I knew where this was going right from the beginning really, (well, beginning meaning the fleshed-out FFVIII arc.) I knew that Rinoa was going to discuss what she should do about the fact that she has the power of multiple Sorceresses and how they would set a goal to maybe transfer some of her Sorceress power back to Edea so that Rinoa was not at risk of being consumed/corrupted by that power. Quistis, too, would volunteer to take some of that power in order to alleviate Rinoa's strain. Assuming they knew how to do that, which they don't at the moment.
Meanwhile, Squall was going to set up to go back home. Zell was to stay in Balamb, Laguna was to go to Esthar. Ellone would follow him, but after she helped out Rinoa.
by hinokami-san
I mean, I made some minor changes. In my outline, it was Squall's idea to go back to Traverse Town because he was homesick, but by the time I'd written it, Squall was mostly just conflicted and Rinoa had to convince him that going home was a good idea. Naturally, they'll keep in touch and visit each other.
The whole thing with Aerith's letters was added later. I mean, I knew Aerith was writing him, and I figured that Aerith's letters would probably get a little more worried as time went on. I mean, the last time we saw Aerith in-story was the chapter where she can't really focus on anything because she's worried both about Zack and about Leon and then she goes and fights Heartless and Zack drops in. It's been at least three weeks since that point. So yeah.
The artwork off to the side isn't really related to anything, except that I found it adorable. :-)
To respond to KKBeckett's review, yes, it is sort of like we're coming to a close. The FFVIII arc is almost done. But fear not, I have plenty more plot to come. I'd say what, but that'd be spoilers, so ya'll just have to keep reading.
I'll give you some teaser quotes because I like you all, though!
"You're wearing a lot of pink."
"I feel the same way about Zack most of the time."
"Most of the time?"
"Sometimes he's obnoxious and I want to smack him over the head with my staff."
"Do you need glasses? Of course it's me!"
"You ever traveled by star shard before?"
"Huh?"
"I'll take that as a no. Piece of advice: brace yourself."
"I don't think you'll believe me."
"Try me."
Anywho, I like this video. Also, I just like Sara Bareilles.
Excuse me while I set my feels aside from what I was writing to deal with the chapter that I posted yesterday. The only thing similar is the darkness, and that's an overarching theme. Heheh.
No tumbl for this one guys. It just didn't happen. Everything moved so fast and I kept switching POVs to get the full story surrounding it. Plus, I repeated a few things to get all the viewpoints and... yeah...
The only thing that would have gotten tumbld would have been my feels on Rinoa's hysteric breakdown.
But let me back up for a second.
Anyone notice how where they are keeps changing in relationship to time? (End of Time, Time Compression, Sliver in the End of Time, Present Time) This motif will continue in the next chapter of this arc. Yup yup. I thought I was being clever.
cosplay by leonhart cosplay
Also, Rinoa basically stabs you in a knife with her feels. But that's not before Leon wrings your feels out because he's started to forget Rinoa. Which is totally something that happens in the ending video in the game. I just abbreviated it. Honestly, reading it over again, I think it makes it scarier, because it seems so sudden. He's forgotten someone very important to him. And he is stuck on a sliver of time, and he's got nowhere to go.
And then Rinoa (understandably) starts raving. It doesn't matter what Quistis or Edea tells her, she's not going to accept the fact that Leon could be gone. And when Quistis reminds her that the journey they took was bound to claim at least someone, Rinoa goes on about how she was the one it was supposed to have claimed, not anybody else, especially not Squall. KKBeckett puts it accurately when she says "oh my feels." Because "ugh feels!"
It kind of just blows my mind when I think about how someone could come to terms with their own death before they can come to terms with others. I mean, I am aware that it happens. But, all the same... yeah... special things, really.
As it is, I shan't say anything about where this is going. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Those of you who have read All the Pieces are lucky. Not because you know how it ends, but because you know that it ends. (If that makes sense muahahaha!).
