Disclaimer: I don't own Final fantasy 8. How I wish I did. I also wish I owned a giant castle. Again I should tell you I do not own that either

Note: Well my good friends, we have reached the end. This is the last chapter. You may be glad to see the end of the story or you may miss it. But either way sit back and enjoy the ending, seeing what's in store for our characters. My hugest thanks must go to anyone who has read or reviewed any chapter of this story or anyone who has read and enjoyed any of it at all and especially to those people who've reviewed a lot of the chapters and kept with me all the way through. And thanks to Hannah who really helped a million with this story. The Seifer/Zell bit is for you in this!!! My best wishes and thanks to y'all for keeping me writing. So here we go, the grand finale and conclusion of a family affair……….

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Rinoa sat in the infirmary staring at the plain white walls, the same blank walls she had been staring at for almost the last two weeks. It had been that long since the whole incident in Deling.

Rinoa had been relatively lucky out of the whole group, she had been one of the only ones conscious when the fire brigade and medics had arrived on the scene. She was immediately bombarded with questions, non of which she would answer as she was too overcome with sadness and worry at that moment. Only half of the SeeD students Zell had taken had made it out, Zell had collapsed, Quistis and Selphie were still unconscious, Irvine was weak and Squall had passed out a few seconds after Zell did.

Of course over the two weeks Quistis, Selphie and Irvine made full recoveries, and Rinoa was only treated for minor injuries. Zell and Squall however, were still lying unconscious in the infirmary. It was determined that the cause of Zells problems was the amount of smoke he had inhaled and the general strain on his system. Rinoa knew exactly how he'd got into that state too; saving Seifer. Zell had been forgiving enough and brave enough to go back for Seifer, pulling him out of the fire, and risking his own life. Seifer was also still unconscious, but Rinoa didn't really care at all about him, she couldn't care less if he lived or died, and if anything she was leaning more towards him dying. He had been the cause of all this, he had been the one to jeopardise the life of her friends, he had been the one who had put Squall in the state he was in.

Squall had made next to no recovery in the two weeks. According to the doctors, it was amazing he had stayed conscious as long as he had. He had suffered internal injuries from all the beatings he had taken, as well as losing a lot of blood. The doctors had done everything they could, but still for the two weeks he had just lay there, no signs that he was even close to waking up. But Rinoa refused to move until he did. She had spent practically every minute of the two weeks in the infirmary. She left for about 10 minutes every day to shower and then she came back and just sat there, staring at the walls. She even stayed there at night, she would just curl up at the end of the bed Squall lay in and sleep. Most nights she'd cry too. She'd look down on his face and all the worst scenarios would come flooding into here head. It was always expressionless, and still covered in cuts and bruises.

'what if he never wakes up. What if he's like this forever. What if I lose him' she kept thinking to herself. She couldn't bear the thought of what her life would be without him. She couldn't think that way without being reduced to tears.

As Rinoa sat there that day, Selphie came into the room. Selphie usually came to visit Rinoa, just to keep her company.

"Hey Rinny. Any better yet ?"

Rinoa shook her head "No"

"I'm sure he'll wake up soon" She said laying a comforting hand on her friends shoulder.

"Maybe" Rinoa said quietly. She dint want to give up hope. She could never give up on Squall, but she knew she had to start preparing herself for the possibility that maybe this was the end for her and Squall. But she hoped and prayed with every fibre of her being that that was not the case.

"Any news on Zell" she asked Selphie.

Then it was Selphies turn to look sad "No. I checked in on him this morning. Seifer's awake though, Irvine told me"

Rinoa though this to be madly unfair. Seifer, the bad guy in the whole situation, was fine, but Squall and Zell were still hanging on for there lives.

"They should put him in prison" Rinoa said

"apparently, they're keeping him in the detainment centre for now while they decide what to do with him"

Selphie stayed for a few more minutes, but then Rinoa was left alone again.

'Seifer. Why does Seifer get to be alright?'. With a shudder, Rinoa remembered how once, all be it a very long time ago, once she had thought she loved Seifer. She had admired him, respected him. Now she didn't feel anything towards him but pure hatred. As Rinoa thought about this, trying to control her temper, Dr Kadowaki walked into the room. She usually did so a few times each day just to check on Squall.

