A.N. Almost...done... This is the last chapter proper; after this there's just an epilogue, then it's all over (*sob*...)
DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squaresoft. This fanfic is a not-for-profit enterprise (...?)
Laguna's words still echoed through Squall's head. It was a friendly echo, not like the memory of the shouted insults he'd hated so much. He couldn't stop crying, but he didn't know why this time. Maybe people cried when they were too full of emotions, not just when the emotions involved were bad. He felt safe. He couldn't always be self-reliant. It was nice to know there was someone who understood he needed a shield.
And he'd always been there. But Squall had been too self-absorbed to notice. He wanted to apologise again but he knew Laguna would just refuse to listen; instead he tried to nestle into Laguna's arms, to hide there. He felt the older man smile and change his grip so Squall felt more secluded, more secure. No matter that he hurt to be touched. Breathing hurt, and he went on doing that, didn't he?
Whatever Laguna might tell him he was sure he would die from his injuries. He knew the limits of healing magic. He'd stopped counting bruises after the first two or three days, but he could tell he was so badly hurt conventional medicine might not be able to save him. He just hoped Laguna would stay with him.
A rustle, a touch on his mind. Then, (Squall? Still there?)
(You're back?)
(Yes.) Annoyance, not directed at him, then the caress that eased his pain and let him relax in Laguna's embrace. (I'm so sorry. Something drove me off.)
(He said that might have happened.)
Amusement, again not aimed at him but at Raine's former husband. (From what you remember, and as much as I want to break down the walls between you by any means possible, he didn't know what he was talking about. He got the right reason by accident. Still, the thought was there.)
(Mmm, whatever. Thank you for stopping it hurting again.)
(Least I can do.)
"You OK?" Laguna asked.
"Sure," he mumbled, opening his one eye. It felt like he was winking at Laguna. "Mother came back. I'm fine now."
He didn't look happy as Squall thought he should. Instead he looked upset, worried. About Raine? About him? "I'm going to take you home," he said, tucking both arms round Squall to lift him.
"I can walk," he protested. "She's here so it doesn't hurt. And I had to walk before, when it did hurt, so I can do it now."
(Don't be daft,) Raine snorted.
"You don't need to," Laguna said at precisely the same time. "I guess someone made you, earlier. I'm not going to make you now."
"Can you two stop that? You're confusing me." Maybe this was better. Walking wouldn't hurt but it would take strength he didn't have.
"Stop what?" Laguna asked, putting him back down and looking like he knew he'd forgotten something.
"Talking at the same time. I can't hear you both properly."
Laguna had been manoeuvring the table away from the door. Now he looked back at Squall. "I'll try not to butt in," he said, looking concerned again. Concerned and sceptical, Squall realised. "If you ask her to try as well -"
"She can hear you, you know."
"OK; fine. I'll remember that." The worry lines on Laguna's forehead were deepening. Why?
"What's wrong?" Squall asked, confused.
"Nothing's wrong, I just think I need to get you back to the ship quickly, that's all."
(Just tell him I don't mind about Ellone, Squall,) Raine said, letting her amusement wash over him again.
(What? Why?)
(Just do it, please.)
(If you like.) "She says she doesn't mind about Elle. What does she mean? She won't tell me."
Laguna went red, then white. "What's the matter?" Squall said, directing the question to both of his parents, the seen and the unseen.
"How did you know about that?" he whispered.
"I -"
Someone rapped on the door. "Open up in there!"
They stared at each other, all questions forgotten. Laguna glanced at the door, then picked Squall up and deposited him behind the door, laying a finger on his lips. He straightened and drew his machine gun. Squall huddled against the wall, hugging his broken wrist to his chest. I had to get him into this, didn't I?
The person outside banged on the door again. "We know you're in there, Loire. Come out and we won't kill you."
Laguna closed his eyes for a second. Squall knew what he was thinking. As long as the men outside hadn't been sure where they were, they had a chance. They'd lost that chance now. Then he caught his breath as Laguna stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a grenade. "Kill us, and all of you die too," Laguna shouted through the crack in the door. "You want a few bombs dropping on this place?"
"You can do better than that. You've got ten seconds before we blow this door to bits. Ten, nine -"
"Stop it. We'll surrender."
"Oh, good. So unlock the door, punk. Or we'll treat your dear little boy to a round of Russian Roulette just as soon as you give up."
"You don't want to do that."
"Yeah, right. Like we need two hostages."
