Chapter XXI A Call for Help
Squall stood in front of the bench, staring at it absentmindedly. His mind raced with thoughts and emotions. After a long while he finally stopped staring and looked around; the Garden was silent and calm. There wasn't a sole in sight.
He began walking, hearing his footsteps patter along the shiny floor. He walked to the dormitories and went immediately to his and Rinoa's room, where Rinoa was. He reached the door and placed his hand on the door handle, stopping to think.
"I've got o cool off. There's no sense in confronting her about this." he thought but the anger inside of him still boiled and he didn't think that he'd be able to contain it.
"Why am I the one to worry about this, its Rinoa who should care." He thought, "She's kept this from me for fifteen years. And all along I've been thinking that I'm Aurora's father when it's really Seifer."
Just thinking about Seifer made Squall nearly explode. He'd trusted him, he befriended him after all that had happened previous of the time compression. and now this is found out.
Squall did some more quick thinking and decided that he'd better he might as well face the facts; he needed to speak with Rinoa about all of this. He took a deep breath and opened the door, closing it with a soft click.
Rinoa was lying in bed already, and she stirred when Squall came in. She opened her eyes and then sat up, "Where were you?" she asked, her voice sleepy.
Squall didn't say anything, he went to the corner of the room and sat down in a large armchair, then looked at Rinoa straight in her eyes but remained silent for a moment while she asked, "What's wrong?"
For a moment more, he still said nothing but when Rinoa began to get up and walk over to him; he spoke, making her stop dead and sit down on the end of the bed. "How did it happen?" he asked simply.
Rinoa stared at him, "What are talking about? What do you mean, 'how did it happen?'" she asked, although, her voice was unusually shaky.
Squall's eyes bored into hers, and she stared right back. The room was dead silent other then their soft breathing and the soft note of crickets from outside that echoed through the Garden.
"How did it happen?" Squall asked again, his voice low and calm.
Rinoa looked at him blankly, she had no idea what he meant. or at least she hoped that she had no idea what he meant. "Squall. I really don't understand what you're talking about. If you'd just-"
"How did Seifer end up being Aurora's father?" Squall raised his voice, and his eyes flashed with anger and sadness at the same time. He was surprised that he didn't explode right then and there.
Rinoa looked at the ground; this is what she had feared. Squall had found out, but how? "How did you."
Squall finished her sentence, "Find out?" he said vehemently, "Who cares how I found out, but if you really want to know; I heard you and Seifer talking earlier. I kept wondering why you and Seifer kept walking off alone and speaking in such hushed and hurried voices all the time. I didn't even mean to hear you, I was walking there and you two showed up so I hid, I didn't want to see anyone. and then I heard."
Rinoa's heart dropped, she knew that he'd heard the whole thing and she didn't know what to say to him now.
"Well?" he asked.
Rinoa still said nothing, but after a long while she said, "It'd probably be better if you didn't know."
At that Squall nearly exploded with anger, "Better if I didn't know? What makes you think so? I've been kept in the dark about it for fifteen years, and now I've found out. You see how angry I am, what makes you think you should keep anything further from me. unless." Squall thought for a moment, had Rinoa had an affair with Seifer during their engagement?
Without saying another word, Squall stood up and crossed the room, "Where are you going?" Rinoa asked urgently.
Squall didn't say anything; he just opened the door and left, leaving Rinoa alone with her thoughts and her tears. He jogged from the dormitories and up to the elevator, he pushed the buttons furiously and went up to Quistis's office, where he was sure that Seifer would be.
The elevator door opened and he stepped out, looking around. He saw that Quistis was sitting on the couch and Seifer was standing, they both stopped talking to look at him.
"Squall? What's going on? Why aren't you in your-" Quistis started but Squall had crossed the room and took Seifer by the collar, slamming him up against the wall.
"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm pretty angry," Squall whispered, his eyes narrowed and staring into Seifer's. A piece of the old rivalry anger boiled between them, "You've any idea why that might be?"
Seifer stared at him but said nothing; Squall didn't give him a chance too. "BECAUSE I'VE BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK FOR FIFTEEN YEARS! I'VE THOUGHT ALL ALONG THAT I WAS AURORA'S FATHER, I'VE FELT THAT WAY. NOW I FIND OUT OTHERWISE?" Squall erupted.
"Squall-" Quistis began but Squall turned and pointed a finger at her, "I wasn't talking to you, so stay out of this. It doesn't concern you." He snapped and turned back to Seifer, whispering, "Why?"
"Why?" Seifer repeated back to Squall, struggling out of his hold and backing away from him, "There was no reason why. it was an accident."
"An accident, what do you mean an accident?" Squall demanded.
"It was an accident." Quistis intervened, making Squall turn and glare at her, yet he didn't stop her, he was wondering why she was saying this.
"What?" he asked, "You know?"
