"Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Rinoa Heartilly!"
The crowd seated at the tables started enthusiastically applauding, with some of the people, mostly young males, rising to give the young lady who just walked onto the stage a standing ovation. The black haired woman walked up to the microphone stand and took it off the stand while bowing to the crowd. "Thank you! Thank you very much!" She said into the microphone as the crowd continued to applaud. As the crowd applause began to die down, Rinoa spoke into the microphone again "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Galbadia City Hotel, id like to welcome you here tonight."
Rinoa sighed slightly and let her arm fall, bringing the microphone down. She brushed against her sparkling red dress. The crowd had started applauding again, and it was getting worse and worse each time she sang. The hotel lounge, where her mother used to sing and play had been extensively renovated, and now every Friday night was the gathering of some of Galbadia's richest, most famous, and, unfortunately for her, single young men. Older couple also congregated in the lounge too, making Friday nights here one of the most high-class things to do in the city. Reservations alone cost 500 Gil per person, and drinks were five times more expensive than any other night at the lounge. In fact, the president of Galbadia, a one James Caraway, the man who she could never call her father, often frequented the lounge on nights such as these too.
Rinoa's last 10 months working here, as the primary entertainment of the evening certainly was not boring. She enjoyed singing, and she got free lodging at the hotel, along with free meals from the 5 star restaurant, and a nice salary, which meant that she lived a comfortable lifestyle here. Rinoa watched as her pianist accompaniment also walked onto the stage and sat at the piano. Natalie wore a black square cut dress with 1 inch straps that showed off more than a little of her generous cleavage, and ran down to her knees, with a slit up the side of her left leg. She sat down at the piano and Rinoa could tell that her accompanist and the only friend she really had left was enjoying the cheers of the men in the lounge a lot more than she was. Before the applause had died down, Natalie began to play the lead-up to the first song on their list that night. The crowd finally quieted at the start of the music, and Rinoa began singing on her cue.
I'm so tired of being here,
Suppressed by all my childhood fears.
And if you have to leave,
I wish you would just leave,
'Cause your presence still lingers here,
And it won't leave me alone!
These wounds won't seem to heal,
This pain is just too real,
There's just too much that time cannot erase!
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears,
When you screamed, I'd fight away all of your fears,
I held your hand through all of these years,
But you still have... All of me...
Rinoa paused for her accompanist to play, and as it always happens when she sings, her thoughts turned back to what she wrote her songs about. The pain that she still felt within her soul, and the guilt that was still nagging her. She pictured Squall in her mind, and wondered, as she does every day, if she did the right thing 3 years ago. It certainly didn't help that this was the third anniversary that she left him, and she had come to hate this day because of it. She dreaded it with all her soul, and it hurt her every second of this anniversary.
You used to captivate me in my own resonating light,
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind.
Your face that haunts... my once pleasant dreams
Your voice has chased away... all the sanity in me!
These wounds won't seem to heal,
This pain is just too real,
There's just too much that time cannot erase!
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,
When you screamed, I'd fight away all of your fears,
I held your hand through all of these years,
But you still have... All of me...
I tried so hard to tell myself that your gone,
But though you're still with me,
I've been alone all along!
Rinoa paused again for the accompaniment, and again let her mind wander back to those times that brought her so much pain. She thought of that face which still haunted her, the scar running above his nose, the silky hair, the stormy gray eyes which pierced her with its ice cold glare. Everything about him was perfect. As she began singing again, she realized she was crying slightly, which brought more passion to her words.
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears,
When you screamed, I'd fight away all of your tears,
I held your hand through all of these years,
But you still have... All of me...
All of me...
All of me...
As Natalie finished the song, the entire lounge erupted into thunderous applause. Natalie smiled and waved a bit at the attention, but Rinoa was distracted and cared very little for it all. As the applause died down, Natalie began the next song.
Rinoa stepped off the stage into the back room, with Natalie close behind. Rinoa felt a hand grab hers, which spun her around. Natalie stared at Rinoa with her hazel brown eyes full of concern. "Rinoa, what was that? You looked like you were ready to break down on that stage. I know you don't want to talk about anything very much, but I need to know if you are going to be having problems on the stage, cause it could affect me too."
Rinoa stared back at Natalie for a moment before turning her head away. "I'm sorry, I was didn't mean anything, its just..." Rinoa paused for a moment "...that I've had a very hard day." She didn't want to voice her concerns to Natalie, because she just wanted to be left alone.
Natalie gazed down at the woman, who was almost 6 inches shorter than she did. "Rinoa, what's wrong? Your voice sounded almost pained out there. Does it have something to do with your battle with Ultimecia?"
Rinoa gaped at Natalie "How.... How did you know?"
"How do I know that you are the Rinoa Caraway that is credited as 1 of the 6 who saved the world? For crying out loud Rinoa, you're a media star! Your picture was all over the news for months. You think I wouldn't recognize that the person I've been working with for the last 11 months isn't her by now?"
Rinoa was on the verge of tears by now. "Please, don't talk about that anymore. I've moved on from that life, I don't want to think about it anymore." Rinoa ripped her arm from Natalie's grasp and ran through the back stage door.
By the time that Rinoa got to the elevator, tears were falling freely from her face. Rinoa stumbled into the elevator, and hit the 11th floor button. As the door closed, she collapsed against the wall, and slowly sunk into a sitting position. She sat there for the entire elevator trip, just sobbing. When it arrived at its destination, and opened its doors, Rinoa sat for a moment just staring out into the hall, before slowly dragging herself up and going to her room. It was then that Rinoa realized that she left her purse and jacket downstairs in the lounge. With a sigh and a softly spoken curse she went back to the elevator and pressed the down button. She stood stoically in the lounge until the lift came. Rinoa walked into the elevator only to bump into someone coming out. As she muttered her apologies, she realized Natalie was standing there with her jacket and purse. "You left these downstairs"
Rinoa blinked away her tears for a moment "Thanks"
Natalie looked at her friend with concern etched on her face "Rinoa, if you need to talk to someone, please don't hesitate to call me, okay?"
Rinoa just nodded and walked back to her room. Natalie stared at the shorter girl walking away for a moment, then sighed and walked back into the elevator to go to her room on the 14th floor. Rinoa opened up her room and walked inside. She let the door close and stared into the mirror on the closet door for a moment, before sighing and removing her dress.
The raven haired woman felt something small and wet touch her thigh. She looked down to see Angelo greeting her master and friend. She sighed and pet the canine, before walking to her closet and rummaging through it. She withdrew what she was looking for. As she turned back around, her eyes fell on the Diary which she faithfully kept since she first got to Garden. Since she met HIM. Rinoa opened the book to a random page close to the beginning and saw the picture of their celebration after defeating Ultimecia. Her eyes fell on Squall's unsmiling and annoyed face, and she smiled for a moment remembering all the trouble it was to get him to pose for the picture. Her smile quickly disappeared as other memories of him floated to her head.
Rinoa changed into the nightgown which she had taken from the closet and fell on the bed before she started crying to herself. Angelo leapt onto the bed and nuzzled under her arm. Rinoa pet the dog on the head as she continued to cry. She started whispering "Happy Birthday, Rinoa" to her self over and over between sobs, and her last thought before finally falling asleep was wondering once more if she should have run from Garden two years ... no three years ago on this very day. She then passed into the realm of the unconscious.
Author's note: The song is My Immortal by Evanescence. I do not own it, nor do I own the band, nor do I own the lyrics or anything associated with it. Don't sue please!