"You do. Like, you can't kill him because, if you do, I'll make so much hell for you you'll have to kill me. And you can't kill me because unless he sees a doctor, he'll die anyway. Either way you'll have no hostages when you've finished." He was starting to wriggle the pin out of the grenade.
"OK. We won't kill either of you. Happy?"
"You going to hurt him any more?"
"Guess not," and Squall couldn't help flinching when he heard the snigger.
"Fine, I'm opening the door and I'm going to throw my weapon out," and Laguna shot back the bolt, threw the grenade through the three-inch gap, slammed the door again and threw himself over Squall, shielding him. Half a second later the grenade exploded. The door blew off its hinges. Splinters and timbers flew everywhere. Someone outside screamed once, then there was only the sound of the bomb's shockwave.
The second the noise had died away Laguna straightened up, brushing bits of shrapnel out of his hair. "We've got to get out of here. I hope I don't hurt you any by doing this." Before Squall had time to ask what he meant, Laguna pulled him up into a fireman's lift, picked up his gun and hurried out of the washroom.
"Put me down," Squall hissed. "I can walk, I tell you."
"Slowly, maybe. This is quicker. We can't waste time stroking your ego."
"It's not about my ego." But he was feeling too hot, and his head was starting to ache in a way Raine couldn't remedy. Delirium was catching up with him again and he didn't have a hope of winning an argument. He let his head flop against Laguna's back and tried to relax. It didn't work until Raine held his hand again.
Raine. Laguna. Something wasn't right. (Does he think I'm pretending you're here?) he asked her.
(Kind of. He thinks you're so ill you're imagining it. I think he's getting suspicious, though.)
(What did you mean about Sis?)
(Never mind that now. Go to sleep, Squall.)
"Can't," he mumbled. Laguna shushed him. Giving up on sleep, Squall slid into a kind of trance state where his body could not disturb his mind. Maybe it wasn't ideal. But he had to blot the world out somehow, until he could fall into the sleep from which he would not wake.
The squad of renegades came running up from the lower level to the barracks, looking for the source of the explosion. For a second, Laguna heard the men pause and stare at the wreckage. Go take a look, please...and they moved off along the passage towards the washroom, heading away from the back staircase. The second he thought they wouldn't be able to hear him anymore, Laguna ran for the stairs to the parking lot.
Squall had gone all quiet but he almost certainly wasn't asleep. There was no way he could be comfortable, slung over Laguna's shoulder like he was. Still, he wasn't complaining. Right now he probably would if he had to.
Laguna tried to stop himself thinking about the way Squall had mentioned Elle like he knew what had happened. He didn't really manage it. Not good, when it was getting distracting. Magic, sorcery, devils, Hell - what's to say ghosts don't come in somewhere? Hyne, I don't know. I kind of hope it isn't true. Hey, sorry, Raine, I cheated on you with our adopted daughter. I hope you don't mind. After all, I did kind of walk out on you twenty years ago. I would have thought you'd have stopped expecting me to come back.
No, it can't be real. But he said she said she didn't mind - what am I supposed to think? About anything?
Movement, ahead and above. Laguna stopped thinking and clutched the gun. He inched forwards until he could see the shadows of the men blocking the stair. Two of them, asking each other if they should go and find out what was happening. Laguna set Squall down and knelt in the shadows, peering up till he could see feet, legs, bodies turned neatly away from the lower corridor. He aimed and fired. Neither soldier had time to scream.
Someone was coming after them. Squall had his eyes half-open and was looking around hazily, like he knew there was danger but couldn't remember what to do about it. Laguna grabbed him and hustled him up the stairs, half-carrying him and half letting him limp because there was no time to lift him without impaling him on his broken ribs. Once they were away in the cool seclusion of the upper passage, Laguna took time to stop and try and help him. But there was so little he could do to help. Squall's life was slipping away in every little blood trail and every shock-delivering injury. Laguna couldn't stop the trauma by wishing it away.
"I'm OK," Squall mumbled, dozing on Laguna's shoulder. "Just - bit sleepy."
"No kidding." Less than fifty feet behind them, somebody was exclaiming at the sight of the guards' bodies in the stairwell. Laguna told his heartbeat to slow down and started jogging towards the car park again. Too bad he couldn't remember the way from the next junction. Right? Left?
Thank Hyne; when he looked along the right-hand branch he could see what looked like the car Raijin and Fujin had used earlier, just sitting there like it wanted to be stolen. He picked up the pace a little, forcing himself not to stop when Squall muttered a complaint. Almost there. Almost... and he ran the last few yards, praying they all shared car keys round here. The latches were up like the car was unlocked: it was. Laguna slipped Squall into the passenger seat and climbed over him to the driver's side. The key was in the ignition, almost like Fujin had figured someone would need a quick getaway.
