Part 6
The next morning...
Squall opened his eyes slowly and turned his neck to look to the left and saw Zell sleeping on the bed drooling on his pillow and Selphie sleeping on the bed to his right with her head faced down into her pillow.
Squall sighted bleakly and lift up slowly as he leaned on his elbows...and saw Quistis all curled up on her bed (Squall looked away quickly) and Irvine on his back (as if he had just fallen there, with his arms and legs spread out) sleeping on one of the beds in front of him...but the other bed was empty...
'Ri...' Squall even felt ashamed to speak out Rinoa's name...
He laid down on his back again and closed his eyes slowly as he took a deep breath...
'...just pretend it didn't happen...nothing happened...'
'...does she like me?' he started wondering...
'...urgh...stop it! I don't care...nothing happened...it was stupid...just forget about it...Rinoa doesn't deserve this...'
Squall lift up slowly and put his feet to the ground to get up, feeling his cold griever necklace touch his naked chest...
'My boots...' he looked all around for them...as he realised he was barefoot. Finally he spot them next to the armchair where his jacket was as well...
Squall put his boots back on and put his jacket on with no vest on (it had been destroyed the night before).
Squall walked out slowly, trying not to move much because of the pain his whole body was in, opened the door carefully and walked straight into Rinoa, who was holding a tray with a cup of fresh smelling coffee and delicious looking chocolate muffins...
'Squall? You're up!' she yelled unconsciously as she put the tray down on the floor and threw herself at his neck making him take two steps back.
'I'm so happy you're ok...I was so scared you wouldn't make it...' gasped Rinoa as she snuggled her head in his shoulder and breathe in deeply his strong irresistible bitterly spicy scent...
Before he could say one word, Rinoa had suddenly remembered...
'Squall! You shouldn't be here! You should be in bed...' she said as she kissed him repeatedly on his cheek, giving Squall the goose bumps...
'Come...' she let go of him, picked up the tray and entered the room, pushing the door open with her foot...
'Sit down...' she said softly trying not to wake the others up...
'Here...' she put the tray on his lap and sat down next to him.
'I'm so glad you're alright...I was so worried about you...after hearing you scream like that...I think I even felt your pain...' she smiled.
Squall kept a serious face as he stared at Quistis sleeping in the end of the room and thought of what had happened...
Squall swerved his eyes back to Rinoa who was gazing at him, with her usual glamorous smile, trying to ignore that thought in his head by grabbing the muffin and smiling at Rinoa, appreciating the view...
'Is it nice?' she asked as she looked at him taking a bite out of the muffin.
'Love it...' he said, mouth full as he leaned to kiss her.
'Quistis has been a real darling, she sat up all night with me... keeping me company...I couldn't really sleep after hearing you scream of pain like that...'
Squall almost choked to the sound of her name and his eyes widened and stopped chewing...Rinoa had brought the thought back into his head...Squall finally realised he was being pathetic and pulled himself together...
'I'm sorry...She didn't really give me an anaesthetic...she just... cut me right open...quite surprising for a woman...' said Squall as he gave her a cute smile.
'Yeah, but I will never forgive her for making you go trough so much pain...she could have avoided it...' she pulled a serious face and looked away...
'Oh, Dr. Jay gave this to me...it's yours...I mean...it's what hit you...that evil man...' Rinoa pulled a jar from the little wooden cupboard next to the bed with a tiny little green crystal-looking object in it ...
'Weird isn't it?...She said it's highly poisonous...and told me she had never operated such a tough patient before...' Rinoa smiled.
'I'm not tough...I failed...' he looked down...
'I should have been able to kill all of them...instead I got knocked out like a weakling...My duty was to protect you...and I failed...worst of all I've failed you...' he said ashamed of himself, now feeling even worse...
'I'm sorry...I failed you...' he gasped looking sad, meaning it to both of the things that were on his heavy conscience.
'Squall, don't say that...you risked your life for me...in change you got hurt...Squall you did what you could...you could have died...I'm the one that shouldn't have came here in the first place...if I hadn't been so stubborn, you wouldn't have been hurt...your life wouldn't be at risk...' she said as she reached her hand for his face to touch him...
Squall blushed out of guiltiness...He thought he didn't deserve her to treat him so nicely...and much less blame herself for what happened...Squall felt terrible...
'Don't say that...' he mumbled looking down...
'Don't blame yourself for something that you have absolute no guilt for...I'm not worthy of that...don't ever say that again...' groaned Squall furious at himself avoiding her eyes...
Rinoa's mouth dropped open...
'Squall...why are you being so harsh on yourself! Don't ever say that again...do you hear? I'm not any better than you...don't punish yourself like that...You don't deserve it...you have no guilt in this story...it's not your fault...' she smiled reassuringly as she grabbed his painfully cut hand...
'Believe me I do...' groaned Squall slowly as he let go of Rinoa's beautiful pale, silky hand...
