Chapter Five - Finding the Elusive Odine
Having left Selphie and the rest of the second group at the Orphanage, Squall returned back to the Ragnorak and instructed Zell to set a course for the Lunar Gate. Odine no longer held his place and laboratory in Esthar city. A year after Ultimecia's defeat, the eccentric doctor claimed an early retirement and was never seen again. Some said that he was living happily deep underground, preparing for what was to come. What it was exactly, nobody knew. Last anyone heard, Odine was 'conducting research', and for preparing. Nobody understood what this meant, but then most of the things he said were dismissed by people as being too odd.
Watching the clouds whirr by, Squall slipped into his own world and let his mind wander. He began to think about his position as field leader and commander. One thing was sure; it gave a heck of a lot of stress! Perhaps he would approach Instructor Trepe one time. She was better at handling tough situations - but then again Quistis was known to have difficulty coping with frustration, making her depressed over trivial matters - despite her cool exterior. So far, Seifer had done nothing to irritate Squall yet. In fact he was behaving quite well for a person who had an inability to take orders and control his temper - now that was unusual. Before Squall had a chance to let his mind wander any further, Zell's loud voice broke into his thoughts, forcing him back into his role as 'leader'.
"Yo, Squall. We're here," Zell said, landing the Ragnorak on the plains that surrounded the Lunar Gate.
Nodding, Squall led the way to the entrance, stopping to speak to an assistant in a white lab coat. "Excuse me, where can we find Doctor Odine?" he asked.
The young assistant stared at Squall with an expression hard to read. He frowned, shifted his gaze and then frowned again. The mention of Doctor Odine obviously discomforted him, after all it had been a while since he last heard the name. "Umm. . . Doctor Odine. . .?" the male assistant said, trying to procrastinate but failing miserably.
It's not exactly a trick question! Squall thought. "Yes, Doctor Odine," Squall repeated.
"Umm. . . I dunno where Doctor Odine is. . ."
"Listen, worm. Tell us where Odine unless you wanna be eating this!" Seifer said, coming forward to take the petrified assistant by the lapels of his lab coat and thrusting his gun-blade in front of him.
"Seifer!" Quistis sharply chided.
Pushing him back, Seifer released his hold of the young assistant and stepped back - arms crossed over his chest in a brooding manner. Trying again, Squall turned to the assistant who was still recovering from Seifer's sudden attack. "Please, we need to see Doctor Odine. It's a matter of urgency,"
"Yeah, my mother's gonna die if we don't find him, and quick. And you're gonna die if you don't tell us." Seifer growled, becoming impatient by the minute.
"Shut-up man, you've gone and scared the guy shitless!" Zell said, pushing Seifer on the shoulder. He was eagerly waiting for the chance to have a go at Seifer since he reappeared on the scene.
"Watch what you say Dincht, you might have to take thet back," Seifer said, his hand inching nearer to where he had his gun-blade.
"Who's gonna make me take them back? You?" Zell taunted, clenching his fists for a fight.
"Guys," Quistis warned. "You start a fight, and you'll have me to answer to."
Scowling, Seifer returned to crossing his arms across his chest. He wanted to find Ultimecia now, and exact his revenge on her. Nobody, except for Rinoa, knew what it was like to be controlled. Nobody understood what he had to go through. It was because of Ultimecia that everyone favoured him with hate and disgust - even though not many favoured him to begin with. Even Raijin and Fujin finally left. He remembered what Raijin had said to him, after the fight with Squall and the others in the Lunatic Pandora. 'Don't know what's right any more, ya know!' It was true; all his actions had become totally irrational that it pushed away the two people Seifer could honestly call 'friends'. What would it be like to see Raijin and Fujin again? To get up to their usual pranks and taunting Squall? Seifer did not have time to ponder upon the past, as he saw the young assistant leaving with a fearful glance in his direction.
"Where's he going?" he demanded, facing Squall.
"C'mon," Squall said, signalling for Zell and Quistis to follow.
