IV
Rinoa pushed aside the heavy waterproof fabric that was used as a door for the gym so Squall, who had his hands busy carrying some boxes, could enter after her. The place had been adapted as an improvised infirmary, beds and mattresses had been lined up along the walls to assist to the wounded and sick survivors.
Squall set the boxes lined up on the wall, along with the other remaining medical supplies, and lamented seeing the place so empty. Trabia's medical staff was beginning to have serious difficulties in treating the wounded and there were severe shortages of medical supplies and other basic necessities.
"Why is it so cold here?" Rinoa asked as she brushed off the snow that had settled on her hair and clothes. A snowstorm was approaching and the weather had the weather had gotten very bad in a matter of minutes.
"The generator is failing." Explained one of the girls who was serving as a nurse. The two newcomers looked at her, alarmed by the news. The power from the generator was used to heat the infirmary and the sleeping area, with the storm approaching they were going to need it. At night, in that northern region, the temperatures were very low and with the addition of the snow storm, that could be fatal.
"There's no other generator? "Squall asked, he was surprised that a building of such size had only that small engine. It was possible, of course, that the bombardment would have destroyed any other generator Trabia might have.
"There should be a bigger one in the basement of the main building." added a cadet whose arm bandages were being changed. Squall had seen him helping with the rescue of the lasts survivors a few days ago, some debris had fallen on him, crushing his arm. "We have not yet accessed there, we gave priority to rescue tasks and ensuring a safe area for survivors. Since we had the emergency generator running, going to check the one in the basement was not a priority."
"Is it accessible?" Rinoa asked.
"There is an access to the basement in the main building," the boy explained. "In the part of the building that is still standing, through a door in the north lobby".
"We can go take a look." Announced the raven-haired girl with a look of sheer determination on her face "The storm is getting worse, we will need a reliable source of energy to warm up."
The nurse stopped her tasks and looked at them. Squall noticed the sloppy work she did with the bandages in the cadet's arm and became fully aware that this girl was not trained medical personnel. In Trabia, nobody was an expert in anything, they were just people doing whatever it took to help others survive.
"It's the Garden's old main generator; it should be on the second floor of the basement. It was used years ago when the power went out due to winter storms to provide electricity to the main building. It has not been used again since the power line was buried underground." she looked worried and the following words were uttered almost in a whisper "It may not even work after all that time."
"We can try, at least" Rinoa said with a reassuring smile on her face.
After receiving directions on how to get there, Squall and Rinoa exited the gym to head towards what was left of the main building. The wind had worsened considerably in the few minutes they had spent inside and it felt so cold against their cheeks that it felt like if they were being cut with a sharp knife. Squall looked up at the dark threatening sky in apprehension.
"We must hurry," He told Rinoa, who nodded in agreement. "If the storm worsens we'll be trapped there."
They entered the building through the part that had collapsed from the explosions. The rune had been pushed aside, so access the rest of the building was relatively easy.
Squall looked at the cracked ceiling. The structural integrity of the building had been seriously compromised, the rescue teams had secured some areas but it was still not safe to go that far inside the building.
They walked in silence following the directions they had been given by the infirmary people. The smell of dust and ash still lingered on the fire-blackened walls. There were stains of dried blood on the floor and walls, in the places where the wounded had rested or people had died. Howling wind filtered through the broken windows causing a draft of cold air that gave the environment a ghostly feeling. It gave Rinoa goose bumps to be there.
Since they had arrived Trabia they had been extremely busy helping out in any way possible. First, it was the rescue tasks of the survivors that remained trapped under the debris. After that, they began to adapt some of the warmest areas as infirmary and bedrooms. On several occasions she had cried, when they found a survivor, when they found another corpse or when someone told her their experience. She had been working until exhaustion, sleeping just a few hours to wake up to work all day again. Being busy as they were, she hadn't taken the time to really think about the situation. Now, walking silently through those passageways, with no immediate work to occupy her hands and mind, her emotions hit hard. She felt her eyes began to water and had to suppress the urge to sob. She couldn't even imagine how traumatic the first hours after the bombing would have been. Even days later, when they arrived, although most of the survivors had already been rescued, the cemetery built at the east entrance of the Garden continued to grow day by day with the bodies that were removed from under the rubble and of those who had not managed to survive the terrible injuries. Despite of being trained to leave apart her own feelings, it was still hard for her to come to terms with what happened there.
