Chapter 9: Another Sorceress?
"What?" Edea exclaimed once Rinoa was done telling her everything.
The former Sorceress came to Garden as it was asked her. It sounded so important and urgent she came right away. Rinoa and Squall met her in the Headmaster's office.
"Another Sorceress? Impossible! I would have known!"
Even if she gave her powers to Rinoa, Edea still had some of the Sorceress's skills. One of them was to sense strong powers, very strong like Sorceresses'.
"I can't think of any other option," Rinoa said. "There's no way any mortal could be so powerful."
"If what you say is true, then I'm afraid we're facing a so powerful Sorceress that she can hide from our sensing powers."
Squall widened his eyes.
"Then that would mean…"
Edea nodded to him gravely.
"Yes, my child. That would mean she is more powerful than Ultimecia…"
While their friends were meeting Edea and Zell was resting, Seifer decided to give Coran a few lessons about fighting. He showed her how to draw magic and junction them to her fists -which now were gloved, thanks to Zell- depending of the monster's weaknesses. It appeared very effective on Grats, Bite Bugs and Caterchipillars. Seifer looked at his pupil proudly.
"Guess you're ready for T-Rexaur," he said.
Suddenly, a strange image flashed in her mind. With a moan, she clenched her head. Concern, Seifer ran to her side.
"What's wrong?"
"N…nothing. Guess I'm scared. T-Rexaur are so powerful."
"Don't you worry. I won't let you fight alone; I'll be fighting too. I'll let you finish it so you can get the most experience."
"Alright, if you say you'll help me."
"Then let's go."
They walked deeper in the Training Center, expecting growling sounds or heavy footsteps. Their patience was soon rewarded as an angry monster came out of the bushes, blocking them the way.
"We don't have any choice. If we want to get through, we'll have to destroy it. You're ready?" Seifer asked Coran placing himself in fighting position looking at her.
She nodded swallowing hard. She took a deep breath and stood in fighting position as well, frowning at the beast.
"What is the most effective way to defeat a T-Rexaur?" Seifer asked like a teacher.
"Junction sleep or blind magic to the weapon or use it against it."
Seifer smiled.
"Exactly. Are you junctionned to any of those?"
"Both," she answered with a smile.
"Good. I'll catch its attention and you fight it from the back, ok?"
She nodded and jumped aside when the Rex dashed towards them. Seifer jumped the other side, slashing the monster with his gunblade.
"Over here!" he called.
The Rex growled furiously and followed Seifer. Coran was scared for her beloved but she knew it wasn't his first battle. She put herself together and jumped on the dinosaur, punching it with all her strength. She had to say it was more effective with gloves than bare hands and less painful too.
She jumped down the Rex and watched it fall on its side, asleep.
"Good job! Now give it all you've got!"
She dashed the T-Rex and punched it once again, giving kicks too. It woke up from the pain and tripped in its way to get up.
"It's blinded! Now's our chance!"
The both of them attacked the monster, avoiding the attacks the Rex was giving to try to get rid of these nuisances.
'I can't believe how powerful Seifer is!' Coran thought. 'Such delightful power…'
She shook her head.
"Coran, look out! Its sight is coming back!"
She looked up at the Rex and could see from its eyes that it was seeing her. A little too clearly for comfort. But still Coran wasn't afraid! Seifer was by her side and together, she knew they could do anything!
Trying to reach over her, the Rex swung its tail hit Seifer and swung him backward. Coran saw him roll on the ground.
"Seifer!"
She wanted to reach for him, but the Rex was blocking her way.
"Get out of my way, you monster!" she frowned to it.
The Rex sniffed indifferently and turned his attention to the unconscious Seifer. Her eyes widened in horror.
"No! Leave him alone! Come back here!"
Not listening to her, it continued dangerously closer to Seifer. Coran felt her heart stop beating.
"SEIFER!!"
Then her eyes became red, her face twisted in a really evil frown and she bared her teeth.
"I said leave him alone!!" She yelled and jumped on it.
