AN: Again, comments, criticism, reviews and general suggestions all welcome. If people point out mistakes I ~will~ make an effort to correct them :)
Rating: R maybe PG-13 (R in standing with ff.net's policy of picking the highest rating)
Disclaimer: SG characters are (c) MGM (thankie to Morrigan for that :p). FF8 characters are (c) Squaresoft, original characters are mine – ask nicely and I might let you play with them, s'long's you don't break them...
Warnings: SxS Maybe angst (I do like to torture my characters sometimes :p), language (prob nothin u ain't heard b4, but still...)
~Chapter Thirty-Eight: Falling Away~
The sounds of fighting were almost uncomfortably close now that the G'ould had launched their attack through the stargate in earnest. Yarege however, had reassured them all that everything was going to plan, and had then dismissed the reserve SeeDs to reinforce the defenders outside the excavation site. Squall too had reassured those who remained, simply by virtue of his calm presence. Indeed, for a moment Selphie could almost believe they were fighting Ultemecia once more... but only for a moment. Too much was different for this to be her nightmare come true.
The tension in the small room reached its peak as Seifer sauntered in, smug grin firmly fixed on his face.
It's time. His mental voice was sombre though, carrying perhaps, to the perceptive listener, a hint of... fear? Not for himself however, but for Squall. Seifer, ever since the Ultemecia incident, had become rather adept at keeping his own hide intact, and had learnt that the 'noble sacrifice' in the line of duty left much to be desired. Such as life. Squall had not, and Seifer was concerned that, should it come to pass, Squall would blindly sacrifice himself without a second thought.
Contrary to what you seem to think, Squall remarked dryly in his lover's mind, I don't have a death wish. Seifer stared balefully at him, unheeding of the confused glances swapped between Selphie, Zell, Irvine and Quistis. Only Edea remained unfazed, knowing, or at least guessing that the two were conversing telepathically.
"Squall...?" Quistis began.
"Alright." Squall cut in before she could say any more. "Let's get ready to go kids." There was a stunned pause as everyone tried to equate the words – so very, ~Seifer~ - with the Squall they thought they knew. The silence stretched as repeated attempts to do so failed.
"Well?" Seifer's voice sounded so like Squall's at that moment, that everyone decided, with a near audible sigh of relief, that the earlier words had also been Seifer's. That decided, they checked their junctions and readied their more powerful spells. Night-vision visors were also passed around, taken gratefully by all except Yarege.
"Selphie, Zell. Take the Ragnarok and give us some covering fire." The bouncy brunette nodded, dashing away immediately. Zell baulked, and Squall fixed him with a glare. "Today is not a day for hand-to-hand fighting." Zell finally dropped his gaze, then turned and hurried away as Selphie's impatient yell drifted to them. "Let's go."
***
"Fall back!"
The marines were moving before O'Neill's shout had finished echoing, heading for their assigned 'escape' routes. Having seen the creatures on the outside of this world, most were also quietly deciding that if the worst came to the worst, there would be at least one bullet remaining in their weapons.
Scattered flashes of blue zat fire speeded the marines on their way as the G'ould advanced, allowing the Jaffa to gain a foothold behind it. A few bullets bounced off her personal energy shield and were accorded all the notice a fly buzzing against a window might get. Halfway into the room she stopped, regally superior behind her impenetrable shield, to let her Jaffa take up the advance once more.
The tide of battle was turning, or at least that was how it seemed to the Jaffa. As far as Shara was concerned, whilst never having fought the tau'ri herself, she had heard that they were cunning fighters, never ceding ground unless against overwhelming force, or according to some greater plan. Still, even if this was a feint, the marines ~were~ retreating. As the fight moved from the open excavation site however, it became clear that more than a simple fight was taking place.
The very earth itself seemed to object to the alien presence of the G'ould and Jaffa. Rock falls seemed to trigger themselves, or by some unseen commander's unheard commands, and the Jaffa found themselves battling the monsters that inhabited the place in order to reach their intended targets.
Back in the main excavation site, even Shara was finding herself beset by the indigenous creatures. She was surprised, displeased to say the least, for Harena had not warned of this hazard, and it was proving a not inconsiderable hindrance. They were no match for her of course - what creature after all was? – but the reports from the scouts endeavouring to track the tau'ri were disheartening. The creatures seemed to be controlled by someone, or something. It confirmed the gut feeling of watchfulness that the G'ould had felt from the moment she stepped through the gate. There was a presence here, ancient and incredibly powerful, and it objected to their presence. Could it be that the planet itself was reacting to their presence? Surely not, and yet...
Shara was an old G'ould, old enough to be called ancient when the home planet of the tau'ri had first been found, and the seeding of the other G'ould planets begun from that first earth stock. She was one of the few who still remembered, or gave any credence to the tales and legends of their forefathers. Legends such as that of the 'hidden planet', said only to appear every seven millennia, but to be the home of the 'perfect' hosts. Or the world of dreams, where time's passage was different for every person upon its surface.
