Alrighty. . .Hello all. Hope you're havin' a good time out there in the real world. Any who new chapter and ya, whatever. . .Now onto the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out well then maybe you never will. . .but just so I don't get sued or yelled at, all characters in this story belong to Squaresoft. I do not own Final Fantasy VIII. Alright now that that is out of the way onto the story! ; )
Just a note: Later on in the story Irvine's name will be spelt Iwin. . .you'll understand later. Don't worry it won't stay that way!
Irvine let out a long sigh. '91, 92, 93, 93 and a half. . .What the?! God I'm so bored I'm count'n ceiling tiles,' he thought as he let out an almost inaudible grunt of disgust.
He shifted in the uncomfortable chair and closed his eyes trying to think of something, anything that might distract him. "God," he mumbled as he brought his hands to his face. He slumped over and let his eyes relax in the darkness.
He sighed again and looked over at Squall through his fingers. He could not help but think how peaceful he looked in sleep. All the worry and stress that he normally wore on his face was gone. Instead it looked like Squall was neither happy or sad but simply content.
'It's to bad that he couldn't at least look that way more often,' Irvine thought sadly to himself. He tried to recall a time that Squall ever looked at ease or even happy. 'Damn he didn't really look happy even when he was with Rinoa. Shit. . .sure his face could look and act the part of be'in happy, but his eyes. No, his eyes were always so sad. It was as though his soul had never known anything else but sadness and pain.'
Irvine shook his head. Squall had had that sadness in his eyes even when he was just a kid. It might not have been as obvious then, but it had always been there.
A memory flooded to Irvine's mind and he closed his eyes, allowing the vision to take him.
~*~*~*~*~
Irvine felt as the sun beat down on his face. The sound of the ocean could be heard in the distance and he smiled. He took in a deep breath and sighed. The air smelt of the ocean and wild flowers.
"Hey Iwin!" came a small voice from behind him. "Iwin!" Quickly he opened his eyes and turned to see a small blonde boy running up to him. The boy was dressed in a pair of blue overalls and a red T-shirt.
"Iwin. . ." the boy stopped in front of him and plopped gracelessly to the ground. Irvine recognized the boy as Zell and smiled.
Zell's breathing went from tiny gasps down to normal and a smile grew across his face revealing a lost front tooth.
"Hey Iwin, whatcha doing?" Zell asked and cocked his head.
"No'ten," Irvine replied, "Why, ya got sometin' in mind Zell?
"Well actually. . ." Zell stopped to bat a small fly away from his face then began again, "Quisty an the others wanted me to go, and, and to find you and to, uhm, see if ya wanted to play with us down on the beach." Zell smiled and looked up at Irvine with pleading blue eyes.
"Uhmmmm. . ." Irvine thought a moment, dragging it out till Zell began to squirm in anticipation. He rocked back and forth on his heels and finally shrugged, "Ok!" he said.
Quickly Zell stood up, "Alwighty, then follow me!" Zell exclaimed puffing up his chest , happy he had gotten Irvine to come and play. Then he began to run towards the path down to the beach. Irvine followed laughing and watching as Zell spread his arms out and began making "whoosh" sounds as he ran.
Irvine smiled then took off after him, also spreading his arms. Then he quickened his pace. Running past Zell he smiled and made sure to make a loud "zoom" as he passed.
"Hey, you're supposed to follow me!" Zell whined as he slowed then eventually stopped.
"Uh huh I know," Irvine stopped running and turned around smiling back at Zell, "but you're go'in too slow. So I guess if ya want me to follow you, ya gotta run faster huh?" Then Irvine laughed and took off again down the trail.
"Oh ya!" Zell challenged then began laughing as he took chase of him.
Finally they made their way down to the beach where Quistus, Selphie and Siefer were playing and quickly joined in the game.
Several hours passed as they played on the beach. They were working on a sand castle for Siefer, who was supposed to be their great king, when Irvine looked up towards the orphanage. There he saw Squall staring down at them.
Squall sat there on a rock, legs curled up to his chest, arms wrapped about his legs, his head tucked between his knees. Just watching.
Irvine rose dropping the driftwood he had been using as a make shift shovel into the sand. He started walking off when he heard Siefer yelling at him.
"Hey?!" Siefer demanded, bringing his fists to his hips, "where do you think you're going? Your not done yet!"
"But," Irvine began, "but I saw. . . I uhmmm. . ." He stopped and Siefer tilted his head in confusion. "I think. . .I think maybe Squall might, well you know. Wanna play with us and stuff."
Irvine kicked lightly at the sand and stared at Siefer who was looking up at the sky, scratching at his head. "You know , Squall ain't gonna want to play with us. He never does! So why try?" Siefer asked and looked at Irvine.
"I dunno but I should try shouldn't I? I mean Matron always says to offer and be nice, so uhh, I guess it's just the right thin' to do."
Siefer shrugged his shoulder. "Kay," Siefer said then turned around, "Just make sure you come back and help us, this is the biggest castle we've made yet!"
