Rinoa started to follow Selphie when she was grabbed. Alexia said,
"It's just me, child. Don't panic. Do you still want my help?"
"Yes, I do. They've got Squall," Rinoa told her. "We can't let them hurt him but I don't know how we're going to get into Galbadia."
"Okay. I want you to take this and go with your friends. Don't ask questions, just do it." She handed Rinoa a pendant embedded with a crystal. There was nothing special about it. It was kind of plain actually. Rinoa put it on under her shirt. She caught up to Selphie who was talking to some guy with a ponytail dressed in a cowboy outfit. Angelo stood by him.
Rinoa said, "Angelo, you just keep comin' up everywhere don'tcha?"
"Rinoa, this is my new friend Irvine," Selphie said. "Now that you know that, let's go."
- - -
Squall was awakened by the sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked around and saw he was locked in a dormitory. People were still fighting outside. The gunshots and explosions that rocked the building were followed by screams. There wasn't a window in the room. In a way it was better because then he couldn't look down and wish he could help them. At least Rinoa was safe. That's all that mattered. He remembered when she kissed him a few minutes ago. Her skin felt soft and he though he'd never admit it out loud, he wanted to experience it again. He replayed the scene in his mind. It was the only thing distracting him from the pain in his shoulder.
Seifer stood on the balcony and watched as the fight drew into the room below. "Sir," a guard addressed with a salute. "Rinoa has taken the pendant and is on her way here with her friends. Do you want us to attack them?"
"No," Seifer said.
"Also it seems Irvine Kinneas is with them sir. Is he under an order?"
"He's switched sides. Leave Rinoa but you can do what you want with the others. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
- - -
Irvine and Selphie fought off soldiers as they made their way into the Galbadian Garden. They didn't know where to start. The place was so big it'd take forever. From upstairs Squall heard a familiar voice yell his name. Rinoa. He had to get out before Seifer got to her. He slammed his good shoulder against the door. Rinoa followed the pounding noise. Selphie and Irvine started to go with her but stopped when they heard footsteps approach from behind. Rinoa didn't seem to notice. Irvine delivered the first shot. Rinoa ran up the stars and through the hall to the door being pounded on. She looked around for something to pick the lock with. She found some wire in another room. Once the door was unlocked, she turned the knob and Squall barreled into her. They fell on the floor. Rinoa hugged Squall, ignoring her now throbbing head. "Squall, I was afraid they were going to kill you," she told him. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have run off like that. I never should've talked to Seifer in the first place."
"I'll forgive you if you help me up," Squall said. She stood and pulled him up by his good arm. Outside people were yelling to retreat. "We have to get on one of the ships." They walked down to the first floor, their steps synchronized. Irvine and Selphie were gone. "I'm sure they're already out there," Squall said when he saw the worried look on Rinoa's face. She nodded and ran with him for the door. The Galbadians were shooting the fleeing soldiers. Rinoa took Squall's gunblade. Despite how heavy it felt to her, she managed to take down one of the enemies. Squall had to admit he was impressed.
She picked up a gun and said, "Let's go!" As they ran for the ship, Rinoa figured out how to shoot and returned their fire. Selphie and Irvine helped them on. Irvine took Squall to one of the nurses aboard to get the bullet out of his shoulder. Rinoa stayed with Selphie. "So are we going back to Garden then?"
Selphie said, "Yeah but we wont have a long break form the fight. Be prepared, I guess. Anything can happen."
A weird feeling came over Rinoa. It was a bad feeling too. Like she couldn't control herself. She felt dumb thinking of it like that but could come up with no other way to describe it. She didn't tell Selphie though. "Selphie is there somewhere I can sleep? I'm tired." Selphie pointed out a bench she could lie on. It wasn't much but it was something. She had another dream about Squall, about killing him. She didn't feel like herself. Once again, she felt hatred for him but it was from someone else. It was like it came from within her but it wasn't actually her. She ended up killing him. Part of her felt good about it and part of her felt like crying. Why was she having these dreams? She jumped awake. Squall had been shaking her. She was in a dormitory bed. "Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in my room," Squall said. We came to Garden while you were sleeping. Are you okay? You were whimpering."
