A Knight's Promise
Chapter 33: Lost and Found
Author's Note: Thanks for all reviews folks! (You all really made my day!) Before we go on with the story, I would like to answer some of the questions that I've got from one of my reviewers. Here goes...
Q: That I'm dead. (he he he)
A: Ha ha ha welp let's say I'm just busy with a lot of things here in my "real world". That's my first priority so you can't blame me. But I'll see to it that all of my reviewers here are being reciprocated with my reviews too so just hang on.
Q: About Squall calling Ellone "Sis Elle" (Contains some spoiler to the game)
A: Ok, to those who've played FF8 (Final fantasy 8) I'm pretty sure you know the reason behind this. But in case you want to know, here's what happened; Squall used to call Ellone "big sis" or "sis Elle" when he was small. She's the only family he had since that tragic incident that occurred in Winhill. So Squall calling Ellone "sis Elle" is not what you think it be. (If you want to know the whole story, uh there's a lot of ff8 sites out there to surf and browse he he he)
Q: About the format of this story and about Leon realizing the truth.
A: Ok...Ok let's settle this issue once and for all. So just sit back and read the story. (It's my first attempt to write this kind of format so please bear with me)
Note: The dialogue with Italics means the character's thoughts.
Winhill Hotel
Rinoa's Room
"As I've thought, she'll never ...." Leon is now cursing himself for ever asking that dim-witted question to her; he pauses for a sec. "Wait a minute, I think she's not referring to me", Leon said under his breath.
"Oh myyyyy!!!!" Rinoa gasped, "Leon! Look over there.......to the shore!" Rinoa points to the shore.
"Huh?" Leon turned to the direction Rinoa was pointing at to see what's she's talking about, "What the heck was that?!" narrowing his eyes to figure out the unidentified thing.
"There's only way to find that out", she searched her cabinet and takes out pieces of fabric connected together by a knot.
"What the..." inquisitive with Rinoa's own "ingenious tool", Leon gives her a "what-in-the-world-are-you-going-to-use-that thing-for" look.
"Remember, we cannot just go out of this hotel without being noticed by those Deling Soldiers ... maybe they're still after us so.... " she said pouting her lips at Leon.
"Oh no... there's no way we're going down there using that thing", backing off as he protested to the idea. He gave her another "How-the-heck-did-you-get-that-thing"-look.
"Let's just say.... I'm a professional escape artist" Rinoa grins from ear to ear, "This one is proven and tested by me a lot of times so trust me with this!"
Leon desperately hopes that she was just kidding.
Loire's Residence
"Home sweet home" Kiros smiled at the thought of Raine's sumptuous cuisines, the smell of the Winhill flower growing around their garden, Ellone's warm hug and that big smile on her face whenever he was greeted in, and all those happy memoirs flashed right back on him, refreshing his tired and restless soul.
"Welp, Welcome Home Bud!" Laguna gave him a tap on the shoulder.
Meanwhile, the door opened in front of them and.... "WELCOME BACK MR. KIROS!!!" All smiled and greeted the once was known phantom lurking around Winhill. Kiros was so overwhelmed with great joy that he didn't control his eyes from producing this warm liquid.
"Oh....." wiping his face to hide the noticeable "tears of joy" from them, he found out that all of his efforts were useless.
"Uncle Kirosssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!" He felt a warm hug.....the hug that he missed decades ago, the hug that he wants to feel again before the Grim Reaper decided to use his instrument of death to him. "Uncle Kiros" a warm liquid continuously flows from her eyes to his weak shoulders. "I can't believe you're ..."
He hugs her back. "Oh how I missed your sweet smile and this hug" Kiros cannot believe all these things that is happening to him now. To him, it's like a dream.
"Welcome back Kiros!" still wiping the tears that is still escaping her eyes, Raine invited everyone else inside for a small feast that she had prepared a while ago.
"Yessss it's PARTYYYYYY TIME!!" Selphie exclaimed punching the air with her right hand.
Winhill Shore
"More excruciating than I've thought" Leon murmured under his breath while rubbing his back.
Rinoa lost her grip when they're about 7ft before they reach the ground and accidentally dragged Leon with her. Leon tried his best to be a human "cushion" for Rinoa's sake and yes he was successful welp except for a sore back that he got after that.
"Better than being caught by those goons" Rinoa innocently answered. "Come on let's scan the area for it" she just sprinted straight to the sea ignoring Leon's complaints. He still cannot believe that he climbed down from the 10th floor thanks to Rinoa's death-defying scheme.
