A/N: This story was edited on 1/13/17 (yeah, fifteen years after it was written). I'm not rewriting or adding anything, I'm simply fixing punctuation and adding page breaks. Other than that it's exactly the same as it was fifteen years ago, so read at your own risk.

(The Forgotten One)

The cafeteria at Balam Garden was unusually quiet, with the exception of three people arguing by the entrance, it was completely empty.

"Squall, what we have here is a problem." Said Quistis Trepe, concern apparent in her voice.

"Yeah man, major problem." Zell Dincht agreed.

Squall Leonheart looked at his two friends, when he spoke there was unmistakable annoyance in his voice. "Rinoa is waiting for me. I don't want to be late. We're only going to be in Deling City one more day. Shouldn't you two be out enjoying yourselves like everyone else?"

"Well, it might not be a problem to you, but there are some of us that care!" Zell was starting to lose his patience, which was not particularly difficult for Zell to do.

"Since when does a commander have to worry about hot dogs!" Squall snapped at Zell.

"Well, Commander," Quistis stepped in, "since you are not busy leading us into an exciting battle, I do not think it unreasonable for you to concern yourself with the problems that we do have, regardless of how insignificant those may seem."

She was right, of course. "...Whatever."

"Well," Quistis began, "as I started to say earlier, the competition for the hot dogs is getting out of hand. There was a fight over them yesterday, it resulted in two black eyes and a bloody nose. But I have come up-"

"Sorry to interrupt," they all turned around to see Irvine Kinneas at the cafeteria entrance, "but there's a young lady out there looking for the commander. She's really cute."

"Great." Squall placed his right hand on his forehead. "I'm late as it is. Is it urgent?"

"I don't know. She just said to tell you her name and that you'd know what it was about."

Silence.

Squall gave a frustrated sigh. "Well, what is her name?"

"Elise Avalon."

The color drained from Quistis and Squall's faces, they looked at each other but neither spoke.

"So like, what do I tell her?" Irvine asked after a short moment of silence.

"Elise Avalon?" Zell asked. "Isn't she the one chick that-"

"Yes, Zell!" Squall found himself yelling.

"Squall, it must be a different Elise." Quistis said trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Squall.

"What else did she say?" Squall asked turning to Irvine.

"Nothin'. Just that she wanted to see you. What's wrong?"

"It is that one girl!" Zell exclaimed. "I remember now! But, it can't be."

"No, Zell, it can't. It must be someone else. Squall," Quistis said turning to face him, "we should go see what she wants..."

After Irvine told them where Elise was waiting Quistis and Squall made their way to the Quad; they stopped at the entrance each wishing the other would go in first. Squall finally stepped in and looked around. All he saw was the conceited SeeD that nobody in Garden seemed to like talking to a blonde, female student.

They walked to the stage; there they saw a young woman pacing back and forth, she stopped when she saw them. She was about Quistis' height, she wore black pants and a black tank top, her long red hair hung loose below her slender shoulders. She was nothing short of beautiful. Her bright, green eyes darted back and forth from Squall to Quistis; she walked up to them.

"Hello, Squall, and Quistis, what a pleasant surprise. You didn't expect to see me again, did you?" Neither spoke. Elise suddenly hugged him holding him rather tightly. "I missed you so much."

Was it really her? It had been so long since that horrible day, all the painful memories came flooding back. Squall had never expected, not even in his wildest dreams that he would see her again. Yet here she was; her same voice, that same perfume that she always wore. It truly was Elise.

"We thought you were dead." He finally said as he returned the embrace.

She released him from the hug, there were tears in her eyes. "Look at you," she smiled, "you sure have changed. How did you get that scar?" She touched his forehead.

"It's a long story."

"I'll want to hear it later." She smiled again, then moved over to Quistis. "You've changed too. You look wonderful." She hugged her lightly.

Quistis stepped back. "But...I was there, I saw it all. How did you...survive?"

"I don't really want to talk about that right now. We'll have plenty of time for that later. I need to talk to Cid. He's still the Headmaster?"

"Yes." Squall replied, Quistis didn't speak.

"Great! I'll go see him. See you guys later." She ran toward the exit.

