Chapter 48: The Festival of the Damned

The whirling strands of the music Squall had danced to with Rinoa months ago flew past, the notes brushing his ears as the image of a severed Galbadian head flew past, chased by Squall screaming in agony as he was chained to the torture rack in the prison. Rinoa shouted something in his ear, but her words were pulled away across time as blood ran down Squall's face, Seifer towering over him, smirking with lunacy and satisfaction. His gunblade met Seifer's, a clang of metal on metal in the yellow torchlight of the parade float, quickly shifting to the soft white light of the headmaster's room in Galbadia Garden as Seifer spun away. He was then pulling Rinoa close, hugging her tightly, before crashing through a glass wall into the small control room in Garden's MD level. Squall's fist crunched into Seifer's face followed by him kicking off the top of the carousel clock and hitting the ground, speaking to Rinoa on the starry night at Fisherman's Horizon. Missiles streaked down from on high, chased by Squall leaping from the Forest Owl's train car to the back of the Galbadian train and just as quickly replaced by him awakening in the similarly dead train on the Horizon Bridge. The memories melted away in the face of flashes of light around Edea, her eyes fixed on Squall and a horrid predatory smile played across her face as she readied an icy spear aimed for his chest.

Squall felt Rinoa near him, and looked to her, seeing her plummeting with him as what could only be a stream of memories whirled past them all. He could dimly make out the others in the chaos, Zell grabbing Quistis while Irvine held hands with Selphie, the six of them dropping through time as they flew into the future.

Squall caught a jumbled flash of more memories, the more vivid showing Rinoa arguing with her father, followed an instant later by bitter cold nipping at his skin as he saw Selphie putting a hand on the grave of a close friend killed in Trabia garden. He saw Quistis being informed of her demotion, and then Zell, crushing a Galbadian helmet inward as a battle raged around him. He saw Irvine lining up the sights of his rifle, trailed by another of his own memories, slitting an enemy throat in Fisherman's Horizon immediately followed by being pummeled by one of the huge alien beasts on the Ragnarok. Squall then suddenly shifted an older memory, of him standing in a shop, gunblade in hand, and the corpses of two armed criminals on the floor. Seifer stood beside him, nodding grimly as blood dripped from their weapons.

Then, without any warning, the maelstrom of memories simply boiled away, revealing a wide, expansive ocean below, less than a second away.

"Hold on!" Squall screamed, and then they went into the water, splashing down. The wetness faded I instantly, and they dropped through the ocean without feeling any water on their skin, and plummeted as if their fall had never been arrested. Fish and other aquatic animals flew past, their shapes oddly distorted in the altered existence, and then they fell through the water, dropping into a pale yellow and orange sky.

Squall wasn't sure what was happening as thousands of white birds flew past, screaming and cawing at the temporal travelers, flapping their wings. They brushed up against him, but like with the water, he felt each contact for a whisper of an instant before it faded into nothing. Only one sensation was constant, and that was Rinoa's hand, holding his tightly as they fell through nonexistence. Something picked up around them, a strange wind that swirled and twisted, buffeting the travelers, and before anyone could cry out, they were swallowed by both shadow and light, somehow existing together in the folded existence of time.


Squall opened his eyes, and looked around. He recognized this room. The others stood shakily around him, apparently unharmed by the surreal adventure across existence and through time.

"Where are we?" Quistis asked, and Squall looked around the white-draped room, filled with a strange white fog that limited vision. He knew this chamber; his sword arm throbbed faintly where it had been bitten by one of the animated statues months ago, in this very chamber.

"Deling City," he replied. "The chamber where Edea was staying."

"Why are we here?" Irvine asked, and Squall shook his head, stepping into the fog. It gave way before him, and with a few steps, he saw, in the center of the room, a small but elegant chair, within which was sat a woman in a flowing dark purple dress. Squall, and the rest of his comrades, knew the figure all too well.

"Matron?" Zell asked, and the alabaster-skinned Sorceress craned her head back, at an impossible angle for any living creature. Her face was shrouded by the mask Edea had worn, and she stood slowly, her body moving weirdly.

"Squall, its not human!" Rinoa suddenly warned, and the Edea doppleganger turned, loosing a strange sound, a hideous laughter that resonated around the room, high-pitched and distinctly feminine, but also decidedly inhuman.

"What is it?" Squall asked, and then froze, as the Sorceress split apart, mirror images of the Edea shadow appearing beside her. As one, they began to shift, features melting away, slowly replacing their familiar shapes with flowing, elegant dresses and painted, clown-like female faces.

"Temporal manifestation," Rinoa replied, narrowing her eyes and brows bunching up in though and confusion. "Fragments of magical energy brought together by time compression."

"Living magic?" Selphie asked, and Rinoa nodded.

"Brought together in humanoid form," she continued.

"In other words," Irvine finished, raising his rifle. "they're Sorceresses created by time compression."

The laughter repeated, and the chamber around the six comrades began to, for a lack of a better word to describe it, melt. The walls began to run down, the edges of ceiling drooping, and the gossamer white drapes began to warp and distort, everything running into the ground, which lost its distinctness, colors and objects coming together like mixing oils on top of water.

"The hell?" Zell shouted in confusion, and Selphie cried out in pain as one of the pseudo-Sorceresses launched a weak blast of magic at her, sending the small Seed stumbling back. Irvine replied with swift retribution, putting two shots into the thing's head. It's face snapped back, burning away, and the Sorceress swirled, crying out in strange laughter and pain, before fading away, half saddened and half-mocking.

