A/n: This was supposed to go up sooner, but thanks to this website always fcking up, i couldn't update when i wanted to.

"I've learned that: goodbyes will always hurt, pictures can never replace being there, memories forget the hard times, words can never replace feelings, and heroes often go unsung."

Selphie found herself racing down the dorm corridor. She'd forgotten which room number was Squalls, but that didn't matter too much, because each Garden student's initials were gilded onto the heavy wooden doors, along with a peephole and a number pad to punch in your private code to gain access.

She thundered along the hallway, the heels of her brown boots clomping and echoing on the floor, frantically searching for the initials S.L. Finally, she came across them, and without hesitation, knocked a little too hard on the door, hurting her knuckles in the process; such was the need to find out the truth about Irvine.

A rather annoyed looking Squall opened the door none too gently. He didn't open it fully either, but he did open it enough for a body to squeeze through, and Selphie did just this, despite being uninvited and unfazed by Squalls fiery look.

"S-Selphie! You can't come in!"

It was only when the small teenager had pushed herself inside Squalls dorm that she noticed Rinoa in his bed, gathering up the black bed sheets and bringing them just below her chin. Selphie glanced over at Squall, who was standing to her right, hand on his hip, clad only in his leather trousers.

Beginning to feel embarrassed at barging in on their 'alone time', she mumbled, "Oh, erm, I'm sorry, I'll go."

Squall said nothing in return but opened the door wider for her to leave, obviously still annoyed at her rude intrusion.

Rinoa wasn't about to let her friend leave though, in fear of her doing something stupid. Plus, she was curious as to why Selphie had come in to see Squall in such a fluster.

"Wait! Squall, don't be such an arse. Selphie, don't go. What's wrong?"

Selphie stood there with a worried look scrunching up her features.

"I . . . I need to talk to Squall . . ."

She looked over at him. He was in the procedure of putting on a tight fitting white t shirt, which lay on the floor.

Selphie mouthed a 'sorry' to her raven-haired friend, and received a mouthed 'its okay' back.

Rinoa brought her knees up to her chest underneath the covers and looked over at her boyfriend, who had gone into a sulk.

"Squall? Did you hear that? Selphie wants to talk to you."

The gunbladist turned around, snapping, "Yeah, well it better not be about the bloody festival dance!"

Selphie visibly shrinked into herself, feeling rather upset. Squall usually kept his cool and never shouted, but when he did, it was enough to make a lion turn into a whimpering kitten.

Rinoa frowned fiercely at him, "Squall!!"

Upon hearing his Girlfriends voice lower in a harsh 'behave yourself' way, he felt guilty that he'd snapped at one of his friends. Even if said friend had interrupted his sexual life.

"Uh, I'm sorry."

"That's better. Now listen to what she has to say."

Selphie twiddled her hands and chewed on her bottom lip, unsure of how to start.

"Well, erm, you see . . . about an hour ago, I was on my way to my dorm, but I tripped and fell outside Celia's dorm room . . ."

"Celia?"

Rinoa answered Squalls question for Selphie. "Duh, Celia . . . the blonde bitch that Irvine goes with, who bullies Selphie and almost drowned her."

Selphie cringed inwardly at her words; Squall just nodded his head in recognition.

"Go on then . . ."

"Oh . . . well, this is sorta embarrassing and hard to explain, but . . . well, I heard her screaming Irvine's name, and moaning stuff . . . in a sexual way."

Rinoa seemed appalled at what she'd just heard.

"That bastard! He had the cheek to do that, and then think he could go and meet up with you? Men!"

Squall stared over his shoulder at Rinoa, a blank look upon his face. She simply smiled sweetly back at him. Selphie continued, getting more to the point.

"So, anyway, I met up with him, and then we got into an argument when I said I heard Celia screaming his name. He says he didn't have sex with her, and that the last time he did was three days ago . . ."

"Okay. So, why are you telling me this?"

"Because he said that you were with him after your lesson together, and that you walked him to the place that he was meeting me . . . Did you?"

"I didn't walk him . . ."

Selphies heart dropped.

"I walked WITH him. He's a grown man, he doesn't need an escort."

Selphie picked up again and felt altogether in a brighter mood.

"So he didn't go with Celia . . ."

Although she mumbled this to herself, Rinoa spoke up.

"So, Celia's up to something . . . she's gotta be. Ooh I hate her! Be careful Selphie."

"I will. Thanks Squall. And sorry for . . . interrupting stuff."

Squall said nothing but a light blush spread over his cheeks, turning his creamy skin a pinkish colour. Rinoa answered for him.

"That's okay, hun. Where are you going now?"

"Off to find Irvine, I guess."

"Well, like I said, be careful."

Selphie gave Rinoa a little smile, warmed inside that she cared so much.

"Bye bye."

With that, she left the two lovers to get back to whatever they were doing. . .

--------------------------------------

Irvine sat in the cafeteria, across from Zell.

"She just blew up on me, man. Selphies got some serious mood swing problems."

"Maybes it's 'that time of the month' again."

The two men laughed, earning a few glances from other gossiping students.

