A mixture of different scenes and flashbacks. I decided to do it this way than have this whole step-by-step action scene yadda yadda. Hope it all goes well. I've been looking forward to writing this chapter and the next one for a while. It's long so think of it as me making up for all the time it took for me update.
Also for those of you that I didn't PM personally, the lemon chapter requested for after chapter 10 has been available on my Live Journal for viewing. Please leave all feedback and comments on that chap on there. I'd like to know what you guys think of it. Enjoy.
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Chapter 14
"Oh man, is Leon gonna flip when he sees this. Are you sure about this?" asked the jovial young kunoichi clasping her hands in front of her in excitement. Her eyes widened and glistened as she observed the two women in front of her.
"She looks authentic to me. If she says she is who she says she is, I see no reason to doubt her" Merlin raised an informative finger as he spoke.
Merlin's words only encouraged Yuffie's display of joy. She thrusted her hand in the air triumphantly, "Okay, but I wanna do it, let me! Let me!"
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"Damn…" Leon sputtered inaudible curses beneath his breath after stubbing his toe on some random piece of debris in Ansem's study.
After almost falling over because of the mess left behind by the Wise Ansem, it only provoked him to go back to the computer room although he was originally planning to clean up the study. It smelled too much of old yellowing pages and reeked of dust and mold in corners he wished he never discovered. In a way it was a relief to save the task for another time. It was too frustrating he decided, as if he didn't have enough work to do.
With all the restoration that still needed to be done and the research that still needed to be unveiled within Ansem's quarters, it seemed the one most enthusiastic about getting it done was him. Of course the others offered a hand and did their part but they never did too much. Whenever it came to suggesting an overnighter or some overtime, unless the town's safety was at stake, everyone seemed to be ducking around corners to avoid him. The thing that made him cringe the most is when he finally hunted them down and confronted them about the work that needed to be done they'd smile innocently and act as if they weren't avoiding him in the first place.
A workaholic was what they referred to him as. Maybe even neurotic but he couldn't help it. Work was the only thing that could occupy his mind and shove out the things he didn't want there. Work was the only thing that made him feel like he had a purpose, like he could redeem himself for the sins that have long stained his past. Work was the only way he could feel like he could go on.
Walking into the computer room with a scowl an electronic but friendly voice greeted him, "Having a bad day Leon?"
With clenched fists, trying not to take his anger out on the living machine he simply nodded, "Oh not at all. Couldn't be having a day any better than this. After all, I'm the only one that gets anything done around here"
"Hey!" replied the computer, obviously offended by his comment.
Leon sighed, releasing the tension and stiffness from his shoulders. Now smiling in defeat he walked up to the keyboard and gave it a friendly pat. "Sorry Tron, didn't mean you"
"Understood" was all he said back.
Leon began clearing up the documents nearby, sifting through them slowly as his eyes followed along the words. He wasn't really reading them. He'd do this sometimes. He'd find himself dazing off while in the middle of a task, somehow dazing off into his past unwillingly. After all it was the only time when he could think of who he used to be, who he really was. Not many people even knew his real name. It was not something he was fond of sharing because he changed it as his way of shielding himself from his true self. The self that lied within him that made him daze off, that made him stay awake at night, the self that would scar him for as long as time would allow him to live.
Shaking his head to re-enter reality he placed the pile of papers next to the computer before bringing himself to type onto the keyboard. Before he could get anywhere Tron spoke again, "Leon you have an incoming call"
"I'm busy so just ignore it"
"It seems the call coming through is urgent"
Leon stroked his chin for a moment in thought. Finally he sighed and nodded, "Put it through then" His eyes rolled the minute a round smiling face appeared on the screen. He squeezed the bridge of his nose between his eyes trying not to be too mean. He wasn't in the mood for Yuffie's little sister tugging on his sleeve tantrums.
"What do you want Yuffie? It better be important"
He was a bit startled and even worried upon hearing nothing but silence after he asked what her intentions were. Usually she was bubbling with energy and couldn't wait to bombard him with her stories or beg him to practice with her at the Olympus Coliseum. Silence was not Yuffie; therefore it was a very unsettling feeling that twisted in his stomach because of it.
He lifted his gaze to the screen at Yuffie's still smiling face, a very sly smile like she knew something he didn't know.
"There's a visitor here to see you Leon"
His brows furrowed, "A visitor? Why didn't you just tell them to come by when I was less busy?"
Her smile stretched wider, unhinging Leon's nerves even more. "Well because you're always busy and…"
Yuffie raised her finger to press on her lips, almost as if she were trying to string together the words she wanted to say in her head.
