SFA // All That Really Counts

Disclaimer: I don't own the charachters from Final Fantasy 8, Square does. I'm just taking them out to play for a little while.

Author's Note: I came up with this story a while ago, and since I managed to not get any flames in the reviews from fanfiction.net (yay me!), I decided to see what everyone here would think of it.

Feedback: Yes, please!

Distribution: Ask, and ye shall recieve.

Spoilers: Pretty much everything that happened in Final Fantasy 8 is fair game. Sorry I forgot to put this in when I posted part 1!

All That Really Counts

Part Two

By Squall Leonhart

Quistis sat bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily. <Wow,> she thought to herself, <what a dream.> Quistis swung her legs out of her bed, and went over to her closet to find something to change into. She grabbed her usual ensemble of a pink skirt and top with knee-high boots and put them on her bed. She went into her bathroom and turned on the water in her shower, and looked into the mirror while she waited for the water to warm up.

Quistis nearly fell over in shock when she turned to look in the mirror. Instead of seeing herself, she saw Shiva's face in the mirror. <Quistis,> she heard the GF say,

Quistis blinked a couple of times and shook her head a little. When she looked back in the mirror, all she saw was her own face. <Great, Quistis,> she thought to herself. <You're daydreaming about a GF.> She tried not to think about it anymore as she removed her underwear and stepped into the shower.

After Quistis finished her shower, she grabbed her bathrobe from the hook on the back of her door and put it on. As she went to her drawer to get a clean set of underwear, there was a knock at her door. "Come in," she yelled.

The door opened, and Selphie walked into Quistis's room. "Did you have a good nap, Quisty?" Selphie asked, with the usual cheery tone to her voice.

"Yeah, I guess," Quistis said, sitting down on her bed. "But I had this weird dream..."

"Ohh, tell me all about it!" Selphie said, pulling a chair close to Quistis's bed and sitting down in it. "What did you dream about?"

"It was kinda strange," Quistis said. "Shiva came to me in this dream and said she wanted to talk to me."

Selphie got a confused look on her face. "You mean the GF Shiva?" she said.

"Yeah," Quistis said.

"Well, what did she say to you?" Selphie said, sounding excited.

"She said she loved me," Quistis said, giving a small nervous laugh. "Imagine that," she continued. "A GF said she was in love with me."

Selphie looked like she would fall over if she hadn't been sitting. "She said she was in love with you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Quistis replied. "But that's not all. Right before I woke up, she... she kinda kissed me."

Selphie's eyes bugged out of her head, and her jaw nearly hit the ground when what Quistis said sank in. "She kissed you?" Selphie said, nearly yelling in surprise.

"Yeah," Quistis said. She briefly considered telling Selphie about seeing Shiva in the mirror after she woke up, but decided that she had had enough surprises for today. "Do you think it means anything?" Quistis asked Selphie. "I mean, can a GF actually contact someone in their dreams?"

Selphie snapped back to reality and tried to answer Quistis's question. "I'm not sure," Selphie said. "I mean, I've had some dreams where I've seen the GF's that I've had junctioned at the time, but I've never had a dream like the one you described."

"Well, maybe it was nothing," Quistis said. "Maybe it was just a result of too many sleepless nights."

Selphie scratched her chin, thinking about what Quistis had just told her. "Maybe you're right." She then remembered why she had come to Quistis's room in the first place. "Oh, I almost forgot. Everyone's going to Balamb City tonight for dinner. You wanna go with us?"

Quistis thought about it for a minute before answering. "Sure," she said, smiling a little. "It's not like I have anything important to do tonight."

"Great!" Selphie said. "Once you're dressed, just meet us at the directory in the main hall. See you soon!" Selphie got up out of the chair she had been sitting in and waved goodbye as she left the room.

Quistis got up off the bed and began to get dressed. <Shiva, actually in love with me,> she thought to herself. <It must have been a dream.> She grinned as she remembered the details of the dream. <But... that kiss wasn't half-bad.> Quistis shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back in order, and finished getting dressed.

Later that evening, Quistis and the rest of her friends were sitting around a table at a restaurant in Balamb City. Everyone was making idle small talk about whatever their tasks for the day had been. Quistis was only paying enough attention to know when to nod when she was being talked to. Squall and Rinoa were sitting close together, Squall with his arm around Rinoa's shoulder. Irvine was sitting with Selphie, trying his best to get a kiss from her, Selphie doing her best to make sure that Irvine didn't do anything stupid out in public. Even Zell had a date that night. It was the pig-tailed girl that Quistis had seen with Zell quite a bit lately. They looked happy together, holding each other's hands in plain view. Suddenly, Quistis was broken out of her thoughts when Squall said something to her. "I'm sorry, Squall," Quistis said, "what did you just say?"

"I was just asking how your day was," Squall said.

<This is a first,> Quistis thought to herself. <Squall's actually asking someone how they feel. Rinoa is actually making some headway with his people skills.> "Can't complain," she said, finally responding to Squall's question. "What about you?"

"Fine," Squall said, giving the traditional monosyllabic response.

Rinoa gave Squall a light elbow to the side, and said to Quistis, "What have you been up to lately?"

Quistis smiled as she answered. "Just work, work, and more work," Quistis said. Although she had been jealous of Rinoa at first for getting the man she had thought she was in love with for so long, she had eventually warmed up to the girl. "How about you?"

