Chapter III; "The Mission"
"Morning, Squall! Sleep well?" chirped Rinoa.
Squall gave no reply as he stretched and cracked his knuckles. He hadn't slept well at all. He'd been up all night thinking about Edea, Adel and Ellone. So, his past was finally going to catch up with him. Well, at least this time he would be ready. The problem was, would it happen before he had a chance to make sure people like Rinoa or Zell weren't caught in the crossfire?
"What's the mission today?" he asked.
"Right down to business. Sure, we can play that." said Zell, munching down a fried egg on toasted white bread.
"You wanna at least try some breakfast first?" said Rinoa. She had just finished praying in front of her family's shrine, and walked over to behind the bat, where the frying pan was. "After all, you're now in the land of the rising sunny-side-up."
She reached the kitchen and found herself staring at Watts. He had a monster of a breakfast sandwhich in his hand. Bacon, eggs, mustard, chutney and God knows what else.
"What is that?" she asked.
"It's a state of the art sandwhich, ma'am."
"It's the state of the floor i'm worried about."
"Cute." replied Squall, sitting at the table, his arms crossed tight. He looked towards Rinoa's shrine. There was a picture of a man there. Squall recognised the insignia of a general, if not the face. "So what is the mission?" he asked.
"Today's mission is gonna rock!" exclaimed Zell. "We're gonna kidnap one of the Shin-Ra execs!!!."
"Why?" asked Squall. "I thought blowing up reactors was your forté."
"Well....it was...." began Zell.
"But the Shin-Ra have beefed up security at all the reactors since last night." explained Zone. "So, this time, we're going to kidnap one of the Shin-Ra executives from the very car he's riding in!"
"How?"
"We heard that there was a big time Shin-Ra exec who came down to check out the plate support system for some reason. His train, a specialised model for Shin-Ra executives only will be departing from near here shortly. Our goal is to sneak onto that train, nab the Shin-Ra scummie and hold him to ransom!"
"I've heard all about this specialised Shin-Ra train." said Squall. "It's loaded with guards in every car."
"That's the beauty of the plan, sir." stated Watts. "How we get around them, I mean. We sneak across the roof and disconnect each one of the cars from the train, until only the locomotive and the second car, the one carrying the exec, are left!"
"I have the codes." said Rinoa, laying a fried egg and waffle in front of Squall. "So, that means I'll be going on this mission. Plus, somebody has to take Xu's place, after all."
"Hey, don't mind me." said Xu from behind the bar, walking on a crutch. "I'll be fine and back in action before you know it!"
"So, it's settled." said Squall, standing up. Rinoa was about to remind him to have his breakfast, then saw that he had already eaten it. Wow. "Let's go."
"Hey, Squall. Wait up." said Zell. "We got something for ya."
Squall turned around to see Zell holding out a collection of tiny jewel-like spheres in his hand. They were all kinds of colours, purple, green, red and yellow. "It's Materia." said Zell. "Got a lot of strong spells here. These are for you, man."
"Thanks." said Squall. "But I don't need them."
"What do you mean you don't need them? Nobody can fight without Materia. Especially not if we get stuck on this mission. Come on, take them."
"I don't need them for magic." Squall replied, checking his gunblade.
"So just how are you supposed to use magic then?" asked Zell, becoming convinced Squall was a lunatic. "You don't–"
At this, Squall instantly raised his hand in Zell's direction and closed his eyes. Zell felt a wave of energy surge through his body. Everyone watched, fascinated, as they saw four streams of light move from Zell's body to Squall's, followed by several orbs of light, turquoise and purple in colour.
Squall took a breath and opened his eyes.
"What the hell was that?!?" Zell remarked.
"Drawing!" exclaimed Xu. "I've heard of this. Only the best of the best SeeDs were taught how to do it. They draw magic from living beings and stock it, to use in combat. I've never seen anything like it!"
"Way past cool, sir!" said Watts.
"Maybe you can show us how to do that sometime?" suggested Zone.
"...Whatever."
"Oh well, all the more Materia for us." grinned Zell, dishing out the orbs to the others.
