Will You...?
by: Angel Wings Rinoa

Chapter 1: The Proposal



"Hurry up! We don't wanna be late for the party, right?" a young woman with jet-black hair said. She let her brown eyes wander up and down the young man's clothes, and smiled. Squall was wearing a dark black tuxedo; underneath it, he wore a white silk vest and with it, a plain navy blue tie. Instead of Rinoa wearing her usual yellow dress, she wore a sleeveless, light blue one that reaches all the way to her ankles. The dress had a slit on the right side which Squall denied looks very sexy on her.
"Who cares? We're either there or not. Makes no difference to me, Rinoa." he plainly said as he smoothed a crease on his tie.
Rinoa looked over at Squall's tie, and decided to do a different style herself, "This tie looks so cute on you! Why don't you ever wear tuxedos often?"
He looked at Rinoa's arrangement of the tie and undid it. "Because I don't want to. Plain and simple." She frowned a little when she looked at how he tied it.
"That doesn't look right. I think it should be this way." she undid the tie again and made another knot.
"...Whatever. Lets just go to that party." he pulled her to the car before Rinoa could finish the knot. They got in a cherry red van that was parked in Balamb Garden's parking lot. That night, they were invited to a party to celebrate Deling City's liberation of martial law, and (a small part of it) the independence of Timber. Rinoa was in quite a fit before anyone convinced her to go to Deling City. She still refuses to talk to her father, General Caraway. Squall noticed that Rinoa doesn't like talking about her family. She liked talking about them when she was a child, and her happy days spending time with her mother and father, but nothing during her teenager years. But still, she accepted to go because of what she said, "If this is for the celebration for Timber's independence, then yes. I'll go." A lot has been on both of their minds ever since they vanquished Sorceress Ultimecia. Most of the time, one would think that after doing such an extraordinary adventure (and after one whole year), one would relax and forget everything,.... Squall has been thinking about his relationship with Rinoa; Rinoa has been thinking likewise. During the drive to the city, even Rinoa didn't say a word to Squall. The tense silence drifted between them. Only when Rinoa said "Look we're almost there." did a sentence has been uttered. What happened? Was it something I said? It seems like he's angry at me for something.... Rinoa bit her bottom lip and strained herself not to look back at Squall. The whole time he drove them to Deling, he had remained quite and still....if she didn't know any better, he could've been a robot.
Already they could tell that a celebration was at Deling City. The citizens were joyous, the children laughing and spreading confetti throughout the streets, different music was heard through different areas of Deling City; there was an atmosphere of festivity in the air. Squall drove the car over to Deling's Hotel. In the entrance they were already greeted by different people. A red haired, freckle faced waitress bowed at them and said, "Welcome, Rinoa Heartilly. Welcome, Squall Leonhart. Please follow me downstairs for the reception." she smiled politely and gestured for them to enter. They followed the waitress to the entertainment hall of the hotel. It was packed with military powers, aristrocatic people and any sort of someone who's a "somebody" at Deling City. The waitress stopped at the bottom of the stairs; she politely said, "Have a wonderful day."
Yeah, right. We're gonna have a swell time. Rinoa sarcastically thought to herself. She scanned the room; trying to find a specific someone who she doesn't want to meet up with. Rinoa found herself staring blankly at General Caraway as he approached them. She absently grabbed Squall's arm and held it tightly. Yeah, a swell time indeed.
"Rinoa. You actually came tonight. Where have you been?" already General Caraway was ready for an argument with his daughter.....and so was she.
"Where ever I want to be, father." he frowned at Rinoa's tone of voice.
"I thought your contract with SeeD is done."
"It is. I just wanna be close to my friends, that's all."
"I rather prefer you be close to your home." he took his eyes off her and looked at the man she's holding, "And I supposed you've gotten a lover without even telling me." he said more of a statement than a question. Squall took no notice of his comment, he merely said, "Hello, General."
"I'm a grown woman now, father. I can do whatever I want to do."
"As long as you're my daughter, I won't permit that."
