Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters. They belong to Squaresoft. I can't really afford to be sued anyway.

Small introduction: This just started out as a freestyle writing exercise, but I never got bored with this idea. So it's a fic. Be sure to look forward to reading my other two FF8 related stories! "Trapped in FF8! What the Hell?!" and "Marianne and Squall (and Ifrit and Diablos and…)"

Lost in the Woods

Chapter 1: The Arrival and Bogus Discovery…

That day… This one day in Marianne's life, she'll never forget…

It was a typical Saturday at Wordman Used Books, in St. Leonard, Maryland. A peaceful town. Also, in Marianne's view, boring. There was just nothing exciting to do much. It was fun every now and then to catch up with friends at theatre plays or events. It was a lot of fun shopping, but it just wasn't enough.

She shrugged it off and decided to head off to the Mobile fastop, diagonally right across the street where she worked. She saw the cars of various colors and styles go driving by. She checked all around before crossing the street.

All her life, she was never hit by a car. She thought of it as a lucky thing, and expected the same. But not today… The incident happened when she was absolutely sure that no cars were coming her way, she began to walk fast across the street. A squeal of tires turned around the corner. A gray, and old fashioned car was driving by past the speed limit. Marianne was in the middle of the road when she was trying to run back to safety. The car wouldn't slow down, and gained fast.

Too little too late. The gray car hit her on the side head on. The front of the automobile was dented, as Marianne fell sideways on the street as the car sped past over her. She was too hurt to get up. The whole left side of her body had been bruised, especially on the head. Slowly, and sleepily, Marianne's vision darkened into unconsciousness.

Moments later, she was half awake, half asleep. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak, or even scream. Marianne was out of it. She seemed to be hearing strange distant voices… She seemed to understand them…

"We're trying all we can, and it's up to Marianne to come out of her coma. It may take several days…"

A female voice sobbed in the background. So soft, she could barely hear it. I'm…in a coma? Marianne had thought to herself. She was sort of awake, but mostly out of it.

She stirred in what seemed to be a long peaceful nap. Her head of naturally curly brown hair rested among the dried up leaves. There wasn't any pain from her side. Her blue eyes came into focus.

She stood up at five feet by three inches tall. Her weight she was never sure about, since every now and then she'd go on a diet. But one thing was for sure. She was just in between skinny and fat. Marianne rubbed over her eyes, with her smooth, and cold fingers. She looked all around. "Where am I?" Marianne wondered out loud, feeling confused. "I'm supposed to be at work… Not here…"

Then, the mental light bulb had went on inside her intelligent brain. "I must be in my backyard or something…" she said to herself, the only one there. "But how far?" She began to walk to her right, making the dead leaves crunch and the sticks snap under her blue blending with white zip up sneakers. She noticed that she was in one of her white T-shirts, with a pair of comfortable Old Navy blue jeans. The air was okay, maybe a little bit nippy. There was no breeze. The sun was shining. There was nothing but dead trees, leaves and air. Nature acting like it died all over.

She kept walking, trying to find some houses or any sign of civilization. Marianne was too spooked inside to even try to call out to anyone. Just keep walking…, she mentally told herself as she obeyed her own command. She looked down at the soiled ground. There were patches of green grass here and there, but this environment was practically dead. There wasn't a bug trying to harass her. Not a mosquito out for blood. Not a crazy gnat trying to get in her hair. Not even one flower blossomed.

After a long time of walking, she figured that she was so lost in this dead forest. Not a sign of water anywhere. She felt vulnerable. Would she starve to death from lack of food and water? Wasn't anyone out there besides herself? How did she end up here? A million questions appeared in her mind all at once, but there was no answer. She hated that. She was beginning to feel frustrated. "Where the hell am I?" she asked to basically no one. "This is…wrong. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be at work. Not trapped here!" Marianne half scolded herself, trying to keep it together. Was she dreaming? Only one way to find out. She pinched herself on the arm, hard. "Ow…" she hissed in pain. "Okay, I'm not dreaming!" Keep it together. You can't be too far away from civilization, she tried to assure herself. She couldn't be losing her mind at a time like this. There was only one option, and that was to keep walking.

