One Can Hope
By Raine Ishida and RobertDogwood
Final Fantasy VIII characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.
Original characters, locations and plot Copyright Raine Ishida and Robert Dogwood 2001
Sequel to Laurie's Surprise
Chapter One
It had been years since they were together. Raine couldn't exactly recall the last time she had laid eyes on her best friend from childhood in person, but she knew that she had still been a small child. Of course, they had continued to write each other all these years; at first because they so desperately missed each other, and later out of force of habit and neither one of them wanting to be the one, who stopped writing first. Raine didn't know why her friend had kept writing, but she knew for herself she would have felt that a piece of her childhood had died if she ceased the correspondence.
Of course through the years they had exchanged photographs of each other, along with pictures of new friends at first and later photo's of boyfriends, along with ritualistic presents at Christmas time that were as empty and devoid of emotional content as receiving a gift certificate to a store that wasn't located anywhere around you.
Raine didn't know about her friend, but she realized that she, herself, had been perilously close to not sending a gift this past Christmas nor any more letters, because it now seemed so pointless and such a waste of her precious time, but she just couldn't allow herself to be the one who broke the tenuous bond between them.
Consequently it came as quite a shock when a letter arrived in the mail from her old friend inviting her to spend two weeks with her during summer vacation. Raine accepted the invitation with some trepidation, because she wondered if she had anything left in common with her old friend and also not really wanting to spend precious vacation time away from her real friends and her life-giving computer. But in the end, Raine accepted the invitation and appropriate dates were affixed.
Her flight from Canada had been relatively uneventful, although, truth be told, her two hour layover in New York had been quite frightening because of the preponderance of weirdo's roaming the airport, although none of them had even glanced at her and, besides, there was plenty of airport security. Finally Raine was forced to put her fears of the entire situation down to her provincialism.
The plane she was traveling on had gently touched the ground and was slowly taxiing to a stop. Raine gathered her carry-on possessions and unbuckled her seat belt, when the appropriate light flashed on. She stood up and waited by her seat until a spot opened up in the long line of passengers waiting to de-board the plane. While Raine patiently waited for her turn, she idly wondered what would draw so many people to such a backward place as Gloucester County Airport in rural New Jersey.
As the line slowly wended its way forward, Raine, being fortunate to not have a row mate, leaned over and squinted through the aircraft's small window to discover if she could catch a glimpse of her old friend when suddenly there she was! She's much more prettier than her pictures, Raine thought, feeling vaguely threatened on some level.
Straightening up, Raine noticed a small gap in the line and scurried to fill it, being careful not to hit anyone with her large carry-on bag. She had purposely placed everything she was going to need for her two week trip in it, so as to not have to wait for baggage claim, plus not having to worry that her clothes went on their way without her to Nome, Alaska or some such place. As she shuffled her feet in the permanently slow moving line, Raine's emotions fluctuated between being grateful the long flight was over safely and wishing she were still in the air somewhere over Canada, because of her impending sense of doom of discovering she no longer had anything in common with her old friend.
However will I get through the next two weeks? she wondered.
Suddenly Raine was in the passageway between the cockpit and the passenger section and was being thanked by the flight attendant for traveling with them and being nodded at by the tired looking co-pilot. She stepped lively down the outside temporary stairs that had been affixed to the side of the airplane door; not because she wanted to, but because the line of passengers now freed from their bondage of the narrow constricted-ness of the plane were now sweeping her along with them and she didn't want to be pushed or trip down the stairs and tumble to the ground.
That would be quite an entrance to New Jersey, wouldn't it? Raine bemusedly thought.
Upon her safe arrival at ground level, Raine observed her friend rushing to her with her arms held wide in apparent readiness of offering an hug. "Raine!" she shouted.
Raine observed a pretty, young, slim figured, blue eyed woman with blonde hair, who was dressed in a long sleeved black blouse, tight black leather jeans and stylish black shoes rapidly approaching her. Oh my God! Raine thought, She's a Goth!
When Laurie flung herself at Raine culminating in a huge embrace, Raine dropped her carry-on bag in shock and attempted to not flinch. An attempt that apparently failed miserably, Raine realized as her friend immediately dropped her arms and stepped back, with a quizzical expression crossing her pretty features.
