A/N: Here I am again. Despite a serious lack in ratings. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy.....



Chapter 7

Squall and Rinoa had been riding for several hours when, at last, they stopped. Unfortunately, the stop wasn't made willingly. After such a long time of riding through jungle and forest, they had come to a large stone wall.

By this point, Rinoa had fallen asleep against Squall's back, and was snooring lightly. He turned around and tapped her on the shoulder, trying to wake her from her peaceful slumber.

"Come on, Rin, wake up," he said, shaking her. Her eyes started to flutter open, but quickly closed again. "Rinoa!" he half-shouted.

She groggily lifted her head. "....What?"

"Geez, I thought you were never gonna wake up. Is there some reason you're sleeping so much?"

She sleepily narrowed her eyes at him. "YOU were the one that kept me up all last night. It's your own fault."

"Whatever," he grumbled as he dismounted Saiph. "We've come to a wall."

"A wall? A wall of what?"

"That's what I'm trying to see," he replied, carefully lifting himself up until he could see above the top. "Oh Shit!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"This is your father's palace."

"Then we better get out of here, fast."

Squall nodded and mounted the Chocobo once again. Just as he did, Saiph twisted his head to the left and began to sniff the air as he stared intently at something. Rinoa rubbed her eyes and squinted to get a better look through the surrounding foliage, having seen before that Saiph had good instincts. She began to notice flashes of bright red and gold in the gaps between trees. It occured to her then, that red and gold was the color of Emperor Caraway's soldiers.

"Squall, move!" she exclaimed. "It's my father's soldiers!"

With a crack of the reins, they were riding as fast as they could in the opposite direction that the soldiers were coming from. The only problem was, their horses were faster than any Chocobo. They wouldn't get very far.

"Squall, we've got a problem," Rinoa said to him nervously as she turned to see her father's officers gaining on them.

"I know!" he exclaimed frustratedly. "Just let me think!"

She hugged on to him tighter, fear sinking in. She didn't want to go back. She'd rather die. On the other hand, she didn't want Squall to get hurt. Maybe if they caught her, they'd leave leave him alone? She knew that it wasn't likely, but all she could do was hope.

She turned around again, just to see that they were even closer. Too close. Should she tell him now? Would this be her last chance?

"Squall...There's something I need to tell you," she said.

"Not now, Rinoa. There's no time," he growled back.

She looked away from him, then. She knew he had a point, but still. What if she was never given another chance. She had turned her head one last time, seeing that they were only a few short moments of catching up, when suddenly, she felt something jerk on the reins from below and pull Saiph through a dense clump of vegitation. On the other side of it, was a small, hooded figure.

The stranger lifted their head, revealing a small, female face. "There's no time," she said. "Follow me, quickly!"

"What makes you think we trust you?" Squall demanded.

"You can take your chances with me, or you can wait for that group of soldiers to come back around, which will be fairly soon. What's your desicion?"

Squall sighed in defeat. "Fine. I guess we have no other choice."

She grabbed Saiph's reins again and quickly led them to a large, stone rimmed hole in the ground. She quickly jerked them inside, just as the sound of hooves was coming closer, and pulled a handle attached to a sliding stone that moved to cover the hole.

Inside, was a wide, open cavern that was decorated like a home. There was furniture, a hollowed out space where a fire was currently blazing, and long curtain that acted like doors to other rooms. Perhaps one of the most peculiar things about the place, however, was the large, hollowed out space near the door, that was entirely empty, save the wide variety of greens that covered its walls and floor.

After shutting the door/stone, the girl turned around and lowered her hood, revealing short, unruly brown hair and eyes.

"Hi," she said, smiling. "My name's Ellone. I'm an official outlaw of the Caraway Empire."

"Is that why you helped us?" Rinoa asked.

Ellone nodded. "Anything to hurt Emperor," she said. "By the way, you can let him go now," she said, gesturing towrd Saiph. "That room over there with all the green stuff growing in it is a place for Chocobos. It's filled with Gyshahl Greens," she exlpained. "You see, sometimes I take in stray or wounded Chocobos I find roaming the forest."

Squall nodded slightly, still uncomfortable with this stranger, and let Saiph go.

"So how is saving us going to hurt the empire?" Rinoa asked cautiously, hoping that maybe this girl didn't know who she was.

