Zell ran into the Training Center to see that Irvine had no shown up yet. 'Figures,' he thought. 'He's a coward.' He waited for about ten minutes, and was about to leave when Irvine finally strolled in, Exeter in hand.

"Did ya miss me, Zell?" he asked. "You were about to leave, weren't you? Well, not until we fight. Let it begin!"

Zell started by summoning Ifrit. The powerful fire GF swirled around and pummeled Irvine with fireballs. After the dust cleared, Zell was shocked to see that Irvine had not one scratch on him. "Now it's my turn," Irvine said. He summoned Eden, which pounded him to one HP. Zell was on the brink of consciousness when Irvine said, "You think you can beat me? Think again!" He turned and walked away, but not before looking back one more time. Only something was wrong. Something was wrong in Irvine's eyes. They were glazed over; and was that a tear rolling down his face? Zell's vision went black, and he fainted.

~*~*~*~*~*

When he awoke, he was beside Selphie in the Infirmary. She was looking over at him.

"I guess I knew you better than I thought," she smiled. "You fought Irvine, and got KO'd. But why?"

Zell blushed and said, "I wanted to show him that he couldn't mess with you."

Selphie frowned and replied, "You shouldn't do things like that. Irvine is a lot stronger than he used to be, especially in the past few weeks. Either that, or he's using steroids or something…" She looked over to him. "All our problems started about three weeks ago. That's when he started cheating on me, and getting violent. It was a sudden character change for him; I don't understand it."

Zell asked, "Did anything happen that might have set off the character change?"

She answered, "All I can remember is that he got a phone call a few weeks ago. He talked for about three hours, and seemed very upset. I tried to talk to him about it, but he just brushed me off and ran away. It's got to be connected."

"Well, I'm going to Balamb today to visit my family," Zell said. "Maybe I'll find something out there." "All right." replied Selphie.

~*~*~*~*~*

Zell walked through the streets of Balamb, taking in the warm breezy air. He was about to enter his home when he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Irvine behind him. "Hey, man, whaaaat's up?" Irvine staggered over to him. "You goin' to see yur faaamily, right? Wish I had family…" He was clearly drunk, and when he dragged himself over to Zell, he reeked of booze. Zell flatly said, "What do you want, Irvine?"

In his slurred speech, he replied, "Well, sooorry if I can't say hello to a FRIEND! Sheesh!" His eyes rolled backward and he collapsed in the street.

~*~*~*~*~*

Zell brought him inside and laid him on the couch. Irvine kept muttering in his sleep, "No. Don't go. I need you…please stay!" Then he whimpered a little as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Zell took Irvine's jacket off, and put it on the chair next to him. 'Last thing he needs is heat exhaustion with this trenchcoat on.' He looked over at Irvine's arms and frowned. There were bruises and scrapes all over his forearms.

Zell thought, 'Something is seriously wrong here. One day, he's beating up on Selphie, the next he's a raging drunk, and crying like a baby. When he wakes, I'll be nice, and try to find out what's going on.'

~*~*~*~*~*

Irvine awoke in a strange room, with a cool cloth on his forehead. 'Where the hell am I?' he thought. 'The last thing I remember, I was sitting in the bar, and… Oh crap, I must have gotten drunk! Hope I didn't do anything stupid…or illegal, for that matter.'

He got up, but Zell sat him right back down. "We need to talk, Irvine," he said.

"What about?" the long haired man asked.

Zell sat down and looked him straight in the eyes. "Do you remember what happened two days ago, in the cafeteria?"

Irvine said, "Of course I do! Me and Selphie went down to breakfast, and we ate with you! What's with the crazy question?"

Zell replied, "You did something that is going to get you expelled from Garden, is all. And you don't remember it. I'll tell you what happened, if you tell me what the hell happened to you."

Irvine said, "Deal. But I really don't know what this has to do with anything. I don't have a problem."

Zell said, "Okay, then. Brace yourself."

~*~*~*~*~*