Be Proud! I have made this chapter faster than the others, so read, enjoy, and REVIEW!
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or FF8 because they are J.K. Rowling's and Squaresoft's. (Like you didn't already know that.)
~Chapter 4~
Beyond Zell's House
AT ZELL'S HOUSE…
"Okay, then I'll take Irvine, Quistis, Harry, and Ron. Which leaves you PTG, Zell, and Selphie."
"No way!" protested Hermione, "Why can't I have Ron or Harry?"
"Wait, I just had a brilliant idea!" Quistis beamed, "Squall, come with me into the other room to talk about it."
"Just Squall? You aren't trying to steal him from Rinoa again are you? This is neither the time nor the place Quistis!" Selphie yelled.
"STOP YELLING!" the PTG screamed and the whole room was silent waiting for her to speak again. "There. That's much better. Now I suggest that you-Harry right?- and your friends go with one of us to find the incasing-thingy while the rest can do the other part. That way we can't hurt the people from our past and screw up our future."
Everyone nodded and gave voices of agreement. "That's why I like you." Zell whispered into her ear and then gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. She smiled back and then Zell turned to Squall. "Well, who's it gonna be?"
"You want me to decide? Uh, let me think…" Squall said and turned to stare at the wall. In truth he already knew that Selphie would be going with the smaller bunch. He just wanted some time to plan but staring at the wall only made him think of Rinoa. He had shot the wrong person with his spell and he was sure that evil wizard knew that. He was afraid that when he found Ginny, Rinoa would be gone and he would have lost her. The only clue the wizard had left was the name Victoria and that was definitely not enough to find her again. He could only hope that they would be together.
"I've decided," he said turning from the wall, "Selphie will go with them, she'll be able to guide them."
"I guess I am the best choice aren't I?" Selphie sighed. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to leave Irvine and the fight, but only temporarily." She took out a cell phone and gestured to the group. "Keep in touch okay? Oh, and don't do anything to my ship!"
"Ship?" said Harry, Hermione, and Ron said almost in unison.
"Nothing that should get you worried about, you're not going in it yet. Instead Selphie will drive you where ever we are after you find the device." Quistis informed the Hogwarts people.
The group of Squall, Quistis, Irvine, Zell, and the PTG ran out the door and Hermione's group followed close behind.
Once at the door, both groups saw the distinct shape of a three-story red dragon on the horizon. The dragon had no wings because were the legs would normally be were two huge cylinders that were obviously the engines. The dragon's head remained motionless above the ground. Ron, Harry, and Hermione stood with looks of amazement on their faces.
"We're are forced to drive while you get to ride in a dragon-ship? This is so unfair!" Hermione whined.
"Not our fault but we should really be going rather than starting up a conversation. We'll call you as soon as we find Ginny, Selphie. Let's go." Squall said and started running towards the ship while the rest of his group followed behind him. Selphie, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were suddenly very alone in Balm. Selphie took three steps forward but two members of her group were reluctant to follow her. She turned around and immediately saw Hermione and Harry had been awake for to long.
"Umm, I don't think you two should come" she said pointing to them both. "You should stay here and get some sleep."
"Are you kidding? You're just walking to fast. If you slowed down we…could…keep…up." Harry said. He knew they couldn't last long but it was better than sleeping away the entire fight. Hermione, on the other hand had drawn her wand.
"Don't worry, I'll just cast an energy spell and we'll be fine." She muttered something and the circles under her eyes cleared and the same happened to Harry. "Are you happy now? Back to our mission, do you have any idea were we could find such a device?"
"No idea, but we could always ask one of the shop-people," Selphie said, "they're always helpful but sometimes it takes a bribe. Which reminds me…" She looked in her pockets making worried noises when suddenly she pulled out a credit card. "Alright! Irvine's credit card! He wouldn't mind if I used it to buy our thingy. Let's go to the item shop first."
The group had to walk up a flight of stairs until they found it. It was a small shop with the word "Items" on a piece of wood above the door. Selphie lead the way inside and the shopkeeper turned her head. She was in her late-thirties and had a smile on her face. "Oh, you're one of Zell's friends aren't you?" she said, the smile still hadn't left her face.
