Chapter 47
Infinite Possibilities
(Irvine)
(I'm…)
(… Alive?)
If he was dead, he realized, he wouldn't have the ability to wonder if he was alive or not. There would be nothing left of him that could ask the question.
But judging by the pain radiating from his limbs and the stab of agony in his head, he almost wished that he hadn't survived. He tried slowly opening his eyes, afraid of what he might see. After that explosion, anything was possible. He might be missing an arm, or a leg. He might have a giant steel rod piercing his chest. He didn't know. Everything hurt, but gave him no indication of how bad his wounds truly were.
The light was blinding, forcing him to squint. His head throbbed, making him dizzy and nauseated. He wished there was something he could do to ease his torment. And then it occurred to him to cast cure spells on himself.
(Oh… right. I can use magic.)
Once again, he'd completely forgotten about that. He wondered if he would ever get the hang of relying on magic to solve his problems. He doubted he ever would. Growing up in G-Garden had not given him that instinct, the reflex of using magic.
He shut his eyes again and concentrated. He found his collection of curative spells—a fairly large amount, assembled over the course of his adventures—and began pulling out the strongest of them. He envisioned a copy of his body in his mind and then sent the magic towards the areas where the pain was the worst.
He could feel as the energy flowed throughout his system. The other SeeDs probably would have used their experience to focus the spells and get the best results out of each one, but Irvine had neither the training nor the patience to fine-tune his magic. The pain in his body urged him to ignore moderation, so he poured excessive amounts of curative spells into everything and everywhere that hurt.
The energy was soothing, spreading through his body like a warm breeze. Stabbing pain in his joints dimmed and became tolerable. Aches in his muscles worked themselves loose. Wounds on his skin that he was barely even aware of closed themselves and stopped hurting. The pain between his eyes lessened and in a few moments, he felt close to normal again.
He unfocused, allowing his last magic spell to run its course and snapped his eyes open.
There was such a staggering difference between what the quad had looked like before Bahamut's attack and what it looked like afterwards that Irvine was completely disoriented by the sudden and colossal change. What Irvine had once referred to as the quad was simply gone. Entirely, completely gone. He had expected to see it ruined, like it had been after the battle against G-Garden a month ago, but this was so much worse.
The stairs that descended down from the center of the school into the quad started off intact at the top, but then became steadily worse as they neared the epicenter of Bahamut's blast. The steps closest to the school were cracked, the ones further away were charred black, and the ones at the bottom were obliterated into tiny fragments. Bits of steel and piping burst through the concrete like fractured bones and sprayed gases and water into the sky.
And at the bottom of the steps, where there used to be the wide, flat area of the quad, was now just a cliff leading to nothing. Exposed steel girders reached out into oblivion and ended in blackened, twisted wreckage. It was as if some giant beast had emerged from the sea and taken a bite out of the school.
Irvine himself was still safely at the top of the steps, in one of the few places that hadn't been annihilated. He got to his feet and looked down at the wreckage—at the complete absence where there had once been a large portion of Garden.
(The others!)
Squall, Rinoa, and Zell. They had been fighting too. Where had they gone? He looked around, but saw nothing. He peered down beyond the wreckage and looked at the ocean below, trying to see if there were any bodies floating in the gently lapping waves. He could see a couple of Esthar ships sailing a short distance off, but no sign of bodies—SeeD or otherwise.
Irvine choked.
"HEY!" Irvine yelled. "HEY!"
He started down the steps, keeping half an eye on his footing to avoid plunging headfirst down into the abyss. A step crumbled below him, making him stumble. He flailed his arms and managed to catch himself. He peered down at the ocean far below him and his head spun. He stood in place and cupped both hands over his mouth and shouted again.
"SQUALL!" he yelled. "RINOA! ZELL!"
There was no answer.
He took another few steps, now coming dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. He set one boot down gently to make sure that the floor wasn't about to crumble beneath him.
Just then, movement caught his eye. He heard as debris scuttled down a slope to his left and fell into the ocean, landing with tiny, almost inaudible splashes.
There, in a small hollow off to the far left of the quad—untouched by the ravages of the blast—were Rinoa and Squall. Squall was curled into a ball, his legs tucked under his chest and his hands over the back of his head. Rinoa was draped over him, her arms spread wide and covering him.
Around the two of them was a shimmering, almost imperceptible shield of pale white light. Within the confines of that shield, nothing had received any damage. Irvine was able to see a piece of the quad as it had looked before the blast—no cracks, no burn marks. Totally protected by Rinoa's power.
Irvine cupped his hands to his mouth again. "RINOA!"
Rinoa stirred, like waking from a dream. As she recovered her awareness, the shield flickered and evaporated. She looked up, dazed, and stared at the destruction around her.
"Are you okay?" Irvine asked. She nodded blearily.
Irvine wanted to go over to them and check on his friends, but as he glanced down to look for a path connecting him to them, he saw that there was absolutely nothing there. The stairs dropped off into a cliff, and there was nothing but a gap there, further than Irvine could jump .
He wondered if he could climb over to meet them, but the wreckage looked unstable. He doubted any of it could support his weight. It seemed like Squall and Rinoa were trapped on their little island.
(Damn…)
Rinoa bent over and shook Squall's shoulders. She muttered something into his ear, and Squall drifted into wakefulness. He uncurled from his defensive ball and got to his knees. He took a look around him, his eyes widening in shock, then leapt to his feet.
"Hey! Squall!" Irvine yelled. "You okay?"
Squall didn't immediately answer. Instead, he crossed his arms and looked down at the ground, his face twisted in an unreadable scowl.
(Is he angry? Saddened? Shocked?)
(All of the above?)
Irvine couldn't tell.
Rinoa stood up beside Squall and wrapped him in a tight embrace, circling her arms completely around his chest. After a moment, Squall softened his expression and leaned into her, throwing one arm around her shoulders. Irvine could see him grinding his teeth, even from a distance.
