The Delinquent
I'm not the owner of final fantasy 8, or its story line or characters, etc. I am also not the owner of that "blah blah for dummies" series of books.
Get yourself a snack; it's a long 'un.
Squall looked around his surroundings, feeling his customary sensation of apathy but this was different. A different sort that made him feel more alone than he had in his entire life. He felt as though no matter what happened in his life he was going to be set up for disappointment.
"Oh well." he heard Quistis sigh from beside him.
He soon recognised his setting to be that of the room that he had inhabited before he blacked out. Expect this time it wasn't all broken down. He could see various people all standing around wearing some navy uniform. He looked down at his own attire, praying that he wasn't suited up in the same garments.
Instead of the baggy jeans and t-shirt that he had been wearing before he had a pair of black leather pants with various buckles and two belts slanted across his hips. He had a black leather jacket on that seemed to be a little short at the bottom, not exactly the pinnacle of today's painstaking fashion.
It had white fur around the collar and was accompanied by a pair of, not surprisingly, black leather gloves. Just when Squall thought that he'd lost all sense of colour and was in a dreary black world he saw his white t-shirt underneath… tucked into his pants.
Only one thing remained the same, he still wore around his neck the same pendant that he wore usually. The pendant was a lion, it did originally have a name but Squall couldn't remember it. Who names there bloody trinkets anyway?
"I, Quistis Trepe, am no longer an instructor as of now."
"Quistis?" Squall whispered quietly.
He turned to look at her, wanting to laugh heartily when he saw her outfit. It was definitely a keeper, the kind of thing you need a camera to capture the moment forever.
It was sort of a peachy coloured thing; in fact it was a mixture of both orange and pink.
As per usual though, Quistis still found a way to pull it off.
She had brown boots on that went well under her knee length peachy skirt. She too had too many belts on, two being her count as well. One grey one wrapped around her slim waist and the other, a big meaty brown one, slanted across her hips. Two silver chains hung from the grey belt at either side of her body.
To match her skirt she had a sleeveless peachy coloured tight shirt with a zip going up the front of it. The top of the zip strangely done right up while the bottom was undone to reveal her toned stomach.
On her arms she had crimson separate sleeves that started at her wrists and went right up to her shoulder. Lastly there were the leather sleeves that seemed to be some kind of dress code around this place.
"I'm a member of SeeD now, just like you. Who knows, maybe we'll end up working together."
"What do you mean working together? Whats all this about?" Squall enquired.
He wasn't new to this "dream state" that seemed to be happening; he knew that she couldn't hear him or something like that, but he had to try. Maybe if he tried for long enough something would get through.
"Is that all your going to say?" Quistis cried out, seeming somewhat offended with whatever had been said.
Squall really hated this, he thought that the first time it had happened it had been because of his accident but nothing had injured him since he'd gotten here. One minute he was talking to Quistis the next he was talking to this… replica of Quistis or something.
"They told me that I failed as an instructor. Basically, that I lacked leadership qualities." Quistis continued.
"You don't fail at anything!" Squall exclaimed, still not quite used to the idea of a real but not real Quistis.
"I was a SeeD by the age of fifteen, got my instructor license at seventeen…"
"What the fuck is SeeD! What kind of fucked up government bullshit is this!" Squall burst out.
All he'd heard about last time was SeeD; it seemed to be something very important. How was he supposed to find out anything if he didn't even know what they were talking about half the time?
"Its only been a year since I got it…"
Squall closed his eyes, wishing that everything could be normal again. Reality wasn't that great but it was better than being confused all the time. Sure life had its own confusions but nothing like this.
'Why does shit like this only ever happen to me?'
"I wonder where I went wrong… I did my best…"
"Why are you bleating all this shit to me? Stop being such a complaining bitch and move on!"
"Are you listening?"
"What's going on?" Seifer exclaimed as he burst through the door.
