Chapter XXIII The Gap of Ronnu
Adel looked out towards the near Trabia continent from the bow of the ship. The rushing wind in her face, blowing through her bright red hair made her look fierce and triumphant, almost as though she were a good hearted, powerful woman. However, the cold and hungry gleam in her eyes made you shiver, remembering her evil ways.
She closed her eyes, letting the wind carry her to her dreams, though, when a man came up behind her; she turned around and glared at him. "Why," she said coldly, "Are you so rudely disturbing me?"
The man looked terrified at the very thought of what those eyes could do to him, though, he answered quietly, barely enough for Adel to hear, "S.Sorry, m.m.my g.gg...r.eat."
"What?" Adel demanded, now turning completely around, an evil smirk on her pale and nearly emotionless face, "Speak up!"
"Sorry. to. disturb you," he said, staring at the ground, carefully trying not to look at her eyes to much; they frightened him "I was t.told to come and t.tell y.you that w.we need y.your input on the n.next course of a.action."
Adel looked out towards the continent again and smirked, "Very well," she boomed, "I shall return to the cabin to give orders, but before you go, what is the status on our prisoners?"
"As far as we know, Aurora is asleep in her cabin and the other is knocked out," said the man, feeling more useful to report something of so much importance.
"WHAT?" Adel bellowed. The man stepped back, now looking very scared again, "As far as you know?" her eyes narrowed, "GO AND SEE FOR SURE!" The man blinked and ran away towards the underdeck entrance.
The corridor was empty, as far as Sirus could tell. He stepped quietly, trying to rush too much because it would make to much noise; he was lucky enough as it was. "Which room?" he wondered, "Where could she be?" He stood on the spot for a moment, thinking hard with a terrible feeling in his stomach. "What if I never get to see her again." he wondered, frowning.
The corridor had about twelve rooms, and he had about 6 keys. He guessed that some of the rooms either had the same keys, or he couldn't get into them. He turned to look at his own door, and saw that it was completely black with a small handle in the center. There were only about four rooms like that. He figured those must be prison cells, and if Aurora was there, then she'd probably be in one of those rooms. Sirus walked down the hall a little, close to the stairs and unlocked the first door. The room was empty and looked exactly the same as his.
He frowned and closed the door, moving on to the next one. It was also empty except for a tall cabinet in the corner of the room. He decided it wouldn't hurt to look inside, so he opened the cabinet doors and to his luck he found a gun blade along with numerous other weapons. He slipped the gun blade into his belt.
Feeling slightly better, now having a weapon, he moved onto the next two rooms with the same doors as his, but they were also empty. This made him nervous. "What room?" he asked, realizing that he probably didn't have much time. He studied the keys and there was one that was a silver color, while the others were brass or gold.
"This must be the key to her room," he said, biting his lip, hoping that he was right. He looked at all the door handles and only one room had a silver lock, the one opposite of him. He fit the key in the lock and opened the door.
"Aurora!" he cried, dropping the keys on the floor with a loud click. Aurora was sitting in the corner of the room, huddled with her arms over her knees. When she heard the door open, she lifted her head out of her arms, looking around weakly. When she saw him, she thought that she was dreaming. "Sirus?"
"Aurora!" Sirus ran to her, and hugged her tightly, fighting back a sudden urge to burst into tears of both joy and relief; he could hardly believe it.
Aurora finally came to total alertness and realized what was going on, she stared at him, her eyes wide. "Sirus? You're here! You're really here!" tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks now.
"I'm here," he smiled and kissed her, "I'm here." he let go of her and helped her up from the floor and then hugged her tightly again, unable to hold back the tears now. "I thought I'd never see you again," he whispered.
As Irvine, Selphie, Ulrich and Nateria left the cave, all of the 'tree- swingers' were yelling and waving goodbye. "They seem a nice bunch, don't they?" Irvine whispered to Selphie.
"Ve do not get visitors 'ere, you know," said Ulrich, matter-of-factly, "I tink zat zey enjoyed 'aving a change, even if zey did not talk to you."
The four of them had gone through the way that Irvine and Selphie had gotten into the cave. Apparently, the wall hadn't been completely covered; there was a small rock lever that Irvine and Selphie did not see. When the lever was pulled, the gap opened for a few seconds and then closed again, to a very small crack where light came through.
