LA VITA NUOVA
CHAPTER 3:
ARRIVAL AND ATROCITY
Squall Leonhart didn't know why he had gotten this assignment. All that Headmaster Cid told him was that it was something that could put him on the fast-track to becoming a full SeeD. His mission was simple enough: act as security to the organisation known as Hyne's Shield, and particularly to a woman called Ellone, as well as the founder and leader of Hyne's Shield, Rinoa Heartilly, formerly Rinoa Caraway. The latter was apparently a Sorceress.
You could see it in her photos, Squall reflected. The only known public photos of Rinoa Heartilly were those on her website for Hyne's Shield. That silver hair with the single black streak, the black irises with the golden ring in the middle…it was no wonder she was an advocate for the rights of Sorceresses. If she had not grown up as the privileged daughter of General Fury Caraway, she probably would have been treated with a lot more fear and loathing. Beautiful in an exotic way, Squall thought to himself detachedly, though he never felt more than the most basic attraction to women. And none to men. He felt being attached to people would only bring pain. A distant, dim memory of being abandoned by the girl he thought of as a big sister came unbidden to mind.
There were consolations to coming here. Squall didn't have to put up with Zell being a loud idiot, or Seifer being antagonistic. And he didn't like the way Instructor Quistis Trepe tried to help him, even when he didn't want her help beyond what he asked for. It also meant getting some sort of field experience, even if it wasn't in the heat of battle. But being a bodyguard was one of the possible jobs a SeeD should undertake. And to be honest, he wanted to be somewhere peaceful and quiet for a while. Winhill certainly seemed to fit the bill. He considered this to be a working holiday, of sorts. Or perhaps a sabbatical?
He was travelling on the train to Winhill, reading a tattered copy of Timber Maniacs, an issue that proclaimed itself to be the Laguna Loire Tribute Special. Apparently Laguna Loire was a former Galbadian soldier turned travel writer. The man was certainly enthusiastic about his travels, and Squall enjoyed them more for the interesting anecdotes rather than the rather goofy writing style. The man himself had a photo at the beginning of the magazine, a handsome face with long dark hair, and a rather silly grin on his face. There was something very vaguely familiar about that face, though Squall could not think what that was.
Someone would be waiting for him at the station. Squall was told by Cid that a woman called Edea Kramer, Cid's wife and a Sorceress herself, would be his contact. Apparently she was also the co-founder of Garden and SeeD.
Once the train stopped, Squall disembarked. He was pretty much one of the few people on the train besides the driver, he realised. He hefted his Revolver gunblade, engraved with the leonine image of Griever, and disembarked. And the only person waiting there was a woman in a simple, black dress, long black hair, and green eyes.
"Edea Kramer?" Squall asked, approaching the Sorceress.
She nodded. "Squall…you've grown since I've last seen you."
"Do I know you?"
"You were at the orphanage I used to run with my husband at Centra, before we founded Garden and SeeD. You may have forgotten. It has been a long time, after all," Edea said, though she looked a little hurt that he didn't remember.
Squall, now that he came to think about it, did find her vaguely familiar. A word from the fog of memory past came unbidden to his lips. "…Matron?"
Edea smiled sadly, and nodded in acknowledgement. "That's what you all used to call me. You, along with Zell, Seifer, Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine. Amongst so many others. Forgive me, I'm indulging in some nostalgia. Winhill isn't that far from here. It's a pleasant walk, and I can answer any questions that I can about your mission along the way."
As they walked together from the station, Squall asked, "Is this a bodyguard job?"
"That is the primary purpose of this mission, yes. There is a secondary objective as well, though. Rinoa Heartilly does not trust SeeD or Garden, and she has only agreed to your presence on sufferance," Edea said. "She may even believe you to be a spy. In truth, I would rather that she divulge what she knows willingly, and to me rather than to you to send back to Garden. Your task is to try and to get her to trust SeeD and Garden a little more. I fear it may be a difficult task. She seems to have knowledge, twisted though it is, of SeeD's true purpose."
"…True purpose?"
Edea nodded. "I founded SeeD based on information about future events…of a Sorceress who may be a threat in the future, a threat SeeD was founded to stop. However, Rinoa may possess some form of precognition. She claims to see a future where all Sorceresses are persecuted, and founded Hyne's Shield as a charity to counter this. She is somewhat hostile to Garden and SeeD. And if what she sees is precognition rather than paranoid preoccupation, then I cannot let it stand. SeeD was founded to combat rogue Sorceresses, not engage in indiscriminate pogroms against all of them. If it is possible to change a future where SeeD has become corrupted from its ideals, then I will endeavour to do so. As a Sorceress myself, I can understand her fear and anger."
