Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or its characters.
Author's Note: Okay well I took longer than expected cause I finished this fic, so I'm posting all three remaining parts today. Hope you enjoy. Also please note that its left open for a possible sequel so watch out!
Chapter 25: Negotiations
"So we rode down to the river where the toiling ghosts strain
for their curses to be broken…
We'd go underneath the arches where the witches are in there saying
There are ghost towns in the ocean…
The ocean…"
Cemeteries of London- Coldplay
Irvine yawned, readjusting his hat as he stretched his lanky form out in the co-pilot chair of Ragnarok. He tilted his head slightly, watching his girlfriend's legs sticking out from under the front control panel. He smiled to himself at her affinity for short skirts as he listened to her soft mutters and the sound of her tools scraping against metal and wiring. Occasionally she would reach a hand out, blindly feeling around on the floor until he pushed her tool box closer with the toe of his boot so that she could find what she needed.
They were scheduled to fly out this morning in a little over an hour, and though Trabia Garden's techs had done a pretty sound repair job on the airship there were certain things that Selphie was particular about. She'd coaxed him out of bed early that morning to come and check on the ship herself. At five in the morning, he'd been sorely tempted to roll back over and go to sleep. But he figured he could catch some shut eye while she fiddled with the controls.
His eyes closed as he listened to the sounds of Selphie working and he drifted in a place somewhere between wakeness and slumber for a time. The artificial light of the ship washed over his closed lids and he tilted the brim of his hat further down to shade them.
Peacefulness settled over him and he allowed himself to linger in it, aware that peace was often fleeting in a world full of monsters.
Some time passed this way before Selphie slid out from under the control panel. She shimmied forward before sitting up, tugging at the hem of her short yellow dress. She looked up at the peaceful dozing face of her boyfriend- half concealed behind his hat and the long bangs that fell along the side of his cheek. Dropping her tools into the toolbox she closed it with some force, startling Irvine so that he sat up straight and stiff as a board. She stifled a giggle, pushing herself to her feet.
"I'm all done here."
Irvine stretched, arching his back with a groan.
"How long do we have till the others get here?" he asked.
"Maybe twenty minutes. Long enough to grab a bagel or something, but not much else."
Nodding, he stood as well and pressed the button to lower the ship's ramp. Selphie tucked the toolbox away in the small storage compartment before following him off Ragnarok. Her small hand slipped into his and Irvine smiled, giving it a squeeze. They made their way towards Trabia Garden's front gates where the school was tightly tethered to one of Balamb City's jutting concrete piers. The Garden bobbed slightly with the tempo of the waves rolling in. Irvine's long legs spanned the gap to the pier in one step and he reached up to lift his girlfriend down to steady ground. Selphie tucked herself under his arm and the two made their way towards a nearby oceanside café.
oooOOOOooo
Squall surveyed the gleaming red and silver hull of the airship that currently sat in Trabia Garden's large docking bay. The ramp was lowered and he could hear Selphie's voice echoing across the vast room. Rinoa walked at his heels, her footsteps clicking across the polished stone floor. Her presence these days was constant and comforting. He wouldn't admit he wanted her there since she was technically still a civilian and really shouldn't be coming along on a mission. Although, right now he didn't exactly have SeeDs to spare in any case.
After this hopefully successful visit to talk with the GFs was completed, there would still be a monumental task ahead of them. B Garden was trashed and would have to be rebuilt nearly from the ground up. The numbers of dead were staggering and they still had yet to account for Laguna's disappearance,their relationship with Esthar would eventually disintegrate, so he doubted the city would be providing them with the latest technologynor even help to rebuild their mobile school. These thoughts weighed on Squall with an unbearable pressure that he doubted was soon to be lifted.
It wasn't time to be thinking about these things just yet. If peace couldn't be negotiated today there may not even be time to rebuild.
He and Rinoa boarded the ramp to the airship together and Selphie stopped chattering to see who was arriving. She smiled and waved a greeting that only Rin returned. Squall could see that aside from the petite pilot Irvine and Zell were also already present. He made his way towards the main controls checking the course on the small screen. Everything was set for departure.
He turned away when he heard footfalls on the ramp again. Quistis approached but Squall scowled when he saw Seifer over her shoulder. The other man returned his look half-heartedly, almost as if he was resigned to be there.
Squall approached him, his hand curling into a fist in response to the urge to draw his weapon. The ex-Knight had proven he was on their side this time, but that didn't mean Squall was going to trust him.
"I didn't expect to see you here. I'm sure Quistis told you that this is a mission of peace."
"No offense, Commander," Seifer began with a smirk that said otherwise. "But intentions aside, there is no guarantee that this mission won't just be another battle."
