BREAKING THE MIRROR
Disclaimer – I don't own any of the FF8 characters etc, but I do however own some original characters that are going to be included in this story, and the imagination I have to give them life. Hope you like it…
Also huge thanks to Michael Kenny for letting me use a technique he invented (will use it in due time! Oh, and read his fics. Top notch!)
Chapter 12 – 'Book Decipherer'
'Just because you are strong, doesn't make you the boss'
(Squall)
He trained, swinging his gunblade through the air. These days, it felt so light to him, as if, it was his arm, as if it had a sharp point. The same could be said for the fighter alongside him. He too swung his, one handed through the air. They followed the same battle stances, the same swings, as if they were fighting next to a mirror. The only thing different was their stances.
Suddenly they sprang apart and faced each other. Squall measured Seifer quietly, then went for him. He treated Seifer as an enemy: like the way it was when they fought each other during Ultimecia. Seifer too, regarded their training this way. And indeed, they improved because of it.
"I'm gonna take a break" says Seifer. "You remember the meeting right?"
Squall nods, and watches Seifer go.
He stands there alone.
Time to practice, my way. I know you are good Seifer, but I have a bad feeling that I might end up fighting Mirror on my own when I find him, so I must prepare for him, alone.
I'm sorry.
(4 hours later)
Squall sits in the Ragnarok, seated at a large round table. Seated to his left are Selphie and Irvine. To Squall's right Zell, then Quistis. In front of him sits President Laguna, flanked by Kiros and Ward. Cid and Seifer sit either side of Kiros and Ward respectively.
"Well, that's the whole deal then?" Says Laguna. "Gilned has this warrior, and his army is growing again. I have noticed something, he has withdrawn all Galbadian forces and brought them back to Deling City, as if he needs them there, to defend something."
The others sit in silence as he speaks. They all agree, and indeed, wonder what he is up to.
"The least we can do, is observe him for now, see what he is up to" says Cid, "as who knows what else he has planned. He has been very smart about all this. Notice that everything involving the Garden happened away from there? And we can't exactly say Mirror was from Galbadia, they will simply deny it and it will start a national argument, even international."
"True" says Kiros, "so I feel we shall at least send some spies there to watch,"
"Pointless" says Quistis, the others look at her. Her expression is set in seriousness.
"Why?" asks Laguna
"Simple, he will be expecting this. Also, and indeed, we have been lacking a lot of things, such as information."
"Like?" urges Laguna
"Well, for a start the serum they use to cause forgetfulness, how did they get it?"
"Stolen from Esthar labs, by insiders close to Dr Odine, he made sure we heard about that." Laguna answers.
"Yeah, plus that's how I wound up in that tower in the first place, because they sent me" says Seifer.
"So what else?" asks Kiros.
"Well, one of the things we need to ask is, how does he know all of our fighting techniques, if we have never seen him before? We have never seen him before, ever, and we all privately and personally created our own fighting techniques. Unless we taught him them, then there's no way he can do what he did."
There is silence at these words. Squall, quiet and thinking of Rinoa, speaks up.
"That isn't our biggest concern. Mirror and Gilned can wait."
Cid looks at him closely. "What? What can possibly come over those two?"
Squall narrows his eyes at him. "The thing that destroyed Rinoa."
He said this in a harsh voice, but secretly, he thought, no knew Rinoa was still alive, he was certain of it. He would find her, no matter how long it takes. He told Seifer this, and he suggested that they act like she is gone. When asked, Seifer wouldn't say why.
Zell nods his head. Irvine and Selphie look at the floor. Quistis remains silent, as do the others, except Seifer, who speaks up to stop Squall boring his eyes into Cids skull.
"He has a point, I mean, whatever that thing was, or whatever caused it, annihilated Rinoa. I mean, what can do that?"
"A weapon? Something they have that can suppress sorceresses? Destroy them?" suggests Selphie.
"That possible? Asks Kiros.
