Chapter Seven - Friends in Need
Seifer's hard blue eyes were transfixed onto the wavering shadows that moved in the moonlight. He was ready to pull the trigger to his gun-blade just as a warning to whoever was lurking out there, when the sudden appearance of Selphie's face jumping out of nowhere almost scared him to death, and nearly fired the gun-blade at her.
"Geez! What the hell are you trying to do, coming out of nowhere?!" Seifer yelled, raking a shaking hand through his blond hair, and then muttering to himself. "Scaring the shit out of me. Yeah, and what is the deal with everyone following me, huh? Have you got a thing for me too, besides that wuss??"
Smiling her sunny smile, Selphie gave an apologetic gesture before wagging a finger at him. "Had to follow you Seifer," she said, "you might have gone to do something baad."
"Ooh, like whaat??" Seifer said sarcastically. "Went and followed hot-dog lover here and found Squall and the Instructor too and what looked liked a secret rendezvous." a wicked grin spreading across his face.
"Shut-up, Seifer," Squall said coldly and continued walk through the ferns and bushes, away from Seifer's mocking voice.
"You'll never change," Quistis said with a hint of sadness, and went to go after Squall.
"Irvine?? Irvine where are you?" Selphie called out into the gloom.
"What, cowboy is here too??" Seifer asked. "Why don't we just wake the whole of Balamb Garden and throw a party?!"
Irvine appeared from amidst the drooping branches of a yew tree, his cowboy hat titled forwards as he covered a hand over his mouth to hide a yawn. "I was sleeping," he complained. "Nice dream too, a brunette, blonde, even a ginger headed. . ." another yawn followed.
"Maybe one day when we're all dying of boredom you can tell us your erotic fantasies, huh, Irvine?" Seifer suggested with a smirk before ducking out of sight to search for Squall and Instructor Trepe.
"Scum bag!" Irvine called after him. "Always were, always will be!"
Balamb Garden looked considerably beautiful tonight, highlighted by the blue haze of the night-time sky and the moon. Squall inhaled a gulp full of air and then exhaled. His insides were churning up with too much emotion and the need to confide in someone. Ellone would have been the number one person Squall would have turned to in this time of loneliness. But Squall was never lonely from the start. Even though his mother had died when he was still young, and abandoned by his father, Squall still had his friends. Friends that still stood by him even now. So what was the problem, what was holding him back?
I need your help Rinoa. . . help me out. . .
Silently, Quistis stood next to him her youthful face admiring the structure that was the Garden. She was beautiful, smart and could stand her ground. She was wondering when she would meet the "right person" to liven up her life. At one stage she had thought it was Squall, but no. She knew that from the moment Squall had danced with Rinoa at the graduation ball, he had made up his mind who he liked. But even then he still acted subdued towards the Forest Owl leader - typical Squall. And as she recalled - if she could trust her memory that was affected by the usage of the GF's - Squall had been reluctant to help rescue Rinoa when she was left dangling at a broken section of Balamb Garden during the Galbadian attack. Everything changed over time, Squall learnt to open up, and Quistis felt Rinoa had done a great deal to pry apart the tightly shut shell that covered the Squall underneath.
"Yes, Squall?" Quistis whispered when she heard him call her name. The older girl turned and faced the boy, and found him struggling to put his feelings into words. She wanted to help, but knew she couldn't. No Quistis let him learn - he'll shut up like a clam if you don't let him learn.
"This leader and commander position I hold, I, I don't think-" he began and was not allowed to continue because Quistis stopped him in mid-sentence.
"No, Squall. No. I won't let you say it, I won't listen to what I know you're going to say." Quistis said, turning her back from him.
"I can't-"
"Can't?!" she echoed. "What do mean you can't? You can," Quistis said fiercely. "I know you can. Your friends know you can, 'you "just don't think you're able to carry on. You're stronger than this Squall - Griever? A lion, known for it's courage and strength? That's you Squall, don't give up now."
"But I feel. . . so low," he said, his crystal blue eyes hazing over and his breathing becoming heavier. "If we do find Rin-"
"We will find her," Quistis put in firmly.
"What would I say to her, Quistis? It's all my fault that I left her alone. I wasn't there when she needed me. . . Rinoa. . . she'll hate me forever. . ."
