Author's Note: I know, I know. You want it to get all happy and fluffy again. So do I. But, I can't do that yet. And this story won't have very much longer to go. Maybe three or four more chapters. I can only do angst for so long.

Note to ghettotaku: You know, at first your last review confused me, but then I realized that you're getting one of Jupiter Green's stories, "Rewind," confused with mine. Because THIS story is the sequel to "Blind Instinct" in which Squall and Yuffie didn't get married. So.. yeah... I think you're thinking of "Rewind." That's the only story I can think of with Master Leader. Anyways, hope that helps clear up the confusion.

Oh, yeah... I forgot to say this at the beginning of chapter three. Okay, the epilogue of Blind Instinct took place a few days before Christmas. Now, chapters one and two of this story took place BEFORE that epilogue, but chapters three and four took place AFTER that epilogue. Hope that didn't confuse anyone.

–Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story belong to their rightful owners of SquareEnix. I don't think any of them belong to Disney unless I mention Riku, Kairi, or Sora. However, I'm not going to complain if SquareEnix decides to give me the sole rights to Squall and somehow figured out a way to make him flesh and blood.

Chapter Five: Shattered Rain

Yuffie didn't know how long she lay there, tearing streaming down her face and falling onto her pillow while she brutally blamed herself over and over again for miscarrying. Curling into a protective ball, she tightened the blankets around her until she had made a cocoon around herself, hoping it would offer some reassurance. At this moment, she would have liked nothing better than for Squall to come into the room and simply hold her, telling her everything would be alright even if it were a lie. But he was gone, leaving her in there alone, the memory of the shutting door still echoing in her mind even though it was hours ago.

She must have finally fallen asleep for she jerked awake and noticed that the sun was now setting through the window. The last time she had looked, which had seemed like moments ago to her, the sun was still high in the sky. The door creaked open and she realized that must have been what woke her up, the sounds of someone approaching the door. The ninja hoped fervently that it was Squall, but the light footfalls told her differently.

Aerith sat on the edge of the bed, sitting behind Yuffie, and reached out to gently stroke the teenager's lank hair. "Yuffie?" she called softly, trying not to let her voice break as she did so. Even though she had not been the one to lose a baby, it still hurt knowing that someone did and that the someone was a very close friend, almost sister, to her.

The ninja didn't answer, but continued to stare out the window with puffy red eyes to watch the sun set behind the mountains, leaving the Hollow Bastion world covered in a depressing darkness. Yuffie welcomed the darkness with open arms. Before, Yuffie had embodied the light, bringing sunshine with her perpetually happy and bouncy attitude to those in the darkness. But, now, she was darkness itself, needing others to pierce through the dark veil and bring her sunshine.

"Oh, Yuffie," the flower girl moaned, the few tears she had been holding back falling down her face unheeded as she continued to stroke the girl's hair. Today was supposed to be a happy day for Aerith, the day she was going to tell the rest of the Bastion what she had only found out the morning before. But when Squall had brought the bleeding Yuffie to her room the night before, Aerith decided that she might better wait awhile before she shared the news that she was pregnant with anyone besides Cloud.

"I want to go back to my own room," Yuffie croaked, her throat raspy from both crying and the painkillers she had discovered Aerith had been giving her, explaining why she had not felt any pain when she had first awakened. "I want to be in my own bed, in my own room." She was tired of being in Aerith and Cloud's room. It just made the fact that she had lost the baby so much more real.

Nodding, the flower girl stood up and brushed away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. "Alright. Just let me go get Cloud to carry you," she began, walking briskly towards the door to holler for the blonde to come help her. She had seen him walk into the next room just moments before she had come in here, so she assumed he would still be nearby.

"No, don't get him, Aerith. I can walk," the ninja said softly, slowly sitting up and putting a hand to her forehead when a wave of dizziness assaulted her. She sat as still as she was able, her head reeling as the room seemed to spin around her, and waited for the lightheadedness to abate before she swung her legs off the bed.

Aerith rushed back over the bedside, pushing gently on Yuffie's shoulders to make her lie down once more. "Yuffie, really, you should just lie down and let him carry you. You lost a lot of blood last night and haven't had time to recover yet," the flower girl insisted, keeping the ninja seated, at least, since she couldn't make her lie down once more.