Selphie sighs slightly, then nods. "I'm not afraid to say I am a fair bit of a geek, but also one of the things I found out about the Centra people is that they had technology, 4000 years ago." She looks around at the slack-jawed faces of the others. "But they abandoned it, but they made something, besides the shelters that turned into the Gardens. They made deterrents to magic, and weapons to use against them, also 'suppressors', huge weapons that can be used to hold and contain, or even destroy huge levels of magic."
"What did they make?" Laguna whispers.
"They made, a weapon, something that fused magic and technology together, what do you think keeps the Garden up? Is tech.-magic. The Centra people could do what no other could do. They could 'kill' magic."
Laguna whistles, Cid, open-eyed, asks, "Can this be true? Is this possible?"
Selphie nods. "Very much so, but they would need someone who can translate Centra's language, I can, as I have read several books on it. It's all in these books. Garden have, well, had some, but there are many more scattered over the world."
"Selphie, can you remember any of those books at all? What they looked like? I understand they salvaged several books from the Garden Library, and are finding more."
"I could look for you, get back to you?" she says, getting up. Squall nods, and she turns to leave.
"Oh, the only other thing that could possibly have killed Rinoa, is a GF, and we have all those, so I'm pretty certain that it was a weapon of some kind."
"GF's are stronger than sorceresses?" asks Seifer.
"Well, some are, like Bahamut, and Eden, who is the strongest, but not all of them" she finishes and leaves the room. Silence envelops the room once more, the only noise being the lift operating for Selphie.
"Anything else?" says Cid. "We might as well use Selphie as a lead and just wait for now, help with salvage and other tasks."
The others nod. "I will go back and arrange transport for all Garden students to go to Esthar. We now know that, besides this other force, that Galbadia is the threat, so we can regroup in Esthar till we figure out what we are up against."
The others nod and thank Laguna. They file out, Squall one of the last. Quistis grabs his arm and pulls him back. Squall follows her back in, and closes the door.
"How are you feeling?" she asks, Silence. Squall knows what she is talking about.
"Come on Squall, I know you're hurting."
Squall eyes her. He says nothing.
"Rinoa would want you to open up and tell us your problems."
"Rinoa isn't here" he snaps at her.
"True, but that doesn't mean you have to shut yourself off from everyone now."
Squall looks at the floor away from her. She had a point, but why tell Quistis? If she already knew, why talk about it? He decided to shut his mind up and talk outright.
"I'm just upset, I know, didn't think it was possible, tough-guy Squall gives a damn" he snarls, closing his eyes. Though his face doesn't say it, he immediately curses himself for his tone. Suddenly he is aware of a presence right in front of him. Quistis wraps her arms around him and lays her head on his chest. Squall keeps his arms pinned to his sides.
"I know you are hurting Squall, but soon, you will have to move on, I mean, you will get revenge on whoever did it to her, but until then, you shouldn't let it occupy your thoughts, it might cost you."
Again, she has a point, thinks Squall. He didn't feel uncomfortable with Quistis hugging him like this, he decided to follow up, placing an arm round her back. She holds on tighter.
"You know where we are Squall, you know we love you. Even though, there might seem to be a pecking order to you in terms of who loves you most, we still love you."
"I know, Quistis."
"Good." She breaks off from him, looking up at him, her arms still round him. He is not that tall compared to her. Suddenly she kisses him gently on the lips, and breaks off before he can do anything. He looks at her, face serious.
"See? Her thoughts let me get through, your mind was elsewhere, that was a point, not a kiss."
His face lightens. Again, she has a point.
"Don't you ever get fed up proving people wrong?" he asks in light irritation.
"Nope, and it's pretty damn good." She says, walking out and leaving him alone.
(Galbadia – Tower of Deling City)
The tower looms over the City, only the Victory Arch surpasses it in height.
On floor 19, a man sits in a study, getting up every now and again to pace a huge bookshelf. Several books are scattered on the floor. Also on the floor is dust, fallen from the roof, as if something had been banged on the floor above. He curses as he throws another book on the floor.
"Spring cleaning are we?" says a soft voice. President Gilned spins round.
"Oh, you, I er..."
"You were looking for the Decipherer book. Have you found it yet?"
