Here we go… again.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character, places, or ideas from Final Fantasy VIII.

Chapter Forty-Four

The Wasteland

"Nadia!" Seifer screamed. The scene had changed to a barren wasteland. It was much like the one Squall had nearly died on. Maybe that was because it was.

"Just remember what you need to do." Edea's soft voice echoed throughout the area.

"Where are we?" Selphie asked, fearfully.

Squall and Rinoa had never told their friends about this place. They had been found by Garden in the flower field and just never mentioned it. Squall had never told Rinoa what happened before she found him, but somehow she already knew.

"Um, guys?" Selphie asked, chuckling somewhat nervously, turning to her companions. "Where are we?"

"This place doesn't look too inviting," Zell stated, squinting against the wind, blowing tiny, hard sand particles. He coughed a couple of times.

"That's because it isn't. This is not a fun place to be. It goes on forever and the more you walk, the longer the horizon gets and the more you tired you become. Be very cautious. This could be bad." Squall answered, reliving several bad memories.

"Care to explain?" Quistis asked. She sensed that there was something that Squall just might be keeping from the rest of them. Rinoa too.

Squall shrugged. "What's there to explain? This place isn't fun."

"How do you know? How do you know all this stuff about this eerie place?" Zell asked. He was just curious, and he definitely wasn't sure that he liked this place.

This time, Squall didn't answer. He struggled for a way to respond. Did her really want to tell them about what happened to him here? He didn't even like to remember, let alone talk about it. He honestly didn't even know that much about it. So what was there for him to tell? This place was bad news, that's all they needed to know.

Luckily for Squall, Rinoa stepped in for him. "Guys, does it honestly matter? We have a job to do. We can't be worrying about how Squall knows about this barren wasteland!"

But Quistis wasn't about to let this subject be pushed aside. She was sick of being left out in the dark to figure things out on her own. "Well, you know, Rinoa, it seems that you know something about this place, too." She crossed her arms over her chest. "For once, why don't you both share a little info?"

Rinoa gave Quistis this stupid look. "What are you talking about? Quistis, what is with you? Why are you being so demanding? We have a job to do, and we can't afford for you to be a control freak! I know you have to be a part of everything, but can't you just for once chill out!" Almost immediately, she regretted the words that had just came out of her mouth. The look on Quistis' face told her that she was furious.

"You have very little room to talk! You are the one is always demanding attention! You have to always have the spotlight! Why don't you grow up, Rinoa!" She hissed, narrowing her eyes at the other woman.

"You're telling me to grow up?" She put her hands on her hips, mimicking Quistis' facial expression.

"Yes I am, so why don't you go ahead and do it, you brat!"

"Will you quit attacking her!" Squall growled at Quistis.

"You stay out of this!" Quistis and Rinoa yelled at him.

Meanwhile, on the outside of this meaningless "conversation," Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and Seifer stood dumbfounded, quite unsure of what to do.

"Oh, geez! Why do they always have to do this!" Selphie exclaimed. She felt like pulling out her hair.

"Do what?" Seifer asked.

"Squall and Quistis have been fighting a lot lately. They don't get along anymore, not that they really ever did," Selphie replied. "They argue so much, and then Rinny gets in the middle of it. She's forced to pick a side, and she usually ends up creating her own side. After that, it gets even worse than before. Quisty is my friend and all, but she keeps getting on Squall's case. It's almost like everything he does is wrong to her."

"Yeah, and one minute she's all nice and the next, she's like super evil. Something's definitely up," Zell added.

Seifer turned toward the three feuding "friends." Their angry faces told him what exactly was going on. They were going to eat each other alive if someone didn't separate them, all of them.

Ad it looked like he was that someone. Nobody else was stepping up to the plate.

"Guys! Hey, guys!" He ran to them and moved right to the middle of the pack they had created. "Whoa! Listen! YO! Listen to me a second. We don't have enough time or patience for you guys to bicker and fight all the time. Remember Rianna? Remember the evil sorceress person we need to get rid of? Did you forget about her? I don't see how you could. It's kind of hard, ya know, to forget her, seeing that she wants to destroy the world. And we kind of, um, need this place to, um, ya know, live. See what I mean? Now what do you say? Think you can postpone this until after we beat up Rianna?" He stared at them with a big, nervous smile as they gave him a dirty look.

Thankfully, Selphie, Irvine, and Zell came to his rescue.

"Yeah! Uh, maybe we should split into two groups and search for this 'final battle.'" Selphie added, nodding keenly. And to get you guys away from each other for a while. She added in her hair.

"Exactly, I mean, there's got to be a reason why we've come here to this dump." Zell also put in.

Squall scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine. Whatever," he said darkly.

An unwelcome, unfriendly silence circled around for what felt like eternity.

No one was truly willing to take the initiative and break the muted anger that surrounded.

Finally one top blew.