Remembering how far it actually was to her bedroom and feeling how weak she truly was, Yuffie finally nodded her assent and lay back down on the bed. "Alright, you win," she whispered, watching as her pink-clad friend once more headed for the door. It was then that she looked down at what she was wearing and realized someone had changed her from the flannel nightshirt and into one of Squall's button-up shirts, which once again set her thoughts about the swordsman. "Aerith?"

The flower girl stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned to look at Yuffie, her brows furrowed slightly. "Hm?" she called back, her eyes trained onto the ninja's.

Yuffie furrowed her own brows, looking down at the baby blue quilt that lay across her and traced her finger across the arching quilting pattern. "Where's Squall?" she asked quietly, not lifting her eyes from the quilt as she didn't want Aerith to see anymore tears in her eyes.

"He's... he's in the waterway," Aerith told her, stumbling over her words as she remembered the anguished look on his face when she had passed him in the hallways much earlier in the day. He had gone directly to the waterway and had not emerged since then, not even saying anything to the flower girl as he passed her. Of course, she couldn't blame him. It wasn't only Yuffie who had lost something precious the night before, but Squall as well. She just didn't understand why the two weren't supporting each other right now when they both so desperately needed it. Every time she had peeked into the room to check on Yuffie, the ninja had been alone and sleeping for the most part due to the painkillers she was taking. Shaking her head, Aerith decided now was not the time to be letting her mind wander. "Do you want me to go get him for you?" she finally asked when Yuffie hadn't said anything to her reply.

Shaking her head slightly, Yuffie took a deep breath and looked up at the flower girl, biting her lip slightly. "No, that's okay. I was just wondering where he was," she murmured softly, looking back down at the quilt once more. She really did want Squall here with her, but she wanted him to want to be with her, not there simply because he felt it was his duty. Noticing that Aerith had yet to call for Cloud, she raised her head slightly and peeked through the bangs that had fallen into her vision. "I thought you were going to get Cloud?"

Aerith sighed deeply and stepped out in the hallway, letting the door click shut behind her before she leaned against the wall, her hands coming up to rub her face. She had been sure that Yuffie would send her down to the waterway beneath the castle for Squall, and when she hadn't, it made the flower girl's heart ache. One could tell by looking into the ninja's eyes how much she wanted him there with her, but something must have happened between the two that morning to make her afraid to ask for him.

Cloud came out of the next room before Aerith could ruminate matters any further, reminding her that she was supposed to be retrieving him to move Yuffie to her own room. "Cloud?" the flower girl called softly, stepping away from the wall and walking down the hall towards him. "Yuffie wants to go back to her room and she's too weak to walk."

"Okay, I'll carry her," the blonde assented, leaning forward to gently kiss Aerith on the forehead and stroke her cheek with one hand. "How's she doing?" The ninja was like a little sister to him and he hated to see her in such pain, emotional or physical.

Shutting her eyes, the flower girl fell into Cloud's arms and rested her head against his shoulder, letting the tears that had just recently formed fall onto his shirt. "Physically, she's just weak, but she'll pull through. But, emotionally, that's a whole other story," she whispered into his shirt, her voice coming out muffled.

Slowly bringing his arms up around the woman in his arms, Cloud held onto her and rested his chin atop her head, beginning to rock her gently. "She's strong, Aerith. She'll make it through," he murmured, adjusting his head so he could kiss her chestnut hair.

"I know, but she needs Leon in there with her and he's not there," Aerith muttered, raising her hand to wipe away her tears. "They need each other right now."

"I know, Aerith, I know," he whispered, beginning to gently stroke her hair to help soothe her. Suddenly, in the back of his mind, the thought that it might have been Aerith who had miscarried. Ever since she had told him she was pregnant last night, he had begun to worry about a million different things. And, then, it was the same night that Squall had rushed the ninja to their bedroom, blood everywhere and it just made all his fears seem more justified. Without knowing it, Cloud tightened his grip around Aerith and buried his face in her hair.

Sighing, Aerith back out of his arms and dried her eyes while nodding slightly. "Go take Yuffie to her room and then tell Shera to bring her up something to eat," she commanded softly, starting to walk down the hall towards one of the many lift stops in the castle. "And I'm going to go try and find Leon."

