It was only a couple of days since the SeeD force had arrived back at Garden, victorious. Everyone had spent the past hours resting and recovering from the excitement of the battle.

Lianne Leonhart was no different. And just as dawn broke on the second day of their return, sweet clarinet notes rang around the sun-bathed corridors. Again, it was Lianne's favourite piece. It made the waking SeeDs feel somewhat at home, hearing this familiar song as they rose that morning.

But Lianne's song did not last as long as everyone wished it could have. As the last notes faded from her instrument, she put her clarinet back inside its case, stood up from her chair in which she was sitting, wiped the tears staining her cheeks with the back of her hand, and flicked her long brown hair out of her face. She walked over to the table on the other side of her dorm, where a newly erected shrine to her mother now sat. On the silky white tablecloth, in the centre of the table stood her mother's photograph. In the picture she was smiling a radiant smile with her pink lips, and her brown eyes glowed with life, just as the sun did that morning. She was sitting on a bench in the Quad, Angelo near her feet, gazing up at her mistress lovingly. Either side of the photograph, Lianne had placed two small white candles. Lianne leaned over this shrine wand whispered gently to the photograph, "I'm going to see Dad now. There's things I need to tell him. Please help me with this, mom. This is going to be hard for me."

With that, Lianne slid out of her dormitory into the corridor. Quietly she crept up the hallway until she reached the door of her father's room. Softly, she knocked. She waited to hear her father's answering call of. "Come in." before opening the door slightly and slipping through the gap. She shut the door behind her. "Hi, Dad…"

"Good morning, Lianne. What do you want this early in the morning?"

Lianne took a seat on her father's bed as he watched her from where he was standing in the centre of the room, right in front of her. "Well, erm…Dad… I have some news for you. No, two pieces of news for you. I have good new and bad news…" She clenched her teeth, diverting her gaze completely. She couldn't believe she was going to tell him this, but he was going to find out eventually, so it was best to get it over and done with. "Which one do you want first?"

Squall folded his arms and looked at his daughter carefully with his blue eyes. "Let's hear the bad news."

"Angelo… Angelo died…" Lianne said, quietly, risking a look at her father to judge his reaction.

He was surprisingly calm. "How?"

During the battle. S-she died trying to protect me." Lianne bit her lip to force back tears. "Are you… mad at me?"

"No… of course not…" Squall said, sitting down heavily on the bed beside her. He sighed, and the look in his eyes told Lianne that he was mad… at least a little. She leaned over to him and put her head upon his shoulder. Squall wrapped his arms around his daughter, staring out of the dormitory window at the shimmering ocean. "She was an old dog anyway… we had to let her go eventually… at least she was able to protect you one last time before she went."

Lianne nodded, tears threatening her eyes yet again.

Squall himself felt quite upset about Angelo's death. He never thought he'd miss the old dog once she'd gone, but now he knew differently. Angelo was the only memory he had left of Rinoa.

Then, he realised – he didn't need a dog to remind him of her. He had Lianne, so like Rinoa in every way. And, if anything, this whole adventure had brought these traits of character out in Lianne more than ever. She was becoming stronger, just like Rinoa.

He held Lianne closer, then he smiled to himself. "Didn't you have some good news for me too?"

Lianne clenched her eyelids shut tight. She didn't know how her father was going to take this. "Yeah… Dad? Promise you won't get mad?"

"I though you said this was good news?"

"It is… for me at least, you see, Alix and I… we're… we're…" Lianne broke off, not knowing how to finish her sentence.

Squall released her quickly, and gave her a stern look. "You're what?"

"We're, um… how should I put it?... Together?" Lianne gave her father a nervous smile.

"What!" Squall yelled, jumping up off the bed and staring down at his daughter in fury.

"There's nothing wrong with that though… right? Surely you know how it feels to be… you know, in love with someone?"

"In love with him! I don't think so, Lianne! You're too young for all this!" Squall said with rage.