"Manifestations or not, we can kill them!" Squall shouted, and the other Sorceresses drifted forward, bolts of raw magic lancing out at the SeeDs and Sorceress. Squall took two in the chest, barely staggering, and Zell caught one in the leg, spinning him around, and counter-fire came quickly, a barrage of magic and bullets that seemed to shatter the magical manifestations where they stood.

The outer walls seemed to slough away, letting daylight in, followed by revealing the polluted skies of Timber, followed by its skyline. However, like the palace, the structures seemed to be falling in on themselves, colors and objects melting together into the ground around them. The group stood in a street that had lost all distinction, its cobblestones coming together like a single gray and blue puddle of water.

Then, seeming to form out of the air or emerge from the melting structures, came more of the strange Sorceress manifestations, swooping in to surround the humans.

"Perimeter!" Squall ordered. "Six sides, cover each other!" The SeeDs, followed by Rinoa a split second later, whirled into a quick six-person defensive circle, weapons facing outward and magic and bullets immediately ripping out into the enemy. Several of the magical manifestations collapsed under the assault, fading away with their mourning, laughing cries, but the remainder, five of the creatures, closed in, sending responses of flashing magic. Squall took a quick step forward, closing with two of the Sorceresses, and struck fats and hard, an arcing slash that lopped off one's head and a quick stab, the perfect edge of Lionheart chopping the other almost in half. Both vanished with the same cries. Behind him, Zell put his fists to quick and deadly work, beating one of the Sorceresses as it neared and crushing its face, which faded with a shriek of pain and laughter. Irvine wounded another with a blast that blew off its arm, and Selphie and Quistis put it down with quick flashes of their chains. Rinoa overwhelmed the last one with a potent fire spell that utterly annihilated it.

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by the structures of Timber continuing to melt, revealing, beyond them, a thick forest covered with snow. The frozen ground poked through the mixing cobblestones beneath their feet, and, as if heralded by the new landscape, more of the mysterious Sorceresses emerged, flowing out of the ground, stepping out of the woods around the humans, or simply appearing from thin air. The SeeDs and Rinoa reacted instantly, pouring magic outward from their defensive circle, blasting a half-dozen of the creatures into oblivion, but unlike before, their deaths seemed to simply spawn more of the things. The manifestations floated forward, giggling in their horrid high-pitched voices, a multitude of dozens encircling the SeeDs and the Sorceress.

Zell shouted in defiance of the hordes as one floated near him, and crushed its face with a swift kick, which triggered a surge of the enemy, rushing forward at the humans and launching bolts and blasts of magic into their midst. Quistis snapped her whip into one, sending it spinning into oblivion, and a spiraling rush of absolutely cold air flew from Selphie's fingers, enveloping two other Sorceresses. Selphie quickly turned as another of the Sorceresses closed in, and smashed it with the bars of her nunchaku as it got too close. Another was right behind that one, but Quistis filled the gap with a striking whip that bit into that manifestation's painted face.

Irvine cocked open his rifle and jammed two buckshot shells inside before slamming it closed and firing at point-blank range. Two Sorceresses were ripped apart by a single blast, and he spun, firing at another thick concentration, taking three out and wounding a fourth. He quickly snatched a 9mm handgun from his hip and shot the Sorceress twice, finishing it.

Squall entered the mix instantly, his gunblade lashing up in a sweeping stroke that tore through a Sorceress without even slowing. The SeeD spun, chopping down with a measured cut that bisected another opponent, and whirled, Lionheart flashing out and severing another Sorceress' head, before stopping and stabbing back, impaling another of the magical manifestations before ripping up through its head and dropping upon another's skull, chopping it in half. Squall whirled again, gunblade chopping twice, the blade a white streak zig-zagging between three more of the Sorceresses and sending them flying apart, swirling into the air. He didn't see the landscape begin changing again, the trees melting away and the ground giving way to the walks of Balamb Garden. The familiar terrain quickly twisted as the sky itself melted into the ground, pouring down like dripping paint.

Beside Squall, Rinoa dominated her end of the circle. The Sorceresses had magical strength, but they paled in comparison to what Rinoa wielded within herself. Almost effortlessly, she gestured toward a swarm of the manifestations of magic and launched a spell. It flew from her hands like water flicked from her fingers, the magic that normally required tight concentration flowing from her body almost of its own will. The fiery magic struck the Sorceresses and detonated, quickly enveloping the horde as it closed in and burning them into nonexistence. She glanced to Squall, to see him with his situation well in hand, and turned to her comrades behind and beside her. They, too, were doing well, but just to ensure they would be safe, Rinoa placed a quick set of defensive barriers over them, further protecting them from the Sorceress' magic. The others were too busy with targets to thank her, but she knew they would appreciate her efforts.

A slight jolt of pain struck Rinoa, and she spun back toward the offending hostile manifestation, and speared it with a bolt of lightning with nonchalant ease, a slight smirk of satisfaction appearing on her face, which surprised her an instant later. It wasn't like her to take pleasure in combat.

"Bring it, bitches!" Zell roared, smashing both his clenched fists into a Sorceress as it closed in, extending a hand toward his face. The impact launched the manifestation back across the surreal battlefield, and Zell paid it no more mind, instead turning toward another an planting a rapid-striking foot across its painted face.

Quistis snapped her whip, twirling it over her head, and the blade cut into another Sorceress' chest. The creature fell back, wailing in agony and mirth at the same time, and Quistis pivoted, lashing out with a fist at another Sorceress as it drifted far too close for comfort. The creature squealed in pain as it was knocked back, and the SeeD snatched a knife from her belt and stabbed it into the side of the manifestation's head.

