Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or its characters or its places…might as well say I don't own anything. :(

Author's note: I got a couple of reviews and I'm incredibly happy about it. They may be very few, but they mean a lot for me, because it means that at least someone is reading it… Yay… Anyways here is another chapter. Enjoy!!!!

Chapter 3: Balamb Garden

The train station was packed with people leaving for the holydays. Lines were endless and the people looked tired. Kids were playing around loudly causing their parents and those around to get headaches and that included Squall, who was standing in a line to pay his ticket. He carried his black backpack on his right shoulder and his gunblade case in the other. His train would take him from Deling City to Timber and from there to the newly opened train station at Fisherman's Horizon.

He was deep in thought. Before heading to the train station he made a stop at Caraway's place. The conversation that had taken place still haunted him. He stared at the man in front of him as he pulled his daughter up to carry her. The little girl had big blue eyes and her light brown hair fell softly over her heart-shaped face. She smiled at Squall and waved her little hand at him. He gave her one of his rare smiles and she giggled, shyly hiding her face within the collar of her father's jacket. He ran a hand through his hair and heard some more giggling. He instantly looked at the little girl again, but she pointed to a group of scantily clad teens. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders at the little girl, who giggled again.

"Are you a girl?" Squall heard a voice and looked down to see a boy with black spiky hair of around four to five years. Squall raised an eyebrow.

"No." He replied, staring down at the boy, who giggled and pointed a finger to his ear.

"You are wearin' an earin'." The boy replied mockingly. "Mommy says that only girls use earin's." The boy was making fun of Squall, laughing out loud obnoxiously.

"Then tell your mommy that it is a normal thing in men to wear nowadays." Squall replied irritated with the boy's attitude. Squall gave the boy a small glare and he ran off to his mother. Squall looked at the little girl again to see she had fallen asleep. She looked like an angel. The line continued to move slowly and once again he was found thinking about what happened at Caraway's mansion.

After several minutes, Squall was able to get his ticket and paid the fee for taking his motorcycle in the cargo car. Once he finally got on the train he went directly to the SeeD car and opened the door. Without even thinking about it, he threw his backpack to the L-shaped couch and put his gunblade case next to the bed, where he let himself fall.

Lying face down on the bed, he reached for a pillow to rest his head on. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep for the longest time, but he knew he would not be able to sleep due to every thought in his head. When he finally gave up, he groaned and got up to where his backpack had landed. He had to start taking a few notes and making a few plans. He started writing immediately. He had to be absolutely prepared for everything.

Balamb Garden was quiet. Most of the students were either gone for the holydays or getting ready to leave; only Rinoa wandered aimlessly through the hallways with Angelo behind her. She was worried, but it was not Squall was she was worried about. Squall and Caraway had been in constant communication for the last two months. She could not understand what those two could talk about so often.

It had all began on that day Squall went to a meeting in Deling City. The commander had arrived back at Balamb Garden with a foul mood, mumbling curses and turning everyone down. Rinoa remembered being yelled at by him; of course he had gone to apologize when he had calmed and held her tightly, something he rarely did. If she had not been as sleepy as she was in that moment she would have sworn he almost cried, but she was really drowsy and that was not him.

Angelo barked, bringing Rinoa back to reality. She looked forward to see Xu walking out of the elevator. Rinoa smiled at the young man as she walked towards her. Xu smiled back.

"The commander called; apparently he will be getting here around 2200 hours and, as soon as morning comes, he wants you and the others in his office for debriefing and to inform and explain something to you guys." Xu said recalling the commander's words. "He said he would call as soon as he made the stop in Timber Station." With that Xu saluted the raven haired girl and continued on her search for the rest of the gang.

Rinoa stood there quietly for a couple of minutes. Something was wrong when Squall wanted to see them so early in the morning and have a discussion; it definitely was a SeeD business. The question was: why was she included? She was not member of SeeD; she took parts in missions with Squall, because he insisted she was suited for the healer role. She was a sorceress; her healing spells were far more effective than those casted by a SeeD like Quistis. Maybe that was it, another mission. She smiled and started to walk again. She was being silly; everything would be perfectly fine.

After two hours of train travel, Squall finally arrived at Timber. Feeling a headache coming, he walked towards a small store to see if they had any aspirin. Walking through the store he walked by two galbadian soldier's; he remained calm; he had nothing to hide for.

"Where's Mayor Grant?" One of the soldiers asked taking a can of beer out of the freezer at the back of the store. Squall was standing close to them, trying to decide if he should take water or juice.

"He went back to Deling. Apparently, they have a search going on; you know, for the escapees from the prison." The other man replied, taking the beer out of the soldier's hand. "I said pick a drink, not a beer; you're on duty." The other man frowned.

"Aaw man; it'll only be one." He pressed, but still the other man shook his head firmly. "Speaking of the escapees; it was that Almasy guy, right?" He asked finally taking a soda from the freezer. Squall took it he had to move; once they noticed his scar it was not going to be pretty. Squall took a grape juice and started to walk away.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" The other said grabbing an ice tea can.

"I've heard some rumors about why they sentenced him to death." The soldier said opening his can of soda. Squall felt curious and decided to listen from the other aisle.

