Walking Blind

Author's Note: The inspiration for me to write this story came from the one and only Dark Raion who is one of the best Squinoa writers I have ever seen (or rather read). My story will NEVER be as good as her Reign of Shadows but I do hope that I can somewhat please you with a story about Squall and his endless struggles. In respect of her, I am not going to use Squall and Rinoa, but he will be paired with an original character instead. *dodges a tomato thrown by the crowd* Please don't hurt me!! I love Squinoa but I'm terrible at writing them so I'm going to stick to what I'm good at. Well…at least what I think I'm good at. ANYWAY, this story will be a lot different than what most people have read, because it is VERY well… dark. It has an OC who you may find to be much different than your average "psycho" person. But then again is there such thing as an "average psycho" person? I think not. ANYWHO, enough with the rambling and on to the story of a man, a woman, and their struggles. Enjoy.

Disclaimer's: Ok, we all know the deal, I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or any of the songs used in this story.

Chapter 1: Unheard Voice

The sound of sadness

Calling me

Cast me to the open sea

Hear those whispers

Heart felt cries

Taking me up into the skies

From the darkness they are heard

I can hear their every word

Those unheard voices everywhere

Answer them,

Do I dare?

~Lynxionia

Why. Such a short and seemingly insignificant word, but yet it held so much meaning to someone who found themselves only capable to ask such a question. He could ask himself this and he could ask himself that, but in the end it all came back to, Why?

He loved her. Didn't she love him? Maybe he was just too…cold. But, oh, how he had tried to change that and open up. But no one could wait forever. And he guessed that she had waited too long. Why couldn't it all be just…simple, just as easy as one, two, three? But that was wishful thinking. Nothing was simple, nothing was easy. But he had thought that with her by his side he wouldn't need to worry, not anymore. Cast away those fears, those doubts, just cast them all away. To some distant place that they could never be found and never return.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many times he promised her his heart. They still fell apart, shattered in two like glass that hits the pavement. If he would have been as he was before he won't have cared. Just let it all slid, but not this time, not this time.

He looked over at the picture sitting on the in table next to him. The face behind the glass frozen in time smiled at him with the sun upon their lips. Hollow, that was how me felt now that he knew she was going away, to "live as normal people do". That was what she had said to him. Why couldn't she live with him? What was wrong about that? There must have been something wrong because she left without so much as a tear in her eye. Not even caring that he was feeling as if someone had taken his heart from his very body and had left him alive to slowly whither away to nothing.

She had changed everything for him and now she was changing it again. But this time it was a change for the worse. Yet, it wasn't her leaving that bothered him the most. It was, instead, the true reason she was departing that tore him apart. The voices. She had hated them from the start and had slowly begun to turn that hatred on him.

He shut his eyes as he started to remember when everything had begun. About 4 months ago he had fallen into a deep sleep and found himself surrounded by darkness.

(Where am I? What is going on? Am I…alone?) His thoughts were in a wild panic as he simply walked thought nothingness and in no direction that could be leading him anywhere. He felt cold and warm at the same time and the feeling scared him to no end. But just as he was about to yell out in confusion, a voice shattered the silence and words formed in the emptiness of this dead place.

"Help me. Please."

A plea, but from whom, no one was here but him and no person was present to claim responsibility for the words floating in this place. Who was speaking?

"Don't leave me here."

He looked left and then right to find a speaker but found none. Only blackness, cold, and endless blackness.

"Save me, save me, save me…"

As he heard those two words echoed off unseen walls the darkness shattered into a million pieces and just faded away leaving him in a cold sweat and a shaken mind as he awoke in his room.

That was when she had awoke and asked him what was wrong. He had simply told her that he heard someone calling him for help, but he didn't know whom. She stared for a moment then waved off his words with a calm "whatever" before rolling over and falling back asleep.

Even though she was willing to pay no heed to the seemingly meaningless voice, he could not. It kept him up night after night and made him wonder who could be pleading for help. He was almost sure that it wasn't just a dream because it started happening every night and it was starting to really make him uneasy. That was when she announced that she needed to go "live as normal people do". At first he didn't understand why she was suddenly leaving as if he had treated her badly or had done something to upset her, but after he began to think it all came clear. She was beginning to think that he was talking about another women, someone that he was seeing besides her. When this realization sunk in he had tried his best to persuade her to stay and reassure her that he was not cheating. But she wouldn't hear it, not a word. So, she pack her few possessions and left without so much as a tear.

And now he lay here on this bed that he once shared with the one person who had made him see who he really was and what he was missing in life. The scene played itself over and over and over again in his mine till he felt he would just explode, but he was still there and so was the pain of losing her.

Yet, even as he mourned her leaving as if it were a death, one thing continued to also remain at the front of his mind. That voice calling for help was still ringing in his ears along with the sadness they held.

So with a heavy heart and a confused mind, he lay down on the queen-sized bed and drifted into a despairing sleep where the voice now stood as his only companion to share it.

"Answer them, do I dare?"