Ch 20 – Frozen In Time

Squall turned to the ramp, looking up at Selphie and Rinoa. "Come on! They'll alert the authorities by the time we get him to Odine's!"

The girls nodded, before picking up the stretcher with an unconscious Zell on top and running down the ramp.

The way to Dr. Odine's laboratory was very strange – there were barely any Estharians on the usually-bustling walkways, all shades drawn, all shops closed, the lights on the sides of the roads powered down. It was like when Lunatic Pandora flew overhead – not a soul on the roads at all.

When they reached the lab, Squall ran up to the door and pressed the intercom dial.

The picture of Dr. Odine, a small man with a perchance for frilly costumes, flashed onto the vid-screen. His withered features looked frightened, as if he had seen a ghost. "The ZeeDs!!" He gasped, his funny accent coming out clearly through the intercom system. "Vat are you doingk here?"

"Dr. Odine, our friend Zell has become ill because of a magic virus. We need you to examine him."

Odine pulled himself closer to the screen. "Do you know vat haz been happening around here?" He muttered. "You are crazy pepol if you think I vill let you in!"

The intercom cut out with a demoralising whir, and Squall took a step back. Turning sharply, he walked back down the steps and past the others, moving into the middle of the blue road, looking all around him. "What's been going on around here?" he muttered to him, his hand to his chin.

"Squall!" Selphie cried, causing him to face her. "What do we do now?"

Squall set his jaw, thinking fast. WE need to get Zell in there as soon as possible…but we also need to go and see Laguna…if not to explain what happened in the airfield, then to ask for sanction from the Galbadians.  "First, we need to get in here no matter what. I'm sure that Odie is the only one that can cure him." he said, walking out of the open and up to the door, looking up at it's redness. "Drastic times…"

He waited until they all drew back, and withdrew his Lionheart, the blue blade shimmering into life. He took a few steps back, then ran forward, raising the gunblade high and bringing it down violently, the blade seeming to cut through the oxygen around it –

To bounce harmlessly off the big red door. Squall rebounded off the door effortlessly, landing in a crouch – before looking down at his gunblade with amazement. He blinked, before standing again and running for ward once more, bringing the blade back down on the door – to be rejected once more.

He walked backwards, before raising the gunblade up, pointing it at the door. "Irvine!" he called, the marksman running up to him. "I want you to give this door everything you've got."

"Right." Irvine said, snapping his double-barrel open and catching the two normal shells, placing them in their pouches before opening another. "A few Demolition Rounds ought to do it…" he muttered, slamming the destructive bullets into the chamber before swinging the big barrels up into the stock. "And your pulse Ammo ought to do something."

"Right." Squall said, grasping hold of the gunblade's handle with both hands. "Fire!"

They both unloaded on the door, Irvine's Demolition Ammo exploding brilliantly against the red metal, Squall's pulse ammo booming alongside the Demolition rounds, the very building rocking on it's foundations as the door received the biggest pounding of it's life.

Irvine cracked open the shotgun and fed two new shells in as Squall continued the relentless assault. Snapping the gun closed, he felt a presence next to him – and turned to see Selphie standing next to him, holding her hands up. Irvine smiled, and turned back to the door, unloading his shotgun at it again.

Selphie placed two hands in front of her and closed her eyes, whispering to herself as the power grew within, building up to an immense force. Squall turned, wide eyed, as he saw Selphie begin to glow a vivid red, and he grabbed Irvine and pulled him out of the way as Selphie released the Flare attack.

Her little boots dug into the pavement as the flare attack blasted from her hands, screaming towards the door with all the force and power of a Red Dragon with it's tail frozen. It smashed into the wall with a shattering boom, the area around it exploding fiercely, the walls around the door crumbling to dust as the attack finalised with one last sonic boom, knocking everyone over within a one-mile radius.

Selphie lowered her arms, her breath coming out in short gasps, and turned to the group covering behind the sign just next tot the steps. "Too much?" she asked, a goofy smile on her face.

Squall watched as the dust faded, revealing a still standing door surrounded by reinforced walls. "Too little."

Rinoa looked down at Zell, who had woken up from all the noise. "
What are we going to do, Squall?" she said, looking up to him. "I've only got seven of these Disunas left. Zell wont be able to hold out much longer."

"We have to get him in there…" Squall said through gritted teeth, looking at the building with red swimming in his vision. "An Ultima technique would most likely do it…but it would also level most of the building as well." He blew out his breath in frustration. "C'mon, Squall, think!"

