i like this even though it doesn't sit with me well. i can't pinpoint why, but ...i'm stretching my mind on why... and part of me is like "zell wouldn't do that..." and maybe he wouldn't?
i do like the idea of the patterns and things showing up on knights.

*thumbs up*
good job!

So I am a little torn on Rinoas influence on the night. On the one hand, she almost died up there, aided the lunar cry, and was basically left to die as a puppet. On the other, her first interaction with Squall was under a shooting star. Their dance was called waltz for the moon. Their canon adventure ended under yet another shooting star and a moonlit ocean. Why would she take that away from them as a team? The corrupting influence of magic? Ahhhh! You've given me much to consider (that's a good thing)

This is really drew me in to thinking about what could possibly have happened to make everything so bleak. I really enjoyed the scene you set and although it tore me up reading how bad both there lives seem to have become. Squall in particular was very eerie.
I hope you find the time to develop it as is very intriguing and something I would like to read more of.

This is intense.

i just. yes. everything about this is one giant, screaming yes, and i love it. i love this entire series. WHAT A GOOD THING YOU DO.

I love your description of Squall's manner and appearance. The eyes, the marks, his voice. Ah, I love the soft spoken voice. That's his voice. It really went well with the setting. And the setting! The starless and moonless sky! Rinoa doesn't want to remember what happened up there. Makes sense to me! (Kinda reminded me of the sky in Blade Runner. Wasn't it blacked out too? Or was that another Philip K. Dick story? I think about Blade Runner a lot, for some reason.)

So very dark. I've only met one other FFVIII fan who imagined a pretty happy ending for them. I always thought Rinoa was being a dramatic teenager when she thought Squall might have to kill her someday. I always imagined her being decidedly not destructive. I imagined the real danger to her was society's fear and their want to seal her away for everybody else's peace of mind.

And poor Zell. The descriptions of his lonely life. His mom is right though. That's how life goes. People drift away.

And I liked the way you talked about the cyclical nature of it, if you're imagining destructive madness is unavoidable. Just ride it out everyone. Why would you have to end it if it can't be stopped?

If I haven't said this enough, I love your writing. (And thanks for having Selphie not end up with Irvine, haha. Sorry Irvine! I may love you someday, but it's gonna take some work.)

This was delightfully creepypasta - just imagining what Squall looked like in that time of night added to the effect greatly.

At any rate, I'm not surprised Zell chose what he did in the end. He's a loyal fellow with his own code of ethics and not one of the ones who would die for Garden (for as much as people peg Squall as that, he is too). But he would feel the pangs of having no network of family/friends after it all faded into the distance and I don't blame him for being selfish over ending their misery. He is right that it'll never change anything in the long run but I can't imagine having gauntlets as weapons and having to more or less watch up close for something that might not even work. It's too against everything he's for and probably even more devastating as a result.