Warrior Soul

by Fierolobo

Nomad body. Peaceful mind. Warrior soul. Almost twelve years have passed, and there are too many things that have changed... Update: chapter 7 is finished, finally... sorry, I take too much time to write them :-/

7. Part I Chapter six: The Gathering(s).

Warrior Soul

Part I: Chosen one

By Tanthalas Fierolobo

"We must hold our past in our minds, to understand the present, and be able to hope and work for a better future, for, only in that way, our life will truly have a meaning."

- Lady Edea Kramer, Ex-Sorceress, teachings to Rinoa Heartilly.

CHAPTER SIX: The Gathering(s).

24. Council

An unknown place, an unknown world, an unknown dimension. Twenty formless niches, one more above them all. Twenty formless existences, made of pure magic energy, occupying each one of the niches; and one above them all. They talked to each other, without talking. They glanced at each other, without seeing. They exposed their thoughts and impressions in perfect synchronization, without pauses between each other; they didn't need it. They exchanged thoughts and emotions following an order, a very special order, according to the ancient protocol that had always existed. The Twenty spoke their minds (in the most strict sense of the expression). The One remains silent.

- Are you sure he is worth?

- No one can be completely sure of nothing, never.

- The philosophers spoke… your words are as banal as always.

- Yet they are true. We are here to be as sure as we can be.

- We get tired of this. This is useless, it does not matter if he is worth; he has been chosen already.

- He must become stronger.

- We trust him. We have shared with him and he has shared with us. We have grown to know him. He is worth.

- Your judgement means nothing to us.

- It should mean to you. We consider your judgement inestimable.

- Yet we cannot rely just on that.

- We must see by ourselves, so We will support him willingly.

- He has our approval, We have seen enough through all this time.

- But there are many things that must be decided.

- All is ready, though. Time spares no one.

- There is enough time for this, twits.

- Call twits someone you know better. You do not know what We are capable of, and you do not want to. We will see what is he capable of.

- Yes. We too. We do not trust him, yet.

- We must keep watching, to them all.

- Specially her.

- Yes. She is being tested, too. But not in the same way.

- She will go with him. We all agreed to tell the other mortal his location.

- Yes, but we will not interfere in that unless they ask again; they will be free to decide it.

- As free as any human can be of course.

- But she must be prepared equally, just in case.

- They all will be prepared, in a way or another.

- They are passing through an inflection point of their short lives.

- Mortals must learn to collaborate.

- If they want to survive.

- We know many will not survive.

- It is inevitable, they are condemned to perish; the "how" does not matter.

- For you. We still disagree to this.

- Only the stronger ones will survive, as we expect.

- And he will be among them.

- We are not so sure about that.

- Indeed.

They silenced. They sensed the One wanted to talk, and respectfully let him, not out of fear, but out of acknowledgement. He had earned the right many time ago. The One "stood up", in a figured meaning since he had no legs under this form, and spoke.

- We will see. He is strong, in all senses; We have made his incredible potential grow and develop, making him stronger. They are strong, too; all of them were, in the beginning… specially her. Still, We cannot be completely sure. He has succeeded to the moment but… We, and we all, will see.

The Twenty faded. The One stayed, silent. The conclave had ended… for now.

25. Unexpected encounter

- Hungry. – Skorchklot complained again. They had been wondering for many hours; the sun had faded in the horizon long ago and dawn was going to break, but the starved creatures hadn't found anything to eat… what was understandable considering the two Sapphire Dragons* were on the Bridge that communicated the continent of Galbadia with Esthar. Each step the biped creatures gave with their blue-scaled, short legs moved them away of any potential food they might have been able to find.

- Yes. Hungry too. – Agreed Thirn'hlurf, his stronger superior. They continued forward, not knowing that the bridge was hundreds of kilometres long. They had been thrown away from their herd, for 'being too stupid', as the leader said after the couple attacked a Galbadian tank full of machine-guns and armed soldiers, fled, and led it to their lair, with the result of two females dead and three of the pack's best hunters badly wounded.

Thirn'hlurf suddenly stopped, and sniffed the air around him raising slightly his cerulean-scaled head, absently licking his jaws with a purple, ophidian tongue. He talked with his grave guttural voice, pointing to the east.

- Human, ahead. Smell. – Skorchklot sniffed too.

- Alone human. – He said.

- Tasty, human. – The other stated with a wicked, full of sharp yellowish teeth grin. They hurried forward, licking again their jaws in anticipation. Their prey came in sight.

- See. Defenceless human. Sleep. – They grew silent, and continued approaching making as little noise as possible.

- Human, death. – The leader somehow whispered when they were around fifteen metres far. - Eat human.

The Sapphire Dragons slowly moved towards the sleeping man…

A sound, like a very quiet breathing mixed with softened *clacks*, awakened him. It came from a few metres west of him, to his left. Squall did not move, pretending he was asleep, trying to recognize what it was, as he always did in situations like that. It was impossible to identify it from that position, so he decided to move; he rolled away of the sound and stood up all in one fluid movement, completely awakened… two Sapphire Dragons. He had dealt with these creatures a few times before: very tough body, its scales were like an armour; the half-humanoid body proportioned them great stability and freedom of movements, and had very long arms that let them strike while out of reach; a small sized head with a small sized brain, but that had a very large mouth, with very large and numerous teeth. It was strange seeing them in this part of the world, since they used to like the warm forests of Trabia or the southern plains of Esthar, but it was not impossible that a small group had migrated already to the hotter western continent… they loved heat, like their bigger cousins the Ruby Dragons. He noticed that the sun had just begun rising behind him, as he quickly remembered the strengths and the weaknesses of these monsters. In much less than a second, the notion appeared in his mind: weak against ice and cold; fire, thunder and poison have no effect; fire breath attack, poisonous breath attack; easily annoyed, mentally obtuse… and very sharpened claws and fangs, for what he could see. What an awakening…

