Chapter 2 of A Woman Left Alone. More out-takes after the chapter, I don't own any of these characters, except one.


The night was chilly as Quistis and Xu stepped carefully around the trees of the small forest they had entered, and Quistis found herself wishing that she had grabbed something warm to wear before she left Garden.

Beside her, Xu was muttering angrily to herself and rubbing her arms with her hands, already sick of the cold and sick of walking. They had talked little for the small amount of time they had been traveling, and Quistis was still feeling a pang of guilt that Xu had decided to join her.

"Okay, stop," the girl said suddenly, walking in front of Quistis and putting her hands on her hips. "I want to know what your plan actually is now, before I freeze to death."

"I told you," Quistis said calmly. "I'm just heading for a town, where I'll decide what to do from there."

"That's it?" Xu said, astonished. "How are you going to even survive? We have no money, no spare clothes, I don't have my weapon on me, and you don't even know what the hell you're doing, by the sound of it."

"Hey, I'm usually the pessimistic one, remember?" Quistis joked weakly, trying to avoid responding to her observations.

Xu just stared at her. "Quistis, this is so unlike you! Normally you have everything worked out-what you're doing, how you're going to do it...but this is just insane! Part of the reason I came along was because I thought you had some master plan in mind that you were going to try to accomplish..."

Quistis sagged against the trunk of a tree suddenly, realizing that Xu was right-what she was doing was crazy.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she admitted slowly, the words hard for her to say. "I just thought that if I did something spontaneous for a change something good would come my way- I mean, how I was before, calculating all of my actions and carefully acting out my life wasn't exactly working out for me, was it?"

She could feel the tears swelling up unbidden behind her eyes, but forced them away. As close as she was to Xu, she had never cried in front of her before, and didn't want to now. A part of her- the cold, unfeeling part- thought that tears made you appear weak.

She had never really worked out where she had developed that impression from; maybe it was growing up in an orphanage that did it, but regardless it was one of her personality traits that made her unapproachable to most people.

Xu's expression softened. "Well, at least you admitted to me that you don't have a clue. That will make it easier going on, I guess." She paused, and seemed to remember something. "Oh, sorry about before...you know, when I asked if you were gay. I didn't really think you were, but that would kind of explain why you're so unwilling to open up to people, so...um, yeah." She looked embarrassed.

Quistis smiled. "That's okay."

"So, what do you want out of this, anyway? Romance? Adventure? Excitement?" Xu asked her.

Quistis shrugged, and then smiled once more. "Just a life, I guess."


They continued walking through the forest, Quistis lost in thought. On reflection, she wished she had left a note or a message for her friends back in the Garden, but the note she wrote to Xu had been the only one.

She sighed, thinking that the reason she had just taken off without alerting anyone might have been because she wanted them to feel worried about her, and to think about her. But that was a pretty childish thing to do-still, it was done now, and she couldn't undo it.

"Hey," Xu said suddenly, halting in her tracks and holding a hand up for silence, even though Quistis hadn't been talking. "You hear that?"

Quistis strained her ears, and a faint hissing sound came to her. Calmly, she removed her whip from her belt and unfurled it-the weapon was named "Save the Queen", and was pretty much the most powerful whip in the world. She had kept it close to her after she had helped Squall defeat the Sorceress, but hadn't had to actually use it much.

Xu noticed her action, and her eyes widened. "What, is something going to attack us?"
"Probably," Quistis said with a shrug.

"Well, that's all right for you, but what about me?" The girl cried. "I don't have much fighting experience-well, compared to you, anyway. I'm normally stuck in Balamb Garden, issuing orders. And besides, I don't have a weapon!"

Quistis looked around at their surroundings, and then smiled and pointed.

"There's a stick over there-looks pretty sturdy," she said, trying not to laugh.

"A stick," Xu repeated, shaking her head. She walked over to a tree regardless and picked up a long, sturdy stick up from its base, looking at it with a grimace.

At least the length was good, Quistis thought. Xu would be able to use it almost like a staff.

Xu walked back over to her, swinging the stick experimentally, and the hissing noise suddenly got louder.

