Commander Squall Leonhart sat comfortably in his chair in theDISCLAIMER - I don't own SquareSoft or Final Fantasy VIII. Period.
cafeteria, wondering how long this dreamlike peace was going to last,
and how many hot dogs Zell could possibly stuff into his mouth at once.
Zell turned around in his chair, his jaws opened wider than Squall
could comprehend.
"Qua! Ty wa o ese ot ogs!" was all that Squall could hear coming out
of Zell's mouth.
("What is he trying to say?")
Rinoa walked steadily over and took a seat near Squall.
"Squall, I think he's trying to say, 'Squall! Try one of these hot
dogs!'"
Squall replied, "Since when could you translate Zell with a full
mouth?"
"I've had plenty of practice, believe me."
Squall turned his head around as he heard an announcement.
"Commander Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Instructor Trepe, report to my
office, please!" said Cid.
"What?! Right when I'm enjoying lunch!"
Zell got out of his chair, carrying a half of a hot dog, the other
half in his mouth.
("Damn, what is it this time?")
Squall got up out of his chair and walked quickly to the elevator.
("Cid's always needing my help for even the smallest things, like
managing finances and recruiting new students... I never even asked to
be the Commander, anyway! Why doesn't he just get someone else to do
his work for him?!")
Squall, his mind raging, stormed into Headmaster Cid's office with
Zell and Quistis.
"Sqaull, it's an emergency."
("Like what? Junior classmen acting up?")
"What kind of emergency?" Squall replied.
"Galbadia's launched an attack on Esthar. No one knows the possible
motives, but they're coming in full force!"
"Sounds pretty serious to me." said Zell.
("So..? Esthar can take care of itself. Besides, I think Laguna
needs to wake up some.")
Squall impatiently said, "Can't Esthar take care of this situation
itself?"
"Laguna's been captured, and the Esthar soldiers can't make a move.
sneak into Esthar, rescue Laguna, and bring him to Balamb Garden.
After that, we'll make efforts to defeat Galbadia without many
casualties."
"Yes, sir." Quistis replied.
"You are to set off on your old ship, the Ragnarok, before dawn
tomorrow."
"Ragnarok? I thought it was donated to Esthar..." Zell inquired.
"We still have it. Saying that we donated it to Esthar was just a
cover-up in case any of the students wanted to test-drive it, you
might say. I'm having you ride away before dawn so that no students
will see it."
"We'll do our best, Headmaster." Zell said. Getting into Esthar was
one thing, but getting out with Laguna? This was going to be hard, if
they actualy succeeded in this mission. With countless people on watch,
how could Laguna be taken without any signs of it?
Zell returned to the cafeteria to finish his lunch.
"Damn, there goes my peaceful time as a SeeD, right down the
drain... First we're fighting some psychotic sorceress, next we're
taking Laguna, President of Esthar, away unseen with hundreds
watching... Well, at least I don't have to listen to the Trepies
babbling about Quistis..." Zell said, glancing over at the Trepies
at the table next to him.
"They're just about my only supporters, you know, Zell." Quistis
said, walking behind Zell.
"Woah! You just appeared out of nowhere!" Zell said, backing up and
almost knocking his chair over.
"I'll kind of miss them when they're gone. I almost hope another
trio of goofs like that comes along after the Trepies graduate..."
Quistis said while laughing.
Zell replied, "Yeah, I think I know how you feel."
Meanwhile, Squall laid down on the bed in his room, lost in his
thoughts.
("First Galbadia hires a sorceress as ambassador and gets taken over
by her, and now they're going to war with Esthar. What are they
thinking?
I thought that when President Deling died, things would get better, but
it all stayed the same when Caraway took over. He obviously felt the
same way as Deling about making decisions, the stupid way. Galbadia's always
responsible for all of the war around here!")
Squall slammed his fist down on his bed. "Dammit!" he accidentally
said aloud.
There was a light knock on Squall's door, disturbing his angry
thoughts.
"This had better be important!" said Squall, sighing as he wearily
got off of his bed and opened the door.
Rinoa was waiting at the door. She walked silently to Squall's bed
and sat down on it.
"You're leaving tomorrow, right?" she asked.
"...Yeah."
"I just wanted to say... Well..."
"What?"
"Just come back safe, alright?"
"...Okay..."
("What does she mean, 'Come back safe'? It's just another
mission...")
"What did you need?" Squall asked after a lengthy pause.
"That's all." Rinoa replied, getting off of the bed.
"Bye." Rinoa said, sounding a bit irritated as she walked out of
Squall's dormitory, wondering how he could be so insensitive.
Squall lapsed again into his thoughts, laying on his bed.
("What was so important that she needed to tell me? I've gone on
lots of missions, and she didn't tell me to come back safe from any
of them...")
Meanwhile, at Deling City, President Caraway recieved a call from
Rinoa.
"... Rinoa?"
"Yes, yes."
"We're holding him at the Sorceress Memorial, where no one would
look."
"...Okay." he said as he hung up the telephone.
Caraway felt a bit odd about telling Rinoa where Laguna was being
held. For all he knew, she would tell SeeDs on some sort of mission
to save Laguna, and their attack would have been all for nothing.
Caraway called out, "Send a message to general Biggs to strengthen
defenses at the S-" He stopped for a moment, wondering if others were
listening. "At his post!"
He was determined that this battle would be a success.
Hey, review please! And... Just in case you're wondering, ("...") means that the character is thinking.