Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Silken Serenity ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Prologue

The light was hazy from the dust particles. A sharp sneeze split through the air, causing the particles to burst into frenzy. Several moments of silence passed, and the particles settled once again. A small hand brushed the newly settled dust from a wooden box. The years had only made the wood rougher, and the hand retreated with a soft whimper as it was covered with splinters.

A young woman nipped at her palm, trying to rid it of the splinters. She sighed and sat down on the box, dust coating her face. Trying to rub it away proved as fruitless as trying to remove the splinters. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, but even still, the particles of dust rubbed off and caused her eyes to water.

"There's no way to open it."

"Keep looking."

She sighed and stood up, looking for a way to unlock the box. By all outward appearances, there was nothing to cause the viewer to think it was anything other than a large chunk of wood. There was no lid nor door that would signify that it was a container for anything. For a moment, the woman considered kicking the box to relieve her stress, but as she looked at the dark, broad back of her companion, she thought better of it.

Cool fingers touched her bare shoulder, and she turned. "Are you sure about this? You may unleash chaos into this world."

The woman shrugged and turned back. "I have to. I made a promise."

"And what about him?"

The man turned to the two women. "What about me?"

"Why are you doing this? It could destroy us all."

"Yeah, I guess." He turned again, offering her no further information.

She sighed softly and knelt by the box, tentatively feeling for a hidden spring. The first woman knelt down beside her and also ran her hands over the top, trying to ignore the new splinters.

"What will happen if we release chaos?"

"The world may end."

The woman sighed and leaned back on her heels. "I don't know what to do, but this box is the answer. We finally found what we were looking for, but the price of our victory…"

The other woman smiled at her sympathetically. "We can turn back…"

"No, it's my fault that this happened in the first place… I can't turn back now."

"There's one other way."

"But the chances that the world will end are even greater if we try that. We'd need the power of two. I am only one."

The other woman nodded in assent. "I found it."

The first woman leaned forward, her eyes following the older woman's hand. Sure enough, a tiny silver circle had appeared on the side of the box.

"If I press this…"

"Chaos might be freed into the world… But then, Hope will be freed, too, right?"

"Maybe… Maybe Hope will be free, too."

The man appeared behind them. "Hope… That's what we need now. Even if it is…" For a moment, the man looked off at something above their heads. Then he sighed. "…Him."

The women gazed at him silently for a few moments. If they opened this box, hope could be restored into the world: the hope that had been trapped since Time Compressed. It had been nearly five years now. They had been searching that long for hope. They all knew that whatever chaos they released, it would only be icing on the corrupt cake of their world. Outside they knew that the last of the SeeDs were fighting so that these three could accomplish their goal.

The two women gazed at each other and thought of the plains incarnadined and the sorrow of so many families. The first looked away sadly. This was her fault. SeeD had tried to protect her after the compression. It was ironic: SeeD, founded to destroy the sorceress, had been decimated trying to protect just that.

"Without Hope the cycle continued."

"Ultimecia again passed her powers onto Edea. The war began anew."

"Ultimecia… Whoever inherits her power is the most corrupt of all. She has the magic of Hyne."

"Yes, Hyne who wished to destroy the human race."

"Hyne's true power is corrupted…"

"Yes, but now both of us are filled with it."

"There was no choice," the man broke in. "We couldn't stop Sorceress Edea without that power. We would have all died long ago."

"His memory would be forgotten. Hope would be obsolete."

"But now… What if this doesn't work? Edea could easily use the additional chaos to release Hyne. The world would be destroyed."

"And it won't now? You saw the destruction of Deling City. You were there with me."

"I know. I only survived because… of these cursed powers."

"Power always is a curse," the man replied. "Open it."

"If I open it… Will you try to destroy Hope?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know."

"But Hope is all we have left! If you destroy…"

"I have needs, too."

"You're gonna betray us."

"That depends."

"On what?"

"I don't have to answer to you. Just open the damn box," he snarled.

The older woman flinched away from him. This man didn't even have to raise his hand to her to fill her with dread. "Please don't destroy him," she whispered as she pressed the latch. There was a soft click and then silence. "What happened?"

