Author's Notes: Here we are, Chapter 2. Now the story will fall into the Kingdom Hearts feel. Enjoy v

Maybe I'm A Lion

Chapter Two

Waking to Strangers

'Squall…Squall…'

Squall opened his eyes slowly. He flinched to see a low, bright sunset over a large opened field. A familiar field; the flowers were in full bloom as the beautiful sun sank over them, making the pink petals seem to be on fire. The sweet smell of the ocean entered his lungs as he stood there, looking over the place…their place.

'Squall…I'm waiting for you…'

He looked up and out across the open area. There, standing in the distance, was the familiar long brown haired, brown-eyed girl that he loved so much. She stood, her back to him, her duster blowing slightly in the wind.

'Rinoa!' he called out to her, starting off at a run, trying to reach her.

Rinoa did not answer him, but only kept her back to him, 'Squall…I'm waiting in our place for you…'

Squall thought that she just hadn't heard her, 'Rinoa! I'm here! I'm right here!'

'I waited Squall….'

He ran faster…

'I waited and waited…'

He had to hold her in his arms….

'Everyday since then…'

And tell her that he was there for her…

'Since the war ended…'

Like he promised…

'…and you never came…'

The image blurred and an ear-piercing scream followed as the image of Rinoa shattered like glass and into the darkness…


"Rinoa!" Squall shouted, shooting up. His whole body was shaking as a layer of ice cold sweat rolled down his face and chest. Every inch was him was cold and clammy as his eyes darted about, question as to what happened entering his mind. He was expected to be in his dorm room or in the infirmary. Everything was a total blank. Squall looked up and glanced about, wondering where he was exactly.

It was a darkly lit room, lots of reds and blacks covering the walls. He was sitting in a large four-poster bed, red curtains hanging off of it. Japanese characters he did not understand decorated almost everything in the room, including the red heavy blankets that covered him as he panted out his breaths, trying to calm himself down. Off near the closed doors to a balcony, his uniform coat sat on the back of a desk chair with his gunblade propped up against the edge.

"What is this place?" he asked himself quietly, placing his head into his hands.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside of the door. It sounded like three people were approaching and at a quick pace.

"I think I heard something in the red room."

"Do you think he's finally woken up?"

"Oh dear. I hope he's alright."

It was one man and two women. He could tell by the voices. One of the girls sounded his age, while the other was slightly younger. The man was older than both of them. He had to hide. He didn't have anything to protect himself with, and that could only put him in more danger if they were armed.

Squall tried to swing his legs out of the bed and onto the floor. As soon as he moved to put an ounce of strain on them, a rush of weakness came over him and he fell backwards onto the soft pillow.

The door opened with a slight creak. The footsteps approached him slowly. All he did was lay there, his eyes looking upward to the canopy above him. 'I can't move…I can't do anything…'

As he continued to stare upwards, the face of one of the girls appeared above him. She had deep blue eyes that seemed to sparkle even in the low light of the room. Her brown hair hung in a long twisted like braid down her back and her bangs were in the most unusual style. Her soft smile almost seemed to relax his body and his nerves, "Hey, are you alright?"

'Her voice is light and sweet…like Rinoa's….'

All Squall could do was stare up at her, wondering who she was. Or, the better question was, why was she helping him? He remained silent, not sure if his voice was there to answer her question.

"Is he awake?" The other girl's voice asked as she came into view. She had the blackest hair that Squall had ever seen; short and in a bob-like cut. Her eyes were wide and full of question as she stared at him cheerfully. About her neck, there hung a pale yellow scarf and her outfit of a green mid-drift shirt, short shorts and sneakers were more or less, not to his tastes.

"He is. But, I don't think he can talk." The older girl told.

'I can too…' Squall thought, trying to move again, "I can talk. There's nothing wrong with my voice," he growled, his body feeling achy and weak.

Both girls jumped to see him move and speak so suddenly, "I'm so sorry…Please forgive me…" The girl with the wild-looking hair stated.

"…whatever…" Squall muttered as he tried to rise up once again from his resting place. He pushed himself up using every ounce of his strength he had in him, trying to get up and out of there. But, the girls only pushed him back down as if it was nothing.

"You mustn't try to move just yet," The younger girl told him gently.

"Yuffie is right. We just managed to get your heart back from the heartless…you must rest and regain your strength."

Yuffie nodded, "Listen to Aerith…she knows what she's talking about."