"Oh, this is absolutely ridiculous!" Selphie exclaimed. Her happy eyes were now low and angry. "This happens almost every dang time! Every time we go out as a group to do something this always happens! Can you guys, just for a while, try to act somewhat civilized and get along! Would it honestly kill you? And Quisty! What is it with you? You're always getting on Squall's case! And you tell Rinoa that she's a brat and that she needs to grow up, but have you even considered your own attitude? You're the one acting like a brat. But Squall, you're not so innocent! You're mainly the one who keeps forcing Rinny to choose sides! Rinny, what's happened to you? Why do you feel the need to act like you know everything now? I just want to know what is going on! Why are you guys always jumping down each other's throats? What happened to you guys? What happened to our team?"

Silence rained over once again. Only this time, the expressions were less tense and angry. But Squall and Quistis still refused to even glance at each other, whether or not the other saw.

Seifer finally really had enough. Somebody had to split them up, and he was just the man to do it. "Okay! People, listen up! This is how it's going to be! Irvine, Zell, Squall, you guys come with me, and we'll head east. Ladies, you will head west. Stay together as a group. Got it? All right, let's move!" Seifer exclaimed. Squall opened his mouth to object but three different hands clamped down over his mouth to keep him quiet. "Listen, man, you can live without her for a little while, okay?" Seifer whispered harshly.

Squall whipped around to face his old adversary. "That is not what I was going to object about! I am not some over-possessive freak! I was just going to say that don't you think these teams are a little uneven and stacked? Wouldn't that cause some disadvantages?"

Seifer groaned agitatedly. "All right! Fine! Selphie, you switch with Zell." Seifer turned back to Squall. "Happy now?"

Squall shook his head. "That's not exactly what I meant."

Again, the aggravated and annoyed Seifer groaned and made a face like a deranged walrus. "Okay, Selphie, you Zell both join Rinoa and Quistis. And you!" Seifer quickly turned to Squall before he could get a word in edgewise. "Don't you say one word! Come one, we're leaving!"

Irvine shrugged and followed as Seifer marched toward his indicated direction. Squall shook his head and followed without a word.

The others watched them walk away until they were out of sight.

Quistis sighed. That's just it. A sigh. No special value to it. It wasn't an aggravated or even a relieved sigh. It was just an escape from the mouth that just happened to have some sound to it.

Rinoa turned quickly to her. No expression was readable on her face, and she just stared at Quistis.

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No one spoke. No sound was heard. A small gust was blowing and sand was flying, but, still, there was nothing. It was almost like watching a silent movie. Minutes slipped away slowly. They walked and walked and walked. The more they walked, the more time seemed to drag on. They were becoming tired, very tired.

"How much farther is it? And what are we looking for anyway?" Irvine asked, lifting his head to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

Seifer shrugged from ahead. "I don't know. I don't even know if there's anything here we should be looking for. What do you think, Squall?" He turned around and began to walk backwards.

Squall had been lagging behind thinking. He was a little startled when Seifer suddenly called back to him. "I don't know either. I don't think there's anything here. It wouldn't make much sense if there was. I mean, this place is pretty bare."

"But there's got to be a reason why we've been sent here, right?" Irvine asked.

"Like…that?" Seifer said. He had gone ahead again and stopped. He was at the foot of a set of giant stone steps.

"Whoa! What's something like THAT doing way out here?" Irvine asked, astonished.

The building past the steps was huge. It had high columns of glassy, white marble. The huge double doors at the top of these gigantic steps were embedded with a beautiful carving. It was a lion, but not just any lion, though. Unmistakably, it was Griever. The dark wings were wrapped around the guardian's body.

"What is this place?" Irvine asked in awe.

Lightening flashed overhead out of nowhere. Ant welcoming light that had shined was now gone. It wasn't an all out darkness, but it was close enough.

"This is the Temple of the Lions. All history, all truths of the mighty family is stowed away behind those doors. Dark secrets are heavily guarded by monstrous creatures from the depths below. Only a member of the family can grant access to those who are worthy."

They all turned around to see who had spoken. It was a short, cloaked figure. The voice spoken was small but deep and sounded aged.

"Doesn't look heavily guarded to me," Irvine stated. He sounded pretty doubtful.

"Ah, but that is where you are wrong. Beyond those doors are challenging puzzles and trials that are impossible to pass unless a true member of the family is present. What lies hidden within those walls is a truth that has long been covered and sought. The entrance is protected the most," The figure answered.

"And what is the purpose of all this exactly? Why are we here?" Seifer asked.

"Inside the Temple is something that will aid you in your battle. You must use it and defeat the witch before they return. You only have one chance. Use it well." With that, the cloaked figure faded away.

"Wait!" Squall exclaimed, stepping forward. He had been quiet for the past couple of minutes. "Who's 'they'? And what's inside the Temple? How do we get it? Come back!" But the figure was gone. Just as they thought things were already confusing, the situation took another turn and got worse. "Dang it!"

"Now what?" Irvine frowned. "Now what do we do? What's this we need to get? How will it help us? I don't get it."

"Well, I guess the only thing we can do is go inside the Temple. What do you think, Squall?" Seifer turned to Squall again.

But Squall didn't answer. He was studying the outside the Temple. Something about this didn't feel right to him. What if this was a trap? He had never heard of this "Temple of the Lions." How real could this be?

