26. Irvine's Revelations
After Fujin and Raijin left Balamb, Galbadia swiftly evacuated. By the time Balamb Garden was airborne again and they'd flown round to the other side of the island, Galbadia Garden was already well on it's way out. Squall decided not to follow them. It was more important, he insisted, to get themselves properly prepared. They picked up any students who were still in Balamb, thought most, they discovered, had gone home, and were scattered all around the world. Squall realised it would be futile to fly around the world to try and find them. In a time of crisis, spending days, weeks maybe searching for students they may not even find would be wasteful; dangerous, indeed, whilst the Sorceress was wreaking havoc. He was, however, left with the question of where to go next, for it would be equally futile to fly all around the world looking for Galbadia Garden.
It was Selphie who put forwards the next destination in the end. It was a couple of days after they'd liberated Balamb, and they were still on the island making preparations, collecting people, weapons and so forth. He'd taken a breather and was resting in his room, when she knocked at his door.
"What is it?" he enquired bluntly.
Selphie looked down at the floor and scratched the top of her head, avoiding his gaze. She'd never really spoken to him one-on-one before, not without Zell or Irvine or somebody like that around. "Umm, have you decided on a destination?"
"Still thinking about it." He told her.
"Um, can we maybe go to Trabia Garden?" she asked, managing to look up.
"Trabia? Wasn't that destroyed by missiles?" he was confused, but the look on Selphie's face made him click instantly.
Of course! She wants to make sure everyone's ok.
"Sorry." He apologised. "I forgot. I'll keep it in mind."
"We could maybe get the Trabia SeeDs to join us. If… if it wasn't destroyed, we could activate their Garden, and… and then we'd have two mobile Garden's to fight the Sorceress with, so…" her words came pouring out now as she tried to think of more excuses for them to go.
Squall held up his hand to stop her. "It's ok. We'll go."
"Really? Thanks Squall!" she hugged him, and then feeling a little self-conscious turned away.
Trabia Garden was isolated up in the mountainous snowfields of the northern-most continent, and as such, the going was not particularly easy, as the Garden didn't fly particularly high, and in any case, they would have to find somewhere to land. Selphie had invited herself up to the cockpit and was incessantly annoying Nida by being a back-seat driver.
"If you carry on up between this mountain range, then turn to your right at the end, it's secluded at the base of the mountains!" she was practically jumping into the driving seat herself.
"Selphie, I know! I've got a map right here, and in any case, I can follow the roads beneath us!" Nida just wanted her to shut up.
"Oh, OK!" Selphie was cheerful as always. "Well anyway, if you make a little turn…"
"Selphie, please! I know where I'm going."
"Selphie, it's ok. Nida's been trained, he knows where he's going!" Quistis came to his rescue.
"She's only trying to help." Of course, Irvine had followed Selphie and was taking her side.
"See! See! Irvine agrees with me!" Selphie jumped up and down delightedly, to the pleasure of Irvine, for apparently winning her over, and the annoyance of everyone else. "Look, we'll just turn the corner and…"
She broke off her speech as they turned round the corner and saw Trabia. It looked like there was no chance of this Garden ever taking off. There were huge holes in the roof, debris lying everywhere; the walls burnt and scarred.
"A… direct hit?" Selphie dropped to her knees as she stated the obvious in despair.
"Looks pretty bad…" Squall agreed.
"We have to go in! See if we can help!" Selphie begged, and Squall was inclined to agree with her.
"Just a small party at first. I'll go, and Selphie? I assume you want to come." He turned to her.
"I have to. I have to see if people are ok." She was trying to stop from crying, Squall could see.
"I'll come too!" Irvine smoothly sidled up to them. "I should offer my support."
No chance!
It was common knowledge that Irvine was more than a tad interested in Selphie and Squall knew he only wanted to come along to further his efforts at getting in her pants. He shook his head.
