Alright, this is my 17th chapter; I don't plan on having many more. This is the final showdown, and there'll probably be only a few chapters after this. I'm playing around with an epilogue, or a sequel, but the epilogue thing is what sticks in my mind. I hope you all enjoy what seems to be my longest chapter yet.

Chapter 17: The Extreme

Ultimecia arose from her bed, still fully clothed. Her mind had left her no sleep, being filled with insane visions of that damned boy. He wasn't a gigantic threat, but the longer Griever hung about his neck, the longer he would spell danger for her plan, the one that had lasted nine hundred years. At first, as a child, the prophecy was taken as a children's story. Lord, were they wrong. As the bloodlines went further, so did the prophecy. And now, it was finally going to come true. Ultimecia grinned and left the room. It wasn't going to come true. She would see to that.

"Highness!" a wolf said, bowing profusely.

"Let me pass," she stated, rising to her full height. The wolf stepped to the side, praising the heavens that she hadn't beaten him. Ultimecia barged through, seeing Seifer asleep on the chair. "Awaken," she said, staring at him. Seifer, in response, snored louder and rolled over. Ultimecia sighed.

"Shall I do it, lady?" the wolf from the door asked.

"Oh, no, I'll get him," she responded. A large gust of wind came from Ultimecia's outstretched hand, strong enough to give Seifer a good slap.

"Ow!" he cried sharply, sitting up. "What'd you do that for?" he asked, rubbing his red cheek.

"It's time, my knight. Your jowls shall taste the unworthy flesh." Seifer growled in glee and licked his lips.

"All of them?"

"No. Leonhart's blood is mine. The rest are yours, only." Seifer grinned and instantly transformed into a wolf.

"Right, so when do we leave?"

"Now."

POVC

Squall paced back and forth in his room, under the watchful eyes of Rinoa, Irvine, Selphie, Zell, and Quistis. Undoubtedly, the room was a little cramped, but there was enough room for him to walk from wall to wall, occasionally stopping to pound his fist on the desk or kick something. When he accidentally kicked Quistis's leg, they finally decided to snap him out of his state of mind.

"We're all worried, but you don't have to kill me," she frowned. Squall stopped and frowned back, flopping onto his back on the bed, to the disappointment of Irvine who sat at the end of the bed.

"What are they planning?" he sighed, asking the same question they had worried about all night. Rinoa stood and stared out the window. The redness of the few days before had faded, but still an aura of fear, danger, and something they were missing hung heavily in the air. It didn't make sense… yet it had to.

"Just think," Selphie said, "They could be hiding in every corner, every nook, and every cranny! Wouldn't it be weird if, like, people we knew were werewolves?"

"It wouldn't be weird, it would be frightening," Zell said, staring at her with a look of incredulous pity. Ashimoka walked in, unannounced, and sat inches away from Squall's face. No one really likes other people's butts in their faces, so he sat up and stared at her.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she began.

"Yeah, right, like you weren't listening!" Selphie crowed. Ashimoka glared at her briefly.

"Anyways, I might know." They all turned to stare at her. "When I was in her private study, but not very often, she would often stare at this plaque she had on the wall. It had that symbol on it!" she cried, pointing at the necklace hanging from Squall's neck. He touched it with one finger, feeling the heat it seemed to radiate.

"Where did it come from, anyways?" Selphie asked, looking at the lion's head with growing interest. Rinoa stared at him, wondering if he would give a bit of his mysterious past.

"I- my mother… she left it for my… dad to give it to me… I didn't even know he was my dad but for a year ago... She died giving birth to me… seventeen years ago…" Without realizing it, he shut his eyes and closed his fist around the necklace tightly. Quickly, Irvine cast around for another subject.

"So, like… what would she want with it? What does it have to do with anything?" As an answer, a huge blast of wind smacked the windows, knocking them into the room, and smashing them against the door. Squall grabbed Rinoa, pushed her head down, and covered her neck with his arm as glass blew around the room with surmounting force. As soon as it was over, Squall stood, hand grappling for his gunblade. At the back, dust and clouds were raised from the wind, blurring two figures enough to make them unrecognizable. The rest of them stood, also staring in the direction Squall was. Grimly, Irvine picked up his gun, Zell put on his gloves, and the rest drew their knives.

"Bravo. You've figured out most of the plan. But now, I'd like to talk to you properly, without having to bend my neck," a taunting voice rang out. Another blast of wind and they were all knocked off their feet, and carried down the two-story building. They landed upright, and Squall got into his "ready-for-battle" position.

"Who are you?" he called. The dust cleared, and there stood Seifer, next to the woman from the bank so long ago.

"I am Ultimecia. The nightmare of nine hundred years." She seemed to create an icicle out of thin air, then let it run up and down her hand. "You have been a thorn in my side for too long. Feel my wrath!" She let the icicles go, and they each flew into Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, and Zell's sides.

"No!" Rinoa cried, and tried to get over to them as they collapsed. Seifer leapt to her with amazing speed and agility, grabbed her arms, and pinned her to his side.

"Don't worry, little girl. It only paralyzed them. At least, you hope." Seifer snickered, and Squall stood upright.

