This is a regular disclaimer, I don't own any of the character from Final Fantasy, and the characters are the property of Square Enix. The only characters that are mine are the ones I create to go into this story. So please don't sue me that would be unlucky.
Chapter 1 – Woman of Destiny
Within the shadows of the moonless night the dark knight moved stealthily across the rocky terrain of the cliff's edge. He stopped by a boulder to survey the encampment of the young sorceress and her soldiers of light. Squall studied the guards that were posted around the camp for the night and smiled thinking "this is to easy."
Squall made his way down the face of the cliff by climbing down a crevice which emptied into the valley below. "Soldiers of light, whatever, they are all just murders" he mockingly observed. "They all deserve to die, my vow has not changed" he said quietly before he reached the base of the cliff. Peering out of the shadows of the crevice he watched as the rear guard paced back and forth over their designated paths. Squall watched from the shadows gauging the time it took them to get to end of their route before returning.
Yuri kept a vigilant watch over the camp's exposed flank, facing out into the open field "I wish there was a moon tonight, it would make it harder for someone to infiltrate" he thought. Looking over his shoulder at the two men forming the rear guard, he noticed the way the light from their camp's fire lit up the face of the cliff. "They have it easy tonight no one would ever be able to sneak up on them with the fire light reflecting off the cliff," he said to himself. Secretly wishing he had been given the rear guard tonight, but he wasn't that lucky.
Squall quickly slipped past the rear guard to the sorceress's tent, which was strategically placed in the rear of the camp believing that no one would be able to attack from the rear because of the cliff's natural barrier. Kneeling down with his hand on the hilt of his blade, sheathed by his side, he scanned the surroundings to make sure he hadn't been seen.
The guards were still marching away from Squall's position with their backs to him; "this really is too easy," he thought with malice. "Now all I have left to do is carry out the sentence handed down to the sorceress".
Using the knife sheathed on his right forearm, Squall cut a hole into the side of the tent just enough to glance inside to survey the tent's contents and who was within it. He saw the Sorceress Rinoa's sleeping form on the far side of the tent and no one else within. She was asleep just past the tent's center post and there was no evidence of any weapons within her reach, "the time of redemption for your deeds has come, with the ending of your life" his thought almost eagerly. Now was his chance to complete his assignment and slip away.
Squall continued to cut the hole until he could fit through, then slowly he made his way toward Rinoa scanning the small room with every step he took. Once at the bed side of his target he pulled out his sword prepared to plunge the blade into her chest, bringing an end to her blood lust and tyranny.
All he had to do was to bring the blade down and end her life, but now that his eyes fell upon her he found himself questioning everything he had been told. How could this beauty sleeping before him be a merciless witch that killed for pleasure?
She looked so innocent lying there unaware of Squall's presence; her raven hair cascades over her shoulders like the pitch black night, softly outlining the gentle features of her face while she slept.
Rinoa awoke when she heard the tearing of cloth but didn't think anything of it at first. Being a sorceress she had heightened senses, "it's probably just an old section of the tent tearing from the wind." her mind tried to reason. "Then why has it started to tear again" her mind yelled at her as fear grasped her heart. Then she picked up the faint sounds of breathing, "someone's in here, what do they want, am I going to die, should I scream, or will they just leave if I am quiet?" the thoughts ran through her mind faster than she could sort them out. It didn't matter now he was right next to her no matter what she did now she wouldn't be able to get away.
Rinoa heard a sword slide out of its sheath, "I am going to die, I am going to die, I don't want to die, someone help me please" her mind pleaded in silent sobs as a tear slowly formed for when she cried out her last breath.
As Squall's eyes continued to look upon Rinoa he could not find the murderous vision he had expected to find. What he saw instead was a young woman with alabaster skin that was framed with raven black hair. He watched as her inviting lips moved just slightly in her sleep, they looked so soft so inviting. Even though he believed she was asleep, he swore that it looked as if a tear was forming in the corner of her eye. "How could she do what she is being accused of? How?" his heart asked, but his mind wanted nothing to do with it. "Do your job, the whys and hows are none of your concern. ... the only thing that should concern you is that you carry out her execution" his mind demanded.
