When squad C found themselves back in the residential area, they were met with a scene of ruin. The swarm of monsters that had attacked them earlier had headed down to this area and caused a great mess. The whole place seemed deserted apart from them, and a few other squads of candidate SeeDs rushing towards the docks. The ships were obviously ready to depart.

"Looks like we made it just in time." Skye said, turning to address his team. "Which is some kind of miracle if you ask me." He took a look at Alix, who didn't appear to be listening to him. "Shuray? Is something up?"

Alix was listening intently to something else, quite a distance away. "Can you hear that?"

Skye, Lianne and Leali tried to listen, but all gave up after a few seconds when they heard nothing.

"Someone's calling for help!" Alix said, starting at a run in the opposite direction to the dock.

"Alix! We're gonna miss our ship!" Lianne called after him.

Alix stopped and wheeled around sharply. "Go without me if you have to! I'm gonna go look for this person. They need help!" Then, he continued his run.

Lianne took off straight away, with every intention to follow him.

"Leonhart, get back here!" Skye ordered.

But Lianne ignored him, determined to stay with Alix.

And with that, Leali took off too.

Skye took a nervous glance back at the dock before following his squad. "I can't believe I'm doing this…"

Once they had caught up with each other, and were once again running as a group, they ran for a few minutes longer before they all clearly heard this cry for help.

Alix stopped and listened more closely for a brief second, before slowly making his way over to what looked like the ruins of a small house. A tiny whimpering could now be heard, like the cries of a young child. And, with horror, Alix laid eyes on a little girl. She looked no older than six, her short red hair was stuck to her face in tear-tracks mingled with blood coming from small cuts on her cheeks, and her brown eyes shone with pain. She was trapped under a fallen piece of timber.

When Lianne, Leali and Skye saw this dreadful sight, their eyes widened in shock.

Alix knelt down next to her, and put his hand on top of hers. "Hey, are you okay? We're here to help you."

The girl didn't answer, as Alix then turned to his friends. "Skye, could you help me move this please?"

Skye, stunned into silence by the scene, simply nodded, with none of his usual sarcasm.

"Lianne, Leali? Talk to her, keep her calm." Alix said, moving into position.

So Lianne and Leali dropped to their knees beside the girl, as Skye and Alix started to try and move the timber pole.

"Hey, little one. What's your name?" Lianne said, in a quiet, reassuring voice.

"Kelsie." she squeaked, another large tear rolling down her face.

"That's a pretty name." said Leali, her eyes filled with sympathy for the girl. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of there."

Skye and Alix curled their fingers around the sharp, rotten wood of the pole, and with all the strength they could muster, they managed to move it from across Kelsie's legs where the pole had fallen.

Once the pole had been moved, Lianne put gentle arms around the girl and picked her up from the rubble. "Are you okay?"

"My leg hurts…" she cried.

"Kelsie! Kelsie!"

The squad looked over their shoulders to see a woman with a panicked expression running towards them.

"Mommy!" Kelsie sobbed, holding out her arms to the woman.

She came over to Lianne and took Kelsie form her. Lianne smiled at their reunion, as the woman said, "Where did you find her?"

"She was caught underneath the rubble of this house." Alix explained. "We helped her out. But I don't know if she's injured."

The woman nodded, and kissed Kelsie's tear-stained cheek. "Thank you, all of you."

"It's the least we could do." Alix said.

"Come on… we've got to go." Skye said, returning to his usual impatient self.

"Please excuse us. We've got to leave." Lianne said, bowing to Kelsie and her mother.

The squad left them, with Leali waving to Kelsie until she was out of sight.

When they reached the main road that lead to the port, they all broke into a frantic run. Everything was deserted now – no other squads remained in the area.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Leali said through what little breath she had left from their dash.

And when they turned the corner, the dock came clearly into view. Only one ship remained, and it was already starting up its engine.

"Come on! It's leaving!" Skye yelled, his voice almost panicked.

"We're not gonna make it!" Lianne cried, a tear of pain rolling down her face as she pushed herself to run from the ship.

"We've got to! Or it's a fail for us for sure!" Leali said, trying to concentrate on not tripping over.

The ship was slowly moving away form the dock, and now there was a metre's distance between the shore and the vehicle.

"Get ready to jump!" Alix called out to them as they neared the edge.

Skye, who was first in line, took an amazing leap and landed on the back of the boat with a triumphant grin. Within a few seconds, he had opened the back hatch, ready for them all to go inside.

Leali reached the shore next, and took a clumsy jump towards the ship. For a moment, it looked as if she wouldn't make it. But by a fortunate miracle, she hit the rear of the boat, landing cat-like on the metal surface.

Alix was next, and ran up to the shore at a sprint, preparing for the jump he was about to make, before stopping short at Lianne's cry of, "Alix, I can't make it!"

"You will! Here, grab my hand!"

Lianne put her shaking hand into Alix's confident fingers as Alix took the jump, pulling both himself and Lianne off the dock. Leali let out a little scream as they both hit the water with a splash. Fingers still entwined, Alix put out his free hand and managed to clasp the rear of the boat. Skye put his hands around Alix's wrist and began to pull him up. Alix crawled on to the boat with a grateful nod to Skye. This left Lianne trailing behind in the water, one hand in Alix's, the other on the boat. Alix stooped down and took Lianne's other hand. With some struggle, he managed to haul her up, where she then clutched on to Alix desperately, silenced by shock, panicked tears in her eyes.

They had done it. Their SeeD exam was complete, even if it was only just.

And without a word to one another, they looked out, back over Dollet, feeling somewhat proud of themselves.

"Let's go inside." Skye said, after a second.

"Yeah, or you two are gonna catch your deaths of cold!" Leali smiled.

So, Leali and Skye went inside, leaving Lianne and Alix out on the rear of the ship.

Arms still holding Alix tightly, Lianne buried her face in his shoulder. "I was so scared. I didn't think I was going to make it."

"Don't worry about it; you did make it, and that's all that matters. It's all over now." Alix sighed.

"I'm so tired…" she said in exhaustion.

"I know. I think we all are." He said.

All was quiet for a few more moments, before Lianne moved away slightly so that she could see Alix's face. "You know what I don't understand?"

"What?"

"How monsters could have caused as much destruction as we saw back there. No way could they have destroyed entire houses by themselves." She said.

"Good point. But I guess it's out of her hands now. We've done our job; now it's time for the SeeD force to take over. You don't have to worry." he said, reassuringly.

"True. But the whole thing's kinda… scary, don't you think?"

"I guess it is." Alix stood up, helping Lianne to her feet too. "Come on, let's go and sit down. I bet Leali and Skye are wondering where we are."

Lianne nodded, and together, hand in hand, they went inside the ship.


To be continued…

Emily Nash-Medlyn (Lysha)

Thursday 21st October 2004 – Tuesday 18th January 2005


Author's Note: Well, that's the end of that! I hope you enjoyed this installment in my saga, and that you'll join me for the next one too! Please, leave a review if you can, so that I can keep these stories up to their very best!