By myself but not Alone

You're a reject and you're no one and you're nothing

Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy 8

Selphie lay on the floor, clutching her stomach as pain started to overcome it. her face had turned beet red and her loud cackling had been going for at least five minutes.

Quistis sat at the end of Rinoa's bed, suppressing her laughter, unsuccessfully, behind her gloved hand.

Meanwhile Rinoa glared at them both.

"It's not really that funny!" Rinoa finally exclaimed.

"Well what did you think he wanted?" Selphie laughed.

"I DUNNO!" Rinoa yelled.

She'd just told Quistis and Selphie about her failure to succeed with Squall. She hadn't realised how humorous it had been till she'd heard their reactions.

"Now Selphie," Quistis started but she started laughing again and had to stop to take several deep breaths. "We can't make fun, Rinoa obviously feels some powerful…" she trailed off before laughter over took her.

"Oh would you two just shut up! I don't know why I even told you." Rinoa snapped.

She exited the room and went into her kitchen thingy… well she supposed it was a kitchen, it had all the necessary things that a kitchen was supposed to have… it was a bit bland though.

"It's alright Rinoa." Quistis said as she came in, she placed one hand on Rinoa's shoulder and took a deep breath, "We've all fell under Squall's spell before."

"Not me!" Selphie called out from the other room.

Rinoa chose to ignore Selphie's outburst deciding that it wasn't worth commenting on, whereas Quistis's remark was much more delicious.

"What do you mean 'we've all fell under Squall's spell'?"

Quistis opened her mouth and closed it again; she put her finger in the air, making her look much more like an instructor than usual. She appeared to be looking for an answer but without fail Selphie decided to speak up.

"Quistis was in love with Squall for like ten years!"

"I beg your pardon! It was nowhere near ten years… it was more like eight."

Quistis's voice went more and more silent as she completed the sentence, it was obviously not a subject that she took much pride in gloating about.

"You and Squall! Did anything ever happen?" Rinoa prayed that nothing did.

"NO! I'd never go there with Squall! And he kinda ignored me most of the time."

Rinoa's heart sank… not because she wanted something to happen between the two more because if Quistis couldn't get Squall how the hell did she have a chance? Quistis was everything that little girls hope they grow up to be. She was beautiful, talented, intelligent, elegant and enchanting.

"Well there go my chances." Rinoa sighed.

"What do you mean?" Selphie enquired.

She sat down on top of the kitchen counter and Quistis frowned at her. People had to prepare their food off that! Selphie ignored Quistis and remained seated, pretending not to notice.

"Well Quistis could have anyone she wanted in the entire world and it shows that Squall has incredibly high standards!"

Quistis shook her head, she took Rinoa's hand in her own and Rinoa looked up into her eyes. Quistis had a small smile on her face and was obviously flattered by Rinoa's statement, even if she already knew it.

"No Rinoa, it shows that Squall isn't shallow." She dropped her hands and rested her own on her hips, "besides, I'm glad. I've got other things in my sights."

"Yeah like Sei-" Selphie was cut off with a jab to her ribs.

It was apparent that Quistis wasn't yet open to disclosing who that someone was.

Meanwhile

"You what!" Irvine laughed.

Zell was rolling around on the ground of the training centre, an exact replica of what Selphie had been earlier. Irvine stood with a disgusted look on his face.

"I don't know! She just pounced on me! I panicked!" Squall replied, keeping an eye out for stray monsters as he did so.

They were in the habitat of T-Rexaur's so they had to be alert. Should one appear and surprise them then it could be big trouble. Not that they were the stealthiest of creatures.

"Dude, that is weak." Zell finally panted out.

Squall glared at him but didn't retort, he knew that it was "weak" even if that wasn't the terms that he may put it in.

"Y'know you've been ranting about this chick since she got here and now when you finally have a chance with her you dodge out!" Irvine stated.

"I have not 'ranted' about her! I've mentioned her a couple of times!" Squall defended.

He didn't like the situation he was in. he knew it was a mistake to tell his friends about this. Squall Leonhart didn't get crushes and to let anyone know of such a thing seemed wrong but he'd needed someone to talk to. Who better than Irvine? As it turned out he wasn't as in tune with women as he thoughts, but who could dash his little dreams?

