Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Resurrection - Rebirth of a Foe ❯ Old Acquaintances ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter Two - Old Acquaintances
"... The hell these monsters come from?!" Zell demanded punching a monster to the ground. He and Irvine had stood in front of the junk-store bickering over the two screws, and the girls purchasing Items in the Item shop, when a whole herd of monsters can charging in at full speed. Luckily not many people were at the mall - the majority of them were helping out for the parade in another part of the city. But still, an attack in the city was most unexpected!
"Fight first! Ask questions later, Zell," Quistis instructed, casting scan on the large Ruby Red dragon before her, and then gaped at the huge monster. It's level was well over fifty - only monsters like that could only be found at the Islands closest to Heaven and Hell... Hastily casting protect on herself, Quistis prepared herself for its attack. The pupils of her blue eyes dilated to pinpricks as she could only watch her vital hit-points be beaten out of her. Collapsing onto the floor, Quistis tried her best to stay in the game, until it was her time to attack again. Where have all these monsters come from? She wondered desperately, wincing at the pain. A lot of help the Protect magic did!
The sound of gunfire and the clash of metal against flesh soon caught Quistis' fallen state. She slowly lifted her head up to see Laguna and his friends attacking a seriously mean T-Rexuar, and Squall who was fighting the Ruby Red.
"Squall..." she said faintly, a weak smile playing on her lips.
"Instructor? You OK?" Squall asked as he attacked the dragon and then cast Holy on it.
"I'll be fine..." she said half to herself and half to Squall. Slowly standing up, Quistis closed her eyes and summoned what inner strength she had left. The Ruby Red had to be defeated!
Squall had fought Ruby Red dragons before, when he set out to acquire the hidden GF Bahamut. But this dragon before him now was relentless! He knew very well that Ruby Reds were weak against Holy magic and Ice, and just now he saw a thousand hit-points be taken off the monster. It refused to be beaten! There was nothing more Squall could do until his turn. He and Laguna and his friends had hurried as quick as they could to the mall once the alarm had been triggered, and Squall had seen the blow that his Instructor had taken from the Ruby Red. He watched Quistis as she slowly stood up. A yellow-red aura began to surround her, and Squall knew what that meant.
Once somebody's hit-point level came to a critical stage, that person was able to unleash a great amount of power: a Limit Break. Whilst Squall's Limit Break consisted of the Renzokuken and at times another additional attack, Quistis' Breaks, however, had more variety in them. Her Limit Break was Blue Magic, and from there she could choose which magic she wanted to use. Over the course of the SeeDs encounter with the notorious Sorceress Ultimecia, Quistis had developed her Blue Magic Limit Break to a total of sixteen selections. Her favourite being: Degenerator. This Blue Magic attack caused death to one enemy, and although it did not work against all foes and monsters, she did however know that the Degenerator attack worked sufficiently well against Ruby Red dragons.
Squall knew this too because it was Instructor Trepe and his friend Zell, that accompanied him to the Research Missile Base when attempting to get the GF Bahamut. It was Quistis that helped them defeat the Ruby Reds that they encountered in between, before the showdown with the secret Guardian Force. Ruby Red dragon, you are history! Quistis said to herself, as Degenerator was cast upon the huge red beast. Her out-stretched palms opened up a black hole from which the monster was sucked into, disappearing into thin air. Game over for the dragon, victory to Quistis.
Once game play was over, Quistis slumped down onto the floor again. She may have defeated one mean monster, but she was still weak and in need of recovering. Zell, Selphie and Irvine rushed over to where Squall and Quistis were, once their battles were finished.
"Yo, Instructor... you OK?" Zell asked, genuine concern in voice. Although people saw Zell as a loud, boisterous and hyperactive person, he did have a side to him that people found hard to believe and did not know it existed. It was the situations and battles that they all had shared together that brought them closer than ever. It was called true friendship.
"I'll be OK, Zell," the Instructor assured, trying to stand again.
"No, Instructor. You're too weak," Selphie said, setting her back down on the floor. "Wait a sec," concentrating, the young girl - who originally came from Trabia Garden - focused her mind and cast Curaga onto Quistis. Gradually, Instructor Trepe's hit-points and health were replenished, and she gave a grateful smile to Selphie.
"Thank you," she said taking Irvine's hand to help her up.
Laguna, Kiros and Ward came and joined them when they were done fighting the T-Rexuar. Laguna had a frown on his face, which soon dissolved into nothingness once he put his machine-gun away.
"Phew! Hadn't battled in ages!" he said to them all.
"Is there something we ought to know?" Squall demanded. "For what reason did those monsters break into the city for?"
