From Forever to Infinity

by Yanagi-San

After the defeat of Ultimecia, Edea begins to have strange feelings about her powers, and believes Ultimecia may have split her power in two, and passed one half to Edea, and the other to a sorceress who never knew she was one. (Chapter 4 is up! ^_^)

1. The End Begins Again

::Disclaimer and other things people will probably ignore::
FF8 and it's characters are copyright by Squaresoft. The plot, however, is mine. 
Touch it, 
and eat horrible GF death. I'm serious!
...And finally, this is Rated PG-13-ish for light swearing and suggestive 
themes. Don't 
kill me. Questions? Comments? Flames? Send them to Megami_Yanagi@hotmail.com 
with the subject "FF8 fic" or something similar, or my junk mail folder will eat 
it and say 
"yummy" when it is done. arigatou, and enjoy! ^_^



From Forever to Infinity


Chapter 1: "The End begins Again"

************************************

	Staggering...staggering...She felt as if she would never find it, that 
place it
seemed that man enjoyed being, the grassy meadow hillside with the infinite
fields of flowers.
	Even though if anyone saw her, she would be floating across the ground, to 
the
dying sorceress, it felt like she was crawling, dragging herself across those
flower drenched fields. 
	Those people...how did they manage to acomplish this? 
	She mused to herself as she continued her long final journey through the
petal-ridden land. Where was it? He had visited recently, while his child and
she had had their confrontation. Ultimecia could still see the bright blue light
that had undone her, clouding all her vision. What had it done to her body? It
had annihlated it, that's what. But, she had already started that process when
she junctioned herself to Griever. They had finished it off. That man's child,
for the most part, with that hellishly bright Lionheart of his.
	Ah, but this might be the only way, her thoughts echoed about in the
disgustingly cerulean sky, uncontained by a physical body or mind. She lurched
forward, on and on, following that man's spiritual energy, looking for where the
charge was the strongest. Then, she would find it. It was only a matter of time.
	It was too bad that she had used up a great deal of her energies in 
separating
her powers into two pieces. The weaker half, which was not all that shabby
compared to sorceresses such as Adel, she presented to Edea in the orphanage
while that man's son looked on, floating randomly throughout time. The rest, the
stronger half, she was using part of now. She needed to find that woman! She was
here...somewhere in these aromatic fields lay a potential that was never tapped
while she lived. She was a quiet candidate, while Adel was still alive, in
space. Frozen next to the moon, that rock where monsterous minions awaited her
return so that they could wreak havoc on Esthar. If only she had recgonized it
in the first place, instead of focusing on her offspring, she might still be
breathing right now. 
	Ultimecia shuffled over the top of a grassy hill, and a glint of metal 
caught
the corner of her dying eyes. There it was. The energy wasn't as strong as she
had expected. He either hadn't been here as long as she had thought, or it had
taken her forever to reach this place. But no matter- she was almost out of
time. Ultimecia stood in front of the lonely headstone, and began the ritual.

