“Transcending Reality” by: Emerald Eyes
I
do not own Final Fantasy. Laguna does. He wrote the stories when he became
President of Esthar because it was a very, very boring job.
(translation: I will never ever write a boring disclaimer)
“I tried hard to mend my wicked ways, acted like a lunatic for years.
Lord knows I try to be good. I’d keep my promises if only I could.” –Garbage
Chapter Eight: Cryptic Answers
“Er, so you’re trying to say that this guy is really, REALLY
bad… like Kuja?”
“Uh…” Alex attempted to answer the girl’s gratuitous
question, “yeah, he’s kind of like Kuja, I guess.”
Eiko summarized the information given to her before. “Okay:
long silver hair, spooky aquamarine eyes, and a long scary sword. Got it.”
“Good,” Alex spoke into the PHS, “keep alert. I don’t think
he’ll be there at the moment, but…” a pause “I have a feeling I know where he’s
at. I’ll let you know if I find him.”
He was about to end the conversation but Eiko frantically
interrupted. “Hey, Alexander! Wait! I have one more question!”
Alex sighed, “What, Eiko?”
“Were you named after the holy eidolon?” the girl asked
curiously.
“No, Eiko,” the man said irritably, eager for the
conversation to end. “How many times do I have to tell you? There aren’t any
eidolons where I come from.”
“Oh,” the girl answered simply and disappointedly, “Well, I
guess you can go now.”
Pressing a button on the PHS and ending the conversation,
the girl stored the communication device in her pocket. She boldly stepped up
onto the metal elevator and pulled the lever that had “upper level” printed
next to it. <Hmmm, I wonder what Cid’s gonna say when I tell him a
story like this.> Soon she reached the top floor and the elevator came
to a complete stop.
As soon as the lilac-haired girl stepped out onto the marble
floor, Hilda, the Regent’s wife, greeted her with open arms.
“Eiko! Oh my, where have you been?”
The girl smiled deviously. “You are never gonna
believe what happened to me…”
^_^_^_^
“But I swear to Bahamut, it’s the truth!”
As expected, the older woman didn’t believe one word of
Eiko’s outlandish story. “Eiko, if you went somewhere without asking, the least
you could do is tell the truth about where you went! Cid and I were looking all
over for you!”
The small girl frowned. “But look, ma!” she said, holding
the PHS out to Hilda, “Alex gave me this thingy! I can talk to him even though
he’s somewhere far away.”
The Regent’s wife stared askance at the young child. “…and
what’s that? One of Cid’s bizarre inventions, is it?”
“No,” the girl said neglectfully, shaking her head, “This is
A wry smile played upon Hilda’s lips, quite amused that the
girl could not falter under her irate glare. “
“Yeah, you’re telling me! They’re all pretty weird! And they
dress funny too!” the girl complained.
“Oh really? What do they look like? What does
“Um…” the girl searched her memory, “he’s got red hair, like
Amarant. But he is NOTHING like him at all! He wears a pair of dark
glasses on his head and he dresses all in dark blue.” The girl paused for a
moment before an unexpected paroxysm, “And he said my purple hair was weird!
The nerve!”
Hilda’s ironic smirk changed to a perplexed frown. “’Dark
glasses and dressed in dark blue’…?”
“Yep!” Eiko confirmed. She tried to remember the word she
had heard in an earlier conversation, what the redhead had called himself. “Er,
he said he was a ‘Turk,’ or something like that. And… he said he had two
friends… Rude and Elena!”
Hilda’s reaction to the information was what Eiko had least
expected. The woman’s mouth was agape, golden-brown eyes giving the girl an
astonished look.
The girl stared back, equally surprised. “What did I say?
Why are you staring at me like that, ma?”
Hilda moved her lips as if to speak, but she remained mute.
Instead, she took the lilac-haired girl’s hand and led her though a series of
doors. They finally stopped when they reached the interior of a large room that
Eiko recognized as the Regent’s throne room.
Cid did not notice the two enter. He was involved in a
heated conversation with two humans. Upon further observation the girl found
Vivi sitting on one of the large steps leading up to the throne. His feet
carelessly dangled above the red-carpeted floor. He was the first to notice the
newcomers.
“Eiko,” he exuberantly cried, “You’re back!”
The child’s overjoyed outburst distracted the Regent,
letting him notice the missing child. “Eiko, where have you been?” the old man
scolded, “You’ve been out all night! I’ve had half the soldiers out looking for
you and none of them could find you! It’s as if you’ve disappeared off the face
of Gaia!”
“Um, Cid?” the girl asked meekly, “I kind of DID
disappear off the face of Gaia for a little while.”
“What?”
