Chapter 43: Apocalypse Now

All this advanced technology, Squall mused, and they forgot to include elevators in their space station.

He strode up a staircase leading up to the crew quarters level, still surprised at Piet's admission of the oversight. Still, with the relatively low gravity, climbing the stairs was no trouble, certainly not for a SeeD who had fought down a Sorceress and a massive Galbadian army, among other things. Quistis had opted to stay behind in the command center while Squall, at Piet's direction, had gone up to the crew quarters level to meet with Ellone.

What would it feel like, he wondered, to see her again, now that he knew the truth? To meet with a woman who was his adopted sister, yet also responsible for the mysterious dreams about Laguna? Why was she doing that, anyway? Why send him back in time to Laguna's body? What was the point of it all?

Still, that was secondary to the necessity of getting her to send him back to when Rinoa had fallen. That overrode any other concern he had at that point.

Squall walked down a hallway moments later, the right side of which was lined with thick transparisteel, overlooking the vast vista of space. The distant shape he had seen before was a little closer now, and he could see a trio of specks floating near it, obviously the President and his aides or bodyguards. Squall had to admire a man so intent on maintaining security and order in his nation. After a couple of seconds the SeeD moved on, down the hallway, toward the executive quarters where the President and other important guests stayed. He paused in front of one door, the quarters Piet had labeled as the one Ellone was staying inside, and knocked.

"Come in," came a quiet, familiar voice from within, and Squall stepped inside, into a well-appointed set of guest quarters, complete with a living area, small kitchen, and sleeping area.

"Sis?" he called, and he spotted her, sitting on a couch a short distance away. She had been staring out into space, apparently, but turned her eyes toward Squall, smiling as she saw him enter.

"Its been so long, Squall," she said, standing. Squall nodded, not saying anything. He tried phrasing his request in his mind, to ask her for help.

"I'm sorry to put you through so much," she added, interjecting into the middle of his thoughts.

"You mean the dreams?" Squall replied, and she nodded. "Don't worry, its alright. I understand what you were trying to do."

"You do?" she asked, and he nodded.

"You needed us to see him," he replied. "Laguna."

"Yes," she said, her eyes moving back out toward space. "Thanks to you, and everyone else, I was able to see things through his eyes. To see how he loved everybody, including me and Raine. But, I haven't been able to go back to see what I really wanted to see."

"What do you mean?" Squall asked, and Ellone was silent for a short while, before shaking her head.

"Not now," she said quietly. "You need to see me for something else though, don't you? Rinoa?"

"Yes," Squall said, nodding emphatically. "I need you to send me back to about two weeks ago. That was when Rinoa . . . ." the words caught themselves in his mouth, and he stopped, surprised. That had never happened to him before.

"I can't," Ellone said, shaking her head. Squall stood still for a moment, not believing what he had just heard. Ellone couldn't send him back? But . . . Such a thought was unthinkable. It had been one of the few things keeping him sane over the last few days, that she would be able to save Rinoa from whatever it was that was eating away at her.

"I can only send people I know back into people I know," Ellone explained. "Its hard to define . . . I have to have known someone for a while before I can utilize their minds with my power. I have to be able to read their mental patterns. I . . . I'm sorry, its hard to explain. No one else understands. Doctor Odine said it wasn't powers like Sorcery, but something else, something more primal, like leftover power from when Hyne gave her strength to the first Sorceresses. Or something, I don't know."

"Would you be able to use your power based on memories?" Squall asked, and Ellone blinked. "Send me back into someone you know," Squall continued. "Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Cid, Matron, hell, even Seifer,somebody who has already met with her. Would that work?"

"Yes, it could," she replied, after a moment. Her smile returned with the thought of renewed hope. "Rinoa is in the medical wing, isn't she?" Squall nodded quickly. "Let's go, I need to at least see what she looks like so I can know when to send you back."

Squall didn't hesitate to lead her back to the medical wing, virtually running as he did so.

-

Zell planted a foot on the wall, vaulting his body above the Galbadian soldier's sword, and kicked off, flipping himself over in midair. His other foot came over and down, smashing into the top of the soldier's forehead and pulverizing his helmet, and the skull beneath it. The Galbadian flopped to the floor as Zell landed in a low crouch, fists already forming and smashing up into another soldier's chest in a brutal double uppercut that smashed that soldier down the glassy corridor. Magic sizzled past him, picking up and tossing a quartet of other soldiers away, smashing them against the crystalline walls. The men fell to the floor, and two of them, still conscious, started to rise, before magic washed over them and sent them into a temporary sleep.

The crystalline hallway was silent, for the moment, and Zell glanced back to Edea, who nodded. He looked over the squad of dead or disabled Galbadians, and gestured for them to advance.

They had been sneaking and fighting on and off throughout the massive structure of the Lunatic Pandora for nearly twenty minutes, and every step of the way had heard the battle raging outside. As the minutes passed, they had heard less and less of the conflict, and more and more distant reports from passing patrols that they had passed the center of the Estharian metropolis and were en route to Tear's Point. Mixed in with those reports was an urgent series of orders to find the intruders who had been ripping apart any guards unfortunate enough to get in their way, which Zell took with a bit of pride.

However, despite their scattered victories against the Galbadian patrols, the pair of intruders were no closer to figuring out what the Galbadians were up to, or any method of putting a stop to them. Outwardly, it seemed that they were trying to get across Esthar and initiate a Lunar Cry. While that in and of itself was bad news enough, neither Zell nor Edea believed that it was all that the Galbadians had planned. They had overheard at least one snatch of conversation that commented on "being ready for the retrieval."

