A/N: Long time since an update, I know and I'm very sorry. But my exams are out of the way now and I've got a fair bit of spare time before I start college so hopefully I will be able to get up the remaining chapters and finish the story before September.
Edea walked through the courtyard where she had found Rinoa so many times during her stay in Esthar. "How would you feel about being a sorceress's knight?" She spoke as she turned to her walking partner, Squall. He seemed amused by the idea.
"Me? What sorceress would want me as a knight?" She smiled with a hint of sorrow as she shook her head and faced ahead.
"You're a good SeeD Squall; possibly the best the Garden has seen for some time."
"Is this about Rinoa?" She smiled as she looked down to watch her feet while walking.
"You're a very perceptive young man, Squall Leonhart. Yes it's about Rinoa." She paused as he tugged gently on her arm.
"Tell me why I could hear her screaming. Why me? And why did she give me her wound?"
"It has faded hasn't it?" Edea sounded concerned but was relieved when he held out his palm; its appearance denied any trace of a wound. She took his hand in her own, "Squall a sorceress has methods of sending forms of communication to the people she depends most on." He nodded his head to indicate he understood her words. "Now in normal conditions these would go only to her knight, only Rinoa has none. Instead Rinoa reaches out to those who make her feel safe. My connection with Rinoa is complicated but . . . I am her mentor and she looks to me for guidance, from me she wants to know what to do next." She paused.
"And what about me?" Squall asked curiously. Edea smiled at him as she let go of his hand.
"From you Squall, she wants protection. . ."
"Rinoa, I know you're in here. Answer me Rinoa!" She looked to the door window as Seifer pressed his hands against it. She sighed and looked away once more. "Rinoa, do you know where you are?" He was answered only by silence. "This is your father's study! You remember this room don't you?" She glared at him through the glass. "Oh, don't try breaking the glass; it's made of two layers of bullet proof glass not even a sorceress can make it through here!" She looked away once more and did not look back until she heard him sigh in frustration and storm away from the door.
Yes, she remembered this room. Yes, it made her want to die just imagining what she had done, but she was not about to give in to that sick psychopath's dreams. She noticed the cabinet to the right of the door and noted that the glasses were still there, and then she looked to the woman ornately carved into the wall. She knew the secrets to escaping the terror that lay before her, but if he realised she was gone he hunt her down like an animal and he would find her again. After all where did she really have to run to? She also knew how the door locked and she knew the only way to unlock it would be to use the swipe card and the lock could only be shifted from the other side.
"Squall I'm not sure you should be going, what if you have to kill her? What if she hurts you?" Commented his father as his son put on his favourite jacket with the fur trim.
"I'm Balamb Garden's commander I have to go, I don't have a choice." He shook his head as he picked up his gunblade the metal glowed with a hint of blue light as he held it in his hand. He focused on finishing his appearance as he spoke to Laguna "You're the one that order SeeD to be involved so like it or not Laguna it's my duty to go. You brought this upon yourself!"
"Squall I just don't want you to get hurt." Laguna looked down at his shoes as he shuffled uneasily in the presence of his son.
"Then you shouldn't have hired SeeDs should you?" Laguna looked disheartened by his son's harsh words. "SeeDs are trained to kill sorceresses, who else would carry out the mission successfully Laguna? Who is meant to stand in for me because you're afraid I can't look after myself?"
"Squall you have feelings for Rinoa, they'll get in the way."
"Selphie and Irvine have feelings for her too!" Squall yelled as he turned on his father, "I'm going you can't stop me from doing my job, and I feel no more for her than I feel for the SeeDs under my command." Laguna slumped on the stool as his son walked away. He dropped his head into his hands.
"But you do Squall, you feel so much for her."
"R-i-n-o-a?" She could feel each letter of her name drag on for an eternity as the witch wove her way back into Rinoa's mind. She barely flicked an eyelid in acknowledging the sorceresses presence. "You're making this much harder than it need be." Once again she ignored the words and continued to stare ahead. "If you'd just let him be your knight I might leave you alone."
"Seifer's dream? A sorceress's knight? What a joke."
"Your knight Rinoa."
"I don't want this, I never wanted this. I have no knight. Edea said . . ."
"Oh Edea, Edea, Edea that pathetic sorceress couldn't even save your mother could she? Think what we could be if you'd only let me help you live the life you must."
"You're just afraid of me!" To begin with Rinoa hadn't known if the statement was true but she just felt something from the sorceress in her mind. Something that haunted Rinoa every time someone wanted to remove her from existence.
"Afraid of a child like you I don't think so."
"But you are, your terrified of me because I have the power to defeat you, or better yet the right knight would. That's why you want it to be Seifer, because he's emotionally weak. He can't pent up all that anger forever, right? And when he cracks you can turn his anger on him, he would be beaten by himself."
"Seifer would prove a good husband and knight." The sorceress's voice seemed to wafer as Rinoa became more confident.
"Not for me he wouldn't, besides he'd kill me as soon as he saw fit. I would do nothing that meant making you stronger. I would rather follow the path to defeating you than . . . than . . . the path of love!" She could feel the witch smirking in her mind.
"And I suppose dear child that you would give up your love for Squall just to kill me?"
"I don't love Squall!" Rinoa wasn't sure who she was trying to convince the witch in her head or herself. Surely she did not have feelings for him; he was just trying to make her feel normal. Like she belonged, like she was normal, like being human was normal. But then isn't love normal too?
"All those thoughts swirling around in your head, are you really sure? I think you feel more for Squall than you let on, than you yourself are aware."
"Laguna, Sir are you sure this is a good idea?" Laguna turned to Kiros with his gun in hand as he fed through some ammo.
"What am I meant to do? Leave my son for dead?"
" . . ." Ward's silence was interpreted only by his actions as he lifted his anchor from its display. Kiros looked to Ward with a thoughtful look as he grabbed his blades.
"It's just that you do have a habit of getting us lost." Kiros warned as he sliced through the air with the blades. Laguna paused for a thoughtful moment.
"You right, Ward you can give the directions."
" . . . ?"
"Laguna you do realise we're just going to the President's Mansion in Deling City, done you?" Laguna laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Sure . . . I knew that."
"r-i-g-h-t." Laguna stamped his foot in protest.
"I did!"
"Sure you did." Kiros laughed as he walked alongside Ward to meet with the SeeDs before they departed in the Ragnarok.
Thanks to;
Wollff
Rinny Leonheart
Lady-Rinoa
Rubymuto
Angelsorceress
