Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. I don't own FF8, its characters,
or locations. I don't own any songs I might use in the story, or the
peices of songs I use in the beginning of each chapter , which are there
for the purpose of reflecting that particular chapter.
I paid my last respects this morning on an early grave
Already said goodbye... nothin' left to say
A tiny church, a tiny town and not a tear was shed
Not how I wanted it... I'm hating all of this
--- Nickle Back "Woke Up this Morning"
Chapter 1
Rinoa Heartilly stepped out of the cab and looked up at the building that she would be living in from now on, before removing the sun glasses from her eyes, so that she could see more clearly. It was a very nice apartment complex, with its smooth gray stone, and towering frame, but it was still nothing like her former home.
With a sigh, she pulled some money from her purse and handed it to the driver, who was waiting for her to get her bags out of the trunk. She had a large suitcase, a small one, and a backpack. That was all she had brought with her from her old place of residence.
After gathering her stuff, she passed through the lightly frosted, rotating glass doors and went to the front desk, where a young blonde woman was waiting.
"Excuse me, miss, I need the key to my apartment," she said, settling her bags on the floor and fishing out a folded peice of paper from the pocket of her jacket. "Here's all the information you need."
Rinoa had never even seen the apartment before. She hadn't been the one to buy it, either. The people in the Witness Protection Program had set it up for her.
The woman at the front desk smiled and handed her two sets of keys. "You must be our new tenant. Happy to have you. I'm Quistis. If you have a problem, just call down here to the front desk, and I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," Rinoa said, flashing a fake smile and grabbing her keys from Quistis.
She gathered her things and dragged them across the floor to the elevator, where she stood waiting impatiently after pressing the button several times.
The doors finally slid open to reveal a young blonde man with a tattoo trailing down the left side of his face. It was obvious that he had been on his way somewhere, but when he saw Rinoa, he smiled a big, toothy grin at her. She gave a slight nod to him, and pulled her bags inside the elevator.
"Aren't you getting off?" Rinoa asked as the doors slid closed with him still inside.
"Oh, well, I guess not now," he said, an edge of embarresment creeping into his voice. "So, um, you need help with your things? I can carry them for you, if you want."
She shook her, declining politely. "No, thank you. I'm fine."
He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet around nervously before saying, "So, you moving in with your boyfriend?"
Straight to the point. Rinoa sighed inaudibly, then said, "No, I'm not."
He grinned. "Well, if you ever want to, you know, go out and see the town, or something I'd be happy to take you."
Just then, the elevator came to a stop. She quickly began to step out, with her bags in tow. "I'll think about it," she muttered softly, in reply.
"Well, hey!" he called, following after her, and picking up one of her bags. "Um, if you ever have any problems, or need any help, you can always call me. I, um, have a key to all the apartments. I'm actually the maintnance man, you see."
"Oh really," she said, in a hurried tone. She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of him having a key to her apartment. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Alright," he replied just as she was reaching her door.
She pulled the key from her pocket and fitted it into the lock before turning around and giving the man a "are you leaving anytime soon?" look.
He grinned. "Well, my name is Zell, so, like I said, if you ever need anything, just give me a call."
She nodded. "Right. I'll remeber that."
He finally left her alone, so she opened the door, and threw her luggage inside, not caring much where it went. The apartment came fully furnished, so she plopped down on her bed and tossed her short black jacket aside. She couldn't help feeling like this just wasn't going to work. She hadn't been in that town more than a few minutes and already a guy was hitting on her.
She kicked off her shoes and ignored the loud thump they made as they hit the wall, before laying down, and resting her head on the freshly washed pillow. With a small yawn, her eyes drifted closed and she curled herself into a little ball just before falling into the deep abyss of slumber.
=====================
The glint in his eye was enough to send her into a fit of shaking. It was something she couldn't understand, but knew it was evil all the same. Why hadn't she seen it before?
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice soft and tremulous, though it seemed to echo against the darkness that swallowed the room.
There was no reply. Only a muffled scream from somewhere beyond the impenatrable blackness. Somewhere beyond the shadows. And it was all his fault. How could she not have know? How could she have never guessed?
