Here it is folks! The final chapter! Many thanks goes to the reviews I've read, and thanks in advance to future reviews from people.

Chapter 10: Confirmed Devotion

Marianne's mom and dad visited her for the evening, and she told about the time spent with Squall, Zell, Rinoa. "Did you get any rest today?" Marianne's dad asked in concern. "Yeah, I took a nap a couple hours earlier." she said. "I'll be out of here in a few more days, says the doctor." Marianne wondered it her cats were being funny, as always. "Zell was playing with them today, and Angel bumped into Peppy." said her mother, Linda. Marianne chuckled. Dad began teasing her about Zell raiding through her CDs and she said she didn't mind and told her parents about Zell when he left her hospital room. "Zell's a bright guy. " she said. Her dad smiled in agreement. "Squall visits me at every chance he gets too," Marianne added. "So you, Zell, and Squall must be really good friends now." said Linda. "Yeah, and Rinoa too! We painted each other's nails! See?" Marianne told her mom happily and showed her what Rinoa did. "She brought me lunch from McDonald's too, so that was a nice break from the hospital stuff."

Her dad, Thomas, gave her a box of candy to snack on, as her mom asked if she looked at this month's issue of Game Informer. "I looked through some of it…" she said. There was an awkward silence. "Hey, what are the odds of that happening again?" Marianne's father assured her. "Yeah, but it would be cool if it happened with the characters of Final Fantasy Seven. I wouldn't mind meeting Cloud, and Red-thirteen, and Cid, and Tifa, and Cait Sith too! Under a friendly circumstance, not what I went through with Squall." Her parents definitely agreed on that. They remembered the trauma she had when Squall and her told them everything the whole time being on that planet where Cleo was.

Squall eventually came back. "Ooooh! You're BOYFRIEND is here!" Thomas teased as Marianne giggled bashfully. "Dad…" she groaned as her mom and dad laughed. "We'll see you again tomorrow." Linda said as she and her daughter embraced, smiling. Her dad did the same, and let her keep that box of Dots.

After they left, Squall sat down in the chair, Marianne sitting up on the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked her. "I'm doing A-okay…" she said, and paused, and smiled. The nervousness was boiling inside of her. Sure this guy was from a video game, but she looked past that, knowing he was just as human as she was.

When Marianne was sure they were both alone, she took a deep breath. "Squall, we need to talk…" Squall noticed her face become serious. "What is it?" he asked in concern. "It's about…us… There's just something I want to get off my chest, and don't worry. It's nothing to make you angry this time." "…Okay." Squall said in hesitation, and was all ears. "I'm… a little nervous and scared about what's going on between us." she began to admit. "The truth is I'm afraid of getting my heart broken again." "…Again?" Squall repeated. "In the past seven or eight years, my heart was being toyed with most of the time. With other guys. I know you're not like them at all, but there is this one guy I sort of knew…and it's just something stupid that is just best kept between us. I think my mom and dad are just best off not knowing, even though I'm over him. I'm over it like it sort of never happened."

Squall just nodded, respecting her intentions. "Just don't tell anyone about this, okay?" Marianne persisted in a gentle tone of voice. "I won't tell anyone…" Squall said, in his own honest way. Marianne instantly believed him.

She began to tell about her internet relationship a couple years ago. About a guy who was the same age as her, who typed to her online from Greece. He fell "in love" with her and she stupidly fell for him too, being thick headed and stubborn as she ignored what advice was given to her about that kind of thing. She told him the whole truth, and honestly admitted she thought Andrew was the one. He acted so sweet to her for a long while. She so wanted to meet him in person one day, but Andrew was afraid, and thought it was just online and nothing else, but she didn't want it to go like that. And she also told him about the time when her ex was away for a few months and never heard from him until October of that year. Things changed after her over reaction of having the feeling Andrew had abandoned her.

"At first I was just letting go, until this one other guy I've just been friends with told me to not give up. I thought it over, and wondered, 'Does it really have to be this way?' So I tried making things right, but we were slowly drifting apart. I was really hurt, even though he never meant to in the first place. I was in a six month long depression, and eventually I just let him go. This one song called 'In the End' by a group called Linkin Park knocked some sense into me. Without that song, it probably would have taken me a little longer to finally let him go…"

Marianne fell silent for a moment, observing Squall's reaction. He looked into her eyes, not letting her break eye contact. "My heart is easy to break…" she said, letting the tears go on down her face. Squall gently wiped one away with his thumb. Marianne wanted to look away now, but Squall looked so deep into her that she just blinked, but never took his eyes off of her. "I know it wasn't not as real as this, but still…" "Marianne…" Squall called to her in a gentle and concerned voice. "I'd never…ever…hurt you, in any way. Ever. I wouldn't even think of breaking your heart." She breathed in and out shakily, not believing this. "I don't know why I care so much about you. You're just a very special, and sweet person." She touched his hand, which rested on her left cheek.

