The Second War

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII does not belong to me.

A/N: Read first, notes later. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: In Which They are Perplexed

> > >

Squall woke up with a start, and his heart was pounding painfully. He had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. The hairs on the back of his next prickled, and his eyes watered at an acrid smell in the air. He glanced down at the pale arm that was draped across his bare chest. He removed Quistis's arm as gently as he could without shoving her off the bed, and began to look for his clothes.

He had just pulled on his pants when he heard a yawn. Squall cringed. He had hoped to get out of there before she woke up.

"Good morning," she said sleepily.

Squall ignored her and marched to his closet to put on a clean shirt. He put on his worn old coat, and after a moment's hesitation, picked up his gunblade. He strode to the door, deliberately ignoring Quistis's eyes.

Quistis had become more alert. "Squall? Where are you going?"

He paused for a moment by the door. "To work." Squall looked up to meet her eyes coldly. "I want you out of here by the time I come back."

Quistis froze, struggling to hide the shock on her face. "What do you mean? I thought - "

Squall cut her off. "You can't help me, not the way you want to. Furthermore, I don't need help, and I have never asked for help. So do yourself a favor and fuck off, and go tell Ellone to do the same." He stepped through the door and slammed it behind him, glimpsing Quistis stunned expression with macabre satisfaction.

As he walked down the hallway towards his office, the burning smell he had detected that morning returned even stronger. Squall felt an intense tug at his mind, and he stumbled against a wall. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he tried to get his guardian forces under control. They must have sensed powerful magic to strain against him like that.

He argued with himself that everyone in Balamb was forbidden to use magic, and only himself, Laguna, and Selphie actually had stores hidden away. Laguna and Selphie were away, and he had certainly not used magic since the curaga. There was no one close enough to cause such an uprising with the guardian forces.

Resignedly, Squall concluded that wherever she was, Rinoa was using magic. It surprised him, since she had restricted her own magic use, afraid that she would lose control and start firing random spells. He was intensely curious, and the animosity he felt towards her had dimmed somewhat as it was now aimed at Quistis and Ellone.

When Squall reached his office, he ignored the waiting reports on his desk and locked the door behind him. He pulled the phone off the hook so he wouldn't be interrupted, and sat down.

Slowly, in his mind, he began to loosen the wall he set up against Rinoa, noting bleakly that he since he still had full access to her psyche, Irvine or Seifer had not become her knight just yet. Squall had kept this a fierce secret from everybody, even Edea, that he was able to see and feel so much of her doings when he tried. He had no doubt Rinoa could as well, and he sure as hell that he didn't want Ellone to find out.

His senses were suddenly assaulted by a barrage of images and sounds. Squall steadied his breathing and shaking hands, and reviewed them again slowly. He had seen things through her eyes, and it frightened him. Where was she? She was screaming at a vaguely familiar girl, pleading her to wake up, and her hands were outstretched in front of them, creating a barrier of fire around them. At least six behemoths were launching themselves against the barrier. This struck Squall as odd; behemoths just weren't found in Galbadia.

It explained the smell, however, because their flesh had begun to burn as their continually rammed themselves against the fire. Why didn't they stop? Squall watched them intently, and realized that they were absolutely rabid, with a crazed look in their eyes. He noted with rising trepidation that the behemoths were a strange black color and were at least twice their normal size.

Squall let the vision go and swallowed hard. He had a decision to make. All his instincts told him to do one thing, but his mind argued against it fiercely. Wearily, he replaced the phone back on the hook and pulled his paperwork towards himself.

> > >

Irvine slid out of the cockpit and onto the hard ground. His flight to Esthar had been uneventful if not tiring. He was surprised when he was given clearance to land at the air station, especially since the world knew he was allied with Rinoa. Irvine suspected that Laguna was more a pacifist deep down than Mayor Dobe.

