Ch 5- Untouched Waters [Final]

The starry night overlooked the unfolding scene. Rinoa and Squall were hand in hand, 
overlooking the Quad, it was actually 2 stories, with a long balcony edging the trees on 
the upper level, and large waterways, and a lake. They guessed the amount of trees was 
for oxygen, but didn't over think it. They were about to kiss when Reno interrupted them. 
"Rinoa, the Sorceress, and Squall her brave hero, her night in shining armor. Yeah right." 
He laughed as he pulled out a gun and aimed for the pair. "So sorry, but orders are orders, 
and you're just being a pain to her Majesty." He was about to shoot when he was hit from 
behind with another gun. A woman wearing back red walked in, her dress was plain and 
slit on one side. Her long blonde hair fell to her back, and she wore a beautiful silver 
pendant, but her face couldn't be completely seen, a shadow covered her upper face. "No 
use to me fool." she said in a proud, kind of a 'you fail me, you pay' tone. Then she 
looked to Squall, then Rinoa, she glared "What have we here, two little love birds, sitting 
on a balcony, how touching." The dryness in her voice enraged Rinoa, but Squall said 
nothing, he only looked at her. 

Reno stood up, and looked at his Queen in confusion, the shot had not killed him, only 
wounded his shooting arm. "My Queen," he begged "what have I done wrong?" "You 
fool, they have weakened you, and I saw it early on. You talked so fondly of them, 
especially Rinoa, you seem to have fallen for the doomed. So I shall redeem you." She 
shot again, and Reno fell to the ground. Rinoa fell onto Squall, who took her 
sympathetically, trying not to scare her. The Queen looked at them, and started, but 
stopped a sentence. She looked away, unsure of what to do. "Why are you here?" Squall 
asked, and let go on Rinoa, he pushed her behind him, protecting her. "I…. I don't know, 
I must destroy the threat…" "But why, what did we do?" "You?! You have ruined my 
life!" she lifted her head, revealing her face. She was none other then the beauty Quistis, 
a long scar covered her right cheek, and her eyes were filled with tears. "I was wrong 
Squall." She said, Rinoa looked at each of them, and stepped back. "Wrong?" she asked 
"Yes, and it's your fault! I only wanted one thing in my life, Squall. I loved him long 
before he knew you existed. It was more then I thought, I tried to cope, I wanted him to 
be happy, and you to Rinoa, you're the only people I really have…" she stopped for a 
second, then dropped her gun. "I don't want to kill you, I would need more then a mere 
army to destroy you, I would need every SeeD on the planet, and then some. We were 
unstoppable, unbeatable! Zell, he's gone to… What was I felt with then? Four 
lovebirds?" "But you were gone by then." Squall pointed out. "Of course I was gone, I 
was taken back to my heritage! The Trepe name happened to be the name of a royal 
underground colony, which hated the upper peoples, and swore revenge. I became Queen, 
and tried to keep my people happy, but again, I failed…

"I decided to fake my own death, but it wouldn't work, so I made up this plan, in one last 
attempt to see you all again, before I left." "Left where?" Rinoa said, edging closer to 
Quistis. "You know where, to see Zell. The only one I could ever count on, yet the one I 
could never love. He was the only one who supported me, the only one who treated me 
like I meant something. Once he died, I had nothing, you two are inseparable, and 
although Selphie and Irvine have a warped love, it's still there, which left us two, two 
helpless souls trapped in a world of suffering. Have you ever seen the poverty of 
Galbadia? Half the population of the colony was refugees from Galbadia, all on the 
streets." "That has nothing to do with this Quistis!" Squall yelled "What you did was 
unforgivable, you put us all through so much pain, you would never know what it felt like 
to loose two of your only friends in such a close time, we all were upset, but that gives 
you no reason to run, where will you run to? You can't go back to a colony underground, 
you're in space!" "Squall…" Rinoa interrupted "We know she left us now, but we don't 
know the full reason, Quistis has a lot more to her then we saw before, I never knew she 
was like this either, please let her go on." 

