On the ramp, the child walked up slowly to the exhausted Squall.
Finally. My destiny.
Squall was unable to do anything as the child came, since he strangely felt unable to move. The child came up the stairs slowly, walking very carefully, as though he was walking over a pit.
"Are you... the Chosen?"
"What are you talking about, child?"
"You'll see, Squall. You'll see."
"What's your name?"
"You will know."
Suddenly, Squall started to float in midair, and his vision started to change. The entire world seemed to twist out of shape, and in its place, he found himself in a void, an empty blackness. Strangely, however, he didn't feel tired at all.
"So, child. Where am I."
"Squall Leonheart."
"That is my name."
"Squall Leonheart."
"Yes?"
"Do you not know my name?"
Strangely, Squall had never thought about the fact that he had never learned the name of the child. Rather than ask him who he was, he straightened up.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Do you not know my name?"
Apparently, this person would not continue unless he was asked what he wanted to be asked.
"What is your name?"
"Hyne."
Squall was half confused and half cautious. Hyne. The original sorceress. It was impossible! Somehow, though, he knew it was true. Whether it was his new power or his own sense of right, he knew that he was telling the truth.
"How are you alive?"
Raising his hand, the young child formed an image, a picture of a woman in her prime, her face still unlined from any form of anger.
"That's... you?"
"Yes. Or at least, that was me."
"What?"
The image seemed to change from that one picture to showing different parts of her/his life, which flickered on and off rather irregularly. Then, it came to the end of her life and slowed down to be more easily visible. Hyne, now about 90, but still looking young, standing over the dead body of a child, a girl. Her child. Through the image, he saw Hyne desperately try life and full life, but every time she tried it, something stopped it, an invisible force. In desperation, she raised her hands and summoned her essence, flowing it into an energy ball which suddenly started to flow into the girl. This time, she was not stopped. After about a half a minute, life seemed to come to the girl, and Hyne's body fell. The girl was Hyne, or at least, the dead girl's body was Hyne.
"You... transported into other's bodies?
"Yes, Squall. It's kept me alive."
"Why?"
Then, the image cut off. The boy looked up at him, an icy glare in his eyes.
"I've been waiting for you, Squall."
"Me?"
"Yes you, Squall. That power you acquired, it wasn't given to you at random. You were chosen."
"By who?"
"By the only power that is more powerful than you."
"Who?"
"The Creator. I have not seen him myself, but evolution does not explain your power or mine. When I sacrificed a portion of my power, I didn't choose who it went to. That was chosen for me."
Squall stood aghast. The Creator. No one had ever seen him, and Squall didn't think he had even seen him. It must have been one of the messengers that so many people talk about. But the implications...
"But that means that... Ultimecia. The Creator gave your power to Ultimecia."
Hyne nodded her head solemnly.
"I can only guess. I see only one of two possibilities. Either Ultimecia was a test of your determination, or..."
"Or what?"
"My enemy may have been granted the abikity to assign my power."
"The Creator let someone else do it? Your enemy?"
Hyne could only bow his head even more if that was possible.
"A being, extremely powerful, far more powerful than me, realms the worlds. He controls the Guardian Force. He IS the Guardian Force. The Creator could destroy him easily, but he chooses not to. Luckily, my enemy does not even have full control over the essence of the dimension that GF's exist. The fact that you got uncontaminated Guardian Forces is prove of that."
Squall's head was swimming. He was having a hard time accepting any of this. Supernatural forces? The Guardian Force? Hyne? And what did...
"What does this have to do with me?"
For a moment, Hyne was silent.
"You are more powerful than even me, Squall. I believe... I believe you have been given your power to stop my enemy."
Squall instantly went back to his skeptical attitude, and focused his Lionheart on Hyne.
"You were considered evil, Hyne. I can't trust you."
The boy laughed, and then kneeled down.
"I was not evil by nature. I was contaminated. I have paid my pennance. Have you paid yours?"
"Pennance? Pennance for what?!"
His words were lost in the void as Hyne started to disappear.
"Get back here, Hyne!"
