A/N: Oh, no! Kyonae's been captured by the Dratilian Army! Will Seifer be able to save her before they take her to their leader? Well, don't ask me…actually, this is more a chapter that shows what they're thinking about while they're apart…kind of sad, really…please R/R! J

Chapter Eleven: Sweet Dreams

I awoke to familiar voices speaking around me. My head was throbbing with such unspeakable pain all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. But I heard them talking and I listened in.

"I found him at the edge of the forest," Squall's voice said grimly. "He's got a shoulder wound and a couple of ribs are broken, but I think he'll be okay."

"Look, he's awake!"

I opened my eyes and saw them all around me. We were still in the woods and it was dark, the moon was out and there were many campfires lit with Balamb students huddling around them. I lay on the soft grass, looking up at them

Irvine came forward with a fake smile, looking like he was holding in the urge to explode. "Hiya there, Almasy. You feelin' okay there, buddy?"

"Yeah, I guess…" I answered uncertainly, sitting up.

His features darkened. "Good. Because I'm gonna kick your ass!" He lunged at me, but held back by Selphie and Zell. "Let me go, dammit, I'm gonna kick his ass with or without your help…"

"What's going on?" I asked, standing now. "Where's Kyonae?"

Squall came near, holding something in his hand. "We were hoping you could tell us, Seifer."

I squinted at the small object dangling from his fingers. It was the silver falcon necklace I had accidentally ripped off of Kyonae's neck. It glimmered mockingly in the dim light. Suddenly the events that had taken place that morning came up fresh in my mind.

"Oh, no…"

"That's right, 'oh, no'!" Irvine yelled, Zell and Selphie's grip the only thing holding him back from tearing my head off. "What did you to her, you bastard?!"

"We were attacked by Dratilian soldiers," I tried to explain. "Kyonae was captured…"

"Yeah, you probably handed her right over to them to save your ugly hide, didn't ya, Almasy?" Irvine continued hollering, his once beautiful violet eyes burning with hatred.

"Irvine, please shut up," Squall said finally.

Just then Laguna, who had stayed silent the whole time, came over to me, looking at me very seriously. "Almasy…" he took the falcon from Squall's hand, showing it to me again. "Where are they taking her? Do you know?"

I shook my head truthfully. "No."

Laguna nodded resignedly, sighing. He went back to the log he had been sitting on and hung his head, studying the silver falcon in his fingers.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Squall asked.

He didn't look up. "Oh, nothing…except I think I've lost my daughter to the Dratilian Army."

This caught everyone off his or her guard, especially Squall and Ellone. "What?"

"Squall…" he rose his head to meet his son's eyes. "Your mother didn't die just having you. She gave birth to another child as well. Your twin sister. I got the letter yesterday."

"But what does that have to do with—"

"Kyonae? Well, I didn't know at first who this twin was or if she was even alive. But then I saw her at the party with Almasy, and I thought, 'Hyne, where have I seen her before?' I had seen her in you. You may not realize it, but you two look exactly the same. Just take away the scar…

"But it still wasn't enough proof for me. So after I asked Quistis here—" he gestured toward the blue-eyed blond, "—what her name was, I…uh…hacked into the Garden's computer system."

"Oh, Mr. Loire, really—" Quistis gasped, shocked.

"Hey, I wanted to know!" he snapped. "I have a right to know who my daughter is. Anyway, I hacked into the computer and looked up her files. It told me everything. She was born to an unknown mother, brought to Edea's Orphanage, ran away when she was six and disappeared for four years. Then she enrolled in Trabia Garden and became one of their school's best gunbladers. I saw her medical files too, from after the accident…they were very disturbing. She'd been brought to Trabia Mental Hospital for six months in order to set her mind straight again. I won't even try to tell you what she went through. But then she was released and disappeared for another four months…and then turned up here."

"That doesn't mean anything," Ellone said, putting her hand on her father's shoulder in comfort. "Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"That's what I thought. Then I saw her name."

"We already know that. Kyonae Falcona," Zell put simply, releasing his grip on Irvine.

"Her full name, Zell. I saw her full name. It was: Kyonae Leonhart Falcona."

Everyone fell silent.

"She changed her name," Laguna said sullenly, "Sometime after she escaped from the orphanage." His once lively blue eyes now looked nothing short of dead. He said nothing more.

Squall looked as if he'd been punched. Rinoa had found her way into his arms and was staring quizzically into his eyes.

"You two do share a resemblance, Squall…" she said carefully.

He hugged her, as if this would make the problem vanish. But it didn't vanish. He turned to me, his pale blue-gray eyes burning with a mixture of anger and helplessness in the light of the fire. "You…" He let go of Rinoa and advanced calmly toward me, only to grab me roughly by the collar of my shirt and slam me against a tree with a force of strength I never knew he had. "You gave my sister to the Dratilian Army!" he shouted loudly.

Rinoa and Ellone grabbed his arms and pulled him gently away, but his anger only grew. "You bastard! Now I know why Kyonae didn't trust you. Because I didn't trust you either! And to think I talked her out of wanting to kill you!"

"Everyone just calm down right now!" Quistis exclaimed shrilly, silencing everyone. "Now, I know in the light of this…uh…news, we are all a little…uh, perturbed. But I'm sure Kyonae will be fine. So we should all just go to sleep and start for Galbadia in the morning."