"She knows, she's known all along." Seifer said, and before Squall could say anything else, Seifer spoke again, "It'll be better that you know that. Just. just let me explain."
Squall backed off and gave Seifer room to move across the room to Quistis, they sat down and gestured for Squall to do the same but he remained standing.
"Squall," Seifer began, "I won't deny that I am Aurora's father-" Squall made a tooting noise but didn't directly say anything except a mutter under his breath that nobody heard, and Seifer continued, "But it's not how it seems."
"How it seems?" Squall said quietly, "You mean how it sounds like the person that I befriended after everything he'd done to my friends, had an affair with the only person that I've ever truly loved, an affair with my wife."
"But I didn't have an affair with Rinoa, you weren't married to her yet-" Seifer was cut off again.
"Oh, that makes it better; you decided that since I wasn't married to her that you could still make love?" Squall muttered.
"Will you let me explain?" Seifer demanded, beginning to get angry. Quistis placed a hand on his, trying to calm him a bit but Seifer stood up angrily.
"Why should I give you a chance to explain?" Squall snapped, "You betrayed my trust!"
"I DIDN'T BETRAY YOU!" Seifer cried, "I would never do that. I'm different; I have been since after Ultimecia's grasp on me. I don't know if you remember, but I once loved Rinoa too. She was the only one that ever loved me for who I was, before I fell in love with Quistis, and naturally we did make love.
Don't blame Rinoa for all of this. She never betrayed you, nor did I. It happened before you two met; at the end of our relationship. When Rinoa met you she ended it, not knowing that she was pregnant. then you two must have. well. and she knew that it must have been my baby because of how early Aurora was."
This was making an absurd sense to Squall. Rinoa had been with Seifer, and when they had defeated Ultimecia, only about a month after they had met. they had made love. Aurora was an early baby. about two months in fact but he'd never really thought about it more.
"It's true." Quistis whispered, "Seifer told me all about it when we were together secretly. and it all makes sense."
"You got to believe me. we didn't betray you." Seifer said urgently, his voice calming down and he was staring at Squall with sad eyes.
Squall nodded numbly but couldn't say anything; he just walked towards the elevator. "Where are you going?" Quistis called.
Squall turned his head a little and said, "For a walk. I need to think."
Quistis started after him but Seifer stopped her, saying "Leave him be. This is quite a situation to take in, especially after fifteen years of believing that Aurora was his daughter."
"But she still is his daughter." Quistis frowned, "Just because you're her biological father, it doesn't mean that Squall should be pushed out. Squall has been her father for all these years, he's been there for her when she needed him, and when he needed her." She hesitated before saying, "He needs to know that."
"He'll figure it out in time, but he needs to think. Hopefully he'll talk to Rinoa about all this." Seifer said, looking towards the elevator.
Quistis nodded, and she stayed silent for a moment and then took a long breath, sighing afterwards and she walked to her desk, "We might as well keep on with our business. We've got to go into Deling City and get Zell, Clarissa, Laguna and Kiros.
"Quistis, in the morning, it's too late! We've got to get some sleep or else we won't get anything done-" he was cut off by a loud rumbling nearby. Quistis looked out the window and gasped.
The Roknarag that they'd come in was taking off; Quistis caught a glimpse of the pilot. It was Squall.
"Seifer!" Quistis cried, "Squall's leaving!"
Seifer ran up beside Quistis and shook his head, "Doesn't look like he's taking a walk."
Quistis looked at him, her eyebrow raised, "Well, obviously!"
The elevator doors opened and Rinoa came running out, panting. "Where. is. Squall?" and she looked out the large window and saw the Roknarag, "Please. don't tell me. that. that's. him!?
Quistis nodded her head slowly and began to walk over to Rinoa, but Rinoa backed away and ran into the elevator, going up to the aircraft deck.
"She can't fly!" Quistis cried, and a few seconds later they heard the rumble of another jet taking off. They looked out the window and saw Rinoa flying one of the smaller fighter jets.
"Neither can Squall, but I guess that they've figured it all out!" Seifer said in an impressed sort of tone.
"Seriously!" Quistis snapped, angry that Seifer didn't seem to be taking the situation for how serious it actually was. "What is with you?"
Seifer shrugged.
Quistis ran back to her desk and turned on the MIC. "Nida to the Pilot's deck!" she called, and through the Garden it echoed.
Within minutes, Nida arrived in the office looking tired and weary. "What? What is it? Are we under attack?"
Quistis shook her head, "Direct us right to Deling City. We're going in."
Nida walked towards the lift towards the pilot's deck, he was grumbling about the time of the night and glaring at both Seifer and Quistis but they didn't notice; they were too busy making plans.
As Nida arrived on the pilot's deck, the soft breeze of the night was upon him. He took the steering of the Garden and went to turn on the power lever to get the Garden moving but an urgent transmission stopped him.