Nothing happened. He knelt down and started screaming, unleashing a primal roar towards everything and nothing. His hand glowed a vibrant green, and suddenly, the place where he was kneeling, the voidspace, became the familiar tile, and everyone was around him as he kneeled on the ground. He grabbed for the nearest person, who was almost startled.
"Rinoa..."
Squall looked at Rinoa's face and her smile before he blinked, his eyes feeling heavy.
"My... room. Need sle..."
He passed out, still in his battle suit. With his headband and armbands waving, Rinoa activated her float and hovered over everyone, almost flying to the dormitories.
When Squall woke up, he found Rinoa sitting in a chair over his bed. The doctors, there were two now to deal with the bigger Garden, hovered over him. He waved him hand to shoo them away.
"You did all your tests while I was asleep. There are others that need treatment more."
Rather than argue, which is what Squall was half-expecting, they walked out of the room, leaving Rinoa there. As he watced, he noticed that Rinoa was moving at an absurdly slow pace. It didn't take him long to understand. She had cast a slowing magic on herself so that she would conserve energy to stay up with him. Now that he was awake, she waved her hand and a sort of comet-trail circled her, clearing the slow from her body. She got up from her chair and walked up to him. He sat up on the edge of the bed and almost smiled.
"You watched over me."
"All forty hours."
He was surprised that he had been asleep that long, but he didn't argue. Rather, he just put his hand to her cheek, now really smiling. Going to the void world made him remember that he was alive, and he remembered who he really cared for.
"Thank you."
Rinoa put her hands to his, seeming to savor the moment, neither of them wanting to let go for fear of breaking the curse. However, it had to end sooner or later. Rinoa smirked and let go, slowly.
"It was nothing. I... I had to make sure you were okay."
Slowly, she walked out of the room, leaving one last glance over her shoulder before she left for good. When he fell back down onto the bed, he noticed with feint surprise that he was still wearing those simple trousers with bands, and that was it. He wasn't even wearing shoes. Then, he remembered that he had forgot his gunblade back at the training room. Feeling confident, he raised his hands and imagined it in his hands. For a moment, nothing happened, but after a moment, the gunblade materialized in his hands. He smiled as the rest of his ninja garb also appeared on the dresser next to him. He put on the shoes, simple cloth pads, and he was about to put on the shirt before he thought of something. He wasn't the same old person as he was, and covering up his power wasn't what he needed. He kept the Mavericks on, but he started to bring up the power in his fist, now learning how to control it on command, and it started to burn a line through the glove just enough that his Lionheart sign was clearly visible. Rather than put on the whole garb, he simply split the shirt from the silk-mail vest that was underneath it, putting it on.
He admired its durability before he walked out of the dorm, swinging the unlit handle of his Lionheart Sword in circles. Vaguely, he noticed the Lionheart engraved into the handle, and thought,
I guess... the Lionheart has always been my destiny, hasn't it.
When he got to the cafeteria and walked over to where everyone but Rinoa was sitting, he vaguely noticed that several people took stray glances at him. With the power of the Lionheart, he enhanced his hearing enough to hear some of them.
"That's... Squall?"
"Yes."
"Geez... it doesn't look like him, you know?"
"Silence."
"No, seriously, are you sure that that's really Squall?"
"Raijin. Pipe down. That's Squall, all right. Scan him. He's the old wimp, except with a new look and a fancy upgrade."
"Correct."
Focusing on that group, Squall turned and gave a half smile. Walking up to the three, he recognized Fujin, Raijin, and Seifer. When Raijin made another peek at him, he closed h is eyes and teleported himself behind him.
"Is there something you wanted to ask me, Raijin?"
Raijin jumped several feet into the air, hitting his knee on the table where he was sitting.
"What the..."
"Commander."
"What are you doing here, Squall?"
Squall simply shrugged.
"I just heard that Raijin was asking a question. I wanted to answer. Raijin, I am Squall. Are you satisfied."
Before Raijin could respond, Squall teleported to the table where his companions were, coming in between Zell and Quistis. None of them were startled, but Squall expected that. They knew his habits.
