Little Light of Love Chapter 5
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:02 pm
A Little Light
By: The Engrish Spy
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers.
Lily stood out in the courtyard going through the kata she knew so well. She was trying to forget that her one friend was dead and the other one lay in the infirmary. With every move she began to feel the gap that the last mission had caused in her heart.
As she punched the air, she caught her left foot on her ankle and fell to the ground. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She had never wanted to be left alone. She had dreaded this feeling since she was a little child. But here she was all alone with no one to comfort her.
~*~
In the void in which she sat, one had a lot of time to think. She played scenes over in her head to keep herself calm. The day she sat in the field with her mother and they watched as the flower petals surrounded them. The day she and Lily were able to catch a glimpse of the fabled Phoenix twisting through the air. The day she and Raymond met. Instructor Trepe's wedding. They were happy times that seemed to keep the sharp edge of darkness from closing in on her.
"My, my. I think it is time my pretty to forget those thought of the past and accept my offer to make you the most powerful being in the whole of time." Leered the voice in which she had come to detest during her captivity.
She tried to resist as the hand reached for her, but she was week and tired and she gave in easily.
"It is time to bekome your true self, GREIVER AWAKEN!" The voice cackled.
~*~
"He might not make it through the night, I'm sorry Zell." Irvine said and then left the blonde haired man next to his son,
Zell sighed and then stretched out his arms. Rinoa sat in the corner just watching the anguished father. The boy looked pale in the fading sunlight. The heart monitor beeped slowly as it monitored the failing life signs of the boy they all loved. Zell began to murmur to the body.
"Hey Ray it's me daddy. Yeah I know you haven't called me that since you were like two but it's something I have always held dear to my heart." Tears appeared at the corners of his eyes
"I know you can pull through. Look at when you were three and after the car crash. The doctors told me that you would be permanently brain damaged and that you would never wake up. You proved them wrong." He sniffed and then wiped his eyes.
Rinoa began to cry at the words. She could almost identify with Zell's pain. Losing a child was hard.
"Come on Ray, please open your eyes and tell me you're going to be alright." Zell cried out in anguish.
Rinoa sensed that this was going to be Zell's final time with his son and left the room. She leaned up against the wall. She could feel the pain of loss course through her veins. It hit her full force. She slid to the floor crying for the loss of Julia.
~*~
"Sir there is a transmission coming in from Ethstar." Nida stated to Squall over the COM link
Squall rubbed his eyes and then pressed the button in response. "Send it on up."
On the screen appeared Laguna. He looked worn and from the looks of it the presidential palace was in chaos. In the background he noticed Ellone was talking to a robed official.
"Squall, we think we might have a lead on the death of Julia." He said
"Well what is it man." Squall said perking up.
"Well Ellone and I have been trying to decipher why a GF would be attracted to Julia and then we came up with the solution that Julia has some form of sorceress magic." He said grimly
"You mean that she's a sorceress?" Squall said with skepticism
"No she is not like Rinoa or Matron. Her power is more like Ellone's but more concentrated." He said and rubbed his forehead
"Let me in, I have zee anzwer." A voice that Squall knew all to well.
"Dr. Odin has most of the answers, so I will let him do the talking." Laguna said and then made way for the aging doctor.
"Squall, you daughter iz not dead." The doctor blurted out
Squall closed his eyes. This was too much for one man to take, especially from a man who was becoming senile in his old age.
"You daughter iz merely trapped in some sort of temporal waste land." He said
"I think this would be better explained when we come to visit in a few days. Laguna out." Laguna interrupted. With that the image was gone.
'Powers like Ellone. Trapped in a temporal waste land.' Squall thought as he watched the sun set on the ocean.
~*~
The sun began to touch the window of the infirmary. Raymond groggily tried to force his eyes open. Once they were open it took him awhile to focus his eyes. He looked around his room. He noticed his father asleep in the chair next to the bed.
Irvine walked in to do the routine check up and noticed his young patient was awake.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Raymond. How are you feeling this morning?" He asked putting on his best doctor smile.
"What happened?" He crooked out into the room. Zell did not wake.
"You were affect by some time magic. It made your body speed up incredibly fast. You could say you had a near fatal burn out."