"Why?" she demanded again. Just as the question escaped her lips, she felt something thick, warm, and wet fall against her cheek. It seemed to be dripping from the ceiling. She looked up, wondering after the source of it, and saw several, mangled and decaying corpses impaled by shards of glass that dripped bloody poison. Their feet hung down just a few inches above her head, causing an uproar of nausea at the pit of her stomach as the malodorous scent assualted her nostrils. It was his fault. His own wicked sin.
"Why did you do this?"
There was a loud, sharp sound and a flash of light reflecting off metal. Before there was even time for her to utter words of repentance, she felt the seering pain in her side, and her own thick, warm liquid oozed out, filling the darkness with red. It was all she could see now. All she could hear was the deafening silence. He had left her for a painful death, yet she somehow knew that this truth would never plague his conscience.
She was not alone, however. Far from it. She was surrounded by all the others before her, whose blood had been spilt by him. It was all her fault. He had lured her in, and she had trusted him so easily, like the faithless and lonely child she knew herself to be. And now she was among those whom she had inadvertently helped to destroy.
She opened her mouth, feeling the urge to scream overtake her. But death and guilt was tight around her neck, choking the air from her like the twin serpents of a primal justice that had been long since ignored, but never forgotten.
"No salvation for the guilty," a voice hissed in her ear, giving her chills with its hot, putride breath against her ear and neck and gently brushing over her lips. She still couldn't scream. Couldn't breathe.
Suddenly, just as she was certain she would die, her muscles twitched, and her eyes snapped open, revealing the monotonous pattern etched into the blank white ceiling of her new apartment. She realized then that it had been her own hands that were wrapped so dangerously around her neck. It seemed this, or something of the like was always a consequence of the dreams that had tormented her mind for far longer than she could tolerate.
She sat up on her bed, uneasily, and ran her fingers up, beneath her shirt until they felt an abnormality in her skin. Absent-mindly, she allowed her fingers to trace the narrow slit of raised skin that ran vertically up the left side of her abdomen, a remaining reminder of her self-imposed damnation.
"This place is going to be hell," she muttered to herself.
=====================
The next morning, after a night of troubled sleep, Rinoa decided it was time that she acquaint herself with the town in which she was forced to live. Upon stepping outside, she was greated by a warm, sunny day. It seemed so unfitting, but was, in some way a comfort.
The apartment complex was in the middle of the small, quaint town called Balamb. A large, open circle of stone stretched out before it. In the center of that, was a strange fountain with a statue of two people's upper bodies at the top of one set of legs and hips. One seemed to reach for one side, and the other, to the opposite side. Wings stretched on the backs of both, one a pair of feathery angel wings, and the other with a thin, leathery look, like those of a bat. Water trickled from their mouths and collected in a circular pool around their one pair of feet.
As Rinoa saw this, she shook her head, in awe of the town's strange taste in art. She was walking around it, studying it, when she was hit with the disturbing sensation of someone's eyes upon her.
She turned around to see Zell looking at her, again, talking to someone inside one of the shops surrounding the circle. Zell smacked him on the shoulder, and tried to discreetly gesture to her. His friend, sighing in defeat, glanced up at her, only for a moment. But for her, it was long enough.
He had clear, ethereal blue eyes that held a cold, apathetic reflection of what must have been his soul. His hair appeared to be made of shining brown silk, and his face seemed finely chisled from stone. He had broad shoulders and what must have been a well toned chest hidden beneath his shirt.
Rinoa used to believe in love at first sight, but certainly not after all she had been through. However, she had to admit that the feeling she felt upon seeing him, was something extrodinary. Something she had never felt before.
(Just a physical attraction) she told herself, as she forced herself to look away from him.
She looked up at him again, but he was busy trying to get Zell to leave him alone. Appearently he didn't have the same feeling as she did.
Feeling dissapointed that the only one she could seem to interest was Zell, she decided to move on and have a look at the rest of Balamb. In truth, there wasn't really much to it. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and gave her odd looks as she passed them. What a way to make people feel at home.
