"Seifer Almasy to the Front Gate…Seifer Almasy to the Front Gate."
It looked like Squall wasn't going to let this wait until Irvy and Zell returned. Fine, let it happen now. Rinoa had to have heard the page and she would come to witness the battle. She would see how much Seifer dearly loved her. All the years that they should have been together would be made up for. They would finally be together.
When he stepped outside the Front Gate he saw Squall in the fields. They were the same fateful fields that had witnessed the scarring of the two. Every moment of Seifer's life had come down to this. The petty arguments with Squall that had led to brawls and then finally slices. This time there would be one victor. There would be no more standoff. Seifer had the power of the love for Rinoa and his dear friends to aid him in the fight. He had gone down so easily as the sorceress's knight because he hadn't had anything to fight for. Now, he had the most powerful incentive of all: love.
He would draw Squall's blood and make him leave Balamb or die trying. No more rivalry. The winner would gain his own world, it included Balamb Garden and Rinoa.
The sound of his boots smashing the green grass were each little dares to Squall. The brunette was wearing the same outfit he had worn when they had scarred each other. His eyes weren't cloudy, but bright and clear. They were ready for the fight.
"When I win you will leave Garden…not just Rinoa," snarled Seifer. His anger was dangerously close to bloodlust. He saw the same look in Squall's face.
"And when I win, no phoenix down will save you," threatened Squall.
It was bitterly cold outside the Ragnarok, but at least she didn't have to be with those accusing people. Like she had set out to ensnare both of them! She had assumed that Seifer didn't want her anymore. She had picked up the pieces of her heart and given them to Squall. After they had talked about Seifer's reason for being so distant, she understood. It was actually the most romantic thing she had ever heard. He had loved her too much. Being an orphan, Seifer was just too uneasy about losing her.
She had worn this old dress because she had worn it on one of their few dates. It made her feel closer to Seifer. Though right now she wished she had worn something more substantial. Her cold feet stamped to produce some heat. As she did, she heard a noise coming from an icy ridge a bit away from her. She didn't know that ice echoed. Maybe it was a snow bunny. Or maybe it was a monster, but she felt confidant in her fighting abilities and she went towards it hoping it was a bunny. She needed something to lighten her heart.
The first crash of the swords had nearly the strength to break them. They didn't break, but the reverberations shook the two combatants' arms. Their eyes focused on their opponents faces with only occasional glances to their weapons.
Seifer shot a high thrust towards Squall's head that was easily cast aside by the headmaster's sword. Even though they were focused on the battle, they could see a crowd forming already. Squall had a tendancy to aim low with his blade and Seifer counted on that in battle. That was why he was caught off guard with a jab to the shoulder. It hurt like hell. His retaliation from that nearly cut Squall, but the brunette was quicker and he dodged with some effort.
"First blood Seifer."
Seifer gritted his teeth. He was doing this for Rinoa. But, he didn't see her and it wasn't like he had time to really look.
Irvine was the kind hearted one that finally went out to check on Rinoa. She had been out there for so long. He pecked Zell on the lips before heading outside. It was so damn cold outside.
Seifer felt the blade slice neatly across squalls chest. It cut into that cute little jacket that he wore, across his white shirt, and flipped up griever behind his neck. Blood flowed down over the cuts in the clothes. Squall backed up and hunched down momentarily. It was no good though, he couldn't take time even to catch his breath. Seifer was already on him again ready to take advantage of the attack. Damn Seifer. The pain in his chest made his arms slower and he was barely able to fend off Seifer's blade. In the end he did though, and the two faced each other from a standard distance once again.
"Zone?" Wow, it was even better than a bunny! Rinoa smiled. Her friend was here in all this ice! "What are you doing here?"
"Rinoa…" said Zone. One second before raising his gun.
Rinoa had only a moment to react. Her face went white, her hands went up, and her mouth dropped open. That was the position she was in when the bullet went through her forehead.
Irvine watched her hit the ground. But, he had already pulled out his weapon. The bang of Zone's gun had already caused his hands to bring it out. He fired at Zone and brought him down with the one bullet. He stared at the body of Rinoa laying on the snow, he could see her fingers curling with life. That was what he needed to see. He ran towards her, keeping alert for other assassins.
