Chapter Thirteen
Squall blinked. For the past several hours, he and the others had been reiterating the events of the past several days to Laguna, trying to figure out Galbadia's next move. Plus the conversation between Julia, Squall, and Rinoa before their battle had Laguna pouncing on Squall like a tiger.
"Lemme get this straight. She claimed to be Rinoa's sister? And she called you her brother-in-law?" Squall nodded.
"Rinoa said she saw her at the party at Galbadia Garden." Quistis said. Zell's head bolted up.
"That reminds me, what did happen at Trabia Garden? We never found out from you guys." Selphie sighed.
"Trabia can't offer any help."
"What?"
"They had their mobile machinery up and ready to go, and then an…accident happened." Irvine said.
"What kind of accident?" Squall asked.
"Unlike Balamb and Galbadia, Trabia's machinery is completely run by computer. The night before we came, somebody got into their mainframe and left a really nasty virus inside. Totally shut down their system. Without the computer, the Garden can't move."
"Byron Alexander is the Headmaster right now, and he says as soon as they can get the computer up and running, they're coming straight out to help." Irvine added.
"Right now, I'd recommend that you get Balamb Garden as close to Esthar as possible." Laguna said.
"Don't even suggest that to Nida." Quistis said. "He says there's no way we can get the Garden over Esthar's terrain."
"Get as close to Esthar as possible then." Laguna amended.
"What if Setzer decides to try and attack Esthar?" Squall said suddenly.
"Only way into Esthar now is through the Great Salt Lake. And going through there is like signing your own death warrant." Kiros said.
"Why?" Ward turned to them and gestured.
"It was Ward's idea to take the majority of the monsters that were left over from the Lunar Cry and have them transported to that area to guard the hidden entrance." Kiros translated.
"There are some seriously nasty monsters there, and trust me, there is no way Galbadia could just waltz through there." Laguna said.
"Hey! You're forgetting something. The sorceress!" Zell said. Odine waddled in.
"Ahem. Ve have zee sealing chamber prepared and ready."
"You're not putting her in it now, are you?" Quistis asked in alarm.
"No! Due to her condition, I would like to keep her under observation for another day or two."
"That should give you more than enough time to come up with a plan." Laguna said. Squall nodded.
Somewhere northwest of Trabia Garden…
Julia's wings faded as she landed on the snow-covered ground.
"That energy my crystal picked up definitely came from here. Hopefully it'll be what I need." She thought. Taking out her crystal, she held it out in front of her. Immediately it started to glow an eerie purplish color. On the ground around her, a black fog appeared, and started to circle around her body. The woman laughed manically as the dark fog enveloped her.
"Hahahahaha! Come to me, knight! I'll send you to your sorceress soon enough! Hahahaha!"
In Another World…
Raine blew out a breath in frustration. Rubbing her eyes, she squinted tiredly at the page in front of her.
"I'm exhausted…maybe the aftereffects of whatever they gave me are starting to kick in…"
"Raine!"
"Huh? Oh, hey Uncle Zell."
"What you reading?"
"Nothing." Raine said quickly, hurriedly closing the book in front of her. Zell's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of the page before Raine closed it.
"SeeD cadets for 3017? What is she doing looking at our old yearbook for?" He thought. Aloud he said, "You doing ok?"
"Yeah…" Raine said, pushing her chair back from the table. ""See you later, Uncle Zell."
"Sure." As Raine walked away, Zell snatched the book from the table. Flipping though it, he stopped at the page Raine had been looking at."
"What the…" Pictures of him, Squall, Selphie, and Seifer when they were younger looked up at him from the page. "What was she looking at this for?!"
"I hope he didn't see what I was looking at." Raine thought as she headed towards the elevator. "Last thing I need is Dad getting on my case about my sudden interest in his classmates from 21 years ago."
Zell frowned. After Raine had left, he had headed straight to Anita's office.
"You want me to find out what type of books Raine checked out?" Anita asked, eyebrows raised. "Can I even ask why?"
"It's just a feeling I have, that's all." Zell said.
"A feeling?"
"Look, will you please just look in the computer for me?"
