~Chapter seven: Slipping into Darkness~
"Alright, our ship is almost htere." Nida reported to Squall. HIm, Squall, and three others stood around in a small airship, getting ready to infiltrate Galbadia Garden. Though there was back up for them, they were the main team that was sent out to destroy their brother Garden.
Quistis, Xu and Cid stood in the Headmaster's office, watching the team on the camera phone. "Remember," Cid began, "destroy the Garden no matter the cost. May Hyne watch over you and protect you with her merciful wings of glory." The six occupants of the small airship saluted Cid then departed from the ship and went down to the enemy base.
There was fighting everywhere! Nida ducked this way and that, shooting off large magic spells he had mastered and also shooting out rounds to cover himself or his comrades. Though he must have been saved a dozen itmes by his Commander, Squall. After the fierce leader had shot down all that stood in their way, he turned back to Nida. "You set the bomb here, I'll go ahead into the office and search for plans." Squall said and ran into the office at their left.
"Damn, these things are hard to set.. I need to design these better!" Nida said to himself. The constant jumping and paranoia slowed him considerably, but he got the job done just as Squall came back to collect him. He was carrying several folders in his hands, though... "What are those?" Nida asked.
"..." Squall wasn't sure how to answer, so he took the simplist answer, "Things the Headmaster needs to see. How long do we have?"
"Ten minutes and counting!" Nida stated and stood up. They ran together through the abadoned hall way and when they reaced the outside, they saw the Balamb Forces retreating, following the plan to seem as though they were being pushed back... though it may not be an act, really. There was another wave of solders coming their way! Mostly snipers...
"Shit." Squall hissed as he looked at the 50 yards between them and the nearest ship.
"What are we going to do? If we run out there, we'll be shot!" Nida fearfully said. "We're trapped!"
"Shut up, Nida!" Squall said adbruptly. "The chances look slim, but we have a choice: stay and die or run and have a chance."
"No way man!" Nida said and was litterally frozen with fear.
"Have it your way." Squall said and put the plans in his extra pocket that one of his three belts provided. He pulled out his prized LionHeart and ran towards the ship.
"You crazy son of a-- wait for me!!" Nida yelled and ran after Squall, catching up with him in a split second due to his intense addreniline rush. They didn't go unnoticed for very long, though, because soon the sounds of screaming air being torn by bullets deafened them. Nida ran with his eyes closed, hearing them was enough! He didn't need to see them, too! He stumbled and was forced to open his eyes but even though his eyes were now opened, he saw black, then red. He couldn't run any longer, but his legs kept moving and carried him closer to the ship.. but it seemed farther away! Everything was so far away...
Nida coughed and was horrified to see blood come from his lips and stain his hand. He hunched over as he ran and his arm felt something warm and wet... Nida looked down at his side and saw a large spot of blood seeping through his SeeD uniform. He was shot.
"Squall! I... can't... help!" Nida yelped as he tripped over his own feet and hit the ground. Squall turned around and saw Nida fall... without a second thought, Squall ran to his hurt comrade and helped him up, but he couldn't hold him!
"Hold this!" Squall commanded and held out the folder to Nida, who clutched it tightly. Squall threw one of Nida's arms around his shoulder and put his own arm around the wounded's waist. This would have to work for now! They were so close! But the ship was getting ready to leave, but the door was still open for them! Squall and Nida had made it! The able bodied Squall helped Nida jump in the moving ship, then readied himself to jump in.
As Squall's feet left the ground, his eyes widened with pain as a burning fire passed through his chest and blood was pushed up his throat into his mouth. Crimson was all that Squall could see and the grip of a hand that he had held being broken was all that he could feel. Though he was only 7 feet above the ground as Squall fell back to the concrete path of Galbadia Garden, it felt like he had been falling for hours. When he hit the floor, more bitter tasting blood was coughed up and spotted the ground. Now, a stream of blood was falling from his forehead and his vision was disoriented due to the rough impact. He could feel the rough foot steps of the enemy coming towards him and he tried to look around for the blue glow of his Lionheart gunblade... but it was no where in sight! He felt around for it, but a large, heavy boot pressed down on Squall's hand.
The next hazy moments of staring into the fires of hell through his icy walls will never be forgotton, nor remembered. Squall was propped up to sit on his knees by forceful arms of demons and held still with the fear of the two black tunnles of limbo put right to his eyes. There was the devil himself at the top of those two long tunnels dressed in a SeeD uniform with a black trench coat over it. He held the midnight-black shot gun right to Squall's head and sneered; compassion was not visible in the dark haired man's face.
