Chapter 5
There's no more coming back this way,
The path is overgrown and strewn with thorns,
They've torn the lifeblood from your naked eyes,
Cast aside to be forlorn.
Sarah McLachlan
The Path of Thorns
Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, the most technologically advanced country in the world, sat in
an unbelieving stupor. He couldn't believe that that Wallace character was right, and on top of
that, there were reports that Garden let the sorceress get away with a SeeD escort.
"So what are we going to do?" Kiros asked, snapping Laguna out of his silent state.
"I think we should have a conference with the Garden's Commander before we decide on a
course of action. Maybe we can have their assistance in finding the rogue sorceress." Laguna
replied with a hopeful look in his eyes. He hated war of all kinds, even though he was a veteran
of the First Sorceress War.
"That may be a good plan of action, but by the time the Garden's Commander gets here, the
Estharian people may find out that there is a sorceress running amuck. It would cause almost an
overnight panic in the citizens of the city. There is also the huge possibility that Mr. Wallace
could tell the people himself. He did leave here pretty mad, you know." Kiros pointed out.
Laguna looked over at Ward, and saw the conflicted expression upon his face which Laguna
most certainly reflected back at him. "Well, we could pay Garden to keep quiet." Laguna
suggested.
"But what about Mr. Wallace?" Kiros asked.
Laguna frowned and thought deeply for a few minutes. "I think it would be best," Laguna said
slowly, "If we lock him up. That way he couldn't tell anyone but the prison guards."
"If he resists?" Kiros asked, fulfilling his role of being the sensible one.
"Then we take him out." Laguna stated, a slight hurt look on his face. "I would hate for it to
come to that though. But it's either him or Esthar."
"Good call Laguna." Kiros said in grim satisfaction. The only thing that worried Kiros about
that Wallace character now was if he told anybody yet.
"Kiros, give the order to send an invitation to the Garden's Commander. If he replies back and
agrees, send an escort to pick him up. But if he refuses..." Laguna just sort of died off, leaving
what he meant hanging in the air.
"I understand Laguna," Kiros said as he left the room, leaving Ward and Laguna to talk about
what to do and say at the conference.
* * * * *
John Wallace had strode out of the Presidential Palace full of spite and thirsting for revenge. If
Laguna Loire wouldn't do something about this sorceress, the he would have to do something
himself.
He trekked back to the Air Station, whereupon he got into his craft and flew, despite the angry
protests of the air traffic controllers below. He looked up and saw why they were yelling.
The Ragnarok was barrelling straight towards him, with no sign of slowing down. "Shit!" he
exclaimed as he yanked to controls to the hard right. The Ragnarok blew past him, so close that
John could hear the metal hulls of the space crafts scrape past each other.
John Wallace felt his rage build, as he piloted the craft towards Trabia.
When he arrived there, he was shocked to find that only Trabia Garden was there, not Balamb.
He groaned and then spun the craft around and headed for Balamb. 'Damn, that Garden moves
fast,' he muttered to himself.
When he arrived at Balamb, John landed his air craft outside the Garden, then got out and set a
fast pace towards the front entrance. He checked his belt and saw that the pistol was still there,
the soon-to-be instrument of Adalia's death.
John stalked up to the front entrance, and stopped to talk with the old man at the front 'desk'.
"Is there a sorceress here?" John asked, wheezing because he was out of breath.
"Nope," the old man said with a slight smile. "She got away early this morning. Quite a ruckus
she caused if you ask me. They have SeeDs all over the world on alert for her should she show
up."
"Really?" John asked with a slight snarl, "Then I guess I'll have to find her myself."
* * * * *
Squall Leonhart landed the Ragnarok in the Air Station, then jumped into a nearby escort vehicle
for the ride to the Palace. The Garden had received the transmission just a mere ten minutes
before, and Squall (refusing to wait for an escort) took the Ragnarok and made haste for Esthar.
He wanted to clear up everything between Garden and Esthar before a war broke out.
They arrived at the Presidential Palace, and Squall took the lift to the main building. He jumped
off the lift before it even stopped, and made his way to the office of the President.
