Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or its characters. They are ALL copyrighted by Squaresoft. ALL the chapters in this fic follow the same disclaimer!!!! I just own my created characters.
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Chapter 6 – Lost and Found
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"It's been waaay too long for Irvine. We have to go get him NOW!" Zell stammered as he punched the ground hard. "Whether you like it or not, I'm going."
Just as Zell was about to leave, Seifer grabbed his shirt from behind from keeping him from going anywhere.
"What the hell Seifer!? You may not care for him, but don't tempt me!" It was evident in Zell's voice that he was ticked off, and was not going to stop.
By now, Seifer lost all patience whatsoever, and decked his ally to the floor. Zell looked up angrily before getting up and throwing a punch swiftly aimed for Seifer's face. The blond dodged it easily, as he kneed Zell in the gut, who fell to the floor instantly.
"What the………hell is your problem?!" Zell asked, between breaths as he clutched his stomach, getting onto one knee.
Seifer merely rolled his eyes. "You ARE stupid, and here I thought that maybe, just maybe, you might have some common sense in your miniscule mind you have there."
Zell's eyes glowed with anger, as he instantly got up into Seifer's face. "My friend is out there in the unknown. You might let him die, but I'm not. Why the fuck can't you understand that?! He could die!"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." Seifer sneered at him, breathing heavily in Zell's face. "You just rush into things without thinking, not aware of the dangers you might put your pathetic self into."
"I don't give a shit. I'm going." Zell hissed as he began to leave once again, only to be tripped by Seifer's foot.
"I'm not finished speaking, chicken wuss!"
Zell glared at him, but gave Seifer his chance to talk. No matter what he said, he still was going to go.
Seifer eyed Zell for awhile, noticing the determination he had not to be held back. 'Stupid chicken wuss! Of course I care. I don't want anybody to die, but you have to think things through.' The gunblader gave an exasperated sigh, "Look, say you DO go out there and look for your friend. But remember, it's pitch dark out there – you will have NO clue whatsoever of the things……monsters lurking out there, ready to pounce and rip you apart at a second's notice. We don't know one freaking thing about this place. What good would it do to Irvine if you died trying to save him? Huh? Answer me chicken wuss!"
Not being able to keep eye contact with Seifer, Zell looked away into the distance. As much as he hated to admit it, he was right. It was foolish of him to think he could save Irvine in a place he knew nothing about, where he could get hurt as easily as a small child could. There was no way out – Seifer was right.
Shaking his fist angrily, Zell slammed the ground as hard as he could. 'I HATE being able to do nothing. First it was with him, and now Irvine. This sucks!!!!'
The third member of the party kept silent, letting the two blows off whatever steam they had to, but now he had to jump it. "I hate to say it, but Seifer's right, Zell. We should wait till dawn, or whenever the first light shows, and then look for Irvine. And plus, from what I hear, Irvine is completely capable of taking care of himself, am I right?"
The blond gunblader looked curiously at Zack, who spoke unexpectedly. 'Huh? Who would have thought – the sorry excuse of a gunblader is useful after all.'
Being outnumbered two to one, and having his vote slowly changing to the majority, Zell finally gave up his fight. Grudgingly, Zell returned to camp and sat near the fire, not uttering a single word the whole time. Seifer and Zack took a glance towards each other, and for the first time, Seifer smirked. Zack responded with a smile of his own, having relief that he finally could be trusted.
-----*****-----
The dark sky above slowly disappeared and gave way to colors of dim red, yellow and orange, as the sun crawled over the horizon, giving way to a new day of life. This day could be seen as just any ordinary day to any person alive on the planet, but to a select two people, it was not. It certainly was a new day – but a new day not to be faced alone, but with someone else.
The first rays of sunlight crept through the blinds of the dormitory that belonged to a certain commander of the Elite military force known as SeeD. Balamb Garden had chosen to stay in its homelands for the past few months, not sure on what its next destination should be. But any decision made, would be accepted by the students whole-heartedly.
Faint rays of sunlight stealthily sneaked through the blinds, and shined on a select pair of eyes, that fluttered open slowly.
Rinoa tried to cover her eyes, but the light shined right through, prompting herself to wake up then. Slowly, the memories of last night came back to her, and she instantly woke up, looking for her knight.
He was not there.
"No……no……it couldn't be a dream." she whispered out in fear, as she roamed her hands everywhere on the bed, hoping he was just invisible or something. But all she felt was air. Tears now threatened to once again fall from her lovely eyes as she gripped the blanket to her face, inhaling a familiar scent – his scent. "It can't be……"
Just as the first tear was about to drop, she heard a door open. Instantaneously, she whipped her head around, and realized it was the bathroom door opening. And he stepped out.
