Thief’s Treasure Chapter 6: The First Island Secret, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Thief's Treasure
Chapter Six: The First Island Secret
By PasifiKStaR

*All Standard Disclaimers Apply - I do not own Final Fantasy or it's characters.

"Ten thousand gil just to take us off the coast of the Island Closest to Hell," Irvine said as he they placed the money on the table in front of the blond man. "You don't even have to get off your boat or even get on the actual island itself... You can't say that's a bad deal."

The blond man let out a heavy breath as he looked down at the wad of gil in front of him. "You're right...I can't say that's a bad deal."

"It's more than enough to cover expenses," Squall added. Foreboding blue eyes held the captain of a ship in a steady gaze. "All you have to do is bring us there and back."

"What's your reason?" the captain asked.

Irvine smirked. "I don't think that's any of your business-" he began, but Squall held out his hand to silence him.

"We're scuba diving off the shores." Squall stated simply.

"Off the shores?" the captain snorted. "Of the Island Closest to Hell? You must be mad!"

"Mad men make the best deals," Squall shrugged. He leaned back on the wooden chair he was sitting in and crossed his arms. "Either you take it or you don't. The choice is all yours."

"Not bad for less than a week of work, right?" Irvine added.

The captain looked at the two people at the table and slowly reached over to take the money. Suddenly, a gloved hand went over his, stopping him. "Not so fast," Zell said with a friendly smile. "First you take us there and bring us back. Then we pay you the money."

The captain narrowed his eyes and pulled his hand back and frowned. "How do I know I'll get the money."

"You'll just have to risk it," Squall said. "We'll pay you half now and half when we return. That's our final offer."

"Deal."

"But how do we know that your boat will be there when we leave?" Irvine asked suspiciously.

"He brings up a good point, Mr. Highwind," Squall stated as Zell took a seat next to Squall and put down a heavy pitcher or beer. "So we will pay you when we board."

The captain mulled it over and nodded. "It sounds good to me," he agreed. "Very well, gentlemen. I'll see you tonight."

The blond captain grinned and stood up, giving them a nod as he placed some gil on the table to pay for his drink. Irvine shook his head. "Pick it up," the cowboy ordered quietly. "It's on us."

The captain nodded once more and headed out the door of the dimly lit bar. "Think he's trust worthy?" Zell asked as he watched the door swing closed.

"We don't have a choice at this point," Irvine mumbled. "Just be glad we hired him for so little."

"Ten thousand gil isn't cheap," Squall stated. "We still need to find a way to the Island Closest to Heaven."

"That definitely won't be cheap," Zell agreed as he took a drink of his beer. He looked around the room. "So when should we go rent the scuba equipment?"

"Later," Squall said. He looked over at Zell. "Irvine and I will go into the water. You stay on board and make sure the captain doesn't run away and leave us with the sharks."

Zell nodded. "Understandable."

"Do you have an idea of where it might be located?" Irvine asked.

"Quistis let me have some spare undersea maps," Squall explained. "It's all marked and ready to go."

"Won't it be strange that you two go scuba diving, but I'm not going with you?" Zell asked as he was lost in thought. "I mean...doesn't that just say that something's up?"

"We'll leave dealing with that to you," Irvine grinned. "I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"Thanks..."

"Hey, Squall," Irvine said as he put his mug down and looked at the brunette. "How'd you know that the warehouse was going to explode?"

Squall was silent. He stared down at the clear, light brown liquid in his mug. "You shot the cord right over the electric box," he stated simply. "I figured sooner or later, it would spark and set off the explosives in those crates. That's why I had Zell break them and push them forward as a distraction."

"No wonder you graduated at the top of our class," Zell laughed. "Genius."

"One thing bothers me, though," Irvine admitted. "The Siren was far, but wasn't THAT far away. They must've seen the explosion..."

Zell nodded. "That's right...they were far enough to not be able to see jump into the water just before it exploded," his eyes went wide as he looked at Irvine and Squall. "You don't think they think we're dead, do you!?"

"They probably do." Squall shrugged emotionlessly. His eyes were glazed over as he looked straight ahead.