"Leon! Over here! I need your help!" Rinoa rushes to the floating thing near the shore. "Rinoa, be careful! I'll be right there!" he replied. Leon halts when he saw what was floating to the sea.
Rinoa turned the 'thing' "Oh no...poor thing! Leon, it's a guy. And I think he's still alive! And he's kinda cute too! She thought "Hurry! Help me to carry him to the shore!" Hmmm... brown hair, fair skin, handsome .... he be?"
Odine's Laboratory
"I'm almost there.....madam. Just a little more..." with the use of the pin, Roger hurriedly tries his luck to unlock the Julia's cell. Click! Yeah!! He mutters.
"Thanks!" Julia sighs in relief.
"Thanks to your pin Mrs. Julia!" Roger just smiled. "Ohh but we're not yet safe here; we have to get out of this place at once!" Roger exclaimed.
Julia just nod at the lad. "Let's try that air duct over there so we cannot be noticed, uh I know it's going to be hard for you but we have no choice" Roger explains.
She just smiled at the lad, "You don't have to worry about me, come on let's go. We cannot just chat here like this"
Roger agrees with that and they both walk cautiously to the air duct. The air duct was like a creepy and murky labyrinth. The walls are covered with thick dirt that brings out an unpleasant smell. It's really tough to crawl here but they know through it they would taste their long awaited freedom and be once again to their "real world".
He pauses for a while and checked on Mrs. Julia, "Ma'am, are you alright there?"
Julia just raises an ok sign at him, telling the lad that she's ok. Even though crawling inside the air duct is definitely not her cup of tea, she had no other option.
"Hey there's a room to the right of us, I'm just curious about it. Can we check it out Mrs. Julia?"
"No problem with me, at least we can stretch out a bit. Ha ha ha! My back is aching, oh my ...I must be getting old" she beamed.
"Ohhh don't say that Mrs. Julia", he protested.
Roger opens the air duct cover and made their way inside a small room. The badly lit room is kinda messy with lots of books and pieces of paper lying about everywhere. There's a bed at the right corner of the room and a small lamp on top of a study table near it.
"What's this?" Julia investigates the tiny blue notebook on top of the study table. She flipped the pages and read the notes....
"Dear Diary" A smile is now visible to Julia's face. "I can't believe there would be a diary in this kind of place. This is so funny!" She giggled.
"He he he I agree with you Ma'am but who knows..... we may find something useful there like um...." Roger wants to convince Mrs. Julia to read the whole diary though in fact he just wants to scrutinize that person's life.
"...like an escape route or so?" she added.
"Yeah like that!" he exclaimed. "Geez save by the bell!"
"Ok then....I'll continue" She said while turning over the pages of the diary.
Dear Diary,
What a day.... I'm really exhausted. We have to work 15 hours a day to be able to cope with the boss' schedule. If not....ahh I don't know what's going to happen but all I know is ....our boss got a very scary temper. I don't want to see that for myself. Tomorrow we have to finish our "143 project" so we have to work double time. We don't want to be punished like that group of scientist who've worked with project 142. From what I've heard, the said project has failed and due to that failure they're all........... brrr I don't want to even mention that here. That's all for today, I have to get enough sleep for tomorrow will be really tough.
"Hmm... judging from what he said here, maybe he's one of the scientists here who've been working with the 143 project...uhh whatever it is" Julia said while browsing the diary.
"143...hmm..." Roger on the other hand was rubbing his chin while thinking of where and when he encountered that familiar number. "Wait a sec...that's the .... Ohh of course the Dragon! Mrs. Julia, it's that monster!"
"Shh not too loud Roger, they might spot us" Julia looked around for any sign that they're been detected.
"Ooppsss Sorry!" he said scratching his head in embarrassment. "Ok, I'll try to read more of this. She skipped some pages. "The other pages are blurred so I'll just skip some...." She flipped some more pages. "Here... I saw a word boy...and a black guy here. I'm going to read it"
Dear Diary
ALRIGHTTTT! Our project was a success! We've been able to create an exceptional creature from merging the genes of all the most powerful specimens that we've gathered. With our "EMC square plus XY divide by Z minus M times XX formula" our monster 143 will grow and mature in no time. Our experiment will not only grow strong and powerful but will also compete over time. It will become the ultimate creature on the face of the Earth. I'm really ecstatic about the results of our .......