She sniffed and Squall glanced at her. If he had seen her eyes wet with tears, he just decided to ignore it. Rinoa didn't know whether to be grateful or upset about it and they just kept walking in a tense silence.
Eventually, they reached the lobby from where they could access the basement. The wind could be heard howling loudly outside the building and Squall lifted his head to the windows that opened high up in the lobby. Those windows must be of the few that were still intact and trough them, he could only see a dense white curtain of snow. The storm had quickly gained strength and it might not be wise to leave the building and go back to the gym once the generator was on. Maybe they would have to stay there and wait for the storm to subside. If that was the case, he just hoped that the temperatures weren't to drop enough for them to catch a hypothermia.
"Over there" Rinoa pointed out at the stairs that went down into the dark basement.
Squall reached into his coat for the small flashlight they had been equipped with for rescue work and turned it on. She also had one herself but it didn't have much battery left and she decided to keep it in case they needed it later, for now Squall's flashlight would be enough.
"There should be another staircase at the end of this corridor and then we just have to walk straight until we find the generator room." Rinoa remembered the directions they had been given.
"Come on," Squall stepped into the dark closely followed by the raven-haired girl.
Rinoa watched him advance a short distance from her and realized that she should be the one to assume the leading role. She was the Seed, but the young male seemed to fear nothing. When they rescued him from prison, he had been tortured and was badly injured, but she didn't hear him complain even once. His wounds were serious and she had to administer several sessions of white magic before he could fully heal. She knew how much it could hurt to force the body to heal at that rate, but he never complained with more than with a couple of grunts. When they got to Trabia he had been willing to help in whatever was necessary, he was not cowed by hard work or by the sight of wounds and corpses. Even at that moment, despite her being the Seed and him being just a civilian, he had taken the leading role without hesitation. Rinoa wondered who this stranger really was, was he really just a civilian? She knew he had been caught for attacking President Deling in a one-man assault. Was it bravery or recklessness?
She had tried to talk to him but he didn't seem inclined to share personal information or to spend more time than the strictly necessary in her company, or anyone's company, for that matter. All her attempts to approach him had been quickly dismissed by his elusive attitude. Rinoa couldn't help but be curious about the quiet and attractive stranger.
They walked silently through the halls. As they went deep into the basement, they left behind the storm's sound and their footsteps were all that could be heard in the darkness that surrounded them. Water was seeping through some cracks in the walls, leaving pools of slippery half-frozen water on the floor and Rinoa wondered if it was snow from the surface melting and seeping through the gaps in the wall or if it came from the broken pipes caused by the explosion. She tried to avoid wondering if the building would withstand the lash of the storm or if it would fall on them, burying them in the basement or crushing them under the weight of tons of stone and debris. She forced herself not to think about it and soon they reached the point they had been directed to: a metal door with a sign indicating it was the generator room.
"It's here." Rinoa indicated before pushing the door.
The hinges squeaked loudly in the silent basement and they both entered in a round room. The door opened onto a metal balcony that circled the room along the wall. From that platform they could see the upper part of the machine, which rested on a lower floor. Rinoa looked around searching for the control panel to turn on the generator. Squall followed her, lighting her way with the flashlight.
"There," Squall pointed with the light beam a few feet ahead of them a metal ladder led that to the lower floor.
The SeeD approached the ladder, which seemed attached to the balcony floor. She gently kicked the ladder and the rusty grip groaned under her feet.
"I don't know if it will hold the weight of the both of us." She turned to him. "You should stay here. I weigh less than you, and if it falls I will need you to go back and get some help." Moreover, I am a Seed and you are just a civilian, she thought.
"Okay," Squall did not like to stand aside but he wasn't in to mood to argue with her. "Do you have a flashlight?"
Rinoa nodded and tapped one of the pockets, smiling.
"Light me while I go down, will you?"
Squall did as asked and watched as the girl descended the rusty ladder. At every step the light beam illuminated a small cloud of dust and rust particles that fell off the rungs when the girl stepped on them. Rinoa reached the lower floor and pulled her own flashlight from her pocket to illuminate her surroundings. She inspected the room but couldn't find any visible control panel that could be used to start the generator. Near the machine there was a big metal box, with a little door that seemed to be closed. Maybe the controls were in there or maybe it was just the access to the fuel tank. Either way, she would have to open it to check. She walked over and tried to open it pulling the handle with her free hand but it didn't move. She groaned in annoyance, tucked the flashlight between her teeth and tried again with all the strength she was capable of with both hands. It didn't move.
