Of Now and Yesterday A Final Fantasy 8 fanfiction by Majo-chan Notes: Post Game, AU. I own nothing and make no profit...this is my muse's idea of fun. Chapter 1 ***            "Commander on the bridge!" one of the cadets piloting barked as the doors to the lift hissed open. The few people on the flight deck paused what they were doing and saluted smartly as the commander stepped out.            "At ease. Sheesh, peoples! How many times do I have to tell you that's a really stupid rule?" Selphie Tilmitt said with mock grouchiness. Her cadets all snickered, used to the antics of their superior. "Oh, you think it's funny? I'll go change the rules. You know I can!" she threatened while trying not to laugh with them.            "Ahem. Commander Tilmitt..." Selphie made a face. It was impossible to get anyone to listen these days. It's Commander Tilmitt this, Commander Tilmitt that. Not for the first time, she felt a bit sorry for Squall. He's had to do this for longer, with less help. "We're approching Balamb. A transmission for Commander Leonhart has been dispatched. Once we get the confirmation, we can land."            Selphie nodded and looked around. The clear, extra-reinforced glass surrounding the flight deck gave her an optimal view all around, as if she was standing in the sky in her own floating island. Her own Garden. "You might want to head a bit more east. Hug the coast until we get to a beach," She smiled a bit ruefully as she instructed the pilot. "These Gardens can't even climb a small bluff, I don't want to strain the propulsion drives trying. The last thing we need is another malfunction." How she missed the Ragnarok sometimes, the freedom of being in something that was meant to own the skies. She squished down the feeling and reminded herself severely that everyone had lost something important, loved. A measly red dragon-ship is nothing to mourn over, especially compared to the lives and friendships lost.            "Commander?"            She shook herself out of her reverie. "Nothing, nothing." She laughed it off. "Do we know who else is coming?"            "Well, Balamb Garden is hosting..." One of the SeeDs replied. "Besides us, Galbadia Garden. Still no sign of Centra Garden, so unless it decides to show up, just the three of us."            "Aw...just the three Gardens." She mock-pouted. Just three Gardens, and their elite mercenary forces. She didn't even want to think too deeply of what they're going to do once they congregated. "Won't be much of a party."            Her second in command snorted dryly. "I'm sure just your presence will be enough to make it a party."            ***            The bar in Timber was unusually crowded today, especially considering it was still DAY, with hours to go before most of the drinkers get off from their day jobs. A man sat quietly at a corner table, as if waiting for something or someone. Timber wasn't particularly known for strange weather conditions, but the man was dressed all in black despite the warm spring air outside, and the lack of cool air conditioning within. What was stranger was the sunglasses he was wearing, even though the bar was already dim except for the gaudy neon lights used for decoration. He pushed up his sunglasses, idly taking a sip from his mug. Beer, ick. Oh, well, it was something to pass the time until his contact came and paid him.            One of the louder drunks currently sitting at the far corner with some friends suddenly stood up and started ranting, much to the dismay of his companions. "Do you know what today is?!" He roared, face flushed as he waved his foaming mug around. "It's an an...anni-...annual..."            "Anniversary." one of the women sitting at the table supplied.            "Rigggggght! Annualivarsary..." The man slurred, wavering a little. "...a very special day!" One loud belch later, he continued. "Five years ago, today...The Sorceress rised...raised..."            "Rose." This time it was a man correcting him.            "Rose again!" He roared, pumping a fist. "An' that damned bitch be tryin' to rule over us all ag'in!" He took a deep gulp of his alcohol. "An' what happens? Nuthin! Those damned SheeDs-"            "SeeDs."            "Whatever! -ain't doin' nothin' to stop her! Da only one that even tried ta stop her waz Eh-Es...Esha?"            "Esthar." Whoever was correcting him was starting to sound annoyed.            "Eshthar." The man slurred.            "Biggs, quit making so much racket!" the bartender complained as he came by with another round of drinks. "Wedge, please tell me you're going to drag him home sometime soon. It's barely three and he's already soused!"            "I'm trying." The one named Wedge replied testily. "He won't listen to me."            The man with the sunglasses tuned out the conversation, mulling over the beer. Has it really been five years already? Since the Sorceress rose again? Keeping time was never his thing, his memory was always terrible and he used to be too absentminded to notice all but the most calamitous things, like the world crashing down around his ears. Rather shameful to admit now...but yes, it's been five years.            "Ty!" He looked up to see a stick thin man wave and start lumbering toward him. In the background Biggs was still ranting, having now moved onto the topic of the deceased Estharian president. "You're early." he remarked.            "You're late." He replied blandly. "Trying to screw me over again, Zone?"            "No, no..." the man was pallid. "Nothing of the sort. Didja get what I asked you to?"            He shrugged and reached inside his black trenchcoat. Out came a few packets and random objects, most of which made Zone's eyes bug out. "Is this it?"            "Regen Rings...and Star Fragments." Zone's voice was a low, hushed whisper as he opened the packets. "Do you have any idea how much people will pay for this??"            "I was hoping you would know, since you'll be paying me." The man's eyes were hidden behind the glasses and long strands of midnight-black hair, but even though his smile was wide it was by no means reassuring. "So pay up so I can get going."            Zone swallowed. "How many?"            "One hundred of each, that was all I could carry." was the casual reply, as if taking down the monsters that usually yielded these items was a normal and tedious everyday thing. Zone nodded and reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a large wad of gil and a slip of paper.            "Here's 50,000 gil." He swallowed when Ty's mouth thinned. "I know that's not much for what you have here, but I'll throw this into the pile." He held out the slip of paper like a peace offering.            "This better be the ownership papers to a Garden or something, because 50 grand is NOT enough for what I gave you." Though the tone was distainful and mildly threatening, the black gloved fingers smoothed out the wrinkles in the paper carefully, curiously. There was a moment of silence as he digested the contents. "A world map?"            "Not just any world map." Zone was quick to say. "It marks the draw points for rare spells. Flares, Meteors, even some Ultima drawpoints. Forbidden Magic is scarce these days, and these locations are priceless."            "If these turn out to be Thunder drawpoints..." Zone sweated as the mysterious dealer seemed to weigh his options. "...then you're as good as dead, got that?"            "Got it." He sighed. "I wouldn't trick you, Ty, you know that. These things you bring in, you can't get them here." He didn't need to mention that the items were most easily found on the higher level monsters that roamed the occupied warzone of Esthar. "And without them the Gardens and SeeDs wouldn't be able to stand against..." a quick, nervous swallow. "... the Sorceress and her lackies for long. I wouldn't risk that."            "Does anyone from Garden know the location of these drawpoints?"            "Of course. I got these from them."            Ty didn't look happy, but shrugged. "I'll take it. I'll hit some of those the next time I go collecting junk for you." He stood up and slapped down enough gil to cover for his drink, and some for Zone's, if he chose to get something. "See you later then. And for heaven's sake, EAT something. You're like a stick."            Zone managed a weak smile. "It's my stomach, always giving me trouble. And don't nag at me, you sound like a dad."            A brief and sad smile passed the usually unreadable face. "I suppose so. It's been awhile since I had a chance to nag at my own kid." The reaction was amusing, to say the least. Zone's eyes bugged out of his thin face.            "You're--damn, man! You've got a kid? How old are you!?" He had known Ty for...three years now? One or two years since all hell broke loose AGAIN...met the young man in black one night in here, looking to pawn off some loot. One of the SeeDs from Garden had been there with him...took one look at the items and immediately offered gil for them. And now they do this sporadically, about once every month. The man had never given his age, or where he's from, but he looked no more than twenty. Barely twenty. Of course Zone knew everyone made mistakes...had their fun in their youth, whatever. He never asked what his supplier did with the gil. Now he wondered...            For a moment it looked as if Ty wasn't about to reply. Then he shrugged again, and smiled a bit wickedly. "Would you believe it if I said I'm turning 55 next month?" He threw over his shoulder as he left the bar.            ***            She flipped the papers in front of her again and typed some notes into her communicator, modified to double as the equivalent of an electronic secretary. To her left, Quistis was reading her own papers, thin-lipped and tired looking, and across from her was Squall and Xu, both frowning hard enough to peel paint. "Um, guys...hate to break it to you, but these figures do not add up." She finally ventured with a sunny grin. If she had allowed Quistis to break the silence it surely would've ended in an arguement. She wasn't sure that there wouldn't be one, even now, as Squall looked up with a scowl like a dark thundercloud. He must be REALLY stressed to show his annoyance, Selphie noted. But she guessed that an annoyed and grouchy Squall was still much better than the depressed and withdrawn Squall, so kept her smile up and shrugged with cute helplessness.            "Selphie is right." Thank goodness Quistis didn't insist on referring to her as Commander Tilmitt. "We're barely at full functionality right now. If we strain the world economy any more, there will be a total collapse. Gil will become worthless, and we'll have more problems on our hands than the inability to mount an offensive." She pushed a strand of golden hair behind her ear. "Even in the best case scenario, the Gardens would only remain operational for a few weeks, a month at the most."            "So would you suggest we sit and wait?" Squall asked coldly. Selphie winced. Someone had to say it, be devil's advocate and bash them over the head with the cruel truth. Squall was just unnaturally good at it. "The economy is not going to get any better with HER sitting on a third of the world's wealth over in Esthar, and we all know it." No one mentioned the Sorceress's name in Squall's presence. "The time to strike is now. We've built our stockpiles to maximum capacity, trained all the SeeDs we could possibly get our hands on, and who knows what the Sorceress will come up with if we wait any longer."            "Look at the damn numbers, Squall. We do _not_ have the financial capability to start a war." Quistis gritted. "At most we'd make a dent, maybe damage her palace and singe her hair. But it won't be enough, and she'll regroup. And this time she won't be stupid enough to leave any of us alive." The 'like last time' remained unspoken, but hung heavily in the air as the Commanders of Balamb and Galbadia Garden clashed wills with each other.            The silence in the room was heavy as the tension skyrocketed. Selphie swallowed, feeling the same old heavy feeling that nagged at her stomach whenever she thought about that 'last time'. Maybe the battle hadn't been as brutal as the one with Ultimecia...but she'd rather not think of it, all the same. Squall and Quistis glared at each other, both as cold and immovable as glaciers. Or was that unstoppable? She could almost feel the temperature in the room dropping as Xu swallowed nervously.            "Hey, hey...don't get all cold on me, peoples." Selphie placated. "Squall, Quisty's only trying to be reasonable. Quisty, you know Squall's on target about most of what he said." She took a deep breath and smiled cheerfully, although all she wanted to do was maybe cry with frustration. "I know! Squall, I know Balamb's got some sort of secret project going on. Why don't you tell us what it is, and how long it'll take to complete?" She gave their leader (she never really stopped thinking of him as THE commander, no matter what rank and title she earned herself) her most convincing look. "I don't think it's finished yet, so we can use the time between now and the completion date to plan, maybe get some money. That way we'll get the offensive AND some more funding for it."            Silence. Selphie started to think that she'd made the wrong call and that her intelligence was wrong about the secret project. Then Quistis spoke up. "Yes...I was wondering why there was such a large amount of funding requested by Cid for Balamb." her tone was without censure though her words could be taken the wrong way. "It couldn't've ALL been for Zell's hotdogs." She joked with a small smile. The tension lessened and Squall slumped a little in his seat, looking less cold, and more tired.            Finally, Squall started talking. "After...last time," He swallowed. "When we first fought the Sorceress, after Ultimecia, everyone lost something, or someone important." The young man rubbed his scar tiredly. "We can't replace the lives, but we can rebuild hardware. Zell and I worked out a contract with the Shumi in hiding. As you know, the Shumi, and the technicians we rescued from Fisherman's Horizon, are the only source of technology we have right now that can even begin to rival Esthar's." Quistis tapped on the desk impatiently with a pen and Squall got the hint and went to the point. "It'll take at least another month to complete...but we've managed to work with the blueprints..."            "Just tell us what it is already!" Quistis said with mock anger as Selphie held her breath. Blueprints. She helped with blueprints once. Squall looked at her and she felt a jolt of surprise at the uncertainty in his eyes.            "We're calling it the Tiamat...like you suggested, Selphie." He finally said. "It won't be red, too obvious if we need to do recon missions--" He was cut off by Selphie's squeal of joy and the blur of brown and yellow that leapt at him in a bear hug. The next minute found him glomped by a very excited Selphie and under the amused and approving gaze of Quistis. "--so it'll be some non-descript color but it'll have the same capabilities as the Ragnarok. Selphie, let go, I can't breathe."            "Idon'tbelieveityou'vebuiltmeanotherRagnarok??????? Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Xu smothered a snicker as her Commander tried unsuccessfully to restrain an excited Selphie Tilmitt. Or at least, pry her off his person. "That's soooooooo sweet! I get to fly again! For REAL!" Quistis joined in on the snickers. Squall felt mortified and strangely proud of himself at the same time. An odd set of emotions to be having, to be sure. It was...nice, to do something that could make someone else so happy.            It had been so long since he'd felt anything...            "Ahem." His cold mask reasserted itself. "We'll take your proposal in consideration, Commander Tilmitt. We'll discuss this further later, until then, the meeting is adjourned." *** End chapter 1 Approximate timeline: In years: -17: Squall Leonhart born. 0: Ultimecia is defeated. +2: Centra Garden built, Trabia Garden repaired. +5: The Sorceress reappears. Esthar is ravaged and taken under her control. Centra Garden goes MIA in the ensuing battle between Sorceress and Garden. +6: Selphie Tilmitt is appointed the position of Commander of Trabia Garden. Quistis Trepe is appointed the position of Commander of Galbadia Garden. Zone meets Ty. +10: Tiamet reconstructed. Major offensive on the Sorceress and the City of Esthar planned.