"Any of this make sense to you?" Zell asked as he led the way along a long gleaming crystal corridor.

"I have my suspicions," Edea replied. "I doubt we alone will be able to bring a stop to this machine. We must find out what they are planning and any way to counter them."

"Simple enough," Zell replied with a nod. They spent another few minutes creeping along the corridors, evading enemy patrols as best they could, and at one point had to take down a trio of guards loitering at an intersection in the hallway. Two quick punches and a subtle gesture of magic from Edea sent the Galbadians clattering to the floor, out cold. Mere moments after that, the pair of intruders rounded a corner in the crystal hallways and found themselves facing something distinctly non-crystalline. Specifically, it was an elevator.

"Hey, quick way up to the top!" Zell commented, stepping toward it. Edea raised her hand to stop him, but he had already hit the call button. An instant later, the elevator descended to their level and opened up, revealing a quartet of very surprised Galbadian soldiers.

"Hey! What the-" one of them shouted as Zell twitched forward, smashing into the group and bearing them all down with his weight and power. The guards toppled to the floor in a heap, with Zell on top pounding away at them. It took only a few punches and a single stomp to put all four men down.

"Zell, perhaps you should act somewhat more cautiously?" Edea commented as the brawler kicked the Galbadians' unconscious bodies out of the elevator. The brawler shrugged.

"Its worked before," he replied. "Being aggressive, that is. We don't have much time to waste sneaking around." Edea nodded at the brawler assessment, even if she didn't entirely agree with him. She stepped into the elevator beside Zell, and he hit the "up" button. The doors closed and the lift began to rise.

"Man, this thing is massive!" Zell commented as they rose up beyond that segment of the crystal tunnel network. He saw the sheer scope of the structure as they rose into the gap between the outer hull and the titanic crystal inside the Pandora. A latticework of hundreds of tunnels and metal catwalks and walkways ran between the crystal core and the metallic exterior.

"Do you have any idea where we are headed?" Edea asked, and Zell shrugged as he looked up.

"I figure the command center's up high," he replied. Might as well head that way." They rose in silence for several minutes as the elevator rose through the miles of distance between the lower levels and the upper ones. After a while, the elevator passed back within the crystal core and finally came to a stop. The door slid open, revealing a wide chamber beyond, filled with large numbers of Galbadian fighters, many bearing char marks from the battle outside against the Estharian air force.

"Hide!" Zell hissed as they spotted Galbadian soldiers in the room. The brawler poked his head out, looking for a hiding spot, and saw one behind a cart laden with what appeared to be fuel canisters. Quickly, the pair of intruders ducked behind it.

They were not a moment too soon, either, as a squad of Galbadians moved past, clad in blue and yellow uniforms, likely technicians. Following them were a few orange-clad Galbadian pilots. Their boot steps were hard to hear over the screeching of engines as a hangar door at the far end of the room slid open, and a pair of damaged Galbadian fighters flew into the hangar, turning on jump-jets and smoothly descending to open landing spots on the hangar floor.

"How are we doing out there?" came a call, which made both of the intruders freeze in place. Zell risked a single tiny peek out from behind his cover, to see what both he and Edea had already known.

Seifer was in the hangar, overlooking his damaged fighters as they returned from the aerial battle.

"Reasonably well, sir," came a reply from one of the pilots, with a Commander's insignia on his shoulder. "Losses have been heavy, but we took out most of their launch bays early on, which evened the odds. Right now we're beating back those fighters that are chasing after the Pandora."

"How many of our fighters are still flying?" Seifer asked, looking back over the lines of damaged aircraft.

"About four hundred planes and about two hundred helicopters, sir," the commander replied. "We got beat up pretty badly. Should be enough to fend of any response they make until we get to Tear's Point."

"Alright, good,' Seifer said, nodding. "We'll need about a day or two after we arrive at Tear's Point for her revival to be complete. The Lunar Cry should keep Esthar off our backs until then. Keep up the good work."

"Yes sir!" the commander said, saluting Seifer as he departed from the hangar.

"You heard that, right?" Zell hissed to Edea, and she nodded.

"They definitely intend to initiate a Lunar Cry," she said grimly. "But I do not know who they are trying to 'revive'."

"Let's see if we can put a stop to 'em," Zell said, and peeked back out. He immediately ducked back, grinning. "Jackpot. That Galbadian officer guy is coming by. Hold on a moment . . . ." They heard the sound of boots hitting metal as the officer walked by, and as the man passed the fuel canisters, Zell struck like a snake, a lightning fast stepping out and grabbing of the man, clapping a hand over his mouth and grabbing the pilot's sidearm. He dragged the pilot back behind the canisters and reared back for a stunning punch, but Edea gestured toward the man, and he went rigid, contained within paralyzing magic.

"Thanks," Zell said, and she nodded as he turned back to their captive. "Okay, pal, quick question, and it better be answered right, or my friend Mr. Foot will be introduced to Mr. Spine, understand?" The paralyzed soldier managed a nod.

"Okay. Where's the command center for this flying bucket of rust?" the soldier hesitated, and Zell saw the gears spinning in his head.

"Two levels up,' he replied. "From the elevator right outside the door Almasy left through." Zell nodded, and turned to Edea.

