Chapter 5
halos and car bombs

"Oh my hyne…oh my hyne…come on!" an exhausted voice let out, just barely reaching my ears.

"You sure you know what you doing?"

"Yes I…know what I'm…doing! Just give him room!"

What the…what's…going on? Who's saying that? Wait…why can't I move? Or open my eyes? Alright Squall, this isn't funny. Wake UP! What the fuck is THAT!

As my consciousness slowly started to return to me, I felt immense thrusting pressure being applied to my abdomen. I suddenly felt the need for air. I tried opening my mouth to take in a breath, but nothing happened. Almost immediately some liquid began rising from my throat and my body started to jolt violently. I turned my head to the side and started to cough up water.

"There we go! Cough it up."

I made an attempt to roll over on my side and felt someone pushing against my back, aiding my movements. After all of the water had been expelled I took in a sharp breath, which in turn made me cough and hack violently.

"Whoa, take it easy. Calm down. Try and take slow breathes."

I could just barely make out the words that were being spoken. My senses slowly started to kick in. I was lying on my left side, my head resting on my arm. My right arm fell over my body and landed on something damp and mushy. I could feel water gently lapping up around my legs.

"Easy does it there. Slow breathes."

The voice was coming in a little clearer now, but was still slightly muffled. Somehow it seemed familiar, so soothing and calm. My breathing slowed and the violent coughs began to dissipate. I tried opening my eyes, but they wouldn't budge. Someone grabbed my right side and cradled my head as they rolled me over and onto my back. I noticed that I was lying on top of something hard.

I heard some muffled noises behind me, but I couldn't make them out. With my breathing returning to normal, I decided to try and open my eyes again. They slowly fluttered open only to be seared by the burning sun. I winced in pain and brought my hand up over my eyes. Someone moved against my side and leaned over my body. A shadow descended down upon me as they blocked out the sun from my face.

"Here…this might help," a soft voice said.

I once again tried opening my eyes, this time more slowly. Light flooded my vision and I could see a silhouetted figure leaning over me. I started to feel dripping water hit my cheeks and neck. Blinking my eyes, the figure started to come into focus. An angelic figure loomed over me with a halo shining overhead. I couldn't tell if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not. Long dark hair shrouded the figure's face. I blinked one more time and caught my breath.

It was her.

I opened my eyes fully and stared back into soft brown eyes. The sunlight enveloped her, giving her a natural glow. Her hair was wet and fell forward in front of her. Water droplets were dripping from the tips of her hair onto my face. I watched as relief washed over her face.

"Am I dead?" I asked groggily.

"Uh, no, thank hyne," she chuckled out nervously, "but you did come close. You should probably stay lying down for a bit becau-"

While she was talking I sat up, and instantly regretted the move. A wave of throbbing pain reverberated throughout my head, my mouth dropping wide open. I swear that a jackhammer was hammering on my head. I winced in pain and gritted my teeth together. My right hand shot up to just above my ear, my fingers meeting a warm liquid. I pulled my hand down and stared at my bloody fingers. A dizzy and lightheaded feeling suddenly overtook me.

Holy shit…what happened to me?

"Like I was saying, because you've got a pretty nasty gash above your ear there," she said while pointing to my right ear.

"Thanks for the warning" I deadpanned.

"Well, I tried to tell you."

I looked around at my surroundings and noticed that we were on the beach and that I was sitting on top of a white surfboard. Waves were gently lapping up against my lower legs. I reached my hand up to my head again as I tried to recall what happened. Okay, so I was swimming. I had to come up for air. Someone called out to me. Blur of white. Then I felt really sleepy, and I guess blacked out. Wait, blur of white. I looked down at the board I was sitting on. I slowly looked over to where she was kneeling down beside me.

"YOU! It was you!" I cried out accusingly. "You tried to kill me!"

"…" she was obviously taken aback by my sudden outburst. She opened her mouth and glared at me. "Listen, you popped up like a jack-in-the-box from out of nowhere!"

"But you were heading right for me!"

"Hey, you're lucky that I even saw your ass and swerved to not hit you head on! If I hadn't of seen you, your head would be fish food by now. I didn't have to swerve you know. There are plenty of other surfers out there that would've hit you head on and not given you a second thought." Her words were heated as she took offense to my accusation.

