A/N: In-game. When Rinoa falls into a coma, Squall comes to an unexpected realization. (My explanation of Squall's seemingly out-of-nowhere change of heart.) Rated T for language.

Not Quite a Faery Tale
(Prompt: Discovery)

Squall angrily tossed his jacket across the room and sat down on the edge of his bed heavily. He massaged his temples as he thought over how truly fucked the past forty-eight hours had been.

Matron … she'd been under the control of an evil Sorceress this whole time. Part of him was relieved; now they knew it hadn't really been their Matron, the woman who had raised them, trying to kill them.

Of course, that meant that there was some crazy psycho from the future on the loose, taking over people's bodies at random, hell-bent on world domination.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

But as messed up as all that was, and boy, was it ever messed up, he couldn't help it -- his mind kept wandering.

Rinoa …

What the hell had happened to her. One second, she'd been standing beside him as they fought Matron -- Ultimecia. The next, she'd …

Well, she'd just sort of … wandered off.

Toward Seifer, of all the fucking people. Squall's gut knotted at the memory of her kneeling over Seifer, brushing the hair off his brow gently. Squall had barely been able to yell out her name before she'd …

Well, she'd fucking kissed the bastard. Right on his stupid, cocky lips.

At that moment, Squall had felt as though he'd been sucker-punched, right in the solar plexus. He honestly couldn't remember ever feeling worse than he did at that moment, but what he didn't understand was why. It wasn't like it was some big secret that Seifer and Rinoa had a past.

But that was just it, wasn't it? It was supposed to be past. And he'd thought -- well, hadn't she … kinda … liked him?

Whatever, he thought, disgusted with himself. What do I care? With a groan, he realized he obviously cared more than he was willing to admit.

At the time, the sight of her embracing Seifer had shocked him so badly that he hadn't been able to think or do anything at all. Now, the mental image of it that kept replaying over and over in his head made him physically ill. It also kind of made him want to break shit. Like Seifer's face.

With a snarl, he stood up and grabbed his gunblade, and then headed for the training center. He ran into Zell on the way.

"Yo, Squall," he said, more subdued than Squall had ever seen him. "Rinoa's in the infirmary now, just so you know."

"She awake yet?" Zell shook his head sadly. "Damn it," Squall cursed. Zell just looked down at the floor.

Squall knew that Zell was quite fond of Rinoa; she might just be the only person on the planet who actually took him seriously. He knew that Rinoa had a gigantic soft-spot for the blond martial-artist, as well. He'd seen the two of them, giggling over whatever inconsequential thing had set them off at any given moment, on more occasions than he could remember. Rinoa constantly referred to Zell as her "bro", which was ridiculous, but endearing at the same time.

She really had a thing for lost causes.

"So what the hell happened back there, anyway?" Zell asked.

"No idea," Squall said, not really in the mood for idle chitchat … or any kind of chitchat, truth be told. He was pissed off and tired and wired, all at the same time, and it sucked.

"That's all you have to say?" Zell retorted sharply. He shook his head, clearly disappointed in Squall. "You really should go see her, man. She probably wants to hear your voice."

Squall looked at Zell, utterly dumbfounded by that remark. Why would she want that? "Think you have me confused with Seifer," he sneered. "Scar's the same, though, nice try."

Zell glared at him. "You really are a dumbass," he said icily. "Look, man, something huge happened back there …"

"Yeah, I don't need a play-by-play, thanks," Squall snapped. "I'm pretty sure I saw it all … right down to the part where she betrayed us."

"Oh, that is such crap, Squall. Do you really believe that?"

"You saw her … she went to Seifer after the fight," Squall said.

"You get that that was not Rinoa, right? Man, trust me. That was not her."

Squall narrowed his eyes at Zell. "Whatever," he said, adjusting the gunblade on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter anyway." He began walking away, but Zell's voice followed him.

