Disclaimer: I don't own FF8. The gods are not that kind.
Pacing the Edge
"Rinoa?"
Her hand on the door panel, Rinoa froze at the sound of her roommate's voice; she had through the other girl asleep. She turned to look at Fujin, a crumpled mass underneath the standard blue covers of Garden.
"I'm just going out for a walk."
"At this time of night, with your weapon?"
"It's getting dangerous. I am a Sorceress in Garden, after all. No, I meant I'm going outside, to Balamb probably."
"You're going there by yourself? That's too dangerous." The silver head lifted itself from the pillow with a wearied sigh. "I'll go with you."
"No, it's okay." Rinoa hurried to assure her. She would never be able to have a decent patrol with someone around. "I don't need a guard. Besides, you're tired. I'll be fine."
"Seifer and Leonhart will kill me if anything happens to you."
"Nothing's going to happen to me. I've got my magic to protect me anyway. I'll be back before any of them wake up. Go back to sleep."
I always thought this was such a quiet peaceful town. Rinoa thought as she walked the streets of Balamb. Does everything change when you look at it a second time?She had just destroyed a mugger, yet again, the third one tonight. She didn't even bother to give them a chance to repent anymore. After all, they gave up that right when they first stole. She simply emerged from the shadows so that they could see her face, the last thing they saw before the blinding green light of Ultima.
It was easy to lure out the criminals. After all, she seemed like a perfectly ordinary, innocent beautiful girl stupid enough to walk the streets at night by herself. What could be better bait? And when the fish came to bite, they were caught and burned.
It was easy now, a simple patrol. She enjoyed walking out at night and taking care of things like this. She slept in during the mornings, and went to sleep earlier during the nights so that she still got a sufficient amount of sleep. The patrols gave her a sense of strange euphoria and justice.
After all, if the human cops couldn't do it, why not someone who had the power to make changes?
She rounded a corner to meet someone bent over a lock to a closed convenience store. Though she liked the feeling of doing something right, there was something inside her heart that wrenched every time she saw a crime being committed. And this boy couldn't have been more than fifteen at the most.
"Why do you have to do that?" She asked, coming up behind him silently, so that he gasped and turned around. Rinoa realized that it wasn't a he at all, but a tall girl with her short hair under a cap. "Are you so short on money that you have to steal? Do you need money that badly?" She scanned her mind. "Is that CD player really worth this?"
"Mind your own business, bitch." The girl muttered, bending down to pick up her tools, not even wondering how Rinoa could have figured out about the CD player. "Go home before you get hurt. Pretend you never saw this."
"I can't do that. I did see this. And you're going to have to turn yourself in if you don't want to die." Rinoa wondered why she was giving this girl a chance. Was it because she was female or because she was so young?
This got the girl's attention. She straightened, turned to face Rinoa with a look of contempt. "At your hand? I don't think so. You look too soft to even report me to the police."
"Well, you're right about one thing. I won't report you to the police. They are idiots, clueless as to how to do the real job. But appearances can be deceiving. You're wrong on everything else. You are going to die. Holy!"
Bright white light filled the night sky. This would have to be quick. Balamb was a rather small sea city, and the townspeople would be coming out to see what had caused the light.
The girl gave a little shriek, throwing up her hands in front of her face to protect herself.
No, not to protect herself. She was casting a spell. "Reflect!"
The Reflect spell caused the Holy spell to rebound off the spring green orb and surround Rinoa. She didn't mind. Holy spells had no effect on Sorceresses. She waited until it had faded away before speaking.
"You have a GF." Only now did she notice the glowing orb tucked in one of the pouches at the girl's waist. It emitted a soft darkness, and it wasn't very strong. Rinoa doubted if it could help the thief withstand another spell. The Reflect spell was rather weak. "Interesting."
"So do you." The girl replied, failing to observe that Rinoa, in fact, did not have any GFs junctioned to her. Sorceresses didn't need a GF to cast magic, as she had proven time and time again.
"How did you get a GF?"
"Found it in a cave northeast of here." The girl was obviously still wary, circling Rinoa, who continually turned to face her.
If this girl has a GF, and obvious magic skills, and she's of age, she could join Garden. But if she goes into Garden, Squall's bound to find out by some way or another about my patrols. I can't let that happen. He'll get too protective, or angry. Besides, why would I want this girl to be in SeeD? The only choice is to eliminate her."It's been nice speaking with you." Rinoa said, as if this was any other normal conversation. "But you have to be punished for what you did. I'm saving you, you know."
