Part Two: The Flower

The Ghost of Selphie Timilt

"So, we finally meet again." Rinoa said as she saw a figure appear from the darkness.
"Rinoa, come to steal something else from me?" Selphie emerged from the darkness completely. She sported her usual yellow dress and brown boots. Her hair looked the same and her face looked the same. She was unchanged from all those years. But Rinoa didn't understand why.
"Just your life. Just like you did to me." Rinoa smirked.
"Rinoa, why do you think I allowed you to live this long?" Selphie smiled at her.
"You've allowed me to live this long?" Rinoa said jokingly.
"I could have your mind deleted just like that. You see, this world ties you directly to your mind. If you die here, you die there as well. I just wanted you to see what you've done to me." Selphie stepped closer.
"What a load of shit!? What I've done to you? What about what you did to me?" Rinoa screamed at her.
"You may have your reasons for killing me, but let me tell you, it's about the same for me." Selphie told her.
"Like what, owning your own computer hacking base, living all these years, or was it the butt load of money you have to make this program? Come on, which is so horrible?" Rinoa glared at Selphie.
"You took something from me. You stole him."
"Irvine? I never stole him! He came to me! I didn't even do anything with him!" Rinoa yelled at her.
"It doesn't matter, you just stole his heart. I loved him so much, but you took that away from me. I was broken. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't bare to be around anyone. My spirit was broken. So when Squall told everyone about the operation that we were going to do to you, I took it. Though I only deleted your identity, it still felt good to be rid of you. But I quit after that. I couldn't see any more people be hurt like you and I. So I took over Trabia Garden and turned it into this facility. Though it seems like all we do is hack, most of the efforts were towards building and maintaining this world."
"So you just wanted to create a virtual world?" Rinoa asked.
"Correct. One that I could fade into." Selphie looked at the ground.
"Selphie...you don't mean..."
"Yes, I am part of this world!"
"Selphie, how could you?" Rinoa held her hand over her mouth.
"I was hurt too much. I just couldn't live in this world anymore. So I just created a perfect world for me. When it was complete, I uploaded my mind into the program and became a part of it. You wanted to destroy the main system, well here I am." Selphie opened her arms.
"You're...the main system?" Rinoa was appalled. Selphie had just become a computer program.
"That's right. But it's good because I'm finally happy. I can do whatever I want here. Even kill you!" In Selphie's hands appeared her old knunchucks that she had used throughout their missions. She began to swing them in the air to build up momentum.
"I will kill you." Rinoa glared at her. But in her hands appeared her old pinwheel. Selphie was obviously looking for a fair fight.
"Let's see who deserves to live." Selphie smiled.
"It's already decided." Rinoa flung her pinwheel with a quick snap of the wrist as Selphie. But she was well prepared. She whipped her body around for more momentum before flinging the pinwheel into the air and onto the ground.
"Looks like you're all out of options." Selphie kept spinning the knunchucks and dashed towards Rinoa.
With another quick spin, she knocked them into Rinoa's ribs. Rinoa fell to the ground in pain from the blow. Rinoa sprung herself forward before getting back to her feet. Now she had distance. She held her position as Selphie came at her again. When Selphie swung the knunchucks at her again, Rinoa caught a side of them in her hand. Rinoa only had to get them out of her hands to defeat her. But Selphie just twisted her body, which twisted Rinoa's arm. The knunchucks flew out of Rinoa's grasp, and Selphie twirled around again to smack Rinoa in the face with the weapon. Rinoa flew to the ground in pain and her cheek began to swell.
Selphie took the two sides in her hand and flung it over Rinoa's head as she tried to stand on her knees. The chain came across Rinoa's neck, twisting at her skin. Rinoa tried to gasp for air, but Selphie's grip was too tight.
"Aww...looks like our fun is going to end soon. I figured you put up more of a fight than that?" Selphie giggled as she pulled harder. Her knee was in Rinoa's back, pushing her into the chain more.
"Fuck...you...Selphie. Irvine...never...liked...you." Rinoa spit in.
Selphie went into a rage and pushed and pulled harder. Rinoa began to cough and became lightheaded. But she couldn't give up. She grasped the chains with her hands and positioned her leg. In a second, her foot kicked Selphie in the shin and her arms had flung her over her head. Selphie was on her back in shock. Rinoa quickly dashed for her pinwheel on the ground. Selphie began to stand slowly. Rinoa grasped it and didn't even have time to aim before Selphie got her knunchucks ready again. In a desperate throw, she whipped her body around and released the pinwheel. It held true and sliced right through Selphie's mid section.
Rinoa landed, her arm still in throwing position.
"Rinoa...thanks for telling the truth. You're a true friend." Selphie smiled. But before she could say another world, the pinwheel made its descent back and sliced through her neck.
Rinoa watched as her best friend die. Selphie's body fell apart and dissolved into bits of data. She was deleted. Rinoa began to cry. The world began to fade back to the office she was in. She didn't want Selphie to die. She meant to kill her, but to know that Selphie was actually dead, hurt Rinoa so much. Selphie was such a good person, but just with a hateful heart. She might still be alive if Rinoa had told her the truth sooner than that. She might not have went into denial and sacrificed her body to live in the virtual world. But this was just the beginning. She had many more people to kill and each one was going to be harder than the next.
Rinoa took off the helmet and smoothed her dress out. She wiped a few tears from her eyes. She had no bruises from the battle, but her heart still hurt. Rinoa stood up and looked around the office. Selphie's empire would soon fall. But Rinoa had to keep going. She walked out of the office, leaving Mark unconscious, and picked up her things. It was time to kill the next person on her list.