They were now in the cave that Irvine and Selphie had fallen into. "Where do we go from here?" Selphie asked curiously, "I never saw another way out."
"Zat's because you do not see right, zere is alvays a vay," Nateria touched the wall to the right of where they stood, in three places; the wall shuddered and then another gap opened in the wall, this time, instead of a greenish light, a purplish gleam came though.
"Tch," Selphie muttered, "As if we were supposed to see that. Know it all." She added bitterly.
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria turned to look at Selphie, all four of her eyes fixed intently on her, as if the see right through her.
"Oh," Selphie's eyes widened innocently, "Nothing."
Nateria's mouth twitched but she said nothing more on the matter. Instead she said, "Ve vill reach ze Gap of Ronnu in about an hour, zat is vhere ve must be very careful."
"Why?" asked Irvine.
"You'll see," Nateria said, and turned into the gap, leading the way into the hazy, purple light. Selphie came second, the Irvine, and following last was Ulrich. Once they stepped through the gap, it closed, leaving no trace that it had ever been there, or, at least to Selphie and Irvine, it did anyway.
The four of them walked in single pace, silently. The only sound was the soft patting of their feet on the soft ground (it was some sort of earthy ground) and the distant dropping of water. The purplish light didn't seem to be coming from anywhere; it was just, there.
They stepped over the odd stump of earth in the ground, carefully trying not to step on anyway in case it was important; the last thing that they needed was to cause some sort of a problem. The funny thing for them was that the walk was so simple, they seemed to be heading steadily downhill in the narrow cave. Though, it kept twisting and turning in unexpected places, they sometimes thought it was a maze.
"What an easy walk!" said Selphie cheerfully, now turning a very sharp corner and stepping easily over a few small bumps in the ground.
"Zis is just ze beginning," Ulrich said from behind, "It goes uphill again on the great slope of brinaca."
"But if it's the same type of slope as this, then it can't be too hard, can it?" Irvine asked, looking down at the ground.
"Don't be so sure," Ulrich frowned, "Ven zey built zis tunnel under ze sea, zey measured wrong and zey had to immediately go back up to the land level. It iz a very great slope."
"And what of this gap of Ronnu?" Selphie asked, wondering why it was so dangerous.
"You vill see, ve are almost zere." Ulrich said.
"Not almost," Nateria said, looking back at them, "Ve are zere now."
Sure enough, the turn ended and the purple light grew brighter, enough for them to see the entire cave. It was much, much, higher then the tunnels, and wide, as wide as they could see.
However, that wasn't what was amazed, and scared them. About fifty feet from where they stood, there was a hole, though, it was more like a gap, and it spread about seventy feet across the cave and keep going in either direction. The name, being a gap, certainly fit such a place.
"Wow," Selphie exclaimed, and walked towards the edge of the gap and looked down, "It doesn't have a bottom!"
"Don't be silly," Nateria said, who followed her, "Of course it haz a bottom, you just cannot see it because it iz too far below. It iz a river down zere."
"But how do we get across?" Irvine frowned, looking to the other side where the tunnel kept going, a bluish light filtering out through it.
"Ve jump," Ulrich sounded quite delighted as he gestured to the cave floor where about six very long poles lay.
"We what?" Selphie turned around and stared at Ulrich, who had now taken up one of the poles and stood it up.
"Not you," said Nateria, walking over to met Ulrich, "Ve jump," she gestured to herself and Ulrich, "You do not 'ave the ability. You must use the board. Ven our kind used to come 'ere, the children 'ad to use ze board, also."
Irvine and Selphie noticed a very long board, next to the cave's wall. It was old, and about three inches wide. "We're supposed to use that?" Irvine asked, skeptically.
Too late. Ulrich and Nateria were already on the other side; they apparently had used the poles to propel them across the chasm. "I suppose that we just lay the board across then." Said Irvine. Selphie nodded nervously.
The two of them grabbed the board and shifted it so that they could slide it evenly across the chasm. With a lot of strength, and luck, they managed it, though, the board barely fit across the chasm.
"I'll go first," said Irvine, grabbing one of the shorter poles and using it as a balance guide, and he began walking slowly across. With each step that he took the board shuttered slightly, and he was afraid that it would break underneath his weight. It made him feel better to think that if he could make it, then Selphie definitely could.
