That night was useless to me as a whole. With what was left of it, I
watched the others sleep and watched as the flames from some of the burning
houses lit up the sky. This was going to be hard, and if we got caught it
was over. I was sitting there in the window sill of the Dintch house,
staring out the window, trying to remember what my mother had said about
Ultimicia. She was a witch, and that was all I could remember. She had
tried to escape something called Time Compression almost 20 years ago, but
my father stopped her, risking my mother's life at the same time. This
Ultimicia or Adel I think she was called has a bond with my mother, and she
has been getting worse and worse lately. I wonder if she knew.
I lay down after a time, determined to get some sleep, though what rest I did was tormented with dreams and nightmares of things that I has no way of knowing. I was restless, but the sleep I received was enough to hold me till Timber at least.
Kris was up in another hour, changing from a skirt to a pair of pants and dressing like a man. When I asked why she bopped me on the head and said it was so if we were caught the soldiers wouldn't take advantage of her. Zell laughed and went right along with his business of trying to find a way to distract the soldiers long enough to get the two of us hidden well. Getting back off the train would be our job, but we would have plenty of time to figure it out on the way there. When we were ready I signaled him with a flick of my wrist and he walked out to the middle of the crowd of soldiers and started yelling at them like only Zell can. As they were distracted by his antics, Kris and I snuck through the town the railway station. Surprisingly, there was no one there, the train was, but no one else. As Kris and I got on it was like stepping into a storybook. Guards were tied up and being held hostage by a group of teens and two adults. We looked at them, raised our weapons to attack, but one of them recognized me and stopped.
"It's you, the kid from Deling with the gunblade, the one that nearly killed me when you ran out of the hotel, you live here?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"My dad was one of the revolutionaries from your father's time, he was with lady Rinoa. When I heard what happened, my friends and I got together and decided to put an end to it..where are you going?"
"Timber and then Deling."
This last bit was from Kris, she would have said more, but one of the guards had gotten free and attacked her. With six people at his throat in an instant, he let her go pretty quick. I asked the Timber Owls (resurrecting an old name for a new cause) to take us to Timber and help Kris get the remaining SeeDs out of the city, I could deal with the rest myself. They agreed and we had a small army on our side now.
Timber was trashed, the dead had just been left where they had fallen, the soldiers and monsters were still patrolling the streets. It took some effort to get to the little house where they were all hiding without being noticed; we managed but probably hadn't if Irvine hadn't grabbed us both after we were thoroughly lost. He and the others had moved into the old radio tower because it was easier to hide there. We were battered and bruised, but ok overall.
The Timber Owls told the injured what they intended to do and since the train was under their command, there was no real problem that would keep them from being caught. Irvine was still there, he was determined to go with me until I told him that he has to go with his daughter, I didn't see Selphie in the infirmary and he should go find his wife. To that he agreed. Zach nearly killed me when we told what a spectacle Zell had put on to get us out of there, until I threatened to really scar him and that shut him up pretty quick.
Randall was giving me the cold shoulder, not that I really blamed him, but after the first few hours it was annoying.
"What is wrong with you, Randall?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! The Garden was attacked, nearly everyone is dead, the SeeDs are gone and you dare to ask me what's wrong? God I hate you. You're so damned thick sometimes."
"And you aren't? You think that just because your father is Seifer Almasy, the jerk off of Balamb Garden and now the Law of the Garden, you can do whatever you please with no account to anyone else."
"And Squall is any better? He's an asshole, and treats everyone like scum, even his wife! I can't believe that you and I were friends once, what was wrong with me?"
I didn't want to fight with him right then and dropped into a crouched position, staring at the ground.
"Randall, we can't fight like this now, I need you to come with me. We are not our parents; we have to do this before..."
He had his back to me, I heard him but it sounded like he was so far away and hiding from something. He turned and tapped the dull edge of his gunblade on my back, making my body go rigid. I straightened up and looked at him, he smirked and shook his head.
"You are stubborn and determined, but your right. We can't fight like this now, we can kill one another in the end if you like, but at the moment we have an old sorceress to fry and her little scum bucket that is ordering our deaths."
So I had help now, we don't like one another, but it didn't really matter at the moment, if even one of us could find that man and kill him and destroy whatever way it was that She was coming back then it was over.
Randall and I watched solemnly as Kris and the Timber Owls took the injured, Irvine with Amanda in his arms, back to the train, back to whatever was left of our home. I had never wanted to cry so much as right then, but I didn't, this was no time for that. He and I left Timber then and walked slowly along the road to Deling City. It took three days to walk there; it was a long way on foot.
