FFVIII: Losing Self
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Squall/Rinoa
Warnings: Angst
Rating: PG
Summary: A bubble of safety. Part of Scenes From A Warzone.
Lost an eye, lost a hand, lost a leg. Rinoa catalogued the injuries, moving among them, trying not to pay any attention to the power that prickled in the air around them. She kept working, curing what she could, calling for Kadowaki when she had to. Crouching down and brushing her fingers over someone's face, closing their eyes for the last time when they couldn't do it for themselves anymore.
She felt like a ghost. She felt like inside she was curling in tighter on itself, like she was slowly becoming more and more crushed, insignificant. Like she was losing self in the tidal wave of power.
"It's how she wants you to feel," Squall said, from behind her. She turned to face him, unable to even muster up surprise -- or had she felt him coming? He smiled at her, grimly: his face was dirt-streaked, his eyes hard and cold. He touched her arm, though, and in the contact she felt a sense of connection and a rush of warmth.
"My knight," she said, smiling fondly. He didn't kiss her. His fingertips slid down her arm, tracing over the palm of her hand, and then he took her hand in his and held it. He'd lost his gloves, she realised, and they were skin to warm skin. She felt like he had a bubble around him of safety, where the air was just air and not tinged with power. She moved closer to him to place herself fully within it.
"How are we doing?"
"Not well," she said, reluctantly. "Nobody's seen Zell or Xu since yesterday's assault."
"We think we're going to penetrate her defences within the next few hours. Try and keep as many standing until then."
"I will," she promised, and tried not to cry out in dismay as he pulled away from her. "You'd better stay safe," she said, fiercely, feeling like a petulant child screaming in the face of inevitability.
"I'll do my best," he said, and then he broke into a run, going to join Quistis and Selphie at the perimeter of the medical camp. She didn't watch him go.
Pairing: Squall/Rinoa
Warnings: Angst
Rating: PG
Summary: A bubble of safety. Part of Scenes From A Warzone.
Lost an eye, lost a hand, lost a leg. Rinoa catalogued the injuries, moving among them, trying not to pay any attention to the power that prickled in the air around them. She kept working, curing what she could, calling for Kadowaki when she had to. Crouching down and brushing her fingers over someone's face, closing their eyes for the last time when they couldn't do it for themselves anymore.
She felt like a ghost. She felt like inside she was curling in tighter on itself, like she was slowly becoming more and more crushed, insignificant. Like she was losing self in the tidal wave of power.
"It's how she wants you to feel," Squall said, from behind her. She turned to face him, unable to even muster up surprise -- or had she felt him coming? He smiled at her, grimly: his face was dirt-streaked, his eyes hard and cold. He touched her arm, though, and in the contact she felt a sense of connection and a rush of warmth.
"My knight," she said, smiling fondly. He didn't kiss her. His fingertips slid down her arm, tracing over the palm of her hand, and then he took her hand in his and held it. He'd lost his gloves, she realised, and they were skin to warm skin. She felt like he had a bubble around him of safety, where the air was just air and not tinged with power. She moved closer to him to place herself fully within it.
"How are we doing?"
"Not well," she said, reluctantly. "Nobody's seen Zell or Xu since yesterday's assault."
"We think we're going to penetrate her defences within the next few hours. Try and keep as many standing until then."
"I will," she promised, and tried not to cry out in dismay as he pulled away from her. "You'd better stay safe," she said, fiercely, feeling like a petulant child screaming in the face of inevitability.
"I'll do my best," he said, and then he broke into a run, going to join Quistis and Selphie at the perimeter of the medical camp. She didn't watch him go.