FicWad

Disturbance in the Peaceful Era:

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII. Original characters and names belong to me. All names and characters relating to Final fantasy belong to Square-Enix.

Chapter II: Rinoa Heartily

The sky was a perfect cloudless blue. The clear waves, bringing with them a gentle ocean breeze, roll onto the smooth golden sand shores of the most perfect coast you could possibly imagine. It was a fine day to be at the beach, not that that mattered to Rinoa Heartily. The now seventeen year old had pale skin, contrasting perfectly with her brown eyes and naturally long black hair, dyed with pink highlights.

She was alone, worried and had her face contorted into an apprehensive expression of anxiety, a combination between frustration and fear, almost in tears. Not your typical teen at the beach.

Rinoa Had looked everywhere for him, but she couldn't find him anywhere. She had frantically searched the entire continent of Galbadia but she couldn't find Seifer Almassy anywhere. He had told her to meet him, but she just couldn't remember where. She could hear his voice in her head like a recording but she couldn't uncover any valuable information from the memory.

She had searched everywhere, the smooth shores of lapin Beach and the rocky barren wastelands of the dingo desert. She had even searched the seemingly endless void of land they call the great plains of Galbadia. Seifer's voice was ringing in her ears. The voice was talking to her in perfect clarity.

She recalled a conversation she'd had with Seifer at an unknown time and an unknown place. She specifically remembered Seifer saying "I'll be here" When she questioned him, he replied "I'll be waiting … here"

"For what?" she had asked. After a long pause, Seifer finally answered with a smile

"I'll be waiting … here. So if you come here … you'll find me." That's all that she could recall of the last time she had ever spoken to Seifer Almassy.

They had promised to meet and watch shooting stars that night. Rinoa had been running all morning and was exhausted. She began to worry. Her heart was pounding against the inside of her chest and her lungs felt like they were on fire. By the time she realized that she couldn't go on, her exhaustion and muscles had made it physically impossible for her to continue running, so she stopped to rest and try to calm herself down.

Rinoa found that she was alone in the middle of a large green meadow surrounded by tall grass and wildflowers. Sitting on the moist grassy floor, she realized that there couldn't possibly be anyone around for miles. She was completely alone and stranded in the middle of the country. She could do anything she wanted and know one would find her.

Her mind instantly wandered back to one year ago when she and Seifer had spent the summer camping out in a meadow that looked exactly like this. All her memories from that fateful summer came flooding back to her and as the memories played back through her mind, her excitement grew.

It all started as a nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach which grew and grew until she began to feel sick. She could taste the acidic liquid as it crept into the back of her mouth. She swallowed back the bile before it caused her to vomit. The last time she was that excited, that anxious, the last time she almost gagged of her own fluids, she was...

Seifer, Where was he? Come to think of it, where was she?

As she tried to figure out where the hell she was, she noticed a large flower. It had big white petals with a thick long healthy green stem. She didn't know why, but she seemed drawn to the flower, she was captivated by it. It occupied her every thought. She wanted to see it up close, to smell its fragrance. She needed it.

Just as she bent down to pick the flower, a strong wind blew the petals away, putting them just out of her reach and taking with them her strange obsession with the flower. This strange feeling was replaced with sadness, total and utter hopelessness.

Just as she stood up strait, one of the petals fluttered close to her as if it wanted her hand to wrap itself tightly around it. She caught the petal in her right hand but then, when she opened her hand she was shocked to find that the petal had changed from an ordinary flower petal, into a white feather. The feather was picked up by a gentle breeze which blew it up, away, out of sight and leaving her alone with the puzzling challenge of trying to figure out how she managed to end up here in the first place.

Two more long hours had passed since Rinoa had started looking around again. She had searched all over Galbadia, Balamb, even Trabia and she had spent all her money on train tickets. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. She had no food, no money and was completely stranded alone and lost on the snowy terrain of the icy cold arctic continent of Trabia.

She was hysterical. She was starting to feel sick once more. She brought up more bile as she dry wretched the non-existing contents of her empty stomach onto the icy ground, staining the ground around her and leaving her trace so anyone passing may be able to find her body wasting away as she wandered the icy Continental land mass alone.

The world was beginning to spin around her as she began loosing her senses one by one. A cold sweat broke out on her back as shivers went down her spine. Her limbs went numb and she dropped down to her knees as she began throwing up her guts, putting strain on her bowels, intestines and stomach, causing severe pain both physically and emotionally.

