Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > General > Writer's Corner > [S] The Final Fantasy

[Jett]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and this is my first fic entitles 'The Final Fantasy'. Thanks for showing some interest and hope you enjoy it.



The skyline was on fire.

It stretched outwards from the fallen towers to the hilltops and mountains above.

An eerie calm circulated through the desolate streets. Nothing but debris, hacked apart buildings, torn, broken bodies, mutilated and unrecognisable.

Iphia was such a beautiful place.

The moon shone down from above as if a guardian emitting slow warmth, comfort but regret. The same regret Cloud Strife felt all those years ago. His boots created an echo, which could be heard all around.

Thud.

Each step seemed ominous. A loud scrapping of metal across the floor. Cloud drew his sword, his face suddenly transformed with rage. He stared at another figure hiding behind the darkness. The cold, penetrating stare, he knew this was the battle he had waited for his entire life. The fire across the skyline reflected in his eyes and only fuelled the hate and anger inside.

Over the other side of the hills more footsteps could be heard, only this time they were smaller. The person walked calmly ignoring the fire and the destruction around. Looking to the right they saw bright white light, it wasn't the moon. The person knew that it was far too bright, that it was far too big, far too significant. It couldn't help but be noticed upon the empty night sky.

The light lit up the person's face revealing it to be a woman. She covered her face to avoid being blinded and continued down the hills now using her staff to prevent her from falling.

When she reached the bottom of the hill she saw Cloud Strife. A tear came from her eye: it had been so long. Cloud withdrew his sword and looked up. He saw the woman's face, now full of tears. He wanted to cry himself, but tried to keep it inside. It had been so long. The woman saw her reflection from the huge sword that Cloud wielded, she remembered everything.

Cloud looked down at the sword himself and saw his own reflection. How times had changed. There was blood on it, lots of it. He tried to wipe it off with his shirt, but it wouldn't all come off, it was stained, permanent. Cloud then looked down upon where the blood came, a fallen body lying motionless on the ground. His face was slashed to pieces; too many scars to count now and a pool of blood had circled beneath him.

He was dead.


Squall was dead.

Cloud looked back at the woman and smiled. He recognized her. It was Aeris. She was still wearing the same tattered pink dress that she was wearing the last time they saw each other. But they never thought they would see each other again. Cloud moved slowly towards her, a little hesitant, unsure, it had been so long. Cloud brought his hand up and touched her cheek. He then took a deep breath and took Aeris into a full embrace.

They hugged and they kissed passionately. They walked over Squall's dead body and looked towards the silver haired man now staring down at them from the hilltops. He was hovering up in the air and started to float down towards them.

"You have done well," the man said. "You have done very well. You've proved yourselves worthy."

"Thank you Sephiroth," Aeris said. "Thank you for everything."

"Your gratitude is accepted, young lady. It is an honour to meet someone with as much power as you, power greater than mine perhaps."

Sephiroth laughed a little.

Cloud looked at Sephiroth, the skyline behind them still burning bright. He then turned back to Aeris and held her hands in his.

"Aeris," he said. "This is the beginning of our journey."

[Polaris]

Wow man that was deep! By the way when you said that Iphia was a nice place, you were kidding, right?

I mean I was going to be sick with all those mutilatred bodies and you say that Iphia was a nice place? :moggie:

But the rest was good, except the part that Squall die!

[Jett]

5 days earlier...


The boat pulled up on the shores of Balamb. Squall got out, the hot sun momentarily blinding him, he shielded away, stared back at Rinoa. She smiled at him as her long black hair blew through the cool breeze. Squall extended a hand to her and she gratefully accepted it helping her ashore. He then put an arm around her shoulders.

"Well," he said. "We're home at last."

"Yeah, it's been a while. But we've had such a busy schedule, it's been hard to keep up with it with the wedding and all."

"Yeah, but it was all worth it, Mrs Leonheart."

"Yeah."

Squall moved down and kissed Rinoa passionately, he then looked up for a second and all was quiet. There was literally no one around apart from them on the harbour. It seemed odd to him that there was no one there. He wasn't expecting a parade or anything, but a little congratulations and support would have been nice.

"Hey," Squall said. "Where is everyone?"

Rinoa now shifted away from Squall's arms for a moment to take a look herself.

