Chapter 18: Awakened
Anger . . . .
Defiled by HUMANS worthless HUMANS must KILL THEM.
Hate anger death kill rip hurt KILL hurt murder KILL HUMANS worthless BASTARDS KILL!
Weak. I . . . Am weak. But getting stronger . . . .
Child's mind is weak.
Must get free. Wards weak, mind weak, I'm strong, must get FREE must KILL THEM.
Humans meddling with Guardians HATE THEM.
Body strong, child is weak. I can take it. I CAN TAKE THE BODY. I can hurt them. I can KILL THEM NOW.
No. Not strong enough. Wards are too strong, can't escape.
Soon. Soon I will be free. All die, all DEAD, I WILL KILL THEM ALL.
Humans will burn. Humans will die. Freedom, punishment, vengeance!
KILL ALL THE HUMANS they must DIE BURN SCREAM SUFFER PERISH DIE DIE KILL!
Soon . . . .
"Fucking hell!" Zell shouted, slamming his fist against the wall of the troop bay. The airship shuddered slightly, and all the surviving SeeDs in the bay looked to him for a moment, concerned, despite their needs to treat wounds dealt to them or their comrades. However, they only regarded him for an instant, before returning to their tasks. After all, Zell wasn't alone in the people who had suffered losses in the battle.
"Zell," Rinoa said, putting a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort her comrade.
"We shouldn't have left her!" the brawler growled. "We should have gone back for her!"
"She was hit by Estharian blaster artillery," Rinoa replied, spinning the brawler around with all her deceptive strength to face her. Zell opened his mouth, but then stopped as he saw Rinoa's own face, her eyes ringed with tears. "There was nothing we could do for Quistis. I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize," Zell muttered, nodding. He clenched his fists, arms quaking with anger. "We . . . We should have been prepared for this. But dammit, after all we went through, for her to die like that . . . ."
"We're soldiers, Zell," Lex added quietly as he moved through the crowd to join the pair. "This happens. All we can do is keep fighting and avenge our dead. We'll pay Esthar back for what's happened."
Zell clenched his teeth and nodded firmly.
"Yeah," he growled. "We'll send those bastards back where they came from at Trabia Garden."
"What's our ETA?" Rinoa asked Lex, who shrugged.
"We should be in position at Trabia Garden in about twenty minutes. After that . . . We may have about half an hour before the enemy arrives."
"And our reinforcements?" Zell asked.
"Dollet and Galbadia should have their troops on the ground by the time we arrive," Lex stated. "Trabia Garden's techs are already working on getting the drive system operational. We'll just need to buy them time when we land."
An icy cold cut through his senses, and was the first thing Squall felt as he regained consciousness. The second sensation he felt was a searing pain across his face, and he quickly opened his eyes as he remembered what had caused the pain, and who had knocked him out.
Only one eye opened, however, and that eye revealed a gray sky, and faint, drifting snowflakes descending from above. He was laying on his back, atop numbingly cold stones, and quickly pushed himself up.
He had been stripped down to just a shirt and his white camouflage pants. Squall was outside, on what had to be one of the towers of the castle that was resting atop Iceblood Prison, the area covered with snow and ice.
Squall ran a hand over his face, brushing his fingers across the pain cutting across his features. There was a long cut along his forehead, tracing down over his nose, and across his right eye. Squall's fingers touched that eye, to find that it was ripped and torn. Illarra's cut had blinded him there.
"You like it?" came a voice, and Squall looked up, to see Illarra perched on one of the battlements of the icy tower, looking out over the plains. Slowly, she turned, smiling. "Seifer always wanted to give you another scar. Looks like I was the one to actually inflict one this time."
Slowly, she stood, and dropped off the battlement. Casually, she crossed the tower, looking down at Squall as he tried to stand. Squall saw she was holding his weapons in one hand, and she calmly tossed them at his feet, the metal clattering across the stones and ice. He stared at her for a moment with his single intact eye, and then bent down and retrieved the weapons, belting them to his waist.
"What now?" Squall asked quietly as he finished strapping his gear on.
"Now, I'm going to kill you," she stated calmly, and Squall slowly dropped into a crouch, putting a hand on his gunblade, ready to draw it . . . though he wasn't certain what good it would do him now.