Squall knew he was right, and that annoyed him more.
"Why are you here, Seifer?"
"Let's just say I want to see this through to the end."
Squall knew there was more to it than that, but accepted the answer anyway, mostly because the rest of it really wasn't his business.
"Just don't cause any trouble," he warned, moving to join Selphie and Irvine at the front of the ship where they were readying for take-off.
Seifer only rolled his eyes and moved to sit beside Quistis near the back. Rinoa was leaning across the aisle talking to her and she paused to offer him a warm smile. Zell was seated in front of them and turned to glare at him, looking somewhat like a petulant child.
"You're like a bad penny."
"Really Chickenwuss, that's a good one… it almost hurts… oh wait, no."
He could see Zell's tattooed face twitch in irritation, but he turned away, bored with him, and looked out the small window as Ragnarok shuddered to life with a low hum of its powerful engines. The airship lifted up, hovering over the concrete floor of the docking bay before arching gracefully through the large open doors and into the sky. Seifer watched as Balamb City grew smaller below them. Then, the ship banked, coming around to fly out over the ocean toward their destination.
oooOOOOooo
The Salt Flats stretched out before them like some white-washed endless landscape - a parched desert, bare of foliage and of life except for the monsters that subsided off of consuming one another.
Selphie had brought them in to land not far from the coordinates Dr. Odine had provided them with. Though they had been told that the ruins were not far, there was no sign of any building or even the remains of one as they looked out into the distance.
The group gathered at the foot of the ship's ramp, boots crunching onthe dry packed salt that stretched out like white sand, staining their soles. The sun hung high in the clear sky, casting its light in a wash over the monochromatic landscape. There was no breeze today, and the dry heat remained with no shadows stretching across the ground to offer any relief.
Quistis moved finally to take point, plugging the coordinates into her comm. device. When she started forward the others moved to follow, their feet not even leaving tracks on the ground.
The heat was so dry that Seifer felt his sweat evaporating before it settled on his skin. His throat was dry and he swallowed to find his voice. Beside him Quistis alternated between staring down at her comm. unit and gazing searchingly at the land before them. When she came to a sudden stop he glanced around, wondering if she'd seen something he'd missed; but the ground lay flat and unbroken before them.
"I don't understand," she said. "These are the coordinates."
He shrugged slightly, glancing left and right.
"There's nothing here. Maybe that crazy little guy lied to you."
"You mean we came all the way out here for nothing!?" Zell's complaint was overly loud and he glared accusingly at Seifer as if it were somehow all his fault.
"Don't be so hasty," Squall said, stepping around them. "It's probably hidden. I doubt they've advertised the location."
The seven of them spread out, searching the area with careful eyes. There were no rocks or plants to serve as any sort of cover so Seifer began to search the ground for inconsistencies -a patch of salt that wasn't packed down as firmly as the rest.
As they searched the area, Quistis spared the occasional glance in Seifer's direction. She still wondered why he had chosen to remain. In the morning when she'd emerged from her shower, she'd found him dressed and sitting at the foot of her bed, patiently asking her what time they'd be leaving.
Baffled she'd dumbly replied, not asking why he'd changed his mind. He'd offered no explanation. Their avoidance of the topic was because neither of them wanted to ponder the significance of his decision to stay.
She was jarred from her thoughts at the sound of a loud "Ooof!" as Zell, who had been wandering about five yards away from her, tripped on something and fell- sprawling to his stomach on the ground.
They all turned to stare at him, Seifer snickering as Zell groaned and pushed himself to his feet. Quistis couldn't help but be amused as she watched him. The entire front of his shirt and shorts were coated in a layer of white salt so fine it looked like dust. The salt was even caked to the side of his face and she watched as he leaned down to rub it from his now reddened knees, wincing slightly.
"Are you okay Zell?" Selphie asked, moving to wipe the dust from his cheek. She only succeeded in smearing it across his face and he frowned at her, ducking away from her reaching hand.
"Yeah I'm fine. Tripped over something."
Quistis was already scanning the area near him, and her blue eyes landed on a small seam in the ground, from which a small sharp edge jutted up out of the salt. White and porous, it would have looked like a rock were it not for the barely visible line in the silty salt that Zell's foot jarring against the protrusion had uncovered.
Wordlessly she moved to slip her fingers into the seam, tugging with some force. With a rattle the trap door hefted upwards, heavy from the salt and silt piled atop it. The dust rained down below as well, trickling away to disappear down into the darkened hole she had revealed. She released the door and it fell fully open. The air the that drifted up was cool and had a slightly musty smell. The others gathered around, peering down into the darkness.
