Lady t: I LIIIVVVEEEE!
Valefor: Yes, I know. Now let all your fans know!
Lady t: Whatever. *bows* I am so sorry for the MAJOR lack of updates to WA. But that's college life for you…I will try my hardest to update regularly…
Valefor: Yeah right.
Lady t: You want me to replace you with Bahamut? At least he doesn't bug me!
Valefor: I thought you said you weren't summoning him again after he Mega Flared the cafertria. *Bahamut appears out of nowhere*
Bahamut: I sneezed!
Valefor: Uh huh. Right.
Lady t: See what I gotta deal with? Anyway, I got to do a big shout out to all the people who have reviewed all my stories so far, and a special one to team-senshi. You guys make my day with your reviews and e-mails! God bless you all!
Valefor: Can we get on with the story now?
Lady t: Yes. One more thing, however. If anyone who's reviewed my story has played Kingdom Hearts, I have a question. Is there anyplace I can find the lyrics to "Destati" and a midi for the song "Simple and Clean?"
Thanks a lot!
Valefor: GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!
Lady t: Jeez, calm down! I'm going, I'm going! Oh, almost forgot! In this chapter, there are references to stuff in my other story, "WA2: The Awakening." Tell me what they are and you get a virtual cookie! ^_~
Chapter Twenty
Squall re-hooked Lion Heart to his belt. In front of him, the body of a Chimera slowly started to disappear into mist.
"Was it just me, or was the Chimera a whole lot nastier than the ones we faced on the ICTH?" Zell asked, panting.
"It was nastier." Quistis replied. "All this magic energy around here has caused the monsters to mutate and increase in power, remember?" Squall reached for a crystal lamp housed in a bracket on the wall.
"Let's keep going."
"Hey Raine…"
"Yeah?"
"Check out these murals!" Raine turned her head to see I.J. and Celes gaping at the walls.
"Whoa…" The murals were vividly colored, depecting people and creatures in several different scenes. "Beautiful…"
"Look at this one!" Celes said, pointing. A bird-like creature, red, gold, and purple in color, dominated one part of the wall. "That is gorgous."
"I wonder what it is. It doesn't look like a monster." I.J. said.
Unaware of the trio behind them, Squall and the others were also admiring the murals as well.
"Why do I have the feeling we're not on Gaia anymore?" Selphie asked.
"You're right. Everything here feels like it's from another world." Quistis replied.
"So you're saying that this sorceress could be from another world as well?" Zell asked.
"It makes sense." Squall said. "There hasn't been more than three sorcressess on this planet at a time even before the First Sorceress War. And now we've only got one."
"But what would she want with our world? What's so important about Gaia that every creep must crawl out of the woodwork to come after it? I mean, first Ultimecia with time compression, and now this!" Irvine said. Squall didn't reply, just crouched down close to the wall to examine something.
"Bahamut?!"
"Hey Squall!" Squall stood up.
"Coming." Walking out of the hall, he met Quistis, who was looking back at the way they had came. "What's wrong?"
"I dunno if it's me or something else, but I could have sworn I heard something back there…" The blonde said. Squall's eyes narrowed as he aimed the light back into the hall.
"Look at who got their attention now!"
"Shut up! It's not my fault!" Celes hissed.
"Excuse me, but I seem to remember ME saying that excate same thing and YOU busting my chops!" Raine hissed back.
"Girls! Chill out!" I.J. whispered. The three ducked down as the light played over the walls.
"I don't see anything, Quisty." I.J. started at the sound of his mother's voice.
"I might have been imagining things…" The light faded back, and the three friends straightened.
"Too close…" Celes mummered.
"Gotta keep moving." Raine said.
In the upper levels of the castle…
Julia smirked as she watched Squall and the others make their way through the castle's puzzles and traps.
"Why am I not surprised. My sister must still be alive for them to come in like this…" She giggled madly. "They must have found a way to return her power back to her." The smile on her face faded away however, as the image of Squall disappeared, and was replaced by the image of Raine. "What…what the…who is this girl?!" The image wavered for a minute, and then was replaced by another image of Raine, this time dressed in a dark blue dress with a gold circlet in her hair. Instead of her Gunblade, she held a staff with some sort of circle-shaped design on top.
"What on earth…" As Julia watched, entranced, the image slowly turned its head and faced the older woman, before blinking out of sight. Despertly, Julia tried to recall the image, but was unable to. After several minutes, Julia collapsed into a chair, eyeing the spot where the image had been.
"Who was that girl? And why do I feel like I know her?!" As she started to calm down from the shock the images had given her, Julia slowly became aware of a sensation within her that she hadn't felt for a long time. One that she had considered herself unable to feel, and had mastered.
