Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter 11: Fleeting Hope
"Look!" Rinoa shouted while pointing to more of the same thing on the ground. And at that moment, we both stared around in a daze. We were standing in the midst of T-Rexaurs' eggs…not good.

"Eggs?" I muttered as I stooped down to closely examine the lopsided sphere eggs on the ground. "…So this is why there are so many T-Rexaurs in this area, they reproduce here."

When I stood from the ground, I saw Rinoa, balling up her fist again and glaring at the scattered eggs. "Squall…these monsters…I can't let them continue." She looked at me and walked closer, then stepped down on a whole T-Rexaur egg, purposely destroying the beast' work.

"Rinoa…"

"Think about it Squall, these things have been tormenting us since we each arrived here. Why should we sit around and let them multiply? We'll only die faster..." She had smiled and touched my shoulder.

I moved my eyes from her and looked at the ground. Actually, it doesn't matter if we killed these things, there are others around and they'll only reproduce, filling this cavern with even more eggs. Eventually, I'll die, and she'll die…most likely eaten; so what does it matter if we stomped a few---no…it does matter.

Before I die…I'll kill as many of these bastards as I possibly can.

Without any hesitation, I stomped an egg beside Rinoa's foot. I focused my attention back to her face with a smirk. She stared into my eyes with a sweet smile that forced my lips to do the same. Which brings me back to why she pulled away from our kiss.

"How did that feel?" She asked me, and because my mind was thinking of our kiss, I had answered, "Damn good."

I shook my head and looked at the ground trying to make sense of my response, when Rinoa turned away from me with a laugh. "Think of how many eggs are in here. This cave isn't very deep, but it's long enough to house hundreds of eggs."

"…What do you want to do?" I asked, already knowing what her answer would be.

She turned back to me with a smile, "What else?"

We went through stomping and jumping, throwing and tossing around eggs as if there were no tomorrow; in our case, maybe there wasn't. I don't know if it was our anger or from pure bliss, we were driven to destroy egg after egg in that cavern. We hadn't reached the very back, but we did more than enough damage to the front.

We were covered in liquids from the splatters of those eggs and stenches I had no idea existed, but did we care? Not one bit. Rinoa smashed two eggs together and then threw those remnants against the wall, while I threw a few at her from the left side of the cavern, where I stood. She laughed and threw the remaining mess in her hands at me, but I dodged it and picked up another from the ground.

"Squall, you're crazy!" She said with laughter rising by the second, and she was just about the dodge my pitch when we both her a slight grumble beyond the darkness of the cavern. Rinoa had silenced her giggling and we both faced the dark together. "…What was that?" She asked quietly.

"…I don't know." Nor did I want to know.

There was silence in the cluttered air. Our eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but there still wasn't enough illumination to fully detail the entire cavern. I took a deep breath and held it. Quietly dropping the egg, I wiped my face and took a step toward the grumbling noise we had heard moments ago.

"What are you doing!" Rinoa's whisper echoed as a yell.

"Stay back!" My voice mimicked hers.

"You idiot!"

"Be quiet!" I spoke while giving her a look that would surely cease her talking. I glared at her for a few more seconds and saw her eyes shoot toward the darkness. She gasped and pointed, "Squ…all…"

Somehow…I knew what she had been pointing too, but I couldn't bring myself to turn around and face it. As I expected, I felt wind blow my hair from my face with a rumble of breath. It snorted on me again, and when I turned around, I was staring face to face with an enormous T-Rexaur whose back had practically reached and scraped the ceiling of the cavern. It looked as if it were bending down just to get a good look at me, the intruder.

I opened my mouth as if to speak, but nothing came forth; instead, I slowly took a step back, breathing ever so lightly and quietly. Everything around the T-Rexaur and me went black; Rinoa was no longer there. I realized for the first time today, I was on my own. Finally, the death that I so greatly deserved was about to happen.

I continued to take baby steps backward, but the T-Rexaur gradually moved along with me. It seemed to take pleasure in smelling my fear, along with the scents of its unborn young. It growled and continued to move, this T-Rexaur was unlike the others: The beast was hesitant, yet dangerous. I had no idea when it would strike, and this monster thrived at the idea that I was its prey, therefore, it would torture me until hunger drove it enough to take a bite. Then again, the T-Rex probably isn't hungry; it'll devour me simply because I'm not supposed to be here: it'll devour me just for the hell of it!

