A/N: Changed the genre from Tragedy/Angst to Tragedy/Mystery. I really don't know how to perfectly categorize this haha. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Things get a little fast by the end so hopefully you feel that while reading. Reviews please thanks.

Chapter 21: Somber Homecomings

Elaine Faragon

Garden was her home now. There was no better place to be.

Elaine Faragon kept on repeating these two sentences in her head, mastered the loop like a prayer. Even as the war grew darker and an attack on Garden loomed just beyond the horizon, she held on. They all did. For some of them, the war was a dream come true morphed into a nightmare. For others, it was just another mission. She didn't know which one it was for her and there was no time to think.

Louie Leonhart started commanding B-Garden two days ago. He asked Elaine with Celine and Krys to assist him. Elaine felt Louie didn't deserve the position. Louie agreed. He wasn't doing much anyway, since the Garden was idle. All paperwork. Louie was stressed, though. They all were. An attack can happen anytime and the nights are especially hard for the ones in charge.

Elaine was walking up to the elevators. Louie sent a text last night, asking the four of them to come up to the office with him in the morning. Elaine figured it's probably because of upcoming SeeD exams or the Garden festival. She blamed the war for the slow progress of the students. Louie did too.

The young cadet's mind ran off until she reached the office. She opened the door and rolled her eyes at the sight of Louie Leonhart, slumped over his desk, sleeping. Deciding not to disturb his sleep, she walked over to the counter where there was a coffee maker. Elaine knew that the only way to wake Louie up without having to deal with him was to wait for him to wake up, or to make him smell coffee. Besides, she also needed a cup.

After a while, the coffee was ready. Elaine knew this when the figure on the desk started to stir. She grabbed a mug on the same counter and gently poured the coffee onto it. Suddenly, Louie lifted his head. Elaine turned to him and saw his disheveled hair covering one eye, while the other darted around, searching for vision.

When the young Leonhart realized he was in his office, he lifted his left arm. The light switches near the door made clicking sounds and the room was flooded in boring bluish-white light.

"Elaine! You're early." He was shocked that there was someone already in the room.

"Not earlier than you. What's up? You moving here?" Elaine jeered.

"No I.." he yawned. "I... fell asleep after sending you that text last night. What time is it?"

"5 AM sharp." He awoke just in time. Slowly, he stood up and walked to the counter. He grabbed a mug of and slowly poured coffee into it. He then walked back to his desk, opened his computer and slowly reached for his mouse with his injured right arm.

"How's the arm?" she asked.

"Fine. I tried training a bit this morning. It was harder than usual but it's slowly returning back to normal. Still can't lift the gunblade with one arm, though."

"How's Celine?"

"Shut up."

Elaine snickered. Louie told her he had a thing for Celine back when they were in Centra. She never really asked him if it was neutral. The sorcerer doesn't like to talk about it but teasing him was the only form of entertainment she had that didn't remind her of the war. It was a break, albeit a miniscule one.

"What are we up to, today?" she asked.

"Uhhhhmmmmm." He trailed off. She noticed his heavy eyelids, still sleepy. The question was held on air while he sorted through his files in his computer.

"Hello? It's me?"

"Let's wait for the others. I have some news."

She shrugged before sipping her coffee. Elaine figured he must be relieved she didn't pester him. The scene would've run in a very different route if it was Celine or Krys who asked. There was a comfortable silence in the room. Elaine knew two things about Louie – he hated tardiness and he hated being woken up, so she'd rather not disturb him. That was until he started talking.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"Bored. When are they going to arrive?"

"What I meant was; How are you doing?" she raised an eyebrow at the question. The gesture was highly suspicious.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, the last time we talked seriously was when I was in confined in the infirmary. How are you holdin' up now?" He turned his swivel chair towards her before taking a sip from his mug.

"Again, why do you ask?"

"Look, Elaine. Like I told you before, we're basically friends. And to be honest, you're one of the best friends I've ever had, so I'm allowed to be concerned."

"Fine." She snapped at him before going silent, not knowing how to respond.

"I miss home" was all she could say.

"Well, we were just in Balamb the other day, you know."

