A/N: Agh I never know what to say in the first author notes of a story ^_^;. I hope you enjoy the story. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Also, I've tweaked the ending of the game a bit to fit the plot line.

Caution this contains spoilers for those who have not finished the game!

Disclaimer: I don't claim any rights to Final Fantasy 8, its characters, or any of the locations of it.

))) Malfunction (((

Ch.1: Falling

The strange dimension Ultimecia had brought them to was quickly growing brighter. "Reflect on your…childhood," the Sorceress said. "Your sensations… your words… your emotions…" She took a deep, ragged breath.

Squall glanced at his team. They weren't in great shape. He knew that if Ultimecia transformed again, they wouldn't stand a chance. The last transformation had almost killed Zell and Selphie. Quistis and Irvine were on either side of him, in fairly decent shape. However, Irvine had long run out of ammo and both Squall and Quistis were running low on magic reserves. Behind him, Rinoa was reviving Zell and Selphie.

"Time…it will not wait… No matter…" Ultimecia stumbled slightly, "…how hard you hold on. It escapes you…" She managed to hold her head up, looking straight at Quistis. Her eerie golden eyes seemed to see straight through to the former instructor's mind, piercing her thoughts. Quistis stumbled backwards, desperately trying to catch her breath. It felt like someone had hit her in the stomach with a block of cement. "And…" The light finally overtook the area, blinding everyone and stopping Ultimecia in mid-sentence.

As fast as the light had come, it disappeared and everything was covered in inky darkness.

Quistis felt herself falling. Desperately, she reached out for anything to help her stop the fall but found nothing. Around her, rushed whispers filled the air. Quistis closed her eyes and thought about the flower field and her friends. She thought about how much she wanted to see everyone again and her home at Balamb Garden. Please take me back there, please. The air rushing past her began to grow warmer and blue sky appeared above her.

Her fall stopped suddenly as she plunged into icy water. Water? Quickly, she swam to the surface, gasping for air. Once she had managed to compose herself, she looked around, constantly moving her arms and legs to stay afloat in the chilly water. She saw a coastline off to the west, but all she could see in the other directions was water for miles and miles. Where am I? This is definitely not the flower field… what went wrong? Where are the others?

From the corner of her eye, she noticed her whip bobbing up and down. Quistis reached out for it with one arm and tied it around her waist so she wouldn't lose it. Mentally, she checked what magic she had left. There wasn't much, only a couple Fires, two Blizzagas, and a single Ultima.

If I can swim far enough towards that coast, then maybe the tide can bring me in. She was glad she had taken the swimming course Balamb Garden offered during the summer since she first arrived at the academy.

She had been swimming for around six minutes or so when something struck her in the side. Startled, Quistis stopped. Something was moving around her in the water. The movement stopped suddenly. A large aquatic dragon raised its head and let out a growl. It reminded her of a Ruby Dragon, but clad in scales of pale bluish green instead of red.

A well-placed Fire spell between the dragon's eyes gave Quistis a chance to widen the space between the dragon and herself. It recovered quickly and lunged at her, smacking into her arm. She winced in pain. She didn't have the distance, or the strength for that matter, needed to use her whip effectively, so she would have to depend on the small amount of magic she had left.

Within a matter of minutes her Fire spells were gone. Both Blizzagas had barely scratched the creature and only served to aggravate it even more. Finally, Quistis had the perfect shot for the Ultima spell. Green light surrounded the dragon along with a high pitched sound. It froze and sunk under the waves. But the creature wasn't down for the count yet. Quistis felt its tail slap against her body, tossing her to the right. The dragon surfaced again and charged.

No, I can't die here. I have to get back to my friends, to Garden. No, I can't, I won't. Her blood was hot as it coursed through her veins. The dragon stopped in mid-charge. It raised its head to the sky, letting out a pained roar. Blood flowed from the monster's mouth and it collapsed into the ocean. Quistis weakly watched it sink down below, confused at just what had happened.

