Disclaimer: Uhm … I was supposed to do this disclaimer in Spanish but I don't know how. I still don't own SquareEnix by the way.
EpilogueThe handsome man stood on the edge of the small fishing boat, overlooking the vast ocean that surrounded him. The sun was just rising over the horizon, the seagulls swarmed near the port, and the salty air whisked across his face and ruffled his hair. He breathed in and sighed deeply. He loved this. Everything: the sea, the puffy clouds, the cooling breeze. There was something about Winhill that blew his mind away.
And yet it had nothing to blow anything. It was calm, peaceful. Everything that Deling City seemed to lack. The few economical activities were the ruins nearby that attracted tourists, fishing, mining and the odd farming activity. That was all. Life was as simple as the first letter of the alphabet. There could be no complications.
"Hey, Leonheart! What the Hell are you doing?" Zell's voice asked from the deck, "What the Hell are you doing?" Squall rolled his eyes and jumped down from the side of the ship.
"Trying to calm down," Squall explained sarcastically, "But I suppose with you on board, that's impossible." He shoved Zell, not knowing his strength, and sending him crashing to the floor, "Oops …" He smirked and continued past him.
"That wasn't very nice." A tall man sitting on a wooden crate commented, and tipped his cowboy hat upwards, "But then again … that whole 'caring' thing was never really you." He joked slightly and continued unknotting the fishing nets, "I wonder how you even managed to date a wonderful woman such as Rinoa."
"Ah shaddup, Kinneas." Squall pouted, "My wife isn't nice or caring. She pretends to be." He defended his cause valiantly, "And keep your eyes off her, got that?" He growled additionally. Kinneas chuckled lightly.
"Quit playing around!" The captain waved his hands in the air in frustration, "I tell you boys over and over that fishing is a morning job and we leave late every goddamn day! Hurry the Hell up! Blessed, bruised virgin, will ya hurry up?"
"Yes, Herman. We're hurrying, we're hurrying." Squall drawled sarcastically, pulling up the anchor slowly and dropping it on the floor, "Let's go catch some fishies."
***
"You aren't sick." Rinoa looked at her son for the hundredth time that morning but by now it was too late. Riana had already embarked the school bus and had long entered the halls of the local school.
"I am!" Alex coughed over and over again to prove his point but it only earned him a skeptical look from his mother, "I had fever on Monday!"
"Yes … however, today is Friday." Rinoa reminded him casually from the other side of the counter, "You're such a faker!" She pointed and accused crossly.
Alex shrugged, "I'm not. And grand-ma told me you used to fake all the time when you were my age." The boy stuck out his tongue and gave her a satisfied look.
Rinoa had decided to take the boy to work today. Friday was always a busy day for people checking into the inn for the weekend. Upon their arrival in Winhill, her father had opened an inn and a bar. Both were connected to each other and she had mooched herself a job. She had grown restless and couldn't stay at home doing nothing. They had also hired another girl to help out in the afternoon and her and Rinoa had soon become friends.
Alex sat on the opposite side of the wooden counter just looking at his mother waiting for her response. "Yeah, well I had a good reason to fake." She lied and spotted a customer enter the inn. He walked over to the check-in counter.
"Hello. Reservations under Ken Avery." He flashed a smile. Rinoa typed in his name in the computer and spotted his name. She looked up to him and noticed his facial features. He wasn't bad looking. Under thirty … blondish red hair, cut short and spiked with gel. He was well built, a nice tan.
She smirked, "Right.
Staying here till Thursday." He
had reserved a room with a kitchenette, a non-smoking room, cable TV, one
double bed. She opened the third drawer
to her right that was divided into ten compartments. She picked up the keys for room '33' and handed them to him,
"Have a nice stay."
"I'm here to write an article about cod fishing in Winhill." The guy stuck
around and Alex couldn't help glaring at him.
The man didn't notice him at all, "I'm a journalist … from Timber."
