Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1
Wedding Plan
Chapter Four
Rinoa cuddled up to Laguna, listening to his heartbeat. "Laguna," she whispered.
"Hmmm, Rinoa what is it?" he asked, as she sat back up, gently pulling away from him.
"Do you think Squall will still want to marry me when he returns?" Rinoa asked.
"Squall loves you Rinoa...he won't stop loving you if you gave him the answer he wasn't hoping for...of course he will want to marry you, he asked you didn't he?" Laguna tried to reassure her, "marriage is a big step; I don't think Squall's the type of guy who would ask something like that without meaning it,"
Laguna looked down, all of a sudden feeling sad. He thought about Raine, the only woman he had truly ever loved...even more then the feelings he had once had for Julia...Rinoa's mother. Was this a coincidence that his own son would fall in love with daughter of the woman he had once fallen for...or was it fate? He didn't know. Rinoa noticed this change; she guessed what had come over him and rested a hand on his knee.
"Love...never dies...Rinoa, even throughout death....just like a river...it flows and it flows...out into the sea and back to the river. Love grows too you know...it seems to grow even after death that is what makes it so immortal..."Laguna said tearfully. Rinoa almost broke down over his metaphoric way of describing it. "See I am good with words..." he tried to joke, but it failed. Love was no joke, it was serious.
"Thank you Laguna...I will always love Squall. Just as I know he loves me, I can feel it now. Love is like a river, it keeps on flowing, it goes out in the sea...and it rains, back into the river," Rinoa said softly. "Love hurts...I love him so much...it hurts...is it true love? Is what I am feeling true love?" Rinoa asked, linking her arm around Laguna's.
"Yes...it is Rinoa I truly believe that it is." Laguna remembered the time when he had asked Raine to marry him. He remembered her face...the look in her eye the feeling he had felt within him, the feeling he still felt within him the feeling of true love and it was true, because he knew it.
"Ellone's coming tomorrow, you know," Laguna informed Rinoa as they sat close, thinking of the people they loved most. Rinoa smiled. She and Ellone had formed close friends over the two years. "I knew that cheer you up, it cheers me up to," he smiled.
Rinoa had never been left out by Zell and the others who had formed the orphanage gang as they liked to refer to themselves as a group name. She could not confide though deeply with them...she was still the outsider, however much they loved and included her in their happiness. Squall and Ellone however she felt closest with, with Laguna of course.
"Great!" she grinned, she felt so happy. She hadn't felt this happy ever since Squall had departed for Dollet.
"You and Elle can discuss a wedding dress if you like, I'm sure she'll love to buy you one," Laguna smiled with mischief, Rinoa's eyes widened.
"But I haven't told Squall that I want to marry him though he thinks I don't want to probably take my stupid answer as a no!" Rinoa felt excitement grow within her.
"Who cares? We know he wants to be with you. We all do, the whole garden does. It will be a surprise wedding! I have everything planned well...in my head anyway," Laguna said, his voice matched the excitement that was glowing from Rinoa's eyes.
"Really? You're really going to!" Rinoa squealed happily. "I'm going to get married!" she yelled so loudly the entire corridor knew about it. Rinoa threw her arms around Laguna with happiness and planted a big kiss on his cheek before un-attaching herself from Laguna's neck.
"Are you going to invite your father?" he asked, the tone of his voice was serious. Rinoa became subdued at this.
"Why should I?" the coldness in her voice still lingered against her father.
"Because he cares for you...and I believe that it's genuine. He got you out of that prison didn't he? He could have left you in there, it would have caused him a lot less bother," Laguna said to Rinoa.
"Yeah, he left Squall your son and all our friends in there to be executed!" Rinoa retorted.
"Yes...but he didn't realize that you had feelings for one and a growing close friendships with the others," Laguna replied calmly.
"Would that of mattered?" she asked, defiance growing deep within her.
"Yes, your father was the General of Deling City, he had to think of the people who lived within it, he did not want to anger the sorceress. It's a hard decision, one which I would have fought, but I have the army to do so. Your father would have caused a major civil war and Deling City would of probably revolted or something else," Laguna explained objectively. Rinoa calmed herself and nodded.
"It wasn't all my father's fault, it was Irvine too, but he was being an ass," she began to laugh; remembering the time she had almost scratched his eyes out to go back and rescue Squall. Squall, the young man she had harbored feeling for and for a very long time. "Will you and Elle come to Deling with me?" she asked. Laguna beamed and nodded.
"Of course! I am going to be you father-in-law! I may as well meet the father of my to-be daughter-in-law!" he said happily.
"Maybe it is about time, it's been a while since me and my father talked...I have changed a lot over two years...maybe he has too..." Rinoa said, thoughtfully, Laguna patted her back.
Ellone arrived early the next day and was overjoyed to hear of Rinoa and Squall's up coming wedding and eagerly joined her to Deling City.
Upon their arrival to the city, Rinoa preened herself, not wanting to appear scruffy to her father. She fiddled with her hair, re-done her mascara and applied some more lipstick. Smiling, Rinoa entered the room that beheld her father.
"R-Rinoa!" he stuttered, "you've returned?" he asked.
"Not for good though father," she said, not coldly, but with a smile and a look of happiness. "I have come to inform...to tell you that well, firstly that I have grown up over the past two years. That I am willing to forgive and forget out differences. I would like you to consider me your daughter once more then a trouble," she said, before announcing her recent engagement.
"Rinoa....I..." he said, not knowing quite what to say. Rinoa smiled and they embraced, but Rinoa pulled herself away quickly.
"There's more though father I'm going to get married...I've found the man I love and I'm going to marry him. You have met him, he was Squall, the squad leader of the SeeDs who you assigned to assonate the sorceress the good sorceress who was possessed, that is.." she corrected.
General Caraway remembered him. "I never expected...him?" he said, a warm wave of happiness spread over him. "So you love the young man?" he wanted reassuring, "and he loves you?"
Rinoa sighed but found herself letting out a laugh. "Yes, I know it sound strange, but I do love him, you have never met him, he's changed a lot since then," Rinoa said to her father.
General Caraway nodded, he wasn't about to cast judgment over a guy he had met but only once and not informally. "Where is he, Squall?" he asked. Rinoa looked down, she felt sad, and feeling the loss of his company again was like revisiting her worst nightmare that she would never see him again. She still missed him so much, even with Laguna and Ellone for love and company.
"Dollet," she replied, "so he won't be back for a month at least," she replied. The sudden thought that something dreadful would happen to him came over her again and that he would never return...what if he died? No he would never die never, if he did die then Rinoa would go with him. Love may last beyond death but not this early, not when they hadn't even made their vows. Love would flow on, but Rinoa would stay still, like a rock in a river. Slowly being pushed out into the sea until she sunk and died with him.
"Oh," she exclaimed, giving a laugh," this is Laguna...Squall's father and Ellone,Laguna's sort of adopted daughter Squalls adopted sister," Rinoa introduced her friends to her father, who shook their hands in welcome.
They sat down to talk, something Rinoa hadn't done with her father for what seemed ages. She was glad however that she had came back and forgiven him and that he had forgiven her. No she could feel almost complete, the only hole left to fill was Squall and a ring on her finger.
