Quistis was the first to step through the door that seemed to appear out of nowhere on the side of the Lunatic Pandora. As she stepped across the short distance between the lip of the gondola and the entrance to the Lunatic Pandora, she unconsciously bit her lip at the sight of the ground passing by half a kilometer below her feet. But she made it safely through the entrance, then turned around to help Keri through after her. As she saw her reflection in the polished red tile of the walls, she noticed for the first time that her hair was escaping the clasp that secured it, and a few stray locks were falling about her shoulders.

This is incredible, Keri breathed as she reached the top of the stairs. Before them was the trio of elevators that led to the access conduits which had been built by the Esthar construction crews in order to access the Crystal Pillar. And behind that, surrounded by supports and access tunnels, was the Pillar itself, stretching literally for kilometers up towards the ceiling.

And I thought it looked foreboding on the outside, Quistis thought morosely.

Nida jogged off toward the elevator on the far right. Come on! he called.

As Quistis obligingly followed, she began to get her first hint as to what was bothering her. While she, the mission leader, had been letting herself be consumed with the apparent hopelessness of the situation, Nida had been the one to take action. And now, she seemed to be following him.

What are we looking for? Keri asked as they stepped into the elevator. She seemed completely fascinated with her surroundings outside the translucent walls as the elevator took them upwards, into the Pillar.

There's this room where all the fibers come together, Nida said. Vaider thought it was some sort of control room, where you can manipulate the actions of the Crystal Pillar.

What does it do?

Nida shrugged. We didn't quite figure that out.

The elevator slid to a halt, and the doors opened to reveal a large cavern that seemed to be carved out of ice. Nida set off, beckoning them into a man-made tunnel just off to their left.

Where are we going, Nida? Quistis asked.

I was thinking about these tunnels earlier today, Nida said, jogging along the tunnel as it led them out of the Crystal Pillar and back towards the wall of the Lunatic Pandora. When you guys came to this place, you figured that these things didn't take you anywhere, right?

We didn't find anything of use at the end, Quistis agreed. Neither did Vaider.

I know, Nida said. But that just didn't make sense. I mean, why waste your time making a perfectly good walkway if there's nothing on the other side worth getting to?

So what's your idea? Keri asked.

I remember seeing this crystal embedded in the wall, Nida said, as they reached the end of the tunnel, a small chamber within the side wall of the Lunatic Pandora. Pausing a moment to catch a breath, he indicated a square glass panel, behind which was a small cylinder of crystal, about ten centimeters in diameter and twice as tall. he pointed. I was thinking about what Vaider said about using those fibers in the Crystal Pillar to control it, and I got an idea.

Quistis frowned. Vaider never said anything about that.

Oh? Must have been me, then. Anyway — he began fumbling with the mechanical device he had brought along. After a bit of work, he managed to activate a turquoise-tinged beam of light which emanated from one end of the device, as a panel on the other end began scrolling with data. With a little shrug, he aimed the light at the crystal. After a moment, the light of the crystal obligingly adopted a bluish hue of its own, and to glow more brightly. Then, with a rapidity that caught all three of them by surprise, what had seemed to be a normal part of the wall split apart into two doors, which slid open to reveal a fairly small, rectangular elevator of a much simpler construction than those leading to the Crystal Pillar.

Quistis blinked. How did you know to do that? she asked.

Nida shrugged. I didn't. But it wasn't like I had that much to lose by being wrong.

He stepped into the elevator. Wondering what he meant, Quistis followed him, along with Keri. The doors to the elevator slid shut, and the car jarred to life. The ride was considerably rougher than that in the first elevator, and Quistis couldn't throw off a feeling of being trapped within the bare metal walls, in a car that might stop at any minute, trapping them with no hope of escape.

This is kind of scary, Keri said, echoing Quistis' feelings.

It should be fine, Quistis said. The Lunatic Pandora wasn't built that long ago. Though it was underwater for seventeen years, she thought ruefully.

As if sensing her fear, the car chose that moment to make a particularly hard jolt.

I've seen all the treasure hunter movies, Keri said ruefully. It was never like this.

