A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews. No, for the gripping
conclusion...
Chapter 8
"A traitor?" Rinoa repeated, looking around. "Who? Are they here?"
"Yes," Fujin replied, her eyes settling on one person in particular. "Right next to you."
Rinoa observed the two people next to her. Squall and Irvine. "Irvine?" she asked quietly.
"If only," Fujin replied. "Squall, perhaps you know who I'm talking about?"
He shook his head, one eye brow raised. "I don't know what your talking about. If I knew who the traitor was, I would've done something about it already," he replied, his tone silently implying the word 'duh'.
Fujin took several steps forward, reaching Rinoa before anyone could say anything about it, and placing a hand on her forehead. "There is something you should all see, and I will use the Keeper to show you. You will all see who the real traitor is!"
She returned her attention to Rinoa, concentrating for a moment while Rinoa fell into a trance-like state. Then, suddenly, her eyes shot open, light shining from them and projecting a scene onto the wall ahead. It was Squall, leaning against some building, fatigue and frustration clear on his face. Beside him stood Seifer, who was saying something, though there was no sound to the image. Seifer said something, to which Squall gave a slight nod, then Seifer laughed and walked away, the image going blank and the strange light in Rinoa eyes dying away.
"Now you see..." Fujin said slowly. "The man that had led you all this time is the true traitor."
Irvine and Shiva were silent, unsure of what to say, or do. The evidence they'd just witnessed was damning, but it was difficult to believe that Squall would do such a thing.
"I'm no traitor!" Squall burst out, angrily. "That isn't proof of anything!"
Rinoa, who was still in a hypnotic state, took a deep breath, and started to collapse. Squall, who was closest to her, instinctively reached out and caught her, inciting an outburst from his two comrades.
"Leave her alone!" Irvine exclaimed, stepping closer to Squall in a threatening manner.
Squall picked the unconcious Rinoa up, never backing down from the enraged demon hunter. "Your accusations are misplaced," he said. "What reason do you have to believe her?"
"The images were taken from Rinoa's mind," Shiva argued. "It has to be real. The Keeper does not store false memories. You were associated with Seifer."
"Put her down, now," Irvine instructed, drawing his gun. "We will protect her at all costs."
Squall shook his head, his eyes darting around, looking for some form of escape. It was obvious that the two were set on catching the 'traitor' and rescuing Rinoa. Perhaps it would've made more sense to surrender and prove his innocense, then it would to run, but Squall wouldn't have that. Though logically he knew Rinoa would be perfectly safe with Irvine and Shiva, his possesive instincts kicked in, making him more determined than ever to keep her with him. There was no escape through the front, back, or any of the sides. They would anticipate it. His only option was by air, though it would involve going through the ceiling.
Backing away a few steps, still sheltering Rinoa in his arms, his hidden, white-feathered wings stretched out behind his back, still stiff from being folded away so long. "You guys have made a big mistake," he muttered, before taking off and crashing through the concrete roof with his back. Irvine fired a couple of shots after him, but each one missed. The only thing they could do was stare after him, dust and chunks of building material raining down on them.
"What now?" Shiva asked, sighing.
Suddenly the doors to the station burst open, revealing a panting Quistis and Zell, concern written over their faces.
"We just received a message," Zell said, hands resting on his knees while he attempted to catch his breath. "We ran all the way from the resturaunt..."
"We were aproached by an official messanger. It's an emergency," Quistis continued for him. "They've just discovered something about Squall. They said he's betrayed us all. He's been officially deemed an enemy."
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When Rinoa awoke, she found herself leaning against a cold stone wall, but with Squall's black trench coat layed over her. Looking out, she could see tall pillars sillouhetted against the fading sunlight, along with a familar shadow sitting on the edge, head in his heads and one knee drawn up to his chest.
Rinoa slowly stood wrapping his comfortable coat around her as she stepped closer, examining him from behind. He had on only his normal black T-shirt, which had two large rips down the back, exposing two fading scars and lines of bold black ink.
She continued walking until she came to stand beside him, then backed up a few steps when she realized they were on top of a skyscraper. "Squall...?" she said his name quietly.
