Chapter1: Search
"Squall?" Zell asked Rinoa. "He's in the Headmaster's office. Laguna wanted to see him."
"Really? Well, thanks, Zell!!"
"You're..." he started but Rinoa was already gone. "…welcome."
He shrugged and headed for the cafeteria when he heard his stomach growling it was time to eat some hotdogs.
Rinoa went to the elevator and reached the third floor. She saw everyone sitting on the floor except Seifer and she spotted Squall in the middle of the group.
"Hey! You're on a picnic?" she joked, not paying attention to the faces they were showing.
Noticing nobody was laughing from her joke, she glanced at the gang.
"What's wrong?" she asked starting to worry.
She turned to Squall when the others got up.
"What on Earth are you doing, Squall? Get up!"
"Give him a while, Rinoa," Quistis said.
"What's wrong? What happened? Nothing serious I hope!"
As nobody answered her, she went to Squall and grabbed his arm to force him up but he didn't move. She put her fists on her hips and looked at him, frowning.
"Speak up! WHAT-IS-GOING-ON??"
"Would you shut up already?" Seifer spoke for the first time. "Can't you see he's shocked? Give him a break!!"
Quistis put a hand on Rinoa's shoulder seeing Seifer's words have hurt her after granting Seifer an angry look.
"He was rude, but right, Rinoa," she said. "Squall just learned something pretty hard to swallow up. Give him a few minutes."
Rinoa finally gave up questioning and decided Squall would tell her what he could have learned to make him like that once he feels like it. She sat down by his side and wrapped her arm around his shoulders.
"Alright, take your time."
She slapped her forehead as remembering why she came in the first place.
"Oh yeah! I forgot! Squall, there is something really weird I want to tell you. Before coming, I was walking in Deling and I saw somebody that looked just like you. The hair were the same color than yours, the eyes too…"
Squall slowly turned his head to her as he started coming back from the surprise.
"It was your twin, believe me…except it was a girl, though."
She just finished her sentence Squall jumped up and roughly grabbed her arm to force her up. He took her by the shoulders and looked right in her eyes, something in his eyes scaring Rinoa.
"Where??" he asked loudly. "When??"
Rinoa grimaced from the pain and tried to move away from Squall's tight grip.
"Let go, you're hurting me!" she complained.
Squall freed her with an apologize before asking again.
"As I told you," Rinoa answered. "Just before coming here about half an hour ago, maybe more. I was walking on Deling's main street when she past by me. Why?"
He handled her the paper and without a word, she started reading. Her eyes widened up as she came to the main point of the letter.
"A twin sister?" she said so low only Squall heard her.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the elevator.
"Where are we going?"
"Deling City!"
It was the third time they were walking through the main street and no sign of Squall's presumed twin. Deciding not to give up, Squall turned to face Rinoa.
"You sure she was looking like me?"
It was too much coincidence. He just learned he had a twin sister and Rinoa probably saw her meanwhile. He couldn't believe in such luck.
"Yes, I'm positive. It was a while ago, maybe she left." She suggested. "After all, I never saw her before!"
"You haven't been here for a while either. With your resistance group and the Sorceress story…"
Squall stopped when he remembered in a flash that Rinoa was a Sorceress too. She just shrugged.
"Besides she looked like she was in a hurry," she said.
Squall just looked around without saying a thing. Seeing how much he wanted to find that girl, she came up with an idea.
"Maybe we can ask if somebody saw her," she suggested.
Squall's eyes shone while he silently thank her for helping him with something that wasn't really her business. He was the one who took her to Deling, but once there she could have left him anytime. But she didn't. Dear Rinoa, sweet Rinoa always there to help him.
"Anything involving you is my business, Squall," she said with a smile reading his mind.
"Thanks, Rinoa."
"Forget it. Now I suggest we split and ask people separately about the girl. Let's meet in front of Galbadia Hotel in one, no two hours? What do you say?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Let's do that then."
They split, going opposite ways. Rinoa looked at Squall a moment, thinking how seriously he was taking this story. Usually, Squall wasn't the questioning type.
Two hours later, they met back in front of Galbadia Hotel. Squall was walking his head down, telling Rinoa he didn't learn anything useful. Seeing Rinoa, he hoped she was luckier than he was. She shook her head to his silent question once she was in front of him.
