Part 5:
'Where did she go!' asked one of the guys puzzled and all irritated.
'She's a sorceress, remember? She can disappear as well...She's a powerful one...' said one of the men staring at the spot where Rinoa had once been.
'I thought she received her powers recently! She shouldn't be that good!...'said the other guy, looking impressed.
'Let's go...It's no use staying here...The others might come...and we don't have time to waist...'said the leader as he opened his hand and made a weird gesture, making them all disappear in a bright white flash...
'Oh... no! Squall talk to me...please...' Rinoa cried as she made herself visible again, her tears falling onto Squall's chest, as she tried to lift his head up and noticed his heart beating through his chest that would bump, now and then...
'Squall, please...wake up...' She whispered at him as she kissed his cold dry lips, more tears falling down her pale frightened face...
Rinoa was petrified, she didn't know what to do...Squall was badly hurt and he wasn't waking up...She tried to pick him up but he was too heavy for her...She started crying uncontrollably and getting frustrated, not knowing what to do anymore...
Rinoa took his jacket off and placed it back on him, trying to keep his cold body warm and finally decided to use a Phoenix Down to bring him back...in vain...
Squall was badly hurt and his chest was blue, you could see all the veins in his chest that was badly cut...
Rinoa wanted to get help, but didn't want to leave him there on his own, she feared that those men would come back and take him away if they had the chance...she took her IC and used it to contact Irvine ...
'Rinoa? What's the matter, girl! Why are you crying!' asked Irvine nervously as he saw Rinoa's crying face on the screen...
'Irvine, I'm just outside the Hotel...Please call Zell...I need you to get Squall...His hurt...please hurry!' she gasped as tears rolled down her pale darkened face...
'Wha? I'm comin' right a way! Zell!' he yelled as he switched his IC off.
'They're coming Squall, you'll be fine...I'm here...' she whispered at Squall's unconscious body as she held him up next to her and closed her eyes as she sobbed now and then...
A few seconds later Irvine and Zell burst out the door (Selphie and Quistis behind them).
'Geezzz, what hit him?' said Zell as he held on Squall's arm looking at his weak state.
'Zell, you hold the other arm and Selphie and Quistis can hold his feet...' suggested Irvine as he held Squall under his muscled cold arm.
And so Zell and Irvine held Squall under his arms and the girls held his feet, bringing him up the stairs to the Hotel's room. Squall's body was totally limp... the comrades lost grip of him on a few occasions, making Rinoa jump of fright, almost dropping him on the floor...
Luckily the receptionist wasn't there to make a bigger scene...
'Now easy on the bed...that's it...' Irvine gave instructions as they all laid Squall's limp body slowly on the bed...
'He's really heavy!' Selphie was shacking her arm, feeling numb after holding Squall's heavy leg.
'W-What happened, Rinoa?' asked Quistis as she looked at Squall's peaceful unconscious face and then back at her.
Squall looked really cute when he was sleeping...besides being unconscious, he looked totally different. He looked so peaceful...anyone could swear he had a totally different personality...
'These two men...they appeared out of thin air...a- and just started attacking Squall... he tried to fight them... but before he could do anything...they...one of the guys cast some kind of magic...a very bright light...it went... right through him and...he... he tried to get up again but...but...he was hurt...a-and another guy hit him with his sword and...he fell...I was so scared...I thought they...h- had killed him...' she explained as she sniffed uncontrollably, Irvine putting his arm around her, trying to calm her down...
'What did those son's of a bitch want!' yelled Zell furiously as he banged the bed he was sitting on.
'I don't know...when Squall passed out...they told the others to get me...but I made us invisible...I didn't know what else to do...that's about the only thing I can do...I was scared...and when those guys appeared...Squall pushed me out of the way and I...I just froze...it was so fast...I didn't react...I don't know what happened to me...' she cried as she stroked Squall's cold face...
'He is so cold...' she sighted worriedly as she looked at Quistis who was sitting next to her.
'I think they know that I'm a Sorceress...and now they're after me...and Squall was hurt because of that...I...I should've done something! It's all my fault...' Rinoa cried as she lift up abandoning Irvine's embrace and walked towards the window gazing at the amazingly gigantic moon.
