Chapter 30
Squall Leonhart heard the door creak open slowly.
"Squall?" Ellone's voice came from the door.
"Come in, Ellone..." Squall heaved.
"Squall..." Ellone said, "Are you still worried about what you saw using my powers, a few minutes ago?"
Squall sighed. He swung around in his chair and watched his sister, "I haven't told Rinoa yet..."
"You should tell her..." Ellone said walking up to his chair, "...about everything you've seen..."
"I can't..." Squall replied, "Its bad enough I know about Sifan entering the omega caves...I don't want to scare Rinoa too...besides, Ellone...there's nothing we can do about it..."
"But we have to be grateful..." Ellone replied, "My powers are working in a way they aren't supposed to...they're connecting us to Sifan's life..."
"Yes, Ellone...I am grateful for that...but..." Squall replied clenching his forehead, "but we can only watch..."
"Sifan will be fine..." Ellone replied, "I am sure he'll turn back from the omega caves..."
"I know my son, Ellone..." Squall replied, "He stepped on a T-Rex's tail once when he was ten and when it didn't wake up...he stepped on it again..."
"Fortunately...you were around, weren't you?"
"Seifer was..."
"Oh..." Ellone replied, "talking of Seifer, he's sure Relafen's gonna be fine...you should be like Seifer, Squall..."
Squall looked up at Ellone and put his head down again, "It's MY son who's entering the omega caves, not his..."
"I am sure he can handle himself-"
"Ellone." Squall cut in, jumping to his feet, "I have FOUGHT Omega Weapon...I KNOW what it takes to survive him..."
The two of them were silent for a while when Rinoa walked in. Her light blue cape blew sideways as she walked up to Squall.
"Y-You heard what we were talking...?" Squall stuttered.
Rinoa didn't reply. Ellone excused herself and left the room after closing the door behind her.
"Guess you must have..." Squall heaved looking into Rinoa's eyes, "I am afraid, Rin..."
Rinoa spoke in a gentle tone, "About what...?"
"I am a-afraid of l-losing...S-Sif..." he said and his eyes narrowed with a sense of fear and pain.
"Shhh...."she said hugging him tightly, "Don't say it..."
He ran his hand through his wife's hair, "at the end of time compression... when I didn't see you, I thought I lost you ...I feel the same way about our son now..."
She smiled at him, "Yes...but it didn't happen...we didn't lose each other..."
She looked at his ocean blue eyes that were ever-so present in Sifan's, "We will not lose Sifan...neither will we lose Avatar for that matter..."
Squall cringed in her arms slightly at the mention of Avatar's name, "Avatar's searching for his past..."
"I know...Ellone told me...it will work out Squall...I am sure it will...you can still watch Sifan and Avatar, right?"
"Yeah...I can watch them through Ellone..."
"Yes..." Rinoa said before moving in for a kiss, "Watch and hope...that we'll see them again..."
***********************
"I swear, Seef, WHAT on earth were you thinking?" Phillona said as the submarine's door slide open.
"Hey...So WHAT if we run into Omega Weapon...?" Sifan replied as they stared at an island with a forest, "I heard this place has great materia..."
"Hey, you two..." the submarine's caretaker shouted, "You can still turn back. I mean, look at you two...you're so young and...you look great together and..."
"Get..." Sifan snapped, "...to the goddamn point..."
"Well...All I am saying is..." the caretaker replied, "...it aint too late to turn back..."
"Nobody's turning back..." Sifan said firmly, covering Phillona's mouth when she was about to say something.
"Oh well...your funeral..." the caretaker replied, "we'll be back in an hour or two to take your bodies...er...I mean...take you kids back..."
After the 'pleasant' words from the caretaker, the submarine disappeared into the water after Sifan and Phillona walked to the sandy beach.
"He's supposed to be a damn caretaker...not an undertaker." Sifan mumbled as the two of them waddled across the sand in the quiet beach.