The next thing she knew, Rinoa Heartily was in a low collapsible bed on a slow moving train near Timber, Screaming. She had woken from a dream, a nightmare. She was crying. Her face was covered in tears and her body was drenched in sweat.

Peaceful Era17, May 1st, 0400

As she realized where she was, she tried to wipe the sweat from her face but it was no use. She was covered in so much of the salty mixture made up of her own sweat and tears that it caused her long hair to cling down and stick to her face.

She could just imagine Seifer telling her it was "Just a fucking dream" and suggesting that she "shut up and grow up." Those may be crude words, but at least she knew that he cared... sort of. At least he would be there, even if he slept the whole time, his presence would still be a comfort, which is more than she could say about her fellow resistance fighters.

She found it strange that no one on the train even cared enough to show them self and ask if she was all right. The other members of her small resistance group were the closest thing she still had to friends but none of them could be bothered checking up on her. They didn't care about her, none of them. They didn't give a damn. She was more of a burden on them all than a real team member anyway.

She remembered when she first arrived in timber. She didn't really care about the resistance; to be honest she only left the big city to get away from it all. She needed to get away from the aggravation, the anger, the gangs of teenage junkies and the angst. But most of all; she needed to get away from... him. She needed to get away from the man who stood for everything she rebelled against. She had to get as far away from that proud callous bastard. She had to get him out of her life. She would do anything to get away from the president's military lapdog, the general of the Galbadian army, General Fucking Caraway.

She needed a shower to clean herself of all the sweat. She despised everything about sweat, its cold wet sticky touch and its stale smell, everything about it. If she didn't clean herself, she'd have that sour; stale body odor surrounding her all day. As she washed herself, she couldn't help but reminisce all kinds of memories, good and bad as they came flooding back to her.

When Rinoa first arrived in timber, she looked around at the country bumpkin town with upper-class disgust. She couldn't believe how many of the rumors about this place were true. She would never have believed that the air around here was even thicker with dust than the city from which she used to live.

She could feel the eyes of the citizens staring at her with curiosity; and with good reason. Everyone here must've known her face; she was seen by most as a spoiled rotted daddy's-little-princess, living in luxury off the money her father gave her all the time without a care, when all the while people here were suffering, all because of the army's occupation in this town.

If Galbadia's President weren't such an arrogant son of a bitch, maybe he'd look past his own reflection and see the world for what it really was, similar to what Rinoa was doing at this moment. Maybe then, he'd see that this occupation is just a waste of time. It gave her a strong sense of guilt, She'd been living it up in that mansion while this...

Rinoa saw a few children, about the age of ten whom she assumed to be digging a hole. She had no idea what the hole was for, but she began to stare at one of the children. She knew she was being watched, but she found that her body didn't want to budge. She found her mind judging them, "poor kids, I'll bet they think this is the good life" she thought to herself.

Although she was standing awkwardly in the middle of the road and she knew she was being glared at – they all probably knew her face – she had the uncontrollable urge to stare away at the child digging a hole in the ground with a broken shovel. She needed to know what the hole was for. Were they digging for something, were they uncovering something, or were they just digging for the sake of digging? Perhaps this was what children around here did for fun. Maybe this was their idea of a game.

Without thinking, her long barely covered legs were driving her towards the child. She was about to ask what they were doing and if she could help. She had almost approached them when she heard a "clank" on the pavement below her feet. She looked down to see she had dropped a coin.

It was a large round platinum metallic coin with "500G" inscribed delicately unto the center. It was a five hundred gill coin, merely small change to her but it could have meant a small fortune to the people living around here – enough for an entire week's stay at an averagely priced hotel. She was tempted to leave it on the ground for the townsfolk to squabble over, but decided against it. She decided to give it to the children. Surely people this poor wouldn't be against receiving charity.

She bent down to retrieve the coin but when she looked ahead of her, she was shocked by what she saw. She wasn't expecting everyone to gather around her. She didn't even expect any one person to come up to her. She looked up and was met by a pair of lust-filled eyes. They belonged to a very hairy hungry looking man much older than her. She noticed the hungry lustful eyes were looking her up and down, taking in every inch of her appearance.

The eyes moved up from the bottom of her feet, up her legs to her thighs, then came to rest at her chest. The older man wearing a grey tank top was dripping with perspiration, the stale substance oozing out of his skin like water slowly passing to the surface of a drain blockage.

His musty odor forced its way into her nasal canal, causing her to wince from the stench. His eyes were still transfixed on her... looking down at her, his long piercing gaze seeing through the frail fabric of her top, seeing what lay beneath, Seeing her, Staring at her with eyes – open wide, Drooling all over her young tight teenage body. She'd received stares like those before from guys in the city.