"Does it look like I know?" Laguna asked back, rather too forcefully. "Do you think I had something to do with it?"
The man had a point. "No," Squall replied quietly.
"Me, Kiros and Ward are gonna go check what happened, and what went wrong."
Laguna said to them all. "I'm sorry Squall if you think that I ordered you here under false pretences. I heard that you guys had been out of action for a while, and thought that this job would get you up and about again. I wanted to secure you SeeDs for this event in case someone did beat me to it. Besides, the parade doesn't begin until tomorrow afternoon. You're free to leave Esthar whenever, I wanted the preliminaries out of the way you see."
"Don't you want us to stick around? Help you find out what let those monsters loose into the city?" Zell asked. "We're under your instructions y'know."
"I'm instructing you guys to get some time out. This was meant to be a field trip for all of you. No action and all play. I dunno where the hell those monsters came from, but me, Kiros and Ward'll find out. I don't want the parade to be a reminder of last year." Laguna said.
"You suggested so, OK?" Selphie said.
"So long as your back in time for the festivities." Laguna said with a grin. "Go on. Scram."
"Ooh, y'know what would be great?" Selphie said, as they all boarded back into the Ragnorak. "We could visit Matron again, couldn't we? Despite Ultimecia's plan to turn Edea against us SeeDs, she's still out Matron who had taken care of us when we were still kids at the Orphanage."
"Yeah, that'd be cool," Zell agreed. "What do ya say Squall?"
"Whatever..." he said, lapsing into thinking mode again.
"Hey, Squall. Try adding some enthusiasm, huh?" Irvine cajoled. "We're all together again, c'mon!"
"Yeah, Squall," Selphie joined in.
"Fine. Set a course for the Orphanage," Squall absently instructed and then left the bridge to do some thinking.
"Selphie, Irvine? You'll be OK up here right?" Quistis asked when Squall left. As an instructor, she had every right to be concerned and to worry about her students, even if they were SeeDs!
"Sure!" Selphie assured, jumping into the pilot seat once more.
"Yeah, we'll be fine. I'll be here with her," Irvine said nudging his hat up, revealing a smile.
There's a double meaning in that... Quistis thought and then motioned to Zell to some with her. "I know you and Squall are the best of friends," she began, as the elevator slowly descended. "I know that for a fact,"
"I dunno..." Zell said, scratching the back of his head with a frown. "Squall's kinda hard to read, if y'know what I mean. The first positive sign he ever showed of caring was when he helped me out, back when we were trapped in the D-district prison, remember? Two G-soldiers came and attacked me, and then Squall jumped in and saved the day. You then said something about Squall caring so much about his friends, and I was like hugging him for waay too long-"
"Zell, I remember," Quistis said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"After Rinoa left, Squall shut-up like a clam again. Back to I-never-smile-at-all Squall," Zell concluded. "He may come to me for a guy-to-guy talk, but what good am I if he doesn't want to open his mouth, and only say 'whatever' if he can't say anything else!"
"I'm only asking you to try, Zell," Quistis said gently. "I'm sure you'll do better finding out what's on his mind than I will."
"Fine. But I can't promise anything," Zell said reluctantly.
Squall had escaped to the lower deck of the flying craft, and into one of the small rooms where he and Rinoa had fought the different coloured alien propagators. Geez, the whole Ragnorak reminded him of Rinoa. The very person he wanted to rid his mind of. Her memory was too painful for him that it hurt. Badly. Sighing, Squall sank to the floor and brooded miserably in silence. Perhaps they should visit Timber and see how she was doing. That's dumb. If she hasn't returned after a whole year, what makes you think she ever will? Will a little side trip ease the pain of not seeing her face for so long? No. Exactly.
His mind began to wander back to the past. The Orphanage where he grew up with all his friends, and Sis... Ellone. Things were so different now. All of them were grown-up. How could Squall ever come running to his beloved Sis when he was feeling down and out? Things had changed. He had changed. From Squall the Garden cadet and lone wolf, to SeeD, to caring and compassionate Squall, back to the quiet and often too depressing mercenary. Rinoa... Why did you have to go? Why haven't you returned? I need you... It was stupid really. Even after he had blindly cast himself into outer space and rescued the girl he cared for, he still refused to show his feelings. "Thank-you for rescuing me, again Squall", was what she had said. "Whatever... I did what I wanted to do", was what his reply was - typical unchanging Squall.
What was the tune to that song again? Squall remembered hearing it on a side-trip to Shumi Village in the frozen wastelands near Trabia Garden. He also recalled hearing the tune elsewhere, on a piano... Yes! When he was Laguna in the dream world. Squall remembered now. When Laguna and his friends were serving as Galbadian soldiers. He used to... "I used to always drag Kiros and Ward with me to watch her perform at the Deling hotel in Galbadia. Then, when I finally had my chance, I blew everything."