"Rinoa!"
The pain in his chest was too deep. His concentration was broken. The crowd was yelling things. They didn't want their Headmaster to die. They didn't want their hero to die either. And unlike so many mobs surrounding a fight, they wanted it to end.
Selphie was just getting out of the shower. She was the one person who would be coming between them, but she didn't know what was going on.
Everyone had heard the gunshots. The Seeds ran outside quickly, leaving Edea unattended. Zell was running faster than anyone had ever seen him run. His Irvine was outside.
Once outside they saw that it wasn't Irvine they had to worry about. Rinoa was on the ground. The snow around her was red.
"No…" said Rinoa. It was a whisper, her body was convulsing.
"Rinoa, hang in there." Irvine didn't know what to say.
She would die. There was no way she could live through that. Her head was shattered. He didn't even know how she was alive. "Seifer…Sq…Squall…" Red tears flowed out of her red eyes. Her body was taken over by violent shaking.
Quistis was crying before she got to them. She knew Rinoa was going to die. Rinoa hadn't been perfect, but she didn't deserve to be bleeding out on the snow. No! It wasn't allowed to happen.
Zell was in automatic mode. His love was all right. It was Seed training that led him to the patch of snow Zone had been behind. He saw an army of armed nutcases about 100 meters away. His eyes narrowed. They were going down.
The Ragnarok crew were already on it fortunately. The gunshots had led them to turn on sensors and they had already found the rebels. How they had hidden themselves from the initial sensors, they didn't know, but they were on them now. Before Zell could even give the order, a laser burst from the ragnarok launched 50 meters out landing in the dead center of the anti-sorceress group.
Irvine heard the loud noises, but he was cradling the convulsing Rinoa in his arms. "Don't die. Seifer loves you too much for you to die."
Rinoa's eyes were twirling and not seeing anything. But in her mind, she was seeing the man that she truly wanted for the rest of her life. His face was bright and he was reaching out his hand to help her out of her pain. She was so happy as she took his ungloved hand.
Selphie was panicking. She had the phone still to her ear. "WHERE IS SQUALL?" she screamed as she ran down the hallway. Someone had to know where he was. There was an ambush, Edea was calling from the Shumi Village. Squall wasn't his office so Edea had called Selphie.
The halls were empty. It was pissing her off. Where was Squall when they needed him? And where were those gossipy girls when she needed them? "HELP! WHERE IS SQUALL?" she screamed.
"Selphie, he's fighting Squall outside," said the first person that Selphie had seen throughout the whole Garden. She was a teacher for the smaller kids and she had a few of them around her. "It's why we're inside."
"Not now!" shrieked Selphie. He couldn't be fighting over Rinoa now! She had been injured!
Squall stabbed through his leg. Damn cheap low shots. Perhaps those were the only ones that he could make now that he'd been injured across the chest. Seifer cursed. It hurt. But he kept his guard up.
They were both bleeding from multiple wounds now and their attacks had become severely less impressive.
Edea was outside now, she had seen the Ragnarok fire and she knew it was safe. She saw Rinoa shaking. She was running towards her. The phone was still to her mouth. "Selphie, Oh Selphie, she's dying!"
Irvine was crying. He was worried. There was nothing he could do. He was casting cure, cure2, cure3. None of it was working. She was shaking and she wouldn't stop. Surely the Shumi had something to give her.
"Kckckckck…" was the only words that she was saying. Her head was rolling around, the blood flopping onto her cheeks.
"No…"
A few men had survived the Ragnarok blast and Zell was beating the crap out of the ones that he could find. His anger unleashed full blast on these jerks who would kill his matron and his friends. He couldn't even tell which ones were dead or just unconscious.
Edea finally reached Rinoa. It was just in time to see Rinoa's shuddering stop. Completely. Irvine's felt the weight change and all the motion stop.
"No!" said Edea, her hand covered her mouth.
Irvine tried something he never thought he would ever use again. He started to use a phoenix down. Edea grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare! Look at her brain! She would never come back!"
