heralding chaos

[llyse]

            For once, the place was actually a construction site. Quistis (ever the supporter of tidiness and order) had always disapproved of the construction signs and tools scattered around the left side of the Training Center. She used to stay out of it. Now, however, the place was bustling with SeeDs and workers and more tools than ever. Most of the monsters were still around, and from the protective ring of SeeDs surrounding the workers came occasional flashes of light and bursts of noise. Quistis rubbed her forehead, sensing an impending headache. She had command of this ants' nest, Zell yammering something about her being "the only one we can spare with a commanding enough mien to run that lot". In fact, 'that lot' practically ran themselves.

            Ka-whump!

            The woman cast a jaundiced eye towards her left, where Squall's young son fought alone with a kind of berserk fury that made the other SeeDs wary of getting too close to him. Quistis shook her head regretfully. Delyn was under quite some stress, but it he kept this rate of spellcasting up he would find himself losing a lot of memories. Perhaps that was his intention.

            Thinking of Delyn invariably made her think of Squall, Rinoa, and—Seifer. She sighed. Seifer was an intrusion, anarchy in an ordered world. She had been irritated by him, and then hated him, and then felt an odd sort of pity for him. Yet for all that, Quistis was a creature of order and structure and nicely-planned schedules. Seifer had probably never planned anything in his life, and now that he was here everything was falling apart. She wished he had not come. He reminded her too much of those old days of war and sorceress-chaos. He seemed to bring it.

            "Herald of chaos," she murmured. As if on cue, her 'com beeped.

            "Quistis, we need you at the infirmary. Someone's coming to take over from you," Zell squawked through the 'com. No, not squawked, that was not fair to Zell. He had not squawked for years.

            "Miss Trepe?" Again, perfectly on cue. Somebody up there was arranging things, perhaps. It was too bad that He could not arrange it so that all this chaos would not happen to her.

            "Here to replace me?" Quistis turned with a wry smile. "You don't really have to do anything—they'll do it for you." The SeeD smiled back hesitantly, a black-haired man about her height with unusually large eyes. Quistis bowed to him and left.

            Quistis found the rest of the "gang" in the infirmary, sitting, standing, or pacing around Seifer's bed. Fujin and Rinoa were seated flanking him, Fujin stiff-backed, eyes veiled, Rinoa with hands clasped in what looked like prayer. Zell was the one pacing, while Delyn (Quistis had not even noticed him leave, in the Training Center) stood against the wall, wearing a blank expression. A chastened-looking Ceres entered the room shortly after, and crossed straight to Delyn's side.

            "Since we're all here," Zell began, casting a quick look at Rinoa, who obliged him by looking up and beginning to speak.

            "My powers are growing," the woman said bluntly. "They've been growing ever since I received them, because I hold all the sorceress power left on this planet. It's got worse lately. I—" she faltered, looking down "—I'm not too sure what happened—with Squall—but it was because of me having too much power. It made it too easy to act, to—do—anything. The monsters were me, too. I was trying to get rid of my power and it was the only thing I could think of. And then Seifer—I used enough power saving him, and keeping him alive that I'm here, now…"

            "What do you mean, here now?"

            Rinoa blinked.

            "I was dreaming," she said vaguely. "And I was awake, and I was dreaming while I was awake. I don't know."

            It was Quistis' turn to blink, as she stared at the dark-eyed woman. No—dark-eyed no longer, the pools of gold seemed to suck in light and trap it behind black lashes, leaving her face in pools of shadow.

            "Am I sane?" Rinoa asked, one corner of her lips quirking up. "I'm sane when I'm not dreaming. I'm not dreaming now, I think. If I am, then it doesn't matter if you think I'm insane, because you wouldn't be real."

            Dear Hyne—what has Rinoa become? With a pang of regret, Quistis recalled the idealistic, bright girl who had spun into their lives and hearts. She had been so happy, so full of dreams; now she seemed like a dream, and the only brightness in her was the swirling eyes and streaks of gold in her hair. Quistis got the impression that if Rinoa wore bright clothing, they would go dark.

            "Seifer," Fujin prodded, hands clenched in her lap.

            "Oh," Rinoa murmured, suddenly sad-looking. "Seifer. He's not dead, but he's not alive. My power's all that's keeping him here. He's bound to me, he's—well, I don't know if I can heal him completely."

            "Oh," Quistis said quietly. Oddly enough, the truth raised nothing in her heart. Seifer's fate was no concern of hers. She knew some of the students called her a cold-hearted bitch, but this? Perhaps Seifer brought so much chaos to her life that she would be glad to have him out of it, by any means possible. No, that was unworthy of her. What am I thinking? Perhaps time and space had diminished Seifer in her view of the world.

            Rinoa had lapsed into silence again, and it was Zell's turn to prompt her with, "Your power."

            The sorceress murmured something to herself before looking up, and Quistis felt a chill. What if the young woman was lapsing into dreaming again? It had taken Squall's death to wake her, last. Whose would it take this time?

            It is a terrible thing to be afraid of one's friend.

            "My power," Rinoa said clearly, "will continue to grow. I cannot stop it—you cannot stop it. I have to die."

            Silence in the room.

            It is a terrible thing to plan a friend's death.

            None of them wanted Rinoa to die. Yet, at the same time they all recognized that she had to die, or they all might. Quistis knew despair, gazing on the face of the woman that she—that they had all loved. Who didn't? Although she had been annoying at times, and something of a trial for the professional Quistis, her idealism and innocence touched the heart. They loved her, even if Squall was the one who had fallen in love with her.

            "How?" Ceres asked, voice completely emotionless. They all knew about sorceresses, how they healed in the blink of an eye as the powers contained within their bodies worked to keep them alive. And Rinoa possessed power beyond normal sorceresses, perhaps power rivaling Hyne, as Seifer's fate proved.

            "I intend to drain myself—first by opening a gate to the past, and then by creating a Guardian Force." She waved a hand to forestall the arguments. "I will create a Guardian Force—the only Guardian Force—capable of destroying me. In effect I will be placing my power within the Guardian, and then the Guardian will use that power to destroy me. However, I expect that the other Guardians present will come to my defense, and the resulting catastrophe will be tremendous. Therefore, I intend to travel back in time, to uninhabited lands, to ensure that there be no casualties."

            Rinoa seemed to grow more detached as she spoke, had been growing more detached, words sliding from 'conversation' to something more like 'prophecy'.

            "Is that… necessary?" Delyn choked, the shock plain on his face. "If Mother can drain away her power, won't she be alright? Why do we have to do this?" Zell and Fujin seemed calm, perhaps they already knew. And perhaps they did; Zell was the one who answered Delyn.

            "Sorceresses generate more power when they have less. And before you ask—yes, the more power they have, the less they generate. But by the time Rinoa stored up enough power to stop generating it, she'd be in a homicidal rage."

            "That is not funny." Ceres muttered.

            "But," Quistis queried, "how are you going to create a Guardian? I thought Guardians were—"

            She stopped dead at the looks on the faces of the three around Seifer's bed. Rinoa, already old, looked even older. Zell dropped his gaze. Fujin folded her arms and glared.

            "She's going to use Seifer's soul."