Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything related to FFVIII, all I own is the plot.
- Chapter seven: A Photograph -
"Can you believe it? Another one and no one saw anything even though there were people watching." Quistis sighed exasperatedly.
The others stared at her.
"What do you mean?" Squall asked as he put his arm around Rinoa's waist.
Quistis threw a piece of paper on the table. Everyone bent forward to read it.
"We were discussing where to hold the stake-out last night. Next thing we know new posters were scattered all over."
Selphie pulled the paper towards her and read it. Irvine read over her shoulder. He went pale.
"And no one saw a thing?" Selphie asked as she passed it on to Squall and Rinoa.
Squall didn't bother reading it and looked at Quistis instead. "You were in the hall and still didn't see who did it?"
"If you think you can do better, then I'm not stopping you." Quistis snapped. "You're the one in charge of this Garden but you redirect everything on to others so you don't have to do a thing!"
"Now stop right there!" he said angrily.
Rinoa stopped listening to their arguement and focussed her attention on the paper. She somehow dreaded to read it, but she also found it had an inexplicable attraction to it. Her eyes glided over the page, slowly growing wider with fear.
'A little bluejay in a cage, waiting for true love to free her. Isn't this a sad sight? That's what a boy outside her cage thought too. He didn't know how she had come to be there. A long time ago she had seen an open cage. It had everything she had ever wanted. She had known she would be safe there. It would protect her from the evil things in the garden around her.
So she flew inside and settled down. After seeing that she felt safe in it, she decided to close the door so she would be even safer. When she had closed it, it fell into a lock. But she didn't care at the time. Yet now she began to doubt her decision and asked the little boy for help.
"Please, free me." She chirrupped.
"No, not now." Said the boy. "You still love your cage too much. Your love binds you to it. But perhaps you'll feel free if you imagine flying away. Stretch out those wings of yours and leave all this behind. No more worries, no more cage...perhaps that will make you feel better."
And the boy turned to leave the little bluejay on her own. Alone in her invisable cage.'
"It doesn't really make sense, does it." Selphie said dismissively.
Rinoa, however, felt a chill run down her spine. These words were far too familiar for her liking. She felt someone's eyes on her and looked up to meet them. Irvine looked straight at her. She suddenly realised that he had recognised these words too. After all, they had been his.
She stood up hastily, knocking over her glass.
"Look out, Rinoa." Quistis said irritably as she caught the glass before it fell to the ground.
"Hey, are you alright?" Squall asked curiously when he saw her pale face.
"I- I'm...a little tired. I think I'll go have a lie down."
They watched her leave in silence.
"She didn't seem okay to me." Selphie said quietly. "If you ask me she was a little pale."
"I'll go see if she's okay." Irvine said as he stood up.
"No, I'll go." Squall said, standing up a little quicker. "I'll see you guys later."
Irvine gave him a nasty glance, but the others didnt notice.
"Irvine, why did you do that?" Selphie asked curiously.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You know...offer to go check on her. Squall's her boyfriend, you kow. You've insulted him now." She said.
"What? I was just worried. She's my friend."
"But I think he took it the wrong way. I think that he thinks that he spends too little time with her now and you just stressed that by going to check faster than he did."
"That sounds way to far fetched...if he does really think like that, then that's his problem, not mine. If he feels guilty then perhaps he has a reason for it. I'm hungry, you guys want anything?" he said briskly.
Quistis and Selphie shook their heads. He stood up and walked away. He had nearly betrayed himself but somehow he didn't care. He knew why Rinoa felt ill, Squall didn't. But then again, perhaps it was better if he didn't go to her now.
The words on that piece of paper had scared him too. He had recognised them right away and now he started to feel the same fear Rinoa had described to him. Someone had been watching them, that was the only explanation for what was going on.
She paced the room. It had happened again. Someone had been watching them and had listened to their words. Someone...but they had been alone in the hall the day before, hadn't they? There had been no one else, just like last night in the Training Centre.
She shuddered at the thought of those voices again.
The door behind her opened and she snapped around. Squall gave her a strange look.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine." She lied. "Just a little tired."
He hugged her. "If you feel so tired you should get some sleep."