"Perpare to die, Squall Leonhart!" he roared. Squall's fluttering eye lids struggled to stay open as he glared into the icey blue eyes of his murderer.
"Stop!" A familiar and distant voice yelled. The devil turned and glared at the brown demon that had stopped him. "He's already dying, you've done enough!"
"Hmph. Compassion of an old friend, hmm Irvine?" The devil grinned evilly then looked back at Squall. "How ironic, you're saved by your father's killer. Well, saved for a few moments, anyway." He pushed Squall back with his shot gun and the commander could no longer hold onto this world; he slipped into darkness.
~
The blue sky over Balamb Garden darkened to a pure black color, blocking out all sun and light. Violent rain fell from the sky and the wind wailed through the plains. Floods began to occur throughout the continent of Balamb and the intense sorrow was felt in every heart that was touched by the rain. Emotions poured from the sky just as violently and helplessly as it did from Rinoa Heartilly.
"He can't be dead! No! It's not true!" Rinoa yelled through her never ceasing sobs. She was in her and Squall's dorm with her faithful dog, Angelo, at her side. Angelo licked Rinoa's arm as she cried into a soft pillow. "He can't be gone..." She weeped and hit the bed with her fist. "He can't be gone! I want him back! I need him to come back!" Angelo wimpered in sympathy and cuddled up beside his beloved owner to try to cheer her up. "Thank you, Angelo..." She said softly as she turned on her side and hugged her dog.
A soft knock on the door startled the shaking woman, but she sniffed back a couple of tears and tried to swallow her sobs. "It-'s ...open..." she said in a low moaning voice while she sat up in bed. Quistis came in quietly, but swiftly and went straight to her grieving friend.
"Oh, Rinoa! I'm sorry!" Quistis said and hugged her friend, who broke down once more and cried onto Quistis's shoulder.
"It's not fair! It's not supposed to be like this! He's supposed to come back!" Rinoa cried.
"Shhh... I know..." Quistis cooed gently as she stroked Rinoa's back softly, trying to calm her down.
"What can I do...? I don't know what to do!" Rinoa sobbed.
"..." Quistis didn't know what to say, what could she say?! all she could do was stay by her friend's side. "The Headmaster wants you to stay in Garden and under the eyes of the SeeDs here... he wants to make sure you're safe... we're all here to help you, Rinoa."
"Are you.. going to be here tomorrow?"
"No... I... Have a mission with Zell... we're going to the communication tower in Dollet to disable it... I'll only be gone from 7 to around noon, so I'll make you lunch, alright? I'll even get Zell to come." Quistis offered and Rinoa looked at her with her puffy red eyes... something was going on in those brown eyes that scared Quistis, but the sudden softening of them eased her heart slightly when then nodded.
"Alright.."
~
Quistis and Zell ran through the narrow pathway to the communication tower... it wasn't too far from where they were, but they still had to hustle! Together, they had taken care of a majority of the solders and watched each other's backs; this mission was too serious for them to go solo. As they walked through the creavice of the two cliffs, small rocks fell from the top, causing Zell to look up and spot a quick flash of blue and green. Believing it to be his imagination, he remained silent and continued on.
Time froze. Quistis and Zell looked around in their warpped reality where time nor space existed. "huh...?" Zell tried to move, but found that he'd rather not... it was so nausiating here and solid objects, even Zell and Quistis, were bent and twists. Both of the blonde SeeDs looked up to see where the black feathers and dead flowers flew in the air were coming from...and watched the dark-winged angel landed in front of them. Rinoa looked from Quistis to Zell silently.
"Rinoa! What are you doing here?! What's going on?!" Zell asked.
"You're in a frozen dimension that I have created," Zell was about to say something else, but Rinoa hushed him and spoke quickly. "I have to speak quickly because they're coming! Quistis, Zell, you're walking right into an ambush! I walked ahead and saw that they're waiting for you! You must find another route, I'll hold them off."
"But... you could be killed, Rinoa! We can take care of this! Go back right now!" Quistis commanded but Rinoa shook her head.
"I don't care. This is what I want... to be with him." Rinoa said gently and the area around them slowly began to turn back to normal as the angel lifted her arms up and began to fade. The flower and feathers also became transparent as she disappeared in a black flash of light.
"No! Rinoa!! You don't understand! You're the reason why they're attacking Esthar! You're a sorceress!" Quistis yelled out, but her voice was hushed when she was brought back to reality.
"I don't think she heard you..." Zell said as he looked around. "I'll go after Rinoa! You complete the mission!" Zell said and Quistis nodded. "If we're not back, leave without us." Zell didn't even wait to finish his sentence, he ran after Rinoa with all his might.