"Sorry Irvine. Not on this one. Selphie's coming because she's a former student there, the rest of the party are representatives of Garden. I'm going as I'm the commander…"
"So who else then?" Irvine narrowed his eyes.
"Xu as mine and Cid's and second-in-command." Squall decided.
"Why not Cid himself?" Irvine wanted to know.
"I don't know where he's got to. He's taken himself away. Think about it. We're on a mission to kill his wife! How do you think he feels, knowing what he… what WE have to do? That someone he loves so much is causing so many people misery. I think he'd rather not be a part of this. But anyway, Quistis will be the other representative as my other second-in-command." Squall made his decision, which Irvine accepted, though he couldn't help wish Squall could be just a touch less business-like at times.
"Set the Garden down as soon as you can find somewhere suitable." Squall ordered Nida.
As they approached the Garden, four Trabia SeeDs came out to meet them. Since the attack, it seemed they were being much more on their guard.
"State your name and your purpose!" The group leader demanded.
"I am Squall Leonheart. Commander of SeeD!" he saluted.
"Commander of SeeD? Since when?" The man eyed him suspiciously.
"Since my appointment by Headmaster Cid Kramer." Squall adopted his most formal of tones. "We come in peace. We are from Balamb Garden." At this, he gestured towards their own Garden, hovering above the plains. The Trabian SeeDs eyes almost bulged out of his head.
"That… That's Balamb Garden, but… it's flying!" he stammered.
"There is a lot to report. I need to speak with your Garden Master." Squall told him.
"Mr Lazarus? Well… I still…"
"If you do not recognise me, perhaps you recognise my seconds. Quistis Trepe, and Xu, second to Cid himself."
The two women saluted.
"Well, Xu, yes I recognise you, but…"
"It's ok." Selphie approached the men and flashed her Trabia Student ID card. "We're friends. I'm a student from here myself. We had missiles launched at us as well, but we avoided them by getting our Garden mobile. We came to see, what… what had become of Trabia…" her voice cracked, but the men lowered their weapons.
"As you can see… We have not been so fortunate." He said sadly. "We got notice of the incoming missiles, and most of the students managed to get shelter or evacuate outside of the blast radius. Only 25 were killed and 153 injured. The problem is, all the available room is being used to tend to the injured, and many are without shelter. Well, see for yourselves…" he allowed them inside.
The scope of the damage was greater than they could have imagined. The paving was all ripped up and torn. All the trees and plants were burned away and few of the buildings were intact.
"I'll take the four of you to see Mr Lazarus." Their escort told them.
"Umm, Squall…" Selphie looked awkward, but Squall knew what she needed.
"It's ok Selphie. Go check up on your friends. We'll meet up later." Squall gave her permission to leave.
"Thank you Squall!" she gratefully left and ran off in search of her friends.
The three of them were lead into the basement of one of the ruined buildings, which had been set up as the new office. There was a lot of paperwork lying around; lying in whatever containers and cabinets had been salvaged.
"Um, Mr Lazarus, sir?" the man ventured.
"Yes Edwards, what is it?"
"There's some people from Balamb to see you sir…" Edwards retreated out the room.
Mr Lazarus looked thin and worn out. He was quite clearly in over his head trying to cope with the destruction of Trabia. His face was pale and heavy bags hung under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for days.
"Mr Lazarus? My name is Squall Leonheart. Commander of SeeD." Squall introduced himself.
"Commander of SeeD?" Lazarus looked confused.
"We have a lot to report sir." Xu stepped forwards. Lazarus leaned back.
"Xu? Um, well, hello. What brings you here? And, um…" he turned to Quistis. "I'm terribly sorry, I don't remember your name…"
"Quistis. Quistis Trepe. I've only been here once before."
"Yes, I recognise you as an instructor from Balamb, but, who's this commander of SeeD fellow?" Lazarus still looked bewildered.