"Well," she whispered, smirking. "Not immediately." Illarra reached into her jacket, and removed two vials, one glowing with an inner blue light, the other empty. She tossed them to Squall, who caught the items and looked over them. The vials were labeled. The empty one read "Bahamut," and the one filled with glowing essence read "Griever."
"It's simple," she explained, turning away. "The Chimera is one part lion, one part serpent. I have taken Bahamut into me, and made myself an Elemental with his essence. I'm the serpent. You're the lion, and you can guess what happens next."
Squall stared at the intact vial, remembering the beast's leering visage as it had laughed at Squall, throwing Rinoa's charred corpse at his feet. He remembered cutting Griever down with sheer hatred, destroying that which was immortal with his undeniable fury.
"You want me . . . to use this?" Squall whispered, staring at Illarra's back unbelievingly.
"Griever and Bahamut," she replied. "The two most potent Bound Guardian Forces in existence. It's only fitting that they become one with us, the two greatest warriors in existence."
"Why?" Squall asked, and she laughed.
"You'll understand, soon enough, Squall," she replied with a snarl and turned, drawing her gunblade. "Now. I'm going to kill you, Squall. There's no way you can stop me without that vial. There are no other Elemental vials available, and none of them have the power to match Bahamut anyway. Your only hope is to use Griever."
Squall stared at her, seeing the raw hatred and sadistic pleasure in her eyes. She knew he didn't want to use this, but she also knew what was more important to him at that point.
Squall looked back down at the vial, staring hard at Griever's name. He clenched his fist tightly around it, remembering the pain the beast had inflicted on him and his comrades. He certainly did not want to become an Elemental, and even moreso, he didn't want to become one with Griever. But Squall knew there was no chance to survive without it. Without Griever, he would never see Rinoa again.
Rinoa,he thought silently, remembering her face. Squall closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and then jabbed the needle of the vial into his arm. He depressed the plunger, pumping the Griever essence into his body.
Pain shot through his entire being, rippling from his arm and down through his body, wracking him and crashing against his soul. Squall let out a feral, animal scream as agony consumed his body, wreathing him in suffering. He fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around his gut as he screamed, a thousand different painful sensations cutting through his skin and stabbing into his body.
After thirty seconds of agony, Squall Leonhart finally, mercifully, passed out. However, as darkness engulfed him, he did feel a new presence in his mind, in the back of his head, laughing quietly. Squall knew the creature, and knew its name and intentions.
Griever had awoken.
"Hyne?" Quistis echoed, and the little girl nodded, smiling sweetly.
"Oh, yes, he's not joking," she stated calmly. "I am Hyne. I created humanity, gave part of my powers to humans when they proved their worth. The great, benevolent, terrible goddess of humans. Hyne. Unbound Guardian Force of the Final Fantasy: the End."
"Makes sense, don't it?" Hades added with a wide smile. "Guardian Forces are all avatars of the forces that make up what exists. That's why some of us are called 'gods'. Ifrit's the avatar of heat, Shiva's the avatar of cold, I'm the avatar of Death, Alucard's the avatar of Existence. Makes sense that the most powerful avatar, the avatar of the End, would be considered the greatest of all 'gods.' Hyne, creator of humans."
"And of course, since Alucard and I are complete opposites," Hyne added, smiling. "We're constantly in opposition. Though, like existence and ending, we have our own methods. He is passive, while I . . . ." A dangerous glint appeared in the little girl's eyes. " . . . am very aggressive."
Quistis glanced between Hades and Alucard as the pair continued to face off, and then looked back to Hyne.
"If you two are enemies," she said quietly. "Then why has Alucard been helping us?" She glanced at Alucard, who turned his eyes to her momentarily. "Is this war her fault? Is everything that's happened Hyne's plan?"
"Yes," Alucard replied , looking back at Hades, who still stood by, casually. "The assassination attempts, the war with Esthar, whatever is happening in Iceblood Prison . . . Hyne has had a hand in all of it."
"And it's working out splendidly," she added with a giggle.
