Author's notes: Hey, everyone happy holidays to you all. Well, this is my attempt to make a 'romantic' fic and all that stuff… I've kinda halted the progress of 'Eighth Note' because I can't seem to put a nice plot that all of you would enjoy. I've written about three drafts but it still doesn't seem to fit in the story so I picked out this draft and made another story out of it. Hope you like it and your comments are most welcome. Say what you want but please don't flame me. Forgive me for the errors….

A/N: This takes place about six years after the second sorceress war. I've made a twist of the original story, with an original character named Athena. She is a sorceress and well, she had a bond with Squall, much more of that like Rinoa's in the game. Rinoa and Irvine appear later, after the sorceress war. Details about Athena will be known in the later parts of the story.

Foreword: People are fallible— it is human nature to fail and do wrong for no one is perfect. The choice is for us alone to decide, whether we stand up again and walk even with our wounded knee or to stop until our wounds heal in a time we do not know. This is a story about remorse, regret, atonement and the most clichéd yet powerful force of all, which is love.

Celestial Block

Chapter I: Snow

By Caeruleus


As I lay down, darkness slowly engulfs me

Bringing memories of my past folly

Mistakes that can never be mended alone

For time has been unkind and quickly flown

            Snow. Yes it was snowing harder than ever. But the sound of the blizzard was not disturbing; it was soothing. It has always been like this; it was like the ferocities of nature were a mere reflection of his soul. Rain, blizzards, storms whatever it was, that was his state— forever in a mess that he couldn't or didn't want to get out.  If loneliness was a friend back then, now it was his best friend. The feeling of loneliness was not foreign to him—this is the way it should be. But now was an exception for he was with someone and he didn't like it.

"Squall, are you even listening?" An annoying voice came from behind.

            "Yeah…whatever…" Came his apathetic reply as usual. His eyes remained in the scenery outside the window— the destructive force of the blizzard seemed to fascinate him.

            "I wonder why you find the blizzard more amusing than me, considering that what you're facing happens every day. We're in Trabia, reality check…" She said sarcastically, trying to capture Squall's attention. Unfortunately, it did her no good, lest he completely turned his back on her and locked his gaze on the blizzard.

            "You know why?" He finally decided to answer, " because it respects my need for total silence now. " The thought of taking what he just said came to mind. What he said was cruel indeed but he meant it. He needed silence now.

            "Touché. I never thought you had so much witty remarks left for me." She reacted sarcastically to cover up the anger and hurt inside her. So many times has this happened and she continued to wonder what was keeping Squall so isolated from the world. From her personal account of things, there was never one thing listed in her memory that would make Squall like this. Hero of the second sorceress war, appointed as new headmaster of Balamb Garden, admiration of many, what else could go wrong?

            "Squall, I'm not leaving. I know that what you meant was 'get the hell out'." Her voice was stern and non-negotiable.

            Squall did not reply. It was obvious that she was getting into his nerves. He took a sideway glance at her. His glance would have been thought of as 'scary' judging from his dagger slit eyes. Surprised that even this didn't force her away, he just decided to talk. Oh well at least reply. "What is it that you want from me Rinoa?"

            " I just wanted to have a little chat with you—"

            "Forget it. I'm in no mood to talk right now."

            A thin smile curled in her lips. " That's what I've been expecting. But as what I've said, I'm not leaving."

            "Rinoa, I don't need a psychiatrist or whatever." He said annoyingly, mirroring the emotion Rinoa's question had earlier. But this was not a thing to be reckoned with. Squall's anger has been seen and tested by many; most of them by Rinoa and it wasn't a good sight to see.

            "Who said about a psychiatrist or whatever?" She mimicked the last words of his sentence, prompting the SeeD to cross his arms in annoyance. " I said I just needed a little chat." She said putting the emphasis on her last word, which in turn could make Squall less pleased.

            "Just get to point." Squall said a tad more commanding.

            "Ah, well you see…" She said nervously, her forceful demeanor melting away easily. Her concentration was well bent on getting Squall's attention that she forgot what she was to tell him. A silly thing indeed…

            "I…was just wondering why…" she stammered, holding the ring that was in her necklace. This was an old habit that she had whenever she was nervous. But now, nervous was not the case. It wasn't because she forgot her query but rather on how she would say it to him. Reactions from Squall fell in only two categories; harsh or none. And she didn't want any of that. She wanted a well-rounded reply from him and not another of his utterly emotionless remarks.

            "Wondering what?"

            "I've just been thinking… Why you're so isolated from us … It's not that we think that you don't trust us… but…" Her voice was subdued and at a point pleading.

            Her question registered to him as another of those 'open up your world' questions that everyone was forcing him to answer.  He knew that this was coming; it always did. Whenever anyone suggests having a little chat, this would probably be the hidden subject. But as always, experience has always found itself in this situation. They would give up knowing not even convincing Squall halfway to talk. It was this consistency—his consistency to keep things to himself that attracted and eventually deflected them away.