************************************

	Squall boarded the elevator in a very foul mood. Cid had paged him to his
office once again, and it was probably going to be the same discussion as
before. How was he supposed to know what to do with it? It was Cid's after all.
It seemed all decisions regarding Garden were being passed off to him in a
rather impromptu fashion. Everything regarding anything was left up to him; From
what should the cafeteria serve for lunch this week to what kind of toilet paper
should be used in the bathrooms! Well, Squall admitted rather dryly to himself,
at least it wasn't as bad as toilet paper decisions yet. He then thought that
that was something Rinoa would say, and he found himself with a rather odd
expression on his face when he arrived at the control platform that used to be
Cid's office. It was an odd cross between a smirk and a sneer, but more of a
smile than Squall was ever used to wearing. It made his face hurt. 
	Cid gave him a questioning look as he stepped off the elevator, but didn't 
say
a word.
	"You paged?" Squall asked, standing with one arm akimbo.
	"Yes," Cid began, "It may not be of any signifigance, but I've been 
speaking
with Edea."
Squall looked out the window. Indeed, they were docked. They had probably
arrived mid morning, while he was taking out a little restless energy with Rinoa
and Selphie in the Training Grounds, and had missed the announcement.
	"And no, I didn't have it paged this time. I didn't want everyone to know 
we
were here. We should have been gone by this afternoon, but then after I dropped
in to see Edea, and she told me the news. I've been paging you periodically, but
you haven't responded until now. Where were you?" Cid asked.
	"Training Center with Rinoa and Selphie." Squall explained, "The intercom 
is
broken in the T-Rexaur sector, remember?"
	"Ah, yes. I should send someone to fix that..." Cid murmured. "But 
first..."
The middle aged man wandered over to the windshield next to Nida and folded his
arms behind his back, just like he always did when something serious was going
on. " First, you should speak with Edea. "
	"I'll take Rinoa and Selphie and we'll report immediately." Squall said, 
and
spun to leave.
	"Wait!" Cid called after him, "Edea requests that no weapons be brought to 
the
orphanage. She has some orphaned childern there, and she wishes them to not have
to be exposed to them."
	"I'm not going down there defenseless, Cid." Squall replied, and kept 
walking.
	"You're going to ignore her wishes?" Cid asked the black-clad retreating 
form.
	"She can meet us on the Ragnarok." Was all Squall said as the elevator 
dropped
through the floor.

	The red dragonish ship landed with a distinctive shutting down of the
thrusters, and a loud clunk in front of Edea's house. The waves washed upon the
shore, and a slight hum could be heard from Garden's Float-Generator. But it was
very distant. So distant, that they couldn't see Garden anymore. Cid must have
pulled it back. Just as well.
	A familiar black clad figure was moving toward the ship now, in a rather
refined and eloquent manner.
	"Look, it's Matron!" Selphie pointed and bounced up and down.
	"Well, don't just stand there, lower the hatch for her." Squall told her.
	"Oh! Right away, Mr.Commander!" She said sarcastically to Squall, and 
lowered
the hatch.
 	"You're in an unusually bad mood." Rinoa commented as Squall walked
by.
	"The only time I've seen him happy this week was when he was Lionhearting
everything in sight back in the Training Center today!" Selphie exclaimed.
"You'd think he'd be happy now that the weight of the world is off his
shoulders."
	"You'd think so, but that's not Squall." Rinoa said, and beamed one of her
disarmingly playful smiles at the pale man in black. His expression lightened
for just a fraction of a second, but both Rinoa and Selphie saw it anyway. It
put them just a little at ease.
	Squall untensed and swung the Lionheart off his shoulder, letting the tip 
of
the blade touch the floor of the Ragnarok.
	"Alright, I was going to do this the other way, but, I'll go get Matron, 
and
you two wait in the conference room. We'll meet you there, ok?" And with that,
suddenly, Rinoa jumped up and threw her arms around him.
	"You actually ASKED us to do something! You're not ordering us around, 
it's a
miracle!" She said cheerfully.
	Squall hesitated for a long moment, the put one hand on her shoulder, 
letting
it linger as long as he dared. What had he felt before Rinoa entered his life?
He wondered in that brief second before he stepped gently away from her.
Nothing. He hadn't wanted to feel anything before she came along. It was scary
how so much changes in so little time.
	"I'm going now." Was all Squall said as he exited the cockpit.

