28 – Save Our Souls
Rinoa's wings beat forcefully through the air, allowing her the power of flight with the grace of an elegant dove.
She usually loved going out for a fly – it was the most exhilarating experience she had ever encountered in her life, plus it made it very easy to get from one place to the other. Not only that, because of her Sorceress powers, she could choose how fast she was going, the strength of her wings depending on the wattage of energy she produced.
Right now she didn't dawdle, pulling out all the stops to get to the Sollet Mountains. She stole a quick glance at the mobile tracking unit that she borrowed off Selphie for a second, before dipping her wings, allowing her to hurtle to the ground at immense speeds.
Reaching a decent altitude, she began to pick her way through the mountains, flitting from one canyon to the other, trying to find an opening, some form of human life, anything.
Checking the unit once more, she looked down at the red rocks under her feet. She was almost right on top of him – or at least where he had put his gun.
She had hoped to find the front door, and work her way in from there – but it looked like she was going to have to get dirty.
Tossing the unit to the side, she flew up higher, giving herself a little distance – before holding an elegant finger to her forehead. She only needed to draw a little power. Cutting through sheer rock didn't need all that much power.
Finished with the draw, she pointed at the ground. There was a flash, before carnage ensued.
* * *
Selphie jumped in her seat, making the Ragnarok rock a little as she regained the controls. "Hyne!" She squeaked as a little mushroom cloud rose over the horizon. "What the hell was that?!"
* * *
Irvine looked up as the room they battled within trembled, dust falling from the ceiling as the light flickered. "What the hell was that?!"
The gunfire started up again, and Irvine returned fire as best he could, using the Vincent's now, having expended the shotgun ammo five minutes ago. He had even resorted to using some special ammo, whimpering as he slammed the clips into the Vincent's and chambering the rounds. These bullets were expensive.
Two men fell, their chests bursting into flame as the Fire Ammo blew them off their feet and into other soldiers. One man stood, casting Fira, the great gout of flame blowing over the cabinet, Irvine having to wrap his fireproof coat over both Zell and himself to save from getting cooked. When the attacker was finished, Irvine popped back up and blew him away, as well as several of his comrades.
Irvine was now bleeding from several shots to the shoulders, one more on his hip when he accidentally dropped the shotgun over the edge of the cabinet. His fedora was also full of holes, his head only barely missed by the bullets as they created more ventilation holes within the leather. He doffed the hat and looked at it sadly, before throwing it up into the air. When it came down it was no more then a shredded piece of leather.
"Well Zell…" Irvine muttered, popping the clips for his Vincent's and allowing them to fall amongst all the others around him, the empty metal clips clattering into the scattered brass shells. "…Last clips. Let's make em count, huh? Although I think it won't make much different…I've blasted hundreds of rounds at these pricks…and they just keep coming…" He shrugged. "Fuck it."
Flicking back up, the twenty-four bullets that his guns spewed cut down twenty-four men. He ducked back down, only pausing to watch as twenty-four men came out of two separate doorways to reinforce the group of soldiers.
"Shit! They must have a couple of medics sitting in the wings, just waiting to be passed another dead guy!!" Irvine grunted to the unconscious Zell. He sat on his ass behind the very battered cabinet, resting his back on it and feeling the vibrations as more bullets smacked into it. "Well, old friend, it's been nice knowing you." He said, giving the cabinet a soft pat. "You served me well…too friggin well."
The gunfire finally slowed, Irvine hearing several men move forward. Without his guns, Irvine knew he might be able to take down at least four or five before being cut to ribbons…but at least he would go down fighting.
He grasped Zell's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Seeya round, man. Hopefully you'll visit my grave, or some soppy crap like that. Tell Selphie I love her…"
He slowly stood then, his back to the soldiers, the empty guns in his hands. "Alright boys. Who wants some?" He asked, turning slowly…
…Before the roof simply blew.
* * *
Irvine managed to pick himself up off the floor to see something with wings come down from the big hole in the roof, framed by the light, as if it was some kind of heavenly body.
