Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Resurrection - Rebirth of a Foe ❯ A New Day Has Dawned ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

MS FF8 version parts 1-4




RESURRECTION - Rebirth of a Foe
By: Moomba
Carbuncle25@hotmail.com
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Chapter One - A New Day Has Dawned
After tossing and turning many times in his sleep, Squall Leonhart finally woke up to the chirping of birds from the near by Balamb forest and a gentle breeze floating into his room. He stared for a brief moment at his bedroom ceiling, allowing what thoughts he willed to come into his mind. So much had happened in his life, so many new experiences - he was still a teenager for goodness sake! The memory of Ultimecia's plot and her fate for mankind were still firmly etched into his mind. And the great irony of it all: he wore the greatest conflict on his face. One that couldn't possibly be erased, and one that could ever be forgotten. Scarred for life was what it was, and Squall had Seifer to thank for.
The so-called 'training session' that he and Seifer had had that day was the turning point of his life. Whenever Squall would look into a mirror, it wasn't his face he saw - it was Seifer's. He had been taunting Squall as usual - and the big question Squall wanted to know from himself was why didn't he walk away? What did he want to prove? Why did he have to rise to the challenge? But that was just it - there was no need to rise to the challenge. He didn't have to fight at all.
Dr. Kadowaki: "That Seifer…. Won't listen to anyone. Why don't you ignore him?"
Squall: "I can't just run away."
Dr. Kadowaki: "You wanna be cool, huh? Well don't get hurt in the process."
Maybe his life was controlled by destiny, after the many times he had convinced his mind that he had control of his own life.
The knock on the door startled Squall and jolted him back to reality. The voice from the other side was faint but then called out to him louder when he did not respond.
"Yoo-hoo! Squall? Are you up? Squall? Hey, are you OK in there?"
"Fine Selphie," Squall reluctantly answered, opening the door to his room.
"Have you been thinking again?" the spunky young girl demanded from him wagging an accusing finger. "Y'know it's no good to be thinking all the time. C'mon, I've heard that there's a long queue for the hotdogs!" she said, pulling him by the hand along the corridor and out of the dormitories.
"S'up Squall!" Zell's loud voice called out to him. Instructor Quistis Trepe followed behind the martial arts expert and shook her head with a small smile. She and Zell had been up early for a short training session and had just left the training arena. Zell ran up to the other Balamb Garden SeeDs - both of whom were very close friends of his, whilst Quistis took her time and walked.
"Where've you been?" Selphie asked when Zell caught up with them.
"In the training arena with Instructor Trepe," Zell replied. "Where are you two heading off to?"
"Me and Squall are going to the cafeteria for breakfast. Hotdogs are back on the menu," Selphie replied.
"What?! Man, nobody told me about that. Hey, you did that on purpose. You deliberately didn't tell me so that you would get them all for yourself!" Zell said, stamping his foot childishly. "I'll beat you to the line! Haha! Last one there is a sorry Chocobo!" Speeding in the direction of the cafeteria, Zell left Squall standing next to a flustered Selphie.
"Zell, you come back here, now! That is not fair!" Selphie shouted, running after him. "I'll save you one Squall..." her voice dying away as she rounded the corner.
"Aren't you going to run after them?" Quistis' voice said Squall when finally caught up with him at the entrance of the dormitories.
"No," was Squall's short reply.
"Squall, have you something on your mind?" Quistis asked as the two of them walked together at a slower pace to the cafeteria, passing other Balamb Garden students as they went.
Yeah, I have loads of things in my mind. So much, I don't know where to start or how to sort them out. I think about Seifer all the time. That grin of his and the brash and egotistical manner he'd carry wherever he went. Then I think about Rinoa. How she brought a new meaning to the word 'life' and how, from the moment we first met at the graduation ball here at Balamb, she turned my world full of discipline and rules upside down. Her carefree spirit, her voice calling my name...
"Squall?" Quistis' voice broke into his thoughts.
"What?" he said, bringing a hand to his forehead. Selphie was right: too much thinking was no good for him. But what else can I do? How can I stop these thoughts from interfering with my mind? Seifer and Rinoa, their faces. It's driving me insane!!
"I take it you want to be alone right now, Squall," Quistis said quietly. "Remember, we're all here for you. If you have something on your mind, tell us, OK?"
This is stupid, Squall thought watching his instructor go. I'm reminiscing about the past, and at the same time driving away my closest friends in the present. I'm just so totally messed up. Sitting on one of the benches inside the Garden, Squall sat in his brooding position - the only way he ever sat: his head bent low and his arms resting on his legs.
