By Raine Ishida and RobertDogwood@aol.com
Chapter Three
Quistis was preparing to leave the Garden to travel to Balamb in order to do some personal shopping for items she could not acquire in the Garden. She had attempted to obtain Cid's permission to use the Ragnarok to fly to Dollet to shop, but as he was busy in morning staff meeting she decided not to wait but to take a cab to Balamb.
As she was standing by the front gate and rummaging through her purse to make certain she had brought her money, she was astonished to observe Laguna striding towards her, flanked by Kiros and Ward.
Quickly closing the distance to her, Laguna expressed, "How wonderful to see you again, Quistis. How have you been?"
Ward, not so gently, elbowed Kiros in the ribs, who stepped forward and admonished, "Ward said we don't have time for this. You can chit chat later, after we find Ellone."
Laguna turned to Ward and replied, "You said all that with a nudge from your elbow?" Ward nodded his head smiling at Laguna.
"Ellone?" Quistis said, with some alarm in her voice. "Did you say Ellone is missing?"
Returning his full attention to Quistis, Laguna concurred, "Yes, Elle's been missing for well over a week now."
Laguna continued with a fuller explanation saying, "The first couple of days she was missing, no one was concerned, because Elle's been known to need some quiet time alone before."
Kiros retorted, "Too much time with you can drive anyone into needing some quiet time alone!"
Again Ward elbowed Kiros, who interpreted, "Ward says we have to see Squall now!"
"Oh, Squall's not here," Quistis explained. "He's in Esthar searching for someone who was kidnapped from here yesterday."
This surprising statement nonplussed the three older visitors for a few seconds, until Laguna echoed, "He's in Esthar?"
As Quistis nodded in answer, Kiros complained, "Ow!" in response to Ward's latest sharp stab with his elbow.
"Ward says we go to talk to Cid now," Kiros expressed. And turning to Ward, he retorted, "And lay off that damn elbow - enough is enough!"
Quistis invited, "Cid's in morning staff meeting. I can take you there immediately. Follow me, please."
Sitting at a long conference table on the third floor of the Garden, Cid asked, "Have we heard anything from Squall yet?"
When Xu answered in the negative, Cid exclaimed, "I'm not sure I understand any of this. You say that some girl from the past was kidnapped from the Garden yesterday?"
"Yes, Cid," Xu responded patiently. She realized Cid had been worse than usual lately because Edea had been away on some sort of spiritual retreat. I wish she would hurry and get back here! Xu thought ungraciously.
"What was some girl from the past doing here?" Cid asked plaintively.
"Cid," Xu suggested, "just let it go for now."
The elevator arrived at the third floor and Laguna, Kiros and Ward stepped off followed by Quistis.
Xu immediately stood and greeted, "Welcome, President Loire."
Laguna replied, "Call me Laguna, dear and thank you."
Cid, also standing, asked, "To what do we owe the honor of your visit?"
"Ellone's missing!" answered Laguna.
A large group of men, well over a hundred in fact, were milling around on the cement floor of a warehouse that would have been completely empty, had it not been for a platform that stood in front of the crowd. Some of these men were among the most evil people on earth, while others were just plain bad, besides the ones who were human garbage and there were also, of course, ones who were just known as the scum of the earth.
There were motorcycle gang leaders, corrupt convicted politicians, former law enforcement officers who were more crooked than the criminals they were supposed to pursue, cashiered army officers from all the different countries on earth, several assassins, simple murderers and ordinary robbers and thieves. All of these men were waiting for their leader to arrive. As he was late, several fights had broken out between the army officers of differing countries based on old feuds and grudges, but had been quickly broken up by the motorcycle gang leaders.
Suddenly Seifer strode into the room with his famous gunblade, Hyperion, in his right hand resting on his shoulder. Seifer was wearing a new long military coat. His old one had gotten rather threadbare. He was followed by his two lieutenants, Raijin and Fujin. As soon as the three of them had entered the room, all eyes were on Fujin as she glanced around and a hush fell across the room. In their heart of hearts, every man in the room was frightened of her, although they never would have admitted this to another living soul. When she stared at them with her one good eye, the men felt she could see right into their evil souls and they always would glance away.
Clambering up on the platform, with Raijin and Fujin standing closely behind him one on each side, Seifer called out. "Let's get started, you guys!"
Seifer began. "I got you all together because we are very close to attacking. Each of you has your own private army of men giving us a total of about ten thousand men. Naturally this wouldn't be anywhere near as large an army needed to accomplish our goal, if it weren't for the power of the Sorceress. But combined with her, we will soon rule the world!"
The crowd broke into spontaneous cheering and applause that Seifer allowed to continue for several minutes until he put his hand up for silence.
As the hush fell once again over the crowd, Seifer ordered, "I expect all your units to be prepared for war at a moment's notice, because we will attack as soon as the Sorceress gives the command."
Seifer elaborated, "Your units are to be held at combat readiness. I will contact you all at the appropriate time. That is all."
As the trio jumped from the low platform and swept through the room, not one eye strayed from watching Fujin and no one breathed a sigh of relief until she was gone.
After Selphie, Mina and Zell reported as ordered, and as Irvine was already seated at the long conference table, Cid reconvened the meeting. He explained to them quickly concerning the disappearance of Ellone and threw the floor open for suggestions.
Quistis suggested, "Why don't we split into teams and start searching at different locations?"
"That's a very good idea, Quistis," Cid concurred. "It's that kind of thinking that makes you so valuable as a SeeD as well as an instructor."
"Okay, Irvine and I will go to Timber," Selphie responded, taking the initiative as usual. Sitting beside her, Irvine nodded absentmindedly, as he was preoccupied with stealing little glances at Mina, who he found quite lovely.
Mina whispered into Zell's left ear, and after he nodded, she explained, "Zell and I will go to Deling City." Zell nodded his head emphatically. "We'll find her," he vowed.
Kiros spoke up, "Ward and I will go to Dollet," leaving Laguna sitting beside them with a startled expression on his face. Kiros turned and said to Laguna, "We need a little quiet time, also."
Xu declared, "If it's alright with him, Laguna and I will go to Shumi Village."
"Well, of course it's alright dear," Laguna replied smiling.
After it was decided that Quistis would journey to Trabia with a rookie SeeD named Kasumi, Selphie asked, "What about Rinoa? She could help."
Cid answered emphatically, "Rinoa needs to remain here, in case Ellone attempts to contact her through Rinoa's ability as a sorceress."
Cid asked, "Does anybody have anything else they need to say, before you go?"
When no one replied, Cid stood up. "Okay, let's get going and good luck to you all."
Laurie woke with a start and sat straight up, her heart pounding and adrenaline racing through her body.
"Nightmare, dear?"
"Ahhhh!" Laurie screamed, in fright.
Sari suddenly leaned down and literally gathered Laurie to her feet in one fell swoop and embraced her until she could feel Laurie's heart beat slow.
Sari dropped her arms and took a step back. She noticed Laurie's complexion was still ash white. "I'm so sorry, dear. I didn't mean to startle you."
Laurie was still gulping air so quickly, she was almost hyperventilating.
"Come dear," Sari offered, "and sit down again," while helping Laurie to sit once again on the floor. Sari sat in front of her simply by dropping into a yoga position with her legs bent at the knees.
Finally Laurie was able to speak. "It's not your fault," she said in a weak voice. "I had a terrible nightmare."
Sari sat forward, suddenly very interested. "Can you remember anything about it, dear?" Sari asked, her eyes glittering.
"Not really, but I almost can, and I have a strong feeling that it was the same nightmare I had back at the Garden."
"Oh," Sari answered, "You had the same nightmare before? Now that is interesting. Maybe something or somebody is trying to tell you something," Sari speculated, closely watching Laurie's reaction.
Laurie looked deeply into Sari's exquisite face. "If they are, I don't know what it could be."
Sari suddenly arose in one graceful movement. "I'll bring you some breakfast. Maybe after you've received some nourishment, you'll be able to remember more. Please excuse my humble presence for a few moments."
Sari bowed from the waist and turned to leave the room. Laurie frowned at her back, intensely feeling that things were not as they appeared to be.
As Seifer stepped through the curtains into the Sorceress's bedroom, he immediately recognized he was probably in for a difficult time from the look of anger on her normally placid features.
Seifer assumed proper protocol might serve him well in this instance, so he lowered one knee. "Permission to enter?" he asked.
"Arise," the Sorceress commanded. "What is your report on the status of our army, General Almasy?"
Clicking his heels together, Seifer began to intone, "Sorceress-."
"Enough," she ordered. "Not today. Today I hurt and I ache and don't know why, but I suspect it has to do with that girl that was brought here. Today you're Seifer and I'm Kayano and we will sit together over there on that couch and talk like real people."
"Come," she invited, waving him over to the couch.
After seating himself, Seifer began again. "They're ready. I talked to them and explained the situation. In fact, they may be too ready."
Kayano asked, "What do you mean - too ready?"
"Well," Seifer explained, "if we keep them for too many days at a readiness point, by the time we really need them they'll be headed on a downward slide physically. The human body can only keep tthat fine an edge without rest for a short period of time."
"What do you suggest?" Kayano asked.
"That we step down from readiness until we know for certain that we're ready to go."
"Okay," agreed Kayano. "Give the order."
Seifer stood up to leave. "And Seifer?" Kayano said. "You'd better be right."
Seifer bowed from the waist to the Sorceress Kayano, who he had known for most of his life as the young woman called Ellone.
Squall ducked down an alley and then stood against the wall waiting to see if he was being followed. He realized he was being overly paranoid, but also recognized that he needed to be. It was the first time he had ever gone out on a mission without backup and he recognized the need for extreme caution.
Squall was in an environment that hardly anyone else in the world knew about, outside of the citizens of Esthar. And a lot of them weren't aware of it either. Squall had only heard of it, because Laguna, one day after a couple of cups of wine they were sharing, became jocular and admitted of its existence.
Squall was standing in underground Esthar - another entire city beneath the futuristic appearing above ground Esthar. This was the poor people's Esthar. Squall had always vaguely wondered why there were no less affluent citizens present in the city. Every place on earth, no matter how grandiose, had poor people; people who had less education or were handicapped in some crucial way or were simply lazy or criminal. But Esthar appeared to Squall to have none until the day that Laguna explained it to him. As soon as they were identified as not being high achievers - and it didn't take long, no sir...they would be shuttled to the underground; there to usually spend the rest of their days. Laguna did say that every once in a great while someone would earn their way back up, but it didn't happen very often.
The citizens were mainly a bitter, discontented and criminal lot and Squall knew he needed to practice eternal vigilance while he was here.
It was this knowledge that drew Squall to search for Laurie in Esthar. He had an overwhelming gut feeling that the only place in the world that Laurie could be successfully hidden would be in a place that officially didn't exist.
The difficulty he was presently experiencing was attempting to not be noticed as an intruder and to avoid any physical altercations, while endeavoring to discover someone who he could trust.
As he stepped out of the alleyway, he found his hopes of avoiding trouble were in vain, as he was immediately confronted by three burly appearing bikers holding long knives in their hands!
After Sari returned with a breakfast tray in a few minutes, Laurie sat hunched over eating as quickly as possible because she felt so vulnerable. Every time she glanced up, Sari would be placidly looking at her, but as soon as Laurie lowered her head again, she could feel Sari's eyes burning into her.
After she finished eating, Laurie sat up in a more comfortable position and smiled. "Thank you so much," she expressed. "I feel so much better."
"Better enough to remember your nightmare now?" Sari questioned, sounding somewhat sinister.
"I'm not sure," Laurie said falteringly.
Sari gained her feet as quickly and gracefully as previously and stepped next to Laurie. "What can I do to insure that you feel certain?"
Laurie knew no way to answer such a question, so she chose to remain silent, which turned out to be a strategic mistake as Sari suddenly leaned down and slapped Laurie hard across her face.
"Ow!!" Laurie screamed, "What are you doing?!!"
Sari spoke menacingly, "I need to know the details of your nightmare!"
"What?! Are you insane?!" Laurie screamed at the top of her lungs.
Sari leaned down and tore Laurie's blouse off as easily as if it had been made of tissue paper.
Quickly arising to her feet, Laurie shouted, "You bitch!"
Sari flushed angrily and slapped Laurie hard twice more and then ripped Laurie's black leather jeans to shreds.
Sari hissed, "I will strip you naked and leave you that way, if you don't tell me what I need to know. My life depends on it."
Giddy from all that had happened to her over the past twenty-four hours, Laurie giggled and taunted, "You're going to strip me naked? What are you, Sari...some kind of a lesbian?"
Sari straightened to her full height which towered over Laurie, who suddenly felt extremely frightened of her.
"A lesbian?" Sari repeated in her husky voice. "No, I think not," Sari replied, while reaching up with her left hand and removing her beautiful long dark hair wig revealing her perfectly bald scalp and then reaching down to the hem of her long gown and pulling it up over her head and off her body revealing her completely nude masculine body.
"Because I'm a man!" Sari finished the thought.
Laurie fainted.
Later in the afternoon after everyone involved in searching for Laurie had left the Garden on their respective missions, Raine and Rinoa were strolling along near the front gate and were quietly talking when Raine suddenly glimpsed tthe most gorgeous young man she had ever seen. Rinoa, hearing Raine's sudden sharp intake of air, glanced around and observed the young SeeD.
"Oh, that's Kazuya. He and Quistis just broke up and he's feeling really down," the young woman explained. "Here," she offered, raising her right hand in greeting. "I'll call him over."
"No, don't!" cried Raine, blushing at being caught out ogling him by Rinoa.
Rinoa, paying absolutely no attention to her new friend, called out. "Hey Kazuya! Come over for a second, will you? There's someone I want you to meet."
The young SeeD began to quickly stride over to the two young women. As he drew nearer, Raine observed he was quite tall, with wavy blond hair he wore on the longish side. He looked as if he possessed a spectacular looking physique beneath his clothing and he was incredibly handsome. Oh my God! Raine thought.
Once he reached the two young women, Rinoa introduced, "Kazuya, this is our visitor, Raine."
He slightly bowed and gently took her hand in his, gripping it softly and crooned in a quiet voice, "So honored to meet you." Raine stood, still blushing, in a gawky silence, completely overwhelmed by his presence.
Sensing some movement beside her, Raine turned her head and noted with horror that Rinoa was swiftly moving away from them. "Where are you going, Rinoa?" Raine queried, in an anguished tone.
Rinoa smiled impishly and explained, "I thought I'd give you two the chance to get to know each other better." And so saying, she turned and headed quickly toward the main part of the Garden.
"Come," invited Kazuya, never once letting go of her hand, but instead gently leading her over to one of the benches that were situated near the front gate. Sitting beside him on the bench, her mind whirling, Raine was relieved to note no one was in the immediate area - the Diamonds for once weren't walking back and forth from the front gate looking for a card game challenge.
Leaning forward, looking directly into Raine's frightened appearing face, Kazuya asked, "So you're our famous visitor from the past?"
When Raine silently nodded, Kazuya smiled and responded, "You don't have to be frightened of me. I won't bite." Raine giggled and a sudden smile lit up her pretty features.
"So how long have you been a SeeD?" she asked.
Kazya replied, "You must forgive me, I'm not usually so rude, but we can make the small talk later." And he suddenly swooped down, gently pressing his lips onto her's in a long, lingering kiss! As Raine felt his warm flesh and the tingle of his kiss, she thought to herself, Oh my God! I'm in love!
Raine, Kazuya and Rinoa sat around a cafeteria table after just finishing their dinner. When Raine and Kazuya returned to the main part of the Garden, they discovered Rinoa standing near the front gate, as if she had been waiting for them to appear.
Deciding to invite her to go to dinner with them, they began to walk hand in hand toward her. When they approached her, Raine asked, "Rinny, would you like to have dinner with us?"
Rinoa gladly agreed and as the three of them walked towards the corridor that led to the cafeteria, Rinoa, noticing that Kazuya hadn't let go of Raine's hand the entire time, said with an impish grin, "I'm so happy to see you two hit it off so well."
"Rinoa, please," Raine begged under her breath. The ebony-haired woman glanced at Raine and offered a broad wink, but said nothing more.
As she now sat behind her dirty dishes, Rinoa was happy that Raine had kept her pledge made earlier and only had a salad for dinner. It just doesn't do, she thought, to pig out on your first dinner date with a new man.
"So what are you two going to do this evening?" Rinoa questioned.
Raine lowered her head toward the table and pleaded, "Rinoa, please. Kazuya might have other plans."
"As a matter of fact," he responded, "I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the training center with me."
That startling statement certainly drew Raine's attention immediately as she raised her head, her eyes wide in apprehension. "Isn't that dangerous?" she wondered.
"Don't worry," laughed Kazuya. "I'll junction encounter none."
Rinoa, standing up from the table, spoke, "Raine will meet you at 8 o'clock. She and I have some women's business to take care of."
Before Raine could question or protest, Rinoa stepped behind her chair and guided her to her feet, while Kazuya agreed, "Ok, it's a date."
Now back in Rinoa's room, Raine sat on the edge of Selphie's bed while scratching Angelo behind his right ear as he sat at her feet. "Did you want to talk to me about something, Rinoa?" Raine asked, feeling at a complete loss as to what they were doing there.
Rinoa, whose back was to Raine, was rummaging through her walk-in closet.
"Ah, there it is," the hazel-eyed woman cried and turned holding a long black gown in her hands.
"Oh, Rinoa," Raine gushed, "that's beautiful...but I couldn't wear that. I might ruin it in the training center."
"That's okay," Rinoa responded. "Somebody gave it to me and I'm too short to wear it. It'll look perfect on you!"
A few minutes later after Raine had slipped out of her outfit and into the long gown, she stood inspecting herself in Rinoa's full length wall mirror.
"What do you think?" Raine asked, feeling more than a little insecure.
"It looks wonderful on you," the ebony-haired woman cooed. "Kazuya's gonna love it."
As Raine turned back to Rinoa, Rinoa continued, "Have a wonderful time, but remember - with Kazuya you have to watch his hands every second."
"Rinoa!!" Raine protested, greatly embarrassed.
Raine was waiting for Kazuya near the end of the corridor leading to the training center, when she discovered to her misfortune that Irvine was quickly striding toward her coming from the opposite direction. She was mentally prepared for him as she had spoken with Selphie for a few minutes earlier in the day, who told her about what Irvine had attempted with Laurie.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Irvine, as he came walking up to her. "Who do we have here? I've never seen you before. Could you be Laurie's famous friend - Raine?"
Raine flushed, but responded, "Yes, I'm Raine."
Stepping close to her, he spoke, "My name is Irvine Kinneas," and as he began to lean down quickly to kiss her, a large hand suddenly gripped Irvine's right shoulder and pulled him easily away from her.
"Cowboy, I believe you're molesting my date!"
It's Kazuya! Raine thought happily, because what young woman doesn't dream of having a boyfriend who can defend her honor.
Spinning around, Irvine was confronted by the tall, unsmiling Kazuya standing in his face.
Irvine responded, "Now that I see the lay of the land, I'll be moseying along." Bowing slightly, Irvine wished them a good evening and then strode off down the corridor.
"That guy," muttered Kazuya, while shaking his head. "Are you alright?" he inquired.
Raine happily nodded. "Now that you're here."
"You look absolutely lovely in that gown, Raine," Kazuya crooned, while taking her by the hand. Raine's heart melted on the spot. "Oh, Kazuya," she murmured.
As they began strolling down the corridor towards the training center hand in hand, Raine had a sudden vivid understanding of the heartbreak that lay ahead for her, if she continued in this relationship. After all, she couldn't expect to remain here in this world, could she? And what about her family?...and her friends? Raine felt sick at heart to even contemplate leaving them behind.
And suppose I can't stay here anyway, even if I wanted? Raine thought to herself, as they stepped inside the training center.
"Why are you suddenly so pensive?" Kazuya asked.
"Oh...I'm just enjoying being with you," Raine answered.
Kazuya slightly frowned, but offered no response.
Glancing around the training center, Raine noticed that the reality once again was far different than the game. The training center was much larger and the plants and other foliage were much more lush and overcrowding the center.
But the short bridge is still here, Raine thought.
Remembering how many times she ran over that bridge with Squall and company, only to have to fight a T-Rexaur, she asked, "Have you ever fought a T-Rexaur?"
"A what?!" Kazuya asked incredulous. "What's a T-Rexuar?"
Raine didn't have the slightest idea of how to answer. She surely didn't want to mention the game, if he knew nothing about it. Kazuya would either think she was insane or it could seriously damage his sense of his own reality.
Either way, Raine was certain she didn't want to go there, so she just replied, "Oh, I don't know. Just some monster I heard about."
Stepping from the training center onto the balcony, Raine was nearly overcome with the beauty of the moonlight shining down upon the main part of the Garden and the glorious star lit night sky.
Oh Lord! Could she ever voluntarily leave this? "It's beautiful," Raine murmured to Kazuya. He smiled at her and then led her to the balcony wall. He wrapped his left arm around her shoulder pulling her close and Raine wrapped her right arm around his waist in return.
They stood that way for a long time, not saying a word, just feeling the warmth of each other, while Raine continued to ruminate. How could I just leave my family behind? And what about my career as a writer? I'm gonna be famous and write fifty books! How can I give that all up? she thought mournfully.
Suddenly, as if reading her doubts, Kazuya leaned down and began to kiss her passionately, again and again. Oh, I'm lost! I'm so lost! Raine thought desolately, as she began to return his kisses in earnest.