It always made her feel proud of herself knowing that her body could attract so much attention, but now... she didn't feel pleased with herself at all. This mans stare... maybe she wouldn't have minded, if he weren't a dirty old man desperately in need of a shower. This mans stare, she received no pride, no glory, no smugness or self-satisfaction from it. It merely made her feel sick. It made her feel physically sick – physically sick to her stomach.

Blushing slightly, she jumped to her feet and took a step back. "C-c-can I h-help you?" she stammered, a little embarrassment showing on her face and in her voice.

"Yeah" replied the older man, "You c'n gimmee that there money along wif any more you got"

"Nah, its okay" Rinoa replied coldly, regaining her composure "I think I'll pass"

"You don' understand. You don' gotta choice." He told her

"Is that so? I didn't realize there was a toll to pass through bum-town." She told him, declining to give him her money and opting instead to give it to the children she had seen digging, then at least they'd experience the joy of... well... joy, for once in their bleak little lives.

"Chap'n..." The man said. When nobody answered, he repeated himself with increased volume, adding "Get your ass over here boy!" After a pause, the boy Rinoa had been watching appeared beside the older man, staring at his own bare feet. She suddenly noticed how malnourished he was. "Well," the older man said to the boy "C'mon boy, look up at the young lady. Look at 'er in those beau'iful brown eyes of 'ers."

With that the boy slowly looked up at Rinoa and as their eyes met, she noticed a network of bruises and cuts on his face and a troubled look in his eyes. "Boy, now you look the young lady in her pretty little eyes and beg." The older man said impatiently, elbowing the boy sharply, hitting him in what was probably a covered up bruise causing him to flinch.

Rinoa then felt even sorrier for the boy. When the boy said nothing, the man hit him again and again until he looked her in the eye and spoke.

When The Boys eyes met Rinoa's own widening eyes, she thought she could see into his broken spirit. He finally spoke up "y-yes miss... He's r-r-right. I... I on-only want your money. When she shook her head, the older man stepped forward and the boy flinched.

Rinoa took her left hand out of her pocket and kneeling down, she offered it to the boy who slowly and reluctantly took hold of it, the smaller hand's coldness violently contrasting Rinoa's own body warmth causing her to gasp out loud in surprise.

"You know, I'd have willingly offered you my money, If only that man hadn't forced you into asking." She broke apart the handshake and stood up as the boy continued to stare at his hand as though transfixed by its complicity.

As the vile village-peasants of Timber began to advance on the teenage girl, no one noticed that the boy's wide eyes were transfixed on the green paper crumpled up in his hand. He examined it and saw the numbers pressed unto the paper in vivid black ink.

"20k"

The girl had slyly and secretly placed twenty thousand Gil in the boys unworthy palm. He'd never even seen so much money in his life. He didn't have time to think however, because he heard the girl whisper for him to run, a request which he could gladly fulfill.

Rinoa's conscience was clear, but her own fate was not. What would she have to do to get out of this predicament? Before she had time to consider her options, the older mans fist came into contact with her face, causing her to jerk awake.

She was in the shower, leaning diagonally against the shower walls. Her feet were at one end of the shower and she was leaning on the wall at the other end of the shower with her face and shoulders, the warm water running down her back. Turning off the water and wrapping a towel around herself, she walked back to her bed and positioned herself comfortably under her blanket.

She wondered what had caused her to have that particular dream. It was a welcome change from her regular nightmares about searching for Seifer, but still she hated that dream so much. She may hate that dream, but she wouldn't mind so much if it really had been a dream and not an old memory that still continued to haunt her nightmares.

Not only did it show the dark side of humanity, it showed a contrast from what she thought a regular life should be like, but she saw that hers was the delusional daydream she called a life. As much as she didn't want to, her subconscious was going to force her to face one of her worst memories.

Before sleep overtook her, she caught a glimpse of the full moon. It was rare to see the moon in timber just as it was in Galbadia. She gaped at it in awe and wondered what Seifer could be doing all the way in Balamb. She assumed that he would be sleeping now and as she let out a big yawn, she began to do the same.

As Rinoa drifted in and out of her dreams, her mind was taking her back to that one place in history. The dream was not one she would have liked, had she a choice. She had no control over her dreams however and was forced to endure the show of her bitter past. As her face contorted into frowns, inside her head her mind was sending her racing back in time to one year in her past.