"Will you stop blaming yourself!" Quistis snapped, and then her face softened to a look of pain that matched his. "Squall, there was nothing you could do that Irvine and Selphie couldn't. Stop thinking it's a one-man mission, we're all here to help. We're all just as worried as you are. And she won't hate you forever, Rinoa could never do that to someone like you." Placing a gloved hand on his shoulder, the Garden Instructor gave him an awkward hug of reassurance.
The sound of boots clanking on the metal stairs made Quistis quickly withdraw from Squall's side, but gave him a look of encouragement.
"Sooo, this is where everybody heads off to, to make out, eh?" Seifer said, glancing in the direction of Squall and Instructor Trepe. "Honestly Instructor, if I'd known about this, I would have been the first to volunteer, free of charge."
Blushing furiously, Quistis set her back to Seifer and pretended to look on with interest the splendid view at this part of the training area provided. None of what Seifer had said was true of course, so why was she embarrassed at his antics when she knew very well that they were his idea of a 'joke'? Shaking his head as a resigned gesture, Squall's hand wandered to where his neck was and he fingered the Griever necklace that hung there. Rinoa had a replica of his Griever ring that Zell had done for her, and now he stared at the ring on his finger when he removed on of his gloves. He was stronger than this he knew it.
Pulling himself together, Squall banished the thought of a disastrous ending in this experience of his teenaged life and only thought of the words that Quistis had said to him. His mind wandered back to when they had rushed back to Esthar City, and Ellone had been found. She, at the time, had appeared considerably tired and drained of energy, which was very unlike the Ellone Squall knew. He still thought that there was more to what Ellone was telling them or even her 'Unca Laguna'. Her excuse was too abrupt, too short with not enough detail - in other words it was too simple for anyone's liking which left quite a lot to the person's imagination. And knowing Squall and his friends, they all had good imaginations especially one in particular.
"Uh, oh, we're losing him," Seifer drawled seeing Squall's face cloud over.
Ignoring him, Squall turned to address his fellow SeeDs and friends. "First thing tomorrow morning we're gonna start the search for Rinoa and Matron. Wherever we find them, we're bound to find Odine and Ultimecia. Whatever Odine intends to do, it surely can't be good which is why we've gotta find him fast and soon."
"With ya all the way, Squall!" Zell said balling his fists up and punching the air. "We're gonna kick their ass!"
"Leave Ultimecia to me," Seifer said. He was not asking politely, he was saying. "Frozen state or not, she's mine."
A personal vendetta? Squall wondered. Well it would be if it were him who had his dreams taken away and played for like a lowly pawn. "Thanks Zell," Squall said appreciating the support.
"It is important that we carefully prepare ourselves tomorrow. We do not know exactly what Odine has in mind and what he intends to do, but be rest assured we can expect some sort of onslaught." Quistis said, jumping right into her role as instructor and teacher. "Good sleep and a good breakfast should prepare us well enough. And Zell, try eating something other than hot-dogs for a change?" she suggested to the mohawkish haired boy.
"Don't want to sleep and I'm not hungry," Seifer said almost like the petulant child he was before. Or maybe I am. Hungry for revenge, that is. "Anyone wanna do some training?"
"With you? Nah, I'd give it a miss, it might ruin my appetite for tomorrow morning," Zell said, clambering back down the stairs and back to the dormitories.
Ah, the chicken-wuss is learning. He'll soon get to be good as me.
"Sorry, the brunette, blonde and ginger beckon me back to my bed." Irvine said, grinning as he went.
"Fwaahha!" Selphie yawned, and gave an apologetic, sleepy smile. "Too tired. . ."
Not content with leaving Seifer and Squall all on their own in the training area, Quistis gave them a few solid words before departing. "I don't want a repetition of last year, you understand? It's bad enough having both of you with scars on your faces. And I don't you wearing yourselves out OK? I certainly don't want one of you, or either falling out in battle, if the need to fight should arise."
"You got it, Instructor," Seifer said with his charismatic charm and boyish grin. "Me and Squally will play nicely."
Here was his chance to run, to leave now before anything bad could further happen. But would he run? Squall wanted to finish his 'chat' with Seifer, and what better place to do it in? He hadn't practised enough on his sword skills lately and now was his chance to do so, against his number one rival.
"We'll be fine, Instructor," Squall said, matching Seifer's taunting eyes stare for stare.
