By Raine Ishida and Robertdogwood@aol.com
Chapter Seven
Laguna was furious, because he had wanted to ride out to the front in his new Estharian metallic silver Super Ghost 840-z, but was not allowed by the military. What further maddened him was the order came via a corporal, who also insisted Laguna outfit himself in full battle tog including a helmet.
"Do you know who I am, son?" Laguna attempted to say calmly.
"Yes, sir. You're the President of Esthar."
"Then I am ordering you to allow me to drive out of here in my civilian clothes," Laguna continued, slightly agitated.
"I can't do that, sir," the corporal riposted, "I have my orders."
"Your orders!" Laguna exclaimed, finally losing his aplomb. "I am your Commander in Chief! Whose orders outrank me?" Laguna inquired sarcastically.
"My Sergeant," was the laconic answer.
"Your Sergeant?" Laguna incredulously echoed. "How could your Sergeant possibly outrank me?"
"Will you put me in the stockade? My Sergeant will," the corporal explained.
Laguna finally realized the corporal had him dead to rights. Having once been an enlisted man himself, he could never place anybody in the stockade. He began to resignedly remove his rather stylish slacks and shirt and pull on the battle gear.
But when Laguna came to the helmut, he balked again. "I'm not wearing this stupid helmet. No one will be able to recognize me."
"That's the point, sir," the corporal replied calmly. "We wouldn't want any enemy snipers blowing your head off, do we sir?" the corporal explained, wearing a slight smirk.
Laguna, in a pique of temper, jammed his helmet down hard on his head. "Ow!" he cried out.
What made the long ride out to the front even worse was that a squad of Estharian soldiers were assigned to ride with him in the small transport truck as bodyguards. Rank body odors abounded in the enclosed space. At one point, Laguna felt as though he was to going to pass out before they finally arrived.
Leaping out of the truck first, waving his arms to quickly dissipate the strong odors that were still lingering on him, he took his helmet off and looked around.
Quickly spotting General Lee, Laguna strode over to him.
"How goes it?" Laguna greeted.
Turning his attention to the President, General Lee pulled the binoculars down from his eyes and replied, "Mister President."
"To answer your question," the General continued, "it goes well enough. The enemy has a force of approximately two thousand."
"We're outnumbered!" Laguna riposted, shocked.
"Doesn't matter," General Lee contradicted. "I've been watching them closely. They're rabble...undisciplined rabble. I don't know what they're thinking of...taking us on with that group."
"There's a Sorceress out there," Laguna explained quietly.
"A - a Sorceress," General Lee stammered, all of the blood leaving his face.
"What are we going to do, Mr. President?" the General inquired, suddenly subordinate to Laguna.
"Don't worry," Laguna assured General Lee. "We have people out there."
As he spoke, Laguna stared past the fence and Seifer's camp and out on to the plains as if he could search out his son with his naked eye and learn what he was planning to do.
Squall had moved his small force down dangerously close to Seifer's camp. They were presently crouched behind some mounds of sand that had been blown by the high winds and trapped in rocks.
Squall had already assigned the parties; he chose to keep Mina and Zell with him. Squall had already instructed Selphie to be some distance away from them to the right and Irvine, the same distance, to the left. He decided he wanted their flanks covered at all times. Squall still had no idea what stance Seifer was going to assume in terms of whose camp he was really in.
Squall had just one problem that needed to be taken care of, before they could launch their attack on the Sorceress. There was an army of two thousand men that needed to be taken care of or at least preoccupied. Squall realized they would need a small army of Guardian Forces to take on two thousand men, although Diablos kept begging Squall to give him a chance. Bahamut finally had to tell him to step down.
Finally Squall decided he needed to attempt something desperate, before the Sorceress became involved with battling the Estharian forces. Squall conferred with the rest of the small group, because his idea could quite possibly end in disaster and it was only fair to allow them to know what he was considering.
After conferring with everyone, Squall decided it was worth the risk, but he certainly hoped someone was keeping a watch out for them on the Esthar side. Leaping up, Squall waved Lionheart around his head three times and set off a solitary shot and then quickly returned to the ground. His answer wasn't long in coming.
As Laguna continued to gaze far across the Sollet Plains, he suddenly detected a glint of light and heard a faraway shot and knew in his heart, beyond all reason, that it was Squall signaling for assistance.
"Binoculars," Laguna directed. After General Lee placed them in his right hand, Laguna lifted them to his eyes and searched the area, where he was certain he had observed some movement.
Discerning Squall and the rest of the Garden force laying just outside of Seifer's camp, Laguna ordered, Attack at once, General."
