Phew, finally updated again. Sorry for the wait, guys, but I lost my urge to continue. Well, here it is… chapter seven. Enjoy.
The feelings.
He felt like he was asleep for years.
The sound of the loud, annoying, obnoxious alarm was the first thing that rang in his ears as soon as he woke up. What a noise to wake up to.
Red flashing lights circled the room they were in, as if the noise was not enough warning. He hated it.
Squall breathed heavily, staring at the fallen Ellone with those big grayish blue eyes of his. Lost, confused, surprised and discombobulated. Quistis read them as if the words were written on a piece of paper on his face. It was taking him a while to realize where he was and what was happening.
The former instructor comforted her Sis, sliding her hand along her back to let her know they were there for her. After several minutes of silence between the three, Quistis knew she had to be the one to say something now. The other two were not able. "Squall, you're—" …Or maybe one was.
"Where is she?" His deep, soothing voice cracked slightly from the lack of speaking in a week. He interrupted her without even thinking. Bluntly. The commander knew she knew who he was talking about… she was not a fool.
Quistis gasped a second from his sudden interruption and stared up at him from her kneeled position next to Ellone. Her crystal blue eyes turned wide a minute as Squall turned his gaze to her. It was serious… too serious. If looks could kill… the look he was giving to her would make her drop dead. It made her stutter.
"Rin-… she… s-something's wrong with her--" As she hesitated to speak, Squall threw his legs to the side of the bed and stood, stumbling a bit forward. He already knew that. Groaning, he regained himself and turned to face Quistis again.
"Where did she go, Quistis? Which way?!" He was getting demanding now, worrying more and more about Rinoa. Everything annoyed him right now. The alarm sirens, the red circling lights, the way Quistis was acting. Everyone felt that way when they just woke up, right?
Quistis winced, frowning from his sudden outburst, and stood turning to face the demanding commander, leaving Ellone's aid. To satisfy him, she just gave him the blunt answer. "Out the doors and to your left down the hall. Be careful… she's not herself."
Squall gave a nod to her and began to turn around for the door, but something stopped him--- Sis. He turned around to look down at her again, noticing she was still kneeled and vulnerable. A slight concerned look came across his features, but Quistis's voice stopped it from becoming a frown. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her. Go!"
That was all he needed.
The commander threw himself around and headed out the door. He exited the small room to reach the hall, and began to jog down it, shaking his head quickly from left to right to wake up fully. Noticing he was running off balance, his gloved hand reached out and pushed himself away from the wall he was getting close to, now going from jogging to running. From the glass windows everywhere he went, he noticed that they were in space. (What're we doing here…?)
Not really knowing where he was headed, Squall busted his way into the control room, looking from left to right to see if his eyes could pick up that familiar light blue. As he looked, Piet and the few controllers that were in there turned their attention to him with looks of confusion upon their features. An injured controller was upon the floor. Piet approached him. "Sir? Wow, you're awake—"
"Did a girl come in here?"
Recovering from the interruption, Piet blinked and stared at Squall. "Uh… girl.. sir?"
Squall stopped looking around and turned to face Piet. A look of impatience came across his face. What was wrong with these people? Was it so hard to answer such a simple question? Like a lion leaping for it's prey, Squall went at Piet, grabbing his pretty white jacket and pinned him against the wall behind him. "Yes, girl! Dark hair, dressed in light blue!" He roared. The controllers jumped up from their chairs and watched the scene before them.
Piet gasped and held his hands up. "Yes, yes! She left several minutes ago! Something's wrong with her—she injured one of our men without touching him!" Squall let him go, and stormed out of the control room, his boots clicking with every step. Piet fixed his jacket and stared after him. "I hope he can stop her… she undid one of Adel's seals in the middle of the Lunar Cry…Hyne help us all."
Since he's already been through the hall, Squall ran up the stairs, looking around frantically, seeing a few men on the floor like the man in the control room.
(Rinoa did this..? She couldn't have…)
Widening his eyes at his thoughts, Squall made his way into the room to his left, continuing to look around… until he saw her. She was in a spacesuit. He could see her face in the helmet of it. Squall ran to the glass window, the only thing that separated them now. He raised his left hand and threw it back as he yelled out her name.
"Rinoa!" She had a blank gaze. It was though she was looking right through him. Squall's eyes widened as he stared at her. Anyone that knew Rinoa would say that this was not herself if they saw her this way. His eyes squinted as she began to turn around to exit into outer space. "No, come back here! Rinoa!" He ran to the door that would lead into the small area she was standing, but somehow managed to stop himself. He needed a space suit. (Damnit!)
After getting one on and making sure everything was secure, Squall bolted out like lightening into space to retrieve Rinoa and bring her back inside safely. But it was too late… she was already a great distance away.
(Why is this happening… why? Rinoa, what's happening to you…?)
He floated in space's zero gravity for a moment. Lost, confused, longing for her…
He felt this way all his life.