"I was traumatized by hearing of Zell's death, he was my best friend. I wanted revenge 
on his death, but who would I get? I was confused; I went to you, all of you, Garden 
SeeD…the whole planet. I wanted to destroy, everything. But then, I realized that it 
wouldn't matter, Zell was still gone, I would've only caused myself more pain, loosing 
you or any of you would kill me inside. So I set out to here, pretending to be on an 
assassination, and brought my best man with me, but knew that eventually, I would have 
to come here, kill him, to stop him, and find you, it didn't matter who, just anyone." 
"Quistis…" a voice said from behind, and Selphie came out, looking both confused and 
happy, she was about to go hug her, but saw Squalls face, something was wrong, so she 
wasn't getting caught in it. Irvine sowed up right after her, and they stood beside Quistis, 
a little closer then Squall and Rinoa. "Selphie, Irvine… I'm glad I saw you one last time." 
Quistis said, as if it was all for nothing, her life, and life itself. "You never needed me, 
never, no one wanted me either, I was a top SeeD, but what for, to go on missions and 
make money? No, to try and fail, so I could die. I was never wanted…" 

"Quistis, you're wrong." Selphie said, with a fierce will and determination driving her. 
"Without you, where would we be? You were our teacher; we looked up to you, and still 
do! You always kept your cool, and never freaked out. We missed you so much when you 
disappeared, we need you more then you know." "She right," Irvine said "I didn't mean 
anything when we first met, I only picked Selphie and Rinoa out of random, I never 
though it would hurt you this much. I don't know you as well as they all do, but we all 
were sad, there's no doubting that, and we all missed you, and waited for the day we saw 
you again." "No, you're just saying that," Quistis said picking up the gun "I have no 
purpose here, I have no reason, the only thing I can do now, is…" she closed her eyes, 
and lifted the gun "to be with Zell once again, the only man I could trust…" "Quistis!" 
Rinoa yelled, running forward, Squall blocked her, and held Rinoa back. Quistis raised 
the gun higher, and pointed to her head. "Quisty…" Squall whispered as tears formed in 
his eyes "I'll always love you." She breathed heavy, and opened her eyes wide, one last 
time "Goodbye." She said, in almost a whisper, Selphie closed her eyes and looked away, 
and Irvine looked down. Only Squall watched as she pulled the trigger, the sound echoed 
throughout the room, the same bullet shot sound, that ended Quistis' life. The gun fell out 
of her hand, and her arm dropped. Her knees collapsed, and she fell to the ground, 
waving in the air, then finally, dropping down, where her lifeless body laid. "No." Irvine 
said to himself, when he heard the body drop, tears rolled down his cheeks, and he looked 
up a little, and was Quistis lay on the floor, the other 3 around her. He wanted to step 
forward, to pick her up and wake her, so she could help them again, and be there for them 
all, but couldn't. Rinoa didn't look yet, but hugged Squall tightly, mumbling strange 
words that made no sense, as if she was loosing her mind. Selphie squeezed her eyes 
tightly closed, even as tears came out, but eventually looked at Quistis, and fell to her 
knees and wept in her hands. Squall stared at her dead body, still taking in what had 
happened. He showed no emotion, but they all knew he was hurting most. He blinked, 
and let a single tear fall down his cheek, and land on Rinoa's head, he returned her hug, 
and wrapped his arms around her, and rocked her gently in his arms. He wouldn't let 
himself cry, but the tears were heavy and hard to control. "Always…" he whispered and 
closed his eyes, and kissed Rinoa's head gently. She looked up at him as he opened his 
eyes, and looked almost confused. He stared back in her eyes and spoke in a quiet 
whisper that only she could hear. "Don't ever leave Rinoa, don't ever leave my side, 
don't let me loose you like I did Quistis and Zell, please, never." He began to cry, Squall, 
the lone wolf, the one with no emotion cried. "I promise" Rinoa replied, and kissed his 
cheek. 

The four didn't leave until morning, when the clean up staff found them. They were taken 
to Headmistress Melanie ordered them to her office right away, and talked to each in 
private. She said to each to take some time away from here, and cancelled their plans to 
see Ellone, and instead, sent them back to Earth. Quistis had a beautiful funeral, and was 
buried next to Zell's body, just what she would've wanted. 