"Alright, hang on." Anita moved the mouse, and started to type on the keyboard. "Let's see here…yep. She checked out the 3017 yearbook, and one other book."
"You know what type of book?"
"History." Zell hissed in frustration.
"What the heck would she be looking at those for?"
Raine shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it on the couch. One of the newest additions to Balamb Garden was a floor filled with suites for SeeDs and cadets who had gotten married. The one they lived in had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining room, and was even equipped with it's own kitchen. Raine walked in there and took a bottle of juice from the fridge.
"Back to square one." She thought as she walked into the living room, twisting the cap off the bottle. "Now what?" She lifted the bottle to her lips.
"Maybe you could ask me."
"Yyyyaccckkkk!" Raine spat out her juice in surprise and whirled around. Seifer was leaning against the doorway, looking at her.
"Nice to see you again."
"What the…I KNOW I locked the door!"
"You did. It still is."
"Then how the…how did you get in here?!" Raine sputtered.
"I need to talk to you."
"So? Talk."
"We can't talk here." Seifer straightened. As he did, the room started to warp and change.
"Hey!" Raine said in surprise. The walls, ceiling and furniture all disappeared, to be replaced with the same darkness she had seen earlier.
"What the…where are we?"
"Between dimensions."
"How can you…?" Seifer strolled up to her.
"That's my private secret. Right now, we need to talk. Now that we're here, I can get to the point." He took a deep breath. "Raine, I know why your mother's in a coma." At this, Raine whirled around to face him.
"What? You…you know why…what? What is it?" Seifer sighed. This was exactly what he had been afraid of.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"It's…it's too complicated."
"What do you mean it's too complicated?" Raine snarled. "It's very simple, you just tell me why my mother's in a coma. You're the one who's making it complicated!"
"Believe me Raine, I would love to do nothing more than tell you everything. But I can't!" Seifer replied, a touch of frustration in his voice. "If I told you everything, life as you know it would be screwed up royally."
"What are you talking about?" Raine asked, confused. "And…why can't you tell me everything?" Seifer glanced back at her. Selene's warning ran through his head.
"You can't tell her everything. Do that, and you disrupt an already unbalanced timeline. Just tell her the basics. If this is to work, she needs to figure out the rest on her own."
"I can tell you this." Raine's head popped up. "What's happening right now, in the present, didn't put your mother in her condition right now."
"Huh? What's happening right now in the present didn't put your mother in her condition right now?" Raine thought. "And why the emphasis on present?"
"I just gave you a major clue, Raine. You're smart. Figure it out!" Seifer thought. As Raine stood there, worrying her lip and trying to figure out Seifer's cryptic clue…
"Raine?"
"Dad!" Before Raine could even blink, the darkness had vanished, and she was standing in the living room, bottle of juice still in her hand. Squall came in.
"Raine? What's going on?"
"Uuuhhh…" Raine said, at a total loss for words. She looked around. No sign of Seifer. "Uuuhhh…"
"What's going on?" Squall asked, eyebrow raised.
"Nothing…I just wanted a drink." Raine said, holding up her juice bottle. Squall nodded, and walked into the kitchen. Raine quickly put the bottle down on a table.
"Seifer!" She hissed. No response. "Seifer!"
"Raine? You say something?"
"No!" Squall came out.
"I have to work in the office tonight, so you have to take care of dinner for yourself."
"Ok. I'll probably order a pizza or something." Raine replied. Squall nodded in response. "You want me to bring you anything?" Squall shook his head.
"I'll grab something at the cafeteria." He pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "Stay put, ok?"
"Ok…" Raine murmured. Squall grabbed his drink and walked out the door. As it closed, Raine noticed something white lying on the coffee table. Picking it up, she saw that it was a note.
Raine-
I'll be in touch.
-S
"Great! Now what?" Raine said, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "This is the last thing I need! Aaaarrrggghhhh!"
In the present…
Squall gently rubbed his hand over Rinoa's own.
"Just hold on a little longer, darling. I'm coming." He whispered. Laguna walked in.
"Squall…I think you'd better come. I think you need to see this."
