Disclaimer; me now ownies! If I did, well lets just say Final Fantasy 8 would have ended a little differently ^_^
Warnings; DREAM! Squall tired. Kidnappers. Seifer being a know it all. Hints of the Weirdy Witch O_O And a teeny bit of bad language.
A/N; Hey, now before you attack me with gross tomatoes, I know it took a while and I'm sorry, but I had writers block and then the Avengers Assemble movie came out and I got distracted v_v Sorry. Anyway, here it is. I promise to start on chapter five ASAP!
A big hugs to those who reviewed! *hugs everyone*
Ps. Don't forget to review!
ENJOY!
"Sis? Sis where are you!" An eight year old Squall shouted over the rumble of the thunderstorm. It was late at night and the Orphanage was quiet, everyone was holed up in their rooms trying to outsleep the storm. Even Squall had been asleep at one point but woke up because of a loud clap of thunder, which then he noticed the porch light shining brightly. He had gotten out of bed to see what had activated the motion sensitive light and noticed Ellone's bedroom door wide open. Now he was panicking, he couldn't find her anywhere and the rain was getting heavier, the wind getting stronger and the thunder getting louder.
Walking into the kitchen, Squall sighed when he noticed nothing out of the ordinary; a few plates in the sink, Selphie's moogle toy on the side, Seifer's empty glass on the side with only a few drops of milk stubbornly sticking to the side, and Zell's squeaky hotdog toy that is actually meant for a dog but the blond refused to give it up sitting on the table. Everything was in place and there was no sign of Ellone. Feeling his shoulders slump, he wondered if he should wake Matron up and tell her, but the thought of having to be in the same room as Cid gave him goosebumps and quickly changed his mind.
Turning on his feet, Squall gasped when he bumped into another person. Looking up, he felt his heart sink when he saw who it was.
"What'cha doing Squally?"
"Seifer." Squall muttered, trying to slide past the ever alert blond and failing when the larger boy blocked his path.
"Ellone's missing, huh." Seifer said, sounding unbothered by the fact that the older girl who was loved by everyone in the orphanage was indeed missing in the middle of a storm. Squall glared.
"Yeah, do you know where she is?" Squall glared harder when Seifer shrugged, looking over the top of his head and seeming to be far away.
"No, but the Lighthouse doors are open." With that Seifer walked to the fridge and opened the door, rummaging for something. Squall sent a glare at the blonds back before glancing out the window and squinting. And the blond was right, he could just make out the Lighthouse doors flapping in the wind. Giving Seifer's back a suspicious look, he quickly ran to his room and slipped his shoes and thick winter coat on. He made his way to the back door, rolling his eyes when he spotted Seifer pouring himself another glass of milk with a few cookies lying by the side of the glass.
Stepping outside, Squall quickly planted his feet on the floor to stop himself from blowing away, the wind was strong and his coat did nothing to keep the chill away. Still, he was determind to find Ellone so he slowly trudged along the beach, gripping onto the rocks tightly. It was slow progress and by the time Squall reached the lighthouse, he was soaked and shivering with the cold. He could see a dull light from inside, probably caused by one of the lanterns Matron kept in the cupboard under the stairs. There was hushed voice but Squall was sure he could hear only one. Taking a breath to gather his courage, he quickly moved inside and looked round.
Movement in the corner caught his eye and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Sis...? What are you doing?"
Squall gasped awake and had to blink several times to rid the haze from his vision. His mind was whirl of confusion and full of half formed thoughts. He slowly raised himself into a sitting position, ignoring how his stomach rolled with the movement and head throbbed with the almost never ending headache. Again there was a tray with water and a bowl of what looked like gloop waiting for him, but this time he ignored it favor of tugging at his pendant which over the past few dream sequences- he had stopped trying to count the days he had been held prisoner as he was constantly in and out of consciousness, and there was no clock in his cell-like room- had become restrictive, making him feel suffocated under its weight.
He was exhuasted, though he was forced to dream he was not sleeping and it was beginning to take its toll on his body; purple bruises shadowed under his eyes, making his pale skin look sickly. His hair was matted from the amount of tossing he did while dreaming and just from the fact that he hadn't bathed in Hyne-knew how long. He was also worried about Seifer and the rest of Garden, since the arguement, the woman kidnapper had only switched on the intercom to nag him about where he had hid 'it'. He didn't even know what the Hell 'it' was but she seemed to think he did and nagged, moaned and interrogated him until she lost her temper shut off the intercom system. It was usually then he was forced back into the past, he was lucky he found time to eat but sleep was lost to him.
