AN: *puts away iron and shotgun* heh, uh, the iron was for straightening out the timeline *grins* the shotgun...well, let's just call it a wrinkle preventative ;)
goldengirlrallyho!: Thanks for your review - I couldn't agree more ;)
Storm Angel: Heheheh... Rest assured, I don't start posting something unless I'm going to finish it ;)
Book Three of the Sorcerer Arc ~ Battle Lines ~ Chapter Eight ~ Unsafe Haven
The rasping clunk of a key in the iron lock startled Jassan out of his contemplative daze. Frowning, he checked his mental clock - too early for 'breakfast', and his 'supper' tray had already been taken. Either they were ready execute him now, or they had more torture in mind. Not that he'd really been tortured. A few kicks and punches, the threat of worse, sleep deprivation and attempted humiliation had been all that he'd suffered. Nothing he couldn't endure. Nothing he hadn't been trained to endure.
The heavy wooden door swung open, just wide enough for a figure to slip into the cell. The cultist pushed the door shut again, and locked it, leaving the key in the lock. Jassan frowned. Sure, his captors were confident, and with reason, but ~that~ confident? Something funny was going on here.
"I have a reputation as a hot-head when it comes to spies - or suspected spies." The cultist stated, turning to face him, and displaying clearly the gun that was holstered at his hip. Jassan's frown deepened into a glare. Either the cultist was saying right out that he was going to kill him, or...
"Who do ~you~ work for?" The cultist looked surprised for a moment, then chuckled.
"First I'd like proof that you ~are~ a spy. This is mine." He displayed a gently glowing orb, held in one hand. Jassan sucked in a surprised breath. A GF orb, occupied and, possibly, junctioned. The cultist was no cultist, but a SeeD spy. Slowly he nodded. With little effort, he hitched up the ragged trousers he was wearing, tugging them up until his left knee was visible.
"Ready?" The SeeD nodded. With a sly grin, Jassan positioned his hands on either side of his kneecap and pressed. The SeeD jumped back with a muted curse as the entire lower leg came away cleanly.
"Estharian prosthetic?" Jassan nodded. "Hmm, well, I'm satisfied. This room isn't bugged by the way, although they like people to think everywhere is. The budget can't afford it." Jassan snorted his amusement of that fact as he reattached the leg. Immediately he was aware of it in a way that was almost real. It looked, felt and behaved like a real limb, made to do so by a mixture of machinery, bio-technology, and sealed magic. If you didn't know it was there, or how to test for it, you'd never realise it was false.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" The SeeD looked uncomfortable.
"What do you know of what's been going on? What are your orders here?" Jassan shrugged.
"I know there's a new sorceress. I know the Centra have been in contact with her. But that's all. You don't hear much except history down here. As for my orders, well, I was sent undercover three years ago, with orders to act as I saw fit, and to pull out after five years." He shrugged again. "It's only recently I've seen any real activity, and ~that~ was what got me caught." He sighed. "I got too close to where I shouldn't have been, without a watertight excuse. Now I'm here." The SeeD frowned.
"Esthar's sealed itself off again. President Laguna and his aides were killed by a more fanatical branch of the Centra - under the orders of the new sorceress." Jassan looked shocked for a moment, then swore loudly and vehemently. "Deling city has been destroyed, Esthar has been badly damaged, General Caraway has been replaced, and Galbadia is at war against Timber and Dollet." The Estharian's jaw dropped.
"Shit...I really ~am~ out of the loop." The SeeD shrugged.
"The worst is, the Centra are planning something ~big~ - even ~I~ can't find out what it is, and all their accounts go past me." Jassan blinked. The SeeD spy had clearly managed to infiltrate much further up the hierarchy than he had.
"So...why come to me?" But he had a sinking feeling, from the expression on the SeeD's face, that he knew why the SeeD had come.
