By Ramsey Anderson
All characters in this fic are property of Squaresoft and were not created by me.
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Chapter 6
I was in the plains outside of Balamb Garden. I found myself walking towards the Garden, about a mile away. Something was amiss, however, there was no sound. I couldn't hear the wind or my footsteps on the grass. I tried to speak, I could feel my throat speaking the words, but no sound came out of my mouth. I continued to walk towards Garden, I don't know why, I guess I felt compelled to go there. I don't remember walking, but I got close to the Garden and saw Rinoa in her gorgeous white dress that she wore at the ball, high above, where the quad was located. She had her hands out, asking for me to go to her. I heard her, her voice the only sound I could hear, Rinoa calling out to me, "Give me a hug! A real tight one!!" I wanted so much to do so, so I sprinted towards the entrance, but I was stopped. I ran into some sort of wall, not able to be seen. The moment I touched whatever it was, the 'wall' began to bend and warp, everything behind it, stretching and distorting with the wall. The 'wall' was solid, I could not get past it. I looked up, and could not see the top of it, I looked to both sides, there was no end. Then, behind the 'wall', Galbadian forces attacked the Garden. Rinoa screamed, running around, getting too close to the edge of the balcony. I knew that she was going to slip and nearly fall to her death, I had to stop it before it happened. I silently shouted, "Rinoa!" and drew my gun blade and struck the 'wall'. It scarred, only to fix itself immediately. I attacked repeatedly, using everything I had to try and get past. Magic, GFs, limit breaks, they all scratched the wall, only for it to recover right away, no matter how much I tried, the wall would not change. It was impossible to get past it. Rinoa fell, I could not help her, I couldn't change anything.
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"Okay, tell me what happened." Cid asked me.
"After the SeeD inauguration dance, Squall and I agreed to meet in the training center after hours. Then…"
I began to say.
"Wait, whoa, what were you doing in the training center after curfew?"
I nervously rubbed my arm up and down, then responded, "Listen, this isn't about me and him, this is about where Squall is. May I continue please?" Cid nodded and I continued, "Anyways, as we left the training center, we found a woman being attacked by a Granaldo. Squall and I came to her aid and defeated the monster. Afterwards, a couple of White SeeDs appeared and told her that it wasn't safe there and they began to walk away. That's when Squall shouted to the woman, saying something about how he needed to talk to her. He sounded very sincere and desperate. The woman turned around and said that Squall could come with them. I shouted at Squall before he left, asking where he was going and who was the woman, and he said…"
"Think about it, repeat his exact words if can." Cid said slowly.
"He said, 'Don't worry Quistis, I'll be fine. I'm sorry, but I have to go with her.' And that's all. They left me there and walked away."
Cid stood up from his desk and paced back and forth, thinking. "Alright, so what did this woman look like?"
"Short chestnut brown hair, about yay high, slim facial features."
"You didn't happen to get her name, did you?"
"Actually…when Squall shouted to her, he called her…Ell…Le…Ello…"
"Could it have been…Ellone?" Cid questioned.
"Yes, that's it, and Squall also called her 'sis' for some reason. Oh, and now that you mention it, she did recognize Squall when we found her and she called me 'Quisty', like we knew each other, but I've never seen her before in my life."
Cid stared out his window, probably considering the new information I had just told him. "Okay, if Squall is with Ellone, then he's going to be very hard to find. Ellone keeps herself well-hidden, you see. I doubt that they're still inside the Garden, so they've probably left the continent already." Cid sat down and looked at me. "Since Squall is missing, we're going to need someone else to take his place for this next assignment. The assignment requires four people, and we would prefer them all to be SeeDs. Due to you resigning as an instructor and becoming a SeeD, you will accompany Zell, Selphie, and a fourth party member. That party member will be…" Cid looked to his side and closed his eyes, "…Seifer."
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When morning came, I awoke, not realizing when I had fallen asleep the previous night. All I could think about while I sat up was the nightmare I had just dreamed up. The symbolism was obvious enough, I just didn't want to accept what it was telling me.
I got up, stretched, and looked around. I was inside the White SeeD ship cabin, everyone else gone to do tasks bright and early, except for Ellone, who was resting. I had slept too long, but then again, I had been awake for over twenty-four hours yesterday, with fights and SeeD missions in between. I opened the cabin door to the outside, which is when I realized that what happened yesterday had actually happened. I was kind of hoping that the whole thing had been some very intense dream, but everything was in its right place, as it had been when I went to sleep.
