Chapter 16
Sifan Leonhart could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"So..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "The black cloaked guy with red eyes said he'd kill you if you didn't insert your ring."
"Y-yeah." Avatar said recalling the blood red color of the Fenis guardians' eyes, "So then, I inserted my ring on the pedestal and the next thing I knew, the whole place went bright and the guardian was on his knees bowing to me! The same guy who was threatening to chop my goddamn head off."
"Uh-huh." Sifan nodded as the ship sailed in the middle of the ocean, "then what?"
"So I am like, 'hey, what the hell is going on here?'" Avatar continued, "He doesn't say anything but stays bowed and then he says sorry a hundred times for being rude to me. Then he starts talking about me being some prince Fenis or something and he and another guardian existed to protect me. He said only I could summon them to this dimension. A lot of guys knew about this summoning stuff. So they devised their own rings like mine and tried to summon the Fenis guardians but only ended up dead, killed by that guy!"
"Hey, Relax." Sifan said, heaving a sigh, "You sure you didn't hit your head somewhere?"
"Uh-uh." Avatar nodded, "It was all there."
"So then what did you do?"
"Well, he said whether I wanted to finish the summoning process. I said no because I wanted to get my ass outta that place, pronto. I asked him the way out. He kicked down the frickin' wall for my exit! So I ran outta there as fast as I could. I ran into a Marlboro though. I tried to run away but it gave me a whip with its tentacles. It kinda made me bleed a little. And then there he was. The guardian."
"Ok, so it was one dead Marlboro?"
"Ugh. Yeah. He made a Marlboro salad with a smaller version of your father's lionheart limit break."
"So you grabbed your chocobo and got the hell outta there." Sifan said leaning back on the one of the chairs they had found near captain's cabin, "Some ride you had, eh buddy?"
"Yup." Avatar said, sighing loudly, "I don't know what the hell is going on either."
A few sea gulls whirled around in the sky above the two SeeDs as they sat back on their chairs. The sun had sunk behind a few dark clouds and only the moist wind was blowing across the vast blue ocean. A tired Sifan faded off to sleep.
However a rather confused Avatar sat thinking about the 'Prince Fenis' the Fenis Guardian had mentioned. He looked at his finger that was without the ring. He had left it in the pedestal. He tried to recall who had given him the ring but it was of no use. He never did remember anything before his life at fisherman's horizon. Even when he was a boy, he had always wanted to know but gradually he forgot about it and embraced the carefree life with Sifan in the Leonhart family. But now, the fact that the ring had caused so much of commotion as to summon legendary guardians who went by his surname, he couldn't help but think he belonged to a much greater heritage than a thief by the ocean at fisherman's horizon.
"What the hell-" General Rupert hissed as a Shin-Ra soldier came sprawling and fell near his feet unconscious the moment he had arrived at the Shin-Ra camp.
He looked in the direction from were the soldier had come and noticed another two soldiers in a fighting stance in front of a stranger. He looked no older than an young adult. His flame-colored hair was flying backwards in the wind as he swung his gunblade at another soldier who received it in his guts and fell down out cold. The other soldier backed off only to be scorched by a fire spell from his opponent.
The boy threw his gunblade in the air and snatched it in mid-air with his other hand and sheathed, "That'll teach ya scumbags to mess with Relafen Almasy!"
General Rupert was not very pleased with three of his soldiers losing to a sword-wielding teenager. Soon, the nearby on-looking Shin-Ra soldiers surrounded Relafen when Rupert barked at them to stop.
"Leave the boy alone, ya cowards!" General Rupert scowled, "He took three of ya losers down, he deserves an applause."
They all stood there dumbfounded, looking at their General.
"I frickin' said...." Rupert continued, "HE DESERVES A GODDAMN APPLAUSE!"
Strangely amused at their superior officer, the soldiers clapped loudly and a few of them whistled for the heck of it when Relafen interrupted.
"I like all the fancy applause...." Relafen said looking at the three soldiers who he had taken down, "but those three guys were drunk. They picked a damn fight when I asked them for directions."
Rupert eyed him quietly as he walked up to him. He knew the boy in front of him had a lot of potential and something inside Rupert told him he would make a great choice for the commander post in the Shin-Ra army.
"Say son..." Rupert said putting an arm on Relafen's shoulders, "Why don't we go inside and have a little talk. You got great stuff inside ya, you know?"
"Yeah well..." Relafen said brushing off the General's hand, "I am a SeeD. Whaddaya expect?"
