They'd been there—wherever "there" was, which, as far as Tidus could tell was really nowhere—for a long time. Rinoa had shared some of her and Squall's story, and Tidus had told some of his. It was clear that there was a lot left unsaid, neither one of them quite ready to share every detail. Squall said very little, seeming to prefer to let Rinoa do the talking.

Now they were bored. The boredom had allowed the worry gathering in the pit of his stomach to change into fear, edging on full-fledged dread. He tried to smile a lot, to at least appear he was staying positive. Rinoa seemed to appreciate the effort, and often smiled back. Squall, on the other hand, didn't give much reaction to anything. Tidus imagined that made Squall rock solid on the battlefield. But here, Tidus found Squall's seeming indifference to their situation to be rather unnerving.

"Have you tried to summon?" Rinoa asked Squall.

He shook his head. "I told you, I lost my junctions."

"Me too. But we should still try to summon."

Squall looked dubious. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."

"You guys are Summoners?" Tidus asked.

"We junction Guardian Forces. And then we can summon them," Squall explained.

"Guardian Forces? Are those like aeons?"

"What are aeons?" Rinoa asked.

"They're powerful creatures that would help us in battle. Or help Yuna anyway. She was the one who could call them."

"Sounds like Guardian Forces," Squall replied.

"Squall, try to summon Quezacotl. I'll try Leviathan." Rinoa and Squall each lowered their eyes, appearing to be in deep concentration. No Guardian Forces appeared. After a moment Squall looked up, and waited for Rinoa to do the same. She met his eyes, then furrowed her brow. "Try Siren. I'll try Carbuncle."

They repeated the process to the same results. "Keep trying," Rinoa insisted. Squall sighed, but complied.

Tidus wandered in a circle as the others attempted to summon. He thought it seemed pretty unlikely that an aeon would appear here, in this barren, magicless, world. But he wasn't against hoping for the best.

"Your turn."

Tidus turned to see Rinoa was looking at him. "You try to summon."

"I can't. I'm not a summoner."

"You can try."

"I don't even know how."

"You've seen Yuna do it, right? Just imitate her."

"I don't know the moves. I don't have a staff."

"Please," Rinoa pleaded. "I don't know what else to do."

"Okay, okay," Tidus replied. "I'll give it a shot." Rinoa probably didn't realize just how ridiculous he would look if he tried to summon like Yuna. Rinoa and Squall's summoning didn't seem to involve dancing

He stepped away and tried to remember the steps Yuna used when summoning each aeon. He couldn't think of them—when Yuna started summoning, he was usually running to get out of the way.

He was not a summoner, he didn't have a staff, he didn't know the moves—there was no way pretending to be Yuna would help him summon. But Rinoa expected him to try something. So he took a deep breath and yelled, as loud as he could. "Valefor! Valefor! Vaaalefooooooor!"

He took a few steps, inhaled deeply and whistled. Then he yelled again.

"Valefor! Ixion! Ixi-oooooooooooooon!"

As Tidus paused for breath, Rinoa appeared beside him. "Valefor!" she shouted. "Ixion!" She gave him a quick smile before lifting her fingers to her mouth and whistling.

He tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Even if, by some miracle, the aeons could hear them, why would they come here? Still, for some reason all the screaming was actually making him feel a little better, so he continued. "Ifrit! Shiva! Ixion! Valefor!"

He didn't know how long he screamed and whistled, but once his voice starting getting hoarse he fell to the ground, exhausted. He lay flat on his back, staring upward, breathing hard. Rinoa dropped down beside him.

Squall walked up to them, having opted not to join in the attempts to summon by yelling, and looked down at Tidus. "Did you say Ifrit? And Shiva?"

Tidus sat up. "Yeah. Why? You know them?"

"Ifrit—he's a fire elemental, right? Long curved horns, fangs, big claws?"

"Right," Tidus replied. "How did you know?"

"He's—" Squall broke off and stumbled forward. He mumbled something Tidus couldn't make out.

Rinoa leapt to her feet just as Squall collapsed. She caught him as he was falling and lowered him to the ground.