We'll see about that. Rinoa pulled Squall to leave without saying goodbye to her father. She didn't looked back and walked fast to the other side of the room.
"Rinoa Heartilly, I demand that you stay." General Caraway yelled. A few people took notice of it, and looked at him.
"Whatever!" she didn't face him as she shoved her hands to him (like that gesture, "talk to the hand") and turned a cold shoulder at him. Hey,....that's my line. Squall thought. She almost stomped all the way over to her friends, Zone and Watts. Both of them looked at each other with puzzlement, then Watts asked Rinoa, "What's wrong? You look really pissed."
"It's nothing. I was just thinking of something bad."
Watts looked over to Squall and said, "Hello, Sir!! Good job, Sir! You did it, Sir! You saved the world! And Rinoa too!" Watts was a whole lot more cheerful after he learned that Rinoa came out of the coma safely. "I see you have courted our dear princess, Sir!" he winked mischievously at the two. One would have to be very stupid not to realize that Rinoa and Squall are together; how she holds his arm, how he always pays attention to her. It were signs of a strong love and bond.
"Oooowww, my stomach!!" Zone said with his typical whining tone.
Watts raised his eyebrow, "Now what!? We are nowhere for you to get sick!"
Zone made a scrunched face, "I know, but seeing Rinoa being sooo happy makes me so...so.....urp!!" he grabbed his emergency barfing bag and blew some chunks. ?Does everything makes you sick, Zone?" Squall asked.
"....Urp!!....Y-Yes....pretty much."
Rinoa sighed and smiled to her long, old friend, "Take it easy, Zone. We don't want you getting too sick." she, Watts and even Zone himself laughed.
"C-Could someone pass me another bag?" Zone said, "I think I feel another one coming."
"Here. To you, Sir, barfing is as natural as breathing." Watts sighed and handed him a bigger bag, "Oh, sir, where's the rest of your comrades?" he directed the question to Squall.
"Quistis and Zell are coming. Selphie and Irvine decided to stay at the Garden."
"Oh, 'cause we want to thank them also. Not only did you kept your promise and took care of Rinoa, you did a great deal for our humble town, Timber.....Also, we heard that you saved Rinoa from space! Good job, Sir!" him and Zone stood up straight and gave Squall a proud salute. Afterwards, they saw Quistis and Bradley coming towards them with a smile, "Hi! are we late?" asked Quistis. "Hello, Quistis! Nope! You're right on time." Rinoa said, "Hello, Brad!"
"Yo, Rinoa! My! That's a beautiful dress you're wearing."
Rinoa made a silent "Thank you." and smiled. Squall frowned a little and thought, Does this guy flirt with everybody? If he tries a move at Rinoa, I swear... Bradley noticed that he made a tight fist. Bradley merely smiled at him sarcastically and said, "Don't worry. I won't steal your girl even though she looks sexy tonight. Besides, I have my own gal right here." the comment made a pink hue on her cheeks....For Squall, however, made his cheeks fury red.
"Now, now, Brad. Don't make Squall angry. We don't want that tonight." Quistis said to ease off some of the tension between them. Squall and Bradley took one last glare at each other, then finally turned away, "We don't want to spoil Rinoa's day when her wish finally came true."
"It was our biggest wish too! We were against the toughest odds, but with a little blood and sweat, we made Timber free at last!" Zone said.
Rinoa came up to Zone and placed her hand on his shoulder, "I'm glad this day came. And I'm only in this party for the sake of my Timber friends."
"Where ever you go and whatever happens, you'll always be our Princess Rinoa."
Soon, many of Rinoa's friends came from Timber; the people who work for Timber Maniacs, the woman who owns the inn, the courageous woman, the old man that loves pure water, the little girl who loves cats....everyone she knew. Some of them didn't came only because of Rinoa. After the word came out that Squall and his team of SeeD Members defeated Ultimecia and saved the world, Squall became quite famous. People went to him and phrased him for a "job well done." and a few questions like "What was it like to save the world?", "Were you scared?", "Was she really, really gonna compress time?", "How do you use that Gun-whatchamacallit?" After a while of a lot of questions, he became very annoyed and tried to avoid most of the questions by answering, "I don't know.", '?...Maybe." or "...Whatever."
After a few minutes of nagging questions, he thought, The hell with this. I'm gonna ask her now. Without telling his "fans" he's leaving, he pushed his way to Rinoa and quickly grabbed her hand. People watch in puzzlement as Squall led Rinoa upstairs to the main lobby of the hotel.

