Jobs
It was all a job, everything. And now the job is over. One shot (Squall/Rinoa)
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.
He looked up, dark brown hair whipped into his eyes, making them sting more than they already were.
"So... this is it?" A seagull cried in the distance, like a child laughing in spite.
How long since they heard the sound of true laughter? Did it still exist after everything?
Were there even still any children left? Those in Garden certainly were no longer, forced to grow up in the battles and war.
"I guess so..."
Rinoa looked down at her feet, as though they could show her the true path she should follow.
Squall turned to look over Balamb Harbour, sea salt so strong it could almost be tasted. That's what the forming tears were due to, nothing else, nothing else at all.
"You have to understand, you aren't the person I...I... thought you were."
Rinoa hiccupped back a sob.
"...Who... did you think I was?"
Silence hung in the air, only broken by the laughing seagull.
"It was a job... you were only a job."
The noise of a passing fishing boat almost drowned out the words, two men and a woman on board, waving a fish in the air, but they were still heard. They hurt in the obvious truth.
"...Of course..."
Squall and Rinoa faced each other, eye to eye, almost touching. Neither could remember moving from opposite ends of the docks.
A small bag of money fell to Squall's feet.
"It's all I have."
Not enough. Not enough money for the job, the danger, the friendship... the hurt... No, not enough by far.
"I'm sorry... sorry, it's not more..."
Rinoa turned away and started to walk. As she reached the Dock's car park, she turned one last time. Too far away for Squall to see the tracks of her tears.
And so Rinoa left.
Squall stood on those wooden planking until the crescent moon shone clearly in the night sky and fog crawled in. The money long forgotten.
"But, you were never just a job to me."
The seagull cried again in its laughter.