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J u l i a
Chapter Five
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L i f e W i t h o u t R e g r e t s
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"Hey Squall! Wait up!"

A twenty-two-year-old Leon stopped and turned around. His stormy, blue eyes darkening with annoyanced as they leveled themselves on a petite, dark-haired girl with a sleeveless, orange, halter top and and white boy shorts.

Having finally caught up with the astranged, young man, Yuffie bent over with her hands on her knees and sucked in as much air into her lungs as she possibly could.

"I've told you repeatedly to call me 'Leon' from now on." Leon gripped the hilt of his gunblade, which hung menacingly upon his hip.

Undaunted, Yuffie glanced up and glared at the man standing above her.

"Could you have walked any faster!? I nearly died running after you!"

"If it kept you from my back for one day or the rest of my life, I'd have gladly done so," Leon deadpanned.

The young ninja in training, straightened her back. A near blinding fury raged silently behind the cool gray of her eyes.

"You're not the only one who lost someone, Squall. I did, too, if you haven't forgotten. But you don't see me, Cid, or Aerith stalking about the place and hidding in shadows, do you?"

"You wouldn't understand. Besides, you're only thirteen, how could you possibly understand anything," he replied coolly.

Yuffie clenched her eyes shut against oncoming tears and glared up at Leon through her bangs. "It's you who doesn't understand anything. You're too cold."

What came out her mouth next before she ran off down the dark streets of Traverse Town, made him unbelievably angry.

". . . You might as well be one of them

But beneath all the anger and resentment was a deep and terrible regret. He was a whirling mass of confusion.

She's right . . . .

"I can't understand anything."

He stood there for a while before continuing on his way to his favorite training spot. The Secret Waterway. As he got to the entrance, a terrible, heart stopping scream echoed off the walls of the dark alley way.

- - -

Squall splashed his face with cool tap water from his privite suit at Esthar Palace, then dried it with a towel. He grimaced and buried his face within the soft folds of the fluffy linen, trying futilely to will the beginnings of a migrane away. That only seemed to make the dull throbbing worst.

"Shit!"

He tossed the towel down and went back into the living quarters of his spacious suit. He was just sitting down on one of the leather bound sofas, when a light rapping sounded at his door.

He winced at the sudden noise then grumbled the whole way to the door to answer it. His ramblings seemed to consisted of the words: ". . . gunblade . . . lopping off heads . . . piking sticks . . . ."

His grumbling stopped once the door swooshed open. He would later regret that he ever did.

"Squuaaaaaaal!!"

All he saw were the colors green, yellow, white and brown, before being tackled by an unknown source.

"Squall! SQUALL!! It's so good to see you again! Things at Garden just aren't the same without you stalking the corridors or barking out orders!"

Dazed, Squall could only grasp a handful of what this new being said. It was talking so fast, he supposed anyone would have a hard time deciphering it's words. Whoever 'IT' was. By the softness of 'it's' body and weight, he could safely assumed 'it' to be a girl child.

"Uh, Sefie, I think you should let Squall go now. He's turning a bit blue in the face. Urk--It's not a very pretty color . . . ."

"Aww . . . . Okay!"

The thing bounced off of him, allowing Squall to sit up and take a glimpse of whatever attacked him. He sucked in his breath when his eyes met a pair of big, round, sparkly green ones in return.

"Look at the poor guy. Pale as a ghost." Squall felt something tug on his arm. "Well, come on man. Up!"

Still a bit confused and his head throbbing painfully with all the sudden commotion, Squall allowed the two new comers help him up. Looking at them, he recognized Irvine, black stetson hat all, and the other one. The bouncing little yellow thing with big green eyes.

He spared them both an uneasy smile.

"Hey, Irvine. And Selphie. When did you get in?"

Irvine grinned wrapped a sleeveless arm around Selphies shoulders. Selphie, in turn, giggled in delight and snuggled closer to her friend, who also happened to be her boyfriend. Squall almost pushed them out the door and put the lock code on it so that he wouldn't have to gouge his eyes out for witnessing such blindly love and sweetness. Sure he and Rinoa loved one another and even cuddled on occasion, but never to this extent. Besides, it was always Rinoa who initiated the cuddling.

