Gevurah
---KumoDango

ToA belongs to Namco FFVIII belongs to Squeenix

Spoilers for the end of ToA and FFVIII

Late at night, the Commander of Balamb Garden wandered. He never did feel at ease at night where there were possible sneak attacks. Even though all the Gardens signed a peace treaty after the defeat of Ultimecia, there were still people who believed in Galbadia's ideal and wished to destroy Balamb Garden.

And there were still people who wanted to kill Rinoa. Amazing what fear does to people, despite Squall and his comrades defeating Ultimecia and releasing Gaia from evil sorceresses, people still thought that Rinoa was a threat to the world. It is true Rinoa is the last sorceress alive, but she is a white sorceress, not a black sorceress like Ultimecia.

And there was the issue with the redheads. There was too much to think about, let alone sleep. Squall and Rinoa had heard the entire conversation between them. Thankfully, the others only managed catch the end of their conversation and then get soaked by Asch and Luke.

There were many questions unanswered when Asch and Luke told their story. Why had Lorelei choose this world specifically? What did he mean by this time? And Asch's life-threatening injuries caused by the 'incident' that Luke mentioned, it certainly wasn't just an 'incident'. Squall remembered when Lorelei released his hold on Luke and how Luke had checked for Asch's pulse, he had looked so afraid that Asch was going to die.

Speaking of Lorelei, the golden glow of when Luke was possessed reminded him of their special power, hyperresonance. Luke, earlier in the duel, had said he was a murderer, using a power that killed an entire town. Squall bet that power was hyperresonance. But, seeing how Luke had used that power to wake Asch, the fear of Balamb Garden being wiped out died down a little. But still, it was a bit unsettling that a man shorter than him can wipe out an entire town with that power.

Sounds of fighting brought Squall out of his thoughts. It sounded like two blades crossing each other with an occasional spell cast, Squall sighed instantly knowing who they were. After the explanation by Luke and Asch, they had asked for blades to spar claiming they didn't want to get rusty. Dr. Kadowaki was a bit skeptical of letting Asch fight so soon with in injuries, but Asch said that the idiot wouldn't be able to touch him.

Eventually that led to a sparring match between the two, and since then they never stopped fighting unless to eat or sleep. Squall made his way down the steps of the quad and watched the two spar. It was interesting to see two identical faces fight each other with the same moves and spells. Who knows? Maybe Squall could learn some of their moves. If he used the gunblade while using Swallow Fury and firing bullets at the same time, he'd bet the monster would take in some serious damage.

---

Clash. "Hey, Asch?"

"Hm?" Dodge. Clash.

"Do you really think we can go back?"

Clang. "And I thought you were the optimistic one."

"Yeah well," Grunt. Clang. "I guess your pessimistic personality rubbed off on to me."

Clang. Jump. "Shut up." Clash. Clash. Clink. "You let your guard down."

Luke flopped to the ground, his sword beside him with the blade in the ground. He stared at the sky, the first reason why he liked sparring in the quad, it offered so much scenery to see. Plus it was usually empty which made fighting much more easier. "So do you?"

Asch sheathed his sword and sat down across from Luke. "Who knows? All we can do is try."

The pair sat in comfortable silence. Luke moved to lie down on his back, stretching out his muscles after a long day of sparring and worrying. Crossing his arms behind his head, he tried to see if he knew any constellations. He heard Asch shift into a better sitting position and knew his original was staring at the sky as well.

"You can come out now."

Luke moved his head and saw Squall emerge from behind the wall. How Asch can sense people he did not know.

/Cause you let your guard down too fast, idiot./

/Shut up./

"What are you doing here so late?" Luke asked Squall.

"Just doing rounds."

"Really?" Said a curious Luke. "Balamb Garden is like an impenetrable fortress. There shouldn't be any need to do rounds, is there?"

"You never know." Squall took a seat next to Luke. "There are still people who harbor grudges against Gardens."

Luke gave a small 'oh' and resumed looking at the night sky. Beside him, Squall and Asch were discussing the next course of action on how to find Origin. He knew he should be paying attention but he was dosing off from the fight with Asch. He never knew how hard it was to focus and cast spells. Jade made it look like casting spells is a walk in the park. But then again, when Jade was nine he casted high-level fonic arts that even adults two times his age couldn't even do.

"We'll be going to Esthar," Squall said. "We'll talk to Dr. Odine to see if he has any information on Origin."

"Is he trust-worthy?" Ask Asch.

"To an extent, yes." Squall said after thinking. "He won't spread your story to others, he might just want to research you specifically."

A suspicious gaze was thrown at Squall. "What type of research?"