"WHAT THE…WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"
"My thoughts exactly!"
"It's huge!!"
"Who could have done something like that?"
"What happened?" Squall asked as he walked into the room.
"Get a load of that!" Zell said, pointing. At first, it looked like someone had hurled several jagged pieces of a purplish-black crystal into the earth. Then when Squall looked closer, it turned out to be a giant castle-like structure, made out of the dark crystal.
"What is that?"
"We don't know ourselves. Trabia Garden just sent these pictures to us." Kiros said.
"They're up and running?" Selphie asked.
"Yes. They say that the area where this structure is located is the site of the giant crater. Huh? What the… what does that mean?" Laguna asked.
"Whoa! That…that place is there?" Zell said.
"On the Trabia continent, there's this massive crater. No one knows where or how it formed." Quistis said in reply to Laguna's query. "However…"
"However what?"
"However, when the Garden got too close, all the instruments and everything else went haywire."
"The Ragarnok too." Selphie added. "Whatever it is, nobody's ever been able to get any proper readings off of it."
"Do they know when it appeared?" Squall asked.
"They don't know. Said it just came out of nowhere."
"Zhis reeks of sorceress magic." Odine said, entering the room. "Zhat iz the only thing I can think of explaining this…phenomena."
"You think the sorceress and Setzer have split ways?" Quistis asked suddenly. "I mean…this doesn't sound like something Setzer would do…"
"How do we know that?" Irvine asked. "If they have split up, that means we're probably in for bigger problems."
"Or maybe she killed Setzer…" Zell offered, trailing off. There was silence for a minute, and then Squall shook his head.
"No. Setzer isn't dead. And I think Quistis is right." Everyone turned to look at him. "It doesn't make sense. We've been trying to figure out why Setzer would want to team up with the sorceress right? Well, what if the sorceress wanted to join him? She helps Setzer gain control and get rid of SeeD, and in exchange she gets…"
"Access to the only sorceress left on the planet! That was her objective from all along!" Laguna exclaimed.
"And now that's she gotten what she wants, she can carry out her own agenda!" Zell finished. Squall nodded, his eyes hard.
"We need to find out what she's going to do, and fast."
It stood there, a black scar against the pure white snow. A crystal castle, with a tower that reached high into the heavens. Around its base, monsters started to gather, drawn by its dark power. Thunder rumbled, and lightning streaked across the sky. Black fog encircled the area around it for up to 2 miles, creating a type of waterless moat, hiding the monsters inside. Julia stood at the tower, gazing down on the scene below.
"Hahaha! Come to me, my darlings. I will make you far more powerful than you have even dared to dream of! The day of reckoning is near, sister! Hahahaha!!!" Her cruel laugh seemed to echo on endlessly as rain started to fall steadily down.
Somewhere…
"Ah!" A pair of eyes opened suddenly. The black orbs stared upwards as a hand rose to rest on a forehead. "Ohhh…" Slowly, the figure got up. Black hair cascaded down the shoulders, and stopped at the waist. A hand went up and touched a strap of a long blue nightgown that had fallen out of its place.
"Just a dream…a dream of events that are long past…" Behind the woman, there was a mutter, then the sound of a body moving. She turned around, and smiled gently. On the bed, all you could see of the second occupant was a toss of messy brown hair. Sighing, she moved over to the balcony. The cool night breeze lifted her hair, and blew over her face, a balm for her troubled mind.
"Still…I could have sworn I heard her voice…" Behind her, the second occupant of the bed rose and walked over to the woman.
"Darling?" The woman turned to face him. "Anything wrong?" The woman smiled.
"No…just a bad dream." The man lifted a hand and the woman took it, gently placing it against her cheek.
"In that case, come back to bed."
"Alright." The woman allowed herself to be gently pulled back, but she turned her head and looked out the window.
"Rest in peace, sister."
In Another World, at that same second…
Raine frowned as she lifted a hand to her forehead.
"Oh no, not the voices again please. I have enough problems as it is, and now I have to deal with this again?" Sighing, she shook her head back and forth to in an attempt to clear it, and dropped onto the couch.
