How had SeeD managed to find us so quickly? It didn't make any sense to me. As far as I knew, we left no signs nor dropped any clues to indicate that Esthar had been our destination. I had taken all of the necessary steps to prevent them from tracking us. Had I made one mistake, or had I forgotten one detail, no matter how minute? I couldn't figure it out, but I didn't have the time to think about it.
We hurried through the city toward the Airstation in the Esthar dawn. The sun was just beginning to rise, and many of the stars were still visible through the myriad of bright colors. As we dashed along the streets, Laguna explained our adjusted plan.
"As soon as you get outta here, I'm gonna send Kiros and Ward to the rendezvous point. Just make sure you get there safely and undetected. It'll be a while before they arrive, so hang tight."
It had happened so quickly that I had hardly considered Seifer and the others could be right behind us. I had no idea where they were or how close they were. Taking a brief glance behind me, I saw no one.
We approached the Ragnarok and slowed our pace down to a walk. We were all breathing heavily, and I was surprised Laguna had stayed with us the entire way, considering his age and likely lack of inactivity during his years of presidency. Perhaps I didn't give him as much credit as he deserved.
"Sorry about all this, guys," he apologized sullenly. "As soon as we figure something out, we'll be back to pick you up. Good luck."
"Thanks…Laguna," I said appreciatively, yet still reluctant to address him as my father in any way.
Rinoa and I rushed aboard without another word and I headed for the cockpit. Starting the ship, it began to hover off of the landing pad as I buckled my seatbelt. Turning it in the proper direction, I then hit the boosters and we sped off. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but I knew plenty was left to be done before we were in the clear.
For the first time that morning, I looked over at Rinoa, meeting her gaze. She smiled slightly, but then the gloom and anxiety prevailed on her face. I wished I could have said something to cheer her up, but there were no words, as usual.
"Crazy, isn't it?" she remarked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah…" I concurred, but had nothing else to contribute.
"Just when we thought we could relax for a little bit, we're off and running again."
"I'm sorry," I apologized, but I was unsure of why I did so.
"No, don't. This isn't your fault, Squall. If anything, I should be thanking you. This would all be a disaster if you weren't here with me. I know I wouldn't be able to handle this by myself," Rinoa said in sincerity.
I remained silent, still with nothing to say. I checked the map as we continued to fly toward our destination. In the Ragnarok, it wouldn't take that long to get there, but I wondered how long it would be before Kiros and Ward met us, considering they had to navigate almost entirely around the continent to reach us. The arid desert became monotonous quickly as we saw nothing for miles except for great plains of sand. The trip was quite boring, as far as the scenery was concerned.
"Why don't you get some rest?" I suggested. "It's going to be a while before we leave the Ragnarok again."
Rinoa shook her head negatively. "No, I'm fine. I'm not that tired."
"You sure?"
"Maybe later, but I'm okay right now," she replied.
Shortly afterwards, the lush forests on the northwestern part of the Esthar continent came into view. I located our meeting point and steered the airship in the right direction. There was a gap of wide-open space nestled inside the forest that was conveniently large enough for us to land near the coast. Hopefully, the trees would be able to conceal it so it would not stand out. I eased the crimson, dragon-shaped ship down carefully and precariously, still not entirely confident in my limited ability as a pilot. I managed to bring it down to the ground without any difficulty.
"I think I will take a nap, after all," Rinoa said while stretching out her comely figure. "I'm really tired all of a sudden."
She closed her eyes and shifted in her seat, attempting to get comfortable.
"I'm gonna take a look around. I'll be back soon," I informed her as I unbuckled my seatbelt.
She nodded slowly to confirm that she had heard and I rose out of my seat. I wanted to get some rest myself, but I figured I needed to scout the area first to make sure there was no immediate danger present. I left the cockpit and sauntered my way out of the vessel, with my mind heavily burdened with various thoughts. I stepped outside cautiously and meticulously examined my surroundings.
The area seemed to be uninhabited, although there was a large hole in the ground not far from my present location filled with dead brown leaves, and a few other objects I couldn't see clearly. I moved forward to inspect the items, my eyes warily scanning the area as I walked. I stopped in my tracks suddenly when I realized what they were. There were two eggs speckled with green, and they were large.
Then the ground beneath me began to rumble, becoming more violent by the moment. I hurried back into the Ragnarok, as they were arriving on the scene. I was hidden out of sight and remained still as I watched to see what these monsters looked like. The two reptilian-like beasts stopped at their nest and searched frantically around for predators. Their head swerved left to right on a pivot, but never shifted up or down.
