Welcome to Gaia! ::

Prologue
Videogame; stress reliever, or sometimes a causer. You can find yourself on both ends of the stick. For him it was a passion, a way of life. Growing up he learned the rights and wrongs from the games, he learned morals. He decided to run his life by a hero’s code.
He was introduced into this world of electronics and controllers when he was seven. His mother had her passion and she shared it with him. A series of games struck both their interests, Final Fantasy. Starting on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Final Fantasy was supposed to be Square Soft’s final game before bankruptcy. Their final hopes and dreams were put into it. Of course it was unexpected that it became more popular than they realized. An epidemic struck.
There are currently twelve titles and a few side titles; all increasing the popular demand. The first playstation release drew the greatest audience. Final Fantasy VII was the first FF title to present itself in a 3-D world, giving a fuller and realistic appearance. This new achievement gave more detail to the characters and creatures, and let you view the world at a 360-degree view, instead of the flat two dimensions. Of course the boy’s mother purchased this game, and they both dominated the game properly, fully enjoying the game’s full potential. The second playstation release was Final Fantasy VIII.
This title had been significantly upgraded; everything was fuller and cleaner. In VII everything was cubed and animated. So there was a clear difference. It shook the universe of Final Fantasy gaming. However to the mother and the son this was not too terribly important. The visual effects were a nice bonus to an amazing story. For this is the true purpose of Final Fantasy, the story.
The main character of the story is an eighteen-year-old named Squall Leonheart. He wore a black jacket that didn’t extend down past his waist; it stopped just above the waist. The jacket had a silver fur on the collar, one of his most distinct features. He wore black leather gloves and a white shirt. He wore black jeans with three belts. One normally worn and the other two crossing each other like and X. These belts were of a brown color.
Around his neck a silver pendant hung down his chest, a silver pendant of a lion. The neck of the lion head thinned down connecting with the top of a cross. The mane of the lion flowed back behind it like fire. As if the mane was the essence of fire it self. The lion is bearing its teeth; it seems to be unleashing an awesome roar. Squall calls this lion Griever, the ultimate monster.
At the beginning of the game squall is in combat with his sparring partner, Seifer. They did not choose to be partners; in fact they have rather disliked each other for as long as they can remember. So naturally the fighting got out of hand, and Seifer cuts a scar across Squall’s face. Blood fell from the wound that trails from his fore head between his eyes to above the left corner of his mouth. In anger he attacks back but misses and the screen whites out.
You have probably gathered that they were using swords, you are half right. Squall and Seifer are Gunblade specialists. The handle of a Gunblade is a gun handle. Instead of the handle and barrel making the ninety-degree L shape the handle slants further making it easier to balance the weight of the blade. The barrel, instead of being connected to a nozzle, is forged with a long blade. Squall’s blade is approximately forty inches long, but Seifer’s is of a different design. The handle of a gun, and the blade of a sword, hence the name Gunblade.
Squall goes to a military school called Balamb Garden. It is one of three schools known as Gardens. Garden trains mercenaries called SeeD. Later in the story you learn that SeeD’s are trained for the purpose of defeating the sorceress. The headmaster is a man named Cid who is married to the woman who created Garden. She has an important significance in the game’s story. Her name is Edea, and she is a sorceress. Why would she create an establishment that trains for her own destruction? Well, that reason is not clear until the end of the game.
Squall passes his test to become a SeeD and attends the SeeD graduation party. At the party he is approached by two of the people he met at the test and passed with him, Zell and Selphie. (They are both main characters of the game and become friends with Squall) Of course being his anti-social self, Squall swiftly dismisses them both. Soon he notices a most captivating beauty in a white dress. She approaches him and asks him to dance. He comments on how he can not dance, but she pulls him to the dance floor none the less. At first he stumbles, but his training teaches him how to swiftly accumulate the knowledge of the dance. Of course when the dance is done, she notices someone else and quickly runs off.
Squall’s instructor meets with him at a secret place during the party. Her name is Quistis. She tells him that she is resigning from instructor and is going to be a SeeD again. She does this because she wants to travel with Squall. She confesses that she has fallen in love with him, but he gives her the cold shoulder. She realized that he was just too anti-social, too dark in attitude, and devoid of emotion, so she gives up on her love for him. She is only nineteen.
The next day Squall, Zell, and Selphie are sent to the city of Timber on a mission to a help a rebel organization. On the train ride Squall passes out and dreams of a Galbadian soldier named Laguna. Galbadia is notorious for its past tyranny across the land as a forceful military government. When Squall awakes he finds the other two had the same dream, one of many that occur throughout the game.
When they reach Timber they board the rebel train. However, the rebel leader, which everybody calls ‘princess’, is in the back sleeping. Squall goes to wake her and finds her to be the girl that forced him to dance during the party. She recognizes him and tells him her name is Rinoa. Come to find out, her father is general of the Galbadian Army, the same army they are rebelling against. After a failed mission Squall and the party goes into emergency action, and they report to the nearest Garden, Galbadian Garden. There they receive orders to assassinate Sorceress Edea with the help of sharpshooter Irvine.
Edea’s plan is to take control of the Galbadian government, and being that her intentions are evil, she must be disposed of. With the help of Quistis, Seifer tried to assassinate the president before the sorceress assassination plan. Quistis told the party that Seifer was to go on trial, and that he was sentenced to be executed. During the assassination however, Seifer was serving as the Sorceress’s knight, her body guard. The assassination fails and Edea flees along with Seifer.
Later in the game you learn that Squall, Selphie, Quistis, Irvine, and Zell, all grew up in the same orphanage. They all remember that Seifer had been there as well. They had all forgotten because of the use of a power called GF. They can call on monsters called GF to come and attack their enemies. They also realize that sorceress Edea was the one they called Matron, the lady that raised them in the orphanage.
With this new knowledge, they agree to stop the sorceress, no matter what. After their final fight with Edea, Rinoa is placed into a coma. This is when they learn form Edea that she was being possessed by a sorceress from the future. A sorceress named Ultimecia. Later they learn that Ultimecia is searching for a girl named Ellone. She is the girl that is making Squall and friends have those weird dreams. They are not just dreams; Ellone is sending them to moments in the past.
Squall is distraught that Rinoa refuses to come out of her coma. He has fallen in love with her during their travels. He falls in love with her wild and happy nature. How she freely expresses herself, in a way that he just can’t. So he gets the idea that, if he can find Ellone she can take him to the past and he can save Rinoa. He goes as far as space to find her. In space he learns of Sorceress Adel who was put into a frozen state, for she was a tyrant and had an entire continent under her evil grip. In space Ultimecia posses Rinoa who has become a sorceress herself. Ultimecia uses Rinoa to release the seal that traps Adel.
Ultimecia’s plan is to use Adel to get to Ellone so she can go to the past. In this way she can cast an incredible magic called Time Compression. It will meld past, present, and future into one, in which she will rule supreme. It is possible that once this is done the world could be torn into chaos. So, Squall and friends create a plan to allow Time Compression to happen so they can go to the future and destroy Ultimecia.
During this journey, Squall’s character greatly changes. He learns compassion and opens up more to his friends. After Rinoa had released Adel’s seal she was thrown into space. She would have died if Squall did not go to her rescue. When they got back to Earth she was ushered away to be sealed like Adel was, because Rinoa could again become a threat. She agreed to go, and he let her go, but with some help from his friends and some self motivation, he went and stopped the process from happening.
And so, before they went to fight Adel, they went back to the orphanage. Behind it was a great flower field, and Squall made a promise to Rinoa. He promised that if they were ever to be separated that he would meet her there, at the field.
Then they fought and defeated Adel who was possessed by Ultimecia. After Adel was destroyed Ultimecia possessed Rinoa and Ellone sent them both into the past. She only brought Rinoa back and then Time Compression began. Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Irvine, and Selphie are ushered into the future; the only thing keeping them from disappearing is the belief in one another, with their love and friendship.
How does the story end? The boys’ mother never beat the game to find out. A tragedy occurred when the boy was only ten. His mother had died. Two years later he finished the game, and devoted himself to her memory, to Final Fantasy VIII.

