Squall and his seed companions have defeated Ultimecia but now they find themselves under the threat of an entirely new enemy.
Disclaimer: all final fantasy 8 characters, places and things all belong to square soft and other involved companies. I own none of the rights to any of this. This fanfic is just for fun.
EMPEROR OF DARKNESS
CHAPTER 2
Irvine gritted his teeth in nervous anticipation as Selphie prepared to unleash her aero spell. "Do we really have to do this again?" Irvine muttered, still keeping his teeth tightly clenched.
In answer to his question, Selphie let loose a powerful gust of wind, hitting Irvine full force, lifting him up off the floor and spinning him wildly through the air. However before slamming painfully into the ground he was caught up in another spell and suddenly he found his self floating safely to the ground.
Irvine tried to keep a cool front about the whole thing but failed miserably when he saw all the amused faces reflected towards him. "BRAVO! THANKS A LOT IRVINE, YOU WHERE GREAT!" Selphie yelled from across the room.
Irvine growled in response to Selphie's enthusiasm. They were now situated in the gymnasium of the new and improved Trabia Garden. After the battle with Ultimecia and then Squall and Rinoa's wedding, Selphie and Irvine decided it was time to move on. Not to mention the fact that even Zell, the lazy big mouth of the group, left. That was a sign in and of itself that said it was time for the whole group to go their separate ways and move on with their lives.
A few weeks after Zell's departure, Selphie decided to return to her old school and help the students finish rebuilding all the damage Ultimecia left behind. Naturally Irvine followed her. After completion of the new school, the head of Trabia Garden was so pleased with their efforts that he gave them both positions as battle instructors for all the advanced students.
However, at this particular moment Irvine wasn't all that pleased with these new arrangements. He stood in the back as Selphie finished giving her lecture on appropriate magic usage. The students were all young but they were very excited and enthusiastic about having the opportunity to be trained under the same seed members who helped bring down the evil sorceress, Ultimecia.
A few minutes later, Selphie dismissed the class and now proceeded towards Irvine. "Thanks a lot for the help Irvine! I really couldn't have done it without you!" She said with a huge grin on her face.
"You said that already, Selphie. But listen, next time just let me know ahead of time when you're planning on using me as a guinnie pig."
Irvine was trying to sound angry with her but he felt his resolve break every moment he stared into her sparkling blue eyes. This woman had a natural glow about herself that made her absolutely impervious to anything negative. She was the very definition of optimism. However, this was also Selphie's most winning trait. Her optimism inspired others and gave anyone around her a sense of insuppressible confidence. At least that's how she made Irvine feel.
Despite her sporadic nature, which was hard for him to deal with at times, Irvine loved Selphie. He found that her child like joy awakened the child like joy in his own heart. Everything about her touched his spirit and Irvine never wanted to part with this new feeling. A slight smile formed on Irvine's face as he thought of all of this.
"What cha smilin' at?" Selphie asked suddenly, tearing him out of his brief reverie.
Irvine flushed at this. "Well, its just that its still hard to imagine you as an instructor", he said, half truthfully while clearing his throat.
"What!? Come on Irvine I wasn't that bad! Besides we've all grown a little since our confrontation with the Sorceress."
Irvine had to agree with this fact. Even he had matured since that fateful day. He didn't flirt half as much as he used to, and he stopped trying to play the 'loner' bit. 'I guess Ultimecia's threat against the world has really woken us all up', he thought to himself.
"Well I guess you do have a point there", he said grudgingly. He hated being wrong but nowadays Selphie was right about almost everything. It seems she gained a great amount of wisdom over the years.
"Of course I do!" Selphie responded in her usual happy go lucky voice. "Now lets go get some grub and get ready for our next class session shall we?"
"But we already had our three class sessions for the day!" Irvine argued.
Selphie giggled. "I added another one silly"
Irvine was speechless. He simply slapped his hand on his forehead in exasperation and followed Selphie as she lead the way to the cafeteria. "Why me?" Irvine mumbled miserably to himself.
Zell yawned lazily as he rested peacfully on the docks of FH. The scenary was beautiful at this time of year. He had decided nearly three years ago to explore the world and see all that he could see. Much to his joy, Sarah has offered to go with him. Together they had journeyed much of the world and visited sights such as Esthar, the Cetra Ruins, and even certain areas in the Trabia region. Finally they had agreed to settle down in FH for a while. It was like paradise to the two of them and their relationship prospered from it. When they first got to FH it was under attack from a sea monster and Zell and Sarah had fought together to defeat the menace and save the citizens. After that, they became very popular, not to mention they where already renowned as the hero's involved in the downfall of Ultimecia. It wasn't long until the former head of FH finally handed the reigns over to Zell and Sarah. Zell had been skeptical about accepting this kind of responsibility at first but after some support and encouragement from Sarah he had accepted his new role and quite frankly he grew to like it a lot. Zell finally understood what the former Head of FH meant when he said it was not a war torn island. They were totally peaceful and Zell liked this. Zell was finally happy.
He thought of all of this as he closed his eyes against the rushing wind of the sea breeze. His whole outlook was different now. He traded in his spunky hair doo for a more formal style. Now his hair was all smoothly slicked back with only a flock or two falling forward. Gone were his jeans and red and black striped jacket. He now wore a black armani suit with a silk shirt and a black and silver striped tie. Zell Dincht had indeed changed.
