VIII: Lionheart

by Gripsocks

An interpritation of FFVIII as a movie Saga. Released in 4 parts. Lionheart is based on the first disc of the FFVIII Playstation Game. Characters and Story are Copyright of Square.

VIII: Lionheart

SeeD theme begins over production logo and scene begins with a thundery night, Balamb is lit up, and as we zoom over it, a voice over by Quistis explains that Balamb is mercenary school, teaching students to become top class missionaries called SeeD's. It goes onto explain that it teaches its students tactical experience as it zooms over the glass roof of the training area, in it, students cast spells and fight with weapons. And then how it offers them a home to those who have none, whilst panning through the dormitory section. And finally, the Headmasters room as he looks down at a contract over the table, the narration explaining SeeD's are dispatched on contract. The voice over ends with dark times lying ahead. Zooming out of the window and into the storm outside, the music fades to a serious tone, down in the rockery over the hills; we hear the echo of two people fighting. We then see two students fighting, the one wearing a trench coat wins and the long haired falls to the ground. They are clearly students, having an intense gun blade battle. Suddenly the victor raises his sword, and brings it down onto his opponents face. A rumbling is heard as through the sky grows lighter and the Griever symbol becomes visible as the sun dazzles through the dark clouds. As the camera pan's we see a clear sky and a very large green-looking moon. Panning down onto the ocean, we see its reflection, and then large ships break across it in a line.

Attack on Dollet:

Inside the dark ship, Zell asks to see the gunblade, Xu explains the objective and Quistis states Seifer team leader, he then proceeds to order Squall to check the lookout. Above, re-enacting the sequence in the game, Squall watches the Dollet Bay be attacked by Galbadian forces, and then the SeeD ship avoids gunfire and breaks through the barrier onto the beach.

Seifer Leaves before them and Squall and Zell struggle to see him through the blitz. They lose him when they enter the town and encounter the Galbadian soldiers. Battling them in a gunblade fight and jujitsu. They enter a pub which is abnormally calm and unrattled by the events. However when the barman points casually up above we see a soldier fall down onto the pool table unconscious and another collapse against the top of the stairs with a gun blade in him. Seifer comes down to collect it and his team mates follow him outside. Although he grumbles they save his life when two soldiers jump from the walkway above but he instead warns them not to take his experience. They arrive at their post and notice it is eerily silent and realize that the fight is at the communication tower. Meanwhile on the tower, Biggs and Wedge are arguing over how to fix the satellite to the point where Biggs is shocked which disturbs a monsters nest, Elvoret.

Seifer is becoming distraught at the lack of action and leaves his team to get to the communication tower, reluctantly, they follow. Biggs is now frantically trying to fix the tower, ignoring the shocks he is getting, behind him; Wedge is pathetically trying to beat off the monster.

Quistis gets word from Dollet capital that agreements have been made with Galbadia and the attack is being called off, Xu orders all positions to retreat, however, Seifer, who disposed of his communicator which is now being barked at by a dog, does not answer. Xu orders a messenger to find them.

Meanwhile up by the tower, Seifer aggressively advances in, promising to tell Squall about his romantic dream. Squall and Zell are hesitant, but are found by Selphie who explains that she needs to tell their captain that a retreat has been called. They enter the tower and take the lift, Selphie begins arguing with Zell humorously but Squall quietens them.

At the top of the tower, Biggs manages to fix the satellite and calls for Wedges assistance, however when he looks for him, he encounters Seifer, who maliciously forces him to the edge, but before he can strike him Squall and co arrive. Just then, the satellite sets up. Selphie explains the retreat with a time limit and he leaves, abandoning his team again. Before they can use the lift Wedge arrives and prepares to fight them, the three back away, to the benefit of Wedge who thinks they are scared of him, but realizes too late that Elvoret is behind him. Squall defends them with GF Shiva whilst Selphie defeats Wedge with her Nun chucks as Zell kicks open the lift doors and forces him into it with the others and Squall uses his gunblade to dethatch the lift supports. Unfreezing himself from Shiva's attack, Biggs quickly access's a control terminal, activating the defence system. Elvoret, who has also unfrozen, prepares to kill Biggs but is suddenly killed by X-ATM092 which proceeds to jump off the tower.

Halfway across the bridge, the spider machine pursues them, blocking them off so they have to turn back. Distracting it with lightning, Squall splits from them, luring it away. They make it to the Square and find the dog with the communicator in his mouth but it won't give it to them. The spider arrives again and they flee, the dog offers the communicator to it and it continues its pursuit. Running under the pub walkway, Squall, who is atop it, jumps from it and onto its back, embedding the gunblade into it. He manages to hold on during the chaos as it collides through several buildings and scrapes the top of an archway before making it to the beach where Squall fires his gunblade, disabling the monster for a few seconds, Squall runs towards his ship, but the spider awakens and pursues him closely. As it is about to make its kill Quistis suddenly shoots it down from the turret and Squall makes it on board. The last we see of it is it exploding in its struggle as the ship door closes.