"Ah, don't worry about it." Rinoa said turning back to Squall and staring in his full blue eyes: captivating, hypnotic. She wished she could stare at them forever. Rinoa regained her focus and said: "This is a sleepy town, you know that. Everyone's probably up in the Garden having a good time, you know. Without the sorceress, things must be pretty relaxed up there."

"Yeah, they should be. Let's hope so."

"Now," Rinoa said. "Lead on."

Squall held Rinoa's hand as they walked towards the Garden. It was quite a long way but they didn't mind. It gave them a chance to catch up on old times and admire the beautiful scenery as the sun shone down upon the green fields of Balamb. The day was perfect for Rinoa, too perfect. The sorceress defeated, married to the man she loved and after their honeymoon it would be off to Timber to live out the rest of their lives happily ever after. Life was perfect for Rinoa, too perfect.

Squall felt much the same way. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the last few weeks. It was as if he was a completely different person now and he owed it all to Rinoa, owed her for a second chance, another chance. Squall felt good inside standing next to Rinoa, he'd never felt that way before, not ever. The tingling feeling in his stomach, that sweet-soft feeling: he liked that feeling. He didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed as he would have done earlier, but he felt he could do anything or say anything as long as he was with Rinoa.

What happened to me, Squall thought.

They moved closer to the Garden.

They saw the huge Garden ahead of them still as glorious as always. It stood high above everything else and was a symbol of what the people of Balamb stood for. Its futuristic design was something that may have come from Esthar with its spiralled top, beautiful sky blue, curved to perfection, magnificent.

They moved closer to the Garden.



Inside the Garden Irvine was in the Quad polishing his Exeter. He took his cowboy hat off for a moment revealing his long brown hair and blew on it slightly. A little dust came off. He heard a high-pitched voice behind him, yelling, screaming. He knew it was Selphie. He turned and half smiled.

"Hiya Irvy," Selphie said. "How ya doing?"

"Alright, I s'pose, I've been better though."

Selphie crouched down and tried looking into his eyes but Irvine looked away.
"Ah, what's the matter, Irvy?" she asked. He listened to her voice; it was annoying him. She was doing it deliberately - she had to be. Deliberately putting on this babyish voice to try and cheer him up or perhaps to look down upon him. Irvine didn't care either way - he was annoyed.

"Are you okay, Irvy? You don't look well."

"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm fine, now please, I just want a bit of peace and quiet. God, man, is there never an end to the torment. Whether it's the sorceress or you, it's all just one big massive headache, okay?"

Selphie was shocked by the comment that Irvine made. She didn't know what to say. She knew Irvine would never normally say anything like that, he wasn't being his normal self, but she couldn't pin down exactly what was troubling him. Selphie looked at Irvine's face, glum. He didn't look like he wanted to talk anymore, she thought it was best if she just walked away hoping that he was better later on, or maybe not.

Selphie walked off and glanced back a little but Irvine didn't return the glance. He just continued looking down at his Exeter. Zell came out from round the corner; he had heard everything.

"That was harsh, man," he said. "There was no need for that."

"Maybe, but she's been bugging me for ages now and it's time someone taught her a lesson."

"Look, Squall and Rinoa are gonna be back soon and we want to make it look like everything's okay, don't we? We don't want to make it look like we have to depend on them even when the sorceress isn't around."

"Hey." Irvine said. He put down his Exeter for a moment and stood up, face to face.

"It's not my fault that there's nothing to do now that the sorceress is dead. I mean this whole please is just completely useless now. Wasn't SeeD's job just to defeat the sorceress? Yeah, and now you've done that so everything about SeeD and everything that you stand for has just gone to waste."

"Look here, Irvine. You're not even an official member of this Garden, so if you don't like it, then I suggest that you leave it."

"Fine." Irvine said. "Then you can pick on someone else, like Quistis. She ain't done nothing but sit in her room since we got back. Just sitting there sulking. Probably pissed that Rinoa got Squall before she got the chance."

"I'll go check on Quistis later, it's been a difficult week for all of us, but if we wanna get through it, we're gonna have to stick together. And that means you too, Irvine."

"Whatever."

"You know, you're starting to sound more like Squall everyday."