"...I can't believe she's really alive." Quistis said quietly.

Elise is here, Squall thought, she's alive. He couldn't think of anything more wonderful. He wanted to run and tell- "Rinoa!" He said out loud when he remembered.

"What?"

"I completely forgot about her!" He said running toward the exit as well.

"...She's not dead..." Quistis still couldn't believe it.

"So, he didn't show." General Caraway was looking at his watch. "He's over an hour late."

"Father, please. This isn't like him." Rinoa Heartily moved away from the table and made her way to the dining room door. "Something might have happened to him. I'm leaving."

"Rinoa, he doesn't even take you seriously."

"Why are you saying that?"

"He stood you up. He thought something else was more important than being with you."

"I don't have to stay here and listen to this." She walked out the door slamming it behind her.

Rinoa sat at the bus stop deep in thought. She knew Squall wouldn't have simply forgotten that they were going to have lunch with her father. He always kept his promises, and if he had failed to do so today it may have meant that something had happened at Garden. She began to worry, what if the Garden was under attack? Or what if someone had been hurt? What if Squall was hurt? At that moment she noticed a blue car pulled up by the bus stop, Squall jumped out.

"Squall!" She ran toward him. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I couldn't make it in time but—"

"You are in so much trouble!" Rinoa yelled slapping his arm. "I am trying very hard to get along with my father, and to get him to accept our relationship. But I cannot accomplish anything if the two of you don't cooperate with me!"

"I'm sorry, but something came up. I promise I'll make it up to you, we'll stay here an extra day so we can meet with your father tomorrow."

"Something came up? What?"

"Elise is back." Squall smiled.

"Why are you smiling? Who is Elise?" Squall seldom smiled, so this made Riona both curious and suspicious.

"Let's go, I'll tell you on the way." He took hold of her hand and led her to the car.

Squall and Rinoa walked out of the parking lot hand in hand.

"So all this time everyone thought she was dead?"

"Yeah."

"That is so sad."

"Hey, Squall!" They turned around and saw Xu approaching them.

"Xu." Squall nodded in greeting.

"Hi, Rinoa. Squall, Quistis asked me to tell you that Elise is waiting for you in the library. Isn't it unbelievable that she's back?" She asked excitedly.

"It is." Rinoa rolled her eyes, she could tell that Squall was trying to conceal his excitement. At least he didn't try to hide it from her; that was a big improvement.

"See you guys later," Xu said walking off.

"Come on, Rinoa." Squall said leading her toward the library. "I want you to meet her."

"Damn it, Layla! Why do you have to work tonight?" Zell was talking to the librarian looking very disappointed.

"Zell, you know I didn't want this. Eliza is sick, so I have to cover for her." She said apologetically.

"But we were gonna go out."

"We'll go out tomorrow."

"But this is our last night here, I wanted to go to the shopping arcade," Zell whined.

"I'm sorry."

He folded his arms under his chest.

"Don't be mad." She kissed him on the cheek. Zell smiled.

"Hi Zell, hi Layla." Rinoa greeted as she and Squall walked into the library.

Squall looked around. "I thought Quistis and Elise were here."

Zell pointed to the back. "They're over there."

Squall and Rinoa walked to the back of the library, Zell following close behind them. Irvine, Selphie and Elise were talking while Quistis sat alone in the corner.

"Squall!" Selphie said cheerfully. "We've been waiting for you."

"Hello." Elise walked up to Rinoa and hugged her. "You must be Rinoa, I have heard so many good things about you."

Rinoa didn't know what to say. She didn't feel comfortable being hugged by someone she had never met. "Hi...um...nice to meet you." Was all that she could come up with.

"Guess what, Squall?" Elise turned to face him. "I'm going to be a SeeD!"

"That's great." Squall smiled.

He was smiling much more than usual Rinoa thought. But that was expected from anyone in that situation, even Squall who was always trying to hide his emotions would have to let it show, even a little.

"I talked to Cid, he said that I already have all my credits and I'm not twenty yet, all I have to do is take the field exam again."

"Yes, again." Said Quistis surprising everyone, as she had not yet spoken. "You brought us all here for a reason, didn't you? To tell us how you survived, and to tell them how you...died." She turned away.

