Chapter 20: Time compression part 2

"Am I dead?" Zell mumbled to himself as soon as regained conciseness, he expected some kind of an answer from Carbuncle or Bahamut, but nothing came. '…Fuck……'

They had been just knocked out during the battle, hopefully they were only still unconscious. But Zell found that neither of them were still junctioned and he knew this wasn't looking good. He looked around the deep white around him but found nothing but himself.

"Bahamut! Carbuncle!" Zell called out, looking around frantically for any sign of the two. They were gone, most likely when Ultimecia sent him to this place. They could be anywhere. "Damnit!" Zell yelled, pounding his fist against the ground, he was completely alone now, and lost. Could this get any worse? "I gotta find them!" Zell said to himself surely, looking around again everything looked the same, which way should he go? Which way could he go?

He didn't care at this point, he just started running. 'What do I do!…Alright, I'll just keep thinking of them and try to get to them. It worked before!'

Which brought the same problem as before.

Zell stopped, he barely made it last time and he was with every one. 'I can't do this alone.' Wait, he couldn't say that, what would Carbuncle say to him if he were here right now? What would Bahamut say? The thought of what Carbuncle would say was more motivating. 'Hell no! I've got to, I don't want to go back with out them.' Zell shook his head and pushed any fear and doubt back, he didn't have time to be afraid.

He ran blindly, running with out thought until the white light ahead of him started to clear. He was getting some where now.

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This was a barren place with dry hard earth, there was nothing here, only thick gray clouds. Squall walked warily threw this place, alone with no way out.

'Ifrit? Were the hell are you?' Squall said to himself, he couldn't take much more of this. He was completely alone and lost. At first it didn't seem real, the first mile or so, it didn't seem like this was really happening. Almost like being in a dream while awake, or a daze of some sort.

It was clear that that feeling had wore off, bringing a host of different emotions to take it's place. Fear, anxiety, sadness, and everything he never wanted to feel again. In retrospect, very ironic.

Now he had conflicting emotions about everything. He wanted to find his way home, which would be more easy than finding his friends, which he also wanted to do. Most of all he wanted to find Rinoa and Ifrit. Which was an internal conflict in itself. Ifrit was always caring and understanding, Ifrit knew when to give him space and let him figure things out for himself. He was also strong, but surprisingly gentle, and would probably kick his ass when he got too out of hand and wasn't afraid to fight Squall on things.

Rinoa was kind, and sweet, she never gave Squall space when he pushed her away. She never backed down or gave up on Squall, which for some reason is why he liked her. She was gentle but surprisingly strong.

But who did he want to be with? Right now, Ifrit had no problem with the situation. To tell the truth, neither did he.

He had to find them, he couldn't go back to life with out them. He couldn't go back with out them.

Squall stopped, his thoughts hitting a swift wall when he realized he had come to the edge and the same spot where he'd fought Griever. Now he was surrounded by gray clouds, they blocked off the area behind him, they loomed above him, and they hung under him in the dark abyss that lay just over this cliff.

'No…..I can't do this alone….' Squall collapsed to the ground, he couldn't go on any longer, his body wouldn't allow him to. Squall stared out in to the darkness of what lay ahead, he started to see things happening before his eyes.

He saw a moment back at the SeeD inauguration ball, when he first saw Rinoa. But something was seriously wrong, Rinoa looked at him, and smiled, but she was distorted while everything was normal. The image replayed again, Rinoa this time seemed to be fading out. Again it replayed and Rinoa seemed to be horribly distorted. With a flash it replayed again, Rinoa seemed to be blurring out of existence.

This time when that moment was over it didn't replay, The blurred Rinoa just turned to him, walking towards him. But she wasn't getting anywhere, it was like she was on a treadmill he couldn't see.

Behind her the world begin to spin in a dizzying whirl. Then he saw each one of his friend when he met them. Quistis, Zell, Seiphie, Rinoa, and Irvine, they blended with the faces of Seifer, Matron, and Ultimecia. They mixed and replayed in a dizzying and blurring display.

Squall's eyes widened and a tear fell, a strong nausea overwhelmed him making him feel as if he'd throw up. "!" The next thing he knew he was surrounded in a blinding white light.

This time he saw the fire cave, he could feel the heat rising from the burning lake of magma. He could see Ifrit, but as before something here was completely off.

His surrounding blended in a mix of a blurry red, it swirled around him in an intense heat. Ifrit let out a fierce roar before he disappeared in to the red haze. Then the quickly fleeting felling of the internal heat that came from their junction, leaving him cold and numb... "Ifrit!"

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"Irvine? Where are we?" Quistis asked. She and Irvine were surrounded by nothing but darkness, completely contrast to the former light.

"I think we took a wrong turn….." Irvine rubbed his head nervously.

"Wrong turn? We didn't go anywhere?" Quistis corrected.

Irvine sighed "Whatever, All I know is we have to find a way out of here."

They where hesitant to move though, Quistis was especially hesitant "Which way should we go?"

"I think, that way." Irvine pointed to a red light ahead of him, a fire.

Both of them headed in that direction, running towards the fire since it was the only thing that they'd actually seen since they found each other. It grew bigger as they got closer until they were in front of a large bird enquired in flames.

"Whoa! That was unexpected." Irvine took a step back from the heat, shielding his eyes from painful light after seeing darkness for so long. The Phoenix extinguished the flame surrounding him and Seiphie stepped out from behind.

"Guys!" Seiphie ran to Quistis and hugged her, then hugged Irvine even tighter, reluctant to let go.

