WARNING: Lemon content at the end.
Disclaimer: I don't own "System" by Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, or "Slept so Long" by Jay Gordon of Orgy, all off the Queen of the Damned CD.
I do believe that you and me
We could be so
Happy and free inside a world of misery
And I believe that you and me
We could be so
Inside of you, inside of me
'Cause this could be the one
--- Limp Bizket "The One"
Chapter 8
"I'm Squall," the little boy replied.
"Why aren't you playing with the other kids, Squall?" she asked, smiling slightly.
He shrugged. "I don't like them."
"Why?"
"They make fun of me for being the new kid in town, and for not having any parents," he answered.
"I won't make fun of you. I promise."
He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at her, "Leave me alone!"
Instead of running away, as he expected she'd do, she sat down beside him against the cold stone wall, and said, "I won't! I'm going to sit here beside you until you play with me!"
He didn't say anything, thinking she would get annoyed with him and walk away to join the other children. But she didn't go anywhere. She sat there with him in silence, watching the busy towns people as they passed, giving the two children strange looks. After a while, she fell asleep with her head resting on his shoulder, and somehow he didn't mind. He was just starting to fall asleep himself, when he felt small drops of rain splatter against his face. He gently shook her awake and said, "It's starting to rain. Let's go inside, and we can find something to do."
She smiled at him again, "So, you'll play with me now?"
He shrugged. "I guess so. You're kinda nice."
Squall took in a sharp breath as he suddenly found himself in the present, again. He wasn't sure where the vision had come from, or why. One moment, he had been sitting at his computer doing some work, and the next moment, he was seeing himself in a scene from the past that he never remembered happening.
He heaved a sigh as he stared back at the file he had been reading, the words, "Investigation for murder on fifteen counts," catching his eyes.
"Rinoa..." he murmered.
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
Rinoa stared at the fallen sign for a moment before beginning to rumage through the rest of the wreckage. There wasn't anything there that was savagable. It had been in that ruined state for such a long time.
As she stood there, looking upon the destrution, she felt a chill run up her spine, and vaguely heard the words, carried on the light breeze as they whispered, "Find me, Rinoa. I'm waiting."
She searched the area desperately, looking for someone, or something, that might have spoken those words to her. There was nothing there, but the empty feeling that was left in the wake of fear and shock. Rinoa decided she should leave, for her intuition was telling her that something was after her, and was dangerously close.
Rinoa decided to head back to Balamb. She was still reluctant to face Selphie, but she knew she would have to eventually. Selphie was her best friend, after all.
When Rinoa arrived at the door of Selphie's apartment, after a long journey to Balamb, she shyly raised her hand to the door and knocked lightly, as if she was afraid to be heard. The door suddenly flew open to reveal a red-eyed, tired-looking Selphie, dressed in a white cotton robe and wearing pink bunny slippers. Her pockets were over-flowing with balled up tissues, and when she finally spoke, her words were broken up in intervals by sniffles.
"Hey, Rinoa!" she said, her voice a nasal whine. "I'm glad to see you're home. You worried me to death when you didn't come back last night. Thankfully, Squall told me where you were, so I didn't have to worry anymore. Now, come in."
"What have you come down with?" Rinoa asked as she stepped inside.
"Come down with? What are you talking about? I'm fine," Selphie replied.
"Yeah, right," Rinoa laughed. "Is it contagious?"
"Maybe. Look, about last night, I'm really sorry. I should've just listened to what you had to say, instead calling you crazy and everything. Friends are supposed to listen and be supportive. That's the opposite of what I did."
"You were just trying to help, Selphie," Rinoa replied gently. "It's alright."
"If you say so," Selphie said. "So, what happened with you and Squall last night?"
"Nothing. We just agreed to be friends."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, you pervert!" Rinoa laughed. "Hey, Selphie, have you ever heard of a town called Timber?"
"Yeah, it existed a long time ago, even before Balamb was founded. It was just a little town a short ways from here. It had a big orphanage run by this one woman. That was really the only appeal of that place, to outside people. Anyway, it was attacked and destroyed at some point. Most of the towns people were killed, and those that weren't were forced to move here to Balamb and rebuild their lives. It was really a sad story."
"Who attacked it?" Rinoa asked.
"I don't know. It's always remained a mystery, even to the historians. It happened one night, out of the blue. No one was expecting it, though they say it was probably planned weeks, if not months earlier. No one here in Balamb knew what was going on. They just knew that there was a horrible black cloud rising into the sky from Timber's direction. When the sun rose in the morning, the buildings were torn apart, or burned down, everything was broken down and ruined. But worst of all, there were bodies littering the ground everywhere, and all of them with the same wounds. They were disembowled, their neck and shoulders were torn apart, and their chest was ripped open down the center. It took days to clear them out and take care of the survivors. But strangely enough, some of those people were never accounted for. It was assumed that they were burned in the fires," Selphie said, repeating the facts she had read in her history book as a child.
"That sounds horrible," Rinoa said, thinking back to the ruin she had witnessed earlier. "Have you ever heard of Edea Kramer?"
"Yeah, she used to work for the goverment, or something. She's retired, now, in some condo by the ocean."
"Really?" Rinoa asked, thinking it was rather strange. "Does she except visitors?"
"I think so. She's really nice, from what I've heard."
"Hmm. Is there any place I can find more about Timber?"
"Probably at the library. Why are you suddenly so interested in this place anyway?"