"Not Balamb Town, you idiot. Balamb Garden." She rolled her eyes at him

"You know we're in B-Garden." He talked slowly, making fun of her.

She turned to see him grinning "Never mind." She blurted out as she took a sip and turned away.

"No. I'm sorry. And I understand. You miss the Balamb Garden before the war. You don't even know if you liked Garden before, but it was certainly better than now."

Silence.

"Precisely." She turned back, curious as to how he seemingly read her mind. "How did you-?"

"I feel the same way." he stated, the smile gone from his face. "I have dreams, you know? Nightmares. Of Sylphia and Carlos, of future attacks, ambush, all those dark stuff. Haven't had proper sleep since I woke up from the coma."

The room grew silent. Elaine looked intently at Louie, observing. He looked tired, stressed and anxious. Above all, it was still obvious that he was still hiding it all from them. Elaine noted that repression can only take you so far. She was afraid of the moment Louie will snap, anf hoped it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

"The worst part about this is that we're on the losing end." She added. "And this garden is the only home I have."

"What are you talking about? You have your family in Balamb." Louie realized she never talked about her problems and he figured she thought nobody would care.

"Elaine!" Louie snapped the girl out of her stupor. She hadn't realized she started staring out the window, not even bothering to finish her thought.

"It's nothing, Louie."

He just stared at her. She can see him from her periphery. Behind the bags were the eyes of her friend, probably the best friend she could ever have. She held back a tear, gulped and sighed a breath of defeat and exhaustion. And a little bit of relief.

"My house in Balamb is a mess. I lived with my family until I was old enough to go to the Garden. Since then, I visited them only once or twice a year. It's chaos down there. My brother, he..."

Silence.

"He's not... "normal", as other people say. He can't function like us, and my parents just can't leave him behind. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother to the ends of the world. It's just that most of the time, my parents are high-strung and stressed because of my brother, and all their frustrations would be taken out on me. I know it's not their fault, but all those moments can take a toll on a child. Living in our world, you'd think that people only had the war to worry about. Because that's the only thing they can see. That's the only thing that seems to matter. But behind it all, we all have things we worry about, stress about and even lose sleep about. This was supposed to be my escape."

She sighed

"Basically, this is my home now. There is no better place to be. This is the escape that I have dreamt of my entire life; the only relief I allow myself to have."

"I'm sorry." Louie replied. A white phone on the desk suddenly rang. It was Celine. Elaine smiled a teasing grin while Louie grabbed the phone.

"Hey." he said. "Oh. Yeah sure it's fine. Okay bye." With that he ended the call, and quickly stood up, rushing to the comfort room.

"Where the hell are you going, Leonhart?" Elaine exclaimed, never letting go of her smile.

His head popped out of the door frame before speaking. "Celine and Krys are on their way. Do I still look like I just woke up?"

"Worse."

With a grunt of exasperation, he got out of the comfort room and sat on his chair. He combed through his hair with his hand, trying and failing to make it look normal. The door opened. Celine and Krystof entered the office as Louie sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What the heck took you two so long?" he asked and Elaine realized their leader was back. It was astounding how quickly he could change.

"Sorry he ughh. Waited for me." Celine spoke. "And Leonhart. It's 5 AM. Nothing's happening. The sun isn't even up yet and you look like you haven't showered in days."

"Yeah, dude. At least we were able to shower. What's so urgent that you had to call us to a meeting this early in the morning?" Krys added.

"He slept here." Elaine added. The two held back a laugh.

"That is enough. As per instructions, we are to move the Gardens every two days. So we have to decide where to move them and how to navigate from here to there. Another problem is that the commanders of Balamb and Galbadia Gardens are off on a non-SeeD related mission with Sorceress Rinoa and communication with any of them is not possible because the mission is not related to SeeD. So if—I mean, when they return, they won't be able to find out where we are."

As if on cue, the doors opened again and a familiar face entered the office.

"Headmaster." Louie stood up at the sight of Xu. She was holding a small stack of papers inside a folder. "Wha—Why—"

"Louie! You weren't in your room so I ran here, was about to announce your name on the intercomm."

