Running For Our Lives

Rinny Leonheart

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy I to XII. Satisfied now? However, I do own any characters unfamiliar to the games. Like Jessie, for example.

Summary: Slightly AU. Takes place after the game. Every marriage has its ups and downs, but for Rinoa, it's a lot more than she bargained for. She wanted the perfect husband, but there's more to him than meets the eye. After an accident on a SeeD mission that changes the man she loves, she runs away with their daughter, fearing for their life and also for the life of her unborn son. But will he be willing to give her up so easily?

Warnings: Some OOC-ness, violence, and lovely lemons. Most of the fic will be in Rinoa's POV.

Chapter One

The streets of Deling were pitch-black. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. But I knew better. He was following us. He had been following us for four months now. He had traced our tracks from Esthar to where we are now. He had turned up at the hotel and we saw him from our window. Having no time to change our clothes, we grabbed our bags, shoved our feet in our shoes and climbed out of the fire escape as fast as we could.

We reached the shopping arcade and I turned around sharply. I saw something large sweep across the road into a dark alley a hundred yards away from us. It was him. I nudged Jessie to start running and she lifted her arms up for me to pick her up. I would have complied, but I had a heavy bag on my back and running was hard enough with an unborn child within me. I was almost full term with her baby brother.

"Jessie, run! I can't carry you this time!" I told her firmly. She looked at me forlornly.

"But mommy I'm tired!" she whined. "Carry me!"

"Darling, mommy can't carry you! He'll catch us if we don't run. Come on!"

It wasn't an excuse. The last time he'd almost caught us was three months ago. I could easily pick her up and run with her. She looked at me and sighed.

"Ok mommy. I'll try." She said and began scampering down the street. I ran behind her on purpose. If he caught up with us, he would catch her first. I wasn't going to let that happen.

"Keep running Jessie! Don't stop running!" I shouted as she ran towards the train station. I heard footsteps behind me. They were slowly approaching. I ran as fast as I could and caught up with Jessie. I scooped her into my arms, despite the protest from my back and ran towards the reception desk. I ran about 200 yards before I reached the desk.

"I need two tickets for the next train! I don't care where it's going!" I panted at the lady behind the desk. She looked up from a book she was reading.

"The last train will leave at 23:47, going to Timber." She announced to me. I looked at the clock. It was 23:45. The train was almost ready to go. I had no choice but to climb aboard.

"Fine, how much!" I exclaimed, trying to catch my breath.

"400 Gil for you and your daughter." She told me. I handed her the money and rushed inside the train. We wandered into the third carriage and I put Jessie down and dropped my bag from my back. She jumped onto a seat next to the window. I collapsed next to her. She leant next to me and yawned.

"Mommy? Why are we running away from daddy?" she asked as she cuddled her teddy bear.

I was dreading this question ever since we ran away that night. I had snatched her from her bed, grabbed her backpack that I had filled whilst she was at school and crept from the house using our patio window. She hadn't asked me why, she thought we were going on a vacation. But after six months of this and seeing her father at the hotel, I knew she would ask me why eventually.

The train began to move away and I stared out of the window, hoping that Jessie would fall asleep and not ask me again. She didn't fall asleep.

"Mommy?" she asked as she tugged at my night-shirt. "Why are we running away from daddy? Don't you love him anymore?"

I sighed. She's too young to understand that her father has a problem. At six years old though, she's a pretty bright kid. I wondered how long she had noticed that we were running from him.

"Darling, mommy does love your daddy. Don't ever think that I don't."

"But why are we running from him if you love him?" she asked me, her cobalt-blue eyes boring into my chocolate ones. I could see the fatigue in her eyes and was tempted to tell her to go to sleep. But I couldn't avoid this question forever.

"You see Jessie, mommy has left daddy because he does things when you're asleep." I began explaining.

"What things mommy? Are they bad things?" my little angel asked me.

"Yes darling. Remember when you broke Nana Raine's glass vase last year?"

Jessie nodded at me and clung tightly to her bear. I continued.

"Well daddy smacked you on your bottom because you were naughty. He does the same to mommy. Only much harder and much nastier." Jessie's eyes widened.

"Daddy… hits… you? But mommy, you're never naughty. Why did daddy hit you?"

Here it was. She was now going to learn the truth about her father. To imprint such an image upon a young child such as Jessie would scar her forever. But if I hadn't left with her, she would have found out eventually.

"Well… you see Jessie, daddy is very sick. He had an accident not long after you were born. He was on a SeeD mission and he was hit in the head by a Wendigo. Daddy was in a coma for a year. When he woke up he… wasn't the kind man I married." I paused for a second and looked at Jessie. Her eyes were wide and she begged me to continue.

"What was he mommy? Why was he different?"

"He had suffered a head trauma. It's something that makes you act differently around others. He was fine until he came home one night from drinking and began to hit me. You were only a year old and were blissfully unaware about what was happening. Ever since then, he has lashed out at mommy. Sometimes he doesn't, but when he does, mommy gets hurt. That's why mommy has taken you away from him. If I hadn't left with you, he may have started to hit you. And mommy doesn't want that to happen." I finished off my explanation and hoped she would go to sleep.

