Chapter 38
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Six Centimetre of Yellow Zone
"We're here!"
She looked up and noticed something familiar in the distance. Her giant guard reached out to a lone pillar planted among the rocks, and pulled their boat closer with his strength. He anchored their boat, while Cid jumped off the edge of the boat and grinned at her.
"We're home," he said.
She smiled. "Don't be so sure. If they find us here…"
He raised his hand and helped her down the boat. "Don't worry about it. It's been almost two years. I'm pretty sure even if Deling planted their soldiers here, they'll be long gone by now. There's nothing here…" He gave her a sheepish grin. "Which… is why we're back, right?"
That was the reason why she returned. Her abandoned house was still there, among the rocks. Like nothing had happened, like she just returned from a walk in the afternoon. It still sat on the rocks, waiting.
Two years… and after their nomadic adventure, she knew by now that it worked. Deling really didn't remember her, or Cid. There was no mention about them in the rumours about the King passing. There were even some people who was more than confused that Galbadia apparently had a ruling King. He knew that man was a war maniac and a recluse, but for a King to be that unknown… it was sad.
Her smaller guard jumped off the boat behind her. She turned and smiled at the bundle in his arms. The smaller guard grinned and swayed, the bundle in his arms giggled.
Wait… what?
"Let's go!" said the smaller guard. She nodded.
Together, the four headed to the white house. The bigger guard studied the surroundings.
"Seems safe," he said. "I can see us living here for a while."
"Wait here," said the smaller guard. "We better check ahead first."
The young Cid opened his arms and took the bundle from the smaller guard's hold. The bundle moved, and Cid grinned. His wedding ring glittered as he pulled the cloth to the side. She smiled as the blonde haired baby shook the head like the baby was relieved the cloth was off. The blonde baby looked up and grinned at Cid.
What… what is this?
Cid kissed the blonde baby's forehead as the two guards entered the house. The baby giggled, little hands clutching Cid's shirt tight.
Quistis… is Cid and Edea's… real…?
The bigger guard rushed out, eyes wide. "Uhh…"
She tensed. "What?"
"You better come here," called the smaller guard from the living room. "I'm… not sure how to explain this."
Cid palmed the back of his baby's head. "Soldiers?"
She pushed the bigger guard into the house, and stopped in place as she saw the small guard stood in the middle of the room. The man gave her a helpless look.
In his arm was a sleeping newborn.
"What… the…" piped Cid from behind her.
"Seems like we're not the only one thinking this is a good place to hide," said the smaller guard. She stopped next to him and looked down at the baby. He was still red, and naked. She looked around and noticed a backpack lying in the corner. A blue blanket sat next to it.
"Whose baby is this?" said Cid as she headed for the backpack.
"That's the question of the hour, isn't it?" said the smaller guard. "The baby's clean, sleeping inside that blanket, bundled up tightly. I thought it was a puppy or something."
She drew out a wallet and looked inside. There was no card, no identification at all of who owned the backpack, but… she pulled out at least fifty thousand Gil from the wallet.
The bigger guard whistled. "Whoever the mother is, she's clearly not here because she couldn't afford a hospital."
"Another refugee?" said Cid. "A rich refugee… running from Deling City?"
She pulled a pocket knife from the backpack, and slid it open. The knife was clean, as if used often and cleaned just as often. Under the knife was a gun, a military-issued shotgun. She pulled another gun, and a matching silencer.
"Is this what I think this is?" said Cid.
"The mother is a soldier?" piped the bigger guard. "A pregnant soldier? Deling sent a pregnant soldier waiting here for us?"
"No identification at all," she said. She sniffed the backpack. "This isn't a military issued backpack. And I don't think a pregnant soldier is allowed to be on mission, not until she gave birth. She's a civilian." She pulled out another knife, this one was longer and encased in a newspaper sheath. "…Or not."
"Holy hell," said the bigger guard. "An assassin? Deling sent an assassin to wait for us here?"
"A pregnant assassin stays here to kill us? That's even more nonsense," said Cid. "I'm thinking this woman knows weapons, but she's here hiding."
"Where is she then?" said the smaller guard.
"Something tells me she's not coming back. She would've seen us coming, and she figured that with one baby among us, we won't kill her," said Cid. "It's not like we can post missing mother ads around here."
"Oh, wow," whispered the bigger guard.
"What?" she said, flipping her black long hair away from the backpack as she pulled out the rest of the items. Clothes, lighter, two more knives, one smaller handgun, two more blankets, more money wrapped inside a newspaper bundle, and thirteen canned foods and a can opener… whoever this was, she sure was prepared.
"Look at the little hair on his head. The baby's blonde too," said the smaller guard. "Funny, he can be your child's little brother. They look so much alike."