"What are you talking about?"
"Triple! Ultima!"
Even the GF couldn't keep the girl safe from the most powerful Forbidden spell on the planet. Rinoa kept the green light concentrated so that it didn't light up the night sky. She would have to make a quick getaway to keep from being seen.
As the girl's body disappeared, the glowing orb of the GF clattered to the ground. Rinoa picked it up, hid it in her own jacket, and ran.
When she was sure that she was alone and safe, she took out the GF and summoned it.
It ended up being Anha, a common spirit of darkness, dressed in dark flowing robes and a black hood over her concealed face. Her mental voice was like a mysterious wind blowing through the night. I see no enemies. What is it you called me for, human master?
"You're free now." Rinoa told it. She didn't like the ideas of junctioning GFs. It was like using somebody as a power slave. Though most, like her friends, were kind to their GFs, others abused the power. "I've no use for a GF and your master is dead. You are free."
Anha didn't bother to thank her, just drifted off into the night.
Rinoa did the same, back towards Garden.
"Rinoa, do you have a moment?"
The female voice that spoke to her wasn't Quistis or Selphie but the unfamiliar Xu, who had almost never spoken to her before.
"Sure, Xu, is something wrong?"
"Can I talk to you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Can we talk outside? It's kind of important." Xu started walking.
"Is there something wrong with Squall?" Rinoa asked, following her outside of Garden and around, toward the mountains.
"Yes, there is. You're the problem." Xu stopped walking, turned around to face her. "Squall is our commander. And he's making a stupid decision by letting you stay at Garden. What are you doing to his mind?"
"Excuse me?" Rinoa couldn't believe what she was hearing. What the hell are they talking about?
Xu was soon joined by five other SeeDs, all of them moving out of the trees silently. She hadn't been able to sense them; but then again, SeeDs were trained to be stealthy when needed. The looks on their faces reminded her of Lucas Tenn, one of the killers that she had disposed of. One of them had a beautiful piece of jewelry on her forearm. An Odine bangle? What was she doing with one?
"Why are you wearing an Odine product? Are you a Sorceress?"
The girl glared at her, then snorted. "Hell no. I'd die before I became one of those freaks."
"What's wrong with you people?" Rinoa demanded, fists clenching at her sides.
"You are what's wrong." The quiet firmness in Xu's voice added to the determination and strange sheen in her eyes told Rinoa that the SeeD woman actually believed in what she was saying. "Your kind isn't right. It wasn't meant to exist. Your kind has so many flaws, so many wrongs…it's doing everyone a favor by eliminating you."
"Your kind isn't perfect either!" Rinoa yelled. "You think you have no flaws?"
Her words caused some of them to step back, but Xu shook her head. "Humans aren't wrong. Your…kind is the problem. You are unnatural, your powers too strange and unholy. Why do you think that humans are more than witches and demons?"
"First of all, I am not a witch or a demon. I am a Sorceress. There is a difference. And humans are more in number than Sorceresses because of what is happening right now. Discrimination like you are showing is what has caused Sorceresses to become extinct. Humans hunted down my kind the way animals do. I do not flaunt my powers or use them unjustly against humans. I have done nothing wrong."
Her logic was cool and devastatingly clear, not like Rinoa at all, or at least not the Rinoa of a year ago. It made her attackers change faces, from stoic to angry, drawing weapons.
"I don't want to hurt you." She warned them. I really don't. But what other choice do I have?
Another presence flickered in her mind, and she grasped at it, seeing the shape at the corner of her eye. Probing the mind quickly, she was relieved to find that it was Amie, the library girl who often came out on her breaks to read under a tree behind Garden, near to where Rinoa was now.
Amie! She yelled, trying to focus her mind. She had practiced this for a while, and had a long way to go to perfecting it, but her desperation made her stronger. Amie, it's Rinoa! I'm in trouble! Turn to your right, Amie, and keep walking! Can you see me? I'm in trouble, Amie, go get Squall!
The shape paused, shaking her head as if to clear the voice, unbelieving. Rinoa sent the message again, more desperate. This time the shape looked her way, stared for a while.