'This is all my fault...Squall was right...I shouldn't have came...I've just made things worse...I wanted to help out...I really did...I guess I was wrong...I know I failed...and above all Squall is paying the consequences of my actions...' she mumbled, her voice sadder than ever as she looked down at the windowsill.
'Rinoa, I'm sure it's not your fault...b- besides I'm sure that the only thing Squall really wanted was to protect you...and- and if you're safe, that's all that matters to him, I'm sure...I think he's glad that he got hit instead of you...' said Selphie, trying to force comforting words out of her mouth as she put her arm around Rinoa, Quistis giving her a scolding look, making Selphie shrug her shoulders.
'He'll be fine, I'm sure. Squall's a tough one...He won't give in...I'm sure...' said Irvine staring at Squall's pale scarred face.
'Irvine, look at this...' gasped Quistis as she took the jacket off Squall's chest and removed his bloody griever necklace from his chest.
'What the heck is that?' asked Irvine as he tried to focus on a dark shiny round tip stuck in Squall's flesh...
'It looks like his been hit by an object...look at his chest...it's...blue...it's poisoning him...this isn't any ordinary magic, I thinks it's forest magic...I think this is a Krypton spike...I'm not sure, but if it is... we need to do something fast or... we'll lose him...' she sighted as she tore his vest off.
Squall was in a bad state; his whole chest was badly bruised and cut...if they didn't do something fast...they could loose him...forever...
'Where am I?... Rinoa!' Squall yelled as he realised that all around him was black and that all that surrounded him was nothing but darkness and void...
He stood for a few moments there looking around, looking for a light in the dark... Squall was confused and scared...He took one step forward hoping it would take him far...somewhere else...away from that dark and lonely place...to his friends...
It happened...Squall was in the Hotel's room.
Squall walked towards the bed where his unconscious body laid...
'What the...?' groaned Squall softly in disbelief.
Squall was standing over his unconscious body.
'Rinoa!' Squall called her as he head to the door in a quick run.
As he tried to open the door someone else did it before him, Rinoa walked right through him, making him jerk. It was the weirdest feeling. It was like a huge gush of cold wind had passed through his insides...
'Squall, they're on their way, they're gonna cure you, I know it... just don't leave me...please... just hold on a little longer...' Rinoa mumbled softly as she stroked Squall's badly scratched and bloody face...
'Rin, I'll never leave you...I've told you...never...' said Squall as he approached his unconscious body and Rinoa, who was laying her head on his chest. Squall reached his hand to touch her but...
Suddenly Squall's feet got numb, causing him to drop on his knees, there was a terrible loud sound in his head, he felt as if his head would burst, Squall shut his eyes tighly...
The noise wouldn't stop...Squall tried to make the noise go away...
'Argh!' Squall wanted the noise to stop, it was too painful...his head was going to burst...
Squall opened his eyes and saw everything spin around him...He shut his eyes and felt as if he were inside a tornado...the wind blowing passed him, brushing his hair away violently...Squall had no strength to resist the wind...
When finally the wind faded away, Squall opened his eyes slowly, he felt his body fall...he was falling off a cliff...he then reached out his hands and grabbed whatever he could...he didn't want to fall...he couldn't... Squall was hanging off a cliff...he held onto anything his hands could reach, roots and dry twigs, sharp stone edges that would hurt his hands as they stuck out between his fingers...he looked up at his sore hands bleeding as sand would fall in his eyes... He was forced to look down... thousands of feet below him, were rocks that awaited his painful deadly fall...Squall's hands were bleeding and he was cold, his cuts on his naked chest were burning as the cold wind hit them, contributing for his weakness...
'Uh...' Squall tried to pull himself up, but didn't have anymore strength in his arms and his hands were now getting even more tired ,sore and numb...he was loosing his grip...Squall shut his eyes...'I can't make it...I'm going to fall...Rinoa...I'm sorry...' he thought...
'Squall...how I wish I could have held you in my arms just a little longer...I didn't want to leave you...my life slipped away from me...I fell...I tried to hold on...but I was weak...please don't throw your life away like this...there's so much you must know... you can do it...You CAN make it...life is too precious, Squall...don't let go of it...live for the ones you love, Squall...don't let go...You'll make it...' a strangely familiar soothing woman's voice echoed in Squall's head...
