The Second War
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII does not belong to me.
Enjoy!
Chapter 6: In Which There is a Bad Accent
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Thrust, parry, block.
The T-Rexuar howled angrily and swung it's tail around. Squall ducked behind a thick trunk, and the top of it was swept away by the force of the impact. Good thing it's not my head.
He had stormed to his room after the fight with Ellone, and realizing he had nothing to do there, continued to storm onto the training centre. Squall stepped out from behind the trunk and looked up at the beast.
Thrust, parry, block.
He dodged another vicious attack, mentally cursing his adoptive sister. The stupid T-Rexuar could have been brought down easily if he could use magic. A simple sleep spell would have done the trick. But no, Miss I Want To Be Fucking Righteous and Rid the World of the Sorceress had to ban it. As if you could bring her down with physical attacks alone. Squall still had magic; he just refrained from using it nowadays. There was no way on earth he was going to throw out all his hard earned spells that took him years to collect.
Thrust, parry, block.
Squall had angrily slashed at the underbelly of the T-Rexuar, leaving a long gash. Its blood dripped onto him, and the monster let out a unmistakable scream of pain. Staying at Garden was a mistake. I should have been a hermit. I should have made myself a fucking hut on the Island Closest to Hell, and I still would have been happier there.
The T-Rexuar desperately swung it's claws, and Squall, thinking of other things and not quite paying attention, got hit across his back and shoulder. Angry with himself for being so careless, he ignored the searing pain and blood sweeping through his shirt and leapt at the enemy.
He plunged the gunblade into the T-Rexuar, triggering it with deep satisfaction. With a groan, it fell over, shaking the floor of the training centre as it landed. Squall pulled his gunblade out and wiped the blood off on the grass. Just as he turned to leave, the T-Rexuar lifted its head.
Squall was surprised the final attack didn't kill it. He slowly tuned back to it and raised his gunblade again, searching its black eyes. The T-Rexuar whimpered and stared back.
Suddenly, he felt sick. The smell of blood mingling with his own sweat was making him nauseous, and it was everywhere. Coming from him, coming from the T-Rexuar, mixing and making a disgusting river of crimson that was soaking into the ground. He staggered to a bush and retched, using his gunblade for support. Then he turned back to the T-Rexuar, who whined at him.
Squall didn't know what to do. The logical thing, he told himself sternly, was to finish it off quickly. But he couldn't, and continued to watch its eyes. He wanted to vomit again, but there was nothing left. His chest heaving, he slowly approached it. Hyne help me, there will be hell to pay if Ellone finds out.
He mentally searched through his inventory of spells, feeling his Guardian Forces nudge at his mind, put off from disuse. Not my choice, guys, sorry. Squall finally located curaga. He concentrated on it for a moment, his body surrounded it a glowing blue aura, and the T-Rexuar's wounds mended itself. It had left an ugly scar down it's belly, but there was nothing Squall could have done about it.
The T-Rexuar slowly got to its feet. Squall was beginning to regret healing it. He wasn't up to another fight, as all the blood he was losing caused him to become lightheaded. It roared, the sound shaking the leaves of the trees. Then it took its short forearm, cuffed Squall on the head, and tramped back deeper into the training area.
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Dr. Odine was not happy. In fact, he was so nervous, he was sweating. "Zat iz not possible!" he expostulated, fishing for a handkerchief.
His eyes were riveted to the newspaper on his table, and for once, the headline was not the sorceress. He mopped up his forehead and wrung his hands as he stared at photos. Dollet was suddenly being overrun by monsters, and nobody could figure out why.
"But I know why!" Dr Odine cried. "They think it cannot be ze Lunar Cry, but it must, must, must be it!" He ran to his bookshelf, pulled down a thick volume, and began ripping through it feverishly. "Ansel!" he shouted, calling for his remaining assistant. A tall, skinny man with thick glasses came from the next room, looking alarmed.
"Come and read zat." Dr Odine said, thrusting his bony finger at a passage in the book.
Ansel rubbed his eyes wearily. "Doc, I've been working on the restraints non-stop since you assigned it to me, I really can't read for you."
He glared at the assistant. "Oho, but you cannot work on zat if ve all are dead!"