"Squall! I need help, I have to open some kind of metal box but I don't have enough strength."
Squall didn't reply. It was a habit that Rinoa found irritating but she was learning not to interpret it as a personal offense. She heard the sound of his footsteps against metal and she illuminated the ladder with her flashlight, watching as Squall began to descend.
Squall could feel the vibration of the ladder at every rung he descended, he was halfway down when a loud creak echoed through the room. He stood still and looked up at the top of the structure, where the sound seemed to come from. He waited for the metal to stop vibrating and when he was about to resume he heard a squeak and a much louder creak, accompanied by a strong shock that spread throughout the ladder.
One of the clamps that held the ladder to the balcony broke, and the weight caused the other clamp to rip the entire metal panel on which it was held. Chunks of rusted metal fell to the floor below as the ladder tilted dangerously until it lost its balance and fell toward the center of the room. Squall had to react quickly if he didn't want to slam into the top of the generator with the full weight of the ladder falling on him. Squall let go of the ladder and jumped gracefully to the ground. Thanks to his well-trained reflexes he was saved from what could have been a fatal fall of several meters.
The ladder clattered against the generator and slided across its side until it fell to the ground. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the room, above Rinoa's concerned voice.
"Squall!" The light from the girl's flashlight errantly illuminated his surroundings as she approached him quickly. "Squall, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he reassured her.
"You sure?" She had quickly reached his side and illuminated him directly to check if he was as good as his apparent indifference seemed to indicate.
"It was nothing." His eyes were fixed on the balcony, several meters above their heads. "But now we are trapped."
Rinoa lit up the broken metal plates on the balcony floor and the parts that had collapsed.
"Maybe we can fix it somehow?" She hopefully wished.
"I don't think so. The ladder is broken" The clamps that held the staircase to the balcony had been broken and several rusty rungs were lying scattered on the ground.
Squall reached into his pocket, frowned and muttered something under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Squall glanced at her briefly before looking away at the ground around him.
"My flashlight" he replied looking around. "I must have dropped it"
Rinoa helped him by illuminating the ground around her with her lanterns until she saw the device lying on the ground near the wall. She walked over and took it and, as soon as it was lifted, the front piece of the light came off.
"It's broken" She announced trying to turn it on with no results. "It doesn't work anymore".
Squall growled in frustration. They were trapped in a cold, damp basement with only a flashlight, which, judging by the intensity of the light it emitted, didn't have much battery left.
"It might take a while for them to come for us. Irvine might notice that we are missing, but they'll have to wait for the storm to ease. We should try to turn on the generator, maybe it helps warm the room a little bit?" Rinoa hoped it really worked. Her toes were already feeling numb from the cold.
"Or maybe it will leave us deaf." Squall pointed out. It was a large machine, old and in not very good condition, probably the noise inside the room would be unbearable without hear protection.
"Let's try it. Help me open it."
Squall followed her and they tried to force the opening of the little door in the metal structure but the joints were in bad condition and the rust seemed to have welded the parts together. How long had it not been used? Although in the climatic conditions of the place, it was to be expected that the iron structures that were not properly insulated would quickly deteriorate.
"Wait" Rinoa turned and walked away towards the fallen ladder. She grabbed one of the rungs that had come off and returned to Squall. "Let's try with this."
With the help of the metal bar they forced the door until it broke. As Rinoa had thought, inside the metal box was the control panel. They inspected it and tried to start it without getting a response. The girl pressed all the buttons and levers but the engine of the machine did not come to life.
"It doesn't work" She grunted in frustration after some minutes of desperately trying to make it work.
"I think there is no fuel." It was logical to think that if it had not been used for so many years, no one would have refilled the fuel tank. They should have thought of that possibility before going down to the basement. Squall felt ridiculous for not having considered that possibility earlier.
Frustrated, he walked around the generator, looking for an alternative without much success. What a failure, he thought. They had gone down there to find a way to keep the functional areas warm and not only had they not succeeded, but they had also been trapped.
For several minutes they looked for a way to climb to the balcony but nothing has worked. Finally, an exhausted Rinoa, sat on top of the metal enclosure of the control panel. It hadn't been useful to start the generator, but at least it would serve as a seat to avoid sitting on the cold ground.