"Nothing," she said. "I'm sorry, Squall. It's like this girl came from nowhere and disappeared the same way."
"Thanks anyway. Some people told me they saw that girl one or two times, but didn't know where she was from, where she was living or what her name was."
"Well at least we know we're not after a ghost! If you say people saw her, it's because she does exist!"
"You're right, but we're searching for so long I wonder if she is still here."
He was about to give up and Rinoa knew it. She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her.
"Come on, Squall! You won't give up now! I never saw you looking so determined in finding something!"
"It's because the last time I did it, I was looking for you."
A moment of silence followed the allusion to the fight against Ultimecia.
"You look tired. Maybe we should eat something and rest a bit before searching again. What do you say?"
"There you are, you thief!" a voice exclaimed behind Squall.
Somehow feeling that this message was for him, Squall turned around to see an angry shopkeeper coming his way. The man stopped when he looked better at Squall. He still approached.
"Sorry, boy. Guess I mistook you for someone else."
A light of hope!
"Who are you looking for, sir?" Rinoa asked before Squall grabbed the man by his collar.
"A thief."
"What happened?"
"Earlier this week, I hired a girl to work at my shop. When she came to ask me if I had a job for her, I pitied her and gave her a job."
"Why did you pity her?"
"She was so thin and dirty, looking sick. She didn't want money for payment, she wanted food. I didn't mind at all. Seeing how she looked like, I knew she didn't have a home so she lived at mine. Yesterday, I couldn't keep her for the job anymore."
"You fired her?" Squall asked.
"It was hard for me, believe me but I didn't have the choice! I fired her. She cried at my feet to let her work again, saying she needed that job… I felt so bad…"
Squall couldn't believe it. He resisted the desire to punch the man for being so heartless.
"But this morning, she came back and stole food from my shop! I just had the time to recognize her clothes. She was looking in even more bad shape than the day before. I called for soldiers but she was gone."
Rinoa wondered if it was then that she saw her, if she just stole the food.
"When I saw you, young man, I mistook you for her. You got the same hair and now that I look better, you got the same eyes too. Her eyes were the only thing shining on her."
Squall was about to yell at the man that the thief was in fact is twin sister he just learned the existence about, but a woman cut in.
"Excuse me. You are talking about that dirty brown haired and clothed girl with those incredibly strange blue eyes?"
"Yes!" Rinoa exclaimed with hope in her voice as she grabbed Squall's hand.
"Forget about her. The soldiers finally caught her. Your shop wasn't the first one she robbed. When I saw the soldiers taking her away, she wasn't even moving which meant they hit her or she was too weak to do so."
"I better like the second option." Squall said.
"If she robbed that much, the soldiers probably took her to my dad," Rinoa told Squall. "Let's go!"
She grabbed his hand and they ran to Caraway's mansion. The woman looked at the man.
"Who are they?" she asked.
The man shrugged.
"The girl is General Caraway's daughter, but the guy… I would say he's her boyfriend. He looks so much like that girl, maybe they're from the same family."
"Father!" Rinoa screamed when she entered her father's office.
The General jumped from the surprise visit. He got up and stood up behind his desk, smiling to his daughter.
"Hi, Rinoa. Long time no see!"
Then he got his sight on Squall who wasn't even looking at him. He changed his face when he saw the SeeD.
"Mmh! Squall…"
Squall looked at him without a smile. If Caraway didn't like him much, it was the same thing for Squall.
"General," he still said to be polite.
"It's no time for a quarrel, you two!" Rinoa exclaimed looking at Squall then at her father. "I have something important to tell you, father."
After having one last glance of his daughter's boyfriend, Caraway sat down and put his hands together on the desk.
"What can I do for you, dear?"
Rinoa leant her hands on the desk to put herself between Squall and her father.
"Have you seen a girl that look like Squall today?"
"If I had to remember everyone coming here…"
"Have you? You never forgot Squall's face after you saw him for the first time so don't tell me you don't remember about a girl who look like him!!"
Squall couldn't believe Rinoa was speaking to her dad like that. He wasn't living with his father so he didn't have the opportunity to do like that but still… He put his hands on her shoulders and got his head close to her.
