"Aw man! The battery is dead!" Irvine Kinneas said as he took his eye away from the video camera pointed to Rinoa Heartilly.
"Figures you'd break it!" Selphie Tilmitt said, with a sarcastic tone in her voice. "Now Squall won't be on the tape!"
Squall Leonheart, the man who had defeated the Evil Sorceress Ultemecia, didn't have any doubt in his mind that he was in love with Rinoa as he walked up to her.
"Hey. Ya feel better?" Rinoa asked him.
"Now that I'm standing here with you...yeah, I feel better" He replied. He was worried that he would be alone for the rest of his life, with no friends. He was wrong. He knew he was wrong. And He loved that he was wrong.
"How come you're never romantic like that, Irvvy?" Selphie asked, poking her elbow in Irvine's stomach.
"Huh? Ya think I could do dat?" He replied with a grunt.
"So what's gonna happen to me now that all of the sorceress' threats are gone?" Rinoa asked.
"You'll stay here, at Garden." Squall said.
"With you?"
"Yes with me. I promise."
"I know, there's no way anyone or anything could tear me away from you."
"Same here. And if anything does happen, like some other threat or anything, I'll save you."
"Yeah, that way, we'll be unstoppable!"
"Right, we defeated Ultemecia!"
Rinoa leaned in to kiss Squall. Squall closed his eyes, and leaned forward to meet her.
"Outta my way!!! Hot food, burning my mouth!!!!" Zell Dincht yelled as he ran behind Squall pushing him closer to Rinoa. Now they were face to face. They both chuckled a bit from Zell's unbottleable personality, but they stopped after their eyes met. Soon, they're lips met. The wind on the balcony whipped Rinoa's silk white dress, and Squall's black SeeD uniform.
"Awwww, gosh Irvine...isn't that romantic?" Selphie, who was still spying on Squall and Rinoa, said.
"Yeah..." Irvine said, and quickly dipped Selphie, and kissed her. Selphie's eyes opened wide, and then closed with pleasure of her boyfriend.
"So, Master Cid, is there any further plans for SeeD and Garden?" Quistis Trepe asked Head Master Cid, who had his arm around Matron's waist.
"Quistis, my dear. We've just saved the world! Heh heh." Cid laughed at himself for that quick ego boost he got, even though he did nothing to help. "I mean, you six saved the world. How about a break? You all deserve one."
"Yes, Quistis. You saved me, you saved everyone." Matron looked over her shoulder to see Squall and Rinoa still embraced on the balcony. "Did you ever picture something like that? Most of all, you six saved Squall."
"Yeah, that was a pretty big job. Maybe we could use a bit of a break." Quistis smiled. She saw Zell resting on his elbows, sitting at a table. "Excuse me." She said, bowed and walked over to him.
"Hey muscle man. How are ya." Quistis asked from over Zell's shoulder.
He groaned a long, low groan. "Don't eat Selphie's chicken...I think she spiked it with Chili peppers."
Quistis giggled. "Yeah, I figured she try to make it hot. Anything wrong?"
"Nah, I mean. I'm glad the sorceress is defeated, but...now what is SeeD supposed to do? SeeD was made to defeat the sorceress, now what?"
"I've thought about that too. Things are by far not back to normal. There are too many things to figure out."
"Yeah, as much as I don't like him...where's Seifer?" Zell asked.
"I'm not sure."
"Do ya think Garden would let him back in?" Zell asked, not believing what he just asked.
"Why, do ya want him back?"
"I dunno. Just...In a way, he was my friend. He was all of our friends. Even Rinoa's, before we even knew her. He just seems like one of us, that got turned the wrong way. I think I could forgive him, if he came back."
"That's very big of you, Zell. I still don't know if he'll ever come back. I know he's not alone. Majin and Rajin are with him. I'm sure."
"Yeah. I don't know why I miss him so much. He always called me chicken wuss."
"Yeah, that's just Seifer for you. He does what he wants."
"Do ya think he'll wanna come back?" Zell asked.
"No way to tell."
"Ya know. Do ya think, after the party is over, we could meet somewhere?"
"We could. But if we got caught, we'd be in deep." Squall said.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that. Where do ya think a good place to meet would be?" Rinoa asked.
"How about the balcony near the classrooms?" Squall said, remembering when Garden's first flight was, and how the wind whipped Rinoa's hair.
"Yeah...that sounds good." Rinoa said with a smile.
"Attention, ladies and gentlemen. The celebration will be over in fifteen minutes. It's currently 10:45, curfew is extended to 11:15 tonight. Thank you." Headmaster Cid's voice called over the PA system.