He picked his head up from his hands, turning to look at her with tired eyes. The sun glasses were gone now. He studied her for a moment, the turned to look at the sky, commenting, "You know, it's been a while since I've really watched the sun set."
She sat down near him, afraid to move any closer to the edge. Upon seeing her aprehension, he let out a slight laugh, and said, "It's alright to come closer. I won't let you fall."
Taking a deep breath and summoning her courage, she scooted closer, until she was sitting next to him, heart thumping widly in her chest as she looked down at the cars racing below. Slowly, she allowed her eyes to travel up from the street to her companion, who had a weary, distant look on his face. He was now leaning back a little, propped up on his hands. Hesitantly, somewhat afraid of his strange mood, she placed her hand over his, then joined him in his silent observation.
Finally, after an eternity of silence had passed between them, she gathered the guts to ask him the question that had been bothering her since she first awoke. "Squall... what happened?"
"Everyone thinks I betrayed them," he replied quietly. "They turned on me, because of what they saw."
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, I saw it too."
He was quiet for another minute, before saying, "If you want me to take you back to the others, I will."
She shook her head and picked up his hand, running her long, slender finger over his. "No, I trust you. No matter what I saw... I believe you. I wanna stay with you."
He finally met her gaze, and for a moment she would almost have sworn there were tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he said finally. Though the words were simple, Rinoa knew they meant a lot, and that he had spoken them sincerely.
"So, they thought you were in league with Seifer, but they still let you take off with me?"
"They tried to get you back," he replied blushingly. "I... um... wouldn't let them."
A wide smile came over her face, and she leaned against his arm. "So... does this mean you like me?" she asked, her lips just a few inches away from his ear.
"Don't get too excited," he answered. "It's just that you're under my supervision... my responsibility. I don't really trust anyone to take over my responsibilities. So I thought I'd just watch over you by myself for the time being. Unless you have a problem with it, of course. If not, then you'll be stuck with me for a while. So speak now."
"I don't think I'd mind being stuck with you for a while," she replied truthfully. "It'll give us plenty of time alone together. But where will we go? What will we do? I mean, we still have to work on the mission."
"No. I have to work on the mission. You are my mission. I don't know where we'll go. We might be in hiding a lot. And this isn't a vacation. It's not some oppurtunity for you to be alone with me, whatever you think that's gonna accomplish."
"Whatever," she replied, grinning. "Now let's go. I don't like heights."
He stood up tiredly and stretched. "Alright, but first we have to decide where to go. Any ideas?"
"You're asking me?" she sounded surprised.
"From now on, we should probably make descions together. We have to stick together, if you want to stay with me. So we should cooperate as much as possible."
"Well, maybe we should skip town for awhile. Go somewhere far away from here where they'll never think to look for us. We can just.... runaway from it all...." she said.
"No, we can't runaway. Whatever we do, we can't do that. I'm still duty-bound, and you're still in danger. I think we should head to Dollet... I have a strange feeling that'll be the next place Seifer strikes"
"I've never been to Dollet before. This could be fun," she thought aloud.
"Like I said, this isn't a vacation," he replied over his shoulder, as he started inside the building to take the elevator down. "Get those childish notions out of your head."
"Aw, you know you like me," she teased, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind.
"Whatever," he answered, which only made her laugh more because she could see him blushing at her remark. Maybe he really did 'like her'.
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The train ride to Dollet was long, and mostly silent, the seriousness of the situation finally dawning on the two. In a lot of ways, Rinoa had come to think of her guardians as being her friends. It was hard to imagine now that she wouldn't be seeing them for quite a while. It was her own choice, she knew, but it was a difficult one, none the less. Still, if her guardians were her friends, then Squall was her best friend. No, that wasn't really true. Squall meant more to her than anyone else she knew, but he was something much more than just a friend. In fact, she wasn't quite sure what to call him. He was something different, that was for sure.
The train reached Dollet sometime around the next morning, the sun just starting peak over the horizon. Dollet had an old, almost Gothic style archeatecter, and a very small population. The few people that strolled along the quiet, mostly empty streets, were mysterious, suspicious looking people that didn't look to be the least bit friendly.
