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The week passed slowly, and Friday came too gradual for his liking but it came all the same.

Knock. Knock. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Open this door!" Squall rubbed his eyes and sat up. He stretched and got up to answer his door. He opened it halfway and hid behind it since he was still in his pajamas, which were some old guitar boxers.

"Oh...hi." He said as Rinoa's face came into his view.

"I'm leaving and I knew you'd want to say goodbye." Rinoa said, giggling while rubbing her shoulders against her cheeks and almost blocking her eyesight.

"Goodbye." He began to shut the door but she pushed her way in. She didn't seem to care that he wasn't wearing anything presentable.

"That's it?" She pouted one of her famous pouts.

"Yep."

"Squall!" She suddenly cried, and threw her arms around his neck with tears in her eyes.

"It's...okay." He said gingerly patting her on the back. It was a full minute they stood there and he was beginning to get annoyed. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll miss you." She told him, though it was muffled since she was speaking to chest.

"You'll be late." He said.

"Alright, well I'll call you and we'll be in touch and we'll have to hang out soon! I'll be escorting some people to Balamb in a few weeks so you should be seeing a lot more of me!" She told him she would have to go to the SeeD formal alone if no one asked her soon, pouted when he told her he wasn't going to walk her out and gave him two more hugs before running down the hallways.

He exhaled.

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The rest of the day passed pretty quickly as if someone was moving all the clocks to go faster. The mission he was supposed to attend was canceled and the newest batch of newbies was dropped off and he saw a group of them coming in with all their luggage and suitcases. He was walking the opposite direction of them. There were a lot of them. Most of them looked scared out of their wits. He tried to relate but he couldn't. He never had to leave home and come to Garden and alter his entire life because he had grown up at Garden. He shrugged. He began to walk. Somehow he knew where he'd end up.

He wasn't even past the cafeteria when a young girl came up and asked him for directions. He gave them to her and she thanked him. It seemed as though the halls were quiet and ten seconds later out of the blue there was a throng of newbs. He had to go against the crowd again and move a lot since they all had their baggage. He shook his head and continued his way to the Quad.

He got there and it was very crowded. It seemed that once the newbies had dumped all their stuff in their rooms that's where they were to meet. He didn't feel like being in all the commotion. He fought his way to the entrance, where the newbs were still swarming in.

On the way back to his room he had to battle the exact same thing except that everyone was going in opposite directions. It took him a solid fifteen minutes to walk back to his room.

But when he got there he didn't want to go inside. Maybe Zell and Selphie were doing something mildly interesting so he went down to check. He knocked on Zell's door but no one answered. He walked to Selphie's room and knocked.

"I got it." He heard Selphie say. Selphie opened the door. She didn't look particularly unhappy but she didn't look thrilled either. She just seemed tired.

"Hey what's up?"

"Nothing." He replied.

"Come on in." She opened the door to let him in. Zell was sitting on the bed, hands behind his head.

"What's up?" He asked as Squall walked in.

"This place is swarming in newbs."

"So we've heard." Zell said. "Why do you think we're in here?"

"A lot of them?" Selphie asked, seating herself next to Zell on the bed.

"Twenty minutes to get back from the Quad." He sat down on the end of the bed and continued.

"Well what do you want to do?" Selphie asked, crossing her arms. "We're stuck until they all get settled."

"Do you have any cards, Selph?" Zell asked.

"Sure." She went to the dresser and opened the drawer and pulled out some. She threw them to Zell.

"Want to play?" He asked Selphie.

"No. I'm not going to spend my time locked up here playing cards." She began to pace.

"Whatever. What do you want to play Squall?"

"Don't care."

"Spit okay with you?" Zell asked and began dealing before he even answered. They had played Spit since they'd been SeeDs in training. That's what they always played.

But along the course of an hour they began to talk. Selphie eventually stopped pacing and sat down and talked with them, mostly about their meeting with Cid that morning.

"Well, he called us in but he didn't say why although we were kind of nervous he was going to reprimand us that we had to leave those people." Selphie was saying.

"What did he say?"

"Well, he wanted us to recount the mistake of the team leader and to assure us it wasn't going to be ignored and that it would be taken care of."

"What happened to her? Was she reprimanded or given a citation?" Squall asked nonchalantly.

"Don't know," Zell said. "She wasn't in with us. She must have got summoned separately. We were surprised you weren't in there with us, though."

"Oh well, I was the relieving commanding officer on that mission and since something happened, I had to submit a report. I went to see him yesterday."

"And he penciled you in? Wow…" Selphie said. Moments like this always made Squall a little nervous. None of the other SeeDs knew about Squall's relationship with Cid. They know Squall was one of the top SeeDs but other than that, they knew nothing of Cid paternal role in his life.