"Oh really?" The General said although he hadn't heard of anything called SeeD in his wildest dreams, "Well, We're lookin' for a commander to lead these fine soldiers..."
"Fine soldiers, eh?" Relafen said sarcastically as they walked in to a camp and took their seats near a table containing a wine bottle and a few glasses.
"You got tremendous potential."
"Commander? Me? I am General Seifer's son. That's against Galbadia's army rules, aint it. Close relatives at high posts?"
"General Seifer? Galbadia?" Rupert asked puzzled, "Son, this is a world where Shin-Ra rules. There's only Shin-Ra and nothin' else."
"Wha-"Relafen said, emptying the contents of the wine bottle in to the glass, "Shin-Ra?"
"You been under a rock for the last century?" The general said pouring his share of the wine, "There aint nothin' called SeeD or yer Galbadia or General Seifer. Me an' Keiara are the only Generals around here. Damn good ones too."
"Shit, don't tell me." Relafen muttered thinking about the turbo-warp and the entire Ragnarok incident, "Don't tell me there aint nothin' called Esthar or Balamb."
"Course not!" The general said gulping down the wine, "Jus' Midgar, Junon and the list goes on..."
"Great." Relafen said and buried his head in his hands.
"Hey, tell ya what?" The general said, "How would ya like to be commander of Shin-Ra? Ya'll have yer own airship, yer own troops, and clearance to most of Shin-Ra's privileges."
"You're just offerin' me the job cause I nailed a buncha yer soldiers?" Relafen asked surprised although his head was aching from the thought that he wasn't in his own world.
"Yeah. It's hard ta find men like ya. It's a chicken's world out there." The general said taking a draught directly from the wine bottle, "Wherever yer from, yer life there aint gonna be nothing compared to life as Shin- Ra's commander. Ow' about it?"
"Sounds good." Relafen said leaning back on his chair and looking at the ragged leather ceiling of the camp in the Shin-Ra base, "When do I start?"
He knew he wasn't going to go back to balamb. Even if he could, he wouldn't because this was a golden opportunity. He could become great like his father. Maybe General of the Army or some great leader. Relafen was fantasizing all these thoughts when the General interrupted him, "Well, there's something ya need to do first."
"Name it." Relafen said running his gloved hand through his hair, "Nothin' I can't handle."
The general's eyes shined as he spoke, "Well, there's this guy called Hamilton a little far away from Costa de Sol............"
Selphie Kinneas wasn't just her spunky self. Neither was her husband, Irvine Kinneas, who stood with his hat pulled down over his brow. Quistis just stood at the side of the room, lost in thought. Zell punched the wall with gritted teeth as Rinoa stood holding Squall Leonhart's arm. The general of the Galbadian army, Seifer Almasy too stood at the extreme corner away from the rest, a firm-set jaw and empty eyes. He still hadn't told his wife anything. He stared bluntly at the wall in front of him.
Ellone's room had never been so quiet in a hundred years. It had been an hour since Rinoa received a call from Ellone saying that she had seen Sifan and Avatar in her dreams through her powers. When they had arrived, they found Ellone unconscious. Esthar's best medics had immediately got to work on her but she showed no signs of consciousness. After a few minutes of checking her, they left after predicting she would be up in half hour and they had told them that she was in a minor temporary coma.
Half an hour was over ten minutes ago, Leonhart." Seifer said slowly, "Your sister aint wakin' up."
"................................"
"Ugh." Came a small from the still figure of Ellone. Everybody stood up straight and looked at Ellone who slowly opened her eyes.
A dry smile formed on her lips, "They're alive."
Selphie was the first to erupt.
"Woo-hoo! Sifoo's alive!" She yelped to Irvine, "Heard that Irvinee-poo?"
"Yeah." Irvine nodded, "So is Avatar, it would be a shame to see the guy after my own heart go down without accomplishments."
"Way to go man!" Zell said excitedly, "Those two dudes are a bunch of tough nuts ta crack, alright!"
Rinoa hugged a very relieved Squall Leonhart. Squall gave his lips way for a faint smile but he turned back to Ellone, "Where are they?"
Ellone drank the glass of water Quistis had given her, "Well, not here."
"What the hell is that supposed ta mean?" Seifer said turning around.
"T-They are somewhere else." Ellone said standing up, "I don't know where. It didn't look like our world at all."
"What's going on here, then?" Quistis said, puzzled.
