Well, Square didn't sell me the rights to FFVIII yet. I guess they must have something against duct tape.

I Forgot Your Name

By Kupo

Chapter Five: Too Much Noise

--On The Road

Squall slowed the car as he turned onto his street. It was a gorgeous car, bought for him by Rinoa on his 18th birthday. She had given it to him telling him to "go fast, go slow, go anywhere, just love it" and he did. It was the one thing he consistently broke rules because of. There was little he enjoyed more than slamming through the gears as fast as he could on the way to work. Squall glanced into the rear-view mirror. He felt a little like a chauffeur, as Zell and his date had decided to sit in the back of the car together.

Thank Hyne they're behaving themselves

He pulled up in front of the house. There were lights on in every room and many people visible through the windows. There were even some guests hanging around in the backyard, chatting with beverages in their hands.

"Hey you two... time to get going" he announced to the backseat of the car. He exited the car and leaned against it's shiny black exterior. Squall glanced at Zell and he passed and Zell paused. Squall made a slight motion, touching his finger to the corner of his own mouth, and Zell quickly wiped away the smudge of lipstick that had appeared own his own. Squall smiled slightly as he watched them walk in.

Time to go be the host...

As he walked into the house, he tried to formulate answers to some of the questions which he thought he might be asked out loud. "We were frightened but we knew he had a job to do... Time compressions makes you forget everything, you need someone else to remember who you are or you fade... Nono, it was a matter of choice..." Taking a deep breath, he pasted a larger-than-normal smile on his face and opened the door.

--The House, Living Room

Selphie was running about, refilling drinking here, chatting there, trying to keep everyone happy and things flowing smoothly.

This is more work than I bargained for!

She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped, turning too quickly and spilling her tray of newly-refilled wine glasses all over the person standing there.

"Matron!! I'm so so sorry!" Selphie squealed. "Let me get that for you! Oh Hyne!" Edea smiled softly and held up a hand.

"Selphie dear, don't fuss about it. Just give me a cloth and I'll dry it off." Selphie nodded and handed her a small hand towel. "You see, the good thing about wearing black is that its almost impossible to stain," she added with a wink. Selphie smiled back in return and gestured to a chair in the kitchen.

"Would you like to sit down while you dry that off?" she asked, and Edea nodded.

"So dear, tell me what you have been up to lately. Not too many wild parties, living here unsupervised, I hope?"

"No Matron, of course not anything like that!" Selphie replied, winking and sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. "But..." she began, and then hesitated. When Edea leaned forward and gestured for Selphie to go on, she complied. "... but we're a little worried about Rinoa. She's been acting kind of strange lately."

"How so, Selphie?" Edea asked with a slight concerned frown.

"Well you see, she's been, I dunno, losing time lately. Today she got really mad at Quisty and I, like she didn't even know who we were, but later on she didn't even remember that it had happened."

"Yes, and she just had a bit of an incident in her bedroom," added Quistis, walking into the kitchen holding several empty wine glasses. "She said she dropped a little ceramic dish, but I know for a fact that she must have thrown it at the wall... I don't understand what's wrong with her..."

Edea nodded slowly. "I see... I think I shall have a talk with Rinoa tonight..."

Quistis and Selphie offered small smiles to their matron, feeling somewhat guilty for telling Rinoa's problems, but more relieved that a person of more experience had offered to help. Selphie nodded as she stood up, smoothing her dress and refilling the wine glasses. On her way out the door she added hopefully "It's probably nothing anyway..."

--The House, Living Room

Rinoa smiled as she saw Squall enter the house. She could tell from great experience that he became instantly uncomfortable as guests surrounded him with questions and compliments. The smile she could tell he had been faking began to slip as he fought the urge to simply walk away from them all.

He's trying so hard... It's sweet

She waved when he glanced towards her side of the room, and his eyes met hers. With a relieved smile he excused himself from the group and made his way towards her. Rinoa felt herself flush as he took one of her hands and quickly brought it to his lips.

"Everything looks wonderful, Rinoa. You girls did a great job."

Rinoa leaned forward a bit and confessed "I didn't do too much of it... I was a little... tired...."

Worry creased Squall's face for a moment, and Rinoa tensed. She didn't want to have to explain the feeling that had overtaken her in her bedroom shortly before. He seemed to hover on the fence a moment, but then let it go.

"You look beautiful, you know?" He said softly. Rinoa bowed her head a bit, pleased with the compliment. Squall leaned closer, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he whispered in her ear, "But you'd look beautiful in anything... or nothing..."

Rinoa was so surprised she almost dropped her glass of champagne. She punched him playfully on the arm and whispered back "Well... we'll just have to wait and see, won't we, Mr. Leonhart?"

"Oh damn," Squall said, mostly to himself. Rinoa looked in the direction he was staring and saw Headmaster Cid motioning for the pair to join him and a bunch of stuffy-looking diplomats. He glanced down at Rinoa and said with a small smirk "I'll deal with them, you stay here and I'll be back in five..." and winked at her before walking towards Cid and his group of guests.