Once he got across he gestured for Selphie to come across. She grabbed a pole for support also, and walked across, slightly faster then Irvine, but slow. Finally, she made it to the edge, and stepped off onto the cave floor, which seemed to be made of rock.
"Yes!" she said, and jumped up as she always did when she was excited. When she landed, the ground shuddered slightly, and in a flash it seemed, the rock beneath her had collapsed and she fell, Irvine grabbing her arm. Irvine fell forwards into the Gap, and someone grabbed his leg, it was Nateria. Both Irvine and Selphie's lives rested in the hands of Nateria.
Chapter XXIV The Jump
The stars were fading from the sky, and a new dawn was arising; illuminating the dark sky to a pinkish, purple color. The great puffy clouds weren't their regular white color, but a light pink.
The brilliant blue and green lights of Balamb Garden were becoming faint as they gliding over the ocean's surface at a great speed. They were headed towards Trabia, and were leaving the darkness of Galbadia.
Over head, several jets flew steadily, once and a while dropping and rising again, and moving in and out from one another, and behind the Garden came a good twenty to thirty ships; Galbadian ships. They were prepared for war.
Quistis, Seifer, Zell, Clarissa and Ellone sat nervously in Quistis' office, awaiting the call from Laguna as to what the battle action would be. Nida was up on the pilot's deck steering. There was a very nervous silence; Quistis had just addressed the entire Garden that they would once again, be going into battle against the Estharian soldiers.
It was surprising when several students showed up in Quistis' office, asking how they could help, such as flying. It was especially good for them to know, however, that they had time to prepare for this battle.
Quistis stood up and walked to her desk, frowning. She was thinking hard about what they could do to access the Garden from the outside, but the army probably already surrounded it.
She thought for a few more minutes, tapping her foot silently. She gave a start when a loud beep came from the communication's system in her office. Quickly, she walked over and picked up the receiver.
"Come in!" said a familiar voice. It was Laguna. "Quistis, Come in."
"I'm here," Quistis had pushed the button down, and let it go, unaware that now everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats, listening for what Laguna would say.
"We have a plan," Laguna stated, "Listen up."
Quistis said nothing, and allowed him to continue.
"Our plan is for the air fleet, flying above you, to head to into the region first, leaded by a scout who will report what is going on. Copy that?"
Quistis pressed the button, "Copy."
"Then," he continued, "The army of Galbadia will go in using their trucks to get there faster, and begin the surprise attack. And about ten minutes later, the skilled Garden students will come, and back up the army. Copy?"
"We understand," Quistis said, "But what of the Garden, should we leave it on shore, or use it to get to Trabia?"
For a moment, there was no answer, and then finally, Laguna came back on. "You will leave the Garden behind the mountains, out of sight. SeeD will proceed on foot, the Estharian army will not expect that."
Quistis agreed, "And that is all?" she asked, now looking at Seifer, who was anxiously awaiting the battle.
"Yes," Laguna said, "Any further information, we will tell you. Make sure that you wear the headset you have there, we may need to contact one another during the battle."
"Copy that," Quistis said, "Where are you?"
"The Ragnarok with Landers and Kiros (plus the pilot and soldiers)." Just as Laguna said this, Quistis heard the distinctive sound of the Ragnarok speeding above them and then she seen it zoom ahead of them.
"We are nearly there," Laguna said. "We will inform you what Garden should do at the shore when we get closer. Approximately thirty minutes."
For a second, Quistis didn't say anything; there was a sudden thought in her mind, and she wasn't sure whether or not she should ask, but she did. "What about Galbadia Garden, didn't they want to help?"
This time a different voice came onto the system, it was Landers. "Galbadia Garden separated from civilized society a long time ago. We did not ask them, as they swore to never help the Galbadian army. Out." He seemed to have shut off his system.
Quistis turned and faced the rest of them; "Well," she said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms, "That's it, isn't it? We're going to have to fight again." She was not too pleased with the idea.
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Sirus pulled away from Aurora, now able to hold off his sobs. He smiled true for the first time since the night that him and Aurora had danced together. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life!" he said to her.
Aurora smiled back at him, tears still running silently down her cheeks, and quite suddenly, she hugged him again, breaking down into sobs, "I was so worried," she whispered through her sobs, ".So worried."