Yawning hard enough to make his jaw crack uncomfortably, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, praying he could have just a few minutes sleep. Though his luck was not on his side and he heard the tell-tale click of the intercom. He wasn't in the mood for this.
"Go away." The woman laughed, sounding amused.
"We'll go away if you us where it is." Squall huffed irritably, opening his eyes so he could glare in the direction of the voice.
"I don't even know what 'it' is!" He knew he sound indignant, but he really was too tired tokeep up his cool exterior. He just wanted to go home, have a shower and sleep. No, he just wanted to sleep period. The woman sighed.
"Just tell me where my jewel is and you'll go free. I know it's in the Lighthouse, tell me where." Squall frowned, thinking back on his recent dream and shuddered when the image of a small Ellone curled in the corner, looking scared and confused. There was only one way the woman knew so much. Quickly shooting from his sitting position, Squall ignored the dizziness and shouted out to Ellone.
"Ellone? Is that you? What's going on-" he was cut off when the woman laughed, though this was empty of humour and full of contempt and loathing.
"I'm sorry Squally, Ellone isn't here rght now but I'd gladly take a message." Squall snarled, knowing for sure that this was Ellone, but she was possessed. 'Ellone' cackled.
"Now, now. Control that temper like a good SeeD."
"I'll kill you." Squall hissed, pacing the confines of his cell like a restless lion. For the rest of that day he was left alone to plot this Sorceress's death in detail, no longer feeling exhuasted. It was also the day he was not forced to dream.
Seifer raised a brow at the two panting women in his office, both looking remotely horrified but also excited. It was infectious and soon Seifer began to feel excited too. Angelo, who had been sitting harmlessly in the corner by the door rose to his feet and growled at the two women for scaring him. Rinoa just looked plain confused.
"What? You found something already?" It seemed impossible to find evdence so quick and it didn't help when Selphie and Fujin smirked smugly. The bouncy nunchaku user was first to speak thought at first it came out in a garbled mess and she was forced to repeat herself.
"...Like I said, McEvoy's room is just down right creepy. He has all these pictures of Edea and Adel on his dresser. It looked like some sort of shrine to them," Here Selphie shuddered and Seifer couldn't blame her. He felt like shuddering too. "Anyway, after some snooping round his room, I found Lionheart under his bed. I know for sure that Squall wouldn't just give his precious baby to someone like McEvoy. He'd die first." Selphie paled when she realised what she said and began to flail her arms about.
"Not that Squall's dead or anything..!" Fujin rolled her eye and smacked the panicking girl upside her head and decided to speak up.
"Hacking into Garden files wasn't hard-"
"But Balamb has the best security..." Seifer snickered at Rinoa's indignate cry and caused her to glare him. Again, Fujin just smirked and repeated herself.
"Hacking into Galbadia Garden files wasn't hard; it turns out that the McEvoys have been silent supporters of the Sorceress's for a long time. Fredrick's father was one of Adel's top men until she was sealed in space, then he went off the grid before appearing as one of Edea's supporters. The man was killed in the battle against Balamb, it was around then that Fredrick suddenly appeared in Balamb's files." Fujin stopped to take a deep breath, not used to speaking so much but she doubted she could summerise this all up in one word. Well, she could.
"What of Fredrick's mother?"
"Mrs Annabel McEvoy died in the seige against Adel, ironically enough, she was on the resistance's side. She fought against her own husband. The rest of Fredrick's family; Aunts, Uncles, nephew, nieces, cousins all died either fighting or running when Adel tried to level Esthar to the ground." Fujin watched as everyone took in the information and knew what they were thinking, Fredrick was practically born to serve a Sorceress, though everyone knew that if he had been brought up by his mother instead of his father, things would obviously be different.
"Like I said, Fredrick falsefied the date on his entrance exam and personal SeeD sheet, though he was smart in picking such out of the way position like security. During the war, no one would noticed if there was suddenly one more SeeD, Ultimecia saw to that everyone was distracted. There were hints of Fredrick's involvement at Deiling, Dollet and the attack on Fisherman's Horizon but he made sure he was in the background, made himself unimportant."
