Do I Have To? (SELPHIE)

[Squall Leonhart]

Squall Leonhart sighed. How did I get dragged into this... again? He was located in the Quad area of Balamb Garden, making arrangements for the Garden Festival. Honestly, Squall didn't mind doing this every once in a while, but he was sure if he spoke that he would be doing something like this every other day. But he never understood why didn't Selphie pick Rinoa or Zell. They both had plenty of energy to spare, though Zell was kind of a klutz. Irvine was perfect for the job. He would do anything for Sephie... Yet somehow Squall was the one here.

This would be a great way to get everyone's mind off of Ultimecia... Yes, everyone, but his mind apparently. He sat on the stairs, watching all the cadets run around like chickens with their heads off. Getting the festival in order was going to be a lot of work. "Squall man! Help us with putting up the stage!" Great! He had been spotted, not that he was hiding. He shook his head and stood to his feed, heading over to the other cadets to help.

Usually Selphie wasn't late to these type of things... Usually she wasn't like period besides that one time, but that was because she just transferred Gardens. She had to be doing this to torture him. Well, she was succeeding.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

Selphie ran down the Garden's hallway, the clip clop of her feet as she did so alerted other students and everyone got out of her way, knowing her ungraceful normal body movements they decided it was easier to get out of her way then to make her avoid all of them, probably resulting in disastrous results. She was late!! ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh she groaned inside and checked her watch for the hundredth time. It hadn't stopped...she was still late.

She was never late! at least not for events like this. She ran the garden festival practically, the volunteers probably wouldn't be happy that she wasn't there. She chewed herself out in her mind as she ran toward the quad area of Garden. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but the warm sunshine coupled with the chocobo babies had just made her close her eyes for a second...which of course had turned into an hour and a half. She ducked around corners and jumped over things. Finally she could see the door to the quad area! Barely slowing down, she burst through the doors, hair in disarray. "Hey Guy's I'm her-" She didn't see a box of decoration and in her hurry tripped over it in mid sentence. "Ahh" She gasped as she reached out for the closest object. Hand closed around a banner half way pulled up and it fell down with her.

'thud' came the sound of her falling, and then a groan on her part. She laid there for a second and some people shouted out if she was alright. Bouncing up from under the banner she rubbed her head and closed her eyes halfway. "Ugghhh...not such a good idea..." She muttered and shook her head to clear it. Two of her friends came up and asked if she was ok. "Yeah yeah, I'll be fine." She said cheerfully, not letting it get to her.

This was an eventful day, and her green eyes searched around her for a certain face. She had forced him to help her this year...if he wasn't here she was going to go find him and drag him in. And then she caught sight of him standing close to the stage and smiling, waved largely toward him, her excitement unhidden. She couldn't believe he was actually here and hadn't ran away from the job! She was bubbling over with excitement and couldn't wait for bossing him around. She was going to give him ALL the jobs with her and decorating things!

[Squall Leonhart]

What exactly did they expect Squall to do? He could stand there and look pretty, but that would deem him unwanted attention. Why would they ask me to help with putting up the stage when it's clearly up? He gave the cadet a blank stare for a moment, but his eyes quickly fell upon the things he was holding in hands... ...Decorating... No... Seeing the tools and objects in the cadets' hands assured him that they wanted Squall to help decorate.

No. He would never do such a thing. He knew nothing of decorating. Even his room was pretty plain; it was basically just his bed and nothing more. Well, there was his other belongings like his clothes and gunblade case, but that was about it. "I think... I'm going to go find Selphie. She's the right person for the job." Before they could even speak to try to get Squall to stay he quickly turned to walk away. He refused to let them talk him into... decorating.

Well, he figured he would just sneak out since Selphie wasn't here yet. Yeah, he go hide in Zell's room. But before Squall could take another step, Selphie decided to make her grand appearance. As she tripped over the box Squall slapped his right hand on on his forehead and slightly shook his head, letting out a deep sigh. Selphie... Still clumsy... He was going to walk over and help her back to her feet, but she had already got up herself. She was smiling! This wasn't good! Squall could already tell that this was going to be a long day. But this was important to her so he would help out and pretend like he wasn't going to enjoy any of it. "Hey..." Squall said, looking around a moment before returning his gaze to the cheerful girl, "... You don't need me here. I'll just get in the way..." Squall had a feeling that wouldn't work, but he had to try.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

Giggling to hide her clumsy fall, Selphie cleared her throat and smiled to Squall when he spoke a greeting to him. Or…if you could call it a greeting, it was more like a wish for death rather then the job he had to do. She as always though, was oblivious to everything and just decided he must be tired or something. That is until he said that he would go and that they didn’t need him. She shook her head and cheerfully smiled up at him, green eyes sparkling.