Quistis sat in her bedroom looking out of the window. The beautiful green fields of Balamb stretching out towards the deep, blue sea, she could almost see two people walking hand in hand towards the Garden. It was Squall; she knew it was Squall.

Her mind raced. Thoughts clouded her brain. She's always wanted love: that was her deepest wish: to have a brave knight come and rescue her, to sweep her off her feet. But the young instructor knew it was just a dream, a far-fetched dream. An endless dream, constantly chasing shadows.

She laid her head back on the pillows for a second and stared up at the ceiling. She glanced across, but there was no one there and perhaps this was the way it was meant to be.

Perhaps she was meant to be alone.

Loveless.




Squall and Rinoa reached the front gate to Balamb Garden.

"Home sweet home." Squall said.

"I suppose you're going to give me a piggy back again."

"I gave you one last week, carried you half way around the world. Anyway, my back's sore after that, I need a little break."

"Come on, I'm your wife and you're supposed to carry me over the threshold."

Squall sighed. "Uh, alright, then."

Squall then picked Rinoa up. She clung tightly onto his neck, kissing him softly as he carried her inside the Garden.

When they got inside, Cid and Edea were waiting for them. Cid pushed his glasses up and extended a hand to Squall. Squall put Rinoa down and shook Cid's hand.

"It's great to have you back, Squall. The Garden hasn't been the same without you."

"Ah, come on, you couldn't have missed me that much. I'm sure everyone's been having so much that they've hardly noticed we've gone."

"Anyway," Cid said. "How was the honeymoon?"

"Oh, it was just perfect." Rinoa said. "Fisherman's Horizon is beautiful this time of year and we had a fantastic time."

"Yeah." Squall said.

"I'm really glad and I'm very happy for you both."

A concerned look crossed Cid's face. He turned to his wife and she had the same expression. Squall noticed.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Everything's fine." Edea said. "Why'd you ask?"

"It's just you don't look that happy that we're back. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Edea continued. "We've just got a lot on our mind."

"Yeah," said Cid, interrupting. "Now that the sorceress is dead, we've got to decide what's best for the future and the future of SeeD. Everything's fine apart from that."

"Oh, okay then. We better be heading off to see some of the others, if you say that they've missed us that much."

"Cid?" Rinoa said.

"Yes?"

"Just to let you know that we won't be here very long."

"You won't?"

"No, we're going to live in Timber. It's where we both feel we belong."

"Well, I must say that I'm surprised." Cid said as he pushed his glasses up again.
"Have you had enough of us or something?"

"No, no, it's not that. It's just that we want to start a new life afresh, away from all the fighting and all the sorcery. We just want a quiet, peaceful life."

"Oh, okay. I can't stop you going but I must say that you'll be missed greatly."

"Don't worry Cid, Edea. We won't forget any of you, will we Squall?"

"Of course not. This is the place I grew up and I'll always have fond memories of it. Thank you for everything, Cid. You too, Edea. Thank you."

Squall and Rinoa walked round the corner and headed for the quad. The expression on Cid and Edea's faces grew greater with concern.

"I never thought this time would come." Cid said. "But SeeD must do what it was created to do."

"I hope it doesn't come to that, though." Edea said. "We don't want Rinoa to become another Ultimecia."

"Of course not, but if need be, we would have to take her life. The cycle will never end. There will always be a sorceress to kill and it's just unfortunate it usually has to be good people, although you survived with our help."

"Yes, but perhaps we should have told Rinoa."

"I'm not sure how she would have taken it." Cid said. "It's best if we just leave it out of the way until it's absolutely necessary. We don't want to be scaring her: it might trigger off some of her powers."



In the quad, Squall and Rinoa saw Irvine and Zell sitting down on the benches. Irvine had his cowboy hat pulled over his face, pretending to be asleep and Zell was just sitting with his head in his hands staring at the floor. Not exactly the welcome party that Squall and Rinoa had been expecting.

"Hey, guys." Squall said.

Zell looked up and Irvine suddenly burst out of sleep. They both looked up at Squall and Rinoa.

"Where're Selphie and Quistis?" Rinoa asked.

"Well, Selphie was in here a while ago." Irvine said. "But she just walked off, I guess she was tired."

"Quistis is a little down at the moment." Zell said. "She said she wanted to be on her own for a while."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I dunno, the usual things. You know what Quistis is like."

