Final Part/part seven
Chapter 7 Till the end of Eternity
It didn't take long for the Ragnarok to get to Esthar, but by the time we'd arrived everyone on board, except from Selphie who was piloting, had drifted into sleep. I felt Squall tickle me gently. I squirmed and opened my eyes.
"Wake up Sleeping Beauty," Squall whispered, caressing my face with his hand. "We're here." I sat up, and then realised I'd fallen asleep sprawled out on Squall's lap. Anyone could've seen. Oh no. Irvine turned to me and smiled.
"Sleep well Quistis?" he asked. "Was it comfy on Squall's lap?" his smile spread into a smirk-like grin and I felt my face go red. Zell chuckled at us but Rinoa remained silent. Squall stood up and pulled me to my feet by wrapping his arms around my waist. We disembarked the Ragnarok and went to the Presidential Residence. At the gates we met with Kiros and Ward.
"Long time no see, how are you Squall?" Kiros asked. Squall smiled.
"I'm doing well thanks Kiros. Where's Laguna?" he replied rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Your father is inside, follow us," Kiros gestured us to follow him and we were lead into a grand room. It looked very well furnished and expensive too. But Laguna was president. I had to come to expect these kinds of commodities in this field of work. Seifer was amazed, as were Raijin and Fujin.
"Check this out," Seifer cooed happily. This had to definitely be the happiest I've ever seen Seifer in his life. He appeared happy in the battlefield but that didn't satisfy his human happiness, it just quenched his lust for blood and battle. Raijin whistled.
"This place is the bomb, ya know," Raijin nodded. Fujin rolled her eyes at Raijin's frequent repetition of the words `ya know.' It can be quite a contagious little phrase.
"You made it!" a cheery voice said emerging from a side door. It was Laguna, dressed in the attire that we had known and seen within the `Dream World.' He tossed his dark brown hair from his face. "Squall, how have you been?"
"I've been fine Laguna," Squall replied. Laguna sighed heavily.
"You can call me father you know Squall," he said. Squall rolled his eyes and smiled at his father. The resemblance between them was quite amazing. They looked so alike, yet they were completely different people. Laguna peered over at me as I stood behind Squall. "Quistis Trepe! How are ya!" he cried cheerfully as he walked up to me and hugged me tightly. I saw Squall's eyes widen and I watched as he folded his arms and almost scowled at his father's behaviour. Laguna noticed this too and stopped. He grinned. "I think I got my boy a little wound up with that one! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" I asked.
"That you were seeing Squall," he relied matter-of-factly. "I thought he was with that Rinoa girl, what happened?"
"Er...I..." I began to say. This was an awkward question to ask, seeing as I had something to do with their split in the first place. But thankfully Squall interjected his father.
"We grew apart father," he said, making sure he said `father' so as to satisfy Laguna.
"Oh...that's too bad..." Laguna sighed. He then came up to my ear and whispered something to me. "Thank god for that." He then went over to the others, in turn asking how they were until he came to Rinoa. Rinoa glared at him icily until Laguna just backed away from her.
"What's the mission?" I asked Laguna.
"I'm so glad you asked," Laguna said, taking a seat and indicating to us all to take one too. I sat on a lovely chair in between Seifer and Squall. Under normal circumstances this would've been a terrible error to make, as you'd probably get caught in the crossfire of their never-ending feud, but thankfully these weren't normal circumstances. Seifer just shot the occasional cheerful glance and me while Squall smiled whenever he saw me look at him.
"So..." Zell started.
"Oh yeah," Laguna tapped his head lightly. "Here's the mission. There's some kind of ancient force that's escaped from its captive prison within the Sorceress Memorial. We need you all to reseal it before it destroys all of Esthar. It's summoned many dark forces to aid it and much of Esthar is damaged beyond repair. That's why we need your help to prevent any more damage from being done. So many people have lost their lives, and not just soldiers, but civilians too. Will you help us out?"
"Of course," Squall replied simply. He looked at me, then at Seifer. "This shouldn't be a problem for us, right?" The whole team nodded in whole-hearted agreement.
