1OOHHHH YEEEAAAHHH! Chapter two is in da hoouuusse! Haha, oh I'm gonna get shot. Oh well...WHATTYA GONNA DO? Anyhoo, this is chapter two. Hope you like it!
Another strange day...
Squall definitely knew something was wrong. He woke up early again! Something had to have been wrong...the only other time he woke up early like this was right before he became a seed and the sorceress' awoke. But what could it possibly this time? He had already beaten Adel and Ultimacia. Matron Edea was no longer a sorceress and Rinoa...
Wait...Rinoa...what if thats whats been disturbing his sleep? What if something happened to her? What if she...
That was it. He had to get up and talk to someone about this. Maybe Headmaster Cid knew something about this. Maybe Edea could help him out. He had on the same morning outfit from yesterday on and he was walking rather quickly out of the dorm area. He turned right and headed for the school entrance to get on the elevator. With each step he took he found more awful thoughts filling his head and without realizing it he had started running towards his destination. 'Wait...why am I running? Whats so important that I have to be there right now?' His thoughts kept him from watching where he was going and he ran right into Irvine.
Both men fell backwards landing hard on the ground. Irvine made a whining sound, "Ahhhowww! Damn squall, slow down! Where's the fire!" Squall sat up and looked at Irvine slightly dazed. Irvine reached over and picked up his hat and dusted it. "Irvine...why didn't you move out of the way? You must have seen me coming..." Irvine lifted himself up. "My mind was on other things and I didn't see you coming...but what are you doing, running at top speed this early in the morning?" Squall began to stand up, " I have to go see headmaster cid. There's something I need to talk-" Squall realized something and looked over at Irvine. "Irvine, what are you doing up this early? You sleep in till eleven everyday."
Irvine's eyes move from his hat to Squall, then back to his hat. He puts in on his head and attempt to straighten his jacket. "Actually, I was coming to get you. Headmaster Cid wanted to see you in front of the school now." He looks up at squall, "its something very important that involves you." Squall looks at Irvine, then past him towards the front of the school. He gives Irvine another glance before he runs past him. Irvine smiles, turns around and walks after him. Now squall doesn't know what the hell is going on...first this unsettling feeling, then Irvine coming to get him and now headmaster cid wants to see him? Squall runs full speed to the entrance. When he finally has sight of it he sees headmaster cid standing there and some of his anxiety disappears. The Headmaster hears footsteps and looks over his shoulder to spot squall. Squall slows down to just a jog and eases up a bit...until headmaster Cid turns around...
Black hair with brown streaks, Long blue jacket, simply beautiful face...
Rinoa.
Squall was frozen to the ground. A sudden swirl of emotion flooding into him. How long has it been...Two years. Two long years since he last saw that beauty. And smelled that scent. She had to be at least fifteen feet away from him but he could still smell her, a mixture of flowers, the sweet, soothing aroma filled his nose and made him dizzy. She turned to face him more...and she smiled at him. Squall was dumbfounded. He didn't know what to do. He was stuck between running up to her and holder her forever and giving her the cold shoulder to show how it felt. He was saved however when headmaster cid cleared his throat and snapped him back into reality.
Squall realized the situation and turned to Headmaster Cid and saluted to him. Cid nodded back with a gently smile on his face. Then spoke, "Squall, good morning. I see you just woke up.." Squall catching the meaning of this looked down at himself noticing his attire and sloppy appearance. He automatically straightened and spoke to headmaster cid in his solder voice, "sorry, sir! I was caught of guard by this..." he looked over to Rinoa then back to cid, "...sudden... surprise." Rinoa seemed to take slight offense to Squall comment but forgot about it. Headmaster Cid spoke again, " Well Squall, it appears we have many thing to discuss. Please follow me to my office. Rinoa, come." Rinoa smiled at the headmaster.
Squall's heart twisted in his chest. It hurt to see that smile again after all this time. In the elevator, Squall made certain to stay as far away from Rinoa as possible. He stood across from her. He was leaning on the glass with his hands in his pockets and he was staring out of the glass. Rinoa was listening to Cid talk about the changes in the garden but she couldn't help but glance over at squall when cid wasn't looking. The way he looked, she thought he looked good at seventeen, but now it was different. He had grown more, maybe about five inches. His muscles we more toned and visible and his frame was larger showing of his muscles better than when he was seventeen. His hair had not changed however, it was probably just a little longer. Kind of how it gets right before you cut it. And he would cut it soon, he hated long hair on himself.
What she really wanted to see were his eyes. No matter how hard she tried she could never resist those eyes. They held so many emotions and their depth never ended. The color calmed her and made her feel relaxed. But now, even though they weren't staring at her, she could tell they were different. She couldn't tell exactly what it was until she stared at them but it was almost as if they had grown...empty. They came to the third floor and the headmaster walked out. Rinoa looked at squall. He leaned off the wall and gestured to the door. " After you." Rinoa walked out with squall following behind her. They stepped into Cid's office. They went around the lift in the center to get to his desk.
He told rinoa to sit and asked squall if he wanted to but squall shook his head. Headmaster Cid sat in his chair and let out a heavy sigh. He looked over at Rinoa then Squall and smiled. He folded his hand on his desk and looked at Rinoa., "Well. Now that we have time to talk." Rinoa smiled and crosses her legs revealing her thigh for a second which squall notices out of the corner of his eye. "Rinoa, I'm sure we're all very curios...what have you been up to for the past two years? where have you been?"
