Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or its characters. They are ALL copyrighted by Squaresoft. ALL the chapters in this fic follow the same disclaimer!!!!
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Eternal Struggle
It had been only two months after the aftermath of Ultimecia, and now, another new threat has approached his small little world. He couldn't believe it. After everything he had been through, there was yet another thing coming for him. But this time, he was not going to face it alone.
Part I – The Lunar Crisis
Chapter 1 - Problems
"Tick tock goes the clock. The accursed SeeD have only two more months before they are, in simple words, destroyed." Dragoon was saying to his to-be wife, Sapphire, who was dressed in black/blue clothing. "In only two months, I will be the supreme ruler…and you, will be by my side, my young queen." Sapphire looked up and smiled. Her rich black hair went down to her shoulders and her necklace held two rings…………one with a lion shaped crest.
"Upon this pathetic base on the moon, I have overseen the world for many long centuries, only to await the perfect moment to strike. The long arduous years I have spent building a huge army – the perfect army in one sense, will finally pay off. I still wonder if I should have presented myself yesterday. Sure, there was a brilliant display of fireworks at the Centra Ruins, how it was destroyed in no less than 1 hour. But still, maybe a surprise elemental attack would have been more to savor. Oh well, what's past is past, and now only the future remains."
------*****-------
"I can't believe this! We couldn't do a DAMN thing to stop him!" Zell stammered as he slammed his fist onto the cafeteria table, sending a hot dog bun flying. Quistis, Irvine and Selphie, who were there with him, were thinking the same thing. "What the hell!! We even attacked them with our GFs. Hell, not even Eden or Bahamut could do much, and they are our most powerful. Guys, this is not good. I know I shouldn't be given up hope and all, especially with what we went through with Ultimecia, but things look pretty slim" he said as he slumped against his chair. He just didn't seem any way around the situation. It seemed hopeless. Then something hit him, looking around, "Hey, where in the world is Squall!?" he asked as everyone else gave the same questionable look as Zell had.
------*****-------
'Normally, I would just go ahead without everyone and try to stop this myself, even though I know I have no chance whatsoever.' the lone commander said to himself. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, just thinking about what just happened the last 24 hours. 'We've tried everything, but it just didn't work. What can we do? What is this guy's weakness?' Squall rolled over in bed many times before falling asleep…
"Rinoa…where are you…?"
-----*****-----
"Squall! This is Laguna speaking. If you are anywhere in this garden, please report to the control room immediately……hey watch it…"
Ellone took over the microphone. "Squall! It's Ellone. Look, I know this might not be the time to be asking you this, but WE need your help. Can you come to the control room quickly? Thank you."
Getting up after a night's rest, he gently smoothed out his attire and slowly made his way to the control room. He wondered what Ellone could want this time, when the flashes of the Centra Ruins suddenly flashed into his mind, acknowledging to himself that was probably the reason.
After defeating Ultimecia, almost the entire garden looked upon him like a God or something – it really got on Squall's nerves. He just wanted to be a regular guy just like he used to be, but he knew those days were over. He was now the Commander of the most Elite fighters in the world – SeeD. Whenever he told them to stop, they just ignore his request and place the red carpet right in front of him. Squall sighed, he knew he had to get used to it, even though he didn't want to.
As he reached the elevator, he ran into Irvine. "Hey Squall, still no sign of Rinoa?" All Squall could do was a miserable shaking of his head, negatively, before he entered the elevator. Pressing the 3rd floor button, Squall rested against the wall as the doors shut closed, taking Irvine away from the picture.
In the process, he just couldn't help but to think about her. It had been a month since she left. She had said she had to go somewhere, and said she'd be back in about a week. He remembered urging Rinoa in letting him go with her, but all she did was refuse, and with the angelic smile on her face, Squall couldn't argue any longer. But that week turned into many weeks, as she never came back. He couldn't remember how long he had spent looking for her. It seemed like everyday was another eternity he had to go through. If it were not for the problem of fuel, he'd be out there right now in the airship, Ragnarok, looking for her. But now this other problem had arrived, a problem that involved the fate of the world and in order to find Rinoa, there had to be a world.
As the elevator doors opened, he walked and pushed the doors open that were hiding the control room. He looked around. It definitely had been refurbished and improved since the last time he came here, which from his memory, was pretty long ago. Thinking Laguna could only be up, he took the small elevator to the top floor and came face to face with the man who was the husband of his mother, Raine.
It felt odd. Squall could never call him his father. After everything he had been through, there was no way in hell he could call that man, his father. After he had left Raine to die, he just couldn't. No matter how many times Laguna tried to talk sense, Squall couldn't listen. But at the moment, that was the last thing in his mind. First was Rinoa, and second was the current situation.
Laguna smiled. He knew of Squall and his relationship to him. Every time he looked at him, he would feel as if a dagger had pierced his heart – it hurt him so badly to see Squall so down, but he knew better then to incite more anger to Squall.
As he as about to say something, Ellone came running over and hugged him. Squall hugged her back, smiling, knowing that at least she was safe. Even though they were not siblings by blood, he still felt she was the sister he never had, always giving him a shoulder to rely upon. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek as she smiled back giving him another sisterly hug. "Squall, its good that you're here. I presume that you know of the current predicament we're in, no – the world is in?" she asked.
"Yeah, I know. I was there yesterday when the ruins blew up." he answered back, still not giving 100% attention to them.
"Squall, I know that look from you. Your eyes give everything away."
Squall smiled inside himself. His eyes, Rinoa would also talk about his icy blue eyes – how that would be the gateway into his soul.
"You better give us your undivided attention. This is serious. I know you're worried about Rinoa…" Ellone stammered.
