Opening Pandora's Box

[knighted-lion.livejournal.com]

Characters: The captured SeeDs and all those coming to the rescue
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: A rescue is mounted
Location: The Garden
Date: August 30, 1804; shortly after the Garden lands and Rinoa leaves to attack
Warnings: None that I can think of, but I'll edit if anything comes up.

The Garden had stopped. That was the first thing Squall noticed. Where they had stopped, he had no idea, but the engines had fallen silent, and presumably that was a good thing. In that it meant maybe - just maybe - someone would attempt to break, to stop everything before it got worse. Before... before Rinoa hurt any more people.

He doubted that would be the case, but ... he had to hope, almost. Had to hope that there was someone coming, had to hope that things would be as alright as they ever were with Ultimecia involved. And yet, there was some small part of his mind yelling that it wasn't fair, that he'd barely had enough time to begin to get used to this new world and here he was forced into a situation that was his worst nightmare. He didn't want to have to deal with this.

But he had to. For his people, and for all those strangers who knew him. He had to end this, before anything worse happened.

So with that in mind, he gathered together what dregs of courage he could, and made himself ready for what was to come, idly roaming around the little room that he'd all but memorized, looking for something he could use. Some small way to break out - not that he'd expected either of them to leave him something, but hey. Maybe he'd overlooked something. Maybe, and that was what his world had come done to. Maybes and hopes.

Comments

Rescuing Ellone and Raine

[knighted-lion.livejournal.com]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

Sometime after Rinoa's "visit", Ellone had managed to free them both from their restraints using her magic. Something that Raine was still not at all comfortable with. But with the amount of torture the girl had endured, it seemed a petty point to harp on, especially when Elle insisted she wasn't a sorceress.

Raine had other worries too.

Ellone's injuries had been extensive and in her desperation to do something for her adoptive daughter, Raien found she had a talent she wasn't aware of. Healing magic. Fear bubbled up in her at the first show of it, which came more out of instinct than any true understanding of what or how it happened. It terrified her. Look what horrors magic had wrought on her home, her family... on Rinoa. She would never forgive Rinoa for this.

Horrifying as the magic was for her, Raine persisted in bathing Ellone in as much of it as she could, then resting until she felt capable again. There were so many injuries on her, that even after all this time, they were only just starting to vanish.

So huddled on the floor together, she stroked Ellone's hair and sighed. "I'm sorry, Elle. I can't do anymore right now. Just a little rest first."

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

Despite the pain and trauma Rinoa had put her through, Ellone was certain, absolutely to the core of her being, that she wasn't ultimately responsible for what she'd done. Or was doing, whichever the case was at that point. It was hard to tell since the Garden had stopped moving.

Elle felt her head swimming, more so after she'd used her magic to sever their rope bindings, noticing with a far-away sense of surprise that someone was casting healing magic on her. Something registered that the only other person was Raine, but her tired mind was only partially processing what that meant.

"It's okay," she murmured, shaking her head as she held onto Raine as best she could. "I'm just... I'm glad she couldn't hurt you or the baby."

If anything had happened to them... Hyne, she did know what she would have done. She couldn't lose Raine again.

"How are you feeling?"

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

Laguna had been near frantic when he reached the last of these rooms. So far, he hadn't been able to find them and it was making his heart beat frantically. He couldn't stand the thought of losing either of them. The very fact that once the Terra battle was over, he could very well lose Raine all over again but both of them?

Laguna couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't. Not this time.

He rounded a corner and nearly ran into another SeeD. Whipping his lance out, he slammed the butt of it against the side of the cadet's head, knocking him out before he could make a call. Luckily, there was no one else in the area. Fishing the key out of the pocket of the kid, he slid it across the pad and waited for the door to open. Once it did, he let out an explosive sigh of relief.

Dropping his lance, Laguna ran inside and slid to his knees, taking them both into his arms and holding them tight. "You're both alright," Laguna whispered, a weight lifting from his chest. Ellone was noticeably injured, but alive. And that was the most important part.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

"I'm..." Raine couldn't even finish the sentence. She might normally insist that she was fine, but in this case, it wasn't possible. Nothing was fine or okay about this trauma and they both knew it. "I'm not hurt." Unlike Ellone. Which infuriated her all over again. That vile, betraying hussy.

The sound of the door being opened again sent Raine's heart leaping into her throat. Another round of torture or were they being killed off? She started to angle herself to protect Ellone, when she spotted Laguna. A cry of joy came out and next she knew, he was holding her. Holding them.

Clinging to her husband, Raine buried her face in his shoulder and began to weep. All the fear and outrage couldn't be bottled up anymore and came out in a stream of tears. "Laguna, you're here. I knew you'd come," she mumbled between choked sobs.

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

"Easy, easy, honey," Laguna rubbed her back before gently letting her go. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. However, we do need to get out of here."

He went back to Ellone and swiftly gathered her into his arms. "Hold tight, sweetie," He said to Ellone before waiting for Raine to stand so they could leave. "Rydia and Edge should have gotten any other captive SeeDs out and Squall is out to get Rinoa to stop. I don't know what's going on with anyone else though but the Garden is back to normal."

But how was the fight going on with Ultimecia and Rinoa going? Was it over yet? Was it going to end? He didn't know and he needed to get Ellone taken care of.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

"G-good," Ellone murmured, sinking back a little further as she tried to breathe through the tightness of her chest. "You... you have magic?"

The sound of footsteps coming down the hall stopped her and nearly made her cry again with fear, and she was likewise moving to place herself in front of Raine. The sight of Uncle Laguna flinging himself into their prison brought such an intense feeling of relief that the tears came steadily as she clung to both him and Raine, letting him scoop her up in his arms afterward. She could barely hold herself up at that point anyway, so it was best. Even if she wanted Raine to be the one being carried.

"Where are we going?" she whispered.