Chapter 3: Getting to Know Each Other…Kinda…

It took quite a while, but Marianne calmed down eventually. She took a few drinks from the pond, and Squall helped her to stand on her feet. "Should we just keep walking in the same direction?" she asked her new found "friend", not knowing what to do. "I guess…" was all he could think of to say. "Better to go this way, than the other way." she said, realizing the change of environment of the forest. "Back the other way is not going to help. Nothing is there but a bunch of dead leaves and leafless trees, twigs, and small patches of grass." They exchanged a few glances of bewilderment as they walked through the woods, side by side. She tried to give him an assuring grin to show she was okay, but the attempt was a failure, as the last of her tears were streaming down her face.

The two strangers from different worlds had no clue as to what to say to each other. Everything was happening so fast, and it gave little time for in between. As they walked, they could notice the trees being alive, thinking they would die soon. Maybe they were right. Maybe this forest was slowly dying, but why? How? Marianne was thinking to herself, coming up with something intelligent…

"Hey, this is some kind of dimension, right? Something in connection with my coma?" she asked just to be sure, for the two of them to hear. "I guess so…" Squall said, not really in the mood for conversation. He wore such a serious expression, and always looked forward. Even when she would look at him from the corner of her left eye every now and then. Marianne wasn't in the mood to talk much either, but she was trying to figure this out. "Maybe… this forest is like me back on Earth…" Marianne said, and stopped walking. Squall stopped too, wondering, What the…? I don't get it. "What are you trying to say?" he asked her, patience coming in thin. "Analogy. Get with the program." Marianne forewarned him. "This forest must be like me…" her eyes went wide, realizing what was going on. "This part, where we're walking, won't last long. There's not a living organism to help grow the flowers. It's cloudy, but there's no rain…" She paused, absorbing what she was saying. Squall was still a little slow in getting this. Analogy…what analogy? Her on Earth and this forest? Squall was beginning to realize it too, but had to know for sure.

"Back where you were walking, didn't you say it was nothing but twigs, leafless trees, and dead leaves?" Squall asked her, standing in front of her. Marianne nodded, eyes watering. "You're trying to tell me this forest represents your health status?!" Squall demanded as she slowly nodded. Squall threw his hands up and they slapped down at his sides. "I'm dying… Slowly dying…" she cried. "There has to be someway to make it right." "Shit," Squall hissed, getting mad. And scared. "You think when this whole forest dies, you die?!" Marianne's sobs told him the answer was a "yes." "Then let's keep moving. Maybe we could try to find the source that's killing this place." Squall commanded, but Marianne wasn't moving. "Listen to me Marianne. If you don't want to die, then come with me. I know I don't want to die out here either." Marianne started walking with him, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Keep it together. This is about saving your own life here." Squall told her, trying to help her remain strong.

"This is getting scarier by the minute," she had to say as they walked. "I can't die now! I'm only twenty freaking years old! This is fucked up!" You got that right, Squall mentally replied to her. Marianne broke out into a run, desperate to find out what was killing her. Squall dashed on after her. "This is a living nightmare!" she yelled in panic as she ran. Squall gained pace and was running beside her.

In short while, she had to slow down or else collapse at Squall's feet. Her heart raced in the silence of the forest remaining. She panted heavily, and tried not to hyperventilate. She's losing it, Squall suspected, feeling like he had no choice but to help this poor soul. "Take it easy. I know this is really frightening to you, as it is to me, but panicking won't help." "Keep it together, right…" Marianne huffed, letting a stray tear fall from her face. "That's right. I need you to focus, so I can help you." Squall added, wanting her to settle down. "You have to trust me. If we find what's killing this forest, maybe the Earth half of you would break out of the coma…" He placed his hand on his forehead, perplexed. "What am I saying?" "This is bogus. Insane…" Marianne informed as they kept on walking, nonstop.