~~~~~~~
With the space suit still on, Squall jogged out of the room where Rinoa ran off so quickly. He stopped and watching a scene before his eyes.
"It's much too dangerous now! We must leave Lunar Base at once!"
"We have to evacuate! Please hurry to the pod!"
It seems that two men in space suits were yelling at the man in the space suit in the middle of them. It was obvious that he was of some importance…
Laguna growled and looked from one of his aide's to the other as they grabbed his arms. He hated being ordered around, especially in panic situations. "Forget about me, just go!"
One of the aides spoke out again, in a pleading manner. "Please sir, we must hurry!" The two men began to push the President Laguna down the hall so they could bring him to the pods. And instead of firmly raising his voice for them to stop, Laguna did what he did best.
"Ahhh!"
Yell.
Now that the scene was over and the men were out of his way, Squall stepped out into the hall to make his way down the stairs. But before he could go any further, the crawling, important man blocked his path again.
"Hey, you! Take care of Ellone!" The space suit kept him from looking up at Squall, and it also kept Squall from seeing Laguna's face. Irony had its ways, even in the worst situations. "Ughhh!" Once again, the poor president was dragged away, leaving Squall's path open again. With that, he ran to the control room.
Stepping into the control room, Squall noticed the people in there looking out the window like an audience. Ellone, standing again, was one of them as well as Quistis. Piet and the controllers stood by the window with frightened looks on their faces. With curiosity, Squall ran to the window and looked up as well.
It was Rinoa. Softly and gracefully in zero gravity, she floated towards Adel's tomb. As if she knew what she was doing, her hand reached up and punched in some things into the panel that secured the historic sorceress. Steam was released from the seal, as well as gas, and a vibration emerged from the machine.
Adel's eyes began to glow red and a smile crept across her freakishly dark lips. She was unsealed. As if on cue, the monsters from the Lunar Cry swarmed behind the breaking seal, throwing Rinoa back with such a force to push her far away.
Squall couldn't stand seeing what was happening before his eyes. No, not Adel being unsealed, not the Lunar Cry that was getting closer and closer by the minute… it was Rinoa getting further and further away by the second. "Rinoa!!!"
Piet turned to them all in the room. "Come on. We have to evacuate! Now!" With that, he ran to the room in the back that lead to the pods.
Quistis threw her arms down. "We can't leave Rinoa! We have to do something…!" She released a huff and ran after Piet, followed by the couple of controllers in the room. Ellone turned to Squall, rushing over to him and placing her hands on his chest. She looked up and to his eyes through the space helmet. "Squall, you should be protecting Rinoa, not me. You're the only thing on her mind right now. She's calling you." With that, she ran off to the pods followed by Squall.
As Squall ran after her, he spoke out. "She's calling me? What do you mean?" They both entered the pod with Quistis and Piet. Ellone got into one of the holding units, looking up to Squall who refused to at first. "GOD!!!!!! Rinoa is gonna die! I can't take it. Ellone, please. I've never felt this way in my life."
The three people watched in awe as Squall actually said something that he felt. Ellone thought it over in a matter of seconds. "……." The poor girl never dealt with anything in the present. She always focused on events to change in the past. But maybe Squall falling into a coma made her realize that the things happening now are more important than changing the past. Why dwell on the past when what was happening presently would soon become the past, and once again unchangeable? Ellone lowered her head. It seemed as though time was running out for all of them.
Squall stared at her with those pleading grayish blue puppy dog eyes, breathing heavily through his nose. "You said she's calling me… can you do something to get me to her? Or somehow figure out what's happening to her?"
"I don't know her, Squall… but, ok. It may not work, but we'll try, ok?"
Squall's eyes stared at his "sister" full of hope and trust. Though he couldn't directly say the words, they've shown in his eyes. The eyes of "thank you."
Piet, paranoid and direct, screamed out, interrupting the silent communication between Ellone and Squall. "Come on! We have to go now!" With that, Squall blinked and threw himself into the last holding unit. After doing so, their pod ejected from the Lunar Base, which was slowing being swarmed with the Lunar Cry.
~~~~~~~
All went white.
It felt as though he was being pulled around a world of complete whiteness. It wasn't blinding, although it felt as if it were a dream. He knew that feeling. It was the feeling of Ellone at work.
Suddenly the force of the pull slowed to a stop, and the scene began to set in his mind. The sound of a Galbadian army vehicle filled his ears as an echo at first, but soon became clear. It drove up a desert road, seemingly away from the desert base that was a good distance behind it. And then he heard her voice…
"Irvine, go back to the desert prison!" It was the scene in her life where they were all captured in the desert prison after the Deling City Parade and the attempt to assassinate Sorceress Edea.
"No, it's your father's order. I'm taking you back to Deling City." There was a long silence between the two, until…
"Ouch! Are you crazy?!" Irvine yelped with pain.