"This girl's out of her mind, Harry," Ron whispered, "she took us to a second hand shop looking for complicated soul-trapping devices. By the way, look at the price of everything. It's in gil! What the hell's a gil? This future already scares me." He looked up to see Selphie trying to explain what she wanted to the woman whose expression was becoming more and more uncomfortable. A few more moments like this and Hogwarts group was sure she'd be screaming "GET OUT OF MY STORE!"
"…Do you have something like this in stock or have any idea where I could get one?" Selphie finished trying to look innocent.
"Umm, I'm sorry, young lady. I don't sell anything remotely like what I think you're talking about."
"You don't! Are you sure because it's urgent."
"Yes, no question about it."
"Do you have any idea where I could find one or could you call someone?"
The lady was now very aggravated. "Look, I don't really care about your situation. Either buy something or GET OUT!"
The group jumped as she yelled the last part of her sentence but not because of her voice. A sound equivalent of ten airplanes taking off at once filled the air and Hermione's group left the item shop just in time to see the dragon-ship high in the air before it flew out of sight. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up to watch the ship, Selphie turned around to find that the shopkeeper had used the distraction to lock her shop and place a "We're Closed" sign in the window. She gave a slight frown and turned to the rest of the group. "I give up! This town is too small!" she pouted but then a grin appeared on her face, "Sooo, let's try the city! Come on guys, we'll grab the next train!"
Selphie ran off as Harry, Ron and Hermione tried to catch up with her. She took a left turn and ran past a shop with a wooden sign that read "Weapons" and then took a right turn where a train could be heard coming into the station. Once at the station, Selphie bought tickets while the rest caught their breath and quickly boarded the train, whose first stop was Timber, quickly followed by Deling City. They made their way to the SeeD compartment and began to relax on the couches. The train would start for Timber in five minutes.
"Which are we going to, Timber or Deling City?" Harry asked Selphie. For possibly the first time in his life, Harry was not the leader and had no clue where the hell he was in this strange world. Before he got on the train, he had looked at the train map posted on the wall of the station and was surprised to see that the world had completely changed. Not only were the cities strange to him but also the shape of the world was different. He wondered just how far into the future they had traveled and hoped that the scar-guy knew what he was doing giving them Selphie to guide them through it.
"Umm, I dunno. Which sounds better…err…it will be, Deling! Yes, that's perfect! They have tons of shops there and lots of people to ask questions."
"I hope she knows what she's doing this time" Ron whispered to Harry and then said aloud, "Uh, Selphie, is there any way that we could get some food? I'm starved."
"That's just like you Ron," Hermione scowled, "thinking only about your stomach." Then her stomach growled loudly and she said, "On second thought, food sounds good right about know."
Selphie stood up and walked to the door where she found a little intercom box. "Hello?" she said pushing the talk button, "Is anyone here? I need to know if there's food on this train." She waited for a response and when none came she pressed the buzzer button repeatedly until someone, obviously annoyed, responded, "Hello."
"Yeah, hi, is there any food in this train?"
"O' course, what compartment ya in?"
"SeeD."
The voice got angry, "Are ya dumb or somethin'? There's a refrigerator in there that I have to fill and clean out every day and you're complaining about no food?"
"There is?" Selphie said turning around. "I don't see one."
"You gotta be dumb lady, who wouldn't notice that hunk of junk sticking out of the wall. Now, could we cut the chit-chat now? I wanna get back to sleep."
The box went silent and Selphie turned around to the rest of the group. "A refrigerator on the wall?"
"He means this one," Ron said pointing to the black rectangular outline that stuck out of the wall, "I was going to ask you if we could use it but you had already gotten up by then."