Just then, the door behind them creaked open. A man in a weird dress-up and crooked spectacles walked in with a notepad with all sorts of calculations written on it. He smiled hurriedly at the small crowd and spoke in a weird accent, "I Zink I know Zee Anszer to what Zappened."
"Yes, Dr. Odine." Squall said, "I think we'd all like to know too."
"Very Well, Zhen." The scientist replied, "All follow Zee doctor to zee lab."
Saying that he went away noting down a few points. Irvine and Selphie excused themselves and ran away behind Odine curious to know what he might have arrived at.
Zell scratched his head, "Yeah, I think I'll check it out too man."
He left straight away calling out to Irvine to wait for him. Rinoa kissed Squall on the cheek and left with Quistis to have a drink of water, now that she was sure of the fact Sifan was alive. Seifer quietly walked out of the room without saying a word.
Squall was about to do the same when Ellone spoke, "Everybody would believe science than something supernatural, huh?"
Squall nodded, "No, it's just that Odine believes they might have been teleported because he found something strange in his turbo warp device's behavior. You know, the one he recovered from the Ragnarok wreck. And now that you say my son isn't in this world, Odine's theory might as well be true. They'll take a shot and try hearing what he has to say."
Ellone smiled, "There's more I know."
"What?"
"A voice spoke to me after I saw Sifan and Avatar on this ship."
"What did it say?"
"I-It said something about crossroads of destiny and all this was meant to happen."
Squall groped his forehead, "Destiny? I don't like the sounds of that."
"It was a female voice. She also said not to lose heart and to wait. They would return. We should be happy because they have been called Squall. She said your n-name. Sifan is called like you were called through compressed time to kill Ultimecia."
"S-so...." Squall said slowly, "They'll come back after they d-do what they've been called to do."
"Yes." Ellone replied, "We should only wait."
"We'll wait, sis." Squall said, "As long as we know they're alive."
"They are alive and well."
Squall smiled at his sister and was about to turn away when Ellone spoke again, "S-Squall. A-Avatar..........He's starting to think of his past. The voice said he would discover everything."
Squall Leonhart's steel blue eyes widened, "I did what was best for him, Ellone. You know that."
"But how will he react when he finds out, Squall." Ellone said, her voice shaking a little bit, "Sifan and him are like brothers."
"When he does find out, then................." Squall closed his eyes, "Sifan will lose a brother..............."
Sifan Leonhart could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"So..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "The black cloaked guy with red eyes said he'd kill you if you didn't insert your ring."
"Y-yeah." Avatar said recalling the blood red color of the Fenis guardians' eyes, "So then, I inserted my ring on the pedestal and the next thing I knew, the whole place went bright and the guardian was on his knees bowing to me! The same guy who was threatening to chop my goddamn head off."
"Uh-huh." Sifan nodded as the ship sailed in the middle of the ocean, "then what?"
"So I am like, 'hey, what the hell is going on here?'" Avatar continued, "He doesn't say anything but stays bowed and then he says sorry a hundred times for being rude to me. Then he starts talking about me being some prince Fenis or something and he and another guardian existed to protect me. He said only I could summon them to this dimension. A lot of guys knew about this summoning stuff. So they devised their own rings like mine and tried to summon the Fenis guardians but only ended up dead, killed by that guy!"
"Hey, Relax." Sifan said, heaving a sigh, "You sure you didn't hit your head somewhere?"
"Uh-uh." Avatar nodded, "It was all there."
"So then what did you do?"
"Well, he said whether I wanted to finish the summoning process. I said no because I wanted to get my ass outta that place, pronto. I asked him the way out. He kicked down the frickin' wall for my exit! So I ran outta there as fast as I could. I ran into a Marlboro though. I tried to run away but it gave me a whip with its tentacles. It kinda made me bleed a little. And then there he was. The guardian."
"Ok, so it was one dead Marlboro?"
"Ugh. Yeah. He made a Marlboro salad with a smaller version of your father's lionheart limit break."
"So you grabbed your chocobo and got the hell outta there." Sifan said leaning back on the one of the chairs they had found near captain's cabin, "Some ride you had, eh buddy?"
"Yup." Avatar said, sighing loudly, "I don't know what the hell is going on either."
A few sea gulls whirled around in the sky above the two SeeDs as they sat back on their chairs. The sun had sunk behind a few dark clouds and only the moist wind was blowing across the vast blue ocean. A tired Sifan faded off to sleep.
