Chapter I:
Two days ago, everything was clear. The plains of Esthar shined with light emanating from the nearest star. The sky was clear blue that dwelled in the vicinity of the city were appeased. Esthar was a city, if one could call it that. It was perhaps the most powerful country in The World, as well as incredibly technologically advanced. Esthar's proportions defied belief. It's one of those rare marvels that you have to see it to really believe it.
It's a place that consumes you when you visit it. It takes your entire breath away unapologetically, with its innate beauty and palpable might. Yet its denizens are among the most peaceful people in The World. They'd welcome you into their homes and guide you through this outstanding maze without making you feel any more uncomfortable than you already are.
Today the skies above this mighty city are red. Clouds float away from its position, leaving the city's residents to look upon the crimson-colored shade with nothing but fear and unrest. They know things are going to go wrong. That many of those closest to them are never coming back. Yet they pray for something to make it right. They pray for their leader to protect them as he did decades ago.
The Presidential estate is empty on this day. Laguna is sitting in a small, quiet room surrounded by candlelight. He's seated on a small wooden chair adorned with runic symbols that predated the modern history of Esthar. He leans back against it and calmly puts his right fist to his mouth and exhales softly. He's nervous. He fears what's coming and he doubts himself.
He opens his hand a bit revealing a golden ring. He puts it on the tip of his ring finger and observes it. It shine allows for him to see his reflection almost entirely without much effort. It's an old ring of incredible value of sentiment, yet it is kept well. He rubs it with his thumb and looks past it as the entrance to the tent open slowly.
A young man, who couldn't possibly be older than twenty, steps inside the President's tent. He has golden-colored locks that he keeps standing upright and a black wing-like tattoo on the left side of his face. At first glance he looks like a quiet and pensive young man with slim yet defined physical features, but in reality Zell Dincht is nothing such. He's an uproarious, wild-tempered powerhouse disguised as a kid freshly out of high school.
He walks towards Laguna, dragging his feet through the ground as if he was nervous. "You're gonna stay cooped up here the entire day," he says, "or are you coming out?"
Laguna looks up to him and smiles. "I'm just taking a minute to clear my head," he responds.
"Well, we're all waiting for you, man. We need you out there."
"I know, I know," he takes a deep breath, slides his ring down his finger and pushes himself to his feet. "How's everybody doing out there?"
Zell shrugs and scratches the back of his head, then, "We're barely keeping it together, man. Squall and Quistis are doing the best they can, but it's hard to control an army, much less two."
Laguna looks away from him towards his right. Beside him on the ground lies a silver plated armor with a red-colored shield painted on its shoulder pads. It's the traditional armor of the Galbadian army. The shield being the country's symbol represents the might of its army, an army that despite its technological disadvantages during the war against great Esthar, they managed to stand their own ground and eventually defeat their enemy and push its aggressor out of their territory.
"Are you gonna put it on?" says Zell, looking at the armor on the floor.
Laguna looks up to him smiling and Zell returns the gesture as he steps back out of the tent. Minutes slightly pass by as Zell returns to meet his companions. He walks down the edge of the hilltop where they are rounding up their forces and looks towards the setting sun. He looks at it and wonders slightly why is it taking so long. The sunset calms him a little, but as he looks down the hilltop, he looses his gaze on the thousands of men standing beside the bottom length of the hill and becomes increasingly uneasy.
The entire armies of both Galbadia and Esthar stand across a line that covers slightly over half a mile from east to west. They were gathered nearly 30 miles east of Esthar to prevent the adversary's path towards the city. It became increasingly obvious that it would attack the city next. It had already destroyed three of Esthar's landmarks, Tear's Point, The Lunar Base, and The Sorceress Memorial, annihilating everything and everyone within.
Its path had been true since it first appeared on the anniversary celebration of the victory against the Sorceress of Tomorrow merely four days earlier. After all, it has only been a year since the crisis of the Time-compression, an event that caused the fusion of several timelines, severing them from space. It was stopped by a select group of SeeD mercenaries led by Squall Leonheart that included Zell as well as Quistis Trepe. They confronted the Sorceress and severed the ties that held The World, altering history in the process.
