Chapter 2 (Complications)
"One who does not turn to look back on where they have come will never reach their destination…"
"Hey! Are you alright?" the man asked as he felt the young lady lose consciousness and collapse on him.
He was given no response, for the young lady seemed to have passed out. He sighed. What to do now? He needed to go on his way, that was true, but he couldn't just leave her out in the rain. Balamb was five miles away, but he was just there. It wasn't a long trek, but it wasn't something that he was so willing to do either. Thinking it through and narrowing down his options, he decided there was nothing else to be done but take her back to Balamb. Irritated, he looked at the ominous sky and sighed.
"Guess we have to get out of this rain," the man said as he picked up the young lady and started to carry her.
He walked and walked, carrying her as the wild winds blew and the squall raged. It seemed like an arduous task for anyone, yet he didn't seem to be fazed by it all. He simply went through it all, almost like it wasn't even there. He went onward with a blank expression on his face, the lightning casting reflections on his ice-like blue eyes. Yes, ice-like is indeed the words to describe those eyes. It is not only because of its bluish hue, but also because of the fact that he is wearing a blank emotionless stare, cold as ice. No…I'm mistaken. I'm sure if anyone looked closely, they would surely notice that his gaze is truly colder than ice.
As he kept on walking, not even looking back at the way he had trod, he gazed at the young lady with utmost curiosity. What came to his mind was, first of all, who she was, and the why she was there. Any normal person would have tried to find refuge from the rain, but this particular lady did not even hasten her steps to run to the nearest shelter. She simply walked, and it didn't even look like she knew her own path. Shaking his head, he cleared his mind of these thoughts. He did not like to dwell in too much things, for it got him thinking too much. He chose to ignore the matter for now, though he did gaze at her from time to time. As he did so, he noticed something that seemed familiar.
It turned out to be a pendant. A metal pendant that wrapped around the young lady's slender neck with a thick chain.
The pendant was a lion. To be more precise a lion's head. It's mouth was open, as if it was roaring bravely, and was connected to an old fashioned cross. He stopped for a bit and for a second felt an odd sensation and feeling as if he had seen that necklace before.
Perhaps it was déjà vu, but he had never met too many people or paid attention to too much things in the world so it seemed rater unusual that it would stick to his mind. He started to get a headache, and he felt as if some unknown memories were trying to escape his mind. Troubled, he halted for a moment, only to continue once again determined to reach his destination. He was not really the kind of man to let anything to trouble him deeply, so he kept walking for he knew he did not have a ways to go. After hours of endless walking, the man finally reached the town of Balamb. By that time, the storm had gotten much worst, and it was the farthest thing from being blissful.
"Finally…" he said muttered as he entered the town and looked for a place of refuge.
Spying the inn, he walked towards it and headed in. He was soaked to the bone and so was the young lady that in his arms. It was no surprise that the woman on the reception desk stared at him with a dumbfounded expression, unable to speak any words. No…by the look on her face, I'm sure even if she was able to speak, she wouldn't have known what to say. The man simply ignored her and spoke.
"Do you have a room?" he asked in a monotone voice.
"Y…yes. We do," the receptionist said stuttering, finally able to muster a few words, "that will be…"
The receptionist was interrupted by a loud shout. The man and the receptionist both looked at the way of the source and found a young man running toward them. His hair was of a yellowish tint, and it was spiked in an upward manner. He wore casual clothing, and had an odd tatoo of who knows what on the side of his face.
"Rinoa! Rinoa!" he yelled as he ran towards the man who was carrying the young lady.
"Rinoa! Is she going to be okay?" the young man asked worriedly, "what happened to her?"
"I saw her sitting out in the rain five miles from here…she passed out." The man answered the young man.
"Oh…thanks so much! For bringing her all the way here! I'm Zell Dincht," the young man said pointing at himself. "We were so worried about her, thank you!"
The man just shrugged and said nothing for a bit.
"Whatever…" the man answered, "you're a friend of this lady?"
"Yeah! Of course!" said Zell as he finally straightened up and looked at the man for he was catching his breath. "Her name is Rin…."
Zell stopped his sentence abruptly as he saw the man. For a minute, he just stared at the man. He looked exactly like him. The gun blade, the clothes, except for the necklace, the man looked exactly like him. Zell took a closer look and deepened his gaze. The only difference he could tell was the length of his hair, which I should like to say was still the same color as it used to be. It was still the light shade of brown, and his eyes still the bearing that icy blue color and gaze. Taking notice of the man's never-ending stare, he decided he had to speak first if he wanted to shorten the time he needed to spend.
"Why are you staring at me?" he asked coldly, "Stop it."
"S…Squ…Squall?" Zell blurted out dumbfounded. "You can't be Squall! You just can't be, you died…two years ago!"
"Squall?" the man asked confused. "My name is Leon, got that? I don't know who you're talking about."
Zell just stared, startled at his response. His mind raced.
'He looks so much like him, everything about him is like him. Even the way he talks is like him? Could it really be just a coincidence? No…is it even possible that it's only a coincidence?" Zell asked himself mentally.
After shaking off his confused thoughts, Zell sighed.
"It can't be…he died two years ago…" Zell told himself firmly, "plus, that's not what's important right now. I have to take care of Rinoa."
"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else," he said in a soft voice, "um…please don't rent a room, you can take Rinoa over to me and my friends' room. She can rest there."
