Disclaimer: I DO NOT own FF8 or any of it's characters! Just wanted you guys to know. Enjoy! :p
What are friends for? by: SkyIsle

Selphie sighed inwardly and blinked back tears of embarrassment. How could she be so weak? Just a few moments ago there was a team drill which was held to determine the cooperation of a group.

And she blew it. If it wasn't for her they would've made it without Quistis nearly twisting her neck and the whole team being nearly blown to pieces! Selphie hugged her knees. Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Zell, Quistis... she just really didn't deserve them... and yet, they never once blamed her clumsiness or weakness in battle.

It was always about her. Selphie having the lowest resistance during battle, Selphie being the weakest magic user, Selphie being the shortest and having the most useless special attack. It wasn't fair!

How could she let them down like that? All because of a stupid Behemoth! They've defeated harder monsters before... how could she blow it?

''I really am useless...and no one ever cares! I make a stupid move in battle, they just let it pass. I act all crazy when we're under a really serious situation, they don't mind at all!'' Selphie muttered angrily. '' I- I can't take it... I'm sooo weak...''

At this she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Squall was just taking his usual rounds when he saw Selphie curled up in a ball in the entrance to the training center. Wondering what she was doing, he walked up to her.

Selphie heard footsteps and looked up to see Squall. 'Noooo... not him! Please!' she thought frantically. Quickly looking the other way, She pretended not to notice their trusted leader approaching. There was a few moments of silence when finally Squall spoke. ''The drill was no big deal y'know...'' he said in that quiet unfeeling voice of his.

At that, Selphie looked up irritably and nearly yelled at him. ''Of course it wasn't a big deal! You weren't the one who made everything go 'KA-BOOM!' anyway! None of you forgot to equip GF or good magic spells either! J-just me you hear! Me!'' Breathing heavily at her frustration, she stared at Squall and dared him to give a good comeback or anything.

'Maybe that was a bit too much...?' Selphie thought after Squall didn't say or do anything. Childishly, she wiped another stray tear which streamed down her face and went back to her former curled up position. ''It's midnight Squall, better get some rest.'' she said quietly, indicating that it was his cue to leave.

Sighing, Squall plopped down on the ground beside his broken comrade and gave her one of his rare sympathetic looks. ''Listen, I know you think that you act stupid in battle... but everyone makes mistakes. The others made some flaws too.'' Selphie sniffed, waiting for the rest. ''If it makes you feel any better, Irvine forgot to load ammo into his gun- which made us lose some points for carelessness. Quistis accidentally hit the stray chocobos with her Blue magic, Zell... well he practically got us lost when he was holding the map.''

Selphie stared at Squall in disbelief. ''B-but we WERE going in the right direction Squall! I-'' ''You didn't mess up. It was Zell's fault that got us lost, not yours. You were too busy moping about how you forgot this and that, how we'd lose points for this and so on.'' Squall said, interrupting her. Selphie bit her lip sheepishly. ''Feeling better?'' Squall asked. Wiping away her tears, Selphie nodded.

''Well, I've never told you this before but you really ARE a great asset to our team. I mean, without your attitude towards serious crisis-I don't know how we'd make it true a big battle without going crazy. And...'' Squall paused reluctantly. ''And, well...you may not be the strongest but you've definitely got the most reliable healing spells plus you can literally 'kick ass', if you know what I mean.''

Selphie went red and grinned.

''Really?'' she asked.

Squall nodded.

''Good, then that's all I need to know,'' Selphie said leaning back against the wall. There was silence again, then: ''Thanks Squall. You can really fool people sometimes y'know?''

Squall just folded his arms as he stood up. ''Hmph. Well, it's a rare thing. C'mon you better get to sleep.'' he said, pulling Selphie up.

''What about you?'' she asked. ''Patrol.'' Squall said simply. The two walked out of the training center side by side together.

''Selphie?''

''Yeah?''

''Here's some tissue. Wipe your nose.''

''Sir, yes sir!''

The End

(AAAH! I really like this fic! It's not the best... but hey! It's a start! Anyway, R&R please! Thankies! ^.^ lol)