Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Final Fantasy VIII. I only own the idea for this story.

Chapter 2

He scrambled up, laying her head on his lap. She wasn't dead because she still had some colour in her cheeks and her pulse was still there. Weak, but there.

"Don't die on me, Selphie."

He hung her arm around his neck and hoped it wouldn't slip away. He picked her up and carefully took a few steps, trying to see how heavy she was. Thank Hyne she was such a petite girl.

His eyes searched the area again. This time he checked if there were no guards, no monsters. He was lucky.

He strode through the hall of the Keep as fast as he could with Selphie in his arms. The bodies on the floor were no longer those of monsters, but those of young boys and girls. Some even wore Garden uniforms.

Squall might have stopped a moment or two to pay them respect if he had not been carrying the motionless body of Selphie in his arms.

"…Please…Hyne…don't take her away from us. Selphie…what's wrong with you…"

He soon found himself outside and somewhere deep in the forest he halted. Carefully he let her down on the ground.

He reached into his pocket and took out a small silver microphone.

"Nida, do you read me?"

"…kccht…Squall! Yes, loud and clear. Over…kccht."

"We need a ride A.S.A.P. We've got a medical emergency."

It was silent for a while.

"…kccht…We're sending someone out now. Hang in there. Over…kccht."

Squall thought he could hear others in the background.

'Probably Xu or Quistis freaking out.' He thought dully. 'Wait…why am I…'

He turned back and looked at Selphie. How could he be so calm around her now? Why didn't it freak him out that Selphie was just lying there, breathing but not moving. As he looked at her again, a shiver went down his spine.

Selphie was not moving. She might be dying and he wasn't doing a single thing to help her.

"Damn it!" he yelled, stomping his fist to the ground. "Damn it, wake up Selphie! For Hyne's sake, wake up!"

He had to restrain himself from shaking her shoulders.

After sitting beside her for a few moments he got up and started to unpack his tent. He looked at the different parts desperately and let out a sigh. How on earth was this ever going to be a tent?

He had only succeeded the day before because he had watched how Selphie had set up hers.

'This goes…here…and then this should be over here…'

He took a few steps back to see the entire picture. It looked like rubbish. Disgruntled he found a few sticks and draped the tent cloth over them. Carefully he put Selphie on a mattress and shoved it under the tent cloth. It felt strange not saying anything, but what could he say? She probably couldn't hear him anyway.

"…Goodnight Selphie."

He walked backwards, somehow unable to tear his eyes away from this awkward situation. He stumbled over a branch and fell to the ground.

Somewhere a wolf howled.

'It might be bad idea to go to sleep…I'll just…keep watch.'

He sat down and tiredly cast a fire spell on a dry log of wood. As the flames licked the wood he felt his eyes starting to droop.

'No, I have to stay awake.'

He yawned once and cast a water spell on himself.

'That should do it.' He thought grouchily as his hair stuck to his head like a helmet.

But he dried soon enough in front of the fire he had going and before he had really noticed, the sun had risen once again.

"Wake up Selphie, it's time to-…oh."

He had forgotten. He wanted to start taking down the tent but he was startled by a muffled sound coming from his pocket.

"…kccht…Squall, we're nearing your coordinates. Stand by for boarding…kccht."

By the time Squall had stuffed the little microphone back in his pocket, the sound of an airship could be heard.

"Squall! What happened?" Rinoa squealed as she ran down the boarding plank.

Squall looked at her. "…what are you doing here? You left to go back to your dad's."

"I was at Garden, picking up the last of my things, when Nida told the crew. Zell and Quistis are here too."

This was confirmed as both Zell and Quistis came running at him moments later.

"Squall, Hyne, what's going on?" Zell had made his way to the improvised tent and snorted. "You should've asked Selphie to put it up. She's really good at it."

Squall gently pushed him aside and pulled the cloth back. "Selphie's ill. She needs treatment. Is the doc onboard?"

Quistis shook her head, her face was pale. "…No…but let's hurry back. We need to get her to the infirmary. Selphie? Are you going to wake up at all?"

Squall laid his hand on her shoulder. "Quistis…she's not waking up. She's been like this ever since the fight with Koë…she's just not responding…"

He could feel that a strange sensation took hold of him. He watched as the girls cleared the tent away, how Zell bent down to pick up the motionless body to carry it inside.

Like a zombie he followed them onboard.

"Selphie's in the conference room. We put up some beds there. Why don't you rest a little as well." Quistis advised him.

"…No. I'm not going to sleep. I can't."

Quistis stood up quietly and left him alone in his chair. He wanted to get back to Garden to tell Cid about the mission and to cure Selphie. She couldn't leave her friends…could she? Of course she could. Anyone could die on a mission…so why couldn't Selphie.

'Damn it.'

He stood up and made his way to the conference room. There she was. She had been put on a bed near a window.

He sat down on a bed on the other side of the room and stared outside. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't help her, but he couldn't just sit there either.

'The doctor will know what to do.' He told himself.

He laid down on his back and was about to close his eyes when the door opened and closed again. He didn't want to get up to see who had entered and he closed his eyes firmly, pretending to be asleep.

By the way she moved around he could hear it was Rinoa. She always did have a peculiar step. He stifled a yawn and prayed that she'd go away. But instead he could hear Rinoa's footsteps nearing his bed.

She pulled up a chair and then he didn't hear anything for a while. Then suddenly he felt a hand on his.

"Squall? Are you awake?"

He sighed and snapped his eyes open.

"Yes." He said irritably. "And I have been for the last thirty hours or so. Now will you let me get some rest?"

"…Squall…we need to talk. We didn't talk it out properly."

He sat up straight and stared out in front of him, not even glancing at her.