Chapter 2
New Game
His room is rectangular; the door is placed on a lower end of the longer side, closest to stairs that wind up to the dining room. His dresser is up against the wall opposite the door. The dresser does not completely sit up against the wall; a piece of trim prevents that. If the dresser were to be pushed against, toward the wall, it would tilt causing the chess pieces to lose balance and scatter. This would explain why they were scattered across the floor as he tried to scoot as far away from the door as possible.
The apparition in the door way, couldn’t be real it couldn’t. He didn’t remember her that way, so tortured and horrific. His mom’s eyes were rolled back, her mouth hung open, she was wearing a dirty raggedy night gown, her black hair matted. This being could not have been her. She raised a finger towards him. She muttered, “New Game.” There was a flash of white light.
He jumped up in bed in a cold sweat a hand on his forehead, it was throbbing. “Bad dream,” he muttered. He wasn’t under his sheets so he just got up out of his bed. He walked up the stairs into the darkness of the house, first up. He walked onto the hard wood floor with two dull thuds. Still wearing his clothes, “I’ve done this before quite a few times.” He muttered to himself, though he could not remember a time when. He walked into his bathroom and turned on the light. He observed himself in the mirror. His head was still throbbing, scar must hurt. “What!?” he gasped. There was a scar lining down from his forehead between his eyes. He was wearing a black jacket with white fur on the collar. Everything he was wearing looked just like,”…Squall.” He could barely utter the name. Even his hair and eyes changed; perhaps the dream had actually been real. “Did she mean…a…Final Fantasy game?”
He went downstairs to his room and turned on the light.
Shock.
In the middle of his room was a long rectangular black case. He picked it up and placed it on his bed. He opened it, “No way!!” Squall’s Gunblade filled the case.
  