Rinoa listened carefully trying to figure out what was going on. "What are they doing, why hasn't anything happened" she wondered. She heard his light breathing start to become heavier with every passing second. Then she heard a small clink from his hand grasping the hilt of his sword, "here it comes, this is it" she thought.
Squall raised his arms up above his head allowing his mind to over power his heart "do your job" his mind screamed again. His arms stayed above his head for a moment and then they came down.
Squall's arms descended but missed their target, dropping to his sides. His heart wouldn't let him kill her, something was wrong this time. He looked down at her; though he moves in the shadows and wears black his heart is purer than those of Rinoa's own soldiers of light.
Squall reached a hand toward Rinoa wanting for some unknown reason to touch her to see if she was real and not just some illusion. Before his finger tips could even graze her shoulder one of her soldiers entered the tent to check on Rinoa. When the soldier saw Squall standing over Rinoa he pulled his sword yelling "intruder", warning the rest of the camp of Squall's presence.
Upon hearing the word "intruder", Rinoa's eyes shot open and for the first time she saw the man sent to be her executioner. He was leaning forward with his left hand extended toward her as if to touch her. She moved away still watching the intruder, but his eyes were fixed on the soldier at the tent's entrance. She looked toward the entrance to see Thomas, one of her personal guards, standing there with sword in hand.
Thomas watched the intruder very closely to make sure he didn't harm Rinoa who was still within striking distance of the intruder's sword. "Drop your sword and move away from the sorceress" Thomas demanded in an anxious voice. The intruder ignored Thomas' demand instead turning back toward the sorceress. "Do it now" Thomas yelled with a slight tremble in his voice fearing the intruder might go after the sorceress.
Rinoa heard Thomas' demand and she watched the intruder curiously to see what he would do next. It was then that her deep chocolate eyes met with stormy blue ones, she saw no fear in them. Thomas was of no concern to him; all of his focus was on her eyes, searching for the answers that his heart demanded. As their eyes locked his eyes betrayed nothing of his thoughts or his feeling they were completely cold. Squall stood and closed his eyes for a moment, as if in thought. Then he tossed his sword up with his right hand flipping the sword into a fighting position.
The soldier meant little to Squall. He could easily dispatch him and carry on with his assignment, but as his eyes met Rinoa's again he lost all will to kill especially in front of her. There was something warm within her curious gaze that affected him.
Squall turned to Thomas with defiance in his eyes, "you want my sword come and take it if you can" he answered Thomas with a deep cold voice. Letting the anger from Squall's response lead his actions, Thomas raised his sword and charged. Thomas brought his sword down aiming for Squall's left shoulder. Squall pivoted on his right foot stepping back easily avoiding the attack, but before he had a chance to counter the attack he caught a glimpse of Rinoa watching him.
When Thomas' anger driven attack failed Rinoa immediately feared for his life, "Oh Hyne, he's going to die ....." she thought. "No" she yelled out, instinctively reaching out her hand as if to grab Thomas hoping she would be able to pull Thomas out of the way. Thomas was too far out of her reach and the intruder was not distracted from his adversary, that showed Rinoa the skill and concentration the dark warrior had.
Squall heard her plea for her soldier's life and he knew he could not kill in front of her. Quickly tossing his sword to his left hand, he turned his attention back to the over extended soldier, bringing his right arm across connecting his fist squarely into the soldiers' jaw sending him crashing to the ground. He put his foot on the blade of the downed man's sword. Squall just looked at him with a cold expression as if battle was nothing new to him even though he looked as if he hadn't even reached the age of 20.
Rinoa watched in horror as Thomas was defeated, "he is still alive....why didn't he kill him?" her mind asked. Confused, as to why the dark warrior had not killed her guard, her eyes rose up to meet Squall's gaze. She saw the hardened features of a veteran soldier in the young brown haired warrior before her, but yet his eyes were softer now with an electrifying sense to them.