He heard Rinoa gasp, but felt Zell's hand as he placed it on Squall's shoulder. Squall turned his head, wide eyed, to see Zell up and walking, his face etched in pain as he stood by Squall, barely able to support his own weight. "Looks…like its up to…Zell to save…the day once more, Squall." He said with a pained smile. "Only…my legs aren't working very well…you reckon you could…give me a hand?"

Squall blinked once more, before placing his arm around Zell in support, Irvine coming up to take the other arm.

"Just walk me up to the door…fellas…I'll do the rest."

They did as he requested, moving him up to the door. His grimace of pain grew worse with every step they took, but when they got to the door he smiled. "I've…been thinking of…a name for this…technique…tell me what you think…of it."

Selphie ran up the steps, tugging on Squall's sleeve. "Squall! We have, like, the whole Estharian army coming after us!"

Squall left Zell to Irvine, running out to see a stream of soldiers running towards them, their massive numbers barely held by the blue road. He looked down to see Rinoa standing in the middle of the road, her face set and determined. He looked down at Selphie. "Rinoa will handle them."

*          *            *

Rinoa lifted her arms, spreading the finger on her hands, feeling the power grow within her, feeling it flood her body, feeling it seep into every pore of her body. She closed her eyes and screamed, bringing her arms down violently, the wings blowing out of her back faster then anybody had seen them sprout before.

The road beneath her suddenly expanded, a giant crater crunching out from beneath her as her energy levels reached their peaks, and she floated up slightly, her massive white wings slashing out and beating forcefully, keeping her airborne effortlessly.

Her eyes opened, the calm blue now replaced by a smoking white light as she frowned. The mass of soldiers running before her began to hesitate, the sprint slowing into a run, the run slowing into a jog, and whispers began to ripple through the crowd as they saw the magical angel hover before them.

Rinoa raised her hand, a slender finger pointing at the crowd of soldiers. You will go no further. She pulsed, before lifting her head to look up at the sky.

Setting her arms by her sides, balling her tiny fists, she opened her mouth and screamed, the shrill deafening siren's call shattering the soldier's visors and any reflective surface within the city limits. The sound seemed to reverberate around as the SeeD's behind her covered their ears painfully, Zell fighting desperately to stay awake as the magic assaulted his weakened body.

The soldiers rolled around in agony, the scream deafening the lucky few who still retained some modicum of sanity – before everything stopped.

Lowering to the ground with a single flap of her wings, Rinoa smiled at her handy work, crossing her arms. She had managed to Stop the entire Estharian Army.

Turning to her friends, she walked/floated amongst them, touching them and allowing them to move once more.

Zell looked up at her as she released his muscles from the atrophy and smiled. "Don't…ever do that…again…"

She smiled down at him and placed a hand on his sweating brow. I'll try not to.She pulsed.

Smiling at the joke, Zell managed to pick himself up. "Now…you'll see…why they call me…Machine Gun Dincht…"

His vision swimming, he placed a hand on the door, his bare palm feeling the metal still cooling from the Flare attack. Setting his feet apart, he tensed every muscle in his body, allowing the resulting friction to build up, until he released it with a single palm press to the door. Letting his hand drop, he fell into Squall's arms, looking up to him, gasping at the strain of performing the attack. "Get away…from the door…now!!"

"Run!" Squall yelled as he watched the door tremble, and they all ran back to the safety of the road as the door suddenly exploded, the metal and reinforced Lunar Crystals blasting everywhere as the door simply could not withstand the massive vibrations Zell had sent through it.

Everybody looked down at Zell as he began to laugh, his pained chuckles even creating a smile on Squall's face. "Ok, Zell…" he said, the grin growing wider. "How'd you do that?"

"If I told you…I'd have to kill…" The joke was quickly squashed as Zell grimaced, balling himself up once more as the virus attacked his system again.

"Come on! We have to get him inside now!!" Squall shouted, taking lead of the situation once more. He walked up to Rinoa, who held Zell's head in her hands. "Cast that magic on him again and we'll move him. We can't move him like that."

She looked up at him with her glowing white eyes. I can't cast cure magic on him like this, Squall. The shock alone will kill him.

"Then pass the magic onto Selphie and let her cast it. Irvine and I are going to go find Laguna – something's not right in Esthar."

Rinoa nodded, beckoning for Selphie to sit next to her as Squall grabbed Irvine and began to push their way through the frozen ranks of Esthar's finest.

*          *            *

Now sleeping, Selphie ran before Rinoa to check the area as Rinoa cast float on Zell's stretcher, his body followed closely by the flapping wings of Rinoa. Moving into the main antechamber, Rinoa turned back to the shattered doorway, rasing a hand.

