AUTHORS NOTE
Thank you both for the reply. I think you'll like the rest.
Umm, yeah, Ultimecia does use' 'k' instead of 'c', and I even thought about it too, but guess I forgot. Enjoy the next bit! (sorry it took so long)
~Chapter XI..................The Signal
'C'Mon! You stupid machine!" yelled Jem as he fiddled around with the Garden's manual control panel.
He sat, legs crossed, grease all over and in a bad mood on the bottom floor of the Garden. "Why won't this damn thing work!" Jem raged.
He took his wrench and hit the machine. It turned on for a split moment and then off again. "Aha!" he said and took a larger tool to the machine. He hit it several times in a row before it began beeping began and the platform began to rise. Soon he was on the pilot's deck, looking up into the now dark sky, lit with bomb fire and air fighting.
"IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" he cried and jumped up and down. "I wonder if there's any jet's left?" he thought and used the lift to head down to Quistis's office and then out to the aircraft ramp.
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"Come in, Ragnarok One." Said Dawn frantically into her COM system that went to all of they're jet's and the two Ragnaroks.
She changed the directory button and turned it on again. "Come In, Ragnarok Two!" she said and was returned with a faint buzzing and then someone came on.
"Roger, Airstrike 4." Said the voice.
"Nida. I can't get them either." said Dawn through the COM system.
"I'm sure they're ok." said Nida from the Ragnarok two. "I'm sure that they're just out of range."
"What's our status?" Dawn asked.
"Two Airstrike. You and Airstrike 2, but the other three are down. Ragnarok one is out of range and I'm here." Replied Nida.
Dawn sighed and slumped back in her pilot's chair of her small jet.
"Roger that." She said glumly and hung up the COM. "These Estharian's are gonna get it."
She steered her jet back towards Balamb Garden to gas up when she saw someone waving frantically of the ramp, once she got closer she realized that it was Jem and she steered her jet towards the ramp and landed right away. As soon as she opened her bottom hatch Jem was there with a triumphant look on his face.
"I did it! The Garden's ready to go!" he said happily.
"What! But how?" Dawn asked in awe.
"I hit the machine." He said shyly.
"You what?" she said in confusion.
"Nevermind. That's not important." he said with a wave of his hand.
"Alright. go and get me some gas. I need to gas up, you can come with me, we've gotta give the Garden cover while everyone gets in. I'll tell Nida to head back." said Dawn.
"Sure thing." Said Jem and ran off.
Dawn ran back to the COM and flicked the switch on and turned the knob to communicate with the Ragnarok Two. "You there, Nida!" said Dawn excitedly.
"Here." Said Nida.
"The Garden's fixed. come get it going! The other Jet, and Jem and I will give you cover while everyone gets in. We'll give the signal." Said Dawn.
"Alright! I'm on my way!" said Nida; it amazed Dawn on how he was still so 'young' at heart.
"What about the other Ragnarok?" asked Dawn.
"We can't hold the Garden off for them. We've gotta go. they'll find they're way. It's Selphie and Irvine, they'll be here soon." Said Nida. ". I know we should wait but we have to withdraw, they just keep coming!"
"Sure." Said Dawn.
"Over and out." Replied Nida just as Jem showed up and filled the jet with gas and Dawn shut off the COM.
"Let's go!" said Dawn and Jem climbed onto the jet.
"What do we use as the signal?" asked Jem as they got off the ramp and into the air, right towards enemy jets.
Dawn flew in and out of some jets and even managed to shoot down two of them but there were still too many, they just kept coming.
"Dawn?" asked Jem. "What do we use for a signal?"
"Look in the hatch there." Said Dawn softly and Jem opened the hatch to find some explosives.
"Dawn. we can't use these, we won't have enough time to get out of the way!" said Jem, thinking about how fast they would explode if they dropped them if they dove close enough.
"I know. I know. That's why we use it at the right place. I'll dive down low enough for you to drop the explosives out the bottom hatch door then I'll pull straight up. We should be far enough away to not be affected." Said Dawn.
"Are you sure. how will they know that it's a signal for a draw back?" Jem asked as he pulled out the explosives with care.
Dawn sighed. "We'll dive right in the middle of the Estharian soldiers." She said.
"You're crazy." He smirked, "But it can be done." Said Jem and opened the bottom hatch door. "Tell me when to light them." He grabbed matches from in the hatch where the explosives were.
Dawn circled the battle, staring down at the gore all around. Soldiers killing student's, student's killing soldiers, blood. it was almost too much gore her to handle. The students were becoming far too outnumbered, luckily it seemed that it wasn't because it was all students dying, it was that more soldiers were coming. More then 75% of the original Garden students still seemed to be fighting.
"Now." She said as she positioned herself for a dive. Jem lit the end of the thread leading to the explosives and Dawn dived almost straight down at the ground, into the heart of the Estharian Soldiers that were on their way to the battle.
"Pull up Dawn." Said Jem in a frightened voice.
"Not yet!" said Dawn as they became so close to the ground that she could see the people's frightened faces. Finally she pulled up, just in time for Jem to drop the explosives.
It all seemed to happen to slow for Dawn. She reefed the steering straight down, which directed the jet upwards, as the explosives boomed. Nearly all the oncoming Esthar soldiers were killed. As Dawn was pulling up she saw an enemy jet behind her; it was trailing her closely. While going back up Dawn tried to lose the jet but it fired, just enough to nick the bottom of her jet and making them lose two of the three engines.
