Chapter 8: Lost and Found

Squall waited at Rinoa's side in the infirmary, he didn't move for three days. Zell brought him food and checked in on him from time to time, most of the time he even waited with him when he wasn't training to kill time. It was a mystery, a real and true mystery, no one could figure out what had happened to her.

At Edea's house, Matron explained what happened to her, how she was possessed by Ultimecia and her goal of time compression.

! - ! - !

It was like a sudden earthquake, the whole garden shuck violently with one large jump. Unsuspecting Zell was sent sprawling out of his chair, hitting his head roughly on the ground as the chair fell on top of him. Squall, a little bit more balanced, dashed outward to catch Rinoa who fell out of the bed on account of the quake .

Zell pushed the chair off of himself, reaching to grab hold of a small cabinet and pull himself up with his support, rubbing the back of his head "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Squall gently laid the sleeping girl back on to the bed, one foot placed back and his eyes shifting around cautiously just in case another similar shift happened. "I'll"

"Don't worry about it." Zell waved his hand dismissingly, turning towards the door. "I'll go find out." Zell called back, walking out of the infirmary.

! - ! - !

Everyone in the hallways were picking themselves up, replacing things that had fallen, all of the voices clamoring in a confused uproar.

No one here knew, (Maybe...we crashed into something?)

With that thought in mind Zell headed for the elevator positioned undisturbed in the center of the lobby, noticing it hadn't sustained any damage on the ride up to the third floor. When he reached it he noticed that things up here were in moderate disarray, glass shards covered the ground among debris. Zell dismissed it as apart of the quake, though notably checking around to see where the glass had come from exactly. The double pained glass that made up the windshield above him had been shattered, leaving the second layer in tact. (Hmm...)

Zell pressed a button on the wall to call down the lift, then stepped on to the steel platform when it finally came down to his level and rose up to the cockpit... "Nida!"

The young, black haired pilot was on his knees, leaning against the throttle, breathing heavily with eyes shut tightly. The second thing Zell noticed was that he was leaning his whole body weight against the throttle "What's wrong?"

Nida didn't respond, unable too, he just clinched his chest tightly, a pained expression forming across his face. "I………!………I!" Nida was trying his best to speak, uttering out a few incoherent sounds in his attempt, but he failed again. Nida collapsed, falling unconscious before Zell or at lest that how he looked. Zell could still see that Nida was squirming and twitching lightly.

A confused Zell started to panic. (OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN! NIDA!)

"Hold on man!"

Zell knelt down next to Nida, pulling him over his shoulder and heading down the lift.

! - ! - !

Zell came bursting through the door of the infirmary with Nida in his arms, dashing past Squall and laying him down on a spare bed next to Rinoa. "Dr. Kadowaki!"

A the abrupt crash of Zell's entrance and the shout of his voice Dr. Kadowaki abandoned what she was doing and came hastily over to see the cause of the fuss. "What happened?"

"I don't know, after that shaking thinking happened I went up to the cockpit to see what was happening and he was holding his chest, then he just collapsed and"

"Calm down." Dr. Kadowaki stepped in front of Zell to examine Nida herself, first checking to see if he was breathing, then placing two fingers on his neck to check his pulse. Zell with evident worry, though managing to keep silent while he do so, watched her second after second as she began to using a few instruments, checking his heart beat, blood pressure, and other readings from other instruments. When she was done, she drew a opaque liquid from a vile into a needle and gave him a shot.

"What's that for?" Zell asked, finally deeming it alright to talk again with out worrying about disturbing her.

"A mild heart attack, knowing him it was from exhaustion and stress."

"Heart attack! What did you give him?"

"A type of enzyme." She explained, "This will help clear the arteries of any platelets that have built up and blood to flow more easily." Well, that was all she could do for the moment, since this was brought on by stress the rest was up Nida, "Don't worry, he'll be alright. He right now he needs some rest."