"BALAMB GARDEN! BALAMB GARDEN!" said the message, it was coming from the mic that could reach across the world. The Mic that he'd heard a message on earlier that same day.
"Come in, Balamb Garden!" said the urgent voice on the transmission.
Nida picked up the Mic, but before saying anything he called down to Quistis and Seifer. "Hey, I think you guys had better get up here and hear this!"
"Balamb Garden, IN!" in said into the Mic.
For a moment nothing came, except a buzzing sound and the sound of the lift coming up. Seifer and Quistis had arrived. At last another transmission came in. "This is SeeD commander of Trabia Garden, Alex Firina. Trabia Garden is under attack."
The signal was fairly clear but the buzzing in the back- ground was slowly growing louder. "Trabia Garden, your under attack, am I correct?" Nida said into the Mic.
"Correct, " said the SeeD commander, "The estharian army has come, we've held them off since earlier today, but we cannot much longer. We've been trying to get a transmission to you all day, and it seems this won't last long. We need help!"
"How large is the army?" Quistis asked as she took the Mic from Nida.
"Who's this?" the SeeD commander asked.
"Quistis Trepe, Headmistress."
"The army is growing, they began with the air fleet, and we held them off with the Garden's shields that we installed after the missile attacks years ago, and they let off with that but now we're being attacked with the army. We've blocked the Garden's gates, but we cannot hold them off much longer. The para soldiers are coming over the walls, and many of the SeeD's have held them off. There have been several casualties, at least 100 injuries and about ten deaths."
Quistis shook her head, "How long can you hold them off for?"
"I do not know! They're coming through, the students are in the midst of the Garden and they will not be safe for long. I'd say about two or three hour's maybe. at the most." the commander said.
"We need more then just our Garden's SeeD's. we don't have enough to hold off the estharian soldiers again. We've already had many casualties from when we were in Esthar. We're going to have to call on Galbadia Garden. and the Galbadia army." Nida said to Quistis.
Quistis thought for a moment, "Seifer. go now to Deling City, get the four of them and talk to President Landers, we need the Galbadia army. I'll call on Galbadia Garden, and address this Garden too."
Seifer nodded and Quistis turned on the mic again, "We're coming. we'll help you!" she said.
"THEY'RE COMING!... NO. TIME!. HELP.NOW!" the commander yelled through the Mic and there was a loud boom and a lot of gun shots in the background. The Mic was cut off and only faint crackling could be heard in the background.
"Go." she whispered to Seifer, "Go now, we don't have much time. we've got to get there and help them!"
Immediately, Seifer left the office and went to the parking lot to get a car. He needed to get into Deling City.
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Chapter XXII The Explanation
". And then we fell through that hole in the forest ground, into the cave and found this place." Selphie finished. Her and Irvine had just finished telling their entire story all the way from Time Compression, fifteen years earlier, to the battle and them falling through the forest floor.
The room was silent for a moment, and then at last Ulrich spoke. "I see. zat sounds like very interesting 'appenings in your life. Vat do you tink, Nateria?"
Nateria looked up; she had been twiddling with something on the floor, "I think zat zey 'ave put a lot of tought into zis story of zers."
Ulrich's interested expression turned to a quick disappointment and then to anger within seconds, "Nateria!" he said loudly, "Vhy don't you show some respect to zes people. Zey 'ave done no 'arm 'ere and still, you von't give zem ze respect zat zey deserve!"
Nateria looked abashed, she hadn't expected Ulrich to take it so seriously. "I am sorry," she said finally, looking at all three of them pointedly and in turn, "I am just vary of 'umans and zeir veys." She was looking at Irvine and Selphie apologetically.
Selphie, who was sitting silently, looked at Nateria and smiled. "We haven't come here to cause your kind any troubles or problems. We were just trying to get out of the forest, and we found this place." She said.
Nateria was silent for a moment, and she looked at Ulrich. She began speaking quickly in some other language to Ulrich who also spoke quickly back. They seemed to be discussing something of great importance as it took them a few minutes before they stopped.
Nateria looked at them, "Zere may be a vay for you to get out of here, but it is dangerous. and you vill end up in ze ice land." She said, her voice lower then usual.
"Ice land?" Irvine asked, his face blank.
"Ze Ice Land, yes," said Ulrich, "Nateria and I vent zere a long time ago, ven ve vere foolish child's and craved adventures. ze ice land iz ze place vere water in all it's forms exists. Vhite powder everyvhere, and vide open spaces and ze sky! Big and blue and full of vhite puffs."
Selphie's eyes widened, the place seemed familiar to her, "It's Trabia!" she said, excitedly.
""Ow do you know zat zis place zat ve talk about is Trabia?" Nateria said.
"I used to live there, that was where my home was. I was there from when I was a little girl until I was about 17 when I went to Balamb. I went to school in Trabia Garden." Selphie explained.