The familiar chimes of the Garden's intercom filled the entire place. SeeDs and Balamb students alike stood still to hear the announcement. Standing again, Squall listened attentively and recognised the familiar voice of Xu speaking:
"Will the following SeeDs make their way to Headmaster Cid's office immediately: Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Quistis Trepe and Selphie Tilmitt. I repeat, will those students please make their way to the Headmaster's office immediately."
"Sounds urgent," Squall muttered, making his way to the school's Directory and up the flight of stairs that led to the lift. He met Quistis there and saw her raise a questioning eyebrow to which he gave a shrug and stepped into the lift.
Zell and Selphie arrived a few minutes later in the middle of a heated argument. The headmaster ushered them in line with the others and waved away their apologies, catching parts of their quarrelling. A dispute about hotdogs?? They saluted to the founder of their Garden: Cid Kramer and stood to attention.
"I'm afraid Xu has delivered the message to you my SeeDs in a rather urgent tone. I think I must have got over a little excited when I received the message from an employer who wanted to hire you. It's just that you've had so very little action since, er, the previous occasion that I began to wonder. Anyhow, I was quite surprised this morning when I was greeted with an Esthar official. Apparently the President wishes you to participate in an upcoming parade that is being held in Esthar. He wants you to keep the peace throughout event, and make sure no uncalled for outbreaks occur." Headmaster Cid said briefing them on their mission.
"I'm sorry, Sir. But I would have thought Esthar guards would handle a situation such as this." Squall spoke, not fully understanding what was being asked of them in this mission. In the missions he had been in, his role as a SeeD involved liberating of towns or cities, hijacking train carriages along with resistance groups and leading the fight against sorceresses. Now they were being hired to make sure no fighting broke out during the parade at Esthar? Squall had a feeling that there was more than what the Esthar official had told the headmaster.
"Well, the President's official did mention something about looking forward to seeing you SeeDs in particular, again. I believe you know him? Esthar's President after the Sorceress Adel? President Laguna Loire?"
"Oh, Laguna!" they all said in unison. The eventful ordeal with Ultimecia had been so long ago, how could they forget Laguna? the mysterious figure whom they had been in the 'dream world'. Ellone had that unique power to transcend space and time. A power that Ultimecia wanted to harness in order to live in the present in a time compressed state. It was Ellone who reached out to Squall to ask for his help. And Squall had been waiting so long for his beloved Sis to come back...
"It's those friggin' GF's fault!" Zell stormed in his usual way. "The more we use them, the more we forget about those memories that meant so much to us!"
"Zell, calm down," Squall instructed. Maybe it was the GF's fault. They were after all apart of them. They occupied spaces in their memories... Taking over the ones that were deeply treasured. It was the reason why all four of them were only able to remember snippets of their childhood. Why they weren't able to remember the memories spent as kids in the Orphanage where they all grew up together, and the one who had taken care of them all, Matron... Of course there was one person who remembered those childhood memories all too well.
"RAGE!" the shrill shriek of Fujin's voice rang into their ears, as Irvine stumbled into the office with a sheepish smile and with his shotgun in his hand. Squall thought he saw faint signs of smoke snaking out of the barrel, and shook his head. What had he done now?
"PAY BACK!" Fujin demanded, holding up her weapon up: a large suriken, for all to see and to see the damage Irvine had inflicted upon it.
"Sorry Fujin, Raijin said I could use it for target practice." Irvine said with a sly smile.
"WHAT?!" Fujin thundered, whipping round to confront her comrade who stood behind her.
"H-He's lying Fujin, ya know! I swear, I never-" Raijin stammered, scared to confront her ugly side once more.
"STUPID!" she said kicking him behind the legs. With what looked liked an apologetic gesture towards the headmaster; Fujin kicked Raijin once more before running back to the lift. Hastily Irvine closed the door to the office, muttered an apology and saluted.
"If you want targets for target practising, Irvine, I suggest you use the flying monsters in the training area, and not flying surikens, hmm?" Headmaster Cid suggested.
"Uh, yes Sir," Irvine said, tilting his hat with a hand.
"Good. Squall, you're leading this mission. Carry out the President's orders accordingly. Have fun at the parade, and take care of each other. You may be dismissed." Cid concluded, returning behind his desk.
With the consent from the people at Lunar Gate and Headmaster Cid, the five SeeDs were able to keep the long lost airship: the Ragnorak - having been rediscovered by Squall and Rinoa whilst floating aimlessly in space. The fine beast provided the best form of transportation there was to offer capable of moving at a good speed and allowing them access to anywhere in the world.
"Right! Esthar it is!" Selphie exclaimed, jumping into the pilot's seat. "Where will our point of landing be, Squall?"
"Make it the Airstation. The Presidential Palace is not too far from there. The Airlifts take only three passengers at a time, so we'll have to take it turns. Zell and Quistis you come with me. Selphie, Irvine you follow short. Everybody agreed?"