“I…” the girl stopped mid-sentence, staring openly at the
two people the Regent had been arguing with. They were both dressed in dark
blue, like the redhead from her previous adventure. “Hey!” she suspiciously
eyed the two, “Do you guys know
Both the male and the female gaped at the lilac-haired girl,
wondering how she could have known their insubordinate friend.
“You mean you’ve SEEN him?” the blonde lady asked,
“Where’s he at? Is he okay?”
Eiko sighed. <Aw… do I have to tell this story
AGAIN?> She decided to tell the short version and get to the point.
“He’s okay. But he might not be for long. You see, lots and lots of crap
happened and a lot of people from different dimensions met each other and then
this guy said that this other guy, Sephiroth, was alive. The guy said that
Sephiroth was kind of like Kuja and Kuja was REAL mean so I’m guessing
that’s not good.”
The blonde stared dumbly at the girl for a moment, soaking
in all the information. Her bald companion expected her reaction, but Eiko was
completely surprised by her diatribe.
“Sephiroth is ALIVE!?” she screamed, “That can’t be
possible! That jerkface, Cloud, killed him off, didn’t he?” She pressed for an
answer when Eiko didn’t respond. “Well? Didn’t he?”
Eiko meekly nodded, “I—I guess so…”
“If he hurt
“Calm down, Elena,” the passive bald Turk scolded, “We don’t
even know if what she’s saying is the truth.”
<Oh, Great Bahamut,> Eiko thought, <Why
does everyone have to think I’m lying!?>
“If there’s a really bad guy like Kuja out there,” Vivi cut
in from across the room, “I’ll help get rid of him…”
Elena’s attention was torn from her tirade for a moment to
stare incredulously at Vivi. “How can a little boy like you stop Sephiroth?”
“I’m a Black Mage,” the boy said simply.
Elena looked completely ambiguous. “Can you run that by me
again?”
“I’d think I’d better tell the full version of the
story,” Eiko cut Vivi off, “for the umpteenth time today.”
And this time, instead of her “short version,” she told
every detail, leaving out nothing. The story took several hours to complete,
not one of the people in the room losing interest in the tale.
When it was finished, no one dared to speak. There were too
many questions swarming through their heads to just pick one to ask. But no one
had time to voice their thoughts anyway…
A loud crash was heard as two Lindblum soldiers stumbled
through the door. The one was helping his injured friend walk to the person
they sought: Cid.
“Regent,” the injured one began laboriously, “Theater
district…”
Cid immediately snapped to attention at the soldier’s
mysterious words. “What!?” he asked frantically, “Tell me! What!?”
“A woman with black magic…” the uninjured soldier continued,
struggling to support his companion.
“Hmmm,” Cid pondered, “Only the Mages like Vivi can use that
kind of power…”
“So?” Elena inquired, “What’s so unusual about that? She
probably just has a couple of good, mastered materia.”
“Uh-uh,” Eiko shook her head, “Ain’t no materia here.”
“Is there a name to go with this mysterious woman?” the
Regent asked.
“Uh…” the prone soldier replied, wracking his brain for
answers, “Sorceress… Sorceress…”
“Sorceress Ultemecia!” the coherent soldier responded
heatedly, “She’s causing a catastrophe! I don’t know where she comes from, but
she’s sure powerful!”
“Uh-oh,” Eiko paled. She remembered Squall and Seifer
talking about a sorceress earlier, and the more she thought about it, the name
Ultemecia sounded real familiar. <Oh, no!> she thought, <not
only do we have Sephiroth, but now this sorceress, too!>
She stared in horror at the assembly in the room. It wasn’t
going to be easy, but they could defeat her, couldn’t they?
^_^_^_^
“Where’d she go!?” the girl asked heatedly to the ruins. And
ruins they were. Everything was destroyed, not one building left standing. The
culprit, however, was gone.
The few survivors gathered around the Regent, telling him
tales of the horrible debacle. Cid and Hilda observed the ruined district with
a pained expression written on their faces, upset to see their city so fallen.
Vivi stood next to Eiko, his terror-filled eyes darting around the catastrophe.
The two Turks observed the scenery with what seemed like sagacity, but a
worried expression could be detected behind Elena’s indifferent façade.
“Oh God,” she whispered, “What kind of person would have the
mind to do this?” She didn’t intend for anyone to hear the comment, but somehow
Eiko did.
“I dunno what kind of person Ultemecia is, but I hope Alex
calls before she attacks again.”
^_^_^_^
It was still. All was silent, and all was serene. Absolutely
nothing stirred. It was so quiet, in fact, that one would be able to hear a pin
drop… that is, until a shrill noise interrupted the calm.
