Chapter 12 – I Love You
The two girls in the airship were exhausted totally. "I think that makes, what two hundred in an hour?" Selphie asked, as she whipped out her nunchaku out at yet, another monster.
The crack of a whip followed the lash of the nunchaku. "Well, than that makes two hundred and one." her friend replied in a dry tone, also with fatigue bearing over her.
Selphie, seeing that at the time, no more monsters were emerging from the door, collapsed into the nearby chair of the control room and laid her weapon on her lap. "You know Quistis. I never thought it would end like………….like this. Us defending a useless airship against a huge horde of monsters." she replied with a small chuckle, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.
Quistis gave a low chuckle as she too, departed for the nearest seat available. "I'm not giving up hope Selph. So I'll take your comment as a result of your fatigue!"
Both girls stared at each other for a minute before laughing quietly. After the few seconds of laughter, it was drowned out by a ghostly quietness of fallen hope. Never in their lives had they given up hope on anything. As much as they protested it in their minds, their gut feeling told otherwise…………that it was all over. It was at that instant when they heard a shuffle of footsteps in the distance. At first, they ignored it, hoping the monsters would leave, but it soon grew louder, and it seemed to keep getting closer to them.
Quistis adjusted her glasses and gave her usual spunky friend a weak smile. "Your turn………"
Selphie slowly got up and hid behind a corner, ready to ambush whatever was coming their way. Quistis, likewise, hid in the other corner that was adjacent to the door. The footsteps were coming ever so closer, and for a minute, Selphie could have sworn she heard Irvine calling out her name. Shaking her head, thinking it was only her imagination, she realized that the footsteps had taken the last turn.
"Here goes nothing…………." she whispered. The moment she saw the shadow, she lunged towards whatever the creature may have been. "If I'm going down, your coming with me!" she yelled out as she let loose her nunchaku at the owner of the shadow, hitting it with uncanny precision in the creature's gut. "Got ya! Booyaka!"
"Owww…………." the creature moaned out. "Sefie, be more careful where your throwing stuff, why don't you."
"IRVY!" she screamed in delight as she came running out of the room, only to set her eyes on the fallen cowboy, who was holding his stomach in pain. "IT'S REALLY YOU!!!!!" she squealed as she fell quickly into the strongest embrace she could give to her cowboy, raining kisses all over his face.
Quistis looked surprised when she saw Selphie rushing out of the control room, but when she glanced upon what her friend was holding, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Just when she was going to say something, somebody came crashing into her side, knocking both her and her assailant to the floor.
"Oww, who was that?" Quistis groaned as she readjusted her glasses, only to find Zell on top of her. She blushed, but quickly turned her head, trying to hide that fact.
The martial-artist on the other hand had more trouble hiding his embarrassment and quickly helped the instructor to her feet. "Ahh, sorry about that Quistis. Guess I wasn't paying much attention there, huh." he achieved to say as he scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do next.
However, he soon carried the weight of his friend on himself as Quistis quickly embraced Zell as well. "It's ok Zell. I'm just glad to see a friendly face other than Selphie's." the instructor sobbed out.
Zell felt a bit confused, but threw his inhibitions out the window as he returned a friendly hug towards his friend, rubbing her back and trying to reassure her that everything would be ok.
After a couple of minutes of quiet happiness, the four of them walked back into the control room, where Selphie explained to Zell and Irvine the current predicament of the Ragnorak.
"………So you see, these freakin' buttons just aren't working!" exclaimed an energetic Selphie, who seemed to gain renewed confidence with Irvine and Zell around.
Both Irvine and Zell looked around the control panel, and like Selphie before, pressed any button within sight, hoping for some kind of response from the silent airship. After a minute however, both of them held their heads low, accepting the defeat that was inevitable.
Selphie groaned, "Now what are we going to do?" she asked as she plumped herself down on a seat.
"Hey, you guys know where Squall is?" Quistis asked suddenly, wondering where he was.
Zell and Irvine looked totally surprised. "I thought he was right behind us; he was a minute ago." Zell pointed out to Irvine, who nodded his head at the statement.
