A/N: The reception for the last chapter seemed really good, which is . . . uh, good? Haha. Anyway, I wanted to get a start on the next chapter since the last one was so short (and considering it was so short, I was surprised at the amount of interest already shown!) Anyway, here's the next chapter and thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourite the story so far.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII belongs to SquareSoft/Enix, not me.

Broken Like An Angel

EilayAdnayVolieay

Chapter Two - Awakening

"Now I want you ALL to be on your best behaviour. As you all know, for many years this place was not open to any visitors. Very recently, when there seemed to be no threat of another Sorceress on the horizon, the Esthar government opened the doors to the Sorceress Memorial. We are one of the first outsiders to be permitted inside. Please don't make them regret allowing us here!" Quistis said to her class. There was the odd grumbling in the crowd of students but most remained silent.

"Yo, Squall — isn't this amazing? Man, just LOOK at this place!" Zell Dincht, an overeager martial art's specialist student, exclaimed. Squall rolled his eyes. The place wasn't that interesting. Why did he want to know about past sorceresses? The only ones that mattered were the ones he might have to face when he finally became a SeeD.

"Try not to wet yourself, Dincht. We're a long way from Balamb." Squall's eyes narrowed as his rival, Seifer Almasy, stepped forward with a smirk on his face.

"...THE HELL, MAN?! You got a problem with me!?" Zell asked, clenching his fists and glaring at Seifer. Squall sighed.

"Leave it alone, Zell." He said, before walking away. If Zell got angry and started fighting Seifer, he didn't want to be around.

The students weren't supposed to wander away from the group, but Squall found himself unable to stop. The place was more interesting than he had originally expected, even if he hated to admit it. It was eerie, thinking that there were several Sorceresses trapped in eternal sleep. If the Esthar technology hadn't been as good as it was, they would have all been in a lot of trouble.

Squall froze as he heard footsteps from somewhere around him. Was his absence noticed by their instructor? If so, she'd be furious at him for wandering away from the class.

He came up to one of the memorials and saw that it was empty; there was no Sorceress there. Confused, he looked down at the engraved plaque in front of it.

Here lies a descendant of Hyne, who willingly came to the memorial to save herself from the evil powers coursing through her body. She was the last Sorceress to be brought here, reinforcing the theory that Sorceresses are direct descendants from Hyne and can only be created from the present Sorceress passing on her powers. Any others that have existed have never been found.

Squall frowned and read the plaque over again, repeatedly. A Sorceress that had turned herself in? That seemed . . . very strange. Never in all of his lessons at Balamb Garden had he ever heard of such a Sorceress existing. They never discussed the last known Sorceress, and the plaque mentioned no name like the others. Why? Did they believe that since this Sorceress had turned herself in, she deserved that privacy? I wonder if any of the Instructors at Garden have even heard of this. It seems odd they wouldn't teach us it if they did.

He heard the footsteps and turned around, looking for the source of them. They grew muffled; then stopped completely.

"Hello?" He called out — feeling a little stupid as he did so.

It was then that he saw her. A young girl dressed in blue was stumbling through the halls. She was very wobbly on her feet and Squall took a step forward. All the colour was completely drained from her face.

"Yo, Squall! Where have you been? Man, Instructor Trepe asked where you were and I had to say you went looking for the washr— ohhhh . . . " Zell stopped next to Squall and acknowledged the girl stumbling in front of them. "You were meeting your girlfriend. Gee, I ah, didn't know you were the romantic type. Whoa . . . is she okay?" Zell asked, as she suddenly closed her eyes and began falling forward. Squall quickly moved in front of her and caught her before she hit the ground.

—

"She's not a part of this class, Zell. What do you want me to do? She's probably from here, we can't take her all the way back to Balamb with us." Quistis explained, taking her glasses off and cleaning them.

Squall had told Zell to go find their Instructor while he watched the girl he now held in his arms. It was more than a little awkward, particularly when the other students stared. I should have just let her hit the ground. Squall thought bitterly. The last thing he needed was another "Zell" going on about his new girlfriend and how cute she apparently was. Whatever.

"I know, Instructor, but she's out cold and there's no one else but us here!" That was the odd part of this whole arrangement. They had received an invitation to come to the Sorceress Memorial, only when they arrived, there was no staff inside. The guards outside of the memorial had left immediately after they arrived.

"Why don't we take her to Esthar?" Squall said after a moment. "We're close enough; we can take her to their hospital and let them sort it out." Quistis nodded, smiling momentarily.

"Fine. We'll do that. It's late, anyway — I doubt we'll make it to Fisherman's Horizon before dark anyway. I suppose we can't continue on the tour, if she's —"

"Instructor, why don't you just send a small group of students back? Esthar's not that far — the monsters are no match for us!" Zell exclaimed, punching at the air.

