"We've got this one!" Quistis exclaimed as the same team from the last battle took the opportunity to take control of this battle too. Rinoa wandered to a corner of the prison room and sat on the cold floor, watching the battle from afar. Zell stood watching the battle while swatting around at the air as he enjoyed the thought of beating an evil sorceress such as Ultimicia. Squall watched the battle beside Zell for a short while before he looked over his shoulder at Rinoa and decided to sit with her.
As he lowered himself to the floor beside her he was unsure quite what to say, he didn't want to upset her about her own burden but rather remind her of happier times. The way he spoke surprised them, the tone of his voice had been foreign to both for some time. "You know, you still owe me a teddy bear." He said quietly in a joking voice and Rinoa turned to him with a smile.
"You shouldn't have wound me up!" she said with a smirk as she gave him a playful nudge. He gave her a look of mocked surprise.
"Me, wind you up?" He asked with an innocent face as Rinoa tried to stop herself from giggling.
"That's the Squall I remember . . ." She said with a loving tone as she glanced back at the battle. Squall nodded his head as if agreeing with her before he slipped back to his normal solemn expression and focused on the battle. "What really happened?"
"I would have thought Irvine would have told you everything already."
"Only what he believes, in his twisted sense of reality." She said as she stared into his eyes.
"First I lost Ellone . . . then you began to visit and eventually live with us, learning to control your temper and your magic. I missed Ellone a lot and everyone was always asking if I was alright. I couldn't stand it. Then you came to talk to me for the first time, and even though you didn't know Ellone the first thing you said was, "You're a waste of space! You only ever sit here and cry. If I were Ellone I wouldn't be very proud of you." You knocked me back to reality, and you were right, Ellone wouldn't have been proud." He paused and looked down at her as she smiled shyly back.
"I was a bit brash back then." She admitted.
"Yeah but I thought you were great . . . you never once asked if I was ok or played the pity card. You just bossed me about and told me to get over it. So I did. I began to get protective of you and when Seifer would try and pursue you I'd fight for you, I didn't want you to get in trouble with matron for using you magic on him, in case she sent you back to your dad."
"But my dad came and took me away from you all before I had full control. He didn't listen to Edea's words of advice; he just picked me up screaming and kicking and dragged me home to Deling." She seemed deeply hurt by her father's behaviour.
"If I'm truthful it hurt just as much as when Ellone was taken away. After that I got really quiet, I wouldn't talk to anybody and I got into even more fights with Seifer, over nothing as usual." Both fell quiet for a short time, looking over to their friends to keep an eye on the battle. "I've never told anyone this before, and this has to stay between me and you." She smiled softly before speaking reassuringly.
"I won't say a word."
"I really do worry too much about what others think. I want to appear strong and dependable without needing to form attachments but . . . I worry that with everyone depending on me, if I don't make the right decision . . . Would they hate me?" He felt her fingers wrap themselves around his hand as he looked away from her and at the ground.
"I can't speak for everyone else but . . . you could make a hundred mistakes and I'd still think you were the most amazing person I'd ever met." She gently squeezed his hand prior running over to Zell to watch the fight finish.
He continued to stare at her from afar, the way she'd gently and caringly pull Zell back when he got too close to the battle or the way she'd look back at him and smile before quickly turning away again. He stood and leant against the wall with his hands in his pockets as he began to let his emotions run loose in his head. Maybe it was just lust . . . he'd secluded himself from the world for so long that maybe the amount of contact she willingly exchanged between them was a trigger for his interest in her. No, lust was just a consequence of his real feelings. Did he love her? Can you fall in love with someone at such a young age? The last question confused him, did he mean at the orphanage or now? Even with his 18th slowly creeping up on him he was still young, young and vulnerable.
Rinoa, I wish I could just let you know how I really feel . . . but . . . how can I tell you when I'm not even sure? Would you even take me? As he sank deeper into his thoughts he began to feel a soft pain in his palm. When he turned it to face him he studied the lines of the leather glove he wore. He removed it with his other hand and traced the unseen line where Rinoa had placed a replica of her own wound as a kind of distress signal.
Maybe Edea's right . . . maybe she sent it to me without even realising it because I'm meant to be her knight. But what does that mean? I have to protect Rinoa from the world . . . but do I have to protect the world from Rinoa too? Could I do that if I had to . . . could I hurt her to save others? Maybe it would be best if she found someone that made her feel how she makes me feel. What good would I really be? I've already failed to protect her once, what's to say it wouldn't happen again? I'm not good enough for her. His thoughts were interrupted as his friends backed away from the new sorceress before them.
