Falling from Grace
Squall Leonhart, one of the highest-ranking archangel operatives of SeeD, stood near the prone form of a young woman. His gaze swept the area, taking in the corpses of the windigos that had chased the woman and cornered her on the cliff. A small dog, with 'Angelo' printed on his nametag and a Phoenix Down potion in his mouth, padded over to his side. Angelo whined and nudged Squall's side, trying to push the archangel over towards his mistress.
Taking the potion from the dog and wiping it off with his coat, he knelt next to the unconscious human. Angelo gave him a slightly offended look as he wiped off the potion, but sat down beside the gunblade wielder. Squall propped the human up and supported her with one arm while raising the potion to her lips.
----
Rinoa put a hand to her head and groaned. The last thing she remembered was being launched by a windigo's fist and then...wings? Her eyes snapped open and Angelo licked her cheek with a small yip, but her dog was the furthest thing from her mind at that moment. A tall man with short, dark brown hair, wearing a uniform was standing with his back to her. He looked at her over his shoulder, his grey-blue eyes calm, "Are you alright?"
Climbing to her feet, she nodded, "Yes, thank you." He nodded, and spread his grey wings, preparing to leave now that she was safe. Rinoa reached out a hand for his wrist in an effort to stop him, "Wait!"
Pausing, he glanced at her, "What?"
She extended her hand towards him, "My name's Rinoa Heartlily. What's your name?"
He turned to her and clasped her hand, an eyebrow arched slightly and a cautious expression on his face, "Squall Leonhart." That said, he flew off to report back to Sid, who was waiting for him at Garden.
"Squall Leonhart...wonder if I'll get to see him again..." Rinoa watched him fly off, a distracted look on her face.
----
A few hours later at Garden, instructor Quistis Trepe watched her star pupil as he sat on the edge of the fountain, staring into the water. She approached him quietly and waited a few moments to speak, "You could go check on her if you wanted."
His gaze left the water and met her eyes, before traveling back to the water, "Hnn..."
Quistis sighed, "Right, none of my business. Forget I brought it up." She turned and started to walk away, but paused when she got an idea, a grin spreading over her lips. She replaced the grin with a serious expression as she turned back to him, "It is standard policy to check back in on the client, you know." With that, she walked away down the hall.
From the direction she had gone, Squall could hear a couple voices. One voice, he recognized it as Seifer's, was filled with smug amusement, "Nice job nearly getting your client killed, Chicken-wuss."
The other voice, belonging to Zell, shouted in typical short-tempered anger, "What did you call me!?! Damn it Seifer, I'm gonna wipe that smug grin off your face!"
Seifer chuckled and replied calmly, "I'd like to see you try. Chicken-wuss."
Zell's response was a quick series of punches that nearly knocked the smug older student off his feet. A smirk lit the martial artist's face, "How's that?"
"Pathetic, you stupid Chicken-wuss." The gunblade wielder rolled his eyes as he steadied himself.
"Damn it Seifer!!" Zell hollered, a vein pulsing in his temple.
Seifer scoffed at him and turned to walk away. He paused, and turned back to the other student, "If you ever hit me again, the Disciplinary Committee will be after you." He summoned a small fireball and threw it at the martial artist.
"Didn't I tell you children to stop fighting?" Quistis sighed as she caught, and extinguished, the fireball using a simple water spell. She turned a hard look on the gunblade wielder, "Oh, and Seifer? The next time you leave your client hanging, the real disciplinary committee will be after you." She gave him a casual smirk before wandering off down the hall.
As Fujin and Rajin ran up behind Seifer, he twitched in annoyance, "Add instructor Trepe to the list!!" Squall, who had been watching the events with only a passing interest, shook his head with a sigh.
Zell ran over, "Hey Squall! How'd it go with your client?"
Squall shrugged, "The mission was completed without trouble." Considering his stoic nature, that was talkative for him.
The martial artist was slightly annoyed though, "I didn't doubt that, but how is the client? What happened?"
The gunblade wielder arched an eyebrow slightly, Zell's enthusiasm was annoying at times, "She was cornered on a cliff when I arrived, but she's fine now." At least, that's what he was assuming. He didn't know if she had made it off the mountain without further incident, and it was nagging at him.
----
Laguna peered into Squall's room and found the archangel standing on the balcony, looking out over the country. The Fate in charge of the present, more commonly known as Laguna, walked over and leaned against the railing next to the young man. He broke the silence after a few minutes, "You should go see her." Squall glanced at him, and then took a sip of his drink. A slight smile crossed Laguna's face "You remind me of myself when I was younger. I used to be quiet too, although that was usually due to being shy around the ladies."
The gunblade wielder raised an eyebrow, "..."
Positioning himself in just the right place, Laguna extended his wings and almost knocked Squall off the balcony. The younger man braced himself and spun to face the soldier-turned-writer, a flat glare on his face. The writer smirked, "I'm sure Quistis already told you this, but it is standard policy to go check on the client every now and then. Oh, and by the way, don't even bother asking me how she's doing right now. You have to find that out for yourself."
Without another word, he turned and left the archangel to his thoughts. It wasn't long after the Fate had left that Squall found himself considering paying the young Ms. Heartlily a visit. Setting his glass on the railing, he extended his wings and flew down towards the land below.
----
A knowing smile crossed Laguna's face as he watched Squall take off. He turned to his friends Kiros and Ward, and saw that they were shaking their heads. He frowned, "What?"
Kiros, the Fate in charge of the future, met his gaze, "You're meddling again."
Ward, the Fate in charge of the past, nodded, "He's right, maybe you should stay out of this one Laguna."
The Fate of the present shrugged, "Whatever. Anyway, want to go to that nice little place in Deling City?"
"You wouldn't be talking about that place where Julia sings, would you?" Ward asked, his head tilted to the side.
"Ow ow ow ow!" Laguna winced as his leg cramped up. Kiros and Ward raised an eyebrow, nearly smirking at their friend. He noticed their expressions and muttered quietly under his breath, "I can't believe my leg cramped up just at the mention of her name!" It took a few moments (and not thinking about Julia), but once his leg was under control again, the trio spread their wings and flew down towards Deling City.
----
Squall found himself slowing as he approached the Heartlily residence in Deling City. He wasn't one for social occasions, being called a "lone wolf" with increasing frequency, so he was unsure of how to proceed. The door opened shortly after he knocked and a familiar face appeared. Rinoa's eyes widened a bit and she smiled as she recognized him, "Squall! What brings you here?"
Finding himself oddly pleased that she remembered his name; Squall found his lips curving ever so slightly, "I just came to make sure that you got home alright."
Rinoa suddenly had an idea and couldn't hold back the grin, "You should come back in a few days to check on me again. There's going to be a party, and those can be kind of hazardous."
----
At a little bar in Deling City, the three fates had found their usual table and were enjoying a drink as Julia sang for the crowd. Laguna paused suddenly and grinned over at Kiros who arched an eyebrow, but remained silent. Ward looked between the two of them, "What's going on?"
Laguna's grin widened, "The lone wolf just got invited to a certain young lady's birthday party."
(A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this fic! There will be more to come, but I'm fighting off writer's block, so it could take a little bit. Obviously I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or the characters, only the plot of this fic.)