Right then, more footsteps could be heard in the distance, and what seemed like a quarrel between an old married couple. Zell and Irvine smiled, knowing who those could only be.
"You better think of a name Squall!" a feminine voice, that Quistis could have sworn, belonged to Rinoa.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." the second voice replied in his usual manner, which was unmistakably Squall's.
They then turned the last corner and finally, after what seemed like ages to the four already in the control room, the two people entered the room, and instantly stopped their quarrelling. Selphie had already lunged herself towards Rinoa in a tight embrace, and quickly did the same to Squall, nearly killing him in the process. Quistis smiled as she took a more formal approach, but didn't hide her emotions though.
"I see you were able to rescue Rinoa, Squall." Selphie beamed happily.
Squall smiled. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Rinny's fine."
"Rinny?" both Selphie and Quistis questioned amusingly, and broke out in a small giggle along with Rinoa.
Squall blushed crimson red, and instantly found interest at the wall, desperately trying to hide his beat, red face.
"Say, what were you guys arguing about just a minute ago?" Quistis asked.
Squall instantly tensed up. 'I don't want to let these guys know Rinoa's pregnant…………well, not just yet anyways.' he rationalized in his mind.
Rinoa seemed to pick up on this uncertainty look upon Squall's face. "Oh, it's nothing. I just wanted Squall to Angelo's babies, if my dog ever had any."
Both Selphie and Quistis frowned, not totally buying the story, but decided not to further pursue the subject, for the fact they had more pressing matters at hand. Selphie quickly relayed the details of the Ragnorak to Squall, who instantly went up to the control panel. After eyeing it for a minute, he bent down and opened a panel, which hid a red button. "Did you guys try pressing this? It's the 'restart' button." he emphasized as he quickly pressed the small button.
The control panel instantly lit up, and before the other five people knew it, the whole ship was energized. With the exception of Rinoa and Squall, everybody looked in shock at the revived airship. "…………How?" Zell managed to ask.
Both Rinoa and Squall stared at each for a minute. They knew why, for when they were stranded in space, they had gone through the same ordeal, plus even a little more. They both smiled. "Let's just call it intuition for now." Squall calmly explained.
The other four still looked puzzled, but did not continue the conversation any further. They all looked upon Squall as he worked the control panel quickly, but accurately, to Selphie's eyes. However, something caught the commander's attention: a flashing red button at the top. Pausing only for a moment, he pushed it down:
"Incoming message from the Lunar Base…………………………."
"Heeeey! I think they are relaying a message to us." Zell exclaimed. The other five just rolled their eyes, and continued to listen.
"Squall! This is Ellone. Look, I don't have much time to tell you everything, because Odine is hot on my tail – he doesn't want me to send out this message. But I must. After we found out that your spaceship exploded, Odine went nuts and decided to send the remaining five Ragnoraks we have on Earth to the Moon – filled with explosives – to blow up the Moon!!! They are due to arrive at 2300 hours on April 15th. If you guys are alive – PLEASE – get out of there, ASAP. Hurry you guys. I miss all of you soooooo much. I just want all of you alive.
Oh Hyne, I think Odine is coming. I have to go. I love you all! Ellone, out!"
The six of them stood dumbfounded at the message. They played it once again to make sure they had their facts straight. Selphie and Zell bit their lips nervously and Quistis paced around the small room. Irvine leaned against the wall and he tipped his hat over his eyes, obviously in deep thought. Rinoa looked up to Squall, who had been staring at the same button for the past five minutes. She took his hands in hers, and intertwined their fingers together. This caught Squall's attention as he looked upon his angel. He gave a weak smile before he collasped onto the nearest seat. Rinoa gently sat upon his lap and rested her head against his chest, sighing deeply. Squall gently ran his hand through Rinoa's hair, as he closed his eyes.
"Guys…………" the cowboy muttered out of nowhere. "April 15th is today, and we have only one more hour left before those airships reach the moon." he stated as he pointed to the clock on the Ragnorak. Everybody, with the exception of Squall, looked towards the clock, and unfortunately, found Irvine's information to be correct. Everyone wore solemn facades on their respective faces, again, with the exception of Squall, who still had his eyes closed. By now, everybody turned towards Squall, hoping that he would think of someway to get out of this mess.
