Title: What Pulls Us Together
Author: The Lunar Witch
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Date: October 1st, 2007
Dear Squall,
I seems like it's been forever since I left Balamb Garden, but since it has only been a few weeks since I last saw you I won't complain; except to say how much I miss everyone, especially you. How is everything? I'm sure not much has changed since Edea, Selphie, and I left with the White SeeDs, but I thought I should ask just the same.
Being in Esthar has been quite an experience. I get a few strange looks every once in awhile from some of the people around here, but at least President Laguna has been nice. He's always good for a laugh. Everyone knows about my 'abilities' and I think it's making them feel uncomfortable. I wish it wouldn't. Just because I'm a sorceress doesn't mean I'm going to one day, Poof! Destroy all man kind! I know I'm making it sound worse than it actually is. I'm sorry, it just gets frustrating sometimes.
Dr. Odine says I should spend most of my time in the President's House or the Lab; that it's not a good idea for me to go out too often. I understand his reasoning for this. People might start getting upset that I'm walking around freely, but I still miss the freedom that I had back in Garden. No one looked at me strangely, and everyone treated me nicely.
As for the testing that I came here for; everything seems to be going ok, at least I think it is. Dr. Odine just looks at the results and makes noises as he examines the findings. There's a whole bunch of numbers on those sheets of paper that I just don't understand, but he seems to get it. All I know is that my arms and legs are starting to ache from all the pin pricks, reflex examinations, and endurance testing.
Selphie received a short letter from Irvine yesterday. He didn't mention much about what's going on with you, except that you're now recruiting for the new school year. I wish I was there to see all the little kids in their uniforms. That would be so much fun! I'm sure they're all really cute!
You haven't written me since I arrived at the Esthar, but I was expecting that. Don't worry, I'm not mad. I know you're busy with everything, just don't forget about me, ok?
Love,
Rinoa
P. S. By the way, Angelo says, "Hi!"
Chapter I
"Nine Months of Separation"
As a dusty brunette young man of maybe eighteen years skidded to a stop he brought his weapon up in a defensive position; not letting the giant dinosaur out of his sight. The thing was stupid. With a brain the size of a walnut, no wonder. No one could ask for much from the fiend, but maybe a few wiggles of its undersized arms and chomps from its enormous jaws.
The young man's chest streaked of fresh sweat as he leaped and bounded out of the way of his large assailant's overgrown tail. Though the creature was unintelligent, its size and strength made it a worthy opponent. It wasn't that it was hard to defeat such a beast; it was just a work out, which was what he was going for.
The creature roared loudly which tempted the shirtless young man to cover his ears, luckily being able to fight off the urge to drop his weapon. So he wouldn't be able to hear well for the next few hours, his hearing would eventually come back.
He jumped up to meet the T-rex's back, struggling to get a good grip of the thing while he brought his beloved gunblade around and slit its throat; being careful as it fell to the ground, as not to be smashed by an already dead monster.
Clapping sounded from behind him. He turned and looked at the young blond behind him, letting his guard down and sighing. Not now. Not this morning, he said to himself as he reached for his formally discarded white shirt.
"Quite a display of brawn, Commander." The blond smiled as she held her fully loaded clip board to her uniformed chest. "You know, Squall you're going to get yourself killed one of these days."
"Isn't that the point?" Squall said with little emotion resounding in his voice. He kicked up the small hand towel he had brought with him and wiped his face. "What do you want, Quistis?"
The former instructor gave her long time friend a kind smile; completely understand his lack emotion as Squall just being Squall. She had learned long ago that taking anything personally was just a waste of energy. "Well, I just thought I would come and remind you that Rinoa will be arriving by car in 0900 hours."
"How could I forget?" He gave Quistis a half smile which came few and far between.
Quistis felt her heart tighten slightly. Very few things made the Commander smile; it was just who he was, but Rinoa… Even the mere mention of the young woman's name made his mood change. Whatever kept Squall's heart at bay… Rinoa could just tear down those boundaries… all those walls from the past. Bad habits die hard, Quistis mused to herself. Though at one point about a year and a half ago she was quite in love with the handsome brunette that stood in front of her, no feelings hung on in her heart now. Strangely, it had grown so used to the wanting of the young man that it couldn't help but feel like it used to; envious for Squall's affection. She laughed at herself and shook her head. "Also ten knew children will be arriving from Deling, but I figured I could take over those duties for you today."
