Oh wow! It's me again! How surprising! I'll just shut up now...
Disclaimer: Don't make me have to go buy Final Fantasy VIII just so I can tell you people that I own it! (Does that explain that I don't?)
Chapter Seventeen
Rinoa sat in the passenger wing on board the Ragnarok alone. She had slipped away from the bridge when things had gotten too loud for her. Irvine and Zell had been at it again, spitting insulting names back and forth. Quistis had lost her temper with them and started yelling. That set off Selphie, screaming from the pilot seat. Finally, Squall stepped in and threatened everyone that of they didn't shut up, they would meet the wrong end of his gunblade.
Rinoa had slipped away for another reason. When they had all first boarded the Ragnarok, everything seemed fine, but after a while, something began to tug at Rinoa. There was this uneasy feeling that had begun to hang around her. It began to upset her and she had to get away from the noise to figure it out.
As she stared out the window, the colors fused together. The light blue of the clear sky mixed with the green ground and blue-velvet of the waters as they passed by at their high speeds. She saw none of it, though. She enclosed herself in the calming chambers of her mind. That was the only way she could think about the things that required no distractions.
Rinoa closed her eyes and blocked out all her other senses and concentrated on what felt wrong. It was a dark feeling. Black surrounded and light seemed to be banished. Then an enormous cloud of pain hit hard. Air stopped, but the pain rushed in to cliam its prey. Every fiber squrimed and shaked as cold set in. The mind lost control as the presence of another took over. The pain ceased in its intensity but remained.
Rinoa continued to push her way through this strange senstation using her sorceress powers to guide her. She put all her concentration into this. It was an unknown world to her. She felt the other's pain that engulfed the body in dull pricks. There was another being there with her. Someone she didn't reconize. It sure wasn't Ultimecia, but then who was it? If it had been her, she would have known from the start. But it wasn't. It was someone else!
Rinoa's eyes shot open. Her breaths came ragged and quick. Little droplets of sweat made their paths down her pale face. Her heart was beating so rapidly. Her hands shook in anxiety and all attempts to calm her body resulted in failure.
And she knew. She understood. She had been thrown out, pushed out. A great resistance had forced her to retreat. That gave it away.
They were not only fighting Ultimecia, but another. And they had possesed someone. Someone was now under this being's control.
But who?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The bridge had remained silent since the abrupt end of the last argument. Squall watched them all in a hawk-like manner. His eyes pierced through each of them, letting them know that sound was not welcomed.
He looked over at Zell, who now occupied the back of the bridge by the lift. He kept his blond head hung, knees up, and arms rested upon them. Every once in a while he would tighten his loose hands into two fist balls until his knuckles turned white. He must have known that Squall was watching him as he kept squirming and hiding his face from view even more than it already was. From what Squall could see, the crimson color of anger still remained plastered onto his features.
He then moved his eyes to Irvine who sat on the opposite side of the lift, in a cornerlike Zell. He sat with his hat in his lap and arms crossed over his chest. There was no readable expression on his face. He stared forward, jaw tightened. The anger that came from Zell's "dumb plowboy/redneck" comment still apparently pissed him off. He was proud to be a cowboy and was easily made mad when someone dissed that. He gently tapped the tip of a boot against the wall in frustration.
Squall averted his attention to the Instructor. She hated flying and her body was rigid. She sat next to Selphie who was at the pilot seat. Her hands gripped the armrests and her face was pale. Her mouth was a thin, white line that stretched across her face. She stared forward, but after a few moments, her eyes would dart to Selphie's hands that rested on the controls of this mighty ship. Little beads of sweat lined her forehead. She jumped noticeably every time the ship went through some resistance. He knew what thought was running through her mind: Only a few more minutes. Only a few more minutes longer...
Lastly, he took notice of Selphie. The perky girl had a smile on her face a mile wide. She was the only one in the room who had a happy expression on her features. She wore her bright yellow dress, a normal getup for her. Her thoughts must have been happy ones as she was swaying ever so slightly. Maybe even one of her favorite songs.
Squall, himself, was leaning against the equipment of the radio transmitters. He had his arms crossed over his muscular chest and his menacingly stern eyes were partially hidden by his hair. He had one foot crossed over another. He had to get off this ship. Yes, he welcomed the silence, but the constant hum of the ship's engine and other machinary in its build were causing him to lose his concentration. But he managed to keep up his evil gaze. It was a gaze that told each of them that it would be dangerous to lock eyes with him. Fortuntely, no one made that attempt.
