A/N: Only one track for this chapter. For Squall and Rinoa, "Journey's End" by Graylightning, Pixietricks, and Sephfire, an FFX remix from OCRemix. I couldn't think of anything else (and like most of my dialogue-heavy chapters, this one's relatively short….) I also added in Randolph's theme to the track listing in my profile page.
Chapter 7: Second Reunion
The water flowed in around Squall, creeping in through the broken glass. Squall turned around, and looked across the command deck, his ankles splashing in the icy waters.
So, this is how it ends?
Squall's response came as the icy waters rose up around his knees.
Now and forever, Griever. You will never harm another through me.
Hm. If that is how it has to be. This is quite the . . . Disappointment. The hero dies at the end of his saga?
Who said this was the end?
An interesting answer. Your story will end if you continue down this path . . . .
There is no damn story. There is no final fantasy. There's only life. And through my death, I save all others.
Erudite, Commander. But at least I can savor this fact: through your death, you will cause tremendous grief.
Not as much as you would have caused, Griever.
But I yet win.
No.
How so?
They will grow beyond that grief. They will continue on without me, and will not look back at my death with sadness. They will remember me as the man I was when I lived, not the man I was as I died.
The water was rising up past Squall's chest.
Grief is not eternal. Love and joy are. That is something you've never grasped, Griever.
Indeed. This will be something to ponder during eternity, I suppose.
The water began to rise to Squalls neck, and he leaned his head back. For some reason, griever did not speak as he looked up, his Zanshin sight giving him an impeded view of the sky as the water flowed up past his chin, his mouth, his nose, his scarred eyes . . . . And then engulfed Squall Leonhart.
Goodbye, Rinoa. I'll be waiting . . . Wherever I'll be . . . .
Squall laid his head back, and waited for his first glimpse of eternity. But then . . . Something changed.
A hand plunged through the water, grabbing him by the front of his torn shirt, and hauled the SeeD Commander up out of the water, back into the clear air.
"Squall, you stupid sonovabitch!" Nash snarled as he lifted the SeeD up out of the water. "I've spent over two hundred years walking this fucking planet, and I know one thing more than anything else, and that's just how fucking stupid Squall Leonhart can be. And there is no fucking way I'm letting you give up and die now!"
He hauled the SeeD up closer to him, and met his eyes with the SeeD's scarred ones.
"Surrender and die, or fight and live, Squall. That's the rule of life, and you can't change it. Are you going to surrender to that bastard in your head and die, or are you going to fight him and live to see Rinoa again?"
Nash was right. He admitted that to himself as he held her once again in his hands, squeezing her tightly, hearing her sobs of grief and joy intermixed. Several minutes passed in that clearing, with no real words spoken between them. Actions spoke louder than words anyway. It was a long time before anything was even audibly spoken.
" How . . . ." Rinoa whispered as she held him, pressing herself into his chest and neck, his long brown hair dropping around her face.
"Nash made me realize what I was giving up if I let myself die," Squall answered in her ear. "I realized I couldn't let myself die, not with all that still needed to be done. And I couldn't die without seeing you again."
"But you said Griever . . . ." she said pulling back and looking up at him. Squall shook his head.
"I have him under control," he answered calmly. "Or at least, under enough control."
She stared up at him and the bandana he wore, and understood. Her hand reached up, tracing across his face, and she couldn't help but break out into a laughing smile at how real he felt, and how good it was to be back together. Her hands moved over his beard, his face, and his scarred eyes.
"Your eyes," she said, looking into the blood-red orbs.
"Cybernetic," he answered. "I got them in Esthar. Laguna knows I'm alive; he arranged them to be installed." Squall traced a hand across his eyes, and then grasped her hand in his own.
"Where have you been?" she asked. "Why didn't you come back to us? To me?"
"I . . . I couldn't return until I had learned to control him," Squall answered. "Even with the control system, I still didn't have complete control over him. I had to learn techniques for focus and control to keep Griever in check." He managed a slight smile. "That's how I learned iaijutsu."
He paused, and looked down at her, and remembered something.
"Serra? How is she doing?" he asked.
