Chapter one: Three months on.
notes: This will mainly be a Squallfic. This is because I found him the easiest Character to identify with and expand on. All characters will be included and the story will shift to them from time to time to give a break from the 'hero'. I will include summaries in chapters I feel I have not done my best on and few can be skim-read and the plot will still be tangible.
Rinoa made her way across the dried plain. 'No flowers would grow here', she thought, 'Theres nothing but death'. There was no power on heaven or earth that would have her leave Squall here. The humid air was stale and unmoving. It would take a lifetime to cross; and with no marks on the horizon, only her internal compass to guide her, it would seem to take even longer. Nevertheless she marched on; never stopping, never stalling. The dust kicked up by her boots hung in the air for a moment before settling back down pretty much where it had come from, not shifting, Her footprints forever visible in the unnatural stillness. To her surprise she found herself humming one of her mothers songs for reassurance, the words occasionally creeping out but nothing that resembled a full sentence. She'd repeated the second verse three times before she realised she wasn't sure how the song ended, despite the fact there was no one around to hear her she still felt foolish.
As she marched on into the distance, she swore she could feel him getting closer. Would she be able to see Squall coming? She paused for a moment and raised a hand to her eyes, scanning the horizon, making sure not to turn all the way around for fear she'd loose her direction. If he was near surely she would see him, the never moving air prevented any kind of dust storm. She turned to her right - There! a slight difference in the terrain, a dark smudge against the endless brown. Rinoa dropped her hand from her eyes and ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her. Even under the effect of haste it still took a few minutes before she was close enough to make out just what the smudge was, and when she could, she froze.
'Squall?'
She called out. Squall was lying, curled onto his side, in foetal position sound asleep. Rinoa smiled faintly and knelt beside him. He must be exhausted; judging by the dust on his trousers He'd been walking for some time.
'Squall? Squally?' Her voice cooing in a sing-song fashion. 'Time to wake up.' She lay a hand on his shoulder to rose him gently. He did not stir. 'Squall?' Rinoa hesitantly placed a hand on his cheek, knowing all too well it was unwise to startle a trained soldier into waking. The skin under her fingers was ice cold to the touch, the young sorceress panicked. 'Squall? Squall speak to me!' she rolled him over onto his back for a better view to study his face, to scan for any injury. Squall's eyes were closed; deep in shadow, His lips white and his skin the colour of ash. Below Rinoas touch there was no pulse. It was evident that he had been dead for some time before she had found him.
Tears rolled down Rinoas cheeks. 'Oh Squall!' She gathered him onto her lap, It nearly broke her to feel his dead weight, his cold back against her knees, to see his head lop lifelessly to one side. 'No, not you. Y-you promised me. You swore we'd see each other again!' Dust had clung to the trail of a single tear on his cheek.
'A tear?' She wiped it away with her thumb and smiled weakly. 'A tear of sorrow? of Pain? were you in pain?' a sob escaped her. 'Or was it regret?' The sob was reigned in and she stroked his hair. 'I'm so sorry. I...I failed you Squall. You couldn't find me? Did you wait here for me?' Teeth dug into her bottom lip, her own teeth, as she fought back fresh tears. She needed to concentrate; she would need to bring his body back home for burial, and it would take an awful lot of her magic to do so. Something moved in the back of Rinoas subconscious. Magic!
If medics could use magic to cure fatal wounds and revive unconscious patients, then surely, surely, someone of her powers would be able to bring him back to life? It was worth trying even if there was the smallest chance... Rinoa whipped a hand across her eyes, no time for tears now she needed to focus harder than she ever had before. Her fingers spread into a fan and willed her magic to flow to the tips. Much different from asking a GF to allow the correct magic to run through your body. Where the GF did the ground work in correctly angling the amount of magic needed and steering it onto its correct path and desired effect, she would have to will the magic to do the job she wanted it to perform. One wrong thought and she could just as easily be lighting Squalls' own funeral pyre. The mana tingled in her fingertips. 'Life.' she breathed.