"I don't think," said Rinoa, taking a Bolt and Cure Materia. "That I'll ever get the hang of these things. Maybe you can teach me that Draw thing sometime?"
"...Maybe." said Squall, walking towards the exit.
"Hold the fort 'til we get back." said Zell, following him.
"We'll be back before you know it." said Rinoa, the third one out.
"If your Shin-Rs scummie ain't delivered in 30 minutes you get him free." deadpanned Watts.
"Take care, ma'am." said Watts, and ran after the others.
***
They were perched on a rickety collapsed radio tower, which was bent, leaning over the tracks. The team of five squatted upon the beams, waiting for the train to rush under them.
"Yo, the train will be along any second." said Zell. "Look alive."
"How are you going to uncouple the cars from a moving train?" asked Squall, earnestly.
"Umm...we can't uncouple the cars directly." replied Rinoa.
"Instead, we'll have to tamper with the control system that manages the coupling." explained Zone. "If we temporarily disable the circuit for the connection, the car will uncouple automatically. To disable it, we have to enter several codes."
"...And we have the codes. Rinoa has them, sir!" Watts contributed.
"I'll be in charge of relaying the codes to you, Squall. You'll slide down on the side of the train using a cable and enter the codes into the system. Now I need you to listen carefully. Each code is made up of numbers between 1-4 and has 4 digits: 2341 is an example. But the keypad won't have numbers. Instead, it'll have four buttons. Cross Triangle Circle and Square. For instance, if I relay the code 3124, you'll push Square, Circle, Cross, Triangle, in that order. You'll have to be quick and precise. You'll have about 5 seconds to enter each code. Otherwise, the code will change and the past entries become invalid. So like we said, we have to enter all the codes to disable the connections. After we uncouple the cars, we'll move into our target car. Remember, we only have 5 minutes to do everything, so make sure that you're prepared. Umm...that's all."
"That's all." echoed Squall. It was good plan, he couldn't fault that. But his gut feeling was telling him something. He only ever really had this gut feeling when something bad was about to go down.
They all looked up when they heard the squeal of a locomotive, bearing in their direction.
"Okay, here we go!" said Zell, mentally warming up.
Sure enough, the mighty roar gave birth to the storming Shin-Ra juggernaut. There was the powerful locomotive, thundering down the tracks, pulling behind it five carriages, all heavily armored and all carrying dozens of Shin-Ra guards. As the train surged under them, like a roaring river of metal, they took it one by one to leap down onto it. Zell was first, with Zone hot on his heals. Rinoa made an effortless vault down onto the carriage after them. Squall was ready to go, but unfortunately was behind Watts, who seemed to be getting the jitters about this particular section of the mission.
"Umm, gathering information is my specialty, sir." he said. "Why don't you go first, I'll only be in your way. Perhaps I could sit this one out, sir?"
Squall rolled his eyes and grabbed Watts by the collar, who screamed effeminately as they dropped onto the carriage. They were on the fifth car, the very back of the train. They had just made it.
"Squall!" called Rinoa's voice. "Over here!"
She was on the forth car, at the rear, where the cars joined. Squall nodded and ran forward towards her, ducking low to compensate for the wind rushing into his face. He stopped when he saw Rinoa's expression, a mixture between a frown and an entertained smile. Then it clicked, and Squall sighed. He turned around, and went back for Watts, who's legs had turned to jelly.
"Didn't know you had motion sickness, Watts." she said when they arrived.
"I don't ma'am." blubbed Watts. "It's just that tradition usually dictates that passengers travel inside the train."
"Not to worry." Rinoa grinned. "Once we detach the other cars, we'll drop down into the first, which has the least amount of guards, plus our main target. Alright, Squall. You're up."
Squall nodded and took the cable from her. It was high-tension, and would easily support his weight. Just to be sure, he looped the end of it around one of his belts that criss-crossed his waist.
He absailed effortlessly down the side of the train and found the access panel waiting for him. He flicked it open and sure enough, there were the four symbols. His free hand hovered over them as he waited for Rinoa's call.
"The code is...." he heard her. "4124!"
Squall punched it in; s l X s
"Got it!" Squall shouted up, and began to ascend. Upon returning to the roof, they watched as gravity, inertia and weight all worked together, and the last car began to slip away from the train, the soldiers inside completely oblivious.