Selphie's magic lanced into a pair of the magical entities, sending them spiraling away into the melting landscape, and she quickly fended off another one with two quick jabs with the bars of her nunchaku, followed by stepping back and crashing the flail into the Sorceress' gut. It doubled over, and she spun the chain in the air and smashed it down on top of the thing's back. It fell into the melting floor, seeming to be absorbed into the fluid pavement.

Irvine battled beside her, slinging his rifle from his shoulder as he resorted to his sidearms to beat back the magical forces assaulting them. Both of his Calico machineguns were in hand and blazing away, rivers of metal ripping into the advancing entities. What he lacked in magic or hand-to-hand skills, the sharpshooter made up for in sheer firepower. He paused for an instant to switch out his emptied Calicos for a pair of handguns, leveling them at the oncoming threats and firing.

Rinoa rapidly gestured and launched spells at opponents as they came in. Energy lanced into and froze or fried a dozen of the magical manifestations in rapid succession. Beside her, Squall's gunblade wove and danced in what could be described as a dance of annihilation. Each stroke or cut took down at least one of the manifestations, and often cut through them outright to wound another beyond.

The assault continued for several minutes, the landscape around them transforming and melting, shifting as they fought on, showing forests, deserts, the insides of homes, the Galbadian D District Prison, the interior of Garden, Esthar, and a dozen other places that the SeeDs and Sorceress could not see because of the furious war they were engaged in. However, as time passed, the hordes began to slacken, and the SeeDs slowed as well, becoming somewhat exhausted with the number of enemies they had been fighting, but still standing strong due to their Guardian Forces. Within another minute, Squall had felled the last of the Sorceress manifestations, sending the things laughing and crying away into the landscape.

"That . . . ." Irvine asked, taking a panting breath as he reloaded his weapons, "That it?"

"No," Rinoa answered, before anyone could say anything. Squall looked to her, to see her staring into their melting surroundings, which now displayed the image of the town square of Winhill, the buildings rapidly collapsing in on themselves. She looked to Squall, urgency in her eyes.

"Its coming!" she shouted, and Squall opened his mouth to ask what she was talking about, when the pavement shuddered, and the time travelers were almost thrown from their feet. The pavement took on a blood red hue, and the buildings finished collapsing, replaced by rising red light shooting up all around them, the color of blood and painting them with what could be thought of as the lights of hell.

Erupting from this ground, a split second later, was another manifestation of magical power, a greater version of the Sorceresses they had faced before. However, this one was barely even humanoid, its body in the shape of a massive snake, with heavy, gnarled, thickly muscles arms dropping from its "torso," just below a human-like female head.

"The hell-?" Zell asked, before it gestured toward them and launched a shockwave of magical energy that staggered the SeeDs and sent Irvine off his feet. Counterattacks ripped out simultaneously as Irvine struggled to his feet, powerful blasts of magic thundering into the snake-like creature's chest and staggering it back as well.

"Why is every weird-looking thing we run into out to kill us?" Irvine muttered as he pulled several AP shells out of his coat and began to load them. As if in response, the horribly twisted Sorceress swept its arms out. Fire blazed from its hands and shot out in gouts at the SeeDs, who quickly scattered, barely evading the fires. The sorceress made another vicious gesture, toward Quistis, and an explosive inferno erupted around her. She cried out in pain as the flames burned around her, fires which were suddenly cut off as Zell hurled himself at the Sorceress and crashed into the thing, cutting off its focus on Quistis. Zell's forehead impacted with the monster in fury, and pulled his head back for another attack, when the Sorceress shot a hand up, grabbing him by the back of his coat and flinging him down to the ground.

In the brief respite that Zell had bought, Irvine fired one, then a second armor-piercing round, which buried into the Sorceress' face and rocked it back again. It lurched forward, seemingly uninjured by the impacts, save for two gaping wounds in its chest hat began to seal up.

"Is she okay?" Squall asked, glancing back to Quistis. Rinoa crouched beside her, and nodded, helping the wounded SeeD sit up, skin badly burned in some spots and her clothing charred, despite her defensive junctions. Rinoa cast a spell over her, healing energy mending her wounds.

"We need some heavier firepower!" Selphie called, and Irvine nodded. He reached into his coat and dug out a pair of shells, two of a few he'd managed to convince President Loire to let him use for the mission ahead. Beside him, Selphie focused, crossing her nunchaku before her, and then forcefully gestured toward the Sorceress creature they were battling.

Intense flames erupted around the magical manifestation, burning close and furiously around it, before expanding in intensity. The fires tore at the Sorceress, eating at its skin, and as the flames grew more and more ferocious, the very air around the creature began to shift and change.

The fiery spell lasted for only a few seconds, but those few seconds had frozen their enemy long enough for Zell to scramble away, Rinoa to help Quistis get back up, and for Irvine to load up his special ammunition. He leveled the rifle at the Sorceress, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened for a second, except that the tip of Irvine's rifle began to glow. He looked at it, confused, and then had to hold on with a vise-like grip as the rifle shuddered, and a column of pure white destruction pulsed from his weapon, blasting into the Sorceress. Skin peeled away and evaporated in the onslaught of furious energy, and when the light faded, the Sorceress was reeling.

"Whoa," Irvine said, looking at his rifle. Squall and Zell had taken advantage of the momentary respite and their off-balance opponent to rush forward, Zell once more going airborne and planting a thundering kick that rocked the creature's head, while Squall chopped hard, gunblade boring into the creature's snake-like body. Lionheart chopped in effortlessly, and scored one, two, then three rapid cuts before the Sorceress retaliated.

