His world stopped. How could this be? Rinoa…. Dead? Not possible. It couldn't be possible. She was lying. Why would she lie about something like that?

He looked at her…… she wasn't lying. Selphie had burst into full blown tears know. He swore that you could hear here sobbing from a mile away. Not like she didn't have reason, but crying shows vulnerability and that is how you get hurt.

Selphie wiped the tears from her face and looked up at him. He was stoic. As usual. His lack of expression angered her. "Are you going to just sit there? After all that she did for you? All the time you spent together?"

She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. He had loved her, this was true, but crying about it wasn't going to bring her back. Nothing will. What's done is done and there's no changing it. He didn't say a word.

Selphie stood up and glared at him. "I figured I would let you know in some hopes that you would actually care, but of course not. You've never cared about anything. She loved you and you pushed her away, because you're not able to care. You killed her, Squall! You killed her!"

She was trying to fight back tears and sobs. He stood up, his face away from her. "Get out."

One final glare, and then she was gone. He ran his fingers through his long brownish hair, and flopped back onto the couch. She couldn't be dead. He didn't have his chance to say good-bye; he wasn't able to straighten things out. Okay so he didn't really try, but that wasn't the point… Okay, it was. Maybe if he had tried…. But it was no use now. What's done is done and there's nothing that will be able to change that.

He looked over at the clock on his wall. 10:30 in the morning. Might as well make an effort and try to get something done. He got up and grabbed his leather coat as he walked out the door.

As he walked down the hall, Squall could feel eyes watching him. It was as if everybody knew, for as he walked to his office, he felt as if the people he encountered were looking at him. He started walking a little faster, but trying not to seem like he was rushing himself. The sooner he was behind the door of his office, the better.

Not seeing where he was going, he turned a corner on the 2nd floor of the Garden and bumped right into Zell. Great, just the person he needed to see at a time like this.

"Hey, watch it……….. Oh hi Squall." His voice had gone from annoyed to remorseful in 2 seconds flat. Zell knew. "Look I'm sorry about Rinoa. She was a good person."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Talk about her in the past tense. Like she was just some person you met off the street. She WASN'T a good person… she IS a good person. Don't talk like….." Squall's voice trailed off. It wasn't any good. He wouldn't understand. Some people might, but Zell definitely wouldn't.

"Uhhhh…. Sure…. Sorry." Zell patted Squall on the shoulder." I'm here for you if you need me."

Yeah… okay…. Squall just nodded. When would he ever need to talk to Zell about his problems? Since when did he talk to anyone about his problems?……………………………..Since Rinoa. He could tell her anything.



He shook his head erasing the thought from his mind. Now was not the time to think of lost things. Now was the time to think of work.