The General quickly relayed the order through his subordinates and the Estharian infantry troops pushed asunder the fence and poured into Seifer's camp completely catching the motley rag-tag army by surprise.
Squall, observing the Estharian troops charging into Seifer's camp, leaped up and shouted, "Let's move!"
Waving his right arm forward, Squall led the rest of the battle party past the startled sentries and right into the area behind the Sorceress, who was glancing around confused, apparently searching for Seifer, who was nowhere to be found.
Just as he was beginning to speak to Sorceress Kayano, Squall was greatly startled to observe Raine and Rinoa running along the far perimeter of the camp toward the back, where they were ducking and dodging the troops of both armies, who were engaged in mortal combat.
Great Hyne! he thought, What the hell are they doing here?
Sensing someone behind her, Sorceress Kayano whirled quickly, as Zell and Mina cast shells on themselves. Forming her lips in a sneer at the three young warriors standing in front of her, as though she smelled something foul on her upper lip, the Sorceress questioned, "So what do we have here? Some rotted seeds from a run down Garden?"
As Mina cast shell over Squall, Zell focused an aura over the Commander. Squall stood radiating a golden glow emanating from everywhere on his body, as he waited for Irvine and Selphie to prepare themselves.
Selphie struck at the Sorceress with her nunchaku, hoping to place her asleep, as she had Edea the second time they fought her.
"Ow!" Kayano cried out, now noticing for the first time that Selphie was standing to her left.
The Sorceress immediately concentrated Maelstrom on the usually lively teenager, bringing her quickly to her knees in pain and agony. If she hadn't been protected by a magical shell, the spell could have brought her to near death where Kayano could have easily completed the horror of an early grave for Selphie.
Completely panicking, Irvine began to shoot wildly at the Sorceress while calling out, "Selphie! Are you alright?" his concern evident in his shrill tone.
"Calm down, Irvine!" Mina shouted. "You're going to hit Selphie!"
Finally understanding the logic of this in his almost total panic, Irvine ceased his firing.
Sorceress Kayano returned her attention to the three young mercenaries standing in front of her and began to chant in a low tone. Understanding intuitively what was occurring, Mina warned, "Squall, she's drawing Apocalypse."
Apocalypse! ...the second most deadly magic known in the universe. As Zell fingered a Mega Elixir in his pocket to make certain he was prepared, Squall, still glowing golden, readied his savage attack.
Quistis' face was extremely flushed and it was not all caused by the hot Estharian sun; no, not by a long shot. The blonde instructor was extremely frustrated...no, that wasn't it. She was damn mad, she decided.
They had been riding around the Great Plains of Esthar for the past hour searching for the battle field. Man, if they ever get wind of this back at Garden, we'll never live it down, thought Quistis.
"That's Tear's Point over there," Xu pointed out.
"I know it's Tear's Point!" the blonde woman snapped.
"Well, if you know so much, why are we lost?" riposted Xu.
"I didn't say I knew where we were going. I just said I knew where we are," Quistis explained.
Dr. Odine had been in the back seat of the rental for the entire trip singing something off key that he insisted was an old Estharian folksong.
"Will you please stop that horrible caterwauling?!" the blonde SeeD demanded.
Xu cautioned, "Don't take your ill temper out on Dr. Odine. It's not his fault you're lost."
But actually it was. When they first exited the city on one of the many highways leading to the outlaying areas, Dr. Odine had insisted they take exit 59. This turned out to be extremely mistaken. It should have been exit 95.
So now we're driving around 'Tear's Point,' instead of having already reached the front line! thought the fuming Quistis.
Slightly turning her head towards Dr. Odine in the back seat, Quistis muttered an apology while attempting to shift from second to third gear in an attempt to increase their speed. Because she was distracted by her irritation and her attention being divided by the apology to the good doctor, the blonde SeeD did not have the clutch pushed all the way in and a horrible grinding noise sound emanated from the rental car.
"Hey, Quistis!" Xu protested. "Why don't you grind me a pound? What are you trying to do - burn the clutch out and leave us stranded out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Well - you're the one who was too cheap to rent an automatic," Quistis retorted, "I haven't driven a stick shift in a long time."
Xu replied in a dignified tone, "Quistis, that sort of attitude is going to prevent you from ever moving up above instructor. It is always our responsibility to cut costs and save the Garden money, whenever we can."
"Oh, hogwash," the blonde instructor muttered.
Xu flushed angrily, although before she could respond, Dr. Odine spoke from the back seat. "Ladiez, pleaze calm down."
Both Quistis and Xu exclaimed in unison, "You shut up, Dr. Odine!"
