Game Restart – Pt. 4

Chapter 3 – The Timber Owls

I awoke to the sight of the blond, glowing in the light behind him. I stared at him a couple minutes longer before getting up and rubbing my head. Next was the reveal of the three of us having the same "dream". I still can't believe what a moron my father was, and who was this "Julia" he was so infatuated with. Shaking the thought aside, I figured I would find out later. The announcement came on, signaling the arrival at Timber.

"Let's go…" I stated simply and headed out the door and down the short hall out to the train's entrance/exit. Stepping out into the light, I scanned the area for Watts.

"Over here sir, over here."

My eyes roamed over to the man wearing a blue bandana with a yellow vest over a white t-shirt and a pair of plain old jeans. I waited for him to say the "password". The train pulled out from behind us.

"Oh, the forest of Timber sure have changed!" I rolled my eyes at the answer I was suppose to give.

"But the Owls are still around." I stated waiting for him to take us to his "headquarter" as they like to call it, when in reality it was a just a beat up old compartment of an abandoned train.

"Welcome to Timber, Sir. Come with me sir."

And so we set off on a short walk onto the platform just meters away from the station. I leaned against the directory as we waited for the train to arrive. I looked over in the direction that it was suppose to arrive and spotted two headlights coming towards us. Pushing up from the directory, we waited a couple more seconds before the train came to a complete halt, Watts motioning for us to head on in when the door swished opened. I shrugged and headed in before him. I was greeted by Zone, wearing his usual blue shirt over his spandex tights, he has a stomach problem that was never resolved if I remember correctly.

"So, You guys are SeeDs?" He didn't beat around the bush did he?

"I'm the leader, my name is Squall, this is Selphie…" I gestured to the petite brunette to my left. "And Zell…" Gesturing to the hyper blond to my right with that tribal-like tattoo on the side of his face and finally thumbing over my shoulder. "And Seifer…" I looked up at him as his sea green looked down at me, confusion on his face, I patted his face lightly. "Go wake the princess up." I whispered. He smirked and moved to head down the hall to the room where Rinoa was sleeping in. "So, what do we have to do?" I thought it was about time we get on with business.

"Just take it easy. Here, let me introduce you." Zone said as he walked over to face Watts. "Looks like you already met Watts, I'm Zone… and the last person is our princess."

"Sleeping beauty is awake!" I sighed and looked over to Seifer with Rinoa clinging to his arm, she was always clingy with me, guess it's only natural that she was clingy with Seifer too. Still it sent a sharp pain down my chest seeing them like that.

"And that is Rinoa, our princess… Shall we get on with the plan then?"

Rinoa huffed and released Seifer's arm and headed into the compartment just behind Watts, followed by Watts and Zone, we followed soon after. I moved to the corner of the room and leaned against the wall as I waited for the briefing . Once the briefing was done, I figured it was time I spoke up. I hated this.

"Scrap the plan, it won't work."

Eyes bored into me at my announcement, my own moving to bore into the puppy dog eyes followed by that small pout as Rinoa stared at me like I was nuts.

"How can you say that? You're suppose to help us in our mission. You can't reject it!" She almost shouted. I sighed and pushed off from the wall, turning around to face the door we entered from, I call back over my shoulder as I headed out.

"It's not the mission I'm rejecting, it's the plan, it won't work."

"Wait just a chocobo! How can you know that it won't work? We've worked really hard to come up with this plan!"

I turned around and looked down into the almond shaped, innocent brown eyes, her pout still in place. She really was a princess, spoiled to the end. I just glared at her with my gray-blues which made her flinch a little, I chuckled to myself softly, least I haven't lost my touch.

"Have you considered that the information you received was for a setup? The Presidents in general tend to be paranoid bastards. Did you check to see if there were decoy trains or the likes scheduled? It's standard procedure."

She backed up a few step, blinking dumbfounded. She seemed at a loss for words, before she could place blame on Watts I turned back around and looked over my shoulder.

"We attack the TV station."

With that I headed out and out into the "balcony" of the train. I blinked and took out the magic lamp the Headmaster gave me. I sighed and dropped it onto the platform of the train, dark mist floated up from the lamp, it surrounded me, engulfing me in its darkness, I head a faint "Squall!" It sounded like Seifer, whatever. I stared up into the eyes of Diablo, he lingered there for a few second before he bowed his head and seemed to have smiled, before he dissipated in a the dark mist that he had come from.

"What the fuck Squall?!"

"He recognizes his master."

I stated simply and looked up at the blond, confusion on his face. It was to be expected, it didn't matter, I need to formulate a plan on how to keep Seifer from being taken this time, by the Sorceress. I was stopped by Seifer, I knew this was going to happen. I sighed and turned around to face him.

"I told you, I'm here in this time again, to prevent the possible third Sorceress War… and to prevent you from being taken again…"

I stared into those beautiful sea greens that I had adored ever since I laid eyes on him. He stared back, confusion still in his eyes, as he searched mine. I stood up on my toes and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. I grabbed hold of the collar of his shirt as he started to back away, he would've fallen over if I hadn't. His eyes, now one of shock rather than confusion.