"Oh, yeah," said the bigger guard. "Oh, his eyes open. Wow, he's so cute… hey, cu—"
And the infant wailed as loud as his newborn lung allowed him to. She cringed as the three men panicked and tried to calm the newborn. Then her baby started to scream in sympathy. She stood and started taking her own child from her husband as the lights turned dark.
Dark…?
And he blinked.
Squall stared at a white suit in front of him. The one inside the suit was pulling him as they floated in the dark, tied with cables to one another and with her hand gripping the front of his space suit tight.
Ellone, that wasn't it. That was too far back.
I'm sorry, whispered a female voice. Let me try again.
Squall closed his eyes.
She opened the door and saw a young redhead with a little redhead toddler in her arms. The girl's face was shiny with tears.
"Oh, thank Hyne, you finally open the door." The redhead burst into the house. She glanced at the kitchen door and shook her head subtly. Her two guards disappeared behind the kitchen door after seeing the innocent toddler in the stranger's arms.
"I heard you're acceptin' orphans," said the redhead. "Can you take care of my son? Imma pay for his livin' cost. Just name your price, and I'll send money regularly."
She grimaced. "It's not really an orphanage, but..."
"I can't do this anymore!" the redhead shouted. "I'm goin' insane. I dunno how to take care of him and tourin' at the same time! He's cryin' every time I went to a match with a guy or someone much bigger than myself! I can't get close to any man without him wailin'. This is a disaster!"
"Please slow down," she said. "Can you start from the beginning? I don't… oh, honey, why are you—" she tried to wave her child off, but the blond toddler toddled into the living room dragging another smaller blond toddler behind him.
"He peed again!" reported the bigger blond toddler, hair in short buzz cut. "Zelly is smelly!"
"'Melly!" said the smaller toddler. "'Melly!"
Great, this had to happen just when Cid met up with NORG in Balamb. She motioned to the kitchen door and her guards walked out. Instead of being scared of the two men filing into the living room, the young redhead sighed.
"Hi there!" she said to the big man. "I'm Solange! Nice to see you…" she fluttered her eyelashes. "You work here?"
The bigger guard stopped in his tracks and his cheek flushed. "Uh?"
"So…" Solange waltzed towards the bigger man. "I see the orphanage needs a big, strong man to handle little kids… or are you doing another job here… for the adults?"
"You've got to be kidding me," said the hostess. "Hey… Solange?"
The red-haired boy in Solange's arms wailed and the magic was broken. Solange grunted and switched her toddler to another side of her hips. "Seriously! I can't do anything with you!"
The smaller guard already rescued the smelly one from the bigger toddler's grip and herded both toddlers and the bigger man into the back of the house. The black haired woman crossed her arms and glared at the young redhead.
"So," she said. "What is this 'tour' you mentioned? And what match do you have to have with bigger men?"
Solange pouted. "I read the newspaper about the new orphanage registration in Centra. This is it, right? What's your name?"
Cid put the idea just before he left. Registering both children as their biological child legally would pose a lot of problems as they grew up. They're still not sure everyone had forgotten about Cid and her. Anyone who knew the King would be able to guess. With the kids registered as orphans and the house registered as an orphanage, they were going to be safe in raising both children forever.
He didn't count for this problem. "I'm the owner of this… orphanage. You can call me Matron."
"I'm Solange Triad the sixth."
Matron had heard the name before… "Which family? Triad family?"
"Of the Triad Card game, yeah. I am touring for my father, listing for a new Card to be made and registering rules in every continent." Solange pointed at her son. "This one is mine."
"Yes, it's obvious."
She grinned at her son, who grinned back. She winked, and the toddler winked back. Their movements were so similar it was eerie. "It is, isn't it?"
"Why are you putting him in an orphanage? You're not poor, and he's well provided for and loved, clearly. You don't just drop a baby, especially yours, in an orphanage."
"I'm eighteen years old. I gave birth to him when I was sixteen," Solange said.
Matron's eyes widened. "Were you…"
"What? No! It's not that. It's consensual. But the father didn't know I was underage, and I had to raise him by myself while takin' the punishment from my dad for havin' him. I'm so exhausted." Solange's tears fell again. "I've had enough. It's a lot different raisin' your son while you get to live in a permanent home, and it's another matter when you have to breastfeed him in the train minutes before you arrive in a new continent, where you have to find the best Card player in the continent and switch the rules of the Card game. Two years. Two years I've done it, and I'm... you don't know how it felt like."
Matron closed her eyes. She knew. She was familiar with raising a baby as a nomad. "So?"