The person Laurie was scrutinizing was a slim, almost willowy, attractive green eyed young woman, taller than she, with wavy chestnut brown hair that fell just past her shoulder blades. Laurie exclaimed, "Oh, your outfit is darling!"
Indeed, Raine had attempted to wear the most stylish clothing she owned to travel on the plane. She was wearing a black knit blouse with a heart shaped neckline, a mid-thigh red skirt with black patterns, a gold chained belt and black mid knee boots. "Thank you," Raine was able to mutter in a low tone. Laurie spoke again as if reading Raine's mind. "And don't worry," she laughed, "I'm not a Goth, I just like to wear black."
Inside her mind, Raine breathed a sigh of relief. Laurie, totally ignoring the fact that her friend had hardly spoken since leaving the plane, suggested, "We should go get your suitcases."
Raine picked up her huge carry-on bag and explained, "It's all right here."
"Wow! They let you drag that big thing on the plane?" When Raine nodded, Laurie replied "Cool!"
"Well, let's get going" directed Laurie and turned and set off on a semi-trot which pressed Raine to the utmost, due to her hauling her carry-on bag with her.
By the time Laurie had reached the airport parking lot, Raine was lagging a good fifty steps behind and muttering to herself about the utter discourtesy of her old friend. Laurie turned and waved her arm cheerily shouting, "It's over here!" As Raine slogged the last remaining steps, her friend waited patiently by a beat up appearing 1975 gray Chevy Impala, whose running engine was spewing copious amounts of deadly exhaust all over the parking lot.
As Raine drew near, Laurie stepped close and whispered, "My parents won't let me get my driver's license until my seventeenth birthday. This is my crazy old aunt. Don't say anything to her."
Indeed the woman who sat behind the steering wheel looked quite bizarre, to say the least thought Raine, as she gazed upon a redheaded woman with her hair in large curlers, who looked to be in her mid-thirties, weighing about two hundred pounds and was dressed in a humongous bathrobe and had a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth.
Laurie took Raine's carry-on bag from her hand, which had cramped in a claw like position and walked around the back of the old junker and tapped lightly on the trunk. The red haired woman swung her head out of the window and growled, "Wait a minute, will ya?" Laurie's aunt apparently released the trunk's lock and it sprung open. As Laurie placed Raine's luggage in the car and slammed the trunk hard rocking the car somewhat, Raine grew even more worried about the next two weeks. I'm in big trouble, she thought, if this is any indication.
Quickly rejoining her friend, Laurie opened the left back door and whispered, "Get in the back seat. You don't want to ride up front. She'll put holes in your clothes from her cigarettes." Upon receiving that warning, Raine scrambled into the back with some alacrity and Laurie quickly followed.
The driver immediately slapped the car into gear and drove off with a squeal from the under inflated back tires and nearly sideswiped a passing van. When the van's angry driver tooted his horn at her, she shouted out the window, "Watch where the hell you're going!" Raine grew frightened of even reaching Laurie's residence safely.
After finally exiting the airport parking lot, and reaching a main highway, Raine was cognizant that the woman was looking at them in the rear view mirror instead of the heavy traffic in front of her. Laurie's aunt asked, "What's the matter, you all too good to ride up front with me?"
Laurie glanced at Raine and arched her right eyebrow as if to say 'Watch this.' "No, auntie" she replied sweetly. "We just didn't want to crowd you in the front seat."
"Aw, screw you", the woman growled. "Is that another crack about my weight?"
When Laurie flipped her aunt off from the safety of the back of the front seat, Raine giggled despite herself. Laurie said "Good, I was beginning to think you weren't human," which caused Raine to giggle again.
"What's going on back there?" the aunt angrily retorted. "Nothing, auntie," Laurie responded in a dulcet tone. Raine giggled again. The ice had been broken.
By the time the car pulled up in front of Laurie's home, they were talking like old friends.
………………..
When Raine followed Laurie into her bedroom, her first reaction was shock. Her friend had never really told her how interested she was with the world of Japan. Laurie's walls lay covered with Final Fantasy and various anime posters. A Gundam Wing here, some Escaflowne there. And even, a huge poster of the Backstreet Boys.
Raine sighed. She couldn't account for taste. It was Laurie's room, not hers. Who was she to judge?
The TV in one corner was hooked up to a beautiful Playstation 2, and as Raine dropped her bag on the floor, she circled the room breathlessly. Settling next to the PS2, her curious hands came across Laurie's copy of The Bouncer, which had a photo of an attractive young man on the cover.
