Squall Leonhart and the Boy Who Lived
Disclaimer: This covers the whole story. I don't own anything Final Fantasy or Harry Potter. I just own this idea
Chapter 1: Selphie's Great Discovery
"Squall! SQUALL!" A chipper voice called down the hall. Squall looked over his shoulder to see the cheerful Zell Dincht approaching. He turned around and rolled his eyes to himself, sure that this was about hotdogs or something like that.
"Hey, Zell," he said as his friend approached. He noticed Zell was exceptionally out of breath and his face was beet red. He gave Squall a bright smile, putting his hand on his shoulder to catch his breath.
"Selphie did it," he finally announced.
"Did what?" Squall asked in his typical bored voice.
"Her great discovery..." Zell looked at him like he was nuts not to understand what he meant.
"What the hell?"
Zell looked down and shook his head (he was always very animated with his emotions like that, unlike the monotonous Squall). "For being Commander all that time, you sure can be an idiot. Selphie's been researching the possibility of other worlds outside our own since Time Compression. She's only told you about 500 times."
"Once again, what the hell? Selphie researching something besides the next school function? Since when did this happen?"
"Since after we fought Ultimecia! Geez, I already told you. After Time Compression happened, Selphie became very interested in the theory that there are other sorts of 'worlds' outside of ours."
"Like planets, you mean?" Squall questioned in an aggravated voice. He didn't like feeling stupid, so this conversation was going nowhere, fast, in his opinion.
"NO! Like... 'worlds'. Like, if we could make a portal, instead of time traveling, we would end up in an entire different dimension or something. Well, I know something like that doesn't sound like something Selphie would get interested in, but she and Dr. Odine had a talk after we came back and he told her he had found evidence of other worlds through his Sorceress research. He said it was possible that if we could travel through time and experience Time Compression, we could definitely find these other worlds and travel to and in them."
Squall looked half-lost and half-amazed. Half-lost because this sounded like a lot of B.S. to him and half-amazed because of how intelligent Zell was sounding. "Oh," was all he managed to say.
"So, the big announcement is, Selphie's done it! With Dr. Odine's and Rinoa's help, she's found one, and how to make a portal to get in!" Zell cried happily. Squall stared back at him blankly. Zell's face fell. "Don't you realize the awesomeness of it?"
"So, Selphie, Selphie, discovered another dimension, and now she, along with anyone else who wanted to go, could get in it if they wanted to?" Squall asked skeptically. "And Rinoa, along with Dr. Odine, helped her do it?"
Squall and Rinoa had "broken up" since the celebration party after they came back from battling Ultimecia. Rinoa really was still "in love" with Seifer, had forgiven him for what he'd done (as most other people seemed to do also for whatever reason that Squall couldn't understand), and had left Squall over it. Of course, Squall was still too much of a hard ass to admit that he was upset about it, that he couldn't handle it every time he saw her around Garden, and that he wanted her back.
"Yes," Zell said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "And now we're all meeting in the headmaster's office to discuss what we should do about it."
"What?" Squall half-shrieked at the prospect of being in the same room with Rinoa, and most likely Seifer, unable to keep his cool for that split second. He cleared his throat. "What? Why?"
Zell gave him a Look.
"You really are an idiot. Cid wants those of us who fought the Sorceress, ya know, us SeeDs, well, and Rinoa and Irvine too, of course, to go and be the first to investigate, since we've been in hard places before, in case whoever's on the other side is dangerous. But Selphie says when Rinoa's dreamt about it (that's how she helped with her Sorceress powers) that she says it seems to be just a school, a lot like ours, where they train them to be special or something. Stop laughing, I don't mean SPECIAL like that... like, they do... magic tricks or something. They have wands and stuff. That's what Rinoa says anyway. But you know how she can be gossipy and dramatic."
"Hmph," Squall replied. "Well, if the Headmaster wants it."
Zell sighed. "Only on orders from your superior will you listen. Geesh. Anyway, the meeting's starting right now. They sent me to come and find you. So let's go."
Squall rolled his eyes when Zell turned around and started walking towards the elevators. He had been planning to spend the rest of the afternoon in his dorm to sleep, but he had to listen to the Headmaster. Although the SeeD tests were over, they were still students in Garden until June, when there would be a formal graduation ceremony. Over the next five months, the new SeeDs were to continue school by attending "perfection" classes to, what else, perfect their abilities as the world's top mercenaries, while the rest of the school finished out the semester. Squall followed his blonde friend to the elevators and waited with him in silence until they were in and on their way up. Zell hopped from one foot to the other, like he always did when he was excited.
