The Legacy

A Final Fantasy VIII Fan Fic

All rights to the characters and names of locations are owned by SquareSoft

Rated PG-13 for slight nudity and language

By Toysaurus

Chapter Eleven

Passion can neither be regulated nor denied

It wasn't until the next evening that the four old friends could meet out near the front gates to discuss the terrible situation now facing the Garden. Besides Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, and Zell, there was a new addiction to the group. Her name was Akane and she was a SeeD in her late twenties who Zell had recently been dating. She was an extremely attractive redhead of short stature and was a fairly late transfer from the Garden at Esthar. After she greeted Irvine and Selphie and Zell had introduced her to Quistis, the group fell into a naturally uneasy discussion of what could possibly be accomplished to remedy the current tragedy that had befallen Squall and Rinoa.

Irvine wrapped up the immediate problem succinctly when he said, "The big question right now is what's Squall gonna do and how's Lance gonna respond."

"I think Squall is going to keep Rinoa in the disciplinary cell until hell freezes over and I think Lance is going to come and attempt to rescue her," answered Quistis.

Everyone present murmured their concurrence with this thought. "But what are we gonna do?" Selphie whined plaintively.

"What can we do?" Zell replied resignedly.

"That's what we're here to find out," Akane asserted.

The group of SeeDs stood silently for a matter of minutes. "Maybe we should have brought some chairs with us?" suggested Selphie. "I'm getting tired of just standing here."

"Or some vodka," Akane retorted with a smile upon her pretty features.

"Haha!" Irvine laughed. "That's pretty funny and a great idea to boot."

"Please," Quistis implored. "Can we get serious here? Lives might depend on us."

"How did this ever happen? Rinoa hated Lance when he first got here," Selphie commented.

"It was fate," Irvine said solemnly.

As they all turned to him in surprise as Irvine was not known to have a mystical bent, he continued, "From the second he stepped foot here, it was ordained - the world's greatest warrior and the beautiful sorceress. Passion can neither be regulated nor denied."

"I know what to do!" Selphie exclaimed excitedly. "Someone should go talk to Squall."

"Good idea, Selphie," agreed Quistis. "But who's gonna bell the cat?"

"Huh?" Selphie answered. "What cat?"

Amid the general laughter, Zell volunteered, "I'll do it. I'll beard the Leonhart in his den."

……….

Actually it wasn't until the next day that Zell made good on his promise and talked to Squall. The headmaster listened patiently as Zell made his ardent appeal for forgiveness before a greater tragedy was perpetuated and then he nodded and said, "I'll take it into consideration."

Zell nodded in return and then stood up and left Squall's office without another word. What was there left to say? Quistis and Selphie met him out in the hallway.

"Well?" Quistis asked.

"He said he'd think about it."

"I guess that's all we can hope for right now," commented Selphie.

Suddenly a cry went up from Nida over the P.A. system. "We are under attack. I repeat, the Garden is under attack. Everyone to their assigned battle station."

Stunned, Selphie, Quistis, and Zell all looked at each other. "Lance!" they said simultaneously.

……….

Racing into the main part of the Garden on the first floor, the three SeeDs observed armed combat between Balamb and presumably Trabia Garden SeeDs and upper-classmen. Quistis experienced complete desolation as she realized they had waited too long to appeal to Squall and now there were SeeD killing SeeD over the fate of Rinoa.

Refusing to participate in such a ludicrous activity, the three veterans threw themselves courageously between the fighting factions. Quistis was snapping Save the Queen in any and all directions, while shouting, "Stop it! Stop fighting immediately. You're all SeeDs!"

Zell cut a superhuman swath through the fighting tossing friends and foes alike to the side unconscious where they could fight no more while Selphie jumped up and down screaming, "OH-SUPER-DUPER-MEGA-BUMMER!"

Lance suddenly appeared in the central area after racing down a corridor. He was holding Rinoa in his arms as if he had had to force her to escape. "Come on!" he shouted to his troops and he led the retreat himself racing to the front gates as if he were the wind itself. Even in his advanced age of thirty-six, Zell had kept himself in excellent physical shape and he was still reckoned as one of the two or three top speed merchants in the Garden, but he couldn't keep Lance within his sight.

When he returned to Quistis and Selphie, he spotted Squall standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the elevators. The headmaster appeared completely desolate. As Zell approached him, Squall asked in a low tone, "Did Lance and Rinoa escape?"

Zell nodded his head in the affirmative. When Squall sighed, "Good," the blond-haired SeeD suddenly realized how conflicted the entire situation had left Squall. He was actually pulling for the people who were killing his troops.

Before Zell could respond, some SeeDs ran by shouting, "Everyone, get organized. We're headed to Trabia! We want revenge!"

Squall looked sorrowfully at Zell and murmured, "Revenge. The most useless reason to wage a war."