.....this is really a great breakthrough in the field of Science. Someday ......
..... The only predicament here is ................
...ki.......... in order to satisfy the creature's appetite. We found that out when one of my colleagues was ea...... n by ........
"Some of the writings are blurred!" Julia said in annoyance, raising her eyebrows. "But anyways, he's talking about that monster and its appetite.
"More or less we know that monster 143 is one SCARY monster!" Roger shivered at the thought of it. "Uh...where's the boy and the black guy you..."
Julia cuts his dialogue and continue on reading, "Hmm...let me see" she whispers as her forefinger scans for the said words.
.... I pity our "guinea pigs" ......
....why ....... suffer .... But they have to.... For the sake of Science.
....black guy...... bleeding ........ Why do we have to ............ those people ....... Flight 787 Winh....
"Oh my!!" she gasped. "This is about the incident!"
"Mind if I continue reading for you?" He saw the fear and sadness into her eyes, worried about Mrs. HeartillyCaraway he continues reading the diary...
Winhill Shore
Rinoa just gazes at the man's features—his kind-looking face, his brown hair... all of these makes her think about the long lost "best" friend she had. "Can he be.......him?" "Ohhh he's like a prince!" Her eyes were now filled with tears, "But I have to admit....Leon is still..."
"What the heck is she doing?" Leon mentioned under his breath. With that scenario in front of him, he finally decided to break that unbearable moment of Rinoa and that guy. "Hey Rinoa! Your Romeo will be dead in no time if you keep on staring at him like that!"
"Ohh!!! Yeah, I'm sorry!" Rinoa dragged the drowned fellow to the shore. "Uhh will you mind giving me a hand? You see his kinda HEAVY!"
Rolling his eyes he sprints to her and haphazardly drags the victim to the shore.
"Leon? What do you think you're doing to him? You're going to kill him in no time with that "strategy" of yours!" Rinoa protested.
"That's what I'm intending to do right now" he said in his thoughts while continuously dragging the poor fellow to the shore
Rinoa dashes to the shore and slaps Leon's back. "Give the poor guy a break! Can't you see his situation?" Rinoa exclaimed while lifting the head of the drowned guy.
"What are you doing?" Leon questioned.
"What else giving him a mouth-to-mouth!" She said innocently.
"Why the heck am I protesting ....she's not my girlfriend or what after all?" Leon just turned around and started to walk away but the thought of her giving a stranger a mouth-to-mouth made him stop and turn to see Rinoa and that drowned guy.
Instead of Rinoa he comes face to face with once again, the familiar ghost, "Little Squall is jealous! Is jealous, is jealous!" the ghost dances in front of him as to annoy him.
"STOP that!" Leon yelled at the ghost but the ghost just prances in front of him.
"Huh?" Rinoa puzzlingly looked at Leon. "What's the matter?"
"Ahh... I'm not talking to......." Leon shakes his head. "Great Leon, did you expect her to believe that you're talking to that irritating poltergeist and not to her?"
"What are you doing? Aren't you worried that somebody might be dead because of some "reckless" SeeD-who's-supposed-to-be-caring-for-anyone-who's-in-dire-need walks away ignoring his duty?" She yelled and stressed every word at him.
"Walking away and ignoring the duty eh?" Leon walks in front of Rinoa and kneeled down. He looked at her and then to the fellow lying on her lap. "Sorry pa, but I have to do this" He slowly clutched his fist "This is it" and he punched the man's chest with all his might.
"AGHHHH!!!!" The man just sits straight and rubs his aching chest. "OWWWWW that hurts!" The man spits some blood.
Shocked by Leon's "way of reviving a drowned fellow scheme", Rinoa can't help but yelled at Leon again, "LEON!!!!! YOU'RE SO MEANNNNNNNYYYYYY!!!" WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"
"Reviving your drowned Romeo?" He said innocently. "Come on, get to your feet, and don't tell me I have to carry you up to that building!" He said coldly at the fellow.
"........" The man was still in pain to complaint with Leon's commands.
"Will you stop that MR. KRAMER!" infuriated with Leon's attitude, she picked the poor guy up and walk passed him. Leon can't do anything but sigh and follow them to the hotel.
Loire's Residence
"Hey Quistis cheer up!" Selphie tried her best to cheer up her friend. "You've been awfully quiet these past few minutes huh, what's bothering you?"
