All around him, it burned. He could smell it on the wind. An old soldier, he'd grown accustomed to the odors that followed battle. Fire. Blood. Smoke. Death. And now they drifted across his senses again, closing in around him this time, pulling closer like the tightening of a noose.
He looked out over the city, the gleaming crystal of Esthar, and watched it burn. Every part of the city blazed, caught up not with the internal light of a functioning metropolis, but the incendiary light of a city under siege. The fires of revolution, a thousand individual emutes combining to threaten the country to which he'd dedicated his life.
A lesser man would see in those fires the end of his dreams, the undoing of a lifetime's work. His single eye saw nothing before him but a night of bloodshed, of crushing rebellions beneath his heel, restoring the balance of order.
He could feel her in his head. Not her presence, but her glaring absence. For the first time in decades, he found himself deprived of her glory. It pained him, yet drove him forward. He burned inside to set things right, to reset the scales before returning her to the throne.
He turned on his heel and left the rooftop, reentering the palace he alone stood to defend, determined to prove how he, Justinian Varrant, had earned his position as the most feared and hated man in Esthar.
He strode through the building unopposed until, rounding a corner, he came across a ragged detachment of anti-Adel rebels. The ragtag crew raised their weapons and fired on him. He continued moving towards them, oblivious to the bullets darting around his head.
A corner of his mouth turned up in a snarl and he pulled back one hand, making a vicious clawing motion in the air in front of him. At once, the soldiers collapsed, as if he had knocked their legs out from under them. He grabbed at the air again, clutching a fist above his head and pulling sharply downward. At once, the ceiling gave way, burying the opposing force beneath tons of marble. Finally, he resumed his stride, moving down the hallway towards the rubble. It parted obediently to allow him to pass, then reformed behind him.
He turned another corner and proceeded into a small foyer. He had just started down the stairs when another group of soldiers burst into the room. As their weapon fire struck the ground at his feet, he launched himself off the steps and down to the ground. The force of his landing splintered the ground, sending shockwaves in all directions.
He turned his gaze to the soldier nearest him, who suddenly found himself floating in the air. He raised his hand and closed it into a fist, watching as the soldier erupted into a dark purple flame. Varrant gestured, and the soldier came crashing down into the midst of his companions, setting their bodies alight as well.
He continued past them, leaving the bodies to smolder in their magical fire. No more detachments of soldiers came to confront him. He entered the enormous great hall, looking up at the statue of Adel that dominated the room. Seeing her image rekindled the blaze within him and he felt with certainty that all who opposed the reign of Adel would die that night.
He heard the sound of feet approaching and saw another detachment of rebels approaching the door to the palace. With a casual wave of his hand, he sent Adel's statute crumbling to the ground, toppling over and barricading the door.
Through the smoke and rubble, he saw the face of Laguna Loire on the other side of the enormous door. Loire pounded frantically, desperately trying to move the door, but to no avail.
"Malice!" Laguna screamed, the sound breaking above the chaos.
Varrant locked gazes with the man for a moment, then turned and ascended the stairs, leaving the hall and entering the throne room, the symbolic heart of Adel's kingdom.
He mounted the steps to the dais and took his place next to Adel's throne, where he had faithfully stood for countless years. He closed his eye, and waited.
The rebels, he knew, would inevitably make their way here, to demolish Adel's throne as an emblem of the end of her reign. To do so, they would have to go through him. Loire, in his heroic naiveté, would come to perform the act himself. After crushing Laguna, Varrant would proceed to demolish the rebel movement, one soul at a time if necessary.
The sound of an explosion rocked the palace. Varrant nodded internally, knowing that they had breached the great hall. The sound of a single man's footsteps drew near and the throne room door flew open. Laguna walked in, alone.
Adel's Knight opened his eye as the door slammed shut behind Laguna. The massive metal doors glowed white-hot for a moment and then started to melt, fusing together, and sealing the room.
Wordlessly, Laguna drew forth a gunblade, setting it in his hands for combat. Varrant smiled and reached behind him, drawing forth his enormous sword, gripping it in one hand.
"Are you so eager to die?" he asked Laguna.
Varrant left the dais and stood before his opponent. They watched each other coolly, and then Varrant lunged at Laguna, swinging the giant blade in a strike aimed to decapitate his foe.
* *
"You're sure this is going to work?" Laguna asked as Odine placed the metal helmet over the President's head.
"Zere iz, naturally, an element of uncertainty involved. Without the girl, Ellone, to power ze machine, I have been forced to conduct my work without any experimentation."
"You've... never tested this before?" Laguna looked over at Squall, nervously. The young man's face remained a mask, framed on either side by the metal of his own helmet.
"No," Odine shrugged. "But the theory iz zound." He adjusted the machine over at Laguna's side, and a faint humming filled the room.
