Something I'll Not Forget (Neither Will Rinoa).

This was it, the moment before she’d take that first step into the room and have the last moment she’d ever have with her mother.

It was so surreal to be here. Deep in the corners of her mind, she’d always imagined that it would have been the other way around, that her mother would be visiting her on her deathbed, that she would outlive her. It always seemed like a large possibility given that it almost happened once already. Rinoa closed her eyes and rid herself of these thoughts. She only had a few hours at best and it would be foolish to squander them away like that. Not after all Squall had done to get them here.

She walked forward and grabbed hold of the doorknob to her room. When she twisted it open and let herself in ever so slowly, it made a foreboding creak in midst of the pitch-black room. Rinoa stifled another reoccurring sob, determined to be strong, if only for a moment.

As she quietly walked past the rectangular curtained-off section on her left and a door, presumably a bathroom door, on her right, the soft glow of a dim lamp cast enough light on the bed in the far corner to allow her to recognize the figure lying in it. Even though the said figure was wrapped in bandages and hooked up to several machines flanking her on both sides, Rinoa knew it to be her mom. No one else had such beautiful, long dark brown tresses like her mom did; she was one of a kind that way and she still was, even now.

Rinoa took another deep, steadying breath right then and there. This was truly it, she reiterated to herself, and there is no turning back. And so, without another conscious thought, she walked up to her bed. Her mother's eyes were closed but her chest was still rising and falling – it looked like the teenager wasn’t too late after all.

“...Mom?” Rinoa called out to her. Slowly, but surely, the older woman opened her eyes. Though they were rather bloodshot, but they still held the warmth they always had.

“...I’m so glad you made it sweetie.” she softly told her daughter. Rinoa managed a small smile, fighting back the rush of tears at the same time when Julia smiled back in kind.

“I have Squall to thank for that.” she whispered back. “He drove me here as fast as he could with a really bad sprained ankle after he...got to the bottom of this when...there was a mix up with the hospital.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell him thanks for me when you get the chance.”

“A-alright.” When her bottom lip started to quiver and her throat began to close up, Rinoa knew it was over; she couldn’t keep up the brave face anymore. The tears finally fell. “M-mom...I don’t...I don’t want you to die. I...I need you too much. Hyne, why did it have to be you and dad? ...W-why couldn’t it be someone else?”

“Rinoa....” Julia reached out to her daughter by gripping her hand with her own. “...we can’t choose what fate has in store for us. Nobody likes it when...tragedy takes away the ones you love, but it’s life. Sometimes...you can’t do anything other than to accept what’s meant to be.”

“Well... I don’t believe in f-fate so it can’t... it can’t take you away from me,” she argued, “And you’ll be okay and then...we...we can go home together after you get better.”

“Rinoa...as much as I would like that to be true...I know that I only have very little time left in this world.” she told her daughter whose face was now completely marred with tears. “...I know this is really hard for you and...I wish I didn’t have to make you cry like this, but...let’s make the most of the time we have now.”

“B-but...”

“...Please,” she pleaded, “...I don’t want my last moments with you to be sad...even if I can’t stay here with you like I want to.”

“...O-okay...” she choked out, wiping away the tears left and right, “...I’ll try.”

“...That’s...my girl.”

“...M-mom?” Rinoa called out to her mother when her eyes were beginning to close once more and her grip on her arm was beginning to loosen. “No....not already. I...I didn’t get to...”

“Don’t worry...” her mother weakly replied. “...I haven’t gone...anywhere just yet.”

“You...promise?”

Julia opened her eyes a little. “I promise.”

Rinoa stifled the remainder of her tears and pulled up a chair nearby so she could lay her head on her mother’s bed, allowing her mother to lovingly stroke her hair.

“...Rinoa...” Julia softly began when she tucked a loose strand of her daughter’s hair behind her ear, “...before I leave you...I want you to know that you were and still are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know I don’t have much but I want to give you my silver wedding ring.”

“...You mean the one I’d always used to try and put on my necklace as a little girl?”

The older woman smiled. “The very one.”

Before she knew it, the said ring was placed right in front of her eyes. Hesitantly, Rinoa took it in her hand, clasping it tightly with her fingers. She tilted her head backwards so she could see her mother’s face once more.

“Go on..." she encouraged, "I want to see what it looks like on your necklace now.”

“...A-alright.”

Rinoa sat up straight on her chair and reached her hands behind her back to undo the clasp, methodically taking extra precautions to ensure that the ring stayed within her fingers. After a few trying moments, she had carefully slid the ring through the bare chain and caught the clasp on the first try. Moving her hand away from the chain, she turned so that her mother could see.

“...It’s beautiful, Rinoa.”

Rinoa shyly accepted the compliment but when she noticed that her mom was beginning to drift off for good, she knew it was time to add more to her thanks.

“Thank you...for everything, mom.” Rinoa told her. “I’m...going to miss you, but...I’m not going to say goodbye because...because I know that you’ll always be there, watching over me.”

After Julia gave her an appreciative nod and smile, she finally allowed herself the comfort of eternal slumber as she closed her eyes once and for all. When her mother’s last moment on this earth had passed, Rinoa got up from her chair and tucked her mother in and planted a kiss on her cheek in a final act of kindness, letting her lips linger for an extra second or two.

It was a while before Rinoa found the courage to leave the room, but when she did, she was not alone; Squall had been waiting for her on the chairs on the other side of the door. He looked a little worse for wear, but it didn’t matter. She was immensely thankful for his presence alone.

Without another thought, she walked over and sat on the spare chair beside him.

“...Did you get enough time with her?” he asked. While it seemed like an odd question, Rinoa knew where he was coming from.

“Yes...I did.” she quietly told him. “...Squall?”

“...Yeah?”

“My mom told me to thank you for getting me here on time and...I want to say thanks too. I...couldn’t have done this without you.” she sombrely said. “...Not in a million years.”

He looked downwards. “You’re.......welcome.” Then he looked up. “...I don’t know what you had the chance to say but...if you don’t have anywhere to stay...I called my parents in the parking lot and they said you could stay at the house for as long as you need.”

Rinoa honestly didn’t know what to say at this moment. All she could do was cry.