Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Resurrection - Rebirth of a Foe ❯ Hide and Go Seek ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter Five - Hide and Go Seek
Having left Selphie and the rest of the second group at the Orphanage, Squall returned back to the Ragnorak and instructed Zell to set a course for the Lunar Gate. Odine no longer held his place and laboratory in Esthar city. A year after Ultimecia's defeat, the eccentric doctor claimed an early retirement and was never seen again. Some said that he was living happily deep underground, preparing for what was to come. What it was exactly, nobody knew. Last anyone heard, Odine was 'conducting research', and for preparing. Nobody understood what this meant, but then most of the things he said were dismissed by people as being too odd.
Watching the clouds whirr by, Squall slipped into his own world and let his mind wander. He began to think about his position as field leader and commander. One thing was sure; it gave a heck of a lot of stress! Perhaps he would approach Instructor Trepe one time. She was better at handling tough situations - but then again Quistis was known to have difficulty coping with frustration, making her depressed over trivial matters - despite her cool exterior. So far, Seifer had done nothing to irritate Squall yet. In fact he was behaving quite well for a person who had an inability to take orders and control his temper - now that was unusual. Before Squall had a chance to let his mind wander any further, Zell's loud voice broke into his thoughts, forcing him back into his role as 'leader'.
"Yo, Squall. We're here," Zell said, landing the Ragnorak on the plains that surrounded the Lunar Gate.
Nodding, Squall led the way to the entrance, stopping to speak to an assistant in a white lab coat. "Excuse me, where can we find Doctor Odine?" he asked.
The young assistant stared at Squall with an expression hard to read. He frowned, shifted his gaze and then frowned again. The mention of Doctor Odine obviously discomforted him, after all it had been a while since he last heard the name. "Umm. . . Doctor Odine. . .?" the male assistant said, trying to procrastinate but failing miserably.
It's not exactly a trick question! Squall thought. "Yes, Doctor Odine," Squall repeated.
"Umm. . . I dunno where Doctor Odine is. . ."
"Listen, worm. Tell us where Odine unless you wanna be eating this!" Seifer said, coming forward to take the petrified assistant by the lapels of his lab coat and thrusting his gun-blade in front of him.
"Seifer!" Quistis sharply chided.
Pushing him back, Seifer released his hold of the young assistant and stepped back - arms crossed over his chest in a brooding manner. Trying again, Squall turned to the assistant who was still recovering from Seifer's sudden attack. "Please, we need to see Doctor Odine. It's a matter of urgency,"
"Yeah, my mother's gonna die if we don't find him, and quick. And you're gonna die if you don't tell us." Seifer growled, becoming impatient by the minute.
"Shut-up man, you've gone and scared the guy shitless!" Zell said, pushing Seifer on the shoulder. He was eagerly waiting for the chance to have a go at Seifer since he reappeared on the scene.
"Watch what you say Dincht, you might have to take thet back," Seifer said, his hand inching nearer to where he had his gun-blade.
"Who's gonna make me take them back? You?" Zell taunted, clenching his fists for a fight.
"Guys," Quistis warned. "You start a fight, and you'll have me to answer to."
Scowling, Seifer returned to crossing his arms across his chest. He wanted to find Ultimecia now, and exact his revenge on her. Nobody, except for Rinoa, knew what it was like to be controlled. Nobody understood what he had to go through. It was because of Ultimecia that everyone favoured him with hate and disgust - even though not many favoured him to begin with. Even Raijin and Fujin finally left. He remembered what Raijin had said to him, after the fight with Squall and the others in the Lunatic Pandora. 'Don't know what's right any more, ya know!' It was true; all his actions had become totally irrational that it pushed away the two people Seifer could honestly call 'friends'. What would it be like to see Raijin and Fujin again? To get up to their usual pranks and taunting Squall? Seifer did not have time to ponder upon the past, as he saw the young assistant leaving with a fearful glance in his direction.
"Where's he going?" he demanded, facing Squall.
"C'mon," Squall said, signalling for Zell and Quistis to follow.
"Where's he going?" Seifer repeated. "Did he tell you where to find Odine?"
"He doesn't know," Squall said, boarding the Ragnorak once again and seating himself on one of the chairs on the bridge.
"Whadya mean he doesn't know?! Like hell he doesn't!" Seifer snapped his temper over taking him.
"He said nobody knew where Odine had disappeared to. But he mentioned about articles," Squall said.
"Articles?" Quistis repeated.
Squall nodded. "Something about writing in articles when he retired. Said something about conducting research on time and compression."
"Did he mention where? In newspapers, what?" Quistis asked.
"That's all he would say," Squall concluded.
"Great, another wuss to join to the club of master chicken-wuss over here," Seifer said, jerking his head in Zell's direction.
". . .The hell did you say?! Say it to my face!" Zell stormed, lunging for him with his fists ready to do their worst.
"Leave it Zell," Quistis said, restraining the martial arts expert.
"We're going back to Balamb," Squall suddenly announced.
"What are we gonna do there?" Zell said, eyeing Seifer carefully who just smirked back in return.
"The library. I'm sure they have a collection of newspapers, magazines, whatever articles. Odine's bound to appear in one of them." Squall said.
"And what, we're meant to look through all of them?" Seifer said with disapproval in his voice.
All Squall could do was shrug, "Got any better ideas?"
