Disclaimer: I don't own FF8. Nope. Nothing.

Author's notes: hehehehe...Read the fine print. I HAVE CONQUERED DISCLAIMERS!! Never more will they take up space with their annoying legal boring stuff. Simply use really tiny font, and you'll barely notice them. In fact, put them at the bottom, that's even better. Suck on THAT lawyers. In case you can't tell, I'm not depressed no more ^_^

Fatal Misunderstanding

Chapter 5

Rinoa stopped in front of Squall's door. She could hear water running. "He must be having a shower," she muttered, and tried the door. It was unlocked. She walked in, and sat down on the bed. She'd just wait for him to come out. She sighed, and made herself comfortable. When he could, Squall liked to have really long showers, so she'd be waiting for a while.

Rinoa looked around, trying to find something to occupy herself with. She found the remote control under Squall's pillow, and turned on the TV. Soon she was absorbed in a soap opera, and completely forgot about her own problems as she watched a cheating boyfriend try to work things out with his two girls.

It wasn't until half an hour later that Rinoa finally realized the water was still running. Something in the back of her mind told her something was wrong, but she refused to listen to it. Maybe Squall had gotten something on him that was really hard to get off. She smiled as she remembered the time Zell had been fooling around and squirted an entire bottle of ketchup in Squall's hair. He had been in the shower for over an hour trying to get it out.

She turned back to the TV, but saw that the show was over. Glancing around, she saw that Squall's dorm was a bit of a mess. "Ok then," she sighed, "I guess I'll just straighten things up. Then he might not be as mad when I tell him about Angelo." It was a stupid thought, and she knew it, but she had to do something to take her mind off things.

She picked up a picture lying face down on the floor, and was surprised to see that it was a picture of her, taken during a trip to Dollet last summer. She replaced in on the desk from which it must have fallen, then picked up a few other things. As she was cleaning, she got some ink on her shirt.

"Crap!" she exclaimed, and walked over to the sink in the corner of the room. She turned on the water lightly, so she wouldn't disturb Squall's shower, and gasped when she felt the freezing cold temperature. She washed the ink off her shirt, then paused. She had just remembered the water heater. Squall had announced that due to the water problems, students and instructors had to limit their water use. So why had he been in the shower so long? And how could he stand the cold?

Rinoa paled. What if the water had gotten to cold or too hot? "Shit!" she exclaimed in a scared voice. The possibilities flowed through her head. He could have been scalded badly by the water, or been sent into shock when it suddenly got to cold. What if he had fallen and been knocked out? She had heard of people drowning in the shower.

Rinoa ran to the bathroom door and tried to open it. It was locked. Knocking as loud as she could, Rinoa shouted, "Squall? Are you in there?" There was no answer. "Squall!? Answer me! Are you ok?" There was still no answer.

Rinoa ran out of the dorm and across the hall. She banged on the door to Zell's dorm until he came out, looking irritated. "What...Rinoa!? What's wrong?" Tears were running down Rinoa's cheeks as she told him. "Ok, "I'm coming," he told her, sounding worried.

~*~

When they got back to Squall's dorm, Zell shouted, "Yo,Squall!" It was loud enough that any conscious person inside the bathroom would have heard him, no matter how loud the water was. "Ok," Zell said in his normal voice, "I'm breaking down the door."

Rinoa nodded and stepped away. Zell kicked in the door and then turned back to Rinoa, nursing his sore foot. When he saw the shocked look on her face, which had gone completely white, he followed her eyes to the bathtub. "Holy shit," was all he could manage before lapsing into a shocked silence.

Rinoa began to walk into the bathroom, but Zell stopped her. He walked in first, wanting more than anything to look away, but unable to take his eyes off the site in front of him.

Squall lay in the bathtub, the water beating down on him. The first thing Zell had noticed was that Squall still had his boxers on, but it soon became apparent that the boxers were not the reason Rinoa looked ready to faint. Squall's gunblade lay on the floor beside the tub, blood staining the edge of the blade. Blood which had obviously come from the form now lying on the porcelain bottom of the tub. Zell forced himself to walk over and turn the water off. Looking down at Squall's lifeless body, he understood what had happened. The water running down the drain was tinted a light pink, which he knew had earlier been a dark shade of crimson. The lacerations on each of Squall's wrist told Zell all he needed to know: Squall had killed himself.

Just to be sure Squall was really dead, although he knew he was, Zell checked his pulse. Nothing. "Rinoa...he's..." Zell couldn't bring himself to finish.

"NO!" Rinoa shouted, but she knew it was true, "She collapsed on the floor outside the bathroom, crying.

Zell was still in shock, but he knew he had to get help. He closed the bathroom door behind him, decided against trying to get Rinoa to move, and walked out of the dorm. When he got out, he began to run towards the elevator. On the way he saw Irvine.
"Hey Zell, what's wrong?" Irvine asked, wondering why the normally happy teen looked ready to cry.

"Irvine, go stand by the door to Squall's dorm. Don't go in, and make sure no one else does either."

"But why..." Irvine began, but Zell was already gone. Shrugging his shoulder, Irvine walked down the hall towards the dorms.

Zell continued running, and when he got to the elevator he pushed the button for the top floor. When it arrived, Zell rushed into Quistis's office, slamming the door behind him.

"Zell!? What's wrong?" Quistis asked, looking up from her paperwork.

"It's Squall! He...oh fuck..." Zell slumped against the wall and began to cry.

"He what?" Quistis asked anxiously, "Zell, calm down. Tell me what happened."

Zell took a deep breath, and wiped his eyes. Then he told her exactly what had happened, struggling to keep his voice under control.

"Oh shit,' Quistis said, "Zell, go down to the infirmary, you need some rest. And tell Dr. Kadowaki to go to Squall's dorm." Zell nodded and left the office.

End of Chapter.5

Author's notes: hehehe....I killed my favorite character. I'm so evil ^_^ *Looks around*

....................WHAT!? Anyway, read and review.