Phillona giggled, "Hey...he said we look great together..."
[He's the fourth one...after Trex, Avatar and Lyris...]
"Like I've said before..." Sifan sighed, "Don't get any ideas..."
"Geez...you are such a grouch..." Phillona said as they reached the tall palm trees at the entrance of the forest, "How DOES Avatar put up with you..."
"Well..." Sifan said changing the topic, "How did the Mideel thing go?"
Phillona's face changed mood drastically.
[Damn...If only I stopped saying things that bring a look like that on her face...]
"It..." Phillona replied, "Mideel...didn't go too well...Shin-Ra should be taking over as we talk..."
"What happened?" Sifan asked.
"I'll tell you on our way back..." she said, swallowing, "Well...that is if we make it back..."
[Hey...maybe I should try that line Dad said to mom in Deling before the sorceress assassination thing...]
"Uh..." Sifan said, "Stay close to me and you'll be fine..."
Phillona had a short fit of giggles.
[Dad was lucky mom fell for that line...]
"Ok...forget I said that." Sifan retorted quickly, "I was just tryin a line my dad said to mom a year before they got married..."
"And your mother fell for it?" Phillona asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah..." Sifan replied, "But well...at that time, she almost got killed by a sorceress's igualions...so well, he saved her and she found that being with him was assuring or something, I guess..."
"Your Dad was chivalrous, huh?" Phillona said immediately.
Sifan burst out laughing, "Squall Leonhart...chivalrous? That's a good one, I've got to tell Avatar about this..."
Phillona managed a little smile too, "Ok...bad assumption...so your father was also a cold ass like you...um...no offence..."
Sifan still had a smile on his face, "That's ok...I've called him a cold ass since I was thirteen...It's fun to call your father stuff when you know he can't deny it..."
Phillona giggled. Somehow, the entire incident about Mideel didn't seem to pull her down.
"But..." Sifan continued, "He stopped being a cold ass...after he met a certain Rinoa Heartilly..."
"Your mother...?"
"Yes...she kinda screwed him up..."
"He fell in love with her..." Phillona smiled. She was starting to know Sifan's way of talking better.
"Yup..." Sifan replied, "Hook, line and sinker..."
"What was she like when she was a teenager like you, I mean, has she ever told you...?"
"Well..." he dragged his tone before saying something Phillona didn't expect, "She...was like you..."
"Me?" Phillona asked, surprised and then she turned away from him, "Y-You...don't know me..."
[Oh Crap...I did it again...]
"Why is it that every time I say anything relating to you or your life, your smile vanishes like that?" Sifan said.
"I have nothing to smile about when it comes to that, Seef..." She said, "nothing at all..."
"Well, then fake it..." Sifan said suddenly, "Fake a smile even when you don't feel like smiling..."
She turned around and gazed at his eyes that were as blue as the ocean behind her, "I can't smile...at least, not from the outside..."
"Hey..." Sifan grinned, "I do that all the time...it's easy."
"I know that..." she said and then she smiled.
"See..." Sifan replied, "I told you that you can fake it..."
"I wasn't faking..."she replied, "It's just that, when you said you fake your smiles all the time, it seemed so obvious. That's why I smiled."
"Damn..." Sifan said, "Then let's try again..."
He rubbed the back of his neck, "Wait, let me say a joke..."
Phillona started to laugh.
"Ah there...don't tell me that aint a fake..."
"It aint a fake..." Phillona replied in a mock imitation of Sifan's voice, "You tryin to tell a joke...hee hee..."
"That was a sad Sifan imitation of my voice..." Sifan snapped.
"Whatever..." Phillona muttered under her breath. She looked up at him and smiled, "Was that better?"
"Well..." Sifan said, "Maybe that was good, or maybe that actually wasn't..."
"Get to the goddamn point!" Phillona growled. Sifan couldn't help but smile...genuinely.