"Because something just doesn't add up."
||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||
Rinoa quickly left Selphie's apartment to find the library, which was on the other side of town. It was located in a large brick building with white shutters and doors. On the inside, was a long corridor with black and white tile flooring that led from the front of the building all the way to the back. Worn wooden doors led to various rooms, and wide, thick glass windows sat in the walls revealing the contents of those rooms. In one, a small, gray-haired woman ran a scanner over racks of vidoes, and in another, a woman in a red business suit pointed to a projection screen while talking to a group of teenagers. She passed by one room, near the end of the hall, where a group of kids played in brightly-colored, plastic play houses. One of the children, a little girl in a white dress, immediatley looked up when Rinoa walked past, and ran out the door of the room to intercept her.
"Excuse me, miss!" she called in a small, cheerful voice.
Rinoa smiled at her and bent down to get a better look at her. "Yes, sweetie?"
The little girl smiled up at her through dozens of sany brown curls before throwing herself into Rinoa's arms. She slipped something over Rinoa's neck and whispered, "It will protect you," into her ear.
As the little girl started to walk away, Rinoa pulled at the platinum chain that now appeared around her neck and pulled it out from underneath her shirt, where something on the chain had fallen. It was a platinum circular locket with strange writing on it. She fumbled for a moment with the clasp on the locket, but it refused to open.
The little girl turned around. "Keep it hidden, under your shirt. That way, you'll be safe."
She turned and ran off again, back for the room which she had come from. It was then that Rinoa noticed the outline of white wings on the back of her dress.
Rinoa tucked the necklace away, again, feeling that it held a great signifigance, even if the way in which she recieved it was strange. She glanced back in the window, searching for the little girl, but she was no where to be seen.
Deciding that there was nothing she could do to further investigate this strange occurance, she started down the hall again. She soon found a room filled with cases and cases of books. She slowly opened the door, the place seemingly empty, and stepped in. Her foot steps echoed off the scratched and dirt-stained floor as she swerved around unocuppied tables and desks and began walking through the rows of towering wooden cases.
"Hello? May I help you?" came a voice from behind her.
She turned to see an old man with graying brown hair and small glasses balanced on his nose standing behind her. "I'm the librarian. How may I help you?"
"I was looking for some books about the history of Timber," she answered.
"Well, I believe we have some right over here," he mumbled, digging some books off the shelf. He handed her a small stack of books then said, "Here we are. Now, if you need anything else, find me and tell me."
She nodded before finding a table to sit down at and glancing at the book on the top of the stack. It looked like she had her research cut out for her.
After a few hourse of intense reading, she discovered something that startled her. It was a list of people that were never accounted for after the destruction of the town of Timber. There were several people on this list, of course, but five in particular that caught her eye. It was none other than Ellone Loire, Squall Loire, Seifer Almasy, Selphie Tilmitt, and Rinoa Caraway.
She knew well that it couldn't been what it looked like. After all, the last names were wrong on most of them. But still, seeing that combination of names in a list of names that was still shrouded in mystery, was odd. And not only did the names on this list catch her eye, but also the mention of a ball that took place at the same night in Balamb. For a few weeks after, it was said, a ficticious story about a girl who was murdered by some monstrous creature that fell from the sky, floated around the town, scaring the townspeople, who wondered if their town would soon meet the same fate as Timber.
Upstairs, several floors above the library where Rinoa was studying, the mayor of the town sat in a darkned room, smoking a cigar and glaring into the shadows where his visitor sat.
"You took care of Almasy?" he asked.
"Of course," the visitor replied. "I said I would."
"Then what's left for you to do? How much longer until we can take our town back?"
"All I have to do is get rid of the girl. Just like before. It shouldn't be a problem."
"I hope so," he said. "We allowed you to do this because you said you could do this better than Seifer. If not...."
"I'll get it done!" came the venomous reply. "Seifer has nothing on me!"
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
Finally, after Rinoa'd had enough of reading about the atrocity of Timber's destruction, she returned to Selphie's apartment, where she found Selphie crumpled up in the bathroom in front of the toilet.
"Selphie, are you okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
"I'm really sick, Rinoa," Selphie answered. "I think I've got the stomich flu or something. You shouldn't stay here."
Rinoa nodded. "Guess I'll be staying at that hotel again."
Selphie looked up at her and offered a weak smile. "Why don't you go ask Squall if you can stay with him?"
Rinoa was about to laugh and shake her head, but said, "Okay. I will."
She left Selphie alone then, telling her to get plenty of rest, and walked to Squall's apartment. Selphie looked out the window, grinning, and decided to go take care of the task at hand.
After Squall had told her that it was fine if she stayed there with him, Rinoa decided she would go talk to this Edea woman that Selphie had told her about.
By this time, night had just fallen. Rinoa didn't like the idea of going to the ocean at night, alone, but she wasn't about to have Squall go with her. How weak would that look? Instead, she found the cliff on which Edea's condo was perched, and started heading for the door.
Edea sat in her richly decorated living room sipping a cup of tea as she read over the news paper. A warm, salty breeze blew in through the open sliding glass door that led out to her balcony. Her wind chimes, wich she valued greatly since they were family heirlooms, clanged together erratcially with the wind, flowing into the house and making her smile with their gentle, spontaneous ringing.
As she sat in her favorite chair, pouring over an article about the recent murders in the town, her long black hair whipped around her face, making her smile. She stopped then, taking in the moment of peace. With age, came a greater appreciation for such moments, when all seemed right in the world.
She focused on everything around her, as if in meditation. Had it not been for this instant of brief meditation, she might not have noticed the way the windchimes seem to take on a perticular tune, as if it were an instrument for the new wind that began to send chills up her spine. She listened for a moment to the simple, but huanting melody before standing and walking out to the balcony to investigate.
Edea walked all the way out onto the balcony, having found nothing out of the ordinary. But as she listened, she realized someone was huming the same tune behind her. She turned around, nearly having a heart attack at what she saw.
"Why won't you die? Your blood and mine? We'll be fine. Then your body, will be mine," sang the voice, softly.