For a minute, they stood there, holding each other but when a loud noise sounded, they pulled apart. Someone was coming towards the room. Sirus ran to the door and stepped out, trying to look suspicious, and he closed it to the point where it was only open a little.
A soldier was coming towards him, staring hard at him. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking from him to the door.
Sirus stood up straight, "I was just checking on the prisoner, sir." He said, trying hard to not stutter or look to hard at the ground, or the roof for the matter.
The soldier frowned, "Why are you calling me, sir? I am not your commanding officer."
Sirus said nothing for a moment, he wasn't sure whether or not he should say anything. The soldier stared at him, and then stepped back, "Wait a minute!" he said loudly, "Your not the guard, your that boy!" The soldier now advanced on him, but Sirus was too fast, he took the back of the gun on his uniform and bashed it over the soldiers' head.
The soldier fell to the floor with a loud thud, he was knocked out. Sirus opened the door looked at Aurora, "We don't have much time, we've got to go!"
Aurora frowned, "But where are we going to go? This is a boat, isn't it?"
Sirus didn't say anything; he walked over to Aurora, grabbed her hand, and led her from the room. He dragged the soldier in, shut and locked the door. "All I know," Sirus said, as they walked quietly down the hallway towards the stairwell, "Is that we have got to get off this boat."
They were nearly at the stairwell when they heard voices above; they couldn't possibly get up that way. "There has to be another way!" Aurora exclaimed, looking around wildly.
They turned around and went in the opposite direction, and found another hallway, to the left. It led straight for a few meters and then turned right. They looked at each other and silently agreed that it was the only way, so they followed the hallway.
Once the hallway turned right, it led straight for nearly the length of the other corridor, but it was a dead end except for a ladder on the left side of the hallway. Sirus and Aurora approached the ladder and looked up, there was a hatch.
"What do you think?" Sirus asked Aurora.
Voices sounded in the long corridor that they had been imprisoned in. Apparently, they had found the two knocked out soldiers in Aurora and Sirus' rooms and were yelling for a full search of the ship.
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice." Aurora looked at Sirus, but we don't know what's up there, what if we open it and Adel is standing right there, ready for us?"
Sirus nodded, but then said, "Yes, but if we stay here then the soldiers will find us. Either way, we'd be caught. At least this way we have a chance of hiding."
Aurora nodded, "Open the hatch."
Sirus climbed the ladder and slowly twisted the wooden handle on the dark chestnut hatch and pushed, looking through the crack. He looked back down at Aurora, "As far as I can see, the coast is clear, it looks like we're behind a big crate or something."
Sirus now opened the hatch completely and climbed up, helping Aurora out of the hatch hole. He then closed the hatch, and looked around. Aurora seen that he was right, they were behind a huge crate where they seemed to be hidden.
"Now what?" she frowned, looking around. The ship appeared to be travelling along a large cliff, only a few meters away, maybe 20 at the most, but they were on the side of the ship that was towards the sea. They seemed to be on the bow of the ship, and there were a few other crates.
"I think we should go to the other side of the ship, see if we can get close enough to jump." Sirus said.
Aurora looked at him and shook her head. "Are you crazy?" she was now wide eyed, "We can't make such a jump, look how high this ship is!"
"OY," said a voice suddenly, "I SEE'EM, THE BOW OF THE SHIP. AHOY, MEN!"
Sirus and Aurora looked back and up. On the control deck of the ship, there was a watch point, which was high enough to see the entire ship. They suddenly heard footsteps racing towards them.
Sirus grabbed Aurora's hand and they ran to the opposite side of the ship, Sirus jumped up on the ledge. "We don't have a choice, Aurora!" he said, in a pleading voice, "Please don't be scared. it's going to be alright." Even Sirus didn't really want to jump, it was quite high, but if they didn't, then Aurora would be caught again; he would do anything in his power to prevent that from happening.
"Aurora," he pleaded. Aurora was looking around, she was nearly going to faint. The soldiers were getting near, and she didn't know what to do. "Please, Aurora. just jump!"
Aurora looked up at Sirus and quite suddenly, jumped up onto the ledge, looking down.
"HEY!" said one of the soldiers, who was now only meters away, "GET DOWN!"
Aurora and Sirus looked at each other, and Sirus kissed Aurora. "I love you." he whispered, and holding her hand, they jumped. The soldier missed their feet by inches.