"Holy shit!" Irvine said as he sat up and gave Squall an uneasy look. "You did it on purpose, didn't you!?"

"Whatever..."

"No 'whatever', man! Answer me!" Irvine gasped. "Did you just stage our death!?"

"Stage our death!?" Zell gasped. "Why!?" He looked over at Squall, who still carried a stoic look on his face.

Irvine let out a heavy sigh and ran his hand down his face as he leaned back. He shook his head. "That's wrong, Squall...you think she'll forget about you because she thinks your dead? You KNOW she won't!"

"If Rinoa thinks your dead..." Zell mumbled. A panicked look entered his face. "Then won't she think that she's the cause of your death?!"

"Zell's got a point, Squall," Irvine said. "I don't think you've thought this all the way through."

"We have to tell her!" Zell said. "What if she really thinks it's her fault-"

"It's too late to fix it!" Squall snapped, silencing the two. "It's best that she thinks I'm dead! She can get on with her life if I'm not in the picture! She'll be happy."

"Will she, Squall?" Irvine said as he stood up. "Will she REALLY be happy? That's pretty damn presumptuous to say you know what will make her happy and what won't."

Squall glared at Irvine. He stood up and faced off with Irvine, although Irvine was several inches tall than him. "You can show up at Selphie's door and say that you and Zell are alive all you want," Squall said. "But as long as I'm out of Rinoa's life-"

"Rinoa will be miserable," Irvine concluded. "Lie to us all you want, Squall, but don't lie to yourself," He grabbed his trench coat, which had been hanging from the back of his chair and put it on. "C'mon, Zell. We have scuba gear to rent."

Irvine walked around the table and headed towards the door. Reluctantly, Zell stood up and looked at Squall. "He's right," Zell said. "I think that making her think you're dead is a mistake." Without another word, Zell went after Irvine, leaving Squall alone at their table with empty mugs of beer and a bill.

Squall sat back down and leaned forward on the table, running his hand through his hair. "If Rinoa loves me like they say she does, she won't believe I'm dead until she sees my charred, black corpse herself."

The Highwind was just a little bit bigger than the Siren. It was longer and winder and probably younger. Irvine, Squall, and Zell stood at the walk way that lead up to the ship. They were carrying scuba equipment in bags. "Ahoy!" a voice piped from the ship.

They looked up and saw a young woman, probably in her mid teens, waving energetically from the side of the ship. She had short black hair that swept over her forehead as looked down at them. "Ahoy!" Irvine smiled and Zell yelled as he waved.

"At least they're friendly." Irvine said. As they headed up the walk way, a blond man appeared at the top of the stairs. His hair was very pale and he was smiling a friendly smile.

"You must be the Squall party, right?" he said. "I'm Cloud, we'll be sailing to the Island Closest to Hell with you."

Irvine looked over at his companions. "Highwind never said anything about a joint venture..."

"It's okay, we'll stay out of your way," Cloud told them. "We're actually just heading over to gather some materia."

"Tell the whole world, why don't you!?" a voice shrieked behind him. The girl they had seen earlier bounded over to them and extended her hand. "I'm Yuffie! Nice to meet ya!"

"Yuffie..." Zell said as he shook her head. "You remind me of someone..."

"Is she cute and energetic, too?" Yuffie laughed.

Zell thought for a moment and nodded. He looked over at Irvine. "She reminds of me Selphie."

"What?" Irvine said as he gave Zell a disbelieving look. "They're nothing alike!"

"Where is Captain Highwind?" Squall asked, dead pan.

"He'll be on board soon," Cloud assured them. "He went to get something to drink before we left."

"Something to drink?" Zell asked. "As in...?" He made a motion of someone drinking from a bottle and then stumbled around.

Cloud nodded, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah...but don't worry, he's always like that! He always takes us to the island, so he knows his way well."

"How much are you paying?" Zell asked casually as Yuffie looked over the scuba gear with interest.

"A thousand to get there and a thousand to get back." Cloud answered.

Zell's eyes went wide. "That bastard ripped us of-"

"That's nice to hear," Squall said as he clamped his hand over Zell's mouth. "Can you direct us to where we may put our things away?"

