Chapter 12: Ragnaork

Squall looked around the interior of the ship from the side door, they were in a small room that served as an airlock between the door and the rest of the ship, and to his amazement everything was in good condition. 'Looks like there's air.' With another quick look around he walked over to a small panel that lay next to a large steel gate leading out of the room. It was simple to understand, with a press of a button he closed the door side door and regained air pressure. '………Ok?'

Did that do it? Was there really air?...Nervously, Squall's hands clinched the side of his helmet and drew it off with a light suction pulling downward into the rest of the suit... it was good thing for him there was air.

With out having to worry about that both of them stripped out of the hot and heavy suits, Discarding them some place aside. 'What do we do now...?' Squall sighed in relief as he turned around to check on Rinoa and found that Rinoa was looking at him expectantly. "Wh…..What?"

Rinoa smiled, both of her hands resting behind her back. "Thank you, Squall. You rescued me again. I can't thank you enough."

"Don't worry about it. I just did what I wanted to do." Even after he said that, she was still looking at him the same way as if it wasn't enough. 'Now what?'

"The space suit was in our way before." Rinoa could tell he was still confused by the look on his face.

'Huh?'

"Give me a Hug."

An eyebrow raised subconsciously. "?"

Rinoa almost laughed. "A real tight one! I need to know that I'm alive!" She said in a playful manner.

Was this really the time. '...Alive? We still have to get back.' Intimate things like this were not Squall's strong point. "We may be alive right now... But look at our situation... You want to live, right? You want to go back and see everyone, right?"

"And not become other people's memories?" Rinoa's voice was half disappointed and half agreeing, Squall couldn't read other people well.

"That's right." Squall reached open to press a button on the panel, allowing the steel gate to slide open so that they could view their current surroundings. The next room was considerably larger, the first thing that came into view was a metal chain link bridge spanning across the lower level to a similar gate. With Squall leading the way the two of them persisted curiously across, only to make it half way and freeze when they heard monstrous roar from below them. "What the…….?"

Looking down through the links they saw a strange purple monster, A Propagator, composed of with 3 legs and an armor like purple torso. Long arms hung down and dragged to the floor from it's shoulder pad like extension, it's head was a yellow cone like casing to three blinking crystal like formations that were probably nerves. Under it a lower jaw hung down with a rack of sharp teeth, a strange monster that had never been seen on earth.

"AHH!" Rinoa screamed in surprised, Squall quickly covered her mouth with his hand to muffle any farther sound. Wrapping his arms around her shoulder and kneeing out of sight. "What is that?" She asked, whispering this time.

"I don't know…….."

"Doesn't look like a very friendly creature." That went with out saying.

"Let's try to sneak by it."

Rinoa nodded in agreement,

(……I've never seen anything like it) Ifrit couldn't begin to think what that might be, but he'd seen a lot of things he'd never seen today..

'How strong do you think it is?'

(I'm not sure…! Look behind you!)

Squall looked back over his shoulder in mild surprise toward the open door they had just came through. Another creature was there, only with a yellow torso, it must have been hidden behind them and didn't notice them. Strange actually. But it was standing near the control panel and didn't see them.

"Let's get out of here."

"Yeah!"

In the next room past the second gate like door was another one sitting before them on top of a lift, this time it was green. But it didn't advance toward them, it just waited and watched. They slipped past it in the door on the left. But as soon as they entered, they were rushed by a yellow Propagator. Knocking Squall back and Rinoa in to the wall.

Drawing his blade, Squall jumped off the ground while Rinoa equipped her projectile with no way to escape something so persistent except to fight. Squall pushed it back just enough so that he had space to lift his blade, slashing it across the chest, while Rinoa cast a Demi spell. Unleashing a wave of oppressive black energy over the monster, it was able to stay standing on account of it's three legs.

It ran at her with a loud, screeching roar, slashing her with both of it's claws from the dragging arms. Squall attacked with his sword again, lifting it above his head, taking a few steps forward and thrusting it down on the creature. He missed, striking the ground and kicking sparks. He tried again, slashing it across the chest. It took advantage of his close range and struck him with it's claws, sending him sliding back. Rinoa fired the projectile on her wrist, sending the rapidly spinning bladed weapon digging in to the monster's chest and finishing it off.