However a rather confused Avatar sat thinking about the 'Prince Fenis' the Fenis Guardian had mentioned. He looked at his finger that was without the ring. He had left it in the pedestal. He tried to recall who had given him the ring but it was of no use. He never did remember anything before his life at fisherman's horizon. Even when he was a boy, he had always wanted to know but gradually he forgot about it and embraced the carefree life with Sifan in the Leonhart family. But now, the fact that the ring had caused so much of commotion as to summon legendary guardians who went by his surname, he couldn't help but think he belonged to a much greater heritage than a thief by the ocean at fisherman's horizon.
"What the hell-" General Rupert hissed as a Shin-Ra soldier came sprawling and fell near his feet unconscious the moment he had arrived at the Shin-Ra camp.
He looked in the direction from were the soldier had come and noticed another two soldiers in a fighting stance in front of a stranger. He looked no older than an young adult. His flame-colored hair was flying backwards in the wind as he swung his gunblade at another soldier who received it in his guts and fell down out cold. The other soldier backed off only to be scorched by a fire spell from his opponent.
The boy threw his gunblade in the air and snatched it in mid-air with his other hand and sheathed, "That'll teach ya scumbags to mess with Relafen Almasy!"
General Rupert was not very pleased with three of his soldiers losing to a sword-wielding teenager. Soon, the nearby on-looking Shin-Ra soldiers surrounded Relafen when Rupert barked at them to stop.
"Leave the boy alone, ya cowards!" General Rupert scowled, "He took three of ya losers down, he deserves an applause."
They all stood there dumbfounded, looking at their General.
"I frickin' said...." Rupert continued, "HE DESERVES A GODDAMN APPLAUSE!"
Strangely amused at their superior officer, the soldiers clapped loudly and a few of them whistled for the heck of it when Relafen interrupted.
"I like all the fancy applause...." Relafen said looking at the three soldiers who he had taken down, "but those three guys were drunk. They picked a damn fight when I asked them for directions."
Rupert eyed him quietly as he walked up to him. He knew the boy in front of him had a lot of potential and something inside Rupert told him he would make a great choice for the commander post in the Shin-Ra army.
"Say son..." Rupert said putting an arm on Relafen's shoulders, "Why don't we go inside and have a little talk. You got great stuff inside ya, you know?"
"Yeah well..." Relafen said brushing off the General's hand, "I am a SeeD. Whaddaya expect?"
"Oh really?" The General said although he hadn't heard of anything called SeeD in his wildest dreams, "Well, We're lookin' for a commander to lead these fine soldiers..."
"Fine soldiers, eh?" Relafen said sarcastically as they walked in to a camp and took their seats near a table containing a wine bottle and a few glasses.
"You got tremendous potential."
"Commander? Me? I am General Seifer's son. That's against Galbadia's army rules, aint it. Close relatives at high posts?"
"General Seifer? Galbadia?" Rupert asked puzzled, "Son, this is a world where Shin-Ra rules. There's only Shin-Ra and nothin' else."
"Wha-"Relafen said, emptying the contents of the wine bottle in to the glass, "Shin-Ra?"
"You been under a rock for the last century?" The general said pouring his share of the wine, "There aint nothin' called SeeD or yer Galbadia or General Seifer. Me an' Keiara are the only Generals around here. Damn good ones too."
"Shit, don't tell me." Relafen muttered thinking about the turbo-warp and the entire Ragnarok incident, "Don't tell me there aint nothin' called Esthar or Balamb."
"Course not!" The general said gulping down the wine, "Jus' Midgar, Junon and the list goes on..."
"Great." Relafen said and buried his head in his hands.
"Hey, tell ya what?" The general said, "How would ya like to be commander of Shin-Ra? Ya'll have yer own airship, yer own troops, and clearance to most of Shin-Ra's privileges."
"You're just offerin' me the job cause I nailed a buncha yer soldiers?" Relafen asked surprised although his head was aching from the thought that he wasn't in his own world.
"Yeah. It's hard ta find men like ya. It's a chicken's world out there." The general said taking a draught directly from the wine bottle, "Wherever yer from, yer life there aint gonna be nothing compared to life as Shin- Ra's commander. Ow' about it?"
"Sounds good." Relafen said leaning back on his chair and looking at the ragged leather ceiling of the camp in the Shin-Ra base, "When do I start?"
He knew he wasn't going to go back to balamb. Even if he could, he wouldn't because this was a golden opportunity. He could become great like his father. Maybe General of the Army or some great leader. Relafen was fantasizing all these thoughts when the General interrupted him, "Well, there's something ya need to do first."
"Name it." Relafen said running his gloved hand through his hair, "Nothin' I can't handle."