"One down." said Rinoa. "Come on, let's go."
The three of them ran forward to the link between the third and fourth cars (Watts was able to move by himself this time.) where Zone squatted, waiting.
"You nervous?" Zone shouted to Squall, over the din of the wind rushing through their ears.
Squall gave no reply and readied the cable again.
"Hah hah! Of course!" laughed Zone. "It's like a rollercoaster, ain't it! You're nervous at first and don't wanna do it, but as soon as it's over, you wanna go again, huh?"
Squall glared at him as he dropped over the side. Once again, he opened the panel and waited for the code.
"The code is..." Rinoa called down to him. "2243!"
As Squall put the symbols through, the train clattered over a small bump in the track, and his finger slipped, accidentally punching in the wrong final symbol. He was about to tell Rinoa his mistake, when to his surprise, the fourth carriage began to detach anyway. As it pulled away, Squall wondered if he had really hit the wrong button or not.
"Let's go, Squall!" Rinoa called, and he ascended again. By the time he made it to the join between the second and third cars, they were already waiting for him. Zell, Zone, Watts and Rinoa.
"Damn, man." mused Zell. "You'll never catch me doing that."
Squall gave no reply. He was too busy thinking about that last mis-placed symbol which had still released the lock. He said nothing as he jumped over the side of the train for the last time.
He opened the panel and stared at the symbols, the wheels and cogs of his mind turning....
"The last code is...." Rinoa called from above. "3134!"
Squall hesitated this time, his free hand still hovering over the symbols. There was that gut feeling again. There was something afoot here, something up that the Midgar Owls weren't supposed to know about...
Squall reached the conclusion that there was only one way to prove his hunch, and tapped in the wrong code on purpose; Four triangles consecutively. Sure enough, the third car detached and fell behind. The codes meant squat. There must be uncoded circuit boards controlling the locks...but why?
"Alright Squall, come on!" Zell shouted. "This next bit is a group effort!"
Squall pulled himself up, unsure whether or not to tell them about his hunch. Damn, no time now, as they all began to ready their weapons. Zell tightened his gloves. Watts made sure his Taser was charged up. Watts swung his nunchuku and gripped them in one hand. Rinoa began to fasten a strange-looking weapon to her arm.
"That a pinwheel?" Squall asked, checking Griever himself.
"Yeah." she replied, impressed. It was a rare weapon after all. "How did you know?"
"I know every weapon." Squall said, and clicked the bullet-chamber closed. "Let's do it!"
Zell drew up his fist and brought it crashing down on the carriage's skylight, splintering it instantly. At this, Squall dropped down inside, his gunblade already swinging. He landed inside the carriage, spinning like a dervish, his gunblade connecting with the alarmed soldiers before they even knew he was upon them. Rinoa jumped through and landed rolling, then brought herself upright and fired her pinwheel at the soldier attempting to sneak up behind Squall. Zell jumped through next, planting a kick square in the face of a soldier directly below him. By the time Zone and Watts fell through, it was over.
"W-well." breathed Watts. "That was easy, sirs, ma'am."
"Too easy." said Squall, keeping Griever drawn. Rinoa nodded, agreeing with him silently.
They looked around. The carriage was furnished with a luxurious thick red carpet, comfortable leather seats, exquisite furniture, and even some expensive paintings on the walls. There was even some computer equipment built into the carriage, which was concentrated at the front of it. It was entire wall of computers and technology, the centrepiece of which was a giant screen. It was blank, the only piece of equipment not switched on.
In front of them all was a large oak chair, it's back to the team.
"Something doesn't smell right." stated Zone.
"Yeah, I got a bad feeling too." said Zell.
Squall decided to confirm their anxiety. "Those last two codes to disconnect the cars." he announced.
"Yes?" prised Rinoa.
"I entered them wrong. The second by accident, the third on purpose. They used unencoded circuit boards for the locking mechanism. Those cars would have disconnected no matter what I pushed. We weren't supposed to know that."
There was a pause from everyone as they digested this fact.
"Well, who cares?" said Rinoa, stepping forward. "We made it anyway, so lets do what we came to do."