The room seemed to stop. The Defecting Soldiers all stood like statues, watching as the heavenly figure flew down form the sky, the sunlight bouncing off it's long black hair, the wings beating way too slowly to have any real effect for flight. "Hyne…it's an angel…" One soldier said wistfully, the man walking forward and looking up at the beautiful girl as she raised her hands, her eyes opening to blaze a white light.
The words that entered their minds chilled them to the bone. The Angel of Death.
The word she screamed destroyed them. Her hands raised, Rinoa opened her mouth, the word whispered by her, but screamed to everybody else. "THUNDER!!"
Irvine immediately took cover, throwing himself on top of Zell and covering him with his coat as Rinoa's hands suddenly spluttered into life, blue electricity lacing out and frying anything that it came into contact with. The soldiers, carrying big metal guns, had no hope, and the lightening traced throughout the room, blasting chunks out of the walls, literally blasting men apart, and generally wiping out the soldiers in one cast.
When the dust and mists of blood settled, Irvine poked his head up from his cover. "Like to make an entrance, don't you Rin?"
Irvine!! You're yourself again!! Rinoa pulsed happily, her wings flapping as she flew over to the cabinet, the Sorceress crouching down on top of it, the Angel Of Death disappearing to be replaced with the bubbly personality of Rinoa. She looked down at him with her white smoking eyes. You're hurt…
"Hey, I'll be fine. Just a few flesh wounds. How about helping the hero here? He's taken a lot of pain, ya know?"
Rinoa stepped lightly off the cabinet, landing just beside Zell. She winced as Irvine drew his coat off Zell's body. The bullet wound, the beatings, and the electrocution…it made his whole body seem like one big bruise. His heads lay in a puddle of his own blood, and his bullet wound bled freely.
Poor thing… Rinoa pulsed sadly, placing a hand on his sweat covered face and brushing some of the blood off his tattoo. You've suffered too much…
It was over in an instant, Zell's body seeming to change from a purple colour to his normal tan. The bleeding from his nose and mouth stopped, and the bullet wound closed in on itself, the only thing remaining a round scar.
Zell opened his eyes, blinked once, and sat up. "Hyne…what the hell happened?" He saw Rinoa in her Sorceress form and raised his eyebrows. "Oh…"
"You're alive, man!!" Irvine said, slapping him on the shoulder. "I thought you were dead!!"
He was. I had to use a Full Life to revive him. Rinoa pulsed. You've been dead for almost half an hour, Zell. You're aura is incredible.
"Thanks Rin…but right now we have business to take care of." Zell muttered, standing. "Deling and Sam have gone to kill off Laguna! We need to make sure that that doesn't happen. If Laguna and Justice are both dead…"
Justice isn't dead. Rinoa pulsed happily, smiling. He survived because of Ma. She managed to cast a Life on him before paramedics arrived. There was a giggling sound within Zell and Irvine's minds, before Rinoa pointed at Zell.
Zell looked down, suddenly realising that his pants were still undone. He quickly zipped his fly and buckled his belt as he shook his head. "Ma…But they're still going after Laguna!!"
Laguna's on board the Ragnarok. He's with Squall and Selphie. He's safe with them.
Zell rolled his eyes. "Hyne, is everybody one step ahead of me these days?!"
Kind of. Now, lets get going. Selphie will be here soon. Rinoa pulsed, standing and placing a hand on Irvine's head, his wounds fully healed. Her bright, smoking eyes blinked suddenly, and she took a wavering step back as her hand left Irvine's head.
The two SeeDs watched, confused and shocked, as Rinoa's wings began to retract, the feathers moulting at a ridiculous rate, until they finally disappeared into her back, the only remnants the tonne of feathers around them and two large holes torn in the back of her blue cardigan, where the white wings were supposed to be sewn in.
She looked up, her blazing white eyes now replaced with her usual green ones. "Dammit!" She muttered, slamming her tiny fist into the ground. "I must've expended too much energy getting here."