He ran his eyes over everyone in the room one last time, taking them all into account as his eyes passed over them. Suddenly, his head snapped to the side. He had thought that Rinoa was beside him, but she wasn't. In fact, she wasn't in the room at all. How he had missed her presence became a mystery in his mind.
Pushing himself off his leaning post, he walked over to the lift. The click click click of his boots against the metal was the only sound made by any of them, save for Irvine's tapping against the wall. As he stepped onto the lift, he spoke to them,
"No distractions. No arguments. No sound." No one said anything but he knew that they had heard. It would be dangerous not to.
He waited for the lift to stop before he got off. Then he halted. Where could she be? There was any place on this big ship that she could really be, but he decided to go with the area closest. The passenger wing.
As he entered the wing, he was relieved to see her black head resting against the glass of the window. Her entire body was being supported by the armrest of the chair. He moved over to her and sat down. He stared forward at the flashing scenary before turming to her. He was startled to see how she looked. Her face was so pale. Sweat ran down her face. A hand was pushed against the window and her breathing was so unsteady. He knew that her heart was beating completely out of rythmn.
He gently placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. She turned her head weakly to face him. Her eyes were darker than normal and seemed endless. But this was not like her. There was an evil aura around her. It was in the entire room. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Finally after several attempts, she was able to voice her thoughts in a terribly rasping voice,
"I know."
Squall stared into her eyes, searching for an answer to obscure words. Knew what? About Ultimecia? Or was it something else? Her eyes showed no emotion, no reflection. They were endless voids, dark pools. All color had been drained from her face and the ends of her hair stuck around it.
"Know what?" he whispered, trying to remain calm. But she didn't answer him, only shook her head sadly. She turned her gaze back out the window even though she saw none of what passed by. The scared excitement that she felt still ran like electricity through her veins. She wanted to try again, to push farther. She wanted to know what they were really up against. But she knew that she could not while he was there. If something were go wrong or she somehow hurt herself, he would worry even more than he already did. She so badly wanted to find out who had been possessed, and who had done it. She knew it wasn't Ultimecia. She would have recognized Ultimecia. Plus, the sorceress wouldn't have forced Rinoa to retreat like that. No. Rinoa, herself, would have left as soon as she noticed that Ultimecia was there with her, but she hadn't felt anyone there until they had forced her out.
Squall frowned as he watched her remain silent with him. What did she know? Why was she keeping it from him? Had he done something wrong? Is that what "I know" meant?
He slowly stood and, with one last glance at her, removed himself from the room. He headed back up to the bridge. Upon entering the bridge, he took notice that everyone was still the same as he had left them. He made his way up to Selphie and Quistis. The Instructor's face was still as rigid as stone. He didn't think she could grip the seat any tighter. her knuckles were white and her face matched. She gave the impression of a marble statue set in fear. He stood between the two seats with a hand on the back of the headrest of each.
"How far are we?" he asked Selphie. "How much longer?"
The perky girl glanced up at him for a second before repeating her attention back at where she was going.
"I'd say about five more minutes. We're pretty close to Esthar, but we still have to land and that's going to take some time," she answered him. Next to her, Quistis let out a tiny sigh of relief.
Behind him, there were scraping sounds against the metal floor. Irvine appeared beside him, his brown cowboy hat upon his head once again. The rim covered his loathing eyes and his jaw remained extremely tense. From what he could tell, Zell had remained in his spot in the back corner.
"Good." Squall nodded. "I want everyone to be ready to find Dr. Odine as soon as we land. I'm going to speak with the President. You all are on your own." His voice tensed as he mentioned the President. He still referred to him as "the President" and "sir." Not once did he ever refer to him as "dad" or "father." Everyone knew that he still had not accepted the fact that Laguna Loire was his biological parent, no matter what evidence was placed before him. He remained in denial.
Selphie nodded. She frowned slightly. It was going to take time. A LOT of time before Squall called Laguna "father."
Squall watched as they approached closer to the city of Esthar. His eyes remained fixed on the Airstation that had begun to appear into view. It loomed over its surrounding buildings and cast a deep shadow.