Irvine bit his lip and turned to the ocean, where he had last seen Selphie. At first, he could see nothing but the water, the Esthar ships, and the endless sky in the distance, but when he narrowed his eyes and focused, he could see a small dot high in the air, moving gently up and down and growing further and further away. It would have been nearly impossible for him to tell what it was up there, if he didn't already know that it was Bahamut. He couldn't see Selphie, but he had to assume that she was still with the Guardian Force, flying away from Garden.
(Selphie...)
He didn't need Squall or anyone else to tell him what had just happened. Selphie had become a sorceress. And now Ultimecia had come and taken her. He'd seen the same thing happen with Rinoa and Matron, but he never imagined that anything like that would happen to Selphie. Even after Selphie became a sorceress, the idea that she could be possessed never occurred to him.
(It's my fault.)
He shook his head and frowned. If he hadn't abandoned Selphie in FH, if he hadn't gone with the White SeeDs, then none of this wouldn't have happened. Selphie wouldn't have been left alone at Fisherman's Horizon. She wouldn't have accepted the sorceress powers from the mayor's wife. And she wouldn't have been possessed by Ultimecia. Irvine's moment of childish anger had caused Selphie to be taken by the sorceress from the future and had destroyed the Garden's quad. And who knows what other tragedies would unfold in the future, as long as Ultimecia had a grip on Selphie.
Irvine was too wrapped up in his own guilt to notice that the White SeeD ship was slowly entering inside the hollow formed by the explosion. The entire ship fit neatly inside—almost perfectly—as if Garden had suddenly installed a new port in its side just for this occasion. A handful of White SeeDs did their impressive jumping trick, leaping from the deck of their ship and landing nimbly beside Irvine. A couple others hopped up and joined Squall and Rinoa. They landed smoothly and silently, and the crumbling stairs beneath their feet didn't move at all, as if the SeeDs were weightless.
"Are you okay?" one of the White SeeDs asked Irvine. Irvine lowered his head and waved off the man with one hand.
(I'm not okay.)
Physically he was fine. But emotionally? He was still waiting for the answer to that question. But he didn't want them to know that. Irvine clenched his teeth.
(Got no time to be feelin' sorry for myself.)
He took a deep breath and looked up and met the White SeeD's gaze. He adjusted his hat—never wondering how it hadn't been blown off his head in the blast—and then pulled his shotgun out of his trench coat. He didn't remember having stowed his gun away before the blast, but he was glad he did. Anything he would have been holding in his hands would have likely been claimed by the sea after the explosion.
He spun and faced the nearest White SeeD.
"Take me with you," Irvine said. It wasn't a question. It was a command.
The White SeeD cocked his head and frowned. "I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"Y'all saw where she went, right?" Irvine asked. "Let me on your ship and take me to her. We gotta catch her before she gets away."
Nearby, two other White SeeDs had grabbed Squall and Rinoa around the waist. The one holding Squall jumped across the gap, landing neatly on the steps beside Irvine and then deposited Squall. The one carrying Rinoa did the same, and then all three SeeDs were back together.
(Well, that was easy.)
"Have you seen Zell?" Squall asked. Irvine shook his head. Squall turned to face the White SeeDs gathered around him. "Has anyone seen him? Kid about our age, bright blonde hair and a face tattoo?"
The White SeeDs shook their heads. One of them spoke up. "There are a few bodies in the water that we have managed to collect. Mostly Esthar and Galbadian soldiers though. We can check to see if anyone has found a body with that description."
("A body with that description.")
(Talkin' like Zell is already dead.)
"Do it," Squall said. Even though Squall probably didn't have any real authority among White SeeDs, the other boy nodded crisply and hopped off the cliff, plummeting down to the White SeeD ship and landing as easily as if he was hopping off a chair.
Irvine looked back up at the sky. Bahamut was now just a gray speck in the distance, almost totally invisible.
"Where's she goin'?" Irvine asked. "Where's Ultimecia takin' Selphie?"
Squall narrowed his eyes. "The Lunatic Pandora," he said at last.
Irvine nodded, not needing any further explanation.
"Take me to the Lunatic Pandora," Irvine said to one of the White SeeDs. "It's in Esthar somewhere, right?"
Irvine knew that there were still a lot of problems that needed to be addressed. The civil war in Garden hadn't yet been resolved—only delayed while Selphie went on her rampage. Galbadia had been beaten back into a temporary retreat, but the rest of their navy was still somewhere out there, ready to come back for another round. The Garden's quad was now a crater, and Zell had gone missing.
But all Irvine could think about was Selphie. He wondered if she was still awake, conscious of everything that was happening while Ultimecia invaded her mind and her body and forced her to bend to her will.
(I won't leave her…)
"We're not going to Esthar," the White SeeD said.
Irvine growled. "Yes, you are."
"I wanna go too," Rinoa said, stepping forward. A chunk of the stair beneath her crumbled away, making her stumble. Squall caught her arm and held her steady.
"I'll go alone," Irvine said to her. "You guys stay here. Garden needs you. This is your home, right? I'm just an outsider here. I ain't welcome anyway."
"I'm not really welcome either," Rinoa said darkly. Her eyes flicked away and down to the side. "Plus, I have this..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small ring, with a square green piece on the top of it. "I think it's why Ultimecia hasn't tried to possess me since that time in the escape pod. It… messes with her powers somehow."
Irvine shrugged. He didn't grasp her point. "Okay. So you'll be safe from Ultimecia. You still should stay here."
"No, no," Rinoa said. "I mean, this ring might be the only way we can free Selphie from Ultimecia. Without… I mean… you know."
(Killing her.)
Irvine grimaced.
Rinoa had a point. No one had yet figured out a way to force Ultimecia to abandon a sorceress against her will. If she wanted to, Ultimecia could very well make Selphie to fight to the death. She would still be susceptible to sleep magic and Ellone's power, but if Ultimecia chose to, she could still hang on to Selphie's body and wait until they decided to wake her up. And then the fighting would begin all over again. If this ring did what Rinoa claimed, it was their only shot of getting Selphie back to normal—and keeping her that way.
"Then I'll take the ring with me," Irvine said, reaching out a hand to take the ring.