"I've gotta land!" said Dawn as the jet slowly began to recline in height, they were now right over the vast Esthar city.
"You can't land here!" said Jem. "We're in the middle of Esthar!"
"But we'll crash if I don't!" argued Dawn. "I'm landing. we'll have to hide or something. I'm not going to die."
Jem said nothing, he knew that he couldn't argue with her, so Dawn did an emergency landing right in the middle of Esthar, on one of the many translucent blue roads.
"We've gotta get outta here!" said Jem as they saw Esthar soldiers heading up the road to the jet.
They both slide out of the bottom hatch and inched along the back of the jet and made a run for it so they could duck into a dark park that was nearby.
"Whew." said Dawn as the soldiers reached the crashed jet and looked around blankly, wondering where the pilot was.
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"Whoa!" said Zell as he just finished defeating a soldier and he saw one of they're own jet's take a dangerous dive and come back up again, leaving some sort of explosion right in the middle of the oncoming Esthar soldiers.
"What was that all about?" asked Clarissa who'd just ran up beside Zell and was panting hard.
"I don't know. it was some sort of sign though, I mean. why would they do that unless it was important? That's suicide!" said Zell, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh my god, LOOK!" said Clarissa, half shocked; half-happy. The Garden had lit up again and was looking as if it was ready to go.
"It's a sign to withdrawal!" said Zell. "Why else?!?"
Zell whistled as loud as he could and got many of the student's attention. "WITHDRAWAL NOW! THE GARDEN IS READY TO GO, WE NEED TO GO NOW!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Within three seconds, he saw student's running right to the Garden, leaving unfinished battles.
Zell and Clarissa followed, running quickly. Once at the Garden entrance Zell stopped and looked out into the Esthar grounds and sighed as he saw all the dead bodies of SeeD and Garden student's.
"Zell?" asked Clarissa who stopped with him. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." He said quietly and looked up to the rising moon, the sky was now dark and starry and he thought about how his some of his comrades were still out there.
"Please be alright." he thought as he remembered that his friends were in Esthar.
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Once up at Quistis's office Zell and Clarissa went up to the pilot's deck to see Nida.
"Hey, Nida." Said Zell. "Where're we going? Shouldn't we wait for Squall and everyone?"
Nida didn't seem to be paying attention, he was looking out into the sky.
"Nida?" asked Zell.
"Huh?" said Nida suddenly.
"What's wrong?" asked Zell.
"The other Ragnarok. Irvine and Selphie. they never came back!" said Nida who was still looking out into the sky.
"What!" said Zell in surprise and grief. He knew that if they weren't back by now then it was a great possibility that they crashed, or they were.. dead.
"Oh my God." Clarissa breathed.
Zell slumped to the ground, holding back tears that were swelling in his eyes. "They never came back!" he asked again and shook his head.
"We've got to go! They're attacking the Garden, now!" Clarissa said, as the Garden shook violently with a blast.
"You're right. I'm sorry Zell. we do have to go!" Nida agreed and took the controls, the Garden began to move slowly at first but gained speed, heading away from Esthar.
"But." Zell argued, knowing that all his friends were in Esthar and Irvine and Selphie were lost or dead.
"I'm sorry, Zell." Said Clarissa.
"I know. I know. At all costs, we can't put the Garden at risk, if we can help it." He said quietly.
~Chapter XII..............Weaknesses
"Get back!" Adel roared at Sirus as he ran straight to Aurora. She blasted him backwards, hard against the wall. Nearby, stood Dean, almost doubled over in laughter as Adel approached Sirus slowly, glowering down at him as he groaned in pain.
"Sirus?" Aurora moaned.
"Pitiful. Your even weaker then I would have thought." She muttered and picked him up by the neck and threw him to the opposite wall, leaving him unconscious.
"Enough!" yelled Squall and Rinoa both at the same time, starting forwards.
"Boring." Said Adel airily. She rose her hands in the air and seemed to be gaining energy. It revolved in her hand for a moment; its redness growing brighter and she threw it at Squall. He landed against the wall, pinned at the hands and feet by energy strands. He couldn't get out.
"As for you!" Adel sneered as she looked down at Rinoa. "Your just a pain, its time that I be rid of you, once and for all."
She once again seemed to be gaining energy from the air around her, into a small ball in the palm of her hand and she threw it at Rinoa. Instead of pinning her to a wall Rinoa was hit backwards and bounded into Aurora who was slowly trying to get up but was knocked over.
"Get out of the way!" Adel hissed at Aurora and took her arm, pulling her away from Rinoa who stood cowering before Adel.
Still holding onto Aurora, Adel sneered down at Rinoa and smirked. It seemed very sudden but with Adel's outstretched hand, beams of blue light streamed from Rinoa into Adel. Rinoa collapsed.
"No powers to help you now." Adel whispered harshly.
"Rinoa!" Squall cried helplessly from behind Rinoa.
"Not even your dear husband to save you from the evil, evil sorceress!" she laughed.
Squall was staring at Adel and Rinoa with horror; he glanced over at Ultimecia who had gotten up. His expression changed from horror to confusion. Ultimecia began to inch towards Rinoa.
