angelo_wings | Balamb Garden, Conference Room, Monday Morning Fandom Time (NFB)

Squall

Squall was glad he'd asked everyone to be ready ahead of time, because it made it easy to just call them and say it was time, instead of having to explain everything all over again. And he'd wasted time calling Karla over and over before realizing she was probably still a cat.

Getting Rinoa to join them was the hardest part. He didn't tell her the plan was Dr. Odine's, or that he'd be there -- in her paranoid state, he wasn't sure what she'd think of that. But he was her Knight, and he eventually convinced her to trust him.

After that, it was an easy matter to hop a portal back home.

Balamb Garden

The portal had taken them directly to Balamb Garden, the military academy where Squall had grown up. It was actually a mobile military academy; the school was currently parked in the Centra Ruins.

Quistis had greeted everyone at the door before ushering them into the conference room. Most of the participants were ones that the Fandomites would recognize, from their previous trip. Ellone, the girl they had rescued from the Lunatic Pandora. Laguna, her stepfather, and Squall's long-lost father. Seifer, the SeeD who had fought against them, and had thrown Rinoa to Adel. Thanks to Tara's magic, he was now free of Ultimecia's influence.

The one they wouldn't know was Dr. Odine, a short man who looked more like a harlequin than a world-famous scientist. His hair was pulled into a topknot, and the enormous red-and-white ruff around his neck was easily three feet in diameter. His effusive manner as he bounced around the room, checking readings and chuckling to himself, would do little to dispel the impression.

Whatever demonstration he was preparing didn't seem to be ready just yet, which gave everyone else a chance to talk. Even if the atmosphere wasn't all that conducive to conversation.

Rinoa	Rinoa sat stone-faced at the conference table, hands clenched into fists. Squall had lied to her. If not lied, then willfully misled her. There were people here that he should have warned her would be here, and he hadn't, and that was a misleading and she was going to call it a lie. Because he was her Knight and Knights shouldn't lie. Seifer was sitting there, like he had any right to sit there, when he had tried to kill her. When he had -- no, that didn't even seem the right word. He had betrayed her. There. Better. And there, also at the table, was Ellone. Ellone hadn't betrayed her. Ellone -- seemed to pull her senses, violently, towards her, like she was some kind of lodestone. It was a strange chanting in her subconscious: Ellone Ellone Ellone sitting right there right there Ellone. So strange. She hardly knew the girl. And lastly, Doctor Odine. That foul, perverse, sick little man, with his ridiculous collar and his stupid accent and his bizarre enthusiasm. He was a freak and he had endangered her and no one seemed to care. She should never have come. What did she care about their stupid plans? She didn't need anyone's help. Certainly not Seifer's. Certainly not Doctor Odine's. Rinoa sat in her chair and seethed. Her hands were under the table. Maybe no one would notice the fists. Or that her fingernails were pressed so tightly into her palms that they were now drawing blood.
Raven	As if the empath wasn't going to notice. Raven sensed Rinoa's distress despite her emotionless exterior, and she winced when she felt the sting of nails cutting into her palms. "Rinoa," she murmured gently, leaning over to her friend. "Everything is going to be all right. We will find a way to help you."
Rinoa	"He won't," Rinoa said savagely. "He's not here to help. He's ... here for his f-- fucking research." She shuddered. It wouldn't take an empath to sense the wave of loathing that went from Rinoa to the strange man with the weird collar. "Squall lied to me."
Raven	Raven followed Rinoa's gaze to Odine. She already didn't like what she was sensing from the man, and Rinoa's accusation and sheer loathing made her shudder. "I do not know him," she admitted, "but I know none of us will allow him to do you any harm." She'd send him off to join Sebastian before she'd let him do that. She glanced from Rinoa to Squall and back again. "How did he lie to you?" she asked carefully. "He cares very much for you; he would not deliberately cause you harm."
Rinoa	"He uses people as research," she said. "Experiments. Ask Ellone." Odine had studied the girl long enough that he'd been able to make a machine to replicate her brain waves. This was, of course, while Ellone had been kidnapped. And all of three years old. "He didn't tell me they'd be here," she added. "He had to know I wouldn't have come. He's my Knight but he's not acting like my Knight. He's acting like a SeeD." He'd brought her here to Garden on Quistis's orders, and was going to hand her over to Odine. Seifer had never turned his Sorceress over into enemy hands.
Raven	"Squall only wishes to help you, Rinoa, as we all do," Raven said, projecting calm to go with her reassuring words. Well, she wasn't sure she could include Odine in that. But panic and paranoia wouldn't help them at all now.
Rinoa	Rinoa could feel a wave of calm, warring with her nervous paranoia. She didn't know which she could trust. Or who. Or anything. "I can't trust him," she said. "And neither should you." Maybe Edea was wrong. Maybe Knights were part of the problem, and she'd be better off without one.
Raven	"You know my gifts, Rinoa," Raven said soothingly. "You know that I can read emotions. And I promise you, Squall truly cares for you and only wishes you to be safe and well. This Odine, I do not trust him, yes, but I also know Squall will never agree to do anything that will cause you harm." Except maybe being forced to kill her if her powers got out of control. But that wasn't going to happen.
Rinoa	Rinoa shivered, wrapping her arms more tightly around herself. Raven said she could trust Squall. Her own instincts said she couldn't. That meant either Raven was right, or Raven's gifts were mistaken, or Raven was conspiring with Squall against her. "I'll ... try to keep that in mind," she promised. It was the best she could do, right now.