	Edea looked darkly lovely as usual. Time really didn't seem to have any 
effect
on her, and between the time she had been the sorceress to now, with the
orphanage reopened, she seemed to look younger, if it was at all possible.
	"Matron..." Squall greeted her with his usual lack of aplomb.
	"My dear Squall," Edea looked up at him as she spoke, "How is everything 
at
Garden? How are Quisty, Irvine, and Zell? And what about Selphie, and that
pretty girl of yours, Rinoa?"
	"Rinoa and Selphie are on board, waiting for us. Quistis got her teaching
credentials reinstated a few days ago- her fan club is estatic. Irvine decided
to stay at Balamb Garden and train under Quistis while Zell spends his time
stuffing his face with hot dogs or getting into trouble. So everything is more
or less is back to normal." He replied, not looking at Edea, but instead at the
serene landscape. From the moss covered stone cottage in the distance came the
sound of children laughing. At first, Squall was startled, because he thought he
was imagining it. But then he remembered Cid mentioning something about
reopening the orphanage.
	"So, Matron, you've replaced us after all this time?" He asked, not 
realizing
his words could be taken another way.
	Edea smiled and reached up to touch Squall's scar on his face. "No one 
could
ever replace all of you." She murmured, "Especially not you, Squall. Especially
not you." She traced the scar, and stood back.
	"This is why I'm worried. I've wanted nothing but good lives for all of 
you,
and the minute you all gain some semblance of normalicy, the world begins to
fall apart again." Squall just stared at her for a moment, with his most serious
look.
	"......before you get into it, let's continue inside, Matron." He said.

	"Four beats the two on the left, and the elemental value makes for "same" 
with
your top one!" Selphie declared, and turned a Geezard and a Fastiofalchion-F
card to her color.
	"I didn't see that one open!" Rinoa looked confusedly at the table where 7
cards were laid out in a 3 by 3 grid style. She looked at her hand, and then at
the table and put down a Ruby Dragon card.
	"Plus!" Rinoa smiled and slammed her hand on the table, "I got one!"
	"See? Now you're learning it!" Selphie giggled leaned back in one of the
Conference Room chairs. Just then, the automatic doors opened, and Squall
entered with Edea beside him. Squall took one look at the obvious Triple Triad
game and sighed disgustedly.
	"You're playing cards, at a time like this?" He gritted, swinging the 
Lionheart
back onto his shoulder.
	"Leave them be, Squall. They were only passing time, waiting for our 
return."
Edea said softly.
	"Matron!" Selphie squealed and threw herself at Edea for a hug, "Matron, 
you're
here!"
	"Dear Selphie, "Edea smiled and stroked her hair. "You have not changed
either."
	"Hello, Edea." Rinoa said with a nervous smile, "Welcome aboard!"
	"Thank you Rinoa dear, but I'm afraid once I leave, you'll wish you never
came." She said solemnly, and took a seat in one of the high-backed chairs.
	"Oh, come on Matron, don't be so gloomy; We saved the world, remember? We 
can
do it again if we have to!" Selphie jumped up, and swung her nunchuku in a
circle around her head.
	"Don't do that in here, Selphie." Squall glared at her.
	"Edea, please tell us your news." Rinoa prompted, "It seems important." 
	"It is." She turned to Squall. "Remember after you defeated Ultimecia, and
became lost in the time, you ended up back at the orphanage, and saw her pass
her powers onto me? Back when you were eight?" Edea began, "I felt the power go
into me, and become one with me, just as it should. However, just recently, the
power has felt incomplete, like it's reaching for something other than itself
out there. I feel...half empty. What if...what if she wasn't able to pass all
her powers onto me, and is still floating in the spirit world, looking for a
recipient for her last bit of magic to live in? As a sorceress myself,a nd as
Rinoa is now a sorceress too, she should understand that having power floating
about unchecked is a very bad thing."
	Rinoa nodded in taciturn agreement.
	"If Ultimecia passed on her power and evil intent to some other sorceress
candidate," She continued, "Then we could have a repeat of what has just occured
little more than a month ago."
	"I thought there could be only one sorceress every generation." Selphie 
ticked
off the names from memory. "Lessee, there was Adel, then Edea, then Rinoa, and
Ultimecia will come after her. That's all. There are no more candidates."
	"Well," Edea explained, "A generation was skipped because of the 
imprisonment
of Adel. Even if the sorceress is still alive, the candidate will be born. No
matter if the power can or cannot be passed on during her lifetime, she will be
born. It is a cycle, it is fate. What your father was trying to do in freezing
Adel, was to cut the line of sorceresses off. And it was a good plan, until
Ultimecia decided to unravel it. During the time of Adel's imprisonment, a
sorceress candidate was born, but never had powers passed to her. They instead,
went to Rinoa here. If not for Ultimecia and Laguna's meddling with the natural
flow of things, the lineage would have gone: Adel, unknown girl, me, Rinoa,
someone else, and then Ultimecia. I'm afraid for that girl, and I'm afraid for
everyone in the world if Ultimecia does pass on some powers to her. I need to
ask a big favor of you SeeDs..." Edea looked sadly down at her hands, which were
folded in her lap. "SeeDs were designed to fight the sorceress. Now, I need to
ask you to save one."
	Squall placed his hand against his head in his usual
"I-can't-believe-you-people" manner. Rinoa leaned in towards him, near his ear.
	"Well, Squall, at least your problem about what should be done with Garden 
is
solved, for now." She said quietly to him.