"Squall…………" Rinoa whispered. "Please, we all need your help………………… especially me." she pleaded silently into his ear.
The commander, at this time gave a low sigh as he simply nodded his head. He motioned for Rinoa to get off of his lap, and as soon as she did, he quietly walked towards the control panel, immediately immersing himself with the buttons and switches.
The rest of the gang silently waited for the commander to do whatever he had in mind, and with no doubt, they knew it was going to work. It always did, and they had complete trust in him.
He pressed random buttons, but however, he knew what he was doing. 'This is for the best………I'm sure of it." he silently rationalized to himself. 'I must do what I am about to do, because I am pretty sure that the others won't leave me behind, and I am not leaving without Bahamut. This might hurt with me physically, but I am more worried about…………………………her.' At this, Squall stole a glance at his angel, and found her to have a look of relief on her face: a face that he would etch permanently in his mind. He smiled weakly, and then went back to his thoughts. 'Yes, this is for the best.'
Finally, after another five minutes had gone by, Squall was done. He then turned around to face the others. He breathed in heavily, "Ok guys. I've managed to set the course for Earth on the Ragnorak. Once we push that button…………." he said as he pointed to a green colored object on the panel, "…………we leave for Earth."
The others wore happy expressions upon their faces, but Squall still had his usual stern, gloomy look upon his. "You guys, we still have to get Bahamut. Zell, Irvine, you guys are coming with me to help out Bahamut so we can leave. Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa – under NO conditions do I want any of you to leave this airship. Understood! We can't let this airship fall into enemy hands." he commanded profoundly, but the three girls knew all Squall cared about was their well being. Rinoa however, stood up with a pout and walked over to Squall.
"But Squall………"
"Rinoa – NO! That is my answer." he sternly defended himself. The lion-hearted then leaned over closely to his angel, whispering in her ear, "And plus, I don't want you and Kari to get hurt. Am I right?" he questioned lovingly as he slowly caressed her cheek.
His angel looked into her knight's eyes with confusion. "Kari?"
Squall merely smiled as he lightly kissed her lips. "Yeah, Kari. That's IF the baby is a girl."
Rinoa, out of the blue, wore a blinding smile as she gave Squall a tight hug. "Why Kari?" she couldn't help but to ask.
He knew this question was going to come, but he did not have a logical answer for it, at least a short one anyway. "Well, uh, I actually don't know why I picked that name. It just sounds………fitting if you know what I mean. Squall paused for a minute, just letting himself become absorbed with her touch. "Now, promise me that you're going to stay here."
She loved that name, even if Squall didn't have a reasonable explanation. It sounded just perfect to her ears. Rinoa looked up to her love with tearful eyes, and slowly nodded in acceptance. But before he could leave, Rinoa had locked Squall into a hot, passionate kiss, as she fiercely explored everything she was allowed to. At first, Squall tried to resist, but found himself returning the kiss just as feverishly. Their tongues intertwined each other's as everything around them was gone – the only thing that each person was focusing on was the love in front of them.
The kiss, nonetheless, still ended too soon for each person's liking. Squall started to leave then, but once again Rinoa stopped him from doing so. This time, she took of her black ribbon that she always wore on her left arm and tied it quickly around Squall's wrist. He, however, looked totally confused on why she was doing this. Rinoa simply smiled. "This ribbon – my mother gave it to me. And I'm just giving it to you for good luck, and I want it back. So you better not go dying off, or else!" she commanded mockingly, all the while in tears.
Squall smiled, and nodded slowly. Rinoa was about to kiss him again, but Squall had already walked away, giving her a strong smile that everything was going to work out for the best. But in some twisted way, Rinoa felt otherwise, as tears ran down her beautiful face.
Quistis and Selphie just stood there, very confused of what just happened between the couple.
-----*****-----
A figure staggered its way among the debris of the castle, alongside his general. As they both clutched their injured bodies as best as possible, they witnessed the destruction of their once invincible empire. Everything was raining down upon them, giving them no hope of world domination. The figure had a broken arm along with many scars and scratches among his bloody body. However, the first figure looked completely fine.