She shook on my arm and I looked back down at her.

"What is it Jessie? Can't you sleep now?"

She shook her head at me. I sighed. I was so exhausted from all that running all I wanted to do was sleep until we reached Timber.

"Mommy, did daddy hit you when he found out about my baby brother too? Is that another reason why we left? So daddy wouldn't hurt my baby brother?" she asked as she rubbed my swollen stomach.

My heart ached so much not to tell her the truth. She looks so concerned and sad.

"Please mommy. Does daddy not want my baby brother? Did he hit you?"

My eyes filled up with tears and I started crying. I couldn't tell her. She already knew too much about this. I didn't want to upset her anymore.

"I can't say anymore sweetheart. It's too painful at the moment." I sobbed as she wrapped her arms around my stomach and cuddled me. I hugged her back and she leant against me. She seemed to be falling asleep.

"It's ok mommy. You don't need to say anything about it anyway. I know daddy hit you the day before we left."

"Yes, he did darling. Come on now, let's get some sleep. We'll be in Timber soon and we'll go back to my old house. Daddy won't find us there. We'll be safe."

"Night mommy." Jessie whispered and then she went quiet. I peered over her head. She was sound asleep. I leaned back in my seat and fell asleep myself.

Flashback

It was when I found out I was pregnant that things got worse. Squall wasn't exactly happy that he was going to be a dad again. In fact, he was angry.

"You whore! Did you stop talking your pills or something? How in the name of Hyne did you let this happen!" he roared at me whilst I was sitting opposite him on the sofa.

"Squall, can't you stop doing this to me? It's not my fault that this happened! How can you blame just me for this! It takes two people to do this!" I shouted at Squall whilst holding onto a pregnancy test I had just taken. Squall's eyes darkened and he advanced upon me.

"How dare you speak to me like that? I'll show you who the boss is around here!" he roared as he lifted his fist at me. I screamed loudly as it came down on my face.

"Squall! Nooooo!"

End Flashback

I awoke with a start, screaming. The pain felt too real. It was just a dream. I looked at my watch. It was 5 am. Suddenly I felt a strange presence. There was someone else in the carriage with us. An elderly couple were looking at me with concern. There was a guy sitting in front of us. He was reading a newspaper and had a baseball cap on his head. He wasn't in the carriage when we got on last night. I gasped. There was a large bag sitting beside him and a tall black box. It had a silver sign on it. I knew that symbol anywhere. It was Griever.

"Mommy, what's wrong? Are you alright? Speak to me mommy!" Jessie cried out.

"Mommy's fine darling. Nightmare, you know." I said, quickly turning my head around the carriage. There were now three people in the carriage besides us, but I knew that he'd gotten on before we left.

"Are we there yet mommy? I can see another train station coming up. Is it our stop?"

I looked out of the window. It wasn't our stop but we needed to get off the train and fast! Timber was only two miles away from this stop. We could walk the rest of the way. Or run, if Squall follows us again.

I pulled my daughter towards my face.

"No it's not our stop. But we have to get off now." I whispered into her ear. She pulled away from my face, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"DADDY?" she mouthed at me. I nodded. I pointed towards the man with the baseball cap sitting a row ahead of us. The paper was yesterday's Deling Express. I had bought the same paper yesterday morning. No-one from Deling had climbed aboard the train before we had, I checked.

The train pulled to a halt and we stood up quickly and exited the carriage quietly. We reached the sliding doors and waited for them to open. Jessie tugged on my hand. I looked down at her.

"Mommy," she whispered "that man with the hat got up too."

Shit!

"Alright darling, don't panic. Can you run?" I whispered back. She nodded.

"Yup, I can mommy."

"Ok, now when these doors open and we get off the train, we run as fast as we can towards the forest."

"But the monsters mommy. What about the monsters?"

I had already planned for this and had purchased a small Revolver for Jessie and brought my Shooting Star with me. Before we ran away, Squall had taught Jessie how to use a gunblade. She's very skilled, like her father. And she also has inherited some of my sorceress powers. Jessie doesn't know about my sorceress powers and I don't plan on telling her until hers become active or when I have to use them in a life-or-death situation. I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm dangerous when I have to resort to my sorceress powers.

Squall doesn't know the damage I'll do if he dares try anything now. I am like a lion. I will protect my children at any cost, even if it means unleashing my Angelwing limit break. I become hard to control whilst I am in my limit break. Angelo died three years ago, so I no longer have my Combine limit break. It has been almost eight years since I received Edea's powers. And at twenty-five with a small family, that's the type of thing that could destroy us, mentally, and physically.

"Don't worry about the monsters Jessie; mommy knows what she's doing. You have your gunblade remember? You remember how to use it, don't you?"

