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FF Odyssey
Fan Fiction
Final Fantasy VIII: Final Call
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(Chapter)
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11 12
13 Epilogue |
Jasmine sat in the waiting room her head in her hands, as Dr. Kadowaki prepared to read over the results of her testing. Rinoa, Squall, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis and Lee were all around her, sitting, standing, leaning, whatever they could do.
Dr. Kadowaki coughed, “Shall I begin.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Squall answered, “Yes.”
“Okay, quite simply everyone… I don’t know. He’s still got the faint life signs, but there is no sign of life in the body. He’s definitely in a coma, but I don’t know why, and I can’t be sure he’ll ever come out of it. In effect… he’s dead. I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. To bring him back would require more power than the combinations of Adel, Ultemicia, and Rinoa.”
Jasmine broke down into tears, and Selphie walked over to her and bought her out of the room.
Squall sighed, “There’s still a chance though, right?”
Dr. Kadowaki shook her head, “The hopeful part of me says yes, but my sensible side says no.”
***
Selphie kept the lights dim as she tucked Jasmine in. Jasmine didn’t speak, only moaned softly. Selphie sighed, “Do you need anything?”
Jasmine shook her head, and Selphie started for the door. As she reached the frame, Jasmine softly spoke, “Selphie?”
Selpie spun around, “Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
Selphie gave a weak grin, and turned off the lights as she left. Garden was devoid of life at this time of night, and she stepped into the dorm hallways to a gloomier silence than usual. Selphie stood still for a moment, staring intently out of a window. She felt a fighter tap on her shoulder, and jumped with a scream.
As she turned, she saw Irvine Kinneas standing there, wearing a wide grin, “My, ain’t you jumpy?”
She hit his chest, “Don’t DO that!”
“Sorry you just looked lonely, that’s all.”
She sighed, “I’ve just been thinking. Watching Jasmine tonight, how she felt about Miles, how Miles felt about here… will I ever experience something like that?”
Irvine put his arm around her, “I was thinking about that very same thing, but… I found an answer.”
She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. Slowly, but without hesitation, he leaned towards her. They kissed, for the first time, under the stars of the night.
***
Jasmine awoke the next morning to the sound of the loudspeaker calling her and several others to Squall’s office. She rolled out of bed and quickly dressed herself in shorts and a t-shirt, then headed up.
***
The office was already filled with people. Selphie and Irvine were leaning on each other in one corner, while Rinoa and Squall stood by the desk. Lee, Zell and Quistis were sitting around, and Seifer stood in a corner. Jasmine hurried into a seat.
Squall nodded and began, “You’ve all been selected been selected to make a trip to Fisherman’s Horizon, not too far from where we’ve been stranded. Now, it’s quite simple. We will take a few rafts out to FH, then I shall contact the mayor, and convince him to get his crews to repair Garden.”
Selphie raised an eyebrow questioningly, “Squall, do we need all of us for that?”
“Good question, that brings me to point number two. You, Irvine, Quistis and Zell will stay at FH, and help with the repair effort. Meanwhile, Jasmine, Lee, Seifer, Rinoa and I will continue for Esthar. There we will commission the use of the Ragnorak, and complete a contract.”
Seifer nodded.
“Once that’s done, we’ll return the Ragnorak, and head back to Garden. Questions?”
Jasmine raised her hand, “Squall, with all due respect, I’d like to stay here.”
“Why?”
“I want to find out exactly what went wrong.”
Seifer glared at her.
“I don’t see the harm, but I’m told it was just a mechanical failure.”
“I know, Squall, but I don’t believe that.”
“Alright, go ahead. The rest of you, report to Dr. Kadowaki, she wants to check up on all of you. Then assemble by the Quad.”
After everyone had left, Rinoa spoke up, “Squall, why are you letting Jasmine do that?”
Squall sighed, “She’s gotta keep her mind off of him. If she’s got something that’ll keep her occupied happily, so be it. Besides, part of me believes it wasn’t just a failure, too.”
***
The MD level was spooky. Lighting was minimal, and the gears and contraptions made the space extremely confined.. Jasmine sighed as she smacked the glow rod on and attached it to her belt. She had finished inspecting the A, B and C zones yesterday, so the root cause had to be in the D zone: the control room.