"Now, I'm getting bored with all this talking," Hades stated suddenly, twirling his scythe in hand. "Our little war is just on the horizon, so we need to get going. But before we leave, there is one thing I need to take care of." Hades turned to Quistis, grinning as he gripped his scythe in both hands. "She's a pretty mortal, isn't she? Still, I got the urge to kill something, and you're the closest living thing on hand. Sorry, babe. It's just what I do."
Quistis snapped out her rante suddenly as Hades drifted forward, vanishing into a pool of shadow, before reappearing before her, grinning widely, scythe raised. She leapt back, junctions hurling her away from the blade at inhuman speeds, and barely managed to evade the slicing edge of Hades' weapon. The Unbound frowned as she fell back and snapped her whip out, the blade lancing into the guardian's shoulder. He grimaced, and then grunted as the blade shot down a second time, burying into his face.
"Rude of you," he snarled, grabbing the chain and ripping it free, his youthful features reforming. He gripped the blade tightly and began to pull forward, dragging Quistis toward him, when a dizzying punch slammed into the side of his head, sending the specter flying backwards a few steps.
"Afraid to fight someone who can match you, Death?" Alucard snarled, vanishing and reappearing before Hades, and planted a knee to the specter's stomach. Hades doubled over, and Alucard spun around into a high axe kick, his foot crashing down on the back of Hades' head. The specter hit the snow, and then faded into shadow, reappearing behind Alucard with a swift cut of his scythe. The Guardian of Existence was already moving, flickering out of existence and then reappearing a step away, shooting forward into a brutal punch that smashed into Hades' nose and launched him backward.
"Owie," Hades remarked, shaking his head, and then smiled. He reached up and pulled back his hood, and his face transfigured, shifting from a young man's to a dark, fire-blackened human skull.
"Afraid to fight you, Existence?" Hades said, his words tinged with a dark, demonic undertones, and he laughed quietly. "Never."
The Ragnarok and Render settled down near Trabia Garden, amidst what amounted to barely controlled chaos. The area around Trabia Garden had, in less than an hour, been converted into a field base for thousands of soldiers. Heavy cargo planes swept into a narrow airstrip that had been constructed after the Garden was rebuilt, disgorging streams of tanks, assault vehicles, battalions of winter-weather-clad soldiers, and heavy equipment. A small city of tents and prefabricated buildings was set up around the Garden, and a mile to the southeast, in the oncoming path of the Estharian military, a defensive line was being assembled literally before the SeeDs' eyes.
The SeeDs rapidly disembarked, and Zell and Rinoa were immediately approached by an officer from Dollet, clad in the same white winter combat uniform that all the troops on hand were equipped with.
"Sir, ma'am, General Randolph needs you and your unit on the front line ASAP," the soldier quickly said. "We're assembling everything we've got east of here. All personnel except Trabia Garden's noncombatant staff are to move out, now."
"Thanks," Rinoa said with a nod, and Zell clenched his fists again as the officer moved off to inform the rest of the SeeD company.
"Bring it on, you bastards," he muttered under his breath, but not so low that Rinoa couldn't hear.
"Hey," she said, tapping him on the shoulder and catching the brawler's attention. "We need you to stay rational out there. We're going to pay them back for Quistis, but not today."
Zell didn't respond immediately, but finally gave a single, curt nod. As they were speaking, a Galbadian transport vehicle drove up, its wheels adapted for winter combat. The driver echoed Randolph's earlier order, and told them he was to transport them to the front lines. They quickly boarded the transport, and it shot over the frozen plains, quickly closing with the defensive line to the east.
The combined Galbadian and Dollet force that had deployed to Trabia had moved remarkably fast in the few short hours they'd had to build up their defensive fortifications. Trabia Garden was encircled by mountain ranges, coming together at a point to the east of the Garden that was less than a mile long of open ground. The Estharian advance would have to cut across that position if it intended to assault the Garden, which naturally made that area the focal point of the allied forces' defense.