So, other than that, I don't have anything to say. Most everything I have to say comes with the next chapter of this arc. So... I shall leave you with a video and bid you a nice day!
I love the animation done on this one by mike-inel.
So, HUGE update! 2.5 was released! Anyone super excited? I probably watched the trailer four times this morning on tumblr alone (as in, every single time it showed up on my dash) and then I think I watched it again on FB. Anyway... *dances excitedly*
So this chapter actually got written after I'd loaded up FFVIII and played that last battle again. Because, why not. T'was fun. That, and I watched two different playthroughs to get more ideas than just what I do. Because, seriously, I'm not writing Irvine or Selphie, and only some of their stuff gets transferred over to what I was doing with Edea and Laguna. And my solution with Rinoa is to stick her in her limit break and then just keep her healed. Then she just chain-casts. There's no strategy. And Rinoa in my fic would have strategy. So... yeah...
Ultimecia's a pretty fun boss battle, honestly. I found it incredibly easy the first time I played it (though, I'd had so much else go wrong with my game that I guess it just didn't quite match up to the suspense I'd gotten waiting for a functional third disk.) All the same, it's a pretty decent battle, though the storyline of 8 is all over the place, don't get me wrong. I think my stuff makes more sense lol.
Sorry for those of you reading the first posting of that chapter, I had missing words and stuff. Clearly I need to proofread better. I think it's all fixed now. If not, lemme know, I'll probably fix them
Again, I kinda feel bad for all the crap I put Rinoa through. This is the second time she's possessed. And Ultimecia's a stronger consciousness. And... yeah... I just... but... *shrug*. Rinoa is the one who just gets all the Sorceress powers in my story. Heheh...
And, yes, I did reference Shad. Don't even ask me why. I found it amusing and thus kept it.
Huh... is that really all I have to say about this chapter? I think it is. I mean, it's just a boss battle. The more interesting stuff will come in later chapters. O...kay... then.
Well, then in that case... anyone wondering what happens next will have to wait a couple of chapters. (I say two because the next chapter involves someone who is not these characters. You'll see!
As usual, have a video:
Oh! before I do that! I found other things to say... I think I've already attached Rolling Girl to Rinoa. Well, here, have another version of Rolling Girl (a really excellent cover if I do say so myself). A lot of my feels relate to rar's feels on this one (not the first time I've said this) but... yeah... enjoy!
Anyway, have a slightly related picture of Rinoa and Squall, yes, they're on the Ragnarok, but this picture, okay? Where he's holding her and all... yeah...
So, yeah, I had a ton of feels in this chapter and some of them were not okay.
Rinoa was just a bucket of feels and so was Squall, but he's trying to hide them because he's Squall and that's what he does and just... ugh!
But Rinoa's having the... "I know Adel's dead but I just can't quite believe it yet and everyone must think I'm dangerous and I would have been better off frozen, do you seriously care about me enough to rescue me and oh my gosh I was possessed I just feel gross and icky and no one likes me now and I should just go get frozen because that's what's best for everyone and..."
And Squall's like... "I have to know Adel's gone but there's a part of me that doesn't care because I think I love you but if love isn't the right word than I'm not quite sure what is, but I've realized I don't want to live without you so I think you're stuck with me and oh dear, why are you crying?"
BUT HE FLIPPING SLAMS ON THE BRAKES AND THEN HE HOLDS HER AND OH MY FEELS.
Sorry, for subjecting you to that. I have feels, I'm sorry.
Is there anything I want to say that isn't deep fried and covered in feels? Nope, not really. My outline basically says that Squall goes and gets Rinoa and then they come back and talk about how they're going to go after Ultimecia. The feels came later.
