She hears the rumors, and she ignores them, the best that she can.

…could have any girl at Garden and he picks her…

…sure he's only interested because of that short skirt…

…terrible taste. Guess everyone was wrong about him after all…

But she hears them, see them.

Selphie hugs her, takes her out, tell her they're just jealous, and reminds her it's better than the other rumors, the things that aren't rumors they could be talking about.

Rinoa would agree, except for the sad look in Quistis' eyes. The one that isn't judging, the one she doesn't even know she wears, but the one that Rinoa will always know is a look she wouldn't have, not without her, not with Timber.

…barely let his corpse get cold before she-

-but he didn't really die-

-she didn't know that, did she?

She hears the whispers, the gossip, when she walks down the hall, sees the sharp turns and averted eyes, and she pretends she doesn't notice.

…heard he was into weird things, you know, he used to make her-

…the bruises on her arm? He did that , no wonder she's with-

…seems so nice, what she was doing with that loser is beyond me…

Zell reminds of her of Seifer's reputation, in place well before she came around. He means well, but Zell's Seifer didn't stay up all night with her just to watch the sunrise from their secret spot on the cliffs. Garden's Seifer didn't bite his tongue and tell her she did great after she wrapped the ankle he sprained helping her take supplies from DC's high school to give to Timber's poor.

They all mean well.

She is the harlot. She is the waif. She is everything they need to her to be, and she is tired of the tired defense of It's better than the truth, Rinoa, because is it? Because she is not someone who shies away from the truth, and because it is easier to be hated for what she is, what she might be, what she-

(what is not his fault)

-is afraid of-

…will date anyone who can hold a gunblade…

…weak, she just acts that way to get attention….

…like some sort of witch. Hey, you don't think-

The voices are loud, so loud, and so hard to ignore, but they are not all that is.

What is, is the promise of a world where dead men roam free, and might even smile at the memory of hidden sunrises.

It is the feel of Squall's body pressed against hers at night, his breath soft against her neck. It is the way his hand fits over hers when he thinks nobody is watching. It is the burn between her shoulders and the beating of wings in her dreams that he always pushes back. It is the tear he wipes away before they walk into the quad, and it is the quiet reassurance that he hears them too, that he hears them and he doesn't believe them.

It is the sudden, certain way she fell in love, and it is the certain way she knows he loves her back, and is is knowing that nothing could have stopped it, and that nothing, nothing will ever change it.

Apparently I'm under the impression that because I finished a full-length story, I can get away with extremely short one-shots for awhile...

Inspired by a conversation with Emerald-Latias, and general defiance against Rinoa-hate everywhere. :D