"Where's he going?" Seifer repeated. "Did he tell you where to find Odine?"
"He doesn't know," Squall said, boarding the Ragnorak once again and seating himself on one of the chairs on the bridge.
"Whadya mean he doesn't know?! Like hell he doesn't!" Seifer snapped his temper over taking him.
"He said nobody knew where Odine had disappeared to. But he mentioned about articles," Squall said.
"Articles?" Quistis repeated.
Squall nodded. "Something about writing in articles when he retired. Said something about conducting research on time and compression."
"Did he mention where? In newspapers, what?" Quistis asked.
"That's all he would say," Squall concluded.
"Great, another wuss to join to the club of master chicken-wuss over here," Seifer said, jerking his head in Zell's direction.
". . .The hell did you say?! Say it to my face!" Zell stormed, lunging for him with his fists ready to do their worst.
"Leave it Zell," Quistis said, restraining the martial arts expert.
"We're going back to Balamb," Squall suddenly announced.
"What are we gonna do there?" Zell said, eyeing Seifer carefully who just smirked back in return.
"The library. I'm sure they have a collection of newspapers, magazines, whatever articles. Odine's bound to appear in one of them." Squall said.
"And what, we're meant to look through all of them?" Seifer said with disapproval in his voice.
All Squall could do was shrug, "Got any better ideas?"
As it turned out, Seifer did not help out by looking through the articles with them, and instead went off inside Balamb Garden in search for his comrades. It was true, whispers floated in between students and SeeDs alike, even Xu and Nida were surprised to see Seifer wandering around the Garden freely, that they questioned a busy Squall in the library. Promising to explain once they were done with their task, Nida and Xu left Squall, Zell and Quistis to their business. They had been searching through dozens of articles from newspapers, magazines and anything else the library had to offer, but to no avail. Fifteen minutes into their search, Zell complained about food and disappeared to the cafeteria - to buy more hotdogs no doubt - leaving Squall and Quistis to the empty study area at the back of the library. Silently they worked, checking page after page for even a mention of Doctor Odine or the 'research' he was conducting. Still there was nothing.
Sighing, Quistis tucked the parts of her blond hair behind her ears and glanced up at Squall with her tired blue eyes. All this effort seemed pointless when it seemed they were not going to get any answers just by flicking through sheaves of paper. Willing herself not to give in, Instructor Trepe took a thin journal-type booklet and looked with interest at the cover: a setting sunset with the title 'horizons' written in white across the cover. She read the caption below: expanding the possibilities of science and technology. Like the other magazines and newspapers she had searched, Quistis flicked through this particular booklet, only stopping to glance at the pictures on the various pages. That was when she saw it. At first she dismissed the thought that she had seen his picture, but then how many people dressed as oddly as Doctor Odine did. Yes! She was right! He had written a whole column, and there was his picture at the bottom. He was wearing the ridiculously over-large, orange blue, and white ruff around his neck, the very same one that Quistis always remembered him by. Excitedly she tore out the page containing the article and his picture. She was ready to reveal her findings to Squall when the intercom and the voice of Xu filled the entire Garden:
"This is a message for Squall and his group. You have instructions from the President of Esthar to return to the city immediately. I repeat, Squall and his group are to return to Esthar City on the order of the President."
Standing up, Squall ran out of the library - the newspapers lay forgotten. Could it be that they had received news about Ellone? Had she been found, dead or alive? Banishing the possibility of Ellone dead, Squall hurried into the cafeteria and called out to Zell who was busily wolfing down a hotdog, whilst holding another one in his hand.
"Zell, c'mon. We're going," Squall said.
"Wait a sec, let me-"
"Now," Squall ordered running back out again.
Thankfully he didn't need to search for Seifer as he was found bantering with Raijin and Fujin in front of the Directory. Signalling for him to follow, Seifer departed from his comrades, a joke about Zell escaping his lips which brought gales of laughter from them and followed Squall out of Balamb Garden. Quistis brought the rear - the article she had found on Odine forgotten, for now.