As Dr. Odine settled back in his seat in the back of the auto, the blonde-haired driver noticed tiny puffs of white smoke and heard, faintly in the distance, the sounds of armed conflict off to her left. She aimed the car in that direction and sped across the Great Plains of Esthar as everyone fell silent.
The sounds of the metal of swords and other various weapons clashing together was almost unbearable for Raine.
"We need to find Laurie!" she cried desperately back to Rinoa, whose hand she held tightly on to.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't mind finding Squall!" Rinoa cried in return.
Raine had spotted Irvine and Selphie up at the front of the battle a few minutes earlier, but for their safety, she'd chosen not to say anything. Raine felt a yank on her hand.
"Raine! Look, it's Laurie!"
Raine's eyes followed Rinoa's pointed finger to a girl who very much looked like Laurie. She was hidden, and appeared to not know much of what was going on.
"We have to get to her!" Raine cried.
Rinoa tugged Raine. "This way!"
Unknown to Raine, but Rinoa had begun to glow. She quickly cast protect over the two of them.
"In case we get hit while we run," she explained to Raine.
Reaching Laurie's location was much harder than Raine thought, but from the way Rinoa ran to her, she was positive they'd make it to her in time.
"Laurie!" Raine cried out.
Laurie heard her name and looked around frantically. Rinoa clapped her hand over Raine's mouth.
"Don't let anyone hear you calling to her!" she hissed frantically.
So, Raine waved to Laurie as they ran further. Reaching Laurie after a few more minutes passed, Raine released Rinoa's hand and embraced her friend for a very long time.
"I was so worried!" she cried, her eyes welling with tears.
Laurie sniffled and pushed Raine away. "There's something important I have to tell you both!" she insisted.
Pulling Raine and Rinoa closer, Laurie peered around nervously. Glancing at the battlefield, her eyes fell on Squall as he attacked a woman with a large hood that hid her face.
"It's about that woman," Laurie started, pointing to the hooded figure.
Rinoa's eyes widened. "Squall's there!" she cried.
Laurie shook her. "Yeah, I know. That's why we have to get to him!"
"Why?" Raine asked, squeezing Laurie's hand.
"Because that woman is a Sorceress!"
"What?" Rinoa asked, immensely confused. Clasping a hand over the rings on the chain around her neck, she wasn't prepared for what Laurie said next.
"That Sorceress is Ellone."
Raine paled. "What? Squall doesn't know that?!"
"No," Laurie replied, shaking her head sadly. "He can't see her face, and he has no idea he's attacking his own sister. That's why this is a problem."
"What are we going to do?" Rinoa asked, her eyes full of anguish and concern.
"We need someone to constantly scan Elle, to make sure they don't kill her," Laurie explained.
"I don't get it.....why?" Raine asked.
Laurie smiled. "We need to have her down at about 10 Health Points - Wait, why explain this to you when I can explain it all later."
Raine frowned. "I still don't get it."
"We need to get to Squall, right now. That's the only thing that I'm worried about. We can do the rest later!" Rinoa insisted. Grabbing Laurie's hand, she quickly cast Protect over her. "Let's go."
This run was much more difficult. Between dodging magic attacks and physical attacks, they still had a long field to scale.
"What do you intend to do when you get to him?!" Raine cried over the clashing sounds of the weapons.
Laurie nodded to herself. "We need to tell him the Sorceress is Ellone and go easy on her."
"That's your plan?!" Raine cried out.
Laurie shot her a sharp look. "That's not even the tip of the iceberg of my plan, Raine. Now be quiet, we need to concentrate."
Raine, feeling rather insulted for having been yelled at, shut her mouth and followed closely behind.
Laurie had grabbed a few daggers from the hands of some defeated soldiers, and given one to Raine. "We need to be able to defend somehow. Rinoa, you can use your magic, right?" she'd asked. Rinoa nodded confidently.
A few meters from Squall's view, Laurie told Rinoa to yell at him. "He'll recognize your voice, Rin. Raine and I haven't really spoken with him."
"Alright..." Rinoa replied.
Drawing in a breath to yell as loud as she could, she yelled for Squall. He turned in her direction, confusion written about his face.
"SQUALL!" Rinoa repeated, refraining from allowing her presence to become TOO well known, she nodded to him. He nodded in return, and she knew he saw her.
"Squall, listen to me, you can't kill that woman!"
"She's a sorceress!" he called back.
"She's Ellone!!!" Rinoa cried.
He froze, frowning. "What?"
"You heard me, Squall! That woman, the Sorceress, is Ellone! You can't kill her! Listen, we're going to come closer, so keep the attacks as low as possible, and try status ailments on her! Please, don't argue, just do it!"
