Part 2

The first thing he noticed was that he was warm and he wasn't in any pain. It was a beautiful day. He was standing on a balcony, the sea was beneath him and seagulls flew out over head and in front of them. Two arms appeared around his waist and a warm body pressed up against his own. The breeze blew his hair into his eyes; he brushed it back with annoyance.

"This is nice." He said to the owner of the arms.

The guy behind him hugged him tighter and a chin landed on his shoulder. "It is isn't it?" Irvine's voice said. "I'm glad you came out here with me."

Then he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be there. Why was he here? Was he dead? If he was dead then why did he have this faint memory of waking up somewhere? He was being jostled and he remembered muttering a complaint about the rough treatment.

His little world around him went white and he opened his eyes again. This time he wished he hadn't. His head ached terribly; his side ached, in fact he ached everywhere. He didn't want to move. Pain, he thought, I can't be dead then. He was lying on a bed. He looked straight into the lights on the ceiling, they hurt his eyes. He groaned and shut his eyes again.

In answer to his groan someone moved next to him. "Squall?" A voice that was thankfully quiet whispered to him.

He opened his eyes again and the person got up quickly, rushing off and calling for help. Then they came back with another figure in tow.

"Squall? Can you hear me?" He thought it was the doctor. He recognized her voice.

He turned his head slowly in that direction and then groaned as another headache took over so he had to shut his eyes again. They were talking, the doctor and the other person he could hear them.... but he wasn't sure what they were saying.

He faded out of consciousness again.

He took a deep breath noticed that he didn't hurt and he opened his eyes. The lights weren't on; daylight was streaming in through the window behind him. How long had he been asleep? His head felt better though his side still ached but it was tolerable. He glanced to the side. An empty chair sat next to him and doctor wasn't at her desk. He was alone.

He gingerly raised his head and he shut his eyes as a stream of dizziness came over him. He quickly leaned on the wall behind the bed, half sitting up and stayed there stock still waiting for the room to stop spinning. He closed his eyes again.

He heard a sound. The door opened. He looked up, surprised to see Irvine standing just inside the door staring at him.

"My god Squall." He said, rushing over to the bed. "Why aren't you lying down?"

The brunette opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out. He let the cowboy help him lie down again, not that he could have put up much of a fight even if he wanted to.

When his head hit the pillow he sighed and turned his head to the side looking at what had been an empty chair but Irvine sat there now. His head spun from the movement and he held his face in one hand.

"What's wrong? Does your head hurt?"

He shook his head slowly.

"Do you want me to go and get the doctor?"

Again he shook his head.

"Do you remember what happened?" The cowboy asked him, he didn't wait for an answer. "The other teams reported an attack, some say humans, some say monsters. It's still unclear and anyway that's what caused the avalanche." He paused, watching Squall.

He shuffled his chair nearer to the bed and rested his left arm on the edge; he put his right hand on Squall's hand, running his thumb over the brunette's fingers. "We looked for you.... for hours. They were others too."

Squall opened to ask how many were alive but still couldn't find his voice.

As if reading his mind Irvine continued. "Three bodies." He said. "Well three Seeds anyway I think the Trabians lost a couple too. No one that I knew well, I recognize the names but..." He shrugged sadly. "You were on the body list until we found you, people thought the worst.... I thought the worst." He admitted.

"The others will be in the see you later. Zell broke his wrist; he's been bitching about it all day." He smiled. "He keeps saying the cast itches or it hurts or he can't beat things up anymore." He grinned. "At least he had still annoy things to death huh?"

The brunette half smiled at him.

"Somehow I managed to escape unscathed, I blacked out when the first wave hit, when I was with you remember that?"

Squall nodded.

"And then.... I woke up and Quistis was shaking me and telling me off for scaring her like that." He smiled. "They had already found Zell by that time; he was sitting in the Ragnorok with the medical team. They sent me there to be looked at." He explained. "Then when they saw that I was fine they sent me back out to be part of the search and rescue team." He said. "It was nearly dark by the time we found you, the light was dimming and everyone was armed with torches. Quistis said we would have to give up once night fell."

The brunette yawned and the cowboy laughed. "Well I can see I'm boring you so I'll go." He stood up, squeezing Squall's hand one last time. He bent and kissed his friend on the forehead. "I'll see you later sweetheart." He said.

Squall watched him walk out the door and he looked back at the empty chair, eyes drooping and he went back to sleep.

IIIII

TBC

Notes: This is supposed to be a one shot but it got to about 6,000 words I tought 'I can't post all this in one go'. I've split it into parts that's why some chapters are so short because I had to pick the gap between scenes to end it in. Hopefully it'll be 5-6 chapters and not take that long to finish.