Her fists pierced the skin as she was punching more and more. Her gloves were soon covered with blood. Mortally bleeding, the Rex fell on its side. It didn't stop the furious girl. She kicked it and punched it more and more, screaming vengeful louder and louder. The king of the Training Center was long time dead but Coran was still attacking. She wanted to leave nothing of it.
"It's dead now, Coran. You can stop," Seifer's voice stopped her.
She was back to normal, standing in front of the bloody mess in disbelief, her arms down.
"What happened?" she asked Seifer once he reached her.
"I suppose it was some kind of Limit Break," he said.
She stared at what was left of the T-Rexaur, unable to believe she was the responsible. Then she turned to Seifer with concern.
"Are you alright?" she inquired quickly looking for wounds.
"Yeah. It takes more than that to hurt me. I'm ashamed I fell unconscious! It could have kill you!" he said with a sorry face wrapping his arms around her.
She smiled to him and sighed.
"What do you think about me, Instructor?"
"It's such a shame you don't want to be a SeeD! You would be so great!"
"I can still reconsider, but only if you do too."
"Let me think about it. I don't know how many times I past the exams and always failed it…"
"I'm sure you would do just fine next time."
She yawned, suddenly looking weak and tired.
"Guess you need some rest! Let's go."
They left the Training Center and Seifer escorted Coran to her room.
"Ugh! I can't see a thing!" Irvine exclaimed.
He noticed he wasn't wearing his hat and his hair was loosened on his face.
"It's because our eyes are bandaged," a voice answered.
"Sefie? 'S that you?"
"Yes."
"Are you alright? Where are we? What happened?"
"I'm okay. I don't know where we are but I think we were teleported here when we were in the Training Center."
"You're so right, SeeD!" a voice exclaimed.
Irvine tried to free himself from the ropes around his wrists, but it only made them cut deeper in his skin. He moaned.
"Zell was right! You are a girl!"
There was a silence. The girl was frowning.
"Then I was right too: SeeD are really more powerful than the others."
"Then why are you wasting your time with me?" Irvine asked. "I'm not a SeeD!"
"No, but you fought with them, so that makes you more powerful as well." A maniacal laugh came from the front of the prisoners.
"What is your purpose? Who are you?"
"You don't want to know, you'd be deceived…"
Another silence Irvine and Selphie took advantage of to try and remember the voice, trying to find if they knew it.
"Do you think I'm stupid enough to use my real voice?"
"Darn, that bitch his mind reader," Irvine said under his breath.
The jailer extended a hand and electric shocks ran over Irvine's body, making him yell from pain.
"Irvine! Stop that, you monster!"
Irvine stopped yelling, panting.
"Call me a bitch once again and you're dead! It would be a shame because you got so great energy for me!"
"Why energy? You are the one who kidnapped those Cadets and Zell," Irvine articulated hard.
"Yes, I was. It was a mistake to take those cadets."
"Why do you need energy?" Selphie asked repeating Irvine's question.
There was a silence Irvine and Selphie could almost hear their torturer smile evilly.
"To become more powerful and free myself!"
Selphie frowned.
"Free from what?"
"No more questions! I need your energy right now!" she said with an impatient voice.
"One more," Irvine asked almost funnily. "What are you?"
Another maniacal evil laugh.
"I'm a Sorceress, of course! And once I'll had the energy of all the most powerful people here, I'll take it over and those who won't obey me will die!"
"You should have killed Zell instead of letting him go, then. And once you're done with me, I suggest you kill me because I'll never bow in front of you!" Selphie said. "Me neither."
The Sorceress sniffed.
"We'll see about that! Once I'm done with you, I'll take the energy from that girl that thinks she's a Sorceress! Ha! No match for me! That ex-Instructor's as well. And then I'll take Seifer and Squall! Hahaha!!!"
The Sorceress moaned from strange pain, which made Selphie and Irvine raise an eyebrow.
"No, I won't let you…"
It was the Sorceress who spoke no doubt about it but it wasn't the same voice. The voice was almost just a whisper so it made it impossible to identify.
"Grr! Not now! Get out!" the Sorceress moaned.
Then Irvine and Selphie felt their energy being drained away.
"Guess I'll have to come back later," the Sorceress laughed evilly once again.