A small nod, and Quistis left without further questioning, the heels of her boots echoing eerily against the metal of the stairs before quieting to a soft whisper against the undergrowth of the ferns and bushes that populated the main training area.
"Don't expect me to be kind to you, Squall," Seifer said leaving down the stairs and out into the open, drawing out his gun-blade at the same time. "Ready? En guard,"
Chapter Eight - Tainted Dreams
It was no surprise to find Zell and Quistis up and early, and one of the few people that occupied the area of the cafeteria with all the chairs and tables. Despite Quistis' suggestion, the martial arts expert refused to not buy any of the hot-dogs that the women at the cafeteria had prepared for the 'great rush' that was to be expected later on. Hungrily Zell took a big bite out of his third hot-dog and chewed vigorously whilst Quistis did her best not to take a glimpse of his awful eating habits - her hands encircling a cup full of rich caffeine goodness.
Taking a seat beside Zell, Squall went and set down his own cup of caffeine and stared vacantly at the swirling mass of brown liquid in the cup. Seifer and him had fought last night; both battling with renewed energy and vigour. Both had improved over time, and when it was decided that they should both call it for a night, the two teenagers knew that their sword skills were that of a very high level. This time, their 'training session' was an actual one, magic and GF's prohibited. Squall had gained a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of battling Seifer. All the tension and the anger that Squall felt towards him were released every time the metal of each of their gun-blades struck.
Selphie and Irvine were the next to arrive in the cafeteria, their faces fully rejuvenated after the good night's rest they had. Seifer was the last to enter, carrying his gun-blade in full sight as he came to join them. The voice of one of the cafeteria lady's halted him in mid-stride.
"Uh, young man? Weapons are to be kept away whilst inside here. Those are the rules, you should know them by now." Dismissing what he was being told to do, Seifer rolled his eyes and shrugged but put his gun-blade away anyway.
"Mornin' everyone," he said, grabbing a chair from another table and sitting on it the wrong way round. Squall and company raised eyebrows at him in a questioning gesture and also one of surprise. "Wha-? Oh I get it. Wait I haven't thought of something degrading to say to anyone yet," Seifer said, a smile pulling at his mouth.
"You're freakin' me out," Zell muttered, continuing to indulge himself with his plate of hot-dogs. "Weirdo, must be your hormones playin' up as usual."
"How do you do it?" Selphie asked in awe as she watched Zell swallow down another mouthful of hotdog. "I can't do that without knowing I'd gain a couple of pounds."
"Ah, it's top secret," Zell said mysteriously. "It's got to do with these," he said holding his fists up.
"Yeah, he's a sado-masochist really, y'know," Seifer said leaning back on the chair. "He likes inflicting pain on himself - basically beats out all the energy he got from the hot-dogs, so he loses all of it."
"I'd like to inflict pain on you in a minute," Zell growled. "Keep talkin' Seifer and I'll beat all the life out of you. Let's see if a phoenix down'll cure a blow to the head."
"I'm not worth the bother, Dincht," Seifer drawled, "better save it for someone like you."
"You bast-" Zell said, angrily getting to his feet.
"Honestly!" Quistis snapped as Zell's sudden movement caused the liquid in her cup and Squall's to slosh all over the place. "Why can't you be civilised for even a little while?!"
"Tell that to him!" said Zell, jabbing a finger where Seifer Almasy sat, grinning from ear to ear. "Always takin' the piss, causing trouble."
"Like you don't?" Seifer grunted. "I've been picking on you Dincht, and Leonhart - puberty boy since we were kids. You telling me you still haven't got used to it?"
"Not if I can help it," Zell started again.
The chink of metal hitting something hard and solid quietened the bickering between Seifer and Zell. Squall had his gun-blade out, the tip of had made an indent on the ground - a stern look on his face.
Ooh, we've made Mr. Cool angry now, Seifer thought and was oddly pleased because of this.
"We should get going as soon as possible," Squall said evenly. "We don't know how long our search will be. It's best if we start early as we can."
"Hey, we've been waiting for the 'go' signal, Squall. Just give it when you're ready." Irvine said, levelling his cowboy hat.