Well good job Squall. Pick a fight with a girl that you don't even know. If it weren't for her, you'd be dead right now. I grimaced at the thought of being saved by a girl. I shut my eyes and slowly nodded my head, turning my head away from her. I sighed in defeat.

"So what happened?" I asked while returning my gaze to her.

"You sure you want to know?" she asked in a calmer tone. I just nodded in response.

"Well, like I said, I swerved into the wave to try and avoid hitting you. I guess that I did hit you, you pretty much were knocked out immediately." She paused as she tried to recall what happened next.

"Uh, I fell into the wave as it came crashing down on me. I was sucked under and slammed down against the reef, where I got these…" She repositioned herself so that she was sitting next to me and revealed cuts and gashes on her knee and lower leg.

"Shit, are you alright!" I exclaimed. I was more shocked that she was so calm about the whole situation.

"Yeah, it just stings a bit. I've had worse," she said while examining her wounds.

"Anyway, when I broke the surface I didn't see you anywhere. So I dove down and saw you caught or tangled up in the reef. I wiggled you free and brought you to the surface where I noticed that you weren't conscious. My leash was still attached to my ankle. So I yanked on it to bring the board to me and hauled your deadweight on top of it." She chuckled at the last part. A small smile formed on my lips at the thought of this girl trying to lift my up onto her surfboard.

"After a couple of tries, I finally got you on top of my board and pushed it to shore. Once on the shore, you weren't breathing. I guessed that you had swallowed a lot of water, so I…I uh…did the Heimlich on you." She turned her head away from me in embarrassment. Ah, that would explain the thrusting. I let out a couple chuckles.

"I heard other voices though," I said.

"Oh, well it appears that unconscious victims can draw large crowds. Everyone flocked over to us to see if you were dead. As soon as you came to, they all dispersed. I guess they were disappointed." The last part was said in disgust. "I mean, no one even offered a hand in helping me! What scum bags!"

I just sat there thinking about what she was saying. Society's scum, just like Gepetto had said.

An awkward silence passed between us as I was contemplating how close to death I had just come to. She just sat next to me and shoved her feet into the dampened sand. She finally looked over to me.

"We should probably get that cleaned up. Come on. Can you stand?" she asked while getting up.

I bent my legs and stood up, but the lightheadedness hit me like a ton of bricks. I closed my eyes and started to sway backwards. I was about to fall back when she grabbed onto my shoulders steadying me.

"Whoa! Okay, let's take this easy. One step at a time, alright?"

She moved to my right side and slung my upper arm around her shoulders. Her left arm wrapped around my waist.

"If you get dizzy, just lean on me."

"You're the one I should be helping. Look your limping." I said while gradually leaning more of my weight onto her, the dizziness taking over again.

"I'm fine; you on the other hand, can hardly stand let alone walk."

"Whatever…where are we heading anyway?" I asked with my eyes closed and my head bobbing back and forth.

"Towards the nearest first-aid kit. One of our spectators told me that the Crow's Nest, the bar next door to Sumet's has one," she replied.

I suddenly felt drained of energy and shifted even more of my weight onto her as we hobbled up the beach. My head was so close to her that the smell of her hair intoxicated my senses. Mmm…coconut. I started to feel very tired. My feet caught on each other and my body lunged forward. I didn't have the energy left to catch myself.

"Agh! Gotcha," she yelped out, the pain in her voice audible.

"Sorry," I mumbled out.

"That's alright. We're almost there now. Just a couple more steps."

We hobbled up to an outside bar with empty barstools. My eyes focused on one and my body zeroed in on it, collapsing in a heap of exhaustion onto it.

"Okay, wait here I'll go and get the first-aid kit," she said while trying to catch her breath.

I watched her figure begin to retreat from my side. I hadn't even realized that she was wearing the same outfit I had seen her in this morning. She's not that bad. Not bad at all…

"Wait, I'll take an Estharian car bomb while you're in there."

She just shook her head and entered the building. As she opened the doors, loud thumping music pierced my ears, making me wince in pain. I leaned forward onto the bar and held my head in my hands. I bent my legs and rested them on the rungs.

