Vryemnya
Part 4
By Alex and Dave
It's true, we STILL don't own the characters, the game, or anything else related to Final Fantasy, except this story and the others we've written.
Lets recap: Rinoa is stuck in a prison cell and has been raped, but only once and the man who did it is no longer a threat, for he was executed by Rinoa's sorcery; Squall is on a desperate search for his missing love, and has his friends helping out all over the world; and Rinoa needs to get out of the cell if she wants to stay alive.
Squall and his world wide search team had been searching for a week and they had gotten nowhere. They didn't even find a clue as to where she might be. That didn't mean they weren't going to find her though; they had barely searched all the land they were assigned to.
Squall himself was a wreck. He wasn't sleeping, he ate very little, and he was slipping more and more into depression with each passing unsuccessful day. He missed her terribly. The last time they spoke had ended badly. He should have stopped her from leaving like he was going to, but he froze. He was too shy to do anything about it at the time. He should have at least asked her to talk it out with him as she was leaving. He could have followed her and Angelo and talked to her then. He could have protected her then. So many regrets, but feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to find her.
He knew that searching the entire world probably wouldn't find her. There had to be some other way. Something smarter, that would find her faster. Her life might be in danger. Nobody knew. She wasn't here to tell them how she was doing. But he had to assume she was. They couldn't take their sweet time either way.
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It had been about 2 weeks that Rinoa had been in the cell. Nobody else had shown up. It was always so quiet, and she was hearing things coming from outside her cell: creaking, bangs, water running. Sometime in the past day she thought she heard moaning, and she called out, but the moaning stopped. After about five minutes, it would start again, she would call out, and it would stop. It had stopped completely about an hour ago. She hadn't heard anything since but the sound of her breath.
She had been picking off the dead man, but she was still hungry. She was also very lonely. She had named the corpse James, propped it up so it was sitting against the wall, and she talked to it. She told James how she was feeling, how hungry she was, how much she missed Squall: everything. After discussing how hungry she was, she usually asked James if she could chew on his leg for a bit. He never said anything in opposition, so she did, and she always apologized after.
Lately she had started to feel a little shaky. Whenever she did, she thought it was because she was getting out of shape, and she would get down on the ground and do pushups and sit ups. She'd also stretch and run around the cell in a circle until she couldn't run anymore. Then she would lie down on the bed and start to think. Think about ways to get out. Even just out of the cell would be fine for her.
She was now leaning against the bars, unsuccessfully trying to squeeze herself between them. She stopped suddenly when she heard soft footsteps in the hall on the left. She stuck her head between the bars and squinted to see through the darkness who it was. The footsteps got closer and closer, but she still didn't see anyone. She heard the footsteps walk right in front of her cell and then continue down the hall. She didn't see anyone, and she could see perfectly well in front of her cell.
She pulled her head back into the cell and ran over to James and cuddled against him. She buried her face in his chest and held her breath. She looked up when the footsteps couldn't be heard anymore. "I need Squall, James! I can't take this anymore! Will you help me think of a way to get out of here?" She stared at James and waited for an answer.
Can you use your sorcery to get out of the cell? James suggested in her head.
"Maybe, but how?"
Try burning down the bars or something.
"Okay, cover your eyes." She stood up and concentrated all of her energy into her finger tips. "Firaga!" She yelled and a huge ball of fire shot out of her hand and onto the bars of the cell. She felt the energy rush out of her and the heat against her skin.
When it was over, she looked back at James and smiled. She walked over to the smoking bars to find that they hadn't burned them away, but they were crispy. She reached out to grab one and screamed when the scorched bars burnt her hands. She pulled back quickly and held her hand to her chest.
You shouldn't have done that, you knew it was still hot.
"Shut up. It's a known fact that metal bends when it's hot, so I tried, but it was too hot."
Well try again, but use something to protect your hands.
"Like what, my robe?"
What else?
She ripped the sleeves off her robe and wrapped them around her hands. She walked back to the bars and put her protected hands around the bars and to her surprise, they crumbled away in her hands. "I guess they weren't very well made," she commented to James.
I guess not, but the point now is to get out.
She nodded and started pushing away the bars and when there was a hole big enough for her to fit through, she turned back to James and saluted him. "Nice knowin' ya!"
Don't wait for me. Tell Squall I said hello.
"I will." And with that she stepped out of the cell.
More to come. Sorry it took so long to finish this one up, it's not even that long. I've been busy lately and couldn't get on the computer.