Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. I barely own anything. Agh.I apologize for the delay. School is going to start, and the mere shopping and lasting activities have kept me away.

Oh yeah, and this has a little bit of coarse language. If you don't want to hear it, don't listen to Seifer. I tried to make this chapter keep people into their original characters.

Chapter 12- I Saved my Knight Pt. II

I may have saved him, but things aren't the same yet.

I sat next to his side, holding his hand while he lay helpless on the couch, sweating. Everyone in a while, I'd wet his wash cloth with cool water, and gently sit it on his forehead to cool him down, but I didn't dare leave his side. It had taken a while for Seifer and Quistis to help carry him, and even a longer while for me to tell them what happened, in my own words of course. While I held his hand, I watched him stir in his sleep, and he looked anything but peaceful. He kept on murmuring things, that I couldn't quite make out, but I still sat by his side, awaiting the moment his icy eyes would open.

Seifer and Quistis didn't both staying in the room with me, they walked in and out, watching him lay there, and me sit next to him full of worry. By the time it was three in the morning, I did decide to take a rest in the chair next to him, but I still had to hold his hand. He just simply wouldn't let go of mine, but I didn't care. It's not like I could've broken his iron grip anyways. So after my two hour nap, it was five, and I tried my best to wrench his fingers off of mine so I could at least make some coffee, but my tried efforts were in vain, so once again, I fell to sleep. Seifer was the only person to wake me up afterwards.

"Rin, wake up." He was shaking my shoulders, and my eyes flew open.

"Hm?" I asked groggily. He handed me a coffee mug and flipped on the news, but I found my sleeping knight a little more interesting. Finally, after hours, he let go of my hand, which was cramped and sweating now, to rub his eyes. He sat up a little, and slowly but surely I saw his eyelids lift and him look around alertly. His eyes rested on me, which I could bet wasn't a pretty sight, but he didn't look away.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He was still looking around at his surroundings before he slowly nodded.

"I guess." He sat fully up and leaned back against the couch, and I was almost speechless.

"What happened?" I asked him. Squall just shook his head, confused.

"It felt like I had re-lived every scene of my life again. Like it all hit me at once." I grabbed his hand again.

"Scary?"

"Unbelievably. I don't know what to say. . ." He started off, his blue eyes glazing over.

"About what?" He soon came back to reality.

"I put you through . . . so much. Quistis, the crash, I wish I could take it back. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for something you had no control over. It was just a little mistake . . . "

"A little mistake?" I huffed.

"It's not like you meant to lose your memory. A mistake is something you do, knowing it's wrong. An accident is something you couldn't control. There's a huge difference." I explained to him as if he didn't know the actual definitions.

"I don't know what to do."

"What is there to do?" I just wanted to have a conversation with him, hearing him in his normal tone of voice, apologizing as if he did something wrong.

"Quistis and I . . ." He let his voice fade off. I didn't know what to say - I hadn't considered that if he remembered. Sure, I could go along with the "I was here first," line, but she was there second. And how did I know he hadn't developed real feelings for her? All I could do was ask.

"Do you feel anything for her?" I spat out as fast as I could.

"I . . . thought I did. This is too much for me?"

"Not a direct answer?" He laid back down on the couch.

" . . .Whatever." I felt a little guilty for pushing him so hard, when he had only apologized and woken up, so I leaned over, hovering above his face watching him attempt to go back to sleep. Without asking him, I grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and delivered it to him, watching him gulp it down with interest. It had been a while since he was himself, and I couldn't help but be intrigued by ever action he took. I was sympathetic that he had to go through everything - all at once. Quistis walked in, and saw Squall's eyes opened, and immediately rushed over to sit next to us.

"Does he remember?" She asked me, whispering in my ear as if he wasn't in front of us that very moment.

"Yes, he does." I said, she looked amazed as she studied him like a speciman.

"Squall! I can't believe it."

"Whatever . . . Can I be alone for a bit?" I nodded, and dragged Quistis out of the room by the wrist, while she frantically tried to go back and talk to him. We went out to the front of the house, where Seifer was already sitting. His eyes were glazed over, in deep thought until he noticed Quistis and I come out onto the porch.

"Puberty boy remember yet?" I put my hand on my hips.

"His name is not 'Puberty Boy,' and yes, he's remembered."

"Wait until he connects those two little parts and realizes that he's angry because you've been living with me." If that had made any sense, I would have been a little more angry then I was.

