Seifer's lips were locked against Quistis' only for a second before she turned her head to escape the barrage of kisses that followed. Seifer's spirits instantly dropped as he pulled away from his girlfriend.

"You still thinking about him?" Seifer asked exasperatedly. Quistis didn't reply.

Seifer turned her face to his, and kissed her forehead, "I'm sure he's fine."

"It's not that, it's the fact that he's alone, out there, somewhere out there…" Quistis whispered.

* * *

Rinoa was sitting on her bed, locked in her own room. She was too depressed today, to go out and see her friends. It seemed like every time she turned around there was another thing that reminded her of Zell.

She sat there, reading her letter for the hundredth time that day. They had decided to keep each letter personal, so they weren't passed around.

Yet, she couldn't help but think she could be helping Zell somehow, but not seeing the other's letters hindered her.

* * *

Quistis walked out of her room, the sordid look still glazed her face. Seifer silently followed, something he had learned to do over the past month, every time he tried to talk to her when she was like this, he only made things worse.

They were meeting their friends for lunch at the cafeteria. They greeted their friends, and sat down next to them. They had already ordered Quistis and Seifer's meals.

As Squall took a sip of his drink, he could hear Zell's words, haunting him…"I'm sitting here with a beer in my hands, so here's a toast to us, and the friendship we could've had,"
Squall sighed.

Rinoa had only gotten a salad, and went up to get a hotdog. Quistis went with her, as did Selphie.

The guy in front of Rinoa ordered a hotdog and was denied, the usual reason, they were out.

Rinoa laughed, "Hey Remember Ze…nevermind." She quickly returned to her downtrodden state and ordered another soda.

Quistis was the one to break the uncomfortable silence that had followed Rinoa's comment.

"Rinoa, Selphie, I can't hold out any longer. I'm going to go find him." Quistis stated in all seriousness. "Do either of you know any information we could look at to find where he went?" Quistis asked.

Selphie thought about it for a while, and slowly recalled her letter mentioning the gate his plane had taken off from.

"His plane took off from gate D6." Selphie said.

"Really Selph? Come on, let's split we can go find out where he was." Rinoa said with rising excitement. She yelled to the guys that they'd be back in about an hour.

They all started to run towards the parking garage.

When they reached the car, Rinoa jumped into the driver's seat as Quistis and Selphie jumped in the back.

Rinoa sped out of the garage towards the airport at Deling. With Rinoa at the wheel, they reached the airport in 20 minutes. Quistis was the first to jump out of the car, and run to the D gate section. Rinoa and Selphie were hot on her heels. When they reached gate D6 they ran to the check-in stand.

"Um…excuse me, but can you tell me where a flight was arriving at about a month ago?" Quistis said exasperatedly.

"What?" The woman behind the counter was confused at Quistis's jumbled statement. Rinoa and Selphie caught up with Quistis.

"About a month ago, a friend of ours left from this airport, we were wondering if you could tell us where the flight he was on landed?" Rinoa said tiredly.

Selphie continued. "He left from this gate, on January 3, around 6:00 A.M."
(A whole month ago, what a month it's been)

The woman input the information in the computer. "The flight landed at Kale Airport."

"Kale Airport?" Quistis asked.

"Yes, a small run-down airport, there's only one reason people use that airport and that's to go to Winhill. Not many flights land at Kale Airport, not many people go to Winhill." The woman stated.

The girls were baffled, Winhill of all places. They went back to their car and drove back to Balamb Garden.

When they got out of the car again, Quistis broke the silence. "In two weeks, I'm leaving. It'll give me time to pack for my trip, find a place to stay, say goodbye to everyone and speak with Cid."

"You're really gonna leave, Quisty?" Selphie asked an hugged her friend.

"I can't help but think this partly my fault." Quistis replied. "I want him to come back to garden, but if nothing else I at least want to make amends."

* * *

Quistis and the girls found their boyfriends seated at the table where they had left them.

"Seifer…I'm going to find Zell. He's in Winhill." Quistis stated plainly.

Seifer smiled. "We'll go together then." Seifer said.

Quistis shook her head. Seifer didn't say anything, he could tell she'd already made up her mind. He wasn't included in her plans.

"When?" Seifer questioned.

"In two weeks." Quistis replied. "Let's just be together while we can for now."

The two weeks seemed to drag on and on for Quistis, she wasn't positive whether that was a good thing or not. She so badly wanted to see Zell again, but she knew that she would miss the rest of her friends as soon as she left.

So when the two weeks were up, she had mixed emotions. She had gotten permission from Cid, packed, and just enjoyed her friend's presences while they were there.

She stood next to the car which Rinoa and Selphie were waiting in.

"We're gonna miss looking at that beautiful face of yours, Quistis." Irvine smiled slyly.
Quistis couldn't help but laugh as she hugged the cowboy.

"Come back safely, and make sure you bring him with you." Squall stated as he wrapped his arms around his former instructor.

"I'll be thinking of you every second, please come back soon." Seifer pleaded with his girlfriend. She nodded and kissed him one last time, that same tingle was there, the exact one she had felt that night they first kissed. His strong, manly taste against her lips. It almost made her have second thoughts about leaving, but she knew it was too late now. She kissed him one more time and headed for the car.

* * *

When they reached the airport Quistis stepped out of the car, as did Selphie and Rinoa.

Quistis hugged Selphie and smiled.

"Quistis, make sure you call us when you get there and hug him for me. You'll be back before you know it." Selphie smiled.

Quistis then stepped up to her Rinoa and hugged her tightly.

"Quist, bring him back, but don't sacrifice yourself to do it. When you call us, give us your number so we can get a hold of you if we need to. Please be careful out there, don't get hurt. We'll miss you so much." Rinoa rambled.

"I will, Rinoa." Quistis replied. "I'll see you guys soon." Quistis walked towards the airport entrance and watched Selphie and Rinoa drive off. She was alone with her thoughts for an hour before she boarded the plane.

She had to find him, and bring him back. She had to…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Notes: CRAP, about time. I finally got Winhill into the mix. Anyway, sorry for taking so frigging long to upload this. I was just out of the writing mood and finally forced myself to sit down and write.