Reunion of Two Times

 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 0_o Lack of sleep is getting onto me. Sorry for not posting up the next chapter, I'm kinda in the stage where I'm typing up six different stories at once. But, anyhoo, this is the next chapter and hopefully I'll put up the next one soon whenever I get around to writing it. See, I'm in the process of writing it while posting it up on FF.net as well. Get my point? Bascially, I think that's what everybody does. ::her twin, Ayanami_Chan, yells at her:: Okay, MOSTLY everybody except fer my twin over here. Anyhoo, there is a Card Captor Sakura and Outlaw Star alert. Yes, I did put the main character of each in here, but they've been warped to be able to fit into my story. So, like I said before, it's not REALLY a true crossover. Slightly, but not entirely. ::hears the murmers of the FF8 cast:: I know, I know! But they fit into here, okay? *Seifer* Sure, they do.... ::she bonks him on the head:: Would you do your work before I take you out of the story and turn you into a pink bunny rabbit? [once again, he is silenced] Good. (As you can see, I've been REALLY out of whack all this week with my insomniac stage going on once again. Enough rambling, on with the show!)

 

 

"Bonzai!!" Lily yelled at the top of her lungs as she side-kicked the shadow in mid-air and landing on the ground softly into a crouching position.

Seifer and his posse looked at her strangely. The shadow plummeted into a nearby Timber Maniacs stand, but quickly sprung up, hissing like a cat.

What the hell? Seifer thought.

Lily stood up from her previous position, still gazing dangerously at the shadow, her head cocked arrogantly to the side with a hand on her hip.

"I'm very sorry, but I can't you freaks get in the way," she chided as the shadow's hisses became to growling, fierce snarls.

Seifer didn't let his eyes stray from Lily standing in front of him, trying to figure out who she was in association to him and his posse. Lily, unlike Phoenix, took the tomboy role. Her blonde hair was tied up in a tight braid to keep from any strands going to her face. She wore a very baggy pair of pants that was tied around tightly by a shoe-sized belt around her hips, a short white shirt that covered the top of her stomach, and a very long, unbuttoned, navy blue vest that fell to her ankles, and a very clunky pair of black boots that looked similar to his. The sight of her was both tomboyish and seductive in a way. But that wasn't what Seifer was mezmorized by; it was the way she looked EXACTLY like the little girl in his dreams that haunted him. The features were just modified a bit to fit her youthful age of late teens.

On Lily's wrists were leather gauntlets like Zell's with the tips cut off. She fell into a martial arts stance as the shadow began to multiply. The crowd that it and Lily had attracted were now running for their lives at it surrounded the four.

"I'm assuming that you guys didn't bring your weapons," Lily addressed them, still keeping her eyes on the shadows as they began to circle around like a house of mirrors. "But you can still fight, can you?"

They nodded as the shadows finally stopped circling, its blurring images fading back into solid.

"But wait a second, who are you?" Seifer asked.

"Yeah, you just can't barge in and tell us to fight, ya know?" Raijin added.

"EXPLAIN," Fujin commanded.

"I'll explain as soon as we finish off these goons," Lily replied impatiently as she jumped to the offensive when the shadows sprung forward to attack.

They were fast, but they weren't as fast as Lily. She took out the first two coming towards her in one single sweep without any use of magic whatsoever. She had managed to keep the shadows at bay, but some had sneaked past her and converged on the posse who took them out with some difficulty. It took a while, but one by one, they began to disappear and eventually the shadows were gone altogether.

Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin were panting lightly after they were done due to the face that they hadn't been practicing in two years with their fists and also due to the fact that they had never fought as fast as an enemy that they just took out moments before. Lily, however, didn't seem to break a sweat.

"Okay," Seifer continued. "Now can you tell us who the hell are you?"

"The name's Lily," Lily answered.

A pause. "And?"

"Look," she said impatiently. "I came all the way from Esthar to pick up your lazy asses and take you back. If it wasn't for me coming here on time, then those freaks that you just fought would've gotten you for sure."

