Chapter 9
"Have you still found no sign of him," asked Laguna.
Quistis sat on a chair in the president of Esthar's office. Laguna Loire, both president of Esthar and Squall's father sat opposite her. He had wanted a briefing in his own office before Quistis went off to her own offices outside of Esthar with Seifer. Irvine and Selphie would stay with Rinoa.
"There has been no sign of the Ragnarok as of yet."
"This is very bad," said Laguna. "First my son goes missing, then, because of his disappearance, we are on the brink of another war with Galbadia, in less than five years. Do you know how bad this is."
"Yes, Laguna I understand. We will keep looking," Quistis said, rising out of her chair.
"We must also find somewhere safe for Rinoa to hide, she isn't safe here anymore."
Quistis crossed her arms; it had always been a habit of her when she was thinking. "Would you like me to take her with me. She should be safe at our site."
Laguna nodded his agreement. She took it as her leave to go. Laguna had been occupied lately with Squall's disappearance, he was remembering last year when Squall had been possessed, and had then disappeared after Andria's death to think about things. Nobody had been able to find him for over a month. Eventually, he had wanted to be found. That had been a trying time for Laguna too. Things weren't getting much easier.
* * *
Quistis now had to go to Odine's lab at the other end of the city. She decided to take the long way and walk. Esthar really was a beautiful city and it would be a while before she got to see it like this again.
Oddly enough, the city seemed deserted for the time of day, usually it was quite busy, however recent events with the Galbadian's, had changed a lot of things. To Quistis this city felt more like her home than Garden ever did, she felt safer here, like she had a purpose. If it were destroyed, then she would never forgive herself.
Coming to the Shopping Mall, things seemed even stranger. Only one small girl sat by one of the stores, she was writing on a piece of paper. Usually the Mall was bustling with people, but today…
A sudden roar filled the air nearby, and a ship passed over the city. The ship was Galbadian. About a dozen war ships flew low over Quistis's head; paratroopers kept jumping out and then started engaging in combat with civilians. All around her people were fighting. A Galbadian quickly came up behind her and attacked her. Blocking his movements with her whip, Quistis soon beat him into submission. Leaving his unconscious form, she tried to make her way to Odine's lab.
* * *
"What's going on out there, it's a war zone," said Selphie as she sat with Irvine. Both of them were protecting Rinoa in Odine's lab, they were just waiting for Quistis to get back so that they knew what their orders were. Rinoa sat in the corner, she hadn't said a lot since they had arrived there. Angelo was at her side, protecting her.
"I hope Quistis gets here soon, or we'll be in trouble," said Irvine. Fear was etched on his face, he was afraid for his and his friends' lives. He didn't know how they were going to get out of this mess.
"We've lost all communications with, well anyone," said Selphie, entering the room. "We have a major problem, we're cut off."
"What do we do then," asked Irvine. "Just hold tight and wait for someone to help us."
"No!" said a voice behind him. "We fight!" said Rinoa, pulling on her weapon.
* * *
"Come with me," ordered Quistis, signalling to a group of Estharian soldiers who then proceeded to follow her towards the lab.
"Are you sure that there's enough of us to stop an attack? There will be a lot of soldiers if they are going to try and kidnap the sorceress," said one Esthar soldier very meekly. He was rather in awe of Quistis.
"We must try," she replied. "Esthar's defences will be spread very thin because of this attack. We may be Rinoa's only hope."
Outside the lab, Galbadian reinforcements were massing. Quistis saw that they were trying to penetrate the steadfast door, not knowing that if the same door could withstand the attack of a Behemoth or an Elnoyle then the forces had no chance.
"Come on," she cried then launched herself at the Galbadian's. Surprise gave them the upper hand, but not for too long as skilled a fighter as she was Quistis was still slowly loosing the battle as she only had a dozen soldiers to help her. Hit after hit left one less soldier for her to worry about, but it was still all in vain. There were still too many enemies to fight.
A battle cry over where the doors were made her look up. There stood Irvine, Selphie and Rinoa, ready to kick some Galbadian butt. Sighing with relief, Quistis brought her whip around and knocked a Galbadian off his feet. He lay there and got up no more.