By now she was already trying to avoid the weapons, jumping away from the whips and dodging the swords. Amie, NOW!
Xu's twin daggers drew blood along Rinoa's arms and before she could stop herself, she had Xu pinned against a tree by her throat.
"I warned you!" She yelled, hating herself for not being able to stop the anger that fueled this sudden rage. "I told you not to, but you wouldn't back off!"
Grappling with her own mind and the almost-physical entity of anger that was trying to control it, Rinoa broke free and managed to drop her arm, releasing Xu. Of course, this led to the other SeeDs resuming their attack. She ran.
"Commander Squall!" Amie screamed as she burst into the office.
He was in there with the rest of the heroes that had saved the planet from Ultimecia's madness, minus Rinoa of course, who was outside and in trouble.
"Amie? We're in the middle of a meeting, if you don't mind." Squall said as she stood in the middle of the office, trying to catch her breath. Amie could see Zell, her sort-of boyfriend, off to the side, no doubt wondering why she was acting so strangely.
"Commander Squall, there's something wrong. It's gonna sound crazy, but I was on my way to that big tree behind Garden because I like to read there because it's so quiet. But then there was this voice in my head and it sounded just like Rinoa and she said that she was in trouble. She told me to look and I looked and I saw her and some other people and she looked like she was going to be attacked." Amie was practically in tears.
"Where was this?"
"Outside, behind Garden, toward the mountains."
Squall was already out the door.
Rinoa cursed when she rammed her shoulder into the trunk of another tree, dodging around it. The footsteps behind her proved that they were still on her trail. Where was Squall? Had Amie delivered her message or just passed it off as a hallucination caused by stress?
She shrieked when Xu suddenly appeared in front of her, tossing her daggers. Rinoa ducked, the blades burying themselves in the trunk of the tree behind her. She dodged around Xu as well. Her skills had improved through her father's training but she couldn't stand up to six SeeDs chasing her through a forest that they were familiar with and she wasn't!
She ran again, her legs on fire from fatigue. Just keep running, keep running, it'll be safe if you keep running. Don't let them catch you.
The voice came from her own mind and yet from far away as well.
It triggered a memory that she had not experienced. This had happened before, running through the forest with people running after her, intent on killing her. Somewhere in time close to her this had happened. This wasn't her memory but it was in her mind anyway, telling her to keep running.
She looked over her shoulder again, and crashed into someone. Arms enveloped her and she screamed, struggling.
"Rinoa, calm down! Calm down! It's me! Calm down, Rinoa!"
She stopped her struggles slowly, still hysterical and barely able to see through her tears. "Squall?"
"Yeah, it's me. What happened?"
"They're after me." She told him tearfully, hugging him tight around the waist. "They were chasing me through the forest and this memory happened and I saw something."
"Calm down. Stop crying. Who was chasing you? Galbadians? Monsters?"
She shook her head. "SeeDs."
"SeeDs." Squall echoed. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." Rinoa seemed to have regained her composure. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand and pulled away. "It was Xu and five others. One of them was that girl who challenges everyone to Triple Triad in the cafeteria." Her voice became very quiet, dropping to a whisper. "And they're coming again. I can feel them."
Sure enough, no sooner had she spoken those words than twigs snapped and branches parted and the six SeeDs leapt through, weapons brandished. They paused when they saw Squall, and Xu gasped.
"Commander!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He demanded.
"We're…"
More forest sounds and then Quistis, Zell, and Amie burst through the forest and into the clearing as well, slightly out of breath but weapons armed and ready to fight. They all frowned when they saw Xu.
"What's going on?" Amie asked.
The clearing erupted into sound at the question, with Xu saying, "We're killing the witch and releasing you from her spell, Commander," and Squall yelling orders and the SeeDs defending their actions and Zell yelling at them for attacking Rinoa, and Quistis and Amie trying to keep Rinoa from having a breakdown.
A single gun shot quieted things.
Irvine stood at the edge of the clearing with Selphie beside him and a still-smoking shotgun aimed at the sky.
"Shut the hell up, all of you. Bring this back into Garden. You're only attracting monsters and I'm sure that no one wants death by T-rexaur. Xu and the rest of the SeeDs who attacked Rinoa, you're still under Squall's command, so you will listen to him and go back to Garden and discuss this. Squall, you're not helping anyone by staying here. We need to get back to Garden, not to mention help Rinoa. She looks like she's about to faint."