Ulrich and Nateria looked at each other, from the brief explanation of the Garden's, they never assumed one would be in what they called the ice land. "I see," Ulrich said.
"One question," Irvine intervened, looking around at them all, "How exactly do we get there?"
Ulrich stood up and began pacing back and forth, "Vell, ve can take ze cave paths to ze gap of ronnu. from zere ve take ze path's to ze great slope of brinaca, it really iz not far. Zat is vere ve leave you, zough. Ve do not go into ze ice land."
"Vat!" Nateria said, "No way, ve can't go!"
"Vhy," Ulrich argued, "Zey need to get out, clearly. Zey explained it all to us, zey need to get out of ze caves and back to Esthar where their friends are."
"Actually," Selphie said in a small voice, "We don't even know that they're there for sure, we just have to get out to find them. so much could have happened by now."
Ulrich or Nateria didn't seem to hear her, "Ve can't leave our cave, it iz too dangerous and ve must stay, ve are ze leaders 'ere!" Nateria said urgently.
"I cannot think of any ozer's 'oo vill take zem, let alone know ze vay. You do not 'ave to go, but I must." Ulrich insisted.
Nateria crossed her arms, "Fine." She said, "But if your going, zen I am coming vith you!"
Ulrich smiled and looked and Selphie and Irvine, "She alvays gives in," he said in a mumble that only they could hear.
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Ulrich said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Anyvay, ve must leave soon. Today az a matter of fact, Nateria and I vill gather needed items and ve will leave vithin ze hour."
Ulrich and Nateria went to leave but Irvine quickly spoke up, "How long is this journey?"
"About half a day or so I should think." Ulrich said and walked out.
Irvine looked at Selphie, "How are we supposed to get up there anyway? It's an awful long journey from here to Trabia, isn't it? How can it only take a half a day?"
"I dunno, but we are in the northern area of the Grandidi Forest, I guess. and underground I should think it wouldn't be that far, maybe it does only take that long.." Selphie said, "But as for where we'll end up in Trabia and how we get up there. well, that's a blank one for me."
"Unhand them!" Laguna yelled. He and Lexi had just arrived at Caraway's mansion and saw Zell and Clarissa being held some Galbadian soldiers. Laguna had run up and threw the soldiers off, and looked at Landers menacingly. "What the hell do you think your doing?"
Landers was taken aback, "They were with-holding information about your where-abouts," his taken aback look was quickly replaced with a look of anger, "Where were you anyway?"
Laguna looked quickly back at Lexi, who standing with Zell and Clarissa, looking nervously around at them all. Clearly she was very uncomfortable with being so close with the angry president. "I was," he paused, "I was, er, helping out some troubled citizens."
Landers looked hard at Laguna and then his he glanced at Lexi, "Who's that? This is an official matter, not some public demonstration."
"That's Alexandra," Laguna nodded towards Lexi, "She is here on my invitation. Don't forget, Landers, that you aren't the only president here. She is helping me in some, er, matters." He added, trying to come up with a good reason for here to be there.
Landers glanced at Lexi again, "Fine. Just so long as she isn't spreading our conversations and matters all over the city. For now, everything at hand is to be kept strictly confidential."
Laguna nodded. "So," he said to Landers and Caraway, "What was so urgent, why-" His attention was distracted by a speeding car, racing up the road and screeching to a ear piercing stop; it wasn't only the car that made him curious, it was the fact that Seifer Almasy stepped out.
"Seifer?" Laguna asked, walking to meet him. Seifer had run from the car and ran up the path, he looked in a panic, "What are you doing here?" Laguna asked.
"It's important. and urgent," he breathed, looking around at them all, "It's about Trabia Garden, Adel is attacking them! Quistis sent me to tell you, we need the Galbadian army, Adel must have already taken the entire Esthar army and is using their forces again Trabia. we have to get there, now!" he explained.
Laguna was staring at Seifer wide eyed; "She's attacking Trabia?" Seifer nodded intently, and seemed to be anxious to get back to the Garden. Laguna turned to Caraway and Landers, "What d'you say?"
Landers raised his eyebrow and smirked, "We made a deal, didn't we?"
Laguna turned to Seifer and said, "Go back to the Garden and tell Quistis that we're on our way. We will contact you on the way to Trabia, once we come up with a battle plan."
"Wait," said Zell suddenly, "We'll go with Seifer, we should be back at the Garden anyway."
Laguna nodded and the three of them took off. Caraway looked at Landers, "Shall I inform the army?"
"Yes," Landers replied, "And tell that Kiros man to remain with the air force, tell him that on order, that they are to head to Trabia." Caraway turned away and headed away from the mansion. Laguna assumed he was headed to the army base in the city.
"Well," Landers turned to Laguna, "It seems that we'll see how well the Galbadian army can match the great Estharian army."
Laguna nodded solemnly and looked back at Lexi, who was swaying slightly on the spot, looking nervous.