"Really? Like what?" The other soldier said, taking interest in his partner's words. Squall stood on the other aisle, behind the soldiers, and pretended to be checking out the candy bars.

"Like, I heard that he was bait for those people at Balamb Garden. As far as I've heard, the President wanted Balamb Garden to do something against Galbadia and they did." The soldier paused and looked around before continuing. "According to Mayor Grant, the Commander of Balamb Garden rejected an offering from the President, so he's going to get what he wanted by force." Squall frowned; to the clerk it looked like if he was glaring at the chocolate bar in front of him.

"So, the President wants to destroy Garden?" The other soldier said and his partner nodded. "What offer did the Commander rejected?" He asked again. His partner scratched his head.

"Nobody knows, not even Mayor Grant." He replied shrugging. Squall's free hand turned into a fist. In order to avoid looking suspicious he took the chocolate bar he had been glaring at for the past few minutes, paid and left.

He returned to the train and entered the SeeD car. As he did, he angrily threw his backpack against the wall; Balamb Garden was in danger, his friends were in danger… Rinoa was in danger. He wanted to hurry back to Garden and get everything ready. Once again he took his notepad he had been using during the trip from Deling to Timber and started to take more notes.

Seifer quietly walked through the hallways of the Garden he was finally home again. Throughout the time before he gave himself up to the Galbadian army for the crimes he committed, he looked for a place to call his home, but none of those places had whatever made him say Garden was home. As he walked, he saw Rinoa walking with Angelo by her side. She was deep in thought. Seifer smirked and approached her.

"Any word on Squall?" He asked her, bringing her out of her reverie. She smiled at him.

"Yeah, he already reached Timber. He called me a few minutes ago." She said as he smile slowly faded. "Still I can't help but feeling that he's hiding something." She added. Seifer cocked his head to a side.

"Well, he's always hiding stuff." He said thoughtfully. "What exactly do you mean?" He asked leaning against the wall to his right. Angelo sat down next to Rinoa, not taking his eyes off of Seifer.

"It's like… he knows something and whatever it is, it's weighing him down, haunting his every thought." She said looking sad. "Squall keeps bottling everything up and one day it's going to backfire, just like the fact that when he is worried he stays up all night thinking and can't sleep. He thinks he can get away with it unnoticed, but I notice; he's my knight, we have a connection. I feel all that." Rinoa finished with her eyes staring at the floor. Seifer stared at her, deep in thought.

"Once he gets here, tell him that. He'll listen to you and keep it in mind, even if he dismisses it, he ends up thinking about it." Seifer said with a grin. Rinoa looked at him with a confused expression. "Squall and I have always been rivals, still have never really been friends, but we know more about each other than anyone else." Rinoa smiled back and nodded. Seifer looked at his watch. "Well, I gotta go; there's someone I'd like to talk to." He said before starting to walk away. "Don't pressure him; slowly he'll get the idea of how and why to depend on others." He said and walked away. Rinoa smiled and continued to walk. Seifer was right; she just had to be patient.

Seifer walked into the cafeteria in hopes of finding the one person he wanted to talk to. Quickly, scanning the room he saw Quistis at a table at the back of the cafeteria. She had a couple of papers scattered it and a mug of coffee. He quietly approached the table and waited for her to acknowledge his presence. She noticed the shadow of a person towering her and stopped writing to look up at him. She stared at him over her eyeglasses.

"Grading papers?" He asked as he sat down. She nodded with a frustrated sigh. "What's wrong?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"These have to be the dumbest students I have ever had to instruct." She said removing her spectacles to rub her eyes.

"I see." He said scratching the back of his head. "Want me to help?" He asked after several minutes of awkward silence. She stared at him and smiled.

"Thanks, but it's my work." She responded. Seifer smirked; he had known that was going to be her answer.

"Then I'll leave you to your work." He said while getting up again. "Still, I hope you'll join me for dinner tonight." She smiled and nodded at him. He smiled back and walked away, leaving behind a glowing Quistis. She felt happy.

Rinoa decided to stop wandering and had gone to the library. She was reading some more about sorceresses as she had been doing for the last few months. Squall had been reading too. They wanted to be prepared for anything and they wanted to learn more about her powers and abilities. At first Rinoa did not want to, but Squall insisted that she needed to accept what she was and embraced her powers; he told her that no one was comfortable in Garden with a sorceress who had from little to no control over her own powers. He had been the one receiving the complaints of his fellow students and the Garden Council, which was created two months after the Ultimecia ordeal had been complaining about the sorceress residing within Balamb Garden.

There were times in which she thought on how hard it had to be for Squall to deal with his every day ordeal. Every day he woke up to a tight schedule; he was commander of SeeD and sorceress knight, plus he always tried to make some time to read about sorceresses or just listen to her. She smiled; just thinking about him made her smile. He meant the world to her, if not for him she would not be there, in fact she would have died in space. She wondered if she was as important to him as he was to her. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed; there were some things that would never come out of the young man's mouth.

Author's note: It took me some time to finish this one. I've been having a lot of work from my teachers… I swear they are plotting my downfall. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update as fast as I can without killing the story.

Thanks XD