The nighttime darkness would be changing into bright daylight soon enough. The weather outside was very cold, freezing temperature, as the first snow of winter fell. Trees were now capped by the white flakes and the ground was covered with this sparkling blanket of snow, somewhat a foot or so deep.

A young woman stood in the middle of a dorm room, watching the snow fall outside through a large window. She glanced at the bed in the room, the person who lay on it, covered with such a thick blanket, deep in their slumber. Smiling, the woman moved to the head of the bed and grabbed the alarm clock. after turning it off, she placed it back in it's original location, glancing down upon the face of the one who slept. He looked so precious in his sleep, his mouth opened slightly, letting out an almost inaudible snore.

She kissed his cheek and he closed his mouth before his body rolled over to face the wall, completely on it's own. After running a hand through his soft hair, the woman walked away from his bed and to the door. As it opened, the pressure from the compressed air could be heard as it was released. She looked back into the dorm room at the man sleeping before taking off down the small corridor to her own dorm room.

~*~

In the center of the room, the ceiling fan was slowly turning its blades, forever in the same direction, circulating the air in the small room as it did so. The hum of the crickets slowly faded into the songs of the birds, as night became day and the darkness was chased away by the rising sun. It was peaceful inside the room; a soft snore could be heard, giving the room a melody of its own as Squall lay on his bed asleep. His head was buried in a soft pillow, his legs bent slightly toward his chest as he lay on his side, cuddled under a think blanket.

As far as anyone knew, Squall was gone to the world at the moment. He had fallen asleep late the night before .....again. The Commander hadn't been getting enough sleep lately because of all the worries and thoughts that filled his head. As Commander of Balamb Garden, he must do anything in his power to keep the peace within the school and keep the occupants save and alive. This in itself was hard enough, but Squall couldn't help but take it a little too seriously when an old 'friend' had came back home. Before Seifer had returned, he had a few extra hours to sleep in if he chose to, but... how could anyone sleep if there was a traitor in the Garden?

Dreams couldn't have disturbed his slumber at a more better time either. Squall's eyes slowly fluttered open as his dream of fighting monsters and whatnot had ended with his death. He stared at the wall, as he heard a faint sound of movement in his room. Rolling over, he could have shit in his pants at the sight he was witnessing. Selphie, the cheerful spirit that had no life yet was so damned full of it, was spinning around on Squall's office chair, making up words as she went along singing to a tune that she had heard on a Chocobo movie which she had watched recently. She was looking at the ceiling fan, spinning herself in the chair at the same slow speed of the air circulator, as she kept track of a single blade.

*What in Hyne's name is she doing? ..much less, why is she in my room?* Squall looked at her as if the young one were crazy. He sat up on his bed, only to lean his back against the wall, still watching Selphie and waiting for an explanation. Selphie didn't notice a single one of his movements, she was occupied with the blade spinning around, and around, and around...

"Ahem.." Squall cleared his throat. As if it were a signal, Selphie snapped out of her entranced state and looked over to Squall, still spinning around in the chair as she stopped pushing off the desk, letting her last push spin her for but a moment longer. Coming to a stop, she faced Squall and stretched her legs, relieving them of the pressure they had while being bent toward her chest, and placed her feet on the floor below her. Squall didn't seem angry or upset, but when did he ever show emotion in front of her, or anyone else for that matter?

"Heeey, I was starting to worry. It's not like to just sleep in." She chirped. "Cid was a little worried too, so he gave me the go ahead to check and see if you were okay. Rinoa let me in with that..." Selphie paused to emphasize by holding up her hands and making quote marks as she said her next word, "...'emergency' keycard she has to your room." She dropped her hands, placing them in her lap once more and waited for a reply. The words could have slurred together if Selphie didn't take the small amount of time to pronounce each syllable, as she spoke with haste. This was natural for her, of course. Spunky, with a lot to say about little or nothing, the thought of having only one minute to get it all out kept her speaking quickly.

"........" Squall was silent, as it took a few minutes to replay the words that had apparently been cramped up in Selphie's mouth. *No sense in worrying.. I slept in? What does she mean? My alarm clock hasn't even went off yet.. It's still earl-* His thoughts stopped as his eyes met with the glowing green light of his digital clock. "12:23?!" Squall jumped up from his bed and ran toward the small bathroom inside his dorm room. He stopped as soon as he reached the door frame, turning around to look at Selphie who had suddenly burst into giggles.

"Out." He stated simply as he narrowed his eyes at her. His voice was always cold, mean and hateful... save for the few times he spent a small portion of his day with Rinoa.

"Yes, Commander Leonhart, Sir!" Selphie stood, ignoring his tone of voice like she always had. Her laughing halted for the moment as she gave him a half-assed SeeD salute and continued toward the door.