"Who are you?!" Edea demanded.
"What, you don't recognize me?"
Suddenly, Edea was lifted from the floor and thrown back into her living room with an inhuman strength.
"All the trouble you caused me when I was young. And now you want to ruin what I have in the making, don't you? You would give her the answers she seeks."
"Who?" Edea asked, crumpled in a ball on the floor.
"You made everything so hard! This is your end."
Edea screamed loudly, as she the pain shot through her body, slowly killing her. There was nothing she could do.
Even through the screaming, her attacker's voice sang the song that was always present in their mind. "Why is everything so fucking hard for me? Keep me down to what you think I should be. Must you tempt me and provoke the minisrty? Keep on trying I'm not dying so easily. Why won't you die? Your blood and mine. We'll be fine. Then your body will be mine."
Finally, a pair of cold, dark eyes looked down on Edea and said, "This will be a message to her, when she comes."
Outside, Rinoa knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a low, dying sob from inside. She knocked again, this time more frantically. The door fell open, revealing a sickening sight to Rinoa's eyes.
Blood smeared the walls, and dripped off the ceiling, surrounding the woman in black who lay on the floor, mostly dead. Rinoa was about to run from the house, when she noticed there were words scribbled on the wall, in blood.
"I will not die."
Rinoa didn't know what to make of this message. Nor did she care at the moment. She just wanted to run. So she did, just as her instincts told her.
When she reached Balamb again, she slowed down and walked to Squall's apartment where she would be staying for the evening. Maybe if Rinoa had not been so used to seeing such horror, she would have been able to cry or scream, but instead, she was becoming numb to those feelings. Still, even if she seemed calm for what she had just seen, the look on her face immediately told Squall that something was wrong.
"What happened?" he asked, watching her as she sat down on his couch.
"Can I tell you something?" she asked after a moment.
"Yeah, I guess," he responded uncomfortably as he sat down beside her.
"Have you ever had something awful happen to you, and it seemed that, no matter how hard you tried to escape it, it just kept happening over and over again. Until you couldn't take it anymore?"
"What happened to you?" he asked, almost holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
She paused, afraid to say what she needed to say. She had been ordered against it. But she had to let it out, before it ate her alive. "Everywhere I go, there's someone out there murdering people. My ex- boyfriend was a murderer. I came here to get away from all that, and now there's someone here, killing again. And I always seem to find it. I get caught in the middle."
He studied her face for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Rinoa.... I think there's something I have to tell you."
"....What?"
"The FBI thinks that you might be the murderer. They've suspected you since the case with Seifer back in Deling City. But now that all this has happened here.... they're almost ready to arrest you."
"How do you know this?" she asked, fear and shock dominating her voice.
He didn't say anything for a moment, and looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze. "I was sent here on an under-cover mission to investigate you. The whole book store owner thing was just a cover-up."
She stood up suddenly and glared down at him. "Oh, I see now. I see what all this was about. It's fine. I should have expected it, anyway."
She started to walk away, but he grabbed her wrist. "Look, I wasn't supposed to tell you this. But I did because I wanted to warn you. I know you're not the one doing this."
"Then why can't you tell them that?!" she exclaimed, tearing her wrist out of his grasp.
"I just can't," he replied. "They're watching you closely. You have to be careful."
"Whatever," she muttered. "Look, I just want to sleep, okay."
He nodded. "Fine. You can take my room."
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
It was past midnight, and Squall was staring at his computer screen, as he often did when he couldn't sleep. The unnatural glow of the moniter screamed back at him as he faced it, taunting him with it's brightness, that contrasted violently with the darkness surounding him.
The watching, the waiting
Alone without a care
His eye lids were getting heavier by the moment, and they were almost closed when he heard someone enter the room. He looked up to see Rinoa, wearing only an over-sized white T-shirt, standing in front of him.
"I couldn't sleep," she explained quietly. "I was having bad dreams."
"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked harshly, looking away from her, so as not to be tempted by her current state.
She shook her head. "Nothing! Never mind."
Hoping, and hating
The things that I can't bare
Rinoa started to walk away, but he stood up quickly and grabbed her around the wrist, and pulled her around to face him, a faint look of desperation in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "Things have just been messed up lately."
Did you think it's cool to walk right up, to take my life and fuck it up
Well did you?
Once again, he was so aware of her closeness to him, that he could barely think of anything else. That look shining in her eyes was more than he could take. She looked so innocent, and angelic. And at that moment he hated her so much that he loved her. She was the reason for his torment, his pain. She was everything he wanted, and all that he couldn't have. She sat there, tempting him into damnation without even knowing what she was doing to him. She was a devil, in his eyes. And he wanted nothing more than to surrender to her. Nothing else mattered anymore.
I see hell in your eyes
After a moment of looking into each others eyes, they came together in an explosion of long-surpressed passion, kissing roughly, and touching. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the room, stumbling backward to his bedroom, and slamming the door shut behind him.
Taken in by surprise
Rinoa wasn't sure what was happening anymore. She wasn't even sure why she'd gone to Squall in the first place. Now, all of a sudden, they were in his room, fire blazing between them. She didn't care how it happened. This was what she had wanted all along, right? She wanted him.
She melted into him as she felt his hands travel up, underneath the shirt she was wearing to sleep in, and gently graze the bare skin of her upper body.
Squall wasn't sure what he was doing anymore either. He just wanted her. No, needed her. Fuck everyone else. She was so amazing to him, even if she was his enemy by nature. He felt like his soul was soaring, just touching her like this.
And touching you makes me feel alive
Rinoa tugged at his shirt from the bottom, before slipping her hands inside it and running them over his finely toned chest, carefully scraping her nails over his skin. She broke their hot, passionate kiss and began kissing down his chin and neck.