"She's fine," Rinoa answered quickly. "Fine. But . . . ." Rinoa stopped, and then pulled him into another hug. "I'm just glad to see you again."
"I know," he answered, holding her tightly as well. "I'm not letting you go. Nash told me what I needed to hear. I am not letting go, and I never will. I lost you once, and I'm not losing you again."
Irvine's junctions were the only thing that had kept him alive. The intense magic of Selphie's strike would have otherwise frozen his lungs and heart and would have killed him in a matter of moments after being impaled with the ice skewers. The quick application of a couple of healing potions and the attentions of a medic kept the sharpshooter alive and had him standing in a few minutes after the rear train cars had come to a stop, but his hands kept shaking.
He had known, from the moment he remembered the Requiem's purpose, what must have happened to Selphie. He had still kept denying it, but now he had to accept the grim, bitter truth: Selphie, unwillingly, was now the enemy. And since he had only started using junctions after she had vanished, that strike with the ice spears would have been lethal to him as he was before.
Selphie would have murdered me in cold blood, without blinking.
"Damn," Irvine whispered as he leaned against the wall of the stopped train car, and SeeDs hurried about the vehicle.
"I know," Seifer muttered beside him. "And damn, she's an Elemental, too. This is real ugly."
"How is Zell doing?" Irvine asked, and Seifer shrugged.
"He's alive," he replied. "Hell, it'll take more than a direct hit to the chest from a sniper rifle to bring him down."
"Timber police found the rest of the train seventeen miles down the tracks," Quistis said as she approached. "Stopped and empty. The terrorists are gone."
"I don't think Rinoa killed the Requiem, either," Seifer added. "So, where are we now?"
"If they're still using the ShadowNet, we'll monitor communications through that, try to find out where they're operating. In the meantime, we're alerting the CITU branches and the local militaries and police forces of Galbadia, Dollet, and Timber to keep an eye out for any known terrorists, including Malachi. If they're about to use the bomb, we'll know."
"If Rinoa didn't kill the Requiem, then where is she?" Irvine asked, and Seifer grimaced.
"She'd damn well better still be alive," he muttered. "But I don't think it killed her."
"It didn't," came a call from the edge of the treeline, and the trio looked up, to see Rinoa stepping out of the tree, a bit bruised and battered but otherwise fine. And behind her came the black-clad specter of the Chimera, only this time, he wasn't wearing his hat, which allowed all present to see his face clearly, including the silver bandana running across his forehead, over-
Irvine looked like he'd been punched in the stomach by Zell on a bad day. Quistis' jaw dropped open, and she stared in shock. Seifer just simply stared, not sure how to react. Several of the SeeDs looked to their comrades' shocked expressions, glanced at the Chimera, and then did double-takes.
They saw his features, masked beneath the bandana, the long brown hair, and the short beard. They saw his scars, and the piercing eyes that still possessed all their strength and determination, despite being cybernetic replacements. In spite of everything they had heard and known, and everything they thought they knew about the man in black they had encountered before, none of them could deny that they were staring at Squall Leonhart.
Squall looked over his comrades, and managed a slight, almost tired smile.
"So," he asked, "What happened since I died?"
Garden had added a second Estharian Ragnarok-class airship to its personal air-fleet in the last year, going by the pleasant name of Reaper. That airship had arrived at the trainyard shortly after the assault, carrying a forensics and clean-up crew to check the train and the trainyard itself over, and to ferry back the strike team, as well as their unexpected extra passenger.
Thus it was that three hours later, Squall Leonhart, clad in a long black coat better suited to a long-haired angsting samurai bishonen anti-hero, with his brown hair unkept and hanging past his shoulders, and with a silvery metallic bandana running across his forehead, was seated at the head of a table in Galbadia Garden's administrative level. He was surrounded on all sides by his former comrades: Quistis, still shocked to see him alive, Irvine mimicking her expression, Seifer quietly shaking his head and chuckling in disbelief, and Zell grinning exactly like someone who had just found an old friend who he'd thought was dead - which he was. General Randolph was also seated at the table, hovering somewhere between mild surprise and nodding comprehension, and leaning against the wall, all too calmly, was Nash. Seated directly to Squall's right was Rinoa, and no one argued with her spot.