Dr. Kadowaki forced him out of the room so Nida could get some sleep in peace.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"What happened?" Squall asked upon Zell's return, Zell didn't have a chance to give Squall any explanation before.

"Dr. Kadowaki said Nida had a heart attack." Zell sighed, reclaiming his seat next to Squall.

"Will he be alright?"

Zell nodded "Yeah, he should be fine."

Squall paused for a moment, looking toward the room Nida was currently resting inside of, hmm... "What did we crash in to?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe we should check it out."

! - ! - !

Zell persuaded Squall to come up to the cockpit and take a look.

"What is it?" Squall looked down on the tall structure from the windshield. It seemed to be a helipad with a bridge leading to the inside of a protruding door on the edge... There were towers along side of it, with guns and cannons protruding, along with cranes.

"I recognize it from someplace." Zell tried to think of what it was but he just couldn't remember, all he knew was that he'd seen that place.

"We'd better get down there, Look." Squall pointed to a large monster, a red dragon that was banging the side of it's body against the side of the Garden repeatedly, almost as if it was trying to get in side, it probably was.

"Alright, meet me at the side door." Zell said, heading down the lift.

! - ! - !

Zell opened the door to his dorm, walking over to his bed room promptly with a clear direction. He found that Carbuncle was sleeping on the bed peacefully, curled up on top of the sheet just as he left him.

"Hey get up!" Zell shouted, easily waking him.

The sleepy GF blinked a few times, the wordlessly stood up and junctioned himself to Zell with a yawn.

! - ! - !

Zell found Squall waiting at the side door, just as he requested, Seiphie was with him being the closest person for him to round up.

"Ready?" Squall asked, holding the handle of the emergency door.

"Uh-huh." Seiphie cheerfully replied,

"Yup." Zell pulled on his gloves, clinching his hands into a fist and relaxing them a few times before nodding.

Squall turned the handle and pushed opened the door, revealing a Ruby Dragon staring them in the face with that haunting smile.

It roared, spitting out a blaze of fire into the garden hall. All three of them scrambled out of the way, hiding behind the wall the door was framed into, "Hey! It can't fit in side, this will be too easy!" Seiphie said confidently lifted her hands and casting an Blizzara spell with out looking, watching as a spray of ice come through the doorway and a growl of pain from the attack.

Squall turned from the wall and came at it as it roared at him as soon as he was spotted, it's mouth wide as it about to use its Fire breath. He could see the ambers spray from it's mouth along with wavy air distorted by heat, Squall didn't give it a chance to release the heat before plunged his gun blade tip first down it's throat, just as the fire began to pour out, cutting it off at the source. The dragon started to back away just as Squall pulled his weapon from it's mouth. Letting out a drowning growl and falling to the floor with a cough of blood and a suffocating feeling emanating to death.

With the path cleared, they walked out on to the helipad, across the 'H' insignia on to a metal bridge spanning the gap between this and the door. The bridge, the whole place, seemed old, plant growth had created cracks in the ground and thick foliage covered the bridge, abandoned for years it seemed. Which was what triggered Zell's memory "Hey! I remember this place now!" Zell said, pounding his fist into his hand with a proud look on his face. "Know-it-all-Zell to the rescue baby!"

Squall started to rub his temples, a headache forming "Let's hear it."

"Alright, This place is called battle ship island, it use to be a mobile research center. They were trying to make a draw system like our own, they even studied GF's here. Well they screwed up and they ended up having to abandon this place, wonder why they never came back for it………"

It wasn't a comforting thought, ominous really.

Across the old bridge they found a large structure behind the door, the room in interview was made of buckled gray stone with swirls carved inside in to a now incomplete pattern. A large metal capsule with glass walls in the center of the room, radiating an odd blue light brightly. Too bright to look in to directly, though that didn't deter Zell from trying to peer inside. "Hey there's something in there."

"What do you think it is?" Seiphie looked closer, walking toward the light... When she moved something clicked in Zell's head, he quickly stopped her with a swift hand on her shoulder. "What?"

