BROKEN WINGS
A FFVIII Fan Fiction
Chapter 7
Going it Alone

"What do you mean, Azel has awakened?" I scream at Dr. Odine, panicky and furious. "You promised me you wouldn't wake her up!"

"I made no such promise!" Odine fires back at me. "She voke up on her own. I had nosing to do vith zat."

"You do realize she'll kill us. We're as good as dead," I tell him, pulling at my shirt collar, which suddenly feels too tight.

This is the worst news I've heard yet. Attempted invasion by Galbadian troops, I can handle. Monster infestations in the suburbs, ok. Crime on the west side, fine. All that I can handle, but this news is just a little more than I want to deal with. Odine seems to forget how terribly, utterly insane his captive sorceress is. He regards her as little more than his latest pet and he's completely unaware of the idiotic risk he's taking by letting her live.

"It vas amazing!" Odine continues, excited. "The vings. You should have seen them!"

"Excuse me. Azel has awakened, and you're babbling on about wings?! A mad, powerful sorceress wants us dead and you're standing here telling me about WINGS?!" I scream at him. "You're as crazy as she is!"

"........................" Ward gives me a knowing look.

"This is not the time to make jokes at my expense Ward," I tell him.

"How many times do I have to say it, Laguna. It's Adel," Kiros says with a roll of his eyes. "Perhaps we should give SeeD a call?"

"I've already tried twice today. Everyone who can help me is on assignment in Galbadia." I reply, still fuming over Odine's stupidity. "Squall, Rinoa, all of them."

"Excuse me, but ve are talking about Adel," Odine cuts in, indignant that we are not making him the center of attention. He's rather like a child in that aspect.

"Ahhh!" I scream, frustrated. I don't even want to hear her name. It gives me cold chills to think about what she'll do to me if she were ever to get her hands on me. Odine should be worried too, but he's not.

"She iz still weak," Odine continues. "Ve may be able to contain her powers for a few more days, sree, four at ze most. Zis is promising."

"So, I'll just go in there, guns blazing and take her out," I suggest.

"NO!" Odine bellows at me, pointing his crooked little finger in my face. "Something is different about her. I don't know vat, but I vant to know before you eliminate her."

"I said three days, Odine. They're up today." I remind him.

"Ok, zen, I set her free." He shrugs. "Zis will be more interesting zan zie fisticuffs, no?"

I grab my head with my hands. Can I just shoot this annoying little man and have done with it? He's brilliant, but he's also cocky, arrogant and selfish. At moments like this, I question his genius. But they say, sometimes those with exceptional gifts and talents lack skills in other departments, such as the ability to interact in a social setting, or they have low self esteem. In Odine's case, it seems his deficiency is common sense. Really, who in their right mind would allow that crazy bitch to live after what she's done?

"Zere iz something else you should know about," Odine chirps. He has that all too familiar gleam in his eye.. He's about to unload even more devastating information on us, so that he leaves us in a state of shock in his wake. "She iz asking for Squall."

"What does she want with Squall?" I wonder aloud.

"I don't know. She vill not tell me, but she says his name over and over until I go mad from hearing it. She cries when she says it. Foolish tears," he says and shakes his head. He looks demonic to me, his little almond shaped eyes widened beyond their natural shape, his bony, gnarled hands spread out before him in supplication.

"Kiros, can you dial the number for the Garden again?" I ask. Squall should know about all this.

"Of course," Kiros replies, punching in a series of numbers on the key pad. I can never remember the number, but fortunately, Kiros does. He hits speakerphone and we hear the ring on the other line.

"Commander's office, Jenna speaking," a pert female voice replies.

"Jenna, this is President Laguna Loire of Esthar," I say. "I need to speak with Squall. It's an emergency."

"I'm sorry, he's just returning from a mission, can I have him call you back?" she asks cordially.

"Is there any, possible way I can speak with him now? Eh, it's terribly important," I say, sounding on the verge of panic, though I don't mean to.

"Can you hold please?" she asks, sounding annoyed with me. I didn't mean to piss her off, but great Hyne. Adel is alive, awake and apparently still a sorceress.

I glance at Odine, who is busy flirting with Ellone, though she is obviously occupied with a thick novel. She smiles weakly at him and nods her head from time to time, concentrating on her reading. Poor Ellone. Dr. Odine's had a thing for her since she turned eighteen, and his interests don't exactly lie in her powers if you know what I mean. It's partially her fault he's so taken with her. If she weren't so polite to him, he'd probably leave her alone.

