Standard Disclaimers Apply

Squall and the Beanstalk

The next day, Squall squinted his eyes as rays of sunlight flitted through the leaves. He stood up, picked his gunblade and bag when a sight stopped him. A few feet away from him was a massive tree. He was sure that tree wasn't there the night before. He walked towards it cautiously and read the small plaque embedded on the tree. "Magic Beans registration no 98ELO1. Please find hidden treasures above. (List of treasures found inside the first branch) Please be reminded you are only allowed three items, and be wary of man eating giants."

He looked up and saw that the tree reached the skies above. He looked curiously at the first branch, and opened it. He took out a parchment inside and read the items listed. "Magic carpet, trident, crown, magic wand, golden harp, golden-egg laying geese, the Greatest Ninja Ever, glass slippers… : Squall paused as he read the previous items. "Greatest Ninja Ever… Yuffie?" He looked up again, and slung the gunblade and the bag on his shoulders. With a determined look in his eyes, Squall began to climb.

It may have been a few minutes, or even a few hours, but Squall could not tell as he reached the top. He looked at the castle in front of him and stepped on the wooden bridge that connected the castle to the tree. He took his gunblade and walked towards the castle. There was silence around him, and Squall made sure that he was alert to anything. He looked at the big wooden door with a slight frown. He tried to look for another entrance, but found none. He placed his palms on the door and began to push. Nothing. It didn't even budge. He tried again, only to be unsuccessful. He stepped further away and aimed the gunbalde at the left corner and fired. There was only a small noise, but to Squall, it was enough. He began to kick the broken wood away, and was satisfied with the small entrance he had made. He walked inside the castle, and looked at any signs that Yuffie was there. He walked slowly, carefully, and found a carpet rolled up and was leaning against the wall. The carpet was labelled 'Magic Flying Carpet, version 2' He ignored the carpet and moved forward. It was faint first, but as he strained to listen, the voice began clearer.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! I'll SHOW YOU, YOU BIG GOON! LEMME OUT!"

That voice, he knew that voice! Squall walked faster, and found himself looking at a big table with a gold cage perched on top of it, and inside…

"LET ME OUT!"

Squall walked to the table leg and looked at the carved design. He could use the designs to climb to where Yuffie was. It was hard, but Squall managed to hold on to the designs and use them to reach the top. Once he got there, he almost sighed in relief. Yuffie was still shouting, and has not heard him. He walked behind the cage quietly.

"WHERE ARE YOU? LET ME OUT!"

"Don't you get tired of all this shouting?"

Yuffie spun around, her eyes wide like saucers when she saw him. "Squall? Is that… is that you?"

"It's Leon, and yes, it's me. Stand back."

Yuffie did as she was told, and Squall used the gunblade again to unlock the cage. "How did you find me? Where are we, anyway?"

"I don't know. We just have to get out of here as soon as possible." He took the pouch Mario had given him and sprinkled it on the table. "Come on. We're going home." He stood on the sprinkled area, but nothing happened.

"Uh, Squall? What are you doing?" Yuffie asked wondering what her partner was trying to do.

Squall looked down, and back to the pouch, and his eyes narrowed when he saw the words stitched: Valid only after lesson has been learnt. Yuffie stepped closer and read the pouch.

"Lesson learned? Are we in some kind of test?"

"When you brought the ring from the old man, what did he say to you?" Squall asked as he closed the pouch.

"He told me that it could grant any wish… but it can't grant mine. I'm supposed to give it to someone spe… someone else."

"He didn't say anything else?"

Yuffie shook her head. "Why?"

"Do you remember what happened before you got here?"

"You were being stubborn! You wouldn't make a wish, then the next thing I know… I was here! Inside that cage where this big ugly….thing…"

Squall stopped her babbling by covering her mouth with his hands. "Did you hear that?"

Yuffie's eyes bulged. "It's the big ugly thing!"

"Giant." Squall corrected and Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Whatever!"

The two of them crept to the edge of the table and began to descend, just in time to hear the heavy footsteps.

"Fee Fi Fo Fum…"

"Don't even ask what that means!" Yuffie muttered as they got to the ground. Squall motioned Yuffie to follow him just as the giant roared in anger.

"Where is my ninja?"

The giant roared again when he saw Squall and Yuffie running. "Stop! Give me back my ninja!"

"I'm not your ninja, ya freak!" Yuffie called out as they ran, but they were no match for the giant's gigantic strides. Yuffie screamed as they barely avoided being stepped on.

Squall aimed his gunblade between the giant's eyes and fired. The giant screamed in pain, and covered his face with his hands.

The two resumed running and they passed by the Magic Flying Carpet. Squall unrolled the Magic Flying Carpet and they both stared when the carpet floated.