The Garden Dance:

The scene begins in the headmaster's room as he congratulates Squall, Zell and Selphie who have passed the exam. Quistis also gives her personal congratulations to Squall and prepare to leave with them but is called back by Cid. Squall and the others arrive in the lobby where the other candidates, apart from Seifer applaud.

Night time at the Garden, fireworks are seen exploding in the sky, the celebration is well underway but Squall is standing alone, however he is interrupted by Zell who tries to show friendship with him but is blown off once again, he leaves however when he hears Selphie calling him to sign up for the festival. That is when Squall looks up to see the back of a girl in a white dress, but as she begins to turn around Selphie appears in his eyesight, pestering him to join the festival, to which Squall goes outside onto the balcony where Quistis joins him. She explains she was excused from her position because of Seifer's failure, deemed to young to be an instructor; she attempts to express her feelings to Squall but is coldly rebuffed. Leaving, Squall see's a shooting star and looks onto the dance floor to once again spot the girl he saw before; she introduces herself as Rinoa and charms as well as forces him to dance with her. Quistis watches this looking hurt. Although bad at first, he reveals he is a talented dancer and after they finish staring at the fireworks however, she moves towards him but in fact she is moving towards headmaster Cid.

Stunned, however, he is suddenly confronted by Seifer, bringing the celebration to a halt as Raijin and Fujin watch from afar. He tries to make Squall fight him as compensation for making him fail the exam, and strikes Zell when he attempts to intervene. However Xu, Quistis and Cid put Seifer in his place, sending him to the detention centre. He only leaves when he makes eye contact with Rinoa.

Squall leaves as well, dismissing Quistis when she attempts to follow him whilst Selphie helps Zell up. Walking to his dorm, he spots the glow of the fire cavern out in the wilderness and decides to attain Ifrit. Now back in his own clothes he makes his way out of the entrance, not realising he has been spotted by Raijin and Fujin.

Stormy Clouds gather over the sky, and rain begins to drop but the Garden is protected by magic stopping the rain from touching it, people watch in fascination, apart from Quistis, who seems upset and decides to find Squall. Outside in the darkness, Squall spots the flames of the fire cavern. Meanwhile, in Cid's office, Rinoa talks with the headmaster about her worries about Galbadia and her activist group and that she was advised to get the help of SeeD to help them kidnap the president. Although hesitant at first, he explains that he has three SeeD candidates perfect for the job. Quistis arrives at Squall's dorm room and knocks at the door. She begins to try and persuade Squall to come out and suddenly realizes his door is open. Up above, Cid reads the contract that Rinoa hands him and suddenly notices the extract about the Sorceress that is currently manipulating Galbadia. As Quistis looks around Squalls room, she begins to leave when she notices his gunblade case ajar and slowly opens it to find that it is gone.

Inside the fire Cavern, Squall walks to the edge to see Ifrit emerge and prepare to attack him, in which he casts Shiva and weakens the beats into and icy state upon which Squall locks his gunblade and aims it at ifrit, who lets out a roar. Walking back along the hallway, Quisits hears this and looks down into dance area to notice that Seifer is not with Raijin and Fujin. She believes that Seifer has disobeyed orders and is at the fire cavern and makes her way there.

Escaping the fire cavern, Squall stumbles into the rain and takes one last look at the cavern before turning around to see Seifer standing alone on the rocky path. He begins to taunt Squall, and then challenges him, but he is dismissed and in anger attacks him anyway and uses his own magic to disarm Squall and the physically beats him. Squall uses magic to reflect Seifer away but then is hit with his gunblade. Surrendering, Seifer knocks him into a rocky crevice and throws Squalls gunblade down there as well before he jumps into it himself. At the Garden, Quistis makes her way to the garage only to realise that the training area is closed off and the only reason for Squall to take his gunblade is to go the fire cavern as well. Back in the office, Cid signs the contract with Rinoa and they shake on it, he offers to give her a dorm room for the night but she explains she has a train waiting for her at Balamb; he then inquires to whom told her about SeeD.

Seifer prepares himself for a gunblade battle atop the rocky cliff side, Squall, knowing he has no other choice takes up his gunblade from the ground and rushes into battle. Quistis makes her way in the SeeD jeep out of the entrance gates and into the rain. Squall and Seifer are now locked in battle, and as it gets more violent, their blades parry and Seifer fires a bullet, the blast causing a small avalanche. Squall jumps onto higher ground and looks into the sea below to see Seifer clinging onto the side; Squall pulls him up but is back attacked and forced to the ground. As the fight continues, Seifer climbs up a large rock face and suddenly realises he's cornered. Fighting dirty, he strikes Squall with fire magic sending him tumbling down onto a lower platform. Dazed, Seifer stands above him and lifts his gunblade for a strike, not before he glimpses Quistis calling from up above. Knowing she cannot do anything, she watches Seifer strike Squall across the face, angry, with a large blooded wound, Squall angrily strikes back striking Seifer across the face as well.