But Squall had heard enough. He needed to get out of there and back to Garden. 'Rinoa must be worried sick about me by now. And everyone else too…'

"Let…me go. I have to get back to Garden…I have to get back to Rinoa and the others," he started to ramble on. The sweat was started to form again, icier and more chilling than before.

"The boy is talking nonsense. It's his fever," the man's deep voice called as he walked over and into Squall's view. He too, had the strangest hair. It was tall and blond. A white shirt and a toothpick in his mouth was all he could really see as his vision started to go in and out of focus. The he blacked out once more and fell back into his darkness.

Yuffie turned and pouted, "Come on Cid! The guy just got his heart back!"

But Cid just brushed his nose with his thumb slightly, "Bah! Sure, he got his heart back. But he still thinks his world exists," he paused and stared down at Squall, "Poor kid. He has no idea about the heartless and all of the troubles…"

"I feel for him Cid. After all, we all had a world once too…" Aeris told him. Her eyes fell back upon the sleeping Squall and she gave him a soft smile, "He reminds me of him," she muttered.

Yuffie looked at Aerith, puzzled, "Him?"

Reaching out her hand, she brushed some of Squall's bangs from his eyes, "You remember…Cloud. He was always dark and brooding…kinda like him."

Cid reached out and grabbed the woman's hand away from Squall, "Cloud is dead Aerith and don't you forget it. He disappeared into the darkness along with Midgar and everyone else. Don't hang onto the past; just look to the future," he paused and looked down at Squall, "He might be able to help us. But, you keep your mind on our mission Aerith. This kid ain't Cloud. And you remember that." And with that, he released her hand, and disappeared out the door.

The women remained silent as the sounds of Cid's stomping feet left their ears and no sounds could be heard from outside or in. Aerith glanced down at her hands that now sat folded in her lap. Although in her mind she knew that he was gone, in her heart she knew Cloud was still out there; alive and well. She didn't want to give up hope. She couldn't let that hope die away just yet.

"Aerith? Are you ok?" Yuffie finally asked, her face filled with concern.

Looking up, Aerith fought back the forming tears in her eyes, "Yes. I'll be fine Yuffie. Thank you."

The girl studied her for a moment, then straightened up, "We should get back to patrol. According to the king, the heartless are growing in number in the second and third districts."

"If that is the case," Aerith muttered, "Then I will remain here with him."

"But Aerith,"

"The heartless got his heart once. No doubt that they will try to take it again. Look at him Yuffie," Aeris glanced over to the sleeping teen. The layer of cold sweat was clearly visible on his brow and was slowly soaking his white shirt as he breathed heavily, "He's weak and can barely sit up. How do you expect him to defend himself against the heartless like that?"

Biting her lip, Yuffie nodded, "Ok. But, I'm hurry with my rounds so that I can come back and help ya out later, kay?"

The brown haired girl smiled, "That sounds wonderful Yuffie. See ya in a bit."

"When you walk away, you don't hear me say, 'please…oh baby…don't go…'"

Squall's ears perked at as a soft melody entered his ears. This muscles relaxed as his senses began to return to him. He felt the soft sheets beneath him and the coolness of the air around him. The sweat he was covered with before seemed to have left him, and calmness washed over him as he listened.

"…Simple and clean is the way you are making me feel….tonight….its hard to let it go…"

It was a gentle, almost sad sounding song, filled with longing and yet, a quiet understanding for something. And the voice that sang its words was as beautiful as that of…Rinoa's….

His eyes slowly opened to reveal a blurred image of the room he remembered for before. A red room but there was less people. 'One girl is gone…the one with the short black hair.' he thought to himself, letting his vision focus, 'so that means that the other girl is…'

She was sitting next to his bed, her eyes deep within a book. She had a slight smile on her face as she read, lightly muttering the lyrics to the song under her breath, as if trying to conceal her voice. He watched as her eyes wandered over the pages of the book. Then, slowly, they began to emerge and connected with his own.

"Oh!" She gasped, dropping the book from her hands.

Squall remained still in his bed, only letting his eyes follow her, "I'm sorry," he managed to muster out, "I didn't mean to scare you."