Though I have a completely different set of feels for the second half. The second half is "Gosh, Headmaster Cid, why are you such a presumptuous jerk?" I like, did not mean to write him that way, and I know he must have some redeeming qualities because he IS Edea's Knight, but... like... he's so presuming. *rolls eyes* But then Quistis and Edea make up for it because they're both willing to take on Ultimecia's powers if it makes it easier for Rinoa and Rinoa is kind of shocked because she didn't expect that from them. Mostly because she's having self-confidence issues. Those will get solved later.
Um, so Review Responses:
KKBeckett: Um, maybe it was a reference to Aladdin? I guess it was. There's no itty bitty living space involved though. But Rinoa practically has phenomenal cosmic powers, so... And basically, the rest of that is my feels in general. Quistis is awesome and Rinoa needs a confidence boost. Yep.
Have an oddly appropriate VOCALOID Video:
I have feels about this song, too. They are similar to rar's feels. Anywho, have a nice day!
So, this is the chapter where Leon finally decides that he's going to go after Rinoa. Goodness, that took some persuading. (Actually, it really didn't. Edea basically just had to tell him what he needed to do.) Anyway.
Literally, this is what I had written in my outline:
Leon, Zell, and Quistis were forced to go back to Balamb without Rinoa, but with Laguna. Despite everything Laguna said, there was no retrieving Rinoa. After agonizing about this for a while, Leon takes it upon himself to go rescue Rinoa. He realizes that he cares about her a lot, maybe even to the point of love. Edea coaches him a bit about Sorceress Knights and he goes off to rescue her. On the way, he realizes that he loves her. He brings Rinoa back to herself and she gets the two sets of Sorceress powers under control.
Yeah, so that happened.
by *Mar-ka on dA
Well, it kind of happened like that. That particular portion of the outline hadn't been updated since I decided
that Adel's consciousness wasn't going to die yet. Originally, Rinoa just lost control of the second set of powers, rather than Adel having anything to do with it. But, aside from that modification.
What I do wish I had done, was maybe make the fight against Adel take a little longer. Reading through it again, I feel like I shortened it by too much to keep it in a chapter length. I don't know. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?
Despite that, I'm glad I included the Adel conscious in favor of Rinoa just losing control. It make Rinoa the only girl who gets possessed, sure, but that's one girl out of a load of boys who have trouble with "shadows" (e.g. Rar's Sora, Riku and Cloud (and kind of Zack).) *not spoilers because of AtP and BB*
Though, it does make this sequence a little bit darker than originally planned. Whoopsies.
Then, to piggy-back off of what the livetumbl has going on... I *love* the sarcasm that Leon's got going on. "I'm going to go visit it as a tourist attraction--no, I'm going to try and rescue her, you dumbwit!" The second half of that post refers to Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Because sarcasm, that's original.
Then, in those last moments, he's just so mushy. And he's never been more grateful that Rinoa's always called him 'Squall' in his life. I made sure that Adel always referred to him as 'boy', and it's not until Rinoa's truly herself again that she calls him 'Squall.' Heheh.
I am aware that that blog post title only applies to one quarter of the chapter that I just posted, but it's really the only fight that's going on in this chapter (as opposed to gearing up to the fight against Adel and Cid's fights against libraries and bookstores. Neither of which make good blog titles.
And the truth behind why Rinoa had magic in chapter two comes out. Adel tried to possess her. See, when I wrote the chapter, I hadn't quite decided whether or not Rinoa was a Sorceress or not. I think in my head, I assumed she was, because she needed to be for the chapter for the plot I already had in place to function. It was only later that I decided that Rinoa wasn't a Sorceress yet because, I liked the transfer of powers idea and there really was no other way (that wasn't ridiculously complicated) that I could work it out.
But, in the game, Rinoa doesn't become a Sorceress until Sorceress Edea almost dies and transfers her powers. In my canon, here's Rinoa exhibiting Sorceress powers before she'd even MET Edea, so I decided to go with the possession (or attempt of possession) route. Because, it's so Kingdom Hearts. It really is. Okay, well, it's so Xehanort, but still.
