Note : I tried to keep this as straight forward and simple as I could. I hope it didn't turn out too confusing (in the Esthar part).
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(Miko's House, Flower Field, Kapri's POV)
As we headed to the small, rundown orphanage, I felt a smile come to my lips. Even with this new, painful change, they still trusted me and wanted to be around me. They weren't mad, or disgusted. They still cared.
And this place, I could almost see children living here so happily and peacefully. It had that kind of atmosphere. Even with as ruined as it was, it still radiated love and happiness.
Shane led me to a small side area, and seeing what was there, I gasped as my eyes went wide.
It was the flower field.
The one from my dream, so long ago.
The one where the 'other' me stood, with flower petals swirling all around me as the voice spoke to me.
The flowers were healthy and vibrant, shining full of life, even on a cloudy day, such as this. The sky was dark, full of clouds, but there were breaks where faint rays of sun could pierce through, shining down on the field below. A gentle wind blew by, moving the grass and flowers slightly and stirring up loose flower petals into the air.
"Ahh, this is good. This is very good." Hunter stated easily, staring right at Shane and me.
Shane looked completely lost as he turned to the gunslinger. "What...?"
Pointing to his cheek, he sighed, and then pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and pointed to a bruise. "You see this bruise? I had to put up with a beating from Kapri for you."
I winced and felt my cheeks heat up as Shane looked at me in confusion.
"So seeing you two together makes it all worth it." he finished with a grin.
"Sorry, Hunter." I stated sheepishly, wincing again at the bruise on his arm before he pulled his sleeve back down.
He shrugged and kept on grinning. "Hey, it's ok. Anyway, I'll leave you two alone." Waving, he headed out of the flower field, Angelo following him.
Dustin jumped a little and his eyes went wide. "...Oh! ...Sorry." He grunted a little, rubbing the back of his head.
"About what?" Shane asked cluelessly.
"I'm sure you want to be alone with her. So Shane...I never imagined you as the roman-ah, you know." he stuttered nervously as Shane blushed and glared at him. Shaking his head, he gave a nod and ran off.
"Hmm...I don't get it." Marah stated curiously. "How in the world did you two end up together? You're both polar opposites! I never imagined Kapri's straight forward approach would work." Shrugging, she giggled. "Well, I'm glad I was wrong."
"What about you, Marah?" I asked with my own grin.
"I just like being surrounded by my friends." she stated easily before turning and running out of the flower field.
"This place is beautiful." Tori sighed whistfully, staring out over the miles of flowers in every direction.
Shane nodded and sighed as his eyes softened. "Yeah, it is... I completely forgot it was here."
"Kapri forces herself into your world, no matter how many walls you put up, Shane." she stated wisely, kneeling down to pick a dark blue lily. "I knew I couldn't compete with her." There was no anger in her voice, but an audible longing. "The only question was, would you make a place for her...? You did. Pretty quickly, too."
"Who knows..." I stated quietly, feeling a little unnerved by how easily she was talking about all this. From the look in her eyes, I could tell there was someone she felt the same way for, but her hope for them had dimmed a lot.
"You've changed, Shane, and it's a good change. We owe Kapri for that." she added with a soft smile, smelling the flower she held as a stray, faint beam of sunlight hit it, making it almost glow a slight navy. "It's like Kapri's the only one on your mind." she laughed a little. "Good thing this came after the SeeD exam. I'll leave you two alone, now." Waving a little, she bent down and picked a light blue daisey before turning and walking off with the flowers, a small smile on her face.
Turning back to the field of flowers, I knelt down and ran my hand along the petals of a light red rose bush next to me, recaling faintly, the Shane I knew as the Red Ranger. So much has happened to me. I thought sadly. What's going to happen next? Will I be forced to leave? Allowed to stay? I'd fallen for this Shane, and I knew he'd fallen for me, but I was almost afraid of loosing that love.
I knew exactly how he felt because I was sincerely afraid of loosing the newly found comfort of wonderful friends and an amazing love. "What's to become of me?" I asked out loud as I picked a single blooming rose and held it tightly.
"Don't worry about it. There's plenty of good sorceress' out there. Miko was one..." Shane stated as comfortingly as he could.
Jumping a little, I looked at him in surprise, not expecting him to even hear what I'd said. But then, I hadn't realized I'd said it out loud. Giving his words some thought, I stood up straight and sighed. "But Miko's still... I can't guarantee anything, either, if Ultimecia possesses me again. You saw me, what I did in space. What might happen next time? What might I end up doing? Will I end up fighting everyone? ...Scary thought, isn't it?" I giggled nervously.