“Ohhhh no of course I need you! A few of the guys got sick, so I need some help deciding on the decorations, and putting them up! It shouldn't take us all that long though, since most of it is done already.” She said smiling before grabbing his arm and jumping up and down in excitement. “I’m so excited! I love the garden festival!” She squealed in excitement before skipping a few steps. Peppy to say the least, Selphie as always had a high amount of energy that nothing could contain. She started leading him towards a box of sparkly decorations, as well as a large white banner lying there.

Finally getting there, she clapped her hands together and spun on her toes to face him, pleasure written all over her face. Selphie sometimes had the energy and characteristics of a 5 year old-the excitement, cheerfulness, bubbly-so it was hard to manage her at times. It wouldn’t take very long, actually most of the party prepping was already done; it was just the last touches. Mainly the stage needed to be decorated. She was going to perform with Irvine, Quistis and Zell like they had when they had been on the Ultimecia mission. She realized that Squall didn’t know they were going to perform.

Turning her face toward him as she drug him over towards a box of decorations, Selphie grinned. “Hey! Did you know that Irvine, Zell, Quistis and I are performing again at the festival?” She was very excited about it, barely able to hide her extreme excitement. Still the grin didn’t leave her face. She was beginning to get a bump on her forehead from her fall though, and raised a hand to gently feel the lump, squinting her eyes as she did. Gosh that had hurt! She kept reminding herself not to be so clumsy, but it wasn’t really helping…

[Squall Leonhart]

Why did Selphie enjoy torturing Squall like this? And he could tell that she was enjoying this. Putting up things Squall didn't have a problem at all with, but decorating was where he was going to have to draw the line. He simply stared at Selphie with his blank expression plastered on his face, hoping she would change her mind... As if that was going to happen. "Whatever... I'll help with putting up things, but i'm not decorating."

Still, he had a feeling he was going to end up decorating also. Selphie did have her persuasive ways. If he was lucky someone would come and save him, but for now he would be dragged along. Literally dragged along by the arm. ...Where does she get all this energy and why doesn't it ever run out? As they made it to the box of decoration and the white banner Squall headed straight for the banner once he was out of Selphie's grasp.

"Where does this need to go?" Squall asked. Yes, he was trying to stay away from the decorations. At least Selphie was happy. That's all that matter, right? Squall would keep telling himself that so he could endure this torture. Suddenly he was dragged toward a box of decortations. Squall looked at Selphie and shook his head no. "I can't decorate..." He back away from the box slowly. It was enough that he was actually here. He could have easily stayed in his room and pretended like he wasn't anywhere in the Garden. "No, I didn't. I'm positive it's going to be nice," He said, "That's if you can get Zell away from those hot dogs."

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

While he stared at her with that blank look she just stared right back, hands on her hips and a firm expression on her face. No one was going to win battle of stubbornness with her! Especially Squall, who she knew quite well. Knowing him that good had its advantages, like being able to not be frightened by his stare downs. Finally she smiled and a somewhat mischievous look flashed across her face. "Oh we'll just see about that." While she didn't push the issue anymore, anyone that knew her knew how good she was at getting her way. It wasn't that she always needed her way, she was simply...persuasive.

He went to the completely blank banner and asked where it went. She cocked her head and looked at it. "Well it eventually goes on the front of the stage up top, but silly, we need to decorate it first!" She said with a mock eye roll. She smiled up at him before reaching into her box of decorates and pulling out letter tracers along with paint and large paintbrushes. Oh this was going to be soo much fun!! Handing him a paintbrush she set the paint down and looked at the white banner with an appraising eye.

