I'm trying to write the story I had originally intended.
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the newbies are mine.
To warn you, this is starting to get gory. There are also slight hints of couples developing, but they're so slight as to almost not exist. This might change later. I say again, this is gory, or at least getting really violent.
Here goes the Caraway and Rinoa bashing again. It's not intentional.. Or at least it didn't start off that way...
~
Chapter 14
"A red herring?" Cid blinked, "Isn't that melodramatic?"
Max rolled his eyes, "A little, but considering the way things may work out..." he shrugged, "Never mind. Caraway sent them to deal with 'rogue' Guardians, but there is no such thing. All of the Guardians are perfectly content to leave humans alone. The only Guardians that might conceivably interfere with humans are Odin, Gilgamesh and Phoenix. And they'll only do that if asked. The rest were bound to servitude, and hated it. Granted, they got to liking specific masters, but it was just that, they were masters, not allies, not friends."
Cid coughed, "Well, even that's slightly beside the point. There was an ambush intended for them."
"How'd you know?" Irvine leaned across the back of the chair he'd plopped back into.
"Because Rinoa informed me of the trap that had been set to catch all four Gardens," Cid sighed, "Trabia Garden is being held under her power, and Galbadia Garden was taken over by Caraway's soldiers."
"Why?" Squall blinked, "She gave up the power, so she has no reason to do this."
"Caraway has always wanted the powers of the Guardians," Cid rubbed the bridge of his nose, under his glasses, "And they knew this, so they avoided him. He's never Junctioned to a Guardian, and it has slowly angered him beyond all reason. He's still a brilliant tactician, as is evidenced by the take-overs of the other two functioning Gardens. And the fact that he left this one alone because of who is here."
"He still fears Matron," Irvine drawled, "Not surprising."
"No," Cid shook his head, "We got a rather disturbing and unexpected visit from Doctor Odine."
"So the old blockhead came up with a way to keep it from exploding?" Max said under his breath.
"What?" Cid and the other two blinked at him in shock.
"Odine has been working on a variation of his Sorceress bangles for years," Max rubbed the back of his neck, "He's just as obsessed with the Guardians as Caraway. They must have decided to work together. And Odine must have finally perfected the damn things."
"Are you sure?" Cid's whole body seemed to be trembling.
Max nodded grimly, "Tiamat, Bahamut and Gilgamesh have been captured."
~
Just as they left the sanctuary of the tomb, the SeeD instructors were attacked by a sense of unease. It may have had something to do with the physical attack launched at them at the same time, but perhaps it had more to do with the abrupt departure of the three Guardians, as though they had been drawn.
The ranks were a mixture of soldiers and monsters, though they couldn't figure out how that had happened. The instructors spread out, fighting the monsters full force, and only fighting to knock out the human opponents. This put them at a disadvantage, as both sets of enemies were out to kill them.
Zell found himself surrounded by human soldiers with guns, and had to run around in circles to avoid the sprays of bullets. -If the others saw this, I'd never live it down. They'd think I was dancing! Or worse, that it was some new variation of the 'fly swatting!'-
He finally got close enough to one of the soldiers that the others actually had to be careful of their aim. A bullet that Zell hadn't anticipated sliced across the skin of his cheek, and Zell jerked his head away. Which happened to save his life, as the next bullet flew past where his skull had been and settled with a wet thunk into the head of another soldier. Zell kicked a few times, causing two or three to fall into one another, and then rounded on the ones that had been behind him.
Standing where the soldiers had been was Lynne. The redhead had at first tried to just dodge everything, rather than actually fight, as his staff would almost instantly cause him to lose all rationality, to fight blindly against anything that attacked him, without holding back any force. By this time, he'd given up, and Zell could see that his usually brown eyes were almost black at this time.
"I'm still myself," Lynne muttered, "Almost. It's not so hard to fight mad if you go with it. I still can't keep from killin' though."
Zell nodded, understanding, "It always is harder to spare than to destroy."
The two parted, Lynne to aid Edgar, who was facing about the same odds that Zell had. Zell dashed to help Eric, who was trying to help Ariadne.
The female of the group had been the main target of the monsters. This was good, in that she could fight without holding back, but also bad because she had to keep from holding back. Eric had quickly joined her, slashing and clawing at whatever monsters got too close to Ariadne for her to effectively hit with her whip.
When Zell got there, the majority of the monsters had fallen, and Eric was visibly gasping for air. Ariadne was fighting the urge to collapse straight out, and Zell stepped in front of both of them, cracking skulls and ripping out vertebrae as the creatures ventured within the reach of his hands.
"Thanks," Eric gasped, as he stepped closer to Ariadne, who just fell to the ground, "We needed some help."
"Is Edgar okay?" Ariadne asked, looking around blindly. One of the monsters had gotten close enough to swipe at her head. She'd been lucky enough to pull back so that her head wasn't ripped off, but the claws had scraped across her eyes, "What about Lynne?"
Eric ripped part of his shirt, and pressed it gently in a folded square to her eyes, "Zell's dealing with the rest, Lynne hasn't gone totally berserk, and Edgar seems to be holding up fine."