"What is it?"

"Is Dash here?"

"No he's asleep." Krys answered. The headmaster walked inside, closing the doors behind her. Everyone now had a clear view of her and realized she was worried and exhausted. Elaine rushed to get her some water. As she gulped the water down, she prepared to speak.

"Zell and Sophie are in Esthar right now. And they've been taken captive."

"What?!"

"They were able to send these before they got arrested." Xu handed the folder over to Louie. It was a collection of photos of missing persons. All girls.

"What are these? Why do these matter?"

"Esthar has been abducting girls from their homes and carrying them off to the sorceress memorial. Much like a witch hunt. Zell and Sophie did a background check on all these girls and they found out that they were all part of some sort of resistance in Esthar. Like those in Timber, but bigger and more expansive."

"They're using sorcery as a reason to remain in the palace. Fear and anger as their weapons" Celine was getting angry.

"Yes. But that's not all." Xu then looked at Louie, her eyes filled with worry. "Their plan is obviously to remain in power. And they know that Ultimecia will be in power in the future. So in a way, they're making sure sorceresses are at bay, while using sorcery as an excuse to hold down rebels."

"It's sick. Plus, they know that Louie is a sorcerer now. So they can use that to arrest males as well." Krys was able to add before Elaine gasped, and looked at Louie.

"Esthar is taking down sorceresses and rebels. And Louie. You're both."

"So am I." Celine's voice was shaking as well, as she realized she was in more danger than before.

"Look, this is all just speculation." Louie walked out from behind the desk and walked toward the brown-haired girl.

"Speculation, Louie? You are in danger, we are all in danger. They are all in danger because of us." The tone in her voice screamed panic, and her breathing seemed to quicken. Krys, who was standing beside her, touched her shoulder.

"You have to calm down, Celine. You have to control your emotions now that you are a sorceress, okay?" Louie reached for both her shoulders. She yanked his hands off and walked to the other side of the room.

She was about to say something when the door opened once more. A familiar but unexpected face was standing behind the door. The room froze. Elaine's eyes widened as she saw the somber blue eyes half-covered by messy blonde hair. She blinked twice to make sure her eyes weren't fooling her. The figure on the door was a bit thinner than they last saw him, and the bags under his eyes seem to reflect the darkness he has suffered in whatever place they sent him.

"What is going on in here?" They hadn't noticed the taller figure behind the young blonde, until he spoke.

"Commander!" Xu jolted upright and gave him the salute. Everyone else copied her.

"At ease." Said Squall as he entered the room. "Carlos, you can sit down on that couch." Krys made room for him but he just walked straight up to Louie.

Carlos looked intently at Louie. Louie's eyes still wide from the unexpected turn of events. An eerie silence and an almost tangible tension filled the room. In a flash, a punch landed on Louie's face. Celine and Elaine tensed up, so did Squall and Xu. That was until they saw Krystof Kinneas holding back a laugh.

"I deserved that." They heard Louie say as he let out a small chuckle. There was a small smile on his face even though blood was oozing from his lip. Carlos gave out the same smile as Krystof walked up to him and gave him a hug. He then guided the young blonde to sit on the couch. He sat down slowly.

"Almasy, you shouldn't be here. You should rest." said Squall.

"I will in a while, commander. I have something to say. Louie deserves to hear this."

"What is it?" Louie walked back to the front of his desk and leaned on the edge of the table.

"They were looking for Garden, specifically, you. It's not speculation, Louie. It's all true."

Louie nodded, as if he knew already. "So I take it you know about the princess?"

Carlos echoed his nod.

"Carlos, you know I..."

He flashed a humble, forced smile and raised his arm to stop Louie before speaking. "I know you still blame yourself, Louie, but there's nothing you have to be sorry for. We all have one enemy and we all know that we have to fight. We can't afford to lose this war. For the sake of those people they abducted, the nations who fear their own streets, the sorceresses out there who fear for their lives every second they live, we fight."