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"Rinoa, I'm sorry about the things that I said to you. I had no right to say those or to pull you into this endless argument. I know you get sick of it." Quistis did one of the hardest things for her: apologizing.

"It's alright, Quistis. I'm sorry too. I just don't understand why we all have to feel the need to push each other to the limit. What's the point? What will we get from it? That's what I don't understand," Rinoa responded. She was rather agitated and it wasn't from the previous exchange.

"I don't know. I really don't," Quistis answered.

Selphie, Quistis, Rinoa, and Zell were walking the opposite that Squall, Seifer, and Irvine had gone. They had been walking for a couple hours and nothing was seen except the bareness of the wasteland.

"Ugh! How much longer are we going to have to walk? And what are we supposed to be looking for?" Selphie asked. She was back to her normal, happy state. Thank goodness.

"I don't know, but I really don't like this place! It's creepy!" Zell exclaimed.

Rinoa stopped. She turned around in a complete circle looking at the are and studying it. Something wasn't right. Something didn't feel right. Was the splitting into two groups a mistake?

"What is it, Rinny?" Selphie, very concerned, asked her friend. "Is something wrong?"

Rinoa only nodded and continued to search the area with perceiving eyes.

Then, like a sudden, sickening warmth over the body, Quistis felt it too. It was a horrible feeling. A sort of certain dread. A feeling like you know something bad is coming or happening and you can't understand what nor stop it.

"Guys, do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Selphie and Zell asked.

"That horrible, sickening dread," Quistis replied uneasy.

"Dread?" Zell raised an eyebrow at her.

"I feel it, too. Something's wrong, very wrong. I don't know what it is, though. That's what I'm trying to figure out, but I don't even know where we are!" Rinoa exclaimed.

"I don't understand this, guys! What's going on?" Selphie demanded.

"They don't know, Selphie. That's the whole point," Zell explained.

"But how do we know if something bad is coming?" Selphie asked, crewing on her pinky nail.

"I don't think something bad is coming. It feels like something bad has happened. It's almost as if splitting into our groups was a mistake. I don't think the others are safe." Rinoa sighed. She felt horrible. If something happened to Squall, Irvine, or Seifer it most certainly would be her fault because she could have stopped that argument. Instead, she was embroiled in it. It wasn't Squall or Quistis' fault that she got dragged into that altercation but her own.

"Should we get back to the guys?" Selphie asked nervously.

"We don't know if they've stayed on the same path they were heading on, or if they changed directions for some reason," Quistis replied doubtfully.

"So we should just press on? Press on and hope we meet up with them again?" Selphie asked. "I think we should at least try to find them. I don't like this 'bad feeling' crap. I just want to make sure that they're all right!"

"We can't!" Quistis replied. "We just can't!" Quistis was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

"Why not?" Selphie exclaimed, close to joining Quistis, "I don't understand!"

"Guys! Guys! Stop!" Zell yelled. "Listen, we won't get anywhere if you don't stop acting the like the world is going to end. It won't save us anything. We have to work together if we're going to get out of this. Okay?"

"Sorry." Selphie muttered. "I'm just so scared. I don't want to be apart from the guys. Especially Irvine and Squall. I mean, the guys always have our backs. In my opinion, they're the ones that give us our strength in battle. And Rinny, when Squall is with us, he's like on alert at all times because he wants to keep you safe, but by doing that, he's keeping the rest of us safe. It comforting." Selphie smiled weakly.

"Selphie," Rinoa stepped closer to her best friend. After a quick hug, she decided to tell them what had been lingering in the back of her mind for quite some time now. "You know, having Squall with me does make me feel safe and all, but it has its negative sides. He's afraid to let me get involved. He won't let me hold on my own. I know he's my knight, but I want to fight too. In battles, he always covers me. He won't let me receive any damage. I love him. I really do. I just want to prove to him that I'm strong without him always there. He strengthens me. He adds to my power." Rinoa shook her head. She hoped that they understood what she said because she was having issues.

"Rinoa, you don't have to prove anything to him. He knows your strong," Quistis reassured te doubtful girl, "He's just a little over-protective."

"Only because he's scared that he might lose you. Rinny, if he were to lose you, it would destroy him. It really would. When you weren't with Quistis, Selphie, and Nadia, he was distressed. He really loves you. He just wants to make sure that you're safe, that you're okay," Zell told her truthfully. "I'm sure you get frustrated when he goes overboard, but he can't help it. He told us that he's not used to having someone to depend on. He's never had to rely on anyone before."

Rinoa didn't say anything but nodded. Nope, they didn't understand.

"We'd get going. We've wasted enough time." Quistis said with another sigh.

There were nods of approval but no sound from anyone. They pushed those previous thoughts aside and headed on their way again silently.

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A/N: So? What do you think? Any ideas on how it's going to end? You guys aren't going to hate me if the ending isn't exactly as you planned, are you? I promise it won't stop here! I've gotten too deep into this now! No way! It's all downhill from here! And please, no comments on the sigh thing Quistis. I think I was half asleep when I wrote that last year. My bad. Well, I still have work to do. Later Days!

E/N: She wrote it last year... Yet it's only being posted now! -audiblegasp-