"Wow..." Yuffie mumbled in awe as she stared at Squall. "You have really good manners," she narrowed her eyes. "Are you rich?"

"No."

"I bet you are!" Yuffie said. "You talk just like him!"

Squall fought the urge to ask who. If he did, he just KNEW she wouldn't stop talking. Unfortunately, Zell didn't catch on to that. "Who?"

*Dammit, Zell...*

"His name is Vincent Valentine," Yuffie sighed happily. "He's from really well to do family in Galbadia."

Squall narrowed his eyes. "How does he look like?"

"Please, don't get her started-" Cloud began, but it was too late.

"He's tall, dark, and handsome!" Yuffie stated loudly. "What else could you want!?"

"I mean more feature wise." Squall stated.

Yuffie's face then carried a very thoughtful look as her eyes glazed over. "He's tall, like I said, with long black hair and pale skin. He's always wearing red... it's so sexy on him."

"How did you meet him?" Squall asked as Cloud showed Irvine and Zell where to store their scuba equipment.

"Cloud's childhood friend invited him to a big party in Esthar and he was there," Yuffie said. "Cloud let us tag along. It was really fun! But Aeris kind of didn't like it..."

"I liked it," a quiet feminine voice said to the side. They turned and saw a young woman walking from the lower deck. She was wearing a long pink dress and short brown jacket over her shoulders. Her long brown hair was braided and large green eyes looked at the group. She looked over at Squall. "Have I seen you before?"

"Hello," Irvine grinned. He casually walked over and took Aeris' hand. He lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it. "My name is Irvine, a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Irvine..." she smiled weakly.

Zell shook his head. "If Selphie could see you now..." he mumbled. Squall rolled his eyes.

"Come to think of it..." Cloud mumbled as he shot Irvine a not so nice glare. "You do look a bit familiar...What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't. It's Squall."

"Squall...Loire?" Cloud asked quietly. Squall shook his head. "Really? Are you sure? Where are you from?"

*I think I would know my own name, idiot,* Squall thought to himself. "I'm from Esthar."

"You wouldn't know Tifa Lockeheart would you?" Cloud asked. "She's from Esthar."

"Tifa Lockeheart," Irvine grinned as he let out a whistle. "Now THERE is an island I'd love to visit."

Cloud gave Irvine an even deadlier glare. "Hey, she's my-"

"Irvine, Tifa is a good friend of my family," Squall said. "She and Ellone are always together and I see her like a sister, so stop talking like that."

"But Squall, Irvine's right," Zell said. "I mean...you've seen...THEM!"

Squall ran his hand down his face. "Where is our room?" he asked, tiredly.

"So you DO know Tifa!" Yuffie said. "How is she doing? Is she still running Loveless?"

"You know, I heard they just opened up another Loveless in Winhill," Zell said casually. "That's like the fiftieth bar, isn't it?"

"All right! Are we all ready to go!?" a voice boomed behind them. They turned around and saw Cid Highwind walking up towards them.

"All set, Cid!" Cloud said. "Let's go!"

Two days had passed and they were now just off the coast of a darkened island. Storm clouds seemed to be perpetually hovering over the island as Squall finally emerged from his room at the bottom of the ship.

"Hey! You finally came up! For a second I thought you were a vampire and sensitive to light or something!" a perky voice shouted.

Squall looked around, sending glares at everyone and anyone as Yuffie waved at him. For the last two days, he had confined himself in his room. He was drawing out plans to where exactly to look for the treasure.

That and he was trying to hide from the people upstairs. It seemed that they all got along, but got along too well. When Yuffie pulled out a kareoke system and a half drunk Cid began to sing, Squall vowed not to emerge from his room unless he had to use the bathroom, eat, or leave.

Zell has been the one to go downstairs and knock on Squall's door to tell them that they were now anchored just off the coast of the Island. He gathered his things and took his gun blade. He had to bring it with him. The Island Closest to Hell, whether actually on the island or not, was still a very dangerous place.

Irvine was checking the scuba equipment when Squall arrived wearing his pants, boots, and a white shirt. Irvine had left his coat in the room he was sharing with Zell. He wasn't wearing the chaps over his pants, either.

