I don't own any of this except for my own ideas and characters. The rest belongs to Squaresoft.

CHAPTER ONE

QUESTIONS

The young man leaned casually against the balcony staring out at the wide expanse of water in front of him. It was indeed a beautiful sight to see as the sun began to sink below the horizon in the distance but it was completely lost on the man as he was deep in thought. Many different things were running through his head. Some things good and some things bad. Even several that he couldn't decide how to classify. He tried to concentrate on one or two things at a time but gave up after a few moments and just let them all mix back together again.

There was one thought in particular though that had been driving him crazy for the last several weeks. He had made a decision to do something that would dramatically change his life forever. He just couldn't seem to work up the courage to do it.

"Hmmppphhh." He mumbled to himself quietly. "Travel into the future. Fight your way through a castle that would scare the fur off of a Toramo. Defeat a Sorceress hell-bent on destroying existence and then survive getting stuck in a Time Rift at the end of Eternity and you still can't even work up the courage to ask Rinoa to marry you."

Squall Leonhart suddenly realized he was turning into a Chickenwuss. Deciding to steer his thoughts away from that particular idea he glanced out at the sunset and realized with a start that the sun was gone and that the moon was beginning to creep up over the horizon. He had been so deep in thoughts that he lost all track of time. Cursing silently to himself he quickly turned and headed for the stairs that would take him to the second floor hallway. He was supposed to be in the Ballroom with everyone else for a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of SeeD's victory against Ultimecia. He could already see Rinoa or Quistis forcing Zell to come looking for him thinking he was too embarrassed to show up.

Picking his pace up slightly Squall made his way onto the elevator and selected the button for the first floor. As the doors slid closed, Squall noticed his reflection in the polished chrome on the wall. Still looking much the same as he had a year before when he met Rinoa at his Graduation Ball except his hair was slightly longer now.

Adjusting the sleeves on his uniform he couldn't help but grin slightly at the fact that even though he hadn't changed very much outwardly he had in fact changed dramatically inwardly. He was still very quiet and loved to brood (Even though Selphie made a sign that said NO BROODING ALLOWED! and hung it up in his office while he wasn't looking.) as much as possible but he had opened up to his friends and had even went and talked with his father quite a few times. And he was in love with the most beautiful woman on the planet.

And then there was no more time for reflecting as the doors slid opened and he stepped out onto the first floor.

"Howdy Squall! Where you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

Squall turned to see a tall man striding towards him from the direction of the Ball Room. He was dressed in a SeeD uniform like Squall's but despite regulations he was still wearing his black cowboy hat on top of his head.

"I was on the balcony and lost track of time. How much did I miss and how ticked off are the girls?"

"Oh I see. Were you by any chance thinking about asking Rinoa a certain question or were you thinking of another reason to wait?"

"Whatever." Retorted Squall "Actually it was on my mind. I just need to do it, don't I?"

Irvine trotted several paces ahead before turning in front of Squall as they came to the entrance of the Ball Room. "Listen, Squall, If you want my expert advice, being the Ladies Man that I am, then I say just do it. Tonight would be perfect! Just do a little dancing, add a little wine and then take her somewhere quiet and romantic and propose."

Rolling his eyes at Irvine and his cocky banter Squall stepped past him and pushed through the door to join the party. Then before the door closed he turned back to Irvine who was following him and replied, "No promises! So don't go having Selphie start planning anything." And then added upon seeing Irvine's hurt expression, "At least not yet." With that he turned and walked towards the table section where he could see Quistis and Rinoa chatting.

Slowly making his way over to their table he nodded greetings at Xu and Nida who had just stepped off of the dance floor and were heading over to chat with Headmaster Cid. Seeing Rinoa look up at him as he walked towards her he felt all his nervousness rise back to the surface. But it was too late to back out now because he had decided he was tired of worrying over it so he would do as Irvine had said and ask her to marry him before the night ended.

"Hey Squall," said Rinoa with a slight giggle, "Nice to see you made it! Quistis sent Irvine to look for you and make sure you weren't in the Training Center."

"Yeah, I ran into him on the way down here. I was surprised since I figured you would send Zell."

"We tried but he was too busy begging for more hotdogs." Replied Quistis at the same time as the music ended and Headmaster Cid's voice came over the speakers.

All three turned towards where he was standing on the raised stage and waited to see what he had to say.

"Hello everyone!" he began before waiting for Zell to finish choking and coughing on the hotdog he had found. Once the commotion had died down he continued, "As you all know, tonight marks the one year anniversary of the day that SeeD successfully stopped Time Compression and defeated the Sorceress from the future. I just wanted to take this opportunity to once again congratulate each and every one of you for all the hard work you did and to also ask that you would all take a moment to remember all of those who can't be here with us tonight because they gave their lives in the fight with the sorceress. That is all. Now everyone have a good night."

Cid replaced the mike and left the stage to return to his wife who was sitting nearby. Squall waited until he was seated again and then turned to Rinoa.

"Rinoa, why don't we go out on the balcony for a while? I have something I want to ask you.

To Be Continued….