The room had 2 rows of 4 seats each, the passenger room that lead to a panel at the head of it, and the first thing they saw as a message blinking on the screen. 'Hmm...' Not seeing the harm, Squall pressed the button and found it was a recording from the previous crew. The last thing they found out and managed to make before they were killed by the monsters a few years ago. Basically they told said how to destroy the monsters. You have to kill off the pair of the same color in order, or else the other one will come and revive it. Which meant that the crew must have fought back long enough to find this out, and there probably must have been other types before then the one they had already seen.

'Sounds hard…….'

(Squall, I'll handle it) Ifrit volunteered, and quite unexpectedly.

'What?'

(Don't worry about it. I'll handle the monsters, you just find away to get us home.)

Squall nodded, 'Thank you, Be careful.'

The familiar cocky tone came back when Ifrit spoke this time. (I can beat a few monsters.) Actually, Ifrit had started to feel weak only being junctioned, he wanted to at least do this on his own. And Squall should be focusing on away home, he could get them back better then Ifrit could.

Squall rubbed his neck and titled his head back...starring out of the window at the endless expanse of the stars and the moon that came into their view with every spin the ship made, Squall realized that they were in the middle of space on a ship full of monsters that was probably broken any way. Home? He might not make it home...he might not make it home. 'Ifrit…' he felt he had to say something now, in a situation like this waiting another moment might be to late. "...I-'

(Squall.) Ifrit declined, he didn't need to say anything. Squall wasn't the type of person to force himself to say things, doing so now would be out of character. Humans tended to get out of character during these situations. (Don't worry about it.)

'But'

(Heh, human.)

"?"

(I already know, don't worry about it.) Ifrit said with a smirk, he had no problem saying what he was thinking or feeling. He knew that Squall on the other hand did, so saying what he was going to say was probably hard for him, he didn't want to force Squall to reemphasis what they both already knew. (Just focus on getting home.)

'What if...we can't? What if we don't make it?'

(You lose faith so easily.) Ifrit snorted (If you have a strong enough will you can find away to survive. And your strong.)

Squall's eyes closed with a deep breath, 'Is that why your not worried?' Did Ifrit really have that much faith in him?

(Don't stall, I know you can do this.) Ifrit gave those final words before he unjunctioned himself.

! - ! - !

Standing on the lift to the next level and right outside the passenger room lay a green propagator that Squall and Rinoa passed by before. It didn't attack them, and it didn't attack him, it just stood their waiting, inhibiting any path. Ifrit fearlessly walked up to it, and only when he was face to 'face' with did it, did it finally come at him, trying to attack with it's claws. Ifrit jumped with inhuman speed out of the way, thrusting his hand forward with a small growl.

It's whole body burst in to a ball flames with a quick flash, the propagator, with flames dieing, screeched at him. Taking quick steps forward and biting him on the shoulder with those teeth, Ifrit pushed it away, punching it across it's extended mouth and sending it flying back against the wall. again it's body burst in to flames this time by one glance from Ifrit, and this time it didn't get up.

The next room was for the back door of the ship, the hatch, where a purple one was waiting for him. Ifrit's first instinct was to fight, but he remembered the recording and engaging it now would be pointless, so he crossed the room and walked through the next door before it could reach him.

Going through the right door he found a red one waiting at the end of a narrow room just bigger then a hallway, used for food storage, most likely a kitchen. There was hardly any room for anything else and as soon as he was spotted it rushed at him, but he had to ignore it for now, going through the next door before it could get to him.

This time he was in the area under the bridge Squall and Rinoa had crossed upon their entrance, a large open space at the bottom of a stairwell with a double door beside the one he'd just passed through. He could see the creature they had heard before, another purple one was waiting for him, another Propagator to avoid. With an annoyed sigh Ifrit floated off the ground, rising above the creature and acceding on to the bridge one level up. He found the one he was looking for here, finally.

