Nightmares

By: Leah Weasley a.k.a. Lost Angel

Disclaimer: Sue me. I dare you.

A/N: This is set about a year after FF8. Irvine and Rinoa are counted as SeeDs for the purpose of this story, alright? If you have a problem with that, too bad.

Selphie crouched down low, her Strange Vision poised in her right hand, ready to strike if need be.

"…All clear, Sephy."

Irvine Kinneas absently twirled his gun around his fingers, and smiled at his partner. He smiled even though he knew that she was not going to smile back. He smiled even though he knew that she did not want to be here, especially with him. He smiled in spite of himself.

"Don't call me that." She growled. His smile just didn't give her that feeling in her stomach anymore. In fact, the smile made her even more disgusted. How could he smile at her after what he did to her? He made her cry, made her depressed, made her feel unloved. If it hadn't been for Rinoa and Quistis, who knows what might have happened. Irvine had since then become a 'new man' and was trying not to be such a flirt, trying to redeem himself, and was trying to get Selphie back.

But Selphie was not about to let that happen. She had loved him too much to be cheated on. She opened her heart to him, and he ignored it. He had used her, she decided, and she vowed to confront him when the mission was over, since she hadn't already.

'Jerk…' Selphie thought. She could have (and had) thought of worse things, but she settled on that for the time being.

"Selphie, I'm just trying to be nice."

"And I'm just trying to finish this mission before I go insane. Let's go."

Their mission was to scout a cave. Many people, mostly teenagers looking for a thrill, had gone into the cave, but after a while, they started disappearing. Horrible screams had been reported coming from the cave, followed by silence. Suspecting a new type of GF or a demon, Squall had sent them to scout it out.

Squall hadn't known about what Irvine did when he sent them together, and Rinoa nearly killed him when she found out about it. They could do nothing about it, though, by the time Rinoa found Squall. All they had to hope for was that Selphie didn't kill Irvine during the mission.

A dull clanking sound was heard coming from the two SeeDs, and a muffled "Stupid thing!" was heard. Finally, the flashlight flickered on. Selphie's triumphant face shone in the darkness. The beam was directed into the blackness of the cave. Stalagmites and Stalactites jutted out of the ceiling and floor for no apparent reason but to get into the SeeD's way, and to hide things that wished to remain unseen.

All of a sudden, a hand clasped Selphie's shoulder and dragged her down. Another hand clamped around her mouth to halt the scream that choked in her throat. With terrified eyes, Selphie glanced up to see Irvine, his face suspicious and concentrated. Anger flared up inside her, and her eyes narrowed. She pulled his hand away from her face.

"Irvine," she whispered, "What the fuck-?"

Irvine sent her a glance that immediately silenced her. What was he doing? Selphie pulled out of his grasp, but Irvine didn't move. Selphie watched his face turn from concentrated to confused to shocked and disbelieving. Selphie looked in the direction he was looking.

An old man, probably in his 50s, was sitting alone on the floor, seemingly asleep. He wore a long black trench coat, black pants, black shoes, and even a little black hat. Selphie looked at Irvine, and he shrugged, stood up, and walked over to the man.

Selphie followed him. When they were both in front of the man, Irvine cleared his throat. The old man looked up, with piercing gray eyes, smiled a somewhat evil smile, and promptly disappeared.

Irvine gasped, and Selphie felt the ground on which the man had been sitting. Cold. It was as if he was never there…

"Did you see that, Irvine?"

"Yeah…we must be going mad, because he just vanished."

"We'd better report this."

"What if they think we're crazy? They probably won't believe us."

"They will, they have to. After all we'd seen, how could they not?"

"True…let's go."

All previous grudges were forgotten as the two left the cave, side by side. All Selphie could think about were the man's eyes. They seemed to go right through her, seemed to know everything about her. It gave her the chills, and sent shivers up and down her spine… And yet they were hauntingly familiar.

Selphie cast the thought away as she set off towards Balamb Garden.

Well there ya go. A whole 1 ½ pages of a prologue. This is probably going to be a series, depending on the reviews I get. Tell me if you want me to continue, and give me constructive criticism, okay? No flames, please. If you didn't like my story, go read a different story. I'm also thinking of making it a Zelphie.

=Leah=