Title: A Journey Never Forgotten

Author: Sweet Light

Rating: Pg-13

A simple mission may not be as simple as it may seem. And what was the dream trying to tell her? Something is amiss here and Rinoa is set to find out the truth together with the help of her friends. Along the way, something unexpected happens.

Rinoa gazed out over the hall, catching her breath, as a ray of sunlight streamed through a window to illuminate a stack of undyed silk as high as her head. She turned to the tall boy who stood beside her. "Squall! It's beautiful."

"They always are." He nodded as he looked around the hall, obviously noting the merchants who came to collect the silk. She followed his gaze to a cluster of men in shimmering white cloaks, garments that collected the brilliant summer sunlight and cast it back in jeweled glints.

"Come on. We promised to meet them. And then there's the ceremony…" Rinoa pulled at his sleeve lightly, indicating him to follow her.

"Where're Selphie, Zell and Irvine?" Rinoa wondered aloud, receiving a shrug from Squall. They were supposed to meet them at their usual meeting place but from the looks of it, they were late. Another fifteen minutes had pass but they still hadn't arrive. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Squall was getting impatient.

"Maybe they had something up and couldn't contact us." Rinoa suggested. "I guess…it's okay if we were to go and see the results without them." She gave him a small smile. "Whatever."

"Rinoa, Squall, how nice to see you." Quistis smiled at them as they met each other on their way to see the results. "Bet you're here to cheer Selphie and Zell on, right?"

"Yeah, we are." Rinoa answered, feeling slightly nervous for her friends.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she did fine." Quistis winked at her before walking to wherever she needed to go.

When they had arrived at the notice board, they saw three familiar figures. "Hey guys." Rinoa greeted. By the looks of their faces, they don't need a psychic to tell them what had happened. "Let me guess." She pretended to concentrate, waving her finger at them. "I see something. Something that we should feel happy and proud of. And I see Zell and Selphie passing their SeeD entrance exam." She opened her eyes slightly, grinning at them. "Well, did it work?"

Selphie giggled and leaped at Rinoa, hugging her tightly.

"I passed! I passed!" She jumped up and down, stopping only when Irvine kissed her cheek lovingly.

"Amazing, isn't she?"

"Hello…? What 'bout me?" Somebody gonna give me a hug?" Zell said, waving at them.

"Zell, you're wonderful, honestly." Rinoa hugged him, turning his frown into a smile. "I had a feeling you were going to be one of those students who stood out. I mean, you're a martial arts specialists! Who wouldn't want you in their missions?" She encouraged.

"Don't inflate his ego more than you have." Irvine smirked. Zell chose to ignore him. Squall, who had been silent throughout the whole exchange, spoke up.

"Don't forget about the ceremony tonight." He reminded them and walked off.

"Welcome to the Graduation Ceremony of Balamb Garden. Congratulations to all of you out there who have succeeded in becoming a SeeD and not forgetting those who are already one. The night is still young, ladies and gentlemen. Let's party!" The host yelled into the microphone as everybody cheered, joining their partners on the dance floor as the music played.

"And you got worried for nothing." Irvine teased. "What's wrong?" He had noticed that Selphie had not been as talkative as she used to be. "You're worried you won't make a good enough SeeD, right?" He laughed, pulling her into a hug. "Don't be silly, silly! Haven't I told you that you're amazing? You can do anything."

"Really?" She smiled hopefully. She grinned cutely when he took off his hat and laid it on her head. "One heck of a cowboy girl, that's what you are."

Not to faraway, Squall noticed that Rinoa had been staring out of the same window for ages. "You look nice." He said softly, making her jump.

"Huh? Oh. Thanks." She smiled but he could tell it was forced.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" she gave him a confused look.

"What's bothering you."

"It's nothing." She turned away to look out of the window again.

"Dude!" A drunken man accidentally fell against Squall, making him bump into Rinoa. "We are so sorry for the inconvenience caused." One of the drunken man's friends apologized, as they dragged him away from the ballroom. Squall scowled at them.

"Forget about it, Squall. It was an accident. You want me to talk about whatever's bothering me, right?" He continued to look at her. "Dance with me?" she was stating it rather than asking him.

"I don't know how to dance." He answered simply. She nodded slightly and walked away.

"It's okay. I can always ask someone else." When he noticed that she was walking towards the direction of another guy, he stopped her. She looked down at the hand that was gripping her arm tightly, then at his face.

"Dance with me?" Guys should always be the one asking, not girls. For the first time that night, she smiled a true smile. It wasn't as awkward as he thought it'd be. It was a rather comfortable silence between them.