He couldn't hear the heavy footsteps but he knew beyond all doubt that they'd been seen. Laguna wrenched the key round and floored the accelerator. He regretted it when Squall almost flew out of his seat. "Hold on," he said, a little late.
"With what? To what?"
"OK, I take the point." The sparkle had already faded from Squall's blank eyes. He was falling asleep again - and it was a kind of sleep Laguna feared. "It won't be long," he said, trying to get Squall interested in something, anything. "The Ragnarok's waiting outside. We're going to make it."
Rinoa stood there, locked in place as she abandoned casting and fought Asmodeus mind-to-mind. Seifer would have considered telling his men to lay off her if any had been attacking her. As it was, they were restricting their fire to the others. They couldn't know what Asmodeus was, only that Rinoa was keeping him occupied.
And maybe doing more than that. Black liquid was seeping from the devil's more recent wounds. Seifer was as sure as he could be that the spells Asmodeus was using - not stocked magic such as humans could control but shaped personal energies - were steadily growing weaker. Already he didn't have the strength to retaliate when one of the other four women threw something at him. Against all probability, Rinoa was winning.
A finger of thought touched the inside of his head. The first time he hadn't known what that meant; last time it hadn't mattered. The devil was way too strong for a normal man to push him off. (Let go,) he ordered anyway, fighting Asmodeus off as well as he could, using all the techniques that came naturally to a sorceress's Knight. (No way are you taking me over again.)
Frustration. Anger. And suddenly Seifer realised it wasn't bravado talking, whatever he'd thought. Asmodeus was more badly hurt than even he had supposed. He was weak enough for Seifer to succeed in keeping him out.
(If you want to do that, human, you can. I would not, were I in your place.)
Seifer blinked. Throughout their antagonistic relationship, Asmodeus had never spoken to him. (With all the trouble you've been, why wouldn't I want to kick you out?)
(You do not consider what I gave you. What I can give you if you let me back.)
(All you've given me is a right mess to sort out when you're gone. If I don't get killed for this I'll have my ex-girlfriend the sorceress to thank for it. I'll never be able to breathe without her say-so again.)
(I see your thoughts. You want her back. If you help me I can give her to you.)
(Huh?)
Amusement, almost laughter. (I could run at any time and find a host in the back streets of a city. But if I picked at random it would be years before I healed. I first chose you not because you had influence, but because you have a mind that welcomes me as few others do. You would save me, and I would help you to whatever you want.)
Seifer smirked inwardly. (The fun bit is you think you're lying but I know you're telling the truth. You're so weak I could keep you from taking control of me if I let you in now. You come into this house on my terms. If you don't do what I want I'll throw you out. By the time you're stronger I'd have learnt more control so I'd still be able to do it.)
Rage, then more pain as Seifer distracted him and Rinoa got in a hit. (For that I will not help you!)
(Fine by me. I'll sit here and watch you die.)
Asmodeus huffed, annoyed with Seifer. (You must help me as I ask. Always.) He sounded like a disgruntled child.
(There's this little human skill you need to learn. Compromise.)
(And would you compromise on your demands to save your freedom?)
Seifer blinked. He stared round the cavern, at the remains of an army that thought it was his. He suddenly realised how much he'd done under the devil's control, and how much he'd succeeded in doing before Asmodeus set his sights too high. And whatever happened now, he knew there were quite a lot of things he did not regret having been forced to do. So when it was about to end...
(I need an answer!)
Nothing existed but the magic and the other casters who played the game. Rinoa had long since stopped trying to resist the call of the spells she effortlessly conjured on the demon prince who sought not only her death but the death of humankind. She had transcended her material form, and her spirit acted to mould each spell like it belonged in the ethereal realm. This was sorcery. This was power.
She reinforced the barriers around herself and entered Asmodeus's mind without a thought, taking the fight to its rightful place, the centre of the darkness. As her friends struck at the devil's body, she struck at his corrupted soul. Again and again she conjured bolts of pure energy, threw them at his unprotected mind, at the source of his power. For he, like a sorceress, produced his magic from nothing. When she hit his body she made it hard for him to concentrate. When she hit his mind she disarmed him.