"Matron, can you give him something to let him know he's not supposed to lie to two very dangerous intruders?" Edea nodded, and her expressions shifted to something remarkably sinister, a look Zell never would have imagined on the Edea who had raised him.

"No!" The pilot exclaimed. "Okay! The truth! Its four levels up, through the door Almasy left through!"

"No lie this time?" Zell asked, and the man shook his head. "Good." Zell then kicked the pilot in the side of his head, blasting him into unconsciousness. "Let's go find out how this thing ticks and bust it up!"

They slipped out of the hangar bay moments later, avoiding any pilots or technicians as they did so, and very quickly found the elevator that the pilot had mentioned. Zell opened the door, and saw that the car was empty, much to the pair's relief. They stepped in and Zell hit the button to go up four levels, and they began to ascend. Less than thirty seconds later, the pair stepped out of the elevator and into a wide, open area tunneled out of the crystalline core of the Pandora. A long catwalk that led to a wide double door at the far end of the chamber was directly in front of them. Some type of construction equipment was set up, partially inside one of the crystal walls beside the wide double doors.

"Looks like someplace important," Zell commented as he stepped out onto the catwalk. "Still, shouldn't there be some guards or something?"

"Be wary, Zell," Edea advised as she followed him out onto the catwalk. "Something is not right here."

The words had barely left Edea's mouth when a massive shape swooped down toward them from high above. Zell looked up, dropping into a combat crouch, as a tall, slender white machine dropped down directly in front of them, two dome-like pods mounted high up on it, near where Zell thought to be its "shoulders". The slender machine hovered in the air for several long moments, as if evaluating the intruders.

"What's this thing?" Zell growled. "Some Galbadian piece of junk?" he popped his knuckles. "Nothing that hasn't stopped us before!" He took a step forward, preparing to attack the device, when a humming sound filled the air around the pair.

"The hell?" he asked, and an instant later his feet left the catwalk. "What the hell is this?"

"Some type of magic!" Edea replied quickly as she, too, went floating into the air. "Telekinesis! I didn't believe Galbadia could produce machines capable of using magic!"

"Any way to stop it?" Zell demanded, leveling a hand at the machine and preparing to blast it with magic.

"I don't know," she replied, shaking her head. She held her hands out wide, and began to focus her magic, when the pair suddenly went flying.

"Matron!" Zell shouted as they careened toward a wall, and then sharply banked in midair, dropping straight down.

"This device has powerful magic!" she replied, gritting her teeth as she struggled against the magical force pushing them down and away from the catwalk. They dropped into a hole somewhere in the floor far beneath the catwalk, and were propelled down at high speeds.

"Can't you cancel this or something?" Zell asked as they continued to drop down the shaft.

"Perhaps I could before," Edea replied calmly. "My powers are significantly weakened, remember?'

"Yeah, but still," Zell said as the walls continued to shoot past. Edea ignored him, instead looking around.

"The press from the Galbadian machine is weakening," she said after a moment. "In a few moments, I may be able to slow us." Zell waited for several long moments as they continued to drop, and was finally relieved when Edea spread her arms out wide. Their descent began to decrease, very slowly at first, but as the seconds ticked by, Zell could feel them moving at less than lethal distances.

However, the few moments Edea needed to regain control and slow their descent cost the pair, as below, a wide portal could be seen, looking down on the pastel reds and greens and blues of the Estharian city as they passed over it.

"Matron, can you speed up this stopping thing?" Zell asked urgently. Edea nodded, closing her eyes and willing them to stop, but only marginally increasing the rate at which they slowed down. Within moments, even as they were slowing, the pair dropped out of the portal below and down towards the city.

"Hynedammit!" Zell growled as they descended. Edea opened her eyes and looked up toward the Pandora, which was already flying quickly away.

"I am sorry, Zell," she said quietly as they dropped toward one of the rooftops.

"Nah, its fine, Matron," Zell replied, never taking his eyes off the Pandora as it flew away. "But it kills me to let them get away like that!" They touched down on the roof of one of the buildings at the edge of the city, and Zell wasted no time pounding the top of the structure, denting the metal.

"Let's regroup," Zell added, and Edea nodded. "Esthar's in a load of trouble if that thing reaches Tear's Point."

-

"So, how's our girl?" asked one of the medical techs as she walked into the room adjacent to the isolation chamber. The other tech on duty grunted.

"Vitals are close to flat lining," he replied. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's dead. But look at her brain patterns." He tapped a few keys on his terminal and a holographic image of the girl appeared in the air between them. He highlighted her head and the image changed to show her brain, which was flowing with rapid streaks of color.

"That's above average even for a conscious human," the female replied, surprised. She looked through the window into the isolation room. "Is she dreaming?"

"Doesn't match REM sleep patterns," the male tech said with a shrug. "Nothing I've actually ever seen."

"Magic, perhaps?" the female mused, looking back. "Run an ethereal energy scan. This could be the result of some Sorceress magic. Wasn't she involved in one of those battles?"

"Details are sketchy," the male tech replied, hitting the keys on his terminal. "She rode in with that guy who was in charge of Garden during the battle, though. Might have been. Running the scan now."

He looked back up to the image of the girl as thin blue lasers played over her body, analyzing any magical energies latent within her. Stocked SeeD magic came back immediately, which was no surprise to the pair of techs, glowing faintly within her body. But then something else became apparent, a shining blue aura that quickly seemed to melt through the holographic image and blur her lines, before completely overriding the image itself.