"You know..." Quistis sighed. She cannot think of anything but him; how is he? Where could he be? Was he safe? When will she ever see him, all of these was bugging her.
"Our Commander?" Selphie said looking into her face.
"Ding! YOU'REEEE RIGHTTT!" Zell butts in waving Selphie's hand as if he was a host of some game show and Selphie is the lucky winner of a Million Dollar question.
"Whoo hoo!!! I'm the winner!!!" Selphie jokingly said to them.
"Don't worry too much about our Commander, I know he's fine.....welp you still have me here to give you comfort" Irvine patted Quistis' shoulders.
"OHHHH Stop that! It's irritating Irvine!" Quistis just slaps Irvine's back in annoyance.
On the other hand Seifer miraculously approached his friends with a concerned look. This of course amazed his friends.
"Whoa what's with that concerned face? Don't tell me you're worried about our Commander too?" Zell said jokingly.
"I'm worrying more about my cousin you hotdog-brained chicken-wuss! Ahhh stop talking nonsense Zell, you see I'm serious here man!" Seifer said tensely.
"Sorry man! As we've said, don't worry about Rinoa, I know he's fine with our Commander. I'm sure he'll call any moment now for their whereabouts" Zell said backing some inches away at Seifer.
"Instead of worrying we should rejoice and celebrate coz we finally found Mr. Kiros; then we can ask him for some info about the dragon and the incident. We can know continue our research and who knows, we may finally put the last puzzle piece" Selphie said to a very worried friend.
"No...you don't understand.... Ahhh why am I explaining this to all of you.....just...just" Seifer turns his back to his friends "If ever you may see a piece of paper addressed to me then please do inform me" and with that he rushes to his room upstairs.
"WORRIED" Fujin looked at Seifer with concerned eyes. "I hope he can find whatever that is he is looking for....please...let it not be the "result" his talking about.
Mrs. Raine approached the teens and suggested to them to rest upstairs for tomorrow would be the day that they will all listen to Kiros' stories; tomorrow they will find the truth about the incident.
Winhill Hotel
"Sleep tight, Squally!" Rinoa smile while brushing the fellow's brown hair. This of course made the other male very, very uneasy.
"Would you at least let me go back to my room before you two do that ...... and how can you call him "Squally"? Are you certain that he's the one you're looking for? And I thought he's....." Leon halts remembering that he's talking about a delicate topic.
"....dead?" Rinoa is now eyeing Leon. "Leon....you're not being yourself since we met "Squally" even I can tell that! Tell me why are you doing this?"
"How can he call that guy Squall? Can't you tell the real one from.... Ahhh have you already asked him his name?" All these questions play inside his mind.
"ughhh..... Win...... Winhi....Wi..." The guy murmured.
"Winhill?" Rinoa has now shifted her attention to the fellow on the bed. "Yes you are now at Winhill"
"Da... dad... m-mom" the guy continue, raising his arms to Rinoa as if pleading her to help him.
"Great acting man, you know you can go to Hollywood with that!" Leon just eyed the man.
"S-sis Ellone... Un---uncle....Ki----os, Mom.... Daddd....I'm b-back! Ahhh" then he simply collapsed.
"OHHH MYY!!! HE'S .... REALLY .........SQUALL!!! She hugged him with all her might. Tears start to fall from her cheeks to his. "All these years..... I knew it.... I knew you'll be back!"
"This is ridiculous!" Leon protested, "How can you believe this ....actor just like that? If Odine says the same, don't tell me you're going to believe that too?"
"Here you go again......why don't you mind your own business" Rinoa yelled back. "Or are you just simply.................jealous?"
"Jealous? Me? Why would I? Do marry him for all I care but please ........" Leon sighs, "What if....what if the "real Squall" is still out there waiting for your eyes to look his way ....just ....just look at him for a moment and remember him". Leon searches Rinoa's eyes for a place, a place where she could hear him and understand his riddles. "Don't make him suffer again. You've hurt his feelings before....don't punished him with the same pain again!"
Rinoa just stared expressionlessly at him. "This is too much Leon, why are you telling me these things? As if you're possessed by Squall's ghost, controlling your emotions, controlling your whole body to act like his. You're making it hard for me. Squall, I've finally found you. You're here.... lying helplessly to this bed.
Author's note: Feelings are really soaring here...that's all I can say. So what do you think of this format? Do you want me to continue this structure or what? Any comments, suggestions, and clarifications are welcome.