Squall opened his eyes wide and suddenly felt strength growing in his arms again, as his head would rewind on all the moments he was with Rinoa...her smile...her eyes...her voice...he felt strong again...he promised never to leave her...this made him realise how important she was to him...he started to feel his sore arms again...Squall was going to make it...
'Urgh!...' Squall pulled himself up, climbing the rocks slowly as his hands would burn more and more...the dry twigs cutting his skin open...he finally reached the safe part of the cliff and threw himself to the solid dusty ground, where he rested as the strong wind hit his sweaty and tired face, trying to catch his breath again...He could feel the dry stony sand prick his skin...
Squall shut his eyes...'Where am I?' he thought to himself as his face frowned... he opened them again as loud footsteps soared in his ears...
A pair of feet appeared in front of him...Squall looked up slowly with his eyes half-shut...no strength left in him...
'...I wasn't there before...but I'm here now...' Laguna said as he stretched out his hand to Squall and smiled reassuringly...
'Laguna!' Squall said weakly in disbelief as he tried to focus his tired eyes on Laguna's face to make sure it was really him...
'Take my hand...' said Laguna as he reached his hand a little closer to Squall...
Squall reached his shacking sore hand out slowly accepting Laguna's help...
'You look just like your mother...she had your eyes...' Laguna said as he looked at Squall still holding his hand, as Squall got up slowly...
'Where am I?' asked Squall all confused as he looked around and saw a dry landscape all around...
'Squall, there is so much I have to tell you...so much you have to know...'Laguna looked into Squall's eyes as he spoke...
'What do you want to tell me?' mumbled Squall weakly.
Suddenly, before Laguna could even give an answer, he started fading away... He turned into a shapeless blob of colours, which looked as if it was going to take on another shape...Squall stopped breathing...someone was still holding his hand...
Squall looked at his hand and to his surprise it was a woman's hand...he looked up at the hand's owner and saw...' Quistis?'...she was smiling at him for a moment, but turned around quickly and pulled him as she started running through what looked like the Training Centre which was a bit blurry... Squall looked around as his tired legs tried too run, thumping his feet on the floor heavily... suddenly the Training Centre started fading away, as well as Quistis who turned into a shapeless blob of colours once again...now getting smaller and smaller turning into a white spot of light...The spot of light flew away from him, but Squall didn't hesitate and followed it...he was trying to catch it...he didn't know why he was doing it...but he had to catch it...Every time his hands would try to grab the little floating light speckle...it would fly further away from him, as if the motion of his hands would make it go faster...Squall tried then to do it slowly, succeeding at last... He closed his hands and felt them get warm, as the light would shine through his fingers...
Besides liking the warm feeling inside his hands, Squall opened his hands carefully and to his surprise a white, delicate, soft feather had been replaced in a flash of blinding light...
This made only one word come out of Squall's mouth...'Rinoa...' he said under his breath and in a blink of an eye, the feather had vanished...Squall felt again his hand being held...'Rin?'
Rinoa was dragging him towards the blurry dance floor and the trembling music was growing louder and louder, she was dancing with him...she was smiling at him...but Squall's whole body was in pain...he couldn't move as quick as she wanted him to... he just lost his balance and before he knew it, something was pulling him down to fall on his back...Squall shut his eyes...the fall seemed endless...he felt powerless...
He opened his tired eyes... the scenery had changed... This time Squall was falling down the Sorceress's mobile platform and Rinoa was reaching out for him as he saw her lips scream out his name, her beautiful eyes were sad... it seemed like time was passing by in slow motion...the scenery changed again...
Rinoa was falling into Squall's arms, she was desperate to hold him...and so was he...
Her body collapsed onto Squall's chest, where he stood reaching his arms for her...They just stood there, holding each other, their arms around each other, feeling the warmth of each others bodies and the fast beating of their hearts...
Squall closed his eyes, relieved she was there with him...she was safe...then he felt as if his body were
blown away by a huge gush of strong cold wind again, blowing him away as if he were made of sand...blowing him away from Rinoa's arms...'no...!'
Squall opened his eyes again and found himself in Rinoa's arms, his arms laid numb on his sides... and his legs...he couldn't feel anything, but Rinoa's soft warm, silky and vanilla scented skin touched his cold and sweaty face...
'Rin...' he mumbled weakly causing Rinoa who was holding him up tightly to look at him...