One of the only upsides to living in Balamb was its location, right on the beach. It was just a short walk through town to the beach, which was usually quiet and peaceful, since Balamb didn't really tolerate tourists.
After touring the town and the beach, Rinoa decided she would find a nice restruant to eat at. Not to mention, she was in need of a rest room.
She found an Italian restruant around the town circle and went inside. She immediately went for the bathroom, of which there was only one. As she was walking toward it, she suddenly slammed into something hard. She looked up to see Zell's friend standing before her.
"Excuse me," he muttered in a soft, but brisk voice.
He pushed past her, barely giving her another glance. She stared after him in awe, until, at last, her brain gave a violent kick to her body.
"Hey wait!" she exclaimed, running after him. After he had turned to face her, she gave him her best smile, extended her hand, and said, "Hi. I'm new to this town. My name's Rinoa."
He ignored her outstretched hand, and gave her a curt nod. "Nice to meet you."
With that, he continued out the door, leaving Rinoa to stare after him with a longing gaze that reflected her ruined pride.
She seated herself heavily at a nearby table, feeling like the most unattractive person on the planet.
"Oh, don't worry about him," came a voice from her side. She looked up to see the waitress, a small, brown-haired girl, standing beside her with a pad and a pencil. "He's always like that," she continued on. "He's just a recluse. Rarely ever comes out of his apartment in the building next to us. They say he's working on something really strange, but no one knows what. He only comes here every so often to get something to eat. The rest of the time, he's usually in his room."
Rinoa nodded. "Doesn't he have a job?"
The waitress shrugged. "No one knows. I heard, from your little conversation, by the way, that you were new in town. My name's Selphie Tilmitt. Good to meet you."
"Good to meet you, too," Rinoa replied.
"Well, I have to take your order now and get back to work, but if you ever need someone to talk to, or someone to show you around town, just come by and ask. As you can tell, I'm a very friendly person."
Rinoa laughed. "So I see. Well, it's nice to know I have at least one person to talk to in this town. I'll have the shrimp alfredo, by the way."
"Okay, gotcha!" she said as she scribbled down the order. "See ya around."
=====================
By the time Rinoa finally returned home, it was late. She had decided to go drown her sorrows with a credit card, and some new clothes, as many women do. Balamb wasn't much for entertainment, but it had some good shopping, at least.
Rinoa was happy to find, upon returning to her building, that Zell was no where in sight. He was really beginning to scare her.
After she had made it to her apartment, she threw down her shopping bags, and decided she would just go to sleep. It had been a long day, after all, and she was well-deserving of a little rest. But she knew it wouldn't be so easy as that. As soon as her eyes were shut, the dreams would begin again, just as they always did. There was no escaping them. She'd already tried everything. Now, all she could do was live with them, and watch as more of herself was drained away with the rising of every new sun.
It was sometime past midnight when she finally did fall asleep. And, just as expected, a dream began to spin in the abysmal depths of her mind known as her subconscious. This time, however, it was far from the same.
She was in her room, standing next to her bed, in only her red, silk, button down night gown, but she wasn't alone. That stranger from before, the one that had caused her so much torment without even knowing it, was there with her, looking at her for the first time. She felt chills go down her spine, as she studied his eyes, which gleamed with his longing for her.
He began to kiss her, much to her surprise. His hands strayed all over her body, setting it on fire with just the slightest touch. She touched him too, but it didn't seem to affect him in the same way. Instead, he seemed dedicated to pleasing her.
It wasn't long before her had layed her down on the bed, and was smothering her still clothed body with light, but highly pleasing kisses. He unbuttoned her night gown and pushed it back, to one side, revealing one of her breasts. He lowered his head down to it and began to torture her with soft licks and rough nibbling. At the same time, he ran a hand down the length of her body until his hand rested between her thighs, on the inside of her night gown. He drove her crazy, then, by sticking his fingers inside of her. Just as felt herself on the edge of the most intense orgasm she could imagine, her eyes snapped open, and she found herself alone.
She flicked on the lamp next to her bed, and reached for her glass of water. After she had taken a few sips to cool her over-heated body, she started to lay back down, but stopped as she saw something resting on the pillow next to hers. It was a single, long-stem red rose....