Seeing their surprise attack failed, the Dragons took a brief instant to examine the half-naked, long-haired human (he was just wearing his comfortable brown travelling trousers, his untied hair falling over his back and shoulders) that stood in front of them before engaging him, running wildly towards him. Squall waited for them to approach, completely still, like paralysed, trying to look very scared to encourage the beasts to underestimate him, a strategy he used to exploit in situations like this - it wasn't, by far, the first time something like this happened. Just when the dragons gave the final leap to grab him and brutally kill what seemed to be an easy prey, Squall reacted, so fast the creatures could not lay a claw on him. He crouched and rolled forward between and under the surprised dragons; when his bare feet touched the ground, he rapidly jumped backwards towards them, and dug his right elbow in a soft spot between scales of the back of the smaller blue dragon, as he raised his other arm and put his hand on the hard, blue skin of the neck of the larger one.

- Freeze. – He softly muttered, focusing almost subconsciously in the ice spell that instantly flowed through his fingers to the beast. Both creatures roared in pain, reacting like acid had touched them, the larger one the most. Squall felt how the smaller one made a superficial scratch in his ankle with its slashing tail, but ignored it; without stopping, using his momentary advantage, Squall took impulse again and, using the smaller one as fulcrum with his right hand, jumped backwards with a spectacular somersault over the monsters, which were at least a metre and eighty centimetres tall, and fell on his feet facing them. Then, he extended his hands before the recovering creatures and concentrated in a more powerful blizzard spell.

- Ice. – He mumbled again. A sudden cold breeze blew his hair out of his face when a ball of pure ice instantly formed in front of him, floating in the abruptly freezing air. It immediately shattered into a myriad of minute, sharp ice fragments, that flew with utmost speed towards the now outraged creatures. The beasts cried with anger in horrible pain as the ice storm virtually burnt their hard, blue scaled skins. Drops of their green poisonous blood dirt the ground beside the train tracks, making a hissing sound. This was more than they could stand; the Dragons, completely mad, run towards him, fire tongues escaping through their vicious mouths. The ice blue eyes of the man narrowed as a half-smile appeared in his lips: he expected this kind of reaction. He easily dodged or jumped out of the way of the extremely strong but uncontrolled blows and occasional spits of acid.

- Don't force me to kill you, Dragons. Flee, now that you still can. – He said with a neutral tone to the outraged creatures, trying to give them an opportunity as he dodged their attacks. It was evident to the monsters that he wasn't the least bit out of breath; he acted like playing with them. This angered them even more if possible. The smaller one leaped furiously towards Squall, trying to grab him and tear the skin out of the body of the insolent human, as the other inhaled deeply. He noticed this, and rolled to his right easily getting out of the way of the approaching dragon; when his feet made contact with the ground again, he remained just a second there crouched, right leg flexed, left leg stretched out, left hand on the ground to keep balance, right hand on his forehead, in partial concentration…

- Magic shield. – He whispered to himself. Just when the bigger beast released its breath and a torrent of hungry flames went through the air, an intangible magic barrier got in the way of the fire, protecting Squall from the deathly conflagration. The fire breath vanished in the air, consumed by a shield that had completely protected him from harm; he had not even felt the heat. The smaller one had recovered already and run towards Squall, while the other inhaled again… he finally decided, not without shame, to attack. Unexpectedly he jumped forward to the approaching beast and, dodging with ease an awkward falling slash, he passed through the creature's defences and incrusted his fist in the half-humanoid thorax. Knowing that the magical shield would protect him of two or three breath attacks more, he concentrated his efforts in knocking his closest opponent before engaging the bigger one… with a little bit of luck he could make them flee before he had to kill them; they were semi-intelligent, after all. That punch to the abdomen was just the first of a storm of punches, kicks and blows that had such velocity that it was even difficult to see them, let alone blocking or ducking them. Squall knew exactly where to throw his blows to cause real pain, and each one of them was so accurate, so perfect, that it was virtually impossible a human could perform them. But this human was performing them; and each punch, or kick, or nudge, or knee blow he dealt burnt like acid to the Dragon's punished skin… like ice had touched it. The beast tried to respond to his constant attacks, but each one of its actions was blocked or used against it, or both. Squall began to feel the heat of the fire breaths from the other one, what told him his shield was weakening. With a final punch with his left fist to its abdomen that concentrated all the strength he could spare, he sent the wrecked but still alive creature rolling a few metres far. He turned to see the stronger Dragon discharge another fire burst, this one bigger than the others. Without hesitation, he threw himself towards the deathly flames. Before they reached him, he extended his hands in front of him still running, palms facing the approaching inferno, thumbs joined, fingers extended, and closed his eyes, focusing…

- What's that, on the bridge? – Quistis asked to the pilot of the assault shuttle, pointing to three little spots that moved on the intercontinental bridge. They had went out of Garden short after the sun first appeared in the horizon, and headed full speed in the light shuttle to a very specific location, as they had told her. The Commander still had her doubts about if the information she had received was trustful, or accurate, since they might have separated… but it appeared that it was true, after all.

- It seems like… three creatures, Commander. – Kristyne replied, who was at the controls. Quistis noticed that two of them were approaching the other, which was completely still.

- Slow down, and approach slowly, just enough to identify their nature. – She said. Gradually, the three forms were more and more clear; after a few seconds it was evident that one of them was a lying human, and the two others were Sapphire Dragons.

- Can he be… - She nervously began.