I recognized them from pictures in textbooks at Balamb Garden. They were an endangered species, closely related to the T-Rexaur. Although they were much shorter—only about a foot or so taller than me—they were every bit as bulky. They didn't have tails, but their arms were unusually long and muscular, barely hanging off of the ground. They had dark blue skin with thick, noticeable scales. They didn't hunch over, but their bodies leaned toward the earth and that seemed to be as far as they could rise up.
I noticed that the skull and neck were perfectly aligned with its straight spine, and that seemed to explain why their heads were only capable of moving from side to side. I was certain that, using their strong legs and arms to propel itself forward with amazing speed, these monsters were extremely powerful battering rams.
I began to sneak slowly backwards, hoping to close off the Ragnarok before they came aboard. However, my boots tapping against the metal floor was enough for their sensitive ears to pick up, and they turned swiftly in my direction. I dove through the door leading toward the cockpit in desperation as they ran aboard, and I hurried to lock it. I did so, but moments later a perceptible dent was created as they began relentlessly ramming into it.
It was only a matter of time before they managed to break through, and I couldn't run away because they would wreak havoc on the airship. Drawing my gunblade, I took a few steps back and to the side to avoid being directly in their path.
(I hope I can dispose of them before they can cause any severe damage.) I thought.
I was vacillating between calling on Rinoa to assist me or to let her be to keep her out of danger. In the end, I didn't have time to choose, as they ripped open the metal door and rushed at me. Their movement was very haphazard and erratic, as they kept their head lowered as they attempted to hit me. That made it much more difficult to dodge them because there was no discernable pattern to follow. I kept my feet in constant motion, waiting for an opportune time to attack. As one of them charged by, I slashed it down the side, but the hard scales were too tough to penetrate deep into, even for a sharp blade.
Eventually, I found myself backed against the wall. They came at me full speed, and I jumped as high as I could straight into the air. I barely had enough vertical leap to avoid them as they crashed headfirst into the steel. I slid down the back of one of the reptiles, and as soon as I landed, I aggressively swiped at its arm. My gunblade separated it from the body, and it dropped to the floor in a puddle of dark green blood.
It continued to pour profusely from the open wound as the creature let out a deafening shriek of pain. I couldn't concentrate on anything but the hideous sound until it ceased. Once I regained focus, I noticed the other beast charging my way and closing in too quickly for me to evade. I was able to place the flat side of my weapon in front of me in an attempt to lessen the blow. Even so, the broad side of my gunblade was forced into my chest, and I was lifted forcefully off of my feet.
The pain was excruciating and I couldn't breathe momentarily. I wondered how painful it would have been if I hadn't deflected it somewhat and it had nailed me unabated. I glanced at my blade to find that it had been slightly bent due to the contact.
The two reptiles stared at me carnivorously and were closing in for the kill as I tried to muster enough strength to stand up. They exposed their sharp teeth, and it appeared that they intended for me to be their next meal. However, they were suddenly bombarded from behind with a vicious flurry of consecutive Flare spells. They dropped to the floor of the Ragnarok, writhing in pain with scorched skin.
Then my eyes saw the source of their agony. Rinoa had rescued me with her powerful spells, magnified tremendously due to the fact that she was a sorceress. I rose to my feet and thrust my bent gunblade into the chest of one monster, and then it was permanently silenced. I withdrew my weapon and repeated the process with the other, silencing it. I glanced up at the ceiling and exhaled a long breath of relief.
"Thank you," I said gratefully, "for saving me."
Rinoa smiled at me. " 'No big deal. Just did what I wanted to do,'" she said, mimicking what I had told her on the Ragnarok a year ago after rescuing her from space.
I smiled as well, fond memories of that moment entering my mind. I wondered why she had decided to say that.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to mock you. I just always liked it when you said that," she explained. "Trying to act like you hadn't done anything special only because you wanted to do it, even if it was something important."
"I still remember when I told you that here a year ago," I commented.
Rinoa smiled brightly once again. "I was hoping you hadn't forgotten," she said, and I was glad that it was still committed to my memory as well. "So how long was I asleep?"
"Not long," I answered.
"What happened anyway?"
I informed her of the situation, and assuaged any worries that she had about the possibility of others in the area. It didn't seem likely that more of their kind was around. From what I had learned, only the mates traveled together and were nomadic by nature. They would only settle down briefly when the mother laid eggs. Even then, they would only occasionally check on their nest, and we had happened to arrive when they did.
I examined my gunblade and the damage done to it. It wasn't severe enough for me to need to replace it, but it could affect my aim, if only slightly. After all, the blade was barely bent out of shape, but even the smallest difference could change a lot. I figured I would try to mend it myself later.
"Can you fix it?" Rinoa inquired, noticing the damage as well.
"I'm not sure…I'll try though," I replied.
It would still be a while before Kiros and Ward picked us up, so I had plenty of time.