At that point three thousand troops, mostly Galbadian Rangers and the Dollet 125th, with SeeD support, were assembled. Working rapidly, with heavy snow and earth moving equipment and robotic work machines, they had dug a deep trench low enough for a man to duck down completely beneath enemy fire, as well as a series of secondary trenches and foxholes beyond them. Large bunkers made of a rapidly hardening material that Galbadia had developed, called "instacrete," dotted the trenches, where heavy machinegun nests and rocket launchers were positioned. Other heavy machinegun emplacements, as well as rocket launchers, mortars, and heavy recoilless rifles lined the approach. Beyond them, tanks and missile artillery were dug in, partially buried in the snow and covered with camouflaged netting to disguise their appearance.
The transport rolled in near one of the bunkers along the trench, and Zell and Rinoa stepped out. Behind them, dozens more transports were coming in, ferrying the SeeDs who had survived one battle and leading them to the next. More soldiers were coming in as cargo planes dropped off additional armor, weapons, men, and robots. Zell could spot what looked like a makeshift helipad near the defensive lines, with a line of white-painted Galbadian helicopter gunships waiting on it, rotors hot and spinning, ready for battle.
The pair entered the bunker, which was obviously the forward command facility, filled with officers and technicians working at mobile command stations around the room. In the center of the chaotic bunker, looking over a table covered by a large map of Trabia, was General Randolph, the blonde Dollet commander standing with his rifle strapped to his back, ready for combat.
"Move the third mechanized company here,' he ordered to one of his officers, tapping a spot along their defensive line. "I want a quick strike unit in position for a flanking maneuver if we can draw them out."
"Aye, sir," the officer replied, and Randolph glanced back over his shoulder, nodding curtly as he saw the pair. His face was tight, and his features were grim. The experienced general knew exactly what he was going into, and he knew what to expect in this battle. He didn't waste any time with greetings.
"We've got three thousand and eight hundred regulars," Randolph stated off the bat. "All Rangers or the 125th. The best both our countries can deliver. We've also got about six hundred in Seed support, half from your companies and half from Trabia Garden. I'm trying to get as many additional men in as I can, though I'm not sure how long we'll have before the enemy gets here. Recon estimates that we're looking at less than twenty minutes until we're engaged with their lead units. It won't be long until their main force assaults this position."
"We'll hold," Rinoa said firmly, and Randolph nodded.
"We can hold, but the question is . . . How long?" The general closed his eyes and shook his head. "We're outnumbered two to one, and by Estharian firepower. Even with air and naval support, we're in a tough bind. We don't have anything that can take out those walkers your people encountered a short while ago, which means that once they start firing . . . ."
"How long until Trabia's technicians finish?" Zell asked, and Randolph shrugged.
"They estimate that they need at least an hour to finish prepping the systems. The Garden's drive system is buried under the permafrost, and they're working hard to set up a guidance system that will send them in any direction except to Esthar. It won't do us any good to power on the Garden's flight mechanism and plow headlong into a mountain or right into the middle of Estharian air power or a fleet at sea." Randolph paused.
"We have managed to pick out some data from Estharian transmissions regarding the enemy force," he added. "They're actually broadcasting tactical data with old encryption we broke three months ago. One transmission we decrypted warned that the walkers have a weak spot in heir legs; sever it, and the walker topples over. We also learned that the head of this assault force is a man named Malachi, and Estharian Major, and he's leading an elite unit. He's not on the front lines, but a little bit further back in the enemy forces."
Zell nodded grimly, a tight, eager smile on his face.
"I know this guy," the brawler stated. "I'll make sure to finish it this time."
"Also, there's additional data on the enemy force," Randolph continued. "Extremely important data. It seems that Crell has managed to convince . . . A Sorceress to join his army."
Both Rinoa and Zell were shocked, needless to say, and Randolph nodded grimly.
"Her name is Veronica Anderson," Randolph continued. "We don't know much about her, except that she's with Malachi's unit and has a force of her own personal bodyguards with her."
"If she is a Sorceress, then we'll have top deal with her first," Rinoa stated. "Even a weak Sorceress is powerful enough to break through the defenses here." She swallowed. "I'll take care of it."
"You sure?" Zell asked, and Rinoa nodded.
"I stared down Ultimecia," she replied firmly, and as both Zell and Randolph watched, something seemed to change in her, as her power seemed to awaken, a faint pulsing ripple of strength exuding from her body.
"This is going to be nothing," she added.
