AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone! Wow! My first fic outside the FFVII fandom and boy am I excited! I hope you all enjoy it and please leave me a review!
Influences include Charmed, Merlin and many others
By the way, I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the associated characters, places etc.
X X X
Ive been waiting for you ...
Why...?
Because ...I love you
And because you told me you'd be here...
A very long time ago...
You promised me!
Didnt you?
"Rinoa!" A lone voice sounded across the endless fields of flowers, carried there by the cool late summer breeze that wooshed through the bright pink, yellow and blue petals with a warm, yet ghostly touch.
The young woman turned at the sound of her name, her dark hair and floor-length blue duster catching the last breath of the wind, a sight many artists would die to be able to capture; the lovely young Sorceress alone in the endless flower field. "What is it? " her voice had an uncanny ability to sound cheerful, no matter how dark her mood was.
Her best friend, Selphie Tillmitt, came slowly walking towards the woman, which in itself was testament to the black cloud that had covered the world over the last three years; Selphie never moved slowly, certainly not with the distinct droop of her slim shoulders.
"What are you doing out here? " Selphie's voice held a note of warning. Of course she didn't really have to ask, she already knew perfectly well.
"I..." Rinoa faltered, slowly turning her gaze back to the endless meadow, hoping for some sight, some sign that her Knight was here, that he remembered the promise they had made all those years ago. "One time I thought I lost him, and I came here and found him," she turned back to her friend with a sad smile playing on her lips. "Is it wrong to hope for things to work again?"
Selphie gave no reply, just looked on as Rinoa's gaze was drawn, almost like a magnet to the flower field.
"I just," the frustration in Rinoa's heart was evident now. "Wish that I knew why he left! "
Tears fell unbidden from Rinoa's dark eyes, staining her smooth skin as they travelled down until they were nothing more than two spots of damp on the loamy soil beneath her feet.
To her surprise, a scoff sounded behind her. Rinoa turned on her heel to Selphie's face curled into an unmistakable sneer. "Don't pretend Sorceress Rinoa," she practically spat.
Rinoa staggered, as if struck by a physical blow. "Selph, what-"
"Everyone knows, Squall left because of you! " Selphie snarled.
Rinoa took a step backwards. "That's not true, " she said, almost whispering, her tone fearful. Far above her, the peaceful sunny sky, darkened under a blanket of Clouds the colour of deepest night.
"Isn't it? " a second voice joined Selphie's. The shadowy figure at her side grew sharper until it took the form of the blonde SeeD instructor, Quistis Trepe, her usually kind face twisted into one of anger and contempt. "What man would want you? A raging power without control? You could murder him in his sleep and he would be powerless to stop you," the instructor through her head back and laughed; a vile, ugly sound that echoed around the open field.
"Oh Great Sorceress! Decendent of Hyne, " Selphie mocked, dropping into an exaggerated bow.
"Stop it! Both of you! " Rinoa screamed, clasping her hands to her head. "Please, ' she begged, dropping to her knees and sobbing.
Her friends just laughed.
"Ignorant fools! "
Rinoa snapped her head around at the new arrival. She knew that voice anywhere!
Sure enough, there stood her greatest enemy. The one being who had nearly destroyed life as Rinoa knew it.
She was not a large woman, yet she exuded an aura that commanded awe- and fear. Clothed only in a gown of rich crimson velvet, that barely concealed her modesty; her bearing proud and defiant. Her silvery hair had been arranged into an elaborate updo, the ends twisted up to form two horns growing from her temples. Every inch of visible skin was covered in tattoos and scars, and her hands had mutated into vicious talons of violet hues, while she walked on the feet of a beast.
Here eyes were yellow and her face as scarred and tattooed as the rest of her, yet it still held the shadow of a great- and terrible beauty.
"Poor ignorant fools, " Ultimecia went on, her voice as chilling as the wind. "Fearful in their ignorance, hateful in their fear, they seek to destroy that which they cannot hope to understand."
Rinoa shivered in the face of her enemy, the one she always feared she would one day become. It reminded her of her first encounter with the dreadful witch, only then Squall had been by her side, held her hand as they faced the most terrible opponent in their lives.