Nobody at school mentioned his new appearance. At first he thought no one had recognized him, but when a few people greeted him by his name, he had almost not responded. “But, my name is Squall,” he though silently to himself. “Wait, what? No, it’s not. I’m not him! I just look like him.” He had to find Sofia. When he did find her he was filled with a blurred sensation. It was a quick wave of love, followed by confusion. She looked like…she wore a blue cloth jacket, its tail extended down to her calves. She wore a black T under that and black short-shorts. Her hair changed as well. Her hair was black with golden-red highlights. She had on a chain with a simple gold ring and Squall’s lion ring. He thought silently to himself,”My ring…” he remembered he had to get it back from her. Or, was that something that happened in the game? Confused he called out, “Rinoa!” and she looked.
He approached her and she said, “But that’s not my name, though I can hardly remember my name.” he looked at her, paused, then replied, “Yeah, your name is Sofia.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Yeah, just like my name is not Squall, but for some reason I know it is, and I look like him, and you look like Rinoa.”
“I didn’t do this on purpose.” She looked to the floor, “I woke up this way.”
“So did I, but…I don’t know, I had a dream…maybe it wasn’t.” he crossed his arms and looked to the side, deep in thought. Rinoa watched him for a moment then said, “So what do we do? My whole wardrobe is the same thing.” He looked at her and she was giggling, it was funny and normally he would have laughed, but it didn’t reach him. He found it childish, just like Rinoa to not take this situation as serious as it should be. His eyes widened that could only be something Squall would think. Looks like Squall; talks like Squall, “I think,” he began, “that we are becoming characters from a videogame.”

Chapter 4
Emotion
Irvine and Selphie sat at a bar. They didn’t know where Europe was, but hey knew they were allowed to order drinks at the bar of a pub. Selphie was playing with her drink by twirling her straw around in the glass. Irvine watched in a daze. He knew this girl was Selphie; he also had the feeling that she was somebody else. He loved Selphie, though it was different from what it used to be. It was now more of a brotherly love then anything else. He used to want her. “You dirty womanizer,” he smirked to himself silently. Irvine was a ladies man, a romantic.
He dressed like a cowboy, a tan jacket that had a long tail, cowboy hat, tan jeans with brown patches on the knees, and cowboy boots. He had long brown hair that he kept in a long ‘manly’ ponytail.
Selphie wore a yellow one piece skirt, and her hair had three curls. One on either side of her head, the third on the back, like three brown U’s hanging off her head. She looked at him and smiled, “Irvine, let’s go for a train ride!”
“Yeah okay, let’s do it.!”
  
He remembered he used to be a bouncer at a night club. Zell shook his spiked, bleach blonde head and said, “Whoa, them fairies again.” He wore a red and black shirt with long blue shorts. He never took off his fighting gloves, because all he needs to fight with is his fists. They called him ‘fighting machine’ back in the town of Balamb. Those days are over because Balamb was gone; he was riding a train heading towards a place he can’t pronounce correctly. He knew where he was going, but he also didn’t. More like he knew where he had to be. He knew he had to meet up with Squall and the others, if they were even around.
“Heeeeeey!!” Zell turned around to see what the excitement was about, when a yellow blur pounced on him and squeezed him tight. Irvine walked into the cabin and tipped his hat to Zell. Zell replied to Irvine with a thumbs up and a smile, then said, “Yo, what’s up Sefie?!” She let go of him, “Zell it’s been so long I missed you!” she was bouncing on one leg to another, flailing her arms in the air. “Anybody else around?” Irvine asked. “You guys are the first I’ve seen.” Zell replied. Selphie went quiet, then perked up and said, “That’s why we’ve got to go and get on a plane and cross the ocean!”
“A plane sounds fun!” Irvine added excitedly.
Zell wondered, “You mean that continent where that town was found completely frozen?”
Selphie got quiet, “Yeah, we think it might be her.”
Zell looked at Irvine and said, “Man, I hope not, it can’t be Matron.”
  
