Chapter 11: Team
Squall Leonhart sat behind his desk. His gloved hand was massaging his forehead as he scrolled down the news he found online. Rinoa Leonhart was standing behind him, having just opened the windows to let a little ocean breeze cool her husband's head. Rinoa took a whiff of the fresh ocean air. It was amazing how this part of the world stays calm with all the turmoil within the lands. The sorceress turned around and wrapped her arms around her knight from behind. Squall leaned back with the touch. He liked where they were now, in the ocean, surrounded by calm waters. Everybody likes where they are now.
"The news are all the same. Thousands of people marching against sorceresses, bleh." said Squall.
Rinoa took a glance at the computer. "Ooh. Here's a new one. Lamia Brasque delivers speech today." said the sorceress, pointing towards a spot in the computer.
Squall clicked on the link. Rinoa removed her arms from Squall and sat on the arm rest. Squall quickly put a hand on her waist, guiding her.
The link opened to a video. Lamia Brasque, dead center and standing behind the podium of what seems to be Timber's TV Station. Her hair was neatly arranged into a sleek bob. Silver strands decorate the black headdress that was her hair. She wore heavy make-up and her black suit was very discernable from the red velvet background. People were fixing Lamia Brasque's microphone and the flag of Esthar was being erected to her left. Squall and Rinoa knew that was normal. Countries pay Galbadia a great sum of money to broadcast their message all over the world. This is one of the reasons why Galbadia wouldn't let go of Timber.
The odd thing was that Galbadia's flag was soon erected right after Esthar's. Normally, countries or organizations who broadcast their message from Timber only had their flag or insignia on the background. In this case, both Estharian and Galbadian flags have been erected behind Lamia. Squall reached for the telephone.
"Seifer, it's Squall."
"What?"
"I'll send you a link to a video of Lamia Brasque's recent speech."
"She's just gonna talk about sorceresses being a menace and whatnot."
"No there is something odd about it. Just watch it, please."
"Fine."
"And call Quistis. Tell her to watch it too." Squall dropped the phone. Seifer and Quistis took charge of Galbadia Garden while Irvine and Selphie took charge of Trabia Garden. Squall quickly contacted Irvine and Selphie as well.
They all played the video. Lamia Brasque looked straight through the camera. A voice from behind the camera signaled the ambassador to begin her speech. The lady in front of the camera smiled.
"Good evening, everyone. I am Lamia Brasque and I have come to Galbadia in peace. For years Galbadia and Esthar have been the two superpowers in our world, and we do not exactly see eye to eye. But now, things have changed. The world has a bigger enemy to catch and we cannot do it separately. We must unite our forces against the ultimate evil that this dear world will face. Which is why, Galbadia and Esthar have formed a treaty, unifying the two great nations towards one single cause. I am Lamia Brasque and I stand before you today, not as an Estharian, nor as a citizen of any other nation, but as a citizen of the world. As a citizen, we must fight our common enemy, and together, we can do it. So let us forget everything that had happened in our past. Estharians and Galbadians must now unite against the evil sorceresses and their armies. We must protect our world from evil."
She looked straight at the camera, not moving her gaze for a second. The determination and the endurance to fight the sorceresses is clear in her eyes. And it made her speech much more convincing. The Gardens cannot side with one superpower like they did in the last sorceress war. This time, they are on their own, against a team of colossal threats.
The video ended.
Lady Sylphia was motionless. She stared at the blank TV screen, her eyes slowly being filled with tears. Everybody in the room gazed at her, worried about her reaction to all this negativity and hostility against her. Suddenly, her mission was not so simple anymore. She was only supposed to go to Timber, talk in front of millions of people in behalf of all the sorceresses in the world and that's it. She didn't realize that this would all happen in the middle of the war.
A single tear fell from the eyes of the sorceress. Her face was still frozen and her gaze was locked on the screen. Carlos was beside her. He reached out a hand and touched her shoulder. The touch seemed to awaken her. Her back arched and her eyes blinked. She stood.
"Excuse me." She said as she walked to the beach. She stepped off the porch and felt the strong southern winds of the Centran nights. A shiver escaped from her body as she held her exposed arms and rubbed them for heat. Her long white hair flowed with the Centran winds. From behind, she looked so perfect, seemingly enjoying the coolness of the breeze from the ocean. From behind, her tears weren't visible, her sobs, silent.
"Hey." A voice from behind startled the weeping angel. She turned around to see Carlos Almasy holding out a familiar white feather coat.
"It's cold out. Take your coat."
"Thanks." the sorceress reached out for her coat and wore it. She then turned her back at Carlos. Silence followed. Carlos stepped forward and reached out a hand to her shoulder. The sorceresses started sobbing. Tears gushed across her face and reflected the white moonshine. The young man beside the sorceress wrapped his arms around her shoulder. The sorceress swiftly embraced Carlos and let her tears fall on his shoulders.
The moon watched the sorceress break down in the arms of her knight. The ocean's waves accompanied the whimpers from the young sorceress.
"I'm scared." The sorceress managed to speak between her sobs, her face still embedded in his arms.
"Sylphia."