There was no fooling Squall, he could sense the nerves in her voice. He followed her as she walked towards the oak chair. She slowly reached out her hand and turned it slowly around, her weapon trained. The chair turned to reveal the face of none other than...
...It was empty.
"What the hell?" shouted Zone. Instantly, they lurched back as the train began to pick up speed. Bars shot out, blocking off the skylight and the windows. They were trapped.
"It's a trap!" cried Zell, showing his talent for stating the blatantly obvious.
At this, the giant screen flickered to life, revealing the gloating face of President Shin-Ra himself.
"Hmmm...." he mused, looking them over. "So you must all be that......sorry, I'm terrible with names, what was it again?"
"Midgar Owls." Rinoa replied, anger beginning to boil in her voice.
"Long time no see." Squall said to himself. Shin-Ra heard this, his face turned towards Squall, and shone a glint of recollection.
"Ah yes, of course!" he exclaimed. "How could I ever forget a face of the Generation; NeXus project? You're not Seifer.....You're that other one, Leonhart."
"Squall Leonhart."
"Yes, I knew it was some meteorological term. Hmmm, Squall Leonhart. According to the project records, you were killed in action a year ago. We shall have to update our files."
"I'm honoured." panned Squall, not meaning it.
"You didn't let me finish." continued Shin-Ra. "I was about to say, we shall have to update our records from saying you died last year to you died today."
"Shut your hole!" Zell shouted, running forward. "Y'all Shin-Ra are goin' down. And I'm gonna personally be there on the day that happens, to make sure that happens!"
Shin-Ra grinned wickedly. "Oh, I doubt that very much, my boy. You see, you're all about to go up in a very big bang any minute now."
They all began to feel the train's velocity increasing.
"What are you doing?" Rinoa demanded.
"You are now beginning to spiral up the main support structure." explained Shin-Ra. "We've placed a solid barrier somewhere half-way up. There is no way to stop the train, and no way to save your pathetic hides. Such a shame to waste a decent train on vermin like you, but pathetic so-called resistance movements such as yours cannot be tolerated any longer. We'll simply say that you terrorists tried to sabotage the Midgar rail system, and you all died in the attempt."
Zell's blood boiled.
"You just wait 'til I come get you!" he roared. "I'm gonna barbecue your ass, then I'm gonna punch you right the hell over the edge of that damn building of yours, you son of a bitch!"
"Charming vocabulary." replied Shin-Ra, then looked at his watch. "Well, I have a dinner I must attend. So, I'll be leaving you. Good evening to you all. Don't forget to die."
The monitor switched off, leaving Shin-Ra's laughter echoing in their ears, laughing at their sealed fate.
***
"There's no way out, there's no way out!" panicked Watts. "We're doomed!"
"Can it Watts!" snapped Rinoa. "You're upsetting the other passengers! Now calm down or we'll have you put off the train!"
Rinoa's mild attempt at humour not withstanding, the team scrambled about in every direction, trying to find a release or escape somewhere.
"Maybe we can break open one of the windows, squeeze between the bars and–"
"Jump?" Rinoa finished for him. "No way. We're spiralling up the support structure. We'd never survive it."
"Well there has to be a way out!" pleaded Zone.
Squall had kept the quietest as usual, putting his skills at work one more.
"Hang on!" he said, deciding upon his idea. He drew Griever and jammed it into the sealed door at the front left-hand-side of the carriage. He kept on triggering, sending charge after charge through the blade, tearing through the steel of the reinforced door. Once a glowing hot circle of torched metal was form, Squall drew back and gave the cut-section of the door a swift kick. It sailed out towards the ground far below. As the rushing wind began to howl into the carriage, Squall climbed out and pulled his body forward, fighting the wind to get onto the locomotive and find what he was looking for.
As he made it to the cab, Rinoa and Zell stuck their faces around the side of the carriage, trying to see what Squall was up to. They saw him leaning in front of the locking mechanism for the train cars.
"He's going to disconnect us!" Zell shouted.