"All set?" Irvine asked. Squall nodded.

"We're going to take you guys towards the reefs," Cloud said as they stood there. He pointed to the inflatable raft that they were lowering. "Then Aeris, Yuffie, and I are going to head on the island to look for materia."

The blond held a massive sword behind him as the raft hit the water. Squall looked it over. "Nice sword."

Cloud glanced over at the gun blade and nodded. "Yours isn't bad either."

"Your's is bigger." Squall stated.

"I'm sure yours is just as effective."

Irvine grinned and struggled to hold in his laughter. "I didn't think you two would actually compare your...swords..."

Squall narrowed his eyes, catching on to Irvine's train of thought. Cloud smiled as he finished tying the cloth around his sword. "Too bad you don't have one."

Squall smirked. "He uses his GUN to COMPENSATE." Irvine shot him a glare as Yuffie and Aeris climbed down the ladder on the side of the ship to the raft.

Zell let out a heavy sigh. "Just get in the boat. I'll hand you guys the equipment."

Cloud, Irvine, and Squall headed down the ladder. Irvine stood up to reach for the air tanks and equipment that Zell was handing him. "We'll see you later." Irvine said.

Zell nodded and waved as Cloud started the motor on the small inflatable raft. The motor stuttered before it sent out a stream of tiny bubbles into the dark water. The raft sped away from the ship and Zell watched them go. "Good luck..."

Several minutes passed as the raft sped across the water. Squall was constantly checking the map and was giving Cloud directions as they sped over the water. The water went from dark and deep to shallow and clear and before long, Squall was assured that they had reached the right place.

"This is the spot," Cloud said as the raft stopped right over a clear area lined with brilliant multicolored reefs. Are you sure you guys can make it back to the ship?"

"We'll be fine," Squall stated as he checked to make sure his vest was fastened. He looked at Irvine, who ran his hand through his hair. He had left his cowboy hat behind as well. "Let's go."

The put their mouth pieces on and leaned back over the edge of the raft. With two loud splashes, they fell backwards into the clear water and headed off. Above them, the raft's motor roared once more as the other three headed towards the island. Squall waved for Irvine to follow him.

*The currents would've washed a wayward ship right across the outer barriers of the reef,* Squall was thinking to himself as they swam further out. *Coral takes millions of years to grow...if the ship did brush across the reefs, then, there should be evidence in the form of broken coral...*

*Aeris' eyes remind me of Selphie...* Irvine was thinking in contrast to what Squall was thinking. His friend was swimming ahead of him, seemingly lost in thought. *But Selphie's eyes are greener. And her smile is so much cuter. I never even got a chance to kiss her...let alone seduce her fully. Stupid Squall and his stupid stubborn ideas...damn I miss them.*

They had arrived towards the drop zone area of the island. After that point, there was a sudden drop in the ocean floor, probably hundreds of feet deep. Squall swam directly over the edge of the coral, studying it for any sign of broken coral branches.

Irvine had no idea what he was looking for and merely followed Squall along the reef. Suddenly, Squall stopped and pointed down ward. He sank down a foot to survey the coral. *Broken branches...scraped coral...this has to be it.*

*I don't know what he's staring at...* Irvine admitted to himself. *It all looks the same to me...*

Squall's blue eyes followed the trail of broken coral inward, towards the island as Irvine followed behind him. The closer he got to the land, the less coral that was damaged.

He looked around the area. *There has to be something here...* His voice trailed off as he saw a strange coral structure that was formed against one of the many jutting pieces of stone. He swam over and looked over a large jutting structure and places his hands on it.

*Now what is he doing? Looking at a rock...great.* Irvine rolled his eyes and swam over, watching as Squall pressed his hands against the rock and looked around it. He pushed on certain areas that looked out and Irvine looked the stone up and down. *Hey...* He swam up a little higher, to the top of the stone and narrowed his eyes. His hand brushed away some of the debris at the top.

Squall saw Irvine waving to him as he looked up. The cowboy was pointing to the top of the stone enthusiastically. Squall swam up and looked over what Irvine was pointing at. His eyes went wide when he realized that it had originally had a white marble finish.