Standing surrounded in one of the many slums surrounding the run-down forest-surrounded Galbadian occupied country bumpkin town known as Timber – a small struggling community that was once a blissful self-economized republic, Rinoa heartily felt stranded. She was alone, excluding the below-working-class near middle age gorillas overpopulating this area staring at her with lustful smirks.

"Well now" the nearest man resembling an ape calmly said to her with sadistic amusement apparent in his gruff voice "It seems you just lost me my slave"

An image of the boy Rinoa had attempted to rescue flashed into her head. "Slave?!" she gasped "I thought he was your son or something."

"Who ses he weren't?" the man asked her "he c'n be bof c'nee?"

"You're a twisted..." Rinoa began but was cut off

"Don' you gedit? You took my slave away fr'me. You owe me my reparation!"

"But... I-I don't have any money"

"Doncha lie ta me bitch! You got it there in your han'"

"Fine" Rinoa said tossing the coin at the man, who caught it in his hair covered paw "but that's all I have. Honest."

The man examined the five hundred gill coin closely as though (and Rinoa reminded herself that this was probably true) he had never seen real cash ever before in his cruel hard life. "...It's a start... I suppose" he finally stated.

With that statement Rinoa had to gasp in worry. "But I- But you- but I- ... But- But that- that's all I have" she was finally able to dribble out.

To Rinoa's horror, her panicky stuttering had caused the man's grin to significantly widen until she was sure she was staring at the mug of the creep who conceived the textbook definitions of pure cruelty and lust.

"I never said nothin' about money did I?" the twisted man asked her coolly.

Rinoa's eyes widened dramatically and her breathing seemed to stop when she realized what the man was after. She tried to back away but realizing it was no use, she lost all hope and painfully dropped down onto her knees.

The man reached down and felt the soft black cotton of her T-shirt and made a remark about its soft touch. "You c'n start by givin' me this." He said cruelly.

"No..." she breathed

"Hurry up bitch! Take the damn thing off"

Rinoa closed her eyes tight, began hysterically shacking her head and screamed as loud as she could but it wouldn't help. There was nothing she could do.

"It's alright" he told her with obvious mock care in his voice. "You're not gonna be needin' it no more."

"But I... I'm not wearing anything else... under this" she said quietly, her cheeks reddening slightly, her eyes fixated upon the ground in embarrassment.

"That's precisely the point. Now get it off!" he said while grabbing the T-shirt and aggressively pulling it up.

As he pulled, Rinoa managed to get up and pull herself back, away from the man. This action however, did not bring about the desired effect. With Rinoa backing away and the older man's hand pulling on the thin fabric, it of course ripped right down the middle. This simply made her look like she belonged there. She no longer looked like the innocent visitor who simply made a wrong turn; she now looked like a prostitute dressed in an old torn rag. This could only have made the traumatic predicament worse for the sixteen year old.

"Hey man, what did you have to do that for?" A man with long brown greasy hair wearing a filthy never-been-washed bandana around his head asked the lord-of-the-apes, who was still holding the material in his grubby mitt. "We could've pawned that, or kept it as a memento."

"Why keep this rag when we got the first division jackpot prize right here?" was the response.

Rinoa was sure the men could sense the fear leaking out of her like the foul smelling liquid leaking out from a young lost child's full bladder.

"I hope she still got some spirit left in 'er" the hippie said

"Of course she does" said the ape man "teenagers are all the same." He pulled Rinoa up by the hair so he could look her in the eye. "Aren't ya, you may resist now but you teenagers are all the same. You're all dirty little sluts at heart."

"I hope this'un lasts longer than the last one." The hippie stated

"I gotta feel she will" the ape man replied "It'll be a bit hard though." Looking at Rinoa, he asked her "so, think you're up to it? Our last sex doll lasted us almost six years. Yep, I sure am proud of my daughter. She lasted almost six years of taking us all in all the way before she slit her own throat."

Then, the hysterical Rinoa realized what this sick sexually frustrated freak had done, to his own flesh and blood no less. It was the life of a daughter for death of a mother, the birth of a daughter followed by the murder of a mother. Nineteen long hellish years would follow. Fourteen years of daily molestation, were followed by six years of daily rape. Nineteen long painful anguish filled accursed years of pure unfiltered hell. Nineteen years of abuse... followed by suicide on the day before her twentieth birthday.