"I have information that ~must~ get to Garden. I can't risk running it through the usual channels - not with security being stepped up even more. That means I have to get out, and my only chance is at your execution tomorrow. But the Centra also have to be stopped, or at least dealt a blow so crippling that they can't do whatever they intend." Jassan nodded, accepting the news of his impending death with almost a sense of relief. He'd been expecting it from the first day they'd thrown him in the cell, but each day they'd brought meals, sometimes emptied the bucket in the corner, sometimes thrown a bucket of water over him, but never had news of his execution passed his gaoler's lips.
"So I get to have the last laugh." Jassan grinned crookedly. "Suits me. What do I do?"
***
The timing couldn't have been better. The fishing ship, commandeered by the SeeD spy, although he ~had~ paid for transportation to Balamb, was just beyond the harbour walls and pulling away quickly under a strong wind - caused by the SeeD's GF in reality - when the sound of the first explosion reached them. The crew rushed immediately to try and see what was going on, but Garet turned away. The show would be much larger soon enough, much, much larger. Silently, he willed his GF to speed the ship faster. There was no way to be certain where the destruction would end, not until it was too late.
"Holy fuck!" Despite his intentions not to watch, Garet found himself turning automatically at the exclamation. A bright light was glowing in the heart of Dollet, a brilliant white almost too bright to bear, shot through with dirty green and yellow streaks.
"Ultima." He corrected quietly.
"You do this, SeeD?" The captain asked, expression unreadable. Garet stared at him for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the dome of light - now almost at its largest, and covering most of the town.
"No." He lied calmly. "A cultist group beneath the city itself is responsible." He sighed heavily, honestly. "I'd hoped to reach Balamb in time to send reinforcements, but..." The end of the sentence was lost, unneeded in its demonstration as the Ultima spell, boosted to its unearthly size by other spell capsules placed at strategic points, collapsed in on itself, and Dollet. A mushroom cloud of dust and debris rose high into the air, darkening the sky and the land for miles around. And only then did the backlash of the spell hit, a rolling ring of heated air and smaller debris that screamed towards them.
Fortunately the harbour wall was between them and the magical grapeshot. With a loud bang and much clattering, the sturdy wall took the battering that would otherwise have turned the ship to tinder. The crew, and Garet, muttered various thanks to Hyne.
"A cult you said." The captain regarded Garet with a frown. "Now, how would a cult be getting a hold on that kind of magic?" Garet looked the man in the eyes, finding the suspicions lurking there.
"Galbadia declared war on Dollet and Timber, what, eight hours ago?" The captain nodded uncertainly.
"Something like that." Garet nodded sharply.
"They're moving faster than Galbadia have ~ever~ moved, and with far more coordination. They've been planning this for a long time, and who better than a cult to remove a city that SeeD have successfully thrown them out of - even with ~cadets~ a couple of times - every time they've invaded?" Garet spoke with perfect honesty, perfect conviction, but what he intimated was almost as far from the truth as he could get.
The captain bought it. He was a simple fisherman, and beyond the basic, 'slow moving Galbadians hate us, SeeD protect us and through us themselves', politics weren't his strong point. The SeeD was speaking honestly, he could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes, both ways that he'd learned to judge people by, rather than their appearances or their words. Fortunate perhaps, for the SeeD, that the captain had never had to deal with politicians or bureaucrats.
Garet allowed some of the tension to drain from his muscles as the captain turned away and began issuing various commands for sailing. It would have been difficult, but not impossible, to make his way back to Balamb without a crew. This way he would most likely arrive in Balamb sometime in the evening.
***
Breathing harshly, Ellone reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow once more. Her shawl was no longer damp, but the sun was too strong for her to consider removing the only protection she had for her head and neck. She was glad it was approaching the cooler Estharian evening, although she knew that the cold of the night would be a more serious threat. If more of the people in black cloaks didn't catch up to her.
Ellone wasn't sure who they were, except that, from the angry cry of one soldier, they were the same people who had killed Laguna, Kiros and Ward - and who were, without doubt, after her too. The thing was, she wasn't sure why they were after her. Ultemecia's motives had been clear, her ability to move minds through time had been crucial to the sorceress's attempt at time compression, although her reasons for time compression had never been revealed. But aside from the screams of 'death to the sorcerer's bitch', there was nothing except a psychotic fanaticism in the way they were hunting her down. Ellone hadn't even thought there ~were~ any sorcerers...