"What's this feeling?" She lifted her hands and looked at them. "My hands…they're trembling. Am I…am I…afraid?"
Ahead of Squall and the others, the hooded figure glided along the floor and into a room. As the door closed behind it, it settled into the darkness, patiently waiting for it's prey as how a cat waits on a mouse to leave it's hole.
"Come to me, Leonhart…"
"Huh?"
"Raine? What's wrong?" Celes asked.
"I thought I heard something…"
"It just might be your imagination." I.J. said.
"Yeah, might be…" Raine mummered.
"Watch out!" Selphie screamed. The Ruby Dragon let loose a loud roar and advanced on the group.
"Zell, Quistis, take left and right! Irvine and Selphie, stay in the back!" Squall yelled. He lunged forward and slashed at the Ruby Dragon's neck.
"Ice Breath!" Quistis called.
"Ultima!" Zell roared. The two spells hit the monster, causing it to stagger backwards.
"Blasting Zone!" Squall howled. A beam of light shot up from the Gunblade, intensifying in power, until it was too bright to look at. Squall then brought it down on the Dragon, causing it to scream in pain, and then eventually fall down dead, fading into mist.
"Ah! Guys!" Irvine yelled, pointing. Another Ruby Dragon had appeared behind the group, growling dangerously.
"Run!" Squall bellowed, sprinting forward. The group dashed down the hallway, the monster hot on their tail.
Five minutes later, Raine, Celes, and I.J. came upon the place where Squall and the others had fought the first Ruby Dragon.
"Scorch marks!" Celes said, running her hand over a streak of back ash on the wall. Raine inhaled sharply.
"Dad's Blasting Zone attack. They must have gotten into a fight!"
"Guess the monster got the short end of the stick in this one." I.J. remarked.
"We better hurry." Raine said. The trio started to sprint down the hall.
Squall bent over, breathing heavily. At his feet, the spent shells of bullets fired from his Gunblade lay scattered.
"If…if…if fighting a Ruby Dragon is this bad….what's it going to be like when we take on the sorceress?" Zell asked, gasping for breath.
"Don't think that way! Quistis said.
"Yeah. Nice, happy thoughts, remember?" Irvine panted. Squall slowly straightened.
"Let's find someplace safe where we can catch ourselves."
"Guys, look! Here's more!" Celes said, pointing. Raine squatted on the ground.
"These are Dad's bullets!" She turned over the casing in her hand. "From his Lion Heart Gunblade."
"Oh man, he's got that?" I.J. asked.
"That's his best Gunblade, of course he has that! What weapon do you use when you're going up against a crazy sorcer…oops." Celes stopped suddenly, realizing what she just said. "Raine, I'm…"
"It's cool." Raine said, waving a hand. She got up. "My guess is that they're looking for someplace safe to rest. The feeling I'm getting is that the monsters running around here are the stuff nightmares are made up of."
"That's putting it mildly." Celes said. Raine cracked a grin as she tucked the casing into her pocket.
"Well, would have you preferred the harsher way?" she quipped.
"Personally, I would have preferred the easier way." I.J. gumbled. Raine smiled.
"Nothing in this life ever came easy." She said, walking through the door.
"Yeah, I hear that all the time." I.J. muttered. "I…Raine?" The girl had suddenly gone stock-still, eyes staring straight ahead. "Raine?" Raine didn't say anything, just kept looking ahead. Then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed. "RAINE!"
It crept all over her body. A nameless fear to which she could not voice. Chills racked her frame, and all she could do was wrap her arms around herself, in a vain attempt to keep herself warm.
"Cold…so cold…" Then an image flashed before her eyes, one far worse than the emotions than what she was feeling right now.
"In here." Raine watched as Squall held open a door so that the others could run in. "We'll be safe in here." Taking up the rear, he shut the door behind them. But as he did so…
"Squall!" The door faded, and an eerie green light started to glow. Behind Squall, a hooded figure appeared, holding Lion Heart high in the air. As Squall whirled around to face this new enemy, the figure brought the Gunblade down…
"AAAIIIEEEE!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!! FATHER!!!!!! Oh God, no! Daddy!!"
"Raine! Raine, snap out of it!" With a gasp, Raine's eyes flew open. She was lying flat on the ground, I.J. and Celes looming over her, looks of worry on their faces.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Celes asked.
"Dad…Let me up. I gotta get up now!"
"What's going on?" I.J. asked as Raine lurched to her feet.
"We have to go. Now!"
"What happened?!" Celes cried.
"I had a vision. Dad…they found a safe place in the castle to rest…but it was a trap…We have to keep them away from it!"