Irvine knew. He knew only too well. She'd be a vegetable and unlike Seifer, she'd never recover. His tears were flowing like a river. They were helpless.
Selphie heard the words through the phone and it almost caused her to trip and fall down the last of the stairs. "Matron? She's not dead! She's isn't! Matron?"
She heard Edea's whimper. "Oh Selphie, she's all bloody. She's dead. They killed Rinoa."
Selphie was sobbing and heading to the field. She saw the two figures. Both looked tired and angry. She saw the crowd around them. She could hear that none of them were shouting anything. They understood. This wasn't a fight, it was a deathmatch.
She pushed through the bodies right onto the battlefield.
Their breathing was forced. Every muscle was strained and painful. Squall had cuts on his chest, shoulder, face, and arm. Seifer was wounded in his leg, his shoulder, and his right hand was nearly severed at the palm.
"You don't look so pretty anymore," spat Seifer.
"How's the hand?" retorted Squall. They were too hurt to attack. The words were required for any swordplay.
They were circling each other. One would die. If it took all day.
But, it wasn't to be one of them who died.
Selphie ran between them, with an oustretched phone. "Rinoa is dead! RINOA IS DEAD! STOP FUCKING FIGHTING!"
The two looked at her. It was strange not thinking about the fight. Their minds were thrown off. What had she said?
"RINOA IS DEAD GODDAMMIT!" She held out the phone as evidence. Her face was a bright purple. "How dare you be fighting?!?"
Seifer looked confused. He actually looked at the crowd for the first time. Rinoa wasn't there. Where was she?
"What the fuck are you talking about?" he yelled. "Where is she?"
Squall's eyes were wide. He pulled the phone from Selphie. He heard Edea hysterically screaming.
"She's dead! Selphie? Selphie? Where is Squall?"
Squall felt the pain of her words in his stomach. He felt like vomiting. "I'm here Edea. Where is Rinoa?"
"She's at my feet Squall! They were waiting here for us! One of them shot her!" Then Edea was talking to someone else in the background. "Irvine says it was Zone."
Zone. Squall's informant. Hadn't he been in Trabia? No. He had been the only one who knew where the sorceress really was besides Squall. The word 'traitor' echoed through his brain. "How do you know she's dead?"
"Squall! She's been shot in the head!"
Squall dropped to the ground. He landed hard on his ass, but it didn't matter. He couldn't feel anything but disbelief. No, it couldn't be.
"Dammit Squall, what are they saying?" demanded Seifer. He grabbed the phone. "Hello? Edea?"
There was no response. He only heard yelling. "Edea? Where did she go? Squall? Was she there?"
Edea and Irvine had been paying so much attention to Rinoa, that they hadn't noticed the injured terrorist that came over the icy hill. He got off three shots before Zell caught him from behind. Zell quickly grabbed the gun and shot the man in the head. But it was too late.
Zell ran down the hill screaming Irvine's name. But once again, Irvine hadn't been the victim. Matron was on the ground next to the body of Rinoa. She had a shot to the neck and stomach. Her body was limp.
"They did it. They killed the sorceresses," said Irvine. He had endured too much sadness. His feelings and body felt numb. He hobbled to Zell and held him close. Matron was dead and Rinoa was dead. They cried together.
Seifer heard Irvine's words. "Irvine! Pick up the phone! Dammit! Irvine!!!" His yelling could be heard inside of garden.
"Seifer, Edea dropped the phone when they shot her," said Irvine. His voice was cold and empty.
"What happened?"
"They shot Rinoa and then they shot Edea."
"Who shot Rinoa???" Seifer didn't know a damn thing that was going on and it was driving him mad.
"A terrorist group. We have to scout the area still, to make sure these bastards don't get my Zell. Bye Seifer."
The phone conversation was over.
Seifer's life was over.
He fell to his knees beside Squall. Squall's eyes looked mournfully at him. He had to lay down. He was on the grass. He let himself sob. He felt Squall's head against his. He heard Squall's crying too. The despair was too much. There was no fight in either of them. Life had a plan of it's own that it didn't want them to have a hand in.