She stared up at his face, studying every line and crease. She loved the way his russet bangs fell messily over his misty azure eyes. Unconsciously, she traced an elegant finger over the scar. He didn't move away but kept on staring at her. Her finger lingered over the scar for a while longer and continued to trace the outline of his jaw. She could sense that he was leaning closer to her and she did the same. Just as their lips were about to touch, the sound of fireworks suddenly brought them out of their trance. Both of them looked at the fireworks, which cast a green glow throughout the whole room.

He returned his attention to her when he heard her gasp softly. "What's wrong?" She shook her head. "It's nothing Squall. They're just so…bright and pretty. Like stars…" She trailed off, clasping her hands together and then shutting her eyes tightly. When she opened them up again, she noticed Squall giving her a curious look. "I was making a wish."

"They say that when you see a shooting star, make a wish and it'd come true." She smiled sheepishly, waving her hand at the fireworks. "I know they're not shooting stars but if you think of them that way, then maybe it'd be the same thing. Hopefully." She giggled.

"Whatever." He muttered under his breath.

"I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves tonight." Both of them turned around to look at the source of the voice.

"Headmaster Cid! Instructor Quistis!" Rinoa exclaimed happily.

"Please Miss Heartilly. Call me Cid." Rinoa laughed.

"Only if you call me Rinoa. Forget the formalities."

"Yeah, me to. Love to stay, really. But somebody's got to control Zell from finishing off the hotdogs." Quistis pointed to the buffet table.

"Oh…I'll go."

"No. You stay here. I will go." Quistis insisted, stopping Rinoa.

"Finally, the moment that we have been waiting for. The Guests Of Honor has arrived! Let us put our hands together and give a warm welcome to General Caraway and the Mayor!"

"Dear students from Balamb Garden." The Mayor started. "As many others who have congratulated you before, I just wanted to say it one last time. From me, and on behalf of General Caraway. Congratulations." He passed the microphone to the General.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure most of you here are having a wonderful time. I'm happy to say that this year, the percentage of those who have passed their SeeD exam has increased." He waited for the clapping to die down before continuing. "For those who have become a member of SeeD, I'm sure you know what is to be expected from you. To go on missions, protect Balamb Garden from enemies and so on. Take it as a challenge, something that you've always wanted to do. Put your passion into your missions and you will succeed. Always," he paused for the effect. "Always take care of your fellow men. Teamwork is the most important thing for a successful mission other than skills and strategies."

"He's right ya' know," Zell said, reaching for the last piece of hotdog when Quistis smacked him on the arm. He made several attempts to reach it, but it was futile. Admitting defeat, he resorted to teasing Selphie. "Other than some kickin'-ass hoochie mama and Squall fightin' power we gotta great teamwork here in SeeD."

'Yeah, well, I'm glad that 'hoochie mama' got your ass out of difficult situations many a times." Selphie retorted, glaring at him.

"Cut it out, you two." Irvine scolded.

"You are the Commander of SeeD, correct?" Rinoa turned around when she heard the familiar voice. General Caraway shook hands with Squall, who only nodded in return. "You must be one hell of a good fighter. I see potential in you, boy. No wonder Cid thinks highly of you." He patted Squall on the shoulder, making Rinoa roll her eyes.

Caraway glanced at her, missing the part where she rolled her eyes. "And you must be Rinoa…" He emphasized her name, making Rinoa cringe. She set her lips in a thin line, refusing to look him in the eye. "Caraway." He finished. She looked at him in anger. He had just revealed who she really was. Here she was trying to forget her past life and he's ruining it all for her.

"Heartilly. My name is Rinoa Heartilly." She said stubbornly.

"Don't live in the past, Rinoa. That's your mother's maiden name. You and I know she's never coming back." He reached over to touch her cheek but she slapped it away.

"Don't go around pretending that you care." She seethed. Caraway's expression hardened, both of them now oblivious to the fact that Squall was present.

"You're my daughter. As a father, of course I'd care." Rinoa laughed bitterly.

"Father? You're not my father. A father does not treat her daughter like some military soldier. A father does not neglect his daughter nor should he blame her for his wife's death." Caraway clenched his fists, trying to keep his temper in control.

"I never blamed you for her death."

"Really?" Droplets of crystals had begun to make their way down her rosy cheeks. "Save it for someone who cares, General." She ran away from the ballroom, going as fast as her legs could carry her.

In the end, she found herself at the fountain in the middle of the garden. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, noting how similar she looked to her mother.

"Why did you lie to me?" A voice behind her suddenly said.

Quickly wiping away a stray tear, she looked up. "Squall, you…you were there…"

"I didn't want to live a life where I couldn't make my own decisions. So I ran away from home. Changed my surname…stopped singing and making albums. I went here because I knew I could trust Cid."

"You're not telling me the whole truth." He said calmly. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. "You're a sorceress."

"So you already know. Who told you? Selphie?" He watched her face change from anger to one of desperation.