"I'm gonna be all right?" Raymond croaked
"Yeah, by the looks of it you're going to recover." Irvine noticed that Zell had awoken. "I'll leave you two alone for now." And Irvine left the father and son to talk
~*~
(A few weeks later.)
"It's too early for this," Rinoa mumbled as her and Squall stood in the ballroom.
It was the annual SeeD graduation ball and though it was a joyous occasion for many, most still felt the gloom that Julia's death had cast upon the Garden.
"We can't let the others suffer because of our grief Rin," Squall stated as he observed the many groups of people plus the many couples who were dancing.
Rinoa nodded and then smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in the instructor's uniform she wore.
"Look on the bright side, Quistis and Seifer's oldest graduated today." Squall said as he pointed to a blonde haired boy with glasses on who looked no more than fifteen years of age.
"Yeah." Rinoa muttered and then looked at a young couple dancing to the 'Waltz for the Moon'
"Do you want to dance?" Squall asked her hoping she would at least want to try and capture the glory days of her youth.
"Not really." She answered quietly and then turned in the direction of the punch bowl.
Squall sighed inwardly 'Just try and be happy Rinoa' he thought as he went in search of Seifer.
~*~
"Are you sure you're ok?" Lily asked Raymond across from the table
"Lily, I'm fine." He snapped
Lily shrank back and began to play with the confetti on the table. Raymond laughed and then wheeled over to his friend and embraced her.
"YOU!" Exclaimed a voice the two knew all too familiar.
Lily looked up. In front of her face was Lixue. Her normally 'calm' demeanor was now one of anger. Lily's face dropped in fear and hastily stood up and ran off.
Lixue turned to Raymond and smiled.
"What's your problem with Lily?" He asked and then adjusted his eye patch over his left eye.
"BOTHERING YOU!" She exclaimed and ran off to join her brother.
Raymond shook his head and then wheeled off to find Lily.
~*~
"RAGE, REVENGE, and HATE. These are the emotions that should be your guide in this new body." The voice screamed into her ear.
"HATE, RAGE, and REVENGE." She growled back
"Good. Now the time has come for me to take my place again. I will once again Konqure time. Julia my dear awaken the power with in you that only you know how too. " The voice quivered with greed
"As you wish, master." Julia rumbled
Lifting her blue fur arms, she turned her palm upwards towards the sky as to gather a charge. The sky began to rumble and then a sheet of lightning appeared and collected into her hands. Then turning her palms she forced the contained lighting into the air opening a seam into the fabric of time. She turned back to her master and then grinned showing off her sharp feral teeth. She then jumped into the portal and out of the temporal wasteland.
~*~
Ellone bolted right out of her bed. She was covered in the cold damp sweat that had appeared because of fear. She was panting. She played her nightmare over again in her head. She could see her niece. She was not the cute little tomboy she had once now. Instead there was a blue haired lioness that the evil sorceress kept calling Griever. Flinging off the covers, Ellone became aware of another presence in the room.
"Ellone?" Ellone shrieked but then looked closer at her guest
"Oh," She sighed, "It's just you Uncle Laguna." She placed a hand over her heart
"That's me." He said and stuck out his tong and placed his hand behind his head. "Are you ok?" He asked turning more serious.
"Yeah, I'm all right. But Uncle Laguna, the world is in trouble. Big Trouble." She gasped
Laguna became horrified with just that phrase.
~*~
"Dante you know I'm proud of you." Quistis said as she hugged her son.
"Me proud to Dan, me proud to." A little blond haired pixy voiced as she reached for his arms.
"Well I'm glad to here that Phoebe." Dante laughed as he twirled the little girl around in his arms
"So what next for the almighty Sir Dante Almsay." Dante looked up and noticed his father standing in the door way smirking
"I don't know, maybe make sure the Princess is locked safely away in the tower." He flashed his mother the Almsay award winning smile and then tickled his sister.
"And rightly so. So Sir Dante I give you the challenging task of putting you sister the Princess Phoebe to bed." Quistis said and then pushed Dante towards Phoebe's bedroom.
Quistis smiled and then turned to Seifer. They hugged each other. After a few minutes Quistis broke away and looked into Seifer's green eyes.