Squall looked over to Rinoa, who seemed as if she was about to cry again. Frowning, he walked over to her, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Relax, I just went to take a shower. I can't stay smelly all day, can I?" he asked with a small smile forming upon his lips.
Rinoa smiled through her tears as she gently shook her head no, and then hugged him once again, as hard as she could, just to make sure he wasn't a figment of her imagination. When she reopened her eyes once again, he was still there. "Thank you Hyne.'
Her hug took the wind out of Squall, but he managed to hold on, returning the hug just as feverishly. He understood her pain and confusion at the moment – he wanted to reassure her that he was there. He smiled when he saw her smile. 'At least that's over.'
They stood there for a couple of moments, without saying anything, just basking in each other's presence. Something both of them had not done for three years.
Coming back to reality, Squall spoke, "Uh, Rinoa, no offense, but can I now put on my clothes?" he asked rather embarrassingly.
When she looked up, she noticed that all he had on was a towel covering, well, him. Blushing furiously, she nodded quickly, as Squall retrieved his clothes and went back into the bathroom.
Still blushing, Rinoa found herself daydreaming about Squall, and what was under that towel. 'Ah, its not like you haven't seen it before Rinoa! Get a hang on yourself. Dirty thoughts…..STOP!' Rinoa smiled as she let her imagination run along, and widened her smile as time prolonged.
She snapped out of her reverie when the bathroom doors opened once again, revealing Squall. His clothes were definitely worn out, but he had managed to find a clean, white shirt that went underneath his trademark, fur-lined jacket. He still wore the same pants and the necklace of Griever around his neck. His hair was another story.
With his hair still wet from the shower, it hung down off of Squall's head dreamily. Rinoa found herself holding back the urge to just run up to him and kiss him, running her hands through his brown hair.
Finally, she looked at herself and realized she still wore the same clothes as yesterday. "Squall, I'm going to use your shower if you don't mind, and let me warn you. You better not go anywhere while I'm in the bathroom, because if you do………" Rinoa gave a sign as she took her thumb and pretended to slice her neck. Squall gulped, and nodded as Rinoa went past him into the shower. "And no peeking!" she added with a laugh.
Squall smiled warmly. She had finally said a sentence or two normally. That was a good sign. Rinoa was turning to her old self once again. Sighing, he went to sit on his bed, and quickly found himself rethinking the past year.
"Wow!"
"Bahamut, if you don't want to die a horrible death, I suggest you shut up and leave me alone for the time being." Squall quickly commanded.
"Ok, ok. But still……wow." And with that, Bahamut shut himself up, taking his master's threat seriously.
The knight smiled. "Yes, wow." he whispered as thoughts of Rinoa invaded his mind.
Another ten minutes passed before Rinoa emerged from the bathroom, fully refreshed, but wearing the same clothes as the previous day. Smiling brightly, she was walking up to Squall, when a thought quickly ran through her head. "Oh my god!"
"What?" Squall asked quickly as he rushed up to her. "What's wrong?"
Rinoa sat down on the bed, banging her head with the pillow constantly. "I don't believe I forgot!"
Squall frowned as she hit herself. "Just spit it out already. What did you forget?"
"It's Kari's birthday! She turns three today! And I haven't gotten her a gift yet!"
"Who?" the commander asked, totally confused.
She looked up at him, totally shocked. 'He forgot. I can't believe he forgot' At first, she was angry with him, and was about to hit him, when another thought crossed her mind. 'Well, I guess I don't blame him. After all, who knows what he went through the last three years, although I do intend to find out. It was probably hell. And……………oh my god. I just got the PERFECT idea.'
Rinoa slyly stared at Squall as the idea formed in her mind. In order for it to work, everything had to go perfectly. But first, he had to know. "Squall, don't you remember the name. K-a-r-i?" she emphasized, trying to mouth it carefully.
He just looked at her, completely lost. 'Kari? I'm pretty sure I've heard that name before…but where?' Squall folded his arms as he stared to the ground, trying to remember who exactly this girl was. 'Damn! Now I know I've heard it someplace before, but where? It just sounds all too familiar………'
At the same exact moment, a certain memory flooded to the front of Squall's mind.
Rinoa inhaled slowly and exhaled the same way. "Squall…I'm pregnant."
"DAAAAAMN!" was all Squall could think of.
Rinoa looked at him with shock and quickly got up. "What? What is so DAMN about this?" she asked curiously at him.