"I'm fine. How long have we been here?"
"Half an hour maybe." A female's voice came over the intercom telling Squall to go to Cid's office. "I'll be right back," he said before leaving. She heard him stop in the hallway and say something she couldn't understand to someone. No more than a few seconds later; Irvine came in.
"Here," he said holding his hand out. A ring rested on his palm. "Squall asked me to give this to you for him."
She looked at it for a second then said, "No. Take it back." He didn't make a comment, just left. She looked around Squall's dorm. A dark blue jacket with white lines on it that merged into different designs hung on the wall. She slipped it on and found, like the jacket he regularly wore, it stopped an inch short of her waist. She hung it back on the wall before deciding to go to the Training Center. As she made her way there, she saw a lot of people helping the injured. It was kind of sad and she felt sorry for them. There was supposed to be monsters around but she didn't see any. The place looked empty. "Hey, what's this?" she said to herself when she noticed a doorway in the back. There was light coming from it so she figured it lead outside. She went through it and found herself on a little balcony. She could see Garden's grounds below. Irvine, Selphie, and Squall were down there. Selphie waved at her. Squall looked up then walked off. He came up behind her a few minutes later.
"Uh, why did you give the ring back?" he asked. "I wanted you to have it." She thought he sounded a little hurt and it made her feel bad.
She said, "It's not like that. I wanted you to give it to me yourself rather than someone else."
"Oh. Well, here. You can have this." He handed it to her. She noticed that it had a lion design on it. Unfortunately, it was too big.
"I'll put it on my necklace. My fingers aren't big enough. Squall, why do you want me to have this?"
He looked away from her and said, "I just thought you might like it and uh... you can have it."
"Well," Rinoa started as she stepped closer. She touched his Griever necklace. "Maybe I'd rather have your necklace, Mr. Leonhart." He didn't know what to say so he kept quiet. "Can I have a kiss?" He hesitated again then leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She held onto his jacket to keep him close. When they broke off, she put her head on his shoulder. He tensed a little but didn't pull away. Maybe now would be a good time to tell him about her dream. Or not. What if he took it the wrong way and got mad at her?
"You know I'm going to have to help fight Galbadia. We're preparing for them to come here. I want you to hide somewhere when that happens. I don't want Seifer to take you away again or hurt you. Okay? You can stay with Matron."
"Matron?"
"Er, Sorceress Edea. Wait in my room. I'll have her meet you there."
Rinoa relocated to Squall's room. She jumped when she saw Alexia sitting on the bed. "God you scared me! What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked. Alexia put her hand on Rinoa's forehead. Rinoa's eyes closed unwillingly. She felt like she was losing her mind. She wanted Squall to help her. What was happening? Her dream about killing Squall played through her head. She whimpered in protest. When her eyes jerked open, an unfamiliar smile touched her lips.
Balamb and Esthar soldiers lined the outside of Garden. The civilians and younger members of Garden were still hiding in Cid's office. Squall was worried about Rinoa. Not that she couldn't defend herself but what if she was attacked? Or what if Seifer tried to take her away again? Would she go willingly? Either way, Matron would stop her and tell Squall if anything bad happened.
It was well into the fight by time Rinoa got out of Squall's room. Sorceress Edea was laying knocked out on the floor. Rinoa felt bad, but she had to do it; Edea was blocking her path. Without knowing where she was going exactly, Rinoa headed down the circular hall. Someone she didn't recognize called to her. It was that girl in the yellow overall dress. What's her name? Something blocked her from remembering. She ignored the girl and kept going. Inside she was competing with herself. She wanted to go back and see Squall but at the same time, for some strange reason, she wanted to kill off the girl in yellow. She fought to see Squall. Slowly making her way outside, she passed by all the soldiers. None of them seemed to notice her. Squall saw her coming and yelled to her, "Rinoa! What the hell are you doing? You're going to get killed!"
"Squall," she said as she walked closer. "I can't think straight. I keep dreaming about killing you. I need help..." Then she collapsed.
Before Squall could get to her, Seifer stepped in his way. Squall growled, "Don't touch her! I'm not going to let you hurt her!"