**************************************

	It was an uphill battle for the waining sorceress. She had to do this with 
the
utmost care and concentration, or it wouldn't work at all, and all her trouble
would be for naught.
	She felt the tug of the Hells at her spirit. It wasn't time for them yet, 
she
thought violently at them, she still had a bit of work to do.
	The grass swayed softly under the now night sky and Ultimecia began her 
spell.
She felt her spirit shudder as she decended into the cold dark earth. She
couldn't feel the earth directly, but it was a grave. It seemed appropriate to
think of the earth as cold and dark. She was really rescuing her, she thought as
she reached the simple coffin. A poor candidate that died without ever knowing
her full potential. What happens when the potential lies untapped? Where does
the energy go, she wondered. The sorceress passed easily through the coffin, and
what she saw shocked her a bit. Instead of the bones she was expecting, there
she was, her body perfectly encased and preserved in a crystaline substance. She
looked carefully at the casing. It wasn't crystal, it appeared to be ice. As she
looked, a pair of eyes opened from beneath the ice, deep, piercing blue eyes
that shot an icy glare through Ultimecia's own. And they did not belong to the
girl. And a voice spoke, quiet, yet forceful.
	'Begone from this place, Sorceress. Your meddling must not approach here.' 
The
voice said to her.
	So, they had sealed a GF with her body? Had they forseen her potential, 
even
after her death? But, the GF would be rampant without being junctioned to
someone, so it couldn't really be here. She could deal with that.
	'Stand aside, GF!' Ultimecia commanded, 'This is no koncern of yours- you
interfere, and you will be killed on one swift whim.'
	'I am Shiva,' the voice spoke, 'and I am to protect the body of this girl 
by
command. Cross me, and prepare for your own Doom!' The GF rose angrily from
within the ice and rose up in it's full glory, her ice blue hair with the golden
streaks flying violently in the packed earth about them. 
	'I have no time for you, Shiva. Now die.' Ultimecia waved a hand casually, 
and
a bright beam of magenta light shot through the GF. Shiva's back arched from the
force of the blow, and the image dissolved. Ultimecia turned to the chunk of ice
before her. What luck! Perfectly preserved....this would be so much easier than
she had planned!