"There..." Phillona said with a delighted look on her face, "That was a perfect shot at playing Sifan, admit it..."
As the both of them argued about Phillona's Sifan imitation, time began to tick away. After Phillona had imitated a zombie, a wooden post and an anti-feminine extremist, Sifan admitted Phillona knew how to imitate him. Little did they know that half an hour had already passed.
"That was fun..."Phillona said, "You know...I've never had this much fun since..."
"Since...when?" Sifan said sitting under a coconut tree and stretching his legs.
"Since..." she walked over to him and sat near him, "Since...Gerard and I went chocobo racing 2 years ago..."
[She was with Gerard?]
"Gerard is a good dancer, I guess..." Sifan said, resting his head against the tree trunk.
Phillona giggled before she could think of what Gerard had done the previous night, "Don't be silly...I didn't date him for his dancing abilities..."
"Oh...well...maybe he had lots of money then?"
"That's even more absurd, Seef..." Phillona said, getting a little red, "What do you take me for anyway..."
"What I take all women for..."
"What?"
"Mistakes of God who hunt down money-packed boyfriends who-"
Phillona's thunder hit the tree hard and coconut fell on Sifan's head and broke into two.
"OW!" Sifan cried rubbing his head, "What did you do that for...?"
"For thinking I come under YOUR definition of a woman..."
"Yeah, well..." Sifan muttered, checking his hand if there was any blood in it, "Add coconut-bashing to that definition..."
"Uh oh..." Phillona sighed when she saw a small streak of blood on Sifan's hand. She immediately cast a cure but his head still felt woozy.
"Sorry..." she said, smiling sheepishly, 'I didn't mean to...Its just that..."
"Just that what?"
"Its just that I don't like what you said when actually I-"
"Get to the goddamn point..." Sifan growled.
Phillona burst into a fit of laughter and fell back on Sifan's lap. He was too busy rubbing his head to push her off. She stared at his eyes, through the strands of dark brown hair covering them.
He looked back at her, "Get off me..."
She shook her head; "You have anything better to do...?"
"Yes...there are always lots of better things to do than to have-"
"Like what? Getting the hell belted out of you by Omega Weapon?"
"I wouldn't mind Omega weapon." He said still squirming at the feeling of a girl lying on his lap.
She giggled again. He smiled back. She reached out her hand and pushed aside his brown strands of hair, "You didn't get the haircut I told you to..."
"You're not my mother..."
[Hey...why did that line sound so familiar?]
"Well...All I wanted..." She said, pushing another few strands of Sifan's hair to the side, "...was to have a clear look at your eyes..."
"Why?" Sifan said, carelessly, "they're just eyes..."
['They're just eyes'...I am getting stupider by the minute.]
"They're expressive..." she said still not taking her eyes off his, "...and beautiful..."
"They don't express anything..." Sifan said, looking away from her.
"They express everything..."
"Ok...name something they express then..."
"Hmm.... let's see...you're gay...."
"WHAT!?"
"Hey...not all guys prefer staring at the ocean to staring back into a girl's eyes..."
"Well I am different..."
"My point exactly..."
"NO!" Sifan growled, "Not THAT kind of different..."
"Jus kidding around, Seef..." Phillona said, "That's not what I think about you..."
"I don't care what you think about me..." Sifan replied, "Neither do I care what my eyes express to you..."
"You know...you don't have to get all uptight about me bashing you with a small coconut."
"Small?" Sifan started, "Do you have any idea-"
"Ok ok..." she snapped, "So it was a little big...I only did it because of your cheap impression of me..."
".........................."
"You don't have to think I am your everyday girl because I don't think you're the 'everyday' boy..."
"Yeah...you think I am your 'everyday' gay..." Sifan said, not realizing the both of them were arguing like little children.
She smiled and then sighed, "Like I said...you are SUCH a grouch, Sifan Leonhart..."