The ape man's unfortunate child had been the only source of entertainment for these men and now... now Rinoa would be unwillingly forced to become her replacement. She would be the one to endure the torment of acting as their living doll, to be forced into any pose of the bastard ape-beast's choosing, to take anything and everything that could and would be thrust upon her until the pressure would cause her to snap, leaving her with only one desire in the cold empty pit of her gut, the desire to be the one to take her own life, to end it all, once and for all and the rest of her existence, the final chapter of her now miserable and depressed life would begin..."

"...Begin." Rinoa was only able to catch the last word of the ape man's sentence, but had no time to think. Before she knew it, she found the man's hand slowly pulling down her black shorts and to her quick short panic stricken breaths; he told her "calm down." Then added with the most evil smirk she had witnessed yet "I know deep down you secretly want this just as much as I do. I can tell you really are excited." Then his hand went back down to where Rinoa's long pale legs met her waist.

Before he could continue any further, the short silver barrel of a modern automatic pistol was pushed hard into the Ape man's face. "Touch even one of her hairs and you're a dead man." growled the cold deep voice of the stranger holding the gun.

"Are you implying that this, girl needs a shave?" the ape man said to himself "hmm, maybe... aahh fuck it. I'll risk it" he said continuing where he left off

"I don't think you understand." The stranger told the ape man "If you harm one hair on her pretty little head, then you're as good as dead."

With that statement, the ape man let Rinoa go and looked up to meet the strangers cold set angry eyes. Rinoa turned around to look at the stranger too – Big mistake. This gave the ape man the opportunity he needed. With his right hand, he groped her right in the spot he was searching for, extracting a loud gasp and hoisting her up from the ground. Using his left arm, he clamped her to him by the throat, almost restricting her airway.

This position was only beneficial for the ape man but at least it gave Rinoa a look at whoever was trying to help her. She saw someone with long brown hair down past his shoulders, slightly longer than Rinoa's hair. He had blue eyes. He wore mostly black... all black actually, except for the chrome colored choker chain around his neck and a large white insignia on his T-shirt supporting some underground band that was most probably popular about twenty years ago.

"Oh come on." The ape man pleaded to the stranger with overconfidence "Let me have my fun." He then grinned as though he'd just had a thought "while my boys run you the hell out of our town."

"That's a good proposition" the stranger replied, unfazed by the threat "but I've got a better one. How about I take that girl there off your hands and you guys all get to keep your genitals."

"Can't we talk about this later, I got myself all excited over here and she's the only source of pleasure we got for miles."

The stranger then violently kicked Rinoa's leg, causing it to swing out of the way so he could get a shot in. The bullet sunk into the ape man's leg. This caused him to bend over in pain, giving the stranger the open shot he was looking for. He raised the barrel of his gun slightly so it was pointing directly at the man's groin at close range then without hesitation, fired one more round into the man. The screams could be heard for miles and they echoed off every wall. When motioned to, Rinoa quickly ran behind the stranger to keep out of his way and to keep herself safe from the men. But was she really safe with someone who could inflict that kind of pain and think nothing of it? Sure, he deserved it and everything but still... sometimes vengeance and justice seem so similar... until you begin to regret.

"Fuck you!" rang the pained cries of the ape man, as the other men whom he referred to as his "boys" stood idly by and witnessed his pain.

"You sick bastard" the stranger remarked "all the pain in the world is too good for you. When I'm through with you, you're all gonna wish for death. You'll prey for hell's relief!" He bent over the ape man and said "I'll start with you."

"Stop it!" Rinoa cried out at the stranger "You're just as bad as they were."

"Sorry, I just can't do that." The stranger began to explain. "You see, these rats have been a plague in this area for so long. I've been holding out for the right price, but now I think I'll just do it for free." At Rinoa's confusion, he added "Call me an exterminator if you will. An eradicator, an executioner, you may even go so far as to call me a murderer, I really don't care." He then turned back to the ape man. "You're all scum to me!"

"You're just as bad!" Rinoa shouted at him. She didn't know why she was defending the worst examples of human nature ever to be conceived in the murkiest alleyway, but she found she was unable to control herself. "You think you can use violence to solve every problem in the world but you can't. You're not helping. You're making things worse. You're just feeding the flames in the fire, fueling the cycle of hatred. The quest for revenge will never be over."

With Rinoa's opinion voiced, the stranger stood up, tilted his pistol and shot the ape man execution style in the head. He then turned to all the others and threatened them by telling them "I of course know all your faces and I have a photographic memory. If I see any of you motherfuckers ever again... you're gonna wish your parents knew the word contraception." With that, the men scattered and within a few minutes they were all out of sight leaving Rinoa alone with the stranger she knew almost nothing about (besides the fact he could easily kill her at any time) and the corpse of the ape man.