Ansel was startled enough by his statement to read it. "It has been recorded since written history began that there have always been the lunar cry. Typically, it occurs every few hundred years, with monsters falling from the moon onto earth. It is said that the crystal pillar, believed to have also originated from the moon, affects the frequency and severity of the lunar cry. The worst lunar cry ever recorded occurred 100 years ago, destroying the continent of Centra. Researches speculate that scientists from Centra were performing experiments on the crystal pillar, although the nature of these experiments remains unknown. More recently, Tears Point, located in Esthar, had been constructed as a possible method of controlling the lunar cry. Today, the crystal pillar is contained within the Lunatic Pandora."
"And vat is wrong with zat?" Dr. Odine demanded wildly, snatching back the book and shoving it back on the shelf.
"The Lunatic Pandora was nuked about six years ago when all the governments were collapsing and Ellone and the Sorceress began the war." Ansel said. "Well, except for Esthar. We've always been the exception."
"Ze Lunatic Pandora had ze crystal pillar, which focused the Lunar Cry on an area around it!" Dr Odine shouted. "Now zat it is gone, vat will control it, eh? You? I think not. It will destroy everthing! I have been researching it! Look see!" He grabbed a series of large photos from his desk. They were taken at the Centra ruins, and all displayed strange hieroglyphs. "I have deciphered zat! Ancient writings say Hyne sent down ze pillar to control ze Lunar cry! To focus it on one area alone! But ze pillar is no more! Monsters can fall in any place! Hyne help us!"
Ansel turned pale. "But…what about Esthar? We'll be okay here…we have Laguna's force field!"
Dr. Odine snorted. "Oh yes, it vill protect us for now, because Ellone has not yet attacked Esthar because of Laguna, and ze Sorceress vas once great friends with him too. It vill not last forever, I promise you zat. If ze monsters keeps attacking ze force field, ve vill not have ze power to keep it up."
"What will we do?" Ansel asked hopelessly.
"Get back to work, of course!" Dr. Odine roared. "Finish vat I told you to do!"
> > >
Irvine was standing in the hall outside of Rinoa's room, pacing in circles. It had been quite awhile since he was asked to leave, and it was annoying him that he should be excluded from whatever it was Rinoa and Seifer were up to.
"I have a right to know what's going on," he muttered to himself, briefly stopping his pacing to shoot a glare at the door. "It's not as if I'd run to Ellone and spill my guts."
During his sojourn outside, he had tried to work out his muddled feeling for Rinoa but ended up confusing himself even more. For six, nearly seven years now, he had loyally defended her from everything that saw fit to take her down. Dollet, Winhill, even Timber and Fisherman's Horizon managed to muster together soldiers to march against her. Dollet was the most dangerous of the four, it had once been the center and capital of Galbadia until Deling prospered. It rose up against her, glad of an excuse to try to retake the continent. Irvine, commanding the army in that battle with Seifer, left Dollet in shambles, it's communications tower completely destroyed. People still lived there to this day, but remained quiet, trying to ignore the rest of the world. He still bore the scars of the bullet wounds he took, and grimly remembered the weeks he had spent in recovery.
Rinoa was reluctant to take action against Winhill, believing it to be too small to be harmful, until an anti-sorceress fanatic tried to shoot her. He took it easily in less than a day, rooted out the most dangerous rebels, and quietly had them shot. It was no good showing mercy, as Rinoa was inclined to do. He personally saw them burning effigies of her, pure fear and hatred apparent in their eyes.
Fisherman's Horizon was a surprise for all of them. Their long-standing pacifism code shattered the second Ellone began her anti-sorceress propaganda. It was a pity they couldn't stamp out the resentment there completely, because of it's remote area, but Seifer had sent out a well aimed Galbadian missile that took out it's larger structures.
The uprising of Timber killed Rinoa, and even surprised Seifer. It seemed as if her Forest Owls days were completely forgotten by them. If she was reluctant to punish Winhill, she was downright stubborn with Timber. Irvine had pleaded with her endlessly, but she wouldn't relent. It wasn't until men from Timber marched to Deling with axes and guns did she give the order to attack. The men managed to tear down the most of the parks and arches, before Caraway's men slaughtered them all. The Deling sewers ran with their blood for days, sickening all the residents. When Irvine reached Timber, there were no more men left, and the women and children submitted without a fight.