It felt like hours on end. She was hungry and thirsty. Fatigue swept over her like a disease. She felt a little tired, and her feet were a little sore from walking, but Marianne knew she couldn't stop…

A few yards away from Marianne, there was a lake. This lake was small, and grass had grown around it. A few species of flowers were present, but there was no insect to drink the nectar from them. No insect to gather the pollen from. It seemed that this environment was on the brink of extinction, barely surviving.

A too gentle of a breeze blew every now and then. The wind was whispering. Whispering so quietly that the human form could not hear it. Glaring down at his reflection, the young male gazed, with intense icy blue eyes. If looks could affect, his cold hard stare would have the water frozen on this small pond. His hair was sort of long, a slightly lighter shade of brown than the dead leaves on the ground, bangs dangling on the side of his head. A small and diagonal dark red line lived on his face, from the forehead, diagonally stopping at the entrance to his right cheek.

The water hadn't rippled in the wind, as if he were gazing into a mirror on the ground. Thin shaped body. It almost looked as if he were anorexic, but Squall Leonhart wasn't that kind of guy. He laid his weapon on the ground beside him. A sword for the most part, that sort of curved upward. Near the handle looked like the trigger and bullet storage of a handgun. The gunblade, as he saw called it. The Revolver.

Squall's gunblade laid down in peace on the fresh green grass as he bent over to use both hands to scoop up some of water from the cool and fresh pond. He drank quietly. He found this environment to be strange, and lifeless. Squall didn't have a clue as to what, how, or why he came here. What he clearly remembered was about to confront a rival. The tall, similar built young man with short blond hair, a similar scar to Squall's. "Seifer…" he said out loud, remembering his menacing smirk.

He was ready to go into battle with that person, when suddenly, he just ended up in this place. He couldn't explain this at all. Well, after a few refreshing handfuls of water, Squall got up from his knees, brushing off the dirt of his black jeans. Customized belts were worn around his waist, little metal stars decorating them. And a small metal belt around his left pant leg. His leather gloves, that matched his coat, were in the coat pockets. A white fur collar kept his neck warm. The dark brown leather was unzipped, showing the lion headed necklace. Its mouth opened and teeth were bared. The eye was a ruby on the pendant part of the necklace.

With that, he strapped the gunblade in sheath around his waist, and rested his hands on his hips.

After being used to the silence of this strange forest, he wasn't expecting the soft, distant crunching of someone stepping over dead leaves. He suddenly realized he wasn't so alone anymore. Professionally, he took out his weapon and walked quietly, and hid behind a nearby tree, which was leafless as all the others in the wooded area he was present in…

Marianne walked on further, always in the same direction. She thought it over again. A car had hit her. She was knocked out of it fast, and there must have been a doctor's voice telling of her condition. A coma… she silently recalled. She also tried to pinpoint the crying, but her hearing was all muddy then.

Hearing the crunching of dead leaves getting a little louder, Squall prepared himself, clasping both hands lightly but firm around the gunblade's handle.

She looked ahead while walking. Water! She kept walking towards the pond, edging closer and closer. The leaf crunching sounded louder and closer. He was prepared. Marianne walked closer and closer, almost to the pond when a stranger jumped out from behind a tree, making her jump a few steps backwards. Marianne's eyes went wide in surprise and utter shock as this guy held onto his blade, poised and ready for a possible attack.

She took a good glance at him. His face looked very familiar, out of one of her video games. Final Fantasy 8. She saw that same scar. The facial features. The hair, the outfit, and last but not least, his intense stare. …Squall?

Squall stood down and lowered his gunblade. This girl had no intention of harming him. She froze in her trance, as if turned to stone. Her eyes were watering as she slowly walked forward. "Oh God…" the girl said in a small voice as Squall didn't exactly welcome her with open arms….