Author's Notes – Ack, long time no update. So sorry about that.

Long story short, ever since I'd finished that last chapter, I'd been pretty much devoted to obsessively writing out notes in my spare time in an effort to hammer out the rest of the key details to make this a very structured, well-planned story. Got up to Chapter 59 recently and then my computer suddenly wouldn't boot. Today I just got told that the hard drive is fried and all hope at file recovery is pretty much gone. Luckily, I wrote down a brief summary of what's supposed to happen at what chapter and some of the later chapters are preserved through e-mail correspondence with a friend so...don't worry about me not being to finish, I'm just venting because I'm pissed off.

Now on a story-related note, I have a tidbit to present to you from last chapter. If you'll notice the description of what Rinoa's wearing, wouldn't you say it closely resembles the colour scheme of someone else's dress in-game? (I totally went there.)

So yeah, enough of me being a goon. Here's the chapter. Might be a little on the short side and rusty writing-wise.

-—-—-—-—-—-

Chapter XVI — Weather

("Unexpected storms are usually the most difficult to brave.")

-—-

Sunday, July 11th (Noon, Day 4)

As the ambient sounds of the infirmary began to fill his ears, Squall knew it would only be a matter of time before he'd have to open his eyes and accept whatever verbal abuse Dr. Kadowaki had in store for him for leaving the infirmary. Especially since he could sense someone's presence standing right next to him on the left side of his bed.

"Squall, I know you're awake. Don't make me dump water on your head to get you to admit it." Dr. Kadowaki's voice boomed.

Never mind, she wasn't even in the mood to wait for his eyes to open.

Cracking an eye open, he was met with the fuzzy sight of her unamused stare and folded arms. Frankly put, he felt like shit and opening the other eye didn't seem to improve matters either. As he carefully began to move his good side to prop himself up at slightly more upward angle however, his entire upper body reactively screamed in protest. What the—

...Wait. There was that nose dive he'd taken in his dorm room, he thought as he dropped back onto the mattress.

"Reminded of your antics just now, weren't you?"

"Ok fine...I had that coming to me." he groused, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to rid himself of his fuzzy vision. "Was there a cause pinned down?"

"Not yet." she tersely answered. "But while I'm waiting on a few tests, mind explaining to me what compelled you to sneak out despite everything I've told you these past few days about your health and well-being? Because where it stands right now, it looks like I'm going to have to tether you to the bed since my warnings apparently go in one ear and out the other."

Removing his fingers from the inner corners of his eyes and attempting to sit himself up again with that arm despite the pain, the commander's tenacity was rewarded with the colour draining from his face and sight of the room fading almost immediately.

-—-

Slowly opening his eyes, the sight before him looked far different from the one he last saw. With the lack of natural sunlight filtering through the window, Squall deduced that a couple of hours must have passed since he was up last. More importantly, something major must have happened during that time frame — he had an oxygen mask strapped around his face and...it felt like there was something taped to his chest aside from the shoulder wound dressing from underneath his infirmary gown; the slight pull of extra adhesive was rather irritating. Squall felt better energy-wise but that was the only boon to be found about this whole situation. Namely that he'd noticed another new addition to this area of room — a heart monitor.

Soon, he found the digits of his left arm instinctively drawing itself to the collar of the gown, pain radiating around the area every so often. Fingering the material, he lifted the gown away from his skin. A swath of taped gauze covered the general area but there seemed to be something else further down—

"Leave it alone — I don't need you flat-lining."

His stomach plummeted at the sound of Dr. Kadowaki's voice echoing from her desk.

His fingers quickly changed course and darted upward to lift the mask away from his mouth and over his head, slightly wincing in pain the action brought.

"...What the hell happened?" he croaked as the doctor got up from her chair and walked towards him.

"We found the cause of your earlier fainting episodes." she began to explain. Pausing, she sat herself down on a nearby chair on his right to speak to him at face-level. "The toxin reached your heart and affected its natural pacemaker, slowing your heart rate down enough to cause the fainting episodes. We didn't catch it earlier due to your naturally-low resting rate but-" She reached to take the mask from him to place on the bedside table. "-we were able to fit you with a temporary pacemaker to completely negate the effects for now. I'd rather avoid putting in permanent one if I can help it."

As he was hearing all this, Squall's eyes drifted towards the window pane behind Dr. Kadowaki. "...Where do you think it'll reach next?" he found himself quietly asking.