At that moment, Squall couldn't take it much longer. "Keep her out of this!!" he yelled, in anger. He put his hand to his forehead, he didn't mean for it to come out that way. He looked over to Ellone, who had a shocked expression. "I'm sorry Sis. I just have a lot on my mind."
Ellone smiled. "I understand. I feel your pain. But remember, if there is no world present, than how are you going to find her?" she asked rhetorically. "Well be that as it may, we have a serious problem on our hands, and Uncle Laguna here thinks he knows how to solve it."
Squall looked up. 'So, another plan?' he calmly thought to himself. 'I wonder if it's going to be better than the one with Ultimecia.'
Clearing his throat, "It's plain and simple, Squall. We have to go up there." he said, as he pointed up.
"Uh………where?" his son answered back, looking a bit confused.
"Oh, sorry." Laguna answered, scratching the back of his head. "To the moon. From the little research we were able to obtain from the Ragnorak (since it was floating out in space for 15 years, and it knows quite some history), we believe that there is an important power core hidden in their base up there. We believe that it holds the power of Dragoon's invincibility down in this world, and quite possibly, up in his world too." Laguna scratched his head again. 'What am I thinking…' he said to himself. 'This sounds crazy, but Kiros and Dr. Odine said it was the only option we have. Damn them for always making Squall put himself into trouble. He already had enough problems as it is.'
Squall folded his arms and thought about it for a couple of minutes. 'I've got to find Rinoa…but Sis needs me here. But she does have a point – no world does equal no Rinoa.' After those minutes expired Squall gave his SeeD salute. "Ok, I suppose I have no other choice. I'll do it."
Just then, Zell came up the elevator and slapped Squall on the back. Squall really hated it when he did that, but did nothing about it. He looked curiously at Zell, but quickly hid the expression. Although he would never admit, Zell was his best friend. "And we'll go along too" Zell said as he pointed to the others down in the room below. "Squall, we've already agreed on it, knowing that we heard the whole conversation downstairs. Just tell us when and where, and we'll be there." Squall smiled. Before he didn't have that to reply upon – that friendship – he's glad that he does now. But it just doesn't feel the same without Rinoa. Her actions, words – that would make everything perfect.
"Ok then. We'll assemble outside of the garden and in the Ragnarok, which should be done filling up on its fuel. Then, we'll use that and launch it to the moon, to the outskirts of the empire Dragoon has built up there." Squall said. With that, Zell left to tell the others.
As Squall was about to leave, a thought came up. "Hey, Sis………how come we never saw this empire when we up to the Lunar Base?"
Ellone thought for a minute. "Oh yea, now I remember. I heard someone saying that Dragoon had some technology making his base invisible or something. I'm not really quite sure." she answered back.
Squall nodded. "Ok, thanks." Squall gave his Sis another huge before leaving. He was halfway down the elevator when Ellone shouted, "Dr. Odine will give you the coordinates of where you are to land on the moon. Just punch them in and the computer will do everything else for you!"
"Odine, what a strange guy…" was the phrase in back of Squall's mind.
-----*****-----
A week had passed for preparations to travel to the moon. Food, water, clothing all had to be stocked. Odine had given Squall 6 Lunar Rings, which would allow them to breathe at the moon regularly. During that week, Squall kept on looking for Rinoa, especially at Edea's fields, but there was still no sign. He couldn't believe it. He knew that she just couldn't disappear of the face of the world just like that. She had to be somewhere. But every time Squall would search for her, each time it would seem more and more futile.
Eventually, the day before the moon launch approached, and Squall sat there with Zell and Quistis, having his last meal on Earth for the time being. "C'mon Squall, if you don't eat, just consider yourself dead on the moon, because you won't have any energy left." Quistis urged. All the meanwhile, Zell was stuffing himself with the hot dogs he rarely gets the chance to eat.
"Sorry, Instructor. I'm just not in the mood." And with that, Squall left the cafeteria of the Lunar Launch pad and headed for his room.
He lay in bed for what seemed like an eternity. He couldn't remember when he fell asleep, but so many thoughts were racing through his mind. "Rinoa, why haven't you come back yet?" was the question that would always pop up every couple of minutes or so. "I miss you…" was the last thing he remembered.
-------*******---------
"Pathetic SeeDs! Don't you think I know you're going to come up here!" Dragoon said with and evil laugh. "Actually, I want you to come up here. Then you can see your precious world blow up from the inside out. How foolish………but daring I have to say. Wouldn't you say………Sapphire?" He turned around and saw her standing there, dusting Dragoon's favorite chair.
"Of course." She said with a smile. As she was bending up, her necklace got stuck on her dress. Her efforts to unhook it were all in vain and finally Dragoon practically ripped it off.
"I'll get you a new dress, my love. And we should throw this necklace away…it looks patheti…."
"NO!" Sapphire bursted out. In deep red embarrassment, "I mean, no. That's the only thing I have that reminds me of my mother…" she added. Shrugging, Dragoon tossed it to her and left to check on his army. Sapphire clutched the necklace that held the two rings, closely to her chest… 'What is so special about these rings?' she asked to herself, closely examining the lion crested jewelry.
"I miss you…"
Sapphire quickly turned around. She looked to the left and right. "Who's there?" she managed to whisper. "And why do you sound so familiar…" Just then, visions of Edea's Fields popped up. An endless amount of beautiful flowers, going on forever to the horizon. At the end, came the figure of her past. The blond haired young man she had known. A voice deep within Sapphire's heart tried to scream, 'Squall…,' but was soon drowned out. As the figure was about to turn around, the vision disappeared. The tiara on Sapphire's head began to glow a ruby red and she stood motionless for a minute. She then regained consciousness, looked around and shrugged, "What am I doing here?" she asked to nobody in particular. She left the room, only to retire to her chambers.