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RING. RING. RING. RING. RING.

Squall rolled over in his sleep and opened his eyes. He picked up his phone. Zell's face appeared dark on the screen.

"Where are you? I thought you were coming?" He yelled over the noise of people and music.

"Coming where?" Squall asked, sitting up.

"It's Tuesday night!" Once a month all the SeeDs got together and went out somewhere. All senior SeeDs were exempt from duty on the first Tuesday of the month.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot."

"How could you forget? It's at the new place tonight!"

"Oh right. I'll be there in a few." Selphie's face appeared next to Zell's.

"Where are you?"

"I'm coming." He said, rubbing his eyes and glancing at his watch and shutting the phone.

Squall stood and stretched, letting out a sigh. He changed his clothes quickly and grabbed his phone and keys as he went out the door, locking it behind him. He stopped to slip his phone into his back pocket and put his keys away, when he heard a giggle. He looked up to see the same two children he had seen earlier running around the hall, this chasing a butterfly. He stopped to watch them again.

He was lost in them, bewildered by their presence at a Garden, especially this late, but didn't have any reason to question them. He was sure there was somebody looking after them. There was a special glow to their faces, an aura around their bodies as if the sunlight kept them going, as if nothing in the world mattered. Suddenly, a noise echoed through the hall. Squall's eyes were diverted from the kids to a door down the dormitory foyer behind him, which had been slammed. His eyes went back to the children but they were gone and so was the sunlight. He blinked. It was dark. How had there been sunlight? He shrugged his shoulders and shook it off and set off back down the passage.

He walked to the hangar and check out a car for Balamb, which took five minutes. He found a parking space and walked in to the club. He spotted Selphie and Zell in the far corner with a bunch of other SeeDs he knew. He made his way through the noisy jostling people and multi-colored lights to the corner.

"SQUALL!" Zell yelled, throwing his arm around Squall's shoulder and pulling him over. His breath smelled of beer. He didn't try to yell over the noise to say hi, but simply waved. He got a few waves here and there from some well-known faces. He really wasn't in the mood to be around the loud noise. Things were nagging at the back of his brain. He got a drink and took the seat next to Zell, slightly bobbing his head to the music when he saw a familiar girl in the middle of the dancing crowd. She was a SeeD but they had never really talked. He looked around her to see more familiar SeeDs. Then, he saw someone he had not seen at Tuesday night in a very long time.

Instead of having her hair up in a messy bun and wearing her SeeD uniform, Quistis had her long red hair down and for once some stylish clothes. She was dancing to the beat like everyone else. They were all laughing. Quistis threw her head back and let out a rare smile. Bringing him back to the reality that he was lost from was Selphie nudging her elbow into his ribs, making him lose quite a lot of beer on the table.

"What?" He complained.

"Stop worrying, just have some fun!" She giggled, her hair falling in her face. She smelled like beer too as she leaned in to take his, which she took a sip of, and then put on the table.

"Come on and dance with us!" Selphie said, pulling him up and into the commotion. Squall made sure they were far enough away from Quistis in the crowd.

The DJ brought around a fast paced song and everybody switched partners. His eyes were on Quistis as he passed Selphie to another partner. She was dancing with a tall man he didn't know. Squall couldn't help noticing that the man was extremely good looking.

Although he would have continued staring at her, he was dancing with someone he didn't know and had to concentrate on doing the dance steps properly, particularly at the end when they would switch again.

After receiving Selphie back from Zell, the song changed and Squall made his way back to his beer and rested against the back of the booth he'd been sitting in and continued to watch.

He was surprised Quistis wasn't working. From what Cid had told him, she always worked late. He didn't know much about her anymore, since they had ceased their friendship in his third year but Cid had suggested her overtime hours were the result of her outstanding work.

But he couldn't help but notice how different she looked tonight.

Quistis laughed as he twirled her around. He knew she was a good dancer since they had danced together before. That is to say, Squall was not shabby either, but then again, there weren't many things Squall was bad at.

The songs seemed to last forever. Zell and Selphie had joined in as well. He didn't want to watch anymore. He drained the last of his drink. He pulled out his wallet, left a few Gil on the table for the tab and stood. He slipped through the crowd, rejecting some advances from women he didn't know. He went through the exit and was relieved to find the fresh air and the silence of the outside.

He got into his car and drove back. He checked in at the gate like always but instead of heading to his room he walked to the Quad.

He sat on the bench in the park, put his elbows over the back and stared at the fountain on the other side. He breathed in the clean air and his eyes focused on something across the way. The same two children as before were running around. Chasing the butterfly in the sunlight, he smiled at them, at their innocence. The butterfly was swooping just out of their grasp and their giggles were making their faces light up with joy.

Something made Squall turn his eyes from the children and it wasn't another butterfly. It was Zell running into the Quad with furious eyes.

"What was that?" Zell asked, angrily, motioning toward the entrance.

"What?" He said, his eyes returning to the children.

"What's up?" He broke out, angrily. "Why did you just storm out like that?"

"I didn't storm anywhere."

"I hate it when you lie." He folded his arms and looked away. Squall said nothing.

"You're my best friend." Zell broke out again. "And I've known you since before I can remember and I've never kept anything from you now stop lying!"

Suddenly, another little boy came out of nowhere and began to chase the same butterfly. He stared at them as Zell continued to yell. He stared hard at the children before he looked at Zell who was suddenly silenced with his eyes locked onto Squall's.

"I'm being serious." Squall said, trying to avoid having to say that he'd never kept anything from Zell either. The truth of the matter was, was that Zell was the more outgoing type and Squall just wasn't and the rhyme or reason to which they were such good friends just didn't make sense. Zell just wasn't the kind of guy to keep secrets and Squall, well, was.

"You're serious?" Zell said looking relieved.

"Yes."

"There you go again." Zell said. folding his arms again. "You're lying." Squall sighed. Yes, he was lying but Zell had never really ventured into any issues that Squall had any reason to protect until now so he had had no reason to lie.

"Look, I know you too well for this." Zell started again. Squall concluded the only way to get Zell to leave him be, was going to be the truth or a lie to cover his original lie. So, he lied.

"I just wasn't in the mood for the noise tonight. I didn't feel like dancing or being around Quistis." Zell exhaled a lot of air at once that he had originally been planning on using yelling at Squall and said simply "Really?"

"Yeah," said Squall, shrugging it off.

"You know, if it's something as uncomplicated as a girl you should just let me know next time." Zell said, laughing.

"Ya, uncomplicated." Squall said sarcastically. Zell smiled at his friend and turned to leave.

"Dude, next time you gotta vent, just do it." Squall shrugged his left shoulder.

And as Zell left and Squall's eyes returned to the children that Zell hadn't seen. Squall couldn't help but think that anything he had ever wanted to vent about was a secret.