"This in normal people would be like a million. You don't talk about anyone." Zell stated.

"Who are you to lecture me about women?" Squall asked, "Your choice in females isn't exactly what most people would call sane."

"How was I to know she'd turn out to be a stalker?"

"It might've been better if you learnt her name before going out with her. Did you refer to her as 'the library girl with a pigtail'?" Irvine laughed.

Soon they were thrown into battle against a young T-Rexaur. Not the most formidable of foes but a challenge nonetheless.

Elsewhere

"So are you going to meet with your father?" Quistis asked once they'd gotten over the conversation of her love life.

"No." Rinoa replied simply.

She knew that she had agreed to meet with him; she knew that she should but she didn't want to. She'd successfully ignored him for awhile and intended to keep it that way.

"I think you should." Selphie said quickly.

"Why?" Rinoa exclaimed.

She took it as an insult really, she knew that he didn't care for her and the fact that they even suggested for her to have anything to do with her was preposterous.

"Rinoa… I think you should… I father is a luxury some of us don't have. Even if it is one that we don't particularly like." Quistis said.

Rinoa understood, she had heard that most of her friends didn't have parents. Most of the people in Garden didn't have parents. It was a thing that had become quite common since the sorceress war.

"I understand Quistis but I don't need him. We'll talk when we have to leave I suppose."

Rinoa's leaving; it was a subject that most of them had strayed far from. It was apparent that she would be leaving at some point but none of them wanted to admit that. It was obvious that she wasn't going to stay here and become a SeeD, not Rinoa. The life of a SeeD wasn't suited for someone like her, she couldn't do it. It wasn't that she didn't have the skills; everyone did, while some people were more gifted than others everyone could train themselves up. Rinoa was just gentle. She wasn't appropriate for the hard life of a mercenary.

"Yes I suppose you shall…" Quistis trailed off.

The three girls had become quite close in the last couple of weeks. Rinoa was the part of the group that was missing, now it was Selphie and Quistis with the boys it was a group. She complimented the group and made it more than that; she made it more like a friendship. It wasn't a group of people that had been thrust together through the hardships of there lives. It was a group of people that generally enjoyed each others company and she made things seem normal. With her around they felt like normal teenagers who could enjoy their lives just like any other.

Inside Principal Cid's office

Cid asked his assistant Nada to call Squall up to the main office; Caraway had just been inside and had told him that he would be interviewing each SeeD individually. Squall was clearly going to get the most vigorous questioning because if anyone knew anything about the attempted assassination he would. He would've had to assemble the crew to do it or would've been on the crew for such a top priority mission.

Cid was worried, he didn't like the situation he was in. he knew that Caraway suspected Squall, it was apparent in the way he had talked about him.

Caraway had specifically said that he wanted to interview Squall first. Hopeful that if he cracked Squall then all investigations could cease.

Squall entered the room, smelling of sweat and grime. He had dry blood on his cheek and his gunblade was at his side.

"Good training session?" Cid enquired.

Squall nodded and sat down on one of the seats. He scratched the back of his neck and sighed, tired from forceful training.

"Squall, at 1400 hours General Caraway is going to begin interviewing SeeD's. You will be the first. I have the upmost confidence in you. Keep this quiet and stay calm. I know that you will set a high bar for the rest of the SeeD's." Cid said.

Squall nodded. He looked a little worried but not overly. Caraway had to know that asking SeeD's would get him nowhere. SeeD's were trained in more than questioning. They were trained to keep their cool in torture situations and even if they did know something then no one would ever find out.

"Yes Sir."

"Caraway is going to go pretty hard on you. Expect the worst and don't let anything surprise you."

Let the interviews begin

Caraway walked towards the Library, it had been cleared out so only him and a couple of officers would be in there. It was paramount that no one heard or knew the questions that were going to be asked, if it should leak out then people would be ready.

He walked inside to find Squall already sitting at a chair, ready for anything that might be said. Caraway grinned; he was quite looking forward to this. He and Squall had a history and he knew for a fact that Squall was in the business of assassinations. One failed mission of assassination on Sorceress Edea Kramer was a prime example.

"Commander Leonhart." Caraway said formally.