He'd been on too much of a mission to bother worrying about any of the monsters that lurked. Even Rinoa had noticed any.
She gasped loudly when she saw Squall lying unconscious on the floor. His head was on Quistis's lap and his eyes were rolled back in his head, revealing only the whites.
"I dunno, he just collapsed." Quistis said panic quickening her voice.
"What did you do!" Seifer accused.
Immediately someone had to be at fault for this and it sure wasn't him or Rinoa.
"Nothing, I asked him what the time was and he just fucking collapsed!"
"Let's get him out of here." Rinoa declared.
"No, we shouldn't move him; we might do more harm than good." Quistis stated.
"Well we're not helping him by leaving him here." Seifer argued.
He bent down beside Squall and hosted him over his shoulder.
"Hyne Squall, cut down on the pies." Seifer grimaced.
"Just shut up and carry him!" Rinoa snapped.
Quistis suddenly had a thought, something she was more than used to. It was usually something to make there otherwise insane plan at least half way rational.
"Hold on, there's fucked up monsters out there." Quistis began. "We need something, like a weapon."
"Where the hell are we ganna get a weapon?" Seifer interrupted, dropping Squall on the ground as he did so.
"Seifer take more care of him!" Rinoa shouted.
Squall found himself somewhere new now; it was the lush forest that he had been in before he blacked out. Except now it was a lot tidier, there were the same paths either way and the steel doors stood tall and firm.
Beside him he saw Rinoa, wearing some sort of blue outfit that made her look a little bit like a biker chick that went haywire. He had to admit though; it looked very sexy on her.
He'd seen a fair bit of her body already from there times together at the beach and waking her up in the morning but her just flaunting her body like that was a definite trigger.
He recovered from his trance abruptly, realizing that she may not like being stared at like the bitch in prison.
"You know, I can imagine you doing this on a first date. You're so romantic." Rinoa giggled.
"Why thank-you, you've been great to." Squall replied cheesily.
For unknown reasons she didn't answer at all, instead just started walking around. When she started taking on monsters and whatnot Squall decided it was time to leave.
He tried to tell her to come with him but she wasn't listening, so he left. If it was Rinoa he wouldn't have but she wasn't really Rinoa… you know?
Surprisingly she followed him, walking beside him chatting endlessly about how excited she was to be here.
At first Squall was happy for her conversation but soon found it to actually be quite trying. She had a lot of Rinoa's qualities, the same love of life, the same endlessly chatting mouth and the same caring nature, but different.
He felt a strong bond with her though, something that he couldn't really put into words.
He loved the sound of her voice; it was like sweet honey on a hot day. Still, be as it may, she still didn't hear anything that he tried to say to her.
He turned left when they got to the end of the corridor and soon found himself in front of the shabby room that he hadn't dared go inside before. Now it looked like quite a pleasing place to be.
They walked through the varnished wooden doors and saw a professional looking desk and a small library. There were only a couple of shelves holding books but it still looked very classy.
"Wow! This is so cool!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"It's just a library…" Squall said flatly.
"Mind if I look around?"
"Why the fuck would I care?"
"Thanks!"
Squall watched her saunter off to the other side of the room, scanning the covers of a couple of books to see if they sparked her interest.
Squall felt an uncanny urge to walk to the back of the room, it was like when you crave chocolate, you can't just ignore that kind of longing.
"Hi," Some brunette girl said on the other side of the room.
He recognized her as Ellone and was particularly interested to see her presence in this state of unconsciousness, because that's all this was, just one big dream.
'I could be having a relapse of my concussion… it could happen…'
"You saved me from the monster." She stated plainly.
"What monster?" Squall enquired, still trying to make some sort of connection.
"Try to remember."
Squall felt himself exhale a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He started hoping that she had replied to him question. She could've heard him, it was Ellone after all… if anyone was going to break through it was her.
'Remember… did she hear me or what? What does she mean?'
"It'd be heartbreaking to know I was forgotten."