"You're a jerk sometimes." Quistis commented, sitting down in a wicker seat next to him.

"And you're a snob sometimes." He replied, looking a little annoyed.

"Stop fighting!"

" . . .Hippie." He mumbled under his breath. I rolled my eyes.

"Stop being an idiot." I replied, equally as aggravated.

"Stop being a bitch." Quistis stayed silent as my anger continued to grow with him.

"What's your problem!" Practically yelling, I took a step forward. He stood up, threatened.

"Nothing's my problem, now why don't you take your whiny ass inside and see Prince Charming!" I couldn't believe he had yelled at me, after the past weeks going so well.

"Quistis, can Seifer and I talk in private for a minute?" She raised her hands up innocently and left around the house, leaving us alone on the porch. He sat down, but I didn't back away.

"What's wrong?" I tried to hide the concern, but I didn't prevail. I sounded like a mother.

"You know what, nothing's wrong, just go talk to Squall, and go for the happy ending you wanted all along." I sat down in the chair across from him.

" . . .Is this about me and him?" By now my anger had totally disappeared. He looked at his feet, and I know a nervous Seifer when I see him. "It is, isn't it?" I prodded, awaiting an answer, but he didn't respond for a few seconds.

"I knew he was going to remember at some point . . ."

"Were you hoping he wouldn't?" He looked at his feet and nodded.

"I was stupid to think you would forget about him. I don't care what you say, I know you must've felt something after all this! You and I - "

"You and I were a long time ago. You called it over, so I moved on and found Squall. I can't just leave him for you, I love him, and doing that to someone is wrong." I interjected, hoping he wouldn't take it offensively, but the look on his face said that he did.

"What's wrong is leading a guy on." He said, trying to act as if my words didn't effect him. But I could tell he was hurting right now, and that wasn't what I wanted either, but he couldn't accuse me of leading him on.

"How did I do that?"

"Don't play stupid. Letting me carry you, cooking for me every morning, helping me out with housework, letting me take you out to eat. Not only did I buy you this house, I took you to the doctor's gave you a place to live, and helped you while you were a freakin' cripple, while Squall was a lazy ass and sat in his bed all day, moping, not even giving you a call! What didn't I do, Princess?" I hated when people called me Princess. It was exactly what my dad called me.

"Why are you so angry with me?" I said quietly. I didn't want to assume anything. I wanted to hear it from him, just to be sure.

"You can't tell? Things were all fine for us, until he has to come back and ruin it all. He's a damn wuss, he even started to date Quistis, but you're going to forget about me and go back to him. Isn't that right? Kick me to the curb." I couldn't believe he was acting so . . . pathetic. It was completely cruel to say, but nonetheless true. Seifer was acting pathetic.

"I'm not kicking you out anywhere. You're my friend, and you have been, and as a friend, you've helped me out more then so many people in my life have. I don't want to lose you as that." He was silent for a moment, whether it be in bitter or compromising thought, he breathed out heavily.

"If he hurts you again . . ." I interrupted him by throwing myself at him in a hug.

"He won't . . . I'll make him promise." I sat down next to him, and he reluctantly took his seat.

"Things might not go the way you plan with him . . . he might still want to be on a break." He said, still trying to provide a reason why things couldn't be the same. "And there's still the Quistis problem to deal with. . ." I nodded, he was just trying to help.

"I know. There's a lot of things to go through with. But I've made it this far, haven't I?"

Oh, I know, I'm a horrible updater lately. I was away for the weekend, away yesterday, and normally I only write in the mornings (I'm alone, there's no one peering over my shoulder.) But I'm so glad that I got this up. This chapter was trying to get everyone in character, too.

Thank you to my reviewers . . .

Jeni - Yes, I've tried to make them more in character for you. Thanks for the advice!

TopOfTheWorld - Hehe, thank you! You're gonna be my hero too, okay?

SavannahX - Heh, you're always a bit on the crazy side. Kidding, kidding, lol. I'm gonna start on my other story right after this.

Angel Wings-008 - Oh my, Squall's remembered! And there's more about him remembering in the next chapter, heh.

Linette - No problem, thanks for helping!

Cerulean Crystal - I'm off to put the link in my profile as we speak. It'll be at the bottom of my profile in the Links section. Thanks!

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BY THE WAY: Visit my Freewebs account. I update it with information on ALL my stories.