Goodbye Too Soon…
The small informatory room seemed even more like a sardine can that usual that evening. With Rinoa stretched out on the bed, which took up almost the entire center of the room, the rest of the gang (Quistis, Irvine, Squall, Seifer, Zell, and Selphie) was forced to squeeze themselves around the edges in tiny little waiting room chairs while Dr. K tried her best to explain exactly what was wrong with the young sorceress.
"From what I can understand…" She paused to shake her head in disbelief… "There's absolutely nothing wrong…" She trailed off obviously having trouble believing her own words… It just didn't compute…
"What the hell?!" Zell screamed jumping up into a frenzy of shadowboxing. "There has to be something wrong with her! You don't just pass out for no reason!"
"Zell for the love of hyne stop jumping around like that before someone loses an eye! This room isn't exactly roomy if you catch my drift!" Said Irvine sliding to one side hoping to avoid Zells wrath.
"Surely you've made a mistake Dr. K…" Quistis started in her usual polite tone of voice…. "It dose seem rather odd for someone to simple pass out for no reason what-so-ever."
"I'm sorry children but I-" Dr. K started her motherly instincts kicking in in an attempt to comport the distressed twenty or so year olds but was cut off by someone who went unnoticed when they had entered the room.
"She doesn't have nearly enough information to help your young friend…" Said Matron grimly from the doorway.
"Matron!?" Selphie started in surprise, but Matron held up one hand to silence her and continued.
"There is extensive information of sorceress powers that only a select few have ever had an absolute necessity to be informed. Under normal circumstances your friend would be taken away for 'treatment' elsewhere and the whole incident would be covered up…" she paused and offered a small smile, "But knowing what loyal friends all of you can be I think it's better you know the truth of the situation…."
"Matron…" Squall spoke up quietly, but at last… "What exactly are you saying."
Matron took a small step into the room to let the door slide shut behind her before continuing. "You see sorceress powers aren't just giant amounts of energy that could occasionally blow a mental fuse.. It's a very intelligent type of energy… like… almost like a mind of it's own… Like it knows how to use and kill a body before going on to the next one… And I think… that your friend's energy is tired of being dormant…"
The room filled with a thick silence as the group tried to comprehend what they had just been told. It was the ever level headed Quistis who spoke first, "Will she die?"
"There is a good possibility of that I'm afraid…" Matron trailed off again…
"Can we do anything?" The hyperactive shadow boxer cut in for once being deadly serious.
Matron looked at Rinoa and sighed sadly before continuing, "I'm afraid all we can do now is watch and wait…" The room fell silent once more and Matron and Dr. K slipped out of the room as quietly as possible, to give the group some privacy.
It was very much of a shock and the whole groupp could decide on nothing to do but… wait. And wait they did together with some quite conversation between them, but for the most part their was silence…
Silence especially on Seifer's part. He was giving some serious thought to his past with Rinoa… The reason they'd gotten together… the reason they broke up… sure it could mean nothing… but somehow it just didn't feel that way… a sharp tap in his left shoulder brought him back to reality with a sharp glare. He relaxed, however, into his usual smirk when he realized it was only Irvine handing him some food.
"Chill man!" Irvine commented as he handed him the plate. "You're getting as bad as Squall with all that zoning out!" Seifer just grumbled in reply and set to work on his dinner. The first thing your taught as a SeeD 'An army marches on it's stomach.' Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zell and Selphie circled up together on a chair, almost asleep, as well as Irvine and Quistis looking fairly comfortable. While devouring a turkey leg he took a moment to glance over at Squall. He was sitting quietly beside him staring, as if in a trance, at Rinoa. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy… Out of everyone Squall must have liked Rinoa the best.. Seifer had always been their for him, but only she'd been able to annoy him into opening up… If no one else… Seifer should tell Squall his thoughts… he deserved to know…
"Squall…" Seifer started Squall looked up at him with one of the saddest looks he'd ever seen grace the stormy blue orbs. Seifer opened his moth, hoping what he had to say might help… when a sudden white blast of wall crushing energy exploded through the room sending everyone flying into the waiting room. While most of the injured students fled in utter terror at the display, the orphanage gang struggled to regain their balance.
"So it comes to this dose it?" Came a chillingly cold voice from back inside what was left of Rinoa's room. They all stopped in their tracks to stare at the opening as the smoke cleared to reveal a body of what once had been Rinoa dangling three feet above the ground with the force of her own power. She resembled Rinoa in form, but her face looked so…dead… and full of hate… "Who would've guessed it? Not some epic battle of armies to bring you down, but a lonely boring day in the infirmary no less…. How fitting for such worthless beings.." The figure scoffed slowly floating over towards the group.
"Rinoa!" Squall cried out worried and the figure snapped it's line of vision to him.
"Interesting…" it mused. "You still think all of this has to do with mind games and innocent victims don't you?"
Squall glared at the figure and braced himself for the fight.
The figure of raw power only laughed. "You still think you can come to save the day in the name of all that is good and righteous." The figure rolled it's eyes and advance rapidly towards him, stopping when they were only three feet apart. "What do I need to do to convince you of the truth? I'm not some defenseless little child… all I wanted from you was power and the easiest way to get it was to make you all weak. Especially you Squall… I should've killed you when I had the chance!"
Squall glared harder at the figure still unwilling to believe such an ugly truth… no it couldn't be true… He watched the figure raise her hands in the air and tensed to defend against her… but she struck way to fast for him to even comprehend. One minute the whole team is standing the next their surrounded by twice as much rubble and all of his friends are sprawled out on the ground with injuries that must have been predominantly internal… He glanced quickly over his left shoulder only slightly hearing the dark voice of what was once Rinoa, "Do you believe me yet…?" He didn't care about her too much at the moment though. He glanced over his shoulder to see Seifer to be the only one that was at least conscious if in no condition to fight. He was kneeling, panting heavily, in no condition to fight. Squall saw something in his eyes, some desperate plea that told him all this had to be true.. That Rinoa really had this type of darkness in her…
"Squall!" Seifer near chocked out lunging to his feet and charging around Squall just in time to take one huge ass blast of magic from the floating figure. Squall cursed himself a thousand times over for losing his concentration…
"SEIFER!" He cried out clutching the larger man's frame for support as it crumbled to the floor. "Seifer…" He chocked out again, kneeling and cradling the form in his arms, near tears…
"Make… sure… you…get her…for this… Leonhart…" Seifer barely whispered before he too passed out. Squall was overwhelmed with a thousand different emotions ranging from worry to hatred to pain to grief… She would pay alright… she would pay… Squall felt their air behind him snap and crackle as the figure began to power up for the final blow. He laid Seifer down gently swearing with everything he was to make her pay. Whether the victim of some evil mind game or just taken over by her darkest side he didn't care. He'd been in enough magic battle to know there was nothing of the Rinoa he cared for left. All their was left was hatred and power.
"And now the fall of the mighty lion…" Squall heard the thing purr as it prepared to launch it's attack at last….
Squall smoothly slid his trusty gun blade into both hands, gripping it tight and turned around with dangerously narrowed eyes. "Think again." he said lunging toward her with all the force his body could give him. There was a clash of metal in flesh a bright white light, a bitterly chilling ice sensation, and then there was the darkness…