Mortal Sin: Chapter 1

In the beginning

It is said if you ever saw Hyne in person that it would feel like the most incredible orgasm in the world while you instantaneously died, the sensation of a burning arrow scorching through your chest. Rapture. Ecstasy. Excruciating pleasurable pain. All at once. There was a statue of it, L'Estasi di Santa Teresa, that was lectured on in the Art History course at the Garden. That was her existence now: Hyne's descendant.

It started with a kiss. With that kiss.

Squall wasn't sure how he ended up dancing to that same song. Again. Actually, scratch that, he was keenly aware of exactly how it had happened. Rinoa and he had just finished speaking with the Kramers, who thanked them profusely for their work during Time Compression. Oddly, no one ever once mentioned the word "Sorceress." The instrumental version of Julia Heartilly's hit began to play. That's when the doe eyes came out and Rinoa clasped her hands in front of her. She knew he couldn't say no to that move.

"Pleaaaasssse, Squall? Just one dance?" Rinoa bit her bottom lip just slightly after asking. Hook, line, and sinker.

So here he was, dancing in the middle of the ballroom with Rinoa, who was regaling him with a story about Quistis catching Zell making out with a girl in the library. Squall wasn't really paying attention. He was halfway between being able to thoroughly enjoy the feeling of Rinoa dancing in his arms, and being distracted by stealing glances at Cid. Something had been bothering him about Cid all night, but he couldn't place a finger on it. Squall knew one thing, he did not like the way Cid looked at Rinoa, it was a combination of predatory and distaste. Like she was a mere inconvenience.

Squall's reverie was interrupted by Selphie stumbling past them donning Irvine's trademark cowboy hat.

"Come and gitttt itttt, Irvieeeeee," she squealed.

They had all drank champagne, but Selphie was clearly toasted. Given the girl was barely eighty-two pounds soaking wet and had drank almost an entire bottle herself, she had to be sloshed. Squall and Rinoa themselves had imbibed a few glasses and had the pleasant giggling bubbly sensation of mild tipsiness. It was probably what helped Rinoa so easily convince Squall to get on the dancefloor. It also had the added bonus of and giving Squall more bravery with physical contact than he normally had, as he let his hand drop lower on Rinoa's waist and descend to her hip. Squall was delighted when she didn't protest.

His hand, however, was knocked off balance when Selphie and Irvine bumped into the pair.

"Sorry, bud," Irvine slurred, wrapping his arms around Selphie's midsection and trying to carry her off the floor.

"Rinny, Rinny, you gotta (hic) try tha dumplins (hic)," Selphie added.

All the fated children knew the nature of Irvine and Selphie's relationship. Between Selphie's volume and Irvine's complete lack of discretion, and the fact that they slept in tents by each other for months, they all knew. Quistis had scolded them, informing them that it was a violation of some Garden rule. Then, of course, she scolded Squall for not enforcing said rule. Of course, she was gifted with an uninterested, "Whatever…" It wasn't until Zell wandered into the wrong tent one night and was so traumatized that he didn't speak for two straight weeks that Squall finally asked them to at least be somewhat thoughtful of the fact that everyone else was within ear shot.

Dancing moment now ruined, Squall motioned with his eyes and a nod of the head to the balcony. Rinoa winked at him and went over to the drinks table, waiting a few minutes to head out to not make it look obvious they were going out there together. After spending so much time with him, she had finally respected and understood Squall's desire for discretion, whatever the reason may be. Squall did have his own reasons for not wanting people to know they were sneaking off together. First, there was a video camera floating somewhere around, and he was pretty sure he had seen Selphie eyeing it up. Even more so, he was still bothered by the look Cid had been giving Rinoa. It continued to haunt him, and he didn't want any unwanted attention.

"Pretty night, huh?" Rinoa gazed up into the stars, catching one shooting across the sky. It was like fate. She pointed up to the star and turned to look at Squall.

"Yeah, beautiful," he replied softly. Although, he wasn't looking at the sky. Something flushed within him, and he did something he hadn't done in years. Maybe not since he was a child.

He smiled.

Squall pulled on her arm, tugging her towards him. He gently kissed her. Something happened in that kiss. Squall was by no means experienced, in fact, he had never kissed anyone before, but he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to feel like that. It was like a thundaga spell ignited where their lips met, giving a tingling sensation to the kiss that travelled all the way down his toes. It was far from unpleasant. In fact, it was exhilarating.

Squall pulled away from her and leaned his forehead against Rinoa's. His breathing was uncharacteristically heavy.

"Did you…are you doing that?" He whispered, his breath hot against her mouth.

"No," she answered, "I thought…I thought you were."