Guys, we're getting close to the top of the Lunatic Pandora, Nida said.

Quistis frowned. How can you tell?

Nida pointed at a panel on the car's right wall, which Quistis had previously not noticed, and contained what looked to be an image of the Lunatic Pandora with a bright dot moving up it. The little dot is getting close to the top of the big rectangle. I figured that the dot was supposed to represent the elevator and the rectangle was for the Lunatic Pandora. So that would mean that the top of the rectangle —

I get it, Nida, Quistis said.

After a few more seconds, the car did indeed grind to a halt, and the doors rolled open to reveal yet another walkway. At the end of this one, however, was a square pit that looked to contain a number of access panels and monitors. A number of large windows ran along the edge of the Lunatic Pandora, granting a fair view of what was immediately outside.

That must be the control center, Quistis observed.

So let's go check it out. Nida set off along the walkway.

Nida, wait — Quistis ran after him, intending to warn him to be careful, but she was interrupted by the blaring of an alarm siren.

Intruders have been detected, a calm, mechanized voice declared. Security measures have been initiated.

Quistis caught a flash of light from the ceiling, and looked up to see a large, object descending towards them from the ceiling. Look out! she cried.

It was definitely artificial, with a golden sphere at its center, studded with sensors and host to a trio of armlike extensions attached to its bottom, giving it the look of some vengeful sea creature. A perpetually spinning horizontal metal ring encircled the sphere about its midpoint, not attached by any physical means. Overall, the machine looked about as large as a Black Widow, and easily strong enough to make Odin's Gate the least of their worries.

Oh, hell, Nida said, readying his bladestaff.

Get ready! Quistis called, bringing out her chain whip and pausing for the briefest of moments to be sure that her GF was equipped. Satisfied, she ran up to join Nida and Keri, facing off against the huge machine.

Initiating attack protocol, the machine intoned, and a blue-white beam of energy shot out from one of its arms, nearly knocking Keri off her feet. She staggered back, keeping her saber forward in a futile defensive stance.

Cover me! Quistis called to Nida. Seeing his nod, she fell back into a ready pose, half-closing her eyes as she focused within herself to access the power of the GF nested within her mind. During this meditation, she half-noticed the formation of a magical barrier between herself and the machine, and the motions of her two companions as they battled it played at the edge of her vision. Calling on her SeeD training, she ignored all this, focusing instead on the power of the other-worldly being within her, calling on its aid.

Diamond Dust....

The GF had responded; Quistis could feel the energy swirling around her. Her sub-awareness of her surroundings now exploded into a flood of sensation, even as her body phased into thin air. The next thing she knew, she was gazing out at the machine from behind a sheet of crystal-clear ice, a solid block that completely encased her. Nonetheless, with a simple motion of her head — that is, the head of the being through whose eyes she saw — the block shattered, shards flying outward in a slow-motion explosion. Then with a motion of an outstretched hand, the ice gathered around the GF's arm, forming a brilliant, swirling nexus of power, which the GF drew back and threw at the machine, which was hovering away powerless to react. The magically charged flood of ice surged forward, forming spears that pricked through the armored surface and crystallized its insides, halting its movement and making it so brittle it could be snapped by one small stone.

But then, the tenuous bond between Guardian and summoner snapped, and the GF Shiva was gone, and Quistis found herself back on solid ground. She staggered backwards, as the Esthar machine bobbed in the air, compensating for the GF's attack. However, its recovery was rapid, and Quistis had barely regained her combat stance when it rushed at her, threatening to bowl her over and perhaps even knock her off the walkway to a three-kilometer fall from which no Float spell could save her. She quickly ducked to the side, but the machine's metal arm caught her just above her left elbow, and a wave of pain shot through her body. She winced, losing her balance and falling to the deck, as the monstrous sentinel hovered above her, poised for the kill.



