1.1 Chapter 3 (in Another World)
Hahaha…
Do you really think that you will come into being?
You can't stop it…
There is nothing you can do…
Haha…
"Uhh!" The girl sat straight up in bed, panting as if she had just finished running a race. A hand reached up and pushed back several locks of brown/auburn hair with golden streaks. Blue eyes looked at the clock on the nightstand.
"Mmph." The hand rubbed a forehead.
"That dream again…that voice…taunting me…" She turned her head towards the window. "Maybe…" The phone rang.
"Coming!" Getting up, she opened her door and hurried down the hall towards the phone.
"Hello? Mom!"
"How are you doing?"
"Fine. Don't worry; I haven't blown anything up. Yet." The girl leaned against the table.
"Raine! Yo! You up yet?" The girl's eyes narrowed.
"Oh no. He did not."
"Raine? Is there anything wrong?"
"Mom, hang on for a minute. I need to go kill somebody." Raine placed the receiver on the table and reached for the handiest weapon available, a tennis ball. Picking it up, she headed for the window. There was silence, followed by a loud "bap!" and a loud yell of pain. Smiling, she came back and picked up the receiver.
"Mom? I'm here now." In a hotel room, a pair of black eyes narrowed.
"Raine, I heard somebody yell." Raine kissed her teeth.
"Just that fool Irvine."
"Don't kiss your teeth." Raine begin to roll her eyes.
"And don't roll your eyes either. I…stop it!"
"Mom?" Raine asked. There was a slap, followed by an indignant "ow!"
"Mom?"
"Sorry, your father is playing the fool again. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Yeah." The woman handed the phone over.
"Here." A pair of blue eyes glared at her, offset by a reddish brown scar in between them.
"That hurt."
"You want to talk to your daughter or not?" A hand took the phone.
"Hello?"
"Daddy!" Raine squealed. Squall sat up in bed, smiling.
"Raine! How are you doing?"
"Fine." Raine said, eying the door to the master bedroom. Squall narrowed his eyes.
"Don't even think about it."
"Don't even think about what?" Raine asked, all innocence.
"My father is gone, so I can play with his Gunblades. No. Practice with your own!"
"Nuts…" Raine sulked. Squall grinned.
"Do you have classes today?"
"No. I'm gonna go outside later on with the guys and practice." Raine said, looking out the window.
"Alright then, here's your mother. I'll talk to you later." Squall said. "Bye!" He handed the phone back to the woman.
"Hello?"
"Mom? Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot, honey." Raine ran her fingers through her hair.
"Did you ever, as a sorceress, have any strange dreams?" The woman straightened.
"What kind of dreams?"
"I don't know…just strange dreams."
"Well…you are going to have things you can't explain as your powers expand. But that's only normal."
"Hmm…" Raine said.
"Is anything wrong?"
"Huh? Oh no, Mom, I was just wondering, that's all. I'll let you go now."
"Alright. I love you."
"Love you too, Mom. Bye."
"Bye." The woman hung up the phone. Automatically, her right hand went up to stroke a silver ring on a chain around her neck. Squall looked over.
"Everything okay?" Rinoa looked over at him, smiling. "I'm fine," she said. Turning her head to look out the window, she frowned, and continued to stroke Griever thoughtfully.
1.1.1 Back in the present…
"Hey! Get it moving!" The sergeant bellowed. Around him, soldiers worked hard at removing the debris from a chasm.
"Move it! We need to hurry up and finish!" Straining, the soldiers pushed a large panel out of the way. As the panel moved to the side, a blast of light shot out, nearly blinding everyone.
"What the…" As suddenly as it had appeared, the light faded. One solider ventured forward and looked down into the hole that had appeared.
"Sir! Quick! Come look at this!" The sergeant hurried over.
"Oh my…" Inside, curled up in the fetal position, was a woman.
"So, Cyan, what's been happening?" Irvine asked. Cyan Tribal, the new headmaster of Galbadia Garden, leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.
"Ok, Kinneas. What's up?"
"What do you mean, what's up?" Irvine said.