A cooling breeze ran gently across her heated skin, and she sighed with relief. Finally, she was near the coast. If she was right, if the White SeeD had been monitoring communications, then they would be here, somewhere, either their ship or a lookout. Stumbling forwards another few steps, she found the ground rising before her - she would have to climb a small ridge of rocky outcroppings before she could see the sea, and be seen from the sea. A determined expression on her features, Ellone slowly made her way up the jagged rocks, using her hands to pull herself forwards and to balance herself when she paused for breath.
Her nails were broken, and her palms torn and bleeding by the time she reached the top, her breath now audibly rasping in and out of her parched mouth. Lips cracked - her tongue too dry to moisten them - and eyes bloodshot, she knew, somewhere, that she must look a mess, but she no longer had the energy to care. Her whole world had narrowed to the point where all she could see or think of was taking the next step closer to her goal. Swaying slightly, she stepped forwards, and off the cliff...
***
It was just gone 18h00 when the fishing vessel pulled into Balamb harbour. Thanking the captain for his troubles, and giving him the name of the local hotelier - dropping the hint that the hotel was looking for a source of fresh fish, although the information was several years out of date - Garet headed into town.
It was twilight, that eerie time where it wasn't light enough to be day, but it wasn't dark enough to be night, the time when half the streetlights were on, and the other half remained dark. Garet liked the twilight, especially in the summer, when the longer days meant it stretched from early evening to nearly midnight on the longest day. He liked the twilight because it was in between one thing and another, as he was. He wasn't quite what he professed to be - for this mission a Centra cultist - but he wasn't quite a SeeD either.
Humming quietly to himself, and reflecting that the town hadn't changed a bit since he'd last been there, Garet headed for the garage to hire a car. He was in luck, the single rental car had just been returned, its engine still warm, and more importantly, its tank still full enough to get him to the Garden. Handing over the last of his cash to the girl in charge, Garet accepted the keys solemnly, acknowledging the girl's automatic caution for careful driving with a fervent affirmative. Having managed to get this far, there was no way he was endangering the information he ~had~ to get to the Commander with reckless driving. That said, he wasn't going to dawdle either.
***
"...be fine after a rest...lucky not to have any serious injuries...heatstroke will pass..." Words faded in and out of her aching mind as she faded in and out of consciousness. Gradually the world seemed to steady, the dizziness passing and finally allowing understanding and memory to return. She had been heading for the sea, for the safety of the White SeeD, and then all she remembered was falling into darkness...
"Might have been for the best if she hadn't survived." A rough voice muttered, sounding muffled by distance...or a door. Ellone tensed at the implication of the words, and then sagged again as her bruises and scrapes made themselves known. She must have fallen off a cliff...
"You can't mean that." Another voice, a familiar voice, chimed in. "She's our only link to finding the sorcerer." There was a pause.
"What link? We ruled out Leonhart after Matron sent him to us - she'd have said if he was the sorcerer. He's the only relative we know of."
"This Kylari is convinced that there is a sorcerer. How do we know that there isn't another relative of hers out there? Orphans are easily hidden away."
"Or she could be the last of the line. In which case we must decide how we handle this with great care." Ellone's ears pricked up at the sound of a third person's voice. If someone hadn't already mentioned Edea as 'Matron', the voice of the White SeeD called Tyller would have given it away. Tyller had been part of her bodyguard during the war against Ultemecia, the one she had gotten to know the best.
"We can't use her as a hostage unless the sorcerer knows they're related - which is unlikely, unless it ~is~ Leonhart." There was a snort of derision loud enough for Ellone to hear it in the next room.
"It ~can't~ be Leonhart. He's the Commander of SeeD for Hyne's sake. They'd all die of heart attacks if they thought he was a sorcerer." Ellone could almost see the speaker shaking their head. "No. We're probably best to treat her as the last, and deal with any complications as they turn up."
