Yey, I managed to update. Thanks for the reviews!
Just to keep things clear, here's a note on the speech punctuation (although I swore never to resort to that): "..." is audiable speech and'...' is telepathy. And italics are flashbacks, but I bet you could have figured that out by yourself
I hope this new instalment lives up to your expectations. Enjoy!
Part 12 – Windless
He'd been walking a tight-rope since he had joined her, and now the rope had snapped. Not entirely surprising, if he was honest with himself. He had known the situation was bound to blow up at some point. And when it did, there had been no telling which way the shrapnel would go.
She hadn't even granted him time to heal the wounds he had sustained in the first battle with the SeeD before pulling him through the floor of the Master Room and to her aid for round two. In this state, he wouldn't last long. Nor did he plan to, despite the show he put on out of habit.
"I am the Sorceress' Knight," he declared towards the SeeD. "You'll never… get past me. I can't afford to lose."
That last part was indeed true. Too bad from him, losing was also inevitable. If he didn't fall to the SeeD, then it would be his Lady who would make sure he would never get up again.
But he'd again been wrong about their insistence to kill him, although it puzzled him why. Squall had again for some reason just left him alone after he fell, and the sorceress was obviously not done with him yet either.
He lay still as the fight around him subsided, ending with a shriek from Edea. Did that mean that they had killed Matron to get to the sorceress? He didn't open his eyes to see. In his life, he'd seen enough corpses not to freak out at the sight of one, but he nevertheless felt no desire to find his foster mother lying dead beside him.
So he just waited. Waited for what would happen next. He had expected something big and dramatic. Or at least something that made a sound. But nothing. He couldn't even hear his own heartbeat.
Then, out of the blue, something touched his neck. A frail hand, probably belonging to a female, gently lifted his head and cold lips briefly brushed his. Involuntarily, his eyes snapped open.
Above him, her nose inches apart from his, was Rinoa. Rinoa, but not quite her, he noticed. Like Edea had not been quite herself. His breath hitched in his throat.
"Oh my loyal Knight, Seifer," the girl cooed with an eerie edge to her voice. "The sorceress is still alive. The sorceress demands."
Images entered his mind unbidden. A vast ocean, a huge dark structure beneath the waves, and a branching crystal pillar.
"Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with your dreams again."
He wanted to object. What did she know of his dreams? He was done playing her puppet. If she wanted that lunatic thing so badly, she should go and get it herself. But then, behind Rinoa, or perhaps superimposed over the girl, he saw a woman smiling knowingly at him. Knowingly and cruelly, and it made his heart sink.
It was her. It was the sorceress he had seen as a little boy. He recognised her white hair, her back wins, and her tattooed face. Her intent eyes pierced his mind, exploring every inch of his mind and soul. And in return, he learned her name. Her real name.
"As you wish, Ultimecia."
He got up. The game wasn't over yet.
He'd done as she had asked him. It had taken him a whole freaking month, but still not bad considering his expedition had managed to salvage a city-sized construction from the bottom of the ocean. Even all its systems had been up and running in no-time, since the structure had proved to be water-tight.
So here he was, bound for the sorceress shrine Tear's Point in southern Esthar with this gigantic floating crate called Lunatic Pandora.
The name really said it all, as far as he was concerned.
Leaning heavily on the Pandora's main bridge console before him, Seifer watched the revitalised screens display information on altitude, speed and global location, as well as a number of other things that meant absolutely dick to him. This contraption was way ahead of its time in every way.
But it was the global location that he was most interested in. It had been a long trip crossing the Esthar continent, but now the blip on the screen told him they were coming up over Tear's Point. He gave the order to reduce speed in order to halt right over the shrine. Once they were in position, he would activate the crystal pillar inside the Pandora. After that, all they had to do was wait.