"Oh and so you expect us to come along quietly like children, just like that?" he retorted with even greater impatience. Lily was starting to get on his nerves.

"Yah, we need an explaination than just that, ya know?" Rajin added.

Fujin just nodded in agreement.

Lily heaved out a sigh of frustration and took a folded paper out of her front pocket.

"If you REALLY must know, then here. That will explain it all," she replied, just as impatient as Seifer was with an even similar attitude. And then she muttered under her breath. "Geez, Atamos BETTER give me a good pay after all of this."

Seifer opened the paper and began reading it, his posse loover over his shoulder.

"What the hell?" he muttered. "Compressed worlds?" Then he looked up at Lily. "But wait a sec, didn't time decompress AFTER Ultimecia was defeated? That's what I've heard."

"Apparently not," she replied. "The decompression lasted only for a short period of time. The reason why is that Ultimecia was defeated in the future, not the past."

"MEANING?" Fujin asked.

"Meaning that Ultimecia still exists in other times," Lily conclued. "...Including mine."

 

A scarred young man with auburn hair slept in the cockpit of the Ragnarok, snoring slightly. His feet were up on the controls as he leaned back in his chair to the point where he almost is about to fall off. A small headset was one his head like the ones that telephone operators used. He seemed to be having a pleasant dream when all of a sudden, a loud beeping noise came to his ear, knocking him and the chair off balance. A computer monitor came from above the fallen man.

"Gene," it said in a metallic voice. "Lily has returned from her mission."

The man named Gene got up from the floor, groping the controls as a balance. The headset was now in his hands and he rubbed his left ear to soothe the pain.

"Thanks for telling me, Gillian," he said to the monitor. "And for rudely waking me up from my nap."

Some noises came from the headset and he had to put it back on.

"Hey, Gene, would you open up, please?" Lily's voice commed in.

"Okay, okay, gotcha..."

The gate to the hangar opened up as Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin gawked in mysterious awe. Well...the majority gawked. Fujin just kinda stared wide-eyed in amazement.

"Okay, guys, come on up," Lily muttered to them as she entered the hatch.

"Shit, since when did you get the Ragnarok?" Seifer swore.

"The hell are you talking about? We've had the Ragnarok for years, just modified it a bit for our own personal use," she explained as if she was telling them that they were idiots and didn't get with the program.

"You gotta be kidding me, why modifications?"

 

The orphanage gane followed Phoenix around Esthar after their little welcoming committee ended. Some parts of Esthar were immediately recognized in which they really didn't need a guide to help them through: the shopping area, Odine's Laboratory (which looked a little bit shabby in their minds), and the Presidential Palace to name some. But then they entered into a totally different area which they've never seen before. It was one of the residential downtown areas of Estar: a really dirty one as a matter of fact. The city was famous for its few crimes per year and clean streets, but the area that the orphanage gang was entering was totally the opposite of that. Graffitti descecrated the buildings, various piles of trash was scattered about, dim lights, and homeless people everywhere. Everyone assumed that this was now Phoenix's time.

They finally passed through the downtown section into yet another residential area that looked normal for the lower middle class Estharians. They stopped in front of the gates of a dojo, one that was a completely unique style from the other Estharian homes. It looked...Japanese. A majestically beautiful Japanese dojo as well.

"Well, this is where I live," Phoenix said to her awe-strucked friends as she opened the gates.

Yet another look-a-like Rinoa sat on the porch reading a bunch of papers in her hand, but had lavender streaks in her hair. She was even more revealing than Phoenix, wearing a dark tank top with her pants. Her long hair was left alone and slid behind her shoulders and she looked up from her work, recognizing Phoenix, immediately left the paperwork and ran to her with a hug.

"Oh Hyne! I knew it! You're still alive, Sis!" she said gleefully.

Phoenix laughed, hugging her twin back. "It's nice to see you too, Sis."

Phoenix's twin let go of the embrace and looked at the orphanage gang questionably.

Who're they? Sapphire asked Sapphire.

Phoenix smiled assuringly. Don't worry, just friends.