"It's hard to say." the doctor honestly answered. "All that can be done at this moment is keep tabs on any changes in your condition. Just be sure to inform me of any changes you notice, no matter how minor they seem. Honestly, I don't see this damage reversing itself without a serum given the way it's been progressing but...hopefully this is the last leg of the toxin's run."

...Or else I'm as good as dead, Squall mentally appended as Dr. Kadowaki got up from the chair. When his view was no longer obstructed by her figure, he noticed the sight of the empty room showcasing a neatly-made bed in front of him.

"Before you ask, she was discharged this afternoon since there was nothing wrong with her." Dr. Kadowaki explained, effectively catching Squall's attention. "Would have been the case for you too before this all happened."

Furrowing his brows, he asked, "...Where is she now?"

"She's rooming with Selphie as an extra precaution on both fronts." the doctor replied. "You'll be transferred to her old bed to give you more privacy sometime tomorrow when Addison is around to help. But for now, I want you resting since you failed to do that much yesterday."

Squall narrowed his eyes slightly. "Whatever you had to say to me before I lost consciousness, just spit it out now and get it over with." he acidically spat.

"I have nothing to say that I haven't said already." she sternly responded, folding her arms. "You still owe me an explanation though."

"It won't change anything."

"I found you unconscious with your face buried in a book about sorcery." she began, her tone softened somewhat. "Given you were stupid enough to go out there alone instead of waiting until tomorrow to ask someone to fetch the book for you, I'm guessing it was something urgent. I'd be able to put 2 and 2 together myself if it weren't for the book falling when I moved you."

Drawing a breath, Squall admitted, "It wasn't."

"Then what was it and why couldn't it wait?"

The commander remained silent.

"Considering the fact that getting you to admit anything vaguely personal related to a certain sorceress is like pulling teeth, I'm guessing it has something to do along those lines."

Raising a brow, Squall had to snort. "...When have I ever let people pry into my personal life?"

"Fair enough. But let's be adults here, shall we?" the doctor replied, "To call a spade a spade, something has obviously changed between the two of you since the last time she was here at the SeeD ball. I don't care if you've slept with her, I don't care if you've secretly married her or if you've suddenly become bestest buddies. And I will deny I ever uttered the words 'bestest buddies.' The point is, I'm not doing this for gossip's sake. If there's something that can possibly affect things with your health or Rinoa's, I want to know."

"...I was looking up what the text had said about possible triggers for pain transference. Something the headmaster said sounded deliberately vague and certain comments during the conversation with you and Rinoa didn't help my suspicions any." he explained. "...I wasn't lying when I said it wouldn't change anything."

Dr. Kadowaki tossed him a wry look. "Now, was that so hard?"

"Yes."

"Smart-ass. Now go get some rest before I feel compelled to smack some actual sense into you."

Wordlessly, Squall complied, not particularly interested in having his brain picked at anyway.

...He just hoped that he'd be able to wake up the next morning to be able to witness another day after all this had happened so suddenly.

-—-

"...How are you feeling sleepyhead?"

Cracking an eye open, Squall was greeted with a flash of blindingly-bright yellow scorching into his retinas in midst of his early morning haze. Covering the opened eye with an open palm an inch away from his face despite the slight pinch of his nerves, he slowly opened the other and lowered his arm. She was staring back at him, a slight smile gracing her features though looking a little pale, clutching a woman's magazine of some sort and wearing what looked like Selphie's old overalls-dress from years ago and the denim skirt she'd been wearing prior to the shooting.

"...Better." he answered. "Could use a pair of sunglasses though."

Naturally, Rinoa gave him a look for this. "Gee, thanks. I was so worried you wouldn't be able criticize my temporary wardrobe Squall."

"Could be worse. You could have been forced to wear the ugly plaid shirt."

"I've said it once and I'll say it again, you pick the worst times to be cute with me." she light-heartedly chided, setting down the magazine on the nearby table. Taking two steps forward, she leaned in to cautiously wrap her arms around his neck and shoulders to hug him before whispering, "...I'm still glad you're doing better though. You had me scared for a moment there."

Squall suddenly felt the pangs of guilt that had been largely absent during Dr. Kadowaki's lectures settle in his gut and constrict his throat, spurning the sudden need to utter a quiet sorry to her right then.

"Don't be." she reassured him. "I'm just glad you're ok."

After pausing for a moment, perhaps a moment too long considering her lips were directly in front of his right now, she carefully loosened her hold on him and took a step back. While it managed to feel as if they were alone with Dr. Kadowaki in other parts of the infirmary and Addison not in just yet, he knew that the illusion could easily dissipate at any moment and it was not the time to indulge in sudden flights of fancy.

