XVIII
(It doesn't matter. In the end, you're alone.)
--Squall Leonhart


Laguna held up a sphere of light, it took Squall a while to realize it was a triggered Flare stone with its energy left nebulous instead of focused and targeted. Looking around the dark ramp, he shook his head.

"Not a very nice place," he said, trying very hard to avoid Squall's eye. "But I guess you people know your way around?"

"It may have changed," Squall said, not sparing Laguna a glance. "Then, this ramp led to a clock. It would be best to assume that the rest of the castle has changed as well, and proceed accordingly."

Seifer snickered.

Squall started down the ramp, having to restain himself from drawing the gunblade. (A difference,) Squall saw as he stopped at a door. (The last time the ramp was broken a further back--this area was inaccessible.)

They had gotten there eventually, of course. It had taken a fairly risky jump onto a swinging pendulum, but it had worked. That was where they had met Tiamat, Ultimecia's corrupted pet GF.

"I think it's obvious what happened here," Kiros said.

"Really?" Seifer asked scornfully. "What would that be?"

"This building was obviously part of the Centra civilizaton. Since then it was buried, and Ultimecia will, sometime in the future, excavate it, and reconstruct whetever she sees necessary."

Squall nodded. It seemed right. Stepping into the balcony where Tiamat would be waiting sometime in the distant future, he drew his gunblade as he saw the foreboding, silver-haired figure. After a moment he put it away, realizing that it was only a hologram.

There had been a change in his wardrobe, as well: instead of his olf cape he now wore something like a black tailored longcoat with armored shoulders, open in the front. Thin black-leather straps crossed his bare chest, holding a long sword sheath to his back. His hair had been tied back, but strands still hung down beside his face.

Then he looked up.

His eyes twinkled with merriment, as if he thought that their presence was a joke. "Visitors?" he asked. "How charming." They flicked over the company, taking in everyone visible. "Hello, Leonhart."

"Dyne," Squall said coldly. Dyne smiled.

"Shall we play a game?"

"No games," Squall said.

"Oh, you are no fun. I had hoped so fervently that we could be friends, share our enjoyment. I think you should give me another chance. Let's play... cat and mouse."

(That doesn't sound good,) Squall thought.

Dyne smiled, displaying unnaturally perfect teeth behind his taut lips. "Meow," he said.

The hologram disappeared.

"Squall!" Zell yelled. "Somthing big is happening topside!"

Squall darted out of the room and back up the ramp, looking out over the desert sands. Plumes of sand rose in the distance, and, squinting, Squall could see several distant, four-limbed creatures rushing towards them, all either a sickly yellow or an angry red. As one neared, its flailing, boneless arms told him what it was.

"Down the ramp!" he ordered.

"What is it?" Rinoa asked, worried.

"Propagators," Squall answered, waiting for everyone to get moving. "Dyne wants to play games with us."

Rinoa's mouth formed an "o," and she turned and ran down the spraling ramp. Squall, leading up the rear, followed--

--and was stopped by the deep, rough laugh behind him.

Turning slowly, Squall came face-to-faces with the massive form of Cerberus. The GF was balanced on the ramp with an ease that should have seemed out-of-place, but somehow didn't.

"FOOL," Cerberus barked. "A CAT-AND-MOUSE. MORTALS!"

(Working with GFs is certainly never a dull experience,) Squall thought. (...especially when they feel like taking initiative.)

"MORTAL GAMES. I'LL SEE YOUR CAT-AND-MOUSE!" roared another of the heads.

"RUN, MOUSE," growled the third head. "WE'LL PLAY DOG WITH DYNE'S CAT!"

The GF turned and thundered up the ramp, each footfall shaking the entire structure. (Even Cerberus can't take care of that,) he thought. (There are too many. He could kill them one by one, but there are more than two of each color. They'd revive each other. And there are enough to keep him distracted while others come after us.
(We'll trust him for now,) Squall decided, turning to the ramp again. (We don't have a choice. When the propagators get past him--which is inevitable, even if he isimmortal, we should be as far away from them as we can be.)

As they got to the bottom of the ramp, Squall noted that the waterway outside was the same way he had seen it last--except that the bridge was in much better condition and there was a wall of dirt directly above. Whoever had cleared out the castle enough to use it hadn't bothered to expose it entirely--where Squall remembered open-air areas, there were rough-hewn earthy tunnels instead.

