To answer questions, no this is not a sequel to any previous fanfics, I just wanted to give the first chapter a lot of unanswered questions, which will be hopefully answered this chapter. I guess these events would be about 6 months or so after the end of the game. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

P.S. I do not own FFVIII, or anything related to it, I do own Helena Trotsky and her novels though.

Squall walked down the second floor corridor toward the classrooms. The noise of hammers and saws grew louder as he got closer to his destination. The sound of his boots changed as he walked from old polished floor to new makeshift floors. Workers and SeeDs were scattered everywhere. Some were laying tiles, others building floors.

A few SeeDs that were laying down tiles nodded toward their commander, "Morning, Sir!"

"Morning." Squall responded.

The supervisor looked up from a wall he was inspecting and spotted Squall. "Good day, Sir!" He started walking toward Squall over the girders. "Progress is going good. Right on schedule."

"Very Good." Squall said as quietly as possible and yet be heard over the noise.

"What I don't understand, sir, and if you don't mind me asking, is that if they dropped bombs, wouldn't there be, well, less of a ceiling?" He waved his hand toward the ceiling.

"There was no bomb. They attacked through the windows. No warning. Soldiers came and attacked our cadets while they were attending class."

"What a low and cowardly thing to do. They were soldiers too, that's not proper army tactics. That's downright dirty."

"That's downright rude as well." Squall said, his voice betraying his anger. "There wasn't a lot of them, but they all died by angered SeeDs. I still can't believe we didn't think to capture some for interrogation."

"Well, we'll do our best to rebuild." The supervisor saluted the young commander and went back to work.

Squall glanced one more time at all the repairs being done. He beamed inwardly with pride, SeeDs helping each other, helping with the repairs. 'This is how Selphie must feel in Trabia' he thought. He now felt as if he understood Selphie better, if only a little bit.

He turned and started down the corridor, again his boots changing sounds from the new floor to the old floor. The elevator opened and a group of construction workers and SeeDs walked out. The SeeDs saluted Squall as they passed and there was a general, "Morning, sir." from everyone. Squall returned their greeting and entered the elevator.

As the elevator door closed Squall returned to his morning worries. The SeeDs on that mission must have brought back false information. No one knows where they got their info from, hell, it wasn't even information, just a rumor. 'Hyne' he thought, 'what I wouldn't give for the truth.'

The elevator stopped and the door opened, bringing Squall out of his mind and back to the present.

A hundred or so cadets and SeeDs were camped out in the halls of the first floor. Numerous students sat on the floor playing Triple Triad quite energetically. All the benches were taken up by napping SeeDs. Two junior cadets stood dripping in front of Balamb Pond, a SeeD scolding them for their behavior. A few teachers were attempting to hold classes when Squall walked by and noticed that the students' attentions were elsewhere. Squall walked along the corridor stepping over sleeping bodies and card games as he headed toward the infirmary.

Few people saluted their commander here, they were either occupied or oblivious. A few young SeeDs started up a soccer match up by the front gates. The noise of unorganized people died down as he walked down the infirmary hall. The door slid opened and the sanitary smell filled Squall's nostrils.

"Good Afternoon Squall." Dr. Kadowaki greeted him. Squall looked at his watch, 'Noon already?' he thought to himself.

"How is everyone doing?" he asked quietly. The entire infirmary was full of cadets and junior cadets injured in that attacks. The infirmary itself was so small it could only care for twenty people, and not comfortably. There were at least thirty students per classroom and four rooms were demolished. The intensive care unit was the infirmary itself, while those who only needed moderate care were being held in a makeshift hospital wing set up in the dormitories.

The young commander looked around at the intensive care patients and the SeeDs that were caring for them. 'No wonder everyone is worn out. So many people helping others. This Garden is drenched in fatigue and exhaustion.' Squall thought.

Dr. Kadowaki placed a hand on Squall's shoulder. "If you're looking for Rinoa, I believe she's in the Quad. I sent her away because she was looking awfully tired. In fact, you look equally exhausted. You-"

"I'm fine, thank you." Squall nodded to Kadowaki and left before she ordered him on vacation.

The Quadrangle of Balamb Garden was completely rebuilt before the end of the last Sorceress War. Zell was teaching a large number of students the art of Tai Chi. He must have rounded them up from out by the front gate, their soccer game causing to many problems.

Rinoa sat under a tree, half watching Zell's class, half reading. Squall snuck up and sat down next to Rinoa. "What are you reading?" Squall whispered.

"Helena Trotsky's latest best seller." Rinoa smiled. "You wouldn't have been reading it, would you?" her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Why, I'd never read such mush." Squall feigned being hurt by Rinoa's indirect accusation.

"Yeah right, Mr. Softie," she poked him gently in the stomach and laughed. "How come my bookmark was moved?"

"It," he paused, "It fell, I simply picked it up."

"Yeah sure, would you like to read with me?"

"No thanks," Squall yawned, "To much sappy, dramatic stuff for me."

"As if your life isn't full of sappy, dramatic stuff."

Her eyes met his and they sat there, staring into each other's souls. He leaned closer to her face, her heart began to race. Hi lips parted, "No." Squall crossed her arms behind his head, closed his eyes, and leaned back against the tree. "I think I'll take a nap."

"Humph." Rinoa grunted and opened her book.

"I think you should take a nap too." Squall said without opening his eyes.

"No thank you, I'm not tired."

"Not according to Dr. Kadowaki."

"Oh! Not you too! I feel perfectly fine. I should be back there helping out!"

"Alright, just don't over exert yourself."

"And you shouldn't stress yourself."

"What makes you think I'm stressing?"

"You're starting to get worry lines and you're only eighteen." She poked his forehead. "Besides, you're almost constantly edgy, and I can sense it."

"To tell you the truth," Squall began quietly, hesitantly. "It's that book." He pointed an accusing finger to Trotsky's novel in Rinoa's hands.

"I knew it." Rinoa said under her breath. Her earlier feelings proved true, he was reading her book. She looked at him, "Squall, it's just a work of fiction."

"With underlying themes of real life evil and deceit." Squall looked perturbed.

Suddenly, SeeDs and students from out in the halls came running in. Screaming and shouting they poured into the Quad. Zell's Tai Chi students ran to help. In the chaos that ensued, Squall got everyone inside, ordered Rinoa to calm the SeeDs and cadets and take charge, and then locked the doors after he and Zell stepped out into the halls.

"Did you hear what's going on?" Zell whispered to Squall while scanning the halls for enemies. "All I got was jumbled reports."

"Something about an explosion at the front gate" Squall said while removing his security override card from the Quad door. 'All you need to do to get clear info is take someone by the shoulder and look them in the eye.' They started toward the front gate.

Until next time...