Chapter 5

Lony sighed a bit as she stepped from the shower. She could hear the rain tap dancing on the roof of the house and on the ground outside as she began to dry herself off. Her gaze swiveled to the window as she pulled her clothes on. The sky was a thick blanket of gray as it unleashed its cleansing torrent upon the land. The river would be flooding again if the torrent continued and most likely the small statue that she had left behind would be swept away. A deep rumble of thunder crossed the sky and lightening flashed. The fury of the storm would only increase by the way the sky continued to darken. There was a knock on the door that made her look up.

"Lony! Hurry up!" her sister called.

"I'll be out in a minute, May," she called back. Lony grabbed her comb and towel and walked out of the bathroom. The rain continued its dance as she walked down the hall towards her room. The thunder's song rang out again and a crack of lightening shot down towards the ground as the storm's anger increased. Star was most likely huddled into a chair in May's room. The television in the living room cast a slight glow in the dimly lit room as the news caster announced the storm and the disappearance of someone. Lony sat down on the couch and began to comb her hair as she listened to the news caster.

"In earlier news, a devastating train accident occurred in the Estharian planes today," Lony cocked her head to the side and turned the volume up over the thunder that was booming more often now. "The accident occurred this morning around five a.m. near the small town of Dorenca, a tiny farm town located near the area where Lunatic Pandora once hovered. The cause of the accident is still unknown. Unfortunately, all of the passengers were killed." Lony changed the channel, a sick feeling swelling in her stomach. She brushed the cold blanket of dread away and walked into her room. She was a bit surprised to find a pair of blue gray eyes and emerald eyes dart to her when she walked in. She smiled as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Star leapt into her lap and squealed a bit.

"How are you feeling today, Squall?" she asked softly. Squall looked up to her and smiled a bit.

"Ok," he answered, his voice a soft whisper. Lony smiled and brushed his bangs from his face. He closed his eyes when her fingers brushed over the bandage around his head making him seem like a little boy. Lony cast her last Cura spell on him and urged him to sit up some.

"Let's see if you can sit up now," she said. He nodded a bit started to sit up with her help. In the back of his mind, he felt something beginning to break. Slowly, an image of the beach started to push past the barriers. He felt the cool breeze play with his hair and heard someone crying. The sound of his name being called startled him. He thought he saw the faint outlines of people on the beach but the calling grew frantic. He blinked and stared up at worried sapphire eyes. Lony looked down at him and cupped his cheek in her hand. There was a bruise slowly forming on her cheek and his hand hurt. He tried to fight off the darkness this time, to ask what had happened, but to no avail. He slowly sank into the warm comfort of the darkness, with the worry that he had done something bad on his mind.

Seifer sighed heavily as he continued to walk down the shore of the furious river. The rains of the night before had made the waters swell to where they were almost flooding their banks. The sky was still a dark shade of gray and the water swollen ground tried to swallow his boots with each step that he took. As he watched the waters and the sky he didn't notice the little statue until he tripped over it. Stumbling, he fell to his knees in the mud and cursed loudly. His emerald gaze swiveled to the thing that he had tripped over and picked the small statue up. His golden eyebrows furrowed as the details of the statue were taken in. The lion atop the cliff was frozen forever in a furious roar. The statue reminded him vividly of the lion charm that hung from Squall's gunblade as well as the necklace that the brunette wore.

A glinting caught his eye and made him turn to the furious waters of the river. He felt the Hyperion hum as he moved closer to the waters. He squinted to try and get a better view of the glinting thing. Cold gray steel attached to a gun handle winked up at him from the churning waters. Seifer plunged his hand in but the gray thing eluded him.

'Just a stupid fish,' he thought. He picked the forgotten statue up and stood. Checking his watch, he realized that he would have to turn back and make his way back to the Ragnarock. Fire crackled in his head as heat washed over him. The amber eyes of Ifrit stared at him through the wall of fire that separated them from each other. The fire guardian made him hold his place before he could take another step.

'What do you want?' Seifer snapped.

'The rain that fell upon this land has not yet erased the scent of blood from it,' the guardian's deep voice rumbled through him as he answered.