****************************************

	Squall rolled over and slid his arms around Rinoa's warm body. It was 
about
midnight, and the Garden was floating serenely out at sea again. He was
troubled, and fidgety, which in turn prevented him from sleeping. 
	Rinoa breathed softly in sleep, but didn't stir. For a former resistance
leader, she sure slept deeply. Maybe that's why the other members had kept her
bedroom in the back of the train. 
	He leaned up one one arm and bent over her sleeping form, drinking in the 
way
the moonlight higlighted her pale skin. She was pretty, but not in the classic
way. She was pretty in a subtle way, so subtle that you didn't notice it until
after you got to know her really well. He put his mouth close to her ear, and
brushed a strand of blue-black hair behind it.
	"Rinoa?" He asked softly, shaking her arm as gently as he could. When she
didn't move, he shook her a little harder, and called her again.
	"Hmmm?" She rolled over and queried sleepily, burrowing her head in that 
spot
between his neck and shoulder. He changed position and moved over her,
supporting his weight on his hands. His lanky brown hair fell down and brushed
softly across her nose. She wrinkled it up, and blew the strands away. "What are
you doing up?" She asked groggily, "What time is it?"
	"I...I can't sleep." He stammered in a very Un-Squall-like manner, "I 
think for
the first time in my life, I'm...uneasy, almost-"
	"Nervous?" Rinoa finished for him.
	"Yeah. Nervous."
	"And you want me to comfort you?"
	He leaned in very close to her, his lips inches away from hers, and 
murmured,
"I just want to hold you, Rinoa..."
	She closed her eyes as he kissed her, but suddenly, Squall shot back, and 
Rinoa
opened her eyes to see a streak of magenta blast through his bare chest.
	Rinoa sat up in a rush, and caught him before he fell off the bed. She 
dropped
to her knees beside him while he lay on the bed, gasping for breath, and
sweating profusely.
	"Squall! Squall! Are you alright? Squall! Answer me!" She cried.
	"G-go to the desk...and....bring me...the blue...potion..." Squall croaked 
out.
Rinoa scrambled to her feet and opened up the drawers, looking for a G-Returner.
There was no blue potion to be found. 
	Rinoa grabbed a robe, and put it on. She leaned over Squall, and told him 
to
lie still- that she was going to get one from one of the other students. She ran
out into the hall and knocked on the first door. She kept knocking and knocking
until a disgruntled, sleepy Zell finally answered.
	"Whaddya wan- oh, Rinoa! What's going-?" He asked sleepily.
	"G-Returner! I need one, quick! One of Squall's GFs is down!" Rinoa 
exclaimed.
Zell looked surprised.
	"I don't have anymore, but try Irvine or Selphie. What the hell happened?! 
Was
he fighting anything?" He asked as he followed her to Selphie's door.
	"I have no idea what happened! One second, he's kissing me, the next he's 
on
the bed with a dead GF!" She explained as she knocked on Selphie's door
	"That's some kiss..." Zell muttered sarcastically as an unusually 
dishevled
Selphie opened the door.
	"It's not morning yet you guys..." She murmured, "What's goin' on...?" She
rubbed at her eyes.
	"Selphie, I need a G-Returner, quick!" Rinoa yelled, "It's an emergency!" 
	Selphie pointed at the cupboard in the corner. "There it it is."
	Without further prompting, Rinoa ran in, threw open the cupboard doors, 
grabbed
the nearest G-Returner, and ran out.
	"W-wait!" Selphie ran after her, trailed by Zell, "What happened!?"
	Rinoa ran in and uncapped the potion. Squall looked a little better since 
she
left, but she knew they had little time to get the GF back before it was gone
completely. She administered the G-Returner, and was utterly shocked to find
that Shiva was the one who had been hit!
	Shiva's entity separated from Squall as the potion took effect, and 
manifested
herself in the center of the room. She looked concerned, but stern all at once.
Rinoa looked back at the bed, and noticed that Squall was gone. She would have
to communicate with Shiva, and they were not compatable at all- it would be like
talking to Fuujin! But she stepped up, and decided to give it a go.
	As she reached the GF, Shiva reached out and touched Rinoa, startling her. 
No
words were exchanged. Were they so incompatable as to not even be able to
communicate beyond emotion?
	First, she felt urgency. And then failure. What did Shiva fail to do that 
was
so urgent? What had she been doing? Then there was an image in Rinoa's mind, of
a woman, and ice, and then....Laguna...dream Laguna, not the current Laguna, the
unofficial-looking official President of Esthar. And then an image
of...Ultimecia. Shiva released her mind-link with Rinoa, and faded away in
greenish bubbles while Squall materialized half-naked on the bed. When Squall
had fully arrived, everyone did a double take; There was their leader, of whom
they had only once seen without gloves, lying on the bed, with nothing but pants
to his name. Selphie even managed to blush very cutely. Squall rolled up to a
sitting position, his head propped up in his hand wearily.
	"What the hell is going on..." Squall muttered angrily. "First Matron gets
terrible premonitions, and now, dead GFs are popping up and ruining my night."
He glared at Zell and Selphie, who had no control left except to gawk at him.
	"What are you *staring* at?" He demanded of the two angrily.
	"Uh...what's going on here?" Quistis peered in the doorway in a Garden-
issue
bathrobe. "Someone told me there was a ruckus in the North dorms, but..."
	Just then, a jeans and undershirt-clad Irvine jumped in the room, took one 
look
around, and with his mentality, assumed the worse.
	"Cover your eyes Selphie!" He yelped and leapt at Selphie, and tried to 
cover
her eyes.
	"Get off of me!" She laughed, "It's not what you're thinking!"
	"What a mess..." Quistis murmured and leaned against the doorframe with a
smirk. "I would give my best whip to find out what is going on here." 
	"It's nothing." Squall ground out, his hackles rising, "It was a GF 
incident,
and you will all be briefed in the morning, Goodnight everyone." 
	"Wha'd I do?" Irvine looked around confusedly as he left. 
	After everyone had left, Rinoa shut the door, and turned to Squall and 
quirked
an eyebrow.
	"What?" Squall looked at her pointedly. 
	"You." She smirked, "Everyone seems very thrown off by your lack of 
shirt."
	"Whatever." He said and ran his hands through his hair, tousling it about 
so
that those small strands hung down in his face next to his eyes. 
	"You look good like that, Squall." Rinoa smiled at him warmly.
	"Like what? Annoyed and irritated?"
	"It's adorable." She remarked dryly. "Come on, I know what will relax 
you."
	"Does it involve me taking off the rest of my clothes?" He baited evenly. 
She
turned away from him, and dropped the robe. Looking over her shoulder, she
replied coyly:
	"Perhaps..."