Quistis woke up; she was in a cold sweat. She had that nightmare again. Everybody was dying around her; she wasn’t strong enough to protect them. They all lie around her dead, and the beast that killed them is choking the remainder of her life out. “Seifer,” she groaned.
There is a rumble and it feels as if the structure is coming to a stop.
  
Seifer rushes to the window, “Are we there, have we arrived?!” Seifer’s voice boomed with thrill and passion. “NEGATIVE!” Fujin replied that serious expression always on her face, unaltered. Seifer sometimes believed her to be nothing more than a machine. No emotion, no human expression of any kind, just emptiness.
“No, ya know? We just got hit by some missiles. We are being attacked by their military, ya know.” Raijin added. Seifer grinned, an excellent time to test his new weapons. “Well then blow them out of the sky!”

Chapter 6
Gunblade Specialist
Squall was given the task of delivering a message to one of the gym instructors, Easy if Squall had not been a stranger to the school. “A construction site is hardly a gym.” He put his hand to his face and shook his head. A movement to his right caught his attention and pulled out his Gunblade. He had been carrying the case around to conceal the weapon. It was a good idea because he was once asked, “Hey, what instrument do you play?” It was fine for him, as long as somebody did not ask him to play.
He turned to see an Elvarott; things were now taken to a new level in reality. The appearance of a monster was a deeply disturbing thought to ponder. There would be a panic if they were seen by the public, including the death of many people. Squall had to put a stop to the crisis before it got out of hand. However, Squall had a sickening feeling that something already was out of control. The sight of Rinoa snapped Squall back into the moment. She was cornered and the Elvarott was going to make her a meal.
A surge of adrenalin coursed through his body. The familiar feeling of battle rushed through his veins. A sleeping power was stirring and he felt unusual strength and agility flooding his muscles. Elvarott was hovering four feet off the ground. From that point up it was at least twelve feet to the top of its head. It didn’t feel as if he had jumped that distance but he found himself sliding down the back of the creature, his blade tearing at its demon flesh. It let out a blast that shot up and singed the corner of the building.
Rinoa was saved and she shot her weapon slicing the side of Elvarott’s neck. Squall leaped on the creatures back and started stabbing it rapidly. The beast fell onto its face and Squall let off a burst of lashes against it before jumping off and landing next to Rinoa. “You all right?” he asked her. She nodded, “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen action like that.” She smiled at him. He looked away, his face getting hot.
He gathered himself, “This is not good Rinoa, that’s a powerful monster. There could be more.” Suddenly the beast began to tremble and two indigo wings spread from its back. The wings looked as if they had a leathery texture to them, like bat wings, but it looked as if the back had scales. Two scaly arms with four claws each erupted from the beast and planted themselves to the concrete. It looked as if the being was trying to push itself out of its prison. Finally the long head and neck of the dragon erected from the beast. Then the entire body of the dragon launched into the sky. The dragon hovered, staring at the two warriors.
“Bahamut!” Squall gasped. Rinoa looked at him, her eyes wide with wonder and fear, “The GF?” she stared at him searching for the answer. “The GF was junctioned to the Elvarott…” Squall spoke as if he was talking to himself. “Junction doesn’t work this way!” Rinoa said with anxiety. “You’re right Rinoa, but maybe the Elvarott was being used as…a gateway.”
“But that doesn’t make sense!!”
The dragon spoke, “GF!! HA! I AM NOT ONE TO BE CONTROLLED BY ANOTHER!!” The dragon swooped down; Squall jumped up and met the dragon slicing it across its back. The impact forced the dragon to turn and slam into the ground face up. As Squall came down for another assault the dragon shot a ball of fire form its mouth. Squall used his sword as a bat and slammed the ball of fire. It erupted, the impact spinning Squall to the side. The dragon got up onto its bulky legs and launched itself towards Squall.
Bahamute flew past Squall and smacked him higher into the sky with its long tail. Squall regained his senses just in time to raise his arm moving him to the side, letting a fire ball pass harmlessly by. He came down digging his blade into the dragons’ chest. He pulled out the blade and the dragon threw him to the ground.
The dragon swooped past him and turned around, its mouth gathering energy for another blast of fire. At point blank range Squall was shot into the sky by the ball of fire. Through years of training to become a SeeD you gain endurance against the natural effects of magic like fire. Though the impact hurt a whole lot, Squall was not burned to steak. In fact, after sustaining such intense damage, Squall felt a new power awake within him. In his head he heard the word Renzokuken.
That word invited itself when the dragon met him face to face. Squall grabbed hold of the dragon and started slashing at the face. The dragon fell and Squall continued his wave of assaults. The dragon crashed into the ground digging up dirt and concrete. Squall jumped off and Bahamute got onto his feet. Squall jumped onto the dragons face, using it as a spring to launch him self into the air. He quickly came back down Gunblade held above his head. He swung the blade as he came crashing down on the dragon. Before he could slice through all the way, the dragon flew back releasing itself from the blade. This was it.
An electric energy emitted from Squall’s body, his sword began to glow. It then emitted a beam of light that completely swallowed the dragon, and the beam extended past the dragon swallowing everything in its path farther than their eyes could see. When the beam was exhausted Squall landed lightly on his feet. All that remained of Bahamute was a cloud of ash. Everything else that was in the path of the beam remained unscathed, as if nothing had enveloped them as brilliantly as it did the dragon.
Squall lurched forward and regained his balance as Rinoa pounced on him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist. “You did it! You saved me! My hero!!” Squall smiled at her comment, but he had other things on his mind. These new events presented a serious problem for him now. Then he heard a familiar voice from deep inside his head, “But isn’t it just a game?” Squall frowned than shook his head, “Yeah, whatever.”

