Part 33: Part Thirty-Three: In the Jailhouse Now

Part Thirty-Three: In the Jailhouse Now


A good question to ask, generally.



I guess we're Zell now.

: Uh huh.
: How's Laguna doin'?

Based on their reactions, it's clear that Quistis and Selphie weren't in the dream this time. You can also tell if you look at GF compatibility numbers, but Irvine was Kiros in that last sequence.



: It's not like I know everything about Ward, but... Well, you know how Laguna and company went to that Centra place and got into a real fix, right?

As usual, Zell was Ward. I don't know why Kiros is a rotating role.

I was completely wrong about that. As pointed out by ApplesandOranges, Zell has never been Ward. Ward and Kiros are both rotating roles.


Didn't Kiros say he was working as a janitor in the political prison?


Well, there we go.

: And he's bored outta his mind! All he wants is to be fightin' alongside Laguna.

This line is pretty ironic, given what we just saw of Laguna.


Quistis is back with the same question someone's always asking after a Laguna bit.


We still only have the one answer.


Sounds like we've been arrested.


Last I saw, Squall was on the wrong end of a three-foot icicle. He's probably not dancing.


We have to chat with Rinoa to move the story on.

: Yeah, so.
: And wasn't he from Galbadia?
: Sure, he's a soldier there.
: Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to be Ward in that 'dream world'?
: Just now I was.

Rinoa is the only member of the party who has never been inside the dream.

: Does this room look familiar?

She's figured something out.


Zell's not quite there yet.


There we go.



: Everyone listen up! This is the prison that Ward works at! He's a janitor here!

Well, it makes sense that we'd be in a Galbadian prison.




: It's got to be here!
: There's a prison for political activists in Galbadia... This must be the place where Ward works.

Well, we just covered that.

: Right here, where we are! I'm sure of it!

She means that Ward works at the political prison, not to restate what Zell said.

: It's no surprise we're in jail. We did attack the sorceress...


Hey, the last guy who attacked the president got away with it.


That's right! The sorceress killed him, so in a certain way, we're on the same side.



: What's going to happen to us?
: Things don't look so good...


The last mission was a complete failure and now they're in prison. Selphie was understating things.


This is also a good question.


This one seems to have an easier answer.


Unfortunately, if you thought the easy answer was the correct one, you're wrong.


Squall is still alive, though a bit disoriented and in lonelier quarters than the others.

I like what the game does with the disc 2 opening. Having the Laguna sequence makes the cliffhanger with Squall a stronger one, and then cutting to Zell, where you also get Zell's thoughts instead of Squall's, makes the player wonder, even if it's just for a second, if Squall is really dead. Metatextually, it also makes an interesting parallel to the end of disc 1 of Final Fantasy VII.


This seems like something of a hanging thread in the game, but the Galbadians just patched him up after the fight. He's not dead in a street and he's disoriented, not wondering about specific healing methods.


If you were wondering why the remaining SeeDs/Rinoa and Irvine didn't just pile on Edea, this is probably why. The five of them probably couldn't handle her and the army at the same time.


They could definitely handle Seifer, though.


I just noticed how terrible Squall's toilet looks.


Squall also just saw the toilet. (That's a lie. He falls down because the room shakes.)





This is why the room was shaking: apparently it's a little modular cell.


Having a giant crane to haul your fancy mobile prison cell seems inefficient.


But that's enough of that.


Back to these guys.


These three dudes come into the cell. The one Zell doesn't like is the warden.


He's mean.

: What!? Whaddya mean!?


The guys in back have machine guns. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same model as Laguna's.

Mean Guy: Don't screw around with me!!! You understand who's in charge here!?


This guy really hates Zell.



Zell can't fight back or he'll get a bullet in the head.


So Mr. Guy takes some time out to kick him a bit.



I hope he forgot that he has to be somewhere else.


That's probably not good.


It's probably not great for Rinoa to identify herself, but there aren't that many options open.



Zell, you're not in a very good position for defending her.


And now you got kicked again.

: Stop it already!!!


Rinoa's not the kind of person to let Zell get the shit beat out of him for her sake.


Well, see ya.

: Rinoa...
: I'll be fine. Let's go.

I'm sure that'll go well.


For now, though, it's back to Squall.


He's still havin' trouble standing up. I think it should have stuck with Squall for the whole transfer sequence, just five minutes of him falling over and getting tossed across the cell.


Seifer is the standing up champion of Balamb Garden.


Here is is, helping Squall out in his time of need.


Note: Seifer is not actually helping Squall out in his time of need.


I wonder where he's goin'.


Oh, he's going on Seifer's crucifying wall.

: ...What do you want?


I like Seifer's pose here.

: SeeD...



: (......???)



: I'm not a SeeD. There must be some kind of secret you're given when you become a SeeD!
: There's nothing. Even if there were, you think I'd tell you?

Squall and the player know the same amount here (read: nothing) but if you go back to the SeeD graduation and getting the Timber mission, there's something Cid wasn't allowed to talk about, so maybe Seifer's on to something.


He certainly seems to think he is.

: Didn't think you'd talk that easily.
: ...Geez, I'm honored.
: So here's a little somethin' for ya.


Seifer (or his boss) is obviously convinced that SeeD has a secret.


This is also a good point.




: ...They're...all here...?

I wonder if anybody's told Squall where "here" is.

: Oh, you bet. But since I like you so much, I thought you should go first.

If you were wondering why Seifer would go after Squall instead of, say, Quistis (who's more likely to know things), here's why. This is a personal thing for him.

Would you be surprised to learn that Seifer's theme is called "Rivals"? Because it is:



You mean when I kicked your ass in one hit?

: My childhood dream, fulfilled. I've become the sorceress' knight.


Squall is skeptical.

: (...His...romantic dream...?)

There really doesn't seem to be anything romantic about his dream.

As a side note, Seifer doesn't mean romantic like he's dating the sorceress, but romantic like fanciful or sentimental; he's talking about his childhood dream, remember. I was confused about this the first time I played the game.

: (But...Seifer...Now, you're just...)



Squall gets the insult in, and then he passes out.


Seifer's pose here is pretty good. He's very proud of himself for being Edea's knight, so he's very slighted when Squall shit talks the position.

: Passed out cold, eh?



There goes ol' romantic Seifer.

This is also the point where the role reversal in the story is really cemented. I think I've mentioned it before, but before this Seifer really does have the more traditionally heroic role in the story; this is his first really villainous act.



: Don't disappoint me now!