On Earth as it is in Hell Chapter 5

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By Caleb Nova

"After Trabia, my friends became everything. I fought the Sorceress because they fought with me."

-Selphie Tilmitt

A hand is one of the most significant, elegant, and deadly parts of the body. The hand is responsible for countless killings in history, yet one cannot blame this alive yet non-sentient conglomeration of tissues. The blame is laid to rest not on the hand that performs the deed but the mind behind the hand and the personality that drove it to reap the life of another being. Does the Multiverse itself adhere to this? Planets may explode, people may die of natural causes or of the horrible forces of nature, so do we blame the Multiverse, the hand in this equation? Or is there a force and personality behind the structure that performs the deed?

Regardless of the theological implications, the Universe is still structured, but not unable to be bent. Are the rules bypassed in the joining of dimensions? Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep were surely not meant to walk the shining streets of Coruscant. Kane and the forces of Nod will not rule Oz. Will Mattimeo this time be slave to Dolza of the Zentraedi? But the path always ends where it is supposed to, and whether Indiana Jones is fighting an Agent of the Matrix or Nazis, the story will finish the same.

Perhaps one day Scott will battle the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, but in the Multiverse reality of FF8, the truths are beginning to coalesce, and confrontation will be imminent. This Event Horizon will be monitored by many beings, some hostile, some not. This is the first clash between dimensions, and even should Scott return victorious from this encounter it is doubtful that it will end so easily. He is a drifter, the first one to drift dimensionally. These Presence's will use him to their means.

One Being in particular has a vested interest in this outcome, and she watches on the fringe of the reality, waiting.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Selphie lay hidden behind a dumpster across from the hotel, waiting for her chance to hobble across the opposite street. She had managed to get this far, and she was sure to find a communicator in the city. They would need backup or immediate extraction from the area, since whoever was powerful enough to destroy the hotel without immediate and serious repercussions from the local authorities was bound to be in bed with the government and likely to be the government itself.

The hotel was being doused by fire trucks, a crowd of gawkers or concerned onlookers leaning over the yellow police tape.

Selphie half walked, half hopped her way down the alley and across the street when the light turned red, earning many stares and a few offers for help. This wasn't good. She couldn't afford this kind of attention.

Holding onto a streetlight for support, she desperately scanned the area for a public com unit. A visible relief flooded over her as she spied one several blocks down.

It seemed to take hours, but she reached the com unit, opening the door and hurrying inside the row of equipped cubicles. Then someone behind her spoke out.

"Selphie?"

"Yeah?" She said, turning towards the voice, realizing too late that the correct response was not to confirm her identity.

The plainclothes agent drove the shock stick into her stomach. Luckily, her last thought turned out the lights as it left.


Chapter 6

Final Fantasy 8 Fanfic