"Really? I guess something was blocking my view or maybe it's that after getting our ship, I've never ridden in the train. Anyway I'm sure it's okay for you to grab something…"
"We're ready to go folks, the estimated time to Timber is fifteen minutes or, if Deling is your destination, twenty minutes. Enjoy your ride!" the engineer said interrupting Selphie as the train started. Everyone sat on the couches as the train started but after a little while, they grabbed refreshments and talked about the mission and where they thought the other group was…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Squall, Irvine, Quistis, Zell, and the PTG were on the Ragnarock (that's the ship's name for all who don't know) and scattered throughout it. Irvine and Zell were by the entrance and in the middle of an intense game of Triple Triad with the PTG cheering on Zell. Quistis was driving and Squall stood next to her telling her where he felt the pull but she was careful not to go directly towards it, she was given another moment with Squall and this time they were alone.
"Just in that direction, are you sure you've got it right cause I want to get there ASAP." Squall said to Quistis.
"Don't worry, this is exactly were you just told me but if you feel the pull from anywhere else just tell me."
"Can't you just let me drive?"
"No, I'm more experienced," she lied, "I'll just put it on auto-pilot." She and Squall both had the same flight training but if she let him have the wheel, their alone time would soon be over, probably never to come again. A moment passed before they started talking.
"Quistis," Squall said looking at her, "I know this isn't really the time to bring up something like this but we might not have this chance again." He laughed, "I think this is the first time we've been alone in a long time." He stopped suddenly, as if he couldn't figure out how to say whatever it was he was going to tell her. When he did start up again, he sounded nervous at first but gradually more confident. "I know that you still have feelings for me but…well…I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you hate me for choosing Rinoa? I don't want to lose you and lately you seem to get more and more distant. Do you think we should go our separate ways?"
"Of course not! But, sometimes I feel…I feel…"
"What is it Quistis?"
"Squall…" she started looking deep into his eyes and somewhere she found the strength to speak. "I just feel that…that sometimes you don't understand that she isn't the only one who loves you. I love you too and I regret not telling you sooner." She tried to hold back a tear but it slowly fell down her face. Squall went immediately to her side.
"Don't cry Quistis. I was the fool, I couldn't tell how you felt and I even wonder what would've happened if I did. However…" Squall turned from her eyes, "the day I met Rinoa was one the best of my life. We both felt something when we met on the dance floor. I don't know what it was but it felt great, like anything could jump at me and I could beat it." He stopped and both were silent for a long time. Quistis was the first to talk again.
"I believe I'm beginning to understand." As she said this it became more and more a reality to her; she could never compete with love at first sight. For some reason, it was also a relief and something told her it was time to move on, that she should forget the others and go somewhere else. She knew that half of that was impossible: how could she forget? But it also spoke a hurtful truth: she had to leave the others, especially Squall. No matter how hard she tried to get him, Rinoa would always have the upper hand and just being around him would remind her of that. This would be her last mission with them but she couldn't let them know, it would be too painful. "Squall, thanks for being here and I don't think Rinoa would mind if I did this," she hugged the man she once believed was hers and let more tears run down her face.
"No problem and I'm sorry if I hurt you by bring this up."
"No, it's not that, I just know what to do now, that's all."
"What are you talking about?"
"You'll see soon enough," she said letting him go, "why don't you try driving now Squall? I don't think I got you destination right, go and check for me."
"Sure"
She left him at the consul and headed to the entrance to the ship, where she found the boys still in the middle of the game. Zell seemed confused as to where to put his next card since Irvine had the advantage. "I play winner," she said hoping to get her mind off her conversation with Squall and what she would have to do to the group.
Time passed and the remainder of the trip left Squall alone in the captain's seat and the others playing Triple Triad. It took about twenty minutes for Squall to find the location of the pull, a mountain at the back of a familiar beetle-shaped village, Shumi Village. Squall wondered as he saw it get closer if he could convince the others to go and visit there first. But as the beetle got bigger from just an inch long speck, he noticed a low-lying dark gray cloud hovering just a little to the left of the city. On even closer inspection, he had to bring the rest of them to the cockpit. "Look, see that cloud? It's smoke, someone's attacked the village!"
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I know, I know the majority of the ending is all love-stuff but I really just wanted some closure on the whole Quistis-Squall-Rinoa thing. Be prepared for chap 5 sometime in roughly the next two weeks (it could be sooner or later depending on HW). Bu-bye!