Rinoa leaned back against the wall, enveloped in a haze of love and champagne. Putting down her glass, she wrapped her arms around herself and was content to relax and listen to the buzz of conversation all around her.

It's nice to be unnoticed for once... Being famous is overrated

"Rinoa!!!" called a voice from across the room. A girl who looked vaguely familiar pointed at her from across the room and motioned for her to stay there. As she crossed the room a group of about fifteen people followed her. As they surrounded her, smiling and armed with questions about sorceresses and time compression, she began to feel cornered.

Everything is so loud... Be quiet...

Rinoa looked around for an opening, hoping to beat a quick retreat, but she knew she'd be followed and eventually questioned over and over about the most stressful and life-changing event of her life.

I hate this.. leave me alone, I'm normal...

The guests around her noticed her panicked look and began to ask her if she was OK, if she needed to sit down, to get a drink of water, to get some fresh air, to eat something, to go someplace, to--

Why can't you all just SHUT UP!!!!

Every single wine glass in the room burst into millions of pieces.

Rinoa put a hand to her mouth. All eyes in the room were turned towards her and she felt completely naked. After a couple of moments of uncomfortable silence, murmurs of conversation rippled through the room. Squall was looking at her with a pained and worried expression, but she motioned for him to stay where he was. Breathing heavily as she fought her tears of embarrassment and confusion, she slowly exited the living room and walked out onto the porch, softly closing the glass door behind her.

--The House, Kitchen

"Well, we won't have to cook anything else for days!" Zell remarked as he, Squall and Irvine surveyed the living room. His half-hearted attempt to lighten the moods of the other men fell on deaf ears: Within five minutes of "the incident", which everyone had found convenient ways not to mention, the house was empty. Glass littered the floor, but the tables were still covered with plates of all sorts of food, barely sampled before all the guests had left.

Quistis entered the room carrying two dustpans and a broom. She smiled softly at Zell and handed him one of the pans. "Sweep..." she said as she brushed a loose strand of blonde hair from her eyes.

Selphie walked into the room from the kitchen, her fancy dress shoes dangling from one hand. She plopped onto the couch, and Irvine joined her a moment later. She leaned into his as her wrapper his arm around her shoulders. "At least I can finally take these darn shoes off..." She said to him as she closed her eyes to rest.

Squall frowned. He knew that he friends were trying their best to ignore what had happened, for his sake if not for Rinoa's. He ran a hand through his hair, and stood in front of everyone. As they glanced up he took a deep breath.

"Listen, I know you're trying your best, but I'm just going to come right out and say it. Something's wrong with Rinoa."

--The House, Bedroom

Rinoa sighed as she took off her necklace.

I wonder where the others are... downstairs, talking about me and what happened, most likely...

She unhooked the back of her dress and slipped out of it, opting instead for a large cotton shirt, one of Squall's, that was long enough to serve her as a nightgown. Sitting down in front of her vanity, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin was pale and her eyes seemed so tired.

I look like death warmed over

She held her head in her hands and stared down at the oak surface. A letter caught her eye, tucked into the book resting on her desk. In simple script, the envelope simple said "Rinoa". Pulling it from between the pages, she opened the envelope and unfolded the note inside.

Rinoa,

You must fight it. Look to me should you need help. You must fight.

My love, Edea Kramer

Author's Notes:

You guys, I am so sorry to have not updated in so long. You know how life catches up with you, and I was seriously thinking of not continuing simply because of lack of time. But I'm back now! So time for thank you's to readers!

Yurikkuna- Thanks so much for the review! I had, like I said, been on the fence about writing any more, and you motivated me to continue! So thanks, and I dedicate this chapter to you ^_^

RikkuYuna89- You know I love you! I hope I'm staying true to the types of things that the other characters would think! And keep writing your zany story!

Amanda- You think it's suspenseful! That is so great! I have been trying to make it suspenseful and I've been worried that I haven't been doing a very good job. And I finally updated, so I hope you like this chapter!

Angelprinczess29- I'm glad that you thought Zell was funny, I thought that the story might need a boost of comic relief! I'll let you (and everyone else) know what's wrong with Rinoa really soon *wink*

Karla- You write such good stories, ahh! I love them all, and I feel so special that you review mine! I hope you like this chapter, and fyi, "Damn the Red Pill" is so funny I've almost peed my pants on several occasions!

Also, if you reviewed and I didn't mention you here, I'm not trying to be mean! The actual posted story, if I search it, says I have 19 reviews, but only 15 show up. But thank you to you too, and if you want to re-review thats ok too ^_^ Please everyone let me know what you think of this chapter, I tried to make it extra long because I feel guilty for not updating for a long time.

Next Chapter: Rinoa Revealed!