"Well, I'm gonna go to my room, see ya at twelve?" Squall asked
"I'll be there, waiting for you."
"Just don't get caught." Squall said.
Zell walked up behind Squall, and quickly put his arm around Squall's neck. "C'mon buddy! Let's go get some shut-eye! Your girl will be here tomorrow. C'mon!"...
"Zell, make sure no one knows I'm out, ok?" Squall said.
"Yeah sure." Zell said as he dropped his shirt on the floor, and slipped under his sheets. "I still don't know why ya asked to be demoted."
"I didn't really like having everyone ask my opinions and stuff. Cid can do a better job at that than me." Squall said. Zell just shrugged.
Squall quietly opened his door, and peaked out. The patrolmen was turned walking away. "Man, they have this place like a prison. Anyway, I'll see ya tomorrow."
""Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Zell said, resting his head on his hands.
"Is that possible?" Squall replied, and started to run down the hall...
Rinoa was on the opposite hallway. She looked at the wall. "Man, it's 11:49, I've gotta hurry."
Selphie sighed. "I wish Irvine wanted to see me after curfew."
"Oh, I'm sure he does." Rinoa said. "Make sue no one knows I'm gone, Selphie." Rinoa said, and ran out the door, still in her white, silk, tight dress.
Squall got to the balcony first. Not even two minutes later, Rinoa walked in with her cat-like grace.
"I missed you." Squall said.
"I missed you." Rinoa replied.
She walked up to Squall, and put her arms around his neck. Squall moved his arms around her waist, pulled her close, and they kissed. The wind ruffled their hair very slightly. The moment was perfect. It was more than what both of them had fought for. Neither of them could ever imagine what they were feeling for each other, especially Squall. Rinoa pulled back, and smiled at Squall. He did the same.
"Ya know, in the Ragnork, when I went into space, I didn't care if I died because I knew that without you...nothing would've been worth it." Squall said.
"Thank you. But did you know the whole time you felt like that?"
"No, not until Edea put you in a coma. That put me in a wreck."
"I didn't know that."
"It did. All I wanted to here is you call my name."
"Squall..."
"Just like that. I wanted to hear that."
"Squall, is this for real?"
"More real than anything that ever has or ever will be."
"I think so too."
"But?"
"But, I've never been so...whatever I'm feeling."
"Is that bad?"
"No, of course not. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I feel safe. The revolution ended up a success, and everyone was brought back to normal. I've only had one other boyfriend, if you even call him that."
"Seifer."
"Yeah... I mean, my feelings for him are gone, in a romantic way. But he was still a good friend."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I can't agree."
"I understand why you can't." Rinoa said.
"He was a great leader, when he followed orders." Squall said.
"Yeah...let's stop talking about him." Rinoa said, she ran her hands up her arms.
"Are you cold?" Squall asked.
"Yeah, I little bit." Rinoa replied. Squall could see her breath in the cold night air.
"Here, take this." Squall put his SeeD uniform around Rinoa's shoulders.
"Thank you."
"Think nothing of it." Squall said.
Rinoa looked up. "Hey, check it out! A star rain!"
"Star Rain?"
"It's something that my dad would say when a meteor storm came." Rinoa said.
"Oh yeah, a Star Rain." Squall said as he watched meteor after meteor fly across the sky.
Together they watched the "star rain". Squall still had his arm around Rinoa. From the few clouds in the sky, it began to snow very softly. Squall and Rinoa didn't mind. Rinoa closed her eyes, and got wrapped up in the moment. It was the calmest feeling that anyone could ever feel. She rested her head on Squall's shoulder, and inhaled deep.
"mmmm. I'm kinda getting cold."
"Yeah, I'll walk ya back to your room."
"No, I'm not that cold. Let's go over to the Cafeteria. That should be open, right?" Rinoa asked.
"Yeah, they'll let the former captain of SeeD and his girl has something to drink." Squall said.
Together, they walked back inside, and took the elevator down. Inside the Café, Rinoa sipped on a warm hot chocolate. Squall only watched in awe about the fact that he was sitting with the most beautiful woman he had ever known. Rinoa put the cup down. "What?" She asked.
"Ya have a little bit..." Squall said as he brushed his lip.
"Oh..." Rinoa said, and wiped her lip with a napkin. "Thanks. So what are we gonna do tomorrow? Where are we going?" Rinoa asked.
"Well, we can take a car out to Esthar, and go shopping or something."
"Is it already cleaned up?" Rinoa asked.
"Oh yeah. After the sorceress was defeated, all of the soldiers went and cleaned up Esthar. It's safe now."