As it turned out, Seifer did not help out by looking through the articles with them, and instead went off inside Balamb Garden in search for his comrades. It was true, whispers floated in between students and SeeDs alike, even Xu and Nida were surprised to see Seifer wandering around the Garden freely, that they questioned a busy Squall in the library. Promising to explain once they were done with their task, Nida and Xu left Squall, Zell and Quistis to their business. They had been searching through dozens of articles from newspapers, magazines and anything else the library had to offer, but to no avail. Fifteen minutes into their search, Zell complained about food and disappeared to the cafeteria - to buy more hotdogs no doubt - leaving Squall and Quistis to the empty study area at the back of the library. Silently they worked, checking page after page for even a mention of Doctor Odine or the 'research' he was conducting. Still there was nothing.
Sighing, Quistis tucked the parts of her blond hair behind her ears and glanced up at Squall with her tired blue eyes. All this effort seemed pointless when it seemed they were not going to get any answers just by flicking through sheaves of paper. Willing herself not to give in, Instructor Trepe took a thin journal-type booklet and looked with interest at the cover: a setting sunset with the title 'horizons' written in white across the cover. She read the caption below: expanding the possibilities of science and technology. Like the other magazines and newspapers she had searched, Quistis flicked through this particular booklet, only stopping to glance at the pictures on the various pages. That was when she saw it. At first she dismissed the thought that she had seen his picture, but then how many people dressed as oddly as Doctor Odine did. Yes! She was right! He had written a whole column, and there was his picture at the bottom. He was wearing the ridiculously over-large, orange blue, and white ruff around his neck, the very same one that Quistis always remembered him by. Excitedly she tore out the page containing the article and his picture. She was ready to reveal her findings to Squall when the intercom and the voice of Xu filled the entire Garden:
"This is a message for Squall and his group. You have instructions from the President of Esthar to return to the city immediately. I repeat, Squall and his group are to return to Esthar City on the order of the President."
Standing up, Squall ran out of the library - the newspapers lay forgotten. Could it be that they had received news about Ellone? Had she been found, dead or alive? Banishing the possibility of Ellone dead, Squall hurried into the cafeteria and called out to Zell who was busily wolfing down a hotdog, whilst holding another one in his hand.
"Zell, c'mon. We're going," Squall said.
"Wait a sec, let me-"
"Now," Squall ordered running back out again.
Thankfully he didn't need to search for Seifer as he was found bantering with Raijin and Fujin in front of the Directory. Signalling for him to follow, Seifer departed from his comrades, a joke about Zell escaping his lips which brought gales of laughter from them and followed Squall out of Balamb Garden. Quistis brought the rear - the article she had found on Odine forgotten, for now.
They reached Esthar City soon enough, all of them eagerly anticipated what Laguna had to say about Ellone. The other group with Selphie, Irvine and Rinoa were still with Matron at the Orphanage, but they could be informed of the events that had happened, later on. The first thing that they all noticed when they entered Laguna's room, was that there were four people instead of the usual three that consisted of Laguna, Kiros and Ward. Squall blinked hard and dared not believe his eyes. Standing next to Laguna was a young girl, a year older than he was, dressed in a blue sleeve-less white collared top, long white skirt and her trademark green shawl. . . Ellone. Yes, it was definitely Ellone, with her open face framed with brown chin-length hair, her gentle smile and her deep caring eyes. There was no mistaking Squall's beloved Sis.
So what did this all mean? Squall did not understand. Here was Ellone standing before him now, showing no signs of pain, in fact she almost looked calm and serene. It just didn't make sense to him. So Seifer was wrong. It was just a false alarm. A year after Ultimecia's defeat, and Ellone going missing - I can see why there was so much worry. Squall thought to himself. He saw the displeased look on Seifer's face, and the relief on Zell and Quistis'. Now that Ellone had returned, the others at the Orphanage could leave. Squall was genuinely pleased that Sis had come back. But where had Ellone disappeared to?
"Ellone. . ." Squall said with a faint smile.
"We found her wandering outside the city," Laguna's voice told them. "Said something about wanting to see the sun setting on the horizon."
Squall's smile froze on his face and he frowned. It was only a few hours after midday; it wasn't even dusk yet so how could Ellone possibly see the sun setting over the horizon? Laguna obviously failed to recognise the fault in her words because he had a happy smile plastered on his face, all he wanted was for Ellone to be safe and not be in the clutches of a Sorceress. As long as she was safe, then all was well.
So that's it? Squall wondered. Sis - Ellone wanted to see the sunset when the sun is still high up in the sky? Something was wrong. Squall could sense that there was something wrong and he could see it in Ellone's eyes that she was hiding something - but was Ellone aware of this? Lowering her eyelids, Ellone murmured quietly to Laguna and then left the presidential office, stopping to give Squall a hug on her way out. Come to think of it, Ellone did look as though she was tired - as if she had her energy drained out of her.
"Well, I guess we can stop worrying now. Ellone's back, so we can concentrate on the task at hand, which is the parade." Laguna said brightly when the door clicked shut.
"I say there's still something wrong. Something very fishy," Seifer said unconvinced with Ellone's 'excuse'.
"You sure that it just ain't you?" Zell snickered, knowing that that would get Seifer's temper going.
"What?! C'mon you chicken, I'm gonna kick you ass!!" Seifer stormed his gun-blade out and ready for battle.
"Hey no fighting-" Laguna's voice said only to be cut off from the static coming from Squall radio. Even Seifer and Zell stopped bickering to listen to the message: it was Irvine.
"Squall? Squall, are you reading? You guys better get down here right away; we've got a major, major problem down here at the Orphanage. It's Matron. . . and Rinoa. Ultimecia's back."