"I give up" She announced scrubbing her gloved hands together to warm her fingers as Squall continued to scan the surroundings for an exit that seemed to be non-existent. In the basement they were protected from the snowstorm but the cold and the humidity made their fingers to go num. The raven-haired girl watched him examining the ladder, the generator and the walls; either he was too focused to notice her gaze, or he had just decided to ignore it.
"We'll have to wait for a rescue team." Squall eventually resigned himself.
Over the next few minutes the Seed made a few attempts at conversation but Squall didn't seem interested and the room quickly fell silent again. Rinoa sighed in resignation as Squall continued pacing the room, ignoring her. There were times when this man drove her to despair. At first, she thought that his evasive attitude could be triggered by the trauma suffered in D-district prison. She believed that it would get better and he would open up to her but, as the days went by, she realized that his bad attitude was something inherent in his personality. She also realized that his temperance in front of risky and dangerous situations were not typical of a civilian without any kind of military training. Rinoa was sure he was not who he claimed he was, or at least, not just that. Despite this, she firmly believed that the boy hadn't any hidden intentions.
They were silent for a long time, without a clock or a window, it was difficult to know if it had been just a few minutes or over an hour. Being in the dark with nothing to do for so long made Rinoa start to feel the tiredness of all day of hard work.
"I'm falling asleep." Rinoa announced, scrubbing her eyelids with the back of her hand.
"You should try to avoid it, at this temperature and without a good sleeping bag, you could be at risk of hypothermia if you fall asleep."
"I know." She paused briefly. "Could we talk? It will help me stay awake."
"… I wouldn't know what to say to you." He sounded so sincere that the girl could not help but giggle, she had expected a negative answer but his helpless expression was kind of cute to her.
"I see… You're a man of few words, uh" she looked amused but he just shrugged indifferently at the comment.
"Tell me, are you really just a member of the resistance? Your reflexes when the ladder has fallen… you seem to have received some kind of military training."
The scarf covered her mouth and her voice was muffled but Squall saw the mist of her breath rise in front of her face and the tip of her nose red from the cold. She was staring at him waiting for an answer and Squall felt the weight of her attention upon him. He had to look away somewhat ashamed of their own feelings. He was not someone to be impressed by the beauty of any girl who crossed his path.
"I studied in Balamb Garden for a few years." He replied, trying to ignore the unfamiliar emotion.
"What happened? Did you fail or something?" the girl cocked her head in a curious gesture, genuinely intrigued by his life.
"I left." he didn't elaborate further and Rinoa was forced to keep asking if she wanted to know more.
"Why?"
He hesitated, he didn't like to talk about personal stuff but the girl's sleepy face told him that it was better to keep talking to keep her awake.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I never felt like it was my place, I guess."
Rinoa lifted her head to pass her chin over the scarf, fully revealing her face, suddenly interested in the conversation. They had been together in Trabia for weeks but she knew little of the enigmatic Squall Leonhart. That confession had been uncharacteristically personal and even he was surprised at how natural it had been to admit it to her.
"I understand the feeling." She answered in a lower voice.
Squall skeptically didn't believe she really understood it, so he decided not to comment further. The Seed seemed like a very extrovert, lighthearted, and naïve person. She had treated him as if they were friends from the moment they met and, in Trabia, she had quickly managed to get along with the locals. She was friendly, people liked her, and she seemed to fit easily wherever she went.
"I…" Her hand moved almost instinctively to her neck, searching for the ring she wore on a silver chain, but the coat prevented her from reaching it. "My mother died years ago and my relationship with my father has never been good. When I troubled him too much, he enlisted me in Galbadia Garden. To get rid of me, I guess."
Squall didn't know what to say to that. He was not good at talking about personal issues and he considered that each person had to deal with their own problems. It was pointless to complain about what one has had to live if you are not willing to do something to change it.
"I'm sorry. I don't like to talk about these things." He admitted, at the risk of sounding rude, something he had never really cared about anyway.
Rinoa made a sound with her tongue that Squall didn't knew whether to interpret as an offense, annoyance or some kind of forced laugh.
"You don't usually talk about yourself a lot, do you?"
"… I wouldn't know what to say."
"I'm sure you're more interesting than you give yourself credit for." As she said those words she leaned forward, breaking eye contact and directing her gaze to her own feet.
"Whatever." He crossed his arms and frowned, irritated and confused by her demeanor.