Leon nodded and followed Zell upstairs as he carried the young lady which he now knew as Rinoa. Zell opened the door to a room with six luxurious beds in it and three young ladies and a young man sitting on them. Leon just quietly followed and entered the room behind him. Seeing the young lady he carried, the three other ladies and the young man quickly went over to her.
"Rinoa! Is she going to be okay?" a young lady with a yellow dress cried out frantically, "She's not hurt is she?"
"She'll be okay, Selphie, I don't think she's hurt," Zell explained to the worried girl.
"You can lay her down here," Zell instructed Leon as he pointed to an empty bed.
Leon laid her down on the bed gently, as her friends crowded around her with worried looks on their faces.
"Um…hey guys," said Zell, all getting their attention, "this is Leon, he was the one that found Rinoa and brought her all the way here."
Zell pointed at Leon to introduce him to his friends and Leon simply nodded. But instead of introducing themselves back, they simply stared just as Zell did, unable to speak. Leon was confused. This has never happened to him before, and he was quite uncomfortable. The ladies in the room were staring at him with wide eyes, that seemed scary to him, and the young man was shaking his head in utter disbelief. Leon did not know what to do, and though he was one to think things through, no options crossed his mind at this time. But then again, even if he did think of something, he wasn't really gregarious, and disliked to take part in too many manners of communication. It was just his usual demeanor, so he didn't say anything and stared at the room's wall, wondering when they would stop their endless gaze. But to his relief, Zell broke the silence.
"Uh…um…Leon!" he said trying to sound cheery, "these are my friends. This is Quistis Trepe," he said as he pointed to the young lady with blonde hair, that was wearing a vest.
"This is Selphie," he said as he pointed to the young girl with the yellow dress. She had emerald green eyes and curled hair in the color of hazel.
"And lastly, this is Irvine." he said as he pointed to the young man that was wearing a long trench coat as well as a vest and a cowboy hat.
One by one, they finally snapped out of their little staring trance and shook their heads and smiled awkwardly.
"Um…nice to meet you Leon," Quistis said quietly, "thank you for bringing Rinoa here."
"Uh…yeah! I was so worried about her, thanks!" Selphie said as she looked down on the ground.
Irvine nodded with agreement, and Leon shrugged.
"Whatever…" he said in the monotone voice he always used.
For some odd reason that Leon didn't know of, they all started to look at him weirdly again.
"What? Is there something on my face?" He asked rather annoyed, and everyone soon enough snapped out it once more as Quistis changed the subject.
"Okay, we're going to get her out of these wet clothes," Quistis said quietly, "why don't you boys step out of the room of the moment?"
Zell nodded and walked out of the room as Leon and Irvine followed him shortly after. They just stood in the hallway for a while leaning on the walls by the door, when Irvine said something to break the silence.
"You look so much like someone we used to know…" Irvine said quietly.
Leon glared at him irritably and sighed.
"That's what he said," Leon answered as he pointed to Zell.
"He's not him, okay Irvine?" Zell said facing his friend, "No matter how much he may look like him, I bet it's just a coincidence. Those kind of things do happen in life you know. It can't be him. He died a long time ago."
Irvine seemed to get it and nodded, though he was fighting his instinct to deny it. It seemed to be too similar to be a coincidence, he oscillated. Zell did not wait for a further response and turned to face Leon.
"I'm sorry, that's why everyone was staring at you. You remind us of a good friend, and you look exactly like him, you kind of act it too. But he died a long time ago, so you can't possibly be him. I'll explain to the others later so they won't be confused anymore, okay?"
Leon simply nodded and muttered, "Whatever…I guess since she's okay, I should be going now. It's been nice meeting you all."
He didn't give Zell a chance to speak, and headed for the door swiftly, determined never to come back. Somehow everything about those people seemed familiar to him, but he did not want to admit it and think about it all. Also, he was sick of all that staring. He just wanted to leave that place, for everything just seemed too familiar. Without another word, he left the inn and never looked back.
Author's note: Oh my gosh! I actually updated in time! I can't believe it! I hope you all like my story so far and will review more. This chapter is pretty darn boring though, so you probably won't review (LWaaah!L). Just don't flame me and I'll still be happy. I promise that next chapter will be better. I still wonder what quote I should use next, because I always make my quotes proverbs and they have to somehow relate to the story. (Sigh) Well…right now, I'd like to thank my reviewers for reviewing my first chapter. Reviews are really important to me, because they give me ideas and gives me confidence to write every chapter. So thank you for all of you that decided to review last month!
Silent Angel510 : Thanks for the review! I know you've been keeping up with my stories for a while now, and I just wanted to say thanks for that!
ae : Thank you for reviewing! I hope you keep reading the story and find it interesting. I do try to be as descriptive as I can be, so I guess you can call it well written though I think I could have done better!
Cerulean Crystal: You've always reviewed my stories. You're just great.
Luissquall: Thanks for the review! I really like the way you review because you always say what you enjoyed. It gives me an idea on what to do next and keeps me on track. Thanks a lot!
Angelo7: Thank you for reviewing! I really did want to continue my story before, but by the time I decided to continue, everyone had lost interest because it took me so long to decide! I'm an idiot sometimes. I didn't get the set amount of reviews I wanted, (I got only two) so I decided to remake it in a better version. I hope you like this new one! (I usually only continue when I have 6 reviews or more)
ChibiRaccoon: Thanks a lot for the review. I'm glad you like the story. I try my best at descriptive writing because I think it makes writing sound a lot better. My vocabulary isn't so wide, so its always hard to think of the right words to write sometimes!
I'll see you soon! On my next update!
Heaven's gates