"Hold on a minute."

'Zell, what's wrong?'

(I don't know...) He didn't know, all he knew was (Something is off here.)

Turn back, the blue light leads to death.

He heard a deep voice speaking in his head, one that wasn't Carbuncle. (What was that?)

'I don't know, Do you think we should keep going?' Carbuncle seemed a little unnerved by it.

(Sure). Zell looked at the blue light again, It grew bright for about 4 seconds then dulled down into a dim one, allowing him to faintly see a distorted figure inside. Zell didn't know what it meant, it may have been nothing but still and idea was an idea, it couldn't hurt. "Let me go first." Zell volunteered.

Squall wasn't sure why Zell wanted to do this, but it couldn't hurt. "Go ahead."

Zell waited for the light to dim again, then ran as fast as he could, charging forward but only making it a few feet before the light grew bright again and he froze, stopping on one foot just an inch from being over balance. "Whoa!"

It dimmed again in a flash and grew bright again, but Zell didn't move (Close.)

"Zell? What are you doing?" Seiphie yelled, noticing the boy looked like an idiot standing there on one foot.

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing." The light dimmed down and Zell ran for it.

So.. You've You have perceived the resonance………

Zell heard the voice again, creepy. (Well, your doing something right, just keep it up, your almost there!) Carbuncle encouraged.

Zell could see it, the capsule was right in front of him. 'Wait, wait!... Now!" He bolted forward again, placing his extended hand on the capsule mainly to stop himself.

The light's pulse stopped, then settled in a dim glowing.

You wish to challenge me………

"It's not our will to fight." Zell looked around, trying to figure out the direction of the voice, and seeing that he had stopped Squall and Seiphie ran over to join him.

"What was that?" Seiphie lifted her weapon, holding her nu-chucks with both hands, apparently all of them heard the voice this time. The three of them watched as the Capsule grew brighter until the light was blinding...

With a loud roar the light cleared, revealing a Ruby Dragon before them.

"I guess we'll be finding out soon." Squall waited no time and attacked, slashing it across the neck and pulling the trigger of the gunblade. The dragon smashed his head against Squall's stomach, sending him sliding backwards to the ground. Zell crept up to it while it was busy with Squall, giving it punch to it's jaw and jab to the face before he had to draw back to a safe distance, or tried to anyway.

It opened it's mouth wide and exhaled with a growl, covering Zell in flames with enough power to send him shooting back, completely engulfed, almost hitting Seiphie.

"Hey!" Seiphie jumped angrily, casting Blizzara on the beast. It's whole body froze in an of itself imprint of ice, a frozen casing. Then pillars of the cold something rose from the ground in daggers, smashing the dragon apart.

Begging for Mercy?

"Never!" Zell yelled, getting ready again instinctively. As expected, the light from the capsule grew to a blindingly bright one, letting through another dragon.

Seiphie glanced over at Squall quickly before turning back to the dragon. "We can handle this, Right?"

"Yes, we can." Squall nodded, starting off first again with an initiative, this time taking a direct approach, plunging his sword right in it's neck. It roared, lifting it's body up from the ground and gashing Squall with it's claws. He was thrown to the ground in a spray of his own blood, trying to roll away but the dragon turned around swiftly, swinging it's tail and slamming it into everyone.

"Ow.." With a slight shake of her head, Seiphie jumped to her feet, immediately casting a haste spell on herself. Then she cast berserk on the dragon, which was more of a tactical move when it could have normally been a very foolish one.

In a rage of fury it opened it's mouth wide with a deep inhale, then spitting out a spray of flames toward the three, some of it dripping out the wound Squall had created in it's neck. It still managed to hit everyone, spraying Seiphie, then Zell then Squall in one sweep. (Damn...That's hot.) Zell winced from the heat, feeling his skin still burning even after the attack passed.