There was a flash of green light, and Squall was laying face down, twenty feet away, steam rising from his body. He sat up, every muscle aching and his skin screaming in pain, and he looked around. The Sorceress before them was regenerating the damage, but had expended a lot of energy in the attack, and was holding back for a moment. Zell was beside Squall, equally injured, but starting to rise again. Quistis had been knocked flat again, and Rinoa, who seemed the least injured, was helping her stand. Selphie had been hit as well, but had apparently shielded Irvine from the attack, and both were standing up, battered but still combat-effective. He turned back to the Sorceress, and saw that it was itself facing them, its wounds almost mended, and knew that they would have to launch another concentrated assault like before if they were going to finish it off.

The Sorceress didn't let Squall call to his friends for the combined assault, however, instead quickly launching another stream of potent, rapid-fire magical blasts. Irvine took a blast in the shoulder and was sent spinning to the ground, and Selphie ducked down beside him. Zell took two bolts one in the chest and another directly across his forehead, and was literally flipped over backwards from the impact. Squall was staggered by two hits to his torso, but he froze as he saw Rinoa step in front of Quistis and catch four different attacks, and was hurled to the ground, smoke rising from her slender body.

"Rinoa!" Squall shouted, and whirled on the Sorceress. It fired another shot at Squall, who took it in the chest unflinchingly, and narrowed his eyes in anger that the beats had dared to hurt Rinoa, to say no less about his entire team.

A yellow aura rippled around Squall, and time slowed to a crawl for everyone except the SeeD Commander. He raised his gunblade over his shoulder and, in an eye-blink, he had leapt upon the Sorceress. Lionheart chopped down hard, the gunblade chopping deep into the enemy monster's flesh. He pulled the trigger on his gunblade, and a concussive blast exploded in the creature's midsection. He rapidly repeated the assault, gunblade chopping and beating, explosions sounding within time compression with each slash and cleave. Squall beat upon his enemy with raw fury, hacking away ten, then twenty times with Lionheart, the gunblade seeming to eagerly bite into flesh and slice chunks of his enemy free.

Time began to return to normal around Squall, but he wasn't finished yet. With a quick leap, he kicked off the front of his victim and flipped backwards, spinning around in midair. His fury took hold in that instant, directing his body of its own accord and he came around, furious energy gathering at the tip of Squall Leonhart's gunblade. He pulled the trigger as it came around, and tidal wave of destruction poured out over their opponent, blasting its body and ripping it apart. Pieces of the Sorceress flew away into the blood-red void beyond, followed by escaping magical energy. The Sorceress flexed every muscle in its unnatural body, standing straight and tall, body stretched out, and then shattered in a flash of white light that rushed out, washing over the six time travelers before they could even blink, and swept them away across time.


It was as they remembered. Squall reached out, pushing open a solid oak door, and stepped out into the courtyard at the center of Edea's orphanage. This was not the broken series of marble structures and overgrown walls that they had known mere weeks ago. This was their home, restored to perfection.

"Its like we never left," Quistis said as they threaded through the structure. Squall nodded and turned, looking back at his comrades. They had all made it through the trip together, and surprisingly enough, the SeeDs, and Rinoa, had been uninjured when they had come out of the light, standing in Edea's ancient, almost forgotten kitchen.

"Are we in the future now?" Rinoa asked, and Squall shrugged.

"Might be the past," Selphie added as he led them into the living room, empty and silent. "We're seeing the orphanage as it was. Maybe we took the wrong turn?"

"Fighting crazy Sorceresses from beyond time does that," Zell panned as Squall opened the back door of the orphanage, leading out to the coastline behind the houses. He looked out over the sandy gray beaches, littered with scattered broken stone and marble and strung clotheslines, and shook his head.

"We went into the future," he replied. "We did everything Odine and Laguna said. We should be seeing something different. Hell, this orphanage shouldn't even be here!"

Then, as if on cue, everything changed. Almost instantly, the sandy beach gave way to a glass coastline formed of obsidian, with jet black waters, filled with sewage and dirt, washing over the edges. The marble gave way to black stone and gray dirt, with broken red and blue statues littering the landscape. Scattered amongst these were splashes of bright red, and among them were multitudes of bodies, many wearing familiar white uniforms.

"SeeDs!" Selphie gasped as she looked over what had to be a brutal battlefield. Squall looked out, and as far as he could see, up and down the coastline, were mangled corpses, many wearing the familiar white gear of the White SeeDs. There had to be hundreds of them, and all of them were bloodied and torn, many atop broken weapons. A line of impaled corpses hung down the beach, and others laying pieces, hacked apart after their deaths. Others, nearer, were intact, or as intact as they could get after having been burned and stabbed and hacked so brutally.

"We're fighting across generations," Squall whispered as he looked over the carnage. He glanced at one pair of corpses nearby. A White SeeD was impaled on a spear, the shaft penetrating through his stomach and the head buried into a rock. He still clenched a sword in a death grip, and his expression was a mix of anger, pain, and satisfaction. Directly before the dead SeeD was another figure, in red and black, metallic armor shaped like medieval gear, vaguely similar to Estharian armor. The man was clutching the end of the spear, but was clearly dead; the SeeD had run him through with his sword, the blade punching through his throat, leaving the dead man shocked and confused.

"Who are these guys?" Zell asked, crouching next to another of the dead red and black-garbed men, a knife in the soldier's throat.

"Ultimecia's soldiers," Quistis replied, nodding. "They must be."

"I've never seen anything like this," Rinoa whispered, gazing across the field of battle. The dead SeeDs and soldiers had been so viciously and brutally ripped apart that it was almost impossible to imagine that it had been humans in battle. It wasn't just the SeeDs who were mangled so ferociously; the soldiers themselves were chopped apart or stuck on boulders or pinned up on statues with spears and blades. Squall stepped past one open-mouthed Ultimecia warrior, who had a halberd jammed down into his maw, eyes bled over and impossible to see through the dried blood.