"Thank you." Squall started to walk towards the exit of the Training Center; finished with his morning workout. "What time is it now," he asked after making the motion of looking at his wrist. He was so used to wearing that thing.
"0600 hours."
"Good, that leaves me some time…" His voice faded off as he lost himself in thought. "I need to take a shower and look over some papers before the arrival. Show the new students the dorms and their classrooms, please."
"Yes, sir." She scribbled some notes onto the fresh pad of paper that had been clipped onto her board. "Oh… Squall." She stopped as she wondered how to phrase her questions.
"Yes?" He stopped as she turned toward his old instructor and friend, recognizing that tone of hers.
"Um… with Rinoa coming… do you want me to prepare her a room… or will she be staying with you?" It had never been any of her business the amount of intimacy that went on between the Sorceress and her knight, but she had always assumed—
"Prepare her a room," the man didn't even flinch, as if he hadn't even had to think about it. He turned back towards the hallways and made his way down, Quistis still trailing behind him.
"A-are you sure?" she asked, a bit confused. She had assumed that their relationship had become physical, but then again… picturing the man kissing the woman let alone being intimate with her didn't seem reasonable, now that she thought about it. He didn't even like to hold hands with her.
"I'm sure, Quistis," Squall said with the same amount of sentiment as before. "Rinoa will be sleeping in her room, and I will be sleeping in mine." He continued to talk as she walked, not bothering to look back to keep eye contact during the conversation. "It is against Garden Rules to have a coed in your dorm room after 2000 hours."
"Yes… but you're the Commander, Squall… that's diff—"
"No, it's not. If I'm to lead Balamb Garden I am to set an example." He turned to her one last time, looking at her with an arched brow. "Is that all for now, Trepe?"
"Yes, sir."
OOO
Squall walked back to his quarters alone, thankful for the silence. When he arrived he shut the door and tossed his sweaty towel onto the chair in the corner of his room. The place was large… well larger that Squall had ever been used to. The living space was specious with a living room and office in the front, and a comfortable bedroom, and king sized bed, in the back. "Fit for a commander of Garden," Cid had rationalized. The headmaster had offered Squall his old office as well, but the Commander had to refuse. Cid's office had been his for so long, since Squall could even remember. It was not an honor he could take from the man, nor ever really want.
Once things had settled down there at Garden, Squall had been made the permanent Commander. Cid had argued that he was the only one fit for the job. So many students looked up to him now, respected him. The same went for the SeeDs around the world. While Cid stayed on as an advisor he had practically retired from his job. Though most of Squall's duties included what Cid used to do he hadn't taken on the title of Headmaster. Cid was the only man worthy of that title within these walls.
The Commander stepped over to his desk, looking down at the papers that had magically appeared since he had left his room a few hours before. Reports from the other Gardens… he leafed through them. He had taken more than just Command of Balamb; Trebia and Galbadia were also under his watchful eye. So much had happened in the past year, Squall had a hard time keeping up with it all, but somehow he did, and somehow each Garden was doing better by ten fold.
The young commander started to strip off his damp shirt, followed by his sweaty pants. He discarded them on his floor, willing to pick them up a little later as a picture caught his eyes. Brown eyes, dark hair, fair skin… the picture of Rinoa had been laid haphazardly in the midst of the rest of his paper work. The word, "Sorceress" labeled the bottom of it.
She would finally be back. After nearly nine month of separation, Squall had started to feel his old symptoms of loneliness. They had had only three months to spend enjoying the peace of the world before Dr. Odine had asked to study the young women's special abilities out in Esthar; President Laguna had followed with an invitation to be her chaperone in the big city. Neither Squall nor Rinoa had wanted to separate, but it was for the best. Rinoa didn't want to be a sorceress all her life; an endangerment to her friends, family, and innocent bystanders. All of the details of why she was now coming back hadn't been completely clear, something back in Esthar had happened, but it didn't matter. She was going to be back this morning; life would be what it once was again.
He sighed, running a hand through his loose brown hair, shaking his head at himself as he walked away from his desk and headed for the bathroom. Upon entering the white tiled room he finally shed the rest of his under garments and stepped into the glass shower, enjoying the hot water that was now streaming down his naked body.
Showers for the commander were usually regulated to about ten minutes, but not that morning. With thoughts of Rinoa in his head he couldn't pull himself away from the constant, comforting heat of the stream. Never, in his time with Rinoa, had just the thought of her created such turmoil in his body and mind. Though he, of course, had felt the sexual desire for being with her on several occasions, this was different. The need to be with her and feel her in his arms; it felt as if his body were sick for her. Like gravity; the Knight was being pulled closer and closer to his Sorceress.