The general's eyes shined as he spoke, "Well, there's this guy called Hamilton a little far away from Costa de Sol............"
Selphie Kinneas wasn't just her spunky self. Neither was her husband, Irvine Kinneas, who stood with his hat pulled down over his brow. Quistis just stood at the side of the room, lost in thought. Zell punched the wall with gritted teeth as Rinoa stood holding Squall Leonhart's arm. The general of the Galbadian army, Seifer Almasy too stood at the extreme corner away from the rest, a firm-set jaw and empty eyes. He still hadn't told his wife anything. He stared bluntly at the wall in front of him.
Ellone's room had never been so quiet in a hundred years. It had been an hour since Rinoa received a call from Ellone saying that she had seen Sifan and Avatar in her dreams through her powers. When they had arrived, they found Ellone unconscious. Esthar's best medics had immediately got to work on her but she showed no signs of consciousness. After a few minutes of checking her, they left after predicting she would be up in half hour and they had told them that she was in a minor temporary coma.
Half an hour was over ten minutes ago, Leonhart." Seifer said slowly, "Your sister aint wakin' up."
"................................"
"Ugh." Came a small from the still figure of Ellone. Everybody stood up straight and looked at Ellone who slowly opened her eyes.
A dry smile formed on her lips, "They're alive."
Selphie was the first to erupt.
"Woo-hoo! Sifoo's alive!" She yelped to Irvine, "Heard that Irvinee-poo?"
"Yeah." Irvine nodded, "So is Avatar, it would be a shame to see the guy after my own heart go down without accomplishments."
"Way to go man!" Zell said excitedly, "Those two dudes are a bunch of tough nuts ta crack, alright!"
Rinoa hugged a very relieved Squall Leonhart. Squall gave his lips way for a faint smile but he turned back to Ellone, "Where are they?"
Ellone drank the glass of water Quistis had given her, "Well, not here."
"What the hell is that supposed ta mean?" Seifer said turning around.
"T-They are somewhere else." Ellone said standing up, "I don't know where. It didn't look like our world at all."
"What's going on here, then?" Quistis said, puzzled.
Just then, the door behind them creaked open. A man in a weird dress-up and crooked spectacles walked in with a notepad with all sorts of calculations written on it. He smiled hurriedly at the small crowd and spoke in a weird accent, "I Zink I know Zee Anszer to what Zappened."
"Yes, Dr. Odine." Squall said, "I think we'd all like to know too."
"Very Well, Zhen." The scientist replied, "All follow Zee doctor to zee lab."
Saying that he went away noting down a few points. Irvine and Selphie excused themselves and ran away behind Odine curious to know what he might have arrived at.
Zell scratched his head, "Yeah, I think I'll check it out too man."
He left straight away calling out to Irvine to wait for him. Rinoa kissed Squall on the cheek and left with Quistis to have a drink of water, now that she was sure of the fact Sifan was alive. Seifer quietly walked out of the room without saying a word.
Squall was about to do the same when Ellone spoke, "Everybody would believe science than something supernatural, huh?"
Squall nodded, "No, it's just that Odine believes they might have been teleported because he found something strange in his turbo warp device's behavior. You know, the one he recovered from the Ragnarok wreck. And now that you say my son isn't in this world, Odine's theory might as well be true. They'll take a shot and try hearing what he has to say."
Ellone smiled, "There's more I know."
"What?"
"A voice spoke to me after I saw Sifan and Avatar on this ship."
"What did it say?"
"I-It said something about crossroads of destiny and all this was meant to happen."
Squall groped his forehead, "Destiny? I don't like the sounds of that."
"It was a female voice. She also said not to lose heart and to wait. They would return. We should be happy because they have been called Squall. She said your n-name. Sifan is called like you were called through compressed time to kill Ultimecia."
"S-so...." Squall said slowly, "They'll come back after they d-do what they've been called to do."
"Yes." Ellone replied, "We should only wait."
"We'll wait, sis." Squall said, "As long as we know they're alive."
"They are alive and well."
Squall smiled at his sister and was about to turn away when Ellone spoke again, "S-Squall. A-Avatar..........He's starting to think of his past. The voice said he would discover everything."
Squall Leonhart's steel blue eyes widened, "I did what was best for him, Ellone. You know that."
"But how will he react when he finds out, Squall." Ellone said, her voice shaking a little bit, "Sifan and him are like brothers."
"When he does find out, then................." Squall closed his eyes, "Sifan will lose a brother..............."