"Hurt her?" Seifer asked. "Oh you must be thinking of her father's foolish plan. We've got something else in store for her. And if I were you, I'd watch out for myself."
"What are you doing with her?"
"I'm taking her of course. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see her again." Seifer picked her up and ran off. Squall followed them until they were lost in the crowd of fighting people. He growled and slammed his fists on the ground. He'd failed. Before she collapsed, she said she had a dream about killing him; was that what Seifer was talking about? She also said something was wrong with her. Just thinking about it made Squall's stomach churn. A thought hit him: how did she get away from Matron? He stood and ran for his room. There she was, unconscious on the floor. Her eyes fluttered a few times before they opened. He helped her get up.
"What happened?" she murmured.
Squall said, "I don't know. Seifer took Rinoa. You rest here, okay? I'll be back. I have to help the others." She nodded and sat on the bed. In the hall, Selphie ran into him. She asked where Rinoa went. "Seifer has her and from what I understand, they're not going to hurt her so that buys us some time. I want you to take care of Matron 'til I get back. Can you do that for me?" Selphie said she could. He thanked her and went off. The battle went on for what seemed like hours to Squall. He fought for the chance to see Rinoa. When it was all over, he started questioning Matron, "Who the hell is Alexia? What does she have to do with Galbadia?"
"She's- I don't know how to explain it," she said. "She's not a sorceress but she has the power of one. I really don't know much about her. Why?"
"Because I think she me with Rinoa."
"That'd be very bad. I was planning on passing my powers to Rinoa. That's probably why Alexia wants control over her. How has Rinoa been acting?"
"She was different somehow. She said she couldn't think straight and she mentioned having a dream about killing me or something."
"Well, it sounds like Alexia is possessing her or trying to. If you go after them ... I think it'd be best if I stayed back. I don't want to cause any trouble. It could happen by accident you know. They're probably hiding somewhere."
Squall rounded everyone up. They decided to look in different places. Irvine and Selphie went to look at Deling while Quistis and Zell headed for Timber. Squall went for Dollet. They split up at Timber. Quistis told Zell to check around the pet shop. She ran toward the weapons shop. On her way there, she saw the tail of a light blue duster go around the corner and she called to Zell. He came running. "I saw her go down that alley," she said, grabbing his arm. "Come on." As they ran down the alley they heard a clunk of footsteps sprinting up some stairs. It sounded like more than one person. Seifer was probably with her. They raced up the steps to the end of the walkway where Rinoa and Seifer waited for them. "Rinoa, what are you doing? Get away from him," Quistis yelled. Rinoa looked blankly at her. There was something really wrong. She seemed almost ... hollow. She lifted her hand up and they were pushed back by an invisible force. Both Quistis and Zell felt as though their energy was drained. It seemed like a long time before they could move again. When they got up, Rinoa and Seifer were gone.
Squall looked everywhere around Dollet and found nothing. He decided to go to Deling to confront General Caraway. It was the longest train ride he'd ever been on. He didn't Selphie or Irvine there at all. It was difficult getting past the guard in front of Caraway's mansion. Squall just pushed his way through. "You set me up," he said trying not to yell.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Caraway argued. "Get out of here."
"You were going to frame me for killing your daughter! Don't fucking tell me you don't know what I'm, talking about! How can you sacrifice your own flesh and blood for something so stupid like that?! Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Guards, get him out of here. Show him the way out of town." The guards picked Squall up and threw him on the ground near the car rental.
Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and Quistis were standing around by the train station. Squall asked, "Did you find Rinoa?"
Selphie said, "Sort of. Quistis and Zell saw her with Seifer but they don't know where she went. So, what do we do now?"
"I don't know. Look again?"
"Okay, but where?"
"What about the orphanage?" Quistis suggested.
Zell said, "But how are we going to get there? I don't think the White SeeD ship is parked nearby for our convenience, unless you want to swim."
Squall sighed, "Come on guys, be serious. There has to be a way."
Quistis said, "Whoa, Squall. You're being positive? ... Are you sick?"
"Knock it off! Let's go toward Esthar. Those people are hi-tech. Maybe they can help us out. You guys coming?" They all agreed and during the long journey to Esthar, Squall told them about Rinoa possibly being possessed.