Squall stood in front of the bench, staring at it absentmindedly. His mind raced with thoughts and emotions. After a long while he finally stopped staring and looked around; the Garden was silent and calm. There wasn't a sole in sight.
He began walking, hearing his footsteps patter along the shiny floor. He walked to the dormitories and went immediately to his and Rinoa's room, where Rinoa was. He reached the door and placed his hand on the door handle, stopping to think.
"I've got o cool off. There's no sense in confronting her about this." he thought but the anger inside of him still boiled and he didn't think that he'd be able to contain it.
"Why am I the one to worry about this, its Rinoa who should care." He thought, "She's kept this from me for fifteen years. And all along I've been thinking that I'm Aurora's father when it's really Seifer."
Just thinking about Seifer made Squall nearly explode. He'd trusted him, he befriended him after all that had happened previous of the time compression. and now this is found out.
Squall did some more quick thinking and decided that he'd better he might as well face the facts; he needed to speak with Rinoa about all of this. He took a deep breath and opened the door, closing it with a soft click.
Rinoa was lying in bed already, and she stirred when Squall came in. She opened her eyes and then sat up, "Where were you?" she asked, her voice sleepy.
Squall didn't say anything, he went to the corner of the room and sat down in a large armchair, then looked at Rinoa straight in her eyes but remained silent for a moment while she asked, "What's wrong?"
For a moment more, he still said nothing but when Rinoa began to get up and walk over to him; he spoke, making her stop dead and sit down on the end of the bed. "How did it happen?" he asked simply.
Rinoa stared at him, "What are talking about? What do you mean, 'how did it happen?'" she asked, although, her voice was unusually shaky.
Squall's eyes bored into hers, and she stared right back. The room was dead silent other then their soft breathing and the soft note of crickets from outside that echoed through the Garden.
"How did it happen?" Squall asked again, his voice low and calm.
Rinoa looked at him blankly, she had no idea what he meant. or at least she hoped that she had no idea what he meant. "Squall. I really don't understand what you're talking about. If you'd just-"
"How did Seifer end up being Aurora's father?" Squall raised his voice, and his eyes flashed with anger and sadness at the same time. He was surprised that he didn't explode right then and there.
Rinoa looked at the ground; this is what she had feared. Squall had found out, but how? "How did you."
Squall finished her sentence, "Find out?" he said vehemently, "Who cares how I found out, but if you really want to know; I heard you and Seifer talking earlier. I kept wondering why you and Seifer kept walking off alone and speaking in such hushed and hurried voices all the time. I didn't even mean to hear you, I was walking there and you two showed up so I hid, I didn't want to see anyone. and then I heard."
Rinoa's heart dropped, she knew that he'd heard the whole thing and she didn't know what to say to him now.
"Well?" he asked.
Rinoa still said nothing, but after a long while she said, "It'd probably be better if you didn't know."
At that Squall nearly exploded with anger, "Better if I didn't know? What makes you think so? I've been kept in the dark about it for fifteen years, and now I've found out. You see how angry I am, what makes you think you should keep anything further from me. unless." Squall thought for a moment, had Rinoa had an affair with Seifer during their engagement?
Without saying another word, Squall stood up and crossed the room, "Where are you going?" Rinoa asked urgently.
Squall didn't say anything; he just opened the door and left, leaving Rinoa alone with her thoughts and her tears. He jogged from the dormitories and up to the elevator, he pushed the buttons furiously and went up to Quistis's office, where he was sure that Seifer would be.
The elevator door opened and he stepped out, looking around. He saw that Quistis was sitting on the couch and Seifer was standing, they both stopped talking to look at him.
"Squall? What's going on? Why aren't you in your-" Quistis started but Squall had crossed the room and took Seifer by the collar, slamming him up against the wall.
"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm pretty angry," Squall whispered, his eyes narrowed and staring into Seifer's. A piece of the old rivalry anger boiled between them, "You've any idea why that might be?"
Seifer stared at him but said nothing; Squall didn't give him a chance too. "BECAUSE I'VE BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK FOR FIFTEEN YEARS! I'VE THOUGHT ALL ALONG THAT I WAS AURORA'S FATHER, I'VE FELT THAT WAY. NOW I FIND OUT OTHERWISE?" Squall erupted.
"Squall-" Quistis began but Squall turned and pointed a finger at her, "I wasn't talking to you, so stay out of this. It doesn't concern you." He snapped and turned back to Seifer, whispering, "Why?"
"Why?" Seifer repeated back to Squall, struggling out of his hold and backing away from him, "There was no reason why. it was an accident."
"An accident, what do you mean an accident?" Squall demanded.
"It was an accident." Quistis intervened, making Squall turn and glare at her, yet he didn't stop her, he was wondering why she was saying this.
"What?" he asked, "You know?"