But this planet, and this feeling, spoke to Shara of neither myth nor legend, but prophecy. A prophecy that, if true, signalled the end of the G'ould's – until recently - undisputed rule of the galaxy. For whilst there were, admittedly, several races capable of defending against the G'ould – the Asgard mainly, but others in the outer fringes, where weaker G'ould's claimed lordship, and more recently the Replicators and the tau'ri – the capability existed, outside the council's moral code, to crush those races entirely. Indeed, Seth had been exiled from the council for daring to use those methods to cow an entire race into eternal submission.
The prophecy though, known only by a few powerful individuals now, was known by them as the 'sunset' prophecy, for it claimed to herald the end of the G'ould. There was debate, or had been when it was more widely known, whether it was indeed prophecy, or a curse laid upon them by some ancient race they had displaced. Either way, it spoke of the tau'ri emerging as a powerful force against the G'ould, of the Asgard race finally running its course and falling from power to fade out of existence, and it spoke of a planet. A planet holding the soul of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. The planet known as Tsokuwaru Eled'ra. The planet of joined elements. Could this be that planet? Could the end of the G'ould really be looming, mere decades or centuries away?
It seemed impossible to comprehend, especially for Shara, who had seen the G'ould's rise to their current position of power. Yet, she had also witnessed the tau'ri's emergence as a force to be reckoned with, and now she was standing on the surface of a planet that, to her mind, filled the description of Tsokuwaru Eled'ra...
***
The instant the Ragnarok, with its bright spotlights and loud engines, took to the skies, the defenders and Harena knew the counter-attack was imminent. This was confirmed when Quistis, Irvine, Edea, Squall, Seifer and Yarege appeared behind the SeeDs holding the monsters back in one of the gullies in the defences. The monsters there scattered, parting before them like a reverent crowd under Edea's concentrated powers. The defence line also parted to let them through, falling back with gasps of awe for the majestic scene the group made.
Squall and Seifer, every inch the knights of a sorceress, led the procession, Yarege two steps behind, flanked by Quistis and Irvine, with the rear brought up by golden-eyed Edea.
Further ahead the first of the Ragnarok's heavy weaponry slammed into the massed ranks of the monsters, felling great swathes before the small group's stead advance. As Harena shifted her focus, however, the further ranks of monsters thinned, thickening instead too close to the group – now halfway between the two lines of defences – for the Ragnarok's indiscriminate strafing to be of any real use.
They should pull back and help the defenders mop up. Squall remarked to Yarege, the request that she let them know unnecessary between the knight and his sorceress. High overhead the Ragnarok wavered in its flight for a bare second, then swung away, back towards the inner defences.
With Harena's will more focussed, Edea was no longer able to hold off the monsters on all sides. Instead the two SeeDs and the two knights began to fight, whilst Edea kept them safe from back attack, and Harena guided the direction of their steps.
Finally, at the outer defences, they saw their enemy for the first time.
***
Harena, astride her peculiar mount, watched them as they battled towards her. It was truly a pity, she mused, that she had not managed to keep Squall, but that was no matter now. The SeeDs, and Yarege's two knights, would be sorely needed back at the gate to fight the G'ould, which meant they could not defeat her by destroying her physical body as Yarege tried to take her mind. Edea would not interfere, but she would prevent any stray monsters from tipping the balance in favour of one or the other.
As the small group finally fought their way clear, Harena released her hold on the monsters that had formed her army, and watched as Yarege dismissed all but Edea from her side. Smirking, she dismounted from her almost-griffin and dismissed it with a careless wave of her hand.
Now would come the real fight.
AN: woohoo... one chapter down, and at least two more to go... today ;) the mad writing marathon has begun!! *goes in search of more coffee* oh yeah, Tsokuwaru Eled'ra is (as far as I know) completely from my own brain (hence the weirdness) and is derived in the following way ;p
Tsokuwaru breaks down into three parts, Tso, meaning 'the', kuwa, meaning 'planet', and ru, meaning 'of'. Again, this is completely made up by me, so don't go trying to figure out what language it is ;)
Eled'ra came from the idea that the Tokra are a benevolent symbiosis between the tau'ri and another race (not sure which), and that the tau'ri are the host stock the G'ould prefer, hence the 'ra' – meaning joined (in a beneficial way, where 'ri' would indicate a forced joining). Eled, of course, means elements (of course *rolls eyes at self*)
So there we are, Tsokuwaru Eled'ra, literally, the planet of joined elements. Now if you can't figure out what the hell that has to do with the ff8 world...(think elements...GFs...;p)
myeerah: *grins* thanks, I tend to try and give a general overview, and then narrow down to focus on the exploits of one or two particular fighters. As for the trade between the worlds...well, that would just give it all away ;)