"Un huh …" Rinoa replied uninterestedly, "There are no cod
in Winhill … I think you mean haddock.
But in any case, you'll probably be working with my boyfriend."
She added nonchalantly, taking immense pleasure in the disappointed face that
now sported the Mr. Ken Avery.
"Yes. That's probably it." He replied
and his face soon took on the smug look again, "Well … I'll be going off to room
33." He stressed on his room number as if he was expecting her to remember
it for some later use.
"Yes … room 33." Rinoa repeated dully, "Have fun."
"Sorry, how exactly do you get to room 33?" The man was
about to walk away but another plan had formulated in his head, "Could you
accompany me to it, I've never stayed here before and …"
"Ok, listen. The stairs are right
there." Rinoa pointed in annoyance, "I'd really love to go with you but my son
isn't feeling very well. He suffers
from amathophobia. If I leave him alone
for thirty minutes-uh I mean, five seconds, he might spot a speck of dust and
completely flip out. So just follow the
stairs … room 33 is on the third floor.
There are only ten rooms on each floor so it can't be that complicated
to find it."
"Yeah, plus my father might be here soon so you can ask him where room 33 is and I promise you'll fly into it. Faster than a NASA aircraft." Alex glared at him menacingly.
Ken Avery backed off slightly and headed towards the stairs silently. Rinoa smirked, "Bye bye …" She muttered, "Good riddance."
"What's amathophobia?" Alessandro asked curiously after the
man was out of earshot.
Rinoa bit the inside of her mouth not to laugh, "It's the … uh … fear of
dust." She admitted hesitantly.
"Thanks mom, thanks a lot. Make me look metal, why don't you." Alex muttered angrily and pouted.
"Quit being a baby … it's an actual condition." Rinoa played with the chain at her neck and leaned backwards on the wall, "I mean … you're clinophobic."
"What is that?" Alex asked in exhasperation.
"You seem to have this fear of going to bed." Rinoa joked, "It takes half and hour to pull you, kicking and screaming, into your bedroom. Another hour is sacrificed into convincing you to get your pajamas on … and by then you're father and I are so sick and tired of hearing you scream that we let you watch TV for twenty minutes and then another half hour of Hellish yells when we try to get you to bed again."
"Ha ha …" Alex laughed sarcastically and pressed the matter no further.
The day passed on without any strikingly interesting events. The short, young employee bounced in at approximately one thirty in the afternoon, bursting with energy, "Hi Rin! Alex? What are you here for?"
"He's faking sick." Rinoa explained. Alex glared at her. "Does Danny ever do that to you, Selphie?"
"Yeah, but I'm not nice enough to fall for it." Selphie smiled and pranced
behind the counter, she looked at Alex and smiled, "Your mother's either really
merciful or really stupid …"
"And it's not the latter!" Rinoa snapped before Alex could even open his mouth.
"Yeah, well she's certainly not merciful." Alex pouted and Rinoa glared at him.
"Don't give me attitude or I'll break your nose." She threatened him with a shaking fist and he looked at her unbelievingly.
"Yeah … right. And
I'll call social services."
"Good riddance." Rinoa smirked.
"HEY!" He cried in protest, offended, "You're mean."
Riana arrived at the inn at 3:30 p.m. with Selphie's son and daughter, Danny and Sabrina. It was five o'clock when both Selphie and Rinoa headed into the kitchens and began to prepare dinner. The conversation strayed and wandered until Selphie introduced a new topic out of the blue, "Hey, I never asked you before … what's your story?" Rinoa stared at her, perplexed, "Oh come on … no one comes to Winhill willingly. There's always a reason. What're you running away from?"
"I'm not running from anything." Rinoa stated firmly, "And I'd really rather discuss something else." Selphie smiled slightly, "What?"