"I was just getting to that." Elise smiled at everyone. "Three years ago, I took my field exam, like Quistis I was going to become a SeeD at fifteen." She turned to look at Quistis. "In fact, we took the field exam the same day. The town of Minersville was being attacked, so SeeD was hired to go battle the enemy."

"Hey, I remember that!" Zell said. "But who were the attackers?"

"We still don't know," Quistis answered. "We have no idea where they came from or what their purpose for attacking Minersville was. All we know is that they all dressed in white."

"White SeeDs?" Squall asked.

Quistis shook her head.

"What did their uniforms look like?" Selphie wanted to know.

"They weren't uniforms," Elise answered. "They were all just dressed in white. Anyway," she continued, "when we arrived we were divided into teams, I was in Quistis' team. The battle wasn't very challenging for SeeD, after a little while it was obvious that we were winning, but still, Quistis and I had our hands full."

"I remember turning around and seeing Quistis being attacked by two guys." She looked at Quistis. Quistis turned the other way. "I went to help her, then, a flying monster caught my attention, it looked like a winged T-Rexor, but it was much smaller. I saw it head straight for Quistis, so I rushed over to her." Quistis was closing her eyes. "I tried to warn her, but she couldn't see me because she was fighting, so I tried to get one of the guys out of the way, but he turned around and caught me by surprise...and he stabbed me with his sword." Tears were streaming down Quistis' face. "Meanwhile," Elise continued, "the flying monster came at me instead of Quistis and it carried me away...So no one could find me and everyone thought I...died."

Riona walked over to Quistis and put her arm around her shoulder. "Are you all right?" Quistis nodded then wiped her tears with the back of her right hand.

There was a long silence. Irvine finally spoke. "So like, where have you been all this time?"

"Oh. Sorry." Elise said wiping her eyes.

"You don't have to talk about it right now." Squall said putting his hand on Elise's shoulder.

Squall, showing someone his concern in front of everyone? Rinoa thought, not that he didn't care about people, she just had never seen him act that way. Again Rinoa found this a bit suspicious.

"I'm fine," Elise smiled at Squall, "thanks. Well, the monster carried me for a while, I don't know how long. Then, I guess it thought I was dead, so it dropped me somewhere near Esthar. It was a pretty long drop, and I had already lost a lot of blood, so I lost consciousness before I hit the ground. The next thing I remember, I was in a small house that belonged to an old man. I owe him my life, he nursed me back to health."

"It took you over three years to heal?" Zell questioned.

"What kind of a question is that, Zell!" Squall snapped.

"It's okay Squall, he's right." Elise continued. "When I regained consciousness, I couldn't remember anything. Not my name, or my friends. Nothing."

Selphie gasped. "That must be so terrible."

"It was. I used to have dreams about Garden, the monster and many other things that I couldn't understand. Then about three years after...everything, I went to Dollet, I started to hear about the sorceress and the flying Gardens. After that my dreams started to make sense, I kept hearing more and more about the Garden, the missiles in Trabia, and all my memories became clearer and clearer. Little by little I was remembering, I remembered my name and that I was destined to become a SeeD. And of course, you, Squall." She smiled at him; he smiled at her. Rinoa cleared her throat.

"I wanted to help you guys fight the sorceress," Elise continued, "but every time I arrived at a city, you had already left, I was always one step behind. And today, finally, I found you." Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Elise spoke again. "Hey, why do you look so grim? Whatever was meant to happen did and I don't regret any of it. As SeeDs you guys should know that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so now I'm a hell of a lot stronger, and this will help me become a better SeeD." She finished cheerfully.

Rinoa couldn't remember ever hearing a sappier speech. Of course, she was glad the girl was alive and well, but did she have to smile at Squall so much? Somehow it seemed to Rinoa that Elise was not being herself. "I'm not a SeeD." Rinoa said. "And neither is Irvine."

Her statement took them all by surprise.

"Gosh, Rinoa," Selphie said, "you make it sound like it's a bad thing to be a SeeD."

"You're right," Irvine said, "I'm not a SeeD by title, but I'm on my way to becoming one, so I consider myself a SeeD." He didn't like the fact that Rinoa was speaking for him in that way.