Lianne stood up in protest. "Excuse me! I'm fourteen years old, Dad! I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions in life! I thought you'd understand this anyway!"

"How do you expect me to understand the fact that you think you're in love with a person like him!"

"What do you mean, a person like him!" Lianne yelled, a large tear dropping down her cheek.

Squall's mind was racing. This was impossible. How could she not know? "Don't you see, Lianne! His father… killed your mother!" Squall spat out these words as if he didn't want to say them.

"What… what do you mean?" Lianne stopped shouting, her mind filling with disbelief.

"Alix is… he's from the Galbadian Army. He was there when you're mother died… his father killed her!"

Two figures on top of that building, the blood red sky cast behind them…

Tears sprang at his eyes. He hadn't wanted her to find out, especially not like this, but he felt he had little choice but to tell her now.

"You… you're lying!" Lianne yelled, running for the door.

"Lianne!" Squall called after her. But he didn't give chase. She just needed a little time alone, that was all… He sank on to his bed and rested his head in his hands with a sigh. His head felt so messed around for yet another time in his life. Had he perhaps been too harsh?

Lianne kept running, speeding down corridor after corridor, bumping into endless people, but not even stopping to apologise. She didn't know where she was going, or why she was running, but she did – she ran fast, almost blind to her surroundings through her tears. Without even a thought, she ran straight into the Quad, right until the very edge, where she stopped and clutched the railing desperately. She held her head over very slightly, letting the calm sea breeze rush past her, and let her hair flow freely in the wind too. The tears that were now dripping from her eyes flew free in the wind too, dancing like speckles of stardust as they glistened in the blood-red sunrise light. She stood there, silent but for her tears for a few moments, before the sound of a voice behind her made her turn.

"Lianne?"

She saw Alix standing behind her in the deserted Quad, true-blue eyes glistening in the light. She ran straight to him, and he caught her in his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me!" Lianne sobbed.

"Oh… I guess you found out my secret, huh?" Alix said. As a matter of fact he was quite glad she had found finally discovered the truth. "I guess I owe you an explanation."

"Too damn right you do!" Lianne said, pulling herself sharply away from him.

"Okay, okay!" Alix said, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders. "Then you gotta stop yelling at me and listen, alright?"

"Fine!" Lianne let out another chocked sob and went back over to the railings, where she fixed her gaze back out at sea. "Go ahead. This better be good."

Alix smiled at her in attempt to keep up her usual cool nature. "Well… I guess you already know that I'm Galbadian. But I think its best if we start the story with my dad. His name was Xinn. When your dad and his friend were in Edea's orphanage together, my dad was there too. But after my dad was there for about three years, he was kidnapped by the Galbadian Army. Everyone started to forget him, thanks to the effects of junctioning GFs. But he met them again fourteen years ago, on a mission to protect Timber from Galbadia and Seifer. My dad was a spy sent from the Army, but in the end, he helped get rid of Seifer. Then he told Squall and everyone about how he was at the orphanage with them. After he'd done that, he didn't come back to Garden, he became a drifter and just travelled everywhere; 'broadening his horizons' he called it. But not long after, he ran onto some trouble. He always used to get into trouble, my dad. Well, he was forced to join the Galbadian Army again, for protection. Apparently, the people he got mixed with were not very nice at all. And while he was in the Army again, he met my mother. Which is how I came to be. You with me so far?"

Lianne nodded, captivated by his story already.

"Good, well, seven years later, as you know, Seifer and the Army tried to take control of Timber again."

"That was when my mother died." Lianne said, quietly.

"Yeah… well, this is what happened: Seifer must have had a real mood on him or something, because he ordered my dad to launch what I can only call: 'Mission: Upset Squall'. He ordered my dad to… 'get rid of' you and your mom."

"Why your dad?"

"I guess Seifer must have thought it would have hurt Squall to see someone he knew destroy his life. Well, my dad did the job, as you know. He had no choice. If there was any chance of me and him ever having a secure future, he needed to stay in the Army. If he didn't do the job, he was out."

