It's Ok To Be Us, Chapter 6
Something Worth Fighting For
Zell was fighting well, in Squall's opinion. He was using a similar tactic Squall himself had used against Wakka. When facing someone larger than you, especially someone as large as Barthello, speed is a powerful ally. Zell must have landed four hits for each of his opponents. It was now just an endurance test. Squall could see Zell weakening with each massive blow he took, but his friend would always bounce back, perhaps a split second slower. Zell's attacks became more ruthless, but Squall knew it to be desperation. Just when it seemed like Zell was finally getting to the big guy, the unthinkable happened.
Barthello threw a hard kick right to Zell's knee. Zell screamed as the referee stopped the fight and issued Bathello his one warning. Squall and Rinoa ran over, but were intercepted by the ref.
"I'm his commanding officer, and she's his trainer. We need to take a look at him to see if he is fit to continue, or will be forced to withdraw." Squall lied quickly.
"Very well. According to the policy on illegal hits, he has two minutes to make that determination. If he cannot continue after that, the match will be considered over." The ref said, stepping aside for them to pass.
Squall pulled Zell outside of the ring, and pulled his pant leg up.
"Could be MCL, could be PCL. But you have about 90 seconds. Do you think you can make it?" Squall asked Zell, who was still breathing hard from the pain. Before Zell could answer, Rinoa pushed him aside.
"Cure," she whispered. Zell's eyes widened as he flexed his knee gingerly.
"Thank you Rin." He said, smiling at her. He stood up carefully and hobbled his way back into the ring.
"That could have gotten us in trouble. You know they can detect magic." Squall said with a smirk. Rinoa smirked back at him.
"No, according to the security guy at the front gate, they can detect junctions, mostly to keep you military people from cheating. They can't detect me. And besides, it was only a basic cure. If I had done a higher level spell, and he hopped up like nothing happened, then they'd notice. All I did was help prevent any permanent damage, and let him continue. Is that so bad?"
"Yes. But it's the perfect kind of bad." Squall said. They turned to watch as the match resumed again.
Zell was officially desperate. He still limped slightly on his left side, but his punches became all the more ferocious. After landing a series of hard punches, he jumped straight up and buried his feet, both of them, into Barthello's chest. Finally, it was the big guy's turn to hit the mat. The crowd roared in triumph, and Squall led the cheer.
The bell rang, and Zell was deemed the winner. Squall was apprehensive about Zell continuing to fight with his busted knee, but Zell assured him he had fought through much worse.
"Squall and Zell! Moving on to the semi's! You guys are awesome. Zell I was expecting, but you? Bro I had no idea you were so good at hand to hand! Makes me wish I had practiced more. You never know when you're going to run out of ammo!" Irvine said, patting Squall on the back.
Squall winced. And he knew Rinoa had seen it. She had given him that look. That concerned, sort of 'I'm worried that you're not taking care of yourself' look. He shrugged.
"Dude!" (Was that Zell's name for him now? What the hell?) "You'll be against Cloud Strife, and I gotta tell you man, he's no push over! I saw his match with Sephi-whatever and I gotta tell you man, dude, I gotta say, it was epic!" Zell said, rubbing his injured knee. "I hope you're in better shape than I am. That guy will find your weakness and exploit it. Maybe Rinoa should throw you a cure spell huh?"
Rinoa gave him a different look. A 'that's not a bad idea let me help' look. This time, Squall responded with words.
"Zell, Rinoa did that for you because she didn't want you to lose because of a cheap shot. He meant to take out your knee. It was dirty and unfair. If this guy, Cloud, can exploit my weaknesses before I exploit his, then more power to him. I want a fair fight. Just because we have a sorceress, doesn't mean we don't also have honor."
Rinoa smiled sadly.
"You're every bit as much a knight as you are a SeeD aren't you? Chivalrous and honorable." She said.
"Until the very end." He said, giving her a private little smile.
"You guys wanna come watch the next fight? I think they're starting soon. My money is on that guy Jecht. He's brutal." Irvine asked.