The celebration took place on Balamb Garden, a place that currently lies in ruins and buried deep within the soil of Esthar's southern peninsula. The Garden was a training facility of SeeD, a mercenary organization created by Sorceress Edea Kramer and her husband Cid. They were created to destroy the Sorceress, for it was foretold that at one time this would come to pass. The Sorceress' powers are great, and they transcend time and space, but they are passed with each generation to one woman. Edea possessed these powers at one time, and so did Adel, Esthar's ruler during the Sorceress War.
It was said at one point that SeeD was created simply due to Edea's and Cid's paranoia, that they feared she would become a threat to The World. Yet, in one of life's ironies, Edea became the iron-fisted ruler of Galbadia after being possessed by the Sorceress of Tomorrow. Her hand was tainted with the everlasting stench of blood as she ran rampant with Galbadia's forces, conquering the small quivering townships and cities that lied along her path.
But SeeD intervened and Edea was saved from her own power. The crisis was over and The World got back on its feet. The three governing powers of Esthar, Galbadia and Trabia joined their forces and ushered an era of peace. It has been a year since the day the Coalition formed. Its joyous celebration tainted by a new threat.
Zell proceeded towards a single open lane that led from the hilltop down to the frontline. As he walks towards it, he looks towards his right and sees a dozen or so SeeDs, dressed entirely in white suits and head bands, walking across the plains and positioning themselves behind the last line of the armies, all the way across their length. Behind them, at a considerable distance, lied a single red-colored ship. Shaped somewhat like a Ruby Dragon, its wings extended all over its body's length. At its bottom, Ward was sitting near the main entrance, facing the setting sun in front of him. Zell waved his arm towards him, but did not get a response. Perhaps he's asleep? Or perhaps he just did not see him?
He walks down the lane and looks to his sides. Between every Galbadian soldier, wearing the traditional blue suits and silver plated armor over it, there's an Esthar soldier, wearing Esthar's unique silver coated armor and hollow-eyed mask. They all carry machine guns, excepting those Galbadia officers of higher ranks. Their field uniform consists of a single red suit with black and golden plated shoulder pads and a wrist gun attached to both their hands. They all remain silent, anticipating the adversary's approach with a strange mixture of fear and anger that kept them at ease with themselves.
Zell continued downhill until he finally saw them. Before him were a man and a woman in their late teens, early twenties. From a distance he looked commanding, with an authoritative presence that demanded attention. He was wearing a black-leather coat with white feathers across the neck. His long brown hair tied neatly in a ponytail, excepting the two strands that fall over his face continuously after he tucks them in the back of his ears. On his right hand he holds a weapon, yet no ordinary one at that.
The Gunblade is a fantastic weapon to behold. The handle of the blade is shaped like a revolver, allowing the wielder to cause an immense amount of damage as he pulls the trigger while simultaneously hitting a target. The blade can be customized to wielder's ability. This particular Gunblade is legendary in the fact that only one has ever been produced before it. The handle is the traditional, but the blade is shaped like a dragon's wing and it shines in the darkness with a powerful blue glow. It takes a great deal of discipline and endurance to master the weapon, and Squall possesses both qualities to a great extent. With his Gunblade, he single-handedly defeated the Sorceress of Tomorrow.
The woman, on the other hand, looked much too wise beyond her years. She was outstandingly beautiful, yet graceful and pensive. She was wearing a black blazer over a blue shirt and red scarf. The wrists of the blazer were adorned with golden stripes and Balamb's shield was sown on the right side of the chest. She was wearing a skirt that hanged just over her knees. Then as Zell approached he noticed Quistis was grasping her trademark whip attached to her belt, hidden underneath the blazer. She was wearing black sunglasses that were seemingly hidden underneath her long, golden hair and beneath them lied two sapphire colored eyes that sparkled like gems with an unnerving look of determination.
