Well Ch1 was Day One if it was obvious. But I decided I'll update this, then Calling All Angels, and lastly Twisted Love before starting the cycle again. I didn't think I'd be updating these as I write them, so updates may be slower than usual. :) I try to update one of these at least once a week. Enjoy the chapter and thank you to those that reviewed last chapter; Dragi, anabel the lady shark, and someone that wasn't logged in Krad.

S.O.S.

Chapter 2: Day Two

~_~_~_~Squall~_~_~_~

That man was kind. Cloud...Cloud was nice. It had to be just a facade. Just like Seifer used on me. We used to love each other...I'm not the right person for him. Our personalities, they conflict. But Cloud...gentle...

Aerith had picked me up just a little while after Cloud had left. During the ride we reminisced about the days when Zack was still alive. He was the best and I'm sure he wouldn't have left me in that house with Seifer had he found out. A week before he was going to propose to Aerith he got hit while running across the street to get to a friend who had called and said he was in trouble. So now she just runs a simple flower and ring shop that pampers to weddings and formal or informal occasions.

Stretching my joints, I sit up and swing my legs over the lip of the bed. I hadn't even realized how late in the day it was. I missed breakfast and lunch. After pulling on simple clothing of jeans and a tee, I head downstairs with no appetite. Aerith stands at the counter sliding money into their slots in the metal contraption. She smiles at me and I just walk over.

Jack told her everything. So it's not like I can hide away from her worried eyes.

"Do you need any help around here?"

Aerith shakes her head, "No I can't let you work yourself why you're here."

"Aerith...please?"

Knowing that I rarely ask for anything from her, she points to a maintenance closet and I head to it automatically. I pull out a watering can and head to the back to fill it up. As I do, I hear the bell over the door ring. I glance around a shelf to see two men stride up to Aerith. The taller one with long flaming spikes shoots his gleaming sage green eyes over at me before back at the brunette. The other appears confident, like he knows what he's doing here, but the fingers tightening and loosening on his jeans tells another story. He's opposite to the slightly tanned man. He's as white as a ghost and his long silvered hair only proves it more. Nervous aquamarine orbs bounce around the room as his companion talks to Aerith.

I continue on my way to fill the metal container. Walking diligently back to the rose section, Aerith stops me halfway there. "Can you go grab something for me?" I nod and she continues. "It's a metal ring with circles attached to it. It's used to tell what ring size someone has. Grab that while I show these boys some rings. It's luck Squall, the place in town closed so they came here to get them since they didn't get theirs when the place packed up and left."

I shake my head at her happiness and go to get what she asked for. When I meet her at the counter, the red head looks at me quizzically. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Before I can answer, the silveret beside him lightly jabs him in the ribs with his elbow. "Leave him alone Axel. You say that to everyone."

"Do not! Now be quiet Riku while your man thinks."

I raise an eyebrow but ignore him as I hand Aerith the ancient device. As I go to walk away, Axel snaps his fingers, "I got it! Do you know a guy named Seifer Almasy?"

Visibly cringing I shoot him a look over my shoulder, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Yeah why?"

"I'm gonna stick my neck out here, but were you the kid that beat him up for hurting a little blonde kid, Roxas was his name."

"Yeah, that was me." and I walk away and back to the roses as the crimson haired one laughs, "I knew it. See I told you Riku. I got it memorized!"

Before I had even known Seifer, he use to be a bully. I heard from close friends of his that he could be nice...nicer than he'd probably ever show. But I hadn't cared. I came to Destiny Islands during the summer when Aerith promised to throw me a big party for my thirteenth birthday.

Even at that time she had been dating Zack. He invited some blonde boy and his brother Roxas. Some of the kids from the neighborhood came and it turned out rather good considering a half-broke pair of eighteen year olds put it together. That is until Seifer showed his face. He went right over to the boy and shoved him as hard as he could, onto the ground. I knew that he was only a year older than Roxas and that made me two years younger than Seifer...just enough to piss me off.

I had stormed straight to the bully and slammed my fist as hard as I could into his face. It had stunned him to say the least, but it worked and he left. Roxas' brother came over to me and thanked me for being there when he was not. I shrugged him off and never said another word to the kid. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was only thirteen and he was seventeen...I remember it all, all but him exactly. Just what he said.

I tilt the can down to let the water run straight into the ground, keeping the elegant white roses in their bed.

"They're beautiful roses."

I hadn't even realize that there was someone there more or else that he had come into the store.

