------'-----,--- Crippled------'-----,---
Laguna Loire. The infamous man with a machine gun. Squall's father and the president of Esthar. He tossed his pony tail over his shoulder and smiled up at the group on the stage, his hands never leaving the slim gun in his hand.
Kiros Seagul. The dark man was the only known master of the Katals. The two long blades that attached to his hands messengers of death.
Ward Zaback. Struck mute during the first sorceress war, the tallest of the three. The black cloth around his eyes could only mean one thing. Some how the large man had fallen blind.
"President Laguna, what brings you here?" The Deling City Representative was the first to speak filling his room with the sound of his frightened voice.
"I am not going back" Seifer ground out before Laguna could answer. The older man's eyes looked to Seifer and he slowly shook his head.
"You're dangerous, Almasy. We have to take you back" Laguna said softly his eyes full of tenderness.
"I'm not going back" Seifer answered shortly, repeating himself. He was like a statue, unmoving. His limbs locked into place, eyes hard.
"Would someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?" Quistis exclaimed finally reaching her breaking point. There was too much that was unexplained, it was driving her crazy. She hopped off the stage and cross the room to glare at the three men.
"Quistis how are you?" Laguna asked finally stepping further into the room, to stand right before Quistis.
"Not good, Mr. Loire" she responded softly staring up at him.
A sound of lightening thundered outside. The lights over head flickered, dimmed and then finally died leaving them all in darkness.
"No" Seifer's panicked voice could be heard through the whole hall. A silent deadly whisper, a foretelling of things to come.
Suddenly the windows crashed in, men rolling into the room. Lights mounted on their arms, the rest of their bodies clothed in black. Gun shots rang out across the room bursts of light randomly lighting up the room as the machine gun fired.
"Thundaga" Rinoa's voice carried over the crowd, lightening arching across the ceiling to light the room in an eerie gold glow. She floated above the stage, her great white wings spreading from her back. Her eyes blank and expressionless. Brown hair flying wildly around her as the wet collar of her coat stuck to her face.
Rain poured into the room, wind following it in bursts. Men and woman were screaming, dying. The men in black slicing them down with wicked looking daggers in their hands.
"Everyone try and get outside" Ward yelled over the crowd as he hefted his anchor. The enormous black thing swung over the crowd, slamming into one of the black clothed men that was about the cut down the Dollet Representative.
Seifer was running across the room oblivious to the rain and wind storming around him. One of the men sliced open his shoulder; he didn't stop till he was standing beside the unarmed Quistis. She looked at him with panicked eyes for a moment, closing the trench coat tight around her.
He slowly drew his Hyperion, the metal hissing against the harness he kept it in. Shaking he handed it to her, and she stared at him like he was crazy. Quistis knew there was no way she could lift that thing.
"Take it, trust me" he said quietly. Her hands quaking in the strange yellow light, she reached out and took the weapon. To her amazement it was light, as she swung it through the air.
Seifer nodded and left her, the floor of the room slippery with rain and blood. The crowd was rushing through the double doors. The wired men were killing any of them they could get their hands on. Zell and Irvine were helping the people out, slamming the doors behind them.
Quistis swung the Hyperion in a wide arch, bringing the blade down upon one of the men's heads. Brains and blood fell upon the floor in a sickening head, as his head collapsed from the weight.
Seifer took position in front of one of the windows, a blur of black and blue as his fists and feet found heads and limbs. He grabbed one wired man by the arm and snapped the elbow, wires bursting from the skin. Sparks flew from the wires, bouncing across the floor. Seifer flung the man into the rain, his body erupting in electricity as rain fell upon the sparking wires.
Kiros and Ward fought back to back. Ward's enormous anchor swung through the air, tearing a wired man in half. Its bodies erupted in a shower of gore and metal, a terrible cry escaped the dead mans lips. Kiros' katals scrapped to the floor with each terrifying attack, wired men falling before his feet.
More and more wired men were coming through the windows, pressing everyone towards the middle of the room. Rinoa flying over them all, sending a rain of fire upon the men in black.
"There's too many of them" Laguna shouted, reloading his gun.
"We've got to get out of this room" Quistis said seeing the tactical disadvantage of being flanked. She turned and started to cut her a path through the men. Bloody bodies fell before her, the Hyperion quickly growing slick with blood. The others followed her, shoving and pushing there way through the men.