'Squall ...you're awake...' she gasped as a beautiful smile grew across her face the moment she saw Squall's pale, tired and bruised face, looking at her with his eyes half-closed ...
'Squall, they're coming...they're gonna take care of you, you'll be fine...' she said as tears rolled down her pretty face, stroking his face. Squall was shivering; he was cold and felt comforted by Rinoa's warm hands touching his cold skin...
'Who?' he asked a little voiceless still struggling to keep his eyes open because of the bright light in the room.
'...the doctors...they'll cure you...' she said hopefully.
'... can't feel my legs...or my arms...' he said weakly as he looked at her in the eyes, frowning out of fear...
'...don't worry, Squall...you're gonna be fine...' she said reassuringly as her eyes glittered with tears.
'It's... c-cold...' Squall was now struggling even more to speak and shivered uncontrollably...
Rinoa sighted sadly, tears blossoming in her eyes and without hesitating she put her arms around Squall, trying to keep him warm...
'They're here...' said Quistis as she opened the door to two doctors dressed in white overalls, a woman and a man.
'Is this...Squall? Squall Leonhart?' read the female doctor off her clipboard, who had dark red hair tied up in a bun and fascinating deep green eyes that somehow made Squall nervous...
Squall turned his head slowly to see who it was...
'Yeah...' groaned Squall weakly, still shivering...
'Miss, step out of the way, please...this is urgent...' said the dark haired male doctor as he pulled Rinoa gently away by her arm...
The female doctor sat on the bed where Rinoa had been sitting before and pulled viciously the blanket off Squall's naked chest, causing Squall to start shivering even more...it was painfully cold...
'This is poisoning, Hade...' said the female doctor to the male one as she touched and analysed Squall's chest with her warm hands, making him jerk every time she would put any pressure on his wound...
'There's something in his chest, Hade...it looks like a...a...spike or something...it's what is causing the cyanosis...' she said vigorously...
'I believe it's a Krypton Spike...that's what Instructor Trepe said...' informed Rinoa trying to help with the diagnosis...
'Thank you Miss Heartilly, now please leave the room, this procedure requires lots of concentration...please' said Hade gently...ยด
'I'm sorry...I'll go...' sighted Rinoa as she tilted her head and looked at Squall one last time, her eyes shinning with love, worry and fear. She walked towards the door and left the room shutting it softly behind her...
'We have to remove it now...' said Dr. Hade as he opened his black bag and took out some sharp instruments and laid them on the bed near Squall's feet...
'...pass me the scalpel...' ordered the Doctor, pausing the instrument on the bed and picking up a wet cloth that Quistis had brought in to clean Squall's wounds with...
The doctor passed the wet cloth over Squall's chest, making him feel extra cold and causing him to clutter his teeth, shivering of cold...
Before Squall could even breathe, the doctor picked up the scalpel firmly and...
'ARGHHH!' Squall screamed as the doctor cut his chest open firmly...
Squall didn't know what he was feeling at that moment, he was cold, then hot, he could feel blood rising slowly to the surface of his skin; it was really painful, though the pain quickly turned into numbness...he shut his eyes as he tried to think of other things...but he could still feel his flesh open...
Squall was bleeding and the pain was so overwhelming he couldn't think of anything else. He was sweating and breathing deeply due to the great pain he was going through as tears would form in his frightened eyes...
'Sorry, Leonhart...It has to come out...It's poisoning you...It's killing you...' said the lady doctor very calmly as she passed the bloody scalpel back to Dr. Hade and cleaned the blood off her hands with a cloth...
'URGHHH!' the doctor was literally opening the cut with her fingers and...
'...tweezes, Hade...quick!' she hissed as she held the wound open and with her bare hands and used the tweezes to pull out the tiny green spike-looking object out of Squall's chest's flesh...
'Ugh!...' Squall was breading fast, struggling for air as the doctor passed now the tweezes back to Dr. Hade and...
'Needle and thread, Hade...' ordered the doctor vigorously as she stared frowning at Squall's open chest...
'Ugh...' the Doctor was sewing Squall's skin together gently with her delicate bloody hands...
This was the less painful part of the procedure, at least by now Squall couldn't feel anything but the burning sensation and the pricking of the needle passing through the skin of his chest several times...The doctor had steady hands and seemed to be very concentrated on what she was doing...
Squall shut his eyes, frowning, and tried his best to ignore the pain...
