Chapter VII:
Giggles.
"Bet you don't dare!"
"I do too!"
More giggles.
"He sure is handsome."
"Yeah, but he's got a girl."
"That's not official. I'll change his mind."
Yet more giggles.
Squall turned to glare at the group of female cadets
sitting on the bench next to his. They
were all around 14 or 15 years of age, and he recognized several of them from
his class. Annoying children, the kind
he disliked the most. Childish, giggly,
clueless children who thought Garden was some kind of game. If they ever become SeeDs, they'll face
the harsh reality…
Of course, he didn't realize this was fairly normal
behaviour for teenager girls. Deciding
to ignore them, he turned back to the card game, blinking as his opponent,
after a long pause, finally placed a Malboro card in the lower, left corner,
flipping over two of Squall's own cards. Damn. He didn't know Laguna was that
good. If he didn't act carefully now,
he'd risk losing one of his better cards. Couldn't let that happen.
Laguna and Ellone had arrived early that morning, bringing
the Ragnarok with them as promised. They had come by a private plane themselves, while other pilots had
followed them with the remotely old spaceship. After a speech of 'friendship between Garden and Esthar' from Cid, the
two visitors had soon been escorted to the Quad, and that's where they were
now. Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, Edea and
Ellone were all gathered by the stage, chatting, smiling, laughing, sharing
memories that hadn't been eaten away by Guardian Forces. Rinoa fit right in with them, even if she
hadn't grown up at the orphanage. She
and Selphie had bonded pretty tightly lately, and she was getting along with
Quistis relatively good too, but the two women were far too different to ever
get very close. Or so it seemed,
anyway. Squall failed to see any other
reason for them to keep distance from each other. He wasn't the most socially observant guy in the world, anyway.
Zell and Jadina were lounging in the shade of one of the
Quad's many trees, Jadina talking away while Zell seemed to feel rather
uncomfortable. He always got nervous
around the girl, who he kept denying was his girlfriend to everyone else if
they asked, but who he so clearly was involved with if one sat down to watch
them. Today, though, he was squirming
more than what was usual for him.
"So I told Anna that we didn't need those books. I mean, no one would read them anyway. They want entertaining books, not…" The spiky haired SeeD just stopped listening
at some point, trying to get the girl's attention instead.
"Uh, Jade?" Zell
asked softly, straightening. His hand
slid down to his pocket in search of something, "… Jadina, there's something
I'd like to… uh…"
"Oh, look at them. Talking like they've known each other forever," Jadina nodded towards
the five females by the stage; one Matron, three children and a sorceress, "Why
aren't you spending some time with this Ellone, too? You grew up with them all too, right?"
Zell sighed, seeing he lost his chance this time too. Why couldn't he find the right moment? "Well…," was all he said, trailing off. He had never been as close to 'Sis' as the
others, Squall in particular, had been. Besides, listening to Jadina's voice was much better than being lost in
a conversation where the male sex would be totally outnumbered.
Turning back to Laguna, who was giving him a self-confident
smirk, Squall concentrated on the Triple Triad game again. After they had gathered in the Quad, Squall
hadn't been all that eager to converse with Ellone, even if the five years
older woman had clearly wanted to speak with him. He just wasn't ready for that, as she would have, without a
doubt, started saying how sorry she was for what happened, that she wished she
could have stayed with him, and so on. It just didn't matter. It was
all in the past. So when the goofy
president of Esthar had challenged him to a game of cards, Squall had gladly
accepted, as an excuse to avoid Ellone.
(Come on, you know you want to talk with her… Don't you love her?)
Shiva. Squall hated
it when the troublesome Ice Elemental Guardian Force intruded into his thoughts
and started preaching about what he should and shouldn't do. Couldn't she just be nice and quiet like GFs
were supposed to be?
I care about her. But she left twelve years ago; whatever bond we had back then isn't the
same anymore.
(Fair enough.)
