We Make A Promise

By: Auria

Disclaimer: I own some of the dolls, but not the characters, okay? I'm not claiming ownership of Final Fantasy VIII or anything else of Square-Enix's, for that matter. I'm writing a fanfic.

Author's Note:

Okay first I'd like to say thanks for just clicking the link and giving my fic a chance. Even if you don't review, even if this very author's note is as far as you read into this fic, thanks anyway. Secondly, I want to ask you a favor while reading my fic: be open minded. You don't have to review (of course it's always wonderful hearing words of encouragement), you don't have to do anything, I merely ask that you be open-minded. If you're one of those people that is 100% against the Ultimecia=Rinoa thing, this...might not be the best fic for you. Of course I'm not saying you shouldn't at list give it a chance. You never know, it could turn out pretty alright, couldn't it? All I'm saying is...please don't flame me ranting and raving about how inaccurate the entire plot of my fic is and how much you hate it. If you don't like it, just don't read it.

Aaand...I believe I've wasted enough of your time with this a/b so on to the fic, and I sincerely hope you enjoy some part of it because I'm certainly enjoying writing it. Please review if you've got the time or inclination--or both. :)

~~~

"Can I tell you a story? …I had a dream. It was a scary dream. We make a promise. A promise to see shooting stars together. I get dress up and put on your ring…but the thing is, I can't remember where I'm suppose to meet you. I start to panic. I really want to meet you, Squall, but I don't know where to go. I start running through the mountains, the desert, the plains…through Timber, Balamb, and Galbadia…

"When I realize I can't run any longer…I…I just want to see you so badly. So I scream, 'Squall!, where are you!?' Then I woke up. I was crying. I'm sorry. You don't have to say anything. I just felt like I had to tell you…"

"It was just a dream…it doesn't mean anything. Don't worry about it."

~~~

Chapter One

Six Feet Above

Her eyes were locked on the motionless tea in the white, dainty porcelain tea cup in front of her; almond eyes distant, tranquil--almost, as she stared at her reflection.

Why doesn't it change…?

The man's voice to her right was faint and far away. There, but not audible. She only heard it subconsciously as he rambled on. "…and so we were thinking we might--Sorceress?"

Will it ever be different?! She unknowingly frowned.

"Sorceress Rinoa? S-Sorceress??" …nearer, that voice.

How many more times will I look into it before I see something different?! Her frown deepened.

"Sorceress is there something wrong?!" the near-shout ripped her from her thoughts. She looked up and glanced around at the various officials seated at the long, rectangular table. A flush crawled up her neck and into her cheeks as she realized all eyes rested on her. The man next to her frowned in concern.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine. Please, continue." she said quietly.

Every day it seemed harder to cope with the reality of her existence. She felt trapped in a world strangers. Trapped inside herself.

The man to her left continued talking, but his voice became distant once again as her mind meandered off to another place.

The white feathers at the collar of her black leather jacket brushed against her chin, tickling her every time she turned her head. It gave her a sense of comfort, and she never left home without it. It was warm, and seemed to embrace her like a loving hug would. He gave it to her.

He…

She knew it was a he. She knew him.

There were many things she couldn't remember. Too often she had the strange feeling one is overcome with when one sees a familiar face. Deja-vu became such a common emotion that she no longer acknowledged its presence in her mind.

Parents. Families. Love. Something she saw when she looked around. Something everyone else seemed to have. They reminded her of Him. She loved films. When the humans would embrace eachother, when they would lift a child and hold it and cuddle it. She especially loved the weddings in films.

Kissing…promises…rings…

She knew, and yet she had not the faintest idea. It was the strange feeling that haunted every minute of her existence. They called it love. She knew that feeling, that "love". She'd never had it for herself, but she knew it.

He was like "love"…

Sorceress Rinoa. A name. The only concrete fact in her life. If you could call it a life. More like a dreary existence, each day stretching so far into the next that the days slowly crawled over eachother and melded together becoming one long day that she was almost sure would never end.

A warm hand gently closed over hers. "Come, Sorceress, I'll escort you to your room. You don't seem so well tonight." She looked up, and recognized the man as an Instructor. Moretti was his last name. Fairly young, dirty blonde hair and chocolate eyes.

She glanced around the table. Once again, all eyes on her. She hesitated, before standing. "Yes…I suppose you're right." she softly pulled her hand from Moretti's and bid everyone goodnight with a simple nod, before following the Instructor into the hallways of Balamb Garden.

She silently followed Moretti, her eyes lingering over the unfamiliar corridor. She must have been through this one over three hundred times, yet every time it seemed unfamiliar and strange. She couldn't count the number of additions and remodels Balamb Garden had undergone…as far back as she could remember, at least.

She sighed. "Take me to the balcony, instead." she instructed her guide. "I want to see the stars before bed."

Moretti didn't seem to have a problem with her wish, and nodded wordlessly, taking an abrupt turn at the end of the hall.

She regarded his presence with slight bitterness, though it was no fault of his own. She felt as if she were a child, always having to be escorted here and there. Watched all the time. Oh sure, they always said it was for her own protection, but she was no fool. She knew what she was. They had to keep an eye on her to be sure of their own safety, also.

Like I'm some bomb, set to just go off at any time…

"Here we are." Moretti's voice wiped away her daydreams. He moved forward the grasp the handle of the balcony door. The strange, unfamiliar handle. The new handle.

