Before Kimberly could follow his friends out of the office, his superiors stopped him to remind Kimberly that he needed to check in with his doctor before departure. “Yes sir,” Kimberly saluted and left the room. For a while, the group walked down the halls together until each friend had to scatter into different directions to get prepared for their upcoming mission. During their relatively short walk, the old childhood friends started to get into their usual positions. As long as Kimberly could remember, the group had a certain way of walking when they were together: everyone had a “spot” they naturally drifted to; a place they fit into, like a puzzle piece. Although some of the pieces never moved from its original space, Kimberly had watched most of the pieces move gradually across board. Regardless of where they landed, they always “fit”. If there was any place on the board that no one could ever fill up again, it was in the front. The empty space where Samuel used to be. Kimberly knew this, because he was one of the pieces that never moved: he was that one guy in the back of the group. However large or small the group was, Kimberly walked a few steps away from the bulk. Close enough to be there when his friends needed him, to watch out for every back in front of him, and far away enough that people around them would think that “that Faye boy” had nothing to do with the gang. His dear friends had their own set of problems and rumors, they didn’t need to burden themselves with Kimberly’s. Even to this day, there was the occasional person who would go out of their way to warn his friends and/or legal guardian(s) about Kimberly’s “bad influences”. He didn’t blame these people, though. They only wanted to help. Kimberly was the crazy son of a bloodthirsty killer and a suicidal maniac who only failed to become a murder because her child survived: of course he was pure evil. [i]Bwahaha![/i] …It was just better for Kimberly to keep a certain amount of distance away from his friends in public, for their sake. It may have been even better if he just stopped seeing them altogether, but Kimberly was not selfless enough to do that. He never was and never will be. He didn’t want to be alone. He wanted friends, a family. He wanted to feel accepted. He was probably taking advantage of them. He used them to fill up the sense of loneliness. If that was the case, it was only fair that they used him as well. Kimberly started to slow down his walking pace, as the group got closer to one of the hallway intersections. He abruptly announced that he had to see his doctor, then turned the corner. After taking a few steps, Kimberly retreated back to the intersection. He looked down at the floor for a moment, before fixing his gaze to the group, “bye.” [i] Mm… mmm! Isn’t that the most silvery-est silver tongue I have ever seen! …Heard. Fascinating. Just fascinating.[/i] --- The doctor’s office was as generic, minimalistic, and uncomfortable as any medical room Kimberly had ever been in. The overuse of white and the burnish of the unblemished clinical instruments blinded the eyes. Everything in the room lacked any form of warmth. The furniture and large equipment were either in the shape of rectangles or squares. In conclusion, it was an artistically unimpressive room with no sense of character or life. [i]Not that a doctor’s office needed either… And Kami, that smell![/i] The distinct smell of medical supplies continued to irritate Kimberly’s nostrils throughout his visit to the doctor’s office. “I’ll keep this short. I know you only have a few minutes with me.” Dr. Perth cut to the chase, “how are you feeling?” “Fine, mam.” “Have any hallucinations recently?” “I… had one this morning, mam.” “Did you take the medication I prescribed to you?” “Yes, mam.” “Did it work?” “Yes, mam.” “Is it still working?” Kimberly paused for a moment, eyeing his roommate walking around the office as if he was bored out of his mind. “Mostly.” Dr. Perth scrutinized Kimberly, “is it ‘him’?” When Kimberly nodded in response, the doctor’s expression told him she was perplexed by the situation. “Interesting,” she simply said, refraining from giving her opinion on the matter. Dr. Perth started to take some notes. “They… know about this… right?” “Excuse me?” “They… the… Academy Council…” “Yes they do know about your condition.” “Then… why?” “Why…?” “Did they… choose me? I’m… not,” Kimberly tried to come up with the appropriate word. “Bat s**t crazy?” Kimberly’s roommate suggested. “Well,” Kimberly finally said. Dr. Perth’s writing hand halted midsentence. She sighed and placed her pen to the side to give her full attention to her patient. “Have you ever taken a class about sensation and perception?” Kimberly