Disclaimer: FF8 still isn't mine…but this fuzzy penguin bathrobe is! Ahahahaha!

Remember the Nights
Chapter 3: Here Comes the Sun

The Trabian Ice Caves glistened in the dark. Each icicle took advantage of what little light managed to stream in through the entrance, creating tiny refracted rainbow spots all over the frozen water. The entrance split into multiple tunnels at one wide expanse, creating a feeling of endlessness.

Rinoa rubbed at her arms and shivered. Despite the thick cotton knit material of her dress, the short skirt and arm warmers failed to keep her body temperature up. The beautiful shimmer of the icicles hanging from the ceiling did nothing to halt the chattering of her teeth. She tried to inch closer to Squall, but found herself unable to leech any of his body warmth.

"It's freezing in here!" she pouted, unable to take the frigid environment any longer.

Squall rolled his eyes. "We're in an ice cave in Trabia. You should have worn something warmer."

The petite girl pursed her lips into a scowl. "I'm a Sun Fairy! I don't do cold."

"Whatever."

Rinoa shook her head. The freezing temperature did nothing to the commander in his fur-lined leather jacket, she thought, her mind filled with envy. In fact, the icy setting almost seemed to match his cold personality. Her teeth clashed again as she found herself incapable of controlling her jaw, and she winced in pain.

"Lady Shiva, are you there?" Rinoa called out, her voice trembling. "We come seeking your aid—"

"I have recognized your presence, young Sun Fairy." A sharp wind rushed through the cavern like a bitter gale, and Squall immediately clutched the hilt of his gunblade as if an attacker lurked in the air. Crystals of ice began to form in the swirling wind, and they gathered into the silhouette of a long, curvaceous woman. The light seemed to catch her curves and a glint sparkled in her cold, blue eyes.

"Do you truly dare to call your blade out in front of a goddess, Knight Stormwind?" The woman's voice was haughty and noble, reflecting razor-sharp edges of ice in her tone.

The Sun Fairy dropped into a sudden bow, and a half-second later the commander, ever observant, followed suit. "Lady Shiva, we offer our humblest apologies—"

"Silence, child." Shiva smiled as Rinoa's lip shut closed. "You have come seeking a way to resurrect Amora. Do not knit your eyebrows in disbelief, Knight. It must be so, otherwise, you would not have come." Squall's annoyed expression did not change, even though hearing himself referred to as "Stormwind" struck a chord of ire within him.

Shiva let out a wry huff. "I am pleased that you have come. This shows that you are committed to this journey. However, I cannot release the information that I know so freely. Before I can tell you anything, I must test your devotion."

"A test?" Squall asked, his mounting irritation showing slightly. "We came all this way for a test?"

"Clutch your hilt tighter, Knight Stormwind." Shiva's eyes narrowed into lethal slits. "This is a solely test of the Knight's devotion, which means that you, Fairy, may not interfere, lest you desire to fail. And I assure you, the price of failure is far too much for any of us to bear."

Rinoa winced under the weight of the goddess' harsh words. She looked to Squall, who seemed merely annoyed, and wrapped her arms around herself insecurely. The commander noticed the fairy's tension. "The test, my lady?"

Shiva smiled her cold smile once more. "I see you are ready. A lack of hesitation is absolutely necessary for your success."

Five giant ice crystals rose out of the ground and hung in the air around the lady of ice. Each of the crystals was the same length as one of Squall's legs, and the thickest section of the crystals was equivalent to the circumference of Rinoa's waist. The ends of the crystals met in sharp points that shimmered with the same arctic deadliness that shone in Shiva's eyes.

"As a knight, your duty is to protect your liege. These crystals are your enemies. I shall use them to test not only the sharpness of your blade, but your readiness to attack and—if you must—die for the Sorceress. At my command, the crystals will fly, aiming to kill both you and the young fairy. You must slash at each of the crystals until they are small and fragile enough to fall as powder snow. Falter for just one moment too long, and you both shall die."