"She knows, she's known all along." Seifer said, and before Squall could say anything else, Seifer spoke again, "It'll be better that you know that. Just. just let me explain."
Squall backed off and gave Seifer room to move across the room to Quistis, they sat down and gestured for Squall to do the same but he remained standing.
"Squall," Seifer began, "I won't deny that I am Aurora's father-" Squall made a tooting noise but didn't directly say anything except a mutter under his breath that nobody heard, and Seifer continued, "But it's not how it seems."
"How it seems?" Squall said quietly, "You mean how it sounds like the person that I befriended after everything he'd done to my friends, had an affair with the only person that I've ever truly loved, an affair with my wife."
"But I didn't have an affair with Rinoa, you weren't married to her yet-" Seifer was cut off again.
"Oh, that makes it better; you decided that since I wasn't married to her that you could still make love?" Squall muttered.
"Will you let me explain?" Seifer demanded, beginning to get angry. Quistis placed a hand on his, trying to calm him a bit but Seifer stood up angrily.
"Why should I give you a chance to explain?" Squall snapped, "You betrayed my trust!"
"I DIDN'T BETRAY YOU!" Seifer cried, "I would never do that. I'm different; I have been since after Ultimecia's grasp on me. I don't know if you remember, but I once loved Rinoa too. She was the only one that ever loved me for who I was, before I fell in love with Quistis, and naturally we did make love.
Don't blame Rinoa for all of this. She never betrayed you, nor did I. It happened before you two met; at the end of our relationship. When Rinoa met you she ended it, not knowing that she was pregnant. then you two must have. well. and she knew that it must have been my baby because of how early Aurora was."
This was making an absurd sense to Squall. Rinoa had been with Seifer, and when they had defeated Ultimecia, only about a month after they had met. they had made love. Aurora was an early baby. about two months in fact but he'd never really thought about it more.
"It's true." Quistis whispered, "Seifer told me all about it when we were together secretly. and it all makes sense."
"You got to believe me. we didn't betray you." Seifer said urgently, his voice calming down and he was staring at Squall with sad eyes.
Squall nodded numbly but couldn't say anything; he just walked towards the elevator. "Where are you going?" Quistis called.
Squall turned his head a little and said, "For a walk. I need to think."
Quistis started after him but Seifer stopped her, saying "Leave him be. This is quite a situation to take in, especially after fifteen years of believing that Aurora was his daughter."
"But she still is his daughter." Quistis frowned, "Just because you're her biological father, it doesn't mean that Squall should be pushed out. Squall has been her father for all these years, he's been there for her when she needed him, and when he needed her." She hesitated before saying, "He needs to know that."
"He'll figure it out in time, but he needs to think. Hopefully he'll talk to Rinoa about all this." Seifer said, looking towards the elevator.
Quistis nodded, and she stayed silent for a moment and then took a long breath, sighing afterwards and she walked to her desk, "We might as well keep on with our business. We've got to go into Deling City and get Zell, Clarissa, Laguna and Kiros.
"Quistis, in the morning, it's too late! We've got to get some sleep or else we won't get anything done-" he was cut off by a loud rumbling nearby. Quistis looked out the window and gasped.
The Roknarag that they'd come in was taking off; Quistis caught a glimpse of the pilot. It was Squall.
"Seifer!" Quistis cried, "Squall's leaving!"
Seifer ran up beside Quistis and shook his head, "Doesn't look like he's taking a walk."
Quistis looked at him, her eyebrow raised, "Well, obviously!"
The elevator doors opened and Rinoa came running out, panting. "Where. is. Squall?" and she looked out the large window and saw the Roknarag, "Please. don't tell me. that. that's. him!?
Quistis nodded her head slowly and began to walk over to Rinoa, but Rinoa backed away and ran into the elevator, going up to the aircraft deck.
"She can't fly!" Quistis cried, and a few seconds later they heard the rumble of another jet taking off. They looked out the window and saw Rinoa flying one of the smaller fighter jets.
"Neither can Squall, but I guess that they've figured it all out!" Seifer said in an impressed sort of tone.
"Seriously!" Quistis snapped, angry that Seifer didn't seem to be taking the situation for how serious it actually was. "What is with you?"
Seifer shrugged.
Quistis ran back to her desk and turned on the MIC. "Nida to the Pilot's deck!" she called, and through the Garden it echoed.
Within minutes, Nida arrived in the office looking tired and weary. "What? What is it? Are we under attack?"
Quistis shook her head, "Direct us right to Deling City. We're going in."
Nida walked towards the lift towards the pilot's deck, he was grumbling about the time of the night and glaring at both Seifer and Quistis but they didn't notice; they were too busy making plans.
As Nida arrived on the pilot's deck, the soft breeze of the night was upon him. He took the steering of the Garden and went to turn on the power lever to get the Garden moving but an urgent transmission stopped him.
