ATTENTION- this fanfic is by me, Terrin, and is not available for distribution unless by me or 
with my permission. So please respect this disclaimer's note, and don't use my story other than 
by reading it. This story cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Anyways, enjoy my story! I hope you like it! I just recently started playing FFVIII, so please 
don't accuse me of writing the story wrong. I might throw in a few of my own ideas, but other 
than that enjoy!
-Terrin (I was not writing about myself in this story!!!)



A Ray of Light:
Chapter One: On the Dollet Sea

The boat rocked from side to side on the Dollet Sea. Terrien, a brown-headed girl of fifteen 
rested a gloved hand in her lap. The other was settled on the rim of the boat, named DT02, which 
stood for Dollet Tank number two. Terrien's white tunic billowed out of her orange suit, and 
blew with the wind that wafted over the deck of the ship. Her mind was elsewhere, while her 
eyes stared at one spot on the planked floors. The ship was an old one, built over two hundred 
years ago, but still in use today. But Terrien wasn't thinking about the ship. She was thinking 
about how much she wanted to go home, and never get back on the boat again. 
Her life, she felt, was practically ruined. She had to go to this dumb place called Balamb 
Garden, and wear a stupid uniform, and learn stupid stuff. Her only means of getting away 
would be to purposely throw herself overboard, but that wouldn't be much fun anyhow. She raised 
her hand from her lap and stared at her leather gloves for a moment. Her father had given them 
to her before she left, saying that they used to be her mother's. She knew her father meant well,
 but it only made Terrien want to stay home more. Home. Dollet sounded so peaceful right now. 
What she would give just to be at home in her comfy reading chair by the fireplace in the 
library.
As if to break into her thoughts, the accursed ship pitched forward, throwing her from her seat. 
She picked herself up, and settled back down on the bench, only to be thrown from her perch 
again. "Oh, I might as well just stay on the ground!" she said sharply to no one in particular. 
Her hair, now a wild mess of tangles, blew forward to reveal a small red mark on the back of her 
neck. If someone interested took a closer look, they would see the seal of Deling, the city that 
never sleeps, as everyone calls it. Terrien had no clue how it got there, but she did know that 
it was there. She even asked her father about it before, but her father had merely shunned her 
out, and hadn't said anything about it.
She looked over to the right of her, seeing a middle aged man reading a newspaper. The boat 
pitched once again, sliding Terrien across the floor. She crawled back over to her bench, and 
took a strong hold on the seat. She looked over at the man again, and he hadn't even moved. It 
was as if she was the only one affected by the boat's pitching and rocking. She gathered herself 
up, and went over to the man. She took a hold on the side of the boat next to him, and tapped 
him on the shoulder.
"Yes?" the man asked, not taking his nose out of the classifieds. 
Terrien studied him for a moment, and then spoke. "How is it that you can stay on the bench, 
while I am sliding around like a snake during an earthquake. I want to know your technique. 
Super glue? Sticky tack? What is it?"
The man laughed and held out his hand. "My name is Caraway. But you can call me Gibs. I like 
Gibs better. Your sense of humor is refreshing, but it isn't either of those things. It's 
actually a little black magic. It's exhausting me really. I haven't had the strength to even 
stand up. It's only a little really, but it's drained my energy." As if he remembered something,
his eyes lit up and he asked her, "What is your name, young girl?" 
"My name is Terrien. I'm from Dollet, and I am going to Balamb Garden. Against my will." She 
shuddered. Then she took a seat next to the man, deciding that if the boat pitched again, then 
she would hold on to him.
"Well well, we have a newly found SeeD here now, do we?" Gibs chuckled and crossed his arms. 
"I have a daughter there. She is a beautiful one, she is. I am very proud of her, but she isn't 
a SeeD. Not yet. I want so badly for her to…" then the old man shook his head and returned to 
his classifieds. 
"So, what is your daughter's name, that way I can tell her I have met you." Terrien asked Gibs. 
He sighed, and folded his newspaper in half, sticking it into his jackets inside pocket. Terrien 
waited patiently as the old man took his time about telling her his daughter's name. 
"Well, her name is Rinoa Heartilly. She is about five foot four, and dark brown hair, with 
stunning brown eyes. Her face is splashed with small dotted freckles here and there, and if 
she isn't wearing her uniform she dresses in long silk dresses, which I bought for her for her 
birthday. She wanted them so she could wear them on…" he shook his head, and blinked. Terrien 
could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes, but she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. 
Instead she picked her self up, thanked Gibs for being so nice, and went over to her bench, 
where her suitcase was laying tucked underneath. She took it out, and pulled a notebook from a 
pocket. She wrote down Rinoa Heartilly as best she could, and then stuck it back into her 
suitcase. Then, the bell on the cabin's roof clanged noisily. They were four miles from hitting 
the Balamb Garden station. Terrien stood up, and looked over to where Gibs was sitting, but he 
had gone. She was a little disappointed, but she saw a piece of paper blow off the bench. 
Terrien dropped her suitcase and purse, and ran over to catch it before it blew overboard. She 
caught it, and sat with her knees on the bench facing the ocean as she read it. It said, "Squall 
L. A12, Griever. Terrien wanted to know what Griever meant, and what A12 was, and what this 