A strange noise was heard, telling she was gone, probably teleported.
"A…Sorceress…" Irvine started.
"Why Matron…never told us…about this?"
"Another Sorceress…" Zell said in disbelief once Squall and Rinoa got back to the infirmary. "Like if we didn't have enough problems with the ones we already had!"
"EXCUSE ME?!" Rinoa exclaimed frowning and putting her fists on her hips, bending down Zell.
He shook his hands quickly with an uncomfortable smile on his face.
"No, don't take me wrong, Rinoa! I was talking about Edea when she was possessed, Adel and Ultimecia. You are a wonderfully good Sorceress! Please, don't kill me!"
He hid under his sheets, making Squall laugh and Rinoa smoke from anger. Then she had an evil smile and extended a hand to the bed. Crabs appeared and pinched Zell under the sheets.
"Ow! Yeouch! Ouch! Get them off me!"
The crabs vanished in a gesture from Rinoa. Zell carefully took a peek from under the sheets and saw Rinoa's face an inch from his, startling him.
"Don't you have something to say, Zell?"
"Hum… sorry?"
She nodded.
"I'll say it's okay."
Seifer entered at that moment. Squall looked at him with a frown.
"Where's Coran?"
"Sleeping," Seifer answered simply unable to sustain Squall's glance.
"Where have you two been? I was worried!"
Seifer then looked up and frowned.
"For your sister? Were you worried because she was with me?"
Squall took Seifer's arm and led him out of the office. Then he turned to him, pointing a finger on him.
"What are you trying to prove, Seifer? You can't bear anyone but you go out with my sister? At least do you love her or is this just a way to make me mad?"
Seifer looked at him in shock.
"What are you saying?! I would never use her to reach you! I would give my life for her!"
"You're not answering my question! I would give my life for her as well because I love her too, but I want to know if you feel for her the same way I feel for Rinoa, the same way Irvine feels for Selphie! Do you love her?"
Seifer kept his head down. He was unable to say it in front of Squall. His doings to his old rival were still fresh in his mind and he was still reluctant of acting friendly to him.
Squall took Seifer's silence for a no.
"At least if you don't, be a man and tell her. I don't want to see her hurt because of you." He faced him his back. "You already hurt too much people…"
He was about to get back in the infirmary when a hand grabbed his arm. He turned around. Seifer was holding his arm, his head still down and his eyes closed. He was biting his lip. Squall knew he wanted to say something so he just waited for him to speak. Not releasing his grip from Squall's forearm, Seifer slowly looked up. There was something in his eyes Squall never saw before: sadness.
"Don't you know those words are hard for me?" Seifer asked in a whisper. "Do you think I don't know what I've done? Everybody constantly reminds me of that. It's already hard for me to try and forget it without everyone always reminding me! It's like if they all want to be sure I'll never forget! I know I never will, at least I want to try not to think about it."
Seifer clenched Squall's arm in some kind of need for comfort.
"Nobody will forgive me for what I've done. I only got Raijin and Fujin for friends. And Coran… she's the only one to know what I've done and she still came to me, the only one to think there was something good in me. She helped me take it out."
Squall felt guilty of ever doubting Seifer's feelings towards his sister. Even more when he saw a tear shine in Seifer's eye that he quickly wiped away. Then he released his grip from Squall's arm. The SeeD put his hands on Seifer's shoulders.
"Now I know you are serious. You would never have cried in front of anybody me even less if you were not really hurt by my words. I'm sorry Seifer."
Seifer stared at Squall in disbelief. He was expecting apologies from him.
"Don't be. I'm the one who should apologize to you, to Rinoa, to Zell, to everyone in Garden."
"I don't ask you that much. Just promise me something."
Seifer looked at him hesitating a few seconds then nodded.
"Anything."
"Love my sister, take care of her."
Seifer smiled.
"You didn't even had to tell me."
They shook hands, the other friendly clenching each other's arm.
"Now I got to tell you that your sister should be a SeeD. She's a fast learner."
He told about the fight with the T-Rexaur.
"It was a stupid risk! She could have been killed! Just when I was starting to trust you."