He retaliated. White-hot touches brushed across her mind, cutting through her defences like they didn't exist. She ignored the pain and pushed back at him, forced his mind back into his own head, set off a shockwave blast that ran through him and stunned him for a few seconds. But she was getting desperate. He knew how to hurt her, unlike any other on the plane. She had to stop him before he disarmed her too.
She gathered together the last of her powers and blasted her way through Asmodeus's last line of defence to the centre of his being. Her anger spurred her on and he was helpless before it. For Galbadia and for Esthar, for Squall and for herself, she clutched his mind and tore it apart. And she knew it was too much for him to bear. Caught up in him, she shook when he shuddered, and she felt the beginning of his final collapse. The end was near.
She pulled herself out of his mind. Hovering in midair, she did nothing but watch as Asmodeus screamed, and clutched his head, and ripped himself in half. His body melted. She couldn't physically see his spirit flee, but she could feel it leaving his body, drawn inexorably into the sky, away from her world forever. The cavern shook with the aftershock of the devil's departure. Half the lights went out, and somewhere downstairs part of the cave system collapsed. Rinoa flung her mindshield out to stabilise the roof...
And then the noises and the collapse stopped. Rinoa hung there, tense and afraid, waiting for a final disaster to overcome them. But nothing happened. The world was still. It was all over.
Rinoa dragged herself back to her body and immediately fell over. She'd overdone it and she hadn't even realised. She lay there for a few seconds, letting the silence wash over her and calm her, and then as she regained some measure of self-control she slowly ran her mind down her body, checking herself for injuries. She'd taken some magical hits that had left her with a few burns. That was it. She sat up, hand over her mouth to stop herself laughing hysterically. Calm down, you silly woman. Rinoa tensed over and reached further into herself. If she'd suffered a backlash that had made her lose the baby...
She hadn't. She could feel the child's heart beating. Silently, she thanked the gods who had to be listening. She'd won the battle. She could take Squall home and be with him and their child forever.
Rinoa shook herself and looked around. Quistis was helping Elle to her feet. Seifer was struggling upright, staring round the cave. His appraising gaze finally fixed on Selphie. "You know how to use that?" he asked, pointing to her gun.
"Didn't you see me using it earlier?" she retorted.
"That's why I'm asking." He looked over to the soldiers' barricade, ignoring Selphie's squeaks of annoyance. "Get out of here, quickly, before you get attacked. If anyone tries to stop you threaten to shoot me. It might give you enough time to run for it."
"What are you going to do?"
"Stay here and sort the mess out." He looked surprised she'd asked. "These guys haven't done anything that I didn't tell them to do for a year. Don't tell me the Estharian army's not going to come over the rise in a couple of hours. That won't be anyone's fault but mine, will it?" He directed the question not only to Selphie but to Kiros, Quistis, Ward, Zell; the people who had finally defeated him. "I've got to try and persuade them to give up so they don't all get killed."
Quistis shook her head, smiling slightly. "Getting all noble on us, Seifer?"
"Don't know; don't care. Just go."
Ward shook his head, gesturing to the door. "We're staying to look for Squall and Laguna," Zell told Seifer. Kiros nodded silently.
Seifer looked unconvinced. "They must have got out the back way. They would have been found by now if they've stayed down there, and I don't see anyone pushing them up here at gunpoint. I'd check they aren't at the ship already before you go down."
"I'll do that," Ellone assured him, leaning on Quistis's shoulder and closing her eyes. After a moment she opened them again, looking relieved. "They're out."
Footsteps were approaching from the staircase. Seifer jerked his head at the others; Rinoa for one didn't need telling. She caught Selphie's arm and hurried her out.
To her heightened senses, expressions spoke as loudly as shouts, and thoughts were audible whispers. And Ellone was muttering about her fear for her stepbrother. She was worried by something she'd sensed when she'd touched Laguna's mind. If Laguna feared for Squall... Rinoa picked up the pace, running back towards the ship with Selphie on her heels. Asmodeus was gone and there was nothing to block the link between her and Squall anymore. He was calling to her. He needed her. She couldn't help but answer the call.
The army car came flying through the gates like Asmodeus himself was chasing it. Irvine took one look at the uniformed figure in the driver's seat and hefted the sniper rifle. Yeah - I'll blow out the tyres first. The windscreen'll be bulletproof. Easy shot, now... and he squeezed the trigger. The car skidded out of control. Its back end jack-knifed into the Ragnarok's front landing skid. Irvine lined up the rifle again - and pulled back as quickly as he could at the sight of the man sliding out of the front seat. "Oh, shit, man, I'm sorry -"
"Shut up and cover the gate." Laguna half-dived back into the car, coming up with Squall in his arms. "We're being followed." He half-ran up the ramp, his eyes fixed on the young man he held almost possessively. He was saying something under his breath that Irvine couldn't catch. Was Squall moving, just a little? Irvine forced his attention back to the van now following Laguna out of the base. "It's them," Laguna said unnecessarily, looking back over his shoulder. Irvine closed the world in around himself and fired once, twice, three times. Like Laguna's stolen car, the van skidded out of control. In fact, it slid all the way into the renegades' dead sniper's foxhole and stuck there.