"You know Quisty we should be so lucky." He said in a low voice.
"I know." She replied
"What do you think you would do if we lost Phoebe or Dante?" He asked her
"I think in most cases I would be like Rinoa is now, dealing with the pain the best I could. And you?" She said as she gazed into the green depths.
Seifer hesitated. "I'd be right there with you Instructor Trepe." He smiled
"I know you would. What made you bring this up?" She said with a smile
"Ah Squall came up to me and asked me if Rinoa was like this when we broke up." He said massaging the back of his neck.
"Oh, I see. I think what Squall wants, is to have Rinoa back. I think he needs her as much as she needs him right now." Quistis said with a tone of sadness
"You noticed too." He smiled softly
"You too get a room." Dante called to his parents as they were still embracing.
"You go to yours young man." Seifer said as he pointed his finger at his son and then smiled
"Goodnight you two." He stated with a wave and then left for his quarters.
"Night." They both replied as they watched their son leave.
~*~
"There you are!" Selphie exclaimed as she found Rinoa on the balcony
Rinoa turned to face Selphie. Her eyes were rimmed red. Selphie's happy face dropped once she noticed her friend.
"What's the matter honey?" Selphie asked in her concerned motherly type voice
"I can't do it any more. I can't take the pain." She said as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes.
Selphie grasped Rinoa tightly to her chest. She smoothed Rinoa's hair down as the woman broke into tears. She soothed her with words that most mothers give their children when they were hurt.
"I want it to go away. Selphie please make it stop." Rinoa pleaded and continued to cry.
"It?s going to be alright, Rin. " She soothed and then continued to calm the woman down.
In the dark shadows Squall stood. He was trying for her. He was trying to be there but how could he when he did not know what to do. He leaned against the wall and broke down into tears he thought he could ever find again.
~*~
'For your first task, find the one they call Matron' that command rang in her mind as clear as what she had for breakfast almost a month ago.
She looked at the grey brick building. Snarling under her breath she noticed the young boys and girls who played on the beach below the cliff. She walked up to the door. Knocking harshly she was greeted with the smiling face most cadets and SeeD knew as Matron. She was not as old as she was now. She was younger; her grey hair was the colour of ebony wood. It was shiny and soft. She smiled at Julia.
"Come on in, I've been expecting you." She said and then ushered in the lion like beast that Julia had become.
Julia just sarcastically grinned at the woman, but followed her into the living room.
"I could tell you were coming. Two days ago I received powers from another sorceress. I suspect that you are an underling of hers, sent here to kill me?" She smiled
"No," Julia hissed, "I here to change the fabric of time."
"But you understand that a change might destroy yourself." Matron gasped
The blue haired lioness just laughed. "It will not destroy me. I will shape it. I was destined to shape time to my liking."
"Then what do you need with me?" Matron narrowed her eyes.
"I need your power!" Julia declared
~*~
"Lily?" Raymond called out into the dark of the courtyard
"I'm right here." She stated meekly as she came out from behind the bush
"Why have you been hiding there?" he said with a laugh
"Cause" Lily looked at the ground and kicked the tile on the floor
"Cause why?" Raymond wheeled up next to her
"Because, I supposedly took Lixue's guy away from her." She let it out
"You mean to say that Nook has a thing for you. That 's so damn hilarious." Raymond laughed almost falling out of his chair.
"Is not. I hate the creep." She cried and then kicked Raymond's wheel.
"Hey you should watch what you do or?"
"Or what you'll kiss me." Lily retorted back
"No that would be like kissing my sister." Raymond said
Lily kicked the chair again and then ran off. Raymond began to chase her.
In the distance Irvine and Zell watched the two chase each other through the courtyard.
"It's good to see those two getting back to normal." Zell said crossing his arms across his chest.
"Well I guess you could say semi-normal." Irvine said with a pat to Zell's back
Zell eyed the man next to him. "What do you mean semi-normal? What did you do to my son, Kinneis?"
"Nothing I just meant that for my life." Irvine said nonchalantly.
"What did you do this time to screw up?" Zell looked at his friend
"I got my wife pregnant." He said with a laugh
"Congratulations are in order then." Zell said and then gave his friend a male hug.
