TemporalStorm

Chapter 4

Running Out of Time

Selphie had finally calmed down enough to pilot the Ragnarok back towards Balamb Garden. She was still sniffing every now and then, but knew she had to keep it together or risk killing the rest of them. Squall, Cloud, and Irvine were sitting in some seats not far behind Selphie. Each man seemed to be deep in his own thoughts. Zell had gone to the back saying he had remembered something and had yet to return. After a few more long moments of silence, Irvine finally looked at Squall.

"What are we going to do? We have to find a way to bring Quistis back. There's got to be a way. It's not like she died. She just disappeared." He said.

The last part was more aimed for Selphie who had been devastated by Quistis' disappearance.

"I don't know yet. I'm thinking about what our next course of action should be. Right now we need to regroup." Squall responded flatly.

He wanted to yell at Irvine and tell the other man he didn't know anymore than he did. He didn't have all the answers and was doing the best he could. He opted to stay quiet though. Another heavy silence fell over the small group. Nothing but the muffled roar of the engines could hear for a while. It didn't last long though as a scraping noise could be heard. It was metal on metal, but was almost like nails on a chalk board having even Selphie wanting to cover her ears in pain. After a few agonizing minutes, Zell come in dragging a ridiculously large sword behind him.

"Ugh….I don't think it could be…but is this yours, Cloud? We found it near you when we found you a couple of weeks ago." He said as he nearly dropped the Buster Sword.

Cloud stood and walked over to Zell where he could take the hilt from the other man and lifted the sword easily.

"Yeah. Thanks." He murmured as he swung the sword over his shoulder to attach it to his back.

Everyone stared at him for a moment. Zell finally voiced what everyone was thinking.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Cloud responded back.

"How did you pick it up so easily? How is it staying attached to your back like that?" he asked with wide eyes.

"It's not that heavy when you get use to it. As for how it's on my back, the metal piece is a magnet." He said with a shrug.

The others just continued to look at him for a moment. Squall was the first to shrug and look back out the window near him. Zell was about to sit down when they started to hear another strange metal on metal noise. Everyone but Selphie started to look around. She was too busy trying to figure out why the controls were starting to act funny. The airship seemed to jerk causing Cloud and Zell to fall over and slide towards the front of the ship. Squall and Irvine had been buckled in so they didn't have to worry about the sudden jerk.

"Hey, Selphie! What are you doing!?" Zell asked as he and Cloud started to get to their feet.

"I don't know. The controls are starting to act funny!" she exclaimed.

There was a metal groaning sound before the ship jerked again. Cloud grabbed on to a nearby seat to keep him from being thrown, but Zell ended up against the console of the airship.

"Ow! Get control of this thing!" Zell growled as he rubbed the back of his head.

He got into the co-pilot seat and started to see if he could help. While he was doing that, more metal groaning and scraping could be heard from the ship it's self. Cloud began to look around, feeling something off, and then spotted something odd. It was like a reddish brown rash that appeared and started to grow across the sealing of the ship.

"The ship's rusting." He said calmly.

Squall looked at Cloud having barely heard him, then looked in the direction the shorter man was looking. He saw the patch of rust spreading and quickly undid his seat belt.

"We need to abandon ship." He said.

"What?" Irvine asked as he started to undo his own seat belt.

"We need to abandon ship now!" Squall exclaimed. "Everyone get a parachute!"

Irvine ran to the back and soon returned with five parachutes. Selphie and Zell got up from where they were and quickly made their way to where the others were. By now the ship was shaking badly. Lights were going on and off as a siren sounded. Squall, Zell, and Cloud took the parachutes from Irvine and were putting them. Irvine, then turned to help Selphie get her's on. He turned and held the straps so she could slip her arms in when his hands suddenly become transparent and the parachute fell to the floor with a loud thud. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"Irvine! No! Not you too!" Selphie cried.

"Heh…Don't worry about me. Just get out of here!" he said.

Worry was on his own face as he looked down through his own hands.

"No! I'm not leaving without you!" Selphie said.

"Don't be stupid. Go on! You don't have time!" he warned her.

He looked at her and gave her one of his best grins.

"I'll be back. Squall will bring me and Quistis back." He said.

Selphie was about to protest again when Cloud grabbed her around the waist. As she kicked and screamed, he walked over to the door that Squall had now opened at the back of the ship. Making sure his grip on the girl was good, Cloud jumped from the ship, taking the kicking, screaming, and sobbing Selphie with him. He was soon followed by Zell and then Squall who stayed behind to watch Irvine completely disappear. After all, if the man had just been flickering, Squall didn't want to leave him to be incinerated in the blast from the Ragnarok crashing.

Once they were on the ground, they watched the Ragnarok hit the ground far enough away that they didn't even feel the heat from the explosion. Selphie was still crying and had taken to clinging to Squall. She had yelled and cursed at Cloud after they landed on the ground. She kicked and punched him, but got little more than some small flinches before Zell and Squall landed and she run to be comforted by their commander.

Cloud watched the three for a moment before sighing.

"Now what?" he murmured.

No one said anything as they stood their feeling lost and helpless.

VII/VIII

The sorceress looked down at her handy work. The boy was dead at her feet. His small heart having been ripped out easily by her sharp fingers. She turned to look at the three remaining children and grinned evilly. She reached out and grabbed the remaining female child by her hair and started to pull her close to her.

"Shhhh. Little one. Do not cry. You will see him again very very soon. I will send you to see your dear friend now." She purred as she caressed the child's face.

