**Here it is! The long awaited ending to my story! Read, and review…I'm almost at my target of one hundred reviews for this story!*
Also, please feel free to email me personally if you'd like to talk; I'd love to meet some other FF8 fans!
It felt as if a bond had snapped between her and reality; those horrible, ligamented ties that had held her at the boundaries or heaven, at the gates of hell had broken, leaving her floating, blissful, yet unaware of her surroundings. She felt as if she were floating on a cloud, but a cloud of water, hopes, fire and dreams. She didn't feel dead; she was dead, but she no longer felt it. She opened her eyes.
A beautiful woman was standing before her, wreathed in mist. Her golden hair fanned out in a silken aureole about her pale, ivory face. The smallest of rosy blushes tinted her cheeks and her lips were reminiscent of a punnet of berries. She was dressed in a trailing, velvet and silk robe in colours that she had never seen before; new colours, colours that didn't have a name. She was a young woman, but her green and violet eyes held infinite wisdom. She didn't say anything, but the lower level of her consciousness picked up who she was.
You're Hyne…she thought the words, but here, thinking was the same as speaking. The woman's response flowed back into her mind like melted honey.
The spell is broken.
I don't understand…
The spell…she hadn't wanted to die, not really. But by the time she'd decided, it had been too late…love could not overcome death, not even in heaven. And if this was heaven…in those last few moments, when her eyes were closing for the last time, she had felt – forced almost…
Ultimecia's dead, Quistis.
You're free now.
Free…to return.
Rinoa opened her eyes and found herself still clinging to Squall's neck. He gently disentangled her arms and looked around at the small patches of dense forest, the sun shining over the filled crater, the idyllic setting, the golden beach – the Acauld Plains. "We're home, Rinny" he whispered.
Hand in hand, the two walked towards their school and home, their place to eat, their place to sleep, their home.
They were going to see their friends again! Rinoa could hardly keep the elation out of her tired mind as the walked slowly but surely towards the building they loved. It was like they were returning to family.
Everything would be alright now.
They knew it.
Where am I?
Last night – its all a blur. The handsome cowboy came up
to me…we…he…
I'm in his bed.
The sunlight's pouring in on me, I'm between his sheets.
So why do I feel so empty?
It doesn't feel right. I shouldn't have…
Where is he? He's…gone?
Somewhere. It's for the best. My heart wasn't with him,
not really. I – I don't know what I was thinking.
When the man I really love isn't him.
I'm kinda glad he isn't right here, right now. Telling
him this – after we slept together – to his face would be too hard.
I'll just go.
It's for the best.
He will find happiness with someone else – someone who
loves him back.
I'm sorry, Irvine.
"Why don't we…just take it from here?"
Irvine whispered it softly, the tears shining in his caramelised brown eyes. He couldn't face losing Selphie, on top of the rest of his depression. He gazed at her imploringly.
She looked at him. His hair was dishevelled, his cheeks flushed, his eyes warm and pleading; and she utterly loved him. She couldn't get away from that. And she never would. She wanted to see Irvine in her child; she wanted to see them merged into one.
She smiled nervously, tentatively and reached out her hand. It was trembling slightly as she extended it. Irvine looked at her hand, then the smile, and then her eyes. Never taking his eyes off hers, he reached out a bronzed hand and covered her small, slender fingers with his. Then – all at once – Selphie was in his arms, her face pressed against his chest, hugging him and hugging him as if she never wanted to let go. Gently, he disengaged her grasp.
"Come on", he whispered gently. "My room."
Selphie choked back her sob and placed a warm hand on her stomach. Her child – and his.
They walked out of the infirmary together, nearly colliding into two young students.
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry…" Selphie began, helping the young woman up. Then she was staring, and staring, the tears all rushing back to her. "Why – Rinny! And SQUALL!"
Squall wordlessly accepted her elated embrace, the relief and exhaustion mingling on his face. He, Rinoa, Selphie and Irvine shared euphoric reuniting, their faces telling more than their words.
"Squall – Rinny? What happened? We thought – we all thought – you were…"
"I'll tell you about it in the morning…" He was surprised at how haggard his own voice sounded.
His arm was draped protectively around Rinoa. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, and sleep, and to wash the horrible ordeal from the surface of his memory. But, of course, it had gone much deeper than the surface…
And there was something he had to do first.
He gulped, swallowed, and brushed the faint mistiness from his eyes.
"Where's Quistis? I – need to talk to her."
One look at Irvine's face and he felt his body crumble from inside.
He was talking to Quistis, but not in the way he'd imagined. After explanations after explanations, he'd finally understood. The sorrow blotting out his joy at seeing all his friends again. He was mortified that he'd left her without even saying goodbye. That the last she would feel of him was the palm of his hand as he pushed her to the floor. Two tears formed on his eyelashes and dropped, wasted to the ground beside Quistis' grave. It sank into the earth. Even the earth wouldn't accept his tears.
He would never forget the look on Seifer's face. He'd shown him the letter, and all had become horribly, horribly clear. He'd tried to shy away from it, he'd tried to – but despite their sympathetic faces and comforting words, the words that told him the letter didn't mean what it meant – they all knew the horrible truth, that he, and he alone was responsible for the death – no, the suicide of Quistis Trepe.
Seifer had tried to console him – he was surprised, and shocked, and moved beyond words, that Seifer, of all people, rather than avenging his love's death, would comfort the man who killed her. But Seifer stood by his view that Quistis hadn't wanted to die when he came to her; he'd changed all that. Quistis had died while waiting for help. In the flames. The all, consuming, terrible flames.
He stroked the damp earth above Quistis' grave. His fingers came away coated with soil. "It should be me, lying there, Quisty…" he whispered under his breath. "You weren't unloved – Seifer loved you. And – I loved you. I just never had the strength to show it to you – in that way. You had to understand – that my love couldn't extend beyond friendship – but it was love all the same. You always knew – in your heart of hearts – that I would have done anything for you. I was just too caught up in my self-vanity to show it.
You're in the eternal garden, now, Quistis. The garden where you can blossom, and grow – not only in our hearts, but in heaven as well. You're heading there, Quistis. Taking the beauty and purity of your life with you."
Something Quistis had said to him, a long time ago at Timber, floated into his mind. As he rose to leave, he looked back at the strangely misty, twinkling grave for the last time.
"Garden rule number 7:8, Quisty." He murmured under pearly veils of tears. "Head for the nearest Garden."
And on the Alcuald Plains, under the wreaths of silver mist, under stars, and the ethereal light of the broken spell, Quistis Trepe came searching for Seifer Almasy, following the route that Hyne had given her.
THE END
Finito…..
Did you like it? Please review this chapter! If I get enough reviews, I might be tempted to write a short epilogue….or even a sequel!
Yours truly in fanfiction,
Cosmic.
I really enjoyed writing this; if anyone has any personal comments to make or would simply like to meet another ff8 fan, feel free to email me! I hope ppl out there enjoyed my story as much as I loved writing it.