"Is he okay?" Tidus asked.

"I think so." Rinoa placed her index finger above Squall's lips, just below his nose, presumably to check his breathing. Then she placed a hand under his jacket, against his chest. "His pulse seems normal. I think he's just asleep. Sometimes this happens. He…communicates with his sister. I don't really understand it."

"Well, as long as he's alright." Squall did appear to be sleeping, but Tidus had never seen someone overcome by sleep so quickly without having magic cast on them. This place was getting stranger all the time.

"We'll start now," Ellone said.

"Now?" Zell asked. "Like right this second? Like, he's here now?"

"It's difficult to be that precise. But yes, this is the time I will try to target."

"Oh, man. Okay. Hey, Squall."

"He'll be in your head, Zell. Not mine."

"Oh, right. So I'm talking, but Squall will feel like he's talking? This is so weird."

"Let's not get caught up in the details," Quistis cut in. "Let's stick to the plan."

"Right. The plan. Oh, man! I forgot the plan."

"Zell, just—be quiet for a minute.

"Squall, of course we've noticed that you're not here. We don't know what happened—"

"Ultimecia! She grabbed him, just as she was fading away. I didn't remember that until just now."

"Okay, Zell. But it doesn't really matter. Squall—we just want you to know we're working on it. We're going to find you. I hope Rinoa's with you. I have a feeling she is. We think she made it back, but then used her sorceress powers to find you. We found Angelo in the field behind the orphanage. If Rinoa's not with you, I guess we're looking for her too. Anyway, this is mostly a test, to see if Ellone can connect with you. We'll try again later, once we know what we're going to do.

"And…I guess that's it. Sorry we don't have a better plan, but we're working on it."

"Wait!" Selphie said. "Look at me, Zell. Squall, we're going to find you, alright? Don't think we've given up on you! We won't give up, not until you're back here. And Rinoa too. We really miss you."

Squall awakened, the dream over as suddenly as it had begun. Not a dream, not exactly, but that was what it felt like, and the easiest way to describe it. He'd learned it wasn't his imagination at work, but rather the mysterious powers of his almost-sister, Ellone. And what he saw was not make-believe, but real events that had happened in the past. In this case, it appeared to have been the very recent past.

He didn't move right away. Something that had been said disturbed him and he didn't know how to handle it.

"Are you awake?" Rinoa brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. Apparently, she'd been waiting for him to wake up. He opened his eyes and sat up.

"Ellone?" Rinoa asked.

He nodded.

"What did you see?"

"The others made it back."

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yes. They're looking for us."

"Do they have a plan?"

"Not really." He paused. There wasn't much point in avoiding the issue. He needed to know for sure. Perhaps Quistis had misread the situation. "Rinoa, they said you made it back. You were home, before you came looking for me. Is that true?"

Rinoa dipped her head in a sort of half-nod. "I wanted to find you Squall. I had to find you. So I used my powers and they brought me here." She looked up into his eyes. "I'm just sorry they can't get us out of here."

So it's true. She's here, in this awful place, because of me. She was perfectly safe, before she came here for me. "Rinoa…"

"Don't start! I don't want to be back there, not without you. I want to be with you."

"But you were home—"

"No, I wasn't. My home is with you, Squall. Wherever that is."

Squall didn't know how to respond, so he just stared at the ground. She's suffering because of me. Because I failed to save myself.

"I like that," Tidus interjected. "I feel the same way. Zanarkand is gone, but I was never homeless. Not while I was with Yuna."

"See?" Rinoa moved closer to Squall and rested her head against his shoulder. "Tidus understands."

Tidus doesn't understand anything—he hasn't dragged Yuna here. What if you die out here, because of me? Squall jumped to his feet. Suddenly it was difficult to breathe and impossible to stay still.

He paced around as Rinoa and Tidus stood up. Squall wanted to walk away—run away—to find space, so maybe he could breathe again. But he couldn't leave Rinoa, not now.

"Squall, what's wrong?" The obvious concern in her voice made him feel sick. He turned away from her and tried to breathe deeply, but his breath came shallow and shaky.