I just need to figure out exactly what the cause was.
She descended the ladder toward the control room.
***
Squall stretched out and put on his jacket, gloomily considering where he was going today. He took a quick look at the phone, Jasmine had reported in every few hours yesterday, and he half-expected to hear from her again, soon.
***
The control room was an absolute mess. There was no doubt that whatever had gone wrong had occurred here. Jasmine took off the glow rod and swept it over the area. Wires were scattered and burnt, but not severed. The monitors had been damaged, but still functioned perfectly. There was no sign of any malfunction.
Something isn’t right.
That’s when she noticed the strangest part. There was a ring of destruction. It went from severe at the center, and the damage lessened on the way out. Then she noticed the shrapnel and pieces of what was formerly casing.
This was a bomb. Which means somebody had a grudge against garden, and the best candidate for that would be…
Jasmine broke into a run and pulled out her handheld phone.
***
Squall slowly walked out of his room, being careful to lock the door behind him. After he had left, the phone began to ring.
***
Jasmine cursed and dropped the phone in the halls of the MD level when she failed to get an answer. Continuing her run, she slammed into the back wall of the elevator and pressed a button. It bought her quickly up to the bridge, where Nida had temporary command. She grabbed the phone.
“What’s Mayor Dobe’s number?”
Nida grabbed the phone from her, “What are you doing?”
“I know what happened to the MD level, and Squall isn’t answering.”
“I’m sure it can wait until he returns.”
“IT WAS A BOMB!” Nida jumped back and she continued, “Squall is in immediate danger.”
“Jasmine, you need a break…”
She grabbed him by the collar, “I could be wrong, but do you really want to risk it?”
Nida hesitated, “Speed-dial, number three.”
She hit the button, and the calm voice of Mayor Dobe answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Mayor Dobe? This is Jasmine Farway, I need to speak to Squall Leonheart urgently.”
“He is about to board the train…”
“Get him off of it!”
“I’ll try.”
“No, you’ll DO!”
***
Squall was about to enter the train when Dobe ran up to him huffing and pantin, “Phone call for you, Squall!”
“Who?”
“Someone calling herself Jasmine Farway, she says it’s urgent.”
Squall nodded, “Hold the train.”
Dobe agreed, and Squall walked down to the Mayor’s home. Nobody noticed Seifer follow close behind.
***
The home was very compact, and was empty too, so at least Squall wasn’t sqeezing by anybody. He picked up the phone, “Squall, here.”
The tired and very nervous voice of Jasmine Farway returned, “Squall, I figured out what happened!”
“Calm down, what was it?”
“A bomb!”
“A what? Who could do that?”
“I thought about it too, and it really doesn’t take much. The most obvious candidate is…”
Suddenly, the phone burst into sparks, and Squall found himself looking down at the Hyperion, lodged in the table, Squall turned around, dropping the receiver, as Seifer lifted the weapon out of the table.
Seifer laughed viciously, “Connection terminated.”
***
Jasmine and Nida heard the static over the speakerphone and traded an ‘oh-shit’ look that said it all. Jasmine dashed for the elevator while Nida flipped on the loudspeaker.
“Attention everyone, this is Nida, and we have an emergency…”
***
Squall cursed his stupidity. The Lion Heart was in the train’s baggage compartment. Squall calmly hit his radio switch, and hoped that someone would hear it.
Seifer stood with a triumphant grin, and slowly placed the Hyperion to Squall’s forehead, “You’re wearing that same expression you wore when I gave you that scar.”
Squall spit at him. Seifer wiped the saliva off of his face, “THAT, Squall, was a mistake.”
Seifer lifted the gunblade and moved to swing down. As he did, Squall dove, and tuck-rolled to the left. The swing lodged the blade in the table. Squall pushed himself up as Seifer tried to pull the Hyperion out, but was too slow. Squall swung with a strong jab into Seifer’s nose, further wounding the already broken nose.
Seifer fell backwards, and Squall stood over him like a hawk, “So, all this time, it was just a farce?”
Seifer felt the blood on his face, “Yes, a damned good one too, wasn’t it?”
Squall kicked Seifer in the gut, “How long? The Deling mission? The army you fought alone, that wasn’t a real army was it? Those were your men, weren’t they? The mutiny was a joke too, wasn’t it? Intended to get you on board Garden.”
Seifer laughed, “Yep!”
“Why?”
“Well, I’m not going to go and tell you my scheme until I am sure of victory. Rule of thumb you know.”
Squall went to kick again, but this time Seifer grabbed his foot and toppled Squall over. Seifer launched himself up and yanked the Hyperion out of the table, then lifted to swing it at Squall. He was quickly cut off by a gunshot that barely missed his head.
“Now partner,” the voice of Irvine cut through the silence, “I’d suggest you put that thing down before I hurt you.”
Seifer grinned and slowly lowered the weapon. As he walked slowly over to Irvine, Rinoa came hustling through the door, and caught Irivine’s attention.
It was a bad mistake to make. Seifer swung hard, slicing Irvine right across the stomach. Irvine fell backwards, and Squall pushed himself up to check on his friend. The situation wasn’t critcal, but Irvine was hurt, and needed help. Squall could barely hear Irvine whisper something about his coat and a weapon. While Squall was looking over Irvine, Seifer came up from behind and smashed the back of Squall’s head with the gunblade handle.
Squall’s world went dark.
***
It was a little yellow fleet. Not exactly fearsome, but what was in the inflatable rafts was. Hundreds of SeeDs, quickly dispatched by Garden, closed in on Fisherman’s Horizon at an alarming rate. At the vanguard, was Jasmine Farway, standing up as the boat zipped on the water, both her guns drawn and ready.
The landing was quick and dirty. The boat hit the shore, and she leaped off of it onto the ground. The sight she saw scared her. A train had arrived, and poring out of it was an entire army. She recognized the outfits too. They were the soldiers under Seifer’s command. It looked like there were thousands of them. The group that had arrived was fighting valiantly, but she couldn’t see Squall, Rinoa or Irvine.
No time like the present.
She threw herself into a run and started into the fray, guns blazing. She managed to down a few soldiers on her first few shots, before she actually got into the thick of things. She ran straight into a soldier, and pistol-whipped him, while firing off a shot at another. Without missing a beat, she spun around in a kick that knocked a soldier to the ground, then the stamped on his head, knocking him out cold. Two soldiers ran to confront her, and as they raised their guns, she had already fired a shot from each of hers, hitting both of them in the head. Her ammo was out, and she hit the cartridge release system, dropping both gun’s cartridges to the ground. She reached with her left hand and pulled one cartridge out of her pouch, while pistol-whipping a soldier next to her with her left hand. She reached over and loaded the cartridge into the right hand, then she inversed and repeated the process.
Fully loaded, she dove back into the think of the battle.
***
Squall awoke with a raging headache, and his hands tied behind his back. Irvine was still on the ground, while Rinoa was gagged and bound in a chair. The doors were firmly barricaded, and Seifer stood victoriously, staring at Squall.
“Good, you’re awake, I wanted you to see this.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“Why, you precious Rinoa, is going to become Ultemicia reborn!”
“Ultemicia is dead, you bastard.”
Seifer became infuriated, “Not for long! All that is required is a simple process, and Ultemicia will inhabit the body of Rinoa Leonheart!”
Squall cursed, “What are you going to do to her?”
“Why… ha! Kill her of course!”
Squall’s eyes widened as Seifer moved over to Rinoa and began to clean his gunblade. With Seifer’s attention focused elsewhere, Squall scooted over close to Irvine, he had figured out what Irvine was talking about.
Quietly moving the jacket back a bit, Squall could make out the Lion Heart, fully exposed. Squall moved his hands up and down the blade slowly, cutting the ropes. Once they were cut, Squall noticed Seifer finish the cleaning process, and draw the Hyperion back to stab Rinoa.
“Do not be afraid Rinoa, you shall soon be a better person!”
Seifer began to thrust, and suddenly found the motion stopped by the Lion Heart, swinging upwards and knocking the Hyperion back. Seifer regained his balance and stared.
“You bastard!”
Squall grinned victoriously, “You’re not gonna win Seifer. You’ve officially lost it, and I’m not letting you get away this time.”
Squall charged, bringing the blade crashing down. Seifer effortlessly blocked it, then countered with a kick to Squall’s ribs. Squall fell back, then recovered and feigned an attack to the right, then twirled and swung in from the left. Although caught off-guard, Seifer recovered, throwing himself back and then bringing the blade in a motion downwards, intending to cut Squall right in half. Squall stepped back a bit, and held the blade parallel to the ground, stopping the swing. Then Squall swept his foot under Seifer’s, and Seifer went tumbling down. Squall pressed the attack, no longer caring for mercy. He lifted the blade high above his head and swung down, fully intending to kill Seifer. Seifer however, threw his feet into Squall’s shins, sending Squall flying forward. Seifer tried to stab Squall in mid-air, but Squall did his best at a mid-air dodge, and the blade barely missed him. The two pushed themselves up and charged at each other. Squall threw his blade in a motion from upper left to lower right, while Seifer twirled around, dodging the attack, and sliced Squall’s back.
Squall screamed with the pain, and took on a contorted position for a second. He quickly attempted a recovery, but Seifer pressed the attack harder now, swinging low, then high, then aiming for the midsection. Weakened, Squall blocked them all, but he was losing his strength now. Seifer finally knocked the Lion Heart to the side, and shoved Squall against the wall. Squall couldn’t find the strength to resist, and Seifer placed the blade right on Squall’s neck.
“Now Squall, I’m going to kill you.”
***
Meanwhile, the battle outside didn’t fare any better. Although the SeeDs fought well, they were severly outnumbered, and more just kept coming. Zell bull rushed a crowd of soldiers, and for his part, took every one of them down, but more just came out of the train to replace the downed ones. Eventually the soldiers would run out of men, but a war of attrition was not a war that SeeD could win.
Jasmine was on the train tracks now, sufficiently out of ammo and unable to reload with a soldier pressing his attack on her. He had a gun himself, but couldn’t seem to work it, so instead he used it as a club, attempting to hit her. She dodged gracefully, and tried to throw a few punches, but the soldier was just as good at the art of the dodge.
She then noticed it. Sparks off in the distance of the tracks, and there were suddenly lights flashing by the stop. She gasped and leaped off of the rails, barely clearing the third rail. The soldier stayed on the tracks, not realizing what was happening, and then a train smashed dead into him. Jasmine shielded her eyes from the sight, and she heard the train squeal to a stop.
She quickly reloaded her pistols, raising them up to the nearest door. As the doors opened, soldiers flooded out, but these weren’t Seifer’s. They were wearing the uniforms of Galbadia, and as they ran out, they charged into the battle and began fighting with Seifer’s men. Jasmine laid in the ground in astonishment, as hundreds more soldiers pored out of the train and into the thick of the battle.
They were saved.
***
Seifer grinned, “I’m going to kill you Squall, and then I’ll kill your bitch of a wife.”
Squall had given up at that point. He had lost. But Seifer’s last words struck that mystical chord in all of us. He suddenly lashed out, driving his knee right below Seifer’s ribcage. Seifer collapsed backwards, and Squall dove to the side and grabbed the Lion Heart. He charged at Seifer and swung across to the left, then to the right, back and forth in a variety of motions. Seifer tried to block, and did so successfully, but Squall just moved quicker with each swing. Seifer fell back, lying on the ground now, and Squall knocked the Hyperion to the ground a few feet away. Without another word, Squall lifted up the Lion Heart for a killing blow.
Seifer was dazed, but somehow managed to recover. He rolled to the side, and the blade dug into the ground where he had just been.
***
Jasmine still had something bugging her. She couldn’t quite tell what it was… but her thoughts drifted to the location of Seifer, Squall, Rinoa and Irvine. She stared down at Mayor Dobe’s house, and then realized just what it was. With no real battle to fight (Esthar had taken care of everything, really), she dashed down to the house, and tried to open the door.
No luck. It was locked and barricaded well. She could hear the sounds of combat from within, and decided to stick with it and try to help. She just needed a way inside.
***
Seifer grabbed the Hyperion and was up again to challenge Squall. He was fatigued from the latest attack, but still ready to go. Squall gave him a look, and then charged again, twisting his body around and pulling the blade into a position where he could stab. Seifer swung high, and Squall ducked underneath the swing, then thrust out the blade towards Seifer. Seifer masterfully sidestepped it and knocked the weapon away from him. Squall kept his grip, and recovering, twisted the blade around to be perpendicular from the ground, blocking Seifer’s next swing. Seifer kept up the attack, swinging harder and harder, gaining strength from each swing. Finally, Squall pushed back, and began to press the attack towards Seifer. He swung down, then up, and across, a flurry of moves that would have dazzled a lesser opponent. But Seifer was no lesser. He was equal, if not greater.
Then Seifer realized he was in trouble. While still blocking the attacks single-handedly, he yanked a small combat knife out of his pocket. Flicking it open with ease, he thrust it forward and into Squall’s side.
Squall screamed in agony as Seifer twisted the blade. Squall tried to get out of it, but couldn’t. He dropped the Lion Heart, and was now at Seifer’s complete mercenary. Seifer grinned with twisted pride.
“You’ve lost Squall,” he raised the Hyperion to kill, “now… you’ll pay for that loss.”
As he began to swing downwards, a gun fired, a window broke, and suddenly, Seifer stiffened up, and began to drop down. Squall twisted himself out of blade, and, still clutching his side, watched as Seifer fell to the ground, a fresh bullet hole in the side of his head. Squall looked up, and standing in the window frame above them was Jasmine Farway, gun still smoking.
She blew out the smoke and winked, “What can I say? Guys who meet me are just blown away.”
Squall grinned mildly, then felt himself dizzy. His vision went a bit fuzzy, then he collapsed.
***
Squall finally awoke to see the smiling face of Laguna Loire. He was immediately angry that he woke up. Barely able to speak, he coughed and managed a soft and craggy, “What are you doing here?”
Laguna sat down in a chair by the bed, “Just wondering how you were doing.”
“I thought you never cared.”
“Squall, that’s harsh.”
“Yeah, screw you, you deserve it.”
Squall felt a hand touch his arm, and he heard Rinoa’s voice, “Squall, Laguna saved us. If it weren’t for Esthar’s assistance, we would all be dead right now.”
Squall looked at Laguna, “You helped us?”
“Yeah, I heard what was happening and rushed over every regiment I could get.”
“Why?”
Laguna sighed, “I screwed up once. I’m not going to abandon people depending on me again.”
Squall went silent, suddenly realizing that maybe Laguna wasn’t as bad a guy as he had always thought, then he tried to speak, only to be hushed by Laguna, “I know, Squall, and we’ll talk about it later. For now, you need to rest.”
Squall agreed, and let sleep wash over him.
***
Irvine meanwhile, was doing a little better. His cut was only skin-deep, and the doctors said he’d be back on his feet in no time. He was laying in the bed, playing idly with a spoon from the meal he had been served, when Selphie walked in.
“Irvy? You awake?”
He grinned, “C’mon in.”
Selphie came in, along with her usual carefree attitude, “How you doing?”
“Alright, although it’s leaving one nasty scar…”
She grinned and lightly patted him on the stomach. It still hurt, and he expressed his pain.
“Oh get over it you big wimp.”
“Hey now, you’re not the one in the bed with the scar and the lousy food.”
“Maybe not, but I’m the one watching the one in the bed with the scar and the lousy food.”
He grinned and reached for her hand, “That’s what makes you so great.”
***
Lee sighed and looked out at the sea. The people of Fisherman’s Horizon were more or less letting them all stay in the town until things could be sorted out. Despite their hatred of violence, they were pretty grateful for yet another attack halted by SeeD.
Though we had help on this one. Esthar saved our collective ass.
A small finger tapped his shoulder, and he turned around to see Veronica, “Hey Lee.”
“Hey Veronica, what’s up?”
“Nothing, I was just walking around and I saw you. You looked so lonely out here.”
He turned and leaned on the rail, looking back at the sea, “There’s something about the sea that makes everyone lonely.”
She leaned on the rail next to him, “Not everyone needs to be lonely y’know.”
He slowly turned his head, and she gave him a wide grin, which he returned, “No, I guess not everyone does.”