Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or its characters. They are ALL copyrighted by Squaresoft. ALL the chapters in this fic follow the same disclaimer!!!! I just own my created characters.
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Chapter 3 – Blast from the Past
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"Bye guys. See you tomorrow!" Rinoa said, carrying Kari in her arms.
Zell and Irvine went their separate way from the girls as they headed towards the men's side of the dormitory.
"Man, I'm am beat." Zell yawned as they slowly walked their way towards their rooms.
Irvine nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it. Never knew girls could be so………"
"Exhausting and a pain in the ass?" Zell finished.
"Exactly!" Irvine agreed as they walked passed the once dorm room that belonged to an ex-commander. As they walked by, Zell suddenly stopped and stared directly at the door. 'Is that…………snoring?' he silently asked himself as he began to inch towards the door.
"C'mon knucklehead. I think your fatigue is giving you illusions of some sort. There is nothing in that direction." Irvine stated as he grabbed Zell's arm, walking away toward their rooms.
-----*****-----
Irvine and Zell trudged into the cafeteria the next morning, looking quite tired. Sighing in relief, they took their respective seats with their friends, not even bothering to order anything for breakfast.
"Hiya Irvy! The girls and I were planning to do some more shopping in Esthar today. Wanna come!?" Selphie ecstatically asked as she gave the cowboy a pat on the back.
Irvine and Zell looked towards each other, expecting the other to come up with some sort of excuse to get out of the situation. And both were thinking the same exact thing. 'Where the hell is he when you need him!'
Just as Irvine was about to open his mouth, an arrogant voice popped out as if from nowhere. "Sorry messenger girl, but the cowboy and chicken wuss here are required to help me today."
"Over my dead body, Seif………" Zell began before it dawned upon him of what he was about to say. Almost immediately, the martial-artist looked up, and saw the look of arrogance he detested all too much. The rest of the group looked shocked as well, but not as far of a degree as Zell, especially Quistis.
"What? No hello nor how you've been lately?" Seifer asked in a haughty voice.
Before they could repudiate, the intercom beeped on:
"May I have your attention please. Will Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht and Seifer Almasy please report to Headmaster Cid's office immediately. I repeat, will Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht and Seifer Almasy please report to Headmaster Cid's office immediately. Thank you."
And to make the announcement even more stellar, it sounded as if Instructor Xu made it herself. Skeptically, Irvine and Zell left the cafeteria, followed by Seifer, who bowed down to the three ladies, plus Kari, before leaving. "It's been a pleasure."
Selphie and Rinoa both rolled their eyes and continued eating, while from Quistis, a small smile could be seen forming from her lips before she buried her face in a magazine.
"He's weird." Kari blurted out from nowhere, between mouthfuls of cereal.
"You got that girl!" Selphie defended.
There were another few minutes of peace before Selphie jumped onto the unavoidable topic. "So, shopping in Esthar I presume."
"Yay! Yeah!" Kari cried out in jubilation. "I wanna see Gramps!"
Both Quistis and Rinoa looked towards each other, before accepting the offer.
"I suppose it might do Kari some good to hang out with someone as childish as herself." Rinoa stated with a small smile. Quistis couldn't help but to giggle at the comment.
"Hey Hey! If I don't say so myself, Sir Laguna is super cool! And he can be serious when he wants to at times also." the spunky yellow-dressed girl jumped in, defending the man.
The other two girls simply rolled their eyes as they followed Kari and Selphie outside of the garden, where an airship awaited them. The shape oddly resembled that of the Ragnorak, however it was much smaller in size and held a navy blue coloring on its shell, rather than red, which the Ragnorak had. However, the velocity at which this small airship could attain was comparable to its mother. Selphie had named it the cozy airship, the Storm, for, more or less, obvious reasons.
-----*****-----
"Headmaster Cid, you called?" Irvine graciously asked as both he and Zell gave their SeeD salutes, having great respect for the man who they viewed as their father. Seifer, on the other hand, stood his ground, not wanting to show respect to the man, despite the fact he was also the closest thing he had to a father. He still had some grudges against him.
With a sad sigh, Cid turned around, giving them a fake smile. With a simple wave of his hand, he signaled them to relax their position, and knowing his demeanor, the two thought this must be very serious of a problem, if he wasn't saying anything.
Turning his back to them, Cid walked to the adjacent wall, which was conveniently a whole window that displayed the main lobby of the garden. He smiled again, watching his students go by their days without worries.