didn’t know where this conversation came from, but nodded regardless. The doctor continued, “then you should know that we experience the external environment through what our senses can detect. If a person can’t sense something, then in that person’s world, that something doesn’t exist. That doesn’t mean that ‘that something’ truly doesn’t exist at all, does it? Most people can’t see spirits, but they exist. Just because we both learned that this,” Dr. Perth touched her golden watch, “is the color gold, does not mean we actually see the same color. We just learned to call this specific color, gold. In short, every person perceives the world in their own way.” “Are you trying… to convince me… that… the army of samba dancers… are actually real people doing an interpretive dance… that is secretly a pro-environmental musical?” “Is that what you saw this morning?” Kimberly hesitated, “yes, mam… but… I think they were just plant spirits... maybe some earth spirits too.” “Huh.” After a long pause, the doctor finally asked, “have you ever thought that perhaps ‘he’ is not just a result of damaged brain or irregular neurotransmitter activity?” When Kimberly did not give her a response, Dr. Perth smiled, “what I am trying to say is that, despite all these medical exams, we are still not sure what is actually causing your hallucinations… I wouldn’t call yourself bat s**t crazy, just yet.” --- Kimberly stopped dead in his tracks when he started to hear familiar samba music coming from the direction of the main gate. For a moment, he expected to see the same performers from earlier that morning, but when nothing came, Kimberly advanced toward the source of the sound. At a bench near the main gate were two old women and a little angle. The woman with bright colorful clothing, also known as Michaela Appleberry, was sitting on the bench, next to the radio, clapping her hands as she watched her “wife”, Clair Appleberry, in a pastel colored dress dancing with a baby. Kimberly approached his family, “Nana, Maw maw.” The two ladies greeted their grandchild with hugs and kisses. The baby’s cooing shifted Kimberly’s attention to his daughter in his granfa---…mother’s arms. As soon as Clair passed Samuela Jolee Faye to the giant, his beard and hair proceeded to perform phagocytosis on the little giggling ray of sunshine. Considering that she was cute enough to make anyone want to gobble her up, phagocytosis may not have been too far from the truth. Kimberly didn’t care that his daughter drooled all over him or pulled out a tiny fist full of hair just for her own cruel amusement, he planted hundreds of kisses all over her face: something that he knew he would not be able to do once Sam turned five or six... or whenever girls typically turned self conscious. It almost made Kimberly wish she would never grow up, although she would undoubtedly become a gorgeous woman with turquoise eyes and strawberry blond hair. Boys ---or girls--- would flock to her and Kimberly would have to fend them off until finally, one day, Sam would get angry with him and run off with her first love. Thank Kami, Sam didn't inherit anything from him… Imagine the amount of hair. “I thought... you’d be half way to Helston by now… Didn’t you say you’d be leaving… yesterday?” “We lied, obviously.” “Obviously.” --- Hearing that their grandson and their unofficial grandchildren were highly likely to be initiated into SWARG, prior to graduation, the Appleberry’s decided to delay their return to Helston to see the party off if and when they should receive their first military assignment. Knowing that they would not be able to bring the actual presents with them on the mission, the Appleberry’s had given out everyone’s graduation gifts during graduation and instead, packed lunch for the group’s trip to Norton City. “We had to bribe Cid to allow us to give this to you guys and gals. Can you believe it?” Clair laughed, “Love and I made sure to put in everyone’s favorite food, so you better not waste any of it, do you hear? Especially the vegetables. Let me know how it tastes like.” This probably meant Clair grew something experimental and wanted to know its affects on people. Luckily everyone knew that Clair would not use something that was life threatening in the lunch. At most it was going to taste really nasty. When the time for departure came, the Appleberry’s kissed and bear hugged everyone goodbye. Sam could not do either, but instead gave a sweet smile that distracted most of her father’s friends away from the significant amount of saliva sample she stealthily managed to get on everyone. Kimberly’s family stood at the main gate, waving at their grandchildren until they completely disappeared from view.