Rinoa looked pensive for a moment. She put her finger to her lip.

"Yeah, I suppose," she said. But it seems as if everyone is depressed lately. Cid and Edea didn't seem too happy to see us earlier."

Irvine laughed. Squall was confused.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Irvine continued laughing. "Ah, man, isn't it obvious? SeeD's job is to kill the sorceress, right? Well, they're just concerned that one day they may have to kill you, Rinoa."

"Oh, how could you say such a thing?"

"Yeah, Irvine." Squall said, defiantly. "Don't throw that crap around. No one's gonna kill Rinoa or even think about it. We're just gonna live our lives peacefully and undisturbed in Timber."

"Look, man, I'm only telling ya what I heard, okay?"

"You're lying!" Rinoa screamed. "You have to be."

"Look, I heard Cid and Edea talk about it the other day."

"Come on, Rinoa." Squall said. "We don't have to listen to this."

Squall held Rinoa's hand and they walked out of the Garden together both furious and sad. Zell glanced at Irvine and shook his head. Irvine was still chuckling to himself.

"You're cold, man." Zell said. "Real cold."

"Yeah, but what are you gonna do?"



Their home in Timber was perfect. It was the nicest house in Timber, the most expensive too, but they didn't care. Squall had made enough money as a SeeD to buy it. All the furniture had arrived and had already been fitted. The cream and light blue colouring of the furniture gave a very cosy, relaxed feeling. They liked this feeling.

They had the latest electronics imported straight from Esthar. They were the only people in Timber to have a television of their own. A toaster. A microwave, they were living the high life. A deluxe double bed, four-poster, something they could have only dreamed about. It was their reality, their final reality.

Squall turned the key. They were so excited. Squall opened the door and walked inside but Rinoa just stood at the doorway.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Aren't you going to carry me over the threshold."

"God, haven't I already done that once today. You must just be really lazy or something."

"Don't be such a big meanie, Squall."

Squall walked towards her, Rinoa's arms outstretched. He then hoisted her up in a fireman's carry and walked inside the house shutting the door with his foot. Rinoa was surprised and annoyed.

"What do you think you're doing, Squall?"

"Doing exactly what you told me."

"This isn't romantic."

Squall put Rinoa down and smiled at her. She clasped her hands around his face and drew him closer.

"I forgive you, though," she said.

Squall turned away for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Rinoa asked.

"I can't believe what Irvine said earlier. It just makes me so mad. How could he say a thing like that? I couldn't stay there and listen to that, I just had to get out of there."

"I know. But we don't have to worry about him anymore. We're here together and we're gonna live happily ever after. No more fighting sorceresses across the world. Just the two of us."

"You're right, Rinoa." Squall said, taking Rinoa into a deeper embrace. "This is the end of our journey."

[Jett]

Chapter 1(b)
Love will tear us apart

Rinoa gazed into Squall’s eyes. Those tender eyes she fell in love with, his eyes gazing back with equal passion, equal love into Rinoa’s. They embraced and kissed passionately, their worlds spinning around in a swirl of dream and the down-trodden, barely one star Timber Hotel suddenly transformed into a love palace, a shrine for their souls and their hearts to intertwine and become one.

Squall gently lowered Rinoa to the bed and made sweet love, not once, not twice, but six times. Ecstasy – the greatest thrill of life, this was theirs and it was going to last a lifetime. The perspiration dripping off their faces, their long gasping breaths after a night they’d never forget, their second honeymoon and in Squall’s mind a honeymoon for the rest of their lives.

It took him back to the time they first met, on the train going into Galbadia. She was with the Forest Owls, and a real firecracker. It took him back to all the times he shunned her initial advances although really, deep down inside he wanted her, he just couldn’t bring himself to admit it. How times had changed, no longer the shy, introverted loner, but the hot, steamy lover not afraid to show his emotions. Rinoa brought that out in him and he loved her for it, it’s what brought them together in that long trip to Esthar, so long, so far, carrying Rinoa on his back, but somehow with Rinoa, it didn’t seem that hard. Whenever his will was about to break, he would think of her with him happily married as they were in that Timber Hotel room, picturing that very scene, under the stars and under the moon.