The two women stared in the direction of the noise, and Xu let out a disgusted shriek as a large, fat snake slithered around a tree and into view.

The snake was huge, standing upright at a height taller than a human, and was dark green in color.

"An Anacondaur," Quistis mused. It was funny- at one point the snake might have filled her with fear, but after everything she had been through the snake now held little threat to her.

"Eww, I hate snakes," Xu complained.

The snake boldly advanced on them, hissing threateningly, its eyes glowing red in the darkness.

Quistis leaped forward, swinging her whip, and sent it cracking down on the snakes head, making it reel back in surprise.

The snake spat suddenly, sending poisonous venom towards Quistis in a deadly spray. The girl rolled forward, the venom striking against a trunk of a tree harmlessly.

She got to her feet and turned to the snake once more, only to find that it was slithering forward towards Xu, who had remained in the same spot.

Xu swung the stick around with all her might, catching the snake on the side of its head as it moved to strike. The blow fazed the snake for a few seconds, but then it lunged forward and wrapped itself around Xu, squeezing tightly.

"H-help!" Xu managed to cry, the air in her body being pushed out of her.

Panic gripped Quistis. Anacondaur's were mostly relatively harmless, unless they spat venom on you, or got you trapped in their death grip. Then, you were in trouble.

Normally, she would quickly cast some magic on the snake right away, but since she didn't have any Guardian Forces equipped these days, she could not use magic. Whipping the snake wouldn't do any good either-it wouldn't let go of Xu until they were both dead.

Frantically, as the snake continued to suffocate Xu, she reached down inside herself for something she knew she didn't need a Guardian Force for-her limit break. Once a limit break is learned, a person never forgets it; though usually a limit break can only be used when a person takes a physical beating in battle, as a last resort.

She hoped though that the emotional importance of the current situation, and the fact that she was trying to use a low-level limit break, would allow her to use one.

She felt a tingling in her body, and her heart leapt. Yes!

The sensation traveled up through her body, until it reached her eyes, where a slight burning sensation began in the middle of her forehead.

She made sure that she was aiming her body towards the head of the snake, which was to one side of Xu's body, and released the limit break.

A laser shot forward from the middle of her forehead, through the air in a straight line, where it hit the snake on its head, going right through it and scorching the snake powerfully.

It let out a shriek of pain and immediately let go of Xu, where it dropped to the ground, dead.

The laser disappeared, and Quistis staggered to her knees on the ground.

She felt exhausted, drained, but elated.

She had not used any of her limit breaks in a long time, and she had almost forgotten how powerful even the weak ones were.

Xu stared down at the snake, brushing herself off and glaring at it. Quistis could see that she was trying to put on a brave face.
"Wow. Way to go, Quistis." She said. "Though maybe if I had a proper weapon it wouldn't have grabbed me like that."

Quistis stood up, laughing. "Yeah, I'm sure it wouldn't have. You've fought them before, haven't you?"

Xu nodded. "A couple, yeah. That's why I feel a bit embarrassed, letting it incapacitate me like that."

"Don't worry about it, it was partly my fault for letting it get past me. Anyway, let's keep walking. We probably still have a ways to go yet." Quistis said, feeling somehow slightly better then she had felt before the snake had attacked.

Maybe because it showed her that she was still in control of a lot of things, she reflected as she and Xu continued walking. Because, even though her life was sort of shit, at least she could take care of herself in battle.

Xu must have been busy thinking herself, because she suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, does that mean I'm a part of your new party?" She asked.

"Huh?" Quistis said, taken aback.

"You know...like how you were part of Squall's party, but now that it's just the two of us, it's sort of like an all new party, right?" She said, hesitatingly.

Quistis thought about it. "I suppose you have a point. I didn't even realise that, if I'm out fighting on my own, doing my own thing, I'm no longer really part of Squall's old clan anymore, am I? Well, none of us are, really."

Xu nodded, and then smiled slyly. "Hehe, if I continue to fight alongside you like this-you know, maybe get a better weapon (as she was still carrying the stick with her), I might soon become famous myself."

