"I wonder where we are right now…" Kairi said out loud with a tired look on her face.
"I don't think we're in the continent anymore after the long distance that we're able to run some moments ago…" Riku pointed out with a serious look on his face. He still doesn't look tired.
Samara just kept on walking from behind him, slowing down a bit because she was already tired. She was not really used to taking very long walks… and adding everything with the stress and pressure in her life, all she wanted to do was to rest… but for some reason, she cannot.
Sora ducked when a dragonfly-like creature just spawned in front of him and almost attacked him. He immediately got his keyblade and began to fight the creature.
They were in a vast field already and they did not know what place it was too. But from a distance, they could see a small town by the seashore and then a little bit far from it is a dome-like place but higher and bigger and it looks like a giant wedding cake at first glance if you didn't know that it was an edifice.
After Sora was able to beat the creature, he was already panting, "I'm tired… I wanna go home… I miss my bed!" he told them with an exhausted look on his face.
"Stop whining, you lazy bum. Maybe we could head for that big cake thing and ask where we are…" Kairi suggested while observing the big structure.
"Yeah, let's go. Just be careful of those creatures… I think this field has a lot of them." Sora muttered miserably as he led the way.
Samara just stood still, watching as the three went on ahead of her. She bowed down her head, looking at the ground with a solemn look on her face.
Riku stopped walking and turned back to her, "Samara," he called out.
She just stood still as she gazed up at him. He was quiet for a while, observing her; then he smiled kindly as he offered a hand to her.
She slowly made her way to him and finally took his hand. He gently squeezed her hand before motioning for her to walk with him. She just bowed down her head as they proceeded.
They finally arrived at the big dome-like place and they all gazed up at it in awe. "Whoa… what is this place?" Sora asked out loud in awe.
The guard was eyeing them carefully from his booth as they approached. "Hey, what are you folks still doing up late?" the guard asked.
"I'm sorry sir… but…" Kairi began.
"We're in a journey." Sora pointed out.
The guard raised an eyebrow. "I see… well, you seem to be lost." He told them.
Sora smiled weakly. "Actually… we… are lost. We ran into some monsters in the forest and ended up panicking and just ran off without thinking where we're already headed for…" he said.
"Would you like to spend the night here? Some students are on vacation in their own homes that's why several rooms are vacant right now." The guard said with a kind smile on his face.
"Uh… no thank you, sir." Sora said.
"You sure? It's a dangerous night." The guard told them.
Sora scratched his head, "Wh…why?" he asked, remembering the monsters.
"There's been news going around that a major evil villain is on the loose and he's planning to revive two dangerous beings." The guard replied.
The four just kept quiet. "Who's that major evil villain?" Sora asked, but at the back of his mind was a thought, just like what Riku and Kairi are thinking, "I hope it's not Ansem."
The guard shrugged with an unsure look on his face. "I'm not even sure myself. But anyway," he stepped out of the booth and offered a handshake to Sora. "My name is Nida. I'm a SeeD Cadet here. I'm on-duty tonight and this is my post." He introduced with a kind smile on his face.
Sora smiled before shaking Nida's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mister Nida." He said.
"Where are you from anyway?" Nida asked.
"From Midgar." Sora responded.
Silence.
"Midgar?" Nida asked.
"Yep." Sora said.
Nida shook his head. "Never heard of it…" he told them before proceeding back to his booth and began to use the two-way radio. "Nida here. Visitors. Some teens… and one little girl. They're not from here. They need a place to sleep." He said.
A female answered after a few moments, "I'm sending Seifer and Squall there."
Nida went back to the four. "I already informed them about you guys." He said.
Sora nodded. Then, Riku asked, "How come you haven't heard about Midgar?" he asked.
Nida thought for a while before looking strangely at him. "Well… if I'm correct, it's in another dimension." He replied.
Silence.
"Another dimension?" Kairi asked in disbelief.
"Midgar? You don't know where it is?" Riku asked Nida in awe.
"Well… I haven't really heard about it… but one of my colleagues mentioned something about it before and said he's got friends there but it's in another dimension." Nida replied.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked in shock.
"Okay, can you tell me who's the president? Maybe it can refresh my memory. I'm not really good in my Social Studies class…" Nida began.
"President Rufus ShinRa. Only the most powerful and influential man I've ever known." Sora explained.
Silence.
Samara instantly looked at Sora upon the mention of the name "You've met the President?" she asked softly.
Sora turned to her. "Yeah. My dad's friends with him." He replied with a proud look on his face. Before Samara could say something else, they were all interrupted when they heard two voices arguing from a distance, coming to them.