"Hello Rinoa. Have you been here all night again?" the doctor asked "why don't you go and get something to drink or just get some fresh air for a few minutes."

"no, it's okay" Rinoa said quietly

"Please Mrs Leonhart, it would do you good, and it is only a few minutes. Besides I have to check the dressings and wounds, it's probably best that you aren't here"

Rinoa rubbed her eyes. She was kind of sleepy, and figured maybe some coffee would do her good "ok. But just a few minutes okay?" she said. She made her way quickly from the infirmary to the Cafeteria, secured some coffee and started on her way back. But she didn't make it back as quickly as she would have liked. People kept stopping her, students asking her how was their commander doing and was it true they had Seifer locked in the detainment centre. She supposed that all this seemed exciting to other people in Garden, but to her it was tragic. Tragic that one of her best friends lives was at risk, tragic that her husband hadn't been conscious for two weeks and tragic that Seifer lived through it all. When she finally made it to the infirmary, it had been 15 minutes since she had left, and there was a strangely large number of students gathered around the entrance, whispering and gossiping.

Panic struck Rinoa hard and fast 'Something's going on here. Oh my god, what's happened now?'

She pushed her way through the crowds and found Dr Kadowaki standing just outside Squall's room.

"what's going on?" She asked the doctor urgently.

"It's Squall…"

As soon as the doctor uttered those words Rinoa panicked and her mind went to a whole other place, as the worst scenario automatically came to mind. Squall is….dead? It seemed like an eternity before the doctor finished her sentence "He's awake!"

At first Rinoa thought she had imagined those words they sounded so good to her, she ran past the doctor, pushing open the door to Squalls room. And he was awake.There he was, sitting up slightly in his bed. He looked tired and weak, but as soon as he saw Rinoa he smiled. She immediately threw her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

"You're ok!!!" she said, tears of joy tracking down her face

"I'm fine."

"I…I thought I lost you" Rinoa sobbed

"I'd never leave you behind you know that" Squall said softly "And it's all over now, so you don't have to cry anymore"

Rinoa sat there for the rest of the day, not quite believing how lucky she had been. It was only that night that she left, as Kadowaki told her that Squall needed to rest.

But as Rinoa was leaving the infirmary, Kadowaki followed her into the corridor.

"Rinoa, you're very lucky" she said

"I know. I was really scared for a while. I couldn't stand it thinking he wouldn't come back."

"He really loves you Rinoa"

"Huh?" Rinoa thought this was a very strange thing to say

"He'd been unconscious for two weeks, probably woke up to an immense amount of confusion, not to mention pain, and do you know what the first thing he said was?"

Rinoa just shook her head, wondering where this story was going

"he said, 'where's Rinoa? is she okay?'"

Rinoa felt like crying all over again this made her so happy. If there were ever any small doubts at all about her and squalls relationship, this whole incident had removed them all. Rinoa supposed that was the one good thing about it all….

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Another week passed and Zell had still not woken up. Squall, who made a surprisingly quick recovery, had the horrible tasking of calling Zells mother in Balamb and letting her know what had happened. It had not been easy, explaining everything to her. But luckily Ma Dincht was not the type to ask too many harsh questions. She said she didn't blame Squall or Garden at all, but she would very much like to visit Zell each day in the infirmary, which Squall of course agreed to. Another difficult task had been dealing with the issue of those SeeD students that Zell had taken, that had not made it back alive. It was only 2 in the end, but those two lives had still been lost, and Squall had come under a fair bit of criticism for it, even though it was mot really his fault in any way. But the friends of these students thought it to be acceptable to constantly question Squall as to why his wife had survived and there friends had not. Not all together a pleasant experience. But Ma Dincht had actually made it better for him, she had managed to convince him that this was not his fault. Ma Dincht was surprisingly positive most days, considering the circumstances. Of course then came a day that she had reason to be cheery.

It was a Monday and Squall and Rinoa had visited Zell in the infirmary while Ma Dincht was there. Hope for Zell recovering was starting to dwindle. His injuries appeared to be a lot less than Squalls, yet he had showed no sign of any change. As Squall and Rinoa sat there, there was a knock on the door.