He threw open the doors (much to the horror of the two guards standing there) and walked into
the office. He noticed that Kiros wasn't there and he wondered why, for he thought that the
three men were attached at the hip.
"Squall! How good of you to come!" Laguna said with false cheer in his voice. Squall just
glowered at him and said nothing. "You do know why you're here, correct?" Laguna asked, not
wanting to explain things.
"Yeah, they told me everything when they sent the transmission. So why do you want me here?"
Squall asked, wondering what good a Garden full of junior class men would be to the President
of Esthar.
"I want your help in finding the sorceress." Laguna said, leaning over his desk.
"Yeah? And what's in it for us?" Squall asked, not feeling threatened by this man.
"Peace." Laguna said simply, and Squall raised an eyebrow. "You see Squall, they way we
figured is all of your SeeDs were off on another continent trying to resolve the potential outbreak
of war, and it'd be hard for you to war against us."
Squall was stunned. Is this the same Laguna that Squall had been sent into the past to see? "Ok
then, we'll help you, but on a condition. One of our SeeDs was...captured by this sorceress. I
don't want him harmed in any way. Do we have a deal?" Squall asked and outstretched his
hand.
"Deal." Laguna said as he took Squall's hand and shook it.
* * * * *
The train lurched to a stop, with Nida and Adalia still holding on to one another. "We should go
before we're found out," Adalia whispered.
"Yeah," Nida said and nodded his head in agreement. They snuck out of the door behind two
rich people with very big fur coats, and stood outside in the fresh morning air. "We have to
board another train if we want to get to the prison today, or we could play it low and walk the
fields, but there's also the danger of monsters." Nida told Adalia.
She shivered at the thought of something else like the Ruby Dragon battle. "I think we should
take the trains." She told him, then with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Besides, I've come to
like trains."
Nida felt a blush rise in his cheeks, then changed the subject. "Well, if we want to catch the
next train, we had better run. It leaves in 5 minutes." Nida took off running after that with
Adalia close on his heels.
People stopped to watch the stunning beautiful couple run through the streets. Their laughter at
the sheer weirdness of it all bounced off the walls of the buildings that lined the street. They
arrived at the station and pushed their way past a rather flustered attendant, then rushed into a
room and shut the door.
"He'll never find us in here." Adalia giggled as she thought of the angry attendant.
"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing in my room?" a voice asked. They whirled
around and saw a woman sitting on the couch, her head rested on her hand, staring right at them.
Raven-black hair streaked with blonde highlights cascaded down to just past her shoulders. Two
chocolate brown eyes stared at them with a bit of amusement. She wore clothing the colour of
the sky on a clear summer day, and a necklace with two bands around it. Beside her sat a dog,
growling softly at the visitors. He looked like a border collie cross with all his darl markings.
"Rinoa! I've found you!" Nida exclaimed, beginning to feel very elated. This was turning out to
be his lucky few days.
Rinoa furrowed her brow for a minute, trying to remember where she had saw this man before.
"Nida! It's good to see you again! How is everyone at the Garden been?" she asked as though
they were old friends.
"Squall's been worried sick about you. I was sent out to find you, but I didn't think that I'd find
you in a place like this." Nida told her.
"Hmm...well, I can't go back yet. The Forest Owls are launching an attack against the District
Prison to free the mayor of Timber. It took us forever to come up with a plan, and now we have
to set it in motion." Rinoa said, then she looked at Adalia, who was just standing there quietly.
"I don't think I've ever seen you before. Who are you?"
"I'm Adalia," she said haughtily, "I'm on a quest with Nida to free Seifer Alsmay from this
District Prison of yours, then I have to go on a quest to find the Angel Wing."
"Angel Wing?" Rinoa asked, puzzled.
"Umm...Adalia? This is the Angel Wing." Nida said, beginning to feel a little silly for not
introducing them properly.
"You're the Angel Wing?!" Adalia asked in disbelief.
"I am?" Rinoa asked, feeling confused.
Suddenly, Adalia's vision began to blur. She tried to open her mouth to say something to Nida,
but was held immobile. She tried to resist, but the invisible binding around her was so strong
she could hardly breathe. Adalia, Hyne's voice rang in her ear, This is the second and last part
of your mission. Kill the accursed Angel Wing and take her powers, so that no more sorceresses
will roam the land. After you accomplish this, you can come home.
