Getting Selphie

Chapter Two: On My Mind

I fixed my hat and got up off the bench. What am I thinking? I can get Selphie back, I can win her heart again. How to do it though? How can I show her that I truly do love her? First of all, I need to go to Trabia and find her. Wait, no I need a plan first. I need to get Selphie away from Matt. I know that deep down inside of her, she truly loves me, not Matt, and if I show her I truly do love her, she will break up with Matt for sure.

"Hey Irvine," Squall walked up behind me. "Is everything okay?" I shook my head. Nothing was okay if Selphie wasn't here. Squall understood why nothing was okay for me. In fact, ever since Selphie left last week, everyone seems to understand my feelings. Everyone knows my world around me had crumbled into pieces. I made it so obvious, which wasn't really like me. I didn't eat for the rest of the day after Selphie had left, and I've eaten very little this whole week.

"No," I replied. "I need to get Selphie back." Squall understood. "Without her I feel as if I have no purpose to live, you know how I feel, right Squall?" He nodded. I remembered the night Selphie left how everyone had told me how stupid I was to just let Selphie go like that. I remember Squall lashing out at me saying I was a complete idiot and it was all my fault, and it was.

"Yeah, but you won't have time to do that today," Squall stated. "We have just been assigned another mission from Headmaster Cid." I sighed and followed him back into the Garden.

"Squall, can I ask you something?" I started talking.

"Sure," he replied.

I took a breathe and then asked, "What would you do if you ever lost Rinoa to another guy?" I already knew partly what the answer was going to be. Squall stopped walking and immediately answered.

"It would never happen in the first place," Squall said without thought. That's what you get for asking Squall for advise. He never could really give good advise to anyone. I decided to shut up for the rest of the way until we got to Cid's office. I still had Selphie on my mind as he began to explain our mission.

"Did you get all that?" Cid asked. Everyone nodded. I nodded as well, even though I hadn't caught a word of what he said. I decided to just play along with whatever everyone said. The only thing I heard was something about Dollet and Galbadian Soldiers. I guessed we were going to be going to Dollet to kick them out of the Communication Tower. As we exited the room, Quistis confronted me.

"You didn't listen to a word he said, did you?" Quistis asked me. She always knew what was going on inside my head, it was almost scary that she could do that. She shook her head as she knew what I was going to say.

"I just can't think straight," I answered.

"You shouldn't have let her go in the first place," Quistis added before she got onto the elevator. I sighed. Yeah, it's all my fault… Stupid Matt guy, I could just snap him in half right now! I kicked the elevator door before I entered. We got down to the main floor and headed out to the Ragnarok. Laguna had given it to us, after we had defeated Ultimecia, as a present. He said it was no use to him anymore seeing as he was the President of Esthar and didn't exactly need it to go anywhere. I was the last one aboard the large air craft. Instead of sitting with everyone, I decided to go off somewhere else. Dollet wasn't very far anyways.

I began to think to myself again. I sure am bringing down everyone else. They don't seem too happy to see me this way. Maybe if I hid my emotions like Squall, maybe then they would stop bugging me and asking me if I was okay. I began to feel like Squall, well, the old Squall. Ever since we beat Ultimecia, he's been more open, and hiding his emotions less often. Maybe it would just be best if I hid my emotions from everyone… Squall still says 'Whatever' every now and then, but not as often as he used to.

Only minutes after take off had we landed outside of Dollet. I walked over to the exit from the Ragnarok and got out before anyone else had. "If only Selphie could see him now," I faintly heard a female's voice. "Irvine is a complete mess without her." The voice got louder. It sounded like Rinoa's voice. She was probably talking to Quistis. I decided to pretend I didn't hear what she had just said, so I walked a little further. As they both came off the ship, they both looked at me with uneasy eyes. What? I was thinking. I really wished they would all stop giving me that look. I turned around and headed towards town. Ugh, I can't take this any longer…

Minutes after I had arrived in town, Squall and the rest of them arrived. "Took you long enough" I told them. We headed to the centre of the town. None of us spoke, and I think I knew why. I guess everyone felt uneasy around me. They all knew I was a changed man, and I guess they just don't know how to handle it. That's okay though… What they don't know is that I was planning on going back to Galbadia. After Selphie left me, I just didn't know what to do, so I thought being away from everyone might help me calm down. I had talked to Headmaster Cid the night she left, and he understood and made arrangements for me to go back to Galbadia. This was going to be my last mission at Balamb Garden… I wasn't even a SeeD in the first place.

We got to the centre of town, and headed up to the Communication Tower. I stayed at the very front of the group, walking quite a length in front of them. I shot many Anacondaurs on the way up. About halfway though, Zell had run up to me and began to talk.

"Are you okay man?" he asked. "You just don't seem like yourself anymore." I could tell he was worried about me. I didn't hesitate to answer.

"I'm fine," I said firmly.