"Acck…I need to figure this out! What the heck did Seifer mean?" She bit her lips and looked up at the ceiling. "I think he meant that the stuff that's going on now didn't cause Mom to get so sick…that it was something else…in the present…in the present…what the heck did he mean by that? If nothing now put Mom in her coma, then…!" She shot up.
"Oh my God!" Realization hit home with the force of a Trigger shot on her Gunblade.
"Seifer said that nothing in the present caused my mother to fall into that coma. But he actually meant the past!! It can't be the future, because no one knows what the future holds!" She jumped up from the couch and started to pace back and forth.
"Now it all makes sense! Mom getting sick over and over. Dad, Uncle Zell, and everyone else trying every single trick in the book to help her get better, but nothing works. Even Odine couldn't figure out what was wrong with her!" Her eyes narrowed.
"Something bad must have happened in the past! But why didn't anyone realize this sooner?" She bit her lips as a memory came back to her.
Balamb Garden, two months before…
"So, assuming that you actually did go back to your dorms and read this chapter, what can we say about Time/Space Magic?" Rinoa asked, walking up and down the rows of students. Tifa raised her hand. "Tifa?"
"We can say that little is actually known about Time/Space magic, so therefore people who use it are taking a small risk." The girl replied.
"Good!" Rinoa said happily. Tifa smiled.
"Yay. My sister the brain strikes again." I.J. said.
"Shut up!" Tifa said, slouching in her chair and kicking her twin in the shins. The class laughed at the exchange between brother and sister.
"Ok, settle down. Tifa, do not kick your brother, I.J., do not tease your sister." Rinoa said, shooting the twins a Look. "Next question. Is it possible to time-travel using Time/Space magic?" She looked around. "Let's see…Raine!"
"Oh lord." Raine moaned.
"Answer the question darling, and I'll leave you alone." Rinoa said, smiling.
"No, we can't use Time/Space magic to time-travel." Raine answered.
"What about the JME?" Another student asked. "Doesn't that use Time/Space magic?"
"The JME is no longer in existence." Rinoa said. This announcement was meet with gasps of shock and stunned looks.
"What?" Rinoa leaned against the desk.
"Shortly after Ultimecia's defeat, it was decided that the JME should be destroyed. Time travel is very dangerous, and the last thing anybody needed was it falling into the wrong hands." Rinoa didn't bother to add that when given the suggestion of destroying the JME, Odine had pitched the mother of all temper tantrums, refusing to obey. It was only when Laguna threatened to turn Squall lose on him that Odine did obey, destroying the machine and all research associated with it.
"But wouldn't being able to go into the past be a good thing? I mean, you could correct all the mistakes you made, and also it would be a great history lesson!" Another student piped up. Rinoa shook her head violently.
"No. Never, ever, EVER mess with the events of the past! You could end up doing something that could erase your entire existence in the present, or the future! Your intentions may be good, but you could do severe damage to your timeline or even the planet's."
"So is it true then? If something happens to you in the past, it can affect you in the future and the present?" Celes asked.
"That's one of the theories." Rinoa said. "However, it never has been proven." She added, straightening.
"Never been proven, huh? Well, here's proof right here!" Raine thought as the memory faded away. "Well…partial proof. I could be wrong, it might be something else, but…what?"
From his spot, Seifer watched as Raine grabbed her jacket and ran out the front door.
"I told you." Selene appeared next to him. Seifer glanced over at her.
"Please, no smug I-told-you-so attitude, please."
"You didn't have to tell her everything, she figured it out on her own."
"You forget, she still has another piece of the puzzle to figure out. And I'm skating on very thin ice with her!" Seifer snapped. "Plus I know she's smart!"
"I know that." Selene said, amusement in her voice. She regarded the blond-haired man. "Who would have thought that Seifer Almasy, sworn enemy of Squall Leonhart, would be the protector of his rival's daughter? He'd lay his life down to protect that girl if need be."
"What are you smiling at?" Seifer demanded.
"Nothing." Selene replied. The smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. "We need to go back and plan. Come." With one last look at Raine, Seifer got up and followed Selene as she left.