"Wow..." Rinoa commented as she and Squall walked to the local hotel. "Everyone around here has a stick up their ass... are you sure you didn't grow up here Squall?" she asked.
He shot her a look of some sort, though she couldn't read it for he'd replaced his glasses. "No, I didn't grow up here, but I did spend some time here when I was older. It's exactly as I remember it, too... well, the same scent of ocean, the silence... I don't know if it looks the same. Anyway, people stay out of your business around here, and that's what I wanted. Things here are a lot different than in Deling City. They have a different culture here. So be careful what you say, and don't be surprised if things are quite different. They will be."
Rinoa turned her attention away from her companion momentarily to study the people around her once more. A lot of them had peircings through the noses, lips, eyebrows, navels, and otherwise. They were also decorated in various places with colored ink, that reminded Rinoa of the strange markings down the side of Zell's face. It was something rarely seen in Deling City, and those that peirced themselves or marked themselves in Deling were generally avoided.
"Why are they all peirced, and stuff?" Rinoa asked quietly.
"Part of their society," he explained. "Peircings and tattoos are considered art here, where they may not be in other places. Sometimes, it has spiritual relevence, as well."
"Spiritual relevence?" she repeated. "Do they worship a different kind of god, or something? And did you ever get any 'art' done of your own while you were here?"
"No, their religion is the same pretty much, they just have their different ways of going about it. They don't have churches here, they have temples, but they pretty much have the same use. Back when I lived here, the people were divided into different groups, that followed different sets of rules... I don't know how it is now. Members of a group all had the same peircings and tattoos, in addition to their own. Their different beliefs, I guess, was just up to their personal preference, or how they were raised," he answered.
"You never answered my second question," she pointed out.
"It's none of your business," he replied.
During all their talking, the had come upon the hotel, a large, stone building with a flashing neon sign with some foreign language on it.
"This is it," he said, opening the door for Rinoa, in a very gentlemen-like manner.
"How can you tell? You can read their writing?" she asked.
His normally emotionless face took on a hint of amuseument. "There are certain things you have to know when you travel around the world collecting the dead."
She smacked her forehead in mock stupidity as she walked through the door. "Of course, silly me. The Angel of Death is all-knowing."
Shaking his head, he stepped up to the front counter, speaking to the woman there in another language, and fluently at that. She nodded and gave him a key to the room after he pulled some gil from his pocket and payed her.
"I'm amazed at your people skills," Rinoa commented as they headed up to their room.
He grumbled a reply and opened the door to their room. It was a simple room, with only a double bed, a table and two chairs, a bathroom, and a balcony over-looking the town's main street. Rinoa wondered in and plopped down on the bed, running her fingers over the simple blue fabric of the covers. Squall glanced around the room, an unmistakable look of boredom on his face as he reached behind him and scratched at his shoulder blades.
"I didn't know dead people were ichy," Rinoa giggled.
"It's always a side effect I suffer," he replied. "Since I rarely use my wings, it iches and burns everytime I do. I also ruined my favorite shirt."
"Yeah, I noticed the two big rips in the back. I'm sure there are plenty other plain black T-shirts you can buy, though. In the meantime, however..." her voice trailed off as she stood up, pushed his coat off, and pulled his shirt over his head, momentarily inspecting the tears in the back.
"Hey! W-what are you doing?!" he demanded, trying to hide his stammer.
"I might could fix this, but I was always terrible at sewing, so..." her voice trailed off once more as she looked at him, her eyes suddenly drawn to the well defined muscles of his chest. "So, you work out, huh?" she asked, grinning. She knew she probably shouldn't but she couldn't resist running a hand down his chest, feeling him tense at her mere touch. She stepped behind him and gasped as she saw his back. There was a large tattoo of a winged lion in black ink spread over his shoulder blades. The scars from the day before were mostly gone, however.
"You did get a tattoo," she murmered, reaching out to trace the lines with her fingertip, but freezing as soon as she touched it.