They had to paint on what she wanted, plus decorate if further. She suddenly heard him mutter out that he couldn't decorate and glancing toward him saw him hurriedly backing away from the decorations. She trotted after him and catching his arm, planted her feet. "No! Please help?" She begged, her green eyes looking up at him. "You won't have to decorate too much." She promised with a little smile.

She giggled when he mentioned that it would be good if she could get Zell away from the hotdogs. She shifted her eyes back and forth before grinning, "Oh don't worry about that, I'm sure we can drag him away!" With that she put up the letters onto the banner, which was laid flat out on the stage. She spelled out 'Welcome to the Garden Festival' and picked up two pencils. "Can you start tracing from that end?" she said as she handed him the other pencil.

[Squall Leonhart]

Squall sighed and lowered his head slightly, shaking it with disappointment. He remembered when there was a time when people were frightened of his stare downs. Maybe not frightened, but it gave off that awkward feeling that drove people away. But now Selphie could see right through this facade. It was pointless. Why did Squall even try to put up a fight against Selphie when he knew she would win in the end? "Whatever... Let's just get this over with..."

When she handed him the paintbrush, Squall simply stared at it as if he had no clue what it was. She really had her mindset on him actually decorating. Just walk away Squall... As if he could do that. That would leave her heartbroken. As she caught his arm and pleaded with him, Squall wondered if they both had two definitions of 'too much.' Yeah, more that likely. Just walk away Squall...

"Alright, i'll... decorate..." So much for walking away now, right? He took the pencil in his other hand since he still had the paintbrush in the other. Squall could do this! He was a SeeD! What if a mission called for this type of work? It would be something he had to do. He sighed and he kneeled down placing the paintbrush to the side. "The end? Okay." He started to trace over at the end, swallowing what little pride he had left.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

Selphie hummed happily while she traced the letters. After she had her half down with tracing she could start with the decorating. Pulling out all sorts of decorating tools she watched Squall concentrating on tracing on the other end. He seemed just about as un-enthusiastic as could be, but she was proud that he had stuck to it and was actually helping her. “Honestly Squall I wasn’t sure if you’d come today. I mean…in the past you’ve gotten out of it…” She leaned her head back and smiled up at him, her green eyes dancing with happiness. “I’m so happy you decided to come today!” And with that she wrapped her strong though small arms around his waist and gave him a squeezing hug.

With that she dropped her arms and resumed decorating like she hadn’t just gave the most reserved person she had ever known a rib crushing hug. But then again Selphie was like that. She glanced up at him again, her infectious smile lighting up her face. “So! Any new missions that are oober exciting and you need your best SeeD to go do?!” She asked eagerly. Sure she had tons of things to do around here, but it had been weeks since she had had any real excitement regarding a mission. It would be nice to go on a mission with Zell, Squall, Irvine, Quistis and Rinoa like she had done that one time. Ever since then it hadn’t been a big enough mission for all of them to go. Which was disappointing, because she missed working with them.

She became lost in thought then, about that mission. It seemed like such a long time ago, but relatively it hadn’t been, maybe a year? Seemed like longer. And though she didn’t want to have to relive the worry and the wonder if they were going to make it, it would still be nice…having them all together again. Her favorite people in the world! They had been so close back then…not that they weren’t now, but they were all so busy. “HEY! I’ve got an idea! We should all take a vacation and go do something fun for a few days!” She suddenly blurted out, her eyes glowing. “You, Zell, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis and I.” She clarified, green eyes filled with excitement just thinking about it. Maybe at the beach so they could all go swimming! The possibilities were endless.

[Squall Leonhart]

Selphie being happy was all that matter at the moment. It was the only reason Squall was still here tracing. "...You asked for my help so I came." Don't make me regret this... Squall didn't mind doing things like this. It was just once you did it people expected you to again and again. But then something strange happen, something strange for Squall. He felt a slight jerk at his waist and before he knew it Sephie was hugging him. "I'm glad you're happy." A sad excuse for a smile fell upon his face. It was barely, Squall didn't want anyone seeing him smiling and he prayed that Selphie wouldn't tease him about it.

He hoped that no one was paying attention and saw the hug. He had an image to hold. Selphie was like the litle sister that you couldn't get rid of. She did annoy him at time, but that's what made her Selphie. Anyone mess with Selphie they would have to deal with Squall though she didn't need his help. Any new missions? He figured that everyone would want to rest up after their last epic battle with Ultimecia, the time witch. It seemed so long ago. "Nothing serious... If you think about it we never finished our first mission with Rinoa yet..."