By now, Zell was becoming impatient. He desperately wanted to know the reason they were up there. "Uh, Headmaster, not that I want to be rude or anything, but I just wanted to know why we were called."
This seemed to bring Cid back from his daydream as he turned around and gave them a sad smile. Almost unconsciously, Cid grabbed a manila folder from his desk and handed it to Irvine, before sitting back down at his desk, holding his hand towards on his head.
Irvine first worried about Cid, and if he was feeling all right. However, with Zell poking at him, he couldn't ask the headmaster any questions about his conditions.
Eagerly, Irvine opened to folder and found only two things in front of him: a photograph and a hastily written letter, which looked more like a note than anything else.
Obviously, Irvine's eyes trailed to the photograph first as he grabbed it from the folder and held it up to the light in front of him, trying to get a better view of what exactly his showed. Zell impatiently waited for his friend's reaction, and when he got one, he immediately regretted that fact.
The cowboy seemed to be in a daze as the picture slowly fell out of his hands and onto the floor. "No way………" he breathed out, shocked completely out his wits.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Zell stammered out as he slowly bent down to grab the picture. He brought it up to his face, and when he finally realized of what exactly the photograph showed, his face lost all of its color. "SHIT, what the hell is up with that?!" he bellowed out softly as the photograph barely remained in the martial artist's hand.
The photograph displayed an aerial picture of Shumi Village – a small, cozy little place located in the northern part of the world. Irvine had taken a quick liking to the place when he first visited it with the others, admiring the simple beauty of it. One day, he wanted to take Selphie with him to that place on perhaps, a romantic evening in the hills, but now, he knew that could never happen.
The picture did show Shumi Village all right, but there was one huge catch. The place was completely obliterated. Nothing stood upright. The ground was completely barren. There was no life present in the picture. Sure, there were many bodies and body parts here and there, but that was it. All of the cottages seemed to be blown apart and not even one single blade of grass, let alone a whole tree, was visible.
Shaking out of his horrible reverie, Irvine suddenly remembered the other thing that the manila folder contained. Nervously, he took hold of the hastily written letter as the folder dropped from his grasp. It took him all his guts to read the note, but took even more to finish it.
"He's coming. He just came out of nowhere. We Shumis don't know how or when it happened, but this guy is ruthless, showing no mercy until he gets what he wants. He seems to use some kind of strange magic we Shumis have only read it books.
Of course, we are not going to give him our prized item – for if used for evil, can be the source of great destruction upon this world.
I feel his presence coming ever closer to me. Oh Hyne, why did I have to be chosen to protect our prized item. I just want to save my life and run away, but even if I did, I would probably most likely die. He has no mercy. But I must protect our prized item, for if he took it, everything would surely die.
He's at the neighboring cottage. I see him from the window. I must with haste do away with this letter. Whoever is reading it, please, be aware of his power – it is very destructive, especially if he attains our prized item in his hands.
Beware of the Phoenix Pinion."
Irvine's gaze dropped to the floor as he struggled within himself to keep his rage inside. He wanted so badly to just yell out and scream as loud as he could. True, he did not know anyone personally that was from the Shumi Tribe up north, but anyone who could cause this much destruction, got onto Irvine's nerves.
Zell hesitantly took the letter from the cowboy's reluctant grip, not sure if he wanted to read the letter or not. In the end, he had no other choice as his eyes scanned the ripped piece of paper. His reaction was very similar as Irvine's, but was more open about his feelings as he let out a few words not always spoken in the public.
"SHIT! What the fuckin' hell is this?!! Who the hell does this guy think he IS??!?!??!" Zell yelled as he punched the wall as hard as he could, injuring his fist the in the process, but didn't show any hint of the pain. "I mean………"
"Zell, please control yourself." Cid stated commandingly, and yet, at the same time, gravely. After waiting for a few minutes, making sure the martial artist controlled his feelings, he grabbed both the photograph and the letter from Zell's hands.
Irvine, however, had a few questions. "Headmaster, many I ask a question?"
"Certainly Irvine."
He scratched his head before asking. "Well, for starters. How exactly did you obtain this letter? I mean, if what this guy said is true, I don't see a way he could have gotten this out to anybody quickly enough."
Cid shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't have a straight answer for you Irvine. Honestly, truth be told, I don't have an answer. I just found this lying on my desk when I walked into the room. I don't even know how it got here, knowing the fact that nobody has the keys to this room, besides me………and well……you know……"
Both Irvine and Zell nodded as Cid began to trail off, knowing exactly whom the headmaster was referring too.