"Money's not a problem. I just know I can't continue doin' this and educate him at the same time. I didn't go to college because I had him. I had to continue this tour for another five years. I can't possibly be able to raise a young boy and at the same time dealin' with this tourin' job for that long. I've tried. But…" she put her forehead on her son's. "It's too hard. For me and for him. Recently he became upset when I'm too close with men, even when I'm just sittin' on a bus next to them. It became impossible to get a focused match with my son wailin' next to me. Everyone refused to play when he started cryin'."
"He's protecting you."
"In my line of work? I can't be shielded from strangers! It's just not going to work!" Solange bit her lips. "My dad refused to take care of him. He's my responsibility. As well as my job. I can't… I know I'm horrible for choosin' my job, but if I don't do this, my father will cut both of us off. I fed him with my dad's money, and as long as I keep workin', I can provide for him financially. If I went stray, we'll both suffer. I don't have any other skill than Cards…" She frowned. "And takin' care of Chocobos. But I'm not sure how he'll behave next to a giant bird."
Matron went nomad with three men, and they protected her while helping raise her one child. This girl, this young girl had to take care of her son while working every day, touring non-stop. If Matron had to work while taking care of her child, she probably wouldn't fare as well as this young woman.
"His father?" Matron asked.
"He's a wanderer. I don't know where he is right now, and he doesn't know. I prefer he doesn't know. It'll be awful if he marries me just because he feels responsible and he's stuck with me forever. He didn't sign up for this."
"You do know that in the orphanage, a child gets adopted…"
Solange narrowed her eyes. "I'll deal with it when the time comes. Don't worry about it. If he gets adopted, at least he's goin' to a real family, not a busy touring mother who has no time for him."
Nothing she said would get through to the Triad heiress. Matron looked at the toddler and smiled at him.
The redhead toddler smiled back. And winked.
Matron blinked. Hmm. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Ilvi. Chalmed, lady!" said the toddler. "And may I ask what's youls, you golgeous one wit' pleety pleety puppy eyes?"
She thinned her lips and glanced at the mother, who grimaced.
"Yeah…" Solange muttered. "I wouldn't make any excuses for that."
Ellone… Squall groaned. How is this helpful in finding out Rinoa's motives?
It's easier for me to link to someone's childhood past, replied Ellone. Sorry, I'm still browsing for the right memories…
And after you find the right memories, what will you do? 'Ping' me with mental bell?
Shush, Ellone sounded annoyed. Adult's working here.
When his sight returned a few seconds later, he saw Rinoa clutching Wedge's head. She bent down and kissed the soldier's face. It was rather awkward because Wedge was still wearing his full helmet. It didn't deter Rinoa. With one move she removed the helmet from the soldier's face, and pressed her lips onto him.
Squall looked around. He was back in the G2 hall. Next to him, Quistis lay on her side, eyes closed, clear juncture mark on her neck. Seifer was waving off the invisible fog around him. Allies and foes lay around him, all unconscious.
Rinoa released her mouth from Wedge and clutched his nape, bringing him closer. Wedge's light blue eyes opened. The man had a brown hair, sharp nose and a very prominent cheekbone under the helmet.
"Oh, my loyal knight, Wedge. The sorceress is alive... The sorceress demands," whispered Rinoa. "Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora, said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again."
Wedge nodded in a haze. "As you wish, Ultimecia."
Ulti… Squall's eyes widened.
...Squall...I'm scared.
Who… Squall stood. "Rinoa?"
Who's there!? Get out!
The sharp cut felt like a loud buzzer thumping in his ears. Squall gasped and awake in his suit.
Ultimecia found out, said Ellone. I was sneaking into her past. It wasn't Rinoa all this time. That's why I can't access the past from her eyes.
His suit got smacked. He looked to the side and saw Quistis inside her suit. She glared at him and pointed at his head.
"Don't faint again!" she said, transferred via the Comm link on their suits. "I didn't take you so you can piggyback me to the end! Help me!"
Help you?
Squall watched Quistis pointing at something in the distance. A white suit was floating in circles far ahead of them. Quistis made a swimming motion, but she didn't move from their spot. Squall looked down, realized he didn't move, and the cable link stopped her from swimming forward. He nodded, and together they swam towards the white suit.
After five thousand or so butterfly, frog and whatever strokes they could do, it felt rather futile at times; Quistis reached and gripped the back of the white suit. She turned the suit around and saw Rinoa inside. Her eyes half open, her jaw slack, her breath short and unsteady. Rinoa didn't look like she was conscious.
Quistis looked down and checked the air meter shown in front of the suit. Squall saw the marker already pointed at the red bottom. He pressed around the suit and found an emergency button down the air meter. He pushed the button, and a visible burst of air shoot inside Rinoa's helmet. Rinoa closed her eyes. She took a deep breath.
Quistis looked down and checked her own air meter. She nudged Squall and pointed at her meter. It was already bottom yellow, another centimetre and it'd be in the red zone.