He could give Selphie the role of one of the instructors to keep her busy, but that wasn't a great idea. She was too spunky. The kids would love her though. A vacation did sound nice, but he was sure they had different ideas of fun. "Vacation would be alright. No beaches..." The beach was too sunny and he had a strange feeling that the day would end with him wanting to kill Zell.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

If she hadn’t had her hands full of tracing and painting supplies she would have hugged him again. As it was he was probably thanking his lucky stars that she did indeed have her hands full. She did a little dance and smiled over at him. His smile was…well somewhat pathetic, but it was still a smile. That must mean he was having a blast right?! It must or else he wouldn’t be smiling.

When he said that they hadn’t really finished their first mission she cocked her head and looked at him. “What do you mean? We finished of Ultimecia didn’t we? And…Timber is free isn’t it? And none of us are dead are we?” She fired off the rapid questions, trying to sort it out in her mind. “So why didn’t we finish it?” She was confused alright. She was still thinking bout it when he answered her about her other idea. Maybe he would clarify what he had meant?

She had thought about being an instructor actually. But she decided it wasn’t for her. She was way to full of energy to sit in a class room and lecture. Besides, most of her students would be bigger then she was. She liked action, building bombs, having things explode and all around beating the bad guys’ butts! Sadly none of that had really been happening since Ultimecia had been destroyed. Sure there were missions, but they rarely lasted for more then a day, if that.

She nodded absent mindedly while continuing to decorate. Things really were quiet here as of lately. With that thought, suddenly she heard screaming. She jumped and dropped her supplies, eyes roving around to try to see where the screaming had come from. All of a sudden the loudspeaker boomed through the building. ALL SEED REPORT FOR DUTY, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK NEAR THE FRONT GATE. I WILL REPEAT, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK IN THE FRONT GATE. PLEASE GET YOUR WEAPON AND BE PREPARED TO BATTLE.

Selphie’s eyes had grown larger. “Wha…” She trailed off and ran over to where her Nunchaku was and grabbed it. She shrugged at the decorations before raising her weapon in the air. “You heard it, let’s go guys!” She shouted out before taking off toward the front gate. “Excitement here I coooomeeeee!” She shouted gleefully while running. Maybe she should wish for excitement more often.

words: 505
Muse: Alright
Notes: so its a bunch of creatures from Pulse that got portaled here, its huge flying creatures, Big but slow moving animals that have a protective shell on their backs and shoot quills and tiger like beasts.

[Squall Leonhart]

((Lol. I thought Timber wasn't technically free. They defeated Ultimecia, but wasn't it the Galbadia goverment that had control over Timber?))

Now Squall was thinking that smiling wasn't the best idea or even saying those things. He could picture Selphie banging on his door in the mourning, expecting him to help with something else. This would all eventually come back to bite him in the butt. It was too late for him to take it back now. He'll just have to push her off on Zell or bet yet Irvine. Irvine wouldn't mind spending time with the girl he liked very much.

"None of them are dead..." It was true... And if what Seifer said was true then Ultimecia was also still alive. "Last time I checked Timber was still under Galbadia's control. Our contract stated that we work for the Timber Owls until their independence." He shrugged slightly, doubted that it really mattered now. Honestly, he doubted that Galbadia would do something major after the threat of Ultimecia.

Suddenly, an announcement came blaring over the intercom. ... Why can't we ever have just a normal week? He let out a deep sigh and stood to his feet. He would rather stay here and deal with Selphie's torture. He slowly stood to his feet, picking up his gunblade that was at his side. It was nice to see Selphie be so excited again. Squall hated these situations... It meant that he had to step up as the leader once again. If anything were to happen to anyone it would be all on his shoulders; it would be all his fault. He quickly made his way to the front entrance to find a strange sight. What was these creatures? Squall had never seen anything like them before.

Guess he should start barking orders now? "You! Make sure the young cadets are safe and kept from harms way!" He said, pointing to a group of SeeDs. The SeeDs nodded and took off back into the Garden. These beast didn't look to smart, but they would still have to be cautious. Why would these creatures just randomly attack this place? Whatever! Just handle these creatures and go back to the nomarl day they were having... somewhat normal.