"So, you didn't die," Irvine said, shaking his head. "We never found your corpse when we searched Garden's wreckage, and now I guess I know why? But how?"
"I had to have some sense kicked into me," Squall explained with a chuckle. "I had given up, surrendering to Griever, when I should have been fighting him. And as usual, I didn't realize that until I had it smashed into my skull."
"What, Squall, oblivious to the obvious?" Seifer muttered cynically. "No! Impossible!"
"So, Nash kicked the sense into me and pulled me from the wreckage of Garden as it sank," Squall finished. "He managed to drag me back to shore. From there we made our way to Esthar, where I contacted Laguna, arranged for my eyes to be replaced, and Nash engineered this-" he tapped the metal device on his forehead "-to keep Griever under control. Incidentally, it also blocks out the same mind-controlling signals that the Requiem armor emits, keeping us both from falling under its control."
"Even with the Restrain System in place," Nash added, "Griever's mental abilities are far too strong to fully contain without serious training in focus and discipline."
"I was already disciplined enough through SeeD training, but not as much as I needed," Squall continued. "That was why I studied iajutsu. The art requires more focus and discipline than any other style, which made it easy for me to learn to control Griever."
"But why the disguise?" Quistis asked. "Why did you avoid us? You knew how to contact us, and yet you didn't. Why?"
"I couldn't learn the techniques to suppress Griever overnight," Squall answered. "It took me a long time to gain enough control over him to risk returning to anyone I cared about. That was part of the reason I adopted the Chimera disguise, so could move around fairly undetected, or at least, in a manner that kept you all from trying to locate me."
"Well, that and simple fear," Randolph cut in. "I'd imagine that the idea of having the Chimera himself after you would terrify anyone." Squall nodded.
"That was the other reason I used the Chimera's name," he explained.
"So," Zell said, "if Squall is . . . Y'know, Squall, and not the Chimera, then what happened to the real one?"
"He's still alive," Randolph answered quietly.
"How do you know?" Zell asked.
"Because I am the Chimera."
Silence filled the room as everyone stared at Randolph. The General stared back, meeting each person's gaze with his own honest expression, confirming to each and every one of them that yes, he was speaking the truth.
"Um," Quistis said. "What?"
"The-" Irvine muttered.
"Fuck?" Seifer finished. Everyone turned their attention to him, and then looked around, and the implausible exchange that had occurred, before looking back to Randolph.
"Okay, okay, wait, wait." Seifer said quickly. "Hold on a second. If you're my grandfather, then-"
"What?" Rinoa said, and her question was echoed by the rest of the group around the table.
"Not important right now," Seifer said to them. "If you're my grandfather, and the Chimera, and Squall is your descendant, does that mean . . . we're cousins?"
"Ew," Zell commented.
"No shit, Zell," Seifer added.
"No," Randolph and Nash answered at the same time. The two men glanced to one another, and Randolph nodded.
"The Chimera Project was started by Centra to create the ultimate soldier. I was the most decorated warrior in the Centran army, which was why I was chosen to be the Chimera. Once the necessary genetic augmentations were completed, the same genetic upgrades given to me were implanted within two unborn fetuses. They utilized the "super baby" method of genetic enhancement to cause one twin to have superior genetic structure and superior genes, while the second received the flawed and weaker genes. The superior baby was female, and named Raine Leonhart. The inferior one was Virago Leonhart."
"My mother was the superior one," Squall whispered, and nodded. "That explains so much, now that I think about it . . . ."
"Wait, this all happened before Centra fell," Quistis added. "How are you still alive now?"
"The gene that dictates the end of cellular mitosis and the onset of the symptoms of aging was nullified in the same genetic treatments I and the unborn fetuses received," Randolph explained. "In effect, I stopped aging once the treatments were completed. The children matured until their prime and stopped aging shortly afterward, which means that Squall's mother was in her sixties when she gave birth to him."
"So, we're not related?" Seifer asked, and Randolph shook his head.
"Genetically speaking, my bloodline and the Leonhart family's line are dominated by superior genetic structure that favors superior combat capability and inborn and innate skill at all aspects that revolve around battle. But aside from those genetic similarities, Leonhart and Almasy are not related."