            "Rinoa," he began, "Please do not intrude in my life anymore. I've got mine and you got yours. Don't do so much as to help me because I don't need to. Be kind as to just…leave me alone."

            Leave me alone. How many times have she heard this from him? She couldn't comprehend anymore but still the effects of these three words never refused to diminish. She still felt the same amount of hurt every time she heard it. But she has no intention of heeding his demand. She wanted an answer and she's not leaving until she got a good one.

            "Don't waste it. I'm not going to answer that question of yours." He suddenly spoke, as if reading Rinoa's mind.

            She clenched the ring on her necklace once again. She wanted to yell at him, she wanted to cry, she wanted to curse herself, she didn't know what to do. Finally, she found the truth in his words— she was just wasting her time and energy at him. She wasted her time at all this bickering and what did she get? Nothing.

            "Well, I'll just see you then…" She tried so much to get her jovial demeanor but it was clearly seen especially in her eyes that she had failed. Again.

            She slowly went out of the room, not even looking back at him. She slammed the door, unintentionally perhaps for he heard a faint 'I'm sorry' from outside. He was once again left alone, left alone to deal with his forever-muddled thoughts. He looked once again to the scenery outside; the blizzard has subsided. Snow fell slowly from the sky like confetti. He never knew why, but whenever he saw this form of nature, he was somehow taken to the deepest of his memories.

            "Snow… I hate it."

"Hi, Zell! It seems that you found a nice new place to hang around, eh?" Selphie glanced around the library that was completely empty now except for the people from the library committee. She caught the blonde deeply immersed in a book, a phenomenon that rarely happens.

"Buzz off, Selphie." He annoyingly swatted his hands at her, nearly hitting the girl in the face. He tried to cover his face with the book so that she would not peek into his reading. But unfortunately, with a simple drag from her hands, the book docilely slid off Zell.

"Hey, how'd you do that?! He almost shrieked in surprise.

"Physics." She said coolly as she scanned for whatever had caught Zell's attention. She felt her eyebrows twitch, as she found none. "Zell, you read this stuff?" The younger SeeD questioned as she scanned the page again, trying to look if she had overlooked something. All that she saw was a big subject title 'Sorceress Hunting: Medieval Period' with a subtitle 'The most excruciating yet erroneous means of sealing sorceress power dated in history. And the rest were pure text, which in her idea would never capture Zell's attention in a million years.

"You're creeping me out, Zell." She turned the page and shuddered at the sight of a sorceress nightmarishly hung in a cross with yellow nylon-like strings which she noticed as similar with the one used in the sealing of Adel. But the difference was that it was used to bind her arms and feet in place, scathing her as well. The illustration clearly showed rivulets of blood flowing from her arms and feet as well as her eyes.

            "That's what you get for being nosy." He scolded her as she snatched the book from her and put it back to where he was supposedly reading. He pointed to the bottom part that had a different font, which was probably a footnote.

            Selphie paused for a second then read the words aloud, "Petrification or turning beings to stone was believed to be the most effective method of sealing sorceresses in the medieval age. (Sorceresses were beings granted with supernatural magical abilities. Most of them using their power for naught.) Aside from being a way for the captors to boast of their 'trophy', there was no remedy found for the status though a majority has learned to master the spell. It was believed that learning this spell was a gift, for the progress of making a remedy was close to nothing. But later on, there were cases of ghosts near the sorceresses' hometowns, many of the residents reported of seeing the sorceresses' once more. The incidents were later investigated then a conclusion was formulated that the spirits of the sorceresses took over the bodies of those who remain. But of course, nobody believed this is much more of a fiction than a fact.." She paused again, trying to formulate a response for Zell. "Well, that's pretty theoretical." She said groggily after her long reading.

            "What about it?"

            "Try understanding it, will you?" He scolded her once again.

            "I did…! I don't think you're brewing a good break spell, now?" She gazed at him, both curious and teasing.

            The blonde slapped his forehead then gave out a sigh of hopelessness. He had expected Selphie to be the sharpest to understand this, but the situation was proving him wrong. " Can't you see the picture? Petrification, sorceresses, spirits coming back…" He said emphatically, stressing out the details.

            The younger SeeD's teasing demeanor suddenly melted into sadness as the details registered to her. She didn't expect him to remember such grim moments; he usually left them to the people who should worry more about them. Maybe the effect to them was altogether the same.

            "Yeah, I know." She tried to sound as casual as earlier, but the forced look in her face was easily seen. She was a cheerful person and it was seldom for her to feel this way.

            "Don't you think—"

            "No, I don't think so. Esthar's too good to let something slip away like that.