Disclaimer: I don't own FF8...

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm trying to finish this fic before school starts for me on September 5th. This is going to be the last chapter. I'll try to have the epilogue posted by Wednesday.

Never Free

Chapter 16- It's Over

"Hello, Rinoa. Welcome back to the world of the living." Billows sneered.

"Ugh..." Rinoa said groggily as she stood up slowly. "How long have I been out?"
"Only for a minute...unfortunately."

Oh no! The bomb's going to go off in less than four minutes! Rinoa looked around frantically for a means of escape. She was in a dark room with empty crates surrounding her. There were no windows and only one door to which Billows was standing in front of. There didn't seem to be any way out of the room. "Where's Quistis?"

"Oh, that little bitch you were with? That asshole got away from me, but don't you worry...my guards will find her." He grinned evilly.

"Where are we?" Rinoa asked. Maybe we're not even in Galbadia Garden anymore.

"We're in an old storage room in one of the lower levels of this facility." He smiled. "You and your little friends thought you could defeat us, eh? Now, I can torture you and then the rest of your crew outside."

He doesn't know about the bomb! If I can keep him here for a few more minutes... We'll both be goners, but it's a sacrifice that I'm going to have to make.

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"Quistis, where the hell is Rinoa?" Squall asked.

Quistis could barely breathe. She had just managed to escape Billows' men, but Rinoa was still inside the building. "Squall...Rinoa...in building." She collapsed as her strength gave out.

"What do you mean?! Where is she, Quistis?!" Squall demanded.

"Billows...don't know where..." She wheezed.

"Dammit! I'm going in!" Squall exclaimed.

"What the hell are you thinking, man?! That bomb is going to go off in two minutes! You'll never make it out! Seifer yelled.

"I don't care! I have to save Rinoa! I'm not going to watch that building explode while the woman that I love is in it!" With that, he ran into the building, ignoring the cries from behind him. Where the hell do I go?! Trusting his instincts, he decided that he would try the bottom floor first.

Once he got out of the elevator, he ran. He had never run so fast in his life. Suddenly, something on the floor caught his attention. It was Rinoa's necklace, but only one ring was on the chain. Griever was nowhere in sight. Scooping up the necklace, he kept on running until he came to a split hallway. Left or right? He looked both ways and noticed something shiny on the ground to the right. He immediately ran towards it. Picking it up, he found that it was Griever. I must be going the right track!

Suddenly, he heard her voice. "Well, Billows, you might have me kidnapped, but you won't be alive very long anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Squall heard Billows ask.

"There is a bomb in this building and it is going to go off in less than a minute."

"What?!" Billows roared.

Rinoa used his distraction to her advantage by kicking him in the groin. As soon as he doubled over, she ran past him and flung the door open. She started running and ended up crashing right into... "Squall?!"
"Rinoa, thank God you're okay. Listen, we need to get out of here now. The bomb is going to go off very soon." Squall told her.

She nodded. "I know where an emergency exit is. Follow me!" She instructed as she began sprinting in towards the direction of the exit. "There it is!" She called as she turned the corner.

When they were about ten feet away from the exit, they heard a beeping. "Shit!" Squall cursed.

"The bomb?" Rinoa asked.

Squall nodded. "In less than ten seconds it's going to go off."

Rinoa grabbed his hand. "Then let's RUN!"

Things seemed to move in slow motion as they ran with all the strength that they possessed. Finally, Rinoa found herself pushing the door open just as the bomb was on the seventh beep. "It's gonna blow!" Rinoa screamed as her and Squall ducked behind a rock about fifteen feet away. A rumbling was heard followed by a huge boom as Galbadia Garden exploded.

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"They're gone." Seifer blinked. "They're actually gone."

Tears poured from Quistis' eyes. "Why did they have to die?" She sniffed. "Why them?"

Caraway was in a state of numb shock. "My daughter is dead." He said in disbelief. "Dead."

They all stood there, not wanting to believe that Squall and Rinoa had really died in the explosion. How could it possibly be true? Just hours earlier, they had been talking and laughing about the pact they had made. Why did two people so innocent and completely in love have to come to such a tragic end? They had had their whole lives in front of them. It made them all furious. They shouldn't have had to die this way!

"Hey!" A voice shouted. "There they are!"

Caraway looked up and his jaw dropped. Walking towards him was Rinoa, hand in hand with Squall. "R- Rinoa?"

"Daddy!" She exclaimed as she hugged him. "I thought that I wasn't going to make it."

"It's okay, baby." Caraway said with tears in his eyes. "Everything's going to be okay now."

Rinoa turned to Squall and wrapped her arms around him. "We made it, Squall." She held him tighter. "It's finally over, Squall." She never could have imagined what a tremendous relief it was to say those words.

Author's Note: Stay tuned for the epilogue!