- I certainly hope not. Those two dragons will kill that poor guy in no time. – She sadly commented, watching the now standing human completely paralysed as the horrid beasts ran towards him. She rubbed her eyes as saying this, tiredness menacing to take over her willpower. She hadn't had any rest for… how much? Twenty five hours? Thirty? She had lost the count. And she hadn't had time even to change her black stealth uniform, only to put a white silk blouse on over the tight black long-sleeve shirt. – Let's carry on looking, there's nothing we- she cut her words instantly as she noticed what the human did, and was doing; her eyes widened, the dizziness leaving her at once. She couldn't believe her eyes at all…

- Ice blast. - He said to himself in a barely audible whisper. Instantly, a pale blue light appeared in each of his fingers that grew and became brighter. Each of the glows threw a faint light thread directly in front of his hands, where the magical energy concentrated, growing larger, colder, shining under the cool air of late dawn… all this happening in milliseconds. Suddenly, the freezing cold ball of energy broke in a incredible ice torrent, that shoot forward from his palms towards the approaching flames. Squall, still running, opened his eyes and saw how the ice flare not only stopped the fire breath, but engulfed it and broke through, hitting the surprised beast in its uncovered chest, making it stagger, give some hurried steps back and almost fall backwards. He knew that, if its power wouldn't had been weakened by the flames, the ice bolt would have killed the creature instantly. Without losing time, he continued running towards it, counting with the cover that the smoke the fire and ice collision had produced proportioned him. When he was close enough, he leaped, and extended his leg performing a flying kick that covered five or six metres through the air, caring not to hit where the corrosive blood of the monster was. The Sapphire Dragon only saw a bare foot that suddenly flew out of the smoke and hit his already punished chest. The impact shoved the monster flying backwards, fall and roll until its body was atrociously hurled against the walls of the bridge. Squall fell to the ground after the impact avoiding as he could the puddle of blood almost beneath him, and stood up rapidly. He glanced with shame at the still alive dragons.

- Leave, Dragons! Flee! – He almost shouted with a grave tone. The creatures began to slowly, painfully stand up, and looked at him… but this time there was fear in their dark eyes, real terror; they hurriedly, pathetically forced their damaged and punished muscles to obey them and run as fast as they could away of that human-monster that had wounded them so badly. They didn't know if they would survive already with all those horrible wounds, but nothing would be worse than staying close to him… the beasts, leaning on each other, got away of the human following the train tracks to the west, heading in the same direction from where they had come.

Squall sighed. He was certain that they could not survive with such wounds and would have a horrible, slow and painful death. He watched them go away, and frowned… despite it was very difficult at that distance, he closed his eyes and focused. Soon sweating in concentration, making all the energy he could spare to converge and obey his will, he finally managed to magically heal the creatures enough so they would not die by the wounds he had caused. He sarcastically smiled… it was ironic that he had spent more energy in healing them than in fighting them.

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*Author's note: no, not blue dragons… it's a new variety of dragons that came with the lunar cry, managed to escape and expand beyond the boundaries of Esthar. They are dangerous, slightly more than a Grendel but not as much as the Six eyes, the Blue Dragons or the Ruby ones. They have proliferated enough to be organised in small groups, with their own hierarchy… not very smart, but enough to have basic language abilities.

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26. The inflection point

Despite the ambient would be hot later in the day, the morning atmosphere and the sea breeze were cool enough to make him shiver. He crouched beside his sleeping bag to pick up his cotton shirt, which was over his backpack, and put it on, along with his thin-sole leather boots. He took his own-made cape from it too(a greyish-brown skin robe bordered with white fur) and wore it around his shoulders, adjusting the white bone clasp over his chest. Tying his hair in a ponytail, Squall sit on his heels beside his backpack, and searched around in it for the food compartment… he frowned: some almost-rancid dry meat, very few fruit pieces, and an almost-depleted water bottle. He'd have to run if he wanted to reach Esthar continent before those supplies depleted completely, he thought to himself… or take some time and fish, something he wanted to avoid at all costs. He took an apple and packed his things while eating it. Just then he noticed the quiet buzz that had been growing louder as he fought with the creatures. He searched the sky, eyes narrowed with a tentative expression, trying to localise where exactly the noise came from… he then noticed the flying ship that was surprisingly close to him, and that was without a doubt going to land in front on him in a few seconds, on the train tracks. There was nowhere to hide now, he thought glancing around him, annoyed with himself for not noticing it before. Frowning, he stared at the small shuttle, analysing it, subconsciously looking for a very specific thing. There was kind of a faint uncomfortable sensation in the back of his head, like a strange presence, that told him there was no need of confirmation, that he knew exactly what that ship was, and from where did it come from. Strangely he felt that he knew it already, but despite it, he went on looking… and what he feared became true. His scowl deepened as he recognised a symbol he had fought to forget long ago, a symbol that had been his very life for twelve years; reflecting the light of the young sun in the sky, it was painted with bright colours on the left side of the shuttle the Balamb Garden symbol. The ship finally landed in front of him, making the characteristic noise of the escaping gas when its four spread supports touched the ground. After a full of expectancy moment, the door slid open.

Behind the door of the ship, Quistis looked at her body, at her clothes, at her appearance. She was a mess, she thought to herself. There hadn't been enough time even to tie her hair properly, so she had it falling in a simple ponytail down her upper back… how could it be possible, that finally she was about to meet with Squall again, after all those years, and she was in the worse of the conditions? extremely tired, hungry, really pissed about her situation, and a completely ruined aspect. She resigned herself, sighing as the door opened. The Commander saw him, standing in front of the shuttle, dressed with some simple travelling clothes, and with a suspicious, annoyed and slightly sad expression on his face. She stepped out of the transport and tried to smile; a nervous, awkward smile appeared in her lips. She had thought all kind of words to say when this happened; words of friendship, of sadness, of bitter resentfulness or of joy, and had longed to say them so much in all those years… but the only words that went out of her mouth were:

- Want a trip?