Running through the damp streets of Balamb, Rinoa arrives at the station and meets a man called Zone; she shows him the contract and the two board the train. It sets off and disappears down the tunnel.

Laguna: First Dream.

Awaking in the ward room, Squall encounters another mysterious woman who seems to know him. The doctor checks in on him and calls Quistis to come and collect him. When the two are walking back she tries to bond with him but to no avail, she takes him to Cid's office, who tells him about the new mission. Squall accepts and asks who his team mates are.

He is unfortunate to find out he has been teamed with Zell and Selphie. The three are now at the train station and Zell and Selphie are arguing again, he is about to say something but the train cuts him off and they get on board. As the train goes underground. Squall is sitting in the train apartment when Zell starts teaching him about Timber. Although trying to ignore Zell at first, he realises he's stopped, but then see's that Zell's mouth is still moving. Becoming concerned, Selphie wanders in feeling sick and falls unconscious to the floor, Zell then falls off his seat unconscious. Squall then struggles to stand but manages to look at his reflection, tree's start to appear in it and he slowly begins to transform in appearance to a different man. We then see the same man and two other men running frantically through some woodland. And suddenly a small stream is seen.

The man, Laguna, is being pressured by his friends to admit they are lost, but to a useless avail. He denies these claims cheerfully and leads them straight into a small fiend but decides to leave it, except Laguna kicks it and brings out a ton of larger fiends. Pursued through the jungle, Kiros jumps onto Wards back and slices a large tree branch; Laguna leaps over this and sets it alight with his flame thrower. Believing they have cut off the horde, an unexpected beast jumps the barrier and lands on Laguna who puts several shot through it. However an even larger one then jumps over but is pinned to the ground by Wards weapon before it lands on Laguna. The fiends break through however and Kiros cuts a path through the woods whilst Ward follows in his wake dragging Laguna on the ground by his arm, shooting the advancing fiends down. When one grabs Laguna's leg, Ward throws him over them and into open ground. Dazed, Laguna gets up and is shocked by the vehicle in front believing it a large fiend, relieved that it isn't, he is shocked again when Wards anchor embeds itself near to Laguna's head, as he also believed the truck a fiend.

Now realising it's their own truck they drive through the woods and encounter a mother fiend way in front. Ward and Kiros, not wanting to pay for any damages to the vehicle, suggest they find another way, but Laguna insists no harm will come to it and races at the fiend. Colliding into it with their screams as it attempts to crush them. Its roar is heard through the top of the woods.

Arriving in a new location, some galbadian soldiers are shocked to see a heavily battered truck arrive at last, and snigger at Laguna as he steps out. He is confronted by General Caraway, commander of the Galbadian army, who yells at him for destruction of galbadian property. But Laguna escapes, and joins the others at his favourite bar. We are introduced to Deling City, the galbadian capital.

Laguna is egged on by his friends to finally talk to the piano player of the place, Julia. He tries but gets cramp; however after she has finished playing she comes over to Laguna to talk, inviting him to her room. Up there, Laguna bonds with her, telling each other their dreams. Laguna eventually falls asleep and Julia watches him, the beautiful Deling capital can be seen from her window.

The Timber Mission:

Squall suddenly awakens to see a strange Hobo looking down at him. Startled, the tramp asks the secret question and Squall gives him the answers. He tells Squall to get the others who are suddenly stirring to the confused sight of their visitor. He pulls the emergency stop and the train screeches to a halt. The Driver confused, checks the open door he finds and can't see anyone outside. The train drives off, revealing the four of them pressed to the floor of the track. Getting up, a different train suddenly emerges from a separate line and stops right in font of them. The Timber Owls train arrives with its commander Zone, who invites them on board and throws an ex-rated magazine to the Hobo who grins and thanks Zone before walking off. He explains the situation and calls for Squall to collect Rinoa. Reluctantly, he goes, and Squall is surprised to see she is the girl whom he danced with. However, she is more concerned if Seifer is aboard, and is downhearted to find he is not. A meeting is held in the room below, the demonstration shows that they are going to uncouple the president's car and attach it to theirs whilst on his way to timber and then they will confront him.

