Author's note: Don't worry everyone! I am close to finishing this amazing story. Hold on to your seats because this chapter will leave you wondering at the end.................


Chapter 12 - Running Through The Waking World


~The world today does not walk across an easy path or swims in the pond, but it is walking across dangerous terrains and is swept away by the raging river.



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Whoever said life was easy, must have been hit in the head a couple of times before they woke up from a dream. The world today does not walk across an easy path or swims in the pond, but it is walking across dangerous terrains and is swept away by the raging river. They could hear the rain outside while little droplets of water that splashed through the bars and into their faces, woke them up from their peaceful state.

He slowly stroked her hair, mesmerized by the smell of her chestnut tresses.

Then they heard the cell door open.

Alarmed, she opened her eyes and stood up suddenly. He did the same, standing beside her and wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. A tall, muscular man, about the same age as them, dressed in Galbadian uniform stepped into their little room.

He saw the look on Selphie's face, fear and anxiety and immediately walked up to her. He looked down on the man beside her, gave him one glance and grabbed Selphie by the arm.

Zell tried to jump at him, but the man just pushed him aside easily. He was still too weak and could still hear the screaming of his bones, telling him to stop pushing himself too hard, but he would not listen. He dared not to. If he did, he knew he could lose Selphie forever.

"Zell!" she screamed. Selphie struggled, moving her arms from side to side, trying to get away from the man, but he was too strong. Before Zell could react, the man closed the cell door in front of him, leaving him all alone once again. Selphie looked at him, their eyes meeting each other. He saw a tear on her face before she disappeared behind another room.

"SELPHIE!" he yelled, gripping the bars tightly.

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"Is this her?"

He nodded. "Yes. I was the one who caught her sneaking inside."

He examined her, looking at the girl up and down. His face, expressionless, held a cold, greedy man underneath his suit. He walked up to her and placed a hand underneath her chin, squeezing her face gently and checking her more closely. He gave her a sneer that would have weakened any of his men, but Selphie would not back down. She stood straight and glared at him.

The man with the suit and glasses smirked, removing his hand from her face. "Another SeeD, eh?" He grinned evilly at her. "Don't bring her back in with the other one. Just put her to another cell, the one near the blonde."

The tall man nodded. "Yes sir." He yanked the girl in the arm and dragged her back to where she was taken away.

Selphie pulled her arm away from him, but he had her on a tight grasp so her struggle was useless. She taken back to where Zell was and she became hopeful, only to find that she was pulled away from him and into a nearby cell. He opened the door and gently pushed her inside.

"Zell!" Selphie yelled, running to her right where a few sets of bars kept her from embracing him into her arms. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, but the bars kept her from doing, kept her from touching his face and look closely into his eyes. She knelt down on the ground and grabbed the cold steel with one hand, while the other reached out to touch him.

Zell took her hand and kissed the back of it. He moved her hand to his face to feel the softness of her skin, then with his other hand, he slid it through the bars and caressed her face, where a single tear slowly dropped into his fingers. "Did he hurt you?" he asked.

Selphie shook her head. "No he didn't." More tears streaked down her face, closing her eyes as Zell touched her face with only a part of his hand. The cold steel kept them from making any close contact, kept them from embracing each other. Even if the cell was close by, they were both isolated from each other. They wanted to be in each other's arms and die together if necessary. The prison, even though it held small gaps to look through, punished them, broke them into millions of pieces, knowing they couldn't reach each other.

"You shouldn't have come here, Selph," Zell spoke, removing his hand from her. He looked down in shame, ashamed that he couldn't rescue her from the man who took her away just now. He felt guilty for not trying hard enough and he felt guilty for bringing her here.

Selphie grabbed his hand back and gripped them gently, shaking her head. "I wanted to Zell." She looked into his eyes and smiled, another single tear drop falling from her eyes. Zell reached out and caught it with his hand. It danced on his fingers until it disappeared out of sight.


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He heard the roaring of the long awaited transport. Glancing out his window, he nodded in satisfaction and turned to his comrades.

"He's here," he said, looking around at the company of SeeDs. All of them nodded in unison. Seifer straightened out his Hyperion tighter in its sheath and glanced at Quistis. The blond woman nodded, taking Seifer's hand and squeezing it tightly against hers. Rinoa grinned, walking up to Squall and linking arms with him. She placed her pinwheel in her arms and gave the signal to Squall that she was ready as well. It was going to be four against the many men of Galbadian forces. There was no reason to complain. After all, they've survived even more dangerous missions than this one, which consisted of only three members of the party.

He nodded again and led the way out of the Garden and into the grassy fields of Balamb where the Ragnarok waited.


They were halfway there, when Rinoa realized something and stopped. Squall and the others paused and turned, giving her curious looks. The dark haired girl looked up, a worried look upon her face.

"Wait.... what about Irvine?" Rinoa said.

Squall, Seifer and Quistis looked at each other, unsure what she meant.

"He's going to wake up soon and wonder where we all are. I mean shouldn't someone stay there with him? He's going to wonder where Selphie is." She glanced at all three, but held no answer on their faces. They stood there, staring at her, as if expecting her to have the answer.

Finally, after a moment of silence, Rinoa sighed and nodded. "I'll stay."