Tara	As if anyone with any sense wasn't going to notice. Tara couldn't do much, and she wasn't sure what she should do to start with, but she reached to rest a hand lightly on Rinoa's arm. This would be okay. Somehow. Even if she wasn't sure seeing Seifer was a good thing, either.
Rinoa	Rinoa froze at the touch, too keyed up to register more than an intrusion on her space, her space, everyone was trying to -- to -- No intrusion. Tara. She and Tara had worked magic together, before. She, and Tara, and Karla, and their powers had interwoven. Somehow, under the turmoil, that meant Rinoa could still vaguely recognize her as a friend. That her presence was soothing. "I don't like this," she said. She wanted to be free of this, but not if it meant dealing with him.
Tara	"Should we go?" Tara asked softly as she pulled her hand back. "I mean, not ... go, go. But I would wait in the hall with you." She was nervous about the pulsing darkness in Rinoa's aura, and leaned closer for a better look.
Rinoa	"Thank you," Rinoa said, offering her friend a genuine smile. "But no. I'm okay." Her expression darkened. "I'm not afraid of him." She was not going to allow herself to be afraid of a pathetic little weasel like Dr. Odine. Not when she could end him before he managed one of his ridiculous experiments. Which ... was probably not all that reassuring.

Sookie	Sookie was doing everything in her power to actively stay in her own head, but Rinoa's emotions were clattering into her mind at such an alarming rate and with such bizarre range that even her shields were letting things through. "It's going to be okay, Rinoa," she said softly, but clearly, looking straight over at the other girl.
Rinoa	Rinoa glanced back at Sookie, then bit her lip. "Do you really believe that?" she asked. Right now, she didn't.
Sookie	Sookie warred with herself for a moment, honesty versus hope, and went with hope. "Yes," she finally decided, after a moment. "You've got Fandom's best here. We're going to do everything we can. I know it's hard for you to believe that, honey, but we're going to get you better."
Rinoa	"I ..." She shook her head, deciding against it. "Thank you," she said. "If it works." And if it didn't ... she didn't want to think about what would happen, if it didn't. She knew what Adel was capable of. She'd been Ultimecia's puppet once before.

Squall	Squall tried to catch Rinoa's eyes and give her a nod of encouragement. Odine had finally come up with a plan, which meant that this would all be over soon. He'd assembled his team, they would defeat Ultimecia, and everything would be fixed. It was stupid, blind optimism, and he knew that, but he refused to accept any alternatives.
Rinoa	The look that Rinoa was returning implied several things. One of which was she was not thrilled with him, at the moment. Another was that she was going to have a great deal to say about this later. And an undercurrent that hinted that she was no longer sure of him. There was a suggestion somewhere, deep in her mind, that she should have expected as much, from a SeeD.
Squall	Squall winced. Of course she was angry that Odine was here. He had deliberately not told her, because she might not have come, otherwise. It was okay. There would be time for apologies after Ultimecia was defeated. Right now, they all needed to calm down and let Dr. Odine tell them what to do.

