This chapter is not much, but I think its worth putting as chapter two, I have a habit of not building up the characters of stories I write, so if this seems pointless and long winded then I am sorry, but it is really my first attempt a trying to add a good foundation to this story.
Back In Balamb
Squall Searched through his jacket pockets and the pockets of the pants he had worn the previous day, he retraced his steps, and with every moment he couldn't find his wallet he became increasingly more angry. He couldn't find his wallet and considering he had traveled the day before he had no clue where it could be and that only fueled his frustration. He sighed hanging his head as he picked up the hotel room phone and requested and new key card so he could spend his day filing for lost credit cards, getting a new Drivers License and he wasn't exactly looking forward to going to the Garden to get a new Military ID. But he supposed that's what he gets for getting talked into going on such a frivolous errand yesterday.
(Knock Knock) Squall groaned as he pushed himself off the king size hotel room bed, he had almost fallen asleep in the warmth of the room while waiting for his room key to arrive. He stumbled the door expecting the same tall gawky looking teenager to awkwardly fumble his key card in his hands while handing it to Squall who obviously frightened him just as he did every time he brought anything up to the naturally stern looking Squall Leonhart.
Although whenever he answered the door he did a double take the the confusion that now clouded his mind. There she was the Raven haired girl from the library and the flower shop she was shyly standing before him, her slim arm outstretched before him and it took him a moment to realize that the object in her hand that was practically being shoved into his face was in fact his thick black leather wallet.
He stood there silently for quit some time trying to make sense of the girl being there, was she a good samaritan who simply found his wallet and thought the polite thing to do would be to return it, but then if that was the case why didn't she send it in the mail to the address of the Garden that was located on his Drivers License, because it certainly didn't make sense to come all the way to his hotel room to return it, and then it dawned on him "how did she know I was staying in a hotel?" He wondered if the young girl standing before him was crazy or something, upon looking at her one wouldn't think so, but then again you never know these days.
She tilted her head to the side and smiled ever so slightly, causing Squall's cheeks to turn a light shade of pink. "Well don't you want your wallet back?" Rinoa asked teasingly the reluctant man before her, she could tell her presence threw him through a loop, and so she figured she better explain herself fast, because he seemed like the getting straight down to business type.
He finally reached out and grabbed the object being held out before him, causing her to sigh with relief due to her feeling really quit nervous about his blank and very much so dangerous looking gaze. "Thank you." Was all he said before he began to close the door on the girl who he suspected to be indeed crazy for coming all this way to drop off a wallet to a man she only spoke two sentences to. One apologizing for running into him, and another when she asked if him or Zell needed help, it was zell of course and so they did all the talking and toward the end her grew very bored and went to wait outside, and that was all of the contact he had ever had with this woman standing at his doorway that nobody besides... Zell!
He thought he would ask before he jumped to conclusions about her motives, and about how she knew where he lived. "So how did you know where to find me?" she grinned knowing the meaning behind his question, and it amused her that he would question her motives for coming to return his wallet in person. "Well you see your friend Zell had to give me all of his information when he purchased the flowers at my shop yesterday that way I could have the shipment delivered to him, you see?" Squall cocked a suspicious eyebrow. "And you called him and asked for my information? I see. Although I wonder why you didn't just send my wallet in the mail? Are you going to give me some excuse about you not wanting it to get lost?"
Rinoa was taken aback by his harsh tone, it was not what she was expecting at all and to be honest she was offend since she came all this way to return it. Sure she had an alternative purpose as well, but she probably would have at least called him rather than returning it in the mail. But she had a very good reason for wanting to see him face to face, although she was beginning to think this was a bad idea as he cast a cold look with crossed arms and a puffed out chest in her direction.
He continued after a moment and he only got even more mean and she only got even more angry. "So what is it you thought there was a connection, and so when I dropped my wallet you took the chance to see me again in hopes of testing out that connection? Well I'm sorry to inform you that the look I gave you wasn't because I'm interested, it was because for a moment you seemed familiar. But the moments over and its time to move on, I know I did yesterday, and really so should you."
Now Rinoa was fuming, she had never met someone so harsh and cold in her life, a wave of disappointment and anger moved through her entire being, for she had an idea in her head the whole train ride up here of how this moment was going to go, and this was by far so down on the list that it never even occurred to her that this angry rude man before her was in fact the man she has wanted to meet for years now. And with that tears began to burn the sides of her round dark chocolate colored eyes.
Squall stopped his rant when he realized he had hurt the feelings of a girl who really had gone along was out of her way to return his wallet and it did save him the headache of getting everything replaced, so no matter her reason he truly felt awful for his inexcusable behavior. He just didn't like surprises, and this certainly was a surprise. Even so he figured he owed it to her to listen to her reasoning for coming all this way without him being a world class jerk to her, and so he sighed deeply before muttering a half hearted apology, and asking her what it was that she wanted from him.