"Dragoon…………help…………me" the injured figure breathed out as it finally collasped to the ground.
The evil general laughed arrogantly. "I'm ashamed even to be talking to you Raven. You showed promising qualities that I previously thought were worthy of being second in command. Yet, you have failed in every aspect when the time counts. You deserve to die." he grunted out as he used his powers to lift up the injured body. "Farewell, you piece of shit!" And with that, Dragoon threw Raven into the dark abyss, only known as space.
Smirking at the job done, he turned his attention towards the sky, where his Guardian Force was still fiercely in battle with Bahamut. "Tiamat – he's even worthless too. He should have killed that weak dragon a long time ago." Dragoon rolled his eyes. "I have incompetence surrounding me all the time."
Dragoon finally sat down to cogitate on the recent events. "My army – perished. My powers – not yet fully in my control. Can I even do anything? Yes I can. I can KILL the one responsible for this – that fucking SeeD!"
-----*****-----
"Irvine, I'm counting on you to keep track of time. We have less than fifty minutes, and I do not want to spend more than thirty. So keep on reminding me how much time we have left." the commander ordered.
"Gotcha!" the cowboy replied, configuring his watch accordingly.
"Zell, I want you to be the cover guy. Basically, you'll be covering Irvine and me, if necessary." the commander once again said.
"You bet ya!" Zell answered back, punching the air with his fists, anxiously awaiting battle.
Squall eyes flared up as he unsheathed his gunblade from the hilt of his belt. There were only two things on his mind at the moment, with Rinoa being the second. The first – escaping alive with Bahamut. As the three of them raced onto the battlefield, they fought the remaining monsters of the army, and found out that they were not as tough as they were supposed to be.
Finally, what seemed like ages, they reached the outskirts of the battlefield where Bahamut and Tiamat were having their grueling battle, as if to the death. The three comrades looked up, and found that neither dragon looked as if they were backing down. However, the edge seemed to be on Bahamut's sides as Tiamat's last few attacks seemed a bit sluggish than before.
"We got forty minutes left." Irvine blatantly commented.
"Ok, no more time to waste. Now is our chance!" yelled Squall as he ran headfirst into the battlefield.
"YO Squall! Wait up!" Zell and Irvine called out desperately trying to keep up with their commander.
Just as Squall was about to leap into the air, a huge force knocked into his left side, causing him to fly into that direction, landing on the ground with a huge thud. "Shit, what the hell was that?" murmured Squall to no one in particular.
As he slowly began to regain his sense of sight, he noticed that Zell and Irvine were nowhere in sight. Looking around, he found that, as if from nowhere, at least fifty or so monsters surrounded his two friends. Grabbing his gunblade from the floor, he began running towards them when a deep laugh stopped him in his tracks. "That laugh could only belong to one person………" Squall hissed out, cursing inwardly to himself for being foolish enough for forgetting the main enemy.
His cold blue eyes darted 360 degrees as well as high and low as he gave out an exasperated sigh when he couldn't find him. "Just show your damned self, coward." he once again hissed under his breath.
"Right over here!" Dragoon yelled as he sent yet another powerful wind blast into Squall's left side, sending him further away from his friends than before. This time, Squall took more time in getting up, but still very far from a serious injury. As his senses slowly came back to him, Squall found himself looking straight at Dragoon, a distance of about ten meters of separation between them, according to Squall's quick judgement.
"Well, I'm surprised you actually survived not one, but two of my wind blasts." Dragoon sneered. "Usually they knock out weaklings in one blow, just like I did to your little girlfriend when I abducted her."
Squall instantly unleashed a huge Meltdown spell towards Dragoon – a spell that contained all this anger towards him. He was beyond rage, to a point where few could return to sanity.
The evil king snickered as he quickly teleported out of the spell's away and reappeared behind Squall, giving him a huge knee in the back to which the lone-wolf instantly collapsed down in pain. The meltdown spell instantly incinerated the twenty or so monsters in its path, stopping short of where Zell and Irvine were helplessly fending themselves.
"C'mon wretched SeeD. I was hoping for some sort of challenge I might say." taunted Dragoon.
