Chapter 6: Plan A
She slept peacefully … basking in her memories …
"Help me!! Please, someone save me from the evil dragon!" The shrill voice of a six-year old called out from up on a tree house.
"Don't worry, princess Rinoa!" A brown-haired boy called out, waving around his wooden stick. "I will save you!"
He started prodding and poking an imaginary dragon. "Hyah!" Then climbed up triumphantly upon a boulder. "I am victorious! Ha ha ha!"
Rinoa allowed herself a smile as her hero climbed up to the tree house, grinning at his latest vanquished imaginary foe.
"You saved me!" She cried out.
He brought out his chest a little more, "I did, didn't I?"
"What can I ever do to repay you?"
"One kiss is all I ask!"
Rinoa stopped acting for a moment, "Um … Squall, this is getting awkward."
He nodded slightly, "Yeah, but haven't you seen the movies?"
"M'yah … but …" She reluctantly stepped forward. "I don't know how to."
"You don't have to do it like in the movies. Just like this." And he resumed his acting. He stepped forward and pecked the girl on the lips.
Rinoa seemed taken aback at the sudden movement and she turned around, blushing, to look out of the window.
She gazed upon the land of exile, Winhill. The flower fields extended out of reach and the white washed buildings didn't stand very high. From where she was from, Deling city, this would be entitled 'A hic town' and she agreed. The biggest edifice in this whole town was the manor.
Every summer, she was shipped off to this barren yet serene place. She didn't quite hate it. Usually, Squall Leonheart kept her company, he too, having been exiled.
She gripped the imperfect windowsill tightly, "Squall?"
"Yeah?" The 7 year-old stepped towards her.
"Don't tell anyone we kissed." Then, as if according a reason to her words added, "It would be kind of embarrassing."
"Sure." He shrugged his shoulders, "Lets go ask Matron for lunch. I'm hungry."
She smiled and looked at him, "Yeah! Then we'll go play with the baby chocobos in the fields."
Rinoa jumped slightly in her sleep. Her eyes considerably adjusted to the darkness of the tent and she began detecting some of the noises around her. Quistis was breathing softly on a mattress next to her own. The cackles and hisses of the fire told her that Sefeir or someone else was still awake. Her thoughts reminisced back to the dream. No, it wasn't a dream … this had happened before. The same scenery in Winhill.
***
Dreaming … dreaming … dreaming …
"Yeesh, I can't wait till I get older." He brushed a few locks off his forehead. "No one to send us to this stupid place." He kicked a nearby shrub.
"You don't like it here?" A trace of hurt visible in her soft voice.
He scowled, "Wouldn't you want to be somewhere else? I'm twelve now, you know? I'm nearly a teenager. I could be having fun with my friends."
She sighed slightly, "Yeah …I guess for you it's different." She sat in the vast flower field. Slowly she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them.
He sat down next to her, "You know, Rinoa … with you here, it's a lot better. But … we could be having so much more fun somewhere else. Like in Timber."
"I guess. Being older would be better … at least people wouldn't get mad at us for nothing."
"Yeah! When I'm older, I want to be SeeD Commander … for Balamb garden! I want to be the boss!" He grinned, "That'd be cool."
"I want to be lawyer." She said simply, "They make a lot of money and you get to argue."
"Yeah … and … we could get married!" He exclaimed, "We could have two kids … and a dog! Named …"
"Angelo!" She started warming to his dreams, "We'll name the dog Angelo!"
"And the two kids can be called …" He pondered for a moment and then finally said, "Kevin … and Riana! One boy, one girl!"
"Yeah! We'll live in Balamb." The black haired girl smiled.
A silence fell between the two. A warm breeze passed through the field, making the flowers dance about.
Squall placed one hand on Rinoa's shoulder, "I'd do anything for you."
She scooted nearer to him and leaned against his shoulder, "Promise?"
"Promise."
