Squall walked through the
corridors of Balamb Garden in quiet contemplation. He was headed to his first mission briefing since the celebration
ball, in fact, it was the only day he felt moderately recovered since the
celebration ball. It had, allegedly only
lasted one night, but the round of parties and celebratory drinks had lasted
all week. No matter how much of an
antisocial bastard he could be, he couldn't help but be drawn into it. He solidly placed the blame for that on
Rinoa's shoulders… at least he did after he'd stopped feeling queasy
He lent his head against the
cold glass of the lift as it descended to let him in; he made his way up to
Cid's office and stared suspiciously at Zell when he entered it. Zell was looking considerably worse for wear,
dark rings circled his eyes and his face was almost ashen. Squall sat down next to him and they both
exchanged slight nods of recognition as they waited. Selphie quite literally bounced into the room as smiled
beauteously at them.
'Why are you so happy?' Zell asked by way of greeting and she gave
him a delicate frown.
'What's not to be happy
about?' She asked.
'Weren't you at the party
last night?' Squall asked and she
nodded. 'Why aren't you as bad as the
rest of us?'
'Oh… that. I probably would have been except the party
only just broke up.' She said with a
smile.
'But it's eight am.' Zell said with a frown and Selphie
shrugged. It was at that moment Cid
decided to walk into the room at his regular ponderous pace. He smiled at them and pushed his glasses
further up his nose.
'Thank you for taking time
out of your celebrations to go on this mission.' He said, Zell and Squall exchanged a like we had a choice
look. 'This is a very sensitive mission
and it requires some knowledge of the… umm… people involved.' The three did a quick three-way glance and
all came to same conclusion, but it was Selphie that spoke up.
'What has Seifer done
now?' She asked and Cid nodded quietly,
flicking on the projector. A bright red
picture of Galbadia garden filled the screen.
'Seifer is currently holding
most of Galbadia garden hostage.' He
stared at their thunder struck faces.
'His demands are, quite simply, that he wants the people that are chasing
him so he can be punished to stop.'
'He wants to be left
alone?' Squall asked with raised
eyebrows, Cid nodded and affirmation.
'Why did he think that threatening the whole of Galbadia garden was the
right way to go about it?'
'Well, Edea reckons that the
balance of his mind was greatly affected by his close relationship to
Ultimecia, he's unlikely to be thinking rationally.' Selphie interrupted with a laugh.
'Which let's face it was
never Seifer's strong point.'
'What thinking or being
rational?' Zell asked.
'Take your pick.' Cid motioned them to silence and continued.
'Hence the need for a little
knowledge of your mark…'
'Mark? We're being sent to kill him?' Cid hesitated.
'Not as such, merely subdue
him by any means necessary. This is an
inter-garden job and therefore we don't need to put any restrictions on your,
shall we say, performance.' He watched
Selphie shake her head in annoyance.
'There have been explosive charges found in reconnaissance surveys of the
Garden, he's serious in his threat I believe.
You're to take the Ragnorak, Galbadia Garden is to be found in at these
co-ordinates.' He handed them their
mission statement.
*
They emerged from the office
a few moments later. 'Just what I need,
spending my day bailing out Seifer's ass.'
Zell growled.
'Less bailing, more like
kicking.' Selphie said as she called
the lift.
'More like killing.' Squall told them and they lapsed into
silence.
*
'Look there it is.' Selphie pointed them to the huge red blur on
the horizon. The garden was resting in
an inlet in the Centra badlands, not far from where the first inter garden
battle had been held. Zell had even
pointed out a few sheets of metal that had once belonged on Balamb Garden on
the trip over. Selphie landed the
Ragnorak only a hundred yards from the Garden.
'What's the point in stealth?'
She asked. 'They got to know
someone is coming for them, and the sensors on that ship can pick up the
Ragnorak about ten miles away. I'm not
walking ten miles.' Squall sighed and
nodded to her calmly.
'The question remains…' He began
as he led them out of the ship. 'Is how
do we get inside?' The three stared at
the garden for the longest of moments.
'Service ladders.' Zell said and exchanged a look with the
other two. 'There has to be some form
of permanent maintenance routes on the outside of an airship, especially one
that can safely hold over a thousand people.'
He stared at them and got defensive.
'Hey it's just common sense okay?'
'Know-It-All Zell to the
rescue.' Squall muttered.