The world before her went blank again, as another vision came to mind. It was a darkened street, with only a few neon street signs to light the way. A man stepped into the dim light of a half-lit business sign, revealing one dull blue eye with stray strands of blonde hair haging down his forehead. His other eye was swollen eternally shut, a wide scar running down his eyelid to the top of his cheek bone. He stood impatiently, eyeing his surroundings nervously until he heard a crashing sound in the shadows in front of him, and watched as the person he'd been waiting for stepped into the light.
"What did you want?" he asked angrily, his clouded blue eyes staring at the ground, but never seeing it.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" the first man spoke. "Never thought I'd see you again after you left Deling..."
"Get to the point."
"Fine," he sighed. "I've been doing some investigating... you may have moved on and forgotten, but I haven't. Anyway, I discovered some things I thought you should know. What happened to us... it wasn't an accident."
The other man lifted his head, eyes focused on the area he'd determined was the source of the voice. "You're full shit, you know that? You tracked me down here and asked me to meet you just to tell me this?"
"It's important... there's much more to it than there seems. Something deep is going on here, and I'm determined to find out why. There's something here... I think I can find some answers here, if you help me. Aren't you in the least bit curious? Don't you want to find the one that messed up your life and get revenge?"
He turned away, but said over his shoulder, "I'm through with this. All you want is your glory, and I won't have any part of it. Go back to Deling. Dollet doesn't take to people like you."
With that he walked away, traces of a black tattoo just barely visible through his shirt.
Rinoa took a deep breath, and felt read to collapse, but Squall was already holding her, supporting her. She smiled as she thought of this and rested against him, saying, "I saw things again... you were there, talking to someone. This is so confusing..."
"I know it is," he replied ackwardly, unsure of how to comfort her. "It'll make sense eventually."
"If you say so..." she answered, tightening her hold on him and placing a small kiss on his lips. "Just so long as you're here, I know I can handle it."
"Rinoa..." he began, but was cut short by a loud crashing from the lobby downstairs, followed by several screams....
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A/N: Well, I know I said the traitor wouldn't be Squall, but I changed my mind while typing this. Obviously something fishy is going on, but I wonder who's to blame...?
Chapter 8
"A traitor?" Rinoa repeated, looking around. "Who? Are they here?"
"Yes," Fujin replied, her eyes settling on one person in particular. "Right next to you."
Rinoa observed the two people next to her. Squall and Irvine. "Irvine?" she asked quietly.
"If only," Fujin replied. "Squall, perhaps you know who I'm talking about?"
He shook his head, one eye brow raised. "I don't know what your talking about. If I knew who the traitor was, I would've done something about it already," he replied, his tone silently implying the word 'duh'.
Fujin took several steps forward, reaching Rinoa before anyone could say anything about it, and placing a hand on her forehead. "There is something you should all see, and I will use the Keeper to show you. You will all see who the real traitor is!"
She returned her attention to Rinoa, concentrating for a moment while Rinoa fell into a trance-like state. Then, suddenly, her eyes shot open, light shining from them and projecting a scene onto the wall ahead. It was Squall, leaning against some building, fatigue and frustration clear on his face. Beside him stood Seifer, who was saying something, though there was no sound to the image. Seifer said something, to which Squall gave a slight nod, then Seifer laughed and walked away, the image going blank and the strange light in Rinoa eyes dying away.
"Now you see..." Fujin said slowly. "The man that had led you all this time is the true traitor."
Irvine and Shiva were silent, unsure of what to say, or do. The evidence they'd just witnessed was damning, but it was difficult to believe that Squall would do such a thing.
"I'm no traitor!" Squall burst out, angrily. "That isn't proof of anything!"
Rinoa, who was still in a hypnotic state, took a deep breath, and started to collapse. Squall, who was closest to her, instinctively reached out and caught her, inciting an outburst from his two comrades.
"Leave her alone!" Irvine exclaimed, stepping closer to Squall in a threatening manner.
Squall picked the unconcious Rinoa up, never backing down from the enraged demon hunter. "Your accusations are misplaced," he said. "What reason do you have to believe her?"
"The images were taken from Rinoa's mind," Shiva argued. "It has to be real. The Keeper does not store false memories. You were associated with Seifer."