Squall blinked twice in the darkness. That was a very odd dream. He searched his memory for a similar event and found an identical match. Around eight years ago, in Winhill. He had promised Rinoa something. Rather, they had promised each other.
He pondered the irony of the situation. They had fulfilled most of their promises. He was Balamb's SeeD commander. Rinoa was beginning to study 'Law'. She also owned a dog named Angelo.
Though they had not gotten married and they still didn't have those two kids. It didn't look like that was ever going to happen either. With Sarah stuck on him like a fly on sticky paper things weren't looking on the bright side.
He turned around to face the canvas wall of the tent. Falling asleep with words.
"Promise? Promise. I'd do anything for you …"
***
"So we're going hiking?" Squall asked for the third time this morning.
"Yes." Sefeir responded, "We go by the beach and we enter the trail from there."
The group continued walking on the sandy shores of the camping resort. "You're a moron. It's like, the fifth time you ask." Quistis informed him.
"I just think hiking sounds stupid. You walk up the mountain, you walk down the mountain." He retorted.
"You don't get it! You look at the scenery, you relax, you have lunch. It's all things that help the state of mind."
"Right, well Quistis, since you're so fucking crazy I guess this'll be helpful for you." Squall spat back. He was still quite heated from their last encounter.
"Oh you are going to pay!" She yelled and made a jump to claw at him.
Rinoa smacked Squall in the back of the head, "Both of you stop!"
"Ow!" He whined, "Why'd you hit me?"
"Well, I had to hit someone." She explained.
"Yeah, but why me?" He questioned again.
"Because you've got the bigger head." She sighed, "Let's go already." She pushed herself ahead and walked with Zell and Sefeir.
"You know, this hiking thing sort of sounds tiring." Sarah put in.
"Which is why we reserved a cab for you at the bottom of the hill." Zell said sarcastically.
"Seriously?"
"No, he was joking." Rinoa had to explain. "Cabs don't run on dirt paths."
"You mean the paths aren't paved?" Sarah nearly shrieked.
There was a silence amongst the group and Squall filled in, "Um … babe, we're going hiking. Up a mountain."
"But Squally-Wally! That's so tiring!" She explained.
Rinoa raised an eyebrow at Squall and thought, "Squally Wally?"
"Uh … so now that that's good and clear. I believe that is the path that we'll be hiking today." Selphie pointed to a path nearly invisible through the undergrowth.
***
"My shoes are going to be ruined." A whine could be heard from the back.
"Honestly, I've never seen anyone wear high-heeled shoes while hiking!" Rinoa made her comment loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ugh, they're designed fashion, at least I look good." Sarah retorted.
"At least I'll still own a pair of feet when I return to camp." Rinoa said more quietly this time. Squall gave her a funny look.
She responded with a slight hiss, "You're wife is annoying me."
"Wow, me too!" He declared.
"Irvy! Look, that's so romantic! Bring me!" The energetic Selphie pointed to a beautiful flowing waterfall through the thickness of the trees.
Irvine grinned, "Okay, the rest of you, go on. We'll catch up." And the couple left the group.
"Ok. That was weird and very hasty." Squall commented.
Quistis nervously glanced at Sefeir and said jokingly, "Well, you know Irvine … always up to do … um … never mind."
***
They continued trudging up the unrelenting path. Joking, talking, anything to keep Sarah from jumping in Rinoa's face. Or vice-versa.
Suddenly, Zell cried out in over-exaggerated glee, "Guys, look! A hot dog stand! I would very much like to go eat some hot dogs. Do go on. Do not wait up. I will catch up to you!" And he skipped to the tiny hot dog stand, set up in a clearing where many people seemed to be gathering.
"Did Zell just articulate words?" Rinoa gaped.
"That was really weird." Squall confessed.
"Um … maybe he's just lacking protein. I'll go with him to the stand … so he doesn't blow his credit card. See you people later."
Sefeir ran off to join Zell, leaving four present team members. Quistis, Rinoa, Squall and Sarah.
