As The World Falls Down.
i. hope is the last thing one does, before they are defeated.
When the sky fell down, Squall grabbed her hand and looked more defeated than he ever had.
They'd been fighting for hours, never stopping, fighting and fighting and trying so damn hard to do anything at all.
When Balamb Garden crash landed, leaving hundreds dead, Squall had already given up. Zell was dead – they had seen one of the ants tear his chest open and devour his kind, beautiful heart whole, and Rinoa screamed and wept as Squall dragged her away, yelling there was nothing he could do.
Selphie had disappeared hours ago, no sign of her bubbling self to brighten up the inevitability of their situation. Rinoa was sure she left when Irvine was killed. Maybe even been killed herself, given herself over to those creatures. Heartless, Squall called them – like he knew.
The sky began to tremble as they fled the Garden and out into the wild expanses, where the Heartless still fought the remaining warriors. Squall grabbed her hand, his eyes pained and empty, and Rinoa held onto him as tight as she could, tears old and new becoming mottled in the fur of his jacket.
"Rinoa, Rinoa..." he said her name over and over again, as the world fell down around them. A scream pierced the silence of their embrace, and Quistis stumbled back from a Heartless, blood gushing from a shallow wound in her chest. Rinoa lost control as she saw Quistis gasp for air, and wrenching herself from Squall's protective arms, ran towards the Heartless, hurling every ounce of magic in her body at the monstrosity, watching as it crumbled beneath her power.
Squall's heart leapt to his throat as she pulled away, and he watched as time slowed, Rinoa's dark hair was sent flying by her speed, and the Heartless was torn apart by her. She turned to him, her smile wide and triumphant, pointing up to where the Heartless had been with her index finger. Squall smiled, beginning to walk towards Quistis.
"Rinoa!" she managed to scream, pointing desperately at the young girl. Squall turned, as the sky trembled and began to fall.
Rinoa's eyes shot open, her mouth opening in a gasping cry.
"Squall!" she screamed, her tears never stopping as the Heartless, the tiny ant of a creature, burrowed its way through her middle, blood tainting her baby blue dress a sickening black, her good and kind and sweet heart being devoured whole by the monster.
As the world fell down, Squall slashed the Heartless in two, before holding the body of Rinoa, of sweet Rinoa, his girl, his only Rinoa.
A tear rolled down her alabaster cheek, and Quistis was already dead. Squall cried and he cried until the sky turned black, and the world fell down and Rinoa's body was gone, and his front was stained with her blood, and he woke up in a Red Room with a girl all in pink staring at him, green eyes wide.
As the world fell down, Squall became Leon, because Squall couldn't save her.
First in a few little snippets of the endings of the Final Fantasy worlds, before certain people came to end up in Traverse Town, or Destiny Islands, or Hollow Bastion. Thank you very much for reading. Reviews are love, as I'm totally fascinated by these ideas, and would love someone to geek out with (;