Squall L. was. But the paper blew out of her hands, and down into the ocean, the salty water 
washing the ink off of the small tab of paper.
Sighing, Terrien walked back over to her bags and picked them up, walking towards the ramp, so 
that she could get off quick to avoid being trampled by anxious travelers. She could see the 
docks and the covered boardwalk that was called Balamb Station. It was a welcoming sight to a 
girl who had seen nothing but ocean and sky for three days. Terrien held on to a rail as the 
boat docked, and several shipmates jumped down from the deck above to rope the boat down to 
posts. As soon as the boat was roped down, Terrien scrambled off, to avoid people coming down. 
Instead of a rushing sea of people, Terrien saw only four people get off, one of them being her.
The other three didn't seem to be together. One was a young girl, about three years younger 
than Terrien. Another one was probably a businessman, who had a gut the size of Terrien's whole 
head. She noticed he pulled his hat far down on his head, so that no one could see his face. 
The other one was also a man, about twenty years of age, and very strange to look at. His whole 
head was blue, and his suit was like a diving suit, all yellow. She wanted to know who he was, 
but she didn't have time. She walked over to one of the windows under the cover, and rang a 
small bell. 
A girl with long red hair pulled up a shade and said, "May I ask your name?"
"Yes, my name is Terrien. I'm the new student attending Balamb Garden, from Dollet." Terrien 
said just like her nanny had told her to.
"Oh, right, Miss Terrien, please step over to the side and wait on that bench over there." 
She pointed to an iron bench that looked rather painful. "Your escort will be here in about," 
she checked the clock behind her, "five short minutes! Have a nice day." She shut the shade and 
closed the voice box. Terrien's shoulder's drooped, with the thought of having to talk to 
someone. She knew it sounded stuck up, but she hated saying hi to people. It was the last 
thing she ever wanted to do. That was probably why she never had very many friends. She wasn't 
friendly unless the person said hi to her first. 
She walked over to the bench and set her things down on it. She leaned up against the tiled
wall of the building, and waited. She watched the girl that had gotten off the ship be greeted 
by what looked like her mother, and they left into an ice cream parlor down the boardwalk. The 
blue man sat on the edge of the fence that ran around the edge of the docking area, then he got 
up and went down a ramp. He didn't come back. The businessman had scooted out just after the 
boat docked. Terrien saw four shipmates unwrap the ropes from the posts on the dock, and wrap 
them around hooks on the side of the DT02. She saw the mother and her daughter come out of the 
ice cream parlor and walk the same way the blue man did. They didn't come back either. Terrien 
watched the ship captain yell something to his shipmates, and the ramp slid up to the lower deck 
of the ship. One of the shipmates folded the stairs up, and yelled, "Away!" the boat moved 
slowly over the waves, only about one footers, and part the sea foam as it moved soundlessly 
across the horizon. The red sun was the only thing left to see, and when it had settled down 
beyond the ocean, Terrien flopped down onto the boardwalk and put her head on her knees. 
Her whole life she had waited like this. Waited for people to come get her, or for people to 
make the first move. Now was one time when she wished she had the guts to go and leave. She 
wished she had gotten back on that boat and traveled back to her father who had made her come 
here. She hated her father for making her come here. He was always concerned about how much she 
learned, but he never made her go to a place she didn't want to.
She lifted her head up and wiped her face on her sleeve. This whole place is unfriendly, Terrien 
thought. The boardwalk is hard, the iron bench is uncomfortable, and that red headed lady wasn't
much help. She needed to find a clock. She knew it was about eight by now, since it was six 
when she had checked in with the woman. Suddenly she heard a dong, then another dong, and she 
recognized it as the sound of a clock. She walked around the side of the tiled building and 
didn't believe what she saw. It was a town center, with shops and lit up signs. The cobbled 
stone floor was light in contrast to the dark sky, with glittering stars in it. A clock with 
diamonds for numbers built into the hotel at the center of the square, with the short hand 
pointing to seven, and the long hand pointing to six.
These things were small in comparison to what Terrien was staring at. About seven hundred people 
were walking around in the square talking and laughing, including the blue man and the mother 
and daughter. The people were going in and out of the shops, with shopping bags and backpacks. 
Everyone looked so happy. She ran back to get her suitcase and purse, and went back to the 
square. Terrien saw old people and young people, all laughing and smiling. She knew she should 
probably wait for her escort, but if they hadn't come by now, they probably wouldn't be coming. 
She walked to a place with Good Food to Eat written on the wooden sign. She went inside, and 
saw over fifty people laughing and talking loudly, with cups and mugs splashing around. 
She went to the front desk and asked the man if he could hold her bags for her. Then she 
ordered a big plate of steak and broccoli with rice, and gulped it down. After she had finished 
she looked around at the people sitting around her. They all looked about her age, but they were 
all wearing uniforms. They must have been from Balamb Garden.
"Well, I guess I should get going to Balamb Garden." Terrien said to herself. She went to the 
front and picked up her bags, giving the guy a fifteen-gil tip. He thanked her, and Terrien 
went outside to check the station to see if they had anymore tickets to Balamb Garden. 