"This is Squall," my son's curt voice says after a lengthy pause.

"I'm sorry to call you so soon after your mission, but we have an emergency here in Esthar."

He sighs as if this isn't a good time for an emergency. Maybe it's not, but I've got one angry Sorceress in a cage who is just waiting for her strength to return so that she can rip my head off and use it as a soccer ball. I shudder at the thought.

"What is it?" he asks. There's weariness in his voice, as if he's been fighting for days without sleep. Must have been some mission.

"Adel is alive," I blurt out. "She's alive, and still a sorceress. I don't know how or why, but I'm going to need your help."

There is a startled silence on the other end.

"Odine says she's asking for you."

"But we . . . ."

"It's a long story, eh, and I'll have to explain later," I don't want to discuss the details over the phone, especially with a rabid Odine standing before me, still wishing to discuss the juicy details of my death. I shudder. "How soon can you be in Esthar?"

"This time tomorrow, I suppose," he replies. "Why is she asking for me?"

"We don't know," I reply, nervous. But it's a good question. What does Adel want with my son? "Odine has her subdued for now, but we don't know how long before she's able to bust out of her cage."

He sighs again, this time a little heavier. "We'll be there soon," he says.

This is a load off my mind. SeeD is coming. Not that I couldn't think of another brilliant plan myself, but at the moment, I'm too paranoid to think straight. With a sigh, I sit down behind my desk again and anxiously tap a pen against the shiny wooden surface. So much to think about. So, we'll just have Squall and company come and beat her to a pulp again. Easy. So why does this feel . . . off?

"I've gotta bad feeling about this, Kiros," I say, drumming the pen against the desk. "Something's not right."

"Could you not do that?" Kiros asks as he eyes the pen, visibly irritated with me.

"......................." Ward's face wrinkles with concern.

"Yeah, kind of like the last time I had a bad feeling."

"I guess this means we'll be jumping over a cliff sometime soon?" Kiros asks, his expression half amusement, half dread.

"......................"

"Ward, you've already lost your voice. The only thing you have left to loose is that spare tire around your middle there," I say with a laugh, knowing it'll get a rise out of him. I just love to pick on Ward. He spent years poking fun at me, and now that he can't speak, it's payback time. Of course, my statute of limitations on that ran out years ago, but it still gives me pleasure to tease him. And he's a good sport.

"......................" There's a sneer on his face as he makes an obscene gesture at me, of which I ignore.

"Seriously, though, guys. I've got a bad, bad feeling. It's like someone just put flowers on our graves."

"What?" Kiros asks, perplexed.

"You know, when you get a bad feeling it means someone's putting flowers on your future grave," I say, not getting why he doesn't understand. It's a perfectly common saying.

"You mean someone just walked over your grave," he corrects.

"That's what I said."

"Laguna, do the world a favor and quit talking. You're giving me the creeps."




I am all alone now. They're all afraid of me after what I ordered Squall to do, when it wasn't my place to order him to do anything. They've all heard about it, about how I ordered him to kill my own father without trying to negotiate first. They've all heard about how Seifer carried these orders out in Squall's place. Now everyone thinks Seifer and I are in cahoots and are planning to take over the world. Which they might not be so wrong about. The thing is, it wasn't me. Not entirely anyhow. Sure, I've been so angry with my father that I wished him dead, but I'd never actually do it. Whatever is happening to me, whatever Adel is doing to me, she's tapping into and controlling me through the most primal, base portions of my psyche. And I'm not able to stop her.

At first, I thought it was just an imbalance due to the development of my powers. I thought the things I am going through were part of that and would be easy to take control of with a little work. But the duality never went away, rather it intensified, and that other half of me, the part of me that rages over injustices, the part that my passion comes from is starting to take over. Not because of my powers, but because she somehow has control. I don't understand how she's able to do it. She's supposed to be dead. But somewhere, she's very alive and quickly regaining strength. The stronger she gets, the more of me she's able to control.

So what's to become of me? I don't know, and I don't want to think about it. Because of her, I've lost Squall. Because of her, no one trusts me. None of my friends will look me in the eye, they're all afraid of me now. They don't understand, and I don't know if I could explain if I wanted to. She'd probably try to stop me if I did.

Squall. How I miss him. How I wish to take back everything and just work it out. But then, there's Seifer. He can still make my heart pound, still turn me into a giggling schoolgirl, despite my loyalties. I tread on dangerous ground now, torn between the two of them. But I think the part of me that longs for Seifer is the part that doesn't truly belong to me. It is she that wants him, not me. The problem is, because of her, he's becoming more and more appealing by the hour.