I slowly moved my hands up defensively and continued to back my way from the mature T-Rexaur, obviously the mother of all the others, and she followed me. Quickly, she reared her head back at the rustling sound of feet behind her. All the darkness enveloping only the two of us returned the dim color from before to its former glory, and I saw Rinoa trotting with the lighter and a burning cigarette in her hands. She walked swiftly into the darkness, but the illumination from the lighter she used allowed us to see her.

"Rinoa what are you doing!" I yelled by accident, and the T-Rexaur turned back to me with a roar that almost blew the clothes off my back. It raised its head preparing to snap at me, and I took this time to turn and run away.

"The big one!" I heard Rinoa yell from inside the cavern as I ran for my life away the mother. The big one all right… The big one was chasing me.

"Aaaaaagh!" I screamed giving every ounce of my energy to my legs and only seconds later I heard an explosion from the back of the cavern. When I turned back, I saw that the T-Rexaur had given up on me. "What…?"

I said as I had stopped myself. I gasped for air, "It's…"

"SQUALL! AAAAAAHH!" Rinoa yelled from the back, and I instinctively pushed myself to run again. I heard the T-Rex' hideous cry and it's teeth clattering together with a vicious bite. Then I heard Rinoa gasp with shock and a loud thump followed; like a body to the floor…

"RINOA!" My heart stopped, and everything around me zoned out.

In that instant, it was as if I had watched myself from a third person's view. In slow motion, I saw myself running toward the T-Rexaur and Rinoa with the most menacing facial expression I never thought possible of me.

I ran to the roaring T-Rexaur and leapt onto its back, taking the dagger from my pocket and climbing onboard using the lumpiness of its back as my steps. I reached its face and wrapped one arm around the beast's neck, and the other I held up the dagger high to show the beast what I would do.

Without hesitation, I slammed the dagger into the eye of that bastard and twisted the dagger to give a lasting effect. I watched myself do this to the T-Rexaur a second time, and I saw myself smile with satisfaction. It yelped and flung me from its back and I fell farther to the back.

Suddenly, when I opened my eyes, I was once again in control of myself. I looked at my blood stained hands, my trembling blood stained hands and nearly cried out because of my sins. "…It was me." Odine…

"Ugh…" Rinoa's moan sounded from up ahead as she lay on the ground, wincing in pain. …She's alive?

I saw the T-Rexaur dancing around in agony, ramming its head into the wall of the cavern to remove the dagger from its eye, but to no avail. Because the beast was so involved with itself, I took this time to gather my strength and pick myself up from the ground.

I slowly crawled to Rinoa who was only feet away from the berserker T-Rexaur, and reached my hand to her. Rinoa had winced again and tried to move, but failed terribly. She flinched when my hand reached her body, probably thinking that I might have been another T-Rexaur.

"Rin, it's okay. It's me." I whispered, trying to pull her back into the safety zone. I didn't want the T-Rexaur to step on her.

"…Squall." She whispered scratchily.

I sat on my knees and grabbed her shoulders, then her shirt to pull her back upon me. The closer I pulled her, the more she began to cry. She was hurt…hurt bad.

"Rinoa." I whispered, pulling her upper body into my lap. She rested her head on my thighs and began to breathe heavily.

"Squall…use the powders…and…" She said, her eyes closing, but her hand motioning around to express the remainder of her words. She was sounding tired, and it worried me.

"Rinoa, I know, you don't have to say anymore."

I took the bag from around her shoulders, sliding it from her underneath her head, and I reached inside. The Fire, Smoke, and Mist cigarette bombs smiled at me, and in that moment they became my friends.

I twisted the cigs together and took the lighter, which was tightly secured in Rinoa's hands, and then I proceeded to the light them together.

The loud shriek from the T-Rexaur caused me to stop all movement, and I looked up as the beast had given up fighting against the dagger. With the dagger still in her eye, she stomped toward Rinoa and me. The stomping caused me to drop the lighter onto Rinoa, and I looked down for it, frantically searching with my eyes only.

"Rinoa!" Rinoa's eyes were closed still, and she hadn't made a sound since she gave me the instructions. "Rinoa, don't go to sleep! Wake up!" I yelled to her and finally saw the lighter lying beside her bosom. The T-Rexaur was now standing before us, towering us like the predator it was, and I sat still in fright.

Unable to move, I simply stared into the beasts' healthy eye and gulped the last bit of air I would breathe.