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Adel looked out towards the near Trabia continent from the bow of the ship. The rushing wind in her face, blowing through her bright red hair made her look fierce and triumphant, almost as though she were a good hearted, powerful woman. However, the cold and hungry gleam in her eyes made you shiver, remembering her evil ways.
She closed her eyes, letting the wind carry her to her dreams, though, when a man came up behind her; she turned around and glared at him. "Why," she said coldly, "Are you so rudely disturbing me?"
The man looked terrified at the very thought of what those eyes could do to him, though, he answered quietly, barely enough for Adel to hear, "S.Sorry, m.m.my g.gg...r.eat."
"What?" Adel demanded, now turning completely around, an evil smirk on her pale and nearly emotionless face, "Speak up!"
"Sorry. to. disturb you," he said, staring at the ground, carefully trying not to look at her eyes to much; they frightened him "I was t.told to come and t.tell y.you that w.we need y.your input on the n.next course of a.action."
Adel looked out towards the continent again and smirked, "Very well," she boomed, "I shall return to the cabin to give orders, but before you go, what is the status on our prisoners?"
"As far as we know, Aurora is asleep in her cabin and the other is knocked out," said the man, feeling more useful to report something of so much importance.
"WHAT?" Adel bellowed. The man stepped back, now looking very scared again, "As far as you know?" her eyes narrowed, "GO AND SEE FOR SURE!" The man blinked and ran away towards the underdeck entrance.
The corridor was empty, as far as Sirus could tell. He stepped quietly, trying to rush too much because it would make to much noise; he was lucky enough as it was. "Which room?" he wondered, "Where could she be?" He stood on the spot for a moment, thinking hard with a terrible feeling in his stomach. "What if I never get to see her again." he wondered, frowning.
The corridor had about twelve rooms, and he had about 6 keys. He guessed that some of the rooms either had the same keys, or he couldn't get into them. He turned to look at his own door, and saw that it was completely black with a small handle in the center. There were only about four rooms like that. He figured those must be prison cells, and if Aurora was there, then she'd probably be in one of those rooms. Sirus walked down the hall a little, close to the stairs and unlocked the first door. The room was empty and looked exactly the same as his.
He frowned and closed the door, moving on to the next one. It was also empty except for a tall cabinet in the corner of the room. He decided it wouldn't hurt to look inside, so he opened the cabinet doors and to his luck he found a gun blade along with numerous other weapons. He slipped the gun blade into his belt.
Feeling slightly better, now having a weapon, he moved onto the next two rooms with the same doors as his, but they were also empty. This made him nervous. "What room?" he asked, realizing that he probably didn't have much time. He studied the keys and there was one that was a silver color, while the others were brass or gold.
"This must be the key to her room," he said, biting his lip, hoping that he was right. He looked at all the door handles and only one room had a silver lock, the one opposite of him. He fit the key in the lock and opened the door.
"Aurora!" he cried, dropping the keys on the floor with a loud click. Aurora was sitting in the corner of the room, huddled with her arms over her knees. When she heard the door open, she lifted her head out of her arms, looking around weakly. When she saw him, she thought that she was dreaming. "Sirus?"
"Aurora!" Sirus ran to her, and hugged her tightly, fighting back a sudden urge to burst into tears of both joy and relief; he could hardly believe it.
Aurora finally came to total alertness and realized what was going on, she stared at him, her eyes wide. "Sirus? You're here! You're really here!" tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks now.
"I'm here," he smiled and kissed her, "I'm here." he let go of her and helped her up from the floor and then hugged her tightly again, unable to hold back the tears now. "I thought I'd never see you again," he whispered.
As Irvine, Selphie, Ulrich and Nateria left the cave, all of the 'tree- swingers' were yelling and waving goodbye. "They seem a nice bunch, don't they?" Irvine whispered to Selphie.
"Ve do not get visitors 'ere, you know," said Ulrich, matter-of-factly, "I tink zat zey enjoyed 'aving a change, even if zey did not talk to you."
The four of them had gone through the way that Irvine and Selphie had gotten into the cave. Apparently, the wall hadn't been completely covered; there was a small rock lever that Irvine and Selphie did not see. When the lever was pulled, the gap opened for a few seconds and then closed again, to a very small crack where light came through.