Zell smiled, tucking his bloody shirt into his pants. "Don't worry, Rin. We'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way." He made sure that the Ehrgiez Gloves were tight on his fists, before turning to Irvine. "You ready to rock?"
"Lemme grab some stuff first…" Irvine said, picking up his shotgun. "Guard this with your life, Rin." He muttered, handing it over to her before walking over to the closest solider and beginning to rifle through his pockets.
"'Gee…thanks for saving my life, Rinoa! Oh, it was no problem, guys, you would have done the same…'" Rinoa muttered to herself sarcastically, following the SeeDs as they began to make their through the complex.
* * *
Squall looked down at the tracking unit. "They're supposed to be down there." He said, pointing down at the gaping hole in the ground. "Rinoa must've blasted a hole in the ground to get to them. Probably couldn't be bothered finding the front door."
"So…what? Do we follow her lead?" Selphie asked. "I don't think I'll be able to get the Ragnarok down there…but I'll try if you want me to!!"
"No! No, don't try! Please don't try!!" Laguna cried, running forward and patting Selphie on the shoulder. "I think we'd better find the front door, what do you think?"
"I'd rather go down the hole…but if that's what you want, Sir Laguna!!"
"Where would it be, thought…" Squall muttered to himself, scanning the area. There doesn't seem to be any tire or takeoff tracks on the ground…maybe the entrance is somewhere further in the mountains?
"This might be completely irrelevant, guys, but what's that?" Angel asked suddenly, pointing at a speck in the distance, her finger resting on the window.
Laguna waked over and pressed a button on the rim of the window, the window suddenly zooming in like a camera to focus on the fingerprint on the window. "That, my dear, is a cave…" He paused. "A cave with several armed guards." He paused again. "A cave with several armed Estharian guards!!"
"Is that our destination, Laguna?" Squall asked.
"I haven't authorised any patrols out this far, so I'd say so!" The older man balled his fists, the Desperado slung over his shoulder just inches from his hands. "Traitors in my own army…damn them! I'll show them discipline!!"
Squall placed a hand on Selphie's shoulder. "Go there." He said, pointing at the cave.
* * *
A thunderous kick smashed opened another metal door, and Zell poked his head around the corner.
Nothing but corridor.
He retrieved his head and turned back to the others, Rinoa waiting patiently, Irvine scavenging more ammo off the dead guards they just wiped out. "Dammit! You could have thought they might have left something useful out, like a map or something." Zell spat, disgusted.
Rinoa ran her fingers through her long black hair. "Tell me about it. We've been walking around here for about ten minutes, and I'm already fed up with the place. What's with the colour of the walls? How boring!"
Irvine smirked, standing up and reloading the uzi he had grabbed off one of he dead guards. "It's to keep the soldiers in a foul mood. Little thing, really, but the little things count." He pulled the lever back on the top of the small sub-machine gun. "Being the daughter of a Galbadian general, you ought to know."
Rinoa would have crossed her arms, but she continued to carry the heavy shotgun. "I went to live in Timber as soon as I could to get away from that man. And how can you carry this thing around all the time! It weighs a tonne!!"
Zell chuckled – before turning suddenly, sensing the guards before they turned the corner. A sharp cry of "There they are!" was cut off by the blurt of a sub-machine gun and a Fire blast.
Zell turned to the others. "There must be enough guys in here to make an army! So here's what we're going to do – find some dude, and beat the directions out of him."
Rinoa smiled evilly. "Sounds good to me."
Irvine shrugged, his tone one of boredom. "As long as I get to see sunlight again, I'm cool with that."
* * *
Ten soldiers guarded the entrance of the base. Having just gotten a report that the prisoner had escaped, they faced inwards, their orders to shoot anybody who came running up.
So far they had shot five of their own. Cowardice wasn't an option.
So intent were they at guarding the entrance that they didn't see the large red dragon fly in from the evening sky, the sound of the turbines the only warning they got before the Ragnarok flew into the cave, startling the daylights out of them.