"I was appointed by Headmaster Cid Kramer to command SeeD and lead it's battles." Squall started to explain the situation. "SeeD was trained to fight the Sorceress and now, our time has come to fulfil our job. I'm sure you have heard about Sorceress Edea overtaking Galbadia?" Lazarus just nodded dumbly as Squall continued. "She knows our purpose and thus aimed to destroy Garden." He paused and watched as Lazarus sunk back, taking it in and realising what had happened. "It was her who launched missiles at Trabia."
At this, Lazarus rose up, finally consumed with anger.
"She WHAT? She destroyed this place, killing and injuring students? But why does she hate SeeD so much? And why was it our purpose to destroy Sorceresses. And… And why didn't Balamb or Galbadia Gardens get destroyed…"
"Mr Lazarus, sir. There are many questions, some of which I don't know the answers to myself." He decided not to mention for one, that she was Cid's wife and had helped establish Garden in the first place; that would just confuse matters even more. "But the one's I can: Balamb survived because we discovered it was built from re-modelling a mobile Centra shelter. We re-activated it, and now our Garden is mobile. The missiles touched down in the hole where it used to be. Galbadia too, is mobile. But it was spared, as the Sorceress has taken it over, to use it as her mobile base." He paused again. "She is now on the hunt for someone named Ellone and is burning and destroying everything in her path in order to find her. Cid has now declared an official war for SeeD against her, and I have been appointed to command the battles. I don't know if you have received the order yourself…"
Lazarus threw his hands up in despair. "Doubtless you tried to send it to me! But most of the electrics are down! The communication cables are completely destroyed. It's a nightmare. We don't have enough space for people. That would be bad enough anywhere, but in the middle of the snowy mountains! When it starts to get colder, people will be freezing to death! And there's nothing we can do either, it's just…" he sank his head down in despair again.
"Mr Lazarus, I believe we can help each other here. As SeeDs, our job is now to fight Sorceress Edea, and for that, we need people, as many as we can get. We have plenty of spare dorms and food. Give me all your SeeDs who are able to fight. They can join us on Balamb Garden and help us in our fight. It will also free up space for those who need it. What do you say?"
Lazarus nodded slowly. It made sense, he realised. They really were so overcrowded since the disaster. He didn't know much about Sorceresses or Ellone, but he'd take whatever aid could be given right now.
"Take whoever you need." He agreed.
Squall nodded. "Thank you. You've been of great help. We'll leave as soon as we're ready."
There was a knock at the door and Edwards reappeared.
"Mr Leonheart, sir? Miss Tilmitt and her friends are waiting for you in the basketball court."
Selphie. And… her friends?
Squall groaned as he arrived. Irvine hadn't been able to stay away after all. And Zell and Rinoa had also followed him.
"We're leaving as soon as we've rounded up the SeeDs here." He informed them coldly. "Get back to Garden."
"Irvine told us to come along." Zell said confused. "He said there was something important we had to talk about."
"Which is?" Xu was curious.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Xu, Rinoa, it doesn't really concern you two." Irvine scratched his head apologetically.
"Irvine, what are you going on about?" Squall arched his eyebrow.
"Look, there's something we have to talk about before we go and attack the Sorceress. It's important."
"Irvine, I'm sure it can wait till afterwards…"
"NO!" Irvine's voice was solid and determined, all his usual jollity gone, so much so that it took them all by surprise. "This cannot wait until afterwards. So, Xu, Rinoa, I'm sorry, if you could…"
"Go and help Lazarus get the SeeDs together." Squall nodded at them, a little subdued, curious as to what Irvine thought was so desperate.
Xu nodded and left. Rinoa, however stayed.
"I'm staying!" she announced stubbornly. "I thought we were all friends! I don't know anyone else!"
Irvine paused, and then relented. "OK, you can stay then."
"So talk!" Squall looked at him and Irvine relaxed, back into his old, usual self.