They decided to kiss again, for experiment's sake. This time the feeling was stronger and they both had the same desire- more. It felt like a hunger that nothing would ever satisfy. Squall had never wanted anything so much in his entire life. He felt like the world would end in that moment if he didn't get more chances to kiss her, to kiss all of her. Visions of Rinoa screaming his name flashed in his mind and he grinned wickedly, grabbing her hand and pulling her through a secret door off the balcony. Avoiding the ballroom, he guided her through the halls with the intent of going to the dorms.

He never made it that far. It started with small kisses stolen in between her nervous laughter. But every time their lips met, he felt bolder. Stronger. The fire in his stomach churned before turning into pure electricity, overwhelming his senses. The dorms were too far. The prospect of being caught, or even seen thrilled Squall to no end.

He stopped abruptly. So abruptly that Rinoa ran into him.

"Squall, what-ooof!" Rinoa furrowed her eyebrows in irritation.

Squall grabbed her and flung her against the wall of the dark hallway, pressing his body against hers. He slammed her harder than either of them thought he would, he didn't mean to be that forceful, he just needed more of her. It was beyond desire at this point. The hazy look Rinoa gave him from underneath her long lashes told him that she felt the same way.

Thankfully she wasn't wearing those damned bicycle shorts. All that lay between him and his prize was a skirt and some other thin material. Lace panties. He made quick work of the skirt she wore, practically ripping it in half in the process as he shoved it up onto her hips. Tearing her panties, he unbuckled his belts, unbuttoned his pants, and slid into her, wrapping one of her legs around his waist. His gunblade fell to the floor with a loud thunk. Foreplay be damned. The last year of their life, fighting for their lives, battles, time compression, had been foreplay enough. They both hissed at the contact, and Squall wondered why in the world he hadn't been doing this with her ages ago.

He was so wrapped up in taking her, he forgot to pause and think that it may have hurt her. It felt so good and so tight, almost excruciatingly so. It was heaven. He was rough and clumsy, but moan his name, she did. He swore he could hear Rinoa's heart pumping against her breast, like a metronome egging him to move faster. He mumbled meaningless words mixed with declarations of love in her ear. As he finished, he felt that electricity tingle down the back of his neck, down to his toes, curling them on the inside of his boots. Rinoa was putty in his arms and was positively shaking. At some point, her other leg had wrapped around his waist, and Squall realized the only thing stopping her from collapsing to the floor was his body weight pressed against her.

He felt adrenaline pumping through him, and was more invigorated than any battle had ever made him. Every cell in his body felt as if they were on fire, all of his senses were heightened. He could practically taste the smell in the air of their aftermath.

Squall lifted Rinoa up, regretfully slid himself from within her, and carried her to his dorm room. She gazed at him in a way that made his head dizzy – her eyes were filled with a devotion and trust that was disarming. As he gently laid her onto his bed, thankfully larger with his Commander upgraded room, he decided to worship her body in the way he had originally planned on doing.

As he took his time on his second chance, Squall marveled at the noises he could elicit from Rinoa with just simple touches. Every moan, every murmur felt like drinking ice-cold spring water when you're dying of thirst. The feeling of thundaga was now on every inch of his skin, and when she touched him it almost burned. Her nails dug into his back, leaving small crescent moon shapes. It felt like salt in a wound, but he couldn't get enough. How could pain be causing him so much pleasure?

As Squall finished again, sweat dripping from his brow onto her naked chest below him, he found he could no longer support his weight and he collapsed on top of Rinoa. He mentally vowed to spend as much time as he could memorizing every inch of her skin with his mouth and hands and hoped to see her wearing nothing but skin in as many chances as possible.

"Hyne…I love you," he whispered to her earnestly. He kissed underneath her ear and trailed down her neck, inhaling deeply, burning that smell into his brain. Squall let out a small chuckle, "Now I know why they call it 'la petit mort.'"

Rinoa giggled, her hands running lazy circles along Squall's bare back. Gently tracing over the claw marks she had left there mere minutes ago, "Tell me about it."

Squall hid the satisfied grin on his face as he nuzzled himself into her cheek, gently nibbling her ear.

"That tickles…" Rinoa mumbled, "oh and hey. I love you too, you know." She turned her face to his and gave him a chaste kiss that would have made Juliet proud. A small arc of electricity passed between their lips, making his heart thump wildly.

Squall smiled broadly, the same smile he gave her on the balcony before he kissed her for the first time, "Gods, you're gonna be the death of me, you know that?"

Authors Notes:

Thank you to my amazing beta, the awesome Bebedora. Without her, this would never have been written. This is the first time I've ever written anything like this. This fic is going to hit the ground running, stay tuned.

The statue L'Estasi di Santa Teresa or The Ecstasy of St. Theresa was sculpted by Bernini and is in the Cornaro Chapel in Rome, Italy. It is an iconic Baroque masterpiece and stunning in person.