Balamb Garden was at war. Though the technology was different from that of Star Command, the situation inside was much the same. Soldiers of all different ages and genders fought against the far more numerous pockets of Heartless. But unlike the Space Rangers, the warriors here used swords and axes instead of lasers, and were all Human, at least so far as Kairi and Selphie could see.
The two girls charged in, saving a boy a few years younger than them. Though he wielded his lance skillfully, the enemies had been too numerous for him. Kairi knocked a Soldier Heartless into the air with Gummadoon, and followed after it, crushing it with two more blows, and then destroying a Wizard Heartless on her way down. Selphie bashed her way past a Shadow, and landed next to the tween, incanting, "Aero!"
The wind spell blasted the Heartless back, putting two more in range for Kairi to quickly finish. Then she pointed her Keyblade at an incoming Gargoyle, and chanted, "Gravity."
The purple-black sphere formed under the Heartless, and slammed it to the floor. While it was down, the nunchaku user slammed her weapon into its neck, finishing it.
"Thank you," the boy said gratefully, slicing though the last Soldier, "But who are you?"
"Reinforcements?" Selphie did not sound convinced by her own excuse, and the younger warrior frowned. Before he could say anything else, a beautiful woman strode over. She had long, blonde hair , piercing blue-green eyes, and was in her mid-twenties. She wore a light orange jacket with burgundy sleeves, and cut outs around her shoulders, open in the front to show her navel. She had a matching skirt with black leggings underneath and a pair of belts, one straight and one at an angle. She carried a six-foot long chain whip
"Ward, return to your group," she ordered firmly, then addressed the newcomers, "You two come with me."
She led them deeper into the structure, pausing occasionally to fight groups of the Heartless, carefully observing the travelers as they fought. After the third set of Darkness born creatures fell, Selphie positioned herself in front of their guide before she could begin moving again.
"Hold on," the yellow-clad teen exclaimed, "We don't mind helping out with the Heartless, but we're not going any further until you tell us who you are, and what you want with us."
"She is a Keyblade user, and the Heartless appear intent in capturing our princess, so I am taking you to protect her," the local reported. The two teens exchanged worried glances.
"As for my name, is it not common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking someone else's name?"
Kairi could not help but smile slightly, recalling their conversation with Ron and Kim. Selphie frowned slightly at her own misstep.
"I'm Selphie Tilmitt," she answered, "and this is Kairi. And you are?"
"Quistis Trepe, SeeD rank; pleased to make your acquaintance," the blonde woman offered tersely, "Now can we get moving?"
"I didn't know Balamb Garden had royalty," Kairi started carefully.
"It's not an actual title," Quistis told them with a look of fond reminiscence, "It started off as a way to make fun of how he treated her, but over time it became a term of endearment and respect."
She reached the central elevator, and entered her code to unlock it. The car appeared a second later, and after her two guests were inside, the local warrior punched in a second code. The elevator began to rapidly ascend.
"What do you know?" Quistis suddenly asked them pointedly.
"That's a pretty broad question," Selphie shot back.
"I saw your reactions when I said the Heartless were after Rinoa," the SeeD refused to be diverted, "You know something."
"First, tell us why you think they are after Rinoa," Kairi requested softly.
"Rinoa is a non-combatant," Quistis explained, "So when the attacks first started, we sent her to the cafeteria with the younger students. And that was where the Heartless focused. After the second attack we had her working in the infirmary, and the Heartless went there. With each attack, no matter where we hide her, that is were the Heartless go."
"Why is a non-combatant here?" Selphie asked.
"A number of reasons," Quistis seemed annoyed by the question, but answered it anyway, "Mostly she is waiting for him."
"Are you sure it is her?" the Keyblade user suggested, "Was there anyone else who was with her at every location?"
"No, after we started to suspect she was the target, she has been mostly alone with SeeD rank guards," the blonde explained, "And the guards are on a rotation."