A woman, who appeared to be somewhere around the thirties, stepped out of it. She was dressed in black and white, with a loose ashen blouse and dark, skin-tight trousers. The woman, with a hand on her hips and the other on the frame of the door, stared at him with her azure eyes, her golden hair falling down her back in a ponytail. A charming, confident smile appeared in her lips, as she slightly tipped her head to a side. She was extremely familiar to Squall's eyes, he knew he had met this woman before, but the memory refused to emerge... until she spoke, with a unmistakable soft voice that made the memory roughly explode inside his mind: Quistis Trepe, a woman that had been his play mate when he was a child, his instructor when older, and his subordinate as a SeeD.

- Want a trip? – She said. He stayed there, looking at her with a unfathomable expression in his face. "And does that really matter?" He thought. Still, he had to try to escape from that situation… despite he knew already it was unavoidable.

- Stay out of my way. – He snapped, beginning to walk again.

- Wait! I must tell you why I'm here… - She gave a step forward, and Squall interrupted her.

- I have to go to Esthar. Stay out of my way. – He repeated, in a much more harsh tone. "Esthar?" Quistis thought… "Why has he to go there? Might he know what is happening?" She asked to herself. Following the feeling she suddenly had, she asked him, with a suspicious look in her face as Squall passed beside her:

- Why have you to go to Esthar? – Squall continued walking a while.

- That is nothing of your business.

- Squall… - Quistis pursed her lips, and gave a few steps towards him, with the intention of following him until he told her if it was necessary. She was beginning to be annoyed by his attitude; she had not been fighting to convince Rinoa, and looking for him later for nothing. The man suddenly stopped. Squall realised that she would not leave him in peace until he told her… besides, she surely could clarify many things. With a deep, resigned sigh, he spoke, still with his back turned on her.

- GER-47 P. I must find it in Esthar. – The commander's eyes opened wide.

- So you already know what is going on? How, and when!?

- I only know that I must find it, and then I will know what to do. – He said, in a display of sincerity. He hesitated before uttering his next phrase, but finally pronounced it. – Ellone told me to… - Now Quistis was confused.

- But, how did she… - Suddenly, realisation came into her mind. Ellone was kind of a telepath… with some effort, she could transport her mind to where Squall was and communicate with him, as she had done in the past. The woman wondered if he knew Ellone had died…

- Can I continue my journey now, Instructor? – Came his bitter, annoyed voice. Quistis decided to bluntly tell him the truth, hoping that would make him react.

- Squall, Ellone is dead. - At this, the man turned, with an expression in his face that said nothing about his feelings; still, his eyes invited her to go on. – She was murdered yesterday. Laguna was killed, too. – He narrowed his eyes and turned to face her. So this was what Ellone was talking about… "Maybe it's too late for me…". He didn't know how to take it… a mixture of emotions was growing inside him, so diverse and contradictory, so mixed with each other that he couldn't distinguish them. He had to take a decision now, and let the auto-analysis of his feelings for later. Quistis had been walking towards him, speaking words that were not necessary any more.

- Look, Squall, come with me to Garden, and I'll explain everything to you… there are a lot of things that you must know, and that are not very easy to understand. You… you can be of great help for us… you can be the man that will set the difference between victory and defeat… we need you, the world needs you Squall, please come with me.

He wasn't listening to her, lost in his thoughts. There was no reason for going to Esthar now; the answers to his questions were not there any more: they stood in front of him instead. He only had to raise his hand, and grab them… but what he feared was that, if he extended his arm to take the answers, what was behind them would take his member and drag him towards it, trapping him in a its invisible cage… again. Garden… it was the last place he would like to go, and the place where apparently he was obliged to go, if he wanted to know… and survive, if what Ellone had said was true. He weighed his options, and came to the conclusion that there were no options at all. "A simple man sets the difference…" The phrase echoed inside his head, not knowing if it had been Quistis who had pronounced it, or if it was the sudden memory of some dead words... "We need you, the world needs you…" Their voices, Quistis' and Ellone's, joined inside his head, performing a chant that resounded in his brain… "And what about what I need" He resentfully thought. Sighing, Squall took his decision. "I will help you… but this time, it won't be to save you, or SeeD, the world, or the universe. This time, I will help you to save me." The man spoke.

- I will go with you.

27. The proposal

Quistis Trepe had been filling Squall in generally about the situation they had in hands during the trip back to the flying Balamb Garden, that was now somewhere between Balamb and the continent of Galbadia, in it's way to Deling; what had been SeeD and Gardens doing, the sudden attack to Trabia Garden (without mentioning Selphie's death), their expedition to the base, the interrogation and the new race of monsters, and finally the imminent war between nations… he had said nothing, absolutely nothing; he didn't seem to attend to her words, even… Kristyne wasn't paying much attention to it though. She had two incredibly contradictory emotions inside her: one was excitement, even delight. She had been told only an hour ago some things that deeply impacted her: first, that Squall Leonhart, the legendary saviour of time and space itself, was not dead as *almost* everyone in Kholos knew; second, that they needed him and were going to search for him, because they knew his exact location; and third, the most important, that it was going to be her, Danielle Kristyne Lynn Tearless, level twenty-one SeeD, and not any other, who would pilot the ship that would find him and bring him back. Considering all this, it was understandable that she was pretty much excited, having not less than a hero only a metre and a half far from her. But there was other emotion, that had been rising inside her when she had been told that he was not really dead: this one she didn't know how to call it, if hatred, despise or anger… maybe a bit of each. The reason to those feelings was Rinoa. Now, she had finally figured out why Rinoa hated him so much. She had never really understood the reason for her anger against him: he was dead, and gave his life for the Life of others after all. He had abandoned her, causing her unspeakable pain, yes, but for saving everything that existed! Was it that bad?, She had thought to herself. But now, she knew perfectly what this man did to her in the past. She knew of the Sorceress' torment both for the woman's words (Kristyne was one of the two only persons Rinoa had talked about her suffering, and about everything involving Squall in her life; what she had experienced and had felt, had been feeling, and felt now, the other person being Quistis) and for seeing it by herself: she first met Rinoa in person when the Sorceress was convalescent in bed… she had been all the time beside her, even sleeping in a chair beside her bed, never leaving her side for nothing; she had been there, trying to feed her when she refused to eat, half awake half asleep; holding her hand and speaking soft, reassuring words to her when nightmares seized her dreams; speaking to her and calming the woman in her trances of semi-conscience, even when magic sparks or any other energies flowed in conflict inside and outside her tortured body, not caring if she got hurt. All this made her decide to say nothing, not even looking to him, concentrating in her duty as she was supposed to. Instead, she listened…