I hurry to the elevator, ignoring the stares I'm receiving from the students that occupy the halls. My neck burns as their eyes bore into my back, watching my every step, but still afraid to look at me directly or speak to me.

I must see Squall before it's too late. There are things I must tell him. Things he must be aware of, before Rinoa disappears and is replaced by Adel's cold-hearted soul. I must warn him before I'm not Rinoa anymore. Right now, Adel is sleeping, and it seems when she sleeps, I am able to be myself, without the benefit of her control.

Impatiently, I wait through the elevator ride, noticing how everyone in the car has shifted away from me. Their fear is understandable. I am a sorceress, savage and destructive, despite all the work I've done in the last two years to change the way people view sorceresses. Soon, I will live up to that image, unless I can think of a way to stop her.

I enter Squall;s office without knocking. He is sitting at his desk, his head in his hands, deep in thought. He looks up as I stomp into his office, then looks away in disgust.

This is something I can't bear to see in his face. Not when the look is meant for me.

"Squall," I begin, my voice faltering and nervous. "I don't have much time to tell you this, so please don't say anything until I'm finished."

He nods and leans back in his chair, arms folded in front of him. I don't know where to begin, but I must act fast. I can only keep her at bay so long. I can feel her in the back of my mind. She will wake up soon, and there's no telling what I might say to Squall when she does.

"For what it's worth, I love you," I say quickly. I need to get the words out fast. "I love you and I always will. But there's going to come a time when I won't be me at all anymore. I will be something terrible, something hateful, and I have no way to stop this from happening. I don't think I can keep it from happening. So, when the time comes, I don't want you to hesitate. I don't want you to think twice before you cut me down with your sword. I want you to do it without prejudice and without regret."

His face crumples as if he might break down and cry. He fights for his composure and utters my name in a weak barely controlled voice. I cut him off before he has a chance to disagree.

"It's only a matter of time before I'll be gone. She's within me, and she's getting harder to fight by the hour. I don't know how long I have before the old me is gone completely," I say with a desperate shrug. I know I'm babbling but I'm forced to speak whatever comes into my head. "So do me a favor. If it should happen that you face me in battle, don't relent because of what we once had. I won't be me anymore when it happens, it'll just look like me, I think."

He is pale and his lips move to speak, but no words come out.

"So, I'm telling you now. It's ok to kill me, Squall. I don't want you to feel bad when that time comes," I say.

His fist slams down on the desk and he still fights for his composure. "That's not going to happen!" he yells, more to the desk than me.

"You can't stop it," I whisper. "The wheels of destruction are already in motion. She's seen to that, and I've got no choice to go along with it. I can't control what she makes me do."

He stands, his chair slamming into the wall behind him. "She who?"

"Adel," I whisper.

He walks to the window, gazing out at the ocean we travel over. "Laguna called me a while ago. Says Adel is alive."

"I know," I say regretfully.

"How long have you known?" His words are measured, and I can't tell if he's angry or if he's trying to understand.

"Since Deling City."

He nods, still gazing out the window so that I can't see his face.

"I hope you aren't angry with me," I say softly. "I've tried to resist her, but I can't. The things I've done . . . that was Adel."

He is silent still.

"Squall, say something. Please," I plead, tears streaming down my face.

Instead of speaking, he walks to the desk and opens a drawer. In his hand is a small velvet covered box. For a moment, he stares down at it, longing in his face. "I bought this months ago," he says with a shrug. "I almost proposed a bunch of times, but I could never get the words out. I can't help but think now that if I hadn't been such a coward, this wouldn't be happening."

I shake my head and hold back the sobs that choke my throat. "It would have happened anyway, Squall."

"Maybe, but if I had, you might have been strong enough to resist. A reason, if you will."

He blames himself for this. How can I tell him it's not his fault? "Adel wants what she wants. You have nothing to do with that."

"I won't be able to kill you," he says staring at the box. Then his eyes meet mine. "Even if it is Adel. I . . . love you, Rinoa, no matter what you become, I'll still love you."

Unable to stop myself, I throw my arms around his neck and the dam of tears within me breaks loose. Momentarily, I am purged of rage and anger and fear. It feels safe here in his arms. If only I could stay here, if only he could protect me from Adel's plans.

