Compressed

She slowly turned around and faced him. But her face simply shimmered like a reflection upon the surface of a pool of water, and the more he tried to make it out the less he could see. He couldn't see her face. A flash of light. the familiar surroundings of the Balamb Garden ballroom. And he realised that he had been here before. It was the SeeD Graduation dance, all over again. Squall peered forward and saw Rinoa with her back to him, dressed in her lilac coloured formal dress, gazing upwards at the nights sky, admiring the shooting star that shot past. It was all the same as before. In a second she would look down and turn round, their eyes meeting for the first time once again. Sure enough, she lowered her view and turned around, but her face was still . He could see the other graduates dancing away quite clearly, but as he looked to her face and was met with an indistinguishable blur.

I don't understand. Why can't I see you?

Another flash.

His heart racing.

Where is she? Where is she?

A lone space suit gliding helplessly through the depths of outer space, and then back to the ballroom. Except there was no one there. The space of on the ballroom floor where Rinoa had stood was now completely empty.

Rinoa?

For a split second she was returned, and then she vanished immediately again. Squall felt a surge of light-headedness come over him, and he felt like he was about to be sick.

Where is Rinoa? Rinoa, where the hell are you?

And then she reappeared and started walking towards him once more, about to ask him for a dance. And then she was gone. The music of the ballroom was suddenly accompanied by a surge of eerie noises.

Another blinding flash, and Squall saw a pair of rings on a chain flying through an endless tunnel. A woman screamed, and he saw the colossal X-ATMO robot storm towards him. Quistis and Zell cried out to him. Selphie, Irvine, they were there too. But where was Rinoa? Why wasn't she there? Machine gun fire.

I don't understand. What's happening? Where am I?

Rinoa gazed out over the Balamb Garden balcony, following the seagulls as they passed overhead as they flew through the sky. Seifer grabbed her and smacked her down hard onto the floor of Lunatic Pandora. She reached out and screamed, and an explosion engulfed his eardrums.

The ballroom again. Empty, except for the blurred figure of Rinoa who lowered her hand and walked towards him again. And again. And again. Forever. She would never reach him. The room started spinning. Spinning. Spinning. But never seeing her.

And as she walked and as he span a series of images stormed his brain. Any trace of thought as to what was happening was suddenly wiped from his brain, and Squall struggled to recover the remnants of his shattered memory.

Who? Where? When? What's happening?

His head ached with dizziness as he tried to remember what was real and what was not.

Rinoa. Where are you?

Rinoa…

Are you still there, Rinoa?

How long have I known you, Rinoa?

Did I meet you, Rinoa?

Do I know you, Rinoa?

The spacesuit again.

She leaped forward to embrace him, and her space suit visor broke into tiny pieces. Her naked flesh exposed to the relentless nothingness of space, she died instantly, and ceased to exist.

You're dead, Rinoa. Rinoa is dead. You're dead. Dead.

All turned white, and then there was nothing.