Squall nodded, unsure of how to take this new information, but quickly instructed the other SeeDs around him to do what Rinoa had just told him, keeping the information about Ellone to himself.
Rinoa turned to Laurie who nodded. "Well done, now we have to get closer. Rinoa, you have plenty of Scan magic, right?"
Rinoa nodded in reply, "I always do."
"Excellent. We have to get closer."
"Okay...."
Taking the girls' hands, Laurie ducked blows from many other soldiers and they reached their destination. Taking refuge behind Zell and Mina, who were prepared to cast more Sleep and Blind spells, Rinoa cast Scan on the Sorceress. Reading the results, she cried out, "Squall!"
The Sorceress looked around. "More of you? Useless, annoying little flies! I'll exterminate you all!" she shrieked.
"Rinoa, what is it?!" Squall demanded as he lifted his Lionheart to deal another defensive blow.
"She's strong! She has well over one hundred thousand health left! Keep attacking!"
Zell turned his head, as did Mina. "What are you doing, Rin?"
"Laurie has an idea," she explained quickly.
Mina smiled. "Can we help in any way?"
"Yeah, attack her until Rinoa gives the next instructions," Laurie replied.
Attacks both physical and magical were dealt within seconds. Raine stood cautiously as Rinoa scanned the Sorceress once again.
"Fifty thousand!" she cried to Squall, who nodded, preparing for another attack.
"Cast Aura on me, Zell!" he commanded.
Zell grinned. "Right away, sir!" he joked, casting the familiar, yellow-glowing spell on his Commander.
"Go easy, Squall!" Rinoa cried in alarm.
"Relax, Rin!" he called. "I can handle it!"
To his despair, as everyone else's as well, the Sorceress grinned as she raised her hand in the air. "Curaga!" she called. A green glow surrounded her, and Rinoa scanned her again.
"Squall! Go for it! She's at 85 thousand!"
Squall readied his gunblade for his devastating blow, Renzokuken. The Sorceress was doubled over, glaring at the SeeDs from what they saw of her face under the hood.
"Rin, what are we at?" Irvine called.
"Fifteen thousand!" she replied.
Irvine nodded and readied his Exeter. "Dark Shot should take care of her!"
Shooting her numerous times, watching Rinoa's face as she scanned the woman again and again, he was told when to stop. The Sorceress was now blinded, poisoned, silenced and slow.
"Ellone!" Rinoa cried. "We know you're in there! Don't let the Sorceress win! We're here!"
The Sorceress who was controlling Ellone writhed in pain, falling to her knees. "You...Kurse...you....all of you..."
She fell to the ground with a thud, her hood flying off.
Zell's eyes flew wide. "Sis?!"
Squall rushed forward and scooped Ellone into his arms. "Sis, wake up..."
Casting Cure on her, her eyes fluttered open. "Squall..." she whispered, tears welling in her chocolate-colored eyes.
He smiled faintly. "Sis, are you okay?"
She smiled lightly in return and nodded to the best of her ability. "I tried...I tried to fight it...but she was so strong..."
"Save your breath, Elle. You can explain it to us after you rest some more, okay?" Selphie said, taking Ellone's hand in hers.
"Selphie...Squall, who else is here?" Ellone asked.
Selphie glanced around at the people surrounding her. "Zell, Irvine, Squall, Quisty...we're all here, Elle."
"Take me somewhere safe..." Ellone whispered before passing out in Squall's arms.
"You mean to tell me that she is still at risk of defeating us?" Headmaster Cid questioned alarmingly when Squall told him what Ellone had informed him.
"Yes, she is...but she doubts the Sorceress will win next time. Either way...Laurie has an idea of what we can do to stop that from happening."
"This Laurie from the past is very resourceful, don't you find?" Cid asked, glancing into a compact mirror he held in the palm of his hand before adding, "Is there any lipstick on my teeth?"
Squall held back his laughter as he saluted the headmaster. "I'll report back if the idea proves fruitful."
"So, what exactly are we doing?" Raine asked as the group of SeeDs sat around Ellone in the Garden's infirmary.
Laurie pondered for a moment. "If Ellone has the strength, I'm thinking she should send her Sorceress powers into Rinoa."
"What?" Rinoa asked, her attention caught by the mention of her name.
"It makes perfect sense, Rin," Zell replied. "When Matron got rid of Utlimecia, her powers were sent into you. Same with Adel."
Rinoa frowned. "I'm so dangerous, though..."