"And? And what?"
Yuffie's face transforming to bubbling child into solemn made Leon's heart jump. Something was not right. Something was strange, very strange. "She said to show you this and that you'll come"
Yuffie gracefully and cautiously raised a silver chain up into the screen's view. Leon's eyes widened at the silver ring turning and dangling at its end. Although worn and stained, there was no mistaking it.
Trembling eyes stared at the resemblance to the one on his finger. Feeling lightheaded as if his heart had stopped all air to his body, he held up his weight on his palms resting on the edge of the computer. He couldn't think, he couldn't move, he couldn't react.
"This isn't funny Yuffie!" his voice came out like a whimpering cry being forcibly contained with anger. It was as if all his past, the good and the bad, all washed away in the back of his mind had come rushing back in one full blow. It was too much.
Yuffie, still serious continued to hold the ring in the screen's view. A brief look of guilt spread on her face. She knew she was guilty of all the pranks she had played on Leon in attempt to lighten him up or just for fun. Maybe she had gone too far because what she was telling him now, was nowhere near a joke, nowhere near at all.
She strained her voice to be as humble and honest as possible, "Leon, I would never play a prank like this on you. Not like this…"
The thing that scared Leon the most was the look on her face and the tone of her voice. He knew she wasn't lying.
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"Nice to meet you Tifa, although I would've rather met you under different circumstances," Rinoa attempted a laugh to lighten the whole situation.
"I know what you mean. The realm of darkness isn't exactly my hang out spot" They continued to laugh, sweaty palms pressed against one another's. Even though it was a relief to find some other form of life within this eternal pit, it still didn't change the severity of the situation dawning upon them. They were still stuck either way.
"I'm came in here looking for someone named Squall. Know him?"
Tifa shook her head unconsciously even though Rinoa wouldn't see it. It rang a bell in the back of her mind and some sort of familiarity tugged at her heart but she didn't know anyone by that name. "Nope, sorry. Friend of yours?"
Rinoa paused briefly and just as Tifa began to wonder what she had said wrong, she answered, "A little more than that actually…"
Tifa's head hung regretfully, "I'm sorry if I brought back some unwanted feelings"
"No it's not that. It's just that I've been looking for him for a long time now. It was miracle enough to have run into you in here so I figured why not another miracle. Hey, it could happen" Rinoa forced on a smile.
Tifa nodded in agreement, "Yeah, a miracle would be good right about now. So why would you be in here looking for him though? How did you get in here?"
"Our world was swallowed into darkness and dark creatures years ago. We got separated and I've been traveling through random worlds and the realm since then"
Tifa gasped and spun around in surprise, "You can travel through the realm without the darkness consuming you and actually escaping it?" If it weren't for the blackness coating their vision, Rinoa would've seen Tifa's eyes widen and almost flicker with hope.
"Well I did before. The light burning in my heart would always lead me out somehow as long as I stayed strong. Yet as I continued to roam the worlds without finding him, I guess the hope in my heart has been fading a bit. That probably explains why I'm having such a hard time getting out now," Rinoa shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Tifa turned back around, leaning her back against Rinoa's. Her long hair brushing against Rinoa's back whose long hair also tickled her elbows. Tifa's hand rose to her chin in thought as she spoke, "Hmm, that may explain how I got out of the realm when I followed Cloud"
Rinoa lifted her head toward Tifa, "Cloud? Friend of yours?"
"A little more than that" the same answer Rinoa had given her except it had a whole other meaning behind it. Although her heart had been willingly given to someone else, Cloud was someone that stood by her side for so many years and she knew that she would always have a love for him in her heart. Friend was not the word she would use for him, not now, not ever.
"I kinda jumped in after him and somehow ended up in a world other than my own. I was looking for him too"
"Did you find him?"
"Yeah…but it's complicated. If I would've known the things that were going to take place once I jumped into the realm after him, who knows if I would've jumped in willingly"
"So why did you jump in then?"
"He always promised to come and save me whenever I was in a pinch. So I guess I wanted to return his promise" Tifa sighed. It was weird but the warmth on her back was a comforting feeling although this girl was a complete stranger to her. The fingers linked in hers made her feel as if the hand she was holding was like her sister or better yet considering the way they met, her guardian angel. Even though they had just met under such desperate circumstances, it seemed they already had a lot in common.
Rinoa broke the silence, "A promise…yeah, I made one of those too".