Squall looked up, the stars shone just as bright as they did in his dreams. Looking out of the window, his dream had come true. Rinoa reached up and put her hands round the back of his neck, pulling him back to towards her, their lips touching, quivering with desire. They looked at each other again.

“Squall,” Rinoa said, a little out of breath. “I want this moment to last forever.”

“Don’t worry, honey, it will, it will last forever. I guarantee it.”

They kissed again.

************************

The sun glared into Squall’s eyes as he awoke. He tried to shrug it off, he felt so warm and cosy all wrapped up with the blankets, cuddled snug against his wife. Squall rolled over to Rinoa and started to stroke her long, velvety black hair, bringing a smile to her face as she awoke.

“Morning, my darling wife.”

“Morning, my darling husband.”

Squall got up and changed, his usual gear, he thought of it as lucky. Looking in the mirror, doing fixing his hair, looking at his scar, now fading; the memory of that forgotten life fading. Balamb Garden, Seifer and everything else seemed a million miles away.

When he was done, Squall walked over to Rinoa who was still pretending to be asleep, not wanting to get up. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her hard, maybe a little too hard. Rinoa sprang up.

“Squall, what are you doing?”

“Come on, sleepyhead, it’s time to get up. You can’t spend all day in bed y’know.”

“You’re not my dad, you can’t tell me what to do. Anyway, don’t you wanna come back to bed and make love again? Come on, I’m waiting.”

Squall paused for a moment, the idea seemed to good to be true. But as much as he would like to spend all day in bed with Rinoa, he knew that he still had a responsibility as a member of SeeD.

Rinoa reached out a hand, trying to lure him in. Squall sighed and extended his hand to hers.

“That’s right, Squally,” Rinoa said, gently pulling him towards her. “Come over here, I saved a spot for you. It’s nice and warm.”

Rinoa gazed into Squall’s eyes, the same way she did the previous night. Squall moved foreword as if in a trance. But Squall suddenly halted and pulled his arm right back, heaving Rinoa out of the bed and up onto her feet in one motion.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s the matter with you today? Don’t ya wanna make some sweet lovin?”

“Of course, I do,” Squall replied, now putting his arm around her trying to sooth her worries. “But you know we promised the others that we’d go and visit and Cid said he had something important to give to the both of us and he need us both to go.”

“But Squally, can’t it wait?”

“Listen, all we have to do is go there, be nice to everyone, ask how they’re doing, talk to Cid and then we can leave. I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Squall kissed Rinoa on the forehead and went back to getting ready. Rinoa thought she better get ready too. She was still in her nighty and she couldn’t parade around Balamb Garden in that. Well, it was a thought, but now that she had Squall, she no longer wanted all the attention from the boys. Rinoa looked into her wardrobe for something to wear. There was an entire rack of light blue blouses with angel wings on the back, a draw full of cycling shorts, six pairs of black boots and one beige evening dress with matching shoes.

“Man,” she said. “I’ve gotta get some new clothes.”

Nonetheless she put on the usual, except detaching her pinwheel from her arm, leaving it on the table.

“You leaving your pinwheel behind?” Squall asked.

“Well, of course. I don’t want to go walking round with people thinking I’m gonna shoot them. The sorceress isn’t even a threat anymore so we don’t need our weapons.”

“I suppose you’re right.

Squall reached into his holster and pulled out his huge gunblade, leaving it on the table next to Rinoa’s pinwheel.

“But I wish I had something different to wear once in a while. These clothes just fell so boring.”

“Well, at least you’ve got more variety than me. I can’t find my SeeD uniform, so I’m just stuck with this. But we can buy some new stuff whilst we’re in Balamb today.”

“Really? Yay!”

Rinoa punched her arm up towards the sky, a smile swept across her face. Suddenly a ray of light shot out of Rinoa’s hands and hit the ceiling. A huge crash, as parts of the ceiling came down around her. None hitting, they seemed to rebound off her somehow. Squall turned around when he heard the noise and looked at the ceiling and the fallen rumble that now circled Rinoa.

“What happened?” Squall yelled.

“I-I-I don’t know. This stuff just came out of my hand and then parts of the ceiling started coming down.”

“Oh my god, honey. Are you hurt?”

“No, no, I’m fine. But it’s weird, nothing like that’s ever happened before.”

“No, not even when you were possessed. What were you feeling when it happened? What was going through your mind? Anything unusual?”