Shouldering his gun and a small bag with his belongings, Irvine began to walk towards the shopping arcade, looking for a hotel he could stay in. He deliberately ignored the main Esthar hotel; it contained too many painful memories of himself and Selphie spending a weekend there. Besides, he wasn't here to vacation. Irvine walked into a smaller, seedier looking motel a half block down from the shopping arcade.

Irvine waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimness before approaching the counter. "I'd like a room, please."

The girl at the counter eyed him interestedly. "For how long?"

"A week." He deliberately looked away from her to a TV, where the evening news was being read. There was no use in being recognized by civilians early on.

"You're name, sir?"

Irvine pulled out his wallet. "How about I pay you double for the room, and we skip my name?" He pushed a stack of gil at her and smiled charmingly.

She shrugged. "Whatever you want." She passed him a key. "Your room's on the fifth floor."

Irvine didn't hear her. His eyes remained fixed on the television screen, where the pictured had changed to a short man shouting and waving his arms about. "What's going on with Doc Odine these days?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's been babbling nonsense about the Lunar cry and the sorceress for some time now. It's a wonder they actually let him on the news."

"Turn the volume up." Irvine commanded.

"…ze barrier is ze only thing keeping ze city safe! No one is believing vat I am telling you, but oh ho, when ze barrier breaks, everyone vill be sorry, they vill cry and run to Doc Odine and say, save us, ve are helpless, but I tell you, it vill be too late!"

Irvine took his key thoughtfully and made his way to his room. After setting his things down, he pushed the curtains aside and stared out towards the edge of the city where the blue barrier was visible. He stared hard at it and squinted, but couldn't detect any apparent weakness in it. What did Odine mean? The lunar cry just occurred before the war started, it couldn't possibly happen again so soon.

He went to his bag and unpacked a picture frame and set it next to his bed. On one side of his, Selphie had her arms thrown around his neck and was grinning happily. On his other side was Squall and Rinoa, who both appeared to be disturbed by something. This was taken only two weeks before Zell's death, and he knew they had been arguing constantly.

He missed Selphie badly. She was too stubborn and refused to believe him and Rinoa. In the end, he was torn between Selphie and Rinoa, and no matter how much he had wanted to stay with her, he couldn't ignore what he knew was true. In the beginning, he had tried his hardest to persuade her to join him, but Selphie kept insisting that she was right, that she had seen the truth. In came down to an ultimatum – come back or it's over. He had to choose Rinoa, but he couldn't resent her for it. Rinoa would have freely let him return at any time, but he had heard what Ellone had become and had to stay.

A blaze of anger took over Irvine, and he flung the frame at the wall, hearing the tinkle of broken glass with satisfaction. He was sick and tired of this.

> > >

The pain in her leg was really bugging her, but Selphie just gritted her teeth and bore it as the last of the students filed onto the ship headed back for Balamb. Fujin briefly glanced at her, as if she knew what was going on in Selphie's head. Selphie scowled at her and straightened her posture, even though the pain was excruciating and she saw black for a moment.

"On the ship," Selphie snapped at her, ignoring Laguna's reprimanding look. Fujin shrugged and sauntered onto the ship without a backwards glance.

Xu stepped out of the ship and looked around and Selphie and Laguna and smiled. "Hey guys, I've got the car Ellone promised you."

As much as she respected Xu, Selphie had to fake enthusiasm. "That's really…great." She said halfheartedly. "Thanks a lot."

Laguna watched a SeeD cadet carefully drive the car down the plank and into the harbor. "Any other news from the boss?"

"Nothing." Xu said, a little apologetically. She knew it would have meant a lot for Laguna even if Ellone told them to have a good trip, sincere or not. The SeeD hopped out of the car and passed her the keys. "Back on the ship, we'll be departing soon. Keep an eye on the prisoner." She said to him.

Selphie took the keys. "Xu…did you see anything…er, strange on the way here? Like, monsters?"

She looked surprised. "No, it was a easy trip here. Why?"

Laguna glanced sideways at Selphie. "Just keep an eye out, okay?"

