The Second War

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII is in no way mine. I don't make any money from this, and god knows, I actually find this entertaining.

Notes: As always, read first, announcements later!

Chapter 12: In Which there is a Meeting

> > >

She hadn't been here in a long time, and despite herself, Ellone was nervous. She glanced at the silent Ward, who blinked at her questioningly. She had asked Ward to come with her because of his massive size, but despite that, she couldn't feel safe. Sighing, she turned the key in the elevator to the MD level.

Ellone felt herself become much colder as they plummeted lower. The heating down there must of failed, but it wouldn't bother them. It couldn't be fixed, either, because Ellone had forbidden everyone to descend to the MD level. If she wanted to fix the heating system, she'd have to kill the technicians afterwards. Ward was the exception since he wouldn't be able to speak of the things he would see there.

The elevator grinded to a stop, and the doors slid open slowly. Composing herself, Ellone stepped out, Ward trailing behind her.

"Good evening, Ellone." A faculty member stepped forward. She wished she could at least see his eyes, as his hood cast deep shadows on his face. If she could see his eyes, she could at least measure him up.

"Hello." She replied coldly. "Is Master Norg available?"

The faculty member turned his body towards Ward, who seemed taken aback by all this. Squall had evicted the faculty members years ago, and had taken steps against Norg regenerating from the egg like structure he had cocooned himself in. Well, it was apparent now that he wasn't very effective. "He may not stay."

Ellone narrowed her eyes. "He will stay, because I say he will stay. You may serve Norg now, but you still have to answer to me."

He gave a small bow of assent, and led them deeper into the room. Norg rested behind his repaired Norg pod, his oversized chin trembling malevolently. "ELLONE," he thundered. "HOW MUCH LONGER MUST I WAIT?"

"You will wait as long as you need to wait." Ellone said spitefully, ignoring the fact that Ward had started to back away.

"NEED I REMIND YOU THAT - "

"There's no need. I remember everything perfectly," She said, interrupting him. "I've been keeping my end of the deal, and I've done everything you asked me to."

"THEY WHY IS IT TAKING SEVEN YEARS?"

"There is greater resistance than originally planned." Ellone said simply, thinking of the unwillingness of Squall. "Now, you said you have new information for me?"

Norg gave a rumble of sour laughter. "I THINK YOU WILL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH."

"Then why did you send for me?" Ellone's voice was rising; she was going to lose her temper.

"TO GIVE YOU A WARNING. I DO NOT WANT TO WAIT MUCH LONGER. IF I LOSE MY PATIENCE…"

"You can't back out," Ellone said in a dangerous voice. "Without me, you wouldn't be here right now."

"AND WITHOUT ME, YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING WHAT YOU WANT THE MOST." Norg said smugly.

Ellone gasped in shock. "Are you threatening me?" she demanded. "Are you trying to threaten me, you ugly fuck? I'm going to tell you one more time, and you'd better listen closely. You wouldn't be around without me. You wouldn't be sitting there, with your sick faculty around you, and you wouldn't be even wearing those tattered robes that were once your fucking finest silks!"

"ENOUGH! WEREN'T YOU WONDERING WHY THE HEAT WAS BROKEN?" Norg asked calmly. The left norg pod began to spark and flash colours.

Ellone covered her mouth with her hand, stunned. " How can you draw magic from plain electrical current?" She shook her head in fury. "I've forbidden magic," she shouted. "And you're no exception!"

The pod turned red, and long strands of electricity darted out of it, wrapping itself around her like ropes. She screamed in pain as it flung her against the wall. She felt a thin line of blood trail from the side of her head. Ellone felt Ward's arms pick her up gently, but she kept her eyes shut in resentment and anger.

"I WILL NOT WAIT MUCH LONGER." Norg repeated balefully. "IF YOU DO NOT DELIVER SOON, I WILL EMERGE."

"Take me back, Ward." Ellone muttered. "I have many things to do tonight."

> > >

Gale was shivering violently in the rain, crossing her arms to try keep warm. Nearby, Rinoa was sitting down and leaning against the opening of the Tomb of the Unknown King, the hood of her cloak covering her face. Gale was more than a little anxious that nothing was attacking them, especially since Rinoa wasn't performing any magic. It meant there was something even worse here.