"What to do now…?" muttered Squall. "We're all going to run on air soon."
Quistis checked on Squall's air meter. "Not you. Thanks to your fainting action, your meter is still higher than the one pulling you all the way here." She tapped on Squall's marker in the high yellow zone. "If all goes bad, I'll just pull out your life support so we're all die together. It'd be cruel leaving you here."
Squall still able to give her a so-not-impressed stare despite layers of glasses separating them. "Whatever."
"Squall?" Rinoa whispered. She moved a bit and opened her eyes. "You saved me… you saved me?" she opened her arms and hugged her savior, as tight as she could, suit to suit. "Thank you very much, Squall…"
Squall glanced at Quistis, who smirked and mouthed a word, thank youu vewwwy much, Squawwwy… and she played the littlest imaginary violin on her left shoulder, while mouthing youuuwww savveee meee Squawwwyy…
Squall rolled his eyes and pushed Rinoa away. "Quistis was the one insisting we save you."
Rinoa looked behind her and said, "Um. Thanks." Without waiting for a reply, she turned back and gripped Squall's gloved hands. "What do we do now? I'm so scared…"
Quistis crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes and mouthed, to Squall, I'm sooo scawwwedd Squawwy…
Squall closed his eyes and tried not to laugh. He opened his eyes again to see Quistis behind Rinoa, her eyes widened in a mock attempt of Rinoa's expression, shoulders hunched, hands together in a prayer, mouthing, I'm sooo scawweedd… saveee meee Squaawwyyy…
Squall bit his lips, but not before a strangled laugh came out of his throat.
Rinoa tilted her head. "Squall? What to do?"
"If I—" Squall managed to maintain his expression and pulled his hands off Rinoa's grip. "If I know, do you think we're still floating here talking about what to do?"
Quistis reached out and grabbed Rinoa's suit. When the girl turned at her in question, she said, "We're linked with cables, but you're not."
Rinoa looked down and studied the link. She frowned. "I don't suppose… you can… um, remove the link from your suit and tie me to Squall so I'll be safe too?"
Quistis gripped Rinoa's air tank behind her. "How long will your emergency air last, I wonder?"
"Huh? What?"
"Nothing." Quistis clenched the cable in the air tank linking the tank into Rinoa's suit. "It's easy to figure out by myself if I'm so tempted."
Rinoa frowned and looked back. "So it's a no?"
"Do you think our thick gloves can undo the death knot that I tie?" said Squall. "It's a no."
"You never know unless you try," said Rinoa. "The link will keep me safe too, right?"
"From what?" said Quistis. "If you ran out of air, will the one linked to you give you his air?"
Squall shook his head when Rinoa looked at him. "I don't know how to remove the tank cable and link it to your suit without killing myself."
"But, Squall," Rinoa murmured. "You saved me…"
"Whatever."
"Squall…"
"Is that a ship?" said Quistis, pointing at a red item floating in the distance. "Wait… is that a ship?!"
"A ship in space?" said Rinoa when Quistis tried to swim towards it. "Wait! What should we do, Squall!"
"Swim to it," said Squall. He cursed when Rinoa struggled away from Quistis's grip and latched onto him. "Rinoa, swim to it!"
"Swim how?" Rinoa asked, latching onto Squall as he tried to swim with a human hanging on his left arm. "I don't understand!"
Quistis already swam a hundred strokes away from them, and she fell back when the cables linking her to Squall tightened and drew her back to the pair. She tried to undo the cable knot.
"What are you doing?" said Squall.
"This death knot is hindering me!" Quistis said. She looked down and checked her air meter again.
"I'm going there too! Just slow down a little, I'm not carrying just myself here!"
"Is there another option?" said Rinoa. "I can't… I mean, I can't swim without releasing my hand from Squall, and that'll make me float away from you guys!"
"Here, take this end," said Quistis. She unlatched the knot and swam away, leaving the end of the cable floating in space. "I have about two centimeters of red zone left!"
"Quistis!" called Squall.
"Just swim, six centimetres of yellow zone man!" Quistis stroked faster towards the ship.
"What is she talking about?" said Rinoa. "Six centimetres of yellow zone?"
"You're only half a centimetre left on red!" said Squall. "Take the cable! Now!"
"Half a centimetre of what?" said Rinoa.
Quistis reached out and gripped the latch on the side of the ship. She pulled the hatch with Esthar printed on it, and jumped in.
As soon as she rolled into the chamber, the hatch closed and another door opened at the end of the room. Quistis floated into the inner room. The door closed behind her, and she felt the gravity and air pressure filling the compression chamber. She dropped to the floor at her feet, and watched the pressure light turned green before she removed her helmet and breathed in.