"We should clean up this mess before our guests come," she said, referring to the corpses of the lizards.
"How do you suggest we do that?" I asked.
"Simple," she replied casually, lifting a hand.
She used a few Tornado spells to raise and sweep them off of the Ragnarok without a problem.
"Impressive," I quipped. "You'd make a good housekeeper."
"A rare joke from you," Rinoa said with a laugh. "I hate cleaning though. I couldn't do it full-time."
I walked over and checked out the door that had been forced open. It hadn't been torn off of the hinges, but the metal had been ripped apart, creating an enormous hole. We could easily fit through it, but we would be unable to do anything to repair it by ourselves. I stepped through and stared briefly outside while my girlfriend followed me.
"I'm gonna get some fresh air," she told me.
"Be careful," I warned.
"I will," she assured with a wink and a kiss on the lips before heading outside.
As she walked off, I placed my gunblade on the floor, getting down on bended knee to look it over. I sighed, having no idea what I could do to straighten my trusty weapon out. I knew I couldn't just do that with my hands alone. If I couldn't adjust it somehow, I'd be stuck with it. After all, we wouldn't be able to go into a junk shop somewhere and get a replacement.
It'd be difficult to fight expert SeeDs with a faulty gunblade, no matter how insignificant it seemed. Contact with the exact point of greatest weakness in the metal could damage it beyond repair and leave me defenseless with a useless piece of scrap. It was not a situation I wanted to be placed into, however unlikely the scenario was.
My mind drifted back to the possibility of fighting my friends. One thing that I was always was aware of was that, as a SeeD, you couldn't choose your enemies. We were expected to cast all emotion aside and perform any task given to us. However, I had noticed that knighthood had the ability to make a person to do things they normally wouldn't, and there was no possible way that I could comprehend it. I was beginning to understand some of the things that Seifer went through as Ultimecia's knight, and I thought that maybe he didn't do all of those terrible things of his own will.
I gazed over at Rinoa standing outside. She seemed to just be staring up at the trees with a content look on her face, as if she was simply enjoying nature. Leaving my gunblade on the floor, I decided to join her in hopes of clearing my stressful mind.
"I love the smell of the forest," she stated with her back to me as she heard me approaching.
"Reminds you of Timber?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, and all my friends there. I've always hated the smell of big cities—smog, cars, brick, concrete, things like that—because it reminds me of Deling City and what it stands for, but…The scent of pure, unadulterated nature reminds me of all of the good things in life. Zone and Watts always used to tell me that it was surrounded by lush vegetation and huge trees before Galbadian occupation, and it made me hate Deling all the more…Even after all the effort I've put into it, I guess I won't get to be there when Timber finally declares independence, huh?"
She paused, lowering her eyes toward the ground sadly. I lifted up her chin with my hand, and I saw traces of tears welling up in her eyes. I placed my arm around Rinoa, and she hugged me tightly.
"I wish I could get rid of these sorceress powers without…dying, you know," she continued with a sniffle, her voice slightly faltering.
Once more, I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn't manage to find the words I wanted to say. I kissed her softly on the forehead and remained silent.
"I'm sorry, Squall. Let's head back inside," she said. "Thanks for listening to me ramble on about this."
"It's no problem," I said. "…Sorry I can't help you feel better."
"You don't always have to say something for me to know how you feel. Sometimes your actions speak louder than words, but don't use that as an excuse not to talk to me!" Rinoa said with a smile.
Grabbing my gunblade along the way, we went back to the cockpit and sat down in our seats. I watched her as she dozed off into a peaceful slumber, and then I elected to get some sleep as well. The sound of her slow, soft breathing soothed me as I fell asleep. I didn't know how much time had gone by, but eventually I was awakened by Kiros and Ward.
"Glad to see you guys were able to get some sleep," the former Galbadian soldier remarked.
I wearily rose out of my seat and we made out way toward the boat on the coast.
"Must've been boring having to wait all this time," he
commented, attempting to converse.
"Yeah, but it wasn't so bad," I replied.
Ward stopped and tapped his partner on the shoulder. Kiros glanced up at the huge man and interpreted his meaningful look.
"Right! Before I forget…Here," he said, handing us a pair of communicators, which we strapped around our wrists like a watch. "If you need us, just call us with those."
"Thank you," I said appreciatively. "By the way, could you guys buy me a new gunblade? I'll give you the money and items to forge it."
"Sure thing. We'll bring it by whenever we come back."
We reached the beach and found the vessel. It looked very similar to the boat I had ridden upon during the SeeD Field Exam going to Dollet.
"Let's get going, guys," Kiros said.
We all climbed aboard and then we sailed off toward our isolated island refuge.