"Calm down, Rinoa. There's no need to be so…"
She swung her arm back, forcing Squall to let go and move backward with wide eyes not to be slapped. Caraway got up.
"For once, he's right, Rinoa. Calm down."
"You're glad to say that Squall is right when it suits you to! You'll answer my question!"
Caraway looked down and sighed, apparently used to that kind of action from his daughter not like Squall.
"Yes, I saw her. Shopkeepers kept complaining about that girl all day long, saying she was stealing food from their houses and shops when it was food shops. Not only the shopkeepers in fact. Lots of people. They just had a fruit or piece of bread stolen so I didn't really bother at first."
"Then why was she arrested?" Squall cut in, hitting the desk with his hands.
Caraway looked at him. They were face-to-face and frowning at each other.
"She was disturbing this peaceful city. As the General, I had to make sure she wasn't to disturb it anymore."
He sat back still looking at Squall with a strange face.
"Why you ask? You sound like you know her, Squall. Are you a two-timing?"
Squall felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he almost jumped over the General's desk to choke him. Rinoa wrapped her arms around his waist to hold him.
"Squall, don't! He's trying to get on your nerves!"
"He's succeeding!!"
Caraway was smiling. Squall calmed down so Rinoa released her grip.
"Are you trying to take us apart, Caraway?" Squall asked making the name sound like an insult.
"Squall!" Rinoa exclaimed.
Caraway kept smiling with a that's-what-will-happen-if-you-keep-up-that-way face. Squall defied him.
"Really? We'll see about that!"
He grabbed Rinoa and leant her back. Then he kissed her furiously, surprising her and making the General feel fire on his face. Squall then put Rinoa back on her feet. He was looking very serious while she was looking dumb. Squall never kissed her like that.
"See?" Squall continued. "Better get use to see me around because I intend to be for a long, long time! You better tell me where she is!"
Amazed from the boy's actions and determination, Caraway smiled again.
"That girl must be pretty important to you, Squall."
"I think it's none of your…" Rinoa started before being cut by Squall.
"It's my sister," he told.
Both Rinoa and her father looked at the frowning Squall with surprised looks. Rinoa because she never thought Squall would tell him and Caraway because he wasn't waiting for that kind of news. Then he smirked.
"Mmh! A funny president for a father, a killer for son and a thief for daughter…
what a family…"
Squall became really mad the second Caraway spoke of Laguna. He didn't bother what he said about him.
"You can call me what you want but don't you dare insult my father!! Do it again and I'll give you a good reason to call me a killer!"
"What…" Caraway started, amazed.
Rinoa looked at her beloved with wide opened eyes. He just defended Laguna! He never even spoke of him as his father before and now he was taking his side. She calmed him down before turning to her father.
"Later, father. Just tell us where the girl is."
"In the D-District prison."
"You have to let her free!" Squall ordered. "If you don't, I'll have my father force you to!"
Caraway knew Squall's father was Esthar president. He didn't want any trouble.
"It must be pretty important for you. Not so long ago, you didn't even know you had a father and now you have a sister too?!"
Squall hasn't noticed he mentioned his father. He never spoke of him like that. It just came naturally.
"Please, father!" Rinoa pleaded. "It's important for us…for him!"
Caraway looked at Squall's face that wasn't showing anger or determination anymore.
"Please, sir. I have to find her! I lived like an orphan all my life and so she did. I know how she feels and I want her to know she still has a family."
"You'll take her with you?"
Squall nodded.
"Yes, I'll take her to Garden."
"Alright. I'll write a letter to the prison director for her freedom. You'll just have to show that to him."
"Thanks, dad!" Rinoa exclaimed jumping on her father and hugging him.
She let go so he wrote the paper. Then he handed it to Squall.
"I still don't like you much, but…take care of Rinoa."
Squall made the SeeD's salute.
"Yes, sir!"
"Let's go, Squall!" Rinoa urged him.
They left the mansion and went back to the car renting shop. Then they drove back to Balamb and changed their car for the Ragnarok without a word to the curious people who wanted to know what they wanted to do with it. Squall has learned from Selphie how to fly it so he didn't have any problem.
"Why the Ragnarok, Squall? You could have simply make the Garden move."
"It's faster."
Rinoa agreed and they flew to the D-District prison.