She began to wonder who she would've been safer with, the residents of Bum Town or the stranger... but her line of thought was cut.

"You know, normally I'd have left you to them when you said that to me" she heard the stranger say. She turned to see he had his gun pointing at her. "But I think you'll be more useful to me alive."

"You're joking right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Oh. Aahh man" Rinoa said out loud. She didn't know what to do. "So nothing's really changed for me, has it?" she asked. As much as she would hate it and hate herself for it, she didn't have much of a choice. She could either give up and do whatever the hell this sadist wanted or risk an early excruciatingly painful death.

"Come on, It's not that bad. I mean it's not like I'm a dirty old bent over pedo or anything. Also, there's only one of me and I'm only a few years older than you I'm guessing."

Rinoa's eyes seemed to drop to the ground. The stranger walked close to her and knelt down right in front of her. "You know I let those bastards off easy, right?"

"Wow, how generous of you" Rinoa replied sarcastically, remembering what the stranger had done to the ape man.

The stranger pointed his gun once again at Rinoa and quickly said "You should take care to mind where your mouth goes. Whatever comes out of it could get you in trouble... and for the record; I'd usually kill you for talking to me like that. Just remember, you owe me. I saved you from a fate worse than death. Your debt has transferred from them... to me. I own you now." He then put his gun in its holster and beckoned for her to follow, which she did... slowly.

"So..." Rinoa began "where are you taking me? Do you have a house around here or something?"

"No..." the stranger told her "I want to take you to meet a friend of mine."

"A... friend?" she breathed with uncertainty

"Yeah, I can't be seen walking around town with you looking like a whore now, can I? It looks like I'm gonna have to get you some new clothes. Don't worry so much." He said in response to the way Rinoa was looking at him. There's only gonna be about seven of us, total."

"Seven!?"

"Well, actually it's eight... including you."

"Eight!? Eight people? But... but we haven't even been introduced."

"fine." The stranger said "You can call me Kane."

"Alright then, hi Cain my name is..."

"I'm just gonna assume you said it wrong. Everyone does." He interrupted.

"Ah, yeah" she said, not wanting to contradict such a dangerous man.

"You see, most people think its spelled C-A-I-N but that's not how I spell my name. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Alright, I'll tell you why, because my stupid father was a fucking dyslexic hippie who couldn't even read, let alone spell." As he spoke, Rinoa felt her fears creeping back as Kane's anger increased with each spoken syllable. "...In the end, as it turns out, I was named after the fucking hippies goddamn walking aid, K-A-N-E – KANE!"

"Oh, I ah... I see..." Rinoa said, still uncertain of the difference, playing along anyway out of fear. "Alright then, hi Kane" she said again, repeating her own introduction which was previously interrupted by Kane. "My name is..."

"I know who you are" he interrupted once again, to Rinoa's surprise. "At least I think I do. Your name escapes me for the moment, but no matter. We have other places to be.

"How do you know me, if you don't mind explaining?"

"Everyone knows your face, Even if it can't be placed... or traced back to you. Come, we've wasted so much time already and we have many miles yet to cross. I hate to be late so we'd better hurry."

"...but why do you care what I look like? Why bother wasting your money on me? Why get me new clothes?"

"I already told you. I don't wanna be caught with a whore. I don't wanna ruin my reputation... or yours. Your future is what you make it. Don't ruin it for yourself by making a few bad decisions now."

"But why?" Rinoa asked yet again. "Why do you care so much about me? Aren't you just gonna use me up and throw me out into the trash?"

"No, I actually respect you more than that. I think more of you than the attraction those old men felt for you. You're more than a lifeless body lying there to be ravaged time and time again. You have a mind. You have a soul. Why not put 'em to good use." This statement gave Rinoa a lot to think about. "...or not. You can lie back and take the money of middle aged strangers if you want. Hey, it's your life. You can waste it any way you choose."

"You know, that's not a very positive attitude you've got."

"Well, I guess that means I'm not a very positive person, then... doesn't It." He spat sarcastically with putrid bitterness and hatred which seemed to come from nowhere. "Hurry up. We should've left a long time ago. You go on ahead and I'll direct you to where you need to go. That way I can keep my eye on you. We should hurry now. No more talking until we get there."

They walked for a few minutes, Rinoa in front by twenty steps. She was unsure what destiny held in store for her. She didn't even know how safe she would be with the man who saved her but things still seemed to be alright for the moment. These short few minutes of peace would not last. Things were about to get worse.