Irvine smiled and nodded his head vigorously before running up the path to where Squall sat. As he approached Squall he slowed down until he stopped about three feet from him, and just when he was about to talk Squall spoke.
"What do you want?" Squall half snapped half mumbled to Irvine.
"Well," Irvine began then stopped shifting his gaze from Squall to the ground, "I wanted to know if you'd come down and play with us." Irvine looked up and his eyes met cold blue ones staring at him. He waited for Squall to say something but when he didn't he continued, "I saw you watch'in us and all down there and thought you maybe wanted to play with us and. . ."
Squall's eyes narrowed and watered, then he squeezed them shut. Irvine watched as Squall berried his head between his legs. "No just go away," Squall spoke coldly.
Irvine reached over and gently placed a hand on Squall's shoulder. Suddenly Squall rolled off the rock and stood, his hands clenched at his sides, his face contorted with sadness and anger. "Don't touch me!" Squall yelled at Irvine.
Irvine just stood there shocked. He took a step forward and stopped when he saw tears begin to fall from Squall's eyes. "Just. . .Just leave me alone," Squall said his voice barely above a whisper.
Then Squall turned away from Irvine and began walking to the orphanage. His hands were in his pockets now, his head hung down as though in shame.
Irvine just stood there for a while in shock till he heard Siefer and the others yelling his name and waving at him from the beach. Quickly he wiped the tears from his face on the sleeve of his sweater and waved down to the others. Then taking a deep breath and trying to clear his thoughts of what had just occurred he began to run to others once more.
The vision ended and Irvine let out a long saddened sigh.. "Fuck Squall, why are you so unhappy?" he said to no one in particular as he shook his head. Then he looked up towards the ceiling. 'What's made you so darn sad inside?'
~*~*~*~*~
Time passed and Irvine was beginning to nod off. He looked to the clock. He had been in here now for five some odd hours. He stood up and stretched popping his neck and knuckles. He let out a sigh and then yawned. That was when the door opened.
"Hey Irvine," Dr. Kadowaki said quietly and waved him to step outside the room as to not disturb Squall. Irvine bent down and picked up his hat and coat and silently made his way out of the room.
Once outside and the door closed the doctor turned and smiled. "Thanks for covering for me for a few hours. I think I got enough sleep to stay and monitor Squall the rest of the night so you're welcome to leave. You look like you could use some sleep yourself," she spoke gently.
Irvine nodded and yawned, stretching as he did so. "Yeah," he said, weariness obvious in his voice, "Yeah I think you're right about that one." He smiled and put on his hat and draped his coat over his shoulder.
"I think I'm gonna go snag a few z's. Hey, would you let me know if someth'n happens with Squall?" he asked.
"Sure, sure," the Doctor said. "But I don't think you need to worry about him unless he tries pushing my buttons again," she smiled and Irvine laughed lightly.
"Yeah, well if Squall knows what's good for 'em he'll behave," Irvine smiled and waved at the doctor, "Well I'm outta here."
"Alright Irvine," Dr. Kadowaki said happily, "Sweet dreams."
"Uh huh," Irvine said half mindedly as he left the infirmary.
Silently he made his way to the dorm rooms. 'Man Squall, why does such weird, sad shit seem to follow you around?' he thought as he yawned.
The Garden was quiet, the only sound came from the fountains and the crickets. Irvine smiled thanking the Gods silently for moments like these that seemed only to happen once in a blue moon.
Finally he reached his destination. Irvine let out a sigh as he began to fish for his keys from his pocket. He grabbed them and found the key to his dorm room and slid it into the lock. A small click sounded and he stepped inside.
Not bothering to turn the lights on he closed the door and locked it, jiggling the knob just to make sure the door was secure. Then he tossed the keys onto a makeshift table that stood by the door.
Irvine let out a long yawn and draped his coat over a chair along with his hat. Then he made his way to his bedroom where he proceeded to flop down onto the bed.
"Mhmmmm. . .fuck," he said groggily as he kicked off his boots while he worked on taking off his shirt. Irvine let out a happy sigh as cool air rushed over his bare chest. Then he slid off his socks and undid his pants. Sliding them off he tossed them down to the ground where they made a satisfying fwop sound.
"Finally," he said in a whisper, free now of all his clothes. He crawled beneath the sheets and yawned, nudging his head into the pillows. He could feel the onslaught of sleep beginning to take him and he willing let it.
Soon he was sound asleep, lost in blissful, blank dreams.
Ok people that's it for chapter three. Hey write me and tell me what you all think, good or bad it's all good. Any who hope that this chapter wasn't too cute or anything but it was necessary. . .Don't worry you'll all find out soon enough. Plus a special thanks to Saro for reading and helping me with the editing all this. Also to Meek. . .Uhmm I do plan on adding a little something, but it won't be for a while. But I promise when I get there I'll be sure to dedicate to you. . .though I don't think it will be quite what you asked for, but you'll see n_~. . .So until next update, Later