Tell me, what are we fighting for?
We've got to end this war,
We should love one another,
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began?
We can try, brother, my brother.
She flew. Where, she didn't know. The air whistled around her as she sped through the night sky. There was little wind, so the small engines of her glider were on, and emitted a cool blue glow. In any case, it matched the cold of the night. Here in Trabia, even early autumn evenings were already bitterly cold. Plus, it seemed winter was coming early this year. Her hands felt like they were freezing to the handlebars. Still, she welcomed the cold. It soothed the burning turmoil in her mind.
With a small tilt in her weight, she made the glider fly closer to the ground, speeding over the snow. The velocity brought tears to her eyes. Or at least, that is what she told herself.
Report, Commander. -- Sir, Miriam Seldin was killed in battle, saving Kira Bardok. -- What? -- Affirmative. Bardok froze in the path of a missile. Seldin saved her, but at the cost of her own life. -- This was all due to incompetence? -- Sir... -- We cannot afford that in a war like this. The Galbadians aren't fools. Put her into the front line. If she cannot serve as a knight, make her serve as a pawn. And take away her rank as a SeeD. -- Yes sir.
With another slight tilt backwards, the glider spiralled back up. The full moon briefly dazzled her already stinging eyes. She flew straight ahead once more, letting the glider gain speed. I she could only fly fast enough, she would leave behind that sick feeling in her stomach and the lump in her throat.
The speed she was going at caused the tears to run along her temples horizontally. Face it, Kira, Miriam is dead. And it's all your fault! Her grip tightened on the handlebars, and her breath caught in her chest. Tomorrow, you will wake up with a position in the front line. The dishonoured SeeD. Beautiful April fools joke.
The still night air was starting to get some movement in it. Winds started plucking at the tiny plane, and small tufts of snow were kicked up. Kira flew close to the ground again, trying to watch the sparkling display nature was putting on.
Suddenly, she found herself engulfed in a blinding storm. The elements battered her tiny glider, and frost collected in her eyebrows. She clung on for dear life... dear life? What is still dear about it? How much lower can you go? Your best friend is dead. You have lost your rank as a SeeD. Not to mention instructor. You have dishounoured yourself... how can this be your life...? Could it be a bad dream...? Maybe you will wake up... this could end any minute... Stop fooling yourself! Hyne, get me out of this madness! Anywhere, just out!
Her grip was loosening. It would be so easy to die now... Her frozen hands were weakening. So tired... wait! The storm was clearing! She was regaining control of her plane, and a sweet breeze carried her through the air.
Her eyes scanned the frozen land, searching for a familiar landmark. Were was she...? She couldn't tell, it was too dark. Too dark? But... the full moon? Kira searched the sky, and found only a tiny sickle of a moon. What the...?
She immediately searched for constellations she knew. Her eyes searched for the diamond shape of the Northern Warrior. She couldn't find him anywhere. But he was up all night at this time of year! She found a place to land. A smooth, slightly diagonal surface served as a landing site.
Where the hell am I? She was about to trudge to smoother ground when her foot slipped. She just managed to steady herself. What the...? She had uncovered a smooth surface under the snow. Wood!
She hopped to smoother ground, and promptly landed on something which gave a loud crack. In the dark, she couldn't tell what it was, but she could make out the silhouette of something distinctly manmade. Twelve planks in the shape of a flower, stirring slightly in the wind... her eyes widened when she realised that it was none other than one of the windmills the old Terrans used to use. No way! But the evidence was in front of her! And it was becoming clearer in the light of the dawn. Unfortunately, that also allowed her to see what she had landed on.
She moaned at what she saw. The crack her landing had given had come from a bare human skull she had crushed. However, the face of the skull had still remained intact. The empty eye sockets looked at her plaintively over the permanently grinning mouth.
Kira picked up the skull which had been separated from the rest of the bone structure which lay at her feet.
"Alas, poor Yorick," she muttered, while ordering her unhappy stomach to stay put.