Finally, he moved over to Ellone, fitting her helmet in place as well. Squall and Laguna watched him closely, keenly aware of the glint in the scientist's eye.
"We are ready." He walked to the control panel and started pressing buttons. The humming grew louder. His right arm darted out and pulled an enormous level.
Suddenly, Squall felt himself start to pass out, a throbbing blue light pulsating behind his eyes. His stomach dropped out beneath him as waves of vertigo overcame his senses. Odine shuffled back to Ellone's side.
"You may begin," he said. She closed her eyes, and a look of calm passed over her face as she invoked her power.
The blue light pressed ever harder against Squall as he felt his world slip away. Blue faded into brilliant white, and then, nothing.
* *
Blinding white light engulfed him as he felt himself stumble. Momentum carried him forward as he tumbled to the ground. The white threatened to encompass him until he heard a voice calling him back.
"Laguna? Hey, Laguna, you okay?"
What? Where am I? he thought. He blinked repeatedly, and the universe came into focus again. He gazed upwards at a dizzying array of stars, burning brightly in their places. The night sky had never seemed so clear or beautiful before, and he found himself awed at the sheer immensity of the spectacle before him. It left him breathless.
Suddenly, Kiros came into his field of vision, looking at him from upside down.
"Laguna, we don't have time for stargazing. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said, staggering to his feet. "I don't know what came over me."
I'm here, Squall thought. It worked.
"You're not getting one of your leg cramps, are you?" Kiros asked.
"No," Laguna rubbed the back of his head, still disoriented from the fall. "I just... got a little excited."
We don't have time for this! Squall screamed internally.
"I'm fine. Let's move out!" Laguna exclaimed, raising his machine gun enthusiastically over his head.
Laguna's body started running again as Squall focused on the scene around him. They ran through the streets of Esthar, Laguna leading a small group of fighters, Kiros and Ward among them. Up ahead, Squall could see the building he knew as the presidential palace.
The doors stood unguarded. The group approached just in time to see Varrant pass by them.
"You secure the palace," Squall shouted, seizing control of Laguna's body. "I'm going after the target."
Mallis gestured contemptuously, and the lobby's massive statue of Adel toppled over, slamming brutally against the doors.
Squall pulled with all his might, trying to pry the doors open by sheer force of will, but they refused to budge. As he struggled, he thought he saw a smile on Mallis' face, and it made him more frantic. The General started to turn away.
"Mallis!" Squall screamed, pounding in desperation, using Varrant's alias in the confusion.
Mallis turned back, watching for a moment, and then left, climbing the stairs and vanishing from view.
"Damn it!" he swore, still trying to pull the doors apart.
"It's okay, chief," one of the soldiers said. "We've got explosives, remember?"
Squall whirled and seized the explosives from the soldier, making Laguna's hands move rapidly to set the charges.
"Laguna, do you know what you're doing?" Kiros asked.
"Sure," Laguna said, reasserting control over his voice while Squall focused on the placing the explosives at the key points of the door. "It's pretty self-explanatory."
The charges set, the group retreated to a safe distance. They all crouched down low to shield themselves from the blast.
"Here we go," said the engineer.
Laguna's body leapt up. "My gun! I left my gun at the door!" he yelled.
Kiros grabbed Laguna and forced him to the ground at the last moment, the doors detonating violently and flying off the hinges. The group rose.
"My gun just got blown up," Laguna said, looking at the wreckage of the door.
"Give me that gunblade," Squall snapped, turning to another soldier and seizing control again.
They approached the palace at a run, Squall scrambling over the rubble of Adel's statue and entering the great hall.
Have to do this alone, he thought.
"I'm going after Varrant," Squall said. "The rest of you, secure the palace."
Kiros and Ward stepped up.
"You sure you want to do this alone?" Kiros asked.
"Go," Squall replied. "It's an order."
They broke off and followed the rest of the group. Squall hurtled up the steps in pursuit of his quarry. At the end of the long hallway, he saw the throne room, and beside the throne, a figure that could only be the man he knew as Yvaine Mallis.
He entered the room, and the doors slammed shut behind him as Mallis opened his eye. Squall drew forth the gunblade and held himself in readiness, waiting for his foe to make the first move.
Mallis, with an almost gentle grace, reached over his shoulder and drew forth an enormous sword, the blade fully as tall as a man. Despite its size, he held it easily, as he would a toy.
"Are you so eager to die?" he asked, stepping off the dais and approaching Squall.
Squall looked into that insane eye, the one that had haunted his dreams, waiting for the first sign of attack.
In a blur of motion, Mallis' right hand swung forward, the blade leaping at Squall's head. Squall threw himself to the side, lashing out with his gunblade. As if he wielded nothing heavier than a rapier, Mallis' sword flicked over, nimbly deflecting the thrust.