His heart dropped down to his stomach, she hadn't heard him at all, she'd just continued on with her conversation.
He didn't know what to do, how was he supposed to get through to these people if he couldn't even communicate with them. Not to mention the fact that whoever he was inhabiting emotions were starting to take over his own.
He just felt so alone, like he couldn't depend on anybody for anything, even something as simple as asking for a pencil or something like that, he
just seemed to be setting himself up for disappointment.
"I think I found something." Quistis clapped.
She reached down and picked up a javelin looking thing. It was made of stainless steel all the way down it and the point at the end, while rusted to fuck, was still kind sharp.
Rinoa was still scourging around for something she could use. So far all she'd seen were rats.
"Here." Seifer said, extending out to her a pair of twin daggers.
She grimaced, hoping that she would've found something a little longer so she didn't have to get too close, but she bit the bullet anyway. She needed something and it didn't look like there was anything else in this room of any use.
Seifer picked Squall back up and they made there way out of the room. Quistis was peeking out a little bit more than the others, having seen that huge beast before. She knew that if something like that came around again her measly stick wasn't going to help her.
Quistis heard that same sound of metal scraping against metal, except a lot closer this time. Her head turned in that direction immediately and out of the bushes roared one of the uglier things she'd seen her in life.
She knew what this monster was, it was a Grat. Balamb country side was infested with them. She'd read somewhere that this hadn't always been so but something changed.
Rinoa gasped, not expecting to actually be attacked, she just thought Quistis was being paranoid. It ran at them; spit dripping from its open jaws and all four tentacles above its head staunchly.
Rinoa wished Squall was around to protect her from it, but now it was her turn. She had to protect Squall while he was vulnerable.
"Yes, Squall?" Ellone said, turning on her chair to look at Squall.
"Are you Ellone?" Squall enquired.
"Yes…"
Once again Squall was fooled into thinking she'd heard him. It was beyond the point of infuriating now.
"What's going on Ellone!" Squall shouted.
"I do. I really love Uncle Laguna."
"What the fuck is going on Ellone! I can't take this shit!"
"I'm sorry, Squall. It's hard to explain… But… one thing…"
She paused taking a deep breath, Squall quite literally hanging off every word she said.
"It's about the past."
Rinoa ran at the beast, her daggers bared beside her. She jumped in the air, going for some sort of triumphant looking stab wound to the monsters head. Instead she was merely thrown aside by one of the tentacles. She fell on top of a fence, which didn't just tickle, it hurt.
Seifer dropped Squall, realizing that the girls weren't going to be able to take care of this. He wrenched the javelin off Quistis and pushed her off to the side.
He too took his chances at running towards it, but instead of jumping in the air he thrust his weapon frontward.
It pierced into the Grats skin and greeny colored blood started to ooze out. It didn't pour out, it seeped.
It seemed temporarily taken back by the wound and Seifer took his chance to grab Squall and run. Quistis and Rinoa were at his heels the whole time, more than happy to get out of this hell hole.
When they came across the steel door out of there Seifer chucked Squall through it, still having no respect for his unconscious body. He helped Rinoa and Quistis get through before diving through it himself as fast as he could.
"What a fucking mission." Seifer puffed.
Before any reply could be made Squall's back arched and a loud gasp escaped his mouth. It didn't sound like a normal gasp; it was like he was trying to breath or something. Like his airways were constricted and this was his final plea for breath.
"What the fuck is wrong with him!" Rinoa fretted.
Squall was outside the ballroom that he had first seen Rinoa in this "dream world". The wind blew through his brunette locks and beside him, secreting a sort of tranquility that reminded Squall of the calm after the storm.
He could hear laughter from inside and music, but he only had ears for Rinoa at this point. He felt closer to her now than he ever had before. He couldn't explain the emotions he was feeling.
Squall stared out towards the ocean, tranquility rushing through him. He had the best feeling that everything was going to ok from now on. Nothing bad could happen now.