TBC?
By: The Engrish Spy
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers.
Lily stood out in the courtyard going through the kata she knew so well. She was trying to forget that her one friend was dead and the other one lay in the infirmary. With every move she began to feel the gap that the last mission had caused in her heart.
As she punched the air, she caught her left foot on her ankle and fell to the ground. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She had never wanted to be left alone. She had dreaded this feeling since she was a little child. But here she was all alone with no one to comfort her.
~*~
In the void in which she sat, one had a lot of time to think. She played scenes over in her head to keep herself calm. The day she sat in the field with her mother and they watched as the flower petals surrounded them. The day she and Lily were able to catch a glimpse of the fabled Phoenix twisting through the air. The day she and Raymond met. Instructor Trepe's wedding. They were happy times that seemed to keep the sharp edge of darkness from closing in on her.
"My, my. I think it is time my pretty to forget those thought of the past and accept my offer to make you the most powerful being in the whole of time." Leered the voice in which she had come to detest during her captivity.
She tried to resist as the hand reached for her, but she was week and tired and she gave in easily.
"It is time to bekome your true self, GREIVER AWAKEN!" The voice cackled.
~*~
"He might not make it through the night, I'm sorry Zell." Irvine said and then left the blonde haired man next to his son,
Zell sighed and then stretched out his arms. Rinoa sat in the corner just watching the anguished father. The boy looked pale in the fading sunlight. The heart monitor beeped slowly as it monitored the failing life signs of the boy they all loved. Zell began to murmur to the body.
"Hey Ray it's me daddy. Yeah I know you haven't called me that since you were like two but it's something I have always held dear to my heart." Tears appeared at the corners of his eyes
"I know you can pull through. Look at when you were three and after the car crash. The doctors told me that you would be permanently brain damaged and that you would never wake up. You proved them wrong." He sniffed and then wiped his eyes.
Rinoa began to cry at the words. She could almost identify with Zell's pain. Losing a child was hard.
"Come on Ray, please open your eyes and tell me you're going to be alright." Zell cried out in anguish.
Rinoa sensed that this was going to be Zell's final time with his son and left the room. She leaned up against the wall. She could feel the pain of loss course through her veins. It hit her full force. She slid to the floor crying for the loss of Julia.
~*~
"Sir there is a transmission coming in from Ethstar." Nida stated to Squall over the COM link
Squall rubbed his eyes and then pressed the button in response. "Send it on up."
On the screen appeared Laguna. He looked worn and from the looks of it the presidential palace was in chaos. In the background he noticed Ellone was talking to a robed official.
"Squall, we think we might have a lead on the death of Julia." He said
"Well what is it man." Squall said perking up.
"Well Ellone and I have been trying to decipher why a GF would be attracted to Julia and then we came up with the solution that Julia has some form of sorceress magic." He said grimly
"You mean that she's a sorceress?" Squall said with skepticism
"No she is not like Rinoa or Matron. Her power is more like Ellone's but more concentrated." He said and rubbed his forehead
"Let me in, I have zee anzwer." A voice that Squall knew all to well.
"Dr. Odin has most of the answers, so I will let him do the talking." Laguna said and then made way for the aging doctor.
"Squall, you daughter iz not dead." The doctor blurted out
Squall closed his eyes. This was too much for one man to take, especially from a man who was becoming senile in his old age.
"You daughter iz merely trapped in some sort of temporal waste land." He said
"I think this would be better explained when we come to visit in a few days. Laguna out." Laguna interrupted. With that the image was gone.
'Powers like Ellone. Trapped in a temporal waste land.' Squall thought as he watched the sun set on the ocean.
~*~
The sun began to touch the window of the infirmary. Raymond groggily tried to force his eyes open. Once they were open it took him awhile to focus his eyes. He looked around his room. He noticed his father asleep in the chair next to the bed.
Irvine walked in to do the routine check up and noticed his young patient was awake.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Raymond. How are you feeling this morning?" He asked putting on his best doctor smile.
"What happened?" He crooked out into the room. Zell did not wake.
"You were affect by some time magic. It made your body speed up incredibly fast. You could say you had a near fatal burn out."