"I don't know…"

The first woman slowly straightened. "I'll do it."

They both nodded at her and stepped back. The woman looked nervous for a moment, almost girlish. Then she straightened her shoulders and closed her eyes. They didn't hear what she said, but as soon as she said it, the room was filled with a swirling vortex of sand, clouds and light.

The older woman screamed as she was knocked away by the blast. The man stood his ground, shielding his eyes. The first woman opened hers. A figure stumbled out of the light and fell. She tried to catch it first, but the man pushed her aside and caught the form.

"No, don't take him!" the woman cried.

The man looked down at her, sympathy flickered behind his eyes. He turned from her and carried Hope away.

"Please… The world will die," she whispered, crouching on the floor. Tears warmed her cheeks, but she knew it was no use. The man had already left with the only hope the world knew.

~*~

"You got him, ya know?"

"VICTORY."

"Yeah, we have him."

"WHAT NOW?"

Seifer shrugged and looked down at the form at their feet. He bent down and slung the limp "hope" over his shoulder. "We'll just take care of him until he comes to."

"Why'd you take him from Rinoa, ya know?"

"Everyone in this world is out to kill magic users-including Ellone and Rinoa. He'd only be in more danger if he fell into their hands."

"LOVE?"

"Yeah, I think she might have, but… Things are different now."

Fujin nodded in assent. This was a world where love was a liability, but then again, didn't they have "hope" now? Couldn't there be love again? Seifer turned and slipped beneath the dock. She watched his feet leave imprints in the sand and listened to the sounds of the waves lapping up the marks he had left. Raijin sighed to himself.

"You guys are always so quiet, ya know?"

"SILENCE!"

"Sheesh."

Raijin and Fujin followed Seifer under the docks and onto the boat. Seifer dropped "hope" onto the ground.

"TAKING. WHERE?"

"We're taking him to the Centra Ruins."

"WHY?"

Seifer shrugged and sat down in the nearest chair. "Raijin, let's go," he grumbled. Raijin quietly obeyed, as usual. "It's good that some things stay the same," Seifer mused to himself. Fujin leaned against the table and looked down at the man lying in the floor.

"DIFFERENT."

"Yeah, he does look different. I thought he was scrawny before. I guess that's what happens when you get trapped in time for five years."

"WHY TRAPPED?"

"I'm not sure… But it was something about Rinoa and a pact they made before they left. I guess one of them didn't fill their side of the bargain."

"BAD POSSEE."

Seifer smirked. "Imagine, Fu, I finally have Squall Leonhart at my mercy. Here he is lying at my feet, and what do you think I'm going to do?"

Fujin shrugged. "WHAT?"

He sighed. "Nothing. What can I do? I helped nearly destroy the world once. This time, I'm making amends, so as you can see, there's nothing I can do: no revenge I can extract… Nothing."

She watched him silently, and though she pitied him, she didn't show it. It would only make him feel worse. "WAKE?"

"What do you think? He looks kinda sick. Maybe he needs to rest."

"MEDICINE."

"We ran out… It's been hard to find what with all the wars going on."

"LIVE?"

"He has to. We've run out of choices."

Fujin bent down and examined Squall's face. "HOPE… REALLY?" she wondered as she studied the hollow cheeks and faded skin. "LOOKS DEAD."

Seifer laughed, and Fujin looked up. "Yeah, I guess he does, but then Squall never was that good looking, was he?"

Fujin straightened, puzzled by the sudden humor in Seifer's face. He hadn't laughed in a very long time. As she thought about it, she realized that she and Raijin hadn't either; no one had.

`All this pain because of this man and a broken promise?' she wondered. `Fate already proved he was a hero. Why does it have to do it again?' She looked up at Seifer. `It's always about Squall… But maybe this time, it will be about Seifer, too.'

~*~

Ellone and Rinoa were silently dressing their wounds in Esthar's abandoned presidential mansion. The universal violence had begun there, forcing Laguna out of office. He had gone into hiding, if he was still alive. Ellone sighed sadly, wondering what had happened to her foster father and his friends. She had been lying low, as well, living at Garden with Rinoa.

`I didn't even get to say goodbye,' she thought, tearing up.