Outside Yuri, Brent, and Francis had heard Thomas' alarm of an intruder and immediately ran toward Rinoa's tent. When the three soldiers entered the tent Thomas was lying on the ground staring up at his attacker, who was intently watching the sorceress with a captivated gaze.
"What is it about her, why can't I kill her" his mind begged. "Something about the way she is looking at me, she isn't afraid of me even though I am here to kill her, why?" the thought was never answered. Squall was interrupted from his entrancement of the sorceress by the three soldiers that entered the tent with swords already brandished. The new members to the party had immediately moved in Squall's direction.
Rinoa watched as Yuri, Brent, and Francis charged the dark warrior, sure that they would over power him since they out numbered him three to one. Rinoa watched Squall as he took a step back toward the center post of her tent and turning quickly cutting the tent's rigging. As the center of the tent came crashing down, Rinoa watched closely as he dove toward the hole he had cut into the tent. Escaping the tent as it collapsed around him leaving her behind.
Squall reached the hole in the tent as the walls and ceiling came down around him, and quickly surveyed the camp for the rear guard. Seeing none one he assumed they were now trapped under the tent's fabric.
He wasted no time making his way back to the shadows of the crevice in the cliff face. Looking over his shoulder for a brief moment to the collapsed tent where his target was, where she was. She is the one and only person he has ever found himself unwilling and incapable of handing down a sentence of death. Something about her stirred within him, was it her eyes or the way she looked at him, the whole situation didn't feel right to him; he had never experienced these sensations before. Doubt and uncertainty had never crossed his mind before, "why with her, why" his mind asked of his heart but no answer was found within. "Something's not right about this, is it me or is it something else" he thought then quickly retreated into the cliffs' darkened passage to the plateau above.
The commotion within Rinoa's tent had woken the entire camp. Seifer Almasy, the Captain of the Soldiers of Light, reached the tent just as Rinoa and the others were crawling out from underneath it.
"What's going on," Seifer yelled at the four men standing around Rinoa. "There was an intruder sir," Yuri answered seeing that the others weren't going to. "And how in the hell did an intruder get into camp, how could you let them get past you" Sefier barked on with rage reverberating in his voice. "He was very skilled sir" Thomas answered, "Oh really" Seifer scoffed. "He better had been or you four are the most worthless soldiers I have EVER laid my eyes on". They all lowered their heads, Rinoa stepped in "they did their jobs, I am fine and no one was harmed, settle down Seifer this is getting us nowhere at all" she calmly said.
Seifer moved past the four personal guards eyeing each of them disapprovingly but kept his silence because of Rinoa. "Search the interior camp for the intruder he couldn't have gotten far, send riders out into the fields towards the woods that is the only way he could have escaped" Seifer barked out his order to his men and they quickly responded.
Rinoa stood watching the flames dance on the cliff's face listening intently to the sounds of the night surrounded by her personal guard. "He would not head into an open field....he was too good and too smart to do something like that" she said quietly to no one in particular not thinking anyone would hear her. Yuri turned to her "what makes you say that" he asked questioning her reasons for giving this man so much admiration.
"He easily breached the camp, then made his way into my tent without letting anyone know" she started still watching the dancing light. "So he got lucky" Yuri responded a little edgy about her praise to this man. "And he managed to escape..." she continued but was cut off "so what does that prove" Yuri interjected. "He managed to escape, without killing anyone or getting aggravated with being caught, just ask Thomas he could have just as easily killed him and myself before any of you could have made it in" she said calmly no fear from the event evident in her voice. Yuri looked at her; she didn't seem bothered at all about this, none of this seemed to bother her at all. "Thomas, is this true?" Yuri asked. "It's true Yuri, when you saw me on the ground I had let my emotions get the better of me and attacked out of anger. He had the perfect opportunity to kill me at any time before you arrived, on top of that there is no telling how long he was in the tent before I arrived to check on the sorceress" Thomas answer in a low embarrassed tone.
