it's gonna be clearer now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
it's gonna be a bright, brihgt, bright, bright sunshiney day...

As the sun started to climb into the sun, Selphie tumbled out of her yellow and pink canopy bed and hurried into her favorite yellow jumper. Oh, I hope everyone is okay!! She slipped on a pair of black ballet flats in lieu of her boots and scampered down the main stairs, unable to resist sliding down the banister at the end. "Helloooo?! Milo? Marie? Anybody?"

"Good morning, Selphie," Marie greeted her as she reached the door of the kitchen.

She skidded to a stop, light brown hair bobbing as she nearly bounced out of her shoes, and grinned. "Booyaka!" she cried, throwing a fist into the air. "Everything's back to normal!"

"Would fried eggs with ham be okay?" Marie asked, tossing her curly blonde hair over her shoulder with a grin.

Selphie nodded enthusiastically. "Where IS everybody?"

"Well," Marie mused as Selphie thre herself into a stool at the counter to watch the other girl fry two eggs, "Flik went running out the door a few minutes ago, Terra's in the library with Bastian, Syl's still asleep, and I haven't seen Kit."

"And I'm right here!" Milo cried, hopping up onto the counter.

"Eh, down from there," Marie waved at him. "Love you to death, but no hair in the food."

"Oops, sorry," Milo said, hopping instead into Selphie's lap. She reached a hand to scratch the orange fur under his chin. "Hey Sefie, what about our...umm...our plans?"

"Sssh...." she whispered, leaning close to him as Marie grabbed the English muffins to butter them. "I emailed Sir Laguna and Quisty and Zell to see if they'd help us finish decorating!"

"Awesome," he whispered back to her. "Are you trying to get Quisty and Zell together now that Yuffie went and left him for the Live Journal guy?"

"Ssshh....no one's supposed to know that either!" she frowned, playing with the ribbon around her wrist. "Zell wasn't even upset about it...I feel so awful that my plans didn't work...so I figure I'll try and get he and Quisty alone while they're decorating and see what happens!! ^_^"

"Good idea..."

"Enough whispering, time for breakfast..." Marie raised an eyebrow as she delivered their plates and Terra and Bastian came in.

"I'm so relieved that everything's okay," Terra was finishing to Bastian as they joined the others at the counter.

"Well," Bastian said, grabbing the salt and pepper for his eggs. "The problem was that Sage and Rian were not muses, but invaders, disruptors...we need to be careful about who we let influence the continuum from now on."

"Hey Terra!" Selphie enthused. "Do you know where the rest of the Christmas lights are?"

Terra paused mid-forkful of egg and pondered. "I believe they're in the closet next to the library."

"Booyaka!" Selphie thanked her, finishing her sandwich. She jumped up and hurried out the door with Milo at her heels. The library was not far from the observatory, and she opened the closet, digging through boxes carefully marked in neat block print until she found what they were looking for. So involved in her pursuit was she that she didn't hear the soft sobs coming from just down the hall.

"Sefie, do you think Marie will help us with the food?"

"Oh, for sure..." she said as they started back towards the music room with box in hand.

Behind her closed door, Syl took a shaky breath and tried not to look at her reflection. I guess some part of me hoped the world would end... She crossed the room, pulling a dark blue satin dress from her closet. I wonder if I should still go and apologize to Hardin as I had planned to do...

*******

Selphie scooted up to her room quickly to grab her CD collection after talking Astala and Leilani into helping her with "the masterplan" and logged onto AIM.

mamimumemo: hey...r you & Quisty coming? ^_~
ZblitzballZ: sure...got some errands to run for headmaster Cid first... and CHU-CHU was looking for you.
mamimumemo: EEK. Did I forget band practice again?
ZblitzballZ: *shrug* not sure....hey, how come you don't hang around Garden as much? Isn't this supposed to be your home?
mamimumemo: umm... ^^;;;....well, I.... I'm not sure I want to talk about it.
ZblitzballZ: irvine?
mamimumemo: howd you know?
ZblitzballZ: heard you fighting the other day
mamimumemo: ;_; .......I dont wana talk about this....at least at the castle, I feel a little less useless...

Zell frowned as Selphie signed off without saying goodbye. Ever since she'd starting fighting with Irvine, she hadn't been herself. He was glad, of course, that her new friends at Pinwhelia castle made her happy, but he knew her better than that. And all that happy act doesn't cover up what I've read in her journal about him flirting with the girl in the cafeteria...which she thinks I don't know about... But even though he hated to see her secretly unhappy, Zell wasn't really sure how he could help. I care about her...but I wonder if she even knows that...

He turned his AIM to away mode and stretched. He was meeting Quistis in a few minutes, and as soon as they delivered the package to Balamb, they'd be on their way to the Castle to help Selphie with her plans. Maybe he would find a way to talk to her alone then...

*******

Selphie felt bad about leaving off AIM so suddenly, but had no choice when Astala came into the room. The younger girl was great fun, but she tended to be a little too nosy for Selphie's taste. "Heya Stali! I'm coming, really!"

"C'mon, Selphie," she urged, reaching to grab her hand. "Aerith brought us a PINATA!"