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 7 – Commitments and Promises
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"Die you ugly freak of nature!" the martial artist yelled as he casted out a Fira spell upon a sole orc, obliterating it from existence. "That will tell you not to mess with me!" However, as soon as one orc was down, two quickly replaced it. "What the hell!?"
Seifer, in the meantime, was slashing his way through a number of monsters that surrounded him in the middle a tight circle. "This…doesn't…seem…right." he muttered to no one in particular, all the while swinging his gunblade here and there. "Why the hell attack us now when they had all night to do it? It just doesn't make sense at all!"
"Don't ask questions, just fight!" Zack timidly commanded as he defended himself against an onslaught of three orcs that had suddenly jumped into that air for an aerial attack. Before anything else could occur, the same three orcs had suddenly fell back down to the ground, as if an invisible arrow had shot them through the heart. A small grin appeared on Zack's face as he went to hunt down remaining monsters.
The three of them continued to fight for what seemed like hours. The two gunbladers were showing obvious signs of fatigue, as the number of orcs did not seem to diminish. Zell, on the other hand, was running low on his stock of magic he came with, and found himself using his fists more often – wanting to conserve what little magic he lad left.
"Why the hell are these guys not diminishing!? I must have killed at least fifty!" Zell yelled out as he squared another orc in the gut.
The blond warrior lashed out again with his gunblade, splitting another enemy right in half from the stomach area, with green blood spurting all over his white trenchcoat. "For once in my life chicken wuss, I am as lost as you are!"
Unknown to them, Zack seemingly had no questions or comments to add, until he pointed out something. "We have to retreat. There is no way we will win if they keep coming like this, and………"
"Hell no!!!!" Zell yelled as Zack off completely, issuing a huge Firaga blast at five monsters in front of him. "We have to look for Irvine!" 'I am not going to lose another friend.'
At that moment, Zell spotted a monster with Irvine's hat. 'Oh my god……they got him.'
Seifer grimaced as he unleashed a barrage of swipes toward a single orc, trying to release his frustration. 'Damn it! As much as I hate retreating, the sorry excuse of a gunblader is right.´ "Yo Zell! Remember what I said before! You die, and it's all over!"
"NO!" Zell punched the monster square in the face. However, it just retaliated back with punches of its own. "I will not…leave…Irvine…here!" he yelled, while defending himself.
"Whatever, your choice!" Seifer replied back. "C'mon Zacky boy, let's get back to the Storm!"
"I'm right behind you Seifer!" the black-haired man shouted out, slicing another monster before running towards the blue airship.
"I can't……I shouldn't……I won't……" Zell muttered to himself as he found himself in the middle of a tight circle of monsters around himself. "DAMN YOU SEIFER! METEOR KICK!" The martial artist's anger fueled his special attack as he jumped into the air, and dove straight down, right into the heart of the circle, coming down with such a force that it was obliterating any monster within a radius of twenty meters. Zell looked around, satisfied look upon his features, that is, until more orcs seemingly formed into existence from thin air. "I'll be back, Irvine. I swear it!" With that, Zell quickly grabbed Irvine's hat and retreated with the other two to the Storm.
Zack hastily entered the blue colored airship, followed closely by his gunblade partner. The blond warrior was about to take off without Zell, thinking he was not going to come, when he saw the martial artist running towards the ship. With a sigh of relief, Seifer waited those extra few seconds. Finally, totally breathless, Zell entered the storm, and only a split second had passed before Seifer ignited the main engines, lifting the small airship off the ground instantly.
The trio looked out of the windows to the ground, only to see a swarm of orcs that covered all of what was Shumi Village. Zell slumped onto a chair, breathless.
"And here I was beginning to think you were as stupid as I thought you were, chicken wuss." Seifer commented while driving the Storm away from the battlefield.
"Seifer, for once in your life, just shut the hell up! I am not in the mood to argue." Zell commanded fiercely continued to stare out the window, lost in his own thoughts. "They got him guys. Irvine never, and I do repeat, never takes off this hat. Something must have happened.'
Seifer let out a surprised gasp as he cursed loudly. 'Well, at least Zell's here. That's what matters at the moment. Wait a freakin' second. I'm not supposed to be feeling this……….' However, Seifer's thoughts were interrupted when Zack aroused a serious question.
"Uh guys. Where are we going to head to?"
Almasy took a glance towards Zell, who seemed to not have heard the question at all, and if he did, he didn't show it. "Well, how about Trabia Garden? It's the closest one. And you should know your way around the place, Zacky boy."
Letting out a sigh, Zack took the adjacent seat next to Seifer as he solemnly looked out of the window as well. "I'm not so sure if Trabia is our best bet at the moment. Sure, we could go there, but now I'm not so sure that it's the safest place. With these monsters swarming around here up north, Trabia might be under attack. The SeeDs over there will be able to protect the Garden for the time being. Us going there will just complicate things, with reconstruction going on there and all."