Within the cockpit, Laguna gripped the edge of his seat, just imagining the price of repairs as Selphie accidentally scraped into the rocky ceiling – again – and flipped on the mega speaker. "Hiya!! Throw down your guns, or I'm going to have to shoot you!!" She said, her cute voice echoing around the cave.
As if to punctuate the point, two miniguns unfolded from the belly of the beast, the long barrels each the size of a man. "Please?" Selphie asked sweetly.
The men reluctantly threw down their weapons and raised their hands, utterly defeated.
"Good work, Selphie." Squall said, patting the slight girl on the shoulder. "You stay here with Angel. Laguna and me are going to go down to find the others."
Angel stood angrily. "Hey! Why do I have to stay here?!" she asked furiously.
"Because I need someone with experience." Squall said. He wasn't being harsh, he was only telling the truth. "And besides, I think Laguna will be of more use with me then with Selphie. He'd probably have an aneurism if she told him all the things she does to the Ragnarok."
"What?!" Laguna said with a start, jumping to his feet and following Squall over to the lift. "What did you say? What does she do? Squall, tell me…"
And then they were gone.
Angel threw herself into the co-pilot chair, crossing her arms and pouting. Selphie stole a glance at her from her vigilant guarding of the soldiers. "Believe me, honey, I'd rather be going down there to find my sweetie too. But Squall is just looking out for us. That's all."
"I just don't get it. He's going down to find Rinoa, not Zell or Irvine."
Selphie smiled. "You haven't been around him long enough. Squall thinks about everyone. It's one of his worst attributes. He's always worrying about everybody else. Believe me, it's better for him to be concentrating on find Rinoa and guarding Laguna then having to guard two panicky girlfriends too."
Angel wrapped her arms around herself, drawing her knees upon her chest. "How can you be so calm at a time like this?" She whispered, before looking over at Selphie.
Her small hands were trembling slightly on the controls of the Ragnarok, a small bead of sweat cutting a trail down her passive face. "I'm calm?" Selphie whispered back, almost to herself. "I don't know about that…"
Angel sighed. This is what Zell has to go through. This is the trouble he puts himself into all the time. That's why he's always so protective whenever we go out places, why he always fusses over the time we spend together. Because the next time he goes out on a mission, he might not come back…no matter how good he is. Zell…come back to me.
* * *
Back inside the base, Zell smashed another fist into another soldier's facemask, causing him to go flying into and through a wall. He looked down at his fist in surprise, before shrugging. "Don't know my own strength…" He muttered, twisting around and flicking his boot into another man's chest, annihilating the sternum and making his ribs cave in, killing the man instantly.
Irvine let off a slavo of bullets at a bunch of soldiers running up the corridor, and turned his head to Zell slightly. "Why do these guys all look the same? You think they'd have different ranks or something like that."
Rinoa jumped with surprise as a soldier suddenly burst from a ventilation duct, and swung the heavy shotgun at him, smashing his faceplate and his skull, killing him instantly. "What I'd like to know is why their armour sucks. What are they in, paper-mache?"
Zell shrugged, slapping aside the barrel of a gun and stabbing out with a hand, his fingers going for the throat, cutting the windpipe without breaking the skin. "Just your bog-standard grunts, I suppose." He said, lifting the body up off the ground and using it to block some incoming fire, before tossing the bullet riddled corpse at the attackers, bowling them over. "Don't even deserve proper armour. It's probably there for peace of mind."
Walking over to the pile of men that he had just knocked over, he kicked the head of one in, then ripped the gun off another and smashed the butt into his head, making the weapon jut out of his skull as the body fell backwards. The third soldier simply lay there, quivering in his BDUs as Zell turned to him with a grin. "Now then, buddy. You're going to tell us where we need to go to get out of here, or I'll send you to Hyne like the rest of these idiots."
The man nodded violently.
* * *
Squall and Laguna stepped off the Ragnarok, walking off the main ramp to run into the ten guards huddling in front of the main guns for the giant airship.
Four gulped as Laguna walked up to them. "P-President Laguna! Wha-what are you doing here?!" One stuttered as Laguna walked up to him, Desperado in hand, jaw set.
