All characters, places, names, and world within this story are copyright SquareEnix and owned by Square. This work of fiction is based upon the story of Final Fantasy VIII and is not created for profit.
Why Bifrost? Well, in Norse Mythology, Bifrost was the name of the bridge the connected to realm of the gods to the realm of Earth. Since this story focuses on the realm of the GFs and the physical realm, I thought the metaphor quite appropriate.
Prologue:
Four years ago, we entered the Ultimecia's Castle in the time compressed world and defeated her once and for all. In the moment proceeding her death, I found myself returned to the orphanage of my past, face to face against my former matron, Edea, this time, as a seventeen year old man.
Not long after my arrival, Ultimecia herself arrived, decrepit and aching to let go of her sorceress powers so that she may die in peace. Edea, who had been a sorceress since childhood, took on her powers, and let her die. I spoke to her of Garden and SeeD, not realizing that they did not yet exist, and that I had just given her the idea of creating them.
I was jettisoned than, through time and space to a vast emptiness. I walked distances in darkness and silence, distances no man should be condemned to travel in loneliness. Eerie silence… such that I heard no wind, no sea, no leaves, nor the sounds of my own footsteps or clinking metal of my belts. My throat was so dry, I could not speak, though I tried wholeheartedly, over and over to call out her name...nothing. I was reduced to a shadow of a man, impotent and placated by the undeniably powerful force of time-space. I left the world behind; eyes rolled slowly backwards into my head, when I could no longer hold them open. I fell backwards to the ground, but I didn't feel a firmness of earth. I felt empty, cold and alone…
Than in the deepest depths of my mind, I heard a whisper of a scream 'Squall'. It was so far away, the voice. Haunting, distant, taunting, and frightening, it faded in and out, before sounding off again. 'Squall, are you here?' Closer, the voice was nearing closer to me. It was more defined, less haunting and more beautiful, and I felt as though I had heard this voice somewhere before.
I lay there on the ground, eyes still closed, and listened to the beautiful voice, the first sound I have heard in a very long time. I remembered...people from before this place, this moment. People who stood by me before, helped me when I needed to be helped most. Features of there beings flashed before me, spikey blond hair, cowboy hat, facial tattoo, long blonde hair, pretty caramel highlights in long dark hair. Was this the voice, one of these people called me now?
It was woman's voice? I think it was. It's been so long since I've heard a woman's voice, or a man's. My voice, what did my voice sound like?
'Squall, I need you to come. I'll be waiting here, for you…'
The voice, its beauty grew with each passing moment. It was the voice of an angel, let alone man or woman. An angel...more flashes in my mind...baby blue clothing, white angel wings...brown hair…caramel…
The voice was that of this woman. The brunette in the blue outfit. How pretty she looked now in my mind. She needs me to come to her. She's waiting.
I came back from that place, that emptiness and found my angel before me, cradling me in her arms. Her name is Rinoa, and I am very proud to now call her my wife. We got married soon after the celebration at Garden. We've been very busy ever since.
As for myself, I took over as commander of Balamb Garden, for a few years, but now Cid and I let Xu run most things there, and its only a title to me. For quite some months, my attention has been focused on guardian forces. We learned quite a bit about guardian forces after Ultimecia's defeat.
It was common knowledge that the sorceress' powers were directly descended from the Great Hyne. When Hyne sacrificed her body to create the universe, she split her soul into several pieces. One such piece went to the first sorceress, and with the spirit of Hyne in her, this woman was able to call up forces of magic from the spiritual realm to aid her. Before her death, the sorceress passed her powers onto others, one she had deemed worthy of Hyne's gift.
With the last sorceress of time, Ultimecia, defeated, people assumed that there would never be another again. This comforted most people, but there were others, stirred by Dr. Odine's research into the first sorceress that wondered if another threat may yet come.
Dr. Odine's laboratory in Esthar researched the history of the sorceress, and found that Hyne had only bequeathed a fraction of Her power the first. Dr. Odine posited that her other powers were used to create the guardian forces. This is why sorceress's need not junction a guardian force in order to use magic, they have Hyne's power directly imbued within their souls. Meanwhile, a human must junction a guardian force, a remnant of Hyne's power to himself, forming a temporary bond that allows the man to master magic, and the guardian to manifest itself on the physical realm. You see, what Dr. Odine realized is that Hyne's true power was simultaneous existence in both the physical and spiritual realms. When She sacrificed her physical form to make the physical universe, only the soul was left over.
The guardian forces were part of Her soul, and therefore could not cross into the physical realm alone, without a host.
The effect of the guardian force is now well-documented. Long term use will affect the memories of the user, epsecially those of early childhood. Having experienced it ourselves, we know it better than anyone. It was Dr. Odine that proposed research into preventing memory loss from guardian force junctioning.
In his studies, Dr. Odine found that guardian forces specifically access the hippocampus of the brain, the place of memory. He theorized that because guardian forces have never known 'realness' and 'being' until their first junctioning that calls them into our world, they crave physical existence wholeheartedly. A number of experiments with junctioned soldiers proved his theories correct. More troublesome, Dr. Odine found that a guardian force which is not junctioned for a very long time reverts back to its instincts, and lives to attain memeories and experiences of existence. For the first time, the real dangers of guardian forces were understood beyond their ability to diminish memory.
With Dr. Odine's inventions, we can now use guardian forces that have been called upon regularly without regard for memory loss, however the continual struggle to track down and control these rogue guardian forces before discovered and haphazardly junctioned by a civilian is paramount.
That's where we come in, team Bifrost, we track down guardian forces that have never been to our realm, or those that have junctioned to unsuspecting victims and taken over their bodies. Rinny act's as our foreign diplomat, Quistis and Zell are our researchers, Irvine is in charge of weapons and supplies, and Selphie is our pilot on the Ragnarok. We put this little expedition together a few months ago and so far our progress has been inspirational.
Afraid I can't write much longer, we have to dock at Fisherman's Horizon soon and I need to get ready to descend with Rin.
Keep in touch, Cid.