"What kind of war is this?" Rinoa whispered.

"The worst kind," Squall replied, shaking his head. "Bitter, bloody, and grudging. Both sides hate each other with a passion exceeding words. This isn't warfare. Its organized butchery."

"All because of Ultimecia," Zell growled. "Hynedammit! We have got to take that bitch out, Squall!"

"Yeah!" Selphie agreed.

"But first we have to locate her," Quistis reminded them. "But where would we find her?"

"Quistis?" Irvine cut in, nodding toward the ocean. "I think we have an idea about where to start." The others turned to look, and were shocked. They hadn't seen it because of the clouds, but now that they saw it, and they saw the chains, starting from the edges of the coastlines and rising up, they were amazed they had missed it.

Dominating the skyline, above the black, polluted ocean, was a massive island, formed out of gnarled and twisted gray stone, pieces of it stretching out like roots gasping for water. Resting upon that island, however, was what struck the SeeDs and Rinoa, for upon it was a singular, massive castle, a stone edifice projecting power and malice as if they were tangible things. It was formed out of solid granite, gray and black stone walls and towers, multitudes of battlements and walls, with leering gargoyles standing guard upon each ledge and structure. Two dragon wings projected from a central keep, which was surrounded by multiple walls and structures, beyond which was a massive clock tower and a single narrow tower with a long bridge leading out to it. Black clouds swirled around the structure, shrouding the dark castle within its depths. Black chains of solid iron bound the castle to the coastline before them.

It was Ultimecia's keep, her base of power, where she projected her wrath upon this ruined, bleak, and broken world.

"Let's move out," Squall whispered, hands on his gunblade's hilt, and he stepped across the bitter battlefield, toward the nearest chain.


The chains rose up for miles, and with each step the SeeDs knew they were being watched closely. They clutched their weapons tightly, except for Zell, who clenched his fists, watching the structure rising up before them as they ascended, prepared for any attack.

Nothing came from the castle, however. No rain of magical attacks, no swarms of roaring soldiers rushing down the chain, no futuristic aircraft swooping from the skies. All that attacked the SeeDs was a swirling, shrill wind that whipped past them, and growing darkness as they neared the dark clouds surrounding the castle.

The chain Squall had chosen, it turned out, had been a good selection, as it led directly toward what appeared to be the front entrance to the castle, a massive pair of wooden doors that looked like they could deflect air strikes. The entrance towered over them, just beyond a small landing with a wide staircase leading up to the entrance to Ultimecia's lair. Squall paused as they steppe doff the chain and onto the stone landing, looking up at the edifice before them.

"Everyone who's creeped out, say aye," Irvine commented, but no one spoke. Squall continued his survey of the castle, and then turned, looking to his comrades.

"Time compression's already begun," Squall addressed them. "I don't know what's happening, but we're still here, so we still have time to stop Ultimecia. We're going in. We're going to cut to the heart of her castle, and kill anything between here and there, understand?"

"Damn straight," Zell said, and the others nodded. Squall nodded as well, and turned. He took a breath, and set a hand on his gunblade's hilt, and marched forward up the steps, the others right behind him. He reached the door and his hand extended, opening the portal into Ultimecia's lair.

The wood creaked open slowly, almost as if hesitant to let them in, and from the interior of the castle, a pale blue haze began to roll out. Squall steeled himself, and then stepped through the portal.

The first thing that assaulted Squall was the opulence. The chamber they entered was wide and long, featuring a elegant and beautiful twisting staircase leading up to a balcony encircling the room. Rich paintings and vibrant colors adorned the open sections of the walls.

But the outer image of opulence and beauty of the entry chamber of Ultimecia's castle was overwhelmed by the darkness that permeated the construction. The only lighting in the chamber was from a number of candles throwing dim orange and yellow illumination about. Beneath the staircase and balconies were wide areas of shadow, deep and thick, where anything could be crawling. Thick silky cobwebs dropped from the ornate columns around the room, and dust settled on everything in the chamber, even on the dull black brick walls. But more than the physical darkness was a malice, permeating the structure and pressing in on them, from all sides.

The entry chamber was empty, and as the SeeDs fanned out, searching for a threat, they found nothing present, no soldiers, no creatures, nothing slowing their path. There wasn't even a hint that any living being had inhabited this castle in years, beyond the eerie candles and the watchful darkness surrounding them.

"Ulty's a rude host," Selphie commented. "Not even greeting her guests?"

"Yeah," Zell muttered. "You'd think at least she'd have guards or something."

"Ultimecia doesn't need them," Rinoa replied, quietly, looking out into the shadows of the room. "She's a Sorceress without a knight. She doesn't need or want any guards."

"Makes our job easier," Irvine commented. "No pre-game show before the big bout."

"We don't have time to wait," Squall added, and looked around the room, seeking a doorway leading deeper into the castle. He spotted one under the shadows of the balcony, almost invisible, and signaled his team toward it. They moved up, surrounding the door, weapons ready. This was hostile territory, after all, and even if Ultimecia didn't have any guards apparent, she could just have them waiting in ambush. It was her style, after all.

Squall kicked the portal inward, shattering the door open. The SeeDs burst into the room beyond, to find a long, dark hallway lit by familiar candles. Leering gargoyles high above them were barely visible in the dim light, and if one didn't know any better it would seem that the statues were actively watching them as the moved out into the hallway.