The raw magic, as explained by the chapter, came from an attempt of possession by the Sorceress Adel, who was trying to possess another girl in order to free herself from prison. Rinoa seemed like a good enough candidate because of her connection to one of Galbadia's generals. However, the full possession attempt fails because of the safeguards around Adel's prison.
Rinoa was then able to use magic for about six months while the residual Sorceress power slowly drained from her system.
Cue everything between chapter 2 and chapter 21.
Rinoa decides that now is as good of a time than ever to mention that she had magic before, answering just about all of Quistis' questions as well as getting some of her own answered by Edea. Meanwhile, Leon and Zell are just like "okay, whatever".
Moving onto Cid! (I wonder if this is going to be a long blog... probably not... because I really only am going to ramble on and on about the Sorceress part of this chapter)
See, I knew that Cid researched, I just was never quite sure when, so I decided that I would explore in a chapter snippet when he's researching. So look, there he is researching gummi ships (because, face it, they're more stable than star shards). This also marks when he decides to start collecting gummi blocks.
So back to the Sorceress plot... Everyone makes plans to fight Adel and while everyone's like "oh, it's a super good idea for Rinoa to do this", Leon's the only one who's like... "Who decided this is a good idea? This is not a good idea! Rinoa, you could die!" (Leon loves her, it's a thing, but he doesn't admit it yet and he won't for a while.) And then Edea's like, "Well, you're going to need a Knight..." And because Leon's in love with Rinoa, he agrees to it without really thinking about what he's getting into. And he justifies it by saying he's just trying to keep her from doing something stupid, when really, he loves her.
That's not spoilers, it happens in the game. The him loving her part. Not the Rinoa absorbing Adel's powers. Though... I'm forgetting who absorbed those in the game, I think it might have been Ultimecia... the game was very much like "We have to kill Adel so Time Compression can start" and there wasn't a lot of "who's absorbing that power?"
It was while I was writing this part of the chapter that the lone post on the livetumbl came up. See, I was plotting things that happen upon Adel's death and I was wondering if I was being a bit mean to Rinoa, but then I figured that a ton of crap happens to the game. Of course, then I wondered if I was making her character useless, which led to a huge brainstorming session in which I could both be mean, and still have a good character. Yep. That happened.
And then, stuck at the end of the chapter, is Cloud's fall into darkness. I knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be like other's falls into the darkness. His descent (because, it's kind of a descent, since he does eventually end up with a shadow (not spoilers, it comes up in Betwixt and Between)) isn't really his fault. He just wanted to adventure, and then he was unfortunate enough to be on a World as it fell into darkness. He will then be IN the Realm of Darkness for a while, and he won't be the same when he comes out. I won't say too much, because I haven't even written all of that yet...
So, yeah, wow, long blog post...
Review Replies!
KKBeckett, I answered most of your review above in my rant lol. But yes, that's what happened with Rinoa, and yes, he totally LIKES her.
And Cid's feels are so adorable! He's secretly a Zerith shipper.
As for Cloud, and that World being plunged into darkness, I suppose it's technically Xehanort's fault. Though, I'm pretty sure this one was Ansem or Maleficent.
Have a video! (From Geek Week on YouTube not too long ago)
And the truth comes out. Leon didn't ACTUALLY do anything against Maleficent. Quistis is a bit ticked (rather understandably), but Leon does his job. Well, sort of.
It's not really his fault that Edea aimed an icicle right at his chest (ala the end of FFVIII disk 1). (Excuse my snark, I was reading a snarky walkthrough to ensure that the battle I'm referring to really ended disk 1. You fight Edea at the end of disk 1 AND disk 2. Yay.)
But enough about FFVIII the game, back to the story...