=====================
I paid my last respects this morning on an early grave
Already said goodbye... nothin' left to say
A tiny church, a tiny town and not a tear was shed
Not how I wanted it... I'm hating all of this
--- Nickle Back "Woke Up this Morning"
Chapter 1
Rinoa Heartilly stepped out of the cab and looked up at the building that she would be living in from now on, before removing the sun glasses from her eyes, so that she could see more clearly. It was a very nice apartment complex, with its smooth gray stone, and towering frame, but it was still nothing like her former home.
With a sigh, she pulled some money from her purse and handed it to the driver, who was waiting for her to get her bags out of the trunk. She had a large suitcase, a small one, and a backpack. That was all she had brought with her from her old place of residence.
After gathering her stuff, she passed through the lightly frosted, rotating glass doors and went to the front desk, where a young blonde woman was waiting.
"Excuse me, miss, I need the key to my apartment," she said, settling her bags on the floor and fishing out a folded peice of paper from the pocket of her jacket. "Here's all the information you need."
Rinoa had never even seen the apartment before. She hadn't been the one to buy it, either. The people in the Witness Protection Program had set it up for her.
The woman at the front desk smiled and handed her two sets of keys. "You must be our new tenant. Happy to have you. I'm Quistis. If you have a problem, just call down here to the front desk, and I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," Rinoa said, flashing a fake smile and grabbing her keys from Quistis.
She gathered her things and dragged them across the floor to the elevator, where she stood waiting impatiently after pressing the button several times.
The doors finally slid open to reveal a young blonde man with a tattoo trailing down the left side of his face. It was obvious that he had been on his way somewhere, but when he saw Rinoa, he smiled a big, toothy grin at her. She gave a slight nod to him, and pulled her bags inside the elevator.
"Aren't you getting off?" Rinoa asked as the doors slid closed with him still inside.
"Oh, well, I guess not now," he said, an edge of embarresment creeping into his voice. "So, um, you need help with your things? I can carry them for you, if you want."
She shook her, declining politely. "No, thank you. I'm fine."
He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet around nervously before saying, "So, you moving in with your boyfriend?"
Straight to the point. Rinoa sighed inaudibly, then said, "No, I'm not."
He grinned. "Well, if you ever want to, you know, go out and see the town, or something I'd be happy to take you."
Just then, the elevator came to a stop. She quickly began to step out, with her bags in tow. "I'll think about it," she muttered softly, in reply.
"Well, hey!" he called, following after her, and picking up one of her bags. "Um, if you ever have any problems, or need any help, you can always call me. I, um, have a key to all the apartments. I'm actually the maintnance man, you see."
"Oh really," she said, in a hurried tone. She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of him having a key to her apartment. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Alright," he replied just as she was reaching her door.
She pulled the key from her pocket and fitted it into the lock before turning around and giving the man a "are you leaving anytime soon?" look.
He grinned. "Well, my name is Zell, so, like I said, if you ever need anything, just give me a call."
She nodded. "Right. I'll remeber that."
He finally left her alone, so she opened the door, and threw her luggage inside, not caring much where it went. The apartment came fully furnished, so she plopped down on her bed and tossed her short black jacket aside. She couldn't help feeling like this just wasn't going to work. She hadn't been in that town more than a few minutes and already a guy was hitting on her.
She kicked off her shoes and ignored the loud thump they made as they hit the wall, before laying down, and resting her head on the freshly washed pillow. With a small yawn, her eyes drifted closed and she curled herself into a little ball just before falling into the deep abyss of slumber.
=====================
The glint in his eye was enough to send her into a fit of shaking. It was something she couldn't understand, but knew it was evil all the same. Why hadn't she seen it before?
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice soft and tremulous, though it seemed to echo against the darkness that swallowed the room.
There was no reply. Only a muffled scream from somewhere beyond the impenatrable blackness. Somewhere beyond the shadows. And it was all his fault. How could she not have know? How could she have never guessed?