There was a single door at the end of the hall, and the SeeDs similarly breached it, finding themselves in a ruined ballroom. Empty of living threats as with the previous room, the only danger came from debris on the floor. The room was paneled with gray wood and marble, and lit by the same dim lights as before. Dust coated everything, and two flights of stairs running up to an overhead balcony were rotted and broken, as was the balcony itself. A massive chandelier, made of iron and gold, hung above, but the SeeDs and Rinoa avoided it; it looked like it was waiting for any opportunity to crash to the floor. Squall nodded toward another pair of double doors at the north side of the room.

As with before, these doors crashed inward, throwing expensive wood everywhere, across a small courtyard, dominated by a small, elegant fountain, complete with running water. Beyond the water and the dark clouds overhead, nothing moved.

"Man, this is getting way too easy," Zell commented as they approached another set of double doors, which seemed to lead into a chapel on the other side of the small courtyard. So far, nothing but doors had stood in their way, and Squall shattered another of the impediments. The Seeds rushed in again, and once more, they found an empty chamber of ruined wood and marble, with a single massive organ towering at the far end of the chapel, beside a flight of stairs running up into darkness. Unlike the floors and ruined furniture, the organ appeared to be gleaming and polished, which further put the SeeDs ill at ease. The castle seemed abandoned, but the candles and fountain and organ, and especially the omnipresent foreboding surrounding them, put all of the intruders on their guard. They were being watched, they knew it, and they understood that Ultimecia was observing every step they made.


"I tire of this," hissed the creature, crouched above the throne room in the far tower of Ultimecia's castle. It slowly turned, moving its bulk around to face its mistress, who sat back calmly, almost relaxed, her elongated fingers drumming on the throne's arms as she watched an image from the chapel, showing the intruders moving up the stairs leading from the chapel.

"They defile your castle with their filthy footsteps and dare to ruin your home!" the creature growled, infuriated but knowing not to raise its voice in the presence of Ultimecia. It looked to its Sorceress as she placidly observed the intruders moving toward the clock tower.

"They draw closer," it added. "Soon, they will be here, in your tower! There is not much time remaining!" Ultimecia showed no reaction at first, and then slowly turned her black eyes toward the creature. It watched her, muscles tensing, eagerly awaiting her command.

"Time?" echoed a voice, beautiful and graceful, yet full of malice at the same time, and wicked, vicious pleasure. "There will be no time, my servant," the voice continued. "Or at least, no time but what I make of it."

"Temporal compression draws near," the creature stated, leaning forward. "You should not be distracted when it comes upon you, my Sorceress. Allow me to battle them. Let me delay them so that you may do what is required!"

The creature waited for several long seconds as his Sorceress watched the intruders rise up the rickety paths of the clock tower, before finally looking back at him. Ultimecia said nothing fro several more moments, and finally, without a word, or even moving her body, she flicked a single finger.

The creature whirled and leapt away from the tower in an instant, its mouth open in a smile as it hurled itself at its mistress' enemies with all its heart. They had come, and it would bleed and slaughter them before they would ever laid eyes upon Ultimecia.


Squall stepped carefully up the rickety wooden path, careful to test his weight with each step. The wood beneath his feet groaned as he ascended the narrow path spiraling up around the interior of the clock tower. They had been rising up it for the past few minutes, everyone alert for an ambush or attack. The narrow path and confined space made for a perfect site for a surprise attack, but no threats came. They were almost to the top of the structure, and squall was relieved when he stepped off the platform and onto solid wood, before a doorway. He walked into the room beyond, and his ears were assaulted by the sound of working machinery and gears as the clock tower's mechanisms rotated and turned all around them.

Squall found a way between the moving parts, a narrow metal path that led out into the dark nigh air. He stepped outside, onto a narrow metal platform on the face of the tower's huge clock, and was followed by his comrades in single file. Together, they saw what had to be their objective, ahead: the single tall, narrow tower with a long bridge running toward it, starting from about fifty feet down. There was no readily available ladder or other approach, so Squall did the next best thing.

He steppe doff the platform and dropped fifty feet to the bridge below, landing in a crouch, with barely a grunt of effort from the impact. He turned around, and was about to call for his comrades when Rinoa landed lightly, right beside him. He glanced to her, and she shrugged. Quistis followed, right behind Rinoa, and Squall looked up, waving for the others to follow suit, when a shadow flashed past above the clock tower, followed by a bolt of white light.

It smashed into the face o the clock tower, shattering the glass and massive iron hands of the structure, twisting them in and hurling them down the interior of the tower's depths. Something screamed, and slammed hard into the stone beside Squall as he ducked, scanning the sky for their attacker. He looked down to his side, and saw Zell laying face down, steam rising from his body. The brawler began to get up shakily, body burned roughly. He had clearly taken the brunt of the attack.

Up above, Selphie and Irvine were still alive, barely evading the attack. By ducking back inside the tower. They saw the shape most clearly as it swooped around the tower, coming back in.

"I see it!" Irvine called down as he quickly pulled a large, drum-shaped magazine from inside his coat and slapped it to the bottom of his rifle.

"What is it?" Squall shouted as Quistis quickly sent healing energies washing over Zell.

"A dragon!" Selphie shouted back, and launched a triad of lightning bolts at the creature as it ducked into the clouds, highlighting the beast. It looked much like Bahamut, a humanoid, clawed dragon, but was dark blue and black instead of gray.

"Ulty's got some guards after all," Zell muttered as he stood, nodding thanks to Quistis. Squall nodded as well, and turned toward the creature as it burst free of the clouds, coming back around for another pass. He pointed toward the monster as it started to dive towards them.