"Jyah! Whatever, you wuss. Just stay out of my business."
"Whatever."
The voice sounded familiar to Sora, Kairi and Riku.
Nida turned around and saw two of his colleagues before turning back to the four, "The blonde guy in the trench coat is Seifer. Don't ask me why he's not in uniform; I don't know the reason too. And the other guy's Squall." He introduced.
"And get a haircut; you look like a girl! Jyahahahahahahahaha!" Seifer insulted before poking Squall's lower back. Squall jerked slightly but did not say anything. He just kept quiet but he was already scowling. Just as they were about to get near the others, he stopped walking upon recognizing the three.
Sora, Kairi and Riku's mouths dropped open in awe upon seeing him. "Leon?!" they all exclaimed.
Silence.
"Leon?" Seifer asked in confusion before looking at Squall.
Nida had a perplexed look on his face. "Who's Leon?" he asked.
"That guy! He's Leon! I know him!" Sora said, pointing at Squall.
Squall smiled calmly at him before walking to him. He stopped and patted Sora's head. "It's Squall." He said.
Silence.
"I thought your name is Leon?" Riku asked.
"Squall." Squall corrected.
Silence.
"What is the matter you with you? Do you know these punks?" Seifer demanded from Squall.
"Yes, I know them and they're not punks." Squall replied with a frown on his face before turning back to Sora. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked curiously.
"We… are looking for someone. We're actually helping Samara here." Sora explained, referring to the little girl with long black hair that was holding Riku's hand.
Nida, Squall and Seifer stared inquiringly at the little girl… and they felt goosebumps all over their body. Seifer just nodded with an unsure smile on his face. "I… see…" was all he could say before he lightly punched Squall's shoulder. "Okay, you wuss. Take them inside." He snapped impatiently.
Squall frowned at him before motioning for the four to follow them inside, leaving Nida.
"Where are we taking them? The Headmaster isn't around and Matron isn't here too." Squall asked Seifer.
"To Quistis. She'll know what to do with them." Seifer replied before turning to the four. "Alright, we're taking you to this woman with a scary-looking face. Be aware though, she eats children." He said with a threatening look on his face.
"Mind you, mister, I'm 15. These two here are 14. We're not kids anymore." Riku pointed out with a serious look on his face while referring to himself and then to Sora and Kairi.
"Well you sure lack growth vitamins." Seifer insulted with a silly smile on his face before laughing out loud.
Riku's mouth dropped open in protest but he was not able to say anything. He had to admit, he seems somewhat short for his age… but his mother kept on insisting that when he turns 16, he'll grow taller… probably as tall as his father or taller. In Sora's case, he doesn't really mind. He knows that the highest he could get is 5'7" or a little excess to that (hopefully)… because looking back at his family tree, everyone seems to be no taller than 5'7". Kairi began to feel worried. Her father is tall… but her mother is short. So which height will she inherit?
"Just shut up, Seifer. You know that isn't true. You were also that short when you were 15." Squall told him.
"No, you were the one who's that short when you were 15. I was already 5'9" when I was 15. And besides, you're a year younger than me." Seifer corrected with a mocking look on his face before messing up Squall's hair and then turned back to the four, "Okay, I lied. The woman you're going to meet is charming and sexy and sweet and more beautiful than this gay wuss's girlfriend. And I wasn't insulting you guys, I'm just playing with your minds… and I'm glad that you're not like this wuss over here." He told them while pointing at Squall.
Squall just rolled his eyes, trying to control his temper. "If only you could say those positive adjectives to Quistis when she is around. I really don't like it whenever you are too arrogant around her and you seem to argue every now and then. Just be thankful she's too passive about it." He muttered to him. Seifer just smiled stiffly.
Sora, Riku and Kairi were in awe. "Leon has a girlfriend?!" they all cried out in unison.
"It's SQUALL!" Squall growled as he turned around to face them all of a sudden that they all jerked up in surprise.
"What's with the Leon name anyway? It sounds gay! Don't tell me, when you were away, you joined a strip club and had that name? Wahahahahahahaha!" Seifer snapped at him.
"For the last time, Seifer, I'm not gay. I'm British." Squall muttered.
"Hey, I heard my mommy say that one time!" Riku chimed in.
Silence.
"What?" Samara asked in confusion, turning to Riku. He just smiled weakly at her.
"So that's your real accent! You spoke rather differently before when we were all together!" Sora pointed out with a smile on his face. Squall just kept a straight face.
They all went to the second floor using the elevator and proceeded to one of the classrooms. "Gee… it's past midnight and you guys are still awake?" Sora asked in confusion.
"Unfortunately, this is our job. And this place is a school. A Garden." Squall explained.