'Someone has to rescue us,
what would you have us do? Walk up to
the front gate and say would you mind terribly if we kick your butts for a
little while?' Squall noted
momentarily that Zell got easily annoyed when he had a hangover and filed it
away for later reference. He gestured
for him to take the lead and was quite impressed when he found red ladders
inbuilt in the Garden walls; it took him a moment to remember that Zell had at
the very least a modicum of engineers training. There was a slight pause when Selphie insisted that they go up
first, she was wearing one of her trademark tiny dresses and refused to give
either of them the opportunity that her being first up the ladder would have
provided.
*
Squall leapt to the upper
deck of the garden out of the service hatch they had found. Zell followed him at his gesture and turned
to help Selphie out of the hatch, copping an eyeful as he looked up and going a
deep shade of red. She leapt lightly to
the floor beside them and gave him a caustic look. 'What now?' She asked
Squall.
'Well, we know the
approximate location of the explosive charges.
There are four and I believe Seifer would be with the one on the top
deck.'
'Why?' Zell asked him with a frown.
'Because, that's where I'd
be.' He shrugged. 'I suggest, Selphie you take the one on the
ground floor, Zell the one in the auditorium and I'll take the one on the
stairwell. Meet at the stairwell in
twenty minutes, you all remember your bomb training?' He asked, Zell nodded and Selphie grinned.
'Like in the movies right,
cut the red wire?' Squall's eyes
widened slightly but she reassured him.
'I was kidding, sorry.' The
three nodded and ran off in separate directions.
*
Zell found the explosive
charge in the auditorium quickly; it had just been left on the front
podium. He examined it thoroughly and
noticed the sensor that would pick up a remote detonation and shrugged. He set about disarming it.
'Well what do you know, she
was right, red wire it is.' He frowned
and realised he had no wire clippers.
'Stupid Balamb, sending you on a bomb mission without standard
kit.' He ripped the wire from it's
casing and smiled smugly. He moved out
of the room happy to for once be early for a rendezvous.
*
Selphie had reached the
ground floor quickly enough; she had looked for any possible threats and had
simply vaulted down from the balcony.
After jumping down a cliff, one floor was nothing. She looked around curiously; this was where
she'd expected the majority of hostages to be held. Yet there were none. She
wandered around the lower levels trying her best to remain hidden. She stopped and put her hands on her
hips. 'Where is everyone?' She asked in a whisper.
'GONE.' Said a voice from behind her.
*
Squall found the small
explosive charge on one of the control panels by the stairs, he didn't know
what the control panel was for, so he didn't know if it would cause a chain
reaction and blow up the garden, or if it would merely disable it. He decided not to take any chances and knelt
down to examine the charge fully.
The faint whisper of a
shuffling footstep was the only time he had to take any action; he left his
feet and rolled to one side coming up with his gunblade in his hand, his entire
reflexes coming at once to fighting posture.
The staff had narrowly missed him and he had even felt the small whisper
of air as it passed him by. He stared
into dark black eyes.
'I thought you'd never get
here.' The deep gruff voice said to
him.
'Sorry to have kept you
waiting.' Squall's eyes were firmly
fixed on his opponents, eyes always gave away the next move, it was human
nature.
'It's not me you kept
waiting, ya know. Seifer's been itching
to meet up with you again.' Raijin
swung his staff forward and Squall leapt back and his back hit the wall. 'Just letting me take you to him would be a
simpler way forward than this ya know?'
Squall kept his mouth shut, watching for any twitch of movement, his
gunblade held firmly in front of him.
'If that's the way you want it ya know.' And the big man moved.
*
'What do you mean
gone?' Selphie ask holding her strange
vision in fighting stance. The albino
shrugged, her sai hanging loose in her hand.
'UNNESSECERY.' She said with
a shrug and Selphie frowned.
'Come on, I know you can
speak normally, I heard you remember.'
Fujin rolled her eyes.
'We have a few of the
higher-level SeeDs and teachers in the detention cells. But we put off most of the others on one of
the other islands. Seifer's a lot of
things but he's not a murderer.' Her
voice was clear and ringing with a subtle undertone when she didn't have on her
gruff mask.
'You could have fooled me,
I've been on the end of his attacks one too many times to believe that.' Fujin shrugged.
