Standard disclaimer: I don't own Squall and co. that's all :p

Chapter 8

Squall sat in his office, trying to do some paperwork. His whole body cried out with fatigue but he could not sleep. His room was akin to a torture room, he could not find any source of comfort sleeping there. There were too many memories, painful ones especially after last night. He thought that by asking Quistis to give him another chance, he could get on with life. But no matter how he tried to picture Quistis in his mind, he only saw Rinoa smiling sweetly at him. When he tried to picture Quistis in his arms, he could only see Rinoa hiding her face in his jacket like what she always did. When he remembered what happened last night during the ball, he could only see Rinoa's tear-stained face. Squall was afraid that when he closed his eyes he would see Rinoa crying. He was afraid that he would remember the times they had together. He was afraid of him himself breaking down in tears at the thought of Rinoa. He was afraid and work alone could drive away the fear. "Stop thinking!" Squall ordered himself and focused on the paperwork at hand.

A few minutes later as he was trying to read the treaty between Esthar Garden and Balamb Garden, the intercom rang again asking him, Zell and the others to assemble at Xu's office. Sighing in relief, Squall picked up his Lionheart and left the memory infested office. He swore that at that moment, Rinoa was behind him, sitting on his desk and smiling a mischievous smile. Damn!

==

"The Ragnarok will come and pick you all up in roughly half an hour. You all need to assemble at the front gate .All 5 of you will be brought to the Island Closest to Hell and investigate what the hell happened there. After this, I want a report from all of you. Is there any questions?" Xu said tiredly, her voice monotonous. She wanted nothing more than a good sleep and a nice hot bath. Sitting down on the chair behind her desk, Xu looked as half-dead as the rest of them. She could barely keep her head up. Sympathetically, Nida passed her a mug of hot tea and gave her an encouraging smile. Smiling back, Xu placed a hand on Nida's one, took the mug and murmured her thanks.

Quistis felt strangely uncomfortable seeing the both of them displaying a closer level of intimacy than the one she was used to. They seemed very close. Her eyes narrowed at that thought.

All around her, Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Squall looked like a mess. All of them including her herself, sported dark rings underneath their eyes and their uniforms messy and dirty. "And to think that we have to go on another mission?" she thought incredulously. But everyone was too tired to argue, except for Irvine.

"Why us, Xu? I'm sure Esthar, Trabia and Galbadia have strong cadets and SeeDs. . ." Irvine trailed off his words was replaced by a poorly concealed yawn. In an equally tired tone, Xu answered back. "Because the whole island sank overnight, Irvine. All the leaders are afraid because an island can't sink overnight for no good reason. That's why they wanted you all, the world heroes to go and see what the hell happened . . .I'm sorry that this has to come up now, but. . ." A tired shrug paused her words,"And oh yes, Headmaster Cid and Edea are all right. They received the warning early last night and went hiding in the mountains. Both of them wanted me to tell you all that they are in Deling right now in case you are all worried." Guiltily, Selphie sneaked a glance at Irvine. Shucks! How could they forget about Matron and Cid? Thank Hyne they were safe and sound. "Dismissed." Xu ordered warily before retreated into her own room

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Chapter 9

Rinoa awoke reluctantly, her whole body sore and in pain. Picking herself up from the ground, Rinoa got up on her feet unsteadily. Beside her Angelo also stirred and woke up. Both of them watched the whole ocean with a daze look, wondering what were all those mottled and black dots floating around. Then Rinoa realize what those black dots were. They were the corpses of the monsters that could not escape the waters. They had drowned and died, leaving decaying corpses floating on the cerulean surface.

Falling to her knees, Rinoa gagged, her eyes shut as if trying to forget the horrible scene. Both palm flat against the rocky surface, she felt her stomach emptying but the taste in her mouth was strangely salty and metallic, like. . . blood. Beside her, Angelo was getting agitated and was whining softly. Opening her eyes, Rinoa saw that she had indeed puked out blood. Trembling, one of her finger gently wiped the corner of lips and she saw the smudged red stain on her fingers. Instinctively, her mind told her that was the price for her powers. Most probably she would not even live past thirty odd years. Rinoa smiled absently and patted Angelo's head. Frankly, one year more or less matter little to her. She already knew what her powers would bring her in the end, fear and death. "Not a very bright future." She thought wryly.

Edea once told her that a sorceress only choose a successor who was either a sorceress themselves or a woman with potential. Those with potential will awaken once they received their power from the dying sorceress. It had happened that while Ultimecia forced the powers out of Edea, Rinoa was present and Rinoa had great potential. Her potential was so alarming that Ultimecia knew that she would be a threat to her own great plans, thus the reason why Ultimecia tried to kill Rinoa again and again. Now, her powers were doing the deed of killing for Ultimecia. She will die much faster than any sorceress. It seemed to Rinoa her powers were bringing her only trouble and nothing else.

