Rinoa slowly awoke in her bed after a horrible nightmare to the sound of a soft buzzing. Images flashed back slowly, like a hazy memory slowly becoming crystal clear again. She dreamt that Squall had been badly injured and Irvine had told her this grand story about how she was totally wrong about Squall, and that he was even going to propose to her before she left. Then when she had gone to see Squall, he had died right there in her arms.
She slowly sat up and winced as she suddenly came down with a splitting migraine. The entire back portion of her head felt like she had been struck by a two by four or some other large and heavy object. She shook her head as she became aware of two facts. One, she was in her day clothes, not her night gown. Two there were people in her room. She didn't see them, her vision was still cloudy, but it was more like she sensed their presence some how.
The buzzing sound seemed to get louder for a moment before she felt a hand coil softly around her wrist and she looked up... into Irvine's eyes. He looked little worse for wear, actually more like he was tossed into a rocky beach during a hurricane. She looked at him with confusion and some suspicion. Why is he in my room? Shouldn't he be with Selphie? In return, he was looking at her with worry and some hostility. It was about then she realized Selphie was in her room too, along with Quistis, Zell and Natalie, and they were all standing and staring at her. On top of that even, Quistis and Selphie looked like they were in that same hurricane.
Finally, Irvine spoke softly, and the soft buzz in her ears seemed to evaporate. "Are you feeling a little better now?"
Rinoa frowned softly. Of course... why wouldn't I be? She didn't answer but only nodded. She was getting a sickening feeling in her stomach, like she was missing something important here, something horrible. She searched Irvine's eyes and slowly a sense of horror filled her. Was my dream... oh Hyne no.... "Irvine... where is Squall?"
Irvine looked at the other occupants of the room for a moment. Natalie shook her head and Zell turned away. Quistis' eyes were hard as stone while Selphie's were almost watering. The petite brunette was playing with something in her hand but Rinoa could not see what it was at the moment. Something, however, was really nagging at her, and the fact no one answered her question made her sense of dread worse. And this damn headache...! "Irvine..." She looked back up into his eyes, then at her friends again.
Irvine sighed. "Rinoa... what do you remember about last night?"
Rinoa looked back at him. At his question, she started thinking about her dream again, and the soft buzzing returned. "I... had a dream... I think... Squall was injured and... and... I..."
Realization hit her right then. Selphie was holding the little box that had Squall's wedding ring. If the ring is real then was my dream... "Oh, Hyne... Irvine, where is Squall?" She pleaded with him. "Is he... Is he..."
The raven-haired woman looked up into Irvine's eyes pleading, hoping and, praying with all her heart that her dream was just that. Even as she did this though, Rinoa somehow felt inside her that it was not just a dream. She felt deep inside her that it was all true, all too real. "Squall...."
Everybody slowly got up and gathered around her bed. They maintained a respectful distance, trying to show their support but not trying to crowd her in. Only Natalie sat down on the bed and pulled Rinoa into a soft hug. It was supposed to be comforting, but Rinoa felt little comfort from the embrace. The quiet buzz seemed to now be all around her, but she could not tell what it was.
Natalie pulled away after a few moments and asked Rinoa what she remembered. As Rinoa told her about what happened, horrified at the level of detail which she was remembering, the buzzing seemed to grow louder once more, before fading away as she started to tell them what she remembered. "... and the last thing I remember was walking up to Squall clutching the box, and falling on my knees crying into his gown."
Irvine and Quistis looked at each other; their expression's unreadable, then at Zell and Selphie. After a moment of dead silence Quistis finally spoke, her voice quiet but penetrating. "Rinoa..." She paused unsure of what to say. "Do you remember anything after that?"
Rinoa frowned and thought harder. The buzzing was growing louder still, and now she could make out that it seemed like quiet whispers. She could not make out any words, impressions, or even gender of the voices, but they seemed to just be a white noise all around her. It was like the entire room was filled with people whispering between themselves. She shook her head hard and that seemed to dim the whispers back into the tiny buzz that it was before. "No I don't... was there more?"