"Oh come on, I'm not famous."

"Of course you are! All six of you guys are. You know, saving the world kind of makes you important," Xu said sarcastically.

"You sound jealous," Quistis teased. "And Squall is a lot more famous then I am."

"Well yeah, he might be more famous, but he doesn't like it much, does he?" Xu said.

"No, Squall just wants to be left alone," Quistis sighed, and then lapsed into silence. If Xu noticed her love-sick expression, she thankfully didn't say anything about it.


A few hours later they finally made it out of the forest, tired and frustrated. It was still night, and the moon shone down on the endless fields that now stretched out in front of them.

"Who doesn't bring any potions with them on a trip?" Xu complained bitterly, for they had ran into a couple more Anacondaurs in the forest, resulting in scuffles in the dark and some minor wounds.

Before Quistis could respond, Xu noticed the barren landscape around them, and groaned in exasperation.

"Oh, come on! Quistis, we've been walking for hours! And we're nowhere near anything!" She cried. "At this rate, it'll take days to get anywhere!"

Quistis was silent, but inside she felt worried. They should have reached some sort of civilization by now, and she felt sick of walking.

"Where are we trying to get to, anyway? Come on, you must have some idea of where we're going," Xu prodded.

"Timber," Quistis reluctantly admitted.
"Timber?" Xu exploded, which Quistis almost found comical. "That would be miles away! Oh, why didn't I stay at Garden?" She said to herself, clutching her head.

Quistis chuckled at her reaction. "I didn't know you were such a softie," she teased. "The way you boss your students around, you'd think that you would be able to cope a bit of a walk."

Xu glared at her. "That's all for show, part of the power-play. Really, I just want good food, good sleep, and to drive everywhere."

Quistis laughed once more, looking around the fields and trying to decide how far away from Timber they were. She had not been in the area for ages, so her calculations would be slightly off.

Something on the ground glinted off the moonlight, drawing her eyes to it. Train tracks.

"You might get your wish of driving," Quistis muttered, pointing out the tracks to Xu.

The girl's eyes widened with delight. "Yes! The train! There should be a stop near-by, even way out here, and that way we can..." She suddenly let out a scream of frustration. "We can't do anything, because we can't get on! We have no money, remember?"

Quistis felt stupid. "Oh yeah," she mumbled. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to walk, then."

Xu groaned, and shook her head. "No. I refuse. Let's find the station, and then we'll get on somehow, without money. I mean, your famous enough, and I'm an instructor at Garden, so we'll just make up some story and get on."

"You seem awfully confident." Quistis said. "I don't really want to, it probably won't work..."

"Too bad, because I'm doing it," Xu snapped, walking on beside the track at a brisk pace. Quistis hurried to catch up.


After another hour of walking, they finally reached the train stop, which was simply a raised, bare platform set beside the tracks in the middle of nowhere. A rusty, old bench stood on the platform, which Xu sank gratefully into with a sigh.

Quistis sat next to her, glad to be off her feet at last.

The sky was lightening, heralding the coming dawn.

"Hopefully the train won't be long," Xu muttered, her head back, her chin up and her eyes closed.

"They won't let us on anyway," Quistis warned.

"We'll see."

After only ten minutes of waiting, Quistis spotted the train in the distance, heading towards them. Xu got up with a whoop, Quistis getting up with less excitement; she still felt that, with no money, they simply would not be let on.

The train slowed, and then finally stopped next to their platform. It wasn't anything flashy, with the paint peeling here and there, but it had been in service for a while and was reliable enough, Quistis figured.

A door of the train slid open, and a young man leaned out with a disinterested look, his eyes skimming over them.

"It's one hundred gil, wherever you're going," he muttered, stifling a yawn.

Quistis looked at Xu, who was grinning prettily at the man. Quistis rolled her eyes to herself-was Xu just going to try and flirt her way onto the train for free?

"We need to get to Timber," Xu explained. "But we have no money."

The man stared at her, his brown eyes confused. "You have no money." He repeated.