Seifer	Well, it wasn't like Seifer wanted to be here. In fact, he wanted to be very, very far away from Rinoa right now. She was actually making his skin crawl, not that he was going to tell her that. One brainwashing a year, thank you very much. Which was the reason why he was looking at anyone but her.
Squall	"Anyone but her" probably included the guy sitting next to her. He was glaring at Seifer warily, ready to fight if it became necessary.
Seifer	Well, that's just a given. Of course, that glare doesn't stop Seifer from doodling on one of those notepads that are always found in conference rooms. And if he's doodling stick figures showing all the ways that 'Puberty Boy is a Grat's bitch', well, he's not looking for a fight, he's just hoping to get kicked out.

Laguna	President Laguna beamed at all of the Fandom people. His son had FRIENDS! Good for him! "Welcome! Sit down! It's good to see everyone!" Beside him, Ellone smiled politely at everyone and tried to hide how much she didn't want to be near Dr. Odine.
Jono	Jonothon kept alternating between giving Rinoa slightly concerned looks, and contemplating whether or not that hideous collar thing was terribly flammable. What? It was distracting. Right up there with Lagnua being annoyingly chipper at them. Jono was still a little sore about the way he'd been treated by Garden after the whole Adel incident. Maybe everyone from Squall and Rinoa's world was utterly insane, with the possible exception of Squall and Rinoa themselves? Er. Most of the time. That would explain so very much. //Yes,// he said, a little blandly. //I'm certain that yer just thrilled.//
Ellone	"He's an optimist," Ellone said, as if that explained everything. "Hello again."
Jono	Jonothon glanced Ellone's way, and then gave her a small nod. At least she seemed sane, in comparison to most of the people around here. //Hello again yerself, luv. Been keeping well, I hope?// In that she hadn't been kidnapped again, presumably.
Ellone	"I have," she said eagerly. "I've been living with Uncle Laguna, in the Presidential Palace." Ellone's life had been a patchwork quilt of kidnappings, narrow escapes, and long periods where she was locked away for what was considered to be Her Own Good. And now, she had a home. Uncle Laguna was the closest thing she had to family, besides Squall. "It's nice of you guys to come back here again," she said.
Jono	Her enthusiasm was actually somewhat endearing. Go figure, it made Jonothon want to smack Laguna upside the head, but on Ellone, he mostly just wanted to give her cookies. //Well, I think we did it for more reason than simply to be nice,// Jonothon noted, wryly. //Rinoa and Squall are both friends of ours, after all.// Some of the closest friends that he had.