"Well then!" Laguna smiled. "You'd better get down to it! Dismissed!" we all left the room and insured we were all armed. I looked at my Save the Queen, then at Selphie's Crescent Wish. I don't know why I chose to look at her shinobu but I did.
"We'll divide into 2 teams. Team One will stay in Esthar and try to slay off any monsters that head their way, and Team Two will head out to the Sorceress Memorial and try to stop this ancient force Laguna speaks of," Squall said. "Seifer you'll be in charge of Team Two, I'll take charge of Team One. Seifer, you'll be accompanied by Selphie, Irvine, Raijin and Quistis. Everyone else is with me. Good luck." Seifer shook Squall's hand.
"We'll need all the luck we can get!" Seifer laughed. "All right Team Two let's move on out!" Selphie, Irvine and Raijin went after Seifer. I stayed where I was.
"Quistis..." Squall said. He kissed my cheek then hugged me. "Take care, OK?"
"I will," I replied. Once I'd left the safety of Squall's embrace I chased after Seifer and the others. Squall then led his team out to battle.
* * * * * *
"Sorceress Memorial..." Seifer looked up at the huge building once then took a double take. "We have a lotta work to do if we're gonna seal up this ancient force." We all walked into the deserted memorial and looked at the main freezing unit. It was surrounded by a strange blue aura. This must've been the ancient force. I walked up to the computer panel and touched it. I then looked at the freezing unit again. I walked through the doors and up to the entryway of the freezing unit.
"Are you the one they call Quistis Trepe?" a voice questioned me. I looked around. No one was there.
"I'm Quistis Trepe. Why, what do you want from me?" I asked nervously.
"We have the sacrifice. This is the only way to dispel our power. If you put yourself into this machine," the voice said. I was going to have to be frozen for all eternity to save the lives of millions of people? I clenched my fists and hesitated. I wished that Squall were here with me, so that he could tell me what I should do. I looked back at the others, still trying to figure out what to do while destruction and death reigned in the world outside. I had to do it. I love Squall with all my heart I just had to do this to save his life!
"I'll do it! I'll sacrifice my life to save the man I love! To save the people I care about! To save everyone!" I cried out. The aura around the freezing unit glowed more violently and encircled itself around me. It then ripped my body through the unit's glass case and into the centre of it. My heart pounded in my head. I was going to die now. Seifer saw me in the chamber and gasped.
"Quistis!" he cried. "Quistis get outta there!" Selphie and Irvine soon noticed me there and began begging me to get out.
"The fighting's over!" Raijin said as he ran in. "Team One are heading this way!"
"They'd better hurry!" Seifer said pointing to me. "Or we'll lose Quistis!" I could feel my whole body go numb. The freezing process was setting in. I felt small prickles of ice crawl up my legs, which sent shivers up my spine. After 10 minutes Squall and the others arrived.
"Quistis!" Squall cried out desperately. "Get out! Get out!" my whole body was now paralysed. I couldn't move anything. My skin became pale white as the late stages of the freezing process began to set in. I was so cold. I wanted to get out, but I knew I'd be killing everyone if I did. Squall ran through to the room where I had been taken by the ancient force. He pounded his fists on the glass desperately. "Quistis! Please! Please get outta there!" he cried. I saw tears stream down his face. My eyes grew heavy, and I knew this was the end of it all. The moment I closed my eyes I'd never open them again. Squall began to cry in desperation, praying that he'd get through to me somehow, but it was all in vain. "Quistis! Don't leave me! I need you! I love you! Don't go! Don't go!" he cried, his tears now falling steadily and painfully down his face. My eyes slowly began to close. All I could hear was Squall's voice calling out to me in sorrow. All I could feel was the coldness of
the ice all over my body. But I still felt a warm presence within my soul. The presence of Squall's heart.
All of a sudden the world came crashing down around me. The cold of the ice had taken my body, but my soul still breathed. I heard a voice say my name.
