Quistis stepped off the train at the Galbadia City Train Station. This was definitely one of the longest days in her life. First she was woken at 3 AM from a nightmare which had disturbed her enough that she was unable to fall asleep. After seeing Selphie off at the 5 AM train, she came back to Garden and found herself unable to sleep further, nor could she concentrate on her paperwork as either a teacher or acting commander. Her meeting with the Galbadian emissary, which was only supposed to take an hour, stretched on with pointless bickering and posturing for over four.
Finally, with a growing migraine, she was able to end the meeting at the news of Squall being in critical condition. She asked for a recess to attend to important Garden affairs and asked Xu to continue the meeting in three hours, to give him enough time to get aggravated, and then rushed to pack some clothes into a bag. She barely caught the 3 PM express train, and after 7 more hours of rather restless waiting, finally arrived at Deling city just after 10 PM. She pushed onwards running only on the thought that she needed to see Squall and know he was still alright. Her favorite sunset colored garment was wrinkled from over 20 hours of straight use, including several spent lying down in a futile attempt to sleep.
As quickly as she could, she made her way towards the hospital, where her lack of knowledge of the streets of Galbadia City quickly made themselves apparent. She got herself lost twice, making the ten minute walk close to twenty. During this time, she managed to get herself into several alleyways where she didn't feel safe without her whip in hand. Sure enough, she also got a few cat calls during her trip. She finally arrived at the hospital, and rode the elevator to the fourth floor.
The receptionist looked up at her for a moment. "May I help you?"
Quistis took out a slip of paper from her pocket "Room 423, please?"
The receptionist pointed down one of the hallways. "Go down that hall way, second left, and go to the end of the hall." With that, the receptionist turned her attention back to her computer screen and started typing again.
Quistis thanked the woman, though she was rather sure she did not hear it. As she slid down the hallway silently, a loud curse rang through the hall from behind her. Quistis turned and saw the receptionist beating her computer screen, in a vain attempt to get it to work. Quistis smirked and shook her head. She came to the second left and turned.
About halfway down the hall, she heard shouting coming from the end of the hallway. She frowned and began to jog down the corridor with a sick feeling growing in her stomach. As she approached the end of the hallway, she saw double glass doors with five figures standing just outside it. Inside several medical personnel buzzed around a bed frantically.
She came closer. She recognized Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and Rinoa. The last person was an extremely tall blond woman, taller than even Quistis' above average height by several inches. Probably Natalie Darvin. This was all she had time to take in before her attention was taken by the happenings past the glass doors. Doctors and nurses were buzzing around a bed, and she caught a glimpse of a very familiar scar running down the forehead of the patient.
She came up next to her friends and was about to ask what was going on when she heard someone from inside say something. Her stomach twisted and churned. The absolutely simple phrase was absolutely horrible. Quistis at first could not believe her ears. "Time of death: 10:22 PM"
"No...." Quistis was not sure who said that at first, but then realized that it was her own voice. He can't be dead! He is... No... He can't! Quistis looked to her friends and immediately lost all hope. Squall was dead. The look on her friend's faces confirmed that. Zell was leaning against the wall to their left with his right arm, and was burying his eyes in the arm as well. Selphie was openly crying into the jacket of Irvine, who himself had taken off his hat from his head and held it over his chest, his eyes closed and pain etched across his face. His other arm was wrapped around Selphie, in an obvious attempt to comfort her. Natalie's face was stone hard, but shock, pain... and guilt?... were written all over it. But all these expressions paled in comparison to the last person there.
Rinoa's face was... By Great Hyne himself!...Quistis knew that the look on Rinoa's face would haunt her nightmares for years. How can one describe it? How does one express such sorrow, pain, guilt, denial, and absolute misery as was on her face? Could even the Guardian of love and muse, Siren, describe it?
Rinoa's face was a huge melting pot of emotion. Fear, disbelief, sorrow, love, hate, acceptance, denial, among others. But most prevalent was pain, lots of pain. Immense pain. Overwhelming pain. The pain that you can only have when someone has reached inside your body and ripped out your heart, which for all intents and purposes had just happened to her.
