Crossed Fates
Chapter six: Becoming Kindred.
"Squall is gone." Zell whispered. He stared down into the bubbling green sea of mako. "He hasn't resurfaced."
"Don't worry."
"What do you mean don't worry? He's dead!"
"The mako doesn't destroy that easily. It wears you down and makes you give up the fight."
"Who the @&/* are you?" Zell asked.
"I was just gonna ask you the same question!" Cid exclaimed.
Cloud elbowed him in the ribs. "My name is Cloud Strife. This is Cid Highwind. I know you're not from around here."
"That's an understatement!"
"Look you don't know much about this world, we do so you have to trust us. He'll be back, I know it."
"No... How can he?" Zell's mind was a jumble. He'd just been dropped in a world he knew nothing of. The man standing before him carried a sword the was longer than his own body, the likes of which he'd never seen before. "If I carry on like this I'm gonna collapse! I'm not used to hopping through different realities."
"What the @*&% is going on?!!"
"Cid, I'll explain when I know myself. Can you take us over to Mideel?"
"As long as I can get back and get some sleep as soon as you're there."
"Yeah, whatever."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Zell queried.
"If you don't trust us you'll never find Squall."
"I still wanna know what the hell is going on!"
"CID!" Cloud snapped. "I'LL TELL YOU SOME OTHER TIME!"
"Sheesh! What happened to you? Suddenly grow a pair?"
"Look Cid, the guy who just fell into the mako is this guy's mate. They've been put into this world for the time being because of some reason, I have no idea why. There's a big thing going on and a lot of people are in danger. Squall and.., Zell, was it? Squall and Zell have been put here until the danger passes."
"The danger." Zell half-laughed. "The danger is yet another madman trying to destroy everything. Only whoever it is, they're more powerful and dangerous than any sorceress who ever lived. Nothing new. Just another way for a bunch of idiots to risk their lives and then get praised by people for doing little more than their jobs."
"Come on, you can tell us more on the way."
In the Highwind that had been restored to it's former glory, Zell was telling them what the SeeD had gone through.
"We all went to a sort of school for the sole purpose of being trained as warriors. We became SeeDs, the best of fighters. SeeD's reason for existing is to defeat evil sorceresses if they should turn up. The woman Edea, our matron, who raised us, me, Squall and the others, was a sorceress. She was possessed by a bitch from the future, Ultimecia, who was a sorceress too. She wanted to destroy everything so she'd be the only living thing left. Squall led us into her castle and we defeated her. I thought everything would be okay, that all evil was gone. But it's not is it?"
"Come on. You shouldn't be thinking like that."
"It's true though isn't it? Evil doesn't end, it's always there. If it wasn't, Rinoa wouldn't have died. We wouldn't be here together. Squall wouldn't have been scarred by Seifer and he wouldn't have tried to kill himself."
"We're here. Mideel." No sooner had Cid spoken than a shower of mako energy exploded from the sea below them engulfing the Highwind. Cloud could hear the planet call out to him. It too sensed the impending doom foretold by the red haired woman who had sent Zell to their planet along with Squall.
"I have to go." He called to Cid and Zell over the roar of the mako.
"Go where?"
"Down there."
"WHAT????"
"I'm going to find Squall."
"It should be me, I'm his friend."
"You've never been in the mako, I have and I know what to expect. It'll be safer if I go."
He opened the door. He was about to jump out when Cid shouted, "hey you spiky headed sonnuva..."
"What is it Cid?"
"Look after yourself man."
"I will." He jumped.
Within the mako, Squall's mind defences were slowly being breached. He could hear Cloud's voice calling out to him but he thought it was only another fake designed to wear him down. Then coming out of the darkness, he saw Cloud. He was dressed in what seemed to be a uniform, purple trousers and jumper. His Ultima sword was gone and on his back was a familiar sight to Squall, a buster sword.
"Hey. You okay?"
Squall looked down at his hands. In his right hand was his gunblade, his original gunblade the revolver, held to his left wrist. With all his might he flung the weapon away from himself. "What is it making me do?"
That line was so familiar to Cloud. He'd asked it so many times when Sephiroth had been alive.
"How do we get out of here?"
"I'm wondering that myself Squall. You're not from this world so I'm guessing this is gonna be a little different. When I went through it I regained all my memories that I had surpressed."
"So I might have to find all the memories I've lost?"
"I guess so. Let's give it a try." Around them appeared various places from Squall's home world. The Orphanage, Balamb Garden, Winhill village, the D-district prison and what looked like fields outside Balamb town. "Which of these places should we visit first?"
"Winhill, I can't think what it could be.
"Oi Zell! There's a red lever next to your chair."
"Yeah, got it."
"Push it down." When he had, the jet engines emerged from the back of the Highwind. The extra horsepower gave the Highwind the momentum it needed to get out of the mako stream.
"Shit!" Zell exclaimed. This old bucket's nearly as fast as the Ragnarok.
Cid's first thought was, 'one of Cloud's swords?' and his second soon became apparent. "What did you just say you lousy piece of @œ_&+%$" his words became one long cry of anger.
"Look you haven't seen it man. It has to be the most beautiful piece of machinery ever made."
"I bet."
"Look, I've got a picture of it here." He pulled it from his wallet.
"How big is this thing?"
"You see the things at the bottom of the picture? There's one in black, one yellow and a sort of tan coloured one. That's Squall, Selphie and Irvine."
"Oh my God it's bigger than the Highwind!"
"If you're ever in my world you can take it for a spin sometime."
Authors notes.
I decided that Squall's baby blues deserved to glow with mako 'cuz he's gorgeous. So sue me (Please don't, I'd have to sell my car!)
I'm gonna keep on working, through the night. Tara
Booyakasha