Shane remained quiet, but I could see the protectiveness in his eyes and after a moment, he gave a small smile. "Kapri... Even if you end up the world's enemy, I'll..." He hesitated and turned a deep red. "I'll be your knight."
Looking to the rose, I thought about Blake, and wondered absently if maybe, a similar thought was on his mind when he first faced Sorceress Miko. It was the 'Matron' they all knew and loved, only it wasn't. Even possessed, did he love her enough, as a mother, to become her loyal knight? I allowed myself a smal smile as I walked up to Shane and gave him a light kiss. "Thank you." I whispered against his lips before pulling back and sighing.
"If I fall under Ultimecia's control again... If I end up fighting everyone... SeeD will come to kill me, right? That's what you were trained to do. It'll be Shane's blade that pierces my heart..." I felt a tear roll down my cheek and smiled at the irony of it all. "I guess it's all right, if it's you, Shane. But only you... Shane, is that ever happens..."
"That's enough!" he snapped, making me jump in surprise. When I spun to face him, I could see the tears in his eyes as he gave me a half-hearted glare. "I'll never do anything like that. The sorceress I'm after isn't you, Kapri." He stated more calmly after taking a deep breath. "It's Ultimecia."
"Ultimecia lives in the future, Shane." I pointed out softly. "She uses my body as an extension into this world. How? How will you save me?"
"I'll think of something." he responded surely.
"I true you..." I said after a moment. "But until then, maybe... Maybe I should stay in Esthar, at the Sorceress Memorial? Wouldn't it be safer?"
He shook his head and snorted a little with a roll of his eyes. "No, it'll just be a waste of time. I'll only end up coming after you, again. Kapri, just stay close to me."
"Oh!" I giggled, recalling when he first said those words to me in Gabadia, right before the Sorceress Assasination attempt. "Those words!"
"What?" he asked in confusion.
I giggled some more and shook my head. "That's what started all this." I stated once I'd calmed down.
"What are you talking about?"
Blinking, I stared into his confused face and felt my eyes narrow. "You don't remember?" I asked suspiciously.
There was a twinkle in his eyes, but his face remained impassive as he shook his head. "Remember what?"
"Oh, just forget it!" I cried in mock irritation.
He grinned and chuckled a little. "Feeling better?"
Nodding a little, I turned and looked out over all the wild flowers. "Yeah. Can I tell you a story?" Looking over my shoulder, I saw him nod and took a deep breath. "I had a dream. It was an odd, but kinda scary dream." Well, it was a lot of things. "We make a promise. We promise to see shooting stars together." Was that it?
"I get dressed up and put on your ring, but the thing is...the scary thing, is that I can't remember where I'm supposed to meet you." Frowning, I bit my lip and felt my eyes narrow. "I start to panic. I really want to meet you, Shane, but I don't know where to go. I start running. I run through the mountains, desert, the plains... Through Timber, Balamb and Galbadia, but I can't find you! When my legs finally give out, I... I just want to see you so badly! So I scream "Shane! Where are you?!" Then, I woke up. Iwas crying."
Feeling my face heat up, I turned to find him looking deep in thought and looked to the ground in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you."
"It was just a dream..." He muttered quietly, looking at me after a moment. "It doesn't mean anything. Don't worry about it."
Frowning, I nodded hesitantly. "...I guess you're right."
"How about this...?"
Watching him carefully, I noticed as he looked around and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and looking at me with a small smile.
"I'll be here..."
I bit my lip as a powerful sense of deja vu came over me. "Why...?"
"The reason you couldn't find me is because we haven't promised yet." He looked at me with a thoughtful look. "I'll be waiting here..."
"For what...?" I knew what was coming, but felt myself playing along without really thinking about it. I grinned a little when he raised an eyebrow, but was thankful when he just shook his head and continued.
He looked to the sky and sighed with an almost peaceful smile. "I'll be waiting here, for you. So, if you come here, you'll find me. I promise."
Just like in my dream... "Alright!" I stated cheerfully, with a grin. "Then it's a promise! Thank you, Shane. We'll meet for sure, next time."
Suddenly, Dustin rushed in with a confused and excited expression on his face. Seeing us, he stopped and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Whoa! Sorry!" Shaking his head, he stared at Shane. "We just got a call from Esthar's Presidential Palace. They got a plan to defeat Ultimecia and want to hire us."
