Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII it is copyrighted by Square Enix and all other associates.
Thanks to RadiantKeybladeFantasy and Nighthill for your constant reviews and support. Thanks to everyone who followed, faved and read my story, what can I say besides your stellar. Read and Review.
A/N: I didn't wanna include a lot of the random battles and just get to the important stuff. I mean who wants to read about Squall killing Grats and Bite Bugs in one slash of his gunblade? I dunno how to make a battle like that seem…interesting.
Chapter XXI – O Cid, where art thou?
Squall first headed to the library, maybe Cid was here or someone who would know where he was. They headed down the corridor that would lead to the library, there was a faculty member standing in the way.
"What's taking so!? Hurry up!" he then turned and looked at Squall's group, "Another one of Cid's followers!? DIE!"
He blew his whistle and summoned more low-level monsters from the training center, Squall sighed and they quickly dispatched them.
We don't have time for this.
They finally entered the library and saw two SeeDs standing by the door, guarding it, as Squall entered they sighed in relief.
"Phew! Thanks for your help. The headmaster isn't here. We're fortifying this area to make them believe that he's in here." The light haired SeeD explained.
"If they attacked us all at once, there's no way we could hold them off even if we are SeeDs." The dark haired boy added.
"Basically, we're cutting them off, making them spread themselves thin. Well, it wasn't my idea."
"Who came up with it?" Squall asked.
"Xu." The dark haired one answered.
"She took charge immediately when this whole thing began."
Zell was looking behind the two SeeDs and further into the library, he was looking at a dark haired girl with pigtails. Squall eyed Zell and led them into the back towards the girl, once she saw Zell her face went red and she looked down.
"Hello… Um, if you would like… I mean…uhh, if you don't mind… Please use this." she handed Zell a Mega Phoenix.
"Thanks a lot!" Zell said with a smile pumping his fist in the air.
They left the library and headed to the next area, the training center. Up just before you could take the left or right gate was a dispute between Garden Master and headmaster followers.
"Over here! She's one of the headmaster's SeeDs." A cadet called running ahead.
"The junior classmen are with her. Don't let them escape." The other cadet called running after the first one.
The Garden faculty member standing with them followed, chasing after the female SeeD and the junior classmen she kept with her.
"Squall, we gotta do something." Rinoa urged.
Who attacks junior classmen, they can't even protect themselves.
Squall nodded and they ran after the two cadets and faculty member. The female SeeD member saw she was surrounded, she couldn't take the kids inside the training center; what if they were attacked.
"Oh shoot…! I'm sorry." She apologized to the two kids behind her.
"I'm gonna fight, too!" The boy declared.
One of the cadets walked over to the boy. "Heh heh heh. This should be interesting."
The boy jumped forward and kicked the cadet in the shin, he dropped to the ground holding his sore leg.
"Aahhh!" he moaned in pain.
"I'm not training everyday for nothing. Come on!" The boy challenged with two hands on his hips.
The cadet climbed to his feet. "Why you little…!"
Squall flanked the cadet and climbed up the fence; he leaped from the fence and swung his gunblade landing with one knee in front of the cadet. Squall stood gunblade in hand.
"You'll have to get past me first." Squall informed. The cadet's eyes went wide and he backed up and ran for it.
"Another one of Cid's followers!? DIE!" he blew his whistle and a T-Rexuar came barreling towards Squall, Rinoa and Zell quickly moved to stand with their leader.
"Those opposed to NORG must die!"
Rinoa started casting Blizara and Zell would attack in between her ice attacks, he had sleep junctioned to his attack. Squall summoned Shiva. The T-Rexuar swung his tail and hit the three of them knocking them to the ground. They slowly climbed to their feet after having the wind knocked out of them. Rinoa kept using ice magic and Zell his fists, Shiva was done charging and Squall summoned her into battle. After she finished using Diamond Dust, Squall started to summon her again. After another Diamond Dust and a few more ice spells the T-Rexuar dropped to the ground.
"Thanks Squall." The female SeeD replied after the T-Rexuar was dead, "Here, I hope this helps." she gave him a Remedy.
Squall left the training center and headed towards the parking lot and encountered another faculty member.
