Disclaimer: I do not own any Final Fantasy characters and I am not making any money from this story.
Chapter 4
Tharria sat down beside her Grandfather ashamedly.
'Put security on red alert again. This is not the dangerous stowaway we were warned about, so keep looking.' Laguna said to the retreating security guard.
'You mean you weren't looking for me?' Tharria said stupidly.
Laguna smiled at her, 'No. Your turning up is quite a surprise…er…Why are you here exactly?'
'I was worried about you Grandfather, and besides…'
'Yes?' He said, looking at her kindly.
'I hate it there! Nothing to do except train or work while mum and dad are working.' She took a deep breath, 'But mostly because I can't stand being around dad anymore. We really don't get on.'
'I see. But perhaps it's not the best time to go on a holiday to Esthar, eh Tharria?' He said teasingly.
Tharria scowled, 'Just because I'm not a SeeD doesn't mean I can't look after myself. Dad's trained me to use a gunblade since I was a kid.'
Laguna looked slightly surprised, 'But you've never wanted to be a SeeD?'
'Huh, I was never offered the chance. '
'Ah…' Laguna was silent for awhile, before he sighed. 'Well you're welcome to stay with me as long as you like. We'll have to tell Rinoa and Squall that you're coming to stay with me.'
Ragnorok lurched suddenly. And Tharria was thrown forwards, banging her head on the chair in front.
'What's wrong pilot?' Laguna said standing up.
'I don't know, sir. There's something wrong…'
The ship lurched again, and three young people rushed onto the bridge. One of them was the guy who Tharria had danced with at the ball.
'What's wrong with the ship?' Gasped the girl. She had two long auburn plaits, and Tharria remembered bumping into her the other day.
A sudden flash of light and the pilot yelled as he was thrown back from the controls by the electricity which burst from the control panel.
'Someone's tampered with the controls, sir.' Said the pilot sitting up dazedly, 'This ship is being controlled from somewhere else onboard. Possibly by a person or more likely by a programmed controller.'
Laguna barked some orders at his security guards.
Tharria remembered the suspicious looking man in the cargo bay, and the piles of crates that it would be almost impossible to search. The SeeDs were standing waiting for orders from the look of it.
'Grandfather, I saw a suspicious looking guy in the cargo bay when I was sneaking on here!'
'Right.' He turned to the SeeDs, 'Start the search in the cargo bay. Is there anyway we can trace the signal given off by this thing?'
The blonde guy nodded, 'Yeah we have a tracer as part of our equipment, we can use that.' Tharria recognised him as Kieren Dincht, the guy in the Training Centre that night.
'I'll come.' Said Tharria, getting up out of her seat, 'My gunblade's in the cargo bay and I might need it.'
'Tharria, it could be dangerous…'
'Hey I'll be fine. It's probably only a machine right? Nothing dangerous there.' She smiled at Laguna as she followed the SeeDs out.
It was quiet down in the cargo bay except for the steady beeping of the tracer Kieren held in his hand.
'Anything yet?' The girl asked peering over his shoulder.
He pushed her back gently, 'I can't see if you've got your head in the way, Hal.'
She turned to Tharria and frowned, 'Hey aren't you the girl I bumped into the other day?'
Tharria nodded, 'Yeah…'
She giggled slightly, 'Sorry about that. Hey what's your name?'
'Tharria. And you're…Hal, right?'
'Hallie Kinneas.'
Ah, her parents were also friends with Rinoa and Squall. Having met Selphie, if only briefly, gave quite an insight onto this girls bubbly character.
'And that's Lars.' Hallie said, indicating the other SeeD. The one who Tharria had danced with. He gave her a smile.
A more urgent beep came from the tracer and Kieren whooped triumphantly, 'Found it! This way.' He jogged off to one side of the cargo bay.
Tharria saw her rucksack on a pile and grabbed it. The reassuring weight of the sheathed gunblade inside it made her feel better.
'It's in one of these crates.' Said Kieren, stopping in front of a pile. He passed the tracer up and down the pile, and finally worked out which crate the sound was coming from.
It took a few minutes to remove the crates above it before they could even get near the crate to open it. Finally, they pulled in down.
'Got anything to pry it open with?' Asked Kieren.
'I think my sword will do it.' She got it out of the bag and unsheathed it. Kneeling, she pried the lid off. Nestled in the protective wrapping was a strange looking device with a little red flashing light on top.
Tharria suddenly toppled forward over the crate as someone kicked her in the back.
She could hear the others yelling as she stood up. It was the man she had seen in the cargo bay the day before. He was armed with a pistol. She could feel Kieren and Lars on either side. Hallie was fiddling with the device as quickly as she could. He grinned insanely. From the man's face she could see he knew he didn't have a chance against two armed SeeDs and…well, her.
Hallie yelled triumphantly. 'I've worked out how to get into it. From then on we can disconnect it.'
'That would be a big mistake girl.' Growled the man. Hallie pried open a small panel on the device.
Ragnorok lurched again suddenly, taking a noticeable tilt towards the ground.