Irvine glanced at his commander from the corner of his eye. He found Squall starring at them with a rather bored and irritated expression.

"Uh, sorry man. Yeah, me and Selphie got in just a little after eight-hundred hours. Laguna gave us a brief tour and kinda filled us in on what's been going on around here. Then he had to run off to fulfill is presidential duties."

Selphie giggled and bounced up and down in place. "Sir Laguna is such a gentleman. And incredibly cool!"

Being the jealous boyfriend, Irvine had to protest. "Hey, hey now. I can be a gentleman too you know. And I'm ten times more cooler then that old guy!"

Selphie choose to ignore him and jumped up to give Squall another hug.

"Oh, it's just so great seeing you again! So, how're you holding up?" She asked, returning to a pouting Irvine's side.

Squall put his head in his hands and groaned loudly.

Selphie gave him a sympathetic look, her emerald eyes showing deep concern for her friend.

Irvine bent down a bit so he could whisper something in Selphie's ear while looking equally concerned at their fierce commander.

"You think we came at a bad time? He looks pretty out of it."

Selphie nodded in agreement, her expression a bit sad.

"You know we can always come back later, Squall."

Squall peeked at them through the cracks of his fingers before letting his hand fall away completely.

"No. It's alright. I'm really glad you guys came." Squall grimaced and turned away. "These migraines, though. . . . They hurt like hell."

Selphie went to him and gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, Squall. If there's anything we can do to help, just tell us and we'll do it." She pressed a kiss to his temple in a motherly fashion before pulling back.

Irvine wrapped his arms around Selphie again, pulling her into his embrace.

"Yeah, man. Need some tranquilizers or something? I brought a few for myself. Selphie kept beating me on the way over." Irvine winked at him, but got an elbow in the ribs from Selphie herself. He smiled uneasily at her.

Selphie glared menacingly up at him. She did a one-eighty transformation , however, when she turned back to Squall with a smile as bright as the sun. He only blinked lazily at the both of them.

"No thanks. I don't really care much for the stuff. The after effect isn't all that pleasant anyway." Squall rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. "However, if you don't mind, could you guys come back later? I want to lie down for a while."

"Sure we can! Come on Irvine! Let's leave him alone!" Selphie realized she was practically screaming and quickly covered her mouth. "Oops . . . ," she whispered.

Squall uncovered his ears, looking as if he were going to strangle her any moment now. His hands clenched and unclenched at his side.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Selphie whispered and then gasped. She soon found herself being tossed over Irvines shoulder and then being fondly patted on the butt. "Hey!"

"Sorry about all the noise we caused. We'll leave you be now, so see ya later!" Irvine waved and walked out the door. Selphie glared at Irvine's backside, but managed to wave good bye to Squall before his room door slid shut.

Squall sighed and quietly reveiled in the peace and quiet of his suite once they left. It wasn't long after they left that he received another visitor.

"Squall?"

Rinoa, having the access card to his suite, entered his spacious living room.

He smiled, but didn't say anything. Sensing that something was wrong, Rinoa walked up to him, tilting her head in just a way that reminded Squall of a new born chocobo. His smile broadened a bit.

"Wow, you look tired. Are you alright?" She asked, reaching up to his long bangs away from his forehead.

"Migraine," was all he said before sitting himself as gently as possible on the plush, green sofa, so as not to jar his head in the process. Rinoa sat at the space beside him and wrapped her arms about his middle. The two were content to just sit like that for the rest of the day.

Rinoa, speaking in a low tone, broke the silence.

"Squall?"

"Hn?"

"These migraines . . . they don't happen to have anything to do with the dreams you've been having lately, do they?"

Squall sighed, a frown marring the space between his dark brows.

"Could be . . . ."