After a few moments of silence, finally Squall broke it, feeling uncomfortable with his guilty thoughts clouding his mind...
'How come?...Why did they attacked us!' he asked absentmindedly as he gazed at the ceiling...
'...Squall...they were after me...I heard one of them tell the others to get me...so...I guess this is all my fault...I was stupid...and I feel guilty for it...really I do...you were right...I insisted on coming here and my stubbornness led to your life in risk...' she looked down as she held his big strong hand...
'I heard one of the guys say that I was "the sorceress"...they were after me...I'm sure of it...' she said feeling guilty, as her head lowered down slowly.
'Why!' he asked furiously as a furious frown grew upon his face...
'I don't know I have never seen them before...they had some weird clothes on...' she said staring at the other bed as she thought...
Squall felt terrible, along with the pain his whole body was in, his conscience was heavy. He didn't want Rinoa to feel bad for what happened, he didn't know what else to do, he couldn't ignore her or stop talking to her although( that's what he really felt he should've been doing, once he felt he really didn't deserve to be loved by her, even loving her the way he did). On the other hand, he knew that if he kept distant from her, he would break her heart and he really didn't want that, he preferred to pretend nothing was wrong with him, even if it ate him inside, he'd rather hurt himself...
Squall thought twice before letting his cold side rise up, he tried his best to comfort her for he loved Rinoa with all his heart, and wasn't willing to make her suffer...
'Don't think about it...It's not worth it...' he said as he drank up the last bit of coffee and put the tray on the bed 'come here...', grabbing Rinoa and embracing her with his strong protective arms...
'...what if they come after me again, Squall?...what if something much worse happens next?...I'm scared...I hate being a sorceress...it's a curse...these powers have no use for me...they just make other people get hurt...I'm scared, Squall...' cried Rinoa softly hopelessly...
'You have no reason to be scared...if they come after you...I'll fight them...I'll be by your side all the time...so...don't you worry...everything is gonna be fine...I promise.' Squall whispered in her ear reassuringly, kissing her forehead afterwards...
They sat like that for long. Rinoa ended up falling asleep on Squall's chest with the sound of his
heart beating. It was the most pleasant feeling, hearing Squall's heart, she felt protected and loved, something she had been longing for very long. The only comfort she had...
Squall leaned his head on the cold wall (he didn't care, he felt as if he deserved all unpleasant feelings), thinking about what he had experienced before he woke up in Rinoa's arms the night before, that voice, it was very familiar to him, then Laguna..."...there's so much you must know...". Both Laguna and the woman's voice in his head had said the same thing...how come?...what did they mean?...what did he have to know? then...Quistis...he was so embarrassed...he thought he'd never be able to look straight into her face again...he was worried she had had the wrong idea because of his gesture...or was she right? Squall was confused and he hated himself for it...
Selphie sat on Irvine's bed as she tickled his nose with a feather that she had removed from her pillow, giggling softly...
Irvine would twitch his nose as he laid spread out on his bed as if he had fallen from a plane and landed on the bed...
This time, Selphie started tickling his nostrils, trying to wake him up, giggling even more this time...
'Urgh...' Irvine moaned as he slapped his own face, thinking it was a fly or something that was trying to invade his nostrils...Selphie just went on giggling as he started pulling real odd faces...
After slapping his own face several times, trying to kill the fly-thing that was itching his nose, he finally had woken himself up.
'Selphie!' he opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with Selphie, who had that usual cute grin on her face, her pearly white teeth shinning trough...
'ZZZZZZZZ...' Selphie imitated a fly as she waved the feather around fly-like...
'...so, it's you...you're the fly!...' chuckled Irvine as he grabbed Selphie by her face and tried to kiss her...
Selphie swerved her face forcing Irvine to kiss her on her cheek...Irvine's eyes went sad as Selphie pulled away. Selphie then gave him another peck on his cheek (feeling guilty afterwards). She thought about their conversation in the Quad and had a feeling it was to soon for any conclusions. She was afraid her feelings weren't sorted out, she didn't want to anticipate on anything, she was confused, knowing deep down, what she really wanted was to be with him, though...
'Aren't they just... cute!' said Selphie as she giggled softly trying not to wake anyone up...
Squall opened his eyes slowly, his eyes blurring and realised he was being watched...
Selphie was watching them as she sat on the opposite bed of Squall and Rinoa...
'Cute n' lasy...' Irvine chuckled as he lift his head to look at the bed in front of him, then dropped his head back on his pillow...
'Morning Squall!' said Selphie cheerfully as Irvine pretended to look somewhere else...
'Where's Q-Quistis?' asked Squall as he realised her bed was empty...
'She's out...' said Irvine simply as he laid down and stared at the ceiling.
'Out? Where?' asked Squall a little puzzled as he realised Rinoa was still sleeping peacefully on his chest.
'I think she went to meet up with Xu, it seems like she's brought our old friend back...Ragnarok...my baby!' said Selphie cheerfully as she threw herself on Irvine's chest, making him choke.