Squall pressed forward, his gunblade striking at Mallis' outstretched arm, attempting to sever it. Mallis' arm snaked out of the way and came down in an overhead slash. Squall rolled out of the way, coming to a crouch as Mallis' sword, carried down by the awesome force of his arm, smashed into the ground, cleaving the marble as it struck.
"You're doing well," he growled, wrenching the blade free. "Not many have survived this long against me."
Mallis waved one hand and a massive chunk of marble pried itself up from the floor. It hovered next to him for a second, and then launched itself at Squall, whistling as it hurtled through the air at him. Squall stood his ground.
As the boulder neared, he brought his gunblade down with both hands, pulling the trigger as the blade struck the enormous rock. The stone exploded, fragmenting in half, the two sides flying safely past Laguna's body.
"Less talk," Squall said. "Die now."
He ran at Mallis, powerful legs kicking off the ground as he approached. From his standing position, Mallis leapt as well, propelling himself at Squall. They met in the air, blades connecting high, then low. Both men landed unharmed.
Mallis came forward, swinging his blade in a wide arc, under which Squall ducked, rolling past him. The force of Mallis' blow kept his blade moving onward, where it bit into one of the massive freestanding pillars supporting the room. His blade caught again and Mallis struggled to free it, reflexively.
Squall charged again, as Mallis clenched one fist in rage, purple fire blazing around his hand. He pounded his fist into the column, and it crumbled, as Mallis pulled his sword free and leapt away from the collapsing pillar. Mallis regained control of his blade just in time, and it danced as if of its own accord to block Squall's gunblade.
Mallis' long leg lashed out, striking Squall in the chest, sending him sprawling next to a pillar. Mallis shifted his grip, taking the massive sword in both hands and sliced at the column, cutting it clean through. It collapsed, and Squall darted out of the way just in time, the tower of marble falling directly down on where he had landed.
Smiling grimly, Mallis turned, moving to the column nearest him. He extended his arms back for the next strike when Squall dashed in to attack again. Mallis altered his strike in time, deflecting Squall's stroke. He held the blade one-handed again, his left hand reaching out and gripping Squall around the throat. He squeezed, lifting Laguna's body off the ground.
Both swords clattered to the ground as Squall dropped his gunblade and attempted to pry Mallis' hand from off his throat, but to no use. Mallis pulled him close, breathing directly in Squall's face. One fist came up, and Squall could see the flame surrounding it again.
"I will kill you if I have to tear down Heaven itself," Mallis snarled, slamming his free hand into the pillar. It splintered and started to tumble. As Mallis struck, Squall stopped trying to free his throat, and raised both hands to Mallis' head, gripping it tightly. With all the strength left in his hands, Squall pressed his thumbs into Mallis' good eye, pushing as hard as he could.
Mallis screamed and dropped Squall. "My eye!" he howled, staggering away from the dissolving column. Squall snatched up his gunblade and retreated several steps, watching as tons of marble buried Mallis' sword.
Mallis looked up again, blood streaming from his eye. He felt the cold steel of Squall's gunblade pressing against his throat.
"Do it," Mallis said. "Do you really have the stomach to kill me in cold blood?"
Wordlessly, Squall chambered a round in the gunblade, the click resounding through the room. The blue light suddenly appeared in Squall's head, and he fought to retain control, to stay in this world only for the few moments more it would take to kill Mallis.
Suddenly, the doors erupted inward in a massive explosion that sent Squall and Mallis sprawling. Kiros and Ward stormed into the room.
"Laguna!" Kiros exclaimed, seeing his friend prostrate on the floor.
No! Damn it! Squall screamed inwardly, fighting his way to his feet. Every second, the blue light grew stronger, and Squall could feel his hold on Laguna slipping away.
"Where is he?" Squall shouted, casting around with his gunblade for Mallis.
Kiros pointed and Squall whirled to see Mallis escaping into an opening in the wall, one that hadn't previously existed.
"Until we meet again," the General hissed, the secret door sliding shut before him.
"No! He's getting away!" Squall staggered to the wall, searching for something, anything, that would reopen Mallis' escape route. But the blue light overcame him, and he collapsed to his knees as he felt Laguna's personality reasserting control.
Everything faded to blue, then white.
* *
"Squall? Squall?" Ellone's voice calling him. The cool, regulated environment of Odine's lab flooded into his lungs, replacing the smoke of war-torn Esthar. He opened his eyes to find Laguna and Ellone standing over him. Ellone held his hand.
"You're back," Laguna said. "We were getting worried about you."
"I... I failed." Squall murmured.
"What are you talking about?" Laguna asked. "Everything's still in place. You beat back Varrant. History is maintained."
"I... I failed to kill him. To end it."
And then his world faded away again, but this time to a calm, restful black, the sweet relief of unconsciousness passing over him in a wave.