The train goes round a bend, comes to a halt at a siding and they wait for the presidents train. Suddenly, the signals indicate its arrival and they restart the train. Aboard the president's train, Biggs and Wedge are aboard and the latter must check on the president, who becomes irate and makes threats towards Wedge's status. Biggs is patrolling the corridors, and sends Wedge back to check on the president to his own disappointment. Unknown to them, behind their train, further down the track, Squall, Rinoa and co are atop their train and ready to run alongside them. They get close and Squall jumps on. Holding on against the wind, he regains his footing but they go under a tunnel and once out, Squall has disappeared. Hanging onto the side of the train, he is in danger of being visible to the guards and tries to pull himself up. Biggs almost see's him, but is distracted by Wedge. Pulling himself up, he is joined by Zell who attaches the zip wire around him. They scout along the train and lower Squall by the wire onto the side of the train, he unlocks the security code and zips up before the guards see him. Zone gives Rinoa heads up that they are coming to switch on the track. She warns Squall whilst he is dangling over the next lock. Wedge suddenly opens the blinds and Squall is forced to drop to the level of the tracks. Barely scraping the floor, Wedge notices the wire but can't see what's down there; he decides to call it in. Squall, his head almost grinding into the speeding ground, levels with the window and breaks through, strangling Wedge and pulling him out over window with him. He forces Wedge to finish the security lock crack under the threat that he will drop him. Doing so, Squall kicks him back into the car and pulls himself up onto the roof. A chase begins along it with the soldiers running to the presidents car on the interior, whilst the SeeD's make their way along the roof. Wedge and Biggs reach the doors but realize the cars have separated, they see Squall and Zell leap from above onto the car though. The signals change and the president's car goes onto a different track followed by the Owl train which connects with it, allowing the others to pass through.

Rinoa, guarded by Selphie, goes through to the president; however he is still sat down. At first he doesn't reply to her, and stays seated, however, as she gets closer, he suddenly charges at her but is knocked to the ground by Selphie. It begins to shred its appearance and morph as they realize too late it was a fake president. A zombie like creature then scouts the ceiling whilst Rinoa shoots her weapon into its face. Unharmed by this, the creature drops in front of them and Selphie attacks it, evading its attacks and strangling it, however it simply throws her against the wall, unconscious. Choking Rinoa, it lets out a death rattle. Above however, Squall suddenly cuts open the roof with his gun blade to see down. Zell casts fire on it, angering it, releasing her, it jumps at him. Flying out of the roof, it pins Zell down and attempts to kill him, evading his attacks; Zell skilfully beats the monster in many places, until he does a fly kick and is sent flying to the other end of the train, smashing through the roof in fact of the Owl car. Angelo, Rinoa's dog, licks his face to wake him up. Up above, Squall uses his gunblade to sever the limbs of the fiend but they grow back. He uses his GF Quezacotl to electrocute and stun it. The GF does more damage and forces the monster to the edge and disappears whilst it still swots at it, tumbling over the edge and under the train. Everyone hears it go under but it doesn't come out the other end. Bumps begin to appear and advance back towards the president's car. Bursting through the floor, the torn up zombie attempts to drag Rinoa by the legs onto the rails with it. Almost dragged in, Squall leaps down and embeds his gunblade into it, releasing her. Now unconscious, Squall tries to revive her but the zombie returns, disarming Squall and holding Rinoa hostage. It makes several wounds in her arm, Squall runs to give her a phoenix down before she is killed, but suddenly Selphie revives and bumps into him. The phoenix down instead hits the monster but luckily wounds it. Dropping Rinoa, Squall retrieves her and the they get leave the car. Getting back to the others, Watts attempts to heal Rinoa, and she begins to come to, Zone detaches the car, explaining that they will have to switch rails. Suddenly, the monster breaks through but Zone sacrifices himself for the faction and blocks it off. As it drags him into the train, their track switches and they head back to Timber, whilst the presidents car is detonated by Zone, killing him and the monster by blowing the train off the track.

The Presidents message:

Speeding the train up, news is heard that Galbadian soldiers have stormed Timber and are going to cut off the back entrance so they can stop the train from getting in. Now at a fast pace, the train goes into the underground system and is about to emerge into Timber when the laser barrier is activated. Everyone ducks as the barrier tears the train up. Two of the Timber owl members are killed by them, including the train driver. Squall manages to crawl his way through the chaos to the steering seat. Outside soldiers fire shots at the train but to no avail at stopping it. Squall puts the breaks on just in time, breaking through the second wall and into a public area. The train stops before a small child, who investigates the wreckage just as the galbadians arrive. They find it empty and the child has disappeared.

They go into hiding at the girls house, home of Big Momma, there they plan there next move, sneaking through Galbadia to the radio station, here they find out from the broadcaster that a signal is being put out worldwide from the TV station up above, using the satellite in Dollet. Squall and co decide to leave whilst they are not involved but Rinoa reveals to them a contract which states they must attend to the mission until Sorceress Edea is out of power. They follow commands and make their way through a pub to get to the emergency stairs of the TV station. Half way up a message goes out however from the president, explaining he will vanquish with the help of his country the true aggressors once he's seeked them out. Squall tries to reason with Rinoa, however she decides that she will go alone if so. Zell then tries to convince Squall when suddenly the President comes back on air, only to be taken hostage by Seifer.

Rushing to the TV station, they are joined by Quistis, who arrives to stop Seifer, as he believes he is helping Rinoa and the Timber Owls. Squall even tries to convince him and Zell foolishly mentions the name of the Garden, giving them away. The president, now knowing they are the aggressors, states a threat on air. He prepares to kill the president when time is suddenly halted. Sorceress Edea appears as a silhouette behind the curtains. Coming slightly into the light to lure Seifer away, taunting him to change sides, calling him a child. Squall tries to reach out for Seifer but his headache throbs again and he blacks out.