"That's-"

"Eldritch glow," the female tech finished, her mouth dropping open. "That's only present in . . . ."

"Get the Commander on the horn, now!" the male barked, and the female tech slapped the intercom.

"Bridge, this is Medical," she quickly said. "We have a problem."

"Like?" Piet replied, over the intercom.

"Hold on," the male said, furiously tapping keys on his board. "Sending the readouts on our guest. Here it comes." There was silence for several seconds on the other end, before Piet finally spoke.

"By Hyne, is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, sir," the female said quickly. "Even stronger than the readings from Adel."

"I'm recalling the President. We need to let Leonhart know as well," Piet said quickly. "This is bad, very bad-"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off when the window overlooking the isolation chamber shattered inward, hundreds of shards of glass slicing into the chamber. The male tech was skewered where he was sitting by the sharp metallic glass fragments, but the female tech was only thrown to the floor, her skin erupting in pain as bloody shards were embedded in her skin. She sat up, shocked and confused, to see the door to the isolation room slide open, and out stepped the very girl they were observing, walking with a strange, swaying gait, her eyes closed, almost as if sleepwalking.

The tech started to rise, only to see the girl turn in her direction and raise a hand slowly, shakily.

Then the tech was smashing against the wall, her bones shattering with lethal force from the impact, followed by darkness.

-

Both Squall and Ellone jerked in shock and confusion as a klaxon suddenly blared. Red lights began to flash in the corridors, and Squall looked around, seeking the source of the sudden alarm.

"Red Alert! Red Alert!" came a sudden shout over the intercom. "Security breach in Medical! All combat units report to Medical, on the double! All other hands to emergency stations!"

Security breach? In the medical wing? Rinoa!

"Ellone, head for the control room," Squall said quickly, figuring that being in a secured place alongside Quistis would keep her safe. His hand reached down to his side, where his gunblade was sheathed. Squall was immediately grateful that the Estharians had packed this along with him for the ride into space. It would be useful.

"Are you going to her?" Ellone asked, and Squall nodded, looking down the corridor leading toward the medical wing. He unsheathed his gunblade.

"I'll be back," he said, and ran down the hallway without another word.

The corridors were surprisingly empty as Squall ran down the hall leading toward the medical wing, but that did less to bother the SeeD than the sounds of shouts and energy weapons further down the corridor. Squall rounded a corner and found himself in the hallway right outside the medical wing, and facing a squad of Estharian soldiers, lined up along the hall and looking in the same direction. Scarlet bolts of energy flashed from their rifles at an unseen target beyond, accompanied by shouts of "Bring her down!" and "Keep firing!" Squall stepped forward, moving to assist the squad, when they were all suddenly and violently launched backwards, smashing against the walls, off the ceiling, or flying down the hall at incredible speeds. Squall had to roll aside to avoid getting smashed into by one of the soldiers, and raised the Revolver, prepared to face the threat.

That gunblade dropped to his side as he saw who the attacker was.

"Rinoa?" he said, jaw dropping as he saw her walking forward unsteadily, swaying back and forth and left and right as she walked. A strange white aura surrounded her body as she advanced down the hallway, slowly but steadily.

"Rinoa?" Squall asked a second time, stepping toward her and reaching out to her with his free hand. "What's happening to you-"

The Squall's back exploded with pain and his head thanked against one of the corridor walls. Malevolent intensity flashed through his mind, and he shook his head in shock and disorientation. He found himself slumping against the wall, and Rinoa walking past, her strange gait never slowing. Each step was more solid and secure, he saw, as if she was getting better and more confident in her walk with each step. Squall rose and dove toward her, trying to grab Rinoa's shoulder.

Then he was rolling down the corridor, hurled away once again. The SeeD finally came to a stop about thirty feet behind Rinoa, shocked at the sheer power behind the force that had thrown him. He scrambled to his feet, body aching all over, and dashed down the corridor after her.

"Rinoa!" he shouted as he got close, and dove into a tackle. His arms reached out toward her and touched the fabric of her coat, and then he was smashed once again into the wall. But this time, Rinoa did stop, only for a moment, and the next thing Squall knew, he was smashed repeatedly into the wall, five or six times. By the last impact, blackness swam over his vision, and he passed out.

-

"Sir, we're nearing Tear's Point," reported one of the crewmen, and Seifer smiled.

"Excellent," he replied, looking over the plains of Esthar. "What's the status of the containment field?"

"Active, at the moment," replied another technician. "But if our analysis is correct, then it won't be enough to stop the entire Pillar from entering the area."

"Good," Seifer said, grinning. Those clever Estharians had installed a backup defense to prevent the Crystal Pillar from nearing Tear's Point. Set all across the area of Tear's Point were hundreds of security towers, massive cubes that resonated with energies exactly opposite that of the Crystal Pillar, intended to push it back out in case the Pandora had gotten close.

However, it seemed the devices had been set up after the Pandora was sunk into the ocean seventeen years ago. Thus, the Estharians had underestimated how many security devices would be needed to prevent the Pillar from entering the area. As they neared, the resonant energies between the Pillar and the security boxes filled the Pandora with subtle vibrations. The vibrations grew stronger and stronger as they neared the area.

Seifer could see the region below as they flew over it. The boxes below were glowing a cool blue, but as the Pandora neared their colors shifted, going to green, then yellow, then orange, and then red as the Pillar itself passed overhead. The Pandora slowed fractionally, but did not stop, pushing through the barrier and floating over Tear's Point.