But the girl just laughed, picking up what she dropped, "It's alright. I wasn't expecting to see you staring back at me." Tossing her bangs from her eyes, she smiled sweetly, leaning over towards the bed. She propped her head up by resting her elbows to her knees and placing her chin to her palms. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

Blinking a few times, the young commander breathed in deeply and let out a soft sigh, "Not as woozy as before," he began. He tried to sit up. Instead, he ended up with slight strain of his muscles, forcing him to relax again, "But I still can't move all that much."

The girl in pink giggled, "You won't be able to move fully for at least another 3 hours. After all, we were able to give you back your heart," she sighed, "You were one of the lucky ones."

Squall gave the girl a blank stare, "I got my….heart back?"

Even the sound of the sentence sounded weird to him. How can someone loose their heart? Maybe the soul or their love for someone…but the actual heart? The essence of a being?

"I think I better wait to tell you about what happened," the girl told, standing from her chair. She leaned over Squall, letting her brown braid fall over her shoulder, "You should rest as much as you can until you can get back on your feet."

But the bed ridden youth protested, "Can I at least ask one question?"

Startled by his assertiveness, the young woman jumped back. She stared at him curiously, a faint smile able to come from her lips, "Of course," her faint voice muttered uncertainly.

Squall lifted his head slightly off of this pillow, making sure his blue eyes met hers, "Who are you and where am I?" he asked, his head beginning to swirl with dizziness again.

A soft chuckle came from the woman's lips, "That was two questions." She joked, as if trying to lighten the mood a bit. "I'm so sorry for not telling you. My name is Aerith," she told him happily.

Aerith sat down on the edge of Squall's bed, the delicate and gentle smile still upon her face. She smoothed his sheets slightly as she moved up closer to where he lay. The young man could only watch her as she slid her way up ever to carefully.

Her moves were that of how Rinoa acted when she took care of him after the Sorceress War ended. After she had awakened him from his death like sleep, he had become weak and exhausted. The doctor had instructed him to remain in bed for at least 4 days after his victorious return to Garden. Though it was against his wishes, Squall did as he was told and remained in his dorm and in his bed.

And during those long and dreadful four days, Rinoa was there beside him every moment. She would straighten out his sheets, bring him food, fluff his pillows, and even curl up with him and watch television. All of those things made him feel a special warmth within his own heart.

As Aerith's eyes came in contact with his own, he felt his lids grow heavy with exhaustion, "Aerith…" he yawned out as he felt a light touch push him down into a lying position. "….where am I?"

The darkness of sleep was engulfing him once more. But as his sense of the world began to leave him, those last words he heard seemed to cut through, "Welcome to Traverse Town."

Questions engulfed Squall's uneasy slumber. Aerith? Traverse Town? He had been to almost every town, on every continent, in every corner of the globe. And yet, this place she had told him, did not seem to ring any bells. Only more unanswered questions came to his unrestful mind. What happened that night at Garden? Did someone attack during the ball? Was it a new sorceress? And if it was an attack, why was he in a completely different town from Balamb?
By the time Squall could reopen his eyes, his body felt much stronger than before. He glanced off to the side of his bed to see an empty chair and the closed book on the end table. The doors that were once sealed shut were cracked opened, letting a cool breeze rustle the curtains about. Turning his head back to lay flat on the pillow, he let his eyes look up at the red fabric above his head. This place was most definitely not a dream. And at the same time, he really wished he was.

Sitting up slowly so as not to cause a rush to his senses, the young commander took in a few deep breaths to steady his thoughts from wandering once more. The cool air entered his lungs as he inhaled and exhaled, calming himself slowly. He placed a hand to his brow, wiping away some of the lingering sweat.

"I need to find out where I am," he told himself aloud, knowing no one was around to hear him. "Maybe there is a way back to Garden. Like a train station or something that I can find out how to get home."

Squall threw back the sheets of the bed, revealing that he was still in his dress pants from the ball. They were slightly tattered looking, like he had been through a rough time in a fight. He moved slowly, letting his muscles relax and try to function properly from laying still for so long. Carefully, he placed his feet to the floor. Squall glanced down to the ground, seeing that his boots were placed neatly next to the side of his bed.

"They really know how to keep a guy's things neat," he muttered under his breath as he proceeded to replace his shoes to his feet.

As soon as the last lace was tied and the final buckle closed, Squall rose slowly to his feet. He reached out to one of the posts for support, just in case his legs refused to support the weight. Carefully, unbending his knees, he found himself upright and not at all uneasy about his balance.

