"So… you WERE thinking about Squall last night, weren't you Rinoa?" Selphie was so genuinely concerned that Rinoa found it hard to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. She was truly a best friend, in the deepest sense of the term.

"Ah, Selphie, what would I do without you?" Wiping the tears that had silently escaped their confinement, she whispered "Yes, Selphie. I- I was thinking about Squall last night. I thought I was over him, I thought I was moving on… but I was wrong."

A worried frown crossed Selphie's pretty face as she glanced at her friend. "You know… Rinny… it's been two years. Two years of tormented misery brought on by Squall's sudden departure. I know you love him, and you always will. And that's okay! But Rinoa… you have to move on. Let him go. He's gone, Rin… and I don't think he's ever coming back."

At first, shock registered on Rinoa's face, to hear what she had known all along put so bluntly. Then, anger became apparent as Rinoa's features distorted into one of pure rage. Finally, her face softened into one of knowing sadness, as Selphie's words rang true in her mind.

"You're right, Selphie. My mind understands the truth in what you just said, but my heart… my heart doesn't. I love Squall. I have always loved him, since the first time we met in Timber. He didn't know it then, not at first. But I knew then, and have always known, that we are meant to be together." Tears coursed down her face as she spoke of Squall, her voice catching at the mention of her love for him. "Oh, Selphie I want him back!"

Rinoa threw herself into Selphie's arms, sobs racking her fragile body. Selphie's own tears began to flow now, seeing how truly hurt Rinoa still was over Squall's abandonment.

"Aww, sweetie, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said what I did; I just hate seeing you hurt over him! It's just not right."

Rinoa's sobs slowly petered off as she allowed herself to be comforted by Selphie's genuine concern for her. She felt foolish for allowing herself these tears, crying over a man that she knew she could never have again. So many tears had been cried for Squall, she was surprised there were any left in her.

Drying her eyes, slowly regaining her composure, she pulled out of Selphie's comforting embrace. "I'm alright, Selphie. Really… didn't Headmaster Cid want to see us? We really should get over there."

Rinoa's sudden turn about of emotions startled Selphie for a moment, and the dead expression on her face worried Selphie immensely. Just minutes before, Rinoa had been utterly sobbing as if her heart had shattered into one million fragments of grief, but now you would never have been able to tell.

"Rinoa, are you sure you're okay? I mean, just a minute ago, you were-" her voice was abruptly cut off in mid-sentence by Rinoa's shrill tone.

"I'm FINE, Selphie. Really, you have nothing to worry about. Squall is my problem, and only mine… and that's the way it should be. I'm sorry to have put you in the middle of this. You were right, I need to get over Squall, and I need to sto- stop loving him. That's the only way I'll ever get past this. The only way."

With those final words, Rinoa took off down the corridor, heading for the elevator which lead to the Headmaster's third floor office, only accessible with express permission from Cid himself. Her silky black hair caught the reflection of the fluorescent lights scattered about Garden, as she turned and beckoned Selphie to the waiting elevator.

As Selphie walked towards her waiting friend, she made a promise to herself- one that she knew she had to follow through on. For the sake of Rinoa's fragile emotional state, she knew what she had to do.

"I will find Squall- if it's the last thing that I do."