"Squall Leonheart of Balamb Garden wouldn't have sent you here unless it was something serious." Cyan answered. Irvine frowned, and then told Cyan what had happened.
"So, Setzer might try something."
"That's the word. Squall sent me to warn you, in case they might try to use this Garden as a base of operations again." Cyan nodded.
"Thanks for the warning. We'll take the necessary steps." Irvine frowned.
"What's up?" he asked. "Something is wrong here." Cyan sighed.
"We sent two of our SeeDs into Galbadia undercover to see what was going on."
"Great minds must think alike." Irvine thought. Cyan's next words shocked him to the core.
"There are rumors flying around that there is a sorceress at Balamb Garden."
"WHAAATTT???" Irvine screeched mentally. Outwardly, he kept a calm face.
"Course, they could be lying, since the government is in pretty bad shape."
"Could be." Irvine said. He got up.
"Is it alright with you if I look around for old times sake?"
"Sure." Cyan said. Irvine headed out the door.
Squall was discussing what to do next with Xu when Nida's voice came over the intercom. Getting up, he headed for the elevator.
"Here." Nida said, handing Squall a pair of binoculars. "Port, seven o' clock." Squall looked. In the distance, barely visible, was a Galbadian ship.
"They're following us," Nida said as Squall took the binoculars from his eyes.
"We can't let them find the White SeeD ship. But we also can't attack them either!" The radio cracked to life.
"Irvine Kinneas to Balamb Garden, come in please! Squall, are you there?" Squall grabbed the headset and put it on.
"Irvine? This is Squall. What happened?"
"I can't talk for long, but we've got a problem. Galbadia suspects that there's a sorceress on Balamb Garden!"
"WHAT?" Squall said in shock, his voice raised. Nida looked at him with a look of concern on his face.
"They did the same thing we did, sending two people undercover into Galbadia to see what was going on. Apparently, it's been going around for quite a while. And, Cyan took the news about the possibility of Setzer mounting an attack a little too calmly, I might add." Irvine said.
"Well, we have problems of our own. There's a ship following us." Squall said. Irvine kissed his teeth.
"I'm leaving here now."
"Nida, where are we?" Squall asked.
"Umm…100 miles north of the Centra continent."
"How long would it take to turn around and head for FH?"
"An hour, two hours tops." Nida replied.
"Irvine?" Squall said. "Head for Timber. I'll have Rinoa get in touch with two people she knows over there to help you get over to FH. We'll pick you up there."
"Right." Irvine said, and broke the connection. Squall turned to Nida.
"Get Rinoa up here."
1.1.2 At the Timber train station…
"Could you please tell me what we are doing here again?" Zone asked. Watts turned.
"We need to pick up Squall and Rinoa's friend and help him get over to FH, sir."
"Hmph. I don't like this Setzer business one bit. And the rumors about the sorceress…"
"That's just probably a lie, sir." Watts said. Zone looked at his watch.
"The train should be here shortly. Go see about arranging some transportation for us." Watts nodded and left. Behind Zone, a group of Galbadian soldiers converged.
Setzer turned to face the doctor. Following the discovery of the woman in the excavation site, he had abandoned all work and headed straight to the site.
'This woman is the source of that energy?" The doctor nodded.
"Since there was such a large portion of the ruins preserved, it was able to keep her alive. However, it is a mystery where she came from." Setzer turned back to look at the woman. She appeared to be in her early 20's, but there was something oddly familiar about her…
"Take her to Deling City." A solider came in.
"Sir, Balamb Garden has changed its course."
Rinoa looked into the distance thoughtfully. An idea was slowly forming in her mind. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she jumped when Squall snuck up behind her and put his arms around her.
"Ahh!"
"Take it easy!" Rinoa blew out a breath and relaxed.
"Nida says we'll be at FH within the hour."
"Have you figured out a way to lose the Galbadians?" Rinoa asked. Squall shook his head.
"No."
"I have an idea." Rinoa said, turning to him. "I can use my powers to create a storm and throw them off track."
