Chapter 16
Everything is revealed
Rinoa wiped away one of her falling tears and held on tightly to her bag straps. The doors to the harsh outside world were growing closer with every step, and she felt the sadness of leaving become heavier. Rinoa was about to open the door when a bewildered voice called her back.
"Rinoa, you're leaving?"
Rinoa dropped her heavy bags down onto the floor and turned to face Ellone at the end of the hall.
"Yeah, um I think I should." Rinoa answered, trying to hide her tears away from Ellone's curious eyes.
"Why? Has something gone wrong?" Ellone asked walking closer. Rinoa looked down at the floor and blushed.
"Squall found out about me and Seifer." Rinoa said quietly.
"Seifer? The guy that Squall..."
"Yeah, the one that gave Squall the scar across his face."
"You were with him!" Ellone said almost losing her cool, as the protective-sister feelings for her brother kicked in.
"Yeah but I had no idea that, well you know." Rinoa explained. Ellone looked at her in surprise. "But it was never serious, we only went out on a few dates, it was never gonna last." Ellone considered this new information.
"Rin, you don't have to leave because of that." Ellone said softly.
"Yes I do. Squall saw me and Seifer out the other night." Rinoa said looking sorry for herself. Ellone tilted her head to the side, and looked at Rinoa confused.
"But, you said you and Seifer had broken up." Ellone stated puzzled. Rinoa sighed; this was not an easy subject to explain.
"We had, but Seifer said he wanted to take me to dinner to...to say sorry for cheating on me so many times." Rinoa replied, adding the last of the sentence with difficulty.
"He was cheating on you?" Ellone asked shocked. Rinoa nodded.
"The whole time."
"Did you tell Squall that?" Ellone asked.
"No, it wouldn't have made any difference. Besides, he deserves better than me." Rinoa said picking up her bag.
"No, no that's not true." Ellone protested trying to keep Rinoa from walking out of the door. "Don't go. I don't want you to go. Please."
"Ell, I need some time apart from Squall. I think it's the best thing, for me and for him."
Ellone looked at her disappointed, but agreed after seeing that Rinoa was not likely to be discouraged from her plan.
"Well, only if you promise you won't go home before telling me." Ellone pleaded.
"I shan't go home till, well...thanks Ell for everything." Rinoa said opening the door to leave and giving the palace one last look. Ellone nodded and watched her walk out to her taxi.
Rinoa's face looked so lonely behind the cold glass of the taxi window as she gazed back. Ellone waved to her with a forced smile, and watched as Rinoa forced one back through her obviously held back tears.
Ellone watched the taxi leave and stood alone on the marble entrance steps before making a move to go inside. Everything had been so perfect when Rinoa had first showed up; Squall had been friendly for once, and had even taken her camping which had surprised Ellone greatly.
But now he had ruined it all, it was his fault that Rinoa was leaving. And it wasn't the first time he had done this, all her friends he had scared away by him. But she wasn't letting him get rid of Rinoa.
"SQUALL!" Ellone screamed, running up the stairs and barging into his room. "Squall, did you....?" Ellone began before realising that the room was empty. "Oh yeah, the meeting!" Ellone mumbled running down the hall and skidding around the corner.
"Father!" Ellone screeched as she stumbled into Laguna's room.
"Yeah baby! Take that! Whoo yeah I beat you!" Laguna shouted happily at his computer. "Oh um, hi Ellone."
"You have been on this thing for hours!" Ellone exclaimed looking at his computer. "But that's not the point. Dad, Rinoa has gone. She and Squall have had this sort of 'thing' going on, and something happened to make them split up, and now Rin has gone."
Laguna watched her closely before attempting an answer; he was still trying to understand what had just been said to him, as it has all come at a rush.
"How the hell did I not know about Rinoa and Squall?" Laguna asked puzzled and scratching the back of his head in thought. Ellone rolled her eyes, trust him to only have heard that part.
"Maybe because...hey I dunno! But the point is Rinoa's gone, and she didn't say where, I forgot to ask. I can't believe I forgot to ask." Ellone said sitting down on a chair with her head in her hands.
"This has really upset you Ell hasn't it?" Laguna said watching her face become placid at the question.
"She was the only person I've met that didn't treat me differently to everyone else." Ellone said fighting back her tears that were making her voice shaky.
"I'll talk to Squall, he's not getting his own way again." Laguna said putting a hand on Ellone's bent head to calm her. "Do you know where he'll be?"
"Um; the conference room?" Ellone said shrugging. Laguna nodded and made his way downstairs in the elevator.
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Squall waited impatiently in the conference room for the representatives of Balamb garden to arrive. After standing outside for awhile, Laguna sat down opposite Squall and fixed him with a long hard stare.