They reached Esthar City soon enough, all of them eagerly anticipated what Laguna had to say about Ellone. The other group with Selphie, Irvine and Rinoa were still with Matron at the Orphanage, but they could be informed of the events that had happened, later on. The first thing that they all noticed when they entered Laguna's room, was that there were four people instead of the usual three that consisted of Laguna, Kiros and Ward. Squall blinked hard and dared not believe his eyes. Standing next to Laguna was a young girl, a year older than he was, dressed in a blue sleeve-less white collared top, long white skirt and her trademark green shawl. . . Ellone. Yes, it was definitely Ellone, with her open face framed with brown chin-length hair, her gentle smile and her deep caring eyes. There was no mistaking Squall's beloved Sis.
So what did this all mean? Squall did not understand. Here was Ellone standing before him now, showing no signs of pain, in fact she almost looked calm and serene. It just didn't make sense to him. So Seifer was wrong. It was just a false alarm. A year after Ultimecia's defeat, and Ellone going missing - I can see why there was so much worry. Squall thought to himself. He saw the displeased look on Seifer's face, and the relief on Zell and Quistis'. Now that Ellone had returned, the others at the Orphanage could leave. Squall was genuinely pleased that Sis had come back. But where had Ellone disappeared to?
"Ellone. . ." Squall said with a faint smile.
"We found her wandering outside the city," Laguna's voice told them. "Said something about wanting to see the sun setting on the horizon."
Squall's smile froze on his face and he frowned. It was only a few hours after midday; it wasn't even dusk yet so how could Ellone possibly see the sun setting over the horizon? Laguna obviously failed to recognise the fault in her words because he had a happy smile plastered on his face, all he wanted was for Ellone to be safe and not be in the clutches of a Sorceress. As long as she was safe, then all was well.
So that's it? Squall wondered. Sis - Ellone wanted to see the sunset when the sun is still high up in the sky? Something was wrong. Squall could sense that there was something wrong and he could see it in Ellone's eyes that she was hiding something - but was Ellone aware of this? Lowering her eyelids, Ellone murmured quietly to Laguna and then left the presidential office, stopping to give Squall a hug on her way out. Come to think of it, Ellone did look as though she was tired - as if she had her energy drained out of her.
"Well, I guess we can stop worrying now. Ellone's back, so we can concentrate on the task at hand, which is the parade." Laguna said brightly when the door clicked shut.
"I say there's still something wrong. Something very fishy," Seifer said unconvinced with Ellone's 'excuse'.
"You sure that it just ain't you?" Zell snickered, knowing that that would get Seifer's temper going.
"What?! C'mon you chicken, I'm gonna kick you ass!!" Seifer stormed his gun-blade out and ready for battle.
"Hey no fighting-" Laguna's voice said only to be cut off from the static coming from Squall radio. Even Seifer and Zell stopped bickering to listen to the message: it was Irvine.
"Squall? Squall, are you reading? You guys better get down here right away; we've got a major, major problem down here at the Orphanage. It's Matron. . . and Rinoa. Ultimecia's back."
Chapter Six - A New Foe and Midnight Wanderings
Squall had to keep on reminding himself about what Irvine had said as the Ragnorak flew at full speed in the direction of the Orphanage. His stomach did another somersault when Ultimecia's name entered his mind. And Rinoa! He had totally forgotten about Rinoa. After their first encounter with Edea at the parade in Deling City, Squall still remembered when they fought her after the plan to assassinate the Sorceress Edea failed. Irvine had been their 'sharp-shooter', the one armed with the sniper rifle to kill her. But Edea - quick witted Edea - or rather Ultimecia in Edea Kramer's body deflected the bullet which would have ended her life there and then. And so, Squall and Co. had to fight her. They had to fight Matron, and with the utmost difficulty. This was their Matron they had been fighting. Nobody could understand what it was like to come up against someone who had served as a substitute mother for most of his or her childhood days. Rinoa had been part of Squall's group to fight Edea, and that was when her powers were transferred to the leader of the Forest Owls. That was how Ultimecia managed to control Rinoa, and that was how Rinoa became a 'sorceress'.