Frowning, Shane looked at me with that protective glint in his eyes. "Could be a trap to get Kapri back in Esthar."
Dustin shook his head. "Oh, and ah...the guy we spoke to, his name's Zack. You think it would be...that Zack?"
"Zack's in Esthar?" He kept frowning and looked at the flowers before bending to pick a beautiful violet tulip. "...Alright. Let's go." He stated with a nod, walking over to me and sliding the tulip into my hair, over my ear. "Even if it's a trap, they're not getting you back." he stated surely before taking my hand and leading me out of the field.
(Esthar, Shane's POV)
If I thought it was bad before, I felt my heart plummet at the sight before me. The amazing, technologically advanced city of Esthar was filled with raging monsters, everywhere. Elvorets ran wild, tormenting some guards, along with every other kind of monster we'd ever faced.
I guess they got the brunt of the monster invasion, despite whatever security measures they had.
The Lifters were off-line because it was simply too easy for monsters to take advantage of the small space to kill us. That, and the fact that there was pressure running through that could change to a deadly force in a matter of moments.
That didn't seem to stop the odd guard from running through as a shortcut, however.
It seemed that the cars were also out of order. Apparently, something was messing with the rental units, making it so that their engines acted in rather random ways. Most wouldn't work, but I watched helplessly as one would start and zoom off, out of contro, down the street and into a building, or the engine exploded on others.
If I had to guess, I'd say the little purple imps with red eyes, running around, had something to do with it.
We by passed most of the city, helping out anyone in need along the way and speaking to randome people as we went, looking for some information.
"There's too many of 'em..."
"Poor man, he's been traumatized."
"He he he. Mua-ha-ha-ha!" one man laughed nervously, as if he had no control over it.
"W-What're we gonna do?!"
"Come on! You want some of this?!"
Eventually, we made it to the Presidential Palace and the guards let us in immediately. Making our way to the designated meeting spot, I felt my eyes widen when I saw two men in Esthar robes, and a third standing with his back to us, looking out a window.
One robed man was black, with black eyes and a knowing grin on his face, twin daggers sitting at his hips.
The other was fair complexioned with brown eyes and brown hair. The same man from the Sorceress Memorial, and on his back sat a giant spear.
The last man was dressed in a beige shirt with black jeans and he had short, spike brown hair, and an old gun sat on the desk.
All three of them men were easily in their late 30's to early 40's.
Zack...and Jason. Feeling my eyebrow raise, I finally figured out how I knew who he was. Turning to the third man, I felt a grin tug at my lips as we approached. And that's probably...
The floor turned transparent and I stopped cold, being startled and briefly thinking we were about to fall, but we still stood on solid ground and I straightened up, waiting patently as Jason walked over to the third man and made a gesture. What is up with this country?
"Oh, sure." The man turned around to show an older version of Tommy with short, spiked hair and wire-rimmed glasses on his face, but he still seemed to have that absent-minded nature about him. Waving briefly, he nodded and smiled. "Hey there. Been waiting to meet you guys. You guys were the ones who were inside my head, right? Kelly told me. It was like there was some kind of waves running through my head..."
He still likes to talk. I thought as I barely managed to keep from rolling my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, Kapri barely concealing her laughter at his ramblings.
"They gave us so much power during battles. We thought they were some kind of faeries flying over us." Shaking his head, he grinned wryly. "So, I'm Tommy. President Thomas Oliver of Esthar. Pleased to meet ya. If we weren't in such a state of emergency, I'd love to talk some more..."
And talk, and talk, and talk... I thought as I nodded absently. And probably talk some more!
"But, well... Whatever! Let's talk. So, what'cha want to know?"
Zack groaned and shook his head. "You'll never get going if President Tommy keeps talking. So why don't you guys throw out some questions, and we'll try to answer them."
Looking at me, Tommy grinned and shook his head. "Man, you look way too serious!"
"Whatever." I mumbled, thinking of something to ask. "Where's Kelly?"
Nodding a little, Tommy closed his eyes. "What has he done with his life? You might ask. When Kelly was 2, there was a massive hunt for girls in Esthar. Esthar soldiers came to WinHill and Kel's parents resisted. They were killed on the spot."
A jolt of pain ran through me and I watched as he winced as well. At that age, Kelly must've been so confused and scared, not having any idea what was going on, or why those men were attacking her parents.