As she did this, tormenting him yet again, Squall leaned his head somewhat against hers, letting his eyes drift closed at the feeling. The fire was burning inside him again, causing his excitement to rise, and scarring the edges of his soul. He could feel his instincts conflicting, eating at him from the inside.
Touching you makes me die inside
Rinoa pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the floor, her eyes flamming with both longing and innocence as they looked up into his own.
"Do you hate me?" he asked suddenly.
"Why would I?"
"For everything I've done to you."
"I should," she said thoughtfully. "But for whatever reason, I can't bring myself to."
He nodded his understanding then lifted her up into his arms before laying her down on the bed. He showered her neck with kisses before pulling the shirt off over her head and revealing her ivory flesh to his hungry eyes. He bent his head down, taking one of her breasts into his mouth and driving her crazy. The taste of her skin was intoxicating, and he knew he'd tasted it somewhere before.
She ran his fingers through his silky brown hair, while a new, exotic feeling built within her. She never knew it was possible to feel this way, yet somehow, she knew she'd felt it before.
I've slept so long without you
It's tearing me apart to
How'd it get this far, playing games with this old heart
I've killed a million petty selves, but I couldn't kill you
I've slept so long without you
He slid the last of her clothing down her legs, placing soft kisses down them as he went. He them removed his remaining constraints. He couldn't wait any longer.
As he plunged into her depth, he felt something within her break, and she let out a small scream. he found her hands and entwined his fingers with hers, before pushing forward again. This time she let out a gasp, and her eyes rolled back in her head. He looked down at her with concern, fearing that he had done something to hurt her. He was about to call her name, when his vision was engulfed in a grayish color, and memories began to flash through his mind.
***
She stood in the flower field, the moon light shining above her as she smiled.... A little boy with dark brown hair sat alone in front of a large stone building, until a little raven-haired girl walked up to him.... Two children stood sat beneath a tree late at night, hiding away from the rest of the world and talking.
"Sis and her boy friend Seifer say we shouldn't play together," admitted the dark-haired boy with sorrow deep in his voice. "They say you and I are different."
"But, Squall, I don't want to stop playing with you. You're my best friend," replied the girl that sat beside him.
"You're mine, too. I guess we can still meet, just like this. That way we can still be friends, and they'll never know."
The scene changed, and two pre-teens stood near the entrance of a town, speaking.
"I'm sorry about your mother. I know how much she meant to you."
"Yeah. It wouldn't be so bad if my dad wasn't such a jerk about everything! I hate him! I wish there was some way I could escape it all."
"I know what you mean. My sister's being a bitch, as always. And I hate Seifer. I wish I were old enough to beat him up."
"Why don't we run away, Squall? You and me together. We could escape from home, and we'd still have each other."
He nodded in agreement. "Okay. Tomorrow night. I'll meet you here. But where will we go?"
"I have a place in mind."
Now the two pre-teens stood in front of a white-washed church.
"We can stay here," she said.
"Okay," he agreed uneasily.
The two went inside and set down their stuff before going back outside to look at the stars. Once they were outside, they sat down in the grass and gazed upwards in silence until at last, she spoke.
"Squall, have you ever... you know... kissed a girl?"
"No," he answered absent mindedly.
"Do you want to?" she asked shyly.
A deep crimson blush spread over his cheeks as he looked at her and said, "...Yes."
Yet again, the scene shifted, and a couple, just barely adults, danced across a floor in a grandly decorated room, before the man stopped and said, "I'm sorry, Rinoa. But I... we can't be together anymore."
With that, he walked away from her, and out of the ball room. She followed after him, desperately calling out his name. They exchanged harsh words before he left again, and this time, she let him go.
As she stood there, awe struck, a creature looked down on her from above, it's leathery, bat-like wings poised for flight. It swooped down behind, soundlessly, and sealed her tragic fate.
***
Squall opened his eyes to find himself back in the present, and still tending to the task at hand. His body had started to move on it's own, and a wonderful feeling was building inside of him. Rinoa lay beneath him, her eyes shut tightly in pleasure as she opened her mouth in a silent moan.
Moonlight fell in through the slits in the windows, giving her skin an unearthly glow as Squall watched. Or was it really the moon?
Her eyes opened just a crack, so that the whites of them were visible. They were glowing a brilliant white that the moon would be envious of. He realized then that everything he'd been told was true. Now, it was just a question of whether or not he cared.
I see hell in your eyes
He lowered his mouth to hers, hoping to distract her. She couldn't see. If she did, he might lose her forever. Her eyes drifted shut again as she emitted another blissful cry, which was muffled by his passionate kiss. He ran his hands up her sides, and then ran his fingers through her hair. He opened his eyes a crack just in time to see an alluring white glow spreading from her back.
Taken in by surprise
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, practically smashing her body up against his so that she was no longer on her back. He ran a hand up over her stomach to her breast, squeezing it in order to distract her from the itching that he knew she would be feeling at her shoulder blades soon.
And touching you makes me feel alive
Rinoa's fist clutched at the sheets on the bed as she threw her head back, the feeling starting to take her over. Squall broke his kiss with her, feeling something start to swell in his mouth. He rested his head on her shoulder a bit as he watched, with heaviness filling his heart, the white, glowing wings burst, unnoticed by their owner, from her back and spread to their full width behind her.
Squall didn't have to look behind him to know that his own, black and leathery, were stretched out behind him. He was thankful that her eyes were closed. She would never have to know.
She wrapped her legs around his waist as she screamed, her eyes still shut, and her fists still clenched. Seeing her go like this brought him crashing over the edge. He arched his back, his black demon wings flared, and tensed as his mouth opened wide in a silent roar, his newly grown fangs glittering in the faint light.