"What's there to talk about? It wasn't my fault that you wrecked what we had. And frankly, I don't care anymore."

"How can you say that?" she asked, taking her hand back.

He snorted. "How? I'll tell you. I stopped caring when you kissed your precious Nida."

It was silent for a while.

"…You don't act mad towards him." She said quietly.

"Well Nida wasn't the one I had a relationship with, was he!" Squall snarled back. "So…just leave me alone. Go back to Nida, or to your father, I don't care. As long as you just don't bother me."

He stared ahead stubbornly, his arms crossed and an angry expression on his face.

Rinoa folded her hands on her lap. "I see. Well, you'll be pleased to know that I'm leaving Garden tomorrow. For good. I'll be living with my father in Delling…so if you ever want to talk you'll know where to find me."

When he still didn't answer she got up and left the room without saying one more word.

When he heard the door close again he sighed with relief. He glanced at the door angrily and closed his eyes for a second. He yawned again and leaned back, trying to fall asleep. When he was just about to fall asleep, the speakers croaked and a loud voice sounded through the entire airship.

"Okay people, we're here."

Squall cursed under his breath. How was he supposed to get a little sleep with all this noise around him. He got to his feet and stretched. Then he made his way over to the other occupied bed.

"…We're here Selphie…"

He hung her arm around his neck again and lifted her up. He was greeted by Zell when he went down the boarding plank.

"Hey Squall…want me to carry her? I can carry her."

"No. I'll carry her."

He walked past Zell and didn't wait for the others. He was outside Garden now and he needed to get Selphie to the doctor.

He vaguely noticed the strange looks he got from the Garden students but he ignored them. He could understand them. It wasn't every day they saw commander Leonheart carrying the almost lifeless body of one of his closest friends in his arms.

Zell, Quistis and Rinoa had caught up with him by now.

"Squall, you've got to take her to Kadowaki." Quistis said.

"I know."

Rinoa coughed. "…This sorceress…she shape-shifted, didn't she? Did she…did she look like me?"

Squall snapped around, forgetting he had Selphie in his arms.

"Did she look like you? No, she didn't." he raged. "But Hyne it would have been a whole lot easier on me if she had! You really do only care about yourself! Nida is welcome to you!"

"For your information, Nida doesn't want me! That's why I'm leaving! Did you think I'd leave because of you? Really…No, Nida doesn't want me because he didn't know we hadn't broken up yet when I kissed him. Happy now?" she yelled back.

She didn't care that the entire student body of Balamb Garden was staring at her.

"Well I'll be glad to see the back of you! Goodbye!" he shouted back.

He turned around and walked away. Quistis and Zell looked at each other, not understanding what had just happened.

"Fine! Goodbye!" Rinoa shouted even louder before she, too, turned around and ran away.

Zell looked at Quistis with questioning eyes, but Quistis shrugged.

They turned around and followed Squall inside, motioning the students to leave.

"Nothing to see, guys. Move it."


Squall had entered Garden, ignoring the stares. He made his way over to the infirmary.

"Doc? Doc!" he shouted as he kicked the door open. "Doctor! Emergency!"

Hastily doctor Kadowaki came bustling out of one of the resting rooms.

"Squall! What happened?"

He walked past her, into a resting room. The bed was taken.

"Is there an empty bed?"

The doctor shook her head. "No, they just returned from their first mission."

"Well, kick one out!" Squall said bossily.

She nodded. "You. Out."

"But doctor, I can't walk."

She hesitated. "Squall, follow me."

She hastily walked into the next room. Squall followed her and saw her lift another boy from the bed. Squall looked at him. His arm was broken. But he couldn't feel sorry for him, not with Selphie in his arms like this.

Gently he laid her on the bed, careful as not to hurt her.

"What's wrong with her?" the doctor asked.

"I was counting on you to tell me." He answered grouchily. "All I know is that she's been like this since the end of the battle against Koë. She's breathing, but apart from that…I'm worried, doctor."

Kadowaki nodded and bent down over Selphie. She opened Selphie's eyes and stared into them.

"I see." She muttered.

Squall's head popped up. "See? See what?"

"I see that I don't understand what's wrong with her. I'll keep her here for examination. You'd better go to your dorm and get some rest."

He nodded. "…Yeah…"

He turned around and left the infirmary. Before he closed the door behind him he halted for a second.

"…Doc? Call me when you find anything."

Then he closed the door. Slowly he made his way over to his dorm, a place he hadn't seen in a week and a half. It was strangely empty now that all of Rinoa's things were gone. No more knickknacks, no more photographs and most importantly, no dog basket.

That dog basket had been the first thing of hers that had appeared in his dorm against his will. He never really liked Angelo. He was allergic to dog hair.

As he sat down on his bed he let himself fall on his back. He yawned and felt his eyes droop. He felt something in his pocket and laid it on the bedside table. It was the silver microphone.

Slowly he felt himself fall into a deep sleep. Slowly…falling…

He sat up with a start, his eyes opened wide. He was in the middle of a green field. A few daisies popped up in between the grass helms.

'Where…am I?'

He got to his feet. The field was surrounded by dark and tall trees. The sun was slowly setting. He looked at the trees again.

Was it him, or was there someone walking towards him from the rim of the forest? His eyes opened wide.

"Selphie?"



Yay, I got three reviews already. That's a good sign :)

Matron Raenee: My first review for this story! Thank you very much. I'm glad you think it's cute…OOC, I know, please keep reading, I'd appreciate it very much.

Revolver: Yeah, I said there were more chapters to come, I think. Please keep on reading. Hail FFVIII!

Miss Sunshine: Yay! You really liked it that much? I'm glad. REALLY REALLY glad! I hope you'll keep on reading and reviewing. Thank you very much for the kind review!

See you all at the next chapter!

Raven55