"You want me to inveigle myself with her," Squall said. "Try to get her to open a dialogue with Garden and SeeD, or at least decrease her antagonism."
"If possible, yes. You are not a spy, but a diplomat. I know some diplomats engage in espionage, but in this case, all I want is diplomacy."
Squall scoffed lightly. "I don't know why I was chosen. I am a combat expert, specialising in gunblades. I don't like getting involved with others."
Edea's eyes flicked over to Squall, before nodding. "Perhaps. But Cid sent you. And there is a bonus outside the parameters of the mission. You will not know this, but Winhill was where you were born. Your mother, Raine Leonhart, perished in childbirth. Your father was…unreachable, being in Esthar at the time when the Sorceress Adel was being overthrown. And the people of Winhill weren't fond of your father, so they sent you and another orphan to our orphanage. You were close to that other orphan. You called her 'Sis'. So when she had to leave…you were devastated, by all accounts."
Sis…the name sounded too-familiar to Squall. Rather bluntly, perhaps somewhat coldly, he said, "I don't have any interest in my past. What matters is the mission. I can't guarantee that I can help her open up."
"Squall, just be yourself. I get the feeling that Rinoa would appreciate someone who is blunt and frank with her, and according to my husband, you are one of the more frank SeeDs in Garden, what needs to be concealed by professionalism aside. I trust his judgement. Therefore, I will trust you."
This gave rise to a bitter smile on Squall's face. "That's probably a bad idea."
"No…no, I don't think so," Edea said. Squall was surprised at the conviction in her expression. He still didn't think they had chosen well...
Rinoa glared at the report that Watts had brought her. "Is this correct?" she asked.
"Yes, Rinoa, ma'am! Gathering intelligence is my specialty, after all!" Watts said with a sloppy salute, the beanie-wearing young man as eager as always, though his eager disposition was marred by the horrendous news he had delivered. His eyes certainly glittered with disgust and sorrow at what he had found out.
"But if this is correct…" Rinoa scowled. "It looks like I will have to use the SeeD's help for this."
"What's the matter?" Ellone asked. Rinoa thrusted the printout at her. After Ellone read it, she gasped. "This is horrible!"
"And in other news, the ocean is wet," Rinoa snarked.
"What is it?" Zone asked, getting up from his desk.
"According to this," Ellone said, "a resistance group in Timber calling themselves the Strangling Figs have abducted a young Sorceress by the name of Jessie(1), apparently the illegitimate daughter of a Galbadian soldier called Biggs. Her mother, Ruby(2), was already considered a traitor to the Timber resistance groups by many, though some say she slept with Biggs in order to stop him from purging Timber after one particular attack on the Galbadians. Ruby has been murdered, hung outside the front of Timber Maniacs in a…horrendous condition."
"They defiled her and disembowelled her, according to reports," Rinoa said with a scowl.
"It's more than that. The Strangling Figs intend to use Jessie as a weapon," Watts said. "They've fitted her with an Odine Bangle they have modified to control her. They intend to try and use her to destroy any Galbadian forces who attack Timber, according to a declaration of war they have issued against Galbadia. In part of their declaration, they have named myself and Zone as craven traitors who have shamed the memory of our parents!"
"They don't know what they're talking about," Rinoa said. "And according to this, I am seen as someone who should have assassinated my father." She sneered. "My father is not the best of people, but he is also one of the more sane people in Deling's administration. If it weren't for him, Deling may very well have razed Timber completely to the ground. As it is, the Strangling Figs are now making Timber a target for the Galbadian missile bases."
"Rinoa, ma'am…I have intelligence that they are no longer based in Timber. That they have moved closer to Deling City," Watts said. "My informant was a man who was part of the Strangling Figs, and disagreed with them, given that Jessie is only a child. They beat him and left him to die, but he was found in time." He looked over at Zone. "Remember Minwu(3), Zone? That former Estharian combat medic who raised us?"
"Yeah," Zone said. "He was the informant?"
"He contacted us, as he knows we're part of Hyne's Shield. They intended to make a new base in the Tomb of the Unknown King near Deling City."
Rinoa glared. "Then this will not stand. I intend to head for Deling City."
"Why?" Edea asked as she came through the door, followed by a boy about Rinoa's age.