Squall's cloudy blue eyes remained calm, but Rinoa felt herself trembling on the inside. "And I can't help him at all?" she asked meekly, desperate for one last try at a reprieve from helplessness.

"Correct." Shiva raised a delicate hand and the crystals fidgeted in the air at her movement. "Now…begin!"

The ice crystals rushed forward, barely giving Squall time to raise his gunblade in defense. Rinoa's head spun as she tried to follow the swerving tails of the deadly crystals, but her inability only added to her feeling of ineptitude. But Squall's SeeD training had honed his instincts, and his body followed each of the crystals perfectly. One crystal swept up into the air and then dove back down at an angle poised to pierce the Sun Fairy's heart, but the Knight kept his cool and prepared his body to attack. He leaped into the air with Lionheart held over his head, then brought it down in a hard swing that sliced the crystal in two easily.

Rinoa tensed, obviously shaken by her close encounter with death. She watched a shard that had splintered off of the crystal cut deeply into Squall's calf, and as he let out a muffled curse, the fairy instinctively began to cast a Cure spell on her comrade.

"Do not interfere!" Shiva barked, and Rinoa froze in her tracks. The spell unraveled in her hands and tiny tears of frustration pooled in her eyes as she felt herself unable to help once again.

With an injured leg, Squall knew he would not be able to take the offensive any longer. He held his blade in front of him, took the strongest stance he could in front of the shivering fairy, and waited for the next attack. Ice flew toward him in a break-neck manner, but the battle-hardened commander slashed through each crystal as if he were merely practicing in the training center back at Garden.

Remnants of the crushed ice flew past him in miniscule fragments, and Squall lowered Lionheart for a moment of well-earned rest. His first instinct was to tend to his wounded leg. Rinoa fluttered toward him, her wings shaking off bits of condensation that had frozen on her, but a sound in the distance caught her ear. In the corner of her eye, the chunks of ice began to gather to form one last crystal, complete with one sharp point aimed to kill the distracted Knight.

"Squall, watch out!" Rinoa let out a visceral scream despite multiple warnings not to interrupt the trial. She shielded her eyes, unwilling to see the ice cut into vulnerable flesh.

Squall tilted his head up at the sound of Rinoa's scream. A moment before the fatal blow was dealt, a warm light burst into the cavern through an unexpected crack in the ceiling. Shiva herself winced as she recognized the light as a ray of sunshine, and the intensifying heat made short work of the threatening ice crystal.

As soon as the crystal had melted, Squall healed his injury and made his way over to the shaken Sun Fairy. "Are you okay?" he asked, unusually worried.

Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, but I…"

"You have interfered with the test." Shiva strode toward the girl with a stern expression on her face, enough to scare Rinoa so badly that her wings halted in mid-air and she collapsed on the cold ground. "I had warned you against such rash actions, and yet, you persisted." The goddess raised her hand in a motion as if to slap the insolent fairy, but then rested it soothingly against her cheek. "You have passed my test."

The duo stared at the goddess in wide-eyed confusion. "We passed?" Rinoa managed to sputter out. "But…we…I don't understand…"

Shiva gave a comforting smile. "I have deceived you. The test was administered to test your teamwork, and more importantly, your relationship. Your uninhibited reaction to the prospect of your companion in danger was precisely what I was looking for. Amora would have it no other way."

The commander helped the stunned fairy to her feet, but remembered the reason why they had arrived. "Well, now that we have passed your test, what can you tell us about resurrecting Lady Amora?"

Shiva released a soft chuckle. "You were never one to forget your duty, Stormwind. It is good to see that hasn't changed." She tucked a frozen strand of hair away from her glistening eyes, now turned serious. "Alas, I do not have any information for you. Amora merely asked that I test your readiness for the upcoming battle, and I have. However, I can tell you that Lord Ifrit of the Fire Caverns may be of more assistance to you both."

"That's it?" Squall gripped his gunblade's hilt once more, but this time held it in fury. "We came out here for nothing but a stupid test?Whatever." Shaking his head angrily, he turned his back on the goddess and stormed out of the cave.