"Do you know why these things want Rinoa?" Quistis asked again, this time more nervously. Before the teens could answer, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. They exited into a large, well-appointed office. There were two people in the room, a young man and woman, both around Quistis's age. The man was shorter than either of the women; or would have been, if not for the six inch plume in the front of his hair. He had a tribal tattoo on his left cheek, and wore a simple red and black jacket,
and blue jeans.
Rinoa Heartilly was a few inches shorter then Quistis. She had dark brown, nearly black hair, trailing to the middle of her back. Her gentle, intelligent, brown eyes brightened when she saw Quistis, and then grew curious as they fell on the younger women. She wore a black halter top and shorts, with a deep blue skirt and a lighter blue cover that was a hybrid of a coat and a cape.
"Quistis, what's up?" the young man asked.
"Reinforcements, Zell," she explained, catching Selphie's eye.
"These kids?" he sounded dubious, "Who are they?"
Kairi held out her hand, and Zell stumbled back in surprise as her Keyblade appeared. He looked at the weapon in awe, and nodded his understanding.
"I am Rinoa Heartilly," the woman in blue stepped out from behind the desk to greet them, "It is an honor to meet a chosen user of the Keyblade."
"I am Kairi, and this is my friend Selphie."
"On top of that, they know something about these attacks," Quistis informed her friends, while looking pointedly at the younger women, "Which they were just about to tell me when we arrived."
Kairi and Selphie quickly laid out what they new about Nelera and her goal.
"… and she has these scanner things to find the Adamant Hearts," the nunchaku user concluded, "Which is probably why they can find Rinoa, no matter where you hide her."
"But why does she want these Adamant Hearts?" Quistis asked.
"We don't know that," Kairi shook her head slightly with the statement.
"Our turn," Selphie said suddenly, drawing the attention of her four companions, "So this place just up and vanished for like ten years. What happened?"
Zell shuddered at the query, and Rinoa glanced at Quistis, who shrugged back.
"We don't know," the female SeeD answered, "Back then, we were suddenly attacked by the Heartless. In the middle of the battle, suddenly everything went black. Not like the power went out, but the total absence of light anywhere. When we could see again, everything had changed. The Heartless were gone, and everyone had aged five years. We had no memories of the lost time, but we knew things we had not known before, like we continued to live our lives the whole time. But even stranger, when we checked the stars, and linked with Star Command's time beacon, we found we had been gone for ten years, not five."
"You didn't notice anything else?" Kairi prodded gently.
"There was one thing," Zell said softly.
"He was missing," Quistis said.
"He again... He who?" Selphie demanded, exasperated. Both SeeDs looked at their charge.
"Squall Leonhart," Rinoa smiled sadly, "The man I love."
"When we woke up, Squall was just gone," Zell added. Kairi pursed her lips, their words sparking memories of the events a year prior.
"Do you know something?" Rinoa asked when she noticed the younger woman's expression. There was a hint of desperation in her voice. The Keyblade user nodded slowly.
"When I was in Hollow Bastion last year, one of the people I met was a man named Leon," she said, "Except Yuffie kept calling him 'Squall', and he insisted he had abandoned that name. Aerith told me the Leon had once failed to protect someone close to him, and so when Hollow Bastion fell, he blamed himself and gave up his name."
"What does he look like?" Quistis asked hopefully.
"Tall, slender, with medium brown hair, and piercing eyes," Kairi answered, "He has a diagonal scar across the bridge of his nose, between his eyes. And if it helps, he uses a weapon that is like a revolver, but with a single edged sword instead of a barrel."
"Squall... Leon..." Rinoa nodded, then asked quietly, "How is he?"
"I didn't get to know him that well," the Keyblade user offered cautiously, "But I think the best way to say it is the he is 'surviving'. He doesn't seem depressed, but he isn't happy, either."
"That's how he always was," Zell chuckled, relieved, "Squall was never happy."
"Yes, he was," Quistis countered softly, watching Rinoa with concern. But, like Zell, the other woman looked satisfied.