"If you already know all this, if everyone in this whole damn world knows this, then why are we even having this conversation?!" She demanded, her voice on the verge of yelling. Rinoa watched his emotionless face intently. "What are you thinking, Squall? You don't have an answer for that, do you?"

After a long pause, he finally answered. "No." Squall swallowed hard. Why is it that this girl always manages to make him feel like an idiot?

"If not, then I'll be going back to my room now." He held out an arm in front of her, stopping her from going anywhere.

"You do know what SeeD stands for." He looked into her eyes. "So why are you here?" His softened gaze met with her challenged ones.

"Kill me if you want to. As long as nobody knows, I don't care." Rinoa pushed his arm away, walking away from the area with quickened steps.

"Ah…Commander of Balamb Garden. It is an honor to meet you." General Caraway suddenly stood in his line of vision, sticking out his hand. Squall accepted the handshake, his mind still reeling a bit from what had just happened a few minutes ago.

"What brings you out here, Commander?" Squall took a good look at the General, noticing the slight similarities between him and Rinoa. He shrugged his shoulders and simply said, "Air."

"Of course. It was getting a bit crowded in the ballroom, isn't it?" Caraway stuck his hands inside his pants pockets. "Don't mind me asking but have you seen Rinoa? You know, my daughter?" Squall thought carefully before finally saying no.

Before Caraway could say anything, Selphie rushed into the garden, Irvine trailing behind her.

"Squall? Have you seen Rinoa? I saw her going this…General!" Selphie was about to say where she saw Rinoa heading off to when she saw Caraway. "I didn't notice you there for a second."

"So you didn't." He took a good look at her. "You are Selphie, am I correct? Rinoa mentioned something about you before." She did a mock salute and shook hands with him.

"Selphie Tillmit at your service, sir!"

He chuckled and then glanced at Irvine. "And you are?"

"The name's Irvine, sir."

"Irvine. Yes. Now I remember you. You're that boy from Galbadia."

"That's right, sir. It's a coincidence I got to meet Rinoa again after all this time."

"Indeed." Caraway looked back at Selphie. "I recall you mentioning something about Rinoa when you arrived here."

"That? Oh, what I said was that uh…I thought I saw Rinoa going out of the ballroom. Which she uh…did. As all of you already know." She stammered. Selphie held her breath, feeling uneasy by the moment as his gaze kept lingering at her as if deep in thought.

"Well then, I shall leave you three alone." With one sweep of his heavy looking cloak, he exited the garden with quick and formal steps.

"Okay," Irvine formed an o with his mouth. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea." Selphie admitted. She turned to Squall. "Look, you know that I know that you know where she is. Come on, spit it out now." She demanded. He cocked an eyebrow at her. When he realized that she wasn't going to stop the glaring contest, he sighed.

"Her room." She nodded and left to check up on Rinoa, leaving the two boys together.

"So," Irvine hung one of his arms around Squall's shoulder. "What say you, and me, go check up on some girls ourselves?"

"Rinoa?" Selphie called out. She knocked on her door, waiting for a reply when the door suddenly opened. She must have forgotten to close it properly, she wondered.

Looking around, she noticed a figure at the balcony. She went over and sat down next to her best friend. Rinoa had this content yet disturbed look on her face. "Rinoa, I'm so glad you're okay." She heaved a sigh of relief.

"The stars really are pretty, like fireworks." Rinoa said, her voice trance-like.

"Everyone's worried about you." Selphie said.

"As expected." She turned to look at Selphie. "Have you come to watch the stars with me?" Selphie scratched her head, thinking of an answer but in the end, didn't have one.

"Uh…not exactly." So they sat there in silence for quite a long time before she spoke up again. "Look Rinoa, I need to go now. But if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where to go." She took her Rinoa's hand and squeezed it gently. "Get some sleep, alright? Take care of yourself."

Rinoa smiled, squeezing back gently. "I will. Thank you."

There she was again. The same old place, the same serene feeling. Why? Why did she keep going back here? What part of this particular memory was so important? She looked, staring in awe at how beautiful the sky looked like at this time of the day.

"Actually," she paused thoughtfully to herself. "No matter what time of the day is, the sky always looked beautiful." She giggled but looked back up again when she suddenly noticed a butterfly sucking nectar out of a flower. She slowly approached it, scaring the butterfly away. Her fingers softly caress the flower's petals, taking in its silky texture. And then, just as she was enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the unknown place, she was suddenly transported to another place. It was a huge vast of dried grass and the air was stale with a hint of decaying substances. A huge contrast to the greenery she was experiencing before this. She looked around her, noticing the many decaying corpse that were lying around.

