Chapter 13 – The Split Up
Zell was ready. Surrounded by the red light he had so suddenly become fond of, he called upon a new piece of magic. One Ultimecia had used against them in The Final Battle. One that had nearly cost them the fight several times. There was no escaping it's wrath unless one had used a Hero.
Calling the magic hurt. He could feel it inside his mind, trying to split him in half. Like he was being bound and quartered. If this was what Ultimecia was feeling, Zell was abruptly moved to something that resembled pity. It might be a one-time pressure on his mind, because this was the first time he had used it. But, then it could be permanent. Everytime he used it he would feel this splitting pressure inside his head. He couldn't even find the energy to scream. He grit his teeth, closing his eyes. He shook and trembled in midair. He finally pointed at Danda and his small disciple, raising up the worst magic Zell had ever felt in his entire existence.
"Hell's Judgement!" Zell managed. The spell almost took him with it. Bright orange light shot up from the ground, bringing with it a circle filled with archaic symbols and ancient inscriptions. It almost knocked Danda out of the sky.
"…….Nice…." Danda breathed. "….Powerful. You even succeeded in killing my aide." His perfect blue sphere dissolved where Michael had been standing, letting him fall through and plummet to the ground. "….I needed a new follower….Jenner….come…"
Danda's sphere extended to the ground, picking up Jenner and raising him up into the air to meet his new master. Jenner was not one to take up arms with another unless he was certain he was going to be on the winning team. He wasn't so sure about either side at the moment. But, one thing he was sure of was that this man could and would probably kill him without a second's notice if he was crossed. He was obligated, currently, if he didn't wish to die, to join Danda's cause. Whether it would be a winning cause was yet to be proven. He had watched Zell's performance and Danda's as well, and was certain that both were willing to do what it took to win.
Zell had fallen out of the sky, Hell's Judgement nearly bringing him down with Michael. Being caught by Irvine was the only thing that saved him from breaking his neck. Danda was distracted at the moment with Jenner and it was a time for quick healing.
They both stood up, with Squall helping Zell stand. The protective circle around Zell was gone, leaving only a fatigue and sweat on his forehead. He would just have to be stronger next time. He hadn't expected to be that drained from using the spell. It would take practice with the Stone to make himself stronger with it. Much practice.
Irvine and the others hadn't done anything with their new abilities as of yet. And he aimed to change that. He wanted to get a feel for this new thing within him, Pearl. It was similar, in nature, to Holy. It was an ancient magic that hadn't been used since medieval times. In the legendary times of Terra and Locke. He had heard many stories of them, from books. It was still not certain whether they really existed. But, there were always legends.
But, to have this power that was spoken of in the books was different than the magic he was used to using. It was a very different feeling. More powerful. He could feel it running through his veins, unlike the magic that could be Drawn from enemies or Draw points. It was like being on a permanent high. It would take time to learn to control, but that was the least of their problems at the moment.
Irvine flung his Orion out of his robe and aimed it at Danda. He had already loaded it with AP ammo. He proceeded to fire it once. He didn't want to waste ammunition if they were only going to bounce off like before.
And it did.
But, the effects were different this time. It was almost like the circle cracked and then sealed itself again. He tried again. One, two.
Danda was already at low strength. He was in danger.
These children are strong…Smart…I have what I needed. It is time to go.
The circle broke in one small place, cracked by the first, shattered in that place by the second. The hole couldn't have been more than an inch in diameter. It would take crackshot aim to get it right again. But, there wasn't time. The hole sealed up again.
Zell took a deep breath. He was tired. He turned to look at Squall, who was standing next to him, helping him stand. "….we have to get him while he's weak…Everybody's gone from the clearing, now's our chance…"
Squall agreed. It was their chance. But, there was no way of reaching him with physical attacks from the ground. Squall liked to rely on the physical more than the magical. Magic wasn't really his strong point. Let everyone else have magic. He liked his gunblade. But, it was time for an attack of some kind.
"Everybody! Now!" Squall yelled. It was his job to take care of Zell. He was useless to them while Danda was in the air. If they could bring him down….
Orlan fired his bow at Danda, but it did nothing but split the arrow down the middle, shattering it. "I think I'm outta my league right here…C'mon, Dad, Fili!" He grabbed Fili by the arm and his father by his cape, dragging them from the clearing. Squall put an arm around Zell, following them.
"We gotta get you outta here," Squall said to him. "You did your part."
Zell looked back. Danda was quickly floating away, Irvine still cracking off shots at him. Not even Irvine could hit what he couldn't see. There was no way to get to him, not even with magic at that range.
"Everybody fall back!" Zell yelled to them. "It's useless! Everybody inside!"