There were times when it was difficult for him to interpret the girl's intentions. Sometimes she seemed to be amused by his behavior but other times she got upset if he did not meet her expectations. There were some occasions that she even seemed to be flirting. It confused him and he had never liked feeling that way.
"We should turn off the flashlight so that the battery doesn't die, maybe we will need it later." He changed the subject to one more useful than talking about his own private life. "We don't know how long we're going to stay here."
"You're right." she moved, patting the spot at her side. "Sit with me, at least we'll be warmer."
Even though he was reluctant to do it, he sat down next to her before she turned off the flashlight, leaving the room completely in the dark. He heard the girl moving beside him and he felt her body stick a little closer to his. Sure it was an innocent move, after all it was very cold, but he tensed anyways. He was not used to be that close to another person, even less with a girl. They were quiet for several minutes with their arms touching in the dark. The only sound that could be heard was the rub of Rinoa's hands to warm up.
"Were you a good student? I think you would be an excellent SeeD." Rinoa broke the silence some minutes later, resuming the previous conversation.
"I wasn't bad at it." he simply replied.
She laughed again at that response and as she did so, Squall felt her body shake next to him.
"I see, I'm sure you were pretty good. I'm not. The instructors usually said that I'm too reckless, emotional and impulsive."
Squall was not surprised by that confession; they didn't know each other much but the girl seemed to have quite a strong character. She was impulsive and emotional, as she has shown when she forced Irvine to help him scape of prison. Not that he was not grateful, but it was not a behavior typical of a SeeD.
Squall still was silent and Rinoa was beginning to feel like she was talking to herself but refused to give up. Squall had told her why he had left Garden and she was sure she could make him talk more about himself one way or another. Why was it so hard for him to talk about himself? Why was he so isolated? What had brought him to this point in his life? She wanted to know who he really was and wanted him to know who she was, to know that he could trust her.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked a few minutes later.
"Hum?" He didn't understand the question.
"When did you leave Garden. You said it wasn't your place. Did you find it somewhere else?"
That was an unexpected question. The boy sighed and leaned back, resting his head on the cold metal of the generator and looked up at the ceiling. A useless gesture, being in the dark.
"No."
"... Neither do I." She whispered, sticking a little closer to him. "I never felt at home in Garden. Well, I didn't felt that way in my father's house either, actually."
Squall was silent. These conversations used to make him uncomfortable but he found some unexpected comfort in the darkness and in the slight heat of her body next to him.
"I think they let me graduate more because of my father's influence than because of my real potential." She spoke in a serious voice that was uncharacteristic of her.
"You're good with magic." Squall stated.
His intention was not to comfort her, or so he told himself, but he had seen her unusual skill with magic. Perhaps her abilities would have been more valued in Balamb, where her capabilities would have been enhanced by the use of Guardian Forces.
"Maybe your skills would have fit better with Balamb Garden's combat style."
"Maybe." With that brief reply she let the conversation die. Rinoa knew that her problems weren't because of her fighting skills, it was far a more personal and deeper problem. She had wanted to make him talk but in the end she had been the one who ended up confessing troublesome parts of her life.
The usually lighthearted girl had taken a serious and somewhat melancholic attitude talking about herself and it made Squall wonder if he had judged her too quickly. That made him feel somewhat guilty and he didn't know how to continue the conversation. A few more minutes passed in silence, Squall listening carefully to her breathing to make sure she didn't fall asleep.
"What a Christmas, uh?" Rinoa's voice broke the silence again several minutes later. She seemed unable to be quiet for more than a few minutes.
"What?"
"Tomorrow is Christmas day. The people here won't be able to celebrate it. From now on, they would think of Christmas time as the time when their loved ones died." She pronounced the words slowly, as if this situation affected her on a personal level. She was empathetic and it hurt her that such a magical time of year was ruined forever for all the inhabitants of Trabia.
Squall just shrugged. In the dark Rinoa couldn't see him but felt the movement of his arm against her own.
"It's so sad…" She added.
"Christmas day is just a day like any other". He answered with an indifferent voice.
"What!?" She sounded surprised but, at least, she was leaving behind her sad attitude. "You don't like Christmas?"
"It's not that. I…just don't care." He had never celebrated it. Christmas is to spend time with friends and family, to share love and company; a purpose that did not exactly fit with his philosophy of life.