She nodded, "Figures I'd get the worst of it. Who knew that even the monsters were sexist?"
"Nah," Eric grinned, though she couldn't see, "They're probably just mad that you're a pretty human, and not one of their species."
Zell shook his head, used to them.
Edgar walked slowly to their little resting place, supporting Lynne half over his shoulder, "Got any healing items left? Lynne managed to deal with the last of them, but he got sideswiped as one fell."
"Ow," Lynne groaned as Edgar dropped him. He looked around and gave a short bark of humorless laughter, "Somehow, we're right back at the mouth of the tomb. Why do I not feel comforted by this?"
Eric stood to hand a potion to Edgar, "I really wish you hadn't said anything about that."
"Why not?" the leader of the troops finally stepped into their field of vision.
"Caraway?!" Zell squawked, "What the hell?"
"Such a pity the rogue Guardians killed you five," Caraway sighed dramatically, "but you interfered with their great escape. They had to do something to keep you from stopping their goal to take over the world."
"You're kidding me..." Ariadne stood as well, "They aren't even interested in ruling."
"Is that what your excuse for containing all of them is gonna be?" Zell yelled, as he, Lynne, and Edgar stood from the grass.
"I admit," Caraway nodded, "It is a little over the top," he waved a hand at several of his reinforcement soldiers, "But the people will believe it, especially since my daughter will corroborate with the story. She never really gave up her powers, you know. She just fooled all of you into thinking she had."
Zell shuddered, "So is the power of a Sorceress automatically corrupt?"
"I don't know," Caraway responded, "And I don't care. It serves my purposes. I will have all of the Guardians, and my daughter will have all of the magic. I say that we deserve for things to finally go right in our lives, don't you?"
One soldier stepped from among the rest, and then focused his gun on the small group.
"You all went insane after the Guardians killed you," Caraway explained, "I suppose that that kind of a death would cause anyone to become undead, so we had to shoot you with bullets specially made by Odine to kill the undead in one hit. They also happen to be good at killing humans in one shot."
The soldier fired at Ariadne, who gasped in shock. Eric jumped in front of her, and then collapsed into her, with a hole in his stomach from the blast he'd taken for her.
"Oh no," Ariadne crouched low over him, "Why did you do that?"
"Don't be sad, girl," Caraway's voice seemed a bit farther away, "Your turn will come soon enough."
The sniper fired four more times in quick succession, and the other four fell to the ground.
~
*blinks* uh... Please don't kill me!
I think I know how things will work out... *flinches* I really do think I know how this will work out...
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the newbies are mine.
To warn you, this is starting to get gory. There are also slight hints of couples developing, but they're so slight as to almost not exist. This might change later. I say again, this is gory, or at least getting really violent.
Here goes the Caraway and Rinoa bashing again. It's not intentional.. Or at least it didn't start off that way...
~
Chapter 14
"A red herring?" Cid blinked, "Isn't that melodramatic?"
Max rolled his eyes, "A little, but considering the way things may work out..." he shrugged, "Never mind. Caraway sent them to deal with 'rogue' Guardians, but there is no such thing. All of the Guardians are perfectly content to leave humans alone. The only Guardians that might conceivably interfere with humans are Odin, Gilgamesh and Phoenix. And they'll only do that if asked. The rest were bound to servitude, and hated it. Granted, they got to liking specific masters, but it was just that, they were masters, not allies, not friends."
Cid coughed, "Well, even that's slightly beside the point. There was an ambush intended for them."
"How'd you know?" Irvine leaned across the back of the chair he'd plopped back into.
"Because Rinoa informed me of the trap that had been set to catch all four Gardens," Cid sighed, "Trabia Garden is being held under her power, and Galbadia Garden was taken over by Caraway's soldiers."
"Why?" Squall blinked, "She gave up the power, so she has no reason to do this."
"Caraway has always wanted the powers of the Guardians," Cid rubbed the bridge of his nose, under his glasses, "And they knew this, so they avoided him. He's never Junctioned to a Guardian, and it has slowly angered him beyond all reason. He's still a brilliant tactician, as is evidenced by the take-overs of the other two functioning Gardens. And the fact that he left this one alone because of who is here."
"He still fears Matron," Irvine drawled, "Not surprising."
"No," Cid shook his head, "We got a rather disturbing and unexpected visit from Doctor Odine."
"So the old blockhead came up with a way to keep it from exploding?" Max said under his breath.
"What?" Cid and the other two blinked at him in shock.
"Odine has been working on a variation of his Sorceress bangles for years," Max rubbed the back of his neck, "He's just as obsessed with the Guardians as Caraway. They must have decided to work together. And Odine must have finally perfected the damn things."
"Are you sure?" Cid's whole body seemed to be trembling.
Max nodded grimly, "Tiamat, Bahamut and Gilgamesh have been captured."
~
Just as they left the sanctuary of the tomb, the SeeD instructors were attacked by a sense of unease. It may have had something to do with the physical attack launched at them at the same time, but perhaps it had more to do with the abrupt departure of the three Guardians, as though they had been drawn.