She gazed up at the windmill again, and noted that she had landed her glider onto the roof of a cabin of sorts. `Yorick' was lying only a few paces from the door. Kira timidly pushed the handle down, and the door swung open. However, that wasn't the only thing which happened. An overpowering odour of rat dung assaulted her. She gagged, but forced herself to look inside.
Obviously, the cabin had been neatly kept until Yorick's death, but the rats had done their utmost to destroy that work.
Kira sighed. Looks like in any case, you'll be stuck here for a while, old girl. But first things first. She yanked the windows open and hunted for something resembling a spade. What she did find was a shovel. That would do.
Five paces away from the mill, under a line or pinetrees, she dug a shallow pit. Luckily, the ground wasn't frozen yet. She paused to catch her breath, then yanked Yorick out of his awkward position. With a determined effort, she placed him into the pit.
She was about to start heaping the earth on him when she thought the better of it. She forced herself to enter the cabin again, looking for anything personal which had belonged to Yorick. On a small table lay an open book with a strange handwriting she couldn't read in it. A quill lay next to it, covered in dust. A diary, apparently. Kira snatched it and fled the putrid cabin. She placed the diary on Yorick's chest and started heaping the earth onto him.
"Rest In Peace, Yorick. I'll sow seeds in your name sometime or something, I promise," she whispered.
Yorick's plaintive grin was the last thing she saw of him.
We faced each other from different sides,
The anger burns, can't remember why.
It's kinda crazy to cause such pain,
Our foolish pride makes us hate this way.
We watch our world fall apart,
Tell me, what good is winning,
When you lose your heart?
Two years later...
Laguna shouldered his machine gun and trudged through the snow with a sigh. Even though he was dressed warmly, he was cold, and longed to return to Galbadia. Yet he was stuck here in Trabia, for the sake of a war which had already dragged on ridiculously long. He didn't think anyone even remembered exactly why exactly the war had started - he certainly didn't.
The icy wind plucked at his ponytail and sent chills down his back where it hit his neck. Laguna clapped his hand over it to shield it from the worst of the cold. However, he had to keep his hands ready in the case of an attack, so he was forced to leave his neck and throat exposed. He scolded himself for not bringing a scarf.
Laguna stopped briefly to untie his ponytail. Hopefully, that would provide some marginal protection. He would have to live with having it blow all over the place. Once this war was over, he'd probably have to cut it off due to wind-induced tangles. He sneered in disgust. He supposed he still had to be alright if he worried about his hair. At least that was supposedly something they say about women, and his friend Kiros often teased him, saying he must have been a woman in a past life. A little under a month ago, he and Ward had decorated Laguna's hair with little pink ribbons to celebrate his twenty-fifth birthday. That was all they could really do to mark the occasion, since the war camp didn't allow for much more.
The young soldier focused his mind back on the task at hand. He had been told to scout the area, looking for any Trabians who might be sneaking around, trying to attack. His first line of orders was to try and take some prisoners, but kill them if necessary. Personally, Laguna hoped it wouldn't come to that. He hated killing, and he hoped that he wouldn't meet anyone, for the alternative wasn't that much better.
Laguna trudged on, shaking his snow shoes free of snow every now and again. It was hard, tiring work. He was glad for the goggles which protected his eyes from the glare, but the wind still left his ears and nose freezing. He suspected he couldn't have gotten very far by the time night had begun to fall.
It was getting colder. Laguna was sorely tempted to sit down somewhere and rest, but he would probably just turn weary and end up freezing to death if he did that. Besides, the full moon and clear sky were too good to waste. With a gusty sigh, he continued walking. The wind continued to pluck at his hair and clothes, and his ears and nose had gone numb from the cold. He was learning to respect the Trabians for being able to survive in this cold if necessary.
Suddenly, the wind picked up, almost blinding him. Once again, he was grateful for his goggles. He lifted his arms and tried to shield himself. In the distance, he could hear the roar of thunder. The wind escalated to a storm and whistled around him at a shocking speed, until he felt like he would suffocate.
All because of this stupid war, he thought with passionate resent. Because of that, I'm going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere of Trabia, and turn into a popsicle! He clapped his hands over his ears to block out the shrieking storm. Holy Hyne, Get me out of this!
