Chapter 4: Fight Above and Beneath

"AAAAAHH!!" Quistis fell and started to slide off the roof. She tried to cling onto any holds, but hot metal met her fingers. She tried to hang on, but the smooth surface let her slip further away.

"QUISTIS!" Irvine dashed down towards where Quistis was and managed to grab her hand in time just as she was about to fall off. Quistis looked down at the white clouds and the gleaming ocean below. She felt weakened by the sight and looked away. Her grip on Irvine's hand grew.

"HANG ON!" He pulled her left arm with all his might. She struggled to pull herself up. But she felt her hand slowly slipping away from Irvine's grasp.

Just then, Quistis sighted Squall's Lionheart sticking out a few meters away from Irvine's spot. She had an idea, but it was risky. But risk or no risk, she had to do something, or else…She shook the frightening thoughts away.

Concentrate…Taking her Save the Queen in her other free arm, she waved it in the air a few times and struck where the Lionheart was. She missed by a few inches, and she pulled her whip back into her hands. She tried this again, and finally her whip coiled itself tightly around the hilt of the weapon. Yes!

Suddenly, her hand slipped out of Irvine's. She watched in horror as she felt herself falling down through air, the wind screaming into her ear.

"QUISTIS!!!! NO!!!!" Irvine yelled as he watched her fall.

Just as she was about to fall, her right hand quickly tightened its grip on her whip. As she slid off, she hit the side of the Ragnarok a few times, the heat burning her bare skin where it met the hot exterior, but she ignored the coursing pain. Before she knew it, she halted abruptly. She was hanging there precariously in midair, her life on the line. Everything now depends on her weapon.

Then she felt her whip budged. She started going lower. The whip tensed tightly in her hand. Squall's Gunblade! If this keeps on, her whip would break, or the Gunblade would dislodge itself, and…

"Quistis! Hang in there!" she heard Irvine's voice called down to her. Then she felt herself being pulled upwards. Summoning every willpower she had in her, she grasped the handle with both her hands, and let herself be pulled back up to safety.

After what seems to be an eternity of minutes, she saw Irvine's outstretched hand. She gratefully held his hand, and she hauled herself back onto the top of the Ragnarok. Irvine held her close in his arms, and quietly led her away from edge. They sat down near the hatch, catching their breath back.

"Thanks…" Quistis breathed. She wiped away the beads of sweat that trickled down her face. Her cheeks felt hot, and her hands were tired from the strain of holding on in mid air for some time.

"Hey…no problem…" Irvine said, cracking a relieved smile. "I had to do what I had to do. You almost scared me back there. I thought I would lose you."

"I would not 'go' that easily, Irvine," replied Quistis curtly.

By that time, Squall had recovered from the surprise attack delivered by the dragon. He slowly stood back up with a groan. Irvine and Quistis slowly made their way towards him. Quistis unfurled her whip from Squall's Lionheart and recoiled it back in her hands.

"Hey man. You okay?" asked Irvine. Squall silently nodded his head and looked at Quistis. She said, "I'm fine. If it weren't for Irvine, I wouldn't be here."

The trio now turned to face the dragon. It was silent now, its fire-tail waving back and forth as it rested to regain its strength back. Blood trailed from its wounded eye as the dragon watched its human foes warily, its injured wings wavering uncertainly in the air.

"It's best…you all stay here," Squall said as he went towards where his Lionheart stood rooted in the airship. He calmly placed both his hands onto the hilt of the weapon and slowly pulled it out.

"Squall…are you sure you can do it? You're hurt," Quistis said.

"I'm fine…Let me…take care of this," Squall said and he went forward for the final onslaught. His weapon glowed with fury as he charged forward with a cry.

"RENZOKUKEN!" He slashed at the dragon's head many times, sending it screaming as the blade cut into its bloodied head in multiple swings. At that time, the creature had lost its hold onto the Ragnarok. Its front claws shook in the air, trying to brush Squall off but kept missing. It roared with an agonizing screech.

Upon finishing his seven-trigger moves, Squall landed in front of the dragon, exhausted. But he still pressed on. Squall gripped his Gunblade tightly and the weapon glowed brighter than before.

"ROUGH DIVIDE!" Squall dragged the blade of his weapon on the roof, creating a huge gash in the metal surface and struck upwards with full force. The huge power from the blade sent the dragon sprawling upwards and away from the Ragnarok. As the Ragnarok zoomed past, it shrieked its last death cry before disappearing beneath the clouds.

"Good…riddance…" Squall muttered as he watched the dragon plummeted into the deep blue ocean below, creating a huge splash where it had landed.

Finished with his job, Squall wearily made it back to where Quistis and Irvine were. He saw her unleashed her Blue Magic as a blue glow emanated within her. A warm and comforting breeze blew around them for a while. Squall recognized the blue magic as White Wind.

"Quistis? You can still do…magic?" asked Irvine in disbelief as the glow disappeared from her body and the warm wind died down. Squall felt invigorated once more.