Concerting Nida's outburst, a pillar of lightning speared through the sentinel, causing it once more to bob downwards. nearly crushing her. As the machine turned its attention to the new threat, Quistis staggered to her feet, attempting to recover her chain whip. A stab of pain caused her to look at her arm, which was bleeding badly from behind a large, ragged cut in her uniform sleeve. She did not want to imagine what the actual wound was like. As Nida and Keri unleashed a volley of magic on the sentinel to head off its latest offensive, she quickly focused on her own wound, directing her energies to repairing the broken flesh. The familiar tingling of the Cura soon ran up the arm, and the bleeding came to a halt.

Nida and Keri seemed to be holding their own against the sentinel for a moment, so Quistis decided to summon Shiva again. She was also becoming concerned that they not run out of time, as every instant brought them closer to Odin's Gate. So once again, she settled into her ready pose, letting her focus slip and her consciousness float inwards, again calling for the GF's aid.

Being in this state, she was barely conscious of what went wrong. There was the bright flash of a magic spell cast against the sentinel, by whom she could not know, and a cry in Keri's voice. Being in a summoning state, she did not give true notice to what transpired, and was caught completely by surprise when a wave of electrical energy exploded from the sentinel, washing over her with murderous force. She did not feel the blast, so much as it seemed to explode in her consciousness, a mental cry of pain echoing through her psyche. Her GF had been the one to be harmed, projecting its defenses before Quistis' own, but the force of the blast had obliterated the GF's existence on this reality, and so Shiva would no longer be of use to her.

As Quistis was recovering from the shock of being forced from the summoning trance, she saw that both Nida and Keri had been thrown flat on their backs, and Keri seemed to be knocked out completely. Quistis immediately sought to revive her, but in the moment it took her to collect her thoughts sufficiently to cast a spell, the sentinel was upon her. One of its metal arms lashed out, tearing through her right sleeve and cutting from her wrist past the elbow. She could not resist crying out in pain, and reflexively dropped her whip. As she fumbled about for a Hi-Potion, a jet of flame erupted from the machine, throwing her back hard on her rear and badly burning her left side. Her first attempt to get up failed miserably as her head swam in waves of pain, while the sentinel drew back to ready its laser arm, now pointed directly at Quistis' head. The air around the laser began to ripple with heat, and Quistis closed her eyes in anticipation of her fate. There was the ear-splitting trill of an energy blast, and Quistis could see the flash of light even through her eyelids, and feel the rippling of the air around her as the waves of heat radiated outward about her body.

But there was no pain. Bewildered, Quistis simply lay there for a moment, not quite understanding why her death didn't hurt more. Then, she could detect another blast, and heard this time the sound of an impact somewhere above her. Experimentally, she opened her eyes and looked at the sentinel hovering above her. Almost instantly she was nearly blinded by a beam of hot white energy that reached over her head from somewhere behind and burned a dark, angry hole in the machine's side. She watched motionless as shot after shot poured into the sentinel, and the machine began to jerk and wobble uncontrollably, until finally one of the shots seemed to radiate from inside the machine and burst out through all the seams. Covered in smoke and racked with explosions, it collapsed to the ground, vanquished.

Quistis slowly crawled to her feet, still slightly dazed and wondering what force it was that had protected her from what, twenty seconds ago, was certain death. She could hear footsteps approaching behind and, straightening her glasses, compelled herself around to look.

Sorry for butting in. Irvine Kinneas casually hooked his shotgun on the inside of his trenchcoat, taking the opportunity to tip his cowboy hat. But it looked like you guys could use some help.

Quistis sprang to her feet, but was halted by a fresh wave of pain from her wounded arm.

Didn't think you could go off and save the world without me, did you? he asked. You know I just couldn't...

Their attention was distracted by a pulse of red light off to one side. They both turned to see that Nida had just used a Phoenix Down on Keri, who was now struggling to her feet, moaning. Hi, Irvine, Nida said, helping her up. So how about that control center thing?