"Okay, whatever you say…" Zell shook his head and waited for the rest of the group to catch up to him. Oh great Hyne I can't wait until this mission is over, and I can't wait until I see Selphie again… I don't care how I am going to do it, but I am going to see her. I'll go up to Trabia sometime soon. Maybe after a few days in Galbadia I'll go up to Trabia. I just couldn't get Selphie off of my mind. She seemed to stick there like glue… No… More like something written in stone in my mind. It's a good thing though, I would never want to forget her. Her soft hands, the way she always brightened up my day just by smiling.

It's a good thing she doesn't see how I am acting, she would hate me, damn it! What the hell am I thinking? Why am I acting this way? Selphie would never want me to, it would break her heart to see me treat friends like this! I need to stop acting like this if I ever want to be with her again. But I am still going to Galbadia, nothing will make me change my mind on that.

Eventually we had made it to the Communication Tower. "Alright, let's get this done quickly and efficiently," Quistis stated.

"Right," Squall confirmed. "Remember, there is no need to attack them. If they engage in battle first, then, and only then can you fight back. Those were the Headmasters orders. Just round them up so we can send their asses back to where they came from." We all agreed and got ready to kick in the door. The soldiers on the other side of the door were very surprised to see us burst in like that.

"Alright, everyone out before we have to use brute force!!" Zell yelled out, while flailing with fists about. Most of them ran out, while others tried to stand their ground. They were no match for us. Didn't they know we were the ones who destroyed Ultimecia? We made them give up in a matter of moments. One of them tipped us off that there were some soldiers up the lift. Squall, Rinoa and I went up the lift while Zell and Quistis stood guard down below. Just in case they try to pull a fast one on us.

Sure enough, when we got to the top, there were two soldiers. They seemed familiar in a way. "Damn it Wedge!" one of them shouted to the other in blue. "This time for sure we'll be demoted!" The one in red stopped for a moment and turned around. Yep. I knew it, it was Biggs and Wedge again. "Oh… Uh… We'll just be on our merry way," Biggs tried to get away.

"What were you doing up here?" Squall demanded from him. They seemed to be repairing something, but we didn't know what it was.

"And why should we tell you?" Biggs replied.

"Sir," Wedge interrupted, "maybe we should just tell them so we don't have to fight?"

"We ain't telling them anything!" Biggs replied.

"Well," Squall smirked, "If you want it that way… then…" We went into battle with them. We already knew they were no match for us. They didn't stand a chance. After only mere seconds had they finally given up.

"Okay okay! We give up!" Biggs shouted. We stopped the battle. But before we could get them to leave, Biggs pulled out a remote with a red button on it. "Well then," Biggs smirked, "if we can't have the tower, then no one can!" He began to laugh as he pushed the red button. "In a few minutes, this place is going to blow! Enjoy your firey deaths!" They both escaped down the lift before we could get to it.

"This is not good," Rinoa panicked.

"Just stay calm," Squall took charge. "There's got to be another way down…" We hastily looked for another exit because we knew they weren't going the let the lift go back up. Quistis and Zell would probably be too busy trying to capture them to realize this place is going to blow at any moment.

"Over here!" I shouted to the others as I pointed to a staircase. "It'll take a while, but we can make it!" Squall went in first to make sure it was safe, followed by Rinoa, and then me. We flew down the flights of stairs like there was no tomorrow. Well, there wouldn't be a tomorrow if we didn't escape. Luckily, we made it to the bottom. The place hadn't blown up yet. Quistis and Zell were gone, probably chasing down Biggs and Wedge.

"Hurry!" Squall shouted to us. We quickly ran out the door, and began to head up the path that would lead us back down to Dollet. What if this place wasn't actually going to blow? What if they were only lying to us about that? I never bothered to stop and think about it, I continued behind Squall and Rinoa. They ran ahead, but I stopped because I heard something in the bush. I knew I shouldn't have stopped because the tower could blow at any moment, but I heard a groan, and it sounded like it came from a human. I pushed away part of the bush to reveal a badly hurt Zell.

"What the hell happened?" I asked him. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. I lifted him to his feet, but he couldn't walk.

"Dude… I think I busted my ankle…" He managed to tell me. I put his arm over my shoulder, and as quickly as I could, continued down the path. We finally got to the bridge. The Communications Tower still had yet to blow up. Squall and Rinoa both took Zell while I looked up at the evacuated Communications Tower. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from up on the cliff. The Communications Tower had finally blown.

"Get off the bridge!" Rinoa yelled out to me from the other side of the bridge. Without thinking, I began to run towards her. Before I could make it, a large chunk of metal had taken out a piece of the bridge, making it difficult for me to cross. I had to jump. I took a few steps back and then ran. I jumped off the edge and attempted to make it to the other side. My effort to make it to the other side failed horribly when I missed the ledge and was impaled with an iron pipe. It seared through my side. Time seemed to slow as I fell to the water below the bridge. I could faintly hear people yelling out to me, but nothing was clear.

All I could think about was her. Her sweet smile. Her soft skin. Her happy green eyes. Her great attitude. Her cute brown hair. Her voice.

Selphie…

A/N: *Sigh* Sorry about not updating this is SO long. It was originally a one shot fic… But I decided to do more. Noo! Poor Irvine!! I hope he's okay… Stay tuned for the next chappie =)