'And Zell?' he asked again.
'He went with Quisty...they should be back any moment now...' answered Selphie as she too gazed at the ceiling...
Squall looked down on Rinoa, peacefully sleeping on his chest and stroked her head caringly while Selphie laid down next to Irvine, both of them staring at the ceiling...
'Irvy...I'm hungry...The pilot needs food!' said Selphie as she got up from Irvine's bed and skipped away towards door. 'Coming Irvy?' she asked sweetly as she held the doorknob.
'Yeah yeah...' he smirked as he lift up from the bed and walked out of the room dragging his feet and shutting the door behind him.
Selphie and Irvine left, leaving Squall and Rinoa alone...
Squall leaned his head on Rinoa's and breathe in her sweet vanilla musky scent, closing his eyes as he enjoyed it and kissed her head, making Rinoa moan softly and stretch her arms as she yawned...
'Hmm...Squall...' she said softly as she squeezed her face onto his to kiss him...
Squall just smiled as he gazed into her eyes...
'What?' she said smiling.
'You're beautiful, you know that?' he said under his breath not thinking twice, unconscious he was saying what was on his mind.
Rinoa surprised, kissed him again...
'Feeling better?' he asked smiling.
'Yeah...thanks Squall...' she smiled back.
'Never mind me...Squall, are you feeling better?' she asked as she rubbed her face against his.
Squall's chest ached a lot and every time he would move slightly, even breathe it would ache terribly, forcing him to take deep breaths now and then, to avoid him from moaning. On top of it, he felt terrible inside...
'I've never felt better in my whole life...' he lied as he gave her a weak smile.
'Are you sure?' she suspected as she analysed his sad eyes.
Squall had that old stoic look in his eyes again...Rinoa felt as if he were going back to the old Squall who always hid his feelings away from everyone...
'Absolutely...' he lied again as his eyes swerved to the far end of the room...
'I can't take this anymore...she's being too nice to me...I don't deserve this...maybe...maybe I'm exaggerating...maybe Quistis forgot...after all, I just grabbed her hand...I didn't mean to...I'm sure I didn't...'
'What is making your eyes so distant...?' she asked absentmindedly as she tried to force him to look in her eyes...
'Rin, I think we should get going, Q-Quistis will be here soon...' he said trying to change the subject...
'Quitis?' Rinoa asked puzzled.
'Yeah...Xu brought the Ragnarok...' he explained.
'That's great! I love that spaceship...I have good memories about it...' she smiled.
'Yeah...' he said quickly ...
Rinoa observed him carefully...Squall was different...something was on his mind...but what was it?
'Rinoa kissed him, but Squall froze... he didn't kiss her back...there was something wrong with him, yes there was...
'L-Let's go?' he groaned quickly as he lift up slowly from the bed...
'Sure...' Rinoa sighted and got up slowly, watching him with the corner of her eye, suspecting he was still in pain and knowing he was worried about something...
Rinoa kept observing him...
'...w-what?...ugh!...' Squall felt awkward with her staring at him that way as his hand reached out for his chest as he felt it burn...
'You're sore...' she said.
'Not...' he said shortly as he tried to handle the pain of his chest burning...
'Yeah right...' she smiled as she put his arm over her shoulder to help him walk.
'I'm fine, really I am!' he insisted seriously.
'I know you're not...' she looked in his eyes.
Squall felt as if she could tell that it wasn't only the pain that was bothering him, he felt as if she could sense there was something on his mind...this just made him feel worse...
They walked out the door slowly and towards the Hotel's entrance where Selphie and Irvine stood next to Quitis and Zell, who were all waiting patiently...
'Yo! Squall! Here you go!...' Zell threw Squall a new white vest...
'Quisty decided to get you a new one, after destroying your one last night...' Zell smirked as Quistis punched him with her elbow discreetly.
'Thanks...' Squall said shyly a little surprised with her gesture, now feeling even less at ease with her...
As soon as Squall had put it on, they had head towards Dollet's entrance and walked out into the country plains where the beautiful, breath taking huge, blood red Ragnarok awaited them...
'Mama's back!' squeaked Selphie as she ran up to the Ragnarok an entered it through its bottom entrance.
'Guess we shouldn't waist time...' said Quistis still staring at it.
'It's been a while since the last time, huh?' said Irvine smiling as he gazed at it...
'Let's go...' said Squall firmly as he walked towards the Ragnarok and entered it being followed by Rinoa, Zell, Quistis and Irvine...
Selphie sat at the pilot's seat as usual and started the spaceship's noisy engine as it lift up slowly off the ground, preparing to move...
'Where to?' asked Selphie taxi-driver like as she grinned excitedly.
'To Deling City...' commanded Squall firmly...
'Yes Sir!' Selphie saluted and started moving the Ragnarok over the breath taking green country plains...
To be continued...