Squall had said nothing, absolutely nothing; he didn't seem to attend to Quistis' words, even. But he was listening… he was trying to absorb all the important information she was giving him, and figure out why they needed him so badly, which was his role in that enormous gear that he was beginning to understand. Obviously, he didn't know that he was a world-wide-known hero, that his sudden apparition would cause a deep impact in the minds of all the population of the world, that he was going to be presented as the last hope of the 'alliance'… those were things he couldn't even dare to imagine. She finally finished with a sigh and a "and that is all" what appeared to be a fairytale. "Can the world have changed so much in all this time?" he wondered to himself. "No. The thing is that it has not changed at all. All the ambition, the tensions between nations, the crazy scientists, the suffering, fear and hatred of the people, all existed then… long ago, I fled from all those things, and what do I find when I come back? That it is even worse than before."

- How did you find me. – He asked in a neutral tone. The woman sitting in front of him smiled.

- You might now that we have in our power all the Guardian Forces in this planet, Squall… except one. A proof of how desperately we need your help, is the way I obtained the location of Shiva, and consequently yours… we hoped you hadn't de-junctioned her. I've studied the GFs for many years, and know many more things about them than any other human… and I knew of a way of communicating with them, despite it was dangerous. I junctioned all the GFs to me, Squall, something I will never do again for it would destroy my mind. In my conscience, we had kind of a… meeting, a conference… I don't know why, they didn't request anything in favour for spotting with exactitude where Shiva was. But the important thing is that they told me. – She ended with a proud smile. But the man didn't manifest admiration, but only scorn and disdain.

- You know nothing about Guardian Forces, Instructor. Absolutely nothing.- He harshly said. - What do you want of me. – He requested with ice in both his eyes and voice. – Why am I so important.

- Well, if you haven't guessed already… I want you to… be… - Quistis realised then that she didn't know what she wanted Squall to be. She didn't want him to be the leader of the SeeDs, because she and Rinoa would be in command, at least unofficially. But there was nothing the SeeDs would love more than being under his orders, and nothing the Estharians would fear more than the opposing leader would be Squall Leonhart. Besides, Squall would not agree to being the leader, at least not without several persuasion… and, he would never be a tool in anyone's hands. She decided to be completely sincere to him, despite she knew he wouldn't like what she was about to say. – We need you to be the inspiration of our troops, the icon and hero that they can use for support when their will weakens; the figure who our troops will admire and our enemy will fear.

His first reaction was of surprise. Then, a sceptical expression appeared in his face. "A hero? An icon?", were the words that echoed inside his head. He asked, raising an eyebrow.

- What do you mean by 'a hero'? A hero for whom? You can't create a hero from nowhere, Instructor. I'm unknown to the world, and surely SeeD has forgotten me, buried my name in oblivion, or completely rejected me since I am the first and only ex-SeeD ever. – He refused to use her name; he wanted to treat her, and them all, like perfect strangers, so a friendship that not even he was certain that once existed would not reborn. Quistis couldn't believe what he had just said.

- Where the hell have you been all these years, Squall? What have you been doing that you don't even know… – She asked, and she instantly read the answer in his cold, pale cerulean eyes, eyes that talked about all he had seen and experienced, all what he had lived, that had absolutely nothing to do with humanity; eyes that were completely different from the ones the woman had known, not in the colour, or the texture, but… the glint in them. There was… power inside those wild, untamed eyes. It came instantly into her mind… he simply hadn't been in the world… at least, not in the 'humanized' one; there were lots of places where mankind hadn't put its hand, and many others which humans didn't know that existed at all. That would explain the fact that they hadn't heard not even the most little of rumours about him in all that time. She began to tell him what he was to the eyes of the world. – Look, Squall, the truth is something completely different to what you have in mind. The fact is that you are… you are a legend, you are the greatest hero of all time for the world, and especially for SeeDs. – the man couldn't help a puzzled and sceptical expression.

- But I left them, I deserted from SeeD, something that could be called high treachery if I remember Garden laws. I abandoned everything, completely everything, without honour, without even a simple 'farewell'… and still people remember me as a hero? Then the world is more stupid than I thought. – Quistis sighed.

- Yes… that is the truth… for you. But that's not what the world knows, Squall. That's not what I said to them. – "This is being more difficult than I thought," the woman said to herself. - You… you officially died in December the seventeen, year 7419 p.H.: a day before you truly… 'left us'. You died, or better, you were lost in time dealing the final blow to our enemy, Ultimecia, in the terrible explosion that occurred right after her death. You sacrificed your life for all the other lives in the universe. – She made a little pause. – That, is the reason for what the entire world considers you a hero. And that's why I want you to join us, because without you, we are literally hopeless. – Silence. Squall frowned: now, he was able to understand everything. He understood why he was there, and why Quistis had created such a story around him… it was much more lucrative for SeeD to have a legend than having what would have been considered a coward pariah. It was so ironic that he *almost* smiled… he, who had never wanted to be a hero, a leader, who had left Garden and his entire life behind to escape from that supposed leadership that was nothing more than slavery for him, who had walked all around the wild world trying to forget humanity and hoping it would forget him too… was considered the "almighty warrior from heavens", a legend, an icon of absolute goodness that the people of Kholos admired. And now he was in his way to a place where he would have to accept his past, confront his present and embrace a future he wanted to avoid at all costs. But it was useless to fight against it. It seemed that he had no option: cooperate, or die.

