Authors note: Hey there! Since I'm coming up to my third year on FanFiction I realised that I have only actually written one story based on the actual ff8 game (for those who don't know me, I'm an AU writer). So yeah, I thought I'd have another go! Also, for those of you who have every read 'Tears Of Forever', I'm going to have a break from that for a while as I've been having problems with the story and find it extremely difficult to write. Reviews and constructive criticism will be appreciated. Thank you for your time and Happy reading!

The Path of time

Chapter One

I metamorphasize
The darkness has been biding its time
To claim its latest victim
Fresh meat for carnal desires
To become what I became
I viewed the sun for the last time

Atreyu- The Crimson

The halls of Balamb Garden were busy as usual. The student's heavy footsteps and rumble of their conversations could be heard throughout the Garden. It was a cold day so many of the students tried to stay inside for warmth, but a few of them went out on the grounds outside. Squall could see them below through the window of his office; he didn't care though, for his thoughts were far from worrying about the students or the Garden.

He spent most days in his office. It was the one place where he knew people would leave him alone, unless he was really needed. People tended to avoid him anyway, not sure how to approach him. His friends were there, but they always had that look of sympathy in their eyes as they tried to comfort him. He didn't need comforting though. As long as he kept busy his mind wouldn't think back to those thoughts that crept upon him at every given opportunity.

Cid always seemed reluctant to allow him to do a lot of work, he thought that he should take a short break and have time to himself. Eventually he just accepted that this was Squall's way of dealing with things. He couldn't rest until he found out exactly what had happened. Until he had found her.

It had been four years since the defeat of Ultimecia. Three of those four years had been good for Squall. He was a different person now; he felt he could open up to people. Even now, after everything that had happened he felt that he had friends he could rely on. He even thought that he loved someone. His relationship with Rinoa had developed slowly, but he knew that he never wanted to lose her. Even after she started to change.

At first it was just little things. She took more of an interest into SeeD. He thought that maybe she was getting involved to be closer to Squall, his work was important which meant that some days he hardly saw Rinoa. But eventually she seemed to be less bothered about Squall and more interested in world affairs. In the end she hardly ever looked him in the eye, he couldn't even get her to smile anymore unless it was something to do with SeeD. She seemed to lose everything that made her Rinoa. Eventually she seemed to be just another SeeD, from all the knowledge she had acquired over the months.

He remembered the last day he spent with her. He was surprised to see that she wanted to spend the day with him; usually she only came when she wanted to know what he was doing in his work. But on this day she said she wanted to be with him, and away from all of his military work. She even smiled, which made him think that it had all been just a phase she was going through. Maybe she had been pretending to be interested all along, just to please Squall. He was never sure.

They spent the day in Balamb, and for the first time in months nothing ever came up about SeeD. She seemed to be back to her usual carefree self. That evening they had a meal together. She said that she was sorry for the last few months and that things were going to change between them. He remembered the candlelight casting a glow on her face, enhancing her features as she smiled. She was beautiful. Her eyes were so full of emotion, something that he hadn't seen within her for such a long time. He told her he loved her then and they spent the night together. When he woke up the next morning she was gone.

As soon as he saw that she wasn't there he felt that there was something wrong. Logic could have told him that perhaps she had left during the night, but there was no logic. A feeling deep within him told him that she was far away from Balamb. Without a word she never come back. It had been six months since that lonely morning, and nobody knew where she was. Yet in recent months he had heard people discussing one of his biggest fears. There had been a few sightings of her, but they were always at the scene of recent attacks in the world.

A new war was starting. There had been a lot of talk about a new Sorceress recently. Some people claimed to have been attacked or lost their loved ones by a Sorceress. And everybody knew that the only Sorceress was Rinoa. His biggest fear was starting to come true. What if she was planning to attack SeeD? Just like Adel and Ultimecia went corrupt, perhaps it was starting to happen to Rinoa. The thought of it scared him. Which was why he hid in his office most of the time. He had become a coward. He knew that some people never had agreed with his relationship with Rinoa. A Sorceress and a SeeD should never be together. He saw that look in their eyes as they made their way down the corridors in Balamb Garden. And he was no longer wanted to face their stare, because he was afraid that they were true.