"Another one of Cid's followers!? DIE!"
This is getting old. We're not picking sides. Garden could be destroyed any minute!
The faculty member blew his whistle and summoned more monsters; the monsters in the training center didn't really stand a chance against them. The trio entered the parking lot and saw Cid standing with two SeeDs, Squall jogged over to him.
"Sir!" Squall greeted but Cid's body began to flicker and disappear. "What the…?" Squall said confused.
"It was just a hologram. Pretty cool, huh?" The light haired SeeD explained, "Take this. It may come in handy." he handed a tent to Squall.
Squall left the parking lot and headed dorms; they encountered another faculty member, but still no sign of Cid. They moved to the cafeteria next, and as expected a faculty member called monsters to come attack them. Inside the cafeteria were two female cadets, a female SeeD and a male SeeD.
"Hey Squall, tell those traitors to bring it on." The female SeeD replied.
"As you can see, the headmaster isn't here." The male SeeD said sadly to the urgent brunette.
Damn…where is he?
"Do you guys want some hot dogs?" One of the female cadets asked.
"YEAH!" Zell cried jumping in the air, finally he was getting some hot dogs.
"Hey, give them some of those leftover hot dogs." The female cadet said to the other cadet beside her.
"Oh, we already finished them."
"Oh really? Oh well. Sorry." The first female cadet apologized and Zell hung his head and sighed, his face held a look of disappointment.
Poor Zell…Still denied his hot dogs.
"Here you can have this." The first female cadet handed Squall some Gysahl Greens.
They left the cafeteria and headed to the Quad next, they were walking down the stairs to the lower area of the Quad where the stage was.
"Dammit. We need reinforcements." A faculty member complained as he came running up the stairs and past Squall, the brunette looked at his other
companions.
"Should we go after him?" Rinoa asked.
"I say we go kick his ass!" Zell cried pumping his fist in the air.
Squall sighed; Zell ran past him and gave chase to the fleeing faculty member. Squall and Rinoa hurried after the blonde. The faculty member Zell was chasing stopped and saw he was being followed.
"Another one of Cid's followers!? DIE!" he blew his whistle and called forth more monsters.
The monsters were dispatched and they headed back down the stairs and towards the stage. Squall looked at the stage and saw no damage to all the work Selphie had put into it for the Garden Festival.
Nothing looks damaged so far…Selphie will be happy.
"Who's there!?"
Three SeeDs dropped down from the top of the stage's metal frame structure. "Whose side are you on!?" One of the male SeeDs demanded.
Not this again. I don't even know who this Garden Master is…
"I'm with the headmaster." Squall replied.
"That's what I thought. Who's this Garden Master anyway?"
Good question.
"The headmaster had most of the SeeDs evacuate. He said something about 'the true battle for SeeD' is yet to come, and now's not the time."
True battle? Wait…I remember during our meeting with the headmaster when we were called to his office when Selphie, Zell, that guy whose name I don't remember and myself passed the SeeD exam. He said that being combat specialist was one aspect of SeeD but was interrupted by the faculty member in the room. What is SeeD?
"Here take this…" The other male SeeD handed Squall an X-potion.
"You won't find the headmaster here." The female SeeD informed Squall, "We're gonna hold up here for a little longer."
Squall and the others left the Quad and headed to the last area they hadn't gone to yet, the infirmary. In the hallway leading into the infirmary was a confrontation between a faculty member, two cadets siding with the Garden Master and two SeeDs.
Why are the cadets rioting and siding with some unknown Master?
"Looks like Cid has some decent pawns." The faculty member retorted. The two SeeD members pulled out their weapons and took a fighting stance.
"This is getting nowhere. Call the monsters." The faculty member instructed.
We have to help them.
"Let's get in there!" Squall ordered to his fellow comrades.
The faculty member blew his whistle and a loud cry filled the air, it was a Granaldo; exactly like the one Quistis and Squall fought before. The SeeDs and Rinoa spammed Aero on the bug like creature; it was weak against wind elemental attacks. Granaldo swiped at Squall, its pincer caught him on his upper forearm. Rinoa and Zell casted another round of Aero and Squall gave the finishing blow with his gunblade, Granaldo dropped into a heap on the ground.