She smiled at them and said, "Yes, because I'm a Blue Mage. My limit break is my magic. That's why I can still do magic." She stood back up and kept her weapon.

"I see…Wait! Does that mean that Selphie and Rinoa can also do their magic?"

That had never dawned on them before.

"This means that only Sorceresses and Blue Mages are the only ones left able to do magic," said Squall.

"Right and wrong. You can still do magic, but only a few certain ones, like a Limit Break," said Quistis. Just then, she saw something glinting at the place where the dragon last stood. "Did you guys see something there?"

"What is it?" Irvine asked. The trio made their way towards the shining spot, avoiding the many holes, burns, gashes and dark puddles that seemed to be dragon's blood, the many residues from a huge battle fought in air.

"I wonder what's the President in Esthar's gonna say about his airship," said Irvine as he eyed the deep cut made by Squall's Gunblade.

Him? I don't think he would even care, thought Squall as he stepped over a huge hole made by the dragon's claws.

Then they saw it. Near the dark pools of red, they saw a huge, glowing red gem. It was spherical in shape, and it had a gold band around it. Quistis knelt down and gently lifted the stone up. It was a bit heavy in her hands. She held it gingerly in her palms, careful not to drop the gem.

"Maybe it came from the dragon," said Irvine. He eyed the gem closely. "From what I can see, I think this is a ruby. And a finely made one too. See its smooth round edges?" He gently ran his finger on the glowing surface and held it up to see. "No dust and no scratches. My, this is a good-no…this is a high quality gem."

"Thank you for the thorough explanation, Irvine. I didn't know you were such an expert in studying stones," said Quistis. "But I don't recalled reading or heard of a ruby-wielding dragon. Is there a connection between this and the GFs?"

"Well…for one thing, we can bring this to the Doc at Esthar. Ask him what is it," Irvine said.

Quistis nodded. "Good idea. Squall?"

Squall picked up a few white Dragon Fang lying next to a chunk of what looked like dragon's flesh and pocketed it before turning to them.

"Let's go back," said Squall. "The rest are waiting for us."

The three of them made for the hatch. Squall could not help but gave one last glance back down at the deep blue sea below.

Somehow, this seems to be just the beginning of a nightmare. And it seems we are not gonna wake up from it that soon…

* * *

Outside Balamb Garden, two figures were walking towards the gate entrance of the academy. One was a giant bronzed-skinned man wielding a huge stick whereas the other was a white-haired lady in blue carrying a Blaster Edge in her right arm. They both walked with tired but determined steps up the path leading to Balamb Garden.

"You sure this is the right thing to do, Fu?" asked the dark-skinned man. His white-haired partner nodded curtly. Two stone gargoyles and the metal gates met their sight. The man sighed heavily and said, "Fine…for Seifer's sake, ya know."

"SEIFER." The girl nodded.

They reached the gate, but found it locked. The man then rattled the bars of the gates. The noise brought out an annoyed cadet who was busy talking with his girlfriend behind a thick bush. The two of them paused when they took in the sight.

"Who are you people?" asked the cadet.

"We need to see Headmaster Cid immediately ya know," said the man.

"URGENT."

The two cadets looked at each other and said, "We'll be right back." The cadets turned to go and ran, with a few glances back.

"Ya think they are afraid of us?" the man joked.

"MAYBE."

A few minutes later, the metal gates slowly swung open, letting them in. The man heaved a heavy breath and said, "Ah…it's good to be back home, ya know."

"CID. NOW." The white-haired lady tried to drag her huge partner along, but he did not even budge an inch. The man looked down at her. She glared back up at him with her single eye. Then she left him alone as she made her way up the stairs herself.

"Ah…fine…" the dark-skinned man said, giving in. He walked slowly, still enjoying the sight of his old place and met his partner waiting for him at the second entrance, arms folded, one eye scowling at him.

"Sorry, Fu…but this is our old home, ya know." He looked around. "Nothing much has changed, ya know."

The lady pointed at the third entrance beyond. The man scratched his head and said, "You sure? Really, really sure?"

A sharp knock on the head answered him. "Okay! Okay! We'll go."

The lady shrugged and they both entered the grounds of Balamb Garden.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hmm…what's going on now? The dragon holds a ruby, the Posse's back but missing a member…more questions arises, more stuff to write…*rubs temple* Headache-nya…

Anyway, thank you for all those who have reviewed the previous chapter:

anonymous

KinofDragon – Somebody might be the key to something. Maybe Squall, maybe the others, who knows? :P

Nenya – yes, I'm being evil for putting a cliff-hanger there, but it's just a short one, so…here I've updated. Have fun reading!

Oh, and the ruby-thing is sort of like the Jecht Spheres/memory spheres of Final Fantasy X (why do I keep borrowing stuff from FFX?), only ruby-red in colour. But why spheres? More will unfold at the next Chapter 5: Five Spheres.