"Since you are essentially Lorelei himself, Dr. Odine might want to research you for information." Squall said carefully. He knew the redhead's background with experiments. "He might want to see if he can take some of your power and convert it into a Guardian Force for others to use. He is the man that created Guardian Forces by the way."

"If worst comes to worst Asch, let him research me." Luke said drowsily. "I'm used to them anyways."

"No." Was the firm reply back to Luke. "You don't know what that doctor will do to you."

"It can't be that bad."

"No, and that's final."

"Yes, mother." Asch playfully hit Luke on the head, but otherwise remained firm with his decision. He didn't want anyone to experience what he had during his kidnap. Squall reassured the two that he would control Dr. Odine from any unnecessary actions and if he did do any of those actions, he would personally punch the man himself. He explained that the doctor tried to experiment on Rinoa as well a few weeks ago, though Squall stressed clearly that punching him was because it breeched SeeD conduct and not because he is Rinoa's over-protective boyfriend that has issues with other people touching her.

"Jealousy much?" Asch and Luke snickered a bit as Squall took on a reddish hue across his face. Asch then tilted his head when he thought of something, "Why did Dr. Odine have need to examine Rinoa? If she was sick, Dr. Kadowaki could've examined her instead."

"You don't need to answer that." Luke said, noticing Squall's hesitation in answering that question. "I mean, me and Asch are strangers, so it's not like we have the right to pry into your lives." Maybe Rinoa had an incurable disease and Squall is too heartbroken to talk about it.

/That's highly unlikely./

/You never know./

/Whatever./

/You know, you're becoming like Squall. You're even using the same words./

/…Whatever./

Luke gave a small smirk as Asch crossed his arms in denial. He didn't notice that he and Asch were giving off very interesting facial expressions during their conversation that captured Squall's attention. Although Asch wasn't very good at expressing himself, Luke took on the job of expressing both of their emotions. Nevertheless, Luke did such a good job that Squall had to cover his mouth to suppress his chuckles.

"My apologies." Squall said when Luke pouted at him. "I didn't know you guys shared some twin traits, considering your case. It's like you guys can communicate through your minds." He blinked when Luke and Asch shared a glanced and smiled back mischievously at him.

"Something like that, yeah." Luke replied. "It's because of our fon slots are the same, we can link together and talk through that connection. Although on my part it usually involved pain when Asch would contact me back then." Luke sent a mock glare at Asch and laughed as he dodged a swipe to his head.

"I see." Squall gave a faint smile at the brotherly affection those two showed. It reminded him of the time at the orphanage with Ellone. Not to say there weren't any sibling affections now, but the feeling was nostalgic. Maybe that's why he felt so at ease with the redheads, they had something he had lost when he was a child. Also, there was just something about the pair that made him trust them, especially Luke. Maybe…it wouldn't be harmful to tell them.

"The reason to why Dr. Odine tried to examine Rinoa," Luke and Asch stopped their quarrel to listen to Squall. They weren't expecting the commander to actually explain. They felt honoured considering that they were complete strangers that Squall was willing to share something, especially something about this girlfriend. "…Is because she is a sorceress."

"Sorceress?" Luke was confused. "But a sorceress is like a witch right? They can cast magic too, so wouldn't everyone be considered Sorceress's as well because they can cast spells?"

Squall shook his head. "It's different here. You need a Guardian Force to cast magic. But with sorceresses, they can cast magic effortlessly and naturally. They're also dangerous and can become insane because of the power they have. Rinoa is fine because she has me, her Knight. But Dr. Odine wanted to examine her to study more about sorceresses, all we know is that they are Hyne's descendents and at near death, they must transfer their powers on to another sorceress in order to die peacefully."

"Oh." Luke breathed out. The redheads were a bit shocked to find out that the sweet, small girl they have seen was actually this powerful. But then again, the twins were reminded of Anise. It doesn't pay to underestimate people just because they are small, especially when they have a doll that can turn into a giant and punch you so hard that you fly into the air. Same with Mieu, Luke didn't expect the small cheagle to breathe fire, fly, and use his head to smack various objects.

Speaking of Mieu, Luke remembered something Mieu had said that confused him. "Hey Squall?" Luke asked. "Who is Hyne anyways? Or more importantly, is he a guy or a girl? Mieu mentioned Hyne as both genders."

Squall was slightly taken back. After explaining about Rinoa, this is the first thing they say? "You're not afraid?"

It was the twin's turn to be taken back. "At Rinoa?"

Squall nodded, "Most people would fear Rinoa because of her powers and the possibility that she'll go insane. That's why SeeD is around, if there is any chance of Rinoa being a threat to the world, we will assassinate her."