To long worn marble eyes stared back at him as Squall swam backwards to get a better look at the structure. When he was close, he couldn't tell what it was, but upon being farther away, he realized it was a marble statue. A statue that had been dumped there from the way it was resting.

Squall pointed up to the surface and Irvine nodded. The two men swam upwards. "It's a mermaid statue," Squall said as he and Irvine broke the surface and removed their mouth pieces. "It must've been dumped here."

"Why? Why would anyone dump something here?" Irvine asked.

"I don't know," Squall breathed. He looked back down at the water. "I'm going to check it out some more."

Irvine nodded and put his own mouth piece back on before following Squall. The brunette returned to the statue and began to study it some more. He swam around it several times. Irvine watched with interest as Squall began to brush away some of the debris from around the statue with his hand.

The cowboy turned around and surveyed the area for any other dumped statue and found none. He found that strange. Why would they just leave one behind?

Squall saw something glisten from the mermaid's forehead. He swam up and began to brush away the dirt that had gathered on the statue. A dark red jewel was placed on the mermaid's forehead and Squall ran his hand over it to dust it off more.

Suddenly, the sound of stone grinding against stone caught is attention. He whirled around and saw bubbles rising around him. His eyes went wide as he turned back around and saw the mermaid statue being pulled back.

He looked down and saw a bottomless hole appear below him, sucking in sea water as the statue was pulled back. He struggled to swim against the suction of the current, but was too close.

Irvine had been farther away and felt the suction before he heard it. He turned and saw Squall already waist deep into the hole. *SQUALL!!* the cowboy's mind screamed. He opened his mouth to yell, letting his mouth piece go as he swam towards the statue.

Squall disappeared into the hole and the grinding sound was heard once more as the heavy marble statue rolled back over the hole. Irvine slammed his body against it as it locked into place.

Frantically, Irvine's hands ran along the statue, searching for a lever or button to press in order to get it to open again. He found none. Running out of breath, he grabbed the mouth piece and shoved it back into his mouth before resuming his search.

Minutes passed. He checked the dial on his vest and mentally swore once more. He was running out of air. *Shit!* He glared at the statue. *I'll be back for you, Squall!!*

He kicked off the statue and swam back in the direction of the ship. He needed to get help.

As he swam away, the statue began it's grinding sound once more and slowly, it sank into the coral below it. The only thing left was the garnet from the mermaid's forehead.

His head was throbbing. Slowly, his blue eyes opened and looked around. It didn't do him any good, as it was pitch dark in the room. He felt around his vest and pulled out a water proof flash light and turned it on.

"Hyne..." he whispered as he stood up on shaky legs and shined the light around. From what he could make out, he was standing on the soft sand of an inlet in some sort of undersea cavern. He knelt down and picked up his fallen gun blade in his hand.

The ceiling was high above him. When he turned he recognized the sound of water and realized that he had probably washed up on the shore. He shined the flash light over the water and then slowly traced it around. He could make out a tunnel and walked up the sandy bank.

When he reached it, he looked around and placed his hand on the wall. He felt something wet and sticky and frowned as he pulled his hand back. He lifted it to his nose and his eyes went wide.

Grasping the flashlight in his mouth, he dug through his vest and pulled out a lighter wrapped in a small plastic bag. He created a small flame and held it up against the wall.

Immediately, the wet substance caught on fire. It climbed up the wall and Squall watched with fascination as it lead up to a series of hanging metal gutters on the wall. The gutters lit up with fire, illuminating the entire hall way with warm, yellow light.

Cautiously, Squall took one step into the corridor and braced himself. Nothing happened. Still weary, Squall turned off the flash light and pinned it between the scuba vest and his shirt while he held his gun blade in front of him cautiously.

As he walked through the corridor, he began to notice the pictures on the wall. Carved into the sandstone and painted over with long worn out colors, was a story.

It reminded him of the fairy tales he used to listen in on when Ellone used to read them for Laguna. Long forgotten stories about a prince and a princess. A knight and a sorceress. The good guy and the bad guy. He paused over one particular scene.