"Security devices breaking down," reported the first tech. "The Pillar's energies are overwhelming them!"

"We are nearing the center of Tear's Point!" shouted another technician. "Closing in three . . . Two . . . One . . . Now! We're directly over Tear's Point!"

"All stop," Seifer said, and his smile widened. "Please direct our cameras up above and tell me we're seeing what we want to see."

-

He didn't know how long it took him to recover, but as Squall groggily returned to the land of the living, the first thing that instinctively hit his mind was to channel up healing energies. Healing magic washed over Squall, and he slowly stood, shaking his head. He found his gunblade nearby, and hefted the Revolver, before turning and dashing up the corridor after Rinoa.

The remains of several security teams could be seen all along his route back toward the other end of the station, and he followed the trail of bodies, which led directly toward the control room. Fear for Ellone and Quistis welled up inside him, and Squall burst into the control room moments later, gunblade raised and looking for Rinoa.

She was nowhere to be found. All the technicians were down on the floor or slumped in their seats. Piet was laying against a console, Ellone crouched beside him and applying a bandage to his head. Quistis was pushing herself up on a control panel, shaking her head.

"What happened?" Squall asked quickly. "Where is she?"

"She deactivated the first seal!" Piet said groggily. "The first lock on Adel's Tomb! If she deactivates the second one, Adel will revive!" another alarm sounded next to his head, and Piet looked up. He saw a holographic image appear, and his skin paled and his eyes widened. He turned his head back toward Squall.

"The Cry. By Hyne, the Lunar Cry is starting!"

"Where did she go?" Squall replied, pretty much ignoring the importance of everything that Piet had just said. He didn't give a damn about a reviving Sorceress or an oncoming apocalypse. Not as long as Rinoa was in danger.

"If she's trying to revive Adel, then the other lock is on the Tomb itself. She'll have to go out into space, and for that she'll need a space suit. They'll be in the suiting room up on the crew quarters level, adjacent to the launch bay. You have to hurry!"

Damn right, he had to hurry. Squall spun, sheathing his gunblade and running outside the control room. He dashed up the stairs leading toward the crew quarters, red light splashing around him like bloodstains. His feet pounded the metal as he dashed up at full breakneck speed. Within seconds he had scaled three fights of stairs and was at the crew level. As he dashed down the hallway, he spotted the moon out one of the viewports to his left, and paused momentarily at the sight.

A massive reddish blob was forming directly overhead, and extending outward toward the station. Within the blob Squall could see thousands, no, millions of monsters gathering and being pulled outward from the lunar surface. The Lunar Cry was indeed starting, and he didn't have much time. Squall broke into another run down the hallway. He rounded a corner and saw the suiting room.

He spotted two dead soldiers and a collapsed man in what looked like a bulky, silvery environment suit. Squall dashed down the hallway to where they were laying, pausing only to check the man in the suit. He was alive, but just barely.

"Where is the girl?" Squall asked quickly.

"That girl," the man hissed, trying to sit up. "She's already in one of the suits. You have to stop her. The President's out there, and so is the Tomb. There's only twenty minutes of air in these regular suits and a five minute reserve. She'll never survive, not with a Cry on the way."

"Are there any suits left over?" Squall demanded, and the man nodded.

"A few," he said. "You going after her?" Squall nodded. "Hurry! They take too long for novices to put them on! You don't have much time! Go!"

Squall stood and dashed into the suiting room. He scanned the area and spotted an alcove with a space suit hanging up in it. He rushed over to it and grabbed the suit. Moving quickly, he slipped the pants and boots on, which secured themselves automatically. Next were the gloves and the upper body segment, which was finally followed by a dome-like helmet over his head. As with the pants and boots, these sections of the suit automatically secured themselves, making themselves vacuum-tight. Squall saw a half-dozen indicator lights pop up on the suit's helmet, including structural integrity and air supply, but he ignored them as he stepped outside, his legs and arms moving fluidly, as normal.

Good. The suit was lightweight. His movements wouldn't be hampered. The SeeD found the airlock leading into the launch bay, and stepped inside. The air within was sucked away, leaving him in hard vacuum, and the doors on the other side slid open. Squall saw the launch bay beyond, and a distant speck - Rinoa! - but was then pushed back hard as a trio of men floated into the airlock with Squall from the launch bay.

"Secure that door!" shouted one man, and the other slapped a control button, sliding the outer airlock door shut instantly. "Lock it down! We have to abandon the station!"

"No!" Squall protested as the door slid shut. "Rinoa's out there!"

"She's dead!" came a response from another man, the center astronaut. "She can't survive with a Lunar Cry on the way!"

Squall turned toward the man, about to punch him, more out of sheer frustration than anything else. He couldn't see the man behind his helmet's visor, which reflected the lights inside the airlock, but he caught a flash of what looked like green eyes and dark hair beyond.

"Mr. President!" the third astronaut said, and the middle one turned to face him. "The Lunar Cry is going to hit this station! We have to evacuate!"

"Right!" the President said as the room depressurized. "You guys get to the escape pods! I'll oversee the evacuation."

"No, sir!" replied the first astronaut, grabbing the President under one of his arms. "We have our orders, sir!" The other astronaut grabbed the President by his other arm.

"Hey, wait a minute!" the President protested as the pair of astronauts dragged him out of the airlock. Squall ignored them, pounding his fists against the airlock's closed inner door.

"Hey! You!" came the President's shout, and Squall afforded him a slight glance as he hammered the door again in fury.