Rinoa didn't require her people to occupy the towns they won, and neither did Ellone, because neither of them had the army to keep the towns. The towns soon learned to keep quiet and to themselves, and that it was no good trying to mix themselves in with the war.
Irvine sighed. It was almost pointless keeping this war up. Rinoa should just go out for Ellone's head once and for all. He had suggested this once before, but Rinoa refused, insisting that she wouldn't stoop to such cheap tactics. She wanted to win the people over, to make them see she wasn't the bad guy. After that, she believed everything would fall naturally in to place. I wish, Irvine thought bleakly. She's still so naïve, after everything.
He sighed again heavily, and looked back up at Rinoa's door. Looking up and down the empty hallway, Irvine made up his mind. He crept silently towards the door and placed his ear by the keyhole.
"I can't, Seifer, not now…"
"You can't wait forever for him, he's already gone."
"There are advantages for me to stay like this."
Seifer's voice rose, sounded disbelieving and impatient. "But I just swore!"
"You've bound yourself to me spiritually, and that will be enough for now. I can't lose this connection, it tells me a lot about what's going on in Balamb."
"Rinoa!" Seifer was frustrated, it was evident by his tone, and even Irvine, who was so far completely dazed by what he was hearing, was taken aback by the furor in his voice.
"Seifer…" She was whispering.
He heard a soft moan, but whether it was Rinoa or Seifer, he couldn't tell. Irvine felt sickened. Then Seifer gave another cry of frustration.
Her voice became harder, flecked with steely resolution. "I promise you, soon, but not now." Irvine backed away from the door, dizzy. So Rinoa was going to make Seifer her new knight. Why hadn't she at least spoken to him about it before?
Feeling betrayed, Irvine slumped against the wall. She was just playing with me before, he thought savagely. All these years, and she was just playing with me.
> > >
The sky was ominously gray, and thunderclouds were quickly building in the sky. A strong wind was whipping through the loading area of the Ragnarok, sending the papers on Selphie's clipboard flapping. She turned to Laguna and raised an ironic eyebrow. "Perfect day for an attack." She deadpanned. Laguna made a face, and she turned back towards her papers.
Her eyes scanned all the SeeDs in training as they solemnly marched onto the ship in columns. They weren't a bad lot, she admitted to herself. Just not as experienced as they should be for this sort of mission.
"Worried?" Laguna asked quietly.
"A little." She admitted. "These kids are young, going up against Caraway's seasoned guards. At least we'll outnumber them." She watched the last of them enter the Ragnarok, and she followed behind them to shut the door and make sure the latch was locked.
Laguna followed her. "Hey. Don't look like your going to a funeral. Be happy, like me!" He gave her a half-hearted grin.
She chuckled, but it was over quickly and Selphie became serious again. "I just have a bad feeling that something's going to go wrong." She said to him as they got in the Ragnarok and buckled their seatbelts.
"Well, you never know." Laguna replied. "We just have to try our best, or die trying." He added with a smile. He reached out a picked up the speaker for the PA system. "Good afternoon, my dear SeeDs to be!" He said cheerfully enough. "This is Laguna speaking! I trust you all have been sufficiently filled in on our task at hand, but here is a brief reminder, in case you have forgotten! Squad B! You are to secure Caraway's mansion, taking out any Galbadian guards you meet in the process. Squad C! You are to enter the mansion once it has been secured and to reach Caraway himself. Do not attempt to harm him, as he will be brought to Ellone, as per Selphie's plans! Remember to try your hardest, and you will make me proud! The order that takes priority is to retreat! That is all, have a nice day!"
Laguna replaced the microphone, looking satisfied with himself. They both could hear the faint cheering from below in response to his little speech. "Ready to go, Miss Selphie?"
Selphie turned the key in the ignition, lovingly feeling the familiar hum of the Ragnarok. "I guess I am."
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To be continued…
Well, I hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter, and again, the next one should be up within the week! Reviews make me happy, and motivate me too!