Squall gave one last hating look at me before going into one of the tents, Rinoa following him. One by one, without a word, Ellone, Laguna, Selphie, Zell, and Quistis retreated to their tents. Irvine laid down on the soft bare earth by the fire like his typical cowboy self, his rifle tucked under his arm and his hat pulled down over his face.

I sat down on a log, looking up at the moon. Now I was back where I had started. No one trusted me. Not even as a SeeD. They probably never even trusted me to begin with. They just acted like they did. Their smiles had been fake and I had been so blind with pride that I hadn't noticed it.

"So…" Irvine's voice broke into my thoughts. "Did you even like her?"

"Huh…?" I looked over at him. He had lifted his hat, and had been watching me the whole time. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, it's only logical," he shrugged. "I mean, hell. You gave me a pretty bad black eye last night, Almasy. That's gotta be a sign."

"I gave you a black eye because you annoy the hell out of me."

"What were you doing near her dorm in the first place?"

"What were you doing in her dorm in the first place?"

"Ouch, that hurt," he said, placing his hand over his chest. "All right, smart guy…why were you dancing with her at the party?"

"Because Selphie told me that she liked me."

"Selphie told you and you believed her? That's pathetic. Okay, one last question…why is it that whenever I mention Kyonae, you get that strange look in your eyes?"

I had no smart answer for that. I looked into the fire, then back at him. "Why do you even care?"

"Because if you loved her, you'd be feeling terrible about all this."

"I feel terrible about it, but I don't love her!" I protested.

He smirked at me. "Now what makes you so damn sure about that, Almasy? I think you do. And you know what I also think? I think that when we wake up tomorrow, we're gonna find that one of us ain't goin' to Galbadia." He lowered his cowboy hat over his face and said no more.

I looked upwards toward the moon again. Was Irvine right? I mean, I did feel very worried about her…usually I'm never worried for anyone except for myself. All that seemed to change a few days ago.

A new thought came to my mind: she was Squall's sister. What would that look like, if I fell in love with Squall's twin sister? He'd kill me. Hell, Laguna would kill me for falling in love with his daughter. Everyone would want to kill me.

Just like Kyonae.

I laid back, groaning from my aching ribs, asking myself why I was such an idiot. I couldn't possibly love Kyonae. It was stress. Yeah, that was it. I was nervous. I mean, I just became a SeeD, my Garden was just blown up before my eyes and I nearly died. That was ample reason to be stressed out.

Of course, it was because of Kyonae that I even became a SeeD. We all would have been killed if she hadn't warned us of the attack. And even if I had made it out of there, I wouldn't have survived being crushed under 500 pounds of cement wall if she hadn't come back for me. That was a lot to love her for…aside from the fact that she was beautiful, sensitive, fair, and she had a good heart…

I tried desperately to shake her face from my head, but she wouldn't go. I saw the silver falcon lying on the ground, and clasped it tightly in my hand. Well, Irvine was certainly right about one thing…

Tomorrow morning, one of us wasn't going to Galbadia Garden…

"Sweet dreams, Kyonae…" I said softly before dozing off.

~~~~~

I woke up suddenly in the dark. "Seifer…"

But he wasn't there. I rubbed my eyes groggily. The Sleep spell had put me into a peaceful slumber without any nightmares. Slowly reality weighed down on me, until I finally remembered what had happened. "Oh, no…"

Strong rope bound my wrists and ankles to each other so I couldn't run away. My head was throbbing from when I had been thrown against the tree. I stared at my surroundings. I was in a tent. It was very dark, and the sounds I heard outside were the accented voices of the Dratilian soldiers. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. Where was Seifer? Was he even alive? I felt hot tears forming in my eyes. I had never felt so lost and confused.

Why did I care so much about whether he was all right or not? Why was I worrying more about him than about myself?

Because he tried to protect me.

He had actually tried to protect me. And come to think of it, it hadn't been the first time either. He tried to defend me against the Dratilian captain during the SeeD exam, the Iaret, even Irvine…he protected me from all those things…he actually had a good heart, and I hadn't known it…

But where was he now that I really needed him?

I felt for my silver falcon, my good luck charm, but it wasn't there. I then remembered that Seifer had ripped it off in the attempt to save me. He still had it, hopefully. Would he come for me? Would he defend me again?

One thing I knew for sure, I said to myself, as I began to drift away into sleep again…

I wouldn't want my good luck charm to be with anyone else but him.

"Sweet dreams, Seifer…"

A/N: *dodges rotten tomatoes* Hey! Hey! I know where you live, you little…*turns and realizes you have finished reading the chapter and are now reading every single word I am typing* Oh, hello…yeah, I know, I just heard it from that little punk with the tomatoes…it was sappy and it sucked, didn't it? Please don't blame me. It is 10:00 at night and I'm listening to Backstreet Boys music. And oh, if you have to throw tomatoes at me, at least throw good ones so I can eat them when you're done throwing them. I haven't gotten up to eat or drink anything since 6:00 this morning…but there has to be SOMEONE, ANYONE out there who likes this chapter and would like to review it! You know who you are! Review or I'm going to starve to death! J