"Watch after Ellone!" the President shouted, having broken free from his guards for an instant. "You can't do anything for that girl now! You have to get to an escape pod!" Then the man's guards once again got their hands around the Estharian leader, one hooking him around the waist while the other grabbed his legs. The President struggled in the guards' grasp as they hauled him off.

Squall looked back to the door, and then hammered it again in raw fury and frustration. Hynedammit, Rinoa was out there, and he was helpless again!

"Fuck!" he screamed, and tore himself away from the door, feeling like he was leaving everything there in the airlock as he ran back through the halls, not even bothering to take off the space suit. For an instant, he considered just stopping and staying, and letting himself be taken when the station was destroyed by the oncoming Lunar Cry. Rinoa was going to die, and he might as well stay here and die with her.

He saw the bubble of blood-red energy sheathing the monsters spreading outward, reaching toward the station with an all-encompassing hunger. Set against it was a single tiny disc, Adel's Tomb, and, he knew, Rinoa, out there, being driven by whatever it was that had possessed her to release the Sorceress imprisoned within. Squalls topped there, putting a covered hand against the transparisteel, and watched the tide of monsters come on, like a hellish tsunami.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Squall spun, to see Ellone right beside him. Quistis was behind her, helping Piet walk toward a hatch labeled "Escape Pods."

"Squall, we have to go!" Ellone urged him, and she pulled the SeeD's hand. He found himself being dragged back from the window, away from Rinoa, and had no power to resist. He looked back out the window as Ellone pulled him, and saw the red blob growing, swelling-

And it exploded, without warning, jetting forward. Squall saw Adel's Tomb being propelled ahead of the wave of energy sheathing the monsters, and as it came on, a tiny speck pushed away from the tidal wave, what looked to be a person in a space suit-

"RINOA!" Squall screamed, and then the hatch slid shut as Ellone pulled him inside. He spun, to see her rushing into a chamber which was lined with harnesses, doubtless the escape pod. He followed her numbly, his mind's eye following that tumbling speck in space. Ellone pushed him into one of the harnesses, which was little more than a series of metal bars that closed around a person's body to hold them in place. As the bars locked, Squall turned his head towards Ellone, who was locking herself in. He knew Rinoa was dying, and that fact was ripping his emotions apart. The fact that he couldn't even see her die was even worse.

"Ellone," he said quietly, only then becoming aware that Quistis and Piet were in the same pod as he was. Ellone looked toward Squall as the escape pod shuddered, and the four people riding in it were shoved down, toward the ground, only propped up by their harnesses.

"I need you to send me to Rinoa," he pleaded. "As close as you can get to right now. I need to see her, one more time. I . . . I need-" Squall stopped himself, shaking his head as his vision went blurry. His vision failed to clear, and he became aware of a strange warmth around his eyes. The SeeD blinked once, and then realized as the warmth trailed down his cheeks that these were tears.

Since the day he'd first arrived within Garden, Squall had been under control. He had maintained a constant state of personal discipline, even at the age of five, to avoid the same pain that being separated from Ellone once more. In that life, he'd held no place for tears beyond the impression that they belonged to people who were not strong enough to handle what life was throwing at them. But here, now, before Ellone once again, he was almost weeping.

"I don't know her," Ellone said, shaking her head.

"HYNE!" Squall roared, thrashing against his harness. "She going to die, dammit! At least let me see her before I lose her!" Squall opened his mouth to loose another shout, but any words he would have said were replaced by silence as darkness suddenly washed over him. He heard one final sentence before passing from the realm of the living.

"I don't know her, Squall, but I know your friends," Ellone said, both in Squall's ears and in his mind.

-

"But we can't just leave them!" Rinoa complained, but Irvine would hear none of it. He crossed the hangar to a waiting army truck and opened the door. Rinoa followed, despite her anger. She doubted she would be able to help rescue Squall without Irvine's help.

"Get in," Irvine added, opening the passenger door. Rinoa complied, sitting down and glaring at Irvine mercilessly. The sharpshooter ignored her and started the vehicle. Moments later, they were outside the prison, under the glaring light of the desert sun and yellow sands.

"You can't be serious about just leaving them behind!" Rinoa stated after several minutes. Irvine did not look up, which was something Rinoa was counting on. She knew he didn't want to leave his comrades behind, and she played on that as much as possible.

"Orders are orders!" Irvine snapped back. "Your father wants you safe, and he's taking a massive risk just springing you."

"I don't care!" Rinoa replied, shaking her head forcefully. "We have to go back to the prison!" When Irvine reluctantly shook his head, Rinoa grabbed the door handle for the car and swung it open. Irvine yelped in surprise and jammed the brakes, stopping the vehicle in mid-movement. Rinoa leaped out of the car and stood to the side of the vehicle, arms folded across her chest, while Irvine rushed out.

"What the hell are you-" he began.

"We're going back." Rinoa stated defiantly. Irvine shook his head.

"Squall and the others will be fine. They'll get out of there when the time comes."

"You don't know that!" Rinoa replied. "Squall may stay, saying no one's ordered him to escape. We have to go help them." While the jab at Squall was mostly just exaggeration, Irvine got the message. He seemed uncertain, until Rinoa strode around the vehicle and roughly shoved the sharpshooter back inside.

"Hey! No pushing, and - ow!" Irvine cringed as Rinoa scratched him across the face with her fingernails. "Hey! Quit that!"

"Turn this thing around, now!" Rinoa demanded, scratching him again.