"No, not yet, even though I am certain that it was here, fuck, majority of these books, you know how valuable they are! Straight from the Archives in the library!"
The origin of the voice stands there, surveying him.
"Look, Prophecy, I'm bloody looking, you know that a few books from Centra's civilization got scattered over the world."
"I know, I am certain now the one responsible for tech.-magic is in Esthar, look at their city, and what is made of. Not just electricity runs that place, hence why they got the name 'City of dreams'
Gilned studies prophecy with narrow eyes. He was not afraid of them. Only their power.
"And to make your job worse, Mr. Gilned, one of the SeeD's can read the language too, I think."
Gilneds face turns white.
"You are sure?"
"I think so, Selphie Tilmett said she knew what the books looked like, though if she can read it is beyond me, but she must as she was talking quite openly about how Centra used tech.-magic for weapons. I can read some of the language, but not all of it. There is a part of the book I am reading I have not head nor tail of, hence why I need the Decipherer book, as it's the only translated book form Centra there is. It is about somewhere, as it was not in the Garden library, I made sure of that because I checked. The rest could burn for all I cared. But probably the most annoying aspect is the fact that the page I can't decipher is only half-complete."
"Half complete?"
"Yes, as if someone has stolen or destroyed the other half."
Gilneds face goes even whiter at the angry look on their face. The door bangs open as Mirror comes in. Fully armed, he stops, seeing Gilned then Prophecy.
"So you finally showed up" he sneers at Prophecy, "You know, I could have done with some help in that Garden, Squall almost killed me."
Prophecy smiles. "But you weren't. On the contrary, you killed him, if it were not for Rinoa saving his hide, he would have died surely. But no worries, you will kill him this time, as I shall see to it you get him alone. And Seifer, seeing as you want the two of them so badly."
Mirrors face keeps its angry look. "I don't want your fucking charity."
Prophecy snaps and glares at him, eyes glowing. "I know damn well that you do not like me, boy, but never forget, I am doing YOU the favour, I discovered what you are, taught you everything! How to use your talent and the skill you have! Your own talent is amazing, I wish I had it! But I do not! So be grateful I have not destroyed you because I am very close to!" the room thunders and shakes as they say this. Mirror drops his gaze, and stares at the floor. He says nothing.
"Now, Mr. Gilned, I trust you to find the book, if not fine, we shall search elsewhere. In the meantime, are your defenses running now?"
"Perfectly" he says, smiling. "No-one will get here now, unless we let them."
"Good, I shall see to it that the right people do get here, and those who come here, are dealt with." They turn to Mirror. "Do not worry boy, after Squall is dealt with, you can have whatever you want."
Mirror continues to look at the floor, not answering.
Prophecy turns and with a flash, is gone.
"You lightened up yet?"
Mirror says nothing, and simply leaves the room, hatred and humiliation ringing in his head.
Like Gilned, he did not fear them, only their power.
(Squall - Ragnarok)
He sits in the pilot seat of the Ragnarok, staring out the window. The dream with Rinoa playing in his head. He struggles to think what she was trying to say at the end. He thinks of it every night, in case he dreams it again, but nothing.
We're being us…
Us? Us? It had no meaning.
Maybe it was a word she tried to finish, but failed to do so.
Selphie walking in interrupts his thoughts.
"Got something for you to look at" she says, lying the book on her lap. She sits next to him in the co-pilots seat.
"What is this Selphie? I've never seen it before," asks Squall, looking at a handsome leather-clad book, an inscription on the front he cannot read.
Selphie looks at him. "You never studied History, so you wouldn't have, as it's in the History section."
She opens the book. Old worn pages creak as she turns them, she handles it very delicately, as if the pages are made of sand. Various inscriptions that Squall has never seen before adorn the pages. Some are written in the way a book should be, others are written in a landscape style. One page he is certain is written backwards, and perhaps the most unusual page he saw, was it written in a circular pattern. Various pictures shine out, but none make sense, as they look like scenery. No drawings of people are in there. There seems to be a lot of diagrams.