"Umm..." Zell said, looking down at the waterway. "This doesn't look good..."

Squall looked over the edge of the bridge to see that there was some kind of huge disturbance in the water, as if a giant fish or something was milling about. Black flashes shone through white foam-caps.

"Just get across the bridge," Squall said.

"No," Edea said. "I remember these things. Ultimecia had one, once. No one move."

Everyone froze. It was the first thing Edea had ever said in that commanding tone.

"What is it?" Squall asked.

"Black Wyrm," Edea replied.

"We're hiding from a worm?" Seifer asked, lip beginning to curl.

"A wyrm," Kiros said. "I thought those things were myths. So if we can't move, what do we do?"

Edea began to walk out onto the bridge, motioning Rinoa to come with her. As they reached the center, Edea whispered something to Rinoa. Rinoa bit her lip, nodded, and closed her eyes.

A sleek, black shape began to rise from the water, rearing up to a tremendous height and lunging at the past and present sorceresses. A blue glow encased them, and the serpent actually bounced off. Rinoa's hands were raised, and minute motions of her fingers caused the barrier to flicer and dance--

The serpent watched quietly, eyes intent on the shifting pattern of magic. Its mough gaped wide, fangs glinting in the magelight--its eyes reflected power, muscles bunching and shifting beneath its skin in time with the sorcery.

Then it blinked, exhaled one long gasp of steam, and slid back beneath the water without a sound.

As the rest of the group made their way to the bridge, Rinoa looked a little sheepish. She didn't like reminding people that she was a sorceress. It made everyone, including her, rather uncomfortable.

As they crossed the bridge and moved down into the organ room, Squall called a halt. (This group is just a bit too big to be moving through the castle,) he thought. "We should split up."

"All right," Irvine said amiably. "Who gets to choose the teams?"

"I will," Squall said, remembering the time at Galbadia Garden when Irvine had split up the group to his tastes. It had been... awkward, to say the least.

(Who do I send where? I'll need to keep Edea with Rinoa, in case we need their combined expertise and power. I'll keep Seifer as far away from Zell as possible... who will I designate as leader of each party? We'll need a fair distribution of powers, and Siefer is one of the best... but I don't trust anyone around him. Laguna and Kiros shouldn't be split up, either. And they're sure as hell not coming with me. Each party should have someone who was in here before, too.
(I hate my job.)

"I'll take Irvine, Zell and Selphie. Nida, you take Seifer, Edea and Rinoa. Laguna, Kiros, you're with Quistis."

"All right," Irvine said.

"Nida," --he forced himself to say the next part-- "...Laguna and I will be the leaders of the groups," he said.

Seifer smirked thinly, but said nothing.

"Me?" asked Nida. Squall nodded.

(Yes, you. I don't trust Seifer, and neither Matron nor Rinoa have any experience with this sort of thing. I hope you can handle it... Edea knows Seifer, and she may be of some help.)

"All right, we'll split up as soon as we can to make sure we aren't being followed," Squall said when there were no objections. Turning on his heel, he began to walk away.

Stepping into the courtyard, he saw that the fountain was working. The water was lit from below with some kind of para-magic, Squall guessed. A hall lead off to the side, Squall seemed to remember a grated door or something there. Laguna, peering down it, motioned his team in. The light of his flare stone faded away, and Squall pulled out two of his own, wondering how the trick worked.

(Just trigger and don't aim, I guess,) he thought--and it seemed to work. Tossing one to Nida, he turned around again and moved towards the grand hall.

The door swung shut behind the two parties, and Squall looked at Nida.

"We'll check out the hatch," Nida said. "I'm sure Rinoa will be able to find her way around this place."

Squall nodded. "We'll check the main hall." Then, after a pause, he added "Good luck."

"A good luck wish? From Squall?" Nida asked. "Maybe I stand out a bit more than I thought!"

Squall hit his forehead, groaned inwardly, and led the way off into the gargoyle hall.

Nida pulled the hatch open, stepping onto the spiraling staircase. "This would be the wine cellar," Rinoa said. "Last time there was some monster here, and a hidden Aura draw point, but that was about all."

Nida shrugged and walked down anyway. Looking at the massive barrels, he said "Whoever lived here must have been a pretty heavy drinker."

"Dyne lives here," Rinoa said.

"The man loves his wine," Nida responded.