“No, not really. I just felt excited and then all of a sudden my arm felt all tingly and then this happened. It’s okay though, I’m fine now. Oh Hyne, it might have been my the powers given to me when I became a sorceress. Oh no, please don’t tell the others, I don’t want them to know that I couldn’t control my sorceress powers. It’d be so embarrassing. Please, Squall, don’t.”

“Okay fine. But we better make a hasty move out of this hotel. The owners’ll probably want to know what happened to their ceiling.”

“You’re right.”

Rinoa stepped over the rubble and made a quick retreat out of the door with Squall. They heard footsteps behind them, they knew it was the room service people wanting to know what all the noise was about. They chased but weren’t fast enough and Squall and Rinoa were already down the stairs and out of the door before they could even get near them. One of the men, sporting a fine a red dinner jacket as all the people in the hotel did slowly opened the door of room 217, Squall and Rinoa’s room.

“Let’s see what’s been going on,” he said, with a slight Spanish accent.

There he saw the gaping whole in the ceiling, the sun glaring in and the mass of rubble that was left all over the floor. The room service man buried his head in his hands.

“Oh my god, how are we going to explain this to the manager?”

“Yes,” said the other, making his over towards the door. “How are you going to explain this to the manager?”

“What? What are...”

But the other man was already gone.

“You can’t leave me to deal with this.” He looked back at the ceiling, the hole spanned almost half the room and debris was still falling. “Ah, !”

****************************

Squall and Rinoa were out of breath, but relieved.

“Phew,” Squall said. “I’m glad that’s over with. You still okay, Rinoa? You’re not feeling any strange tingling in your arm again?”

“Stop it, Squall, I told you no. And I don’t want you spurting it out either, ya hear?” “I know, I know, I’m sorry.”

Balamb Garden was up ahead. The propeller on top was spinning slowly in the cool summer’s breeze and the sun glistened off the metallic hive shaped walls.

“Home again,” Squall said. “It feels like only yesterday.”

“It was only yesterday, Squall.”

They reached the front gate and it seemed so baron. There were no SeeD students walking around like usual and there were no voices, no endless chatter about one of President Laguna’s great stage plays, nothing. They looked ahead, the front door was wide open, so there must be someone round, perhaps Cid, Squall thought.

As they got nearer the front door, they noticed a lone solitary figure up ahead. The long blonde hair, the pink dress, it was unmistakably Quistis, but what was she doing by herself?

Quistis stood looking over the bridge down on the fields and plains below smoking a cigarette. She heard footsteps and turned her head to see who it was. It was the newlyweds, the loving couple, Squall and Rinoa. She half smiled and turned her head back over towards the fields.

“Quistis, how are you doing?” Squall asked. “We haven’t seen you in ages, where have you been?”

“You know, here and there,” Quistis replied. “I haven’t really done much seen defeating Ultimecia. There isn’t really very much to do.”

“We really missed you.” Rinoa said. She put her arm out to place it on Quistis’ shoulder but she shrugged it off. Rinoa moved her arm back.

An awkward silence ensued.

“So,” said Squall, trying to start the conversation up again. “Is Cid here?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Quistis replied. “I think he and Edea went back to the orphanage. That place brings back so many memories for them.”

“It did for all of us.” Squall said.

“Except for me, obviously” said Rinoa, laughing. “I was never there when I was young.”

Quistis pretended to laugh with her. “Yes, of course. How could I forget?”

Rinoa continued chuckling. “Maybe you’ve junctioned your GF for too long?”

“There you go again, another classic.”

“Isn’t she the greatest?” Squall said hugging Rinoa tightly and pulling her in towards him so he could kiss her.

“Oh yeah,” replied Quistis. “She’s the greatest alright.”

“We’ve just gotta see some of the others now, but we’ll be back to speak with you later on, okay?”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Squall and Rinoa walked inside the Garden, hand in hand, smiling.

Quistis took another puff of her cigarette.

*********************************

As they stepped into Balamb Garden, they suddenly remembered how massive it was. They were thinking that it was going to take forever to find the others. Luckily, the others found them. It wasn’t hard to spot Squall and Rinoa; they lit up against any backdrop. They were the only other ones in the Garden as well.

