Disclaimers: I don't own anything like Final Fantasy VIII, sadly. I'm just a chic who likes to write VIII fanfics.

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The next chapter will be longer I promise. This is the introduction of sorts. Please read and review, flamers and ideas welcome!

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Squall Leonheart tried to ignore the bustling crowd around him. His mind wandered back to Rinoa once

again. He shook the thought out of his head. Rinoa was gone now. There was no use thinking about her. It only

brought back painful memories. Memories that were so grand, so dear, yet ached uncontrollably… He missed

her a lot. That was an understatement. But he had to move on.

"Squall."

He turned around, his cold moonstone gray eyes searching for who'd said his name in the huge group of

people. He couldn't locate the person. The voice had been unrecognizable, but it was definitely female. He turn-

ed away, shrugged, and tried to push through the crowd to get to the training center.

"Wait up." The voice was quiet, not insistent, but he heard it clearly. He stopped an indifferent look on his face.

A rather short, thin girl with maroon hair, emerald eyes, and a pale but pretty face dusted lightly with

freckles. She looked lost, confused, and cheerless. Squall looked at her inquisitively and more than a bit coldly.

"You're Squall Leonheart, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Okay! Um…" She bit her lip, trying not to make a fool of herself.

"Well?" he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm Skye Heartilly." She said softly.

That sent a shock through Squall. Was she any relation to Rinoa? Obviously Skye saw the shock in his

eyes, no matter how good his expression masked it. Skye smiled sadly at him, pushing her straight red bangs out

of her eyes. She had a feeling that would throw him a bit, and she was right. Squall tried to clear his emotions

from any visibility.

Why hadn't he seen it? She looked like Rinoa in the face, and if her hair wasn't red, it would've looked

like Rinoa's. She was wearing black jeans, black boots, and a baby blue sweater with a black leather belt. Squall

looked away from her smile. He saw Rinoa when he looked at her. He wished he wouldn't. It hurt. He nodded at

her, staring at the ground.

"She misses you, you know." Skye said out of the blue.

"How do you know?" Squall felt many emotions rise in his throat.

"Just because she's not here with us doesn't mean she's not in our hearts."

"Leave me alone if all you wanted to do was tell me Rinoa misses me. Rinoa's dead. How can she miss me?"

Squall said coldly, turning to walk off.

"She's an angel now. Don't you believe in angels?" Skye asked, not bothered by the fact she was talking to

Squall's back.

"If angels existed, Rinoa would still be here, they would protect people." Squall said unemotionally.

"No." Skye shook her head sadly.  "You still don't understand, do you? You'll realize. Angels are real. If you

don't believe me… just wait and find out. You'll see. I promise." She smiled softly, pressed her finger to her lips

when she saw he was about to speak, and faded into the crowd.