[Chapter 9: Dusk of Revelations]
Orange and yellow sunbeams of the setting sun filled and coloured the bluish-silver metal that formed the entire structure of the Balamb Garden. The birds flew gaily around the lush greenery and beauty of the garden in the outer compound of Balamb Garden. The ground below was blown with slight pressure from the spinning halo at the bottom of Balamb Garden as it moved regally to land for the night at the continent of Balamb, at its foundation before it had been activated to fly.
Eventually, the restless evening sunrays glittered in through a window, lighting up the usually sterile and steely atmosphere of the Infirmary. Rinoa sighed and looked at Seifer's unconscious face as she sat beside his bed. He was bandaged, and he had an arm and a leg in a splint.
Reaching out her left hand, she ran a hand through his short, blond hair. It had been two years ago that they had been young and wild together, but now, she preferred Squall to him. Squall was more 'her type' than Seifer. But she couldn't deny she still cared for Seifer as a sister would.
They had arrived back at Balamb Garden about two hours ago, after a long ride in the Ragnarok, and a long wait at the Timber Petroleum Reserve. They had experienced fuel shortage and had to stop by Timber for refueling. It was just their luck that another aircraft was being refueled and they had to wait… But the wait was worth it. She had been warmly re-welcomed at Balamb Garden and had cleaned up, getting back into her usual clothes.
Dr. Kadowaki was now tending to cleaning and re-dressing Laguna's wound. He and Seifer weren't getting any better and were sinking into even deeper comas. She had heard a bit from Selphie about the legendary Hidden Phoenix of Trabia whom they had to find to help the both of them.
Meanwhile, the young girl, called Eien, if she remembered correctly, lay in a nearby bed breathing heavily. She was still slightly feverish and faint from recovering her powers, and needed some peace and quiet. Rinoa smiled, thankful that Jyrie had used the stolen powers, enabling her to capture them, and, by a twist of fate, meet the true owner of the Holy Powers Jyrie had stolen.
According to Squall, Eien came from Earth, the planet parallel to Artemis in the interplanetary grid, and also the planet where Rinoa had been held in the past. Both were from separate galaxies, yet were connected by similar grid numberings and positions. She had managed to arrive at Artemis as predicted by Edea and Ellone, where her powers as a sorceress resurfaced.
Furthermore, she was from the respected family of Ryujin, the most famous line of Angel-Sorceresses. Angel-Sorceresses were said to be blessed with powers from the very angels of Heaven because of their first ancestor, Angel-Sorceress Katakyn Ryujin. According to records, she was the most virtuous Sorceress and never once used her powers for personal gain or corruption.
But still, she had lived at Garden, being persecuted and shunned by most of the student population as an outsider. From what she had heard, all the students blamed Eien for anything out-of-the-world that happened. Never once did they consider her enormously awing background.
But the strangest thing was… that she looked like a whole lot Rinoa when she was thirteen years old. She had read about people who found doubles of themselves when they visited their planet's parallel neighbor. Could Eien be hers…?
***
Xu hummed a happy tune as she carried the female SeeDs' laundry out to dry on the clothesline. She and Nida were on duty that evening, and he was on the opposite end of the yard, hanging up the male SeeDs' laundry.
She was happy that Rinoa had escaped, and she wanted to finish her chores fast so that she could dress up and look good for the celebration festivities that were going to commence at the Quad later that evening. She grabbed up a few clothes from the basket and draped them on her arm as she pegged them up slowly. She particularly liked Rinoa's gown, which was a heavenly white. She pegged it up and went on to hang up Ellone's drape.
{~Thump~}
All of a sudden, she heard something drop onto the grass…
{~Thump~}
(Make that two things. -_-)
She quickly clipped up the drape and turned around to see what had dropped. She soon spotted what had fallen. On the grass directly underneath Rinoa's gown were two crystalline globes with a strange mist swirling in them. Intrigued, she picked them up, and tried to look through them.
"Eh? That looked like Quistis… and the other… isn't that Squall's mother?!?!?"
Xu looked at the crystal globes in her hands in shock. She immediately ran back into the Garden, straight to Cid and Edea.
***
"So this is what the young lady… Sorceress Jyrie… and the young man, Sorcerer Xaron, did with the souls. This is a sign of pure revenge and hatred. It torments the soul, as they can find no rest unless they rest in Heaven."
Cid's voice resonated clearly across his study. In his right hand, he held the crystal globe containing Quistis's soul. Edea sat beside him; her palms face down on her lap, as she looked at Raine Leonhart's soul peering through the glass.
