"What's going on in there?" Rinoa asked concerned.
"I think we should go in," Selphie said.
"It's been way too long, Squall. What if Seifer's really in there and she's hurt?" Rinoa said turning to her boyfriend.
"You're right. I don't hear anything anymore," Squall said. "Let's go in."
The group gathered and ran towards the red double doors. Squall pulled the doors open and held it open for the group as they rushed into the reception hall. They found Seifer who was holding Faye against the wall with one hand, and with the other he was ready to strike her.
"Stop!" Quistis shouted as the group ran towards Seifer and Faye.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite welcoming committee. I wouldn't come any closer because I have something here that you probably don't want dead," Seifer said.
"Let her go, Seifer," Squall demanded.
"My best friend, Squall," Seifer said bitterly. "Not a chance. What did I say to you, Rinoa, when I left Garden the night your boyfriend tossed me out of Garden? Tell me. A memorable night that was a while back. But I'm back. What did I say?!?"
Rinoa stared back in shock. "You said that the future was Squall's fault," she replied quietly. Rinoa remembered that night clearly. They had just decided to kick Seifer out of Balamb Garden even after his pleas. He grew extremely angry and cursed Squall and his friends over and over, promising he would be back.
"The future is Squall's fault. So this is the future right, or what I'm about to do is the future. And who's fault is that, Rinoa?" Seifer asked.
"Stop it!" Rinoa shouted back.
"That's enough, Seifer," Squall said angrily.
"It's your fault," Seifer repeated. He focused his attention back to Faye who still struggled in his grasp. In a last effort, she used all her strength to kick Seifer in the chest with both legs. It hit Seifer hard and he backfired, clutching his chest and gasping for air. Faye took advantage of the moment to throws a few punches and kicks at Seifer. Seifer fell to the ground in defeat.
"Get out of this palace," Faye commanded angrily. Seifer picked himself off the ground slowly, still clutching his chest and stomach.
"You haven't won this war yet," Seifer said through the pain that seared through his body. "The worst is yet to come."
With those last words, Seifer ran towards the back doors in the hall which opened as he approached and Galbadian soldiers entered the hall to attack Squall's group and escort Seifer out.
"Watch out!" Irvine shouted as the flood of soldiers entered the hall.
Selphie swung her weapon and prepared for attack. Irvine loaded his gun and began shooting at the on rush of soldiers. Squall loaded his gunblade quickly and took battle stance. Rinoa shut one eye, aiming at her target and letting the blade fly at one of the soldiers. Quistis knocked down several soldiers with her whip. Zell took down soldiers with his fists which were as strong as any weapon. Not being able to find her sword, Faye also had to use her martial arts skills against the soldiers.
"Squall, look out!" Rinoa shouted as a soldier was about to chop Squall in half from behind.
Quistis quickly turned and whipped the soldier hard. Squall turned around to see the soldier fall and gave Quistis a grateful look.
"Ow!" Selphie shouted as a soldier delivered a hard kick at her legs. She was still hurting from being shot earlier. Faye ran up to Selphie who was on her knees and finished off the soldier by slicing his stomach clean with a sword she stole from a soldier she had beaten.
"Are you okay?" Faye asked.
"Owies. Stupid leg," Selphie complained.
"You stay on the ground. I'll cover you," Faye said.
"Thanks," Selphie said rubbing her leg.
Faye turned her attention back to the battle. There were no more Galbadian soldiers entering the hall and more and more were being defeated. Squall finished the last soldier with a loud bang as he pulled the trigger of his gunblade. Everyone breathed heavily from the battle and looked around.
"How is everyone?" Squall asked.
"This girl is hurt," Faye said.
"Selphie, your leg still hurts?" Rinoa asked.
"Yeah. The damn goon kicked me pretty hard," she replied.
"You'll be okay. We have to get you to a doctor," Quistis said.
"I need to thank you guys for coming in and saving me. I'm sorry that I didn't let you follow me before," Faye said dropping the sword.
"Don't mention it," Irvine said tilting his hat.
Faye sighed. "What a mess. We'll never get things back in order."
"Sure you will. It takes time," Zell said.
"Is it over?" Rinoa asked hopefully.
"For now, I guess. But Seifer is not going to give up that easily," Squall replied.
"Well, can we go home now?" Rinoa asked almost whining.
Squall laughed at her childishness. "Yeah, we can go home."
"I'll take you to the main entrance," Faye offered.
************************************************************************
"Thanks for all your help," Faye said when the group reached the entrance.
"No, thank you for yours," Squall replied.
"Do you know if the people got to Winhill safely?" Faye asked.
"Yes, they did. There was some chaos, but they're all settled and sheltered," Squall assured her.
Faye smiled. "Good. I can finally relax a little."
"Hey, where are you gonna go?" Selphie asked.
"What do you mean?" Faye asked.
"I mean, there's practically no one in the palace anymore. They're all in Winhill. Why bother staying?" Selphie explained.
"I don't have anywhere else to go," Faye replied casting her eyes on the ground. "I can't get out of the palace anyway."
"Why not?" Zell asked becoming curious.
"Because of these," Faye said holding up her wrists. The long sleeves of the servant robe was covering them before. On both her wrists were large, sapphire bangles.
"I don't get it," Irvine said confused.
"They're Odine bangles," Rinoa said. "I recognize them from the one I tried to offer Edea before."
"Odine bangles? What are those?" Faye asked looking at the bangles more closely.
"They're used to suppress magic powers," Squall explained.
"No wonder I can't use magic and I feel weak all the time," Faye said. "I couldn't use my magic to save Zyla before. I could have healed him."