"I'll take the first attack." Squall swung his gunblade over his right shoulder and aimed his left hand at one of the flying creatures. "Fira..." Flames started to form in the SeeD's palm forming in a fireball the size of a basketball. He launched the fireball at one of the flying creatures, watching it get engulfed in flames.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

Selphie had forgotten that Timber was still under Galbadia’s control. She had thought that since Ultimecia was dead that Galbadia didn’t have any reason to control Timber. Apparently she was wrong. “Oh...I thought that since Ultimecia was dead...” she said quietly, trailing off. “Apparently I was wrong?” She asked sheepishly. Shrugging, she grinned, “So does that mean we get to see some action in Timber then?” She was excited about that thought.

It was better then hanging around here with missions that lasted so little time and then some training, and then a short mission and then hanging around Garden. She wished there was something big going on. That's whent0 he announcement came on. Seconds later she was running toward the front gate gleefully. Finally! Something to do that wasn't just training or uploading things onto her site. When they got there she skidded to a stop and raised her eyebrows at the things that were all around. “Holy mother of darkness, there's tons of them!” She exclaimed. Thank you Selphie for the obvious. Still, she was shocked that these things could have just come out of nowhere. A flying creature swooped down and Selphie yelped and ducked before straitening back up. “HEY!” She shouted after it, though it wouldn't help any. Squall started shouting out orders and Selphie just zoned him out. He was a great leader, but he wasn't talking to her, and she had better things to do then just listen to him tell other people what to do. She was a SeeD, she knew what to do.

With that she lifted her nunchaku up higher and picked out which creature to go up against. A flame the size of a basketball went toward one creature and suddenly Selphie's attention was diverted toward a screaming noise. One of the new students was the one making the noise. If the situation hadn't been more threatening she might have actually laughed. As it was she just dove into action. A flying creature had landed on the student, pinning it down and seemed to be wanting to eat him. “Not today.” She shouted as she started running toward them. Diving toward the winged creature she spun around and hit it with her nunchaku. It squawked and flailed as it was knocked off the student. “Stay outta my way.” She warned as she did a series of attacks on the creature, finally ending its movements.

Going back to the student, she gave him a hand up and shook her head, “Stay outta trouble kay? and don't get eaten by a giant bird, not a fun way to go.” She said before scurrying off to join the fighting again. Squall seemed to be making good use of his magic abilities. She might should do that as well. Just then one of the quicker moving beasts seemed to decide that it wanted to eat HER for breakfast. Pivoting on her heel she drew her Nunchaku together before lifting herself up on her toes and sent a bolt of lightning into its chest as it ran toward her. It jumped just as the lightning hit it and Selphie had to dive out of the way, tucking her shoulder in and rolling away so that it didn't plow her down. Having a kitty to big for its britches on top of her wasn't her idea of a fun time. Getting up, she didn't stop to dust herself off but dove right back into the fighting. As it was she didn't see the swirling mass that had brought all the creatures to their front door.

Words: 720
Muse: good
Notes: ahhh sorry I thought that Timber had been freed! Obviously its been way to long since I played the game! *goes to dig it out again*

[Squall Leonhart]

It was safe to say that the whole world was pretty much relaxing. After the huge threat of Ultimecia wanting to destroy the world with her time compression Squall doubted that Galbadia would make any moves. Squall was sure as long as none of the resistence group made any major moves that everything would be peaceful. Galbadia needed to elect a new president before they could really focus on anything else. Of course instead of giving a detailed answer Squall just answered with his usual... "Depends... This is something you should be asking Rinoa..."

Rinoa was the leader of the Timber Owls and the holder of their contract. That also meant that she was still kind of the boss of Squall, Zell, and Selphie. That was a scary thought. If Squal did not know better he would say that Selphie planned this whole day from start to end. First, helping with the Garden Festival and now creatures attacking the Garden. If the next event involved riding on a train while singing some HORRIBLE song Selphie would have a lot of explaining to do. Only a few people would find this fun; Zell, Seifer, and Selphie though to Seifer it may be more of a competition and a chance to show off. Oh, and anything Selphie found fun so did Irvine so that would make four. "Be careful Selphie... I don't want one of these things carrying you away..."