Rinoa was listening closely to see if she could hear her attacker making his way from the camp, but she heard nothing he was lost to the shadows from whence he had come.
Just above her at the cliff's rocky edge Squall watched Rinoa for a moment. "The General isn't going to like this I didn't kill her, but there is something about her, I will find out the truth and will return" he stood up from his position behind a boulder. "To either bring you back with me or to kill you, but I will make that decision for myself" Squall said quietly as he turned and headed off into the forest atop the cliff's plateau.
Seifer stood at the edge of the camp watching as his riders headed in out in every direction toward the woods that surrounded the camp. "How could those morons let an intruder into camp ... not only into camp but into Rinoa's tent" Seifer fumed. Marcus, his second in command walked up and saluted Seifer "sir, the riders haven't found any trace of the intruder what would you like to do" he said calmly. Seifer looked at Marcus and then turned to look at the open fields and woods. "Marcus assemble the all the men and call back the riders" Seifer ordered. "Yes sir" Marcus answered and turned heading off to carry out the new orders.
"Oh I will find the intruder no matter what it takes" Seifer thought to himself and smirked "and when I do he will regret ever stepping foot in my camp."
Seifer walked into the center of the camp where the men had been assembled together. "Men we are going to pursue the intruder, we need to find out who sent him and what their plans are" Seifer paused for a moment. "I am going to take 100 of you with me in pursuit of the intruder; the rest will go with Marcus to escort the Sorceress Rinoa to the Castle Straum in Timber."
"Do you understand?" Seifer asked his men. They responded with a resounding "yes sir." "Then get ready to move, break camp we will be heading out at day break" he ordered. His men yelled out a cheer and headed off to prepare for the morning departure.
Rinoa watched and listened to Seifer as he gave his orders to his soldiers. Although she understood why they wanted to go after the intruder something about the thought of him brought a strange ease to her heart. This confused her. What was it about him that plagued her mind? He had come to kill her. Although he was seen as an assassin by the members of her camp, there was a pain within his eyes that told her differently. It was this pain that told her heart "he won't kill you; he will be the one that will keep you safe both physically and emotionally". This brought an inner division between her heart and mind. Her logic knew what his assignment had been, "he was here for your life not to protect it. What do you think you're trying to do find your lost soul within a man that is hollow of all emotion" her mind scolded back. But then again he had also stopped himself for some reason, or more than likely she would be died.
Rinoa was broken from her inner conflict when Yuri approached her, "we should get your carriage ready as well" he said watching her come out of her thoughts. She just nodded her response to him and the two headed off toward her collapsed tent.
Squall reached the entrance to the Forest of the Moon in a matter of seconds. After reaching the tree line he continued to run ahead for about 50 feet into the forest. As he came closer to his destination he saw a large animal waiting patiently for his return.
Upon closer examination Squall smiled, in front of him stood a friend that had been with him through many missions and hard times. The grey and white mustang stallion stood tall against the wooded background. Squall slowed down to a walk as he approached the horse. Traveler watched Squall closely, almost as if he sensed the uneasiness his owner felt. Squall gently put his hand on the neck of the horse and stroking the smooth coat and long grey mane. "My friend, I have failed in my mission tonight, I couldn't kill her" Squall said as if the horse new exactly what he was saying. Traveler raised his head and gave a soft huff, as if he understood Squall's declaration of failure. "I'm not sure but I don't think she did what they said she did" he continued "but I'm going to find out old friend, one way or another."
Squall moved around to Traveler's side and pulled himself onto the saddle, patting the horse's neck again as he pulled on the reigns. The horse turned around and trotted off deeper into the forest. Riding Traveler it didn't take long for Squall to reach a clearing in the center of forest. As he came closer to the edge of the clearing Squall could make out the light of a fire coming through the fog rising up in the forest.
