Time's Scars

Chapter 7: Loyalty

Quistis awoke to find herself trapped in a small storage bay on the ship. Her wrists and ankles were bound with ropes. Groggily, she sat up, remembering what had gotten her there.

What have I done? She thought I betrayed Squall. I chose Garden over him. What is wrong with me?

She frantically began chewing at the ropes around her wrists, knowing she needed to help. Garden had a tracking device on the ship, and now that they were so off course, soldiers would be sent out.

******************************************************************************************

The three teenagers ran through Timber, being careful not to come out in open areas for very long. Squall knew that Garden would have soldiers all over Galbadia looking for him. He'd diverted to there so that he could catch a train to Balamb. It was dangerous, but safer than directly flying in. If he'd flown to Balamb, they would surely have caught him.

"What will they do?" Zell asked quietly.

Squall stopped, letting Zell and Rinoa take a break. "They'll do everything they can to capture me."

"Why? They don't even have proof you're an Elf yet."

Squall chuckled bitterly, "Yes they do. Cid's known all along."

Rinoa looked up in surprise, "What?!"

"You think he got me into Garden and advanced me so quickly to be nice? Of course not. He made sure I wasn't adopted at the orphanage."

Zell shook his head, "Matron knew?"

"No, but I'm sure she suspected something."

"How did he even get his hands on you?"

Squall sighed and continued walking, "He bought me."

"Bought you?" Rinoa asked, "How?"

"Well, shortly after I got away, I was found and attacked by another group of humans. A guy came in and saved me, but not to be nice. He knew why they were attacking me. He sold me on the black market, knowing how valuable I could be to military groups."

"Are you serious?" Zell cried

"Yes. Where do you think all that money went, Zell? NORG was rich, and Cid had plenty of funding beforehand. Even the orphanage was better before I came, remember?"

"So, Cid went behind NORG's back?"

"Pretty much. It was his original intention to have me destroy NORG anyway once he was done with his money."

Rinoa shook her head, "I always thought Cid was a nice man."

"He's a good actor, that's for sure."

"So, were you like, his slave or something?" Zell asked

"You could say that. I had to obey his orders, because at that time there was no way I could escape. I was a kid, with no real knowledge of my abilities, and no place to go."

"I can't believe he would do that." Zell grumbled.

Squall stopped suddenly and motioned for them to get down. A few minutes later, a group of SeeD soldiers marched past, weapons out and ready.

"They're here." Zell gulped.

Rinoa looked at Squall, "How are we going to catch a train? They'll see us! And I'm sure they have the tracks either monitored or blocked off."

"Probably. We'll have to wait, I guess." He sighed, "But I don't know if we should. Something's going to happen, something bad."

"How do you know?"

He shook his head, "I just do. I always know. I can feel it."

Zell laughed quietly, "Man, you really are skilled."

"It isn't a great life."

"So what are we going to do?" Rinoa interrupted.

"There has to be some way to get on a train. Garden is good, but they aren't THAT good."

"I dunno, man." Zell replied, "They know how to find someone."

Squall looked at Zell, "Maybe they know how to find someone normal. But they have no idea how good I am at getting around. You forget, Zell, I'm not an easy target to track."

"True, but you aren't invincible."

"We'll make it. Even if I have to take a few of them out, we'll make it."

******************************************************************************************

Quistis ran into Timber, ignored by the swarming soldiers. They were so focused on finding Squall that they didn't even notice her.

She knew he'd be here. He had to get to Balamb to talk with the other Elves. It was rumored that a group of them lived in the city, and she knew that rumor was true. He'd be headed for the trains. But how could he manage to sneak past and get onto one without getting caught?

There was no way he could.

******************************************************************************************

Squall led them quietly and carefully around the groups of soldiers. Every passing moment made him more tense. He hadn't realized how many of them there were here. There were guards everywhere.

He stopped and shook his head, "There's no way."

"What do you mean?" Zell whispered

"There is no way we'll make it to a train. They're everywhere. There's no place to hide."

Just as soon as he'd said it, a soldier spotted them. His first instinct was to run, but where?

The man pointed a gun at them, along with a few other soldiers nearby. "Stand up."

They stood, having no other choice.

"You can't run, Commander. Piece of scum. We're going to destroy you as soon as we get home. I'll enjoy watching it." The soldier sneered.

"I don't think so." Said a familiar female voice nearby.

Before they could even look to see who it was, gunfire erupted. Squall pushed Zell and Rinoa down, out of the way of the bullets. Then, he realized that there were no bullets aimed at them. He looked up to see the nearby groups of soldiers on the ground, dead.

He stood up slowly and looked at his savior.

Quistis

"I thought you'd be here." She said.

Squall smiled, "Quistis once again saves my ass with the help of a machine gun."

She grinned and held up the weapon, "They come in handy."

"Damn, woman!" Zell exclaimed, "How did you sneak that in here?"

"Wasn't hard with all those idiots. They didn't even notice me! I can't believe those dimwits at Garden sent out cadets to do this!"

Squall sighed, "Good. Let's get on a train before they close those tracks. There's one launching now."

The four ran up the stairway and leapt onto the back end of the train, just before it took off. They snuck inside, finding a well-hidden seating area among the other civilians.

"Quistis?" Squall asked, once they'd seated themselves.

"Yes, Squall?"

He reached out and took her hand, looking her in the eyes, "Thank you."