Disclaimer: Not mine!
A/N: Exams are over lalala OVER!!! I finally found out the word for the funny-looking building I wrote in chapter 3!!!! Yippee! It's an arch…right?...RIGHT??? Or maybe arc. I think I have dilly-dallied long enough. Time for Squall and Rinoa to meet face to face. So here goes.
(italics) - Squall's thoughts
"(italics)" - the voice that constantly irks Squall's thoughts.
'italics' - Rinoa's thoughts
**I know it may be confusing but please bear with me.**
HUGE thank you to:
Tw1light
FFgal
Evan's Rinoa
XxPhoenix BladexX
Absinthe Faerie
Seifer's Incarnate
Natsu
Jessi3
I feel so loved! XD
Chapter 4 – Lost Hope
Rinoa slammed the door shut as quietly as she could but a bit too fast. Her father's voice heard this and inquired.
"Who's was that, dear?"
"Ummm.....just some salesman."
"Alright. How do I look? Do I look formal enough?"
"Dad, you always look formal!"
"(chuckle) Guess you're right...Things have changed a lot since I got this post...and met Julia." His face darkened and turned grim as he recalled the painful memory years ago.
"...It's okay, dad. It wasn't your fault."
"I could have protected her....but I didn't..I just let her...." Caraway quickly straightened himself up, shaking his head, "Well, got to look good for the council. Don't want a bad impression. I better be off now. I...might be late tonight."
"Yes!!" Inside, Rinoa leapt for joy.
"Get some good sleep, you hear?"
Rinoa plastered on a crooked smile, excitement at the brink of bursting within, until she heard the door close.
Her father's previous subject made Rinoa think of her past; the tragedy that had fallen upon her late mother, Julia, when she was still a mere child of four, too young then to appreciate a mother's love.
In just a split second, she had lost her only mother in a road accident. *At least that was what she had been told.* Her father had tried to explain to her that mama had left them to go to a far off place in the beautiful skies above. It was only a few years later was she told the terrible truth. Her only memory of her was the song she had always sung her to sleep. Melodious, sweet yet sad.
Since then, she had devoted herself to finding the culprit who had escaped unharmed during the calamity and inserted this as a minor objective in the operation. However, her efforts were useless. Locating the person responsible was next to impossible. They had no head start whatsoever on whoever it was.
Shoving the thought out of her mind, she concentrated on what should be important then. Making sure that her father had left the compounds, she got herself ready to meet with 'him'.
***
This is gonna be the 'most intriguing' event in my life…not.
A slight push and the letter was slipped under the door of '761'. First phase complete. Selphie and Irvine had fun fixing Squall up and giving him pointers on how to impress Rinoa.
"Blah..blah blah.." Talk, talk, talk
"Blabber blabber.." Just leave me alone!!
"…And when you kiss her, you have to-.." What the…?
"I'M NOT GONNA KISS HER!!!" shouted Squall, forcing Selphie and Irvine to take a step back.
"…yet!" added Selphie, with a cheeky smile.
The sun had already set . Deling City now appeared like the night city it was meant to be. Street lamps lit the entire city and nylon lights began their glittery dance on signboards and advertisements. At last, he made it to the acknowledged junction and waited dreadfully for his prey.
Unfortunately, both of Selphie and Irvine were obviously too busy with their own business, they didn't notice the blonde traipsing happily past them, whistling a tune.
Meanwhile, Squall was standing lazily, looking like he'd rather fight off monsters right then. To make up for his lack in social skills, and not to mention deafness, he had extremely good eyesight and curse them, spotted Rinoa in a moment. She was in her white dress, picking out her shapely figure well; her hair gently flowing with the light city breeze. Crap. She's five minutes earlier. Alright, Irvine. I'll try it your way. I'll murder you if it doesn't work.
"Hey." Ugh, this is not me.
"Hi. You're not those kind of perverts roaming the streets, are you?"
I shouldn't have gone on this assignment. I should have forced Irvine into doing this.
"Hello?"
Maybe I should go get him right now. But that means I'll be depending on others. Soon, I'll get too used to it and let my guard down. No! I won't surrender. I won't run.
"Excu-use me??"
Squall broke away from his own world for a few seconds and focused on the girl in front of him. What are you looking at? You want to make friends with a pervert? Go find Irvine.
"You know, I saw three peculiar-looking people standing outside the door this afternoon." Damn, she saw us. "Don't worry," she continued, noting the boy's sudden change in expression. "I was just looking out for the messenger when you guys showed up. I recognized you from that scar."