Squall stared at him for a while before nodding. "He's right. Everyone, back to Garden. That includes you, Xu, and the rest of you idiots. We're only attracting T-rexaurs."
Rinoa didn't mention that she probably wouldn't mind that.
Rinoa stayed in the infirmary, sitting stoically as Dr. Kadowaki cleaned her wounds and bandaged them, her face looking as if it was set in stone, not even wincing when alcohol was poured over an open wound.
"Are you all right?" The doctor asked worriedly.
"I'm fine. You said the scars would go away in a few weeks."
"I meant emotionally, psychologically."
Rinoa finally focused on the graying doctor. "If you're still going on about that whole mental breakdown thing, calm down. I won't go crazy and attack Garden, if that's what you're worried about. I'll deal with my own self."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. Your friends are worried about you too, Miss Heartilly. You deal with your own self and you suffer by yourself, but that can't be healthy for you. You—"
"Can we please just ignore the entire thing?" Rinoa snapped. "I don't want to be rude, but I don't need anyone fussing over me, especially a psychologist."
The doctor seemed surprised for a moment but then quieted, finishing bandaging the rest of the wounds. "There. I suggest that you stay in your room for a while and rest."
Rinoa thanked her, standing up and heading for the door, nearly running into Squall again when the door slid open and he came through.
"Hi." He said quietly. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugged. "Tired. Hurt. Angry. The usual. What happened? Where are the others?"
"Quistis and the others are telling Seifer and his friends what happened—"
"Oh great." Rinoa made a face. "Just what I need."
He ignored her. "And the students who attacked you are being demoted in rank and sent to the disciplinary room. The ones who drew your blood are being transferred to the new Galbadia Garden. As for Xu, I just demoted her rank. I couldn't really transfer her or punish her severely because she did help during the war. But she won't be bothering you again."
"She won't." Rinoa agreed. "But others will. As long as I'm a Sorceress, Squall, and I am in Garden, there are going to be SeeDs attacking me, despite what you order them to do. Did you know that Xu thought I had you under a spell?"
"Are you going to leave again?" Squall asked quietly.
"Are you going to lock me in my dorm room if I don't?" She countered.
He paused. "No. I don't think that would help. You passed out last time I did that, and Hyne knows what would happen this time."
Rinoa nodded. "I'm not leaving. I want to stay here with you. But if any of your SeeDs attack me again, I can't guarantee that I won't hurt them back."
"I understand that. Bottom line: if they follow my orders, they won't get hurt. Still, I would rather if someone was with you at all times."
"I'm not staying here to be babied, Squall. I can take care of myself. But if I think that I should, I'll bring someone with me, okay?"
"Good enough. Be careful, Rinoa. I don't want to lose you."
"Hyne, ancestor of the Sorceresses. Holy Mother of the power of our blood…" The prayer came to her lips easily like water overflowing. "Goddess that granted us life…" Rinoa sighed. "Hyne granted us all life. Sorceresses are her daughters. The power was granted to her children and passed on as part of her entity. Sorceresses are children of Hyne just like everyone else. Doesn't that make us the same as everywhere else? Why are some filled with so much hatred? "But…we're not the same anymore. Humankind…and the Sorceress-kin. We are different now. I can't forget that or I'll end up dead like my Sorceress-kin ancestors, right, Hyne?" Rinoa sighed and climbed into her bed, pulling the covers up. She could ignore her patrols for tonight. "Your kind isn't perfect either!" I wonder if I should do patrols around Garden? Hyne knows that they need it. No…that wouldn't be wise. Too many missing people in a small space like this? Besides, I would have to face Squall about it and I definitely don't want to kill him. But still…Crying silently into her pillow, she began to hum Eyes on Me, her voice broken and hoarse. Her mother's song had always brought her warm comfort but tonight it seemed hollow and empty, full of broken promises and unrequited love.
Fujin listened, slightly unnerved, to her broken roommate's prayer and questions to a Goddess that probably didn't even exist. And now Rinoa was alternately sniffling and humming that romance song. Even her voice seemed alone and broken and wounded.
Poor girl…"Squall, aren't you worried about Rinoa?" Irvine asked.