"I would be a real grouch if I took this stone here and smashed it on your head."
"Ok SHUT UP!" Phillona cried, "We're getting ridiculous..."
"........................"
"........................"
"Well...?" Sifan started slowly, watching Phillona still on his lap, looking at him, with a mixed like-dislike expression.
"It must have been an hour since we got here......"
"Yeah...."
"By the way..." Sifan asked amused, "Where ARE the omega caves..."
"Past the forest behind us..."
"Wanna get going?"
"Not really..."
"What? You wanna just stay here lying on my lap all day?"
She looked at him and smiled like an innocent little girl.
"Don't even think about it." Sifan muttered before she could say, 'yes'
She raised her head and quickly jumped to her feet and threw a few punches at the air, "Well then, Let's get going!"
She ran into the ragged pathway leading inside the forest, with Sifan walking behind in her wake.
{Answer me a question, will you?}
[Shoot...]
{When was the last time you ever got along with a girl?}
[Never...and I still haven't got along-]
{Phillona Strife is a girl, mind you...}
[We just talked for...er...]
{...An hour?}
[..................]
{Just one thing, Sifan. Phillona is a lonely girl. She's been like that since...ten...imagine that Sifan...ten years old when she began to feel cold and lonely....}
[...That's sad...]
{But the hour she spent with you here wasn't....}
[Well...I am sure she's had happier times...]
{Yes...maybe once or twice. Happier times with Gerard, a guy who planted explosives near her in Mideel last night....}
[What!?]
{Gerard backstabbed Phillona, joint Shin-RA and blasted Mideel...they kicked her out from Mideel, blaming her for everything... Phillona is homeless now...}
[She didn't tell me...]
{Why should she? She was enjoying her time with you...she wouldn't want to ruin it...}
[Well, what's the sense in telling me all this?]
{Just one request...}
[What?]
{Keep her happy, will you?}
[.....................]
{WILL YOU?}
[Ok...just as long as I don't die from a terra break...]
**************************
Squall Leonhart heard the door creak open slowly.
"Squall?" Ellone's voice came from the door.
"Come in, Ellone..." Squall heaved.
"Squall..." Ellone said, "Are you still worried about what you saw using my powers, a few minutes ago?"
Squall sighed. He swung around in his chair and watched his sister, "I haven't told Rinoa yet..."
"You should tell her..." Ellone said walking up to his chair, "...about everything you've seen..."
"I can't..." Squall replied, "Its bad enough I know about Sifan entering the omega caves...I don't want to scare Rinoa too...besides, Ellone...there's nothing we can do about it..."
"But we have to be grateful..." Ellone replied, "My powers are working in a way they aren't supposed to...they're connecting us to Sifan's life..."
"Yes, Ellone...I am grateful for that...but..." Squall replied clenching his forehead, "but we can only watch..."
"Sifan will be fine..." Ellone replied, "I am sure he'll turn back from the omega caves..."
"I know my son, Ellone..." Squall replied, "He stepped on a T-Rex's tail once when he was ten and when it didn't wake up...he stepped on it again..."
"Fortunately...you were around, weren't you?"
"Seifer was..."
"Oh..." Ellone replied, "talking of Seifer, he's sure Relafen's gonna be fine...you should be like Seifer, Squall..."
Squall looked up at Ellone and put his head down again, "It's MY son who's entering the omega caves, not his..."
"I am sure he can handle himself-"
"Ellone." Squall cut in, jumping to his feet, "I have FOUGHT Omega Weapon...I KNOW what it takes to survive him..."
The two of them were silent for a while when Rinoa walked in. Her light blue cape blew sideways as she walked up to Squall.
"Y-You heard what we were talking...?" Squall stuttered.
Rinoa didn't reply. Ellone excused herself and left the room after closing the door behind her.
"Guess you must have..." Squall heaved looking into Rinoa's eyes, "I am afraid, Rin..."
