Chapter Two: Quarantine

"What a great way to kick off the new year, 2004," Xu sighed, staring at the paper in her hand. "There's four thousand and four hundred of them. All of them disappeared without a trace at various times, but none of them have aged since the day they last remember."

"Xu…where have they been?" Selphie blinked, looking at the paper with disbelief. "I can't help but feel so sorry for their poor families! And for them too!"

"…that's the thing, Selph'. We don't know where they've been. None of 'em remember. They're all being held in quarantine in the D-District Prison."

"That's horrible!" Selphie exclaimed. "They're human beings! They're innocent, they didn't do anything wrong!"

"Selphie…there's something here you might be interested in. They've released a list of people, and some of these 4400 go to Garden."

"Really? Do we know them?"

"…Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy."

The room was designed for holding mass amounts of people, but 4400 was definitely pushing its limits. However, it did work for the moment. There were no windows in this room, but one man stood by a wall, staring at it as if it were a window.

"Well, what are the chances of seeing you here."

Squall Leonhart, still 19, turned around to face his long-time nemesis, Seifer Almasy, who was still 20.

"…whatever," Squall sighed, not even bothering to turn around.

"They tell me it's the year 2004. That 6 years have passed and I don't remember a damn thing," Seifer stared at the wall too.

"I want out of here. I want out of here, and then I want answers," Squall said coldly, voice sounding almost dangerous.

"Hey, man, don't we all," Seifer sighed. "…so far you're the only person here I know."

"So now we're friends all of a sudden?" Squall glared sharply at him. "I'll never forgive you for what you did to Rinoa."

"Neither will I," Seifer said, and Squall blinked, surprised. "What did you think? I loved her too, Squall. Can we just call a truce for now? I don't expect you to forgive me, but we're in the same boat now."

"Okay," Squall mumbled. "Temporary truce."

"She's looking for you."

Squall and Seifer turned around. A young girl who looked about 8 stood there. She had long, wavy white hair and pinkish eyes. She wore a simple white dress that almost blended in with her pale skin, and no shoes. Seifer vaguely wondered how old she was supposed to be.

"Who?" Seifer and Squall both asked at the same time.

"You," she pointed to Squall. "She's by the door. She's looking for you, she just doesn't know it yet."

"Okay…I'll go find her…" Squall walked off.

"Who are you?" Seifer asked, intrigued by the girl.

"My name is Lisette. 1952," she said before Seifer could even ask.

"Seifer…1998. I bet you want out of here, too, so you can go visit your parents, right?" he said, and instantly regretted it. 49 years was a long time for anything to happen during.

"They told me that my parents died," she said bluntly. Seifer frowned, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry, Lisette," he sat down, and she sat down beside him. "My parents are dead too."

"We should be friends, then."

"Okay," Seifer nodded. "Friends."

Squall was still trying to find the door Lisette told him of when he saw her. She was young and beautiful, with black hair and brown eyes. She grinned, pointing at the sky.

"Rinoa!" he ran over to her, hugging her. "Oh, God, Rinoa…"

"WHOA!" the girl pushed him away, just a little. "What's this all about?"

"What do you…? Rinoa, that's you, right!"

"Yeah, I'm Rinoa Heartilly, but…who are you?"

There was something about her that was different, Squall noticed. Her hair was a bit shorter, and she actually looked…younger. He felt different around her, too. She just seemed to…emit a different aura than his Rinoa. He could feel it, he just couldn't explain how.

"I'm Squall Leonhart…er…"

"1996?" Rinoa blinked, staring at the tag on his shirt. "Nuh-huh, buddy. Y'got the wrong Rinoa."

"1928…" he read her tag. "I…you have to be related to her. Maybe her grandmother. Did you have a daughter, Ms. Heartilly?"

"Sheesh," she blushed. "Rinny will be fine, that's what everyone calls me. Yeah, my daughter, Julia Heartilly…she was six months old when I left. Is hse okay! How'd she do! Where's she at!"

"She grew up and became a famous singer."

"Oh my goodness! I have to meet her!"

"…er…" How was he supposed to deliver this news to her? "She's been dead quite a while, Rinny. But she had a perfect daughter named Rinoa Heartilly that I'm engaged to," Squall smiled proudly, trying to provide something positive to help her through Julia.

"In that case," Rinny smiled sadly, rubbing her eyes frantically. "I guess I'll be seeing you soon."

Squall left her to contend with all that news and continued walking to the area Lisette told him about. He saw her instantly. She looked no different now than she had in Laguna's memories.

"Raine…"

The girl turned around, looking surprised.

"Yes? Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"I'm…I'm Squall. Squall Leonhart-Loire."

Raine blinked, staring at him, then threw her arms around him.

"S-squall?" she said, voice thick.

"Yeah," he smiled, hugging her back.

"Oh my God, my baby…you were just a baby…and look at you now!"

Rinny watched them from a distance, unable to put into words the loneliness that gripped her heart, despite the fact that she was crowed into a room with 4399 other people.

Seifer and Squall were lead to another room just outside the quarantine room where Selphie and Xu were waiting on them.

"Selphie! Xu!"

"You guys are okay! Booyaka!" Selphie giggled in delight, hugging each of them in turn, practically choking both. "I can't believe this!"

"How's Rinoa? Is she okay?" Squall asked.

"When are they gonna let us outta quarantine?" Seifer inquired.

"Rina's fine. I don't know how much longer it'll be. We have to determine that everyone here is safe, update some people on vaccinations, contact families…there's a lot of technical stuff," Xu sighed. "It shouldn't be much longer, though."

"Good," Squall nodded. Seifer was lost in thought, though, wondering where some people would go if they didn't have anybody left…

"Met anybody interesting?" Selphie asked.

"Rinoa's grandmother, my mom, and 3996 other people ho have no idea what's happened. Where were we, Selphie? What took us?" Squall frowned.

"We dunno…"

"Well, I was with Quistis and Nida when I disappeared. Why don't you ask them?"

"…Quisty has been in a coma since you left," Selphie said quietly. "And Nida died in a car wreck on the way to Balamb to get help."

"What?" Squall blinked. "…I…gotta go, Sefie," he walked out. He had to get out of there. Wasn't there anywhere he could be alone at?

"Hey," Rinny stopped him on his way out. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Rinny…we have no idea what's happened out there…"

"What happened?"

"Just…I just want to be left alone."

a/n: Chapter two done! No owning The 4400, no owning FF8. Now you know my secret --;

love and peace,

xifa