"Fine, let's go,"
First stop was Esthar City. The parade and festivities that were to follow after - was due to start at four o'clock in the afternoon that day. The time had just gone nine o'clock when the group of teenagers landed at the Airstation of the enormous city, and arrived at the Presidential Palace. Laguna Loire looked grim when Squall told him of their plans to track down Odine, and to put a stop to his 'manic idea'. Laguna did not find the idea of Ultimecia wandering around the 'present' world spreading her havoc, and the other possibility of another sorceress - Edea-Rinoa, too appealing and nodded in agreement at the SeeDs proposal.
Before their departure, Squall stopped for a brief moment to question Laguna on how Ellone was doing.
"Ellone? Oh, she's still in her room - she said she was still very tired. She's asked for a lot of stuff to eat, but hasn't actually eaten anything." Laguna said, scratching the back of his head. "Odd that,"
Squall found Ellone in a deep sleep, in her own private quarters inside the safe confines of the Presidential Palace. From the doorway, Squall could see that her unblemished complexion had gone a sickly pale colour. Ellone stirred slightly in her sleep, her breath becoming laden - a frown creasing her brow.
"No. . .!" she called out, still in her sleep, her voice, like the sound of someone being horribly tortured. "No. . . please, stop! Stop. . . Odine, no!"
Odine! Squall thought, what has Odine got to do- Hell, no! Please, don't let it be what I think it is. Approaching the bed, Squall gently shook the girl away from her dream. "Ellone? Wake up, it's OK I'm here. It's me, Squall."
The eyelids of the girl instantly flew open, her face washing over with relief. "Oh, Squall," Ellone said, hugging the boy close to her, tears rolling down the sides of her face. "It was horrible, I couldn't do anything. He's, he's crazy, he's going to-"
"Sssh," Squall ordered, calming her building hysteria. "It's OK, I'm here. I'll make it go away."
"Please, yes make it go away," Ellone pleaded like a frightened child. "Don't let it come back."
After a few moments of pure silence, Ellone's quiet sobs ceased. Squall broke their embrace, and stared directly into her dark eyes, her cheeks stained by the tears.
"Ellone," he began gently. "Odine, what did he do to you? Is he the reason why you disappeared?"
The older girl nodded miserably, and buried her face into the fur of his leather jacket, as an act of shameful gesture. Placing a gloved hand on her head, Squall swallowed - at least tried to swallow - the painful lump building up in his throat. This scene reminded him too much of Rinoa, when he had rescued her at the Sorceresses Memorial. It was this thought that enabled him to swallow that lump, and exactly the same thought that fuelled his motivation to continue.
"What was it that Odine did to you that was so terrible?" he asked. "You've gone very pale, and you haven't eaten."
"Odine has this machine," Ellone began shakily. "He used it to drain the energy and my powers out of me," she said.
Hell no. . . Squall thought. Odine was attempting to compress their world! Only Ultimecia had the power to manipulate anyone like that - she was feeding Odine with empty promises. Odine had cleverly designed a machine that could store and harness Ellone's amazing ability, and use it accordingly to his will. One thing Squall certainly did not like, was the idea that Odine was succeeding. Not this. . . not again, Squall begged silently. Not this nightmare all over again.
"Where had he taken you?" Squall next asked,
"To a place of blazing light, a light of orange, yellow and pink hues." Ellone said dreamily. For a moment Squall thought he was going to lose her, that she'd fall back to sleep, but somehow with the amount of energy she was lacking, she managed to remain awake.
A place of orange, yellow and pink hues. . . Squall wondered. Where had he- the sunset! That was what Laguna had told them. Ellone had wanted to see the sun set. But that still didn't answer the question of where Odine was hiding.
"Ellone, where exactly had Odine taken-" Squall asked and then stopped when Ellone's arms crept around his neck. "Ellone?" It was too late; she had fallen asleep in his arms.
The remaining members were back on board the Ragnorak, waiting for Squall to return but had, mean while made a discovery too. Quistis had rediscovered the article on Odine, having placed it safely in one of the pockets in her clothes. During their time at Balamb Garden, Quistis had not found the time or opportunity to examine and thoroughly read the article from the scientific journal: 'Horizons'. She now read the article out aloud for everyone else to hear. When she had finished, she received a mixture of confused, angry and unsatisfied remarks.
"See, he's nuts. Totally whacked out," Zell said jamming his hands into his short pockets.