Squall blinked. For the past several hours, he and the others had been reiterating the events of the past several days to Laguna, trying to figure out Galbadia's next move. Plus the conversation between Julia, Squall, and Rinoa before their battle had Laguna pouncing on Squall like a tiger.
"Lemme get this straight. She claimed to be Rinoa's sister? And she called you her brother-in-law?" Squall nodded.
"Rinoa said she saw her at the party at Galbadia Garden." Quistis said. Zell's head bolted up.
"That reminds me, what did happen at Trabia Garden? We never found out from you guys." Selphie sighed.
"Trabia can't offer any help."
"What?"
"They had their mobile machinery up and ready to go, and then an…accident happened." Irvine said.
"What kind of accident?" Squall asked.
"Unlike Balamb and Galbadia, Trabia's machinery is completely run by computer. The night before we came, somebody got into their mainframe and left a really nasty virus inside. Totally shut down their system. Without the computer, the Garden can't move."
"Byron Alexander is the Headmaster right now, and he says as soon as they can get the computer up and running, they're coming straight out to help." Irvine added.
"Right now, I'd recommend that you get Balamb Garden as close to Esthar as possible." Laguna said.
"Don't even suggest that to Nida." Quistis said. "He says there's no way we can get the Garden over Esthar's terrain."
"Get as close to Esthar as possible then." Laguna amended.
"What if Setzer decides to try and attack Esthar?" Squall said suddenly.
"Only way into Esthar now is through the Great Salt Lake. And going through there is like signing your own death warrant." Kiros said.
"Why?" Ward turned to them and gestured.
"It was Ward's idea to take the majority of the monsters that were left over from the Lunar Cry and have them transported to that area to guard the hidden entrance." Kiros translated.
"There are some seriously nasty monsters there, and trust me, there is no way Galbadia could just waltz through there." Laguna said.
"Hey! You're forgetting something. The sorceress!" Zell said. Odine waddled in.
"Ahem. Ve have zee sealing chamber prepared and ready."
"You're not putting her in it now, are you?" Quistis asked in alarm.
"No! Due to her condition, I would like to keep her under observation for another day or two."
"That should give you more than enough time to come up with a plan." Laguna said. Squall nodded.
Somewhere northwest of Trabia Garden…
Julia's wings faded as she landed on the snow-covered ground.
"That energy my crystal picked up definitely came from here. Hopefully it'll be what I need." She thought. Taking out her crystal, she held it out in front of her. Immediately it started to glow an eerie purplish color. On the ground around her, a black fog appeared, and started to circle around her body. The woman laughed manically as the dark fog enveloped her.
"Hahahahaha! Come to me, knight! I'll send you to your sorceress soon enough! Hahahaha!"
In Another World…
Raine blew out a breath in frustration. Rubbing her eyes, she squinted tiredly at the page in front of her.
"I'm exhausted…maybe the aftereffects of whatever they gave me are starting to kick in…"
"Raine!"
"Huh? Oh, hey Uncle Zell."
"What you reading?"
"Nothing." Raine said quickly, hurriedly closing the book in front of her. Zell's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of the page before Raine closed it.
"SeeD cadets for 3017? What is she doing looking at our old yearbook for?" He thought. Aloud he said, "You doing ok?"
"Yeah…" Raine said, pushing her chair back from the table. ""See you later, Uncle Zell."
"Sure." As Raine walked away, Zell snatched the book from the table. Flipping though it, he stopped at the page Raine had been looking at."
"What the…" Pictures of him, Squall, Selphie, and Seifer when they were younger looked up at him from the page. "What was she looking at this for?!"
"I hope he didn't see what I was looking at." Raine thought as she headed towards the elevator. "Last thing I need is Dad getting on my case about my sudden interest in his classmates from 21 years ago."
Zell frowned. After Raine had left, he had headed straight to Anita's office.
"You want me to find out what type of books Raine checked out?" Anita asked, eyebrows raised. "Can I even ask why?"
"It's just a feeling I have, that's all." Zell said.
"A feeling?"
"Look, will you please just look in the computer for me?"