The phone rang once… twice… three times. The fourth ring
came and then the answering machine message: “Yo, this is Alex. I’m either not
in or I don’t want to talk to you, so leave a message.”
The overly annoying beep sounded signifying the beginning of
the message being recorded. “
“
“PICK UP THE FUCKING PHONE!”
But there was no one there to answer the voice’s desperate
calls.
^_^_^_^
The first thing that registered in his mind when the light
subsided was the Balamb planes, the tall grass making a familiar rustling noise
in the waning darkness of dawn.
The second thing he noticed was Zell Dincht’s unconscious
form lying face-first in the grass. He hadn’t passed out on his first trip to
another dimension: everyone else had. The blonde had, however, been knocked out
cold by the trip returning to
The third thing Squall noticed was a chaotic madness that
seemed to be an aura around the Balamb area. The air was thick and seemed to
play tricks on the eye, causing even the well-trained SeeDs to jump at the
shadows. It cast about a slightly unnerving feeling that made one on the verge
of panic, almost, but not quite losing sanity. Zell was the first to voice his
opinion when he said ever so bluntly, “It’s creepy here.”
At first everything seemed to be lost in a silent vigil, the
only sound coming from the strong northern winds. Light slowly fell upon the
place, but barely helped to brighten the travelers’ moods. Daylight never
really reached Balamb. Instead the place was thrown into a false twilight,
color washed away by the never-ending gray dullness of the sky. It was not
raining at the moment, but judging by the fresh dew on the grass and the soaked
pavement of the road, fierce rain had fallen not too long ago.
A heavy mist obscured most of the view, and the
disconcerting cacophony of battle could be heard before being seen. The
unwelcoming noise gradually replaced the complacent silence.
Upon their arrival, the two SeeDs discovered that
For a moment Squall just stood there, not believing his
eyes, but after the initial shock wore off he began to take charge. “You
there!” he ordered, grabbing hold of an auburn-haired girl not much older than
him, “What’s your name?”
“Iraden Dehlvar, sir!” the young woman answered obediently.
She shifted her weight to lean tiredly on her lance, soiled with the fresh
blood of the remains of a behemoth scattered about the floor.
“Iraden,” Squall began hurriedly, “What the hell is going
on? Where’s Rinoa?”
The woman shook her head, “I don’t know!” she said above all
the noise, “It just seemed like a normal night and then out of nowhere all
these monsters started to attack.” She paused, gesticulating wildly at the
grisly scene behind her. “No one knows how they all got in here, or even how
that many monsters came in here UNNOTICED, but I guess there’s no time
to think about that now… and Sorceress Rinoa,” the girl continued, shaking her
head sadly, “I’ve no idea where she’s at.”
“Shit!” Squall cursed at the answer he didn’t want to hear.
“Yo Squall?” Zell began informatively, “Before I left to
find you, I was with Rinoa in the cafeteria.”
The auburn-haired SeeD, Iraden, frowned quizzically, “Maybe
you should check there?”
With a nod of his head the Commander was off to find the
sorceress, Zell following closely behind.
When they had disappeared down the hall the girl sighed,
enervated, and allowed a small smile to play across her face. “Welcome back,
Commander Leonhart.”
^_^_^_^
The swirling mass of crimson light slowly gathered into a
sphere, the deadly energy growing stronger. It hovered over her bare hand, and
yet did not burn or scar it. Intense heat emanated from the condensed energy,
but she felt no pain. She felt nothing. The only thing that existed was the
scarlet light. It was all that mattered; everything else blotted out into a
blurry nothing. And then the maelstrom, the inclement, angry chaos was set loose.
The intense Firaga spell crashed into another undulating
wave of monsters. But however powerful it was, it didn’t seem to even scratch
the surface of the problem. They still came, and in the middle of the madness
he was there. It was the face from the dream, she was sure of it. She could
hear him in her mind, laughing. He was there somewhere, a twisted mind amidst
the rancor of warped monsters.
It made her paranoid, and soon she found herself searching
the heterogeneous mixture of man and monster for the one face that plagued her
nightmares. He was the cause of this apocalypse, she was sure of it. He stood
out in her mind so clearly; her unfortunate enhanced magic ability allowing her
unwillingly to witness the horrible atrocities he had committed in the past.
She looked for the white lab coat that graced her nightmares so frequently now.
She searched for the greasy, black hair and the large glasses. She knew him
more than she wanted to, and now she wanted to meet him face to face, if only
to put a stop to this madness.
And sure enough, her search did not prove futile, for she
found him. He was just as hideous as she had remembered from the dreams,
possibly even more so. And she gasped, gaping at the man she had learned to
abhor so much within the last few days.