"Now, I believe I was about to be on with something." Adel sneered down at Rinoa and raised her hands above her head. Palms to the air a bluish purple light came out of nowhere and was going into her hands making a beam go straight up from her hands.
Adel closed her eyes and tilted her head downwards. "Time to go!" she hissed at Rinoa who had stood up again, stumbling, and begun moving slowly backwards.
"Oh no you don't!" said Adel as she opened her eyes to see Rinoa turning to run. She took one hand out of the air and left the beam in one hand, she used the other to blast energy at Rinoa's legs that made her topple over, not able to walk to run anymore.
Adel once again raised her hand and the beam of bluish purple light grew brighter and thicker.
"Time to die." She whispered.
"RINOA!" Squall yelled, tears ran down his cheeks, he was about to watch his wife and love die and he couldn't do anything about it. He struggled against the energy clasps around him but it was no use, he couldn't get out unless Adel let him out.
Adel's eyes bored down into Rinoa's as she lay, wincing in pain. The light grew to about 1 foot wide, enough to kill anyone. The entire room was filled with a bluish purple light that illuminated everything that it touched.
Squall's eyes widened in surprise as Ultimecia, who was inching slowly towards Adel had began to run and stepped firmly in front of Rinoa, blocking her from view. "No. don't, Adel." She insisted quietly. "Don't make me."
"Don't make you what?" Adel demanded angrily and Ultimecia just glared at her, her eyes narrowing and her long black wings spreading slowly. "That's what I thought." Said Adel when Ultimecia remained silent. "You won't do anything, your too weak." She continued.
"Don't push me. Leave her alone." Ultimecia said in a soft and misty sort of voice.
"Your only trying to save yourself!" said Adel, in realization that if she destroyed Rinoa it would destroy Ultimecia too. Rinoa was Ultimecia's past and Ultimecia was Rinoa's future.
Ultimecia stayed silent, staring up at Adel with pure hatred in her eyes. Squall, however, didn't stay silent. "Rinoa! Get out of the way!" he called to Rinoa but she still couldn't move, not only because of her legs but because she was paralyzed with fear and shock.
"Be quiet." Said Ultimecia softly and turned back to Adel and glanced over at Aurora who was backed into the window and looking around fearfully, Sirus was still unconscious across the room.
Out of the far shadows stepped put a young boy, near Sirus and walked slowly towards Adel, Ultimecia and Rinoa, his eyes placed coldly on Ultimecia who hissed at him to say back and he stopped, his eyes still raking around at the three of them.
"Leave now!" Ultimecia said quietly and coldly to Adel whose eyes narrowed in loathing of Ultimecia.
"Fine." She said simply, turning towards Squall. "Have it your way then." she continued, realizing she couldn't get to Rinoa. she'd have to get to someone else.
With much strength, before Ultimecia could say anything, the beam of light was pointed directly at Squall and dropped, hitting him with much force and making him yell out in pain, she was killing him slowly.
"NO!" Ultimecia screamed tragically, she dived into the beam and stopped it from hitting Squall who was released from the wall and was slumped at the bottom, unconscious.
The beam pierced through Ultimecia, it seemed to be flowing through her and finally it stopped. Adel was laughing harshly and began to move towards Ultimecia but Rinoa crawled over and hung herself over her.
"Kill us both then." she cried but Adel stopped, standing over them and staring down at Ultimecia in confusion.
Ultimecia's eyes flicked open, the tattoos on the sides of her face were disappearing, and her hair had gone from the dark gray it was to black, like Rinoa's. It hung loosely on her back, whiteness traveled slowly down her wings until they were totally white. She had turned totally into Rinoa again, the goodness in her heart had finally taken over.
"Close your eyes." she whispered to Rinoa who was leaning over her in a trance of amazement, she was looking into a mirror but she closed her eyes without hesitation and felt a strange sensation.
Adel had stepped back in amazement and horror as both Rinoa and Ultimecia rose into the air, they're white wings carrying them. Ultimecia closed her eyes a blue haze surrounded them. Adel turned as a brilliant flash of white light filled the room for a split second and when she turned back Rinoa was floating back down to the floor, her eyes filled with determination. The powers that Adel had taken from her were back.
"Your foul." Rinoa said in a sneer to Adel.
"DIE!" Adel shrieked and created a large ball of red flames and threw it straight at Rinoa, who was thrown off her feet, though not for long; she stood up again, stepping forward.
"GET AWAY!" Rinoa raged. She closed her eyes and threw her hand into the air, palm faced up and made a large icicle that she threw at Adel. It pierced her side and she stumbled backward.
Rinoa didn't let up, she put her hands outwards and blasted spurts of blue beams at Adel but was startled as something threw her off her feet from the side.
Dean had run forward and tackled her, but Adel was in too much pain to do anything quickly.
"THIS ISN'T THE END!" she screamed and grabbed hold of Aurora, who had begun to run past her towards Rinoa.
"Time to go!" she said in a cold and drawling voice, still clutching her side. "Say goodbye!"
With a sharp crack, she disappeared with Aurora, Dean and Sirus who all turned red before disappearing.
Rinoa climbed up off the ground and ran over to Squall just as the doors burst open with Quistis and Seifer standing framed in the arch holding up a weak Ellone.
"What happened? Where's Aurora. is Adel still in here?. Where's Sirus?" demanded Quistis.