'So? A fiend probably died here recently,'

'Don't be so quick to think that. This blood is that of a human,' Seifer's eyes narrowed at the fire guardian. Pushing the guardian back behind his wall of fire, Seifer continued to walk towards the Ragnarock. He was curious to find out what the others had learned, if they had learned anything at all. He highly doubted that they had. The ruins of the base came into sight slowly as he made his way closer to the ship. Irvine had said that the damage dealt to this place had been pretty severe.

'Apparently the damage was more severe then you thought,' he thought as he surveyed the remains. The only thing left of the base was bit of the bridge and some of the floor. The explosions and their flames had ripped or burned away most of the building as well as the bodies that lay inside. Ifrit's comment upon seeing the place was morbid but true.

'This is the tomb of those who were killed trying to stop this menace,' were his words. It surprised Seifer a bit at how Ifrit changed his mind so frequently. First he would be certain that the return of the sorceress would be a good thing, that way he would be able to get out and tear into the woman again. But now…. He had no idea what went on in the fire guardian's head.

"Hey, Seifer!" he looked up at the false cheery greeting from Selphie as she waved from him near where the Ragnarock had landed.

"Did you find anything?" she asked hopefully as he walked closer to her.

"Other then some weird statue, no," He answered and held out the statue for the girl's inspection. Selphie took the small stone piece from him and examined it.

"Kinda looks like Griever," she said. Seifer nodded in agreement.

"Are Kinneas and those other two SeeDs back yet?"

"No," Selphie sighed and handed the small statue back to him. Seifer took it and put it back in his pocket.

"I'm assuming you didn't find anything either, huh?" Selphie shook her head sadly.

"Nothing but mud, rocks, water, and fish," Selphie said pouting slightly. Seifer sighed a bit and ruffled the girl's hair affectionately. He didn't think that anything that might help them find Squall would be around here in the first place. He heard the calls of Irvine and the other two SeeDs as they approached. Seifer turned to face them and shot Carl, a red headed brown eyed SeeD with an attitude, an evil look as he approached. The SeeD was turning out to be a miniature of him. That was scary.

"Didn't find anything huh?" Selphie asked. Irvine shook his head sadly as did both of the other SeeDs. Carl crossed his arms and huffed loudly.

"This is a waste of time. There aren't going to be any clues here," he said. Brown eyes set into almond shaped sockets glanced around the group and chewed his lip.

"Just curious, but does Commander Lionheart have a pendant or something on his gunblade?" the second SeeD asked softly. The group looked at him as he held his hand out to show the lion charm that always hung from Squall's gunblade. Selphie snatched it up and looked to the blonde haired SeeD.

"Where did you find this?" she asked.

"I'll show you," he said and ran down to the river again. The others followed quickly.

Esthar

Black eyes stared at the sterile looking ceiling of the hospital room. His bandaged body lay against the uncomfortable mattress. His gloves were gone but that was ok. The design on the back of them was embedded on his hands. The black gaze filled with a dark pleasure as his mind wandered to the train accident. The orchestra of pain filled his ears once more and the roaring of the flames was like a close friend. The scent of blood and charred skin was like am intoxicating and rare perfume. The sweet, metallic, warm ambrosia had filled his parched mouth and slithered down his throat. He could feel the rush of souls as the people died. The dancing of the souls among the flames was beautiful as the orchestra continued. The loud explosions pierced his ears and forced him to make his escape. The beauty of the event never left his mind as the images of where he was and what could happen to this place filled his mind.

Screams erupted as the building burst into flames. Bodies of the people being treated here screamed and looked around frantically. Doctors and nurses rushed everywhere, trying to get people out. The exits were sealed. The elevator stopped working. He walked from his room, the hospital gown dapping over his thin shoulders. His thin body was embraced by the flames and the hospital gown was burned away. His deep crimson robes wrapped around his body as he stepped from the flames. People ran around screaming and the orchestra began again. The roar of the flames mingled exquisitely with the screams of the panicking.

Bodies began to burst into flames as he walked down the hall. His stringy hair blew in the hot wind that erupted from the open windows. He stepped over to a body that was burning slowly and drew a knife from his robes. The steel glinted happily in the flame's light. Fearful eyes stared at him as he raised the gleeful blade. A short scream erupted from the body as the crimson ambrosia poured from the wound.

He shivered in delight and looked at the doorway to his room. The orchestra would be playing soon.