"Do not be afraid Rinoa, " Ultimecia glided forward towards the younger Sorceress. "We are much alike, you and I-"
"No! " Rinoa hated hearing the fear in her voice, making it unnaturally shrill, hurting her own ears. "I'm not like you! I never will be. "
Ultimecia through back her head and laughed, a loud throaty cackle that echoed unusually loud. "Oh but you already are my dear. No matter how you try to deny it, you and I are bonded through magic! We, are kin! "
Rinoa cried out in denial, beating her fists against the ground, sending petals flying. She cried out for Squall, for her mother, even her estranged father.
"So weak, " Ultimecia said, derision dripping from her words. "Your heart is as black as mine, refusing to believe it, will only delay your destiny to destroy! "
Rinoa finally stopped sobbing, and looked Ultimecia dead in the eye. "You're wrong! " she shouted, she would not be weak, not anymore.
"Am I? " One painted eyebrow rose in teasing disbelief. "Look at the very ground where your precious promise was made."
Confused, Rinoa looked around her, before her lips began to quiver.
The beautiful rolling field of flowers, stretched to the ends of her sight, and every flower she could see, once rich and full of life had withered.
"I- I couldn't have, " she trembled.
"Oh but you have, " Ultimecia said, mocking Rinoa with a short bow. "This the destiny of all Sorceresses, to destroy all of existence! "
Her voice rose once again, that harsh sound, mixing in with the mirthless laughter of Selphie and Quistis. Rinoa clutched at her head, paying no heed to the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Squall, please help me," she whispered.
X X X
"Squall!" Rinoa shrieked, sitting straight up in her bed.
Dead quiet. Everything around her was still, the light of the full moon filtered gently through her window, the only reprieve to the darkness of the night.
Another nightmare, Rinoa thought privately. How dumb had she been to believe in it. The dreams had been getting worse lately, she just wished she knew why.
Both Selphie and Edea had suggested she see a shrink, after all, she had been through enough trauma over the last few years to warrant much more than nightmares.
As if she needed a shrink to tell her what was wrong, Rinoa already knew; she blamed herself for Squall's disappearance. Who could hold it against him, anyway? He didn't want a potentially dangerous girlfriend blowing up the house every second day.
Shaking her head to dispel the depressing thought, Rinoa set her head back down onto the pillow, although doubtful she would be getting any sleep.
Just as her eyes were closing, she heard the nagging creak of her wooden door being opened.
"Rin, you alright in here? " Selphie stood in the threshold, evidently just having woken up, her eyes still half closed and her voice sounded as if her tongue had doubled in size.
Despite her own tiredness, Rinoa just had to smile, no matter what else, she still had her friends. She doubted she could have made it through these last couple of years without them, although their constant treatment of her, as if she were a bomb about to explode at the slightest mishandling, annoyed her no end.
"Yeah, don't worry about me Selphie. Just another nightmare, " she said, stretching her arms.
"You sure? " Selphie asked, stifling a yawn. "You wanna talk about it, " she walked into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed, flipping the light-switch as she did.
"Yeah," Rinoa said, sitting up. "I mean, what's their to talk about?"
"You know," Selphie said with another yawn. "Sometimes talking helps, you shouldn't keep all that stuff bottled up. "
"Well, I have talked about it, constantly, " Rinoa replied. "In fact, if I talk about it anymore I'll probably explode. Besides," she added, looking out the window, "it's not like talking will bring him back, " she said, somewhat bitterly.
Selphie shook her head sadly. "Sweetie, you have to stop holding onto him, he's gone. You need to move forward! Think about your future! "
"You don't get it Selphie! " Rinoa retaliated. "Squall was my future. I never ever thought about life without him! I can't just let go!"
Before she could let out another word, Rinoa's breath caught in her throat and she began to cry uncontrollably.
Selphie quickly gathered Rinoa into her arms and began to rock and calm the emotional young woman. "There there, honey. Shhh, don't worry, everything will be okay. "
"Just when I think I'm over it, this happens! " Rinoa bawled.
"I know, I know. But you gotta be str-" Selphie's remaining words were lost in a gasp. She was staring wide-eyed at something on Rinoa's floor.
"What is it? " Rinoa asked, all traces of sadness gone. Both Selphie and herself had become alert and quick to react, they had to, during the war.
Selphie didn't say a word, just pointed to a small pile of metal that glittered in the moonlight. Rinoa clapped her hands to her mouth at the sight of it, before feeling her left wrist in disbelief.
Lying on the floor were the shattered remains of an Odine Bangle, a bangle Rinoa had been wearing.