"Will do." Xu saluted in the SeeD fashion and boarded the ship, waving to them. Selphie waved back to her until the ships left the harbor and they couldn't see her face any longer. She promptly transferred all her weight back to her good leg and groaned.

"Is it really that bad, Selphie?" Laguna asked, raising his eyebrows.

She looked down at her keys and doggedly began to limp towards the car. "I'll be okay." She slid into the driver's seat, ignoring Laguna's questioning look. "I don't need my left leg to drive."

Laguna buckled his seat belt as Selphie turned the key in the ignition and began to reverse out of the harbor. He gingerly placed his injured arm on the armrest, and waited until they were out of Balamb before he began to talk again. He knew he was going to tread on dangerous ground, and there was no point in creating a fuss in the middle of a town. "You know, in the old days, our injuries would have healed by now."

Selphie gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Magic is forbidden now." She kept her eyes straight ahead.

"By Ellone, yes." Laguna said. "But there's no large regulating body who can act as the law now. Neither Ellone nor … the sorceress is powerful enough to try and set up state here. Ellone can only tell her people what to do. Do you really think the people in Shumi Village are going without magic, especially with all the strange monsters about?"

Selphie eyes slid from the road and lingered briefly at Laguna's eyes, before she looked back. "I'm a SeeD. And Ellone has given me certain instructions, one of them being that I can't use magic. I can't go back on it."

"Fair enough." Laguna replied, leaning back into his seat comfortably.

She was surprised. "That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you'd normally go off into this long speech and end up convincing me to do whatever you want to do." Selphie pointed out.

Laguna shrugged and pushed back his hair. "I want you to use curaga and fix that leg. We'll have problems fighting if you can't stand properly. Fixing my arm wouldn't be a bad idea either. But obviously, you're so loyal to Ellone you won't do it."

Selphie slammed on the brakes indignantly, sending Laguna flying forwards. He landed on his bad arm and winced. "It's not about Ellone. I know you feel bad for her and need to take care of her, but I frankly think she's a psychopath! Back when this first started, she told me some things about magic that makes sense. We draw our magic from monsters, who fall from the moon because of the lunar cry. We all know the sorceress is connected to all this…and…this'll sound stupid…but I thought if I stopped using magic and my guardian forces, I could distance myself from her and everything that had happened. I know what she did, and I can't forgive her for it."

"I think you're just being stubborn. I don't think Rinoa would even know you're trying to spite her that way." Laguna said.

She rounded on him angrily and twisted in her seat to face him. "That's not the point! I'm doing this for Zell! He died because there was an excess of magic in Rinoa that she couldn't control. Sorceress or not, that's the basic truth of it. There was too much magic in her!"

Laguna caught her flailing arms. "Calm down, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just trying to understand you." He studied her intently for a moment. "So you wouldn't mind if I used magic on us, then?"

Selphie had to look away from his gaze, embarrassed for some reason. Losing her cool in front of Laguna made her feel juvenile. "No, you go ahead. I won't tell Ellone. You first, though."

Laguna placed his left hand over his injured arm and muttered the spell for curaga. Instantly, the dull ache in his arm was reduced to almost nothing, and he sighed in relief. "Your turn."

Selphie unbuckled her own seat belt and self-consciously twisted in her seat so she could place her legs on Laguna's lap. He pulled off her left boot and clucked when he saw her swollen and bruised ankle. Lightly, he placed his warm hand on it. Selphie shivered as the familiar healing sensation surrounded her, soothing her frazzled nerves. "It's worse than we thought," she heard him say from faraway. "Once more." The pleasant feelings continued for a moment, then abruptly stopped. She felt no pain in her leg, and opened her eyes to thank Laguna.

They stared at each other for a moment, not uncomfortably, but she could feel a rising sort of tension. Selphie swallowed hard, unsure if she liked the feeling or not. "We're not going to, uh, - " she bit her lip.

"Of course not." Laguna replied quickly, averting his eyes. "We're okay."