"Remove your helmet, soldier!"
The man did as he was ordered, and Laguna stepped right up to him, studying his face…before head butting him, knocking him out cold. Laguna stepped back, training the Desperado at the rest of the guards. "Now! Tell us where to go down and we'll let you live!"
One guard, obviously Galbadian, stepped forward. "You wont get anything from us, old man…" Was all he got out before a shimmering blue blade sang out, decapitating the man in an instant.
Squall flicked the blade left and right, loosening his wrist. "Anybody else want to be a hero?" He asked.
One man stepped forward, before being cut down by Laguna's machinegun.
"Anybody else?"
The guards collectively shook their heads.
"Then tell us what we need to know."
* * *
"No, he said this way!"
"Zell, I think I know where I'm going!!"
"But Rinoa, that path is leading back down! He said we have to keep taking the paths that go up!"
"How do you know? That arm lock you had him in would have had him saying he was Hyne if you told him to!!"
"Dammit, it's called the Negotiator for a reason!!"
Irvine looked between his two bickering friends and sighed, with a smile, shaking his head. "Guys, guys, the more we argue, the more Deling and Sam get away. Let's just choose and go, alright?"
Zell blew his breath out irritatingly. "Fine. Paper-scissors-rock." He said, lifting his fist.
Rinoa lifted her fist. The shook them three times, before suddenly showing what they had.
"Ha! I win!!" Rinoa said with glee, lifting her 'scissors' in a peace sign, waggling it in Zell's face.
"That's not fair! You can read minds!!" Zell whined, but Rinoa was already leading the way.
Irvine shook his head sadly. "Hyne, help me…"
* * *
Laguna looked inside the room, before ducking back out. "Three soldiers, all waiting in front of a door. I think they're going to jump it."
Squall nodded. "Ok, here's what I want you to do…" He said at thin air as Laguna suddenly rolled into the room, the sound of his Desperado rattling off .45 calibre bullets punctuated by three thumps on the floor.
"Ha! I still got it!!" Laguna cried.
Squall simply face-palmed and walked into the room.
* * *
Zell kicked down another door and looked at the carnage within the hallway. "Ha! See! We're back to where we caught that guy! I'd remember that gun sticking out of that dudes head anywhere!"
Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll backtrack."
Irvine, walking faster to catch up with them, turned quickly and began to walk back the way they came as both Rinoa and Zell began to come back up the hallway, Zell with a happy look on his face, Rinoa with a scowl.
* * *
"Wait, Laguna!!" Squall said suddenly, causing the sneaking Laguna to stop in his tracks.
The two men paused, listening.
"What do you mean, you're always right!!"
"I guessed the way right, and I also guessed most of Deling's plan, whilst under torture I might add! I'm just saying I'm smarter then you think I am!"
"…You're stupider then I think you are…"
"Hey! Deling said I was a lot smarter then I get credit for! He ought to know! He's an evil genius!"
"Deling wouldn't know a smart person if you picked one up and stuffed it up his ass!!"
"Rinoa! How un-lady like!!"
"You want to see how un-lady like I can get, Irvine?!"
Squall opened the door then, smashing it into Zell and causing him to fall over unceremoniously. He looked out around the doorway and saw a very annoyed Zell rubbing his nose on the floor, a angry-turning-elated Rinoa holding Irvine's shotgun, and a very shocked and confused Irvine training duel Uzi's at his friend and Commander.
Rinoa dropped the shotgun on Zell and ran to Squall, crash-tackling him to the ground in happiness. "Squall!!" She squealed as he skidded along the ground.
Irvine lowered his guns, muttering to himself. "Oh thank the gods. If I had to listen to their bickering for much longer…"
Zell stood, rubbing his belly from where Rinoa dropped the heavy shotgun, and rubbing his face from where Squall smashed him with the door. "Don't start with me, Irvine."
Laguna poked his head around the door. "Hey guys. Time to go, I think."
* * *
A light chapter before the action begins, I think.
Wow! Am I on a roll, or what? Two chapters in one day!! Excellent!!