"Another world, man! Can you imagine what it must be like? I wonder what they'll think of us? I wonder if there are as many cute girls there as there are here," Zell grinned.
"Hmm," was Squall's one-syllable reply. "Whatever. As long as they're not hostile."
"You're such a scrooge!"
With that, the elevator doors slid open to reveal the old gang plus three (Cid, Xu, and, to Squall's dismay, Seifer were also joining the meeting). Everyone turned to look at the approaching Zell and Squall. Squall noticed a very happy Selphie bouncing in the middle next to a computer projector, beaming at what had been an equally excited Rinoa, that is until she saw Squall, and now her expression was blank as she seemed distracted with the crimson runner suddenly.
"Squall! I'm glad you decided to come!" Cid said in a jovial voice. "I assume Zell has informed you of Miss Tilmitt's great discovery?"
Squall gave a subordinate nod, with a congratulatory one to Selphie. She bounced even more, this time over to him.
"Oh, Squall! Stop being such a party pooper! You know you can't wait to see what's on the other side!" she grasped his arm, and continued bouncing, much like Zell had just been doing.
"In fact, as I was just telling the others, that's the purpose of this sort of 'introductory' meeting," Cid continued as Selphie moved back to her post next to the projector. "Selphie, Rinoa, and Dr. Odine, who unfortunately has some business in Esthar to attend to, have set up a Power Point presentation to explain their findings. Dr. Odine, with some of his most powerful technology, has even managed to take some pictures of what Rinoa has envisioned during their studies to be on the other side of the portal. They will be shown at the end of the presentation. Any questions before we begin?"
Quistis raised her hand. "Headmaster, how many of us will be traveling to the other side of the portal?"
"I will have some guidance in the matter, but I have decided to leave it up to Selphie to choose the ones to accompany her on her journey. However, Dr. Odine has strongly advised that no more then seven go. He says any more and we might make a hostile impression to those on the other side. Dr. Odine himself will not be accompanying Selphie, as he has equally important matters to take care of in Esthar. Very busy man, you know. It's wonderful that he even took the time out of his schedule to help Selphie make her discovery so fast..."
Everyone started looking bored. Quistis almost wished she hadn't said anything. "Well, Cid, I think its time to start the show!" Selphie broke the silence, bubbling with happiness. "Zell, get the lights, please. Rinoa, if you don't mind controlling the computer..."
Zell flicked the light switch so that it was relatively dark in the room, and Rinoa scurried behind Cid's desk, where a laptop had been placed. She clicked a few times and said, "Ready, Selphie."
"Woo-hoo! Okay, everyone! Make sure you pay attention. This whole thing's a little confusing."
Suddenly, cheery music started playing and an image appeared on a white pull-down screen that was hardly used in the Headmaster's office. "Garden's Greatest Achievement" was the presentation's title, and there was a clip art picture of a clock in the lower right hand corner of the screen.
"Deciding to start this project was a difficult task, despite what many of you may think," Selphie started saying, and Squall realized she was reading from an index card. Rinoa clicked and the image changed to that of Dr. Odine, who was very smiley in a close up. "Dr. Odine was the first to introduce me to the possibility of other worlds besides our own when he was examining me upon our arrival back to Garden. I had asked him how it was possible that we had, in fact, time traveled. He said that the universe is comprised of many different dimensions, time and space included, and that our reality can be very different or very similar to another dimension's reality. He told me that, through his many experiments with Sorceresses like Rinoa, he had managed to prove that these other dimensions do exist, and that with the right magic, we can access them, much like how Ultimecia used powerful magic to achieve Time Compression. He said it was a complex combination of both our knowledge of magical powers and science, and was very excited when I said I was interested in learning more. Instead of inviting me to just go to his lab and have him show me his own progress, we both agreed it would be best for me to continue the project on my own account, with his aid, of course. Next, please, Rin."
Rinoa clicked again and a picture of herself appeared, looking very surprised that someone was taking a picture of her as she was getting hooked up to some sort of machine. Squall figured that the camera man was probably Selphie, and that she had purposely caught Rinoa off guard during one of their sessions. He noticed Selphie suppressing a giggle and Rinoa turning slightly pink.