"Yes, that's right. So we can't pay you, but...well, do you know who she is?" Xu asked him, and to Quistis' horror pointed at her.

The man looked at her quizzically, and then after a while a look of recognition dawned on his face.

"You're Quistis!" He practically yelled at her, while she smiled through gritted teeth. "I read about you when Timber Maniacs did a five-page article on you!"

"Oh?" Quistis stammered, not knowing what to say. She knew nothing about the article."That's, um, good."

The train man's eyes flicked down to her belt. "You even have that famous whip with you! Oh gee, and here I thought today was going to be a bore!"

Xu jumped in. "Well, if you let us on, I'm sure Quistis would be happy to give you an autograph, or something like that."

I wouldn't be happy to, actually, Quistis thought, but saw she had no say in the matter.

The man thought for a bit, and then seemed to come to the conclusion that the risk of being fired was worth an autograph.

"Yes, of course, come right in. I have a cousin who is just crazy about you, Miss Quistis," he rattled on, standing aside so that they could step up into the train.

Thankfully, Xu had discarded her stick before they boarded the train.

"Where do we sit?" Xu asked the man, still smiling.

"Anywhere that's free. There's a nice seat over there," the man recommended, indicating with his head.

Xu thanked the man and they moved down the aisle and slipped into a seat. Quistis noticed that the compartment was almost empty, with only a family consisting of two parents and three children situated half-way down the compartment, and a couple of single people here and there, all looking tired and bored.

To Quistis' dismay, the young man had moved down the aisle with them, and now stood next to their seat, nervously fidgeting.

The train started with a jolt, and they began to slowly pick up speed.
"I haven't been on a train for a while," Xu said to Quistis and the man, trying to start up a conversation. "How long have you worked here, er, mister...?"

"The name's Barry. I've just been working here as a temp. job for about a month now. I don't really like trains, and all I mostly do is collect the money from the passengers, but I need the money myself, you know? What I really want to be is a writer. That's why I read everything Timber Maniacs publish." He said, his words coming out fast.

He kept looking at Quistis, to see her reaction, so she had to keep smiling and nodding, when really she just wished that he would leave them alone, for she didn't feel up to any conversation.

Still, she thought, he had let them on for free, so she supposed that this torture must be part of their payment.

Barry had mentioned Timber Maniacs twice now, and Quistis remembered that they were the world's largest and most respected publishing firm in the world, and, as the name pointed out, they resided in Timber. She had even been to their office once or twice, and remembered that Squall's father had worked for them at one time in his life.

Squall. Just thinking about him made her feel uneasy, so she tried to pay polite attention to what Barry was saying to keep her mind off of him.

"Never thought I'd actually meet anyone famous while doing the job, though," he was saying. Quistis glanced at Xu and realised that her traitorous friend wasn't even paying attention anymore, and was instead gazing out of the window at the passing scenery.

"I wouldn't say I'm that famous," Quistis said, with a small chuckle. She was feeling somewhat self-conscious.

"Oh come now, don't be modest!" Barry cried. "Most of the world must know your face by now- and the faces of your friends, of course. I half expected to see the whole gang waiting out there when I recognized you, but I suppose they must be busy with other things."

Quistis' face burned, and she tried to look natural, thinking that if she were to look downcast, the train man would see that she had made herself an outcast.

"Yes, we're all quite busy," she said calmly. "I'm just taking a small trip with my friend here."

Xu turned back from the window for a brief moment, and smiled at Barry. "I'm Xu, by the way."

Barry nodded his hello, and then seemed to remember something. "Oh! I'll be right back, okay? I have the perfect thing for you to sign..."

And with that he scampered off down the aisle.

Straight away Quistis turned to Xu with a glare. "I don't believe in throwing my apparent celebrity status around like this," she hissed. "Now I have to sit here for the entire trip and be worshiped by someone I don't even know. It makes me uncomfortable."

Xu shrugged. "Sorry, but it was probably the only way we could get on. And you haven't even been out of Balamb Garden much, so sooner or later you would have had to experience this."

"I try to keep away from it."
"I know. You're just like Squall." Xu chastised.