Touching you makes me die inside
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disclaimer: I don't own "System" by Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, or "Slept so Long" by Jay Gordon of Orgy, all off the Queen of the Damned CD.
I do believe that you and me
We could be so
Happy and free inside a world of misery
And I believe that you and me
We could be so
Inside of you, inside of me
'Cause this could be the one
--- Limp Bizket "The One"
Chapter 8
"I'm Squall," the little boy replied.
"Why aren't you playing with the other kids, Squall?" she asked, smiling slightly.
He shrugged. "I don't like them."
"Why?"
"They make fun of me for being the new kid in town, and for not having any parents," he answered.
"I won't make fun of you. I promise."
He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at her, "Leave me alone!"
Instead of running away, as he expected she'd do, she sat down beside him against the cold stone wall, and said, "I won't! I'm going to sit here beside you until you play with me!"
He didn't say anything, thinking she would get annoyed with him and walk away to join the other children. But she didn't go anywhere. She sat there with him in silence, watching the busy towns people as they passed, giving the two children strange looks. After a while, she fell asleep with her head resting on his shoulder, and somehow he didn't mind. He was just starting to fall asleep himself, when he felt small drops of rain splatter against his face. He gently shook her awake and said, "It's starting to rain. Let's go inside, and we can find something to do."
She smiled at him again, "So, you'll play with me now?"
He shrugged. "I guess so. You're kinda nice."
Squall took in a sharp breath as he suddenly found himself in the present, again. He wasn't sure where the vision had come from, or why. One moment, he had been sitting at his computer doing some work, and the next moment, he was seeing himself in a scene from the past that he never remembered happening.
He heaved a sigh as he stared back at the file he had been reading, the words, "Investigation for murder on fifteen counts," catching his eyes.
"Rinoa..." he murmered.
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
Rinoa stared at the fallen sign for a moment before beginning to rumage through the rest of the wreckage. There wasn't anything there that was savagable. It had been in that ruined state for such a long time.
As she stood there, looking upon the destrution, she felt a chill run up her spine, and vaguely heard the words, carried on the light breeze as they whispered, "Find me, Rinoa. I'm waiting."
She searched the area desperately, looking for someone, or something, that might have spoken those words to her. There was nothing there, but the empty feeling that was left in the wake of fear and shock. Rinoa decided she should leave, for her intuition was telling her that something was after her, and was dangerously close.
Rinoa decided to head back to Balamb. She was still reluctant to face Selphie, but she knew she would have to eventually. Selphie was her best friend, after all.
When Rinoa arrived at the door of Selphie's apartment, after a long journey to Balamb, she shyly raised her hand to the door and knocked lightly, as if she was afraid to be heard. The door suddenly flew open to reveal a red-eyed, tired-looking Selphie, dressed in a white cotton robe and wearing pink bunny slippers. Her pockets were over-flowing with balled up tissues, and when she finally spoke, her words were broken up in intervals by sniffles.
"Hey, Rinoa!" she said, her voice a nasal whine. "I'm glad to see you're home. You worried me to death when you didn't come back last night. Thankfully, Squall told me where you were, so I didn't have to worry anymore. Now, come in."
"What have you come down with?" Rinoa asked as she stepped inside.
"Come down with? What are you talking about? I'm fine," Selphie replied.
"Yeah, right," Rinoa laughed. "Is it contagious?"
"Maybe. Look, about last night, I'm really sorry. I should've just listened to what you had to say, instead calling you crazy and everything. Friends are supposed to listen and be supportive. That's the opposite of what I did."
"You were just trying to help, Selphie," Rinoa replied gently. "It's alright."
"If you say so," Selphie said. "So, what happened with you and Squall last night?"
"Nothing. We just agreed to be friends."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, you pervert!" Rinoa laughed. "Hey, Selphie, have you ever heard of a town called Timber?"
"Yeah, it existed a long time ago, even before Balamb was founded. It was just a little town a short ways from here. It had a big orphanage run by this one woman. That was really the only appeal of that place, to outside people. Anyway, it was attacked and destroyed at some point. Most of the towns people were killed, and those that weren't were forced to move here to Balamb and rebuild their lives. It was really a sad story."
"Who attacked it?" Rinoa asked.
"I don't know. It's always remained a mystery, even to the historians. It happened one night, out of the blue. No one was expecting it, though they say it was probably planned weeks, if not months earlier. No one here in Balamb knew what was going on. They just knew that there was a horrible black cloud rising into the sky from Timber's direction. When the sun rose in the morning, the buildings were torn apart, or burned down, everything was broken down and ruined. But worst of all, there were bodies littering the ground everywhere, and all of them with the same wounds. They were disembowled, their neck and shoulders were torn apart, and their chest was ripped open down the center. It took days to clear them out and take care of the survivors. But strangely enough, some of those people were never accounted for. It was assumed that they were burned in the fires," Selphie said, repeating the facts she had read in her history book as a child.
"That sounds horrible," Rinoa said, thinking back to the ruin she had witnessed earlier. "Have you ever heard of Edea Kramer?"
"Yeah, she used to work for the goverment, or something. She's retired, now, in some condo by the ocean."
"Really?" Rinoa asked, thinking it was rather strange. "Does she except visitors?"
"I think so. She's really nice, from what I've heard."
"Hmm. Is there any place I can find more about Timber?"
"Probably at the library. Why are you suddenly so interested in this place anyway?"
"Because something just doesn't add up."
||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||
Rinoa quickly left Selphie's apartment to find the library, which was on the other side of town. It was located in a large brick building with white shutters and doors. On the inside, was a long corridor with black and white tile flooring that led from the front of the building all the way to the back. Worn wooden doors led to various rooms, and wide, thick glass windows sat in the walls revealing the contents of those rooms. In one, a small, gray-haired woman ran a scanner over racks of vidoes, and in another, a woman in a red business suit pointed to a projection screen while talking to a group of teenagers. She passed by one room, near the end of the hall, where a group of kids played in brightly-colored, plastic play houses. One of the children, a little girl in a white dress, immediatley looked up when Rinoa walked past, and ran out the door of the room to intercept her.