"What happened to Squall?" asked Seifer who walked slowly over to them and kneeled over in front of Rinoa and Squall.
"Adel's gone. with Aurora." said Rinoa and checked Squall's pulse he was still breathing, It was a miracle he was still alive after that blast.
"What happened." Asked Seifer quietly.
"I'll explain on the way out."
Rinoa and Quistis held up Squall and Seifer held up Ellone who had begun to walk weakly. They slid along the walls in the corridors until they reached the final corridor, where the elevator was and stopped, remaining out of sight. The esthar soldiers were still around.
"So, what happened?" asked Quistis after a long silence with only heavy breathing.
Rinoa leaned against the wall and sighed. "Well." she began and then explained everything that had happened in Laguna's office.
"So. let me get this straight." Said Seifer, letting Ellone lean against the wall and he walked over to Rinoa who was across the hall. "Ultimecia and Aurora materialized from Adel? How?"
Rinoa looked thoughtful for a moment. "I. I don't know." She replied uneasily.
"Ok, but now what I'm wondering is how Ultimecia turned good again. I mean. she's evil!" continued Seifer, almost ignoring what Rinoa had said, it all seemed so much in his head.
"I already told you.." Rinoa said exasperatedly. "Ultimecia is my future, I'm her past. Ultimecia is me!"
"But-" Seifer was interrupted by Quistis who was standing, her finger on her lips, her eyes growing wide, it looked like she'd just realized something.
"I can see that now! Seifer, she's right!" said Quistis pointedly to Seifer who stood, his eyebrow arched in confusion.
"But how, I mean, if she really was Rinoa then why would she have come back fifteen years ago and attempt to kill Squall and herself?" asked Seifer.
"She didn't come back to kill Squall. he got in her way of time compression. Do you know why she wanted time compression?" said Quistis, holding her finger in the air.
"To rule all time-"
Quistis who was on a roll once again interrupted Seifer. "She wanted time compression to rule herself! She didn't want the entire world; she never wanted that. She wanted to get rid of her old self! She was embarrassed about who she was. That's why you became her knight, you had similarities that way, you never knew where you fit!"
Ellone finally spoke but in a hushed tone. "Q. Quistis?" she asked. "If Ultimecia wanted to rule herself why would she try to kill Rinoa. wouldn't that be killing herself?"
"No, it wouldn't." said Rinoa, and Quistis resumed talking again.
"I wouldn't. she'd be killing her memory! Only others could kill her, she could kill her memory, its like forgetting something that's in the back of your mind that you barely even knew was there! Don't you see.Ultimecia still had herself, her powers were beyond imaginable but only one thing was stopping her from annihilating the world." she explained and then said softly, ".her heart was stopping her."
"How?" asked Seifer, who was obviously still confused and began tapping his foot lightly.
"Ultimecia still had Rinoa in there, Rinoa, the kind hearted and loving girl that she once was. Even though she was evil on the outside she was still good on the inside. All evil people have once had they're goodness in them, the only way to get rid of it is to kill it. She wanted time compression to kill her good self."
Ellone nodded in understanding, but Seifer, however, still wasn't very convinced. "Oh, come off it!" he said crossily. "You're saying she went through all of that. that stuff to kill her good self?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Quistis said, nodding her head.
"Makes sense." Rinoa intervened.
"Well. maybe." Seifer agreed and tried to change the subject by saying that they should leave, he seemed rather annoyed by the logic that Ultimecia was Rinoa.
"So, Ultimecia went into you?" Quistis asked Rinoa, ignoring Seifers expression.
"Yeah, I don't know what happened. Adel shot energy at Squall and all of the sudden she dived in front, practically killing herself, shrieking "NO!". I went over to her and her wings turned white and then she looked like me. She told me to close my eyes and then I felt this surge of power." Rinoa explained, fumbling with her fingers and glancing nervously at Squall who was still unconscious.
"I see. Well, it seems that Squall was her weak spot." Said Quistis thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Rinoa, tilting her head to the side.
"You love Squall with all of your heart and you'd do anything for him, am I right?" asked Quistis.
"Yes."
"Well, it seems that the love for you and Squall took her over, she couldn't stand to watch Squall die, it was too much and it overtook her. She turned back into you." Quistis said as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
"Even after many years, Quistis, you're still the clever one!" Rinoa said, she would have never thought of all this. "But what I don't understand is how I will end up turning evil."
Quistis shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Hate to break it too you but that is impossible to tell, it could be many things."
"Oh."
"What happened to Aurora and Sirus?" asked Ellone who had remained silent for most of the conversation.
"I'm not sure. When Adel disappeared they were just gone." she said sadly.
"Umm, guys. I think we'd better get going." Said Seifer finally as they heard loud voices down the corridors they'd just come from.
Quistis and Rinoa held Squall up again and Seifer helped Ellone along and they edged along the walls towards the elevator and got on.
Once it stopped they got off cautiously, staring out into the night sky. The sunrise was soon to come, they could see a faint orange glow in the eastern horizon and they headed off.
"We'd better get out of here fast." Said Seifer. "I'm sure they've realized that Adel is gone, they'll know we were there."
They all remained silent until Rinoa asked something that was bothering her. "I wonder where they went."
"I don't know." Quistis whispered.
"Hopefully they're safe." Rinoa thought about Aurora and Sirus, wondering where they were and if they were still alive.
