Lunatic Pandora1: Well, not only, exactly, but not too many other people are reviewing at all. Dunno where my other chapterly reviewer went off to, but, she'll probably be back eventually. So, I don't know how many other people are reading, but I'm only getting one or two reviews a chapter, and some of them, the only reply I can think of is "thanks" so I just don't bother since I say that all the time anyway and everyone knows at this point that I'm grateful for what reviews I get. Plus, a lot (okay, like 1 or 2, but I only have like 5 or so reviewers, so blegh)of those reviewers are still on the early stages of the story it seems (haven't gotten this far yet), so if I replied to them, then by the time they got here they'd forget what they said, so I just don't bother with that so much. And sometimes I get a review for a chapter right after I post the next one, so I don't get to annoy those people with overly-long pre-chapter commentary. I hope I have more than two or three readers, but, it really doesn't seem that way, unfortunately. Meh, no worries. I'm gonna keep writing anyways, because I like writing this story, so I'm going to see it through to the very end.

Uhm, *looks back at review to see what else you said* Ah, yes, Kiros, I thought that would be a nice surprise, but, truth is, I see Laguna more as "attempted-murder-guy" if he meets up with Max again, so Kiros seemed to be a more logical choice for making the brother-in-law sit in a dark, dank cell for the rest of his life. More on that later, probably. And, as you commented a few chapters back, Jynx opening up IS a bit of a double-edged sword, and things'll take a turn for the worse pretty soon I think???

Ariennye: LOL! Though, if you think hard enough about it, I could swing squeezing Ellone into this fairly effectively, you ARE right, and I have no intention of doing that, seeing as I have gotten through the story this far without her. Don't worry, I update often and am almost 100% positive that this chapter will be the fire cavern chapter, unless the story writes itself somewhere else without my consent again, but I don't see that happening this close to that part of the story. Anyways, thank you so much for reviewing! As you can see, I only have a few regular reviewers, so I really appreciate it!

Divine Heart: Wow, where've you been? I wrote four chapters since you last showed your face, thought you'd disappeared on me like half of my other reviewers. Well, hey, I'm glad to hear from you, and sorry about that 30 chapters frying your brain cells. Haha. Jynx shows up in the story first as one of the people heading Laguna's security department when Squall and co. first go to Esthar for Christmas. She's one of his employees and Seifer's boss, for all intents and purposes. Later, stuff happens and she quits her job (personal differences, which I'm still sort of explaining). But since she's also a war criminal from the sorceress war(like Seifer), Laguna is forced to arrest her. So that's about where we're at with her now. As Jace was to part I, Jynx is to part II, only she's not anyone's mother. She is, however, one of Xu's little sisters.

Wow, that was a long commentary. (Aison, where the heck are you? I haven't seen you in weeks! You're always on my ass about updating this, and now you've disappeared. Heck, you're one of the main reasons this story has gotten as far as it has, since it was supposed to cap off like ten chapters ago! *pouts*) To the rest of my rather meager list of reviewers, thank you for reviewing, as always, it makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, even if I would probably do it even if it wasn't worthwhile. And I figure, this is a primarily original character story, so a lot of people don't like to read those, and if I requested a certain number of reviews before updating, then this story would be destined to never be finished, so I don't. Anyway, I'm still having fun. So review if you are too, huh? I think L.P. is getting lonely, up at the top of the page all by his/her lonesome. *smirks*

So, enough babbling and explaining myself. I still don't own ff8. In fact, the only useful things I own are a twenty year old teddy bear and two dozen packs of gum, most of which are probably stale, so unless you want those, don't sue me.

And on with the story!

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Thirty-Five

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Squall entered the small room where Seifer slept. It had all the proper equipment to make it appear to be a hospital room, except that it was a little more personal, not so white. Comfortable and warm, but also, in a way, very very cold. It felt like Seifer's room to him, for some reason. It felt like this room belonged to the taller man, even though there were no signs of ownership about it. He didn't really know what to make of that feeling.

A small lamp glowed dully on the bedside table, where Quistis's book sat, her glasses folded atop it. The blonde woman sat, concern etching her features, as she idly rubbed her thumb over the back of his palm while she held his hand.

"How is he?" Squall asked, leaning in the doorway.