"Okay! Okay! Stop that!" Irvine pleaded in the face of Rinoa's unorthodox, but effective, tactic. "Get in the passenger seat!"

Rinoa did so, circling around the vehicle and climbing in. Irvine threw the vehicle into reverse, and spun around. He shook his head as they drove back toward the prison, then looked over his shoulder to the rear of the vehicle.

"Look, I was gonna go back anyway after I got you out," Irvine explained, which surprised Rinoa. "While we're headed back, could you open that big box in the cargo compartment?" he added. Rinoa looked behind her seat and saw a large plastic crate there. She leaned over and popped it open, then blinked in shock at the contents.

"A personal collection I managed to procure from Garden when I said things might get dicey," Irvine explained with a grin as the D District Prison loomed above them once more.

-

"Squall's ring?" Zell asked, surprised. He took a bite from his hot dog as he sat across from Rinoa in Balamb Garden's cafeteria. "I dunno where he bought it. Why?"

"I want one like it," Rinoa replied, shrugging. "It looks cool, when you actually see it."

"Never see it under his gloves," Zell commented. "you mean the one with the monster carved on the front, right?"

"yeah!" Rinoa replied, nodding. 'That one."

"Hmm," Zell mumbled, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I could make you one myself, how about that?"

"Really?"

"Sure! I'm good at that kind of thing. Metalworking and all that." Zell took another bite. "But I'll need the real thing if we want to make it look anything like his. We'll need to ask him."

"Oh," Rinoa said, sounding a little hesitant. "We can't do that."

"Why not?" Zell asked, confused. It should be as simple as asking. Squall was a scrooge, but not terribly much of one, at least not with things that weren't weapons.

"Its embarrassing!" Rinoa admitted with a giggle. Zell blinked. Rinoa shook her head quickly. "No, no, not like that!"

"Not like what?" Zell said, still confused.

"What, you think I'm interested in him?"

-

Seifer lay on his back, staring up into the ceiling of Galbadia Garden. He was still, almost paralyzed, his head swimming as his body ached from the impact with the floor and Squall's fist. His right arms till throbbed where it had been severed brutally by Squall just minutes before.

Footsteps. He turned his head, and could see her, standing there, body swaying back and forth. Rinoa.

She dropped roughly to her knees beside him and gently cradled his head in her hands. He could do nothing but listen as she spoke quietly in his ear, her soft voice the medium of his dreams.

"My knight," Rinoa's voice whispered, but it wasn't her who was speaking. "I come to you in another shell.

"I am Ultimecia.

"You know me, do you not? Shh. Yes, you do. You have a new mission before you. Take Galbadia. Use it. Locate and restore the Lunatic Pandora, sunk beneath the waves between Balamb and Esthar. Bring it on high once more, and travel to tear's Point, crushing all in your path. From there I will deliver another vessel, and together we will continue our quest. Only then can your dreams come true once again."

Rinoa fell limp beside Seifer, and the knight's head cleared. He sat up slowly, blinking as he saw his enemies, once comrades all, collapsed around him. The knight rose, pausing only to grasp his gunblade in his left hand, and strode away slowly, out toward the entrance of Galbadia Garden.

"Yes, Ultimecia," he said quietly, his smile returning.

-

Ultimecia? Rinoa? What in Hyne's name?

"I understand," Ellone said after a moment, and Squall realized he was returning to the world of the living. He opened his eyes, and saw her standing in her harness, eyes closed tightly. "I see now. Through your friends . . . Through my friends and family . . . I know her now!" She opened her eyes and looked to Squall. "Hold on! I'm sending you to her now! To the last past before the present moment! You'll be seeing everything a split second after it happens."

Squall nodded.

"Thank you," he said to his sister as the darkness claimed him one last time.

"Talk to her, Squall," he heard her say in his mind as he drifted into the darkness. "Your words may not be able to reach her, but your heart will. What you say, what you wish, may change everything."

-

Remaining Life Support Duration: Fifteen Seconds

The red numbers played across the front of her helmet, and Rinoa watched them, filled with a combination of fascination and regret. Most people would have imagined that in this situation, she'd have felt dread or terror, but now, as she watched the seconds tick by, Rinoa Heartilly could only stare, awestruck, at the world below her and the spinning vista of thousands of stars, and with regret that she had missed out on so much. She had seen much in her short seventeen years of life, but there was so much left undone. So much she hadn't had a chance to do, or say.

Life Support Exhausted

She sighed, and closed her eyes, tears forming in her face and floating out before her in the empty gravity. This was it. She was going to die now. She took a breath, and felt one last gasp of life giving air, and then . . . Nothing. Her vision began to fade, slowly but surely. How long did she have? She knew the human body could function for a few minutes without air, but after that, she would suffocate. Not a bad way to go, she supposed.

She wished she could see Squall again. To talk to him, to touch him, to hear his voice, to see that very rare smirk he would show from time to time. But she knew, in her heart, that she wouldn't. He couldn't reach her, there, alone. Floating endlessly in space, powerless to do anything.

Maybe it was for the best. He didn't know the truth. He didn't know what would inevitably separate them if, by some miracle, she was saved. She would die, at least, without inflicting that pain on him.

Goodbye, everyone, she thought silently. Goodbye, Squall.

She saw a glint of silver before her as her eyes darkened. It was her chain, carrying both the unadorned silver ring from her mother, and the engraved lion ring that belonged to Squall. She focused on that image, and put Squall's face in her mind. Might as well go out with a good, no, perfect thought on her mind.

