The revelation.
Hyne, if only she could share this sight with him now.
It was the moon; the moon that she swore not to look at until he returned. But because of how incredibly large and bright it was, she could not deny that it was beautiful, and a pleasure to look at.
The search was basically over; they had found Ellone, but were informed that she was currently in space. And so, they would go to her. Their trip would be early the next morning since they needed time to rest up from their long journey to find the city.
It was amazing how Ellone had the ability to use the mind of the people she knew and cared about to try to change the events of the past. Although it was strange that she started doing it recently. Why start it now? Maybe the realization of how things turned out hit her until recently. But whatever the case, it was her choice and no one else's.
The sounds of the technologically advanced city surrounded her ears, hearing the every day lift that helped Estharians get from here to there. It wasn't as quiet as Balamb at night, but it was sure a beautiful view to look at from a high window; not that Balamb Garden wasn't a sight for sore eyes.
Rinoa sat up from the high window of a resident hotel from leaning on the windowsill, running her right hand through her hair. She hasn't been getting the proper amount of sleep in the past few days, and she knew it. Slowly, she stood up and closed the window a bit, leaving it open slightly so the cool air could find it's way in. Turning to the bed, she began to walk to it until a soft knock was heard at the door.
Hearing this, the girl walked over to the door and pushed the button on the side, letting it slide open. Looking up to the woman, she smiled a little letting her hand return to her side from the button. "Hey, what's up? Wanna come in?"
Quistis smiled, shaking her head from left to right. "That's all right, no need. I just wanted to let you know that only a couple of us could go to space tomorrow morning.. and the others told me that you and I should go. They are going to stay here and take care of Matron."
Rinoa stared at Quistis for a moment, giving a few blinks before speaking out. She brought her left hand to her necklace and looked down to the floor. "Me…? Why me?"
"Why you?" Quistis chuckled lightly, and crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the girl. "You've been by Squall's side the minute you woke up from your coma. Of course we have as well, but you hogged him all for yourself." It was a playful comment.
"I'm sorry…"
"No, don't be. Squall needs something like that in his life—someone like that. I'm sure you want to go, and I'm also sure that he will be happy to see you when he wakes up."
"Quistis…" The girl in light blue didn't know what to say. There was no guarantee that he would wake up in space.
"Where did the optimistic Rinoa go?" Rinoa looked up and dropped her hand from the rings on her necklace with a small smile on her lips.
"Thank you… for everything." Quistis smiled and opened her arms out to her, and without hesitation, the girls hugged. "You've all been there, helping me out all the steps of the way. Without you guys, I wouldn't be able to do anything to help Squall.."
Quistis broke the embrace and gave a nod to Rinoa. "That's what friends are for."
Smiling brightly, Rinoa returned a nod and the two shared a moment of silence before the former instructor spoke out once again. "So we'll go together with him the first thing when the sun rises. You should get some sleep. Good night, Rinoa."
"G'night, Quistis."
~~~~~~~
The night seemed endless. There was no way she'd get the proper amount of sleep. The girl basically watched the sun rise from the window next to her bed. Most of the night, she tried to sleep, but all that she could get accomplished was the ability to close her eyes. And when she became comfortable enough to fall asleep, there was a knock at the door.
"Mm?" Rinoa sat up, barely able to keep her eyes open. "Come in."
"Y-You sure?" A reluctant Zell spoke from the other side.
Hearing him, she smiled. "Sure, silly."
With that, the door slid open and Zell peeked his head in, smiling at her. "'Sup, Rinoa? You ready to go?"
"Boy, you guys don't kid around when you mean the first thing in the morning." She chuckled and brought her legs to the side of the bed, stretching out her arms and legs before standing and turning to Zell. "I'm ready when you are."
It was a good thirty-minute drive to the Lunar Gate from Esthar city. Irvine, Selphie, Zell and Edea wanted to see Rinoa and Quistis off before they left. If they had the chance to go, they would definitely take up the offer, but Edea needed a few by her side, just incase Sorceress Ultimecia decided to possess her again.
Once there, the same scientist that addressed Laguna was there, explaining the whole process to the two girls before they took up the offer completely. Once finished, they were asked to board.
"You're in good hands, Matron. Don't worry." Quistis spoke, at the top of the stairs infront of the capsule.
"I know. Please take care of Squall." The older woman spoke out.
"We will." Quistis smiled down at Rinoa before walking inside the capsule. The door closed behind her and it traveled up, getting prepared to launch.
The others watched Rinoa as she walked up the stairs as another capsule appeared, opening the door for her to walk in. She turned around and gave a small wave. Selphie jumped up and threw her arms around to her. Irvine smiled and took off his hat, placing it upon his chest while Zell threw a thumbs up. Smiling to her friends, she turned towards the capsule, and entered it, letting the door close behind her as it traveled up, getting prepared to launch with Quistis' and Squall's.