Rinoa's face expressed so much of all these emotions, and staring at it made time stop for Quistis. Rinoa's right hand was hovering a few inches from her mouth just stopped from covering her mouth, which was open in a silent, painful, agonizing scream that cried out louder than any voice could muster. Her left hand was frozen a few inches lower, carrying a small purple box of some kind. Quistis expected Rinoa to drop the box in shock, but surprisingly she held her grip on it, instead almost smashing it under an assaulting grasp.
Rinoa's eyes told the entire story which Quistis had not already heard. Her eyes were squinted, as if holding back non existent tears. They told the tale of her agonizing sorrow during their separation. They spoke of Rinoa's mistake and the blame she set on herself for her mistake. The box in her hand completed the story, the marriage proposal which never occurred due to her mistake. All of it combined together to form regret and pure sadness at the life which the two could have shared these last three years together, in absolute bliss, instead of the absolute agony which they had gone through instead. They showed a future now completely devoid of any hope or peace or happiness.
The medical technicians started to slowly file out, muttering apologies and words of half felt sorrow. They had seen too many die in the hospital, and it had taken a toll on them, making them numb to the actual reality that this corpse was once a man, who had lived, loved, laughed, languished, and learned.
None of the six heard them. All were focused on their own sense of grief. Grief for a person, barely a man, who had seen just twenty years of life. Barely not a boy anymore, who had seen more horrors than most people see in a lifetime. A leader loved and respected by almost the entire world. A person just like any other, now removed from the world for ever.
Rinoa started to move forward, painfully slow, almost as if a ghost herself. She drew up to the bed where Squall's body lay, and fell on her knees. The tears which had been held back before were now falling freely onto the blanket which covered the corpse. A soft cracked, broken voice penetrated through the room "Squall? Squall? No... Please... no... I accept, you were going to ask me to marry you, I accept. Yes once, twice and a thousand times more... Please... we are going to be happy together... just come back..."
Quistis could bare no more of this. Her own eyes shimmered with tears, not just for the loss of Squall, but for what Rinoa must be going through at this moment. She stepped forth, past the two doctors and the orderly who were finalizing some paperwork that needed to be taken care of upon the death of someone in the hospital, past the humming machines which still spoke of the dead body, past the safety zone of the now crying young woman, and next to the bed. She laid a hand on Rinoa's shoulder "Rinoa, I...."
Quistis was not sure what to say. What could one say at a time like this? What words could possibly express the sorrow that she held? What words could comfort the broken sorceress that kneeled next to the fallen knight? What words could tame the Lioness which mourned the loss of the Lion? What sentiments could raise the fallen angel? Quistis had no words that could.
She did not need them. She never finished, nor started really. As soon as Quistis spoke, a savage, primal noise ripped through the room, drawing all attention to the source. Rinoa. The silent scream that was on her lips before finally worked its way free. The agonized, raw, painful, delirious sound which told more than a thousand page story, that told more than any amount of words could ever tell.
Suddenly, Quistis flew back as though she had been shoved by a hand. Rinoa stood up, her hair starting to frizz, and started to float off the ground. Quistis recognized this instantly. Angel Wings. The wound her heart had received, more horrible and agonizing than any would she could withstand physically had reactivated her dormant sorceress powers.
Wings spread from Rinoa's back as she floated in the air. A collective gasp filled the room from all eight observing. The wings were not the pure, loving white wings which Rinoa had been known for. They reminded half of something much worse, much more horrible, and much more evil. They were filled with rage and anger and evil. They were as Ulmeticia's were, black as night and just as deadly.
Authors notes: (grin) and you guys thought the last one was a cliff hanger. Don't worry, the story is not over, not by a long shot, 8 more chapters at least. However... this will be the last post for at least a month. I am in the middle of final exam season, then I'm going to be gone for Christmas. Ill start working again in January, and hopefully have my first new chapter by mid January. Have a peaceful and joyous Christmas and party hard on the new year. (grins wider) and suffer in agony as I work this story painfully slow to its close. laughs maniacally MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (cough cough hack!) owww… gotta quit smoking. (lol don't really smoke)
Also thank you to QueenAdreena for pointing out that I had spelling errors in chapter 14. I cant believe I forgot to do something as simple as spell check. It has been corrected.