"Such as Kylari?" A fourth voice, she thought it sounded vaguely familiar, spoke for the first time. "I don't believe she holds the welfare of the planet in high regard. Would you have her use a girl - whose only crime is to be born into the wrong family - as breeding stock?" Nausea washed over Ellone as the words sank in. Breeding stock! She gagged, and rolled onto her side to choke up bile. Her hacking attracted the attention of the other room's occupants, and the door opened, bright light spilling into the cabin to start her head pounding again. She gestured feebly, trying to ward the light off.
"Easy there." The light vanished, and gentle hands supported her, wiping her mouth with a tissue, then running a cool cloth over her face and the back of her neck. She recognised the voice as the one she had only caught snatches of as she recovered consciousness. "You're suffering from heatstroke, and severe dehydration as well as being banged up from your tumble down the cliff. You're lucky you aren't dead."
"Am I?" She whispered feebly, shuddering as the words 'breeding stock' ran through her mind again.
"Don't worry." The doctor soothed her, helping her roll onto her back once more. "Tyller, Sven and I won't let any more harm come to you. I promise." As darkness rose once more to claim her, Ellone wondered how, exactly, they planned to keep their word.
***
Garet felt the adrenaline beginning to build in his system as he parked the rental car in the basement car park of Balamb Garden. He was so close now, so close to delivering his information and completing his mission, and anticipation was making the tension build throughout his body. He felt alive, in a way he hadn't felt alive since his last real fight. Everything was sharper, clearer to his senses, a high that was one hundred percent natural.
A few students and SeeDs looked at him oddly as he strode towards the elevators, but their eyes took in his clothing, and they dismissed him as just another returning field agent as quickly as they saw him. Ahead of him the elevator was just opening to reveal...
"Almasy?!" Garet's hand fell to his sword, and he moved into a combat stance automatically. To his surprise, no one else, after a brief glance at the situation, paid them any attention. As for Seifer... The blond ex-knight sighed and scrubbed one hand across his face before stepping out of the elevator and raising an eyebrow.
"You've been out in the field a while, haven't you." It wasn't a question, and Garet got the distinct impression that this wasn't the first time the blond had been confronted. Still, no one else was rushing to intervene, no alarms were blaring, and he ~had~ been in the field for a long time. Since before Ultemecia... Over six years in fact, probably a record for SeeD deep cover, although his mission had been one of indeterminate length. "What's your SeeD ID?" For a moment Garet hesitated, then shrugged and told him, straightening as he did so. The blond hadn't made any move beyond stepping out of the elevator, it seemed unlikely he was going to attack him in the middle of the Garden.
***
***
Garet wasn't sure what was going on, just that Seifer was standing there, gazing into the distance.
"Alright. C'mon." He blinked, but the blond was already turning back to the elevator. The SeeD had little choice but to cross the distance between them and follow Seifer into the, suddenly, cramped elevator. It was only when the blond input a code - obviously one that accessed the third floor - that it really dawned on Garet just how out of the loop he was when it came to internal Garden affairs. Six years of intrigue and gossip gone - and he was unlikely to ever catch up again. It was almost depressing.
"Aren't you coming?" He queried when Seifer made no move to follow him into the outer office. The blond gave a bark of laughter and grimaced wryly.
"I'm the ~last~ person he wants to see at the minute." The elevator doors closed on the blond's snort of amusement. Shrugging to himself, Garet crossed the outer office and knocked on the inner office door.
"Enter."
***
He'd known that after the war against Ultemecia, Headmaster Cid had taken an indeterminate leave of absence, leaving Squall Leonhart, then the Commander of SeeD, in charge. He'd also known that Squall had refused the title of Headmaster, much preferring to remain a Commander. But he didn't know ~what~ he was expecting of the man himself. Sure, he could remember the guy as a cadet, since his GF use was only for his infrequent reports, but he of all people knew that time changed everything. Not to mention fighting directly against Ultemecia.
So Squall's demeanour, so unlike the cadet he remembered, was something of a shock, but not entirely unexpected.