They were now in the cave that Irvine and Selphie had fallen into. "Where do we go from here?" Selphie asked curiously, "I never saw another way out."
"Zat's because you do not see right, zere is alvays a vay," Nateria touched the wall to the right of where they stood, in three places; the wall shuddered and then another gap opened in the wall, this time, instead of a greenish light, a purplish gleam came though.
"Tch," Selphie muttered, "As if we were supposed to see that. Know it all." She added bitterly.
"Vat vas zat?" Nateria turned to look at Selphie, all four of her eyes fixed intently on her, as if the see right through her.
"Oh," Selphie's eyes widened innocently, "Nothing."
Nateria's mouth twitched but she said nothing more on the matter. Instead she said, "Ve vill reach ze Gap of Ronnu in about an hour, zat is vhere ve must be very careful."
"Why?" asked Irvine.
"You'll see," Nateria said, and turned into the gap, leading the way into the hazy, purple light. Selphie came second, the Irvine, and following last was Ulrich. Once they stepped through the gap, it closed, leaving no trace that it had ever been there, or, at least to Selphie and Irvine, it did anyway.
The four of them walked in single pace, silently. The only sound was the soft patting of their feet on the soft ground (it was some sort of earthy ground) and the distant dropping of water. The purplish light didn't seem to be coming from anywhere; it was just, there.
They stepped over the odd stump of earth in the ground, carefully trying not to step on anyway in case it was important; the last thing that they needed was to cause some sort of a problem. The funny thing for them was that the walk was so simple, they seemed to be heading steadily downhill in the narrow cave. Though, it kept twisting and turning in unexpected places, they sometimes thought it was a maze.
"What an easy walk!" said Selphie cheerfully, now turning a very sharp corner and stepping easily over a few small bumps in the ground.
"Zis is just ze beginning," Ulrich said from behind, "It goes uphill again on the great slope of brinaca."
"But if it's the same type of slope as this, then it can't be too hard, can it?" Irvine asked, looking down at the ground.
"Don't be so sure," Ulrich frowned, "Ven zey built zis tunnel under ze sea, zey measured wrong and zey had to immediately go back up to the land level. It iz a very great slope."
"And what of this gap of Ronnu?" Selphie asked, wondering why it was so dangerous.
"You vill see, ve are almost zere." Ulrich said.
"Not almost," Nateria said, looking back at them, "Ve are zere now."
Sure enough, the turn ended and the purple light grew brighter, enough for them to see the entire cave. It was much, much, higher then the tunnels, and wide, as wide as they could see.
However, that wasn't what was amazed, and scared them. About fifty feet from where they stood, there was a hole, though, it was more like a gap, and it spread about seventy feet across the cave and keep going in either direction. The name, being a gap, certainly fit such a place.
"Wow," Selphie exclaimed, and walked towards the edge of the gap and looked down, "It doesn't have a bottom!"
"Don't be silly," Nateria said, who followed her, "Of course it haz a bottom, you just cannot see it because it iz too far below. It iz a river down zere."
"But how do we get across?" Irvine frowned, looking to the other side where the tunnel kept going, a bluish light filtering out through it.
"Ve jump," Ulrich sounded quite delighted as he gestured to the cave floor where about six very long poles lay.
"We what?" Selphie turned around and stared at Ulrich, who had now taken up one of the poles and stood it up.
"Not you," said Nateria, walking over to met Ulrich, "Ve jump," she gestured to herself and Ulrich, "You do not 'ave the ability. You must use the board. Ven our kind used to come 'ere, the children 'ad to use ze board, also."
Irvine and Selphie noticed a very long board, next to the cave's wall. It was old, and about three inches wide. "We're supposed to use that?" Irvine asked, skeptically.
Too late. Ulrich and Nateria were already on the other side; they apparently had used the poles to propel them across the chasm. "I suppose that we just lay the board across then." Said Irvine. Selphie nodded nervously.
The two of them grabbed the board and shifted it so that they could slide it evenly across the chasm. With a lot of strength, and luck, they managed it, though, the board barely fit across the chasm.
"I'll go first," said Irvine, grabbing one of the shorter poles and using it as a balance guide, and he began walking slowly across. With each step that he took the board shuttered slightly, and he was afraid that it would break underneath his weight. It made him feel better to think that if he could make it, then Selphie definitely could.