He sat up abruptly as his cell phone suddenly rang, interrupting his daydreaming. "Hello." He said as he stretched his arms languidly.
"Hi sweetie" Sarah said from the other line. "I just got back from visiting the Robinsons. It was a great visit honey. Oh, and the baby kicked today!"
Zell had been listening moderately interested in the news about the Robinsons but at the mention of his unborn child, he immediately became more interested. "Really! So he finally found his legs huh?" Zell asked, implying that their child would be a boy.
Sarah laughed at this. "Yes it sounds like 'she' has!" She said emphasizing the word 'she'.
They both laughed happily at their little game of guessing the gender of their child. Sarah had been pregnant for three months now. They had recently gotten married four months ago. Zell had been meaning to write to the others about all of this but it all happened so fast that he never really found the right way to say it.
One day when they were on the docks looking into the majestic sea, Zell had finally worked up enough courage to propose to Sarah. They were so happy that they arranged for the marriage that very week. They had been living happily ever since. They both felt bad that they didn't invite their friends and family to their wedding but neither of them wanted a fancy wedding, which they were sure their friends would have given them.
"I'll be home in a few minutes honey" Zell told his wife.
He got up from his seat on the docks and began walking through the friendly streets of FH. "I'm just going to go to the Grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner."
Zell was always a good cook and ever since they moved to FH Zell had been protesting that he should cook most of the time. It was a hobby of his that was overlooked during his time at Balamb Garden. Sarah always enjoyed Zell's cooking however she also liked to cook. Finally they came to the conclusion that they would divide the tasks of cooking so that Zell would cook on the first half of the week and Sarah would cook on the other half. They were both pleased with these arrangements and it has been that way ever since.
"Ok honey, I'll see you in a few minutes then." Sarah said sweetly as she hung up the phone on her end.
Zell turned off his cell phone and put it in his pocket as he continued to walk down the street to the store. For the first time in Zell's life he was truly happy and content.
Squall Lionheart was annoyed beyond belief. It seemed sleep was an impossible feat these days. Rinoa's reoccurring nightmares, along with the constant late night office meetings, were really putting a strain on his health. Now, when he finally gets the chance to have some rest, somebody has the nerve to call him at 3:00 in the morning. Squall's patience had run dry.
As he pressed the button on his phone monitor, Squall answered coldly. "Who is it?"
"Hey there Squall! Long time no see huh?" Came the cheery voice belonging to none other than former Headmaster Cid.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you, calling you up this late."
"No sir, not at all!"
Cid wore an expression of disapproval at this last comment. "Since when did you become a liar Squall?" He said in a mock serious voice.
Squall lowered his head slightly in shame at getting caught in the act.
"Well I won't waste anymore of your time I'll just get to the point. First of all I wanted to congratulate you on all the work you have accomplished here. Your are truly an irreplaceable asset to Garden. Which leads me to my next reason for this call. Squall, tomorrow I am meeting with Caraway, the president of Galbadia. It is the first step in garden's new role to establish unified peace in the land. The ceremony will be an acknowledgment of the unified power of Galbadia, Balamb and Garden working together as one unified force to end all wars. This is a huge step for us all Squall and I am asking you now if you would be there with me as a representative of all that Garden stands for.
Squall was utterly shocked. After the war with Ultimecia, Cid had moved up in the world. He had relinquished total control of Garden over to Squall and had become president of Balamb. Through his quick thinking, intelligence, and political experience, Cid quickly turned Balamb into one of the continent's most powerful nations.
'And now he's going to unify Galbadia Balamb and Garden together into a symbol of peace and he wants ME to be there with him!' Squall thought to himself wildly. He could not believe that Cid would give "HIM" the privilege of representing all of Garden. Even though he was the head of Garden, Everyone knew Cid as the founder and creator of it. To not only give Squall control over it but also the honor of helping to unify such a powerful force with the power's of two other nations in the prospect of promoting peace! Squall was too shocked for words.
"Sir this is too much of an honor! I – I am not worthy of this."
"Bah! Still the same old Squall I see. Squall you are quite literally the head of Garden now. Not only that but your also a competent leader and an excellent soldier. There was really no other choice to begin with. You are the best soldier for the job, son."
"But still, sir you are greatly overestimating my abilities."
Cid did not respond to this but simply chuckled and shook his head. "Same old Squall." Cid finally decided to take a different approach. "Squall Lionheart, General of seed, honored head of Garden, would you please do me the honor of joining in Balamb and Galbadia's pact for unified peace?"
Squall was quiet for a moment, then replied in a firm determined voice. "It would be my honor sir."
Cid could not suppress the pleased smile splayed across his face. "Very good. The ceremony starts in two weeks. I look forward to seeing you then."
Cid closed the connection and Squall was left alone to ponder the idea of this new task facing him. "For the glory of Garden", was his only reply as he closed his monitor and made his way back to bed.
Hello again. Sorry if this story is going rather slow now but I'm trying to get the setting established so if you like it please keep reading. There will be more action on the way soon. I promise you that. Once again, thanks for reading and please send any flames, critiques or comments to me at cordis_xaltun@altavista.com