"Squall…"

Ellone looked up from her self-pitying reverie. "Rinoa?"

"What do you think Seifer's gonna do with him?" "I don't know."

Rinoa looked away, and Ellone knew what the younger woman was thinking. She had even seen Rinoa's thoughts in her dreams. She knew the guilt and sadness the young sorceress felt for leaving Squall behind.

"I heard him calling. I tried to go back, but I couldn't find him. Then I heard Zell telling me to hurry, so I did. I thought that if I just went to the orphanage, he'd be there. But he wasn't, because I went to the orphanage at the right time. Maybe he went to it, too… But he was still inside time, so…"

Ellone shook her head. She had heard this soliloquy enough times over the last several years and it was just as painful each time. `What does it mean? Why was the promise broken? Was it Squall's fault or Rinoa's? Who didn't remember? And who didn't forget?' she wondered.

"I don't think Seifer wants to kill him. He's shown us that he's not like that anymore… But I hope that he takes care of him."

"Don't worry, Rinoa. Squall will be fine." `If he's still alive,' she added to herself. `My brother has lived such a sad life. I wonder if he even realized how much time had passed.'

"Ellone… Can you `see' him? Take me to him!" she begged.

Ellone blinked.

"I'll try, Rinoa…" She closed her eyes, trying to establish a link. Rinoa watched, wringing her hands in anticipation. The mansion was filled with silence. Time passed by wearily, and then Ellone fell to the ground with a moan.

"Are you okay? What was it?"

"I can't make a link… But I think he's still alive. Something terrible…"

"Ellone? Stay awake!" However, Ellone fainted and remained unconscious despite Rinoa's efforts. Finally Rinoa sighed and sat down on the other side of the room, hugging her knees.

"Quistis, Zell, Irvine, Selphie… I wish you guys were here…" she whispered softly.

Quistis and Zell had been assigned to help Laguna flee when the first riot began. If Laguna was still alive, then they were, too. At least that's what Rinoa hoped. However, there was no way to know. Laguna and the others had been missing for nearly four years. For awhile, Selphie had been the leader of Garden following the murder of Headmaster Cid by Sorceress Edea and Xu and Nida's deaths on the battlefield. However, it was common knowledge that her mind had broken under the strain of the SeeD massacres. Now Selphie was officially missing in action and Irvine…

"Irvine…"

He had disappeared shortly after Selphie, either killed on the battlefield or a runaway. So many people had died that it was impossible to bury them all. Most of the time, the surviving SeeDs burned all the bodies, even their own soldiers, due to the incredible mortality rate. Ellone and Rinoa were left alone in the world with only a few hundred SeeDs to offer them any protection against increasingly hostile forces. They were trapped between a "rock and a hard place" with Sorceress Edea chasing them on one side and the anti-sorceress factions turning every stone that Edea's minions had overlooked.

It was a stroke of luck that they had met up with Seifer. He was the one who had learned about the box and informed them that Squall might still be alive. It had given Rinoa hope enough to live this long, but now she wasn't so sure she could be strong anymore. Even though it seemed that they had freed only Squall from time, she was certain that Edea had been waiting for the moment they manipulated time to draw chaos for herself.

"If she succeeded… Ellone and I will die. She'll find us before we know what's happening. But I guess it doesn't matter, as long as Squall lives then maybe he can stop her from resurrecting Hyne. That's all that's important, isn't it?"

She was answered by a familiar whine as Angelo limped over to her. With a sigh, she stroked his glossy coat and ran her fingers over his mangled leg. Even Angelo had undergone suffering for her. It seemed that anyone who dared protect her was doomed to pain and torture. Sudden tears burned her eyes.

"Everyone died because of me… Everyone died or went crazy or was maimed… I couldn't even save Squall. It's all my fault."

Angelo whined and pressed his nose against her face, gently licking away her tears. She hugged him tightly, and he didn't protest. The lonely mansion was filled with the sound of her sobs as day waned into night and the last of SeeD perished outside.
~*~

Final Fantasy VIII is copyright Squaresoft. I make no claims on the brainchild of Hironobu Sakaguchi. However, as I wrote this fic, I do have some say. If you want to use it on your site, please ask me first!