Getting Selphie

Chapter Three: Injured Cowboy

I woke up in pain, and not knowing where I was. I can't even remember what happened… Was I dreaming? No, this pain, it's real. I slowly opened my eyes and let the light flood into them. I wasn't too sure where I was at first, but after a few minutes I started to remember. I was in the Infirmary and Dr. Kadowaki was standing next to me. "It's about time you woke up," she told me. I turned my head over and began to get up but the pain was too much. "You need to rest, so stay in bed."

"What?" I wondered aloud. How long would I have to be in this bed… And how long have I been here for? Has it been minutes, hours, days or weeks? I hope I can still get to Galbadia Garden.

"You were impaled by something, on your side," she began to explain. "You're lucky it didn't go too deep, but it went just deep enough to knock you out. You've only been here a few hours. You came in soaking wet." I noticed that my jacket had been taken off. It sat on the chair next to me, folded and my hat sat on top of it. My clothes were still a bit damp. "You need to rest if you want to get to Galbadia tonight. Though you can't do much, you'll be sent straight to their Infirmary before you can do anything else. You should be fine by tomorrow though."

"How did you know I was going to Galbadia?" I asked. I thought only Headmaster Cid knew about this. I hope no one else besides us three know about it because I don't want my friends to know. Anything they say will sound like goodbye. I just don't know… I think it would be best if they just woke up in the morning and found out I was gone. Cid already knows what he is going to tell them.

Dr. Kadowaki sat down at her desk with some papers and answered, "Headmaster Cid told me. When he found out you got injured, he came to me and told me to make sure you got healed enough to get to Galbadia, he knows how much you want to go there." I sighed and put my head back down onto the pillow. Tonight I'll be going back to Galbadia…

I closed my eyes and the door to the Infirmary opened. "Is he awake?" I heard Quistis' voice. I opened my eyes again to see a blonde woman standing next to the bed. "How are you feeling, Irvine?"

"I hurt… A lot," I replied. I moved my arm to the bandage covering my wound and smirked. "Is Zell alright?" I almost completely forgot about him. He had busted his ankle and couldn't walk. Hopefully it wasn't that serious.

"Well," she started, "he rolled his ankle, coming really close to fracturing it. He can't walk on it for two weeks and he is devastated. Of course, I have to watch out for him and make sure he follows the doctors orders of staying off of his ankle, otherwise the healing time will be longer." Being some what of a martial artist, I couldn't see how Zell could go a day without some karate and stuff like that. He's a fist fighter. Looks like he'll have to stick to using magic for a while.

I laughed and said, "I hope he gets better."

"We hope you get better soon too," Quistis informed me. "We're going out to Trabia next week to visit Selphie. That could be your chance to get her back." I had to act as if I wasn't leaving tonight… Though I'm somewhat saddened that I'm leaving them. She doesn't know that I'm leaving tonight and that I won't be here tomorrow. I saw Dr. Kadowaki look at me for a second, and then she turned back to her papers.

"Oh, that'll be great," I tried to say without hesitation. This time Quistis couldn't read my mind. She probably thinks it's just the pain and all. "Could you tell me what happened after the Communications Tower blew up?" I quickly changed the subject.

"Well, Zell and I began to chase down Biggs and Wedge when they came running out of the tower. We knew something was up. We kept running after them and Zell tripped and landed the wrong way on his foot and fell over into a bush," she paused. "Well, he told me to go get them and not to worry about him. I didn't know it was that bad, so I kept running after Biggs and Wedge, but lost them in town. I cam back to the bridge and saw Rinoa and Squall take Zell from you. Next thing I know the tower blows up and the bridge is broken. You tried jumping across but didn't make it and you hit a small steel pipe before falling into the water. Squall jumped in after you and brought you to the shore. You didn't wake up but were just barely breathing. We brought you here and Dr. Kadowaki took care of you. It's been about 8 hours since then."

"Really?" I said astounded. "I can't remember any of that. It's really been that long?" She nodded her head.

"Get some rest, okay?" Quistis suggested. "I have to get back to the Headmaster, see you later." She left out the room and I brought my head off the pillow.

"Dr. Kadowaki, can you wake me up when the Headmaster is ready with my transfer?" She nodded and picked up her phone to phone the head office. I yawned and rested my head back down on the pillow. In a few more hours I'll be transferred over to Galbadia Garden. Before I knew it I was asleep.

"Selphie! Selphie where are you?" I yelled out to the nothingness surrounding me. Where could she have gone to? I ran towards a small speck of light, as I got closer and closer, I was able to make out that it was the snowfields of Trabia. Patches of forests were scattered around everywhere. I wasn't sure where I was going, so I began to walk. "Selphie!" I called out her name again.

"Tee-hee!" I heard the faint sound of her voice.

