Author's note ~ I started this a while ago and couldn't get the
feeling needed to finish it... but due to recent events... I find I could...
as you can probably see from the ending... oh... and Bubba would like me
to mention he is not responsible for the dog incident... at all.... honest
O:-)
Dark circled eyes surveyed the wreckage of yet another town. She shivered slightly in the cold and brought her battered old bomber jacket tighter around her body. Her hair was yanked back into a tail which over emphasised her gaunt appearence. The leather trousers warmed her slightly but still they couldn't warm the inside as she looked at this desolation. A young girl was watching her from an broken doorway, as she walked slowly past her she could feel her readying herself to make a move.
'I really wouldn't...' There was a moment of silence and she could hear the feet of the girl as she ran in the opposite direction.
Empty spaces... what are we living for?
Abandoned places... I guess we know the score
She swallowed hard, not believing this is the world that they had created. This was the world they had fought for. A world that had come to war and collapse in weeks after the phenomenon of time compression. A world that had fallen into dessication. After the trade routes had crashed and the only law was that which you made yourself... they had risen to the challenge. They would do all in their power to bring back their civilisation. And then this fruitless search.
On and on
Does anyone know what we are looking for?
She shook her head and turned around slowly heading back to the others. They would be waiting for her back at their camp, she prayed they would have found food. She picked her way through the streets, these days looking moderately healthy was a crime punishable by being beaten. She reached the former town square.
Another hero... another mindless crime
Behind the curtain in the pantomime
Hold the line
Does anybody want to take it anymore?
The body hanging from the gibbet made her shake her head, this was a trend that had been coming more and more obvious as the destruction had increased. It hands were missing... that indictaed theft. These mini governments on a town were not leniant. They were the thugs and bullies that had so longed for power. Now people were scared of them. So scared that they let them do this to one of their own. He was probably one of those that had opposed them during the time when the law abiding were more powerful. She scurried on, knowing better than to stay still for long, she didn't need people attacking her today. Any exertion and she was likely to pass out. She reached the hole in the wall where she had climbed into the city and stumbled her way over the bricks. She knew she moved like someone twice her age, it wasn't something she could help.
*
She reached their encampment and squealed in shock as a gunblade nearly hit her in the face. 'Oh it's you Selphie.'
'And I'm happy to see you I'm sure...' She stared slightly. 'You can umm... move the gunblade now.' Her voice was a little nervous but he nodded slowly and gestured for her to follow. Zell looked up at her with a flicked eyebrow as he tended the tiny fire, she sat next to him with a sigh.
'No joy?' he asked.
'Not even a chuckle...' She shock her head. 'It's useless... everywhere it's all the same... no... it's getting worse.' He nodded and handed her a slab of meat. 'You found something edible?' She asked. Zell looked up to Squall who was pacing slightly.
'Not exactly.' She shrugged. It had been another factor of the time compression, everything started to corrode. Everything wasted just a little, the effect hadn't been instant, but it had started within weeks. You could even see the effect in peoples faces, a slight weariness. The effect had worn out over a period of months but it was already too late. The result had been crops spoiling in the field which had a knock on effect in the chaos. People had killed for food, animals started to waste away and die. The food that was stockpiled would have been enough had people not paniced. But planting season had been missed in all the chaos, and everyone was starving. Once again only Esthar had been missed in this, thanks to their infrastructure they had managed to survive the threatened famine and thrive once again.
'Food's food these days guys. I wish I was back in Esthar.' Squall stared at her for a moment and nodded, of course he did. Rinoa was there, the only place he felt safe leaving her... the only city state that had not collapsed. Quistis had remained behind to ensure things had run smoothly with the intergration of SeeD into Esthar. It had been months since they had, had contact with them. Esthar's space station and most of the worlds satellites had been destroyed in the lunar cry. So satellite communications were gone and the radio interference across the world was still rampant. They had a rendevous set up for two months time at the other edge of the continent. The Ragnorak was no longer available, it had been destroyed, falling to the earth with the Lunatic Pandora. Selphie looked up, Squall had been getting edgier every day. She looked into the fire with a sigh, shaking her head against the thoughts that rose up unbidden from the depths of her psyche.