Quistis' heart thudded faster, and she told herself to calm down. Just because Xu had pointed out how alike her and Squall were, she had gone all love-sick again. This was just ridiculous, she thought.

The train clattered on, and then Barry was back once more, eagerly holding a magazine in his hands.

"I thought I had this stored back there somewhere," he said. "It's the magazine that ran the article on you. Look."

And he showed her the page with the article. Quistis looked down into her own face, as the magazine had opted to print a large photograph of her that took up an entire page.

Her blue eyes looked piercingly towards her, and her expression was somewhat cold and formal.

Still, she reflected that that was probably how she usually looked. She smiled up at Barry.

"I hope the article's more flattering than the picture," she joked.

"Um, kind of," Barry said, taking the magazine away from her face and thumbing through the pages. "Though I think they were just a bit ticked off that you had refused to give them an interview."

Quistis vaguely remembered a reporter barging into her room one day, and she telling him to piss off.

"I'll read a bit to you: '...out of all the members that make up the party that brought down the Sorceress, Quistis Trepe is the most aloof and precocious. Becoming a Seed cadet at the age of fifteen, this former instructor of Balamb Garden has shown aptitude at an early age, and developed a friendship with Squall Leonhart before any of his other companions. There has even been talk about a secret love affair between the two. However, Quistis must find it hard to bond to most people, as she has never had a serious relationship before...' Um, maybe that wasn't the best bit to read out," Barry admitted, looking sheepish.

Quistis forced a smile onto her face, but inside she felt anger and resentment. It was like the article had thrown open her pathetic life for the whole world to read about, making her sound like a cold, uncaring person who didn't give a stuff about anyone but herself.

Is that how she always appeared to people? She wondered miserably.

"You're much nicer in real life, and the article does go on to talk about your fighting skills and abilities," Barry said frantically, trying to undo the damage.

"It's okay," Quistis forced herself to say. "It's probably my fault for not doing the interview and presenting the real me to the world...what did you want me to sign?" She asked.

"The front of the magazine, if you wouldn't mind," Barry said, handing over the magazine and a pen to her. "That way, if I ever do become a writer, I'll have something to show off to the other journalists already."

Quistis smiled and quickly signed the cover of the magazine. As an after-thought, she wrote, "To Barry, the kindest train conductor. I hope your dream of becoming a writer comes true."

She felt kind of lame and corny writing it, but when she handed the magazine and the pen back to him, he took one look at the cover and beamed hugely.
"Oh, thank you very much! When I become a writer I'll be sure to do an article on what kind of person you really are. Hey, maybe I could even interview you?" He added hopefully.
She smiled. "Yes, maybe."

He grinned at her once more and moved away, and Xu patted her on the arm.

"See? This celebrity business isn't that hard," she soothed.

Quistis sighed and shook her head. "I'll never get used to it. And that article? That kind of hurt."

"I know!" Xu agreed. "A lot of it was true, but they didn't have to put it so bluntly."

Quistis sat back in her seat with another sigh, and Xu resumed looking out the window, somewhat dreamily.

This was her chance to do something for her life that will make her a completely different person, she told herself. At least, that's what she hoped.

She glanced out the window, and saw the town of Timber pop into view. They were almost there.


Out-takes time!

1) The first fight

The snake boldly advanced on them, hissing threateningly, its eyes glowing red in the darkness.

Suddenly, from behind some bushes, an orchestra popped up and started playing the Final Fantasy VIII battle theme.

"Aww, yeah! It's on now!" Xu cried.

"I love this music," Quistis said. "I mean, it's a bit weird having an orchestra follow you everywhere just so they can always play the battle theme, but- ow! Hey! The snake bit me! And it wasn't even his turn!"

"I'll get him!" Xu declared. She pulled out a poke-ball from nowhere, and cried, "Pikachu, I choose you!"

She threw the poke-ball, where it landed in front of the confused snake and opened in a blinding light. Pikachu then stood there cutely, looking up at the giant snake.
"Pika?" It asked, cocking its head.
The snake then gobbled him up, making Xu's jaw drop.

