FicWad

"Irvine?"

Matron's voice was sweet and kind. It always was, even After. The way I had it figured, it always would be, even if the sky was falling down around us.

Even if there was no Us left. Sis had been gone for a while; Quisty, Sefie and Zell had all been adopted and Squall and Seifer were at a Garden that Matron's husband had built. It was just me now. Not for much longer, though.

I turned away from the flowers and put on my best friendly smile. This wasn't the first family that had come to meet me. Matron always said they didn't change their minds, just learned their limits with me.

This was the fifth family. They were younger than most of the other families had been, hadn't had any kids before. Matron seemed confident of them. She took my hand and smiled at them.

"This is Irvine."

"Hi!" I waved at them. The girl laughed. She had a pretty face and very big eyes, like a child. Matron dropped my hand, and kept talking with the girl's husband; the girl offered me her hand and asked if I could show her around the orphanage.

We went through the entire house, and I showed her where we slept and ate and played; the beach where we'd watch the sun set; and the flowers behind the house, where Sefie and I used to play in the summer. It was spring now, and the flowers hadn't all opened yet.

I sat in the flowers-they were very tall-and she sat beside me, then carefully laid back, laughing and pulling me with her. We could hear her husband and Matron talking.

I asked, "Where will I be living this time?"

"This time?" I nodded and she sat up a little.

"This'll be the third time somebody's act'ally taken me outta the orph'nage." Her eyes darked a little, and she sighed. Then, she smiled, and rubbed my head, sending my hair into disarray. I laughed a little and straightened my hair as she looked up at the clouds.

"We're going to Galbadia. Deling City, actually. It's where Martine and I live-well, where I live. Martine is setting up the Galbadia Garden."

"Oh." I'd never lived in Galbadia. That would be nice, I supposed. I asked, "Do you have flowers in Deling City?"

"I have a window box," she said. "And there are lots of parks and gardens."

"That'll be nice." But I'd still miss Matron and the rest of the gang. I asked, "Will I get to see Sis and the rest of the gang again?"

"You have a sister?" I shook my head, and explained that Sis was Ellone and she was older than us and there had a strange man around here looking for her and Squall really liked Sis but would never say anything about /that/.

She asked about the gang, and I told her about the other kids and how they had all been adopted and hadn't been sent back, not even Sefie who always did stuff to get in trouble. When I was done, she gave me a big hug and stood up.

I asked, "What was that for?"

"You're going to miss them. I remember that." She smiled, and picked a flower, and tucked it behind my ear. "When we get on the boat, I'll show you how to press a flower. Then you can always keep a piece of your home."

"Really?" She nodded. I smiled up at her, and took her hand when she reached for me. She was really nice-maybe not as nice as Matron, but she was /really nice/.

It was still sad to leave the flowers behind.