Squall dismounted Traveler and walked into the clearing, seeing two figures sitting around a fire Squall stopped putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Even before Irvine and Zell could see Squall they heard the hoofs of a horse coming towards them. Irvine put his hand on his bow and Zell clinched his fists. Once Squall entered the clearing though they dropped their guard, "well look who has finally decided to come back" Zell said sarcastically. "So how did it go" Irvine asked, Squall didn't answer, but instead looked up into the dark sky. "Well?" Zell pressed, but still no response. "You did finish the mission didn't you?" Irvine asked, "The mission is done" Squall answered dryly.
"You can't fool us Squall, what's wrong" Zell asked. "We have been with you to long, to fall for your evasive answers" Irvine added. "The mission is done" Squall reiterated with anger edging his voice. "Our mission was to kill the sorceress. Are you saying that Rinoa is dead? " Irvine asked. "Our mission" Squall scoffed, "I went in alone, where were the two of you?" "The same place we always are, prepared to back you up if needed" Zell answered "so what's your problem then, because this is not about you going in alone?"
Squall took a breath "I couldn't kill her" he said quietly hoping they wouldn't hear him. "What happened, what went wrong?" Zell asked. "Nothing" Squall sighed, "I snuck in easy enough and then made my way into her tent". "What happened after you got into the tent" Irvine interrupted, "I walked over to her bed and prepared to commit my sword to her chest. While I was standing beside her I saw something that didn't add up for me" Squall explained. "What did you see?" Zell asked, "I saw her, I saw her innocence, I saw her beauty. She did not look capable of doing what they say she is responsible for" he answered Zell with a low voice.
. "So let me get this straight. You, Mr. I could care less about the majority of the people in the world, couldn't kill a single sleeping woman b/c she looked innocent. Hell man, most of the people you kill look innocent. So what you really mean is that you were attracted to her," Irvine asked. Squall ignored his remark; they could never understand his heart or his mind. Continuing with the details of the night Squall barked back, "Whatever, then her soldiers showed up"
"But that isn't what stopped you is it, hell I have seen you put down eight men by yourself so don't tell me that a couple of guards got in your way" Zell chimed in; Squall knew that was true but didn't answer him.
Irvine laughed "I know what it is" Zell looked at Irvine "what? What do you know?" Zell asked wanting to know so bad that it was killing him. "He likes her, Squall has a thing for our little sorceress" Irvine said with a smile on his face. Squall was not amused with where this was going; he turned his gaze to Irvine and narrowed his eyes. "Whatever, I think this discussion has gone on long enough."
Zell hopped up from his seat on a log by the fire and started to shadow box to keep him self busy while he thought about the whole situation. "So what your telling me Irvine" Zell stopped to punch the air and then took a breath to continue "is that Squall here has a crush on the sorceress he was assigned to kill" Zell stated matter-of-factly. "Yes Zell, Squall has the hots for her, our little Squall is growing up. They grow up so fast, why it seems like just yesterday he was out playing around with his little friends, and now he is looking at girls, soon he will get married ..... where does the time go" Irvine responded sarcastically. Zell started to laugh and was having a hard time keeping it quiet so Squall wouldn't hear him, but when he turned around and looked at Squall it became much easier to gain his composure. Squall had never really been much of a jokester. He was much more of a stoic, a straight to the point and a leave me alone kind of guy. It was very apparent that the teasing was beginning to wear thin. Zell saw the anger starting to rise in Squall's cold gaze because of the joking. That gaze put an immediate end to his muffled laughter.
"Well, whatever the problem may have been tonight, we still need to get some rest before he head back to camp, and just so you know Squall this discussion isn't over yet, there are still questions that I want answered" Irvine said. "Whatever" was the only response Squall gave as he laid a blanket down by the fire.
The atmosphere around that small camp fire fell silent as everyone settled in to get some sleep. Each one with questions still running through their mind, Zell and Irvine still curious about their friend and his new seeming interest in the sorceress while Squall's thoughts brought forward deeper questions; "What has happened to me...? Could she really be responsible for what they have accused her of? Can my soul take another scar if she is?"