"The same," Quistis replied shortly. "Squall, I just…I'm afraid for him," she said, the stress obvious in her stiff posture and the creases in her brow from frowning. "I keep thinking, what if he relapses. What if he doesn't wake up? When was it, that I started worrying about Seifer so much. I can't seem to remember. What the hell did she do to him? I just…"

"We understand, Quisty," Irvine said, nudging Squall out of the way as he and the others moved quietly into the room. "Ya just can't help but think, why is this happening? Why now, when everything is such a mess? But it really makes you think about the things that are most important to you."

"You want to stay with him until he wakes up, right?" Squall said blandly, not really looking at anyone in particular. He knew what that felt like. When Rinoa wouldn't wake up, it was all he could do to stay sane. 'She loves him,' he thought. 'She may not know it yet, but she does.'

"Squall…"

"It's okay, Quistis. But Irvine, Laguna, and I…we're still going to go to Deling. If he doesn't wake up in a few days, we'll just have to go without saying goodbye."

The things that are most important to you. Yeah, Quistis understood. Of course she did. She was in the same boat at the moment. And she was angry. Irrationally angry, really, with Jynx. Because Seifer, also, had chosen what was most important to him, and now he was lying in a hospital bed, and Quistis couldn't help but feel as if the two things were somehow related. It wasn't fair to blame Jynx. Her logical mind knew that. But even so, it's not as if the young woman would care if Quistis DID blame her. Jynx didn't care about anything. Not blame. Not her job. Not being in prison. Not the world. And not Seifer. That's what made Quistis the most angry. Jynx didn't care about Seifer. No way did she care about him. And Seifer knew that, he must know it, and yet, he still chose her over everything else…over Quistis herself, and over SeeD. What was the world coming to when Seifer chose a girl over his dreams, a girl who didn't even know how to dream at all. Duty was the only thing that Jynx knew, Quistis had convinced herself. That's why she dragged Seifer through the desert. That's why she checked up on him for three years, every day, while he lay there like this. That's why… She'd almost convinced herself that it was true, but as she looked at Seifer lying unconscious on the bed, face smooth and marred only by the tiniest pout, she had to wonder…three years. Would she be able to live like this, every day, for three years? The answer was no. But then again, Quistis's angry mind intervened again, saying, she had a heart, a heart that could be hurt, broken. No. It wasn't like Jynx at all. Because Jynx definitely didn't care. And even as she thought it, she knew it was a lie. But it was her lie, her own, and she would hold onto it as long as the others were here, because she positively refused to cry in front of them.

"It's sorta…wrong," Zell said. "I mean, seeing him like this. Don't get me wrong, I still hate his guts n'all, but…a guy like Seifer should never look this…helpless."

"He looked like that for three years. When he finally woke up, all those emotions playing across his face from moment to moment…It's been five months, but they still surprise me. Will they ever stop surprising me? I wish I knew the answer to that."

The group turned to find Laguna standing in the doorway, a sad expression on his face, making him look his age. And beside him, led into the room by her elbow, hands cuffed in front of her with thick metal cuffs bracers, was Jynx. She stared silently at the figure on the bed, making no move once she was fully in the room.

There was a long silence as everyone stared at the pair, Laguna and the former Captain of Estharian security, Jynx Arashi. What in Hyne's name was Laguna thinking?!?

"Uh, guys, it's a little crowded in here, do you mind? Just a few minutes?" Laguna asked. He got some very skeptical looks. "Please?" he said. "She's taken care of him for a long time, I just thought…she should be allowed to see him too, since she's been keeping an eye on him for so long."

Staring at Jynx for a long moment, Squall was the first to move. "Whatever," he said, and the others had learned well enough to know that that meant "let's go." They followed, but Quistis, after standing, lingered for a moment, glaring into empty eyes that she couldn't see anything in at all. Just darkness, an endless sea of darkness. Finally, she moved, and said, as she passed the other girl, "what the hell did you do to him?"

"I told him a story," Jynx answered. "…but he didn't let me finish."

Quistis moved out of the room as Jynx and Laguna moved closer to Seifer's bed, but she heard a few words out of the soldier girl before she went, soft words, but as emotionless as they ever were, really, "you've interrupted me again, Mr. Almsay," Jynx said as she looked down at the motionless figure. "… … I know you're stronger than this, so, wake up. Wake up, and stop running away."

It was the choice of words that struck Quistis most. 'Wake up and stop running away.' What could Jynx possibly mean by that. What was Seifer running from?