Slowly, Adalia's vision cleared and she looked back at Nida's worried eyes and Rinoa's slightly
amused ones. 'No,' she thought to herself, 'I can't kill her. She's the Commander's loved one.
It would be a favour to Squall. But then again, I can't disobey Hyne, she's the one who raised
me and made me ageless. What do I do?'
"Adalia, are you ok?" Nida asked, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." she replied.
"Well, if you two are going to the District Prison too, then may I suggest that we go together?
As long as you two don't get in the way of Watts and Zone, then everything will run smoothly.
As soon as the alarm sounds, just find Seifer and get hin out of there, ok?" Rinoa said, changing
the subject.
Nida and Adalia nodded in unison, then a voice sounded over the intercom "Galbadia Station,
end of the line. Everyone depart safely and have a nice day."
"You think they could hire a conductor with a personality," Rinoa said to them, and smiled at
her own little joke.
The trio got off the train and were met by five other men, all wearing dark clothing and carrying
semi-automatic machine guns in their coats that were so large you could see the top of the gun
poke out the top of the group's trench coats and then a little at the bottom. These people were
also armed to the teeth with a belt of grenades and ammo clips, as well as a backup pistol hidden
in their shoe. Adalia could have seen all this even without her heightened sorceress senses.
"Let's move." Rinoa said in a quiet voice and the group began to trek across the sea of sand that
surrounded the Prison. When they reached the entrance, the group of five pulled out their semis,
Rinoa pulled out her Shooting Star, Nida pulled out his broad sword, and Adalia began to focus
her sorceress energy, her eyes glowing a illustrious yellow. Rinoa looked over at Adalia and was
in shock with what she saw. 'Adalia is a sorceress too?' she thought to herself, then shook off
the thought. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.
"Go!" she yelled as the group of five people barged in through the door to the visitation area
with their guns blazing. They took down the guard that guarded the door to the rest of the
prison, then ran through the door to where they found the area with all the cells.
Suddenly, a red light began to flash and an alarm began to sound, along with a voice over the
intercom warning the soldiers that someone had broken in and the anti-magic field had been
lifted. They also said something about destroying the intruders, but Nida wasn't sure of the
exact words.
A group of soldiers ran towards the eight of them, but most of them were cut down by machine
gun fire. Rinoa shot off her Shooting Star, and Adalia released a death spell against the
remaining soldier, killing him instantly.
"Ok you two, you're on your own. Forest Owls, let's move!" Rinoa yelled over the blaring
alarm. The six of them left, leaving Nida and Adalia just standing there like idiots.
"What do we do now?" Adalia yelled over the alarm.
"There has to be a directory of the cell mates somewhere. I think we should find it." Nida
replied, still yelling.
They looked around, and low and behold, there was a big sign that said directory in big, bright
letters. "It doesn't get any easier than that!" Nida yelled as he began to run towards the room.
Nida threw open the door, where he found three guards just lounging around. He quickly
slashed the first one before he could grab a weapon. The two other guards grabbed their swords
and began to duel with Nida. Although Nida was the best swordsman that there was (he had
several international trophies to prove it) he found that these guards had fairly good skills and he
couldn't hold them off for long.
Suddenly, a thundaga spell hit one of the guards, knocking him to the ground. The other guard
was surprised when he saw the woman with yellow eyes behind Nida, and Nida took this
opportunity to slash the guard, taking him down.
"Thanks," Nida said as he went over to one of the directory books and began flipping through it.
Adalia grabbed another one, and before long she found it.
"He's at the top-most cell, number 459." Adalia told Nida, and they took off outside at a run.
They stopped and gazed up through the holes in the floors, and Nida groaned when he saw how
far away the top one was.
"Don't worry about that," Adalia said as her eyes flashed a more intense yellow. She cast a float
spell, then all of a sudden they were hurtled through the air towards the top of the Prison. Adalia
moved her arm in one swift motion and they landed at the top floor, with not a scratch between
them.