"I see…well, I like it very much" She confessed, with a cheerful voice. "I like the colorful lights, the happy songs, the cozy sweaters, go shopping with friends…"
"Not a lot of friends here, except for that Irvine guy. And definitely not a lot of shopping." He pointed out.
"I know, I know." Rinoa openly laughed. "But who knows what the future holds for us. Maybe we end up being friends, too. Don't you think?"
Squall snorted.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, she was pretty sure reacted that way just to annoy her but she played along. "You don't thing we can be friends!?"
"…maybe." he said dismissively.
There was something in his voice, a subtle playfulness, that told her that Squall's apparent indifference was feigned. She was glad to be able to feel such a subtle change in his demeanor, it meant that they were beginning to know each other.
Suddenly, she felt his body tense beside her.
"Squall? Is something wro...?" He interrupted her with a hush and she gave him an annoyed look that, being in the dark, Squall didn't notice. She was about to scold him when she heard a voice in the hallway.
"The rescue team?" She hoped, standing up.
"Probably."
The voices grew closer, and soon they heard the squeak of the door opening. Three sets of footsteps were heard entering the room and a brilliant flashlight illuminated the wall above their heads.
"Down here!" Rinoa called the intruders.
The beam of light caught both of them and Rinoa stepped forward and greeted the three figures who were watching them from the upper balcony.
"Identify yourselves." The woman who seemed to be in command of the team ordered with a firm voice.
Even though she was totally misplaced there and then, Squall immediately identified the commanding voice that spoke to them. It was Instructor Xu, Director Kramer's trusted assistant. What was she doing there? The other two people that accompanied her were wearing Balamb Garden uniform, too. Had Balamb sent some help to Trabia?
"Rinoa Carway, ID 41269 From the Galbadia Garden." Replied the girl next to him, standing firm as she made the SeeD salute.
"Rest. Are there any injured?"
"No, we're fine, but the ladder has fallen and we can't get back up." She explained
"Understood. We have a rope, we will tie it to the most solid part of the railing so that you can climb it." Xu announced before signaling one of his companions to proceed. As the young man tied the rope securely, Xu directed the light beam towards Squall.
"You are also a Seed from Galbadia Garden? Or are you a student from Trabia?"
"Wait..." The SeeD that had remained silent until the moment interrupted the exchange. "Aren't you Squall Leonhart?"
Both Xu and Squall turned their attention to the boy. Realizing the sudden attention, he had gotten, Nida hesitated for a few seconds, uncomfortable with the surprised looks that were directed at him.
"Um ... I'm Nida." He spoke looking at Squall as if that name should ring a bell for him. Squall frowned and shook his head slightly, Nida took offence at that. "Don't you remember me!? We shared classes for years!"
"I'm sorry." Squall took a moment to look at him but the boy had a look very…. normal. He had brown hair, with a haircut that was not unusual and not very striking features. If Squall had ever seen him, he had simply forgotten.
Truth be told, he was surprised that someone from Garden remembered him. He had spent most of his life avoiding relationships with others and the day he left he didn't even have anyone relevant to say goodbye to.
"Squall Leonhart? "Xu repeated, surprised "The same Leonhart who left Garden some years ago?"
If Squall was surprised that this Nida guy remembered him, he was even more surprised that Instructor Xu did as well. Xu was in charge of important administrative tasks and Squall, being still a simple cadet, had met her on very few occasions.
"Yes, that one" Nida affirmed.
Meanwhile Rinoa began to climb the rope that the other Seed had prepared for them.
"I see... You were a promising cadet, Cid had high hopes for you." Xu wasn't exactly known for giving a lot of compliments and Squall's surprise at her words was evident on his face. It was true that he was one of the best cadets around his age, but no one in Garden's staff had given any sign of having noticed him.
When Rinoa reached the balcony, she breathed in relief and motioned for him to start climbing.
"Thank you very much." He heard Rinoa thank them for their help as he went up. "So…you are from Balamb Garden?"
Xu nodded as Squall made it to the top. When he was in solid ground, Nida helped his partner pick up the rope while Xu explained the situation to them.
" We've brought supplies with us. We have food, water, medicines, and some rooms at Balamb Garden for the survivors to rest and get warm."
"Rooms?" Squall interrupted, curious by the woman's words. He understood that they've brought some supplies with them, but what did she meant with rooms to rest and get warm? Had they established a camp? It was impossible that in the short time they had been in the basement, those people had built a makeshift camp.
