Chapter 13 - The Stranger
Rinoa carefully stepped into the vacant apartment, Zone following closely behind. After those last few hours of filling out paperwork and negotiating with the complex's property manager, she was dying to get settled in, in hopes of finally relaxing.
She set her bags down on the thick white carpet, and looked around. The place was so empty and cold, and it made her want to run screaming back to the bustling environment of Garden. She had lived for two years around the comfort of her friends, without the long-lost feeling of emptiness she'd felt only when living with her father in Deling. That feeling was returning all too rapidly.
As tired as she was, after having no sleep the previous night, she wanted to get out already. She needed to be around more people. She appreciated Zone's presence, but she needed greater distraction at that moment, if only temporarily.
Grabbing her purse off of the floor, she whirled around to Zone, who was exploring the kitchen.
"I'm going to the little pub on the corner, wanna go?" she asked.
Zone looked at her, and blinked a few times before answering. "Uh... no, I'm gonna start unpacking. You go ahead."
Rinoa nodded. "Alright, I'll be back a little later. Go ahead and lock up if you leave, I've got the spare key on me."
"Ok," he mumbled, busying himself with his exploration once again.
The walk to Balamb's bar was a relatively short one, and Rinoa was grateful for the short distance. She needed to be around people as soon as possible.
Stepping inside, she blinked several times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the establishment from the sun's blinding brightness outside. After a few moments, her vision returned to normal and she looked around.
There were very few people inside, as it was the middle of the day, but there were enough to relieve a little of her tension.
A man and woman sat at a far table, too absorbed in each other to notice her entrance.
A small group of three guys sat together at the bar, all intently watching whatever sports game was on the television above them.
A single man, cloaked in red, sat several seats away from them. His face was down and hidden behind a curtain of thick black hair, a cigarette held between his index and middle fingers.
Looking around once more, Rinoa spotted a table near the bar and sat, looking at a little flyer on the table, announcing the bar's drink specials for that day.
"Hello," a woman's voice asked, "what can I get for ya?"
Rinoa looked up at the waitress and blinked. "Um... "
She looked back to the flyer. Ugh, no alcohol, Rinoa. You saw what happened last time.
"I'll just have cranberry juice, thanks," she finally said.
The cocktail waitress nodded and walked behind the bar.
Rinoa's gaze followed her, but stopped when the lone man's lean figure at the bar disrupted her line of sight. Her eyes rested on the white cigarette in his hand, which occasionally rose to the man's hidden face, then came back down, only to be followed moments later by a stream of bluish smoke that emerged from behind the black curtain of hair.
She watched in a near trance as the streams of smoke expanded, becoming a thin gray cloud, and surrounded the man's form, giving him a strange and surreal quality. She saw the process repeated several times, not noticing when the waitress placed her drink on the table in front of her. Only the sound of the man's voice startled her out of her trance.
"You are Rinoa Heartilly, correct?" he said with a crisp accent, his back still toward her. He stubbed out his cigarette in the nearby ashtray and waited for her response.
"Uh... y-yes," she stuttered, nervously. What the hell?
It wasn't uncommon for people to know who she was after her involvement with Ultimecia and the Garden, but she found this man unsettling. He hadn't even looked up from the bar since she'd come in, and he'd somehow known that she was behind him.
"Do not be alarmed," he said, slowly turning around to face her.
When she caught sight of him, her breath caught in her throat.
The irises of his deep-set eyes were the color of Merlot, visible even through the shadows of his thick hair in the dim light of the bar. His skin was pale, just light enough that it wasn't quite normal. And his other hand... it wasn't a hand at all. It was some sort of claw, made out of a bright metal. When he stood, he was easily over six feet in height.
He slowly stepped over to her, hoping not to frighten her, then he pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. He sat silently for a long moment, allowing her to scrutinize him before he spoke anymore.
Rinoa was in awe, to say the least. He was beautiful. He was strange, and he was scary as hell to her, but he was gorgeous, nonetheless.
Shaking herself from her intense study of him, she spoke softly, "Is there something I can help you with?"
She bit her lip hard at the involuntarily suggestive and seductive manner in which she'd said it. Way to be modest, Rinoa.
The stranger smirked and replied, "Well, I mean this nothing like it sounds, but I was hoping that we could help each other."
Rinoa gulped at the statement, and shifted in her seat.
"Again, I did not mean to insinuate anything indecent, so please do not be frightened of me," he explained.
That wasn't fright she thought. She could have kicked herself for thinking that way.
Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter. "So... how can I... uh... what can I... um... what did you-"
"Please, Miss Heartilly," he interrupted, smiling. "It is not my intention to make you nervous."
As he smiled, Rinoa caught sight of two sharp teeth in his mouth, one on either side where canine teeth would normally be. They protruded a bit too far past his other teeth to be regarded simply as normal canines.
"Who are you?" Rinoa gasped.
"You may call me Val," he replied smoothly. "'Tis a nickname I seem to have acquired somewhere over the years. And please, do not let my appearance disturb you. I wish you no harm."
Rinoa gazed thoughtfully at him for a long moment, then nodded. "I believe you."
"Thank you," he said, pulling out a cigarette and lighter from somewhere inside his cloak. He paused to light it, then continued, "So, you must be wondering why I'm here... well, my finding you in here is all by luck, I assure you. I have been hoping to find you and speak with you for some time."
Rinoa raised her eyebrows in interest. "What is this about?"
He reached into his cloak once more, pulled out another cigarette and offered it to her.