Ellone shrugged. "Well, it might not hurt the empire, but obviously they're hunting you for something, too. I try to help people out that are suffering under the oppression of Emperor Caraway. Now sit down, if you like. I'm not going to hurt you."

Uneasily, Rinoa and Squall sat down on chairs across from the couch were Ellone was sitting.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, why are you an outlaw?" Rinoa asked.

"Well, I guess because I'm a rebel of the empire. You see, it all started some place far away from here, actually. In a rival empire. At the time, this really old woman was ruling, and she was really cruel. For some reason, she wanted me and my family dead. She succeeded in killing my father, mother, and I guess my younger brother as well. I managed to escape, and came here hoping for a new life. Well, not long after I came, the Emperor was celebrating his daughters birthday, when I saw her there. The Empress that had killed my family. After that, it seemed like she was always there. And the more she stayed, the crueler Emperor Caraway got. Until finally, I rebelled."

"So you think Caraway is the way he is because of this Empress that killed your family?" Rinoa asked, her curiosity peaked.

Ellone nodded. "I know it. I don't think she's an empress anymore, though. And rumor was, she's a sorceress."

"You think she has control over Caraway?"

"It's possible. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting hungry. I think I'll cook something. Make yourselves at home, look around. It must be awfully dull for the two of you to just sit there," she replied, standing up and walking over to the fire, next to which a pot lay.

Squall just shrugged and asked, "Do you have a bath room?"

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After finding the bath room, and properly relieving himself, he came out to find that Rinoa was no longer in the main room. He decided to take Ellone's advice and look around for her. He found her by going through a small opening at the back of the room which led into a large, cave with blue stone walls. There was a wide, crystal clear lake inside it that ran out a tiny opening at the very back of the cave. Next to the lake, there was a wide strip of stone as the floor. That's where he found Rinoa sitting.

"What's up?" he asked as he sat down beside her.

She gazed up at the stalactites slowly dripping water down to the floor. "Nothing much."

Even as thick-headed as Squall was at times, he could tell there was something wrong. So, he decided he would just come right out and ask her.

"Nothing's wrong," she told him.

Then something occured to him. "I'm, a.... sorry about snapping at you before. I just wanted to make sure we made it out okay. What was it that you needed to tell me?"

Rinoa looked back at him and debated on whether or not to tell him what she hadn't wanted to before. She was afraid of what reaction he might have. "It wasn't anything really. I was just worried, was all."

"Okay," he said slowly, uncertainly.

She pulled the necklace with the lion head on it, out of her pocket then and studied it. "You know, not only does it look like your Gunblade, but it just fits you."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The mighty lion....It seems just like you."

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked, studying her face.

"No." She grinned and slipped the necklace around over his head and onto his neck. "So long as you promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"You'll be my lion, and only MY lion."

He leaned closer to her until their foreheads were gently touching. "I promise."

With that, he leaned in and began kissing her gently. She pulled away from him after a moment, smiling, and suddenly jumped into the water.

"What are you doing?!" Squall demanded, with a slight laugh.

"Swimming," she replied, doing a few back strokes. "Come in, the water's pretty warm."

He shook his head. "I think I'll pass."

She swam back over to him until she was right in front of him, then lifted herself partially out of the water so that she was eye level with him. "You know you want to," she whispered before wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him into a a long, passionate kiss. Suddenly, in the middle of the kiss, she pulled him down, into the water with her.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" he asked as he watched her laughing histarically.

She nodded. "Yes, definately."

"I'm gonna get you for this," he said menacingly as he began to swim toward her.

"You have to catch me first," she taunted, swimming away from him.

They swam in circles for several moments, until Squall suddenly changed direction and she ended up running into him.

"I've got you now," he said in a dark voice that almost scared her. "You owe me."

"Owe you what?" she asked breathlessly, as she was both scared and excited.

He started to kiss again, this time with more urgency and passion. After a moment he broke the kiss, leaving his lips just centimeters from hers, and said, "You know, I always wondered what it would be like to make love in the water." He kissed her again and started to run his hand up her shirt.

"Squall, we can't. Not now. We're in someone else's house."

"We'll be quick," he replied.

She slapped his shoulder playfully and said, "You horny little pervert! She'll hear us."

"Ignore the details," he said and started to kiss her again.