And so, after the preparations were made, the three capsules were shot straight up into the air, making their way to the Lunar Base. To Ellone.
~~~~~~~
During the capsule transportation, Rinoa had a good chance to get some sort of sleep. The scientist was right; it did make the trip seem shorter.
"Three capsules are approaching. Shall we recover them?"
"Of course. What do you expect?" Laguna was securely dressed in a space suit, ready to go check on the seal Sorceress right outside the base. He took a step closer to the two men at the controls.
"Are these special personnel coming aboard?"
"Yeah, I hope they don't cause any problems." The President sighed deeply.
"Shall we put troops on standby?"
Laguna watched the screen as the capsules approached, squinting his eyes slightly at the sight of it. "I have a feeling we won't need to." He spoke out sincerely.
The first controller looked to the other, blinking cautiously. "The we'd better station them all the more."
Laguna huffed and watched as the second controller pressed a button to give out commands. "Capsule recovery team, initiate recovery process. Security, go on standby."
The President turned around and put his hands on his hips. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Why do you always play me like that?" He took a few steps toward the door, about to leave. "I'm gonna go check up on Adel. Take care of the rest for me, will ya'?"
In union, the controllers spoke out. "Yes sir."
After the whole process of getting aboard, a quick thaw was put into effect, and Rinoa and Quistis woke up. They floated about the room, including Squall, until the gravity was placed in the room. The girls gently landed on their feet while Squall landed on the ground, on his back. Rinoa walked over to him, kneeling at his side while Quistis spoke to the man that appeared in the room.
Quistis offered a letter from Esthar's ambassador. The man took it and read it, giving a nod to her. "Welcome to the Lunar Base. I'm Piet. From this letter, I understand the situation. We will bring the boy to the med lab." Two men walked in the room behind him and over to Rinoa near Squall. They bent down, picking Squall up and walked him over to the med lab, followed by Quistis Rinoa and Piet.
The med lab was a beautiful room, it had a glass floor that gave you a full view of the millions of stars scattered. In the middle of the room was a bed, where Squall was placed to lie. The girls walked up to his side as Piet stood behind them. "He will be fine in here to rest." How ironic… didn't he have enough rest?
"I've talked to my crew. Everything will be all right. Come to the control room." With that, the man lead the way, and the girls followed. They were lead into the control room, which seemed extremely busy. From the large windows, there was a great view of the moon. Quistis stepped forward.
"Look at how close we are to the moon!" Her eyes lit up as she stared out the window. One of the controllers turned around in his chair and spoke up.
"This is no time to be impressed. Look at the monitor over there." He pointed to his left.
Quistis frowned slightly and looked over to Rinoa, signaling her over. The two walked over to the monitor and watched the screen. It looked as though a cluster of monsters, highlighted in red, were all gathered together and ready for anything. Rinoa gasped and stood back from the monitor, placing a hand over her lips. Quistis turned to the controller. "Monsters…"
"The lunar world is a world of monsters. Didn't you learn that in school? As you can see, the monsters are gathering at one point. History's about to repeat itself. The Lunar Cry is starting."
Quistis turned to Rinoa, giving a nod. "I'm going to go get Ellone now. Why don't you go keep an eye on Squall? I'll bring her to him as soon as possible."
The girl in light blue gave a nod in understanding, turning and walking out of the control room to head back to the med lab.
The former instructor turned to Piet, speaking out. "Ellone's room is where?"
"Ellone's room is on the second floor. You can go see her anytime."
~~~~~~~
Quistis walked up the stairs to the second floor, passing by a couple of scientists that were looking out the window.
"Look! That's the President going out to conduct the inspection personally."
"What you see out there is his work. Incredible, isn't it? He was responsible for containing Adel. We've maintained a tight surveillance over her ever since."
Walking down the hall casually, the woman passed by a guard at the door of Ellone's room, letting the door slide open as she got near. Ellone sat at the end of the room, sitting upon her given bed. Her hands were on her lap and her green garnet lay at the curve over her elbows. Hearing the door open, she stood, seeing it was Quistis. "Quisty!"
Quistis jogged over with a smile on her lips. But that smile soon faded before she spoke. "Sis… it's Squall. He's in a coma…" She trailed off.
"So that's why…" Ellone lowered her head a little and Quistis spoke up again.
"He's here, in the med lab. Do you… think you could do something?"
"I'll try my very best." Ellone looked back up to her, giving a determined nod.
~~~~~~~
Rinoa casually walked into the med lab, giving a small helpless smile over to the guard that was watching him and a wave. He returned the wave and kept to himself, watching her a second as she walked over to Squall, once again kneeling at his side.
