Chapter Four:

Squall took the elevator down to the main level of the Garden with Cid by his side. He spoke little, and when he did, it was about recent business and events dealing with the Garden with his companion. He stared down at a small stack of papers sitting lightly in his hands as the elevator lowered.
As the elevator halted and opened to allow the two men to exit, Squall heard a familiar giggle echo through his ears. He paused, his fingers still holding the place in which he was reading, and looked up towards the walkway beside the elevator.
"Rinoa?" He asked curiously. As he looked, he saw Rinoa and Quistis walking down the walkway away from him towards the dorm area. He watched her for a few moments, somewhat surprised, and gave a faint smile.
"What's wrong?" Cid asked as he walked to his side to see what he was looking at. He adjusted his glasses and smiled as he saw Rinoa jokingly punch Quistis in the arm, knowing full well of her bandages, to giggle and nudge her gently a few moments later in apology.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that I've never seen Rinoa and Quistis be together that often before. They didn't seem to be very good friends," Squall replied as he turned to continue his walk towards his destination with Cid by his side.
"Well, ever since Selphie, Irvine, and Zell transferred to Trabia Garden, Rinoa hasn't had many people to talk to. Perhaps it's a friendship not by choice, but by the lack of anyone else."

Squall paused as his smile gradually faded. Cid's words echoed in his mind; 'lack of anyone else'. He looked back at Rinoa and Quistis as they disappeared down a hallway towards the dorms.

"Well, I'm glad to see her smiling again, even though its from afar."

A few days later-

Quistis sat at the table in the living room of her dorm room with a single lamp lit above her as she stared, drearily, at a stack of test papers that waited to be graded and be returned the next day in class. She glared down at her current paper and adjusted her thin glasses before yawning and leaning back to stretch her arms high into the air.
"I hate this..." she groaned as she returned back to her position of staring blankly at the papers before her. She placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin against her up-turned palm. She glanced over, exhausted, at the clock hanging above her bookcase in the corner and saw that it was only 8:35, and she had already felt the need to sleep.
Her eyes wandered aimlessly around her room until they caught sight of a small coffee table covered in picture frames just outside the entrance to her kitchen. One particular picture caught her attention and compelled her to stand, leave her papers behind, and saunter over towards the picture frame. As she took it with her hand and lifted the picture frame from the glass table, she stared intently at its contents. Within it, she saw the entire group (Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Cid, Matron, Xu, Ellone, Seifer, Raijin, Fujin, Kiros, Ward, and Laguna) including herself, standing in front of the Garden before the ball to celebrate the defeat of Ultimecia. Everyone was filled with happiness and joy, even Squall was cracking a smile. But Quistis, Quistis remained cool and calm, she did not smile. And as she looked closer, she noticed that all the couples were holding their other half in some way or another; whether it was holding hands or full-on hugging (Zell was hugging with the most energy, he missed his Pig-Tailed Girl). But she, she was alone. She had no one to hold, no one to smile with.
Since that picture had been taken, Irvine, Zell, and Selphie had volunteered to be transferred to work with, repair, and rebuild Trabia Garden. Selphie led the mission; she had, after all, felt to most pain out of everyone about the destruction of the great Garden. By them leaving, there was only Squall, Rinoa, and herself left from the original group to help with the current Garden. But while Squall (and even Rinoa to a certain extent) was given a great leadership position, and Quistis had fought as hard as he by his side during the war, she was left only an instructor. While she had been the one to train him all that he had come to know to become the SeeD in the first place, she was left behind.
Quistis stared dully at the picture and sighed as she placed it back onto the table, softly, and turned around to walk back to her table to continue with her grading. She picked up her red pen laying flat on her papers, and sighed deeply.
As Quistis had just got comfortable in her seat, she jumped high into the air as the sound of her door-bell rang through the air.
"Ah!" She shouted loudly as she almost tripped sideways over her couch from her mini-heart attack.
"Quistis? Are you alright? I thought I heard something fall," a voice called out concerning from behind the door. Quistis, catching her breath and standing perfectly still for a moment to regain her composure, glanced towards the door through her frazzled hair and messed glasses.
"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine..." she groaned as she stepped away from her couch to walk, a little shaky, towards her door. She took hold of the handle of the door, turned it, and swung the opened door back to reveal Rinoa, smiling and happy, waiting in the hallway.
"I came for my cooking lessons!" She said energetically as she walked into her dorm room with Quistis, staring with confusion at her as she walked by.
"Now?" Quistis asked as she closed the door behind her. Rinoa looked around the dorm and smiled, not really acknowledging Quistis, but admired her beautiful dorm room instead.
"This is beautiful..." Rinoa said as she looked at the dark blue walls and white carpeting. The blinds covering her windows were also a dark blue, and the room was decorated with antique-looking furniture and items.
"Well, I've been here a while. I've had a lot of time to decorate," Quistis said as she walked to her lit table to put her papers away into a large folder.
"I've never really seen your dorm before, but I'm glad that I'm here!" Rinoa said with a cheerful smile as the turned to look at Quistis before turning to walk into the kitchen. Quistis smiled sheepishly and blushed slightly in her cheeks before following her into the brightly lit kitchen.
"WOW! Look at all of this stuff!" Rinoa laughed as she began looking through her cabinets to find a various array of pots, pans, and utensils. She paused for a moment and turned to Quistis, who began to look through a cook-book to see what the best recipe would be for them to create.
"I'm not bothering you, am I? I saw all of those papers on your table," Rinoa asked, calmed down from her hyper state. Quistis looked up from her book and remembered the picture that she had reflected on before Rinoa's arrival. She was alone and lived without comfort...
Quistis smiled happily and adjusted her glasses, "Not at all!"
Rinoa smiled and continued on her merry way with examining the variety of cooking equipment inside Quistis' kitchen, "Good! I was starting to feel a little guilty!"
As Rinoa knelt on the floor with her head poked into a cabinet, Quistis would occasionally glance up from her book and smile as she felt a surge of warmth pass through her heart. She had a friend; she had someone who made her smile.