"Take it out!" he ordered, and in response, magic surged from the quartet on the bridge, lancing up at the dragon as it came about. The beast was speared by the blasts, flapping its wing and banking, when it took another barrage of magic from the ruined tower. This was followed an instant later by a stream of bullets pouring from Irvine's rifle as he fired it on fully automatic. Stinging magic and stabbing metal forced the dragon to break off and pull away, but not before it turned its head toward the tower and launched another bolt from its mouth, that impacted below Selphie and Irvine's position. The tower groaned and tottered momentarily, clearly wanting to give way, and the dragon let out a cry of triumph as it came around for another pass.

"We have to kill it fast!" Quistis shouted, and concentrated. "Use the spells we refined on the Ragnarok!"

"Forbidden magic?" Zell said, closing his eyes. "Man, I wanted to wait until we met Ultimecia to use that stuff!" Squall followed suit, as did Rinoa, but she did not focus on spells.

Meanwhile, Irvine and Selphie looked down at their precarious position, and then to each other. Before he could say anything suitably heroic, Selphie reached out and grabbed his hand and pulled him close. The sharpshooter was momentarily confused as the tiny SeeD ducked, and then he found himself literally being picked up, cradled in Selphie's arms.

"Banzai!" she shouted in his ear, and peat off the platform, dropping below. Irvine began to shout something, but then they hit the bridge a split second later, and an instant after that the spot they had been standing at exploded as the dragon came back around. The beast overhead pivoted in midair and swung around towards them, roaring a threat of doom and death, and was refuted by a storm of dozens of stones that streamed down from the heavens, from seemingly nowhere. They roared down, crashing into the dragon and pummeling him, exploding with each impact and driving the beast down, flipping it over in midair with each thundering collision. The meteors poured down, seemingly endless in their numbers as three Seeds cast the same spell at the same time on the monster.

However, the meteors were not unending, but as they started to slacken off, Rinoa opened her eyes, and another roar sounded in the skies over Ultimecia's castle. A pair of gray wings propelled another dragon through the air, out of the black clouds and into the dark dragon the SeeDs were battling. Bahamut answered Rinoa's call with fury and viciousness, teeth locking around Ultimecia's servant, biting and tearing its throat as they met. The other dragon cried out a thundering roar of fury and pain, and began to claw at the dragon attacking it, but Bahamut was a Guardian force, an eternal spirit, compared to the earthly dragon Ultimecia had bent to her will.

Bahamut's claws dug deeper and his teeth bit harder, jaws crushing scaled armor and skin, and rending gristle and cracking bone as they flipped over in mid-air. The other dragon managed to get its feet underneath it and press against Bahamut, forcing the Guardian Force off itself (and tearing a chunk of itself away in the process) Bahamut flipped over in mid-air, flapping his wings and opening his mouth. White light shone from within the Guardian Force's jaws, and then shot out in a series of rapid-fire bolts that shuddered the mortal dragon as it tried to come around. Then, flapping his wings once more, Bahamut shot forward, swooping toward the wounded dragon like a raptor swooping in on its prey. The other dragon, off-balance from the surprise attack and Bahamut's magical assault, was unable to evade the Guardian Force as he collided.

Bahamut drove the servant of Ultimecia through the air, hurling both of them into the clock tower, just below the bridge. They crashed into it, blasting apart stone and brick, earth-shaking roars sounding within the structure as they impacted the far side of the building. Bahamut thundered and the other dragon roared in response, and the bridge shook as the two did battle.

Then, a few moments later, the Seeds and Rinoa felt the rumbles increase, and clock tower groaned in protest. Far below, stone racked and broke around the two dragons, and the hundreds of tons of stone and iron that made up the tower above could not remain aloft. The tower began to give way, and the human onlookers, well aware of this fact, turned and ran far down the bridge, well away from the tower as it snapped and groaned and began to crumble. Within moments, the tower had started to fully collapse, shaking the entire island as it dropped. Deafening roars could be heard over the collapse as the dragons finished their battle, and then, as the top of the clock tower crumbled into dust below, silence fell over the castle.

"Y'know, the place looks a lot nicer now," Zell commented, looking over the ruins.

"But how are the schools?" Quistis added, and Zell burst out laughing. Beside them, Squall turned to Rinoa.

"Bahamut?" Squall asked, and Rinoa smiled, nodding.

"He's fine," she replied. "He went silent, but he's not injured, though I think he'll need time to recover."

"Good," Squall said, and he put a hand on her shoulder. She smiled and put a hand of her own on his. He looked past her, toward the tower beyond, now much closer, and tightened his grip on her shoulder.

"You ready for this?" he asked, and she nodded, determination appearing on her face.

"She took over my body and did so much evil," Rinoa whispered, steeling her jaw. "I want to pay her back.

"Same here, man!" Zell added, punching his fist in the air. Quistis nodded as well.

"For everyone and everything," she said firmly. "Let's end this."

"Uh, thanks," Irvine said as the others were talking. Selphie shrugged.

"What? You wouldn't have done it for me?"

"No, no!" Irvine replied, a bit embarrassed. "Normally it's the big huge hero man who is saving the girl with the brave leap of faith and all."

"Sounds like something Squall would do," Selphie added, glancing back at the team leader.

"What, you think he's the only hero around here?" Irvine asked, and Selphie chuckled. She paused for a moment after that, considering what he was implying.

"Hey, you two ready to roll?" Zell cut in, stepping toward them, and both SeeDs nodded, Irvine shouldering his rifle. Squall walked past them, toward the tower before the group, hands on his gunblade. He looked to his comrades, meeting their eyes.

"Most people would want to hear a speech right now," Squall said after a moment. "Something big and important and inspiring." Squall looked down at the bridge for a moment, and sighed.

"Ultimecia fucked up our world," Zell growled, punching a fist into his palm. "We don't need a damn speech!"

"We have a job to do here," Quistis added. "Our world needs us to end this."