"Can you do that?" Squall asked. Rinoa nodded.
"It's easy. Also…I'm an honorary SeeD, right? I can be like Matron and use my powers to help."
"Rinoa?" Squall said, puzzled. Rinoa walked away.
"I know you're worried about what would happen if Galbadia found out that I'm the new sorceress." She turned.
"But I want to let you know that I can handle it!" She raised a hand to her chest.
"I've gotten used to my powers. And I have control over them. I…I don't want you to continually worry about me. I just want to let you know that I can handle it. That I'm not this piece of fragile glass…" Squall took her hand.
"Hey." Rinoa looked at him. "I understand. But I also want you to understand that I'm your knight. Even if you did turn evil, I would still be by your side, no matter what. As for you being fragile…you're nothing like that."
"Thanks. I think." Rinoa said dryly. They looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Squall pulled Rinoa close to him.
"C'mon. Let's tell Xu this plan of yours."
Irvine narrowed his eyes. In front of him was the bridge connecting Galbadia and Esthar. Zone and Watts had driven him out there shortly after he had arrived in Timber.
"FH shouldn't be too far, sir." Watts said.
"Yeah, but how is he gonna get down there?" Zone asked. Before Irvine could answer…
"Freeze!" Irvine, Zone, and Watts all whirled around. The Galbadian soldiers that had been watching Zone and Watts in Timber pulled up in front of them, on motorcycles.
"Galbadians!" Watts said. Irvine rushed forward, putting his left hand out.
"Thundaga!" Several bolts of lightning appeared, and pieces of earth came up around the soldiers, knocking them off their bikes. One solider managed to avoid this, sprinting forward towards Irvine, sword raised. Irvine managed to sidestep the initial attack, but got cut on the upper arm by a second attack.
"Ack!" Stepping back, he swung out with Valiant. The butt of the gun caught the solider squarely on the head, knocking him out. Ignoring the pain from his arm, Irvine swung himself onto a bike. Gunning the engine, he headed down the bridge. One of the soldiers struggled up.
"Come on!" He pointed. "You and you, go after that punk! The rest, go after those two maniacs!" He pointed at the fleeing Zone and Watts.
Irvine took a quick look behind him. It looked like the coast was clear for now. Pulling the bike to the side, he stopped. Wincing, he slowly pulled his coat off, revealing the wound.
"Cura." A tingling sensation started as the muscles, blood vessels, and skin rewove themselves.
"Ow! That hurts," he thought. Pulling on his coat again, he restarted the bike.
"I gotta get to FH fast. Those fools are probably on my tail right now!"
Rinoa stood in the courtyard, facing the sea. Behind her, Squall and the others stood watching. Putting them out of her mind, she took a deep breath, and focused.
One of the soldiers ran up to the captain on the bridge on the Galbadian ship.
"Sir! You need to come look at this!" Outside, a thick fog had come out of nowhere, making visibility zero. In the distance, lightning flashed, a sign of an approaching storm.
"What the…where did this come from?" the captain asked, confounded.
Squall whirled around. Above him, lightning flashed, and save for the end of the courtyard, he could not see anything ahead of him.
"Whoa…" Zell said, hushed.
"What's happening?" Selphie asked. Rinoa opened her eyes. In front of them, as far as the eye could see, was thick fog and lightning. Breaking off her focus, she turned around.
"This good enough?" she asked.
"OH YEAH! THIS IS MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH!" Zell hollered.
"We can easily lose them in this!" Quistis said.
"But can you hold it?" Xu asked. Rinoa nodded.
"This will last for several hours. I didn't want to meddle with the weather, so I created this fog and lighting. Just hope the Galbadians don't get too wise and realize this isn't a real storm."
"Can we get to FH in this?" Zell asked.
"Ever hear of something called a compass?" Squall asked. "Last time I checked, we weren't too far from FH."
"I can direct Nida." Rinoa said.
"No, leave it. Let them believe we have the same problem as them." Squall said. Rinoa turned back. Raising a hand, she let her power run through the wind briefly.