"You know, I've always thought he looked like Squall," Raine muttered to herself.
Laurie grinned and nodded. "I know, he does..so does Tidus! They all look like Squall!"
"And you're saying that like it's a bad thing," Raine replied, turning to face her friend, who was now opening the window to let the fresh air blow through
Raine's gaze fell across the bunk beds. She set the game down and threw herself on top of the bottom bunk. "So, where do I get to sleep?" she asked, bouncing lightly on the springy mattress.
"Lucky, you get the floor!" Laurie joked. At that moment, Raine bounced a little higher than anticipated and bashed her head on the top bunk.
"Ow!" she cried, grabbing her skull where the wood had struck her. She winced as Laurie laughed at her. Taking the nearest object she could find, a stuffed bear, she threw it at her friend, bopping her in the face and spoke, "Not funny."
"Yes it is! Bounce, bounce, bounce OUCH! It's classic. Maybe I should be calling YOU the Bouncer!"
The two laughed harmoniously, sharing the joke. Raine was feeling more and more relaxed, at the fact that she finally realized they weren't so out of touch, and because the small talk was getting them by.
Two weeks to go. Would she make it?
Rising from her spot, Raine scooped up Laurie's copy of Final Fantasy VIII and grinned. "It sucked you into the trap, eh? How many times have you beaten Ultimecia?"
Laurie shrugged, a thin smile on her face. "A few, nothing special, the battle does kinda take forever, you know."
Raine grinned. "Yeah…for me three hours!" Another laugh from Laurie.
"So anyway…Raine. It's been awhile since we've had any REAL talks."
"Real talks?" What was that supposed to mean? Raine raised an eyebrow at her friend, who now lay on her stomach, hugging a pillow with a Buru-Buru dog on it.
"Yeah, silly. You know…the wide world of boys…" Laurie replied, flipping a section of silky blonde hair behind her.
"Guys?! You mean…like, outside of Final Fantasy?" Raine asked.
Laurie grinned. "Yep, as in no Seifer, no Zell."
"But Zell's so sexy!"
If she only knew, Laurie grinned to herself. "Yes, he is sexy. But, I'm talking about guys. Human guys…boys. Guys."
"You're calling Zell inhuman, aren't you?"
"You're very protective of him, Raine!" Laurie cried tossing her Buru-Buru pillow in her friend's direction.
Raine smiled. "Yeah? So what if I am?"
"Then…uh..well, anyway. Tell me, what are the guys like in Canada?"
"Well, they all wear fur coats, live in igloos, go dogsledding, and train to be lumber jacks in their spare time," Raine joked.
Laurie laughed. "I see…are they cute out there in the cold?"
"Yeah, they've got the whole rosy-cheek thing going!" Raine replied with a laugh, picturing some of her friends.
Suddenly both young women fell silent for a moment. Raine glanced at her friend with more than a little anxiety noticeable on her pretty face. "What's the matter?" Laurie asked, with a sudden sinking in her heart.
"Uh" Raine started, "I've been kinda wondering since this whole thing began, but I didn't know how to ask you without seeming rude, but what caused you to invite me suddenly out of the blue after all these years?"
I knew it, Laurie thought desolately, quickly arising from her position on the bed. When Laurie remained silent, Raine pressed her. "Well, what is it?"
Laurie glanced away from her inquiring friend and toed her carpeted bedroom floor with her right foot. "I'm not sure," she muttered in a low tone. "But if I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy."
"What did you say?" Raine asked, straining to hear her friend's words.
Laurie looked up and exclaimed loudly, "I said you'll think I'm crazy!"
"Crazy?" Raine repeated, "Why would I think that?"
Tears began to form in Laurie's eyes, as she said in a softer tone, "Because I think I'm crazy, but I have an overwhelming feeling, that won't go away, there was some reason we needed to be together right now."
"Feeling?" Raine echoed, thoroughly confused at the direction the conversation was taking.
"Yes, damn it!" Laurie replied passionately, "A feeling that something dreadful was going to happen to somebody somewhere, if we weren't together right at this particular time." And tears began to flow down Laurie's face.
Raine glanced away, completely at sea and didn't know how to respond to her friend's tears. Just to do something, Raine turned and opened Laurie's large walk-in closet and espied something weird on her top shelf. Taking a step closer to obtain a better look, she observed a long brown cattleman's coat and a cowboy hat. Now why do those look so familiar? Raine wondered to herself.
