Author's Note: I'm writing again. But, this time, I'm not sure when I'll get the chapter done. My muse is a little tired. I can't imagine why...

And has made me mad... they did away with the paragraph indentations. I like having my paragraphs indented!!

Note to Annjirika: When you ask about my family, I assume you mean my dad because of his heart attack, right? Anyways, he's doing much better. Better than he's done in years actually. They put him on four kinds of medications AND he's actually in the process of trying to quit smoking, which he's been doing since he was 14 years old (that's 46 years of smoking for him). So, yeah, everything's going great now. It was just scary for that first week, when he was still in the hospital and they had to put a stint (sp?) in his heart since one of his main arteries was blocked. But, thank you for asking. I'm really glad to know that the people I've "met" through fanfiction care about me and my family.

[Disclaimer: I do not own the characters portrayed in the story. They belong to their respective owners. However, if Squall happens to stumble upon my doorstep, I'll be on him like white on rice and they will never get a hold of him again.]

Chapter Twenty: Follow Your Instincts

In front of his ship, slowly rotating on its axis, was the world of the Olympic Coliseum, the place where heroes trained. The place where he and Yuffie had gone not too terribly long ago. He could only hope he would find her there. Or, if not find her, then find someone there who had seen her in the past two days and knew where she was going next.

Bringing his ship out of the warp drive, Squall slowly brought it in for a landing, cruising through the docking bay and looking for an empty slot. The whole time, his eyes flew over the other ships in the bay, searching for the familiar pink and yellow blocks of Yuffie's Gummi ship. When he realized it wasn't there, he almost turned around to leave, but stopped when he remembered that someone there might know something about her whereabouts.

He landed his Gummi in the only empty slot in the whole docking bay. But, as luck would have it, this one empty slot was right next to a ship that he was very familiar with. It was Sora's. He fervently hoped the boy's flying skills had improved since the time he had crashed a ship as he did not want his ship to be damaged upon Sora's departure from the world. But, then again, Squall realized that he himself would probably be leaving the world before the young Keyblade Master.

Squall strode out of the docking bay and into the unusually busy open area of the Coliseum. It seemed like hundreds of people were milling about, talking amongst themselves and pointing to the large banners that displayed the various tournaments being hosted. The Gunblade wielder turned around to see for himself what the big commotion was about, only to see the short satyr Phil hanging an exceptionally large banner from the wall. Thinking about it, Squall came to the conclusion that if anybody on this planet knew if Yuffie were here or not, it would be the trainer of heroes, as he didn't let anyone into the arena without his express permission.

Approaching the ladder the half-goat man was standing on, Squall raised his stormy blue gaze to watch as the banner began to slip from Phil's hands, only to have the satyr catch it quickly before it fell to the ground. As he leaned over to grab the edge of the banner, Phil saw the swordsman looking up at him and cringed. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy here," he said gruffly, remembering the secret the young ninja girl had told him when she and her partner were there not too long ago.

"Have you seen Yuffie?" Squall asked, deciding it would be easiest to get straight to the point so he could not waste any time. Every second that he stood there chit-chatting was another second that his ninja was on the run.

The satyr's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the name. He had never been good about remembering the names of the many people who came to the Coliseum to fight. "Yuffie? Who's Yuffie?"

Squall tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb before looking back up at Phil. "The girl I was here with last time. The ninja. About this tall," he held his hand out at about her height as he waited for the trainer to answer him.

"Not since you two were here together. Now, if you don't mind, how about if you amscray and let me get back to work, weirdo." Phil muttered the last part under his breath, hoping that the man below him would be unable to hear it. However, what he didn't realize was that Squall's hearing was still sensitive from his recent blindness.

At the word 'weirdo,' Squall jerked his head back up to the satyr on the ladder and gave him an icy glare. "I don't believe this. A man that is half-goat is calling me a weirdo?" he questioned in disbelief before shaking his head and walking away, running a hand through his long hair. He stopped in his tracks when he heard what Phil said next.

"Well, at least I'm not the one with a goat fetish," the satyr called down from his position atop the ladder, his back turned away from the swordsman so that he was neither able to see him stop walking nor see the crowd around them hush and turn to stare at them.

Squall turned around slowly, a dark scowl covering his face as he glowered at the trainer of heroes, who still had his back turned. "What did you say?" he growled as he strode to the ladder, trying to ignore the soft snickers and hushed whispers coming from the crowd around them.

The banner finally hung to his satisfaction, Phil began to climb down the ladder, his hoofed feet making a light clicking noise as they touched the wooden rungs. "You heard me. I know about your goat fetish," the satyr declared as he reached the ground and began to weave his way through the throngs of people to reach the arena entrance.

"What goat fetish?" Squall demanded as he marched in front of the half-goat man and blocked his path. He decided that until he got the full story out of this little thing, that he wasn't going to allow him to get on with his work. Before Phil had a chance to answer, realization his the swordsman, causing him to take a step back and grimace. "Yuffie told you that, didn't she?"