One second, Rinoa was walking strait ahead. The next, she felt a hand grab her leg just below the knee. "Fuckin'... Bitch..!" came the rasp of the weak middle-aged man clutching her leg- trapping her in his vice-like grip, rendering her unable to move. Her heart rate was rapidly increasing to rates of agonizing speed.

Her heavy breathing soon turned into uncontrollable gasps. Her mind began racing in circles around her, then she remembered Kane. She turned her head around and saw him slowly strolling toward her like a millionaire taking a leisurely walk around his grounds.

When he finally caught up to Rinoa, his facial expression was completely neutral. Without making any unnecessary muscle movements or even stopping, he quickly kicked his right leg up at a one hundred and forty degree angle, causing the middle-aged man to loosen his grip on Rinoa as well as popping him up into the air. While he was in the air, Kane drew his pistol and fired two shots into the man. When the man landed in a graceless heap on the hard lifeless cement floor of the abandoned area, Kane stood over him and fired one final shot into the man's head, killing him execution style.

Kane looked a little further up the road and saw a young boy. "You know him?" he asked Rinoa, she looked up and saw the same boy she had seen digging, the same boy she had given most of her money to in a vain insistence of charity, the boy who caused her to be in her predicament. It was entirely this young boys fault. Wasn't it? Then again, she didn't have to give away so much of her remaining cash. Growing up alone is hell. It makes you mature too quickly. Now Rinoa couldn't even put the blame on somebody else- a useful technique that had gotten both she and her giggling group of rich heiress type friends out of trouble countless numbers of times in the past. She had no one to blame. Her own upper class habits had caused her to endanger her own life.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the young boy with surprise and more volume than she meant to use.

"I... I got no where ta go ma'am"

"Oh" she said in response to the boy.

"Here." He told her handing back the money she had donated

"No... That's yours. You need it more than I do."

"But It's not right" the boy admitted "You got me away from my family and away from this area. That's something I can never repay you for so I can't accept anything more."

Rinoa saw the bitter meaning behind the boys words and could think of no argument, but didn't feel comfortable taking so much money from someone this unfortunate. She had no idea what to do... until Kane spoke up."

"I have an idea. Come with us into town and I'll give you instructions on where to go from there."

"...All right..." the boy said after a while, just as uncertain as to what awaited him for the next twenty four hours as Rinoa was. And that was how it was decided. The three different travellers walked slowly, making rest stops every half hour so that Rinoa and the boy could rest their sore tired legs and feet. She seemed safe enough but Rinoa was still unsure about the man slightly older than her, the one calling himself Kane. With the kindness that he showered her with in his left hand, he easily took back using his right hand, tearing out the heart of anyone in his way- definitely not someone she wanted to get on the wrong side of. She'd have to be extra careful when talking to him to avoid upsetting him. She just preyed to Hyne that he wouldn't ask anything of her that could cause her to anger him by refusal.

Since Kane had been moving so slow, to compensate for his company's lack of physical training, it had taken a whole day to travel a distance which would normally take him a few hours. Not that he minded of course, he was almost back at Timber anyway.

As Rinoa and the young boy rested nearby, he looked strait ahead at the stone entrance to the town of Timber. Age had started to settle into the stone structure, turning it from grey to a decayed yellow-brown colour. He made eye contact with the pitiful Timber soldiers guarding the entrance to the town. They weren't much of a fighting force, just a couple of uniformed has-beens well past their prime. This was all that remained of the great Timber army.

At the top of the structure was a spinning wooden wheel. It spun around and around but covered no ground. No mater how fast the wind blew it, it could never escape and would never get anywhere. It was no different from the people living in this run-down place.

"Hey... you!" called one of the guards, immediately severing Kane's train of thought like a razor.

"What!?" Kane spat impatiently

"You just can't come in here."

"...And why the fuck not?" Kane asked the guard casually.

"Aahh... well now there's no need for that language"

"...I don't see your point. Anyway... are you really gonna stop me from getting in? I don't see how you can."

"Sorry lad, but I've been ordered to use as much force as necessary to stop anyone getting in or out."

"Don't make me hurt you, I've already got blood on my hand but I'd prefer if you'd just take this bribe" he said indiscreetly while showing a green '20k' note.

"Well, that's mighty generous of you boy but I gotta job to keep."

"And I gotta schedule to keep so either take my bribe and stay the fuck outa my way... or your sad life has gotta end on this gloomy dull day."

"If you really want to, you can bribe me to let you live." The guard told him snatching the twenty thousand gill from Kane's hand "now get out of my sight."