"Yes!"
"Make sure to junction your GF's before we land. Is anyone in need of remodelling his or her weapon? We can make a detour at the junkstore in the mall." Squall asked his group.
"I could have my weapon remodelled to the Exeter, if someone would give me two screws!" Irvine said pointedly targeting his words at Zell, who grinned back at him.
"Hey, I told you: gimme hundred gil for each of them, and they're yours. Otherwise these screws stay with me."
"Zell, you-" Irvine began, readying his shotgun.
"Irvine, stop!" Quistis ordered, pointing the gun away from Zell. "Put the gun away and cool it!"
"I'll get those screws off you," Irvine vowed, tilting his cowboy hat up.
"Yeah? Just try and get past these fists o' mine," Zell said holding up his glove-clad hands. "Y'know, that Combat King you gave me the other day, proved to very handy. Wanna be a volunteer so I can try out a new move?"
"Move you're hands any higher and they'll be perfect shooting targets!" Irvine snapped, reaching out for his gun once again.
Restraining Irvine and giving him a good talking to, Quistis then took Squall to one side and asked him about their weapons being upgraded.
"Squall? Is it really necessary to upgrade our weapons any further? Surely we're not to expect an attack in the city after all that had happened?" she said to him.
I dunno. It was just a suggestion. Look what happened when we helped an innocent resistance group. We ended up fighting a sorceress from the future! "We should be ready for anything. A year may have past since we encountered Ultimecia, but we can't make any guarantees that a repetition similar to that will happen again." Squall said firmly.
"In which case, those of us who are able to remodel can go to the junkstore, later perhaps." Quistis said, and then reached out to steady herself when the Ragnorak suddenly dropped in altitude.
Everybody's attention was directed to where Selphie sat. "Sor-ry!" she sang out getting the Ragnorak back into her control. "I pulled down on the throttle to fast. I told the person at the receiving end that we're landing, so hold on!"
Disembarking the Ragnorak, Squall and his party were welcomed into Esthar by a familiar looking face dressed in Presidential Official's clothing and half a dozen Estharian soldiers.
"We are the SeeDs that President Laguna requested our services for," Squall announced, to the official who seemed to be studying them all intently.
"Isn't that...?" Quistis whispered to Squall.
"Kiros!" Zell burst out and shook the official's hand over-enthusiastically. "Remember us? I was you in the 'dream world' remember? Or was it Ward? Anyway that doesn't matter! Good to see ya again!"
"Step away from the Presidential Official," the captain of the guards commanded, at the outburst greeting Zell had given - his weapon at the ready.
"It's OK," Kiros reassured. "These SeeDs are very good friends with the President."
"Yeah, chill out man, no need to get touchy," Zell said patting the captain in the back and sauntering after the others into a Presidential car. "We know the President, ya know, uh I mean: you know!"

Laguna Loire, had once been a Galbadian soldier along with his comrades: Kiros Seagul and Ward Zaback, as well as an actor and a writer. His great ambition in life was really to become a journalist. And if he wanted to be honest to himself, Laguna preferred his pen to his machine gun any day. His pen was indeed mightier than his sword, or so the saying went. Laguna welcomed his guests openly with the usual open and colloquial language he had always used. His face had begun to show signs of age. His long hair tied back and his distinct earring. But that didn't matter. Deep down inside, he was still the same good ol' Laguna. However, all but Squall greeted him in a less friendly manner. Instead he remained subdued, and waited until all hi's and hello's were over with.
"Squall," Laguna said, saluting. "Great to see you again,"
"President," Squall replied, ever the one to do things by the book.
"Hey, there's no need for that! C'mon, call me Laguna!" the president of Esthar said. "Geez, you make me sound so old."
"You are getting on a bit, though aren't you," Zell commented with a grin.
"Now none of that," Laguna said, laughing. "I'm not that old,"
"So, President," Squall began.
"Laguna," he corrected.
"... Whatever... You're task for us. Am I to understand that our instructions are to prevent any outbreaks occurring during the course of the parade festivities?"
"Yeah. Didn't Cid brief you about the mission before you came?" Laguna asked slightly bemused.
A simple mission. Why do I still have this feeling that there's more to it than any of us really know? Squall wondered to himself.
"Preparations are still being made for the parade," Laguna said, strolling over to a large window that over-looked the entire city. "Decided that a parade would help lift the mood. After all, it's been what, almost a year now? I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the events that occurred. How they affected our lives and the rest of the world."
How could any of us forget? Squall thought looking away. He had to stop feeling sorry for himself before he totally lost it and went completely insane. Yeah, remember you've still got a job to do. So-called 'fearless leader'. Right…
"Why don't you go down to the city and look around for a while?" Laguna suggested to them. "Me, Kiros and Ward will come out and find you guys later."