"But!" Luke sat up in astonishment. He saw Asch widening his eyes as well. "Aren't you the commander of Balamb Garden? The person leading SeeDs?!"

"I am." Squall said calmly. "If in any case Rinoa loses her sanity, I will lead SeeD to exterminate the world's threat. I will be the one to strike her down."

"But…"Luke said miserably. "That's so wrong, to strike down a love one."

"Oh, don't be like that Luke." A familiar voice cut through the sad atmosphere. "I'm not going to lose my sanity." Rinoa appeared behind the men looking cheerful, despite knowing she was the topic of the discussion and hearing that her boyfriend would kill her if she went insane. "I have my faithful Knight here to keep me sane." She hugged Squall, smiling.

"If you say so…" Luke said still a bit dubious.

"Of course!" Rinoa replied with enthusiasm. "Plus Dr. Odine said that I'm a white sorceress, so the chances of my going insane are slim to none."

"What!?"

Luke and Asch stared at Squall at the same time, faces demanding at the brunette on how he could miss that small vital piece of information. Squall shrugged. "I was getting there, but you interrupted me before I could explain."

Luke flopped back down while Asch smacked a hand at his forehead. Rinoa laughed and playfully hit Squall on the shoulder for his dramatic explanation. "Oh right," Rinoa said, realizing neither Squall nor herself had answered Luke's question. "Hyne is male, from what I know."

"Oh." Luke said. Weird, then why had Mieu said 'Lady Hyne'? At Rinoa's questioning gaze he explained. "It's just that Mieu had said Lady Hyne and Lord Hyne as well, so I got confused on what gender Hyne really is."

"The cheagle had said you 'released Lord Hyne', doesn't that make him Lorelei?" Asch said. "Obviously he would be male."

"Yeah, but Mieu doesn't mistake gender that easily." Luke said. He thought about what Mieu had said when he had just woken up in the infirmary. Luke twisted his neck sharply at Asch when he realized something. "Hey wait! You weren't awake when he said that, how did you hear that?"

Asch shrugged. "I was a ghost while I was unconscious. During that time you couldn't hear me, but I could hear you."

"That would explain the sudden drop in temperature when I said my name was Asch."

While the two went off into another discussion, Rinoa fiddled with her rings thinking about what Asch had said. Luke released Lorelei. Mieu had said Luke released Lord Hyne. But if Asch and Luke were from a different world, Lorelei wouldn't be Hyne. Yet, Carbuncle knew Luke and defiantly said that Luke released her ancestor.

"What's on your mind?" Rinoa looked up at Squall, concerned stormy eyes peering down on her.

"Have you ever thought," Rinoa began hesitantly. "That maybe Luke and Asch aren't from another world?" This got everyone's attention at Rinoa's statement.

"What do you mean?" Asch narrowed his eyes in thought.

"I mean, when Lorelei was in Luke, Shiva had said they were not of this time." Rinoa explained. "She said this time, not world, but time."

"Lorelei said that too," Luke added, remembering the seventh fonon entity's words before engulfing him and Asch in gold. "He said 'This time lacks the seventh fonons needed. We must go somewhere else.'"

"But what I don't get is," Rinoa said confusedly, "If Luke had released Lorelei, there would've been some records of that. I've checked the library and the only legends about Hyne mentioned none of that."

"What kind of legends are there about Hyne?" Asch inquired. "We didn't have a lot of legends about Lorelei either." Rinoa took a deep breath and began to recite the legend she had read countless times in the library.

"Once upon a time, there was a person named Hyne. Hyne was the ruler of the world. He became lazy and decided to make a tool to make his life easier. Hyne made a neat tool. His tool could make more tools by itself. Soon there were a lot of tools on the world. These tools were actually people."

"When Hyne woke up, he was surprised because there were a lot of people. Hyne wanted to reduce the number of people, and used magic to burn up a lot of small people. The small people were children. The people cherished the children very much. So the people rebelled against Hyne. Hyne used powerful magic to fight them. The people couldn't use magic, but they had wisdom."

"Eventually, Hyne began to lose the war, because there were too many people to fight, and they were getting smarter. Therefore, he decided to make peace with people by offering them half of his body along with his powers. Hyne cut his body in half and gave the people half as he promised."

"Then, another war started." Luke and Asch glanced at each other, this was getting familiar. "People began to fight over the power Hyne offered them through his body. This war lasted decades. Finally, King Zebalga and the Zebalga tribe emerged victorious and demanded Hyne's body-half to get its powers. But the body ignored their commands."