"That fire spell would go well with Ifrit… You'll need it… trust me."

He blinked at me dumbfounded as I turned around and headed back into the train. I sighed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the train to come back to a halt where we had first got on. Moments later, the blond came back in, just as the dark haired beauty came out of the "briefing room".

"Seify, Where did you go?"

I looked over to Seifer with a brow raised at the nickname. He simply rolled his eyes at me and walked over to Rinoa, giving her a kiss on the forehead, again, there was that sharp pain again. I turned away from the sight.

"Give us a few minutes, love."

I could almost feel the pout on her face along with the questionable look on her face. But she didn't question what his intent was and headed back in. I heard the sound of boots clicking before fingers rested on my chin and turned so that I faced the blond. He was smirking, was that suppose to be a good sign?

"She called me Squally…"

The confusion on his face made the ends of my lips curl a little. I seemed to be confusing everyone a lot lately. Oh well, guess it was to be expected all things considered. The train jolted to a halt and all that was in the briefing room came out. I pushed up from the wall and headed out, Seifer following behind. I took a breath of fresh air once outside, and started towards the TV station.

"Hey wait just a tick! Where do you think you're going mister?"

I turned back to look at the raven-haired girl who have spoken. I studied her from head to toe, wondering what I ever saw in her. Her hands at her hips, her eyes holding that puppy dog innocence and that little pout that seems irreplaceable, she was a spoiled little brat.

"To the TV station, we've already established that we were going to attack there."

"Don't worry princess, he knows his thing."

Seifer had moved to wrap his arm around the small girl, she was extremely small compared to her. She looked up at him, still holding that puppy dog innocence in her eyes, they held their gaze for a moment longer before she seemed to give in and shrugged. Once it was decided, we headed towards the TV station, going into the bar and out the back, through the creaky gate and up the short flight of stairs, passing by the large television screen that had weird red letterings sliding across the screen. It was a minute after we had arrived at the station that they started broadcasting. Shit, a little late, oh well… I'll just wing it, Quistis will be here after the president made his appearance. I leaned over to Seifer and ordered him to stay back no matter what happens. The Sorceress would make her appearance once the president makes for his escape.

The event in the station happened as planned out, Quistis arrived just minutes after the president made his appearance, and Seifer, seeing as how we weren't about to do anything, stepped up and took the president hostage. I guess some things can't be changed… stubborn bastard. I glared at Zell, knowing he would soon reveal that we were from garden, but that at least was avoided as my glare seem to shut him up. I allowed Seifer to drag the president out back, telling everyone to stay behind as I headed in after him.

My memory never fails me. The president was crawling away just as the sorceress made her appearance and attempt to coax Seifer to be her knight. I casted a stop spell on the sorceress, at least some things didn't change from that other time, my magic was strong enough to stop her, but for how long, I didn't wait to find out. I grabbed Seifer by his collar and dragged him out back, ordering everyone to leave the station at once. Once we were a safe distance away from the station and out from the radars of the galbadians, I looked over to Rinoa.

"Where's the Chief's house?"

She looked at me surprised that I would even know the Chief. I shook my head, not allowing any question. Entering the bar again, a middle aged lady greeted us and invited us into her home, the chief of this small town. We followed her back to her home. Scatter around her small kitchen/dining area, I looked over to Quistis.

"We should head for the Galbadian Garden as soon as possible, but for the time being, let's head upstairs and discuss this further."

It wasn't even a minute after I said that, that a knock was heard on the door, followed by the gruff voice of the galbadian soldiers. The woman ushered us up the stairs, me, of course, earning a couple odd glances, but there was no time to explain. Once upstairs in the bedroom, I looked at the team around me.

"Zell, Selphie and Rinoa will head out first as soon as the soldiers are gone, Quistis, Seifer and I will follow shortly after, We'll be heading for the train station headed for the East academy, that will be the last train to leave town so, we can't afford to waste any time, any questions?"

The silence answered my question as I stood by the stairs, listening to confirm when the soldiers would be gone. When I heard the door click closed, followed by the footsteps coming upstairs to inform us that the soldiers were gone, we headed for the station. Once in the train, Quistis turned to look at me, I held up my hand to signal her to save her question for later and glared at Zell to avoid his possible whining. I looked over to the console and Selphie standing by the door. I sighed and walked over, granting access to the area beyond. Selphie giggled and thanked me, heading in to start singing her ridiculous train song. I sighed again, happy that the current event was out of the way. The rest of the train ride was spent in silence, granted the high pitched tone of singsong voice of Selphie singing her song. Once at the East Academy Station, we got off and headed into the forest just a little west of the station. Stopping midway there I announced that we would be taking a break and suggested that Quistis and Selphie sit down as I pulled Seifer down and placed my head on his lap. Few minutes later, we're entering the Dream World again.