Zell, Quistis, and Selphie all agreed.
"Go on ahead, I think we're going to stay here until it's Squall's turn again. Should be like twenty minutes right?" Rinoa asked him as the others started to leave.
"Yeah something like that. They'll call you over the intercom." Zell said with a little wave. He and the others left Squall and Rinoa alone once more.
"Cloud Strife is actually an acquaintance of mine, now that I think about it." Squall said, after a moment of silence.
"Oh yeah?" Rinoa said, standing and walking behind him. She gently gestured for him to sit on the bench. He did as she asked before continuing.
"Yeah, I've met him at one of these weapons conventions. Can't think of when. If memory serves, he uses a giant buster sword."
"What does that tell us about his fighting style?" Rinoa asked as her hands slipped inside the collar of his uniform. She began to massage his neck and shoulders gently, and let out a little chuckle when he sighed and leaned into her hands.
"...what? Oh. It tells us he has incredible... Upper body strength... To wield a weapon like that... Takes... Whatever. Don't stop."
"I wouldn't dream of it, darling."
Twenty minutes passed in a flash. Rinoa reluctantly removed her hands from Squalls shoulders. When Squall fought, Rinoa had to watch from the stands. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. She was so proud of him. Words escaped her at that moment. Good luck? It wasn't about luck. I love you? Didn't seem appropriate. So she simply offered a reassuring smile.
Fortunately Squall was a master of nonverbal communication. He smirked and nodded, squeezing her hand back. Rinoa stood and watched as he disappeared through the double doors to the arena. She sighed and made her way out the other direction, toward the stands.
Her friends had saved her seat, but she wasn't sure if she would sit down at all for the next eight minutes. Unless she fainted, which was a possibility.
She barely registered their bow, or them taking their stances. What she did see was the pair of them darting forward, almost faster than she could see. She did not have the combat training to be able to identify all that was happening, but she knew intensity when she saw it. Rinoa's eyes were fixed on her knight, and she gasped as he took a hard reverse punch to his face. His nose must have broken. Why else would there be so much blood. Squall used his backward momentum to land a kick to Clouds jaw as he back flipped and landed on his feet.
The fighters hesitated, wiping the blood from their faces as the crowd cheered at the display.
Rinoa clutched Selphie's arm, holding back tears.
"His nose is broken, it must be. Look at all that blood." She cried into Selphie's arm.
"Don't worry; Dr. K is an expert at setting bones. You'll never even know in a few days. He'll still have his pretty face Rinny I promise!"
"Yeah, but look how much pain he's in. And they're still got four minutes left. Oh God here they go again."
Squall led with a kick, but it was blocked out of the way. This time, Rinoa saw it before it happened. Her knight's ribs were exposed, and as predicted, Cloud hit them. Hard. Squall stumbled back and dropped to his knees, spitting up blood once more.
"Selphie! We have to stop this!" Rinoa shouted over the crowd. "His ribs are broken on his left side!"
Now Selphie too wore an expression of horror as she watched Cloud grab Squall's collar with one hand and mercilessly pound Squall's ribs with the other.
After what seemed an eternity to Rinoa (no way was that only four seconds), Squall head-butted Cloud straight in his face. In that moment, Squall turned the tides, and began landing punch after punch to Clouds face.
"See Rin? Does he look like he wants to quit? If anything, the pain only encourages him not to let up. He'll keep up this attack for as long as he can so he doesn't take any more damage to his ribs." Irvine had said leaning around Selphie. "He's fine. He's certainly in rough shape, but look at him go! There's no way he's losing this."
Rinoa's mouth was dry, and she couldn't speak. But Irvine was right. It was much more bearable watching the match when Squall was the aggressor.
Cloud was stumbling back, still dazed from repeated hits to the head. He still blocked and parried, but his movements were becoming less precise as he simply tried to regain his balance. He stepped further and further back until...
"Squall! You gotta let up!" Zell called. Rinoa knew Squall wouldn't hear over the crowd, but she heard, and didn't understand.
