Selphie slid open the closet and stood there for a minute, just admiring the thing. Ever since she'd seen him wearing it when they met, she loved everything about it. The feel of it as she brushed her fingers against the soft leather, the way the cuffs folded up like they did.

She pulled the coat off the hanger and hugged it close, breathed in his scent. A wave of contentment washed over her. Even when he washed the thing, it still smelled like him. That was the best part about it. She finally gave in and put her arms in the sleeves. Nice and warm, too.

She turned toward the mirror. Wow. It really didn't fit her all that well. She giggled at her reflection, pointed a finger at the mirror like a gun. "Reach for the sky, varmint." She grinned at her fake accent and wrapped the duster around her. "Mmmmmm… I could sleep in this."

A beep from the door made her jump in surprise with a startled squeak. Oh, crap! She darted into the closet, huddled up into the tightest ball she could muster. This was so not good. The sound of footsteps heading toward her made her wince. He'd catch her for sure in here!

"That's weird… I hung it in here just a minute ago…"

She forgot to breathe as a gloved hand reached for the bare hanger. Too close! Gotta make zero noise… He's walking away. Good. She began to crawl, slow as an adamantoise. She stopped halfway, ears straining for the slightest sound. Nothing… She moved toward the opening, peered out once she got close enough. Oh hell. There he was, near the bathroom. Probably gonna look in there, too. She grimaced. Right, now or never.

She stood and made her way to the door, staying low and keeping as quiet as she could. The door crept closer with every step she took. She reached a hand for the door, tried to trip the motion sensor before he had a chance to…

"That's far enough, darlin'."

Selphie froze in place. Damn it! She was so close… "Uh… Hi, Irvy." She straightened her back, swiveled her head to look in his direction… What the hell? His back was still turned! She placed her hands on her hips. "How long did you know I was in here?"

Irvine chuckled as he turned to face her. "Long enough. How the heck do you keep getting in here?"

She tucked her head into her shoulders. Well crap, seriously busted now. "I have a copy of everyone's key cards. Y'know, in case of emergency! Heh…"

He put his hands on her shoulders, squeezed. "Well this ain't an emergency. 'S more like Selphie being sneaky as usual, dont'cha think? But I figured you'd go for it sooner or later." He tilted her head until she was staring right at him. "It looks good on you…"

Selphie felt her face warm up. Everything else in the room tuned out besides those green eyes of his, and his voice, and the fingers on her chin holding her in place. She leaned in, looked further down toward his lips. Her heart tried to hammer its way out of her chest; it was all she could hear.

"…But I'm gonna need it back now."

And the gears in her head grinded to a halt. "Oh... Sorry." She took the duster off, completely and totally reluctant to do so. Her skin mourned the loss. Yeah, she wasn't wearing anything else for a few days.

Irvine took the coat from her and walked over toward the closet again. "So, did you come here just to try on my wardrobe, or is there a reason why you snuck in?"

She smacked herself on the forehead. How could she have forgotten? "The Commander is having a meeting in half an hour. He needs us to head for the briefing room as soon as possible."

Irvine raised an eyebrow. "What? Don't tell me he's planning the next mission on our time off. We don't even have all the information yet!"

Selphie shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just the messenger." She fidgeted as he looked at her. She really had to get away from him.

"Well okay… I'll be there as soon as I can. You tell him that."

She nodded, grateful for the window of escape. "Okay, see you there!" She turned and walked out of the room, trying her best not to hurry. The door slid closed behind her and she leaned against the wall to the right of it, a hand on her lips. Hyne, she'd almost…

She closed her eyes, tried to get a hold of her breathing, her heartbeat. There were a lot of girls in this Garden, so many that he couldn't stop looking. She'd never be able to get him to do that. He told her that himself.

She smiled and ran her fingers across her lips. "…Jerk." It wasn't important how many girls he looked at or talked to or whatever. She doubted any of them felt the way she did in that room. She giggled and skipped off toward her next destination.

Kanto the Slayer presents

A Final Fantasy VIII Fanfiction

Final Fantasy VIII: LionHearts

"…Yeah, kinda went how I expected it to go."

Quistis frowned, set a hand on Zell's right shoulder and squeezed. "She must have really been into you, then. But you did what you thought you had to do, and I think you went about it in the appropriate manner. I doubt I would have done that with Siefer."