Joining the fray, Irvine, Selphie and Rinoa attacked without mercy. Rinoa's sorceress attacks knocked a dozen soldiers off their feet at a time. Exhaustion set in for Selphie and soon she found it hard to stand as she relentlessly attacked opponents and hurtled attacks at them, but still she kept on fighting. Irvine was having the time of his life as he hit opponent after opponent. Soon not a soldier was left standing.
"Is it a good job we came?" asked Irvine mockingly.
"No, not really," replied Quistis sarcastically. Both looked humorously at each other, glad that they could smile and laugh at a time like this. It felt good for Quistis to smile in such a long time; she had almost forgotten to do that.
"Arrrrgggghhhhh!" A sudden scream hit Quistis. Rinoa was roughly being dragged away by General Longstaff.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" screamed Irvine as he launched himself at the General.
"Now, now," said Longstaff. "You wouldn't want to hurt the pretty lady, would you?" To prove his point he yanked Rinoa's hair hard. She cried out with the pain.
"Then again, you might try to stop me leaving with my prize, so…"
A large, mechanical robot thundered up in front of them. At thirty feet high with large metal claws and razor sharp blades on its arms and enough metal to make another Galbadian ship, it was a formidable opponent.
"Meet my newest pet, the T-900. Just try and get past that." Longstaff then fled, dragging Rinoa along with him as he went. The monster then closed in on the remaining SeeD.
"Okay, what do we do Quistis, I'm all out of thunder spells, and I haven't got Quezacotl either," said Irvine as he backed away from the menacing fiend as it came closer.
"Need a hand," said Vincent, showing up. "I've got Quezacotl here so he shouldn't be much of a problem."
"Thank god for you Vincent. Ummm… you wouldn't mind charging him now, would you?" said Selphie as the T-900 took a hefty swing at her. Selphie, however, easily dodged the attack and countered it with her own attack.
Vincent was then ready to launch his own attack at the T-900. Quezacotl bathed the whole area in a huge blue lightening glow. With one last groan, the great mechanical beast fell.
"Rinoa!" screamed Selphie.
Quistis looked up and saw Longstaff, still holding tightly and forcefully onto Rinoa. She was his prize for President Rovan.
"Well, congratulations on defeating my so called indestructible beast. I had believed him to be invincible. Unfortunately though, you still don't win first prize."
"You bastard," shouted Vincent. "I'll cut your throat when I get hold of you."
"Language, boy," replied Longstaff. "If language is going to be used then I shall have to be off with my star attraction. Guess you'll have to settle for the booby prize."
A giant white light suddenly filled the sky. This was followed by a huge boom, which shook the ground. Quistis fell to her knees; she was terrified of what was happening. It was soon over and she looked up. Longstaff was gone, but also so was Esthar's Presidential Palace. Dust and rubble could be seen all over the place, and even though Quistis's ears were ringing, she could still hear the sound of crying people. People were dying and gasping for their last breaths.
"Laguna," Quistis whispered.
* * *
Laguna sat there blackened with dust, wheezing. His head was in his hands, ashamed at what it had come to. That was how Vincent found him.
"Sir?" he questioned gently.
"Why? Why did they do this? Was one child really worth all of this pain and suffering?" Laguna sobbed.
"Where's Jake," asked Vincent urgently. Since her death, he had vowed to protect Jake at all costs. It was the least that he could do for her in death.
"He's safe… safe." Shock more than anything was giving Laguna trouble thinking straight, but it had come as a shock to everyone. "Ling has him. Kiros and Ward are protecting them. I wanted to stay here."
Laguna's shaky hand then pointed to a nearby house, which was being used as a hospital.. Vincent got up and ran over to the building, calling Ling's name as he got there.
"In there," pointed a helpful person.
Vincent burst through the door and saw a bruised and bloody Ling cradling Jake in her arms, protecting him in case of another attack. Jake was snuggling into her, but he was sleeping fitfully, no doubt the attack was still on his mind.
"Are you okay," asked Vincent gently. "Do you remember what happened?"
"All I remember is a huge noise and then the floor started to shake and give way. It was the scariest moment of my life."
"It's okay now," Vincent then whispered, comforting her. "These SeeD have done enough damage. It's time we took things into our own hands and took control. Maybe its time we brought Andria back."
"Do you think we can do it," asked Ling. "We don't know much about magic, and it's a very powerful spell."
"We'll learn."