Rinoa frowned at him. "You really think you—by yourself—can get close enough to Ultimecia to put this ring on her while she's riding Bahamut?"
(… She does raise a good point.)
Irvine coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll uh… I'll think of something. But y'all should really stay here. You're needed in Garden."
"Rinoa and I are coming with," Squall said firmly.
"Whoa, whoa," Irvine said, raising his hands as if he planned to physically restrain Squall. "I admit, Rinoa would be useful in a fight against Ultimecia, but you're the SeeD Commander. You gotta stay with SeeD!"
"We have information about Ultimecia that Esthar needs to know," Squall said. "And plus…" he looked away, as if remembering something. "I have some questions I need to ask Dr. Odine and Piet. About how time compression works. Among other things."
Just then, Irvine heard the sounds of running footsteps—dozens of them—coming from behind. He spun around, his nerves still on edge from the battle, and raised his shotgun.
A pack of SeeDs rushed into view, led by Mireya, her black hair flowing in the sea breeze. They slowed down in stunned amazement when they saw the wreckage of what used to be the quad. The rest of the SeeDs stopped near the top of the steps, while Mireya continued walking down, looking all around her. Her eyes settled on Irvine's, then she noticed the shotgun in his hand—pointed directly at her. She stopped walking and tightened her grip on her sword.
"What happened?" she asked. Then her eyes fell on Rinoa and narrowed. "What did you do?"
Rinoa clenched her teeth. Irvine felt the air stir around him, and detected a feeling like his skin was prickling. Rinoa stepped forward and slashed one hand through the air.
"I am… NOT," Rinoa said, sending out a warning gust of wind that forced Mireya to take a step backwards, "In the mood to deal with you."
Squall stepped forward. But instead of trying to calm Rinoa down or reason with her—as Irvine assumed he would—he instead stood at her side and raised his hands. In each palm he held magical spells, one fire and one ice, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice.
Rinoa stood, air spiraling around her in a gentle tornado, fluttering her clothes and her hair. Squall braced himself, two kinds of magic ready to be cast. The White SeeDs around had braced themselves for action, not sure who they were fighting or why, but ready nonetheless.
Irvine sighed.
(Can't we have two minutes without fighting?)
He tightened his shotgun to his shoulder and peered at Mireya from down the sights.
(She'll be the first one I shoot.)
Mireya eyed her opponents. Even from a distance, Irvine could see her thoughts turning behind her eyes, her mind doing calculations and risk assessments, planning for the future and all possible outcomes.
She raised her hand in a fist and Irvine tensed. He expected her to suddenly throw her fist forward, which would signal the other SeeDs to move up and attack. Instead, she turned slowly around, exposing her back to her enemies, and faced her companions at the top of the stairs.
"Stand down," she said.
The SeeDs at the top of the steps obeyed, and relaxed their guard. Mireya sheathed her sword. Squall and Rinoa eased slightly, but Irvine kept his gun raised. He didn't trust this girl, and he naturally felt better when he was staring down the barrel of his shotgun.
(Just to be safe.)
He rested on finger gently on the trigger. If Mireya tried anything sneaky, it would be the last thing she ever did.
A voice crackled through the air, almost making Irvine jump and pull the trigger. When his tense nerves settled, he was able to listen and hear the message.
"Attention, Garden," a voice from an Esthar boat behind them said. "We are looking for a SeeD named Squall and a sorceress named Rinoa."
Irvine turned his head slightly—but still kept his shotgun training on Mireya. One of the Esthar boats that had been cruising in the area had pulled up behind the White SeeD ship. There wasn't enough room in the crater for both ships to park, so the Esthar ship had to wait in back. On the deck of the ship were a few dozen Esthar soldiers, one of them carrying a bullhorn and speaking up to the SeeDs above them.
Squall hesitated for a moment, and Irvine glanced at him, wondering what he'd do next. After a few seconds, Squall clenched his fists closed, canceling the spells in both hands, and turned around to face the Esthar ship.
"I am Squall Leonhart," he said, speaking loudly so his voice would carry over the distance. "What do you want?"
"President Laguna Loire of Esthar sends his greetings and wishes to know your current condition," the soldier said.
Squall narrowed his eyes. "I'm fine."
The soldier nodded. "Then the President would like to invite you to Esthar to discuss recent events."
(Seems like our chance.)
"Look at that," Irvine said. "Just when we were talkin' about goin' to Esthar, here they come and offer us a ride."
Squall nodded. He raised his voice to speak to the Esthar soldier. "I accept."
Before anyone could move, another White SeeD leapt up from the boat and landed beside the others. Irvine recognized him as Commander Alnaj.
"You are Commander Squall of Balamb Garden?" Alnaj asked. Squall nodded. "Then I have a request. We currently have a large number of civilians in our ship's hold. If you're going to Esthar, could you please escort them safely there along with you? We want to stay here and fight, but we don't want to endanger our passengers, and this seems to be the best compromise."
Squall hesitated, then nodded again. He looked past the White SeeDs and spoke again to the Esthar soldier on the ship. "We want to take some passengers along with us. Do you have any objections?"
The Esthar soldier hesitated a moment. He lowered his bullhorn and spoke into a radio mounted inside his helmet. After a few moments, he turned back to Squall and said, "We do not have any objections. We only ask that you depart immediately."
"Fine," Squall said. He turned to Irvine. "Well. Seems we're going to Esthar."
Irvine glanced up at the sky. Bahamut—and Selphie—were already far out of sight.
(I'm comin', Selphie.)
Squall turned and looked at Mireya and the other SeeDs. No one spoke for several long seconds, allowing the tense silence to become thick and dangerous. Irvine tightened his grip on his shotgun.
Mireya took a step forward, planting her foot down hard enough to make everyone turn and look at her. When she had everyone's attention, she put one hand threateningly on the handle of her sword.
"Never come back here," Mireya said to them. "This is no longer your Garden. That goes for all of you. White SeeDs as well."
(What the hell did the White SeeDs ever do to her?)
