Final Fantasy VIII [3rd Instalment]

Grace Barton

Chapter Thirty-Eight

As Squall closed his hand around the feather, a bright yellow light burst and surrounded him. Squall shut his eyes, lest he be blinded by the intense light.

When he was able to open his eyes again, the entire landscape had changed. The rocky platform was gone, as were the dark grey clouds. Instead he was in the middle of a vast field filled with flowers. The flowers produced no scent, and everything emitted a faded yellow aura. Squall, in his surprise, did not notice this. His eyes were fixed ahead on the figure that had appeared before him.

It was Rinoa. She had her back to him and her hair was blowing in a wind he could not feel. Like everything around her, her body emitted a faint yellow glow.

Seeing her, Squall jumped to his feet. "Rinoa!" he called to her. He waited, but she did not answer him. "Rinoa!" he shouted again, louder this time.

Still Rinoa refused to answer him. Nor did she show any signs of having heard him. Squall stared at her, confused. Why couldn't she hear him?

Then, at last, Rinoa turned. She smiled as she looked at him. Then the air around her began to ripple, blotting out her face. It spread over her body and the land around her, as though a wall of water had formed between them. Squall saw one last glimpse of Rinoa's face as she was swallowed up by the water. He thought he saw her face change into Seifer's, but then in a flash she and the field vanished.

He was no longer in the flower fields. Nor was he back in that empty void. Squall looked around as he saw, to his astonishment, that he was back in Balamb Garden. He was in the Garden's ballroom, and all around him there were people dancing. Some dancers, he noticed, wore SeeD uniforms. Music played in the background, performed by a group of students on a stage at the back.

"The… graduation ceremony?" said Squall, as he realised where he was. This is… the day I became a SeeD?

He frowned. Something was off. The music sounded muffled, as though someone had covered it up. The dancers, as well as everything else in the room, appeared somewhat blurred and out of synch. The faces of the dancers were fuzzed over, and their voices were drowned out. Squall stepped out of the way as one couple came close to bumping into him. They did not even notice Squall and carried on. Squall stepped clear of them. His hand then rushed to his sword and he turned around, sensing someone behind him.

It was Rinoa again. While everything else in the room was blurred, Rinoa was the only one who appeared crystal clear. She was dressed in the same white dress she had worn on the day of the graduation exam and, like back then, she was looking up at the stars through the glass-domed ceiling.

As though sensing his presence, Rinoa turned to look at him. She smiled and then raised her hand, signalling for him to dance.

Squall took a step towards her. "Rinoa…" he began. "What—!"

He stopped speaking as the air around Rinoa blurred once again. Her face was blotted out from view, leaving a faceless, fuzzy mask.

A sharp pain, like an electrical current, shot through his mind. Squall watched as in the blink of an eye the scene rewound itself to the beginning, to the same moment from which he had arrived. Squall gave a cry of alarm as the dancers returned to their original positions and began to dance once again, not even noticing that they had just done those very same things seconds ago. Squall even had to dodge the same dancing couple, who still did not notice him.

He immediately looked around for Rinoa. He found her in that same spot on the dance floor, gazing up at the stars. Her image was not so clear now and appeared to be transparent—he could see the dancers moving behind her. Just like before she turned and smiled at him before signalling for a dance. Feeling the electric buzz start to crackle in his mind and knowing what was about to happen, Squall ran and reached out for her.

"Rinoa!" he cried.

He was too late. Rinoa vanished from sight, as did the other dancers and the rest of the ballroom. Squall stopped as he suddenly lurched backwards, as though something had grabbed him and pulled him back. He then had the sensation that he was falling deep into the blackness that had reappeared around him.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Even through his closed eyes he could see fragments of time flashing by. He saw Rinoa, drifting through space, following the aftermath of the Lunar Cry. Squall felt his body being dragged forward, closing in on her. He raised his arms to keep from getting any closer, but it was no use.

At the last minute Rinoa disappeared, and when Squall opened his eyes he was back in the Garden Ballroom. Squall staggered, panting, shocked by what he had seen.

He knew what was happening now. Time was decompressing and releasing in irregular shifts, moving back and forth at will. The dancers began to dance once more. Squall dodged out of the way of the same couple he had almost collided with earlier. Knowing what was happening didn't do him any good. He had to break free of this time warp!

He called out to the dancers, trying to get their attention. No one looked at him or even noticed he was there. For a brief moment he thought he saw Zell running across the dance floor, but he was gone when Squall made to go after him.