His eyes drifted up to the stars and at that moment a shooting star rocketed across the heavens.
He glanced back down at Rinoa. She smiled and lifted one of her slender fingers towards the stars. He smiled too and on impulse, he stepped towards her, took her hand in his and pulled it to their sides.
He leaned in and planted a delicate kiss upon her mouth, loving the feel of her soft lips against his own. It was a magic moment that Squall wished he could keep forever, this was the closest thing to nirvana Squall could ever hope for in his life.
It wasn't a kiss that Squall was used to; he was accustomed to the passionate, hard, snog that usually happened under the influence of a lot of alcohol.
Nothing could ruin this, nothing… except Irvine and Selphie.
"Woohoo!" Selphie squealed from behind them.
He felt Rinoa smile against his lips, but he wasn't pulling away. This was too good to let Selphie wreck.
Rinoa now held Squall's legs while Seifer held onto his torso. He'd gotten way too heavy for Seifer to carry alone. He wasn't gasping or anything like that anymore, he was just unconscious. His eyes were still rolled back in his head and his mouth was slightly ajar but he wasn't freaking them out exorcist styles anymore.
They were able to take it a bit slower now so it wasn't quite as chaotic as it had been in that forest area. They came across one part of the ruins that was flooded so they had to carefully step over that, some parts getting as deep as there thighs.
"How far are we?" Rinoa enquired.
Her voice was a little strained; Squall wasn't as light as he looked.
"I dunno, we can't be far yet." Quistis replied.
Quistis had taken up position of navigator, seeing as she was the only one not lumbering Squall.
"This fuck seriously needs to cut down on the fats!" Seifer groaned.
"This is hardly the time Seifer!" Quistis scowled.
There was about five minutes of silence, everyone concentrating on there temporary jobs rather than the arguments that they all wanted to get into. There emotions were running high at the moment and conversation was no doubt probably going to turn ugly.
"I wish he'd just snap out of it!" Rinoa cried, finally giving up on her façade of calm.
"He'll be fine… we've all come out of worse." Quistis said, trying to not only put Rinoa at ease but herself.
She couldn't say that she'd ever really seen anyone just blank out like that before, it wasn't something that she really wanted to be used to either.
It was more nerve-racking by the fact that it was Squall who was down. He was usually like a leader or something. The guy that you looked to when things got out of hand, but he was now relying on them and they were literally falling to pieces.
"I can't remember the last time you started seizure-ing out!" Seifer retorted.
"Really not helping Seifer!"
(Squall's new setting was nothing like the one before, before him was one of the more horrifying sites he had seen in his life. He was no longer even part of the proceedings going on around him; he just drifted around like a ghost, unheard and unseen.
The sinister part about it was he could hear himself sobbing. It was a sound that he himself wasn't too adapted to hearing but he still knew what it sounded like.
He noticed it was coming from a closed door on the other side of the room.
It was then that he noticed the trail of blood leading into that room; it was as if something had been dragged along it, not pretty.
He walked slowly towards it, afraid of what he was going to see. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what was behind that door.
Nonetheless he slowly opened it, his legs ready to take off if they needed to.
Inside was the most horrifying thing he had ever come across, something so horrendous he wasn't sure if his brain could fathom it.
All over the walls was fresh blood and the carpet beneath his feet was stained red. He could see dents in the walls and what looked like a fancy boomerang stuck deep in the wall. He could tell by the razor sharp blade on it that it was a weapon.
Sitting in the middle of the room was Squall; he had blood all over him. It literally was making parts of his, previously, white t-shirt stick to him like a second skin.
This could get confusing…To make it possibly less so, dreaming Squall will be referred to as (Squall and the crying Squall as Squall
On his lap was Rinoa, her body lying flat on the ground except for her torso which was pressed up against Squall's body. She was by far in the worst mess. It was obvious that she wasn't alive.
Her dull eyes seemed to be staring at (Squall as he stood there watching.
