Disclaimer: I do not own FF, just my crazy imagination and love for fanfiction ^^

This is the edited version of the prologue of Misunderstandings. For those of you who have read the first one, please tell me what you think of the improved version, and for those of you who are new to Misunderstandings.. welcome ^^ I hope you enjoy my fanfiction. You must be waarned though, this story is going through an editing process, and I will be updating the current chapters with their respective edited counterparts. Thank you for taking your time to read this and please leave a review, I appreciate them very much, they are what makes me become a better writer =)

Now onto Misunderstandings...

Prologue: Living in a raging inferno

The doors to the waiting room in Bevelle's biggest hospital burst open as two nurses ran in, wheeling a stretcher hastily through the double doors leading to the emergency room. A figure sitting in a shadowy corner of the waiting room watched the flurry of activity with narrowed eyes. Her shoulders slumped a little as she leaned forward, resting her chin in her cupped hand as she rubbed her crimson eyes tiredly with the other. She lowered her head to stare at the floor, a few strands of silver hair falling into her face. She brushed the bangs out of her eyes with an irritated gesture and leant back in the chair, sighing silently.

She surveyed the people scattered around the room with a wary look in her ruby coloured orbs. She knew that to most people present she came across as a cold woman at a first glance. Even those few who recognised her as one of Spira's saviours cast reserved glances at her stony expression.

The silver haired warrior furrowed her brow and continued to stare at the ground. She was so oblivious to the world around her, so concentrated on thinking about what had happened over and over again that she didn't notice the approaching foootsteps until a soft hand covered her gloved one in a gesture of comfort. Her head snapped up and her blood red gaze met with a bi-colour one.

"Paine, everything is going to be alright." Paine nodded curtly and resumed staring a hole in the floor. When a second hand came down to rest obn her shoulder she glanced up again, this time meeting a bright emerald gaze.

"Yunie's right Paine, everything is gonna be ok, you know he's strong."

Paine sighed and closed her eyes, unfamiliar with the burning feeling behind her eyelids and the lump forming in her throat. Another pair of footsteps approached, coming to rest behind the chair Paine was sitting in.

"Yeah Dr.P, you'll see, soon this nightmare will be over…" the crimson eyed warrior just nodded again, not needing to open her eyes to recognise the Machine Faction's leader's voice.

A nightmare… her thoughts wandered, thinking about when and how this nightmare would end. But… it isn't a nightmare, it's much much worse… You can wake up from bad dreams, but real life… is something you have to deal with… Paine opened her eyes slowly and gazed at the three people standing in front of her.

Yuna, who still had her hand placed on Paine's, was watching her friend with a concerned look in her bi-coloured eyes. Rikku, who had removed her hand from her friends shoulder, was now cuddling up to Gippal, looking for some sort of comfort of her own as she tried to remain strong for her fellow Gullwing. Gippal was simply gazing into his ex-Crimson Squad comrade's ruby eyes, letting her know that he was also there for her as he squeezed Rikku's shoulder reassuringly.

Paine shifted her gaze back to the floor and sighed shakily as she began recalling yet again how her life had turned into a raging inferno in just a few weeks...

Any comments or thoughts on the new prologue from the older readers? And newcomers to this story please, I'd love to hear your opinions too ^^