What? Wasn't she
going to bother him any further? That
was a first, ever since the final fight with Ultimecia. After things had calmed down, Shiva must
have been bored, for she had suddenly started talking to him all the time. He hadn't even known GFs liked to say much
more than confirming the summon when in battle. He kept being irritated over Shiva's constant interference, yet
for some reason, it was her he kept junctioning…
Finally, Squall decided to wipe off Laguna's smug
smile. Slapping down one of his most
rare cards in the right, lower corner, he flipped two of Laguna's cards and was
leading by one again. Unless Laguna had
an extremely good card to finish the game with, he was going to lose that
Malboro card of his. Squall had three
of those already, but whatever.
Laguna's smile dropped, and he stared at the cards laid
down. After a moment of thought, he
finally put down his last card with a sigh. A Geezard card. Squall almost
laughed inwardly.
"You win," the ex-journalist turned president ran a hand
through his dark bangs of hair, "Pick your card."
As Squall moved his hand to pick up his cards, including
the new Malboro one, he stopped to eye the rare card he had used to win the
game. It was a card of none other than
himself, one he had won from Laguna in the first place during the whole
sorceress deal. And for the first time,
he took the time to wonder about that. Laguna had that card when they first arrived in Esthar, which meant he
had it even before he should have known Squall existed. He couldn't have had the time to register
the card with the Card Queen that quickly - she wasn't even in Esthar at that
time. Maybe the Estharians knew more of
the outside world than Squall assumed in the beginning, but still…
Where the hell did he get that card from?
(Don't ask me. Cards is Quezacotl's thing, not mine.)
I wasn't asking you.
He could almost hear her grin. (My mistake.)
Do all GFs talk as much as you, Shiva?
(Do all humans brood as much as you, Squall?)
……
(There's the answer to your own question.)
Squall frowned even though he wasn't aware of it himself,
glancing up at the older man, "Laguna, where did you get this… Squall card
from?"
Suddenly seeming to turn a shade paler, Laguna was visibly
thrown off guard by the question, and Squall didn't know why, "Well… um… I-it's
a long story…"
"There he is!" one
of the four girls on the bench next to them cried through a choked whisper,
motioning towards the stairs that led down from the upper areas of the
Quad. Laguna deliberately left the
question unanswered and turned to discreetly look at them.
"Don't point!" One
of the other girls slapped away the first one's hand.
"Nikki, are you gonna go for it?" a third one asked.
Squall followed the girls' gazes towards the stairs, to his
surprise seeing Irvine walk down in his usual, calm manner. He was in no hurry, took his time to greet
every female he passed by. The fourth
girl, Nikki, stood up, brushing off her cadet uniform and picking up her
books. She was a rather tall fifteen
year old, with short, blonde hair and rusty brown eyes. One of those very straight forward and over
confident girls in his class that he really didn't like. Whatever she was planning to do, Squall had
a feeling he should warn Irvine about it, but decided to lean back and watch
the show instead. As cruel as that was,
maybe it would prove to be amusing.
"Watch the master at work," Nikki winked, then walked
towards the cowboy quickly, apparently pretending to be in a hurry judging by
her speed.
And she bumped right into Irvine, also on purpose, dropping
all her books with a fake yelp of surprise.
Irvine, the charming man he was, immediately turned to the
girl and gently took a hold of her shoulder to help her regain her balance
(which she never really had lost in the first place), "Whoa, little lady. You okay?"
Nikki blinked innocently and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I
am. I'm sorry…"
Just smiling, the cowboy bent down to help her pick up her
books, "It's not your fault. I should
watch my step a little better. Here,
let me help you. What's your name?"
Squall rolled his eyes. Ladies' man at work.
The girl giggled with mock shyness as she picked up one of
the books herself, staring at Irvine with hungry eyes. "Nikki."
"My name is…"
"Irvine! I know,"
Nikki giggled again, "I've… umm… I've always wanted to talk with you." They both stood up again, Irvine handing the
cadet the rest of her books, and she inched a little closer to him. The cowboy was starting to look just a
little uncertain.