Dr. Odine	"I vas right!" The funny man in the funny ruff was doing a funny dance, now. "I had ze theory and I vas right! It iz impossible to hide such things from Odine." He approached Rinoa as if he couldn't want to dismantle her and see what made her tick. "Ze old sorceress iz ze new sorceress. And you have a little problem with guests, no?"
Rinoa	Her Knight might have lied to her, but he was still her Knight. That meant he had certain duties, like cutting the limbs off of people like Odine. "Squall, make him stop." She didn't take her eyes off Odine. She didn't add 'now,' either. She didn't need to.
Squall	Squall stood up, knocking his chair over, and put his hand on the hilt of his gunblade. "Back off," he told Odine forcefully. He'd once carried Rinoa halfway across the world to ask this man to save her, but that was before he'd known what the man had done to Sis. Now he was forced to trust Odine to save her again, and he didn't like it. But if Dr. Odine was going to be like this, he might end up KO'ing the man before he got a chance to explain his plan. Speaking of... "The plan," he growled. "Tell us. Now."
Odine	Dr. Odine shook his head with an amused sort of sigh. "I do not vant ze fisticuffs," he said. He scuttled over towards the head of the table and began pacing, a professor giving a lecture. "Zis Ultimecia, she is in ze future," he began. "Und she uses a machine. My machine! It iz only a prototype, now, but in ze future, it will be a great achievement. I knew it would work!"
Laguna	"Get to the point," Laguna said. He had tolerated Odine for years because he was useful, and because there was no point in being upset with him for being what he was. It didn't mean that he liked the fact that Odine had requested Ellone's presence, here.
Odine	"Yes, yes," said Odine. "Zis machine, it matches Ellone, no? Zat is how Ultimecia gets to ze past. Und if she gets Ellone, as well, she can be three places at once. Here und there und where she iz now. Zat iz what she needs, und zat is why she hunts Ellone." He clapped his hands in front of himself. "So! Zis machine, it is great use to her in ze future, but it is no help to us. Ve need ... another machine! One zat can match ze brainwaves of a Sorceress! Und zen, ve can ... no, no, no, I must show you ze machine first. Come!" On his cue, a couple of harried-looking assistants wheeled in a ... well. It was certainly a machine. It looked like a medieval torture device, more than anything. It was large, and it had three upright steel gurneys. The gurneys had straps to hold the subjects in place. Inbetween were any number of prongs and dials and pincers and whirring bits.
Quistis	Oh, this would end well. Please excuse Quistis while she got an early start on the facepalming.
Squall	Squall narrowed his eyes at Dr. Odine. "What does it do?" The man had better have a VERY good explanation.
Raven	Raven's eyes widened at the sight of the machine. There was no way she was going to let Rinoa get strapped into that thing. "There has to be some other way," she said quietly.
Odine	Odine had failed to notice the less-than-enthusiastic reactions. He was going a gleeful dance at the sight of his machine. It had taken months! "Vat ve do is zis," he announced. "Ze sorceress! Ze Ellone! Zis spot was for ze other Sorceress, but Odine suspected there vas none." He was very proud of himself. "Edea, she gave her powers away, vhen nearly dead but not so dead," he said. "Vat ve do, then, is ve get Sorceress close to same place. Boom! She give up powers. Boom! Zey go to Ellone. Boom! Ve do ze same to Ellone. Boom! Ze go back. But zis machine, it has ze brain pattern to a Sorceress, no? So ze powers, they go boom! To ze machine!" Another happy boogie went here. "Zen Ultimecia, she not in Sorceress, or Ellone. She in machine!" Odine gestured triumphantly and waited for his applause.
Laguna	There was a deafening silence for several seconds, instead. Laguna sighed. "I blame myself," he said. "I should have arrested him years ago."
Squall	Squall seethed. "How does that even help?" he demanded. It didn't defeat Ultimecia. It robbed them of a Sorceress. It meant risking the deaths of Rinoa and Sis. And Dr. Odine was dancing!
Quistis	"It doesn't," Quistis added helpfully.
Odine	Odine tilted his head at the strange SeeD who liked to yell so much. "Help vith vhat?" Ultimecia! In a machine! Did he not see the possibilities, there?
Ellone	Ellone had been largely quiet for the proceedings -- she didn't like Dr. Odine very much, but she was willing to help in whatever way she could. But since the appearance of that machine, she had been inching closer to her Uncle Laguna. And she was, needless to say, very, very glad that he had insisted on accompanying her.
Laguna	"Don't worry, little girl," Laguna told Ellone, putting an arm around her protectively. "I won't let the crazy man hurt you."
Squall	Squall was too stunned to even be angry. "Kill Ultimecia," he told Dr. Odine flatly. "You've been working for a year on a plan to kill Ultimecia. ...Haven't you?" Because, if he hadn't... Squall tried not to finish that thought.
Odine	Odine gestured grandly to his machine again. "Ve do not need to kill!" he proclaimed. "Ve trap her in machine, und study her!" ... Yes. Odine had spent most of the year working on this thing.
Squall	... Squall had no words. None. None at all. He just stared at Odine.
Laguna	It was time to be the adult here, now. "THIS is what you've been using my taxpayers' money on?" Laguna thundered. "Seriously? You're fired!!!" He turned to the small cluster of Dr. Odine's harried assistants and gave them a smile. "Would any of you like to be the new head of research?"