"Well … it's kind of obvious that you and Squall have quite a history." Selphie admitted in a small voice, "I mean … you're people of many memories … scars." She looked to see Rinoa's facial expression that remained stoic. "I mean … a cut on the palm of your hands with a perpendicular, shorter ones … that show up on the top of your hand like something was stabbed through … it's not that hard to miss."
"I figured as much." Rinoa murmured and continued stirring the pasta in the huge pot that was set on the stove.
"You don't have to tell me, I guess." Selphie added quickly, "It's personal I guess … you know, I used to live in Deling. Got involved with a certain Phillip Charles … biggest mistake of my life." Rinoa froze and dropped the wooden spoon on the floor. She picked it up quickly as if nothing was and told Selphie to go on. The young girl started again hesitantly, "His father … was a power hungry gentleman who wanted the president dead and when Phillip got … uh … killed … I was taken to an agency of some sort … secret government organization." Selphie stopped, "You probably think I'm on drugs."
Rinoa laughed nervously, "Oh yeah, who's ever heard of such a thing?"
"Are you ok?" Selphie asked worriedly, "You're shaking."
"Yeah … no." Rinoa inhaled and exhaled rhythmically, "I'm fine. Look, Selphie … I know exactly what you're talking about but I'd rather stray from the subject. Maybe that agency helped you … but it made life Hell for me."
"Yeah … it did help me." Selphie nodded, "It's kind of thanks to them that I got out of the mess that inexperienced teenagers usually get themselves in."
"It's not all bad if you're an outsider." Rinoa declared softly, "It's when you're part of the gang that it's a bitch. Whatever. It's over now."
Squall and the whole fishing crew arrived at six. They ordered beer and everyone reunited around the bar area for a good supper. It was some sort of Friday ritual that had begun when Squall and Rinoa had moved here and Caraway had opened his inn.
"Hey, Rinoa … I was wondering …" Zell put an arm around her
shoulders, "I mean, I just want to let you know that if Squall ever …"
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Squall roared angrily.
"Yeah, get away from me!" Rinoa agreed and pushed him off, "And don't you have a girlfriend anyways? What about that girl who works at the library?" He blushed and turned away.
"Mommy … Can I go sleepover at Sabrina's?" Riana asked over a glass of orange juice.
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask Selphie and Irvine first." Rinoa reminded her.
Selphie overheard and stepped in, "No, ask me. I'm the boss. Irvine holds no power." Irvine shook his head and mouthed 'Not true …' in the background, "And yes, you may come. Actually, Alex can come too!" Alex who had been playing cards with Danny looked up.
"Oh yeah! Please?" He looked at his mother hopefully.
"No!" Rinoa protested to his puppy-faced looks, "What is this? You're supposed to be sick! If you're going to fake, fake it properly!"
Alex sulked but turned towards his father, "Hey dad, can I go sleepover at Danny's?"
Squall, who hadn't been paying attention shrugged, "Yeah, sure, I don't see a problem."
"Squall!" Rinoa yelled accusingly, "Your son woke up this morning, stating that he wasn't feeling well and you told me to let him miss school, which was a complete act in the first place because now he's asking you if he could go sleepover at a friend's house. The very same boy who moaned in pain this morning because he didn't want to go to school!" Squall shrugged and Rinoa groaned in annoyance, "Ok, forget it. Do what you want. This is incredible."
It was later in
that evening that everyone went back home, sobering up first with a
coffee. Rinoa and Squall returned home
alone. Squall unlocked the front door
and flicked on the light in the main hall, "You're pissed at me?"
"Yes!" Rinoa replied without the slightest hesitation.
"Why?" Squall gave her the puppy eyes that she was so used to having from her son. Now she knew whom Alessandro got it from.
"Because you're making him think that he can get away from anything and get everything he wants!" Rinoa snapped, "Not to mention that you didn't take out the garbage this morning!"
"I'm sorry! I just forgot!" Squall groped for an excuse
in vain.
"Oh, just shut up!" She started up the stairs towards the second floor. He sighed and followed after her.