She hoped fervently Rinoa had some place to go, some backup plan in case of emergencies. As it was, things didn't look so promising, even with magic. Gale had never experienced anything like it in her life, and she wasn't sure if she was awed or frightened by it. Almost immediately after leaving Deling, several behemoths ambushed them. She knew how magic worked in theory, but Rinoa did some surprising tricks with firaga. A fire barrier just was not physically possible, Gale knew from the SeeD textbooks, but she supposed it was a sorceress trick.

Gale dropped her head to her knees and tried to forget how cold she was. She thought she was dreaming when she felt a spot of warmth grow by her hands, and she opened her eyes. Rinoa was controlling a little ball of fire, suspended between her hands.

Rinoa grinned at her, and Gale decided to voice her curiosity. "I thought fire magic could only be used offensively."

She looked thoughtful. "Well, generally speaking, but that's because you can only use one spell at a time, right?"

"I guess," Gale said, uncertain.

"I'm using two spells. I'm using my fire magic, then applying my second spell to the fire a split second after." Rinoa explained. "I'm not a sorceress for nothing, you know, it gives me a certain aptitude with magic. I've really had to train to do all this, and I've wrecked quite a few rooms before I figured out how to get the timing right. This is a combination of fire and float. Before, outside Deling, I used firaga and shell."

"Wow." Gale opened her mouth to speak further, but the little ball of flames suddenly disappeared and Rinoa jumped to her feet.

"They're here!" Rinoa exclaimed, looking relieved.

Gale got to her feet and saw that she was right. Through the heavy rain, she saw several cars driving towards them. She could make Zone and Watts leading the rest, and say Seaton and Rajin in a second car. She assumed the rest of the car contained members of Rinoa's faction who also managed to escape. Seifer was nowhere to be seen. Gale shot a look at Rinoa, who realized this and had a stricken expression on her face.

However, the look quickly disappeared and she jogged out to meet them, giving quick hugs to Zone and Watts once they were out of their cars.

"What's with the evacuation?" Zone asked, looking bewildered.

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Did you even bother to look back? There was this huge army of crazed monsters was about to overrun Deling. If I didn't call an evacuation, they would be eating you alive."

Zone paled and crouched swiftly.

"We did manage to collect supplies before we left. We have flashlights, food, tents, some clothes, extra weapons, and a few sets of communicators." Watts said, nudging Zone with his foot.

"Good." Rinoa said. The other cars had arrived. Gale ran towards Seaton and hugged him tightly.

"I have your sword." She said, handing it to him.

"Thanks," Seaton said, surprised but grateful. "I had no idea where you where."

"I was with Rinoa the whole time. I was with her when the evacuation was called, so I had to follow her."

Seaton looked disgruntled. "You're not getting too close to her, are you? I mean, she is the sorceress."

"I thought you liked it better here." Gale said, bewildered.

"It's better than Ellone, but it's still the sorceress, and you're forgetting that. Stick with Zone and Watts, at least they're still normal humans." Seaton said quietly, but his eyes were firm.

"But…" Gale couldn't finish her sentence because Rinoa was approaching them.

"You two should get into the cars," Rinoa said. "We're going to wait this storm out before pitching the tents and deciding what to do. There's no point trying anything now."

Gale dutifully followed Seaton into Rajin's car, where he dug up a blanket from under the seat and tucked it around her. She allowed him to do it sullenly, because she still felt sour about what he had said about Rinoa. She would stay with Rinoa because she had to. Gale had no other choice.

> > >

Irvine woke up, feeling oddly refreshed and calm. He reckoned it was being away from Deling, without its political worries and constantly having to watch over Rinoa. He stretched in his bed languidly before getting up for a glass of water. As he took a sip, he heard a dull thud outside his door, so he went to open it. Irvine found the newspaper at his feet, so he picked it up and spread it out on his table.

He choked on his water at the sight of the headlines. DELING DESTROYED, it screamed at him. Irvine felt faint for a moment as he stared at the pictures. Deling's once proud walls were in ruins, the entire city was littered with rubble. The worst part of the picture was the monsters it captured prowling around the remains of the city, because they just weren't normal. Their eyes seemed to glow even though the picture was black and white.

Rinoa, he thought frantically. He ripped through the paper in a frenzy to get to the article, and skimmed it quickly before letting out his breath in a hiss. They had gotten out. The city had been evacuated.