"Selphie?" I began to run towards her voice. It seemed like forever, I ran though forests and more forests, until finally I cam to a large clearing and some mountains. Just around the corner was Trabia Garden, where Selphie would be. As fast as I could, I ran to the front of the Garden. It wasn't completely repaired yet, but it was in much better shape than when it was blown up.

"Train train take us away…" again I heard her sweet voice. I walked inside the Garden, it was completely empty. Not a student or Instructor was in sight. I suddenly heard quiet footsteps down one of the corridors. I followed the footsteps to an empty hallway. As I got further and further, the sound of someone crying could be heard. It was quite quiet, but I was able to find which Dorm it was coming from.

As I opened the door I saw Selphie sitting on the ground holding a picture frame. "Selphie!" I said in excitement. I walked over to her and kneeled down. She didn't seem to notice that I had come through the door. I sat down next to her and looked at her teary eyes. She was looking at the picture. From my position, I couldn't see who was on the picture. "Why are you crying?" I went to put my arm around her and lean on her, but I fell through her! "What the hell?"

I shook my head in disbelief. I sat up again and looked at the picture in the picture frame that she was holding. It was a picture of me… I didn't understand what the hell was going on. "Why did you have to die Irvine…" she whispered, her voice was shaky. At that I jumped back. Was I dead?! No! I couldn't be dead! "Why did you go on that mission… Why…" She pulled her knees up and put her head on them as she continued to cry. I just sat on her bed, completely lost at what was going on…

"Irvine… Irvine!" I was suddenly awoken by Dr. Kadowaki. "Irvine, it's time for you to go." It was a dream. Only a dream, thank Hyne! I thought I was really dead. What a weird dream that was! I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. I tried to sit up, but the pain in my side was too much. Instead, I just rolled out of the side of the bed. My side hurt really bad, and it almost felt like I still had a chunk of metal lodged inside me. I leaned over slightly while grasping my stomach for a second.

After a few moments I felt I had enough strength to pick up my coat and put it on. It was very painful. I then carefully put my hat on and adjusted to my liking. I wasn't sure what time it was, but it must have been pretty damn late. "I'll escort you to the parking lot, where the Headmaster is waiting for you," Dr. Kadowaki explained to me. I nodded as I slowly walked over to her. We then exited the Infirmary, and went into the dark and empty hallway.

I knew it must have been passed midnight because all of the Garden Facilities were closed. Well, almost all of them. The halls were completely empty, and all that could be heard was the gentle swishing of water. As I continued to slowly walk down the hall, I said goodbye to this Garden. I'm going to miss everyone here, but I think it would be best if I just went back to Galbadia. I missed Galbadia as well, the desert area, the hot days… But I am really going to miss Balamb. It's like a second home to me. Well, it was, for quite some time.

I hope they don't take it too hard in the morning when they find out I'm not there. I'll be back though, someday. When I get Selphie back, for sure I will come back to Balamb. For now though, I need time to myself, I can't think with everyone around me. The memories here as well are too painful to remember… Without Selphie I am just nothing at all. I'm determined to get her back.

It took several more minutes before we finally had reached the Garden Parking Lot. It seemed like it took forever, with this searing pain in my side and all. It made it very difficult for me to walk, and every step made me wince with pain. The hallway to the parking lot seemed to take forever and more to reach the end, because by now the pain was twice as much as before. At least I would get to sit for several hours and rest while on my way back to Galbadia.

At the end of the hall, I could see Headmaster Cid standing there. Afer a few more minutes, I had finally gotten to my destination. "Hello," Headmaster Cid greeted me. He didn't look like the happiest man on the planet. "So you are returning to your former Garden, Galbadia, hmm?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied as I leaned against the wall. It was a very long and painful walk, I deserved a rest.

"Well," he continued, "we hope to hear from you. You do know your friends will miss you a lot." I nodded. "Here are your transfer papers back to Galbadia, along with your train ticket." He handed me some papers and I quickly scanned through them. My transfer papers and train ticket were all there. Down the hall, Nida came with a large suitcase. It's probably mine because I was unable to pack my stuff, because of the incident.

"Here is your suitcase," Nida told me upon finally reaching us.

"Nida will drive you to the train station," Headmaster Cid explained. "The rest is up to you, Irvine Kinneas. I wish you the best of luck at Galbadia Garden."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay with that injury and all?" Dr. Kadowaki asked. I looked down at my side, it still had the large bandage over it. I could manage with it, it wasn't that bad.

"Yeah, I think I can handle it," I replied. She nodded back at me.

"Well, we hope to hear back from you, Irvine," the Headmaster said. "Visit us once in a while too." After that, he waved goodbye and returned down the hallway with Dr. Kadowaki. Nida took my suitcase to the car and threw it into the trunk. He opened the passenger side door for me and I thanked him. It was awfully late to be heading off to Galbadia, but I probably wouldn't reach there until later in the afternoon. Nida started up the car and then headed out of the Garden. I sure was going to miss this place for the time I'll be gone.