"No! My Pikachu!" She sobbed.

"What did you expect?" Quistis snapped. "You just made a small rodent go up against a giant snake."

"Oh, yeah. Should have probably thought a bit more about it before I did that, huh?" Xu admitted.

"Anyway, it's my turn. Take that, snake!" Quistis said, and whipped the snake in the head.

The snake growled angrily and suddenly turned on the orchestra players who were to one side, leaping on the violinist and swallowing her whole.
"I say!" The conductor said, using his stick...thingy...to poke the snake in the eye.

The snake hissed angrily, trying to swallow the trombonist, while Xu and Quistis looked on in confusion.

"We should probably do something." Quistis mused.

"Yes. Like this," Xu said, and then pulled out a shotgun and blasted the snake.

After a moment's silence, Quistis spoke up: "So...you had that on you the entire time?"
"Well, yeah."

"Probably would have been more useful using it on the snake before he ate up my entire orchestra."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I just don't think sometimes!" Xu laughed, embarrassed.

The bushes rustled, and to their surprise a half-dead pianist crawled out, bleeding from multiple wounds. He dragged himself across the dirt to his keyboard, managed to stand on one leg (the other had been chewed off), and heroically played the victory theme before collapsing.

"They're pretty dedicated, aren't they?" Xu observed.


2) Barry, the nice train conductor.

"You're Quistis!" He practically yelled at her, while she smiled through gritted teeth. "I read about you when Timber Maniacs did a five-page article on you!"

"Yes, she's Quistis, and is famous!" Xu said, grinning. "Will you let us on for free?"

"Piss off." The man snarled, and the door slid closed in their faces.

A second later, the door opened once more, but only so Barry could spit in Quistis' astonished face.


3) Another...romantic twist.

She glanced out the window, and saw the town of Timber pop into view. They were almost there.
"Quistis!" A voice suddenly boomed, and she looked down the aisle, startled, to see Squall marching towards her, his clothes torn and looking disheveled.

"Squall!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"My love for you has no bounds, and as soon as I realised that you were missing I jumped off of Garden and managed to track you down." He said dramatically.

Xu sniggered. "How lame! You don't see any loser following me around like a pathetic puppy!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Xu!" Said another voice, and Nida, Seed member and driver of the Garden, bounded down the aisle, a bunch of flowers in his hand.

"Ugh! What are you doing?" Xu asked, sticking out her tongue in revulsion.

"Confessing my love for you! I too was worried about you, so I tracked you down so that we could get married and live happily together!" Nida said, beaming.

"Dream on! Come on Quistis, let's move to another compartment," Xu said, and the two women moved off down the aisle in a huff.

Rejected, Squall and Nida stood there, their shoulders slumped; Nida's flowers also drooped sadly.

"What do we do now?" Squall asked, sighing.

Nida shrugged. "Go home, I guess."
He looked at Squall.

Squall looked back.

With animal ferocity they suddenly embraced and began to tongue-wrestle passionately, sucking at each other's faces and moaning.

Barry, who had come back to check on his favourite celebrity, stared in horror at the sight before him, and had to run back to his small compartment to throw up for an hour straight.


Ahaha, couldn't help but throw in another unlikely romance there. I also like how random the second out-take is.

Thanks to everyone who left a review! They were all very much appreciated. I didn't expect much attention for this story, but four reviews was pretty good. Not that I don't want more, but...hehe.
I'm sorry if not a lot happened in this chapter, but I'm building up to the story, and this was always going to be a character-driven story. I also kept having to look up a lot of Final Fantasy VIII facts that I had forgotten.

Someone mentioned that Xu was probably a bit too happy in the first chapter. I guess they have a point, but I did try to balance out her character by making her give Quistis a lecture at the cafe and stuff, so I didn't think she was that happy. In this chapter I made her more sarcastic and grumpy, haha. Maybe she just hates the outdoors.

More reviews would be very nice.

Finally, I want to dedicate this chapter to my girlfriend, who turns twenty today. Without her helping out in my life I wouldn't have time to write, and all that mushy-stuff.