Looking down out of his office window he watched the students standing in groups. Chatting together as if nothing mattered. He hated feeling being helpless. The feeling grew bigger everyday. He found it difficult to distract himself with work now, his fears were too big. Rinoa was killing him. Letting out a sigh, he moved away from the window and collapsed in his chair, placing his head in his hands he tried to think of nothing.

A knock on the door startled him. He considered ignoring it, but thought that he wouldn't make himself feel any better by being alone. "Come in," he said, lifting his head up and trying to look like he was busy sorting through paper work. He didn't want people to think that he wasn't coping. He heard the door open, and he looked up to see Quistis walking towards his desk. She smiled briefly, one of those sympathetic smiles that he hated. He busied himself back into his work.

Quistis looked down at her former student. He looked tired like he had hardly slept, but it wasn't surprising. Everyone was worried about Rinoa, but Squall had taken it the hardest. He still didn't want to accept that Rinoa was behind all of the recent attacks. She gave a small cough to try and get his attention as he went through the piles of paper on his desk. He stopped and looked up at her with his tired eyes. The look didn't help her, she felt nervous as it was. "I have some news," she said playing with her hands, "… about Rinoa."

Squall felt himself stop breathing at the mention of her name. He saw that Quistis didn't look her usual self, like she was holding something back. She looked uncomfortable. "What's happened?" he asked.

"There's been another attack," she started awkwardly, "It's one of the base camps for the Galbadian Army, there are SeeD's there now guarding the building. She's locked herself in one of the rooms, they're on guard waiting until she leaves."

"Take me there," Squall said standing up abruptly, reaching for his gunblade. His hand hesitated a moment before the handle. What if he had to kill her? Then he grabbed it, trying to shut off his feelings. He would only use it as a last resort. Turning around, Squall found himself face to face with a distressed looking Quistis.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," she said, feeling stupid. Of course he would want to go, she had been missing for six months. His gaze told Quistis her thoughts. "Just remember that she is dangerous. She may not be the same person she once was."

"I know," Squall said coolly. "Just take me there."

Letting out an exhausted sigh, she led Squall outside to where the rest of the group were sorting weapons before making their way onto the Ragnarok. The journey was long and torturous for all five of them. The silence progressed through the whole of the journey, as none of them knew what could be said to make the moment any better. They could be killing their friend today. That thought stayed with them.

There was a constant humming sound in the distance. It grew louder and quieter every so often, as if it was spinning around her. Tormenting her. From behind tightly closed eyes she could sense lights shining through the window above her. Why were they here? Couldn't they just leave her alone?

She hugged her legs tighter, it seemed to be the only comfort she could get at that moment. She didn't dare open her eyes. The last time she did she screamed and cried until her throat went to dry and sore that she could no longer make a sound. The images still made her shudder, sending tremors down her spine as she silently cried in the darkness. She felt like a child. Frightened and afraid in the corner, as she heard voices of people outside the room. They kept shouting things at her, but she was too tired and confused to understand what they were saying.

Where was she? She couldn't remember anything, only waking up and seeing the horrible room. Another shudder went through her as the images came back, and for a moment she felt like she was going to vomit. Stop it, she told herself. She tried to think once more. Where was she? Some more images came into her mind, but this time it wasn't from the room. It was somewhere else, but they were just as bad. Blood. So much blood.

She started getting more memories back. More torture and blood. She felt herself cry harder, drenching her cheeks once more as she heard herself weeping in her faint voice. "Why am I here?" she whispered to herself, whilst hugging her legs even tighter. Her arms were aching but she didn't care, the pain distracted her from everything else around her.

"Why am I here?" she repeated once more, this time a little louder. Her mouth was so dry, it felt like sandpaper. Still she repeated the words over and over again, like it was some sort of chant that was going to make her remember. She only remembered the blood.

She heard shouting once more. They were calling to her, but she couldn't make out the words. "Why am I here?" she repeated louder, hoping that they would hear. Perhaps the people outside were looking for her. Maybe they didn't know that she was here. She wanted to call for help, but it felt like she could only say one thing. "Why am I here?" she shouted it this time. It hurt her throat even more.