Zell scoffed, his face twisted into a sneer. "That guy's an asshole. I don't expect him to show any civility, so you shouldn't show any to him." He shifted on the bed, the springs creaking beneath him as he got comfortable. "Hell, next time we see him, I plan on kicking his ass for all the shit he's put us through."

Quistis chuckled. "And by us, you mean you personally, right?"

"Both." Zell got to his feet and walked over to the heavy bag nearby, fists clenched. He glowered at it, as if the bag were the man himself. "Ever since we were kids, he's been nothing but a pain in the ass. Even when he forgot where he came from, he still treated everyone around him like ants that he could step on." His right fist rammed three inches into the bag, making it shudder in pain.

Quistis looked on, one eyebrow raised. "You still hate him, then."

He punched the bag with a left straight and the bag caved in, but didn't break. "Nah, not entirely. But someone's gotta make him answer for what he did, right? Might as well be me!" He hit the bag again, made the chains rattle in protest.

Quistis sighed and stood from the bed, arms crossed at her waist. "You know, I think people change over time. It's been a good two years since we saw him and his crew. What if you go after him and find out that he's actually a better person?"

Zell shrugged, tapped the bag with two jabs from his right hand. "Then that means he'll have to take it like a man. I don't care how good he thinks he is or how much he's changed, he's gotta own up sooner or later. And if he calls me chicken-wuss, someone's gonna have to pull me off of him."

The former instructor shook her head, ran a hand through her hair. "Well, I suppose I'll have to be the one to do that. I expect to have to do it quite a bit, too."

Zell turned to look over his right shoulder. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Quistis placed a hand over her lips to hide her amused smile. "It means that you still respond to every little barb that people throw at you. You have a point in the fact that Siefer is… uncooperative. But seriously, the way to defuse him is to ignore him. And I doubt you're capable of just ignoring him."

Zell rolled his shoulders and set himself in a fight stance again. "Well, who would just sit there and let him call them names? I mean, you gotta stick up for yourself."

"There's that, and then there's what you do, which is overreact. Giving him a good punch is one thing, but doing it every time he insults you is another."

Zell hit the bag one last time, turned to face Quistis with his hands on his hips. "Since when did you take his side? I mean, I'm the wronged party here. We all are."

Quistis nodded. "That's right. We all are, including him. So try and remember that if you run into him again. I know he has a lot to answer for, but he needs to answer it to himself first before you. Like you said, he needs to own up to his mistakes and wrongdoings. So it'd be better if you just let him do that, don't you think?"

Zell scratched the back of his head, looking away from her. "Well once you put it that way, it kinda makes sense… Don't expect anything from it, but I'll try."

She walked back over to the bed and sat down, hands in her lap. "So… what are you going to do about the library girl? I mean, you can't just leave it at that, can you?"

Zell sighed again. "You want me to be honest? I got no clue. I mean, I told her straight out how I felt, but it turned out bad. She's probably gonna hate me for a while. I figure, y'know, I'd give her some space and let her sort things out. Just talking to her won't solve anything, especially with how bad I am with girls."

Quistis turned her head away, eyes downcast. "That makes two of us who aren't so good at relationships."

Zell's eyes widened. "Wait, are you serious? You've got your own fan club, practically every guy who doesn't already have someone is hanging off your arm, and you say you're bad at relationships? Maybe I should get my ears checked…"

Quistis shrugged, still looking away. "They're my fans, Zell. They see me as an idol, an ideal. That's all they see me as." She smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure they fantasize about me and wish they could, but they know they shouldn't. Not to mention they still don't want to get any closer to me because of my rank. They think I'm untouchable, and to an extent, they're right."

Zell walked forward and stroked a hand along her right cheek. "Well you're not so untouchable now, are you?"

Quistis blushed as Zell's fingertips ran along her skin. Her lips turned upward in a smile. "Are you sure that you're not all that good with women?"

Zell grinned. "I couldn't get a girl on the street to give me directions if I tried…"

A knock on the door broke into their conversation. "I got it." Zell walked over to the door, opened it. "Oh, hey Selphie. What's up?"

She beamed at him. "Not much. There's a meeting in Squall's office in half an hour. I think it's something about our next mission." She peered over Zell's shoulder, eyebrows high at what she saw. "Quisty is here too? What exactly is she doing in your room of all places?"