"How do we do that?" I.J. asked. Raine unhooked her Gunblade and started to run. "Only way we can do that is to…ah!"
"Raine, no!" Celes called, but it was to the back of her friend. "We can't!"
"We can! This is what I'm supposed to prevent!" Was the reply. Celes and I.J. looked at each other, and then ran after their friend.
"Oh well. At least we know what we have to do now." I.J. said.
"Yeah. Fight your parents!" Celes replied.
Squall's head whipped up as Raine's scream echoed throughout the castle.
"What the heck was that?" Quistis asked.
"Another monster?" Irvine asked.
"I don't think we're in any postion to fight again…we need to find someplace safe. Now!" Squall said. "That scream…it sounded so familiar…"
"Hey, look!" Zell said, breaking off Squall's train of thought. "There's a room up ahead. We could take a break in there."
"Sounds good. Because If I go one step further my legs will fall off." Selphie said. Squall nodded.
"Alright."
The figure hissed in anticipation as Squall and the others neared.
"Closer…closer…"
Raine panted as she tore down the hall.
"God, let me get there in time, please! Don't let him even touch that door!"
"Raine, wait up for us!" Celes called. She and I.J. caught up to the girl. "You can't have the party without us!"
"Yeah! After all, how many teenagers can say that they've had the pleasure of messing with their soon-to-be parents' heads in the past, eh?" I.J. added.
"You got a plan?" Celes asked.
"Not really…I'm making it up as I go along." Raine replied.
"Well, that's good." Celes said.
The five friends reached the door, hands on weapons the whole time.
"Let's hurry up and get inside." Squall said. As he reached out a hand towards the door….
"FIRAGA!" A column of flame suddenly surrounded Squall, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards.
"Argh!"
"Squall!" Quistis cried. The teenager rolled away, embers falling off his jacket. "Are you alright?"
"Inside. Now!" Squall growled, rising to his feet. But before he could get to the door again…
BANG. A bullet blew past his head and embedded itself into the frame. "Ah!"
"That's it! Who's firing at us?!" Zell bellowed.
"We are!" Everyone's heads whipped around. Then eyes bugged out and jaws hit the ground.
"What the…" Squall blinked in shock. Lion Heart fell out of his hand, forgotten as it clattered to the floor.
Blue eyes met blue eyes. The face was one that Squall saw in his mirror every morning, with the exception of the reddish-brown scar that dominated his own. Brown hair fell past black-clad shoulders, and light glinted off a silver necklace.
"Oh my God…" Quistis said.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Zell whispered. Two other people stepped from out of the shadows, and stood next to the girl. "Oh my…"
"Irvine?!" Selphie choked out. One of the people was a boy. Long alburn hair tied back in a ponytail fell just above the waist. Green eyes sparkled with just a hint of amusment. "No, it can't be…"
"It's a trick!" Zell roared. He dashed forward, aiming a punch at the first girl. "This is the same illusion we saw at the Garden!" A sudden CRACK, and he fell backwards. "Ow! What the…"
"Stay back if you know what's good for you!" The third person said. A black girl, hair pulled up, and wearing a t-shirt and mini-skirt cracked her whip. "We don't want to hurt you."
"Are you the Sorceress?!" Irvine demanded of the first girl. She shook her head.
"No. But I can't let you go on."
"If you are not with the Sorceress, then who are you working for?" Squall demanded, having regained his wits.
"I'm not working with anybody. Believe me if you wish, but I cannot let you advance."
"Then you're our enemy!" Selphie said, swinging out Strange Vision. "And we defeat our enemies! You have no idea of whom you're messing with!"
"Alright. Then have it your way." The girl said. Reaching to her side, she unhooked a Gunblade, eerily similar to Squall's Revolver. The boy cocked a shotgun, and the other girl snapped her whip. Squall picked up Lion Heart and assumed an attack position, Quistis and Zell standing by his sides. The girl did the same, the other two standing by her sides as well.
"Do you see…" Quistis mummered.
"Same weapon, same attack stance." Zell muttered. "Not to mention same looks!"
"Do you have any idea of what we're doing?" Celes asked.
"No." Raine thought back.
"Just checking."
"Let me and Celes handle my 'rents, Aunt Quistis, and Uncle Zell. That leaves you with your father to handle." I.J. thought.
"That's four people against two. Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Yeah."
"Cast a Silence spell on your mother, and a Stop spell on your father. Then just focus on Aunt Quistis and Uncle Zell. Don't give them a chance to heal them." Celes thought back.
"Right." Raine gripped the handle of her Gunblade.
"Here goes everything…"