"Oh my! I'm sooo sorry!" they heard someone exclaim from behind. They turned to see Ellone standing at the door with her back turned. The two lovers quickly parted, embarresed.

"It's alright, Ellone," Rinoa said.

"Um, well, I just wanted to tell you guys that the food is ready."

"Okay," Rinoa replied as both she and Squall swam toward the edge. "We'll be right there."

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After they had eaten, Ellone asked to speak to Squall in private. He complied, uneasily, and went out to the cave area with her, leaving an angry, jealous Rinoa behind.

Once out there, Ellone said, "Would you mind telling me your full name, please?"

"What does it matter?" he asked.

She looked at him with a strange look in her eyes. "Just tell me. I have to know."

"My name's Squall Leonhart. Why do you ask?"

"It is you," she said, tears filling her eyes. "You're.....my brother."

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"You're my brother. The one that I was never sure was killed or not."

"There must be some mistake," he said firmly. "Seifer Almasy had my parents murdered."

"That's what you were made to believe. But that wasn't true. Chu Yun must have wanted you for something."

"Whatever," he said, rolling his eyes. "You can believe in all of this if you want, but I am not anybody's brother."

"Squall, there isn't anything I can say or do to convince you, I know. I won't try. But there is something you must know about our family line, believe in it or not. You see, I'm psychic, so I can see certain things about people."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Just listen a minute! Powers like that run in our family. But you're more powerful than I am. Much more. Which is good. You'll need it. Because that girl you're with, Rinoa, is powerful, too. More powerful than anyone could ever imagine. Someone wants her powers. It's up to you whether or not you do anything to help her. But you'll need your powers if you intend to."

"This is such bull shit," Squall said, rolling his eyes again. "I don't have powers, Rinoa doesn't have powers, and you don't have powers. So just leave me alone, okay?"

Ellone sighed. "Fine. Go do what you will. I'm done trying. Just please, keep in mind what I told you."

"Fine, if it'll get you off my back," he growled.

He returned to the main room to find Rinoa glaring murderously at him. He arched an eyebrow and walked over to sit beside her on the couch.

"So what did she say to you?" she asked.

"She says I'm her long lost brother, and that I have powers, and you have powers, and a bunch of other stupid shit that isn't true."

Rinoa felt her heart sink into her chest. It was time. "Well, about that," she began."

She was interrupted by a sudden pounding on Ellone's camoflouged front door.

"Open up, in the name of Emperor Caraway!" a voice called from outside.

"Oh shit!" Rinoa exclaimed, jumping up from the couch.

Ellone ran into the room, panic spreading over her face. "We have to get out of her, now!" she hissed in a quiet voice.

"But how?" Squall demanded.

"We'll have to go through the opening where the water goes out in the back," she replied. "I hope Saiph can swim."

"Well, he's gonna have to learn," Rinoa said, grabbing his reins and pulling him up from his resting place on the floor. "We won't get very far without him."

They headed out the back way, and, as it turned out, Saiph didn't mind the water to much.

Once they had made it outside, Ellone said, "You guys go ahead. I'm good at hiding, I'll be okay."

"We can't leave you here!" Rinoa protested. "They're going to destroy your home. And what if they do find you?"

"Trust me, they won't," she replied. "As soon as I can, I'm heading back to my home town. They won't find me there."

"But we can't-" Rinoa began again.

"You can and you will. Now hurry and go!" Ellone said urgently.

"Come on, Rin," Squall said, tugging at her arm as he cast Ellone a thankful look.

They rode away once again, into the quickly fading daylight, only to have their ride cut short by another group of Imperial soldiers. Of course, Squall tried to fight them off, not that he had his beloved Gunblade back at his side. But they were horribly outnumbered.

They knocked Squall unconcious and began dragging him back to the palace, along with Rinoa, whom they had gagged and bound.

As they began to march toward the palace, one of the officers leaned forward and said to Rinoa, "Don't be worried about your father. I don't think you'll have much trouble with him. Oh, and by the way, Ultimecia sends her greetings."

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A/N: Yes, I know it took me forever to update. I assure you, as soon as my poor, tormented brain produced an idea that was worthy of consideration, I thought it our and typed it up. So REVIEW!!!!!! Please? I know it.....was bad (I did NOT say sucks), but bare with me, please? Thanl you!!!!!