"Put her down, now," Irvine instructed, drawing his gun. "We will protect her at all costs."
Squall shook his head, his eyes darting around, looking for some form of escape. It was obvious that the two were set on catching the 'traitor' and rescuing Rinoa. Perhaps it would've made more sense to surrender and prove his innocense, then it would to run, but Squall wouldn't have that. Though logically he knew Rinoa would be perfectly safe with Irvine and Shiva, his possesive instincts kicked in, making him more determined than ever to keep her with him. There was no escape through the front, back, or any of the sides. They would anticipate it. His only option was by air, though it would involve going through the ceiling.
Backing away a few steps, still sheltering Rinoa in his arms, his hidden, white-feathered wings stretched out behind his back, still stiff from being folded away so long. "You guys have made a big mistake," he muttered, before taking off and crashing through the concrete roof with his back. Irvine fired a couple of shots after him, but each one missed. The only thing they could do was stare after him, dust and chunks of building material raining down on them.
"What now?" Shiva asked, sighing.
Suddenly the doors to the station burst open, revealing a panting Quistis and Zell, concern written over their faces.
"We just received a message," Zell said, hands resting on his knees while he attempted to catch his breath. "We ran all the way from the resturaunt..."
"We were aproached by an official messanger. It's an emergency," Quistis continued for him. "They've just discovered something about Squall. They said he's betrayed us all. He's been officially deemed an enemy."
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When Rinoa awoke, she found herself leaning against a cold stone wall, but with Squall's black trench coat layed over her. Looking out, she could see tall pillars sillouhetted against the fading sunlight, along with a familar shadow sitting on the edge, head in his heads and one knee drawn up to his chest.
Rinoa slowly stood wrapping his comfortable coat around her as she stepped closer, examining him from behind. He had on only his normal black T-shirt, which had two large rips down the back, exposing two fading scars and lines of bold black ink.
She continued walking until she came to stand beside him, then backed up a few steps when she realized they were on top of a skyscraper. "Squall...?" she said his name quietly.
He picked his head up from his hands, turning to look at her with tired eyes. The sun glasses were gone now. He studied her for a moment, the turned to look at the sky, commenting, "You know, it's been a while since I've really watched the sun set."
She sat down near him, afraid to move any closer to the edge. Upon seeing her aprehension, he let out a slight laugh, and said, "It's alright to come closer. I won't let you fall."
Taking a deep breath and summoning her courage, she scooted closer, until she was sitting next to him, heart thumping widly in her chest as she looked down at the cars racing below. Slowly, she allowed her eyes to travel up from the street to her companion, who had a weary, distant look on his face. He was now leaning back a little, propped up on his hands. Hesitantly, somewhat afraid of his strange mood, she placed her hand over his, then joined him in his silent observation.
Finally, after an eternity of silence had passed between them, she gathered the guts to ask him the question that had been bothering her since she first awoke. "Squall... what happened?"
"Everyone thinks I betrayed them," he replied quietly. "They turned on me, because of what they saw."
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, I saw it too."
He was quiet for another minute, before saying, "If you want me to take you back to the others, I will."
She shook her head and picked up his hand, running her long, slender finger over his. "No, I trust you. No matter what I saw... I believe you. I wanna stay with you."
He finally met her gaze, and for a moment she would almost have sworn there were tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he said finally. Though the words were simple, Rinoa knew they meant a lot, and that he had spoken them sincerely.
"So, they thought you were in league with Seifer, but they still let you take off with me?"
"They tried to get you back," he replied blushingly. "I... um... wouldn't let them."
A wide smile came over her face, and she leaned against his arm. "So... does this mean you like me?" she asked, her lips just a few inches away from his ear.
"Don't get too excited," he answered. "It's just that you're under my supervision... my responsibility. I don't really trust anyone to take over my responsibilities. So I thought I'd just watch over you by myself for the time being. Unless you have a problem with it, of course. If not, then you'll be stuck with me for a while. So speak now."
"I don't think I'd mind being stuck with you for a while," she replied truthfully. "It'll give us plenty of time alone together. But where will we go? What will we do? I mean, we still have to work on the mission."