Squall turned back to where he knew he would find Rinoa. Except that she was no longer there. Squall started to walk over when Rinoa suddenly reappeared. She looked at him, smiled, and then vanished once again.

A surge of panic swept through him. Rinoa was… disappearing? How was that even possible? Squall put his hand to his head, which was beginning to throb. Rinoa had always been there… hadn't she?

The pain in his head grew worse. Several images flashed through his head, so fast he could not make them out. Ahead of him, Rinoa reappeared amongst the dancers. When her eyes met his the pain in his head increased. Squall dropped to his knees and clutched at his hair. He tore his eyes away from her, unable to watch anymore.

Rinoa looked over at him. When she smiled, the air rippled like water again. She turned and began to walk towards him.

The ballroom winked out of existence. Squall raised his eyes to Rinoa as she too vanished. In the darkness that followed it, he saw a vision of his Griever ring floating alongside Rinoa's. Squall cried out and closed his eyes again, but still the images continued to flow. He saw the Black Widow from Dollet. He saw his friends, Zell, Selphie, Quistis and Irvine. He saw the Ragnarok spinning through space, with the monsters of the Lunar Cry plummeting to the planet behind it.

Next he saw Rinoa, on the 2F balcony of Balamb Garden. Seagulls cackled in the background as she ran her hand through her hair. She turned, and in that moment Squall saw, briefly, and image of Seifer pushing her towards Sorceress Adel. When the image passed all he saw was Rinoa again, with her smile.

"Please…" Squall begged, his voice sounding dull to his ears. "No more…"

A sharp stabbing pain struck his shoulder. The swordsman winced, clutching at the wound.

He looked up. Rinoa was above him now. Her face was blurred but he could see the desperation in her face. She leaned over the edge of a vehicle—the parade car, he realised—and reached out for him. She screamed his name, but as she screamed so too did the screams of all the others in Deling City come together and drowned out her voice. Squall clamped his hands over his ears. He then tried to reach for Rinoa, to grasp her outstretched hand.

Before he could reach her, she vanished. The screams of those in Deling City merged with the screams of everyone in the world, as though every voice in the world was crying out together. Squall clamped his hands back over his ears, but he could not block out the horrible sound.

"Stop!" he shouted.

All at once everything went silent. Squall dared to open his eyes. He was back in the ballroom. All the dancers had gone now, and the music had stopped playing as well. The ballroom was empty. Empty, that is, aside from one person.

"Rinoa…" Squall whispered.

She stood at the centre of the dance floor. Her hand was raised, signalling for a dance. She turned and began to walk towards him. As she walked, echoes of her began to walk behind her. Their footsteps merged with hers and filled the ballroom, joining with the music that began to play once more.

Squall shook his head. He tried to step away from her, but his feet seemed glued to the spot. The room started to spin. Squall looked around him as it spun faster and faster until everything was a blur. The only thing that stayed in place was Rinoa, walking straight through the motion without a care, heading towards him.

"Stop…" Squall pleaded. "Don't… please…"

But it wouldn't stop. Time kept on decompressing. Memories he had forgotten returned to the surface to replay before his eyes. He tried to block them out, but it was useless. So he resigned himself to watch as time unfolded.

Between each vision he saw Rinoa. She took his hands and danced with him. She spun, and her hair swirled around her. She turned her head and stuck out her tongue, just as she had done that night. Squall could only stare as she turned and smiled at him again. As she smiled, Rinoa's face twisted and became that of Sorceress Ultimecia, her cold eyes glaring at him in anger and hate. Then she disappeared and he was left with Rinoa once more.

Time moved faster. All of the images now melted together, and Rinoa vanished from sight. Squall could not make them out anymore. Even the music had become warped; playing out of tune and at high speed, as though even it could not keep up with time's unravelling.

When he thought he could not take anymore, Rinoa emerged. She reached for him, her arms open and ready to embrace him. Instinctively Squall reached for her also, his need to hold her overriding all other thoughts.

Just as he was about to take her in his arms, she vanished. Squall saw himself, faceless, his face an empty void. He recoiled as the image then cracked and shattered like glass, and in its place he saw Rinoa. She was in her spacesuit, but her face was cold and pale, her face shadowed. Her visor, what should have protected her, was smashed open.

She was dead.

Squall's heart constricted. A tear fell unbidden from his eye and dropped down his cheek. The swordsman let out a scream of anguish as he threw his head back, even as a white light engulfed him.

