Squall sat up slowly, blinking. Okay… where am I? Right. The infirmary. I must have passed out after—Quistis! He turned suddenly, looking around the room. The sudden motion made his head hurt, but he ignored it.
He tried to speak, but his throat was dried up. All that came out was a slight scraping sound. Suddenly, as if signaled by this sound, everyone in the room jumped over to his bedside. It was quite a crowd.
"Squall! Are you all right, man?" Asked Zell, leaning over the bed.
Squall massaged his throat for a moment and finally managed to croak out, "Fine. Is Quistis… is she…" Though he'd gained back his ability to speak, words were failing him.
"I'm all right, Squall. Missing a piece or two, but I'll live." Xu stepped aside for a moment, allowing Quistis to awkwardly maneuver her wheelchair next to Squall's bed. Squall gasped.
"What happened?"
Cid spoke up, "There was an attack on the Garden. It seems that an assassin climbed up the side of the building and managed to plant an explosive on the hull. Teams are currently repairing the damage."
"Was the culprit found?" Squall still hadn't noticed Rinoa, who hadn't approached his bed when everyone else had.
Xu leaned over Quistis, "No, but we've got three SeeD teams on it. Currently we have no information whatsoever though. The culprit was obviously very well trained."
Right. They'd have to be to get so close to the Garden without setting of Rinoa's wards… Rinoa!
Squall suddenly blurted out, "Is Rinoa here? I thought I heard her voice as I was waking up."
The crowd looked awkwardly amongst themselves for a minute until they eventually parted, allowing Squall to look over at Rinoa.
/\/\/\/\/\
Julie found, to her moderate disappointment that the wings she had so nicely grown for herself weren't actually all that useful in flying. Assuredly, she could propel herself through the air, but the wings had absolutely nothing to do with it, and it was a trifle disappointing. Weren't evil sorceresses supposed to get wings that would help them fly to destroy their less evil counterparts? Oh well.
Julie was flying over the ocean towards Balamb. Her previous speech to her underlings was actually just so she could gloat over the kind of power that she was about to destroy. Unlike her mother, she had a good grasp on timing, and understood that attacking your enemies before they get a chance to unite and kill you can often be the best way to deal with them.
"Minions rarely work, at any rate…" she muttered to herself.
In actuality, she could have just teleported herself to the Garden, but she knew that they would pick her up on Rinoa's magical sensors that had been installed. Evil queens had to maintain at least a reputation of suspense with their victims, didn't they? It was kind of annoying that it would take her about five minutes to get to the Garden at this rate. To pass the time, she killed a nearby seagull.
/\/\/\/\/\
Rinoa locked eyes with Squall for a moment, and the look on his face was one of such hope, such pain, and such need that she could stand to be so far away from him. Cursing her tears, she began crying and ran across the room to him, throwing herself in his arms.
For a moment, he just laid there, not moving as she wrapped her arms around him and began to cry on his chest. After a moment though, he put his hands gently on her back and almost nervously tried to comfort her. For Rinoa, it was heaven—a broken, imperfect, and perhaps even irrevocably ruined heaven, but heaven nonetheless.