Another Disclaimer: The only things I own are my character, my character's parents, the forest world I made up, and my CDs, but not the artists!

Chapter 4: Lingering Despair

Marianne didn't know she could dream in this dimension, but it was darkness. She could hear someone speaking to her. Mom…

"I love you, Marianne…" Mom, I'll be okay. I'll wake up soon. Please don't cry. It's making me want to cry too. Oh how I wished I could wake up, and hug you forever! Of course her mom didn't hear her. Marianne couldn't see through her helpless body, but she could imagined how her mom would look, as devastated as she was knowing she's in a coma. "I wonder if you even hear me…" I can hear you mom. I love you! I miss you!

She stirred awake and sat up from where she laid down, crying again. "Mom…" she sobbed. Squall woke up too, rubbing his eyes. "What?" he asked, as she told him what happened. "I think when I fell asleep, I was back with my other self at the hospital. Mom's crying… I couldn't see anything, or even talk to her, knowing how out of it my body is." Squall looked at her, not knowing what to say. "I'm just going to stay up until I'm really tired. You can go back to sleep if you want." Marianne told him, looking away. "I know this is hard for you, but you need to try and get some rest. I'm not going to drag you around across the forest. If you care about your family that much, then you need to rest up and be ready for another day of walking." he advised. Marianne nodded. "Okay, I'll try…" she sobbed and laid back down, as Squall watched over her a while before going back to sleep himself.

Marianne heard her mom crying again as she was deeply asleep again. It went on and on for a long time, until mom said, "I'm going back home. I'll see you tomorrow." Okay Mom. I love you so much… she mentally cried out to her…

The next morning, Squall let his friend rest a little while longer. It must be very difficult. Having to hear your own mother cry while you're visiting your other half in the hospital. Squall suspected. When Marianne woke up, they put out the fire and kept walking. Marianne didn't say a word, but only shed silent tears. Squall must have figured she had a rough night, while he slept decently, other than being woken up in the middle of the night. By her.

"Were you back at the hospital when you went back to sleep last night?" he asked her in concern. "Uh huh…" she said, and another urge to cry was coming along. "My mom seemed to be crying on and on, and I couldn't do a damn thing. I couldn't even move." "I'm sorry…" was all Squall could think of to say. "I felt sorry for you, so I didn't wake you up when morning had come. It's a little past eleven-thirty now." Squall told her as she thanked him. She cried softly as they walked. Squall frowned sympathetically at her. Poor Marianne. It's just not right… She doesn't deserve any of this, he thought to himself.

For a while, there was just walking. No discussion. No arguing. No laughing. The only sounds were of their feet walking along the ground. "Oh," she remembered, giving Squall's jacket back to him. Squall gently took it from her as she didn't feel so cold anymore. Today was a warm day. Everything was quiet, except for the bugs.

The high pitched noise of the mosquitoes were nearby. The two slapped them away while they walked. "Damn bugs…" Squall heard Marianne mutter. They walked on and on, with the mosquitoes nipping at their skin, There were some red bumps on Marianne's arms, and they sort of itched. Squall had his gloves and jacket on. He noticed the bug bites on her skin. "Well, at least there's some signs of life. It just started at the wrong foot." Marianne grumbled, along with her stomach. They were starving.

After walking for another couple of hours, they looked ahead and found… berries! "Food… Thank you God…" Marianne praised in relief as they picked off and ate as many of them as they can. They were blackberries.

Marianne gathered some for later, tucking them in her jeans pocket. When the team of two had their fill, they moved on, the mosquitoes still trailing behind them. "Ouch! Dammit." Marianne complained, slapping another one dead, which was biting into her arm. She slapped at her face and neck too, which only had on bite there so far. "This sucks." she said. Squall didn't reply, knowing how much of a hassle it was for her more than him. But he was annoyed by the damned parasites as she was.

There was a stream up ahead, so Squall and Marianne took a few sips of water. Sooner or later that day, they both had to go, so they didn't wander far, backs turned to each other and did their business when necessary.

When the weather cooled down later that afternoon, the swarm of annoying parasites gave up and buzzed away. "I guess it'll be evening soon…" Squall suspected. "When the temperature starts to drop, that means the coming of nightfall." "And we still haven't found anything, but berries, and water." Marianne said, then quickly added, "Hey, better than nothing I guess." "Yeah…" Squall replied. "Ugh, damn bugs." she said, rubbing the itching away on her arms.

