I first got the idea for this fic while reading Peptuck's "The Gunblade Saga". Final Fantasy VIII is my favourite game of the series, so obviously I would be remiss if I were to NOT pay tribute to this wonderful game. Also, seeing as how Doctor Who will be showing up on UK tv screens later this year (and the fact that I've been wracking my brain trying to think of a plotline for a Doc fic that hasn't already been used several hundred times - "Daleks vs. Cyber-Men" authors, I'm looking at you), I figured, why not throw the two genres together? And thus, "Pandora Tomorrow" was born.

Any mistakes you may or may not see are my fault, and I'm thereby invoking "creative license". So without further ado, enjoy...

Pandora Tomorrow

The heavy doors groaned inward the second the brown-haired man placed his hand upon them. As he and his party – the martial artist Zell Dincht, ex-Garden Instructor Quistis Trepe, Galbadia Garden's best sharpshooter Irvine Kinneas, former Trabia Garden student and now Ragnarok pilot Selphie Tilmitt, and the last Sorceress – well, in Squall's time anyway – and former Timber revolutionary Rinoa Heartilly. Taking point, and currently casting an eye over what seemed to be some sort of throne room, was the group's leader: SeeD Commander and gunblade specialist Squall Leonheart.

Idly, Squall was wondering what material the door was made from. Metallurgy had never been his strong point, and now he was kicking himself for not having paid attention in those classes years ago.He was pulled out of his reverie by a melodic voice intoning "SeeD...SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs!" As Squall's eyes swept the room looking for the source of the deceptively soft tones, they continued. "Swarming akross time like lokusts...You disgust me! The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive Time Kompression."

At last, the commander's eyes came to rest on the throne – where a heavily tattooed woman wearing some sort of revealing dress sat. Ultimecia, thought Squall. As he and the others looked on, she continued her rant. "Your meddling ends here, SeeD! The price for defying me shall be death beyond death. I shall send you all to a dimension beyond your imagination, where I shall rule and you shall be my slaves!" The group's only response was for those that had weapons to draw them, and for Zell to shout something along the lines of "Bring it on, bitch" while cracking his neck and getting into a battle stance.

Ultimecia rose from the throne and floated gently down to the ground, several feet away from the young SeeDs. Her feet had not quite touched the ground when Irvine loosed a blast from his Exeter. The sorceress merely raised her hand and scattered the bullets in multiple directions. The Galbadian's shot, however, was all Quistis needed to let fly her chain whip, scoring a direct hit with the attached blade on Ultimecia's cheek. Even as she glared and used some form of telepathy to grab Quistis and throw the Instructor to the ground several meters away, Zell never missed the disappearing scratch. What the hell! he thought. Selphie cut in, answering his question while shouting a warning to the others. "She's junctioned! Watch it!" said the smaller SeeD before loosing a Thundaga at the evil sorceress.

As Ultimecia turned and deflected the thunder-based magic, Squall leapt in with his Lionheart; the glowing blue blade biting into soft unprotected flesh. Or it would have, had his opponent not back-handed him telepathically sending him, like his former instructor, crashing several meters away. No sooner had her hand fallen than the skies grew dark and flaming chunks of earth began raining down upon Ultimecia with relentless ferocity.

A small part of Squall's mind was jarred awake when he fell to the floor. While the rest of his mind focused on the battle at hand and his body rose to make another run at Ultimecia, the newly-awakened part of him thought Wait...I've seen this...We won, we beat her...So why am I reliving thi-

His trail of thought was cut off as, in the midst of deflecting the Meteors, Ultimecia began sending them towards Squall and his comrades. He watched in horror as first one, then two and three flaming rocks struck Zell in the arm, chest and face. The CQC-trained mercenary went down, his three wounds smoking and his face disintegrating. No...this isn't right; Zell didn't die until after Ultimecia junctioned herself with Griever. What the he-no...please no...

His horror grew as an enraged Selphie, throwing Firagas, Blizzagas, and Thundagas at random, took two chunks of rock to the shoulder and the top of her head respectively. Squall nearly threw up in mingled grief, rage, and horror as Irvine and Quistis went down as well. As Rinoa took her fifth and final Meteor through her torso - this last ripping straight through - and fell, the gunbladier's vision of Hell had been realised. Even as the last of the flaming debris headed his way, all he could do was stand there. No...Not like this...It can't end like this...Rinoa...Quistis...Zell...Selphie...Irvine...why? As his body was pummeled repeatedly by fiery rock, the only concious thought he could make was No...No...

"NO!" Commander Squall Leonheart shot up in bed, panting and sweaty. His mind raced as his eyes opened. I'm...alive? He put his head in his hands and gave a dry, relief-filled chuckle. Get a grip, Leonheart. It was only a dream, for Hyne's sake. You won, you kicked her ass back to...wherever sorceresses go when they die. She's gone... "Speaking of sorceresses," he muttered under his breath, and turned his head to his left where his sorceress lay peacefully, apparently undisturbed by her bed-mate's sudden arousal. A smile joined the light stubble that had formed on Squall's face in the last few weeks as he thought of all the great memories he and his beloved Rinoa had shared and created.

Quietly as he could he got out of bed and padded over to his dresser. His hand rooted through his shirts as he searched methodically for his prize: a velvet turquiose box. As he opened it and inspected the contents, his smile grew slightly wider as he imagined the shock he would cause tomorrow. Briefly he considered, just as he had done countless nights before this one, just waking her up and handing her the small box. Oh no you don't. You've got everything planned out already; the last thing you want is to screw up the timing. The smile on Squall's face never wavered as he replaced the box inside his dresser and crept silently back to bed. Oh yes...she'll defintely remember tomorrow's events... And with that thought, Rinoa's Knight put his arm over her slumbering figure and proceeded to close his eyes.