"Whoever this Andrew was, all I can say was he didn't know any better at all." "I was young and stupid anyway." Marianne said, giving an excuse. "I knew he really cared about me at a time…" "But not enough." Squall said, finishing her sentence. "He was probably the first one that cared about you like that, right?" She nodded slowly, letting the tears flow on by. "Look at me, Marianne," Squall said, as she looked into those blue eyes, as the sun was setting. "I want you to know that I… I like you. I'm fond of you and you mean so much to me." This made Marianne's heart melt, and her vision blurred. "You're just this sweet, sweet person. A light, a candle in my life…" Squall continued, letting her know all the way on how he felt. "We both know I've changed so much recently. You helped me see through the darkness of who I used to be. I admit I was a jerk to all my friends. Even to you. Now I don't want to hide from anything, anymore." "I'm your light, huh?" She said, feeling so overwhelmed by what he was saying. "Yeah," he said. "You really are the light in my life." "For once, you surprised me." Marianne told him. "I didn't know there was a poetic side to you." He smiled. "I now know for sure. I was only a little nervous at first, but now I know for sure." she sobbed as he hugged her, holding her close to him.

"So, this cowardly Andrew wasn't poetic, was he?" Squall said, half joking. "No, he wasn't… Plus it wasn't even close to this. Not at all. Hell, I'm not even friends with him anymore." They released. "I just didn't want to hear from him anymore. I blocked his email address." Marianne explained to Squall. "I didn't feel like I could just be friends, and just wanted to forget about him. And he was more concerned about himself than me in the end." "What a scumbag…" Squall commented as Marianne leaned on him.

"I could never imagine anyone acting like that towards you. You're really friendly towards other people."

"Uh huh…"

"I wish… I just wish I could step up to that jerk and give him a piece of my mind."

The room was getting darker, as Squall turned on the lamp beside Marianne's hospital bed. "He wouldn't know how sweet you really are. He wouldn't know, from being on the other side of a computer screen." he continued. "It's alright Squall. I'm pretty much over him. It only bothered me when I noticed how close we are right now." Marianne assured him, rotating herself to sit on the side of the bed. "I just learned the long and hard way to not do something stupid like that again." "Yeah, I can tell you know better." Squall said. "A few times some other people tried to fall for me, but I just told them that I wasn't going to make that mistake again. There was this one weirdo from Egypt. That's another continent. I thought he was cool, and I was about to ask him what it was like there until he said some crap like, 'Show me the way to your heart!' I told him to forget about it, because I'd have to have most of my brain cells gone to go into another net relationship again." This caused Squall to laugh. "That's right. You're too smart to fall for that again." "Yup," Marianne agreed. Then it just went into sort of ramble, but Squall didn't mind.

"You have no idea. On Earth, quite a number of people look degrading when signing onto the internet. It's…appalling. There was this one dude who hacked into my instant message things for the gayest reason, and it sometimes just makes me laugh."

"…What was the reason?"

"He didn't like my display name, which wasn't really offending people at all. It was just this joke thing between me and some of my friends, and he got worked up over it. Geez… Sure I was angry for a while at first, but I was able to get most of my friends' email contacts back, except for one, which I miss hearing from once in a while. I couldn't ever get back into my old account, because that fag changed everything. My password, zip code, everything. And that, is the most gayest hacker I've ever encountered."

"Eh, sorry…" Marianne said to him, bashfully. "Didn't mean to get carried away. Just a ramble." "It's alright. " Squall assured her, arms around her. He smiled, showing her he wasn't bothered by it or anything. She smiled back, wondering what to say next. She couldn't think up anything. She just felt so special in his presence. "Hmm… I wonder if I can stand…" Marianne wondered out of the blue. "Want to find out?" Squall asked her. She nodded as he slowly helped her to stand. Success. "Yay." she said happily as Squall let her stand on her own. "It's good to stretch the legs." she said, as Squall smiled. She laughed and embraced him, letting her eyes close and drift off. She felt lighter, as if standing on a cloud.

Marianne looked at him directly and beamed, "You're like an angel… Heh, I have one extra guardian angel. A special one. I'm serious. I feel like you are heaven sent." "Maybe I am," Squall said to her softly, his sweet smile never fading. She then slowly sat back down on the bed, with Squall sitting on the chair in front of her. Close to her.

It seemed to be if they would live happily ever after. Only time would tell. The future ahead for these two, and those they loved were unknown.

Oh well. They didn't care. Squall and Marianne were just happy to be together that night. And tomorrow would be another day for them to share together, with Rinoa, Zell, Seifer, Edea, Quistis, Marianne's parents, and many others.

What about Squaresoft? Will they be sued? Will Marianne ever get a chance to meet her favorite FF7 characters in person? Is Squall really her true love? It seems like that. Will Zell build his own T-Board? Will the team ever part their own ways? It didn't look like it would be happening anytime soon. Will Cleo ever call upon Marianne and Squall back to the planet if it was in trouble again? Would she and Squall ever see it again? Is this really how it all ends…?

TO BE CONTINUED IN A SEQUEL…