"Squall?" a familiar male voice sounded from the living room; knocking the commander out of his circling thoughts of Rinoa.
"Yeah." he yelled over the water as he turned it off and pulled himself away from the steamy warmth of the shower's walls. He grabbed for one of the grey towel hanging from bar on the wall, whipping his face with it, and then wrapping it around his waist. "What, Zell?" he asked as he opened the door to a blond tattooed faced young man.
"Just thought you would like to know about the maintenance status of Garden," he stated half heartedly as he looked down at Squall's desk of papers and the picture of Rinoa. "You excited, man?" He asked as he grabbed the picture of Rinoa and waved it in the air.
"I guess," the commander answered as he walked into his bedroom closet and selected his SeeD uniform from the small amount of clothing that he actually owned. The navy blue fabric and muted gold embroidery was just as it had been when he had taken his final exam nearly two years ago. The only difference now was the arrangement of stars on its left breast, signifying his rank. How, in two years, could one go from zero stars to five, the highest amount you could obtain in the Garden Ranking System; he would never know. "Maintenance report?"
"Oh, yeah!" He leafed through the papers he had in his hand as he bit his lip. "Looks like Generator D is down. Again!" He sighed at the thought of fixing the same damn piece of machinery for the third time. "A few light bulbs in the Quad need to be replaced. Also a few of the councils in Classroom H need to be reprogrammed, some kid decided to mess with it so whenever you type in SeeD you get the word Sperm," he laughed. "Hey that's pretty clever I sh— Get someone right on that!" He corrected himself as he got a look from Squall.
"Is that all?"
"No!" Zell went on as he read down the list. "One more thing, the elevator keeps switching itself to 'Fire Mode.' Kids are getting stuck left and right and—"
"Ok, assign a few Engineering apprentices to replace the light bulbs, tell Nida we will be heading to Fisherman's Horizon to get a replacement generator as soon as the arrival takes place. I'm sick of that thing stalling, and get the fire team on the elevator; it must be a short of something," He buttoned the remaining buttons of his uniform jacket and slipped his silver watch onto his wrist, while simultaneously looking at the time. "Look, I have a few phone calls to make to Deling City, Dollet, and I need to contact the White SeeDs to check up on Ellone. I'll meet up with you at arrival, alright?"
"Yeah, I'll see you there," Zell smiled as he backed out of the room and left, the popped his head into the doorway one more time. "You excited, bro? Commander getting his Freak on—"
"Get out, Zell!" Squall didn't necessarily yell. His voice was commanding and loud, scaring any new cadet into shape, so yelling wasn't necessary for them or for the veteran SeeD, Zell.
OOO
When Squall finally left his quarters he had only an hour left until the planned arrival. As far as he knew the convoy was on time, which was good. No unexpected waiting or worrying for his nerves. As he walked through those familiar halls nearly every student stopped to solute him. It wasn't demanded of them to do so, but ever since he had taken Command the students' reaction had been to treat him with complete respect, whether completely obligatory or not.
After checking on the light bulbs in the Quad, the fire team working on the elevator, and that Nida had gotten the command to map out a route to Fisherman's Horizon at 1000 hours, he found himself with very little to do. Usually his day was full of things to attend to, but it seemed his nerves wouldn't allow him to consider anything to fill his time. Rinoa was coming back, and that was all his mind could possibly think of at the moment. Though he was excited for her arrival, his instinct told him to contain that energy, and not allow anyone else to experience it.
Squall found himself wondering into the ball room, the place where he and Rinoa had first met; though, back then, he wouldn't have even given the young brunette a second glance. "Irvine," he called as he entered the room through its large double doors. "How are the preparations going?"
A long haired cowboy smirked as he heard the commander call him over. He jogged over and put his arm around Squall's shoulder giving him a squeeze and laughing. "Hah! I'm so excited! Aren't you excited?"
Why did he feel like everyone was asking him that today? "Sure, how's the ballroom coming?" he asked, trying to get back on subject.
"Oh, it's coming. It's coming. A few of the windows were streaked with bird crap, but I have the boys on it. Man, it was dusty in here. When was the last time we used this place?"
"About a year, after the defeat of Ultimecia," Squall answered simply, wondering how the cowboy could forget, even if he was the flighty man everyone knew him to be. "Will it all be done by tonight?" He asked, changing the subject back to his original topic.
