Author's Notes – Long story short, I was irritated with a bunch of people who legitimately think that the 'Squall is Dead' theory can be a canonical interpretation of VIII so I made this short one-shot to offer an explanation for the disc one fall scene 'plot hole.' What happens after that is totally up to you. ;)

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Squall Isn't Dead

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Squall isn't dead.

But he knows that he will be pretty soon.

In spite of the surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins clouding this ability to form fully-rational thoughts, Squall was aware that any options he could have explored to save himself would be moot point at this stage. None of his currently-equipped GFs were of the winged variety — Selphie was currently the keeper of Quezacotl, Diablos and hell, even Siren — and float spells, assuming his concentration to cast the spell was there at all, would do nothing other than slow the speed at which his brain would hit whatever stopped him from falling first, be it car, pavement or hapless bystander.

If this was how he was going to die, he wanted to go as quickly as possible - painless wasn't an option here.

It was rather ironic how he'd freaked out about something as trivial as verb tense not even a day ago and here he was, about to be denied a future because he was foolhardy enough to let his guard down for the longest second in the history of man, foolhardy enough to make the biggest rookie mistake known to SeeD.

It was also rather peculiar how something Squall hadn't even questioned, heck, even assumed was a forgone conclusion before the age of 20, still invoked more regrets than what felt like humanly possible, regrets he didn't even thought he had prior to these final moments of his impending doom.

For as long as he could remember, he had wanted to just get through life without attachments of any sort, namely because he wanted to avoid experiencing the pain brought on by the ephemeral nature of all human relationships.

So why was he rueing his success in this endeavor?

At this point, he doubted he'd find his answer before impact and if he wanted to be honest with himself – a rare occasion in itself – he was long beyond caring now.

His eyes had now fully watered over and Rinoa Heartilly would be the last person he'd ever see.

Squall isn't dead.

But Rinoa knows that he will be pretty soon despite what she wanted to believe.

What Rinoa wanted to believe was that the SeeD secretly had some sort of clever trick up his sleeve to save himself in the nick of time like the smart, capable and resourceful (and sometimes tactless) leader she knew him to be. But as she fruitlessly outstretched her arm in some vain attempt to do something, anything, instead of just standing there like some helpless bystander, she couldn't ignore the glassy look in his eyes that would probably haunt her for the rest of her natural life – it was the look of a man who was not prepared to die despite the credo that had to have been drilled into his head every day.

"Don't worry about us. We'll fight your enemies based on your decision. That's our duty."

"You tell us to go, we go. Even if it is a losing battle."

While she might have considered the notion of SeeD blindly following their clients into the dark sad and maybe even a little pathetic in theory, watching it in motion in front of her eyes was nothing short of devastating and the other kind of sad – the kind that made her want to repent for her smart aleck comments in the vain hope that taking the words back and mentally issuing apology after apology would somehow change reality and allow her to breathe again.

But deep down, she knew that reality wasn't so kind.

If it had been, she wouldn't be the reason for another person's demise for the second time in her life while not being able to do a damn thing to stop it from happening all over again.

In spite of what she had said the other day, it was only at this very moment when the shroud had finally lifted.

It truly wasn't a game anymore.

Squall isn't dead.

But Ultimecia preys on the fact the SeeD and the girl think he will be pretty soon.

It would have been easier to kill them both on the spot, maybe, but fear was a powerful tool and an invaluable teacher - especially when you wanted your subjects alive to learn the lesson.

Under the right conditions, fear molded, fear shaped, fear made malleable and that willingness to bend was exactly what she needed in this instance - spineless puppets who would give her what she wanted when they were prodded in a certain fashion.

Although her primary goal while in this time period was to locate the woman called Ellone, Ultimecia was deliberately mindful of the ones who called themselves SeeDs. Among them would be the "legendary SeeD from the past" who had been foretold to be her undoing time and time again and yet, all she'd seen while possessing this body was nothing but child soldiers.

While most would take this as a sign that the threat was groundless, Ultimecia did not and would not let arrogance cloud her vision – there had to be something more to the soldiers of this era that the SeeDs of her time lacked and the history books in the future deliberately omitted to make for some worthy-enough opponents, unlike this hardy fool. Even though the vast majority of these cretins would be wiped off the face of the planet once the next step of her plan was carried out, she would be damned if she left a stone unturned while nigh untouchable in this vessel with numerous underlings to carry out her every need – including her thirst for knowledge.

And with a simple flick of her wrist, time froze and ice melted, if only for a moment to spare her SeeD adversary's life after telekinetically pushing the girl away from the ledge, effectively denying her the chance to see for herself that he was not dead.

Unbeknownst to the sorceress however, this very action gave the girl hope that there was more to it than what things looked like on the surface.

And she clung to that flicker of hope until the very moment she was reunited with him once again.