Chapter One:

A darkened slender figure leaned against a cold stone balcony in the shadows of the midnight sky and lowered her head solemnly. She crossed her chilled arms and held herself tightly as she exhaled a misty breath from her blue lips.

A winter's breeze flowed across her shivering, pale skin as her hair was brushed away of her face and fluttered carelessly in the wind.

"I would die... to hear you say you loved me… at least once…" she whispered quietly into the night as a cold tear rolled down her pale face.

One Year Earlier

The sun had risen over the horizon and peered its bright, bothersome face through Rinoa's window and glared annoyingly onto her closed eyes. After a few moments had passed with the warm sunlight against her face, she squinted and raised her arm to swing over her eyes to block the object of her rude awakening. She closed her eyes from behind the shield of her arm and sighed deeply. She shifted her shoulders and twisted to turn from lying on her side to lie on her back.

"Sweetie?" she called groggily as she closed her eyes once more after glancing at the tall white ceiling. No response.

She opened her tired eyes once more, "Sweetie?" Upon turning her face to the side to the other half of the bed, she found herself lying alone. The sheets beside her were messed and swung aside, showing signs of previous use.

Rinoa stared at the empty space beside her and slowly closed her eyes and bit her lower lip before mumbling a few words of frustration and annoyance.

"Squall, you ass..."

Inside the large Training Area, potential SeeDs spared against one another in heated combat. The air held the aroma of sweat, and the sounds of clashing and clanking wooden swords and shouting filled the ears of all whom stood around and watched the sight.

"Stop! You're going to fast!" A small brown-haired and pale boy cried out as he deflected an attack from a taller boy, his grip shaking and nervous around the hilt of his sword. The small boy's heel slipped on a small patch of wet grass beneath him and was sent crashing down upon his backside.

A blonde woman, resting her shoulder against the cold metal wall of the Training Area, witnessed this display and leaned off from the wall and took a step forward.

"God, why the hell were you given to me to spare against? You're too weak to fight against me!" the older boy complained cruelly as he raised his sword high against the small boy sitting, terrified and helpless, on the ground.

"Jacob!" the woman barked loudly as she stepped in front of the small child on the ground. The young boy, now ashamed of the tears running down the sides of his small, round face, scrambled to his feet and clung onto the orange skirt of the woman who had come to his aid.

"L-Lady Trepe! I-"

"You were what, Jacob? The point of this exercise was to help the younger and less developed fighters in your class sharpen their skills against the highest in the class, like you. But you failed you realize this," she barked angrily, "As a SeeD, you must realize your limitations and feel mercy for those weaker than you and aid them to the best of your ability, NOT humiliate and hurt them. If anyone should know this, Jacob, it's you," Quistis snapped as she rested the palm of her hand gently on the top of the small child's head who continued to cling to her long orange skirt.

Quistis turned her attention away from the grumpy student before her and turned her chin downward to smile gently at the small boy still trying to hold back the tears as he clung onto her skirt. She knelt down and took hold of him from underneath his armpits and lifted him into the air and rested her arm under his bottom and turned to walk away.

"Class dismissed!" She called out as she exited the Training Area with the small boy in her arms.

"L-Lady Trepe," the boy said between choking against the emotion in his throat, "I tried really hard not to cry...I tried being brave..."

Quistis smiled and winked as she carried him away and took her free hand and tapped him gently on the tip of his nose, "Don't worry, Damien, tears don't make you a coward."

Rinoa walked the busy hallways of Balamb Garden in the mid-afternoon in search of the one person that she hadn't seen all night or morning. She groaned to herself when she realized that moment just how too often the lack of togetherness they had had in the last few months. It hadn't even been half a year since the defeat of Ultimecia when Squall had received such high leadership responsibilities. Not only had he been assigned the duty of overseeing the well-being of all SeeD students and faculty, but had been in charge of overseeing the entire Garden as a whole. Squall had become Cid's right-hand man, his 'general', and seemed to be loosing more and more time with Rinoa.

It was only the three of them after Ultimecia had been defeated. Not long after their victory, Irvine, Selphie, and Zell had departed Balamb Garden to help repair and reconstruct the Trabia Garden. Quistis had stayed behind to continue her primary work of instructing potential SeeDs, as was also ordered by Cid.

Although they all believed Rinoa stayed behind for Squall, it was only one of two. Matron, after being reunited with Cid, requested that Rinoa stay behind and receive training and counseling as a Sorceress. It was too dangerous for Rinoa to not learn to control her power; both Rinoa and Matron realized that. Even though she desperately wanted to reunite with her Forest Owls in Timber (and Angelo, whom she left in their care after their victory against Ultimecia), Squall and Matron solidified her stay at the Garden.

Rinoa turned a corner when she had began recalling the too often occurrences of Squall bailing on dinner plans, important dates, or special nights to act upon his duty for the Garden. She would fall asleep alone, and she would wake the same. She was always alone, and he was never there. She knew of how important he was, and how important his duty and job was to the Garden's well-being, but she wanted to feel like she wasn't forgotten. She wanted to feel like she still existed to him.

Rinoa's mind began to race with the frustration and loneliness from the stress Squall had put her through, and was forced to take a rest on a bench in the main square of the Garden. She sat, depressed and upset, and stared blankly ahead towards the library. Here, her mind wandered of things she could try and do to help bring back her romance with Squall. She wanted things to be like they had been before. As she stared blankly at the library, she noticed Quistis enter into the inside of the library with a book held against her side by her elbow.

"Hmm... maybe Quistis could help me. But what could she do the help me get Squall's attention?" she asked herself as she reverted back to her pondering state of mind. And then it hit her, causing her to stand, triumphantly, from her bench and with a raised fist into the air proclaimed, "She can cook! She can teach me to cook, so I can make something really special for him!" However, after a short pause, she remembered Quistis' old fling for Squall back before the two of them had even met. And on top of that, she had heard about how Squall had completely shot her down after she had proclaimed her feelings for him, making her, no doubt, somewhat sour about it.

She sat back down onto her bench, sad once more "But, how can I convince Quistis to help me if she herself still likes him?" She sat, pondering, and stared at Quistis (who was now standing in the library reading a book from off the shelf) to try and think of a way to speak to her.

She sighed and rested her head upon her palm, "this is going to be difficult..."