Squall frowned, finished the rest of his coffee. He would need it; he still had a load of paperwork to do. "Of course I am. But what can I do?"
"Put her under protection." Seifer suggested immediately. "Have guards that you can trust around her."
"That won't work. Garden is a mercenary force. We need our best out on the missions. Besides, Rinoa specifically requested that we don't do that. The most I could do is to let her share a dorm with Fujin."
"And we all know how dangerous Fujin can be when she's angry, ya know?" Raijin said, absently rubbing his shins, remembering the years of pain that had exploded in them every time the dreaded word RAGE was heard.
"Don't women get really cranky when they have to share small territory?"
"It's a large dorm." Squall assured them. "But back to the original question, what else can I do?"
"You could send her to stay with her father until it's safe, or with her friends, the Timber Owls." Zell suggested.
"That won't work either." Irvine said. "She and Squall have to stay together, or the entire relationship falls apart."
"Besides, it might never be safe for her here." Seifer said darkly.
"There's no use feeling sorry for yourself." There was a voice in the room.
Rinoa woke slowly as she felt the mind poke at hers, the voice talking again, "There's not much you can do about this, but moping isn't going to help anything."
She shook her head, and looked around the room. The only other living beings in the room was Fujin, but she was asleep, and Angelo. This voice was telepathic, in her head only, and Fujin had no magical aura, and neither did Angelo, last time she checked.
Who are you? She asked tentatively, not quite sure where to direct her mind. But it seemed the voice could hear her anyway.
"Finally, the lady wakes up. Hello." Hi. Who is this? Why are you talking to me? "You could say that I'm someone who knows you and cares about what happens to you. But you don't know me. Not yet. I'm that one that's been talking to you."No one has been talking to me like this.
"Wrong, Lady Rinoa. A while back, when you were first attacked, you heard voices and passed them off as stress. It wasn't stress. It was me. I was trying to talk to you, and I sent you those feelings."
Of fear and hurt? That was you?
"You're a real genius, you know that?" There was something sardonic about the voice now. It was growing impatient.
Rinoa frowned. Obviously you're getting angry with me. What's the point of this talk? What can I do to help you?"Nothing. There's nothing anyone can do for the Sorceresses."
You're a Sorceress?!
"Again, she stuns us with her brilliant intellect."
Hey, would you calm down? I'm not insulting you, am I? Rinoa shot back defensively, forming her mind into a heated dagger and jabbed it out toward the unknown mind.
"Ouch. All right, I apologize. I'm only here to help you. You can't just stay in your room and mope and sulk and bitch about how life is unfair."I'm not like that.
"Could have fooled me. I saw what those SeeDs did to you. I'm not here to influence you, although I have the power to. I'm here as your friend, because no one was my friend when I needed one. Your self-pity won't help anyone. Get back on your feet and face it."
Who the hell are you?
"Someone that you don't know yet. Most likely you won't ever know me. See you around, maybe."
Wait! Rinoa yelled, but it was already too late. The presence had withdrawn itself from her mind and as she stretched out there was only silence. But the words stayed with her, and to the night, she nodded determinedly, as if deciding.
The next night, her self-pity and crying done, Rinoa resumed her patrols.
Fujin had insisted that she should go along, or that Rinoa not go at all, but with persuasive words, promises not to get hurt, and a little bit of a mind-suggestion, Rinoa had slipped out of the dorm and out of Garden.
That night, five other 'villains' disappeared from Balamb.
"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with her." Fujin stamped her foot in frustration. "She keeps going out at night with her weapon but I don't think it's in Garden. It's dangerous for her and Hyne knows what's going on?"
Seifer dismissed her words. "She seems fine. It's natural that she should be a bit different after realizing her position, after that incident with Justin and that bitch Xu. Who cares if she's been sneaking off at night? Rinoa is more than capable of protecting herself now."
"Besides, if Leonhart isn't enough for her, why is it our business, ya know?"
"INFURIATING." Fujin yelled, reverting to her old habit, and then kicked both of them. "TROUBLED." She cleared her throat. "There is something wrong with her and not just the two attacks."
Now Seifer seemed slightly concerned. "Are you sure you're not just imagining things, Fuu?"
"Am I the imagining type?" She snapped. "You don't want to think that there's something wrong with Rinoa because then you'll feel like you failed her. But if you don't do something now—while you can—then you will fail, because I know that something's going to happen!"