"It's just all this war against the Sorceress." He began. "You all know of the last Sorceress war, right? There was a lot of destruction, a lot of death and bloodshed. I don't know how many of you remember your childhood. But I remember mine." His eyes seemed to glaze, as he went into a bout of nostalgia. He picked up a nearby basketball and bounced it a couple of times. "When I was a little kid… About 4 or so… I was in an orphanage." He broke off and threw the ball through the hoop, then sighed awkwardly. "Y'know, it was in the war. There were loads of kids… left without parents."
Squall didn't know what to say. He knew, of course, about losing his whole family. But he didn't know Irvine had gone through the same kind of ordeal.
"Anyway, that's where I was." Irvine continued his story. "Me, and a whole load of others. But anyway, out of all the kids there, one was very special to me. I really liked this girl, and it made me happy just talking to her." At this, he smiled directly at Selphie, who looked shell-shocked.
"Wait a minute…" she tried to get her head round it. "Was that orphanage… a stone house?"
Irvine's grin broadened. "You guessed it!"
"An old house, made of stone? …By the ocean?" To everyone except Irinve's surprise, it was Quistis who spoke this time. Irvine's grin broadened still.
"You guessed it! I knew right away when we first met!"
"Why didn't you tell us!?" the girls chorused.
"Cause you two seemed to have forgotten!" Irvine was still grinning. "And it sucked that I was the only one who remembered. Spunky little Sefie and bossy little Qusity!" he laughed thinking of their old childhood names.
"That is just sooo weird… IRVY!" Selphie laughed.
Zell, who had appeared to be thinking, finally spoke. "Guys…" he started out uneasily, "Do you remember setting off fireworks?"
"We got into so much trouble!" Irvine grinned.
"I remember that! Down by the lighthouse!" Quistis exclaimed. "Well, we were down there, and then you came to tell us off Zell!" it was her turn to laugh.
"I'm tell-ing!!! I'm gonna tell on yoo!!!" Selphie mimicked.
"Hey! Quit it!" Zell wasn't so amused; then a thought struck him. "If I remember this, does that mean I was there too? And… then, what about my parents in Balamb?"
"The Dincht's adopted you." Irvine informed him simply.
"Yeah… that's it. I remember now. I remember we were there. Me, and you, and Quistis and Selphie and…" he stopped in shock as he remembered someone else, "and… Seifer!"
"Oh my goodness! You're right!" Quistis clasped a hand to her mouth.
"Seifer… My archenemy…" Zell spoke slowly. How had he forgotten this?
But Squall had remained quiet as well. He was remembering things of his own. After his parents died, and he had been sent to an orphanage, along with his sister. He tried to remember the kids there. Well, Seifer had always been Seifer. Zell was always crying and screaming. Quistis, he thought she'd been a little difficult to deal with. And Selphie had always been full of energy. As for Irvine… No, he couldn't remember Irvine.
"Yes, Seifer was there too." Irvine nodded. "Except for Rinoa, we were all there."
"Wait a minute!" Selphie realised. "That means…"
Well, no point hiding it…
"Yes, I was there too." He admitted. "Me and my sister, till she left. And then I was always waiting for her to come back."
He thought of himself back then, and his dream came back to him. About him promising her he'd be ok without her. Except he hadn't turned out ok at all, he realised.
"I remember your sister!" Zell exclaimed. "And because you called her 'sis', we all did! She became a big sister to all of us. And now… I don't even remember her name."
"Ellone." Irvine spoke quietly.
"Yeah…" Squall agreed. "Irvine, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Seifer, Ellone and myself. I don't know what this means, but we were all together."
He was hiding it, but he felt like he'd been hit by a ton of bricks. Ellone. Ellone was his sister! She hadn't died after all! She was alive, and she'd been living in Garden. His head was reeling.
"Who are you? Where do I know you from?"
She looked hurt. "Come on Squall. Try to remember. Please."
"Remember?" As far as he was concerned, the first time he'd ever seen her was in the infirmary.
"It'd be heartbreaking for me to think I was forgotten." She turned away and looked sad. "It'd be nice to talk about old times again."