- - - - - - - - -
Long enough for you? Any not so harsh flames welcome.
"Yes, I do. They've got Squall," Rinoa told her. "We can't let them hurt him but I don't know how we're going to get into Galbadia."
"Okay. I want you to take this and go with your friends. Don't ask questions, just do it." She handed Rinoa a pendant embedded with a crystal. There was nothing special about it. It was kind of plain actually. Rinoa put it on under her shirt. She caught up to Selphie who was talking to some guy with a ponytail dressed in a cowboy outfit. Angelo stood by him.
Rinoa said, "Angelo, you just keep comin' up everywhere don'tcha?"
"Rinoa, this is my new friend Irvine," Selphie said. "Now that you know that, let's go."
- - -
Squall was awakened by the sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked around and saw he was locked in a dormitory. People were still fighting outside. The gunshots and explosions that rocked the building were followed by screams. There wasn't a window in the room. In a way it was better because then he couldn't look down and wish he could help them. At least Rinoa was safe. That's all that mattered. He remembered when she kissed him a few minutes ago. Her skin felt soft and he though he'd never admit it out loud, he wanted to experience it again. He replayed the scene in his mind. It was the only thing distracting him from the pain in his shoulder.
Seifer stood on the balcony and watched as the fight drew into the room below. "Sir," a guard addressed with a salute. "Rinoa has taken the pendant and is on her way here with her friends. Do you want us to attack them?"
"No," Seifer said.
"Also it seems Irvine Kinneas is with them sir. Is he under an order?"
"He's switched sides. Leave Rinoa but you can do what you want with the others. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
- - -
Irvine and Selphie fought off soldiers as they made their way into the Galbadian Garden. They didn't know where to start. The place was so big it'd take forever. From upstairs Squall heard a familiar voice yell his name. Rinoa. He had to get out before Seifer got to her. He slammed his good shoulder against the door. Rinoa followed the pounding noise. Selphie and Irvine started to go with her but stopped when they heard footsteps approach from behind. Rinoa didn't seem to notice. Irvine delivered the first shot. Rinoa ran up the stars and through the hall to the door being pounded on. She looked around for something to pick the lock with. She found some wire in another room. Once the door was unlocked, she turned the knob and Squall barreled into her. They fell on the floor. Rinoa hugged Squall, ignoring her now throbbing head. "Squall, I was afraid they were going to kill you," she told him. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have run off like that. I never should've talked to Seifer in the first place."
"I'll forgive you if you help me up," Squall said. She stood and pulled him up by his good arm. Outside people were yelling to retreat. "We have to get on one of the ships." They walked down to the first floor, their steps synchronized. Irvine and Selphie were gone. "I'm sure they're already out there," Squall said when he saw the worried look on Rinoa's face. She nodded and ran with him for the door. The Galbadians were shooting the fleeing soldiers. Rinoa took Squall's gunblade. Despite how heavy it felt to her, she managed to take down one of the enemies. Squall had to admit he was impressed.
She picked up a gun and said, "Let's go!" As they ran for the ship, Rinoa figured out how to shoot and returned their fire. Selphie and Irvine helped them on. Irvine took Squall to one of the nurses aboard to get the bullet out of his shoulder. Rinoa stayed with Selphie. "So are we going back to Garden then?"
Selphie said, "Yeah but we wont have a long break form the fight. Be prepared, I guess. Anything can happen."
A weird feeling came over Rinoa. It was a bad feeling too. Like she couldn't control herself. She felt dumb thinking of it like that but could come up with no other way to describe it. She didn't tell Selphie though. "Selphie is there somewhere I can sleep? I'm tired." Selphie pointed out a bench she could lie on. It wasn't much but it was something. She had another dream about Squall, about killing him. She didn't feel like herself. Once again, she felt hatred for him but it was from someone else. It was like it came from within her but it wasn't actually her. She ended up killing him. Part of her felt good about it and part of her felt like crying. Why was she having these dreams? She jumped awake. Squall had been shaking her. She was in a dormitory bed. "Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in my room," Squall said. We came to Garden while you were sleeping. Are you okay? You were whimpering."
"I'm fine. How long have we been here?"