I felt the urge to beg for mercy…just as countless men did before being devoured, seeing that there was by no other means of survival. …As I had accepted my and Rinoa's fate, I felt movement from below me. To prevent sudden attacks from the T-Rexaur, I looked down with only my eyes without motioning my head, and saw Rinoa reach up to me, lighter in hand, and set fire to the three cigarettes that were in entwined in my hold.

It burned, sizzled quickly in my hand and I couldn't do anything but stare. Even though it burned quickly, time passed slowly…and I watched as it burned, second by second to the very core---

It had been some time since we began walking home. Odine was talking gibberish, smack talk about who knows what, and I comforted my head with my hands.

"So you say your fiancée gave you problems, right?" Odine asked me and I removed my hands from my face. "I know a way that will fix all your worries. You're a real niceguy Squall, and I know you don't deserve that kind of treatment, so I'll let you in on a little secret. I have the power to make a person disappear without a trace--"

"You bastard!" I quickly turned to him and punched him to the ground. "I won't have Selphie killed!"

I remember climbing onto him and slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk several times and screaming, "You piece of---"

­ Odine… screaming… Yelling…and screaming in agony---

Then, I felt a blunt object strike the back of my head, and I fell unconscious.

"Throw it." Rinoa muttered, bringing her hand to my neck, and I snapped out of my little daze quickly. I looked at my hand and saw that there remained only a few seconds before detonation. "Squall!" Rinoa yelped and dug her fingers into my neck.

Without second thought, I launched the burning cigarettes at the feet of that T-Rex and pulled Rinoa closer to me. Becoming distracted by the burning paper, the T-Rexaur turned around and looked at the ground. I took this time to grab Rinoa from the ground and fight to push myself; running toward the back, away from the T-Rexaur, away from the bomb, away from my past memories.

Seconds later, the explosion occurred. It was so loud; my eardrums couldn't take in the sound of it. It sent a slight mist wave, or a harmless shockwave out before it completely detonated. I covered Rinoa's body with my own and held her closely.

As it calmed, I raised my head and looked around to be sure that I was in one piece. "…That was it?" I said while looking down at Rinoa, who had opened her eyes slowly, the mist still clouding both our visions.

"…I must have missed the other two." She said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I lit up the cigarettes, but…I probably lit up the Smoke bomb and not the others. If I had set fire to all three of them, we would have died in the explosion."

"…So if that's only the Smoke bomb, what happened to the T-Rex—"

Just as I asked, the T-Rexaur's squirm echoed throughout the walls of the cavern. The squirm turned into a roar, and it tried to stand to its feet. I looked back and saw its head dragging to the ground, boosting the rest of its body, as it lay on its stomach, to put its legs into motion again. As it squealed again, the walls began to tremble and then the ground trembled, and Rinoa pointed up to the top of the cavern. Tiny rocks had fallen down and crashed on the ground. If the tiny rocks could create a loud crashing effect, imagine if those tiny rocks were giant boulders—

"Squall!" Rinoa yelled while clinging to my shoulders, just as I thought, large rocks began falling from the top of the cavern. I got to my feet and taut Rinoa in my arms.

"Hold your breath, the smoke is still in the air." I said and she nodded to me slowly. I approached the bag and cigarettes on the ground next to the injured T-Rex, and reached down, carefully holding Rinoa in my one arm that still supported her; and then I used my free hand to grab up the bag and the lighter.

As more boulders fell down from the cavern's top, Rinoa got down from my hold and struggled to jump onto my back. She pointed at the half burned Mist and Fire bombs. "Light them!" She yelped, clinging to me for survival.

So I grabbed the closes bomb, the Mist bomb, and lit its tip. Hurriedly, I dropped it onto the ground and grabbed Rinoa's thighs to keep her close on my back, then limped out of the cavern, dodging falling rocks in the process.

As soon as I reached the outside light, the bomb detonated from the back of the cave. Its force pushed me onto the ground, and Rinoa screamed aloud from my back, "Squall!" After that explosion, a second was heard also, causing the cavern to crumble to the ground. Maybe the first bomb's fire detonated the other and caused that explosion? If that's the case, then that T-Rexaur is definitely a goner.

Smoke and dust poured from out of the tumbling cavern walls, and Rinoa coughed because of its ashes as she lay on my back. "Rinoa…" I said, struggling to pull her to the ground. She unwrapped her arms from around my sides and allowed me to slide her from my back. "Are you okay?" I asked, wiping a few strands of hair that had slid out of her ponytail from her face, and pushed them behind her ear as she rested her head back onto the soggy grass. Rinoa was so exhausted she could only nod to me. I smiled and released a heavy sigh, resting myself also. As long as we had both made it out okay, I can care less about anything else.