A warm night breeze wafted through the door and brushed softly over her face, the air blowing past her ears whispering secrets to her. She stepped through the doorway at Moretti's gesture and out to the edge of the balcony, to lean against the railing.

Her gaze trailed briefly over her arms, over the Odine bangle on her right arm. The one she was forced to wear every moment of her existence, since she could remember. They told her it kept her from harming herself and other's with her powers, and she trusted they were right. Often she wondered what it would be like without it. If she really was the monster they made her out to be.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her gaze wandering up to the sky and from one star to another. The stars invoked a strong, serene feeling within her. Looking out upon them she felt like she knew them, they were her old friends. They would never grow and change and die. They would always be there to listen to her when the dark shadows of night flooded the sky. She smiled, releasing a contented sigh.

Just then a shooting star streaked across the night sky. It gave her that rare, alive feeling when she watched shooting stars. It was the only thing that ever made her take in a sharp breath and really feel the blood rushing through her veins, chills rippling down her spine. She subconsciously brought her left hand to her neck and wrapped her hand around her own two rings, hanging round the silver chain on her neck. She closed her eyes.

I wish...I wish I could remember. She wished upon the star.

She opened her eyes and grinned. "That was a shooting star! Did you see it?" she pointed to it and turned her head to face Moretti, eyes lit with childlike excitement. He merely smiled and nodded. Her smile faltered slightly and she turned her head to face the stars once more.

That "polite smile"…I guess not everyone likes shooting stars…

She sighed and turned to face the Instructor once more. "I…I would like to sleep out here, on the balcony, tonight." she stated.

He frowned slightly. "Sorceress, I'm afraid--"

"Go tell Headmaster Whitchurch I'm sleeping out here tonight." she interrupted.

"Sorceress, I can't very well leave you out here on your own." he replied patiently.

"I've been living for centuries, I'm sure I qualify as a 'big girl' by now. Go." she ordered, frowning in determination.

"Sorceress I will not leave." he replied, the same determined expression.

She looked away, tears of frustration brimming her eyes. He won't see my tears. She took a deep breath and let the summer-night air dry them from her eyelids. She gave one last glance at the stars, before turned back to Moretti. "Let's go then."

He nodded and opened the balcony door, gesturing for her to step out.

"No, you step out." she snapped. "I'm not a Hyne-damned porcelain doll, I can hold a door for myself."

He was slightly taken aback, but quickly obeyed and step into the hall of Balamb Garden. She glared at his back silently and followed.

More unfamiliar, twisting corridors, an elevator ride, and they came to her room, on the fourteenth floor of Balamb. He opened the door for her, and she stepped inside. She turned and locked it before making her way across the room to collapse onto the bed.

The room was beautiful indeed, certainly the most luxurious accommodation on the whole of Balamb Garden. There were three enormous, bay windows on the north end of the room, draped with deep ebony curtains of velvet that were tied back to reveal the whole of the night sky. The head of the bed rested against the west wall, king sized and clothed a with black satin comforter and silk sheets and pillows. The silk bed-skirt brushed against the midnight-blue carpet. A deep mahogany desk inhabited the east wall, complete with a matching chair. Next to the desk sat a tall mahogany bookcase filled with Rinoa's own collection of favorite reads. On the southern wall, a few meters over from the entrance door, was another door, leading into a private bathroom and small dining table for two.

Rinoa suddenly rose from the bed and walked over to the nook at the base of the center bay window. She grabbed a pillow and wrapped her arms around it, sitting down on the deep blue cushioned nook.

She caught sight of her reflection for the second time that night in the glass of the window. The light projected from the elegant ceiling lamp onto the night sky behind the window made it hard to miss. She looked away. She didn't need to see it to know what she looked like.

She felt a knot growing in her throat and swallowed hard, hot tears brimming her eyes. She stood and walked back over to the bed, pulling the silver chain handing from the side of the ceiling lamp on the way over to click off the light. She felt around for the edge of the comforter, and peeled it away from the mattress to crawl underneath, not bothering to change into any kind of nightclothes. It didn't matter.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.

~~~

Running, again, the same field...the long, soft grass brushing her calves as she ran. The beautiful wildflowers, everywhere, a myriad of pastels. The sky was always gray and stormy.

She panted, her chest rising and falling again. Panic coursed through her veins...always searching. She had to find it. She was scared, lost, wearied, and alone all at the same time. She cried out to the wind, always crying herself hoarse, but she could never hear herself cry and thus did not know what she cried.

Always the same ending. She took hold of her rings and looked to the heavens for an answer. Hoping with all her soul the clouds would part and angels would show her the way to...to that place. She didn't know where or what the place was, but she knew she had to be there and that was enough. She always woke up crying into her pillow.

But not this time.

This time she didn't have to look to the heavens. She immediately stopped running upon seeing a stone house sitting among the wildflowers, under the cloudy sky. Distant, but there. She ran with all her might, and when she was sure her lungs would bust...she ran harder and faster.

The stone house faded away, swept by the winds. Her heart seemed to stop. A tear slid down her cheek, and she collapsed onto the ground, pulling her legs in and wrapping her arms around them.

Something brushed across her cheek. Her eyes shot open. It was a man's hand that wiped her tear. She immediately looked up.

Nothing.

She reached up and touched her cheek. It was dry. He was there.

~~~

Rinoa's eyelids slowly parted. Something silver lay on the pillow just inches from her face. Her eyesight focused.

It was her rings, part of the necklace stretched over her cheek.