It must have been hours they spent poking around the Esthar-built terminals, looking for some way to halt the Crystal Pillar's deadly progress. Most of the controls seemed to deal with rudimentary functions of the Lunatic Pandora's operation: lights, power and the like. The few stations devoted to the monitoring of the instruments Odine's scientists had placed around the Pillar, and told them nothing new. The Pillar was reacting to the energies of Odin's Gate and refracting them back outwards. The closer they got to the ancient Centra ruin, the more energy was picked up by the Pillar, the more agitated the monsters on the moon would become. Already, minor Lunar Cries were landing all over the world, and eventually, when the Pillar stood directly above the ruin, the energies flowing into the Pillar would be so immense as to enable it to call down a number of beasts beyond the capacity of human imagination.

But they knew of no way to stop it.

This is hopeless, Keri declared, slumping down beside one of the terminals.

You shouldn't give up, Keri, Quistis admonished.

There's nothing here. We can't find anything that could let us shut down the Crystal Pillar. I mean, it doesn't even look like it CAN be shut down.

I still think we should just turn it around and fly it away, Irvine said.
It wasn't hurting anyone when it was at the bottom of the ocean, right?

Did you find the navigational controls? Quistis asked shortly. Do you know how to fly this thing?

You know, if we just went back to Odine, he'd probably know —

The Pillar is being drawn by the energy of Odin's Gate like some kind of magnet, Nida started.

Irvine, if it were that easy —

— we're too close to break free now.

— don't you think they would have done it already? Quistis finished. Did you say something, Nida?

I guess not.

Hey, take it easy, Quisty, Irvine said, slightly irritated.

DON'T call me that, Irvine. We're not kids playing around on Matron's orphanage anymore. This is serious.

Irvine rolled his eyes. Sorry, Instructor. Oh, wait — you're not one of those anymore, either. Still as bossy as ever, though.

Guys — Nida began.

Keri snapped. Stop it!

Irvine pointed an accusing finger at her. YOU stay out of this.

Guys, aren't we —

What, mind my own business? Is that what you're telling me to do? Keri took a step towards the taller student. You have NO right to tell me what my business is, Irvine!

Hey, why can't you people just stay out of my life?

What, like you stayed out of mine!

Guys, aren't we forgetting —

Irvine, stop it! Quistis ordered.

ME? What the hell am I supposed to stop? How long are you people going to make me pay for this? How sorry do I have to get?

You don't act like you're sorry at all! Keri cried. You ruined my life, Irvine! Don't you get that?

Yeah, I get it! And I've been paying for it every single day since! Everyone in your whole damn Garden hates me, and does their best to make my life miserable! And if you tell me you haven't enjoyed every minute of it —



Cut it out! Quistis called.

SHUT UP! Irvine and Keri screamed in unison.

Then, the walkway exploded in red-orange heat, as a massive fireball detonated above their heads. The whine of the magical burst of energy drowned out even their screaming voices, and all three instinctively ducked for cover. When the spell dissolved, they looked around, a little confusedly, for the attacker.

THIS is how you guys save the world? Nida demanded, discarding the spent Flare stone as it dissolved into thin air. How did you guys ever get through Time Compression?

Silent, the three looked at each other. No one bothered to mention that Keri hadn't had anything to do with Time Compression.

We don't have time for this! Nida continued. If we give up here, the world gets destroyed, right? So are we all just that helpless, that we sit around until Squall Leonhart shows up and saves the day? I am not going to gst stuck with that reputation just when people are starting to notice I exist. He paused. Plus, I'd rather not see the world get destroyed.

Quistis, Irvine, and Keri looked at each other. For a moment, there was no sound save for the humming of the Crystal Pillar.

He's right, Quistis said. We're not going to solve this by turning on each other.

The other two nodded.

Irvine began. What can we do?

The four of them fell silent for a moment. Are we sure there's no way to shut it down? Keri asked.

Quistis shook her head. There's nothing to shut down. The Pillar is basically just a giant adjustable lens.

Could we point it somewhere else, then? Irvine asked.

I don't think it's that directed, Quistis said. The focus doesn't really matter; most of the adjustable quality is just so the Pillar doesn't.... She stopped cold. It actually seemed like some electrical explosion had taken place in her head. Suddenly, she had an idea. Before long, the others had caught on as well, and she could see their eyes visibly widen, like chicobos caught in someone's headlights.

Nida finished.