But another destiny awaits me. Her call is strong, she pulls at me and I'm aware of her lurking inside my mind. She's awake now and she pulls at me trying to gain control. With everything I have, I push her back and out of my head. A small success, and the first time I've been able to make her go away since I've been aware of her. I am pleased with my small victory and tighten my grip on Squall.

"They'll have to cut me down before they get to you," he whispers in my ear. "I'll be whatever you want. I'll do anything you ask."

"Your destiny lies in defeating me. You are a SeeD. I am a sorceress. Your place is here."

He pulls away and shakes his head. "No. My destiny is what I make it, and I choose to be with you, no matter the cost. I won't let you go. I won't."

His determination scares me. "Squall, it won't be me. I'll be somewhere else."

"What would you have me do, destroy the very thing that matters most to me in this world?"

"If it's not me inside this body what does it matter?"

"It matters because I love you. Even if there's a slim chance of getting you back, I'd risk everything to take it."

He goes back to the desk and opens the velvet covered box, then faces me with a serious look in his eyes. Carefully, he slips the ring on my finger. "I want you to have this."

"I can't take it," I whisper.

"Keep it," he says with a wave of his hand. His voice is calm, his emotions now back in check. He takes a seat on the edge of the desk and looks at his hands. "We're heading to Esthar. Laguna has requested SeeD to take care of Adel. In the mean time, I was hoping maybe Dr. Odine can help you."

"That fool," I spit out. She's regaining control of my words again. I fight desperately to fend her off, but she's there picking at my brain, assaulting me to get back inside. Squall sees the guilt in my face and nods. I pray Odine can help. I will certainly go mad if this continues.

Squall comes to me, and enfolds me in his arms. He buries his face in my neck, his breath hot against my skin. Please let Dr. Odine be able to help me. Please, please. This is where I want to be for the rest of my life. I don't want to be something ugly and hateful, I just want to be me. I want to be Rinoa. I want to be with Squall. To hell with world domination. To hell with it!

You hear that Adel? I don't want any part of your plans.

I swear she responds with laughter, an evil cackle that sends chills up my spine. In desperation, I cling to Squall, fearing that this is the last time I will ever feel him hold me like this. If that's true, I want to be able to remember everything about it, every second of it. I want it to be special, worth the trouble I am likely to cause. "Don't let me go," I whisper. "Please don't let go."

"Never," he whispers back and nuzzles my neck. Waves of desire wash over me and drown out Adel's voice completely.

"If you love me, take me to your room and show me how much."

Without a word, Squall leads me to his quarters and takes me into his bed. Clothing is shed and we lay skin to skin atop the covers, drowning in one another's touch. He is every bit the lover I expected him to be, gentle and attentive, strong and patient, sweet and passionate. He takes his time, as if he knows this may be the first and last time we are together.

In his arms I feel safe and complete again, even if it must only be for a little while.



I awaken, some time before dawn, in Selphie's loving arms. Her body's warm against me, her breath hot against my chest. Softly she sighs in her sleep and rolls over, her flawless, smooth back to me. With a restless sigh, I roll over, fitting my body comfortably behind hers. It's reassuring to hear her breathing. It's a reminder that I'm not dreaming. It's also depressing for the same reasons. If this were all merely a dream, the worst I could say was that it was all a terrible nightmare. But it's not. The reality is that Adel is alive, and we have to face her a second time.

Wish it were just a dream.

I am aware that the Garden has stopped moving, meaning we have either reached our destination, or we've broken down. More than likely, we've docked at FH and are awaiting sunrise to depart for Esthar. This isn't exactly a mission I'm going to enjoy, that's for sure.

I can't help but think of Squall. He's going through so much right now. It's no surprise to me that he choked yesterday. Not a surprise at all. Given everything that has happened, I understand his hesitation. It's one thing to assassinate a nameless, faceless adversary charged with crimes and atrocities, but it's another thing when he's the father of someone you love. Even worse if she's the one giving the order. Worse than that, if the target is tied to a chair with no means of defense. I understand that his inability to act was not out of cowardice, but the exact opposite of that: the desire not to become a coward.

And what the hell was Seifer doing there anyway? Came with the Dollet army, yes, fine, great. But how the hell did he anticipate our actions? How had he known we'd be there or what the plan was? It seems terribly coincidental that he just happened to get there first. It's too much to say his anticipation of our plans was mere guesswork. And Rinoa, she seemed thrilled with Seifer's behavior.

