Note: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII. But I do own a spiffy new pair of shoes. *pastes pictures of FFVII characters onto her new shoes*
I Forgot Your Name
By Kupo
Chapter Nine: Climbing to the Clouds
--Balamb Garden, 3F Office
Squall sighed and pushed his chair away from his desk. He usually enjoyed work, as it gave his orderly, logical mind orderly, logical things to occupy itself with. However, during the past week, Squall had found himself more and more preoccupied with the situation unfolding around him at home.
Laguna had arrived exactly eight days ago. While Squall was never delighted to see his father, he found that Laguna's presence there had given a calming effect on his nerves. He was glad to have someone there to watch over Rinoa, who day by day grew angrier and more unstable.
--FLASHBACK--
Everyone was sitting at dinner. Zell made a remark about Selphie's cooking and Selphie howled in mock anger. Everyone had burst into laughter, even him. Rinoa had sat in stony silence. Selphie looked at her and attempted to lighten the situation.
"See? At least Rinoa likes my cooking, she's not mean like the rest of you!" she declared as she gave Rinoa a thumbs up. Rinoa looked at Selphie for a moment, then roughly pushed her chair away from the table and left the room
--END FLASHBACK--
"Squall was brought out of his reminiscing by a knock on the door. He cleared his throat, which had seemed to tighten while he was thinking of Rinoa. Quickly running a hand through his dark hair, he called to the person on the other side of the door to enter.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Squall" Quistis said, with a small bow she couldn't help suppress.
Squall shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever... don't worry about it. And don't be so formal around me, either."
Quistis smiled and took a seat in one of the chairs opposite Squall's desk.
"You know... you really ought to get some new chairs... and think about redecorating... this whole office is way too formal."
Squall shrugged again and opened his mouth to speak, but Quistis beat him to it.
"Whatever, I know." Squall sent her a sharp look and she smiled serenely. "But Squall, I was thinking about something. I can't imagine you are getting very much work done when you're so worried about Rinoa... I think you should go home and spend some time with her."
Squall frowned.
What? Does she think that I can't do my job just because I'm worried about Rinoa?
"I don't think it's that you're not able to do your job, if that's what you're thinking," Quistis added hastily. "I just think that maybe you would feel better about everything if you two were able to spend some time alone, to talk and work things out." She frowned in concern and touched the skin under her eyes. "And maybe you might sleep a little better, too..."
It was true that he had not been sleeping well at all. Most nights began with him pacing the floor of his room, and ended with him sitting downstairs in the kitchen, still no closer to finding a solution to help Rinoa than he had been when the night began. The dark circles under his eyes were a testament to that.
"Maybe you're right, Quistis. But I couldn't go see Rinoa right now even if I wanted to. Laguna thought fresh air would be good for her, so he took her hiking in the mountains today."
Quistis held up a note with the name of a mountain trail and a phone number on it. "This mountain? Laguna left this note this morning in case you needed to get ahold of them."
Squall took the note from her outstretched hand and smiled slightly.
That sounds more like something Rinoa would think to leave, not Laguna.
Squall signed and looked down at the stacks of paperwork on his desk. He felt himself wanting to leave, but he knew that his work would continue to pile up until he buckled down and finished it. Quistis followed his gaze and stood up.
"Are those applications to Garden? Oooh, those are my favorite!"
She went around the desk and pulled Squall up from his chair. "Off you go Commander," she admonished with a wink. Sitting down in front of the desk, she uncapped a pen and donned her glasses. "I'll have these finished by the time you get back. Now go!"
Squall smiled despite his best efforts to look stern.
"Alright Quis... and... thanks."
"Don't mention it. Now get outta here before I change my mind!"
Squall bowed to Quistis on his way out of the office, making her laugh. As he pushed the elevator button, he pulled the note from his pocket. He waited until he was inside the elevator to read it.
Squall recognized the name of the mountain trail as a popular route up Cloud Mountain, a peak just outside Timber.