Several hundred miles away…
A sudden light burst from the chasm, scattering soldiers. Inside the makeshift infirmary, the mysterious woman started to glow.
At Garden…
Rinoa stiffened. Her eyes widened, and all the color drained from her face.
"Rinoa?" Squall said. Rinoa didn't answer. She was being pulled into a void of nothingness. Her eyes closed, and all the muscles in her body went limp. The last thought she had was hearing footsteps rush forward as she fell.
1.1.3
1.1.4 In Another World
At the same time…
"Ha!" A short, brown-haired girl swung a nunchaku at Raine. Raine jumped back, hearing the voosh of the weapon pass her head.
"You've improved, Tifa!" The girl smiled cockily, green eyes flashing.
"Not so bad yourself, Raine! Your dad's teaching you to handle that gunblade good!" Raine brought her weapon back up, facing Tifa.
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Tilting her Revolver sideways, she closed her eyes and focused. A blue circle of light appeared underneath Tifa's feet, and several beams of light flew up around her, knocking the girl off balance.
"Ack! Hey, no powers!" Tifa complained, recovering. Raine grinned, stepping back.
"I need to practice. And all I did was throw you off balance. Quite simple, really."
'Well, warn me next time you decide to do something like that, okay?' Tifa said. Raine was about to respond when a sudden pain hit her in the chest.
"Ahh!"
"Raine? Raine!" Tifa cried as the girl dropped to the ground, holding her chest. Tifa rushed over to her.
"Ughh…ow…"
"Raine! Are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'm fine now." Raine murmured. She slowly got up. "Where did that come from?" she thought, rubbing her chest. "Feels like I was going to be sucked into something…first that dream, and now this…"
"Hey…you really don't look so hot. Maybe you should go to the infirmary." Tifa said.
"Maybe…" Raine said. Her eyes narrowed.
In the present…
Rinoa awoke in the hospital infirmary. Rubbing her head, she tried to put her thoughts together. Looking out the window, she saw the outline of FH as the Garden approached. Absentmindly, she rubbed her chest, fingering Griever.
Hahaha…
Do you really think that you will come into being?
You can't stop it…
There is nothing you can do…
Haha…
"Uhh!" The girl sat straight up in bed, panting as if she had just finished running a race. A hand reached up and pushed back several locks of brown/auburn hair with golden streaks. Blue eyes looked at the clock on the nightstand.
"Mmph." The hand rubbed a forehead.
"That dream again…that voice…taunting me…" She turned her head towards the window. "Maybe…" The phone rang.
"Coming!" Getting up, she opened her door and hurried down the hall towards the phone.
"Hello? Mom!"
"How are you doing?"
"Fine. Don't worry; I haven't blown anything up. Yet." The girl leaned against the table.
"Raine! Yo! You up yet?" The girl's eyes narrowed.
"Oh no. He did not."
"Raine? Is there anything wrong?"
"Mom, hang on for a minute. I need to go kill somebody." Raine placed the receiver on the table and reached for the handiest weapon available, a tennis ball. Picking it up, she headed for the window. There was silence, followed by a loud "bap!" and a loud yell of pain. Smiling, she came back and picked up the receiver.
"Mom? I'm here now." In a hotel room, a pair of black eyes narrowed.
"Raine, I heard somebody yell." Raine kissed her teeth.
"Just that fool Irvine."
"Don't kiss your teeth." Raine begin to roll her eyes.
"And don't roll your eyes either. I…stop it!"
"Mom?" Raine asked. There was a slap, followed by an indignant "ow!"
"Mom?"
"Sorry, your father is playing the fool again. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Yeah." The woman handed the phone over.
"Here." A pair of blue eyes glared at her, offset by a reddish brown scar in between them.
"That hurt."
"You want to talk to your daughter or not?" A hand took the phone.
"Hello?"
"Daddy!" Raine squealed. Squall sat up in bed, smiling.
"Raine! How are you doing?"
"Fine." Raine said, eying the door to the master bedroom. Squall narrowed his eyes.
"Don't even think about it."