"Squall…we're not out of danger yet." Rinoa muttered, smirking slightly at me as though reading my mind.

"I know…I'm moving." I said as I pushed myself from the ground and sat on my bottom. I looked at Rinoa, as she lay injured in the grass, and sighed again, "What just happened?"

"…For once, I really don't want to know the details." Rinoa said while closing her eyes.

We both chuckled softly on the ground, pulling our arms over our eyes to block out the sun's rays of light.

Through the forest I walked with Rinoa on my back, she told me again she could walk fine, but I quit believing her after I let her down when she first announced her ability to walk on her own; well, she tripped on her own foot and fell right into the mud. Needless to say, here I am walking with Rinoa on my back once again.

"We're almost at the stream, want a drink of water?" I asked, motioning my head toward the running stream of clear water.

"…Yeah." She murmured against my back.

It's unusual, but things have quieted down a lot in the forest since our little adventure. Maybe we caused the T-Rexaurs in this area to flee with the boisterousness of the explosion? I really hope so.

Even though they've left us alone for now, what will we do later on?

I sighed to myself, and Rinoa may have noticed. She moved her mouth to my ear and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"…Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Squall…"

My eyes moved to the ground as I continued to walk toward the sound of the stream, "…What do we do now, Rinoa? That was our one and only chance to freedom, right? So where do we go from here?"

"Put me down." She said firmly.

"…Are you sure you can walk?"

"If I can stand to listen to you complain; I know I can walk."

"Rinoa?"

"…Just listen to yourself Squall, you're starting to sound like Seifer."

"No I don't!" What's with her? Everything was fine a little while ago…wasn't it?

"Yes, you do! If you had continued rambling, you were bound to say that there's nothing else we can do and that we're hopeless."

What else am I supposed to say? What do you want me to say Rinoa? "Well, it's the truth. What else can we do?" She became silent, and I saw the stream coming up closely.

Thinking that she had given up on our discussion, I gratified the fact that we neared the stream, maybe then she could muse herself with a drink of water.

"…I don't want to think about it." Rinoa said, suddenly destroying all hopes I had created.

"You're just in denial."

"Denial?"

"…You're saying that we'll live on, but you're not taking it into thought that maybe we aren't meant to survive here. You're denying the fact that we can die here-"

"I wish I were on my own feet, I'd slap you!"

"…Too bad."

"Squall!" She yelled and punched my shoulder.

"Ouch! Hey, watch it!"

"No way! You deserved that punch! I can't believe you just said that, Squall! We can survive here for as long as we have to. Haven't you taken the time to realize you've been alive for quite some time now?"

I released her from my back as we came within walking range of the stream. Folding my arms and staring at the ground I sighed, "Don't you realize this cycle will just go on and on until we die? I'm certain that if we keep running like we're doing, we're gonna get tired eventually…and then…"

Rinoa limped from behind me and headed to the stream, she groaned and fanned me away.

When I looked up, I saw her limping quickly, "Rinoa, stop that, you'll fall!"

"Leave me alone, I can take care of myself." She said, no doubt in my mind, she was pouting while talking.

"Rinoa!"

"I said leave me alone! You know Squall; you've got some nerve! I've looked out for you since I saved you from that T-Rex three days ago!"

Three days? Has it really been just three days? …Felt like centuries… "I didn't ask you to stay with me, you chose to do that!"

She was only inches away from the stream, and I had begun following her to ensure she arrived safely. "It doesn't matter! The least you could do is remain hopeful! I stayed with you when no one else even cared about you, I could've let you die! You wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me!"

"Is that it? So I owe you a favor now!"

"?" Just as I had predicted, Rinoa lost her step and fell forward, I quickly ran behind her and caught her in the midst of her fall.

"See? You were going to fall…" I said, smirking to myself, but I was surprised to hear Rinoa sniffling in my arms. I couldn't see her face, only the back of her head, but I knew she was crying. "Rinoa?"

"…Squall, don't become like them. Please don't. Not after what you told me earlier, please don't take back your words. You don't know how much it meant to me…" I noticed her legs had given up the support of her body and she eased herself on the ground. I got down with her and kept my arms around her, comforting her; seeing it was obvious that she needed me now. Rinoa rested her head back on my chest with a sigh, "When I first saw you…I remember you asked why I hadn't saved that man's life."