********************************************

	The girl opened her eyes, for the first time in 17 years. She blinked, as 
her
tear ducts began to moisten her dry eyes. She felt very strange, like she wasn't
used to moving her body. She looked around, and drank in the starry sky above
flower-bestowed fields and hills of rolling green grass. Where was this place?
Why was she here, and what were these images of a child that kept rising to the
surface of her mind? Wasn't she...?
	The brown haired woman looked down at her hands, and then touched her face 
with
them. Cold. Was she cold inside? She looked down at her hands again, the same
ring that encircled the 4th finger of her left hand was still there. She pulled
it off, and looked inside.
	The same inscription...
	He had always had an odd way with words, being a writer and all. But he 
was so
good-hearted, that he stuttered often over the right thing to say. He was always
thinking, and re-thinking things over and over, trying to perfect them. She had
never cared, as long as the sentiment was there. 
	The love for him began to rise back into her heart as she stood in the 
fields
where he had proposed to her. She could almost see his face...
	"Woman." A voice said behind her. The woman turned and found herself face 
to
face with a sorceress!
	Her restored legs gave out from under her and she yelped in surprise- what 
was
a sorceress doing here? Was she the one who-?
	"I have given you a new life, " The sorceress said, as if reading her 
thoughts.
"You are the kandidate I was seeking. My powers fade, and my world falls! Take
my powers, and you shall remain in the state as you are, and bring about a new
era, the Time Kompression!" 
	"Time what?!" The woman began, but Ultimecia cut her off by sendind her
remaining consciousness into Raine.
	Raine fell backwards on the grass as she felt the weight of the sorceress'
powers within her. Weight. Feeling. Was all this truely hers again? A world with
dreams, and hope, and love?
	Love...
	She stood, not feeling anything in her mind except herself. She remembered 
that
sorceresses had to transfer their powers before they die, so that they could
rest in peace. But what had she said about Time compression? What was Time
compression? And why did she wish to achieve it? She wanted nothing to do with
Time compression. She wanted...wanted...
	Laguna....
	She wanted to see him, so badly...
	Tears spilled from her overflowing eyes, but she was smiling. Still 
crying.
	"Laguna...! Laguna!" She sobbed, and pulled herself to her feet, feeling 
the
soft touch of the grass under her hands. Ice melted in shattered chunks around a
deep hole in the ground, while she stood on the hillside, looking at the moon,
not knowing which way to go, only seeking one thing.
	"Laguna..." She wept, "Where are you!?"


***********************************************

End Chapter 1! ^_^