"Half an hour maybe." A female's voice came over the intercom telling Squall to go to Cid's office. "I'll be right back," he said before leaving. She heard him stop in the hallway and say something she couldn't understand to someone. No more than a few seconds later; Irvine came in.
"Here," he said holding his hand out. A ring rested on his palm. "Squall asked me to give this to you for him."
She looked at it for a second then said, "No. Take it back." He didn't make a comment, just left. She looked around Squall's dorm. A dark blue jacket with white lines on it that merged into different designs hung on the wall. She slipped it on and found, like the jacket he regularly wore, it stopped an inch short of her waist. She hung it back on the wall before deciding to go to the Training Center. As she made her way there, she saw a lot of people helping the injured. It was kind of sad and she felt sorry for them. There was supposed to be monsters around but she didn't see any. The place looked empty. "Hey, what's this?" she said to herself when she noticed a doorway in the back. There was light coming from it so she figured it lead outside. She went through it and found herself on a little balcony. She could see Garden's grounds below. Irvine, Selphie, and Squall were down there. Selphie waved at her. Squall looked up then walked off. He came up behind her a few minutes later.
"Uh, why did you give the ring back?" he asked. "I wanted you to have it." She thought he sounded a little hurt and it made her feel bad.
She said, "It's not like that. I wanted you to give it to me yourself rather than someone else."
"Oh. Well, here. You can have this." He handed it to her. She noticed that it had a lion design on it. Unfortunately, it was too big.
"I'll put it on my necklace. My fingers aren't big enough. Squall, why do you want me to have this?"
He looked away from her and said, "I just thought you might like it and uh... you can have it."
"Well," Rinoa started as she stepped closer. She touched his Griever necklace. "Maybe I'd rather have your necklace, Mr. Leonhart." He didn't know what to say so he kept quiet. "Can I have a kiss?" He hesitated again then leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She held onto his jacket to keep him close. When they broke off, she put her head on his shoulder. He tensed a little but didn't pull away. Maybe now would be a good time to tell him about her dream. Or not. What if he took it the wrong way and got mad at her?
"You know I'm going to have to help fight Galbadia. We're preparing for them to come here. I want you to hide somewhere when that happens. I don't want Seifer to take you away again or hurt you. Okay? You can stay with Matron."
"Matron?"
"Er, Sorceress Edea. Wait in my room. I'll have her meet you there."
Rinoa relocated to Squall's room. She jumped when she saw Alexia sitting on the bed. "God you scared me! What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked. Alexia put her hand on Rinoa's forehead. Rinoa's eyes closed unwillingly. She felt like she was losing her mind. She wanted Squall to help her. What was happening? Her dream about killing Squall played through her head. She whimpered in protest. When her eyes jerked open, an unfamiliar smile touched her lips.
Balamb and Esthar soldiers lined the outside of Garden. The civilians and younger members of Garden were still hiding in Cid's office. Squall was worried about Rinoa. Not that she couldn't defend herself but what if she was attacked? Or what if Seifer tried to take her away again? Would she go willingly? Either way, Matron would stop her and tell Squall if anything bad happened.
It was well into the fight by time Rinoa got out of Squall's room. Sorceress Edea was laying knocked out on the floor. Rinoa felt bad, but she had to do it; Edea was blocking her path. Without knowing where she was going exactly, Rinoa headed down the circular hall. Someone she didn't recognize called to her. It was that girl in the yellow overall dress. What's her name? Something blocked her from remembering. She ignored the girl and kept going. Inside she was competing with herself. She wanted to go back and see Squall but at the same time, for some strange reason, she wanted to kill off the girl in yellow. She fought to see Squall. Slowly making her way outside, she passed by all the soldiers. None of them seemed to notice her. Squall saw her coming and yelled to her, "Rinoa! What the hell are you doing? You're going to get killed!"
"Squall," she said as she walked closer. "I can't think straight. I keep dreaming about killing you. I need help..." Then she collapsed.
Before Squall could get to her, Seifer stepped in his way. Squall growled, "Don't touch her! I'm not going to let you hurt her!"
"Hurt her?" Seifer asked. "Oh you must be thinking of her father's foolish plan. We've got something else in store for her. And if I were you, I'd watch out for myself."