Her arms began to throb from holding so tightly onto her legs. They felt itchy; the once warm sticky liquid had now dried and began to flake on her skin. She could feel it clotting together in her hair and down her clothes as well. If she wasn't so afraid she would try to find somewhere where she could wash it off, but she was trapped inside this morbid room. She wanted to scream again, but knew she couldn't.

"Why am I here?" she continued to whisper.

Eventually Ragnarok landed down, and they found themselves near a large building in a desert. The tall building was surrounded by many armed SeeD's rushing in and out of the building. A helicopter was flying around in circles, surrounding the building with its light shining inside the many windows of the building. It was starting to get dark now, but time didn't matter, just as long as he found Rinoa.

Looking around, Squall was surprised to see that there were already students from Balamb present. It made him wonder just how long this had been kept from him. Just ahead of him he could see Nida approaching, giving orders out to other SeeD members as he went. Upon seeing Squall he looked a little startled, Squall figured that perhaps he wasn't supposed to be here.

"Where's Rinoa?" Squall asked as Nida made his way towards them.

"It's too late. She's locked herself in a room, I'm just about to give the order for the SeeD's up there to go inside," he gave Squall a sympathetic look. The kind of look that he had had to live with for the last six months. "Sorry Squall."

Angered, Squall grabbed Nida by his jacket. He hadn't come all this way for nothing, and he wasn't going to let Rinoa get killed for something that seemed impossible for her to do. Not his Rinoa. She would never kill anyone. "Tell me where she is," Squall said, glaring at Nida.

He felt Zell grab him from behind, trying to stop Squall before he did something stupid. "Hey man, calm down," Zell started. "This isn't helping anyone."

It took all of Squall's will to let go of Nida; he wasn't going to back down. He needed to see her. Even if it was just to see with his own eyes what she had become.

Irvine looked at Nida "Just take us to where she is, Squall might be able to help," he offered "She might not attack if Squall's there."

Nida gave Irvine a doubtful glance, but accepted his offer anyway. "Very well," he said, "I suppose it's worth a try. Come with me."

He gestured for the group to follow him and led him inside the military base camp. Walking up a flight of steps, Squall noticed that the building was heavily guarded with SeeD's from all three Gardens. He suddenly realised just how serious this mission was. All three Gardens specialised in different styles of fighting, it was very rare that the SeeD's from different Garden's would work together, even on an important mission.

The building was quite dull; a lot of the lights in the hallways had been smashed. Many of the rooms he could see into had its entire interior damaged. Some of the rooms had badly injured soldiers inside which were being healed by SeeD's. Eventually Squall felt the need to stop looking, he didn't want to see any more damage caused.

Finally they approached another area heavily guarded by more SeeD's. A group of them were crowded outside a door. As they made their way towards the group Squall saw one of the SeeD's open a box on the floor, which when opened revealed a small crystal inside. Squall studied it for a moment.

"Dr Odine made it," Nida said, seeing Squall's interest. "When it touches a Sorceress' skin it is supposed to block them from being able to use their magic, but it will only be temporary. We plan to use it if she puts us in danger." He turned to the SeeD who was in charge of the crystal, "You understand what you need to do?"

The SeeD nodded his head before saluting. "Yes sir"

Turning away from the SeeD's, Nida faced Quistis. "I'm sorry, but I think it's best if only Squall goes inside, just in case something goes wrong. It's only a small room and we don't want it too crowded in there."

Quistis nodded her head in understanding; she knew that dealing with a Sorceress could be dangerous. "That's fine." She watched silently as Nida turned back to the SeeD's giving them his final orders. At the side of her she could see Selphie looking very pale. She had hardly spoken all day, which was very unlike Selphie. "Are you okay?"

Selphie's gaze fell to the ground, as she played with her hands. "Rinoa's really in there isn't she?" she looked back up to Quistis, a look of sorrow within her eyes. She watched as the blonde woman nodded silently, the reality of the day sinking in. Feeling an arm wrap around her side, Selphie looked up to see Irvine beside her and forced a smile.

"They won't attack her unless they need to," he said, realising that his words couldn't hep the matter any more.

"I don't want her to die," the brunette said looking down to the ground once more, "Even if she did do all that bad stuff, we can help get her back to normal can't we?"