"What is so Damn, you ask?" Squall replied in anger; he didn't want to, it just came out that way. "Your pregnant! That's what's so DAMN!" he replied, shocked at his own words. "This child is a curse." he quickly added as he reached for his fallen Lionheart blade on the floor.
"SQUALL LEONHART! How DARE you say that!" Rinoa yelled to him. Squall was in shock, but before he could repudiate, she just kept on going. "This child is a blessing! And if for one minute…"
Squall had thought that it was Dragoon's child, and almost leashed out completely in blind rage. Luckily for him, Rinoa had caught upon his wrong conclusion.
"Um, uh………" she started as she slowly walked towards his back.
Once he turned around, she received eyes, once full with compassion for her, now in fierce, deep anger and hatred for Dragoon. "What!?" he asked in anger, not meant for her.
"Uh, umm………" she stuttered.
"Well, spit it out already!" her knight commanded impatiently.
But first she wanted some payback. "Squall, I should slap you at what you just said about our baby. If for one minute…."
"What the hell do you mean, our baby?!" he roared back into the air, not wanting to yell at her.
Rinoa eyes flashed in anger. "You know you idiot!! The one you and I produced!! On that night of the celebration…"
"You………an………and………I?" Squall managed to choke out as he fell back to the ground on his knees.
Squall blinked back to reality but quickly reverted back to his daydream, as another memory reminded him of the facts.
His angel looked into her knight's eyes with confusion. "Kari?"
Squall merely smiled as he lightly kissed her lips. "Yeah, Kari. That's IF the baby is a girl."
He stared at Rinoa in disbelief, as all the evidence he had just witnessed pointed to one thing. Kari was Rinoa's child – his daughter. "I……I…I have a……daughter?" he whispered out in a voice, that if Rinoa was not holding him up, she would have not heard.
His angel merely smiled at him as she helped him over to the bed, where he abruptly sat down, trying to absorb what new information he had found out. "I have a daughter. I can't believe I forgot."
Rinoa rubbed Squall's back tenderly. "It's ok Squall. I understand. But the more important thing right now is that you know that you are a father."
"A father?" Squall asked, as if the word was completely foreign to him.
"Yes." she replied back, shedding tears of joy at the same time. "And now that you know, I got a plan that will reunite both of you."
Squall stared at Rinoa as a small smile crept upon her lips. She had an idea – whether he would like it or not, would be another question. Slowly, she relayed her idea onto Squall, who just nodded his agreement, not really knowing what was happening.
However, when she finished telling her idea, Squall was not completely positive about it. "I don't know Rinoa. What if she……" Squall began to say, but was cut short by Rinoa.
"Relax Squall. I know her, and she'll love it……and you." She gave Squall a quick kiss on the lips before heading to the door. "Well? What in the world are you waiting for? A written invitation. C'mon already!"" she commanded with a mischievous smile, waiting for Squall to move.
He stared at her with a confused gaze, then reluctantly sighed. He got up and decided to follow through with her plan. The only part was, what in the world was he going to do.
-----*****-----
Quistis watched Selphie as she fed Kari gently, giggling with her every now and then. It was the child's birthday today, and there was still no sign of Rinoa anywhere. She was starting to get worried. It was not Rinoa's style to miss out of her only child's special day.
Selphie took a glance at her friend, and sighed. "Look Quistis, I'm sure Rinoa had to do something last night that was pretty important. That's why she left Kari with us. I bet you she'll walk through those doors in the next ten minutes."
The instructor quickly snapped out of her reverie as she nodded with the brunette. "Yeah, I guess I'm worrying over nothing. Well……at least Kari loved our presents. She won't even let go of yours, Selph." Selphie smiled and nodded. What Kari had in her small hands was a small little music box and played various melodies and tunes, including Eyes On Me, which was ironically, Kari's favorite, because she kept on playing it over and over again. Quistis had given Kari a light blue dress that went down to her knees, only to be worn on special occasions. Unfortunately, Kari threw that rule out the window and had it on now.
"Where's mommy?" the child asked suddenly.
"Don't worry Kari. She said she had to do something. She'll be here soon." Selphie replied cheerfully, giving the child another spoonful of cereal.
"Kay Aunty Sephy. I can't wait to see her present. I know it will be the best!" Quistis and Selphie smiled, agreeing with her.
Another couple of minutes passed when Quistis finally spotted Rinoa entering the cafeteria. The instructor smiled as she waved over to her friend, who was looking around a bit. For some odd reason, she went back around the corner, only to come back a minute later. 'Hmm, I wonder what that was for?'