Once he got across he gestured for Selphie to come across. She grabbed a pole for support also, and walked across, slightly faster then Irvine, but slow. Finally, she made it to the edge, and stepped off onto the cave floor, which seemed to be made of rock.
"Yes!" she said, and jumped up as she always did when she was excited. When she landed, the ground shuddered slightly, and in a flash it seemed, the rock beneath her had collapsed and she fell, Irvine grabbing her arm. Irvine fell forwards into the Gap, and someone grabbed his leg, it was Nateria. Both Irvine and Selphie's lives rested in the hands of Nateria.
Chapter XXIV The Jump
The stars were fading from the sky, and a new dawn was arising; illuminating the dark sky to a pinkish, purple color. The great puffy clouds weren't their regular white color, but a light pink.
The brilliant blue and green lights of Balamb Garden were becoming faint as they gliding over the ocean's surface at a great speed. They were headed towards Trabia, and were leaving the darkness of Galbadia.
Over head, several jets flew steadily, once and a while dropping and rising again, and moving in and out from one another, and behind the Garden came a good twenty to thirty ships; Galbadian ships. They were prepared for war.
Quistis, Seifer, Zell, Clarissa and Ellone sat nervously in Quistis' office, awaiting the call from Laguna as to what the battle action would be. Nida was up on the pilot's deck steering. There was a very nervous silence; Quistis had just addressed the entire Garden that they would once again, be going into battle against the Estharian soldiers.
It was surprising when several students showed up in Quistis' office, asking how they could help, such as flying. It was especially good for them to know, however, that they had time to prepare for this battle.
Quistis stood up and walked to her desk, frowning. She was thinking hard about what they could do to access the Garden from the outside, but the army probably already surrounded it.
She thought for a few more minutes, tapping her foot silently. She gave a start when a loud beep came from the communication's system in her office. Quickly, she walked over and picked up the receiver.
"Come in!" said a familiar voice. It was Laguna. "Quistis, Come in."
"I'm here," Quistis had pushed the button down, and let it go, unaware that now everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats, listening for what Laguna would say.
"We have a plan," Laguna stated, "Listen up."
Quistis said nothing, and allowed him to continue.
"Our plan is for the air fleet, flying above you, to head to into the region first, leaded by a scout who will report what is going on. Copy that?"
Quistis pressed the button, "Copy."
"Then," he continued, "The army of Galbadia will go in using their trucks to get there faster, and begin the surprise attack. And about ten minutes later, the skilled Garden students will come, and back up the army. Copy?"
"We understand," Quistis said, "But what of the Garden, should we leave it on shore, or use it to get to Trabia?"
For a moment, there was no answer, and then finally, Laguna came back on. "You will leave the Garden behind the mountains, out of sight. SeeD will proceed on foot, the Estharian army will not expect that."
Quistis agreed, "And that is all?" she asked, now looking at Seifer, who was anxiously awaiting the battle.
"Yes," Laguna said, "Any further information, we will tell you. Make sure that you wear the headset you have there, we may need to contact one another during the battle."
"Copy that," Quistis said, "Where are you?"
"The Ragnarok with Landers and Kiros (plus the pilot and soldiers)." Just as Laguna said this, Quistis heard the distinctive sound of the Ragnarok speeding above them and then she seen it zoom ahead of them.
"We are nearly there," Laguna said. "We will inform you what Garden should do at the shore when we get closer. Approximately thirty minutes."
For a second, Quistis didn't say anything; there was a sudden thought in her mind, and she wasn't sure whether or not she should ask, but she did. "What about Galbadia Garden, didn't they want to help?"
This time a different voice came onto the system, it was Landers. "Galbadia Garden separated from civilized society a long time ago. We did not ask them, as they swore to never help the Galbadian army. Out." He seemed to have shut off his system.
Quistis turned and faced the rest of them; "Well," she said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms, "That's it, isn't it? We're going to have to fight again." She was not too pleased with the idea.
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Sirus pulled away from Aurora, now able to hold off his sobs. He smiled true for the first time since the night that him and Aurora had danced together. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life!" he said to her.
Aurora smiled back at him, tears still running silently down her cheeks, and quite suddenly, she hugged him again, breaking down into sobs, "I was so worried," she whispered through her sobs, ".So worried."
