Disclaimer: dont own FF8.

Chapter 10

Lony sighed heavily as she shut the door to her room. Rain pelted the windows in an unrelenting punishment for some crime that was committed. Seifer Almasy and Irvine Kinneas sat in the living room. Their expressions showed their great disappointment in finding their comrade with no memory of who he was or who they were. Lony stepped into the kitchen quietly and snatched something off the tray of food that May was preparing.

"How is he?" May asked.

"He's asleep right now. He said he had a headache so I gave him some aspirin and sent him to bed," May nodded and picked up the tray.

"You'll have to help me explain his condition to them," May said before leaving the room. Lony stared out at the drowning land outside of the sliding glass doors and felt a heavy weight settle on her. The ocean tones of the kitchen, meant to calm and soothe her, did nothing as she stared at them and the mural.

"Lony," May called from the living room. Lony finished what she was nibbling on and walked out into the living room. She examined each of them before settling onto the window seat. Seifer seemed content to stay silent and stare at May as she spoke. Irvine seemed like he wanted to get up and run into her room and take Squall away.

"Lony found him on the river bank about a week ago," May said.

"He healed that fast?" It was Irvine who spoke.

"Don't act so surprised, cowboy, we had a lot of Cure magic to use on him," Lony spoke up. Irvine glanced at her and hit his forehead.

"Duh, sorry." He said. Lony waved it off and stared at the rain drenched world.

"How much of his memory is gone?" Seifer asked.

"All of it. He only remembered his name when he woke up and even remembering that was a challenge." May answered. Seifer chewed his lip thoughtfully.

"It's possible that he may never get his full memory back. And if that happens then you can't force him to remember," May continued. Lony tuned out the conversation and let May take care of it. The rain pelted the windows and the rest of the house mercilessly and the once dry ground was now begging for the rain to stop before everything was flooded. Lony watched the shadows for the thing that she suspected was there but found nothing. Leo had left on another trip shortly after Squall's little spell. He had said that he was hunting demons.

'What was he talking about?' Lony wondered. She jumped when a loud bang came from her room. There was the sound of shattering glass and something else. Screaming. Cold fingers of dread latched onto her as she ran for her room, May, Irvine and Seifer following her. Star was running around the room frantically and a black shape was thrown across the room. Squall sat curled up on the bed staring at the gun like it was a snake ready to bite him and inject him with it's venom. Lony ran over to the frightened boy and sat on the edge of the bed. He didn't notice her. May scooped up Star and the gun and stared at the broken window. Glass lay beside Squall and one fairly large piece threatened to gouge his eye out. Lony placed a hand on the spooked Lion's shoulder and slowly tried to calm him. Irvine walked over to them slowly while Seifer turned on May.

Fire. He could feel it, hear it, smell it, see it. It was everywhere. Consuming everything like ravenous wolves. He could hear screaming and gun fire. He could feel his mother's footsteps running away from the flames, from the gunfire. He could hear his papa shouting at them to keep running as he fell behind. He heard the laughter of those men as the raided the town and took what ever they wanted. He could hear children crying or screaming. He could feel the cold snakes of death slithering towards their feast of souls. He felt his mother stumble and clutch him closer to her. He could more foot steps and heard more gun fire, closer this time. His mother stumbled. She fell. Warmth flooded onto his from somewhere and when he looked down, something red and warm was flowing from his mother's chest. He looked into his mother's slowly dieing eyes and felt his heart shatter. Tears flooded his eyes and blurred his vision. They streaked down his face even as his vision turned to black.

Lony pulled Squall to her and rocked back and forth. She could hear Seifer's infuriated interrogation in the living room and she could feel Irvine presence in the room. The Galbadian Cowboy said nothing as she continued to sooth Squall. She heard the argument in the living room die slightly as Irvine shut the door. She glanced up at him and saw the troubled look on his face. Squall clutched her desperately and refused to let her go. She knew that just by holding she was helping to calm him and knew that Irvine's presence was helping as well. The cowboy slowly walked over to them and kneeled beside the bed staring at Squall. The troubled look only deepened as he reached out a hand to touch Squall's arm. Squall didn't jerk away from him but he didn't calm down either.

Mountains near the Shumi Village

'It worked,' he thought as he watched the frightened Lion clutch his savior. The Hawk was there too and he just knew that he had seen what the Lion had just "remembered". Her voice still echoed in his head when she told him to show that to the boy.

"If he is frightened then he will push memories away instead of embracing them and this way, he shall be off guard when the feast begins."

He shivered in delight as he drank up the fear that flooded into him from the Lion's heart. The hawk was just as spooked. He could feel their combined fear and their worries as their hearts continued to push that sweet ambrosia through their veins. Soon… whispered through his mind as he continued walking. Very soon indeed.