FFIV/FFVIII: From the Mouths of Monsters (3)

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From the Mouths of Monsters (3)
Canon: FFIV / FFVIII Crossover
Rating: PG-13, for now
Characters: Quistis, Rydia

Notes: This is complete crack. Take with grain of salt and sense of humor. THIS IS EVEN MORE CRACK THAN THE LAST ONE. Seriously, I don't even know what this is.

No, Quistis thought, harder and slightly more frantically - she'd never lost control of her GFs like this; even as a SeeD, the youngest SeeD in Garden's history, she'd always been able to control her Summons: her teachers had said she was a natural.

- - - From the Mouths of Monsters (3)

Quistis glanced over at the girl beside her as they walked through the halls. Rydia's lips were set tightly, and her brows were drawn together; overall, she looked more determined than scared, which surprised Quistis somewhat. Truly, she'd expected the girl to be at least a little frightened; it was becoming more and more obvious that she'd come from some sort of different world. She could work it out - she could fix it - but -

The GFs buzzed in her head again, a periodic wave of fret and emotion. Quistis couldn't concentrate with this strange magical noise going on in her head. She was starting to wonder whether Rydia's presence was interfering with anyone else's GFs. She hoped not; people were still a little unnerved by Rinoa's magic, and Quistis didn't even want to think about what would happen to this new stranger if someone pinpointed the disturbance back to her.

She glanced over again. Green hair obscured the girl's face from view - girl? Quistis thought. She's at least as old as you are - and tumbled over bare shoulders. She wore green leather, in a dress-like tunic of sorts, wrought with archaic-looking embroidery. Her boots were high, almost to her thigh, and on her arms she wore long draping sleeves of some flimsy sort of cloth. Quistis guessed it was some sort of ceremonial wear - like Estharian banquet dress, or maybe a Shumi formal garment - because it certainly didn't look like fighting gear. Something glinted beneath a gauzy belt, and Quistis wondered for a moment if the girl was another whip-fighter like herself.

Whatever it was, the girl didn't look ready for battle. Quistis made a note to be on guard - as if her nerves would let her relax, at this point. The GFs buzzed at her again: friendly, but urgent.

"Here," she said, turning the corner and heading towards the Training Center; she felt the girl turn to follow her. Well, she had good instinct, at least. As they approached, Quistis raised her voice. "All training cadets need to leave the Training Center immediately."

Heads turned to look at her and the strange-looking girl at her side. "Now, cadet!" Quistis snapped, playing her authority role to its full potential. "Your access will be restored in one hour."

"But we're-"

Quistis leveled the interrupter with a glare. "I hope I don't have to repeat myself, cadet. This is Commander's business." Secretly she hoped Squall didn't have a problem with her using his glorious title in vain. The students dispersed, throwing glances over their shoulders. Quistis kept her back straight as she swiped her card for TC access, keying the code behind her to lock the doors.

She was a little unsure as to why she was taking so many precautions, but something in her gut - or maybe the odd resonance of her GFs - was making her wary.

Rydia followed her into the Training Center, bright eyes flickering over the faux-jungle. "This is where the Summons live?"

Quistis sighed and felt the strong urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. "We call them Guardian Forces," she said, "or GFs. And they aren't exactly... well, they are beings, but they don't have true physical forms."

Rydia's gaze was suddenly on her, both worried and accusatory all at once. "Where is Leviathan?"

"I think you may be misunderstanding me," Quistis said tactfully.

Rydia glanced around at the jungle. "I thought you'd brought me here to speak with Bahamut," she said. "Or Levia - he's the one I followed. Are they not here?"

Quistis took a very deep breath and mentally pulled together a few phrases from her Introduction to Guardian Forces lecture for undergraduate cadets. "The Guardians are more like spirits. Some of them are able to commune with humans, and will grant their user certain special gifts and the ability to use para-magic in exchange for a space in the user's mind."

"Your Guardians..." Rydia suddenly looked very, very worried. "They aren't real?"

"They're real," Quistis replied, "just not... tactile. Not always, anyway. In battles, a strong enough user can lend his or her strength to the Guardian Force, allowing it to momentarily take an actual physical form to fight for the caller."

"So... you are a Caller." Rydia pursed her lips. "A Summoner."

"It's different." Quistis sighed again and glanced around them; it wouldn't do to have this stranger eaten by a T-Rexaur while they were talking. "I can call a GF into battle, but only if I have it Junctioned - which is what we call it when a GF and a human set up this kind of symbiotic relationship," she added at Rydia's confused look.

"Junctioned?" Rydia kicked idly at a plant at her feet. "You cannot - you don't simply Call the monster forth from the Land?"

"I have no idea what you mean by that," Quistis said honestly. "I think the best way to answer this conversation is by example. If you can - promise not to interfere, I will use one of the GFs, so you can see what I mean."

Rydia nodded, looking excited at the idea.

