*I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters *sigh* *

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*Chapter 8 – Betrayal*

It was 7 am. Squall was walking trough the main hall, toward the elevator. As usual, he was deep in his thoughts. He was doing this automatically. Every day at 7 AM, he walked the same path toward his office, well, except the days when he spent the night there. There was a lot of work, and someone had to do it. He didn't feel anything, he wasn't sleepy, or tired, he was just walking, like every morning.

He passed by the Cafeteria entrance. He wasn't going in there. He wasn't hungry. He didn't need breakfast. Why waste precious time on eating? The lunch was enough, and he wasn't hungry even then. He was pale, his eyes were empty, tired. He was losing weight. But it didn't bother him; he had a work to do. He continued walking.

But then he stopped. His eyes stopped on six people a dog and a cat by the main directory. It was a strange scene for this time of the day. One of them, brown haired girl, was caring two bags. She put them on the floor, and the others started hugging her, one by one. First came girl with cat in her arms. She looked sad, as the rest of them. After her, came girl in yellow, followed by the blonde in orange, and then came two boys. After it they stayed in silence for a moment. Squalls eyes stooped on the girl with bags. Suddenly she looked at him. She had deep chocolate eyes, full of sorrow and hurt. She quickly turned her look. He continued looking at her. She looked familiar. After few moments, she took her bags and walked toward the exit. The dog followed her.

Squall was trying to figure out where he saw that girl before, but no matter how hard he tried, his thoughts didn't make sense. For the first time since he accident in Esthar, Squall was confused.

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"I'll miss you guys." Rinoa said as she put her bags on the floor.

"Are you sure you don't want us to accompany you to train station." Zell asked concerned.

"No, it's better if we say goodbye here, I don't want to cry at train station." She gave him a weak smile.

There was a heavy silence for a moment. Finally, Elly put her Lily on the floor, and hugged Rinoa tightly.

"I'll miss you." Elly said silently. As she stepped back, Selphie came in front of Rinoa. She looked at her for a moment and than hugged her, without a word.

"Are you sure that you'll be all right?" Irvine asked her after he hugged her.

"Yea, I'll be fine."

"We'll wait for you."

She looked at Zell, who was obviously fighting with tears. She smiled to him sadly. He came close to her, and almost fell in her arms.

"Take care girl." He whispered.

"I'll be back in few weeks, I'm not going away forever." ~I hope.~

After a minute of two, when Zell finally released her, she noticed someone in hall near them.

She looked toward the person and realized she was right. It was Squall. She remembered her dream, and suddenly wanted to run to him, to assure that he's all right, but she quickly changed her mind and turned her look off him.

"Here boy." She said, one more time she looked at her friends and left, not wanting them to see her tears.

As she came to Main Gate, she saw one more familiar face. She quickly wiped her tears, and proceeded toward him.

"Hey girl, so you're really going away?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Hi Seifer. Yea, I'm going home for some time." She said.

"Are you sure you want it?"

"'Course, I haven't seen my father for long time, I kinda miss him."

~Maybe I should tell her what I know, but what if it isn't true? I can't do this to her. I can't tell her anything till I'm sure that it's true.~

"You want some company?"

"No, thanks, I'll be fine on my own."

"Hope to see you soon."

She gave him a slight smile and started walking toward Balamb. He stood there and watched her until he couldn't see her anymore, and then he entered in the Garden.

Rinoa was walking slowly toward Balamb. The train was leaving in 8:30 am, so she had enough time to try to calm down. Her thoughts didn't give her peace. She couldn't stop thinking about Squall. Even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, she was very concerned.

~What if that dream was a premonition? What if he is in danger, and the dream was a warring? Who cares, he doesn't deserve my concern... but I am concerned. Hyne, I won't be able to sleep at night if I continue like this.~

She continued walking. She could already see Balamb in front of her. She had plenty of time left, so she was thinking to see if there's something new in shops. Well, she was in all of them yesterday because of Selphie, but at least it will keep her mind off of thoughts about Squall.