Seifer exchanged a worried look with Raijin; both remained quiet. Not many people knew that Fujin was so intuitive, but because of her constant silence, she had a skill at observing things that other people didn't, and it was always wise to take her words into careful consideration.
Taking the silence as another denial, Fujin left.
This time when the Sorceress left in the middle of the night, Fujin was ready. As soon as the door closed, she retrieved her shuriken from its case on the drawer and followed the footsteps out the dorm rooms into the main halls of Garden.
She was surprised that Rinoa didn't sense her presence. After all, wasn't she supposed to be the most powerful witch or something? But the dark-haired girl didn't even give a backward glance the entire way to Balamb.
She must really be intent on whatever the hell it is that she does.Fujin hurried to catch up with Rinoa. For someone who used to be so physically frail in battles, the girl was quick. She rounded a corner and was nearly blinded by a blast of green light.
She muffled a curse, recoiled at the magical aura. What the hell?
By the time her eyes recovered, Rinoa was moving again.
Gripping her shuriken tightly in her hand, she followed. Something was terribly wrong. No normal human could cast such a powerful Ultima spell, aside from the few SeeDs that fought Ultimecia. But that was because of their perilous journey and years of experience. A regular human, even one with a powerful GF could not be able to cast an Ultima spell so adeptly as the one that she had just sensed.
But then Rinoa wasn't a regular human, and she was one of the six that had fought Ultimecia. But why would Rinoa be casting an Ultima spell in the middle of the night in a seaside town like this?
She knelt by the corner of a building, carefully looked around.
Rinoa was standing there, back facing her, arms hanging loosely by her side. Beyond her was a boy, a young man, actually, maybe a year or two older than they were. He had a knife in one hand and malice in his eyes. His intention was unmistakable.
Fujin began to rise to her feet, to scream a warning to Rinoa, or to throw her weapon at the man.
But instead she stayed frozen as Rinoa took a step forward and held out her hand as if to shake hands with that man. He smiled and began walking toward her.
"Ultima!"
Quickly Fujin cast a Shell spell to keep her safe from the aftereffects of the Forbidden spell. Green light washed through the alleyway, and the figures were visible this time. The man was screaming inaudibly, his flesh peeling off of his body, leaving red tissues exposed on his limbs and blood spurting from the pores of his face. A rather gruesome sight.
But Rinoa just stood there, arms lax, entire body calm and collected, as if she wasn't surprised or disgusted at all. Completely emotionless. She waved her hand once, calling back the rest of the Ultima spell into her palm. Only a Sorceress could do that, call back a spell.
It left the man a crumbled heap on the alley ground, writhing in pain. "What the hell are you?" He managed to gasp out, despite his obvious pain and imminent death.
Rinoa seemed to consider his question. "I'm not sure. Any last requests?"
"Fuck you!"
She shrugged. "I'd rather not. Oh well. Can't say I didn't try to be nice." She uncurled her fingers from her palm, releasing the rest of the Ultima spell. The man's body began to fade and dissipate, as if his molecules were separating from each other, leaving him as nothing but invisible ashes blowing in the cool night's ocean wind in Balamb.
Fujin leaned against the building's wall, her weapon clutched so tightly that the edges bit into her fingers and drew blood; she didn't even notice when Rinoa smiled and walked on, disappearing into her next patrol.
Fujin was not normally a squeamish person, and the sight of blood had no effect on her. But the cool relaxed way that Rinoa had killed that man—and paused the spell in the middle of its wrath so that she could see her target suffer—caused the petite girl to stumble over to a trash can and regurgitate the cafeteria dinner that she had eaten only a few hours before.
She didn't know what she was expecting when she followed Rinoa tonight. Theft, drugs, maybe even a lover on the side. But definitely not what she had just seen.
Not bothering to keep her footsteps silent, Fujin fled back to Garden.
The next night she followed the Sorceress out again. Not because seeing people die gave her some sort of bloodlust pleasure but to be sure that she had seen right.
She had seen right.
This time it wasn't even a rapist. It was just another kid—maybe only fifteen—trying to break into a convenience store.
Fujin shut her eyes, remembering. After last night, she had run back to Garden as if she herself were a target. Once she jumped the gate and slipped past the guards, she slowed down, walking silently back into her dorm room.
