Underground Stories: Naperic Legacy

Cape of Good Hope

Present day

The meeting place. A promise made between two people.

Here she was standing here waiting for him. When he promised he’d be here she believed him wholeheartedly. That promise was made over two years ago, so maybe it didn’t matter to him anymore.

It mattered to her.

In an exchange of feelings and fears, she had told him that if she had ever succumbed to her power - if it ever got the better of her. If it ever got too much, where she became the world’s enemy. Only one person was allowed to turn their weapon on her. His Lionheart - the only sword allowed to pierce her heart. She’d asked before she even knew everything she knew now.

Their circumstances were diferent and torn in two different directions. The views, values, and what was once their love. No longer fighting on the same side anymore. Fate had driven them apart.

And if she was honest, she blamed him. After Ultimecia’s fall, Rinoa expected a happy ending. What felt like destiny fell back into old routines, shining a glaring light on their differences. She was a sorceress, a guest within the walls of an institution that wanted her contained. He was the leader of said organization. Their days mostly spent apart and their nights stolen kisses and sleep. She wanted him to open up, but at the end of everyday, with so much of his filled with classified intel, there wasn’t much left to talk about.

And it was that intel he’d kept from her that turned into the whole reason why she was there in the first place. Not because of love, but because priorities within SeeD shifted. He had a choice: Love or duty.

He chose duty. Over her.

The free-spirited resistance fighter that breathed in the cravings of freedom, was not locked in a cage. The walls were suffocating her. His protection, out of love, was diminishing her light until there was almost nothing left.

And when she left, she left devastation. She could see it right now in those blue eyes glaring at her through soot and blood. The Heartbreak.

But her broken wings had spread wide open then, the world welcoming her back in. And eventually through the haze of liberation, she had found a new knight. Green eyes, blonde hair. An old love rekindling. One who understood her better than any SeeD ever did. One who confirmed it all to her.

SeeD were not saviors. They were captors, executioners. Trained to kill her kind. She was no exception.

One wrong move and they would have all turned on her. Even their commander, a man who said he loved her, with one order.

They say that when a sorceress loses her knight she goes crazy. Ultimecia did, but she knew she wasn’t her. Their fate wasn’t the same. It wasn’t going to be the same, and she wasn’t going to let that happen.

But her knight wasn’t there with her now. A piece of her heart hollow with despair.

Here the sorceress stood in this field of white and yellow flowers. Mountains to the north and the sea to the west. She could see a stone house on the other side of this field.

They had made their promise in this very field two years ago. A promise that ensured safety. Now it wanted her dead.

Her powers burned through her veins, muscles tight, desperate to stay alive. To not write the same story every other sorceress before her wrote. To get the freedom she rightfully deserved. To regain control SeeD tried to wrangle from her grasp. Even if it meant that she’d burn the world down trying to kill every last one of them. A world with no SeeD. A better world.

Liberation was going to come. But she had one thing left to do.

I’ll be waiting here. If you come here, you’ll find me. I promise.

She kept the promise. She was here. Waiting.

A footstep crushed the burnt pedals of flowers nearby announcing his arrival. The sorceress turned, and there he was with his blade drawn.

Squall Leonhart.

He had kept the promise as well, but he wasn’t here to love her. He was here to kill her.

A/N: Welcome to Underground Stories: Naperic Legacy. This is a multi-story series based on Final Fantasy 8. This project started in 2006 when I finished playing the game and had so many unanswered questions. I decided to fill the plot holes myself! I wanted to write a story with a mixture of different elements as well and explore the characters on a deeper level. Particularly Squall and Selphie.

You will see dates and locations posted all throughout the story. I chose to keep the year 2009 just to keep it current with the times in this century.

Anyway, hope you enjoy reading it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Final Fantasy 8, even though it would be cool if I did. I do own all the OCs in this story in the later chapters, though.