"What did you do?" he cried, and made at her with his gunblade. Ultimecia merely turned, smacking her fist into his face. The crunch of bone sounded, and Squall turned, blood pouring out of his nose. She sent another gust of wind at him, scuttling him across the sand and knocking him off his feet. In turn, he rose to one knee and swiped at her, cutting her upper-left arm. Ultimecia laughed evilly, and raised her right hand. The rune glowed, and the cut was healed. Squall gasped in outrage, and stood stupidly with his gunblade dangling from one hand. She then slid on one knee and sent a final gust at his feet, knocking him onto his back and sending his gunblade several feet away.

"Too easy!" she said, and created iron chains that bound him to the ground. She watched him struggle with a look of pleasure on her face, then scanned him up and down. Without his gunblade, he looked a little small, and defenseless. Rinoa definitely noticed this, and if she did, so would Ultimecia. Her eyes roved from his face, contorted with confusion and rage, to Griever laying on his chest, and rising and falling with his breathing. "Not one of the best likenesses. However, it's kept him alive all these years." Squall stared at her, wishing to wrench her eyes out of their sockets. Then, one thing registered.

"Griever…. Alive?"

"Oh, yes, young one, he lives within his likenesses. I have him currently, in this." She raised her hand and showed the rune once more, finally allowing him to see it properly. As Squall squinted in the sun, he looked into the rune's depths, and it showed something different. The rune was there, yes, and it signified Destiny and Destruction: a sword and a star. But inside, there was a small rune, meaning something he couldn't understand. It was different from those of the other wolves. And, most frightening of all, it bore a strong resemblance to the necklace around Squall's neck.

"I don't… understand…" At this point, Ultimecia seemed to snap.

"How can you not? With your stupid mother being who she was! That necklace is not ordinary! It shows that you are of my sister's line! The noble werewolf line! You have werewolf blood, how do you not understand? I am the LAST pureblood wolf!" She began to pace back and forth, obviously peeved. "A prophecy nine-hundred years ago stated that the last wolf alive would be defeated by one of her own kind, yet not of her kind, wearing the noble lion on his neck. It could only be broken by the prophesized one dying, and then the world would become one with no humans, wiped out for those of worthy blood!" She stopped pacing.

"Mistress…" Seifer began, his grip loosening on Rinoa's arms.

"YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" she yelled. Ultimecia seemed to try and calm herself. "You cannot defeat me, while I hold the one who is meant to help you. GRIEVER, SHOW YOURSELF!" She raised her palm and smiled evilly at Squall. "Nothing can go wrong. Your little girlfriend will watch you die, just as you are now watching your friends die," she whispered, gesturing with her free hand at the limp bodies of Irvine, Quistis, Selphie, and Zell. Even Seifer looked a little uncomfortable at watching slow and steady streams of blood coming out of their bodies. Suddenly, everyone's attentions turned to Ultimecia's palm.

Out of it was rising a gigantic and demonic lion's head. Squall gasped as the rest of the creature pulled itself out of the hand, screaming in pain. It had a lion's body, beaten and battered angel's wings, horns, and a demon's tail. It certainly wasn't how he had expected it.

"Griever, attack!" Ultimecia cried, and the monster looked at Squall. It had frightening eyes… cold, sad, yet with an icy fire burning inside. It raised its head and tried to roar, but what came out was a deafening scream. Squall's body seemed to rise into the air; he felt no ground around him. Nothing felt right anymore. Then, an electric shock ran from his hands into his chest. At the same time, millions of others ran from different parts of his body. Pain beyond pain, Squall stretched out his limbs, the chains gone, and writhed in agony. On the ground, Rinoa turned closed her eyes and turned away, tears slowly spilling from her eyes.

"Squall…" she sobbed, leaning against her captive's arms. In surprise, Seifer let her go, watching her fall to the ground. She stuck out her hands, and lay kneeling on the ground, crying. Finally, Squall was released, and fell to the ground with a sickening crunch. His eyes were wide open but not really seeing, and still shaking from the extreme pain.

"Griever won't help you," Ultimecia cooed, watching him with a look of malevolent glee. "Your mother's blood can't help you. Your human father can't help you. Your friends can't help you. Die knowing that I have won." Without another word, Griever raised several feet above Squall, a single claw out to pierce his heart. Just before he made to move, Squall's eyes came back into focus, and he turned his head slightly to look at Rinoa. Seifer seemed in shock, until he finally snapped back into consciousness.

"Ultimecia, stop! The prophecy has no matter, when I agreed to join you it was for protection, but this is just…"

"Silence, fool! You agreed for protection from humans and for glory, in exchange for serving me! You have killed before; you shouldn't be bothered by this!" Seifer seemed cowed, and slunk back a few paces. "You were bitten when you were a child, this is your destiny!" she cried. As this was going on, Rinoa slid closer to Squall until she was right next to him.

"Squall…" she whispered, putting a hand on his sweaty cheek. One of his hands shook gently as he raised it to cover hers, smiling gently.