A boy of about seventeen laughed, and his dark blue eyes sparkled. Then his face returned to 
normal. It wasn't usual for him to laugh. He was very calm and quiet most of the time. His 
brown hair fell down in front of his face. A girl with dark black hair and stunning brown eyes 
pushed the hair out of his face. "You silly! You should know that your hair hides your eyes!" 
she laughed a high laugh, and returned to her conversation with a SeeD. 
The boy surveyed the room, and noticed a girl without a uniform on walking out of the door. 
Hmm, she must be new. I wonder who she is? He thought to himself. She was about five foot four, 
with shiny brown hair and strange purple eyes. She wasn't half bad looking. She looked like the 
kind of girl Seifer would be interested in. Suddenly someone tugged on the brown-headed boy's 
arm.
It was the black headed girl. "C'mon Squall, let's dance!"

Terrien sat in a comfortable seat on a train that ran by Balamb Garden. The place she had just 
been at, she had found out, was Balamb the port. The train ride would only take about twenty 
minutes tops, so Terrien just stood by the window, looking out at the trees and hills passing 
by. The landscape was very plain, not like Dollet's, that was mountainous and picturesque. 
Terrien heard a beep, and then the train announcer's voice came on. "We will be arriving at 
Balamb Garden in two minutes. Please gather up your belongings and head to the closest exit. 
Thank you." 
Terrien took her bag and suitcase, and headed down the hall to the door. She opened it and 
stepped into a small room. No one was in the compartment, because most of the SeeDs and the 
students were at Balamb partying or they were at Balamb Garden studying. The train came to a 
stop, and the door slid open. Terrien stepped out. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was 
marvelous!

*Chapter Two coming soon!!!*