Rinoa	Rinoa had hardly been able to focus on any of the words coming out of Dr. Odine's mouth. This was wrong. Everything was wrong. She felt like the world was spinning too fast and she couldn't make it stop. What had gotten her attention was, not surprisingly, that deathtrap abomination thing that he had so cheerfully wheeled in here. That was why she was here. It was even worse than sealing. They had. They had decided to do this to her. To strap her into that thing. Her Knight had brought her here for it. They were all against her. All of them. "No," Rinoa said, pushing back from the table and standing up in one clumsy motion. "No, no, no, no, no." She was walking backwards, stumbling over her own chair, but not looking away from them. She couldn't. One of them might leap at her if she blinked. "No, no, no, no," she couldn't seem to stop saying it. It was just spilling out of her, croaking and raspy and sounding foreign to her own ears. "No."
Squall	Squall, who was right next to her, was already standing. He turned and reached out to her apologetically. "No," he reassured her. "We're not doing that."
Rinoa	"Don't touch me!" It was nearly a shriek, and Rinoa was fighting for any semblance of control. "I knew I couldn't trust you! I knew it!" Knights betrayed. Knights failed. Knights were weak. She wasn't weak. And she sure as fuck wasn't letting anyone put her in that thing.
Squall	(...Fuck.) He had betrayed her, sort of. They were going to get here, and defeat Ultimecia, and everything would be okay. But now it couldn't, because Odine had betrayed everyone. He knew he couldn't trust Dr. Odine, but apparently he'd still had too much faith in him. "It's not like that," Squall told Rinoa. "I'm just trying to fix this..."
Raven	"Rinoa!" Raven said, projecting calm more forcefully now. She didn't like manipulating her friend's emotions, but the last thing they needed now was for Rinoa to panic and try to flee. "We are not going to force you to do this. We will find another way to help you."
Rinoa	Rinoa hesitated, feeling another swirling maelstrom of emotions. The panic, the strange calm, the certainty that they were against her, the white-hot rage. Most of them weren't hers, and she couldn't tell which bits of her were really her any more, anyway, and balled her hands up near the sides of her head. They were trying to trick her. Everyone was trying to trick her. And if this headache got any worse, she was going to vomit right here on Garden's nice clean floor. It served them right, for being SeeDs. "Leave me alone," she said. "Get out of my head!" She stumbled again, her back hitting a wall. It wasn't fleeing they had to fear, from Rinoa. It was how badly she was going to lash out, when she realized she was trapped.
Tara	"It's not us," Tara blurted, eyes wide and a bit wild in concern. "It's -- Rinoa. You need to fight for control. If you can." Glancing at the others, she added, "She's possessed. If, um, you guys can't already tell..."
Seifer	"Yeah, kinda figured that out," Seifer said as he very, very slowly edged towards Rinoa. Of course, a good part of him wanted to run the other fucking direction. Why wasn't he listening to that part again? Oh yeah, 'romantic dreams' and all. He needed to see a shrink about that. "Come on, Princess, calm down. We'll shoot the moron for you, okay?"
Sookie	"Rinoa, get control," Sookie said, as calm and steely as she could. She needed to get through to Rinoa, not whoever else was occupying that space and getting their poison through to her, and it was taking all of her willpower not to go in there and try and shove whoever else was in there out herself. But given Rinoa's reactions, mental force was the worst possible idea. "Not a one of us thinks that that plan is a good one. We're finding another way. Do not listen to that thing that's in your head. Remember who the enemy is, here."
Rinoa	Rinoa wrapped her arms tightly around herself, as if she could push all of them away if she squeezed hard enough. Control. Control. She needed control. She was Rinoa, not the other voice. She was Rinoa, Princess of the Timber Owls resistance movement. She went to school at Fandom High and these were her friends. Seifer had once surprised her with a night picnic on the beach. Squall had kissed her under the fireworks. She needed to remember who her friends were. Who the enemy ....... Enemy? "All I have are enemies," she said, her voice shaking. "That f-freak wants to study me. Squall lied. Y-you're all afraid of me. Seifer --" Dear Hyne, there were so many emotions swirling just at his name. "You have no right to be here," she spat. "You tried to kill me! How's that for an enemy? You almost fed me to that bitch! You lied and you betrayed me! She made you her Knight and you failed her! You let the SeeDs get to her! You were just a scared boy after all. How dare you stand here like you care!" She was too busy seething to have heard most of what she just said.
Seifer	Seifer jerked back as if Rinoa had just smacked him with his own gunblade. Hell, if the table hadn't been in the way, he would have gone all the way out the door. He was tempted to go over the table anyway. Only the fact that everyone in here would kick his ass again stopped him. "Kinda got my ass kicked. Flame boy back there throws one hell of a party, remember? Also, sorta had a ship fall on my head." He was pretty sure that Rinoa wasn't who he was talking to right now. "And now that I'm on my own in my head, yeah I care."
Jono	Jono gave Seifer the sort of look that suggested that if he called him 'Flame Boy' again, he would have no problem going ahead and dropping another ship on his head. //We're not afraid of you. We all care, Sunshine,// he said, carefully. //And I think a few of us even have a bit of experience, dealing with power that's bigger than we are. Nobody's letting that plonker in th'moronic clown suit touch you.//
Rinoa	"I'm not letting him touch me," Rinoa countered, darkly. "I'm not letting any of you touch me. Everyone back off right now or you'll all find out what happens when you piss off a Sorceress." It couldn't be her, saying those things to her friends. They couldn't be her friends. She wouldn't be so scared of them, if they were her friends. Right? Nothing made sense and she couldn't stop shaking.