While Squall and his team were dealing with the Granaldo, the other two SeeDs managed to disarm the cadet siding with the Garden Master. The cadet was sitting on the ground resting his back against the wall.
"Oh my…" A motherly voice called as Doctor Kadowaki came walking down the hallway from the infirmary; she walked over to the cadet on the ground. "Can you stand up?"
"Why are you helping me? I'm with the Garden Master…"
"Stop being ridiculous. I don't care whose side you're on. We need to take care of those wounds now, you hear?" Doctor Kadowaki patronized, she then turned and looked at the familiar brunette, "Squall, don't just stand there. Give me a hand."
Squall put a hand to his forehead and sighed; he walked over and helped the cadet up and into the infirmary. The doctor set up a bed for the boy and bandaged his wounds from the fight he had earlier with the two SeeD members. After the boy had been taken care of, the doctor looked at Squall and saw the wound on his arm. She shot him a disapproving look and before she could put him into a bed Squall healed himself with a Cure spell.
I don't remember how many times Seifer and I ended up in here… Too many if I recall.
"What is all this faction mumbo jumbo? It's ridiculous." Kadowaki asked the group.
Tell me about it…
"Where is the headmaster?" Squall asked.
"You're looking for Cid? As you can see, he's not here."
"Do you have any idea?" Squall pressed with a hand on his hip.
"Hmm… Xu might know." Kadowaki said sitting down at her desk, "I have no idea where she is though. Why are you looking for him anyway?"
"I need to inform him that there may be missiles heading this way. You should get out of here, too."
Kadowaki quickly stood. "Are you serious!? Then I'm definitely gonna have to stay." she said sitting back down, "If anybody gets hurt, who's gonna look after them? Squall, take this. You'll probably need it." Kadowaki handed him an Elixir.
Squall left the infirmary and headed down the hallway, the two SeeDs from before were standing guard.
"Hey Squall." The dark haired SeeD greeted as the brunette approached.
Squall put a hand on his hip. "Who are you?"
Why does he know my name? There's so many students that go here. I don't know his name…
"What!? Oh, man, it's me. We passed the SeeD exam together. I can't believe you forgot!"
Oh…the one I didn't know the name of.
"Oh yeah…"
"Gee…" he said dropping to the ground disappointed in being forgotten, then remembered who he was talking to. He climbed back to his feet. "Well. It's just like you to forget."
What does that mean?
They walked back into the main floor of the Garden and Zell started laughing behind Squall.
"What's so funny?" Squall asked putting a hand on his hip and looking at the blonde.
"Y-Y-You forgot N-Nida." Zell said in between his laughter, "He loo-looked so disa-disappointed."
I thought his name might have started with an N or something.
"…Whatever. We need to find Xu." Squall said walking away from Zell.
Zell whipped tears that had formed in his eyes from laughing and calmed his hysterics. He followed after Squall with Rinoa at his side. The group headed back towards the directory, they had been everywhere on this floor and there was no sign of Cid or Xu. A girl was running up the stairs that led to the elevator, she was dressed in a SeeD uniform and looked familiar.
Wait…
"Xu!?" Squall called out.
Xu didn't hear him and hit the button to summon the elevator; once it arrived she entered and went up. The group quickly ran up the stairs and saw Xu wasn't here.
"She went up?" Squall said aloud.
Squall pressed the button and rode the elevator to the second floor after Xu. The elevator arrived and the doors opened, the trio stepped outside and ran down the towards the second floor classrooms. Xu heard she was being followed and led her followers down towards the emergency exit, once she saw Squall she took a fighting stance.
"Whose side are you on!?" Xu demanded.
"Neither." Squall replied, "We have urgent news. We need to see the headmaster now. Where is he?"
Xu relaxed and looked at the brunette closely. "I'm listening…"
"Galbadian missiles may be heading this way."
"Here!?" Xu cried in shock, to which Squall nodded. "Alright. I'll inform him right away."
"Where is he?" Squall asked.
