Echoes of Time
Chapter 9: Loss
By Sephiroth 4000

            A power blackout.   The weather was so different here. . .Before lightning had flashed, but there was no thunder, and no rain, and most of all, no wind. 
            Fujin stared out blindly at the darkened city, blue coat draped over one arm.  Despite the inclement weather it was humid, and unbearably hot. 
            Dwelling on the weather helped her not think about everything that had happened today. 
            Seifer. . .what have you done?
            Sworn to a Sorceress. . .His dreams had finally come true.  Seifer had looked so very happy, but Rinoa, she hadn't looked happy at all.
            Rage burned in her throat.  In fact, the frail dark haired girl had looked as if trapped into a corner.  Seifer had been so happy, and Rinoa looked like she wanted to spurn his gift, his loyalty, his. . .
            Love.
            Her lips shaped the word. 
            Love.
            She didn't love him like that.  Not at all like that.  And it sure as hell wasn't a sisterly love. . .
            No, Fujin loved Seifer, simply because he was so alien to her.  A creature of sun, light, and hopeless dreams.  She loved him because despite that the world was so hard, so cruel, he still clung fast to his his ideals. 
            She loved him because all of her dreams had died a long time ago.
            "Hey."
            Raijin. 
            "Don't be upset ya know?  It's his day. . .So don't be upset, Fuu-sama.  Ya gotta smile for him. . .He's too happy for us to ruin it for him."
            Changing the subject quickly, she remarked, "SQUALL, FACE, SEE?"
            Raijin understood.  He always did.  "Yeah, Squall didn't seem to happy 'bout the whole Knight thing. . .Wonder why?"
            Fujin simply shook her head, not smiling, marveling at what a beautiful face could do.  "BEAUTIFUL."
            He nodded.  "She is kinda. . .But she's ordinary!" he declared loyally.  "Not like you Fuu. . ."
            Not like you.  He only meant to comfort her, but the fact that Seifer had chosen someone entirely unlike her. . .Someone who lived bravely, displaying their emotions wholly, instead of hiding behind frozen words. . .Someone who was normal, but special at the same time.
            Not like you.
            "Fujin, Raijin?  Where you been?"  His voice was slightly annoyed, and both posse members turned as one to regard their leader.
            "C'mon guys.  Let's go back inside.  It's dangerous for any of us to be seen outside here."
            Fujin forced herself to nod, and lead the way back to the mansion.  Love.  It was such a stupid thing. 
            Outside, the rain began to fall. 

            She found him in the rain.
            Lightning once against flashed against the southern sky, the rain sleeting down relentlessly.  She was soaked the moment she stepped out onto the balcony. 
            He stood like a statue at the far end, jacket pooled at his feet, boots discarded just under the overhang.  Brown hair darkened to almost black in the water, and hung down in thick locks to cling to his pale face.  Shadowed blue eyes swung her way, then back to contemplate the stormy sky. 
            "Squall?"  Her voice wavered a little, and she inwardly cursed her lack of self control.
            "What is it."  His words are flat, telling her to go away, he doesn't want to see her, not after. . .not after everything.
            "Squall. . .I. . ."  Words failed her, and she bent her head, coal black hair falling in sodden strands to conceal her face. 
            He turned at that moment, almost against his will.  "What do you want from me."
            She raised her despairing eyes to him.  "I. . .had to Squall."
            His blank expression did not change one whit, but after a while he looked away once again.  "It must have been easy. . ." he said almost wistfully to the dying clouds. 
            She caustiously was drawn closer to him.  "Easy?"
            "To choose.  Seifer. . .Seifer's always had his dream. . .Me?  What do I fight for. . .Nothing. . ..There's absolutely nothing to fight for.  Stupid isn't it?  But. . .what else am I supposed do. . .if I don't fight. . .It's who I am. . .It's all I am. . .I'm nothing if I don't fight. . ."
            He would have never said anything so personal, except he knew, the instant she had been born a Sorceress, that the tentative half formed bond between them had somehow solidified into something else, something deeper, and more meaningful then mere love.  He didn't have to guard his thoughts anymore; the worst had already happened.  He had reached the bottom, because she had rejected him, despite knowing him, mind and soul.
            She had her hands clamped over her mouth, eyes narrowed in empathic pain, her entire body hunched against the force of his despair.  And through her tears, tears that faded away in rain, she managed to choke out some words.  "He. . .He needs it so, Squall.  If I had rejected him. . .he would have died. . .But y-you. . .You don't care. . .You're strong. . .even though I. . .I. . " Her resolve broke, and despite herself, she fled from him, eyes rimmed with stinging tears. 
            She ran away from him.
            His mask of unfeeling shattered, as he watched her flee for but a single moment, then looked away, biting his lip, in a childish reaction to stop the tears clouding his grey eyes.  He blinked hard, and resumed his study of the sky, though his vision was still obscured.
            And then he heard it.
            The single low gentle laugh, that somehow made all his sorrows trivial and unimportant.  A laugh that had comforted him through childhood, as he ran to her with childish scrapes and quarrels. 
            The boy in him made Squall turn slowly around, vivid grey eyes wide and disbelieving.  She stood in the rain, which in some mysterious way did not touch her.  Amber eyes simply watched him comfortingly, hands folded at her waist, head tilted slightly to one side, smiling at him.  And her soft voice, whispering gently from barely parted lips, quieter then the sound of the falling rain.
            "Poor boy. . .Poor lost little boy. . ."
            Confusion rose up inside him.  Something was screaming that this was wrong; he wasn't a boy. . .he was. . .
            It's all so unimportant now.
            Yes.
            "Can you help me find her Squall?"
            So gentle. . .Matron. . .
            "Can you help me find Sis?  I have to find Sis, Squall.  Then we'll all be together again."
            Together.  Sis. . .Will I ever see yoo again? 
            He took a wondering step towards her.  His eyes were lost in amber gold depths, even as she extended her hand. 
            Slowly, slowly, she drew him around the corner, to the swirling purple haze of the portal. 
            And just like that, he was gone.

            Down below, inside her bedroom, Rinoa slowly, disbelievingly, raised her face from her hands, then bolted back up to the balcony.

            Author's Note: Argh!  Sap, sap and more sap!  I cannot believe I wrote something so indescribably soppy, but there you go.  FF8 was soppy anyway, I guess.  R&R please!  Arigato.  Oh, and BTW, not that any of you are interested, Drizzt Do'Urden is the best.  (I've been reading the books again.) ^_^ Drizzt rules! And I don't like Wulfgar very much, except when Drizzt is teaching him a lesson.  Yes. . .I think I'll just shut up now.