Minutes of eerie silence passed by before Zell broke it. "Uhh…so what do you want US to do about it?"
"Investigate." he said sternly.
"What?!" Zell was outraged. "How the hell do you expect us to investigate when there is nothing to investigate. You saw the freakin' photo, there is nothing left."
Cid shook his head as Zell quieted instantly. "I…I……I have a suspicion on who did this."
The duo jaws dropped at the same time. "Well if you did, why didn't you say anything before. I'm ready to kill this son of a bitch now!" Zell yelled once again, "swatting flies."
The cowboy, however, stood silent. 'As far as I know, there is nobody who can do this kind of destruction. Ultimecia – we defeated. The only one I can think of is Dragoon……but he died back on the moon…………………didn't he?'
"Uh, sir. Please tell me that what I'm thinking HAS to be wrong." Irvine asked rather nervously as he unconsciously pulled the tie on his ponytail tighter.
Cid looked at the six-foot cowboy intensely. From the look on his eyes, he could tell. 'Yep, he has figured it out.' Taking a deep breath, he turned his attention to Zell, who was still anxiously waiting for the name. "Dragoon……" he breathed out, as if it had been a forbidden word to say.
Zell was taken aback, and so was Irvine, but not to a drastic extent. He had a feeling about it, and like all his bad feelings, it came true. Zell, on the other hand, refused to believe anything.
"WHAT?! You GOT to be kidding Headmaster!!! He DIED, you hear me – DIED back on the moon. I even saw it with my own two………………" he trailed off, realizing the fact that he actually never did witness the death of the evil Lunar King. Shaking his head furiously, "No – he's dead. No one – no matter HOW freakin' powerful they are, can survive that type of explosion. No one!!!!!" he yelled, trying to prove his point to everyone.
Headmaster Cid looked upon Zell gravely as he took a deep breath. "Zell, all I said is that I have a suspicion that it was him. It could as well may be anyone in the world."
"Then why the hell are you saying it's Dragoon?" Zell asked furiously. He did not want that guy to be alive, no matter what. 'His death could NOT be in vain.' Quickly shaking out of his reverie, "What evidence do you have Headmaster?!"
Once again, Cid had managed to stare out the window. He didn't have any evidence of the fact, proving any part of his suspicion, but he did have common sense. Turning around to face the three men, he curiously examined each of them. Zell was frantically going nuts – it could be seen from his countenance. Irvine, on the other hand, seemed to stay quiet, trying to quell his own consciousness. Cid then turned his head towards Seifer, who strangely enough, had stayed quiet during the whole conversation. He knew Seifer had changed but this great a deal, he had no idea.
"Zell, first, please, calm yourself down. Then I'll speak." After several minutes, Zell seemed to gain some control over his loose emotions, and Cid finally began to tell his thoughts.
"Well Zell, to tell you the truth, I have no physical evidence to even suggest that Dragoon could be the one behind all of this. But you must remember one important point. The note clearly stated that this guy uses strange powers, and we know that the Shumis are very smart in the uses of magic. It simpler terms, they know their history of magic." Cid looked at the three before continuing on. "Now, you do know that Dragoon was successful in his task to obtain the Sorceress's powers from Rinoa Heartilly, even though she still has a minority of those powers left in her body."
After receiving a silent nod from them, excluding Seifer, who just continued to stare into space, Cid went on. "Well, putting two and two together, it can be concluded that Dragoon could have used the powers to possibly teleport away from the moon before it exploded, and lived secluded from any life forms for some time. So he could have had a chance to master those powers, and create new, foreign spells that we have never seen before. And now, he has come to Earth to revenge his fallen empire, or whatever else he may have in mind."
Both Irvine and Zell nodded again as they looked towards each other with a hint of fear on their faces.
"There is another reason too………"
At this, both of them instantly returned their attention to Cid.
Taking yet another deep breath, Cid thought about what he was going to say. "Plus, the destruction of Shumi Village happened just as quickly and deadly as the one that happened in the Centra Ruins three and a half years ago. I mean, just yesterday, we had SeeDs coming back from missions from the village." There was a long minute of silence between the four men present before Cid finished his speech.