"Hey… maybe you'd like to go out with me sometime?" Nikki
chirped.
"I dunno…," Irvine swallowed, "I'm kind of… involved with
someone."
Hey, Irvine admitted it. That was something new. This day
was full of surprises.
"Oh, come on!" Nikki placed her hands on her hips, "Please? You owe me for knocking into me," she winked. Irvine kept refusing, though. Looking back at her friends, Nikki knew they
were expecting something more from her. This wasn't going the way she had wanted. They had dared her and she had to give them something.
Whirling back to Irvine, Nikki grinned, "I'll give you an
offer you can't refuse." And she
suddenly leaned up and kissed him, right on the lips. Irvine's eyes widened. So
did Squall's, in fact.
"Irvine Kinneas!!!" cried an angry voice from the
stage. Selphie had been watching for a
while and was now running towards the gunman and the rude girl, eyes flaring
with rage. Irvine backed away at the
mere sight of her – he had never seen her look that angry before.
Nikki giggled, "Bye,
Irvine! Remember our date!" And she and her friends made a quick escape from the scene.
"How could you, Irvine?!" Selphie screeched, looking almost comical as she stood before the
cowboy, so much more shorter than him yet she looked ten times more deadly.
"But, I didn't-"
"I thought I could trust you! I thought you said there was only me!" The sunflower girl looked at him with a hurt
expression, then fled from the Quad. Irvine stood perplexed for a second, then ran after her.
"Selphie! Please
wait! I can explain!"
Everyone else was left staring after them. Eventually, after a long pause, Laguna
cleared his voice and looked back to Squall, "You were saying?"
Squall noticed Rinoa and Quistis exchange glances, while
Edea quietly departed from the group with a slightly concerned look on her
face. Earlier question forgotten,
Squall shrugged, "Let's play again."
Chapter VIII:
Locks of black hair highlighted with brown rippled down his
bare chest in gentle waves as she laid sleeping against him once again, eyes
with long, dark lashes closed and a faint smile on her rosy lips. She looked every bit like the angel she
was. It was nice to be with her like
this, he figured, it wasn't anything to be scared of. He could not remember being this happy before, or even being happy
before at all, and Rinoa was the sole reason of his bliss. For opening him up and showing him how to
live, how to love, and for just being who she was.
And as he couldn't sleep right at once, his mind started to
wander. That was hardly ever a good thing. His thoughts went back to that day when Cid
had informed them Seifer had disappeared. Secretly, Squall had been wondering just where his life long rival could
possibly have went off to. There
shouldn't be anywhere for him to go, not after what he had done. Then again, there could be some minor towns
that hadn't heard his reputation. Squall told himself that he didn't care.
Seifer. He had been
with Rinoa once, only to betray her and throw her into the arms of Sorceress
Adel one year later. Had Seifer ever
been with Rinoa… like this? Squall had
never asked. Never wanted to ask. Hopefully there was never anything serious
between them. Couldn't be, Seifer
wouldn't have done what he did to her then, and Rinoa wouldn't have forgot him
so quickly. None of them ever spoke
about him.
And if it was up to Squall, none of them ever would.
With those final thoughts, he closed his eyes and quickly
drifted off to sleep, waiting for another day to come…
Rinoa woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed within
the flash of a second. She was wide
eyed, gasping rapidly for her breath and looking around the room wildly. A nightmare. A terrible nightmare, yet she couldn't remember what had
horrified her so. She gave a quick
glance to Squall – he was still asleep. Luckily. Those students must
have worn him out.
