Chapter 6- End of an Era

The three soldiers had decided to stay in the Galbadian Hotel for the night since they were allowed to rent rooms for free. They each elected to sleep in separate rooms. In the morning, Kiros woke up and decided to turn on the television to watch the news. He reached over to his nightstand from where he laid and grabbed the remote. The moment he turned it on, before the picture had even appeared, he heard the voice of a male reporter saying, "President Delta died last night at the Presidential Residence of unknown causes."

The Galbadian soldier sat up in his bed immediately in shock. "What?!" He listened intently as the broadcast continued.

"An emergency call to the paramedics was made by Senator Vinzer Deling, who was reportedly with him at the time along with fellow senator, Quentin Adrallis. They told those that arrived on the scene that they had been discussing business that had transpired during his absence when he suddenly fell to the floor, dead. Senator Deling believes President Delta's death could have been caused by the severe stress of recent events, which might have been too much for someone of his age.

As we all know, he had just returned to Delta City last night after a trip to Fisherman's Horizon was drastically cut short when he was kidnapped by Esthar and rescued shortly afterwards by Galbadian troops. For the time being, the head of the Senate, which is Deling, will assume the presidency. Then a pair of representatives will be chosen by the Assembly and elected by the people at a later date…"

Then Kiros turned off the television and hopped out of the bed. He slid on his crimson and gold outfit, leaving his Katals and Galbadian uniform crumpled in the corner of his hotel room. As he was about to open his door, he heard a loud pounding on the outside. He opened it to see Ward's towering frame before him, in his plain white shirt, dark green pants, brown boots, and large blue bandana.

"Did you hear the news about President Delta?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a minute ago," Kiros replied. "Let's go get Laguna. I doubt he's even awake yet."

They moved to his door across the hall and Ward knocked boisterously and repeatedly. Eventually, a weary Laguna opened the door. "What took you so long? We already woke up everyone else on this hall and we were knocking on your door!" Ward said.

"Sorry, didn't hear ya. I was really tired," he apologized.

"Have you heard the news?"

"What news?" he asked curiously.

"…President Delta died last night," Kiros informed.

His friend's eyes bulged in surprised. "What happened?!"

"They dunno," the humongous soldier answered.

"So who's in charge now?" Laguna inquired.

"Deling."

The man with the machine gun wasn't sure of what to say next. He was depressed to hear that their great leader had died. Kiros and Ward exchanged brief glances and then turned their attention back to their friend. "Um…Me and Kiros were gonna head down to the lounge. Wanna join us?"

"Uhh…" Laguna was about to reject their proposal, but then he remembered Julia from the night before. He wanted to see her again. "…Sure. I'll meet you guys down there."

The two of them left and he shut the door. He quickly slid on his brown pants. Then he grabbed his dark blue jacket and slipped it on over his shirt. Then he put on his black boots and slid the room key into his back pocket as he left. After he had descended the stairs, he decided to talk to the receptionist. "Hello…Is, uh…Julia gonna be here today?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, yes. She'll be playing in the lounge in about an hour," she replied.

Then Laguna headed down into the lounge to join his comrades. They had already grabbed the table they had been at the night before, and had already ordered drinks. Ward was finishing his up and preparing to get another. He sat down next to them and ordered a drink when the waitress came over to them. She brought his drink shortly after.

"So do you think that piano player will show up again today?" Ward asked with a sly smile.

"…Maybe."

"Hope so?"

"Sure, Julia's a great piano player," he said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Julia? Is that her name? Where'd you learn that?" Kiros asked curiously while a grin started to slowly creep across his face.

"The waitress told me last night before I left."

"…Oh, I thought you might've actually gathered enough courage to speak to her."

Laguna pretended to laugh as if he found the idea absurd. "What? You think I'm interested in her that way?"

Kiros rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You expect us to believe you only like her music? No offense, but you don't seem like the musical type. Besides, we saw the way you were starin' at her last night. You can't fool us, Laguna. We know, man."

As time progressed, people started filing into the lounge, consisting mostly of Galbadian soldiers in casual attire. They even saw a face they recognized: General Lancera. He also noticed them and strolled over to them. "Hey, how have you guys been?" he asked politely.

"I'm surprised you even remember us," Ward commented.

"Why wouldn't I? We wouldn't have rescued the president without you." The trio remained silent. "…Yeah, that's probably a bad subject right now. I feel the same way. Wouldn't you know it? I'm promoted to second in command only to General Caraway, of course, and then I hear President Delta's dead. Makes it all seem bittersweet. I hear General Caraway's gonna be here, too. It seems a lotta people heard about this Julia fast, and they're all comin' to check it out. Well, I'll see you guys around." Then he left them alone.

A short while afterwards, Julia made her appearance and she received an outstanding round of applause from the soldiers. She smiled appreciatively, but did not stop on her way to the piano. She sat down and began to play. Laguna fell back into his trance as she performed for the audience. Kiros and Ward grinned at him.

"Why don't you wave at her?" the large Galbadian soldier suggested.

"It's not like she'll see me or anything," he said.

"So then what's the problem? Wave at her."

"No way, man! What if she sees me?!"

"Maybe it's too early in the relationship for a wave. We can save it for another time," Kiros said.

The witty soldier scanned the crowd and spotted General Caraway standing near the stairs. He was easy to distinguish from the others, being dressed in a formal black suit. He had been highly decorated at a young age due to his impressive military skills that seemed to come naturally to him. Caraway's story had been highly publicized since he was the youngest general in Galbadian history. President Delta had put him in command over the army, preparing him to lead Galbadia into the war that was bound to break out with Esthar.

Sorceress Adel had been openly hostile toward Galbadia, which was why she had ordered Delta's kidnapping. Everyone around the world felt that would be the event that would lead to the second Sorceress War. (Plus, with a new president taking over, especially one without much power or influence yet, Adel might be the one to take initiative.) Kiros thought.

After Julia had concluded, the packed crowd applauded and dispersed from the lounge. "Shall we hit the town? I haven't really gotten a chance to take a look around," Ward said.

"Yeah, let's paint the town green!" Laguna said enthusiastically.

"…Don't you mean 'red'?"

Then the three of them left the hotel and entered the well-lit street. The lampposts were on, even in the early morning hours due to the abnormal state of constant darkness. Televisions were lined up in the windows of shops and people gathered around them. "What's this all about?" Kiros asked curiously.

They joined the crowd around the televisions. "…President Deling is not wasting any time taking action. He has shown that he intends to make sure he keeps the presidency. He has renamed the Galbadian capital Deling City in honor of himself and has ordered troops to be sent into various Esthar bases around the world. He wishes to strike first before Sorceress Adel has the chance. This chain of events should definitely help his election campaign," the reporter said,

Laguna, Kiros, and Ward exchanged dubious glances. "I have a bad feeling about this," Kiros said.

Author's Notes: Finally Deling comes into power. I'm sure you all can guess what really happened to President Delta. Anyway, let me know what you thought in a review. God bless.