Squall	He was losing her. He was LOSING her! Right in front of his eyes, Rinoa was being corrupted by Ultimecia, and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. One thing was for sure, though: the crowd wasn't helping. "Everybody out!" he shouted, waving his arm. When nobody moved, he tried it again, this time drawing his gunblade and brandishing it at them. "EVERYBODY OUT!!!"
Seifer	The line out the door starts behind Seifer, because he didn't need to be told twice.
Sookie	"Guys, let's go, we're overwhelming her," Sookie agreed quietly, her eyes flickering from Squall to Rinoa as she hurried for the door. "Let her try and find her own thoughts without us helping, for a second."
Tara	Tara silently followed Sookie, though she kept looking back at Rinoa until she was out of the room. She so badly wanted to help, but every instinct she had told her this wasn't her fight.
Jono	Jono let his gaze linger on Squall for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing a little at the drawn blade while the conversation they'd had in the library the other week drifted back to his mind. He nodded, not taking his eyes off of the gunblade for so much as a second, before he wordlessly turned and stalked out of the room. He'd make time for words. Just not while he was standing in the middle of this.
Raven	Raven didn't want to leave. But the maelstrom of emotions was making her almost physically ill now, and Squall's sudden explosion into threats of violence had her concerned and more than a little scared. And somehow hungry at the same time. She hesitated, intending to protest she could help, but allowed herself to be pulled from the room.
Rinoa	Rinoa whirled on Squall, eyes blazing. "And so you stand against me," she said darkly. "The brave SeeD will destroy the evil Sorceress and save his friends. You overreach yourself."
Squall	Squall held her gaze, and lowered his weapon. "I'm not standing against you, I'm standing with you," he told her. "I'm your Knight. I'll always be by your side." Always.
Rinoa	"You lured me here so that man could spring his trap," she continued. And then, in a voice that sounded far more like herself, "Squall, everything's all wrong and I can't --" She jerked her head, distracted by a sudden frantic scribbling sound.
Odine	Some of the others may have left, but Dr. Odine wasn't going anywhere. Dr. Odine had found a notepad -- one that mysteriously was covered in doodles related to someone named Puberty Boy and some Grats -- and was taking notes. "Verrrry good," he murmured to himself. "Oh, zis is exciting."
Rinoa	Her eyes narrowed, and whatever ground Squall had gained, in getting Rinoa back, was lost again. She picked one hand up, holding it in front of herself and focusing on a spell. She concentrated ... but not on Odine. A ring of lights encircled the machine, opening outwards into rays that sliced through the heart of its workings. Clouds poured in, and burst into a well-contained explosion. There wasn't any flying debris, as the machine collapsed in on itself. But Odine's latest invention was now a pile of scrap metal.
Odine	Dr. Odine was so surprised that he dropped his notebook. "My machine!" he shrieked.
Squall	Squall's gunblade was back up, and leveled at the creepy scientist. "I said OUT," he seethed. He strode toward Odine with his blade outstretched, and didn't stop. The man would have to either move or be impaled. After Odine started scuttling backward toward the door, Squall waved his gunblade around at everyone who was left. "What part of 'out' don't you understand?!?" he snarled. "Move!" The 'or else' wasn't explicit, but it was pretty clearly implied.

(This is Part 2 of plot. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7.)

(And so it begins again! Preplayed with the severely awesometastic