"Squall! Go for the neck!" Zell shouted, quickly closing the small gap between himself and the dragon, jumping in to the air. Squall pulled the gun blade back coming from the other side. The dragon opened it's mouth wide about to use it's flame breath though unclear on which target it would go for first... "NOW!" Zell kicked it in the side of the head just ask Squall brought his sword above his head and slashed the sensitive spot. With both of them at point blank range, it used it's fire breath, but in a twist it's neck exploded.

Damned imbeciles! Why do you wish to fight?

All of them stood silently, starring at the capsule, the direction of the voice was clear now...

Squall's first impulse was to say 'None of your Business' to whoever this was. Seiphie thought about saying 'For the sake of protecting something.'.

Zell was the only one who really thought about the question, in a unsure almost timid voice he said "It's………our nature, I guess there is no real reason………"

Hmm, very interesting………

The lights flared again, this time they were inside the capsule...

The blue lights were glowing words, symbols in an unknown language. They radiated, flashing between light and dark in a rhythm. A large figure was floating just a few above them, he was a dragon, with blue skin, almost human in shape, it's torso and under his tail was silver and he had 2 large wings that he was just staying in the air with light beats of them. They were a deep red on the in side and blue on the other, with large scythes on the tip of the wing span.

All three of them stared determined up at him, he looked back with surreally hypnotic green eyes that studied each one of the humans.

"The Great GF, Bahamut………" Squall stood almost breathlessly, watching the legendary GF that lay before them.

"GF………I." Bahamut seemed confused that he was referred to as a GF, how these humans looked up at him with fearing, with mild respect that came when witnessing something with great power. Why did they look at him like that? With that small bit of fear that came intern with anticipation when about to embark on a hard fight, fear? " …….But it's human's that I fear."

He waited apprehensively when though showing no signs of his current mental state, watching them raise their weapons. Bahamut didn't seem to want to fight but he forced himself, he hadn't seen humans in a long time.

The large dragon swooped down, punching Squall in the chest with a hard impact, sending him flying backwards into the walls surrounding them with an imprint left behind. 'He's strong.' Squall grunted as he pushed himself off of the wall and made his way up a few steps to realign himself with his team mates.

He could feel Ifrit stirring uneasily, 'What did you expect?' Squall waited instead of attacking as he would have, casting triple on Seiphie. She in turn cast Pain three times, but the only effect that seem to work was the blind affliction.

Bahamut stiffened his wings and dropped back down attempting to attack Zell with his claws, he came short, missed completely though coming close enough to throw wind in his face. Zell came after the retreating dragon, running up his torso, flipping off, kicking him in the face and landing gracefully on his feet. Squall came right after, lifting his sword above his head with a light jump, trying to slash him but Bahamut moved back by some manner of instinct or senses to tip him off. Instead Bahamut began flapping his wings, creating strong winds that swirled around the three them. Some how the dragon was ordaining the winds blindly, creating a tornado that drew them up in it's current, tearing at them with strong airstreams and dropping them to the ground at the current's end.

Squall withdrew back to where he was before, summoning Ifrit. Seiphie spread her nu-chucks out before her with both hands, casting Tornado, and causing an almost equally strong wind to swirl around Bahamut, the hard winds sliced at him like blades and pulled at him all sides. While under the effects of Triple she cast another while the first was still going, then cast a third.

Fierce winds came at him from all sides, three tornados convening to became one fierce air torrent, transforming into a Hurricane spell. Bahamut fought to stay in place, flying against the rapidly shifting wings, but Spell eventually over came him , tossing him around and sending him to in a tail spin to the ground. But with an unusual quickness he got back in the air with a single movement of his wings, attempting to attack Seiphie, or at lest in the direction he sensed the spell had come from but missing again because of the blind spell. "Damnit."

The three of them faded as Ifrit shot up from the ground going higher then Bahamut, and for a split second eye contact was met but passed quickly. The burning Meteor followed, coming up under Ifrit's feet. Both GF's locked eyes for the second time with a more defining look, Bahamut could only sense the presence and look in that direction but he knew their eyes had met from the feeling he was getting. Then Ifrit proceed to arch his body back, striking the burning rock with both fist and smashing in to the dragon. Bahamut was overwhelmed by the intense flames before it even touched him, he quickly closed his wings around his body, the claw like forms on their tips locking together to hold the appendages in place.