Irvine now had to decide whether to rush back to Galbadia or stay in Esthar to finish his mission. He fell into a chair and groaned. He already knew the answer. Rinoa would tell him to stay in Esthar, because she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. He could picture her saying it to him in his mind.

The only problem now was that he wasn't in the proper mindset to do any sniper work. He couldn't kill Dr. Odine when he was worrying about Rinoa. He groaned again, loudly, because he knew he had to do it if he wanted to get back to Galbadia. Irvine regretted suggesting the mission for himself. Lately, things had calmed down a little, and there was no need to kill anyway. It wasn't his favourite thing to do, but he had to do it today.

He got up from his chair and dressed himself. While he was doing this, he was carefully studying a map on the area by Doctor Odine's laboratory. He would have to find his way up the store opposite the lab and set up there for a clear shot. Finished with the map, Irvine picked up a round of ammo and dropped it into his pocket before leaving his room and locking the door behind.

It didn't take him long to arrive and find a fire staircase up to the roof. He did feel oddly conspicuous carrying his gun around; it looked like the residents of Esthar felt safe enough not to. He spotted an open window at the back of the building where he would get a clear shot, and promptly got into position. He was lucky the window faced east. Now he just had to wait for Odine.

Irvine's breathing quickened with his nerves. A sniping job had always done this to him. He shook his head violently to clear it and forced himself to slow his breathing. "I can't miss." He said firmly to himself.

His hands were trembling despite his confident words. He heard some commotion and some doors slamming at the front. Irvine was sorely tempted to charge through the back door and kill Odine the normal way, where at least he could fight back. Sniping felt a little low, but Rinoa could not be implicated in this assassination. Irvine reminded his disobedient hands that Rinoa was the reason he was doing this in the first place. Trickles of rumors and leaked back to him that Odine was working on something that was meant to take sorceresses out once and for all, and he didn't want to think about what this may be.

Irvine's nervous tension was immediately soothed by that. He wasn't doing this for nothing. He spotted some movement in the window. He observed the scene for a moment and saw a flash of a white coat. That must have been Odine.

He took a deep breath and aimed, making sure no one else was in the line of fire. Irvine placed his finger on the trigger, and began to squeeze it.

> > >

Selphie was tired, but she didn't want to admit this to Laguna. After the awkward moment, things seemed to go back to normal, but there remained an undercurrent of unspoken tension. The arrived in Esthar just after dawn and she had never seen Laguna so excited.

"I must stop at the presidential palace." Laguna said. Selphie could see he was restraining himself from rolling down the window and gleefully waving at his citizens. "I don't want to think about the paperwork that's building up there."

"Dr Odine's lab first," she reminded him. "Anyway, it's on the way. We're supposed to pick up some restraint thing for Ellone."

"Yeah, of course." Laguna said, distracted as he peered out the window.

Selphie couldn't quite feel irritated with him, not when he had this childish look of ecstasy on his face. She was surprised to see only one lab assistant, a tall man with thick glasses wearing a white lab coat waiting to greet them as she pulled in. In the old days, there would have been at least half a dozen. She couldn't help but smirking just a little.

"Hello," the assistant said as they slammed the car doors shut, glad to be out. "You must be Selphie, and of course, President Laguna. I'm Ansel, Doc Odine's lab assistant. He's inside, waiting to show you the restraints and how they work."

They followed him inside while he continued talking. "Ellone was quite impatient for these restraints, so Doc Odine had me working day and night on them. I don't think I've gotten a decent sleep in weeks. You'd think he'd help me out, but he keeps babbling on about the lunar cry these days." He looked at Laguna. "He's probably going to rant about the strength of Esthar's barrier and monsters."

Selphie was surprised. "I didn't see any on the way in, actually. It was pretty clear."

Laguna frowned. "You know, he may have a point. The barrier was only set up to hide Esthar. I don't think it's ever been used as a shield. Well, I'll need to speak with him about that, because Odine is pretty much right about the lunar cry."

Ansel's eyes widened. "It's true then? I thought he was losing his mind, he's been so frenzied these days."

"It's true." Selphie said grimly. "Too true."

