Free at last
**Sorry this part took so long ppl but I have soooo much music practice and stuff 2 do…**
**And b4 any of you ask, no, none of these characters belong 2 me!!!***
"Rinoa! Rinoa!"
Somewhere, into the dreamy state of half-consciousness that hovered above her, a diaphanous veil of silence and colour, the words penetrated. She tried to tell them to go away, she wanted to revert to that sleepy slumber that was so comfortable. She couldn't move…she didn't want to move…she wasn't even properly awake…the ground felt soft and relaxing beneath her back, and the air cool against her cheek.
"Rinny! Angel!"
Angel? Was she dead? If this was death, it wasn't so bad. No pain, no worries, just half-intermittent bliss, floating, unaware, unable to…
Death…Ultimecia? Ultimecia was dead, that was one thing she was sure of. Just before she had – she wasn't quite sure what had happened, but the last thing she could remember seeing was a large, looming black shape, swallowing the erect, tense figure into an eternity of darkness, before the shape dwindled and died, the last wisps of shadow plummeting into a cavernous abyss of lava that had opened up, split in mid-air…
Terror…she'd been terrified, she remembered that. But she had also felt love, love for…
Squall! She tried to speak, but the heavy dreamy state was thick over her mouth and eyes, suffocating. She could feel hands gripping her shoulders, shaking her gently. Her hair brushed against her shoulders, her senses awakening, stimulated by the simple movement.
"Rinoa! Wake up! Wake…wake up, wake up…"
The voice was much clearer now, closer to reality, closer to home than she'd ever felt before. She opened her dark, liquid chocolate eyes and stared out beneath the dark, dew-tipped lashes into Squall's emerald-sapphire ones, set into that ivory face. His cheeks were flushed, dewy in the watery light, studded with the seed-pearls of tears, his face silvery and beautiful.
She sat up and noticed for the first time that they were in the flower field, the cerulean sky looking fondly down on the masses of coloured, sanguine flowers, meshed together in every hint and hue, wreathed in the wisps of silver mist that still lingered from the dawn.
"What happened?" She brushed the damp hair away from her face and found that her hands came away streaked with a little blood.
"Squall?! Am I bleeding?"
"Only a few shallow cuts. It isn't serious. I was – was beginning to think you weren't going to wake up. I'm so glad you're all right. You're all right…"
Rinoa smiled wryly and stood up, brushing the grass and petals from her azure-blue dress. She swayed a little, still slightly dizzy from the loss of blood, and righted herself.
"Guess maybe now I'll have a scar to match yours."
She looked around her, at the masses of flowers extending far away towards the horizon. "Squall…are we in compressed time?"
"I'm not sure quite what happened. I think – we've done it once before…we have to think where we want to go. But together."
"Ultimecia's dead." Rinoa blurted out the words, hurriedly, quickly. "She's gone, Squall."
"I know. Griever's incantation fired upon herself. I don't think we'll ever really, fully understand." A cloud came over Squall's sapphire-emerald eyes. "But what about Ellone?"
Rinoa thought for a while, a thoughtful expression fleeting across her lovely features. "When I was in Ultimecia's power – you know, in space – when the power was broken, I returned to my original state…
So Ellone, with Ultimecia's death, would have returned to her favourite place in the world. She'll be free."
Wordlessly, Squall took Rinoa's hand. "We're going back, Rinny. Back to Zell, Irvine, Seifer, Selphie…" A momentary shadow passed into his eyes, making his expression unreadable. "And Quistis."
She placed her golden hand in his. She felt deliciously warm, and complete. The petals and feathers were swept up in a balletic arc around their slender forms, swept gracefully by the wind, faster and faster…a place cleared for them in the sky, and the sun shone through down onto them clearer than ever. The movement of the petals and the light of the sun made a music more beautiful to them than it could be to anyone else, and in that radiant crescendo, their thoughts and concentrations merged into one another and every atom of their being was swept up along with them, entwined inexplicably with the curtains and columns of flowers.
In that one second, they were gone.
The door slammed as Selphie left Irvine's dormitory. He awoke seconds later.
"Mmmm…"
Irvine shifted uncomfortably in his bed. There was a fuzzy, throbbing feeling in his head which he didn't like one bit. Boy, I must have been really boozed…
He turned sideways, expecting to see Selphie's sunny face and angelic features resting on the pillow beside him. But instead…the black hair, the dark lashes which rested on her cheeks…no…
With a horrible sinking feeling, Irvine stared at the slender figure beside him in the narrow bed. She was beautiful, but Sefie outshone her like the sun. Oh, god…what had he done…
It was all coming back to him now – the way she had seductively enticed him, he had been so drunk he hardly knew where he was…her hands, wandering over his body…the body that was meant for Selphie's touch, Selphie alone!
He could feel a cool weight on his index finger, one that hadn't been there before. He sat up in bed and examined his hand. Selphie's ring? Her engagement ring!!
Irvine took one look at the rumpled doormat and realised what must have happened. He scrambled out of bed and belted his nightrobe snugly around his waist before stumbling, tripping over himself in his rush to catch Selphie – before it was too late.
Dr. Kadowaki's face barely had time to register surprise and shock before Irvine burst into the Infirmary, breathless, panting. He turned to Selphie, his eyes half-crazed, half melancholy, with a primal fear and longing. She returned his gaze unblinkingly, coldly, registering no emotion, although the tears were pricking behind her eyelids. But somewhere inside of her, she was thanking Irvine for coming before it was too late…
Dr. Kadowaki took one look at the two of them and backed silently out of the room. They were alone. Selphie's composure faltered for a second, but she regained it momentarily.
"There isn't very much to say." She whispered, her emerald eyes piercing to the depths of his soul.
"Selphie – listen to me…" He was pleading with her. That made her more furious.
"No, damn it! Irvine, you said you loved me, and I trusted you! You've taken my heart and ripped it into a million pieces. I thought you were the ONE. Did all our romantic moments, those times that I said I loved you, did that mean nothing to you?" Her voice lowered to barely a whisper. "Was I not good enough?"
The thought wrenched at his heart. "No, Selphie! Look – I was drunk – I didn't know what I was doing – look Sefie, there's something I have to tell you!"
"What, Irvine? That you've stopped loving me? Cos I sure haven't stopped loving you!" As soon as the words came out of her mouth her cheeks flushed crimson. She looked down. She did still love him. Maybe – maybe he deserved another chance…
Maybe their child deserved another chance.
She opened her mouth and their two comments came out at the same time.
"I'm going to have our baby!"/ "Quistis killed herself…"
The two faces registered very different emotions at the two comments. One was shocked and radiant; the other shocked and devastated.
Irvine broke the silence, his voice husky and choked with suppressed emotion.
"Where do we go from here, sunny Sefie?"
Review please! I know this part sucked! But the next part could be the last and I won't be having any continuation if there aren't enough reviews – flames or whatever, I want your opinion! You've read this far; you must have a view, so come on, share it with me! I did write it after all…