Squall readjusted his sweaty grip on his gunblade as he wiped his hand on his pants. He then took his sword into his right hand again and lifted it into the air, pointing its sharp point straight at Dragoon. "Whatever – I'm ready." he mustered out with a small grin.
The king returned the mocking grin as he unsheathed a sword of his own. To Squall's horror, it was an exact replication of his blade, the Lionheart. However, instead of having the usual baby blue coloring to it, the blade was covered in a blood red pigment. Plus, the lion chain that dangled from the handle of Squall's gunblade was replaced by one, which Squall could of sworn looked like Omega Weapon – a fearsome, machine creature he had barely defeated in the past – on Dragoon's gunblade.
"Like it?" the monster asked. "I took a liking to your little knife there, so I built, out of magic, one of my own. I think I'll call it, the Liontamer."
Squall spit out some blood out of his mouth as he intensely stared at the gunblade Dragoon was wielding. It had exactly the same exact shape as his, but the question left unanswered, was it as good? "Well, why don't we see who tames who, huh." Squall stated as he ran towards Dragoon.
The two blades instantly collided, and at that same moment, a huge whirlwind erupted from the force of the collision, completely enclosing both swordsmen. Both warriors pushed as hard as their bodies let them; determined to overpower the other, at all costs.
Both warriors took turns taking to the offense and defense, neither one having a clear-cut advantage. What seemed like an eternity of fighting to Squall was actually ten precious minutes spent before Squall took a step back, fatigue being his number one enemy at the moment.
"What wrong?" Dragoon asked sarcastically. "Don't tell me the little, bitty SeeD warrior is already getting tired." Suddenly, Dragoon unleashed a powerful firaga spell that hit Squall Square into the chest.
The lone wolf fell back a couple of feet before tasting the ground. Slowly, but steadily, he was able to regain his footing and cast a Curaga spell to heal his wounds. 'Shit, I only have two more Curaga spells left.' he reminded himself. 'I better be on my guard.'
Finally, Squall took a good look at Dragoon. He did not seem to even sweat one drop. 'Damn, even after ten whole minutes of not fighting………WAIT! TEN MINUTES!? Shit, I don't have that much time left.' With that thought, he took a look into the air at Bahamut, who seemed to be winning the fight. He quickly then shifted his gaze over to Zell and Irvine, who seemed to be tearing through the monsters around them.
The moment he was done viewing his surroundings, Dragoon had come with a powerful swipe of his sword down onto Squall. If he had been another half second late, it would have been all over. Luckily, Squall was able to block the mighty force of the attack, but at a huge cost. When all the dust cleared from the impact, Dragoon came out unharmed, even looking better than before, wearing a huge grin on his face. However, Squall was kneeling onto the ground, with his right arm severely injured. To make matters even worse, his gunblade was shattered into an assortment of pieces on the floor in front of him. "This is not good." the commander realized very quickly. He knew – he was at Dragoon's mercy. With his right arm useless, he could not cast his magic spells as quickly and efficiently.
"Curaga………" he muttered out as he extended his left hand over his right, but the spell only eased the pain, not the injury.
Dragoon smirked as he walked up to Squall and kicked him in the face. Squall took the impact directly, but nevertheless, held his position as securely as possible. "Well, well, well, I suppose my sword did, after all, tame yours." Dragoon stated.
The fallen warrior merely rolled his eyes and muttered out, "Whatever………"
"Its time YOU STARTED TAKING ME SERIOUSLY!" Dragoon roared so loud that it would have made cowards of the bravest of men, but not of Squall. He simply smirked and received another kick towards the face. This time, he fell to the ground. His face was burning with pain, but he was not going to let Dragoon have the satisfaction of seeing him beg for mercy. He merely stood up once again, but was only able to support himself on his knees.
Squall took the risk to glance to his left, over to the Ragnorak. The only thing that was going through his mind was Rinoa. Her smile, her beauty, her voice – everything about her was soothing to the mind. If this situation had happened a year before, he wouldn't mind death. But now……now was a totally different story. If he wasn't going to stay alive for himself, he had to do it for Rinoa. But the bottom line was, he was too damn tired to even breathe, let alone defend himself.