She smiled. "I know. I thought I'd lie down, that'll do me good."
She sat down on the bed and Squall followed her.
"You know." He said softly as he leaned in a little closer. "I could keep you company if you like."
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her neck. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see him. He trailed a path up her neck, up to her cheek and then kissed her mouth. She didn't respond, but he didn't notice or he didn't care.
Slowly he pushed her down on the bed and continued to kiss her. She tried to let him without feeling disgusted, but she couldn't. She sat up, pushing him away.
"I'm sorry...I just..." she whispered. "I don't feel okay. I'm tired..."
He stood up. "Sorry...I just thought- Sorry."
"Squall..." she took his hand and looked at him. "Don't feel sorry. I'm just a bit tired. Perhaps I'm coming down with something. So, not now. But perhaps tonight?"
Squall smiled. "You know what, we'll see then. You just get some rest first. How 'bout I make you a cup of tea and you snuggle up in bed with a good book and Angelo next to you."
"That would be wonderfull." She said. "You really are the sweetest person."
He blew her a kiss and disappeared behind a corner to fix her a cup of tea. Rinoa looked around for a book to read. She called out Angelo's name and he came trotting in. She patted the empty spot on the bed next to her and Angelo jumped up, snuggling his nose on Squall's pillow. She tried to make herself remember to wash that before they'd go to bed that night.
She hugged Angelo, pushing her face into his fur. He made a content sound and she scratched him behind his ears. Squall came back ang handed her a mug.
"I'll go back to the others now. Drink up and rest a little. You'll feel better in no time."
She smiled. "Come here."
She stretched out her hand and he took it. She pulled him a little closer and kissed him softly. He smiled and pulled back.
"I'll see you soon."
She listened to the door close and then fell back down on the bed. But she sat straight back up again, feeling restless. She sat down on her knees in front of her bedside table and the draw, rummaging through it.
She pushed aside the photographs of her and Squall and finally let out a loud sigh when she couldn't find what she was looking for. She stood up and ran to the desk and rummaged through the papers on top. Finally she found that drawing of the little blue bird.
She held it up before her eyes to look at it when she suddenly felt a little dizzy. She dropped the drawing and reached for her head as everything went white before her eyes. She barely even noticed falling to the floor.
"Why are you so restless?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's the heat."
"Are you sure? Because you keep figgeting. It's kinda making me nervous."
"Look, will you stop it? I'm fine." He snapped.
He watched her bright green eyes become teary and her bottom lip trembled. He sighed and looked away.
"...Selphie...don't."
"Why are you so mean to me..." she whispered quietly. "I never meant to do anything wrong."
"Selphie, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have-"
He tried to put his arm around her but she stood up and backed away.
"No, not his time, Irvine Kinneas. Every time you upset me you try to charm your way out of the ugly situation. But not this time! This time you'd better make an effort to appologise because you do this every time!"
He was surprised by her outburst. Normally he could just be his charming self and calm her down like that.
"Sefie...baby, come on..." he tried.
But she snapped around and stomped away. He raised his hand to his head and watched her as she went back inside Garden.
'Damn...' he thought.
Now he had another crisis on his hands. First Rinoa and now Selphie. He shook his head and went inside too. He knew it would be a very bad idea to follow Selphie to her room. In this state, he didn't know how she would react.
'Right...what now?'
He tried to remember what Squall did to make up with Rinoa. Most of the times he'd take her to a restaurant and bring her flowers. Quickly he made his way to his own room to make reservations at Balambs most expensive, and only, restaurant.
Satisfied with this swift way of handling the situation, he decided to visit Rinoa quickly before going out to buy Selphie flowers. He made sure the corridor was empty when he knocked on the door. He didn't want to be seen.
There was no answer. He kocked again. While waiting for Rinoa to answer the door, he looked around again. There was still no one else in the corridor, but still no answer came either.
"Rinoa?" he called. "Rinoa, are you there?"
When still no answer came, he decided to leave. She had probably gone to be with Squall somewhere, he thought bitterly.