She had smoked few times in her life, mostly in her 'rebellious teenager' days when living with her father. When she felt exceptionally stressed out or upset, she indulged occasionally, but it was a rare occurrence.
Shrugging, she accepted his offer, feeling that today was one of those rare occurrences.
She looked thoughtfully at the small object after he lit it for her. It was white with a small gold $ sign printed just above the filter. A strange symbol; one she'd never seen before.
"I understand that you are the world's only sorceress, currently," he finally said, simultaneously exhaling smoke in sporadic intervals through his words.
She hesitated, then nodded.
"I'll get to the point. There's really not a whole lot of information I can tell you about myself that you could possibly understand, but I need you to listen to me. And more importantly, I need you to believe me," he stated simply.
"Go on," Rinoa encouraged, "I'll listen."
He took a long pull on his cigarette before continuing.
"Someone I once knew, a very long time ago, has done something heinous. I don't think he's even alive anymore, but the damage I believe he's left is monumental," he explained. "I don't quite know how I can explain it, but I fear that something terrible is about to occur because of him. I've waited a long time for it to happen, and now I finally think it's going to."
Rinoa froze for a moment in utter bewilderment, then exhaled a long stream of bluish smoke. "And what do I have to do with this?"
"Well, my dear, I do believe that you are the only one who can help me, as well as potentially every other person on the planet."
"Squall!" Quistis called out from behind Squall's office door.
Squall bolted upright from where he'd fallen asleep on his desk. He stared dazedly at the desk, confused as to why he would have been sleeping there. Then he suddenly remembered why he'd gotten no sleep after the early meeting with Cid, and the memory hit him hard.
Rinoa is gone.
"Squall, are you in there?" he heard Quistis ask from outside his office.
"Yeah, come in," he said, trying to compose himself.
The door opened and Quistis walked in, looking tired and unkempt herself. She plopped down in a chair with a heavy sigh.
"What's up?" Squall asked, concerned by her appearance.
"Well, contrary to how I may look, I've got some good news," she said, leaning her head back against the chair with her eyes closed. "I think we may have found where the weapon is hidden. Xu and I, along with the research team, have been working non-stop and I think we finally found the most likely place."
Squall sat up straight, the news jolting him into alertness. "And...?"
"The Deep Sea Research Facility," she said simply. "It's the only plausible location we could come up with. It's remote, and no one without an airship can get into it easily. I don't know how the hell the Shumi Tribe got it in there, but it doesn't matter. That's got to be where it is."
Momentarily forgetting his misery, he got up and yanked Quistis out of her chair and into a hug. The end of his decidedly last mission was drawing nearer, and he was damn happy about it. He just hoped that the effort wasn't too late to get Rinoa back.
"What the...?" Quistis blurted out. She returned the hug, startled by her friend's unusual action. "Are you ok?"
Squall returned to reality and sobered, pulling away from the hug. "Yeah, sorry. I just... this just means that... Forget it. Thanks for your help, Quistis. Go get some rest, please. Seifer'll try to kick my ass if he sees you like this. I'll take care of the rest."
Quistis smiled. "No problem. I'm gonna go tell Rinoa the good news first, then I'm going straight to bed."
Squall froze, the misery seeping back in. "Um... Quistis..."
"Yeah?" she replied, pausing.
"Rin is gone."
"W-what do you mean? She... she was just here yesterday... Squall?" Quistis pressed, becoming alarmed.
"Sh-she left. She got a wrong idea in her head and she's mad at me. She said she call in a few days. I'm sorry..." he sighed miserably.
"What!?" she exclaimed. "How could you-... how did this happen? How could you let her go!?"
"I'll get her back," he whispered, his eyes on the floor. "I promise."
Quistis stopped her tantrum when she saw the pain on her friend's face. He was obviously having a hard time with this, and she didn't want to make anything worse.
Normally, she would have been mad at Rinoa for leaving without a word, but she knew Rinoa well enough to assume that it must have been a for good reason. Besides, she said she'd call.
In the meantime, she would have to wait until Squall fixed things before she could have her friend back at Garden.
And if he doesn't, I'll fix HIM she thought, and left the office.
A/N - A couple of nods in there, one of them having nothing to do with Final Fantasy, but whatever. It's not all that important, anyway. I hope you guys gathered that 'Val' had a British accent, but I can't very well write that when Great Britain doesn't exist in FF8. :-D Anyway, I got a lot of great reviews for the last chapter, and I'm thrilled. I hope you guys liked this one. Let me know! I'll try to update again quickly, so keep reading!
To DBH - Yeah, I just got through playing FF7 & 8 a couple of weeks ago, so I'm all about a slight intermingling of the two, if you will. And yes, you're on the right track, but keep reading. I'm sure you caught on to the stranger in this chapter. :-) Thanks for another motivating review!!
To Griever - That's such an incredibly nice thing to say! That comment made me really happy! I'm sure your opinion will change once you read the stuff from Ashbear and PasifiKStaR and the like, but I'll keep trying! Thanks so much!
To Rinoa Leonheartilly - No worries, I won't give up on this story. I'm having too much fun writing it. :-) Thanks for the comments!
To yummychocolatexD - I tried not to make it too sad and sappy, but alas, 'twas a bit of both. But keep reading! The good parts are drawing near! Thanks for the review!
To Lung - Thanks for the nice comment! I'm not exactly sure what I have in mind for those two, but I'll figure it out. I'll update a.s.a.p.! Thanks again!