I tried not to make the battle sequence too long, but rereading it, I'm wondering if I made it long enough. Oh well. There will be more battles. Trust me, there will be more battles. It also occurred to me that Leon didn't do much this battle. Of course, the original plan was to not physically attack her, so he was left with pretty much nothing because Leon actually doesn't know too much magic at this point. He'll get better.
Well, sort of. At some point, why do you need magic when Quistis and Rinoa know all the magic? I'm referring to story mechanics, actually... in-game mechanics, I gave Squall loads of spells. Because, he needs them!
Oh, for anyone new, I tend to use Leon/Squall interchangeably when I'm just talking. When I'm writing, I try to remain consistent. As in, everyone calls him Leon except for Rinoa.
Anyway, backtracking, to get back on track...
Leon's all like: "This is your Sorceress? I thought for a moment it might be Maleficent. Oh well, she needs to die anyway."
And then Quistis is like: "What do you mean you didn't properly deal with your last Sorceress? I thought you knew what you were doing?"
Quistis isn't happy with Leon.
Anyway, they battle Edea and after the whole icicle-through-the-chest thing, instead of being captured and
jailed like in the game, Rinoa basically has a Limit (though she uses Squall's gunblade for it) and nearly kills Edea. This causes the transfer of powers between the two, instead of the later fight like in the game. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I'm describing what I did versus what the game did. I know that what I'm doing is different (partially because FFVIII is long and partially because I haven't played it in years and when I wrote the timeline, I was basically going off on memory and wrote a condensed version. Yup.) Then there's the fact that I want to add the KH spin to it, hence the possessing and the plunging into darkness motifs.
Actually, I think originally, I wasn't going to use the icicle-in-the chest, so Leon would have been awake to make the executive decision to move everyone off the float, but then I used the icicle thing and Quistis decided that everyone should be awake before they moved.
by ~tomuyu on dA
So, the two pass out because...well... transfer of powers. It'll happen every time. Quistis and Zell are surrounded by two passed-out women and a bleeding-to-death Leon. Yup. Quistis heals Rinoa because she knows Rinoa's not crazy (spoilers: at the moment). And then she still has to have Edea healed to answer questions. But Edea's fine now because Ultimecia's not possessing her! Woo!
It's about here that I decided that Ultimecia and Xehanort should form a fanclub for possessing and Genesis should join. What is it with KH and needed vessels? Well, it's mostly Xehanort, but still.
But anyway, Ultimecia's now back where she belongs at the end of time (for now) and she's stewing because her plan failed. But she's not even a main objective right now, they've got other things to figure out.
Hmm, I'm not sure if I have anything else to say...
Okay, well... video!
Yup. Another one from me. I had a thing with this particular Linkin Park album and how it relates to Axel.
Currently, I'm of the opinion that the new FOB album is AkuRokuShi.
Trying to keep up with the theme for the last several blogs. Gonna need to change it though, I've got a new set of chapters that could use a different theme. I know I said somewhere that Cloud's chapter was the last one in that sequence, but it's actually this one. Technically.
This chapter basically officially sets up the Final Fantasy VIII arc. Originally, I hadn't intended to even touch the FFVIII story except vaguely. But then, I was talking to a few of my regular readers and they all suggested that I actually try and tackle the story, so long as I don't entirely rehash the game.
Well, my goal is to not rehash the game in its entirety. There are going to be a lot of aspects that are shared from the game, however, there are going to be major differences due to the fact that I've added the KH element of darkness and Heartless. So, it's like AU FFVIII.
Anyway, because I chose to tackle on the FFVIII story, my original timeline for this story greatly changed (and thus expanded). It's making me question if I'll get done writing this in time for NaNoWriMo. (Keep in mind I have many chapters written ahead of where I'm posting, but I can't post every day to catch up AND still do worthwhile Review Responses.) That also means that you guys get to enjoy this story a little bit longer because chances are, I'll still be POSTING in November, even if I am (hopefully) done writing this story. As you can see, I'm still worried about getting done in time.
AKA, my summer's over and I have significantly less time.