"Oh." Why'd you trust us, then?
"...You know, my boyfriend has an almost similar one.." Oh.
"..." Squall remained quiet and folded his arms. "...Yeah. I know.."
"Of course you do. Who would forget that fateful day?" came Seifer's voice from behind, taking Squall unawares.
"You know each other?" inquired Rinoa.
"Yeah, he's sorta like my 'best buddy'. Recently gave me this he did," remarked Seifer, pointing to a clearly visible bruise on his left cheek, just below the eye. Squall felt Rinoa's soft eyes before turn into a laser-like glare and countered with his famous own. You wanna have a contest?
She landed a slap on Squall's face though it didn't hurt at all. She seemed like she wanted to say something but swallowed it down. Instead, she pouted and gave Squall a kick in the shin.
"Yo, Rinoa. It's alright. Wait here a moment. Squall and I need to talk," said Seifer, pulling the brunette a few steps away to stay out from ear contact, secretly pinching the latter enjoyably all the way.
"See her? With my dazzling charm, I was able to attract this beautiful thing you can only dream of." Sorry, not interested. "Remember the romantic dream I've always told you about?" You're making her sound like some prize. "Squall, Squall, you pitiful boy. We have always competed and gone against each other since we met. But now, I've won. This is something you can never beat me at." The taller one stalked off, clearly content with his triumph.
Whatever. There's no point staying here.
All of a sudden, there was a cry of terror from the rear. "Rinoa? Rinoa! Where are you?!"
Squall's eyes widened, a rush of anxiety sweeping through his body. Oh no!
He looked up and saw immediately saw the base of a helicopter taking off. A rope ladder was still hanging from its sides and dangling from it was Seifer. What's he smiling about?
He quickly made his move, dashed and stretched his hand as far as he could go.
Missed. Damn!
He landed hard on his foot, spraining his ankle a little. But he didn't care. Eyeing a blue Camaro, he leaped into the driver's seat and raced off after the helicopter.
***
"Umph!"
"Stop fidgeting or I'll pummel you!"
"…"
She couldn't see. Everything was so dark. Also the fact that she was blindfolded and gagged with both her hands tied behind her back. She could hear heavy breathings coming from every corner, shuffling sounds and silence again. The air was damp and cold, her back leaning against something of the similar texture.
After a long wait, she heard a voice. "We'll be there in three minutes time. Prepare for the jump."
'Jump?! What jump??'
"Get your parachutes, people!"
"Sir, we're one parachute short!"
"We're not."
"But, the girl…sir?"
"Ah, her. We were simply ordered to escort her to the destination at the appointed time. We weren't told how."
"Then,.."
"We'll just throw her off like all other excess cargo."
"But, we were told not to harm her, sir."
"I've prearranged a rather soft landing for her a little distance from the warehouse. If we time it right, she should land there, safe and sound. And if we don't…well, you know."
"…Yes, sir."
Rinoa, scared stiff, felt a pair of hands lifting her up from her spot. 'No! Get your hands off me!' She began kicking her legs forcefully into the air blindly, determined to escape somehow. A ray of hope shone amidst the darkness as she felt her foot come in contact with something warm and hard, probably the chin.
"Ow! This girl's really getting on (Oof!) my nerves! Ack! Here! Have.a.nice.trip!"
But that ray immediately went out as the arms left her and in its place, the chilly air enfolded her. The remaining people on board the flying vessel cackled in satisfaction as they heard the girl's terrified scream growing fainter and fainter until she disappeared from view.
Death was her closest companion now. In just a few more seconds, she would be nothing but a squashed watermelon on the solid ground below. It was natural, though, to think like this. She thought of how her father would react – having losing a wife and now to suffer once more over the death of his only daughter. It would be too much for him.
She didn't bother to make an effort to save herself. After all, the sky is limitless. It has no boundaries. There was nothing she could possible cling onto, except maybe the soft clouds wooshing past her every two milliseconds. As if that would help much. Her only regret was that she never said goodbye to her loved ones. The opportunity was always there but now it was too late. 'Everyone…I'm sorry..'
She closed her eyes, wind washing over her face
..and felt the icy cold water.
A/N: Yay! I updated earlier than expected. Hehee! If you wanna know what happens next, you gotta read the next chapter! Rinoa still doesn't know the whole truth and in the next chapter (hopefully), she'll find out. So, please don't give up on this story just yet!