BROTHERS IN ARMS
by Digintegrated - Hunter Bill
Disclaimer : I own nothing, Squaresoft does own it all. Nice work, guys!
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CHAPTER 2
MEETING
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The battle raged. Squall made the first blow by slashing the Sorceress' long left arm. As she seemed to expect such an attack, she retaliated with a Flare. Overwhelmed by the heat, the young man fell down. The witch then sent Selphie out of the scene as she was preparing herself to cast a Demi. The sight of a totally defenceless Selphie turned Irvine berserk and made him shot a burst of Fast Bullets to the magician. Bad luck: his shotgun got jammed! Zell started to rush, but was stopped dead by a Holy. Rinoa and Quistis were the only ones still standing. They concentrated their powers and created a formidable Thundaga, followed by a Raybomb, courtesy of Quistis. Their opponent didn't enjoy at all...
Irvine stopped in his shotgun repairing to cast in quick succession three Curaga spells upon Squall, Selphie et Zell. Once regenerated, the three young people took the opportunity to use physical attacks against the Sorceress. For sure, their assault was not in vain, however, the magician, never short of possibilities, summoned an Ultima against the whole group.
Squall had just enough time to shout "Watch out, lay down!" before being wrapped, he and the five other fighters, in an enormous, emerald green magical explosion. Ten seconds later, all of the SeeD were down. The witch was looking rejoiced and prepared for a second Ultima to cast, when Irvine, having repaired his shotgun, interrupted her momentum with a burst of Dark Bullets. The Sorceress stood there, frozen... She couldn't cast any spell any more... It was the time! Despite his wounds, Squall stood back up, ran to the witch and tore her to shreds. She exploded from all sides and the SeeD were magically drawn out of the fire field to find themselves, a moment later, in a place that was familiar for them...
They were outside a kind of temple, as they noticed the colonnades in front and right of them. Ivy was growing on those colonnades. There was paved floor. Was it possible? Squall thought. Our Orphanage!
Rinoa had never known the orphanage in the past, but she actually recognized it. The room on the right side had fallen down as time passed. As they had seen it collapsed during their return after their victory against Galbadia Garden, the group saw it intact. They entered: nobody was here. Even Edea, their dearest matron, was missing. They went through the dorm: everything was in order. No cracks in the walls, totally intact, as in their past souvenirs. The young people contemplated the room, but didn't say a word. Then they headed outside, for the beach, where they used to play as kids. Nobody again. The sky was azure blue, the limpid waves were crushing upon the rocky headland where the lighthouse was, and nobody in sight.
"Do you know where we're supposed to go?", Rinoa asked Squall with a doubtful tone.
"No idea..." Squall replied. He had the impression of repeating himself.
But the group knew it rapidly...
A moment later, the SeeD saw the landscape changing, but weren't moved to another place. On the contrary, they could still saw the sea, the rocky headland, the sky. None of this was changing its shape or place. However, the lighthouse was no more. The Orphanage was disintegrating and became even more ruined than the one in their original era. As the beach disappeared, our heroes witnessed a really weird scene...
The sky had become dark. Above the sea, an enormous granite block was floating. It almost measured the Garden's surface and was linked to the cliffs by huge iron chains. The block was bearing a castle, whose proportions were outstanding, as outstanding as the meteor-threatened fortress Squall and his companions had seen during their endless leaps through space and time. A chain was going from the Orphanage beach-side exit, and was going straight to the entrance of the castle, a braced front gate that was at least thirty feet high. Then they noticed, on top of the building, two towers linked by a kind of sentry-box, adorned here and there with monster statues, one might easily have noticed from a distance these Imps or Blue Dragons representations. Between the team and the chain, many dead bodies were strewn, they were all young people in white SeeD uniform. "Future SeeD...", Squall thought, as he saw this horrible thing.
Rinoa hung on to Squall who almost involuntarily put his arm around the girl's back. Zell was seething with impatience. Selphie and Irvine didn't want to laugh anymore. Quistis was thinking the same. They all knew they were soon going to reach their target, because this big building couldn't be nothing but Ultimecia's citadel. This unhealthy atmosphere reinforced their desire to accomplish their mission as soon as possible. So they headed towards the chain.