After a really long journey of walking, it seemed to be getting dark. "There's a night and day here? Unbelievable…" Marianne said for the both of them. "We'll be able to see more clearly in the daytime, so that means we need to camp out for tonight." Squall told her as they stopped where they were. Marianne nodded in agreement to him, having no choice but to trust him. He looked back at her. Marianne's eyes were red and it looked like the tears had stopped appearing on her face. She blinked, and looked away from him, feeling miserable.

She sat on the grass, legs spread all the way out in front of her. Squall sat a foot away beside her, seeing that a short break was understandable. She looks really bummed out, he observed silently to himself. He took a breath and tried to say something. "We'll find what's killing you. It might be a few days journey, but we'll find it." She didn't look toward him, but only at the ground. She heard him though, but just nodded. "Hey, do you think I want to be here?" he asked, in a harsh tone. "No…" she answered slowly, not paying no mind to his anger. She knew neither of them wanted to be trapped in this place. She knew Squall and her were both in this together, and together to the end.

It was getting cold, so the two only human beings around in the dying forest gathered up fallen branches, leaves, and twigs for building a fire. To start the fire, Squall scraped his gunblade against a rock to get out a few sparks. Feeling blue still, but Marianne couldn't help but say something about that weapon. "That gunblade of yours is awesome, by the way…" Marianne commented, voice sounding tired and dull. "Thanks… I think so too." Squall responded to her, in sort of kind and calm way. In a minute or so, the fire had started. After miles and miles of walking, they sat down beside each other next to the fire. They knew that there was nothing to eat. Not a berry or apple tree anywhere. Nothing.

Marianne sat, arms around her knees, resting her chin on them. Squall was seated in the grass beside her, palms flat on the ground, legs spread out. The growling of their stomachs begged for food. "I hope we'll find something to eat tomorrow. On the other side, the woods has to be more lively." Squall said. His companion said nothing, but stared blankly at the dancing flames of the bonfire, in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Squall asked, trying to help keep his ally's sanity. "I'm real homesick…" she said. "My mom and dad must be worried sick." Oh yeah… Squall figured. He should have known earlier that she would be thinking of her family. He talked to her, not knowing how else to help.

"And your brothers and sisters too, huh?"

"No… I'm an only child…"

"Oh… I don't have siblings either."

Marianne, getting far into disc two of Final Fantasy 8, wasn't really sure if Ellone was really Squall's sister yet, so she didn't say anything about his personal issues.

"I miss my cats too."

"Oh?"

"I know they all miss me…" she said, letting her own eyes dry up from crying so much. "I've never been so scared in my life…"

Squall told her, "I miss my comrades. My friends. We all miss someone, and I guess that's good." Marianne just nodded in silence. "Yeah, I wonder how Zell, Rinoa, Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine are doing too." she said. "Now that I know it's all real, I sympathize even more, in a way…"

She heard him sigh. She slowly drifted out of her depression, wanting another answer from Squall. "You said you were going into battle with someone…who?" she had to ask. "Seifer…" Squall said. "Ugh, bastard." she replied, feeling a bit of anger towards him. "I know…" Squall agreed. "…I guess you know all about it, from playing the stupid game…" She didn't reply. She knew that ticked him off, and dropped it.

They were quiet again. This conversation was growing awkward, and not really friendly. Marianne bit her lower lip, not being able to stop thinking about her folks at home. Her eyes were too dry to produce more tears. Squall looked towards the fire, keeping his hands warm. His stare was blank. It's really creepy. She knows all the names of my friends, and knows how much of a bad person Seifer is. Why did this all happen in the first place? It's something I really don't need. Not that Marianne needs it either.

Marianne observed he was thinking to himself again, trying to figure this mess out. She didn't know what else to think anymore, but to trust Squall's good intentions. He was the one to help her keep it together. To prevent insanity. I need to thank him for that… she told herself in private.

"Squall…" He looked towards her all ears. She was looking at the fire. "I appreciate you, preventing me to lose my mind. I probably wouldn't last this long with you, ya know?" He nodded. "Thanks." she said. "…Sure." Squall said to her, just hesitating a little. "I know you're not totally comfortable having to deal with me, but I mean no harm." she assured him, as the talking continued.