The girl sighed softly, raising a hand to push aside the hair that was over his closed eyes. He lay there still sleeping as peaceful as a baby. She was glad that they were finally within reach of Ellone… finally. Hopefully her powers could help bring Squall back.
All of a sudden, Rinoa began to feel ill, weak. Her eyes closed and she frowned deeply to try to open them again, but her efforts availed her nothing. Her hands began to shake a good amount and her head dropped, she groaned out softly, sounding as if she were in pain.
Hearing this, the guard nearby looked over and sat up, watching the girl for a moment before speaking out first. "Uh… miss?"
"U-Ugh…" She groaned a little bit more, before letting out a yelp. Right after yelping, Rinoa fell lifeless on whatever the bed Squall didn't consume to his side, that was in front of her. Her face was hidden in the depths of her hair and her arms where her head rested.
The guard, startled from this event, stood up and walked over to the girl in light blue. "Miss? …Hyne, are you all right?" He reached his hand out to place it on her shoulder, but was met with an electrical-like reaction to the meeting of her skin. The guard gasped; about to take his hand away, but thanks to the reaction, his whole form was thrown back with an unbelievable force and into the nearest wall. "AH!"
With that, Rinoa's head lifted up slowly, her hair in her face and an evil look in her eyes that was definitely not her own. They turned a slight amber color as she stood, letting the dark strands of her hair remain wherever it pleased. She looked down at the boy who lay in front of her and smirked, spinning around so her back would face him.
"You were of good use to me… now you are not needed any longer."
The guard that was thrown upon the wall grunted, sitting up as best as he could so he could signal the alarm. Something very wrong was happening to Rinoa.
~~~~~~~
"You were of good use to me… now you are not needed any longer."
…?!…
In the depths of his mind, all he wanted to do was call out to her… the girl who appeared to him in his dreams, his memories to keep him stable.
The girl who appeared at the Inauguration party before him as they both saw that beautiful, Fateful shooting star together with their own eyes.
The girl who appeared in his room and encouraged him to get up and show her around Garden to get his mind off things.
"Now, destined SeeD, you will sleep forever."
Various scenes flashed through his mind of what happened before falling into a coma. The party, the missions, the voices, the silence, the sounds, the sights, and more importantly… her.
The image in his mind flashed from Rinoa in his room, encouraging him to get up, to the sights he wasn't able to see as he was in a coma. It was Rinoa observing and touching his face with a loving look upon her features. He saw her face clearly… it had a hint of sadness but admiration as she looked to him. He saw her touch his scar gently with her fingertips and slide her thumb over his eyelashes.
"Squall… come back to me…"
The image changed quickly to Rinoa sitting next to him on the infirmary bed and Irvine across the room. She was looking down at him as Irvine spoke to her.
"So like… it's all right to admit that you have some sort of feelings for him."
"……hm? Sorry, what was that?"
"Well, if you would stop staring at him for a minute, ya' would've heard—"
"I am not staring at him!"
"Suuure. Whatever you say, darlin'."
"Are you finished? What were you saying?"
"As I was sayin'… you're falling for him, aren't you?"
He could see her face. She smiled and her cheeks reddened slightly.
All became white. It was silent. An image began to appear again. Rinoa was kneeled by his side once again in the infirmary.
"..I need you, Squall…"
"I wasn't lying when I told you that you were the best looking guy at the party… but there was something about you that drew me closer. I didn't just want to dance; I wanted to try to get closer to you… in a way. It was a coincidence that we met again in Timber, wasn't it? I guess Fate… wanted us to meet again. We've been through so much together so far… had a few little arguments and touching moments, but… look at you now. What am I supposed to do now that you're gone like this?"
"We're searching for Ellone… maybe she can help bring you back to us… to me. In the meantime.. don't give up. Hold on just a little longer… I know you will. You're much stronger than I am."
He saw her fight the tears.
He couldn't take this any longer.
Yes, he was slowly being able to think once again, and all that was on his mind was her.
He kept hearing her voice as his name was being called in the background; she was calling out to him.
"Squall… come back to me…"
"Squall! Please Hyne, wake up!"
Rinoa…
"Squall!"
"Come on, get up. Let's go."
Rinoa!
~~~~~~~
In a flash, his grayish-blue eyes shot open and his torso quickly lifted up into a seated position. "Rinoa!!"
Ellone and Quistis watched in amazement as Squall suddenly awoke from his coma, screaming out the girl's name. He breathed heavily as he turned his head to look at the women. The sound of the alarm was ringing throughout the whole Lunar Base. Ellone sighed deeply and fell to her knees from her standing position, weak from her attempts and succession from waking him up.