Laguna: Second Dream:

*Kiros and Ward believe Laguna is once again lost, as he tries to figure out where they are. However he realises they have arrived at the excavation sight.

* Down onto its structure, they believe it deserted and split up. Laguna, walking down a catwalk as it begins to rain realises mist is growing around, and begins to hear clanking down the walkway. Confused as to whether it is his comrades, Esther soldiers suddenly appear.

* Kiros and Ward hear the gunfire, making their way down; they are attacked by other soldiers. Ward spikes two together while Kiros drops down under the walkway to find a group of them, and begins to slice them down, but he is soon on the floor at knife point when Ward saves him. However, he is then attacked by more on his back, bowling through them down the walkway, they are shot off by Laguna before they can harm him. More then come and Laguna skilfully rids of them, using a metal zip line to glide through other areas shooting the soldiers down as they jump for him. However, one does snag him, causing him to fall into the underground excavation site. He gets up to find himself surrounded on all levels of the site by the soldiers. He is about to fight when Ward and Kiros arrive, leading him away to escape.

* They get to an exit but are stopped by more guards. Fighting their way through viciously, they jump onto a lower level and manage to lock a hatch door. Making their way to the exit as fast as they can, they come to a dead end on a rainy cliff opening. The soldiers are jumping down at them. Laguna pushes Kiros and Ward off the cliff and into the water below, taking on the enemies himself. However, Laguna then launches himself off with the soldiers mid air, killing them before they all hit the water. Managing to glimpse the side of its large form, they can also see its structure deep underwater.

Galbadian Garden:

*Squall awakens in the waiting room of galbadia garden, they are anxious for Quistis's returns. She does eventually, with grave news of Seifer's sentence; execution. Squall is cold, much to the annoyance of Rinoa, who seems to show feelings for him and reveals their dealings and his offer of help and advice for the Timber Owls to seek Cids help. She leaves in anger, and Squall is about to get a lecture from Quistis but he makes a point that she is no longer his tutor. He decides to explore the place, admiring its huge halls, classes, and auditoriums.

Waiting in the lobby, he spots Rinoa, and considers her but is distracted from the balcony above by Raijin and Fujin, both are worried to here is sentence but are confident he will get out and get even with Squall. The rest of the team arrive and they all go to the entrance, deciding to leave when the Headmaster suddenly pulls up in his car, he gives the team new strict orders. To assassinate the sorceress. They are then joined by Irvine, a slick gifted sniper who introduces himself by pinching the ladies bums and reciting poetry. They leave for the train station, Irvine escorting the women. On the train, he makes a big deal about not being judged by them. Squall is joined in his cabin by Rinoa, who tries to explain to him what Seifer had done for the Timber Owls. Ignoring this, he chooses to remain quiet; however, he does apologize to her when she gets into bed, making her smile without him seeing. Outside, Irvine humorously tries to seduce Selphie, showing off his womanising skills to great effect, but in result is slapped for making a move to soon and she leaves him alone and stunned. Zell can be seen chuckling about this, and Irvine questions him for it, telling him to do better. Zell however, actually seems to know the key how to woo Selphie and Irvine listens intently, they begin to talk explicitly and try to cover it up when Quistis catches them. She warns them to keep their mind on the mission, because if anything screws up, they could risk going to the Galbadian Desert Prison, a complete fortress that they may not be able to escape from.

Meanwhile, night has fallen at Balamb Garden and Cid is contemplating regrets after it is revealed he and the Galbadian Garden headmaster had already discussed this plan of action. He is fearful he may put SeeD at risk by sending the new mercenaries to carry out such delicate plan without being caught.

Deling City:

Squall and team arrive at the high tech train station. And emerge onto the city streets to find them surprised to recognise the place from the Laguna dreams.

They are suddenly greeted by General Caraway. He leads them back to his mansion where they discuss the mission and suddenly find out that Rinoa is his daughter. After they watch a heated argument, the team, minus Rinoa, follow Deling out into the city and quick shots show the many parts of the plan. Squall glimpses memories of the place, seeing Laguna's form in certain places and even seeing Julia in the hotel window, she slams her hand on the glass in warning and seems to be shouting towards Squall but it sounds like she is calling Laguna. Spooked, he is suddenly brought to by the general.

Meanwhile, all over the world, towns and cities are preparing to watch the celebrations on all over the world.

Back at the mansion, Quistis argues with Rinoa about not getting any further involved as she could ruin the mission. Leaving to their posts, Squall and Irvine wander through the crowd, attempting to get to the front. A large timer that was there before is now counting backwards. People seem to be genereally hypnotised and orderly as they crowd together. Half way to their position, Quistis feels she should apologize to Rinoa as she hears of the sacrifices the Timber Owls made. She decides to return to the mansion quickly; however, hiding behind the crates and cars from the guards, Rinoa has left the house and is sneaking in to confront Edea Herself.