I sat and watched the rolling waves as I waited for Ellone to wake up. We hadn't had a chance to talk the night before, as her wounds needed attention and I needed sleep. I mainly thought about the future, the possible future, and the future I could've had. I still did not understand why this was happening to me. How could I have such bad fortune as to experience this, I wondered. Ellone stepped out of the cabin and had a few words with her friends. She spied me at the front of the boat, at which point I walked over to her and she said, "Come Squall, let's talk inside."
I told her everything starting from the battle with Ultimecia to the chat I was having with her right then. I had been dying to tell someone about it, and it was good to finally share the bizarre experience with someone. I mainly did the talking, but every so often she would ask a quick question or make a comment. When I finished the story, neither of us spoke for some time. I supposed it was a lot to take in, so I waited patiently for her to give me her opinion.
"So you're telling me this because you think that I can help you, right?" Ellone finally said.
"Yes, I know about your ability to transfer one's consciousness in the present into someone else's body in the past. I figured this situation sounded close enough to that power that you may know something."
"Hmm…you must be telling the truth if you know about my ability. There's no way you could know otherwise. I suppose you found this out on your travels, right?"
"Yes, you tell me quite some time from now, quite far from here." I was afraid to ask her if she knew something about my situation in fear that she would say no. She was my only hope of returning to my own time and I didn't think I could handle the truth.
She looked to the side, as if she was afraid to tell me something. She finally spoke to me the words I did not want to hear, "I can't help you. I don't have anything to do with your predicament. I'm so sorry, Squall."
I had figured that was the truth, so I should've been prepared for it, but what she said sent me into a deep hole of despair. I closed my eyes and hoped that when I opened them, I'd be somewhere else, but I wasn't. I didn't speak, there was nothing else for me to say.
"I'll be here for you though, okay? You can stay on this boat with us for as long as you want, alright?" She attempted to comfort me with words, but I could not be consoled.
"Thank you…I just need to be left alone for awhile…" I said in shaky breaths.
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I couldn't believe what he had just told me. Seifer would join up with me for an assignment, someone so arrogant as Seifer, an irresponsible egomaniac to fight alongside with me.
"Seifer? You can't be serious, headmaster!" I stood up from my chair and pleaded, "He's not even a SeeD! There must be some other option. You know what Seifer will do, he'll rebel and go his own way, he won't listen to orders, he will put himself and others in danger! Why him?"
"…Listen, I would have much preferred for Squall to go instead, but Seifer is our only option. Nida, the SeeD that graduated yesterday, is already on an assignment at the moment. Plus, a gun blade specialist will do well in this assignment. I'm sorry, Miss Trepe, but he's going with you. You will, of course, be the leader of this operation and will have official control over everything that happens."
I had read the specs of the assignment assigned to us and it did not seem necessary to have a gun blade specialist with us. I couldn't imagine what Cid meant by that. The mission was to assist a small group called the Timber Owls in an operation over at Timber. Three SeeDs should be plenty for such an assignment. Cid seemed awfully nervous as well, he was bad at hiding things. I would've brought it up to the headmaster, but I knew that he would stick with his decision anyways.
"…Yes sir, I will try to cooperate with Seifer and complete the assignment to the best of my abilities." I walked out of Cid's office thinking about what terrible disaster would befall Zell, Selphie, and I with Seifer in our party.
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As the day passed, I thought about what I would do. I realized that I should be on the Timber operation at the moment, but I was here. What consequences would this have on the future that I had known, I wondered. This event could dramatically change what will happen to me. But then again, I hadn't been able to change anything else up to that point. Ellone occasionally spoke to me, trying to get an idea of my situation and about the future, what I knew about upcoming disasters and such. I told her exactly what would happen, and that no matter how much I could try, the catastrophes would happen.
"Listen Squall, you might not have been able to save that poor Dollet soldier or change what happened with you and Rinoa, but that doesn't mean that the future cannot be changed. Look around you, were you here last time? No, you have changed what has happened to you…Look, I'm not forcing you to do anything, but you have something that nobody else has, the knowledge of things to come. You can use this knowledge to prevent bad things, I'm sure of it."
She's right. Here I am, right now, changing things. By being here and not on that Timber mission, maybe someone else takes my place. Maybe I don't become the leader of Balamb Garden later on. If that could happen, then I need to at least try and prevent the missile attack. Maybe I can get to Timber before Seifer does and stop him.
"You're right, Ellone. Listen, where are we right now? The ship, I mean."
Ellone took a trained eye to her surroundings then said, "The Northwest. Why?"
"Great, is there any way you can get me as close to Timber as possible?"
"Sure, I'll tell the captain right away." She walked away and did as she had promised.
Don't you worry, Selphie, things will work out for you this time. Rinoa, we'll be together soon enough, and I won't be such a fool this time. And Seifer, look out, here I come.