Quistis thought downward towards the mental link where she usually found her GFs. Calling one forth had often given her the strange sensation of thrusting her arm into a pool of cold water and groping around; she reached, tugging at Carbunkle, who she knew was already Junctioned. Carbunkle was the best choice; easily accessible, relatively friendly, and most importantly Rydia wouldn't be hurt if the GF decided to use its special battle skills. The GF chattered back at her, and Quistis began the mental countdown to a summon; she didn't use Carbunkle often, so their compatability was fairly low, but she was a skilled GF user and -

Leviathan swished around in the pool of her mind, suddenly, its consciousness - separate from her own - blooming into her mind like a spilled ink puddle in her mental pool. The GF was suddenly Junctioned, with no conscious thought of her own: Quistis jerked as she felt Leviathan's strength flowing into her body like water filling a glass, her Junctioned magic re-arranging itself. Carbunkle paused in its slow swim towards her conscious mind.

No. She couldn't summon an attack GF; it might hurt the girl if it became uncontrollable. She'd never called forth a GF outside of battle; Garden advised against that, because often the magic manifested itself in a dangerous sort of way. No, Quistis thought, tugging harder on Carbunkle.

Leviathan swished its tail, coming closer to the surface of her mental pool.

No, Quistis thought, harder and slightly more frantically - she'd never lost control of her GFs like this; even as a SeeD, the youngest SeeD in Garden's history, she'd always been able to control her Summons: her teachers had said she was a natural. Mentally she reached out with her other hand, trying to un-Junction Leviathan, trying to tell him to wait, just wait: once Rydia understands how to Junction, I will let her see you, but for now -

It was as if the thought of the girl had sparked fire out of nowhere; Quistis' mind exploded, and she fell to her knees as Leviathan forced itself out of her mind - she felt the lessening, the fading-away feeling as her own physical form dropped out of being and Leviathan's took over, and in the back of her head Carbunkle's cold footprints ran down her spine and back into the safety of oblivion as Leviathan roared -

- and sank to the ground between Quistis' prone form and Rydia.

It looked like it was bowing.

Quistis realized suddenly with a terrifying jolt that she hadn't faded completely; normally when calling a GF her consciousness ended up inside the GF's own head, a tentative alignment for the special battle skills the GFs bore. She was still in her own body, somehow - sort-of, for she was transparent, and glowing. She could not feel anything; her senses were all in the summon, somehow, but her body was still crouched where she had been before.

"Leviathan." Rydia's voice was full of wonderment and grief. "You stupid idiot, I'm so glad to see you."

The sea-dragon writhed into a circle before the girl, and Quistis felt her body twist - something was pulling at her, and she almost cried out -

Tell her, something hissed in her mind. Please, child-daughter, she of the monster-magic, tell the green one that I cannot speak to her.

"Rydia!" Quistis gasped out, more amazed than anything that she had a voice - a GF was speaking to her - she was still glowing, golden and amber - "Rydia, he says that he can't talk to you."

Rydia frowned, her gaze turning from the sea-snake to Quistis and then back. "You can't become human here?"

So much has changed. It dripped in her mind, thick like blood but cool like water, a healing spell with the hissing rush of waves. The ages move on and though the bodies are weak when the ties are cut, the spirits remain. We endure.

"I don't understand," Quistis managed to say through the magic.

"What is he saying?" Rydia demanded, her hands on her hips as she glared at the summon before her.

"He says that ...much has changed." She was starting to get used to the feeling; her body had faded into Leviathan's, and this was her spirit, shining gold with some sort of summon-strength.

"Changed?" Rydia squeaked. "Levia, what's going on?"

I have missed you, soul-child, dragon-daughter. All these years, all these ages, I have missed you. Why have you not faded? How is it that you still breathe land's air; how do you stand before me?

Quistis breathed - no, she wasn't breathing, she was a ghost. "He says that he missed you. And that it's been a long time. And he wants to know how you're still alive." It was all she could do to get the words out; she was puzzled, she was confused, she was in over her head: but for now, she was the voice-conduit of a Guardian Force, and if she thought any harder it might shatter everything.

"Still alive?" Rydia turned a sharp gaze on Leviathan. "What are you talking about? I felt the Land - I felt it break, Levia, and I came down there, looking for you all, and I - I felt you, so I Called you, but you felt like you were somewhere else. You felt like you were in danger... so I followed you here. Wherever here is." She looked accusatory. "You pulled me."

Quistis felt the understanding flow into her, a tiny brook flowing into the larger consciousness-sea. "You're from the past," she whispered. "Our past."

Yes, blue-daughter. The water wrapped around her, a golden pool of warmth seeping into the remaining edges of her self. It has been many years and ages since I lay my ocean-eyes upon the daughter before me.

Rydia's eyes had widened at her words; the girl glanced at Leviathan and said, timidly: "Is that true?"

The dragon-snake nodded, formally, solemnly, once.

Rydia took a step back, one hand coming to her mouth in shock. The other hand came out to touch Leviathan; the snake bowed its head, and Rydia lay her palm against it. Quistis could somehow feel the nervous quivers of the girl's hand against skin just barely not-hers. "I'm in the - the future?"