Her hair was stuck together in clumps due to the sticky blood and she had several stab wounds all over her body.
Squall was rocking her back and forth, bawling continuously into her hair.
He pulled his head away from her, sniffing as he lay her down flat. He knelt beside her body, still crying, and kissed the necklace she had around her neck.
He bawled his fist together and slowly brought his head to the ground in-between his hands.
"I'm sorry…" he sobbed, "I'm so sorry."
(Squall flopped down on the floor, not believing what he was seeing. He felt tears start to well up in his own eyes.
"Please don't leave me…" Squall continued to weep.
He let out a sort of moaning sound and lay his head on her stomach.
"I can't do this alone."
(Squall watched in agony, the sight was almost too hard to bear. He didn't understand why he was seeing this, what did it all mean? Why did he have to be cursed with such a sight? If it was the future then he wanted to be blissfully unaware of it so that he might spend his last moments with her happy.
'Hyne… why me?'
Getting Squall out of this place was proving to be somewhat harder than they had expected. It was pretty safe to say this was no a place you wanted to be in alone.
All kinds of beasts lay lurking in dark places and a couple of times they had been close to someone getting seriously injured or killed.
"Why is all this shit happening now?" Seifer snarled.
"I don't know! Last time we came here this didn't happen!" Quistis snapped back.
The worst part was most of the monsters ran straight at Squall, they seemed to be attracted to him and they had to defend him. Seifer was definitely getting it the hardest.
Naturally he was expected to fight a little harder, he being the male and all. It wasn't a sexist thing; it was just that he was naturally a fiercer and stronger fighter. The most Quistis and Rinoa could do to most of them was be slightly annoying.
"Fuck this, let's find somewhere safe and stay there till fucking coma victim wakes up!" Seifer finally cried.
They were in front of a corridor with moldy blue carpet; it looked somewhat shabbier than the one they had come out of.
"I don't know if I'm keen to go in there." Rinoa stated.
"What other choice do we have?" Quistis sighed.
"It might be worse in there." Rinoa argued.
"If it gets any worse than it already is then we can kiss our ass goodbye. We're better off taking a chance on this." Seifer finalized.
There was no point trying to argue now, two to one, Rinoa didn't have a choice. It wasn't that she had a bad feeling about it; it was just that it didn't really look terribly safe and Hyne knew how they were actually going to get in there.
"Right, Rinoa, you sit with Squall and me and Quistis will start trying to make some sort of way in here." Seifer said, taking up the role of leader.
Rinoa nodded, following orders without a scent of argument. She didn't mind someone taking up the role of leader, she certainly didn't want it. She didn't know what to do, if it was up to her they'd still be in that room they started in.
Hell if it was up to her they wouldn't be here.
After a somewhat arduous ten minutes they were finally inside the room. Inside was surprisingly well preserved; it looked as if it had been a sort of bunker to a lot of people. Unfortunately some of the "people" were still around. A couple of skeletons still lay around the place but the stench of death had gone. There was still a muggy stink to the place though.
Seifer took action of places an old cabinet in front of the entrance, making sure that no monsters could get inside.
"So what are we supposed to do? Sit and wait here until we die of starvation like these poor fucks?" Quistis exclaimed.
"Just fuck up and let me think!" Seifer yelled.
"Yeah, your fucking prodigy brains really ganna get us out of this one." Quistis replied sarcastically.
"Don't start that fucking sarcastic 'I'm better than you' shit! If you're so fucking great you think of something!"
"Well that's what we're ganna be relying on aren't we, your not ganna be coming up with any bright ideas any time soon."
Rinoa rolled her eyes, quite used to hearing there antics. They were always arguing, she wondered how the hell they were still going out. She knew that they loved it though; if those two were happy then there lives would be too relaxed. They craved chaos.
"If I remember correctly it was your fucking idea to come in here in the first place!" Seifer shouted loudly.