How in the hell am I going to explain this to the gang. 'Uh, yeah, I was hit by some girl who was surfing.' Yeah, that sounds lame. How about 'I got into a fight with some guy and he pulled out a switchblade on me, slicing me right above the ear.' No, still sounds lame.

While trying to come up with a good excuse, the backdoor opened and she emerged carrying the first-aid kit in one hand and a wad of paper towels in the other.

"Here, hold this up to your cut. We need to stop the bleeding first," she said while handing me some paper towels.

I did as I was told while she took out some gauze, a bottle of liquid, some cotton swabs, and bandage wraps.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to the bottle.

"It's to clean your cut. Here, let me see if the bleeding stopped."

To clean my cut. Wait a minute that usually means searing pain. I moved my head away from her as she reached out for the paper towels I was holding to my cut.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean that I've already been through enough pain today and I don't wish to have my flesh burned with that," I said while pointing to the bottle.

"Oh this?" she turned the bottle away from me so that I couldn't see the label and picked it up in her hand. "This won't hurt, I promise," she said with a sly smile.

"Bullshit it won't."

"Okay, it will sting for just a little bit, but I have to put it on you otherwise your cut will be infected. Let's be honest, who knows what kind of bacteria floats around in Balamb. I mean have you seen some of the people that come out here at night?"

The thought grossed me out enough that I slowly removed the paper towels from my cut. She stepped closer to me.

"Alright, I'll let you put that on me under one condition."

"What's that?" she asked while looking at my wound.

"You have to give me a countdown so that I can prepare myself."

"A countdown, are you serious?" she asked. I nodded my head in response.

"Okay, I'll start from three," she said while unscrewing the cap to the bottle and pouring some of the liquid out onto a cotton swab. She looked up at me and silently asked if I was ready. I just stared at the cotton swab.

"No wait, start from five. Yeah, NO, from ten. Start from ten," I said.

"Alright, ten it is," she replied while looking right into my eyes.

"Ten…nine…"

While counting down she took a step closer, the top of her thigh touching my knee. I stared into her warm and inviting eyes. A small smile crept onto her face.

"Eight…seven…six…"

Again she took another step forward, this time stepping in between my legs. The inside of my knees brushed against her stomach. I tried to hide the smile that was forcing its way through my lips. I continued to stare into her eyes, being pulled in by their allure. She leaned her upper body in towards me while still holding our gaze.

"Five…four…" she whispered.

Before I knew it, she grabbed the sides of my head and applied the cotton swab to my cut.

"OWWWW!" I cried out in pain. She stood there with a devious smile on her face before laughing out loud.

"That's not fair, you cheated."

"Hey, if I had actually reached 'one' you never would've let me apply the swab," she said through fits of laughter.

"Besides, I had to distract you some how. It worked right? You don't even feel it, do you?" she asked triumphantly.

Defeated and outsmarted, I darted my eyes away from her. She smirked and reached back to grab the bandage wraps and some gauze. She still hadn't moved from her position, and I began wondering why. She pulled the swab away and replaced it with some fresh gauze. She then began to wrap my head with a couple of the bandages. Her movements were slow and precise, almost as if she was experienced at this.

"Hey, what's your name anyway? I mean, if I'm going to be saving you and all, I should at least know your name." she said with her smirk still on her face.

"Name's Squall," I said while returning my gaze towards her.

"Hmm, Squall, that's an interesting name, sounds familiar. Mine's Rinoa by the way."

"Rinoa," I said, trying it out. I was quite amazed at how easily it rolled off my tongue.

"Yep, that's me," she said absentmindedly while inspecting her doctoring job. In approval she nodded her head. She stepped back and sat on the barstool next to mine, tending to her own wounds. In some odd way, I felt relieved that she backed away from me.

"Do you need any help?" I asked. She looked up at me and smiled warmly.

"No, thanks, I think I can handle it," she said politely.

"Oh, you seem pretty skilled at this kind of stuff," I said while watching her wipe off the blood and clean her cuts.

"Thanks. That's what three years of medical school training gets you." I nodded and watched as she skillfully bandaged up her cuts.