The conversation from the library came back to him. All these years he'd isolated himself from trying to cope with the loss of her, and she'd never left him! She'd been there, with him, in Garden all this time! And he couldn't even remember her! Other things were falling into place as well.
"Wait! You know that girl Ellone OUTSIDE the dream world?" Squall was stunned.
"Well of all the… Jeez, Squall what kind of question is THAT?" Irvine was shocked.
The car outside the prison. No wonder Irinve had been so surprised.
"Come on you guys. It's just a bit of fun. Think back to your childhood days. It was all just having a laugh, right?" His face fell as they just stared at him. "Come on guys…"
"Irvine? What are you on about?" Squall looked at him.
"Heh, well you wouldn't remember would ya?" he looked at Squall playfully.
"As a kid?"
Yeah, he remembered. Too well. He didn't want to think about that.
Irvine looked at each of them in turn as if looking for something. After he'd scrutinised them all, he gave up whatever he was after.
It made sense now, Irvine's behaviour. He'd remembered, while the rest of them had forgotten.
"Ellone, She's the one that takes us back to Laguna's period." Selphie was saying. Squall tuned back in, and offered his piece.
"She said she wanted to change the past. I don't know why…"
"There can only be one reason." Quistis figured.
"She's not very happy with the present." Selphie finished it off for her.
Zell fired himself up. "If that's the case, I'm definitely up for helping her! She's part of our orphanage gang!"
"You didn't even remember who she was!" Selphie pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Hey, Selphie… that goes for you too!" Irvine reminded her.
"It's kinda scary we've forgotten these things." Quistis mused.
"It's really strange." Squall admitted. "I don't think I was adopted, because of the way I am."
"Same with Seifer." Irvine agreed. "You two were the first to go. You were both in Garden by the age of 5 or so."
"Seifer's never mentioned anything about growing up in an orphanage. I've known him all my life, we all know this, but nothing about it ever crosses my mind when I see him either. Don't you find that odd?"
"That IS strange…!" Selphie agreed. "Well, in my case, I had loads and loads of fun after going to Trabia. I think that's why I forgot about my childhood. But I don't know what's up with you guys!"
"Stop trying to excuse yourself!" Zell muttered.
"I remember… Things didn't work out too well at my new home. I was in Garden by the age of 10." Quistis pieced together bits from her memory. "That was when I first noticed Seifer and Squall. They were always fighting."
"And you always used to break us up." Squall remembered.
"Yes! That's right!" Quistis nodded. "Seifer was a kid who always needed attention."
"Seifer still IS a kid who always needs to be the centre of attention." Zell put in.
"But Squall has always ignored him…" Quistis carried on, ignoring Zell. "But even so, they would always end up fighting." Squall put his hand up to the scar on his face at this. "Squall could easily have walked away, but always took up the challenge." Quistis continued. "He should've just ignored him, but Squall, almost in tears, would say 'I gotta do my best by myself. Or else I won't be able to see Sis.' I guess I was trying to take Sis, I mean Ellone's place, but I couldn't. That's probably it!" she jumped suddenly, as if having a huge revelation. "Even after becoming an instructor, I still couldn't stop thinking about Squall. I thought it was… love. I had to hide my feelings, because I was an instructor."
Well you didn't do a good job of it. Squall thought back to the day of his SeeD exam, when she'd dragged him to the secret area.
"But, I've come to realise it wasn't. It was my childhood feelings as a big sister that still lingered. Oh well… Actually, I'd entirely given up when Rinoa came into the picture." She finished her piece, noticing Squall and Rinoa both looking awkward. But then she had another thought. "Hey! I bet it's the same with Seifer. He's forgotten his childhood too. But when he sees Squall, his inner feelings start to boil, and…"
"Is that why he always picks fights?" Zell asked.
Squall couldn't take this anymore.
"Why did we all forget? We grew up together, we've all been at Garden together, except Selphie and Irvine, and yet Irvine remembers more than us."
"Squall, I tried to tell you before. It's the price we pay for using the GF."