"I want you both to investigate the village for any clues or objects that may give us some sort of idea of what we are up against. Galbadia Garden has been kind enough to offer their assistance in the form of Seifer Almasy, who willingly agreed to help. Once you reach the village, you will there rendezvous with a SeeD from Trabia Garden. I do not know his name, but I hear he is a talented gunblade specialist as well. And may I remind you that this mission may decide the fate of the world, so it is essential that you learn to work together. There is a reason why we are not appointing a team leader. You are to leave tomorrow morning. And in no way, shape or form, are you to inform anybody else about this mission. We do not want to invoke havoc around the garden. You are now dismissed."
Irvine and Zell stood frozen, trying to absorb all the information that the headmaster had just relayed upon them. Zell then went forward to ask the first of several questions in mind, before he was stopped by Irvine, who silently shook his head no. 'This is a delicate topic, and by the tone of his voice, I'm sure he doesn't want to discuss it any further.' Irvine had thought. Almost reluctantly, Zell retreated and was about to leave the room when he passed by Seifer.
Stopping, he looked at the guy straight in the eye. Seifer was a few inches taller than he was, so he had to churn his head up a little. He knew what he had to do. With all his courage summed up, Zell shot his hand forward.
At first Seifer thought he was going to punch him, so reasonably started to defend, but then found Zell holding his hand in mid-air, as if waiting for a handshake. Then it all became clear. He smiled to himself as he took Zell's hand and shook it firmly – a silent vow had come across the two, to work together. It was certainly not a time for petty difference. They had a serious problem on their hands, to which they both understand the importance of. And with that, Zell left. Irvine just merely nodded his head at Seifer as he followed Zell. Wearing a disdainful smile, Seifer soon joined the three in the elevator.
-----*****-----
The Storm had landed gracefully into the hanger of Balamb Garden as three women walked out of the blue airship, along with a raven-haired child. Nightfall was fast approaching, and they wanted to reach the garden as soon as possible "Mommy!! That was fuuunnnn. We HAVE to go again sometime! Pweeeeaaasssee!!?" Kari begged as she skipped alongside her mother.
Quistis chuckled. "Well, with Laguna spoiling her like that – almost giving her everything she wanted – how come I'm not surprised she wants to go back so quickly."
The mother of the child gave an annoyed look to Quistis. 'Sure, I love Laguna. But he didn't have to go so far as to make Kari princess of Esthar for the day. Sheessh. Now I know why he got so mad at him sometimes.' Rinoa gave out an exasperated sigh as she carried several bags containing most of Kari's newly "attained" toys as well as some clothing Selphie had picked out for them. "Of course baby." she answered sweetly as Kari beamed ecstatically.
"Well, I don't blame him entirely……" Selphie began as Rinoa gave her a confused look. "Well, he missed out on raising Sq………well, you know, he missed out on watching him grow up so I guess he is seeing Kari as a second chance."
Rinoa thought upon and agreed alongside with Quistis on the point. "I suppose so Selph. But still, he didn't have to buy her everything in the toy store. We were lucky enough to come away with so few items."
"Tell me about it. I'd rather go on another shopping spree with Selphie than with Laguna and Kari." the instructor pointed out blatantly. Rinoa nodded with a smile with her.
"HEY! What is THAT supposed to mean?" Selphie asked frantically.
"Ohhh, nothing Selph." they both replied with a chuckle.
The brunette pouted but quickly dropped the subject. "Well, at least it seems that Ellone has been acting better since we last saw her."
Immediately, the other two girls wore sad smiles upon their faces as they thought about their friend, who all of them viewed more as an elder sister. Quistis painfully closed her eyes as the flashback of their arrival to Earth came into her mind:
They had all escaped the explosion, with only a few bruises. But all were silent. None even one word had been spoken among the five friends as the Ragnorak slowly descended upon the Earth. It had taken a constant effort by Quistis and Selphie to quiet down Rinoa, and even then, she wouldn't stop crying – always muttering something about him every now and then. It was like she was in a complete trance.
Finally, almost all too quickly for their tastes, the airship landed roughly on the ground in Esthar, near the Lunar Launch Pad. Quistis had busied herself by taking a look out the window. Watching Rinoa was too depressing, and brooding over the recent past just reminded her sooo much of him and his "stupid" act.
That's when she saw Laguna and Ellone rushing out of the Launch Pad building. As far as she could see, both people were wearing a glint of hope upon their faces. The instructor just shed more tears at the thought of their reaction upon hearing his "stupid" sacrifice.