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Thank you both for the reply. I think you'll like the rest.
Umm, yeah, Ultimecia does use' 'k' instead of 'c', and I even thought about it too, but guess I forgot. Enjoy the next bit! (sorry it took so long)
~Chapter XI..................The Signal
'C'Mon! You stupid machine!" yelled Jem as he fiddled around with the Garden's manual control panel.
He sat, legs crossed, grease all over and in a bad mood on the bottom floor of the Garden. "Why won't this damn thing work!" Jem raged.
He took his wrench and hit the machine. It turned on for a split moment and then off again. "Aha!" he said and took a larger tool to the machine. He hit it several times in a row before it began beeping began and the platform began to rise. Soon he was on the pilot's deck, looking up into the now dark sky, lit with bomb fire and air fighting.
"IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" he cried and jumped up and down. "I wonder if there's any jet's left?" he thought and used the lift to head down to Quistis's office and then out to the aircraft ramp.
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"Come in, Ragnarok One." Said Dawn frantically into her COM system that went to all of they're jet's and the two Ragnaroks.
She changed the directory button and turned it on again. "Come In, Ragnarok Two!" she said and was returned with a faint buzzing and then someone came on.
"Roger, Airstrike 4." Said the voice.
"Nida. I can't get them either." said Dawn through the COM system.
"I'm sure they're ok." said Nida from the Ragnarok two. "I'm sure that they're just out of range."
"What's our status?" Dawn asked.
"Two Airstrike. You and Airstrike 2, but the other three are down. Ragnarok one is out of range and I'm here." Replied Nida.
Dawn sighed and slumped back in her pilot's chair of her small jet.
"Roger that." She said glumly and hung up the COM. "These Estharian's are gonna get it."
She steered her jet back towards Balamb Garden to gas up when she saw someone waving frantically of the ramp, once she got closer she realized that it was Jem and she steered her jet towards the ramp and landed right away. As soon as she opened her bottom hatch Jem was there with a triumphant look on his face.
"I did it! The Garden's ready to go!" he said happily.
"What! But how?" Dawn asked in awe.
"I hit the machine." He said shyly.
"You what?" she said in confusion.
"Nevermind. That's not important." he said with a wave of his hand.
"Alright. go and get me some gas. I need to gas up, you can come with me, we've gotta give the Garden cover while everyone gets in. I'll tell Nida to head back." said Dawn.
"Sure thing." Said Jem and ran off.
Dawn ran back to the COM and flicked the switch on and turned the knob to communicate with the Ragnarok Two. "You there, Nida!" said Dawn excitedly.
"Here." Said Nida.
"The Garden's fixed. come get it going! The other Jet, and Jem and I will give you cover while everyone gets in. We'll give the signal." Said Dawn.
"Alright! I'm on my way!" said Nida; it amazed Dawn on how he was still so 'young' at heart.
"What about the other Ragnarok?" asked Dawn.
"We can't hold the Garden off for them. We've gotta go. they'll find they're way. It's Selphie and Irvine, they'll be here soon." Said Nida. ". I know we should wait but we have to withdraw, they just keep coming!"
"Sure." Said Dawn.
"Over and out." Replied Nida just as Jem showed up and filled the jet with gas and Dawn shut off the COM.
"Let's go!" said Dawn and Jem climbed onto the jet.
"What do we use as the signal?" asked Jem as they got off the ramp and into the air, right towards enemy jets.
Dawn flew in and out of some jets and even managed to shoot down two of them but there were still too many, they just kept coming.
"Dawn?" asked Jem. "What do we use for a signal?"
"Look in the hatch there." Said Dawn softly and Jem opened the hatch to find some explosives.
"Dawn. we can't use these, we won't have enough time to get out of the way!" said Jem, thinking about how fast they would explode if they dropped them if they dove close enough.
"I know. I know. That's why we use it at the right place. I'll dive down low enough for you to drop the explosives out the bottom hatch door then I'll pull straight up. We should be far enough away to not be affected." Said Dawn.
"Are you sure. how will they know that it's a signal for a draw back?" Jem asked as he pulled out the explosives with care.
Dawn sighed. "We'll dive right in the middle of the Estharian soldiers." She said.
"You're crazy." He smirked, "But it can be done." Said Jem and opened the bottom hatch door. "Tell me when to light them." He grabbed matches from in the hatch where the explosives were.
Dawn circled the battle, staring down at the gore all around. Soldiers killing student's, student's killing soldiers, blood. it was almost too much gore her to handle. The students were becoming far too outnumbered, luckily it seemed that it wasn't because it was all students dying, it was that more soldiers were coming. More then 75% of the original Garden students still seemed to be fighting.
"Now." She said as she positioned herself for a dive. Jem lit the end of the thread leading to the explosives and Dawn dived almost straight down at the ground, into the heart of the Estharian Soldiers that were on their way to the battle.
"Pull up Dawn." Said Jem in a frightened voice.
"Not yet!" said Dawn as they became so close to the ground that she could see the people's frightened faces. Finally she pulled up, just in time for Jem to drop the explosives.
It all seemed to happen to slow for Dawn. She reefed the steering straight down, which directed the jet upwards, as the explosives boomed. Nearly all the oncoming Esthar soldiers were killed. As Dawn was pulling up she saw an enemy jet behind her; it was trailing her closely. While going back up Dawn tried to lose the jet but it fired, just enough to nick the bottom of her jet and making them lose two of the three engines.