'She can't get captured! I gotta honor Squall's memory some how, so I gotta take care of Rin' for him!' Zell thought as he ran through the creavice at full speed and, as Rinoa had said, Galbadia solders were waiting for him! Zell's perfected martial arts got him through the first small wave and into the open where he saw Rinoa caught in the center of several solders. She was standing with her dog at her feet, barking and growling at the solders. They were closing in on her slowly and with caution.
"Now now.. come peacefully little girl!" One solder said in a sickeningly fake voice. Others around him chuckled as they pulled out their guns and swords, getting ready to charge. Rinoa and Angelo stood still and calm, glance around at their attackers. Rinoa flicked her wrist upwards and the wind around them grew violently very suddenly. The black wings on her back extended to a twelve foot wingspan and black feathers rose from the dust. As they flew around her in a violent cyclone, the feathers grew and became black daggers! The solders panicked and tried to defend themselves, but no armor could stop the razor blade daggers that weaved in and out of their bodies.
Horrified and stunned, Zell hesistated as he slowly walked towards the black angel, Rinoa. "Rinoa! Come----come on! We gotta get outta here!" When Rinoa turned to face him, it wasn't the raven haired girl, but a woman with blue and purple scars, long gray hair and silver eyes that were cold with desperation and sorrow.
"I kan't kontrol it all..." Rinoa spoke in a warpped and eerie voice as she looked back at Zell. Her face held nothing but pain and suffering and he could barely look into her cold eyes.
"Rinoa.." Zell said, frightened, and held her eyes with his. He walked towards her slowly, and the sorceress remained still as the daggers turned back to feathers. In her moment of distraction, two bullets flew through the air. The first one hit Zell in his chest, sending him flying backwards into the mounds of dirt and rendering him unconscious, if he was even alive.
"Zell! NO!!!" Rinoa yelled as her wings turned white and she was normal once again. Rinoa looked to the source of the shots and her eyes widened. "Daddy?" She asked the general, then the second shot was fired and hit her right between her eyes. Her white wings broke into thousands of pieces and scattered all around the dirt. A thin line of black blood dripped from her forehead and dripped into her open, teary eyes.
~~
A/N: No, the story is not finished yet!! ... *cries* though I think I should leave it here.... but I'm not going to! Nope nope nope!
-Fujin Kazano-
-aj-
"Alright, our ship is almost htere." Nida reported to Squall. HIm, Squall, and three others stood around in a small airship, getting ready to infiltrate Galbadia Garden. Though there was back up for them, they were the main team that was sent out to destroy their brother Garden.
Quistis, Xu and Cid stood in the Headmaster's office, watching the team on the camera phone. "Remember," Cid began, "destroy the Garden no matter the cost. May Hyne watch over you and protect you with her merciful wings of glory." The six occupants of the small airship saluted Cid then departed from the ship and went down to the enemy base.
There was fighting everywhere! Nida ducked this way and that, shooting off large magic spells he had mastered and also shooting out rounds to cover himself or his comrades. Though he must have been saved a dozen itmes by his Commander, Squall. After the fierce leader had shot down all that stood in their way, he turned back to Nida. "You set the bomb here, I'll go ahead into the office and search for plans." Squall said and ran into the office at their left.
"Damn, these things are hard to set.. I need to design these better!" Nida said to himself. The constant jumping and paranoia slowed him considerably, but he got the job done just as Squall came back to collect him. He was carrying several folders in his hands, though... "What are those?" Nida asked.
"..." Squall wasn't sure how to answer, so he took the simplist answer, "Things the Headmaster needs to see. How long do we have?"
"Ten minutes and counting!" Nida stated and stood up. They ran together through the abadoned hall way and when they reaced the outside, they saw the Balamb Forces retreating, following the plan to seem as though they were being pushed back... though it may not be an act, really. There was another wave of solders coming their way! Mostly snipers...
"Shit." Squall hissed as he looked at the 50 yards between them and the nearest ship.
"What are we going to do? If we run out there, we'll be shot!" Nida fearfully said. "We're trapped!"
"Shut up, Nida!" Squall said adbruptly. "The chances look slim, but we have a choice: stay and die or run and have a chance."
"No way man!" Nida said and was litterally frozen with fear.
"Have it your way." Squall said and put the plans in his extra pocket that one of his three belts provided. He pulled out his prized LionHeart and ran towards the ship.