As Zell dealt the cards again, he found himself engulfed in silence.

"Did you guys see Rinoa at all?" Squall asked. Selphie laughed.

"No, she's been hanging all over you the whole week." Zell told him.

"She told me she wanted to you ask her to the formal." Selphie told him.

"Who are you going to ask?" Selphie inquired. Squall just shrugged. Zell wasn't really listening. Zell didn't pay attention to girls, seeing that he had already roped one in that he loved and she was pretty simple.

There was knock on the door. Squall and Zell continued to play cards without looking up, but Selphie sprang up to get it. She opened it and stood on the threshold of the doorway, talking to someone. Squall and Zell weren't really paying attention

Zell pounced on her absence. "How are things with you and Quistis?" Zell asked quietly.

"She's still angry with me, I think. It's just hard to have a fight with someone in your department who you can't really talk to even when you aren't fighting.'" Zell patted him on the shoulder.

"It'll all work out. You can't have this fight forever."

"But I-" Squall fell silent. Selphie had just stuck her head in the door and he didn't really feel like sharing his emotions with her too.

"I'm going down to the infirmary with a newb. I'll be back in a few." She closed the door after her. Squall put down his last card and slapped the smaller deck, like the rules of the game told him to. He was winning.

"What is with you today? You just won nine games in a row." But Squall wasn't really paying attention to the game. He'd played it so much in his past with Zell, especially in their first year when students aren't really allowed out of the Gardne, that whenever he played it his mind sort of went onto auto-pilot. Zell picked up the cards and dealt them again.

"Do you ever get the feeling Selphie's not telling you something?" Squall asked him.

"No. Do you think Quistis is hiding something?" Zell said for him.

"Yes. But it's almost like it's me who can't remember. It's probably the GFs."

"Well, we have been using them a lot lately." Zell told him truthfully.

Selphie didn't come back for a half an hour and by that time, Zell had won eleven times and they were still talking about Quistis, so when Selphie and the newb walked in, neither of them looked up, as they were deep in conversation.

"Has she changed her attitude at all since you came to her rescue?" Zell asked. Squall shook his head.

"I haven't talked to her. She won't look at me." Squall said, protesting.

"Who are you talking about?" Selphie asked. Squall looked up to say 'Quistis' when he saw the newbie girl's face Selphie had brought inside.

His heart stopped beating involuntarily. His eyes got wide in shock. She was staring back with the same expression on her face. She took a small step forward, her eyes locked onto his.

"Squall." She breathed. He stood up, knocking the cards off the bed. Unexpectedly, she ran at him and threw herself onto his chest and began to cry.

Selphie was throwing apprehensive looks at Zell.

He lead her out of their room without explanation and lead her to his room. She was leaning on him and her tears flowing steadily.

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Deeply immersed in the latest happenings between Arâshnia Gardens and Balamb she had been printed out and had been given to read minutes earlier, was the last person anyone thought to have something to do with Squall and his unknown visitor. She heard crying and as hard as it was, tore her eyes away from the papers she was reading. Seeing Squall from the side comforting some girl she could not see, made something inside her squirm uncomfortably. She quickly hid behind a column she was near, and listened to what they were saying; only catching snatches of a distant conversation.

"It's going to be all right. I've got you now." She heard sniffling and stuttering as though she was gasping for air because she had been crying so hard but it was impossible from where she stood to make out anything she was saying. Squall unlocked the door and led the girl inside his room.

Making sure they were fully inside the room, with the door shut, Quistis stepped out from behind the pole. Her blue eyes flashed in the light as she stared at the closed door.

"What was that about?" She asked herself silently. She wasn't expecting an answer to come to her and walked quickly to her own room and flopped on the bed. She didn't even finish reading the mission plans for Balamb's attack on Arâshnia's Garden, but lay awake thinking for a long time before she fell asleep, in full dress with her glasses on.

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"What was that?" Selphie asked pointing at the door.

"How am I supposed to know?" Zell said turning away from her in his own frustration.

"Well, if I had known someone since I was five I would know everything there is to know about them." She spat crossly at him.

"I haven't known him since I was five." Zell stated, crossing his arms.

"He's your best friend." Selphie pointed out.

"I knew he was hiding something!" He burst out suddenly. "Remember when he left Tuesday night early? He told me Quistis was on his mind but I bet it was that girl!"

"She's a newbie! Squall wouldn't...no way. He would never-" She looked doubtful.

"Just because she's a little younger you're going to jump to conclusions? And who says anything happened at all?"

"I don't know what to think." Selphie said sitting down and massaging her temples.

"Do you think...maybe Quistis knows?"