Then one quick movement later, she tore the child's throat wide open. The two remaining children screamed in complete horror. The sorceress dropped the little girl's limp body to the floor and turned to look at the remaining two. She pointed to the little blonde child who looked on the verge of pissing himself.

"You will be next, Dear One." She said with a soft chuckle.

VII/VIII

"Guys…" Selphie's voice stopped the three men ahead of her in their tracks.

It wasn't the word that had them stop so suddenly. It was the way she said it. It come out weak and almost scared. Something neither Zell nor Squall were use to from their friend. Cloud didn't know her well enough, but even he knew it seemed uncharacteristic. The three men turned and looked at her. Zell gasped as Squall moved quickly to the girl's side. She smiled sadly and waved him off. There was no reason to try and touch a person who was no longer tangible.

"Guess it's my turn now…huh?" she asked as she tried to hold back a sob.

"Don't talk like that!" Zell exclaimed.

"No. It's ok…I'll…be with Quistie and Irvine, right?" she asked.

She looked at the three men and tried to put on a brave face. Squall could see in her eyes though, she was pleading for reassurance.

"Yeah. You'll be with them until we bring you all back." Cloud answered surprising Selphie and the other two.

"P…Promise?" she asked.

He gave her a quick nod, and then tapped the side of his head.

"Rinoa says so." He affirmed.

She smiled, though tears run down her face.

"Thank you…" she managed just before she faded away.

Small wisps of multicolored light spiraled away from where she once stood. Zell stood looking stunned and terrified while Squall just looked away. Cloud turned and started in the direction they had been heading since the airship had crashed.

"We should keep moving." He said.

"W…we're next. One of us. Squall or me." Come Zell's voice.

Squall looked at Zell, then started to follow Cloud.

"Don't you get it!? We're just going to fade away!" Zell yelled after the other two men.

"You can stand there and freak out if you want, or you can keep moving and try to find a way to stop it from happening." Cloud responded in his regular monotone without missing a single step.

"It's your fault! If you'd never come and never given energy to that time witch, none of this would be happening!" Zell exclaimed.

He was on the move now, but he was moving quickly towards Cloud. Once he made it to the other blonde, he grabbed the back of his turtle neck and yanked to try and get Cloud to turn and look at him. Once he was successful, he drew back his fist and sent it careening against Cloud's face, causing him to stumble back a little. Cloud stood and wiped the small trickle of blood from his face, then glared at Zell.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Why couldn't you have stayed where ever it is you come from!? Do you spread destruction and despair everywhere you go!?" Zell exclaimed instead of answering.

Cloud seemed taken aback for a moment, then his face went back to it's regular expression.

"Yeah. I do. Now let's go." He murmured before turning and starting to walk once more.

"What!? Wait…!" Zell started.

"That's enough. This is getting us nowhere. Just drop it." Squall said in an authoritative voice.

Zell looked at him, then at Cloud before grumbling and putting his hands in his pockets. He started to follow the other two men quietly.

"I'm sorry, Cloud. I'm just…frustrated." Zell said a while later.

He'd had time to cool off and calm his nerves. Now that his head was clear of his panic, he felt a little bad for lashing out at Cloud.

"Don't worry about it. I understand. That's why I didn't fight back. I think I'd be a little out of sorts if I were going through what you are." Cloud responded without looking at Zell.

"Thanks, man. You're not a bad guy." Zell said.

After that all three men were silent again. They continued through the seemingly endless desert seemingly all lost in their own train of thoughts. It was an hour after Zell and Cloud had last spoken when they noticed something odd. The sun was moving across the sky unusually fast, setting in the west as stars started to shine brightly in almost five minutes flat. The temperature dropped dramatically, not from the setting sun, but due to an unusually quick change of season. Snow began to fall in the middle of the desert.

"What the hell!?" Zell exclaimed.

"Looks like she's toying with us. She's using her time magic again." Squall said with an almost growl like sound in his voice.

"We need to hurry. None of us are dressed for a blizzard." Cloud said as he started to run.

He wasn't sure where they were going, hadn't been since they had started moving from the crashed airship, he just hoped some shelter was close by. Squall and Zell ran quickly behind him. Squall catching up to Cloud as they made their way, or at least hoped they were, out of the desert. The snow started to rise quickly as the area was hit by a blizzard. After a few minutes it stopped abruptly, the sun rose again as quickly as it had set, and the temperatures rose, melting the snow around the three. This change in night and day and season happened again three more times. After the last time, Cloud and Squall both fell to their knees in exhaustion.

"Z...Zell…Are you alright?" Squall called back to his friend.

When he got no answer, he looked over his shoulder.

"Zell?" he asked.

All he saw was wisps flying away into the hot air. He looked back at the ground where he was knelt and slammed his fist into the cracked, parched, and ruined earth.

"We'll get them back." Cloud said as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"We find Ultimecia, we defeat her, and we'll bring them back." Squall said in agreement.

His voice was strained though as he tried to hold back his rising anger. He didn't want to get blinded by rage. It was the last thing any of them needed, especially now. He looked up when he felt someone looking at him and saw Cloud standing in front of him with a hand extended. Squall reached up to take the offered hand, when the ground under him began to shake. He started to get up as Cloud took his hand, but the ground opened up like a hungry mouth. Squall fell back into it, pulling Cloud down with him into the dark abyss. The two men's startled cry blocked out the sound of a soft distant, female chuckle.

VII/VIII

Next Chapter 5: Blue and Gray