"Excuse me, miss!" she called in a small, cheerful voice.
Rinoa smiled at her and bent down to get a better look at her. "Yes, sweetie?"
The little girl smiled up at her through dozens of sany brown curls before throwing herself into Rinoa's arms. She slipped something over Rinoa's neck and whispered, "It will protect you," into her ear.
As the little girl started to walk away, Rinoa pulled at the platinum chain that now appeared around her neck and pulled it out from underneath her shirt, where something on the chain had fallen. It was a platinum circular locket with strange writing on it. She fumbled for a moment with the clasp on the locket, but it refused to open.
The little girl turned around. "Keep it hidden, under your shirt. That way, you'll be safe."
She turned and ran off again, back for the room which she had come from. It was then that Rinoa noticed the outline of white wings on the back of her dress.
Rinoa tucked the necklace away, again, feeling that it held a great signifigance, even if the way in which she recieved it was strange. She glanced back in the window, searching for the little girl, but she was no where to be seen.
Deciding that there was nothing she could do to further investigate this strange occurance, she started down the hall again. She soon found a room filled with cases and cases of books. She slowly opened the door, the place seemingly empty, and stepped in. Her foot steps echoed off the scratched and dirt-stained floor as she swerved around unocuppied tables and desks and began walking through the rows of towering wooden cases.
"Hello? May I help you?" came a voice from behind her.
She turned to see an old man with graying brown hair and small glasses balanced on his nose standing behind her. "I'm the librarian. How may I help you?"
"I was looking for some books about the history of Timber," she answered.
"Well, I believe we have some right over here," he mumbled, digging some books off the shelf. He handed her a small stack of books then said, "Here we are. Now, if you need anything else, find me and tell me."
She nodded before finding a table to sit down at and glancing at the book on the top of the stack. It looked like she had her research cut out for her.
After a few hourse of intense reading, she discovered something that startled her. It was a list of people that were never accounted for after the destruction of the town of Timber. There were several people on this list, of course, but five in particular that caught her eye. It was none other than Ellone Loire, Squall Loire, Seifer Almasy, Selphie Tilmitt, and Rinoa Caraway.
She knew well that it couldn't been what it looked like. After all, the last names were wrong on most of them. But still, seeing that combination of names in a list of names that was still shrouded in mystery, was odd. And not only did the names on this list catch her eye, but also the mention of a ball that took place at the same night in Balamb. For a few weeks after, it was said, a ficticious story about a girl who was murdered by some monstrous creature that fell from the sky, floated around the town, scaring the townspeople, who wondered if their town would soon meet the same fate as Timber.
Upstairs, several floors above the library where Rinoa was studying, the mayor of the town sat in a darkned room, smoking a cigar and glaring into the shadows where his visitor sat.
"You took care of Almasy?" he asked.
"Of course," the visitor replied. "I said I would."
"Then what's left for you to do? How much longer until we can take our town back?"
"All I have to do is get rid of the girl. Just like before. It shouldn't be a problem."
"I hope so," he said. "We allowed you to do this because you said you could do this better than Seifer. If not...."
"I'll get it done!" came the venomous reply. "Seifer has nothing on me!"
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
Finally, after Rinoa'd had enough of reading about the atrocity of Timber's destruction, she returned to Selphie's apartment, where she found Selphie crumpled up in the bathroom in front of the toilet.
"Selphie, are you okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
"I'm really sick, Rinoa," Selphie answered. "I think I've got the stomich flu or something. You shouldn't stay here."
Rinoa nodded. "Guess I'll be staying at that hotel again."
Selphie looked up at her and offered a weak smile. "Why don't you go ask Squall if you can stay with him?"
Rinoa was about to laugh and shake her head, but said, "Okay. I will."
She left Selphie alone then, telling her to get plenty of rest, and walked to Squall's apartment. Selphie looked out the window, grinning, and decided to go take care of the task at hand.
After Squall had told her that it was fine if she stayed there with him, Rinoa decided she would go talk to this Edea woman that Selphie had told her about.
By this time, night had just fallen. Rinoa didn't like the idea of going to the ocean at night, alone, but she wasn't about to have Squall go with her. How weak would that look? Instead, she found the cliff on which Edea's condo was perched, and started heading for the door.
Edea sat in her richly decorated living room sipping a cup of tea as she read over the news paper. A warm, salty breeze blew in through the open sliding glass door that led out to her balcony. Her wind chimes, wich she valued greatly since they were family heirlooms, clanged together erratcially with the wind, flowing into the house and making her smile with their gentle, spontaneous ringing.
As she sat in her favorite chair, pouring over an article about the recent murders in the town, her long black hair whipped around her face, making her smile. She stopped then, taking in the moment of peace. With age, came a greater appreciation for such moments, when all seemed right in the world.
She focused on everything around her, as if in meditation. Had it not been for this instant of brief meditation, she might not have noticed the way the windchimes seem to take on a perticular tune, as if it were an instrument for the new wind that began to send chills up her spine. She listened for a moment to the simple, but huanting melody before standing and walking out to the balcony to investigate.
Edea walked all the way out onto the balcony, having found nothing out of the ordinary. But as she listened, she realized someone was huming the same tune behind her. She turned around, nearly having a heart attack at what she saw.
"Why won't you die? Your blood and mine? We'll be fine. Then your body, will be mine," sang the voice, softly.
"Who are you?!" Edea demanded.