Hopping into his car, he left the Balamb Garden parking lot and began to drive in the direction of Balamb. He knew that the fastest way to get there, short of commandeering the Ragnarok, which was in for a tune-up, would be to take the transcontinental railroad under the ocean, which ran direct from Balamb to Timber. As he drove, his thoughts wandered.
--FLASHBACK--
He came upon Rinoa sitting on the back porch, absently chewing on the eraser of a pencil, a sketchbook in her hand. She turned to look up into his face, shielding her eyes from the sun. The bright rays caught the highlights in her hair and illuminated the soft glow of her skin, and he was at a loss for words. Rinoa smiled up at him and pulled on the neck of his shirt, drawing him down and closer to her. He could still feel her gentle smile as their lips met.
--END FLASHBACK--
Squall gave the woman at the booth the 3000 Gil needed to board the train and sat beside the window in the SeeD cabin while he waited for the train to begin moving. He leaned his head against the cool glass.
--FLASHBACK--
He could hear arguing upstairs. He looked over at Zell and Laguna, who were engaged in a fierce game of Triple Triad. He motioned to Irvine, and together they headed for the stairs. Soon the two voices became recognizable as Selphie and Rinoa. They found the girls standing face to face, and were just in time to hear Selphie scream at Rinoa that she didn't recognize her, and that she hated the way everyone had to walk on eggshells around her. Rinoa slapped her across the face and Selphie went silent. Rinoa cast them all a cold look, shook her head slightly, and left the room.
--END FLASHBACK--
The train burst out of the tunnel and into the sunlight. Squall watched the countryside fly by for a few minutes, and then stood as he felt the train slow down. After disembarking, he found the car rental agency and rented a blue sports car. As soon as he was out of town he slammed it into fifth gear took off in the direction of the mountain.
--FLASHBACK--
Squall yawned as he made his way back to his room.. it was 4 am and he hadn't slept at all the entire night. Rinoa... he couldn't stop thinking about her, what was happening to her and what he could possibly do to stop it. He paused in mid-step, hearing a noise he didn't recognize. He paused in front of Rinoa's door, and his heart broke as he heard Rinoa sobbing disconsolately inside her room. He ran his fingers over her door and was about to knock when the sobbing abruptly stopped. He heard Rinoa admonish herself, and call herself a pathetic girl. He listened to her argue back and forth with herself, and his blood ran cold as he heard her whisper "Don't fight it... it will be all over soon" He opened the door without knocking and found Rinoa sitting calmly on the side of her bed. She looked up at him and smiled, asking him what was wrong.
--END FLASHBACK--
Squall parked the car in the lot at the base of the mountain. He recognized Laguna's car by the emblem on the license plate and laid a hand on the hood of the vehicle. It was cool, and Squall knew that meant that they had been there for quite some time. He cursed himself for not grabbing better hiking shoes before he had caught the train and began to climb the trail. It was peaceful, and the woods surrounding him bustled with small animal life.
--FLASHBACK--
Last night he had been sitting in the living room with Selphie and Irvine, discussing plans for adding additional classes to the Garden curriculum. He realized he had forgotten a schedule book in his room, and left to go retrieve it. He slowed as he passed Rinoa's door, surprised that it was open... she had been spending more and more time alone in her room with the door closed. He hated eavesdropping on her, but she had stopped answering his questions about her behavior. He listened as she spoke to someone he couldn't see. "I'll take care of him tomorrow... tomorrow it will all be better again..." He knocked on the frame of the door, and leaned into the room. He watched as Rinoa put down a phone receiver and smiled at him guilty. "I hope you didn't hear that Squall... Quistis and I are planning... well... its going to be surprise..." She looked so sweetly hopeful that he shook his head, smiled, and left to get his folder. Back downstairs he smiled as he poured himself a cup of hot tea and joined Irvine and Selphie again. Everyone was relaxed, the chamomile tea was Quistis' personal specialty. He wished Rinoa was there to join them
--END FLASHBACK--
Squall frowned as he hiked up the trail, it was getting steeper and he could feel the blisters that were beginning to form on his heels. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
What was she planning with Quistis for today?