With a hard landing on the bridge, Ifrit jumped in the air again, hammering down on the green propagator with a hard strike from his claws. Blood flowing from the wound on it's chest and sliding backwards from the impact, it cast a water spell to counter. As much as he hated water, and despised the large bubble that surrounded him filled with blue liquid, he took the weak spell with no trouble. Ifrit scowled, shaking the dripping water from his face as he sent another Combustion spell on to the creature, causing the monster to burst in flames with a small explosion. Ifrit finishing it off just that easily.

No, he was most definitely not as weak as he had felt, it was the complete opposite, he was actually stronger. He'd grown so powerful in such a short period of time...

Jumping over the railing and landing in the area laying beneath the bridge, Ifrit was promptly met by the purple type Propagator he'd had to avoid before. It tried to lash at him with it's sharp teeth while he was off guard, but a quick push sent it flying back against the wall. With an impish smirk from Ifrit it's body burst in to flames and it was down and out from an ability that had become second nature to Ifrit. It was a simple matter of heating the right things.

Trailing backwards with a small sense of haste he fought a red creature back in to the hanger where the sealed hatch resided. This type was one of the more aggressive ones, but just as easy to beat. Ifrit ran past it, slashing it with his claws with a few pass overs and leaving it bleeding and burning.

Ifrit headed back to the narrow storage room, and as soon as he opened the door, the Red propagator rushed him. But quickly found it hard to moved the GF an inch. Ifrit punched it and sent another propagator up in flames.

By the time it was over, he was left with out a challenge.

After gaining entrance into the cockpit and connecting to Esthar via radio, it was a simple matter for Squall and Rinoa of following directions and hoping that they would make back alright. There had been barely enough fuel left for them to reach earth, descending in calculated outside of Esthar.

Esthar guards were waiting for them by the time they touched down, not out of concern but because Rinoa had reveled that she was the Sorceress.

'I don't know what to do... This is just another crossroad in my life. But, for the first time, I don't know which way to go. I've come this far because I've...fallen for her. ...Rinoa... Now...am I just supposed to let her go...?'

But I don't love any less

Squall and Rinoa stood at the side door, the Ragnaork open to the bare planes of uninhabited Esthar, watching two ominous looking women and a men were waiting at the door. "Sorceress Rinoa, Hyne's descendant, Come with us. We must seal your power for the sake of the world." One of the woman told her.

She held a evident fear and hesitation, reluctantly clinging on to Squall's arm, but she quietly agreed. "…………..Alright."

"Thank you for understanding, tell us when you're ready."

Rinoa nodded to them, looking back helplessly at Squall with the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

"...I should tell you this before I go... I was possessed out in space, there was a sorceress inside me. Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. She's trying to achieve time compression." Her tone lowered as well as her voice, her eyes down cast for a moment. "She's the only one who would be able to exist in such a world. She, and no other... As long as I'm free, she'll continue to use me to accomplish her goal. I... We can't let that happen, right...?" Rinoa didn't look at Squall this time, only silently telling herself that this was what had to be done. " ...I should go now. to the descendant ...I'm ready."

"All right. We'll be heading to the Sorceress Memorial."

I may not be a lady

(Squall! What are you doing! You can't let her leave like that!)

Squall knew Ifrit was right, and he allowed himself to listen to the GF for the moment "Rinoa! Don't go!"

Rinoa only brush past him, walking a slow decent down the stairs "...Thanks, Squall. But I have to go………"

'………….Rinoa.'

A spark of realization flashing across her features she turned back to him, struggling not to cry through unable to stop a few tears from rolling down her cheek. "... Oh... I still have your ring." She said, her hands inanely drifting up to her chest where the chain lay.

"You keep it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

She took one last look at him, with a deep breath and repressed sadness, then followed the people who'd come to find her. And as she left, Squall could only tell himself that '...This is what Rinoa decided. There's nothing I can do about it...right?'

(Your, letting her go! It can't be……….Squall.)

! - ! - !

Squall sat in the passenger deck, his arms folded, his head tilted back and his eyes staring at the ceiling with uncertainty, completely silent now that Ifrit had given up on verbalizing his opposition to Squall's decision. That silence was broken when Irvine walked in, much to Squall's surprise. "Irvine!"

