We Don't Have Much Time Chapter 9, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Chapter 9

There's some more fighting. And there's some more back and forth stuff. Enjoy!

When they opened the door, they saw that the inside of the castle was even creepier than the outside. There were cobwebs everywhere and everything in the castle's foyer looked to be covered in dust. The once-golden candelabras were filthy and smothered in old wax. It was as if the castle had been abandoned for centuries.

"Damn," coughed Zell as he slapped a nearby chair, getting a face full of dust. "Can't she hire a housekeeper?"

Selphie rolled her eyes. "Come on Zell," she retorted. "Can you possibly think of anyone who would want to work here!"

"Quiet!" Squall ordered. He turned and looked at Ayleia. "Ayleia, does your magic work?"

She stepped forward and surveyed the room. She tried to hit one of the nearby statues with an energy ball, but it disappeared the second she conjured it. She sighed. "My magic is blocked," she told them. "Yours probably is, too, along with your GF's and anything else you may have connected to magic. For now we'll have to go with our weapons."

"For now," Quistis echoed. "Do you think there is a way for us to undo whatever it is Ultimecia has done?"

Ayleia looked at Quistis and shrugged. "It's possible. Ultimecia knows that you're here to face her, so I'm sure that she's come up with a set of tasks for you to undertake before you challenge her. That might be what unblocks the magic. The tasks may unblock everything bit by bit."

"Then let's get started!" said Selphie.

They looked around the castle carefully as they approached the nearby staircase. Near the top, they saw a huge statue that appeared to be a sphinx that was blocking the second landing. "Why is this here?" Irvine asked. "It's almost as if she doesn't want anyone to get through."

"Irvine, be quiet!" she whispered sharply. After examining it, she pulled out her urumi. "This thing is alive!"

"What?" Selphie asked. "How do you know?"

"Look carefully," Ayleia whispered. "Look at the body."

They studied the statue carefully. Squall, the first to hear the thing's slow breathing, drew his gunblade. "Get back!" he told the others.

As they started to draw back, Sphinxara leapt over them onto the main floor. Turning back toward them, it roared loudly.

"This is the first task!" Ayleia told them as she fled down the stairs.

"Are you sure," Zell asked, running after her. The others took off after them, weapons in hand.

She cut a sizeable chunk out of Sphinxara. "It has to be," she replied. "We can't go any further into the castle if we can't get past this thing."

They surrounded Sphinxara and went to work immediately. Irvine constantly loaded and reloaded Exeter as he fired off shot after shot at the beast. Ayleia threw her stiletto into Sphinxara's shoulder and slashed at it again with the urumi as Quistis lashed with Save the Queen. After Rinoa sliced it with her Shooting Star, the creature began to convulse.

As they drew back, Sphinxara tore off the mask it wore, revealing its true face. Roaring again, it took a swipe at Quistis and Selphie. As the massive paw came at them, Selphie slammed it away with Strange Vision. Zell lunged forward and slid underneath the monster to deliver several punches in its abdomen. Squall charged forward with Lion Heart and swung upward at its throat. With the final blow, Sphinxara, writhing in pain, fell to the ground and vanished.

Selphie doubled over, trying to catch her breath. "Whew," she said. "That wasn't as tough as I thought it would be."

"You're right, Selphie," said Squall. "That wasn't as intense as it should have been." He turned to Ayleia. "Can you use your magic?"

Ayleia threw an energy ball at a nearby chair, blowing it up. "Looks like my magic is unblocked now," she said. "I'm not sure what the limitations are, but we need to keep going. I'm guessing that guardians like that are all over the castle. Defeating them may be what unblocks everything."

"So once we beat them all, we can challenge Ultimecia," Irvine finished.

Quistis looked back at the staircase. "There's a door at the top of the stairs. That looks like a good place to start," she suggested.

"This castle is huge," Zell said thoughtfully. "It'll take us forever to get through here!"

"Then what do you suggest, Zell?" Selphie asked. "You think we should split up?"

Rinoa stepped forward. "I thought we agreed that it was a bad idea for us to separate," she said.

"Wait," Irvine chimed in. "Maybe splitting up isn't such a bad idea. We can cover more of this hellhole a lot faster if we split up."

Everyone looked at Squall. He was the SeeD commander, so the final decision was his to make. "Alright, first let's check out the room at the top of the stairs, after that, we'll split up," he said. "Rinoa and Ayleia will stay with me. You four will stay together. Instructor Trepe is in charge. Is that clear?"

Zell, Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine stood at attention and gave Squall a salute. "Yes sir!" they said in unison. Squall looked at them and scowled. "Alright," he said, "let's go."

They opened the door at the top of the staircase and found alarge chandelier leading to a staircase and a door on the other side of the room. "It looks like this is the only way to get across," Ayleia said.

She walked onto the chandelier, followed by Rinoa and Squall. Before Irvine could step onto it, the flimsy light fixture gave way and the trio fell to the floor below.

Selphie, Zell and Quistis rushed to the balcony and looked down to see Squall helping Rinoa to her feet as Ayleia brushed herself off. "Squall, are you guys okay," Selphie asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," he replied, looking back up at them as the chandelier went back up. "That thing isn't firmly set in place."