"You crazy son of a-- wait for me!!" Nida yelled and ran after Squall, catching up with him in a split second due to his intense addreniline rush. They didn't go unnoticed for very long, though, because soon the sounds of screaming air being torn by bullets deafened them. Nida ran with his eyes closed, hearing them was enough! He didn't need to see them, too! He stumbled and was forced to open his eyes but even though his eyes were now opened, he saw black, then red. He couldn't run any longer, but his legs kept moving and carried him closer to the ship.. but it seemed farther away! Everything was so far away...
Nida coughed and was horrified to see blood come from his lips and stain his hand. He hunched over as he ran and his arm felt something warm and wet... Nida looked down at his side and saw a large spot of blood seeping through his SeeD uniform. He was shot.
"Squall! I... can't... help!" Nida yelped as he tripped over his own feet and hit the ground. Squall turned around and saw Nida fall... without a second thought, Squall ran to his hurt comrade and helped him up, but he couldn't hold him!
"Hold this!" Squall commanded and held out the folder to Nida, who clutched it tightly. Squall threw one of Nida's arms around his shoulder and put his own arm around the wounded's waist. This would have to work for now! They were so close! But the ship was getting ready to leave, but the door was still open for them! Squall and Nida had made it! The able bodied Squall helped Nida jump in the moving ship, then readied himself to jump in.
As Squall's feet left the ground, his eyes widened with pain as a burning fire passed through his chest and blood was pushed up his throat into his mouth. Crimson was all that Squall could see and the grip of a hand that he had held being broken was all that he could feel. Though he was only 7 feet above the ground as Squall fell back to the concrete path of Galbadia Garden, it felt like he had been falling for hours. When he hit the floor, more bitter tasting blood was coughed up and spotted the ground. Now, a stream of blood was falling from his forehead and his vision was disoriented due to the rough impact. He could feel the rough foot steps of the enemy coming towards him and he tried to look around for the blue glow of his Lionheart gunblade... but it was no where in sight! He felt around for it, but a large, heavy boot pressed down on Squall's hand.
The next hazy moments of staring into the fires of hell through his icy walls will never be forgotton, nor remembered. Squall was propped up to sit on his knees by forceful arms of demons and held still with the fear of the two black tunnles of limbo put right to his eyes. There was the devil himself at the top of those two long tunnels dressed in a SeeD uniform with a black trench coat over it. He held the midnight-black shot gun right to Squall's head and sneered; compassion was not visible in the dark haired man's face.
"Perpare to die, Squall Leonhart!" he roared. Squall's fluttering eye lids struggled to stay open as he glared into the icey blue eyes of his murderer.
"Stop!" A familiar and distant voice yelled. The devil turned and glared at the brown demon that had stopped him. "He's already dying, you've done enough!"
"Hmph. Compassion of an old friend, hmm Irvine?" The devil grinned evilly then looked back at Squall. "How ironic, you're saved by your father's killer. Well, saved for a few moments, anyway." He pushed Squall back with his shot gun and the commander could no longer hold onto this world; he slipped into darkness.
~
The blue sky over Balamb Garden darkened to a pure black color, blocking out all sun and light. Violent rain fell from the sky and the wind wailed through the plains. Floods began to occur throughout the continent of Balamb and the intense sorrow was felt in every heart that was touched by the rain. Emotions poured from the sky just as violently and helplessly as it did from Rinoa Heartilly.
"He can't be dead! No! It's not true!" Rinoa yelled through her never ceasing sobs. She was in her and Squall's dorm with her faithful dog, Angelo, at her side. Angelo licked Rinoa's arm as she cried into a soft pillow. "He can't be gone..." She weeped and hit the bed with her fist. "He can't be gone! I want him back! I need him to come back!" Angelo wimpered in sympathy and cuddled up beside his beloved owner to try to cheer her up. "Thank you, Angelo..." She said softly as she turned on her side and hugged her dog.
A soft knock on the door startled the shaking woman, but she sniffed back a couple of tears and tried to swallow her sobs. "It-'s ...open..." she said in a low moaning voice while she sat up in bed. Quistis came in quietly, but swiftly and went straight to her grieving friend.
"Oh, Rinoa! I'm sorry!" Quistis said and hugged her friend, who broke down once more and cried onto Quistis's shoulder.
"It's not fair! It's not supposed to be like this! He's supposed to come back!" Rinoa cried.
"Shhh... I know..." Quistis cooed gently as she stroked Rinoa's back softly, trying to calm her down.
"What can I do...? I don't know what to do!" Rinoa sobbed.
"..." Quistis didn't know what to say, what could she say?! all she could do was stay by her friend's side. "The Headmaster wants you to stay in Garden and under the eyes of the SeeDs here... he wants to make sure you're safe... we're all here to help you, Rinoa."
"Are you.. going to be here tomorrow?"
