Standing
"Squall, Squall!" Quistis screamed as she burst through my office doors. "Turn on the news, it's about Rinoa!" Not waiting for me to follow her orders, Quistis ran up to the TV and turned it on.
"—just as Timber was on the brink of independence the Galbadian army captures their leader, Rinoa Heartilly, ironically daughter of General Caraway, giving them the ultimatum of either to give up or they'll kill off their leader. Galbabdia also advises other countries to not get involved with this power struggle or they will be forced to declare war. Back to you Kimberly."
"That was Sage Cross from Timber bringing the news live to you on channel six. Now onto the weather with—"
I turn off the screen racking my brain for what to do. I could hear Quistis trying to talk to be, but all I could think of was how all of this started with…
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Two years ago
A knock from reality brought me back from my long day of mining in caves of contracts and other documents. I check the clock; its glowing red numbers read 12:46, damn, I could have sworn it read five a few minutes ago. A bad feeling found its way and nestled itself in the back of my mind—did I for get something?—I got up and opened the door. It's Rinoa. I give her a weak smile, instantly remembering what I had forgotten, and let her in.
She walks in, turns, and looks at me with disappointment in her eyes. "Where have you been?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Look I'm sorry, I got distra—" She holds up a hand.
"Squall don't—I know you don't mean it, because if you did, you wouldn't keep doing this to me!" I could see tears starting to form.
"Rin, I—I'll make it up to you…" I reach to wipe off a tear on her cheek, but she turns away.
"Don't…" She said, not even looking at me anymore. "Just… don't…"
The silence was deafening and the tension was thick. I moved to close the door in a pathetic attempt to save myself the humiliation of having this caught on tape, but I was too late.
"I don't think that I can do this anymore Squall."
"Can we talk about this tomorrow?" I asked, hoping to stall the inevitable.
"Squall, I'm leaving tomorrow. I need a break." She starts for the door.
"Wait!" I grab her wrist and pull her to face me. She blankly stares over my shoulder. "What are you talking about? Where will you go? You can't just out of the blue decide to leave!" Desperation seeps into my voice.
She looked into my eyes, rummaging through my soul, searching for only Hyne knows what. I try to show her that this time I mean it; tell her silently that I'd do anything to make her stay.
She got up on her tiptoes, gave me a light brush on the lips, and walked out the door.
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The next day
We had all changed since the Ultamicia Affair, but she had changed the most. She used to be so immature, almost an annoyance to have around. There were times when I thought that I would go insane with her unending whining. But somehow she found a way to grow up, maturely, from ten to twenty-one in three short years. She even became the Garden's top negotiator and English professor, one of its most valuable assets.
If not for my own selfish desires, then it was for the Garden's wellbeing that I must somehow convince Rinoa to stay. I had prepared a whole speech on how it would be very irresponsible and childish to leave all her responsibilities just because of me, not to mention selfish—selfish… like I should even talk about being selfish. Oh well, too late to change my speech now.
As I turn into Rin's hallway, I get an itchy feeling that something's not right. She couldn't have left already could she? I jog up to her room and knock—nothing. I knock again only to receive the same answer. Panic starts to creep into my spine, "Rinoa! Open up it's me!" I called in vain. "Rin, I'm coming in!" I took out my key and slid it through the slot. As soon as it blinked green, I charged inside, only to have everything I had expected, I had hoped, sadly denied. The room was empty with just about everything gone except a few scraps of paper on the desk and the provided Garden furniture. She must have packed through the night.
I turn to leave, but my name written on one of the scraps caught my eye. I walked to the desk to get a closer look and realized that the scraps of paper were letters; one for me and one for the gang.
Dear Squall,
I'm sorry for last night, I was stressed, and I regret every word. Please know that I did not leave because of you, well not totally anyway—you kind of gave me that extra push that I needed. You probably haven't noticed, but throughout my years here, I have always felt out of place, like I'm supposed to be somewhere else. I tried to fill up my time here with everything that I could think of: from odd jobs to negotiations. But it just hasn't been working out. You standing me up last night gave me time to think about other things not Garden related, and realize that I had abandoned Timber. Timber is still under Galbadian control; it's starting to die. I couldn't take responsiblility for my neglect of my past home.
There's been talk of Timber getting "culturally cleansed." Zone and I have been e-mailing each other for a while now: he's been talking about how much freedoms are being taken away everyday and how much my help is needed and… I don't know how busy I'll be when I get there, but I'll try to call once in a while.
And just so that you don't worry, I'll complete today's work while I'm on the train. I cannot ask you to keep my positions for me until I come back, so I'll continue to take care of the major negotiations until I receive word that I have been replaced. I also e-mailed you my lesson plan so that my replacement won't be too lost
Love,
Rinoa Heartilly
P.S. The reason for me leaving so suddenly is that I wouldn't have the nerve to leave later on, and I know that this is what I'm suppose to do. It just feels right. Please don't follow me or try to stop me. This is something I have to do, and I have to do it alone. I'll be back, I promise; I just don't know when.
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Present
The other letter said basically the same thing, and everyone took her leave hard—Zell and Selphie especially. I'd like to say that I simply resumed my regular routine and didn't become some pathetic puppy waiting for its master to come home, but I couldn't help it. I guess the saying, "you never know what you've got until it's gone," is true. At first I plunged over to the deep end of the company pool and replaced my friends with diplomats and paperwork, but later on I realized that there was a better way of using my time: become the kind of man Rinoa always wanted and deserved. I started running more often, got into reading and word games/puzzles, took piano, guitar, poetry, and painting lessons, even took a few jewelry making lessons to personally make Rinoa's engagement ring. I also built a house (not by myself of course) for us out in the suburbs of Balamb so that we could spend more "alone time."
It's been three years, four months, sixteen days, ten hours, and five minutes since Rinoa walked out my office door. I've been counting the minutes since she's been gone, and she's only called once. It doesn't look like she's going to come back now; she's broken her promise, and it's high time that I've broken mine.
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A/N: So uh how was it?