When the flames subsided he emerged from beyond his shield, looking the three human's direction with a small sigh. Though they couldn't see any change in Bahamut he had apparently done something since the ground began to shake, then everything started to shake, it seemed as if the whole earth was shaking around them. Surreal... "What's happening?" Seiphie yelled, stumbling around disorientedly.

"I don't know." Squall tried to keep his balance, in the end he could only plunge his sword in the ground and hope that he could. He had know idea what was about to happen.

Zell figured it out though, he didn't know what was coming exactly but he knew it would be big, and was that a Limit break energy he saw? "Oh man."

Bahamut rose up higher in the air, his wings stretched out to full length, he tilted his head back opening his mouth wide, pulling in energy visibly in white streaks. Zell, highly anxious, charged at the dragon with the hopes of halting the attack, that anxiousness seemed to cause him to gain a strong boost, bending his knees and leaping in to the air. He rose higher then normal bounds allowed, raising up to Bahamut's level and still rising.

Time seemed to slow for both of Zell, something similar to ones life passing before their eyes before death, Oh man, was he about to die! Ok, calm down, focus, focus...

Bahamut drew in the last bit of air for energy as Zell arched backwards, his body going in to a back flip. The Dragon fired the charged energy just as Zell kicked him across the face, then was thrown to the ground, pinned by down a powerful Mega-Flare.

The Mega-Flare exploded on to all of them, hitting them with a strong, explosive, oppressive force that threw everyone surrounding backwards engulfed in a burn, electrocuting energy.

Bahamut stared at the humans, all three of them down and out, still able to see sparks of electricity on their unconscious bodies, or even worse... He waited, still watching.

One of them moved.

Zell pulled in his knees, planting his hands on the ground and pushed himself weakly off his stomach. He groaned in pain as he forced himself to stumble to his feet, he was barely alive it seemed. His vision was blurry, his body burned, eyes red and watery, and he had to catch himself as he almost collapsed, needless to say everything hurt. "Oh god what hit me..."

Call it luck, or will, maybe even a little bit of heart, and possibly intervention by Carbuncle.

Zell reached around in his pockets, looking for something.

Bahamut watched the human, the only one still standing and some how willing to fight even in this condition. The blindness had warn off and he could see clearly now, one good attack could finish Zell off right now, the human had to know that. So what did he think he was doing? "Hmm………You're an Interesting one, brimming with passion."

Zell stopped shifting, looking up at the dragon, starring with him eye to eye while continued to look around for something. He pull something out, a mega-phoenix, and tossed it in the air, not taking his eyes away for a second. For once he didn't have anything to say in return, he really couldn't think of anything. Maybe he was still shaken from the last attack.

Bahamut landed on the ground, walking slowly toward a tensed Zell who immediately got into a fight stance. Squall and Seiphie watched them from the ground just barely awaking, Seiphie got on to her knees casting a cure spell on them one by one. A lot more cumbersome now that triple was no longer in effect. Seiphie and Squall knew Zell and Bahamut were saying something to each other, but they just couldn't hear what. Maybe they were still fighting... yeah, that must have been it...

! - ! - !

The blue lights from the strange letters drifting around them with no bounds grew bright again, taking them out of the capsule just as they had entered. When they emerged from the blue light the capsule was gone, leaving a large hole in it's place. Soft words came to Zell from the newly junctioned Bahamut, Bahamut...had given up? (A new path awaits…)

Maybe it was because he didn't believe he could win, or he just didn't want to fight...Why did he do it?

! - ! - !

"So, do you think we should keep going?" Seiphie starred down the hole, knelt down next it, seeing it lead to another floor underground.