What the hell were you thinking when you said that Squall? Squall cursed under his breath, hoping that Selphie really wasn't paying attention to what he said. Last thing he wanted was another reason for the girl to hug him, even if he did like the hugs. Before Selphie would get the chance to make a scene Squall dashed forward. The burning creature finally felt to the ground, flailing and screeching from the pain. Squall quickly beheaded the creature. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it was better than letting it suffer. Another creature swooped down to grab Squall in it's talons, but Squall quickly jumped back thrusting his gunblade into the beast's abdomen.

The beast let out a loud cry as it tried to pull back to the skies, but before it could get to high from the ground Squall pulled the trigger of his gunblade, releasing orbs of red energy that detonated. The blast send the creature crashing to the ground with Squall barely being able to push himself from under the beast. He rolled on a ground for a moment before coming coming to a stop. He slowly stood back to his feet letting out a deep sigh. "...Does it ever end?" He tossed his gunblade back over his right shoulder, jumping back into the fight.

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Adorkable Cutie
”Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!!”

She should ask Rinoa? Fair enough, the next time she saw her she would ask. As it was she was now to busy trying to not get eaten. Gosh there were a lot of the animal beast things that seemed to keep appearing out of nowhere. Had there been this many to begin with? She heard Squall yell at her to be careful but didn’t pay much heed to it. She charged in, Nanchaku swinging. This was more fun then she had had in awhile. She almost felt like shouting gleefully as she ducked and dove around.
When she stopped to help the kid, she shook her head. If he lived long enough he might want to consider quitting Garden. Shaking her head, she went back to fighting. Raising her weapon she jumped onto the back of one of the winged beasts and smacked it in the skull. Jumping off, she immediately went for another of the tiger beasts. It proved to be a bigger challenge; Selphie had to summon thunder once again before it laid still.

As she was rising up again suddenly something strong and heavy hit her directly behind the shoulder blades. “Ugh!” She gasped out as she went facedown into the dirt. Twisting around when she heard a growl she looked up to see the face of one of the tigers looming above her. She yelped and as it opened its mouth to chomp down on her head she shoved her Nanchaku into its mouth and shoved with all her might. “SQUALL!” She shouted as she wrestled with it, not having enough leverage from where she was to do enough damage to get out from under him. From this close if she summoned lightning or fira it would burn her as well as the tiger.

She cursed her luck and twisted in order to ward off its attacks as it swiped at her with its claws. She was narrowly escaping being ripped to shreds. Yup, this was excitement! Jamming her fist into its nose, she shoved her nanchaku deeper into its throat and gave a mighty heave. She wanted to live! She wasn’t going to allow some kitty to kill her after living through Ultimecia’s attacks! No siree!

Words: 465
Muse: so so
Notes: nope

[Squall Leonhart]

Why didn't anyone ever listen to Squall's advice? It could be because he is a completely jerk, but most of the time his advice was very good. Like, telling Selphie to be careful. If she was careful she would not be in the situation she was in right now; getting mauled at by a beast. He had a feeling that she really was not listening to him. He let out a deep sigh as he pushed back one of the beast with his blade. When people got into a tough spot they always expected Squall to save them. He truly did not understand why. He did not want to be this hero everyone paint him out to be. Hell, give that title to Seifer. He loved the glory.

He dashed forward in the direction of his fallen comrad, weaving in and out of the beasts. He could not let Selphie die. There would be all that moaning and speaking of her in the past. He thrusted his sword into the side of the beast standing over Selphie. Using his body's momentum, he lowered his shoulder into the beast to push it off of Selphie and on its side. He placed his foot against the tiger's stomach and pulled his gunblade free and beheaded the creature just to be safe. "I told you to be careful..." He turned around and gently pulled Selphie back to her feet, examining her to see if she was alright. "... You okay?"

Maybe it was for the best if he stayed by Selphie's side. This is why he feared getting close to people. What if Squall had not made it in time and Selphie died? He would have to deal with the pain of losing the person. No, Squall was not going to take that heartache. "You should go inside and make sure the younger cadets are alright..." He swung his gunblade back over his shoulder, waiting for a response from Selphie. He knew she was not going to leave so why did he even bother saying that.

"