~I didn't see him for days...Hyne, I have so bad feeling about this!  Maybe, if I go back and see that he's all right, maybe then I'll be more tranquil. I'll just rent a car, I'll say that I've forgotten something, and I'll be back in a minute... Yea, I should do that.~

"What do you say boy? Should we go back to se if he's all right?" She knelt and asked Angelo.

"Woof!" He waved his tail.

"I guess that means yes." She smiled to her four-legged friend.

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The commander's office was quite dark, though the sun was already lightening the island. Squall was writing on his computer, but he wasn't concentrated on his work as usual, lots of things were on his mind and nothing made sense anymore. He didn't know what he wants, and what not anymore.

~I must concentrate, or I'll never finish my work. Sooner I finish it, sooner I'll go away from this garden… Maybe I should stay here, there's no reason to go…Except that she had left the Garden… What has that to do with anything? I don't even know her… I must hurry with these documents…Maybe I should look in students files…maybe I could find her there? …What for?~

He continued writing. He heard knocking.

"Come in, it's open."

"Sir? You have to sign this papers." A black haired girl handed him few papers.

"Thank you."

She left the office. Squall looked through the papers to see what he has to sign. It was something about Garden Festival. He started looking for a pen to sign the papers. He opened his drawer and saw a photo in there. He took it out. There was he with a girl on the photo, sitting on the beach. Suddenly he realized that the girl on the picture was the girl he saw this morning.

~So I do know that girl. I opened this drawer at least thousand times, how come I didn't notice the picture before?… This girl is beautiful… We look pretty close on this photo, how come I don't even remember her name …Who are you?… I should sign these papers and continue working…Maybe on the back of the picture writes something.~

He turned around the picture, and saw a note:

"For Squall and Rinoa,

Nothing can be stronger than love.

Always your friends:

Selphie and Zell

P.S. Squall, don't tore this pic; It was a hard job to take it! We've almost got killed!"

~Rinoa …did I love her? Do I still love her? This must be a mistake, I don't even know that girl…I should sign those papers…but…~

He put his hand back in the drawer, and found another photo. He took it out. He was on it, and Rinoa, and four other people that he saw this morning, in front of Balamb garden.

~We all look so happy…~

He looked at the other side of the photo; there was a short note.

"Best friends…4ever!"

~Best friends? …I…I saw them this morning…but they didn't behave like my friends. They didn't even notice me. Who are they? Why am I doing this? ……Who am I? I must finish my work… No … no I don't! …I have to finish it so I can go away… I DON'T wanna go away!~

He stood up.

Suddenly, he felt a piercing pain in his had.

~…I'm NOT leaving! ~

He started feeling dizzy, and the pain was growing.

~I must…find…her…~

His vision blurred.

~I'm… sorry…I'm not… strong enough.~

He couldn't stand the pain any more.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

His hand was searching something to grab as he was falling. Two photos slowly fell on the floor. He grabbed something that stayed next to him, but it didn't stop his fall. As he fell, he felt pain all over his body, and than everything went black.

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Rinoa was walking toward Squall's dorm. She was glad that no one saw her; she didn't want to lie to her friends, neither to tell them the truth. She had left Angelo outside; she didn't want him to make noise. Finally she found herself in front of Squall's dorm's doors. It was still early, so she assumed that he was still sleeping. She took the card-key that he gave her. She wanted to return it after all that happened, now she was glad that she didn't do it. She used the card-key and slowly opened the door. She didn't want to wake him up. She looked inside, but no one was there. She stood there for a moment, and then decided that she'll go to his office. She feared that she'll meet someone on her way, but she didn't want to give up now. She wanted to make sure that he's okay, so she could go home in peace.