The door seemed to rewind, picking itself up off the floor and slotting itself back into it's frame. The cracks were still there- but when the Esthar soldiers broke from their Stop, this would be the first place they come, and the door would at least slow them down.

Turning around, she saw Selphie jumping up and down on the floating device. "Come on!" She yelled at it. "Go already!!"

It's probably been disabled by Dr. Odine. Rinoa pulsed, looking up at the narrow tube where the device disappeared to. I'll go persuade the good doctor to open the door.

Flapping her wings only twice was all she needed to fly up into the tube, following it through into the doctor's study. Landing – well, landing on thin air – she saw the doctor cowering behind a piece of machinery.

Moving forward slowly, she waved her hand at the block of computer, the heavy metal shearing clean in two by her massive magic levels. She floated over to him and placed a hand on his forehead, freeing him from his physical prison. The doctor fell away from the now torn machinery, scuttling back into a corner, whimpering to himself as she floated closer. What's wrong, doctor? She pulsed malevolently, stopping just before him, her piercing white gaze boring holes into his mind. You've studied my kind for years. You shouldn't be afraid.

"I'm not afraid of you…" He said. "I'm afraid of vat will be following you. Ultimeica…the destroyer of our vorld…"

Rinoa narrowed her glowing eyes, before beckoned for the door below. My friend needs your help. Will you help him?

Odine looked up at her, his frilly collar seeming to make his head looked three times too small for his body – and twice as frightened.

Allow me to rephrase. You – will - help him.

*          *            *

Finally reaching the Presidential palace after moving through thousands of frozen warriors, Squall stepped onto the elevator going up, Irvine jumping on after him.

Two other people accompanied them. A woman and a man, seeming to have been talking as the gigantic wave of Stop magic flowed through the city. The woman was blushing shyly, smiling down at her shoes as the man grinned down at her, one hand placed confidently above her head.

Irvine looked at them with mild amusement. He took a step forward – before feeling a hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at Squall, who shook his head at him. "Awe, come on, Squall!" Irvine protested.

"No."

Irvine stepped back behind Squall, jamming his hands into his pockets, pouting.

They stood like that for a minute, the silence building, before Squall sighed. "Fine. You get the woman, I'll move the man."

When they stepped off the elevator, the woman had her arms around the man's neck, drawing him down into a passionate kiss. The man had his hand delved into the folds of the woman's robes, the woman's legs spread slightly apart.

Squall and Irvine were grinning as they walked out.

*          *            *

They walked into the offices of the Presidential suite, moving right past the frozen sentries and into Laguna's secretary's room.

Squall moved right past the frozen girl, but Irvine paused at her, sitting himself on the desk and looked down at her with a weird grin on his face. She seemed to be answering a telephone call. He decided to strike up a conversation. "So, what's it like working for Laguna? Bummer huh? What are you gonna do after this whole fiasco? Me? Oh, I'm probably going to go find a quiet place and puke my guts out." He paused to look down a revealing fold in her robe. "…The quiet type, huh? I like that in a mannequin…"

Squall ignored Irvine's sick sense of humour, opening the double doors of the President's offices to find Laguna, Ward and Kiro's all sitting at Laguna's desk. Laguna seemed to be waiting for something, his hand folded in his lap. Kiros had been speaking, his mouth open, his hands up to gesture something. Ward seemed to be asleep.

Squall walked up to Laguna and placed a hand on his father's shoulder.

Laguna blinked, looking up from the funk he had been in. "The point is, Kiros, that the Tournament will be a great asset to Esthar's trade and national ties!" He blinked again, looked at the frozen Kiros. "K-Kiros?" He looked at Ward. "W-Ward?"

"Hello, father."

"Oh Hyne!" Laguna said with a start, jumping out of his chair as he turned with shocked surprise to see his son standing behind him. He recovered his wits quickly. "Uh…quick, Squall! Call the guards! Kiros and Ward have been frozen!!"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Laguna, we froze them."

"We? What, do you have a chicobo in your pocket?"

Squall slammed his palm into his face. "Aiyaaa, what did I do to deserve this…" He muttered to himself.

Laguna scratched his scalp, looking at his two best friends, before smiling wickedly. "Hey, you know what would be great fun?"

*          *            *

Odine looked over the supine Zell, with Selphie standing by Zell's head to watch for any change in his condition. Odine held a small wand in his hand, which beeped every now and then when he passed it over a certain body part.

Rinoa, her Sorceress powers now repressed, leaned over the small doctor, looking over him at the instrument in his hand. "What's that thingy?" she asked.

