Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds
Chapter 5 - Questioned Actions
By: Fat Zombie
It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything will be just fine, everything will be all right.
It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything will be just fine, everything will be all right.
Taken form Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
The Ragnorok circled around the antenna and dropped down the side of the hill. Nida lowered the ship down onto the slope as he saw Seifer carrying Quistis towards the ship. The Ragnarok touched down and sat at an angle on the hill. As Nida opened the cargo bay door, the Ragnarok began to slide down the hill and Nida had to take off to avoid disaster. He looked down at Seifer, who frowned back impatiently. Out of desperation Nida sent the ship sideways and smashed it into the hill, accidentally but conveniently lodging it between the hill and a boulder. Seifer jumped onto the ship, quickly followed by the rest of the SeeDs.
"Nida GO" shouted Zell into his mouthpiece. "MOVE IT NOW".
"Seifer, take her to the briefing room on the second floor" said Squall, something not quite detectable in his tone.
Seifer moved quickly up the steps. It was one of those rare moments when he didn't question Squall's words. He ran into the briefing room and set Quistis down on the floor.
"How is she?" came Nida's anxious voice across the Ragnarok's intercom. Selphie was checking her over as Nida asked.
"Not good" she replied. "There's nothing we can do here. You gotta get back to Garden quick".
"Okay" Nida replied. "Listen, hang on to something. Tight".
The group braced themselves against the chairs on the briefing room, making sure to keep hold of Quistis at the same time. An electronic hum became barely audible, and the SeeDs looked around in confusion. As the noise got louder, Selphie's grip on one of the chairs got tighter. The volume of the hum rose so that it was the only thing that could be heard, then the group felt what they thought was an explosion. Suddenly the Ragnorok accelerated rapidly, Zell almost losing his grip.
* * * *
Two cadets were sat in the hanger/garage of Balamb Garden cleaning the vehicles. They were at this moment recollecting the events of earlier, and eventually came to the conclusion that aiming solely for their instructor in the cafeteria food fight was a bad idea. Getting caught was an even worse move, seeing as it wasn't even themselves that started the whole commotion. In fact, they didn't know who had started it.
Outside the large rolling door of the room a distant roar could be heard, gradually getting louder. The two young cadets looked at each other confusedly, then looked at the door. Eventually the roar became louder than they could bare, and both covered their ears. They now looked at each other in a somewhat panicked fashion.
Suddenly the large door of the hanger burst open, the Ragnorok crashing through. The two cadets stood up and leaped towards the side of the room, crawling to one of the walls and pressing their backs up against it. The Ragnorok piled through the row of cars, all just recently cleaned by the cadets. Sparks flew in every direction as the ship touched down and slid, coming to a sudden stop as it hit the back wall of the hanger. The cargo door creaked and jolted, only managing to get itself half-open before the hydraulics gave up and expired with a pressurised hiss.
Squall jumped out from the cargo bay, looking back up to the door above. Seifer stood up in his field of view, holding Quistis. He passed her down to Squall, who immediately took off out of the hanger and toward the infirmary. The rest of the team quickly followed.
The two cadets looked on in wide-eyed astonishment, their backs still pressed tightly against the wall. They breathed heavily, as one of them struggled to swallow. The day was proving too much for them take.
* * * *
Selphie lay sleeping across three of the seats outside Quistis' room. It was closed off from everyone except Squall, Doctor Kadowaki and Headmaster Cid. While Zell paced up and down between the rows of seats, Irvine sat next to Selphie's sleeping form and Rinoa sat opposite him. Seifer leaned against wall, looking at the ground just in front of his feet. Despite the fact that nothing was there the spot seemed to have his undivided attention. The one member of the original orphanage group that believed in him was on the other side of that door fighting for her life and there was nothing he could do about it. The types of feelings Seifer was experiencing were foreign to him, but was dealing with them as best he could in his own way. He just felt so helpless.