"Why?" she demanded again. Just as the question escaped her lips, she felt something thick, warm, and wet fall against her cheek. It seemed to be dripping from the ceiling. She looked up, wondering after the source of it, and saw several, mangled and decaying corpses impaled by shards of glass that dripped bloody poison. Their feet hung down just a few inches above her head, causing an uproar of nausea at the pit of her stomach as the malodorous scent assualted her nostrils. It was his fault. His own wicked sin.
"Why did you do this?"
There was a loud, sharp sound and a flash of light reflecting off metal. Before there was even time for her to utter words of repentance, she felt the seering pain in her side, and her own thick, warm liquid oozed out, filling the darkness with red. It was all she could see now. All she could hear was the deafening silence. He had left her for a painful death, yet she somehow knew that this truth would never plague his conscience.
She was not alone, however. Far from it. She was surrounded by all the others before her, whose blood had been spilt by him. It was all her fault. He had lured her in, and she had trusted him so easily, like the faithless and lonely child she knew herself to be. And now she was among those whom she had inadvertently helped to destroy.
She opened her mouth, feeling the urge to scream overtake her. But death and guilt was tight around her neck, choking the air from her like the twin serpents of a primal justice that had been long since ignored, but never forgotten.
"No salvation for the guilty," a voice hissed in her ear, giving her chills with its hot, putride breath against her ear and neck and gently brushing over her lips. She still couldn't scream. Couldn't breathe.
Suddenly, just as she was certain she would die, her muscles twitched, and her eyes snapped open, revealing the monotonous pattern etched into the blank white ceiling of her new apartment. She realized then that it had been her own hands that were wrapped so dangerously around her neck. It seemed this, or something of the like was always a consequence of the dreams that had tormented her mind for far longer than she could tolerate.
She sat up on her bed, uneasily, and ran her fingers up, beneath her shirt until they felt an abnormality in her skin. Absent-mindly, she allowed her fingers to trace the narrow slit of raised skin that ran vertically up the left side of her abdomen, a remaining reminder of her self-imposed damnation.
"This place is going to be hell," she muttered to herself.
=====================
The next morning, after a night of troubled sleep, Rinoa decided it was time that she acquaint herself with the town in which she was forced to live. Upon stepping outside, she was greated by a warm, sunny day. It seemed so unfitting, but was, in some way a comfort.
The apartment complex was in the middle of the small, quaint town called Balamb. A large, open circle of stone stretched out before it. In the center of that, was a strange fountain with a statue of two people's upper bodies at the top of one set of legs and hips. One seemed to reach for one side, and the other, to the opposite side. Wings stretched on the backs of both, one a pair of feathery angel wings, and the other with a thin, leathery look, like those of a bat. Water trickled from their mouths and collected in a circular pool around their one pair of feet.
As Rinoa saw this, she shook her head, in awe of the town's strange taste in art. She was walking around it, studying it, when she was hit with the disturbing sensation of someone's eyes upon her.
She turned around to see Zell looking at her, again, talking to someone inside one of the shops surrounding the circle. Zell smacked him on the shoulder, and tried to discreetly gesture to her. His friend, sighing in defeat, glanced up at her, only for a moment. But for her, it was long enough.
He had clear, ethereal blue eyes that held a cold, apathetic reflection of what must have been his soul. His hair appeared to be made of shining brown silk, and his face seemed finely chisled from stone. He had broad shoulders and what must have been a well toned chest hidden beneath his shirt.
Rinoa used to believe in love at first sight, but certainly not after all she had been through. However, she had to admit that the feeling she felt upon seeing him, was something extrodinary. Something she had never felt before.
(Just a physical attraction) she told herself, as she forced herself to look away from him.
She looked up at him again, but he was busy trying to get Zell to leave him alone. Appearently he didn't have the same feeling as she did.
Feeling dissapointed that the only one she could seem to interest was Zell, she decided to move on and have a look at the rest of Balamb. In truth, there wasn't really much to it. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and gave her odd looks as she passed them. What a way to make people feel at home.
One of the only upsides to living in Balamb was its location, right on the beach. It was just a short walk through town to the beach, which was usually quiet and peaceful, since Balamb didn't really tolerate tourists.
