The Second War

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII.

A/N: Not much of a note. You probably have figured out this is the third heavily scrutinized chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 3: In Which He Cries

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My. Head. Hurts.

Irvine sat up slowly in bed, clutching his head and squinting in the sunlight. Seifer must have ordered some guards to bring him back. Until now, he had forgotten why his was still in bed past noon. Rinoa!

He leapt out of bed only to find himself back on the floor with stabbing pains shooting through his head. What the hell did she do to me? Irvine debated whether or not he should climb back into bed or try to visit Rinoa to see if she was better. Eventually, his anxiety for Rinoa got the best of him. He grabbed the side of his bed and hoisted himself up to a standing position, trying in vain to ignore the extreme pain and dizziness in his head.

He straightened and took one step before collapsing to the floor once more. Sighing heavily, Irvine resigned himself to further bed rest, because it seemed that it was the only he could do for now. Now I just have to get back into bed without falling over again…

There was a knock on the door.

"Oh shit, not now, not now!" He muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. Irvine wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh at his pathetic situation. Here he was, a full grown man, lying on the floor in the middle of his room, tangled in his bed sheets. He was sure this would have been funny if he didn't want so many painkillers.

The door opened and Seifer strode in, surveying Irvine with his customary smirk.

"How are you doing?" Seifer asked, walking over to Irvine and pulling him up off the floor.

"Normally people wait for an answer before they barge into the room." Irvine pointed out, not resentfully.

"I assumed you were still out cold." There was no hint of superiority or smugness in Seifer's voice. That was one thing, at least, that had changed about him since his return. He was less cocky and arrogant, and even Rinoa had admitted it was an improvement. Irvine suspected the change was because of Rinoa, but he remained silent on the issue.

"How is she?"

Seifer smiled to himself. "Thriving."

Irvine noted the little grin with irritation. Maybe all of Seifer's arrogance hasn't been washed away. Old habits die hard, and he didn't like the looks of the twinkle in his eye.

Seifer seemed to realize Irvine wanted to hear more than what Fujin would have said, so he continued. "I managed to get her out of the spell, and it was a pretty bad one. I don't know what triggered it. You were with her, maybe you know." He looked sideways at Irvine, who shook his head. Seifer began pacing rather restlessly. "Anyway, she fainted after it was over, so I took her back to her room. Surprisingly, she got up soon after and talked to me for awhile before attending to the daily business." He pulled out a sheaf of papers from his jacket. "Here are the papers you wanted her to look over, by the way, she already signed them all."

Irvine indicated a table where Seifer could leave them. "Thanks." He badly wanted to see Rinoa to find out what they talked about. He couldn't hate Seifer, because they both worked for the well-being of Rinoa. Any conflict would only affect her, and Irvine wouldn't risk it.

There was another knock on the door, though it sounded like a heavy banging instead.

"Sir!"

"Come in!" Irvine shot a pointed look at Seifer who grinned unapologetically. Irvine grabbed is head again, wincing. It seemed that speaking too loudly hurt as well.

"Sir!" Watts barreled into the room, soon followed by Zone. "SIR! This is very urgent!" He cried, red in the face.

Irvine covered his ears. Too much sound hurt. "Could you…just speak a little softer?" he asked.

"Sorry, sir." Watts dropped to a whisper.

Zone nudged Watts and began speaking. "We just came back from our reconnaissance mission."

"Who sent you on a reconnaissance mission?" Irvine said at once, though he felt like he already knew.

"I did." Seifer stated.

Irvine was bewildered. "But you sent out Fujin and Rajin as well!"

Seifer shrugged. "It never hurts to be more informed than the enemy."

Exasperated, Irvine motioned for Watts to continue. "SeeD is planning to attack Caraway on Saturday."

Even Seifer looked taken aback at how simple the information was, and how confident Watts was about it. "How did you find out?"

Watts looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, I had a member of the Forest Owls join SeeD, actually. He was happy enough to do this for Rinoa. He was guarding the door while Ellone was having the meeting, and he listened in for me." He looked worried. "Don't tell Rinoa, I don't think she'll like the idea."

Both Seifer and Irvine were surprised that Watts could be so assiduous as to plan something like this. They were both stunned into momentary silence.

"How?" Irvine asked finally, half wondering if Rinoa would agree to send forces to her father. She was very firm on this matter, saying that he only sent her a quarter of his full force.

"There will be a guard change at 2 pm when they intend to strike. My informant wasn't too clear on how this would occur, although he was sure it would." Zone said.

"Thanks." Seifer said. "You guys can take a break now." He turned to Irvine, frowning. "We are in deep shit, aren't we?"

> > >

A light breeze flew insistently through the remains of Fisherman's Horizon. It made fishing lines rustle, blew up a few papers, and pleasantly ruffled through people's hair. It continued through the open window of the crumbling little inn, scattering a few petals from some dying daisies in an old wine bottle.

A lone woman stood on the yellowing balcony, clutching a newspaper so tightly in her slim hands that it began to crumple. On the front page was a picture of the Sorceress with another slandering headline, with a picture of the Commander opposite her.

She dropped the paper to the balcony floor and retreated into the shade of her room. She went to the sink and splashed water on her face before letting her hair down loose over her shoulders.

Unknowingly, she stared hard into the mirror like the sorceress did every morning, trying to decide what force would overcome her.