"Alright, hang on." Anita moved the mouse, and started to type on the keyboard. "Let's see here…yep. She checked out the 3017 yearbook, and one other book."
"You know what type of book?"
"History." Zell hissed in frustration.
"What the heck would she be looking at those for?"
Raine shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it on the couch. One of the newest additions to Balamb Garden was a floor filled with suites for SeeDs and cadets who had gotten married. The one they lived in had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining room, and was even equipped with it's own kitchen. Raine walked in there and took a bottle of juice from the fridge.
"Back to square one." She thought as she walked into the living room, twisting the cap off the bottle. "Now what?" She lifted the bottle to her lips.
"Maybe you could ask me."
"Yyyyaccckkkk!" Raine spat out her juice in surprise and whirled around. Seifer was leaning against the doorway, looking at her.
"Nice to see you again."
"What the…I KNOW I locked the door!"
"You did. It still is."
"Then how the…how did you get in here?!" Raine sputtered.
"I need to talk to you."
"So? Talk."
"We can't talk here." Seifer straightened. As he did, the room started to warp and change.
"Hey!" Raine said in surprise. The walls, ceiling and furniture all disappeared, to be replaced with the same darkness she had seen earlier.
"What the…where are we?"
"Between dimensions."
"How can you…?" Seifer strolled up to her.
"That's my private secret. Right now, we need to talk. Now that we're here, I can get to the point." He took a deep breath. "Raine, I know why your mother's in a coma." At this, Raine whirled around to face him.
"What? You…you know why…what? What is it?" Seifer sighed. This was exactly what he had been afraid of.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"It's…it's too complicated."
"What do you mean it's too complicated?" Raine snarled. "It's very simple, you just tell me why my mother's in a coma. You're the one who's making it complicated!"
"Believe me Raine, I would love to do nothing more than tell you everything. But I can't!" Seifer replied, a touch of frustration in his voice. "If I told you everything, life as you know it would be screwed up royally."
"What are you talking about?" Raine asked, confused. "And…why can't you tell me everything?" Seifer glanced back at her. Selene's warning ran through his head.
"You can't tell her everything. Do that, and you disrupt an already unbalanced timeline. Just tell her the basics. If this is to work, she needs to figure out the rest on her own."
"I can tell you this." Raine's head popped up. "What's happening right now, in the present, didn't put your mother in her condition right now."
"Huh? What's happening right now in the present didn't put your mother in her condition right now?" Raine thought. "And why the emphasis on present?"
"I just gave you a major clue, Raine. You're smart. Figure it out!" Seifer thought. As Raine stood there, worrying her lip and trying to figure out Seifer's cryptic clue…
"Raine?"
"Dad!" Before Raine could even blink, the darkness had vanished, and she was standing in the living room, bottle of juice still in her hand. Squall came in.
"Raine? What's going on?"
"Uuuhhh…" Raine said, at a total loss for words. She looked around. No sign of Seifer. "Uuuhhh…"
"What's going on?" Squall asked, eyebrow raised.
"Nothing…I just wanted a drink." Raine said, holding up her juice bottle. Squall nodded, and walked into the kitchen. Raine quickly put the bottle down on a table.
"Seifer!" She hissed. No response. "Seifer!"
"Raine? You say something?"
"No!" Squall came out.
"I have to work in the office tonight, so you have to take care of dinner for yourself."
"Ok. I'll probably order a pizza or something." Raine replied. Squall nodded in response. "You want me to bring you anything?" Squall shook his head.
"I'll grab something at the cafeteria." He pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "Stay put, ok?"
"Ok…" Raine murmured. Squall grabbed his drink and walked out the door. As it closed, Raine noticed something white lying on the coffee table. Picking it up, she saw that it was a note.
Raine-
I'll be in touch.
-S
"Great! Now what?" Raine said, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "This is the last thing I need! Aaaarrrggghhhh!"
In the present…
Squall gently rubbed his hand over Rinoa's own.
"Just hold on a little longer, darling. I'm coming." He whispered. Laguna walked in.
"Squall…I think you'd better come. I think you need to see this."