But that thought was not the last thought. It was overridden suddenly, by another impulse, a desperate, defiant impulse. And impulse to live, that jerked her eyes open with a sudden, singular thought that brought a ray of hope.

The suit has five minutes of reserve oxygen.

And on the tail end of that-

I'm coming.

Rinoa's hand found a button on the side of her suit, near the life support tank, and she pressed it. Green lights played across her helmet, forming into the life-giving words: Reserve Support: Five Minutes.

Air filled her lungs, and Rinoa watched the stars. He was out there, she knew, beyond a doubt, as if he had told her himself. Squall was coming for her.

-

"There's no way you'll survive out there!" Piet protested as Squall scaled the ladder leading up to the airlock. Squall ignored him, only pausing to glance at the oxygen meter. He hadn't bothered to refill it, and now he had only six minutes of air remaining.

That didn't matter to Squall. Rinoa had less than that. He had to get to her immediately.

"He's crazy!" Piet protested as Squall climbed into the airlock.

"No," Quistis replied. "He's just Squall." That brought a grin to his face as he closed the airlock door behind him. Squall tapped the keys that opened the outer airlock door, and an instant later, the metal slid aside, revealing the vista of space. Squall climbed up to the top of the escape pod, and looked out.

There.

He saw her, floating through space far away, on an odd trajectory toward the smoon. He might be able to reach her if he used the suit's thrusters.

The odds were insane. Million to one, he'd miss her, having to calculate his trajectory on the fly. She was a tiny target in the vastness of space. Less than five minutes to get to her. And even if he did find her, the odds of somehow surviving beyond mere minutes after that were close to impossible.

None of this was on Squall's mind. It was there, in that rational part of his brain, but Squall overrode that, disregarding it and banishing it. He knew what he had to do. For his own soul, and for Rinoa. And nothing, nothing in this world, or the next, would stop him. By heavenand hell, he'd reach her.

Squall locked his face into a determined expression, and he leapt into the void.

-

Godspeed, Squall Leonhart!

Wow. What a monster this ended up as. I originally never intended for it to be quite this long, but this part of the game just seemed to leap away from me and take on a life of its own. Wow.

Plenty more space hijinks to go! Next chapter, for real, will be Squall's rescue, and massive development in the Squall/Rinoa relationship, as well as one of the greatest dramatic scenes in the game, ever! Once this next chapter is done, we'll be in the home stretch, leading up to our final confrontation with Ultimecia! Whoo! I'm about to explode! XD

Random commentary. Anyone ever played a fighting game series called guilty Gear? Had my head in that for a while, very cool game. Two of the major characters, Ky Kiske and Sol Badguy, remind me a lot of Squall and Seifer. Ky's the good guy for shining justice and whatnot, all disciplined, while Sol is the badass anti-hero. And they both hate each other, too!

Ze Shout-outs!

-Red Eyed, Divine Dragoon: indeed, Bahamut is quite the mighty Guardian Force. But again, acquiring him is the hard part. I'm in a strong urge to finish this fic, and I don't want to go off on a side quest as the climax approaches. It makes little sense and would ruin the pacing. I would include Bahamut if I could, but I honestly can't find a way to include him without ruining the pacing and flow.

-Sherif: I knew people would love that line. XD

-Avion Jade: Mistake? What mistake? I don't see any mistake. But I do love exporting documents so I can fix them. XD

-Shootski: Dude. I'm already insane.

-Kaiser-Kun: You shall listen carefully to your sensei when he speaks of the arts of Writing No Jutsu. Some important, but basic, secrets: First, do not steal without admitting who you stole the idea from. Second, do not type while you have a small dog in your lap. Third, Dr. Pepper is very good for writing while drinking. Also, never, ever put an angry gerbil in your pants. It severely interferes with your typing.

-Chris Ganale: The Corran reference was to the Raptor in question: Raptor Nine. Corran's number. And the use of magic against missiles was one thing I didn't steal from Halo or Star Wars. XD

-JadeAlmasy: Yes! More people love sexy Selphie!

-OniRazz: I don't have a PS2. ;;

-Anime Obsessed Fan: Oh, there's a few tricks still up Esthar's sleeve. Granted, I'm not sure what they are right now. XD And yeah, The Omega did involve Garden flying into the future to fight Squall's evil twin. Wow…that sounded so cliched. I can't believe that was the basic plotline of such an awesome fic.

-Akira Stridder: Uhh, advance sensor? Gnomes got it. Yeah. Gnome ninja. Riding burning sharks. With lightsabers.

-spikestrife: Actually, you'd be surprised. That battle in Esthar was remarkably tough to do. Maybe I'm developing more toward the emotional and dramatic scenes than the out and out bloody combat of yesteryear.

Yes, I wanted to have the Squall/Rinoa thing be very slow and subtle. It actually was in the game, its just that Rinoa's fall made all of Squall's emotions boil to the surface all of a sudden, thus making it seem very sudden and abrupt.

-Crystopher: normally, I'm a reasonable guy, but I'm not arguing this point. That scene seemed so out of place (at least, compared with the other few outbursts, which were a lot more natural) and kind of ruined the flow for a bit. Not to mention the abrupt ending where Squall ran outside, and then, poof! Everything's fine again! So. Edited and removed. Nothing in this story is removed without very careful consideration by me.

That it? Good. Now go play.

Till next chapter!