Dragoon raised his blade high above Squall's head. He sneered as he looked upon the commander with eyes of pure hatred for the man. 'This is it……' Squall slowly thought. He tried everything in his power to stop it, but there was nothing he could do. Zell and Irvine were still occupied with the many monsters and Bahamut was still busy with Tiamat. 'I'm going to die…'
"It's time you FINALLY die, you bitch!" Dragoon yelled as he swiftly brought down the blade upon Squall's head.
The commander couldn't help but to flinch violently as the thought of the blade ripping through his skull entered his mind. But it never happened. He waited over a minute, but still felt life in his lungs. Taking a deep breath, he risked opening one of his eyes, and to his surprise, saw Dragoon shaking violently a few feet away from him. 'What in the world is happening to him?' Squall wondered, and at the same time breathed out a sigh of relief, gracious that Hyne was giving him the gift of life – at least a little while longer.
Dropping his sword, Dragoon took a look at his hands. They were shaking so violently, that if he had touched the ground, there would most likely have been a slight earthquake, at the least. Then suddenly, his insides started feeling different, as if huge explosions were occurring inside his stomach. At first, he thought it was the accursed SeeD warrior, but even he didn't have knowledge of magic that advanced.
Finally, it occurred to him. 'The Sorceress Powers are not adjusting to my body!' he reasoned out. "WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" he howled. At that same moment, Dragoon's body started to glow an eerie yellow as an abnormal ray of light shot out from his body and into the moon.
It took awhile for Squall to figure out what was happening, but when the Moon started to crack apart under Dragoon, it all came clear. "Shit, he's going to destroy the Moon!"
The commander looked furiously around for his comrades, and found them slaying the last of the monsters. "HEY GUYS! GET THE HELL BACK TO THE RAGNORAK! NOW!" he yelled out as loud as possible.
Both friends understood, but didn't budge. Instead, they started running towards Squall. "We are NOT leaving you behind!" Zell answered quickly.
"I'm fine. I'll fly back on Bahamut." However, Squall noticed that his friends were not listening to a word he said.
"If you guys are EVER going to trust me on something, then trust me on THIS. Get back, NOW. That is an ORDER!" he furiously reprimanded back at them.
Irvine and Zell knew that it was not a good idea to cross over to Squall's bad side at that moment. As much as their conscience tried to persuade them to run towards Squall, they found themselves running the other way, towards the Ragnorak.
Everything suddenly dawned upon Squall. As he took notice at his body, his right leg was stuck in the ground. "Shit, that must have happened when the freakin' Moon cracked open." He looked over to the airship, and was horrified to see that behind it, in space, the other airships were approaching the moon – and fast. Squall calculated he had no more than ten minutes to decide what he was going to do. Taking a look at Dragoon, he saw he was still shaking uncontrollably, and obviously had no control over his actions. "The sorceress powers must be doing this itself.
His last hope lay upon Bahamut. As he stared hopelessly in the air, he saw the two dragons still fighting. However, Tiamat looked like as if he was going to collaspe any minute – a minute that Squall could not waste.
-----*****-----
Bahamut however, caught his master's stare and realized all too quickly what he was going to do. If he didn't end this now, everything would be at a loss. "Tiamat – I had fun, but its time we end this pathetic quarrel once and for all."
Tiamat sneered, as he breathed in and out heavily. "And just how exactly are you going to pull that off?"
The gray dragon merely grinned as he opened its huge mouth, gathering energy all around him into it. "Like this – MEGA FLARE!" At that instant, a huge plasma beam shot out from Bahamut's mouth and straight into Tiamat, who took his time accepting defeat.
-----*****-----
"I suppose it all comes down to this. I had hoped it would end differently." the commander slowly rationalized out to himself. "At least it's a good thing that I did do this back at the Ragnorak. The others would surely not have approved, especially Rinoa."
The lone wolf closed his eyes, as tears started to flow out of them slowly. The thought of never seeing Rinoa again was worse than anything he could imagine, even death. "I'm sorry it couldn't end like the way I wanted it to Rinny, but I must do this."