Chapter 1: Part II

"Squall, what is it?" Rinoa was shocked herself. He didn't respond; he came to the receptionist's booth and asked, "Is there a room available tonight?"
"Um,.....You're Squall Leonhart, aren't you? Uh.....Yes! There is....it's room 422," she handed him the keys. He quickly took it, then quickly walked to the elevator, "but it's quite small and......that'll be 500 gils please."
Rinoa's eyes widened and she asked, "500 gils? Why so much?"
The shy receptionist's brunette hair bobbed side to side as she checked her book, "Well.....it's a pretty busy day today, so the prices are higher....and because..." Squall handed her the 500 gils, then said, "Who cares?" to Rinoa. The receptionist just stared at them until Squall got to the elevator. She was surprised to see him do this in an orderly fashion (almost gracefully), but quickly at the same time. Barely hearable she uttered, "H-Have a nice day."
At the 4th floor, he rushed to room 422 and let Rinoa in the room first, "What was that for? I know you're unpredictable sometimes, but that was just--"
"There's something I need to ask you." he said calmly and without flaw. As if he was only saying a simple statement like, "The weather's nice."
"I kind of figured that part out. I mean, since you rushed me all the way over here, there must be something you're dying to tell me." Before he could reply, she lay a delicate finger over his lips, "I know what it is. I know you must be very angry with Bradley right now, but I thought we discussed him before; you shouldn't be concerned over him. He's not some kind of criminal."
"I'm not here to talk about him."
"No? Then what?" she looked into his eyes and she watched as Squall slowly formed a word, "M--"
Zell barged in, "Yo, Squall! They're waiting for you to make your speech, man an--Woah!" he turned red and faced the other way, "You guys ever heard of locking the door?! I don't wanna see somethin' I'm not supposed to here!"
"Zell, do you know how to knock?" Squall said; he was almost annoyed.
"S-Sorry, man! Really! I was just in a big rush 'cause there's plenty of guys waiting for you. It's time to do your honourary leader speech."
"That can wait."
Both Rinoa and Zell looked shocked and stared at him for a while. Zell got nervous and quickly said, "Huh? But you're the commander of Balamb Garden. This is part of your duty. You gotta make that speech. It's a big day for you today, so get over there! B-Besides, if you don't go there, they're gonna make me do the speech."
"Do it then."
"No, man! You don't really mean that, right!?" Zell ran over to him and dropped on his knees, "I've made speeches before, but not in front of that many people! Puullleeeaassee. Squall! Don't make me!"
That's funny. He always does his job, without question or hesitation. Rinoa thought.
He said "Dammit." underneath his breath, "Fine. In a few minutes."
"Nope! They said now!"
Squall and Zell got into a little argument about either "right now" or "later." Soon, others came up to the room and peaked at what they were doing. Quistis, Bradley and people from Timber (even the shy receptionist) watched until Rinoa's father stepped into the room.
"What is the meaning of this, Rinoa? What business do you have with this...this man!?" General Caraway stepped over to Rinoa's side. A few bits of muttering came here and there afterwards. A few news reporters came from the crowd and took a few pictures.
Rinoa leaned over to Squall's ear and whispered, "Why won't you just make the speech? What kind of question is it that you really need to ask me right away?"
Damn! With this crowd, I won't be able to--That's it. Who cares about the damn crowd "This kind." the whole crowd fell in a deep silence as he stepped closer to Rinoa. She looked in silence as Squall said two simple words that will effect her life more than she can imagine, "Marry me."
Marry me.
The words echoed in Rinoa's head. Her brain still trying to understand if this is real or she's dreaming. Everything blurred in front of Rinoa; the room, her father, the crowd, even the loud noises.....all she could see was Squall standing in front of her. Her world was only filled with him and his two words. It felt like time came to a slow crawl, but in reality, it was only a few seconds. Her mind was racing and thinking thoughts all at once, but at the same time it was tranquil. Her lips shook a little and she could barely say a word, but in a shaky voice she said, "No."
A loud stream of muttering and gasping came all over the room.
"No?"
Tears fell from her eyes as she smiled at him, "Not unless you ask me formally."
Formally?....Oh, that. ".......Do I have to?"
Still smiling she said, "Yes or else I won't marry you."
"Alright."
"And it has to be the traditional way, y'know."
"Yeah, I know." Squall gently took her left hand and knelt on one knee. He took a small, velvet, black box and he carefully opened it in front of her. More tears fell from Rinoa's eyes; everything was blurring in front of her as she tries to stop the tremor in her hands. Squall opened his mouth and slowly he said, "Rinoa Heartilly, will you marry me?"
"You meany! Of course I will!" With that, Squall gracefully placed the ring on her finger and for once, in front of all eyes, smiled. Quistis, Bradley, Zell, Zone and Watts couldn't believe their eyes. Not one time in their life could they have imagined Squall smiling. Him! Of all people. But it was true, he still kept smiling as Rinoa hugged him tightly and cried happily on his shoulders. General Caraway couldn't believe it either, his "little girl" decided to marry a quite, SeeD man. He hugged her back and ran his fingers through her hair, "I thought you would, but you didn't have to be so stubborn about it. I want you to know I want to get married right away."
"...Whatever." she said the word on his lips and they kissed each other. A few reporters took some more pictures and some of them asked Rinoa and Squall a ton of questions like, "How does it feel like to marry the man who saved the world?", "Did you had a relationship all along?", "Ms. Heartilly, what is your father think of this marriage? Did he knew at all?"; throughout the barrage of questions, neither Squall or Rinoa heard a single word because they were still kissing. After the kiss, Squall gently kissed Rinoa's eyes, "You should really stop stealing my line."
"Can't help it. You're going to have to get used to that if you want me to be Mrs. Leonhart."


To be continued...

That's it for Chapter 1! So, what do you think of Rinoa and Squall's cute little wedding fic? I guess I should warn you right now that this fanfic is pretty long. And also, I'm very sorry for the spaceless edit from before! Gee, that's very dizzying to read! Anyhow, please be patient while I post this long fic. Thanks!