A Bloom In The Garden
| A Bloom In The Garden | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 09 November 2012 |
| Location: | Balamb Garden |
| Synopsis: | Jasmine senses the approach of Jafar's army of Heartless. |
| Cast of Characters: | Jasmine |
There was a rustling sound, and then the crack of flesh hitting training mat.
Under the watchful and approving eye of the SeeD Instructor, the princess bowed to the opponent she'd just judo flipped straight over her shoulder. Then she reached down to give the other student a gentle hand up. It would be so easy to resent her -- not a proper SeeD, her status in the school was something of an enigma; a visitor who had started auditing classes. She was probably an orphan, or close enough, and she was totally undisruptive, terribly eager to learn, and extraordinarily swift at doing so. And thus, in the past several months, she'd been allowed to remain, to take lessons in arms and armament, tactics and strategy, science and technology, even driving. She woke up far earlier than her enrolled peers to go to the library, and went to bed far later after long training sessions with the T-Rexasaurs... who had started to have something of a domestication problem until she was told to /stop feeding and petting the scary monsters of doom/. Her previously nonexistent stance had become centered, her form sleek, her grace refined to be as dangerous as it was beautiful. Balamb was swiftly doing what it did best: taking the potential of a young person, and forging it into something more.
But as Jasmine smiled at him, nary a trace of smug victory in her expression, only concern, he realized he was totally incapable of despising her. He could no more hate the sun for being bright; she was what she was. Taking her hand, which had of late been developing calluses from hours in the firing range, he got back to his feet... and flung her across the room. She slammed into a wall, then the floor, much harder than he had.
The Instructor nodded grimly. "You must never let down your guard, not even among your allies," he reminded her -- an all-too-often-repeated lesson. Hers was a sweet and trusting nature, and her steadfast refusal to assume the worst of everyone around her remained one of her major weaknesses... or strengths, depending on one's perspective. SeeD wasn't impressed by compassion, that was for certain.
Jasmine looked up through a curtain of silky black hair, her pleasant expression still in place; she knew they were only trying to help her. One lip jutted out in a remorseful pout. "I'll be feeling that tomorrow," she remarked good-naturedly at her opponent, rubbing her sore backside. "Nice one."
The bell rang, working its magic as it always did, transforming a room of dedicated warrior-students into laughing teenagers who flooded the hallway in a cheerful wave. But the boy lingered... because the girl had swayed like a willow, then collapsed. When she looked up at him, her eyes were huge in her face, which was about five shades paler than its usual golden-brown. She was trembling from top to toe.
Darkness, as a cosmological constant, an infection of worlds in every direction, had become a sort of background anxiety. She was constantly aware of it, sensing subtle shifts in its strength and position. It wasn't something she ever discussed, but it was one reason she was so willing to drive herself so hard... it was easier, and far more comforting, to stay awake training, to make herself stronger for her people, than to face the never-ending army of shadows who marched in her dreams.
But now she was very much awake.
"They're coming," she whispered, with a terrible urgency. Darkness closed in on her from all sides; they would be here in hours, maybe less, in greater strengths than she had ever felt before. Guilt, the other feeling that she grappled with daily, pierced her with its poisoned thorns. She knew she shouldn't have stayed this long, but Garden had been intoxicating on so many levels, filling voids in her soul she'd hardly known she had. Such as the simple, ordinary companionship of other teenagers, first and foremost, never mind the confidence that came from serious lessons in warfare, or the sense of security from having a fortress with wall-mounted cannon emplacements all around her, filled to the brim with the most capable fighters she'd ever seen. It had been terribly selfish of her to remain, to endanger all her new friends, but she had wanted so desperately to believe their promises that she'd be safe here, safe from the monsters that had chased her from her home, across more worlds than she'd ever imagined.
That might or might not be true for her, but it definitely wasn't true for everyone else. Her presence put everyone at risk, SeeD and refugees alike, and now it was time to pay the price for her self-indulgence. A debt she wouldn't allow anyone else to discharge on her behalf. "Please... I have to see the head of staff. /Right now/."
She could only hope she'd learned enough in time.