'Oh yeah. I completely forgot that missiles hit Trabia Garden some years ago. I'm still surprised that they haven't finished rebuilding, but money is hard to get nowadays.' With that thought in mind, Seifer decided that Zack was right, Trabia was not the best place. He didn't want to go back to Galbadia Garden again – having to report a failure was not what Galbadia wanted. "Then it's off to Balamb. With the fuel we have left, we'll have just enough to reach it. And if I initiate the power engines, we can halve the time it would take, reaching there by in a couple of hours, at the latest."
All Seifer received was a slight nod from Zack and a weird sound from Zell. Taking both as a "yes," Seifer brought out the power engines and raced towards Balamb with the urgent news.
-----*****-----
'It couldn't be him, could it?' was the only thought that was racing through the minds of both Selphie and Quistis as their brains were trying to assimilate what their eyes were telling them.
Right there, right at the entrance of the Balamb Garden SeeD Military Academy, stood the Commander, Squall Leonhart, next to his girlfriend Rinoa no less. Both Selphie and Quistis thought it was just a sick daydream that Hyne planted in their minds all of a sudden. Both women pinched themselves, and were even more shocked that they still saw Squall.
"Quisty……are you seeing……what I'm seeing?" Selphie asked in a scared whisper.
"Only if your seeing out lost friend……brother." the instructor replied back, in the same level of voice.
Both women stood still, and watched the current event unfold itself, in both fear and excitement.
The lone wolf looked around warily as he kept his eyes moving along the crowd. He didn't want to keep his stare at one place for too long, just in case he would catch someone's eyes. He would not know what in the world to say.
A sudden pull on his arm brought him back to reality, and that was when he realized where exactly he was. Every person in the garden had to be in the cafeteria at that moment, because it looked quite crowded.
'I can't do this.' Squall told himself and started to retreat when a light, yet very attractive force stopped him from going. Rinoa. One glance at her told him that if he left now, in front of her, it would kill her. Not literally, but emotionally. She seemed to be looking forward to this a lot. 'I can't do that to her. Damn my luck. Why did it have to run out now?'
Squall did not want to come back to Balamb – he did not want to show himself again. He knew he would have to leave them all again, and maybe forever that time. That was why he didn't want to show himself. Something had occurred to prevent him from showing himself. And now…now that he did show himself to everyone, leaving them all, especially the angel right next to him, would be next to impossible.
Ignoring that thought for the time being, Squall drew a deep breath and let himself be dragged by Rinoa deeper into the cafeteria. They walked passed many people, some of them SeeDs, and some of them in midst of their training, and some of them who only thought Squall was some kind of legend, a myth and had never actually existed. Keeping his focus on the floor, he really had no clue where Rinoa was leading him to, except that his destination was towards his child, his daughter.
The idea of him having a daughter was completely foreign. It may have been in another language, and he would have understood it better that way. Thoughts of having a child inevitably brought his thoughts to Laguna, his father. 'I wonder how the old oaf is doing?'
From the pull he was receiving, it seemed that Rinoa was quite eager to see this event happen. 'If only I knew what I was going to say to her, then I would relax a bit. But I am totally clueless. What if I mess up? What if…?'
At that moment, he had brought his head up unconsciously and found himself staring at two girls. No, two beautiful women now, who were staring right back at him. Selphie and Quistis. He had completely forgotten about them. Now this event would be twice as hard. Knowing Selphie, he was in for a hell of a punishment from the feisty girl. However, Zell and Irvine were not with them. 'Where did they go?'
Finally, Squall felt himself stop. Clearly, they had reached wherever Rinoa had wanted to go to. And Squall only found himself looking towards Selphie and Quistis. He gave them a slight smile to them – a smile that showed so much to the two of them, who knew how to decipher its meaning. He found his two friends teary eyed and smiling brightly back. He fought the urge to walk up to them and hug them. He still had a reputation to protect, despite the fact Rinoa already broke down that wall entirely.
"Heey! That is the guy who saved me from that huge, scary monster, mommy!" a voice from below suddenly spoke out.
An angry frown appeared upon Rinoa's features at the thought of her daughter being in danger. She would have to get the details from Squall later.
Instantly, Squall brought his gaze down, and saw that same child who he rescued a couple of days ago. Now that he had enough light to see her features, shock was the only thing that registered on his face. He knew everyone could see it, but still made no effort to hide the expression on his face.
Quickly, he took a quick glance at Rinoa and then back at the little girl. The resemblance was too great. How the hell did he not notice it before? This was Rinoa's child – Kari. No wonder her eyes were familiar, they were his.
"Why did you bring this guy, mommy? Where is my present!?" the little girl asked, losing patience.
All the mother could do was smile. "Baby, this is your present." she answered, pointing towards Squall.
Right then and there, every single person in that room smiled as the realization dawned upon them what this year's present was. They knew.
"Huh?" Kari asked, utterly confused.
Squall gave a nervous smile towards Rinoa, telling her that it was not going to work. Rinoa glared back at him and then looked lovingly towards Kari. "Well baby, remember a couple months ago when you asked why your daddy wasn't here, and if he's going to come back anytime soon?" Rinoa paused between her story, waiting for Kari to nod. And she did. "Well, I have something to tell you. This guy is your daddy."