The next few days continued as it did Zell's death, the four still skipped classes, sell 
Selphie anyways, they stayed, and roamed the Quad, which was being renovated 
currently. Irvine was away from the others most, he wanted to think to himself. He was 
walking slowly, near the entrance, overlooking the Centra Plains, where Garden was 
currently grounded. "It all started with an order to assonate, and now look at me, what 
happened?" Irvine said, and sat down on a nearby bench. "I used to be the ladies man, but 
now, I've settled down, I was happy… this is all to confusing. Zell and Quistis did make 
bad choices, I can't change that, but I could've stopped it. It was supposed to be me going 
to rescuer Zell, not Rina, I shouldn't have left him in the first place." "Moping around 
feeling sorry for yourself won't change that Irvine." Selphie said, and sat down beside 
him, she was following him for a while, listening to him quietly. "We all miss them Irvy, 
but don't be like them, stay with us, here, we'll fix this somehow. If we can remake a 
Garden that was blown up to look exactly like the original, we can get over this." 
"What?" Irvine said, questioning her words. "Look, I don't mean to sound cold, but you 
need to get over it, it's not been long yes, but we are SeeDs, we were trained our whole 
lives for loss, death. Please, don't feel sad, we'll see them again, I promise you Hyne 
won't let us down." She looked up to his sad face as he thought about it. "Just don't let 
me lose you." She finished. Irvine almost wanted to laugh at that; the pair of them fought 
more then Galbadia and Timber. They had opposite thought and motives, and how they 
fell for each other remained a mystery to both. But he did love her, more then he 
believed, even when they fought, he was glad they were together and got over it, even 
when Selphie blew up in Esthar. "Yeah." He said after a while, "we'll make it out 
together, we can put aside our differences and get through this." "Right!" Selphie said, 
and hugged him tightly giving off her famous smile, which seemed to be loosing 
popularity lately. 
"You have been through a lot," Cid said, the four were in his office, and he was giving 
them a new destination. "You probably don't want to do anything, this place, everything, 
would bring back sad memories now. So I've decided to send you all to Winhill, that is if 
you want to go there. I..." he stopped, his normally confident tone had faded, and he was 
just as confused as them "I'm…retiring you all." The four all looked shocked, but said 
nothing, retired SeeDs before 20! They were speechless, dumbfounded. "Sir," Squall 
begged "I object, we are you're finest, you know that well by now. I refuse to leave 
SeeD, if you disown me, I shall not go to Winhill, but to the White SeeD ship, to protect 
Sorceress Edea, and Ellone. Sir, you best solder protecting your wife is not easy to 
object." Rinoa turned to look at Squall, his eyes had a determination and stubbornness 
never unleashed from him before. "Ahh Squall, I expected this from you more then the 
others, I shall not object what you do with your life. You are in charge of it, not I, you are 
free as a bird to go wherever the wind takes you." He walked up to Squall and saluted, 
something very rare of a Headmaster. "Sir." Squall responded and saluted Cid. "One last 
time Squall: dismissed." Squall hesitated, and looked right at Cid, into his eyes, and said 
goodbye to him with that look, then walked out. "Selphie," Cid turned to next "Your joy 
has been one that brightened up my days here, and your tears break my heart. A daughter 
you were to me, even if you lived so far away." "Sir" she said, in a proud voice, SeeD 
was proud of her, and she always did her best to earn it. "You guided me from blindness, 
and even now, your wisdom is always welcome." She saluted, as did Cid "Godspeed 
Selphie, we'll never forget you. Dismissed." She wanted to hug Cid, but held herself 
together, and walked out as Squall did. 

"Irvine," Cid went on "Your gunmanship is one to be proud of. You were always 
welcome here, and welcome you always shall be." "Sir, thank you, I've never shot 
without a reason, and now I have another reason to shoot." They saluted "Irvine Kinneas, 
dismissed." He followed suit, and the doors closed. "Rinoa," Cid started. "No," Rinoa 
interrupted, "don't say goodbye, you're helped me to much, Timber is almost 
independent from Galbadia thanks to you, Sir. You're guidance has kept world peace, 
don't sorrow, but look ahead, to keep this world safe." "Hah, Rinoa, your more then 
modest. You gave Squall meaning to live, without you he never would have been gifted 
with such loyal friends. A sorceress never says goodbye. For she lives far longer then any 
man nor woman shall." "Cid, you always knew what to say, your kind heart will always 
be close to me, I visit Edea a lot, I hope you're there sometime to." "Right, it's not 
goodbye, it's so long. Ms. Rinoa Heartilly, son of President Caraway, dismissed." She 
did not salute, but hugged him. Cid was happy to hug her; she was as good as an orphan 
he raised to him. "Thank you." She said, and walked out. "SeeD's job is finished, I wish 
you best of luck." Cid said to the closed doors.