"I wish I could take it away . . . ." Rinoa trailed off as she slowly drifted off to sleep. "No more . . . pain . . . . Just take it all . . . away."

Squall glanced down at Rinoa's dark head, reaching to brush his fingertips across the softness of her cheek. She smiled sleepily and tightened her arms around him.

"Me too, Rin. Me too . . . ."

* * *

"Is . . . is she . . . ?"

Kadowaki smirked up at the near identical duo standing on the otherside of her desk.

"She's fine you two. Though, she hasn't shown any signs of waking just yet. It's good that the two of you check up on her often, but don't you think you should be in class now?"

Taeon grinned from ear to ear. "Hehe, everything's cool! Zell wouldn't miss us for even a moment! Since he returned from Esthar, he's been a little out of it. Him and the commander are pretty good friends from what I can tell, so it's safe to assume that he's worried 'bout him or something."

Kadowaki returned the smile while shaking her head, "You're assumption is correct, Michaels. Both the commander, Zell, and three other Balamb instructors, are very good friends. From what they told me, they have been friends since early childhood. I still think that it's pretty amazing that the five of them reunited here at Balamb after all these years . . . ." She trailed off, getting wrapped in a not too distant memory of past events. Realizing this, she glanced at the two across from her. "Sorry about that. Anyway, there really isn't anything new here. Things are still pretty much the same since you visited yesterday. Tell me, why are the two of you so worried about the girl?"

Lane has been asking himself that same exact question since he saved the girl a week ago and has yet to come up with a reasonable answer. So he said nothing and let his twin do all the talking, as she was wont to do.

"Well, you see . . . ."

They all waited.

". . . I . . . I really don't know!" Taeon answered with a shrug of her shoulders. Lane shot her an exasperated look. "What? It's the truth, ain't it?"

Kadowaki chuckled and shuffled through some paper work, before standing up and bracing her hands on the edge of her desk.

"I guess there isn't anything to say about the girl. The poor dear. We've checked all id systems in the world and no one has yet to report a missing girl. Nor does her DNA pattern match that of any known person. She's a mystery, this one. It's like she just popped up out of no where. Or another world, but that's ludicrous. There's no way that could happen."

"What if . . . ."

Taeon turned to her brother. "You say something?"

Lane glared at his sister before speaking more audibly. "But don't you think it could be possible?" He asked. All he received were blank stares. "I mean, think about it. We've come a long way in highly advanced technology. For starters, the Time Compression. If we can do that, then surely we can make a teleportation device that can transfer one person from one world to another. There has to be another world, or worlds, out there."

Taeon blinked, then blinked again before dissolving into insane laughter.

"Ha . . . haha, you've gone completely off your rocker, Lane. Where'd you come up with such a stupid idea?" Taeon doubled over in her chair. For a moment, Lane was afraid she'd tip over and fall flat on her face. But he figured she'd deserve it anyway. "Th-That's something I never expect to come out of your mouth!"

Lane took offense. "I-It's not stupid, stupid! You may not believe it, but I do! Don't you think that there are other worlds out there. People. People with lives similar to our own?"

Taeon only seemed to laugh more louder and obnoxiously than before.

"I believe you."

Lane's eyes widened and he turned back to Kadowaki. "You . . . you do?"

The corners of Kadowaki's eyes crinkled as she smiled kindly down at the young man.

"Sure. You're right. Who says there aren't other worlds out there? And your also right about our technology these days. With Esthar's technicians, and scholars, there's really no telling what they'll conjure up next. The Time Compression was a frightening thing, but not all the stuff they made are terrible. Besides we have Odine to thank for that last ordeal." Kadowaki inwardily shuddered.

The two took on a sad expression after that. They had lost many friends during the Time Compression and lots more were hurt in the war against Galbadia. Taeon reached for Lane's hand and squeezed it reassuringly, seeing him go pale and his eyes clear of emotion. His fingers barely curled around her hand, but it was enough to relieve Taeon of her worries about him. He was going to be alright.

"Oh!"

