Disclaimer. Squaresoft owns all these guys and places. I don't mean to infringe you guys so………just chill, eh???

You have no idea how friggin hard it is to write each word of these last few chapters, so forgive me if my style slips only I'm dreading finishing this story...



The Longest Road.


By friendship you mean the greatest love, the greatest usefulness, the most open communication, the noblest sufferings, the severest truth, the heaviest counsel and the greatest union of minds of which brave men and women are capable."
Jeremy Taylor.




Chapter thirty; Farewell.



He padded across the room to the kitchen barefoot.

Reaching into the fridge, he picked a bottle then stopped. He changed his mind and picked up a six pack as he checked his Diablos junction strode to the door leading to the main hallway, stepping into his trainers on the way out.

As he trod the familiar path to the training centre, his thoughts were with the one he had lost. A smile he would never again see, arms that would never hold him, a voice that he would never hear and eyes that he would never gaze into again. Zell rubbed a tear away from his eye.

Finding a quiet clearing near the secret area, he sat down and leant against a large boulder, staring up through the glass roof to see the stars. Uncapping the first bottle, a faint fizz sounded as the bubbles ran over his fingers and he raised the glass bottle skywards in a faint salute, nodding and taking a long swig.

As he started the second bottle a few minutes later, he heard the faint cracks and rustles of someone walking through the undergrowth towards him. In the back of his head, Diablos whispered; "One of your friends is nearing."

"Thanks D." He replied.

"What on earth are you doing all the way out here Zell?" Quistis asked as she finally appeared out in the open.

He eyed her carefully, and decided to tell her the truth. "I am getting pissed, d'you wanna join me?"

With a darkly stern look, she began to reprimand him. "Zell, are you completely stupid?"

"Quistis Trepe, I'm not one of your students, Diablos is taking care of business and I'm on official leave so sit your arse down and pick up a bottle."

"Okay." He uncapped her a bottle of the cider he'd bought down with him and she stared at the open bottle. "It doesn't seem the same around here now..."

"You don't have to tell me that." Zell sneered, then caught himself. "Sorry. You're the only one who's been honest with me since...."

"Why don't you take a vacation to get over it?"

Zell turned to her, his face contorted in semi anger. "Get over it? I don't want to get over it! And you lot all looking at me with pity as though I'm the only one affected by this..., it disgusts me."

"We're only worried about you Zell." She flinched.

"I'll miss him forever, but I'll have to keep living. I'm not the only one who's been affected. Every time someone says his name Irvine touches the brim of his hat, Selphie rubs her eyes and sighs and you put your hand to that pendant he gave you."

"Sorry Zell."

"Just, don't wrap me up in so much cotton wool, It's gonna choke me. And it tastes disgusting."

She giggled.

"These were his you know." He gestured to the half-empty pack of Scrumpy Jack. "I didn't really like them as much as he did, but there were eight left in the fridge, and I thought it'd be a shame to waste them. "There's still two up there, I'm gonna save them."

"What for?"

"When I scatter the ashes. One for me and one for him." He sighed. "One last drink together."

"Mmmm." She murmured in agreement. Several moments of silence passed before she spoke again. "How about a toast?"

"I think he'd like that."

""To Squall Leonhart! A hero, a lover, a father and a friend." She raised her bottle.

"No.... he never wanted to be a hero, he only wanted to be loved...., how about this? To Squall, with the soul of a lion. and a heart that most men can only dream of."

"That's the one." Quistis whispered and took a long swig of her drink. "I'm going to have to go..." The instructor said and stood up. "Don't stay out too late, you know what it is tomorrow...."

"Why do you think I'm drinking this?"

"Good point."

And so he was alone again, with his thoughts and his bitterness.



As the final strains of "Don't cry" echoed through the chapel, Kyra stepped up to the lectern to speak.

"We've come here today to mourn the passing of a man, a great man. His life was inspirational, and tragically short." She smiled. "Some of us come into being just to live our lives simply, but some shine as bright as the sun, like he did. There are no words strong enough to describe how much we will all miss someone him."

As Kyra spoke, Zell looked around the hall. He sat with Quistis, Irvine and Selphie as well as very sombre Ayden. On the left side of the room, Laguna and his small entourage were watching.

But what had given Zell a pleasant surprise was the number of people who had turned up. In fact, the church was packed beyond capacity. Even the aisles were full of kneeling people.

"I only got to know Squall Leonhart a couple of years back, he was the instructor that assessed me in my SeeD exam and he handed me my passing grade afterwards. He told me I had great potential. 'Whatever you strive for will be yours Kyra, so reach for the stars.' He said." She wiped a tear away. "Life is the longest road, and those we meet while on our journey will always remain with us in spirit if not in body. Too soon did he come to his journey's end. Squall touched so many of our lives, and together with his friends saved all our lives... A fact he did not like being reminded of. Farewell Squall."

As six solemn SeeDs took up the black coffin, Ayden took Zell's hand and squeezed it. The blonde looked down at the boy with a tear streaked face and smiled. "I know kiddo."

"He's not hurting anymore, and he wants us to be happy...."

"Yeah.... that's right." He nodded.

"But it's still hard."

"We have to do our best."

"Zell?" Naki whispered. "I hate to interrupt but I need you to see this." She pulled him to his feet and they followed the coffin to the door, with Ayden. "When you put out the announcement, for anyone who thought of Squall as a friend to come here today, I think it went a bit further than we thought..."

"What?"

As the great oaken doors were thrown open, Zell's jaw dropped. All along the street, lining the pathways, were SeeDs and students in their best uniforms. Some were from Balamb, those that hadn't been able to get into the church. But beyond them, the uniforms of Galbadia and Trabia were present.

"They said they came to say goodbye to a friend." Naki whispered behind him. "Like you said."

Zell's eyes filled with tears. "Oh my...." He gasped. "I had no idea."

"I don't think he did either." Selphie piped up.

As the coffin moved out of the door with them, Naki saluted to seven people on one side of the pathway, a mix of students and SeeDs. "SeeD! Present arms!" They lifted rifles to the air and began firing a final salute.

The shots rang out and every SeeD that had lined the street saluted, holding the position until the coffin had passed before joining those that had been present in the church. There were more than a thousand mourners there that day.

The final ceremony before cremation was performed out doors, so that all those there could appreciate it.

"Give thanks for the life that he lived, and hold him in your hearts and minds forever." The minister said; As we will remember all of those that have fallen. For age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn."

Once it he had finished, Naki Keza spoke up as she had been asked to, to read a poem.
"Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on the snow.
I am the sun on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die."


And as the coffin was silently taken inside, the crowd began to disperse, leaving a silent Zell Dincht and Ayden Leonhart alone and upset.

And wondering what there was left now.




Authors notes.
This time I know for sure that there's two chapters left so go and read them please.