"For Sylphia." Louie spoke. "I don't care if they're after me. I'll fight them even if they're not." Elaine took another sip of the cup of coffee she was holding, half-irritated by all the cheesiness in the room.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from the outside. The floor shook and the brown liquid she was holding spilled on the blue carpets. Muffled sounds of glass breaking and guns firing started to fill their ears. Squall ran to the windows to look. Louie followed behind. The commander then went straight to the intercomm and spoke.

"Gardens this is B-Commander speaking. This is not a drill. We are under attack by Galbadian forces from the sea. B-Garden students and cadets are to remain in the Garden and prepare for the attack. Medics Level 1 through 2 are to take the children to the basement and guard them with your life. Medics Level 3 and 4 are to go with cadets and fight. Projectiles on the balconies and the Quad. Melees on the oval and the second floor hallways. T and G-Garden are to go somewhere safe before they catch on to where you guys are. Move now."

"Everybody junction their GF's." Louie, who was still standing right by the windows, were able to say before he turned towards Elaine. His eyes widened as he ran towards her and pushed her away from the window. Elaine fell to the floor. She heard glass shattering and she turned around. She saw a Galbadian army officer holding Louie Leonhart by the neck, an obviously loaded gun pointed at his head. Elaine realized he saved her from the ambush.

Everybody in the room was standing. He spoke. "N—Nobody m—move" He was shaking. Elaine was holding on to the daggers by her belt, her hands waiting for the right moment. Carlos was standing, doing the same. Celine and Krystof had their guns loaded and pointed at the soldier. Squall had his right hand on the gunblade by his belt while his left was motioning for the soldier to calm down. Elaine glanced back at Louie, who was surprisingly calm. She figured he might be betting on the fact that the soldier didn't know who he was.

"I got him." The soldier reported to a microphone installed into his uniform. Panic started to build in Louie's eyes, but his body remained calm. Elaine saw Louie's ice blue irises move towards where Carlos and Krys were. Slowly, he opened his mouth, hoping the soldier won't notice.

He started mouthing words, which she didn't understand. Elaine didn't dare look at Carlos. It was too risky. She heard a click from Celine's direction and saw the soldier's head cock nervously towards her.

"Y-you sh-shoout, I sh-shoot."

Elaine turned back to Louie and saw him mouthing more words. His eyes were calmer then.

"One" she saw his mouth move.

"Two"

"Three".

A gunshot was heard from inside the room. In an instant, a whip came flying from Carlos's direction, first hitting the soldier's arm, then coiling around his body. Louie was able to escape from the hold and raise his left arm. The soldier's weapons fell to the floor. With another flick of his left fingers, the soldier was pushed to where Carlos was and all movement stopped. The room was frozen once more.

Louie was pointing his gunblade behind the soldier's neck, his right arm shaking from the weight, but his face full of anger. Carlos had Hyperion on his left hand, the blade almost touching the soldier's neck, while his right arm was wrapped in his whip, its other end wrapped around the guy's torso. Krystof's gun was pointed directly at the soldier's head. The soldier was no match for all the SeeDs in the room.

Elaine snapped out of her stupor when she realized it was all under control. The three surrounded the soldier. Celine's eyes widened at how quick the three seemed to find a way.

"What the hell?" the soldier finally realized he was trapped.

"Tell that little radio of yours that it's a false alarm." Said Krystof, who was looking intently at the soldier, breathing heavily as they all were.

"No-" The soldier was able to say before Carlos adjusted his arm, tightening the coil around the soldier.

"Carlos. He's chokin—" Celine shouted.

"I don't care."

"Carlos!" With that, he adjusted his right hand once more and the whip seemed to loosen around the guy.

"What do you want from me?!" The soldier was able to speak then, to which Krystof replied, his teeth gritting and his hands tightening around the handle of his gun. "Tell that little radio of yours that it's a false alarm."

"Uhh. Sir... F—False A—alarm. It w—wasn't him" he spoke to the radio once more before Carlos released his whip.

"Go! Before I change my mind." Carlos shouted to the soldier. Louie and Krys still had their weapons pointed at him. In a sudden unexpected turn, the soldier ran to the window and broke the glass, falling off the hole.

"No!" was the last thing Elaine heard before the glass shattered. Gray feathers were the last thing she saw.