"I hope so, Selphie," Quistis said giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Nida finished giving out his orders and turned back to Squall. "When the door opens, the SeeD's will go inside to make sure that it is safe for you. Then you'll come inside with me and can try to talk some sense into her. You'll have five minutes, no more. If she tries to harm you then get out of the room. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Nida turned to one of the SeeD's near the door. He was very tall and muscular with spiky black hair; he was carrying a large axe to break into the room. Nida signalled with a nod of his head and the SeeD started smashing the axe through the door. It seemed an agonisingly long time before they got through. Squall could feel his pulse racing as he stood silently with the rest of the group.

Eventually the door was forced open, and the first SeeD's made their way through the doorway with their weapons ready. As soon as the door was properly open Squall felt overwhelmed by the stench that came out. It was the smell of burning flesh.

"We can go in now," Nida said behind Squall. They stepped through the doorway and inside the room. Instantly Squall had to stop in his tracks to try and prevent himself from vomiting. The room was dull with blood spilled all over the walls and floor. He saw crimson handprints around the room, and then the charred bodies on the floor. There were about ten of them, all swollen and disfigured. The smell was so much worse inside the room.

"What the hell happened here?" Nida said whilst putting the sleeve of his SeeD jacket over his nose and mouth. The air was thick. It was a constant battle to stop the bile rising out of his mouth.

Clearing his mind, Squall looked around the grim room to where he saw a group of SeeD's in the corner. They were crowded around something. As he approached, one of the SeeD's moved to let him inside. In the corner of the room was another dead body. This one was a woman's, she wasn't burnt like the rest of them, but she was covered in blood. The woman's body shuddered. No. She wasn't dead at all. He stopped still for a moment; he could hear a soft whispering.

"Why am I here? Why am I here? Why am I here?"

Crouching down in the blood-drenched floor, Squall crouched down next to the raven-haired girl. Her hair was covering her face, but he already knew who it was, and the sight of her like this made his heart sink.

"Rinoa?" Squall said, suddenly forgetting that she was a threat. She was covered in blood, he was afraid that she might have hurt herself. He reached out and touched her cold skin. It immediately tensed up and her repetitive question stopped midway. "Rinoa, it's me"

She didn't move. He could hear her heavy breathing becoming faster. "I know you've done a lot of bad things, but we can sort everything out," he knew his words probably sounded pathetic, but he wanted to calm her and talk to her. She was shivering from the cold. He tried to put his arm around her, but she reacted violently by hitting and scratching at his face.

He felt a stinging pain on his face but ignored it. For the first time in six months he could see her face. It was paler than he remembered, and her eyes were kept closed. It was only for a second that she revealed her features, before she hid them once more under her arms and retreated further in the corner. Looking around at the many corpses around the room he suddenly felt sick. "She's been trapped inside here," Squall said more to himself that anyone else around him.

"She could still be a danger," one of the SeeD's said aiming his gun at her.

"Does she look like a danger to you?" Squall snapped, "Just get her out of here."

Nobody moved. For a moment there was silence, and then Nida finally came forward, "He's right, get her out of here."

The next few moments were the most painful as Squall watched as two of the SeeD's dragged Rinoa away. She seemed to not know where she was. Whenever someone touched her she tried to attack them just so that they would leave her alone. Eventually she had to be carried away, kicking and screaming. Squall followed as they carried her away into one of the SeeD cars.

"We're going to take her to Esthar where she will be kept in an area where we know she won't be able to use her magic, just in case she's biding her time," Nida said to Squall.

"Let me go with her," Squall said solemnly.

"It's out of my hands Squall, I can't let you go," Nida tried to explain. "You can make your own way there tomorrow, for now we need to make sure she isn't of any danger."

Squall watched as Nida stepped inside the SeeD car and drove off carrying Rinoa inside. Feeling helpless once more, Squall made his way to an area that was quiet as almost everywhere was surrounded with SeeD's. On the way he past Quistis and his other friends who stood outside in silence. They had watched in shock as Rinoa was dragged into the SeeD car. He wasn't in the mood to talk to any of them. Ignoring them he made he way around the other side of the building. There weren't many people around this area.

Suddenly feeling ill, he vomited on the ground, feeling relief spread through his body as he did. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and sat on the ground looking up into the sky. It was dark now, and he finally knew where Rinoa was.