But Irvine fought down his anger. Arguing with her was only going to reignite the conflict, and he wanted nothing more than to get on the Esthar ship and chase after Selphie. He couldn't afford to waste time with another squabble or a fight.
(I have to catch her. Stop her before someone else finds her.)
Ultimecia was strong, and with the power of Bahamut guiding her, she was nearly unstoppable. But Esthar wasn't going to let her just cross their city without a fight. And they—unlike Irvine and the others—wouldn't care about Selphie's safety. They would do everything in their power to stop her, even if it meant killing her.
Irvine fought down his emotions and turned to face Squall.
"No sense hangin' around here," Irvine said.
"Indeed," Commander Alnaj said. He pointed at three of the White SeeDs and assigned one to Irvine, Squall, and Rinoa. Irvine soon found a pair of strong, muscular arms wrapped around his torso. He shuddered.
(Feels weird when a man grabs me like this…)
But the odd feeling only lasted a moment. Soon, the White SeeD jumped into the air, his arms squeezing painfully under Irvine's shoulders. There was a terrifying fall before Irvine and the White SeeD landed hard on the deck of the White SeeD ship. A moment later, Squall and Rinoa landed beside him, each wrapped up in their own White SeeD escort. Commander Alnaj and the rest of the White SeeDs dropped down a moment later.
Alnaj jogged across the deck and then shouted out some orders. He and the Esthar soldiers worked out the details, and soon a gangplank was extended, connecting the White SeeD ship to the Esthar ship. Another White SeeD ducked below deck and emerged a few minutes later, shepherding a long train of huddled and frightened women out from the hold. Many of them recognized Irvine from his time aboard the White SeeD ship. They nodded at him and smiled. Irvine politely tipped his hat to them, but wished that they would walk faster, more urgently.
(Every second wasted, Selphie gets further away.)
While the women were moving to the other ship, someone shouted, "PRINCESS!" and a familiar man in a blue sweater burst out from below deck and ran up to Rinoa. Irvine recognized him and groaned.
(Ugh… these guys again.)
Behind Zone was Watts, still wearing his white shirt and brown vest. He rushed up to Rinoa and smiled and laughed. Zone stepped up to Rinoa and stopped an arms-length away, seeming to jerk back and forth in place before finally pulling away from her—as if he had wanted to hug her, but then changed his mind.
"Good to see you're well, Princess," Watts said with a polite nod.
Rinoa smiled. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"
"How are they treating you?" Zone asked. "Are these…" he turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Irvine. "… Men behaving themselves?"
Irvine felt a little offended by the implication of Zone's words, and confused that Zone—of all people—was the one saying them.
(He acts like he ain't got a secret stash of dirty magazines tucked away.)
Or maybe, Irvine thought, it was because of Zone's perversions that he was so wary of other men. Perhaps he assumed that every one of the male persuasion was as creepy as he was.
Irvine thought back to the incident on the train, when he'd first reunited with Selphie and the others, and how he'd shamelessly hit on all the women the first chance he got. He shrugged to himself.
(Hell, he may have a point.)
(Maybe we're all pervs.)
Zone, Watts, and Rinoa talked for a while. The reunion of the members of Forest Owl would have been touching, if Irvine hadn't been so anxious to hurry along.
Soon the hold was empty and the transfer was complete. All the women that White SeeD had rescued were now on the Esthar ship. Irvine, Squall, and Rinoa—along with Zone and Watts—crossed the gangplank last and stepped aboard the Esthar ship.
Once the gangplank was drawn in, the ship backed away from the hole in Garden. Irvine turned and looked up behind him. Mireya and her cronies stood there at the top of the cliff looking down. Mireya's Galbadian sword glinted in the sunlight, almost threateningly.
(You can't kick us out of Garden.)
(We'll be back.)
The ship turned away from Garden and began to accelerate, bringing them steadily eastward towards Esthar. The other Esthar ships in the area hovered around Garden. Irvine took a glance around and realized that he couldn't see Trabia Garden anywhere. He shook his head.
(I can't worry about that now.)
(Selphie's my priority.)
"What does Laguna want with you?" Rinoa asked Squall. He shrugged.
"And speakin' of Esthar and stuff," Irvine said. "How do y'all even know Ultimecia is heading for the Lunatic Pandora? Is she gonna cause another Lunar Cry?"
"I don't think she can," Squall said. He turned and looked out front, past the ship's bow at the ocean beyond. "I don't think there are enough monsters left on the moon for another Lunar Cry."
"So then what's she want with the Lunatic Pandora?" Irvine asked.
"I don't know," Squall said. "But I have a few guesses."
Irvine grimaced.
"Just guesses?" he asked. "So Ultimecia could be headin' anywhere then?" Irvine threw his hands up. "Then we ain't got any idea what's she's plannin' to do next."
Squall looked hard at Irvine, as if he was angry that Irvine doubted him. "I don't know for sure where she's going, but that doesn't mean that I'm wrong."
"Then explain it to me," Irvine said. "Tell me how you guess she's goin' for the Lunatic Pandora. I ain't exactly the best student, so use small words and talk slow, alright?"
Irvine didn't mean to snap at Squall, but all the pressure from the last battle in SeeD—plus the fact that Ultimecia had possessed Selphie—was beginning to wear on Irvine's nerves, making him lose his cool. He took a breath to try to calm down, but it didn't help.
(I just wanna scream or somethin'.)
Squall didn't seem to notice Irvine's temper. He said, "Last time Ultimecia came to our time, she tried to do two things. First, she tried to capture Ellone. I won't get into the whole story, but Ultimecia recently had access to Ellone back inside the Ragnarok. If all she wanted to do now was to capture Ellone again, then she could have done that at any time. But Ultimecia's still here, in our time, and apparently hasn't used Ellone's power. In fact, she's abandoned Ciel and taken residence in Selphie. So I figure that she either failed her goal or that Ellone isn't her primary objective this time."
"… Okay," Irvine said. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, since he had only heard a couple of fragments of what had happened with Squall, Rinoa, and the Ragnarok. But he didn't pressure Squall with too many questions, because he wanted Squall to hurry and get to the point.