Two men leapt out of each side door, machine guns blazing. "Bloody bad shots," Irvine muttered, and took down three of the four before they had time to blink. The last one dived behind the van, which now had more men piling out the back hatch. Now they were being more cautious. That suited Irvine fine, because it meant none of them had the angle to hit him. And he had a professional's patience.
One more. Yes, I got you, so fall down. Now, you, come just a little further out; try and hit me. I'm here, I'm waiting. Got you. He released the trigger. Now there were only three soldiers hiding behind the van, only three streams of bullets heading towards him. Exhale, press down, squeeze. Now there were only two.
Laguna slowed down as he got to the top of the ramp, looking back as soon as he'd got Squall under cover. Irvine stayed focused on the soldiers shooting at him. He fired again. One more man went down, leaving one standing.
Irvine trained the sight onto the corner of the van. A gun barrel was sticking round the corner, spitting out bullets that came nowhere near him. Maybe the soldier knew he was wasting ammunition. The gun stopped firing and moved, creeping towards Irvine. The SeeD waited. One more inch...and the hand on the trigger moved into Irvine's sight. One shot, and the machine gun fell to the ground. The soldier screamed and stumbled out into the open. Irvine fired again. At that range he couldn't miss.
As the last man went down Irvine finally turned round. He closed his eyes for a second, not wanting to believe what he saw. Squall was sagging against Laguna, blinking nervously like he didn't know where he was or what was happening, his strength and pride gone. Laguna was trying to soothe his son, and was failing badly. Irvine dropped the rifle and went to them, got an arm round Squall and, working with Laguna, lifted him as gently as possible. "You still with us, Squall?" Irvine asked, touching the elder boy's face with his free hand.
"Y - yeah..."
"That's good. Real good. Down here we've got first aid stuff, we'll fix you up, no sweat." Irvine knew he was babbling but he didn't give one anymore. Squall, Irvine's commander, who had run his life for two years, was hanging limp between two other men, unable to move, his feet weakly scraping the deck like he was trying to walk on reflex. It was something from a childhood nightmare. Irvine tightened his hold on Squall as he and Laguna hurried him to the medical room. He couldn't, wouldn't, lose him now.
Irvine forgot his remaining injuries as he helped Laguna lift Squall onto the bunk. Squall moaned, staring up at them with wide, unfocused eyes. "Does it hurt?" Laguna asked softly. Squall nodded. "Just relax," he told him, carrying the canister of anaesthetic gas to Squall's side and hooking the mask round his head. "Deep breaths, now, then you'll feel better. It's not knockout gas, but don't be surprised if you go off on us for a while."
Squall's eyes drifted shut, and Irvine moved in to support him as he went completely limp. He wasn't unconscious. His left hand was moving like he wanted something to hold. Laguna tucked Irvine's fingers round Squall's and went over to the shelves, coming back with a pair of latex gloves, a box of swabs and a basin of water. Irvine shivered.
"Need a hand?" he asked, not sure what he wanted Laguna to say.
"I could do with six, but you'll have to guard the door till the others get back." Laguna scowled. "Just give me a knife and a box full of Hi-Potions, will you?"
"Right on." Irvine lowered Squall to the mattress and let Laguna take his place. The President of Esthar was clucking over Squall like a mother chocobo. The SeeD Commander didn't complain. Irvine shook his head; Squall was silent half the time anyway, but this wasn't his usual speaking silence, it was an empty one. Almost a dead one. Irvine pushed himself away from that word.
"Shout for me if you can't manage," he said, backing out of the room. Damn his shaking hands. Damn everything. He was a professional murderer, for Hyne's sake! He shouldn't be all cut up because one of his best friends was a bit messed up!
Except that he knew why Squall's remaining clothes were a uniform shade of dark brown. Except that he knew how Squall had got his injuries. When he closed his eyes he couldn't help picturing what his oh-so-frail friend must have gone through. And he had enough experience that the images were detailed. They'd lived a lifetime in the past fortnight. He couldn't, wouldn't forget that.