Inside my heart is breaking
My make up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on
She had always been the comic relief for this group. More so than Zell and Rinoa had ever been. Even when she had been told, she had remained calm and tended to Squall's wounds.
Inside her heart had been screaming. She had gone into a downward spiral after that. Her sense of humour becoming darker and bleaker. But somehow, despite everything. She had managed to retain it. That was her victory in this whole war, her heart had been broken, but she in turn hadn't been broken by it.
Their campsite was always silent these days, a quiet brought on by bleak memories as much as fear of discovery. Questions always floated through her mind, the idea that there was something they could have done or said that could have halted this overwhelming mass terror that had brought everything to it's knees. She remembered the riots, watching the news as more and more cities descended into chaos. Only Esthar had remained above that, their people had been warned, had been given the reason behind that nauseating, stomach churning pain they had lived through as Ultimecia had compressed time. Few understood it but they had accepted it, it was a rational explanation that they could latch onto and succour comfort from. But on this continent they could not understand because they had not been forewarned. The ring leaders had claimed that they had been blinded by the people in the power. Selphie wondered if any of them had saw what their future would bring.
Whatever happens... I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache... another failed romance
In the end SeeD had been driven out of the Galbadian continent. Because it had been SeeDs that tried to explain the time compression, they were targeted as the instigators. It's always easier to blame something you can get your hands on and tear limbs from than a mystical sorceress figure in the distant future. The first and last time that they had revealed themselves as SeeD members had resulted in losing Irvine. She closed her eyes against the throb in her gut that came whenever she thought of him. Her emotions had been deadened by the cruelty around her. All apart from that one, it was a pain that was raw, livid and all too real. Her two team mates were looking off into the distance, she cleared her throat and they turned to her.
'Guys... we're not just fooling ourselves... there is something we can do isn't there?' For some reason, when Squall answered she was surprised at his response.
'We have to try Selphie, I don't think we have any other choice... SeeD was created to fight the sorceress of the age, well we fought her, and she won... we killed her and she still won.' His face was still a mask, but at least it was a mask that she could read.
'I think we're still fighting her Squall.' Zell shrugged. 'We have a plan... we just need to find the right place to impliment it.' The conversation was ended by that simple statement
On and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?
*
She surveyed the broken glass and trailed the splinters with her eyes. 'Looted... recently.' Squall frowned. 'Maybe not as deserted as we thought.' He shrugged.
'I'd be surprised if they got much of anything.' Selphie nodded.
I guess I'm learning
'The question is... where exactly did the people in this town go?' Zell's face had lost it's chubby little boy look since they had been here. Even in the few times he had laughed since being here, his face was strained.
'Same as all the others I'd expect... once they figured that food in the shops wouldn't last they moved into the countryside.' Squall shut his eyes breifly. The three had nicknamed it 'the cityslicker mentality'. None of these people knew how to survive out in their makeshift villages, they just made the famine worse because they didn't have the skills needed to live off the land. 'We're not going to find anything to eat here.' He said finally but his eyes searched along the gutters at the side of the road.
'Hold on a minute.' Zell said quietly and ghosted away from them silently. They exchanged a soft look and followed him. Zell had actually prooved to be their key scavenger on this mission, for some reason he just knew where to find food. Selphie took hold of Squall's wrist as Zell slowed down and reached out his hand towards a pile of rubbish, speaking softly. When a dog started to edge towards Zell with it's tail between it's legs Selphie felt herself wince. The poor thing was half starved and looked to have been chased by something ten times bigger than it at some point in the past few days. She watched as Zell became aquainted with the dog and she shook her head. When Zell's eyes flicked to Squall who nodded slowly, she turned her back on the scene but she still heard the crack of bones. She waited a moment with her back turned, out of the corner of her eye she saw Squall throw her an amused glance. He could never seem to understand why this bothered her so much, not when their plight for food was so desperate.
'S'okay Selphie. I covered it up, you can look now.' Zell understood her sensibilities, so she nodded her thanks to him. The three began to move out of the city, climbing over the rubble and glass that cluttered the street, Selphie couldn't help looking at the glistening pile of blood covered innards that Zell had left on the street.