Chapter 8
Via Infinito
The dust settled, and Squall looked past the destruction. “What the?”
It stood ten stories high, more correctly it hovered. At least one hundred-fifty feet it hovered over the trees. It was a black-purple with an upside down pyramid shape. It wasn’t a perfect pyramid; levels of it sunk in while others expanded outwards. Both top and bottom were flat.
“Rinoa are you all right?” he helped her up. She dusted herself off and screwed up her face like she bit a sweet lemon, “Who do they think they are!? Blowing stuff up! Let’s get them Squall!” she looked at him. He had his Gunblade resting on his shoulder staring at the structure, “Seifer,” he muttered to himself, she could just hear him. “It can’t be,” she replied.
“He’s after me, he wants to fight.” He looked at her; she nodded to him, answering an unasked question they both shared. They stepped out of building to see Zell, Irvine, Selphie, and Quistis running toward them. Selphie waving her arm over head shouted, “Heeeey!!” Rinoa looked at Squall, “It’s them,” she smiled, “They’re all okay.” Selphie ran up to Squall, “It’s Seifer! He’s controlling that thing! You should have seen it! It shot out this big laser beam, and was like BOOM!!”
Zell approached Squall, “So like, what are we gonna do man? I say bust in there and beat Seifer senseless!” Squall smiled; just like old times, “Right” he replied “so we go in there and stop him before he gets out of hand” Squall looked at everyone. “He’ll probably be at the top.” Quistis pointed. Irvine tipped his hat, “Ego maniac.”
They moved towards the structure and stood below it. “How’d you guys get out?” Squall asked Quistis. Selphie answered, “We jumped into the trees!!” Squall put his hand to his face in that ‘I don’t believe it’ sort of fashion. “So how do we get on?” Rinoa asked. Quistis looked at Selphie, “How’d you guys get in the first time?”
“We smashed into the side of it!” Selphie smiled. Quistis gaped at her and Zell put his hand on the back of his head, hunched over smiling slyly. Then, the world melted around them and they quickly found themselves standing on a glass floor looking down at where they were standing. Irvine clapped his hands together and said, “Looks like we’ve been invited in.” then he made a gun shape with thumb and index finger and pointed at a platform. “It looks like we’ll be going up.” Then he whispered bang.
They stood on the platform and moved up to the next floor. It stopped and they were greeted by Fujin and Raijin. “Well if it isn’t the disciplinary committee.” Quistis smirked. Raijin shrugged off the comment and said, “Pretty funny, we teleported you on board, ya know?”
“VIA INFINITO!” Fujin added.
“Yeah, Seifer found it, ya know? Plans on taking over the world with it.”
Squall’s eyes widened, this must be why he was here to stop Seifer. Then does that make him real and not just a character from a game? Does being in this world give him a real life? That the events of the game were real?
“Squall!” Quistis grabbed his attention. “Go and get Seifer! We can handle these two just fine!”
“I don’t think so, ya know? This time we’ve got some help!” a giant door opened from behind Fujin and Raijin. A robot four times the size of a person emerged. “Pretty good, ya know?” Raijin grinned.
“EFFICIENT!” Fujin added.
“Just go!” Quistis insisted to Squall. He looked at her, than at everybody else, “Be careful.” He got on the platform and was lifted up.
He was outside on the roof when it stopped. Directly in front of Squall stood Seifer, his back to him, leaning on his Gunblade, “Glad you could make it Squall.”
“Seifer! What are you doing?” Seifer turned around, a wicked sneer on his face. “Can’t you see? I’m fulfilling my destiny. Why else would I be in this sorry excuse of a world. It needs me to put it back in order. It runs differently from ours, so I’m here to adjust it.”
“What are you talking about Seifer!?”
“Are you really so clueless Squall? Why do you think you are here in this pathetic place?” Squall raised his Gunblade in ready position, “To stop you.” Seifer pointed his blade at Squall, “So you’re going to get in my way again? I came all this way just to see you Squall. You won’t be getting in my way, destroying you was part of my plan!”
Seifer charged at Squall, he jumped and spun around putting more power in his swing. Squall blocked but was pushed back a little. He felt half of his left foot touch nothing but air. “You don’t want to fall Squall, it’s a long ways down.”
Squall gritted his teeth and charged Seifer, whom blocked his following assaults. Seifer hopped back, “Come on Squall is that all you’ve got?” he pointed the palm of his hand at Squall. A ball of fire formed and shot at Squall. Squall raised his blade to block the blast. The fire erupted against his blade and disappeared, revealing Seifer swinging his sword at Squall whom ducked and rolled to the side. He stopped at a crouch and shot himself toward Seifer. He stopped dead in front of him and launched himself up. Seifer moved back to avoid being struck by Squall’s blade.
Squall landed some feet away to see a silver whirlwind heading towards him. He jumped out of the way to see Seifer jump out of the wind and come crashing down on the position Squall was standing in before he moved away again. The impact bent the metal and left a small crate around Seifer.
Seifer stood up, “Show me what you got Squall!” An electric energy surrounded Squall, “Renzokuken!” Then a force threw him to the ground, a sharp pain in his left shoulder. An arrow made up of some type of magic was lodged in his shoulder. “Like my new trick Squall? I call it Holy Arrow!” Squall tried to pull it out but it burned his hand, it was like an electric shock and a burn. “Guess I have to fight with it,” he though to himself. He got up and charged Seifer who blocked his attack. Seifer hit him in the chest with the hilt of his Gunblade and pushed him to the ground shooting another arrow into his leg. “Did I mention my arrows sap your energy as well?”
Squall was beginning to feel faint, no good. Just as suddenly as it came, the pain was gone. And he was clear-headed. “Since when did you remember magic Squall?”
Squall got up, “Not me,” he thought to himself. “Oh, now I see…” Seifer sneered. Squall looked behind him, Rinoa was standing there. “Rinoa,” he whispered, then smirked at Seifer, “it’s time to end this Seifer.”
Seifer grinned, “Yes, once and for all.” They charged each other their blade’s connecting like magnets, emitting waves of energy that nearly knocked Rinoa off balance. They both raised their Gunblades at the same time and slammed them against each other. They both shoved against one another, hate and malice fueling their strength.
“Squall, you will never beat me again! I won’t let you!!” Seifer shouted this. Their energies were making the wind whip around them like a torrent creating a loud screech, Seifer’s voice shook.
“Seifer!” Squall shouted back, “You only want things yourself! You don’t care about anything else!”
“You’re wrong…I cared about her!” Seifer fixed his gaze on Rinoa, his focus lost. His blade snapped and Squall put another cut creating an X on Seifer’s face. Seifer stepped back, his body glowing red-orange. “No way!! He’s got a junction!” Squall gasped, “No Seifer! Don’t use Kamikaze!”
Seifer stared at Squall, hate burning in his eyes. “I won’t lose to you ever again! I’ll take you out with me!”
A bolt of lightning followed by an explosion struck where Seifer stood. The impact launched Seifer off the edge of Via Infinito. “Seifer. No!!” Squall ran to the edge to see Seifer fall. He couldn’t believe what happened. What happened? He didn’t understand. Rinoa grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
He looked to see a liquid form of a woman standing where Seifer had stood; it became solid showing the woman. She had long black hair and a black dress. It was Sorceress Edea.
“Matron!” Squall gasped. Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, and Zell emerged on the platform. Selphie let out a whimper. “Matron what did you do?” Squall demanded. The sorceress laughed. “Hahahaha that fool proved to be worthless again.”
Zell shouted, “NO WAY!!”
“Ultimecia,” Squall gasped.
“You dirty little SeeD’s! I’ve come back to take my revenge. I shall kill you all and take your souls. I will torment you and you will become my slaves in a new time compressed world!” With that Edea fainted and Via Infinito began to shake.
“Yo!” Zell said, “I thought we torched that witch!”
Squall thought for a moment. “Yeah we did,” he thought to himself.
“Squall!” shouted Selphie. “What!?” he replied irritably.
“We can worry about Ultimecia later!”
“Why!?”
“Via Infinito is about to crash!!”