Wide awake now, Rinoa found it pointless to try to go back
to sleep, even though it was the middle of the night. There was a gnawing, aching feeling inside of her that she
couldn't quite explain, nor comprehend. Stepping out of the bed in only her thin night dress, she stumbled into
the bathroom and turned on the light. After splashing some cold water in her face, she looked up into the
mirror-
The sound of Angelo barking fiercely at the door was what
pulled Squall out of his sleep, and as he blinked his eyes open and glanced
around in disorientation, he noticed Rinoa was gone. Suddenly alarmed, he got out of the bed, realizing she wasn't in
the dorm room at all. The bathroom was
lit, Rinoa's clothes were lying on the chair next to the bed and her weapon was
still standing there in the corner, her dog was pacing back and forth
nervously. But Rinoa was not there. And he hadn't heard her leave. Pulling on his t-shirt, black leather pants
and boots, Squall didn't even bother with the belts or jacket. He got his Lionheart gunblade out of its
case and left the room, having no time for junctioning Shiva or any other GF. What time of the night it was, he had no
idea, but it was still dark outside.
Squall ran through the silent halls of Garden, the thumping
of his feet hitting the floor being the only sound heard. It was obviously way, way after curfew, and
still too early for anyone to get up. He resisted the urge to shout her name, not wanting to wake up
everybody. Where in the world was
she? Why had she run off like that?
Since every other area of the Garden was closed off at this
hour, Squall headed to the most likely place first: The Training Centre. Lush jungle area met him as he entered the
wide doors, the chirping of bats and rustling of plants as animals moved among
them interrupting the former silence. And now he dared shout, even if it would attract the monsters'
attention.
"Rinoa!"
No response. His
heart was beating faster now. Fear,
that dreadful fear of losing her. On
instinct, his hand found its way to the handle of his gunblade.
But he didn't have to search for much longer. As he rounded another tree, he stopped dead
in his tracks at the scene before him.
Good Lord…
A huge T-rexaur male, or so he assumed it was from the
size, was lying on the ground, its body completely mangled and destroyed, skin
burnt and flesh exposed. Its dark eyes
were staring emptily out into nothingness, its head being the only recognizable
thing. Whatever had done this, no one
here at Garden should be able to do it; not even any normal magic he knew of
should cause this much damage. Kill it,
yes, but not turn its whole form inside-out. Just gaping at the sight for a moment, Squall then quickly turned away
before it could make him lose his last meal.
That was when he saw her.
Rinoa was huddled up in a corner against some huge boulder,
her almost bare body, only covered by a silky night dress, shaking violently as
she hugged her legs against her. Squall
didn't hesitate. He let go of his
weapon's handle and ran over to the girl he adored, crouching in front of
her. She stared at him for a brief
second, then threw herself into his arms and immediately started sobbing. Still slightly stunned, Squall gently
stroked a hand over her head in a comforting gesture.
"Rinoa… Rinoa,
what's wrong? What happened?"
"I… I don't know!" she choked out, "… Nightmare… I woke up, and… m-my eyes… Just couldn't stay in there… Then the
t-rexaur attacked, and – and –" Unable
to continue, she buried her face against his shoulder and continued to cry.
Confused, Squall tried to pull her slightly away from
himself so he could look at her face, but she kept her head lowered, staring at
the ground, "Your eyes? What's with
your eyes?"
Then she looked up. And the previously coffee brown eyes were a startling shade of golden
yellow. Squall had to bite his lip to
not gasp. Tears kept rolling down the
Rinoa's cheeks and she hugged him again, trying hard to hold back her sobs,
"S-Squall… What's happening to me?"
Sorceress… She's a sorceress. Edea's eyes used to be like that. Ultimecia's eyes were like that. He tilted his head slightly to be
able to be able to look back at the dead t-rexaur. And only a sorceress would be able to do that… Her powers are developing.
"Shhh, Rinoa…," his voice was amazingly gentle as he
removed a few strands of dark hair from her face, wiping away her tears with
his fingers. For some reason, that
familiar fear was strong again, even though he was there with her now, "It
doesn't matter. Whatever happens,
whatever powers you have… I'll be there
for you. Always."
She looked up at him another time, some sort of desperation
visible in her whole expression, "Squall, promise me you'll never leave
me. Promise me we'll never be like
Irvine and Selphie, that we'll never argue, that we'll never separate. Promise me. Promise me you will never leave."