The minutes seemed like hours for Squall, he was in terrible pain and his chest had a deep burning sensation, it was so painful, he had difficulty in breathing, but tried his best not to let out any sort of moan...
The doctor finally finished stitching him. Dr. Hade helped Squall sit up on his bed, in order to start bandaging his chest...Squall felt weaker than he had ever felt before in his entire life...He started loosing his numbness, but was still in awful pain...Doctor Hade wrapped the bandage around him several times, tightening it every time a little more, while Dr. Jay (female doctor) would clean her instruments with a black cloth she had in the black medical suitcase...
Squall had never been through an operation before and also wasn't expecting the Doctor to just cut him open right there. Squall was in terrible pain, but tried not to moan, he breathe fast instead, his face would sweat, making his hair get sopping wet...Squall was in a very uncomfortable situation...
'It's done...' sighted Doctor Hade at Squall as he wrapped the last peace of bandage around Squall's thorax, who had his eyes half shut still shivering of cold...
'You'll be fine, just rest a lot...ok?' said Doctor Jay caringly as she stroked his head caringly, smiling reassuringly...
'Yeah...' said Squall as his lips moved mutely.
'Shouldn't we cast Cure on him, Dr. Jay...to help his quick recovery...I've heard his on quite an important mission...' said Dr. Hade staring at Squall's weak state as he helped Squall lay down again and covered him with his blanket...
'That's a good idea...Cure!' said Dr. Jay as blue light came straight out of her hand and hit Squall's strong built chest...
'That should keep you going...' she smiled as she lift up from the bed and continued looking at him with some affection in her eyes...
'Thanks...' mumbled Squall under his breath as he followed her with his tired half-closed eyes...
'It has been a pleasure to have helped you, Sir Leonhart...' said Dr. Hade with a huge smile on his face...
The doctors left the room and Squall was left in the room alone, he could already feel his legs and his arms gaining their senses, though he only had realised now in what terrible pain his whole body was in... he hardly could move...he tried to lift up...'Uh...' his chest would burn...
Suddenly he heard the door knob turn and he too turned around supporting himself on the bed...
'Squall! What are you doing! Are you mad! Get back in bed! NOW!' said Quistis as she walked up to him and forced him onto the bed, pushing his shoulders down with both of her hands, making his head drop back onto his soft pillow...
'Don't you dare get out of there, or I'll be forced to tie you up...' she said as she covered him with a silky, soft, warm blanket.
'Now, sleep...you're very weak...you need to rest...' she said now as she sat on the bed next to him...
'Whatever...' he groaned at her as he looked up at the ceiling.
'I heard you moan Rinoa's name in your sleep...I guess that's all you thought about when you passed out, huh? 'asked Quistis as she took a damp cloth and cleaned his sweaty face...Squall's eyes widened...
Squall grabbed her silky, warm, delicate hand and held it an inch from his face in shock as his face blushed and he looked away from her...
'...Sorry...Squall...sorry...I'll go...' she mumbled as she got up quickly (embarrassed) from Squall's bed in order to walk away.
Squall grabbed her hand instinctively (feeling guilty for being rude) making her look back at him, surprised at this gesture...Squall was looking in her eyes for the first time...he let go and swerved his eyes quickly to the closest object...
Quistis looked at him for a few seconds in shock and ran out of the room as fast as she could (switching the light off) as she felt tears rolling down her face...
Squall was left alone in the dark...He clapped his hand to his head, ashamed at himself...
'...asshole!' he hissed to himself, now pulling his own hair and frowning as his eyes shut tightly...
'...what was I thinking!...I'm such a jerk...Urgh!' he thought to himself as he remembered grabbing Quistis's hand...
'...why did she do that...why the hell did she make me that stupid question?...why did she start cleaning my face...?' he wondered..
'...I'm sorry, Quistis...' he mumbled to himself...
'...I'm such a jerk...' he whispered in the dark...
'...what was that that I was feeling...?...' he questioned himself...
'...what made me grab her hand!'
Squall was confused; he didn't know why he had grabbed her hand that instant...He felt disgusted with himself...He started to think Rinoa didn't deserve him...he felt as if he betrayed her for not knowing what to feel anymore...Squall fell asleep thinking about this...He was lost... he started thinking he'd be better off alone...
To be continued...