Author's notes: YAY! I'm done! This is the last chapter. I hate to admit it, but I'm glad. Not that I didn't enjoy writing it and getting reviews, it was just a lot of pressure, always trying to get chapters done quickly, and dealing with the fact that I killed off the hottest guy in video game history (argue and die, especially if you're name's Samantha). Anyways, read my end notes for apologies, thanks, and info on my future fics. Buh bye ^_^

Chapter Nine

Rinoa barely glanced up from her photo album when she heard her door open. Today was Squall's funeral, and she, Quistis, Selphie, Zell, and Irvine were staying at the presidential palace in Esthar. Maids were always coming in and out of her room, bringing her drinks, fluffing her pillows, and asking if there was anything else she needed. She was about to say that she didn't want anything, when she saw that the girl at the door was not a maid, but her best friend.

"Hey Selphie," she said, smiling a bit, "Got bored of the pool?"

Selphie shook her head, "You know I could never get tired of beating Zell in water fights. I just came to see how you were."

"Better." She replied, "It's been almost a week. I still miss him, but I've accepted that there must have been a reason. I was sure it was my fault, but I can't go on blaming myself. It's just that...I loved him Selphie, I really did. I wanted us to get married, have kids, and grow old together. It's just not fair..." she trailed off, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Selphie gave her a hug and brushed the long dark hair out of Rinoa's eyes. "I know, we'll all miss him. And it's not fair, you're right. But...oh I don't know. There's a reason I became a SeeD and not a grief counsellor you know."

Rinoa smiled, and looked up at her friend. "I know," she told her, "Thanks Selphie." I'll see you this afternoon, 'k?"

Selphie nodded and left the room. When she was gone, Rinoa went back to the album. Her eyes fell on a picture of her, Squall, and Angelo. In it, Squall was giving her a piggyback in the rain, and both of them were laughing. Angelo was in front of them, trying to get Squall to come play in the puddles with him.

Rinoa smiled as she remembered that day. Squall had eventually given in to Angelo, and chased him through the courtyard, with her clinging to his back screaming, partly in fear of falling, but mostly in excitement. Then he had run out of the garden and into the woods. In the middle of the forest there had been a lake, and Squall had ran straight in, with Rinoa still on his back. The water had been warm, and they had stayed out there until sunset, both of them too much in love to remember the speech he was supposed to be making.

She smiled again. Squall had gotten in a lot of trouble for that, and so had she, but it was her favourite memory.

She took out the picture and put it on her dresser, then got up. There were only three hours until the funeral, and she had to get ready.

~*~

Irvine knocked on Rinoa's door, feeling nervous. He had to tell her it was time for the funeral. Selphie had told him about Quistis's theory, and now he was worried about Rinoa. If she found out, he was sure it would push her back into her depression. Sighing, he knocked on the door.

Rinoa answered in less than thirty seconds, wearing a simple black dress. Irvine noted that she had Squall ring around her neck, and that she was also wearing the bracelet Squall had given her for their first anniversary.

"Umm...it's time.." he began, but she cut him off. "I know. Thanks for coming to get me." He was surprised to see that, although her eyes were slightly red, she seemed to be coping pretty well.

"You're welcome," he told her, "Do you want me to go down with you?"

"No, that's alright," she told him, "You go down, I'll be there in a second, I just need to get something." Nodding, he left, but something didn't feel right.

~*~

Rinoa closed the door and walked over to her dresser. On it were the two items she had to bring. She glanced at the picture again before slipping it into the pocket of her dress. Then she picked up the second item. She looked at it for a while, wondering if perhaps she should just leave it where it was. But she couldn't. She hesitated one more time before slipping the item into her pocket beside the picture.

~*~

"We are gathered here today to say goodbye to Squall Leonhart, SeeD commander.........."

Zell sighed in irritation. The funeral had just started, and already he had to suppress the urge to run to the front of the room and punch the minister in the face. It wasn't right. His best friend was being remembered in a speech so dull and uninteresting that he might as well have been a goldfish, but at the same time, the crowd at the funeral was so large that it was as if the president of the world had died. And yet, even thought there were so many people there, probably only fifteen or so actually felt sorrow at Squall's death.

Zell glared over at Seifer, who was sitting near the back. How could he have the nerve to attend the funeral, after all the times he had personally tried to kill Squall?

He felt someone tap his arm and looked over to see Quistis. "I think Seifer is here for the same reason we are. He and Squall were rivals, but deep inside, I think they were like brothers."

Zell was always surprised at how Quistis always seemed to know what he was thinking. "You might be right," he told her, smiling a bit. He turned his attention to Rinoa, who was sitting beside him. She was crying quite openly, and he gripped her hand for a few seconds, just to remind her that he was there for her. She looked up at him and mouthed her thanks.

He nodded, but his heart had just skipped a beat. When their eyes had met, he had seen something in her expression that sent a chill down his spine. He shrugged it off. It had only lasted for a second after all. He'd just be sure to watch her closely when the funeral ended.

~*~

Two hours later, Rinoa was getting annoyed. There was a reception out in the garden, and hundreds of people were walking around, eating and talking quietly. Every minute, someone would approach her to express their sympathy, which she was getting tired of.

She looked over and saw Zell watching her. He was worse than all the others combined. For a fearful moment, she had thought he had discovered what she was going to do. But no one could know. She had only decided that morning, and she had been careful to act as normal as possible.

She needed a distraction. She looked towards Squall's casket, as if expecting to see the answer to her problem. And, surprisingly, she did.

"Quistis," she said, approaching the blonde, "I have a favour to ask."

Quistis looked at her, and Rinoa noted the smudged eyeliner and mascara that indicated she had been crying. "Sure," Quistis replied, 'What do you want?"