"In his office. We made it look like he's hiding, but he's been there all along." Xu jogged towards the classrooms and called over her shoulder. "Follow me."
Squall followed Xu back towards the elevator, she had already gone up. Squall, Rinoa and Zell followed Xu to the third floor. Xu was standing outside Cid's office.
"He's waiting for you." Xu walked over to the elevator, "I'll go tell everyone to evacuate."
They walked into the headmaster's office. Cid was standing off to the side waiting for the group. Squall and Zell saluted Cid.
"Sir." Squall stated.
Cid nodded, Zell and Squall dropped the salute. "Xu has told me about the missiles. The intercom is down so we can't announce the order to evacuate."
"Xu, Raijin and Fujin are taking care of that."
Cid nodded. "I want you to assist them and then evacuate."
…What's on your mind?
"But I have a lot to report." Squall urged.
"You can tell me later."
You might be dead later…
Cid looked at the brunette's unchanged expression. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Yeah. What are you going to do?
"Sir, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to stay here and see this to the end. After all, this place is like my home." Cid said earnestly with a hand on the back of his head.
Zell stomped his foot and took a step back. "You're plannin' on dying here!?"
Rinoa reached a hand out. "No…! You can't! Just come with us, please! You can always rebuild this place!"
"You can rest assured. I am just going to try something." Cid explained, "There still may be a way to save the Garden." Cid began to walk to the elevator but suddenly dropped to one knee.
Against missiles…? How?
Cid climbed to his feet. "Heh Heh… I'm too old for this."
"Sir, I'd like to handle whatever it is you're planning." Squall offered.
"And why is that?" Cid asked curious to hear the normally emotionless young man's reason.
…I don't know… Because you might screw up. …Because I want to do more than announce the evacuation. Because this place is important to me, too… Because I want to find out your plan. Because this is my home. I have too many reasons. I don't know why… Who cares?
Rinoa and the headmaster were looking at Squall; the brunette was deep in thought. Squall's expression was a serious one, like always.
"My feelings have nothing to do with it, sir." Squall eventually answered.
Cid smiled and started to laugh at Squall. "Heh heh. Quistis was right."
Right about what? Why is everyone always laughing at me? I don't get what is so funny…
"You do have a hard time expressing your feelings." Cid finished.
Whatever… Why bother? And what is this? Why am I being judged?
"Sir! Please tell us your plan!" Squall urged irritation evident in his voice.
Cid nodded. "This building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the Garden as we know it." Cid reached into his pocket and tossed Squall a key. "Use that key to open the lock on the elevator. Opening the lock will give you access to the MD level. Rumor has it that further below the MD level, there is some kind of control system. It was used when this place was still a shelter, so I've never seen it. And I have no idea what it does. All I know is that it was used for the shelter, so it might prove effective against the missiles. That's what I'm betting on."
Sounds pretty farfetched. But I guess it's better than doing nothing.
Squall nodded and saluted, Zell copied and also saluted. "I understand. We'll find the control system and check it out."
Cid nodded. "Good luck to all of you."
Squall and Zell dropped their hands, Squall turned and looked at Zell and Rinoa; they all nodded in agreement. They had to try this and maybe save Garden. They entered the elevator and Squall put the key into the elevator's control panel, and the doors closed.
In the sky the missiles that had been launched from the Galbadian Missile Base were soaring through the clouds, closing in on their destination. They arched and began to descend lower into the cloud banks, it was almost time.
Inside the elevator going down to the MD level, the elevator shook and the power cut out for a moment leaving the group in the dark.
The lights flickered for a moment before the backup safety lights came on. The elevator itself was stuck and not moving anymore, they hadn't reached the MD level yet.
"Come on. There has to be a way out." Rinoa said looking around.
Squall looked at Zell. "What!? I don't know what to do!" Zell cried flailing his arms around.
Squall walked over to the panel, he pushed a button on it but nothing happened.
…It's not responding. What do we do now?
A/N: Poor Nida, at least Squall knows his name now. Kinda an important dude, you know? I always talk to him now while he's in the hallway before seeing him on the bridge. It's too funny to pass up. If you speak to him on the bridge and not in the hallway you still get the same dialog.