"Hey, I was with her!"
"That's what I'm worried about."
They laughed together like old friends who haven't seen each other for a long time.
The day ended slowly. The gang was pretty smaller at the Cafeteria. Zell still resting in the infirmary, Irvine and Selphie missing… Rinoa decided to stay until it would all be over in case she could be of any help. Seifer had an arm around Coran as usual and Quistis was trying to force Squall to eat something despite he said he wasn't hungry.
"You have to eat! If you become too weak you will be a tasty prey for that Sorceress!"
"I don't think so," Seifer cut in. "If she is looking for energy, he will be too weak for her."
Quistis frowned at Seifer for giving the others bad ideas. Starving themselves wasn't a good idea at all.
"What if she'll just pass?" Rinoa suggested. "She just wants energy then she'll left."
"We wouldn't be so lucky," Squall objected getting up to get something to eat.
Rinoa smiled in relief before turning to the others.
"What I don't understand is whom this Sorceress got her powers from. I got mine from Edea, she received Ultimecia's and I received Adel's too."
"What I say is there is no other Sorceress," Seifer said. "All this is a little trick to make us crazy."
"You're…wrong…" a weak voice said at the entrance of the Cafeteria.
Everyone turned to the entrance to see a tripping Irvine carrying an unconscious Selphie enter the place. They all got up so fast their chair fell backward and hit the floor. Squall was the first one close to Irvine. He took Selphie from his weak arms and past her to Seifer when he asked him to do so. Irvine fell in Squall's arms who knelt to rest him on the ground.
"There…there is another…" Irvine said barely audible.
"We know," Squall told him.
"But…she got something…like she can't control herself…totally…"
"Do you know who she is?" Quistis asked him.
"No…never heard. She didn't brainwash us. She thought it wasn't…necessary…"
"It's okay now," Squall comforted.
Irvine smiled.
"She is after you all too, she mentioned Rinoa, Quistis, Seifer and you."
"She knows us?"
"I suppose… she plans to take over Garden…"
Squall turned to Rinoa.
"Rinoa, can you cast Curaga on him? He needs rest but we need the freshest news possible. I don't want to take the risk to see him forget everything."
Rinoa nodded and obeyed. A blue light engulfed her and was spread on Irvine. It didn't have any effect.
"Why didn't it work?" Squall exclaimed.
"She is more powerful than Rinoa… I'll try to tell you what I know now… We were teleported from the Training Center to that place. I don't know where it was; my eyes were bandaged… We were tied up right away by an invisible force… It took a while before she came. She spoke to us, saying she was disguising her real voice…"
"It must be because we know her!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"I don't know…" Irvine said getting weaker.
Squall looked up to his friends to find Quistis missing.
"Where is Quistis?"
"She went to get Kadowaki before you ask her to," Seifer answered.
Squall went back to Irvine.
"She said she needed energy to be more powerful and to get free…"
"Free?" they all exclaimed.
"From what?" Squall asked.
Irvine weakly shook his head.
"She didn't want to tell… Then, she moaned in pain…"
Squall paid great attention.
"Another voice spoke but it was coming from the same person, I'm sure of it… It said: I won't let you…"
He took a deep breath.
"It spoke after the Sorceress said she would get you all… Then she said: no, get out…"
"She is possessed?" Rinoa asked.
"Not sure, but I think so…"
"You just rest, now."
He looked around.
"What is taking Quistis so long?"
"Let's not wait for her," Seifer said. "Let's go."
Seifer placed Selphie on Coran's back while he took Irvine's arm around his neck, Squall holding the other one. They went to the Infirmary. Squall thought they would meet Quistis with the doctor on their way but they didn't. Rinoa preceded them in to warn Kadowaki. She prepared the beds the Cadets left the morning for the two others. Once they were in bed, Squall quickly scanned the office.
"I thought Quistis went here to get you?"
Kadowaki looked at him raising an eyebrow.
"No. Was she supposed to?"
Squall then looked at the others with a grave face.
"She got Quistis too…"
Coran suddenly fainted from exhaustion in Seifer's arms.