"We have to go back and help everybody!" As if in the shadows, Squall watched the scene before his eyes. Rinoa got out of the vehicle, still rebelling against Irvine refusing to go back to the prison. Rebelling… she was good at that, wasn't she? Yes, she was the 'princess' of the only active rebel group in Timber, the Forest Owls. What did that say about her, exactly?
Sure Timber was a small town, if any country would be able to take over it, it was definitely Galbadia. And without any hesitation, they did take it over. Why? How could they? Rinoa was an honest person; perhaps she saw the good in that small town and wouldn't let Galbadia bully them around. She was a fighter; giving her strength to people she could trust to help her succeed in liberating Timber.
"Squall might say 'but no one has ordered me to escape', and end up staying in there."
…….
Was that really the way he was? Surely he did what he was told, and was trained on discipline, but… that badly? Of course the others wouldn't notice such a thing, because they were also trained like him. But Rinoa was different. She didn't live in an orphanage, grow up in a military school, and be trained every day like they all were. She had the eyes for such things that they all could not notice in themselves. Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, Zell…
"Ok, ok… I'll go, I'll go!"
All became white once again.
"Squall's ring? I dunno where he bought it."
Zell.
The scene before him began to become clear once again, only this was different. Zell and Rinoa stood, face to face, talking to each other. From the surroundings, Squall recognized this as Balamb Garden, in the cafeteria. From what he remembered, it had to be around the time before Galbadia and Balamb Garden fought, because Zell asked for his ring during the battle.
"I want the same one. It looks really cool, doesn't it?" Rinoa smiled sweetly after speaking, as always. She was good at that. But what was so special about his ring? All right, he could admit that it was unique in a way. He had the necklace, ring, and gunblade made personally for himself. He always admired the powerful Guardian Force Griever. A lion full of courage and bravery; everything he wanted to be.
"Alright, how 'bout I make you one? I'm pretty good at that kinda stuff."
"Really!? Sure, OK!!!" Squall observed Rinoa as she showed her excitement over his ring. Was it that she really wanted a ring like that or it was his? He put his thoughts on hold, as he observed some more…
Zell chuckled at Rinoa's excitement, balling up his right fist; he held it up as he spoke out. "Let's have Squall show us the real thing."
Rinoa's excitement escaped her as she put her hands behind her back, throwing her gaze to look at the tile floor of the garden. "…We can't do that."
"Why not?" Zell frowned, watching her.
"…It's embarrassing." She kept her gaze lowered, sliding her left boot over the tiles below.
"Say what?" The boy dropped his right hand, and a sudden thought hit his head. Even Squall could see the light bulb turning on above his head. Zell took a step back with his right foot, holding his arms out as if he were about to be attacked by her. "Oh…"
As if she knew he was going to think such a thing, Rinoa objected immediately, raising her right hand and shaking it as well as her head. "No! It's not what you think!" Soon after, a soft red came to her cheeks as she smiled a little, spinning around so that Zell could see her back instead of her flushed face.
And all became white again…
(Where am I…?)
The image began to become clear once again; this time it was somewhere different. Although the whiteness seemed to remain when it should have gone away. It all looked so familiar. Someone was on the floor--- Seifer Almasy. Squall's memory slowly began to return to him. It was the scene right before he fell into a coma: In the Galbadian auditorium. (You're…)
And on time, Rinoa approached Seifer… that was the last thing he saw. This time he refused to take his eyes off the sight before him. He saw something different this time… another figure flashing within her body. Rinoa kneeled down to Seifer, looking as though she were kissing him, but from the words he heard this time, it definitely was not a smooch. (Rinoa...)
"Oh, my loyal knight, Seifer. The sorceress is alive… the sorceress demands."
(Sorceress..?! Is she possessed?! This isn't Rinoa!! Where's Rinoa!!!?)
"Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora, said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again."
(Rinoa! Where are you? Answer me!)
Like a puppet, Seifer stands up, obeying his dear sorceress. "As you wish, Ultimecia."
(Ultimecia…)
Keeping his eyes on Rinoa, he sees her head fall back as her hands are held up, helplessly being controlled by the obvious sorceress, Ultimecia. She frowns with helplessness, slowly closing her eyes and slightly opening her mouth as her frown slowly fades. And he hears her…
"(…Squall…I'm scared.)" With that, her face peacefully shuts down, allowing a content look upon her features take over as she falls forward and onto Galbadia's tile floor.
(Rinoa!!!)
As if things couldn't get frightening enough, the form of this sorceress Ultimecia emits from Rinoa's body and floats over to Squall.
"Who's there?! Get out!"
~~~~~~~
Squall shot out from the "connection" as his eyes flashed open, once again yelling out her name. "Rinoa!" They were all still in the pod, still on their journey home while Rinoa was floating out into the nothingness of space.
Hearing one of the holding units open, Squall saw the one on his left flip up, and Ellone fell to her knees. As if anything could get worse, Squall threw his holding unit open, quickly kneeling by his Sis's side. "Ellone?!"