She had been frightened when Rinoa appeared; she had forgotten that they shared the dorm room. When the Sorceress asked why she was still up, Fujin lied about a nightmare.
But then Rinoa had smiled, said that there was nothing to be afraid of, it was just a dream. She was comforting her, when only an hour ago she was killing people. It scared Fujin, knowing that Rinoa could change her disposition so quickly.
For the second night in a row, she ran back to Garden.
The next morning, her hand hovered in the air, considering whether or not to knock on the door to Raijin and Seifer's room, then decided against it. They didn't believe her the first time, so why would they this time? She felt a bit guilty for snapping at Seifer, but it was the only way to get him to wake up. Except now, who did she have to tell this to?
Turning on her heel, she headed for the third floor. She never expected that she would be telling something like this to Squall before she told Seifer, but she found herself outside the office, with the new secretary, Jennifer, letting her pass through. She knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Fujin practically kicked the doors opened in her haste. "Leonhart." She growled, then calmed herself. After all, how was she supposed to tell him that his girlfriend had been killing people in the middle of the night? "There's something important I need to tell you."
He must have seen the urgency in her right eye, or heard the strange tone in her voice. He looked up from the papers on his desk and stared at her. "Well? What's the important news?"
She swallowed, shut the doors. "It will surprise you, but don't accuse me of lying. I've nothing to gain by lying to you about this."
"Very well."
"And I'm sorry that I have to tell you, but I figured you should probably be the first to know."
"Okay." Squall frowned. "What is it?"
Fujin considered how to say this. "You know that Rinoa has been sneaking out at night?"
"I didn't know that. The gatekeeper never reported it."
"The gatekeeper is always asleep when she passes. Not a coincidence. But that's not it. I followed her out for the past two nights. She's been doing things."
"Things like what?"
"Killing people." Oops, that came out wrong.
But to her eternal surprise, Squall didn't get upset or angry, instead he burst out laughing, stunning her into a dazed silence. "Fujin, you must be hallucinating. You said this happens at night, correct? It's probably just a dream then. Rinoa can't be killing people. It's not possible. She's too…"
"If you're meaning to say weak, might I remind you that she's a full-fledged Sorceress and immensely powerful." She held her head high. "I'm not kidding and I'm not hallucinating. I'm sure that it's true."
Squall's smile had faded. "Fujin, this isn't funny."
"It isn't meant to be." She resisted the impulse to kick him.
The SeeD commander considered her words and remembered.
"Squall, what would you do if you knew someone had done something wrong but they did it for a good reason?"
"What happened? Who are you talking about?"
"Answer my question first."
"Well, I guess it would depend on the reason."
Hyne, I never even considered that possibility. But that was her way of telling me… But then again, I mean, come on, it's Rinoa. She wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose, she's not physically able. But she has gotten stronger, and she's been thinking differently lately.
He was snapped out of the debate in his mind when Fujin spoke again, calmer this time.
"If you don't believe me, I can give you proof."
Squall frowned. "How?"
Quickly, she told him her plan.
"Fujin, I have to go out again tonight. If the others come looking for me, will you just tell them that I'm already asleep?" Rinoa asked, already standing at the doorway with her Shooting Star attached to her wrist.
"Yeah, sure." Fujin replied. They won't come looking for you. They're already waiting for you.
"Thanks a lot. I'll see you later."
Rinoa passed through the streets of Balamb. This was the fifth night of her patrols here, and the villains were getting fewer and fewer. Maybe she was almost done with the patrols. Then she'd have to go to the next town and the next and the next until the world could be clean and pure again.
Her powers were acting up again for some reason, but she ignored the brief flashes of pain and continued through the alleys.
She had just killed another rapist, and turned when she heard a clanking sound. There was a shape huddled by a doorway, trying to break into a house. Another one? Goddess, why couldn't they just find something else to do, or to try to get money decently?
"Flare." She whispered.
She was surprised when the spell bounced off the shape and towards her. She took half of it, her head snapping back, and caught the rest of it in her fist and absorbed the excess power. Who here had a Reflect spell, or more importantly, a GF?
Frowning, she grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
And gasped.
"Squall?"Author's Note: I have nothing personal against Xu. But I needed someone that was familiar but wasn't a main character to attack Rinoa, and she was the only one I thought of.