But as he wanted to turn away from the door, he noticed that it wasn't closed properly. That meant it wasn't locked either! He grabbed the door handle and wanted to pull it shut. But the temptation to take a quick look inside made him open it instead. He looked around once more and then, very quickly, dove inside.
As he scanned the room, he saw pictures of Squall and Rinoa all over the walls. Angelo's basket was empty beside the couch.
'That's odd.' He thought.
He remembered Rinoa telling him that Angelo would be in there at every opportunity he got.
'The lazy old dog.' Irvine thought with a smile.
He wanted to turn around and leave, feeling he shouldn't be here anyway, when a soft whimpering caught his ear. It was Angelo, no doubt about it.
"Angelo? Where are you, boy? Are you alright?"
He followed the sound towards the bedroom. He opened the door slowly, expecting to see Angelo with his tail stuck in a drawer or with his paw stuck behind a bookcase. He hadn't expected to see Rinoa lying sprawled on the floor.
Her silky black hair was scattered around her head messily and her face was even paler than it had been before. Irvine froze for a second, then he snapped out of that immediately. He ran forward, clutching Rinoa in his arms tightly.
He noticed something on the floor next to her, close to where her hand had been. He picked it up and stuffed it in his pocket to examine later. First he needed to get her to the infirmary. He walked as fast as he could with the weight of a young girl in his arms.
"Help!" he shouted. "Anyone! Rinoa needs help. Please!"
Some dorm doors opened as he passed, but no one stepped out to help him. Everyone was too surprised to see him carrying this girl. Irvine cursed under his breath.
"Can't anyone do something?" he shouted angrily as he strode on.
Someone muttered something about calling Squall but Irvine kept going. Who knew how long Rinoa had been passed out. She needed medical attention.
He burst through the infirmary door, surprising the doctor at the desk. Irvine put Rinoa on one of the beds and watched as the doctor silently joined him at his side.
The door burst open again, this time letting in Squall, closely followed by the others.
"Doctor! What happened?" Squall asked nervously.
"Mister Kinneas just brought her in. I can't-"
"Irvine? You?" he asked suspicously. "Where did you find her?"
"I-" he hesitated. "I found her in your dorm."
Selphie took in a sharp breath. "Their dorm? What were you doing in their dorm?"
"I wanted to make sure she was feeling okay before I'd pick you up for a surprise dinner." He answered just as sharply. "And it's a good thing I did, too. Because she obviously isn't okay!"
"Ahem." Doctor Kadowaki interrupted. "How exactly did you find her?"
"She was sprawled on the floor...as if she had fallen backwards...oh...and this was next to her too..."
He reached into his pocket and took out the piece of paper he had found. He wanted to take a good look at it, but Squall snatched it away.
"This is one of our photographs." He said quietly as he unfolded it. "...W- what the..."
Squall's eyes grew big with incomprehension as he slowly reached for a chair to sit on.
"Squall, what's wrong?" Quistis asked worriedly.
He didn't answer, but handed her the photograph. She took it.
"Oh my..." she gasped.
The others now peered at it too. It was a photograph of Squall hugging Rinoa from behind on the 2F balcony. But Rinoa could only be recognised by her blue attire because her face had been scratched out.
Selphie let out a gasp too. "...Poor Rinni! She must have fainted from shock when she saw this. Who would send her something like this?"
Quistis laid a hand on Squall's shoulder. "...I...I don't want to be a messenger of bad news, Squall. But you know what this looks like."
He nodded vaguely.
"Sending someone something like this is a method often used by stalkers to threaten someone...Like the man in the paper the other day...the journalist...he sent his victims photographs just like this..." Quistis continued quietly.
Squall looked at the photograph again. Someone was threatening Rinoa...but why?
Doctor Kadowaki quietly tucked Rinoa in under the sheets. "It's time for you all to leave so I can examine her."
Squall nodded again and stood up hastily.
"Quistis, come with me. We're going to find out who sent this. I will not tolleratesthreats in my Garden and especially not if they're made against-"
He didn't finish his sentence but the others knew what he had meant. Irvine left first. He wondered if he should tell someone about what was going on. Rinoa had mentioned notes, they had both seen the posters...but this was getting out of hand. This was getting out of hand really sudden and really fast.