Chapter 7- shadows delight
Disclaimer- I don't own FF8
AN-Hey guys thank you all for reading and reviewing It really builds a budding writers confidence. I've decided im keeping the age rating as it is. From this point on it will get start getting a whole lot darker so warnings will still be in place.
Warnings- self-worth and esteem issues, swearing and mild threat.
Enjoy XX
Chapter 7- shadows delight
Squall woke up warm it wasn't a suffocating heat but it felt just right. He turned his head to see Rinoa's head in the crook of his neck, her soft little breaths fanning across his bare chest tickling his nipples. Her left arm was wrapped around his hips, the other under the pillow clutching it close. Their legs were entwined, her smaller thigh nestled between his much larger ones. He wished he could stay like this just breathing her unique scent in deeply but he knew another 5 minutes in bed was not going to get him anywhere, how to move her without waking her, Squall thought, he turned his head and looked straight into Rinoa's now open brown eyes.
Rinoa eased up from her very comfortable position on Squall did he have to go on that mission, she wondered. His skin was so warm underneath hers, he felt real. She sat up quickly against his headboard, remembering how they got into this position in the first place. The heels and dress she wore last night were tucked away neatly on the computer chair. She felt Squall sit up next to her and place an arm around her shoulders.
"Morning did you sleep ok" Squall breathed in her ear, it was sending delicious tinges on her neck and down her spine. He sounded so gruff and husky in the morning, she should have woken up smiling and full of life but if anything, she felt drained.
"Yeah it was ok thanks, I didn't move around too much did I" she answered back without turning her head.
"You were fine Rin, as soon as we got changed and laid down you were out like a candle". His hand came away from her shoulder and gently stroked her chin urging her to look at him.
Squalls heart was breaking, as soon as he touched her soft chin her eyes flashed to his. There were tears in her beautiful brown eyes, these tears were not petty they were raw and passionate.
"Rinoa please try not to think about it we'll talk in a couple of days when I come back from Esthar, I want you to stay with Ellone, Cid and Edea for those days, I'm not having you alone with your thoughts right now, there's too much in that beautiful mind of yours" he said softly. His hand combed through her long thick hair, grabbed the back of her head and tilted her face to his. Rinoa's lips were shy touching his, her lower lip trembled as his tongue entered her mouth. The kiss was cut short though by the alarm of his clock, he pulled back regrettably and stood up.
"Rinoa I will be leaving in the next hour, my phone will be switched off for the duration of the mission so if there is an emergency contact willow." He kissed her again on the forehead.
"It looks good on you by the way" he indicated his white shirt that was currently on her body. She looked down and blushed, no wonder it felt so good on. Her lips tilted upwards into a cheeky smile.
"You do know you're not getting this back now"
He laughed and smirked, "yeah I gathered that, im going into my bathroom to get changed so you can get sorted in here". He left without saying another word.
Squall disappeared into the bathroom, he had to get away create some space between them otherwise he was going to lose his mind. He could feel all of Rinoa's emotions, he had felt her desire and lust when she'd woken up, it was so potent like a drug and then he'd felt her horror and chaos that reigned in her mind. Rinoa was suffering he could sense that, he could only hope that whilst he was away she wouldn't have another episode or whatever it was. He ran his hand through his hair, when did it get so long he thought to himself maybe I should get it cut.
Rinoa looked up as the door to the bathroom opened, she'd gotten changed in record time, she could hear his thoughts, Squall was afraid for her. He emerged from the bathroom dressed in his usual outfit.
"Please don't" she said to him as he crossed over into the bedroom.
"Don't what" he asked confused.
"Your hair I don't want you to cut it" she walked over to him and petted his hair, Squall closed his eyes, this type of contact was bliss, they could have quite happily stayed like that.
"Come on Rin I'll walk you down to the café to meet Ellone" he kissed her one last time, grabbed her hand and led the way out of the room.
Ellone propped herself up on one of the walls in the reception area of the hospital, although she wasn't blood related to Squall she seemed to have picked up his mannerisms. Squall had asked her to meet up with Rinoa and keep an eye on her, she was upset that Squall had to ask her to do this she would gladly hang around with the young sorceress even without being told.
Edea peeked her head around the door and motioned Ellone forward, she'd been called to the hospital because Edea had results for her about what happened last night. Ellone stepped into the white room, the girl, Jeanie was laid motionless on the bed, a ventilator around her face and a drip in her vein. The only noise was the heart rate monitor. The girl looked serene, calm but looking at her body she seemed closer to death. Angry, raw purple bruises highlighted her slim pale neck, the veins bulging and red.
"Is it true" Ellone asked timidly, she knew the answer to that question but she needed confirmation. A small hand came down on her shoulder, Edea's eyes held the truth.