Shaking her head, she reached up into one of the shelves and pulled out a book. She blew on the spine and written faintly in gold print was the title.
"The Sorceress's Knight…" Rinoa read aloud.
She'd never heard of it but it intrigued her. She remembered reading about 'Sorceress's' but they were sort along the same lines of Dinosaurs, they just weren't around anymore.
She opened the large book in the middle and read a couple of lines.
He vowed to protect her from all evils; any kind of hurt that they may try to inflict on her would have to somehow get through him first. This was his oath to her, stronger than any that he may ever pledge.
Rinoa tossed the book to the side, deciding that it was a little too old school for her. There had to be something more interesting. She once again randomly reached up and pulled a book from its shelf.
Blowing on the cover she read the words 'Basic History for Beginners'. She chuckled a little at the title; it was kind of like those 'Sign Language for Dummies' and 'Exercising for Dummies' books, just old school.
She opened it and read along the index, skimming over the chapters for something that might take her interest. She came across the words 'Influence of the Sorceress in middle day'.
'What's with all the stuff about Sorceress's?' Rinoa thought to herself as she scanned through the book to find that chapter.
While it is a widely known fact that all Sorceress's must have a Knight, all throughout history it has been the Knight that would endure any kind of torture to protect there Sorceress. This also explains why it is probable that in the face of death the Knight will be slain first.
Often in Middle age times the Knight would be bound and forced to watch the burning of his Sorceress. This would be enough torture to make a Knight go insane, having failed to protect his mistress he would often go insane and either seek revenge or if the pain was too great, commit suicide.
Rinoa flicked past that part, it seemed a little depressing. She couldn't imagine giving all her services to one person; it was sort of like slavery. At least that's how it was coming off.
Sorceress's, when found out, were usually put to death but once it was found out that when killed there powers jumped to someone else they were locked inside a sound proof cell where they would be locked until they died. It was widely thought that if they could be heard then they would put a spell on whomsoever might be listening and would get free. Once free they were thought to seek revenge for there imprisonment.
"You wanna read some of this." Rinoa stated, interrupting there argument. "It's quite interesting."
"How is…" Seifer began; he walked towards her and looked down at the cover of her book, "Basic History for Beginners going to help anyone?"
"Well if this is 'basic' history then why haven't I heard of any of it?"
"I don't want to be here anymore… please don't show me anymore." ?(Squall said distantly.
He was still staring at Rinoa's lifeless body. It was then that he tore his gaze away from her eyes and down to her body. Something shimmered in the dim light and (Squall's stare was fixated on her hand. Her left hand to be more specific, on her ring finger was a shiny silver engagement ring.
'She was his fiancée…'
Squall's eyes shot open and he gasped for air as he lifted himself up into a sitting position. In an instant he had both Rinoa and Quistis at his side. Seifer stood off to the left, not wanting to seem too fussed about Squall's situation.
"Are you ok?" Quistis said worriedly.
"Where's Rinoa." Squall panted.
"I'm right here." Rinoa whispered.
She took his hand in her own, caressing his skin softly. She was more relieved about him being ok than she had thought she would be. She could breathe easy knowing that he was alright and was starting to think that everything might be ok.
"Rinoa…" Squall said tenderly.
He stroked the side of her face, smiling softly as he did so. It was the greatest feeling in the world to see her alright and he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He wasn't going to be like that "dream Squall". Rinoa was going to be just fine.
"Please don't do that again." Rinoa chuckled.
"Don't worry Rin, your never going to get rid of me now."
Didn't even try to leave a cliff-hanger, I think enough happened in this chapter to allow myself to just let a chapter end. Ten pages, that's gotta be some sort of record!
I apologise if that whole double Squall thing was confusing but I didn't know how to do it and I really wanted to do it.
You may not want credit for such a depressing chapter but nonetheless recognition to my readers and reviewers.
Even though it was a slightly "OFF" chapter, what were your thoughts on it?