Rinoa's eyes went wide in shock at his rude behavior, but she turned her attention back to the lady in front of her. "Please forgive him, my lady, he—"

"Hush. He has not changed at all since I have last seen him, and perhaps that is a godsend to you both." Shiva turned her eyes down to the intimidated fairy. "Do not look so grim, young Sun Fairy. Your mother smiles upon you this day."

The mention of her mother snapped her head up immediately. "My mother?" Rinoa asked, her voice sounding more like a plea.

But Shiva would say no more on the subject. "Time is of the essence. May Hyne watch over you on your journey."

Rinoa found herself unable to speak for a moment. Stunned, she gave a small bow and fluttered out of the cave.

Despite his cold persona, Squall had noticed that his fairy companion had not said a word since they had left the cavern. Odd as it was, he found it more uncomfortable to walk with her silence than with her constant attempts at chatter. Needless to say, he found it even more disrupting when the soft hum of her wings ceased. She plunked down into the snow and curled her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth with a saddened expression on her fair face. Squall made no comment—he wasn't quite sure what to say—and simply stared at her dulled appearance.

After what seemed like an eternity, Rinoa finally mumbled, "Lady Shiva heard from my mom. I'm so jealous."

Squall knelt down in the snow beside her, but still found himself without words. "She used to sing a lot. She was the only person to call me 'Rinny"—well, until I met Selphie, but that was years later," Rinoa continued, an empty half-smile on her face as memories of her mother filled her. "She passed away when I was five. Freak accident, that's what it said on the news."

She clutched her knees to her chest as hot tears began to run down her cheeks. "The Royal Advisor's soul has always reincarnated into Mom's bloodline. So when she found out that it was me…she was so happy…" Hiccups rang through her speech, and Squall even felt compelled to rub her back, but his social-ineptness refrained him.

"She told me that it was an honor to be born into having this duty to the Sorceress. She was so proud of me, and I always worked hard to keep that smile on her face. But Dad never liked it—he's a general in the army and he thought militaristic action was better than waiting for 'some sorceress'—" an ugly sneer crossed her tear-streaked face as she mentioned her father "—so when Mom died, so did whatever support he had for me."

A heart-wrenching sob exploded from inside her, and her head fell onto her knees as she cried. Her whole body shook as her wails hit the air, echoing through the snow-filled surroundings. "It's been years, but I guess I've never gotten over it," she said through her sniffles. "It's just never been the same since. I miss her so much."

Squall let out a breath as Rinoa's heaving chest began to slow. His mouth felt dry, but something about the shaking girl beside him coerced him to speak. "I lost my mother," he whispered, unable to understand why he had mentioned it.

Rinoa looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot and rimmed with glistening tears. Something seemed off about him actually contributing to her previously one-sided conversation, but she took it to heart anyway. "Do you remember her?" she asked, eager for even the smallest anecdote from his early life.

He shook his head. "She died in childbirth."

The fairy suddenly felt wretched for asking. Her memories made her feel selfish as she realized that he had none of his own. "Oh Hyne, I'm sorry," she rasped out, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Don't be," came his hollow reply.

Rinoa was surprised at his lack of emotion. "But don't you miss her?"

The commander abruptly stood up, his eyes to the horizon. "You can't miss what you've never known. Come on; we should get going." He held his hand out to her to help her up, and she took it after a moment's apprehension.

Rinoa wiped the tears off of her face with the back of her arm warmer and looked toward the cloudy sky. "You're right," she said with a nod. "Besides, Mom's watching, and I should do her proud, right?"

The frosty Trabian climate seemed to warm a little as they trudged through the snow, and Rinoa smiled to herself.

Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long, guys! But hey, that's what you get for only giving me one review! It made me rather sad! But anyway, in response to Stranger's question…no comment. ;D You'll just have to wait and see, wont you?

And here's a sneak peak at the next chapter! Lord Ifrit is a no-nonsense fire God with a temperament to match his chosen element. Will he have any information on Lady Amora? Will Squall and Rinoa be able to stand the heat long enough to find out? Tune in next time! AND REVIEW PLZ. D: