A/N: The last chapter was a bit depressing, wasn't it? I'm sorry. I'm just down with a cold and very sad for some reason…maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can't breathe through my nose…anyway, just read the chapter…please R/R…ahchoo!
Chapter Ten: You Came Back
"I am proud of you, my dear," her voice whispered in my ear. "You are fighting him. But do not grow soft. Victory is closer than you think."
"I can't fight anymore. I do not wish to fight him anymore," I whispered weakly into the eternal darkness.
"Why? Because you love him?" her voice dripped with irony.
"No. Love has nothing to do with it. I just-give up."
"Kyonae…" her voice was now gentle. "You've really given up the will to fight him…haven't you?"
"Yes."
"Poor, poor Kyonae…what has he done to you to make you like this? Do not worry, my dear… I'm coming to help…you need not fight anymore."
"What do you mean, you're coming? Don't you take one step near him! Do you hear me? If you even think about coming to Balamb I'll…"
"You'll what?" She gave a high laugh. "But seriously…no, it would be foolish to come myself…I'll send some nice Dratilian soldiers in my place…and maybe some missiles…I never liked Balamb, really…"
"What?! No! Don't you dare!" I shrieked.
"Sorry, my dear. My mind is made up. Don't worry, no harm shall come to you…I wouldn't want to hurt my little girl…"
"Noo! No! No…"
"No…" I awoke with a start, jumping up from the bed. I wasted no time. I quickly changed into my regular shirt, pants and boots. I took my trusty Talon out of its case and sheathed it at my waist. I slipped on my knuckle gloves. There was going to be a fight, and I would be ready- and so would the rest of the Garden.
I would not allow it to happen. Not again.
Quickly I ran down the hall, much faster than allowed, and in my blind obsession to warn everyone I ran into a passing body. We both fell down. It was no surprise to me that it was Seifer. He tried to help me up but I pushed him away, getting up on my own.
"Kyonae, I…" he started.
"Seifer, listen…get out of here. Run as far away from Balamb Garden as you possibly can. Don't be here when…"
"When what?"
"When the Dratilian Army comes knocking at the front gate," I answered timidly.
"The Dratilian Army?! How do you know…"
"It doesn't matter how I know," I snapped fiercely. "Just warn as many people as you can and get the hell out of here!"
He stared at me strangely for a moment, as I gazed at him. Finally he said, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because…I can't let Trabia happen all over again. And well, because…dammit, Seifer, just go!"
We went our separate ways down the corridor.
Reaction was quick. I had thought no one would believe me, but once Squall started spreading the word everyone followed him. He believed me, because he figured I was just following my intuition, like I had told him before. And everyone believed him, because face it, he was a hero and everyone trusted him. The Garden was being evacuated, and everyone was heading for the woods, weapons at hand just in case of an ambush.
It wasn't a pretty sight, however. People were running frantically for the doors and trying to get more people through a door than possible.
"Please remain calm," I tried to say over the frightened shouts of the SeeD candidates who had never experienced a real battle, and even a few SeeD soldiers. "Everyone will get out in time. Come on, damn you, calm down-"
Someone grabbed the speaker from behind me and said in a loud voice, "YO! Everyone just COOL IT!"
Everyone stopped, and stared at the man who held the speaker. He was brown-haired and blue eyed, twice my age, and he got everyone's attention very quickly.
"Now, everyone's gonna get out, so just chill, okay? Exit the Garden in a calm manner! We are not animals! Now let's move it!"
They obeyed, and everyone got out a lot quicker. I turned to the man. "Thank you."
"No problem. I'm Laguna Loire. I saw you at the party last night."
"I'm Kyonae Falcona. Nice to meet you."
"Listen, uh… I wanted to ask if you have any idea-"
"I'm sorry, Laguna, we'll have to talk later," I said quickly. I couldn't believe this guy wanted to have a conversation in a situation like this. What was he, some kind of moron? "We have to get out of here."
"Oh-right."
We ran outside, along with the rest of the Garden. Laguna ran ahead to join Squall and the others. I was about to follow him, but paused when I heard a frighteningly familiar sound that turned my blood cold. I looked up at the sky in fear.
There were five of them. Five long, sleek, black Dratilian missiles, flying together like a flock of ravens from hell. They made the most awful noise, screaming like banshees as they cut through the air. As everyone fled, I stood frozen, not able to take my eyes off of them…
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
Balamb Garden disappeared into the flames, and exploded. The flames rose and spread outward, coming toward me like a fiery tidal wave, carrying pieces of large debris. I didn't need to have a seizure to remember what happened in Trabia anymore. I saw it right before my eyes.
It was happening again.
I was brought out of my trance by a hand grabbing the back of my shirt roughly and pulling me away. "Are you fucking crazy? Let's go!" Seifer's voice shouted in my ear.
I turned and ran with him, in the flock of hundreds of students who were screaming in indescribable fear, trying to seek shelter in the forest, which was far out of range of the fire. My heart was racing and I could feel every drop of my blood shooting through my veins swifter than lightning. The fire was drawing closer, and small pieces kept hitting me…
Suddenly Seifer was not beside me anymore. He hadn't gone ahead of me; I would've seen him if he had. Which only meant…
I looked back, and gasped. Seifer was caught under a large piece of wall; he had been struck down. He was struggling to escape the flames, but even I could see it was a hopeless effort. I felt like I was staring into a mirror, like I was watching my past self; struggling in a futile attempt to live, forgotten and left for dead…
I held out my palm. "PROTECT!" I shouted.
Instantly an invisible bubble surrounded me, which shielded me from the torrent of fire. I took it step by step, slowly, for walking into the wall of flames was like walking through a forceful, hot windstorm. But finally I made it to Seifer's side. He was protected from the fire by the wall, but it was crushing the life out of him in turn. He wasn't moving now; he had given up, just like I had. A modest trickle of blood was coming from the corner of his mouth.
"Seifer!" I cried over the roaring fire, meanwhile casting a Protect Spell on him also.
He opened his eyes and saw me, looking at me as if he had seen a ghost. "Kyonae…?"
"That's who I was the last time I checked. Are you hurt?"
"I don't know…I don't think so…but I can't breathe…"
"Yeah, I know." I held fast to the piece of wall. "Hold still! I'm going to try to lift this thing."
He winced painfully. "Okay…"
I pulled. It didn't budge, being at least 500 pounds. I was strong, but I wasn't that strong. "It's too heavy!" I cried out in dismay.
Hearing these words, Seifer looked as if he had heard his own death sentence. "Kyonae, please!" He wrestled an arm loose and pulled me near him. His eyes showed neither shock nor anger, but fear. "I'm sorry about what I did to your life, and I take back anything I might have said to hurt your feelings. But don't let me die. I don't want to die. Please help me, Kyonae!"
I looked deep into his eyes, and all of a sudden I went deaf to the world around me. The hot wind blew fiercely but forgot to roar. He wasn't ordering. He wasn't commanding. He was pleading for his life, as if I held it in my hands.
Seifer Almasy, like every other human being, was afraid to die.
I closed my eyes and pulled away from him, standing before the wall. I wasn't touching it at all. My brain was tingling with electricity I had never felt before, and yet it felt so natural as if I'd planned on doing it all along…
I threw my hands up into the air, and I sensed the piece of wall rise up into the air alongside them, held by nothing but air.
"Holy shit…" I heard Seifer murmur.
Then, throwing my hands to the side, the wall flew in that direction and away from Seifer. I opened my eyes, suddenly weak. I dropped to my knees beside Seifer, who was grimacing in pain. "Are you…all right?" I asked, gasping, looking at a bloody gash in his shoulder.
"Yeah," he groaned, wincing. "Help me up, please."
I pulled him up by his good arm. Together we made it out of the fire, ran into the forest, and fell down onto the soft dewy grass in relief. We were a bit singed, and Seifer's shoulder was bleeding a little, but otherwise we were okay. We were alive. We had made it.
"Oh, Hyne…" Seifer said, holding his head in exhaustion. "You okay?"
"Never been better," I answered in a gasp for air, clearly sarcastic, but in a nice tone.
"Where's everyone else?"
"They've probably gone to the nearest Garden. That's Galbadia, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then we'd better get going. I don't have any healing potion for your arm. Let's go."
"Wait."
I turned back to him. "What?"
"Well—I know you could have very well left me there to die…but you didn't. You came back for me."
"Seifer—"
"No, Kyonae, you're going to listen," he interrupted me. "Enough with the modesty crap. You came back for me and you didn't have to. Why?"
"Because you didn't want to die. That's what you said, isn't it?"
"That was after you fought your way back into the fire. Do you read minds, Kyonae?"
"I didn't have to read your mind to tell you didn't want to die!" I snapped. "I saw for myself. I experienced for myself. If I'd let you burn…"
"What? You would've been sinking to my level? Say it, Kyonae, you know you want to!"
I lowered my eyes. "…If I'd let you burn, I would have never forgiven myself. That's the way I am. You're really not such a horrible person, Seifer. Happy?" I turned away.
I felt his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm just…very glad I didn't die today. And I meant every word I said back there. I take everything back."
I didn't shrug his hand off this time. I didn't pull away. I just stood there. It felt very comforting. "It's okay. Now come on."
I had barely taken a step when all of a sudden five Dratilian soldiers jumped out from the bushes and tackled Seifer and me to the ground. I didn't even have time to reach for my gunblade. They'd taken it from my sheath and one held the razor edge close to my neck, three of them gripping my arms, legs, and my head. The fifth one, their leader, subdued Seifer with a warning look.
"So we meet again," the Captain smiled crudely. "Do not move, or we will make no hesitation to slit her throat."
Seifer stood still, looking helplessly at me. I shook my head as much as they would allow me to. "Walk away, Seifer," I said somewhat calmly.
"No," he answered, drawing his Hyperion.
"Seifer, don't be stupid. Walk…away."
"I don't think so," he said, pointing the gunblade at the Captain.
"Seifer!"
BAM!
He pulled the trigger and the gunblade went off, but not at the captain. Instead, it hit a branch, which fell down toward my captors and me. They let go of me and leapt away, as did I. My Talon was left forgotten.
I ran over to Seifer, but was grabbed back by the Captain. Seifer grabbed at me but he grasped the falcon of my necklace instead. The chain snapped, and he held the falcon in his hand instead of me.
The Captain had a different plan. He took me by the hair and threw me with amazing strength into a tree. I hit the tree with aloud, painful thud. "Ohhhh…"
"Kyonae!" Seifer cried.
"Shut up!" the Captain ordered. "Do you want her to die? Then you better not piss me off."
For once he listened, putting down his Hyperion and raising his hands in the air. The four soldiers picked me up and pulled me on my feet, but I was on the verge of passing out. I looked at him pleadingly. "Go, Seifer. Please."
"Too late," the Captain said, raising his hand. "THUNDER!"
He hardly had time to cry out in surprise. A bright bolt of lighting struck Seifer in the chest, sending him to the ground. He didn't get up.
"NO!"
The Captain turned back toward me, grinning. "SLEEP."
Before I could react, the world turned dark and misty before my eyes and I knew no more.
A/N: Finally, something good happens! Please read and review!
