Irvine's shakey hand reached for his gun. He used it as a crutch to crawl over to Selphie's pale, lifeless body. He took the fingerless glove off his right hand, and steadied a few fingers well enough to brush a blood-spattered chunk of bangs from over her left eye.
"Sel...phie..." His hand moved from her left temple to her cheek. He cupped the side of her face in his palm, and took her other cheek in his gloved left palm. "Selphie....forgive me....I had to...I had to do it to save you....I...Hyne, forgive me." He leaned forward to give her a final, parting kiss. "....Even in death...you're so warm..." His eyes teared up as he reached again for his gun. "I..I can't let you get lonely, now, can I, Angel?" He brought the barrel of his gun to his temple.
"IRVINE, NOOO!!" Quistis screamed, and reached toward the cowboy. She felt like she moved in slow-motion, every millisecond lasting minutes, her movements too slow to stop him.
Irvine closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.
As if the gunshot was a signal, a pale, golden spectre pulled itself from Ellone's body. Attention was removed from Irvine, and directed at this gold aura of what used to be Ellone. It walked, floating more or less, while bobbing lightly from side to side. The aura held everyone's gaze, unblinking, as it walked a short distance toward a figure who had recently resumed hiding behind Laguna. The eyes widened as the aura melted into Raine's body.
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You know you can't win. Even if I must be destroyed, I will triumph over you, you heartless bitch.*All you humans think alike. Like the ones before you, I will take over your weak mind. You'll disappear. The deal's off.*
Yeah, I kind of figured that. I meant what I said, though. You won't win. I refuse to give into you, Adel.
*We'll see about that...*
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Raine closed her eyes, and took in the remnants of her victims....
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She recalled this feeling the day they hooked her up to that time-traveling device. She saw her husband alive, through his own eyes, in the very near future. He placed someone in a large device, then one of his assumed comerades called out his name, then turned on the device. That was the only way she knew her hisband was alive, and slightly regretted not being able to see him in the flesh. She was only inside for a brief moment, not even being able to tell if it was the past they were in because of how quickly it happened. She then had been sent back to her time. She told the scientists all they wanted to know, but couldn't say if she was sent to the past or the future. She also couldn't tell who the person was that was frozen in the device, so they forced her further into time, and programed an extended stay since it appearantly took time for the machine to work, that way she could determine if it was past or future. Then indeed sent her to the future, but something went wrong inside the machine. Since Ellone's power worked through people she had already met, the machine worked the same way. So she was sent as far into the future as she could go. But with the preset target being a sorceress, the machine sent her to the one who she saw froze's future: Sorceress Adel.
She was inside Adel for what seemed like an eternity, frozen, and somewhere in space. One day she was released with Adel and returned to the earth. She lived on inside for days more, and felt the fate of Adel at the hands of the SeeDs. The seething pain that flashed through her like liquid fire, the sensation of death filled her. She began to feel herself slipping away, and then it all went dark. She awakened, and found herself back inside the lab. She soon realized that she wasn't the only one sent back to her proper time. She carried with her another consciousness, another life that stayed inside her and invaded her every thought. She fought to maintain her sanity, a neverending battle, and tried to put her life back together after being gone for so long. She decided to start in Esthar because one of the lab workers mentioned "President Loire", and went to the presidential palace in search of her husband. And so began this, her new life.
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With the fate of one sorceress, two more sorceresses entered her body. Raine took a few moments to regain the use of her body, and stood slowly.
Everyone around her rose as well. They stared at her in disbelief, with looks of hatred and betrayal in their eyes.
Raine motioned at Selphie. "That was Edea's handywork."
Zell spat at her. "Bullshit. She was dead when it occurred, you demon whore!"
Raine shook her head and motioned toward Squall. "Adel swore with her dying breath that she would have Her power, so fate found a way."
His fists clinched. He felt almost helpless now, as did everyone, without his Gunblade. Everyone left their weapons back in their rooms, as is law in Garden when visiting the Headmaster's office. And now all they had left was their stored magic, which was obviously useless against someone recently crowned The World's Most Powerful Sorceress To Date.
"And with Ellone's powers as well, I can travel through time. She wasn't able to since she was too weak, but now my konsciousness can inhabit any being I desire."
"That...that voice..." Quistis spoke with shaken words.
"I know you're all angry because of what's transpired. So, please, take out all of your frustrations on me. You kan't let me go on like this forever, kan you?"
"Damn right we can't let you! We're gonna tear you apart!" Zell screamed, then jumped towards Raine.