"Fine. Zell, you and Squall were the ones who found her; you can take her." Quistis examined the other students gathered around her. "Selphie, Seifer;" She called out. The two students looked up at her. "I want you both to accompany Zell and Squall back to Esthar."

"WHAT!?" Seifer shouted. "I have to go with puberty boy over there," he pointed at Squall, who ignored the comment, "—and the chickenwuss?"

"WHAT DID YOU . . . " Zell turned red with anger and embarrassment, but their instructor cut him off with an icy glance.

"Of course, should you refuse, I'm sure the Headmaster would love to know why a student training to be a SeeD would pass up an opportunity at training — after all, if you stay here, we'll be taking the bus back to Esthar. With this group, you'll get to walk and battle monsters." Quistis smiled as she saw Seifer give up and turn to the others.

"Whatever. But I am not babysitting any of you!" He warned them. Squall rolled his eyes and situated the girl so that she was on his back instead. It would be much easier to carry her that way.

"Hi!" A teenage girl bounced up in front of him, smiling. "I'm Selphie." Squall nodded curtly before continuing to walk. He noticed Selphie throw a confused glance at Zell who shrugged his shoulders. She attempted to introduce herself to Seifer, who didn't even pretend to smile. She glared at him and when his back was turned, stuck her tongue out at him.

"Now, lets get this clear." Seifer said, suddenly stopping in front of them. "I am the leader of this squad —"

"...what squad?" Zell whispered, causing Selphie to giggle. Seifer threw an annoyed glare in his direction.

"— and I'll lead the way. If anyone has any problems, they can make it to Esthar City on their own." He grinned at Squall, waiting for him to object. When he didn't, Seifer started leading them towards the city.

...this is going to be a long trip.

—

"If you see this young girl, please do not be fooled by her appearance. Rinoa Heartilly is in fact a dangerous Sorceress among us and must be stopped before she is lost in her desire for power. Do not attempt to go near her, but please report any appearances to the officials. Remember never to travel alone, and be sure that young children are kept inside at all times."

Rinoa frowned and turned off the radio, burying her face in her hands. What was she going to do? Everyone thought she was a monster . . . all because of her. The Sorceress Ultimecia.

It had started out as nothing more than a quiet humming in the back of her mind. The blackouts had prevented her from realizing what Ultimecia had been doing while Rinoa was unaware. Eventually, Rinoa was able to control the blackouts and prevent them from happening. That was when she realized she was being controlled.

"Who are you?" She had thought. The voice in her mind answered, sounding amused.

"Names are not important."

"Why are you doing this?" She heard high pitched laughter in her head and cringed.

"The question is, why aren't you? You're a Sorceress — you might try acting like one!"

That had been the end of all conversations that night between the two — and, despite her best efforts, Rinoa was unable to regain control over her body's actions while this other voice — this Ultimecia — was awake in her mind.

Rinoa found herself raising her hand and muttering words she did not understand, before opening her eyes and seeing she had been transported out of Deling to a small town protected by soldiers.

"Why are we here?" Rinoa asked in her head. The other voice, though she knew it was there, ignored her. It guided Rinoa forward into the town.

"Halt!" One of the guards cried. "This town is not open to any visitors — please, leave." Rinoa felt the corners of her mouth lifting up into a smirk, and her eyes narrow.

"Come now," She said in a voice that sounded much more melodic than her own. "Surely you wouldn't turn away a poor, lost young girl? I'm only looking for somewhere to stay for the night — it's dangerous out." The guard seemed to be thinking over what she had said. Rinoa tried to open her mouth and form her own words, tell him not to listen . . . but even if she had been successful, he would have thought her insane and sent her to the nearest hospital.

"I suppose it would be . . . fine. For now. But you have to talk to the mayor of our town first thing in the morning. Come on, I'm sure the hotel will have a room for you . . . they haven't had any business since this whole Sorceress business started up again . . . "

That had been the town of Winhill's first mistake.

A/N: So the end of this chapter was just sort of . . . Rinoa's current state. She's remembering all of this while Squall and the others are taking her to Esthar, annnnd I realize Ultimecia's speech probably isn't typed the way she actually . . . talked . . . but I haven't played the end of the game for awhile (heh, for those who read Addicted and saw my authors note where I still hadn't finished the game — yes, I have now.) And didn't feel like looking up the end of the game script to do it. So lets just say, for the sake of this story, Ultimecia talks a lot more normally at this stage because she hasn't completely lost her mind yet. And when it wasn't in italics, that was Rinoa and Ultimecia conversing in her head. I tried to make that clear, but just in case there was confusion . . .

Also, to clear up some confusion — Rinoa is basically replacing Adel. As far as I know (at this point), Adel will not be mentioned in this story. Instead, Rinoa will be the Sorceress that was around that time, and events will . . . progress from there. I have to be careful of my phrasing to prevent myself from giving too much away, hehe.