Pushing past him, the trainer continued on his way to the arena, only sparing a passing glance to Squall as he did so. "Yeah, she did. So, now, if you'll excuse me, I'm getting out of here before you get an urge to do something," he called over his shoulder, increasing his slow pace ever so slightly.

Ready to grab the satyr by the horns and through him across the arena, Squall felt a restraining hand on his shoulder. He turned to find a vaguely familiar blonde man with bright blue eyes staring at him while the red cape he wore covered the lower part of his face. "It won't do you any good to make him mad, Leonhart," the blonde said in a low voice, taking his hand off the Gunblade wielder's shoulder which Squall could now see was in fact a golden claw.

"How do you know my name?" Squall demanded angrily, glaring at the blonde man as he watched Phil leave from the corner of his eye. "And who the hell do you think you are stopping me from doing as I damn well please?!"

The blonde man simply turned and walked towards an uncrowded area at the nearest wall, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the Gunblade wielder to follow him. "Has it really been that long, Squall? Long enough that you don't recognize your old friends?" he asked quietly, his blue gaze scanning crowds in front of them.

Squall took another look at the man, his eyes narrowing as a vague memory plagued his mind, the details of which were slowly coming into focus. Yes, he remembered the man before him, though it had been nine years since they had last seen each other and he had long been thought dead by all except the ever hopeful Aerith. "Cloud?" he muttered in confusion, taking another glance at the claw that now replaced one of his childhood friend's hands.

"Took you long enough, Squall," Cloud accused, a blonde eyebrow raised as his eyes left the crowds and glanced back at Squall, who had decided to lean against the wall beside him. He couldn't help but notice the slightly perplexed look on his face. "You're wondering why I'm not dead?"

Although the question came out more like a statement, Squall imperceptibly nodded his head in answer. "That would be nice to know considering I saw you fall to the Heartless nine years ago," he replied, the memory of seeing the young blonde warrior's heart being ripped from his body by the shadows haunting his mind.

"Death is only the beginning, Leonhart. It's just the beginning," the blonde muttered cryptically, his bright blue eyes becoming a shade darker. He turned his gaze back to the crowd in front of them, watching his friend out of the corner of his eye.

Knowing that he should be leaving to search for Yuffie, Squall couldn't help but stay rooted to the spot and await an explanation from Cloud. After a few moments of waiting patiently for the blonde swordsman to continue, he decided a little prodding was in order. "Are you going to explain or am I going to have to beat it out of you like I used to?"

A short laugh escaped Cloud's throat before he turned his attention back to the Gunblade wielder. "I did die," he said casually, as though it were an everyday experience. "But, I was offered a chance to live again if I signed a contract. I was so desperate to live again, that I signed without reading it first. So, here I am, waiting to fulfill my contract."

"Aerith's still alive, you know," Squall told him, realizing that it was one of his fellow swordsman's unspoken questions. "And she's still waiting for you." There was a long pause before he continued. "I never had the heart to tell her what happened in the chapel... when you died. She's lived these nine years believing you to still be alive."

"And I will be alive again once I fulfill my contract. And then I will search for my light." Dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand, Cloud's gaze traveled back to the crowds in front of them. "I overheard your conversation with Phil," he finally said after a few moments of silence. "You're looking for Yuffie. And I don't think it's because of the goat fetish lie, either."

Squall stared at the man, raising his eyebrows slightly as he wondered when the once clueless Cloud had become so good at reading people. "No, it's not," he admitted quietly, pushing himself off from the wall and beginning to walk away. "I have to find her. Soon." With that said, he started to walk away, only to be pulled back by Cloud once more.

"She's your light, isn't she?" the blonde asked softly, his gaze piercing his comrade's. He waited for the slight nod from Squall before he continued. "Follow your instincts to search for her. And once you find her, don't let her go." Releasing his friend, he began to walk away into the crowd, calling over his shoulder one last thing. "And don't tell Aerith you saw me here. I don't know how long it will take until I complete the contract and I don't want her to get her hopes up."

Squall watched as the crowd flowed around the blonde swordsman, effectively hiding him from sight as he approached the arena. Turning on his heel, Squall strode towards the World Exit, silently musing over his friend's words and advice. As he approached his ship, he began thinking of the next world he should search, quickly crossing most of them off the list as he believed she would never go there for various reasons. Such as Wonderland. He vividly remembered her response to Sora's retelling of some of the riddles the Cheshire Cat had told him. Yuffie had always hated riddles. Therefore, she would never go there.