Rinoa spoke in a gentle tone, "About what...?"
"I am a-afraid of l-losing...S-Sif..." he said and his eyes narrowed with a sense of fear and pain.
"Shhh...."she said hugging him tightly, "Don't say it..."
He ran his hand through his wife's hair, "at the end of time compression... when I didn't see you, I thought I lost you ...I feel the same way about our son now..."
She smiled at him, "Yes...but it didn't happen...we didn't lose each other..."
She looked at his ocean blue eyes that were ever-so present in Sifan's, "We will not lose Sifan...neither will we lose Avatar for that matter..."
Squall cringed in her arms slightly at the mention of Avatar's name, "Avatar's searching for his past..."
"I know...Ellone told me...it will work out Squall...I am sure it will...you can still watch Sifan and Avatar, right?"
"Yeah...I can watch them through Ellone..."
"Yes..." Rinoa said before moving in for a kiss, "Watch and hope...that we'll see them again..."
***********************
"I swear, Seef, WHAT on earth were you thinking?" Phillona said as the submarine's door slide open.
"Hey...So WHAT if we run into Omega Weapon...?" Sifan replied as they stared at an island with a forest, "I heard this place has great materia..."
"Hey, you two..." the submarine's caretaker shouted, "You can still turn back. I mean, look at you two...you're so young and...you look great together and..."
"Get..." Sifan snapped, "...to the goddamn point..."
"Well...All I am saying is..." the caretaker replied, "...it aint too late to turn back..."
"Nobody's turning back..." Sifan said firmly, covering Phillona's mouth when she was about to say something.
"Oh well...your funeral..." the caretaker replied, "we'll be back in an hour or two to take your bodies...er...I mean...take you kids back..."
After the 'pleasant' words from the caretaker, the submarine disappeared into the water after Sifan and Phillona walked to the sandy beach.
"He's supposed to be a damn caretaker...not an undertaker." Sifan mumbled as the two of them waddled across the sand in the quiet beach.
Phillona giggled, "Hey...he said we look great together..."
[He's the fourth one...after Trex, Avatar and Lyris...]
"Like I've said before..." Sifan sighed, "Don't get any ideas..."
"Geez...you are such a grouch..." Phillona said as they reached the tall palm trees at the entrance of the forest, "How DOES Avatar put up with you..."
"Well..." Sifan said changing the topic, "How did the Mideel thing go?"
Phillona's face changed mood drastically.
[Damn...If only I stopped saying things that bring a look like that on her face...]
"It..." Phillona replied, "Mideel...didn't go too well...Shin-Ra should be taking over as we talk..."
"What happened?" Sifan asked.
"I'll tell you on our way back..." she said, swallowing, "Well...that is if we make it back..."
[Hey...maybe I should try that line Dad said to mom in Deling before the sorceress assassination thing...]
"Uh..." Sifan said, "Stay close to me and you'll be fine..."
Phillona had a short fit of giggles.
[Dad was lucky mom fell for that line...]
"Ok...forget I said that." Sifan retorted quickly, "I was just tryin a line my dad said to mom a year before they got married..."
"And your mother fell for it?" Phillona asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah..." Sifan replied, "But well...at that time, she almost got killed by a sorceress's igualions...so well, he saved her and she found that being with him was assuring or something, I guess..."
"Your Dad was chivalrous, huh?" Phillona said immediately.
Sifan burst out laughing, "Squall Leonhart...chivalrous? That's a good one, I've got to tell Avatar about this..."
Phillona managed a little smile too, "Ok...bad assumption...so your father was also a cold ass like you...um...no offence..."
Sifan still had a smile on his face, "That's ok...I've called him a cold ass since I was thirteen...It's fun to call your father stuff when you know he can't deny it..."
Phillona giggled. Somehow, the entire incident about Mideel didn't seem to pull her down.
"But..." Sifan continued, "He stopped being a cold ass...after he met a certain Rinoa Heartilly..."