Taking a step back, Nida eyed the room a bit more carefully. The floor was a uniform stone-grey, the stairs were little more then slabs of stone fixed in a rising spiral around a pillar. Racks of wine bottles and kegs and barrels of other drinks lined the walls.

"The place looks... different, somehow," Rinoa said.

"Hey, several generations pass and the place is bound to change a little," Nida said. Looking at one of the two three-meter wide barrels pushed up against the wall, he said "Is it just me, or does that thing have a door?"

Seifer walked up to it, giving it a good thump with the gunblade hilt. From the sound it made, it was obviously hollow. Giving it a harder thump, three of the huge planks fell away, one almost hitting Nida. Inside was a row of lights, and another hatch in the floor.

"...I know it didn't do that before," Rinoa said, stepping in. "Think Dyne will be through there?"

"Maybe," Nida said. "Let's go and see."

-

"This place always gave me the creeps," Irvine said as he stepped into the hall full of gargoyles, the hatch in the center of the floor behind them closing as Nida's team moved through. "I keep thinking they're going to come alive or something."

"Don't say stuff like that, it might come true!" Selphie said, giggling. "Didn't your grandmother ever tell you that?"

"Where'd you get that?" Irvine asked, knowing full well that Selphie had never known her grandmother.

"Sir Laguna said it to Kiros once," Selphie said. Squall moved on down the hall, wondering if it was really such a good idea to bring Selphie along with Irvine. (I should have sent her with Laguna, he thought. She'd be so happy... just happy? ...she'd be jumping up and down for days.) He paused, glancing up the walls. Dozens of carved eyes stared down at him. (...so maybe it's a good thing I didn't,) he finished to himself.

"I have seen gargoyles come alive," Irvine said.

"Right," Zell said. "Sure you have."

"I have!" Irvine snapped. "Squall, you were there. Tell this disbeliever that I saw it!"

"Zell," Squall started out. Then, seeing Irvine's mildly smug smile, he continued "Irvine's delusional. Just ignore him."

Irvine's face dropped into a surprised look. "What? Hey! You remember, at the Deling Parade? Squall? Squall!"

Easily managing to keep a straight face, Squall moved off down the passageway. Stepping into the main hall, the first thing he noticed was the floor. What had been (would be?) a red-tiled floor was now a ballroom-smooth sheet of some black, shiny stone with silver inlay. The silver was in the shape of a top view of a stylized serpent, with its head in front of the bottom of the stairs.

(...what is that supposed to represent?) Squall stared at it, joined by the rest of his team. Understanding one's enemy was a useful thing, and any hint could lead to greater understanding--but the serpent wasn't helping Squall figure anything out.

"The man loves his snakes," Zell said.

"Which way?" Selphie asked. "Ooh, I know! Let's go ride the chandelier!"

"No!" Zell said. "You are not getting me on that thing."

Squall remembered the chandelier at the top of the stairs. It couldn't support much weight at all, and whenever anyone got on it would drop to the lower level. Zell had ridden it a couple times, and each time the jolt when it hit had been enough to send him flying. He had never managed to land well.

"It might be a good idea to check out that room," Squall said.

"All right!" Selphie said, and bolted up the stairs. Irvine followed, and Zell looked at Squall, scratching his head. "You can't be serious, man," he said.

"Why not?" Squall asked, turning to walk up the stairs.

"That thing is evil."

(There's no such thing as evil... especially not from a simple machine.) Squall decided not to reply. Zell could come or not, Squall didn't really care.

Stepping through the door, Squall saw that Selphie had already taken her ride, and was waving to someone coming out of the courtyard: Laguna.

It gave him an idea.

Looking over he saw that the lever near the wall was still there, "Laguna," he called.

"Huh? Wha--oh, I see you," Laguna said, with a halfhearted wave. Quistis waved more enthusiastically from behind him. "How's the weather up there?"

"...whatever. Could you press that lever over there?"

"Sure thing," Laguna said, moving over to the lever. The last time Squall had used it it had made it so that the chandelier wouldn't drop, making it a convenient way to walk across to the balcony. This time, however, it seemed to do something different: A very large door in the floor just underneath the chandelier opened.

"What's that?" Zell asked, coming up behind Squall.

"Get on," Squall said.

Zell sighed. "Fine."

Irvine followed, Squall bringing up the rear. Making the way across the chandelier towards the balcony, Zell stopped cold when the chandelier began its charactarisitc shaking.