"Good," Seifer said, nodding. "No inbreeding then, great."
"What?" Squall asked, and Seifer blinked, and then looked toward his old rival, suddenly seeming uncertain, a very rare occurrence for him.
"Uh, did I say that out loud?" he asked quietly, and Squall nodded.
"Yes, you did," he replied. "What did you mean by that?"
"Squall, dude," Zell said quickly, grinning, "Seifer's boning you daughter."
"What." Squall's response was not a question, but it definitely demanded an answer.
"No, I am not 'boning' Serra!" Seifer responded quickly, defensively.
"Hasn't stopped you from trying," Rinoa commented with a smirk. Squall glanced at her, and then back to Seifer.
"Rinoa, you knew about this?" he asked, and she shrugged and nodded.
"Yes, Squall, I am attracted to your daughter," Seifer said. "The ironies of the situation are not lost on me, I assure you." Seifer crossed his arms and settled back into his chair as Squall looked around the table, and the former SeeD Commander sighed.
"I go and die for a year, and look what happens," he muttered under his breath.
She was sitting in one of the park benches outside the main Galbadia Garden complex, idly watching the clouds float past, taking a break from her weapons training and studies. She looked peaceful and happy, which was not a sentiment shared by those who recognized how dire the situation was yet becoming.
Squall walked over to where Serra was sitting, and stopped next to her. She looked up at him, and started slightly, surprised to see him, but settled down when she recognized his features and remembered who he was.
"Hello," she said, a bit uncertain, and Squall knew why. Rinoa had told him that Serra knew about her parentage, so confronting her suddenly with her biological father had probably caught her off guard. He considered that maybe he shouldn't have showed up so suddenly.
"Hello, Serra," he replied with a smile and a nod.
"I heard from Seifer that you were alive," she whispered, and he nodded. "I 'm . . I was sad to hear that you died, and Rinoa told me about you and her being my parents . . . ." she trailed off, and then looked away over the park.
"I'm . . . I'm not sure what's wrong with me," she said, and Squall cocked his head to the side, not understanding.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I . . . I mean, I'm happy that you're alive, and I know that you're my father, but its just that . . . ."
"You don't have any emotional connection," Squall answered, and Serra looked up at him, surprised at how easily he had read her. "You've never known me, at least as a father, so you can't emotionally connect to me. I understand."
"You do?" she asked, and Squall nodded.
"My father, Laguna Loire, I never knew him when I grew up. I never met him as my father until I was seventeen, and up until then I had only known him as a silly soldier I'd encountered in dreams. I had a hard time reconciling the fact that he was my father with his personality and what I knew, and for a few years I felt none of that emotional connection that a child should feel for their parent. There was . . . Nothing there." Squall looked down to Serra.
"You feel the same thing toward me, I suspect. You never had any parents, and grew up on your own. I don't fault you for not feeling for me like a normal child does for normal parents; we haven't had any normal upbringing."
"I suppose you're right," Serra replied.
"But, more than anything else, I think Seifer and Rinoa have had a major role in bringing you into the world," he added. "While you may not have an emotional connection to me, you do to them, whether you realize it or not." She managed a slight smile and nodded.
"Yes, especially Seifer," she replied, looking out over the open expanses of the Garden.
"Are you two . . . ." Squall began to ask, and she managed a laugh.
"I'm not sure," she answered. "We're close, and he's protecting me like a slightly obsessed guardian angel, I think. Its interfering with his work, keeping me safe. I think that's all he really wants to do, ever since he saved me in the prison." Squall nodded.
"Strong bonds form from experiences like that," he explained. "I should know, because Rinoa . . . Your mother and I got together in similar circumstances."
"Then you think we've got the same chances as you two?" Serra asked, looking up at him, and Squall let out a chuckle of amusement.
"You two seem like you would be more stable than me and Rinoa," he said. "And you two have definitely had an easier time getting things started. It helps that you're both open with your feelings and aren't hidden behind shells like I was."
She smiled, and stood up.
"Thank you, Squall," she said, and he nodded.