Selphie collected her legs from his lap and slid them back under the steering wheel. "We're okay," she repeated breathlessly, and began to drive over Horizon bridge.

> > >

Seifer was sure the hotel was clear, but he was having a hard time of getting out himself. The monsters much have reached the edge of town, as the lights had flickered and died seconds ago. He held on tightly to his panic as he reached the stairwell and began taking the stairs three at a time.

Mentally, he began to run through the list of people that Rinoa had to know were safe, at all costs. Zone and Watts, Rajin, Seaton, and Irvine was away. "That just leaves me." Seifer said aloud, grimly weighing his odds.

He ran through the lobby and pushed his way through the heavy double doors and onto the street. Deling looked like it had been evacuated, and he had no doubt Caraway had already taken a helicopter out.

A cold rain began to fall from the almost black sky, and Seifer instinctively looked up. He thought he saw a darker spot in the thunderclouds, but he shrugged it off. There were more important things he had to deal with. He continued to run down the shopping arcade, dodging the creeps that were emerging from the sewers. He froze when he reached the city's entrance. Outside, it was infested with monsters lurking around the fields, prowling and even fighting each other.

He had never seen anything like this before. Monsters just didn't appear this often, ever. Praying that Rinoa was alright, he summoned Doomtrain in a flash of light. His guardian force waited next to him for instructions. Seifer looked up at it. "I need you to charge and clear a path for me behind you, all the way to the Tomb of the Unknown King. Ready?"

Doomtrain shot off, colliding with the monsters and sending them flying. Seifer followed in it's wake, thankful that the monsters were poisoned. He had the nasty feeling physical attacks wouldn't do much to this lot. His lungs were burning, it was a long run and he was tired. He had to stop soon, but he was more than halfway there already.

A thin line of sweat slid down the side of his face, mixing with the freezing cold rain water. He shivered and panted, unsure if he was hot or cold. Seifer resigned himself to stopping and fighting. Abruptly, he stopped and turned around, raising Hyperion. Doomtrain stopped and returned to him, satisfied it saw action.

Suddenly, though the darkness, he saw a pair of headlights. Seifer squinted to see what it was, but several black Belehelmels swooped in from above him. He immediately lunged at the one directly in front of him, plunging Hyperion directly into it's middle and twisting the blade before triggering. Once he was sure it was dead, he pulled the blade out and spun to face the other three behind him. There was no time to attack them individually, they were looming closer and appeared to be gleeful. Angry, Seifer cast Meteor on the lot of them.

When they all fell to the ground, unconscious, Seifer shook the icy water from his hair and stabbed each of them in the face, to make sure they stayed down. The vehicle with the headlights had almost reached him, and he raised his arm to shield his eyes from the light.

"No fucking way…"

> > >

To be continued…

Well, I have to say, I've been getting some very encouraging reviews lately. Now, I think there was a bit of a longer gap between the last chapter and this one, and I'm very sorry for it, I've just been extremely busy.

I've also decided to keep the length of my chapters, although this one is a tad longer than normal. Just a teeny bit. (I'm terribly sorry, Sunday1, the majority voted that way!).

Now to answer some questions:

There will be Rinoa/Squall interaction.

I was very very unsure how to do the whole magic/GF/limit break things, and although I will, I will be treading in that area very carefully. As you may have noticed, I have mentioned GFs in previous chapters, and I actually brought one out here….but I will be treading very very carefully.

To KyuuketsukiShounen, I'm still mortally afraid that I am going to use deathly simply clichés without realizing it. And sometimes I think that I have, but people just haven't caught on….

To DariusFF, you made me grin stupidly and blush. Thanks for all kind words.

To ForestOwl, Houki, Funkee-Chickee, and Gracioustrust, my oh my, you've all been here for a long time, THANK YOU for your continual support.

Next chapter will be up in a week. As a special treat and in consideration to Sunday1, I will be experimenting with it and increasing it's length by a few scenes. (You'll have to forgive me if it takes a tiny bit longer, school will be starting next week and it will be hectic.)