"You know, instead of sulking like a four-year-old who lost his favorite toy, maybe you should ask yourself why you're so pissed off! Might be an enlightening experience!"

Squall only paused for a second, and then he continued on to the training center. Zell really needed to learn when to shut the fuck up. But even so, Squall couldn't stop thinking about his words.

Not even when the monsters began to converge on him. "So why am I so pissed off?" he asked the first Grat to cross his path. "I'll tell you why! First of all," he swiped at the Grat with his gunblade, and then deflected the plant-creature's counterattack. "Nothing makes sense any more. This sorceress shit is insane." He lunged at the beast and struck a killing blow.

Immediately, two more Grats waddled up. Squall grinned wickedly, the battle already making him feel better. "And also -- who does she think she is? Was this part of Seifer's plan all along? Is she some kind of spy?" He finished off the two Grats and sighed. "If she was, then, well-played, Seifer," he said sadly. "She was -- perfect."

Oh, great, he thought to himself. Now I'm talking to monsters. What next? Are Laguna's faeries going to visit me?

"Damn it," he muttered to himself, as his thoughts drifted back to Rinoa. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? She was an annoying brat! But … she was also silly, charming, and completely beguiling. Fuck it all if he hadn't started saying things here of late with the sole intention of making her giggle. Her laugh was -- well, it didn't matter.

Except that it did, and that pissed him off more than anything.

He thought of how she had looked the night he'd become a SeeD.

You are the best-looking guy here. Dance with me?

He'd been intrigued by her then, but he never thought he'd see her again.

But of course, he had seen her again. In Timber, where he supposed this whole crazy mess had started. She had hugged him so tight upon that second (first) meeting. She had been so exuberant and lively, full of hope and promise.

You're here! SeeD is here!

Now she wasn't full of anything. Now she was just … broken.

And then there were her jokes, which were quite possibly the most awful things he'd ever heard in his life. But now he understood. She was only trying to keep everyone's spirits up, no matter how dire the situation. And making fun of her absolutely ridiculous attempts at humor did just that.

Hey, guys! Why did the chicken cross the playground? Give up? Okay, I'll tell you! To get to the other SLIDE!

She was such a dork.

And she certainly wasn't shy about telling him exactly what she thought of him. Which, obviously, wasn't much.

Oh, you're just a GREAT leader, aren't you? Do you actually have fun being so callous to your comrades? Squall! Are you listening to me?

He glowered. She was always making fun of him for being too serious, too uptight, too mean. But there were times, when it seemed more like she was teasing him good-naturedly, not insulting him. Maybe even … flirting?

You know, when you're thinking really hard, your face looks like this.

According to Irvine and Selphie, she did a killer impersonation of him, too. He didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.

He took out a few more Grats and continued walking, looking for something else to maim. At some point as he was walking, he realized something else. Lately, he'd begun to look to her first whenever they were out anywhere, whether they were fighting, or just exploring a new location. She always had something to say -- whether it was advice, or reassurance, or even just her telling him he was being ridiculous again.

Stupid. He wasn't supposed to let himself depend on anyone. Hadn't he learned that by now? And yet -- every time Rinoa cast an errant glance his way, he felt it. He felt a strange sort of pride within him when he watched her on the battlefield -- she had come so far since they'd first met.

And he would never, not in a billion years admit it, but he loved it when she pulled him aside after each and every battle, checking him for any wounds and passing a Cura spell over him whether he needed it or not. She would always brush her fingertips lightly over the scar on his forehead. "Oops, missed one," she'd say with a grin, casting the spell. It was nice -- if you weren't hurt, Cura was a pleasant, tingly feeling that coursed through your veins for several minutes. She would wink and say, "All better!"

Lately, he'd been noticing that just being around her gave him the same feeling, amplified about a hundred-fold.

The fuck was wrong with him? He turned around after beating his way through several more Grats and Bite Bugs, realizing that he'd already been in the training center for over an hour.