When they started another campfire, Squall tried casting a Cure spell. Didn't work. He tried Ensuna, and it did work. The bites and itching were all gone. "Thanks…" Marianne said. "No problem." Squall replied, as he sat by her. She sighed unhappily, wondering if they'll ever save this forest, or if even it deserves to be saved, because of the bugs.

In the next few seconds during the evening, there was something ringing softly throughout the forest. Squall heard it too, asking, "Hey, do you hear that? …It sounds like music." Marianne didn't say something, recognizing what was playing. "I'm not alone 'cause the TV's on yeah… I'm not crazy 'cause I take the right pills. Everyday, and rest," sang the male vocal, alto pitched, singing a song that was so familiar to Marianne's ears.

"Hey, I know that song!!" she shouted, surprised that music was even playing. "It's off of one of my CDs!" "CDs?" Squall repeated, not recognizing the term. "Compact Disc. They're… Do you have the flat circular discs with the whole in the middle? In your world?" she tried to explain him, feeling overwhelmed by what was going on. "On my world, we just call them discs… You mean like computer software?" Squall told her. "No, not exactly. I'm talking about the discs which you listen to for music pleasure." she said, listening to the song. "It has to be my mom or dad. They're playing my CDs for me back on Earth!!"

Realizing what was going on, she smiled, shedding tears of joy. "Thank you…" she whispered, as if her parents back in her world could hear her. Squall just looked upon her, giving a small grin. He was happy for her. She looked back, smiling as the happy tears came pouring down her face. "This is really comforting." Marianne said. Squall just nodded in understanding, and listened to the music himself.

"So, this is music from Earth?"

"Yeah. The music in my world's awesome. I love it with a passion.."

For a while as it got dark, Marianne sang along to her music softly, as Squall listened to her sing. What a vocalist. Marianne sure likes her music, he thought to himself, only slightly amused of her. "I'm on my feet. I'm on the floor. I'm good to go. And all I need is just to hear a song I know," she sang, following along with the male singer. "I wanna always feel like part of this, was, mi-i-ine. I wanna fall in love tonight…"

She gave Squall the different music group names she liked as the various CDs played: Jimmy Eat World, Third Eye Blind, Incubus, The Offspring… Names of musician groups Squall had never heard of before. Currently, one of the Incubus CDs were playing. The one called Make Yourself. "Will I ever get to where I'm going? If I do, will I know when I'm there…"

He didn't try to sing along though, but just listened. Marianne guessed he liked the music that was playing, or maybe pretending. In truth, he did like the music, as well as her own singing voice. Music wise, I'm impressed of her world, Squall silently said to himself.

After a while, the music was turned off. The last of Marianne's Third Eye Blind CD was over. She was a little disappointed, but got the message since she was getting tired. Squall checked his watch. About 11:30 PM. It made sense as to why the music had stopped. Marianne smiled. "G'night Squall. " He nodded, with that small and friendly grin. "Sleep well…" he told her as she laid down and closed her eyes. Squall did the same.

Marianne was back at the hospital, but all was quiet. She felt something though. It was sort of a fuzziness on her forehead. Like a moustache and beard. It sounded like a kiss. Marianne quickly figured it out, as she felt something being lifted off of her ears. Her dad was kissing her goodnight, removing the headphones from her ears. Thanks Dad… I love you. Thank you so much for the music. You have no idea… she tried to tell him all at once, but of course could not move her lips, or even move. It was only a mental message she got out to her father. She began to cry from what seemed on the inside…

Squall heard the silent crying from Marianne as he slowly woke up. She's crying in her sleep again… he mentally observed. The once reluctant Squall Leonhart placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, caring.

He knew how difficult it was for her to cope through the coma. She was scared all the time. She needed his help, since there was no one else out there. Until Marianne fell silent and slept, which wasn't too long, Squall stayed awake, moving his hand around her back and the one shoulder that wasn't resting on the ground. There was just no way to go back to sleep for him until her crying had stopped. Squall wasn't a heavy sleeper at all. He also noticed something strange. He wouldn't dream about the ex-soldier anymore. Laguna Loire. Maybe that was because Ellone couldn't reach him in this place.

After a little more in comforting her, Squall rested his head on the grass next to her. "You'll be alright." he whispered. "We're nearly there." With that, he fell asleep…