The piano composition was memorable. Julia... had thought up lyrics to match the melody. She had titled the song: Eyes on Me... Whenever sang my songs, on the stage on my own. Whenever sad my words, wishing they would be heard. I saw you smiling at me, was it real or just my fantasy? You'd always be there in the corner, of this tiny little bar... It all made perfect sense. Julia's love for Laguna-
"Squall?" the unusual uncertainty in Zell's voice was enough to startle Squall out of his 'quiet thinking'. Squall did not bother to raise his head, but saw from the corner of his eye, the mean whip that hung from Quistis' waist. Instructor Trepe looking out for me, as always. It's not like I can't handle all these emotion I'm feeling... What? Who am I kidding?
Unlike Zell, Quistis dared not venture any further than the room's entrance. She couldn't help but care for her students. Being an instructor, it was her nature to worry. Instead she remained where she was and kept quiet, allowing Zell to do what he could.
"Squall?" Zell ventured further.
"Yeah?" came a reply that lacked invitation.
"What's up?"
"Nothing much," Squall said. Why couldn't he be left alone to think? Maybe because I'll drown myself in all my sorrows.
"I'll bet you'll be glad to see Matron again,"
Sure, thrilled to bits.
"Y'know, we should have taken Ellone with us. When we were kids you always kept her to yourself. Like your life depended on it."
My life did depend on her. Nobody came close to caring for me since I became an orphan. Then when she left, and never returned... It was happening again. The moment he became close to someone he cared for, they were taken away from him. Just like Rinoa.
"How are you coping without Rinoa?" the question drew an intake of breath from the doorway. Quistis stared at Zell with her blue eyes. Zell turned and shrugged at her. It was a reasonable question wasn't it? No good playing around in circles, it was better if things were cut to the chase.
Hmm, let me think about that, Squall thought sarcastically to himself. Well... seeing that I can't stop thinking about her, since I'm practically surrounded with memories of Rinoa, I guess I'll live. For a while.
"Squall, you're being stupid!" Quistis stormed impatiently. She could see from where she was standing that Squall was never going to open up. Zell turned to his instructor again with a questioning look. I thought I was going to handle this? His face seemed to say. "You're being totally irrational. We're your friends for goodness sake. Ifrit only knows how many times I told you that. How can we help you if you won't tell us what's troubling you."
"I don't need your help," Squall said, trying his best not to lash out. He stood and made for the doorway but stopped when he saw his instructor blocking the only way out a determined look on her face.
"Do you think tearing your soul apart with memories of Rinoa is going to help?" she demanded. Her voice, sounding equably as sharp as the crack of her own weapon. "Well?" To that, Squall gave no reply. He had none. Instructor Trepe was right; he was opting for the easy way out - at times, not the best option to take. "Zell," the commanding tone still in her voice. "Return to the bridge and inform Selphie that we are changing course."
This information caught Squall's attention; he whipped his head up and stared at his superior. Quistis returned the stare with her ice blue eyes. She trained her eyes on his, her gaze never faltering as she said the words he did not want to hear. "Tell her to set co-ordinates for Timber. We're going to pay a little visit."
Zell glanced from Squall to Quistis, wondering whom he should take orders from. He jumped to his feet when Quistis sharply told him to get a move on.
"I'm going, I'm going. Sheesh!" Squall heard Zell say as he edged himself out of the room and back up to the bridge.
Shrugging, Squall sat back down onto the cool metal floor of the Ragnorak. So what if they were going to Timber? It wasn't going bring Rinoa back to him. She would have returned long ago if she had wanted to. But she hadn't, which meant what exactly?
"Don't deny that you're hurting inside Squall. Rinoa is leading you to ruin." the subtle tone of her voice returning. "If your closest friends can't help you, and you can't, then who will?"
Ellone? Squall suggested. Even with her unique ability, what could she do? Remove her power and she's just ordinary, human Ellone. Am I destined to be forever haunted by Rinoa and her memories? - What am I saying?! Rinoa's still alive. Get a GRIP Squall!!
"Remember Squall, whatever you decide to do it's your decision. Just, just don't do anything that you'll regret later, OK?" With a little sigh, the child prodigy - having qualified to be a SeeD instructor at the age of eighteen, she was nineteen now - left Squall on his own to return back to the bridge. Once she was gone, solitude crept into the room to keep Squall company. He could feel the Ragnorak changing direction and began to seriously contemplate whether seeing Rinoa again was a good idea. And most importantly, what was he going to say when they got there?