"What will happen now?" she asked.
"The girl will stay in for another couple of days, her parents are asking for her to be discharged but she's too weak to move. I did an examination on her and nothing seems to be life threatening, just a couple of burst blood vessels, in the nose and throat. Squall was nearly too late though"
"And I don't know, it's too early to tell, it may very well have been an episode but at this severity it's more likely that her powers are emerging" Edea continued.
Ellone thought that over, the severity played a large part if Rinoa had actually killed the girl, she would have been devastated more than that she would have broken into a million pieces that no one would be able to put back together not even Squall.
"Ellone there's something you're not telling me, isn't there" Edea asked out of the blue. Edea was a smart woman and plus she'd had her own experience in losing control.
"Seifer told Quistis about his confrontation with Rinoa, apparently she lost control with him and threw Seifer against a wall, he said her eyes were glowing yellow and she was snarling at him like an animal or a demon"
Edea raised her eyebrow in surprise, "I find it hard to believe Rinoa is spontaneous like that he must have said something to anger her" she indicated the girl with her hand "magic on this scale is difficult to conjure without a stimulus I bet it's the same thing that set her off with Seifer, they've said or acted negatively towards her and well this is the result".
"How is this possible, Rinoa has only been a sorceress for a short time to be able to telekinetically strangle a person whilst also being in control is unheard of, something or someone else has to be a part of this, I don't believe for one second Rinoa is like this" Ellone said sternly.
Edea nodded with every word, what she said was true, Rinoa wasn't like this her personality was sweet and caring, she was nothing like Adel or Ultimecia or even herself.
"I agree, Ellone before you go meet her, I want you to try and send her consciousness back so maybe you could glimpse and see what happened last night, but try do it discreetly."
"Ok I'll try".
Squall rolled his shoulders back, Hyne these chairs were uncomfortable on the Ragnorak. They were now officially in the air cruising thousands of feet on their way to Esthar. Selphie as his co-pilot had put the aircraft into autopilot for the duration of the flight; well until it was time to land again. He got up from his seat and found the others sitting around the cockpit. As somebody who was alone most of the time, he hated this silence, apart from the mandatory checks and the odd hello no one had said a thing. Time to break the silence
"I want everyone to stop what they're doing and come surround this table" They all looked at him the surprise clear in their eyes, he knew they didn't expect him to be the first to speak.
"I'm trusting you with this information not just as my comrades by also as my friends, what you saw last night was real as much as I didn't want it to be, Rinoa somehow used her powers to try and kill that girl and her father". He looked into all of their faces, they were emotionless just like he's was.
"Seifer told Quistis about what happened the other day, Rinoa did a similar type of magic with Seifer it seems to be linked with emotion, Quistis care to explain what he said to her".
Quistis sighed, she didn't want to paint Seifer in a negative light, yes, he'd been out of order with what he said but he was honestly trying to become a better person and really that's all that counts.
"He angered her by saying that Squall should show her a kindness by stabbing her and he called her a slut"
Selphie gasped in shock. "Why that fucking heartless bastard, you should have just killed him when you had the chance Squall" Zell shouted, he got up to pace but Willow's hand on his arm halted him.
Squall's jaw clicked in anger, it was difficult listening to it a third time, when Quistis told him about it he didn't have much time to think it over before it all went down yesterday and this morning when he had Seifer held in detainment, well let's just say he hoped there was powerful makeup to cover up what he'd done to his face.
"When we get back from this mission we will all be supportive, hopefully this will be the last time she gets out of control since I plan to complete the bonding process with her, but if she acts out at all I want you to either remember or write down what happens, the triggers and anyone else involved, do I make myself clear?". They all nodded even Zell and Irvine knew when too not push him when he was like this.
They had spent 3 hours in the air when a voice came over the intercom. Squall raced to the radio.
"Hello this is Commander Squall Leonhart requesting permission to land, over". There was a horrible static sound until the marshal replied.
"Commander we weren't expecting you but we are preparing bay 5 for you to land down, over"
That's weird why wasn't the port expecting us surely Laguna must have told the we were coming hmm, leave it to that guy to be so stupid like this, Squall thought to himself.
"Everyone prepare for landing".
It was just after 8 when Ellone joined Rinoa for breakfast, the other girl didn't give anything away about what she was feeling, maybe she didn't know that Rinoa was the cause of the disturbance last night. She was hopeful of that.
"Hey Ell, how are you?" Rinoa asked. Ellone sat down opposite Rinoa, they were next to the window, hardly anyone was around so they had privacy.
"I'm good Rin just a little hungover from the other night" Ellone saw Rinoa's eyes narrow slightly, luckily, she didn't catch her out on the lie.
