Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Propsal ❯ The Propsal chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Two

Irvine, Selphie and Zell sat at a table in the cafeteria; they had
already eaten their breakfast. "Squall was very absent when he went,"
Irvine said a little miserably. He was going to be gone for a month,
away from his friends and he hadn't even said good bye properly, as if
he didn't care. "Rinoa didn't come down with him either..." he said
thoughtfully.

"Maybe they had an argument.." Zell said. Nineteen-year-old Zell
looked much different from seventeen year old Zell. He had matured a
lot after the battle with Ultimecia; it showed in his face, his voice
and the way he spoke. Zell was still as energetic and impulsive as
ever though.

"Do you think I better go and find Rinoa...something is wrong, don't
you think?" Irvine said, addressing his friends.

"Let's wait a bit first, Rinoa might come down in her own time,"
Selphie said and sipping some cold coffee. Irvine looked unsure, he
was worried about their friend, but complied with Selphie, let Rinoa
come in her own time, she may simply of been a little too upset to see
Squall off. They waited, but Rinoa didn't come, not for two hours.

"I'm going to find Rinoa.... she can't be hiding in her room just
because she's missing Squall, something else happened," Irvine said
after the two hours of waiting. Selphie and Zell nodded and went with
him to Squall and Rinoa's own personal room.

Irvine tapped at the door lightly with the back of his hand, no
answer. He knocked again, but still, no answer. "Rinoa.. are you in
there?" he asked. From within he heard a sob. She was there. Irvine
opened the door a bit, the whole room was in darkness. "Rinoa??" he
said softly, she was curled up in a ball upon the bed, silently
crying.

"Go away, please.. leave me.." came a reply, barley audible,
"please...leave me.." she whispered. Irvine closed the door, knowing
not to go in, she wanted to be alone. Irvine went back to worried
faces around the corner of the corridor. Selphie and Zell looked
confused, they had expected him to be longer.

"She's.... very upset..."Irvine said, his only conclusion, " I didn't
go in, she wanted to be alone."

Selphie didn't look too convinced but decided to leave it at that, if
Rinoa wanted to be alone, best leave it at that. Zell looked back
towards Rinoa's room, something was wrong. Something was defiantly
wrong. "Let's go and meet Laguna, maybe he'd be able to see Rinoa,"
Zell said wisely. Irvine and Selphie agreed, thinking that this also
would be a good idea. Rinoa loved Laguna like she would do to a father
and the kind president of Esthar loved Rinoa, like she was his
daughter. If anyone could get through to her and cheer her up, it
would be him. Laguna had that talent with everyone.

*****

Squall sat miserably in the back of the van, the other SeeDs chatted,
not bothering to disturb him or try to involve him in their topic of
chat. Squall didn't care, he didn't want to talk, he didn't want
anybodies company, only his own. Why? I thought she felt the
same.......I was wrong then....wrong about Rinoa....what a fool I must
be to think she of all people, would love me...would want to be with
me! Squall thought to himself, slumping in his seat, rocking gently to
the movement of the van.

Quistis sat opposite Squall, she looked slightly worried, her friend
was looking more pre-occupied then he usually did with his thoughts,
his frown that lay upon his face at the moment had caused a huge
crease on his brow. Yet she didn't say anything, whatever was going on
in Squalls head was nothing do with her. Instead she occupied herself
with talking to Xu, head of Squalls upcoming mission. She had already
planned what it was that they were going to do, every step they were
going to take.

"What's up with Squall?" she asked quietly to the young blonde, quiet
enough so Squall couldn't hear. Quistis shrugged.
"I don't know, he's been like it all day," Quistis replied, glancing
at Squall, who was still looking at his feet. "Something's upsetting
him, I think," Quistis replied. Actually, she didn't just think, she
knew. Squall had more then a lot on his mind, he was upset, but over
what, Quistis didn't know what. Xu stared lightly at Squall, he was
quiet, even quieter then usual. The two friends returned to their
previous discussion.

Squall fell back into thought, deep thought. If she really loved me,
she wouldn't of needed to think about it.. would she? But I love
her...s h i t, it hurts. Rinoa....do you love me? Why won't you marry
me? Be my wife? I thought that's what you wanted, to settle down with
me Squall slumped further, burring his chin further into the palm of
his hand. It does sound very final...settling down... marriage
..husband and wife maybe she does love me...but she just isn't ready
to make that much of a commitment yet...but.. if she really loved me,
I like I thought she did, it wouldn't matter...if they married now
when they were nineteen or when they were twenty five.. Squall wanted
to cry, but he couldn't, not with all these people around him. Not in
front of all these people whom he knew looked up to him.

There was no one who could be with him, despite Quistis, he had no
friends and was almost completely alone. Even Quistis though seemed to
prefer to keep the company of Xu after she had regained her
instructor's license last year. This thought made Squalls journey a
whole lot harder knowing he was going to be alone, no friends nothing.
Why couldn't any of his other friends come along....but they weren't
needed according to Headmaster Cid. He hadn't wanted to send more
SeeDs out then was needed.