"Hold on, you said that Seifer ordered both my mother and me to be killed. So… why am I still alive?" Lianne's head throbbed with confusion.

"My dad felt guilty about doing the job in the first place. He decided he was going to spare you… so as not to completely destroy Squall's life."

"I get it… he killed my mother so you and him could live safely?" Lianne wasn't quite sure if this sounded fair or not.

"Yeah… but that wasn't the case. On the way back from the mission, my dad was killed. I was with him at the time. It was horrible. I was there at his last moments… it was so hard to say goodbye."

Lianne nodded with understanding, sympathy in her voice as she said, "I was there, with my mom too. I know what that feels like. That moment was when I received her powers."

"My dad gave me a message, an apology to Squall. He told me if I ever was in trouble, I should seek out Squall and his friends at Balamb Garden. When my father eventually… went… I made my way back to HQ. Seifer was all for letting me go off on my own and getting killed out in battle or something. I was no use to him. But my mother was a high-ranking official in the Army, even if she did want nothing to do with me and my dad."

"Your mom… didn't want anything to do with you…?" Lianne found that hard to imagine. Her eyes filled with sympathy as she watched Alix staring out at sea as he told his story.

"No… she left us after I was born. But when I came back to HQ all alone, she didn't want anything to do with me still, but she put in a special request to Seifer that I might live and train with the Galbadian Army, in hopes of me being a solider someday. Well, as I trained I forgot more and more about my dad's message and all the things he had told me about Squall. Until one day, I overheard Seifer discussing plans of stealing the sorceress research from the Esthar Sorceress Memorial. Then it all came back to me. I remembered your mother, and everything my dad had told me. I decided it was time to run away from the Army and seek out Squall, to warn him about this plan, and to pass on my father's message like I had promised to do. And that's it… that's how I got here."

"And… your father's message… what was it again?"

"Pas Ilmund tu Livondè."

The words ran through Lianne's mind, and she could understand them perfectly, without having even to try. "I know… I know what that means."

"Well if you've got a clue, share it with me. I've been wondering about that for seven years!" Alix grinned.

"Pas Ilmund tu Livondè… You've a place in our hearts…" Lianne said in realisation.

"Kinda… soppy, don't you think?" Alix laughed.

Lianne smiled softly. "Its old sorceress language… after I started using my magic, new doors opened up in my mind… and I can understand that language too…" her hand clutched the railing tighter.

"Weird!" Alix said, placing his hand on top of hers. "So… do you forgive me now?"

"Of course I do… I don't understand why my dad blames you for what your dad did seven years ago, though."

"Me neither. But something tells me, no matter how many freaky languages you might speak, you'll never speak the same language as Squall. He has a language all of his own. He's one complex person!"

Lianne let out a gentle laugh. "You're probably right. But you know, the way my dad keeps blaming you for what your dad did, he kind of does the same thing with me. He seems to think that I'm my mom…"

"He's gotta find out one day that we're our own people. I'm not Xinn and you're not Rinoa." Alix said, touching her hair gently with his other hand.

"You're right." Lianne said, placing her arms around Alix.

Alix held her close. "Yeah. We're Lianne and Alix, and our adventures are gonna be just that – our own. No one else is going to tell us how to live."

"That's right. But whatever we do, we have to do it to honour Rinoa and Xinn… their lives were cut short after all. Let's live it for them."

"Okay." Alix smiled, still holding her close. "But something tells me all this crazy stuff won't just stop here."

"Of course not. If you're with Lianne Leonhart, things can never be normal!"

Author's Note: And that's it! That was the final chapter of this story. Thanks to everyone who has read through both 'Open Your Eyes' and this story - you must have a lot a patience! To everyone who has left reviews,your support is very much appreciated. And finally, to everyone who has enjoyed this so far, you'll be happy to know that there is much more to come! Be sure to check back on my bio page regularly for updates. Thanks again, and bye for now!