"BALAMB GARDEN! BALAMB GARDEN!" said the message, it was coming from the mic that could reach across the world. The Mic that he'd heard a message on earlier that same day.
"Come in, Balamb Garden!" said the urgent voice on the transmission.
Nida picked up the Mic, but before saying anything he called down to Quistis and Seifer. "Hey, I think you guys had better get up here and hear this!"
"Balamb Garden, IN!" in said into the Mic.
For a moment nothing came, except a buzzing sound and the sound of the lift coming up. Seifer and Quistis had arrived. At last another transmission came in. "This is SeeD commander of Trabia Garden, Alex Firina. Trabia Garden is under attack."
The signal was fairly clear but the buzzing in the back- ground was slowly growing louder. "Trabia Garden, your under attack, am I correct?" Nida said into the Mic.
"Correct, " said the SeeD commander, "The estharian army has come, we've held them off since earlier today, but we cannot much longer. We've been trying to get a transmission to you all day, and it seems this won't last long. We need help!"
"How large is the army?" Quistis asked as she took the Mic from Nida.
"Who's this?" the SeeD commander asked.
"Quistis Trepe, Headmistress."
"The army is growing, they began with the air fleet, and we held them off with the Garden's shields that we installed after the missile attacks years ago, and they let off with that but now we're being attacked with the army. We've blocked the Garden's gates, but we cannot hold them off much longer. The para soldiers are coming over the walls, and many of the SeeD's have held them off. There have been several casualties, at least 100 injuries and about ten deaths."
Quistis shook her head, "How long can you hold them off for?"
"I do not know! They're coming through, the students are in the midst of the Garden and they will not be safe for long. I'd say about two or three hour's maybe. at the most." the commander said.
"We need more then just our Garden's SeeD's. we don't have enough to hold off the estharian soldiers again. We've already had many casualties from when we were in Esthar. We're going to have to call on Galbadia Garden. and the Galbadia army." Nida said to Quistis.
Quistis thought for a moment, "Seifer. go now to Deling City, get the four of them and talk to President Landers, we need the Galbadia army. I'll call on Galbadia Garden, and address this Garden too."
Seifer nodded and Quistis turned on the mic again, "We're coming. we'll help you!" she said.
"THEY'RE COMING!... NO. TIME!. HELP.NOW!" the commander yelled through the Mic and there was a loud boom and a lot of gun shots in the background. The Mic was cut off and only faint crackling could be heard in the background.
"Go." she whispered to Seifer, "Go now, we don't have much time. we've got to get there and help them!"
Immediately, Seifer left the office and went to the parking lot to get a car. He needed to get into Deling City.
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Chapter XXII The Explanation
". And then we fell through that hole in the forest ground, into the cave and found this place." Selphie finished. Her and Irvine had just finished telling their entire story all the way from Time Compression, fifteen years earlier, to the battle and them falling through the forest floor.
The room was silent for a moment, and then at last Ulrich spoke. "I see. zat sounds like very interesting 'appenings in your life. Vat do you tink, Nateria?"
Nateria looked up; she had been twiddling with something on the floor, "I think zat zey 'ave put a lot of tought into zis story of zers."
Ulrich's interested expression turned to a quick disappointment and then to anger within seconds, "Nateria!" he said loudly, "Vhy don't you show some respect to zes people. Zey 'ave done no 'arm 'ere and still, you von't give zem ze respect zat zey deserve!"
Nateria looked abashed, she hadn't expected Ulrich to take it so seriously. "I am sorry," she said finally, looking at all three of them pointedly and in turn, "I am just vary of 'umans and zeir veys." She was looking at Irvine and Selphie apologetically.
Selphie, who was sitting silently, looked at Nateria and smiled. "We haven't come here to cause your kind any troubles or problems. We were just trying to get out of the forest, and we found this place." She said.
Nateria was silent for a moment, and she looked at Ulrich. She began speaking quickly in some other language to Ulrich who also spoke quickly back. They seemed to be discussing something of great importance as it took them a few minutes before they stopped.
Nateria looked at them, "Zere may be a vay for you to get out of here, but it is dangerous. and you vill end up in ze ice land." She said, her voice lower then usual.
"Ice land?" Irvine asked, his face blank.
"Ze Ice Land, yes," said Ulrich, "Nateria and I vent zere a long time ago, ven ve vere foolish child's and craved adventures. ze ice land iz ze place vere water in all it's forms exists. Vhite powder everyvhere, and vide open spaces and ze sky! Big and blue and full of vhite puffs."
Selphie's eyes widened, the place seemed familiar to her, "It's Trabia!" she said, excitedly.
""Ow do you know zat zis place zat ve talk about is Trabia?" Nateria said.
"I used to live there, that was where my home was. I was there from when I was a little girl until I was about 17 when I went to Balamb. I went to school in Trabia Garden." Selphie explained.