The four were never seen again, only memories in peoples hearts they became. Silent 
hero's walked that earth for many a day, unnoticed by the common eye, and unthanked 
by the common man. Away in the plains of Centra, a small house lay on the southern 
peninsula, a former orphanage, former home to Edea Kramer, Sorceress and wife to 
Garden Headmaster Cid. The house of memories to them all, where they lived together, 
away from the worlds problems, away from the people who didn't care. Timber soon 
became independent, and reclaimed all the land to the east on the western continent. 
Fisherman's Horizon opened up, and became a large city on the Horizon Bridge, and 
another bridge was created, connecting Tribia south to little Balamb Island to Dollet, 
which lay north of Timber. Lunar Garden kept the peace in the space colonies, and Esthar 
opened its boarders, revealing another Garden: Esthar Garden. Balamb Garden stationed 
at Balamb, in it's former location, and became immobile. The Gardens of the globe 
remember the brave warrior Squall Leonhart, the mighty Sorceress Rinoa Heartilly, the 
lone sharpshooter Irvine Kinneas, the mission planner Selphie Tilmitt, and the deceased 
fighter Zell Dincht, and teacher Quistis Trepe. The six became known as the Forgotten 
Children of Fate, the brave fighters, and friends, and all SeeD's looked up to them, even 
though they disappeared. The world remained at peace, and Garden eventually became 
useless, which was good to Garden, it's use was long lost, and the hidden Sorceress' of 
the world never unveiled themselves, and the world passed on day by day, the way it 
always desired.

The End

Epilogue:

"Guys, hurry, come here quick!" Rinoa shouted, it was late at night and she was sitting 
alone on the beach, practicing her magic skills. The three came quickly, Squall holding a 
small baby boy in his arms. "Look." Rinoa said, and moved her arms in a circular motion, 
creating hand motions as she went, she mumbled a strange tongue and opened her eyes. 
"Resurrection!" she yelled, waking the baby, who didn't cry, but looked up at Squall. 
Rinoa seemed to be praying to herself, hoping her spell worked. After a few minutes, a 
slow figure appeared at the stairs to their house. He was wearing long blue pants, and his 
blonde hair was spiked up. He smiled and trotted down the stairs, the others looked in 
amassment, as another figure appeared, wearing a pink dress and long leather sleeves, 
and her blonde hair was up in a ponytail type hairstyle. Zell and Quistis reached the 
bottom of the stairs, and smiled. "Can't get rid of us so easily now can you?" Zell 
laughed, and ran to hug Selphie and Rinoa. "I hope we didn't cause to much grief." 
Quistis added, and followed Zell's lead, but stayed back, not hugging them. "Hush Kole." 
Squall whispered to the boy "here, meet Aunt Quistis and Uncle Zell." The curious baby 
who looked identical to Squall was placed in Quistis' arms, and he cuddled close to her. 
"We never expected to see you again. What happened?" Squall asked, "You'd never 
understand." Quistis laughed "But we can think about it is the morning." Selphie laughed 
and hugged Zell again, playfully trying to irritate Irvine, and Rinoa stayed close to Kole, 
her baby, and hugged Quistis, knowing that she still loved Squall, but she tried to make it 
better anyway. Squall looked up to the clear night, and saw a lone shooting star cross the 
sky, and he knew it would all work out. 


Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed Untouched Water's where the name had little to no 
relevance in the story :P My plan didn't go according to plan, and it turned out better then 
I thought. I really enjoyed writing this, so I hope you liked reading it! I'll be around a lot, 
just email me @ dragon_master41@hotmail.com or PM me at the forum! Thanks again, 
and I would like to thank WTW who helped me get off my feet, without her, I probably 
wouldn't have even wrote this! Though you don't know here, I thank beanie, she's the 
best fanfic writer you'll ever meet, www.centragarden.net is her site, read her fic, and 
you'll understand, she helped me a lot to. Thanks to all of you who read this, I hope to 
write more here!