Finally Quistis reached a window and pushed her way through it. The broken glass scraping across her bare legs, the rain pelting down around her. Running she heard the others behind her as she ran out onto the empty street the Gardens in the distance.
"Get to Balamb" she heard Rinoa say from above her. Quistis nodded in response her feet pounding on the sidewalk as she ran. The Hyperion firmly in her hand, wired men ran down the street towards them all of them dressed in matching black.
"Damn it" Quistis cursed taking a defensive position, readying the gunblade in her hands.
"You can't fight them all" Rinoa said lifting her up by the underarms. With a powerful stroke of her wings they were flying above the mass of them, towards Balamb garden.
"What about Seifer!" Quistis exclaimed squirming to look over her shoulder. Laguna was showering the front line of the wired men with rounds from his machine gun. Kiros pulled a slim gun from his pocket and fired it. A feathered dart shot from it and slammed into Seifer's neck. The former night cried out and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head before he slumped to the ground.
"No!" Quistis screamed struggling against Rinoa's iron grip.
Ward grabbed Seifer by the arm and drug him into a near by car. Laguna climbed into the driver's seat as the wired men closed in on them. Kiros killed a final wired man before jumping into the car.
"Rinoa put me down!" Quistis said struggling again. Laguna slammed his foot down on the gas petal, the car speeding away into the night.
"You'll die down there!" Rinoa yelled against the rain as the finally reached the quad, setting Quistis down on the blue tile.
"How could we let them take him like that?" Quistis exclaimed rushing to the edge, leaning over the bar.
"He'll be fine; we got to get the garden off the ground!" Rinoa said as her wings slowly retracted into her back.
"Let's go" Quistis said as she saw the tail lights of the car disappearing in the distance.
She followed Rinoa inside her mind still down on the ground with Seifer.
Why had they done that? Suddenly Laguna shows up with a hoard of wired men on his tail, and wants to take Seifer away. What was the connection?
The two women moved into the elevator and moved onto the bridge. Xu greeting them with worried words, a comforting hand on Quistis' shoulder. Quistis shivered and pulled the coat closer around her. Seifer's coat, Seifer's gunblade clenched in her hand.
"Set a course for Balamb" Quistis heard Xu say through her haze. Nida nodded in response, leaning over the controls to type coordinates into the computer.
"Laguna has Seifer" Rinoa said shortly with a soft sigh. Xu shook her head walking over to stand beside Quistis.
"Why don't you go down to your room and clean up, Quistis" Xu said softly taking in her haggard appearance. Quistis nodded finally feeling the effects of the long night roll through her. She was exhausted.
Walking through the garden she tried to ignore the looks that people were giving her as she moved. Her dorm room was cold and lonely as she walked in, moving over to the window.
The city of Deling and its grim battle was shrinking beneath them. The rain battering hard on the window pane.
All it took was a tranquilizer dart to the neck, no matter how strong those wires made him. The grim image of Ward dragging Seifer away lingered in her mind. He has seemed so strong, so unbreakable in the alley when he had saved her.
Too many questions, not enough answers.
Quistis placed her hand on the window and sighed. Carefully she placed the Hyperion leaning against the wall, her eyes tracing the metal. It was covered in drying blood all the way to the hilt.
Another question struck her, how was she able to lift it?
Quistis could remember trying to train Seifer back when she was an Instructor, she had never been able to lift his Hyperion. How could she forget the hours of relentless teasing from him because of it?
How could Seifer have known she could lift it?
"You think I don't know my own kind?"
His voice echoed through her head, shattering her to the core.
"No" she whispered quietly reaching out to grab the gunblade again. She brought the blade to her hands with teary eyes. A whimper fell from her lips as she sliced her own skin open. In a mess of core, her fingers slipping clumsily she pulled the skin apart.
Quistis couldn't even scream as she stared at the wires that snaked up her bones.
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Author's Notes:
Sorry it took me so long to update this. Had a bit of a barrier I had to overcome before I did.
Special thanks to Jacks, Carly, Sharp, Neha, and FH who listened to me when I needed them to. And for all the reassurance they gave me in my time of need.
Thanks to all the rest of you as well for reading. I know my spacing might be a bit too spaced, but I think too much space is better then not enough.