"I - think so." Quistis could feel Leviathan's mind, open to her in a way no GFs had ever been: Levia had been a King, and the Land he ruled was the Land Rydia had spoken of - but something had happened, and it had faded, and over the eons the great Summons had become nothing more than spirits in search of a physical body.

The Land was our home, and it faded, Leviathan told her. It passed away, and the bindings upon it broke. Time means nothing to one of us, so we simply wait, and exist. When those of your garden came to call, some of us chose to answer.

"What has happened to you?" Rydia whispered, bringing her other hand forward to stroke Leviathan's crown. "Can I not Summon you here?"

I do not know, soul-child. What we were has not been found. Your Call may be lost, looking for an abandoned Land torn to shreds by time's-magic. There are no Summoners. The blue-born may use our skills, but the blood has been lost.

Quistis patiently willed her mouth open to repeat his words. "He doesn't know. He says there aren't any Summoners any more, and your Calling might not work. The Land isn't - here. What they were has been lost."

Rydia's face filled with a sudden, sharp pain. "Levia," she asked urgently, "where is Asura?"

A deep stab of longing filled Quistis' mind, the ache of loss, an ache she recognized immediately: the pain left behind for one taken on the battlefield. Before her, the great sea-dragon's head dropped low, again, as if mourning. I do not know, dragon-daughter. She fell from me when the Land vanished, and through all these ages I have not yet felt her light.

"He... he doesn't know." The words came from somewhere; Quistis could barely feel anything anymore.

Rydia sniffled, but her face set in something like determination. "But she can't die," she said desperately. "You told me that you can't die. You don't die. So she's here... somewhere, right?" A long, muted pause. "You still don't die, right?" Her voice was small.

The spirits remain, Leviathan said quietly. We endure.

A feeling of fatigue was falling upon Quistis, familiar, like a battle you were fighting and slowly but ultimately losing. She struggled to feel her own mind, struggled to open her mouth to repeat his words...

Your magic fades, blue-child. I am sorry to have spent and used it without your will, so I thank thee kindly: perhaps the blue-born do still carry the power in this age.

Quistis sank into the pool, gazing peacefully up at the surface as the world slowly closed over her.

When she woke up, Rydia was crouched over her, sniffling desperately. "Quistis, wake up," she was insisting, over and over, through the cloud of haze slowly clearing from her mind. "Please, Quistis, wake up."

Quistis ached inside, with some kind of new emptiness that felt like a hole in her heart; it felt like her Blue Magic had curled up in the corner of her mind, dried up beyond belief. "I'm alright," she said slowly, sitting up and straightening out her glasses. Her soul ached. "I think, anyway."

She closed her hand into a fist, instinctively casting Curaga on herself - although the pain did not lessen. "How are you?"

Rydia drew back a little. "I don't know," she said in a very small voice.

Quistis tried to smile.

"I don't know if there's any way for me to get home." Rydia looked away, obviously warring between tears and anger. "I - I got here through the Land, and if there isn't a Land of Summons any more..." She swallowed. "Why would he bring me here? Why would he pull me into the future, just to-"

Something shook in the bushes, and Quistis fumbled to her feet. "We should probably go somewhere else," she said. Her bones felt weary, as if the marrow had been sucked from them. "And we should talk."

"Probably," Rydia said, sounding so much like a sulky child that Quistis almost wanted to laugh, despite it all. "Although it's not going to do me any good, unless we can find the Land, or send me back in time."

"Someone might be able to do just that," Quistis said carefully. "We don't know yet. I need to know all the facts."

Rydia turned to her, eyes widened in absolute disbelief, her mouth gaping - which was when the T-Rexaur burst from the bushes and gave an ear-shattering roar.

Quistis had her whip in hand instantly, and shouted for Rydia to move behind her as she blocked the first blow of its tail. She felt her Junctions flow into her head, instantly, almost automatically, and the next block had enough force behind it to make the T-Rex roar again.

Something shiny flew into her field of vision, and she turned to see a bright silver-white whip lash across the Rexaur's leg. Rydia grinned, an evil grin, her draping arm-sleeves billowing behind her movements as she deftly drew the whip back. Quistis stepped into another blow, wincing at the pain but managing to lash out in return.

Rydia cried something out and threw her arm into the air, sleeves blowing in an unseen wind and flashing in the sudden light that outlined her figure. The sky grew dark.

Then a blindingly-bright flash of fire came from nowhere, followed by another, and another, pelting into the wailing Rexaur. Fire rained down from the sky, increasing in intensity until Quistis had to momentarily avert her eyes to step back. When she glanced up, there was nothing but a pile of rock, which slowly faded into nothingness and ash.

Beside her, Rydia dropped her arms with a tired sigh.

Quistis could feel it, again, that boiling wave of magic emanating from the woman beside her. It felt familiar, not unlike the magic that resonated around Rinoa during her Limit Break, but not exactly like either.

It meant one thing, though: Rydia was some kind of Sorceress. With access to a strange kind of magic - she'd never seen anything like that spell before.

Grimly, Quistis smiled. "Let's go somewhere with fewer interruptions," she said. "Hopefully we can get this all straightened out."