He looked around, the trees had grown more sparse and thinned-out, and he knew he was approaching the tree line.
Why didn't Rinoa come down and join us, I know she would have if she had known that Quistis had just made that wonderful tea...
He paused to catch his breath, Cloud Mountain was more of an effort than he had thought it would be.
Wait... something's not right...
He frowned, took a deep breath, and began to run in the direction of the summit.
How could Rinoa be on the phone with Quistis...
He was sprinting up the mountain now, paying no heed the branches that whipped his face as he climbed higher.
When Quistis was already downstairs making tea?!
A horrible scream cut through the cool mountain air. Squall yelled for Rinoa as loud as he could, and ran faster than he had ever thought possible. He broke through the brush and arrived at a small clearing, the summit observation area. It was a flat, grassy plain surrounded by a wooden railing to keep unwary sight-seers from leaning too far over the edge and falling down the extreme rocky incline below. His breath caught in his throat. Where was Rinoa?
He scanned the clearing back and forth before finally catching sight of her near the leftmost railing post. She was looking down and screaming, the tears rolling down her cheeks. Squall ran to her and pulled her to his chest.
"Rinoa..! What's happening, are you alright?!"
She sobbed and collapsed against him, but though her tears was able to motion towards the railing.
Squall slowly and softly lowered Rinoa to the ground. He took a deep breath and looked over the edge of the summit.
What he saw made him violently ill. He fell to the ground beside Rinoa, shocked and sickened beyond any words. He looked at the girl he loved, who remained crumpled on the ground with her face in both her hands, crying as if her heart was broken. The words he had heard he say yesterday came flying back to him.
I'll take care of him tomorrow...
Rinoa....
Woo! There's Chapter Nine, all done! I told you guys it would be getting dark soon! I hope it wasn't too confusing, with all those flashbacks... I was trying to make it seem kinda chaotic, but I hope I didn't lose anyone in the process! And to Laguna lovers out there... well... I'm a Laguna lover too! So you have to know how much it hurt me to write this chapter the way that I did. Thank you to my lovely sweet reviewers! ^_^
The Real Rikku- Oh my gosh! The best you have read?! *hugs you* I am a big Squall/Rinoa fan too... I am going to try and put as many sweet moments between the two of them into the story as I can... but this one is turning out pretty dark, huh? ^_^ I hope you liked this chapter!
Karla3- I am still living in fear of your rabid monkeys! I need therapy, I cant even go outside without looking over my shoulder! O_O I am superb? *dies of joy* No way! Thanks so much for your review, I'm glad that you appreciate all the background that I tried to put into the fic before getting into the hardcore storyline! Update "Chance or Choice" soon, I love it! *high fives back to you*
Bembem- Oh my gosh! You read the whole thing at one time? You rock! I'm so glad you like it so far! I'm glad you like Squall in this fic... I try hard not to make him too stern, but I don't want to make him over-emotional or OOC either, so yay! Did you like this chapter? ^_^
Squeakychris- Thank you so much for such a sweet review! As to the Rinoa=Ultimecia theory... I've heard it and parts of it make sense... but as for this moment that's not the direction I am taking this fic! But hey, this is subject to change, so don't quote me on that! =P I hope you like this chapter, let me know!
Old User- *wide eyes* Favorites section?! Wow! Yeah! I'm so honored to be in one of those! Thanks for being such a faithful reviewer, I hope this chapter was up to your standards too! :-)
DemonRyu- I'm sorry about Laguna! *bows apologetically* But I had to do it! I love him too! Hehe, thanks for enjoying the part with Selphie and for noting the build-up to the real issues. I hope you liked this chapter even though Laguna got the axe. I'll owe you one, hehe.
Anyway, that's it for this chapter! Please everyone, keep reading and reviewing, those reviews really do make my day and keep me motivated! Stay tuned, and I will update soon! Te amo~ Kupo