'What's happening?' Yelled Kieren as he tried to keep his footing on the tilting floor.
The man grinned maniacally, 'It had a built in guard to anyone tampering with it.' He held his gun to his head.
'No, don't!' Shouted Hallie.
'Why not? We're all dead anyway.' He said, and pulled the trigger.
Tharria turned away and shut her eyes as the gunshot echoed through the cargo bay.
'Quick we've got to get outta here!' Shouted Lars, running towards the emergency hatch. A pile of parachutes were stacked beside the door, and Tharria grabbed one and pulled it on. She sheathed the gunblade at her waist.
Kieren opened the hatch and Tharria felt like she was being sucked out. Kieren jumped first, followed by Hallie. Lars gestured for Tharria to jump next.
Taking a deep breath she ran at the open doorway and leapt as far out as she could. Air rushed past her, freezing her to the bone. When she was far enough away from the Ragnorok she pulled the parachute chord.
Nothing happened.
She looked behind her and tugged on the chord again. Panic hit her as she realised that someone had tampered with the parachutes too.
She stared down at the ground as it rapidly came closer. There was just one chance…
Closing her eyes she tried to concentrate on a Float spell. It probably wouldn't stop her hitting the floor with the momentum she had behind her, but it might lessen the impact. She hoped.
Damn, it was hard to concentrate on spell casting when it is quickly becoming more likely that you'd end up about as thin as a pancake, and about as alive as one too.
Tharria clenched her fists and screwed her eyes up tight. Sparkling blue lights jumped from her hand and she felt herself slow down and finally stop.
She opened her eyes to find herself staring at the ground, which was only a few inches away from her nose. Her grip on the spell finally gave way from the shock, and she fell the last few inches to the ground.
After the dizzy, sick feeling went away, she sat up cautiously. She was sat on a small hill. A beach was a not far away, and the sea lapped the sand gently. Tharria thought she could see two figures flailing about in the water. One had auburn hair, and the other was blonde.
Huh, yeah they get blown over so they fall into nice, soft water.
Scanning the water she looked for Lars, but couldn't see him anywhere. Perhaps he was unlucky, like me, she thought. And tried to shrug away the sad feeling and to reassure herself.
Standing a little unsteadily she headed towards the beach, gunblade bouncing off her hip as she walked.
Hallie was clambering out of the water just as Tharria ran onto the sand. Her clothes dripped water onto the golden sand, and one of the ties holding her plaits had come undone, and her hair was rapidly unravelling over one shoulder. She collapsed onto her knees when she reached the beach, coughing up seawater and getting her breath back.
Tharria could see Kieren swimming strongly towards the shore, and within a short time he was also stepping onto the beach. He went straight over to Hallie and helped her to her feet. Tharria ran up to help the pair of them.
'Where's Lars?' asked Kieren, breathlessly.
'I…don't know.' Tharria said, trying to keep her voice level. The full impact of what had just happened was beginning to seep into her mind. They finally made it back onto the grass, and Tharria left Kieren to deal with Hallie.
'Hey where are you going?' Kieren shouted after her.
'I'm going to look for Lars,' she shouted back over her shoulder, 'He might be injured too.'
Kieren nodded and turned back to Hallie.
Tharria headed up the hill, in the hope that the view would give her some idea where they were. Perhaps some landmarks, or towns…or even Ragnorok. She refused to believe that it had crashed into the sea, and sunk into its briny depths. Laguna had still been onboard, and Tharria couldn't bring herself to think of him as…dead.
She stopped when she came to the top, and bent over trying to get her breath back. The aches and pains she sustained during her fight with security and then the fall were coming back with vengeance. Tharria gritted her teeth and stood upright.
Miles and miles of gently waving grass spread off ahead. Tharria could now see that they were on some kind of pinnacle of land, sticking out to sea. She scanned the long grass for the sign of Lars, and finally found what she was looking for. A depression in the grass further down the hill suggested that something heavy was lying there.
Tharria broke into a run, trying to avoid twisting her ankle in a hidden hole. Tharria could see a dark shape lying in the grass now, and tried to run faster. Out of breath she knelt at his side and checked his pulse. He was still alive, just. It looked like he had also tried to cast float but hadn't been quick enough. Even so the spell had probably saved his life.
She rolled him over gently, and checked him over. He was unconscious, and Tharria thought that he had broken his left arm in two places. It looked like he had landed on it. Satisfied that he could be moved, she looked around to see if she could spot Kieren and Hallie so they could help her out. She remembered that they were on the other side of the hill.
She was going to have to get him back on her own. Tharria took a deep breath, and after several attempts, managed to get him over her shoulders in a 'Fireman's Lift'. Gritting her teeth she staggered forward. Lars was quite a bit heavier than her, and his height wasn't helping either. She grumbled under her breath all the way up the hill, trying to ignore the screaming pain in her legs and back.
Authors Notes: Ok, my apologies for the space of time between uploads, but for some reason I'm having real trouble. It keeps saying I'm uploading a non-HTML file, when I'm not. Anyway, I'll try and get the other chapters up as quickly as I can, LOL.