"What? Why?" She asked Selphie. Before she got a response, the whistle blew, piercing through the arena. Rinoa looked at the clock hopefully. To her dismay, the timer still showed one minute and forty six seconds.
"That's why. They have to reset when one of them steps out of the ring. This gives Cloud a chance to get himself together." Selphie said.
The fighters were led back to their starting lines. Then the whistle sounded once more.
"Squall lost the adrenaline he was using. And Cloud was able to collect himself. Oh Selphie I can't watch."
"Shhh Rinny, have some faith! Don't you dare doubt him. He's gone blow for blow with this guy and he's still standing too! I bet Cloud is just as beat up as Squall is."
Have some faith. Rinoa almost laughed. She would never think Selphie, of all people, would repeat Squall's words to her.
And Rinoa had faith. She did. She swore to herself that win or lose, no matter what happened, she would never lose her faith that he would prevail.
Finally, the bell rung to indicate the end of the match. Rinoa watched as they bowed, and approached each other for a hand shake. She was surprised and rather pleased when she saw them grasp hands and pull each other into a brief, respectful embrace.
"Aw! Look at the man-hug! That's so awesome! Woooooo!" Shouted Selphie. Rinoa was already making her way towards Squall's locker room. He would now be the only one using it, as Zell and Jecht still shared the other one.
When Rinoa got there she found Squall lying flat on his back, a towel over his face.
"Oh God! Squall? Are you okay?"
"Who won?" He asked through his towel.
"Um... I don't know. They haven't announced it yet."
"Oh okay." He said as the others burst through the door behind them.
"Oh shit." Said Irvine, who was promptly elbowed in the ribs by Selphie.
"Dude? You awake? How ya doing?" Zell asked, kneeling next to Rinoa at Squall's side.
"I'd be a lot better if you stopped calling me 'dude' for just a few more minutes." Squall grunted, wiping his face and moving the towel.
"Fuck Du- I mean, I'm sorry. You look like hell. I wonder what's taking them so long to announce the winner." Zell said nervously.
"Did you see that fight? I don't envy anyone trying to score that. I've never seen anything like it." Quistis remarked.
Squall tried to sit up, but failed, and remained on the ground.
"I'm just gonna lie here for a bit, if that's okay."
"At least your morbid sense of humor is doing okay." Rinoa said, smiling at him.
"Seriously though, I need to get up. I'm going to need your help rewrapping my chest and hands. And I gotta set my nose before I bleed to death."
Rinoa cringed at that before snaking her arm carefully around his neck. She helped him sit up, and he instantly started coughing up blood.
"Selphie, fresh towels! Irvine, water! Zell! Clean wrappings! Quistis-"
"Ice and ice packs, on it" Quistis called already on her way.
"Heh, you sound like me... barking those orders."
"We gotta get you fixed up. Let me cure you. Please? You've punctured a Goddamn lung. Please Squall?"
"No." Squall said, still gasping for breath. He was now leaning on her completely.
"You are so fucking stubborn! You know that?"
"Whatever," they said together.
Rinoa reached down and untied his belt, letting it fall to the floor. She untied his gi, and carefully shifted his weight to get it off his arms.
She stared in disbelief at his torso, which was now a violent shade of black and blue. She noticed in horror that his rib cage was actually dented in. He must have broken every rib on his left side, and even a few on his right.
"You won." Quistis said, one arm laden with ice packs in a variety of shapes and sizes, the other carrying a bucket of ice with several plastic bags. Her eyes widened as she saw his chest, but after receiving a warning look from Rinoa, she said nothing about it.
"Oh good. Six down and one to go, right?"
The others filed in one at a time, dropped off their supplies, said their congratulations, and left Squall in Rinoa's capable hands. Zell's fight would be starting soon, but Rinoa couldn't bear to leave her man.
"You know, you don't have to fight anymore. You have nothing left to prove to anyone. We could go home." She said unwrapping his chest and hands. As she did, she saw the full damage, not only to his ribs, but to his very broken hands.