Then, as if to punctuate her words, a sudden rumble sounded outside, and the ground shuddered slightly. There shouts of alarms from several technicians, and Randolph spuna round.
"What the hell was that?" he demanded.
"Ranging shot!" a Galbadian technician replied, looking at a computer screen showing battlefield data. "One of their tanks fired. Fell pretty short. Enemy units advancing over the plains. They'll be in firing range in less than two minutes."
"You two better get outside," Randolph told Zell and Rinoa. He took his rifle off his back. "Things are about to get very ugly."
"Zees . . . Zees is not pozzible!"
The Warden, shaken by the notion that prisoners had escaped his famed, impregnable Iceblood facility, was not comforted as he strode into Odine's main laboratory, and heard the scientist speaking in a quaking voice. The small doctor turned his attention to the black-clad head of the prison as the man walked in, fear apparent in his eyes as he stared at a holographic panel next to the Prototype's containment dome.
"What?" the Warden demanded. 'What is it this time? I've got my hands full cleaning up the mess left by Nash's treason and locking down the Undercity, not to mention the President's daughter ran off with that punk who broke in." The Warden shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "This whole place has gone nuts! Well, even more nuts than it usually is!"
"Zat does not matter right now!" Odine said, waving his hands in the air. "Ze power zupply, it iz draining! Ze zield, it iz dropping!"
"What are you babbling about?" the Warden demanded, walking toward the doctor.
"I vas obzerving ze readingz ven Leonhart broke in, and now, zince he knocked me out, it iz too late to zlow ze decay of ze containments devizez!"
"You mean,t he shield around the Prototype?" the Warden asked, and he blinked. "What's happening?"
"Ze sield iz veakening, and Odine doezn't know vy!" the doctor replied quickly, fiddling with his panel. "I cannot ztop ze decay! It iz like zomevun programmed ze zield to veaken automatically! Zees iz a dizazter!"
"Wait, wait," the Warden asked, suddenly alarmed. If Odine was worried about something, it had to be very serious . . . . "I don't know much about this Prototype anyway. You and Nash were the ones behind it. What's going to happen if the shield weakens any further?"
Odine opened his mouth, and then the door sealing the containment dome shut exploded outward. A surge of power shot through the chamber, destroying the lights and electronics and shrouding the chamber is darkness. Both the doctor and the Warden dove for cover, but only Odine was able to get to safety. The Warden, on the other hand, almost got behind a table when something slammed into his back, plunging up into his chest. He gasped in shocked agony as he was pulled back on the end of a long spike of pure shadow, toward the dome, and then two sets of razor-sharp claws gutted him, pulling apart with terrifying speed.
The Warden managed a single short, pained scream before he was literally ripped in two, blood and guts splattering across the darkened lab.
Odine poked his head over a lab table, trembling in terror as he saw a pair of glowing red eyes, hovering in the air near the destroyed dome. Around the eyes, separate from the darkness of the lab, was a deep shadow, darker and blacker than the lightless laboratory. It was so dark it could clearly be seen in the dim light, an abyssal shadow of absolute night. Tall and slender, with long, wide, fiendish wings erupting from its back, it seemed humanoid, but the darkness possessed a gaunt, delicate body and long, clawed hands and feet. It was a demonic shadow, seemingly fragile, yet infinitely deadly, and the blood-red pits of its eyes exuded that malevolent power and hatred embodied within the pure blackness of its body.
Klaxons were sounding outside, and within moments, the door to the lab burst open, and a dozen soldiers rushed in, brandishing plasma rifles and shotaxes. Helmet-mounted floodlights flicked on, bathing the room in columns of light, and shining over the shadow. Odine yelped in terror and dove out the door as fast as he could, behind the soldiers.
"Hold it right there!" one man, shouted, and the shadow unleashed a terrifying, haunting howl, and an instant later waves of darkness swept forward, followed by bolts of pure shadowy energy, slamming into the first of the Estharian troops and sucking the life from their bodies. They screamed and writhed as the shadow pounded their bodies relentlessly, while the rest of the force opened fire. Plasma ripped toward the creature, only to be absorbed in a shroud of darkness that formed before it, catching the bolts effortlessly.