When we got there, the city was lit up like a Christmas tree for some parade celebrating the death of the Sorceress and her knight. Of course, neither had died, but that's what the people were told. He and I looked at one another and sighed, pushing our way to the Hotel and getting a room. We wouldn't be staying in it, but it helped to cover some tracks if we needed a place to sleep and likely we would eventually. I was not looking forward to this next part of the ordeal, there was always something at could go wrong and most likely would. We were only two guys, I wasn't so sure that we could do this, but knew that we had to try.
I lay down after a time, determined to get some sleep, though what rest I did was tormented with dreams and nightmares of things that I has no way of knowing. I was restless, but the sleep I received was enough to hold me till Timber at least.
Kris was up in another hour, changing from a skirt to a pair of pants and dressing like a man. When I asked why she bopped me on the head and said it was so if we were caught the soldiers wouldn't take advantage of her. Zell laughed and went right along with his business of trying to find a way to distract the soldiers long enough to get the two of us hidden well. Getting back off the train would be our job, but we would have plenty of time to figure it out on the way there. When we were ready I signaled him with a flick of my wrist and he walked out to the middle of the crowd of soldiers and started yelling at them like only Zell can. As they were distracted by his antics, Kris and I snuck through the town the railway station. Surprisingly, there was no one there, the train was, but no one else. As Kris and I got on it was like stepping into a storybook. Guards were tied up and being held hostage by a group of teens and two adults. We looked at them, raised our weapons to attack, but one of them recognized me and stopped.
"It's you, the kid from Deling with the gunblade, the one that nearly killed me when you ran out of the hotel, you live here?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"My dad was one of the revolutionaries from your father's time, he was with lady Rinoa. When I heard what happened, my friends and I got together and decided to put an end to it..where are you going?"
"Timber and then Deling."
This last bit was from Kris, she would have said more, but one of the guards had gotten free and attacked her. With six people at his throat in an instant, he let her go pretty quick. I asked the Timber Owls (resurrecting an old name for a new cause) to take us to Timber and help Kris get the remaining SeeDs out of the city, I could deal with the rest myself. They agreed and we had a small army on our side now.
Timber was trashed, the dead had just been left where they had fallen, the soldiers and monsters were still patrolling the streets. It took some effort to get to the little house where they were all hiding without being noticed; we managed but probably hadn't if Irvine hadn't grabbed us both after we were thoroughly lost. He and the others had moved into the old radio tower because it was easier to hide there. We were battered and bruised, but ok overall.
The Timber Owls told the injured what they intended to do and since the train was under their command, there was no real problem that would keep them from being caught. Irvine was still there, he was determined to go with me until I told him that he has to go with his daughter, I didn't see Selphie in the infirmary and he should go find his wife. To that he agreed. Zach nearly killed me when we told what a spectacle Zell had put on to get us out of there, until I threatened to really scar him and that shut him up pretty quick.
Randall was giving me the cold shoulder, not that I really blamed him, but after the first few hours it was annoying.
"What is wrong with you, Randall?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! The Garden was attacked, nearly everyone is dead, the SeeDs are gone and you dare to ask me what's wrong? God I hate you. You're so damned thick sometimes."
"And you aren't? You think that just because your father is Seifer Almasy, the jerk off of Balamb Garden and now the Law of the Garden, you can do whatever you please with no account to anyone else."
"And Squall is any better? He's an asshole, and treats everyone like scum, even his wife! I can't believe that you and I were friends once, what was wrong with me?"
I didn't want to fight with him right then and dropped into a crouched position, staring at the ground.
"Randall, we can't fight like this now, I need you to come with me. We are not our parents; we have to do this before..."
He had his back to me, I heard him but it sounded like he was so far away and hiding from something. He turned and tapped the dull edge of his gunblade on my back, making my body go rigid. I straightened up and looked at him, he smirked and shook his head.
"You are stubborn and determined, but your right. We can't fight like this now, we can kill one another in the end if you like, but at the moment we have an old sorceress to fry and her little scum bucket that is ordering our deaths."
So I had help now, we don't like one another, but it didn't really matter at the moment, if even one of us could find that man and kill him and destroy whatever way it was that She was coming back then it was over.
Randall and I watched solemnly as Kris and the Timber Owls took the injured, Irvine with Amanda in his arms, back to the train, back to whatever was left of our home. I had never wanted to cry so much as right then, but I didn't, this was no time for that. He and I left Timber then and walked slowly along the road to Deling City. It took three days to walk there; it was a long way on foot.
When we got there, the city was lit up like a Christmas tree for some parade celebrating the death of the Sorceress and her knight. Of course, neither had died, but that's what the people were told. He and I looked at one another and sighed, pushing our way to the Hotel and getting a room. We wouldn't be staying in it, but it helped to cover some tracks if we needed a place to sleep and likely we would eventually. I was not looking forward to this next part of the ordeal, there was always something at could go wrong and most likely would. We were only two guys, I wasn't so sure that we could do this, but knew that we had to try.