Rinoa admired Squall's ingenuity. If the lock for that one was the same as the rest, then it would disconnect the car no matter what code Squall pressed. Rinoa then realised with something like horror that Squall would not be able to make it back to their car. Because they were on an upward slope, the cars would slip away a lot quicker than the others. Plus, the locomotive would continue the game speed, and the carriage would fall away instantly.
"Squall!" she shouted.
"This is the only way!" he shouted. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine!"
"I was going to say, Don't you dare think this counts as our special contract, Squall Leonhart!" she called back to him, almost smiling.
"Yeah, sure!" he shouted back over the wind. "Whatever! Look, when that carriage stops, split and head back to your hideout. The Shin-Ra will be looking for you if you hang around!"
"Alright!" replied Zell.
"And don't you dare think I'm not coming back!" Squall shouted back to them. They nodded, and ducked back inside the carriage. Squall leaned over the side and found the access panel. Without a seconds pause, he flipped it off and it the buttons in random sequence. Just as he'd hoped, the carriage instantly disconnected and fell away, rolling back down the tracks.
Satisfied this was done, Squall flipped himself up onto the roof of the cab. He walked forward, fighting the force of the wind as he did so. He knew he only had one chance, and only one opportunity to survive this. He crouched down into a starting position, ready to run for his life. The barrier appeared from around the next bend and began to hurtle towards the rocketing locomotive. Squall took off, running as fast as he could along the length of the locomotive. He ran like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels. His timing was perfect, and he reached the very front of the locomotive splitseconds before it met the barrier. He leaped clear above the barrier, which the train smashed into, exploding instantly. The force of the explosion caught his already airborne body and flung it through the air, flipping over and over as he was propelled across the slums, like an angel falling to earth.
Squall could feel himself falling now, his last thoughts before he blacked out being; This is gonna hurt...
***
Darkness. He felt it all around him, like he was wrapped up in a blanket of unconsciousness.
Light. An island in a sea of nothing......he saw..he saw a flash....of something.
Darkness.
Light. Yes, a flash. A flash of gold........
Darkness.
Light. A flash of blonde hair, that was it.
Darkness.
Light. Reflecting off a pair of glasses. And, behind that....blue eyes. Familiar eyes?
Darkness.
Light. Familiar eyes? Yes, it's that girl from the other night. No, it's not that. It's from before that.
Darkness.
Light. And now a voice. Yes, a familiar voice. A very familiar voice. I voice from his childhood.
Darkness.
Light. Blue eyes, glasses, blonde hair, and that voice that was like cherries. That girl from last night, yes. But now, his fogged memory cleared as he experienced total recall.
Squall sat forward groggily. The girl squatted over him, still not believing it. She knew that she had known him from somewhere, but how had she not been able to remember someone this special the instant her eyes had seen him last night. Now that he was here, up close, there was no doubt about it. Her mouth hung open in surprise.
Squall noticed her squatting next to him as he shook his head. The fall had hit him for a three-pointer. But, as his vision finally cleared, he found himself face to face with a vision from his past. He was looking at the face of his childhood friend.
"Quistis?!"
"Squall!?"
***
"My Gods!" Quistis exclaimed. "Squall! How did you– When did you– How is......"
Squall looked at her.
"How have you been, Squall?" she said finally, smiling.
"....I'm fine." he replied, still a little dizzy.
"When did you escape Shin-Ra?" she asked.
"I didn't. Not really, not how you did, anyway."
Quistis looked at him and sighed. "You stayed with them, didn't you? They kept you on and continued training you, just like I said."
"Who cares?" dismissed Squall. "I'm out of that now."
"Squall, what about Seifer and Ellone?" she asked. "Are they with you? Are you together?"
Squall turned away from her, and noticed for the first time that he was in a church. It was run down and shabby. Rotted boards full of wood lice, as well as moss and weeds growing up and along the walls. There were also even some flowers. That's odd. Can flowers bloom in Midgar?
"No." he said flatly. He didn't know where Ellone was. He didn't know where Seifer was either, but he couldn't begin to tell her that tale. Quistis, he hadn't seen for nearly eight years.
"It's good to see you again, Squall." she said, changing the subject.
He turned around slowly. "Yeah..."