Finally, the girl in blue walked over to the table cheerfully……a little too cheery for her. "She seems to be in a very good mood today." Quistis whispered over to Selphie.
"Duh! It's Kari's birthday." the brunette replied in a matter-of-factly tone.
However, the instructor was not convinced, but shrugged it off as her imagination.
"Happy Birthday, baby!" the mother exclaimed joyfully as she ran over, opening her arms for a hug.
"MOMMY!" Kari yelled as she ran over to her mother, accepting the hug. Rinoa was raining kisses over Kari's face, when the official three-year-old was getting impatient. "Mommy, my present please!" she asked as she extended her arms, waiting for something to be placed into her hands.
Rinoa pouted. "Already? I was hoping to go to Balamb for a fun day, and then give you your present later."
"No no no no no no no no! I want it nooooow." Kari exclaimed in a tantrum.
Rinoa smiled brightly as she gave a quick wink to Quistis and Selphie, both who were confused on why she just did that. "Ok baby." By this time, the crowd in the cafeteria had oddly turned their attention towards them, waiting to see what Rinoa got for Kari this year. Last year, the young mother drove into the cafeteria with a miniature power wheel car. It was a very funny sight to behold.
"Now Kari. I want you to look over there, at the entrance. Keep looking, and I will be back with your present."
"It's THAT big?" Kari asked in awe.
Rinoa thought a bit. "Umm….yep. Now be a good girl and wait patiently for just one more minute." Kari nodded fiercely as she watched her mother go around the corner once again.
"What do you think it is?" Quistis asked Selphie.
"Maybe it's a…………pony! Wouldn't that be super cool, Quisty."
"Perhaps…" the instructor replied dryly. 'What could it be?'
All eyes had turned towards the entrance and Rinoa had finally appeared once again, pulling on something that couldn't be seen from any angle by anyone.
"Wow, if she's having that much difficulty with it, it has to be a pony. What better thing could it be?" Selphie asked curiously. Quistis rolled her eyes and continued watching Rinoa struggle with whatever it was.
Finally, it happened. Rinoa fell down to the floor and brought something down along with her. Quickly, the figure got up, and that's when everybody, especially Quistis and Selphie stood shocked. The figure was a person, but his back was facing them, concealing his face. Rinoa had laughed suddenly as she gave the figure a hug.
The figure turned around………
………and everybody held their breath.
"Squall?"
-----*****-----
"Finally! Daybreak! About time." Zell said as he stretched. "YO! Seifer! Zack! Get your lazy asseeezz…………"
Seifer had cut him off. "We were up over an hour ago. You're the one who slept in, chicken wuss!"
Zell glared at Seifer, and pleadingly looked for help at Zack, who had backed away with his hands up. "Sorry Zell. But you can't go against fact."
The martial-artist slouched in defeat. "Great, two on one."
"Did you already forget about Irvine?" the blond gunblader asked in a hurry. "Cuz if you did, that'd be a real shame."
"Hell NO! We got to go and look for him now! If he hasn't come back yet, something is definitely up, and he must have found something………something dangerous."
Seifer rolled his eyes as he quickly cleaned up camp, leaving no trace that there even was a camp. "Ok, let's move out."
Nobody seemed to be questioning Seifer's commands, and Zell and Zack nodded, heading towards the end of the ruined village.
The three men walked silently, eyes shifting in every direction imaginable, looking out for anything remotely out of the ordinary.
Suddenly, a crack-like sound reached their ears, both Seifer and Zack unsheathing their gunblades, and Zell with his fists up.
"Any ideas on what it might be?" Zell asked in a whisper.
Hordes of orc-like monsters seemed to arise from every single spot imaginable. They kept sprouting up, until Zell roughly estimated nearly fifty of them. Neither monster nor human moved an inch, waiting for the other to make the first move. When Zell eyed one of the monsters picking up its feet, he unleashed a power Firaga spell towards it.
"Lets…get…it…OOONNN!"
Author's Notes: Hey readers. Yeah, I know. I'm late in updating, and I'm sorry for you guys who were anxiously awaiting to see what happens next. I know how you feel.
Anyway, here is the next installment. There is more Squall - Rinoa fluff in this chapter. But I'll be warning you readers that the next few chapters, the story will get more deep, and the evil forces will arise from the shadows more, and stuff like that. I haven't exactly planned out what's going to happen, but it'll be good. But don't worry, Squall/Rinoa relationship will still be there.
I'd like to thank your patience and reviews! It has helped me a lot. I will promise to try to update a bit faster, but that all depends on inspiration and me not getting writer's block. As always, LEAVE A REVIEW! ^_^ Thanks.
Until next chapter!