Squall stopped him by holding him back. "That's easy enough for you, Zell, but the rest of us need our weapons!"
Zell cursed, then stopped struggling. "Man...now, what?!"
Quistis eyed Irvine's gun. It still had ammunition loaded in it. She inched downward while Raine was preoccupied with Zell's tantrum, picked it up, and fired a shot at Raine.
Raine sensed this coming somehow, and set up a reflect spell in an instant. The bullet reflected back at Quistis with lethal velocity.
Quistis covered her eyes, certain that she had sealed her own fate when she heard the ricochet of the bullet off Raine's barrier. The bullet never came.
She opened her eyes, and saw Seifer in front of her. Quistis screamed his name as he hunched over in front of her. Seifer groaned in pain, but fought it to reassure Quistis. "No, it's just in my shoulderblade. I'll be fine."
"Hyne, you're lucky..." Quistis commented through half-tears.
Seifer snickered as he positioned himself against a wall. "I just hope that luck doesn't run out really fast...this doesn't look good. Not good at all...if only we had our weapons..."
Laguna turned to Raine with tears in his eyes. "You...you betrayed me. You betrayed us all....How could you? I don't even know if you ever were Raine. Raine would never betray her friends, let alone FAMILY!!"
Raine spoke monotonously. "Hyne, Laguna....Please...I kan't hold back too much longer....she's...still...trying..." She shrank to her knees in obvious pain. She released a scream of agony, and began to tremble. She looked up at him pleadingly, with tears flowing down her cheeks. "I...I want to die...Laguna...but....I can't let them...I...want you...to....Please....La...gu...na..." She closed her eyes, and bowed low to the ground until her head touched it. "...Please.....before she...takes over..."
Laguna recognized a change in her voice. It sounded like his Raine. The Raine from his past that he loved, the one he thought came back to him...
His thoughts were clouded as another voice entered his mind. Laguna... it called out to him. Let me show you...only for a moment...
"Do you think it's from all the power inside her?" Zell asked, pointing to the now weak-looking sorceress.
"Zell, go get our weapons and alert the staff. Tell them that we have a new sorceress to destroy."
Zell looked at him with pleading eyes, "But--"
"GO!!!" Squall yelled, turned, and pointed towards the door. He watched as Zell ran away, and turned back to find Quistis preoccupied with Seifer's wound while Laguna was laying, passed out, on the floor. Raine also seemed asleep, but he knew it couldn't be true. He approached the two bodies, and was thrown backwards by some unseen power. Not a moment later, the two began to stir. Raine continued her moans of pain, and Laguna....put his arms around her?
"NO, LAGUNA!! Are you INSANE?? How can you forget what she's done?! Are you under some SPELL???!!!!"
Laguna shook his head, and muttered a sleep spell under his breath. "It wasn't her. I saw what happened. Adel is inside her, like she tried to explain, and was making her do all this without her allowing it. Adel has been taking over Raine's body, murdering the sorceresses, and trying to take their powers. Raine told me...she said that Adel wanted the powers to become the only sorceress in the world. She's not too far from that goal, but there is one weak sorceress that stands in her way. Adel hasn't found her yet, and because of that, Raine doesn't want to let her win. I told her that death wasn't the way to save everyone, that if she dies, another sorceress would be lurking about." He picked up the limp body of Raine. "So, I told her that I would keep her asleep until we froze her in Esthar at the Sorceress Memorial. So get Ragnarok ready."
The three in the room stared at him with blank expressions on their faces. Squall shook his head in anger. "But...what if it doesn't work?! What if Raine...Adel takes over Raine again while we're in the air??!!"
Laguna walked towards the door. "I'll accept full responsibility. Please, let's hurry. I only have so many stored sleep spells to cast..."
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AuthorNotes:Well, another Bright-And-Cheery chapter. Damn, that was hella depressing!! This whole fic is depressing!! I think I should orchestrate some sort of Lemony Goodness in my next fic. Yesh. Lemon. Any requests? Like, FF7/FF8/FY/Evangelion/maybe Outlaw Star...I can handle. Anything else...I'm not so sure about. Just request a Lemon via review, and I'll see what I can do (shounen ai...I kind of frown upon when I write it...but I'll definately consider if I get an idea...). I'm dying to write a lemon. I haven't written a damn one yet, and I'm DYING here!! The "In Your Eyes" fic started in my mind as a lemon, but...it didn't even come close to turning out that way.