She nodded at me and looked into my chocolate eyes with her ice-blue ones. She reminded me so much like Squall. They had the same coloured hair (even though hers had darker tints here and there), expression, stature, sometimes the same attitude. Jessie was just like Squall before his accident. Pure, kind-hearted, innocent, and ready to face the world with that same smile on her face that he wore for me all the time…

I had to stop thinking of the past and concentrate on my future. Squall was getting closer and we had to run.

The doors opened and Jessie grabbed my hand as we jumped onto the platform. I turned around towards the platform and saw Squall's face under the brim of the baseball cap. His eyes pierced into me with anger. He took a step off the train and onto the platform.

"Run, Jessie!" I shouted, pushing her forward, my eyes still on Squall. She tugged my arm.

"I thought I said run!" I shouted at her. Her eyes filled up with tears.

"Daddy…" she said sorrowfully. Squall's eyes softened and he smiled at her.

"Come here princess." He asked her. She tried to run towards him but my hand was firmly wrapped around her wrist. If we weren't in this situation I would have let her go over to him. He seemed different but I didn't want to take any risks. I don't gamble with my daughter's safety.

"Jessie, you're staying with me." I told her with as much authority as I could muster without running towards Squall myself. She tried shaking me off but my grip was tight and she knew I wouldn't let her go so easily.

"Where are you gonna go Rin?" Squall asked me. He'd gotten off of the train and was now slowly walking towards me. "There's nowhere else for you to run to. I've caught up with you now. What are you going to achieve by taking my daughter away from me and keeping me from my new child?" he asked indicating to my bulging stomach poking over the top of my pyjama pants. I scowled at him.

"You know full-well why I left you! You need help Squall and every time I tried to help you, you would lash out at me. Of course I left because of that! Do you think that I would have let you continue with it? You may have started hitting Jessie next! Then what?" I growled at him. He had stopped walking towards me. He was standing in front of me now. I had pulled Jessie behind me for safety reasons. His eyes narrowed at me again.

"You think that over four months that I haven't been trying to tell you something? Every time I got near you, you'd pack up and leave with my daughter without giving me a chance to tell you some good news. I know you had your reasons for leaving, but I'm trying to give you reasons to come back home!"

"Like what? What could you offer me that could make me come home?" I snarled at him. His expression softened and he raised his hand towards my face and stroked my hair away from my cheek. I flinched at the touch, remembering all too well the feel of his hands touching me.

"Don't shy away from me Rin," he said as his bare hand moved away from my face and was placed over my stomach. He smiled. He'd felt his son kick his hand. I had too. It was quite painful really.

"Looks like we have a strong child on our hands." He said softly. I smiled back, and then scowled at him again.

"Our hands? Squall, do you not remember that you beat me to within an inch of my life when I told you? You blamed me for the fact that I'm having a baby. You can't just turn around and act like you didn't do it!" I shouted at him, letting go of Jessie's hand as I did so. I forgot that she was there until I saw her run from behind me into Squall's arms.

"Daddy!" She sobbed into his chest. He'd knelt down when he saw me let go of her arm. "Don't hit mommy, please? We just want you to get better! Please daddy? Please?" she cried to him. My heart felt heavy with guilt. I'd kept her from her father so long she missed him dreadfully. I'm such a bad mother.

"Darling," Squall said soothingly as he stroked her hair. "Daddy isn't going to be hitting mommy anymore. Daddy is all better now. That's why I came looking for you and mommy."

He was just saying that. Of course he hasn't changed. I could see right through him. I reached out and pulled her from his embrace.

"I can't believe your words Squall. I won't come back until I have proof that you have changed." I said stubbornly. I turned around and began to walk away with Jessie holding my hand. Squall wasn't going to let me go that easily. He stood up from his kneeling position and grabbed my arm tightly.

"Let me go!" I screamed at him. It didn't help me at all by screaming. No-one was there to witness this. Squall looked deeply into my eyes and roughly pulled me towards him. He whipped me around so my back was facing him and he held my arms behind my back with one hand. Suddenly I was scared. I had no idea what he was going to do. And in front of our six year old daughter! He brought a syringe with clear liquid in it from his pocket and pointed it towards the inside of my elbow.

"I didn't want it to come to this Rinoa," he whispered into my ear. "But you leave me no choice."

Oh Hyne! He's going to kill me!

I opened my mouth to scream as the tiny needle went into my arm, but nothing came out. He removed the needle and let me go. I staggered over to my daughter clutching where he had injected me.

"Mommy! Are you ok!" Jessie asked as she hugged me tightly.

"I don't know." I whispered to her. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my side. I cried out in agony. Another pain erupted. "Squall! What did you just do to me!" I screamed at my husband.

"I gave you a Syntocinon." He told me.

"A what!" I screeched as another pain tore through my body.

"It's a labour inducing drug. This way, you can't run from me. You will listen to what I have to say." He said simply. Then he smiled. "You can't go anywhere now. And I think we'll be here a long time. The trains don't run on Sundays anymore so we have plenty of time to talk until the next train arrives. Which will be on Monday morning."

I don't want to talk. I have to get away from here! I'm in labour and he wants to talk to me! He must have planned this. But I can't think at the moment. The pain is excruciating.

I want my old husband back…