Woohoo new chapter! And i didnt wait too long to finish this one either... no long like 5 month wait for you all to suffer over. Well here's chapter dun dun duuuun! 13 Mwahahahaaaa lol. Well enjoy!


The words had no sooner left Max's mouth than the entire group was on their way to the Sorceress Memorial on the Ragnarok. Selphie sat in the pilot's seat with Irvine next to her. She was not smiling at all. Squall continued to pace around in the conference room as Max looked on, hoping to help him find the answer he was looking for. Zell, as usual, practiced his air punches in the main cargo hold while Quistis mulled over the reports they had just gotten in from Laguna. It seemed like bad things were happening in Esthar.

"Squall." Said Max. "I don't know how well this will work. There's a high chance Rinoa may never come back"

Squall stopped pacing and turned toward the large window.

"I figured that." He said not looking back at Max. "But it's pretty much the only chance I have right now, isn't it?"

It was true, either way it was a high-risk game that they had to hope would work out. Trying to defeat Ultemicia without Rinoa would almost be suicide, but if they couldn't revive her, what else could they do? Something bothered Max, however, if Ultemicia truly wanted to, she could have used Rinoa's body to draw at least twice the amount of power she had now. Unless…

"Squall! We have to resurrect Rinoa to beat Ultemicia. If we don't, then there is no chance for us to succeed."

Why hadn't he thought of it before? Max mentally slapped himself for missing such a possibility. He had to tell everyone about this before arriving in Esthar.

"Hey Squall, tell everyone to meet on the bridge for an emergency meeting."

Max rose and began to walk from the room.

"What's going on?" Asked Squall.

"Don't worry about it until everyone is on the bridge." He continued to walk out the door and down the hall.

It was only five minutes later that he and everyone were on the bridge awaiting his news eagerly, but with worry. The room immediately grew silent as Max sighed.

"I unfortunately have some bad news." He paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. "Ultemicia has drained Rinoa of her sorceress powers and is now probably two, if not three, times stronger than when you fought her."

Once again… complete silence.

"She is probably gathering strength right now in order to further her plans. That includes another Lunar Cry, so we might not have as much time as I thought in reviving Rinoa… if we even can. I will need all of your strength to accomplish that."

"What does that entail exactly?" Spoke Quistis.

He had hoped she would not ask until they got there, but if he had to tell them, now would be the best time. It was a long and complicated ritual to describe and the specifics were something Max himself didn't want to think about just yet. However, he had to tell them the basics at least.

"It involves… removing part of your soul. More like your memories, and inserting them into Rinoa's heart. It requires a lot of magic and will power to perform, both of which I may need help with during the process."

Max took out a small blue crystal and placed it on the floor of the bridge. Placing his hand over it as he stood it began to spin and glow.

"Orior oriri ortus ops recro unus quisnam est absentis!"

The crystal began to spin faster and faster for the next few second until it stopped suddenly and released a small orb into the center of the room. Everyone looked on as it leisurely rose up and out of the ship. It then flew in the direction of Esthar with much more speed than the Ragnarok could ever manage.

"That," Sighed Max. "was the spell to begin the resurrection process. It won't be ready until we get there."

This ritual would require so much from the people Max had only recently met and befriended. How could they risk their lives like this? They did not even know him or much of his past, so how could they trust him this much? It hurt Max's mind as he mulled over it again and again. This whole situation made no sense to him. Maybe, he thought, he was not trusting enough or they were far too trusting of others. Either way, they had accepted him and he had to live with that fact no matter how unfortunate it was. Things needed to be done before the ritual and Max knew they had little time to do them.

"Max." Came Squall's voice as he broke from his thoughts. "I want to be there with you when you start the ritual. I can't stand being in the background while all this is going on."

"Sure Squall, I think Rinoa would be much happier to see you when she wakes up than me. I want you to be absolutely certain that, all of you, want to do this. It could be dangerous for everyone and I'll be the first to tell you, you all could die from it."

They nodded in agreement. Rinoa was "one of them" and everyone refused to let her life end like this, forever encased in a mechanical shell for the world to see. It pained Max to see such devotion for a friend; he had never known anyone like these people… so caring for one of their friends. A life wrought with pain, despair and loneliness was all Max ever knew. Maybe with these new friends, his life could turn out better. Maybe just once, he could find some kind of happiness. Working for Ultemicia wasn't a joyous thing, after all, hearing about the destruction of the world over and over gets a little annoying.

"-ax, Max!" Shouted Zell. "Hey buddy wake up! We're almost to Esthar."

Max shook his head, which did nothing but disorient him more, and stood looking out at, what he hopped, was Esthar. This would be a hard and excruciating experience for himself and his new friends. Hopefully, they would be able to revive Rinoa and stop Ultemicia's insane plan. Max stared off into the distance and sighed once again.

'I'm coming mother.' He thought. 'Things have turned out oddly for both of us haven't they?'


Interesting turn of evens huh? I think i might just end this story around... say maybe 20 chapters. who knows. After this story i dont know if i can com up with any new ideas! lol! Well i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i did writing it! Vincent Sekod