- I won't receive orders again, nor I will give them. – He simply said. – I accept what you offer me, but have this in mind: I'm not one of your subordinates, or one of your officials, or a tool you can handle for your own desires, or anything that has something to do with you or SeeD. Always remember that we only follow the same path… for now.

- I'll keep that in mind. – She said with a radiant smile. This was all she wanted to hear, she hadn't expected to get anything more from him. She continued then telling the man about what Gardens did and had been doing, basically chatting about all that had happened, while all Squall did was listen. Strangely, she did not mention at any time something about his "old friends". He wondered why, but he was not going to be the one who asked. He didn't really care, after all.

When she finished, and an uncomfortable silence fell over them, Quistis finally decided to ask about something that had been in the back of her mind since she first saw him in the train tracks, fighting… despite she almost knew without doubt she would not obtain a satisfactory answer.

- Squall… we were able to see you fighting against those sapphire dragons… - At his indifferent glance, she continued. – How the hell did you perform those extremely powerful spells? I had never seen that before, in a human at least. – "Not even from Rinoa," she added to herself; the Sorceress magic had a completely different style… her magic was all smooth, subtle but powerful, and despite she could perform extremely powerful elemental spells, just like the man had done or higher in power, her "way" of performing them was much more studied, practiced, refined… she didn't know how to put it… they were "elegant spells". But the spells she had seen there in the bridge spoke wildness, all born of necessity, like even improvised. Squall didn't look at her as he uttered an answer.

- I've done things and been in places your mind can't even imagine. I've grown, and the spirit within too… It's not important for you how I do what I can do. The important thing is that I'm able to do it. – Silence again.

Quistis pursed her lips, sighing. Well, at least it was an answer…

28. "Old Friends"

The shuttle that had left around an hour ago, with the commander herself and a SeeD as pilot, was finally approaching the flying Balamb Garden. Everyone inside it was wondering why had their leader left so suddenly, without apparent reason; not even the most close SeeDs to the woman knew where had she gone. The Sorceress Heartilly, the only exception to this apart of Xu Fai-Tveh, saw the ship coming closer through the crystal dome of the bridge, where she had gone after changing her black clothes to something more appropriate: a long ochre dress, of the colour of dry leaves in autumn, fastened to her waist with a black belt, with a long skirt that fell down to her ankles, and that went gradually darkening from top to bottom, where it was dark brown. She narrowed her eyes. Despite she didn't think the inhabitants of the garden would go to the hangar to see how the commander arrived, she already had given orders that no one, not even the usual personnel of the sector, should be there when the Shuttle landed, with the only exception of the SeeDs Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas and Seifer Almasy… "the 'old gang', reunited again… almost", Rinoa bitterly, sadly thought, as she stood up and walked to the elevator. "All has changed… it has changed so much I almost can't imagine how it was before" Before… years ago, when she was a seventeen year old child, all was so simple… all was happiness, all was joy, with her friends around… she began to recall a rush of images from the past in her mind; Irvine flirting with Selphie in the train… Quistis trying to show Zell how to use her whip, in one of those long journeys in the Ragnarok… Seifer caressing her hair in a hot summer afternoon… Zell teaching her how to play Triple Triad… the tender embrace from someone he had once loved……… love… something she had not felt for too many years. Sadness was beginning to take control of her mind. It was in times like this when she needed the presence of Selphie Tilmitt. She always knew how to cheer up others, the more depressed one was, the more she put her efforts in making that one smile. "Selphie..." She thought as she walked more and more slowly through the corridor that lead to the hangar. She missed her happiness so much… but now all was different. Selphie was dead, Irvine was lost, she hated Seifer and her love had left her, forever, no matter if the body that once carried it was about to return, only leaving behind an empty hole that had been filled through years with hatred and scorn. She moved away from the wall where she had unconsciously leaned, and began walking again, her skirt flapping around her ankles, somehow her determination invigorated by her thoughts. Only life remained; not her life, for she suddenly felt like even that had been torn apart from her: it was the life of others, of all others in the world. And she had decided, she had sworn to herself to safeguard it, at all costs. She firmly walked down the corridor, to join the others and meet what they needed to survive.

The shuttle finally landed, and only four figures were standing in front of it, all of them with solemn, thoughtful expressions in their faces. Only one of them knew what or who they were about to see. The door of the ship slid open, and some little steps appeared to help the passengers; Kristyne went out of it first, followed by the Commander Quistis Trepe. She glanced back at the door, like making a signal to a third passenger. As Quistis threw a glance full of expectancy and not empty of pride, the unknown person went out of the ship: everyone, even Rinoa slightly, gasped when they saw him. It was a man, aged around the thirties, and around the metre seventy… his body was covered with old used clothes, it was evident he had travelled a lot with them. His fibrous, stylised muscles were noticeable under the clothes, his slightly tanned skin shining under the hangar lights. He had his elbow-length brown hair tied at the nape of his neck, a large ponytail falling down his back. His eyes were of a pale blue, almost grey, and intensely analysed his surroundings, and those who received him. Between those eyes there was a faint scar, what remained of an old wound, that went across his forehead to beneath his left eye from right to left… Quistis finally introduced him to them, pointlessly because they had recognized him at once:

- This, my friends, is Squall Leonhart.

Zell was the first in doing something: he began to run towards Squall and, not caring if he would like it or not, he embraced him with all his strength, talking with emotion in his voice and a tear in his eye.

- Old friend… finally you've come back, after all these years…

- Release me. – The man said, completely surprised by his reaction and a little out of breath for his grip. Zell ignored his words… like in the old times.