"A Garden?" Kairi asked. "What do you do here?" Sora asked.
"We teach gardening." Seifer answered with a silly smile on his face. Samara knows that he's joking because of the look in his face, but she just chuckled lightly and answered Sora's question, "It's like military school. They teach their students to become SeeD cadets. SeeD was the idea of Edea Kramer."
Seifer and Squall were in awe. "Ho…how did she know all that?" the former asked. "I was just about to explain the idea… that's exactly what I wanted to tell them…" Squall was thinking silently to himself, not really knowing how to react further.
"Cool." Sora said with an amazed look on his face.
Samara just looked up at Seifer with a slight smile on her face. Looking at him somewhat made her feel comfortable… because he reminded her of someone very important to her. But she just kept quiet. Seifer was wondering why the little girl was staring at him like that. Confused, he just turned towards the Instructor's desk, but there was no one there. "Okay… where did she go?" he muttered.
Squall turned to the same direction and he frowned.
They all turned to the automatic door when they heard it open. A tall blonde woman entered wearing the uniform for a female SeeD cadet and she was talking to someone through a cordless phone. "No, I haven't received any of that kind of information yet… well alright. Kindly fax or email it to Seifer… Alright. When did it happen?" She stopped in her tracks when she saw everyone looking at her. She smiled at the new faces and then turned to Seifer and to Squall as she mouthed, "It's Zell."
Squall nodded. Seifer just frowned and approached her, grabbed the phone and talked to the person on the other line, "Hey, Chicken Wuss. Whazzup?" he greeted.
Squall turned to the four and referred to the tall woman, "Sora, Riku, Samara, Kairi, this is Quistis." He introduced.
"Pleased to meet you guys," she said with a pleased smile on her face as she offered a handshake to each of them. The three young adults eagerly shook hands with her, but the little girl did not. She just stared up at her. Quistis smiled sweetly at her and knelt down before her. "Hello there, sweetie." She said cheerfully.
Samara smiled rather shyly at her. To everyone's surprise, she embraced her. Quistis was stunned that a little girl just embraced her. Samara let go of her and then stepped away. Quistis slowly got up again when Seifer finally ended the phone conversation and placed the phone on top of the Instructor's desk. "Chicken Wuss said that there had been some disturbances in Galbadia and in Esthar… especially in Esthar." He told them.
"What kind of disturbances?" Squall asked.
"Weird things happening… like people transforming into monsters whenever they would come near this big light-thing orb whatsoever that thing is. Zell said that there are orbs like that at the center of each of the two cities." Seifer explained.
"People transforming into monsters?" Sora asked curiously.
"That's odd… is magic involved?" Quistis asked.
"I don't think so." Seifer replied with a hard look on his face. She sighed heavily. "Zell told me that the light orbs appeared at exactly 22:00. Both cities." She explained.
"Why? Is he in two cities at the same time?" he asked.
"No. Selphie and Rinoa are in Galbadia. He's in Esthar. Selphie and Rinoa cannot contact us here because the people-transformed-into-monsters have destroyed several of the telephone lines and since the signal there is bad and cannot reach far places like Balamb, they just sent an email to Zell about it." She explained.
Silence.
"Quistis, I think we should send them to bed now." Squall pointed out.
Quistis remembered about Sora, Riku, Kairi and Samara and smiled sheepishly at them. "Oh… sorry… it's just that we're too busy and frantic already. Seifer, take them to the empty quarters in the dormitory." She said.
"Why me?" Seifer asked with a fake smile on his face.
"Okay I'll go with you." She muttered before turning to Squall. "Do your job here. We'll be back." She told him.
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't take too long or else I might think that you two are up to something again." Squall said with a serious look on his face, but his eyes revealed to them that he's teasing them.
Seifer showed him an angry fist before he finally followed after Quistis and the others out of the classroom.
Hojo has a small apartment he is renting in Rocket Town. If he is not in his private laboratory, he would just stay in his apartment and do some research and study. Lately, he is after the children.
"Hmf… how long must it take for me to find out who they are and how many are they?" he was thinking silently as he took a sip of coffee from an unwashed mug. The upkeep of his apartment isn't really good… it still looks like a mad scientist's corner.
It was already past midnight but he is still working; hacking through databases and writing all the results and interesting facts he could find on a yellow pad paper.
Finally, he was able to find Aerith Gainsborough's info. He smiled wickedly when he saw the heading see Aerith Strife. He clicked on the link and it led him to the latest data about the Cetra.
His eyes widened when he saw the name of her one and only son: Sora Gainsborough Strife.
He laughed victoriously before writing down the name. He also viewed the picture and printed it out so that he would know how the boy looks like…
And he did the same to Sephiroth's children…
"Hmm… He has five… four boys and one girl…" he thought silently. He hasn't been keeping in touch with Sephiroth for a lot of years already because the guy hated him… just as Lucrecia hates him too. "How come everybody hates me? I'm the one who can redeem them from their suffering!" he thought with an angry look on his face before he froze upon recognizing the youngest child. "Okay… one down… four to go… the first one was easy…" he thought with a mean smile on his face while looking at Riku's picture. He could recall just hitting him with a shovel and knocking him unconscious and then throwing him down the well by the cottage. He had wicked look in his eye. "You can die inside that well for all I care. You wouldn't be lonely too. The brat is with you." He said before he began to print the pictures of the four other children. When he got the fourth picture, he easily recognized it. He crumpled it and threw it in the trash. "What's the use? He's just in the lab. I can get rid of him if I want to." He was thinking before he got up and began to post the rest of the pictures on his wall. "Tomorrow, Kuja is dead." He said to himself before he finally switched off his PC and then went straight to bed.
Seifer was the one who escorted Riku and Sora to their rooms, while Quistis took care of the girls. After taking Kairi to a room and said goodnight, she proceeded with Samara to the other room next to Riku's. "This is Selphie's room." Quistis told her as she switched on the lamp light. Samara stepped inside and looked around the place. The room had some stuffed toys, fluffy pink and yellow pillows and more girly stuff that could make the exaggerated squeamish throw up. But the atmosphere of the room seemed to make Samara feel… a little at home. It reminded her of one of the rooms in her old home… She smiled sadly before proceeding to the bed. Quistis helped her climb up the bed and then helped her lie down too. After putting a blanket over her, Quistis stroked the little girl's long black hair and tucked it away from her face.
Samara sat up and embraced her again. Quistis thought she saw tears in the girl's eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked gently as she faced the girl.
Samara just stared at her with a sad smile on her face. "You remind me of my mommy." She said.
Quistis raised an eyebrow. "I look like her?" she asked in awe.
Samara shook her head. "You act like her." She replied.
Quistis just smiled, but before she could say anything else, Seifer barged inside the room. "Hurry up, Squall's having some trouble upstairs with the technical stuff." He told her. "Yeah, yeah. Just saying goodnight to her." She responded before she gave the girl a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight," she said sweetly as she got up. Seifer turned to the girl and patted her head. "Where are you from again?" he asked.
She just looked up at him quietly before answering with a low tone, "Midgar."
Seifer thought for a while before remembering something. "Oh yeah… I have a friend there. And guess what, you remind me of him. Quiet… and smart." He explained.
She just bowed down her head.
"You even have the same eyes… but. I'm not sure if I want to ask if you're related to him because I don't even know if he has kids." Seifer told her.
"You know where Midgar is?" Quistis asked.
"Yeah. But it's too far from here… like you'll think that you're already in another planet when you visit it… or how the suspicious would put it, in another dimension. To get there, you have to go the end of this continent within the forest and roam around for a while… and you'll find that you're already in the borderline of this continent and the Northern Continent." He explained.
Samara just smiled slightly as she looked up at him again. He frowned slightly. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked curiously as he bent down so that he could face her properly.
She just reached out to him and hugged him, surprising him. Softly, she whispered, "You look like my daddy."
Seifer's eyes widened upon hearing that. He slowly withdrew from the little girl and stared into her eyes, but she immediately bowed down her head and let her hair cover her face. Confused, he just stood up straight again and went to Quistis. "Let's go." He said softly before leading the way outside.
As soon as the door closed, Samara just sat still on the bed, staring into empty space. After a few moments, she just began to sing sadly with a tone that seemed to falter:
There's a summer place
Where it may rain or storm
Yet I'm safe and warm
For within that summer place
Your arms reach out to me
And my heart is free from all care …
For it knows
There are no gloomy skies
When seen through the eyes
Of those who are blessed with love…
"There is just something creepy about that kid…" Nida told Quistis as he joined her and the other high-ranking SeeDs inside the library to discuss something about the situation.
"She just doesn't like to show her face to people. Other than that, I don't find anything scary about her. I think she's pretty too." Quistis explained with a slight smile on her face before she brought out a piece of paper from a folder. She was already sleepy but she still tried her best to be awake as she handed the paper to Squall.
"What's that?" Xu asked Quistis.
"Zell faxed it. A report about the trouble from Galbadia and Esthar." She replied.
Squall slowly got up, reading it silently before he put it down and spoke up with a hard tone, "Kuja,"