"Why would they put Odine bangles on you? " Zell asked.
"I don't know. I never had any special magic powers or anything," Faye said.
"Why would those prevent you from leaving the palace?" Quistis asked.
"When I try to leave the palace, I get especially weak. I didn't have them on before. I woke up one morning and they were on me. When I walked outside, I almost fainted from weakness," Faye explained.
"That's too bad," Selphie said. "There has to be a way to get them off though."
"I don't know how," Faye said trying to push one off her tiny wrist.
"Someone obviously doesn't want you to leave then," Quistis pointed out.
"Anyone ever tell you how to get these things off?" Faye asked.
"Nope," Zell said.
"This is why I'm stuck here," Faye said giving up on trying to get the bangle off her wrist.
"Can we break it or something?" Irvine suggested.
"I don't know. How do we do that?" Rinoa asked.
"Bang it real hard or something," Irvine offered.
"I'll break my wrist before the bangle breaks," Faye said.
"Good point," Irvine said trying to think of another idea.
"It doesn't matter if I could get them off or not because there's no where else to go so there's no point in trying to get these things off," Faye said giving up.
"You could come back to Garden with us," Selphie suggested excitedly.
"No, I couldn't do that," Faye said shaking her head.
"Why not?" Rinoa asked.
"Because..." Faye trailed off.
"You could stay there with us instead of staying here," Selphie said.
"It sounds great, but I have to work here. I don't have any money or anything. Plus, they wouldn't allow me to leave until I've worked off my debt," Faye said.
"Debt?" Quistis asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, debt. I freed Ariel's little sister from the palace. Ariel may look small, but she's eleven years old. Her sister was five when she came to the palace to work. I couldn't bear looking at the poor little girl working like a slave, so I offered to work her term. Ariel and her sister had to continue working off their parents' term in the palace when they died of illness. They wouldn't allow me to take Ariel's term also," Faye explained.
"Wow. That was incredibly nice of you," Rinoa said.
"How long have you worked here?" Selphie asked.
"About six months," Faye answered.
"And how much more time do you need to work?" Irvine asked next.
"Much more. A couple years. I don't know the exact number," Faye replied.
"Couple years?!? That sucks," Zell remarked.
"You guys should get going," Faye suggested not wanting to talk about herself anymore.
"Well, we're not leaving without you," Selphie said.
"You hardly know me. Go home. You don't need to take me," Faye said.
"What's your name?" Rinoa asked suddenly.
"It's Faye. Faye Hines," she replied.
"I'm Rinoa," Rinoa said in a friendly tone and holding her hand out. Faye shook it.
"Well, Faye. You've helped us a lot. You also saved nearly all the lives in the palace and managed to fight through a lot. I think that is payment enough for your debt," Irvine said. "I'm Irvine. It's very nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Faye said.
"I'm Selphie," Selphie introduced herself cheerfully. "And this is Zell, and that's Quistis and Squall."
"I've met Squall. It's nice to meet you all," Faye said.
"I think I know a way we can get these things off," Rinoa said with her arms crossed and her chin rested on her hand.
"How?" Faye asked.
"I hope you can just handle just a little cold," Rinoa said.
"Would you like to share your idea before you execute it?" Faye asked afraid of what Rinoa was thinking.
"I'm gonna freeze the bangles with some ice. Then you can smash the bangles to pieces because they're frozen. You're going to have to deal with a little cold skin for a bit," Rinoa explained.
"I guess that's where my high pain tolerance comes to play," Faye said.
"High pain tolerance is always good to have in case you ever have to smash bangles off your wrists," Zell joked.
"Think you could handle a little cold in exchange for freedom?" Rinoa asked.
"You bet," Faye said confidently. Rinoa moved to stand in front of Faye. Faye held out her wrists and closed her eyes.
"Ready?" Rinoa asked.
"Go for it," Faye answered squeezing her eyes tighter. Rinoa focused her attention on the bangles and slowly casted ice and directed the spell onto the bangles. Faye winced at the intense cold that wrapped her hands. Rinoa finished the spell and the ice engulfed Faye's wrists.
"You sure this won't break my hands off?" Faye said as she opened her eyes.
"I sure hope not," Rinoa said a little nervously. "Now smash them to bits."
Faye shut her eyes once more and banged her wrists against the marble floor. Ice shattered across the floor and so did the frozen Odine bangles. The sapphire pieces mingled with the pieces of ice.
"It worked!" Rinoa shouted in joy.
Faye looked at her wrists which were red from the cold, but were free from the bangles.
"Freedom at last," Faye said quietly as tears of joy filled her eyes. "I've never been so happy in my life."
The joy didn't last. Faye rubbed her cold wrists for a second more and nausea began to wash over her body. It made her sick to her stomach. The group noticed she was losing her balance.
"Are you okay?" Selphie said putting a hand on Faye's back.
Faye held her stomach with one hand and her forehead with the other. Her surroundings began to swirl together and blur. Her eyes could not focus anymore and the room began to move and spin.
"I..." Faye began but she could not finish her sentence as a new flood of dizziness washed over her. Selphie tried to hold Faye up. Rinoa rushed next to the other side of the sick girl to help support her.
"Yo, what's the matter?" Zell asked waving his hand in front of Faye's face.
"Stop that," Squall said to Zell. "It's going to make her more sick."
All Faye could see was a kaleidoscope of colors and motions in front of her. Things seemed to get darker and darker as she got more and more dizzy. She finally gave up against the waves of sickness and darkness. She fell forward as unconsciousness took over.
"Whoa!" Selphie exclaimed as Faye's limp body fell over and she and Rinoa struggled to prevent her from crashing into the floor.