"So screw the speech," Irvine added. Squall nodded again, looking over his friends once more. Zell clenched his fists eagerly, ready to fight. Quistis was also ready for this battle as well, preparing herself mentally and steeling herself for the final confrontation. Irvine and Selphie stood side-by-side, both equally eager to go into this battle, weapons ready. And Rinoa, a little behind them, was free from hesitation or uncertainty. She had never embraced war or battle, but she was ready to enter this one with all her heart.

And what of him? What of Squall Leonhart, orphan, SeeD Commander, and a man who had risked everything for his love? What about Squall?

"Let's end this, here and now," Squall said firmly, solid resolve and determination appearing on his face. He turned, looking toward Ultimecia's tower, and strode forward. The others followed right behind him, marching toward the final confrontation with their ultimate foe. Squall reached for the double doors leading into the slender tower.

It was time to dance with the devil.


Quite the challenge this chapter was, actually. Sorceress battles especially. I enjoyed writing the confrontation between the SeeDs and Tiamat (yes, that was what that dragon was)

I was originally considering having the heroes battle those Ultimecia soldiers I mentioned earlier, but I changed my mind, considering how Ultimecia was so "welcoming" before in the game, like she was so confident that you couldn't defeat her. I cut out most of her guardians both for that reason and for thematic reasons, being the final battle and not wanting to bog it down with lots of really unnecessary combat. (I hated having my powers locked, too, heh.)

Hey, I just noticed, I remembered to bring back Quistis' knife! Heh, I forgot about that, and felt like I should bring in her backup weapon before the final battle, just for kicks.

Squall did use Fated Circle in the battle with the uber Sorceress as well. I also wanted to include some more above-average abilities with Rinoa, like a preternatural sense of magic and whatnot. That's why she was able to sense what the strange Sorceresses were, for example.

And for once, I don't think there were any references in this chapter.

And with that, the final battle is looming! Yee-haw!

And as always, yon shout-outs!

Spikestrife: That was a big image I always had for a long time, having Squall and Seifer settle things hand-to-hand, while the others battled Adel. Was quite satisfying to write.

DBZ Fanfiction Queen: Indeed. Really, you don't mess with any of the FFVIII heroes, but especially not Irvine or Squall. You did catch the Hellsing reference, right? And if you think Irvine got pissed, wait until you see Squall really get mad . . . .

Rikke Leonhart: Final battle is on the way!

Chris Ganale: yeah, that's a great scene. Just stop the Warthog right after the pair of Jackal snipers, right after one of the Marines goes "Whoa." Its really funny.

Jade Almasy: my evil plan to kill fanfiction readers has been revealed! Ack! Seifer's comment is basically a big reference to Metal Gear Solid, where the Ninja says something similar to Snake during their fight.

Dragoon Swordsman: The "Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon" was indeed quoted from Gray Fox, yep.

DarkAngel-Jessie: Oooh, kisses!

Kimahrigirl: I'm glad so many people loved the fist fight between the two. Typos were because of excitement while writing and the fact that I missed them while going back over quickly. That and I'm dyslexic. Please let me know when I make typos!

OniRazz: I forgot to put in a point where Squall or Seifer would slam the other's head into the floor, too. XD My Metal Gear fic is a novelization of Shadow Moses. Lots of new things for Snake, like having a grenade launcher and a knife as well as all his other awesome stealth skills.

Solid Shark: yeah, I have a problem with quotes, myself. Use them too much.

Sherif: my original idea was that Irvine would use his limit much like bullet-time and go crazy with the double guns and such. I never got around to implementing it, though. Speaking of which, remember way back at the beginning, where I was first writing about Squall's first kill? I finally managed to include a blurb about it in this chapter! Not too hard to miss.

Kolostraminindincranin: Adel drawing energy was her absorbing Rinoa. I agree that movies do these battles a lot better, but that's a point I make behind my battles, to make them very cinematic and involved. It was they way I learned to write my duels and battles, so I tend to write them that way.

Kaiser: The battle was Liquid-Solid inspired, actually. I used Fox for justification. And yes, you have discovered my secret. MIND-VIAGRA!

Prodigy: Squall cursing is a product of my interpretation of Squall. A healthy bit of Squall in this story is me, which makes sense, after all. Nearly everyone in this story is, to some degree or another, reflecting my personality. But that's beside the point. The Squall I envisioned is of course passionate about what few things he cares for, among them Rinoa. Its just, the Squall I developed and created for this story would say that. Basically, he's evolved into that type of character as I write.

I happen to disagree myself about the final battle. I believe that final battles really do need to be settled at the hand-to-hand level to be truly "final." I recall, very clearly, a statement from the director of Predator, where he wanted the final battle between Dutch and the Predator to be settled at that primal level, without guns or weapons, but at a primitive, vicious, caveman-like level. A lot of action movies do the same thing, having the hero and his nemesis face off in a final confrontation of fists and feet. Perhaps it's the romantic in me, but I love the image of ending a battle at the basic, primal level or unarmed combat.

DeathDragon66: Irvine's use of AP was another little homage to Hellsing.

Akira Stridder: oh, yes, the people sing the praises for the hand-to-hand! I knew people would love it!

Icedragon6171: Nice to see new reviewers! The Ultimecia-Rinoa theory? No. Not in Gunblade. I hate that theory with a passion, as it ruins the happy ending to the game. FFVIII has such a wonderful ending, but thinking that "Gee, that's nice and beautiful, but Rinoa's going to go crazy in the end and try to kill everyone" really puts a damper on things. Thus, I vehemently deny it.

That everyone? Great. Now, to do that darn "college" thing I need to do.

Till next chapter.