"What was it like, Squall?"
Zell asked after a couple more seconds of idle chitchat.
"It... was... It was like I was fueled by power. Like having pure energy pumped into every cell of my body. The power I got was... beyond anything I've energy felt.
"What happened when you were collapsed? You would constantly be walking and gesturing until you kneeled down and woke up."
This time it was Quistis, ever careful not to ask anything too deep.
"I met Hyne."
Apparently, the answer was deeper than they were expecting. Selphie had apparently gasped with food in her mind, because she suddenly started gagging. Rinoa walked into the door at the other end, walking towards the group.
"What did you say?"
Zell asked, now listening far more carefully. Rinoa arrived then, sitting down next to Squall.
"It was odd. I was transported to a mystical place, a kind of outspace. There was no floor, but I could move just fine. I could see entire galaxies, and the boy that followed me up the ramp... he was Hyne."
"How?"
Rinoa was the one who asked, this time. She was always asking questions about her sorceress heritage.
"Hyne... she has switched through over 100 bodies, well over 100 bodies. She/he said that she has been waiting for something, something that she was always waiting for. She said it was me."
"Why was she waiting for you?"
"She said... she said the Creator gave me this power... this strength. She guessed that I was granted the power to fight off some mystical power. Some being that has control over the Guardian..."
Suddenly, he was cut off as the entire room got freezing cold. Whoever had magic skills made a fire quickly, raising their hand to warm themselves. Mystically unaffected, Squall got up quickly and felt his power flair up. Suddenly, the boy, Hyne, appeared, his hand glowing, one of the telltale signs of using Holy or Forbidden magic. Suddenly, he saw a being clothed in a white robe walk in. At least, that's what he saw at first. Everyone looked at the two beings, and two people ran from a table when a flare cast by Hyne hit the being, sending tens of tables flying. Strangely, though, the strange robed figure showed no sign of weakness. As Squall watched, though, his senses shifted. Instead of seeing color, he started seeing intent, motive... and the being in white had a sense of evil that was far beyond even Ultimecia's. Also, he saw that Hyne was not evil, but was almost blazingly good. Suddenly, the being reached out a hand and fired a magic Squall had never seen, and a piercing shriek of evil energy reached towards Hyne, striking her to the ground. Quickly, Squall turned to Rinoa.
"Sorceress! Curaga! Now!"
Rinoa knew what he meant and she conjured up the power to raise Hyne while Squall ran between Hyne and the other being. As the curaga seeped into her body, Hyne got up and frowned.
"Who is he?"
Squall asked, his Lionheart sword in his hands.
"He is not my enemy, but he is one of his allies. One of the Outcasts."
Squall didn't bother to ask who the Outcasts were, but he called out instead.
"Whoever you are, I suggest you move away now!"
The being laughed so hard that the room seemed to vibrate.
"You? Squall Leonheart? I saw your battle with Ultimecia. You are pitiful!"
Reaching out with his hands, the being created a hurricane of dark energy which spiraled above Squall, lancing out with powerful blows that tried to strike him. However, when the blasts came, he seemed to always deflect them or dodge them, knowing exactly where they would come. In a blazing rush, he ran to his opponent, Lionheart in hand. Realizing he had underestimated his opponent, the being leaped up into the air and through the ceiling.
"No you're not!"
Squall yelled and he leaped up and followed, his power driving him afloat. His being past through the wall as he crossed the material barrier, and he saw his opponent.
"Whoever you are, you die now!"
Squall yelled. Bringing up one hand, he summoned a Holy magic and conjured it up within his enemy. He watched as the being writhed in pain while the power coursed through him, and when it stopped, he was left heaving, like one without any energy left in him.
"Either you give up now, creature of darkness, or you die."
"You'll have... to kill... me, then. I have... nothing."
Squall grabbed his Lionheart sword and flew up at the being, who was now unable to fight. Weak. Defenseless. Before he could bring down the sword, he sighed and stopped himself.
"I... can't kill a defenseless opponent."
The being smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"That is your foolishness."
Suddenly, he dissapeared, and Squall didn't know where he had gone.