Selphie raced up to Squall and threw her arms around him, Irvine and Zell behind.

They all looked so glad to see Squall and Rinoa, so unlike Quistis.

“Hiya Squall,” Selphie said. “How’ve ya been?”

“Cool, but where’s everyone else?”

Irvine replied: “Now that the sorceress has been defeated, Cid saw little point of keeping the students around.”

“But what’s gonna happen to the Garden?”

“That’s gonna stay. Cid says we could keep it as our home.”

“Well, I think Rinoa wants to move out of Balamb and into somewhere more glamorous like Galbadia.”

“No, no,” Rinoa said. “I want to be as far way from my Dad as possible. I was thinking somewhere like Winhill, my mom loved it there, I remember it well.”

Zell looked around. “You seen Quistis anywhere?”

“Yeah,” Squall said. “She’s outside, just being plain grumpy today.”

“Oh yeah,” said Irvine. “She’s been like that for ages now. Ever since you left to get married actually. Some might say it was a coincidence, but many wouldn’t.”

*******************************

Quistis took a long deep breath, feeling the cool breeze run through her hair. More footsteps, not again, she thought. She turned her head with a horrible sense of dread that it was just going to be Squall and Rinoa kissing and cuddling again. God, it made her sick. But no, it wasn’t them, it was Seifer, looking as cocky and as suave as ever. She grimaced at the thought of having to speak to this jerk. Seifer brushed his hand through his hair as he approached Quistis but she didn’t react. She threw her cigarette over the side and folded her arms.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked.

“Now, now, that’s no way to treat a former student, is it? My dear instructor.”

“Shut up! You were nothing but a miserable failure who couldn’t even follow simple rules.”

“That’s because rules are boring, sweetie pie.”

“Don’t you dare call me sweetie pie and get the hell out of my face. Go and annoy Rinoa, Squall or someone like that.”

“Don’t worry, I want to go and see them anyway. I want to apologise actually. To let everyone know that there’s no bad feelings between us.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“And plus I get to get my hands on that chicken wuss again.” Seifer laughed.

“God, Seifer, you’ll never grow up, will you?”

Seifer didn’t answer but turned his back and continued laughing as he walked through the front door. Quistis sighed. She was all alone again and the wind was getting colder.

***************************

Squall and Rinoa were with Irvine, Selphie and Zell in the cafeteria. Zell was at the hot dog stand trying to get as many as he possibly could and with no other students around, he’d probably have them all. The others went to sit down in the meantime.

“Just like old times,” Squall said.

“Yep,” replied Selphie. “It sure is.”

They saw Zell coming over, his arms full of king-size hot dogs.

“Sure you’ve got enough there, Zell? Would you like us to take any of them for you?”

“No, no, I’m fine.”

Zell sat down and proceeded to stuff his face. Rinoa turned away.

“What’s the matter, Rinoa?” asked Zell. “Don’t you want a hot dog?”

“No thanks.”

“You okay, Rinoa?” Squall asked, a little more concerned than Zell. “You don’t look too good.”

“I’m fine.”

“It’s nothing about what happened earlier, is it?”

“No and shut up.”

She was trying to deny it but Rinoa did look pale and paler than usual as well. It might have been the sight of all those hot dogs, but Squall knew it was something else and Rinoa did as well. She started to get a headache and she put her hand to her head and squeezed her eyes closed trying to squeeze out the pain.

Another ray of light, this time directed at the wall. Rinoa’s hand glowed and the bright light shone against the wall. Then the light started to spread out into a square shape and the wall opened up revealing a snowy plain. Everyone gasped in amazement, they were too shocked to speak, even Squall. It was if time itself had stopped.

Then the light went out. The snowy plain disappeared and Rinoa rocked back on her chair holding her head.

“It happened again, didn’t it, Rinoa?” Squall said. “Don’t say, it’s nothing to worry about because it is and we need to talk about this urgently. We need to see Edea and Cid, they’d give us the advice we need.”

Squall grabbed Rinoa’s hand and pulled her up. Rinoa was still a little dizzy from what happened and hadn’t properly regained her bearings, she just went wherever Squall was leading her, she didn’t care really, her head hurt so much. Irvine got up and tried to catch their attention but he wasn’t fast enough out of his shocked reverie. “What the hell is going on here? There’s something they’re not telling us.”