He sighed as he glanced over to his right arm, and finally landed his stare upon the black ribbon Rinoa had given him. "She said she wanted it back. I guess, with the circumstances given now, she's not getting it back."
Everywhere around Squall, the Moon started to break apart. Huge portions of the massive structure started to flow into the dark abyss that surrounded it completely.
In a fruitless attempt, Squall tried one last time to free his beached leg. He sighed in despair, as he gazed upon the ruby colored Ragnorak for the last time. As he saw Zell and Irvine finally reach the ship, he nodded to himself. Finally, Squall took out a small controller from out of his jacket pocket. He eyed its red button intensely before making up his mind.
"Just remember Rinny. Even though I may not have shown it a lot, I………I love you – I always have and always will. I will always be there, right beside you because………I love you. Just………remember……… that." And with that last sentence, his callused hand finally pushed on the small, red button, and with no energy left inside of him, the Commander of SeeD collapsed onto the shattering Moon.
-----*****-----
Selphie waited anxiously as she stared out the window of the airship. "What is taking them so long?" she wondered as she started to race about the ship frantically, in search of something that would calm her down.
Quistis smiled sadly as she too stared out the window. Thanks to the hill in front of them, they did not have a good view of the battlefield. She shifted her gaze over to Rinoa, who had silently cried herself to a much-needed sleep. The instructor sympathized with the beautiful angel as she wiped the fallen tears off of her friend's face. Even though she didn't feel it as strongly as Rinoa was at the moment, she knew all too well how it was to be isolated from the person you loved the most. But luckily for her, she had been able to find out it was only a brotherly love she held towards him.
However, she became increasingly suspicious of Rinoa's belly, wondering if what she thought, could indeed, be true. Quickly shaking her head, she dismissed it as a figment of her imagination.
Suddenly, a large bang on the outside door could be faintly heard from the control room. Almost too quickly, Selphie rushed over to the control panel, and thanks to the hidden cameras, saw it was Irvine. Zell seemed to be a bit behind him, so she figured Squall must have been taking up the rear. She rapidly pushed the button that opened the doors and waited impatiently for Irvine to reach her.
Rinoa awoke abruptly at the banging, despite the fact it wasn't that loud. Shaking the last drowsiness of sleep out of her eyes, she excitedly got up and ran behind Selphie, awaiting the return of only one person that would make her complete, not that she didn't want the others to return as well.
The cowboy was the first one who entered the control room breathlessly. He looked as if he had been running from a stampede of menacing Ruby Dragons at the moment. The spunky yellow-clothed girl wasted no time in showing her affection as she nearly jumped into Irvine, giving him a tight squeeze, literally removing whatever breath he was able to take in anyway.
Soon after, Quistis and Rinoa both hugged Irvine briefly as he took a breather on one of the seats. Almost immediately, Zell came bustling in, and tripped over a loose wire that lay on the floor. Getting up slowly, his face was beat red from embarrassment, but that didn't stop the girls from showing their affection of their friend returning safely.
As Zell took his seat next to Irvine, Rinoa waited impatiently for Squall to walk through those doors. Every second that passed was another second that felt like hell to Rinoa. Every moment that she worried about him only told her she loved the man all the more.
Minutes gone by, and still no sign of Squall. Unshed tears started to form in Rinoa's eyes, thinking that he was just taking care of business. Quickly, she turned to the other two who had just came in. "Hey, uh, where's Squall?" she asked simply, but in a voice that held a lot of empathy and love.
"Wait……you mean he's not here yet? I…….could of sworn……he was behind us." Zell breathed out, still very exhausted from the run.
"He told us that he would be right behind us." Irvine explained. "We were coming to help, but he furiously told us to run back here – in a voice that you did NOT want to cross."
At this, Rinoa's eyes started to water. She knew all too well that Squall sent them back because of danger. "He's is danger!" she yelled at them. "Why the hell did you NOT help?! You know him! He's a stubborn mule like that!!!!!" She quickly realized that she was yelling at her best friends, and instantly felt remorseful. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell, its just that………"
Irvine cut her off. "No, we were wrong Rinoa. You're right. He's an idiot like that. C'mon, before it's too late." He motioned over to Zell, who agreed immediately.