Zell raised his hands defensively. "It's not what you think! We were…"

"…Just talking." Quistis took over immediately. "Tell Squall we'll be there in time. I was just about to leave anyway." She walked through the doorway, squeezed Zell's left shoulder as she passed by. "I certainly hope you feel better soon, okay?"

He nodded. "Don't worry too much about it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

Selphie waited until Quistis was out of earshot before she leaned over toward Zell to mutter into his ear. "Seriously, what were you guys doing? Come on, don't leave me out."

Zell glanced at her. "Seriously, we were just talking. The library girl and I broke it off, and she came in to talk to me about it. Nothing happened but that. What, did you want something to happen?" Zell smirked and ruffled Selphie's hair. "You did, didn't you ya perv?"

Selphie blushed. "I'm not a perv, you perv! I just wanted to know what she was doing in your room, that's all!" She grabbed Zell's wrist and pried his hand off of her head. "And quit doing that." She started to walk away. "You just remember to come to the meeting!"

Zell rubbed the back of his head, one eyebrow raised. "What's the deal?"

Squall sat at his place at the round oak table, settled back into the plush leather of his chair. It was the first time he'd called a meeting in the new board room, and to be honest, he could get used to it. Cid wanted him and his staff to be as comfortable as possible; thus he'd spared no expense when it came to the place, from the dark red carpet to the holographic tactical display in the center of the table.

He leaned forward, set his elbows on the table. "Thanks for getting everyone here, Selphie. I appreciate it."

She smiled at him. "No problem! What I'm curious about though is why you called us here. We don't even have all the information yet. Without any information, we can't make a good plan, right?"

Squall shrugged. "Well maybe I don't see it that way." He got to his feet. "We might not have information on what's there, but we can guess with some certainty that we'll be running right into a siege. Dollet is on lockdown. Nothing gets in or out. That means no food, no water, possibly no power. Curfew in effect, people on the street after a certain time at night get shot. I wouldn't put it past them. Remember, this is a professional army gone rogue. They know what they're doing."

A dead silence hung over the room as Squall began to pace around. "I want your opinions on what exactly they'll be bringing to this one. I mean, this isn't some walled city we're talking about, but they'll have set up barricades and checkpoints by now. People will have heard about Timber and set up something nasty. I want everyone to think of what we'll be running into."

Silence for a few more moments, then Irvine spoke first. "…Artillery."

Everyone looked his way as he continued to speak. "They'll be looking for air superiority and fire support, just in case buildings need to be torn down. Insertion from the sky and the ground will be impossible unless we take those out. Probably need to be the first things to go. Probably gonna be snipers on the rooftops looking for people outside after the time limit."

Squall nodded. Leave it to the gun expert to talk about something like that. "Good start. Anyone else got something?"

Selphie raised her hand. "What about the train station? They'll definitely wanna get a hold of that! Trains mean supplies and backup, and that means the end of the siege, right? We should liberate it so the regular army can get through."

Squall glanced toward Selphie. No surprise there. She really did do her homework about trains and the like. "Good thinking. That goes for the sea route too. That one doesn't matter as much, though. The only fast route to Dollet from the sea is from Balamb. We proved that one pretty well. They'll still have it covered, though." He looked around the table. "Who else has something?"

Rinoa threw her idea into the ring in a somewhat timid manner. "What about magical barriers? Can we expect them to have something up like that? I'm not trying to assume anything, but… it's just not good to leave out."

Squall shook his head. "Nah, this city isn't that important to them. It's just a way of showing force. Timber was important because it was a major train hub, Winhill was important because of its proximity to Galbadia. This is just them being bullies."

Zell grimaced, his eyes cast down at the table. "Just like Balamb two years ago." His right fist rammed into the table, making everyone jump in surprise. "We gotta stop this before it gets outta hand, if it hasn't already."

Squall smirked at his violent reaction. Some things never change… "Yeah, I know. We still have to keep cool about it, though. We're just speculating for now, preparing for the fight. We'll discuss tactics once we actually know what the situation is."

Quistis nodded and placed a hand on Zell's shoulder, squeezed it. He seemed to calm down a bit. "We can't rule out the fact that they will try to coerce the remaining Dollet troops to join their movement. I'd suggest linking up with them and forming an effective resistance, but with Selphie's idea, they'd probably come out of hiding and strike back once they hear that the train lines are clear."