"Report." Belatedly Garet realised he hadn't saluted, realised just as quickly that Squall hadn't cared.
"The Centra Cult based beneath Dollet has been crippled as per standing orders." Squall's expression, if anything, was pleased.
"Civilian casualties?" Garet swallowed. This was the difficult bit.
"Anyone in Dollet at the time, possibly some of the surrounding area. At least one fishing crew survived." There was a long pause, and then Squall nodded.
"Acceptable." Garet barely controlled the relieved sigh that fought to escape. "Why did you pull out?"
"The Centra were planning something big, something even their accountants weren't allowed to know about." He took a deep breath - best to get this next bit over. "And they were working with an independent branch of the cult - the White SeeD." If anything, Squall went stiller. Blue-grey eyes, ice pale in their intensity, bored into his own.
"And?" Garet licked his lips. He might have missed all the intrigues, but after under a minute alone with the SeeD Commander, he'd already worked out that bearers of ill tidings had better watch out.
"They believe Ellone to be related to a sorcerer, and that you are the sorcerer - although the White SeeD are not convinced." Squall muttered a curse and turned away.
It wasn't as though he hadn't expected something like this to happen, although the White SeeD were a revelation. He'd always wondered why Edea had created them and kept them separate. A deep frown etched on his face, Squall concentrated for a moment, summoning Quistis to escort Garet to the cafeteria and answer his questions, and sending Zell to find out where the White SeeD were, and what their communications were showing. If they were looking for Ellone they would have scouts out, and the moment they found her, those scouts would be recalled so that the White SeeD could go back into hiding. Turning to face Garet once more, Squall found the older SeeD looking somewhat apprehensive.
"It's true, isn't it... You ~are~ the sorcerer." Squall studied him quietly for a moment, trying to gauge what the others reaction would be.
"Yes. Does that make a difference?" Garet thought for a long moment, thinking about the fact that it had been Headmaster Cid - a man more perceptive than many realised - who had placed Squall in charge. Finally he shook his head. Squall nodded. "Good. Quistis will accompany you to the cafeteria. She can answer any of your questions, or ask Seifer if she doesn't know. Dismissed." Garet remembered to salute this time, and he thought the hint of an amused smile teased at Squall's expression as he returned it.
***
Zell arrived not long after Garet had departed, but long enough for Squall to have brooded and come to a decision. He was sick of doing what had to be done, sick of watching as people died because of him. He would rather kill Ellone himself, as Edea had killed Cid, to keep her from Kylari's clutches, than watch as the White SeeD and Kylari used his half-sister as a weapon against him.
"Report." The curtly cold order, and the colder room, was warning enough for Zell.
"The White SeeD have her, they're just off the coast Northwest of the Emergency Landing Zone. I think Kylari's in the area too - Esthar sent a priority message regarding Edea and Nida." Squall frowned. More complications to an already complicated situation.
"What about them?"
"They're both unconscious and in intensive care. Esthar thinks they were attacked by the Kenthra, or at least had a run-in with them." Which really did mean Kylari was in the area. The Kenthra wouldn't have attacked Edea unless they were told she was working with the sorcerer, and she would have used them to find Ellone and then steal her from under their noses. Rage flared, leaking out to Seifer and turning the water in the air around Squall's body to shining ice crystals. Zell held his breath, trying desperately to become insignificant and beneath Squall's notice. He had no desire to wind up like some of the chairs in the room - kindling. With an audible snarl of anger, Squall snatched up Lionheart and vanished, the ice crystals melting and falling, creating a miniature rainstorm where he had been standing. Zell sagged with relief, although his mind was already starting to worry about where Squall had gone, and what the brunette was going to do. He jumped when the door to the room slammed open, an openly worried Seifer bursting into the office.
"Shit." The blond cursed. Then he noticed Zell. "What the hell just happened Dincht?" Zell had the fleeting wonder if death by pissed off Squall might not have been better than interrogation - and possible death - by pissed off Seifer.
"Uh, the White SeeD have Ellone, Kylari's been in Esthar after Ellone, and Edea and Nida are both in intensive care in Esthar after a run-in with the Kenthra." Seifer looked as confused as Zell felt. Then the older blond's expression changed.