"And let Zell win by default? Never."
"Squall! I'm being serious. Please... Think about it. We have time right? Zell will fight, and then everyone is off for a whole hour before the finals. I just can't bear to see... I know you two idiots will go all out and..."
She stopped in the middle of wrapping up his right hand. Tears fell freely onto his wrist, no matter how hard she tried to restrain them.
She felt him wiping her tears away, and she held his hand firmly in place against her cheek.
"Tell you what. If Zell wins, I will withdraw. Garden would get first and second place anyway, and I don't feel much like fighting anymore."
"Thank you, my love." Rinoa whispered. She once more fished the ointment from his bag and took some in her hands. This time though, she reached down to his chest with shaking hands. He gently guided her to his body with his own freshly wrapped hands.
They both exhaled sharply when she made contact. Tears still streaming down her face, she steeled herself. She had a job to do. Even if she would put him in more pain now, it's what he wanted. No. It's what he needed. She rubbed his chest and abs gently but purposefully.
After several minutes, Rinoa was proud of herself. She knew Squall was still in excruciating pain, but she had applied the muscle ointment, wrapped his chest, and pulled his gi over his arms and shoulders. There was now only the matter of his still bleeding nose. Squall seemed to recognize this was the only thing left.
"Hand me that towel, then close your eyes and cover your ears." He said. She handed him the towel, but somehow, she felt like looking away would be the same as leaving him alone. He was in pain, and she needed to experience it too, in whatever small way she could. He gave her a warning look, and she smiled sadly. She was aware it wouldn't be pretty.
He removed the bloody towel from his face, pinching his nose to stem the bleeding. With a gut wrenching crack, he snapped it back into place. Rinoa hadn't realized she was holding her breath.
As he held a fresh towel to his nose, she gingerly placed ice on his stomach, chest, biceps, and his other hand. After a moment or two, she gently removed his hand and towel, and looked into his unobscured face.
Indeed there was a lot of blood. But the shape of his nose remained the same as it had been yesterday. She wondered how he got so good at setting the bone. Perhaps he had done it before.
She smiled at him and dipped one end of the towel into the bucket of ice that had been melting. She used her damp towel to gently clean the blood from his face.
"You, Commander Leonhart, are the most beautiful man I have ever seen. Even with swollen black eyes, a busted lip and a broken nose, you still manage to be my definition of the handsome knight in shining armor."
He said nothing, but she really wasn't expecting him to. He leaned his head back against her chest, and she gently ran her fingers through his hair. Even if it was slick with sweat, she still loved the feel of his hair.
She loved everything about him.
She traced his jawline and gently tilted his face toward hers. She leaned in and let their lips hover inches apart. He tried to close the gap, but she kept her distance as a smile lit up he features.
"Please."
He didn't ask it. He didn't even say it. But the word that left his mouth silently registered loud and clear in her heart. Smiling more brightly, she kissed his lips.
Rinoa was bad at gauging time. She knew she hadn't moved in sometime. She knew Squall had fallen asleep moments ago. But she was shocked to see Irvine busting in. Carrying Zell.
Squall was awake the instant he heard Zell's screams. He sat up on his own, and turned to see Irvine laying Zell down on the ground nearby.
"What the hell happened?" He barked. Ok he hadn't meant to make it sound like it was their fault.
"That cheating bastard Jecht! He saw my last fight. Saw my knee get fucked up, and then went right for it!" Zell shouted.
Quistis, who knew Squall needed more information, elaborated:
"Jecht jumped, threw a roundhouse to the knee then another to his head. The judges scored it as a sweep. They said Jecht was aiming at Zell's foot with the intent of knocking him down. Squall... Jecht won. He won with the dirtiest move I've ever seen. And he got away with it."
"Rinoa," Squall said, looking at her. She understood. The air around them began to swirl, and her eyes glowed amber.
"Curaga!" She said.
"None of us have the skill to fix it properly. Take the Ragnarok, and don't stop until you reach Dr. Kadowaki."