Irvine ground his teeth as he ran up to the entryway and lay back down with the sniper rifle. If Seifer were in front of him now he wouldn't hesitate to waste a lot of bullets making sure he died very slowly. Whether or not he'd meant to do what he'd done.
Rinoa tried to catch up with Selphie and Kiros as the team ran back to the Ragnarok. She wanted to be there first. She wanted to hold Squall again before anyone else got to touch him. She knew she was being perverse but she couldn't help it. Every step drummed her need of him through her head.
Kiros stopped at the top of the ramp, bending down like he was talking to someone lying prone on the floor. Selphie ran past him, skidded to a stop when someone shouted at her to think for a change, switched direction and headed for the bridge rather than the medical room. Rinoa finally got inside the Ragnarok and realised that the person both Selphie and Kiros had been talking to was Irvine. He was picking himself up from his position on the floor, busily packing up his rifle. He seemed to be avoiding Rinoa's eyes. "What is it?" she asked in trepidation. "Irvine? Is Squall -"
"Just go through, Rinoa," he said, his voice tight. "It's bad. I don't -" He broke off.
"He's not going to die."
She meant it. With every breath in her, she meant it. If there was a single thing she could do to save him, she would do it, no matter the personal cost. He deserved to live. To recover. To go home to his friends and his family. Irvine looked at her, sadness in his expression. For Squall? For her? She shook the thought off and ran towards Squall's room.
Kiros was there, standing in the corridor like he was waiting for her. He looked grim and she could sense compressed anger radiating off him. She tried to open the door; he caught her wrist before she could do anything. "Aren't you going to let me in?"
"Not yet."
"Why?" She knew perfectly well what his so-called reason was; she immediately continued, "I've been in battles. I've seen injured people before. Hyne damn it, I've seen him injured before. I can handle it."
His hand clamped round her wrist hard enough to leave bruises. "Can you?" he demanded. "Have you ever seen a man beaten virtually beyond recognition? Let alone your lover..." He broke off, closing his eyes. "He's asleep now. But he'll wake soon, and when he does he'll need all your love and all your support. If you pull back from him because of his injuries -"
"I'm not going to. Trust me. Please."
He caught her eyes again. "OK." He stepped back and let her push open the door.
She stopped in the doorway, just looking at him. He was lying on the bunk with a blanket pulled up to his waist, Laguna bending over him to clean his wounds. And, like Kiros's mind had screamed at her, he looked dreadful. The disfiguring bruises on his face weren't even the worst she could see, for Hyne's sake. And he was so frail she wanted to cry. But he was there. Alive. Safe. "Laguna?" she whispered.
He jumped, turned round like he hadn't heard her come in. He'd been crying a little, and he was moving like his leg was cramping under him. "Will you help me?" he asked her.
"Anything."
"He's too weak for us to use magic. We need to get him cleaned up and try to stabilise him with potions and elixirs, and splint the breaks. Can you..." He trailed off and held a moist cloth out to her.
He looked almost more vulnerable than his son did, so upset that Rinoa's heart would have melted had it been as hard as Ultimecia's. "Of course," she said in lieu of all the other things there were to say, taking the cloth and going to Squall's side. Where she belonged. She gently planted a kiss on the scar Seifer had given him two years ago, then started to wipe the dried blood from his face. He would wake to find her here. She was determined of that.
The Ragnarok was shuddering as Selphie took off. Other people were coming into the room, crowding around the bed, talking to each other. Rinoa paid them no heed. Instead, she sank her mind into Squall's. He felt - distant. Preoccupied, despite being unconscious. Almost like he was talking to someone. Maybe he's dreaming. I don't know enough about this to tell. She called to him. She felt his mind stir, felt him turn round and look for the invisible person calling to him. Gradually he inched towards consciousness.
She slid out of contact and started to clean a deep cut on his brow as she waited. She'd never been good at waiting and she needed to occupy herself with something in the meantime. She glanced at the person next to her; it was Quistis, blinking away tears as she treated a burn on Squall's chest. Rinoa laid a hand on the other woman's arm. "He'll be OK," she soothed as Quistis looked up, confusion on her face.
"How do you know?"
"I just do. Trust me."
She held Rinoa's eyes for a second. "I do."
Squall started making tiny waking-up noises that Rinoa was very used to but that no-one else could be expected to notice. She tucked her right hand into his left, squeezing his fingers. Did she imagine that the pressure was being returned? "Laguna, he's coming round," she said over her shoulder.