The sorceress pulled away from the embrace. "I don't want to go back, Carlos. I don't want them to take me. I don't want to be alone." Carlos looked at the watery pearls that was her eyes. Another tear fell from them and he wiped them away.
"I'm here, Sylphia. I will not let them take you. I promise." He embraced her once more as she finally had the strength to smile, knowing that she will be safe in the arms of her knight. The two then walked up to the beach and sat on a rock that was lodged in the sand. They admired the beauty of the rolling waves and wished that the night wouldn't end. The blonde SeeD wrapped his arms around Sylphia as she leaned her head on the shoulders of her knight.
"Did we miss something?" a voice from behind startled the pair. Louie Leonhart and Celine Branford stood behind them, sporting a grin that reached up to their ears. The duchess and her knight separated.
"We shouldn't have startled them." Celine can't stop the giggles.
"Well, I came to check up on the sorceress but I see you have it all under control, Carlos?" Louie smiled. Carlos's cheeks turned pink. "I hope we're not disturbing anything by asking if I can take a seat right here." Louie moved to an empty spot of sand beside the couple.
"Would you care to join me?" the raven-haired boy looked up at the green-eyed girl who was still obviously trying to control her giggles. She sat next to him.
"What's so funny?" Carlos asked.
"Nothing!" Celine quickly changed the expression on her face when she saw Carlos's eyes looking straight at her, obviously enraged. She decided to stop teasing the two but the figure beside her just can't get enough.
"So what did we miss? What is going on here?" Louie smiled at the two.
"Boy. It's chilly out here. I'm gonna go get some fire wood." Carlos stood up.
"Nope." said Louie and Carlos quickly returned to his seat, seemingly being controlled by an external force. "They can get the fire wood." he added, pointing at the two figures walking up to the beach.
"Krys! You and Dash go get some fire wood!" Louie shouted. The two complied, running back to the house to go get some wood to burn off.
"Wait a minute. What was that?" asked Sylphia.
"What?" Louie responded.
"The thing you did with Carlos. It seemed like you commanded him to sit down." continued the sorceress. "Are you junctioned?"
"Uhmm... Yeah. Of course I'm junctioned. Duh." Louie was obviously lying. Carlos smiled. He was getting some payback.
"What kind of spell is that? I've never seen or used that one before. How are you able to control people?"
"I...I don't actually control people. I push or pull them."
"It's a gravity spell?"
"Yup."
Sylphia's eyes widened. A gravity spell that is caused by junctioned Guardian forces are uncontrollable and almost always causes damage. Everything started to make sense. Louie thanking Carlos when the latter summoned Cerberus during their attempt to storm Timber, his early access to advanced para-magic spells and his accuracy and precision when casting spells all prove her hunch. She stood.
"I knew it."
"What's going on?" Elaine Faragon walked up to the beach, followed by Krys and Dash carrying fire wood with them. "What do you know?" she added.
"Louie is a sorcerer!"
Silence followed the revelation. Carlos, Dash and Krys knew about Louie ever since his parents told him. Celine knew about him from the previous night. Elaine had hunches because of how powerful his spells were. Louie sighed. His face changed. The confident Louie who was teasing Carlos was gone. He was replaced by a more vulnerable version of the sorcerer. His true form.
"Yes. It's true. I'm a sorcerer. From my mom."
"Since when?" asked Elaine, sitting on the invisible circle around the unlit fireplace.
"Birth. My mother told me to keep it a secret. Only close friends and family knew." Louie waved his hand and the fire wood in the middle of the circle ignited itself. "My parents, their parents, Matron, Uncle Cid, Ellone, and these four. They were the only ones who knew."
"So do you have wings?" asked Sylphia.
"Yes. Black feather wings. Matron says that Gravity is my element and ever since what happened the other night, I have been getting a better grip on things. Matron has been helping me with all of this."
"It's tough huh?"
"Yeah. I can only imagine how the world will treat me if they found out. I admire you, Sylphia. You are one tough sorceress."
"We all have to be strong, Louie. Otherwise, people will just use us, or worse, we'll start using them. Do you have a knight?"
"No. My parents talked about getting me one. I didn't agree. I imagine he's your knight." said Louie, pointing at the young blonde SeeD beside her.
"I guess so. Hey you know what? What if you speak with me in Timber?"
"What?"
"Hear me out! I was going to tell the people of the world that sorceresses can only do good to the society if the society treats us fairly. Iknow that's your stand in all this, Louie. Come on. I think the world is ready for Louie Leonhart, the sorcerer. And if they're not, we'll make them ready!"
"Yeah. We'll be behind you all the way, bro." said Carlos.
"It'll be us against the world." Krys added.
"It's only fair, dude." exclaimed Dash.
"We're a team. We won't let anyone down." added Elaine.
Louie bowed his head in contemplation. All of them were pushing him to reveal his true self to the world. All the world will see that Louie is a sorcerer, just like Ultimecia. On one hand, the world can easily put blame on his mother and father for the birth of another menace to the world. Strong countries can capture his family and friends just to get him to give up. It will be a risky move. On the other hand, this can actually make a difference for him and all the sorceresses in the world. It can create peace and harmony all through out the planet.
The young sorcerer looked at the brown-haired SeeD beside him.
She smiled.
He smiled back.
"Alright."