"Don't even think about what?" Raine asked, all innocence.
"My father is gone, so I can play with his Gunblades. No. Practice with your own!"
"Nuts…" Raine sulked. Squall grinned.
"Do you have classes today?"
"No. I'm gonna go outside later on with the guys and practice." Raine said, looking out the window.
"Alright then, here's your mother. I'll talk to you later." Squall said. "Bye!" He handed the phone back to the woman.
"Hello?"
"Mom? Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot, honey." Raine ran her fingers through her hair.
"Did you ever, as a sorceress, have any strange dreams?" The woman straightened.
"What kind of dreams?"
"I don't know…just strange dreams."
"Well…you are going to have things you can't explain as your powers expand. But that's only normal."
"Hmm…" Raine said.
"Is anything wrong?"
"Huh? Oh no, Mom, I was just wondering, that's all. I'll let you go now."
"Alright. I love you."
"Love you too, Mom. Bye."
"Bye." The woman hung up the phone. Automatically, her right hand went up to stroke a silver ring on a chain around her neck. Squall looked over.
"Everything okay?" Rinoa looked over at him, smiling. "I'm fine," she said. Turning her head to look out the window, she frowned, and continued to stroke Griever thoughtfully.
1.1.1 Back in the present…
"Hey! Get it moving!" The sergeant bellowed. Around him, soldiers worked hard at removing the debris from a chasm.
"Move it! We need to hurry up and finish!" Straining, the soldiers pushed a large panel out of the way. As the panel moved to the side, a blast of light shot out, nearly blinding everyone.
"What the…" As suddenly as it had appeared, the light faded. One solider ventured forward and looked down into the hole that had appeared.
"Sir! Quick! Come look at this!" The sergeant hurried over.
"Oh my…" Inside, curled up in the fetal position, was a woman.
"So, Cyan, what's been happening?" Irvine asked. Cyan Tribal, the new headmaster of Galbadia Garden, leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.
"Ok, Kinneas. What's up?"
"What do you mean, what's up?" Irvine said.
"Squall Leonheart of Balamb Garden wouldn't have sent you here unless it was something serious." Cyan answered. Irvine frowned, and then told Cyan what had happened.
"So, Setzer might try something."
"That's the word. Squall sent me to warn you, in case they might try to use this Garden as a base of operations again." Cyan nodded.
"Thanks for the warning. We'll take the necessary steps." Irvine frowned.
"What's up?" he asked. "Something is wrong here." Cyan sighed.
"We sent two of our SeeDs into Galbadia undercover to see what was going on."
"Great minds must think alike." Irvine thought. Cyan's next words shocked him to the core.
"There are rumors flying around that there is a sorceress at Balamb Garden."
"WHAAATTT???" Irvine screeched mentally. Outwardly, he kept a calm face.
"Course, they could be lying, since the government is in pretty bad shape."
"Could be." Irvine said. He got up.
"Is it alright with you if I look around for old times sake?"
"Sure." Cyan said. Irvine headed out the door.
Squall was discussing what to do next with Xu when Nida's voice came over the intercom. Getting up, he headed for the elevator.
"Here." Nida said, handing Squall a pair of binoculars. "Port, seven o' clock." Squall looked. In the distance, barely visible, was a Galbadian ship.
"They're following us," Nida said as Squall took the binoculars from his eyes.
"We can't let them find the White SeeD ship. But we also can't attack them either!" The radio cracked to life.
"Irvine Kinneas to Balamb Garden, come in please! Squall, are you there?" Squall grabbed the headset and put it on.
"Irvine? This is Squall. What happened?"
"I can't talk for long, but we've got a problem. Galbadia suspects that there's a sorceress on Balamb Garden!"
"WHAT?" Squall said in shock, his voice raised. Nida looked at him with a look of concern on his face.
"They did the same thing we did, sending two people undercover into Galbadia to see what was going on. Apparently, it's been going around for quite a while. And, Cyan took the news about the possibility of Setzer mounting an attack a little too calmly, I might add." Irvine said.