For a minute, they stood there, holding each other but when a loud noise sounded, they pulled apart. Someone was coming towards the room. Sirus ran to the door and stepped out, trying to look suspicious, and he closed it to the point where it was only open a little.
A soldier was coming towards him, staring hard at him. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking from him to the door.
Sirus stood up straight, "I was just checking on the prisoner, sir." He said, trying hard to not stutter or look to hard at the ground, or the roof for the matter.
The soldier frowned, "Why are you calling me, sir? I am not your commanding officer."
Sirus said nothing for a moment, he wasn't sure whether or not he should say anything. The soldier stared at him, and then stepped back, "Wait a minute!" he said loudly, "Your not the guard, your that boy!" The soldier now advanced on him, but Sirus was too fast, he took the back of the gun on his uniform and bashed it over the soldiers' head.
The soldier fell to the floor with a loud thud, he was knocked out. Sirus opened the door looked at Aurora, "We don't have much time, we've got to go!"
Aurora frowned, "But where are we going to go? This is a boat, isn't it?"
Sirus didn't say anything; he walked over to Aurora, grabbed her hand, and led her from the room. He dragged the soldier in, shut and locked the door. "All I know," Sirus said, as they walked quietly down the hallway towards the stairwell, "Is that we have got to get off this boat."
They were nearly at the stairwell when they heard voices above; they couldn't possibly get up that way. "There has to be another way!" Aurora exclaimed, looking around wildly.
They turned around and went in the opposite direction, and found another hallway, to the left. It led straight for a few meters and then turned right. They looked at each other and silently agreed that it was the only way, so they followed the hallway.
Once the hallway turned right, it led straight for nearly the length of the other corridor, but it was a dead end except for a ladder on the left side of the hallway. Sirus and Aurora approached the ladder and looked up, there was a hatch.
"What do you think?" Sirus asked Aurora.
Voices sounded in the long corridor that they had been imprisoned in. Apparently, they had found the two knocked out soldiers in Aurora and Sirus' rooms and were yelling for a full search of the ship.
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice." Aurora looked at Sirus, but we don't know what's up there, what if we open it and Adel is standing right there, ready for us?"
Sirus nodded, but then said, "Yes, but if we stay here then the soldiers will find us. Either way, we'd be caught. At least this way we have a chance of hiding."
Aurora nodded, "Open the hatch."
Sirus climbed the ladder and slowly twisted the wooden handle on the dark chestnut hatch and pushed, looking through the crack. He looked back down at Aurora, "As far as I can see, the coast is clear, it looks like we're behind a big crate or something."
Sirus now opened the hatch completely and climbed up, helping Aurora out of the hatch hole. He then closed the hatch, and looked around. Aurora seen that he was right, they were behind a huge crate where they seemed to be hidden.
"Now what?" she frowned, looking around. The ship appeared to be travelling along a large cliff, only a few meters away, maybe 20 at the most, but they were on the side of the ship that was towards the sea. They seemed to be on the bow of the ship, and there were a few other crates.
"I think we should go to the other side of the ship, see if we can get close enough to jump." Sirus said.
Aurora looked at him and shook her head. "Are you crazy?" she was now wide eyed, "We can't make such a jump, look how high this ship is!"
"OY," said a voice suddenly, "I SEE'EM, THE BOW OF THE SHIP. AHOY, MEN!"
Sirus and Aurora looked back and up. On the control deck of the ship, there was a watch point, which was high enough to see the entire ship. They suddenly heard footsteps racing towards them.
Sirus grabbed Aurora's hand and they ran to the opposite side of the ship, Sirus jumped up on the ledge. "We don't have a choice, Aurora!" he said, in a pleading voice, "Please don't be scared. it's going to be alright." Even Sirus didn't really want to jump, it was quite high, but if they didn't, then Aurora would be caught again; he would do anything in his power to prevent that from happening.
"Aurora," he pleaded. Aurora was looking around, she was nearly going to faint. The soldiers were getting near, and she didn't know what to do. "Please, Aurora. just jump!"
Aurora looked up at Sirus and quite suddenly, jumped up onto the ledge, looking down.
"HEY!" said one of the soldiers, who was now only meters away, "GET DOWN!"
Aurora and Sirus looked at each other, and Sirus kissed Aurora. "I love you." he whispered, and holding her hand, they jumped. The soldier missed their feet by inches.
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