The storm reached a thundering crescendo, then disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Laguna removed his hands from his ears and opened his eyes in confusion. One minute, it had seemed like he would be frozen solid, the next he was looking at the frosted snow glittering innocently in the moonlight, not even noticeably stirred up. Laguna blinked in surprise. He looked around for any of the landmarks he remembered - and found none. The mountain range he had been vaguely heading for had disappeared. A moon sickle shone feebly in the slowly darkening sky.
Moon sickle? Laguna thought in utter confusion. Something was very wrong here. Had he somehow been frozen for a few days and suddenly cracked out of his ice shell? He dismissed that thought as soon as it came to him. Obviously, something had happened which he didn't understand, much to his bewilderment.
Laguna started trudging through the snow towards a dark line of some pine trees in the distance. Hopefully, he would be able to find some relative shelter. A brief look back revealed his footsteps starting in the middle of the snow, with nothing leading up to them. He shook his head in bewilderment. If he ever got home, he would have some story to tell, no doubt.
After a few hundred paces, Laguna realised that to his left, the ground suddenly dropped downward. He knelt down and realised that there was a small canyon he hadn't seen from far off. That would probably provide a good temporary shelter. If he was lucky, he might even find a cave down there. The Galbadian soldier took his climbing equipment out of his pack, grateful for the fact that the climb wasn't long.
With a rope secured around his waist and tied to one of the nearby pines, Laguna began the descent. His two axes lodged firmly into the ice, giving him some decent balance. Within a reasonably short time, he had reached the bottom of the canyon. It was closed on one side. Laguna was very grateful for that. This was probably the best windbreak he could hope for.
He was about to hunt for something which would let him light a meagre fire when loud, wheezing breath startled him into turning around.
Laguna's eyes widened in terror. He stood face to face with the scaly blue form of a dragon.
The dragon stared down at the intruder, irritated that something so tiny should dare to enter its domain.
Laguna slowly reached for the machine gun he had slung over his shoulder. Slowly... slowly... don't provoke it... His hand closed around the familiar weapon and slowly levelled it at the monster in front of him. The dragon still stared at him in a hostile manner, but looked like it hadn't decided what to do about his presence yet.
Suddenly, Laguna's slow, uprovocative movements gave way to a lightning-quick round of bullets. Laguna shot for all he was worth, praying that the bullets would pierce the dragon's scales. The dragon roared in fury, and a pale blue beam shot from its mouth. There was no time for Laguna to dodge. He was enveloped in searing cold, adding to his weariness. The last thing he saw was a pair of white wings and a humanoid form obstructing the view of the dragon.
Brother, my brother,
Tell me, what are we fighting for?
Isn't life worth so much more?
We should love one another,
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began?
Tell me why, brother my brother.
We can try, brother my brother.
Kira leapt off her glider, grasping the situation immediately. It seemed like her gut feeling had been right about a dragon growling at something in a closed canyon. Railgun in hand, she focused on the monster. If she could just...
She shot at one of its eyes, causing it to roar in pain. That was all she needed. The blue creature's mouth opened wide, revealing a clear path to its brain. Kira sent a round of railgun pellets straight into its mouth. The dragon couldn't even roar in protest as it toppled over. It was dead before hitting the ground.
That done, Kira dropped her railgun and ran towards the dragon's victim. He had been encased in a layer of ice when the dragon's freezing breath hit him. Yet his cheeks were flushed. Kira decided to risk it and kicked hard, hoping that it wouldn't hurt the stranger. A long crack ran along the ice, and the man who has been inside collapsed, unconcious. However, he was obviously breathing as well as shaking uncontrollably. Hypothermia.
Kira bit her lip, and wondered what to do. Her eyes flicked to the dead dragon. She brandished her knife and slit open its stomach. While she was trying to find a solution, she could at least cut some of the meat off. That along the stomach was the best. Blood trickled onto the snow as she worked. Her eyes narrowed. If she could transport that much meat...