Inside the president, a nervous wreck, is eager to talk with Edea and tries to get through the guards, thrown back. He tries again, stating his authority, they eventually let him through but as he gets to the door a large black metallic liquid forms over him and he is thrown backwards by thunder magic. Hitting the wall. He uses a potion to adjust himself and decides not to try again as he hears the cheering outside.

Quistis arrives back at the house to find Rinoa gone, and the security lock sets in, trapping them. However, Angelo manages to show them a secret passage that goes into the sewers which will lead them to the centre ark to throw the gates in time.

Scaling the area outside, Soldiers spot Rinoa and proceed to chase her up the structure of Parade podium. Kicking one into the other and using magic on two more, she sends them tumbling down. She then gets onto the front of the structure and looks back to see the large crowd and the ark behind it. Squall and Irvine suddenly recognize her on there and notice another guard climbing towards her. On the structure. Rinoa weaves as a soldier attacks her with a sword, he proceeds to disarm her magic and swing for her. She manages to gain her footing and climb further up, however, the soldier grabs her, and is about to pull her down. She is forced to use her weapon to shoot him down. He falls backwards, dead and crumples on the ground below, distracting other guards and giving Squall and Irvine a chance to sneak past.

Over by the generals house, a soldier see's Quistis, Zell and Selphie move under the sewers below, calls for immediate back up. Edea hears the distress call from her throne room and we see a hand emerge from the side and create a menacing force of liquid which drops from her hand and seeps through the floor, down through the other floors, past the plumbing and electrical equipment and into the water system. It then turns the sewage a vile colour and the water becomes still. Quistis notices this, and suddenly a large, goo like animated substance emerges from the water and takes an ugly form. Selphie quickly kills it though, but suddenly more emerge, attacking all of them and trying to drag them into the water.

Rinoa finally arrives in the throne room. This is iconic in the film as she eerily attempts to see Edea's face. We see the mask, and then Edea suddenly releases powerful dark magic, which makes the room groan. At first nothing seems to have happened. But then suddenly Rinoa is hit across the face and knocked to the floor by an invisible force. It then slams her backwards and flips her over and down hard. She struggles to get up, wounded. She fires her weapon, but it stops in mid air, rotates and flies back at her, slicing her arm. Rinoa then runs at her but is sent flying back hard and hits the floor, beginning to get sucked in as the floor seems to drag her down, eating her. Once she is fully submerged, it turns into a dark liquid and she is spat out, hitting the roof and coming back down to hard floor. Unconscious, she is hoisted up by her hand and put in a trance. Edea's mask then morphs, and her face is revealed. Standing, she eerily guides towards through the door. Waiting outside are the president and the guards. He tries to talk her out of taking over as he wants the country back. Her magic slams him against the wall, strangling him and he drops to the floor. She walks out, and Rinoa, who has come through the doors, follows behind.

The Parade:

Outside, the President approaches the podium, not realising that Squall and Irvine are hiding just below out of site. He introduces Edea, who verbally insults the crowd in her menacing speech. The President is shocked to see that the crowd is still cheering for her, he then realises that she has completely hypnotised them. In panic, he attempts to stop all of this but is run through by his own soldier, who is now under the power of Edea as well. Rinoa, stands, still hypnotised through this. Edea ends her speech and walks away, lifting the President up and throwing him against the podium, telling him to speak. He turns around against the crowd and tries to reason with them, they boo and insult him as he tries to frantically tell them Edea is evil. He begins to break down and behind him; Edea uses her magic and sets him alight. Screaming in pain as he is graphically burned, the crowd cheer and howl. As Edea watches this, behind her, Seifer smiles maliciously and she turns around to greet him lovingly. He bows and leads her away, glimpsing Rinoa briefly as she still stands hypnotised. Seeing this, Edea takes off the spell, and she collapses but as she walks into the dark passage, she turns around to cast a dark spell. Its power flies out across the crowd and travels up the arc, its essence turning two lizard statues alive as one of their eyes opens.

Waking, Rinoa hazily looks around, and fully awakes when she see's the smouldering corpse of the president. Backing away in fear, she suddenly hears screams in the crowd below. As do Squall and Irvine as they continue their climb.

They see the lizard's jump from the arc and down onto the crowd, they climb faster, as the lizards gallop through the crowd, people scream and jump out of the way, others are trampled. Faster still, Irvine begins to load his gun and Squall his own gunblade. The creatures, now hoping along buses and cars arrive at the gates and climb up them, launching themselves onto the structure and creating a heavy amount of debris as they crawl up it. The first traps Irvine but crawls over him. Squall shoots the one below him, and although it's injured it jumps clean over him instead of attacking back. They land infront of Rinoa and she backs slowly into the dark passage. Irvine and appears first and skilfully shoots the beasts away as they attack Rinoa, eventually, they anger and charge at Irvine and Squall, the former casting Ifrit GF, obliterating the platform and the monsters, Rinoa leaps into a side corridor as fire leaps down. Squall, who protected them with repel magic, attends to Rinoa as Ifrit rises and disappears over Deling.

