By myself but not Alone

How the hell did I get here?

Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy 8

Rinoa's POV

How the hell did I get here? Why does that sound like a song… I'm sure that sounds familiar… anyway, here I am sitting under a bunch of old ropes and boxes hoping to god that nobody finds me. I don't even know what possessed me to come on this ship thing!

Ok, what happened was this… I was walking around Garden, the thing that I've made quite a habit out of, and I see Squall, Irvine, Selphie and Zell walking towards the parking lot. I called out to them and they just ignored me! Well no one ignores Rinoa Heartilly I can tell you! So I followed them and was going to give them a piece of my mind when they went inside this room and entered this strange looking ship. To make a long story short I followed them and tripped up on these ropes.

Then the ship started rumbling and moving so without thinking I just hid. I PANICED OK!

This is actually all Squalls' fault, I know you understand why. If he just locked the door after him then this wouldn't have happened!

I thought SeeD's were supposed to be smart!

I can feel the ship stopping; we've been travelling for what seems to me like FOREVER!

Holy shit… here they come… holding my breath…

"This is ganna be a toughie." Selphie says, she's running towards the exit, as is everyone else.

"Irvine and I will secure the area around Quistis once she is located," there he goes again, being all… Squall-like, "Selphie and Zell, you two…"

He's staring straight at me, I think he can see me, his eyes are searching for me, I can feel them on me. I suddenly become very aware of the fact that a little bit of my coat is hanging out from underneath my hiding place.

"We two…"

Thank Hyne for Zell!

Squall glares menacingly at Zell; he hushes him and continues staring. Dear Hyne I'm ganna be found out. Goodbye world, I loved you so much.

"Squall we have to go!" Irvine damn near yells.

"Right…"

And with that they're gone. Phew.

After waiting about five minutes I uncover myself and start walking around the ship. It's amazing… and a lot bigger than I first anticipated. Not that I didn't think it'd be big or anything it's just huge.

Finally letting my curiosity get the better of me I decide to take a look outside. The doors slowly open and before they are even an inch I can hear the unfamiliar sound of battle. The sound of swords cutting through flesh and angry beasts charging floods into my ears.

Once they are all the way down I run out and see some of the grungiest beasts I have ever seen. They don't seem to notice my presence, which I am very grateful for and I find myself clutching my weapon at my side.

The first person I see is Zell. Sweet merciful Hyne does he go hard! His face is screwed up in concentration as he pounds his rock hard fists into the purple monsters face and body. His face is already bloody and I can see that he is weakening fast.

I need to help him, he's my friend! But there's nothing I can do, I can't fight that thing! Thinking hard and fast I decide that the best thing I can do is support him with a couple of healing spells.

His bodies starting to droop and I can tell he's tired. Whats the best thing I can do for him?

I scream the words before I can think, my hands outstretched in front of me.

"HASTE!"

A yellow light illuminates from my hands and with lightening speed surround Zell.

I've had a haste cast on me once before, Irvine did it as a joke as I was ordering my food from the cafeteria. He got in sooooo much trouble for it. Because as you know magic and weapons aren't allowed to be used in the cafeteria.

But it's like being on a drug. Your entire body starts pulsing and you don't feel like your doing everything really fast, it just seems like the world around you is moving really slowly. You can feel the blood beneath your skin and you become really alert of everything.

Zell's eyes go wide and he stands straight again. His movements are so fast, much faster than mine had been. He raises his fist and runs towards the creature, letting out an animal like cry as he went. With one final blow the monster falls to the ground, its body polluting the earth beneath it.

He looks up and searches around for who cast it. His eyes widen even further… if that's possible, when he spots me.

"RINOA!" he yells loudly.

I smile weakly and he's about to say something when a monster crushes into him from behind. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand. That was my fault… I hope he's ok.

He's beginning to stand and he does not look happy.

My attention is drawn to someone running towards me. It's Irvine and he's carrying Quistis in his arms. Her body is limp and her eyes closed.

I open my mouth and can almost feel the tears. Oh please don't be dead Quistis.

Irvine looks like he's about to scowled me but instead he runs straight past me. I was going to follow him to make sure that Quistis was alright but I hear a high pitched whistle and then out of nowhere Selphie and Squall come running towards the ship.

Zell heard the whistle too. He runs towards me, grabbing my arm as he runs but as he does the same monster that had been fighting him before knocks him down again, sending me with him.

As we fall Zell smashes his head against the hard rock ground beneath us, knocking him out.

I cower over Zell, begging him to wake up. If he doesn't then I am quite sure that this thing will kill me.

It leaps up on its back legs, making it at least three times taller than me. I scream as loud as I can and cover Zell with my body, waiting for the blow that will undoubtedly kill me.

Before I know it I've yelled one person's name, the one person who comes to my mind… the one person that can save me.

"SQUALL!"

Back at Garden

General Caraway paces back and forth across his room. He hadn't seen Rinoa since their squabble and when he finally thought that it was time to talk to her about it; it seems she has disappeared off the face of the planet.

And to top it all off it seems that his men haven't found any reason to suspect Balamb Garden of the assassination. Well attempted assassination.