"I think I'm going to be sick . . ." Quistis mumbled repeatedly until she was by his side. Selphie was hiding her face in Irvine's chest as he protectively wrapped his arms around her.
"You guys can take this one." He joked as he looked down at Selphie.
Zell was silent and Squall even suspected that if he offered him a hotdog now it would quickly be refused. Then Rinoa caught his eye, she was stood much closer than everyone else only several feet from the monstrous sight before her. A tear slid down her face as she watched the slug like sorceress creep towards her. She stomped her foot on the ground as she screamed up towards the sky.
"This isn't fair!" He watched as the sorceress raised her arm to strike Rinoa. Running forwards her wrapped his arms around her waist and jumped back, he kept his hold on her as her head fell into her hands. "It isn't fair . . ." She whispered. She turned and pressed her body against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him as if for her life. He didn't know what to do, for a while he stood there not moving but eventually he wrapped his arms around her and glared protectively at the sorceress. When she let go he saw the determination in her eyes as she wandered forwards and a projectile weapon magically appeared in her hand.
"Zell, come on." His voice was demanding of the other teen as he reluctantly stepped towards the monstrosity before them. Squall removed his gunblade from its sheath while Zell beat his fist together to properly position his gloves. As the three ran into battle Squall couldn't help but ask about the sorceress. "Who is she?" He asked as he looked to Rinoa while Zell cast scan magic. Rinoa looked like she was swallowing a large lump in her throat.
"She's hate . . . she's my hate and my wraith. She's everything that is ugly about any sorceress and that many good sorceresses banish from their lives. She is my darkness and I am ultimately hers." She spoke with a saddened tone as she explained.
"Yo, strictly no elemental magic here! In fact there aren't many spells or GF's we can use on her." Zell warned as he took a step back.
"Then you'll depend on my support and time magic to let you use your limit breaks and protect you." Rinoa said as she stepped forwards. White wings spread from her back as she floated up in the air yet the wings remained still. Zell and Squall found themselves, as well as Rinoa, bombarded with spells such as Haste, Aura, Protect and Shell among others. Squall found that despite his full health and fairly level emotional state he was able to initiate his most fatal attacks on impulse. He performed his Renzokuken limit break coupled with his most powerful finishing blow, lion heart. Of course, despite the ferocity and damage dealt by his countless hits the sorceress was not near defeat. Zell's speed was impeccable due to both the GF he was junctioned to and Rinoa's spells, and was more than ready to fight by the time Squall's attacks had finished. He performed a series of fighting moves that Rinoa was in awe of, one included two dolphins leaping from a pool of water while another saw Zell leap into the air and throw down a meteor like it was a basketball. As Zell landed she saw no point in using her sorceress magic due to the Sorceress's resilience to many forms or magic and instead she whistled for Angelo. The collie ran up beside her before she ran along side him a night's sky flew overhead before shooting stars fell onto the sorceress each one causing maximum damage before she and Angelo ran through the sorceress together. The sorceress wobbled unsteadily, a signal that she was weakening under their continued and inescapable attacks.
"Come on!" Irvine shouted words of encouragement from behind them but none turned to watch him cheer. The sorceress crept towards Rinoa again and managed to hit her this time. She was thrown backwards, as she slowly rose blood flowed freely from the deep cuts across her face. Squall prepared himself to cast some curative magic as he ran towards her but she shook her head as she stood. They all watched in awe as the wounds on Rinoa's face quickly healed and her health shot back up. Squall and Irvine continued to attack the sorceress with their limit breaks while Rinoa started the countdown to the use of her most powerful GF.
"Get back!" she ordered as the GF was thrown from her mind into the mist of the battle. A vast entity know was Eden appeared before them falling through a tunnel of cyber information and images, while it kept a watchful eye over the sorceress. If Diablos was an incarnation of hell then Eden was the opposite, an incarnation of heaven. Ancient spells and magics spread across the planets surface encasing and ultimately sealing the sorceress's fate. Yet as they watched Squall took the time to look to Rinoa, aware that the spells destroying the sorceress reminded Rinoa all too well of whom or rather what she was. She looked at the floor knowing that the GF's attack would easily remove the remaining health of the sorceress, yet she felt a deep sorrow. Could she really let go of the hate she had let herself be consumed by?
"Is it gone?" Selphie's voice made Rinoa look up from the floor.
Is it? Is it really gone? Am I really free or have I just freed it from a physical form? Rinoa couldn't help but ask herself those questions as the friends slowly walked towards one another.
"It looks like it's gone." Squall stated as they stood together in a group.