At that moment, an explosion rang out. A light green flash had appeared near the entrance gate. A black-caped man got out of it, watched around him without however noticing the SeeD, headed to the gate, opened it then disappeared inside the castle. "Who could this be?", the young fighters thought. They remained surprised for a while, then went on their track again. The floating chain was stable and broad enough to allow the group to cross it, the six people at a time. None of them trembled, none of them risked falling in the sea. But once they all reached the granite block, they saw a second explosion of green light near the gate. Once the light faded, they could distinguish a group of people, laying on the ground, apparently unconscious.
First, they saw a middle-aged man, with short blonde hair, wearing green pants, a blue jacket and big shoes. Weird glasses were gripped on his forehead. Near his left ear was a pack of cigarettes. He was carrying in his gloved hands a spear, almost as high as him. The second man they noticed after was a brown-skinned giant. He had green pants on him, they were like those worn by the first man, but ampler. His shoes were enormous. His torso was only covered by a vest, He was nearly bald and had a black moustache and beard. Squall and his friends were intrigued by the juggernaut's right arm, that ended with a gatling, looking like the SAM08G weapon pods. Close to him, a girl was laying, wearing a bra and a short black skirt. She had elbow protections and battle gloves, like Zell. At last, next to the door, a young man had appeared, wearing purple trousers and a purple shirt. He was blonde, and his long hair were forming quills that went all sides, quite like Zell's but worse. He was also wearing large-sized shoes, shoulder pads and was carrying a big sword, whose blade seemed as sharp as Squall's Gunblade, but thicker. Squall never saw anyone else but SeeD members handling a big sword like this, apart from the biomechanical Iron Giants. Was this young man a SeeD? Certainly not... Nevertheless, after noticing the insignia on the shoulder pads, Squall thought that the man might belong to some army corps, regiment, squadron...
The four new comers remained still for some time, then regained consciousness. The young man with a quill haircut stood up first and noticed the SeeD group.
"Excuse me...", he said with a hesitating voice.
Squall came closer. He was a bit suspicious but first of all, he wanted to know the new comers' intentions. "After all, perhaps they're no danger for us", he thought.
The unknown resumed his speech:
"Have you ever seen a man with a black cape passing around?"
As they heard this question, all the SeeD got struck with amazement. So there would be a link between the man in black and those four people coming from nowhere?
"Indeed, he has entered this castle... You know him?"
"It's our arch-enemy. If he's left alive, the world could be destroyed!"
General astonishment for the SeeD group... consequently, they would have TWO enemies to destroy?
As he saw the group surprised, the young man continued:
"We were about to make him give up the ghost and then I don't know how, but everything disappeared, in a second. We don't remember what happened next, but I know he's still alive..."
"We might help you if we had the time", Squall replied, "but we already have a mission similar to yours. Unless..."
"What?"
"Unless there exists a link between your man in black and our enemy. She might be the one who has brought you here", Squall resumed.
"Who's she?"
"Ultimecia... A Sorceress from the future whose aim is compressing time in order to eradicate all life forms in the universe. Maybe she went further than we have thought."
The two people hesitated.
"Apparently, we have one thing in common.", the unknown continued doubtfully.
"You may be right. I think the best we can do is acting together and find a way to bring light upon this mystery. What do you think about it?", Squall suggested.
"Mmmm... I wouldn't have liked challenging you, in view of your number superiority", the unknown said, taking an interested look upon Squall's team. "If you wish... I accept."
"All right", Squall said.
The two fighters shook their hands.
"I'm Squall Leonheart, leader of this group. And you are?"
"Cloud. Cloud Strife."
Author's note : I know I'm repeating myself but I do sincerely hope I haven't make language mistakes. Please don't be too strict with me if I made some anyway.
Regards goes to Little Miss Anarchy for being my first English reader.
To everyone, until the next chapter!
~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~