The light that filtered down from above revealed a ladder tucked against the side of the deep and narrow entrance. Rinoa casted a weak fira spell, letting the flame drift down into the darkness. It fell at least a good twenty feet, and they watched to see if it cast its light on anything other than the sides of the hole.
When the spell extinguished, Squall stepped forward, motioning for Quistis to move aside.
"Follow me down. Irvine, bring up the rear."
When the sharpshooter nodded, Squall turned and began his descent, moving down out of the heat of the sun and into the cool darkness. Rinoa followed and soon they were all making their way underground.
At the bottom the ground was hard beneath their feet and the cavern was wider, branching out in three directions- tunnels that lead away from the entrance. Each path was lit by narrow blue strips of light that were inset into the ceilings.
"We'll have to split up," Squall said, pitching his voice low in the echoing cavern. "Selphie and Irvine will go left. Quistis and Zell take Seifer right. Rinoa and I will take the center path."
Seifer's jaw twitched as he glanced down at Zell, who was glaring up at him withcontempt. Quistis sighed, feeling once again like the harried instructor she'd once been as she stepped between the two. Grabbing Seifer by the arm, she dragged him towards the right path, Zell trailing behind with some reluctance.
The three walked along in silence for some time, Zell's fists clenching and unclenching as Seifer valiantly ignored him. Or perhaps he only ignored him because he was aware that Zell only wanted a reaction. Quistis, for her part, was grateful that they were quiet as she scanned the area ahead of them. The soft hum of the lights above them was the only sound aside from their footsteps. The whole hallway was made out of carved sandstone. The walls were smooth but punctuated now and again by small metal fixtures that looked like old-fashioned lanterns. The metal was tarnished now though, and the oil inside had long evaporated away.
The lights that now illuminated the halls were clearly new additions, and Quistis could see where the rock had been clumsily cut away to put them into place. It was rather a shame that ruins which had otherwise been in such good shape had been desecrated. The hallway seemed to continue on endlessly in a straight line. No other halls bisected it and there were no openings of any sort. It left her wondering what exactly these ruins had once been used for.
"Why build a hallway that goes on forever?" Seifer asked, seeming to echo her thoughts.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps whatever we find at the end will give us some clue."
"Unless all we find is a bunch of pissed off Guardian Forces."
She sighed but didn't disagree. If they came across the GFs and they were not open to negotiating a peace treaty… she wasn't sure how much of a chance they stood. Seifer and Squall were still un-juctioned, unable to take a Guardian Force because of the damage caused when the last ones broke free. Dr. Kadowaki had surmised that the injuries would be fully healed by the end of the week, but until then they were without the ability to summon.
Seifer didn't mind, as he'd rarely used GFs before. He preferred his weapon to magic anyway; she guessed that there was something more satisfying about that sort of combat for him. She, on the other hand, was very comfortable with magic.
Quistis could see something ahead- the end of the tunnel. It appeared to be a door, as there was some light filtering from underneath. The others had seen it as well, for Zell made a pointing motion as he released a sigh of relief.
As they approached they slowed, their footsteps whispering over the stone floor. The door was also a newer addition to the ruins. Wedged into the stone opening was a metal frame what was socketed into place. A glowing panel on the right side of the frame contained a number pad.
"Great." Quistis sighed. "We need an entrance code."
Before she could move to examine it better, Seifer pushed her aside. She saw the ripple of a thunder spell leaving his fingers before the panel shorted out, bursting forth sparks and issuing smoke. She opened her mouth to berate him when the door slid open with a soft hiss.
They peered into the room, finding it packed with stuff but empty of any signs of life. Scowling, Quistis turned to Seifer.
"You had no idea what that spell would have done. It could have very well locked us out."
He shrugged, stepping into the room.
"I took a chance. Your way would have taken too long."
She rolled her eyes and followed him, Zell hovering behind her. The same inset lights were present in here. Though the room was also made of stone she could see that the walls were decorated with elaborately carved scenes. She paused to study one: the image of a man wearing a crown and raising his arms above him. Over his head floated a creature with horns and wings, its head thrown back in a roar. Quistis' jaw dropped as she stared at the carving.
"He's summoning."
Zell moved to her side to take a look.
"Wow. You're right."
Seifer snorted from his place across the room.
"A little naïve to assume that no one before SeeD ever had the ability to use a GF."
The conversation died off when Quistis moved towards the altar at the center of the room. It came up about waist high and there were grooves carved into its top in intricate designs. Similar grooves were carved at the base of the altar, running down to a small grate in the floor.
"Looks like this place was once used for sacrifice…" she murmured.