Finally. My destiny.
Squall was unable to do anything as the child came, since he strangely felt unable to move. The child came up the stairs slowly, walking very carefully, as though he was walking over a pit.
"Are you... the Chosen?"
"What are you talking about, child?"
"You'll see, Squall. You'll see."
"What's your name?"
"You will know."
Suddenly, Squall started to float in midair, and his vision started to change. The entire world seemed to twist out of shape, and in its place, he found himself in a void, an empty blackness. Strangely, however, he didn't feel tired at all.
"So, child. Where am I."
"Squall Leonheart."
"That is my name."
"Squall Leonheart."
"Yes?"
"Do you not know my name?"
Strangely, Squall had never thought about the fact that he had never learned the name of the child. Rather than ask him who he was, he straightened up.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Do you not know my name?"
Apparently, this person would not continue unless he was asked what he wanted to be asked.
"What is your name?"
"Hyne."
Squall was half confused and half cautious. Hyne. The original sorceress. It was impossible! Somehow, though, he knew it was true. Whether it was his new power or his own sense of right, he knew that he was telling the truth.
"How are you alive?"
Raising his hand, the young child formed an image, a picture of a woman in her prime, her face still unlined from any form of anger.
"That's... you?"
"Yes. Or at least, that was me."
"What?"
The image seemed to change from that one picture to showing different parts of her/his life, which flickered on and off rather irregularly. Then, it came to the end of her life and slowed down to be more easily visible. Hyne, now about 90, but still looking young, standing over the dead body of a child, a girl. Her child. Through the image, he saw Hyne desperately try life and full life, but every time she tried it, something stopped it, an invisible force. In desperation, she raised her hands and summoned her essence, flowing it into an energy ball which suddenly started to flow into the girl. This time, she was not stopped. After about a half a minute, life seemed to come to the girl, and Hyne's body fell. The girl was Hyne, or at least, the dead girl's body was Hyne.
"You... transported into other's bodies?
"Yes, Squall. It's kept me alive."
"Why?"
Then, the image cut off. The boy looked up at him, an icy glare in his eyes.
"I've been waiting for you, Squall."
"Me?"
"Yes you, Squall. That power you acquired, it wasn't given to you at random. You were chosen."
"By who?"
"By the only power that is more powerful than you."
"Who?"
"The Creator. I have not seen him myself, but evolution does not explain your power or mine. When I sacrificed a portion of my power, I didn't choose who it went to. That was chosen for me."
Squall stood aghast. The Creator. No one had ever seen him, and Squall didn't think he had even seen him. It must have been one of the messengers that so many people talk about. But the implications...
"But that means that... Ultimecia. The Creator gave your power to Ultimecia."
Hyne nodded her head solemnly.
"I can only guess. I see only one of two possibilities. Either Ultimecia was a test of your determination, or..."
"Or what?"
"My enemy may have been granted the abikity to assign my power."
"The Creator let someone else do it? Your enemy?"
Hyne could only bow his head even more if that was possible.
"A being, extremely powerful, far more powerful than me, realms the worlds. He controls the Guardian Force. He IS the Guardian Force. The Creator could destroy him easily, but he chooses not to. Luckily, my enemy does not even have full control over the essence of the dimension that GF's exist. The fact that you got uncontaminated Guardian Forces is prove of that."
Squall's head was swimming. He was having a hard time accepting any of this. Supernatural forces? The Guardian Force? Hyne? And what did...
"What does this have to do with me?"
For a moment, Hyne was silent.
"You are more powerful than even me, Squall. I believe... I believe you have been given your power to stop my enemy."
Squall instantly went back to his skeptical attitude, and focused his Lionheart on Hyne.
"You were considered evil, Hyne. I can't trust you."
The boy laughed, and then kneeled down.
"I was not evil by nature. I was contaminated. I have paid my pennance. Have you paid yours?"
"Pennance? Pennance for what?!"
His words were lost in the void as Hyne started to disappear.
"Get back here, Hyne!"