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The wind didn't calm the burn in his eyes as he ran full speed toward cliffs and alleys to the town. Clenching his glowing gunblade and cutting any heartless in his way, it only fueled the adrenaline pulsing through his body. His legs seemed to move swiftly without any thought. It was that same instinct that made him dart out from Ansem's study and run. Swarms of doubts and mixed emotions suffocated his head, clawing his heart.
His long brown hair swayed past his unsure expression as he ran, heart pumping. He couldn't describe what was happening inside of him. It was chaos.
Rinoa, it can't be you.
Images of memories that once sweetened his life passed through him in reminiscence. Her hands on his face, her arms hanging from his neck as they swayed to music, the warmth in his arms when she slept. It hurt so much to remember the things he had hid away along with his name.
Flower fields hugged in golden sunlight, the promise they had made to meet there if they ever separated. That place no longer existed. Once his world was restored that was the first thing he did when his memories flooded back and his feet hit the land. His small glimmer of hope was only met with painful disappointment after nights of sleeping in the bare oddments of what used to be the flower field for nothing to come. Eventually he had come to terms with himself that she was gone. There was nothing he could do. Her knight had failed to protect her.
Most of all the memory of how it happened stung him, how the world he had strived so much to save at one time, all the friends he had made, when he finally let people in, it was all gone within the blink of an eye.
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Green blades and flower petals swished in the warm spring breezes. Clear blue skies graced by clouds hung above the two lover's heads below.
Squall's arms wrapped around Rinoa as they sat in the grass, surrounded by flowers. Rinoa twiddled Squall's ring attached to the necklace around her neck in her fingers. Her head nuzzled into his warm chest as they closed their eyes, soaking in the peace around them.
"Rinoa, I wanted to ask you something before we head back," Squall's husky voice whispered above her head. He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat as Rinoa lifted herself up from the comfort of his embrace to meet his eyes.
He knew he was in way over his head when her eyes widened in curiosity and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. It must've been over almost two years since the world had been saved from the clutches of destruction, almost two years since he had devoted his heart and life to the woman in his arms. Sure as time went on she had helped to open him up but nothing would prepare him for the words he wanted to say to her. Expressing his emotions was never his forte.
Rinoa tilted her head and smiled, bringing her finger to trickle down the scar on his face. "What is it?" This only made him more nervous.
Just as his mouth opened and words were about to spill out, her eyes looking up at him widened at something else. She was no longer curious but terrified and shocked. Her jaw dropped as she gasped and wordlessly clutched and tugged onto his collar to signal for him to look up at the sky.
Squall spun his head to look up at the sky now spinning into what could only be described as a dark murky warp. He quickly got to his sense and stood up, pulling her limp and unsure body with him. "We've got to run back to the Garden now!"
Before they could run too far the ground began to shake beneath their feet. Lightning sliced through the murky skies above them and as the rock beneath them started to crack and break, screams were heard in the distance. It happened so fast; next to the strange black creatures swarming over the land, the chunks of earth being swallowed into the warps appearing in the sky and ground, words could not describe what was happening.
Next thing he knew he saw Balamb Garden spinning and being dragged into the hungry warping hole. He clutched onto Rinoa's shoulders as they watched helplessly, figures of bodies falling from their spinning home, people running and yelling on the ground in every direction. Selphie's voice was heard screeching out to Irvine and Zell was seen lost amongst the strange black creatures as he tried to defend himself from them.
He didn't know how it happened. All he knew was that everything was getting sucked in while he tried eagerly to fend off these unknown creatures attacking him. Everything was being devoured into what seemed like an infinite darkness. Even though he was doing okay getting these creatures away, it seemed that the more of these creatures that came, the more of his world that vanished.
Squall's voice screamed at its highest pitch as he found himself holding onto the branches of a tree for his life, Rinoa clinging onto his arm like she was hanging from a string.
"Don't let go! You can't let go!" Squall pleaded as he felt Rinoa's fingers slipping from his strong grasp. She felt like grains of sand. He couldn't hold onto her any longer.
To his surprise, Rinoa smiled as tears flew from her eyes, "Remember our promise"
Squall's eyes widened as she yelled her last words of love to him and her fingers unwillingly escaped his. Squall yelled and let go of the branch, allowing himself to fly into the winds of chaos towards the warp. He reached out for her desperately and she did the same. This wasn't outer space; there was no floating to one another. Their bodies were being thrashed and spun around to an unknown destination.
All Squall could remember last was the horrifying visions of his beloved world and the people he cared for being devoured or defeated by strange creatures. The last thing he heard was all the deafening screams ringing in his ears including his own before it all went black. He woke up in Traverse Town after that. He was alone.