There was no response, save for the faint motion of his hair swaying as if in a breeze as the magic flowed into him. More power! Rinoa furrowed her brow, concentrate! Once again she felt the tingling. 'Life!' The force flowed over into the ground, green shoots rose to meet the errant magic. Squalls' fingers twitched, his eyes flickered momentarily. Rinoa didn't allow herself the luxury of a cheer or to hope, it could be nothing more than his body expelling the foreign energy. She called up the last reserves of her power, from the very corners of her mind to the pit of her stomach she called, tugged, willed and scrapped for mana. 'LIFE!' she cried aloud.
Nothing happened for what seemed an age, That is until the ground began to shake. Loose stones tumbled away as the force of a billion flowers pushing their way to the surface cracked the earth. As far as the eye could see flowers were blooming into life, the action throwing their petals into the air an a myriad of coloured clouds. Rinoa was lifted slightly as the flora beneath her created a soft carpet. The air was suddenly alive with a million beautiful smells. But she took no notice, her mind fixed on the figure before her, if this had not worked she would be forced to will herself back into her own timeline without him, she no longer possessed the strength to bring his body home.
Squalls hand jerked. Twitched. Then his back arched as the muscles contracted, kick starting his heart with a surge of activity. His eyes snapped open and he gasped, filling his lungs with air.
Rinoa let out a cry of joy. 'Squall! it worked! You're alive!' Fresh tears ran from her eyes and this time not from sorrow. She had done it! Squall looked at his surroundings, trying to prop himself up on his elbows, crushing several flowers in the process. Rinoa would have complained but for now she didn't care, Squall was alive!
'No you don't.' She pressured him gently into laying back. 'You need rest, your brain and body need time to fully awaken again.' Standard procedure for reviving the unconscious. it seemed logical and the safest course to apply it here, after all She had no idea what would happen now she had brought someone back from the dead. How long would it take until he was ready to try and go back to his own time with her? He struggled weakly before resolving that resting was a good idea, his frown faded into a smile as he looked up at his saviour. 'Rinoa.' He murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper. He reached up to stroke her cheek and wipe the tears from her face. His fingertips barely brushed the skin when the smile died in his eyes, quickly replaced by one of pain. Rinoa held him to her crying out in concern. 'Squall? what is it? does it hurt?' But no matter how he tried he couldn't answer her with anything but rasping, choking sounds. His eyes rolled back and he clawed at his throat. He couldn't breathe! Rinoa gasped in panic as the flowers around them withered and died. Had the spell not stuck? Was the power of death stronger than that of life? had she brought Squall back only to watch as he was snatched from her again? What could she do? she desperately sought answers, but even if she had the strength left what on earth could she cast to prevent this?
Once more Squalls' back arched, this time accompanied by painful sounding cracks. Rinoa scampered back to safe distance though she wanted nothing more than to hold him to her. Something stretched and writhed beneath his shirt at the back. Rinoa lent over anxious to help anyway that she could, already blood spread along the ground behind him. Squalls' eyes snapped open. The steel blue replaced with black, the pupil however was crimson and shaped like a club from the card house. There was a quiet 'shick' sound followed by low growl from the back of the thing that had once been Squall's throat. He lept for her, his fingers closing around her neck, fingernails replaced with razor sharp claws.
Rinoa felt the claws sink into her flesh, the artery giving no resistance. She tried to speak but barely managed a whimper echoed with the gurgling of blood. Squalls lips parted, revealing thick lion or wolf like fangs. He lunged towards her neck teeth closing around the soft flesh. At once he was ripping, tearing, a hot crimson river flowed in great torrents down her chest; pooling in her lap, staining the Beasts chin. He was not drinking or eating, He was doing this solely for the glory of the kill. Rinoa couldn't hold on, the pain was blinding. her mind danced on the edge of unconsciousness and with the last of her she was able to breathe two words before falling into nothingness.
'Squall? Why?' Somewhere in the black a feral and gravely voice answered.