"I've gotta land!" said Dawn as the jet slowly began to recline in height, they were now right over the vast Esthar city.
"You can't land here!" said Jem. "We're in the middle of Esthar!"
"But we'll crash if I don't!" argued Dawn. "I'm landing. we'll have to hide or something. I'm not going to die."
Jem said nothing, he knew that he couldn't argue with her, so Dawn did an emergency landing right in the middle of Esthar, on one of the many translucent blue roads.
"We've gotta get outta here!" said Jem as they saw Esthar soldiers heading up the road to the jet.
They both slide out of the bottom hatch and inched along the back of the jet and made a run for it so they could duck into a dark park that was nearby.
"Whew." said Dawn as the soldiers reached the crashed jet and looked around blankly, wondering where the pilot was.
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"Whoa!" said Zell as he just finished defeating a soldier and he saw one of they're own jet's take a dangerous dive and come back up again, leaving some sort of explosion right in the middle of the oncoming Esthar soldiers.
"What was that all about?" asked Clarissa who'd just ran up beside Zell and was panting hard.
"I don't know. it was some sort of sign though, I mean. why would they do that unless it was important? That's suicide!" said Zell, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh my god, LOOK!" said Clarissa, half shocked; half-happy. The Garden had lit up again and was looking as if it was ready to go.
"It's a sign to withdrawal!" said Zell. "Why else?!?"
Zell whistled as loud as he could and got many of the student's attention. "WITHDRAWAL NOW! THE GARDEN IS READY TO GO, WE NEED TO GO NOW!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Within three seconds, he saw student's running right to the Garden, leaving unfinished battles.
Zell and Clarissa followed, running quickly. Once at the Garden entrance Zell stopped and looked out into the Esthar grounds and sighed as he saw all the dead bodies of SeeD and Garden student's.
"Zell?" asked Clarissa who stopped with him. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." He said quietly and looked up to the rising moon, the sky was now dark and starry and he thought about how his some of his comrades were still out there.
"Please be alright." he thought as he remembered that his friends were in Esthar.
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Once up at Quistis's office Zell and Clarissa went up to the pilot's deck to see Nida.
"Hey, Nida." Said Zell. "Where're we going? Shouldn't we wait for Squall and everyone?"
Nida didn't seem to be paying attention, he was looking out into the sky.
"Nida?" asked Zell.
"Huh?" said Nida suddenly.
"What's wrong?" asked Zell.
"The other Ragnarok. Irvine and Selphie. they never came back!" said Nida who was still looking out into the sky.
"What!" said Zell in surprise and grief. He knew that if they weren't back by now then it was a great possibility that they crashed, or they were.. dead.
"Oh my God." Clarissa breathed.
Zell slumped to the ground, holding back tears that were swelling in his eyes. "They never came back!" he asked again and shook his head.
"We've got to go! They're attacking the Garden, now!" Clarissa said, as the Garden shook violently with a blast.
"You're right. I'm sorry Zell. we do have to go!" Nida agreed and took the controls, the Garden began to move slowly at first but gained speed, heading away from Esthar.
"But." Zell argued, knowing that all his friends were in Esthar and Irvine and Selphie were lost or dead.
"I'm sorry, Zell." Said Clarissa.
"I know. I know. At all costs, we can't put the Garden at risk, if we can help it." He said quietly.
~Chapter XII..............Weaknesses
"Get back!" Adel roared at Sirus as he ran straight to Aurora. She blasted him backwards, hard against the wall. Nearby, stood Dean, almost doubled over in laughter as Adel approached Sirus slowly, glowering down at him as he groaned in pain.
"Sirus?" Aurora moaned.
"Pitiful. Your even weaker then I would have thought." She muttered and picked him up by the neck and threw him to the opposite wall, leaving him unconscious.
"Enough!" yelled Squall and Rinoa both at the same time, starting forwards.
"Boring." Said Adel airily. She rose her hands in the air and seemed to be gaining energy. It revolved in her hand for a moment; its redness growing brighter and she threw it at Squall. He landed against the wall, pinned at the hands and feet by energy strands. He couldn't get out.
"As for you!" Adel sneered as she looked down at Rinoa. "Your just a pain, its time that I be rid of you, once and for all."
She once again seemed to be gaining energy from the air around her, into a small ball in the palm of her hand and she threw it at Rinoa. Instead of pinning her to a wall Rinoa was hit backwards and bounded into Aurora who was slowly trying to get up but was knocked over.
"Get out of the way!" Adel hissed at Aurora and took her arm, pulling her away from Rinoa who stood cowering before Adel.
Still holding onto Aurora, Adel sneered down at Rinoa and smirked. It seemed very sudden but with Adel's outstretched hand, beams of blue light streamed from Rinoa into Adel. Rinoa collapsed.
"No powers to help you now." Adel whispered harshly.
"Rinoa!" Squall cried helplessly from behind Rinoa.
"Not even your dear husband to save you from the evil, evil sorceress!" she laughed.
Squall was staring at Adel and Rinoa with horror; he glanced over at Ultimecia who had gotten up. His expression changed from horror to confusion. Ultimecia began to inch towards Rinoa.