"Hey! Hey there! Are you okay?" A voice yelled.

A boat approached 100 feet from where the dragon had been. 'Thank you Hyne, thank you…' Quistis watched it move closer through blurred vision. She hadn't noticed it in the distance earlier because she was preoccupied with the dragon. She figured they had killed it somehow. She certainly hadn't done anything she was aware of.

Strong arms hoisted her out of the water. "What happened?" a voice asked, "Why are you out in the middle of the ocean?" Faces seemed distorted and she couldn't make out who was talking to her. "You know her?" The question was directed to another person.

Consciousness began to escape her. She was so tired. "Quistis. Hey, Quistis can you hear me?" She smiled faintly. Someone was leaning over her blocking out the sun. Was she back with her friends? She wasn't sure, but that small bit of hope gave her comfort as blackness enshrouded her mind.

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The first thing Quistis noticed when she came back around was the ceiling. Colored spots floated on the wooden boards above her. She turned her head to the side on the pillow to see that they were coming from a stained glass window. The window depicted a twirling dancer with flowers climbing towards the sky on either side. 'How pretty,' she thought vaguely, her mind still in a half-awake haze.

She started to sit up in the bed to get a better look at the room she was in, but a sharp pain halted her. Quistis looked down and saw her arm was in a sling. She had somehow changed into a white sleeveless dress too. 'Odd.' Slower and more cautiously than before, she propped her back up against the bed's headboard. The room she was in had walls of stone and a wooden floor similar to the ceiling. It was a small room and there wasn't much furniture in it. There was a vase of flowers on a small table beside her bed. A chair and bookshelf stood in a corner near the window. There was a doorway to the right of her bed and another across the room. The door across from her opened slowly.

"Ah, Cirande, you are awake finally." A woman in her mid-thirties walked into the room carrying a watering can, smiling warmly.

"…Where am I?" Quistis asked, wondering why the woman had called her the strange name.

"The hospital in the town of Nolatri, an island off the coast of Centra," the woman replied as she watered the flowers next to Quistis.

Nolatri… Quistis remembered the name vaguely from a history lesson a couple years ago. But that town had to have been destroyed when the Lunar Cry hit Centra eighty years ago. If she was really in that town then… Oh Hyne! Time compression took me too far back!

"How… how did I get here?"

"Don't you remember?" The woman asked, frowning slightly. "You were out in the middle of the ocean! Nenharmle and Phoenix found you out there. It was lucky for you they had decided to go out that day, although why they were actually out sailing is a mystery to me. That Phoenix," the woman shook her head and sighed, "She is sneaky and deceitful to say the least so I wouldn't be surprised if she was dragging him into some off the wall thing out there, but I'm getting off topic. They brought you here all battered up. Nenharmle said he knew you and asked me to look after you. Naturally, I agreed. That was about three days ago. You've been out since then."

Quistis shook her head, "I don't know anyone named Nenharmle."

The woman laughed slightly, "Oh I'm so sorry, I forgot. We have a tendency of giving strangers names in the Centran language to help us identify them in daily conversation. Sometimes they just stick with some people, like Nenharmle. His name means scar. He's told me his real name countless times but I can never seem to remember it. Something with an S," she said, waving her hand in the air trying to remember.

Quistis's eyes widened as she remembered the person that was talking to her on the boat. Could that have been Squall? She shook her head. She'd find out soon enough.

"What does my name mean?" Quistis asked out of curiosity.

"What dear?"

"You called me Cirande, right? What's that name mean?"

The woman pursed her lips, "It's not important. Now that you're awake you can tell me your real name, yes?"

"Uh, yeah I guess. Quistis, Quistis Trepe."

The woman repeated the name several times to herself. "Well then, Quistis. The Lord and Lady would love to meet you at dinner tonight I'm sure. Nenharmle and Phoenix should be there too. Let's get you cleaned up. After all, we can't have you going to dinner in a sleeping gown now can we?"

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