"Oh, man," Zell moaned. "Laguna! Push that thing down a bit more!"

"Uggh..." Laguna answered. "It's down as far as it will go."

"Keep walking, Zell," Irvine said. "If it falls, it falls."

"If it falls, I fall," Zell said. Closing his eyes, he took another step.

The chandelier dropped like a stone through the huge open hatch in the floor. Selphie watched it go.

"I guess I'll just stay with you," she said to Laguna, smiling.

-

"Whoa!"

Nida jumped as he heard the noise back uphill in the way he had come. Drawing his katana, he moved over to the back of the group.

"Stay back," he warned, wondering what he was going to have to face.

"Ah-aa-aaaaa!" came a voice from the darkness, and then Zell appeared, rolling head-over-heels down the slope. Behind his Irvine jogged up, and behind him was a mildly exasperated Squall.

"You really do have to make a scene all the time, don't you, Zell?" asked Seifer, omitting the "chicken-wuss" in Edea's presence.

"Shut up," Zell said as he made it to his feet and dusted himself off.

Rinoa jammed a hand to her mouth and turned away, shaking.

"It's not funny!" Zell snapped.

"What happened to 'splitting up'?" Nida asked.

"The chandelier had other plans," Irvine said, smiling at Nida's confused look.

"Where are we?" Squall asked.

"A side passage leading off from the wine cellar," Nida said, sheathing the katana.

"Seems good enough," Squall said. "Shall we search here?"

"Sure," Nida said. "There's an intersection down that way a bit, we'll take the left fork, you take the right one."

"Fair enough," Squall acknowledged.

The teams started down the hall, but Rinoa caught Squall's arm and pulled him back.

"I... want to ask you something, I guess," she said.

"What?"

Rinoa looked at her boot, boring a hole in the ground with it. "I was wondering if, maybe, I could sort of come with you?"

(Why?) "That would leave the other team with no one who's been here before."

"I know, but... couldn't you send Zell with them or something?"

"Zell? With Siefer? Never." Squall shook his head. "I don't want anyone dying on me."

Rinoa giggled. "But, maybe you and Nida could just switch? So..."

"Rinoa." Squall watched her, trying to make out the problem. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno, it's just that..." Rinoa paused. "Squall, I have a bit of a confession."

"What?"

"Well, remember a year ago, when we were fighting Adel, and I knew that Laguna had said I would have to receive Adel's powers, and he said it would be hard on me, but I agreed anyway?"

Squall nodded.

"Well, when Adel died, I.. wasn't thinking too clearly." She colored. "And I tried to receive her powers, but I just couldn't. Part of me didn't want to. And I saw him come to receive her powers, and I thought that he wouldn't be able to because if I couldn't, and I was already a sorceress, then how could he, 'cause he wasn't even a girl? But he saw me too, and... and I'm scared." She looked up, trying to impresssupon Squall what she meant. "He know who I am. And--and what."

Squall made a sort of half-shrug. "Seifer and Nida are perfectly capable--"

"I know, at least, part of me knows, but... but I want to be with you. It's not just 'cause I'm scared of him," she continued, hurriedly, "I keep thinking something bad's gonna happen to you..."

On an impulse, Rinoa threw her arms around Squalls neck. Awkwardly, he patted her on the back. After a moment she let go, stepping back. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Squall said with half a mind. (Damn,) he thought. (Now what am I going to do? Rinoa obviously doesn't want to be away from me, but I need to keep the power balance equal. I can't take the risk that all our good people will get wiped out, but I can't send anyone else with Seifer...)

His hand leaped to his temple, where a pounding headache had begun to develop. "You and Nida could switch places," she suggested again.

That would leave me with Seifer, Squall thought. Unequal distribution of powers.

"Here: if Edea agrees, I'll switch you and Irvine," Squall said. (Irvine doesn't really have that much against Seifer, and Edea should keep them both in line. If Edea doesn't want to keep Rinoa with her.)

"Thank you," Rinoa said, smiling with genuine relief. "I'll go ask her now!"

Rinoa went running back down the hall, and Squall followed at a walk. (I really hope this won't be too much trouble,) he thought. Arriving at the intersection, he saw that Rinoa was beaming. "All right," she said. "I'm with you!"

Irvine thumped him on the back and whispered something that sounded like "Go get 'em, tiger!" into his ear. Squall pulled away long enough to give Irvine an aggravated glare before Rinoa pulled him down the right passage and Zell followed.