She heard the outer hatch opened. Quistis studied the compression chamber and saw another door into the ship's inner area. She opened the door and left the chamber right before the compression chamber turned non-gravity again to compress the other two from her party.
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Out of their suits, Squall walked into the ship hallway.
Behind him, Rinoa said, "Thank you, Squall. You rescued me again. I can't thank you enough."
Squall shrugged, noting the hallway and wondering where his Commander went to. "Don't worry about it." He felt a gentle nudge and looked behind him.
Rinoa opened her arms.
Now what?
"The space suit was in our way before," she said.
Huh?
Rinoa smiled. "Give me a hug."
Squall froze.
"A real tight one! I need to know that I'm alive!"
Squall shook his head and took a step back. "We may be alive right now... But look at our situation... You want to live, right? You want to go back and see everyone, right?"
"And not become other people's memories?"
"That's right."
"Speaking of memories," piped Quistis from another chamber, "I wonder what kind of memories this creature has on the people that used to be here?"
Squall burst into the chamber and saw a monster crawling underneath a stairwell leading upstairs. Quistis was sitting on the stairs, in her regular outfit, looking unharmed. When the monster saw Rinoa and Squall, however, it shrieked and rose, launching itself at them.
"What the...?" Squall rolled to the side.
Rinoa evaded in time. "AHH!"
The monster ran out to the hallway, leaving the stairway room. Squall looked up to Quistis, who barely moved from the steps.
"Doesn't look like a very friendly creature," said Rinoa. "How come it didn't attack you?"
"Monsters rarely do," said Quistis. "One of my 'blue magic' benefits. It might be one of Adel's monsters."
Squall thought back on the past he'd just seen. If Edea was really… "Or maybe it's genetic benefits."
Quistis's brow rose. "Well, it's not like I can summon my parents right now and ask, right?"
You don't have to summon. They're just a COMM call away.
Quistis stood. "I saw about three more of them around here. Go clean this place up, I'm checking upstairs."
"Wait!" said Rinoa. "You're not helping?"
"It's a mutual respect," said Quistis. "I don't attack monsters that don't attack me. And I didn't give orders to you." She looked at Squall. "Clean the place up."
Squall wondered if his gunblade still as sharp after being wrapped with thick cloth behind his air tank under the suit earlier. "Right."
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He found his commander sitting in the pilot seat of the cockpit few hours later, talking to a COMM link on the control panel.
"Whoa! Is this really the Ragnarok? You're in space, right?" asked the voice from the COMM link. "Ragnarok... It's been 17 years!"
"I'm not exactly the one piloting the Ragnarok all these years," explained Quistis. "Monsters infested this ship earlier before my team cleaned the area. Can we make it back?"
"Leave it to us! You should have enough fuel. Enter your location in the atmospheric reentry program and you'll be ok. Once you enter the atmosphere, we can guide you down. You'll be just fine. See the touch panel in front of you?"
"Yeah, I see it."
Squall felt Rinoa standing behind him, watching Quistis as well.
"The rest is easy. Just enter the following data…."
"Go ahead," said Quistis. She pressed the code mentioned and the control panel turned bright. "Entered."
"Next, I'm sure you're ok, but there's something I need you to do. Turn off the gravity generator. This should save some fuel. Use the same touch panel to turn it off."
Quistis looked behind her and saw Rinoa and Squall.
"Alright," she said before pressing the button on her left. "Done."
"Did you see the view?" said Rinoa. Squall just perceived the moon view in the front window now. "It's so pretty…"
Just a few hours ago, the pretty moon was infested with monsters and was a burial tomb for a sorceress. Perhaps it wouldn't be wise to mention that fact to the tomb raider who unleashed the monsters stream into Gaia behind him.
"Congratulations. You're home free, Ragnarok. And... There's one more thing we need to tell you. From all of us at Ground Control, we wish you Godspeed."
"Thanks." Quistis started to float up, as did Rinoa and Squall. Rinoa reached out to Squall, and the gunblader ducked from her grasp. He moved to the cockpit, only to have the commander floated and rolled away from the pilot seat.
"The room's all yours," she said as she floated to the door. "Godspeed, Leonhart. There's no way you mess this up anyway."
You've got to be kidding! He cussed when Quistis left the room. Rinoa floated towards him. Squall sat in the pilot seat and Rinoa sat on his lap.
"What?" he pushed her away, and Rinoa rolled away.
"Go sit over there. Put your seatbelt on," he said. Rinoa jumped onto his lap again.
"We'll be home soon?" she asked, while looping her arms around his neck.
"Hopefully. Now go sit down." Squall detached her arms from his neck.
"Just a little longer," she insisted.
"Why are you holding onto me like this?"
"You don't like this, Squall?"
Squall scrunched his face and pushed her away. "Please get off."