"Thank Hyne." Laguna was running a hand through his hair, looking distracted. He was thinking so loudly that Rinoa couldn't help 'hearing' him. He'd spent so long cataloguing Squall's injuries he couldn't tell which needed treating first. She gently directed his attention towards what she saw was a nastily broken ankle before bending over Squall again. The fussing and the people faded away once more. She couldn't think about anything but him anymore. He was everything to her.
The moment when his eyes opened and met hers was the most beautiful she'd ever experienced.
His eyes widened like he couldn't believe she was there. He mouthed her name and tried to reach out to her. "It's OK," she told him. "You're safe now. Don't try to do anything."
He hadn't got the message, dense as he sometimes was. "Rinoa?" he murmured, sounding and looking like a sleepy five-year-old. She blinked back tears. Until he'd spoken she'd been able to forget how weak and confused he was. She'd superimposed the image of the man he'd been ten days before upon him. He'd changed in almost every way.
But his love for her was as strong as ever. She could feel it, pouring into her, tempered with a kind of pain she couldn't comprehend. She knelt by his bedside and wrapped her arms round him, unable to stop herself from crying. Tears stood in his eyes too. She kissed them away, whispering his name over and over again.
"I - I love you," he said disjointedly. "You - still love me - right?"
He looked so anxious she couldn't help smiling. "I adore you. I missed you so much - I can't - Squall..." and she kissed him again, sobbing and laughing at the same time.
"Seifer said you wouldn't."
"He's jealous. He doesn't know what he's talking about." She realised he was smiling tentatively at her. Just like the child he was inside.
His tragedy: to be stuck at an emotional age of seven for most of his life. He'd never wanted to cling to people, but he'd never found a halfway point between possession and rejection. He had suffered so much from her absence because he hadn't been confident she would want him back again. As if...
"Do you need a painkiller?" she remembered to ask.
He shook his head. "It doesn't hurt." He wasn't trying to be brave, either; the frightening thing was that he was perfectly serious. "She stopped it hurting."
"Who?"
"My mother."
But his mother had died when he was born. "Squall -"
She felt Laguna's hand on her arm. "Don't," he hissed in her ear. He leant past her and touched Squall's shoulder. "You see if you can stay awake, OK?" he said, a little louder. Squall nodded, a tiny smile on his lips. Laguna grinned back, looking a little less worried, a little more relaxed. Rinoa had never seen her lover and his father act as friendly as this towards each other.
She touched Squall's mind with her own, determined to get to the bottom of his abnormal endorphin levels - and pulled back, surprised. There was another presence, one she couldn't get a handle on, floating round in his mind. It didn't feel like Asmodeus's, nor was it threatening at all. It was just - there.
He was in no state to be asked about it, and to be honest she was in no state to investigate it. Rinoa gently kissed Squall's swollen lips and wiped his face over again.
The room tilted sideways suddenly. Rinoa clutched at the wall to stay upright; Squall's eyes narrowed like he wanted to rake down the pilot; Quistis swore and headed for the door. The intercom cut in. "Sorry about that!" Selphie said sheepishly. "We kind of hit a little turbulence. But we're OK now, and we should be back home in an hour."
Home.
Quistis stopped in the doorway. "Selphie in the pilot's seat..." she said, sounding amused.
"Shouting 'whoo-hoo, we're flying'," added Zell, passing her and coming in.
"Where's Irvine?" Squall managed.
Zell laughed. "Around." His smile faded when he saw Squall's face. "You gonna be OK, baby?" Squall nodded, smiling fractionally. Zell squeezed Squall's hand, his own broad smile returning like he truly believed, and went to help Laguna with Squall's right ankle.
Rinoa sighed, catching sight of another deep gash in Squall's side. Magic might be dangerous in this situation but she was a sorceress, for Hyne's sake. There should be something she could do.
Curaga spells might kill him in this state because they used the patient's own vital energies to heal. Surely, as a sorceress, she could alter the spell enough to substitute her own life force for his? And when she could regulate precisely the strength and target area of her spells...it had to be worth a try.
There were no broken bones anywhere in his left arm. Rinoa focused on a relatively minor graze on the hand, concentrating hard, forcing the spell to localise in the same way that a directly applied healing potion would. When she was satisfied, she opened the faucet, and a tiny trickle of curative magic surrounded his hand. When the glow faded, the cut was nowhere to be seen. Rinoa immediately felt drained - just a little, but enough so that she was certain her plan had worked.
"What are you doing?" exclaimed Laguna.