"He's right!" Squall shouted, stopping a moment to let them catch up. They got to the palace gate quicker than they had expected; the large iron net had already been raised. Everyone was shuffled inside and it was slammed shut.
"Cotton….the fabric of our lives," Zell mused, pulling his shirt back on. He was thankful to have his old clothes back. He fixed his hair back into its usual spike after digging in his bag for his hair gel. The robe thing just wasn't him. It wasn't Zell.
Knock, knock.
"Door's open," Zell said, still fixing his fair. It was hard to get his hair the way he always had it. You try fixing your hair in that big of a spike and get it to look good.
Squall stepped in the room, walking across the rug.
"Feeling well?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Zell said. "Better than last night. That spell gave me a headache."
"No kidding," Squall laughed. "You just need practice, like we all do. Except you might need a little more than we do." Squall glanced down at his feet, noticing the bag and inside it, a few green stones. "What's this?"
Squall picked up the bag and opened it.
"What's what," Zell said looking down. "Ahg! No!"
"Ultima stones…X-Potions…Megalixirs…" Squall said, slightly confused. "Zell, where did you get these? You couldn't have bought all these on your salary."
"I….uhh…I kind of…sort of…"
"Zell, you didn't steal them, did you?" Squall asked. Zell smacked his lips and rolled his eyes.
"Ummm………..define 'steal'," Zell said.
"As in 'take without asking'," Squall said.
"……you could say that," Zell mumbled. "I just swiped a few when you weren't looking…"
"You stole them from me?" Squall asked him incredulously.
"No! I mean, yes. Well, not all of them. I bought a lot of them," Zell explained. He would really have to wriggle himself out of this one. "I only stole a few…I just thought we might need some stuff stored up for something like this…I didn't want to tell anybody…"
"What all do you have in this bag…?" Squall asked. "You could have told me, Zell."
"I've got everything in this bag. Everything. I thought we might need it sometime, so I just started gathering up stuff and I put it all in this bag and stuck it in the back of my closet. It's got a lot of potions and stuff in it."
"You didn't have to steal them from me," Squall told him. "[sigh]….don't worry about it. We've got to go see the King before we leave to go find the Dwarves. Orlan and Toby might go with us. But, we've got to split up into two groups. It's too dangerous for all of us to be in the same place at once."
"We'd better get goin'," Zell replied, picking up the bag and pulling the drawstring tight and tying it into a knot. He slung the bag over his shoulder and began walking toward the door. Squall followed, looking around the room.
"Your room looks almost identical to mine," Squall observed. "Except color."
"Yeah, well…It's a lot better than the dorms, though, eh?"
"You're right," Squall laughed.
"Made any use o' that bed in yours, yet?" Zell asked, opening the large oak door.
Squall's brow wrinkled in confusion until he finally caught onto what Zell was saying. His face turned an embarrassed scarlet hue. He scratched the back of his head. Zell laughed out loud.
"I was kidding, man! You could touch your ears and burn your fingers, they're so red," Zell said, walking out the door.
"Just don't do anything like that in front of everybody else," Squall ordered. "Especially Seifer."
"Shhhtt, man, I wouldn't do that to ya," Zell replied. "Seifer'd never let you live it down."
Squall shut the door behind them and they walked down the marbled hall toward the throneroom. Squall bit his lip slightly.
"And I only thought about it once."
Zell could be heard throughout the palace.
"Now, I'm going to give you some of my archers to take with you, should you have need of them," Weslan said from his throne. Orlan sat in his smaller throne, complete with his crown. Fili sat in his own small throne next to Orlan and he had a small crown, too.
"I'm going, too," Orlan said to his father. This spawned a look of protest from both the King and the chancellor.
"I'm afraid not, Orlan," Weslan said. "This is far too dangerous for you. You are not experienced enough as either an archer or mage. You will stay here."
"I've already made up my mind," Orlan stated. "I am going. And I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Do not do this now, Orlan, in front of guests," Weslan whispered harshly to his son. "Not in front of guests. I will not have it."
"I think he'll be fine, Your Majesty," Kildare interjected. "He will be with us and part of your army. I'm sure he'll have a lot of protection, should anything happen. Besides, Danda is our only real enemy right now. It's not like he has an army."
"…….hmm…" Weslan looked to Orlan. "You will behave yourself, yes? And do everything Squall and the others tell you, yes?"
"Yes, Dad," Orlan mumbled.
"Wha' bout me?" Fili piped up.
"Not even, Fili," Orlan said. "I can't go risking my new little brother, can I? You stay here and help hold the fort, huh? Practice with your bow and arrow."
"….not fair…"
"We're going to have to split into two groups," Squall said. "One to go and find Naomi. Another to go north to see the Dwarf King. I'll head the first group."
