The Life of Erin Tribal

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Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns all Final Fantasy things. Anything original is mine.

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"Adel and Rinoa..." Selphie said, struggling to find words, staring up at the sorceress towering above them. "They..."

"They've combined into one..." Irvine finished. Erin looked up, and sure enough, Adel and Rinoa had begun to merge into one.

"We have to save Rinoa," Squall stated bluntly. He was, of course, right. This was just another bump in their plan, right?

'Why can't I remember... How'd Rinoa get here?'

"Man, what's Seifer done now..."

'Bri?'

"Erin, come on, we have to go through with the plan!" Harry whispered in her ear. She remembered that she hadn't moved from the spot since he'd caught her there.

"Just focus on Adel!" Squall ordered, preparing to strike at the sorceress. They couldn't use GF's and Magic seemed like a poor idea against a sorceress. That left them with one last option: a physical assault while someone kept Rinoa alive. The later part was discovered when Adel stole some energy from Rinoa.

Soon enough, after eating several Ultima's from Adel, the Sorceress finally fell. Now to pray their plan was going to work, and that Ultimecia would come.

"Ellone, now's your chance!" Laguna's voice shouted while he and Ellone ran into the area. Ellone closed her eyes, and soon after Rinoa fell to the ground. "Ok, Ellone. Just get Rinoa back." Ellone opened her eyes, and with it, Rinoa woke back up and stood once more.

"I was... inside Adel. The young Adel..." Rinoa said plainly, her face pale.

"Ultimecia's inside Adel. Exactly as she wanted," Laguna commented. "Ok folks, this is the showdown we've been waiting for! Time compression is about to begin!"

"Time compression?"

"Bri?"

Erin looked around, and sure enough, Brian was huddled in the corner. He seemed so helpless, so alone...

'No. Now's not the time to feel pity for him.'

"Remember, love, friendship and courage Show 'em what you got!" cheered Laguna, and then Laguna and Ellone ran off and the room warped away. They were falling... falling through air, or was it water?

"Yo, where are we goin'?" Zell asked as they fell.

"Edea's house," responded Squall. Flashes of memories flew by them; past, present, and most likely future all at once.

"I'm probably going to disappear..." Rinoa sighed.

"Stay by my side. I'll make sure you don't."

-

They finally landed on ground, in a room similar to that of one in Deling City. In the following room, there was a chair with an Edea look-alike sitting in it. As soon as they entered, 'Edea' stood up, and as she turned around, split into four copies, and then morphed into an unknown Sorceress. The room around them began to melt away as they started to hack away at the sorceress before them. Soon after they started, another image of the sorceress appeared. When she appeared, the land around them changed into what looked like Timber, though this area melted away as well.

These first two sorceresses didn't survive long, but they were quickly replaced by another sorceress. This one changed the area around them to a beach, though they couldn't guess where. She didn't last long as well, but was once again soon replaced with another, and next thing they knew they were in Esthar. Soon after that, another appeared, sending them to the Training Center in Balamb. When she was dead, they were moved to a snowy forest area, more than likely outside Trabia.

As more Sorceresses appeared, they were transported to Balamb, D-District Prison, the Fire Cavern, and Winhill (though, Erin only heard this name as someone mentioned it under their breath). At last, what they guessed to be the final sorceress appeared, and they were transported to a moving platform in no particular area. She was much uglier than the others, and with that, much tougher. This one had a love for countering their attacks, and after several counterattacks, they heard a voice begin to countdown. As the countdown went down, the platform they were on began to shake even more.

"Ultima..." They heard a female's voice say, and the sorceress began to cast the spell. It hit them hard, but they continued on, quickly healing what they could with their own magic. She didn't gain a chance to do the countdown again, as she fell to the ground in a burst of lights shortly after the first Ultima went off.

-

"Edea's house," Squall repeated from before.

'We made it?'

Edea's house was no longer destroyed, and various plants were climbing up the walls and pillars of the buildings. Erin took a quick chance to look around and realized everyone was there. Squall quickly lead them through the 'main building', but when they took a step out on the other side, the scene changed and two men were lying in front of them, both wearing White SeeD uniforms.

"Future SeeDs... We're fighting across generations," Squall noted.

In front of them was a series of chains, all leading up to a castle. There wasn't much light to be seen at the castle, but it took less than a split second to figure out who was living there.

"Ultimecia's reign... We have to end it now," said Erin as calmly as she could. Making their way past the SeeDs and down a ramp, more bodies could be seen.

"These SeeDs... They are the one's from Ultimecia's time. They were doing a head-on assault..."

No one answered her.