She's another story. I don't understand anything about her anymore. How is it possible for someone to go from pure sugar to pure vinegar in a matter of days? Her whole persona has undergone such a drastic change, beginning with her break-up with Squall, that I fear for her sanity a little. The most troubling part about it is that isn't only been a few days since they split.

I can't sleep. It should be easy to sleep here in Selphie's bed, but it's not.

She sighs softly beside me, and I bury my face in her hair. Her hair has always smelled of lemonade, I assume it's her shampoo. Usually, it's a smell I adore, but now smells sickly-sweet and cloying in my nostrils. At the moment, I find the scent nauseating.

I've got to get up and do something other than lay here waiting for dawn.

I dress quickly and write a short note to my beloved so that she doesn't think I've abandoned her in the middle of the night. Sometimes she worries needlessly, but I guess with my past, what girl wouldn't? I leave her with a kiss on the forehead and quietly close the door behind me.

The corridors of Garden are eerily silent around me. I don't know where I'm going, or what I'll do with myself but this is better than just laying there with an itch to do something, anything with these few hours before the sun comes up. I head to the training center, though I'm bored with shooting holes in T-Rexaurs and Grats. But it's better than this annoying restlessness. Being restless makes me irritable. Being irritable makes me foul mouthed and aggressive. And then, Selphie will cast stop on me for acting like a hothead. Don't exactly want to go there. Not today anyway.

After once around the training center, I'm thoroughly bored and wish I could sneak out through the parking garage to find a more interesting variety of monsters. Trouble is, the Garden is sitting in an ocean of water, and the nearest land is miles away.

After wandering aimlessly for another twenty minutes, listening to the echoes of my footsteps against the polished tile, which shatter the silence like gunfire, I still feel restless. This is so pathetic. I'm all pent up and can't sleep, I'm bored out of my mind with nothing to do, and all I can do is wander around like an idiot.

The hell with that. I'm gonna watch the sunrise from the disk in FH.

Once outside, I gaze around. Dawn is on it's way. The horizon is already a lighter shade of blue than the rest of the inky velvet sky. It will be daylight within the hour.

As I walk down the platform, a sudden movement catches my eye. I peer into the distance, more curious than anything and catch sight of a figue on the catwalk ahead dressed in blue and black, an assault rifle slung across it's back. A tri-colored dog wags it's tail in a delightful frenzy at the figure's heel.

Must be Rinoa. I watch as she climbs cautiously down the ladder, leaving Angelo whimpering at the top. It's a pity the dog can't follow her. He's so devoted to her; he goes into a strange doggy depression when she's not around. It's as if he's not complete without her companionship.

Kinda like Squall. I wonder what it is about Rinoa that makes people want to devote themselves to her entirely. I've met her friends in the Forrest Owls. They'd do anything she asked. I'd bet anything that she'd be a great leader, if she wasn't so impulsive and reckless.

I follow her, curious as to what she's up to at this hour. She climbs down an access ladder next to the lift. Guess she can't be bothered to wait for the lift guys to show up. Seems like she's in a terrible hurry to get somewhere.

The breeze blows her hair back from her face in a red-black banner, revealing her pale sullen face to me. Not only has her personality totally changed, but her looks too. She still looks like herself, only her hair color, her eyes and the set of her jaw have changed. Her hair has grown so long, it makes me wonder exactly how many years it would take Selphie to grow hers that way. Two? Three?

At the bottom of the lift, she breaks into a run. She's going somewhere in a big hurry and it's obvious she's going it alone.

Glad for something to do, I follow, eager to figure out what's going on, more out of curiosity than concern for her well being. Though, after what I saw last night, I guess I ought to be worried about her. Everything she's done lately is so uncharacteristic,

I sprint after her when I reach the lower platforms and catch up with her just outside the item shop and motel on the main street. She has paused to load her rifle with bullets and check her remaining supplies.

"Rinoa!" I call, breathing hard as I jog toward her. "What's going on?"

Not taking her eyes off her weapon, she mumbles, "Going to Esthar."

"We're all going, you know," I say, crouching beside her. "Might make sense to wait for the rest of us."

"Gotta get there first," she replies. She sits back on her heels and checks the sight on the rifle, pointing the gun out to sea. She handles it like an expert, impressive even to a seasoned marksman like myself.

"Say, where'd you learn to use that thing?" I ask. I have never once seen her on the firing range with anything but her hand cannon.

"Long time ago. When I was a girl. My father wanted me to be prepared for anything while he was away on business. Always said a general's daughter was a prime target for kidnapping and that I needed to be able to protect myself." she shrugs, her voice dull and flat.