"Listen. I'm sorry for the attitude. And I would like to thank you for returning my wallet, but why is it that you came all this way? I mean it seems a little." She interrupted him knowing where his words were going. "Crazy?" She whispered and he stopped and sighed. "Yes." Rinoa kick softly at nothing on the ground trying to find her words, and once found she looked back up into his stormy colored orbs. "I wanted to thank you." She said quickly. Squall was now even more confused. "Thank me... for?" She smiled a faint smile, but it quickly disappeared, and Squall could see the sweetness in her face replaced with seriousness and compilation. "You are Squall Leonhart, you work for Balamb Garden, and you fought and killed the sorceress."
Anger and suspicion arose within the serious brunet, that was not public information as of yet, and so how did this girl know of any of this, who he was or what he had done. "How do you know any of this information?" He hissed. The girl held up a hand and waved it softly as if to say calm down, he merely cocked and eyebrow while crossing his muscular arms while awaiting her answer.
"You see I've known for some time now, pretty much since it happened. I would like to introduce myself, I am Rinoa Heartilly, Daughter of Julia Heartilly and General Caraway." He noticed a sadness in her eyes when she mentioned her mothers name, and he knew exactly why, she was the daughter of the retired General, so of course she could easily come across such information, but even more so he knew why such information would mean this much to her. She sighed as she began to tell him a story that he already knew the ending to. "You see five years ago my mother Julia was suppose to go to dinner with my father, it was a business dinner and therefore it was known to many. They were to leave in the limo together, but as usual my fathers meeting afternoon meeting ran very late, and so he sent my mother on ahead of him. And that is when the car was..." she was innervated by a deep serious voice. "That was when your mother was killed in an assassination attempt against your father, and afterwords forcing him to retire due to the guilt he felt." She hung her head. "Yes. And so you can imagine when I returned to the library yesterday evening and the librarian asked if I knew you because she saw us talking to each other, and whenever I looked at your ID in your wallet I realized who you were, and I just had to meet you."
Squall shifted and leaned against the doorway, it still hurt to stand still for so long, even if it had been almost six months since he faced the sorceress. "I know that you are the General's Daughter, but how did you come across such information, I'm sure he wouldn't just tell you." Rinoa clasped onto a small ring hanging from a chain around her neck, she looked down for a moment, looking back up at him he noticed that she once again had tears threatening to spill over.
"Well you see for many years now I have been waiting for this to happen, of course, and really it became quite an obsession. Finally my father said I was to no longer know information regarding the sorceress, well only information known to the public, so one day in my room I knew there was a meeting going on about a plan that they had come up with, and I wanted to know desperately. I paced back and forth in my room for some time until eventually I exhausted myself and leaned rather hard against the wall in my anger." Rinoa stopped suddenly, not knowing if he really even wanted to hear about all of this.
Squall had to admit that he was somewhat interested in knowing where this girls story was headed, so he made a face as if to give her the go ahead to continue with her story.
She sighed with relief and continued her story. "Well whenever I did that I felt the wall shift, and when I went to examine what had happened I realized that I had discovered a door to a secret passage through my house, and so I went in search of my father's office. I did find the office, and from there in in I listened in on any meeting regarding the progress with the sorceress, and that is how I came to know who you are. That is why when I found out who you were yesterday I wished I would had had the chance to thank you in person then, but then I realized that your wallet would be the perfect excuse to come to Balamb and thank you anyways. She took a breath at her long winded story, and smiled slightly waiting for him to show any sigh he was listening, for he had a blank expression on his face now, that replaced the irritated on from earlier.
Squall was processing what the girl standing nervously before him had just told him, he then pushed himself off of the door frame and walked slowly to the bed sitting and then allowing himself to finally fall back, he could feel the pain tingle through his body from standing in one spot for so long and he put his hand over his face to mask his pain and the weakness he thought pain meant.
Rinoa hesitated in the doorway, she knew better than to just walk into his hotel room while he lay there on the bed, obviously he didn't want to talk. But she wondered why he didn't just tell her to leave, instead he just walked away and left her standing there with the door open, she didn't quite understand.
Rinoa decided that this was probably her cue to leave. And so she turn, throwing one last glance over her shoulder at the person who had finally done what she never thought could be done, he was the one to rid the world of the evil responsible for her beloved mothers death.
He sighed as he heard her walk away and finally spoke the words that she probably wasn't expecting. "Rinoa right?" She stopped and walked back to the doorway, feeling a little bit of hope that he would have more to say. "Um. Yeah uh. I mean Yes, Rinoa. My name is Rinoa." She didn't know why, but his voice calling her name made her nervous, but it did. "Well I am not a hero Rinoa, I have not avenged your mothers death, and I have a feeling things are only doing to get worse from here."