Here’s a bit more of Heritage- I dunno if there’s an existing thread, but if there is it’ll be mired somewhere on page 96987 and really, I’m too bone-idle anyway :-p
This is hot off the press, unedited and therefore struggles to get moving at times, but what’s there does like to paint the picture of what is to come- however, I got writer’s block (well, extreme ear and neckache) at the worst possible time- the following scene would have been an absolute hum-dinger :mwahaha: <-in that sense, my subscription to Cliffhangers anonymous has recently been renewed for another decade :-p
Jules slammed the piece of paper down on the desk in front of the rest of the senior SeeDs, who all responded by either gasping in shock, or simply shaking their heads in disbelief. Even Jules herself was still struggling to come to terms with the day’s events so far.
“They’ve finally struck at our very heart,” Shan, one of Jules’s fellow senior SeeDs, commented.
“But I thought it was your sister who attacked the headmistress?” Another one of the senior SeeDs, named Trevor, asked, incredulously.
“It was,” Jules said, her voice still wavering slightly. “It may be a sign of her dementia, but for the time being, we are to operate under the assumption that Sarah is in league with the Dark SeeD.”
“Well, then,” Shan continued, “that raises a major problem. If the dark SeeD have access to Sarah’s magical powers-” Jules silenced Shan with a wave.
“I think we’re all aware of the danger,” Jules stated, calmly.
“The question now,” Erica, yet another senior SeeD, asked, “is what do we do about it? The headmistress is incapacitated, and we haven’t had a full-time commander ever since Commander Leonheart…” Erica stuttered, avoiding Jules’s gaze, “…left us, two years ago. We need leadership.”
“The question is,” Trevor queried, “who should be the one to lead us?” One by one, all the heads in the room turned until they centred on a single person. Jules looked up, only to see seven pairs of eyes staring straight at her.
“Me?” Jules asked, incredulously. Try as she might, she couldn’t work out how seven men and women, all of whom were in their late twenties/early thirties, would look to an 18-year old girl for leadership.
“You have more knowledge of the Dark SeeD than any of us,” Shan stated, “you’re the natural choice.”
“Is that it?” Jules asked, defensively, “or is the real reason more…genetic… than you’re letting on?” Shan immediately knew what Jules was getting at.
“This has nothing to do with your father,” Shan reassured Jules, who still looked far from convinced.
“Well, then,” Jules said authoritatively, “if I’m the one with the experience, then when the time comes, I shall be the one to lead the first mission against them.” The seven other SeeDs all began yelling in disagreement.
“What?” Suriya, Jules’s best friend in the senior SeeDs, asked. Like Jules, Suriya was a very young senior SeeD, only 22 years old, and the two of them had grown close very quickly. While they may not have been as good friends as, say, Connor and Zell were, Suriya felt it was her responsibility to look after Jules, who was practically an orphan.
“I accept the job,” Jules said, smirking, as Suriya still looked on, aghast.
“What are your first orders, Commander?” Shan asked, smirking slightly as he emphasised Jules’s new rank.
“We need intelligence,” Jules simply stated. “I want to find out where they’re based, who their leaders are and how they’re funded. I want to hurt them the same way they hurt me- I mean, the same way they hurt us.” The other senior SeeDs nodded and began to leave the room, with the exception of Suriya, who approached the new commander.
“Are you sure about this?” Suriya asked her commander and friend.
“I’m sure,” Jules replied, her blue eyes making contact with Suriya’s dark eyes. “They have to be stopped, at any cost.”
“Even the cost of your own sister?” Suriya asked, sharply. Jules turned away from her friend, now wanting her to see the pain her question had caused.
How? Jules had silently thought to herself, ever since she’d received news of Sarah’s attack, and her allegiance with the Dark SeeD. How could you do this to me, sis? While Sarah might not have been aware of the role the dark SeeD played in her father’s death, Jules had made no secret of her personal hatred for the organisation, and had hoped that Sarah might have taken the hint. However, Sarah had now aligned herself with the Dark SeeD, and in doing so, had torn Jules’s heart in two.
Sensing that her friend was in pain, Suriya stepped closer to Jules.
“if you ever need any help, I’ll be here for you,” she said, quietly, before leaving Jules alone with her thoughts.
“Thanks,” Jules whispered, as Suriya exited the vast conference room. Sighing, Jules moved over to the vast window at the end of the conference room, and stared out over the fields, toward Goldenrod Village, Balamb Town and beyond, all the while silently praying for her sister’s sanity…
Also staring out over the fields was the mother of the 18-year old woman, her thoughts still filled with contempt toward her eldest child. Her other daughters had arrived back from the Garden late the previous night, and had gone into her room to see her, not that Rinoa acknowledged their presence, of course- she was their mother, they were supposed to give her unconditional devotion.
“I never did like that girl,” the voice inside Rinoa’s head began to say toward the emotionally tortured woman.
“Who?” Rinoa asked, bitterly, barely diverting her attention from the fields outside her house.
“Your second oldest daughter,” Chris continued, sneering as he said the words. “So selfish, stupid, obnoxious- she takes after you in so many ways it’s unbelievable.”
“Don’t you DARE talk about my family in that way!” Rinoa hissed, rising from her chair to face the spectre. “Sarah is a good girl!”
“When was the last time she came back here to see you?” Chris asked, feigning incredulity.
“She’s been busy with her training,” Rinoa replied, “I can’t expect her to be available every hour of every day.”