They both looked up at the doctor, a bit startled by her exclamation.

"I'm so sorry, Lane. I didn't mean to . . . . I completely forgot about . . . so sorry!"

Lane released his sister's hand and stood up. He gave the doctor a smile. A very weak smile, but a smile no less. "It's alright," he said, before walking out the door. The two still left behind stared at the empty space that was left by him.

"He hasn't relapsed, has he? I hope I didn't . . . . Damn! He still hasn't gotten over it, has he?"

Taeon looked down at her fidgeting hands. "No one can truly forget things so easily . . . . He may have suppressed most of what happened, but I think that the most terrible part of what happened a year ago is forever stuck in his memory. He tries his best to conceal it and hasn't said a word about it, but I know he thinks about it constantly." She looked up and meet the older woman's eyes. "And I think that's why he might have saved the girl . . . because of what took place a year ago. Too me, it's like he's thinking of her whenever he sees the girl. He doesn't want to lose her too."

Kadowaki contemplated this, returning to her desk and sitting back down. She studied the sullen expression on the other girl's face, her bright blue eyes having darkened with the turn of the conversation.

"So you're saying that, if this girl doesn't recover, it's possible that he might completely shut down this time? What about you, Tae? Do you see someone else, when you look at the girl?"

Taeon glanced uneasily at the doctor and shifted in her sit uncomfortably. "Not in the same way that I think Lane does. But yeah, I guess so . . . . Dee and I weren't really that close, but I felt something when his name turned up in The List. It was something terrible, but I didn't close myself off the way he did."

Kadowaki sighed then smiled sadly. "He was a good kid, that guy. Great pilot and fighter. It was a lost for us all. We lost so many great friends as well as great students. And she . . . She was something else. It's no wonder Lane did what he did."

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but eventually Taeon stood and bid the kind doctor farewell with the promise to be back the next day.

- - -

A girl with long, dark hair and crimson eyes bounced into Lane's view. Her warm, sultry smile made him smile in return and his heart rate picked up considerably.

"Hey, Lane! Me and Dee are going to check out the basketball game. Trabia's playing Galbadia today. You coming?"

He shook his head. "No, me and Tae have to train outside on the plains for our transfer back into Balamb. If the game's still going on, we'll catch up with you. All right?"

She grinned and jumped into his arms. "Okay!"

Something incredibly warm and soft grazed Lane's jawline, leaving a nice tingling sensation after.

"Be careful. Okay?" She whispered into his ear.

"Saori . . . ."

"I'll see you later!"

She pulled back and was gone.

"Lane! Where are--Oh! There you are! Whoa, why're you so red?" Taeon jogged up to him and closely inspected her brother's cherry red face.

"Ugh. Get away from me!" Lane pushed her face away from him and stalked off.

Taeon grinned from ear to ear in that demon-like smile of her's. Catching up to her brother, she just had to ask.

"So did Saori give you a love bite to remember her by?"

Taeon sidestepped a high aimed punch, that would've knocked her head off if she hadn't dodged in time, and laughed. She ran away with Lane in full pursuit.

"Red looks good on you! You should wear it more often! Haha!" She yelled over her shoulder.

"I'm going to kill you!"

- - -

30 minutes later . . .

"Oh my god! Look! Up there in the sky!"

Saori and her friend Dion, whom everyone called 'Dee', looked at the guy sitting next to them on the blenchers. Then followed his finger up to the sky.

"What are those!?"

"They're . . . . They're Galbadian Missiles!! And they're coming right at us!"

Saori froze and became frightened and clung to Dion's side.

"No . . . . Please, just no!" She whispered.

"Shh. Be strong. Everything will be okay. Just try not to panic!" Dion wrapped his arms around her in comfort.

Soon people began to run in all directions, trying in vain to run and hide for cover. Saori and Dion, however did no such thing. They stayed where they were. They both knew in their hearts that hiding from those monster missiles was effortless. There was just no avoiding them.