"That was good," Nida said nodding as he scanned the top floor. "Over there! Cell number
459!" They raced over to the cell and looked inside the 5" thick plexiglass window. There sat
Seifer, sitting on the floor with his arms crossed over his chest and a miserable look on his face.
Seifer looked up and his eyes widen at the sight of Nida and Adalia standing at the cell door.
They were yelling and motioning, and Seifer got that they wanted him to stand back. Seifer got
up and moved towards the back of the cell, as a meteor spell burst the door open.
"It's good to see you again Seifer." Adalia said as she ran up and gave him a hug. Nida felt a
pang of jealousy, but then realized what she was doing. Nida had paid attention only to Rinoa
on the train, and this was her petty way of getting back at him. It wasn't like he could blame her
though.
"It's good to see you too, babe." Seifer said with a huge grin when he saw the look of jealousy
flash across Nida's face. Seifer leaned down and kissed Adalia, much to her surprise. Nida
started balling his fists. They had just rescued Seifer and already he was being a pain in the ass.
"Alright then, let's get out of here." Nida said as he walked back towards the huge hole in the
floor. Adalia and Seifer followed him, Seifer staying close to Adalia's side. Seifer may have
kissed Adalia just to bother Nida, but Seifer also liked Adalia and he would be damned if he let
Nida get her without a fight.
"We have to jump, then I'll cast the spell while we're falling." Adalia told them, as she stepped
closer to the edge. Adalia and Nida jumped at the same time, with Seifer close behind them,
cursing his luck on the way down. The ground kept rushing and rushing at them, and Nida
couldn't feel a spell beginning to take effect.
"Adalia, cast the spell already!" Nida yelled through grit teeth.
"I'm trying!" she yelled back. Suddenly, a warm light encompassed Seifer and Nida, slowing
them down, but Adalia just kept falling.
"Adalia!" Nida yelled as he heard her hit the floor below. He struggled against the spell, but it
was meant to keep him still as he slowly floated to the ground, followed by Seifer. When he
reached the ground, the spell broke and he ran over to Adalia. "Curaga!" he yelled, and a warm
blue light covered Adalia. When the spell stopped, she still wasn't moving.
Nida took her pulse, then looked over at Seifer. "It's faint, but she's still alive. We have to get
her out of here."
"Lead the way Captain Balamb." Seifer said, referring to a cheesy, old series in which Captain
Balamb saves the world every week.
Nida picked up Adalia and began to make his way towards the exit. "Oh, and Seifer?" Nida
said, turning around. "I saw your gunblade in the room over there, the one with the big sign that
says directory."
Seifer nodded and made his way towards the room Nida was talking about. He looked inside
and saw his gunblade, sitting up against the wall. Seifer reached inside and grabbed it, thanking
each and every one of his lucky stars that he was able to get it back again.
Seifer ran back towards Nida with a immense grin on his face. "Almost thought I lost the old
girl." Seifer commented.
Nida turned and headed out through the visitor's area, to the freedom the outside of the prison
offered. When he got outside, he did a double take. The Forest Owls were standing around
outside accompanied by a man in an expensive suit who Nida guessed to be the mayor. "What
are you guys still doing here?" Nida asked.
"We decided to wait for you. We thought that you might need some help, and that we'd be here
if anything went wrong..." Rinoa trailed off when she saw that Adalia was lying unconcious in
Nida's arms. "What happened?"
A man with a black trench coat muscled his way to the front of the group, then moved to stand
beside Adalia whereupon he began to feel her forehead ad check her pulse. "What are you
doing?" Nida asked the man, beginning to feel defensive of Adalia.
"I'm a doctor." The man said as he resumed doing various checks on Adalia. When he was
finished, he straightened up and said: "She'll be fine. She should wake up in a few hours or so."
Nida breathed an audible sigh of relief. 'She was going to be ok, everything is going to be
alright,' Nida assured himself as he stood in a relaxed position. "So what are we going to do
now?"
"Catch a train out of here, and fast if we don't want to get caught. Let's move out, people."
Rinoa ordered as they began the slow trek towards the station,
___________________
Author's Notes: I expected to get a lot more done in this chapter, but since I didn't the next
chapter will probably be twice as long or so. Ciao for now!