"No. I have to work on the mission. You are my mission. I don't know where we'll go. We might be in hiding a lot. And this isn't a vacation. It's not some oppurtunity for you to be alone with me, whatever you think that's gonna accomplish."
"Whatever," she replied, grinning. "Now let's go. I don't like heights."
He stood up tiredly and stretched. "Alright, but first we have to decide where to go. Any ideas?"
"You're asking me?" she sounded surprised.
"From now on, we should probably make descions together. We have to stick together, if you want to stay with me. So we should cooperate as much as possible."
"Well, maybe we should skip town for awhile. Go somewhere far away from here where they'll never think to look for us. We can just.... runaway from it all...." she said.
"No, we can't runaway. Whatever we do, we can't do that. I'm still duty-bound, and you're still in danger. I think we should head to Dollet... I have a strange feeling that'll be the next place Seifer strikes"
"I've never been to Dollet before. This could be fun," she thought aloud.
"Like I said, this isn't a vacation," he replied over his shoulder, as he started inside the building to take the elevator down. "Get those childish notions out of your head."
"Aw, you know you like me," she teased, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind.
"Whatever," he answered, which only made her laugh more because she could see him blushing at her remark. Maybe he really did 'like her'.
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The train ride to Dollet was long, and mostly silent, the seriousness of the situation finally dawning on the two. In a lot of ways, Rinoa had come to think of her guardians as being her friends. It was hard to imagine now that she wouldn't be seeing them for quite a while. It was her own choice, she knew, but it was a difficult one, none the less. Still, if her guardians were her friends, then Squall was her best friend. No, that wasn't really true. Squall meant more to her than anyone else she knew, but he was something much more than just a friend. In fact, she wasn't quite sure what to call him. He was something different, that was for sure.
The train reached Dollet sometime around the next morning, the sun just starting peak over the horizon. Dollet had an old, almost Gothic style archeatecter, and a very small population. The few people that strolled along the quiet, mostly empty streets, were mysterious, suspicious looking people that didn't look to be the least bit friendly.
"Wow..." Rinoa commented as she and Squall walked to the local hotel. "Everyone around here has a stick up their ass... are you sure you didn't grow up here Squall?" she asked.
He shot her a look of some sort, though she couldn't read it for he'd replaced his glasses. "No, I didn't grow up here, but I did spend some time here when I was older. It's exactly as I remember it, too... well, the same scent of ocean, the silence... I don't know if it looks the same. Anyway, people stay out of your business around here, and that's what I wanted. Things here are a lot different than in Deling City. They have a different culture here. So be careful what you say, and don't be surprised if things are quite different. They will be."
Rinoa turned her attention away from her companion momentarily to study the people around her once more. A lot of them had peircings through the noses, lips, eyebrows, navels, and otherwise. They were also decorated in various places with colored ink, that reminded Rinoa of the strange markings down the side of Zell's face. It was something rarely seen in Deling City, and those that peirced themselves or marked themselves in Deling were generally avoided.
"Why are they all peirced, and stuff?" Rinoa asked quietly.
"Part of their society," he explained. "Peircings and tattoos are considered art here, where they may not be in other places. Sometimes, it has spiritual relevence, as well."
"Spiritual relevence?" she repeated. "Do they worship a different kind of god, or something? And did you ever get any 'art' done of your own while you were here?"
"No, their religion is the same pretty much, they just have their different ways of going about it. They don't have churches here, they have temples, but they pretty much have the same use. Back when I lived here, the people were divided into different groups, that followed different sets of rules... I don't know how it is now. Members of a group all had the same peircings and tattoos, in addition to their own. Their different beliefs, I guess, was just up to their personal preference, or how they were raised," he answered.
"You never answered my second question," she pointed out.
"It's none of your business," he replied.
During all their talking, the had come upon the hotel, a large, stone building with a flashing neon sign with some foreign language on it.
"This is it," he said, opening the door for Rinoa, in a very gentlemen-like manner.
"How can you tell? You can read their writing?" she asked.