Releasing the bedpost, Squall moved slowly towards the desk, feeling somewhat uneasy about walking. If a person were to look in on his progress, they would have thought he had never walked before. And if he were to be seen by his friends back in Garden, he would have probably killed himself out of embarrassment.

Before too long, Squall reached out to the chair with his coat on it for support. 'Finally,' he thought in triumph as he grabbed his uniform coat and placed it on. He didn't bother with the zipper, for he still felt a little warm. So, he let it remain opened, revealing his lion's head pendant. Grasping onto the hilt of his gunblade, Squall picked it up and placed it onto his side. He felt a slight rush of relief to have his weapon by his side once again. He hated having to be parted from it whenever he was in unfamiliar surroundings.

Turning from the desk, Squall made his way to the door. His strength was almost back to full as he placed his hand on the doorknob and pulled back to open the door. He was met with a hallway that was colored green and white. Looking in one direction, Squall was met with a wall then glancing back to the left, he saw his way out. The hallway was lined with multiple doors that all looked the same. But at the end of it all, was a door with a sign above it that read 'Exit'.

Moving out into the hallway, Squall quietly shut the door behind him. He hurried down towards the exit, trying to step as lightly as he could on the wooden floor boards. His boots were way too heavy to make no noise at all, so he hear his steps almost echo through the empty place. Not even pausing to take a moment, Squall pushed through the exit doors and out into the street.

Squall burst out the doors and stumbled slightly into the street. Halted quickly by a wall, he turned on his heels and let his jaw drop opened ever so slightly. The first thing Squall saw was all the neon lights of stores and various small shops. Not a single storefront was not without its brightly lit sign. Every rooftop was a tiled red design, giving the town some kind of uniformity. Directly across from where he stood was a hat shop that had an odd little man for their logo. Beside that store was a luggage place that had a set of stairs that lead down to a lower plaza area. Every part of the ground was slate grey cobblestone and the walls were a gold-like tone. Looking down to the left, there was a massive looking building with stained glass windows. It was the only building that didn't have some form of bright light shimmering off of it. Instead, it looked like it had a huge bell tower, as if it were almost like a town hall.

Looking back down to the right, Squall took notice of a small fountain area in the lower plaza that looked like it was made from white stone, maybe marble. He had small gold bell designs along the edge of it, adding a nice accent against the white. Directly above that, on the second level where Squall stood, were two extremely massive wooden doors. Averting his eyes once again, the young man sighed slightly. There was something extremely eerie to him about this section of this city. Though there were shops and what looked like a town hall, there were no people. Why would they have all these shops and such a nice shopping area, but no people?

Squall turned and headed towards the doors at the end of the district. As he walked, he couldn't help but turn his eyes skyward out of curiosity. Thousands of shimmering bright stars were scattered across the jet black sky. They seemed so close, as if this place was in a very high altitude. Some of them flickered oddly, almost as if they were going to burn out before his eyes.

Before he realized it, Squall found himself before the massive doors. He stared up at them in awe, wondering how exactly he was supposed to open them. 'They look way too heavy to push open. How the hell am I gonna get out of here?' he questioned to himself, placing a hand to his chin in thought.

Suddenly, a loud creak entered his ears, causing him to look down and off to the side. A smaller, more reasonable sized door had opened near the bottom right. Squall stepped back, placing his hand to his weapon as a natural reaction.

"Ug, what a day," a familiar perky voice grumbled. A short girl stepped through the doorway and onto the cobblestone. She wore bright orange sneaker with white shoelaces. White thigh high stockings covered her legs as tiny yellow shorts and a blue belt sat around her waist. Her stomach was bare while a tiny green tubetop with blue straps covered the rest of her. On her hands, she had black fishnets with metal bracers on her arm, covered by orange gloves. Hidden slightly by her short black hair was a metal headband, trimmed with the same color green as her shirt. About her neck, was a familiar yellow scarf that he had thought he had seen before.

She placed a hand behind her head as the door closed behind her automatically. "I better go check on Aerith and that—" Turning to face Squall, the girl jumped about three feet into the air in surprise. "Ah!" She screamed, falling backwards onto her rear end.

Withdrawing his hand from his weapon, Squall raised an eyebrow at the strangely dressed young girl. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him like he was a ghost. "Are…you okay?" he questioned her, who's mouth had fallen agape.

Shaking her head out slightly, realizing that she was staring at him weirdly, she smiled slightly, "Ye…yeah! Of course I am! You just startled me, that's all." She explained, a small nervous laugh hidden in her voice.