She finished up and returned inside to drop off the first-aid kit. I looked back towards Sumet's and saw Irvine and Selphie walking around aimlessly, searching for me no doubt. Zell had discovered Rinoa's surfboard and was inspecting it. Rinoa returned from inside and gave me a quizzical look.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, my friends, their looking for me, and one of them has taken a liking to your surfboard, it would seem," I said while point in their direction. Rinoa followed my gaze.

"Well then, shall we? Do you think you can walk?" she asked.

"Yeah I think so," I replied while standing up slowly. I grabbed hold of the bar to steady myself. Rinoa took a step forward to make sure that I didn't fall over. "I got it."

We left the Crow's Nest and slowly headed over towards Irvine and Selphie. Rinoa was still visibly limping and trying not to show any outward signs of pain. I seemed to be doing much better, walking under my own power, very slowly.

"SQUALL!" Selphie yelled out. Upon seeing me she sprinted across the sand towards us while Irvine trotted over. I winced when I saw her coming closer, knowing that she would wrap her arms around me in an air-tight hug and crack all of my ribs. Thankfully Selphie skidded to a stop right in front of me when she noticed the bandage around my head.

"Oh my hyne! What happened?" Selphie worryingly asked. Quistis, Seifer, and Zell caught sight of us and jogged over to meet us. And then the barrage of questions started.

"What happened?"

"Where were you?"

"Are you okay?"

"Does that hurt?"

"Who is this?"

"What happened to her?"

"Look what I found, a surfboard!" Zell exclaimed. "Ah sick, its got blood on it!"

I looked to Rinoa who stared up at me with an amused smile on her face.

"Uh, yeah…guys this is Rinoa. Rinoa this is Zell, Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, and Seifer."

"Wait a minute, Rinoa Heartilly?" Zell asked. "As in three-time Balamb Pipeline winner and runner up at the Pahoehoe Pro, Rinoa Heartilly?" We all stared at Zell with shocked faces.

"Uh, wow…I've never been approached that way, but yes, that's me, guilty as charged" Rinoa replied while chuckling at Zell's antics.

"Oh yeah, you've been on the cover of SG and Boardz like twenty times!" Selphie said in awe. "Irvy you know!"

"Uh Surf Girls, yeah, right…oh yeah…" Irvine replied, the last part said with his patented southern drawl. "Issue 21, front page and pages six through twelve, nice spread by the way." To this Rinoa crossed her arms and smiled embarrassedly.

"Wow, guys she's a surfing legend!" Zell proclaimed proudly.

"I wouldn't go that far…" she softly replied.

I looked back at Rinoa who was looking down at her feet and shifting her weight from side to side, getting a little uncomfortable with the sudden attention.

"Hey, why don't we go sit down, and I'll tell you all what happened. Ah, Zell, why don't you bring Rinoa's board with us."

Selphie, Irvine, and Zell just stared at Rinoa in awe. I just ignored them walked up to the deckchair where I had left my stuff. Quitis and Seifer followed behind me personally introducing themselves to Rinoa and congratulating her on her accomplishments. I sat down in my deckchair and watched as they followed my lead. Selphie, Irvine, and Zell took seats next to me. I found myself glancing at Rinoa as she talked with Quistis and Seifer. Our eyes met as she took a seat straight across from me, I turned my head quickly, hoping that she didn't catch me.

"So, what happened to you guys?" Quistis asked.

"Well…"

So we told them, or Rinoa told them is more like it. I watched as Rinoa explained what happened. She liked to move her arms about while explaining; she became so full of life. Everyone was glued to the story, even Seifer. I suddenly felt very sleepy, so I reclined in my deckchair and tried to drift off to sleep. My thoughts kept coming back to Rinoa though.

Surfing legend? Why didn't she tell me? How does everyone else know? More importantly, why does Irvine has issues of Surf Girls memorized? Hell, he probably has boxes of magazines stored away that we don't even know about.

Something that I had though about earlier when we first arrived in Balamb suddenly stuck out in my mind.

What was it, oh yeah, 'just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, it's probably worth it.' Well, this experience hurt like hell, fuck, it nearly killed me. It must be worth it though.

so there you have it. hope you enjoyed it. what did you think?
ciao