"What?" Squall asked annoyed.
"So...Where is Rinoa?" Laguna asked in a way that showed that he already knew the answer, no matter what Squall might say next.
"She's not here?" Squall asked innocently.
"No, she is not, and do you know why?" Laguna asked in a suspicious tone. Squall shrugged and picked up a newspaper. "I know it has something to do with you." Squall raised and eyebrow and turned the page. "Squall, she's missing from the palace. She always tells someone where she is going."
"Maybe she went home, how the hell do I know?" Squall said indifferent.
"Squall! You told her to get out didn't you?"
"Yeah so what, she's not wanted here anymore is she?" Squall retorted. Laguna clenched his teeth; this was not really a good time to be getting angry.
"Squall. You need to find her, if she gets lost in Esthar...well she's my responsibility and..."
"Now who's being selfish?" Squall said over his paper. "She's probably on a train home by now."
"Well if she is, at least we know she isn't lost." Laguna said snatching the paper away from him.
"No, I'm not going." Squall said folding his arms. Laguna looked up angrily. But the expression on Squall's face told him that there was something deeper going on that he hadn't been made aware of.
"Squall, I don't care about your relationships. In fact they are rather amusing the type of women you hang around with. But Rinoa is nothing like them, you can't treat her like one of your one night stands." Laguna said. Squall felt himself blush deeply, Laguna wasn't supposed to know about his nights out. "You need to get her back here."
"Sir, she was with someone before I met her."
"What?"
"Seifer Almasy, they were together before she came here." Squall explained.
"Yeah if you count one date as being with someone." Laguna said flicking through the paper. Now it was Squall's turn to look confused.
"What do you mean?" Squall asked curious.
"When Rinoa's friends were here, I had an interesting discussion with Selphie. You know the girl with the yellow..."
"I know who Selphie is." Squall snapped.
"Well, she told me that Rinoa had been seeing this guy back when she was 15 called Seifer Almasy. Something happened and they broke up, I think he'd been cheating on her or something. But anyway they kept in touch and met up again a few days before she was asked to come here. They had one date, and then Rinoa had to leave. When she returned to Galbadia she broke up with Seifer and came back here to finish her assignment."
"But she was out with Seifer the other night." Squall said annoyed, at being made to feel so stupid about being angry with Rinoa. She was innocent compared to all the foolish things he had done over the years.
"Seifer had asked her to go to dinner with him to say sorry for all the times he had cheated on her." Ellone said from the doorway. Squall now felt very small, how could he have been so blinded? The expression on Rinoa's face when he had told her to leave, kept playing over and over in his mind until he felt ill.
"I've gotta find her." Squall said rushing out. Ellone smiled and Laguna high-fived her.
"Good work Mr President!" She said happily.
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Rinoa paid the taxi driver and took up her bags once more. She had decided to get as far away from the palace as she could, and had found herself in the cheaper side of Esthar. The streets were dirtier here, and looked as if they hadn't been cleaned for sometime. Although nothing was particularly run down, the place just seemed to have a heavier and more closed in atmosphere compared to the area surrounding the palace.
Rinoa checked herself into a particularly tacky looking hotel, and deposited her bags onto the worn out floorboards of her room before leaving. The receptionist gave her a warm smile as she walked out, and Rinoa felt slightly relieved to find some friendliness outside of the company she had been keeping over the past few days.
The streets were crowded with cars and other motorized vehicles, and Rinoa supposed that it was this that created the atmosphere of closeness and thick and almost choking air. It was nearly time for people to be going to their evening meals, and Rinoa wished that she could be one of them. To have something hot and ready for her too eat would be very welcome right now.
Rinoa wandered along the street until she spotted a small hidden diner set back from the road. Finally there was a light at the end of her tunnel, and she hurried towards it.
"Welcome to Bennies miss, I'll find you a table." A young waitress said showing Rinoa the way. Rinoa looked around her; it wasn't all that bad in here really. "Here you go, I'll be back soon to take your order." She said leaving Rinoa alone with the menu.
"Oh Hyne." Rinoa said putting her head in her hands. "What am I doing here?"
A/N: not much happiness going on in this chapter, sorry for that.
Thanx to: Mariko, omnitoad, Sandra Leonhart, Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart, Phoenix Blade, townberry, Angelwingedprincess, Cute Mooglez (hey good luck on that homepage, I hope you got it working in the end!), Lionheart, CharlieGirl, RPG Hui, Shaman King, Crystal Night, Archangel_666, Shattered Sword, Billie the Wild Angel, Karla, Haisha, Black-Mage-woman, Sammy-Chan.