There was a woman, probably a princess, who was being pulled away by guards. There was a castle in the back ground. A large man wearing a heavy gold crown was standing in front of her as she looked back over her shoulders. The princess seemed to be struggling to look back.

Kneeling in front of the man Squall decided was the king and father of the princess, was a man. He was dressed in dark clothes and held his hands open. They were empty.

Silently, Squall continued his walk. The scenes that followed seemed to be depicting an after life. The princess had grown old and never married. She had died in her sleep.

In the clouds, in what was probably a depiction of heaven, there was a golden key. The same man who had been kneeling before the king. He was holding the key. The princess approached him and he had his arms open.

The next panel was the princess from the waist up. Right over her left breast was a heart with a key hole over it. Squall stood there and stared at the wall. *The key to her heart...*

Immediately, an image of Rinoa flashed in his mind and he took a step back. He shook his head to rid himself of the image, but found that it would not leave him so easily. As he stared at the image, he envisioned himself holding a golden key.

And Rinoa was standing in front of him and slowly pulling her arms apart to reveal a glowing key hole over her left breast. She smiled at him welcomingly. Then it hit him. Unlike the carved image, where the woman was wearing a dress, Rinoa was naked.

*Oh, Hyne...* Squall leaned back against the opposite wall and put his arm over his head. *WHY am I imagining a naked Rinoa?...Now that I think about it, I don't know how exactly to interpret that panel...*

He shook his head and stood back up. The other side of the corridor was filled with images of sailing. Probably the story of how the ship ended up there in the first place.

Squall continued to walk until he reached a series of stairs that lead upwards against a darkened cavern. The sound of water reached his ears and he peered into the darkened cavern and was barely able to make out the gushing water coming from a hole in the limestone wall and into a pool lower into the cavern.

*Oh crap...* He turned the flash light on once more and shined it over the steep stairs that coiled around the cavern to a hole in the wall a hundred or so feet above him. It seemed to lead into another corridor. He looked back down at the pool of water. He knew that one slip up and he'd be falling into it. *I know I need a cold shower at this point after that whole naked Rinoa thing...but THAT is not necessary.*

Letting out a heavy sigh, he began his way up the steps and leaned against the wall. The steps themselves were merely a three feet across. At one point, the steps were wet and he nearly slipped and fell fifty feet. Now, his hand was clinging on to the side of the sheer wall.

By the time he reached the second corridor, he had nearly fallen three times and a series of seven steps had crumbled behind him. He swallowed hard as he looked back down and prayed he didn't have to go back down to leave that place.

He turned around and looked into the corridor that seemed to be giving off a bluish glow. Upon closer inspection, he found blue crystals embedded in the wall that sent out an eerie blue glow. Proceeding cautiously, he stepped into the corridor.

Squall looked down to make sure his feet weren't supposed to step on anything when he saw letters carved into to the ground. "There...is nothing..." he began to read. "Worthy of...the one you love's...heart. To prove your love's worth...all you need is the key. If it was meant to be...the answer is the key," Squall narrowed his eyes. "What key?"

He looked up and his blue eyes went wide as he saw the room that had opened it before him while he was engrossed in reading the carvings on the floor. In a large cavern, lit with glowing blue crystals, were piles and piles of gold bricks, silver bars, numerous jewels, and intricately made artifacts.

But what caught his eye was the gold key resting on a dusty pillow. It was resting on an old, heavily worn, chest. Slowly, Squall walked up to it and realized that it's handle was shaped like a heart. Reaching out, he the touched the cold piece of metal and lifted it off it's dusty pillow.

Squall's eyes went down to the key hole in the chest. He lowered the key and inserted into the key hole, turning it until a small click resounded in the room. He lifted up the chest and found a scroll.

"For ten years, I have gone to and from Garnet to see my beloved Sara," Squall read as he sat down on the chest. "Every time I saw her, I felt that the arsenal of wealth that I had acquired was not enough and I would tell her father that I was unable to gather what was worthy of her. Then I would set forth again in search of more. This wealth in this first cavern is the result of ten years of searching. But words cannot describe the wealthy on the Island Closest to Heaven. Only the wealth in that cavern is worth of her love. This key in this cavern is the key to what lies there. I pray that whoever finds it, finds it solely for love."