"Your mother...?"
"Yes...she kinda screwed him up..."
"He fell in love with her..." Phillona smiled. She was starting to know Sifan's way of talking better.
"Yup..." Sifan replied, "Hook, line and sinker..."
"What was she like when she was a teenager like you, I mean, has she ever told you...?"
"Well..." he dragged his tone before saying something Phillona didn't expect, "She...was like you..."
"Me?" Phillona asked, surprised and then she turned away from him, "Y-You...don't know me..."
[Oh Crap...I did it again...]
"Why is it that every time I say anything relating to you or your life, your smile vanishes like that?" Sifan said.
"I have nothing to smile about when it comes to that, Seef..." She said, "nothing at all..."
"Well, then fake it..." Sifan said suddenly, "Fake a smile even when you don't feel like smiling..."
She turned around and gazed at his eyes that were as blue as the ocean behind her, "I can't smile...at least, not from the outside..."
"Hey..." Sifan grinned, "I do that all the time...it's easy."
"I know that..." she said and then she smiled.
"See..." Sifan replied, "I told you that you can fake it..."
"I wasn't faking..."she replied, "It's just that, when you said you fake your smiles all the time, it seemed so obvious. That's why I smiled."
"Damn..." Sifan said, "Then let's try again..."
He rubbed the back of his neck, "Wait, let me say a joke..."
Phillona started to laugh.
"Ah there...don't tell me that aint a fake..."
"It aint a fake..." Phillona replied in a mock imitation of Sifan's voice, "You tryin to tell a joke...hee hee..."
"That was a sad Sifan imitation of my voice..." Sifan snapped.
"Whatever..." Phillona muttered under her breath. She looked up at him and smiled, "Was that better?"
"Well..." Sifan said, "Maybe that was good, or maybe that actually wasn't..."
"Get to the goddamn point!" Phillona growled. Sifan couldn't help but smile...genuinely.
"There..." Phillona said with a delighted look on her face, "That was a perfect shot at playing Sifan, admit it..."
As the both of them argued about Phillona's Sifan imitation, time began to tick away. After Phillona had imitated a zombie, a wooden post and an anti-feminine extremist, Sifan admitted Phillona knew how to imitate him. Little did they know that half an hour had already passed.
"That was fun..."Phillona said, "You know...I've never had this much fun since..."
"Since...when?" Sifan said sitting under a coconut tree and stretching his legs.
"Since..." she walked over to him and sat near him, "Since...Gerard and I went chocobo racing 2 years ago..."
[She was with Gerard?]
"Gerard is a good dancer, I guess..." Sifan said, resting his head against the tree trunk.
Phillona giggled before she could think of what Gerard had done the previous night, "Don't be silly...I didn't date him for his dancing abilities..."
"Oh...well...maybe he had lots of money then?"
"That's even more absurd, Seef..." Phillona said, getting a little red, "What do you take me for anyway..."
"What I take all women for..."
"What?"
"Mistakes of God who hunt down money-packed boyfriends who-"
Phillona's thunder hit the tree hard and coconut fell on Sifan's head and broke into two.
"OW!" Sifan cried rubbing his head, "What did you do that for...?"
"For thinking I come under YOUR definition of a woman..."
"Yeah, well..." Sifan muttered, checking his hand if there was any blood in it, "Add coconut-bashing to that definition..."
"Uh oh..." Phillona sighed when she saw a small streak of blood on Sifan's hand. She immediately cast a cure but his head still felt woozy.
"Sorry..." she said, smiling sheepishly, 'I didn't mean to...Its just that..."
"Just that what?"
"Its just that I don't like what you said when actually I-"
"Get to the goddamn point..." Sifan growled.
Phillona burst into a fit of laughter and fell back on Sifan's lap. He was too busy rubbing his head to push her off. She stared at his eyes, through the strands of dark brown hair covering them.