Zell felt rather bad for adding this comment to Irvine's statement. After all, Selphie trusted him the most and he knew how bad Irvine could be to her.

He justified himself by saying, "Sef's been havin' a rough time lately. You know that. Hell, one might even say you're the problem."

"Hey, I thought I was your friend!"

"You are . . . but so is Selphie. And choosin' between friends is so 90's."

This earned a laugh from Irvine, but it died off as he saw Seifer come up behind Zell and grab his shoulders.

"Hey chicken wuss. How's it hangin'? Short, shriveled and to the left as usual?"

This was followed by one of his cruel laughs and sadistic smirks.

"Get lost Seifer. Shouldn't you be off givin' Raijin his daily blow?"

Irvine snickered. This enraged Seifer.

"Shut up cowboy!"

Looking down at Zell, who was still in his firm grip, he shook him and dug his hand into his shoulder with force.

"Get off me, bastard!"

"Watched your little friend being drowned the other day. Shame Celia didn't finish the job. Would've meant no more Garden Festivals . . . boo hoo."

Zell spun round and yanked Seifers hands off of his shoulders, grabbing the wrists and twisting them until Seifer growled in pain.

"Don't fuckin' talk about Selphie. I'll kick your ass, man. And you can tell those little hoes to keep away from her too."

Seifer pulled his wrists out of Zells iron grip and sent a punch flying into the tattooed side of his face. Zell managed to block it, much more skilled in the hand-to-hand fighting department than the older blonde.

Seifer glowered at Zell, who went to sit back down. Deciding to play dirty, Seifer hooked his foot around the bottom of the martial artist's chair, sending it clattering to the floor and leaving Zell to fall down on his bottom with a rather hard thump.

"I'll deal with you later, Chicken."

Seifer turned and walked away with a smirk, grey trench coat flowing out behind him with his strutting.

"Man, whats his problem?!"

"His heads too far wedged up his arse, that's his problem." Zell replied, ignoring the people who were staring at him, humored by yet another dueling between the two 'greatest friends' in Balamb Garden.

Irvine picked his hat up off of the table and declared, "Well, I'm goin' back to my dorm for a bit."

"'k, man. Catch ya later."

Irvine stood there looking like he wanted to say something else.

"S'up?"

"Er, will you tell Selphie where I am . . . if she wants me, that is."

"Sure thing."

"Right, later."

Zell stayed sitting in the cafeteria flicking through a fighters magazine and eating French fries smothered in ketchup, seeing as they had run out of hotdogs (again).

About ten minutes after Irvine had left; Selphie walked in through the cafeterias double doors. Spotting her blonde friend, she walked over to him and pulled up a chair.

"Oh, hey Selph."

"Hi . . . have you seen Irvine?"

"Yup, he said he's goin' back to his dorm. Few minutes back."

Selphie was about to say her thanks and leave to find him, but Zell remembered something and told her to stay for a bit.

"So, did'ya find out the truth?"

"Huh?"

"About Irvine."

"Oh. Yeah. Turns out he wasn't even with Celia. I asked Squall, seeing as he was with him when he was waiting for me and the time leading up to that."

"Ah. Well, at least he wasn't lyin'."

"Yeah. I think I interrupted Squall and Rinoa."

Zell raised one of his eyebrows, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"You mean sexually interrupted?"

Selphie nodded. "I think Squall was mad at me. He went into a sulk."

"So would I if you interrupted me in the middle of gettin' my leg over."

"Oops. Men are weird."

"Cheers . . . Um, Sef . . ?"

The brunette rested her chin on one of her crossed arms, which was lying on the table.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright? I mean, are you happy?"

Selphie didn't respond and fiddled with her fringe, sending it flying in different directions by blowing air from her mouth up into it.

"Selphie?"

She mumbled something Zell couldn't quite understand, but he decided not to ask her to repeat it, knowing how annoyed she could get if people didn't hear her, which wasn't usually a problem.

"It's just . . . when you left me in your dorm a few hours back . . . I found this . . ."

Zell pulled something wrapped in a purple cloth out of his pocket. Even before he revealed what was underneath, Selphie knew immediately. It was one of her razors. Her 'best' one, in fact.

She thought about going to grab it off of him, but didn't, because she knew how fast Zells reflexes were and she might cause one of them damage in the process if she happened to miss her target.

"I didn't know you were still doin' it. I told you to come and talk to me whenever you got . . . urges."

Selphie sighed. Although Zell was only trying to help, she felt uncomfortable and tried to brush the subject aside.

"It doesn't matter, Zell."

"Yes it does. You know it does. See why I get worried when I leave you alone?"

"I'm not a baby; I can take care of myself."

"I know, Sef. But if leavin' you alone means you're gonna shred yourself up, then I'll have to watch over you 24/7."

Selphie cringed at her friend's choice of words.

"Did you do it deep? Where is it?" Zell kept his voice hushed, even though they were on the table right at the back, and away from everyone else in the cafeteria.

"It's in the usual place, and no, it's not deep."

"Will you show me?"

"OH what the hell is this?! I'm not some sort of show and tell object!"

