Disclaimer – I do not own the characters/settings/situations of Final Fantasy 8. Oh well…

This story, and the ones to be posted with it, are 'snapshots' of little scenes that I imagined while playing the game. I hope everyone likes my quirky interpretations of the characters. :)

Worry

Squall walked in silence next to Rinoa, who was still ticked off about… whatever it was he'd done wrong. Sometimes she was just so hard to understand.

Garden came into view, and Squall came to a halt. His head rose to see the entire structure and all that had been settled on his shoulders flooded his mind. I can't do this. I've only just been inducted into SeeD; I'm barely qualified to lead my team, much less an entire Garden… I'm too inexperienced. What the hell is Headmaster Cid thinking?

"You've got that look on your face again," Rinoa commented.

Startled, Squall brought his gaze back to Rinoa. She'd stopped in front of him and turned to stare expectantly at him. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he finally said. "Headmaster Cid expects so much of me and… I'm just as lost as everyone else."

"That's why you need the rest of us. So what if we're all lost. Better to be lost together than apart, right?" Rinoa smiled. "Don't worry about screwing up, or anything. You always seem to go with an instinctive reaction that either works or works enough that it only needs a few changes as we go along. I have faith in you; so does everyone else."

"Why? You didn't particularly like my leadership on the way to Galbadia Garden."

"I just didn't know you well enough then." Rinoa looked away, abashed. "Zell was mad at me when the rest of you got pulled into the Dream World. He's really protective of his friends and he told me… that you aren't one who minces words or makes promises you can't keep. You won't lie to cause others to feel better, either, but you acknowledge them and respect them and that is why we follow you."

"Did Zell really say all that, or are you paraphrasing?"

"Maybe… a little of both, though that's mostly what he said." Rinoa smiled. "See, don't you feel just a tiny bit better for having talked with someone."

"I don't know." Squall shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just don't know."

"You've been alone too long," Rinoa reached out and latched onto Squall's hand. "Let's see if we can get them to play a different song," she declared, turning them around and steering them back towards their friends and the off-key music that they were playing. "At the very least, we can convince Zell not to try that butchered guitar solo again."

Part of him desperately wanted to pull away and race back to Garden. He'd always been alone. No one could hurt him that way… except… there was something to the warmth he felt when he saw what his team had done for him. It had been as if a missing part of himself was trying to fill back in.

"Anything but that guitar solo," Squall found himself agreeing.

A/N Squall's family… hehe… I absolutely loved the band that Selphie made them put together and using Rinoa as 'bait' was priceless. :)