~_~_~_~Cloud~_~_~_~

Roxas and I had been out on errands when Axel had called him telling him about this perfect place to get rings and flowers for the wedding. Without hesitating, Roxas told him that we'd be right there. He smiles at me as we pull up to the store, "Thanks for coming with me. I just hope I can pick out something nice for Sora."

"You will. You know him better than he knows himself. Just don't get caught up in Axel and Riku's jabs okay?"

Roxas laughs lightly at me, glad that he can do that even while the nerves are wearing him down. He wants to propose to Sora so badly it's killing him. If I wasn't his brother I would probably had already told Sora about the crush on him.

I follow Roxas into the store but the second I smell those scents of all the flowers mixing into the air, I find myself wandering away from him and into the other half of the store. It's not like he doesn't have two friends to help him out, plus Riku's been Sora's friend since they were in diapers, that will be a bigger help than me. As I round the corner I find myself stuck in place.

Bending slightly over the roses is that boy. Stray chocolate hair falling away from his face as he moves to the next set of plants. A blissful smile sits on his lips as he does, while those eyes seem more dazed than I remember. I step closer, "They're beautiful roses."

He snaps back to standing straight and the smile erases from his countenance. Steel eyes replace those dreamy ones. "W-What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"No not at all. I'm here on vacation visiting my brother who's with me. He's picking out a ring for his boyfriend. Are you enjoying Destiny Islands?"

"I...I used to come here and spend time with Aerith and Zack. I'm not a newbie."

He's the boy. The one that scared Seifer away from Roxas that day. That was...his party...Aerith's friend.

"I didn't say you were."

"Well I have work to do I don't have time for strangers."

"But you know me."

"Yeah, from the plane."

"No from your birthday party. My best friend was Zack...he and Aerith threw that party for you. You helped my brother Roxas from Seifer." At the mention of that latter name, pain shoots into those eyes and I can't help but feel regret. I would never want to be the cause of it. "You're name is Squall right? Hey you don't want to spill that." I reach over and wrap my hand over his, the one that had loosened on the handle of the watering pot. He looks up at me with confusion and fear evidently showing through. "Are you okay Squall?"

He barely nods as Roxas' voice searches for me, "Cloud where are you, I need input!"

I let go and back up slowly and go to turn the corner. His hand comes up and cradles the side of his face. I wish I could go back but by the time I'm over at Roxas, he's showing me several different bands. "Which one do you think Sora will like? Axel says this one and Riku says this one. I think Axel just wants me to buy that one for him though." he says with a laugh at the end. I point to the one that neither had chosen and a glow comes alight his face. "That's the one I thought." He turns back to Aerith, "We're ready to ring up."

She nods but the second her fingertips touch the keypad, the phone begins ringing from the back. "Squall could you go get that?"

A soft noise before the brunet climbs up the stairs that I hadn't seen before. I catch myself watching him leave before turning my attention back to Roxas as he pays for his stuff along Axel and Riku. Once he has the box in the tiny velvet bag, he leads me out the door. The second we're away from the door and at our respective modes of transportation, Axel let's a smirk grow, "So Roxas, that guy she's got working in there is her friend who kicked Seifer's ass that time."

Riku rolls his eyes, "You're an idiot. All he did was hit him once." He shifts those calculation eyes toward me, they're piercing just like Zexion's, his brother, "Cloud weren't you back there talking to him?"

I nod and slide into the passenger seat of Roxas' car. "Look it was no big deal. We came here on the same plane is all. Now don't we need to get back there before Sora so we can start dinner?"

Roxas' eyes triple in size as he jumps into the car. "See you later Axel, Riku."

We peel out of the lot and down the road, trying to get back to the house before Sora does. Roxas had successfully sent him on a mission to bug the married Zexion and Demyx for the day, since they just got their pool installed. Which had been all of Sora's idea in the first place, since Demyx loves the water.

"Cloud, why were you looking at him like that?"

"Like what Rox?"

"Like you use to when Zack would give you some of his sweets. But more as if he'd just walked down the isle to marry you."

I flash my gaze out the window and completely ignore Roxas' question. Instead I change the subject immediately, "I broke up with Sephiroth. I left him a message on his phone while he was in court."

"Really?"

"Yeah...I think I'm going to find a place here and stay in Destiny Islands. That way I'll be closer to my little brother."

Roxas snorts, "Yeah and that guy."

I huff at his statement but leave it alone. I don't want to think about Squall right now. It's been such a long time since last I had even seen him and he wasn't exactly a warm character last time either, only to Roxas. I was just his brother that hadn't been there when my little brother needed me.