"The massive hunt was to find a successor to the ruler of Esthar, Sorceress Adel. Kelly was raised by Kat, who lived next door, and I came to know her. Then, there was another massive hunt for a successor in Esthar, once again. Kel was taken away, even though I was there... It was one of the most painful moments in my life. So I rescued her and sent her off to WinHill, and shortly after that, Kat died. And Kelly was sent straight to an orphanage."
Matron's orphanage, where we got to know her. "Why didn't you go back with her?"
"I wanted to!" he snapped, before sighing and shaking his head. "But...I have my reasons. I found out about this afterwards, but... The reason Kelly had to leave the orphanage was because of her special power. Doc Odine wanted to research her abilities and sent Esthar soldiers all over the world to find her. The owners, Kanoi and Miko Watanabi, had Kel removed from the orphanage to protect her."
I nodded as I recalled the car that drove Kelly to the beach, where the ship, that I now knew became the base for the White SeeDs, took her even farther away.
"They prepared a big ship to accomodate her, gracious, huh? After a while, the ship turned into another orphanage and Kelly helped take care of all the children. She said her life on the ship was a happy one, but who knows...? I don't know how she could've been happy on a ship..."
She had a family, and friends. I thought with a small smile. And she was the kind of person who'd make the best of everything.
"She was on that ship for over 10 years." Tommy said with a sigh as he leaned against the desk. "The ship was recently attacked by Galbadia, and rescued by an Esthar ship. That's when we met up again."
I felt my eyes widen. That's why she was smiling when she jumped off the White SeeD ship! What it was she called... I bet it was 'Uncle Tommy!'.
"It was pure luck that we found her. I was out in space at that time. Kelly followed me. Little Kel's all grown up..." His eyes grew teary and he smiled warmly. "Then she told me everything."
Out in space? So...he must've been the one who told me to look after Kelly! I felt myself wince a little at the thought that something might've happened to Kelly. "Did she return safely, from space?"
He frowned and het his head fall to his chest. "Our rescue team was a little late. Kelly was taken into custody by Galbadia. She's inside Lunatic Pandora, but we're gonna rescue her. Help us out, ok?"
I nodded a little. "And exactly what're you doing here?"
"You've been inside my head. You should know pretty much what my life's been like." he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
Frowning, I lowered my head and closed my eyes, recalling everything we'd been through. "You were a silly Galbadian soldier. I didn't like your attitude one bit, but... I understood the bond between you three. Then, you went to WinHill and everything changed. Kelly was abducted by Esthar and you went on a journey to save her. You wrote articles and appeared in movies just to get by. You were trying to find a way to get into Esthar. You somehow got into Esthar and rescued Kelly."
"I had a lot of help along the way." he stated softly.
"What I don't understand is... Why're you the President?" Actually, more of 'How did a moron like you become President?'.
"Well, you know I came to rescue Kelly, but that's not the end of my story. Esthar was a country controlled by Sorceress Adel, along with the ingenious, but inhumane Doc Odine. Both of them were interested in Kelly. We couldn't just pack up and leave."
"Doc Odine was only interested in his research. But, while researching under Adel's orders, he made many inventions. One was to deal magic. Maybe, there was a way to defeat Adel. I owed a big favor to the Adel Resistence group who helped me find Kelly. I spoke with my comrads, and two issues came up." He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face wearily.
"First... Stopping the crystal pillar from calling monsters from the moon, and destroying everything, like what happened in Centra. Second...Freeing Esthar from Adel's rule. It took us a long time to plan, even with my brilliant ideas. After a while, we managed to convince Doc Odine to show us how to operate the controls to move Lunatic Pandora, and boom! Set the controls with the stop point in the ocean and it was over. That was easy, but..."
He glanced briefly at Zack and Jason and smirked a little. "We were found out. So, we gathered for one final battle, to lure Adel out. We set up the sealing device and waited for her arrival. I even mentioned Kelly for insurance, knowing she'd enter without a second thought once I did so. And she did."
He explained that it was too dangerous to keep such a dangerous sorceress around, so they decided to send her into space, where it would be nearly impossible for someone to get to her. Tommy also told us that the Ragnarok had two other, identical ships that helped it carry her tomb into space, 17 years ago.
It only served to make me realize just how lucky Kapri and I had been that it had survived and we'd found it.
Tommy then began to chuckle dryly as he told us a story about how they had all kinds of debates on who should be the new ruler of Esthar. Apparently, because he'd zoned out and wasn't paying attention, he'd failed to realize when everyone began to make him out to be some amazing hero. He was chosen to be the new President. He explained about how awefule he felt that Kat had died, and how Kelly had been sent to an orphanage, presumably gone missing, and how his work kept him so busy and his mind so full, before he'd realized it, so much time had passed.