Seifer had a pleased look on his face. It looked like they were going to have to fight Ultimecia after all. This is serious, Squall thought bringing a hand up to his face. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why did I leave Rinoa unguarded? Should have seen, should have realised! No. . . Rinoa. He wanted to tell Zell to go faster, to go as fast as the Ragnorak was capable of going. But what use was that to Rinoa or Matron if they reached the Orphanage, dead? Biting back his nerves, Squall exhaled and closed his eyes, wishing that the horrible nightmare would go away.
Clapping his hands with delight, Odine stared admirably at his work of creation. He took quite a fancy to it and beamed once more at his brilliance. Let's see who's the loony, the oddball now! He thought, as he circled around his creation once more. Irvine and Selphie could do nothing in their power but watch. What could a shotgun and a nanchaku do to Odine and the sorceress Edea-Rinoa? Plus Ultimecia's foreboding figure, that loomed at one corner of the room. Besides, they needed Odine to return Matron and Rinoa back into their own separate bodies again.
The three of them had been talking quietly when a blinding light flashed inside the Orphanage when Odine with a strange looking machine appeared in the company of the Evil One, herself - Ultimecia. The sorceress from the future had not seemed to change since their last encounter with her. She was still evil, still scheming, and still wanting to take over this world. Simply put, she was still Ultimecia. What puzzled Irvine and Selphie the most was how on earth did Ultimecia manage to revive herself back from the dead? It couldn't possibly be called a miracle, because miracles didn't happen to evil people like Ultimecia - it was very puzzling, and Selphie and Irvine continued to ponder over this as they watched on helplessly.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Odine exclaimed, circling around Edea and Rinoa, combined together. "Sheer brilliance!"
"You're sick!" Irvine shouted at the ridiculously dressed scientist. "You're totally sick. What are you going to do to Rinoa? To Matron?"
Irvine, for a moment thought he saw a dangerous glint appear in the wacky doctor's eyes. The doctor gave a shrug to dismiss this, and ignored Irvine's insult. It was not until a good few minutes later that Irvine noticed that Ultimecia had not blinked for an entire three minutes. Although she could not exactly be referred to as 'human', living things were known to blink at least after a minute or so. Leaning close to Selphie, as not to distract the doctor, Irvine whispered to her.
"Selphie, is it me or has Ultimecia not blinked for quite a bit?" he asked her.
Blinking rapidly herself, Selphie's eyes widened in realisation and surprise. "Oh, yeah!" she said, keeping her voice low. "She hasn't blinked at all, Irvine. What has Odine done to her? What has he done to Matron and Rinoa? They're not blinking either, and their stares are freaking me out."
The sound of a whirring engine caught doctor Odine's attention. Soon he sped into action and gathered his machine and assembled Edea-Rinoa and Ultimecia next to him. All three disappeared just when the front door to the Orphanage burst open, Squall's group all equipped with their weapons.
"Where is she?" Seifer demanded, brandishing his gun-blade savagely. "Where the hell has she gone?"
"Squall, he's taken Rinoa, Matron and Ultimecia!" Selphie cried, getting up on her feet and looking at her friends with despair.
"He?" Squall questioned. "I thought it was-" he was beginning to get confused. All the flying around half way across the world, in different continents, it was really wearing Squall and everybody out. Outside, the sun had begun to make its journey towards the horizon, the sky already a blaze of a yellow-orange and pink hue.