'We're not here to hurt
anybody, Seifer knew you'd come. He
wanted to talk to you.' She looked at
Selphie and smirked. 'Well not you
obviously.' Selphie frowned at the
implied insult.
'What about the bombs?' Fujin shrugged and walked to one of the
columns and gestured to Selphie to examine the device strapped to it.
'It's barely enough to blow
up that column, he knew that they'd have to send their best if they thought
lives were in danger.' Selphie snorted
in derision.
'Are you trying to tell me
they're not?' She pulled the wire and
let it drop to the floor. She caught
Fujin's eye. 'You know… just in case.'
*
Squall brought up his
gunblade to stop the powerful overhead attack from the staff. They locked in that tableau for a frozen
moment then Squall took the leverage at his back to slam both his feet into
Raijin's midsection. He stumbled
backwards and one of his large shoulders slammed against the opposing
wall. Fighting in confined spaces was
neither's strong point. Raijin's reach
was limited due to the shear length of his weapon and Squall's swinging arc was
dramatically reduced. All they could
hope for was cheap body shots. Squall
took Raijin's stumble as an opportunity for him to get out of his corner and
ducked past him into the corridor.
He swung at Raijin's
unprotected head, but he wasn't stupid despite what people thought, nor was he
slow. One half of his staff pushed
upwards, deflecting the killing blow and he changed the direction of his weapon
so the lower half caught a glancing blow on Squall's shin. Squall was immediately on the defensive and
spread his weight quickly to keep the majority of pain out of his bruised
leg. Raijin smirked and attacked.
His staff headed for
Squall's stomach, which suddenly wasn't there anymore as he slammed his entire
body against the wall and made a dive for Raijin's unprotected side. He thought he had gotten in under the bigger
man's defences but Raijin pirouetted on one foot and slammed his other foot
into Squall's throat. Squall felt the
side of his head smash against the metal wall with a dull ring. His gunblade skittered away from his
outstretched hand and he cursed. He
felt warmth running down his face, he smelt the blood pouring down the path of
his scar. He snarled and his legs
pushed him forward, springing for the lionheart, which was swiped out of his
reach by the staff. Raijin brought down
the weighted base end of it across his ribs and Squall groaned as he felt some
crack.
'Ya should've come with me
when you had the chance.' He said
standing over him; Squall squinted up to the big man whose face was shielded by
the light. It came as a shock when a
shadow rose up behind him like an avenging angel and brought its fist down at
the base of his neck. Raijin stumbled
forward nearly falling on Squall, but the quick barrage of fists fell with
lightening speed and pushed him towards the barrier of the stairs. Zell eyes were alight with a fury that
Squall had never seen and they pulsed as every blow landed.
'Zell!' Squall cried out a warning as he landed his
last mighty blow to Raijin's face.
Suddenly the top half of the man's body had a greater momentum than his
lower half, with a dazed expression on his face he toppled over the
balcony. There was a motionless moment
when Squall didn't dare breathe and then came the solid thud of a body hitting
the floor.
Zell turned his head to
Squall with his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide. 'Oh my god, we killed him.'
'We? I'm here with broken ribs, that's not a we
that's an I.'
*
'What does he want with
us?' Selphie asked and Fujin shrugged.'
'UNKNOWN.' Selphie frowned.
'Don't start that
again.' She muttered and stalked off
across the compound towards the staircase.
She ran up it and stopped at the scene.
'What the hell happened?' Squall
was shirtless and jacketless and was having bandages tied around his chest,
blood was dripping from his nose.
'You should have seen on
your way up.' She stared Squall blankly
and they both frowned, her in confusion and him in bewilderment. 'Raijin?'
He questioned.
'He wasn't downstairs or on
his way down.' She saw Zell wince and
Squall's frowned deepened.
'That man has more lives
than his fair share.' He winced as Zell
hit a tight spot. 'He said Seifer
wanted to see me.'
'Fujin said pretty much the
same thing.' Both men turned to look at
her as she strode across and returned Squall's gunblade to him. 'Yeah she's here before you ask. He wants to talk to you apparently.'
'Well then…' He began to stand. 'Let's not keep him waiting.'
*
Squall reached the lift to
the control deck with something resembling grace. Selphie had attempted to cure him and had alleviated some of the
pain. They were slightly lost, none of
them had been up to the control deck of Galbadia garden before. They recognised a similar lift mechanism
like the one that had been installed in Balamb, they nodded to each other and
pulled out their weapons.