> > >

Squall drove in silence towards the old orphanage. It was not that silence was different for him, but he felt like screaming. That was different. He had never come so close to exploding before since the war had begun.

Rinoa, he knew, had an interim of peace for now. He still felt that pining, the one no longer meant for him. Squall knew he deserved it, for he deserted her, but it never ceased to infuriate him. Angrily, he stopped the car and turned off the ignition. He was tired of always thinking that he deserted her. It was her fault. She committed murder on Garden, and as commander, he was forced to take action.

But as her knight, he was supposed to protect her. Squall was put in a difficult position, and he didn't know what side to take. Rinoa had fled before explaining herself, while Ellone convinced him that his duty to Garden was first.

Yet I swore to her…

How did he take Ellone's version of things before listening to Rinoa? Since when was Rinoa not first in his mind? Squall couldn't find an answer or justify his actions for himself. He crossed his arms and laid his head on them, carefully to avoid the horn.

There were so many unanswered questions, yet he took the path that he did. He chose blindly, Irvine had accused him. Irvine went with Rinoa in the end. He didn't hesitate. He ran with Rinoa. That killed Selphie. Almost overnight, she lost all of her bubbly cheerfulness, converting it into hatred for Rinoa.

And Seifer. Of course Seifer went with Rinoa. He always wanted to compete with me. Even as Squall thought that, he knew it wasn't true in this case. Seifer went with Rinoa because he believed her. Seifer always chose the things he believed in.

What if it wasn't Zell who died? What if it were some other stranger, and events still unfolded the way they had? Who would Zell have supported? Squall wasn't going to kid himself. Zell always had a much warmer reception with Rinoa, that is, until he died at her hands.

Quistis. She had disappeared soon after, only sending a vague letter to both Squall and Rinoa. For all they knew, she was dead.

Not knowing why, Squall felt his face become wet. He touched his cheeks, angrily shocked to find tears. He rubbed them away roughly with his sleeve, only to find more tears. Frantically, he tried rubbing all of them away, but more just kept coming Suddenly, he didn't care.

He was alone, virtually in the middle of no where, and he, Squall, could have a breakdown if he wanted to. For so long he had put the needs of other in front of his, and he couldn't take it anymore.

Squall screwed up his face and cried hard for the first time in his life.

Irvine rehearsed what he was going to say in his head over and over again. He wasn't sure if Rinoa would agree, but he had to try. He smiled grimly, taking another step with considerably less pain and nausea. A medic had come from the infirmary and provided Irvine with a large dose of painkillers, devised by one of Dr. Odine's lab assistants. They didn't get Odine himself, although Seifer had managed to…convince…the lab assistants to work for us.

Seifer had left to attend to some details with the army, cryptically saying that Rinoa should be in a good mood.

Outside her door, Irvine straightened his jacket, tipped his hat to a rakish angle, and knocked the door. There was no reply. Odd.

Irvine, aware that he was being somewhat hypocritical, eased opened the door and peered in carefully. "Rinoa?"

He heard a muffled sob. Better mood indeed. Irvine shut the door behind him and crouched by Rinoa, whose head was in her arms on the table. He laid a hand on one of her arms. "Er, Rinoa?"

There was a huge sniff from Rinoa before she looked up. "Hey Irvine. I'm really sorry about before, you know. I didn't mean it."

"I know." He said, feeling guilty that she apologized for something she had no control over. "Don't cry." Irvine handed her his handkerchief.

Rinoa bit her lip. "I can't help it." She wiped her red-rimmed eyes before she began sobbing again.

"Oh, come on, princess, don't cry." Irvine put his arms around her and began rocking her back and forth.

"He's crying."

Irvine stopped, his heart pounding wildly. There could only be one 'he' with Rinoa, and he didn't want a relapse of the attack. "He?"

"Squall." She said in a harsh whisper. It physically hurt Irvine to see Rinoa so emotionally ravaged by Squall.

"But how…?"

Rinoa choked back a bitter laugh. "He and I are still connected. Because he was my knight. He always can feel what I'm feeling. Normally, he keeps his mind closed to me, and I can't reach him. But right now, wherever the hell he is, he's weeping like a child and can't hide it."

It took Irvine a moment to digest this information. It also answered his old question, and he understood why Squall was able to calm her so quickly. But Seifer? He shoved that out of his mind the second the question rose.

His concern turned to desperation as Rinoa began to cry again, clutching at her chest as if she could rip Squall's emotions away. She was still in his arms, but he had no idea what to do.

Then he remembered, from childhood, what Matron used to do whenever a child ran to her crying. She would rock them in her arms, the same way he was, and kiss them on the forehead. Many times she had soothed Irvine this way, and they were some of his favourite memories of the orphanage.

So he leaned down and kissed Rinoa on the forehead, and continued to rock her in his arms. She froze and looked up, with a strange look in her eyes.

Inexplicably, he felt crushed and stumbled over himself to apologize. "I'm sorry, I really am, and I shouldn't have done it. I just thought maybe…Matron used to…I'm sorry…"

Her fingers came up and placed themselves over Irvine's mouth. Suddenly, her fingers disappeared and it was her lips.

Irvine, who had dreamed of this since he had left Selphie, who's affection for Rinoa had grown into something difficult to explain, didn't pull away.

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To be continued…