'But I thought Brian was in the room when we went through Time Compression...?'

Past this group of SeeDs was one of the large chains leading to the castle. To their left was three portals, each with a different scene of the outside world on the other side.

'I wonder if the Ragnarok's out there... But would it be worth it for us to find it? Shouldn't we just head for Ultimecia...?' Squall was apparently thinking the same, as he lead the group up the rest of the chain and to Ultimecia's Castle.

"So... this is her castle," Zell said, stating the obvious.

"Well... at least we all made it," Erin shrugged, but something didn't feel right.

"This is so creepy. You really think what's-her-face lives here?" asked Irvine.

"We've come this far, she's gotta be here." Rinoa pointed out.

"So... This is the future. This is where Ultimecia reigns," said Quistis.

"I don't know what's going on, but since we're still here, I think we still have some time to finish the job," stated Squall.

"Let's just get this done and over with."

Still no reply.

"What are we going to do, Squall?" questioned Quistis.

"We'll divine into two teams. I want Erin, Zell, Selphie, and Harry with me. Everyone else will make up the second team. Understood?" Squall ordered, and everyone nodded, quickly splitting up into their designated teams. "We will do our best to work our way separately towards Ultimecia, but help each other out if needed. We don't know what to expect here, so be prepared for anything."

As they walked up the steps towards the castle, Erin began to get nervous. She had this growing bad feeling about this place, which was made true when the doors opened.

"For so long as you remain within these castle walls, your powers shall be sealed. Defeat my servants and you shall regain your powers."

"That's her."

"Brian!? Where are you? Why haven't you been answering?"

No response again. Why did she care so much anyways?

Without even taking a step, they already saw her first servant. At the top of the stairs in front of them was a large monster looking similar to that of a "Sphinx" from history books she had read. It didn't move to attack them, but as soon as they approached they got pounded with magic.

"Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power..."

Another spell, followed by them doing all they could do... literally. The group made brutal physical assaults at the beast, and they quickly found it wasn't that tough. It managed to summon a friend, but that quickly fell, followed by the Sphinx.

"Choose the power... you wish to unseal..."

Squall made his decision, and the body faded away into nothing. They continued on into the door in front of them, and when they walked onto a chandelier in front of them, it collapsed under their weight. The force of the fall knocked everyone to different corners in the room, but there a clicking sound at the same time. When everyone regained their balance, they decided to explore the hatch that looked like it was newly opened. Inside the room was yet another servant.

"Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power..."

'Are these guys going to say that each time we find one...?' Erin asked herself.

This one was slightly tougher than the last encounter, but only slightly. He had slightly nastier moves that countered them each and every time someone attacked, but they pushed through it and killed this one as well.

Throughout the castle, they explored many different areas, finding many different looking servants. Some of them reminded Erin of previous encounters they'd had in the past. Each one, as she had guessed, asked the same questions, and died with the same phrase. Each time, Squall made the decisions of what they would receive. They had no idea how the other team was doing, but they hoped they were having fairly good luck, since their group seemed to be finding all the 'servants', and was seemingly moving through the castle quite fast.

-

"Finally..." someone sighed, but she couldn't make out exactly who as the wind picked up. They reached the seemingly last pathway, last ladder, and last door. Behind it was Ultimecia... there was no doubt about that. As the wind picked up during the time they walked across the path, no voices were heard clearly, but people were talking. She knew they were talking about what next? What were they going to do once this was all said and done?

"Let's just beat her and get this done with," Erin whispered, knowing no one could hear her. Except maybe...

"Do it."

"Bri!? Where are you?"

"I... don't know. I'm lost. It's dark... I can't see or hear anything."

"Did Ultimecia do this...?"

"Maybe... Or Gar..."

"Gar? Garland? He's the one who's been using you as a puppet?"

There was silence yet again. Someone was shaking her shoulder and she snapped back into reality. So, they were ready...

-

"SeeD."

'She reminds me of those sorceresses we fought...'

"SeeD... SeeD..."

'This almost reminds me of Kefka... Almost.'

"SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time kompression."

'Except she has an accent in place of Kefka's laugh...'

"Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you shall be my slaves for eternity!" The sorceress of time stood from where she had been seated and floated down in front of them, all the while laughing. "Whom shall I exterminate first..."

The world went black. She didn't know where she was. Reaching around, she found someone's arm. Looking closely, it appeared to be Harry. A light began to flicker on, revealing most of the group... except four people.

'Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine, and Relm...' she thought, recognizing the figures of those stuck in this void. Ultimecia's laughing could be heard, along with muffled screams. As time drug on, one-by-one people were brought out of their black hole and apparently into the fight. No one ever returned. Then, att last, the last one left, she disappeared too...