"This place doesn't look like anywhere I've ever been." Irvine pointed out as they studied the barren and yet blood stained room stretching out before them.
"Why should it? It doesn't really exist . . ." Rinoa spoke softly but they didn't fail to notice that her sentence seemed unfinished.
"If it doesn't exist does that mean we're getting closer to Ultimecia?" Quistis asked as they stood waiting for the walls to begin falling away from before them. As they spoke among themselves they failed to ask the one important question. Squall watched Rinoa as she sorrowfully studied the room. He followed her as she walked beside a side wall, studying the blood splatters.
"It doesn't exist where Rinoa?" She looked up to him with a small smile.
"You really are clever Squall; you always ask the right questions and you always know when to ask them." He seemed confused.
"The right questions?"
"It doesn't exist . . . anywhere but in my own mind."
"Your own mind? Rinoa are you saying this . . . all the blood . . . it's . . ." Irvine couldn't seem to find the words as he approached the pair.
"Both my parents were murdered, taken unrightfully from beforeme . . ." She paused and looked at the floor with a sad expression as she bit her lip. Squall's hand rested on her shoulder.
"You don't have to justify anything; like you said some burdens are greater than others." His words seemed less like reassurance and more like a warning directed at Irvine.
"Guys we don't want to butt in but . . ." Selphie started the sentence before Quistis finished for her.
"The walls aren't falling away, we might be stuck here."
"This is you're last chance to turn back." Rinoa stated as she began towards a bloody hand print on the far wall, "After I open a portal to Ultimecia's time, you can't turn back. I need to know that you're all still willing to do this." The friends exchanged glances before slowly nodding their heads in agreement. She reached out for the hand print and placed her own hand over it, they were surprised to find that Rinoa's hand fit the print perfectly. A swirl of colours spiralled inwards as if falling into a black hole. Rinoa turned back one last time.
"What about you? Do you still want to do this?" Squall asked as she looked back to them with unsure eyes.
"I don't have a choice, if I don't go millions will be killed but if I do go I'll have the chance to save them. Even if I do it and we don't win, at least I'll know I've tried." She took a deep breathe before she turned her back to them and stepped through the portal.
As Rinoa stepped through the other side of the portal she quickly shut her eyes to hide the sight before her. While she could no longer see the graveyard of White SeeDs that lay before her, the smell of their charred and rotting flesh burnt at the back of her nose. She resisted the sudden urge to vomit as the smell began to overwhelm her senses. As she began to open her eyes at the horrified cries of her friends she wished that it had all been a dream, that she had imagined the horrific sight in her mind. Her eyes denied her that pleasure. Tears stung her eyes as she realised that as the only sorceress of her time she would inevitably lead to this. She staggered back, ignoring the words of her friends as she tried to escape the images surrounding her. She tripped over a body that lay behind her and landed in Squall's arms. Her breathing was panicked and unsteady.
"Rin, don't loose it now." Irvine spoke as he stepped over the bodies towards them. She jumped back from his outstretched hand and Squall steadied her again. Her chest rose and fell at an erratic rate as her fear began to turn to shock. Squall stood her on her feet and took a step away still keeping his arms ready to catch her once more.
"This is all my fault." She whispered she stared at the SeeD that lay at her feet.
"Rin, you can't let yourself believe that." Selphie soothed as she tried not to trip over the bodies as she made her way over to embrace her friend.
"You can't control the path everyone after you walks, no matter how much you try." Squall added sympathetically as he looked at Rinoa. She looked away from him and down at the sea of bodies. When she looked up her eyes focused on the castle with an intense glare.
"Your right. This isn't my fault, it's hers." She spoke as turned back to her friends. Squall smiled at her without any apparent cause and she looked to him questioningly.
"Your eyes, their changing back." He said as he reached for her face but pulling back before his gloved hand reached it, she deserved better. She smiled as she raised her fingers towards her cheeks, safe in the knowledge that the witch could no longer torment her from the inside. She gathered all her strength to brave walking through the endless sea of bodies and towards the castle. The sky was dark and all that could be seen was the eerie silver moon that seemed so close to them as thought it were about to fall from the sky. The large castle gates were surrounded by hideous gargoyles that sat perched above them as if ready to attack from above. She spoke to her friends one last time as they neared the castle doors. She spoke in a cold and bitter voice, "When we find Ultimecia . . . leave the finishing blow for me!"
AN: Another chapter and so quickly? I'm so proud of myself. I've one more chapter to write but about 2-3 more to post depending on your view later on. Hope that intrigues you while you wait for the following chapters.
Ok well thanks for all the review thus far, I love the fact your enjoying the story it makes me feel loved in return.