"Griever, attack!" Ultimecia cried again, and Griever rose to altitudes very high, then came plummeting down, told by Ultimecia to cause Squall as much dying pain as possible. He got closer and closer, hundreds of feet flew by in seconds. When Squall could just barely see the monster's teeth, he smiled gently at Rinoa again. She was surprised to see a tear running down his face, and felt hers running down her own face.

"I love you," he whispered, before pushing her away and bracing himself for death. The claw stopped inches from Squall's heart and the entire monster shattered as if made out of glass.

"What?" Ultimecia howled, and looked about her, until her right hand began to glow. The emblem of Griever on her hand was fading, as Squall's necklace grew brighter. Squall felt his strength returning as he rose to his knees. Almost as if by magic, his gunblade flew into his hand and he stood.

"What's… going on?" he whispered, as a shadowy figure stood in front of him. It slowly came into focus, until it was the shape of a woman sitting on a winged lion's back. The woman stood, then walked to Squall.

"My son," it whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You have the strength to carry on our line. With Griever's help, vanquish your enemies." She placed a kiss on his forehead, then faded out, though the lion padded to Squall's side.

"Griever?" he whispered, placing a hand on the lion's head as it purred.

"This is impossible!" Ultimecia whispered, staring at her palm. As she wasn't paying attention, Squall and Griever leapt into action, Squall slicing at her arm while Griever went for her throat. She quickly deflected them, then used her right hand to heal the small cut the gunblade had made. Rinoa stood off to the side, watching with growing amazement. Quickly, Ultimecia threw Griever off to the side, then sent gusts of wind and ice at Squall, knocking him onto his rear end.

"EVEN WITH GRIEVER," she screamed, "YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR ME!" She raised her right hand as an icicle began to grow, but was surprised by a small group of wolves howling at her. It was an odd group, one white, one brown, one yellow. Then Squall realized that the white one had the markings that Seifer had. "Seifer… what?" Ultimecia paused.

"Too late, Ultimecia!" Seifer snarled. "You've gone too far this time! We won't stand for it!"

"AFFIRMATIVE!" called the yellow wolf Squall now knew was Fujin.

"You can't turn back, ya know?" Raijin, the brown, called. Ultimecia howled herself, then raised her hand and sent an icicle at Seifer, hitting home straight in his chest. Seifer recoiled slightly, then began to run towards her. She stepped back, amazed.

"You should be dead!" she screamed, raising her right hand again, then screamed unearthly-like as Seifer flew by her, leaving a stream of blood. He had bitten off her right hand. Squall took this point, as she howled in pain, to run his gunblade straight through her chest. The world grew dark as the unearthly scream resounded off of nothing and yet everything. Several seconds of uncertainty, then the world grew light. They were in the middle of the town, with Seifer laying to the side as Raijin and Fujin sat besides him, trying to heal his wound, and his friends, Irvine, Zell, Selphie, and Quistis were sitting up, dizzy with blood loss, but alive. Griever was gone, but his necklace was shining a bright blue.

"Squall!" Rinoa cried, throwing herself toward him. Just in time, Squall turned around and enveloped her in a gigantic embrace. He stroked her hair gently, happy to be alive, and happy to be with her. She nestled her head onto his shoulder, trying to block out everything else. Ultimecia was gone. Windows began to open, people began to look outside, and it was dead silent for a time, until one child began to cheer. The two stopped short their hug and looked around the town, where an eruption had begun. The entire town was applauding their heroic deed. Suddenly, the pain that had subsided during Griever's strength from the shockwave came back, and Squall fell to the ground, twitching and writhing. His world went dark as Rinoa's face hung over his, mouthing unintelligible words as the town went into pandemonium. There would be another time for him to receive their applause and cheers. Right now, he needed the rest that had been denied him for so long. As he felt himself being carried to the make-shift hospital, he knew that he wouldn't die. Rinoa was there, his friends were alive, and his mother and Griever were protecting him. He was safe for now. Reassured, Squall let go of the last of his consciousness and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Well now! What did you all think? This was the longest, and in my opinion, best chapter I've written! I hope the fight scenes were okay, and that everything was in place. -crosses toes- Reviews, then I am taking a well-deserved break before the last couple chapters. It's almost CHRISTMAS! And Kwanza and Hanukah, for those who celebrate those. -grins-

EJ- If that wasn't explanation enough for Seifer's motives, wait for the epilogue or the next chapters. I hope you like this one too, you've been really supportive, and everyone else too!

Verdanii- You've got some… interesting views. No, I don't think I'm going to put Seifer/Zell stuff in this one…. That's really just nasty. -grins- Thanks for your support!

Lady Rinoa- How'd you like it? Thank you for supporting me as well, I'm very glad that this is such a success! It will be over soon, though, but look for my next story!

Speaking of which, my next story will be another Final Fantasy one, but from Seifer's point of view, so if you guys are interested, I hope you'll check it out! I'll put it out sometime around New Years. I will update sooner than I did this time around, and I hope everyone will LOVE IT! Toodles!

-Grieverwings

P.S. A good song to listen to while you read this is System of a Down's "When Angels Deserve to Die". ;D Just suggesting!