Ellone patted Rinoa's knee. "It's not a problem, Rinoa. I too have an idea. If I can send the powers into you, I can seal it deep within you, never allowing it to escape. It's a good plan, I feel it will be successful enough, don't you?"
Rinoa hesitated. "What if it doesn't work?"
"Am I hearing Ms. Go-for-it without thought saying what if?" Irvine questioned.
Rinoa blushed slightly. "It is a good plan," she agreed, "but what if it doesn't work?"
Ellone squeezed the raven-haired beauty's hand. "It will work, Rinoa. Trust me."
It was hard for Ellone to summon her powers, as she was still weak, but she managed to summon enough. It drained almost all of her energy, to pass her power to Rinoa.
Rinoa took the power willingly, unsure of what to do. "Elle...? What do I do?"
"Wait a moment...I need to gather strength to seal it away."
Rinoa waited, not liking the feel of the dark power stirring within her petite frame.
"Please hurry," she whispered, closing her eyes.
Ellone held out her hands, concentrating deeply as she held her hand over Rinoa's head. She was sealing the dark power, once and for all.
When she'd finished sealing the power, both women fell to the floor. The others, who had been instructed to stay back to avoid getting any power, rushed forward. Squall wasn't sure which young woman he should attend to, his sister or his girlfriend. Rinoa assured him she was fine and let Selphie help her up as she insisted Squall take his sister.
"She needs rest," Rinoa demanded.
Squall helped Ellone stand up, and led her back to the infirmary where she could get some rest. "It'll be okay, Sis. We're all here to take care of you," he murmured soothingly before squeezing her hand as she fell asleep, a gentle smile resting on her lips.
"Goodnight, Sis."
Squall sat at his desk in his large office befitting his rank as Commander with papers strewn messily over his desk, while Rinoa stood in the center of the room.
Squall asked, "Why don't you sit down and relax? And why are you limping? Were you injured in Esthar?"
"Yeah, I'm injured," Rinoa responded irritably. "But it wasn't in Esthar. It was in the bathroom here."
"Rinoa," the dark-haired man inquired patiently, realizing she had just been through a tremendously draining emotional and physical ordeal. "What are you talking about?"
The ebony-haired young woman proceeded to recount to him the entire nightmare of being glued to the toilet. The further Rinoa went into the details of the her experience, the more amused the Commander became until finally he couldn't control himself and a guffaw escaped his usually brooding lips.
"Oh, you think this is funny!" the Deling City beauty accused. "I'll show you how funny it is."
Squall quickly stood up and crossed to Rinoa to comfort her and also repair his faux pas. Meanwhile Rinoa had removed her blue skirt and pulled down her black shorts and blue panties to display her red inflamed appearing bottom with the outline of the toilet on it to his astonished eyes.
"There!" the ebony-haired woman emphasized. "Do you still think it's funny?!"
"Rinoa!" the blue-eyed man protested. "We're in my office!" And then he burst into further laughter angering Rinoa even further.
"Oh, relax Squall," she retorted. "It's not Friday night. You don't have to do anything."
The office door opened and Quistis and Selphie stepped inside. "Squall, I-," the blonde instructor began to say and then stood nonplussed at the scene in front of her. Quickly raising her right hand to her mouth, Quistis covered her laughter, having just heard the story of what had occurred in the Garden in their absence.
Selphie rushed to Rinoa's side and offered a slight hug. The energetic young woman cooed, "Oh, you poor thing. We just heard, it looks really painful."
"It is," the ebony-haired woman agreed.
Observing that Zell had just approached the doorway, Squall realized this situation had already gotten well out of hand. Moving quickly to prevent Zell from entering the room, the dark-haired man pushed the excitable SeeD back into the hallway, while closing the door behind him.
"What's going on, Squall?" Zell demanded.
"Girl talk," Squall responded. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to know."
"Take her hand, and I'll start Time Compression," Ellone instructed late that afternoon. Kazuya stood to the side, a small smile lighting on his lips as he lifted his hand to wave goodbye to Raine. With her free hand, Raine waved back, then wiped her tears with her wrist.
She felt Laurie's gentle hand squeeze hers, and she looked at her, only to see her friend's eyes were also filled with tears.
"It's time to go home, Raine," she whispered. Raine squeezed Laurie's hand back and shut her eyes for a brief moment. Opening them, she stared into the eyes of everyone she'd known earlier as characters in a video game. Zell, Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Selphie, even Seifer...and now she was being sent back into the past by Ellone.
This was too unreal.
A strange glow surrounded both Laurie and Raine and they both felt funny as they slowly grew transparent. The others lifted their hands in farewell as their new friends disappeared.