The door to Quistis' room suddenly opened and everyone looked towards it, except for Selphie who remained asleep. Squall, Headmaster Cid and Doctor Kadowaki all stepped out, and receiving nothing but questioning but hesitant glares from Quistis' friends.
Doctor Kadowaki stepped forward and cleared her throat. "She's stable for now" she began. "But it's still very uncertain. She's in a coma and I can't tell you when she'll come out of it. It may be today, it may be tomorrow". Doctor Kadowaki paused for a moment. The team looked confusedly at each other. "It may be… never. It's really up to her now" Doctor Kadowaki continued. "I've done all I can, but she may or may not have the strength to get better". The Doctor gave the young SeeDs one last look and left. It wasn't fair to put them through all this at such a young age… But then they've been through the end of the world and come back fine before, why not now? Kadowaki worried about the aftermath of these events, whatever the outcome.
The group now looked to Squall, who quickly glanced at each of them before going and sitting down next to Rinoa. She placed her hand on his reassuringly, but knew he was lost inside himself right now. The rest of the group looked around in confusion. This was the toughest point in their lives so far and their leader had chosen this particular time to return to his old reclusive ways. Still, he had as much to deal with as the rest of them right now.
Cid finally spoke up. "I think the best thing that all of you can do right now is rest. She can handle a few hours without you, and I'll stay while you're gone".
Seifer looked up as if to argue, but thought better of it. Even he knew that fighting amongst themselves was the most unproductive thing they could do right now.
"But we can't just leave her" Zell said suddenly, still pacing up and down.
"There's nothing you can do here" Cid told him.
"But she needs us" Zell argued, walking up to Cid. "For once she's depending on us".
"She will be when she wakes up, but for now you should rest" argued Cid.
Zell finally gave in, although grudgingly. He turned and left the infirmary. The rest of the SeeDs followed a moment later and although they could see Zell in the distance, he was walking far faster than they were. He quickly disappeared out of view.
* * * *
Zell walked into his dorm, slamming the door shut and knocking a picture of his foster parents off of a table in the process. The day couldn't get any worse if he tried to make it so himself, and tomorrow wasn't set to be any better. He lay down on his bed and rested his right arm over his eyes. He knew he should get some sleep, but how could he be expected to do that at a time like this. He wondered if the others were doing any better than him.
* * * *
Irvine pushed Selphie's dorm door open with his foot, closing it behind him with the same boot. In his arms was the still sleeping Selphie. He envied her in a way. To be able to do what she was doing right now would be a blessing, but he knew he wouldn't be able to achieve that state of tranquillity tonight. He certainly wouldn't be able to even attempt such things before he put Selphie down. He gently laid her on her bed and pulled the covers over her, up to her shoulders. He was worried she would be confused if she woke up any time soon and found herself in her dorm, but he couldn't help that. He stood up turned towards the door, opening it and walking outside. He quickly looked back through at Selphie's peaceful form before closing the door as quietly as he could and heading towards his quarters.
* * * *
Seifer wondered aimlessly around the Garden, walking from place to place. He got some odd glares from some of the students, who had only found out about his return from seeing him that very moment. He didn't care though. Quite frankly he wouldn't have cared even if everything was normal, but the recent events made their opinions seem even more inconsequential. He should have been watching the bottom of the shaft. He shouldn't have been so confident that the cowboy had got them all. If he had been a bit more vigilant, maybe he could have prevented all this. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a SeeD after all.
* * * *
Squall sat on a sofa in his dorm. It was the same room he had been given when he became a SeeD. He had been offered larger 'Commander's Quarters' after defeating Ultimecia, but didn't want to do anything to distance himself from his friends. Or any of the SeeDs for that matter. Rinoa sat next to him, not quite knowing what to do. He had been silent since he had left Quistis' room. She wondered if he knew something that the rest of them didn't.
