Disclaimer: As before, I do not own FF8 or A Christmas Carol. The only thing I own is the combination of the two.

Chapter 2: The Great Plan or Sefier's Ghost

Meanwhile, Squalls friends were huddled around a table in the cafeteria, sipping (or in Zell's case, chugging) hot cocoa and discussing the problem at hand; namely Squall.

"He's been grumpy and sarcastic all December," observed Martha.

"He refused to donate to the charity! What a skinflint!" pouted Selfie.

"He even threw a paperweight at me today!" complained Laguna. "All I wanted to do was dicuss the new Esthar Holographic Corporation!"

Quistis had sat silently up to this point, staring into her cocoa mug as though she dould divine the answers from it. Suddenly she looked up at Laguna, almost piercing him with her Lazer Eyes skill. "Did you just say Esthar Holographic Incorporated?" she inquired.

"Well, yes, I just wanted his appoval to test the new technology out...." Laguna trailed off. "Imagine, asking permission from my own son!"

The others hadn't heard this statement, however, due to the fact that Quistits had banged her fist on the table (ratting everyones' cocoa mug) , yelling, "THAT'S IT!"

Laguna wsa the first to recover from the stunned silence. "What's it?"

Quistis was wearing a sly grin now. "You can test it out, right here in the Garden! And with Squalls participatioin, too. Although it might not be voluntary...."

"I like the sound of that!" A tall, blonde man wearing a tattered white trench coat strutted in, accompanied, as usual, by his 'possee.' "Can we be of any help?"

"Sure!" Quistis replied, "especially since he doesn't even know you're here!"

Sefier raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Rinoa explained," We never actually told him you survived the whole time compression thing...We wanted it to be a Christmas surprise for him."

"Oooooh!" Sefier said significantly. "So, what's the plan?"

The group worked things out in a whispered conference over their cocoa (earning a few odd looks from passerby) and then headed to the Tech room to put things into action.

In the Tech room...

"Okay," said Laguna. "The computer is going to need scans of all of you if this is going to work. Rinoa, you go first." Rinoa stepped into the range of the multiple lazer setup, and watched in fascination as it ran up and down, scanning her entire body. Laguna hit the projector button and immediately Rinoa was standing next to a life-sized holographic copy of herself. "Beautiful!" Laguna said with approval. "Who's next?"

While this was going on, Quistis and Selphie worked on rigging up some of the security cameras and tape players.

"Okay, here's all the tapes of the Christmas Bazzar. Splice together the best parts- you know, the ones with all of us in it, not just random students. But make sure you get a lot of sappy stuff, too, and dont forget-"

Quistis cut Selphie off with a raised finger. "I know, I know! I'll make it fun and interesting, don't worry." She smiled and turned to Martha, who was holding a mini spy camera of her own. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Martha nodded. "I don't mind. I'll just set it up where Tim won't notice it, and then turn it on when I tell him..." she didn't finish the sentence.

Selphie smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, if the tape doesn't convince him, we'll take it out of our own pay."

Martha gasped. "You would do that? For me...and Tim?"

Selphie laughed. "Just make sure you turn the camera on!"

Later that night...

Squall was just settling into his favorite armchair when a knock came at the door. He groaned, but got up to answer it anyway, and tried not to slam the door as he opened it. It was Rinoa, carrying a tray with two steaming mugs of cocoa.

"Hi Squall! I brought you comething to drink."

Squall sighed. It was always good to see Rinoa. "Come in."

"I thought you could use something relaxing after a hard day in the office," Rinoa smiled warmly. They sat across the table from each other in companionable silence, and if Squall noticed that his cocoa tasted a little funny, he didn't show it. He was just getting so incredibly drowsy...

"Squall..." Rinoa's voice seemed to come from far away. "I think you should get some rest now..."

Squall nodded and stumbled to his bed, where he flopped down, fully clothed, and began to snore.

Rinoa giggled as she set the holo projector in a convenient corner. She was still laughing when she closed Squall's door behind her. "I didn't think he would fall asleep that fast!"