Finally, the door opened slowly, revealing two of the four SeeDs that had originally been sent up to take out Dragoon. Zell and Irvine wobbled out of the airship, with low-cast eyes locked directly upon the floor. Ellone instantly came running, and hugged them both, but quickly acquired the hint of apprehension upon her angelic face as she stared at her two "brothers." Quistis could see Ellone trying to pry information out of the two, but it ended completely fruitless. Hesitating only for a split second, she watched as Ellone entered the airship.
Moments later, she had reached the room they were located in. Almost instantaneously, she vocalized her thoughts on seeing each and every one of them safe. "Ironic." the instructor couldn't help but to think. After giving emotional hugs to both Selphie and Quistis, Ellone walked up to Rinoa, who was still locked in that trance. She remembered Ellone trying to pry open Rinoa, until she finally realized the most important missing factor.
"Where is he?" she had so gently asked in the most fragile of voices. At that moment, Quistis knew this was it for Ellone. She would just be like Rinoa. It took every ounce of courage not to break down and cry then, but she knew Ellone had a right for the truth.
The only thing she could recall was Ellone screaming frantically, as she raced all over the airship to look for him. It was then over.
Quistis finally reopened her eyes and took a glance over to Rinoa, who had by now, handed most of her bags to Selphie as she carried Kari in her arms. She smiled sadly – Rinoa had been the lucky one, having a child to love and be loved from. But even with that, she would never be complete.
Ellone, however, had no one else. Sure, there was always Laguna, but he is just as depressed as the rest of them, and only covers it up with his jovial antics. He could not provide the essential companionship to her. There could only be one person who could do that, and he was gone.
"Hey Quistis!"
Snapping out of her thoughts instantly, she noticed that they had actually reached their dorm rooms.
"Hey Quisty, you ok?" Selphie asked sincerely as she felt her friend's forehead.
Quistis rather lazily pushed her hand away. "Just tired, that's all."
Selphie seemed to accept this answer as she left for her room. Looking around, Quistis noticed she was alone. 'Apparently, Rinoa has already retired.' Yawning, the instructor entered her room.
-----*****-----
It was quite a solemn breakfast as both Irvine and Zell, in the girls eyes, remained peculiar quiet. All Selphie was able to produce from Irvine was that Headmaster Cid wanted them to go on a mission.
Breakfast was quickly over for everyone's taste, as Seifer calmly walked over to the table hidden in the back of the cafeteria. It was quite shocking that Zell and Irvine suddenly followed him out of the cafeteria, as if they were all in this "mission" together.
"Very strange………" Selphie commented as she stuffed Irvine's leftover bagel into her mouth.
"Indeed." Quistis said with a nod.
"Mommy……I want to play outside!" Kari exclaimed, after finishing her milk.
Rinoa looked to be in a trance, but was suddenly snapped out of it by Kari's voice. "Sure, just let me clean up here and then we can go outside for a little while. Is that ok, baby?"
"Yep yep mommy!" the little girl happily answered as she started to hastily clean up her plates. Rinoa smiled at the energetic little angel of hers as she finished eating as cleaned up along with her daughter.
"You guys want to come?" Rinoa asked.
"Yea yea! Wanna come Aunty Quisty and Aunty Sefy!"
Both girls giggled at Kari's sudden outburst. It was truly amazing what energy the little girl had all bottled down inside her body. "Sure! We'd love to!" Selphie answered as she picked up Kari and began dancing with her.
Suddenly, the intercom beeped, signaling an announcement.
"This is Headmaster Cid speaking…"
At this, everyone in the cafeteria and the garden stopped whatever they were doing. Whenever the headmaster made an announcement, it was usually during times of crisis or other similar events. It had to be important.
"I wonder what's wrong……" Selphie whispered to Rinoa and Quistis, who just nodded mutely, awaiting the announcement.
"Will Commander Squall Leonhart report to my office immediately! I repeat, will Commander Squall Leonhart report to my office immediately! That is all."
Everyone in the whole entire garden stood still as all eyes in the cafeteria slowly turned their gaze to a frozen Rinoa.
Author's Notes: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It took me awhile to write it, with major tests and all coming all of a sudden, I barely was able to fit it into my schedule. But nevertheless, here it is. And as always, please read and review, I would LOVE to see what you guys think of my story so far. And thanks to EVERYBODY whose been reviewing so far, you don't know how much that keeps me alive!!!!!