* * * *
Nevaeh walked briskly down the hallway. The doors to various people's dorms lined the corridor, but she was on her way to one in particular. She stopped at her destination, and gently knocked on the door. She waited a moment without an answer, and knocked again. She frowned as she once again went without a response. She lightly opened the door, poking her head through. "Selphie?" she said. She looked to her left and saw Selphie sleeping on her bed. Nevaeh raised her eyebrows and closed the door again. Maybe she was tired from her mission. Oddly, no one had mentioned how it went. In fact no one seemed to know. "Oh well, I'll do it on my own" she said to herself.
She walked further up the corridor, until she had almost reached the end of the long hallway. She once again stopped at one of the doors, and knocked on it. No one answered. She was beginning to think that there wasn't a person in the Garden who wanted to speak to her. She knocked again, this time a little harder. Shortly afterwards she heard the sound of someone walking towards the door. The handle twisted violently, and the door flew open.
"WHAT?" questioned Zell viscously, not bothering to even find out who it was before he spoke.
"Erm… uh" Nevaeh faltered. "I just wanted to ask you something".
"Yeah? Well out with it" Zell said, still sounding unusually angry.
"I just wanted to ask how the band is going" Nevaeh quickly replied. "I wanted to know if you guys were still on for the festival".
Zell brought his hand up to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm not so sure about that. Not at the moment" he answered.
"What?" Nevaeh said loudly, annoyance creeping into her tone. "But you said you would do it. You're all we've got".
"Well now I'm not so sure" said Zell flatly.
"But-" Nevaeh said before she was interrupted by Zell.
"Listen. I really can't be bothered to argue this with you right now" Zell said. "So if you'll get your foot out of my doorway, I can close the door and you can leave me alone".
"Wow" said Nevaeh mockingly. She'd suddenly adopted a tone similar to Zell's. "Selphie forgot to mention that you were a complete asshole".
Zell reeled back at the words, literally. He suddenly wore a frown, his eyes darting about as if he were looking for something. He looked up to Nevaeh. "I'm sorry" he said. It seemed sincere enough to Nevaeh. "I've just had the worst day of my life, and I'm not coping with it too well".
"Oh" Nevaeh said, suddenly feeling bad about her earlier words. "Did the mission not go well?"
"That's probably the biggest understatement ever made" said Zell.
"That bad?" Nevaeh asked.
"And worse" Zell replied. "You may have noticed that Squall, Irvine, Selphie and Seifer have all been missing from their normal hangouts". Zell paused and looked down at the floor. "And Quistis".
"Selphie's in her dorm, sleeping. I think she's tired from the mission" Nevaeh told Zell. "You don't seem yourself. Do you wanna talk about it?"
"Uh" Zell faltered, his eyes darting about once again. "Yeah. Yeah I think I do".
Zell stepped out of the doorway and Nevaeh walked into his dorm, closing the door behind herself.
Nevaeh walked through the centre of his room, looking around. It was neat, something she didn't expect. Three T-Boards of various designs stood against a wall at the side of the room on a specifically designed rack. There was a small television mounted on the wall across from his bed. Ever since the Galbadian's had got antenna transmissions working again television networks had begun to transmit all over the world. Consequently many SeeDs found a way to pass their unoccupied hours. Headmaster Cid hadn't decided whether it was a good thing or not, but hadn't banned TV's nonetheless.
"This is nice" said Nevaeh.
"Suits me to the ground" said Zell. He was making some drinks at a small kitchen/bar area at the side of the room.
"Do all senior SeeDs get those?" Nevaeh asked pointing to the bar.
"No" said Zell. "This is my own personal touch" he added, cracking a smile for the first time since he had opened the door to Nevaeh. He almost felt bad for doing it, considering Quistis current condition. He reasoned with himself, coming to the conclusion that Quistis wouldn't want him to sit around being miserable anyway.
"This is all a bit strange" said Nevaeh.
"Why?" asked Zell.
"Well from what I've heard about you" Nevaeh trailed off while she inspected the room some more. "I would've expected something more outlandish for you to live in".
"Disappointed?" Zell asked, again smiling but keeping it hidden from Nevaeh.
