Author's notes: First ever fan fiction... Comments needed... Story starts off kinda slow, but trust me it gets much better... All characters, items, and weapons belong to Square...

Shattered

The girl sat at the sole computer on that side of the infirmary typing furiously. The only illumination in the room was the faint green glow of the screen. It was unusually quiet in the clinic to Quistis, but it was 3 AM... The only time she had ever been in the infirmary at this time of night was back when Rinoa had fallen into a sort of coma after the battle with Matron at Galbadia Garden.

It seemed like it had happened many years ago, but had only occurred three weeks earlier. "So much has happened in the last couple of months," Quistis said out loud. "The SeeD exams, Timber, fighting Matron, being imprisoned, time compression, Seifer... and now this." She shook her head and scolded herself silently for falling into a reverie and forgetting about what she was doing.

The knock had come about two hours ago. Quistis had finally put away all the medical texts and crawled into bed a little after 1 AM. She could not sleep, so she got up and had just put on a pot of tea when she heard someone at the door. She put on her robe out of habit and opened the door expecting to see one of her students, perhaps one of the "Trepes" again. They always seemed to have some reason for coming to see her and she usually enjoyed their company, but at this time of night?

She opened the door and was shocked by the haggard appearance of the one standing in the hall. The one who had always appeared older than they really were and was always calm regardless of the situation now looked like a terrified child.

Quistis led her friend into the room and to the only piece of furniture that was not covered in books and papers. She then brought over a tray with the tea, poured two cups and handed one over to her friend who was almost like a sibling. The ex-instructor watched the cup shaking in his hands as he sat with his head down. She asked gently, "What's wrong?"

After a long silence he finally looked up at her and the pain in his red-rimmed eyes pierced Quistis's heart like an acid-tipped dagger as Squall replied, "Everything."

Earlier that evening, Squall had been sitting in his office going over applications when his door flew open and his secretary bounded in. He was about to reprimand her once again for barging in without knocking when he noticed the big grin on Selphie's face. Before he could ask what it was this time, the arrival of a new train at Balamb Station or another useless update on the Garden Festival which was almost a year away, she announced happily," Sir Laguna's here to see you!" At the sight of Squall's stonier expression she quickly added, "...sir."

However, the temporary lapse in formality was not what annoyed Squall. Rather, it was the fact that that bumbling idiot Sir... hell, even he was doing it now... President Laguna Loire of Esthar was even on the same continent as him, much less waiting just outside his office.

He had hated the man before he had ever met him thanks to Ellone using her powers to send him and his friends into the bodies of Laguna and two other Galbadians in several unsuccessful attempts to change the past. Although he was not always accompanied by the same comrades on these unpleasant journeys, he always ended up as the worst of the trio.

His initial (low) opinion of the young soldier hadn't improved during any of the subsequent trips. Even the heroics of Laguna when he helped overthrow the Sorceress Adel failed to impress the young mercenary. He considered it to be nothing more than dumb luck.

Squall could find no other reasons for why he hated this man so much. When he finally met the man in person, all he saw was the same dumbass he had previously "known" in the so-called dream world only a little older and now with a title. Later that day, after Adel had been defeated (again), Laguna had told him that there was something he needed to tell him, but then he disappeared. "And now here he is again..." Squall said in a low voice.

"What did you say, Commander?" Selphie asked.

Squall quickly decided that his secretary did not need to know what he was thinking. She wouldn't understand anyway. "What is the nature of President Loire's visit?" he asked coldly.

"He wouldn't say, sir. All he said was that its very important and also personal."

Squall thought for a moment and said, "Whatever he's got to say can wait until after I finish reviewing these applications from prospective students. Entertain our intrud...umm... guest until I call. I should be done in about twenty minutes."

"Okay!" Selphie replied quickly and left as quickly as she came in. Squall stared at the last page of the last application he had been about to stamp before he was interrupted and sighed. He had a very bad feeling about the person sitting in the lobby and wanted to delay this meeting as long as possible.

Laguna shifted nervously in his otherwise comfortable chair, not only in anticipation of his meeting with the SeeD commander, but also because of the unwavering gaze and incessant questions of the girl at the desk in front of him.

He had found it slightly endearing and very strange when she first called him Sir Laguna as he was anything but a knight. The chatter about trains and cowboys who couldn't commit and some festival was annoying, but entertaining as well... in a way. He was just thinking how rare and nice it was to be completely adored by a beautiful young woman, when she showed him something that freaked him out. She had created a virtual shrine dedicated to him and had somehow found a copy of every single article that he had ever written or was ever written about him. Even his own archive of stuff he had written wasn't nearly this exhaustive or obsessive. He wondered how long it had taken her to put this together and was a little uneasy about the fact that someone actually thought he was important enough to devote so much time to.

After all of this, he was glad when the moment he had been both eagerly awaiting and dreading at the same time finally arrived. The words "he will see you now" were barely out of Selphie's mouth when Laguna stood up, attempted to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes, prayed he wouldn't have a leg cramp on his way in, then walked into the commander's office.