Seifer huffed out a sigh. "Where is he now?" There was a brief pause while Fujin fished something out of her pocket, she passed a piece of paper to the blond and watched he realise it was a photo of the garages.
"Fredrick McEvoy left over an hour ago in a military vehicle, I have already contact local police stations to keep an eye out for such a vehicle. I also took the liberty of pulling all records of access granted to use such vehicles. All vehicles came back clean, except for one. That vehicle you are looking at was not comissioned to leave Garden and has been leaving Garden at regular intervals for the past month or so prior to the kidnapping. Fredrick is definitely our kidnapper."
"Any idea where it's going to?" Rinoa asked, eying Seifer curiously as the man had suddenly gone very pale, and very still. Almost like a statue; she feared was going to snap like he did when Quistis acused him of helping for the fame.
"No-"
"Lunatic Pandora."
"What?" Fujin, Selphie and Rinoa all looked at the blond as if he had lost it, there was no way he could know such a thing, and Rinoa voiced such a thought and jumped when Seifer slammed the picture down in front of her and pointed to a near camouflaged symbol on he side of the van. Rinoa rose a brow and stared angrily at Seifer.
"It's a symbol...?" Seifer laughed but it was cold.
"You should know it by now. It was painted all over Ultimecia's castle! And in Edea's chambers in the old Galbadia Garden. It was also all over Adel's prison. Hyne! The ugly bitch tried brand me with it! It's Ultimecia's symbol!"
"Are you saying Ultimecia's not dead?" Selphie squeaked, looking terrified at the prospect of the insane woman from the future not being dead after all. Rinoa snorted.
"Of course she's dead, Squall ended her. How else would the Time Compression correct itself." Fujin pinched the bridge of her nose to stop herself from smacking the brunette while Seifer just hung his head. The silverette recognised it as his way of controlling his temper when he was close to killing a lot of people. Though when he spoke, it sounded forced.
"Not necessarily. She could have fell into the Time Compression with you, which means she would have to find a host in this time to survive. It took most if not nearly all of her power to keep the Time Compression open enough for her to influence people in this time, it was only when Ellone used her powers to send back a part of her psyche to her own time that you were all able to travel to her crappy castle. When Squall weakened her to the point of near death, her grasp on the Time Compression would have crumbled and with no longer having Griever to boost her strength, she could have easily latched onto the nearest host to survive-"
"You mean me?"Rinoa pointed to herself, a scared expression on her face causing Seifer shook his head, grimacing.
"No, I mean Ellone." It was instantanious, Rinoa and Selphie erupted into shouts, looking furious at the idea that Seifer would say such a thing. He took the insults that were thrown his way with bleak interest. He knew this would happen, he had been slowly piecing it together when Fujin first started speaking, the fact that Fredrick had literally born into servitude and grew up with his loyal Sorceress worshiping father would mean the man would undoubtedly follow in his fathers footsteps to carry on the family tradition. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Ultimecia's brand and there was only one place now that was secluded. Lunatic Pandora had been built as some sort of vessel for Adel, to which it came in handy for Ultimecia. It was left abandoned after the war by Laguna's orders; it would be the perfect place to hold a prisoner.
Eventually Selphie and Rinoa tired themselves out and both collasped against each other, they looked like they wanted desperately to carry on denying what Seifer said, but the more they allowed themselves to think about it, the more it seemed to fit. It was Rinoa who spoke, her voice quiet and defeated.
"So what do we do?" Seifer breathed deeply, not used to people looking to him for leadership and he really didn't like it either.
"We gather the group and alert Laguna to the situation, we ask him for back up and storm Lunatic Pandora."
"But how do you know Squall's there!" Selphie cried, her voice unsure. Seifer smiled grimly.
"Because that place has tons of latent magical energy and there is no question that Ultimecia is looking to regain her lost power," Seifer trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence, however the piercing glares from all three women gave him no choice. "And Squall knows where to find it."
Seifer groaned silently when the room erupted again, the two banshee's screeching like nails down a chalkboard into his ears as they fired question after question at him. He collasped into Squall's chair, comforted when the scent of gunpowder and strawberies hit his senses.
He was going to kill Squall when this was over for making him stick up with this.
A/N: Yeah, Ultimecia's not dead. I feel sorry for Seifer, it must be hard having Selphie and Rinoa yelling down his ears. Oh well. Review and tell me what you think!