Seifer knew his history. He knew what would happen as soon as he flipped the switch that controlled the pillar's energy supply. Lunatic Pandora would create an energy bridge between the planet and the moon by which the monsters that inhabited the moon could make their way down to the planet's surface. Scientists referred to it as the Lunar Cry. It had happened before, years ago. Back then, its results had left the entire continent of Centra in shreds…
But this time, Ultimecia had ensured him, something more would come down in the stream of monsters. Something the Pandora was supposed to intercept. Something that was vital to her plan: the Sorceress Adel.
Seifer smirked listlessly. He'd never voluntarily haul anything that dangerous on board, but the bitch was clever. She played everything and everyone like an instrument, letting them believe they were in control when she was actually orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. Edea had just been a pawn in her plan. He had been another. And he had fallen for her tricks, hook line and sinker.
'I'm watching you carefully, my Knight. I see the Pandora is in place?'
He cringed slightly. There was no getting used to someone using your mind like a fucking intercom.
'Yes, my Lady,' he answered without a sound, knowing she could hear his every thought.
'Then aktivate it. All is ready. Let the Lunar Kry begin!'
His hand went up to a big red button at the centre of the panel. As soon as he pressed it, the sound of machines buzzing to life made the entire structure resonate.
'Very good,' her accent-laden voice rang in his head. 'For now, I do not need the girl, so I kan give you my full attention.'
He quickly suppressed a thought that would come out as a sarcastic 'oh joy' if voiced. Ever since Ultimecia had given up possessing Edea's body, she had been inside his mind, only leaving him some privacy when he needed to control someone else. She knew every bit of him by now, even the thoughts and feelings he had so desperately tried to hide from everyone. His plan, his dream, his devotion. It was bad enough that she knew about that, but to add insult to injury, she was humouring him, too…
'I did not kall you 'my loyal knight' for nothing, Seifer. You are a Knight, and you are loyal, even if not to me. But right now, you know you don't have a choice but to do my bidding, don't you?'
He snarled. Ultimecia was right, and he hated it. Their connection gave him some knowledge of her, too. That way, he had found out why she required subjects to posses. Projecting your mind to another time is one thing, but even she couldn't move her body through time. That posed a problem to her considering she lived several centuries into the future.
But that fact also meant that she couldn't be killed in this time and place. Whoever was to slay her would have to travel to her future to kill her body. In order words, Squall would have to time travel, and the only possible way to do that was when all times existed simultaneously…
The sorceress chuckled at his frustration. 'And I am the only one who kan akkomplish a time compression like that. Lucky for you, I was already planning on doing this. Isn't it lovely? To help your precious Skuall, you will have to help me first.' Her enjoyment was obvious.
He snorted. 'Yeah, too bad the downside is that you want to use that time compression of yours to wipe out all existence.'
'Yes, one of life's little ironies, is it not? But I will enjoy having the world to myself. Oblivion is no more than you puny insekts deserve.'
Seifer growled out loud. This whole sorceress-situation was all turning out to be so fucking much more complicated that he had ever anticipated. It almost made him wish he had never decided to see this plan of his through. Almost. He was still Seifer Almasy, after all.
Suddenly, Lunatic Pandora shook mightily. He grabbed the nearest railing he could find to keep himself upright, and then glanced at the screens which were now flashing and bleeping. The Lunar Cry had reached the planet, and the resulting stream of monsters was engulfing its beacon.
Then he noticed a tiny white speck in the convulsing red flow coming from the moon.
'Adel's cryo-seal,' Ultimecia's voice explained. 'The Pandora must intercept it!'
Seifer pursed his lips defiantly. 'Really? Must it now?'
A jolt of pain tore through his cranium. 'Idiot! Do as you are told!' she screeched while she bypassed his mind to instruct his fingers to press a button on the console.
Through a haze of pain, Seifer saw that another monitor sprung to life and showed how crystalline branches shot up from the pillar, embraced Adel's seal and pulled it into the Pandora's core.
'Finally, Sorceress Adel,' Ultimecia crowed as everything went quiet again. 'Now I kan begin the final stage of my plan.'
"Like Hell," Seifer hissed at her between clenched teeth. He was not going to sit here and let her go about her business. Not just yet...
This story is really taking me to writers' hell and back... Please R&R and let me know what you think!