Nothing happened. He knelt down and started screaming, unleashing a primal roar towards everything and nothing. His hand glowed a vibrant green, and suddenly, the place where he was kneeling, the voidspace, became the familiar tile, and everyone was around him as he kneeled on the ground. He grabbed for the nearest person, who was almost startled.
"Rinoa..."
Squall looked at Rinoa's face and her smile before he blinked, his eyes feeling heavy.
"My... room. Need sle..."
He passed out, still in his battle suit. With his headband and armbands waving, Rinoa activated her float and hovered over everyone, almost flying to the dormitories.
When Squall woke up, he found Rinoa sitting in a chair over his bed. The doctors, there were two now to deal with the bigger Garden, hovered over him. He waved him hand to shoo them away.
"You did all your tests while I was asleep. There are others that need treatment more."
Rather than argue, which is what Squall was half-expecting, they walked out of the room, leaving Rinoa there. As he watced, he noticed that Rinoa was moving at an absurdly slow pace. It didn't take him long to understand. She had cast a slowing magic on herself so that she would conserve energy to stay up with him. Now that he was awake, she waved her hand and a sort of comet-trail circled her, clearing the slow from her body. She got up from her chair and walked up to him. He sat up on the edge of the bed and almost smiled.
"You watched over me."
"All forty hours."
He was surprised that he had been asleep that long, but he didn't argue. Rather, he just put his hand to her cheek, now really smiling. Going to the void world made him remember that he was alive, and he remembered who he really cared for.
"Thank you."
Rinoa put her hands to his, seeming to savor the moment, neither of them wanting to let go for fear of breaking the curse. However, it had to end sooner or later. Rinoa smirked and let go, slowly.
"It was nothing. I... I had to make sure you were okay."
Slowly, she walked out of the room, leaving one last glance over her shoulder before she left for good. When he fell back down onto the bed, he noticed with feint surprise that he was still wearing those simple trousers with bands, and that was it. He wasn't even wearing shoes. Then, he remembered that he had forgot his gunblade back at the training room. Feeling confident, he raised his hands and imagined it in his hands. For a moment, nothing happened, but after a moment, the gunblade materialized in his hands. He smiled as the rest of his ninja garb also appeared on the dresser next to him. He put on the shoes, simple cloth pads, and he was about to put on the shirt before he thought of something. He wasn't the same old person as he was, and covering up his power wasn't what he needed. He kept the Mavericks on, but he started to bring up the power in his fist, now learning how to control it on command, and it started to burn a line through the glove just enough that his Lionheart sign was clearly visible. Rather than put on the whole garb, he simply split the shirt from the silk-mail vest that was underneath it, putting it on.
He admired its durability before he walked out of the dorm, swinging the unlit handle of his Lionheart Sword in circles. Vaguely, he noticed the Lionheart engraved into the handle, and thought,
I guess... the Lionheart has always been my destiny, hasn't it.
When he got to the cafeteria and walked over to where everyone but Rinoa was sitting, he vaguely noticed that several people took stray glances at him. With the power of the Lionheart, he enhanced his hearing enough to hear some of them.
"That's... Squall?"
"Yes."
"Geez... it doesn't look like him, you know?"
"Silence."
"No, seriously, are you sure that that's really Squall?"
"Raijin. Pipe down. That's Squall, all right. Scan him. He's the old wimp, except with a new look and a fancy upgrade."
"Correct."
Focusing on that group, Squall turned and gave a half smile. Walking up to the three, he recognized Fujin, Raijin, and Seifer. When Raijin made another peek at him, he closed h is eyes and teleported himself behind him.
"Is there something you wanted to ask me, Raijin?"
Raijin jumped several feet into the air, hitting his knee on the table where he was sitting.
"What the..."
"Commander."
"What are you doing here, Squall?"
Squall simply shrugged.
"I just heard that Raijin was asking a question. I wanted to answer. Raijin, I am Squall. Are you satisfied."
Before Raijin could respond, Squall teleported to the table where his companions were, coming in between Zell and Quistis. None of them were startled, but Squall expected that. They knew his habits.
"What was it like, Squall?"