Despite the altar and the décor, everything else in the chamber was of a more modern design. Several metal tables had been set up along two of the walls. They were piled with computers and communication devices. Another table was littered with spare parts and stacks of papers.
"Well, it looks like this is how they've been keeping in contact with Galbadia."
She ran her fingers over the communication equipment just as her own comm. device beeped once before issuing Squall's voice.
"Quistis, Selphie and Irvine have located the GFs and they've agreed to talk. Meet us at the room down the West passage."
"Understood, Commander." She closed the line then turned to her companions. "Let's go."
oooOOOOooo
This other room they were now crowded into, along with the two familiar female Guardian Forces, was very different from the rest of the underground ruins. Here the stone walls were worn away, crumbling as if they were as insubstantial as dust. The carvings had long been gone and only weathered hints of what may have once been lovely works of art remained.
A map was hung along the back wall- carefully detailed with geographic information. Red marks were slashed across it in several places. Below the map was an Estharian computer terminal that was currently on- emitting a low light. Other than that the room was virtually empty.
The two GFs stood on either side of the computer, looking much the same as the last time they had seen them. The black cloak the Merchant wore (Seifer liked to think of her as the merchant of death) was a stark contrast to her white skin and red hair. She stared silently at them, her eyes like liquid gold. Seifer longed to see them ooze out of their sockets like the congealed blood of the SeeDs still staining Garden's flagstones.
He stood close enough to Quistis that he could smell her shampoo and that lotion she rubbed on after her shower. Half-shielded by her, he slid his hand down over the curve of her hip to rest lightly on her ass. Quistis stiffened and her elbow shot out, catching him between the ribs so that he let out a loud wheeze of pain. Several of the room's occupants turned to stare at him and he glared back. When he straightened up, he curled his hand around the butt of his gunblade. It hung at his hip and he felt comforted by the weight of it pressing against his thigh as he tried to ignore the ache in his ribs.
Squall was talking, though Seifer only heard half of anything that was said. Squall looked tense, the set of his spine rigid, but Seifer guessed that his eyes were as hard and blank as ice. It was as if the man was carved out of marble- a statue that spoke, a living doll. Seifer wondered how anyone could go through life tamping down their emotions so much that they stifled every part of themselves.
He glanced around the room. Zell was leaning restlessly against the wall furthest from him, arms crossed over his chest. Selphie stood leaning against the back of the much taller Irvine. Her short yellow jumper was out of place there and she yawned- her mouth stretching so wide he swore he could see her tonsils. Grimacing, he glanced away, staring instead at the back of Quistis' head and the flipped bit of blonde hair that stuck out of the top of her clip. He wanted to take it out and let her hair fall free down her back- slip over the enticingly bared skin of her shoulders. He set his jaw and turned away to watch Squall talking with the GFs.
"…we're not going to demand reparations for the damage you caused or the lives that were lost in your attack. We only want assurances there will be no future attacks."
The woman with the silvery hair, for whom they had no name (but who Seifer remembered as the one that had impersonated the Estharian President), looked back at the young Commander, her lips twisted into a smirk.
"I doubt you had any illusions that you could demand anything of us."
When Squall said nothing she simply continued, turning away to gaze steadily at her map.
"We both know that if we do not agree on peace here, it will be a fight between the free Guardian Forces and those who choose to remain under your control. We're not so easy to kill, so the only casualties would be human."
"We don't want another war, and I'm sure that's not what you want either."
She smiled at him slowly. "You're right. It's a waste of time and energy. We simply wish to be left alone."
"Where? To remain here? You're awfully close to the borders of Esthar City. Once they figure out you're responsible for their President's death…"
Squall left that unfinished, his own hands curling into fists as he stared at her. Though there was no hint of anger in his face or posture, she felt uneasy when he looked at her and glanced away.
"We don't want to be near human cities. We want no interference from your kind at all."
"Then its best if you found a home in an isolated area," he told her, motioning to the map.
Behind him Rinoa stepped forward. "Squall, what about Centra? The only thing populating that area is monsters."
Squall nodded, pointing out the location to the GFs, who watched him wordlessly. "There's nothing there but a few ruins now. If you think you can handle the monsters, I'm sure you'd be able to establish a base, or city of some sort."
The two women exchanged glances, looking distrustfully at the humans for a long moment.
"We will survey the area first… but your suggestion may be agreeable," the silvery haired one finally said.
"And one more thing," Squall said as they turned to their computer. "We won't interfere with you, but you're not to interfere with any humans either. You do not attack or harm them; you do not go into their cities. You leave us be, and we'll leave you be."
She smiled at him slowly, a dark, knowing smile full of promise. Her lips were painted red and shined like blood against the olive tones of her skin.
"Of course, Commander…"