Anyway, but to talk about the chapter. This chapter is a little bit more than filler, I suppose. It does do the main job of setting up the next major plot arc to happen (after Hollow Bastion's fall, as well as the Zack/Aerith arc). (But the Zack/Aerith arc is an overarching thing that will continue throughout the WHOLE story, not just a (albeit large) chuck of it.)
by ~lyxia on dA
Plus, it also gives me a chance to discuss who Edea really is, bring up some miscommunications that will
definitely come into play later, make a jab at the Squall vs. Leon name, as well as other things.
Check out that awesome Edea artwork to the right, btw.
I'm kind of enjoying the miscommunication that's going on though between what Quistis and Headmaster Cid assume Leon can do, and what Leon's actually done. (Which, as far as Maleficent's concerned, is actually jack-diddly-squat.)
Fun fact: I actually considered using Maleficent AS the "Sorceress" that was causing problems on that world. However, then I feel that Maleficent would have to either A) Escape or B) Die, and I wasn't quite sure how to plot that out. Plus, I decided that things work better if Leon DOESN'T kill Maleficent now, because that kind of changes the tone of how KH1 works, and I'm trying to make this fit into KH Canon as much as possible. (Except where deviations already exist between my pre-3D canon and 3D-established canon.)
Okay, well, let me answer the last couple questions that were brought up in reviews...
I know, Leon paragraphed. It's one of the few times he (ever) does that. I think it's because he has all of these pent-up feels regarding Radiant Garden's fall that he just expressed them all in one go.
As for Rinoa calling Leon 'Squall', it's something that was established back in Betwixt and Between where Rinoa's the only one that calls him Squall, despite everyone else calling him Leon. I decided that it's something she's done from the very beginning. He may try and correct her (if he does, it's off-screen) but eventually he gives up because he decides that it's a battle not worth fighting. It's also something that's going to come in handy later. You'll see.
erm... more shamelessness. This one's also mine. But it's epic... so...
Anyway, so this is that Leon chapter I'd mentioned in the last blog. Or last chapter. Or... something. I remember saying it, but now I can't find record of it. *headdesk* Of course. Anyway! Leon chapter!
I continued off the epic entry introduced last chapter and then just continued it into 'Leon getting roped into things he doesn't want to do.' Because, in all honesty, he really doesn't want to have to go somewhere else and deal with anyone else's problems, he's got enough of his own as far as he's concerned. But then something twinges in his heart and he wonders that if he helps these people, maybe he'll feel better about letting Radiant Garden fall. (He still feels mildly responsible for that, yep.) And so off he goes, despite hardly knowing these people. And we call Zack impulsive.
Though, I do find it amusing (but completely rational of him) that he tries to pawn Zack off on the newcomers, it goes back to him thinking that he's got enough on his plate and it's completely logical for Zack to go, because Zack was going to leave anyway. Plus, Zack calls himself a hero! And that's what they're looking for. Leon does not consider himself a hero, and probably won't for a while.
Anyway, you'll note that Yuffie still calls Leon 'Squall', mostly because she knows it bothers him. Which is why she's super quick to tell everyone else what his true name is, much to his chagrin. Yuffie just thinks this is all great fun. Leon's going to hate her in a bit when Rinoa picks up on it and insists on calling him 'Squall.' It's cool though, Yuffie's super annoyed that not only does she NOT get to go and help these people, Leon's going instead. So, congratulations you two, you've annoyed each other.
To expand on the livetumbl...
I basically explained why Leon is the epitome of 'can't be bothered.'
The continuity errors have to do with what is being blamed for Radiant Garden's fall. Because in my KH Canon (actually, it could be canon.... i'm not entirely sure...) Xehanort plunges Radiant Garden into darkness about the same time he splits his heart and becomes a Heartless and a Nobody. To compound the problem, Maleficent added a crapton of Heartless and darkness into the area, which just didn't help matters. So yes, Maleficent is somewhat responsible and it's completely legitimate to blame her for it. But, ultimately, like everything else in KH, it's Xehanort's fault.