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*It was so cold outside, that when he walked into the fire cavern, he was almost overcome by the heat, and took his coat off, then his black sweater, tying the latter around his waist and leaving him in only his jeans and a thin white t-shirt. He was built, and proud of his build for being as young as he was, but neither of the girls seemed to notice or pay any mind. Ruvie was already stalking ahead, and Jynx kept a brisk pace, not a foot behind the girl. Seifer would have to jog to catch up, if he didn't want to be left behind-and he definitely didn't want to be left behind; it would have defeated the entire purpose of coming along at all.

"Hey Jynx, what's the deal anyway? Why the fire cavern?"

Jynx gave Seifer a pointed stare that almost seemed to say, 'you're kidding, right?'

"You seriously don't know?" he heard the younger girl say as she spun around to gape at Seifer for a long moment. "What fungar have you been living under anyway?" Ruvie asked blatantly. "Fine I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to interfere. This is my thing."

Seifer smirked at the spunky little girl with her bananna curl pigtails. "Sure. I'm only here to hassle Jynx some more anyway," he said. It was the truth, sort of.

Ruvie lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "there's a GF in here. And I'm gonna get 'im!"*

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Laguna stared out the window while Jynx sat silently, just staring at Seifer. Who knew what was going on in her mind, but it was the way she had always looked in on him. She would sit there and stare at him for an hour, then she would stand suddenly, and leave. It had only been ten minutes.

"What are you saying to him when you stare at him like that?" Laguna asked.

"… …simply that I have not forgotten him."

Laguna stared at her for a long few moments. She had the most irritating tendency towards being cryptic.

"Haven't…forgotten him? You still think about the war too, huh?"

"The war," she said thoughtfully, while she continued to stare at Seifer. 'Which one?' her mind commented snidely. "Not really."

"…stupid bomb," Seifer mumbled, still unconscious.

Laguna looked expectantly at the young man, then sighed. "Guess he's still out," he frowned.

* "…stupid bomb," Seifer mumbled, dusting some of the char off of his shirt while Ruvie threw a potion at him. He sputtered slightly, since she hit him right in the face with the damn thing.

"Be more careful, Almsay. I'm not here to babysit," Jynx told him blatantly.

"Well exccuuuussse me for living!" Seifer scowled at her. He felt it was justified, seeing as he was the one covered in black soot. But, once again, she had ignored him in favor of chasing Ruvie down. They were nearly at the center of the cavern now, and the rumbling of the ground did not bode well for their situation. Seifer cured himself fully before running after them.

And his eyes widened at what he saw when he caught up, "THAT'S a GF?" he choked back a sudden twinge of 'I am in SO far over my head.'

Jynx gave a curt nod, eyes calculating as the voice boomed "WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?"

"Ifrit," she grit out as she yanked her twin katana from their sheaths. "King of Fire."

All Seifer could think in that moment was, 'oh. Shit.'

Ifrit was much stronger than they could handle, he knew it almost from the instant they started, and Jynx was the only one of the group who had any ice magic junctioned, a few blizzards acquired on the way, and Shiiva, the Ice Queen. If the situation weren't so bad, he would think that a cold girl like Jynx having a junction to Shiiva was something like poetic justice. Unfortunately, that was the last thing on his mind right now. Ruvie didn't have any magic at all, and what magic he, himself had, was virtually useless. All he could manage to do was attack and get in the way of Ifrit when the fire king swung at the kid.

It had become painfully obvious to him that Jynx didn't need his help. She was just, at a completely different level. He decided, subconsciously, at that moment, that he had to become a whole lot stronger, if he expected her to allow him to keep following her around. Otherwise, he'd only be getting in her way. And he wanted to keep following Jynx around, because, honestly, at that point in time, Jynx was the person that he liked best.

Distraction, however, was destined to doom him, and a banal echo was followed by a scream as he watched, almost detatched from his body as Jynx seemed to move very quickly. No. He realized now, it was him that was moving, and Ruvie, both of whom had been launched and were coming dangerously close to the cavern wall! There was a moment of blackness, his mind fuzzy, but he struggled to focus as he saw Jynx run over to the kid, kneeling by her side, saying something. Jynx was saying something. She looked so scared, so panicked. And when she brought her hand away from the younger girl's head, there was…so…much…blood. And then the world went black.*

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Jynx stood. "Alright. I'm finished. Take me back," she said.

"You're sure, Jynx? We can stay a couple minutes longer if…"

"It has been an hour, Mr. Loire. It seems we have wasted enough of Mr. Almsay's time for one evening."

"Jynx," Laguna put his hand on her shoulder, feeling her stiffen under the touch.

