Samxxx here again with a long overdue chapter 2. My internets been a mess so I cant say when I'm gonna get chapter 3 up here. Special mention for cerespallas, hope this is easier to read. And again I don't own the characters, squaresoft does.
Chapter 2: A knights rest
Squall closed the door softly, letting it click shut into the empty living space that was his quarters that he shared with rinoa. The standard room used to be very cold to him, but since rin had moved in, the evidence of her warmth was everywhere in the apartment.
The blue pillows on the couch, the lipstick left on the side panel next to his gunblade case, the pictures of their friends and loved ones left everywhere. She managed to make the place actually looked lived in, compared to the way he used to have nothing in the room. It showed how much she had been let into his heart.
He slipped off his leather jacket and placed it on the back of the couch, walking over to the open kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Twisting the lid, he took a nice long drink, emptying half the bottle in one go, quenching his thirst. Days like today always left him thirsty. He was left feeling uncomfortable by the report findings - they just were too strange.
And when strange things happened to him, they were often followed by a lot of drama he didn't want. But these events were hitting too close to home. He rubbed his eyes; feeling very tired all of a sudden. He'd discuss his fears with cid in the morning, for now he just wanted to get in his bed and hold rinoa close to him.
He again made sure that the bedroom door closed as quietly as possible, bending down to ruffle the fur of angelo behind his ear as the loyal dog trotted up to him from his basket in the corner of the room. Rinoa was in bed, sheets tangled around her torso as she tossed and turned over lightly in her sleep.
Squall toed his boots off at the door, and as quietly as possible, walked to the bathroom to undress. Having sorted out his nightly routine, he stopped at the bathroom door, crossing his arms as he gazed at rinoa. The light from the bathroom filtered over her body and he realized that she had her hands clinched up in fists. At this he quickly walked over, slid across the bed and beneath the covers, wrapping his arm around her. She tossed for just a moment before waking with a sharp gasp looking franticly around as she calmed down slowly. Squall stoked at her hair as she snuggled closer to him, holding on to him like she couldn't let him go.
After a moment he lent back to look at her face "shhhhhh I'm here. Was that another one?"
Rinoa bit her bottom lip, sighing into him "yes… always the same dream. The rain, the running… always away from her…" She looked up into squall, confusion in her dark eyes, slowly filling with tears of fear and frustration "Squall, why would I be dreaming this now? Dreaming about her night after night. It's been years since she died. She's dead... Adels dead!"
Squall held her close to him, letting her feel his warmth, letting his presence clam her down more. He was just as confused as she was, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Slowly she drifted back to sleep again, as she traced her fingers over his tattoo, feeling the pounding of his heartbeat beneath the back lines and markings.
The image of griever made out of magical script that was only known to the sorceress in his arms and himself. It had appeared the day he made his promise to her, pledging him self to her forever as her knight.
-X.X.X-
Knock – Knock – Knock
Laguna halted the pacing of his large office and called out to the person at the door to come in. Kiros stepping into his spot in the office and sitting down comfortably at one of the many chairs scattered around. How the man could be so cool and comfortable wherever he went was beyond Laguna.
He himself couldn't stay still, as long as his mind was awake and active he'd move along with it. He swore he even did a jig in bed every night, as he'd often found his sheets either flung on the floor or somehow twisted around his body in a tangle. No one could confirm this, as it'd been years since he'd shared his bed with another person, but he saw the state his bed sheets got in. And right now his pacing was non-stop because he couldn't get his mind to slow down and actually make sense.
He finally stopped pacing and walked towards kiros, stopping to look at the glorious esthar view in the night, twiddling his thumbs behind his back, breaking the silence, asking the question that plagued his mind.
"How's she doing?"
At this Kiros shook his head and replied the one thing Laguna did not want to hear "Not any better… she's finding it so hard to sleep because of her nightmares, and she's exhausted because she's not getting her rest." Kiros paused, his gaze falling upon the reflection of his worried friend.
He tenderly opened the file he held in his lap, studying the first sheet of information closely. "Odine is still working on the scans from last night and says it's going to take some time to get the results. I worry for her health. It has now been a month since this started." He then stood, and passed the file over to laguna.
At this Laguna looked down at the file his hands. It was a copy of correspondents and research on the current situation. Dreams were misunderstood and odine was fascinated with the theory that the subconscious could fire warnings and messages through them and when he spoke to squall earlier today, squall had confided that the same was happening to rinoa. Squall was worried and he just felt that something was going to happen. A gut feeling that made him tingle like his body is just about to cramp up.
So he did what he always did in times when he felt he couldn't get his mind around a problem, he asked squall to come to Esthar. Balamb garden was now on its way and with it Edea and Cid, as well as squall. If anyone could help them understand her strange nightmares it'd be Edea. He felt it would be best if garden were here, so whatever was happening to them, they would at least all be together.
It just made him so nervous when he found out about rinoa's dreams. If she was having the same visions as ellie then what did it mean? What really scared him was the content of ellies strange visions. Ellies power was rooted in the past and now her dreams contained elements of that past… somehow warped. Visions that showed the return of the sorceress Adel that left ellie in a state of blind panic when she awoke. And they didn't seem to be going away. Her dreams were just getting worse.
Laguna's head hurt from the worry and the memories of the past. Adel was twisted… he'd never forget the moment he first saw the wicked sorceress, the claws and evil face contorted with pleasure at the pain and havoc she caused. She terrorized little girls for pleasure, and wanted nothing more than to be the most powerful being on earth. He was thankful to have saved ellone from her when he did. But he'd never forget the remains found in her room in odines laboratory. Bodies of young girls, half naked, ripped to shreds, faces contoured in terror. He'd never seen such abuse in his life, and it made him sick on the spot.
The sooner that Garden arrived in esthar, the better he'd feel. But for now he'd keep an eye on ellone in her fitful nights, praying that the uneasiness he felt would soon go away.