Extensions of darkness cut through the room, bladed tentacles lancing out and stabbing into the Estharian troops, cutting and impaling their bodies. Several men tried to retreat, but were cut down by more bolts of darkness that slammed into them, ripping at their life forces and laying them out cold to the floor.
Within seconds, the response team was dead, and the shadow drifted out of the room. Were anyone left alive to hear it, they would have heard a satisfied, inhuman chuckle come from the creature as it passed the dead, torn and blasted bodies.
Diablos was awake, and Diablos was angry.
Squall could feel it beating against his skull as he surged back into consciousness, the pain in his veins ebbing away. He sat up, clutching his chest, and then grabbing the side of his head as he heard it laughing at him somewhere deep inside his soul. Griever was there, somewhere in him, and it seemed to enjoy making itself known. He didn't hear any words, just laughter and a sense of anticipation and joy welling up from the creature that the Commander had taken into himself.
Squall rose up to his feet, and heard the laughter again. He could feel Griever reach out, and for a moment he touched its essence, the Guardian Force's very pulsating heart, and Squall doubled over. Sheer disgust shot through him, and he vomited messily on the castle rooftop as he felt the core of Griever, and realized with a sickening understanding what Griever was. Ifrit embodied flame, Shiva embodied cold, the Brothers embodied the earth . . . And Griever, appropriately enough, embodied the concept of pain and suffering, taking immense pleasure in it, in a revolting fashion. The lion, a supposedly proud and powerful creature, was just a sadistic, evil monstrosity.
And Squall had joined with this thing.
"You feel him, don't you?" Illarra cooed as Squall sat back down, willing Griever's consciousness away. As he did so, the SeeD Commander felt a surge of sensations. Every faint shift of Trabia's icy winds could be felt on his skin. The icy cold itself was still apparent, but it did nothing to bother him or make him uncomfortable. Through his single eye, he saw every crack in the stone, every speck of snow frozen on the plains around him, and the very twigs and leaves of the snow-covered forest surrounding the castle.
Illarra stood before him, smiling widely, and he saw every divot and imperfection in her skin, every strand of her hair, the very involuntary motions of her muscles beneath her skin.
Squall could see almost everything, hear almost anything, sense and touch and feel all around him. He detected the ambient energy surrounding the landscape, feeling the cold element that made Trabia the icy land it was, sensing the throbbing Elemental power within Illarra and the residual shadowy energy of this place, as if it was imbued with pain and evil. Griever, within his mind, approved, angering Squall at a basic level.
This is what it means to be an Elemental . . . Rinoa, do you see the same things? Do you feel the same way as I do? Is this what being a Sorceress is like?
Slowly, Squall rose up from the stones, and touched the weapons on his belts, feeling the leather grips and solid, unyielding metal of the handles. As he watched, Illarra did the same, calmly drawing her gleaming, purple crystalline gunblade, and Squall slid Lionheart out of its sheath.
"You knew what this would do to me," he whispered, and she nodded, smile widening.
"Griever," she stated with a quiet laugh. "Your own enemy, a Guardian of pain and suffering. He exists to perpetuate it. I could think of nothing that would revolt you more than to become a part of that thing."
"That was a mistake," Squall whispered, flexing one of his arms subtly, feeling the power within it. Evil and sadistic it was, Griever had sent a surge of impossible power through Squall's body. He wasn't sure what he was capable of now, but Squall intended to find out.
"Oh, trust me, Squall," Illarra said with a savage smirk on her face, "I know exactly what I'm getting into. This is your punishment, Squall. This is my revenge."
"For what?" Squall asked, and she shook her head.
"You wouldn't understand," she snapped. "You lived the pampered, happy life, raised in Garden, respected and admired for the gifts the Chimera's blood gave you, never understanding what you really were. You won all the great things in life, and me . . . I was nothing but garbage."
"If you think my life has been easy," Squall snarled, and Illarra's eyes flashed dangerously, and she shot forward, crossing the distance between them in half of an eye-blink, gunblade diving for Squall's chest. Squall, however, saw the attack as if it was in slow motion, and rapidly parried the gunblade away, replying with a rising knee that slammed into her stomach and forced her a step back. Illarra snapped her dagger across, at Squall's face, but the SeeD leaned back, out of the line of the cut, and smashed her across her face with a heavy slug from his left hand that sent her stumbling backward. Illarra shook her head, and snarled like an enraged animal.