Chapter 10
Promise
“The hell?”
Squall turned to see Zell holding his head. The others were beginning to stir as well. He waited calmly for them to gather themselves and to gather him self to prepare for the question Quistis soon asked, “What happened?”
“Edea saved us,” he began, and he told them most of what Edea had told him. How they all got there, how Ultimecia appeared. “Damn man…” Zell would mutter. He told them of their trinkets, and he told them why Edea disappeared and the reason she came to be.
“So what are we going to do?” Selphie whispered. Zell started punching at the air, “We roast that witch!!”
“But how?” Irvine enjoyed killing Zell’s mood. Everybody looked at Squall. He stared back defiantly. What did they want from him? He didn’t what to do about her. All he knew is they had to destroy her, and what Edea told him. He didn’t know how to do it, or where she was even hiding. What did they expect from him? “We have to wait for her to make a move. That’s all we can do for now.”
Zell stamped his foot, “Well I’m not gonna sit around and wait! I’ll go and find her. When I do I’ll finish her off, and then we can all go home!!” Then he ran off. Squall watched him for a moment than said, “Quistis, Selphie, go with him. Make sure he doesn’t get hurt, and bring him back.” They both glanced at him. They knew he was worried, that he had no idea of what to do, then the chased after Zell. Squall looked toward Rinoa. She was staring at the ground, her weight shifted to one leg. She was just staring thinking of a million things, but not knowing how to share them. She hates it when they can’t get along. She also felt left out, because they knew one another’s thoughts and feelings. She never knew them like that from the beginning. So she always felt like she was looking in from the outside.
Irvine made a movement, “I think I’m gonna go with them.” Squall was expecting to see Irvine with a goofy look or a sheepish grin, but when Squall looked and nodded, Irvine had on a concerned look. Then he ran after the others. Squall watched them until they were out of sight. The sun was beginning to set and made it hard to make out the figures. He turned to Rinoa, “We should probably get going.” She looked at him as if she barely heard what he said. “I don’t want to be alone.” Her voice was shaking. His face lifted in compassion, “What’s wrong?”
She looked at him then broke out into tears, “I don’t want to disappear!” she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He held her tight, his hand stroking her hair. He said, “Why would you disappear?” Her face buried in his chest she replied, “Because…I’m not needed here!” he could barely understand her muffled voice between sobs. “I’m useless,” she continued, “I can’t fight like you guys, I don’t know things like you guys all do!” he quickly retorted, “But I need you!!”
“No, you can’t need me, I’m useless! I can’t even remember your name anymore. But you still remember her.”
“You won’t disappear, because I do need you. That’s why you’re here. You remember only as much as I do because you are connected to me. You didn’t forget anything, you didn’t have a choice. You became Rinoa because I needed you, I chose you. You know nothing about these people, but I still chose you because I love you. You became Rinoa because, me, Squall loves Rinoa. You changed because I love you as well.” She pushed herself away, still holding on tightly to his jacket. She stared into his eyes, her face streaked with tears. He smiled warmly at her and said, “I need you. So in case I get lost, you can come and find me.”
“I’ll take you back to the flower field,” she sniffed.
“That’s where we’ll go back to. Once this is all over, that’s where we’ll go.” She smiled at him. He embraced her again and she dug her face into his chest.
He smiled, “Ugh…”
“What?”
“My shirt is soaked!”
She giggled, “You’re not Squall.”
“Then who am I?”
“I don’t know, but whoever you are, you’re wonderful.”

