Part 93: Part Ninety-Three: "Eyes on Me"

Part Ninety-Three: "Eyes on Me"


Rinoa is very excited to be on the bridge of what might be the only spaceship in the world.


Squall's just annoyed that he'll have to learn the controls.


While he's thinking about what a hassle this is gonna be, the console starts beeping.



Turning the sound up, this message comes through. I can only imagine they've been coming into work at the airstation, Monday to Friday, for the last 17 years, to broadcast this.

: (Its...)
Esthar Airstation: Ragnarok, do you read? Ragnarok, do you read!?


Well, if Adel's on the Pandora, it makes sense that the interference would be gone. That's probably gonna take some adjusting to back home.


I wonder if they know the entire crew was killed by colour-coded aliens.


Rinoa is very happy to hear that they're not drifting aimlessly in space any more, and takes the initiative on that hug this time.



Great exchange. I love the "right?" at the end, but I guess it'd be hard to check if the thing had come down.

: Yeah but, I have no idea where we are.
Esthar Airstation: Roger that! We can track you from here.
: (We can go home...?)

And there we go. Guess the ship really did work out better than dying in space.


On the planet, they're very excited about getting through to the ship after so long. It's a neat little contrast to the exhausted-but-relieved tone of Squall and Rinoa.

: Can we make it back?
Esthar Airstation: Leave it to us! You should have enough fuel.



Another neat thing in these shots is that you can see the moon moving across the front window. At least there's a view.

: How do I enter the data?
Esthar Airstation: No sweat. We'll take this step by step. Are you in the pilot seat?


Well, you're not in any of them, so it's an easy answer.

Esthar Airstation: It's the one on the right. Go sit there.


Hopefully we don't crash this one into anything.

Esthar Airstation: See the touch panel in front of you?


Your eyes aren't even open, you liar!

Esthar Airstation: The rest is easy. Just enter the following data.
: Go ahead.
Esthar Airstation: WJHEIE/...
: Entered.
Esthar Airstation: Then... 2872/HD-IEU
: Entered.
Esthar Airstation: No errors?


He doesn't even check, he's just annoyed that someone would question his data-entry skills.

And that's how Squall crashed the Ragnarok directly into the sun.



Esthar Airstation: Turn off the gravity generator. This should save some fuel. Use the same touch panel to turn it off.
: Alright.



: Done.
Esthar Airstation: Congratulations. You're home free, Ragnarok.

Just after they say this, the music changes:



This is the game's main theme, "Eyes on Me," with Faye Wong on vocals. Within the fiction, this is the song that Rinoa's mother wrote about Laguna after he shipped out to Centra. Lyrically, the song is about Julia and Laguna, but thematically it also works as the romantic theme for Squall and Rinoa. The melody is also used in several other places. The most notable is in "Waltz for the Moon," the song that plays during Squall and Rinoa's first dance at the SeeD ball. It's also used in "Julia," the song that Julia plays during the first Laguna sequence. The slow dance music that you can set up for the FH concert also uses the melody.

Esthar Airstation: And... There's one more thing we need to tell you.

Ah Christ, what is it now?


Oh, it's actually something good. For once.

: Thanks.

Well, that's it. Now we're just waiting.


She should probably sit down for this.



: Hey!?

Somehow, she didn't lose her footing until just now.




Instead of making her struggle with the zero-G, Squall gives her a hand.


Probably a good idea.


Hey, no!


This isn't what he said to do!

: Hopefully. Now go sit down.
: Just a little longer.


As he says this, he grabs her hand. He doesn't move it, though, he just decided to hold her hand.

: You don't like this, Squall?


This scene is designed to match up with the music, so the dialogue all auto-scrolls and this line only shows up very briefly.

: How about when you were little?


Kind of a shitty question to ask an orphan.

: I can't remember anything about my parents...



: Ellone was there to hold my hand.
: Made you feel safe and secure?


I don't know that he's ever really considered that before.


And, of course, considering it now just leads him back to the old Ellone problem.

: I'm afraid...


He looks very sad in this shot. We've seen him thinking about this more and more, and it's not the first time they've discussed it, but it just seems to have really worn him down.

: You were afraid of losing us? Is that why you kept your distance?
: I was always alone...

This isn't strictly true, but we know it's definitely how he felt.

: Squall...


She hugs him a little tighter here. It's sweet.

: You've missed out on so much.
: ...Maybe.
: Definitely.

This is a very sweet scene, and it's even got that nice little bit of banter. This is one of my favourite scenes in the whole game, honestly.



: I liked having my mom hold me. My dad, too, back when we got along.


Another Squall classic.




: Comfort and happiness...


I like that she mentions this. Squall definitely has some frustrating idiosyncracies.


And here we are, referring back to that first scene with Quistis in the hallway again.



There she goes again with this "just a little longer" line.

: (You'll be safer in your seat.)
: We're gonna make it home, right?
: We can only hope.

And now we're back on this.


This bit is new, though.

: ...Maybe.



: Those were your words, Rinoa.

It's nice of him to be reassuring, but he doesn't quite get what she's going for here.


QED.

: We'll figure out what to do once we get back.



At this point, she moves over to her own seat. She looks more serious, too.



: Angry?

The fact that he's either forgotten or ignored Rinoa's recent crimes really shows how much tunnel vision Squall's got going on right now.


But, before she can elaborate...

: This is the Ragnarok.
Esthar Airstation: We have some questions for you.



Esthar Airstation: We have a good idea of what happened.

I suppose that explains why they decided to cut in just now. If you look at the right side of that screen, you can also see Rinoa doing the classic move of looking away from a problem.


This line confused me the first time I saw it, since they were on Lunar Base earlier. What they mean is Lunar Base personnel.

Esthar Airstation: How many of you are there?
: Just two.


Rinoa turns to look at him here, waiting to see what he'll say.

: Squall. I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden.
Esthar Airstation: And the other?


He pauses a little before he identifies her. I figure that's about when he figured out why everyone will be angry with her.


And then we find this out, totally unceremoniously.


There are a couple of things that hint at this before we find out here. First, Ultimecia possesses Rinoa in space - but Edea suggests that Ultimecia possesses sorceresses, not just people. Second, there's the Angel Wing Limit being added to her repertoire.


Anyway, this is the thing she was really referring to when she said they wouldn't be able to be together.



Squall is too surprised to answer the radio call.

: (Rinoa...)


Dude, could you wait for, like, one minute?

: Nobody would want me around anymore...


The airstation decides they indeed cannot wait for one minute.


Not really a surprise, considering how Esthar has historically treated sorceresses.

Esthar Airstation: Squall, do you copy? Is the sorceress listening, too?

She has a name.



There's not a lot he can do right now, but he at least goes over to hold her hand.

: I don't wanna go back.


Then, just before we fade out, Squall finally gives her that hug.


It fades out, and then this text cuts in. We can't see what's going on, but it's not in parentheses, so I figure it's not just Squall's thoughts.



The way I read it, this is Squall finally admitting his feelings to Rinoa out loud.