"Why would you say that Rinoa?" Squall asked.

"I just don't like being generalized." She said in a matter-of-fact sort of way. "It's been a long day, I'm going to bed. Good night everyone." She turned to Elise. "Nice meeting you, I'm glad you're back." She walked out of the library.

There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry, Elise." Said Squall looking embarrassed. "I don't know why she said that, she's not usually like that."

"Don't worry about it, she's right, it's late. I'll be going to bed pretty soon too."

"That's weird," Selphie whispered to Irvine, "Rinoa is usually the one doing the apologizing."

"Yo, Squall at what time are we leaving tomorrow?" Zell asked.

"Oh. I forgot, I need to make an announcement, we're staying one more day."

"All right!" Zell yelled enthusiastically. "Hey, Layla!" He ran to the counter and started talking to the librarian.

"Why are we staying an extra day?" Selphie asked.

"Um...Personal business." Squall answered curtly.

"Oh. I'm gonna go ahead and go too." Selphie turned to Quistis. "Are you coming with me?"

"No, Selphie, thanks. I think I'll stay."

"Okie dokie, then. Good night everyone. It was great meeting you, Elise." She walked out.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," said Irvine shaking Elise's hand. "but..." he glanced to the door, "it is getting late and I have to go." With that, he rushed out.

"Elise..." Squall started to say.

"Go, make your announcement." Elise smiled at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Quistis." Quistis nodded. "See you tomorrow Elise." He said as he walked away.

"Quistis," Elise said turning her back to her, "I didn't mean to upset you by coming back."

"Upset me by coming back?" Quistis stood up. "What sort of person do you believe me to be? How could you say something so preposterous?"

"Well," Elise turned to face her, "you don't seem exactly thrilled to see me back."

"I am happy!"

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it!"

"Can't you see?" Quistis said exasperated, "all of this time I have lived with the guilt." She lowered her voice. "This happened because of me. All this time I thought you died because of me." Tears started to form in her eyes once more. "You saved my life, and I did nothing. I watched like a scared, helpless child."

"Quistis, I don't blame you. I don't regret saving your life, blaming you for this never crossed my mind. So if I don't blame you, maybe you should stop blaming yourself." Tears ran down Elise's face as she hugged Quistis.

Quistis returned the embrace. "I'm so glad you're back."

After announcing the prolonged stay in Deling City Squall retired to his dorm. What an amazing day, he thought. Elise was truly back, it all felt like a dream, too good to be true like it could end at any moment. There was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Rinoa."

"Come in."

Rinoa stepped in closing the door behind her. "Hi."

"...Hi."

There was a short silence. "...Squall, you didn't even go after me."

"Was I supposed to?"

"No."

"Then?"

"What do you mean, then?"

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'?"

"I mean, shouldn't you have checked to see what was bothering me?"

"I didn't know you wanted me to."

"Boyfriends are supposed to know things like that!"

"But you just said I wasn't supposed to go after you!"

"No! What I meant was—" Rinoa had to stop herself and smile. He was so adorably clueless. "I'm sorry." She said walking toward him. She stopped inches away from him, then kissed him.

Squall stepped back; he looked at her. Rinoa smiled again when she saw the confused expression on his face. "Why are you smiling?"

"You are so cute."

"Weren't you mad at me?"

"No."

This is more difficult than leading the Garden into battle. Squall thought, his hand on his forehead.

"OK," Rinoa said, "I came because I need to talk to you about Elise."

"Oh."

"And, Squall, please be completely honest."

"What do you want to know?"

"Well...um...I want to know...what sort of...relationship you had with her." She said turning to face the wall.

"She was like my sister," Squall said simply.

"Oh?" Rinoa turned around. "Sister?"

"After Ellone she was the only person that I talked to and trusted. She always used to tell me, 'don't think about tomorrow or yesterday, concentrate on today.' I was actually starting to follow her advice, but then...I lost her too."

Rinoa felt horrible for being jealous of Elise and for behaving like a child in front of her. "I'm sorry." She said hugging Squall. "But now she's back, and you have me and everyone."

"I know."

"Well, I better be going to bed." She kissed him again. "Good night."