"It was a great party wasn't it you and the girls looked so beautiful" Ellone smiled at Rinoa hoping to remove some of the girl's hostility towards her.
"Yeah, I guess it was ok, I wasn't really feeling up to going but it was nice dressing up for a change" Rinoa responded.
Well it was now or never, she wasn't going to get another chance at this.
"Hey Rin, you've got something in your hair let me take it out for you" Ellone leaned over the table her hand reached out to grab the girls' hair but instead pressed down on her neck. All at once she was surrounded by dark smoke, she could physically see the rising tension, the chaos controlling the over girls mind, the words 'murder, murder, car, whore' going round and round like a broken record player. There was something else though, a person stood over Rinoa's sleeping body, a syringe, red liquid, blood, blood, poison, darkness.
Ellone was thrown back onto her seat forcefully, her chest heaving. Rinoa was stood looking down at the girl, a sneer on her face, her hands tightened into fists, oh shit Ellone thought. Rinoa grabbed Ellone's wrist in a cruel hold, she wanted to hurt her.
"Tell me what you saw Ellone, now" Rinoa snarled.
"I'm so sorry Rinoa, I didn't see anything I swear, please let go" Ellone's lip trembled in fear, her eyes watering in pain.
"Edea set you up to this didn't she, I want you to tell her that you didn't see anything or I swear you won't like what I do".
"What will you do Rinoa". Tears were now running freely down Ellone's face.
Rinoa's eyes glowed eerily, the black glyphs emerging from her skin. "I can turn your blood into ink, make it run black in your veins until it reaches your heart, you'll slowly become paralysed and it will be a slow and painful death, would you like a demonstration?"
"Hey Sweetie". Both girls looked up to see Felicity walking towards them, Rinoa instantly let go of Ellone's hand.
"Felicity what are you doing here" Rinoa asked.
"Well I thought maybe you could help me sort through some files since Squall has entrusted me to keep you busy, with your job I mean" she said smiling at the young girl.
"Sure, me and Ellone were just finishing, I'll see you around".
Ellone watched the two walk through the café, she saw Rinoa look back, her eyes red and a sadistic grin on her face. She put her head in her hands and cried, cried until she couldn't think anymore.
The gang slowly got off the Ragnorak, a presidential car waited at the airport, they all climbed in and headed to the palace.
Kiros and ward were there to greet them, the two men were his fathers trusted advisors and best friends. Laguna had probably briefed them on the mission.
"Hey, could you take us up to see him" Squall said. They both nodded without saying anything and the gang followed the two up the stairs to Laguna's meeting room.
Laguna was sat at his desk typing away on his computer, when the doors open, his son and friends came through. He smiled widely, he actually couldn't believe that Squall was in front of him. Laguna promised him after the war with Ultimecia that they would get to know each other and that he would tell the young man about his mother.
"How lovely to see you all, what brings you here this fine morning?".
Squall stopped in his tracks, what was going on here, everything was acting so normal, squall didn't like it.
"What do you mean what brings us here, we're here to complete the mission" Squall said, seriously what was this guy's problem, first the air marshal, Kiros and ward and now Laguna.
The smile went from Laguna's face "what do you mean mission, there isn't anything for you to do here".
The others went quiet around Squall no doubt as confused as he was.
"You can stop fooling around now Laguna, you emailed Cid yourself about the mission and I spoke to you two days ago to discuss accommodation" Squall said angrily, this was starting to piss him off.
"And what was the mission"
Squall facepalmed "you told Cid that there had been magical dealings in the city and that you believed there was a sorceress that had recently come into her powers or that she was a threat"
"Squall I don't know what you think but there has been nothing like that reported in the city, I haven't contacted anyone in SeeD since the time we first met during the war with Ultimecia" Laguna answered.
"Are you telling me that we flew all the way here for nothing" Squall growled, he was glad the other man was across the room otherwise he would have throttled him.
"Yes, you can even look at my emails, I'm telling you the truth" Laguna put his hands up in defence.
"Willow, Selphie check this out"
It was an hour later when Willow put her head up from the computer, as the tech genius she would get to the bottom of this.
"I'm sorry to tell you all this but President Laguna is telling the truth, he didn't send those emails, it came from an unknown Ip address, you've either been hacked which looks like the case here or someone has used this computer without your permission, question is why".
Squall answered her, "to get us away from Rinoa".
AN: This was a really long chapter, I think the others are going to be around this length, I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter more than I thought I would. The plot is definitely hotting up now. This story should be finished hopefully by end of September since im doing a chapter a day.
Thanks for reading XX
Songs
In the end- linkin park
Devil in me- Halsey
Sweet sacrifice- Evanescence