"Quistis...now is not the time for you to die..." it said. I could see Squall, beaten and heartbroken, sobbing beside the freezing unit. "There's someone who needs you...you have a purpose now my child." I felt myself start to sob.
"Squall!" I screamed. My eyes snapped open as the glass chamber around me shattered. My body slowly regained feeling as I came crashing out of the mass of shattered glass and straight into Squall's arms. My body had finally regained the ability to move and I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me closer to him.
"I thought I'd lost you," Squall sobbed. "I was so scared...I was terrified that I'd never see you again!" he began to dry his eyes and he gave me a smile.
"You promised me you'd never leave me Squall," I said slowly. "Now I make the same promise to you." He lifted my face up to his and kissed me. My body suddenly filled up with warmth and life. These feelings of warmth, of safety and of love were all new to me, but I knew they'd be with me until the end of eternity.
* * * * *
The sea crashed gently against the sand as a beautiful blond woman stood in the water, her dress floating delicately on the wind. The sea breeze played with her long soft hair as she just stood and looked out onto the vast expanse of ocean that lay before her. A small boy ran to her side.
"Mama!" he cried, cheerily yet out of breath. The woman turned to him.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice so gentle, so kind.
"Mama, papa wants you," he said. "I think it's urgent." The boy had a sneaky look on his face. The woman couldn't help but notice this.
"I don't believe you for a second," she replied playfully. Suddenly a handsome young man came up from behind her and pulled her into his arms. The boy watched his parents embrace each other as they had done for as long as he could remember.
"Come on," the man said, kissing the woman gently. "We'd better get in. there's lots of work to be done." He and the woman turned, the woman held out her hand for the boy to take hold of. He clasped onto it tightly and walked up the beach onto the land and back to his home.
Ooh...a very interesting little ending note there. The piece above has relevance to the story but it is not told by Quistis. I'm sure you've guessed who the people all are, so there's always room for a sequel! Thank you to everyone who reviews this, as this is my first ever fic. I've got so many positive remarks from this story and I am eternally thankful for them. If I get any requests I'll write a sequel which will explain that end bit a little more. Anyways thank you! ^-^
Chapter 7 Till the end of Eternity
It didn't take long for the Ragnarok to get to Esthar, but by the time we'd arrived everyone on board, except from Selphie who was piloting, had drifted into sleep. I felt Squall tickle me gently. I squirmed and opened my eyes.
"Wake up Sleeping Beauty," Squall whispered, caressing my face with his hand. "We're here." I sat up, and then realised I'd fallen asleep sprawled out on Squall's lap. Anyone could've seen. Oh no. Irvine turned to me and smiled.
"Sleep well Quistis?" he asked. "Was it comfy on Squall's lap?" his smile spread into a smirk-like grin and I felt my face go red. Zell chuckled at us but Rinoa remained silent. Squall stood up and pulled me to my feet by wrapping his arms around my waist. We disembarked the Ragnarok and went to the Presidential Residence. At the gates we met with Kiros and Ward.
"Long time no see, how are you Squall?" Kiros asked. Squall smiled.
"I'm doing well thanks Kiros. Where's Laguna?" he replied rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Your father is inside, follow us," Kiros gestured us to follow him and we were lead into a grand room. It looked very well furnished and expensive too. But Laguna was president. I had to come to expect these kinds of commodities in this field of work. Seifer was amazed, as were Raijin and Fujin.
"Check this out," Seifer cooed happily. This had to definitely be the happiest I've ever seen Seifer in his life. He appeared happy in the battlefield but that didn't satisfy his human happiness, it just quenched his lust for blood and battle. Raijin whistled.
"This place is the bomb, ya know," Raijin nodded. Fujin rolled her eyes at Raijin's frequent repetition of the words `ya know.' It can be quite a contagious little phrase.
"You made it!" a cheery voice said emerging from a side door. It was Laguna, dressed in the attire that we had known and seen within the `Dream World.' He tossed his dark brown hair from his face. "Squall, how have you been?"
"I've been fine Laguna," Squall replied. Laguna sighed heavily.