Raine was so curious about the strange apparel, that even though she realized it was extremely rude of her, she reached up and pulled the coat and hat down from the top shelf of the closet and turned and asked Laurie, who was busy wiping her tears away, "What is this?"
Suddenly realizing why the outfit appeared so familiar to her, Raine muttered, "Say, this kind of looks like Irvine's coat from Final Fantasy VIII."
Laurie paled immensely, attempting to hide it from Raine. Raine raised an eyebrow. "What? You act like it is Irvine's!"
Laurie physically flinched and whispered, "It is Irvine's."
"Oh, come on!" Raine retorted, "Now I think you are crazy!" A shrewd look came on Raine's face. "Are you having an affair with an older man?"
"No!" Laurie emphatically stated. "Think about what you're saying." Raine had to admit to herself that her friend was correct. What was she thinking? How could Laurie have an affair with an older man in her bedroom that she shared with her sister in her parent's home? It was clearly impossible.
"It was Irvine, Zell and Selphie and they fell through that wall right over there" responded Laurie, pointing to her wall that held the Backstreet Boys poster. "They arrived here through time compression."
Raine retorted, "I think you're in need of some heavy medication. Those are characters in a video game. They're not real, Laurie and you know it."
"They are real!" Laurie heatedly insisted, "And they came through that wall!"
"This wall over here?" Raine asked, striding up to the wall in question. "This wall?" she asked, while striking it gently with her hand. "Right here on this wall?" she asked again, sarcasm evident in her tone while hitting it a bit harder. As Laurie nodded dumbly, Raine turned and hit the wall extra hard and asked "This solid wall right here?" and screamed as she tumbled completely into the wall and was gone from the view of her completely stunned friend.
………………..
After tumbling through Laurie's bedroom wall, Raine regained her feet and glanced around her in utter shock and amazement. She was presently gazing at the completely white environment that was located at the apex of absolute time and space. As she looked around her at the totally inexplicable milieu, adrenaline rushed through her body causing her eyes to widen considerably and her hearing to become acute. But there was still nothing to see except for whiteness and no sound to hear.
Now what have I gotten myself into? Raine wondered, And where the heck am I?
Raine decided, even though she had lost all sense of the direction from whence she had came, to attempt to return to Laurie's bedroom wall, but had hardly taken two steps when she noticed her whole body was vibrating intensely as though there were more than one of her present.
This is too weird, Raine thought as she began to become extremely frightened. After a few seconds had passed of Raine just standing there and watching herself vibrate, she spoke aloud. "I've got to keep going." And she forced herself to take step after step, attempting to not look down to where she could not see her own feet in the swirling whiteness.
Shuffling her feet slowly in order to not trip over something she was unable to see or fall into some ungodly hole, Raine trudged toward the direction she had arrived from; or could it be behind her? There is just no way of knowing for sure, Raine thought desolately. On and on she went, step after step, attempting to keep her mind clear of the terror she was experiencing, when suddenly she began to fall! Raine continued to fall as she screamed in terror, but no sound reached her ears.
………………..
Something suddenly changed in the atmosphere as Raine felt herself slowing in her fall into something resembling more of a float. She ceased her screaming and attempted to hold her arms and legs straight out in order to slow herself even further.
As Raine's downward descent continued to decrease, exhausted was the only word to describe how she felt. But she knew she must stay awake. She didn't know what kind of things to expect. However, she sensed a new feeling.
Time must be shifting back into place. Hopefully, she thought to herself. I'm getting tired of this floating through space crap.
It was then that she noticed that the world she was falling into was no different from the one she'd come from. Underneath her lay islands, grass, a city, an ocean…much like the city she'd come from. If she was still on Earth, that is.
The light around her was blinding, and she shut her eyes, shielding herself with her arms as she felt herself being propelled forward. Seconds later, she felt a thud, and came to the realization that she was on ground now.
Glancing up, she was horrified to what she was seeing. Her back pressed against a wall, she realized she was in a room, with a young man, possibly the age of seventeen or so. And he was in his boxers!
"Ahhhh!!!!" She screamed, startling him.
He whirled around, his eyes wild with fright. "Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!" he screamed in return, jumping up on his bed.