Chapter 12
The Ultimate GF
“Griever!?” Zell shouted, “I thought we busted that thing up!” This was true, Griever was destroyed the first time they fought Ultimecia, completely obliterated. So how was this to be explained?
“Everyone!” Squall grabbed their attention, “We are not in our own world. It is possible for Griever to be here. It’s just like Edea. The sorceress is here now! For now we must fight the enemy in front of us!”
“Yeah, let’s do it! Let’s kick some a**!!” Zell was hopping up and down punching the air.
The beast was twice the size of a person. It had the human form, arms, and legs with the exception of the head of a lion. Its hands and feet were equipped with long claws attached to human like paws. It had a navy blue fur coat, and red scythe-like blades protruded from its elbows. It was truly Griever that approached.
It reached the beach head and stopped, hovering erect mid-air. Four missile like bolts of fire zoomed past the party exploding upon the beach. From out of the smoke came Rinoa’s projectile, it bounced off the magic barrier Griever created around itself. Following the disk was Zell. He landed on Grievers face and head butted the beast into the sand. Zell started pummeling the beast with such force the two began to sink into the earth. Zell pushed off the beast and into the air. There he stayed suspended focusing all his power into his fist so it began to glow gold. It sparked with energy and Zell shot down onto Griever, striking the beast with such power it shook the ground and sunk them into a hole.
Irvine approached the edge of the hole and looked up to see Zell flipping over head and behind. Irvine loaded his gun with exploding rounds and unleashed his fury unto Griever. Using the magical properties of Griever, Selphie began to randomly cast spells. Fire related, ice, lightning related spells. Supernatural spells as well, Flare, Holy, Meteor.
When Irvine exhausted his ammo he backed away form the edge, Selphie followed his lead. Griever rose from the hole, wounded and furious. Its eyes glowed a blood red. Six white balls formed around it, this was familiar sight to the party. It was Griever’s most devastating attack.
“Quistis!” Squall turned to her, she nodded. She had to use the spell she used in Via Infinito. The Mighty Guard was there only hope, but it would by a miracle if she could cast it again. If not, they probably would not survive. She focused herself, searching for the hidden power. However, Griever was not going to wait and shot the six white balls at the party. Each ball found a target, and erupted with a flash and a vortex blast.
When Rinoa could see again, Squall was on top of Griever slicing and slashing at the beast. Zell shouted, “Squall, finish it off!!”
Squall landed on the ground. A liquid looking energy appearing from thin air was being focused on his blade. He ran up to Griever and with minimal effort launched the beast into the sky with an upward slash of his blade. He then launched himself after the beast moving so fast he was leaving images of himself trailing behind. He reached Griever and started moving around the beast slicing at it, still moving at an unnatural speed. He then stopped and focused even mote energy into his blade, and then he sliced through Griever, causing an explosion where contact was made. Squall landed back on the ground and Griever fell to the ground, the impact so powerful it bounced off the ground where the beast froze mid-air.
It was as if time had stopped, but everybody was still moving around. They looked around, the ocean was still moving. Then they heard the sound of glass cracking. They looked at Griever who now had a crack along its face. A white light emitted from the crack. More cracks became visible, and they continued to appear and grow until a piece of the beasts face simply fell off and shattered. The light now shone brilliantly through, when the beast finally gave in and shattered completely. A woman was left suspended in the air, curled in a ball. Though she didn’t seem human she looked it. Perhaps a demon in disguise?