Ulrich and Nateria looked at each other, from the brief explanation of the Garden's, they never assumed one would be in what they called the ice land. "I see," Ulrich said.
"One question," Irvine intervened, looking around at them all, "How exactly do we get there?"
Ulrich stood up and began pacing back and forth, "Vell, ve can take ze cave paths to ze gap of ronnu. from zere ve take ze path's to ze great slope of brinaca, it really iz not far. Zat is vere ve leave you, zough. Ve do not go into ze ice land."
"Vat!" Nateria said, "No way, ve can't go!"
"Vhy," Ulrich argued, "Zey need to get out, clearly. Zey explained it all to us, zey need to get out of ze caves and back to Esthar where their friends are."
"Actually," Selphie said in a small voice, "We don't even know that they're there for sure, we just have to get out to find them. so much could have happened by now."
Ulrich or Nateria didn't seem to hear her, "Ve can't leave our cave, it iz too dangerous and ve must stay, ve are ze leaders 'ere!" Nateria said urgently.
"I cannot think of any ozer's 'oo vill take zem, let alone know ze vay. You do not 'ave to go, but I must." Ulrich insisted.
Nateria crossed her arms, "Fine." She said, "But if your going, zen I am coming vith you!"
Ulrich smiled and looked and Selphie and Irvine, "She alvays gives in," he said in a mumble that only they could hear.
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Ulrich said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Anyvay, ve must leave soon. Today az a matter of fact, Nateria and I vill gather needed items and ve will leave vithin ze hour."
Ulrich and Nateria went to leave but Irvine quickly spoke up, "How long is this journey?"
"About half a day or so I should think." Ulrich said and walked out.
Irvine looked at Selphie, "How are we supposed to get up there anyway? It's an awful long journey from here to Trabia, isn't it? How can it only take a half a day?"
"I dunno, but we are in the northern area of the Grandidi Forest, I guess. and underground I should think it wouldn't be that far, maybe it does only take that long.." Selphie said, "But as for where we'll end up in Trabia and how we get up there. well, that's a blank one for me."
"Unhand them!" Laguna yelled. He and Lexi had just arrived at Caraway's mansion and saw Zell and Clarissa being held some Galbadian soldiers. Laguna had run up and threw the soldiers off, and looked at Landers menacingly. "What the hell do you think your doing?"
Landers was taken aback, "They were with-holding information about your where-abouts," his taken aback look was quickly replaced with a look of anger, "Where were you anyway?"
Laguna looked quickly back at Lexi, who standing with Zell and Clarissa, looking nervously around at them all. Clearly she was very uncomfortable with being so close with the angry president. "I was," he paused, "I was, er, helping out some troubled citizens."
Landers looked hard at Laguna and then his he glanced at Lexi, "Who's that? This is an official matter, not some public demonstration."
"That's Alexandra," Laguna nodded towards Lexi, "She is here on my invitation. Don't forget, Landers, that you aren't the only president here. She is helping me in some, er, matters." He added, trying to come up with a good reason for here to be there.
Landers glanced at Lexi again, "Fine. Just so long as she isn't spreading our conversations and matters all over the city. For now, everything at hand is to be kept strictly confidential."
Laguna nodded. "So," he said to Landers and Caraway, "What was so urgent, why-" His attention was distracted by a speeding car, racing up the road and screeching to a ear piercing stop; it wasn't only the car that made him curious, it was the fact that Seifer Almasy stepped out.
"Seifer?" Laguna asked, walking to meet him. Seifer had run from the car and ran up the path, he looked in a panic, "What are you doing here?" Laguna asked.
"It's important. and urgent," he breathed, looking around at them all, "It's about Trabia Garden, Adel is attacking them! Quistis sent me to tell you, we need the Galbadian army, Adel must have already taken the entire Esthar army and is using their forces again Trabia. we have to get there, now!" he explained.
Laguna was staring at Seifer wide eyed; "She's attacking Trabia?" Seifer nodded intently, and seemed to be anxious to get back to the Garden. Laguna turned to Caraway and Landers, "What d'you say?"
Landers raised his eyebrow and smirked, "We made a deal, didn't we?"
Laguna turned to Seifer and said, "Go back to the Garden and tell Quistis that we're on our way. We will contact you on the way to Trabia, once we come up with a battle plan."
"Wait," said Zell suddenly, "We'll go with Seifer, we should be back at the Garden anyway."
Laguna nodded and the three of them took off. Caraway looked at Landers, "Shall I inform the army?"
"Yes," Landers replied, "And tell that Kiros man to remain with the air force, tell him that on order, that they are to head to Trabia." Caraway turned away and headed away from the mansion. Laguna assumed he was headed to the army base in the city.
"Well," Landers turned to Laguna, "It seems that we'll see how well the Galbadian army can match the great Estharian army."
Laguna nodded solemnly and looked back at Lexi, who was swaying slightly on the spot, looking nervous.
