A/N: Here's the second of two all new chapters guys! i'll try and update sooner next time! promise!

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII

Chapter 17

Floating… he could feel himself floating in the inky void. He was cold… deathly cold. His limbs felt like they were frozen and they refused to move. His eyes fluttered open slowly only to be met with the darkness. His head ached and he could feel the sounds and images trying to shove the other away so they could gain his undivided attention. The icy arms that had once held him were gone now, hidden behind the wall of ice he was floating away from. Fingers combed his hair from his face and gently urged him to return to the world wakefulness. Slowly, he felt himself being pulled from this dark world cramped with things that he did not understand. As he grew closer and closer to the brink of awakening the images fluttered past him. Images of times long past or images of things that he should remember from recent times. Voices began to ring in his ears gently and his outside body curled closer to the warmth he was pressed against.

The scent of salt water reached him and the feeling of sand under his legs began to rouse him from his troubled rest. Slowly, painfully slowly, blue gray eyes flickered open. Light bombarded them but still he kept them open. The fingers in his hair continued to sooth him but the scent of the ocean forced his eyes to look for the source of that smell. He found none. Jade green eyes entered his line of sight and a petite hand was waved in front of him.

"Squall, follow my fingers ok?" someone said from above him. Confusion swarmed within him when he heard that name. Squall? Who… was that? Again, the fingers moved across his vision and he felt his eyes follow them. Someone said his name again and this time it registered. His name was Squall.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" again that hand entered his line of sight but now three fingers were present. He felt his lips move but his throat was too rough to let any sound out. Something pressed against his lips but he ignored it, wanting only to fall asleep again. His body was pulled back to lie against someone and arms wrapped around his middle. There were people there. Four people, two men and two women. His mind registered them again but much slower then it should have.

"Squall, do you know who we are?" Asked a small jade-eyed brunette. He nodded slowly, the memories slowly surfacing of these people. But… there were three missing. A man with a cowboy hat, Irvine, he remembered, stepped forward and watched him carefully as he asked his next question.

"Do you know where you are?" Again he nodded and felt his lips move, this time feeling in his throat as the sounds left his mouth.

"Rag… narock…" he whispered. Irvine smiled at him.

"What are these peoples' names?" Looking around at the group he felt himself register them and come up with names.

"Selphie… Seifer… Irvine… May…" His gaze turned up to the person holding him. "Lony…" Irvine smiled again and nodded. His lips moved again but all he heard was the sound of the ocean and the seagulls and children playing. Images began to flutter in front of him once more and his arms moved to try and shove them away for a pounding like that of a hammer to an anvil began behind his eyes and made his ears ring. He felt sand under his fingers again and felt a pain lance through his head. Something cold and wet was beating him against a hard thing behind him. The cold thing drove him under and made him slam his head repeatedly against a rock before spitting him out onto the shore. The wind was fierce and blew sand up around his legs as he ran, laughing as someone chased him. There were hands on his arms, holding his nails away from himself and darkness began to envelope him again. He welcomed it. He'd welcome anything that took him from the pain of those images. Crying silently, he wondered why the barriers around those images had broken, why were they causing him so much pain? He didn't want to remember anything if this was what it caused. Frantic calling reached his hears but he ignored it and plunged head first into the dark void.

May sighed heavily as she watched Squall's body slowly stop convulsing. The tiny welts on his arms began to bleed sluggishly and he lay there against Lony, ignoring the frantic calls of his friends. She watched as his blue gray eyes, so full of life before, began to glaze over and slowly close.

"He's not going to respond," she said. Seifer turned to her, his eyes blazing. She held up a hand to silence him.

"His memories are probably returning all at once. That's what is most likely causing him to continually pass out," She answered. Seifer watched her carefully and turned back to Squall.

"Selphie, that's enough now," He said. "He's not going to wake up if you keep shouting at him. Just let him rest for a little longer," Selphie turned emotion ridden green eyes to him but reluctantly relented. Irvine sat down heavily in one of the seats and put his face in his hands. Nothing was said for several minutes until finally, Lony broke it.

"Maybe…. We should go and visit this Matron he was whimpering about," She said, combing her fingers through Squall's hair and slowly easing his eyes closed.

"When was he whimpering about Matron?" Seifer inquired flicking his jeweled gaze to the girl.

"Before he started screaming. He was kind of…. Crying and saying Matron over and over again, like he was afraid of something," There was a moment of silence before Selphie sped out of the room to the cockpit.

"I'll tell Quisty where we're going," she shouted. Seifer nodded in agreement and looked at the self-inflicted wounds on Squall's arms. Thankfully, they didn't need medical attention right off the bat but they would have to find someway of stopping him if he tried it again. Seifer allowed himself to flop into one of the seats and sighed heavily. This was going to be a long, long trip.

Zell sighed heavily as he stared out the cafeteria window at the open ocean spread before them. The plate of hot dogs sat ignored on the table before him and Quistis just simply didn't have the heart to interrupt him from his thoughts and make him eat. The last report that they had received burned in her memory and sank her heart each time she heard it.

Flashback

Quistis waited impatiently while Xu and Nida tried to reconnect the wires that would receive any reports on Squall or the madman behind the Sorceress Resurrection. Zell's rapid movements were a constant buzzing in her ears as the hyper martial artist bounced and jabbed at invisible enemies. Glancing at the screen again, she sighed heavily and rubbed her temples, impatience growing into irritation at the length of time it was taking until they had a clear image.

"We got it!" Nida cried triumphantly as he bounced up from beneath the control panel. Snowy white blanketed the screen and the sound of static began to buzz irritatingly in the small room before the blurry image of Irvine appeared on the screen.

"Irvine! How goes the search man?" Zell asked nearly blocking her view of the young cowboy. Quistis felt her brows furrow deeply as she analyzed the nearly crushed look on the boy's face. His smile was forced though as if trying to relay good news but it was obvious that something horrible had happened.

"Well…" he started haltingly. "We… found him-" loud cheering erupted in the room and Xu reached for the intercom button.

"But…" Quistis asked. Irvine sighed heavily and the crushed look returned. He scratched his forehead nervously and looked at them again.

"He… he doesn't… remember anything…"

End Flashback

A chill struck her yet again as the scene replayed. Zell had stilled completely while Xu nearly fainted and Nida turned pale as a sheet. Quistis wasn't sure what her reaction had been but the news had been… shocking. Looking around the cafeteria now she could tell that the whole Garden knew and that all were crushed by it. No matter how much Squall denied it, many of the students looked up to him as a role model. Especially the junior classmen who seemed anxious to meet the commander when ever they could, no matter what the circumstances. Quistis turned her gaze to the martial artist beside her and nudged his leg with her foot.

"Come on, Zell, we have to call Selphie to see what's going on," She said. Zell groaned and stood.

"And right when I was about to fly out the window and pound that guy's head in," he said pouting adorably. Quistis chuckled faintly and walked out of the cafeteria with Zell right behind her.