"Odine!" Selphie exclaimed. "He has Rinoa and Matron, and Ultimecia-"
"Selphie calm down," Irvine said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She was tired like all of them were. Except for Seifer, he was full of energy and fully awake as though he had taken a great dose of caffeine. "Odine appeared with Ultimecia and some weird machine at the Orphanage. We didn't dare try to battle because we thought our weapons were useless against Ultimecia. We thought it was wise if we waited for you to arrive. Anyway, Odine took Rinoa and Edea and did something to them. Their bodies - Odine did something so that their bodies merged as one. In the end, there was this person who was basically in the shape of Matron and with the face of Rinoa. Edea, Rinoa - it looked so freaky.
"But then I noticed that Ultimecia didn't seem to be doing much. She just stood there unblinking. I think Odine froze her or something. It looked like he had cast petrify on her - the same thing with Rinoa and Edea. Then you guys came, and he used his weird machine, and all of them vanished."
"What the hell is going on? What has Odine got to do with all of this? What is that freak doing with Matron and Rinoa? And I certainly wanna know what he's doing or gonna do to Ultimecia." Zell said.
"Oh Squall, what are we going to do??" Selphie asked clearly in distressed.
There's nothing we can do, Squall thought helplessly. Nobody knew where Odine was hiding, or why he had Ultimecia in his possession, or why he had captured Rinoa and Edea. It was all very mystifying, leaving lots to be thought about. Squall clenched his fist in anxiety for Rinoa. If only he hadn't left her alone, and so vulnerable. . .
"We can't start a search now," Quistis said, the voice of reason as always. "We're all tired, and light is fading fast. It would do us all some good if we return to Balamb Garden, get some rest for the night, and start early the next day."
Everyone else nodded, and Squall saw Zell stifle a yawn and Selphie rubbing sleepily at her eyes. He was torn between looking after himself and finding Rinoa. Something could have happened to her by tomorrow morning, he reasoned with himself. What if-
"Squall?" Quistis' voice came to him like a gentle breeze, a voice of reassurance. "We'll get Rinoa and also Matron back. I promise."
Sleep refused to come for Squall. He had been lying awake in his dormitory for hours now and he was restless, restless for dawn to appear and the search for Rinoa to begin. Deep inside, his heart ached for the spirited young woman to be close to him once more, to feel the depth and warmth of her hug and to see her once again. Squall would always be known for holding back on his feelings, and it was that that put a strain to his heart and soul. Rinoa. . . I'm sorry Rinoa. . . Forgive me. . . He was not helping anybody by feeling sorry for himself and for taking the blame on Rinoa's capture, but he couldn't help it. If he had been there for her, would have she been taken? No, I would have been there to protect her. All these 'ifs'! It's like I have no control over my life, my future, my fate, and my destiny. I could have prevented all of this from happening if only I was at the right place and the right time.
He was thinking of giving his role as field leader and commander over to Quistis even more. She had much more experience than he did, and Squall was sure Instructor Trepe would do a better job of handling complicated situations. Rolling over to his side, Squall sighed and closed his eyes, which immediately flew open again. All he could see in his mind was Rinoa, and her face and her smile - the torment for him would never end until she was found!
Frustrated, Squall sat up in bed and pulled on his boots and jacket on. Holstering his gun-blade, Squall quietly slipped away from the quiet sanctum of the dormitories, and walked around the deathly silent structure that was Balamb Garden. The only part of the Garden that was open this late at night was the training arena, and that was where Squall headed. Making sure he had Enc-none junctioned to one of his non-fighting abilities, Squall stepped inside the arena and exhaled deeply. The dark green colours of the trees, vines and a number different foliage found inside the training arena, gave him a sense of calmness inside. The solitude helped him a lot, because it was times like these, when he was alone and free to think to himself, that Squall became truly alive. He was no anti-socialist (or maybe he was - there were people Squall knew who would readily argue this), but a person who could be best described as someone who participated if something interested him. He was a lone wolf.
It was almost like a stroll through the woods, without the added distraction of T-Rexaur's or other flying creatures initiating combat. A soft crackle of a twig being stepped on sent his mind automatically into defence mode - his whole body tensing and his gun-blade out.