Irvine grabbed hold of the railing lead down into the water and began to pull himself up. He was out of breath as he trudged up to the deck of the Highwind. He practically tore off his scuba gear.

"Zell!" he shouted. "Zell! Get me another tank!"

He was on his hands and knees and through murky vision blurred by the salt in the ocean, he saw pale feet with green painted toe nails. His eyes went large as he looked up. Water pooled around his body.

A warm smile met him as beautiful green eyes met his. "Howdy, cowboy!"

Irvine smiled weakly. "Selphie..." he gasped out.

"Irvine," a shaky voice said behind Selphie. He looked past the girl in yellow and saw a young woman surrounded by several familiar faces. She took a step forward. "Where is Squall?"

He stumbled over the fallen rocks and glared at them. Squall looked up ahead, still thankful that the massive cavern had yet another passage behind it. From what he could tell, it was leading upwards, meaning up towards the island itself.

He didn't look back as he followed the passage up. Now that he knew where the first treasure was, he could always come back and get it. The hard part had been tracking it down.

He wondered why no one else had found it previous to him if there was this second passage into it. He got his answer when he saw the skeletons of would be explorers hanging from sharp metal lances sticking out of the wall.

Seeing them made Squall tread carefully and watch every move he made. When he accidentally brushed up against a wall, he nearly ran the rest of the way before he realized that nothing was happening.

*The devices must only be triggered on the way down there...* The further he got up the darkened corridor, with his flash light leading the way, the more and more human remains he found. He silently wondered if this way had only been for exit and that the correct way of getting in was through the ocean.

After all, the carvings and images on the corridor were moving in the direction he was going and were chronologically correct according to the story. He paused when he heard something up ahead.

*Birds?* he thought to himself. With a face held in concentration, he quickened his speed through the cave, practically running through fallen rubble, skeletons, and over cracks in the stone earth.

He could make out a tiny sliver of light up ahead and found himself being elated as he began to climb up a series of fallen steps. Tree roots tripped him every other step as he climbed up, holding on to the tree roots and jutting pieces of stone for balance.

The light was coming from a pile of rocks that had been gathered over a whole. Squall pushed up against it and swore as it wouldn't budge. He couldn't possibly lift all the rocks off. He paused as he stood there, and stared at the rocks.

*If it can't go up...it might as well come down,* he thought to himself. He put his gun blade behind him and leaned up against the wall. His eyes looked for the smallest moveable piece.

As he hands wrapped around it, he began to push and prod at it until he loosened. He pulled it out and let it drop down the steps. He then put his hand into the space where the rock had been and began to loosen the other rocks. The sound of rocks grinding reached his ears as he quickly drew back his hand and turned his head away.

As expected, dozens of rocks, from the size of his fist to the size of his head tumbled to the ground, picking up dust and dirt. Squall coughed as he somehow inhaled the dirt and looked up.

As the dust settled, he could make out the hazy light that slipped through the darkened clouds and grinned. *Now...if I can just make it to the beach without getting killed...*

"Good news and bad news," Quistis said as she put the phone that belonged to the Highwind down. "Each of the scuba diving vests has a tracker so the rental place can keep track of them. They gave us the tracking number to Squall and Irvine's."

"What's the bad news?" Irvine said as Selphie wrapped a towel around his shoulders and hugged him.

"They said that if more than twenty-five percent of the actual vest is missing or your loose the vest or if it's no longer usable, you're not getting your deposit back." Quistis explained.

"See, I told you we should've bought insurance for them!" Zell snapped. Irvine rolled his eyes.

"Can you find out where Squall is?" Irvine asked.

"As long as he's still wearing his vest," Quistis answered. She got on the walkie talkie. "Fujin, get these numbers traced. 853LVK001 and 853LVK002."

"Tracing!" Fujin said through the walkie talkie. A few moments passed. "001 active!"

"Where?" Quistis asked.

"Island," Fujin said. There was a pause as the white haired woman watched the green dot move through her screen. "Northwest bound."