Pulling herself together Rinoa sat down cross legged on the ground, determined to help clear up the mess she had created the night before. "If I'm going to die, I should at least do something good with my powers." She reasoned. Focusing her powers, she concentrated on casting flare on as many corpses as she could. There was no point in letting them rot in the ocean and making a mess of the ecosystem. "And besides they are ugly, aren't they Angelo?" Rinoa smiled at her dog before giving Angelo a hug. Pausing for a moment, Rinoa tried to remember what had triggered her power to sink an island but nothing came to mind. Rinoa frowned but try as she might, she could not remember. It was as if she had deliberately blocked out a bad memory. . .But what?

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Zell fidgeted in his seat for a while before falling asleep, his face plastered against the window. Next to him, Selphie was already fast asleep while leaning on Irvine's shoulder. Across the aisle, Squall was leaning back against his chair, his eyes closed. No one knew whether he was asleep or just resting. No one cared. Everyone was too dead tired. They all had trudged into the Ragnarok looking messed up and half alive. Before the pilot could finished saying whatever he needed to say, Irvine had already fallen asleep in his seat, his hand resting on Selphie's shoulder and his hat tipped down, covering the upper half oh his face. Selphie had followed suit immediately, then Zell, then Squall.

Quistis did not know what to, should she sit beside Squall or not? Should she lean on Squall? She desperately wanted to, but honestly, she did not know where they stand now after last night. Lovers or friend? In the end, exhaustion and a desperate need to be near him overcome all her doubts. Sitting beside Squall, she rested her head on his strong shoulder and was pleasantly surprised when he responded by drawing her closer to him. Zell saw what happened before his eyes shut tight and frankly, his mind was too numb with exhaustion to react. Frowning, he fell asleep.

Squall fought against sleep and exhaustion but as soon as he sat down on the soft leather chair, his head leaning against the headrest, he fell asleep and had the strangest dream. He dreamt that Rinoa was sitting right beside him on the Ragnarok and resting her head on his shoulder before making herself comfortable. Naturally, Squall reacted by pulling her closer towards him. Rinoa snuggled closer and smiled a very satisfactory smile. "Comfortable?" Squall asked tenderly. Rinoa nodded her head sleepily and fell asleep.

Then the scene shifted. They were still in the same position but in a different place. It was the secret area in the Training Centre and she had just finished celebrating his birthday. A half eaten ice cream cake was melting on top of a paper plate, which lay ignored on the floor. Watching the stars in the dark with Rinoa in his arms, Squall felt extremely happy. She had surprised him by remembering his birthday; even Squall did not exactly remember his own birthday. As he stepped into the secret area, she hugged him from the back and whispered "Happy Birthday Squall." It was a very simple celebration; she had bought a cake and there was two plastic cups beside a bottle of punch. All this were placed on top of a red checker cloth right in the middle of the floor of the secret area. And all around it was dozens of unlit candles, placed haphazardly.

Dazed, Squall let Rinoa dragged him into the center of the secret area. Grinning at him, she closed her eyes and suddenly all the candles were light up at the same time. Squall smiled and pulled Rinoa close to him, giving her a soft kiss, when she suddenly giggled. "Squall, the cake is melting." Squall raised an eyebrow at her, a bit puzzled. Giggling a bit more, Rinoa explained. "It's an ice cream cake. You'll like it." She promised. And true enough he did found himself enjoying the cake. They took turns feeding each other and Squall felt like a puddle of ice cream himself. Once or twice, Rinoa being playful will smear the cake all over his face and naturally, he retaliated. In the end, both of laughed so hard that they lay on the cold cement floor with their face sticky while holding onto each other. As the night deepened, Rinoa blew out all the candles with her power and she stayed in his arms, both of them watching the stars in the dark. Squall smiled a tiny smile when reliving that memory. Yes, he remembered he was holding onto Rinoa that night, just like now. . .

"Oh Hyne! Squall, Irvy, Quisty, Zell, Look!! LOOK!" Squall wanted to tell Selphie to shut up in case she awakened Rinoa when he heard Selphie's voice again, this time with more force. Slowly opening his eyes, Squall woke up and looked around him. Rinoa's head was still leaning on his shoulder. Shaking his head clear of cobwebs, Squall realized with a pang of disappointment that it was Quistis not Rinoa.

Slowly disentangling himself from the still sleeping Quistis, Squall joined Irvine, Zell and Selphie at the window. The Island Closest to Hell was gone, leaving only a small dot of land. Right around, sprinkled like cheese on a piece of pizza was corpses of monsters they had fought before, Hexadragon, T-rex and Marlboros. Someone was definitely on that small dot of land, someone powerful. Squall vaguely felt Quistis standing beside him, watching the scene. In amazement, all 5 of them watched as whoever it was on that island cast 20 Flares simultaneously on the corpses around the island. With a loud BOOM!, some of the corpses disappeared as if they had never existed at all. Squall's eyes narrowed in thought. "Who could it be?"

As the Ragnarok flew closer, all 5 of them saw two figures on the island. From afar, everything looked unclear, but it was obvious that one of the figure was of a dog, while the other was woman wearing. . .blue. Squall's blood froze. . . Could it be. . .Rinoa?

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p.s: This chapter is a bit short but well, exams are here too. after my exams, I'll make it up to you all guys with a longer chapter! Promise!! Thanxs for reading :p