He turned and headed back to the lift. "Be ready to find the doctor. Make haste. Waste no time." He headed down off the bridge. Once again, he made his way to passenger wing. he was worried about Rinoa, but would not let it show. He had surfaced enough emotion already, and that was dangerous.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Rinoa felt his presence leave her. In a way, she was relieved, but she also felt a tinge of sadness. She hadn't meant to block him out like that. She just so desperately wanted to figure this intensely strange mystery out. First, how had she done that? How had she entered another in that manner? Her mind had escaped the boundaries of time and place. But how had she done it? Just how powerful was she?
Rinoa thought back to what had happened first. That feeling. She remembered that feeling of darkness and dread. It had been unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It made her so sad, so down. Dull pains began to pinch at her skin as she found herself in that feeling again. It made her want to accept death in all its solutions. It surrounded her like a cage of black fire. Then, a deep purple surfaced in the flames, lining the flickering tops. Magic. The purple represented magic. Then came the red, bursting through like a dam that had been breached. Pain. That meant pain. Who's pain? She could only ask questions. Hopefully the answers were here somewhere. She continued to push again. Gray then surfaced. It made swirling patterns in the black of the flames, dodging the purple and red as it passed. What was the gray? The red suddenly stared to fade to light pink. She understood. The pain had ceased a bit, so the gray meant relief of some sort. Well, maybe not quite relief, but numbing. A numb feeling had come in.
Suddenly, she was blinded by a racing yellow that crisscrossed everything. It was directing the other colors. All the colors began to move in a rhythm with each other, quickly at first, then slowing down to a steady, acceptable pace. They all began to fade out and the black resumed its normal, colorless state. Then, it too began to fade away. Only that feeling remained.
Rinoa was on her hands and knees, panting for breath. Sweat dripped from her face onto the floor where a puddle had started to form. Every inch of her body shook. She could feel her heart racing to beat the band. It would take a lot to calm herself before someone saw her in this state.
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to do so. The sound of boots stomping down on the floor echoed throughout her mind and Squall was there beside her, supporting her. She was picked up and sat in the seat again. She could not stop shaking! He held her shoulders as he remained knelt in front of her. He asked no questions. He showed no emotion, but his eyes stared into hers. He was looking for an explanation. She could not give him one. She knew that he would not understand what she had just experienced, what she had just learned. She would have to wait. She would wait until they figured out this for themselves. They would not believe her.
Rinoa was weak. Weaker than she knew. He helped her to her feet, but asked nothing of her. Maybe he didn't want to know. She didn't know. Under her feet, she felt the disturbance of landing and was led out of the passenger wing. The others were waiting at the ramp. She had managed to support herself some and calm down. Still, there were hints of distress on her features. They sent her strange glances but said nothing as he had done.
Finally, he spoke from her side. "You all will find the doctor and get what you can out of him. Rinoa, you will assist them as this was your idea. I will be with the President. Good luck." He started down the ramp and was out of sight.
They all stared at his back. When he was gone, Selphie looked at her comrades. "Well, we had better get going. I have a hunch that this is gonna be difficult."
And they too made their way down the ramp. Rinoa stopped halfway and looked behind her.
I know. I know what's going on, you witch. I know who you are not.
A/N: Oh my gosh! Never in the world have I ever had so many computer problems with one chapter. Dear gussie! You all have no idea how painful that was. I think that I have typed up this chapter about a grand total of 3 times. I have now memorized most of it. I hope you all like it. (I have my own eerie moment! I'm so proud!) R&R people! Thanx! Later Days mes amis!
E/N: Oh golly Katelyn, you were right, this IS an amazing chapter! I LOVE IT! Spoils my fun that I already know who it is though. -points at pitiful sketch- But your lovely readers will be peeing themselves trying to figure out who. No hints from me! ;)
A/N: Thanx Megan! I hope the rest of y'all out there think the same. I worked really hard on this chapter 'cause I rewrote it ALL! So tired! -Yawns- R&R pleez! I love you guys!
E/N: You are tired, you told them to R&R last comment. Anyways, yeah, you guys R&R it before Madame Carpal Tunnel falls asleep on her keyboard.
A/N: Okkk.( I still don't know what a carpal tunnel is...but I'm not going to tell you all that!) Wait... Ok, I did not mean to do that!
E/N: I'll give you some fancy website about it. You'll feel smarter before you sleep:D
A/N: Ha ha ha. Very funny. Lock your doors and windows tonight Megan. I have a huge metal pot and I am not afraid to use it! Mwhahahhahaha! -Very very evil laugh with a few cute tones in it-