"Well, that's about it."
"Alright. Tell me about this plan to defeat Ultimecia."
"Ahh, straight to the heart of the matter. Just like a workaholic SeeD." Tommy stated with a grin.
"Iz it my turn?"
Turning my head, I watched warily as Doc Odine came rushing into the room. Tommy gave him a glare before sighing and nodding.
"Yeah. Make it short and easy to understand."
"I will take however I vant!" Odine spat at him angrily. Turning to us, he nodded. "Erg, Sorceress Miko told me everything. Sorceress Ultimecia comes from ze future to possess ze sorceress of ze present. Meaning, she leaves her body in ze future and sends only her consciousness back. Does zat sound familiar to you?"
I nodded slowly. "Like how Kelly can send our consciousness' back into the past."
He nodded again. "You are a smart one!" Taking a deep breath, Odine began to explain how everyone thought that it was because of a person in the future who had the same power as Kelly did, to send Ultimecia back, but in truth, it was him. Not him in person, but a machine he built due to all his research on Kelly's powers. pparently, he had a machine made up already, but it was just a 'toy' as he called it, but in the future, it would become an impressive machine.
It was sickening at how excited he got over realizing that our world was in danger because a crazy, psychopathic sorceress from the future found one of his 'toys'. You'd think he realized that if we died, he died, and all his inventions would be in vain, but no. He was all too happy to know that Ultimecia was using one of his creations.
"So Ultimecia became aware of our time due to a machine this psycho made?" I questioned Tommy, pointing to the giddy scientist.
"The Nutty Professor...brought to life." Kapri muttered with a weirded out face.
Tommy nodded and sighed. "Yeah but you can't blame him. It's pointless."
"You vant to go outside?!" Odine snarled at Tommy, raising his hands and bouncing around in an odd display, seeing as how he was so short. "You vant to fisticuffs?!" Nodding after a moment, he turned back to me. "Ok, we can continue with ze story."
Odine explained that the only way to truly kill Ultimecia was to kill her in the future. He went on about how it wasn't possible under normal circumstances, but because of her wanting to compress time, that we could use that to our advantage. Of course, he detoured a lot, going on about why she wanted to compress time and that there was probably many reasons, but he eventually got back on target, when Tommy picked up his gun and aimed it at him with a glare.
"Ultimecia probably needs to go further back into ze past, to achieve Time Compression, which iz why she desperately seeks Kelly. Only Kelly can take her further back. We must take advantage of Kelly's power. There are two sorceress' in our time, Sorceress Kapri and Sorceress Adel. Of ze two, Adel has not awakened yet. Ultimecia will vant to possess Adel, if she wakes up. Zat will be a horrible event!" Indeed, his face paled considerably. "Adel iz horrible sorceress!"
He nodded slowly in Kapri's direction before continuing. "So we must use Sorceress Kapri to inherit Sorceress Ultimecia's power. Zat iz all for ze mission briefing."
Tommy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Bluntly put... Kelly's being held in Lunatic Pandora. Rescue her first. Then kill Sorceress Adel. Sorceress Ultimecia will use Kapri's body to begin Time Compression. With Kelly there, we can use her power to send Kapri and Ultimecia into the past, sending them into Miko or Adel, that is up to Kelly.. Once Kelly feels the effects of the Time Compression, she will cut them off from the past, sending them back to their own times."
I nodded as I watched Kapri's face turn pale at hearing that she had to be possessed again.
"Past, present and future will all be compressed together. No one will be able to exist in that world, but you and her, meaning that towns will be cut off from you, so stock up on whatever you'll need before you leave. You'll keep moving through the Time Compression until you reach her time, where you will come out in her world. It's all up to you after that."
"Are you ready?" he asked softly, looking into Kapri's face.
I followed his gaze and took her hand gently, but firmly, squeezing it lightly to show my support. She gave me a small smile and turned to Tommy. "We're ready." she stated determinedly.
"Alright! Let's assemble on the Ragnarok to finish the mission briefing. I've always wanted to rise on that thing! Plus the name sounds so cool!" he cried like a giddy little boy before he ran off with his friends, leaving us to follow.
Shaking my head, I chuckled a little. What's with this guy?
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Ok, well, I'm getting close to the end of the third quarter of the script... Meaning there shouldn't be too many more chapters to come.
Hope you liked it.
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"It's all about love, friendship and courage!"
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R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi