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FF Odyssey
Fan Fiction
Final Fantasy VIII: Final Call
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(Chapter)
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13 Epilogue |
Squall slowly slid himself out from under Rinoa’s arms, and climbed off the bed. She lay still on the bed, a sleeping angel. Squall managed a small smile, then got himself dressed after a quick shower.
He was just getting his shirt on when the intercom blared to life.
“Squall! You’re needed, contact has been made!”
Squall cursed and grabbed his jacket from the floor. It had been torn off in a rush.
***
He was still in that condition when he got to the bridge. Josh, Nida’s replacement pilot, took a quick look at him, and laughed.
“What is it?”
Josh took another look, Squall’s hair was going in every possible direction, and the shirt was tucked in halfway, and then hung out entirely. The pants zipper was fully down, and to top it off, Squall’s shoes and jacket were in his hands.
“Nothing at all Sir.”
Squall nodded, “Good.”
He then sat down and got his shoes on and proceeded to finish dressing himself.
“So, they made contact?”
Yes, Sir, and I have Xu on the line; she says it’s urgent that you talk to her.
Squall nodded, “Put her on.”
The radio came through the room, and Xu’s voice came in loud and clear.
“Squall?”
“Xu, what’s up?”
“Squall, we’ve got a problem here.”
“I thought you made contact.”
“That’s the problem. You should come down with the next team and check this out yourself.”
Squall raised an eyebrow, “What exactly is going on Xu?”
Xu sounded nervous, “Let’s just say we’re holding Zell off with a stick, and besides the rookies, none of us feel very safe.”
Squall nodded, something really bad was happening, “I’ll be there in two hours.”
“Right.”
Squall watched Josh flip off the radio, “You’re going in Sir?”
“Guess so, and get our backup groups ready. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
***
True to his word, Squall was at Caraway’s Mansion in 120 minutes. He was followed by a sizeable force of SeeDs, who immediately took up posts around the mansion.
Xu approached Squall slowly outside the mansion.
“Squall, before you go in there, just remember, it’s been a long time, okay?”
What the hell is she talking about?
“Xu, what’s going on?”
“You’ll see.”
Squall sighed and walked inside the Mansion, around the main entrance, the rest of the crew was sitting silently.
Zell, Irvine, Quistis, Selphie, Xu, Miles, Jasmine, Lee, they’re all fine, so what’s the big deal?
“Squall, fancy seeing you here.”
Squall recognized the voice instantly, and his body froze.
It can’t be… it just can’t be!
Slowly, Seifer stepped into the room, still wearing the silver coat he had so grown accustomed to. Squall took in a deep breath and took a lone look at his rival.
“Seifer.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say to me? After 10 years? Wow, you and the chicken-wuss…”
Zell restrained himself from attacking Seifer.
“…You’re both so… unemotional. Say, where’s Rinoa? I thought we were gonna have a reunion!”
There was an extremely awkward moment of silence. Seifer shrugged and sat in a chair.
“Squall, you might as well sit down, I’m not here to kill any of you… quite the opposite.”
This is just too much.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Plain and Simple? I’m the one who hired you all.”
“Why?”
“We need your help! Did you take a look outside? Sure, it’s fairly calm right now, but in a few hours, we’ll be ducking and covering.”
This isn’t adding up.
***
Miles watched Squall and Seifer talk back and forth… or at least attempt to.
What the hell is going on? I thought they hated each other. Why the hell haven’t they gone at it yet?
He reflected upon one of the first lessons when he entered training… something about your enemies never always being the same person. Sometimes, when you’re a mercenary, or even when you aren’t, your allies and enemies can trade places. That you shouldn’t try to hate the person directly, since you really are only two people on a battlefield with opposing opinions, there’s nothing THAT personal about it.
But from everything I’ve heard, it was personal with these two.
The bad gut feelings returned, and Miles silently left the room to walk. The rooms of the mansion were old and dusty, but apparently, Seifer’s force had been using it as a base of operations, so certain rooms in the basement and closer to the inside of the house were filled with soldiers and equipment. Miles walked slowly by a set of windows that overlooked the entire city. It was a beautiful sight. He turned back to the door and noticed an old statue with a cup in its hand. He shrugged, the thing was old and rusted, shame, since it was probably a nice statue in its day. Then something hit him as odd. The feeling of impending danger was increasing, and as he looked out one of the windows, he realized why.
