Disclaimer: I don't own FF8, yeah…

Unrest

Chapter 2

The Salt Flats

The area around the Ragnarok as it landed was desolate. The ground was hard rock and dirt, with small patches of dead grass, and small mountains rose around them. In front of them was the tiny train station, with the train tracks going far, far behind them across the highway over the ocean, leading to Fisherman's Horizon, which wasn't visible to them. Ahead of them extended the massive pit of the Salt Flats, which was a dried out salt lake, and ahead of that was the city of Esthar.

Squall motioned for them to follow, and they walked on to the Salt Flats. They encountered few enemies on the way, and were soon walking through the train station.

The lone train attendant gave Squall a nod as they walked past. "Are you all the SeeDs headed down to check out the Salt Flats?"

"Yes, we are." He replied.

"What exactly has been going on down there?" Quistis asked.

"Not sure, but even the monsters are fleeing, so it's gotta be something bad." He said.

Rinoa threw Squall a concerned glance. He reached out to give her hand a small squeeze.

"Thanks, mister. Well, let's go." Selphie said, nearly skipping off down the hill leading to the flats. The others quickly followed on.

In the valley of the flats it was silent, like it usually was, but somehow the air just seemed more hostile.

"You can't even here the monsters…" Zell whispered.

Irvine gave a nervous laugh. "You don't need to whisper." He said, though his voice wasn't much louder than Zell's had been.

"The Flats are pretty expansive." Squall said. "If we need to find anything, we should split into two parties."

Rinoa quickly crossed over to Squall, linking her hand with his.

He gave her a small smile, although he couldn't help feeling concerned. Rinoa was never like this, her hand was freezing, despite the fact that it wasn't to cold. Her hand was also clammy, and the look in her eyes made her seem terrified.

Irvine also walked over to join them.

"Alright then, Quistis, why don't you lead Zell and Selphie. Give us a call if you see something, and we'll meet back here in an hour."

She gave him a nod of agreement and led the other two forward.

Squall turned to face Rinoa and Irvine. "Ready?" He asked.

"Yep. Shall we?" Irvine asked as they continued on in the opposite direction. For awhile they encountered nothing, not even a monster.

Squall paged Quistis. "You guys find anything?" He asked.

"No. Not even monsters! Ridiculous."

"I see. Same for us."

"Right. Well…"

There was silence for a moment.

"No! Zell, now! Get it, dammit!" Quistis cried. Selphie let out a shriek and the line cut short.

"What the…" Squall said, confused.

Rinoa gripped his hand tighter than ever now. "What'll we do?"

"We've gotta find them!" Irvine exclaimed, running off towards where the pager showed their location.

Squall and Rinoa ran, following him to find the other team.

Selphie was nearly unconcious, laying on the ground a ways away, fighting to sit up.

Irvine ran to her, casting a Curaga spell, helping her stand.

A massive monster was fighting Quistis and Zell were fending off.

Squall recognized it as an Abadon, the same monster they had fought upon to arrival to Esthar two years ago.

Squall unsheathed the Lionheart, using a Curaga spell against the zombie, expecting to weaken it, though it caused the effect it was supposed to, healing the beast.

"Tried that, I don't know what's with this one!" Quistis cried, cracking her whip against its leg.

Rinoa's pinwheel shot out, clipping the monster's shoulder bone and flying back to her, but Squall noticed she remained motionless, not running forward to fight with the others.

Why is she so terrified? He thought.

He noticed the others were different, too. Selphie was being weaker, not as optimistic to take it down, hanging back with Irvine, who still seemed normal.

Quistis seemed furious about something, flaying the bones of the beast to chips with her whip, blasting it with magic.

Zell seemed excited, cheery to be fighting the beast, even though it was beating them, and he cast of weaker spells, hardly hitting it, as though he wanted it to continue fighting them.

Aside from Irvine, Squall seemed to be the only still normal one, but he wondered why the others were acting this way.

Casting his strongest magic, Squall fought to take it down.

Irvine joined after healing Selphie, shooting off a few rounds at the monster.