There's no more coming back this way,
The path is overgrown and strewn with thorns,
They've torn the lifeblood from your naked eyes,
Cast aside to be forlorn.
Sarah McLachlan
The Path of Thorns
Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, the most technologically advanced country in the world, sat in
an unbelieving stupor. He couldn't believe that that Wallace character was right, and on top of
that, there were reports that Garden let the sorceress get away with a SeeD escort.
"So what are we going to do?" Kiros asked, snapping Laguna out of his silent state.
"I think we should have a conference with the Garden's Commander before we decide on a
course of action. Maybe we can have their assistance in finding the rogue sorceress." Laguna
replied with a hopeful look in his eyes. He hated war of all kinds, even though he was a veteran
of the First Sorceress War.
"That may be a good plan of action, but by the time the Garden's Commander gets here, the
Estharian people may find out that there is a sorceress running amuck. It would cause almost an
overnight panic in the citizens of the city. There is also the huge possibility that Mr. Wallace
could tell the people himself. He did leave here pretty mad, you know." Kiros pointed out.
Laguna looked over at Ward, and saw the conflicted expression upon his face which Laguna
most certainly reflected back at him. "Well, we could pay Garden to keep quiet." Laguna
suggested.
"But what about Mr. Wallace?" Kiros asked.
Laguna frowned and thought deeply for a few minutes. "I think it would be best," Laguna said
slowly, "If we lock him up. That way he couldn't tell anyone but the prison guards."
"If he resists?" Kiros asked, fulfilling his role of being the sensible one.
"Then we take him out." Laguna stated, a slight hurt look on his face. "I would hate for it to
come to that though. But it's either him or Esthar."
"Good call Laguna." Kiros said in grim satisfaction. The only thing that worried Kiros about
that Wallace character now was if he told anybody yet.
"Kiros, give the order to send an invitation to the Garden's Commander. If he replies back and
agrees, send an escort to pick him up. But if he refuses..." Laguna just sort of died off, leaving
what he meant hanging in the air.
"I understand Laguna," Kiros said as he left the room, leaving Ward and Laguna to talk about
what to do and say at the conference.
* * * * *
John Wallace had strode out of the Presidential Palace full of spite and thirsting for revenge. If
Laguna Loire wouldn't do something about this sorceress, the he would have to do something
himself.
He trekked back to the Air Station, whereupon he got into his craft and flew, despite the angry
protests of the air traffic controllers below. He looked up and saw why they were yelling.
The Ragnarok was barrelling straight towards him, with no sign of slowing down. "Shit!" he
exclaimed as he yanked to controls to the hard right. The Ragnarok blew past him, so close that
John could hear the metal hulls of the space crafts scrape past each other.
John Wallace felt his rage build, as he piloted the craft towards Trabia.
When he arrived there, he was shocked to find that only Trabia Garden was there, not Balamb.
He groaned and then spun the craft around and headed for Balamb. 'Damn, that Garden moves
fast,' he muttered to himself.
When he arrived at Balamb, John landed his air craft outside the Garden, then got out and set a
fast pace towards the front entrance. He checked his belt and saw that the pistol was still there,
the soon-to-be instrument of Adalia's death.
John stalked up to the front entrance, and stopped to talk with the old man at the front 'desk'.
"Is there a sorceress here?" John asked, wheezing because he was out of breath.
"Nope," the old man said with a slight smile. "She got away early this morning. Quite a ruckus
she caused if you ask me. They have SeeDs all over the world on alert for her should she show
up."
"Really?" John asked with a slight snarl, "Then I guess I'll have to find her myself."
* * * * *
Squall Leonhart landed the Ragnarok in the Air Station, then jumped into a nearby escort vehicle
for the ride to the Palace. The Garden had received the transmission just a mere ten minutes
before, and Squall (refusing to wait for an escort) took the Ragnarok and made haste for Esthar.
He wanted to clear up everything between Garden and Esthar before a war broke out.
They arrived at the Presidential Palace, and Squall took the lift to the main building. He jumped
off the lift before it even stopped, and made his way to the office of the President.