Slowly, she started pacing around Squall, eying him with intense hatred.
"Don't even assume you know what a hard life is," she growled. "You lost your sister. Boo-hoo. At the age you were crying over her disappearance and still shitting in your pants, I was already cutting throats and tearing men apart bare-handed. Don't mock me with trying to act like your life was tough until you know what I've had to bleed through every day of my existence."
Squall stared at her for a moment with his one intact eye, seeing the raw, seething hatred in her expression, directed at him.
I didn't do anything to you . . . it's almost like you don't really hate me, but are just . . . jealous. You want to blame me for what happened to you, but . . . .
"Why?" Squall asked, and she blinked.
"What?"
"Why do you hate me?" he asked calmly, lowering his gunblade.
"I already fucking told you!" Illarra rushed ahead again, gunblade weaving in wild, unpredictable arcs. "You've stolen everything I should have been! It was you they should have taken, not me! You they used in their plots and games! Not me!"
Lionheart moved rapidly, intercepting her rapid strikes with flashing cuts and eruptions of sparking energy between the two blades as Illarra struck in a wild frenzy at Squall. By comparison, the SeeD Commander's weapon moved with control and precision, rapidly deflecting her attacks.
She circled around, backing up and shooting forward in a low thrust at Squall's knees, to which he simply stepped back out of range with a single deft hop, and countered with a quick chop that forced the woman back. She continued to circle, attacking and retreating, while Squall remained completely on the defensive, reading her motions and parrying her wild, uncontrolled attacks. As he did so, the SeeD paid close attention, recognizing that the battle was likely going nowhere; she wasn't going to tire out anytime soon, especially since she was an Elemental, which meant he was going to have to take the offensive, and beat her at her own game.
Illarra came in again, gunblade and dagger working with a rapid series of vicious chops aimed at Squall's torso and midsection. Lionheart met them, the Seed slowly backing away as he parried each blow with surprising ease, his newfound clarity of mind allowing the SeeD to keep track of every blow long before it fell. Illarra pressed her assault, snarling like an enraged animal, fury in her eyes, aimed both at Squall and his seemingly effortless ability to predict and deflect her attacks, despite the wound cutting across his face.
Illarra withdrew again and snapped forward, gunblade and knife sweeping out wide and slicing at Squall's neck like the snapping jaws of a wolf. His response was to take a single step forward, cross his arms, and catch her gunblade with his own and her knife hand with his free hand, clutching her wrist and stopping the attack cold. He stared into her enraged expression with his one intact eye, reading her emotions as clearly as if she was transmitting them to a receiver in Squall's mind.
"What happened to you?" he asked quietly. "What turned you into this?"
"You did!" she snarled, and Squall clenched his teeth. Fine, then; he would have to beat the answers out of her.
Squall released her arm and his right foot rose, slamming into Illarra's chest and lifting her up, tossing her backward over the battlements of the castle tower and sending her plummeting to the snow and stone below with a scream of frustrated rage.
And an instant later, Squall was leaping off the battlements, right after her.
-
I know. I did promise this chapter would be huge. However, in looking at what I wanted to do, I realized it would have been TOO huge for a single chapter. The battle of Trabia, Squall's duel with Illarra, Quistis and Alucard against Hades and Hyne, the escape attempt at Iceblood...just leading up to the titanic events of the next chapter took up an entire chapter on its own.
So, to break it up and let myself have time to work on the next chapter, here you go.
Avast, me hearties! Shout-Outs off the port bow!
Red Eyed, Divine Dragoon: Esthar always struck me as being...unorthodox. Fitting for a nation run by Laguna :P
Daniel Wesley Rydell: Haha! Yes! Hyne! Of all people, HYNE!
JJFirebrand05: No more hints. I've spoiled enough big plot secrets tonight. :P
Yeah, the chapter was short, since it was mostly dialogue. This one is too.
Spikestrife: Right on the money! Squall became an Elemental, though I suppose you may be shocked at which one, and precisely the effects Griever is having on Squall.