Rinoa held on. "How about when you were little? Didn't you feel safe and secure being held by your parents?"
Squall sighed and slithered off the seat, forcing Rinoa to let go in the process. She stretched out to him, but he dodged her hand and whirled to the door.
"Squall!" she called. "Why can't you settle down for a while? We're not going anywhere outside the ship, right?"
Godspeed, Leonhart?! Godspeed for what! Squall pushed the door switch open, and swam out the cockpit cabin. He pressed the outside door switch and before Rinoa reached the door, it slid close. He raised his hand and muttered, "Blizzard."
A small line of snow formed at the door, and he waited until the ice covered the whole gap and glued the door to the wall. Then he turned.
Quistis floated behind him, her eyes judging. He jumped and rolled in the air before his heart settled.
"That wasn't the most gracious exits," she said. "But in scale one to ten… it's minus seven. Not that bad."
Squall scowled. "Godspeed for what?"
"She scores ninety seven for resilience," Quistis continued and floated to the hallway. "At least she keeps trying and trying."
Floating behind her, Squall put his hand on his face and growled, "Seriously? Seriously?"
From behind the cockpit door, Rinoa called, "Squall! What are you doing to the door? Squall!"
Squall gritted his teeth. He turned, raised his hand and shouted to the door, "Silence!"
The door muted, and he whirled back to follow the zaniest, most despicable woman on Gaia he could possibly care for.
The vile witch closed the crew bedroom door before he could get through. He banged on the door and yelled, "We have to talk about this! It's the only time I can get you to say something about us! What…" He watched in disbelief when an ice formed in the gap of the door, and he rammed the door. "Quistis! You are the most despica—"
And he could only bellow his next line in peace because the loathsome sorceress threw Silence magic from the other side of the door.
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Ellone accepted the tea Seifer handed her. "Thanks."
Seifer sat on the other side of the room. "It's nice being the First Daughter of Esthar," he said, looking around Ellone's bedroom. Selphie looked at the painting of machinery placed next to the bookshelf. Zell and Irvine had left to talk to Odine about Lunatic Pandora.
Ellone shrugged. She had already stopped shaking after they took her out the escape pods hours ago. "I don't know if Squall and Quistis will make it… but I hope so."
"Lovesick Kitten and Commander Dictator? Yeah, they'll make it," said Seifer. "The Princess… I'm not sure. If there's a weak link that makes you unable to leave space, will you cut the link and save yourself?"
Ellone glared at Seifer. "I'm not happy that you're still you, Seifer. All of you."
Seifer patted his gunblade. "Doesn't matter. I'm happy I am still me. All of me."
Ellone shook her head and sipped her tea. Someone knocked on her door, and she said, "Come in."
The presidential Aide strolled in, and saw the blond gunblader sitting on the sofa and a brown haired girl perusing the bookshelf. He looked at the President's daughter in question.
"Yes?" Ellone said.
"Who is in charge of the SeeDs?" the Aide asked. "As of… when the Commander is away, who's the acting commander right now?"
Seifer raised his hand. "I'm the only Lieu left, so that'll be me. I'm not signing anything, moving anything, buying anything. I might be up to commanding something," he said. Ellone rolled her eyes. "Unless it's a burial for crashing pod of someone named… Leonhart?"
The aide gave him an odd look. "No…"
"Well, I could always hope."
"Are they here now?" asked Selphie. She was reading the book titled, 'Bomb and Flames: How to Survive the Estharian Politics'. "Sis, you have the coolest books!"
"Sometimes they're the only thing stopping me from running away," said Ellone.
"So obviously you're not a very good reader," said Seifer. Ellone made a mocking motion of throwing the teacup to his face. "Whoa! Still abusive!"
"Shut up," Ellone said. "What is it?" she asked the aide.
"We have some questions for you. I hear no one from Lunar Base is on the Ragnarok. How many of you are in the ship?"
"Three," answered Seifer. "Whiny, Pouty and Scary."
The Aide looked unimpressed.
"That'll be Rinoa Heartily, Squall Leonhart and Quistis Trepe," translated Selphie.
"Rinoa? The sorceress!?" She's on the ship?" said the Aide.
"Who the who?" said Seifer.
"The sorceress will be seized upon arrival. Be sure to follow the crew's instructions," said Aide, and left the room before anyone else could react.
"The sorceress will be seized?" said Selphie. "But…"
"Wasn't that… um, traitor boy…?" Seifer mumbled. "What's the name of the headless one I cut in G2?"
"You are so callous!" said Ellone.
"You're talking about Emil?" said Selphie.
"Yeah, the headless traitor boy… he said Quistis is a sorceress too, right?" Seifer jumped from the sofa. "If my commander got seized as well, what'll happen to me?"