He threw open the doors (much to the horror of the two guards standing there) and walked into
the office. He noticed that Kiros wasn't there and he wondered why, for he thought that the
three men were attached at the hip.
"Squall! How good of you to come!" Laguna said with false cheer in his voice. Squall just
glowered at him and said nothing. "You do know why you're here, correct?" Laguna asked, not
wanting to explain things.
"Yeah, they told me everything when they sent the transmission. So why do you want me here?"
Squall asked, wondering what good a Garden full of junior class men would be to the President
of Esthar.
"I want your help in finding the sorceress." Laguna said, leaning over his desk.
"Yeah? And what's in it for us?" Squall asked, not feeling threatened by this man.
"Peace." Laguna said simply, and Squall raised an eyebrow. "You see Squall, they way we
figured is all of your SeeDs were off on another continent trying to resolve the potential outbreak
of war, and it'd be hard for you to war against us."
Squall was stunned. Is this the same Laguna that Squall had been sent into the past to see? "Ok
then, we'll help you, but on a condition. One of our SeeDs was...captured by this sorceress. I
don't want him harmed in any way. Do we have a deal?" Squall asked and outstretched his
hand.
"Deal." Laguna said as he took Squall's hand and shook it.
* * * * *
The train lurched to a stop, with Nida and Adalia still holding on to one another. "We should go
before we're found out," Adalia whispered.
"Yeah," Nida said and nodded his head in agreement. They snuck out of the door behind two
rich people with very big fur coats, and stood outside in the fresh morning air. "We have to
board another train if we want to get to the prison today, or we could play it low and walk the
fields, but there's also the danger of monsters." Nida told Adalia.
She shivered at the thought of something else like the Ruby Dragon battle. "I think we should
take the trains." She told him, then with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Besides, I've come to
like trains."
Nida felt a blush rise in his cheeks, then changed the subject. "Well, if we want to catch the
next train, we had better run. It leaves in 5 minutes." Nida took off running after that with
Adalia close on his heels.
People stopped to watch the stunning beautiful couple run through the streets. Their laughter at
the sheer weirdness of it all bounced off the walls of the buildings that lined the street. They
arrived at the station and pushed their way past a rather flustered attendant, then rushed into a
room and shut the door.
"He'll never find us in here." Adalia giggled as she thought of the angry attendant.
"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing in my room?" a voice asked. They whirled
around and saw a woman sitting on the couch, her head rested on her hand, staring right at them.
Raven-black hair streaked with blonde highlights cascaded down to just past her shoulders. Two
chocolate brown eyes stared at them with a bit of amusement. She wore clothing the colour of
the sky on a clear summer day, and a necklace with two bands around it. Beside her sat a dog,
growling softly at the visitors. He looked like a border collie cross with all his darl markings.
"Rinoa! I've found you!" Nida exclaimed, beginning to feel very elated. This was turning out to
be his lucky few days.
Rinoa furrowed her brow for a minute, trying to remember where she had saw this man before.
"Nida! It's good to see you again! How is everyone at the Garden been?" she asked as though
they were old friends.
"Squall's been worried sick about you. I was sent out to find you, but I didn't think that I'd find
you in a place like this." Nida told her.
"Hmm...well, I can't go back yet. The Forest Owls are launching an attack against the District
Prison to free the mayor of Timber. It took us forever to come up with a plan, and now we have
to set it in motion." Rinoa said, then she looked at Adalia, who was just standing there quietly.
"I don't think I've ever seen you before. Who are you?"
"I'm Adalia," she said haughtily, "I'm on a quest with Nida to free Seifer Alsmay from this
District Prison of yours, then I have to go on a quest to find the Angel Wing."
"Angel Wing?" Rinoa asked, puzzled.
"Umm...Adalia? This is the Angel Wing." Nida said, beginning to feel a little silly for not
introducing them properly.
"You're the Angel Wing?!" Adalia asked in disbelief.
"I am?" Rinoa asked, feeling confused.
Suddenly, Adalia's vision began to blur. She tried to open her mouth to say something to Nida,
but was held immobile. She tried to resist, but the invisible binding around her was so strong
she could hardly breathe. Adalia, Hyne's voice rang in her ear, This is the second and last part
of your mission. Kill the accursed Angel Wing and take her powers, so that no more sorceresses
will roam the land. After you accomplish this, you can come home.