"What are you doing with her?"
"I'm taking her of course. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see her again." Seifer picked her up and ran off. Squall followed them until they were lost in the crowd of fighting people. He growled and slammed his fists on the ground. He'd failed. Before she collapsed, she said she had a dream about killing him; was that what Seifer was talking about? She also said something was wrong with her. Just thinking about it made Squall's stomach churn. A thought hit him: how did she get away from Matron? He stood and ran for his room. There she was, unconscious on the floor. Her eyes fluttered a few times before they opened. He helped her get up.
"What happened?" she murmured.
Squall said, "I don't know. Seifer took Rinoa. You rest here, okay? I'll be back. I have to help the others." She nodded and sat on the bed. In the hall, Selphie ran into him. She asked where Rinoa went. "Seifer has her and from what I understand, they're not going to hurt her so that buys us some time. I want you to take care of Matron 'til I get back. Can you do that for me?" Selphie said she could. He thanked her and went off. The battle went on for what seemed like hours to Squall. He fought for the chance to see Rinoa. When it was all over, he started questioning Matron, "Who the hell is Alexia? What does she have to do with Galbadia?"
"She's- I don't know how to explain it," she said. "She's not a sorceress but she has the power of one. I really don't know much about her. Why?"
"Because I think she me with Rinoa."
"That'd be very bad. I was planning on passing my powers to Rinoa. That's probably why Alexia wants control over her. How has Rinoa been acting?"
"She was different somehow. She said she couldn't think straight and she mentioned having a dream about killing me or something."
"Well, it sounds like Alexia is possessing her or trying to. If you go after them ... I think it'd be best if I stayed back. I don't want to cause any trouble. It could happen by accident you know. They're probably hiding somewhere."
Squall rounded everyone up. They decided to look in different places. Irvine and Selphie went to look at Deling while Quistis and Zell headed for Timber. Squall went for Dollet. They split up at Timber. Quistis told Zell to check around the pet shop. She ran toward the weapons shop. On her way there, she saw the tail of a light blue duster go around the corner and she called to Zell. He came running. "I saw her go down that alley," she said, grabbing his arm. "Come on." As they ran down the alley they heard a clunk of footsteps sprinting up some stairs. It sounded like more than one person. Seifer was probably with her. They raced up the steps to the end of the walkway where Rinoa and Seifer waited for them. "Rinoa, what are you doing? Get away from him," Quistis yelled. Rinoa looked blankly at her. There was something really wrong. She seemed almost ... hollow. She lifted her hand up and they were pushed back by an invisible force. Both Quistis and Zell felt as though their energy was drained. It seemed like a long time before they could move again. When they got up, Rinoa and Seifer were gone.
Squall looked everywhere around Dollet and found nothing. He decided to go to Deling to confront General Caraway. It was the longest train ride he'd ever been on. He didn't Selphie or Irvine there at all. It was difficult getting past the guard in front of Caraway's mansion. Squall just pushed his way through. "You set me up," he said trying not to yell.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Caraway argued. "Get out of here."
"You were going to frame me for killing your daughter! Don't fucking tell me you don't know what I'm, talking about! How can you sacrifice your own flesh and blood for something so stupid like that?! Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Guards, get him out of here. Show him the way out of town." The guards picked Squall up and threw him on the ground near the car rental.
Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and Quistis were standing around by the train station. Squall asked, "Did you find Rinoa?"
Selphie said, "Sort of. Quistis and Zell saw her with Seifer but they don't know where she went. So, what do we do now?"
"I don't know. Look again?"
"Okay, but where?"
"What about the orphanage?" Quistis suggested.
Zell said, "But how are we going to get there? I don't think the White SeeD ship is parked nearby for our convenience, unless you want to swim."
Squall sighed, "Come on guys, be serious. There has to be a way."
Quistis said, "Whoa, Squall. You're being positive? ... Are you sick?"
"Knock it off! Let's go toward Esthar. Those people are hi-tech. Maybe they can help us out. You guys coming?" They all agreed and during the long journey to Esthar, Squall told them about Rinoa possibly being possessed.
- - - - - - - - -
Long enough for you? Any not so harsh flames welcome.