"Anytime," he replied. "I may not have been able to be there to be your father, but I can still try."
While Squall's reappearance was a cause for major celebration, within a few hours the gravity of the situation they were in began to creep back into the SeeDs. His timely return had given them a needed boost, however, and when Quistis went over the initial findings from the trainyard incident, she did so with a renewed vigor, not the tired lethargy she had been feeling in the weeks previously.
While a lot of the findings were inconclusive or confirmed things that they already knew - like the savagery of Illarra while wearing the armor, judging by the shredded corpse of the trainyard's manager - they did find some intelligence regarding contacting additional cells on a few of the corpses. It seemed that Illarra had begun to collapse Crell's carefully-built terror network, mobilizing the soldiers for a major strike, which, in conjunction with the aerosol bomb, boded ill for the rest of the world.
Irvine had also confirmed that Malachi was present at the trainyard, which meant he was working with the Requiem. Since he was the ranking officer remaining in Crell's network, and the normal human terrorists were being slaughtered by their Elemental comrades, that confirmed that the Requiem was now in control of the Elemental forces of Crell's terrorists. Theyw ere still using the same resources and ShadowNet to communicate, as well, which was the only really good news, as they had pierced the network and were using it to hunt the enemy down. Irvine was particularly intent on hunting down the terrorists now; he was listening to the reports from the technicians and hackers working the ShadowNet over with an almost obsessive intensity. Quistis understood why; after the encounter on the train, the sharpshooter wanted to know something - anything - regarding Selphie.
Quistis shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking about that now, but she couldn't help herself. The idea that Selphie of all people was now an enemy agent . . . It was worse than when she thought Squall was the creature driving the Requiem armor.
As she was looking over some of the conclusions regarding the terrorists' identification - almost all of them had been posing as workers at the trainyard up until the strike - Quistis heard the sound of footsteps outside her door, moving quickly. She looked up, and saw one of the technicians open her door, a frantic look on his face that Quistis knew all too well.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, he said quickly "We just picked out and decoded an intercept on the ShadowNet. All of Crell's remaining cells have been ordered to mobilize. There were attached encrypted packets with them; we think they're specific orders for individual units."
"A major strike," Quistis whispered, nodding. "This means that they're about to release the aerosol. Do you have a location and timeframe?"
"Yes ma'am," the technician said. He looked down at the papers he was holding. "The target is Dollet, and from what they're saying . . . ."
The technician paused, and looked back up to Quistis.
"They're going to strike in the next hour."
The ocean winds carried the scent of the sea past the pair as they stood over Dollet, looking down at the city and the titanic crimson mountain that was Galbadia Garden, docked along the ports. They stared down with idle, detached interest, the little brown-haired girl's hair being played with by the wind, and the tall cloaked figure's apparel billowing in the winds as he idly rested his scythe across his shoulders.
"So," Hades commented. "We ready to move?"
"We'll wait and see how this plays out," Hyne replied, chuckling to herself. "I'm curious. I want to see who'll win out in the end. Regardless of whoever it is, we'll still turn out victorious anyway."
"Well, Alucard may pop in to cause some trouble, y'know," Hades added, but then shrugged. "But we can take him."
"Indeed," Hyne answered. "But let's just sit back and savor the carnage for now."
"Naturally," Hades finished.
The pair of malevolent Guardians looked down at the city below, and waited for the endgame to begin, for their ultimate dream; their final fantasy to unfold.
-
Oy. One of my shortest chapters - barely longer than the prologue :S But enjoyble to read.
So, yes, I did explain the Chimera's genetic history this chapter, and the final elements of the Metal Gear-style genetic background are revealed. And to perfectly clarify: Squall and Seifer are NOT related or in the same family tree. Raine and Crell got their Chimera genetic treatments while they were unborn fetuses, and that has passed down to their children; Randolph got the original enhancements and became the original Chimera.
In case anyone's confused, Nash was the one who saved Squall, both physically and mentally; he knew Squall was being controlled by Griever, which was the whole point behind that brief scene in "Griever" where he sensed the possession and started running down the hallway. Now that scene makes more sense, doesn't it:P
Until next chapter . . . .