They hadn't seen each other since they were 9 and 10 years old. Their bodies had changed much from the helpless little children they had been so long ago.
"I didn't recognise you at all when I saw you there, the other night." Quistis said suddenly. "You've changed so much."
"Likewise." commented Squall.
Squall's body had responded well to the heavy training they must have put him through. His genetic attributes that would have stood out on their own seemed to have been boosted ten times over by SeeD conditioning. He was twice as tall as the child she remembered, and doubly handsome. She couldn't help but notice the scar between his eyes again, but it would probably be rude to talk about it. It was Squall, after all.
Puberty had been kind to Quistis' body, Squall noticed. A fully developed figure, (she must work out) and her face was pretty sublime too. The last time he'd seen her, she'd still had her puppy fat. She was considerably taller, and had grown from the child he knew into a young woman. There was something else, too. If she was still what he remembered her to be, then she must have had a new influx of power since her childhood. Her aura was much stronger than he remembered.
"I have to get going." he said, the dizziness gone. "I have to go see somebody."
"Oh?" said Quistis, a little disappointed that he wanted to leave so quickly, but she should have seen it coming. "Maybe I can help you, Squall. I never made it out of Midgar, after all. I've spent the last eight years here. I know my way around blindfolded."
"You know the way to Sector 7 from here?" he asked.
"Sure." she replied. "It's a bit of a walk, and the roads in the slums have been abandoned for decades, but we can make it. Do you mind if we take a detour by my house? I have to tell mom."
Squall was about to ask her how, seeing as how Quistis' mother was supposed to be dead and all, when suddenly, they both heard footsteps coming from the church entrance.
"Crap." Quistis expressed.
"Hey, hey, hey. Not very ladylike, that kinda talk." came a voice from behind the church doors, which creaked open eerily. In stepped a figure. A man, mid-twenties, older than Squall and Quistis. He had red hair and wore a black suit. Squall recognised the black suit immediately.
The Turks. The division of Shin-Ra that specialised in kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, spying, torture and various other illegal activities. Some of their members were often recruited directly from SeeD.
"Don't mind me." he said. "New boyfriend, Quistis? Looks a bit girly to me."
Squall almost grinned. He knew he could easily snap this guy in half, fold him up and mail him back to Shin-Ra with a note attached.
"Got no quarrel with you." said the Turk, looking at Squall. "Just came for Quistis."
"So what else is new? Let's get out of here, Squall."
"What are you worried about?" Squall said. "It's only one guy."
"CORRECTION!" came a voice from behind the doors, and in stepped two other Turks, albeit slightly younger. They looked like they were right out of SeeD and into the black suits. There was also something vaguely familiar about them.
"Yeah, we're here ta back you up, Reno, ya know?" said the largest of the three. He was a burly big black guy, and it looked like they must have had some fun measuring him out for his suit, which he must have seen fit to customise himself. He bore a metallic shoulder-pad, and a pair of shades. He also had his hair done in dreads. All in all, he thought it made him look impressive. It didn't.
The girl next to him however, seemed to commandeer an air of authority. She had dyed silver hair, and also had a metallic shoulder-plate. She also seemed to have lost an eye, as there was a patch over where one should have been. She wore the mandatory black suit of the Turks, but instead of the white shirt and tie, she wore a blue untied shirt under her jacket. Amazing how somebody who seemed so rigid and authoritative was allowed to bend the rules as far as the uniform was concerned.
She fixed Squall and Quistis with an icy stare, until finally, a wave of recognition washed over her.
"SQUALL." she said flatly.
"Fujin." Squall returned. "And Raijin."
"Huh?" echoed Raijin. "Oh yeah! Long time no see, Squall, ya know? Hey, have you heard anything from Seifer?"
Fujin's response was to kick Raijin deftly in the back of the knee. As he yelled out in pain, he lost his balance and fell forward onto a pile of rotting chairs. They collapsed under his weight and splintered apart.
"Did you go to SeeD or Clown College?" hissed the lead Turk angrily. "Let's get what we came for!"
"Sorry, Reno." apologised Raijin.
"STOP TALKING." ordered Fujin. "PERSUE AND SEIZE!"
