Walking Back to the Dorms, Monday Evening, Post-Portal

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa had a coat wrapped firmly around herself as she wandered back to the dorms. And maybe she was crying. So? She had just had to say goodbye to a beautiful little princess who had called her Mommy and who had been, admittedly, spoiled, but so what?

She might have lost Sylvie forever. And if not ... then, if not, she was going to go her way, and Squall his. And that was that.

She didn't even know which she should root for, or try for, or if influencing the future would change it, or what any of it meant. She just suddenly felt like the future was being mean to her.

(just for her knight, please)

Comments

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall caught up with her and walked by her side, not sure what sort of comfort she needed. "What are you thinking?" he asked. The kids were... Well, he didn't know what they were.

[angelo_wings]

"It makes me sad," she said. She wasn't surprised to hear his footsteps fall in with hers. She also didn't know how she felt about it. Too many things at once.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"They're not our future," Squall asserted. He thought it would help. Also, he thought that if he said it enough, he might believe it.

"I'm not going to leave you. Ever."

[angelo_wings]

She stopped, then, to turn and look at him.

"I know how Quistis feels about you," she said. It wasn't an accusation. Maybe she should be happy for the other girl. For them.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Used to," Squall told her. "She said she was wrong about that. Besides, I don't feel that way for her." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway. It's not going to happen."

[angelo_wings]

"But it does," she insisted. "That's the future. Maybe there are lots of futures, but those happen for someone. You with her, and me with him. And there weren't ..."

She bit her lip. "There weren't others."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Other whats?" Squall asked. "There were all sorts of other kids around." He shrugged. "I don't want that future. We don't have to let it happen."

[angelo_wings]

"Other kids for us," she said. "I didn't have one kid with Seifer, one with Irvine, and one with some guy I haven't even met yet. I only had the one. You only had the one. And we ... didn't."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall frowned. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'm not going to let the island decide anything for me. I don't really want kids anyway."

[angelo_wings]

"Well, I do," Rinoa snapped, turning abruptly to start walking again. "Maybe that's why we break up. You don't want kids, so I go marry Seifer. And then you end up having a kid with her, anyway."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to break up with you over it!" Squall countered. "If you want kids, then we have kids. Whatever! I mean, I don't really get along well with adults, and children are a lot of responsibility, and..." He shrugged. "I never really thought about it much."

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa shook her head. "That's ridiculous," she said. "If you don't want kids, don't have them just because I do. And why her, if you didn't want kids with me?"

She was going in circles, and even she could realize that.

"I'm questioning everything, now," she said. "Us, destiny, the future, all of it. Nothing makes sense."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"I'm sick of destiny," Squall told her, as he put an arm around her. "And the future has a Sorceress who's trying to end the world. It all sucks. And you're right, it doesn't make sense."

He paused, thinking for a moment.

"...And I'm never going to name a child 'Tempest'. It's a stupid name."

[angelo_wings]

"Maybe Quistis named him," she said, not sure if she wanted to shrug off his arm or not. "Maybe you're happy, with her. I don't ... I hate feeling like this. It makes me seasick."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Just ignore it," Squall told her. He was trying to be helpful. "I mean... I'm not saying try to forget that it happened; just don't let it affect your estimation of the future."

[angelo_wings]

"She wasn't a phantom," Rinoa said. "She wasn't a ghost, or an image, or a trick of the light. She was real."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"That doesn't mean she'll happen, necessarily," Squall insisted. "And it doesn't mean she won't. It just means something else happened in Fandom that doesn't make any sense."