Author's note: The following chapters of this fic were not planned but were
written at the request of a reviewer (they know who they are!). I just hope
they like the way it continues (.
His sister, torn from him without knowing, on an alien world that had been saved once yet was now in turmoil again. Would what was happening on this Spira occur here as well? Squall didn't give a damn he needed to see Paine, not just in a dream but in the flesh. This entity that called itself Fate had told him it wouldn't be possible, that he had more things to face. Well this was the trial he set for himself, to regain some of his family. His mother had died without him ever knowing her, his father abandoned him before he was born only for them both to be shown to him by his surrogate Sis in visions later in life.
He couldn't face having Laguna Loire as a father, the bumbling fool still had hopes of reconciliation but Squall felt he had no right. Laguna made a choice and he couldn't take it back. But Paine and himself were not given any choices they were separated by both immense time and space if he were to believe what he had been told, just to fulfil some grand scheme. What about his needs? Where did they fit into this great scheme that was being played by these forces?
He had been severed from all his human ties, made hollow and cold, and it seemed like Paine had been made that way. What had Fate done to her so that her personality paralleled hers? She had no knowledge of the truth, no idea that she was a stranger on an unnatural planet. Squall was angered as he thought of what possible losses and trials she had been subjected to at the whim of Fate.
He stopped pacing his room, drumming his fingers on a desktop, his body performing continuous, repetitive motions as his mind was disconnected from what he was doing.
'Shiva?' he finally uttered and there was faint sparkles of light, refracted beams in the crystals of ice and a cold breeze as Shiva materialised before him. She leant against the desk her pale blue hands gently resting on the edge as her deep blue eyes locked onto his.
'Yes?' she asked of him demurely.
'What do you know of Fate?' Squall asked trying not to bark the question out as a demand so he would not offend his Guardian.
Shiva blinked slowly, her gaze shifting as she shrugged uncomfortably. 'It is not my place to say.' She answered finally.
'Why not?' Squall retorted his anger rising from Shiva's betrayal in hiding something from him.
'I am Fate's servant. They control my whole existence, where I go, how long I remain. I cannot go against them regardless of my ties to you.' Shiva replied softly.
'I'm not asking you to go against them, I just want to know more about them.' Squall said persuasively.
'You want to know because you want to see Paine.' Shiva quipped.
'And what is wrong with wanting to see my sister?' Squall demanded.
'It can't be done and it will do no good to get your hopes up.' Shiva told him softly looking into his eyes once more to prove her sincerity.
'I don't believe that!' Squall said sweeping an arm through the air emphatically.
Shiva sighed. 'You won't stop until I tell you will you?' she stated mainly as something to say for she knew him well enough to know how stubborn he was and how he'd pursue this till the end.
Squall didn't answer and looked at her expectantly, sagging down onto his bed, anger and the urgency of his need for knowledge draining him momentarily.
Shiva sat up on the desk to get comfortable since she knew she'd be in corporeal form for a while now. 'Fine. I guess I'd better start with the basics. There are four major entities that govern how the multiverse operates. These are Fate, Death, Time and The Other.' She explained her tone of voice becoming dark at the mention of the final name.
'Only four forces? What about Life? Space? Matter? These four things control everything? And what's so bad about the last entity that neither you or Fate will name them?' Squall asked in a torrent of speech.
'Yes only four. Death controls when mortal entities are born and die, Time controls the physical aspects of the multiverse such as Space and Matter, Fate shapes the existence of beings so that they can fulfil the roles they are required to do. Everything has to be balanced which is where the Other comes in, to name them is to bring their full focus onto you.' Shiva explained in more detail.
'And where did they come from?' Squall asked intrigued.
'That I do not know. I am merely a servant of Fate. I can sense when they are at work but I cannot fathom the why of what they are.' Shiva answered truthfully.
'Okay so if this Spira is so far away that I'd never get there in Paine's lifetime then how could Fate take her there without her dying before she got there?' Squall asked changing his line of inquiry.
'The entity being moved doesn't age, Fate uses the help of Time to remove them from their effects but time still occurs over the intervening space that there cross. Which is why it was fortunate that you and Paine were born as twins. The exact timing of your birth enabled Fate to get one of you to Spira in time to be of age when the Eternal Calm would be thrown into turmoil. It could have easily been you that had been sent.' Shiva explained wondering what he'd ask next.