I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning
Around the corner now
This has to end soon, was the only thought that spun around her head as she made her way out of the city.
*
When night began to lift the next morning they had just begun walking again. She didn't believe that they would find what they were looking for anymore.
Outside the dawn in breaking
She had no hope left, not for this part of the world, any culture that could descend to this level of babarism could not help but infect it's negativity and regime of fear to anywhere that it could reach. Fear breeds fear and hate breeds hate.
But inside in the dark
She had always believed that people were basically good and kind. How foolish had she been? She had been a member of an elite mercenary unit since her teenage years and yet she still hadn't seen true human nature. What had been wrong with her? Now she knew, there was no great brotherhood that she had often dreamed of. People weren't going to magically unite. In her heart she was beginning to believe that they were mean and base, only enough time in the day to look out for number one. She could feel the slow deadening of pain at this realisation over the days.
I'm aching to be free
What she really wanted in this world was to be able to sit back and have her friends around her, her family in many respects. This was not the way she had envisioned her life, not even part of it, a life spent choking back tears of pain and hurt.
She shook her head slowly and looked to her companions, every spent they took away from the ravaged cities seemed to lighten their load. They didn't like seeing this devestation of what used to be more their home than Esthar. In this they were united, it seemed strange that Squall was the one to keep hoping, the one that was carrying them both forward. He was more a leader than he believed, he had this vision of completing this mission, to make everything right again. It had occured to her on more than one occaision that he would have made the best of politicians, one that had a vision and would be able to see it through.
It was a few seconds before she had realised the pair of them had stopped dead. She turned to look at them and they were staring past her with fascinated smiles. 'What?' She turned and it took a few seconds to register. 'Oh.' The breathy exclamation was all she could manage.
*
She stared around her in amazed silence, with the smallest of supressed smiles on her face. She reached out and touched some of the ears of wheat. The field of cultivated crops stretched out before her in unadulterated beauty, there had to be a settlement around here. There was no other way this could be here. She turned as she heard a small laugh escape Zell, he was up the rising slope of the field looking downwards. He turned.
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
'You two! You have to come and see this!' He waved them over to him. Squall and Selphie ran through the field quickly with the scent of fresh wheat hanging in their nostrils. They topped the rise together slightly winded and looked down at a bustling small town. They noticed that it looked new, shiny almost, Selphie stared at it quietly with misted eyes.
Fairytales of yesterday grow but never die
'Let's go.' Squall struck out ahead of them and she smiled at him cooley reflecting on his secret, satisfied smile.
I can fly my friends
*
They had met with the town officials extrodinarily quickly, apparently they had many problems with looters and those outside their community. But as soon as they realised the three were not here to cause harm to their people, they were more than happy to listen to what they had to say. As Squall outlined their plan with Esthar they became even more surprised and delighted, one or two even had tears in their eyes. They all remembered what they had lost, what they had tried so hard to regain in this place. Selphie looked around the town with amazment in her heart. When they had come here they had nothing, except... they had each other and a will to survive that was lacking all over this continent. Selphie marvelled at their ability to face the future with such determination. She had been ready to give up, but watching these people as they came together gave her hope like she had not felt in the longest time.
I'll face it with a grin
If they could do it then she could do it. They went through the worst that humanity could imagine and they had come out the other side triumphant.
I'm never giving in
Seeing how so many people could find the strength of heart to resist a disaster of this scale. Just when you think things can't get any worse, people end up surprising you.
She smiled as the talks went on into the night, watching as Squall filled his role of true politician. In the simple things he was saying he gave hope to so many people. It was here, in this place that the rebuilding of an entire continent would begin. All they had to do was meet up with Esthar's fleet on the west coast and the healing of this place could start.
I'll top the bill
I'll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
They had seen the worst in people. The knowledge that humanity isn't perfect, that the rising darkness could overwhelm even the strongest of people. But apart from that, they had also seen the best in humankind, the truth that in times of trouble people will reach out to each other hoping that they can overcome their baser instincts. What is surprising is that in times of trouble, as many people band together as fall apart.
On with the show