"No" she answered quickly. "It's just not what I expected".
"Well" Zell said turning around. "I'm glad in that case". He handed a drink to Nevaeh.
"This isn't one of those 'Facebuster' things is it?" Nevaeh asked, giving the glass a suspicious look.
"A Brainbuster?" Zell said. "No, not alcoholic in the least. I'm not drinking anymore after today".
Nevaeh walked over and sat on his bed. She sipped her drink then looked around herself, surveying where she had chosen to sit. Two other chairs sat in the room, and she had to choose the bed. Her eyes widened slightly in embarrassment, and she started to stand up.
"It's okay. Honestly" Zell assured her.
Nevaeh sat back down as Zell walked over and sat next to her. He sipped from his drink and looked in every possible direction around the room except Nevaeh's. Now that she was actually here, he couldn't work out whether he wanted to talk to her about the mission or not. Eventually he did look in Nevaeh's direction and caught her gaze.
"You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to" she said. She had read his mind. Zell often wondered how women did that.
"No, it's just that" Zell paused. "I don't often do this. I don't need to, I've always been able to cope by myself".
"Well maybe this time you need a little help" Nevaeh said smiling. Zell felt the need to smile back at her. She hardly knew him yet she was completely willing to sit and listen. "So" she continued. "What happened?"
"The mission. It didn't go so well" Zell explained. "It wasn't on the scale of the whole Ultimecia thing but it's proving to be so much tougher".
"Something really bad happened out there today, didn't it?" asked Nevaeh.
"Yeah" Zell replied simply. "We had to split into two teams 'cause the elevator in the shaft of this antenna we were storming was busted. Three at the top kept lines secure while the other three used the lines to get to the bottom". Zell looked around, again thinking about something. "Squall, Seifer and Quistis were the three that went down into the shaft, and I was with Irvine and Selphie working the repel lines".
"Go on" Nevaeh said.
"There were a whole load of terrorist in the basement where all the hostages were supposed to be. Much more than we expected" Zell continued. "The three who went down in the shaft found the hostages they were meant to be rescuing but they were all dead. It had all been set up as an ambush".
"Were they were going after you six individuals or just any SeeDs that were sent?" asked Nevaeh.
"I don't know" replied Zell. "But the group down at the bottom managed to get all the way back to the shaft and even onto the lines. Irvine finished off the terrorists at the bottom with some grenades" Zell paused again. "But there was one we missed. He turned up at the bottom out of the smoke and started firing".
"Oh gods" Nevaeh blurted accidentally, already working out the general idea of what happened.
"Quistis was hit before we could do anything" Zell carried on. "None of us was quick enough. I mean, Seifer got him eventually, but by then Quistis was hanging unconscious from Squall's hand".
"What's happened to her?" asked Nevaeh.
"She's in the infirmary now" answered Zell. "'Stable but in a coma' apparently. The Doc doesn't know if she'll make it".
"I'm sorry Zell" said Nevaeh.
"If I had volunteered before her I could have gone with Squall and Seifer" said Zell. "Then it would have been me and it wouldn't have mattered".
"Yes it would" said Nevaeh, sounding suddenly annoyed. "Don't ever say that. Squall and the others would have been just as worried as they are now, only Quistis would also be worried and not you". Nevaeh paused and looked at Zell. He didn't look convinced. "And" she faltered. "And I would have been worried too".
Zell looked at her, his expression changing suddenly to something between shock and appreciation. He was becoming more thankful for Nevaeh's company by the moment. He found it so easy to talk to her, and she was able to make everything seem better with only a few words it seemed.
Author's Note: - Well there you have it. The 'character development page'. Or the 'A chance to let me try some things out page' J . I'm not so sure how this chapter will be received. More to the point is the fact that I don't care, because I think it is vital to whole story. Anyway, as always you can add your thoughts on this chapter if you wish. Any constructive criticisms are welcome, and so general compliments.
C ya next chapter…