***
Squall had finally come to his senses and sat down when Miles burst into the room, screaming like a madman. Irvine jumped up and smacked the kid with his hat.
“Calm down! Now what’s going on?”
“Soldiers! On approach! Lots of them! Must be hundreds!”
Seifer jumped, “Oh God, they’ve regrouped for a second assault. I thought we had them dispersed. How many do you have?”
Squall slowly got himself up and looked through a window, “Thirty. Not enough to hold off an assault like that, no matter how good we are.”
He looked back at Seifer, “You may have hired us, but I’m not sending any of these people off on a suicide mission.”
Seifer laughed bitterly, “Who knew? Squall cares now! I’ve got one hundred and fifty stationed here.”
He looked toward Miles, who shook his head, “Definitely not enough.”
Xu raised an eyebrow, “Any forces outside the city?"
“None, I played a game with my army’s size. Made it appear like I had more, tried to frighten them off.”
Zell grinned, “Looks like it failed.”
“Yes, it did, you got something to say about it?”
Selphie jumped, “Hey, all of you! Have we forgotten that we’re on limited time here?”
Squall nodded, “She’s right, we’ve got to find a way out.”
Quistis grinned, along with Zell and Selphie, and at the same time, they blurted out, “We know one!”
***
After a deal of shoving and pushing, the great secret door was finally pushed open for the first time in ten years. Squall ordered Miles, Lee and Jasmine down first, and so they went. Next came the army, and the remaining SeeD members, until Squall and Seifer were the only ones left.
Squall hesitated, this didn’t feel right, but it was his job, “Seifer, you’re next, let’s go!”
Seifer pulled out his Hyperion, and instinctively, Squall grabbed the Lion Heart.
“I’m not going to fight you Squall, just go down there!”
“Seifer, the army is in the house! You have to get out now!”
Seifer grinned, the grin that Squall hated so much.
Why the hell are you doing this Seifer? What are you trying to do?
“Go Squall, I reunite with you guys in a bit!”
“Seifer! Think here! They’ll kill you!”
“Hey, someone’s gotta keep my army going! I’ll lay a distraction for you guys, this way, they won’t be hot on your tail down the sewers, you’ll have time to escape the city. I’ll meet with you outside of it, alright?”
“Seifer, your contract…”
“Does not state that you protect me, simply that you do as I say, and I say to get your ass down there NOW!”
Squall shrugged.
Goodbye Seifer.
With that, he dashed down the stairwell into the sewer system.
Seifer stood tall in the doorframe, “BRING IT ON YOU COWARDS!”
***
After what seemed like an hour of walking, despite it being only twenty minutes, the tired group of 189 climbed out of the sewers and saw daylight again. There was a path, thankfully, in the sewers that lead them out of the City, and they were all assembled together now, more or less.
After a few minutes of head counting and breath-catching, There was a squeal of tires, and Seifer pulled right up behind Squall, honking the horn and grinning like an idiot.
“Told ya I’d make it!”
Squall stared blankly for a second, Apart from a few cuts and bruises, Seifer was just fine.
What the hell happened?
“Seifer, how did you…?”
“Don’t worry about it for now, I think it’s quite obvious that I can still show you up though.”
Seifer grinned, and Squall simply stared, slightly angered by the comment. Quistis stepped in between both of them, “Look you two, we’ve got to decide where to go now.”
Seifer shrugged, “how about Garden?”
There was a gasp from a few people, “Garden?”
“Well, we should be safe there, and it’s only about five minutes from here. Better than waiting out here for the army to chase us.”
Squall sighed, as much as he didn’t like the idea, Seifer had a point. Zell grabbed his arm and pulled him aside to Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine.
Irvine simply shook his head, “We can’t let that happen, he’s not trustworthy.”
Zell and Selphie nodded in agreement.
Squall shook his head, “Guys, we’re under contract now…”
Zell kicked the ground, “So cancel it!”
“Look, it’ll just be for the night, then we’ll see them off to wherever, and be on our way. What could happen in one night?”
“He’s got 150 soldiers at his command, A LOT COULD HAPPEN!”
“We’ll divide the soldiers into smaller groups and keep a watch around them.”
Quistis finally spoke, softly, “Squall, you’re the leader, and it is your call. Whatever you choose, we’ll stand by it. ALL of us.”
Zell reluctantly nodded, “Tch.”
Squall closed his eyes and gave a quick nod, “Okay, let’s get a move on. We have to get back before night falls.”