"Don't worry. It's no risk to him. I powered the spell myself."
"If you're sure."
She was, but she was just as sure she couldn't do it often. It was altogether too exhausting. More like massive self-healing than anything else. And what if some of her life force was already being directed to the baby? She couldn't divert anything, if that were the case.
She suddenly smiled. "You still awake, Squall?"
"No," he pretended to grumble, eyes firmly closed.
"That's good," and she touched his mind along their link, calling him to her. He answered, a little sluggishly. Keeping a tight rein on her mirth, she guided his mind into her body. He had no idea what she was doing. (Look,) she ordered, directing his attention down to her stomach.
His eyes snapped open and he stared at her, amazed. "You -" he started.
"Shush," she murmured, kissing him. "I love you."
He smiled into her mouth. She drew back to look at him. For just about the first time that she could remember, his wide blue eyes glowed with happiness. "You're beautiful," he said simply.
"If you say so." She perched on the side of his bed and held his hand. He lifted his head a little and scowled at his own weakness. She knew exactly what he had in mind and dropped down to his level, supporting him and locking her lips to his.
"'Scuse me," Zell said after a few minutes. "Can you guys get a room?"
"My bed," Squall said indistinctly. "My room. Go away."
"That's told me," he muttered, sharing an exasperated glance with Laguna. The older man seemed more amused than anything. Amused and relieved. He'd been so afraid that Squall would never return. He, as much as any of the rest of them, deserved a happy ending.
Rinoa slid down next to Squall, curling up alongside him and enfolding him in her arms. "For I have found thee," she quoted in a whisper, "and I love thee, and I will not let thee go." He made a little sound of pleasure and relaxed. She closed her eyes, revelling in the closeness. Nothing could be wrong now. All was right with the world.
Seifer shook his head as he surveyed the wreckage. So much damage done in such a short time. And the worst part was he couldn't tell anyone why he wasn't upset. The soldiers all thought he had a master plan.
Footsteps, there, behind him. He turned to Fujin. "The trucks are packed. The men aren't happy but they understand why you're doing this." Or they thought they understood. Truth be told, Seifer himself didn't really understand. He didn't know if anyone could understand. It was enough that he felt driven to do it. They couldn't survive an assault by the force he knew was coming their way. But he wouldn't let them surrender.
That left one option: escape. But when he didn't know where they should go or what they should do when they got there - when he had no idea what to do, for the first time in his life that he could remember...
"Seifer?" Fujin snapped her fingers under his nose, something that might have earned her a set of trimmed nails under other circumstances. "You need to think about what we'll do next."
"Hmm." Seifer tried to stop himself brooding. Something in his mind turned over, threatened to rebel against him. (Will you stop that?) he fired at Asmodeus. The devil growled angrily, as he had been doing almost constantly since he realised the full extent of Seifer's control over him. Seifer could allow him to heal, or he could reject the devil entirely: his choice, his power. But every hour that Asmodeus remained in his weakened state lowered his maximum power. In time Seifer could reduce him to the level of a regular Guardian Force.
His own personal GF. Admittedly, one that didn't like him very much. But one that didn't have a choice over its place of confinement. That had to be worth something.
"What gets me," he said to Fujin, "what really gets me, is how they acted like they wanted us to get away with it."
"They'll change their minds," she said cynically, "once Squall recovers and they remember what happened in Galbadia. They might let you off the hook but they'll stop giving the others a chance." And he didn't want that. Sincerity? From him?
"What would you do," he asked her, "if you'd started feeling loyal to some people and caused them trouble that you would never take any blame for?"
"For a start I wouldn't be sitting here. I'd be trying to defend them."
"And if you couldn't?"
She shrugged. "The best defence, and all that."
A good offence, huh?
He was standing here with a team of veteran soldiers personally loyal to him in the building at his back. A depleted team, maybe, one with few resources, but they had tenacity. They would do anything he ordered. Had done anything he'd ordered in the past, however distasteful. They were used to ups and downs. Given time, they believed they could do - if not anything, then almost that. They believed in themselves - and him.
Fujin was looking at him like she was waiting for an order, half a smile playing round her lips as she looked up at him. He grinned back. Suddenly a lot of things made sense like they never had before. A lot of bad things were due to happen to a lot of good people. "C'm on, Fu," he said, gently taking her arm and guiding her back to their armoured car. "I got a new idea."
Her eyes sparkled. "Tell me."
"Try and stop me."
When the Estharians arrived half an hour later, all they found were tyre tracks.
(to be concluded...)