About four minutes later, Zell paused. "Whoa," he said, jumping back. "Look at this!"

Squall moved up to where Zell was, looking at the swirling magenta beam that was in the center of the huge cavern he saw. "Looks like the source of the draw point," he said. I'm guessing Dyne can't be too far off."

"Look over there," Zell said, pointing. "It's an elevator.

"Two elevators," Squall said. "Looks like a simple machine: both would have to be loaded simultaniouslty to go down. Otherwise one will get stuck and serve as a break for the other's rope."

Zell looked at the elevators, then looked at Squall. "Is this it, then? Are we going up against Dyne?"

(Let's... hope so.) "Maybe."

There was a noise behind them: the thundering of massive feet. Squall drew his gunblade, backing into the cavern. Rinoa readied her Valkyrie projectile, while Zell curled both hands into fists, showing the light glinting off of the metal barbs.

A flash of yellow scales, a thundering, trumpeting roar, and Squall was on his back, staring up at the massive pillar of magic energy. An Ultima spell blasting from both hands, he fended off the yellow Propagator. Just his luck that he had to run into one of the most violent breeds--the Yellow was the one that had literally run him down on the Ragnarok.

The thing cringed at the Ultima spell, but it was tougher than its space-bred counterparts and it tried to claw Squall with a massive, flailing arm. A bolt of raw energy flew into it from behind and it whirled on Zell who, not willing to take the time to use a proper spell, had just thrown energy at the thing like Seifer had done to Squall during the training bout.

The Valkyrie flew into the beast's shoulder, severing about half of the muscle there. The Propagator's right arm twitched and fell to the its side, useless, as the cable attatching the projectile to Rinoa's arm brace retracted. The Propagator brought its other arm down on Zell, who fell to the ground and rolled to avoid a frenzied slash. A dark, black cloud enveloped the thing's eyes as Squall cast Blind on it, and it roared in rage. Another hit from the Valkyrie severed all but a few tendons in its neck and the monster fell, dead, into the pillar of energy. Within a seconds, only a few wispy white flakes of ash remained.

"Welcome to Centra," Zell yelled at the pillar. "Booya!"

"The elevators," Squall said. "We need to get down to Dyne. We need to get this over as quickly as we can."

"Why?" Zell asked. Then, looking at the pillar, his jaw slacked.

"Oh, no..." Rinoa started.

The pillar itself was normal--still being sucked upwards. But the black tendrels creeping down it were definately not good.

"Two elevators, three people," Zell said. "How're we--oh."

Zell stepped into one of the elevators, closing the door behind him. Squall grimaced. (Why does everyone have to assume that about us?) he wondered. (...I would be perfectly happy to have an elevator to myself.)

"Come on, Squall," Rinoa said, pulling on his sleeve. The elevator was plenty large, which was good. But, as the doors slid closed, Squall saw that he was definately not going to get out of the car without some sort of conversation.

"So..." Rinoa said, folding her hands behind her back, quirking her head to one side. "Everything that's been going on the past few days. You must... really have hated Seifer, didn't you? All of you."

(It wasn't that simple,) Squall thought. "We had our reasons. He didn't make it easy forgive him."

"And what about now that he's back?"

(I don't know. Seifer has his own agenda. I'm too confused to figure it out. Now, everyone seems to be ignoring him, except for Zell. That's probably good--we don't have time for vendettas.) Squall shrugged.

"What was he like?" Rinoa asked, eliciting a confused glance from Squall. "I mean, before all this happened. Before I met him."

(Seifer has always been Seifer.) "About the same way he is now."

"He always seemed... confindent. Like he knew what was going on, and he knew how to handle it."

(You're mistaking arrogance for confidence, Rinoa.)

"He gave you that, didn't he?" Rinoa asked, pointing to the scar on Squall's forehead. "You know, it's strange that you've never told me--but I guess I kinda knew." She lowered her hand. "When was it?"

Squall regarded her without surprise. "The morning of the SeeD exam."

Rinoa giggled. "No wonder you didn't want to dance that night. You must still have had a concussion, and you were just too stubborn to admit it." She smiled winningly. "That sounds like you, doesn't it?"

"...whatever."

"...whatever," Rinoa echoed, giggling. "But, you should try being nicer for a bit. I mean, you're sort of everyone's leader--" she paused when Squall winced. "What is it? No, really? Come on... I won't tell anyone."