"Hey, I'm back!" Irvine said with a smile and a tip of his hat.

"How did you get here?"

Irvine rested his hands on his hips and let out a soft breath "Ahh... I was just fiddling around inside the escape pod, Then the impact from the landing knocked me out for a while. When I came to, it was just me and Piet."

'Piet? Oh, the guy who escaped with us. What happened to Ellone?'

Irvine knew what he was thinking, why wouldn't he be thinking it. "No sign of Sis. I hope she's safe... Then after some time, the rescue crew from Esthar arrived, they told me about this ship, and about you and Rinoa. They gave me a ride over here."

"I see……"

"Squall... When you jumped out into space, you got me thinking... I wondered whether I could do something like that. You were like a hero, Hey, so where's the heroine?"

Squall grew apprehensive when he was fronted with that question "Rinoa is………"

Just as he worked up the nerve to finish, Zell, Quistis and Seiphie came through the door.

""S'up Squall! So glad you're safe!" Zell rested his arm on Squall's chair and leaned over him. "I hate to tell you this now, but we've got major problems down there. Well, here it goes! Some big

thing called Lunatic Pandora came out of nowhere. Matron couldn't achieve what she set out to do because of it. Which is ok, Matron's not a sorceress anymore, Matron gave away her power to someone without realizing it."

Squall clinched his eyes shut. 'To Rinoa………'

"And, ah... Oh yeah, the Galbadian military is controlling Lunatic Pandora, They excavated it from the ocean where Esthar sank a long time ago. Inside the Lunatic Pandora, there's this thing called a 'Crystal Pillar'. It calls monsters from the moon. Then monsters came down from the moon. Total panic down here. It wasn't just monsters that came falling down, Sorceress Adel came down along with the machine that was holding her, I guess the all those falling monsters covered the machine. Lunatic Pandora caught Adel from that all of that. Dr. Odine thinks that may have been Galbadia's true intention. Meaning"

Squall lifted his hand. "Zell, that's enough for now."

"But Squall!"

"I know, I know we're got problems. But I can't think right now."

If Squall couldn't think, there something had to be wrong. "What's the matter?" Irvine asked.

If was subconscious habit for Squall to rub his head when he was annoyed or stressed about something, meaning what ever would follow next couldn't be good. "Rinoa is a sorceress now. She received Matron's powers... An escort from Esthar came to pick Rinoa up. She's in Esthar now."

"We have to go get her!" Seiphie shouted, worry appearing in her voice.

"Was she taken by force?" Quistis asked

"No. It was Rinoa's decision. She was scared about being a sorceress... Scared of being feared...hated... Scared that no one would want to be around her... She said she couldn't handle that."

"Didn't you try to stop her, Squall?"

"It was Rinoa's decision. What right do I have to object?"

Quistis stood over him, her hands on her hip with a chastising expression forming." Stop that! What are you talking about? Why did you go all the way out into space to save Rinoa? To hand her over to Esthar? So that you might never see her again?" Quistis rolled her eyes, throurugh disappointed in her former student "No, right? Wasn't it because you wanted to be with Rinoa? You're a fool."

"Seriously" Zell agreed.

'A fool, huh?' He cast a fleeting look her way, saying something nearly incoherent. "...Maybe." before he started thinking again. 'What am I doing...? I may never get to hear Rinoa's voice ever again... What the hell am I doing? What can I do? ...Of course...'

Seiphie slipped out of the room, Irvine curiously followed.

"Have you decided?" Quistis asked, seeing that their words made him obviously think about his choice.

"Heading to Esthar, right?" Zell didn't seem to be asking, he spoke with more of an expectant tone, giving Squall a look that said he'd better had make the right choice.

"Pandora whatever and Sorceress Adel are out of my hands. I don't know where to look for Sis. The only thing I know is Rinoa. The only thing I want to do for sure right now is for Rinoa, we're going to get Rinoa back."

Yes, right choice.

The whole room began to shake with small vibrations... Suddenly the entire ship began to move. "Whoa!" Zell almost fell from the sudden jump.

Quistis made her way over to the window to make sure what she thought was happening was really happening. "Ahh... Excuse me, we're flying?"