"Maybe later." Squall turned and walked away, heading for the Garden, Seiphie followed. They didn't have time for this, they were already who knew how far off course.

After a quick look Zell ran after them.

! - ! - !

!- ! - !

Soon after they arrived home Carbuncle un-junctioned himself, quickly falling back to sleep in Zell's room. He must have been tired, he hadn't said anything the whole time.

Zell headed back to the infirmary with Squall who retook his seat next to the still sleeping Rinoa, Zell went to check on Nida in the next room.

"What are you doing here?" Nida was already awake, his shirt hanging open and an IV in his wrist, along with a few electrodes attached to a machine monitoring his heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, things of that nature.

"I came to check on you, How are you doing." Zell pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down, looking at Nida intently.

"I'm fine." Nida sat down on the edge of the bed, his hands dropped in his lap and his head downcast. "Everyone's just making a big deal about this whole thing."

"I don't know." Zell's voice elevated in an unsure tone "Sounded pretty serious to me."

Nida lifted his head and smiled. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Still a heart attack is pretty serious."

"I know...still It's all in how you look at it." Nida laid back horizontally over the bed, his head drifting just over the other side and his hands laid across his stomach. He stared blankly at the ceiling, his expression shifting into one of quiet contemplation that was so like him, if there ever was an expression that described Nida, that was it. "I guess I'll just have to take it easy for a while. Dr. Kadowaki made it sound like a big deal, I'll just have to relax more often."

Zell leaned back in his chair, lifting the front to legs off the ground to balance himself. "How the hell do you have a heart attack, your my age."

"I'm not sure, I mean I didn't do any thing that stressful." Nida blinked questingly, shifting his arm to adjust the IV cord streaming a liquid into his veins "I know it's not my diet." No, that couldn't have been it, Nida was always conscious of what he ate, he was heather then just about...everyone. "Maybe I need an outside option." Nida sighed "To bad about Raijin, he could have gave me a suggestion."

Raijin? (Oh yeah, Nida did help him study a lot, and Raijin always helped him train..' "Hmm...What do you think it could be?" Zell asked.

Nida tilted his eyes from the white ceiling tiles and florescent lights to the golden sunlight streaming through the half open shades covering the window. 'Are we still here?' Nida thought 'What did I crash in to...Oh man I crashed into something! Oh man, how much damage...calm down.' "It might be something genetic."

"Genetic? Do you know your parents?" Zell inquired.

Nida shook his head "Unfortunately no, I don't even know where to start looking. It's a lost cause, I'll just have to take it easy."

Nida sat up abruptly, disconnecting the IV from his arm and removing the electrodes. The boy looked around, then sat up, slowly creeping toward the door. "What are you doing?" Zell let his chair fall back down to the ground, watching Nida.

"Dr. Kadowaki is determined to keep me here, but I have to find that White SeeD ship. Plus, no one else knows how to fly the garden, we can't sit here."

Zell only sighed and shrugged, letting him pass.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

'Hey Bahamut, what did you mean when you said that you were afraid of humans before?' Zell sat out side in the secret area of the training area, looking on the water bellow the moving Garden.

(Humans are capable of beautiful dreams and horrible nightmares………) Bahamut told him.

'Uh, I don't know what that means, but………' Zell rubbed his head and changed the subject, it was easier then trying to figure it out. The next thing he wondered about Bahamut was what he was doing there, he had obviously been trapped, and considering what he already knew about the research center... 'What was it they were doing in that place, I mean what kind of stuff could they do on you?'

Bahamut was reluctant on the subject, he had been used in experiments in what those people had called the 'Manual Draw'. Surely Bahamut thought he would die there, since he seemed to have been their main lab rat for all those years. (I'm not exactly sure what purpose of experiments were.)

Zell tilted his head over the railing to peer closer at the sea of blue. The Garden seemed to be coming into a rocky terrain, they were only a short distance away from rocky canyons and islands. He assumed Nida had gotten them back on course. 'Did they hurt?'