Time Compression was just as scary as Raine and Laurie remembered it. Swirling masses of darkness, pools of memories, terrifying feeling. What made matters worse was for the second time, Laurie and Raine were separated.
Raine was terrified as she swirled through the blackness of what she knew and figured to be 'time' itself.
"Laurie!" she cried out every so often. It wasn't long before a strange sensation covered her entire body and she felt herself falling.
"Oof!" she cried as she landed with a thud on an oh-so-familiar floor...Glancing around the tiny floor she sat on, she realized she couldn't see anything. A closet? she asked herself, before reaching forward and pushing the door open. Inside, was a familiar room, a familiar punching bag, a familiar T-board against the wall...and Zell jumping on the bed.
"Zell!" Raine cried out, drawing her hands to her face.
Zell stopped bouncing and mimicked her movements. "Raine?!"
"What are you doing here?!" They cried in unison.
Zell frowned. "This is my room, Raine..."
"So...then what am I doing here?" Raine questioned.
"That's a good question. What ARE you doing here? Didn't Elle send you home? Where's Laurie? Is she in there too?"
Zell jumped off of his bed and crossed his room to peer inside the closet.
"We got separated during Time Compression.....again. It always happens, it happened the first time we were here."
"Something I won't forget for a long time..." Zell replied, laughing to himself. "Either way we need to find out if Laurie's still here, or if something went wrong or whatever...come on, Raine. We have to find Mina."
Squall was shocked to see Raine being led by Mina to the bridge. "Commander, there's something wrong. We need to find Ellone. Where is she?"
The silent SeeD shrugged. "I don't know, she'll be around here somewhere," he replied, raising a questioning eyebrow at Raine, who blushed.
"Time Compression didn't work..." she explained.
He nodded. "I suggest you check the library. Mina, ask around. She'll had to have been there sometime today."
"How long was I gone for?" Raine asked as she, Mina and Zell, travelled to the first floor of the Garden in the elevator.
"You were gone for a week. It's been a week, Raine," came Mina's tired response.
"A week of floating through nothing and ending up in Zell's room."
"Again?" Mina asked, smiling.
Zell nodded. "I was bouncing on my bed this time too, just like last time...it's all too weird..."
Lucky for them, Kazuya was waiting for the elevator. When the doors opened, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Either my eyes are playing tricks on me and I'm dreaming, or you're a cute SeeD student who resembles my girlfriend perfectly," he announced.
Raine blinked. "Hey Kazuya, I'm back..."
He swept her into his arms. "Why?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Mina and I figure Time Compression went wrong...we're going to find Elle right now."
"You mean you want to go home?"
"I miss my family, Kazuya..." she replied quietly.
Mina placed a reassuring hand on her back. "It's alright, Raine. We'll get you home."
Kazuya took Raine's cold hand in his and walked with her silently to the library.
"Raine, Kazuya, you look for her in the back, okay? I'll ask around here," Mina instructed.
The teenagers did as they were told, and to no avail. Raine spotted Rinoa, who greeted her with a large hug before asking what happened. Explaining the situation, Rinoa suggested they check the infirmary.
"By the way, Rin," Raine added. "How's that end of yours feeling? Better?"
Rinoa's cheeks reddened as she looked at her shoes, which suddenly fell interesting. "It feels better now...thanks..."
Kazuya frowned. "What's goin' on?"
"Long story," Raine and Rinoa both said, smiling in unison as they spoke.
"Let's just go to the infirmary, okay? And Raine, I think we should bring Zell. You know Mina will want to check the cafeteria next, and if they go, Mina will be stuck with Zell there forever. Hotdogs are on sale today."
"Why isn't he already there?" Rinoa questioned, tucking her hands behind her back.
"I fell through his closet, so he was a bit sidetracked this morning," Raine explained.
Rinoa nodded in understanding. "When you find Elle, find me so we can say goodbye again. Okay?"
Raine agreed and took Kazuya's hand as they walked off to explain the situation and suggestions to Mina and Zell.
They found Ellone in the quad with Selphie. "What's the deal, Elle?" Raine questioned.
Ellone smiled secretly to herself as she watched Selphie's jaw drop. "What's going on?" she cried out, rushing over to hug the familiar friend.
"Elle didn't send me home..." Raine whispered, and Ellone nodded in agreement.
"I knew you didn't want to return, Raine. Why do something against your wishes?" she replied.
Raine's expression was hurt as she felt Kazuya squeeze her hand. "Did you really not want to go home?" he asked.
"I can't leave you guys..."
"We started out as video game characters to you, now look what's happened!" Selphie replied happily.