"Good idea, man," Zell agreed heading for the exit.
"Not so fast kung-fu boy, you've got something to give me." Irvine said following closely.
"Squall, y'gonna come with us? We're gonna go down to the mall and check things out." Selphie said, ready to leave with Quistis.
"You and Instructor Trepe go ahead. I'm gonna go speak with the President." Squall said, noting the look of worry Quistis had in her eyes. I'm here in the palace. Squall thought to himself. What could go wrong?
"You want to speak to me, Squall?" Laguna asked when he noticed it was only he that remained behind.
"Yes. I wanted to ask a few questions," Squall replied.
"Go ahead, shoot," said Laguna flopping down onto his seat behind the desk. Kiros and Ward had exited, realising that Squall wanted a one-on-one talk, minus third-wheel parties.
"Ellone," Squall began. "Is she-"
"She's fine," Laguna interrupted. "You can go and see her if you want. She's helping out in the parade. I hear you and her were close." he commented.
Were once close, Squall muttered to himself. "Yeah..." he replied a distant look in his eyes. A year hadn't changed him. He was still Squall - the lone wolf. The one who kept himself to himself unless there was something that interested him. But he had changed - even if it was for a brief while in his teenage life. Those that were close to him saw a new side to Squall Leonhart. A new Squall that had blindly left the safe confines of the getaway pod from the Lunar Gate space station, to save the one person he could honestly say he cared for. A new Squall that had rescued Rinoa from the Sorceresses Memorial, and a new Squall that had fought for love, courage and friendship.
"Hey Squall, what about that girl. What's her name? Er... Rin- Rin something," Laguna asked, racking his brains for the name.
"Rinoa," Squall supplied for him, wincing as he said the name of the person that caused the most pain to him, more than any sword wound could.
"Yeah, that's it. What happened to her?"
"She, she went away for while," Squall said and swallowed hard. "Said she had to sort herself out. The ordeal with Ultimecia - it kinda affected her."
"Mmm," Laguna said nodding. "And has she..."
"No not yet," Squall said his voice barely audible.
"Oh..." Laguna said, his voice falling flat but then brightened again. "Buck up! I had the same problem as you. Back when I was a Galbadia soldier, I fancied this person. I used to always drag Kiros and Ward with me to watch her perform at the Deling hotel in Galbadia. Then, when I finally had my chance, I blew everything."
Major bummer, Squall thought.
"Her name was Julia y'know," Laguna went on. "She was a great pianist and everything,"
Is she dead or something? Squall wondered. "What happened afterwards?"
"I went to war," Laguna said simply. "She said she would wait 'till I returned. I had a major crush on her. Didn't know she felt the same way."
Let me guess, you never returned. Right?
"I never returned," Laguna said, answering his thoughts. "I let her slip away..."
"Do you know where she is now?"
Laguna shrugged. "No idea. Last I heard, she got married to a general and had a daughter." he said.
"So, what about the other woman? Raine?" Squall asked.
"Don't be thinking that I didn't love her!" Laguna started as though Squall had implied so. "Understand that I loved both of them. Julia was probably my first... and last. But Raine, yeah I cared for her too. I stumbled into Winhill during my time as a soldier. I was wounded, and Raine took care of me. To show her my thanks, I patrolled the town every day. Killing monsters - protecting the people. It was the least I could do. Raine had a niece. A cute kid she was. All three of us were like a family, living in Winhill. Then we got married, but shortly after I left the town, Raine passed away..." Laguna's voice trailed away, and Squall shut his eyes tight. To lose a person like that...
Before Squall could finish his thought, the alarm signal began blaring and the light at the back of the room flashed red. Whipping round, Squall ran to the window and saw panic in the city. Soon, Kiros and Ward burst into the room. Gone were their officials clothing, and the more familiar clothes that Squall had seen them wear in the dream world. Both had their weapons with them and grim expressions on their faces.
"Laguna we have a problem," Kiros informed.
"You don't say!" Laguna replied. "What the hell's goin' on?!"
"Monsters," Kiros reported. "Somehow they broke into the city. Word is they came through the internal system - the car rental."
"How many out there?"
"Hard to say, man. But it looks like they're all headed for the mall," Kiros replied.
"This is bad," Laguna muttered, yanking one of the drawers on his desk and taking out his machine gun. "This is very, very bad. This is great y'know. There's peace for a year in the city, and then monsters come trampling along, wrecking the place. It's déjà vu all over again - resurrection of the Lunar Cry. C'mon, we've gotta get down there and sort the problem out!" Seconding that, Squall took out his gunblade - upgraded to Lion Heart and ran with the other's out into the city and in the direction of the city's mall.