“But you expect that of your other daughters?” Chris asked. “Even Julia?” Rinoa let out a slight growl as Chris mentioned the name of her eldest daughter.
“Don’t talk to me about that bitch!” Rinoa hissed, sitting back down in her chair and turning her back on Chris.
“You know, you really do surprise me at times,” Chris said, sighing and shaking his head. Rinoa ignored him, continuing her vigil at her window.
“You know she’s gone away,” Chris said, whispering in Rinoa’s ear, which caused her to cringe.
“I know,” Rinoa said, defiantly.
“They may want your help to stop her.”
“They won’t get it.”
“Are you sure?” Chris asked, prompting Rinoa to turn round and face him, defiance in her eyes.
“I’m sure,” Rinoa said, smugly. “Sarah can choose her own path in life. I won’t stop her.”
“As you wish,” Chris said, walking away from Rinoa, with a smirk on his face.
Jules sat down behind the commander’s desk, the desk that was now hers. Ever since Squall’s death, it had been left untouched (same as the position of commander), as a sort-of “shrine” to his memory, but the time had come to begin afresh, with a new commander. Jules surveyed the contents of the desk, trying to suppress her emotions as she did so.
Squall was a very tidy man, intolerant of mess both in his work AND his home life- Jules had been on the receiving end of stern lectures from her father on many occasions for not keeping her room tidy enough to meet his high standards. Squall’s desk was a reflection of this- all of his letters were neatly filed in straight, vertical piles, his pens were neatly arranged to one side of his desk, even his drinks coaster was exactly parallel with the edge of his desk. Hesitant to disturb anything, half out of respect for her father’s tidiness and half out of fear of getting told off again, Jules reached forward, and picked up a photograph from the side of what was now her laptop. She studied the picture carefully- it was of her whole family, all her sisters, her aunt and her grandfather, and it had been exactly positioned so that when squall sat down, it would have been the first thing he saw. Unable to control her emotions any longer, a single tear fell from Jules’s eye, landing on the glass frame of the photograph. Suddenly, though, the intercom on her desk rang, bringing Jules back to reality. Replacing the photograph exactly where she had found it, she pushed the button, activating the two-way link.
“Who is it?” Jules asked, putting on the most neutral-sounding voice she could muster.
“It’s just me,” Alec said over the intercom’s speaker. “You busy?” Jules’s mouth opened, subconsciously preparing to say something along the lines of “Not now, Alec” or “I’m not in the mood”, but before the words left her mouth, Jules paused. Maybe a little company would be nice, right about now, she thought, allowing herself a small smirk,
“Come in,” Jules said, pushing another button and opening the door, through which Alex entered the office.
Well, I suppose you could call this progress, the young man thought to himself as he approached the large, intimidating desk. He stood opposite Jules, studying the young brunette as she looked through the contents of the desk’s drawers. Jules looked up, seeing the young man still standing there, before realising.
“Oh, sorry,” Jules said, gesturing to one of the chairs on the other side of the desk from her, “please take a seat.” Alec sat down, while Jules continued her rummaging.
“The desk suits you,” Alec said, as Jules finished her rummaging, sighed, and rested her elbows on the desk.
“I feel like I’m just playing at being commander,” Jules said, sighing uneasily. “This was my father’s desk- it’s not mine.”
“Yes it is, Jules,” Alec said, calmly. “You earned it. We’re at war, and we need our best and our brightest where they belong. And you belong there.”
“I guess,” Jules said, leaning back in the chair and rubbing her face with her hands.
“You’re the right person to lead this fight,” Alec continued. “On that subject, have you made any progress locating the dark SeeD?”
“No progress,” Jules sighed, “not even a START. I’ve dispatched several undercover units to all the major cities and told them to keep their eyes open, but we’ve got to believe the dark SeeD are trained to the same standard that we are.”
“Well,” Alec said, trying to put on a comforting smile, “look on the bright side- at least that makes the odds even.”
“With the exception of the fact that they now have a high-level sorceress with them,” Jules retorted.
“Okay,” Alec said, “but all the doctors’ reports I’ve heard about indicate that the magic in her brain is slowly dissipating. The old Sarah will be back soon, I’m sure of it.”
“I hope so…” Jules murmured. “If you don’t mind, Alec, I’m really busy, I-”
“I know, I know,” Alec said, quietly. “I just have one favour to ask.”
“Go ahead,” Jules said, softly.
“When the time comes to make our first strike, I want to go with you. I want to be on the team.” Alec made his request plainly and calmly, almost as if he was asking to borrow Jules’s bike.
“You’re an instructor, Alec,” Jules retorted, “you’re out of practice-”
“I’m not,” Alec interrupted. “I practice every day in the training centre, against harder and harder monsters each time. I can be of use to you, I know it. Let’s not forget, I am the youngest SeeD of all time.”
“I guess,” Jules said. “I’ll make my decision closer to the time. Now please, Alec, I just need some time alone.”
“OK,” Alec whispered, rising from his chair and heading out of the office.
“Alec?” Jules said, before the young teacher left the office.
“Hmm?” Alec asked, curiously.
“Thanks,” Jules said, smiling. Alec simply smiled in response, and left the office.
If you were to ask Alec later, he would pick that exact moment as the moment he fell hopelessly in love with Jules. Previously, he had been attracted to her on more than a physical level, the memories of their first relationship still fresh in his mind, but when she flashed that smile at Alec that afternoon, he knew instantly that he would do anything, anything at all, to make that girl happy.
More coming :hahaha;