Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and its characters belong to Square and not me.

Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay and short chapter. I have had a lot of things on my mind, mainly schoolwork. I know that is no excuse but it is true. Just to let you all know there will probably be two chapters after this. Maybe three. Please don't hate me for this chapter. And if you get confused don't worry, it should all make sense eventually. Starting next chapter there should be some proper explanations. Not that many more to go! To be honest I am not that happy with the way this is going, but I am determined to finish.

Squall looked around the field and slowly made his way towards Rinoa hovering around her expectantly.

"This place..." he said in a very low voice. "Do you recognize it?"

Rinoa turned to him, frantically brushing her hair behind her ears not wanting to speak the words aloud. She nodded her head slightly. "My dreams"

Squall nodded and in a nearly inaudible voice whispered. "Me too"

Rinoa took this calmly. She was still in shock and didn't know what was going on; here she was in the place from her dream. The fact that Squall knew this place from his dreams as well was just a minor problem. If had been honest with herself she would have admitted that deep inside she knew that she shared this connection with Squall.

"So.... What now?" Asked Rinoa. "How do we get out of here?"

Squall looked around taking a few steps forward. "I don't know." Said Squall in frustration.

Rinoa began to tremble. This was getting too weird for her now. She didn't want to be here for too long as she knew how it always ended. She ran forward catching up with Squall and grabbed onto his arm clinging on as hard as she could. "Don't leave me," She whimpered.

Rinoa clung on to Squall as tight as she could, making sure that he couldn't leave her grip. Calming herself slightly she looked around the field yet again. It was exactly the same as her dream. An almost barren wasteland, with a few bushes and signs of life and lots of rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Not far in front of them Rinoa noticed something, which had never appeared in her dream. It was a solitary tree standing alone in the middle of the field. Rinoa reluctantly let one arm release Squall and pointed towards the tree. He nodded in recognition and start walking towards the tree hoping to find some answers.

Squall walked towards the tree, not daring to say anything until they had reached the tree. "So got any good ideas?"

Rinoa just glared at him. "Other than keep walking, no."

Squall walked up to the tree and placed his hands on the trunk. "This tree, it feels so full of life...I don't understand."

Rinoa finally let go of Squalls' arm, peeling herself away reluctantly. "What do you mean full of life?"

"I don't know...here feel this." Squall grabbed Rinoa's hand and placed it on the trunk. "Don't you feel it?"

When Rinoa's hand touched the tree she felt a surge of energy got through her. It was a warm feeling and she thought she could almost feel a heart beat. "Wha.... How can this be?"

"It can be, because it is." Said a female voice coming from behind. Squall and Rinoa turned around really quickly trying to find the voice but there was no one there.

"Come Out" bellowed Squall, pacing around the tree. "What are you doing to us?"

"I am not doing anything. We are merely here to watch." Said the voice, which now seemed to be floating around their heads.

"Who is...we?" Spat Squall.

"Time will tell."

Rinoa looked around frantically. "Just ignore the voice Squall. It is just taunting you. There is no point in getting angry."

"There is every reason to get angry, they, whoever they are, are purposefully trying to confuse us. It's pissing me off."

"Squall, I know, calm down. Why are you acting like this? This isn't you?"

"What would you know? You don't know me; you have no idea what I am really like. Maybe this is the real me!"

Rinoa was nearly in tears she didn't understand what was happening. Everything seemed to be crumbling away fast and she didn't know how to handle all of this. Why had Squall suddenly changed his attitude. "Squall, calm down this is not really happening. We will probably wake up in a few minutes any way."

"Wake up!" Squall screamed. "What are you stupid? Can't you see this is real? We are stuck here. I'm stuck her. Fuck, and with you no less."

Rinoa turned her back on Squall and started walking away. "If you don't want me here bothering you I will just leave." Rinoa started heading in an easterly direction. She had no idea where she was going, but she figured that eventually she would be able to find help. Rinoa hadn't been walking very long, when a male child appeared in front of her.