"Dr. Odine suggested we use Rinoa as our Sorceress magic provider because we are friends and there would be less hassle in conducting the experiments as we would all be comfortable with each other. Rinoa was very excited also when I told her about the project, and very eager to help. In her own words, she said she wanted to give Sorceresses a better name and decided that taking part in such an important experiment could help that. So Dr. Odine showed her the equipment we would be using and explained to her exactly how she could help us, and before we knew it, our progress was reaching heights we never expected in such a short time. Dr. Odine says its because of Rinoa's youth that we were able to extract so much information so quickly about the one dimension we were focusing on in particular." She gave a nod to Rinoa. Another click, and a picture of what looked like notes and diagrams appeared. Squall was falling asleep, even with that bouncy music playing in the background.
"Dr. Odine had found this certain dimension, Dimension 12 he called it, the most interesting because it was also the one that gave the most information about itself. Apparently, in Dimension 12, the inhabitants also use magic like we do. This explains why we are able to study it more then other dimensions because of the close ties we share. With Rinoa's powers, we were able to actually produce images of Dimension 12."
Click. This time, people in the room gasped. On the screen was a fuzzy picture of what seemed to be a large room, with stars on the ceiling and hundreds of people eating at four long rows of tables. There also seemed to be a table on a higher platform facing the tables, with a few people dining up there.
"We call this the 'cafeteria' image. Clearly, Dimension 12's inhabitants are in some sort of school like we are, as we can explain through other images. In this picture, we believe that they are sharing in some sort of feast, and that the people at the platform table must be some of their teachers."
Click. This time there was a picture of people flying on broomsticks, with balls flying around them. Some were wearing red robes. Others were wearing green. "We call this the 'entertainment' image. It seems by this and other pictures we have obtained, this is some sort of game the inhabitants of Dimension 12 enjoy playing. However, it does seem pretty violent. We have images of some people hitting others in different colored robes with bats. This is one of the many things we are eager to learn more about on our journey to Dimension 12. However, it is also something we are worried will deter our efforts to make peace and learn about their world, because we're not quite sure yet why the people are being beaten."
After a few more pictures, including one of a woman turning into a cat, everyone seemed confused but the excitement level in the room definitely rose. With a final photoshopped picture of Rinoa and Selphie standing on either side of a Castle-like building, Selphie said, "That concludes our presentation. We hope you learned more about our project. Any questions?"
"Yeah, who's going?" Zell asked.
"Well," Selphie grinned. "Who else? Me, Rinoa, you, Irvy, Quisty, Squall, and... Seifer."
Seifer gave her a quick nod with a smug smile.
"I know that we can all handle anything that comes at us, and that you will all help me, because you're my best friends!" Selphie continued, beaming at everyone. "Dr. Odine has seen my list of those I have selected and approved. He has also assigned each of you a job and put together special 'care packages' for each person. He wants to remind you guys that we're not only going to have fun but also learn more about Dimension 12. But, I say, we'll have lots of fun! I know it! Please tell me you'll all go?"
No one dissented. "Awesome!" Selphie exclaimed. She started reading from the index cards again. "Each of your care packages is labeled with your name up here on the Headmaster's desk. Please take it and look through it tonight to reconsider if you are up to this extremely important task. We wish to remind you that although it will be possible to access the portal back to our world easily, by agreeing to accompany me on this journey you are binding yourself in a legal contract with me as the project's leader, and that only I can permit you to return home. Please take everything into consideration. You are free to go."
Selphie looked up from her index cards. "Oh, guys! I can't wait! We're leaving tomorrow, by the way!"
"What?" most of them said at once.
"We're not going to waste any time. Dr. Odine says it's important for us to leave immediately, as we don't know how much time we're going to need for our studies and school ends in five months. So, pack quick!"
Xu suddenly coughed. "Just to make a few official announcements from SeeD, all of your memberships will remain intact and you are exempt from any classes you would normally take. Even you, Seifer."
Seifer scoffed. "At least I'll be going, Xu. I don't see you getting a 'care package'..."
Selphie's smile was fading. She looked as though, given her full choice, she would much rather take Xu then Seifer, but Rinoa's heart-shaped eyes were enough to tell Squall who had had their say in the matter. Squall made his way to the desk, picked up his own package, and proceeded to the elevator.
"Where're you going, Squall?" Selphie asked, rushing up to him.
"You said we were free to go. So I'm going. I'll talk to all of you tomorrow."
He'd had enough of Rinoa and Seifer. Yes, he was a little excited to go with Selphie, but not enough to hang around in that room any longer. He headed back to his dorm room, collapsing on his bed to take his long-awaited nap, half-wondering where the events of tomorrow would take him and his comrades...