"The second thing she tried to do was destroy SeeD," Squall said. "But we just gave her the best chance for her to wipe us out and not only did she pass it up, but she actually ran away from us. So if it's not Ellone and it's not us, then what is she really after?"
"And y'all think she's after the Lunatic Pandora?" Irvine said.
(Seems kinda iffy.)
Squall shrugged. "Like I said, it's a guess, but I think it's a good guess. Rinoa and I learned some things about the Pandora and the Lunar Cry when we were last in Esthar. And I… saw some things when I was unconscious. I have some new ideas, which is part of the reason I want to go to Esthar. I want to talk to Dr. Odine and Piet and see if I can't figure out what's going on."
"You… saw some things?" Irvine asked. He scratched the back of his head. "What, like hallucinations or something?"
(Don't tell me Squall's losing his mind.)
"No," Squall said. "I was in time compression. At least, I think I was."
Rinoa and Irvine both looked surprised.
"That don't make any sense," Irvine said. "We had to do a whole song and dance with Adel and the Lunatic Pandora in order to enter time compression last time. You sayin' you can enter time compression whenever you get knocked out now?"
"It's not that simple," Squall said. He crossed his arms defensively. "And I don't know why I was there. I just know I was."
"And that's why you knew SeeD would survive the battle?" Irvine asked. Squall looked at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I heard y'all whisper to Quistis before she went up to the third floor. You said something about how this 'isn't the end of SeeD' or something like that. Is that another thing you saw in time compression?"
Squall glanced away. "No."
"So… was that another guess then?" Irvine asked. He was beginning to get frustrated. Squall was always the guy with the answers, the one who could be depended on to figure everything out, and here Squall was providing nothing but estimations and vague answers. It was like opening a dictionary and finding that every definition was prefaced with, "I suppose this word could mean…"
"SeeD exists in the future," Squall said. "We've all seen that. Their bodies were laying on the beach outside Ultimecia's castle. If SeeD is still around generations from now, it stands to reason that we won't get obliterated now. I was just reminding Quistis of that fact."
"But what if you didn't tell Quistis that and we kept fighting?" Irvine asked. "Or, I dunno, what if Bahamut missed the quad and blew up the school? What if Esthar had arrived ten minutes late and didn't save us? SeeD only just barely survived that last fight. A lotta things coulda gone wrong."
Squall smirked and shrugged. "Maybe it's fate. You yourself said that once before."
Irvine raised an eyebrow.
(When did I say that?)
(Oh, back in Trabia…)
"Yeah, but I was talkin' about all of us kids from the orphanage getting back together," Irvine said. "I wasn't sayin' that we could gamble all of Garden based on a quick glance we took from the future."
"The same principle applies," Squall said. "If Fate exists, it's not going to just pick and choose certain events. It's going to apply to everything, or to nothing. If Fate brought us together, then Fate will keep the timeline intact."
Irvine frowned. "Since when did y'all become a big believer in Fate? I thought you were the anti-romantic of the group."
"I'm a believer in evidence," Squall said. "And the evidence suggests that there's a bit more going on that just random chance. Things are happening—and I don't know if they're happening for a reason, but they definitely appear to have a reason behind them. I want to go to Esthar to clear this up and get some answers."
"So is Fate the reason why y'all are leavin' Garden behind?" Irvine asked. "When that Mireya girl is startin' a civil war?"
"Irvine!" Rinoa said, trying to calm him down.
"Ultimecia—and Selphie—are bigger concerns right now," Squall said. "I don't want to leave Garden, but staying behind won't do any good. Besides, Quistis has a better handle on the situation than I do."
Irvine scoffed. "You see what happened back there? That ain't what I'd call a 'handle' on any situation."
"… Whatever," Squall said, turning away from Irvine. His anger flared up.
"Hey, don't you 'whatever' me!" Irvine said. "I'm bein' serious!"
"None of us fully understand the situation," Squall said. "And we can't predict the future. Maybe it would be better if I stayed in Garden. I don't know. All I can do is look at what I do know and try to make the best decision. And right now, it looks like going after Ultimecia is the better option. I might be wrong. We'll see, I guess."
Irvine sighed, his anger deflating into stunned resignation. "You 'guess'. Well, I suppose it's too late to turn around now anyway. Y'all made up your mind. Nothin' left to do but watch it all play out."
Squall nodded, but didn't say anything else.
Irvine adjusted his hat and turned around. His confidence in Squall had been shaken. He had expected solid, logical answers from Squall and had been surprised to find that Squall didn't really know much more than Irvine himself did. But regardless, there was nothing he could do but move forward. They were going to try to save Selphie. The situation in Garden would just have to wait—or sort itself out somehow.
(Plus, it ain't like I got any bright ideas of my own.)
In any case, Irvine neither wanted to be nor was wanted in the area, so he politely excused himself while Rinoa turned to face Zone and Watts and catch up with her old friends from Timber Owls. Irvine made his way across the deck, stepping around coils of rope and ship parts and weaving his way through Esthar soldiers until he got to the very front of the ship. There, he grabbed the railing and watched the sea, looking for signs of Selphie.
(Hold on, Selph…)
(We're comin')
The time passed like for him a night of fitful sleep. Irvine kept rousing himself from his thoughts and checking the time. Sometimes he would look and see that hardly any time at all had passed, others he would notice a large chunk had slipped by without him noticing.
In the interest of keeping Irvine informed of the situation, Squall made sure to tell Irvine the entire story of what had happened since Irvine and Selphie had left Garden. Irvine tried to focus, especially on the parts of the story that concerned Selphie or Ultimecia, but Irvine found it hard to pay attention.
When Squall asked for Irvine to give a report of what he had been up to since leaving Garden and explain why they had never contacted SeeD, Irvine was only able to give short answers and very brief summaries of events. Squall eventually grew tired of their conversation and wandered off somewhere else in the ship.