"It hurts so much. You feel the pain, too? It's always been the same. Always. Never ending. Dying, always dying but never able to rest in peace…"

She looked up to see whom the voice belonged to. A shrouded shadow stood across a great rift, looking miserable and lost. From the distance, she could not make out what the person looked like underneath the shroud, though the voice lead her to believe it was a woman.

"Who are you?" she asked, frowning as she stepped closer to the edge of the rift.

"Do not come closer. You will fall. Fall forever. Fall into the pain. Fall into death."

"What do you want?" she heard herself ask, but the shroud was beginning to fade.

"Help us…"

It disappeared silently and left only a shapeless shadow. A single feather drifted around in and endless circle, wobbling and looking as if it were just about to wink out of sight.

"What's going on?"

"Rinoa…"

She turned, and gasped. Though half-faded, the person was easy to recognize.

"Mother!"

"Rinoa…all is not yet right. You must help them, before the insanity grows too far and the whole world is infected. Rinoa, you must do this. You must help them."

"Help them? I don't understand? What's going on?"

"I cannot help you, for I am gone. All I can do is tell you that you must stop it."

"Mother…is this just a dream?"

Julia was silent for a moment, and then smiled slightly. "I love you, Rinoa. I am sorry I couldn't be there for you. You've made me proud, and I am happy you have found your way at last. Take care, Rinoa…" As soon as the words ended, she began to fade, and Rinoa found herself running towards her.

"Mother! Please don't leave! Mother!" But as she reached the vision, it had disappeared, and she found herself at the edge of the cliff. Unaware of how close she was to the edge, the smooth heel of her feet slid against the wet moss. Panic-stricken, she cried out in surprise and flailed her arms desperately for balance. Her shrill scream echoed loudly in her ears as she fell backwards over the stony cliff. She dropped faster, over the abrasive rocks, carelessly scraping her skin on the way down.

She suddenly woke up, gasping for breath as cold beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. She shook her head and squinted her eyes at the figure in front of her to try to get her blurry vision to focus. "Squall…?" She guessed.

The figure nodded his head. Finally, her vision was back to normal and she could see Squall's cerulean eyes staring at her. "What are you doing here?" She asked feeling confused.

"You were screaming." He said. Looking down at her hands, he noticed they were trembling. Squall squeezed her hands softly, trying to calm her nerves down. She stared at their joined hands as if any type of intentional physical contact from him was completely foreign.

"You alright?" He suddenly asked. "What?" she asked as she was broken from her thoughts.

"Nightmare?" He asked again. She looked down, trying hard to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. She checked herself, satisfied that there were no cuts or bruises.

"Yeah…but I'm…alright now…" Squall frowned, not quite believing her.

"You said I was screaming. It must be quite loud then, considering my room is far away from yours." She mused. "Others must have heard it too."

"They didn't." Rinoa looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

I was the only one who heard it. I had a vision of you falling, screaming, he thought.

"I was passing by your room at that time." He lied.

She sighed. "Oh…you couldn't sleep then." She moved to the other side of the bed and patted the empty space. "Come here." Squall stood there awkwardly before finally deciding to climb onto the bed and sit next to her.

"With you here with me, I'm sure the nightmare won't dare to come back. I'll be able to sleep peacefully." Rinoa sunk into the pillows and gripped his hand tightly. "I don't know what's going to happen in the future, Squall. All I know is that I have a feeling something bad is going to happen." She paused, remembering the dream she had moments ago. "You do know what I am referring to, right?" Rinoa looked at him.

"The dream?" He guessed. Rinoa nodded her head.

"One moment, I was at a field full of flowers and butterflies and the next I'm at a barren wasteland with lots of corpses around. There was this voice telling me about pain and suffering…and death. I don't know. I never got to see that person's face. And then…my mom appeared. She told me that I have to stop them. Before the insanity grows too far and the world is infected. I had no idea what she was talking about but she said I must help them…" She trailed off. Squall leaned back against the headrest, pondering about what she had just said. He was about to ask her something when he heard her sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Squall. You must think, that I'm weak." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "But…whenever I think back, I just…missed her so much." She choked. "She told me that she was proud of me. I told her to come back. Don't go…but she said she had to leave. I miss her, Squall and I never got to tell her that I love her…" She was sobbing uncontrollably now and he didn't really know what to do to comfort her.

After much thought and hesitations, Squall snuggled closer and stroked her hair gently. "You're not weak…and she…" He stopped in mid-sentence when he felt her gripped on his hand loosened. She had fallen asleep. Her breath coming out in soft wheezes as she breathed out. "And she probably knows that you love her." He finished.

a/n: This is totally a cliché but I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or its characters. (Duh! Obviously! lol) The story I think, well, is a bit weird and all 'cos it's sort of different from the original story. So…yeah. This is my first fanfic. Had a bit of trouble making sure everything turned out okay. Haiz…Hope all of you like it. And as usual… R/R!