'Not Squall. Only...Griever.'
It was then that Rinoa Heartily sat bolt upright in bed, sweat glinting on her brow and chest.
She glanced around in the darkness. Even in the gloom the room was evidently very plush, as was befitting the presidential suite in Esthar palace. The silken sheets clung to the dampness on her skin, twisted around her body. The nightmare must of had her tossing and turning...The nightmare! One hand darted to her throat for an instant certain she'd feel the blood still running from the wound, but there was no wound. It had been nothing but a dream, if a very vivid one. Rinoa glanced to her right at the figure beside her. Even in the comfort and protection of his own room in his fathers house Squall hadn't been able to bring himself to go to bed naked; opting instead for a shirt and boxer shorts, both of which were visible as his lay half out from under the duvet. He lay just as he had in the dream only this time the rise and fall of his chest made it plain he was only sleeping. In the moonlight something glinted from the side of his bed. Of course, his gunblade, further testament to his untrusting nature.
Rinoa brushed the hair from her eyes and hugged her knees to her, the nightmare had shaken her terribly, and it had not been the first time she had been cursed with it since their return from the time compression nearly three months past. Normally the sleeping man beside her would have woken with a start at even the slightest whimper of a bad dream from Riona, one hand on his gunblade, the other on her shoulder, But not recently. She clicked on the bedside lamp raising a slight stir and a frown on the sleepers face, yet he slept on. How she envied him. He had the solid dreamless sleep of the exhausted and would not stir until his body was recovered from the long day. Rinoa couldn't help but to brush the bangs from his eyes, a place they now frequently invaded as his hair grew longer. She couldn't help but note in the pale light the deep shadows under his eyes. He snored faintly and this made her smile. It had been several weeks after the time compression before he finally slept, any time before that he would lay on his bed staring at the ceiling till the sun came up. His brain refused to let him even a moment of unconsciousness, lest he should fall into the void again. How easily a mind can be scarred, she thought. The SeeD had been on the brink of madness before confessing he needed help. Xu and Irvine had relieved him of command of Garden at Quistis' request and she had insisted he take himself off on vacation on the grounds he stopped by to visit Odine. He had done just that, Rinoa had dragged him to Esthar for a chance to get to know his father (much to Squalls' protestations. He had done without the man for eighteen years and did not need him now he reasoned. But she had him frogmarched there anyway saying it killed two birds with one stone. One he would be somewhere he didn't have to work and two Odine would be close at hand. Even Squall couldn't argue with this logic.) Odine had listened to what happened in a point by point recount from Rinoa and had Squall stay overnight for testing. In the end he prescribed sleeping pills and bed rest, Not to do anything that might overwork his already taxed brain.
'Jumping from one time to anuzer 'as obviously caused 'iz mind great distress! If 'iz subconscious believes it iz possible to fall back into ze compression if he fails to concentrate on the present zen it iz no vunder 'e cannot sleep! 'Iz Brain iz trying to anchor 'im here by keeping him alert at all times, Ve need to convince his addled little brain zat it iz zafe and he von't go floating through time again. The only vay to do this iz natural zleep or hypnotism based brain-vashing.' Rinoa grimaced at the glee that had shown on Odines' face when he mentioned the 'brain-washing.' Without a second thought she had him write out a prescription for sleeping tablets and put up with the good doctor telling her it would take months for him to readjust. She ignored his weekly attempts to get her to agree to the hypnotism when Squall had his check-up.
So now her loved one slept soundly, unaware of the ordeal she had just been through. Somehow, she prefered it that way. No need to worry him unduly for it had only been a dream. Feeling sticky and unclean with the cold sweat she decided to take a shower. Rinoa peeled back the sheets and swung her legs round to lift herself out of the bed. As she did so something tumbled to the floor with a faint 'click.'. Puzzled, she scooped whatever it was up and held it to the light. 'Where on earth did this come from?' She breathed. There, held in her hand, was a single, heavy set, palm-sized black feather.