"He's genetically ill," Seifer corrected, studying the blade of his weapon with acute interest. "He shouldn't have been given a lab to conduct all his little 'experiments'. He's probably got a torture chamber tucked away somewhere." That last sentence, Seifer regrettably wished he could have swallowed. All eyes raised to meet his, and Seifer had to shut his own to avoid them. They of course were thinking of the time when they, excluding Irvine and Rinoa, had been thrown inside the D-District prison. Quistis, Zell and Selphie realised that from the 'dream-world', the prison was the same place that Ward had worked in, and that Squall was somewhere there too.
Squall had been taken away for questioning, and during his time as a 'sorceress' knight', Seifer had been the one in charge. Having Squall shackled against the wall that was connected to a set of controls managed by a soldier, Seifer began his interrogation. For every question that brought an unsatisfactory reply, Seifer would signal for the leaver to be pulled down and Squall would feel the electrical currents searing through him, frying his nerve endings and making them sizzle. What a maniac he had been what a fool. Raising a hand to his face, Seifer shook his head at the memories and willed them to go away.
"Well, we can't exactly help that now, can we?" Quistis sighed. "What is done, is done."
"Where could Odine be though?" Irvine questioned. "He's got himself a pretty damn good hiding place."
"Anyone seen Squall?" Selphie asked from her seat in the pilot chair.
On cue, the door to the bridge opened and the elevator that led there jolted to a stop. Squall stepped in, his mouth a thin line.
"Squall?" Quistis inquired.
"It was Odine," he said, dumping himself on a seat next to Zell.
"Care to elaborate a little on that?" Seifer suggested. "Quistis just read out an article on his work."
"When Ellone had disappeared, it was Odine who had taken her. He has this machine that has absorbed her energy and powers."
"She OK?" Selphie asked.
"She's fine, except tired and slightly pale in colour." Squall informed.
"Geez, the hell's he up to?" Zell said.
"Time compression," Squall answered simply. "He's attempting time compression by harnessing Ellone's powers in the machine he has. That way he had better control."
"Why? Why do it?" Irvine said, not understanding. "He can't live in a time-compressed world, none of us can, so why do it? For her that thing? She isn't worth all the gil in the world."
"I was wondering that myself, one of the questions I'll be asking him once we find him." Squall said.
"I wouldn't give him the chance," Zell said, pounding his fists together. "I'd kick his ass from here to the next galaxy."
"You can do that Zell, once we locate him," Squall said. "I don't want to be running around in circles, so any ideas to where he could be?"
"The only real clue we have is this article," Quistis said waving the article in the air. "We could contact the publisher group and get an address for Odine, that way." she suggested.
Squall shook his head against the idea. "It would take too long. Remember that assistant at the Lunar Gate? He said nobody knew where he was."
"Lying through his teeth," Seifer said.
"Horizons," they heard Zell mutter. "She wanted to see the sun set over the horizon. Horizons that magazine that Odine writes in. Wait a sec. . ." His voice quietened, and there was silence on the bridge of the Ragnorak. "I got it!" the martial arts expert said suddenly, making everyone jump. "Where's the best place to see a sun set?" he asked his team-mates.
"We don't have time for this!" Seifer lashed out.
"Seifer, have you run out of chill-pills? Tsk, tsk, you know you have to take your medication regularly." Zell mocked - he was getting pretty good at the insults! "OK, sorry. The furthest place in the whole world," he amended.
"Zell, we really don't have time for games," Quistis said siding with Seifer for once.
"No, just wait a sec. If ya think about it, right now the furthest place in this planet will get a brilliant sunset, huh?"
"Go on," Squall said, he was beginning to understand what Zell was driving at.
Zell shrugged, "So where's the furthest place that exists in this world, then?"
"The deep sea research facility!" Selphie exclaimed, her fingers already tapping in the co-ordinates.
"Exactly!" Zell said with a pleased look in his face.
"Of course!" Irvine agreed, nodding his head in understanding now. "A great place. It's deserted and far from any civilisation, just perfect. The exact same place where other scientists conducted their own research into genetically creating Guardian Forces.
"Privacy and the equipment is all Odine needed to do what he wanted to do," Squall said. "The underground research facility gave him that."
"Pity we didn't think of it sooner," Quistis said.
"Let's hope that we're not to late,"