As soon as they started to leave, the doors instantly closed shut. At first, all five of them stood stunned, not exactly sure what was happening. Zell and Irvine quickly went to the door that blocked that passage to the outside, and tried to break it down. But thanks to the matieral it was made of, it was a no go.
"What the hell is happening?!" Zell yelled angrily into the air as he punched the wall.
Selphie's mind started to spin until she realized a small blinking light on the control panel. Curious, she walked up to it, seeing what was amiss. To her shock, it read the one thing she feared the most – autopilot.
She instantly turned around, with a sense of dread and fear running through her body. Quistis walked up to her and shook her body a little. "What's wrong Selph?"
"We………the………the airship is on autopilot!!!!" she blurted out all too quickly.
It took awhile for it to register into everybody's mind. Even longer for Rinoa. But when they did happen to connect two and two, it was already too late. The ship started to shake furiously, and before anyone knew, they were taking off.
"NOOOOO! WE STILL HAVEN'T SAVED SQUALL!" Rinoa screamed loud enough to pierce glass. The young raven-haired girl ran to the window and looked down. She banged on it as hard as possible before she burst into tears. "NOOOOOO! YOU STUPID FUCKING SHIP. STOP MOVING"
Irvine walked up to her and shook her a couple of times. As she looked up, she also noticed tears running down his face. "Rinoa – listen to me." It was hard for the cowboy to utter these words, but Rinoa had the right for the truth. "Squall set the ship on autopilot – he knew he might not of come back. He wanted all of us………he wanted YOU to be safe."
Rinoa plummeted punches onto Irvine's chest as he held her closely in a hug. "NO……its not fair!" she whispered hoarsely as she finally gave up in her efforts and laid against Irvine helplessly.
All the meanwhile, Selphie and Quistis were doing everything in their power to stop the ship from moving. Aimlessly pushing buttons everywhere, all ended in vain as the ship prepared to leave the Moon's atmosphere. "STUPID Squall!!! WHY!?" Selphie cried out as she banged her fists on the control panel as hard as possible.
Quistis looked helplessly onto the spunky girl as she too started to shed tears. "There could have been another way."
Zell rapidly punched on the door, in hope that maybe, just maybe he could dent it enough to break it down. However, the Ragnorak was designed so it could resist even the strongest of attacks, and clearly Zell's punches were only a slight feeling upon the airship.
Rinoa had finally freed herself from Irvine's grasp as she ran towards the window once again to look down upon the shattering structure. It weighed her down heavily as the thought of Squall burning alive down on the Moon crossed her mind. It only caused her to shed more emotional tears.
"Squall………please, there is still soooooo much I wanted to tell you – to do with you – to share with you. Why are you leaving me like this? Why!? You said you would always be my knight. You said you would always be with me. Then why are you not with me now? It's not fair. Why did you leave me?" she whispered loudly as her crystalline tears were flowing endlessly out from her brown eyes. Rinoa then gently rubbed her stomach. "Why did you leave me…………and this?" She then held back some tears as the last thought crossed her mind. "You never told me that you love me."
As Rinoa broke down once again, a faint voice entered her mind. As it spoke its words, her eyes shot open, recognizing the voice as the one –
"Just remember Rinny. Even though I may not have shown it a lot, I………I love you – I always have and always will. I will always be there, right beside you because………I love you. Just………remember……… that."
– With her last breath, she once again looked upon the shattering surface of the bright Moon as the Ragnorak raced towards the blue Earth. She viewed the other five airships, which were supposedly filled with explosives, as it collided with the Moon, instantly blowing up on impact. The explosion was only comparable to the despair she was suffering within. During her last glance, she saw a small figure on the Moon, laying on its surface as a huge shadow rushed upon it, but too late for the explosion had already happened.
By now, there was nothing she could do. Nothing in her power could bring her love, her knight, her protector, her everything back to life. She heard him say those words she waited so long to hear, but now she just wanted to see his face.
"SSSSSSSQQQQQQUUUUUAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"
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Author's Notes coming up next chapter.