After a while, Squall and Rinoa both came on deck with Irvine—Zone and Watts were behind Rinoa, looking ready to bolt at the first sign of danger—so that they could all discuss what they should do next, and think up all the possible scenarios that could play out. As before, Irvine found it hard to focus on the plan. From what he could understand, however, Irvine didn't play a very key role in most of the plans. It seemed Irvine was just going to be a distraction while Rinoa or Squall did all the real work. That was fine with Irvine. He didn't want to directly fight Selphie anyway, even if she was possessed.
Eventually, an Esthar soldier approached the group. He saluted crisply, then said, "We should almost be in sight of the shoreline now."
Squall nodded, but didn't say anything.
(Almost there.)
But that wasn't true, he realized. Even though they were close to the shore, Irvine remembered that the actual city of Esthar was set back far from the continent's edge. Once they reached the shore, they would have to continue on foot for quite some distance before actually arriving at their destination.
Irvine frowned.
"Don't worry," Squall said, as if reading Irvine's thoughts. "There's a way for the boat to get inside."
A few minutes later, a dim gray line appeared on the horizon, just above sea level. That line slowly hardened into the gray speckled cliffs of the Esthar coastline. Irvine watched the shore approach, as if he could will the ship to move faster by simply staring hard enough at their destination.
The Esthar ship maintained a steady course for a sheer wall of cliffs, apparently on a direct collision course with the rocks ahead. Irvine grimaced and looked at Squall, but Squall stared straight on, impassively. A few seconds before the Esthar ship would have crashed into the cliffs, a large section of the rocks popped out of existence, becoming a flat, gray wall of panels. Irvine blinked, then remembered Esthar's elaborate cloaking system.
(Ah, right. The holograms.)
The holographic panels slid aside, admitting the Esthar ship. As they entered the tunnel, the holographic panels moved back into place, and the interior of the cave became lit up by a long row of lights along the ceiling.
At the end of the tunnel, they found themselves in a massive cave, brightly lit by elaborate lights in the ceiling. Irvine realized it was some sort of military port, with docks and navy supplies all around them. But the cavern was all but abandoned. There were no ships docked at the port, and few soldiers milling around. It seemed the Esthar ship was the only one of its kind in the harbor.
"Esthar must have deployed their entire navy already," Squall said.
"Is that a good thing?" Irvine asked.
Squall shrugged. "At least it means they won't be caught off guard when Galbadia attacks."
The Esthar ship pulled into port. As soon as the ship had stopped, a handful of Esthar soldiers leapt off the deck and began lashing the boat to the dock with a series of ropes.
Irvine didn't bother waiting for the gangplank to be lowered, instead leaping straight off the deck and landing on the dock. A moment later, Squall and Rinoa jumped down as well, with Rinoa using a quick burst of wind to ease her descent.
An Esthar soldier emerged from one of the guard stations and rushed up to Squall and saluted. "Your name is Squall?" the soldier asked. Squall nodded. "The President has been alerted of your arrival and he wishes to speak with you immediately."
"What about Selphie?" Irvine asked. "Has anyone seen her?"
The soldier hesitated, then said, "That's one of the things he wants to speak to you about."
Irvine's heart nearly exploded in his chest.
(What does he mean by that?)
"Where is she?" Irvine asked. He stepped forward, and the soldier stepped backwards. "What happened? Is she okay? What's going on?"
"Please, get into this car," the soldier said. He gestured behind him to an Esthar military vehicle parked a few paces away. "I'll explain as much as I can on the way there."
The three piled into the waiting vehicle, with Squall and Rinoa getting into the back while Irvine rode in the passenger seat. The soldier hustled into the driver's side and fired up the engine. He pulled away, making the tires chirp on the floor as he sped across the marina to the far side. There was another small guard post manned by two Esthar soldiers. They waved him through and raised the gate, admitting them into a long, paved tunnel lit with a series of bright white lights. Once inside, the guard accelerated. The gathering speed and the gentle upward slope of the road made Irvine feel as if he was flying.
"Here's the situation so far," the soldier said. Irvine perked up and leaned towards him. "The sorceress got here about fifteen minutes ago. Our air defense system picked her up as she entered our airspace. We've tried to shoot her down, but she's too quick."
Irvine blanched.
"Wait, shoot her down?" Irvine asked. "With what?"
Irvine pictured the Esthar soldiers firing at Selphie nonstop with bullets, rockets, missiles, and bombs for a full fifteen minutes. He shook his head to clear the image out of his mind.
"Everything we've got," the soldier said. "She seems hellbent on getting into the Lunatic Pandora, but she can't breach its defenses."
"What do you mean?" Squall asked. He leaned forward and poked his head between the driver's and passenger's seat "What's stopping her?"
"There's an energy shield surrounding it," the soldier said. "To keep it from being assaulted from the air."
Irvine remembered that shield. It was an invisible force field of some kind, like a bubble around the whole structure. When Irvine and the others had launched their attack on the Pandora, they had had to use the Ragnarok's onboard weaponry to pierce a hole through the energy field before they could continue on to the Pandora itself.
"The GF she's controlling isn't strong enough to claw its way through," the soldier continued. "She keeps trying to charge up a blast to blow a hole in the side, but we've managed to keep her constantly moving so that she can't do that."
Just then, the Esthar vehicle emerged from the tunnel and into the sunlight of Esthar City.
To the west—where the wall of holograms stood, keeping the existence of Esthar a secret from the rest of the world—an enormous hole had been torn in the sky where, presumably, Ultimecia and Bahamut and ripped into the city. Dozens of the hexagonal panels were shattered, and many others were smoking and charred.
A nearly continuous line of destruction—burnt buildings, shattered glass roads, smoking vehicles, and dead civilians and soldiers—extended from that hole in the sky, leading up to the enormous Lunatic Pandora, which hovered directly above the Presidential Palace like a huge exclamation mark in the city. All around the Pandora was a ring of destruction, caused by the constant fighting.
Irvine had forgotten how awe-inducing and massive the Lunatic Pandora was. It dominated its portion of the sky, the Esthar logo emblazoned on its side was nearly as large as the moon itself appeared in the sky—despite being only a drawing. He was dumbfounded by the fact that the nation of Esthar—or any nation in the history of the world—could have ever built such a thing.