They saw Odine waiting for them in large workspace at the back of his building. There were a set of delicate looking bracelets on the table. "Finally, you are here!" Odine cried gleefully, fixing his eyes on Laguna. "First, ze new and improved Odine's bracelet, renamed Odine's sorceress bonds!" Odine picked the bracelets up, where they shimmered in the light. "More powerful than the bracelet, and ze sorceresses does not even have to vear it for zem to take effect! If they are close to her, she vill feel ill. If they are on her, they vill slowly suck out ze sorceress powers, and then all her energy!" He grinned. "But it is perfectly safe for us normal people. And of course, Ansel is making zem look pretty so she vill vant to have them."

"That's…good." Laguna said, looking unsure. Selphie nudged him warningly.

"And now, to ze matter of ze lunar cry." Odine stepped across the window towards Laguna. "It is very important of ze safety of Esthar. We must put all ze energy ti ze barrier, or we will be like Deling, vich vas destroyed just last night by ze new breed of monsters zat cannot be controlled. So, Odine has a plan ready for ze President. Ve must –" He was just turning around to place the sorceress bonds back on the table when there was a loud and bang that cut him off.

Selphie first assumed a car had backfired outside the window. Odine looked confused, and then crumpled slowly to the floor. She briefly wondered if the shock of it had given him a heart attack when her brain registered the blood. Ansel flew to Odine's side, and whimpered when he saw the bullet wound through his chest. With hands bloodied by Odine, Ansel quickly went to check his pulse.

Laguna and Selphie immediately checked outside the window, but the sun was in their eyes. Whoever got Odine was lucky. Selphie thought she saw a flash of a familiar coat, but she couldn't be sure. The smell of blood was beginning to overpower her, and she was beginning to feel sick.

"No pulse," Ansel moaned from the floor. "Odine is dead. Hyne, Odine is dead!"

"I'll call the medics." Laguna said, heading towards the phone. He looked a little green, like he felt sick too.

Not wanting to be left with the body and blood, Selphie followed him. "Who would have reason to kill him?" She asked numbly. She had fought and witnessed deaths before, but this seemed far more violent and worse than any other mission or battle. Odine was a civilian, not a soldier trained to fight.

Laguna looked at her incredulously. "I think the shock is affecting your brain, my dear. Think about it. He was researching ways to bring down Rinoa."

The world reeled around her. "Fuck." She whispered. "They have only one decent sharpshooter." Selphie had to shut her eyes for a second, and only opened them after she felt Laguna's arm twine around her waist for support. "Irvine. Oh hyne. It's Irvine. He was here. Irvine. Fuck, why Irvine?" She staggered to a wastebasket and vomited, Laguna by her side the whole time with his comforting arm. When she was finished, she wiped her mouth and tried to get around his name. But it kept chanting to her, Irvine, Irvine, Irvine, it was him, it was Irvine. Irvine.

She could have forgiven him at the end of this war, for deserting her for Rinoa. But not for this, not for killing an innocent civilian. Rage suddenly blazed through Selphie, and she looked up at Laguna. "I'm going after him." She said, almost calmly.

Laguna understood. "I'll stay here and help Ansel. I'll meet you at the presidential palace later."

Unexpectedly, Selphie threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Thanks." She dashed out of the room and to the car, where she grabbed her nunchakus. She circled around the compound to the back of the building, where she caught Irvine hopping off the fire ladder. For a moment, she was unsure whether or not she wanted to confront him. It was almost seven years now since she last saw him in person.

He saw her and had a stricken look on his face. Selphie stared at him for a moment, her heart pounding from fury and fright. He looked the same, except that his hat was a little more worn. He looked exactly the same. Irvine had a resigned look on his face, almost apologetic.

Selphie didn't know what to do.

> > >

To be continued…

A/N: Well, school has started, and as I have predicted, it's been crazy hectic. This chapter, unfortunately, is not the super long one I promised Sunday1. In fact, it could have been, but I just didn't like the way it flowed. So now, I'm going to increase each chapter length but a page or two, and hopefully that will satisfy everyone without killing my flow. Next chapter up in about a week, and for some reason, I really liked this chapter much more than any of the others. Drop me a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!

PS: This chapter is now a repost (one day after it was originally posted, hee hee). I caught a mistake that bugged me so much I had to take it down and put it back up again. In Irvine's scene, he said he had to get back to Esthar, but heck, he is in Esthar! It's now been switched more appropriately to Galbadia.