Dr. Odine snorted. "Zis 'thingy', my dear, meazures the magic levels in your friendz body!" He waved it over Zell's chest, where the beeping became more sporadic. "Zee? Your friend has a large build up of magic in hiz chest right now!"

"Well, how do you know it's working?"

The little man snorted once more, before turning and pointing the device at Rinoa. The beeps suddenly became a shrill howl, before the instrument exploded in a small puff of smoke. "Zat iz how I know it iz vorking." He muttered triumphantly.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and grabbed him by his frilly collar. "Now look here, you little freak, we need you to fix Zell! Now we know that you've been doing lots of blue magic research recently, so tell us what to do!"

Dr. Odine looked up at her with fear in his eyes. "Y-you need to tell me everyzing that haz happened to him…how he acquired the magical virus, vat you know abut it…everyzing."

Rinoa slammed the doctor down into the chair he had been sitting in and looked over at Selphie. "You tell him." She said, her voice disgusted as she turned and walked away.

Selphie began to account what Zell had told them when he had returned to the Ragnarok, including what the Blue was called, how it worked, and how it was supposed to be cured. Odine listened intently, not saying a word until Selphie was finished.

He looked up at her. "Zat's it?"

"'Zat's it'." she mimicked.

"But…but…where did you get ze Disuna?! Where iz ze girl who kissed Zell?!"

"She's probably back at Trabia, being treated by the medics."

Odine slammed a fist into his palm. "If ve had ze girl, I could cure hiz ailment in a flash…but no matter. Ve vill find another vay."

"How?" Selphie asked.

"You carry wizin you a portion of ze magic which you've been healing Zell with, ya?"

"Ya…I mean, yes."

"Zen all ve need to do is boost ze magic to an appropriate level, in order to vash his insides clean!"

"Like using antibiotics to kill a cold?" Rinoa asked, walking back to them.

"Egzactly! No, not egzactly…it vould be more like making a person drink acid…it vould clean you out but leave you hollow inzide."

"What the hell does that mean?" Selphie said, aggravated by his accent and his riddles.

"It means that I vill need to borrow one of your unique spellz, yes I vould." The doctor said with a nod.

"Hang on." Rinoa said. "If we give you one of these spells, we'll only be left with five. I don't know how long Zell will be able to hold off this virus by himself, but he wont be able to hold on for long!"

"Don't vorry, don't vorry…" Odine said with a wave of his hand. "Just zimply Ztop him, like you did vith all the soldiers outside!"

"Hey, the quack's right!" Selphie exclaimed. "All we need to do is Stop him! That way the virus will be arrested too!!"

"Stop magic only ever lasts for a certain period of time, Selphie." Rinoa said sadly. "At the max, I've ever held a Stop for about five hours. Any time after that, the body can begin to develop rigor mortis, which can be very painful. And besides, how do we know that the Stop will stop the magic?"

"You don't." Odine said bluntly. "But you may az vell try. You only have zix spells left. They'll run out eventually. At least, zis way, you vill prolong the effects until tomorrow. By zat time I ought to have worked out zomething."

Selphie got up and moved around the table, pushing her pretty features into Odine's face. "You better have, you old quack, or you'll be wearing that silly frock all the way to hell!"

Rinoa placed a hand on Selphie's shoulder. "Come on, Selphie. Let's go see how the boys are doing." She looked up to Odine. "We're leaving him in your hands now. I'll be back in an hour or so. And if anything happens to him, I'll hold you responsible, understand?"

Odine nodded manically, and Rinoa accepted it as the truth. Walking over to Zell, she wiped some sweat from his brow. "We'll be back later, ok Zell?"

Zell opened his eyes painfully. "Take…your time…I'm…not going…anywhere…"

Rinoa smiled and closed her eyes, muttering the word under her breath. When she opened them, she saw that Zell had closed his eyes once more, every feature on his pained face frozen. He almost looked like he was asleep.

Selphie walked over to Odine and placed her hand on his arm, transferring the Disuna to him. "Don't waste that." She muttered, and walked out of the room, closely followed by Rinoa.

Odine watched them go, before heaving a huge sigh of relief. He looked down a the frozen Zell with a mixture of contempt and anger, before walking to one of many work stations and pulling it to cover Zell's body, flicking it on. The monitor showed the magical flow in Zell's body, and Odine began to get to work.

*          *            *

Irvine, tired of looking down the secretary's robes and talking to himself, barged into the Presidential offices. "Hey, Squall, can we hurry up? I'm startin' to get a bit hun…"

His voice petered off as he stepped inside the room to see Laguna and Squall standing back to admire their work.