Ayleia looked around and saw a lever that had a cable attached to it. Following the line, she saw that it was connected to the enormous light fixture. "I think that if we pull that lever," she said, pointing to it, "it should lock the chandelier into place and they'll be able to get across."

Squall walked over to the lever and pulled it. He heard a soft click as the chandelier was secured. "Okay, Quistis," he called. "You should be able to get across. We'll split up from here. You guys can take the second floor and we'll cover things down here. We'll meet at the top of the clock tower. Be careful."

"Alright," she replied. "You be careful too."

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Squall turned to the two women with him and saw Rinoa glaring at Ayleia as she looked around the room. "Is something wrong, Rinoa?" he asked.

Ayleia turned her attention to Rinoa and Squall. "I guess we may as well get it out of the way,"she said. He looked at her questioningly. "Squall, Rinoa saw us kissing in the time wave," she told him.

"Yeah, I did," Rinoa said angrily. Squall closed his eyes and swore under his breath. She walked up to Squall and slapped him. "How could you do this?" she asked. "I thought you loved me!"

He looked at her and saw the anger and hurt in her eyes. "Rinoa, I'm sorry you had to see it, but I'm not sorry that it happened," he told her. "I do care about you, but I never said that I loved you."

"YOU CARE ABOUT ME!" she yelled. "Dammit Squall! That's all you can say after everything that's happened! You went into space to save me! You busted me out of the Sorceress Memorial! You made promises to me! I have your ring around my neck! And then SHE," she paused and pointed at Ayleia, "comes along and it's like I barely even matter to you!"

Ayleia started to interject when Squall stopped her. "Rinoa, listen," he said evenly. "I had planned to break it to you gently, but I don't have a choice now. I do have some feelings for you, but there's something more that I feel for Ayleia. I don't know what that is, but it's something that's developed since she fell out of the portal. It's an attraction that I can't and won't deny. I'm sorry that it hurts you, but that's just the way that it has to be."

Rinoa then turned her anger toward Ayleia. "I knew from the moment you landed in Laguna's office," she said. "I could see it coming from a mile away, but with everything that was going on, I couldn't do anything about it! You've wanted Squall since he pointed his gunblade at you when you fell through the portal! Why do you want to take him from me!"

Ayleia's heart was breaking for Rinoa. "Rinoa, I didn't plan this," she said. "The only thing I wanted to do was to stop Ultimecia and I knew that I would need your help to do it. Those who had tried before all failed, you saw that for yourself when we were on the beach. This was the last thing I expected to happen. I'm really sorry that you're hurting, but you have to know that not even I saw this coming. Besides, I don't even know what's going to happen to me when all of this is finished, so why would I try to take Squall from you?"

"Rinoa, please," said Squall, "this is getting us nowhere." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. The man she loved was tearing her heart out. She knew that this was the least of their problems, but she needed to say her peace before they could go any further.

"Fine," she said coldly. "You want to be with Ayleia, be my guest." She took off her necklace and gave him back his ring. "But if she disappears when this is over, don't expect me to take you back." She knew in her heart that her last statement wasn't true. She loved him, and if Ayleia's vanishing from their lives would lead Squall back to her, she would be okay with it. But one way or another, she would win him back.

"Fair enough," he said. "Can you handle going through the castle with us?" he asked her. She nodded. "I guess I'll have to," she replied.

Ayleia looked toward the middle of the floor and noticed a hatch with a broken lock. She knelt down and heard the sound of wings coming from inside. "Something's down there," she told them.

"Do you think it's another guardian?" Squall asked.

Ayleia looked at him and then to Rinoa. "Possibly," she replied. She began trying to pull the hatch open. "We won't know until we get down there."

Squall walked to the opposite side of the hatch and Rinoa took the middle part. She didn't like having to work with them, but sulking about it wasn't going to help matters. It certainly wouldn't help her get Squall back, so she decided to help out. They all fell backwards as they pulled the hatch open.

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"Something's wrong with Rinoa," Zell said as they made their way across the chandelier. "She's been acting kind of cold toward Squall and Ayleia since they came out of the time wave."

Selphie stopped. "You noticed it, too?" she asked. Zell nodded.

"We all have," Quistis said to her. "Something must have happened down there."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she caught Squall and Ayleia in a compromising moment," said Irvine. "Have you seen them together? It's like they're matched perfectly. There's definitely an attraction between the two of them."

Selphie looked at Irvine. "You really think so?"

"Well, think about it," Zell began. "She's strong, sexy, independent, passionate, and she challenges him. And did you see the way she fought with Seifer? The girl can definitely hold her own. What's there for Squall not to like?"

"I guess you're right," Quistis said as they reached the other side of the balcony. "They are perfect for each other, which is kind of sad for Rinoa."

Irvine shrugged. "Yeah, but if it makes Squall happy, then I say he should go for it. Nothing against Rinoa, but it seems like there's a new woman for Squall."