Knowing that he couldn't stop her (he had found out the hard way about her stubborn streak), Cloud watched helplessly as she left him alone in the hallway. He slowly shook his head before going into the room where Yuffie waited for him.

Sitting against the dank wall of one of the many twisting passages beneath the waterway, Squall let his hands rest between his drawn up knees and stared blindly at the opposite wall. His mind never once drifted from what had just happened to both him and Yuffie. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the blood all over the floor and watch helplessly as she fell to the tiles. And there was still nothing he could do!

He lowered his head to his knees, loathe to shut his eyes as the bloodstained bathroom would only greet him once more. His spine ached at having been pressed against the icy cold wall for most of the day, yet Squall still refused to get up. Even as his breath formed puffs of steam in the frigid waterway, he stayed. For once, he didn't know what to do.

For most of his life, others had looked up to him for the protection that he offered them. Even before the Heartless had come to Hollow Bastion when he was still a teenager, he had been training with the Gunblade. And, then after the Heartless had attacked, he had discovered who his foe was and had learned how to fight against them. At Traverse Town, he had made it his duty to protect those who were unable to protect themselves, even if it cost him his life.

But, now, something had attacked him and Yuffie and he didn't know what to do! How could one fight something that attacked invisibly? How could one fight fate?

Picking up the small rock lying next to him on the ground, he angrily through it across the passageway as hot tears came to his eyes once more. If he could, he would search the universe over for whatever entity that had granted both him and Yuffie the happiness of having a child only to then rip it away from them. His hands tightened, as though he were throttling some invisible enemy.

His thoughts shifted from his irate anger at the Fates and drifted back to the girl in the castle above him. He knew it was much harder on her than it was on him, but it was still his child as well that had died. And it hurt more than he could describe. The urge to hold onto Yuffie and simply to just let his tears go was overpowering, but he resisted somehow. He was waiting for her to ask for him, to let him know he was still wanted, to let him know she didn't blame him as he blamed himself.

Light footsteps sounded in the waterway, and, for a moment, he thought it might be Yuffie. But then he remembered that she would be far too weak to walk down here on her own, let alone stand the cold air considering how much blood she had lost. He lifted his head from his knees and stared down the passage, waiting for the intruder to come into sight.

Bright green eyes and chestnut bangs appeared in the darkened passageway, a pink dress and a light blue coat following them. Aerith continued trekking through the cold passage until she was right in front of Squall, staring down at him as he looked up at her.

Squall regarded her coldly; everyone knew he came down here when he wanted to be alone, yet she had still come down here. "Go away, Aerith," he muttered, lowering his gaze from her to stare at the wall once more.

"Leon, you've been down here all day," Aerith sighed, wrapping her coat around herself even tighter as the icy air seemed to seep into her bones. "You should be up there with the rest of us, with Yuffie. She--"

He cut her off abruptly with the look on his face, appearing so tormented. "Yuffie doesn't want me up there," he said under his breath, casting his eyes downward once more. "She doesn't want me right now." The memory of her shuddering beneath his touch had haunted him all day, forcing him to stay down here, away from her.

"Leon..." Aerith began again, closing her eyes and trying to keep the tears that had formed from his forlorn tone at bay. "You can't stay down here. You haven't eaten since last night and it's freezing down here. It's a wonder you haven't gotten hypothermia yet." She squatted onto the ground in front of him, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on. Come up into the castle to at least eat something and get warm. Please?"

A long silence passed between them, neither of them speaking nor moving until finally Squall slowly climbed to his feet and began wordlessly walking towards the lift stop Aerith had used to come down here. The flower girl followed in his footsteps, trying to sort out matters in her head. Yuffie wanted Squall, she could see it in her eyes earlier, yet she refused to ask for him. And Squall wanted Yuffie, she could hear it in his voice, yet he refused to go to her. She knew there was really nothing she could do. It was something they would have to go through on their own, with just support from their friends. But, in order to get through it, they needed to mourn together, taking comfort from each other... something they had yet to do.

Author's Note: Okay, I'm not too pleased with this chapter, but I did the best that I could do. And I hope you guys enjoy it somewhat, even if it is all angst. Anyways, leave me a review and tell me what you think.