"Thank you," she told the travelers, and Kairi smiled back. Selphie looked at Zell oddly. During the conversation, the twenty-something warrior had drawn closer and was staring at the young woman intently.
"What's the matter? Captivated by my beauty?" the nunchaku user asked directly, posing slightly.
"Maybe in another five years," he snorted, "I thought I knew you from somewhere, but I guess it's just my imagination."
"Rinoa, do you have the elements I asked you to hold on to?" Quistis ignored their comedy routine. The 'princess' nodded, and retrieved a small metal case from the desk.
"I noticed on the way here that all of your spells are the basic level," the blonde woman told Kairi, opening the case, "So I want you to have these. Call them an advance reward, and a way to make the fight easier."
"What fight?" Selphie asked. Quistis pointed behind them, and the elevator light was flashing red. With an increased urgency, Kairi turned her attention to the box, which contained two Cure, one Thunder, and one Aero crystal. She took one of the Cure spells, and turned to Selphie.
"You take the others," the Princess of Heart urged her teammate.
"Are you sure?"
"I still have three spells that you don't," Kairi explained, "And you seem to have a talent for wind and lightning magic."
"OK," Selphie didn't hesitate any further, and as she took the three gems stated, "Thundara, Aerora, Cura. Nice."
"Get ready," Quistis advised, as a grinding noise echoed into the room from behind the sealed door to the lift. Selphie shifted her oversized nunchaku off her shoulder. Kairi summoned the Keyblade, and, looking at the barrier thoughtfully, switch Gummadoon out for Innocent Snowfall. Quistis shook out her whip, and Zell cinched his gloves. Rinoa retreated behind the desk, retrieved her boomerang-like weapon and close her eyes briefly to focus her power.
The scraping stopped, and a second later, a loud ringing filled the room, as the armored barrier distended inwards with the outline of a large, spiked ball. The room shook slightly as the barricade was struck again, distorting further.
"Protecaja," Rinoa intoned, as the third blow hurtled the two pieces of the broken door into the room. Selphie cringed slightly as the giant hunk of metal struck her, but thanks to the spell, she was not injured or even budged. The steel tumbled past them crashing into the reinforced window, cracking it slightly. The other piece of the door barely missed Quistis, who was well aware of Rinoa's mystical prowess and did not even flinch. The Morning Star Heartless spun into the room through the now open elevator doors. Behind it, the Humans could see the dim outlines of both Wizards and Virgo Fighters.
"Blizzard," Kairi fired her spell quickly at the portal, trying to catch as many Heartless as she could in the cone of ice, before they could spread out into the room. Unfortunately, the Morning Star's bulk absorbed most of the spell, and only a few snowflakes struck one of the Virgo Fighters behind it. The feminine fighter Heartless froze solid and shattered, but the armored, spiked, spinning monstrosity began to rotate towards them.
"Firaga," Quistis launched a larger sphere of flame at the lead monster's head, knocking it off balance. Zell raced forward, blocking its extended arm with his wrists and Rinoa's spell, halting the Morning Star completely. Then he slammed his fist into it, knocking it back into one of the Wizards. The spellcasting Heartless disintegrated instantly.
"Hastega," Rinoa chanted next, still behind the partial cover of the desk. Selphie grinned triumphantly, and raced forward at double her normal speed, crushing two Virgo Fighters out of existence before they could raise their quarterstaves to defend. Lightning fell around Quistis and Zell as two of the Wizards raised their wands in unison.
"Zell, deal with the magic users," the blonde woman instructed, "Selphie, stay on the melee fighters. Kairi, help me finish the big one. Rinoa, can we get some protection from magic?"
"Shellga," the sorceress was already stating. One of the Wizards aimed a Fira spell at Kairi, but the Keyblade user barely notice it. She jumped up, and nearly flew past her target due to the boost to her movement rate. But the princess spun back around in mid-air, making it look like she had intended to attack the Morning Star from behind the entire time. She smacked Innocent Snowfall into the back of its helmet four times in rapid succession, and finished with another "Blizzard!"