"And I'll head the second," Seifer stated. Squall looked at him sharply.
"I'll give you a chance with being second in command," Squall said.
"Second in command to who?" Seifer inquired. He didn't like being second-in-command. And he was about to like it even less.
"To Zell."
Zell snickered. He's definitely not gonna be happy about this…
And he was right.
"To who?!?" Seifer exclaimed. "You're kidding me??! "
"Afraid not," Squall said. "You will go and find Naomi in Dollet. And Zell…?"
"Yes, leader-of-mine…?"
"Don't be evil," Squall said.
"……….man…"
"I mean it," Squall said. "Kildare, Fujin, Raijin, Irvine—"
"Selphie and I are staying here," Irvine said. "We talked about it last night. We're going to help out here."
"Is that alright, Your Majesty, if we stay and help?" Selphie asked, bouncing up and down as usual.
"It is fine with me," Weslan said, flipping his hand. "Whatever you wish to do."
"Alright, then," Squall sighed. "Kildare, Fujin, Raijin, and Seifer. You're all with Zell. Rinoa, Orlan, Ondine, and Quistis, you're with me."
"You should find the Dwarves to the north in the mountains of Trabia," Weslan stated. "But, you'll also find the Goblins up there, as well, in those caves. Be careful and, if possible, try not to get in their way if you should run upon them. They don't like trespassers and they especially don't like Elves. The Dwarves aren't exactly fond of us, either….But, they should not attack you. We've been at peace for years. If you don't see any Goblins, you should be fine."
He used the word 'should' a lot…Squall thought to himself.
"I'm taking Toby with me, too," Orlan said.
"Take care of him," Weslan stated. "He's one of our best. We can't afford to lose him."
Squall kneeled down for the entire group.
"Thank you for everything," he said.
"Safe journey to you all," Weslan said. "God go with you."
The trip out of the forest was relatively quick, seeing that the black chocobos carried them back to the Ragnarok up north. It was a new experience for all of them, flying on chocobos.
"Okay, Quistis….." Quistis comforted herself, arms wrapped firmly around the chocobo's neck. "….just don't look down…..don't look down…."
She opened one eye for a peek at the ground.
"Oh, my God!!!" she screamed and shut her eyes, gripping the poor bird's neck harder. "I'm going to fall!!!…..deep breaths….this isn't happening…..dream…..all a dream…..you are not sitting on a chocobo six hundred feet in the air……"
"Chill out!" Zell said to her. He was flying right next to her. "I like it. Sunny's not going to let you fall."
"….you're sure…?"
"Abso-tively posi-lutely," Zell replied, showing his trademark toothy grin. Quistis slowly let go of Sunny's neck and sat upright in the saddle. She took the reins without opening her eyes.
"I'm going to open my eyes, now…."
"Don't jerk when you open your eyes. Then, you will fall."
Quistis slowly opened her eyes and gasped.
"Feel better?" Zell asked.
"No!" Quistis snapped. "I will never be comfortable flying on a chocobo. It's unnatural."
"Suit y'self," Zell said.
Later on, they made it to the Ragnarok without a problem. Landing the chocobos was a fairly easy to do, although there was one crash landing.
"(&*$$!!" Seifer yelled as he fell of the black bird from ten feet in the air. He hit the ground and tumbled to a stop at Squall's feet. He scowled up at his rival. "You say ONE word, Leonhart, and you and I are gonna have it out right here."
He pushed himself off the ground with one hand and wiped off his coat with the other. This wasn't working, evidently, as he took the gray coat off and shook it hard, cursing angrily as he went. Snow fell out of the inside pockets.
"Stupid damn bird!!" he yelled at it, but the bird only seemed to laugh as it picked at the ground with its feet.
By this time, everyone had gotten inside the Ragnarok and was ready for take off. Seifer pressed the button, damp coat inhand. The door slid open and he stepped inside.
The trip to Dollet was fairly smooth, with no problems along the way. The Dollet group filed out of the red airship and looked back up at the top of the stairs, where Squall stood.
"You guys are on your own until we meet up again," he stated. "Be careful, everybody. And you forgot your bag, Zell. I divided the contents between groups. Everything's split fifty-fifty." He tossed the brown backpack underhanded down to Zell, who caught it with a small thud. "Zell, Seifer, I mean it. No fighting. Zell, you control your temper. Seifer, depending on how good of a report I get from Zell-"
Zell smiled scandalously. Squall was not amused.