"It's not gonna happen!" said Selphie. "Quisty is a SeeD first, anything else second!"
Seifer mumbled and fingered his gunblade sheath. "…I'll be the acting co-commander with … if Scary gets detained Pouty will do his best to free her. He got beaten up and taken to martial court. He'll be stripped off. Then I'll be the only acting commander!" He grinned and said, "Where can I sign for the Sorceress relinquish paper? Esthar is a great country!"
This time Ellone did throw her tea cup at him. Too bad he ducked.
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When both frozen doors finally melted and both Silence finally wore off, none of the three living humans inside the giant ship was in the mood of conversation. The client was glaring at the Lieu, the Lieu was glaring at his Commander, and the Commander was glaring at the awaiting party that greeted them when the ship landed on Gaia.
"What do you mean, detained?" Quistis demanded as two soldiers burst into the ship and put Rinoa in shackles. She recognized Odine bracelets. "Wait! What is this?"
"Sorceress Rinoa. Hyne's descendant," said one soldier.
"Come with us. We must seal your power for the sake of the world," said another soldier.
Rinoa hung her head down, as if she had had this conversation earlier in the cockpit. "All right."
Squall glanced at his commander. Something went on, and they didn't know what. If he blamed the commander for leaving him with her in the cockpit, thus making him leave her alone in the cockpit and thus clueless for whatever happened to her in the cockpit, then who was exactly the guilty one?
The soldier on Rinoa's left nodded. "Thank you for understanding. Tell us when you're ready."
Rinoa turned to Squall. "I should tell you this before I go. I was possessed out in space. There was a sorceress inside me. Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. She's trying to achieve time compression. She's the only one who would be able to exist in such a world. She, and no other. As long as I'm free, she'll continue to use me to accomplish her goal. I... We can't let that happen, right? ...I should go now. I'm ready."
"All right. We'll be heading to the Sorceress Memorial," said the soldier on Rinoa's right.
Squall blinked. "Thank you for telling me."
Quistis grimaced when Rinoa headed to the car. She shoved Squall when Rinoa disappeared inside the vehicle. "Thank you for telling me? Thank you for telling me?! Really?"
"What else should I say?" said Squall. "Whatever?"
Quistis gritted her teeth. She watched the car roll away. She rushed out the outer hatch down to the ground.
"Thank you for locking yourself up?" offered Squall. "Thank you for your conscience? Thank you for your sacrifice? What?"
Quistis threw her hands up and stomped away from him.
"Quisty!" called a voice from the distance. Quistis stopped and noticed Selphie and Seifer running towards her, Zell and Irvine behind them. "Whoa, you scored a ship! Booyaah!"
Quistis looked behind her, to the ship and to the appalling man still standing inside it looked at her like she was the guilty party, and said, "Yeah."
"They didn't detain you?" asked Seifer.
Quistis frowned. "No, of course not."
Seifer looked disappointed.
Selphie hummed and swayed. "Hey, does the ship fly? Does it move?"
Quistis shrugged. "Who knows? It ran in the space all right."
Zell finally arrived in front of her. "S'up! So glad you're safe! I hate to tell you this now, but we've got major problems down here. Well, here it goes!" and he babbled before Quistis could make out his first lines, "some big thing called Lunatic Pandora came out of nowhere. Matron couldn't achieve what she set out to do because of it. Which is ok. Matron's not a sorceress anymore. Matron gave away her power to someone without realizing it."
"Her active power," said Selphie. "Not her gene."
Zell looked at Selphie. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
"And, ah... Oh yeah," Zell continued, "the Galbadian military is controlling Lunatic Pandora. They excavated it from the ocean where Esthar sank it years ago. Inside the Lunatic Pandora, there's this thing called a 'Crystal Pillar'. It calls monsters from the moon. The monsters came falling from the moon. Total panic down here. It wasn't just monsters that came falling down. Sorceress Adel came down along with the machine that confined her. I guess the stream of falling monsters engulfed the machine. Lunatic Pandora caught Adel from that stream! Dr. Odine thinks that may have been Galbadia's true intent. Meaning..."
Quistis raised her hand. "Zell, that's enough for now."
"But Quistis!"
"I know we've got problems. But there's a bigger problem."
Irvine said, "What's the matter?"
"Rinoa is a sorceress now. She received Matron's powers. Estharian soldiers came to pick Rinoa up. Rinoa's in Esthar now."
Selphie shook her head. "We have to go get her!" she said as she ran into the ship.
Quistis sighed as she turned and followed the girl, her SeeDs behind her. "Here's the thing. It was Rinoa's decision. What right do I have to object? But… if she's taken because she is a sorceress, then what about me?" She looked at Seifer. "What about you?"
Seifer grimaced. "I hate where this is going."