Rinoa took the printout and handed it to Edea, before looking at the new arrival. He was dressed in black trousers and a black, fur-trimmed jacket, with a white shirt. His face was handsome, perhaps even a little beautiful, but the brown hair framed a cold, impassive expression. He extended a hand. "Squall Leonhart, SeeD cadet. You must be Rinoa Heartilly."
"That's a very interesting existential question, Squall Leonhart."
Squall raised an eyebrow at her facetiousness, but said nothing further. "Squall?" Ellone asked.
"Yes. And you are?"
"I'm Ellone…don't you remember?"
After a moment, Squall said, his voice a little chillier than before, "Barely, Sis." The word 'Sis' was invested with a cold venom.
"Squall, enough. It was my decision to take Ellone away with me for her own protection. I am sorry you were hurt by it, but it was for her own good," Edea reprimanded the young SeeD.
Squall subsided, and Ellone approached him, giving the teenager a hug. "It's okay, Squall. I didn't like being away from you guys either. I'm sorry it hurt you. Anyway, we'll be here for a while."
Edea finished reading the printout, and handed it over to Rinoa. "What are you intending to do about it?"
"In broad terms? I intend to infiltrate the Tomb, rescue Jessie, and leave those bastards for the Galbadians to deal with," Rinoa said. "The other Timber resistance groups will be glad to be rid of them. People who use a Sorceress as a weapon or a symbol of fear…I detest them as much as those who persecute them." She then looked at Squall. "As much as I do not wish to work with SeeD, I am not stupid. I require your help, Squall Leonhart."
He nodded. "Very well. Is this part of the mission, Edea?"
"It is now," Edea said. "Rinoa, I'll help Ellone, Zone and Watts hold the fort for the time being. I won't poke my nose into your business, I will be here purely to protect it. You have my word as a fellow Sorceress."
Rinoa scowled slightly, before nodding. "I will hold you to that. We'd better get going. Squall, with me. We're heading to Deling City, and from there, to the Tomb of the Unknown King. We're going to stop these bastards if it's the last thing we do…"
CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:
At last, the third chapter, and the first meeting between Squall and Rinoa. It will be the events at the Tomb of the Unknown King that begin to form the bond between them. The next chapter will have Rinoa meeting with her father for the first time in a long time. I decided to hurry up and finish this chapter after doing the fourth chapter for Vincit Qui Patitur, a similar fanfic for Final Fantasy X, only with Seymour becoming a good guy (and without reincarnation, either).
The Strangling Figs were introduced basically on a whim. The Timber resistance movements seem either ineffectual or incompetent, so I wondered, what if one of them was the sort of vicious terrorist group who didn't give a shit for the consequences. I gave the name 'Strangling Figs' after the strangler figs that grow around trees and kill them. I wanted a name that kept with a woodland/wildlife theme of the Timber resistance movements. In the game canon, Rinoa's arrival and joining the Timber Owls caused the people who would be the formative members of the Strangling Figs to attack her, hoping to hold her hostage for General Caraway. Rinoa managed to fight her way out, and the Strangling Figs were sent to D-District Prison, certainly one of the deserving inmates. Yes, I made that up. So?
Review-answering time! I'm surprised at how swiftly this story got reviews. Anyway, jgkitarel: You're probably right about why it alienated so many, but remember that the previous game, in terms of story and setting, was as much a quantum leap as Final Fantasy VIII was. Midgar wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk novel, which is what Final Fantasy VII had the vibe of. Sadly, living in PAL territories, I have never been able to play Chrono Cross (and I'm yet to get anywhere in Chrono Trigger. Hmm, should recharge and fire up the DS sometime…).
diagonalpumpkin: While I agree that Deling was written out too swiftly, he was really only a placeholder villain in the game itself, and was killed abruptly to show how much of a threat Edea/Ultimecia was. This story will have Deling as one of the main antagonists, though the Strangling Figs (or at least key members) may be recurring antagonists.
Guest: My guess is that, at times, the family often alienates themselves from the Sorceress in some manner or another, and while friends and family are important, the Knight is a somewhat more stronger focus.
YuukiAsuna-Chan: The combination of dying in her time, plus ending up inside a foetus, scrambled Ultimecia's memories somewhat. Ultimecia is not actually a separate personality, but she is different to what Rinoa has become. This Rinoa is more cynical and bitter, true, but unlike Ultimecia, she doesn't take it out destructively on other people. She is basically Ultimecia becoming a better person.
1. Named for one of the members of AVALANCHE from Final Fantasy VII.
2. Named for the sole female member of Tantalus from Final Fantasy IX.
3. Named for the White Mage from Final Fantasy II, and a key member of a somewhat less nasty resistance movement.