"Cool! I wanna meet Laguna!" Rinoa said, in her usual carefree way.
"Yeah, that'll be fine." Squall said.
Outside of the green tinted window they were sitting at, the snow began to pour, coating the ground with a white sheet...
In the morning, Rinoa was awoken by soft music playing from the Quad. She stepped out of her bed, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and walked to the bathroom to have a shower.
In the quad, Irvine sat titled back in a chair. He tapped his music to a very old tape of "The Red Hot Chili Peppers". It was his favorite music from when he was a little kid. Zell walked up to him.
"Heya, buddy. What'cha up too?" Zell asked
"Nothing really, just listening to some music." Irvine replied.
"Ya love having Selphie as the head to this whole quad, so you can use the equipment for your self, am I right?" Zell asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"Oh, nothing…"
Behind them, Rinoa ran by. "What's up, Rin?" Zell asked as she ran by.
"Fire!" Rinoa called back. Zell took off after Rinoa, as Irvine did as soon as he jumped out of the chair. Rinoa ran to the bottom east balcony. Outside, they saw "Tear's Point" in flames.
"What the hell?" Zell said, seeing the huge floating structure engulfed in flames.
"I dunno! I just saw it out side my window as I was taking a shower!" Rinoa said. Surprisingly, the guys didn't even notice that all Rinoa was wearing was a towel.
"Well, does Cid know about this?" Zell asked
"Yep, I told him." Rinoa said. Squall came running up with his gun-blade drawn.
"Some kind of monster or something is attacking garden from the main entrance!" He said. "Let's get everyone down in there to stop it dead!"
"Right!" Zell said, punching his right hand into his left, and moving his neck from left to right.
"Aw man! Check her out!" A voice called from behind. Two male students who didn't now about what was going on were looking at Rinoa as they walked down the hall. Squall quickly took off his SeeD jacket, and threw it over her shoulders.
The wall in front of the two students exploded, sending them flying back. Behind the wall, floated a woman dressed in red. She had blue stripes that were way to familiar to Rinoa. "A-A-Adel!" She muttered. Adel didn't notice the SeeDs as she threw out a black lighting on the two teens, killing them.
"Adel!" Squall called out to the sorceress. Adel turned, only to see Squall running up to her. He jumped into the air, and began to slash back and forth, up and down. He landed, and said "Rough Divide!", and did the attack. Adel flew back, and crashed through the wall. Squall jumped through the debris-ish hole, and was ready to attack. Adel was gone. Squall scanned everywhere, the ceilings, walls, she had just dissapeared.
"Did ya get her, man?" Zell called out.
"I don't think so. I only used my limit break once…I'm pretty sure one Rough Divide didn't kill her." Squall said.
"Well, let's go find her! We can't jeopardize this garden! She may be after Matron!" Rinoa said.
"Squall, take Rinoa back to her dorm so she can change! We'll meet up later. We'll get Selphie and Quistis to search for her, too!" Irvine said.
"Don't you think I should search for her? No offense, but you guys aren't as strong as I am!"
"That's the reason you should stick with me! Remember our promise?" Rinoa asked Squall.
"Yeah, Ok, sounds like a plan." Squall said. He took Rinoa by the wrist, and they ran back through the quad. Zell and Irvine went through the hole in the wall, to find Selphie, Quistis, or Adel.
Back at Rinoa's dorm, Rinoa ran back to her bathroom to put on her clothes. She ran out of the bathroom while she was sliding her shirt on. Squall saw her stomach, and he instantly got butterflies. "That sure hasn't happened in a long while!" He thought to himself. Together, they ran down the long, curved hallways of Garden. They heard gunshots from the main lobby. "Irvine!" They both said at the same time. They ran into the lobby, only to see Galbladian soldiers opening fire at a large piece of debris. Rinoa quickly threw out an ultima stone, and it exploded beneath the soldiers, sending them into the air, and then crashing down, dead. Zell poked his head up as he heard the explosion.
"Thank God you two came by!" Zell said.
"Where's Irvine?" Squall asked, more serious than happy that they saved his friend.
"We got away. A whole platoon of those damn guards attacked us! I told him to get away and find Quistis and Selphie." Zell said.
"Ya didn't find Adel?" Rinoa asked.
"No. I haven't seen even a trace of her."
"Damn. Ok, let's keep searching for her. What about the situation on the front gate?" Squall asked, still serious.
"Uh, I don't think either us or the monster have gotten any progress." Zell gloomly replied.