Squall shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Tell me anyway."

Squall stared at her for a moment--and glanced away. He shrugged. "I don't know. ...why I'm the leader. I don't know."

"That should be obvious," Rinoa said. "You're the best one."

'No, but..." Squall paused. "I never wanted to be a leader. I just didn't have a choice. And I always thought it was just until the Ultimecia thing passed. But then Cid disappears, and I'm stuck with Garden. And..." he grimaced, as if he was tasting the words and finding them rancid. "Never mind. It doesn't matter."

"And you're not goint to tell me anything else, is that it?" Rinoa sighed. "Someday," she said. "Some day I will get you to speak your mind, Squall Leonhart."

(I hope not.)

The elevator ground to a halt, and Squall moved for the door. Quickly, Rinoa stepped in front of him.

"Smile," she said.

"...what?"

"I'm not letting you off the elevator unless you smile. Like you did at the Garden Festival. That smile," Rinoa declared.

"We don't have time for this," Squall said.

"It doesn't take that long to smile. You're just being difficult."

(...I'm being difficult?) "Later," he said.

"You promise?"

(If it will get you out of the way.) "Yeah. Sure. I promise."

"Good." Rinoa stepped aside, letting Squall tug the doors open. "You're too serious, Squall," she said.

"I'll second that," Zell said from outside the elevator car.

"We do have a job to do."

"All right," Zell said. "But when we're done, you're playing a game of Triple Triad with me. Whether you like it or not."

(You sure you want that, Zell? I have a whole deck of rare cards Quistis gave me... but if you want to humiliate yourself, I've got no problem with that.) "Whatever," Squall said, thinking about the eighteen GF cards that Quistis had wrangled up from Hyne knew where for his birthday. It was annoying--everyone was trying to get him to "have more fun." (I have as much fun as I need, thank you.)

"Good! It's a deal," Zell said.

(I wonder if there's a tactful way of saying I'd rather go three rounds hand-to-hand with a Wendigo.)

There was a noise behind them, and Squall jumped. Turning, he saw the elevators being pulled back up away from them. (One way trip,) he realized.

"Which way?" Rinoa asked, pointing to the two tunnels in the room. One led upwards, the other took a quick turn and apparently went down.

"I'm guessing that will be the exit," Squall said, pointing to the one leading up. "So we'll take the other one."

"All right."

Squall tightened his grip on his gunblade, and started off down the hall. He was about to pull out another Flare stone when he entered the tunnel, but the torches on the walls came on automatically as he passed them.

"Dyne is showing off," Zell observed. Squall nodded.

"The Crystal Pillar is almost full," Rinoa said, her eyes losing their focus. "I--I think that when it gets full, Dyne will be able to get... a lot of power?"

"Damn! We'd better hurry, then," Zell said. Squall nodded.

"We don't have time to double back and meet up with everyone, so we'll have to see how far we can make it on our own. Let's just hope this doesn't turn out to be another Ultimecia. ...Dyne hasn't had nearly as long to prepare as she did, so it should be easier." (I hope.)

The tunnel widened, then ended abruptly at a huge portal. The air cracked and sparked, a standing film of distortion--like nothing so much as a gigantic flat soap bubble, beyond which thin film there was another space, practically another world.

Squall glanced at Rinoa, who nodded, and Zell, who shrugged--and steeled himself. He waited until they came up beside him to step through. He was aware of his companions up to the moment he arrived on the other side--and halted in his tracks.

He was in a large antechamber with what appeared to be two large stalagmites forming pillars beside an iron door. Through the door, meditative sounds could be heard--and the power of real, true magic could be felt, thrumming under the senses like a deep note from a bell that wouldn't fade. The air quivered with power, faint breezelets dancing back and forth across his skinwith all imagineable temperatures--searing and freezing and cool and warm and perfect and hellish--and Squall realized for a moment how incredibly out of his league he was. But no... there was abundant power in Centra, but Dyne could not possibly control it all. That was what he needed the Crystal Pillar for--a focus for those powers.

Dyne's defeat here might end a war before it had a change to begin. End him, and they could go home safe.

But, turning, he could see that there was no portal behind him. There was the doorway to a set of stairs, stairs that presumably led upwards to the castle. But that wasn't the thing he noticed. He noticed that Rinoa and Zell weren't there.

That he was alone.