Selphie was still weak however, and she was able to use a limit break. She focused and spread her nunchaku apart, concentrating on her magic that was stored in her mind. She found the one she wanted, casting it upon their enemy.

Wings spread out across its back, and reality shifted, the air becoming thicker and darker, and the beast slowly lifted off the ground, and seemed to dissipate into the air.

Zell turned to face her. "Thank goodness the Rapture spell works against just about everything…" He said, though he sounded a bit disappointed.

The six of them were grouped back together now, and their enhanced emotions seemed to fade slightly, but it was still there.

Rinoa no longer seemed terrified, but she still seemed concerned.

Quistis wasn't screaming in rage, but wore a glare on her face.

Zell frowned at the monsters death, but wasn't depressed.

Selphie looked a bit sad, not her usual cheery self.

"How are you all feeling?" He asked them

They all just nodded that they were fine.

"I wonder why that was there…" Irvine said.

"Or why healing spells weren't harming it." Quistis said.

We were helping it, echoed a small voice.

The six of them whirled around to find a young girl standing there, in a black dress to her feet, with long black hair and dark eyes.

The wind swirled around her, kicking up her dress and billowing her hair around her face.

Squall tensed. "And who are you?" He asked, his hand tightening on his sword.

"My name is Dara."

"And why are you here, Dara?" Squall asked.

"I live here." She said, as though very obvious.

"No one lives in the Salt Flats, it isn't possible." Quistis said.

"A sorceress could easily live anywhere."

All of them flinched.

"No, there are no sorceresses. She's lying." Zell said.

She smiled. "You are wrong. Myself and my four sisters live here, we are all sorceresses."

"No. We would have heard of you." Squall said.

"We aren't normal sorceresses."
"Oh, is that why you haven't attempted to take over or destroy the world yet?" Quistis demanded.

Dara did nothing. "We have no interest in world domination. We thrive and exist on chaos."

Quistis actually laughed. "You kid. And what kind of sorceresses would you be called then?"

"Chaos Sorceresses, of course. You are angry. There is no need. Why is that?"

Quistis didn't respond.

"You see? We don't use fire and lightning. We manipulate reality, affect how you feel. I am making you angry. We summoned that beast back to life, though in zombie form, so your cure spells would not work. We wanted to see how you function."

"Why?" Squall asked, cutting off whatever Quistis could remark.

"No reason. Pleasure? We want to see chaos in case you lost. We could have become stronger if you had, but we seem to have underestimated you."

"You're lying." Quistis snapped.

Dara glanced at her. "I am not." She glanced at Selphie now. "You are sad because of my sister Ari." She glanced to Zell. "You are happy because of Mercia." She glanced at Rinoa now. "You are scared because of Sylvaine." She said, and glanced last to Irvine. "You feel indifferent, whatever happens, happens, no matter what. That is because of my eldest sister, Endra." She said, explaining their emotions. "You may think it's pointless, but it brings us pleasure. We are venturing into the world soon, though, to begin the Ultimate Chaos."

Squall shook his head. "No, it won't be allowed. You will be stopped." He said.

Dara laughed this time.

"How old are you, anyways? You look like a kid." Selphie said quietly.

"To you, I am 10. Then Ari is 14, in a human age. Then Mercia is 18. Sylvaine is 22. Endra leads us, she is 25."

"You are five weak people who delude yourselves to be sorceresses. You can be stopped." Squall said, and the others produced their weapons and charged.

Dara did not move, but she dissolved from thin air in a wisp of smoke.

They heard a laugh from behind them, and they turned to see her laughing. "Bye now. We will meet again." She said, and dissolved away.

Squall grunted in anger, slamming the sword point into the ground. "Chaos Sorceresses? No, we'll stop them." He said angrily.

The others felt their emotions fading, and the fell back to their normal personalities.

Quistis held a hand to her head. "That was, odd. We need to find this out."

Squall agreed. "Let's go then, we'll tell this to Cid." He said, leading them back.

The wind swept through the valley, white salt statues and stalacites rising around them, as the six walked to the entrance, crunching through the salt ground, in silence.

…..

Yay, a bit longer! I hope you enjoy it now, review on how you feel! Thanks! –Night Flare72