Squall swallowed, though he didn't let any of his own fear
show through. His last promise he
hadn't been able to keep. Had to be
strong, for Rinoa. "I promise we'll
never be apart, Rinoa. I promise."
The raven haired sorceress brushed her lips against his
cheek, her shuddering ceasing as she felt comfortable in his arms, never wishing
to leave. And they stayed in that
position for a long time that night, without saying another word.
Chapter IX:
Although Squall and Rinoa tried to say as little as
possible the next morning, the countless questions thrown upon them by their friends
eventually forced them to tell everything that had happened during the
night. Also, the fact that Rinoa's eyes
remained yellow made it hard to hide anything. For Edea, it was no surprise. She knew that sooner or later, the powers that lurked inside the young
girl would surface. She herself had
experienced this when she was only a child, having received her first sorceress
powers at the age of 5, and later Ultimecia's powers as well. Now Rinoa was carrying this burden, and
while Edea had regained the original, dark colour of her eyes and started
dressing as she had when she was Matron at the orphanage, Rinoa's eyes were now
a glowing golden, warning everyone who looked at them of who she was, and what
she was.
To say the least, Rinoa despised this. As cheerful as bright as she usually was,
this morning she was acting sombre and depressed. Squall, while showing next to nothing on the outside, was deeply
worried. Not because Rinoa was a
sorceress, but because of how he knew she felt about it. Hell, he would follow her to the end of the
world if it came down to that. He would
do anything, as long as it was for her.
It didn't get any better when Cid cancelled both Quistis'
and Squall's classes that day, much to the joy of the students, and called all
six of the so-called 'Sorceress Team' up to his office. Edea was, as usual, present, having been
spending almost all her time with Cid after they were reunited. After all, they were husband and wife, and
hadn't seen each other for years, both knowing very well that Cid might have to
order Edea's death. And though he did
have to give that order, luckily it was never carried out as it was
intended. Edea still lived, as a normal
woman and not a sorceress now, and she was happy to help Cid with his work when
she could, and also be with him on a more private basis when he had time
off. The former orphanage children were
glad to see them back together.
And so they were sitting there in the headmaster's office
again, waiting for Cid to tell them what was on his mind. Selphie was glaring at Irvine now and then,
still quite upset from the incidents the day before. Annoyed and upset at the same time because she wouldn't understand,
the cowboy could only glare right back. Women. Can't live with them, can
certainly not live without them.
"SeeDs," Cid began, but then glanced at Rinoa and regretted
his choice of words, clearing his voice, "…and Rinoa. Up until now, the election in Galbadia has been running
surprisingly peacefully and fairly. Though, as I feared would happen, the peace was abruptly put to an end
last night." Pausing, the headmaster
gazed at the curious teenagers, his expression growing unusually grim, "Around
11:00 pm Galbadian time last night, General Philip Caraway was found murdered
in his mansion."
A group gasp of shock echoed through the room, and even
Squall looked visibly surprised.
"What?" Quistis snapped.
"Aw man…," Zell muttered to himself.
Then, as everybody suddenly remembered, all eyes turned to
Rinoa. The young sorceress held both
hands over her mouth, yellow eyes wide and teary. No matter what disagreements they had, Caraway had still been her
father, and he had loved her as she had once loved him in return, back when she
still was a child and didn't understand. Now he was dead. Dead, and she
would never get the chance to rebuild a broken relationship. And she who had rejected his offer to come
visit, just weeks earlier. "N-no… That
can't be true…," she shook her hand repeatedly, wanting to cry and just let it
all out, but not finding herself able to. Squall eventually gave in to the mental discussion in his head where
Shiva kept demanding he should hug Rinoa, and reached out to let her find
comfort in his arms as she had the night before. Hand finding its way to the twin rings on her necklace, Rinoa
clutched them tightly. One was the
Griever ring that had belonged to Squall, matching the medallion he still wore,
and the other ring was smaller, and thinner. It had been her mother's wedding band.