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"Aww you can't see him in that. Merlin would you mind?" Yuffie gestured toward the elderly man stroking his long white beard for a bit of a wardrobe change.
He lifted his magic wand into the air towards the brunette in front of him, "For the head of the Restoration Committee, it's done"
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Once again an unknown amount of stretched mind-numbing time dragged on inside the realm. The two girls holding hands, backs resting on one another's had grown silent for some time as they lost each other in their own thoughts.
"So what was he like?" Tifa attempted to make conversation.
Rinoa's lips curved with a smirk, "He was a serious stiff that never let anyone in"
Tifa laughed loudly, "Just like Cloud!"
They giggled at nothing at all. Even though they had laughed at what Rinoa said, after a few seconds that the humor should've worn off, they continued to laugh for no reason. Maybe from insanity finally claiming their minds, maybe from the sadness lurking inside them, maybe from nothing at all. It just happened.
"Yeah but he changed a bit once I came to disrupt him" Tifa could sense the pain in her new friend from the trembling in her fingers. Tifa clenched tighter in reassurance. Words of Tifa's past came spilling out from her and Rinoa did the same. They both listened intently; it was what they needed most even if it was to a complete stranger.
Her heart jumped at the sounds of his name every time Rinoa said it until she could no longer contain her urges. "You said he wears a lion emblem around his neck?" Rinoa nodded and Tifa turned, "Someone I know named Leon wears one too and he's a serious stiff just like Squall"
Rinoa turned to Tifa, now on her knees and clenching both of Tifa's hands in hers. "Leon, you mean Leonhart? It's Squall's last name!" Tifa could sense the hope in her voice returning.
"I don't know if it's the same person but I just have a feeling, it tells me that we need to get out of here and find out"
Rinoa smiled, "It's funny how the hope in your heart had faded even lower than mines and now it seems that you're the more hopeful one out of the two of us"
"I guess I realized that things could've been worse. I guess meeting someone like me and hearing your story just made me want you to reunite with this person, just like I want to reunite with the people I love. If you've gotten out of here before, we can help each other"
"So does that mean you're gonna tell Axel and Cloud how you feel?" Rinoa arched a brow in challenge towards Tifa.
"Only if you promise to never give up looking for Squall"
"Deal!" They shook hands and eagerly stood up with a new burst of confidence.
"I can't wait to get out of here and actually see a face to go with your voice," they began to walk in no particular direction. "So how did you get out before all those times?"
Rinoa stopped her by the hand and pressed her hands on her heart to demonstrate that she follow. Tifa copied her. "Just close your eyes and follow"
"Follow what?" the baffled brunette asked as she closed her eyes obediently.
"The light of your love and hope in your heart"
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The horizon of the town's buildings soon greeted Leon's eyes as he ran closer. His chest heaving and ready to shatter in disappointment if the worst would happen when he got there. Townspeople looked up with confused expressions as Leon ran past them with a lost and painful look in his eyes. His eyes were full of angst, full of fear and a small speck of hope that should've died long ago.
His body halted harshly like screeching tires upon the doorstep of Merlin's home. Almost on cue Yuffie walked out onto the steps and without thinking Leon desperately clutched her fragile shoulders in his hands. Her eyes widened in surprise at his outburst.
He wheezed and shook in front of her. She had never seen him this way. He was either distant or just pieced together perfectly around others. She never pictured the day that Leon would fall apart.
"W-where- wha-" Leon struggled for words like a babbling toddler. His lips couldn't form any sensible sentence and his disarrayed mind made it no better.
Yuffie pointed toward the Market Place, "She's waiting in the Market Place Leon"
Without waiting for her to finish he let her go and darted off again. Gray concrete slabs blurring past him with his running speed. Once entering the Market Place, a mob of people were beginning to emerge from their shops, curious of the commotion that must've awaited him in its core.
Finally he stopped at the bottom of the steps in the center of the Market Place. Panting to catch his breath he turned his head to the left and it was then that his heart stopped. The blood in his veins froze and the muscles in his body stiffened.
If it weren't for her voice, he would've thought he died.
"Squall Leonhart…"
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OMG I never wrote a chap this long before. I actually wanted to write more but I stopped myself because then who knows how long this would've been. I really hope it wasn't confusing and there will be more on how Tifa and Rinoa made it out along with Axel and Cloud's situation and what happened to them in the next chap. I played FF VIII a long time ago and only once so forgive me if I made any mistakes of any kind. Feel free to correct me. Hope this chap turned out okay, I wasn't too sure about the method I used but hey, you don't know until you try.