"That's the interlingual gesture for leg it, Squall!" Quistis yelled, grabbing Squalls hand and running out towards the back of the church.
Reno glared after them. "Great, just bloody great. I must have really pissed somebody off to get landed with you two jokers. Come on, let's get after them!"
***
Squall bounded up the rotting wooden steps of the building. It was about three stories high. The most unusual feature was the large rocket embedded in it. It must have crashed in here years ago and collapsed the floors.
"Come on!" shouted Squall, leaping from his position, over toward a rotting staircase. It shook uneasily as he landed on it. As Quistis followed, it shook even more. They ran up the stairs, moving as fast as they could to get out of the building.
"There they are!" shouted a voice. Reno.
Squall and Quistis reached a gap in the floor. A large space where the rocket had come crashing through the wall. It looked like a pretty big leap. Squall took a running start at it and leaped clear across, skidding to a halt on the other side.
"Stop them." Reno ordered to Fujin, who nodded and drew her out-sized shuriken. She flung it upward with a fast under-spin. It sailed upwards and crashed through the deadwood where Quistis had just been standing seconds before. The shuriken now plummeted downward, where Fujin caught it easily. Reno looked up and grinned. The gap was far too large for Quistis to jump across. They had her now.
Raijin was already running up the steps, headed for Quistis. Squall couldn't leap back. Even he had barely been able to clear the gap before Fujin widened it.
Quistis looked down, left, right, and finally up. Then grinned.
As Raijin advanced on her, she drew her whip. He stopped, then drew out his bo staff. She grinned again and turned around. She cracked the whip upwards, where it wrapped around a beam. She lifted her weight onto it and swung across the gap, landing nimbly beside Squall. A quick flick of her wrist and the whip recoiled back into her hand.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Squall asked.
"Saw it in a movie. Let's go!"
They ran up the steps, across the beams and towards a large hole in the roof. They leapt forward outside, and into the arms of escape.
Raijin stood, dumbfounded. Reno and Fujin glared up at him. Reno waved his hand and turned, walking away. Not to worry, there would still be another chance....
***
"Well, they're after me again." sighed Quistis as they sat on the roof.
"Haven't you been on the run for eight years?" Squall asked.
"Yep. Problem is, I'm too good for them to catch." she smiled.
"Whatever."
"Gods, you haven't changed one bit." Quistis laughed. "Anyway, I know which way it is to Sector 7. Let's go."
And so they went, running and jumping over roofs and debris. Quistis was good a keeping up, but only really because Squall was slowing his pace a fraction.
"Don't you ever run out of breath?" she asked.
Squall gave no reply as he stood up and looked around.
"So what's in Sector 7?" Quistis asked earnestly.
"A bar. 'Roses And Wine', it's called." Squall saw the blink of recognition in Quistis' eye. "You know it?"
"I know of it." Quistis replied. "I've never been to it, but there's this really cute guy with a cool tattoo that buys flowers from me sometimes. He usually buys them for the owner. I think she just wants to make the place look nice."
"Her name's Rinoa." Squall said, by way of fact.
"Ah." Quistis sighed, then blinked. "Is she the reason you're trying to get to Sector 7?"
"Not really." Squall replied. "I'm supposed to meet up with her for......." he trailed off.
"Oh." said Quistis. "This Rinoa is a friend?"
Squall shrugged, not sure how to answer.
"Is Rinoa your girlfriend?" she probed.
"Yes." Squall replied, without hesitation. Quistis was stunned.
"A girlfriend? You? You're kidding."
"I'm serious." he continued.
"Wow, Squall, I don't know what to say."
"I'm seriously joking."
Quistis stood still for a moment. "Oh har har." she panned. "Still, that was a good one, even for you. Come on, I'll show you the way. First, I gotta stop by my moms house, and then I'll take you to Sector 7."
Squall followed her as she led, walking through the dirt paths and debris. It was odd. In all the chaos and randomness of the world, it was in this very place that he'd found his childhood friend again, in the last place he ever expected to find her.
* * * * * * * *
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Author's Note: Well, are you starting to enjoy the switches, the character placings and the melding of elements from both games? These first three chapters were just an introductory warm-up. You ain't seen nothin' yet!
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