"Yeah, I mean, Selphie would probably have my head if I didn't have it done, right?" he smiled as he watched the rest of the Garden Festival Committee prepare for the welcoming ball. "But this thing should be a real hoot-n-nanny."
"Good," Squall checked his watching, noting that they had only fifteen minutes left until the planned arrival. "We should probably head out to the front. They're going to be here soon."
Irvine let out a big whooping cry and jumped into the air in excitement. "I'm getting me some tonight!" He yelled then froze as the entire Festival Committee stopped what they were doing to stare at him. He glared at them, suddenly becoming Mr. Serious. "Get back to work!" He yelled then laughed as he looked back at Squall. "Yeah, let's go."
OOO
Squall and Irvine were the first to arrive in the front with only five minutes to go. They were soon followed by Zell who punched the air a few times followed by a perfect round-house kick; the only way he knew how to release his excitement. "Let's get this party started!" He yelled with a big smile. "Where are they?"
"Not here yet, Zell. Hold your horses," Quistis quipped from behind as she held her clip board to her side. "Where's Headmaster Cid? He said he was going to be here, right?" She brought the board back up to look at it.
"I'm here, I'm here." He chuckled as he pat the old instructor on her back. "I wouldn't miss seeing Edea for the world."
Squall sighed with a small smile coming to his lips. It seemed that he wasn't the only one about to burst at the seems at the arrival of their absent friends, even if it didn't look like he was.
The bustling vibration of an engine echoed over the hills of the small land mass of Balamb. The energy around the front entrance seemed to suddenly silence itself, becoming static with anticipation, as the yellow Hummer came down the road. It stopped in front of them, making everyone hold their breaths, waiting.
"Attention!" Squall yelled out, forcing everyone to straighten their posture and getting into a respectable military position, save Cid who never had the patience to do such formalities.
The door of the car sprung open violently as Selphie hoped out and squealed in delight. Her chestnut brown hair bobbing up with an energetic bounce as she ran towards Irvine with open arms. "Irvi-kins!" she screamed as she pounced on him, allowing her short legs to wrap around his this waist.
Irvine's posture suddenly became lax as he took the young woman dressed in yellow into his arms. "Phie-Phie!" He laughed and laid a full passionate kiss on her pink lips. Screw formalities.
The next to step out of car was a much calmer woman. Upon seeing her, Cid rushed to the door taking her hand into his and helping her out of the car. "Darling," he smiled and kissed her softly on the lips. "How was the trip?"
"Uneventful." Edea smiled as she was led towards the group that had been waiting for them. "Squall… you look pale. Are you eating right, sweat heart?" the motherly women couldn't help herself as she put the back of her hand to the Commander's forehead. No matter how much older Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and Quistis got, she still felt as if they were her own little children.
"I'm eating fine, Matron." He nodded to her kindly, treating her like the mother she had always wanted to be.
"It's good to see you." She smiled and gave the young Commander a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I hope you're not working too hard."
"I'm not—"
"Squall?"
Squall's attention was suddenly caught by the sweet familiar voice that now came from the car. His senses tensed as his body did the same. He found himself in a state of not being able to breath, his lungs frozen, as he laid his eyes on the one person that meant the world to him. Silence penetrated the happy group as the Sorceress slid out of the car and stood silently by herself. Though the Commander wished he could say something nothing, absolutely nothing, seemed perfect enough for this moment except for her name. Her beautiful name; "Rinoa…"
Still silence. No one bothered to say a word as they smiled at the couple who only seemed to have the courage to look at each other at the moment. A giggle sounded from Selphie, knowing how important this reunion was to Rinoa.
"Squall!" Rinoa yelled with tears in her eyes and she launched for him, burying her face into his chest, having wished for its comfort for so many months. Since the nine months had passed this was the first time she felt like she was at home, warm, and completely safe; in the arms of her beloved knight.
For the first time since she had left, Squall softened his posture, allowing her to just melt into him. Whatever loneliness he had felt before suddenly washed away in one embrace. That was her power; her ability to just soften his exterior and make him human again. "I've missed you so much." He whispered to her so that no one could hear. He showed no weakness to anyone, anyone but her.
OOO
Author's Note: So this is my first Final Fantasy VIII fic. I'm new to this fandom so please give me what you guys have to dish. Good? Bad? Any feedback is better than no feedback at all. If I could ask one thing from you guys it would be the feedback on keeping these guys in character. That's the most important thing to me. So, how did I do?