Zell slid through the rows of seats toward another window as if he didn't believe Quistis "I hope this ain't the case but, I can picture Seiphie in the pilot seat, and…"

"...Seiphie screaming. Whoo-hoo, we're flying!"

Squall could only imagine, at least he hoped he was only imagining it. 'And standing next to her, a very excited Irvine………'

! - ! -!

Squall headed up to the cockpit with Quistis and Zell and found Seiphie in the pilot seat yelling "Whoo-hoo! We're flying!" And Irvine very excited just as Squall had imagined, none of them knew if this was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

"Selphie's just amazing!"

Squall peered over the pilot seat to look out the window, they hadn't crashed yet, very good sign. "You sure you can fly this?" Squall asked.

"It just kinda took off! I don't know, It's pretty easy, I think I'll be fine but there's no guarantee it won't crash!" Selphie's words weren't very reassuring.

(No one can predict the future, right?) Ifrit's words were of little consultation also.

If they were already in the air..."Seiphie, head for Esthar. She's probably at the Sorceress Memorial. We're gonna go rescue Rinoa."

! - ! -!

The next stop was the sorceress memorial, and they got there relatively save considering that Seiphie was flying. They even managed to land safely with the right controls enacted. So only a about 30 feet off from the facility, Squall, Zell and Irvine headed inside while everybody else stayed behind.

At the door they were greeted by two guards on duty, both dressed in Esther solider uniforms. In an attempt to get in peaceably, Squall explained that they just wanted to see Rinoa off one last time.

The guards took to it." You want to see your comrade off……… I'll make an exception. Go head." With prompting from one them, the other guard moved out of their way and let them pass.

Just ahead down strait down the main hall was a lab, with an Engineer working on a control panel in a room that lay over looking another one.

The man was working diligently, completely wrapped in his work, that's why he was so surprised when he turned around and saw the three behind him "What are you doing here? This is a restricted area!"

"...To do what I should have done earlier. ...I'll never know unless I do it." Squall told him in a solemn voice, pushing the man out of the way.

"What are you talking about?"

"...I know what I want and what I have to do. ...There's still a chance." Squall peered over the controls into the window that lay above it, able to see another seal just as the one Adel had been trapped in side when they were in the space station. That had to be it. "I'm not gonna look back. I'm taking Rinoa with me."

"What? You must be joking. It's too late." His response wasn't exactly what they wanted to hear and the engineer pulled Squall back away from the controls, standing over it protectively. It was apparent the man was going to stand in there way.

Zell and Irvine gave each other quick, wordless glances, then turn to the man. Irvine drew out his gun while Zell tightened his gloves approached him ominously. "Go Squall!" Zell grinned, making sure the man wouldn't cause any problems.

With a small thanks to the two, Squall made his way down the stairs and in to the hanger that rested bellow the control room where Rinoa was sealed in the device, still fully conscious. Though he couldn't hear her, he could tell Rinoa was surprised to see him.

"Rinoa, hold on! I'll get you out in a sec!" Squall grunted loudly, pulling his arm back and punching the thick glass encasing her, but of course it was going into space it couldn't be that easy. "What am I supposed to do? Come on!"

(Squall. Gunblade.)

'Right'

Squall withdraw out his gunblade swiftly, lifting it above his head, and slicing through the seal with one fatal slash. It easily smashed apart, wires falling from both sides, smoke starting to rise along with Rinoa's freedom.

She jumped out, wrapping her arms around Squall tightly with a pained and desperate look. "Squall, don't! I'm a sorceress." She pleaded.

"I don't care." Was all he replied.

They could here Irvine calling out to them from above, promptingly "Squall! Rinoa!"

! - ! - !

Before they could get out the door and make there exit, they were blocked by Esthar Soldiers. It seemed as if they would have a formidable fight on their hands but a man, dressed in officials clothing intervened. And though he didn't speak, he signaled for them soldiers to back off and allowed them to leave.

'That man... I've seen him before.' Zell thought, looking back at the large man with one last glance before heading off to the ship.

(Any Ideas?) Carbuncle asked him.

'Not really.'