"Do you have a GF that will allow junction to your Hit accuracy?" Squall asked him.
"Don't use GF." Irvine replied simply.
"Why not?" Squall was puzzled. "Why not use something that can make you stronger, faster and more accurate?"
"I don't like it." Irvine shuddered. "My aim's perfect anyway. Plus, I don't like the idea of allowing weird beasts into my head. I've heard they steal your memories."
"That's nonsense." Quistis assured him. "People just don't like the idea of them, because of their power. It's fear and the reactions that come with it."
"There's been research onto that, and it's been confirmed as false." Zell agreed. "We all use GF's and we've never forgotten anything important."
"Oh really?" Irvine shot a funny glance at them.
"Before the assassination mission." Squall remembered.
"Right!" Agreed Irvine. "Like you said, out of all five of us, six if you count Seifer, I'm the only one who doesn't use GF, and the only one who can remember. You said you'd never forgotten anything important. Squall, you forgot your own sister!"
"And then spent the rest of my life tearing myself up about it!" Squall spat venom. "I was torn up because I thought she'd died. She never died, I just forgot her!" he silently uttered every curse he knew to himself.
"Zell, you forgot that your adopted parents WEREN'T your real parents." Irvine carried on. "Quistis, you can't remember events from less than a decade ago. And Selphie… you forgot your best friend." And at this, his face sunk.
"So is that why you make such a big fuss of her?" Zell, ever the master of tact, put in.
"Selphie's always been very important to me." He replied simply and was rewarded by Selphie taking his hand and squeezing it gently.
"So, you're saying that if we use GF, we won't be able to remember a lot of things?" Zell's mind was working now.
"It must be their fault." Quistis acknowledged. "What should we do?"
"Nothing!" Squall replied.
"What do you mean nothing!?" Zell was shocked. "We're giving up our memories in exchange for power!"
"We're indebted to that power!" Squall argued. "We're SeeDs. Our job is to fight and kill the Sorceress. In order to combat her power, we need power of our own! And if there's a price we have to pay for it, I'll gladly pay it!"
"Hey! I know! Let's keep a diary!" Selphie decided. "Our memories don't disappear, we just need something to remind us. Well, this way, we'll always have something to remind us."
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Zell realised something. "I don't care if I forget Seifer picking on me. I want the power to defend the people who I care about and who care about me. Like my parents in Balamb."
"Your adopted parents." Selphie reminded him.
"No." he replied, determined. "My PARENTS. My family." And they all understood what he meant. "And remember what she did in Balamb? Yeah, I'll use that power to KILL the Sorceress. She'll never hurt anyone I care about again!"
Irvine did a little cough to get their attention. "Say, do you guys all remember Matron?"
"Yeah, she was so kind to us!" Selphie smiled.
"She was always wearing black." Squall remembered.
"Oh yes, she was very kind… Long black hair… yes, I really admired her." Quistis too was smiling at the thought. Squall had thought of something else.
"You know, she looks a bit like…" but he shook it off. It couldn't be true. They were completely different people.
Zell knew what he was thinking "Yeah, I think she does look a bit like…"
"Actually, I just pictured her face… and…" Selphie spoke.
"NO!" Irvine's voice was heavy as lead. "There's no 'looks like' about it."
"No, come on Irvine." Selphie tried to laugh it off.
"It can't be…" Zell agreed.
"They're completely different people!" Squall summed it up.
"Look at me guys." Irvine commanded, and unwillingly, they all brought their faces up to look at him. He looked them each in the eye, and spoke slowly, so there could be no misunderstanding. "Matron's name is Edea Kramer. Matron IS Sorceress Edea!"
Selphie was in tears now. "It can't be… Matron… Sorceress Edea…"
"But why is Matron…" Quistis was starting to cry as well.
"Why? You're wondering why Matron would take over a country, or fire missiles, or whatnot." Irvine summed it up. "At this point, we probably wouldn't comprehend it even if we talked about it."