Raine couldn't help but laugh. How could she have ever been repulsed by this adorable person? "Selphie, I'm sorry," Raine said, as she hugged her again.
Selphie frowned in confusion, but Raine shook her head. "Don't ask; it's complicated."
"So...Elle, why didn't you send her home?" Kazuya asked.
"We established this already," was the answer.
"Still, tell me!" he demanded.
Ellone rose from the platform she sat on and walked over to the group of people.
"I knew she didn't...I could feel it. She didn't want to return home; Kazuya, she was focused on this place as I sent her through Time Compression."
"Is Laurie safe?" Raine asked.
Ellone nodded. "To the best of my knowledge, she made it home alright. That's the only problem. She's not going to know where you are, Raine. It might not have been a good idea to keep you here."
"But...you can't just keep her and then send her away again? Stop playing with my emotions!" Kazuya cried out extravagantly, causing the group to laugh at him.
"Kazuya, I'm sorry...as much as she wants to stay here...she can't. It's not...it's playing with fate, actually."
"All those books in the library..." Rinoa concluded.
"What?" Raine asked.
Rinoa pulled a book from behind her back. Opening the book to the back part of the jacket, she showed Raine what appeared to be a picture.
"That's me..." Raine whispered, running the tip of her finger over the picture. It depicted her to be approximately in her mid-twenties, and the biography stated "...has written over thirty books?" Raine questioned.
It's you, Raine...you have to go home, you have to write these books. If you stay here, you'll not only tamper with time...but these books will disappear."
Raine sighed. "I don't want to go home, you guys...does anyone understand that?" she whispered.
Kazuya tightened his arms around her. "I understand."
Ellone nodded. "I understand you don't want to...but you understand that you must."
"Yes...unfortunately, I do..."
Her expression was so pained, so sad, that Ellone took pity on the young woman. "I'll give you two hours to spend with everyone."
Laurie searched her closet, her room, her house, her neighborhood, frantically.
"Raine?!" she'd scream. Where was she? Did she make it home?
Wiping frustrated tears from her cheeks, Laurie retired to her room for the night. Maybe she did make it through, Laurie thought as she pulled her covers to her chin. She probably landed somewhere else...her own home, perhaps... Laurie's mind tormented her as she attempted sleep, which proved to be impossible.
Maybe she ended up in Beijing or Sydney, Australia, her mind sneered. Laurie clapped her hands over her ears. "Shut up!" she cried. "Raine's...she's fine! She's back in Canada! She'll call me tomorrow and tell me everything's alright!"
I'll bet she's somewhere in Alaska.....though she may be from Canada, she's not used to THAT kind of cold... Laurie's mind refused to stop taunting her, and she got up, wiping tears from her eyes with frustrated fists.
"Raine..." she whispered into the darkness of the night, staring out of the window, up at the sky that was sprinkled with stars. "Where are you?"
The loud music from the Karaoke machine was almost totally overwhelming; not to mention, the equally loud off key singing by Raijin to the latest hit of the The Deling City Marauders. As Seifer sat across the small cocktail table from Fujin, who was perusing the Estar Today newspaper want ads, the blond warrior wondered idly how she could concentrate in such a din.
"See any jobs for an out of work Sorceress' Knight?" asked the large young man.
Fuijin glanced up, shook her head and offered a slight smile before returning to her task. Even Fujin with her loud voice wouldn't attempt to speak over tthe level of sound in the Estharian bar.
Actually calling the run down building a bar was giving it too much credit. It was more like a hole in the wall than an actual establishment. But Raijin loved the Karaoke machine and Seifer loved that no one important would ever show up there by accident.
As Fujin continued to search the classifieds for employment opportunities, Seifer sat back totally relaxed. Something will turn up, the former Garden student thought. It always does.
Remembering the last time they were in this situation a few months earlier, Seifer recalled the day he discovered Ellone, dazed and alone, wandering the streets of Esthar in her bare feet claiming complete amnesia. The ever enterprising young man took her to their apartment, fed her and then put her to bed for the night.
Seifer realized that Ellone could represent a surefire way out of the trouble for him that he was currently in with most of the nations in the world following his role in the Ultimecia fiasco. Even Galbadia was searching diligently for the blond young man, so he could stand most of the gaff at the upcoming war crime proceedings against them. But he could hardly just waltz into the Estharian Presidential Palace with Ellone on his arm, could he?
Imagine his surprise the next day, when Seifer awoke to find, instead of Ellone, there was a full fledged Sorceress in his apartment who said she was searching for a knight.
Although there apparently had been a happy resolution to the situation for everyone involved, Seifer was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't seen any signs of forgiveness coming from anywhere for him and his close friends, or even any recognition that anyone knew the part he had played in Ellone's rescue.