Rinoa stood before them, Angelo obediently lying down at her feet. She nodded in assent and looked back gravely. "Why don't we release their souls? They've probably been in captive too long…"
The couple nodded and Cid placed the globe he was holding in his hand on the table. He waved his hand towards them, and sat. Edea stood and raised her hand, followed by Rinoa. The two Sorceresses placed shattering enchantments upon the Soul Globes and soon they exploded, sending glass fragments flying out.
Two misty shapes rose from the shattered globes and grew larger. Finally, they sharpened and the clear images of Quistis Trepe and Raine Leonhart materialized before the trio as they looked on in amazement. Edea and Cid bowed in reverence to the deceased. Rinoa stood on and looked, her eyes slowly brimming with tears. "Quisty…" Her sad voice broke the silence as she looked at her dead friend.
"I treated you as my own sister… and to think you're gone…"
The apparition that was Quistis turned to face Rinoa, and reached out a cold, wispy hand to touch her face before smiling. "Don't mourn for me, I may be dead in the flesh, but I'm still alive in your memories, ne? I must go now, sorry…because ever since I died I have not met the deities… but you must always remember me…" She slowly faded away.
"Raine…" Rinoa turned to the woman whom she only knew by name as Squall's mother. The lady turned and smiled at her. "Rinoa, I'm sorry, I can't be long here… I want to go appeal to the deities to let me see Laguna and Squall before I truly return…! But if I have the chance, I'll come and thank you properly for taking me away from that terrible place." She placed a hand on Rinoa's shoulder, acknowledged Cid and Edea, then faded through a wall.
Rinoa grabbed a chair and plonked herself down on it. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed softly. "It's like a sad melody playing over and over again in my head… 'Quistis is dead, Quistis is dead.' I've never been this sad in ages…" Edea knelt next to her. "You'll get over it, child. Just like you got over your mother's death…"
"Mm…" Rinoa mumbled. Silence prevailed momentarily, punctuated by soft sobs from Rinoa. Angelo whined and pawed her ankles softly.
"We'll let you cry for a while, for we have to check on the Quad," Edea ventured.
"No… I'll… I'll… be fine. I'm sorry… I shouldn't make outbursts like that… I just couldn't control myself…" Rinoa got up and wiped her tears with her armbands before walking out of the Study, Angelo trailing her.
"I do hope she'll be fine…" Cid and his wife exchanged glances before they headed off to the Quad to observe the preparations for the celebration that evening.
***
It had gotten darker and deeper into the evening now, and the Garden had landed near the town of Balamb. The blue ring that usually propelled the garden had transmuted the Garden to a ground building, and was floating above it as it used to. It was glowing a bright blue, resembling a beautiful halo.
The illuminating lamps around the Garden had been lit to shed some light and dispel some darkness. Crickets chirped in the bushes and added to the atmosphere. From the outer garden, you could even hear the raucous sounds of celebrations coming from the Quad. Delicious-smelling smoke rose above the Quad, due to the barbeque that the cafeteria ladies had agreed to hold.
Squall had gone there, eaten, and made a hasty escape before Irvine, Zell, and the other guys caught him and kept him at the party for the rest of the night. He was now just walking around in the compound, enjoying the cold night air. He decided to walk over to the fountain pond near the Cure Draw point and he sat on the ground, his back facing the waters. He leaned against the pond sides and rested.
He felt really tired… maybe he ought to go back to the dorm— huh? He heard a soft pattering of footsteps and he stealthily turned, only to be greeted with Angelo's salivating, slobbery tongue in his face. "Yuck…" He muttered and chased Angelo a short distance away, then bent down and washed his face with the fountain waters. Just as he got up to dry his face, he got a big push on his back, and yelped in shock just as he fell into the icy cold waters.
He was greeted by Rinoa's giggles and cheeky grin when he looked around to see who had pushed him in. He sighed and brushed the wet hair away from his face so he could see properly. "Sorry… but I couldn't resist!" Rinoa stuck out a hand to pull him up and out, but instead, he pulled her in with an almighty splash. Then he climbed out, removed his jacket, and began squeezing the water out of the fur.
He glanced at Rinoa who had shrieked when the cold water soaked through her garments, and smirked. "Well… I couldn't resist that as well." She snorted and made a mock fuss about not having enough clothes to wear.
"I could always lend you a shirt or something…"
"Ahh, I was kidding. Anyway, let's go and get changed out of these wet clothes. Don't want to catch a chill, right?"
"…Ok."
"Suddenly, just as they were about to leave, a strange wind whipped up and blew around. At once Squall sensed something about, as did Angelo, who began baring her fangs and growling. He pulled Rinoa close and looked around. His intuition was right. A dim, white apparition had begun to form in front of them and it slowly sharpened and assumed Raine's form. She smiled and looked at them. She looked exactly like a human except that she had a beautiful white aura glowing around her.