"Ok, let's get that thing under control first." Squall said. The three SeeDs took off to the front gate.
"So that's what's happened so far. Not good, eh?"
"I can't believe Adel is back! I killed her with my lasers!" Quistis claimed.
"I don't even know if Squall killed her or not, we can't find her. I'm sure Zell has been rescued." Irvine said, keeping an eye out for soldiers.
"Well, let's go get Matron and Cid. Just incase that's why Adel's here." Quistis said. Irvine led as Selphie and Quistis followed him as he ran into the long hallways, not knowing what was going to attack or save them from anyone or anything…
"Adel is here." Matron said.
"No… How is that possible?" Cid asked, getting up from the bed he and his wife were sitting on.
"I-I'm not really sure."
"I thought Squall killed her, the sorceress!" Cid said, tossing his hands into the air. "When will we ever be safe? When will we not fight?!"
"No one can ever know that, darling. We must escape now, though. If Adel gets here…to us…it could be over."
"How? What are you hiding from me?" The headmaster asked,.
"Dear, I hold nothing from you."
"C'mon. Let's get out of here."
"Rinoa! Watch your back!" Zell yelled as a paratrooper flew down the hall towards the three teens. Zell started to run at it, playing chicken.
"Zell! Don't be a fool!" Squall yelled as Zell ran past him.
"Just get out of the way! I'm going to take this thing down!" Zell said. His knuckles started to glow. He jumped as the paratrooper hit him. Zell would've burned in the engine exhaust, but he held onto the cockpit. Zell punched the pilot square in the face. A loud crunch was heard as the punch shattered the front of the pilots face! The unit he was driving started to tilt to the right. Zell jumped off of it, and not a moment to soon, as the unit slammed into the wall, creating a hole. Behind where the wall had broken, Adel stood, holding a student in her clawed hands, his blood running down her arms. She smiled only to show blood soaked teeth. Rinoa quickly covered her mouth at the sight.
"Listen, Sorceress. If you don't vanish now, we will kill you!" Squall said.
"I find that hard to believe!" Adel had talked for the very first time. He voice was a high pitched like a banshee.
"We defeated Ultimecia! You will not survive our wrath that we do onto you!" Rinoa said.
"Hell yeah! I'll crush you, Sorceress!" Zell said.
Adel threw the dead student off of her claws. "We shall see."
Squall was holding his gun-blade in front of him in a defensive position. Rinoa snapped her Shining Star on, and Zell punched the air with his metal plated gloves. Adel only waited.
"This time, we end it all. The winners are the only ones who live. No running this time, Adel!" Squall said.
"Yes. This time, you all die." Adel said, in her banshee like voice.
Squall was the first to attack, he swung his blade fast and furiously, only on occasion hitting his target. Adel was fast, almost too fast. She quickly moved her left hand up, and hit Squall into the wall. He hit, and was stuck in a crater. He gritted his teeth, and blood showed through some of them. Adel made a fist, and her whole arm extended to Squall. Zell jumped up, and caught it. Her fist took up his whole torso. He straightened his body out perpendicular to the wall. He spread his legs, and hit the wall. He feet went in the wall, and Adel pushed even harder. He started to sink in even more. Squall was still stuck in the crater that Zell had straddled, still holding off Adel.
"Get out!" Zell said, straining to talk. Squall slid out, and as soon as he did, Zell was slammed. A huge dust cloud formed from the rubble and dirt. Squall rolled out of the cloud, and looked around for everyone. He saw a silhouette. It was Rinoa, holding her hand close to her mouth, and skwinting to see anything. Squall then saw a tall silhouette. Adel was right behind Rinoa. Squall put the point of his gun-blade out, and jumped. He peirced Adel right between her breasts. She threw her head back, with a loud scream, the created a crater all around her! Rinoa was thrown back, but landed with a skid. Adel through her head around, spitting blood out, until light beams started to spew out of every hole in her head. Her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears were light up. Her arms thrashed around violently, trying to kill anything it could. Squall noticed the ceiling start to crumble. A huge piece of debris was falling over Rinoa. He screamed to her, but she didn't hear. Suddenly, a huge hand grabbed it.
"Ifrit!" Squall said, still holding the blade in Adel's chest. Selphie sat on the giant's shoulder. She winked at Squall. Squall smiled back, and planted two feet on Adel. He grabbed the handle tighter, and jumped straight up! Adel had been cut in half from her chest up! She screamed, and her voice shattered the walls. Everyone gathered, and they ran out! "Zell! Zell's still in there! We've got to get him!" Rinoa said, but as soon as she did, the door got blocked off with debris!!!