Notes: Damn it! I wrote this chapter once, but an error occurred, and I have to rewrite the whole damn thing! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Oh well…I was going to fix it eventually anyways…Review please!

Chapter 31: End Me

     Squall awoke to see the almost lifeless body still asleep before him. He held her wrist to see if she was still in the land of the living, and she was. Her chest rose barely as she took her shallow breaths, and all was quiet.

     He rose to his feet, and noticed that he was still barely dressed. He scrounged around for some clothes, and found his blood stained, and tattered apparel. He put them on, but the stench of death, and decay was too much. Memories of the day haunted him, and he placed them back where he had found them.

      His stomach growled in despair, and he decided to cook for himself. He had kitchen patrol as punishment plenty of times when he'd get in fights with Seifer, and knew how to cook a mean grilled cheese sandwich from the cooks.

     He rummaged through the icebox (literally a box of ice), and found nothing really edible. Various plants filled it, and potions of some sort. He grabbed the first thing he recognized, and fixed it. It was a basket of rolls, and he uses Fira to warm them. The smell of reheated bread filled the room, as he tried to wake up Oceania.

      Her body lay cold in his arms as he shook her gently. A second check for a pulse, and he frowned. She was alive, but not awake. He caressed her face, and she stirred, her face relaxing a bit from the worried look it held before. He repeated it, and she started to breath normally, as if his touch revived her. For a moment he wondered if awakening her would be wrong, but he passed off the thought, she'd have to be eventually.

     He removed his glove with his teeth, and touched her waist. It had been her favorite spot to be stroked when they were together in the previous millenniums. The fact that he knew this troubled him greatly, and he frowned as she woke up. She quietly yawned, and rolled over, not noticing she had been woken up for a reason.

      He shook her shoulder gently, and she turned to him confused. Her brow wrinkled when she asked him what he wanted, and he shook head in annoyance.

Oceania: What?

Squall: You've been asleep for a while now. I fixed breakfast, and wanted to know if you wanted any. Are you okay?

O: …I passed out again, didn't I?

S: Yeah.

O: Ooops. I have been doing that a lot lately. I guess I haven't been eating enough to stay alive, or something. Don't worry, k? You always worried too much about the stupidest of things.

S: …Perhaps we should have worried more.

O (changing the subject): You made food? I'm…shocked…

S (insulted): …

O (realizes he took offense): Oh, I figured my supplies would creep you out. Especially the aphrodisiac rolls.

S (pretending not to be interested): Aphrodisiac rolls?

O: Yeah. The Shumis wanted some for their females. Something about going extinct.

S (realizes that's what he heated up): Food isn't ready then…

O: laughs It's a good thing you didn't eat any.

S: Yeah. What is there to eat?

O: Hmm…rises, and lifts the ice to reveal a second layer of food…. How about berries? I have been trying to curb my meat intake lately.

S: Maybe that's why you've been human flesh hungry.(looks, grabs some cheese)

O: Always have been… If I see meat I get bloodthirsty, so meat by me is bad right now.

S: Oh… (goes to grab a roll, but realizes that was not smart).

O: washes berries I need to go to the beach later, want to come?

S: Whatever.

O: You don't have to.

S: I'll go.

O: Well, you'll need a weapon then. Your gunblade is above the fireplace.

S: I've been staring straight at it the whole time…Damn…

O: Eat up before the get warm.

S: …

___________________

[beach, forest nearby, Centra]

     Squall walked around aimlessly, and Oceania searched for a certain type of shell. The sun hit his bare shoulders, and he began to burn. Oceania noticed, and handed him her blanket that was a makeshift skirt to cover up in. She stripped down to the rest of her bikini, and jumped into the water in quest for a small shell.

     Squall sat on the beach, and watch the tide roll in. Soon the once far away water was now hitting his feet, and legs. The cold water soothed his aching back after he got in it. He dropped her skirt on the sand far enough away from the tide, and got in himself. He sighed as his burns cooled, and he waded in calmness.

     Oceania sat on the ocean floor, rummaging through the coral reef. She had hidden it somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Crabs fled as she neared, and fish peered over the coral at their intruder. She overturned a rock, and smiled, bubbles rising to the surface as she did. She grabbed it, and resurfaced. She went to shore, and waited patiently for Squall.

     A long time later he sat next to her, shivering. She wrapped him in her skirt, and sat in silence again. They watched the tide fall, and she finally broke the silence.

O: I need you to do me a favor.

S: What?

O: I need you to seal this with me. No one can come near it. No one.

S: Why?

O (plays with it): Every GF has a home, or place in which mortals can find them. Ifrit's is a cave; Cactuar's are their desert. Mine is a shell. It's the other half to yours. Place yours with mine, and I am insta-GF. After my sealing, seal them. No one can free me then. Even sealing isn't enough to keep a GF from her summoner. Being as I am Hyne's daughter, I am Guardian Force. Kinda sucks, but oh well. Soon everything will end…

S (utterly confused): You're a GF?

O: …Yeah.

S (stares @ her): What if one of us summoned you? Would we get you, or Lat-

O (covers her mouth): Don't utter her name!

S: …

O (sits again): You'd get me with the half you have. With the half I have, you get her. I need both for the spell to unite me, and her. The shell will be fixed, and can be placed in on sealing unit then, k?

S: Can we summon you?

O: …sigh …I suppose… Don't summon her though…It's been so long I can't even remember my attack…

You Have Gained the GF Oceania!!!

O: Soon I can't be summoned. I'll be asleep forever…

S (concerned, or confused. Pick one): You don't want to ever be awoken?

O (stares at horizon): No….I want to die, but sleeping will have to do.

S (plays in sand with his finger): …

O (looks at him pleadingly): Promise you won't let anyone unseal me!

S (looks at her, and holds her hand): ….

O: on the verge of tears I can't take it anymore… The lies, the hurt, the betrayal, what I've become… Squall, end me!