Chapter VIII: Save the Queen

After everyone at Balamb Garden went to sleep, Zell decided to get out of bed and have a little workout in the training center. He had gotten enough sleep; he was knocked out by Seifer and was lucky enough to have Seifer's pity - a rare thing, especially towards SeeD cadets. Zell carefully got out of bed, making sure not to awaken Rinoa. He stopped for a moment, admiring at the blissful look of peace on her face. After he snapped out of his daydream, he picked up Lionheart and locked the sheath onto his belt, making his way out of his dorm and through the halls. As he walked through the hall leading to the main center of Garden, amongst the many sounds of the night, crickets chirping, the occasional hoot of an owl, he heard motors. This wasn't extremely surprising, however. Garden was, after all, docked beside Fisherman's Horizon, and who knew what kind of weird things happened there. Shrugging it off, Zell continued to make his way to the Training Center. Making his way in, he almost immediately came in contact with the most notorious monster in the Training Center: a T- Rexaur. Reaching his right arm over to the left side of his waist, he placed his gloved hand on the hilt of his gunblade, pulling it from the sheath, letting the metal ring. The T-Rexaur turned and whipped at Zell with its tail, but Zell, reacting quickly, leaped backwards, and arched his back, placing the palms of his hands on the ground, doing a backflip. As he landed and was just about to counterattack, he heard a cry for help. His eyes widened as he placed the voice: "Rinoa!" he yelled out in surprise and fury.

Turning and running from his battle, he headed towards his dormitory, sprinting down the halls as fast as his legs could carry him. Slamming the door to his dormitory open, he heard motors revving once again. Rinoa wasn't on her place in the bed. The doors to his balcony had been opened and wind stir caused the curtains to lift. Dashing to the balcony, he looked out just in time to see a car begin to pull out of Fisherman's Horizon, Raijin driving, Fujin in the shotgun passenger seat, and Seifer holding his gunblade against Rinoa's neck in the back seat. He heard another cry of help from Rinoa, barely distinguishable over the sound of the motor, and heard it fade as the car disappeared into the night.

Infuriated and frustrated, Zell forced himself to keep his cool. This was one situation he had to handle on his own, but he needed more equipment than just some gloves and a gunblade. Making his way through the halls of the dorm areas once again, he slowly opened the door to the dorm in which Irvine slept, making as little noise as possible as he grabbed the first rifle he could find; Irvine's second best rifle, Bismarck. Leaving, he also stopped by Quistis' room and took up her whip, Save the Queen. He smiled to himself as he thought about the name. "That's exactly what I'm about to do," he said to himself. "Save my queen." Making his way out of Garden and into Fisherman's Horizon, he allowed to himself to lose his cool again now that nobody he knew was going to hear him. Cursing, he mounted a motorcycle and revved the engines, blasting off down the bridge, the wind from his speed causing the portion of his hair that naturally stood up to blow down against the rest of his hair. Pushing the motorcycle to its limit, he was a blur to everything that kept still. At his speeds of almost 200 mph, he kept in a straight-line path as much as possible, knowing that a change of direction too hard could hurl him off the bike from momentum. As Galbadia Garden came into view, he slammed the throttle and afterburner, shooting off the incline towards the entrance of the Garden, again abandoning his bike and leaping off, but there was no cry of enjoyment this time. Seifer had kidnapped Rinoa, and probably wouldn't hesitate to kill her if that was what it took to pull Zell and his SeeD companions apart, or at least into depression, allowing him time to pick them off one by one.

Landing at the entrance to G-Garden, he stood still for a moment and let his adrenaline level calm itself. Pulling out Bismarck, he spun it in his hands to get the feel of the rifle. He kept a collection of rifles in his room all the time; old rifles given to him by distant relatives. He knew how to handle it and how to take the recoil. Loading it full with Armor Piercing ammo, he kept it in his right hand, just in case.

G-Garden, again, had changed. There were still no monsters, but apparently Seifer had hired Galbadian soldiers to keep him safe. Once Zell realized this, he groaned slightly to himself. "Great, so now I'm an espionage agent with a cause." Making his way through the hallways as quietly as possible, he slowly approached a turn in the hallway. Pressing his back against the wall, he inched towards the gap in the wall where he could continue his way towards Seifer. Taking a quick glance past the wall to take a brief view of what it was like with guards everywhere, he pulled his head back behind the wall and sighed, shaking his head. "Seifer's definitely not wanting guests this time of day, I guess." Taking a deep breath, he locked Irvine's old rifle, Bismarck. "Okay Zell. Be careful. There's guards all over the place, and-" He stopped talking for a moment, thinking. "What the hell am I talking about? I'm Zell, for crying out loud! I don't take precautions.!" Zell quickly unloaded the Armor Piercing ammo and locked in Normal Ammo. He grinned, his eyes brightening with renewed vigor. Spinning the rifle, he did a quick jump out move from behind the wall and aimed at the closest guard to him, pulling back the trigger and sending the bullet, a wad of burning metal, straight at the guard's stomach. He heard a groan and watched the guard collapse to the ground.