"Who are you?! How did you get in here?!" he cried. Raine frowned as she allowed herself to look at him.
He wasn't bad looking, with blonde hair that spiked at the front, crystal blue eyes, and a black tattoo on the left side of his face.
She giggled at his boxers, which were white with red hearts on them. "Nice boxers" she snickered.
He frowned. "You have some nerve. You come into my room unannounced, and you remark about my boxers." Her comment sunk in and he blushed. "Oh…uh…"
It was then that Raine realized who she must've been looking at. "Are you really…who I think you are?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"This is creepy, because I've never seen you before. How can you know me and I not know you?" he cried, falling to his knees on the bed he was standing on.
Raine couldn't help but notice how muscular he was. Nice bod, she thought to herself, gathering herself and rising from where she'd been kneeling in a heap on the floor.
Taking the time to look around the room, she studied it. A punching bag, a bigger punching bag, some sort of mammoth electric skateboard, a picture of an elderly man above three high powered rifles resting on a rack, and a bed.
Two gloves sat on the dresser she stood beside. Two, familiar looking gloves. "Ehrgeiz," she muttered, picking one up.
The blonde man frowned. "What? Yes, those are my Ehrgeiz. I bought them myself! Now at least tell me who you are before you go around touching my stuff!"
Raine shook her head. It wasn't possible. "Are you Zell?" she asked, turning to face him.
He paled. "How do you know me?" he asked.
"So you're Zell then," she confirmed.
He nodded lightly, "Yes…you still haven't told me who YOU are yet…is ANY of this sinking in?" he asked, pulling a red t-shirt and some blue shorts on over his boxers.
"Umm…my name is Raine. And…well, I fell through your wall. That's how I think I got here, anyway," she replied, lifting a hand to tuck a section of chestnut brown hair behind her ear.
"Well…it's nice to meet you, I think…" Zell said, wiping his hand on his shorts and extending his hand to shake hers.
Raine's expression went blank for a moment. "You ARE Zell!" she cried, a huge smile aligning her pretty face.
Zell was taken aback and he stepped backwards. "Uh…"
"I don't mean to scare you but…this may sound weird…I think I come from another world."
"Dude…another one?" Zell asked, frowning. He took a seat on his bed, biting his lip in concentration.
"In my world…it was the year 2001. What year is it here?" Raine asked. Zell's eyes widened and he jumped up.
"HOLY SHIVA!! You can't be serious! 2001?!! That's…ancient! Wow…it's all backwards and stuff now…" he said, bringing up his thumb to his lips to chew on a fingernail in wonder.
"Backwards?" Raine asked, his comment sparking her interest.
"Yeah, a while back…my friends and I fell into your world and met some girl named Laurie."
"You met Laurie?!" Raine cried, perking up at the mentioning of her friend's name.
"Yeah…we fell through her wall."
"How did you get back?!" Raine persisted, stomping her foot lightly.
Zell frowned. "We walked right back through the wall."
Raine raised an eyebrow. "If you say so." With that, she turned to go through the wall. Hitting it, she went nowhere. She hit the wall. The solid wall.
The time warp wasn't there anymore!
………………..
After Raine disappeared through her wall, Laurie stood completely stunned for a split second and then screaming her friend's name, she raced to where she had last seen Raine standing. Tentatively reaching out with her right hand to touch the wall, her hand disappeared into it! Laurie quickly pulled it back. What was she going to do? "What am I going to tell her mother?" Laurie spoke aloud. "That her daughter disappeared into my wall?"
Laurie felt instantly guilty as she realized her best friend of all time had probably just disappeared into time compression and all she could think of was how it was going to affect herself.
"I've got to go find her," Laurie spoke aloud again. Looking around the room for something she could take to protect herself in time compression, her glance fell upon Irvine's hat and coat still laying on her floor. Inexplicitly deciding the hat and coat might provide some protection, Laurie slipped them on, purposely not glancing at herself in her bedroom mirror because she realized she must look ludicrous with Irvine's large hat and coat draped on her five foot, three inch frame.
With her heart pounding rapidly and adrenaline racing through her body, Laurie very carefully stepped into the wall. And tumbled into a completely alien environment!
Quickly glancing around, Laurie observed a gray appearing sky completely covered with swirling clouds and a land of brown clay lined with huge cracks as far as her eyes could see. Reaching down with her right hand to touch the texture of the ground that lay beneath her, she quickly pulled her hand back as she felt the burn from the frigid temperature. "Ow!" she exclaimed.