Squall gaped in shock, as did Rinoa. "Mom…?"
"Yes, Squall… I've waited so long for my wish to see you all grown up to be granted. I really wanted to see you grow up… but I couldn't survive to do that…"
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"If you hadn't birthed me, you would have lived… right? I caused your death. Elle told me. I'm sorry."
"Squall, listen to me. I had no regrets dying. As long as after I died, my child still lived, that was good enough. The only thing I've regretted is not being able to show you to Laguna when you were born."
"…Whatever."
Raine smiled and came closer to Squall. He released Rinoa from his arms and she stepped aside as mother and son shared a hug after long years of separation, with Death as the barrier. Rinoa watched, wishing that her mother would come back one day to see her. Finally, they broke the hug. A few tears glistened on Squall's face.
"My son, I'll come back another day to see you… now I'm going to see your father, and see if I can help his condition. But first… Rinoa, thank you once again for bringing me back here and releasing me. I will always treat you as my own daughter from now on…"
Rinoa smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Loire…" Raine smiled and began to fade away. Rinoa stood beside Squall as he sadly watched his mother leave.
"Squall… Let's go and change now…hm?"
"…Ok."
***
"Oh… mm…"
Eien stirred slowly on the warm, comfortable bed in the Infirmary. She blinked carefully, her eyes getting used to dim, electric lights in the ceiling above her. She yawned, and then giggled. She felt like a big, fat cat that had just woken up from one of the best naps in its life. She stretched and sat up, looking around her. She was in a bed in between Laguna and Seifer. Both were unconscious, and were bandaged and hooked up to funny contraptions.
She had a sudden throbbing pain in her head, and lay down again. She tried to remember what had happened as she enjoyed the cool air-conditioning blow and rustle her hair. She summoned a vague memory of herself passing out, and…yes! The strange blue light that had entered her. She sort of remembered Rinoa, that there was a lot of screaming in the clock tower, and she just… found this bed and slept on it. Or she was brought to the bed. She couldn't remember.
Suddenly, she heard someone approaching. She scrabbled for the covers and ducked under them, pretending to be asleep.
Ellone walked through the Infirmary's doors and they slid shut smoothly after she passed them. She had left the celebrations going on to check on Eien's condition. She walked through, greeting Dr. Kadowaki, who was just getting ready to leave for the celebrations that were still in full swing at the Quad. She then proceeded on into the special sickroom where Seifer, Eien, and her beloved Uncle Laguna were resting.
Upon entering, she glanced over at Uncle Laguna. His face was as it had been when she first met him, though it had aged over the years. His grayish-black hair flopped over his forehead like a young child's hair. She stroked his forehead a little and bent down over him, giving him a gentle kiss on his forehead. How she wished he'd be all right and just sit up, there and then, and say, "Hi Elle!"
She sighed, a smile on her face and turned to check on Eien. Ah! The naughty girl was pretending to sleep again… She reached out a hand and poked Eien's side, causing the young sorceress to let out a half-screech and burst out in laughter. Ellone smiled, and giggled a little as she watched Eien, red-faced, trying hard to calm down.
"Okay! You got me… I admit defeat…"
"Heh. By the way, I came to let you know there's a celebration going on at the Quad."
"Ah? For what? What's happened??"
"Oh, I forgot. You were really unconscious when we found Rinoa, or rather, when Rinoa found us! The Presidential Aides and Caraway have been rescued, and they're now partying at the Quad along with the others. Oh, and on top of that, you've regained your powers."
Ellone winked at Eien, who was just staring at her, dumbstruck.
"I… WHAT???"
"Yes, you did."
Instantly she jumped out of the bed and tried to expend her wings. Her little face filled with delight when they bloomed just as they had on her first day in Artemis.
"All riiight!! Now this is what I call super-duper-cool!! See ya later Elle!"
She instantly disappeared off. Ellone smiled and waked to the Infirmary door. All of a sudden, a gentle, cooling wind blew around in the Infirmary, sending her hair floating around her. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it dispersed. Ellone smiled and turned around to see her Aunt Raine's spirit sitting on a stool at Laguna's bedside.
"Raine…"
Raine looked up and smiled a sad smile.
"Elle, my little one, you've grown so much… It makes me so happy to be able to see you all grown up like this…"
She reached out an arm and floated towards Ellone, enveloping her in a tight embrace. Ellone was shocked for a moment, but returned the embrace just as tightly. Raine's touch was icy cold, but yet it exuded an emotional warmth that was evident; her motherly feelings had not been erased no matter how many years she had been in her spiritual residence, separated from the living.