His hands went slack. The feather fell from his fingers and floated down onto the ground. Its gentle aura faded and, like Squall, was swallowed up by the light.

On hearing Squall's voice calling her name, a golden light fell around Rinoa. Her wings spread as her magic took her from the flowering fields and sent her flying through both time and space, until at last she arrived here.

Swirling grey fog moved around her. Wispy tendrils reached for her, hungrily wanting to drain the life from her body. She banished them with a wave of her hand, sending them curling back into the fog. Once confident that the fog could not harm her, Rinoa walked forward in search of Squall.

When she stepped out of the fog, she found herself on a small, rocky island floating in a sea of cloud. Guided by her magic, she kept on walking until she found what she was looking for.

In the middle of the island, a figure had collapsed onto the ground. It was Squall. Without breaking her pace, Rinoa walked over and knelt down beside him. After a moment's hesitation, she lifted him up in her arms. She ran a hand across his cheek, moving the hair from his face. His skin was pale and cold at her touch, and he did not stir.

"Squall…" she whispered.

But Squall did not answer her. Tears welled up in Rinoa's eyes as she realised she had come too late. They spilled down her cheeks unchecked. Rinoa threw her arms around Squall and pulled him close, as though her own will could somehow bring him back to her.

The moment she thought that, a bright light burst around her. It swept across the ground and caused the dry rock to split, as stalks of grass and flowers shot up from underneath. Rinoa looked up as the light then shot up into the sky. It pierced the storm clouds and forced them back, banishing them from the land. The sun's light shone in their place, casting its warm light down onto the fields.

Rinoa gazed around her in amazement. The air was filled with white feathers formed from her magic, as well as hundreds of petals blown from their stalks.

She felt movement in her arms. Rinoa looked back down as Squall stirred. Colour returned to his face, and slowly he opened his eyes. Rinoa gasped, and then smiled. More tears rolled down her cheeks now, but these were tears of joy. For the first time ever, she was glad she had become a sorceress. She pulled Squall close and held him tight.

All the while, the feathers and petals continued to fall around them, filling the crisp blue sky.

Seifer sighed in annoyance. He jerked on the fishing line, but still nothing happened. The line continued to bob in the water, with no signs of a catch. Seifer drummed his fingers against his leg, glaring at the fishing line, as though his will alone could make a fish take the bait.

The former knight could not believe he had allowed Raijin to talk him into this. Of all the pastimes he had to pick, it had to be fishing. Seifer was a man of action. It just was not in him to sit around and wait for something to happen.

"Alright! I got one, ya know!"

Further down the dock, Raijin turned beaming as he presented the fish he had just caught. A large and healthy Balamb Fish dangled at the end of the line, flapping about with the hook still sticking in its mouth. Raijin did a dance of joy as he paraded the fish in front of Fujin, who was not joining in the fishing but watching her two friends as they competed for who would get the first catch.

Seifer could not believe it. It seemed he could not win even at fishing. Snarling in rage, he stood up and threw his fishing line onto the floor.

Raijin continued to dance. He turned away from Fujin, admiring his catch. Fujin grinned and then kicked Raijin in the back. The big man fell forward, off the docks and into the water, landing with a loud splash. His catch wriggled free of its hook and swam away. Raijin, meanwhile, floundered in the water, cursing Fujin.

Seifer threw back his head and laughed. It felt good to be with his friends again. He had missed these moments. It was then he realised that it did not matter what he did as long as he had his two friends beside them. Having friends and being able to do things with them made even the most mundane tasks worthwhile. It was this lesson that he had finally learnt, and it was thanks to Squall that he had come to see it.

As he thought of Squall, a shadow fell over him. He and Fujin looked up as Balamb Garden arrived on the shore and floated over the docks. Seifer looked up at his former home, and a smile spread on his lips as he remembered all the good and bad times he had had in Balamb Garden. Quistis was right: he never would become a SeeD. But it did not bother him anymore. He had found something more important.

"You win, Squall," he repeated.

Winhill. It had been a long time since Laguna had set foot in this place. The town had not changed a bit in the long years since he left to rescue Ellone, and though there were some familiar faces from those days, it seemed that everyone else had moved on. For not even in the most tranquil of places would time stay still. Time would not wait and would always carry on moving forward, leaving everyone else behind.

Standing in front of the pub, Laguna wondered whether or not to go in. The inn had changed hands several times over the last seventeen years, a villager had told him, but no one had run it quite the same as her. Laguna eventually decided not to go in. Instead he left the town of Winhill and went out into the Winhill Bluffs.