The Trabian quickly finished cutting loose a large slab, then opened one of the small compartments of her glider and produces a few lengths of rope. She dragged the light aircraft to the stranger and set to work tying his wrists to the handlebars. It was the best she could do. She tied the slab of meat to the handle underneath, and kick-started the engine.
With a small sputter of protest at the weight it had to carry, the glider lifted slightly and caught a gust of wind. They were airborne. The man tied to the bars underneath her hung limply and slowed the flight a little, but it worked. Kira tilted her head up so his long hair didn't tickle her nose. Sneezing was one of the most inconvenient things during a flight.
Let's take a moment and look deep inside,
And say we're willing to give love a try.
We're not as different as we seem to be,
There's so much more to me than what you see.
Don't have to be this way,
Think about the consequences,
Then turn round and walk away.
He woke up, his vision blurred, and his mind buzzing in confusion. He felt distinctly like his film had torn or something, for he felt warm. That did not compute with the fact that he had been fighting a dragon and freezing his most precious body part off.
His vision cleared a little, and a wooden ceiling came into view - lit electrically. Laguna blinked in confusion. The sound of boiling water and fingernails tapping a rythm on a wooden board caught his attention. He turned his head to the right. He caught sight of someone (quite tall) standing with his or her back to him. A plait of dark hair hung half-way down that someone's back, and that someone wore a grey jumper and faded jeans. Laguna blinked a little. His blurred vision hadn't completely recovered yet.
"Kiros?" he mumbled in confusion.
The someone he had more or less addressed spun around to face him. His vision now a lot clearer, Laguna noted that the someone was female and by no means black. Obviously not Kiros.
The someone who was not Kiros made her way to Laguna, an uncertain smile on her face. She crouched down, causing Laguna to take note of the fact that he was lying on a mattress on the floor, wrapped in blankets. Before he could ponder that, the someone who was not Kiros helped him sit up and handed him a mug containing a steaming liquid.
"Careful, it's hot," she said in a quiet voice.
Laguna stared at the mug, slightly dumbfounded. He still hadn't woken up properly, and wondered what exactly he was supposed to do with it. Only when the delicious smell of broth drifted to his nostrils did he remember.
"Thank you," he said quietly and blew the hot liquid before taking a sip. It had an unfamiliar, though not altogether unpleasant taste.
If nothing else, the broth woke him up, and allowed him to study the someone who was not Kiros. She was about his height, with long dark hair swept back into a loose plait. Her eyes were a startling amber, and she had soft features. A small, rounded nose and a soft mouth stood over a stubborn chin. Through the over-large jumper, Laguna could see hints of a slim, wiry figure. Not unpleasant to look at.
Laguna offered the empty mug back to the someone who was not Kiros. She took it from him and placed it next to her. That done, she bowed slightly.
"I'm Kira Bardok," she said in a clear voice.
Laguna's eyes widened. He recognised the accent.
"You're Trabian," he blurted out.
"And you're Galbadian. But that doesn't really matter here, because the war is Hyne knows how many thousand miles or light years away, if it's still going on."
Laguna stared at her, trying to digest that information. Kira raised an eyebrow at him.
"While you're trying to come up with something intelligent to say, why don't you enlighten me on what your name is?" she said drily.
Laguna blushed for some unknown reason.
"My name is Laguna Loire," he said quietly.
Kira's mouth curved into a small smile.
"Quite a watery name, don't you think?"
He blinked in confusion. Kira's smile widened.
"Both your first and your last name are the names of sites of water on old Terra. Laguna, like a beach in America, and Loire, like a river in Europe."
Laguna blinked again. "Oh."
Kira grinned, revealing rows of straight teeth and deep dimples. Her grin was infectious, and Laguna almost found himself returning it.
"Maybe you should get some more sleep. It might help you deal with confusion."
Laguna nodded in vigorous agreement. "Good idea."
Just before dropping off, Laguna could hear her hum a fairly pleasant tune while rinsing out the mug. It looked like wherever he had landed, he wouldn't be bored. He couldn't wait to find out more about this Kira Bardok.
Brother, my brother,
Tell me what are we fighting for?
Isn't life worth so much more?
We should love one another,
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began?
Tell me why, brother, my brother.