"You're the one from a few nights ago aren't you?" Rinoa questioned, not liking the situation at all.

The boy just stood there not moving an inch.

"Are you going to help me?"

The boy nodded his head slightly gesturing yes. Then he opened his mouth and screamed in a high-pitched voice. "RUN!!"

Rinoa turned around to see a dark object come running towards her. "Shit, she muttered." Looking back round at where the boy had been standing as now there was no one there. After a brief second of confusion, Rinoa began running as fast as she could. She needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. Rinoa ran as fast as she could, puffing and panting, but she seemed to be getting nowhere. She had been running for a while now, and hadn't plucked up the courage to see if she was still being followed. However she could here footsteps behind her. It seemed as if the rock had come out of nowhere. It caused Rinoa to go flying and she stumbled to the floor, grazing her knees slightly.

Rinoa cried out in pain, and was frozen to the spot. However much she tried, she couldn't move her legs and get them to work. She looked over her shoulders and saw Squall looming over her with a gun pointed right at her forehead. Rinoa just managed to get out the word "no" before everything went black.

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"What was that?" Yelled Irvine over the screams. All of the party guests were running around and hiding underneath tables and everything they could find.

"It sounded like a gun shot" Said Selphie holding on to him.

Quistis ran up to the two of them and looked confused. "Where did that come from? It sounded really close, but at the same time...."

"I don't know. Whoever it was, has to be found though. Come on Zell" he motioned to the blonde. "Let's find the idiot."

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"Squall, over here. Put your hand on the tree. It's alive. I can't believe it!"

Squall grumbled something incoherently and joined Rinoa by the tree. "What do you mean the tree is alive? It is a tree of course it is!"

Rinoa glared at him, and took his hand within hers. "No, it feels alive."

"That is because it is." Said a soft male voice.

"Shit! What was that?" Said Squall yanking his hand away from the tree. "That doesn't feel right Rin."

Rinoa looked directly as Squall. "What did you call me?"

Squall looked confused and backed away slightly. "I called you Rin. I thought that you liked being called Rin. Selphie calls you that all of the time."

"That is because Selphie is a friend." Growled Rinoa behind gritted teeth.

Squall felt hurt and deeply shocked. "So...we are not friends? What happened between us means nothing to you?"

"Of course not, you were just there at the time. I would have gone for Irvine, much better looking, but well Selphie had already seemed to have dug her claws into him. So I decided that you would do."

"I would do! I can't believe what you are saying? This is making no sense."

Rinoa turned her back on him, so she was now facing the tree. In a mocking tone she answered him. "Does poor Squally wally not understand the simple words? I don't...like you. You were just in the right place at the right time."

Squall started walking away into the distance.

"Aww, where are you going sugar?" Taunted Rinoa.

"Somewhere you aren't" yelled Squall. He began walking towards the horizon, not really sure where he was going. He just had to clear his head of all the things that were going on inside. After walking for a few minutes, Squall came across the young girl from the cell sitting in the middle of the wasteland.

"So where am I?" Asked Squall with a hint on anger in his voice.

"RUN!" Screamed the little girl looking into Squalls eyes. Squall just rolled his eyes and carried on walking.

"I haven't got time for this." He complained.

"RUN!!" Screamed the girl yet again.

Squall stopped in his tracks and looked around at where the girl had been standing. There was no one there. Instead he saw the shadow of a figure.

"Rinoa? That you?" He said. When getting no answer Squall began to jog in the direction he had been running. This all felt wrong. If he began running, he knew how it would end. He tried to slow down, so that he could talk to the figure that was approaching him. His legs wouldn't stop though and they forced him to carry on. In fact without him actually doing anything he seemed to be speeding up until he was now in a run.

Squall was running as fast as he could possibly could. He ran for several minutes until he suddenly fell to the ground. He wasn't sure why he fell to the ground he just did. Squall didn't want to look over his shoulder, as he knew what was going to happen. "Please Rinoa." He whispered as she fired the gun and sent the bullet right into the middle of the forehead.