"No . . . . Lane! I want Lane! I wanna be with him! Please, Dee! Just take me to him! Please . . . ." Saori sobbed and buried her face into her friend's chest.

Dion was now shedding tears too. There was also only one person he wanted to be with. But it was already too late now to do anything about it. He just wished . . . he had told her sooner . . . ."

- - -

1 hour later . . .

"No! Noooooooo!!"

"Lane! Stop it! There's nothing we can do now! It's all over and done with. They're gone. Both of them! They're . . . ."

Taeon broked down into tears and cried for her two lost friends.

"This is just . . . so unfair!" She ground out between clenched teeth, while at the same time slamming her gloved fist into the rock hard ground.

"Hey, you two! We found some survivors! They're students from Galbadia. One's i--Hey! Wait! Where are you going!?"

Taeon raced to the ruins of what was once Trabia's basketball court. There she found five slightly injured students standing guard. They blocked her way as she tried getting through. Taeon flew into a rage and took them out with her fist.

"Someone has to stop her!"

"Where is he!? Tell me damn it! Where are the survivors!?"

A timid, young boy with glasses pointed in the direction of a large boulder.

"Please wait! Come back, please!"

"You fucking bastards! I'm going to kill for what you did to my friends! I'm going t--Let me go! I'll kill anyone that comes near me!"

The Galbadians all had tears running down their dirty and blood soaked faces.

"Michaels! You have to calm down, please!"

Taeon struggled and kicked against her captors, her elbow smashing into one holders face, causing his nose and mouth to bleed badly.

"They killed him! They killed Dee!! I have to--!"

"We're sorry, Michaels, but you can't be doing this right now. Hold her down and sedate her."

Someone came running up to them just as they sedated Taeon. She slumped in their arms, angry tears streaking down her pale face.

"Hey, have you seen one of the Michaels twins? She ra--My God! What did you do to her!?"

"Yeah, sorry, but we had to put a tranquilizer in her to sedate her. She was going stalk, raving mad here. Tried killing the Galbadians over there."

"What!?"

"Well, what did you want with her anyway?"

"Oh yeah. You have to come quick! The other one--her brother--is convulsing and we don't know what to do with him!"

"Shit! Everyone, let's go! And bring his sister."

"Why's this all happening? Why!?"

No one could possibly answer that. Especially when they all thought the same.

- - -

She found Lane sitting on the stool in the girl's room, looking out the open window. His eyebrows were drawn together so deeply that Taeon was afraid he was angry or something. Lane rarely had much of a temper, but when he it got ticked, it was pretty scary sight. She treaded the ground cautiously.

"You're heavy breathing gives you away. Besides, I can see your reflection in the mirror."

Taeon missed her step and barely caught herself from topling over. "O-oh yeah? Hehe . . . h-he."

Lane grinned at her over his shoulder before gazing out the window again. Taeon release a sigh of relief, glad that he returned to some state of normalcy.

"Haa . . . ."

Lane jumped out of his sit and Taeon nearly ran out the door.

"S-sh-sh-sh-she's ALIVE!?" Taeon squeaked, holding her head in a very distressful manner.

Lane rolled his eyes, "You idiot." He returned to his sit and studied the girl on the bed closely. Nothing happened for the longest time, so they both got ready to leave when the girl groaned and clenched her eyes shut. The twins locked eyes on one another, blue on blue, then returned uneasy gazes to the writhing girl on the cot.

"I-I think we should be doing something, but I'm at a lost of what to do," Lane whispered, afraid that if he talked loudly, he might in some way send the girl back into her comatose state once again. Taeon just stood in a state of shock, mouth and eyes gaping wide open. "T-Tae?"

He went to shake her out of it, but once he reached her . . . .

"WOW! This is so awesome!! I'll tell Kadowaki the good news!" Then she was gone.

Lane rolled his eyes heaven ward, asking Hyne for the seeming hundreth time why he blessed him with such an idiot for an older sister. He sighed loudly and returned to the matter at hand. Well, he really couldn't do anything except watch helplessly as the girl tossed and turned and wait unti his idiot sister returned with the doctor. So he leaned against the wall, crossed his arms and waited. A second later, the doctor streamed into the room and took immediate action, performing all her medical duties and other stuff doctors were trained to know.