"Seiphie? Is that what it thing it is?" Quistis queried, looking at the bird in awe.

"Yup! It's the Phoenix, he is so cool!" Seiphie said, jumping up to emphasize her point.

Irvine walked up to the bird, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow, before curiosity got the better of him, saying "I gotta know." as he snatched a feather off of the bird's chest. It was Phoenix down, just as he'd thought.

The Phoenix squawked angrily and pecked him on the top of his head, knocking off his hat before going in for a second peck to his uncovered head. "OW!" Irvine jumped back away from bird, and the Phoenix glared at him, daring him to try it again.

Irvine lifted his hands in surrender and backed away slowly.

"Come on, we have to find everybody else." Seiphie said.

"How do we do that? Got any ideas?" Irvine asked.

"Uh-huh, we bust outta here first, then we blow it to pieces! KA-BOOM!"

This place was the world beyond time Ultimecia spoke of, but now that she was gone there was no power here to create anything, leaving a black void, white in someplace, deeper in someplace then in others. Seiphie's plan was to destroy this world and get back to time compression.

How? The GFs of course, but that only made one problem, their GFs were gone with out a trace.

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The white light cleared in front of Zell's eyes to reveal his dorm.

"Huh?" Zell looked around, 'How did I end up here?' Every thing seemed to be just as he left it.

He was tempted to go outside but he headed towards his bedroom since he just appeared in his dorm room, checking out the rest of the place for changes. After a few moments Zell came to his bedroom and paused at the door, hearing a slight rustling inside. 'Huh?'

He found Carbuncle on the bed, laying there, just waiting for something. He'd never seen anyone look so depressed. "Carbuncle?"

At the sound of his name the GF's ears twitched a little and his eyes widened. In a green blur Carbuncle jumped off the bed and in to Zell's arms, Zell barely caught him.

He burred his face in to Zell's chest, the could feel warm tears seeping through his clothing. "I thought if I just waited here……" Carbuncle's voice trailed off as if the rest was too painful to say, which after hearing what Carbuncle said next made Zell wonder exactly what Carbuncle hadn't wanted to say "……I thought you were dead, I looked everywhere for you, I couldn't find you…." Carbuncle managed to contain most of the tears and sobs when he looked up at Zell.

"I didn't know what happened to you, I didn't think I could make it back on my own. " Zell smiled, rubbing Carbuncle's head in a hold that pushed his ears down. "I'm so happy you made it out of there alive! I just focused on you guys…" Speaking of 'you guys'... "Where's Bahamut?" Zell asked looking around.

"I don't know….I-I thought he was with you." Carbuncle steadied his gaze downward, holding back any other emotions except his concern for the missing dragon.

Zell sighed, looking down at Carbuncle, "I have to go find him."

Carbuncle nodded "Yeah, let's go...Uh?" Carbuncle waited, surprised when Zell didn't move, he could feel the boy still looking down at him.

"I wanna take you with be but you have to stay here."

Carbuncle looked up at him, but Zell couldn't seem to maintain eye contact and looked away towards the ground. "But why?"

"I need you here, I'll never make it back if I don't have you to focus on. It's because of you that I got it here in the first place."

Carbuncle looked at him confused at first, then just looked down when he finally realized what Zell was talking about, burying his face in the boy's chest again. "I….can't let you do this alone. It's too dangerous, I couldn't live with myself if I let you do this by yourself." Carbuncle's voice was muffled, and if Zell wasn't mistaken he sounded angry and the small GF was actually biting him.

"Carbuncle, I know you worried about me, but I can handle it. But I'll never make it back if don't have you here." Zell was right, he could focus on this room, but he'd never be able to get the time right, or here at all for that matter. Carbuncle knew this..

Carbuncle sprang out of Zell's arms and back on to the bed a fairly great distance away, landing with his back turned to Zell. "……….."

"Carbuncle…….I'm sorry, but I need you here."

"Alright, I won't leave Ok!" Carbuncle shouted angrily, laying his head on top of his paws. "I promise I'll be here until you come back..." Carbuncle's voice became considerably lower when he said the next part, the anger fading away for the moment. "I'll die here if I have to, just come back, ok?"

"Alright." Zell nodded, though he hated to leave Carbuncle angry like this he had no choice but to turn to leave... but he stopped after taking a few steps. He knew this feeling, he felt Carbuncle junctioned himself. It would mean nothing when Zell went back through Time compression by himself.

Well….Not physically at lest, but it meant something.

Zell just smiled, about to turn around and say something only knowing Carbuncle it was no use, he knew Carbuncle still had his back turned. And all the persuasion in the world would make him face Zell at that moment. 'Sorry...I really didn't want to leave you but...'

Zell began to focus on Bahamut, trying his best to get to him. The bright white light from before started surrounded him again, in the blink of an eye he was back in the world beyond time.

'No wait! If I'm here, there's no way I could have went through time compression to get back………Was it real?……' Zell thought, he looked around, still seeing nothing but white light. This just looked so hopeless.

He felt something…….it was a Junction, but it was weak. To weak to summon, to weak the even tell what GF was there if one at all. To weak to mean anything, but after Junctioning for so long, he could feel it even if it was that weak.

That wasn't just some dream, Zell could still feel the tears from Carbuncle in a wet spot on the center of his chest as well as the bite mark. 'Carbuncle must have been really pissed to bit me...' That's what pulled him out of this place, Carbuncle. Zell needed him more then he first realized……..

'Bahamut? Where the hell are you? I gonna kill you for leaving me alone like this.'

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