Rinoa straighten in her chair, "well, after the sorceress' were defeated I still had my power as I'm sure you remember," cid nods. "And it started to get out of hand. I couldn't control it anymore. I began having weird dreams and visions of horrible things happening to people I knew and cared for," her eyes blink over to squall, who is not looking at her. He is leaning against a shelf looking away from her. Cid's eyes are on him too, then he looks back to rinoa who looks at her lap. " and I just couldn't take it." there is a pause. " so I left. I went to go find Edea's ship and- "Wait, you were in contact with Edea? Why didn't she tell me?" Cid asks confused. Rinoa looks up " I asked her not to tell anyone cause I knew someone would try to come after me and I needed to do this by myself!"
Rinoa realizes she had scooted to the edge of her seat and leaned back again. " anyways, I stayed on the ship with the white Seeds. Until I started to dream again and I knew I had to lose the sorceress' power if I was to ever be alright. So I asked to go to Esthar," Squall's eyebrows frown and he turns to Rinoa, "Esthar? Why in the world would you go back there?" Rinoa is amazed at the sound of squalls voice hearing for the first time in two years. "I knew they could take away my power so I went and talked to Laguna," "You even talked to Laguna! So all this time both Matron and Laguna knew where you were and you still failed to even send so much as a letter to us!" Squalls tone hurts Rinoa but she doesn't show it. "Like I said, I needed to do it by myself!" "Oh yeah, because you're so capable of doing it by yourself!" Rinoa's facial expression changes to anger, "What is that supposed to mean!"
Squall steps closer to get in good yelling range but Cid stands up and they both look at him. "Enough you two! This is not an argument Squall. We are here to hear Rinoa's story." Squall backs off and goes back to his previous position at the shelf. Cid turns to Rinoa, "Rinoa, please continue." Rinoa stares at Squall then sits down. "Like I was saying, I talked to Laguna about my problem and he said he would get Dr. Odine to help me. Laguna didn't entirely trust Odine though, he is very mischievous. So he was with me the whole time I was in the lab. Oddly enough it took about two whole years to finally be rid of all my power. While I was being treated, I stayed in Esthar. I learned many things and had many different experiences. Finally Dr. Odine said I was cured. That I wouldn't have to worry about the dreams or the power, it was all gone. I was so relieved. All I wanted to do was come back home to see my father...and to see the garden again and everyone. So now, here I am."
Cid raises his eyebrows, "Thats it?" Rinoa nods. Cid laughs, "my thats a lot simpler than we had all thought! Well, were just glad to have you back. Rinoa smiles at the gesture of kindness, something she had expected to receive from Squall. Cid stand up, "Well I assume you will want to stay here in the Garden for a while." Rinoa's eyes light up, "Can I!" Cid opens his arms, "of course you can! That is, of course, if there are no objections?" he looks over to Squall. Rinoa looks over too. Squall makes no effort to look at them as he can already sense them looking at him. " No, sir." cid smiled, "There we go then! I'll have Selphie and Quistis show you to your room."
Rinoa wasn't listening however. She was staring at Squall. How could he be so cold? Why had he refused to look at her? Was he really that mad at her? Cid tapped her arm and she jumped. "Rinoa, you can go now. Squall will lead you to the girls." Rinoa nodded. She followed Squall into the elevator and this time she was the one on the other side. Squall hit the button for the first floor and the elevator began to move. They were silent until Rinoa gathered up the courage to talk, "...Squall, why are you mad at me?" no response. " ...is it because I never tried to contact you?"
Squall stayed silent, staring out the elevator. Rinoa became impatient and looked up at him, "Squall! Answer me! Don't ignore me!" Squall looked over to Rinoa and Rinoa froze. She saw his eyes and the emptiness they held. She could tell everything about him just from looking at his eyes. There were so many mixed emotion, anger, confusion, jealousy, sorrow, pain, fear...probably just about every emotion she could think of were in those eyes. Squall stood up straight, revealing he was much taller than Rinoa has thought, and began to walk over to her.
Her heart sped up, she didn't know what to do. Should she move away? But oh how she wanted to stand still. Without noticing, Squall had ended up stand awfully close to her. She stepped back only to be stopped by the glass. Squall stepped closer, so close she could feel his breath on her forehead. And she could hear his heartbeat...it was fast. 'Well at least I'm not alone here' she thought to herself. She looked up and caught squalls eyes and became immobilized. Squall brought his right hand to Rinoa's face and held her cheek. He looked at her eyes and then down to her lips. "Rinoa..." her face flushed almost instantly. She didn't know what to do. It certainly wasn't the first time they had kissed but then why did she feel like a little girl all of a sudden?
Squall stared and then spoke words that hurt Rinoa inside. "...why did you leave me..." Before she could answer he leaned down and pressed his lips to Rinoa's. her eyes widened, then slid closed as she returned the kiss.
Their first kiss in two years.
It was the most wonderful thing, and the most painful at the same time. Squall opened his mouth slightly asking her for entrance which she couldn't deny. He slid his tongue into her mouth and instantly came in contact with hers. The kiss was so bittersweet Rinoa wanted to cry. Suddenly the elevator stopped. Squall pulled away and looked into Rinoa's eyes. He could see the hurt and confusion and he was gripped with total guilt, but he needed to sort out his feeling and until he did he couldn't face Rinoa. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then the doors opened and he walked out. He stopped realizing that she wasn't following him so he turned around and faced her, "come on, they're waiting for us." Rinoa came back to reality and followed him.
Yeah that was it. What did you think? Oh please review! You don't know how much I anticipate them! They really keep me going. So please! REVIEW!