I'm surprised. She's never mentioned much about her childhood other than the occasional outburst when her father got under her skin. That part of her life is a complete mystery to most of us. We know her mother died when she was young, and that her father didn't have time for her, but beyond that, she's never said much. "So why're you going to Esthar without us?"

"Something I've got to do alone," she says, standing. She turns her face to the road ahead. "Maybe if I face her directly, I can make her go away."

"Who, Adel?"

She nods and looks me over for a long moment. "Irvine, could you do something for me?"

"Anything," I reply.

"Tell everyone I'm sorry. I love every one of you like family," she says, a note of sadness in her voice, though her face doesn't betray her inner feelings. It remains hard and emotionless. "I don't want to hurt anyone, really. But I may not be able to stop what's about to happen, and if anyone gets in my way, I may have to do some things I wouldn't normally do."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, now very disturbed. I push my hat back on my head and stare hard at her. I get the feeling I'm not talking to Rinoa anymore, but someone else entirely. There's none of her former warmth in her eyes, the easy smile is gone, and even her voice is a little different, maybe half an octave lower than normal. What the hell is going on here?

"I've got to go, Irvine." she says and turns towards the road ahead. "I'll see you in Esthar."

I watch sullenly as she walks away. I should be running back to Garden to let Squall know she's going, but I don't move until her figure disappears around the bend ahead.

I reach the disk just in time to catch the sun breaking the surface of the horizon. It's glorious the way the sun reflects off the metal panels of the disk below. I am surrounded in orange light as the sun slowly raises into the sky. It is only when it has fully risen from it's watery grave that I return to Garden.

It's time to wake Squall. With a sigh, I knock on the door to his rooms, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire third floor. "Squall, get up!" I call.

When he opens the door, I can see he too has had a sleepless night, though his hair is mussed and his clothes are rumpled as if he's at least had a couple of hours to rest.

"What?" he asks irritably. Judging by his pale face, he's not feeling well. Everything about him droops, his eyes, his arms, his posture.

"Rinoa's gone," I tell him.

"What do you mean gone?" He's more alert now and his posture straightens, though he avoids placing too much weight on his left knee. He glances into the room behind him as if he expected to see her there and then back at me.

"She's gone. Went to Esthar."

"Damn it!" he swears, turning away from the door. "She's gonna get herself killed."

"I don't think that's what you should worry about. She seems pretty adept at taking care of herself," I say. "I'd be more concerned with why she's going alone."

"I can't believe she'd be so stupid," he growls and begins to stuff items into his coat pocket. He hesitates and withdraws a diamond ring from the pocket and eyes it as if he's never seen it before. It's the ring he showed me before, the engagement ring he'd intended to give to Rinoa. His face contorts with rage and he hurls it across the room. It disappears behind the desk.

I'm afraid he might start hurling inanimate objects at me, but instead he sucks in a breath and begins to search the room for something.

"So what are we going to do?"

"You can do whatever you want. I'm going after her,"

"Squall, are you out of your mind?" I ask him.

Holy Hyne. This has turned into another love quest for him. It's not about Adel at all. It's about Rinoa, as it was before. He could care less that a ruthless, power-hungry sorceress has just suddenly reappeared after we thought we defeated her. He could give a damn about that.

And frankly, I could too. If it were Selphie and not Rinoa, I'd feel the same way. But my gut instincts are telling me not to let him go off alone, that we're all doomed without him. That maybe, he's doomed without us.

"Just hang on a minute," I say. "You're not taking off alone. We're going with you."

"You don't understand, Irvine," he says through clenched teeth. "There's more to this than you know."

"Tell me then," I urge, spreading my palms up and taking a seat on the bed. "Enlighten me."

He sighs and again fills his pockets with various items;.a few phoenix downs, potions and the like. I listen quietly to his story, and when he's finished, I have absolutely nothing to say against him going after her. I'd do the same thing if it was my Selphie.

Someone's got to stop Rinoa before she reaches Adel.

Otherwise, we're fucked.


+++++
Notes
+++++

I'm determined to get the rest of this posted so that I can finish Oceans Apart. I'm having to rewrite from chapter 13 on because someone spilled a BEER on the disk the rest of the story was saved. But this is a good thing, since I wasn't liking the turn the story was taking....but as soon as I finish this off, I will start posting new chapters for that particular story.

Thanks for the reviews guys....I appreciate your comments......