"I'm gonna be all right?" Raymond croaked
"Yeah, by the looks of it you're going to recover." Irvine noticed that Zell had awoken. "I'll leave you two alone for now." And Irvine left the father and son to talk
~*~
(A few weeks later.)
"It's too early for this," Rinoa mumbled as her and Squall stood in the ballroom.
It was the annual SeeD graduation ball and though it was a joyous occasion for many, most still felt the gloom that Julia's death had cast upon the Garden.
"We can't let the others suffer because of our grief Rin," Squall stated as he observed the many groups of people plus the many couples who were dancing.
Rinoa nodded and then smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in the instructor's uniform she wore.
"Look on the bright side, Quistis and Seifer's oldest graduated today." Squall said as he pointed to a blonde haired boy with glasses on who looked no more than fifteen years of age.
"Yeah." Rinoa muttered and then looked at a young couple dancing to the 'Waltz for the Moon'
"Do you want to dance?" Squall asked her hoping she would at least want to try and capture the glory days of her youth.
"Not really." She answered quietly and then turned in the direction of the punch bowl.
Squall sighed inwardly 'Just try and be happy Rinoa' he thought as he went in search of Seifer.
~*~
"Are you sure you're ok?" Lily asked Raymond across from the table
"Lily, I'm fine." He snapped
Lily shrank back and began to play with the confetti on the table. Raymond laughed and then wheeled over to his friend and embraced her.
"YOU!" Exclaimed a voice the two knew all too familiar.
Lily looked up. In front of her face was Lixue. Her normally 'calm' demeanor was now one of anger. Lily's face dropped in fear and hastily stood up and ran off.
Lixue turned to Raymond and smiled.
"What's your problem with Lily?" He asked and then adjusted his eye patch over his left eye.
"BOTHERING YOU!" She exclaimed and ran off to join her brother.
Raymond shook his head and then wheeled off to find Lily.
~*~
"RAGE, REVENGE, and HATE. These are the emotions that should be your guide in this new body." The voice screamed into her ear.
"HATE, RAGE, and REVENGE." She growled back
"Good. Now the time has come for me to take my place again. I will once again Konqure time. Julia my dear awaken the power with in you that only you know how too. " The voice quivered with greed
"As you wish, master." Julia rumbled
Lifting her blue fur arms, she turned her palm upwards towards the sky as to gather a charge. The sky began to rumble and then a sheet of lightning appeared and collected into her hands. Then turning her palms she forced the contained lighting into the air opening a seam into the fabric of time. She turned back to her master and then grinned showing off her sharp feral teeth. She then jumped into the portal and out of the temporal wasteland.
~*~
Ellone bolted right out of her bed. She was covered in the cold damp sweat that had appeared because of fear. She was panting. She played her nightmare over again in her head. She could see her niece. She was not the cute little tomboy she had once now. Instead there was a blue haired lioness that the evil sorceress kept calling Griever. Flinging off the covers, Ellone became aware of another presence in the room.
"Ellone?" Ellone shrieked but then looked closer at her guest
"Oh," She sighed, "It's just you Uncle Laguna." She placed a hand over her heart
"That's me." He said and stuck out his tong and placed his hand behind his head. "Are you ok?" He asked turning more serious.
"Yeah, I'm all right. But Uncle Laguna, the world is in trouble. Big Trouble." She gasped
Laguna became horrified with just that phrase.
~*~
"Dante you know I'm proud of you." Quistis said as she hugged her son.
"Me proud to Dan, me proud to." A little blond haired pixy voiced as she reached for his arms.
"Well I'm glad to here that Phoebe." Dante laughed as he twirled the little girl around in his arms
"So what next for the almighty Sir Dante Almsay." Dante looked up and noticed his father standing in the door way smirking
"I don't know, maybe make sure the Princess is locked safely away in the tower." He flashed his mother the Almsay award winning smile and then tickled his sister.
"And rightly so. So Sir Dante I give you the challenging task of putting you sister the Princess Phoebe to bed." Quistis said and then pushed Dante towards Phoebe's bedroom.
Quistis smiled and then turned to Seifer. They hugged each other. After a few minutes Quistis broke away and looked into Seifer's green eyes.