"-and Kildare, we'll see about trying to make you a SeeD without the testing. As long as I get a good report," Squall said. "Find Naomi and do your best to make it back to Balamb Garden to get the book. After you get the book, get out. Tell Nida to make the Garden mobile again. We need to do our best to protect Garden, should anything happen. If we need to find Garden, we'll find it. I know I don't have to tell you this, but I'm saying it, anyway: stay away from Galbadia Garden at all costs. We don't want another Garden War. You weren't in Balamb Garden at the time, Seifer-" Squall opted to leave out the fact that he was the enemy at that time. "-but it was damn well near a slaughter inside our halls. I don't want it happening again. I don't care if Nida has to turn tail and run from Galbadia, stay away from them. Those are my orders. Good luck."
The door slid shut as Squall turned away from it and started toward the cockpit again.
Good luck, guys…..and stay safe…
They watched in silence as the Ragnarok lifted off and headed northeast.
"Doesn't he just have the leader bit down pat?" Seifer asked, sarcasm foaming from his mouth. "So, chickenwuss. Where we look first?"
"What's her last name?"
"I think it was 'Campbell'," Kildare said, pulling a wisp of hair away from her face.
"Well, if she's supposed to live here, I'd think that we could start with the phone book," Zell said and started walking along the side of the paved road.
"The phone book???!!" Seifer laughed. He couldn't believe his ears. "I don't believe this. And Squall put you in charge…"
"I think it'd be easier to use the phone book, ya know," Raijin stated uneasily, starting to follow Zell. "I mean, how many Campbell families can there be?"
"CAR RENTAL," Fujin said and everyone looked at her. "SEIFER REMEMBER?"
"What about the car rental place, Fujin?" Seifer asked, his tone suddenly becoming softer. Fujin became impatient easily if you couldn't understand what she was trying to say.
"GIRL, CAR RENTAL," Fujin said. "REMEMBER? GIRL WATCHING MOVIE. NECKLACE."
Seifer put his hand to his chin a moment and his eyes opened wide. "Hey, there was a girl at the Dollet Rent-a-Car….Maybe that would be a good place to start, instead of the phone book." Seifer cast an annoyed glance at Zell, who was still walking.
"Hey, I was doing the best I could with the information I had," Zell defended himself. "……But, you're right. It's better than nothing. To Dollet Rent-a-Car."
"So, what do we do when we find her, ya know?" Raijin asked. He was a big guy, but he wasn't all that intelligent.
"We snatch her," Seifer replied. "If we have to."
"They wouldn't believe us, even if we did tell them what was going on," Zell said, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground. "It's not like we can tell them what's going on, anyway. I guess that would be the best course of action, Seifer."
"Of course it is," Seifer stated, slinging his gunblade up onto his shoulder while he walked. "Because I thought of it."
"Hey, I'm not a leader, okay?" Zell declared. "I'm not a genius and I'm not used to responsibility like this. I don't know why Squall put me in this position, but—"
"He put you in the position because he doesn't trust me, chickenwuss," Seifer said smartly, finally catching up with Zell and walking beside him. The sun to their left cast an orange hue on their faces while they strode down the cracked concrete road to the town of Dollet. Raijin and Fujin stayed strangely far to their rear. His demeanor softened as he walked forward, looking off to the side of the road. "It's not like I blame him for it, though. Or you, for that matter….
"I never did have any love for him and I'm not claiming that I do now, I just……things are different, now, than they were last year," he mused, his glance tending to turn to the weeds poking through the concrete. "I was…..wrong, last year. I did a lot of things that I'd give anything to take back. The lives lost in the Garden War….."
Seifer reached up and touched the long scar that ran down the middle of his forehead and down under his right eye. "And this scar. It's my own fault it's there. Everytime I look in the mirror, it reminds me of how stupid I was. Everytime I see it on Squall, it reminds me of how stupid I was. I put one just like it on him that day when we were training," he continued, like the other blond wasn't walking there beside him. He didn't even realize he was still there, listening. "…..I didn't really mean to do it…It was like I was in a trance. Like a battle mode that I couldn't shut off. Like an internal switch was broken and there wasn't an emergency break. That's what I felt like all that time when I was under….her control…"
"Look, Seifer……" Zell replied, still looking at the ground. He sighed. "I'm not trying to make friends, here, okay? And I know for a fact you're not, either. Let's just forgive and forget the mess that happened last year. I'm tired of worrying about it. Let's just get through all this and we'll leave each other alone."
"………deal."
I know this is way late, but I had a lot of family problems last month and this month and couldn't get anything done. If anybody wants to know, I hang out two places: my messageboard, http://ap1.ezboard.com/bfirecavern and Darren's board, http://pub39.ezboard.com/bdarrensplace Anybody's welcome at my board, as long as you post on good terms.
This chapter probably has a lot of holes in it and mess ups, so don't hesitate to let me know about them. My brain is basically made of fuzz right now since school started back and we got a new president. The new president's causing it more than anything.