***
"I really need to pee." Sarah whined. Rinoa couldn't help rolling her eyes.
"I know where there's an outhouse. Follow me." Quistis sensed her opportunity and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her in an opposite direction. She called out to the remaining two, "Go ahead, we'll be right behind you."
Rinoa was about to yell something back but in vain. No one was there to hear her except Squall. "That was really weird."
"Whatever. We're almost to the top of the mountain. Let's go."
***
"Wow … it's really nice up here." They had climbed the wooden platform that overlooked the whole camping grounds.
"Yeah … it is." He leaned onto the railing next to her. "Are you still pissed at me?"
She pondered this for a moment, "No, I guess not. Your wife is annoying though. No offense."
"I know." He scowled.
"If you find her annoying I don't see why you asked her to marry you." Rinoa concluded.
"Rinoa, listen. I didn't. It was a mistake." He tried to explain.
"I don't need excuses, Squall." She sighed.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and made her face him. "Rinoa, I didn't choose it this way. I … want to be with you. I wish that this had never happened."
She breathed calmly and coolly as he leaned down. She shut her eyes and welcomed the kiss, running her hands through his hair. He held her waist and brought her closer to him. Oh course, perfect moments can't last forever and this one ended rather abruptly.
A shriek pulled them apart and made them look in the direction of downhill.
"Was that Sarah?" Rinoa asked.
"Oh… shit!" And they both ran down to see what the problem was now.
***
"Aaaaah!" The high pitched scream traveled across the mountain, making some campers turn around in confusion.
Squall and Rinoa arrived at where both Quistis and Sarah were standing. Sarah, looking as if she'd just found spaghetti sauce on her new designer jeans. In other words, completely traumatized.
"Squally!!!" She screamed and wrapped her arms around him like a scared child would to a parent.
Quistis shrugged, "I really do not know what her problem is."
Sefeir, Zell, Irvine and Selphie coincidently came running towards them at the same time.
"Hey, we're here. We heard someone scream." Irvine wheezed.
Both Rinoa and Quistis pointed at the culprit; Sarah. The four newly arrived gave each other odd questioned looks. Little did Squall, Rinoa and Sarah know that these were all fake questioning glances.
"Snakes!" Sarah nearly sobbed, "Lots and lots of snakes!!"
"What the fuck?" Squall mouthed to the rest of his companions and they all shrugged too.
"I was going to the bathroom … and on my way there, I slipped and fell into this big … giant pit … with snakes!!!" Sarah exploded into tears.
"You fell into a snake pit?" Rinoa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Wow … I wonder how that happened." Zell said as innocently as possible.
Irvine nudged him in the ribs, "Right, well, shall we continue our way up the mountain?"
***
"Damn it, Zell, you're the worst role player I've ever met!" Quistis complained.
It was dark and the group of five had met in the forest. Squall, Rinoa and Sarah were all asleep.
"You sounded constipated, man." Irvine said.
"Hey, shut the hell up. I paid for the snakes and I dug the hole!" Zell snapped.
"Yeah, that's right, so ease up." Sefeir reminded them. "But she still got in the way. Squall and Rinoa barely had ten whole minutes together alone."
"It'd be really cool if she could just leave!" Selphie whined.
"That ain't happening soon …" Sefeir informed his friend. "So let's pass to action plan B."
The five grinned slightly, remembering what Plan B was.
Note: When I introduced the topic of hiking in this chapter I didn't mean the type of hiking you do with picks and ropes and stuff. I meant the type of hiking where you pick a path that leads you up to a watch site to the top of a mountain. Recreational camping grounds usually have them.
Sammy-Chan: I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy with schoolwork. *Gets a shoe thrown at her face* Ow … ok, excuses don't cut it … how about bribery. *An anvil is dropped on her foot* YEOW!!!! Listen … I'll update soon … I promise! *People walk by her and give her the middle finger* At least read and review?