"Then, Vascaroon came to the rescue. He appeared before the confused Zebalgas and revealed to them that Hyne's body-half was corrupt and possessed no real power. The body-half was actually Hyne's cast-off skin. The Zebalgas were angered by this truth, and decided to destroy Hyne. The Zebalgas never found Hyne. People began to call him "Hyne the Magician" and continued to hunt him for centuries to come." Rinoa concluded, leaning back on Squall after finishing the long legend about Hyne.

"Asch…" Luke stared wide-eyed at Asch, the legend; it was so similar to the records he read in the Baticul castle.

Asch nodded. He had read them as well. "It's the same, just different terms used."

"What do you mean?" Squall raised an eyebrow in question.

"The legend that Rinoa just told us, it's similar to the records of the Fonic War in our time." Asch explained. "Long ago, people in Malkuth and Kimlasca fought for the Score which was left behind by Lorelei and Yulia. Since the Score could tell disaster and prosperity, a war was fought for many decades, until the Order of Lorelei intervened, promising that they'll read the Score as a neutral country as Daath."

"I'm not too sure about the whole 'Hyne the Magician' thing," Luke said. "But everything else matches up. Hyne's cast-off body is the Score, Zebalga is probably Malkuth or Kimlasca and the Vascaroon is Daath, and the war is defiantly the Fonic War."

"There are bound to be discrepancies in legends," Squall said unruffled. "Back then people probably exaggerated to make Hyne seem evil to scare little children or something."

Luke smiled at the thought, it was hard to imagine Lorelei as an evil monster or something. Seventh fonons are so gentle after all. "So I guess that means me and Asch are in the future."

"Seems like it." Asch looked and saw dawn breaking. "We've been talking for this long?" Luke broke out into a yawn, proof that the four had been talking for hours and hardly slept a wink.

Rinoa stood up and stretched. "We might as well try to get as much rest as we can before we head off to Esthar today."

"Joy."

The caramel-streaked girl lightly shoved her boyfriend as he stood up, making him stumble. "Come on Squall, you know you want to see Laguna even though you think he is annoying."

"Laguna?" Asch asked curiously as he supported Luke from falling on the ground, again.

"The president of Esthar." Rinoa pointed at Squall. "And father of Squall."

"Whoa," Luke said impressed. "Your dad is the president?"

Squall crossed his arms and turned away, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, but the idiot doesn't know I know he is my father."

"Squall and the others were raised in an orphanage," Rinoa explained. "Their sister, Ellone, was kidnapped by Esthar to be a candidate for a sorceress called Adel. Laguna rushed off to save her, but had to leave his wife, Raine, who was pregnant with Squall. She died alone, and Laguna thinking that Squall had died as well, became the president of Esthar after the citizens nominated him for trapping and sending Adel into space."

"Oh." The redheads felt a bit awkward, it is true that their father is an amazingly stubborn and harsh duke, but to have a father not realize that his son was right there in front of him must be hard. Luke hesitantly asked, "You…don't hate him do you?"

"No." Squall replied. "He is an idiot and hopelessly optimistic, but he's my only living blood relative. I decided that when he tells me the truth, I would forgive him." Squall shrugged. "I would've done what he had done, to save Ellone. Can't hate him for that, can I?"

Luke smiled and broke out into another jaw-breaking yawn. Asch made a noise of disapproval when Luke unsteadily swayed while walking. "You, need to go back to bed."

"Yes, mother."

Luke waved goodbye to Squall and Rinoa as Asch dragged him back to their room.

"Well," Rinoa said, holding out a hand to Squall. "Shall we also head back? We got a long day ahead of us." Squall accepted the hand and let Rinoa pull him up to his feet. They walked back to their dorms hand in hand.

Rinoa's right, they need all the sleep they can get.

It's going to be a long day.

Probably not the greatest explanation for Hyne=Lorelei and so forth, but that's what I thought when I read about Hyne and his two legends.

There's a reason to why I mostly have Squall and Rinoa interact with Luke and Asch, but that's for later. =D Hope I didn't make Squall too OOC, but you know, after almost dying I feel that he would be more happy. And no one can resist the Luke-effect! Cause I didn't really like Luke at the begining cause he was a total spoiled brat, but then after Akzeriuth he just grew on me. And Asch and his hotness~ And mommy's boy. It was nice to play as Asch for the Mushroom sidequest again. Hehe.

Oh yeah, I realized I got their ages mixed up. Luke and Asch are eighteen, not seventeen, my bad. (Going to fix that now)

Also, I forgot to mention, when I described Shiva when Squall summoned her, did you guys think of Undine because of the clothes? I just want to know if my describing skills are phail or not.