Rinoa is happy to see Squall, but he scolds her for trying the confrontation on her own. They make their way into the animation display room when suddenly it activates. Outside the time limit has ended and the parade begins. The top rises with Irvine, Squall and Rinoa hiding on it and below, the parade podium begins to travel through the city. Dancers appear infront of it, all to the entertainment of the crowd who are delighted. Fireworks explode in the air as the top of the podium opens, revealing Edea in her thrown and to Squall's surprise, standing on the front of the podium is Seifer, alive and well. Shocked, Rinoa is further in disbelief and breaks down, saying that what Squall said about him may be true after all. She begins to blame SeeD for the death of Zone and her faction, blaming Seifer for introducing her to Cid.

Below in the sewers, a heated fight is taking place as Quistis, Zell and Selphie fight off the liquid monsters. Destroying their forms with her whip, Quistis advances through the sewers as the fiends scale the ceiling, ground, water and walls. Zell skilfully runs through the place as things get dangerous, above him, he can see the action of the parade through the grates. They all make their way towards the main plumbing, eventually emerging at a large water wheel; Zell makes his way up it, dodging enemies and activates the wheel. It pumps fresh water and pushes the current out, eventually dragging all the fiends with it. Bullets suddenly impact across the walls just as Quistis realises soldiers have arrived. Zell jumps off the water wheel as Quistis is pursued down a tunnel and locks them off at a gate. Zell falls into a small water pit where he is beaten by the soldiers. He is saved by Selphie who takes most of them out with her nun chucks whilst Zell blasts two soldiers into a wall using only his feet. More begin to arrive, but are soon taken out by the ghouls in the water who have returned again. Trapped, Selphie panics and casts leviathan in panic. The huge serpent GF storms through the sewers, causing the streets above to breaks and burst water, which gets Edea's attention as it flips cars and knocks down the parade decorations and people. As the soldiers run from the beast, Quistis is also trapped by it and is pursed through the tunnel, trapped at a barrier; she casts fire on it then ice before slicing through it with her whip. However, she realises she's at the bottom of the ark but she will never get up in time before leviathan tsunami gets her. Climbing as fast as she can, she can see the gears of the chain lift of the gate running up to the switch and casts her whip out just in time to be taken up by it as the tsunami breaks in and leviathan rises and consumes her but breaks into water as it expires around her. She gets to the top and activates the gates just in time, trapping Edea, but is caught by Biggs and Wedge who have been guarding the tower.

Outside, Irvine see's his queue and sets up his shot, but suddenly begins to breakdown that he is afraid of failure, which affects moments like these. Believing he will screw it up, Squall, manages to convince him to try, explaining that if he misses, they can always do a one on one assault. Irvine aims, and steadily gets Edea in his sights, seeing her just behind Seifer. He fires. The bullet makes it way across everyone, and in slow motion goes through the gates, over Seifers shoulder and towards Edea but the bullet is suddenly stopped by her magic. As soon as this happens, her spell over the people of Deling fades and everyone realises what's happened, causing a riot to begin.

As chaos begins in the street, Squall takes out his gunblade and leaves a broken Irvine. Rinoa watches as Squall jumps over the edge and down into the riot, and watches in horror at what is now happening. She suddenly cracks and decides to face Edea with Squall in a fit of anger. Fighting off soldiers one by one. Squall takes each one out skilfully. Squall uses magic to knock down two guards, suddenly getting packed in and stuck in the riot, soldiers attack him from all sides but suddenly fall dead when something whizzes around them, Squall turns around to see Rinoa, and nods thankfully. A car suddenly appears from behind and Squall rolls over the bonet and into it, kicking out the driver he forces his way out of the crowd and down towards the arc. On his way down however, dark magic bursts from the ground, causing Squall to get caught in the debris and make his car skid. Suddenly a large fire drawn magic spell explodes from the arc and covers him, the car emerges from the flames and bashes into the gates.

Gunblade Battle:

Squall, rising from his crouched position, realises he is at the gate. Seifer suddenly launches himself through and lands on the bonnet with his gun blade drawn. He puts the wind shield through as he stabs but Squall casts blizzard against him. Seifer repels with a malicious smile, the spell sending Squall over the car and onto the ground. Noticing the petrol leaking, he casts fire on it and ducks under the gate rails as the car explodes with Seifer on top of it, crumpling out in the road along with wreckage from the car. Squall checks on him when suddenly Seifer rises and uses a powerful ice spell sending Squall frozen in-between the gate rails. Struggling to get free. Seifer summons GF Quezacotl. The force hits the rails and Squall flies through onto the podium as the electricity left by the summon fades in front of the arc. Seifer, picking up Squalls gunblade runs and jumps onto the gate ledge, throwing the gunblade at Squall's feet, challenging him a second time. Picking it up, Seifer leaps over and a fierce battle begins. Ducking, weaving and parrying each others attacks, Seifer fights dirty and when locked together, head butts, elbows, punches and kicks Squall away. However, Squall shows his stronger side and weaves his opponents next attack and casts fire in Seifers face, he then uses Blizzard to fling Seifer off the podium, against the arc wall and down below. Squall walks to the edge but suddenly Seifer rises up atop Ifrit, stating he got the GF after all. With that, he commands it to deliver Hells fury, causing the GF to release a huge fire ball that reigns down resulting in a huge explosion that comes out both ends, destroying the gates rails. However, Squall had quickly cast Shiva beforehand, and the GF had protected the podium. It then rises up and collides with Ifrit and Seifer against the roof. Causing Debris to smash down as well as a wounded Seifer.