"Now, I believe I was about to be on with something." Adel sneered down at Rinoa and raised her hands above her head. Palms to the air a bluish purple light came out of nowhere and was going into her hands making a beam go straight up from her hands.
Adel closed her eyes and tilted her head downwards. "Time to go!" she hissed at Rinoa who had stood up again, stumbling, and begun moving slowly backwards.
"Oh no you don't!" said Adel as she opened her eyes to see Rinoa turning to run. She took one hand out of the air and left the beam in one hand, she used the other to blast energy at Rinoa's legs that made her topple over, not able to walk to run anymore.
Adel once again raised her hand and the beam of bluish purple light grew brighter and thicker.
"Time to die." She whispered.
"RINOA!" Squall yelled, tears ran down his cheeks, he was about to watch his wife and love die and he couldn't do anything about it. He struggled against the energy clasps around him but it was no use, he couldn't get out unless Adel let him out.
Adel's eyes bored down into Rinoa's as she lay, wincing in pain. The light grew to about 1 foot wide, enough to kill anyone. The entire room was filled with a bluish purple light that illuminated everything that it touched.
Squall's eyes widened in surprise as Ultimecia, who was inching slowly towards Adel had began to run and stepped firmly in front of Rinoa, blocking her from view. "No. don't, Adel." She insisted quietly. "Don't make me."
"Don't make you what?" Adel demanded angrily and Ultimecia just glared at her, her eyes narrowing and her long black wings spreading slowly. "That's what I thought." Said Adel when Ultimecia remained silent. "You won't do anything, your too weak." She continued.
"Don't push me. Leave her alone." Ultimecia said in a soft and misty sort of voice.
"Your only trying to save yourself!" said Adel, in realization that if she destroyed Rinoa it would destroy Ultimecia too. Rinoa was Ultimecia's past and Ultimecia was Rinoa's future.
Ultimecia stayed silent, staring up at Adel with pure hatred in her eyes. Squall, however, didn't stay silent. "Rinoa! Get out of the way!" he called to Rinoa but she still couldn't move, not only because of her legs but because she was paralyzed with fear and shock.
"Be quiet." Said Ultimecia softly and turned back to Adel and glanced over at Aurora who was backed into the window and looking around fearfully, Sirus was still unconscious across the room.
Out of the far shadows stepped put a young boy, near Sirus and walked slowly towards Adel, Ultimecia and Rinoa, his eyes placed coldly on Ultimecia who hissed at him to say back and he stopped, his eyes still raking around at the three of them.
"Leave now!" Ultimecia said quietly and coldly to Adel whose eyes narrowed in loathing of Ultimecia.
"Fine." She said simply, turning towards Squall. "Have it your way then." she continued, realizing she couldn't get to Rinoa. she'd have to get to someone else.
With much strength, before Ultimecia could say anything, the beam of light was pointed directly at Squall and dropped, hitting him with much force and making him yell out in pain, she was killing him slowly.
"NO!" Ultimecia screamed tragically, she dived into the beam and stopped it from hitting Squall who was released from the wall and was slumped at the bottom, unconscious.
The beam pierced through Ultimecia, it seemed to be flowing through her and finally it stopped. Adel was laughing harshly and began to move towards Ultimecia but Rinoa crawled over and hung herself over her.
"Kill us both then." she cried but Adel stopped, standing over them and staring down at Ultimecia in confusion.
Ultimecia's eyes flicked open, the tattoos on the sides of her face were disappearing, and her hair had gone from the dark gray it was to black, like Rinoa's. It hung loosely on her back, whiteness traveled slowly down her wings until they were totally white. She had turned totally into Rinoa again, the goodness in her heart had finally taken over.
"Close your eyes." she whispered to Rinoa who was leaning over her in a trance of amazement, she was looking into a mirror but she closed her eyes without hesitation and felt a strange sensation.
Adel had stepped back in amazement and horror as both Rinoa and Ultimecia rose into the air, they're white wings carrying them. Ultimecia closed her eyes a blue haze surrounded them. Adel turned as a brilliant flash of white light filled the room for a split second and when she turned back Rinoa was floating back down to the floor, her eyes filled with determination. The powers that Adel had taken from her were back.
"Your foul." Rinoa said in a sneer to Adel.
"DIE!" Adel shrieked and created a large ball of red flames and threw it straight at Rinoa, who was thrown off her feet, though not for long; she stood up again, stepping forward.
"GET AWAY!" Rinoa raged. She closed her eyes and threw her hand into the air, palm faced up and made a large icicle that she threw at Adel. It pierced her side and she stumbled backward.
Rinoa didn't let up, she put her hands outwards and blasted spurts of blue beams at Adel but was startled as something threw her off her feet from the side.
Dean had run forward and tackled her, but Adel was in too much pain to do anything quickly.
"THIS ISN'T THE END!" she screamed and grabbed hold of Aurora, who had begun to run past her towards Rinoa.
"Time to go!" she said in a cold and drawling voice, still clutching her side. "Say goodbye!"
With a sharp crack, she disappeared with Aurora, Dean and Sirus who all turned red before disappearing.
Rinoa climbed up off the ground and ran over to Squall just as the doors burst open with Quistis and Seifer standing framed in the arch holding up a weak Ellone.
"What happened? Where's Aurora. is Adel still in here?. Where's Sirus?" demanded Quistis.