Quistis swallowed and sat down on the bed. "Rinoa are you sure you don't remember more? This is very impor..."
Rinoa cut her off with a snap. The voices had grown again to maddening little whispers. "NO! I don't remember more!" The whispers stopped instantly and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap"
Rinoa massaged her eyes and figured this was just part of her being tired. Quistis lay a hand softly on her shoulder. "Rinoa... you don't remember attacking us?" Rinoa slowly looked up at this. "You don't remember assaulting us with magic and blasting everybody in the room until they dropped?"
Rinoa's eyes looked back at Quistis then at Selphie and Irvine. "I... Did I..." Rinoa looked at Zell and Natalie, then back at Quistis. "Great Hyne... oh I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She looked at all of them with pleading eyes. Horror at what they said she did was written all over her face and she fully believed it. "But... how? My sorceress powers have been dead for three years."
Irvine shook his head. "They're... hot... again I guess. It was definitely you, and you were blasting us with spells even more powerful then Edea.
Rinoa heard the quiet buzz again and held her head painfully. It was starting to get on her nerves. She winced and tried to block it out but it grew louder again. One voice seemed to stand out more than the others, but she couldn't make out if she ever heard the voice before. Rinoa... Rinoa! "Rinoa!"
Rinoa snapped her head back up and looked at Natalie. "Are you alright, hun?"
Rinoa nodded slowly. "Its… I just have a little headache. Don't worry."
She looked at every one of her friends, old and new, gathered in the room and tried her best to smile. "Guys... I... uhh... I have a headache. Could you leave and let me sleep please?"
The truth was she wanted to be alone. Squall's death was becoming horrifyingly clear in her mind again. One by one, each of Rinoa's visitors stood up slowly and left. Selphie looked at the purple box in her hands then set it down on the dresser, incase Rinoa wanted to look at it again. Finally, only Quistis remained in the room staring at Rinoa.
"Rinoa are you sure it's just a headache?"
Rinoa nodded softly. "I just need some rest. Remember every time I used my powers, it drained me?"
Quistis nodded but continued staring at her with an unreadable expression. Rinoa knew she was an excellent judge of character and a very good observer, and Rinoa got the distinct impression she knew she was lying. Rinoa swallowed and tried her best to smile.
Quistis studied her for almost a full minute before turning and leaving the door. Rinoa sighed softly and shook her head. She felt bad about lying to her friends, but at least the maddening whispers stopped for the moment. Rinoa stood up and walked into the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face stared at herself in the mirror. As she looked up, she could have sworn her eyes were an angry gold color, but when she blinked and looked again, they were the normal soft chocolate brown.
Rinoa sighed and muttered "Great... now I'm seeing tricks in light."
Rinoa walked to her dresser and slowly took off her trusty blue duster and hung it. She looked at herself in the mirror again, clad in only her shorts and tank top. Squall is dead... my god... She stared at the purple box that was sitting on the dresser, then took off the rest of her clothes and put on her nightgown. She couldn't take it anymore and opened the box, gazing at the ring really for the first time, as the last time she didn't get a really good look before she started crying.
It was breathtaking. Rinoa noticed that the Griever's mouth was actually coming out of the ring unlike on Squall's ring, and had teeth, were the diamond was set. The diamond had the slightest tint of a sky blue, which made it seem more radiant. Slowly, she wrapped her fingers around it and slid it onto her ring finger. It was a perfect fit.
She gazed at it again from this angle and smiled softly before her face melted into tears. She slowly took it off and set it back in its box and closed it. With a sigh, Rinoa switched off the light and climbed into bed. The darkness of her room seemed many times darker than normal and as she shut her eyes, the whispers returned.
Natalie and the four SeeDs arrived in Natalie's room and sat down in the various couches scattered about. They all were very sullen and dejected, not one smile around, not even a glimmer from Selphie. No one needed to guess what the others were thinking; they all knew. Squall was dead, and Rinoa was acting strangely.