'I doubt it, unless Fate reinforced their choice by having me meet Rinoa. Or if Paine had stayed would Rinoa have been born male?' Squall thought out loud considering a weird alternative. 'Wait a second, how come you know so much about Spira?' he suddenly asked.
'Because I've been there.' Shiva replied simply.
'What?' Squall blurted surprised.
Shiva rolled her eyes at him. 'Weren't you listening to me? I told you I'm a servant of Fate. I have less free will than you, I am sent to every dimension where we Guardians are needed. Sometimes simultaneously! You have no idea what it's like to have your mind fragmented, to have pieces of yourself fragmented across many planes of existence because multiple people are summoning you at the same time!' she told him exasperated.
'I never realised you had it so tough... I'm sorry.' Squall apologised sympathetically. 'Wait, does that mean you're on Spira now?' he asked hopefully.
Shiva shuffled awkwardly as she was expecting this. 'A part of me is, more of a reflection than of the real me since I was expelled from Spira when Yuna defeated Sin.' She replied.
'Yuna? Sin?' Squall asked confused.
Shiva sighed. 'Sin was a major destructive force on Spira for 1000 years, kinda like Ultimecia was here. Yuna was the hero, she and her friends did what they had to do to save the world, just like you did. However Yuna is now with Paine facing the new threat.' Shiva explained hoping Fate would not punish her for disclosing this information.
'I see... and how many such worlds are there?' Squall asked wondering how many groups of lives had been led down the path of the torture of saviour- hood.
'That is known only by the Four High Ones.' Shiva replied diplomatically.
'So have you met Paine yet?' Squall asked eagerly.
'Not that I am aware of. You must realise that on Spira we are not GFs, we were called Aeons and could only be called by a chosen few. Paine is not one of them and she wasn't in Yuna's group during the time I was there, my reflection left on Spira however will be faced by Paine and destroyed, that is all I know.' Shiva told him in ambiguously.
'I cannot help you in what you wish Squall, no matter how much you ask. I'm sorry.' She whispered softly and faded away leaving Squall to his thoughts, drowning in this sea of information.
His sister, torn from him without knowing, on an alien world that had been saved once yet was now in turmoil again. Would what was happening on this Spira occur here as well? Squall didn't give a damn he needed to see Paine, not just in a dream but in the flesh. This entity that called itself Fate had told him it wouldn't be possible, that he had more things to face. Well this was the trial he set for himself, to regain some of his family. His mother had died without him ever knowing her, his father abandoned him before he was born only for them both to be shown to him by his surrogate Sis in visions later in life.
He couldn't face having Laguna Loire as a father, the bumbling fool still had hopes of reconciliation but Squall felt he had no right. Laguna made a choice and he couldn't take it back. But Paine and himself were not given any choices they were separated by both immense time and space if he were to believe what he had been told, just to fulfil some grand scheme. What about his needs? Where did they fit into this great scheme that was being played by these forces?
He had been severed from all his human ties, made hollow and cold, and it seemed like Paine had been made that way. What had Fate done to her so that her personality paralleled hers? She had no knowledge of the truth, no idea that she was a stranger on an unnatural planet. Squall was angered as he thought of what possible losses and trials she had been subjected to at the whim of Fate.
He stopped pacing his room, drumming his fingers on a desktop, his body performing continuous, repetitive motions as his mind was disconnected from what he was doing.
'Shiva?' he finally uttered and there was faint sparkles of light, refracted beams in the crystals of ice and a cold breeze as Shiva materialised before him. She leant against the desk her pale blue hands gently resting on the edge as her deep blue eyes locked onto his.
'Yes?' she asked of him demurely.
'What do you know of Fate?' Squall asked trying not to bark the question out as a demand so he would not offend his Guardian.
Shiva blinked slowly, her gaze shifting as she shrugged uncomfortably. 'It is not my place to say.' She answered finally.
'Why not?' Squall retorted his anger rising from Shiva's betrayal in hiding something from him.
'I am Fate's servant. They control my whole existence, where I go, how long I remain. I cannot go against them regardless of my ties to you.' Shiva replied softly.