Rinoa felt a twinge of aura from somewhere and winced a bit, making Squall to look at her with worry.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, just an itch," she assured him.

"These're the people who found me," Phoenix introduced and began introductions individually. "This is Squall, that's Rinao, over there's Zell, next to him's Selphie and Irvine, and that's Quistis. You guys, this is my twin sister, Luna."

"That's me!" Luna greeted in her own happy-go-lucky style.

Everybody exhanged their own greetings. Once that was doen, Phoenix continued. "Luna, you got the reports?"

"Yeah, just now," Luna replied, pointing back at the papers she left at the porch.

Phoenix looked around as if someone was missing. "Where's Alex?"

Her twin sister grinned. "Sleeping. Since you've been gone, poor guy's been training nonstop. I finally was able to convince him to go to sleep for once."

Phoenix sighed, but smiled. "I better go wake him up. Keep them company, will you?"

"Sure, no prob."

Phoenix went inside the home, leaving her twin sister with a very confused orphanage gang.

"So...let me get this straight..." Zell said after a couple minutes of silence. "You're Phoenix's twin sister?!?"

Luna couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah."

"And you two have a little brother?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh."

Zell, as usual, was a bit startled as the facts began to sink in. "Whoa..."

"Bet he looks just like you two," Selphie added.

Luna gave once again a small laugh. "Oooohhh....he SORTA looks like us, but he looks more like our father."

Squall arched an eyebrow at this statement. What does she mean by that?

 

A young, look-a-like Squall, around twelve, was sprawled on his bed, snoring quite loudly. He only wore a white tank and boxers; the rest of his clothes, including his Flame Saber, were scattered on the floor. Phoenix slid the door open. "Alex?"

She sighed at the sight her little brother made and set a hand on her hip as she stood in between the doorway. Shaking her head, she entered Alex's room as quietly as she could. She quickly made her way through his messy bedroom to his bed. Skillfully lifting up a sheet from underneath, she pulled it out from under him making him tumble down to the floor and waking him up.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?" he yelled out, totally awake and rubbing sleep away from his eyes.

Phoenix teasingly smiled at him. "And hello to you too, sleepyhead."

Alex immediately sat up from the floor. "Sis!"

She let out a gentle laugh, kneeling down next to him. "Yep, I'm back. Get changed, we have some company."

 

Even though they looked alike, Luna was the exact opposite of her twin sister. She was a couple of minutes older, but that wasn't all. From the start, she was immediately outgoing unlike Phoenix who was rather more shy and the type that you had to talk to first to get to know her better. Squall didn't notice it before, but there were bracelets on her wrists, beautiful ones with intricate designs that you can slip off easily. Phoenix had iron gauntlets, although it was hard to tell. Rinoa felt a strange bond between the twins; it was as if she had known them for years.

"What?!? So you're saying that there's a Garden here as well?!?" Selphie exclaimed at the news.

"Weelll...it's not REALLY one to train SeeDs," Luna said cautiously. Squall looked at her suspiciously, but let her continue. "See, after our parents died, we were sent to our only other living relative which was our aunt. She lived in Angel's Orphanage just a couple miles north of Esthar in the mountains. It's where all the orphans left behind in the second sorceress war went to, usually for training and whatnot."

"So you mean that it's similar to Garden, but not exactly," Quistis concluded.

"Wait a second," Rinoa intervened. "The only sorceress war I remembered was seventeen years ago against Sorceress Adel when she ruled over Esthar. There was another sorceress war in your time?" Oh, please, oh please, don't let it be involving me...

"Our family was involved in that war," Luna replied with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "That caused the loss of our sister against---"

"---Sorceress Ultimecia," Phoenix finished as she walked back on the porch with Alex following behind her. He still wore the white tank but managed to wear a pair of jeans and had his Flame Saber strapped on his back.

The gang kinda stared at Alex as he made his entrance. He was not the ordinary twelve year old as one could see. Alex was fairly tall for his age, medium built that was clearly seen by the muscles in his arms, and had this clear focus of determination in his sapphire eyes just like Squall's were even though he looked like he had just been sleeping due to the mass of tangles in his dark hair.

