Note: I realize that the next few chapters are crappy. I have creativity block. I got the plot, but can't seem to get everything right….

Chapter 25: Voel REVISED!!

     Squall slowly picked at his food, and grabbed the blanket. It had gotten rather cold suddenly, and he wrapped up in the blanket tightly. A cold wind blew through the blanket covering the entrance to the cave, now let down. He walked to the washroom door, and hesitated entering.

     Squall went down after talking himself into it, and followed the long, stone stairway to another, wooden door. He quietly cracked it open, and heard Oceania weeping bitterly. The sobs were loud, but somehow he couldn't hear them until he opened the door. He waited for a moment, listening to what reminded him of banshee wails, and walked in.

     She wiped her sodden eyes quickly when she heard him, and faked happy. She rose to meet him, and ushered him upstairs with her hands. He got the hint, and went upstairs.  He sat on the bed again, and she grabbed some supplies from her various shelves carved into the walls.

     Oceania sat in the chair next to Squall, and set up her work. She said little, and he made no effort to talk. She told him to take off the blanket, and he did, revealing his wounds. She took his arm, and put a thick, black salve on it. The liniment stung his skin, and he pulled away. He held his arm tenderly for a moment, and looked at her coldly.

Oceania: It only hurts for a little while.

     She took his arm again into her dainty hands, and placed one hand gently on the wound. She closed her eyes, and a faint glow was emitted from the two fleshes touching. He looked at her coldly once more, and finally spoke.

Squall: You're a sorceress, aren't you?

Oceania: …Yes. I have been for quite some time now.

     Squall sat in deep thought for a while, and soon she began to wash the slash out with water. The removing of the ointment hurt worse than the applying of it.

Squall: …… I guess I am required to protect you then. Since she's gone, and I'm a SeeD…

Oceania (matter-of-factly): A SeeD is meant to kill my kind.

S: …Not all of them. We didn't kill …Rinoa.

O: No, you just handed her over to Hell in a hand basket. I shouldn't have said that…

S (hysterical, he rises to his feet): You're right. You said I could have saved her, but I didn't.

O (forces him to sit so she can work)(bluntly): You couldn't. (puts another liquid on his arm)There was no way to keep her from Death once her soul is wanted.

S: You said before-

O: I say many things. Did you stop to think that maybe I told you that so you could get your act together?

S: What else did you say that was lies?

O: Who said that was a lie?

S: You just-

O: I said she would die unless you saved her. But perhaps to die I meant she'd let her true self die.

S: True self?

O: The part of her that made up the being of her soul, the part of her that loved you. At the end she was going back to her former self.

S: Don't talk in code again, okay?

O: Fine. Here. Your arm is healed.

     Squall looked down to see that in fact, his arm was healed save for a scar. He looked at his leg, which she began to heal, and finally noticed that he was only in his black boxers. He blushed, and placed a blanket on himself to cover up.

S: I need to get dressed.

O: If you get dressed now, then I can't heal your leg.

S: Whatever.

O: Whatever.

     They sat for a moment in silence, not wanting to hear the other's voice. Squall's stern face relaxed, and began to wonder what had upset her so.

S: ...Why were you crying?

O (irritated by being caught): You heard me?

S: …

O: …Many reason's.

S: The biggest?

O: Aren't we all nice, and emotional all of a sudden. Maybe I put too much water lily in that food.

S: Water lily?

O: sigh What do you think I eat?

S (irritated): How the f___ am I supposed to know?

O: sigh….The main reason was ….never mind. So much for changing the subject.

S: Reason was?

O: YOU!

   She rose abruptly, and crossed the room. She had her back to him, hiding her tear stained face caused by her fresh tears. She sniffed, and wiped them away, still turned away from him. He sat in bewilderment, and some resentment.

S: Me?

O: Gawd, are you really that dense?!

S: What the hell did I do?!

O: It's not your fault… It's just…

S: Well?

O: Now I have to compete with a ghost.

S: …?

O: When Rinoa was alive, I had a chance to get her away from you, but now… She'll always be with you. In your thoughts, your head, your heart……I can't compete with that…

S: Compete?

O: …And so…I've lost you to her the moment she died. I've lost you again… I give up. I can't hold onto you any longer.

S: …

O: …sigh…I'll go get some more things. Wait here, my voel…

     She started walking to the washroom again, and realized what she had called him. She stopped dead in her tracks, and her back straightened. A chill ran down her spine, and she hurried downstairs.

S: … (lays down on bed) … What the hell?