"Then it looks like we're gonna have to do this my way. It's a real shame. I'm meant to be fighting to protect you fuckers... but hey, sacrifices must be made when necessary, right?" As the two men stood there smugly exchanging arrogant threats, neither of them noticed Rinoa who had apparently been listening in on the conversation, walk up to join them.

"Kane?" Rinoa asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Kane asked her in response, his tone a little softer.

"Don't fight them... please. Yesterday I saw you kill two people like they were nothing but vermin."

"They were vermin." Kane cut in.

"Please. I don't want anyone else to die. The guards are just doing their job. Can't we walk to Galbadia and sneak in to town on the train?"

"Yeah, good luck with that plan." The guard cut in.

"Do you know how long that'd take?" Kane asked Rinoa

"We have to at least try. You can't just kill anyone who crosses your path"

"...fine" Kane decided at last "wake up the kid. We're making a detour."

Just as Kane was leading Rinoa and the young boy past the border into the Great Plains of Galbadia, he chanced upon quite the coincidence. Just ahead of them was a train. It had no passenger cars, or any kind of car behind it. It was simply an engine unit. It had one major difference however, it's size. It was longer than most train engine units. It had space for the crew to live. It was a rust colour with a rounded front ending in a three inch spike protruding from the front of the train. Around the spike appeared the painting of a large skull. The sides of the train bared the graffiti of various taggers. "Well..." Kane said to his followers "looks like headquarters has come to us. Rinoa, we're here. The friends I told you about earlier are in this base."

"...In here?" Rinoa asked judgingly "but this is just a run-down train engine."

"This" Kane replied to Rinoa's outburst "Is the mobile base of the Timber Forrest Owls, A small resistance faction recently started by yours truly."

"The Forrest Owls" Rinoa repeated.

"Resistance?" the boy asked with evident confusion in his voice.

"That's right. I'm in the timber resistance. That means I resist... I'm trying to get those..." Kane stopped, unsure of how to tone down his language for the young boy, not that he believed in censorship. "You two get on the train and I'll introduce you to everyone" and with that, the three unlikely companions climbed the three steps up onto the train and into the custody of even more strangers, leaving Rinoa still uncertain of the fate awaiting her.

On the train, Rinoa saw she was surrounded by the six men that Kane had told her about the day before. Most of the men were quite older than her but she saw a few around her age.

"These guys drive the train" Kane began explaining to her

"My name's George" one of the men told her "and this is Harold" he gestured to a short well-built man "and this is Henry" he said gesturing to a tall thin man. All three of them looked to be in their late twenties.

"Come with me" Kane told her.

When they got to the next room, Rinoa saw two more resistance members. These were younger than the others. One looked the same age as her. The other was a year younger. "This is Watts and Zone" Kane told her.

"This is only five, you said eight including you and me." Rinoa said.

"There is one more" Kane told her with seriousness in his voice. "but these people aren't bad guys. They'll take care of you. You should be safe here, until you find your place."

"Are you at it again Kane? Stop filling her head with lies" a blond male, one year older that Rinoa said as he walked into the room, flashing her smile.

"Rinoa," Kane said as he turned to look at her "this... is Seifer."

Rinoa had been lying on her side for at least ten minutes before she realised she was awake. It figures, she thought to herself. She would have to wake up during the good part of her dream. Not wanting to be a burden on the forest owls, she decided that she'd better get up.

At first, she kind of thought it strange that none of the forest owls seemed to care about her. Maybe once Seifer and Kane would have worried about her, but they had toyed and tired of her and she began to doubt whether or not she would see either of them ever again. Watts and Zone acted nice to her face, but she was suspecting them of talking about her behind her back. She didn't want paranoia to ruin any friendships, but the conversations seemed to die down when she entered a room.

Fully dressed, she looked out the window. Security had been growing tighter and tighter since she arrived in Timber. The Galbadian military was tightening its grip on the town like a steel gloved hand crushing the head of a rose with excessive strength. She once again found herself wondering what had happened to Seifer. If SeeD ever came to liberate Timber, she hoped Seifer would be with them, like he was a year ago. She wondered what he would be doing at that exact moment, the way she often did. She preyed to Hyne that Seifer still thought about her the way she thought about him. She was getting desperate to see him again.

Then she had a great idea to help out the resistance, and see Seifer. Sending letters to Garden was useless. Everyone had told her that. The absence of replies told her that. She would accompany the next letter herself and plead to someone at Garden. Surely someone would help her. She would convince the administration of Garden to help the Timber resistance... somehow.