Zell finally spoke up, very softly, and rubbed the back of his head as he thought. "Maybe tomorrow, after Rinoa's headache is better we should um..."
Quistis shook her head and interrupted. "Rinoa didn't have a headache. "
Five pairs of eyes darted back and forth between each other as each person tried to read the other's expressions. Not one more word was spoken for a very long time.
Rinoa was falling. At least that is what it felt like. It was pitch black and she could not see or feel anything; anything except the sensation of being weightless. Yes that's it... I'm not falling; I'm floating like in space! All around her Rinoa heard the whispers again, but she could not see or feel anything, much less tell where they were. The whispers grew louder and some became just unintelligible muttering.
From behind her someone called her name, a woman's voice in a desperate call for attention. Another voice, a young girl's, called her name pleading for mercy. A third, a man, called her, with a demanding voice. More and more calls cut through the darkness each with a different tone, but all cutting straight into her mind.
The maddening whispers grew into chatter and the calls became more frequent. Rinoa tried to cover her ears and wince but it didn't help. It was like they were just inside her ears. The chattering grew louder and faster, each call coming now less than a second apart, until one rang through. "Rinoa!" it was a man's voice, but unlike the others, it was kind and gentle, seemingly familiar.
Suddenly she felt different. She was floating, but the sensation was more like being under water than in space. A light appeared in the distance, a bright white light that illuminated her blue duster brilliantly and blazed in her face. "Rinoa come to me!" the voice repeated, still as gentle and strong as before. It sounded familiar, almost... like Squall's...
She spread her arms out and kicked and she moved towards the light like she was swimming. She still could not see anything around her, but the voices had dimmed into the whisper and the other's calling her name had been silenced. As she swam nearer towards the light the whispers dimmed into a buzz then finally silent.
She was so close now, the light filled her entire presence, but she still could not see anything. Finally a gloved hand appeared and she reached out and took it. Underneath the glove, she felt a ring, very familiar. Griever! She clutched the hand tightly and pulled on it as the rest of the person came into view and she looked into the face of...
A demon. A monster. A horror. Ultimecia. She laughed cruelly and Rinoa instantly let go of her hand and shrank away, suddenly on hard ground. Ultimecia laughed again and reached for Rinoa. Rinoa screamed and sat up in her bed, looking around in her very dimly lit room. It was a dream... just a dream...
Rinoa was clutching the sheets to her chest like a teddy bear and slowly lay back down maintaining the vice like grip on it. The room seemed dark as an abyss again, no light anywhere. She could not hear whispers anywhere in her mind or in the room, but Rinoa did not close her eyes at all, staring in horror, and eyes darting around as she lay on her back, her entire body frigidly immobile.
Author's notes: Okay sorry about the long delay. I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. My holiday was a lot busier than I thought. My boss called me into work, I got back to school and had several major issues here, and worse off, I developed a major case of writer's block. Buuuuut the two chapters I was gonna post first are done as you can see and I am very happy on the outcome.
To give you all an update: This story has 5 more chapters on it, and an epilogue. I hope to get out one a week, hopefully ending this in mid march. The next story, The Awakening is already progressing, the prologue done and chapters 1-3 in various states of completion (yea... I must have ADD or something lol) this story is going to be probably twice as long as SOTS and much more in-depth. This was planned as the climatic story of the trilogy, but recent planning over the vacation caused a candle to flash over my head and I have this great new idea for the third story, and I guess its going to be greatly expanded as well, at least being as large as this.
In addition to all this, I have another story well on the way already being co-written by me and a very good friend of mine. It is also FF8 based, and based loosely in the SOTS universe, taking place one year after the story, though it introduces 2 new characters as it's main and barely involves the main FF8 characters at all. It my plan at this point (with the consent of my friend of course) to bring these characters back for the third story of the trilogy in a major role.
On top of that, the beginnings of a FIFTH story idea (yeeep definitely ADD lol) has started taking shape, but I cant give you much info about that... cause I don't got much myself lol. I'm working on it though, but it's on the back burner, SOTS, The Awakening, and my co-authored story taking top priorities.