Rinoa smiled as she began to answer, but just before she could say anything, Quistis looked in a mirror behind the bar of the restaurant, and nearly fell over when, instead of seeing her own reflection, she once again saw Shiva. The GF smiled at her, and Quistis heard her say, Quistis squeezed her eyes shut and when opened them again, Shiva was gone from the mirror. Rinoa noticed the change of expression on Quistis's face, and felt concern for her friend. "Quistis," Rinoa asked, "are you all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Quistis recovered after a second, and then said "I... I'm all right." She then began to get up from the table. "I need to go to the washroom. Rinoa, would you mind coming with me?"

Rinoa got up from her seat beside Squall, and said "No problem, Quisty." The two women then walked off in the direction of the washroom.

Zell watched Quistis and Rinoa as they left. "Wonder what that was all about?" he said to the rest of the group.

"Beats me," said Irvine.

Selphie looked off in the direction that her two friends had walked, knowing what Quistis was going to tell Rinoa. she thought to herself, then returned to fending off Irvine's amorous advances.

When Quistis was sure that she and Rinoa were alone in the ladies room, she turned to her friend and said, "Rinoa, I need to talk to you."

Rinoa turned to Quistis and said, "What is it Quisty? You've been acting strange all night. Is something wrong?"

"It's about this dream I had after I went back to my room after class today," Quistis said, bracing herself on a counter and looking down at her hands. "Shiva came to me in a dream and said that she wanted to talk to me."

"A GF contacted you in your dreams?" Rinoa said. "That's unusual, but not unheard of. They usually warn the people they're junctioned to about an upcoming danger. What did she say?"

"She said she loved me," Quistis said, barely loud enough for Rinoa to hear.

"She said what?" Rinoa said, obviously shocked.

"She said she loved me," Quistis repeated. "But that's not all. Right before I woke up, she kissed me."

"She kissed you?" Rinoa said, suddenly feeling the need to sit down.

"Yeah," Quistis said, fighting back the urge to cry she was having right now. "And, to top it all off, I've been seeing her whenever I look into a mirror ever since I woke up." A tear escaped from her eyes and made a trail down her face. "What am I supposed to do? Is this real, or is it just a dream?" She covered her face with her hands and her shoulders began to shake.

Rinoa cautiously put a hand on Quistis's shoulder to try and comfort her friend. "Hey, Quistis," Rinoa said, "don't worry. It was probably just a dream. Nothing more."

"I've been trying to convince myself of that all night," Quistis said. "But the more and more I think about it, the more I'm sure that it was more than just a dream." She wiped at her face with the back of her hand and tried to compose herself as she continued. "What if Shiva really is in love with me? The only time we could be together is in my dreams. How could we possibly make a long lasting relationship when the only time we can see each other is when I'm asleep?"

Rinoa paced in front of Quistis a couple of times, trying to figure out what to say to her friend. she thought to herself. <What am I supposed to say to her? "Hey, Quisty, you may not be able to be with Shiva, but I know this nice girl that you might like..." ...yeah, right!> She turned to face Quistis and said, "Quistis... are you saying that you might have the same feelings for Shiva as she has for you?"

Quistis wiped a few more tears from her eyes and said, "I think I do."

Rinoa saw the look in Quistis's eyes, and knew that she meant every word of what she said. "Well, then," Rinoa said, "I guess we'll just have to find a way that you and Shiva can be together when you're not asleep, then, won't we?"

Quistis looked up at Rinoa, and managed to get out, "You'd help me do that?"

Rinoa smiled warmly at Quistis and said, "You're my friend. Of course I would."

Quistis ran up to Rinoa and nearly bowled her over with a hug. "Oh, thank you," she said breathlessly. "Thank you so much!"

"Hey," Rinoa said, returning the hug, "what good is being a sorceress if she can't do something like bringing a GF to life for one of her best friends?"

Once Quistis had composed herself and cleaned her face, her and Rinoa went back to the table that the rest of the group was sitting at. Her friends could tell that she had been crying, but when they saw the huge smile on her face, they decided that whatever Rinoa had said to her had cheered her up, and they went back to talking or eating whatever they had ordered.

Quistis sat in her seat, feeling happy and content. She was finally going to be with the person she loved. <Don't worry, Shiva,> Quistis thought to herself. <We'll be together before you know it.>

Meanwhile, in the corner of Quistis's mind where the GF's she had junctioned were living, Shiva could barley contain herself. <She loves me!> Shiva thought to herself, barely able to keep from jumping up and down (so to speak). <She really loves me!>

Shiva was so excited at the prospect of being able to be with Quistis whenever she wanted that she didn't notice when the other GF Quistis had junctioned, Siren, walked over to where Shiva was. "What's got you so excited?" Siren asked. "You look like a kid that got everything they wanted for Winter Solstice."

"Well," Shiva began, a huge grin still plastered on her blue face, "I kinda told Quistis how I felt about her while she was asleep this afternoon."

Siren smiled at her friend. "So, you finally worked up the nerve to tell Quistis that you love her, eh?" She sat down beside her friend and asked, "What did she say?"

"Well, she was just in the washroom with that human friend of hers, Rinoa," Shiva said, "and she said that they were going to try and find a way for me to be with her all the time!"

"You mean they're going to try and find a way to make your next appearance permanent?" Siren said incredulously.

"Yup," Shiva said, still grinning happily. "Rinoa's a sorceress, so she's going to try and help Quistis find a way to make my next appearance somewhat longer than usual." Shiva giggled, and rubbed her arms with her hands quickly. "Oh, I can't wait 'till Quistis is asleep tonight! I can't wait to talk to her again!"

Siren gave Shiva a hug, and said, "Well, good luck. I hope that you and Quistis are very happy together."

"Thanks, Siren," Shiva said, still with a huge smile on her face. When Siren walked away, Shiva practically jumped up and down for joy.

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