Even the plains had not changed. Everything was just as he remembered it to be, down to the sweet scent of flowers that drifted through the air. Laguna stopped, taking a moment to take in the atmosphere.

Laguna looked down at his hand. On his ring finger, he wore a simple silver wedding band. The ring was old but in good condition, for Laguna had taken very good care of it over the years. It was his most treasured possession, and he kept it with him always. For it was here, in this place… in this very spot… where he had finally worked up the courage to propose to the woman he loved.

"Laguna?"

Laguna turned as Raine approached him. Even in the moonlight, she looked beautiful. Laguna quickly shoved his hand behind him and grinned, as he always did when she talked to him. He could not help but feel like he had been caught out, even though it was he who had asked her to come out here in the first place.

Seeing his chastised face, Raine smiled. "Why do you look so nervous?" she asked him.

For a moment, Laguna could not answer her. He just kept looking at her. Raine was not glamorous like Julia, but she was perhaps even more beautiful. Her long brown hair, her heart-shaped face, her gentle blue eyes and her kind smile… Everything about her just made his heart ache. It made his leg twitch painfully, but he tried to ignore it. He scratched his head, averting his gaze from Raine.

Raine tilted her head, confused. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

Laguna tried to speak; to ask the question he had brought her here to ask. "I…" he began, but then his courage failed him. "I've gotta go," he said instead, and he turned to leave.

Raine, startled, made to go after him. She then stopped as Laguna suddenly turned back and took her hand. Before she could stop him, he pulled out the item he had been hiding and slipped it onto her finger. Raine looked down, and her eyes widened in amazement. It was a beautiful silver ring.

For a moment she thought she was dreaming. She had long suspected (and hoped) that Laguna harboured feelings for her, but she had convinced herself that it was just her imagination. Truly Laguna was a man full of surprises. She looked up at Laguna, her eyes filled with tears.

Laguna raised his hand and Raine saw that he was wearing a similar ring on his own finger. She raised her hand, with her own ring. They looked at one another, both unable to speak. Then Raine threw her arms around him. Laguna returned her embrace, holding her close. He closed his eyes, taking in the feel of her body next to his, the scent of her perfume, and the softness of her hair against his cheek. Raine, in turn, took in both his strength and his tenderness. She feared she would cry, but she just blinked away the tears and smiled, enjoying this moment.

Whenever Laguna thought of that moment, it always made him smile. It was probably the only thing in his whole life that he had put thought into, rather than just going with the flow and hoping for the best. Even though his time with Raine had been brief, it was the happiest time of his life, and he treasured every memory of her. Lowering his hand, Laguna carried on walking until he reached what he had come out here to see.

After Raine's death, the townspeople had erected a simple memorial in her memory. The field had become Raine's favourite place in the months prior to her death. She had come here regularly, even in the later stages of her pregnancy with her unborn son. So when Raine passed away they placed a marble plaque in the spot where she had always stood, waiting for Laguna to come home.

Reaching the memorial, Laguna stopped and knelt down beside it. He was pleased to see that it was well-kept, even after all these years. The townspeople had loved Raine dearly, even if they had not liked the man she had fallen in love with. Despite their dislike of him, they had respected Raine's wishes. The name 'Raine Loire' was engraved on the plaque, just as she had wanted it.

Laguna brushed a few stray leaves from the plaque. He ran his fingers over the lettering, pausing over Raine's name.

I'm sorry I'm late, Raine, he apologised.

But the memories of Raine did not hurt anymore. He had always feared Raine had hated him for leaving her, for never coming home. Now he knew he was wrong. Raine did not hate him. She had understood why he could not come home. Ellone had shown him that. Laguna closed his eyes, bidding Raine one last farewell.

"Uncle Laguna!"

Laguna turned. Further down the field, Ellone was running towards him. Kiros and Ward were with her, out of their Estharian robes and back in their usual travelling gear. Ellone raised her arm and waved at him. Laguna returned the wave, giving her a smile.

Ellone smiled back. She stopped and looked up as a shadow fell over. Laguna followed her gaze. Overhead, Balamb Garden floated by, passing over the fields.

Seeing the Garden, Laguna smiled. His story had finally come to an end. The soil had been turned, and the seeds that had grown from that garden had finally grown to restart the cycle of time anew.

Those brave SeeDs in Balamb Garden.