DISCLAIMER! I don't own anything, except for the characters that you would not recognize. (There's lots of those – nearly half the characters in this story are OCs). Read and review, please! =D
Quistis
I entered Cid's office with him hesitantly. Clearly, there was something he hadn't said at the meeting, and I needed to know it.
"Quistis… Something is happening. Something – something very bad is happening," Cid began. I nodded, following along. "This is bigger than the war… This could – this could destroy everything, Quistis."
A bead of sweat started its way down Cid's left temple. He sniffed. "What is it, headmaster?"
We both sat down, Cid behind his desk, and myself in front of it.
"There – there is something you don't know. Something that none of the staff here – except for me of course – know. It's – it's another place, another world away from here. But it's not too far from here. I can't - ."
"Headmaster, just tell me what it is!" I shot out. Cid looked at me and shifted his position in his chair. I took a deep breath in.
"Quistis – oh, gosh. How do I say this? Okay… At the beginning of time - before the beginning of time, even… There was a group of people – Gods, I mean."
"And Hyne was one of them, right?" I cut in.
"No – no, he came after them… They created him."
I frowned. They created Hyne? Who was they?
Cid continued. "Quistis… What are the eight elements?"
"Holy, thunder, water, fire, earth, ice, poison and wind; why?"
"This group… There are eight of them. Each one - ."
"Each one represents one element…"
I finally grasped the idea.
"Correct, but they don't just represent them, Quistis. They are that element. They are everything that is created from that element. They create everything - the earth, the water, everything - even us."
I scratched my chin and rested my elbow on the arm of my chair. "What do they have to do with everyone being sick?"
"It is being said that… That something is throwing off their magic, Quistis. Something has happened… One of them is ill."
"You mean they're still alive?!"
Cid began to laugh, his face lighting up. "Well, yes, Quistis. They are immortal. That is, unless you force a GF that is their polar opposite at them, and the GF must be in top shape… Very top shape. World dominating shape. Universe dominating shape… They look just like you and I, Quistis. But they are much, much different. Their features are smooth, and their skin is like porcelain. They are the most beautiful people on this planet."
"How come we've never heard of them before?"
"Oh, there are people that know of them, but because the world has been running pretty decently with their absence, they haven't come around for over five thousand years. Their existence is top secret – the only reason I know about them is because Edea is their closest human relative alive to this day. Quistis, they create everything. That means that they create good and bad. If people found out about their existence, there would be a war – a war bigger than all others. You must understand, Quistis… I cannot emphasize this enough. No one must find out. I am trying to find out what has happened, because if this continues… People will die. Lots of people."
"How do you know that, Cid?" I asked. I leaned foreword. He looked terrified. His eyes were watering, begging to let tears out.
"You see, Quistis… Everyone has an element. You have one, I have one… We just don't know which one. But they know."
"How do they know?"
"Well, they don't know us all individually – they have excellent memories, but not that excellent. When they meet humans, they know… it's like they can smell it on us. It's just a feeling they get."
"Headmaster… I'm confused. Can you please tell me exactly who these people are?"
"Oh, Quistis, they are not people. They are Gods in the form of people. Thousands and thousands of years ago, they created these creatures. They were beautiful. The Gods treated them as pets and took care of them, until they became bored of them… That's when they started mating… And people began. The Gods were concerned for these people. They looked just like them, so they thought they were powerless, until one of their children had an encounter with a creature, and defeated it with the creature's polar opposite magic. You see, Quistis, they have no control over which creatures become good and bad," Cid took a breath. I looked up at the ceiling.
"So… They are our ancestors?"
"Yes, they are. They live on an unknown island, not visible to the human eye… It is unknown where it is, but it exists."
"Do they ever leave this island?" I asked. Cid sat back, thinking.
"They did only once… When Hyne was created. He brought great distress to the Gods. He stood out to them – they knew he was something special, so they upgraded him to God – just like them, but nothing near as powerful. When Hyne turned his back on his family, the Force seeked for revenge, but Hyne was no where to be found."
"Um, the Force?"
"That is what some people called this group."
I looked around Cid's office. Something wasn't fitting together. There were so many fairy tales and myths about the planet that we lived on, and they were so hard to believe.
"Are their children still being upgraded?" I asked, just out of curiosity. Cid's eyebrows moved up quickly.
"Oh, yes, but not to God… To a Guardian Force."
"Our GFs?!"
"Oh yes… That first monster that was defeated – that convinced the Force that they did not need to protect their offspring – that was Ifrit. We chose him for Fire Cavern because of the Force – to prove that to be a SeeD, you had to have what that person did when they defeated Ifrit for the first time."
"Wow…"
"Quistis, I need to rely on you. We must fix this… We must…"
"How do we fix it?"
"I… I do not know."
I stood and looked out the window. "What are the possibilities? What could possibly be throwing off the magic?"
"Offspring… Um, Quistis… May I ask you a, um, personal question?"
I turned to him, frowning in confusion. "Yes."
"Is there any chance you may be, um…? Pregnant?"
I snapped my head around to him again, outraged. "Headmaster!"
He sunk down in his seat. "I know, I know… Stupid question… Is there anyone you know who could be?"
I shook my head. "Not that I know of."
Cid looked terrified. "The world is in grave danger…"
"How so?"
"If the Force comes here…"
"They could come here?!"
"If it's creating enough damage on their island, yes…"
Irvine
Rinoa and I made our way back to the house quietly. I resisted asking her what was wrong with her that morning. She looked fine.
"It's so nice out today, isn't it?" She asked happily, as a gust of wind whipped through her hair. I nodded, turning my head towards the sea. The waves were high that day.
"Doesn't look like it's gonna be nice for long though. Looks like there could be a storm coming."
Just as I said that, a great, grey cloud soared over the sea, at a speed that was not natural for a cloud.
"…"
"…"
"Did you see that?" Rinoa asked.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Uh… Yeah…"
"Think we should tell anyone?" Rinoa asked again. I shrugged.
"It's… Probably nothing," I stuttered. "Are you feeling any better?"
Rinoa nodded, smiling, her worries of the cloud evaporating instantly. I smiled back at her.
"That's good."
When we got back to the house, Rinoa instantly went for the kitchen.
"I'm starving."
"Maybe it's because you threw up three days worth of food this morning," I joked, leaning my hip against the kitchen counter. Rinoa laughed and opened the fridge. She pulled out the leftovers of my dinner from the night before and looked at me carefully.
"Do you mind?"
I shook my head. "No, not at all."
She giggled, put it on the counter, and began picking at it. I had always thought Rinoa was beautiful, but once I moved to Balamb, and began living with her… My views of her had somehow changed. After moving in with her, I found out that 1) she chews with her mouth open, 2) she snores/talks in her sleep and 3) she sometimes tries to summon her GFs in the house and have them do chores for her. This resulted in repeatedly finding Siren singing on the front porch, and Carbuncle sleeping in my bed.
Rinoa hadn't been training; everyone saw it, everyone knew it, and everyone was concerned about it. I, however, experienced it. Our house was somewhat out in the middle of nowhere, therefore, monsters were bound to find their way around (or sometimes, into our house). Most of the time when this happened, I was home. But sometimes, I wasn't, and Rinoa was alone at home, hopelessly defending herself. I've walked into the house, seeing this happen, more than once… it broke my heart to see her so forlorn.
And of course, the times when her GFs weren't running loose, is when this all happened.
Well?! I personally love this chapter, because I love the story of "The Force". Just a little note, in this story, the reason that GFs are called Guardian Forces, is because of the group "The Force". So yeah... Haha! Pleeease review!