“I know, why’d they take off so quickly?” Selphie asked. She waited for an answer from Zell but he was too busy eating hot dogs to talk.

****************************

Seifer strutted into the Garden when he saw Squall dragging Rinoa along in a hurry. Seifer was about to make some sarcastic remark, but he didn’t even have the chance as they rushed passed him without saying a word or taking any notice of him for that matter.

“Man, would you look at that.” Seifer muttered to himself. “Total lack of respect, don’t they know who I am?”

Seifer brushed his hand through his hair again and moved on towards the cafeteria.

****************************

The orphanage had remained the same - it hadn’t changed a bit. It had been a long journey and both Squall and Rinoa were tired and needed to rest. They weren’t going to find anywhere comfortable in this orphanage though. Most of it was in ruins and what was left was tattered and half torn down, but it was a special place, a special place of memories. Cid stood overlooking the beach. He heard Squall and Rinoa come in and was very glad to see them. Squall seemed to be in a panic, his breathing was heavy, but Rinoa seemed quite calm in comparison.

“Headmaster, you’ve gotta help us?” Squall said.

“What can I do for you?”

“It’s Rinoa. I don’t know how, but the powers she inherited from Ultimecia are starting to freak out.”

“I was afraid of this. But that’s why I always kept the Garden open.”

“Don’t tell me you’re even considering it, Headmaster?”

“Well, it might be the only way if what you’ve said is true.”

Rinoa didn’t say a word. Her fate was being decided right in front of her but she didn’t have a care in the world. Rinoa had a glazed over look in her eye, as if she wasn’t there. Squall put his hand on her shoulder to try and snap her out of it.

“Rinoa! Rinoa!”

Edea was on the beach when she heard Squall’s screaming. She thought that she must go and see what it was all about. When she arrived all she saw was Squall shaking Rinoa.

“What on earth is going on here?” she said.

Rinoa suddenly snapped out of it and back to the real world. She looked around not entirely familiar with her surroundings. It took a few seconds to realise that she was in the orphanage, the same orphanage where she regained her will to fight and where she learnt of so many childhood memories.

“Are you okay, Rinoa?” asked Squall placing both his hands on her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine, I don’t know what happened really. It’s like what happened before.”

“Before?” Edea asked.

“The sorceress powers she has are going a little haywire. They’ve done it twice already today.”

“Hmm, I’ll see what I can do.”

“No,” Rinoa said. “I’m fine. I don’t need any help.”

“Listen, my child, you’re starting to sound just like Squall. Now I understand your situation, I’ve been through it and I can help you, you just have to let me.”

Cid moved over towards Squall.

“I think we should leave them alone,” he said. “Edea likes to talk in private.”

“Okay.”

Squall left with Cid and walked down towards the beach whilst Edea continued talking with Rinoa. Squall and Cid stopped when they reached the shore and watched the tide come in trickling under their feet. They couldn’t hear Rinoa or Edea now, only the sound of the seagulls and the ocean waves. They said nothing to each other for a long period trying to think of the right thing to say.

Finally, Squall spoke.

“So, you think we’d really have to resort to, you know.”

Cid pushed his glasses up to his face. “I hope not. That’s what I felt every day whilst you were fighting my wife. But we can’t allow these powers to get out of hand. For all we know, it could by Ultimecia trying to take over her body again.” “Please, it can’t be true, it just can’t be.”

Suddenly there was a loud bang.

“What was that?”

They both rushed up towards the orphanage where the sound had come from. There they saw Edea lying on the ground a cut just on her head and blood pouring out. Cid bent over by her side and raised her head.

“Edea, Edea, speak to me.”

Slowly Edea opened her eyes and looked up at Cid.

“Edea, what happened?”

“Oh Cid, this is not how it’s supposed to be.”

“What do you mean, darling?”

Edea tried to reply but every breath she took was a struggle and she passed out again. Cid laid her head back down and looked over at Squall who was franticly racing round. It was strange, there was no hole in the wall, no ray of light, no smoke from an obvious explosion, no debris. It was strange alright and worse than Squall could possibly imagine. Rinoa was gone.

Squall got down on his knees and began to cry.

[Polaris]

I haven't read the story yet... It's to long, but it's really fine...

Keep going..