Ward had been pulled from his chair and stood on his hands, his beefy arms seeming to hold his weight. Kiros had also been picked up, and was grasping Ward's legs, as if to help him with his handstand…or shake everything from the bigger man's pockets.

Laguna was holding onto his sides, tears running down his face with laughter. Squall stood next to his father, his arms crossed, a big smile on his face as he shook his head at his own juvenile actions.

"Squall!?" Irvine exclaimed. "We don't have time to be playing around!!"

Squall turned to Irvine. "What? You didn't complain when we did it in the elevator."

Irvine rolled his eyes and was about to speak when Rinoa and Selphie walked into the room, blushing from what they had seen in the elevator up. The looks they had when they saw the boys, however, were that of a pair of disappointed mothers. Rinoa placed her hands on her hips and simply shook her head. "Oh, Squall…"

Selphie simply walked up to Irvine and grabbed his coat, dragging him outside, his pitiful protests falling on deaf ears.

Laguna finally wiped the tears from his eyes and stood upright. "Oh…that is gold." He turned to Rinoa and frowned for a second. "You're…Squalls girlfriend, right! The Sorceress!!"

Rinoa placed a finger on her bottom lip as she pretended to think. "Saviour of the world…yep, that's me!"

"You been taking care of my boy?"

"Very much so, sir!"

"Good girl."

Squall rolled his eyes and walked up to Rinoa. "Rinoa…what did you do with Zell?"

"I froze him and left him with Dr. Odine. He needs to run a few tests before he can figure out what to do next."

Laguna frowned. "I never liked that guy…his accent gives me the heebie-jeebies. But he's the very best in magic research. You can go past him with that. As long as he doesn't try to dissect Zell, or anything, he ought to be fine."

"Which brings us to the topic at hand, father." Squall said, turning to his dad with a stern look on his face. "What's happened to Esthar? We come in here on the Ragnarok, and we get accosted by some Esthar grunts who don't even know who we are!! Not only that, but the whole place looks deserted! What's happened?"

Laguna sighed, moving around the humorous state of his friends and sitting down in his chair behind his desk. "It's the Estharian people. They don't like having foreigners in the city."

Squall moved to the chair that Kiros had occupied and sat down, Rinoa moving to sit in his lap. "But I thought you guys were working on that…accepting refugees, trading with Galbadia…"

"We have been! But only on a miniscule scale." The President of Esthar leaned back in his chair, placing his feet on his desk. "The Estharian people have been getting restless with the Tournament being held in the Great Plains. It's too close to the city and most of the research facilities. I mean, we have guards and things, but there is obviously a few more people that are feeling apprehensive about having foreigners coming in."

Squall shook his head. "But that's just stupid. Reaching out to other countries might be great for Esthar."

"Squall, look at what we've accomplished by ourselves! They're jus afraid of what might happen if we do have people coming in, trading theirs for ours…it's a scary thought, once you think about it."

"Yeah, I suppose…" Squall muttered, pulling Rinoa close, running a finger around her belly button in thought.

Laguna sighed, looking at Squall wistfully. "You look like your mother when you get that look. She was so serious sometimes…" He looked down at his hands. "I wish…I wish…"

"Father…don't worry about it. It's in the past."

"I know…its just…" he sighed again, before shaking his head. "You can have all you need. You're welcome to stay in the Presidential suite for the duration of the Tournament in Esthar. I'll put out a public message explaining why you're here and who you are. People will remember."

"Thank you." Squall patted Rinoa's stomach, and she stood up, Squall standing too. "We've got to go see hoe Zell's doing now."

Laguna stood, looking at Ward and Kiros. "Uhh…what about these guys?"

"The spell I cast should only last for about another hour." Rinoa explained. "They'll be fine."

"Ok…" Laguna stood there, hands in pockets, seeming to be thinking about something before frowning. "Ah, what the hell. I'll come with you to Odines. As much as I hate the little freak, I want to make sure that he's treating Zell right."

Squall nodded, before leading Rinoa out.

Laguna walked around the desk to follow them, before stopping beside Ward and Kiros. A sudden bout of sympathy hitting him, he grabbed Ward's legs and slowly lowered him to the floor. He didn't want him to land on his head when the spell wore off.

That done, he ran outside. "Hey, guys, wait up!"

*          *            *

Hey there, readers!!

Only five fighters left in the tournament…will Zell get into the finals? Or will the judges cast him aside as a lost cause? You'll have to keep reading to find out!!

God I'm such a bastard to do these things to poor Zell…but you love it.