"What about you?" Selphie asked now looking at him with concern.
"Me? I have a whole hour to heal before my match. Someone can come pick me up after. Rinoa will stay with me."
"Dude! Sorry. Squall! We can't miss your fight! It's the finals! This is for the trophy, or belt, or title, or whatever."
"You need to go if you want to walk again. Rin's spell only speeds up the healing. That doesn't mean it's healing correctly. Now go! I'll tell you all about it later."
Zell made to protest, but Irvine helped him up and acted like a crutch for the shorter man. He and the two girls ushered Zell out of the room.
"Squall..."
He knew what she would say. But she also knew his response, he was sure of it.
"Please." He said, hoping she wouldn't argue with him anymore. "Just, stay here with me."
Precisely fifty one minutes later, the intercom sounded ominously, calling him to the ring, one last time.
He sat up, and laid his hand on Rinoa's hip. He knew she wasn't sleeping. The floor wasn't exactly comfortable. Not that she'd be able to sleep anyway.
"Squall? I'm scared. I'm scared to think that you could die if you go out there. And that upsets me. Remember how we promised to talk about what upsets us? This upsets me."
"Rinoa, have faith. Have faith in my abilities, and what I'm fighting for. Have faith that I will survive no matter what, because you have given me something to live for. I have faith that my guardian angel will swoop down and save me, if she has to. But I also have faith that my girlfriend will be brave for me, so I can draw on her strength. We've come so far together. Let's go just a little further. And I can't do it without you."
"You're not just talking about this fight, right now, are you?"
"No, Rin, I'm not. This experience has taught me a lot, and I want to carry those lessons with me and see this through, win or lose. And I want you in my corner."
"I'm always in your corner, Squall. Always. So go. Go and fight. And win. Because I've seen you grow into a better person today. As much as it kills me, I can't deny you your finale. Go finish what we started. And know that you have my support, and my blessing."
They stood, and he pulled her into an embrace.
"I love you Squall. Please just hear me when I say it. I love you. And don't you dare forget it."
He kissed her, all too briefly in his opinion. Then he turned and exited through the double doors.
He stood on his start line in the ring. One final time. One last chance to show the world what a real SeeD was capable of. One last chance to inspire his comrades. One chance to avenge Zell. One last time to fight and bleed with her blessing. This would not be the last fight ever. But it would be the end of this chapter of his life. He and Rinoa had grown closer. This stupid tournament helped them understand each other.
And above all else, that experience was worth fighting for.
Squall bowed and took his stance.
When the bell rang, his mind shut off. He was running on sheer adrenaline, passion, and instinct. The three feelings that had come to define him were now literally driving him. He could only comprehend flashes. Images. Moments.
8:59 remaining
His head had been forcefully turned from a punch to the temple.
7:38 remaining.
Squall rammed his elbow hard into his opponent's stomach.
5:56 remaining.
A sharp pain in his ribs made his vision blur.
4:21 remaining.
He was on the ground, breathing hard. He heard a little voice in his head. It was Rinoa, beseeching him to remain strong. He stood back up.
3:45 remaining.
His sweep had landed. Jecht was on the ground.
3:00 remaining.
The whistle blew. One of them had been knocked out of the ring.
2:19 remaining.
Blood. His right hand was bleeding. It had hit Jecht's knee.
1:32 remaining.
Squall winced, but his uppercut landed. Jecht was dazed. Now was his chance.
0:07 remaining.
Squall stood over his unconscious opponent. His knees began to give way from the pain as he desperately searched the stands.
Five minutes later...
Squall heard a crash, as if of metal hitting tile. He saw an angel rushing towards him. His vision faded, and he collapsed into her arms.
Author's notes: Yes! Finished this arc of the story! Sorry if it got kind of boring (okay! We get it! Squall is fighting!), but I really wanted to continue playing with the perspective.
Hope you enjoyed the cameos by other Final Fantasy characters. This story is not a cross over. I essentially needed some disposable characters to serve as opponents, and they won't be making appearances again. Unless you ask really really nicely.