And the whole time, he'd been thinking about her. The one thing he'd been trying to forget by coming here.

Realization dawned on him at that moment, and it was the same tingly feeling he got from Cura, or from Rinoa herself. Oh, shit, he thought to himself.

"I'm in love with her."

He turned and all but sprinted from the training center and headed straight for the infirmary. He was out of breath and completely soaked with sweat by the time he got there. Dr. Kadowaki gaped at him.

"Squall?" she asked, her voice full of concern. "Are you sick?"

"N-No," he huffed, hands on his knees, head down, as he tried to allow his breath and heartbeat to return to normal. "Rinoa," he said. "Is she here?"

The doctor pointed to the back room, and Squall nodded his thanks.

Not knowing what to expect, he pulled back the curtain. He froze. She was just -- lying there. Pale, seemingly lifeless. "Rinoa," he breathed, going to her side.

He dropped to his knees beside the bed, and took her hand in his. It was like ice. It was wrong. Rinoa's hands had always been so warm …

"Hey, Rin," he said softly. "I'm here now, so you can go ahead and wake up." Well, it was worth a shot.

Nothing. No movement, no flickering of an eyelid -- Hyne, was she even breathing? Without even thinking about it, he leaned over and rested his head on her chest.

Her heart was still beating, thank Hyne. But she was so cold. Blankets! She needed more blankets. He stood up and looked around the room frantically. He finally found a blanket on the top shelf of the grey metal cabinet in the corner of the room. He unfolded it and placed it gingerly around her body.

Still nothing. "Damn it," he cursed. "Wake up, Rinoa!" Yeah, that's great, Leonhart. Yell at the girl in the coma. "Please," he amended imploringly. He went back to his knees. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry this happened to you," he whispered. He felt something pricking the backs of his eyes then.

Oh, fuck no. No, he wasn't going to cry now. Of all the stupid …

Stupid. That was the key word, wasn't it? He had been the stupidest idiot on the planet. And now … she was paying for it.

"Please," he said to her, hating the fact that he was practically begging. But what else could he do? "I just … I need to hear your voice. Rinoa. Wake up. Tell me it's going to be all right. I'll believe you, you know. I always do, even though I don't say so."

He looked back at her, and immediately the image of Sleeping Beauty from all those childhood stories came to his mind.

It was ridiculous, and he couldn't even believe that he was thinking about it … but it always worked in the old stories, didn't it? She just … needed a kiss, and she'd wake up, right?

Feeling more nervous than he'd ever felt in his life, he leaned forward, bringing his face closer to hers. He half expected her to wake up and laugh at him. But she was still as a statue and his lips inched ever closer to hers. "Wake up, please," he whispered a split second before his lips brushed over hers tentatively.

Someone cleared their throat behind him. Oh, Hyne, he thought, don't let it be Irvine, don't let it be Irvine, don't let it be Irvine … He knew the cowboy would never let him live it down if he had witnessed that, and the first thing he would do was run and tell Selphie.

Who would tell the entire Garden.

Fuck.

He turned around, preparing for the worst, and saw Quistis standing there. She had a small, sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry, Squall," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

Squall just shook his head, embarrassment creeping up over him. "Whatever," he said flippantly, standing up.

"Um, I just wanted to tell you … we're at Matron's. So whenever you're ready, we'll go and talk to her," Quistis said. Her eyes flitted over to Rinoa. "I'm sorry," she said, and Squall didn't know if she was talking to him or to Rinoa. She turned back to Squall and gave him a wavering grin. "You know, that was a good idea."

Squall knew what she meant, and he shrugged. "Had to try something," he mumbled, not looking at his friend.

Quistis looked thoughtful for a moment, as if she had just realized something. "She'll be all right," she told Squall then, and then she left.

Squall turned back to Rinoa. "I have to go," he said to her, brushing the hair off her forehead. "But I'll be back soon. Promise."