Slowly, Adalia's vision cleared and she looked back at Nida's worried eyes and Rinoa's slightly
amused ones. 'No,' she thought to herself, 'I can't kill her. She's the Commander's loved one.
It would be a favour to Squall. But then again, I can't disobey Hyne, she's the one who raised
me and made me ageless. What do I do?'
"Adalia, are you ok?" Nida asked, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." she replied.
"Well, if you two are going to the District Prison too, then may I suggest that we go together?
As long as you two don't get in the way of Watts and Zone, then everything will run smoothly.
As soon as the alarm sounds, just find Seifer and get hin out of there, ok?" Rinoa said, changing
the subject.
Nida and Adalia nodded in unison, then a voice sounded over the intercom "Galbadia Station,
end of the line. Everyone depart safely and have a nice day."
"You think they could hire a conductor with a personality," Rinoa said to them, and smiled at
her own little joke.
The trio got off the train and were met by five other men, all wearing dark clothing and carrying
semi-automatic machine guns in their coats that were so large you could see the top of the gun
poke out the top of the group's trench coats and then a little at the bottom. These people were
also armed to the teeth with a belt of grenades and ammo clips, as well as a backup pistol hidden
in their shoe. Adalia could have seen all this even without her heightened sorceress senses.
"Let's move." Rinoa said in a quiet voice and the group began to trek across the sea of sand that
surrounded the Prison. When they reached the entrance, the group of five pulled out their semis,
Rinoa pulled out her Shooting Star, Nida pulled out his broad sword, and Adalia began to focus
her sorceress energy, her eyes glowing a illustrious yellow. Rinoa looked over at Adalia and was
in shock with what she saw. 'Adalia is a sorceress too?' she thought to herself, then shook off
the thought. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.
"Go!" she yelled as the group of five people barged in through the door to the visitation area
with their guns blazing. They took down the guard that guarded the door to the rest of the
prison, then ran through the door to where they found the area with all the cells.
Suddenly, a red light began to flash and an alarm began to sound, along with a voice over the
intercom warning the soldiers that someone had broken in and the anti-magic field had been
lifted. They also said something about destroying the intruders, but Nida wasn't sure of the
exact words.
A group of soldiers ran towards the eight of them, but most of them were cut down by machine
gun fire. Rinoa shot off her Shooting Star, and Adalia released a death spell against the
remaining soldier, killing him instantly.
"Ok you two, you're on your own. Forest Owls, let's move!" Rinoa yelled over the blaring
alarm. The six of them left, leaving Nida and Adalia just standing there like idiots.
"What do we do now?" Adalia yelled over the alarm.
"There has to be a directory of the cell mates somewhere. I think we should find it." Nida
replied, still yelling.
They looked around, and low and behold, there was a big sign that said directory in big, bright
letters. "It doesn't get any easier than that!" Nida yelled as he began to run towards the room.
Nida threw open the door, where he found three guards just lounging around. He quickly
slashed the first one before he could grab a weapon. The two other guards grabbed their swords
and began to duel with Nida. Although Nida was the best swordsman that there was (he had
several international trophies to prove it) he found that these guards had fairly good skills and he
couldn't hold them off for long.
Suddenly, a thundaga spell hit one of the guards, knocking him to the ground. The other guard
was surprised when he saw the woman with yellow eyes behind Nida, and Nida took this
opportunity to slash the guard, taking him down.
"Thanks," Nida said as he went over to one of the directory books and began flipping through it.
Adalia grabbed another one, and before long she found it.
"He's at the top-most cell, number 459." Adalia told Nida, and they took off outside at a run.
They stopped and gazed up through the holes in the floors, and Nida groaned when he saw how
far away the top one was.
"Don't worry about that," Adalia said as her eyes flashed a more intense yellow. She cast a float
spell, then all of a sudden they were hurtled through the air towards the top of the Prison. Adalia
moved her arm in one swift motion and they landed at the top floor, with not a scratch between
them.