"The SeeD that just came in from the field, where is he?" Zell opened his eyes wide.
"With Quis...she said to join them in the cafeteria..." Seifer was already moving, and Zell darted to catch up, still confused. Maybe Seifer had the right idea, maybe the SeeD who had just spoken to Squall would have some idea, or information, that might indicate why Squall had suddenly gone off the deep end.
***
There was no point trying to change things, the apathetic voice in the back of his mind muttered. The end would come, one way or another, sooner or later. Was that voice his conscience, Squall wondered, or was it the part of him that had died, that had no hope, no optimism. Was it even his own thoughts? There was no point, the voice repeated, the world would end forever, or... The White SeeD ship appeared below as he materialised high over the Esthar coast.
Rage flared again, and his wings exploded from his back - a dramatic and unnecessary gesture, he didn't need wings to fly. They were dark, but almost transparent, as if the feathers were made of smoky quartz. Their true power though, was what happened when you looked ~through~ the wings, staring at the world through a veil of death. No mortal could handle the sight, it guaranteed insanity and death for them.
Squall descended to the deck of the White SeeD ship silently, looking like a divine angel of retribution, Lionheart glowing an eldritch and chilling pale blue, both the weapon and himself surrounded by an unearthly aura of ice crystals. The first lookout to see him alerted the rest of the ship with a hair-raising scream, falling to the floor foaming at the mouth and attempting to hook his own eyes out, frantic to escape what he had seen through Squall's outspread wings. Most of the White SeeD forces were dead or incurably insane before they realised what was causing it. They went into hiding, or struck blindly at him with their eyes tightly closed. Squall started to laugh at their futile efforts, randomly forcing them to open their eyes or simply cutting them down where they cowered. The deck was awash with blood, the White SeeD ship no longer a pristine symbol of their name.
Only a handful remained, clustered around Ellone as if unsure whether their presence was protecting her, or her presence protecting them. He reached his mind out to them, overpowering them easily, drawing them to him. Quite how Edea had expected these pathetic fools to destroy him, he didn't know... And then he realised what he was thinking, what he was doing. He had, however briefly, become the sorcerer that sorceresses had been taught to fear. He had, for a moment, become the sorcerer version of Ultemecia. And that was unforgivable, no matter his reasons. His wings vanished with a dull thump, air rushing to fill the vacuum they had left. He staggered over to the rail of the ship, retching over the side until nothing but bile was left.
Dully he became aware that the White SeeDs who remained, whom he had summoned from the cabin to join the slaughter, were standing behind him, watching silently.
"Well?" He asked wearily, making no move to turn and face them, waiting for the blade in the back that would surely be their answer. The silence continued, prompting him to turn. Squall nearly wept as he took in the completely blank expressions, the vacant stares that the men wore. He had wiped their minds completely by forcing his own will upon them. And what he had done in his anger, he could not now undo. They parted before him as he walked towards the cabin, closing ranks behind him and following on his heels. Squall turned again, knowing what had to be done.
They died as they had lived the last few moments of their lives, unheeding, silent. Choking back the urge to vomit again, Squall roughly cleaned the edge of Lionheart on a gore-spattered uniform, leaving the white material stained red. Sheathing Lionheart, he stepped into the cabin, finding Ellone huddled in a corner, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"You'll be alright now." He soothed, wishing he could believe his own words, and kneeling next to his half-sister. "You can open your eyes." She did so with a sob, throwing herself into his arms in a drastic reversal of the times she had comforted him at the orphanage. In the back of his mind the voice cackled to him - you can't go back now - and vanished, leaving an emptiness that made him go cold. With all his inherited memories, who was to say that he was truly alone in his mind, truly sane.
As Ellone sobbed into his jacket, clinging to him as though he might disappear any second, a silent tear trailed down his face. Soon, soon, it would all be over - for better or worse.
AN: Hm... quite pleased with this chapter actually *pats muses* the shotgun seems to be working ;)