Quistis wrapped her chain around the creature's arm, leveraging Kairi's impacts to pull the Heartless onto its side. It started to push itself back up, even as the SeeD incanted, "Thundaga", also destroying a Virgo Fighter that was retreating from Selphie's whirlwind onslaught. The Morning Star ignored the damage, ponderously returning to its feet.
Zell launched himself into the air, driving his right hand into the chest of the first Wizard, destroying it instantly. The fist fighter looked mildly surprised by how successful his attack was. He pushed off the disintegrating spellcaster, backhanding a second Heartless in its 'face'. It was knocked away, but not destroyed. Zell didn't have the momentum to follow it, but he twisted back and hammered both hands on the conical hat of a third monster. This one broke apart as well, and the male SeeD charted his course to eliminate his remaining three targets.
Selphie's high-tech 'chucks broke through a Virgo Fighter's staff and the inky body behind it, and then she caught the moving arm of her weapon and sent out the other one tearing through two more of the melee Heartless. Thanks to the enchantments, her already swift style was amplified and she need not worry about incidental hits. One fighter jabbed its pole at her, but the young woman slid around it easily, looped the chain of her weapon around the staff, and flipped the Heartless into one of its comrades. Two of the remaining fighters dropped back, regrouping. But the nunchaku user followed them closely, and struck before they could tag team her.
The gyroscopic Heartless finished standing, and Kairi darted in before it could attack. She stabbed her Keyblade into the joint between its arm and body, and shouted "Blizzard!"
The ice spread all over its side, and the Heartless stumbled unsteadily. Both of the women attacking the Heartless swung their weapon at the brittle point, shattering the armor. The Heartless tried to start its rotating attack, but its form was already beginning to collapse. A slip of paper tumbled free as its helmet broke apart.
"Very nice," a mocking voice called out from the doorway, accompanied by slow clapping. The warriors all turned to see Nelera leaning against the twisted frame of the elevator.
"I guess that means it's my turn," the Human appearing, self-proclaimed Heartless woman extended her arms, flashing the eight daggers in her hands, "But first... Relámpago!"
She raised her left hand, and a wave of lightning washed over them. The spell created only a light tingling, and Zell charged forward with a smug grin. But the four women noticed his movements had returned to normal. Once he was in range, Nelera swung out her arm, connecting her knuckles with his jaw. Zell looked surprised for an instant, before he rocketed away. He struck the support between two of the windows, and dropped to the floor with a hollow groan. Rinoa looked frightened for her friend, but was unable to move as Nelera's hungry gaze settled on her.
"There you are, Heart of Sapphire," the thief purred.
"Stay away from her," Quistis commanded.
"I would like to oblige," Nelera nodded sarcastically, "But your new friends stopped me from taking the Heart of Granite, so I had to go with my backup plan."
"And just what is your plan?" Selphie asked with false innocence, but the scientist refused to be tricked.
"My plans are my business," she said darkly, "and it would be far safer for you to stay out of them."
"That's not going to happen," Kairi insisted, and Selphie nodded.
"I thought not," Nelera shrugged broadly, with an exasperated sigh, "Raijin."
A bolt of lightning shot from her daggers towards Kairi's head. As the princess of Radiant Garden blocked the attack, the thief tried to dart past them to reach her target. But both a nunchaku and a chain whip slashed out in her path, and Nelera was forced to stop short.
"Do you really think you can put that thing on her chest with us here?" Selphie growled, adding, "Aerora."
The winds swept the scientist back, but did not knock her down or appear to do any damage beyond mussing her hair. Still, Nelera glared at the girl, swiping at Selphie with her right hand. A dart of electricity left each of her four knives, but Selphie blocked them with her whirling weapon.
"Shellga," Rinoa re-established their protection against magic. Quistis lashed out with her chain at their opponent's neck. As Nelera caught the whip with her daggers, the heroic blonde raised her other hand, and chanted, "Firaga."