"No way..." Zell breathed.

He looks just like Squall... Rinoa thought.

"This is our little brother, Alex," Phoenix introduced.

He just politely waved.

"Well, let's get started!" Luna shouted out in pure joy. "We'll fill you in on all the details Atamos sent us."

"Atamos?" Rinoa repeated the name.

"Oh, you know, the guy who was talking to Phoenix. He's our boss."

"But he looks so young..." Quistis observed.

Luna giggled. "Looks can be deceiving, let me warn you. Although he looks our age, he really isn't."

"Yeah, an old geezer who goes after--oof!" Alex was quieted by Phoenix with a bonk on the head.

"Not now, Alex. We've got work to do."

"Helllooooo!!!" a sweet, honey voice called out behind them.

Everyone turned around to find a red-head woman with a nine year old girl. The red-head waved.

"Hey, guys, what's up? Got a letter!" she greeted cheerfully.

The nine year old's expression next to her beamed as she saw the sight of Phoenix and ran to her. "Phoenix!!!! You're alive!!!"

The girl wrapped her arms around Phoenix's waist because that was how tall she could be able to hug an adult.

"Hey, Sakura, how's it going?" Phoenix asked.

Sakura was a petite girl for her age with mousy brown hair cut to the bottom of her ears in tomboyish style that was held up by a large while headband, chocolate-brown eyes, and small features that made her look like a cute, innocent, little girl. She wore a school uniform that was light blue and white in color and a brown satchel was strapped on her back. It looked fairly big, but didn't seem heavy at all on Sakura's slim shoulders.

"Just fine!" she smiled charmfully.

"Thanks for taking care of her, Megan," Luna said to the red head.

"Oh, no problem, besides, Mr. Wolfe was pretty busy this past week or so, so he didn't mind too much," Megan replied.

Megan was around Phoenix and Luna's age with short, auburn hair that curled against her chin, and bright, emerald eyes. She looked like she was someone who worked on ships as a technician.

"That's a relief," Phoenix said.

The satchel on Sakura's back began to move, focusing all attention onto it. A little creature popped out, one that looked like a stuffed animal. It was a pale yellow in color and stared at Sakura with beady black eyes, floating at least six feet above the ground.

"Ah, finally some fresh air!" it said with a slightly southern accent, stretching its arms. "Sakura, you should've told me that it was clear to come out!"

"W-what is that thing?!?" Zell and Irvine managed to say, pointing at the creature and a bit freaked out.

Selphie and Rinoa were entranced by its...uh...cuteness. "Oh, it's sooo CUTE!!!"

"...." That was Squall, who as usual, didn't comment.

"Looks like a stuffed animal come to life," Quistis murmured.

Apparantly the creature heard her. "I am NOT a stuffed animal!" It floated triumphantly in front of the orphanage gang. "I am the powerful and awesome guardian, Kereberos! Sworn to guard the Triad cards---"

"Which you lost..." Alex muttered who was bonked on the head again but this time by Kereberos.

"I did NOT lose them! Sakura did."

"Hey! It's not my fault! Aren't you supposed to be the guardian who protects them, K-chan?" Sakura pointed out.

Kereberos went into a fit of rage. "Argh! Stop calling me K-chan!!"

"I would if you had a shorter name and stopped calling me a Card Captor!"

"Well, it's your fault in the first place----"

"Hey, what the hell's going on?" Lily's voice interrupted.

Once again, everybody's attention was focused in another direction. Lily and Gene stood at the gates. Squall's teeth gritted in a seething anger to the people behind them, particularly one: Seifer.

 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Once again, I'm stopping here. My fingers are tired of typing. And yes, Squall and Rinoa popped out a bunch of kids, but that's how I would picture them if they lived happily ever after. My friend, Celestial Senshi, thought it a tad bit confusing, but I don't. If it is, please tell me so that I can clarify in the next chapter, ok?

Ayame-chan