"WHAT THE…WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"
"My thoughts exactly!"
"It's huge!!"
"Who could have done something like that?"
"What happened?" Squall asked as he walked into the room.
"Get a load of that!" Zell said, pointing. At first, it looked like someone had hurled several jagged pieces of a purplish-black crystal into the earth. Then when Squall looked closer, it turned out to be a giant castle-like structure, made out of the dark crystal.
"What is that?"
"We don't know ourselves. Trabia Garden just sent these pictures to us." Kiros said.
"They're up and running?" Selphie asked.
"Yes. They say that the area where this structure is located is the site of the giant crater. Huh? What the… what does that mean?" Laguna asked.
"Whoa! That…that place is there?" Zell said.
"On the Trabia continent, there's this massive crater. No one knows where or how it formed." Quistis said in reply to Laguna's query. "However…"
"However what?"
"However, when the Garden got too close, all the instruments and everything else went haywire."
"The Ragarnok too." Selphie added. "Whatever it is, nobody's ever been able to get any proper readings off of it."
"Do they know when it appeared?" Squall asked.
"They don't know. Said it just came out of nowhere."
"Zhis reeks of sorceress magic." Odine said, entering the room. "Zhat iz the only thing I can think of explaining this…phenomena."
"You think the sorceress and Setzer have split ways?" Quistis asked suddenly. "I mean…this doesn't sound like something Setzer would do…"
"How do we know that?" Irvine asked. "If they have split up, that means we're probably in for bigger problems."
"Or maybe she killed Setzer…" Zell offered, trailing off. There was silence for a minute, and then Squall shook his head.
"No. Setzer isn't dead. And I think Quistis is right." Everyone turned to look at him. "It doesn't make sense. We've been trying to figure out why Setzer would want to team up with the sorceress right? Well, what if the sorceress wanted to join him? She helps Setzer gain control and get rid of SeeD, and in exchange she gets…"
"Access to the only sorceress left on the planet! That was her objective from all along!" Laguna exclaimed.
"And now that's she gotten what she wants, she can carry out her own agenda!" Zell finished. Squall nodded, his eyes hard.
"We need to find out what she's going to do, and fast."
It stood there, a black scar against the pure white snow. A crystal castle, with a tower that reached high into the heavens. Around its base, monsters started to gather, drawn by its dark power. Thunder rumbled, and lightning streaked across the sky. Black fog encircled the area around it for up to 2 miles, creating a type of waterless moat, hiding the monsters inside. Julia stood at the tower, gazing down on the scene below.
"Hahaha! Come to me, my darlings. I will make you far more powerful than you have even dared to dream of! The day of reckoning is near, sister! Hahahaha!!!" Her cruel laugh seemed to echo on endlessly as rain started to fall steadily down.
Somewhere…
"Ah!" A pair of eyes opened suddenly. The black orbs stared upwards as a hand rose to rest on a forehead. "Ohhh…" Slowly, the figure got up. Black hair cascaded down the shoulders, and stopped at the waist. A hand went up and touched a strap of a long blue nightgown that had fallen out of its place.
"Just a dream…a dream of events that are long past…" Behind the woman, there was a mutter, then the sound of a body moving. She turned around, and smiled gently. On the bed, all you could see of the second occupant was a toss of messy brown hair. Sighing, she moved over to the balcony. The cool night breeze lifted her hair, and blew over her face, a balm for her troubled mind.
"Still…I could have sworn I heard her voice…" Behind her, the second occupant of the bed rose and walked over to the woman.
"Darling?" The woman turned to face him. "Anything wrong?" The woman smiled.
"No…just a bad dream." The man lifted a hand and the woman took it, gently placing it against her cheek.
"In that case, come back to bed."
"Alright." The woman allowed herself to be gently pulled back, but she turned her head and looked out the window.
"Rest in peace, sister."
In Another World, at that same second…
Raine frowned as she lifted a hand to her forehead.
"Oh no, not the voices again please. I have enough problems as it is, and now I have to deal with this again?" Sighing, she shook her head back and forth to in an attempt to clear it, and dropped onto the couch.