Ultimecia was no longer in sight, but now instead a large beast was flying in front of her. She noticed that Squall, Selphie, and Zell were all there fighting against it.

"Don't stand still! That's Griever!"

"Griever...?"

She hadn't listened; she had stood still. A force of wind knocked her back, but not enough to keep her from fighting. She stood back up and followed the examples the others were setting.

'Give it everything you've got, Erin...'

Griever fell, and in it's place a combined version of Griever and Ultimecia appeared. She took the split second break to notice they were no longer in Ultimecia's room, but instead were on a platform similar to that of an earlier sorceress fight. This form was seemingly much deadlier, nearly knocking out someone each and every time. They fought through, using everything they had once more. It seemed like forever fighting this, but then it fell, and...

'Are we done?'

Someone said the same thing out loud as the body fell to the ground. The platform they were on disappeared, and the sky around them grew pitch black. One-by-one, 'lights' flickered on, revealing what she guessed to be Ultimecia's true form. It was comprised of two bodies, and they were face-to-face with the "upper" body. This was when things really got fun.

"I am Ultimecia. Time shall compress...All existence denied."

They used magic, Ultimecia would steal their magic. They used a GF, which every person had amazingly avoided previously, it was killed. Which left one thing... a full-on physical assault. Everyone struck away at the upper body, occasionally backing off to use an item to heal up.

"Reflect on your...Childhood..."

As the fight drug on, half of the group began using Ultimecia's technique for their own. They brought out magic from the lower body and used it against the upper body. Several times people were brought to their limits of surviving, but they pushed through, combining the two techniques.

"Your sensation...Your words...Your emotions... Time...It will not wait... No matter...how hard you hold on. It escapes you...And..."

She died. Once and for all, no more forms.

Ultimecia was dead.

With her, their entire black space was turned back into light. Everyone was there. Everyone... Except Squall.

"Let's go! Let's go back to our time!" Irvine shouted.

"Shut up! Just calm down and think wher eto go!" Zell replied

"Careful! Don't fall into the right time!" Quistis reminded them.

'Where do I want to be... Who with...'

"Squall!" Rinoa cried out loud. "Where are you? Let's go home!"

"Bri! Where... where are you?"

"She's dead?"

-

"Excuse me? Have you seen my son?"

"Your son?" Erin replied.

"Yes... Brian... Brian Long."

"He's... he's fine. He's ok. He'll be ok," she repeated over and over again. "I'll... I'll find your son."

"Ahhh!"

-

"That was... my mother. The... the sorceress killed her. Ultimecia killed her. I found out while I was running away from home one day. I had wanted to become a SeeD... to see the world. But now..."

"Don't give up! Never give up!"

-

"Daddy! Where's mommy?"

"She's gone. Scared herself to death that you'd run away and die somewhere."

-

"My dad... he was always with me. Until mom died. He became, distant. He eventually killed himself."

-

"Brian, where ARE YOU?" Erin screamed into the darkness surrounding her. Her feet hit solid earth and she began to run. She didn't know where to, but she just ran. Ran until her legs screamed no more. Hand on her gunblade, she closed her eyes for a minute.

'Am I... Am I stuck in this time compressed world?'

-

"It's that night... At the graduation party. You were there Bri?"

"I was."

"But..."

"Remember... Ser wanted us to talk that night. Like that would make it all better. I left the garden the next day with Seifer."

-

She opened her eyes once more, a faint path lit in front of her. She knew where to go. She knew where he was.

'Don't die... I'll save you.'

Walking. All she did was walk. Through the fog all around, pictures flying through her head, both of her memory and his.

A body.

He was lying there unmoving.

'He's dead?'

"No..." she whispered, slumping down at his side. Her hand found it's way up his arm to his cheek. He was as cold as ice. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"No!"

One moment, it was sheer darkness. But when her body came in contact with his, there was a surge of light. He began to breath again as gusts of wind whipped past them. Sitting up once more, she breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive... but how?

-

A/N: Ahhh yes... I apologize to the Squall/Rinoa fans who may think I stole it. But I've had this idea in my head for uh... About seven years now. I apologize to about the lack of well, "Detail", in the Ultimecia fight. I honestly wrote all of it before I'd even engaged her, throwing in little bits and pieces as I went through. Next chapter (probably the last one for a good bit) will deal with the ending AND bits of my start to FF9!

Please review! I am going to start back up on those beginning chapters soon, well, where I left off anyways. Oh, and did you know, once The End rolls by on FF8... It goes to black screen? You'd think it'd go back to the starting menu or SOMETHING.