Taeon stood by bouncing excitedly from foot to foot and grinning like a mad woman. Lane steadied her by putting his hand on her shoulders. She ceased bouncing and flashed him a grin.

"You're angel is finally waking, Lane," she whispered.

Lane looked askance. Now where did that come from? He shook his head. His sister was one of nine wonders. In all his life, even he didn't truly understood the workings of her brain, close as they were.

"Lane! Could you help me here? You too Taeon. She may not look it, but this gal is real strong!" Kadowaki struggled to hold her still as she tried futilely to inject a sedative into the girl. Taeon grabbed the girl's feet and Lane put his hands on her shoulders. He felt bad doing this, but if it helped her, he was willing to do just about anything. Hell. He even jumped into the ocean after her and nearly killed the both of them in the process!

Whoa . . . . Lanes eyes widened once he put his hands on the girl's shoulders. She was strong. Underneath that soft skin of hers were nicely toned muscles, and strength, that just weren't seemingly visible to the naked eye. He concluded that she must work out daily to achieve something like that.

"NO! Let me go! You'll never have my heart!"

"Yowch!"

Kadowaki and Lane glanced at each other then at the empty space where his sister was. From his point of view, Lane could see his sister sprawled on the floor with a large bolching red spot on her face. It appeared to be turning bluer with each passing second.

"Haha, well, this girl's gone and done it. Knocked your sister out clean out!"

Lane wide blue eyes blinked profusely. He realized the girl wasn't struggling anymore and looked down at her face. He didn't expect the girl to be looking right up at him with her wide, gray eyes. It shocked him. The both of them . . . .

"Aaah!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Lane backed away and stumbled over his sister as he did, which resulted with him on his backside with a stunned expression. Next to him, Taeon groaned and tried sitting up. But because Lane was on top of her, she couldn't move the lower half of her body.

"What the . . . ? What the hell happened? Lane? Kadowaki?" Taeon again tried sitting up. "And who in hell is sitting on me!? SONOVABI--!"

"T-That's quite enough, Taeon. You were knocked out, the girl woke up, Lane was shocked and tripped over you."

Taeon let that process her brain, then became suddenly angry. "WHAT!?"

"Shut up, Tae! I'm getting of--"

"Whaz ith all teh noise!? Meh ead urts . . . ."

All three froze in place. Lane and Taeon both pulled their selves off the floor and bent over the girl, who looked none to happy.

"W . . . who are you?" The girl sat up and immediately clutched her head in her hands. Not long after that, she blacked out and slumped back on her pillow. The three looked at one another with raised eyebrows.


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Hi everyone! I'm so, so, so incredibly sorry for the lack of updates these past few months. I moved and then my computer broke down. There was absolutely no way to update or type for that matter after that happened. I'll have some updates for you this coming month, so hang tight and bear with me here! Oh yeah and just to reassure some people, this is definately a Squffie! Or will be, eventually. Anyway, thanks for reading! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- - N a t s u

And since I just typed this all up really fast, I'll go back and edit the story a bit. The beginning of this chapter seemed a bit too fast for my likely.

Thank you for reviewing: October Breeze, Emrelle Moon Elendal, Deplora, fantacdreamer, Sqully and moggy201484271612345!

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D i s c l a i m e r s a n d C o p y r i g h t s
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Julia the piano score NOT the story, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy characters, settings and anything/everything, EXCEPT FOR the plot and storyline of THIS PARTICULAR STORY/FANFICTION TITLED 'JULIA', is and copyrighted to their respectful owners of Squaresoft, Square-Enix, Nobou Uematsu, Disney and any other who have any rightful claim. Original characters, that may come into play, settings, plot, storyline and this story/fanfiction is copyright and claimed by J.Watson aka Natsu/Natsumi.