He finally came to the conclusion that the most likely place she would go would have to be Hollow Bastion. There, he concluded, she could change the pain and resentment she felt towards him into something positive by slowly restoring the world. She had talked about it enough during their years in Traverse Town, always hoping for the day when they could return to their home world. So, sitting in the pilot's seat, which still smelled faintly of orange blossom, he set his course for Hollow Bastion, groaning in disgust when he realized it would take a full day to reach the world even with his warp drive.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Flying into the Hollow Bastion atmosphere, Yuffie began to wonder where she would land her Gummi ship before she vaguely remembered the two docking bays, one in the upper portions of the castle and the other below the castle, the Bastion fortress had before it fell. She could only hope that at least one of them was still there. Opting for the upper bay, she slowly approached the Bastion and searched for the opening to fly her ship into. On the fifth pass around the castle, just as she was about to give up and land in the lower bay, she found it and flew her ship into it, landing at the slot nearest the castle doors. The fact that the only light in the area was from a large window in the roof went completely unnoticed by her.

As she climbed out of her ship, duffel bag strap over her shoulders and the box of food she had found inside her ship in her hands, she began to walk towards the doors, shivering violently as the Bastion winters came early and always hit hard. She silently cursed herself for forgetting that when she had packed her bag. Of course, when she had packed, she hadn't planned on coming here. She would have to hope that she could find some more suitable clothing somewhere in the castle.

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and tried to remember which part of the castle those doors led to exactly. The memory of running through the chapel and out a secret passageway to where the Gummis awaited nine years ago haunted her mind. Finally reaching the doors, she pushed through them, proving her memory to be correct when she found herself in a dark, narrow stone tunnel.

"Great," she muttered to herself as she stumbled along the dark passageway, trying not to trip over who knows what down on the ground beneath. Images of skeletons reaching up to grab her ran through her mind, causing her to greatly increase her pace. A thought struck her as she made her way through the tunnel. If there were no working lights in this tunnel, then there would be no working lights in the rest of the castle either.

"Yuffie," she told herself, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her she had to be insane for talking to herself, "no lights mean no electricity. No electricity means no heat. You are going to freeze to death!" She briefly wondered if perhaps she should turn around and head to another world, but the sound of the doors behind her slamming shut seemed to be what she needed to urge herself forward.

"I will not freeze!" she said vehemently, determined to stay on this world until she felt she was over Squall. Of course, that annoying voice in the back of her mind reared its head again and told her that she would be here forever if that were the case. "And I will get over him eventually... I hope." The last part of her statement came out as a raspy whisper as a few tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

After walking for what seemed like forever to the ninja, she eventually reached the other end of the tunnel and pushed through the secret door to find herself in the chapel. Luckily, the stained glass roof and windows illuminated the room enough for her to navigate and she found a box of candles in the far corner of the room. Setting her box down and duffel bag down, she quickly lit a candle before shoving the rest into her food box. She re-shouldered her bag and picked up her box once more, juggling with both it and the lit candle before she found her balance and could continue on her way.

"Okay, Yuf. Just find a room for tonight and deal with the rest tomorrow while the sun's still out," she muttered to herself as she noticed through the windows that the sun was quickly setting and leaving her in the dark save for her single candle. Finding a lift stop, she touched the crystal and descended to a lower level where she seemed to remember a couple of bedrooms. Even though it had been nine years since she had last been here, she discovered that she could still clearly remember some things. Such as where the bedrooms and a few various other rooms were located.

The lift she was on slowed to a stop and she stepped off of it and into the dark hall, the flame of her candle casting strange shadows on the walls. She involuntarily shuddered as she remembered the shadows that had chased her through these very halls nine years ago. But, she pushed that memory back in lieu of the fact that she had yet to see a Heartless here today. Of course, they could be waiting to ambush her, she thought until she remembered that most were incapable to thinking like that. So, brushing her fears aside, she continued down the hall until she came to the first bedroom.

She pushed open the ornate oaken door and sighed with relief when she found it completely free of Heartless, feeling that she would be unable to deal with them in her current state. Thankfully setting the heavy box down, dropping the bag from her shoulder, and placing the candle on the mantel, she rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm them. A glimpse at the fireplace showed her that logs still remained, so she uttered a quick Fira to set them aflame and warm the room.

The almost instant warmth caused her to sigh in contentment as she looked around the room and saw that the bed was covered in heavy blankets. "It must've been winter when we left," she mused, unable to remember that small detail of the fall of the Bastion. She pulled the blanket off the bed, wrapping it around herself as she settled in front on the fire place. Until the whole room warmed up, which could be awhile, she would have to be content with sleeping on the floor near the fire.

The ninja curled into a ball, closing her eyes and hoping for sleep to come quickly before her thoughts drifted to her first, only, and last lover. But, slumber betrayed her and refused to come until after she had shed her share of tears at the memory of how Squall's arms would wrap around her while they slept, effectively keeping her warm in the chilly nights of Traverse Town. Hours later, she finally fell asleep, only to find herself dreaming of him and the love she had believed they shared.

Author's Note: There. I finally got that chapter out. I hate these linking chapters. I really do. I have so much trouble writing them. But, thankfully, I have the next chapter almost completely written out word for word in my head... so, I'm hoping it won't take me too long to get it finished. And, the end it near. Only one or two more chapters, and maybe an epilogue. If I do two more chapters, then there won't be an epilogue. Anyways, go review for me please.