To Squall, Kari could have passed as a statue; she didn't even look like she was breathing. Already, beads of sweat were running down his face, anxious of his daughter's reaction; waiting for her rejection of the fact that she wouldn't accept him as her father. However, it never happened.
"You're my daddy?" Kari had asked in a hopeful voice.
Once again, the commander took another glance towards Rinoa, who seemed to be urging him to say something. The same gesture was also coming from Quistis and Selphie. Taking a deep breath, Squall squatted onto his knees, almost coming face to face with the little angel. "Yeah, that would be me."
Kari hesitantly lifted up her little hand. At first, Squall had thought that Kari was going to punch him or something or the sort. The thought of rejection had never left his mind. Once again, he was proven wrong as Kari slowly traced Squall's scar with her finger, all the way from the top to the bottom, which was to the bridge of his nose. Then slowly, she brought her hand down further, stopping at his lips.
Then, she hugged him.
Instantly, the crowd that stood watching shouted out as they applauded loudly for the united family.
'Forget my freakin' image! She's more important!' Squall slowly wrapped his arms around his child as he completed the embrace, hugging her back. Two solitary tears could be seen coming from his eyes as he picked up the child in his arms, still holding on to her and the hug.
Tears of joy sprung out from Rinoa like an never-ending fountain, as she clapped herself, all the while rubbing the tears out of her eyes, trying to keep focus upon the two reasons why she lived.
Seeing Rinoa out of the picture, Squall shifted Kari, who still clung to him like glue to one arm, and motioned for Rinoa to join them. Never giving it a second though, Rinoa ran into Squall's embrace as well, completing the family for the first time ever.
The crowd cheered even louder at the three of them.
Right then and there, Squall made a new commitment. 'No matter what happens next, this is too good to leave. They need me just as much as I need them. No matter what, I can't leave them. No matter what……'
Bahamut, viewing the whole scenario through Squall's eyes shook his head sadly, hearing his master's thoughts. 'I hope you can keep that promise, friend. For your sake, I hope you do.'
-----*****-----
"C'mon chicken wuss! Can't you run any faster?!"
The team that consisted of Zell, Zack and Seifer had finally reached Balamb Garden, and wasted no time to report of Headmaster Cid.
"What the hell Seifer!? I'm tired as hell. I'm running as fast as I can!" Zell replied angrily.
"Well, if you can't run faster, Irvine might be as good as dead!" Seifer retorted back as they finally reached the elevator. Immediately, he pushed the third floor button as soon as Zack and Zell entered.
They stood in silence as the elevator slowly made its way to the top floor of the academy. Nobody wanted to speak, and plus, they didn't have anything happy to say. Anything said would just bring back thoughts of how the three of them cowardly left Irvine by himself. Zell unconsciously gripped Irvine's hat tighter as the elevator doors finally opened, revealing the door to Cid's office.
Rushing in there quickly, a surprised Cid looked up to see not four, but three people, and earlier than he expected them. "Where is Irvine?"
"They got him." Zell sadly reported as he held up Irvine's hat.
Cid gave a shocked reaction. "Who got him?"
"The monsters, sir………they looked like orcs." Zack quietly answered.
"Orcs?!" Cid asked, very surprised.
Seifer nodded as Cid impatiently urged for details. The three of them slowly relayed the details to the headmaster of exactly what had happened since their landing in Shumi Village: the arrival of Zack, disappearance of Irvine and the horde of orc-type monsters, attacking them just that morning, and not in the previous night.
Cid gave out an exasperated sigh, "Oh……Hyne."
There was dead silence between the four men as they all waited for someone else to say something.
Finally, after several minutes of quietness, Zell erupted, "What the hell are we going to do Headmaster?!"
If it had been another situation, Cid would have chastised Zell for using vulgar language in front of him. But he knew of Zell's emotional care for his friends, and knew somewhat of the things going through the martial artist's mind.
Slowly, Cid walked over to the intercom, and fumbled around with it until he finally accomplished to turn in out.
"Attention Balamb Garden students. Team Ultimecia, report to my office immediately. Once again, Team Ultimecia, report to my office immediately. Thank you."
"We can't involve the girls in this dangerous situation!" Zell yelled again.
This time, Cid made no move and continued to stare out the window. 'My suspicions have been confirmed.'
Author's Notes: Ok, let me first apologize for the late update of this chapter into Reality of Illusion. I just didn't know where I wanted this story to go and I had doubts while writing this. But this finished product, I am happy how it turned out because it leaves me with many options that I already have in mind for the next chapter, which I hope to finish faster.
Anyway, as you can see, the "family" is finally reunited for the first time. A very happy moment. For you guys who are looking for some action, I put in some action with Seifer, Zell and the new guy Zack.
The storyline is going to get deeper as the this fic progresses and hopefully more interesting.
And I would like to thank all my readers and their reviews! Means SOOO much!
As always, please LEAVE A REVIEW! ^_^. It would be much appreciated. Till the next chapter.