Chapter 14
Remember
A laugh in the dark.
A boy crying
A welcoming voice and a soft touch

When he woke up he was surrounded by flowers. He sat up to see Sofia walking towards him. “You silly,” She smiled at him, “you got lost again didn’t you?” He could feel tears forming in his eyes, he nodded. “You did it though.” He looked up at her, she continued, “You saved us all. You really are my hero.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you, you kept me going. I knew I had to see you again, that I can’t keep living my life in a fantasy.” She smiled and said, “Look your friends are leaving.” He got up to see Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, Zell, Rinoa, and Squall standing in front of a blue swirling vortex. Squall walked over to him and said, “Thanks, you really me realize my self.” Squall took his Gunblade and stuck it into the ground. “Goodbye.” He turned away and walked into the portal disappearing with the rest.
He reached out and grabbed the handle of the Gunblade.
  
He sat up in bed, not breathing heavy, not sweating, just dizzy. “No,” he shook his head, “It wasn’t a dream, it couldn’t have been!” He got so frustrated he shouted, “Damn!”
He went to school that morning with a grim expression on his face. “What’s wrong?” Sofia asked. He looked at her; he wasn’t sure what to say. If he asked her would she know? She smiled at him and said, “I’ve been wondering, how did we get to that flower field?”
“Ultimecia sent us to a space between dimensions…again. Our promise brought us to Squall’s world. Remember how things appeared because we willed it?” His eyes widened she was shaking with laughter. “It was real!!” he said with a great thrill.
“You know you saved me too,” she said, “I was floating endlessly in nothingness. Then I heard your voice and felt your touch. You said ’hey, don’t you remember our promise? We made a promise and I mean to keep it’ and then you took me out of there.” She leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Nah it was nothing!”
“You know what else?”
“What?”
“Rinoa said we can go back to and stay in their world.”
“What, really!? Would you really want to leave everything here behind? It can be dangerous too!”
“I don’t care, as long as you promise to be with me and protect me”

“I Promise”





The End