"Come on, you can't
be pissed at me forever." Squall declared hopefully, following her into the
bathroom where she had begun to take off her watch and earrings.
"No, but I can be pissed at you for tonight.
A Friday night.
And tomorrow too … and for an entire month if it so pleases me, Squall
Leonheart, because unfortunately for you, I don't have the same amount of
testosterone as you do!"
He cringed slightly, "Yeah … I know. I
can tell. I've lived with you for long
enough."
"Thirty whole entire days, how will you survive?" She was now beginning to enjoy paining him, "Even worse … I could exile you to the couch."
"Rinoa …" Squall whined and his shoulders stooped, "This isn't really fair."
"720 hours, 43200 minutes, 2592000 seconds!" A faint smile was beginning to appear on Rinoa's face, "What're you gunna do, Squally, what're you gunna do?"
Squall looked as if to be concentrating really hard and then he smirked, "Jack off."
She stuck out her tongue in repulsion, "You're disgusting."
"I'm kidding … but so were you, right?" Squall asked confidently, "Right? You'd never do something like that to me, right? The whole 720 hours thing without … Rinoa? Right?" She failed to answer. "Rinoa??"
"Maybe." She admitted and pushed Squall out of the bathroom, "Maybe not."
"Hey, what're you doing?" Squall asked as she closed the door in his face.
"Changing into my pajamas." She replied through the closed and locked door.
"And you never thought it would maybe be considerate to ask me if I'd like to watch?" He asked jokingly but she didn't reply right away.
There was a thirty-second interval and then she asked, "You wanna watch?"
Sensing the opportunity, Squall played around with the doorknob, "Yeah, I kinda do."
"Too bad." She replied and his face fell. She stepped out of the bathroom in her sleeping wear and he caught her before she could make her way to the bed, "Hey, I'm not as mean as you. I'll let you watch me while I get change. Actually … you can even change me yourself. A hands on thing." He smirked.
"Ha ha …" She laughed sarcastically but surprisingly took up on his offer. She pulled off his shirt over his head and kissed him softly on the lips, "Goodnight, baby …" She reached for his pillow and handed it to him, "On the couch."
"You're kidding?" He looked absolutely horrified.
"I don't know. Does it look it?" She looked absolutely serious.
"Rinoa …" He whimpered and his eyes were those of a beaten puppy's, "I love you …"
"So?" She asked as if the question of love had absolutely nothing to do with it.
"You're kidding …" Squall proclaimed uncertainly. To make sure he kissed her, deepening the kiss while wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her body closer to his. It was an assertive way of unmasking her intentions.
She pulled away because she was bubbling with laugher, "Yeah, well thank God." Squall concluded.
"Oh yeah, the look on your face was priceless." She laughed at his frown. He didn't look too amused at the fact that he had been played with, "You looked sadder than a child who just broke his toy." He pouted and flicked off the light.
"Whatever."
A normal life. A normal couple. Despite their attempts, their experiences keep them from really living the typical lifestyle of a normal family. It's impossible. But they can still try. They can still have a future. They can still look past the blood, the shattered dreams, the untimely deaths. They can still live beyond it all.
Sabam: IT'S MOFO OVER! YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAW! Ok, well, I had to end on a light-hearted note so… that was it. YAY! Ok … just … review or I'll find out where you live, ok? Oh, did everyone get the connection between Rinoa, Selphie and Phillip Charles? Phillip Charles was the son of Mr. Charles that was mentioned at the beginning. It's insinuated that Rinoa and Squall probably killed Phillip and his father, thus saving Selphie from whatever trouble she was in. I know it's not clear but you have to be observant. Anyways, review!
Biology Note: Men have more testosterone than women, thus making them crave sexual relations more often than women. Poor, poor Squall … Of course, this biology rule has some exceptions to it. I'm not a doctor so don't ask me to explain any of this further.