"Well, we have problems of our own. There's a ship following us." Squall said. Irvine kissed his teeth.
"I'm leaving here now."
"Nida, where are we?" Squall asked.
"Umm…100 miles north of the Centra continent."
"How long would it take to turn around and head for FH?"
"An hour, two hours tops." Nida replied.
"Irvine?" Squall said. "Head for Timber. I'll have Rinoa get in touch with two people she knows over there to help you get over to FH. We'll pick you up there."
"Right." Irvine said, and broke the connection. Squall turned to Nida.
"Get Rinoa up here."
1.1.2 At the Timber train station…
"Could you please tell me what we are doing here again?" Zone asked. Watts turned.
"We need to pick up Squall and Rinoa's friend and help him get over to FH, sir."
"Hmph. I don't like this Setzer business one bit. And the rumors about the sorceress…"
"That's just probably a lie, sir." Watts said. Zone looked at his watch.
"The train should be here shortly. Go see about arranging some transportation for us." Watts nodded and left. Behind Zone, a group of Galbadian soldiers converged.
Setzer turned to face the doctor. Following the discovery of the woman in the excavation site, he had abandoned all work and headed straight to the site.
'This woman is the source of that energy?" The doctor nodded.
"Since there was such a large portion of the ruins preserved, it was able to keep her alive. However, it is a mystery where she came from." Setzer turned back to look at the woman. She appeared to be in her early 20's, but there was something oddly familiar about her…
"Take her to Deling City." A solider came in.
"Sir, Balamb Garden has changed its course."
Rinoa looked into the distance thoughtfully. An idea was slowly forming in her mind. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she jumped when Squall snuck up behind her and put his arms around her.
"Ahh!"
"Take it easy!" Rinoa blew out a breath and relaxed.
"Nida says we'll be at FH within the hour."
"Have you figured out a way to lose the Galbadians?" Rinoa asked. Squall shook his head.
"No."
"I have an idea." Rinoa said, turning to him. "I can use my powers to create a storm and throw them off track."
"Can you do that?" Squall asked. Rinoa nodded.
"It's easy. Also…I'm an honorary SeeD, right? I can be like Matron and use my powers to help."
"Rinoa?" Squall said, puzzled. Rinoa walked away.
"I know you're worried about what would happen if Galbadia found out that I'm the new sorceress." She turned.
"But I want to let you know that I can handle it!" She raised a hand to her chest.
"I've gotten used to my powers. And I have control over them. I…I don't want you to continually worry about me. I just want to let you know that I can handle it. That I'm not this piece of fragile glass…" Squall took her hand.
"Hey." Rinoa looked at him. "I understand. But I also want you to understand that I'm your knight. Even if you did turn evil, I would still be by your side, no matter what. As for you being fragile…you're nothing like that."
"Thanks. I think." Rinoa said dryly. They looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Squall pulled Rinoa close to him.
"C'mon. Let's tell Xu this plan of yours."
Irvine narrowed his eyes. In front of him was the bridge connecting Galbadia and Esthar. Zone and Watts had driven him out there shortly after he had arrived in Timber.
"FH shouldn't be too far, sir." Watts said.
"Yeah, but how is he gonna get down there?" Zone asked. Before Irvine could answer…
"Freeze!" Irvine, Zone, and Watts all whirled around. The Galbadian soldiers that had been watching Zone and Watts in Timber pulled up in front of them, on motorcycles.
"Galbadians!" Watts said. Irvine rushed forward, putting his left hand out.
"Thundaga!" Several bolts of lightning appeared, and pieces of earth came up around the soldiers, knocking them off their bikes. One solider managed to avoid this, sprinting forward towards Irvine, sword raised. Irvine managed to sidestep the initial attack, but got cut on the upper arm by a second attack.
"Ack!" Stepping back, he swung out with Valiant. The butt of the gun caught the solider squarely on the head, knocking him out. Ignoring the pain from his arm, Irvine swung himself onto a bike. Gunning the engine, he headed down the bridge. One of the soldiers struggled up.