Stirring, he gets up slowly to see the point of Squall's gun blade aiming at him. When a large piece of debris comes flying down and lands between the two, they jump back, allowing him to reach his gunblade and attempt a strike but his arm is cut deeply by Rinoa's crossbow as she arrives to assist Squall. Seifer, beginning to taunt Squall is suddenly jolted back behind the large black formation where the throne was. The lighting suddenly goes out, and the formation melts away to reveal the throne and Edea.

A large glow appears around her as Squall launches himself at her. He is stopped short and lifted into the air, a mass load of power then suddenly travels up the building, destroying all the lighting as it explodes. Squall drops after being electrocuted by a large surge of energy but he manages to use repel and let himself down just as she is about to kill Rinoa. He fires his gun blade but the bullets reflect, he then casts all of his GF's but they are all destroyed by her magic. Deciding to attack her head on again, he attacks, but the powerful rebuff sends his blade flying and him across the podium. Suddenly, she casts an unknown spell and all goes quiet. But then Squall begins to recognize the sound of thundering and realises it is a maelstrom of meteors. As he says this, small meteors rain down, raining from behind, obliterating the podium but not harming Edea under her shield. Squall quickly grabs Rinoa and jumps off it in time, just as around the arc, larger meteors rains down destroying the architecture of it and causing it to crumble. Squall pulls himself and Rinoa up. Realising she may just kill them all, he picks up Seifers gunblade. As he does, Edea summons a powerful spell which takes the form of a shard of crystal. As it glistens for a moment, Squall lifts the gunblade to strike as the roof shudders and finally collapses, Rinoa realises, the whole podium is now protected by a shield, Edea then releases her magic, and the crystal flies towards her, however, the crystals barely fly past her head as blood is drawn on her cheek, and Rinoa covers her mouth in shock as she opens her eyes to see the crystal shard embedded in Squall, the sound disappearing whilst this happens, all can be heard is the crumbling debris. From below, Squall falls off the edge of the podium, Seifers gunblade flying down first, joined by Squall with the crystal through him. Rinoa looks over the side, seeing Squall presumably dead below with the now shattered glowing crystal through him. Rinoa breaks down while below, Seifer appears behind her and Rinoa turns to him, tears in her eyes and attacks him. However he quickly backhands her across the face and she falls down unconscious. Helicopters and other galbadian transport have arrived; spotlights and searchlights as well as army troops are surrounding the half destroyed arc in the darkness.

Epilogue:

*After the last shot fades out. Xu arrives in Cid's office to tell him the news. But he seems to already know. He asks of who was captured, Xu explains that all but the secret sniper are captured. Cid hopes that perhaps he will continue the mission but the galbadian garden headmaster cannot locate him right now.

* 3 days later: Slowly panning over the mountains, the Dollet satellite is seen still up and running. On the beach, some kids are playing around the ruins of the X-ATM092. In the town, all is peaceful, in the pub, sat in the corner is General Caraway. He is talking with an unknown man, who after a moment, is revealed to be Irvine. The General explains to him that Irvine must go to the Desert prison and retrieve his daughter; he then slides over a large some of money to Irvine. Caraway then goes into detail about the prison, and as he does, we see Squall waking up in a small room, clearly alive, but trapped. The camera then zooms out of the room and up into a larger more mechanical structure, which leads up through the spiral of a large prison, it then leads outside and we see the exterior of the large fortress like prison glowing in the darkness of the night as a thunderstorm briefly lights it up.

The Griever symbol glints in the darkness, along with 'to be continued', and then credits.

Scene Selection:

*Balamb Garden

*The Field Exam

*Activating the Communication Tower

*Evacuation/ X-ATM092

*SeeD Celebrations

*The Dance

*The Fire Cavern

*Gunblade battle

*The Mission

*Laguna, Kiros and Ward

*Julia

*Arrival in Timber

*The Plan

*The Fake President

*Galbadian Forces Arrive

*The Presidents message

*The Excavation site

*Escape

*Galbadia Garden

*Seifers Execution/ New Mission

*Deling City

*General Caraway's plan

*Trapped

*Sorceress Edea

*The Presidents Demise

*The Parade Begins

* The Sewer Fight

*Assassination Attempt

*The Sorceress's Knight

*Premonition

*Cid's woes

*Irvine's new objective

*The Desert Prison/ Credits