"To cut a long story short: there was a riot promoted by the Garden Administrator. Luckily, we kicked them out but they refused to give up, they surrounded the building and attacked with monsters, so to prevent them from re-entering the building we started an old engine that allows Garden to move. Shortly after we knew that Galbadia had ordered the bombardment of both Balamb and Trabia Garden. We went adrift for some days but when we managed to regain directional control, we decided to come here."
Squall was equally impressed and confused by the bizarre story Xu had told them but refrained from asking any more questions.
"We should go now". Xu announced and, without delay, she turned and started walking towards the door. " We can prepare a room for you to spend the night."
They had slept in uncomfortable mattresses in dirty, noisy and cold common areas for many nights and the promise of spending the night in a comfortable and clean room was highly tempting.
While walking back, Rinoa engaged in a conversation with the two other Seeds. While they talked about the supplies Balamb brought and chit-chatted about some other minor things, Xu directed a meaningful gaze back over her shoulder, toward the ex-cadet. Not many days ago, Cid had mentioned the boy to her, wondering where this promising young man was and if they would see him again. The woman wondered what made this boy so special that Cid still remembered him. It was curious that shortly after that conversation with Cid, they had find Squall there, in Trabia, but Xu knew better than mentioning those things out loud and she just kept walking silently towards the exit of the building. Cid always seemed to know more than he admitted and Xu assumed that everything would be revealed at the appropriate time.
V
With a five Gil bill in hand, Squall looked angrily at the sign hanging from the vending machine in Balamb Garden's cafeteria. No change given. He grunted at the thought of having to choose between losing four Gils or renouncing a hot drink.
"Here." He heard a familiar voice behind him.
When he turned he saw Rinoa with one of her huge smiles, handing him a coin. Squall looked first at her, then at the coin and then back at her.
"For the effort of entertaining me in the basement." Sensing his doubts, Rinoa tried to convince him to accept the coin without feeling guilty about it.
The brunette hesitated for a few seconds before taking the Gil from her hand. He had talked to her to help her stay awake, if she slept and her body temperature dropped she could be at risk of suffering consequences for it. He hadn't done it to get her gratitude. Just because he didn't like to socialize didn't mean that he didn't care about the people around him.
"Thank you." He turned to insert the coin into the slot of the machine without mentioning his thoughts.
Rinoa leaned over to see which drink he chose. She was surprised not to see him press the coffee button, someone like him seemed like the type of people who drink just black coffee, the stronger the better. Instead, the boy had pressed the button for hot chocolate.
"Chocolate?" Rinoa asked with some delight.
"I don't recommend you the coffee." Squall didn't bother to look at her as the machine made his drink. He remembered the dirty water taste of that coffee. He didn't know if in the time he had been away from Garden they had bothered to improve the drinks offered by the cafeteria's vending machine, he was not willing to take the risk of trying it.
When the machine beeped, Squall picked up the cup and headed to a far table, hoping Rinoa wouldn't follow him. The cafeteria was practically empty at this hour and Squall appreciated the quietness. Although food service ended at 21:00, Cid had decided to keep the cafeteria open 24 hours a day. The people of Trabia could go to rest there with a hot drink and after finishing their tasks.
Much to his regret, Rinoa didn't live up to his expectations and when she had gotten her own drink she headed to his direction and sat in the chair across the table. Hadn't she had enough of him for that day? Squall wondered whether to ask her to leave him alone but Rinoa had that brilliant smile on her face, she seemed delighted to be there, and for some reason it didn't irritate him as much as it should.
"It's comfortable to be here." She said blowing her own drink. She had followed his advice, and had ordered the hot chocolate. "I appreciate the decent food and the warm temperature."
"Yeah." It was comfortable but sill strange to walk through those corridors again more than a year after leaving. That day had been, to say the least, surprising and unexpected. He would never have imagined that he would end the day sitting in the cafeteria of Balamb Garden.
"Cid is very kind. He has offered Irvine and me the possibility to stay here." Rinoa announced, although Squall already knew it.
After rescuing them they were taken to Balamb Garden. Apparently, Xu had told the truth, the huge building had a motor system that allowed it to move and was now parked south of Trabia Garden. Xu assigned a guest room to each of them, something Squall really appreciated, and they were able take a good hot shower in the comfort of a heated individual room. Shortly after, Squall was asked to go up to the third floor, where the Headmaster was waiting for him. That's when things had gotten weird and irritating.