- Oh, I knew you'd return, they didn't believe me but…

- Release me. Now. – There was something in Squall's tone that made the SeeD let loose of his embrace. He looked at his eyes and saw growing anger in them…

- Geez, you haven't changed a bit, did ya know that? – He casually said, smiling at his long lost friend. – You look completely different, but your temperament is the same! – Squall deeply frowned, and stared at him looking extremely menacingly.

- Get away from me. Don't dare to touch me again. – The man harshly stated.

- Wow, yo'r even worse! – He said giving a step back. As he said this, Irvine gave one of his snorts, looked at Squall from head to feet and turned away to leave, without saying a word, heading to a place where he could be alone.

Seifer had many things to think over now. The question "Wasn't he dead!?" echoed inside his head. Now that he had been able to become a SeeD and get a reputation, being one of the best combat / technician SeeDs in all Gardens, now that he had been able even to forget him, and the problems he had had with him, he came back into his life to de-stabilize everything. He had always been jealous of him, because Squall had always obtained, without wanting it, what he had fought so hard in the past to get and still hadn't reached at all: fame, glory, and wealth… he even became a knight without wanting it. Even in what should have been his death Seifer had felt furious, because Squall had become a hero for the entire world, he had died with honour, with pride, in the battlefield saving the world… it was the death Seifer had always dreamt of. But he had forgiven Squall's non-intentioned offences, and forgotten him as a rival to hate; he was dead, after all. And now… he reappeared. He stared at the commander, and uttered his question just when Irvine turned to leave.

- What the hell is he doing here, Quistis.

- I could ask exactly the same, Almasy. – Squall said, a little curious, he had to admit. The last time he had seen Seifer was fighting in the Lunatic Pandora, and fighting against him and his companions.

- Seifer is a SeeD now, Squall. – The commander intervened; the SeeD ignored her.

- You are dead, Leonhart! Everyone knows it!

- Then I guess I must be dead, if everyone says so. – He bitterly replied. Quistis cut them both before this led to a fight, speaking with all the authority that her rank and her years of experience had provided her.

- Seifer, I'm sorry that we never told you, but it was a secret only known by very few people, and not because they had been told, only that they saw it with their own eyes and it was inevitable for them to know. We agreed to keep what really happened hidden to the public… until now. Seifer, he wasn't lost in time, and wasn't killed by Ultimecia… he came back safe, but left us the following night… fleeing from his duty leaving all behind him. We couldn't let that come to light, as you surely can understand. – Seifer narrowed his eyes. He felt insulted by the lack of trust in him: he didn't see the Commander's standpoint, only that they considered him not good enough to know something so important for him… with a offended grunt, he left the same way Irvine had done, heading to a place he could assimilate so much new information, and let further questions for later… his thoughts rushed as he walked down the corridors: Squall Leonhart hadn't been dead all those years! If he had known it, nothing would have stopped him from searching and finding him, and then he… The SeeD's train of thinking suddenly stopped: yes, he would have found him, exactly what his superior wanted to prevent… his mind now finally saw everything that Quistis had pretended with keeping the secret. And in understanding all that had happened, he felt like a heavy weight had been removed from his back: he had lived all these years under the shadow of Squall Leonhart, the Legend, who had obtained with ease everything Seifer had wanted… and now he felt his shadow finally leaving him, letting him see the light, at last… because, finally, he felt better than him.

Squall saw with indifference both men leaving, first Irvine next Seifer. Zell was a few metres far at his left, shaking his head with a sad and disappointed look. Only a woman remained, a woman that looked extremely familiar, but he felt unable to recognize despite his efforts. She had very long hair, longer than his, and fell over her back in a black as night cascade; her features were those of a mature woman, around her thirties, and particularly beautiful, he had to admit, with that pale perfect skin, a face that could be said it had been sculpted by the most expert of the sculptors, and such a gorgeous frame, covered with a long dress of ochre tones. And her eyes, those dark brown eyes whose gaze could turn flesh into stone, eyes that suddenly shone with golden sparks, only for an instant… but there was something more about her that he could perceive. He could see a kind of… 'Aura' around her, a glowing both black and white in one glimmering that extended beyond her body, to everything that surrounded her. This woman radiated pure energy, she radiated power. With this, he realized who she was. The only person that could emanate such a thing was a Sorceress. She was the only Sorceress that could exist in the world, a extremely powerful Sorceress as he was seeing now. He had fought so hard to forget her that he hadn't been able to recognize her at first sight, but now he remembered everything of her. Everything…

- Rinoa. – He dryly stated. His expression hadn't changed the most little bit as he thought all those things. She didn't reply. Instead, what had been some little sparks in her eyes grew until her eyes shone completely with a bright orange / yellow light, as blue veins covered parts of her anatomy and her hair grew, moving suddenly with a came-from-nowhere breeze. Her glowing black and white aura grew incredibly in Squall's eyes… and all stopped all of sudden. With a completely annoyed, suspicious and frustrated at the same time look, she turned and walked away of the place. Squall remained there, with his eyebrows raised, with a slight presumption about what just had happened. He sardonically half-smiled.

Before she disappeared in the corridor, her voice echoed inside the Commander's head: "Quistis, I must talk to you. Now. I'll be in your office." Were her telepathic words. She pursed her lips; it seemed important… What an incredibly pleasant gathering. "Oh well, I couldn't expect something much better than this, anyway…" She sadly thought.

- Zell, escort Squall to the guest dormitory, with absolute discretion. I doubt someone would recognize him but it's better not to assume any risk. – She turned to Squall. – Please forgive us and be understanding… don't worry, this secrecy won't last much. Zell will provide you with anything you want.