Squall nodded, he never saluted Caraway. It had been noticed and he had been asked to on several occasions, each time he had ignored the suggestion.

"Shall we begin?"

Once again Squall nodded.

He had already checked out the room. At each corner stood a guard and two more were at the back of the Library. He suspected it was for the more interesting interrogations and he suspected that this might be one of them.

"Where were your whereabouts on the night of President Deling's attempted assassination?" Caraway asked.

He sat down on a seat near Squall. Squall knew why too. This was his attempt at making it look at comfortable as possible. If he was standing and walking around Squall might feel intimidated and that didn't come till much later.

"I believe I had a late night in my office. I have several people who can verify this."

"Commander, all I want is the truth. Once the truth is found out we can leave." Caraway stated.

"So that you can destroy my Garden."

"So you're saying that the truth might lead to this?" Caraway retorted quickly.

Squall smiled a rarity indeed but this was the sort of situation where he shone.

"No, I'm saying your truth could lead to this unfortunate event to happen."

"Is he in there now?" Zell asked.

"Yeah, I hope this isn't too bad." Selphie replied.

She was quite nervous; the prospect of a dirty old man yelling at her wasn't too appealing.

"It could be worse. If he's already emotionally charged because of Rinoa's failure to show up when he asked her to meet him might make things hard." Quistis sighed.

Rinoa looked sheepishly at the ground. She hadn't wanted to make things hard for them but she supposed that Caraway and she were sorta fighting for the same cause.

She desperately wanted to know who killed her mother and he wanted to know who tried to kill Deling. The thought that it could've been any of her friends never dawned on her. They couldn't do something like that. That just wasn't them… but if it had been… could she be angry? Of course she could but it's not like they had been emotionally attached to their job. That's all it was and whoever they were killing it was bound to be someone's mother… she found herself wondering how many families her friends had orphaned.

She soon found these thoughts to be too much, they couldn't do that… but they could've. They wouldn't tell her, why would they? She was the daughter of the guy that was trying to accuse them all, they wouldn't tell her.

"I have to go." Rinoa stated.

She didn't look at them as she left, she couldn't. The kind faces that she had gotten to know couldn't be responsible for that.

Rinoa knew where she was going, straight to the Library. Everyone knew that they were being held there and she knew that she needed to talk to Caraway. Anything he knew she wanted to know too. Anything that was found out at these interrogations she wanted to find out as well.

She burst inside, nearly being tackled by the various guards, but they soon realised that it was Rinoa and backed off.

"Caraway!" Rinoa yelled.

Both Squall and Caraway looked at her, shocked looks on both their faces. It seemed that neither had suspected this event to take place.

"I need to be here." Rinoa stated.

"No you don't, get out!" Caraway snarled at her.

Rinoa was going to back down, she was going to follow the order but she realised that Caraway had no power over her. He wasn't a General to her and he wasn't a Father to her either, she could do what she liked.

"No." Rinoa said, she held her chin up in defiance and grimaced.

"Rinoa, this isn't where your supposed to be." Squall said.

"Don't you want to find out who killed your mother? Now this has to be postponed because of your interference!" Caraway growled.

Squall gave him a side glance, not liking the tone he was using but knowing that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Why?"

"This is a place where we are…" Caraway stopped himself; he nearly started explaining to Rinoa about breaking people down.

Of course he knew that Squall more than likely knew the procedure but didn't want to take any chances.

Squall was fed up with the procedure anyway, he was quite enjoying himself before but didn't expect the other SeeD's to take it quite like he had.

"I've had enough anyway. Balamb Garden is not responsible for this assassination. I will not allow anymore interviews to take place. Should you do so anyway you and your investigators can vacate."

Squall stood and gently took Rinoa's hand, making her exit with him. Caraway grabbed Squall wrist and held him back.

"If I go then you will admit your guilt on this matter… and Rinoa will go to." Caraway whispered.

This thought hadn't even dawned on Squall. He was aware that he was putting the Garden in jeopardy but knew that they could vacate the area and find a new one… but Rinoa leaving…

Y'know cause Squall's got those issues with people leaving him and stuff. Well that's all for today anyway. But the next update might not be too soon cause my best friends here from the other side of the country and stuff. I'll try though, maybe if I'm really inspired…