"The pages are written like this for a reason, only the Centra people knew what it meant. If you straightened the circular text, it would mean something different to what it actually says."
Squall head tingles slightly. "So how do you read it?"
"By reading one row at a time, even in the circle."
Squalls head gets sorer. Something tells him to turn the page.
"Selphie, turn the page, quickly."
Selphie looks at him oddly, "that's the last page Squall." She flips the book over. The book closes.
"No, it's not." He takes the book and upon touching it, a corner pops up in the page, grabbing the bit of page, he turns it. There is a ripping noise as the page separates from the books back. Selphie whimpers at the noise. But once it is open, her and Squalls eyes open in shock.
"Hey, isn't that…" she trails off.
The page is written in a circular fashion again, but it was the picture in the middle of the page that causes their shock. The text looks hastily written, as if whoever wrote it was in a hurry to mark it down.
"Selphie? Have you seen this page before?"
Selphie, speechless, shakes her head.
The text encircles the picture, of which there is only half of, snaking this way and that. Something is written in the top corner. But to Squall, he didn't care, as the picture kept his attention.
In the middle of the book, even though only half of it was there, was a perfect drawing of Squalls ring.
Neither speaks. Selphie taps him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his stupor.
"That's your ring, isn't it?"
"Was," says Squall. "It's went missing now, I don't know where it is."
Selphie traces the page with a finger. She seems to be following the path of the text.
"Can you read it Selphie?"
Selphie nods. "Parts of it, I'm not that good at it, but several words repeat themselves, and a couple of the words is a mixture of our numbers and letters. It seems that this is only one page of two, as some of the text is halved at the end here. Apparently there is a book that can decipher the whole of the Centra language, though I don't know if that book exists."
Squall reaches under the steering and pulls out a pen and paper. Selphie takes it from him without saying anything, and begins to scribble furiously.
"I'm placing them in the way they are on the book, that's how you read it."
Squall watches as she adds more. She stops after a few minutes.
"What about this one Selphie? It looks like it's separated from the rest." He gestures to the scribble in the corner. Selphie barely looks at it before writing it down. She looks at Squall fearfully.
"What is it?"
She sits closer to him, sharing the same seat. Placing the notepad next to the book's pages, she points them out.
"Whoever wrote this, it was if they had copied the original text, then hidden it, sealing it in this book, fooling everyone into thinking the back page you opened was the last one."
Squall nods, urging her to continue.
"But it was written in a damn hurry, and is incomplete. Look" she points at the first two lines, just above the circle of text surrounding the ring. It was written in English, and they could both read it. "It says this: This record was made in a great hurry, and I must warn thou that however reads it, that this is incomplete, there is another page that tells you everything, I wrote and sealed this with my dying breath. Only 2 people will ever be able to decipher its complete contents in the future. And only the whole story can be told if both pages are placed together."
Squall is dumbfounded. "Are you one of them Selphie?"
She shrugs. "I don't know. I don't know who else can read this language. I know there are more than two now though. I wasn't the only one who studied this."
"Anything else?"
"Well, words repeat themselves. Like this" she gestures to various points in the circle. "This means 'One', that's definitely 'Platinum'. That word means 'Braveritation'"
"Braveritation?"
"Centra word for bravery" she says, continuing. "This word stands for 'Lost' and that one says 'Weapon-'"
"Lost weapon? Those two words are together," Squall interrupts her.
"Very good Squall, it does mean that," she smiles. "But it's this word-" she points to the bottom of the circle "and this word, that makes me scared, Squall, I'm serious."
"That's the words you said were numbers too."
"Yes, but even then, they spell out one word."
"What is it?"
She spells it out for him, then gestures to the way she has written it.
'GR13V3R'
"What's the other word?" Squall asks quietly. Selphie points at it, the word in the corner.
'PR0PH3CY'
Nothing is said as they both look at it. The ring in the middle, the perfect likeness of Squall's ring, seems to roar back out at them.
(A/N) I know, I know, too much blabbing, but fear not, for action will come soon people, thanks for all your reviews J - Craig