The fireball knocked Nelera back, to where Kairi was waiting. The princess brought her key up towards the thief's back, but Nelera back-flipped over it. The Keyblade reversed direction, and the haft met with the Heartless woman's stomach. The thief accepted the blow, and slashed her knives across Kairi's chest. They carved precise furrows through the teen's dress, and the flesh underneath.
"Curaja," Rinoa hit Kairi with a restorative spell, removing the damage to both skin and cloth. The bearer of the Sapphire Heart followed the healing with, "Protecaja."
Nelera's follow up strike bounced of the Keyblade user's skin, and the scientist snarled as she slid backwards. Kairi and Selphie closed ranks, while Quistis took advantage of Nelera's focus on Kairi to move Zell closer to Rinoa, so the healer could work her magic on him. The whip wielder rejoined her new allies, while the Sorceress knelt over the male SeeD.
Nelera raised her hands again, but the other women recognized the gesture from earlier.
"Gravity."
"Firaga."
The dark spell pulled Nelera's hands out of position before she could remove their enchantments, and the fire spell hit her square in the chest.
"Three and a half on one is hardly fair," Nelera groused. She straightened up, and flipped out her hair. As she did, six floating, spherical Heartless materialized around her. They resembled Darkballs, except these Heartless were larger, and were red with dark grey highlights. The reinforcements split off, two heading towards each of the front line fighters. Three of the round creatures moved in quickly, while the other three advanced more cautiously.
Quistis was more reserved with the new enemies, but neither Selphie nor Kairi waited, both charged the closer Heartless, swinging. The hovering monsters were knocked back by the attacks, and each girl followed her opponent. Selphie succeeded in finishing her opponent first, but as the orb Heartless broke apart, five Shadows spilled out onto the floor, and began to immediately attack the nunchaku user. Kairi noticed the outcome too late to slow her final strike, and another group of small ink spots entered the fray.
Nelera bit her tongue, almost literally. She wanted very much to gloat about the success of her new breed of Heartless, but she had backed away after the initial summoning. Now that her Carrier Bubbles had the Human's attention, she began to slide around the border of the room.
"What do we do now?" Selphie groaned, smashing her second Shadow, while sidestepping the third and blocking the fourth, "If we burst the rest of these balloons, we'll be up to our armpits in Shadows."
"Maybe magic will do better?" Kairi suggested, stabbing into the second to last of the tiny monsters she had released. Quistis gently forced back the sphere Heartless that suddenly charged her.
"Fira," the female SeeD intoned cautiously, and Kairi targeted her remaining enemy with, "Blizzard."
The Carrier that Kairi hit shank slightly, but the one impacted by the magic flames expanded drastically. It began to shudder, and then exploded, spewing out eight Shadows.
"Fire is out," Selphie declared, then asked, "What about Thunder?"
"It could be dangerous around..." the Princess of Heart trailed off, realizing their true enemy was no longer directing her forces from the entrance to the office. Casting about, her eyes widened in terror when she saw the Heartless woman standing behind Rinoa, now holding the Heart Extractor. Kairi started to turn towards the desk, but it was already too late.
"Round Two," Zell shouted, surging up from the ground, fist first. Rinoa dove forward, and rolled into a kneeling position, facing her attacker. The scientist was caught off guard by the newly restored SeeD, and Zell's shoulder collided with her arm, even as the flexible thief leaned back just far enough to avoid the uppercut to her chin. But the accidental contact was more successful than the attack would have been. The young man jarred the cylinder from her hand, and it flew away from her in a shallow arc. It hit the carpeted floor, and rolled to a stop two steps away from Kairi.
Nelera pushed Zell away, and turned to grab her machine. Her blue eyes filled with horror when she saw her nemesis so close to the precious machine. At the same time, Kairi's fear faded into a gentle smile. The normally graceful Nelera almost tripped over her own feet in her haste, but she was too far away. The Keyblade wielder lifted her weapon, and jammed it into the extractor, shattering the glass bottle and smashing the machinery on top.