The only reason why Dollet needed SeeD was because one of the Dollet
gangs(Dollet had split into two groups both fighting for different
things) hand gained help from the Galbadians, who by doing this had
broken the peace treaty and taking over the west side of Dollet,
leaving the other gang of Dollet fighters to live and fight from the
east. As soon as the west Dollet gang had joined up with the
Galbadians, who no doubt had their own reasons, the east Dollet forces
had called upon SeeD to help them. Now, yet again, Gardens SeeDs were
at war against the Galbadians. This made Squall angry. Hadn't he gone
through enough with them?

Squall hated them, he began to hate SeeD as well. If he wasn't
SeeD...he would be living in a house somewhere with Rinoa...hopefully
married. Squall regretted thinking that....if it hadn't been for SeeD,
he would never of met Rinoa, never to of fallen so deeply in love,
never to of known such a happiness. He would probably of become some
hermit and lived in a forest somewhere in a tree house, chopping up
wood. Squall laughed slightly to himself as he thought of himself
chopping wood up with an axe, the moment of self-brought humour
brought Squall out the growing depressive mood he had been falling
into.

Squall looked up and smiled at Quistis who had looked at him to see
how he was. She relaxed to see that her friend had come out of his
mood, to become more happier, though he still looked a little sad.
"Are you Okay, Squall?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, he really appreciated Quistis big sisterly care
sometimes. Now was one of those times.

*****

Irvine Zell and Selphie waited for Laguna Kiros and Ward to arrive,
which they soon did, driving up in one of Esthar's high technology
cars. The three friends greeted the president of Esthar and his two
close friends, who received their welcome with beautiful kindness.

"Laguna!" Selphie grinned and planted a kiss on the father of Squall.
Irvine and Zell shook the hand of the famous president and progressed
on to welcoming Kiros and Ward, like old friends. Laguna beamed, he
loved these teenagers, it was a pity Squall and Quistis weren't here
to greet him too. Thinking of the two missing friends.. one of them
which was his son, he noticed another one was missing, one that should
be there. The beautiful Rinoa, Squalls girlfriend.

"Where's Rinoa, she isn't ill is she?" he asked, looking slightly
worried.

"Rinoa...yeah. Something's wrong with her..... she was crying last
time I saw her...she's in her bedroom Laguna, something's upset her
badly, I think it may be Squall," Irvine told the wonderful man, who
had showed almost as much parental concern for them as Quistis
sometimes did. Laguna's handsome cheery face fell. If Rinoa was upset,
then so was he.

"I want to see her," he said, it came out sounding more like a demand.
He demanded to see her. he had to see her. She was his sons girlfriend
and he already loved her like a daughter. Irvine took Laguna to where
Rinoa was, leaving Selphie and Zell with Kiros and Ward.

"Look, Laguna, it's something more then Squall leaving for Dollet, it
has to be," Irvine said to Laguna, "please....cheer her up, if Rinoa
stays so upset for too long, she'll get sick." Laguna nodded and
patted Irvine on his shoulder. The young sharpshooter stalked off to
find Selphie Zell and Laguna's two friends.

The president of Esthar knocked on the wooden door; there was a dim
sound of sobbing coming from inside. He knocked again and opened the
door, not waiting for a reply. Rinoa was sitting on her bed, her head
buried in her knees, sniffing and sobbing a little. Laguna felt a wave
of sadness and fatherly love come over him. He hated to see this young
woman so upset, it hurt him so much. Irvine was right, if Rinoa stayed
so upset like this and for too long, she would indeed become very
sick.

"Rinoa......" he said softly. Rinoa looked up, not recognising the
voice to be anyone of her close friends, Irvine or Zell. She was
pleasantly surprised therefore to find that it was Laguna.

"Laguna!" she said, wiping her eyes dry, crawling out of bed and
wrapping her arms around the older mans neck. For a while they hugged,
Laguna loved this young woman, he held her for quite a while before
she released him. "What.... oh.. of course.. I forgot.... you were
coming today!" she said happily and kissed his cheek, inviting him to
sit down on the bed. Laguna did so, letting the room remain dark.

"Yes, it was a pity I could not come earlier," he sighed. Rinoa
saddened.

"Yeah, you didn't get to say good bye to Squall..." she said. And
neither did I because of my stupid stupidity!

"No. No, I didn't. I'm not crying about it though. Rinoa.... what is
it?" Laguna asked. Rinoa sagged upon Laguna, it would be better if she
told him, she knew that.

Rinoa told Laguna; she told him everything, how Squall had asked her
and how she had practically said no, hurting Squalls feelings,
something which he had dared himself to ask her, something he had
wanted to ask her, something which had taken an awful lot of courage.
Rinoa had turned him down. breaking his heart, making him doubt
himself again, too worried about what people might think of him. He
had allowed himself to become close to her, very close after two
years, only to have something that he thought she had wanted...(which
I do! But he doesn't know that...does he?) only to have it thrown back
in his face. Rinoa returned to crying again, (How many tears do I
have.. I've been crying almost non stop for three hours..)

Laguna hugged Rinoa to himself. The poor, poor child and poor, poor
Squall. To be out there and not knowing that Rinoa did want to marry
him.