"Acck…I need to figure this out! What the heck did Seifer mean?" She bit her lips and looked up at the ceiling. "I think he meant that the stuff that's going on now didn't cause Mom to get so sick…that it was something else…in the present…in the present…what the heck did he mean by that? If nothing now put Mom in her coma, then…!" She shot up.
"Oh my God!" Realization hit home with the force of a Trigger shot on her Gunblade.
"Seifer said that nothing in the present caused my mother to fall into that coma. But he actually meant the past!! It can't be the future, because no one knows what the future holds!" She jumped up from the couch and started to pace back and forth.
"Now it all makes sense! Mom getting sick over and over. Dad, Uncle Zell, and everyone else trying every single trick in the book to help her get better, but nothing works. Even Odine couldn't figure out what was wrong with her!" Her eyes narrowed.
"Something bad must have happened in the past! But why didn't anyone realize this sooner?" She bit her lips as a memory came back to her.
Balamb Garden, two months before…
"So, assuming that you actually did go back to your dorms and read this chapter, what can we say about Time/Space Magic?" Rinoa asked, walking up and down the rows of students. Tifa raised her hand. "Tifa?"
"We can say that little is actually known about Time/Space magic, so therefore people who use it are taking a small risk." The girl replied.
"Good!" Rinoa said happily. Tifa smiled.
"Yay. My sister the brain strikes again." I.J. said.
"Shut up!" Tifa said, slouching in her chair and kicking her twin in the shins. The class laughed at the exchange between brother and sister.
"Ok, settle down. Tifa, do not kick your brother, I.J., do not tease your sister." Rinoa said, shooting the twins a Look. "Next question. Is it possible to time-travel using Time/Space magic?" She looked around. "Let's see…Raine!"
"Oh lord." Raine moaned.
"Answer the question darling, and I'll leave you alone." Rinoa said, smiling.
"No, we can't use Time/Space magic to time-travel." Raine answered.
"What about the JME?" Another student asked. "Doesn't that use Time/Space magic?"
"The JME is no longer in existence." Rinoa said. This announcement was meet with gasps of shock and stunned looks.
"What?" Rinoa leaned against the desk.
"Shortly after Ultimecia's defeat, it was decided that the JME should be destroyed. Time travel is very dangerous, and the last thing anybody needed was it falling into the wrong hands." Rinoa didn't bother to add that when given the suggestion of destroying the JME, Odine had pitched the mother of all temper tantrums, refusing to obey. It was only when Laguna threatened to turn Squall lose on him that Odine did obey, destroying the machine and all research associated with it.
"But wouldn't being able to go into the past be a good thing? I mean, you could correct all the mistakes you made, and also it would be a great history lesson!" Another student piped up. Rinoa shook her head violently.
"No. Never, ever, EVER mess with the events of the past! You could end up doing something that could erase your entire existence in the present, or the future! Your intentions may be good, but you could do severe damage to your timeline or even the planet's."
"So is it true then? If something happens to you in the past, it can affect you in the future and the present?" Celes asked.
"That's one of the theories." Rinoa said. "However, it never has been proven." She added, straightening.
"Never been proven, huh? Well, here's proof right here!" Raine thought as the memory faded away. "Well…partial proof. I could be wrong, it might be something else, but…what?"
From his spot, Seifer watched as Raine grabbed her jacket and ran out the front door.
"I told you." Selene appeared next to him. Seifer glanced over at her.
"Please, no smug I-told-you-so attitude, please."
"You didn't have to tell her everything, she figured it out on her own."
"You forget, she still has another piece of the puzzle to figure out. And I'm skating on very thin ice with her!" Seifer snapped. "Plus I know she's smart!"
"I know that." Selene said, amusement in her voice. She regarded the blond-haired man. "Who would have thought that Seifer Almasy, sworn enemy of Squall Leonhart, would be the protector of his rival's daughter? He'd lay his life down to protect that girl if need be."
"What are you smiling at?" Seifer demanded.
"Nothing." Selene replied. The smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. "We need to go back and plan. Come." With one last look at Raine, Seifer got up and followed Selene as she left.