After touring the town and the beach, Rinoa decided she would find a nice restruant to eat at. Not to mention, she was in need of a rest room.
She found an Italian restruant around the town circle and went inside. She immediately went for the bathroom, of which there was only one. As she was walking toward it, she suddenly slammed into something hard. She looked up to see Zell's friend standing before her.
"Excuse me," he muttered in a soft, but brisk voice.
He pushed past her, barely giving her another glance. She stared after him in awe, until, at last, her brain gave a violent kick to her body.
"Hey wait!" she exclaimed, running after him. After he had turned to face her, she gave him her best smile, extended her hand, and said, "Hi. I'm new to this town. My name's Rinoa."
He ignored her outstretched hand, and gave her a curt nod. "Nice to meet you."
With that, he continued out the door, leaving Rinoa to stare after him with a longing gaze that reflected her ruined pride.
She seated herself heavily at a nearby table, feeling like the most unattractive person on the planet.
"Oh, don't worry about him," came a voice from her side. She looked up to see the waitress, a small, brown-haired girl, standing beside her with a pad and a pencil. "He's always like that," she continued on. "He's just a recluse. Rarely ever comes out of his apartment in the building next to us. They say he's working on something really strange, but no one knows what. He only comes here every so often to get something to eat. The rest of the time, he's usually in his room."
Rinoa nodded. "Doesn't he have a job?"
The waitress shrugged. "No one knows. I heard, from your little conversation, by the way, that you were new in town. My name's Selphie Tilmitt. Good to meet you."
"Good to meet you, too," Rinoa replied.
"Well, I have to take your order now and get back to work, but if you ever need someone to talk to, or someone to show you around town, just come by and ask. As you can tell, I'm a very friendly person."
Rinoa laughed. "So I see. Well, it's nice to know I have at least one person to talk to in this town. I'll have the shrimp alfredo, by the way."
"Okay, gotcha!" she said as she scribbled down the order. "See ya around."
=====================
By the time Rinoa finally returned home, it was late. She had decided to go drown her sorrows with a credit card, and some new clothes, as many women do. Balamb wasn't much for entertainment, but it had some good shopping, at least.
Rinoa was happy to find, upon returning to her building, that Zell was no where in sight. He was really beginning to scare her.
After she had made it to her apartment, she threw down her shopping bags, and decided she would just go to sleep. It had been a long day, after all, and she was well-deserving of a little rest. But she knew it wouldn't be so easy as that. As soon as her eyes were shut, the dreams would begin again, just as they always did. There was no escaping them. She'd already tried everything. Now, all she could do was live with them, and watch as more of herself was drained away with the rising of every new sun.
It was sometime past midnight when she finally did fall asleep. And, just as expected, a dream began to spin in the abysmal depths of her mind known as her subconscious. This time, however, it was far from the same.
She was in her room, standing next to her bed, in only her red, silk, button down night gown, but she wasn't alone. That stranger from before, the one that had caused her so much torment without even knowing it, was there with her, looking at her for the first time. She felt chills go down her spine, as she studied his eyes, which gleamed with his longing for her.
He began to kiss her, much to her surprise. His hands strayed all over her body, setting it on fire with just the slightest touch. She touched him too, but it didn't seem to affect him in the same way. Instead, he seemed dedicated to pleasing her.
It wasn't long before her had layed her down on the bed, and was smothering her still clothed body with light, but highly pleasing kisses. He unbuttoned her night gown and pushed it back, to one side, revealing one of her breasts. He lowered his head down to it and began to torture her with soft licks and rough nibbling. At the same time, he ran a hand down the length of her body until his hand rested between her thighs, on the inside of her night gown. He drove her crazy, then, by sticking his fingers inside of her. Just as felt herself on the edge of the most intense orgasm she could imagine, her eyes snapped open, and she found herself alone.
She flicked on the lamp next to her bed, and reached for her glass of water. After she had taken a few sips to cool her over-heated body, she started to lay back down, but stopped as she saw something resting on the pillow next to hers. It was a single, long-stem red rose....
=====================