"He's heading towards the northwest side," Quistis said. She whirled around to the people who were watching them. "Can we use your raft to get on shore?"

"Yes," Aeris said. "As long as it's returned."

"All right," Quistis said. She pressed the walkie-talkie once more. "Fujin, Raijin, we're going to head on shore. Can you trace us? We're going to take the other vest."

"Affirmative," Fujin reported. "Tracing vest."

Selphie looked at the vest she had put around herself and smiled. She was still wearing Irvine's cowboy hat. "All right, let's go save Commander Puberty!" Seifer shouted. "Everyone in the raft!"

The group nodded and their last member put some gil on the table. "Twenty grand," the girl with the dark hair said. "For your trouble." She walked to the edge of the boat and climbed down the ladder to the raft below.

"Turn on the motor, Zell!" Selphie said as they were all securely in the boat. The motor roared as Zell pulled it's string. He held on to it and the raft raced off.

Yuffie leaned off the side of the boat and watched them go. "I don't know what Zell was talking about," Yuffie snorted. "I'm NOTHING like that Selphie chick. I mean...I am no where NEAR that hyper!"

Behind her, Cloud, Aeris, and Cid all looked at each other. "Right..."

He swung his gun blade and mentally swore. It was like a never ending battle. It seemed as if the entire island was crawling with monsters. *It's probably to make up for the lack of ocean monsters that Irvine and I ran into...*

Squall jumped over a fallen log as the small T-Rexsaur fell with a thud. He mentally swore as he heard something else growl in the distance. *Oh, you have to be kidding me...*

He took off, going to the way he was headed - towards' the sea. With any lucky, he might be able to find the ship and flag them down. Behind him, he could hear the heavy foot steps of the T-Rexsaur chasing after him.

Was it just him, or did them seem bigger? He shook his head and ducked under a vine. It roared behind him and birds flew off the trees, afraid to be caught in the slaughter. He'd been running for quite some time.

"He's changing direction," Quistis said as she listened to the walkie-talkie. "Head south a little, Zell!"

"Gotcha!" the blond said. He turned the boat around. It stuttered before it started up again and moved the raft south.

As they approached the island, they heard gun shots and their heads turned towards the island. "That's from a gun blade!" Irvine said. "Over there!" He pointed to the sandy beach. "Bring us up on that beach!"

Zell nodded and headed the raft in that direction.

Squall's heart was racing as he jumped over yet another fallen log. Behind him, trees were falling as the creature ran after him. It's haunting loud foot steps beat behind him like a steady drum. It's roaring was bringing silence to the rest of the area.

Despite the chase, Squall began to notice that there was more and more sand rather than fallen leaves and earth. He looked up ahead saw a pebbly beach with some large grains of sand up ahead. *Okay! We got to the beach...now what?*

He turned around just as trees were throw aside by a massive monster. Squall held his gun blade up. He was breathing heavily. He had to literally fight his way out of the island. From the moment he stepped out of the hole to now.

The creature in front of him roared menacingly and Squall, with his tattered clothes and blood streaked face, prepared to fight. His sweat drenched hair waved around his head as he lifted his gun blade.

Several gun shots rang out as several attacks were throw forward. From what Squall could make out, they were pretty high level as the creature let out a growl of pain before tumbling to the ground.

"Squall!" a voice shouted to his left. Still breathing heavily, he turned to his side and dropped his gun blade on to the sand.

Irvine stood there grinning with his gun slung over one shoulder as Zell and Selphie jumped up and down. Quistis smiled as Seifer looked away, as if in denial from having assisted him.

And SHE was running towards him. In a flurry of baby blue and black, she ran towards him, her feet barely touching the sand as she sprinted across it. Her eyes, large endless depths were brimming with tears.

His arms opened wide, awaiting her. She slammed into him and his arms immediately closed around her slender body, hugging her tightly. Her arms wound around his neck as she pressed her face against his shoulder.

He inhaled her scent and whispered his name soft. "Rinoa..."

"I just..." she swallowed hard and tried to talk. "I just want to be with you..." she whispered tearfully. "Even if it isn't forever..."