Esthar army tanks were parking in rows along the streets outside the palace, firing upwards at a distant, birdlike creature in the sky. Esthar soldiers fired their rifles upwards, and mounted turrets built into the city at intervals fired continuous and deafening rounds up at the creature.
Tracer rounds flashed in yellow streaks across the sky, all converging at one point—the flapping, fluttering black and gray form of Bahamut. Irvine thought he could see a small speck of a yellow dress there on the back of the creature, but it may have just been his imagination.
Although he was horrified at the destruction that had been wrought and the lives lost, as long as Bahamut was still there and still fighting, he knew that it meant that Selphie was still alive—and he couldn't help but release a sigh of relief.
(We got here in time.)
"Obviously, I can't take you right to the Presidential Palace, since it's the site of a major battle," the Esthar soldier said. "But the President has set up a secondary location in a safe zone, away from the battle. That's where I'm taking you."
Squall nodded in agreement, but Irvine shook his head.
"No," Irvine said. "Take me right to her. Drive as close as you can."
The Esthar soldier held firm. "I can't do that. My orders say—"
"Damn your orders, man!" Irvine said. He punched the dashboard. "We gotta stop this, and we gotta stop it now. Whatever the President wants to say can wait a minute!"
Irvine turned around and looked to Squall in the backseat, hoping that he would help him convince the Esthar soldier to keep going. The soldier seemed to listen and respect Squall, so Irvine figured that if Squall gave the order to go ahead, the soldier would obey.
But Squall's face was unreadable as he gazed levelly at Irvine. Irvine's heart sank. He saw no pity or sympathy in Squall's eyes.
(Squall's too much of a soldier.)
(He's gonna do things by the books.)
Which meant that Squall was going to want to go to the President and coordinate their attack. Going directly after Selphie alone was reckless, dangerous, and possibly suicidal. The more Irvine thought about it, the more he realized that Squall would never agree to a plan like that.
But to his surprise, Squall nodded at Irvine and turned to the Esthar soldier.
"Take us as close as you can," Squall said. He pointed at a high, flat space in the road that looked like a parking lot to Irvine. The structure was maybe fifty city blocks away from the Pandora. Close enough to be dangerous, but not right in the path of destruction. "You can drop us off at that structure and leave."
Irvine grinned in relief and gave a thumbs-up to Squall.
The Esthar soldier hesitated. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
"I… I can't," the soldier said. "I have orders."
"Tell President Laguna that we told you to do this," Squall said. "Tell him…" he looked at Irvine and smirked, surprising Irvine once again. "Tell him we did it for love. Laguna's a romantic. He'll understand that."
(Wow. Squall smirked.)
(… That must mean we're all gonna die.)
The Esthar soldier sighed. Because of his mask, the sigh sounded like a leaking gas valve. "All right. But if I get demoted because of this…"
"If you get demoted, I'll personally speak to the President on your behalf," Squall said. "Just drive."
The soldier shook his head, shrugged, and then changed lanes, jumping on to a blue glass road that rose up and headed for the wide open platform that Squall had pointed to earlier.
Once he was sure that they were heading for Selphie, Irvine kept his face near the window, his eyes pointed up at the sky, watching the battle unfold.
Selphie—riding on the back of Bahamut—dipped and weaved through criss-crossing lines of artillery fire. Bahamut's wings closed and wrapped around its body as it dropped into a suicidal dive, heading nose-first towards a cluster of Esthar soldiers and weapons. At the last possible moment, Bahamut's wings burst open, stopping its descent instantly. The Esthar soldiers fired frantically at the Guardian Force, but their weapons bounced off a translucent blue shield in the air. Irvine recognized it as a massive protect spell.
(Ultimecia must be doing that…)
Irvine saw a tiny figure clad in yellow suddenly spew forth fire and lightning in a shattering wave that forced him to squint his eyes and turn his head aside. The terrible bolt rumbled through the streets, even the high skyways they were currently driving on, vibrating Irvine's seat. The Esthar soldiers who had been fighting below the GF were suddenly gone, the platform they had been standing on was now just a smoking hole in the city. Bahamut flapped its wings once, twice, and then returned to the sky, with artillery fire shooting past it and exploding against its shield.
Shaken by the explosion and the massive number of casualties, the driver of the car panicked and accelerated. He rode up a small ramp to the raised platform Squall had indicated earlier. A few other cars were parked there, but otherwise the platform was empty. The driver headed for the center of the platform then roughly slammed the brakes, causing Irvine to smack his head on the windshield.
While Irvine was still dazed and adjusting his hat, the Esthar soldier shouted, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" and pushed Irvine's shoulder.
"Alright, alright!" Irvine said. He popped open the door and stepped on the transparent blue glass floor beneath him. Squall and Rinoa jumped out as well.
As soon as all three were outside, the car peeled off and headed back down the ramp, trying to get as far from the battle as possible.
(Wimp.)
Irvine ignored him and turned his attention to Squall.
"What's the plan?" Irvine asked.
"Can you shoot Bahamut from this distance?" Squall asked. Irvine turned and looked.
From where they were standing, he had a clean line of sight all the way to where Bahamut was flying, but the range was too far and Bahamut was moving too fast, too erratically. He would need a sniper rifle to even attempt the shot, and even then it would be tricky.
Irvine shook his head.
"She's too far away," he said.
Squall nodded. "Then we need to get her attention. Bring her over here."
"And how do we do—" Irvine started to say, but Rinoa already had punched out a massive fireball, which arced through the sky like a blazing comet. Rinoa reached out a hand and guided the spell from a distance, sending it like a heat-seeking missile towards the massive dragon.
Bahamut spun around at the last moment, and Irvine could see as Ultimecia—using Selphie's arms—deflected the spell with a wave of magic of her own, tearing apart the fireball into a vortex of flames that sputtered out and vanished in the air.
Rinoa didn't let up. She immediately fired off another fireball and began guiding it towards her target. Bahamut roared in fury, and Ultimecia urged her mount to fly towards the source of the flame and eliminate the threat. As she approached, she swatted down this second attack as well, as easily as the first.