"You can call me father you know Squall," he said. Squall rolled his eyes and smiled at his father. The resemblance between them was quite amazing. They looked so alike, yet they were completely different people. Laguna peered over at me as I stood behind Squall. "Quistis Trepe! How are ya!" he cried cheerfully as he walked up to me and hugged me tightly. I saw Squall's eyes widen and I watched as he folded his arms and almost scowled at his father's behaviour. Laguna noticed this too and stopped. He grinned. "I think I got my boy a little wound up with that one! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" I asked.
"That you were seeing Squall," he relied matter-of-factly. "I thought he was with that Rinoa girl, what happened?"
"Er...I..." I began to say. This was an awkward question to ask, seeing as I had something to do with their split in the first place. But thankfully Squall interjected his father.
"We grew apart father," he said, making sure he said `father' so as to satisfy Laguna.
"Oh...that's too bad..." Laguna sighed. He then came up to my ear and whispered something to me. "Thank god for that." He then went over to the others, in turn asking how they were until he came to Rinoa. Rinoa glared at him icily until Laguna just backed away from her.
"What's the mission?" I asked Laguna.
"I'm so glad you asked," Laguna said, taking a seat and indicating to us all to take one too. I sat on a lovely chair in between Seifer and Squall. Under normal circumstances this would've been a terrible error to make, as you'd probably get caught in the crossfire of their never-ending feud, but thankfully these weren't normal circumstances. Seifer just shot the occasional cheerful glance and me while Squall smiled whenever he saw me look at him.
"So..." Zell started.
"Oh yeah," Laguna tapped his head lightly. "Here's the mission. There's some kind of ancient force that's escaped from its captive prison within the Sorceress Memorial. We need you all to reseal it before it destroys all of Esthar. It's summoned many dark forces to aid it and much of Esthar is damaged beyond repair. That's why we need your help to prevent any more damage from being done. So many people have lost their lives, and not just soldiers, but civilians too. Will you help us out?"
"Of course," Squall replied simply. He looked at me, then at Seifer. "This shouldn't be a problem for us, right?" The whole team nodded in whole-hearted agreement.
"Well then!" Laguna smiled. "You'd better get down to it! Dismissed!" we all left the room and insured we were all armed. I looked at my Save the Queen, then at Selphie's Crescent Wish. I don't know why I chose to look at her shinobu but I did.
"We'll divide into 2 teams. Team One will stay in Esthar and try to slay off any monsters that head their way, and Team Two will head out to the Sorceress Memorial and try to stop this ancient force Laguna speaks of," Squall said. "Seifer you'll be in charge of Team Two, I'll take charge of Team One. Seifer, you'll be accompanied by Selphie, Irvine, Raijin and Quistis. Everyone else is with me. Good luck." Seifer shook Squall's hand.
"We'll need all the luck we can get!" Seifer laughed. "All right Team Two let's move on out!" Selphie, Irvine and Raijin went after Seifer. I stayed where I was.
"Quistis..." Squall said. He kissed my cheek then hugged me. "Take care, OK?"
"I will," I replied. Once I'd left the safety of Squall's embrace I chased after Seifer and the others. Squall then led his team out to battle.
* * * * * *
"Sorceress Memorial..." Seifer looked up at the huge building once then took a double take. "We have a lotta work to do if we're gonna seal up this ancient force." We all walked into the deserted memorial and looked at the main freezing unit. It was surrounded by a strange blue aura. This must've been the ancient force. I walked up to the computer panel and touched it. I then looked at the freezing unit again. I walked through the doors and up to the entryway of the freezing unit.
"Are you the one they call Quistis Trepe?" a voice questioned me. I looked around. No one was there.
"I'm Quistis Trepe. Why, what do you want from me?" I asked nervously.
"We have the sacrifice. This is the only way to dispel our power. If you put yourself into this machine," the voice said. I was going to have to be frozen for all eternity to save the lives of millions of people? I clenched my fists and hesitated. I wished that Squall were here with me, so that he could tell me what I should do. I looked back at the others, still trying to figure out what to do while destruction and death reigned in the world outside. I had to do it. I love Squall with all my heart I just had to do this to save his life!