And yes, Aerith has a look that makes everyone get defensive. She gives Leon that look when she thinks that Leon might have agreed to let Yuffie go along to help. Aerith tries really hard to keep Yuffie out of the Worlds' problems and only partially succeeds. It's cute.
And then Aerith went and gave me feels regarding the fact that she felt every death that was a result of Radiant Garden's dirge. Yup. Thanks Aerith, for that. Really wanted it.
And then there was the Xehanort and Ultimecia post. It came about because rar and I were discussing how Xehanort and Ultimecia both have a thing with possessing people and I casually mentioned that they should make a club. Yep.
Review Responses:
SpiritDreamWarriors from Chapter 14: I might be able to add Vincent in there somewhere. It won't be for a while, because I've got the next long bit pretty much ironed out for what's going to happen. But I can guarantee you a cameo or three before the fic's end.
KKBeckett: Yeah, if you hadn't read the chapters before this one and only heard about a Sorceress causing darkness problems, you're definitely given the jump to assume it's Maleficent. I kind of did that on purpose. Mostly so LEON thinks it's Maleficent. And then he finds out that it's not. Heh. I considered actually doing that, but that would be A) too convenient, and B) Leon couldn't actually KILL Maleficent (because that messes with KH canon--don't get me started on her coming back... she needs to not die...) and I needed to give Leon someone (or two, or three) to kill. Yup.
Anywho, that's all I have for you right now.
I love this video. All the fandoms. Advent Children even appears in it somewhere. :P
Hello again! So as I said in the chapter, this happens roughly the same time as chapter 10. Just on a completely different world. The thing that is similar about them is the fact that both worlds have growing Heartless problems, yay!
As you can tell from the livetumbl, there's another chapter that happens at the same time as these past two, which will get posted in the next day or so. It's very exciting, the plot is picking up tremendously. I'm excited for the next things to happen. So I hope that translates well and you guys can all pick up on that excitement.
Anyway, so things I have to say on this chapter!
I knew from when I first outlined this all, that the world Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell were on was in trouble. Heartless, they do this nasty thing where they go searching for a world's heart and end up throwing into darkness, yeah? And it's a problem. Quistis and Rinoa have both seen it. Quistis has been researching it since a couple of chapters ago. Though she's really only been looking in the Balamb area because that's all she's had jurisdiction for. But she knows from the other Gardens that there are issues worldwide. But Rinoa's appearance merely proves that the problems are worldwide and so they end up at Cid's desk.
by ~Jessami on dA
As for Rinoa, she's been waffling on whether or not she wants SeeD help. But the increase of Heartless and the continued foiled plans as far as the Forest Owls go prove to her that she should go get SeeD help. And so she begins her quest.
Meanwhile, Cid's got other issues. Cid's wife (not spoilers) has gone crazy and is using the Heartless to her advantage. Much like Maleficent. It's super great, not. And he has no idea how to deal with it. He knows how to deal with Sorceresses, but Sorceresses surrounded by darkness? Not so much. Hence the star shard, and telling Quistis, Rinoa, and Zell to find someone who CAN deal with the darkness. Naturally, Quistis is skeptical, and Rinoa's not too far behind her, but Zell thinks it's a great idea and ends up taking them all... somewhere. You'll see in a few chapters.
A lot of this ended up falling into place as I was writing it. The entire FFVIII story line is more or less falling into place as I'm writing it. I knew from the beginning that a modified version would happen, I just had no idea I would end up going so in depth on it. You'll see. It's exciting, in my opinion.
And that's actually all I've got for you. There's other stuff I want to say, but I need a few more chapters to get posted before I can go in-depth on it.
The above video is awesome. I want to be able to sign it sometime. That gets filed under the "eventually" category.