"If Ultimecia can possess her, what stops her from possessing me or you when they locked up Rinoa and her consciousness? How can Estharian be so sure that by locking Rinoa, they lock Ultimecia within her? It's already proven that Ultimecia jumped from Matron to Rinoa, and she's a normal human before."
"Actually," Zell said, "Rinoa did have a slightly better magic level than any of us."
"If Ultimecia can jump from Matron to another person without us knowing anything about it until it's too late, what's the point of locking the vessel?" Quistis reached the ship and walked in, pushing Squall away when he was hovering close to listen in. "The vessel isn't the problem. Ultimecia can just jump into another human once she senses the danger of her vessel being locked down."
Seifer frowned. "I take it you've decided already."
Zell looked unsure. "We're heading to Esthar, right?"
Quistis nodded. "Pandora whatever and Sorceress Adel is out of my hands. But we can do something about Ultimecia and Rinoa. I believe that we…"
"Please don't include me," Seifer said when Quistis stared at him.
"That's Seifer and me," said Quistis, "we're both sorceresses."
"Sorcerer, dammit!" said Seifer. "Sorcerer!"
"We can control Rinoa better than if she's been locked someplace else, away from another sorceress. If we can control the vessel, we can control Ultimecia. As long as Ultimecia didn't sense any danger, she won't see the need to jump. And if she jumps, she won't jump both me, Seifer or our Knights. That means Selphie. The three of us are safe because she chose to jump into Rinoa, someone who has no sorceress inklings in the first place. If the sorceress has to be female, and Ultimecia has to jump into a female body, then all of us in the teams are safe."
Seifer crossed his arms. "By bonding in a sorcery link to me, Selphie is my Knight. Ultimecia won't jump into another sorceress's claim."
"I think… by what Matron was saying, she sacrificed her mind to Ultimecia to save us when we're kids. That means it was voluntary… or at least in Rinoa's case, unconsciously, and to someone with high magic. Selphie wasn't born of magic to begin with, and if Ultimecia can possess me instead of Rinoa, she'd already done it."
"If she can possess you, Gaia would explode!" said Zell. "She wouldn't need to pretend to be unconscious so that we took her to Ellone and Adel. It happened because Rinoa wasn't strong enough physically or magically to fight all of us! I see your point!"
"So you're saying we can handle Ultimecia better than a group of Estharian, who's trained all their lives to control the sorceress?" said Irvine.
"They have locked Adel all this time, and did they do a great job?" said Zell.
"You mean before or after they let us in?" said Seifer. Then the ship shook. Quistis fell to the floor. She felt the machines whirred to life. Squall looked towards the hallway.
"Can't be," he said.
"Whoa!" said Zell.
Then Quistis looked outside. "Someone close the door! We're flying!"
Irvine crawled towards the open hatch and pulled the hatch close, right before it sliced the top of the Lunar Gate. "Ack!"
Zell groaned. "I hope this ain't the case but, I can picture Selphie in the pilot seat, and..."
Quistis continued, "Selphie screaming, 'Whoo-hoo, we're flying!'"
"Dammit!" said Seifer. "So this is why she's been reading up on ancient starships in Ellone's bedroom!" He sat on the floor as Quistis headed to the cockpit.
"Selphie!" Quistis said. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"
"You're in Sis' bedroom?" said Squall. "She's in Esthar? She's safe?"
Seifer waited until Zell and Irvine followed Quistis. "What the hell were you doing with all the time I spared you?"
Squall frowned.
"In space? You and Instructor? She looks like she's ready to kill you, you daft. No matter how much time I tried to give you, you'll still gonna ruin it up, don't you?"
Squall's expression turned cold. "Whatever I have done with Quistis in the space is none of your business. She's not any happier to see you."
"Why should she be happy to—you know what? What—fucking—ever." Seifer grimaced. "The two of you are so painful to look at." He stood and brushed off the lint from his coat.
"I'm talking about Sis!" said Squall. "I need to see her again!"
"Do whatever you fucking want. I'm done with you." Seifer turned to the hallway.
"Wait!" Squall said. "What are you talking about with Sis?"
Seifer frowned. "Not much. She's bored. She threw a teacup at me. And the plate. And the cake. And the book. And then we played Cards."
"Ca—wait, WHAT?"
Seifer drew a Card from his pocket and showed it to Squall. The brown-haired gunblader looked shocked when he noticed Laguna's Card in his rival's hand.
"How… why..." he said. "Sis? WHY?"
"I don't like this man," said Seifer as he pocketed the Card. "But Selphie does, so I'm gonna give it to her. See you later, you daft head." Seifer left the hatch room. He heard the last wail louder than everyone as he made his way to the cockpit.
"Whyyyy?"
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To be Continued…