- Sure! – the SeeD said. Squall simply shrugged slightly, manifesting his lack of interest on the matter. After this, the woman walked out of the hangar heading to her office…

29. Pride and Power

Quistis opened her office's door, and looked inside to see a thoughtful Rinoa walking up and down the vast room, who stopped and turned to face her as she entered. As the blonde woman walked towards her chair, she began to talk, patently disappointed with the Sorceress.

- Rinoa, I think you told me you would be able to control yourself; why did you do that? You shouldn't… - Her sentence was cut by the Sorceress.

- Please take seat. – She said, with a very serious look, worried and upset at a time. The Commander did as she had been told, and waited for her explanation. – Look, I know what I said. And I assure you I would have been able to keep control, even 'behave nicely', if I hadn't sensed what I did… or better I didn't sense in him. – Now Quistis annoyed expression changed to an interested one.

- Explain yourself. – Rinoa put her hands on the desk.

- As soon as you arrived and he showed up, I tried to read his mind, as I had told you I would do no matter what you thought. And do you want to know what I saw? – Came her rhetorical question. – I'll tell you: nothing. Absolutely nothing, it was as like a wall was between his mind and mine. – The Commander raised an eyebrow. "How can that be possible?" she thought. – That's where I wanted to go, Quistis, because it scares me. I don't know why I couldn't penetrate his thoughts, as I've just done with you. I tried, I tried with all my willpower to break through, but it was useless! – The woman almost shouted, out of frustration and uncertainty. Quistis sat back, thoughtful.

- Hmmm… couldn't you read his thoughts before? When you received your powers and he was still around?

- You know that at that time I couldn't make use of them properly, the sensation of the energy flowing inside me was so overwhelming… sometimes I heard things, whispers, words without sense inside my brain, but that was all, I never knew where did they come from. At that time, I only could use my Sorceress Powers through Angelwings, someone that, despite I was still me, I couldn't control at all… and "she" banished many years ago. So, I can't know if I could read his mind then. But the fact is that I can't now. This had never happened to me before, Quistis. Anywhere I wanted to go, I went. But his mind is an impenetrable fortress where I'm not allowed to enter… consciously, or subconsciously: he might not know what is happening, something that would tranquillise me a bit… - Quistis gave a derisive smile to her.

- Oh, I'm sure he knows. You didn't see him in action, Rinoa. He did things… they were indescribable. And what he said told me that he knows with exactitude his limits and capabilities. – The Sorceress narrowed her eyes.

- What? What did he do, and say?

- Look for yourself, my friend. It's the only way to be objective. – The blonde woman said as she slightly bowed her head forward. A little reluctant at first, wary of what she might see, Rinoa extended her right arm, until her spread fingers barely caressed Quistis' forehead. She closed her eyes, and concentrated to receive the scene Quistis' eyes had received… as her extended member emanated a warm, purple glow, the thoughts and pictures suddenly rushed from the Commander's memory to the Sorceress' mind, a shiver running up Quistis' spine as they did. Rinoa opened her golden eyes, that went back to normal in a few seconds, and made a grimace, looking away.

- I know what you mean… - She said looking at her again.

- His exact words were "I've done things and been in places your mind can't even imagine. I've grown, and the spirit within too… It's not important for you how I do what I can do. The important thing is that I'm able to do it."

- "…what I can do. The important thing is that I'm able to do it." – Rinoa ended the phrase with her, in chorus. "What a pompous arrogant bastard he's become." She bitterly thought. But there was something in that sentence that made the Sorceress think. After a while, she uttered her doubts. – "The spirit within"? What's that? His soul or something?

- I guess he talked about Shiva, his GF.

- Of course, the Guardian Force… - She remained pensive after that. Quistis continued exposing her thoughts.

- But GF Shiva is a lesser GF… It's the weakest of them all, and its powers were completely developed when we fought against Ultimecia. I know Shiva couldn't 'grow' more when he left, that's why I didn't really care when he carried it with him.

- Maybe… - Rinoa muttered, looking at nowhere in particular, deep immerse in her meditations. She raised her head. – Well, as I've told you I sensed power, pure energy flowing from and around him, Quistis… and no matter the source of it, I can say that power is great… never seen before in a human indeed. – The Commander raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

- Are you telling me that it's so great that it is comparable to yours? – The Sorceress' eyes glowed gold, even with some little sparks, as anger and indignation filled her voice. The instant transformation was incredible, even scary if Quistis wouldn't have been used to it.

- Never. That is impossible. His power will never be comparable to that of three Sorceresses concentrated in one! – She went back to normal, forcing herself to calm down… talking about him was putting her on the nerves. – S… Sorry Quistis, please forgive my outburst… I don't know what happened to me… I'm just tired and am not able to think clearly, that is all… - The blonde woman smiled warmly to her, her tired eyes giving Rinoa a understanding gaze.

- We all need to sleep, Rinoa, we have been awake and doing all sort of things without rest for more than thirty hours… and despite we have no time to lose, we are useless if we are exhausted. We will arrive to Deling in four hours, so we have three hours starting now to get some rest. Please, go sleep a little, will you? Don't be around and leave all your worries aside, at least for a while. – the Sorceress sighed.

- Okay, you are right… I need rest. See you in three hours, but not more. – She turned to leave, but when she was almost gone she seemed to remember something. – Oh, by the way Quistis I told Xu not to reply to Esthar, because it would be useless, as you said. – The Commander silently nodded. With that, the Sorceress left the room, walking. Quistis smiled again.

Rinoa had left, and Quistis was sitting in her comfortable chair, in the office. She thought of all they had over their heads, and sighed. Despite all the worries she had in her mind, the only thing that really preoccupied her now was sleep… wonderful sleep. She found that she was so exhausted that she barely couldn't move from her seat… so she decided to recline her chair and simply close the eyes. Yes, she would sleep, and then she would prepare the hero to reborn… she almost immediately fell asleep, the last image impressed in her brain being a glowing blue gunblade…

End of chapter six.

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