"Yeh" Squall called, but when he saw who walked through the door he nearly died.

"Seifer. What the hell?" Squall stood up, pushed Seifer out of the room, out into the main infirmary and then into the corridor and shut the door behind them

"what the hell do you think your doing here? Get out now". Squall said. He couldn't believe the cheek of Seifer. He had been the one to put Zell in that bed, and actually had the nerve to show up.

Seifer seemed different though, a little quieter, more reserved "I just wanted to know, is…is he going to be okay"

"Like you really even care." Squall said before going back to the infirmary and shutting the door loudly behind him.

From Zells room he heard laughter. For some reason. And it sounded like Rinoa. He opened the door to see that Zell was actually awake. And laughing too. Squall had no clue what they were laughing at, but he dint care, he was just happy that Zell was back. Of course, outwardly, he was a cool, calm and collected kind of happy, not too much emotion. "welcome back Zell. Glad your okay" he said

"Yeh, you too man, you too. Guess it all worked out all right in the end" Zell said with that optimistic grin of his.

'Guess it has' Squall thought

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Later that afternoon after Squall and Rinoa and his Ma had left, Zell sat alone in the infirmary, feeling pretty bored. There was a knock at the door "who is it" Zell called excitedly, happy of any company.

"It's Seifer"

"um…come in" Zell said kind of cautiously. What was Seifer doing here?

"Hey chicken wuss" Seifer said

"What are you doing here. Shouldn't you be in prison" Zell said folding his arms over his chest

"probably will be soon" Seifer said "I'm only here till they decide what to do with me officially"

Zell glanced behind Seifer and noticed there were 2 SeeD, with guns, obviously minding seifer.

"I came before, but that Jack ass Squall sent me away. Just wanted to see if you were okay"

This was strange to Zell. Seifer showing concern, for another human being?

"I'm fine" Zell said coldly

"Ok. Well I, um, I…just wanted to say, that I'm um…."

Zell had never seen Seifer so lost ofr words, so defeated before. He actually felt the tiniest bit of sympathy for him. He'd been through a lot too. Zell would never deep down understand anything he did, even back to the days of Edea, but he sensed that deep down, Seifer had problems. " apology accepted. And I forgive you"

"I never apologised…" Seifer said, obviously trying to defend his pride

"Sure" Zell shrugged "whatever"

"So how come, you don't want to kill me then?" Seifer asked "How come you say you forgive me, even though I don't want forgiving, not that I really care but…"

"because Seifer. I'm the bigger man…."

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Later that night Rinoa lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. With everything that had happened with Zell and Squall her mind had been preoccupied with worry and she hadn't really thought about what had happened in Deling city. Her father. She couldn't help but wonder where he was now. It seemed unfair after everything he did, he just got away. And then she started to think about everything he had done. How he had been cold enough, evil enough, to hurt his own daughter. Thinking back on it all, Rinoa remembered how afraid she had felt throughout it.

"Squall. Squall are you awake" she asked softly, brushing some of his hair away from his eyes

"what is it?" he asked sleepily. It was obvious he had been asleep, but Squall was alight sleeper, so she had probably just woke him up.

"Were you…scared?" she asked him

"Huh?"

"That whole thing, the mission. Were you scared?"

Squall didn't say anything for a while. Then he said simply "yeh, Like hell. I had no idea what they were going to do to you. I was scared I'd never see you again"

"Weren't you scared for yourself though?"

"Not really. Didn't really care what happened to me, I just wanted you to be okay"

"I am. Thanks to you."

"and Zell" Squall added. "But, you know. There is one thing I've got to tell you"

"what" Rinoa asked. Squall sounded deadly serious, and she was starting to worry

"You, Mrs Leonhart, have the family from hell"

That was all? She felt her worry melt away and turn to a smile.

"yeh" she said with a little laugh. "But you know what? My husband's kinda cool"

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Ok well were all wrapped up! i hope people liked the finale chapter. lots of different things going on. like i said zell n seifer spesh for my friend and pkot bunny. as for the ending, well it was supposed to be kind of calm and nice. its a lil fluffy, but well i'm queen of the cute cliche so hehe. once agin all my thanks to my readers. love ya allx lemme no what you think of the end and the story in general. Peace and light x