"You're right." Squall agreed. "But some things make sense. I know now, why you couldn't pull the trigger on her at the assassination attempt."
"I never thought I'd have to do something like this." He muttered unhappily.
"Whilst training to be a sniper?"
"No, it's not that. It's Edea. We're going to kill Edea!"
"The Sorceress, yes." Squall didn't see much difference.
"Are you that cold Squall? Does this mean nothing to you?" Irvine's eyes implored him.
"What does she matter to me?" Squall asked, irritably. "I don't know her. She's just another enemy to me."
Words from that day came flooding back to him.
"I cannot kill the Sorceress. Whether she deserves it or not, I don't know now. I didn't believe she'd do such a thing."
"And you still made me do it." Irvine reminded him.
"If I'd known…" Squall tried to apologise
Irvine shook his head. "…Hear me out. I'm sure you know now, why I insisted we talked about this before going to fight the Sorceress." They all nodded. "I would've reminded you all after we escaped from the D-District prison, had Squall not remembered about the missile attack. But anyway…
"SeeD and Garden were all Matron's idea, right? I'm not a SeeD, but I share the same feeling with all of you. As Squall pointed out, our job is to fight the Sorceress, right?"
"She created an organisation to fight herself?" Selphie was confused.
"Don't even start…" Squall advised her. "I've been through all this with Cid already. But… That's what Seifer wanted to know… What SeeD was and why they opposed the Sorceress. But, Edea should've known that, she STARTED it. Why should she have been demanding to know what it was?"
"Matron, IS Sorceress Edea." Irvine reminded him.
"Oh, I know. There's no denying that." Squall agreed, relucantly.
"Look, this is what I wanted to say." Irvine continued. "I thought it would be best that everyone knew, if we're going to fight the Sorceress, we will have to face Matron. You've all heard this before, how life has infinite possibilities. I don't believe that one bit. There weren't many paths for me to choose. Sometimes there would only be one. We were all together, but due to various circumstances, we were all separated, and now here we are again. Just like old times, though a lot's changed. We're not kids anymore, we're strong enough to take care of ourselves. Make our own decisions. And here, we have a big one. I know our opponent is Matron, whom we all love very much, but she's changed. She's tried to wipe out her children at Garden. She's had Squall tortured, tried to kill Ellone. She's not the kind Matron we remember. So, do we do it? Do we fight Matron? I say we do it."
"…Yeah. Let's do it. We can't run from her for the rest of our lives." Zell made a decision.
"It's just such a bummer… I can't believe we have to fight Matron." Selphie still wanted another way out.
"I know…" Quistis agreed. "But Zell's right. We can't run from her forever."
"I'm in." Squall was the last to speak. "Even Cid, Edea's partner says this must be done. I'm sure he doesn't like it either, but… He said I had to do this task. When it was over, I would understand why. Furthermore, Ellone was the most important thing to me. Now I realise she never died, or left me. I can't make up for forgetting her, but I can protect her. And if Matron is the one threatening her, so be it! So… Rinoa, that just leaves you. We're going to fight. I think it's the only way we can move on with our lives. If that makes any sense at all, come with us. I'm sure that's what everyone wants."
The cheers and nodding of heads from the others told her he was right.
"OK, I'm coming!" she agreed.
"Hey guys, before we do that…" Zell had an idea. "You wanna go check out Edea's orphanage?"
"Yeah! I wonder what it's like now?" Selphie was as enthusiastic as ever.
"You never know, we might find a clue." Irvine agreed.
"Clue? You mean as to why she turned out like this?" Quistis put in.
"Despite what truth we find, it's not going to change the present. It's a waste of time and fruitless when we have much more important matters at hand." Squall shook his head. The others all looked disappointed, until he lifted his head again and smiled, a cheeky expression, one they'd not seen before and which was wholly unlike Squall, appeared on his face. "But I don't care! I wanna see too!" And they all whooped and cheered. "I don't know what we'll find, but… Let's head for Edea's House!"