"That is cool!" Yuffie breathed out as she examined the carpet closer.

"Get in!" Squall ordered as they looked back at the giant. "Come on!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yuffie replied as she got in. The moment Yuffie was inside, the carpet rose a few inches, and flew towards the door. "Oh wow! This is so cool!"

"My ninja! My carpet! Give them back!" The giant shouted as it started to chase after them. The carpet flew higher and went out the window, and Yuffie practically threw herself at Squall when the carpet zoomed down.

Squall held Yuffie tight as they approached the tree. "Down! Go down!"

The carpet understood, and began to went down. And soon, they were back ob the ground. Squall immediately got off the carpet.

"My ninja! My carpet, give them back!"

Squall glared at the giant for a second before using his weapon to chop the tree down.

"Squall! He's going to come down!" Yuffie cried out as she pointed up in the sky.

"It's Leon!" Squall replied as he continued to chop the tree down. They could hear the giant as it continued to roar in anger. With one last chop, the tree began to sway, and they looked up to see the giant scrambling back up. Squall grabbed Yuffie and the edge of the carpet and ran as far as possible. They only heard a loud 'thwack!' and everything became quiet.

"That was interesting." Yuffie muttered as she looked at the tree, then back to Squall. "What do we do now?"

"Are you alright?"

Yuffie nodded with a smile. "Are you?"

"I'm fine. We need to find a way how we can get home."

"I wonder where we are?" Yuffie asked, though not really expecting an answer. "Could this be another world?"

"In a way." Squall replied.

A world full of magic. Mario's words whispered. Squall looked at the pouch again and frowned. "He didn't mention about any… lesson."

"So… what do we do now?" Yuffie asked, although her focus was on the magic carpet.

"I don't know." Squall muttered and Yuffie looked at him. "This pouch was supposed to get us home."

"Only valid when lesson has been learnt. Maybe… maybe there's a test around here that we need to pass?"

"Like what?"

Yuffie shrugged. "I dunno… like… not judging a book by it's cover… or going through some tasks.. you know…"

Squall looked at Yuffie. "No, I don't."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember all those stories? When we were young?"

"Yuffie, they're stories."

"Well, have you ever seen a giant and a flying carpet?"

At Squall's silence, Yuffie nodded her head, as if she had made up her mind. "Maybe we need to walk somewhere, we can't learn anything if we stand here, right?"

Squall looked around them. Yuffie might have a point. He looked back at her playing with the flying carpet. He wondered if she heard his wish. "I wish you'd go away and leave me alone!"

His own memory taunted him. She was here because of him. He wanted to say something, to apologise, but he knew that no was not the time. Yuffie had to be right. There has to be some test, some task they need to accomplish for them to learn something. But what? He saw a pouch lying on the ground. He remembered it as the fairy dust pouch he threw last night. He picked it up, and looked at the brown pouch. If that magic bean worked… then, this one would too.

"Uhhh, Squalll?"

Squall turned around and saw Yuffie with a nervous expression on her face. "It's Leon. What is it?"

"I can't move. Arrrgghh!" Yuffie screamed as she started to sink to the ground. "Squall!"

He leapt to his feet and grabbed Yuffie, only to find her slipping from his grasp. "Hold on!"

"I'm trying!" Yuffie replied as she tried to clutch his arms. "Squall!"

He had no time to correct Yuffie as she continued to sink. They were both on the ground now, Yuffie's neck and arms the only things that are visible. "I'm getting you out…"

Yuffie was struggling to breathe as she began to sink further.

"Keep your head up!" Squall cried out. He was going to loose her. He watched Yuffie try, but to no avail… her head had disappeared, and all he could do was grip her hands as tight as possible and try to pull her up, but to no avail. The arms sunk further, until all he had was he wrists… "Yuffie!"

Then nothing.

"No!" Squall cried out as he tried to dig the area where Yuffie disappeared, but there was no sign of the ninja, just dirt. "Yuffie!"

He slammed his fists on the ground and stood up, completely lost. What was he supposed to do now?

There had to be a logical explanation for everything. He looked behind him and saw the magic carpet, completely forgetting about it. It floated next to him, almost as if inviting him. Squall weighed his options. Yuffie was obviously nowhere near where he is at the moment, staying here, wherever here is wouldn't help. He placed his bag on the carpet before climbing on, his gunblade still in his hands. "You wouldn't know where to go, would you?" Squall murmured, and to his surprise, the carpet rose above the sky and headed towards a small town. He observed the scene below him and tried to think of what to do next. Finding Yuffie earlier was easy enough, would finding her the second time be as easy?