"...Whatever." he bit back at the smartass remark she had made before turning to look at himself in the mirror that hung on the bathroom wall.

"It's your day off, stud." Selphie has taken a liking to that nickname she had given him and used it quite often whenever he was the perfect prey for teasing. "Headmaster Cid and Matron will take care of Garden for the day. ...There really isn't much happening. So they can handle it. After all, they are adults. It's their duty to protect the children." She paused and stared at the door in front of her before continuing with what she had to say, "We may not be children anymore, but we are still not adults." She smiled, pushing the red button on the door panel to open the door. Selphie made her exit, not giving Squall a chance to reply and took off down the dormitory corridor.

Squall stood there, leaning over his bathroom sink, his hands on the counter's edge as he shifted all his weight forward and onto his arms. His head was lowered as he listened to the girl at his door and took in what she had said. *Day off? What am I supposed to do? There isn't much to do but sleep.. but I've had enough of that. Might as well go to the Training Center and kill a few Grats or something...* His eyes were closed as he lifted his head, but opened them as he stood up straight and looked into the mirror once more. *I'd take a shower, but my hair looks okay today and-*

He blinked and tilted his head a little at the sight of his computer screen reflected on the mirror. He turned around to look at it. The screen saver that Selphie had made for him was on. He didn't agree to it, but she managed to get on his computer one day and fix it up to where the backgrounds and fonts were colourful and the screen saver was on the Marquee style with the text saying, "Squally loves Rinny!!! -Booyaka!" The Commander shook his head as he walked over to his desk and shook the mouse.

"Damn thing. She should just leave my stuff alone. I don't mess with her things.." He couldn't help but laugh at the desktop picture on his computer. It was a picture of Zell, Selphie and Quistis from the party that had been held after the defeat of Ultimecia. His face was stuffed with hot-dogs and he looked so pitiful as the two girls beat on his back, apparently trying to free him of the evil food that was choking him. Squall closed his eyes a shook his head, as he lifted his left hand and ran his fingers through his hair.

Wanting to check his e-mail for once, he moved his mouse to hover the arrow over the BOL -Balamb Online- icon and double clicked it. Again, this was one of Selphie's great ideas. Squall himself could have cared less to have a form of communication on his personal computer, but after a while, he kind of liked it and figured it wouldn't hurt to have it there. He went to sit down in his chair, but stopped himself, remembering that Selphie had moved it half way across the room to watch the ceiling fan. He located the chair before walking to it and grabbing it.

Sliding it across the floor and over to his desk, a knock was heard on his door. Squall had placed the chair in its proper location before turning to walk to the door. He looked through the peep hole, but saw nothing. Figuring no one was there, and that it must have been a person playing a practical joke by running around and banging on everyone's door, he turned away before hearing another knock. This time, he turned to the door and pressed the button on the door panel for it to open. A seemingly angry Quistis stood before him.

"Yeah?" Squall crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to his left side.

"Yeah what?" Quistis raised a brow at his question before taking a glance at his attire. "Why are you still in your night clothing? Just because you have a day off, doesn't mean you get to stay in your room all day. We, being your friends, still have stuff we want you to do. You know, hang out and have fun." She paused, thinking that what she said wouldn't persuade him to come out of his room since he had given her an odd look as the words came out. "Well, your thinking gets the best of you sometimes and we don't want you to turn into a-"

"Psychopath?" Squall finished her sentence, much like she did to him many times before. Standing up straight, he shook his head at the instructor before answering her question. "I just woke up. I'll be down in the cafeteria for food." *..Later on anyway*, he added in his thoughts.

"...Something like that." Quistis nodded as she turned away, but stopped herself to look at Squall once more. She gave him a stern look before making her next statement. "You'll come down to the cafeteria to get food as soon as you get dressed. For Hyne's sake, it's in the middle of the afternoon Squall! Get dressed now." The smile on her face could have been taken in by someone in many different ways. To Squall, she looked like she had been caught by Selphie and brainwashed into teasing him.

Quistis let his thoughts linger about inside his head before she took off down the hallway in the same direction Selphie had taken earlier. Squall only turned to face his room, stepping off the door mat, allowing the door to close behind him. *Has she studied me like I was a book or something?* He sighed, as his thoughts went on. *She can read me like a book.*

He stood in the middle of his single dorm room that he had acquired the day he became a SeeD, and looked out the window for the first time that morning. It was still snowing outside. *Are we near Trabia?* Squall walked to the window and looked outside, only to see that they were. *Strange... why?* He shook his head, and backed away from the window, not really caring why. It wasn't his responsibility for the day. Moving toward his bed, he sat down and lowered his head to place it in his hands that were propped up on his knees by his elbows. *Maybe I should go down and meet up with everyone...*