Sammy-Chan: Well THIS certainly took an eternity to put up. I'm so sorry! And I still don't own FF8 .

~Chapter 10: You Will be What I Am~



Squall had walked, and walked, and walked some more.

"Please let me reach the gas station soon … PLEASE!!" The thought screamed in his head. His bandaged face hurt like hell, his feet ached like hell and he was hungry. He finally arrived at the dingy gas station and entered.

"Hi, I need gas, my car just ran out a couple of miles away." A couple of THOUSAND miles.

"Sure ting sonnay! 'Ow much youse be havin'?"

Squall, barely understanding, replied "Um … yaah . 5 liters ought to be enough."

"Yeh yeh … Dat be 500 gil, it be, yeh ." The clerk hobbled off to get a miniature tank of gas.

"Ok …" Squall fumbled his back pocket for his wallet, to discover he had none. Oh lovely Hyne luck, this wasn't happening … this COULDN'T be happening. First getting shipped off with Ms. Bitch herself, then getting lost in this hic of a waste land, walking back to a very far away gas station, then discovering that he had no wallet to pay the gas with. The man came back to the shabby counter and heaved a 5 liter gas tank up on it.

"Sir ... could you, uh … hold that for me. I gotta get my wallet…" Squall sprinted out of the door before the man could say .

"Its ok sonnay . Take it fer free ."



***



Rinoa walked carefully into the tree thick forest. The owls were hooting loudly and the wind was sighing deeply. She didn't know why she was here … but it was too late for she had been unaware to the directions she had been walking in. "Creepy ..." She thought, "Everything seems so dark except for that." She noticed a speck of light through the shrubs and trees. She stopped and squinted in its direction. Total silence. There were no more hoots and the wind had died so suddenly.

"Heartilly ..." She heard a hiss. "Cooome ..."

Fear struck her deep into the bone and her first instinct was to run. She darted in the opposite direction of the light and ran as fast as she could, trying to find her way.

"Heartilly …" The voice hissed again.

Rinoa tripped over a tree root and fell flat on the ground. She pushed herself back up and mysteriously found herself in a clearing. "I'm certain as hell that wasn't there before..." She thought. What was going on? Her head was pounding, blood was rushing through her veins, then she felt it. A presence … she was not alone. She walked slowly to the middle of the circular clearing.

"I've been waiting. For someone with your ability ." The hiss was louder now and was right behind her.

She turned around to see a bloody corpse. The body was dressed in black robes, crimson blood spilt forth around it. Suddenly, it slowly rose and Rinoa could see its blood shot eyes. She was staring in the face of a woman, that looked strangely a lot like her. The figure slowly got to its feet, blood still spilling out of its ears, mouth, nose and stomach. The bloody wretch levitated, it's head slightly dangling to the left …it was smiling.

"I am ... Ultimecia …"

Ultimecia … Ultimecia … she had heard it somewhere. It struck her like a lightning bolt .. Question 9, Magical History Quiz, Who was the greatest sorceress to have lived and cause so much bloodshed? Ultimecia ... Ultimecia …

"I have waited … clinging to life ... to pain ... for you..."

"I don't know what you mean … your dead!" Rinoa cried, panicking.

She had died … killed by her own knight. She had died trillions of years ago. She had died. Why was she here?

"Death … ha … ha … I laugh … death will not occur to US." She hissed, the same sinister grin upon her delicate blood-scared face.

"I … don't know what the hell you mean!!" Rinoa shouted back.

"My body will die … so yours remains … but I will live through you."

"Tell me what's going on …" Rinoa tried backing away but she was paralyzed on the spot. A blinding light flashed through and Rinoa could feel something creeping inside of her. Overwhelmed by some sort of force, she closed her eyes tightly. This was a dream … everything was a dream … she hadn't gone on a mission with Leonheart … she wasn't here. It couldn't be happening.



***



Squall spotted the van and ran even faster. Though he was tired, his SeeD training had taught him well and he wouldn't stop till he had accomplished the current mission ... gas. He vigorously opened the driver's door and looked up to find no one in the passenger seat. Where the hell had she gone to now?

"Rinoa ..." He called out faintly.

At that moment something struck him. His stomach lurched and he was violently sick near the edge of the forest. Then he suddenly looked up at his hands . they were bleeding. He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen that he clutched and feel on his knees to the ground. What was happening to him? Then he heard it. There was no mistaken, a shriek for help … Rinoa ... had shrieked for help. Without hesitation he leapt to his feet, swallowed the pain and went rushing off to where the noise had come from.

Sammy-Chan: Whee! What's gunna happen, what's gunna happen! R&R!