'I'm not asking you to go against them, I just want to know more about them.' Squall said persuasively.
'You want to know because you want to see Paine.' Shiva quipped.
'And what is wrong with wanting to see my sister?' Squall demanded.
'It can't be done and it will do no good to get your hopes up.' Shiva told him softly looking into his eyes once more to prove her sincerity.
'I don't believe that!' Squall said sweeping an arm through the air emphatically.
Shiva sighed. 'You won't stop until I tell you will you?' she stated mainly as something to say for she knew him well enough to know how stubborn he was and how he'd pursue this till the end.
Squall didn't answer and looked at her expectantly, sagging down onto his bed, anger and the urgency of his need for knowledge draining him momentarily.
Shiva sat up on the desk to get comfortable since she knew she'd be in corporeal form for a while now. 'Fine. I guess I'd better start with the basics. There are four major entities that govern how the multiverse operates. These are Fate, Death, Time and The Other.' She explained her tone of voice becoming dark at the mention of the final name.
'Only four forces? What about Life? Space? Matter? These four things control everything? And what's so bad about the last entity that neither you or Fate will name them?' Squall asked in a torrent of speech.
'Yes only four. Death controls when mortal entities are born and die, Time controls the physical aspects of the multiverse such as Space and Matter, Fate shapes the existence of beings so that they can fulfil the roles they are required to do. Everything has to be balanced which is where the Other comes in, to name them is to bring their full focus onto you.' Shiva explained in more detail.
'And where did they come from?' Squall asked intrigued.
'That I do not know. I am merely a servant of Fate. I can sense when they are at work but I cannot fathom the why of what they are.' Shiva answered truthfully.
'Okay so if this Spira is so far away that I'd never get there in Paine's lifetime then how could Fate take her there without her dying before she got there?' Squall asked changing his line of inquiry.
'The entity being moved doesn't age, Fate uses the help of Time to remove them from their effects but time still occurs over the intervening space that there cross. Which is why it was fortunate that you and Paine were born as twins. The exact timing of your birth enabled Fate to get one of you to Spira in time to be of age when the Eternal Calm would be thrown into turmoil. It could have easily been you that had been sent.' Shiva explained wondering what he'd ask next.
'I doubt it, unless Fate reinforced their choice by having me meet Rinoa. Or if Paine had stayed would Rinoa have been born male?' Squall thought out loud considering a weird alternative. 'Wait a second, how come you know so much about Spira?' he suddenly asked.
'Because I've been there.' Shiva replied simply.
'What?' Squall blurted surprised.
Shiva rolled her eyes at him. 'Weren't you listening to me? I told you I'm a servant of Fate. I have less free will than you, I am sent to every dimension where we Guardians are needed. Sometimes simultaneously! You have no idea what it's like to have your mind fragmented, to have pieces of yourself fragmented across many planes of existence because multiple people are summoning you at the same time!' she told him exasperated.
'I never realised you had it so tough... I'm sorry.' Squall apologised sympathetically. 'Wait, does that mean you're on Spira now?' he asked hopefully.
Shiva shuffled awkwardly as she was expecting this. 'A part of me is, more of a reflection than of the real me since I was expelled from Spira when Yuna defeated Sin.' She replied.
'Yuna? Sin?' Squall asked confused.
Shiva sighed. 'Sin was a major destructive force on Spira for 1000 years, kinda like Ultimecia was here. Yuna was the hero, she and her friends did what they had to do to save the world, just like you did. However Yuna is now with Paine facing the new threat.' Shiva explained hoping Fate would not punish her for disclosing this information.
'I see... and how many such worlds are there?' Squall asked wondering how many groups of lives had been led down the path of the torture of saviour- hood.
'That is known only by the Four High Ones.' Shiva replied diplomatically.
'So have you met Paine yet?' Squall asked eagerly.
'Not that I am aware of. You must realise that on Spira we are not GFs, we were called Aeons and could only be called by a chosen few. Paine is not one of them and she wasn't in Yuna's group during the time I was there, my reflection left on Spira however will be faced by Paine and destroyed, that is all I know.' Shiva told him in ambiguously.
'I cannot help you in what you wish Squall, no matter how much you ask. I'm sorry.' She whispered softly and faded away leaving Squall to his thoughts, drowning in this sea of information.