The ranks were a mixture of soldiers and monsters, though they couldn't figure out how that had happened. The instructors spread out, fighting the monsters full force, and only fighting to knock out the human opponents. This put them at a disadvantage, as both sets of enemies were out to kill them.
Zell found himself surrounded by human soldiers with guns, and had to run around in circles to avoid the sprays of bullets. -If the others saw this, I'd never live it down. They'd think I was dancing! Or worse, that it was some new variation of the 'fly swatting!'-
He finally got close enough to one of the soldiers that the others actually had to be careful of their aim. A bullet that Zell hadn't anticipated sliced across the skin of his cheek, and Zell jerked his head away. Which happened to save his life, as the next bullet flew past where his skull had been and settled with a wet thunk into the head of another soldier. Zell kicked a few times, causing two or three to fall into one another, and then rounded on the ones that had been behind him.
Standing where the soldiers had been was Lynne. The redhead had at first tried to just dodge everything, rather than actually fight, as his staff would almost instantly cause him to lose all rationality, to fight blindly against anything that attacked him, without holding back any force. By this time, he'd given up, and Zell could see that his usually brown eyes were almost black at this time.
"I'm still myself," Lynne muttered, "Almost. It's not so hard to fight mad if you go with it. I still can't keep from killin' though."
Zell nodded, understanding, "It always is harder to spare than to destroy."
The two parted, Lynne to aid Edgar, who was facing about the same odds that Zell had. Zell dashed to help Eric, who was trying to help Ariadne.
The female of the group had been the main target of the monsters. This was good, in that she could fight without holding back, but also bad because she had to keep from holding back. Eric had quickly joined her, slashing and clawing at whatever monsters got too close to Ariadne for her to effectively hit with her whip.
When Zell got there, the majority of the monsters had fallen, and Eric was visibly gasping for air. Ariadne was fighting the urge to collapse straight out, and Zell stepped in front of both of them, cracking skulls and ripping out vertebrae as the creatures ventured within the reach of his hands.
"Thanks," Eric gasped, as he stepped closer to Ariadne, who just fell to the ground, "We needed some help."
"Is Edgar okay?" Ariadne asked, looking around blindly. One of the monsters had gotten close enough to swipe at her head. She'd been lucky enough to pull back so that her head wasn't ripped off, but the claws had scraped across her eyes, "What about Lynne?"
Eric ripped part of his shirt, and pressed it gently in a folded square to her eyes, "Zell's dealing with the rest, Lynne hasn't gone totally berserk, and Edgar seems to be holding up fine."
She nodded, "Figures I'd get the worst of it. Who knew that even the monsters were sexist?"
"Nah," Eric grinned, though she couldn't see, "They're probably just mad that you're a pretty human, and not one of their species."
Zell shook his head, used to them.
Edgar walked slowly to their little resting place, supporting Lynne half over his shoulder, "Got any healing items left? Lynne managed to deal with the last of them, but he got sideswiped as one fell."
"Ow," Lynne groaned as Edgar dropped him. He looked around and gave a short bark of humorless laughter, "Somehow, we're right back at the mouth of the tomb. Why do I not feel comforted by this?"
Eric stood to hand a potion to Edgar, "I really wish you hadn't said anything about that."
"Why not?" the leader of the troops finally stepped into their field of vision.
"Caraway?!" Zell squawked, "What the hell?"
"Such a pity the rogue Guardians killed you five," Caraway sighed dramatically, "but you interfered with their great escape. They had to do something to keep you from stopping their goal to take over the world."
"You're kidding me..." Ariadne stood as well, "They aren't even interested in ruling."
"Is that what your excuse for containing all of them is gonna be?" Zell yelled, as he, Lynne, and Edgar stood from the grass.
"I admit," Caraway nodded, "It is a little over the top," he waved a hand at several of his reinforcement soldiers, "But the people will believe it, especially since my daughter will corroborate with the story. She never really gave up her powers, you know. She just fooled all of you into thinking she had."
Zell shuddered, "So is the power of a Sorceress automatically corrupt?"
"I don't know," Caraway responded, "And I don't care. It serves my purposes. I will have all of the Guardians, and my daughter will have all of the magic. I say that we deserve for things to finally go right in our lives, don't you?"
One soldier stepped from among the rest, and then focused his gun on the small group.
"You all went insane after the Guardians killed you," Caraway explained, "I suppose that that kind of a death would cause anyone to become undead, so we had to shoot you with bullets specially made by Odine to kill the undead in one hit. They also happen to be good at killing humans in one shot."
The soldier fired at Ariadne, who gasped in shock. Eric jumped in front of her, and then collapsed into her, with a hole in his stomach from the blast he'd taken for her.
"Oh no," Ariadne crouched low over him, "Why did you do that?"
"Don't be sad, girl," Caraway's voice seemed a bit farther away, "Your turn will come soon enough."
The sniper fired four more times in quick succession, and the other four fell to the ground.
~
*blinks* uh... Please don't kill me!
I think I know how things will work out... *flinches* I really do think I know how this will work out...