Cid Kramer had almost demanded him to stay at Garden. Cid talked about how his fate had brought him there for some reason. Squall didn't believe all that bullshit. There was a reason why he left Balamb, and him being there again was just a strange coincidence, not a complicated path of destiny. He told Cid that he would think about it but the man took it as an affirmative answer. Squall wondered if he hadn't even listened to him.
"I was told that you have also been offered to stay." She kept talking, ignoring Squall's silent attitude.
Squall took a sip of his chocolate. The heat from the cup in his hands was so comforting as the heat of the chocolate going down his throat.
"Yes…"
"So?" She fixed her brown eyes on him waiting for him to elaborate his answer further." Are you going to stay?"
"I don't know." He simply said, although deep down, he did know. No one was waiting for him in any other place. Zone, Watts, and the others wouldn't miss him that much, and given the current circumstances, perhaps it would be better to rethink whether an open confrontation with the Galbadian government was a good idea. At least as long as the country was ruled by a sorceress. Sadly, Zone's inexperienced group had little to do against a powerful sorceress like Edea. Better to leave this up to the SeeDs.
"You should stay." Rinoa firmly stated.
Squal looked at her, surprised at the request. Why it seemed to matter so much to her what he did was a mystery that he could not solve. Since their paths crossed in the D-district prison the girl had shown a certain strange fixation with him.
"If we are going to face a sorceress we are going to need all the help we can get." She explained.
Why did everyone suddenly seem so interested in him? Nida, Xu, Cid, Rinoa… he had barely had a relationship with any of them and suddenly they all seemed to appreciate him. He shifted in his chair, uncomfortable at the situation. He didn't understand what they expected of him.
"I'm not Seed," he simply announced.
"What difference does it make?" She insisted. "You're more capable than a lot of the SeeDs I know. Also, if you want to free Timber, you need to eliminate the sorceress, right?"
Squall was silent for a few seconds, looking for a way to refute that argument.
"Maybe I will." He finally admitted, being aware that sometimes it is better to just give up than to cause a discussion.
"Oh!" Rinoa's eyebrows raised and she clasped her hands loudly, as if she just suddenly remembered something important.
Without an explanation, she turned her body, directing her gaze towards the entrance and stared at the vending machine where they had gotten the drinks. Squall noticed that the girl hadn't had a single sip of her drink since she sat down and Squall wondered what she was up to. He waited a few seconds to see if she revealed her intentions to him, but she didn't take her eyes off the vending machine.
"What are you doing?" he finally asked.
"Wait!" She exclaimed with contained emotion.
When the clock in the vending machine screen changed from 23:59 to 00:00, she returned her attention to him with a wide smile on her face.
"Merry Christmas!" She raised the plastic cup in the air and waited for him to return the gesture.
Squall was a little bit puzzled and made no gesture to return the toast.
"Okaaay," Rinoa sighed, lowering her drink and taking the initiative, she toasted gently joining their cups, carefully not to spill the content. "You see? A hot chocolate with a friend is a good way to celebrate Christmas!"
It should have irritated him that she proclaimed herself his friend, as well as that she tried to persistently intrude on his life. But Squall, more than angry, was perplexed by her behavior.
He had never celebrated Christmas; he had never wanted to. These were times to spend with friends and family and he did not have that. He had never wanted to have it. He had consciously and insistently shied away from it, but somewhere, deep in his soul, there was a child who felt more alone than ever during these days. Squall was never going to admit that, of course. Not even to myself. But that day, at that table, he couldn't get mad at Rinoa.
Little did Squall know that this was only the first of many Christmas that he wouldn't spend alone.
NOTES: It's been definitely a challenge for me to write this fic. I would not have written on this subject if it had not been because it was asked. Still, I really appreciate it, it was so much fun to get out of my comfort zone.
I wanted to maintain certain parallelisms with the original game (the development of events, Squall forgetting Nida's name, the ladder accident, Cid telling Squall about his destiny ...). My intention was to reflex the fact that no matter what they do with their previous lives, they will end up in the same position because they're predestined to save the world. I'm not sure if I've made my point but I guess it doesn't really matter as long as you've enjoyed reading it.
I hope my English was not too bad. Sorry for the mistakes I may have made, if someone wants to point out some of them, it will be welcome.
Thank you for reading!