Epilogue
Till Kingdom Come

3 Months Later (December 20th)
The Flower Field

They were supposed to be on their way back to Garden that night, but both of them had wanted to stop here first. They had spent the last three months in Winhill together, at first, just sitting in the little house that had belonged to Raine. When Rinoa had gotten a little stronger, they had started to take walks around the village.

It had been quiet there, peaceful. Their friends from Garden had come to see them a few times, but for the majority of the time, it had just been the two of them. They had been the sweetest, happiest months of Rinoa's life, and she knew that Squall felt the same way.

She was healed now, at least physically. The mental wounds -- those would take more time. But it was time for them to go back to Balamb. Squall had told her that he would give up being a SeeD, but she had refused to let him. He had responsibilities to them, and she had kept him away from those long enough. Someday, though, in the future, she thought it would be nice to settle down in a place like Winhill.

But right now, it was just the two of them. No one else existed in the whole world when they were here. Rinoa stared out over the field, in awe. It remarkably always looked the same, no matter what time of year it was.

There was a chill in the air, and she shivered a little. Squall came up behind her and put his jacket around her shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her midsection and settled his chin on top of her head. She leaned back against him, reveling in his nearness. "Have you ever noticed," she murmured. "That it always smells like cherry blossoms here, no matter what time of year it is?"

"Must be magic," Squall said, only half-jokingly. He had learned that there were some things that just couldn't be explained by everyday means … those things were magic.

"Magic, huh?" Rinoa said. She pulled away from him, and took him by the hand, dragging him out into the middle of the field. He was immediately reminded of a dance, nearly a year ago, and the thought made him smile.

"Where are we going?" he finally asked her.

She stopped then, looked around, and nodded. "Right here!" she said, grinning.

"Okay?" Squall said, not understanding her.

Smiling, she closed her eyes and put her hands together. It almost looked as though she were praying. He watched her with a bemused expression on his face. Was she praying?

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and spread her arms out as far as she could. Thousands of tiny, sparkling stars shot from her fingertips and filled the field around them. Her eyes lit up. "It worked!" she breathed.

"What kind of spell is this?" he asked, though he was impressed. He especially liked the way some of the stars had gotten caught in her hair. She looked more and more the angel with every passing minute.

"It doesn't really have a purpose," Rinoa shrugged, admiring the way the starlight looked reflected in his eyes. "I just think it's pretty." She plucked one of the stars from the air and held it in the palm of her hand. "I wanted to show you. As a kind of thank you, you know?"

"For what?" he asked, taking her hand in his own.

"For everything," Rinoa said, looking at him as though he'd gone crazy. "For saving me …"

He shook his head. "You saved yourself," he said firmly. "You saved us all."

She smiled shyly, and reached up to touch the rings around her neck. Frowning, she pulled the chain up in front of her face. "Where's Griever?" she asked, her eyes widening. "Oh, Hyne, don't tell me I lost it! Oh, Squall, I'm so sorry!" Her hand flew up to cover her mouth.

"Don't worry about it," he said nonchalantly, though inside his heart was racing. "I took it back."

"Oh, thank goodn … Wait. What?" Rinoa's eyes looked pained. "Why?"

"Because it's mine," he said, as though that was all the explanation she needed. He held up his hand to show her that Griever was indeed, back on his finger.

She bit her lip, hoping that she wouldn't cry. She'd really thought that … "Maybe I shouldn't have shown you these stars," she muttered, her voice bordering on angry.

She handed him back his jacket and turned around. Smiling to himself, he reached into the jacket pocket and pulled something out. He grabbed her by the upper arm and spun her back around. He hooked his fingers in her belt loops and tugged her closer to him. "I like the stars," he whispered seconds before his lips met hers.

His hand found hers as he kissed her, and he slid something onto her ring finger, which caused her to pull away quickly. She looked down at her hand, and saw a smaller, daintier version of Griever resting there. Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh," she breathed, not sure what else to say. She started laughing then and couldn't stop. She ran at him and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around him, and caused them both to fall to the soft, grassy ground below.

Smiling at her, more content than he had ever been in his life, he rolled over onto his side, so that they were lying face to face. He kissed her gently then, and her laughter died away. "I love you, Rinoa," he told her.

She touched his face. "I love you," she whispered back.

He pulled her to him, and crushed her mouth with his own, his hands sliding up underneath her sweater to caress the soft skin of her back. He was cautious, he knew the ordeal she had been through, and didn't want to do anything to hurt or frighten her. But it was Rinoa who deepened the kiss, Rinoa who pulled him down on top of her.

"Rin?" he questioned her, searching her eyes for any sign of doubt or trepidation.

She looked up at him, eyes sparkling happily, and he understood then. She trusted him. She'd never compare him to that monster. And whatever they did together would be beautiful and pure … there was no fear in her eyes when she looked up at him, only love. She slid her hands under his t-shirt, a ran her fingers along his skin, sending shivers throughout his body.

He knew they wouldn't be getting back to Garden any time soon …

Ah, hell, Garden will still be there later, he reasoned when Rinoa nipped his bottom lip playfully, reaching for the button of his pants. Right now, this was much more important than anything that was waiting for them back there.

And as Rinoa's magical stars glittered above them, they came together in the place that would always be theirs.

They lay there for awhile afterward, her head resting on his shoulder, staring up at the sky. Rinoa flicked her hand lazily and all of the stars she had created disappeared instantly. "Maybe they're a little silly," she told him.

He shook his head. "I don't think so," he told her, nuzzling her neck gently.

She giggled. "No?" she sad, incredulously, raising up on her elbows. "Squall Leonhart, you actually like the frivolity of thousands of tiny little useless stars?"

He shrugged. "Whatever." He tugged on her hair lightly. "What else can you do?"

"Hmm, wouldn't you like to know?" she teased. "Maybe I'll tell you someday. If you're good." Grinning, she pointed to the sky.

His eyes looked skyward, like so many times before. And sure enough, a shooting star streaked across the sky at that very moment. He looked at her, eyes narrowed. "Did you do that?" he asked.

She just laughed as she leaned over to kiss him again. "Guess you'll never know."

THE END

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A/N: YES! It's finished! I can't even believe it myself. Hope you guys weren't expecting anything too heavy and deep with this epilogue. This was just a bunch of fluffy goodness that I couldn't resist putting in here! Thank you all soooo much for reading this! I really hope you enjoyed it.