"Yo, man! What's up?" said Zell as he walked up to them.
"How's Laguna?" responded Squall, sardonically. "Will he grace us with an appearance?"
"He'll be out in a minute," said Zell. "How's everything here?"
Squall shrugged. "Well, the soldiers are getting a bit restless, but other than that they're fine," he said.
"That's fairly understandable. Where's Seifer?"
"Told him to check on Selphie and Irvine on Ragnarok," said Squall. Then after a short look around the field, "He was getting too anxious and it's still a couple of minutes till sundown."
"How are the SeeDs in the back?" interrupted Quistis.
"Just getting in place. Operation Grand Hammer's almost ready," said Zell with a note of unwanted enthusiasm in his voice.
Squall raised his eyebrow, then turned around as if embarrassed by the comment. The wind was slowly picking up strength. This was the first sign that it was about to begin.
Squall turned towards Zell, "Tell them to get in place. I want those summons out as soon as the first wave of magic users release their attack."
Quistis looked at him pensively. "Are we going to take a full charge?"
"Seems the best option right now," responded Squall as he turned around towards the massive, rocky field again.
Quistis looks at him as he discretely bites his lower lip and cracked his knuckles. She knows he's afraid of this confrontation. Not because of the fight, no. He's afraid of what he's going to have to do. Squall has been through so much in his young life, yet through it all there's been no greater defeat than the one suffered days ago. Hopefully, it will all be over soon.
As the sun's last beams fade seemingly through the World's core, the men and women stand their ground awaiting their leader to appear. Laguna steps over to Squall dressed in Galbadia army's armor. He carries on his right arm a standard issue machine gun, same model as the other soldiers. His hair is loose and the wind pushes it to his face as he looks at both nations armies.
"You made it," said Squall.
"Yeah, well. . . I've been dreading this moment since I woke up this morning," responded Laguna in a quiet, somber voice. "Takes me a while to gather my bearings after all that's happened this week."
"I know," Squall said to himself softly.
Laguna looks at him and puts his hand over his shoulder. "Let's just do this, okay?"
Squall looks at him approvingly and Laguna steps up towards the armies that will defend his country. He looks at them through the pale shine of the moonlight and senses their fear. Although that could very well be his own.
He looks behind him and sees Squall, Quistis, Zell and another man, Seifer Almasy, wearing a long grey coat with red crosses painted on its chest. His hair is quite short and colored a very pale orange. He has a scar on his face similar to that of Squall's, yet, unlike his, coming down from the right side of his forehead to his left cheek. Laguna notices how he grasps tightly to his Gunblade, a simple model in comparison to Squall's, but strong nevertheless.
He shows temper and anger as he gazes into the sea of men and women in front of him, while Squall and Quistis remain calm. Zell, on the other hand, keeps jumping, slightly, in the same position while cracking his neck and knuckles erratically. In his mind, he's probably getting more prepared psychologically, rather than physically, but it is not in Zell Dincht's character to ever show any weakness. Very much like Seifer.
As he turns towards the army, Laguna pushes the hair off his forehead. He takes a look towards the dark-blue sky and breathes deeply. The air is getting colder, the wind more powerful. He looks at their faces and smiles. Laguna's smiles came too easily, it was part of who he was. Even in the darkest hours of his life, he looked up to sky and smiled, because he knew he was never alone. He grabs his hair and ties it together in a ponytail, then walks towards the army.
"I know this is a time of fear," he begins, "I know all of you would rather be with your families as we speak. . . I know I am. But we can't. We have to fight an enemy. . . Simple as that. It has brought pain into our lives, it attacked our own ground, so we'll fight it. Because we are mighty, and the mighty never fall unless they fear. I am. Chances are that I will fall here. Many of you will too. But I will not surrender without fighting. I gave my all to this country twenty years ago. Now I ask you to give up your lives for it as well. Because our families, your families, will not be safe if we don't act now.
"Will you help me?"