"No... I... Have a mission with Zell... we're going to the communication tower in Dollet to disable it... I'll only be gone from 7 to around noon, so I'll make you lunch, alright? I'll even get Zell to come." Quistis offered and Rinoa looked at her with her puffy red eyes... something was going on in those brown eyes that scared Quistis, but the sudden softening of them eased her heart slightly when then nodded.
"Alright.."
~
Quistis and Zell ran through the narrow pathway to the communication tower... it wasn't too far from where they were, but they still had to hustle! Together, they had taken care of a majority of the solders and watched each other's backs; this mission was too serious for them to go solo. As they walked through the creavice of the two cliffs, small rocks fell from the top, causing Zell to look up and spot a quick flash of blue and green. Believing it to be his imagination, he remained silent and continued on.
Time froze. Quistis and Zell looked around in their warpped reality where time nor space existed. "huh...?" Zell tried to move, but found that he'd rather not... it was so nausiating here and solid objects, even Zell and Quistis, were bent and twists. Both of the blonde SeeDs looked up to see where the black feathers and dead flowers flew in the air were coming from...and watched the dark-winged angel landed in front of them. Rinoa looked from Quistis to Zell silently.
"Rinoa! What are you doing here?! What's going on?!" Zell asked.
"You're in a frozen dimension that I have created," Zell was about to say something else, but Rinoa hushed him and spoke quickly. "I have to speak quickly because they're coming! Quistis, Zell, you're walking right into an ambush! I walked ahead and saw that they're waiting for you! You must find another route, I'll hold them off."
"But... you could be killed, Rinoa! We can take care of this! Go back right now!" Quistis commanded but Rinoa shook her head.
"I don't care. This is what I want... to be with him." Rinoa said gently and the area around them slowly began to turn back to normal as the angel lifted her arms up and began to fade. The flower and feathers also became transparent as she disappeared in a black flash of light.
"No! Rinoa!! You don't understand! You're the reason why they're attacking Esthar! You're a sorceress!" Quistis yelled out, but her voice was hushed when she was brought back to reality.
"I don't think she heard you..." Zell said as he looked around. "I'll go after Rinoa! You complete the mission!" Zell said and Quistis nodded. "If we're not back, leave without us." Zell didn't even wait to finish his sentence, he ran after Rinoa with all his might.
'She can't get captured! I gotta honor Squall's memory some how, so I gotta take care of Rin' for him!' Zell thought as he ran through the creavice at full speed and, as Rinoa had said, Galbadia solders were waiting for him! Zell's perfected martial arts got him through the first small wave and into the open where he saw Rinoa caught in the center of several solders. She was standing with her dog at her feet, barking and growling at the solders. They were closing in on her slowly and with caution.
"Now now.. come peacefully little girl!" One solder said in a sickeningly fake voice. Others around him chuckled as they pulled out their guns and swords, getting ready to charge. Rinoa and Angelo stood still and calm, glance around at their attackers. Rinoa flicked her wrist upwards and the wind around them grew violently very suddenly. The black wings on her back extended to a twelve foot wingspan and black feathers rose from the dust. As they flew around her in a violent cyclone, the feathers grew and became black daggers! The solders panicked and tried to defend themselves, but no armor could stop the razor blade daggers that weaved in and out of their bodies.
Horrified and stunned, Zell hesistated as he slowly walked towards the black angel, Rinoa. "Rinoa! Come----come on! We gotta get outta here!" When Rinoa turned to face him, it wasn't the raven haired girl, but a woman with blue and purple scars, long gray hair and silver eyes that were cold with desperation and sorrow.
"I kan't kontrol it all..." Rinoa spoke in a warpped and eerie voice as she looked back at Zell. Her face held nothing but pain and suffering and he could barely look into her cold eyes.
"Rinoa.." Zell said, frightened, and held her eyes with his. He walked towards her slowly, and the sorceress remained still as the daggers turned back to feathers. In her moment of distraction, two bullets flew through the air. The first one hit Zell in his chest, sending him flying backwards into the mounds of dirt and rendering him unconscious, if he was even alive.
"Zell! NO!!!" Rinoa yelled as her wings turned white and she was normal once again. Rinoa looked to the source of the shots and her eyes widened. "Daddy?" She asked the general, then the second shot was fired and hit her right between her eyes. Her white wings broke into thousands of pieces and scattered all around the dirt. A thin line of black blood dripped from her forehead and dripped into her open, teary eyes.
~~
A/N: No, the story is not finished yet!! ... *cries* though I think I should leave it here.... but I'm not going to! Nope nope nope!
-Fujin Kazano-
-aj-