"What, you don't recognize me?"
Suddenly, Edea was lifted from the floor and thrown back into her living room with an inhuman strength.
"All the trouble you caused me when I was young. And now you want to ruin what I have in the making, don't you? You would give her the answers she seeks."
"Who?" Edea asked, crumpled in a ball on the floor.
"You made everything so hard! This is your end."
Edea screamed loudly, as she the pain shot through her body, slowly killing her. There was nothing she could do.
Even through the screaming, her attacker's voice sang the song that was always present in their mind. "Why is everything so fucking hard for me? Keep me down to what you think I should be. Must you tempt me and provoke the minisrty? Keep on trying I'm not dying so easily. Why won't you die? Your blood and mine. We'll be fine. Then your body will be mine."
Finally, a pair of cold, dark eyes looked down on Edea and said, "This will be a message to her, when she comes."
Outside, Rinoa knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a low, dying sob from inside. She knocked again, this time more frantically. The door fell open, revealing a sickening sight to Rinoa's eyes.
Blood smeared the walls, and dripped off the ceiling, surrounding the woman in black who lay on the floor, mostly dead. Rinoa was about to run from the house, when she noticed there were words scribbled on the wall, in blood.
"I will not die."
Rinoa didn't know what to make of this message. Nor did she care at the moment. She just wanted to run. So she did, just as her instincts told her.
When she reached Balamb again, she slowed down and walked to Squall's apartment where she would be staying for the evening. Maybe if Rinoa had not been so used to seeing such horror, she would have been able to cry or scream, but instead, she was becoming numb to those feelings. Still, even if she seemed calm for what she had just seen, the look on her face immediately told Squall that something was wrong.
"What happened?" he asked, watching her as she sat down on his couch.
"Can I tell you something?" she asked after a moment.
"Yeah, I guess," he responded uncomfortably as he sat down beside her.
"Have you ever had something awful happen to you, and it seemed that, no matter how hard you tried to escape it, it just kept happening over and over again. Until you couldn't take it anymore?"
"What happened to you?" he asked, almost holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
She paused, afraid to say what she needed to say. She had been ordered against it. But she had to let it out, before it ate her alive. "Everywhere I go, there's someone out there murdering people. My ex- boyfriend was a murderer. I came here to get away from all that, and now there's someone here, killing again. And I always seem to find it. I get caught in the middle."
He studied her face for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Rinoa.... I think there's something I have to tell you."
"....What?"
"The FBI thinks that you might be the murderer. They've suspected you since the case with Seifer back in Deling City. But now that all this has happened here.... they're almost ready to arrest you."
"How do you know this?" she asked, fear and shock dominating her voice.
He didn't say anything for a moment, and looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze. "I was sent here on an under-cover mission to investigate you. The whole book store owner thing was just a cover-up."
She stood up suddenly and glared down at him. "Oh, I see now. I see what all this was about. It's fine. I should have expected it, anyway."
She started to walk away, but he grabbed her wrist. "Look, I wasn't supposed to tell you this. But I did because I wanted to warn you. I know you're not the one doing this."
"Then why can't you tell them that?!" she exclaimed, tearing her wrist out of his grasp.
"I just can't," he replied. "They're watching you closely. You have to be careful."
"Whatever," she muttered. "Look, I just want to sleep, okay."
He nodded. "Fine. You can take my room."
||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
It was past midnight, and Squall was staring at his computer screen, as he often did when he couldn't sleep. The unnatural glow of the moniter screamed back at him as he faced it, taunting him with it's brightness, that contrasted violently with the darkness surounding him.
The watching, the waiting
Alone without a care
His eye lids were getting heavier by the moment, and they were almost closed when he heard someone enter the room. He looked up to see Rinoa, wearing only an over-sized white T-shirt, standing in front of him.
"I couldn't sleep," she explained quietly. "I was having bad dreams."
"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked harshly, looking away from her, so as not to be tempted by her current state.
She shook her head. "Nothing! Never mind."
Hoping, and hating
The things that I can't bare
Rinoa started to walk away, but he stood up quickly and grabbed her around the wrist, and pulled her around to face him, a faint look of desperation in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "Things have just been messed up lately."
Did you think it's cool to walk right up, to take my life and fuck it up
Well did you?
Once again, he was so aware of her closeness to him, that he could barely think of anything else. That look shining in her eyes was more than he could take. She looked so innocent, and angelic. And at that moment he hated her so much that he loved her. She was the reason for his torment, his pain. She was everything he wanted, and all that he couldn't have. She sat there, tempting him into damnation without even knowing what she was doing to him. She was a devil, in his eyes. And he wanted nothing more than to surrender to her. Nothing else mattered anymore.
I see hell in your eyes
After a moment of looking into each others eyes, they came together in an explosion of long-surpressed passion, kissing roughly, and touching. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the room, stumbling backward to his bedroom, and slamming the door shut behind him.
Taken in by surprise
Rinoa wasn't sure what was happening anymore. She wasn't even sure why she'd gone to Squall in the first place. Now, all of a sudden, they were in his room, fire blazing between them. She didn't care how it happened. This was what she had wanted all along, right? She wanted him.
She melted into him as she felt his hands travel up, underneath the shirt she was wearing to sleep in, and gently graze the bare skin of her upper body.
Squall wasn't sure what he was doing anymore either. He just wanted her. No, needed her. Fuck everyone else. She was so amazing to him, even if she was his enemy by nature. He felt like his soul was soaring, just touching her like this.
And touching you makes me feel alive
Rinoa tugged at his shirt from the bottom, before slipping her hands inside it and running them over his finely toned chest, carefully scraping her nails over his skin. She broke their hot, passionate kiss and began kissing down his chin and neck.