"Besides," Selphie interjected, "granted the way she looked at him when we were in Lunatic Pandora, I think that Rinoa still has feelings for Seifer."

They all stood in silence for a second, wondering what would happen if Seifer became Rinoa's knight in the end. "We gotta get going," Quistis finally said, breaking the silence. They all nodded.

Quistis opened the door to the terrace. At first she didn't see anything there, but when she looked up, she saw a flying jewel-like monster hovering above them. "FACE MY WRATH FOR SEEKING THY SEALED POWER!" it said.

Selphie swung at it with her nunchaku breaking a small piece off of the lower part of Krysta. It drew back and retaliated with a strange non-elemental attack, knocking Selphie into the door.

"Selphie, are you okay?" Irvine asked. He threw a flare spell at the swaying jewel overhead. She staggered to her feet. "I think so," she replied. She charged Strange Vision with Firaga magic and swung at Krysta with all her might. Zell jumped up and landed a strong punch with his Thundaga-charged Ehrgeiz, breaking off another piece. Quistis cast a meltdown spell and then lashed furiously with her whip. After a few more spells and several decisive strikes, the demonic jewel began spinning wildly and cast a final Ultima spell. As they stood reeling from the spell, Krysta fell to the terrace and shattered. Seconds later, their heads began to ache slightly.

"Do you feel that?" Zell asked, grabbing his head.

As they all grabbed their heads, they began to realize that the block on their GF's had been lifted.

"Ayleia was right," said Quistis. "As we destroy the guardians in the castle, all of our abilities are restored."

Irvine reached for his shotgun as the pain stopped. "If that's the case, we have to keep moving," he said. He opened the door leading back inside the castle."

As they walked down the creaky, winding staircase to the wine cellar, Squall and Rinoa stopped and grabbed their heads. "Ayleia, wait," Squall asked, wincing in pain.

She turned and looked at them with concern. "What's the matter? Rinoa, Squall, are you two okay?" she asked.

Rinoa seemed to be in more pain than Squall. "I don't know what's going on," she replied. "All of a sudden my head just started hurting."

"Mine did, too," added Squall. "What about you? Does your head hurt?"

Ayleia shook her head. "I'm fine," she said. "It may be that the others have defeated another of the guardians and maybe your GF's are unblocked now. But I'm sure that we'll know soon enough."

Rinoa stood up straight and grabbed the railing. "It's stopped hurting. It's almost like nothing happened." She looked at Squall. "What about you?" she asked. "Are you okay now?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I think that our GF's are unsealed now." He looked at Ayleia and then at Rinoa. "Let's go."

Once they made it to the bottom of the staircase, they began looking around the wine cellar for the guardian Ayleia heard from upstairs. But all that they saw were bottles and barrels of wine.

"Ayleia, maybe you were mistaken," said Rinoa. "Maybe there's nothing down here or you just heard the others crossing the chandelier. I think we should go back upstairs."

Ayleia turned and looked at her. "No. I heard something down here," she said. "It's down here, don't you hear it?"

They kept looking. "I don't hear anything. I'm going back upstairs," Rinoa replied, annoyed. She started marching back up the staircase. "Rinoa," began Squall.

As Rinoa headed back up the stairs, Ayleia and Squall heard the sound of wings above them. Their eyes wandered up to the ceiling and saw something that looked like a dragon. It had horns on both its wings and one on its nose and it was looking right at Rinoa.

"Rinoa! Get back down here!" Squall yelled as it poised itself for attack. Ayleia charged a bright red energy ball and threw it as Rinoa ducked Tri-Point's attack. The concentrated magic from its three horns culminated into a large lightening bolt that struck the railing near Rinoa's head. She screamed and ran down the stairs to Squall's side.

"Are you okay," he asked as he began summoning Shiva. She nodded and fired Shooting Star right at the horn on Tri-Point's left wing. She nicked off a small part as it reacted by throwing a lightening bolt at her feet, missing her by inches. After Shiva's chilling attack pierced Tri-Point with hundreds of ice shards, Ayleia pulled out her Sais and launched herself in full force at it, plunging her weapons into it as she flipped over it, pulling Tri-Point to the ground. Before it could get back up to fly above them again, Squall chopped off one of the wings with his gunblade. Only having two horns, the magic was too much for Tri-Point to concentrate and it overcharged itself and exploded, throwing Squall, Rinoa, and Ayleia backwards into a row of wine barrels and causing several wine bottles to shatter.

After several moments, Squall got to his feet and helped Ayleia and Rinoa to their feet. "Are you okay?" he asked them. Ayleia nodded using her newly restored healing power to repair a couple of cuts caused by flying glass shards. Noticing that Rinoa and Squall had a few cuts themselves, she healed theirs as well. Rinoa mumbled a thank you and they made their way back up to Ultimecia's Grand Hall.

While Ayleia sat in a chair that wasn't completely covered with dust and Rinoa found a sofa to sit on, Squall looked up at the staircase that lead to the chandelier, he saw that Zell, Quistis, Irvine and Selphie were walking back out of the chandelier room. He called them down to the foyer so they could regroup.