"That was good," Nida said nodding as he scanned the top floor. "Over there! Cell number
459!" They raced over to the cell and looked inside the 5" thick plexiglass window. There sat
Seifer, sitting on the floor with his arms crossed over his chest and a miserable look on his face.
Seifer looked up and his eyes widen at the sight of Nida and Adalia standing at the cell door.
They were yelling and motioning, and Seifer got that they wanted him to stand back. Seifer got
up and moved towards the back of the cell, as a meteor spell burst the door open.
"It's good to see you again Seifer." Adalia said as she ran up and gave him a hug. Nida felt a
pang of jealousy, but then realized what she was doing. Nida had paid attention only to Rinoa
on the train, and this was her petty way of getting back at him. It wasn't like he could blame her
though.
"It's good to see you too, babe." Seifer said with a huge grin when he saw the look of jealousy
flash across Nida's face. Seifer leaned down and kissed Adalia, much to her surprise. Nida
started balling his fists. They had just rescued Seifer and already he was being a pain in the ass.
"Alright then, let's get out of here." Nida said as he walked back towards the huge hole in the
floor. Adalia and Seifer followed him, Seifer staying close to Adalia's side. Seifer may have
kissed Adalia just to bother Nida, but Seifer also liked Adalia and he would be damned if he let
Nida get her without a fight.
"We have to jump, then I'll cast the spell while we're falling." Adalia told them, as she stepped
closer to the edge. Adalia and Nida jumped at the same time, with Seifer close behind them,
cursing his luck on the way down. The ground kept rushing and rushing at them, and Nida
couldn't feel a spell beginning to take effect.
"Adalia, cast the spell already!" Nida yelled through grit teeth.
"I'm trying!" she yelled back. Suddenly, a warm light encompassed Seifer and Nida, slowing
them down, but Adalia just kept falling.
"Adalia!" Nida yelled as he heard her hit the floor below. He struggled against the spell, but it
was meant to keep him still as he slowly floated to the ground, followed by Seifer. When he
reached the ground, the spell broke and he ran over to Adalia. "Curaga!" he yelled, and a warm
blue light covered Adalia. When the spell stopped, she still wasn't moving.
Nida took her pulse, then looked over at Seifer. "It's faint, but she's still alive. We have to get
her out of here."
"Lead the way Captain Balamb." Seifer said, referring to a cheesy, old series in which Captain
Balamb saves the world every week.
Nida picked up Adalia and began to make his way towards the exit. "Oh, and Seifer?" Nida
said, turning around. "I saw your gunblade in the room over there, the one with the big sign that
says directory."
Seifer nodded and made his way towards the room Nida was talking about. He looked inside
and saw his gunblade, sitting up against the wall. Seifer reached inside and grabbed it, thanking
each and every one of his lucky stars that he was able to get it back again.
Seifer ran back towards Nida with a immense grin on his face. "Almost thought I lost the old
girl." Seifer commented.
Nida turned and headed out through the visitor's area, to the freedom the outside of the prison
offered. When he got outside, he did a double take. The Forest Owls were standing around
outside accompanied by a man in an expensive suit who Nida guessed to be the mayor. "What
are you guys still doing here?" Nida asked.
"We decided to wait for you. We thought that you might need some help, and that we'd be here
if anything went wrong..." Rinoa trailed off when she saw that Adalia was lying unconcious in
Nida's arms. "What happened?"
A man with a black trench coat muscled his way to the front of the group, then moved to stand
beside Adalia whereupon he began to feel her forehead ad check her pulse. "What are you
doing?" Nida asked the man, beginning to feel defensive of Adalia.
"I'm a doctor." The man said as he resumed doing various checks on Adalia. When he was
finished, he straightened up and said: "She'll be fine. She should wake up in a few hours or so."
Nida breathed an audible sigh of relief. 'She was going to be ok, everything is going to be
alright,' Nida assured himself as he stood in a relaxed position. "So what are we going to do
now?"
"Catch a train out of here, and fast if we don't want to get caught. Let's move out, people."
Rinoa ordered as they began the slow trek towards the station,
___________________
Author's Notes: I expected to get a lot more done in this chapter, but since I didn't the next
chapter will probably be twice as long or so. Ciao for now!