'Man I still say this is a
trap.' Squall shrugged at Zell's words.
'Yes but what other choice
do we have? We know he's up there, he
knows we're here.'
'We know, he knows, we know
he's up there.' Off there looks. 'Sorry couldn't resist. This is the only way we're ever gonna solve
this.' She stepped onto the lift
platform. They reached the top in ready
fighting stance. They needn't have
bothered.
Seifer was sat in the
remains of Galbadia's cockpit staring out of the window which had no glass in
it anymore. They stepped off the
platform, glass shards crunching underfoot.
'I knew you'd get here sooner or later.' He turned to look at them. 'Actually, I honestly thought it'd be a bit sooner.'
'What do you want
Seifer?' Squall asked him with a low
growl. Seifer stood up and indicated
something on the desk.
'You know what this is? It's a bomb, you know what this is?' He raised his hand. 'This is a remote detonation device.' He looked from face to face. 'Now, there's not enough explosive to damage
this garden irrevocably, but there is however enough to blow this room and
anything in it to kingdom come. Are we
getting my point?'
'Which point is this
Seifer?' Selphie asked. 'The point that you're stark raving
mad.' Seifer's eyebrows raised in a
twitch and sneered.
'Okay my point is this. I want to talk to you people and I want you
to relay what I have said to the world.
I should warn you of the consequences.
You try to leave and I push this button. You decide not to do as I ask and I push the button. You attack me, I push the button. You give me the impression you're lying to
me, I push the button. As a matter of
fact, you're going to have to do a lot of work to save your snivelling wretched
little lives.' He looked at them and
cocked his head. 'Are we clear?'
'You're just as mad as
everyone said you are.' Zell told him.
'I've just added a new rule,
you piss me off in any way and I push the button. No I'm not mad, merely desperate.' He put the remote detonator on the desk. 'A sign of good faith.'
'When did you ever have good
faith, Seifer?' Squall asked him.
'About the same time you
developed a personality.' He said
scathingly. 'What I want you to tell
everyone is that I was brainwashed by the sorceress. That it wasn't my fault, I want to be left alone to pursue my
life in peace, anyone that comes after me I will kill and I mean that.' Squall shook his head.
'You're a war
criminal.' Squall told him in a it's
never gonna happen kind of voice.
'Only because I lost.' He said.
'If I had won…'
'There wouldn't be a world
to speak of.' Selphie interrupted and
Seifer nodded slowly.
'Have you ever been put in a
position that you can't get out of?
Which ever way you turn people are going to be pressing down on you so
hard that you honestly think you won't get out of it alive? I chose the path of least resistance. I was even promised to be spared, it's
strange the things you'll believe when you're desperate.' It was Zell that interrupted his grandiose
speech.
'Or the things you'll
do.' Seifer smiled slightly.
'Obviously.' He picked up the detonator. 'Do we have a deal?'
'My orders weren't to make
deals Seifer.' Said Squall. 'My orders were to subdue you by any means necessary.' Seifer stared at him in slight bewilderment.
'Ah, so it is.' He raised the small device in his hand. Selphie and Zell hadn't even seen Squall
move. His gunblade hurled across the room
with deadly momentum, they saw it slice and heard the crackle of bone as its
razor sharp edge passed through it cleanly.
Seifer screamed and clasped his bloody stump to his body. Deep red gouting out of the wound in sheets.
'Yes Seifer.' Squall stood in front of him. 'So it is.'
*
Selphie landed the Ragnorak
outside the garden and the three let in the medical staff that they had radioed
ahead for. They carried three limp
bodies all slumped in the cargo hold in a magical sleep. They watched as Quistis came forward and
nodded to them. 'Mission debrief in the
headmasters office. Then you can
sleep.' The lack of which was becoming
apparent on each of their faces. They
made their way to Balamb and up to the third floor.
They walked into the office
and saluted the headmaster. He nodded
at them. 'At ease. Your report?' Then they told him, everything from the location of the service
ladders, to Squall battle with Raijin and the final meeting with Seifer and
what he had demanded. Cid nodded.
'I never expected this of
the lad, it might be that what he says is true. But as a warrior he's got a very poor life ahead of him with only
one hand. I'll see what I can do for
him. It might be that he's suffered
enough.' He shook his head. 'Dismissed.'