"Come on!" He pointed. "You and you, go after that punk! The rest, go after those two maniacs!" He pointed at the fleeing Zone and Watts.
Irvine took a quick look behind him. It looked like the coast was clear for now. Pulling the bike to the side, he stopped. Wincing, he slowly pulled his coat off, revealing the wound.
"Cura." A tingling sensation started as the muscles, blood vessels, and skin rewove themselves.
"Ow! That hurts," he thought. Pulling on his coat again, he restarted the bike.
"I gotta get to FH fast. Those fools are probably on my tail right now!"
Rinoa stood in the courtyard, facing the sea. Behind her, Squall and the others stood watching. Putting them out of her mind, she took a deep breath, and focused.
One of the soldiers ran up to the captain on the bridge on the Galbadian ship.
"Sir! You need to come look at this!" Outside, a thick fog had come out of nowhere, making visibility zero. In the distance, lightning flashed, a sign of an approaching storm.
"What the…where did this come from?" the captain asked, confounded.
Squall whirled around. Above him, lightning flashed, and save for the end of the courtyard, he could not see anything ahead of him.
"Whoa…" Zell said, hushed.
"What's happening?" Selphie asked. Rinoa opened her eyes. In front of them, as far as the eye could see, was thick fog and lightning. Breaking off her focus, she turned around.
"This good enough?" she asked.
"OH YEAH! THIS IS MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH!" Zell hollered.
"We can easily lose them in this!" Quistis said.
"But can you hold it?" Xu asked. Rinoa nodded.
"This will last for several hours. I didn't want to meddle with the weather, so I created this fog and lighting. Just hope the Galbadians don't get too wise and realize this isn't a real storm."
"Can we get to FH in this?" Zell asked.
"Ever hear of something called a compass?" Squall asked. "Last time I checked, we weren't too far from FH."
"I can direct Nida." Rinoa said.
"No, leave it. Let them believe we have the same problem as them." Squall said. Rinoa turned back. Raising a hand, she let her power run through the wind briefly.
Several hundred miles away…
A sudden light burst from the chasm, scattering soldiers. Inside the makeshift infirmary, the mysterious woman started to glow.
At Garden…
Rinoa stiffened. Her eyes widened, and all the color drained from her face.
"Rinoa?" Squall said. Rinoa didn't answer. She was being pulled into a void of nothingness. Her eyes closed, and all the muscles in her body went limp. The last thought she had was hearing footsteps rush forward as she fell.
1.1.3
1.1.4 In Another World
At the same time…
"Ha!" A short, brown-haired girl swung a nunchaku at Raine. Raine jumped back, hearing the voosh of the weapon pass her head.
"You've improved, Tifa!" The girl smiled cockily, green eyes flashing.
"Not so bad yourself, Raine! Your dad's teaching you to handle that gunblade good!" Raine brought her weapon back up, facing Tifa.
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Tilting her Revolver sideways, she closed her eyes and focused. A blue circle of light appeared underneath Tifa's feet, and several beams of light flew up around her, knocking the girl off balance.
"Ack! Hey, no powers!" Tifa complained, recovering. Raine grinned, stepping back.
"I need to practice. And all I did was throw you off balance. Quite simple, really."
'Well, warn me next time you decide to do something like that, okay?' Tifa said. Raine was about to respond when a sudden pain hit her in the chest.
"Ahh!"
"Raine? Raine!" Tifa cried as the girl dropped to the ground, holding her chest. Tifa rushed over to her.
"Ughh…ow…"
"Raine! Are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'm fine now." Raine murmured. She slowly got up. "Where did that come from?" she thought, rubbing her chest. "Feels like I was going to be sucked into something…first that dream, and now this…"
"Hey…you really don't look so hot. Maybe you should go to the infirmary." Tifa said.
"Maybe…" Raine said. Her eyes narrowed.
In the present…
Rinoa awoke in the hospital infirmary. Rubbing her head, she tried to put her thoughts together. Looking out the window, she saw the outline of FH as the Garden approached. Absentmindly, she rubbed her chest, fingering Griever.