Even if he'd wanted to, Squall couldn't respond. His throat was too tight, his thoughts too jumbled. Why does she care so much about me? Why would she risk her own safety for me? She should take care of herself. I got into this mess, it's up to me to get out.

What if she gets hurt?

"Why do always do this?!" Rinoa demanded, her concern overshadowed by anger. Her anger actually made Squall feel a little better. He understood anger, he knew how to respond to it. "You don't accept help from others, you won't tell anyone when something's bothering you, you insist on doing everything by yourself! I thought we were past this. I thought you trusted me. I thought we could depend on each other."

Finally feeling like maybe he'd caught his breath enough to speak, Squall slowly turned to look at Rinoa. "Of course I trust you."

"Then why are you acting like this?"

Because you could get hurt. Because you could die. Because I couldn't live with myself if that happened.

Because I care more about your safety than my own.

Because I'd rather die alone than see you suffer.

Because…

"I guess I'm used to taking care of you. Not the other way around."

"Good," Rinoa nodded approvingly. "Would it really have been so hard to just say that in the first place?"

Squall sighed, hoping she didn't really expect an answer.

"I mean, good that you're talking about it. Not good that you don't think I can help you. I know I get scared sometimes, but I'm not useless."

'Useless?' Where is that coming from? Rinoa is one of the best fighters I know, better even than most SeeDs. Of course she isn't useless.

"It's not that. I just don't want you to get hurt. Especially because of me."

" 'Just stay close to me.' You've told that to me twice, because you didn't want me to get hurt. At least, I think that's why. So here I am, close to you. You won't let me get hurt, will you?"

"No," Squall replied. "Not if I can help it."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I guess there isn't one." There is still a problem. Still a huge problem. But I should try to deal with what I can. Obsessing over what I can't control won't solve anything. I should know that by now. And one thing I can't control is Rinoa. I should definitely have figured that one out by now.

"Good." Rinoa walked up to Squall and leaned forward, so she could look up into his downcast eyes. "I hate fighting with you."

A loud clatter drew both their attention.

"Sorry," Tidus said sheepishly. Squall had faintly noticed him nervously fiddling with the tassel on the handle of his sword during the argument and now he had dropped the weapon. "So, uh, anyway…there's good news? Your friends going to find us…?"

"I don't know. They didn't really know what to do. They just wanted us to know they were working on it."

"I know what they were saying!" Rinoa added playfully. Squall was relieved to hear her tone. He loved the sound of her voice, especially when she wasn't mad at him. " 'Gee, I wish Squall was here to come up with a plan! Squall always figures out what to do. Squall would know how to save Squall if he were here!' "

Squall shook his head. "That's not what they said."

"Maybe not when you were there. But I bet they said it sometime."

"Um, I thought you were…talking to your sister?" Tidus asked.

"Not exactly talking. It's strange. I don't know if I can really explain it. Ellone takes us—our minds—and puts them in the past of someone else."

"Oh. That…is strange."

"Trust me, I wouldn't believe it either if I wasn't the one it happened to."

"The fact that you could connect with Ellone—that's something, right? Maybe we aren't so far away," Rinoa suggested.

Squall shrugged. Distance hasn't seemed to affect Ellone's power before. Then again, I'm pretty sure I've never been this far away from her before.

"Or maybe your friends will come up with something," Rinoa said to Tidus. "I'm sure they're looking for you too."

"No," Tidus shook his head. "They're not looking for me. They think I'm dead." His voice was quiet as he said the last sentence, and entirely without his usual exuberance.

Tidus looked from Rinoa to Squall and back again before speaking. "Are…are we sure we aren't?"

"…Dead? You think we might be dead?" Squall asked. The possibility hadn't occurred to him before now. I've wondered a lot about what death was like lately, but I never imagined anything like this.

"I don't know. I just…We're probably not. I shouldn't have said anything," Tidus responded quickly, looking at the ground and rubbing at the dirt with his shoe.

Rinoa took two steps toward Tidus and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. After a moment she stepped back. "You feel alive to me."

"Well," Squall said with a shrug. "I guess that settles it."