She took another breath to calm her cries and I raised my arms around her shoulders, then moved my legs around hers, thus protecting her from the cold or anything that would purposely set out to harm her in anyway. I don't know…I just feel like I need to be closer to Rinoa. She continued to speak while resting a hand on my arm, "None of the others would've asked me about him. They would have walked on as if nothing had happened. …Zell was right when he said we shouldn't let anyone become the forgotten, I've always agreed with Zell…since day one. I've agreedwith you all."

"…I don't want to sound negative, but wouldn't you already expect the new bunch to arrive with higher hopes?"

"No…usually the newer arrivals die by the second night because their attitudes are so poor. You all seemed to be upbeat and dedicated, it was exactly what this place needed."

I was scared to death back then…I don't know if that was upbeat…but in fear, it is possible for one to accomplish many things. Take my recent battle against the mother T-Rexaur for example… "Rinoa…I'm not saying you have to be depressed about our situation, but I want you to know we may not have a chance to see the outside world again. I only want you to be aware of that."

"…I understand… I really do understand, but I'm just so tired of running." I felt her hand squeeze my arm and she began to tremble, "…I'm scared. I'm scared of this place, Squall. I can't sleep without thinking something is coming for me, and I'm tired." She turned her face upward toward me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen before, "…I'm tired of living in fear."

"…Rinoa."

"Being with you has brought me so far, I never thought I'd find a map, or find out that my father was trying to help me. I thought my dad quit when I was sentenced to this place, but you came along and exploited Seifer's secrets. Everything seemed to take off since then… You've saved my life so many times also…but Squall…I don't want to…I'm scared of giving up, I'm scared I'll let myself fall…"

She had silenced her words, and I was thankful…I didn't need a reminder of all the hell that we've been through; after all, we just survived being blown to bits just a few hours ago.

I studied her face as she continued to face me, so innocent and beautiful. I realize now that we haven't been this close since the attacks. Her body is so small and almost fragile, but easy to hold. I squeezed her in my arms and smiled, and she closed her eyes with a smile of her own.

It was at that moment, something forced my vocal chords to erupt, "…I don't know what to say to you…everything I say, you'll have words to counter, but Rinoa…regardless of what happens, I'll always stand by you."

"…Squall." She said, moving her hand into my hair as I moved in to kiss her lips softly. Her lips were soft and moist, and had brought forth one of the best kisses I had ever experienced in my entire life. I pulled her body closer to mine and deepened our kiss. Rinoa had murmured lost words in between breaths of air.

"Will you two get a room!"

And we both pulled away quickly. We saw Seifer standing in the distance, arms folded together, and even from far away, we saw that he wore that same disgusting smirk on his face. He laughed, unfolded his arms, and had pointed to us while slapping his thigh.

"Seifer…" We both muttered angrily.

Author's Hot Spring: (Yay, I'm relaxing my little nerves now…hehe)
Yes, yes, seems I should stick to the "No Promises" Motto, eh? I seem to updatefaster when I don't promise to have a chapter up. Haha! I tried to fit as much as I possibly could into this chatper, but this is what resulted: Another long chapter! Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoyed that… because it's killing me! lol, I'm kidding! So, I apologize if its a bit weird too... Sorry...

Everything will fall into place. I've loaded chapter's 10 nd 11 with plenty of clues! See if you can piece together the scenario...err...Mystery!

So, You want to know what I've concluded about this story? These people are all psychos! lol! Joking! Joking! I love these characters...lol

Thanks to:

Yae: Hey, great guess! I had written some of this chapter out before I submitted the first, and the mother was already in the script! lol, hmm was it too obvious! lol Scary stuff indeed, I just hope this chapter doesn't seem to unrealistic…but then again…none of this is really realistic---shutting up! lol

Yuleen- Hey, it's been awhile! Thanks for reviewing! -Holds cookies up with both hands like a champion of some sort- thanks! I'll take good care of these! Hehehe. Don't worry, you know, I'm not a mean person...but…More Blood in the next chapters! Yay! lol that's sad!

Umm, Ittan Momen, I didn't scare you with the T-Rexaurs did I? If so, I'm really sorry! Umm…want a piece of my cookie? lol

(I apologize, I'm really, really goofy right now, probably because its 3am right now…Jeez…oh well…I'm gonna read this commentary later on and puke from embarrassment) (Sorry about that, to those of you with weak stomachs!)

Please review! I want to hear from you! Thanks again! Man I talk too much…

StardustRay

Update will follow sometime, I'm working on it, but let me rest my mind a moment.

There! ...I'm refreshed. :)