard Seifer make noise upstairs. He didn't object his 
punishment, but Seifer did. 
"Another virtue lions have," he thought with a grin, "is obediance to the leader, and discipline..." 
And so he was a lion in the making. 

The years passed. The boy changed. The boy grew. The boy became a fighter. But still, his dream was to be
a lion. Squall stepped from rock to rock with ease, his feet thunding on the rock. He was smiling, and 
looking out at the mid-November sea at Balamb. She was gray and moody, but calm. Squall's smile grew wider. 
His eternal friend was waiting for him. He reached the spot he wanted. He let the wind blow on his face 
wildly, and the sea's spray wash his face. He laughed lightly. He flew off him a black jacket and his white 
shirt, pulled his shoes off his feet, and stood on the rock over the sea, and gazed down at her, and all the 
way till the horizon, as far as his eyes could see. He smiled wider. 
"I'm back my friend...like every year..." he thought, and a fleeting memory came to him: two boys on the sea's
rocks, and one of them dove in the frigid waters for a sea-urchin, and to catch the dream of being a lion. 
"And maybe I'm a lion now..." he thought, smiled, and dove in the water, gracefully, and splashed into the
frozen water.
The cold didn't bother him now. It was a pleasant feeling now. He swam undrwater for a bit, then threw his 
head up and out of the water with a delighted gasp, and let himself float on the surface, as he gazed at the
pale gray sky above. 
"I beat you sea, I beat you..." 

The END!

-------------------------
Acknowledgements
-------------------------
Million thanks to the usual suspects: Angel(my sister), Des(My man and best friend), Scott (my buddy and partner-in-crime
in RPG's), Yuri(my tormenter and great friend), My PC, Square-Enix, FantasySquare and of course, you for reading this. Oh,
and Nestle for making my favourite chololate-bar brand...Lacta for ever. :-) 
Muchos besos, everyone. 

And don't forget... I shall strike again...muahahhahahaha! (cough cough)

Phyco Author of Fantasy Fiction in Making, & Music Junkie.