"I'll do it! I'll sacrifice my life to save the man I love! To save the people I care about! To save everyone!" I cried out. The aura around the freezing unit glowed more violently and encircled itself around me. It then ripped my body through the unit's glass case and into the centre of it. My heart pounded in my head. I was going to die now. Seifer saw me in the chamber and gasped.
"Quistis!" he cried. "Quistis get outta there!" Selphie and Irvine soon noticed me there and began begging me to get out.
"The fighting's over!" Raijin said as he ran in. "Team One are heading this way!"
"They'd better hurry!" Seifer said pointing to me. "Or we'll lose Quistis!" I could feel my whole body go numb. The freezing process was setting in. I felt small prickles of ice crawl up my legs, which sent shivers up my spine. After 10 minutes Squall and the others arrived.
"Quistis!" Squall cried out desperately. "Get out! Get out!" my whole body was now paralysed. I couldn't move anything. My skin became pale white as the late stages of the freezing process began to set in. I was so cold. I wanted to get out, but I knew I'd be killing everyone if I did. Squall ran through to the room where I had been taken by the ancient force. He pounded his fists on the glass desperately. "Quistis! Please! Please get outta there!" he cried. I saw tears stream down his face. My eyes grew heavy, and I knew this was the end of it all. The moment I closed my eyes I'd never open them again. Squall began to cry in desperation, praying that he'd get through to me somehow, but it was all in vain. "Quistis! Don't leave me! I need you! I love you! Don't go! Don't go!" he cried, his tears now falling steadily and painfully down his face. My eyes slowly began to close. All I could hear was Squall's voice calling out to me in sorrow. All I could feel was the coldness of
the ice all over my body. But I still felt a warm presence within my soul. The presence of Squall's heart.
All of a sudden the world came crashing down around me. The cold of the ice had taken my body, but my soul still breathed. I heard a voice say my name.
"Quistis...now is not the time for you to die..." it said. I could see Squall, beaten and heartbroken, sobbing beside the freezing unit. "There's someone who needs you...you have a purpose now my child." I felt myself start to sob.
"Squall!" I screamed. My eyes snapped open as the glass chamber around me shattered. My body slowly regained feeling as I came crashing out of the mass of shattered glass and straight into Squall's arms. My body had finally regained the ability to move and I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me closer to him.
"I thought I'd lost you," Squall sobbed. "I was so scared...I was terrified that I'd never see you again!" he began to dry his eyes and he gave me a smile.
"You promised me you'd never leave me Squall," I said slowly. "Now I make the same promise to you." He lifted my face up to his and kissed me. My body suddenly filled up with warmth and life. These feelings of warmth, of safety and of love were all new to me, but I knew they'd be with me until the end of eternity.
* * * * *
The sea crashed gently against the sand as a beautiful blond woman stood in the water, her dress floating delicately on the wind. The sea breeze played with her long soft hair as she just stood and looked out onto the vast expanse of ocean that lay before her. A small boy ran to her side.
"Mama!" he cried, cheerily yet out of breath. The woman turned to him.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice so gentle, so kind.
"Mama, papa wants you," he said. "I think it's urgent." The boy had a sneaky look on his face. The woman couldn't help but notice this.
"I don't believe you for a second," she replied playfully. Suddenly a handsome young man came up from behind her and pulled her into his arms. The boy watched his parents embrace each other as they had done for as long as he could remember.
"Come on," the man said, kissing the woman gently. "We'd better get in. there's lots of work to be done." He and the woman turned, the woman held out her hand for the boy to take hold of. He clasped onto it tightly and walked up the beach onto the land and back to his home.
Ooh...a very interesting little ending note there. The piece above has relevance to the story but it is not told by Quistis. I'm sure you've guessed who the people all are, so there's always room for a sequel! Thank you to everyone who reviews this, as this is my first ever fic. I've got so many positive remarks from this story and I am eternally thankful for them. If I get any requests I'll write a sequel which will explain that end bit a little more. Anyways thank you! ^-^