"Damn it, you little wretch," Nelera screamed at her, "I haven't even finished replicating a replacement for the Heart of Granite extractor yet."
She casually slid out of the way of Zell's next attack, while continuing to glare the young woman.
"I can't believe I used to think you were cute," Nelera told Kairi, "You have the same annoying, holier-than-thou attitude your grandfather had, right up to the point we banished him to the void."
The Human Heartless snapped her fingers, and the other monsters all disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Quistis froze in the midst of casting a spell.
"She's running," Kairi said, "Just like in the Big Apple."
"No point in fighting a battle, when you cannot achieve your goal," Nelera shrugged.
"But what are you going to do now, Princess?" the villain taunted as she opened the portal, "Can you guard Rinoa and Goliath both? You can't be sure who I will go after next. And will you be able to protect either of them, when I remove the Heartless from St Canard, Middleton, Dunwyn, and Star Command to bolster my forces?"
She vanished with the barb, leaving Kairi with a worried expression.
"Is everyone alright?' Rinoa moved out from behind the desk to see if her guardians were injured. As she treated some claw marks on Quistis's leg, Selphie moved in closer to Kairi.
"Don't listen to her," the peppy teen advised softly, "neither these guys nor Goliath's clan are going to go down that easy. And we still have to find where Nelera is keeping the other Adamant Hearts, right? So if we can do that, we might be able to stop her before she can attack again."
Kairi nodded, matching her friend's determination.
"It sounds like we will have a reprieve, if a short one," Quistis approached them, "Will you stay?"
"Only until we open the path to the next world," Kairi shook her head, "We are actually searching for our own missing friends. Fighting Nelera is something that we just stumbled into."
"So, we'll probably be leaving in the next few minutes," Selphie added, slipping the journal page into her pocket without reading it. Kairi frowned curiously at her companion, as did their older allies.
"What do you mean?" the Keyblade user asked.
"That's the pattern, right," Selphie waved her hand demonstratively, "We beat up Nelera or her lieutenant, and then something nearby starts to glow, making the new connection. What do you think it will be? Maybe Quistis's weapon, or Rinoa's?"
Kairi glanced at the SeeDs and the the Sorceress, and smiled indulgently.
"In that case, I better ask you now," Rinoa said nervously. She returned to the desk, and removed two items from the top drawer. Though she recognized a letter, Kairi could not see the other item, as the faux princess approached her.
"When we realized Squall was gone, I wrote this letter to him," the gentle woman said shyly. She extended the missive, and Selphie looked expectant, but nothing happened.
"I didn't know where to send it, or even how," Rinoa continued, "But if you have met him before, you might meet him again. If you do, can you give him this?"
Kairi took the letter with a firm nod. Again, Selphie tensed up, but again, nothing occurred.
"And to thank you and help you, I would like you to have this," Rinoa opened her other hand, and a small white crystal nested within. Kairi recognized it as a spell.
"How are you holding it like that?" the teen was amazed, "Shouldn't it absorb into you?"
"One of the benefits of being a Sorceress," the blue clad young woman smiled more broadly.
"Thank you," Kairi reached for the element, but before her fingers touched, the gem began to glow, and lifted into the air. The Keyblade reappeared in her hand, and the beam from the weapon to the spell inscribe a Keyhole though the window.
"See?" Selphie proclaimed triumphantly. Kairi caught the crystal as it descended, and it quickly vanished into her skin.
"Holy," she said with a touch of wonder.
"I guess that means you're leaving," Zell stated evenly, and Kairi nodded.
"I'll escort you out," Quistis said.
"Thank you for your help," Rinoa said as she embraced each of the younger women briefly.
"So who do you think we'll find next?" Selphie asked as they moved to the unblocked but still working elevator, "The Ruby Heart, or maybe the Diamond Heart?"
Kairi sighed in mock exasperation, knowing that Selphie was forcing herself to act that way, to keep her and Gadget's spirits up.
"We'll see when we get there," she answered taking the nunchaku wielder's arm.