"You know Quisty we should be so lucky." He said in a low voice.
"I know." She replied
"What do you think you would do if we lost Phoebe or Dante?" He asked her
"I think in most cases I would be like Rinoa is now, dealing with the pain the best I could. And you?" She said as she gazed into the green depths.
Seifer hesitated. "I'd be right there with you Instructor Trepe." He smiled
"I know you would. What made you bring this up?" She said with a smile
"Ah Squall came up to me and asked me if Rinoa was like this when we broke up." He said massaging the back of his neck.
"Oh, I see. I think what Squall wants, is to have Rinoa back. I think he needs her as much as she needs him right now." Quistis said with a tone of sadness
"You noticed too." He smiled softly
"You too get a room." Dante called to his parents as they were still embracing.
"You go to yours young man." Seifer said as he pointed his finger at his son and then smiled
"Goodnight you two." He stated with a wave and then left for his quarters.
"Night." They both replied as they watched their son leave.
~*~
"There you are!" Selphie exclaimed as she found Rinoa on the balcony
Rinoa turned to face Selphie. Her eyes were rimmed red. Selphie's happy face dropped once she noticed her friend.
"What's the matter honey?" Selphie asked in her concerned motherly type voice
"I can't do it any more. I can't take the pain." She said as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes.
Selphie grasped Rinoa tightly to her chest. She smoothed Rinoa's hair down as the woman broke into tears. She soothed her with words that most mothers give their children when they were hurt.
"I want it to go away. Selphie please make it stop." Rinoa pleaded and continued to cry.
"It?s going to be alright, Rin. " She soothed and then continued to calm the woman down.
In the dark shadows Squall stood. He was trying for her. He was trying to be there but how could he when he did not know what to do. He leaned against the wall and broke down into tears he thought he could ever find again.
~*~
'For your first task, find the one they call Matron' that command rang in her mind as clear as what she had for breakfast almost a month ago.
She looked at the grey brick building. Snarling under her breath she noticed the young boys and girls who played on the beach below the cliff. She walked up to the door. Knocking harshly she was greeted with the smiling face most cadets and SeeD knew as Matron. She was not as old as she was now. She was younger; her grey hair was the colour of ebony wood. It was shiny and soft. She smiled at Julia.
"Come on in, I've been expecting you." She said and then ushered in the lion like beast that Julia had become.
Julia just sarcastically grinned at the woman, but followed her into the living room.
"I could tell you were coming. Two days ago I received powers from another sorceress. I suspect that you are an underling of hers, sent here to kill me?" She smiled
"No," Julia hissed, "I here to change the fabric of time."
"But you understand that a change might destroy yourself." Matron gasped
The blue haired lioness just laughed. "It will not destroy me. I will shape it. I was destined to shape time to my liking."
"Then what do you need with me?" Matron narrowed her eyes.
"I need your power!" Julia declared
~*~
"Lily?" Raymond called out into the dark of the courtyard
"I'm right here." She stated meekly as she came out from behind the bush
"Why have you been hiding there?" he said with a laugh
"Cause" Lily looked at the ground and kicked the tile on the floor
"Cause why?" Raymond wheeled up next to her
"Because, I supposedly took Lixue's guy away from her." She let it out
"You mean to say that Nook has a thing for you. That 's so damn hilarious." Raymond laughed almost falling out of his chair.
"Is not. I hate the creep." She cried and then kicked Raymond's wheel.
"Hey you should watch what you do or?"
"Or what you'll kiss me." Lily retorted back
"No that would be like kissing my sister." Raymond said
Lily kicked the chair again and then ran off. Raymond began to chase her.
In the distance Irvine and Zell watched the two chase each other through the courtyard.
"It's good to see those two getting back to normal." Zell said crossing his arms across his chest.
"Well I guess you could say semi-normal." Irvine said with a pat to Zell's back
Zell eyed the man next to him. "What do you mean semi-normal? What did you do to my son, Kinneis?"
"Nothing I just meant that for my life." Irvine said nonchalantly.
"What did you do this time to screw up?" Zell looked at his friend
"I got my wife pregnant." He said with a laugh
"Congratulations are in order then." Zell said and then gave his friend a male hug.
TBC?