'I know it was them… I can feel it in my bones.' Caraway thought as he made his way towards his bedroom.

Once inside he pulled out a notepad that had all his notes on his investigation. He looked over them for about the thirtieth time today and sighed. Nothing pointed to Balamb, but after talking to the lead investigator of Galbadia Garden it seemed that they didn't seem responsible either.

Caraway flopped down at his desk and cradled his head in his hands, his thoughts wandered back to Rinoa. He knew that distancing himself from her would have repercussions, he'd known if from day one. But he didn't need a child, he didn't want a child. The fact of the matter was that General's having daughters was a burden.

A son was what he needed, a strapping male who he could mould into his own image. Someone he could make hard, just like him. Someone who could take over for him when he died, not some weak little girl.

'But here she is…' Caraway thought.

He rubbed his temple and sighed, there was no way to escape it, and he was stuck with her. He wasn't cruel hearted enough to turn his back on her when she had nowhere else to go, but it was still more of a load than he was ready for.

Caraway hears a knock at the door that takes his attention away from his current predicament. Walking towards the door he checks his watch and is surprised to find that its mid afternoon.

It's a young Cadet at the door, as Caraway opens it the Cadet tries to look over his shoulder and into his room. Most Cadets had never seen into the VIP rooms.

"Yes?" Caraway asks irritably.

"Sir," the Cadet says while saluting, "Miss Rinoa has disappeared, Sir. No one is able to find her at this present time, Sir."

"At ease." Caraway says with a wave.

He angrily checks his watch again and starts tapping his foot in frustration. She was turning out to be more trouble than she was worth and an immense distraction from what he was supposed to be doing.

"When was she last seen?" Caraway enquired.

The cadet thought about the question for awhile, he hadn't been informed of that but everyone knew who Rinoa was.

"I saw her earlier leaving the library with Zell Dincht."

"Go retrieve him for me and bring him to my quarters." Caraway replied as he tried to close the door.

The cadet stuck his foot between the door and the doorframe, essentially not allowing Caraway to close the door.

"He has been sent on a rescue mission, Sir."

"Have you searched the entire Garden?" Caraway asked, referring to Rinoa's disappearance.

"Affirmative."

"Well go to Balamb and search there." Caraway snapped.

The Cadet looked quite uneasy by this suggestion.

"Sir, I have a SeeD exam tomorrow and if I breach my curfew then I'll fail. Plus I have to get permission from Principal Cid to exit the Garden because of my low rank, Sir." The Cadet said quietly.

"If you don't go to Balamb right now then I will personally make sure that you never become a SeeD!"

Esthar SQUALL'S POV

Sharp pains are stabbing into my ribs and my legs are burning with a fire I have never felt before. But I have to save her, I can't let General Caraway's daughter be trampled to death… I can't let Rinoa be trampled to death.

I'm not going to make it; Rinoa's going to die… I HAVE TO SAVE HER!

Selphie is way behind me now and I can hear her screaming Rinoa's name. I know that Zell will survive this, that's what SeeD's do, they survive. But Rinoa…

The Behemoth claw like feet are inching closer and closer to Rinoa and time seems to have slowed down. My legs just won't move fast enough. As I run I pull my Gunblade out from my belt, raising it high above my head. If I can't get there in time I will at least slay the beast that killed her.

Rinoa's head is pressed hard against Zell's chest and her arms are protecting her head, her eyes are clenched together tightly and I can almost see the glittery tears streaming down her checks.

"SQUALL!"

She screams my name and I am not close enough, I can't save her. I can't do anything but watch. I push myself harder and run faster, faster than I ever thought I could possibly run. I'm still not fast enough.

Just when all hope seems to have gone a white, blinding light flashes off of Rinoa's skin. In the last second, before I have to cover my eyes I thought I saw a pair of wings coming out of Rinoa's back.

I skid to a stop and cover my eyes with my arm, the light makes little white dots appear under my eyelids.

I can still see the brightness from behind my eyelids. I can hear Rinoa screaming, she's screaming much louder than Selphie is and it sounds like she's in agonising pain.

I feel the ground rumbling beneath me and I hear the earth crack. I'm thrown back by a force that I can't explain. It's powerful, yet calming.

Finally, I open my eyes just as the light sinks back into Rinoa. I search her back for the wings that I thought I had seen but see nothing. It must've been my imagination; it's been a very stressful day.

I glance around briefly, all the monsters that had once surrounded us are dead. There bodies going for miles all around us. I put this aside for the time being and become conscious of Rinoa again.

I run to Rinoa's side, she's unconscious, lying on top of Zell. I scoop her up in my arms, surprised at how light she is. Not that I think she's fat… she's perfect. No I didn't say perfect! I meant to say… uhhh… adequate.

Her body is limp but I can see her chest moving up and down… up… down… not that I'm staring!

I hear Selphie casting a float on Zell, Zell being too bulky for Selphie to carry herself.

As I lug Rinoa inside the Ragnarok I find myself wondering what that light was. She can't have cast that sort of spell on her own, I've seen Rinoa's spell-casting ability and it is nowhere near the level that was.

'Why didn't that light kill us? Selphie, Zell and I should be dead…'