He looked back at her, "Get off me..."
She shook her head; "You have anything better to do...?"
"Yes...there are always lots of better things to do than to have-"
"Like what? Getting the hell belted out of you by Omega Weapon?"
"I wouldn't mind Omega weapon." He said still squirming at the feeling of a girl lying on his lap.
She giggled again. He smiled back. She reached out her hand and pushed aside his brown strands of hair, "You didn't get the haircut I told you to..."
"You're not my mother..."
[Hey...why did that line sound so familiar?]
"Well...All I wanted..." She said, pushing another few strands of Sifan's hair to the side, "...was to have a clear look at your eyes..."
"Why?" Sifan said, carelessly, "they're just eyes..."
['They're just eyes'...I am getting stupider by the minute.]
"They're expressive..." she said still not taking her eyes off his, "...and beautiful..."
"They don't express anything..." Sifan said, looking away from her.
"They express everything..."
"Ok...name something they express then..."
"Hmm.... let's see...you're gay...."
"WHAT!?"
"Hey...not all guys prefer staring at the ocean to staring back into a girl's eyes..."
"Well I am different..."
"My point exactly..."
"NO!" Sifan growled, "Not THAT kind of different..."
"Jus kidding around, Seef..." Phillona said, "That's not what I think about you..."
"I don't care what you think about me..." Sifan replied, "Neither do I care what my eyes express to you..."
"You know...you don't have to get all uptight about me bashing you with a small coconut."
"Small?" Sifan started, "Do you have any idea-"
"Ok ok..." she snapped, "So it was a little big...I only did it because of your cheap impression of me..."
".........................."
"You don't have to think I am your everyday girl because I don't think you're the 'everyday' boy..."
"Yeah...you think I am your 'everyday' gay..." Sifan said, not realizing the both of them were arguing like little children.
She smiled and then sighed, "Like I said...you are SUCH a grouch, Sifan Leonhart..."
"I would be a real grouch if I took this stone here and smashed it on your head."
"Ok SHUT UP!" Phillona cried, "We're getting ridiculous..."
"........................"
"........................"
"Well...?" Sifan started slowly, watching Phillona still on his lap, looking at him, with a mixed like-dislike expression.
"It must have been an hour since we got here......"
"Yeah...."
"By the way..." Sifan asked amused, "Where ARE the omega caves..."
"Past the forest behind us..."
"Wanna get going?"
"Not really..."
"What? You wanna just stay here lying on my lap all day?"
She looked at him and smiled like an innocent little girl.
"Don't even think about it." Sifan muttered before she could say, 'yes'
She raised her head and quickly jumped to her feet and threw a few punches at the air, "Well then, Let's get going!"
She ran into the ragged pathway leading inside the forest, with Sifan walking behind in her wake.
{Answer me a question, will you?}
[Shoot...]
{When was the last time you ever got along with a girl?}
[Never...and I still haven't got along-]
{Phillona Strife is a girl, mind you...}
[We just talked for...er...]
{...An hour?}
[..................]
{Just one thing, Sifan. Phillona is a lonely girl. She's been like that since...ten...imagine that Sifan...ten years old when she began to feel cold and lonely....}
[...That's sad...]
{But the hour she spent with you here wasn't....}
[Well...I am sure she's had happier times...]
{Yes...maybe once or twice. Happier times with Gerard, a guy who planted explosives near her in Mideel last night....}
[What!?]
{Gerard backstabbed Phillona, joint Shin-RA and blasted Mideel...they kicked her out from Mideel, blaming her for everything... Phillona is homeless now...}
[She didn't tell me...]
{Why should she? She was enjoying her time with you...she wouldn't want to ruin it...}
[Well, what's the sense in telling me all this?]
{Just one request...}
[What?]
{Keep her happy, will you?}
[.....................]
{WILL YOU?}
[Ok...just as long as I don't die from a terra break...]
**************************