"I know. It's just this whole thing is fucked, like you said earlier today."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

Then there was another minute of silence. They looked away. "Dammit, I hate this." she said, just letting it come out. Better to let it out, than to keep it bottled up like Squall does. "I don't like to know the fact that I'm slowly dying… Fate is just as cruel as ever now." "I'm with you all the way on that," Squall said, understanding on how she felt. More silence…

Marianne let out a sneeze. It was either dust in her nose, or the fact that chilly air was touching her back. Squall looked to her in response, his eyes narrowing. "You better not get sick…" he said, half threatening. "I know, I'm in enough trouble as it is." Marianne remarked, and sighed. She sniffled a little, and looked down. She felt something was put on her. "Here," he said, as she looked and saw that Squall let her borrow his coat! "You need this more than me. Be sure to give it back in the morning." "Thanks…" she said. "I will."

Marianne had to give him a little grin, as she slid her arms into the sleeves of his jacket. Nice and warm. She couldn't help but stroke her fingers on the fur collar. Squall shook his head and looked away. "It's real nice of you… Caring about me like that. You know, we could have gone our own separate ways, and you could have let me go insane and die." She laughed a little, thinking how she said it was funny. "That's true, but you know what's going on more than I do. So I decided to stick around… I would have gone insane too if I didn't." Squall admitted to her. "So, we need each other to survive this thing." she assumed. "Yeah…" was his answer.

"Squall, are you sure you won't get cold?"

"I got a long sleeve on, unlike you."

"Heh… Well, I guess my mind wasn't real creative, being out of it and all to not give me a jacket."

She had to laugh. Squall shook his head slowly, slightly frustrated. This is just getting ridiculous. It caused her to giggle more when Squall reacted like that. "What the hell is so funny? Is dying funny to you guys on Earth?!" "No, silly. I was just laughing over what I said. You have to let a little humor into it at times. When I'm usually not scared as hell, I happen to be humorous a lot." she said, smiling at him. "Not another Zell…" Squall groaned. This made her laugh more. "Zell's like that too, huh? Poor you…" she teased, and giggled endlessly. "Yeah, you and him would get along really well. Why couldn't he be here with you, instead of me?" he groaned miserably as she could not stop laughing over this. She snickered, "I don't think that's how it works. See, when I thought it was just a game (stupid me), you became my most favorite character. Zell's just below you on that scale." Squall looked at her in surprise, repeating, "I'm your most favorite?" "Yeah. It made me sympathize with you. You're complex. Zell's just funny, so he's second coolest."

"Whatever…" Squall said looking away, causing her to giggle again. "It's true though. Zell and I would be best buds. We'd crack each other up." "Yeah, and drive me up a wall." Squall said, annoyed. "Poor you…" she teased. Why me? WHY? Squall mentally asked himself and he held his head in his hands. "Okay, if we get out of here, I'll be sure to introduce you to Zell." he said, rolling his eyes at her. "Cool!" Marianne replied excitedly.

"And Quistis too?! She kicks butt."

"Yeah, Quistis too. I'm not sure if that will happen, but it does, I'll introduce you to all my friends."

"Cool…"

"Thanks again, I needed the laugh." Marianne said, hugging him with one arm. "Whatever…" he said, not looking at her, but blankly staring back at the fire. "Good to know you're feeling better…" Squall had a gold wrist watch on, which she hadn't noticed when he wore those gloves and jacket in the video game. "Better get some sleep. We have to keep walking tomorrow." Marianne agreed, "Right. " She smiled kindly. "G'night." "Goodnight." he said and turned over on his side, facing away from her to sleep.

Marianne thanked God for Squall, and that someone was helping her through this difficulty. She prayed for him to keep helping her stay strong, and to help her family stay strong too, for she knew she would wake up from this coma somehow. She asked for help on where the source was. At a time like this, she was desperate in need of God's guidance. Even though she wasn't an all over religious Catholic, she knew there was a God, who helped her before in times of need.

She slept, after taking one last look at Squall's coat she was wearing, and at the guy sleeping on the grass beside her near the fire.