"Good night."

Rinoa started toward the door. "Rinoa," Squall called after her, she stopped. "You know you have nothing to worry about."

"I know...I'm sorry." She smiled and walked out the door.

"Zell, I can't do this alone, you were the one who came to me with the hotdog problem in the first place." Quistis tapped her fingers on her clipboard.

"I know, but I have plans. We can work on that tomorrow, besides you could use a free day yourself." Zell dumped the leftovers from his tray into the trash can near the cafeteria exit then proceeded to place the tray on a rapidly growing stack on the opposite side.

Quistis was less than amused by Zell's sudden lack of interest in the hotdog problem. She had been looking for him all morning wasting precious time that could be spent on important things such as...well...I could probably find something important to do.

"I'll help you, Quistis." Quistis and Zell turned around and saw Elise standing behind them; she was wearing her student uniform.

"Good morning." Said Quistis brightly.

"Thanks, Elise! See you guys later!" Said Zell running out of the cafeteria.

"Always running in the cafeteria," said Quistis smiling as she watched Zell leave, "Seifer would hate to see that."

"Seifer?" Elise asked surprised.

"You remember Seifer, don't you?"

"Oh. Sure—So what's the problem you need help with?"

"Let's go find Xu, I'll tell you about it on the way."

Zell glanced at the clock on his bedside table. "Oh man. I'm late." He said out loud. He was standing in front of a mirror putting the finishing touches on his hair. Once he was done, he smiled at his reflection. "Oh, Damn!" His smile quickly faded once he realized he had forgotten to put on his sweatshirt before sculpting his hair.

He walked over to the bed and picked up the sweatshirt, he carefully started to pull it over his head, "Slowly," he said "carefully, I can do this." He finally succeeded; he quickly ran to the mirror and was pleased to see that his hair remained untouched.

There was a knock; he rushed to the door expecting to see an irritated Layla, when he opened the door he was surprised to see Elise standing there.

"Hi, Zell."

"Uh...hi."

"Can I come in?"

"Um..." He wasn't sure how it would look if someone saw a girl who was not his girlfriend going into his dorm.

"I won't be long." She smiled.

"O...kay." He moved away from the door to let her in.

"It's pretty neat in here," she said looking around, "for a guy's room."

"Yeah, well don't touch anything, I like to keep it clean."

"I was waiting for you outside, but you took too long. What were you doing all this time?"

Zell thought it was none of her business, but he answered anyway. "My hair doesn't naturally grow this way, you know? Aren't you supposed to be helping Quistis?"

"Oh. We're taking a little break."

"So..." Zell was starting to feel uncomfortable, "What did you need again?"

"Are you going out with your girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Is she the librarian with the dark hair?"

"Yeah."

"She's pretty."

"I know...wait, are you going somewhere with this?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"I bet you have to really watch out with a pretty girl like that."

"What the hell do you mean!" She was beginning to get on Zell's nerves.

"I mean, watch out for other guys...you know...so they don't lure her away."

"I don't have to 'watch out'! I trust her. And if that's all you came to—"

"No. I came to tell you something that I thought you should know." Elise meet Zell's gaze.

"What?"

Elise locked eyes with Zell, then said: "I saw your girlfriend and Irvine sneaking into one of the empty classrooms. They were there a while, alone, doing God-knows-what." She started to walk toward him.

"Get out."

She was inches away from him now. "Just think about what I said." She whispered in his ear. "You know its true, they're both lying to you. Especially Irvine."

"I said get the hell out," Zell said in a dangerous voice.

She whispered in his ear once more. "And don't tell anyone about our little encounter." She stepped away and walked out the door.

Zell couldn't remember wanting to hit someone more than he did now. The nerve of that bitch! There is no way in the world Irvine and Layla would betray me. They are both lying to you. Her words rang in his head. Was she telling the truth? He started to felt confused, the threads in his mind began to intertwine making everything difficult to understand.

Think about what I said. Her voice became louder and clearer. Suddenly all he could think about was them, alone together, doing God-knows-what. He couldn't stop thinking about it, he felt as if he were being forced to focus on only that. His head started to throb.

"I am going to kick Irvine's ass." Zell decided.