Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Silken Serenity ❯ Chapter III ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter III

The black Garden hung heavily above them. Fujin looked up as raindrops began to hit her face. The sky was roiling with black clouds. Lightening spread through the bruised sky, illuminating the runes on the Garden. "READY?"

Seifer dumped Squall onto the ground. Bits of mud splashed onto his cheek, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Where...?" He stumbled to his feet, bumping into Seifer. The blond man frowned, grabbing Squall's arm to right him. His eyes never left the fortress hovering only a few miles above.

"It's time to fight Edea."

Squall closed his eyes. The rain picked up and became a downpour. He rubbed his face, spreading the mud into his hair.

"Do you have a plan?"

Seifer slowly averted his eyes and peered grimly into Squall's blind face.

"Destroy it. Destroy her. Don't let her fulfill her objectives."

"Objectives?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Squall sighed, trying to wipe the sheet of water from his face.

"It's raining hard, ya know? Are we gonna go in or not?" Raijin said, nervously lifting his feet.

"Yeah, we're going in."

"How?" Squall demanded.

Seifer frowned irritably. He hadn't really thought of that. Now they were standing in a torrential rainstorm below the fortress and had no way in.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to give up any chance of a surprise attack. She'll let us in if she knows you're here."

"I'm bait?"

Seifer nodded curtly.

"Thanks," Squall muttered. "So how is she going to know I'm here?"

Seifer pointed to a rune above them, it was glowing softly and seemed to be slowly gaining in brightness.

"Great."

"Let's just get this over with, ya know?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

~*~

Rinoa looked out the window, but there was nothing to see but thick, dusky clouds. Selphie was humming softly to herself as she piloted the Ragnarok through the rain. The melody seemed strange, and her voice kept breaking. Rinoa sighed irritably. The humming was very annoying, but then, Selphie was pretty annoying. She glanced over at Quistis and Ellone who appeared to be in a deep conversation; they spoke too quietly for Rinoa to hear.

Zell did another series of flips down the small cramped aisle, nearly running into Irvine who just raised an irritated an eyebrow. The silence had a sound, or at least a feeling so palpable that it felt like sound in her ear. She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the pressure.

"Let's split up. We're gonna have to stop Edea, but we need Squall first. You guys can act as decoys... Then the other party will get to Seifer. We'll meet back up and fight Edea together."

"Maybe, but what if things don't work so smoothly?"

"You mean?"

"Zell, ideally, your plan is good," said Quistis, "but in practice... What if Ellone and Rinoa are caught?"

"They'll be killed," Zell said glumly.

"Guys! Listen! What did we do when we fought Ultimecia? Did we just wait around?"

"No!" Zell replied, suddenly jumping up and puching his hand. "We took her head-on! Selphie, you're a genius!"

"Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out..." Quistis muttered.

"Alright, then! It's settled," said Irvine. "We'll crash Edea's party and rescue Squall!"

Rinoa shook her head. This seemed like a very bad idea. When they had gone up against Ultimecia, they had a plan... Even if it was one of Laguna's half-formulated ones. But what was the alternative? Wait and wait until Edea became strong enough to release Hyne on her own? In the end, it seemed to be the only thing they could do. She just hoped that if they failed, Seifer and Squall would be able to stop Edea.

"We'll be there soon. Get ready, guys!" Selphie cried.

~*~

Seifer, Squall, Raijin and Fuujin stood before Edea. She was standing behind a large pedastal which looking somewhat like a sundial. It emitted a soft blue light, which made the sorceress's white skin seem even more mask-like.

"Seifer. You've returned, have you? Did you change your mind, or are you hoping to use Hope against me."

"Matron..." Squall murmured. He closed his eyes, thinking about the moment before he'd been lost: the moment that had cost him the last five years. Images of Matron and of himself, only younger, took shape out of the liquid memories, only to pour back again. He concentrated on the image and was able to picture Ultimecia giving Matron her powers. A wave of feathers poured in from over the walls. Squall blinked. For the moment, his vision had returned. Beside him, Seifer had drawn his gunblade. Raijin seemed to be nursing a burn.

"What...?" His vision began to dim again. He heard Fuujin cried out and felt the air temperature lower as the blizzaga was cast. "Dammit!" He reached for his gunblade and caught air as he was suddenly knocked down by the ultima being cast his way.

Seifer grunted and fell to one knee. He would reach his limit break soon... Maybe then he could stop Edea. He frowned at Squall who was trying to find his footing and his gunblade at the same time. Raijin and Fuujin were already down.

"I can do this," he said softly, powering up.

Edea laughed. Usually, she had a rather low, bemused and haughty chuckle, but now she sounded as if she was shrieking. She moved her hands quickly, too quickly for him to see what sort of spell she was summoning. A terrible, deafening explosion surrounded him. The air became black, and Seifer thought he could pick out stars in the murk.

'Is it meteor?' he wondered. 'It's either that, or we've died.' Edea's voice crept in through the blackness. He couldn't tell what she was saying, but apparently it was the end of the spell. There was little time to react before he was sent sprawling to the ground. He landed on something soft and realized it was Squall. The younger man didn't respond, and for a moment, Seifer wondered if he'd died.

A sudden wave of pain crackled up his spine, and he fainted.

The world was dark; the air static. Squall kicked at the ground, but the dust didn't even bother to rise. He sighed and sat down heavily, staring up at the cloud-laden skies. He didn't even feel any sense of panic being there. The clouds began to shimmer and distort. Squall winced, averting his eyes as the clouds twisted. The sky's contortions pained his eyes. He closed his eyes, rubbing them, trying to escape the blindness.

Feathers blew around him. His name was being called, but the dense hurricane of feathers made the caller's voice incoherent. The feathers pressed him back. He knew that he'd fall further into time if he was pushed back anymore.

"Rinoa," he murmured weakly, unable to stand up against the battering cloud of white.

"But she escaped. I guess enough people cared about her that she didn't need me to get back to our time." The feathers abruptly dropped falling to the earth like stones. The air was thick with silence. There was a figure on the horizon. It was calling to him over and over, waving wildly.

Squall watched dumbly, his brain telling him to hurry and go to the figure, but all he could do was stare until the figure dissipated.

He sat up and realized he'd been dreaming. He felt around, but couldn't discern his surroundings, but he knew that wherever he was, Edea wasn't there. The electric feeling of powerful magic had dissolved. His body ached terribly, as if he'd been thrown back and forth against the walls. He lay back down, and his hand fell on something warm.

"Seifer?"

He groped upward and felt his companion's chest; it rose softly, and it was definitely Seifer.

"Raijin? Fuujin?" There was silence. He wondered where they were, but was in too much pain to crawl around looking for them.

Seifer moaned softly and suddenly grabbed Squall's hand, bolting upright. He sighed and dropped back to the ground.

"Good, you're not dead."

"Where are we?"

"From the looks of it, the dungeon."

"Garden has a dungeon?"

"Edea's does."

"Oh. What do we do now?"

"I don't know."
~*~

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!