Zell moved back in his seat, a little shocked by another one of Selphies famous outbursts.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. I'm not giving you this back though," Zell said brandishing the cloth covered razor.

Selphie slammed her head down on the table with a soft thud, emitting a large sigh.

"I wish this whole mess had never happened, Zell. Everything would be so much easier if Irvine and I hadn't had that pointless argument in the first place."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Selphie lifted her head up off the table and blew a stray strand of hair out of her mouth.

"Can we go back to my dorm? It's not very private here . . ."

----------------------------------------------------

Once back in her own room, Selphie felt much more at ease with talking about things.

While Selphie arranged some of her fluffy oversized pillows down on the floor for them to sit on, Zell fiddled with her CD player, putting on something, but leaving it low.

Selphie set herself down none too lightly on the cushions and stretched her legs out in front of her, looking somewhat downhearted.

"Aw, come on. Don't look like that," Zell said delicately, sitting himself down next to her.

Looking to her side, Selphie replied quietly, "I can't help it. I feel so sad . . ."

Zell put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him. She snuggled her head into the crook of his neck and sighed with a heavy heart. Although upset and troubled, Selphie got a little comfort out of the warmth of her friend, along with the familiar bubblegum scent of his hair gel.

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his jacket, yet again mumbling something he couldn't understand.

"What was that Sef?"

Selphie lifted her head up from his chest, saying "All this mess . . . It's my entire fault," still with the same unhappy look upon her porcelain features. Instead of concealing her face back in Zells jacket, she simply brought her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees.

"Nothin's your fault-,"

"YES it is . . . If I'd just listened to him, and let him . . ."

"Hold up, let him what? I'm lost."

". . . None of this would've happened. I wouldn't have become depressed, I wouldn't have to face being bullied, and I wouldn't have a big ugly scar on my wrist."

"Are you talkin' about 'the argument'?"

Selphie nodded, chin still resting upon her knees, arms wrapped around herself and Zell still hugging her close.

"Wanna talk about it now?"

The small teenager nodded again and looked over at her friend.

"You have to keep it a secret. Don't tell Irvine I told you either."

"Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye-,"

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. This is kind of embarrassing . . . I guess it's more of a thing you'd share with a girl friend . . ."

"Hey, I can be a girl. No wait, that came out wrong."

Selphie felt a smile come to her lips, then realized, girl or not, Zell was still the person she'd feel most at ease talking to.

"Well . . . it started a few months back, you know that-,"

"Yup."

"We, Irvine and I, we were in here and . . . you know how we were together before all this started-,"

"Yeah, all smoochy smoochy, coupley lovey dovey."

"Mm hmm."

Remembering the past made Selphie feel sadder than before, especially as her mind was conjuring up images of her and Irvine arguing.

She brought her hands up to her face and clutched her head, shaking it a little. This earned her another hug from Zell, who still sat beside her, an arm slung around her shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay Sef."

"It's so . . . petty. I can't believe . . . I blew up over something so trivial . . ."

"Tell me . . ."

Selphie brought her hands away from her face and wiped her tear filled eyes, taking a deep breath in the process.

"Well, we were hugging on my bed . . . and kissing. But then . . ."

Zell sat patiently, waiting for her to continue.

"Well . . . Irvine being who he is . . . he started getting . . . really horny and he wanted to . . . you know . . . have sex."

Selphie glanced to her side at Zell, half expecting to see his tattoo crinkled up in a smirk, but he was as serious as ever, so she carried on with her story.

"He wouldn't take no for an answer . . . so I slapped him. Then he got mad and said I was frigid . . . so I brought up the subject of us not actually going out. I mean, we acted like boyfriend and girlfriend, but he never even asked me and I wasn't about to. It's up to the guy to do stuff like that . . ."

Selphie took another deep breath.

"He was being such a bastard. Some of the stuff he said was . . . horrible . . . so I threw a glass at him. That just made him madder and he said I should be put in an asylum for mentally deranged virgins, then . . . just before he walked out of the door, he goes 'Fine, I'll just go and find some other lucky girl to screw.' Well . . . I guess he did."

Feeling tears pricking at her emerald eyes once again, she buried her face into Zell.

"I . . . I should've just let him do what he wanted with me."

Zell pulled her away from him by the shoulders and looked at her intently.

"Don't say stuff like that. You did the right thing. No-one should ever be forced into doin' something they don't wanna. I didn't know Irvine could be such a jerk to his women. I would never do anythin' like that."

"I know you wouldn't . . ."

Zell lowered her back into the position she was in before, feeling her snuggle up back against him.

"Irvine's not one to take bein' turned down very lightly . . . maybe you just hurt his pride."

"But he hurt me . . . in my heart. He broke it . . ."

"He said some cruel things, but don't let it stop you from makin' up with him. You were both angry, and from what I've learnt in my life, people say things they don't mean when they're mad. All close friends have massive arguments once in a while, but that's when you've gotta pick yourself up and carry on . . . Selphie, go and see him. I know for a fact that he misses you . . ."

Selphie said nothing, but sat in her friend arms, contemplating the words that she had just heard, knowing deep down that they made perfect sense.