Zell had blown his cover, but he didn't care. Quickly running down the hall, he held his arm straight out, sending bullets flying. Several Galbadian riflemen shot after him, but Zell was stealthy; he always was. He quickly spun 180 degrees, now running backwards, facing the riflemen that were shooting at him. Jumping upwards, he lifted his right leg upwards and held his arm under it, sending off bullets at the riflemen, striking each squarely in the chest. Pulling his arm back into the regular position, he landed, turning to his right side so that he was facing the side that he hadn't covered while running in. Doing a no-hands cartwheel, he shot at the remaining guards. Landing on both feet, he lifted up his left hand, covered in his brawling glove, to return the front of his hair to its naturally standing up position. He smirked, walking forward casually towards the other side of the room, but then suddenly heard footsteps. Quickly regaining his prior stealthy nature, he sprinted to the wall next to the hallway he heard the footsteps coming from. He saw another Galbadian guard step into the hallway, listening to him curse under his breath as he saw each soldier dead. Zell quickly took this opportunity to leap against him, slamming him to the ground as he pulled Bismarck against his head.

"Where is Seifer keeping Rinoa!?" Zell yelled out in a fury. The guard, petrified of losing his life like the guards that were in the room, quickly blurted out, to the best of his ability, "S-S-Seifer's, w-waiting in the c- conference room!" Zell nodded. Holding out his hands, he closed his eyes and whispered out softly, "Draw: Cast Break!" Slowly, he watched as the guard's body began to solidify into stone. Zell smiled a little "Don't worry, I'll be back and I'll bring you out of it as soon as I'm done here." He smirked as he ran off through the center square, and up a flight of stairs as he approached the doors. Sliding one bullet of Armor Piercing ammo into Bismarck, he aimed at the door and pulled the trigger forcefully, letting the bullet slam into the door and force it to crumble into several thousand pieces. He heard Rinoa scream, and, as the smoke cleared, could clearly see Seifer sitting on the couch, holding a horrified Rinoa captive, with a gunblade against her neck.

"Well well, Zell. It's about time you came like the knight in shining armor you're supposed to be." Seifer smirked, pressing the gunblade a bit harder against Rinoa's neck. Zell's eyes burned with rage as he held out Bismarck, aiming it directly at Seifer's head. "Let her go! Now!" Seifer pulled Rinoa in front of him, standing up now. He placed Rinoa's head directly in front of hers. "Shoot, Zell! I dare you to!" narrowing his eyes, Zell curled his lips in anger. Doing a quick no-hands cartwheel to his right, he shot down near Seifer's leg, missing on purpose. Seifer yelled out, not expecting Zell to miss. Seifer turned around, letting Rinoa go in surprise. Zell, seizing his chance, lunged at Seifer, tackling him to the ground. He yelled out as he held Seifer down "Rinoa! Go! Don't worry about me!" He laid a fierce punch into the left cheek of Seifer's face with his right hand. Seifer, reaching to Zell's collar with his right hand, grabbed a handful of it and twisted it, pulling Zell's face closer to his. "Oh, I'd worry if I were her. Because this place is rigged with enough explosives to blow it out of the sky." Rinoa cried out and began to run down the halls. Zell, pulling back from Seifer's grasp, picked up Seifer and hurled him against a wall, laying another strong punch into his stomach. He turned around and sprinted hard, as he heard a click from Seifer's direction and an explosion immediately following. Zell, regardless, continued to run as hard as his legs would carry him. He heard Rinoa cry out as they reached the center square, which was the first thing to go as a result of the explosives. As huge portions of the walls continued to burst, Zell turned around, hearing Seifer running after him with gunblade drawn.

Thinking quickly, Zell pulled out Quistis' whip, Save the Queen. He turned around so that his back faced Seifer, looking out quickly around the room. Spotting a low-hanging light bar in the middle of the ceiling, he instantly snapped the whip at the bar, yelling out "Hang on, Rinoa!" Rinoa quickly turned around and grabbed onto Zell, watching Seifer come closer at an incredible rate, holding Zell tightly as he jumped. Zell felt the force of a swing of Seifer's gunblade through the air, and heard the back of his jacket rip. Fortunately, Zell and Rinoa were already moving through the hall. As they swung through the air amidst burning smoke and flames from explosions, Zell turned around and unleashed a huge salvo of bullets with Bismarck. "Here's a little somethin' that my friend Laguna likes to call Desperado!" he felt the whip loosen as the reached the other side, and he landed on the edge of the hallway with both feet, coiling the whip back up. Lifting Rinoa off her feet and carrying her, he sprinted down the hall and leapt out the entrance, sending the two of them plummeting through the air as he yelled out "Draw: Cast Float!" their fall gradually slowed and brought them to the ground at an easier rate. Landing, Rinoa threw her arms around Zell as the magnificent building in the sky crumbled under its own influence and blew up one last time in a magnificent explosion.