Squall stepped up and looked at her. "Are you sure?" His eyes looked hopeful. To be honest, he didn't want Rinoa to go with them on their dangerous quest, one that did not require Cid's orders.

Rinoa smiled. She placed a hand on his cheek, keeping her smile visible. "Yeah I'm sure!"

Squall watched her form. She looked so beautiful underneath the sunlight, where her hair shone like black silk and her eyes sparkled with everlasting life. The rays of the sun bounced off her hair, shining only the top part of her head and making a halo around it, creating the entity of an angel.

"Hey!" someone yelled. Startled, all of them looked behind Rinoa and noticed two familiar shadows walking towards them.

Seifer knew who they were by the walk they walked. "Fujin! Raijin!"

Raijin rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Fujiin, before he finally spoke up. "We want to come too, you know?" He gripped his staff tightly in his hands and looked up at all four SeeDs.

Squall nodded. "We need all the people we can get."

Fujin fixed her round throw blade in her arm and with one hand, ran it in front of her as if showing the ground. "HELP," she spoke.

"Yeah, yeah! We like to help, you know?" the large man replied, glancing up at Seifer.

Seifer nodded, proud of his posse by choosing by themselves without having to ask permission from him. "I'm glad you made up your mind you guys. I mean we do need more people."

They were all silent for awhile until Nida stepped out of the Ragnarok. "Hey! You guys coming or what?"

Rinoa looked at Squall and placed a hand on his face. "I want you to be careful, okay?"

Squall nodded.

"Hey, don't worry, Rin!" Seifer spoke. "I mean we've been on tougher situations than this!"

Rinoa smiled and looked at everyone. "I want you all to be careful!"

Seifer lifted his hand for a salute towards Rinoa, turned and walked to the Ragnarok, followed by Quistis, Fujin and Raijin. She gave Squall one last kiss on the cheek before she watched him follow the others to the plane. Placing a hand in her heart, she prayed to herself that they will all return safely back home. All of them.


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The sun had peeked its way through the windows of the cell, kissing the top of their heads with its warmth and woke the two up from their reverie. The rain had stopped suddenly, washed away by the sun as it appeared behind the dark clouds. Selphie rubbed her eyes with the back of hands and glanced at Zell, who was stroking her hair the whole time they were quiet. She fell asleep in his arms, despite the bars that blocked their way. She was kneeling down on the cold, concrete floor, one hand between the bars and her hand clasped in between Zell's palms. She hadn't realized that she slept all night with her head rested against the bars, almost hugging the floor and when she lifted her head up, her neck made a cracking noise that pained her so. With one hand, she reached up and rubbed the back of her neck, grimacing in pain.

"Are you all right?" Zell gently stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, looking at her worriedly.

Selphie nodded, rubbing her neck. "Did you wake up all night?"

"Yeah," Zell whispered. He put his hands in between the bars. "Turn around and rest your back against the bars."

Selphie looked up, but the pain in her neck got even worst. Without another question, she winced at the pain as she turned and leaned back against the bars. Zell placed his hands on her shoulders and began rubbing them. Selphie closed her eyes, feeling his hands move up and down her shoulders. It felt good.

"How does that feel?" Zell whispered in her ear.

Selphie smiled. "I like it. Where did you learn to do that?"

Zell chuckled. A real laugh that made Selphie smile. "Hey, I don't just sit around on my ass and stare at the ceiling all day, you know!"

Selphie giggled. She paused suddenly, when she heard her cell door opened. Zell paused at what he was doing and looked up, following Selphie's gaze towards the same man who took her earlier. He was somewhat tall, Zell noticed, maybe about Squall's height, but shorter and more muscular and wore that Galbadian uniform with its bright golden markings on each arm. Selphie stood up slowly, one arm reaching behind her to grasp Zell's hand in hers, nervously. Zell kept his arms on her shoulders, protectively gripping them gently, afraid to let her go once again.

The man took one step forward, until he was inches away from Selphie. Glancing at Zell once, he lifted up one arm, alarming the two thinking he was taking out a weapon, but he just lifted it up and lend a hand towards Selphie.

Removing his hat slightly from his nearly covered face, he gave a reassuring look towards the brunette. The two now noticed his brown hair, almost the same colour as Selphie's. "Hi, Seffie," the man spoke.

Selphie stared, wide eyed. She furrowed her eyebrows, squinting her eyes slightly to see who it was. Familiarity suddenly struck her. "Ga-Garett?" Selphie wanted to run into his arms and hug him, but a hand on her shoulders stopped her from doing so.

"No, Selphie..." Zell whispered. "Don't make yourself too obvious." He knew now who the man was. Selphie mentioned him a couple of times.

The man nodded. Putting a finger against his lips, he shushed her, warning not to talk too loud. He was afraid that he was going to get caught. "He's right, Selphie. I want you to stay where you are. Don't worry, I'll get you both out."

Selphie nodded, a smile of joy never leaving her face. He was here and she couldn't believe it! Sighing a breath of relief, Selphie sat back down on the floor and looked up at Garett. She didn't say another word.

Satisfied, Garett gave her a quick smile, fixed his hat on his head and walked out of the cell, locking the door behind him.














GoodGurl: Okay! Wanna know who that man is? Do you? Huh? Well, you can probably guess and you may be right and you may be wrong, but as long as you read the next chapter, you'll find out soon enough! Please r/r! Thank you!!!!!!! ;)