Squall grimaced at the thought that popped up in his head. "That's assuming there are any still alive in there. For all we know, they could be…" He shook his head. "Best not to think about that until there's a possibility of it being true."

Rinoa looked toward him, her head resting in her hands. "Do you always have to think so negatively about things? I mean, there has to be some kind of hope, right? And don't give me that speech again. I know we're planning, but can we at least look at this in a good way?"

Squall sighed, looked toward Rinoa with a forlorn expression. "I know what you're trying to say, but this isn't exactly a good situation we're facing. And like I said, we don't have all the information. Best to assume the worst and get ready for it than hope for the best and…"

"…Be disappointed, I know." She sighed, looked away from him. "Just that I think there could still be some troops in the mountains somewhere. They can't have taken everything."

Squall scratched the back of his head. Sure she hoped for the best, but he didn't think it would happen. Hell, it never happened as the plan dictated. "Well if it'll put your mind at ease, we'll have a team look for them. Don't be surprised if I'm right." He sat back down in his chair. "For now, we'll wait until we get some more info on the situation. Then we'll keep on making plans from there."

Everyone began to leave, but Rinoa stayed, looking at Squall as he sat there with his head turned down. "Did I say something wrong? I mean, I didn't mean to…"

Squall shook his head. "No, you didn't. I just…" He sighed. Why couldn't this ever be easy? "I keep on thinking about things like they've already gone bad. Battle plans have to be made assuming that the bad stuff's already happened. But you're right. We have to hope for certain things to go right."

Rinoa smiled and walked over to him, her arms wrapped around his neck. "You'll learn. And even if you don't, I'll be here to remind you." She kissed his right cheek. "Even a game of Chess starts out with a positive attitude, or at least neutral. Not everything is good and not everything is bad."

He nodded. "You're right. We haven't even started the game yet and I'm assuming that pieces have already been lost."

She moved to sit in his lap and placed an arm around his shoulders. "I know it's not a game of toy soldiers, but try to think of it like this: assuming the worst of a situation will only make your days shorter, your hair gray faster, and your face set in a way that scares people. Even in the fog of war, there's a silver lining."

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Where'd that come from? I didn't know you were a philosopher."

She shook her head. "You're the philosopher. I'm just a dreamer. Have you ever seen me act rationally, even once?"

Squall chuckled. She had a point there. "Maybe that's true. But if we had more people in the world that dream like you do, we wouldn't be in this situation now. Besides, any good army has a few good dreamers. They're the ones that can think of the big strategies."

"Is that so?" She shook with laughter. "Then I guess I'll just have to dream more often then, won't I? Maybe I'll think of a plan to win this whole thing!"

Squall shrugged. "I don't think it's that far out of the question. I mean, that was a good idea you put in back there. I think they have some kind of defense like that somewhere out there, and it'd be right up your alley. But I said before, this place isn't strategically important. They're just subjugating the population because they can."

Rinoa nodded. "Then it's up to us to end this." She nuzzled against his neck. "So do you have a plan yet?"

Squall nodded. "Yeah, I do. But it'll have to wait until we have the whole story. And don't you ask what the plan is, I don't have it all worked out. But when I do, you guys will be the first to know." He tilted his head to the side a bit. "You gonna leave? I mean, the meeting's over."

"I know." She snuggled into him. "I just wanna stay like this for as long as I can."

He didn't reply to that. Hell, he didn't have to. Squall ran his fingers through Rinoa's hair and enjoyed the quiet of the room for a few minutes longer.

Timber Aftermath 1: The Best Laid Plans

Okay, so there we have it. I know I planned on having three of these, but I decided on two of them. It's been too long since we've had a good solid start on things. On that note, welcome back to the new stage of history! It's good to be writing this stuff again. I still can't believe you guys are waiting for this.

Big thanks to The Dark Lord Redrall for putting in a reminder that this still exists. Big thanks for Alessia Heartilly for keeping this in her C2. Most of all, big thanks to everyone who is still watching this; you guys make it possible.

I understand it's short, but other chapters like this are short. Go figure. You want something longer? Wait for the next story arc.

Onward to victory!