(What?)

'Did the experiments.' Zell told him. "Did they did hurt?'

(To a curtain degree yes.)

'Well why did you let them do it on you?' Zell couldn't see why anyone would willingly put themselves through that.

(I was forced.) Yes he had been forced, he didn't ask to be experimented on.

'Why didn't you just leave then?'

(I couldn't, I was trapped. And also...I wanted to study them, see what they were like………) Sure he wanted to study them, but he wanted to escape more, which he couldn't do.

Study huh? He must have gotten some thing out of them. 'Well, what were they like?'

(They were………Cold………detached………it was eerie. They didn't seem to sleep much, some not at all, or eat much, just work, constantly.)

'Sounds kinda boring.'

That was one way to describe it, Bahamut agreed (Hn………)

From the sound of Bahamut's voice Zell could tell it had been pretty bad, was it worth it? 'Well did you find out what you wanted to know?'

(No………)

Zell leaned his back against the railing, propping his elbows on top of the edge, staring into the training center from the door 'What was it you wanted to know, maybe I can help.'

Bahamut thought about it, obviously he had been for a long time, long before he met Zell. (I don't really know.Humans are fascinating, I want to know everything I can about them and the world they've created.)

'I am a human you know.'

(Oh sorry…)

'I get the feeling that you don't like people very much.'

(How can you tell?)

Zell didn't say anything for a moment, creating an awkward silence on Bahamut end, that was, unil; Zell laughed at the unexpected response. 'You didn't sound as interested as you did before when we were fighting.'

(Observant.) Bahamut peered around through Zell's eyes, studying the outside of the Garden, burning the structure into his memory. (I never met a human like you.)

'Yeah, I get that a lot.' Which hadn't really been a complement at the time Zell had been told that. 'Just……not the human part.So what did you do before the whole experiment thing?' Zell was tempted to ask how Bahamut had ended up being experimented on in the first place but since he didn't seem to want to talk discuss the topic in general, Zell decided not to.

(Hmm………nothing of real importance.)

Zell only shrugged and accepted the answer, he really didn't want to push the GF to answer on account of his own curiosity 'If you say so.'

(Why do you care about the past so much?)

Zell mused on of how Bahamut reminded him of Squall a little bit, a very little bit but the personality resemblance was still there 'Well why wouldn't I? Seriously, we're partners now, why not?'

Bahamut obviously didn't see it that way, not from what he'd seen from past humans. For humans GFs were just tools, that's what he had been told. Bahamut would allow himself to be used to a certain extent, if that meant he got a chance to study humans but partners? (Partners? since when are Guardian Forces)

Zell shook his head. 'You can't be serious, What have they been telling you!'

(………)

'You've been in that place to way to long. How long were you in there?'

(Counting when I first entered, 20 years.)

'20 years! How old are you?'

(2123.)

Zell found it amazing that after all those years Bahamut could remember his exact age, he found it amazing that Bahamut had lived so long, he would have never been able to tell. 'Oh, that's a long time...' He was getting of subject. 'Well whatever, a GF is not just a weapon to be used in battle.'

(What is it for then, I've never done anything like this before.)

'So I'm the first person you've junctioned with?'

(Yes.)

! - ! -!

"Hey Carbuncle? You sleeping?" Zell slowly cracked opened the door to his room, letting a small beam of light into the dark room. The small stream of light landed on the small GF that was still curled sleeping on the bed, awaken by the mixture of light and the sound of Zell's voice.

"I was." He slowly shook his head, yawning and forcing himself to uncurl and stretch himself out on top of the soft covers.

Zell let the door open completely and walked inside, sitting down next to Carbuncle who was laying lazily on his back and his legs in the air "Oh, sorry."

"I was sleeping to much anyway." Carbuncle admitted, "So where are we going?"

"I have no idea, I know we're somewhere around Centra. Nida said he'd call if he found the" Zell was cut off my the intercom suddenly flaring to life.

Could Squall please come to the bridge.