"Get ready," Squall said. "We're only gonna get one chance at this."
Irvine gaped at him.
"Ready for what?" he asked. Suddenly he wished he'd paid more attention to the plans that Squall had laid out before.
"You gotta shoot Bahamut," Squall said. "It's the only way."
Irvine stared at him. Maybe it was because Squall wasn't trained as a sniper—he didn't even have a gun as his primary weapon—but what he was asking was absurd. He wanted Irvine to hit a moving target—a flying target—from a distance, using a shotgun. In addition, the target was carrying the most important girl in his life. Aim too low and he would miss, and Bahamut would likely destroy them in another mega flare attack. Aim too high, and he would possibly kill Selphie. The margin for error was ridiculously slim and the stakes were life and death.
The shot was impossible. The plan was insane. Irvine was about to say so, but one look at Squall's determined gaze kept him quiet.
"You can do it," Squall said firmly. Bahamut continued to fly closer and closer, while Rinoa let off a steady stream of fire attacks to goad Ultimecia onwards.
(It's not like I have a better plan…)
Irvine sighed, then nodded. "Yeah, I can do it."
(For Selphie.)
Irvine turned around and adjusted his hat to keep the brim out of his eyes. He looked at Bahamut and saw that the dragon had already halved the distance between them. It would be in range of his shotgun in another few seconds or so, he estimated.
He broke open his shotgun and dumped out the two regular shells that were tucked inside, allowing them to clatter to the glass floor. He reached into one of the special pockets in his trench coat and pulled out an electric blue round—one of his pulse ammo rounds. Anything less than his best ammunition could get deflected by Ultimecia's magic or absorbed by Bahamut's thick skin. He eyed the shell between his thumb and forefinger, focusing his mind.
(I'll only get one shot.)
(Gotta make it count.)
He drove the shell into one of the empty barrels, then cocked his shotgun and raised it to his shoulder. He took a moment to line up the target in his sights. Already, Bahamut was charging a sphere of white light in its gaping jaws. The sphere was growing larger and larger, almost ready to fire. Irvine had only just barely survived the last flare attack Bahamut had thrown at him, and that was only because Bahamut hadn't been aiming for him. He doubted that he would be lucky enough to survive a second blast from the dragon.
Irvine quickly went through his firing routine. He exhaled slowly, then took in a half-breath. He rested his finger on the trigger.
(I can do it.)
He picked out a spot on Bahamut to aim for. Selphie was astride the beast's shoulders, which meant that Irvine couldn't aim at the GF's chest without risking hitting her as well. The head was far too small of a target for him to bother aiming at, leaving only the stomach as a viable option. He aimed for the creature's narrow torso.
He didn't know much about Guardian Forces, but he did know they were beings of energy, not flesh and blood. So his primary objective wasn't to hit any vital organs—like he would if he was shooting at a human or an animal—but rather to disrupt the GF's energy flows and break it apart.
He didn't know if pulse ammo would be strong enough to do what he needed it to do. But he figured he was about to find out, one way or another.
He counted down the seconds until Bahamut's attack was primed and ready.
(Three…)
The GF flapped its wings hard, and Irvine could feel the breeze even from a distance.
(Two…)
The dragon was maybe ten blocks away now, a target about the same size as Irvine's thumb. If his grip slipped even a little, or his arm waivered, he would miss.
(One…)
The glowing sphere of destruction in Bahamut's jaws reached critical mass.
Irvine lined up his shot and pulled the trigger.
The pulse ammo didn't make his shotgun kick painfully like his other ammunition did. Rather, the shot leapt from his barrel in a straight, electric blue line, buzzing like a laser beam, producing almost no kick at all. Bahamut tried to flinch away from the attack, but reacted a moment too late. The shot pierced its belly and tore open a hole big enough for Irvine to crawl through. The beam continued on into the distance, vanishing like distant lightning.
The GF roared in pain and threw its head back towards the sky. The ball of energy in its mouth released, firing upward at the sun. It traveled a long distance, then broke apart into tiny shards of white light, fading to nothing.
Bahamut crumpled, its wings going limp, its long, sleek neck flopping about as it plummeted towards the city below. As it fell, pieces of the GF broke off and crumbled into dust and smoke, blown away by the breeze.
"Catch her!" Squall shouted to Rinoa.
Rinoa focused a concentrated wind spell, forming a small tornado around Selphie. The strong winds blew away the last remnants of the Guardian Force, leaving only Selphie within. The spiral of air formed a basket around Selphie, slowing her descent and shielding her.
But Ultimecia did not want to be caught.
She snarled in rage, and sprayed fire from both hands. The twin steaks of flame rushed towards the trio in two arcs. Rinoa had no choice but to drop her wind spell and create a shield to block the flame. The fires bounced off Rinoa's shield an arm's-length in front of Irvine's face. He crouched down and threw an arm over his eyes reflexively. Even with Rinoa's protection, some of the blazing heat broke through the shield and warmed Irvine's skin.
Ultimecia continued pouring out the flame even as she fell, preventing Rinoa from catching Selphie. Squall and Irvine could do nothing but squint through the fire and watch as Selphie plummeted down, down, down.
About five or six stories below the platform Irvine was standing upon, Selphie crashed into the very top of one of Esthar's smaller skyscrapers. The sound of her body hitting the hard metal was both small—and yet somehow deafening for Irvine. The twin blasts of fire stopped abruptly.
Irvine rushed forward to the edge of the platform and looked down.
Atop one of the buildings below, amid a small circle of wrecked machinery and cracked roofing tiles, Selphie's body lay motionless, her arms and legs splayed at odd angles.
Without a plan, without a thought, Irvine ran forward and leapt off the edge of the platform. The air rushed around him, pulling his trench coat up to his shoulders and threatening to tear his hat from his head. The building below—and Selphie's prone body—rose up to meet him. A second before he landed, Irvine realized that he would never survive this fall, but he didn't care. He was incapable of caring about anything other than Selphie.
He closed his eyes and waited for the impact.