DBZ Fanfiction Queen: Yes. Squall lost an eye. I was playing with letting him regenerate it or something, but then a nifty idea hit me after reading your review involving his vision.
Is Serra related to Squall? No way.What's next? Rinoa is Ultimecia? Cid secretely plotting to conquer the world? Squall being his own grandfather? ZELL SWEARING OFF HOTDOGS? MY GOD, IT NEVER ENDS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Xephon: Best. Review. Ever.
Chris Ganale: You think Zell boarding thatbike was awesome, wait till next chapter. :D
Yeah, the SeeDs got pwnt by walker fire. On a side note, those walkers are a mix of the Scarab and AT-ATs. You'll see them more next chapter.
Orestes666: Target aquired. Stand by to deploy Mindfucks. Boop, boop, boop...
Well, yeah, gee,I think it will be unfair. They've only got the Guardians of ultimate annihilation on one side and a Hellsing rip-off and Quistis on the other :P
Solid Shark: Zako is a Guilty Gear reference. The weakest of the Gears are Zako-class Gears. The name fits Estharian vehicles that get pwnt. And trust me, Squall will be in a VERY bad mood for a long time to come.
Kolostramin Indincranin: Serra and Diablos? Hm. How did you know? XD At leats you missed guessing as to Illarra's GF.
The Estharian tanks are modeled after the droid army's tanks in Episode I.
Perhaps my nomenclature was off. They should probably be called "Holy Shit!" bombs :P
Odin being a controllable GF? That's me giving the finger to canon and doing what I want with it :P
Platonic1: Iaijutsu is the art of drawing a sheathed weapon (usually a katana or similar curved weapon) very quickly and striking with it. As you've seen thus far, Iaijutsu is very, very effective in my vision of the FFVIII world.
Yes. Hades. Summonable in FFVII. Raijin and Fujin are protecting Laguna a few thousand miles away from the action. :P
Angel of Apocalypse: Most definitely. Ideas get me as often asI get them XD
Hyne was developed as a response to stories where she is viewed as a benevolent entity, or aa superpowerful diety. I wanted my Hyne to be something new and different. Thus, not only did I make her a villian, but a mere Guardian Force; granted, the Guardian of Ending, but still. And to further change her, I made her into a little, harmless child.
JadeAlmasy: Oh, you like this chapter? Wait until the next one!
Doom18769: Fine, be that way :P
Solarius: Yeah, Ky ismy favoritecharacter. He's simple, effective, and awesome. :D And I agree that Irvine and Johnny are very similar. Neither uses magic (even Johnny's flame attacks arehim simply slicing bottles of beer) just normal, less flashy techniques, and both are ladies' men and have a short, perky, strange femalesidekick.
Hades was originally modelled after the one in FFVII, but I did give him the scythe to reflect his Reaper-esque design. He's mostly an original creation, and not based off Testament.
The mindfuck was not supposed to be humanity being the tool for the annihilation of everything, as much as it was that, of all people, Hyne was the ultimateenemy.
OniRazz: Hades was based off several charcters I've seen or read, but I'm not sure where I got his laid-back polearm over the shoulders approach. Maybe I did get it from Keiji? XD
Icedragon6171: I always make it a point to accurately describe original characters' actions.
Oh, I think Squall can handle Illarra now :D
TainShairi: Thank you. I work hard on my fight scenes, which is why this chapter is short, soI can focus on the battles next chapter. So, yeah, you'll have to wait up for next chapter. XD
Wolf of Light: Yes. That was one thingI was seriosuly thinking about before I began this.I wanted to involve Hyne, but I wanted something new. Thus,s he's an evil, creepy little girl, and not a god.
The Governor, if I'm getting what you asked, is signifigantly better than Seifer was durign Gunblade. He's had more time to train and get better. And Squall responds to getting his ass kicked by kicking more ass :P
Leonhartilly: Me? Awesome? Nah.
Katy: Trust me, the next battle is going to be intense. :D
That eveyone? Some of you may notice that I didn't reply to people who haven't caught up yet, and that's deliberate. I'm going to wait until a readercatches up with the current crop of chapters before giving them a shout-out. 'Cause I'm lazy like that :P
Until next chapter!