"Would you mind talking to Zell for a while? I think he needs some company."

Both girls looked towards the buffet table, where Zell was, as always, eating hotdogs, although not nearly as quickly, or with as much enthusiasm, as usual. "Why me?" Quistis asked, sounding almost nervous.

"'Cause I think he likes you," Rinoa told her, "And I get the feeling you like him."

Quistis smiled a bit as she replied, "I'll bet you fifty gil he doesn't, but ok." Her expression changed to concern, "But what about you? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Rinoa replied, "Or at least, I will be." Quistis nodded, gave her a hug, then left.

Within five minutes, Zell was completely distracted. Rinoa couldn't help smiling at the look on his face, which was a mixture of embarrassment and happiness.

After checking on more time to make sure no one was watching, she walked off into the woods.

~*~

"So anyway, I was saying to Rinoa..." Zell stopped in mid sentence. Looking around, he saw that there were only about thirty people left. And none of them were Rinoa.

"Zell, what's wrong?" Quistis asked, sounding confused.

"Where's Rinoa?" Zell asked. She shrugged. "SHIT!" he yelled, so loud that everyone at the funeral shot him disapproving glares. "Sorry," he told them, "Has anyone seen......"

A gunshot rang out, interrupting his speech.

~*~

"We are gathered here today to say goodbye to Rinoa Heartilly......"

Zell sighed as he listened to yet another goodbye speech, the second in under a week.

He glanced up at the picture at the front of the room. It showed Rinoa, Squall, and Angelo. Tears dripped from Zell's eyes as he remembered that all three of them were gone. He couldn't help but blame Rinoa. She had put Angelo to sleep, she had been the reason Squall killed himself, and then, to make their lives even worse, she had taken her own life.

But then he smiled. He remembered something his grandfather had told him. Although he, Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine would never see them again, they would never be separated from each other. Their love had survived when Squall had been gone for long periods of time on missions, it had survived although Rinoa's father had disapproved, and it would survive now, even when they themselves had not.

Suddenly, Zell wished he had been in Squall's shoes. He wished he could have loved someone so deeply that he couldn't live without them, and that they would love him back just as much.

But it would never happen, he told himself, there was no one that special in his life.

"Thank you all for being here," the minister finished. As Zell stood up, he felt a hand touch his. Looking up into a pair of blue eyes, he smiled.

"What?" Quistis asked, looking confused.

"I just discovered I have something I didn't think I had, " he told her.

"What?" She asked. He didn't answer her, just took her hand, and walked with her towards the exit.

He had lost two friends, but he had found love. And while time would make his sorrow fade, it could only make his love grow.

The End

Author's notes: O.o I'm confused. I started out with a nice, angsty fic, and ended up with a romance??? Oh well, at least I got to kill people. At the moment I have a few humour fics in the works, and I'm considering a romance. I just can't decided which pairing.

Apologies: First of all, I want to apologize to Peewee's Gurl (Samantha) I know I said I'd said this chapter to u before I posted it, but I had to get it up or I would have went crazy. Don't worry, I'll let you read all my other fics b4 I post...I promise. Second, I wanna apologize to everyone who got sick and tired of waiting for new chapters. I know ch.8 and 9 took a really long time, but I have an excuse. You see, when I was born, I was blessed with good looks, intelligence, talent, the ability to make anyone like me by saying "I wuv u" and a million other things that make me so wonderful, BUT to prevent me from being one hundred percent perfect, I was cursed with the dreaded writer's block. And I got it really bad when writing the last few chapters int his story. Sorry 'bout dat.

Thanks: Ok, this is gonna take awhile. First, I'll thank the people who reviewed. They are: Punk Quistis Trepe, Optical Goddess, Spirit Lovelorn, Lil Angel, Therese, RealllyDumbBlonde (o.O), Peewee's Gurl, and Senric. Thanx u guys, I loved all the reviews. You're all great, and I'll try to read and review some of ur stories when I get the chance (If I haven't already)

Next, the two special reveiwers. Peewee's Gurl and SpiritLovelorn. PWG (Sam),thanx for everything. Can't wait for the next chapter of Remember Me. And btw, wanna hang out later? Spirit, you're great. I love your fics, and I know for a fact that your a nice person too. After all, not many people actually send e-mails thanking me for reveiwing their fics. You guys are both great reveiwiers, great people, and great author's.

Also, I wanna thank my two wonderful friends, PeeWee's Gurl (Geeze, why don't I just make a PWG thanx section?), and Matt1plus1. Sam, you've helped me so much it's unbelivable. From everything from reveiwing, to editing (although usually not till after I post), to telling me to move my ass and post the next chapter. Matt, well, you'll probably never read this, but you're great too. After all, it's all thanx to Bloodlust (If u haven't read it, read it) that I wrote this. For some reason, it inspired me to kill Squall. And beside Sam, you're probably one of my best friends. Even though I've never met u in real life, and I haven't even known u very long, you're one of the coolest people I know. Say hi to you're hippo for me. Anyway, I luv u guyz. *hugz*

One last thing. It's been five days since the tradgedy in NY. Even though I'm not an american, the feelings of shock, sorrow, and anger are still strong. I want to say sorry for eveyone who was injured or lost loved ones in the attack. Although I'm too young to donate blood,or even help in the volunteer effort, I'll do what I can to help. Whoever did this deserves a punishment worse than anything I can imagine,a dn I hope they're caught soon, so justice can be served. So to any Americans, whether you live in New York, Florida, California,or any other state, even Alaska, I know no words can make it better, but even so, I'm sorry you're being put through this,and I hope you're all safe.