Rinoa exited from the elevator, she didn't meet anyone till here. She came in front of Squall's office. She knocked twice, but no one answered. She knocked again, louder this time. No answer came. She tried to open the door; it was opened. She entered slowly. It seemed that the room was empty, but something grabbed her attention: two pictures on the floor by the desk. She went to take them, and saw something strange behind the desk. She went closer. The floor was covered with blood and big pieces of glass. Two photos slowly fell on the floor.

~No! It can't be! …I …It was just a dream.~

She fell on her knees.

~Elly!~ She called in her mind, she desperately needed  someone. Someone who'll tell her that this isn't real, that these past ten days were just a nightmare. It just couldn't be real. It was too terrible to be real.

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Elly was sitting on the grass, in the Quad, alone. Rinoa was gone for less than half hour and she already missed her. Rinoa was the only one who knew most of her secrets, and the only one who she could talk to. Well, Zell was there, and Selphie, but it wasn't the same. She reached her pocket and put out one small photo. There was a young man on it. Few streaks of his brown hair were covering his green eyes. He was smiling, showing his white teeth. She moved her fingers across the photo.

~I promise you Manuell, whoever stands behind all this; I'll find him. ~

She put the picture back in her pocket.

She leaned back and tried to enjoy in the sun that was rising up.

Elly! She heard someone calling her.

~Rin? It must be her! What happened? Where is she?~

Elly stood up. She looked at her clock.

~The train didn't left yet, she must be in Balamb!~

Suddenly she felt dizzy, she sat, almost fell, back on the ground. She closed her eyes. Images started appearing in her mind. She couldn't understand anything, the images were blurred and dark. She started panicking, nothing like this had ever happened to her. Suddenly she recognized something. She saw Rinoa. She stopped panicking and concentrated. Then, an image of a dark room came to her, but it disappeared quickly. Finally she saw a glass statue and then it had all disappeared.

Although she was confused, she quickly realized that those images had a meaning.

~Statue…where did I saw that statue? I know! It's the statue from Squall's office, and that dark room…is…the office. So Rin is in Squall's office? It doesn't make sense; she should be in Balamb, but then again… Maybe I should check it, I can't loose anything, but I must hurry.~

She started running.

The elevator stopped on third floor. Elly ran out. She burst in Squall's office and saw Rinoa on her knees. She wasn't crying, just looking at one spot on the floor behind the desk. "Rinoa?"

She didn't answer, actually, it seemed that she didn't even hear anything.

Elly went closer and looked behind the desk. The floor was covered with blood and pieces of glass. ~Omigosh…~

Elly kneeled in front of Rinoa.

"Are you okay?"

Rinoa slowly nodded.

"Lets go, we must report this."

She helped Rinoa to stand up.

"Elly?" Rinoa asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Will you help me to find him?" There was a sound of determination in her voice.

"Sure I will."

Rinoa gave her a grateful look and went out.

Elly followed her, but than she saw two photos on the floor. She went there and took them.

~I must speak with Seifer. We can't wait anymore, we're going to Edea.~

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Hee hee, I know I'm mean. ReViEw!!!

A/N: Your reviews are so inspiring! Every one of your reviews means a lot to me, and every one of them brings smile on my face. When I started, I've never thought that someone will actually like my fic. You guys are so sweet!!! I LOVE YA!

**Star Slight: Thanx! If you don't understand something, please e-mail me, I'll be happy to explain!

**Naiomi: I'm REALLLY REALLY HAPPY that you like the chapter! ^_^

**Hiasha: You're sooo sweet! Thanx! I'm so happy that you guys like my fic!!! I promise you that I'll write the best squinoa moments that I can in the end of the fic, just for you!!! One more thing, your "Dark Side" is AMAZING!

**Sammy-Chan:  Okay, if I don't find a way to get rid of Ian and Searyn, I'll tell you where they are, and you'll take care of them. A deal? Poor Squall doll, don't torture him too much!

By the way, I can't wait to read next chapter of "Anything" – I can't help but laugh whenever I read it! (Squally-Wally!!! LOL! She is kinda scary! )