Zell asked after a couple more seconds of idle chitchat.
"It... was... It was like I was fueled by power. Like having pure energy pumped into every cell of my body. The power I got was... beyond anything I've energy felt.
"What happened when you were collapsed? You would constantly be walking and gesturing until you kneeled down and woke up."
This time it was Quistis, ever careful not to ask anything too deep.
"I met Hyne."
Apparently, the answer was deeper than they were expecting. Selphie had apparently gasped with food in her mind, because she suddenly started gagging. Rinoa walked into the door at the other end, walking towards the group.
"What did you say?"
Zell asked, now listening far more carefully. Rinoa arrived then, sitting down next to Squall.
"It was odd. I was transported to a mystical place, a kind of outspace. There was no floor, but I could move just fine. I could see entire galaxies, and the boy that followed me up the ramp... he was Hyne."
"How?"
Rinoa was the one who asked, this time. She was always asking questions about her sorceress heritage.
"Hyne... she has switched through over 100 bodies, well over 100 bodies. She/he said that she has been waiting for something, something that she was always waiting for. She said it was me."
"Why was she waiting for you?"
"She said... she said the Creator gave me this power... this strength. She guessed that I was granted the power to fight off some mystical power. Some being that has control over the Guardian..."
Suddenly, he was cut off as the entire room got freezing cold. Whoever had magic skills made a fire quickly, raising their hand to warm themselves. Mystically unaffected, Squall got up quickly and felt his power flair up. Suddenly, the boy, Hyne, appeared, his hand glowing, one of the telltale signs of using Holy or Forbidden magic. Suddenly, he saw a being clothed in a white robe walk in. At least, that's what he saw at first. Everyone looked at the two beings, and two people ran from a table when a flare cast by Hyne hit the being, sending tens of tables flying. Strangely, though, the strange robed figure showed no sign of weakness. As Squall watched, though, his senses shifted. Instead of seeing color, he started seeing intent, motive... and the being in white had a sense of evil that was far beyond even Ultimecia's. Also, he saw that Hyne was not evil, but was almost blazingly good. Suddenly, the being reached out a hand and fired a magic Squall had never seen, and a piercing shriek of evil energy reached towards Hyne, striking her to the ground. Quickly, Squall turned to Rinoa.
"Sorceress! Curaga! Now!"
Rinoa knew what he meant and she conjured up the power to raise Hyne while Squall ran between Hyne and the other being. As the curaga seeped into her body, Hyne got up and frowned.
"Who is he?"
Squall asked, his Lionheart sword in his hands.
"He is not my enemy, but he is one of his allies. One of the Outcasts."
Squall didn't bother to ask who the Outcasts were, but he called out instead.
"Whoever you are, I suggest you move away now!"
The being laughed so hard that the room seemed to vibrate.
"You? Squall Leonheart? I saw your battle with Ultimecia. You are pitiful!"
Reaching out with his hands, the being created a hurricane of dark energy which spiraled above Squall, lancing out with powerful blows that tried to strike him. However, when the blasts came, he seemed to always deflect them or dodge them, knowing exactly where they would come. In a blazing rush, he ran to his opponent, Lionheart in hand. Realizing he had underestimated his opponent, the being leaped up into the air and through the ceiling.
"No you're not!"
Squall yelled and he leaped up and followed, his power driving him afloat. His being past through the wall as he crossed the material barrier, and he saw his opponent.
"Whoever you are, you die now!"
Squall yelled. Bringing up one hand, he summoned a Holy magic and conjured it up within his enemy. He watched as the being writhed in pain while the power coursed through him, and when it stopped, he was left heaving, like one without any energy left in him.
"Either you give up now, creature of darkness, or you die."
"You'll have... to kill... me, then. I have... nothing."
Squall grabbed his Lionheart sword and flew up at the being, who was now unable to fight. Weak. Defenseless. Before he could bring down the sword, he sighed and stopped himself.
"I... can't kill a defenseless opponent."
The being smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"That is your foolishness."
Suddenly, he dissapeared, and Squall didn't know where he had gone.