As she did this, tormenting him yet again, Squall leaned his head somewhat against hers, letting his eyes drift closed at the feeling. The fire was burning inside him again, causing his excitement to rise, and scarring the edges of his soul. He could feel his instincts conflicting, eating at him from the inside.
Touching you makes me die inside
Rinoa pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the floor, her eyes flamming with both longing and innocence as they looked up into his own.
"Do you hate me?" he asked suddenly.
"Why would I?"
"For everything I've done to you."
"I should," she said thoughtfully. "But for whatever reason, I can't bring myself to."
He nodded his understanding then lifted her up into his arms before laying her down on the bed. He showered her neck with kisses before pulling the shirt off over her head and revealing her ivory flesh to his hungry eyes. He bent his head down, taking one of her breasts into his mouth and driving her crazy. The taste of her skin was intoxicating, and he knew he'd tasted it somewhere before.
She ran his fingers through his silky brown hair, while a new, exotic feeling built within her. She never knew it was possible to feel this way, yet somehow, she knew she'd felt it before.
I've slept so long without you
It's tearing me apart to
How'd it get this far, playing games with this old heart
I've killed a million petty selves, but I couldn't kill you
I've slept so long without you
He slid the last of her clothing down her legs, placing soft kisses down them as he went. He them removed his remaining constraints. He couldn't wait any longer.
As he plunged into her depth, he felt something within her break, and she let out a small scream. he found her hands and entwined his fingers with hers, before pushing forward again. This time she let out a gasp, and her eyes rolled back in her head. He looked down at her with concern, fearing that he had done something to hurt her. He was about to call her name, when his vision was engulfed in a grayish color, and memories began to flash through his mind.
***
She stood in the flower field, the moon light shining above her as she smiled.... A little boy with dark brown hair sat alone in front of a large stone building, until a little raven-haired girl walked up to him.... Two children stood sat beneath a tree late at night, hiding away from the rest of the world and talking.
"Sis and her boy friend Seifer say we shouldn't play together," admitted the dark-haired boy with sorrow deep in his voice. "They say you and I are different."
"But, Squall, I don't want to stop playing with you. You're my best friend," replied the girl that sat beside him.
"You're mine, too. I guess we can still meet, just like this. That way we can still be friends, and they'll never know."
The scene changed, and two pre-teens stood near the entrance of a town, speaking.
"I'm sorry about your mother. I know how much she meant to you."
"Yeah. It wouldn't be so bad if my dad wasn't such a jerk about everything! I hate him! I wish there was some way I could escape it all."
"I know what you mean. My sister's being a bitch, as always. And I hate Seifer. I wish I were old enough to beat him up."
"Why don't we run away, Squall? You and me together. We could escape from home, and we'd still have each other."
He nodded in agreement. "Okay. Tomorrow night. I'll meet you here. But where will we go?"
"I have a place in mind."
Now the two pre-teens stood in front of a white-washed church.
"We can stay here," she said.
"Okay," he agreed uneasily.
The two went inside and set down their stuff before going back outside to look at the stars. Once they were outside, they sat down in the grass and gazed upwards in silence until at last, she spoke.
"Squall, have you ever... you know... kissed a girl?"
"No," he answered absent mindedly.
"Do you want to?" she asked shyly.
A deep crimson blush spread over his cheeks as he looked at her and said, "...Yes."
Yet again, the scene shifted, and a couple, just barely adults, danced across a floor in a grandly decorated room, before the man stopped and said, "I'm sorry, Rinoa. But I... we can't be together anymore."
With that, he walked away from her, and out of the ball room. She followed after him, desperately calling out his name. They exchanged harsh words before he left again, and this time, she let him go.
As she stood there, awe struck, a creature looked down on her from above, it's leathery, bat-like wings poised for flight. It swooped down behind, soundlessly, and sealed her tragic fate.
***
Squall opened his eyes to find himself back in the present, and still tending to the task at hand. His body had started to move on it's own, and a wonderful feeling was building inside of him. Rinoa lay beneath him, her eyes shut tightly in pleasure as she opened her mouth in a silent moan.
Moonlight fell in through the slits in the windows, giving her skin an unearthly glow as Squall watched. Or was it really the moon?
Her eyes opened just a crack, so that the whites of them were visible. They were glowing a brilliant white that the moon would be envious of. He realized then that everything he'd been told was true. Now, it was just a question of whether or not he cared.
I see hell in your eyes
He lowered his mouth to hers, hoping to distract her. She couldn't see. If she did, he might lose her forever. Her eyes drifted shut again as she emitted another blissful cry, which was muffled by his passionate kiss. He ran his hands up her sides, and then ran his fingers through her hair. He opened his eyes a crack just in time to see an alluring white glow spreading from her back.
Taken in by surprise
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, practically smashing her body up against his so that she was no longer on her back. He ran a hand up over her stomach to her breast, squeezing it in order to distract her from the itching that he knew she would be feeling at her shoulder blades soon.
And touching you makes me feel alive
Rinoa's fist clutched at the sheets on the bed as she threw her head back, the feeling starting to take her over. Squall broke his kiss with her, feeling something start to swell in his mouth. He rested his head on her shoulder a bit as he watched, with heaviness filling his heart, the white, glowing wings burst, unnoticed by their owner, from her back and spread to their full width behind her.
Squall didn't have to look behind him to know that his own, black and leathery, were stretched out behind him. He was thankful that her eyes were closed. She would never have to know.
She wrapped her legs around his waist as she screamed, her eyes still shut, and her fists still clenched. Seeing her go like this brought him crashing over the edge. He arched his back, his black demon wings flared, and tensed as his mouth opened wide in a silent roar, his newly grown fangs glittering in the faint light.
Touching you makes me die inside
|||||||||||||||||||||||||