They broke the embrace, each smiling at the other. Raine turned to look at Laguna, lying on the infirmary bed. "When will he be fine again…?"
"After we get help from the legendary Hidden Phoenix of Trabia… Selphie had a visitation and got this amulet that supposedly could show us the Phoenix, Flame."
"Good. I don't want to see my husband like this anymore… he's suffered enough all these years…"
Raine bent down over him and kissed his lips softly, a small tear trickling down onto his face. After getting up, she gazed down at him with love in her eyes. Looking back at Ellone she sighed.
"I better get going now… It has been very lucky that the Guardians of the spiritual world have allowed me to come back to see you all… I love you always…"
Raine waved and slowly faded away into the peaceful, still darkness of the Infirmary. A small tear eased itself out from Ellone's eye. Oh, how she missed the times when she was young and had her Aunty Raine and Uncle Laguna around her! But she had to grow up. Those times were over. She was now twenty-one, and had her responsibilities. Suddenly she remembered the celebrations at the Quad and hurried off after checking on Laguna once more.
***
The celebrations at the Quad were quite rowdy and the students were getting tipsy. Before the celebration, all the students had been informed of the real situation and the actual killers, Jyrie Weiur and Xaron Weiur. Therefore, they had stopped persecuting Eien and were now accepting her into the social circle of the Garden. She was having the time of her life eating, drinking, and chatting with everyone.
By then, things had been getting naughty and the students had begun to file off in pairs to their dormitories, and some to the outer gardens for some peace and quiet. Irvine and Selphie had most certainly sneaked off to their dormitory, as did Zell and Korin, leaving behind the other thirteen and the other students to party.
Soon after, Cid and Edea took their leave of the celebrations and returned to their study to rest up for the night, along with Eien and Ellone's departure. One by one, as the night grew into the wee hours of the morning, the students returned to their dormitories, all bleary-eyed and red-faced from staying up and drinking.
Eien crept into the dormitory that Squall, Rinoa and her now shared and cleaned up, changing into a pair of pajamas to sleep. She grinned at the sight of Squall & Rinoa's dripping wet day clothes hanging on the clothesline in the bathroom; she knew what had happened after viewing it from Angelo's mind (When Rinoa and Squall returned to the dormitory, Angelo sneaked back to Eien to party more. Wondering where Rinoa had gone, she used her powers to check Angelo's memory.).
As she was slightly tipsy from her first encounter with mild hard drinks, Ellone had sent her back before going off to her own dormitory to get some shuteye. Eien closed her eyes and sent out waves of blue energy, gently folding back her wings, which had still been expended. She then crept into the extra bed Cid had sent in for their dormitory and snuggled in. Squall and Rinoa were already soundly asleep in their own beds. She hadn't realized Squall snored that loud, though. She pulled the covers over her head, added a pillow for extra insulation and relaxed on the soft bed. She soon fell asleep from exhaustion.
Zell and Korin had just cleaned up, and had been playing Triple Triad the entire night, with Zell consistently losing every good card of his to her. He finally gave up when all he had left was a couple of Geezard cards, and, most importantly, his own card. He wasn't going to let Korin win that one no matter how hard she tried. ("Please, please, PLEASE use the card?"-Korin "No! So there!"-Zell). They flicked off the light switches after cleaning up and sharing a short goodnight kiss.
The red moon above Artemis was glowing brightly that night, and Selphie had just finished bathing. She was lying on her bed facedown, typing notes into her electronic hand-held diary, from which she could manage her Online Diary and the Garden Festival Committee page. It had been a most fun day and she enjoyed every bit of it, even fighting the soldiers at the Deling City Presidential Palace.
She giggled as Irvine sang a couple of songs in the shower, loud enough for her to hear him. He was so nice, and until recently, she had never admitted she was in… Instantly she started blushing furiously and slapped herself, going back to finishing whatever she had been doing before she started thinking.
Irvine scrubbed the last remains of the frothy white bubbles his hair shampoo had foamed out and turned off the water. Dripping wet, he grabbed his towel and toweled off quickly to avoid catching a chill. He looked at the mirror, which was full of miniscule moisture droplets due to the steam that floated off from the water he had showered with. Extending a finger, he scribbled 'I Love Sefie' with his free hand (the other hand was securing the towel in place).
He grinned and opened the bathroom door to retrieve his clothes, which for once he had forgotten to bring in. "Hey Selph—" All of a sudden, he heard Selphie exclaim in shock. He quickly ran out and the sight of Selphie feeling around her neck greeted him.
"Selphie… what's wrong?"
"Irvine! My necklace… it's gone! And… and the phoenix amulet!!"