Not having any other options at this point, Laurie began to walk straight forward, being careful not to trip on Irvine's long coat and keeping her attention focused looking everywhere around her, searching for her lost friend. On and on she walked, step after step. Laurie walked and walked and walked until her ankles and knees ached constantly from the intense gravity of the environment and her legs were screaming in pain. And on she walked searching for her friend. She had absolutely no comprehension of how far she had traveled or how long it had been, since everything still looked exactly the same.
When suddenly she reached the end of land! Laurie groaned slightly, as she carefully bent over to peer downwards. She couldn't see anything except for swirling fog. What was she to do now?
I guess Rinoa isn't going to show up, Laurie thought rather whimsically, considering her precarious situation. Then I'm going to have to jump," Laurie decided and stepped off into the void. Oh, crap!" she thought, as she began to plummet!
………………..
Laurie's shriek of terror was suddenly cut short as she landed roughly and then tumbled forward into a completely unknown dark space. Groping around with her hands, Laurie was surprised to touch some sort of fabric. Instantly recognizing she was in a clothes closet, Laurie felt around in the darkness until she discovered the closet clasp.
Stepping out of the closet into the bright light, Laurie was momentarily blinded. When her eyes refocused, she was greatly surprised to discover herself in a narrow, nondescript bedroom. Where in the world am I? Laurie wondered.
Laurie took the opportunity to remove Irvine's hat and heavy coat and lay them across the bed, as perspiration was beginning to form on her body in the presently warm environment. She had just grasped a slight understanding of where she might be when she observed a huge firearm of some sort propped in the corner of the bedroom between the wall and the bed, when Irvine walked in, apparently wet from a shower, wearing a knotted towel around his waist.
Laurie couldn't believe her own eyes, as Irvine, taken slightly aback, exclaimed, "Whoa, little darling. Where did you come from?"
As Irvine moved his arms in his usual overstated fashion to emphasize his point, the exaggerated movement caused the slight knot in his towel to give way and the towel fluttered harmlessly to the floor. Blushing crimson, Laurie quickly averted her eyes to the floor.
A few seconds later, Laurie sensed, rather than heard, Irvine's extremely light tread across the bedroom floor and realized he was presently standing in front of her.
Irvine laughed and said, "You can look now, I'm decent."
Raising her head, Laurie quickly comprehended that Irvine was dressed only in a smile. "You JERK!" she shrieked and quickly brought her right knee up in an explosive manner causing Irvine to drop immediately to his knees, moaning in pain.
"Why did you do that?" he gasped.
"Hey! I'm from New Jersey!" Laurie exclaimed, "You think we don't have jerks like you to deal with?"
Suddenly the door burst wide open, and Selphie bounded into the room, apparently drawn by the shouting. Sizing up the entire scenario in a split second, as Selphie was used to discovering Irvine in similar situations wherever they went, she shouted, "Irvine Kinneas!" and sprang forward and began to pummel him with her "Strange Vision" across his bare back and shoulders.
Curling himself into a small ball in an effort to escape further punishment, Irvine pleaded, "Sefie, please stop!" Observing the first red welts present on his back, Selphie took pity on the constantly philandering Irvine and ceased her attack. Spotting his hat and coat laying across his bed, she threw him the coat and demanded, "Here! Put this on."
As Irvine scrambled to cover himself, Selphie thought, That's strange. I thought he left his hat and coat somewhere." Selphie finally received the opportunity to take a longer look at Laurie and was momentarily perplexed when she realized the teenager was not from the Garden, but looked very familiar.
"Hi, Selphie! Remember me?" Laurie said in a cheerful manner raising her right hand and offering a slight wave.
Suddenly the momentary look of puzzlement fled from Selphie's beautiful face and was replaced by a bright smile. "Why, sure I do. You're Laurie, that girl from the past, whose room we fell into, right? But whatever are you doing here?"
Before Laurie could adequately begin to frame a response that would explain the catastrophe that she and Raine had fallen into in a short concise fashion, Selphie stepped forward and grasped Laurie by the right hand saying, "Girl, you need to come out of here right now! Take it from me, you don't want to give Irvine a chance to catch his second wind." And with that, Selphie led Laurie quietly from the room and into the corridor.