"Oh, dear child," Edea walked over to Rinoa, lightly
resting a hand on her shoulder, "You mustn't blame yourself. You couldn't know."
The nightmare…
Rinoa remembered, The nightmare… I
was all alone. My father… my mother,
both gone. And Squall? She couldn't recall him being a part of the
dream.
Pulling away from both Squall and Edea, Rinoa wiped her
moist eyes, refusing to let the others see her in such a weak state. They were all watching her, Quistis and
Irvine with some mild sort of curiosity, Selphie and Zell with slight
concern. Sorceresses could not be
weak. "How?" Rinoa eventually asked,
voice barely a whisper, "Who?"
Cid sighed heavily, "No one knows who the true murderer
is. But officially, it is said that
Caraway's advisor, a man named Adar Nalhan, is the guilty one. Supposedly he stole one of the guards' gun
and shot his general, out of jealousy of Caraway's position. These accusations are led my the new
president, chosen immediately as they needed one under the circumstances, and
he seems to be the only one qualified."
"Zolqer Temeka," Irvine said with a slight frown. Galbadian military leaders had never been on
his list of people to like. Not that he
cared that much for Caraway, either, but at least the way the general intended
to lead the large country seemed decent enough. Temeka was bound to be trouble.
"Exactly," Cid replied, "An investigation has been
started. Basically, they are looking
for evidence that can prove Nalhan is the guilty one. Meanwhile, Nalhan is kept imprisoned in his own house. But luckily, he has contacts as well, as not
nearly everyone is loyal to Temeka. This is where SeeD and you come in."
Quistis nodded, "Nalhan is just an innocent man to take the
blame to satisfy the people, isn't he?"
"So Nalhan says himself. We've gotten a request from none other than him to help him dig up
evidence to prove he is not guilty. I'm sure you can imagine who he suspects arranged this whole thing."
Squall frowned, "So why SeeD?"
Cid clasped his hands on his back, starting to pace back
and forth, "Because he needs someone who stands on the outside. Furthermore, he needs someone capable of
fighting, as things are far from calm in Galbadia. Deling City is a mass of upset people right now, and Galbadian
soldiers have to rather forcefully keep them back. Also, it appears that Temeka has an army ready to take control
over Timber again, and is preparing an attack on Dollet. We've been receiving information about the
situation the whole morning."
Rinoa blinked and perked up then, "Timber? They're going to attack Timber?"
"Well, it's not necessary to attack. Timber can't do much to defend
themselves. But word has it that
there's a new resistance group forming there." Cid said, "As you might have expected, I'm assigning you five for this
mission. Plus Nida – he's already been
briefed earlier this morning."
"Five?" Rinoa protested, "You mean I'm being left here?"
Cid lifted an eyebrow, "Well, Rinoa, you are not a SeeD…"
"I'm a sorceress!" the girl stood up from her chair, hands
on her hips, "And this is my father we're talking about. And Timber! I have friends there!"
Squall shook his head, standing too and taking one step
forward to face her, "He's right, Rinoa. After what happened tonight…" The others nodded in agreement.
"But I'm fine now! Squall, I can't believe you're taking their side," Rinoa snapped,
turning to him, "What are you saying? Are you saying all of you are going away to investigate the death of my
father, and you won't let me come? Don't you understand how I feel?"
Frowning, Squall started to become frustrated himself. "I only want you to be safe!" Why can't she understand that?
"I am not a china doll. Stop treating me like one!" With that, Rinoa fled the room. Squall wanted to go after her, but hesitated as he looked back at Cid.
The headmaster rubbed the side of his forehead with two
fingers, sighing slowly again, "You will be leaving this afternoon, taking a
ship from Balamb Town to Dollet. You'll
get all the details then. I'd let you
use Ragnarok, but I can't want you to draw too much attention. That will be all. Dismissed."
As they walked out, Irvine gave Squall a sympatric pat on
the back, "Chicks. I'll never
understand them."
Selphie snorted as she darted past them both, "Men!"
And Squall pressed a hand against his forehead.