An extremely frightened appearing, young man dressed in a Esthar Union uniform timidly approached the table and stammered in a quavering voice, "A - Are you Seifer Almasy?"
When Seifer nodded in the affirmative, the young man thrust a registered letter into his hands and said, "Please sign here." The blond man signed the receipt and the messenger fled the bar, happy to be unharmed.
Ripping the envelope open, Seifer read the contents and then threw his head back in a hearty laugh. Fujin glanced up in confusion and Raijin approached the table. "What is it, ya know?"
Looking at a Garden Bank draft for fifty thousand gil and signed by Cid Kramer, Seifer murmured, "Well, whatta you know...the Headmaster came through."
"Hey, bartender!" the blond man called out, waving the check in his hand. "Set 'em up and keep 'em coming. We're gonna party tonight!"
Kazuya didn't say anything for a long time. He sat and held Raine silently, stroking her fingers with his thumb.
"Raine...it's been so much fun having you here...if you could stay-."
"Kazuya," she interrupted. "Don't. Don't start, I don't ...want to feel guilty. I have...to go back, or else...I mean, who knows what Laurie and I have already done to wreck history."
"It'd be pretty funny if your screwing up Time Compression caused something to go wrong and our world merged with yours."
"Yeah..." Raine whispered. "Funny..."
Kazuya slapped himself on the forehead. "I'm sorry, Raine...I don't mean to be so down and stuff; it's a bad habit...I guess it's how I get rid of nerves.
"It's okay, Kazuya..."
"Have you seen Rinoa yet?"
"Yeah...we had a really nice talk, I'll miss her a lot..."
Kazuya smiled lightly and stroked Raine's cheek. "I'll miss you, you know."
"And I'll miss you more than that," she shot back teasingly.
"Oh shush."
"Sorry," she replied, leaning her head against his shoulder.
Kazuya jumped as his cell phone rang. It was Mina. "Sure...yeah, okay...right...bye."
"It's time to go, Raine," he concluded.
Ellone held her new friend tightly. "I'll miss you, Raine. Even though you were fun to tease with the whole Time Compression mix up."
Releasing Ellone, Raine smiled in return. "You'll send me to Laurie's house, right?"
"Of course. Make sure it's not Zell's closet. If it is, there's something wrong with me and you'll be stuck here."
"Send her to Zell's closet!" Kazuya shouted out. Raine laughed softly and received hugs from everyone.
"I'm going to miss you...all of you," she whispered, blowing a kiss to Kazuya and waving to the others as the familiar glow surrounded her.
"Goodbye....."
Laurie sat up immediately as soon as she heard the thump. "Raine?!" she asked, out of habit. A groan of protest, and then a muffled "Yeah, it's me."
Laurie cried out excitedly and jumped on Raine. "I was so worried!" she cried.
Raine sat still for a moment, realizing that Laurie was in tears. "I was...worried too..." Raine whispered, stroking her sobbing friends' hair.
"It'll be alright..."
"Did you see them all?"
"It's a funny story, actually...I ended falling through Zell's closet again."
"Was he in his boxers?" Laurie joked.
Raine laughed and shook her head. "No, but he was jumping on his bed."
"As usual," Laurie replied, leaning back against her pillow. "Did Kazuya give you a goodbye kiss?"
Raine blushed in the darkness, but Laurie could still tell. "Did he?" she demanded.
"Yeah..."
"And?" Laurie pushed, shaking her friend's hand violently.
"And what?" Raine asked, blinking several times as Laurie burst into laughter.
Leaning forward to hug her friend again, she smiled. "I missed you, Raine. I was scared when we got separated during Time Compression...last time that happened..."
"You were kidnapped, and...a Soceress took over Ellone."
"Hard to believe, eh?" Laurie whispered.
Raine cocked her head. "What?"
"We just spent a long time with the characters of Final Fantasy VIII. Is that possible?"
"We can prove it."
"Not really..."
"You just HAD to take Irvine's clothes back to him, didn't you?" Raine joked.
Laurie laughed and nodded. "You know what he's like!"
"Yeah...Can we talk about this in the morning?" Raine suggested. "I'm tired...and I'll bet you are too. You look like you haven't slept in days."
Laurie nodded. "We haven't. Here, your bed is set up and stuff...we'll talk in the morning. If this was all a dream, I'll kill myself."
"You mean coming home? Coming home was definitely a dream. Come on, Laur. You know we'll be back there when we wake up tomorrow."
Laurie sigh, leaning into her pillow and pulling the blankets to her chin. "One can hope..."