Quistis had not meant to surprise Squall. She had watched him quietly leave the dormitories and followed him here to the training arena. She couldn't help it, Quistis had a genuine soft spot for Squall. Because she was a year his senior and had known him since her childhood days, Quistis had always felt - always had this sense of responsibility for him especially after Ellone had left the Orphanage. Like Squall, Quistis had reacted on impulse and drew out her Save the Queen - the strongest and best weapon out of all the different type of whips.
It was made out of quite a few rare items, and she remembered the difficulty she experienced in obtaining them. She would forget the time when she had to fight a Marlboro in the Island Closest to Heaven. One thing she hated about the monster Malboro was that it had the ability to cast status changes on people and she found that it was usually its first attack. Status changes such as silence, berserk and sleep caused the person to have no control of their actions, and use commands as summoning GF's or using Magic.
Stunned, Quistis returned Squall's tensed look with her own blue eyes. Giving an embarrassed smile, the nineteen-year-old SeeD put away her weapon and shrugged almost apologetically.
"I'm sorry Squall. I was worried," she said.
Sighing inwardly, Squall holstered his gun-blade and put a hand to his face. Following people, especially when it was in a place such as the training arena, was not a good idea - the place at night was full of nasty surprises, and Squall thought he had just received one until he noticed the glint of his Instructor's glasses.
"I couldn't sleep," he confessed, hanging his head as if in shame.
"Squall, don't blame yourself for what's happened to Rinoa. We all feel the same way, if it's any help I couldn't sleep either." Quistis said.
"I feel so guilty, Quistis. I should have known better, I should have realised-"
"That's enough Squall," Quistis said sharply. "I'm sure Rinoa wouldn't want you to worry about her. She's a strong person, nothing will happen to her, not if the SeeDs can help it, OK? Smile a little; Squall because we are going to get her back."
Showing a hint of a smile, Squall silently thanked Quistis for keeping him in check. He did not want to break down in front of her. As some people would believe it, Squall was not a heartless person. He had feelings; he had emotions like everyone else. He just had a problem expressing them, and Rinoa had helped him cope with that. She helped him express himself without feeling like a fool. Another twig breaking caught their attention - reflex actions causing both of them to draw.
"Whoa! Geez, put the weapons down, I come in peace!" Zell's voice said in the darkness, which earned a muttered curse from Squall and a smothered laugh from Instructor Trepe.
"You couldn't sleep either?" Squall guessed.
"Well. . . sort of. But I saw you leaving your dorm, and I kinda followed. . ." Zell said sheepishly. The way he had phrased the sentence gave the wrong implications, and he laughed at his own stupidness.
What is it with people following me? Squall wondered with one of his small smiles. He did not mind, but he wished that the approach was more open, all the creeping about was jangling his nerves. At least he had Zell and Quistis if he ran into any monsters - which was unlikely as he had the Enc-none ability junctioned.
A voice from amid the gloomy silence that followed caught their attention. It was Zell who recognised who the person was.
". . . The hell is he doing here?" Zell demanded from nobody in particular. He could hear Seifer calling out to him.
"Chicken wuss. . . Hey chicken wuss, where did you-" Seifer taunted. "Oh, there you are," he said, grinning at both Squall and Quistis, when he finally noticed them.
"You following me?" Zell said.
"Don't flatter yourself," Seifer said dryly. "Just checking what you're up to. I see that we have a mid-night meeting. C'mon spill it out, does Zell still wet the bed? Or that Doctor Kadowaki has a secret crush on Headmaster Cid?" the grin of his widening at Zell's storming face.
"Don't be immature, Seifer," Quistis said coldly.
"My dear Instructor," Seifer mocked. "Immature is the word best to describe him over there,"
"His name is Zell," Quistis said.
Shrugging, Seifer leaned his body against a tree and continued to grin to himself. A rustle of leaves brought his hand to his side, his finger ready to pull at the trigger, his gun-blade pointing in the direction of the sound.