"What happened to Squall?" asked Seifer who walked slowly over to them and kneeled over in front of Rinoa and Squall.
"Adel's gone. with Aurora." said Rinoa and checked Squall's pulse he was still breathing, It was a miracle he was still alive after that blast.
"What happened." Asked Seifer quietly.
"I'll explain on the way out."
Rinoa and Quistis held up Squall and Seifer held up Ellone who had begun to walk weakly. They slid along the walls in the corridors until they reached the final corridor, where the elevator was and stopped, remaining out of sight. The esthar soldiers were still around.
"So, what happened?" asked Quistis after a long silence with only heavy breathing.
Rinoa leaned against the wall and sighed. "Well." she began and then explained everything that had happened in Laguna's office.
"So. let me get this straight." Said Seifer, letting Ellone lean against the wall and he walked over to Rinoa who was across the hall. "Ultimecia and Aurora materialized from Adel? How?"
Rinoa looked thoughtful for a moment. "I. I don't know." She replied uneasily.
"Ok, but now what I'm wondering is how Ultimecia turned good again. I mean. she's evil!" continued Seifer, almost ignoring what Rinoa had said, it all seemed so much in his head.
"I already told you.." Rinoa said exasperatedly. "Ultimecia is my future, I'm her past. Ultimecia is me!"
"But-" Seifer was interrupted by Quistis who was standing, her finger on her lips, her eyes growing wide, it looked like she'd just realized something.
"I can see that now! Seifer, she's right!" said Quistis pointedly to Seifer who stood, his eyebrow arched in confusion.
"But how, I mean, if she really was Rinoa then why would she have come back fifteen years ago and attempt to kill Squall and herself?" asked Seifer.
"She didn't come back to kill Squall. he got in her way of time compression. Do you know why she wanted time compression?" said Quistis, holding her finger in the air.
"To rule all time-"
Quistis who was on a roll once again interrupted Seifer. "She wanted time compression to rule herself! She didn't want the entire world; she never wanted that. She wanted to get rid of her old self! She was embarrassed about who she was. That's why you became her knight, you had similarities that way, you never knew where you fit!"
Ellone finally spoke but in a hushed tone. "Q. Quistis?" she asked. "If Ultimecia wanted to rule herself why would she try to kill Rinoa. wouldn't that be killing herself?"
"No, it wouldn't." said Rinoa, and Quistis resumed talking again.
"I wouldn't. she'd be killing her memory! Only others could kill her, she could kill her memory, its like forgetting something that's in the back of your mind that you barely even knew was there! Don't you see.Ultimecia still had herself, her powers were beyond imaginable but only one thing was stopping her from annihilating the world." she explained and then said softly, ".her heart was stopping her."
"How?" asked Seifer, who was obviously still confused and began tapping his foot lightly.
"Ultimecia still had Rinoa in there, Rinoa, the kind hearted and loving girl that she once was. Even though she was evil on the outside she was still good on the inside. All evil people have once had they're goodness in them, the only way to get rid of it is to kill it. She wanted time compression to kill her good self."
Ellone nodded in understanding, but Seifer, however, still wasn't very convinced. "Oh, come off it!" he said crossily. "You're saying she went through all of that. that stuff to kill her good self?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Quistis said, nodding her head.
"Makes sense." Rinoa intervened.
"Well. maybe." Seifer agreed and tried to change the subject by saying that they should leave, he seemed rather annoyed by the logic that Ultimecia was Rinoa.
"So, Ultimecia went into you?" Quistis asked Rinoa, ignoring Seifers expression.
"Yeah, I don't know what happened. Adel shot energy at Squall and all of the sudden she dived in front, practically killing herself, shrieking "NO!". I went over to her and her wings turned white and then she looked like me. She told me to close my eyes and then I felt this surge of power." Rinoa explained, fumbling with her fingers and glancing nervously at Squall who was still unconscious.
"I see. Well, it seems that Squall was her weak spot." Said Quistis thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Rinoa, tilting her head to the side.
"You love Squall with all of your heart and you'd do anything for him, am I right?" asked Quistis.
"Yes."
"Well, it seems that the love for you and Squall took her over, she couldn't stand to watch Squall die, it was too much and it overtook her. She turned back into you." Quistis said as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
"Even after many years, Quistis, you're still the clever one!" Rinoa said, she would have never thought of all this. "But what I don't understand is how I will end up turning evil."
Quistis shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Hate to break it too you but that is impossible to tell, it could be many things."
"Oh."
"What happened to Aurora and Sirus?" asked Ellone who had remained silent for most of the conversation.
"I'm not sure. When Adel disappeared they were just gone." she said sadly.
"Umm, guys. I think we'd better get going." Said Seifer finally as they heard loud voices down the corridors they'd just come from.
Quistis and Rinoa held Squall up again and Seifer helped Ellone along and they edged along the walls towards the elevator and got on.
Once it stopped they got off cautiously, staring out into the night sky. The sunrise was soon to come, they could see a faint orange glow in the eastern horizon and they headed off.
"We'd better get out of here fast." Said Seifer. "I'm sure they've realized that Adel is gone, they'll know we were there."
They all remained silent until Rinoa asked something that was bothering her. "I wonder where they went."
"I don't know." Quistis whispered.
"Hopefully they're safe." Rinoa thought about Aurora and Sirus, wondering where they were and if they were still alive.
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