Moving slowly towards her, Squall extended a hand to her, "Need some help uh…?" he froze mid sentence, unsure of her name.

"Yuffie," she said boldly, grabbing hold of his hand. With one quick tug, Squall brought the girl to her feet. She rocked back and forth happily, giving the thumbs up in thanks. "The GREAT ninja Yuffie." She added on, winking at him. Shaking his hand slightly, refusing to release it, Yuffie almost seemed to be studying him carefully. "And you are?"

Keeping his stern expression, Squall cleared his throat at the awkward handshake, "Squall. Squall Leonhart." Removing his hand from hers, he couldn't help but cross his arms in question, "The 'great ninja'?" he asked, his voice filled with skeptic.

Brushing herself off, Yuffie huffed slightly at his words, "Yes. The GREAT ninja! You should see me in a fight," she struck a quick pose and then spun around gracefully, "No one can touch me."

Raising an eyebrow at her words, Squall let a smile slip out, "If you are so great, how come I could scare you? I thought ninja were alert all the time."

Yuffie glared up at the older man, "Hey! That's not fair!" she pouted, crossing her arms identically to Squall's, "After all I did to help you, this is how you repay me by insulting me?" Tossing her hair, the young girl started past him, heading towards the hotel that he had exited earlier. She placed her hands behind her head, as if trying to prove to him that she was going to ignore him.

Squall watched her carefully, unsure of what to say. He could apologize, but he thought his question was pretty justified. Granted, she had helped him out with that Aerith girl. Maybe she could help him once more.

"Hey," he began, starting after the young ninja, "Wait a sec. How do I get out of here?"

Halting in her footsteps, Yuffie turned quickly on her heels. She looked at him like he had four heads and horns on his head. "The door? The one I just came through." She told him, attitude etched on her voice.

But Squall shook his head in frustration, "No. That's not what I meant. I mean, which way is the city limits. I need to get back to my base." He explained, stopping a few steps away from the girl.

Yuffie slowly removed her hands from behind her head. She lost the expression of annoyance upon her features and stood quiet as she looked him up and down. "Did…did Aerith not tell you?" she asked softly.

"Tell me what?" Squall looked puzzled at the girl's question, unsure of what she meant. "Look, my home was attacked during a graduation ball," he paused, trying to remember back to what felt like only a few hours ago. The images were blurred in his thoughts. All he could remember was falling into something dark and the feeling of claws ripping away at his clothing and flesh. How he had a sharp pain in his chest and then darkness. "There was a lot of screaming…like everyone around me was…" his voice trailed off.

"Disappearing," a soft voice told quietly, causing both Yuffie and Squall to look up. Standing behind the young girl was the familiar young woman from before. Her long brown hair was still in its long braid that hung down her back. She wore a pink dress trimmed in a darker pink. Around her waist, sat a light blue belt with large silver studs around it. Her boots looked a bit too clunky for such a delicate girl, but none the less looked comfortable.

"Aerith," Yuffie muttered, turning to completely face her friend, "Shouldn't we wait to tell him all that? When Cid is around?"

The young woman nodded at Yuffie's words. She moved past her and took hold of Squall's hand in her own. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. I was doing some work in the next room over. I didn't even hear you leave." She apologized, a small smile coming to her lips. Squeezing his hand softly, she continued to smile. "Please come back to the hotel," she paused.

Yuffie smiled as her, "Squall. That's his name." she explained, knowing that to be the reason Aerith had stopped her words.

Aerith nodded, thanking Yuffie for that, "Squall. We can explain everything to you there over a calming cup of tea."

Looking at the two women, Squall didn't know how to react to their odd form of kindness. Despite knowing he could trust them because they had helped him before, he couldn't help but feel like they were much closer related to him in some way. Sure, the short ninja reminded him of Selphie with her spunky attitude and Aerith's kindness was almost a dead ringer for Rinoa. But deep down, he felt as if this was all a well organized plan that they were to meet. Did he believe in destiny? It really wasn't her preference to do so. But after the war, Squall was ready to try and understand anything.

Nodding his head, he continued to keep a stern face, "Alright."

"Good. Follow me," Aerith said happily, leading him back to the hotel, Yuffie on their heels.

Author's Notes: Ah yes. The beginning of it all….sort of. Ah yes. So, chapter three should be up soon.

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