"I would much rather be elsewhere, when he awakens at last," she stated frankly. And to Laguna, it sounded as if she was talking about something more than just Seifer opening his eyes.

'I don't ever want to see eyes like that again. Eyes which open to a world very different from the one they closed upon mere hours before.' Jynx heaved a mental sigh. 'You'll be just fine without me, Seifer, just like she is. I know this because, the greatest truth of my life, is that I am a person…that the world simply no longer needs. And that suits me just fine.'

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* "Why would you do something so stupid???" Xu asked, exasperated, while Dr, Kadowaki finished putting the cast on Jynx's arm.

"Would you rather me allow her to go alone?" Jynx asked, her voice all but droning out the words. It was a stupid question for Xu to ask.

"I would rather you stop her from going at all!!!!" Xu huffed.

"Then what, Xu? I could stop her one day, but she'd try again the next. And then the day after her. Should we spend the rest of our days stopping her? She'll never become strong that way."

"Why are you so set on Ruvie becoming strong? Jynx, ooo, you're so infuriating!"

"Lie to yourself as much as you like. The fact remains. Eventually, a day will come when we won't be there to protect her. On that day, she ought to be strong enough to protect herself. Unless you don't care if she dies."

Jynx's eyes shot to the small figure in the bed as she heard the girl groan. She got up and walked over to the bed, despite Dr. Kadowaki's attempts to continue bandaging her mangled arm, or to prevent the girl from walking with only a splint on her dislocated knee. It was bad enough that she'd dragged her two companions out of the fire cavern on her own. When they asked about it, she told them rather frankly, that it took her five hours to do so. 'Why would you drag them out on your own with a dislocated knee and a broken arm?' Cid had asked her. Her answer had been, 'What would have preferred me to do? It was the proper path, given the circumstances." And now, she stared down at the girl, her youngest sister, and one of the two people in her life who she deemed irreplaceable, waiting for her eyes to open, waiting for Ruvie to say something offensive, blame everything on Jynx, just like she always did. She looked forward to seeing the young girl scowl up at her. She waited for it. And it never came.

Carmel eyes looked at her, blinking, a tiny pout on her lips, and, hoarsely, the girl asked, "who are you?"

Jynx's usually quiet voice left her entirely. Her eyes widened marginally in shock, looking almost like glass, when Xu came up beside her and smiled at the youngest girl. "Good morning, sleepy head," she said softly.

"Oh, hey sis. What's going on? Who's your friend?" Ruvie asked.

Jynx's mind raced. Ruvie didn't remember her. She wasn't important enough to remember. Why wasn't she important enough to remember? She loved Ruvie-so much. So much. And, unable to do anything else, Jynx ran, falling over many times in the attempt as her knee faltered under the fragile splint. But…Ruvie had forgotten her. She'd forgotten her because of that stupid GF, that awful GF…It was all GF's fault…

She fumbled with her junction, hating the thought of having anything to do with the monsters that caused her baby sister to forget her, discarding it at the entrance to garden and did the only thing she could. She ran, and when she could no longer run, she crawled, she pulled herself through the snow on her fingers, her elbows, tried to stand, and fell unconscious in an endless blanket of white. It is her most potent memory. … …

'That day, it was snowing…'*

Jynx opened her eyes to find Oli looking down at her. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's Tuesday," he told her, "You asked me to…" but before he could finish the sentence, a heavy fist came down onto the back of the man's skull. Max's fist. And Oli came tumbling down over Jynx, who rolled out of the way to an easy standing position. She stared at Max, who opened his mouth to speak, and said frankly, "follow me."

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well, okay, that chapter took forever. But that's primarily because I've taken on administration duties at my beloved online RP, Astelbania, after a long hiatus. Chapters will likely come a bit more slowly from here on, but they will still come, and I'm anticipating about one a week from this point on. We'll see how it goes.

And so, now I shall insert a shameless plug for the once again growing fantasy rp, which I love. If you're interested, go check it out at www.astelbania.com. Unlike many current play-by-post games, astelbania is quazi-free form, meaning that a player can run an adventure, rather than relying on a moderator to do so…uhm….well, it's explained better at the site, so check it out! It's a really fun game, promise! If you decide to register, when you fill out the form, just say you were recommended by Thorn. *grins* That's one of my personalities there anyway! Okay, I'm done with the shameless plug now.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. More coming soon. R&R, and until next time, happy haunting,

~Banshee Puppet~