Seconds later, his self-restraint was rewarded with the knowledge that they would have been walked in on by none other than Xu a mere few seconds after the door hissed open, which was also the very instant Rinoa had pulled away.

"Rinoa. Squall." she greeted with a curt nod at the foot of the bed before turning towards the latter. "I heard about the emergency procedure. Went well, I presume?"

Squall nodded back. "It did."

"Dr. Kadowaki tell you the extent of the situation?"

"The damage is not likely to recede on its own unless if an appropriate serum is administered." he frankly answered, shifting into to commander mode. "...Any progress on your end?"

"Unfortunately not. I've interviewed both fishermen who were said to be docked on that day and a few others to no avail. No one saw anyone matching the shooter's general description, then again, they all seemed more preoccupied with the declining quality of their catches rather than answering questions."

"Maybe both things could be connected?" Rinoa piped in, earning Xu's attention.

"Why? Were you both hit with bad fish too and neglected to tell me?"

"Uh...no. I was thinking more along the lines of the possibility of the gun being dumped in the harbour." she clarified. "Any leftover poison on the unused bullets could be what's making the fish sick."

Xu shrugged. "I doubt that such a tiny amount would affect that many fish but it's probably a good idea to check the water next." Turning back to Squall, she added, "Nothing else I need to know?"

"No."

"Alright. I'll go conduct that search then. I'll be back sometime for the follow-up on that."

As he nodded at her, the dark-haired SeeD left the foot of the bed, the telltale hiss signalling she'd completely left the room shortly after. The said signal also served as a cue for the sorceress to sit down on the chair and lay her eyes on him again.

"...It's really that bad?"

"Unfortunately, yeah."

When the door hissed open again, Squall assumed that Xu had come back for something, only to see a figure with long mouse-brown hair zip by his bed and to the other half of the infirmary – Addison.

"I'm sorry I'm late Dr. Kadowaki, I accidentally overslept and—"

"—It's fine SeeD Halley. You're only late by 10 minutes – no need for apology, just make sure you try not to do it again." Dr. Kadowaki's voice echoed from the other side. "Commander Leonhart needs his dressings changed. Can you attend to that while I'm doing this?"

"Yes, definitely."

Roughly a half-minute's worth of feet shuffling around, random clings, clangs and rattles and rampant squeaking emanating from the cart's wheels, Addison appeared by the foot of the bed, looking slightly over-eager and over-prepared with all the necessary materials neatly aligned with military precision.

"Hello Commander Leonhart." the intern greeted, shifting her gaze to the sorceress soon after. "Hello Miss Heartilly."

"Hi Addison." Rinoa greeted back. "Feel free to call me Rinoa if you want."

"Alright. ...Will try to remember that." she politely replied with a slight nod. A small silence soon followed, rendering the space unnaturally still. Then Rinoa suddenly jerked upright.

"Oh! You need me to go, don't you?" she asked with a slightly harried tone, picking up her magazine at the table by her, telegraphing her assumption of the answer she expected to receive.

"You don't have to right away since I can tend to the other side first if you want...and if the commander has no objections. Might be a bit boring though."

"Aah...I'd better go then." the sorceress decided. Turning towards him, she added, "I'll visit sometime later, promise."

After he gave her a curt nod, she quietly walked away just as Addison began to undo the top tie to the back of his gown. When he stole one last look at the sorceress however, she had the misfortune of reciprocating the brief spark of eye contact at the exact moment she should have been manoeuvring around the cart and ended up colliding right into it, causing a roll of surgical tape and some gauze to fall to the floor.

"Oh...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"...No, no, it's ok." Quickly moving her hands away from the ties, Addison bent down to retrieve some of the fallen items, adding, "It's just gauze and tape. Nothing to worry about."

During the few seconds Addison was crouched down, Squall used the valuable time to shoot Rinoa a rare amused look to which she responded with a hissy look in kind even though the effect was slightly lost with the slight blush now spreading across her cheeks. When the intern stood up at full height once more and set the objects back, all traces of his previous expression had long since faded and Rinoa had had already left the area altogether.

As Addison proceeded to lower the top part of the gown and began to change the shoulder and pacemaker dressings, Dr. Kadowaki walked by.

"What was the commotion about?"

"Rinoa walked into the cart on her way out. Probably because she seemed like she was in a hurry to leave." Addison quickly explained. The way doctor then smirked in Squall's general direction made it clear that she had other thoughts on the matter, however.

Above gossip, my ass, he thought sardonically, fairly certain that her thoughts had nothing to do with the words 'bestest buddies.'