His normally emotionless face took on a hint of amuseument. "There are certain things you have to know when you travel around the world collecting the dead."
She smacked her forehead in mock stupidity as she walked through the door. "Of course, silly me. The Angel of Death is all-knowing."
Shaking his head, he stepped up to the front counter, speaking to the woman there in another language, and fluently at that. She nodded and gave him a key to the room after he pulled some gil from his pocket and payed her.
"I'm amazed at your people skills," Rinoa commented as they headed up to their room.
He grumbled a reply and opened the door to their room. It was a simple room, with only a double bed, a table and two chairs, a bathroom, and a balcony over-looking the town's main street. Rinoa wondered in and plopped down on the bed, running her fingers over the simple blue fabric of the covers. Squall glanced around the room, an unmistakable look of boredom on his face as he reached behind him and scratched at his shoulder blades.
"I didn't know dead people were ichy," Rinoa giggled.
"It's always a side effect I suffer," he replied. "Since I rarely use my wings, it iches and burns everytime I do. I also ruined my favorite shirt."
"Yeah, I noticed the two big rips in the back. I'm sure there are plenty other plain black T-shirts you can buy, though. In the meantime, however..." her voice trailed off as she stood up, pushed his coat off, and pulled his shirt over his head, momentarily inspecting the tears in the back.
"Hey! W-what are you doing?!" he demanded, trying to hide his stammer.
"I might could fix this, but I was always terrible at sewing, so..." her voice trailed off once more as she looked at him, her eyes suddenly drawn to the well defined muscles of his chest. "So, you work out, huh?" she asked, grinning. She knew she probably shouldn't but she couldn't resist running a hand down his chest, feeling him tense at her mere touch. She stepped behind him and gasped as she saw his back. There was a large tattoo of a winged lion in black ink spread over his shoulder blades. The scars from the day before were mostly gone, however.
"You did get a tattoo," she murmered, reaching out to trace the lines with her fingertip, but freezing as soon as she touched it.
The world before her went blank again, as another vision came to mind. It was a darkened street, with only a few neon street signs to light the way. A man stepped into the dim light of a half-lit business sign, revealing one dull blue eye with stray strands of blonde hair haging down his forehead. His other eye was swollen eternally shut, a wide scar running down his eyelid to the top of his cheek bone. He stood impatiently, eyeing his surroundings nervously until he heard a crashing sound in the shadows in front of him, and watched as the person he'd been waiting for stepped into the light.
"What did you want?" he asked angrily, his clouded blue eyes staring at the ground, but never seeing it.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" the first man spoke. "Never thought I'd see you again after you left Deling..."
"Get to the point."
"Fine," he sighed. "I've been doing some investigating... you may have moved on and forgotten, but I haven't. Anyway, I discovered some things I thought you should know. What happened to us... it wasn't an accident."
The other man lifted his head, eyes focused on the area he'd determined was the source of the voice. "You're full shit, you know that? You tracked me down here and asked me to meet you just to tell me this?"
"It's important... there's much more to it than there seems. Something deep is going on here, and I'm determined to find out why. There's something here... I think I can find some answers here, if you help me. Aren't you in the least bit curious? Don't you want to find the one that messed up your life and get revenge?"
He turned away, but said over his shoulder, "I'm through with this. All you want is your glory, and I won't have any part of it. Go back to Deling. Dollet doesn't take to people like you."
With that he walked away, traces of a black tattoo just barely visible through his shirt.
Rinoa took a deep breath, and felt read to collapse, but Squall was already holding her, supporting her. She smiled as she thought of this and rested against him, saying, "I saw things again... you were there, talking to someone. This is so confusing..."
"I know it is," he replied ackwardly, unsure of how to comfort her. "It'll make sense eventually."
"If you say so..." she answered, tightening her hold on him and placing a small kiss on his lips. "Just so long as you're here, I know I can handle it."
"Rinoa..." he began, but was cut short by a loud crashing from the lobby downstairs, followed by several screams....
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A/N: Well, I know I said the traitor wouldn't be Squall, but I changed my mind while typing this. Obviously something fishy is going on, but I wonder who's to blame...?