He turned to stare back at her, mocking her with a
complacent smile. “Well, well, well,” he laughed acerbically, “Why aren’t you
that sorceress…? Hmm… let me see. What was her name? Oh, yes. You’re Rinoa,
right?”
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” the sorceress asked evenly, the
words soaked with antipathy.
“That’s quite a simple question to answer,” the man said
matter-of-factly, “I am merely trying to prevent you and your companions from
quelling my son’s destiny to become one with the planet.”
The words shouldn’t have made sense to Rinoa, but somehow
they did. Somewhere deep in the back of her subconscious mind the meaning was
clear. It was her uncanny powers as a sorceress that made this possible.
“You’re going to destroy the planet?” Rinoa asked in disbelief,
not understanding why anyone would want to destroy so much life.
“Oh, no,” he replied amusedly, “I’m not going to destroy one
planet. I’m going to destroy SEVERAL planets.”
Rinoa stared at the man in shock, completely appalled by his
machiavellian nature. Just as she was about to query him further, a familiar
SeeD clad in black had spotted her.
“Rinoa!” Squall called to her in an apprehensive voice.
“Squall?” she asked hopefully, scanning the crowd for the
one who had spoken.
The man in the lab coat turned his head to glare at the
SeeD. “Why isn’t it Squall Leonhart, leader of
Squall was puzzled and suspicious as to how the mysterious
man knew his name, and furthermore, how he knew about his little adventure.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to contemplate the matter for much longer.
Zell ran up next to Squall. He recognized the man
immediately. “Yo, Squall! That’s Professor Hojo!”
Squall’s eyes went wide. THIS was professor Hojo?
Somehow he expected the man behind the madness to look less frail. He began to
muse about how ironic it was. Here was this scrawny little scientist… and he
was on the verge of destroying several worlds. <Maybe it’s because the
man thinks too much… thinking is dangerous.>
“You’re the man who sent Alex the device, aren’t you?”
Squall spoke.
Hojo didn’t respond, he merely laughed.
“Hey, uh, I got a question,” Zell spoke up nervously from
behind Squall, “Out of all the people in that other dimension, why did you give
the thing to Alex?”
“Hmmm,” the man pondered, “that’s a good question… a good
question, indeed. You see, boy, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about
Alex.” He paused, a glint of insane glee shining in his eyes. “In fact, there
are a lot of things Alex doesn’t know about Alex!” He burst out into
uncontrolled maniacal laughter.
None of the SeeDs were thrilled by the scientist’s cryptic
answer.
“Listen, asshole!” Zell reprimanded acerbically, “You better
come clean with the answers! You’re outnumbered three to one! Now tell me one
more time: Why Alex?”
“Why Alex?” the professor queried back, “Because he’s part
of the game, just like you and Squall. Just like the Turks and the former
president of ShinRa. Just like the White Mage from Lindblum.” He paused to make
sure all three spectators were listening attentively. When he was satisfied
with the amount of attention he was getting, he continued. “Just like
The man’s second answer was just as cryptic as the first,
possibly even more so. But this time Zell, nor any other SeeDs, said anything
about it. Instead, their minds focused on the last name mentioned:
“What the hell did you DO to him?!” Zell angrily
demanded. The other two, even Rinoa, looked equally aggressive at the mention
of
The man simply shrugged, as if the answer should have been
obvious. “Sephiroth is back. And the only way for him to have the power to
become one with the planet is for Jenova to be alive. Jenova has been revived,
therefore the Project must continue.” He laughed at the disturbed look that was
growing on each of their faces. “Don’t you think it’s amazing how you can
recreate an entire being with only a few miniscule cells?”
“Why are you bringing us into this?” Squall asked in between
clenched teeth, “It’s not our fight.”
“Oh, but it is your fight,” he announced, suddenly
dead serious, “And I’ll tell you why: Jenova IS Ultemecia.”
Rinoa gasped. Ultemecia couldn’t be back, could she? They
had killed her several months ago. She had watched her die. <The
sorceress from the future…> Rinoa thought, <or is she? What if she
is from another dimension instead?>
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Hojo said, “I have an experiment
to finish.” The professor smiled heinously at the hapless SeeDs before a
blinding flash of white light enveloped him.
He was gone in another dimension, busying himself with the
Jenova Project… and
“Oh, Hyne,” Rinoa whispered, “This can’t be happening.”
End Ch. 8 at 05.17.01.
There’s
the chapter for you! Anywho, speaking of Ultemecia, what do you think of her
and Jenova being the same person? Freakish, ain’t it? So what kind of secret is
Hojo hiding about Alex? What’s up with