Chapter 28: Unfriendly Fire
Garden was still intact when Squall and Rinoa drove up in a car they had rented in Balamb. The huge white structure's continued existence relieved Squall of the burdens of worry that had creept in during the trip back. Even with the trains' surprising speed, that carried him and Rinoa back to Timber and from there to Garden in under twenty hours, he had still felt as if time was passing too quickly.
Squall parked the car just outside the main entrance. He would have gone in through the garage, but the tunnel leading down into the garage was sealed tight for some reason. He and Rinoa stepped out, the woman looking up in awe at the massive white structure in daylight, which made it no less magnificent than it had been during the night.
"The missiles may still be on their way," Squall said quickly. "We'll have to assume they are and warn the students. Let's go."
Rinoa nodded and the pair rushed through the main gates and deeper into the Garden grounds. The quickly passed the outer gardens, but as they drew closer to the entrance, something didn't seem right. Squall spotted a number of students running around, moving through the main entrance or around the entrance. A large group was congregated around one of the Faculty, who was giving them orders.
"Go!" the Faculty shouted as Squall came closer. The robed figure pointed toward the entrance, and the students moved out immediately. Squall blinked, confused. Had they already learned of the missile strike and were evacuating?
"Find Headmaster Cid Kramer!" the Faculty ordered to the departing students. "Seize him! Kill him if you have to!"
What? What the hell was going on? Squall ran toward the Faculty, intending to get some answers. However, his hand rested on his gunblade's handle, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. The Faculty must have heard him approaching, as he spun toward Squall.
"You," he shouted. "What are you doing just standing there! Find the Headmaster!"
"What's going on?" Squall demanded instead, ignoring the order.
"Don't play stupid!" the Faculty member replied. "You're with the Garden Master's faction, you should . . . ." The robed man paused, and then took a step back. "Leonhart!" he cried. "Squall Leonhart! One of the Headmaster's SeeDs!"
His shout was heard by a pair of cadets, who rushed over, one carrying an assault rifle, the other with a halberd in his hands. The looked to where the Faculty was now pointing at Squall, and raised their weapons.
"The hell?" Squall muttered.
"Squall . . . ." Rinoa whispered worriedly behind him, and the SeeD nodded.
"I'm not sure what's going on," he said, both to Rinoa and the apparently hostile cadets in front of him.
"Seize the SeeD, dead or alive," the faculty ordered. The two cadets hesitated, the one with the rifle lowering his weapon slightly.
"Squall," the cadet said, shaking his head. "I don't want to have to fight you. Just surrender, man."
"I don't even know what's happening here," Squall quickly answered, drawing the Revolver. "Are you going to give me some answers or fight?"
"Kill him!" came the Faculty's order, and that jolted the cadets, causing the halberd-wielder to come forward with a half-hearted thrust, as if his attack wasn't entirely willing. Squall deflected the clumsy thrust with ease, deflecting it with his gunblade and then grabbing it with his left hand, holding it fast. he snapped his left leg up into a snapping kick that struck the cadet in the chest, hurling him back to crash heavily into one of the stone railings separating the small gardens from the main path.
The cadet with the rifle raised his weapon to fire, but hesitated briefly. Squall, still holding the halberd near its head, didn't hesitate, however, spinning around and slamming the shaft into the cadet's ribs. The kid gasped in pain as Squall retracted the halberd, thrusting the butt of the shaft into the cadet's face. He took it dead on, right between the eyes, and fell backward, dazed. Squall dropped the halberd and ran forward, closing the distance between himself and the cadet, and smashed the butt of the Revolver into the student's temple, laying him out flat.
"What was that all about?" Rinoa asked, and Squall shook his head as the Faculty scurried away in terror at how casually Squall had disposed of those two students.
"I have a feeling we'll found out inside," Squall replied, running on. They quickly passed through the entrance, and certainly enough, the inside of the main Garden building was in chaos as much as the grounds outside. Cadets rushed around madly, some meeting with others, receiving orders from the Faculty, or just wandering aimlessly amid the shouts and cries.
As Squall surveyed the havoc, he noticed a familiar pair standing near the directory, seeming as bewildered as he was.
"SQUALL!" Fujin called, standing beside her brother. The SeeD and Rinoa hurried to them.
"What the hell's going on!" Squall demanded. "I came in here and I was attacked by students!"
"Yeah, that happens if you're a SeeD, ya know," Raijin replied with a nod. "They were saying something about capturing all the SeeDs, and then everyone started siding with the Garden Master's faction or with the Headmaster's faction. Now everyone's fighting all across the Garden. Total chaos, ya know!"
"DISTURBING," Fujin added.
"Yeah, especially 'cause we're the Disciplinary Committee, ya know," Raijin added. "All our hard work for nothing, ya know!"
"Why are the SeeDs being targeted?" Squall asked, knowing that something was very wrong here. Did it have something to do with the way Cid was always antagonized by the Faculty?
"Don't know," Raijin replied with a shrug.
"Where's the Headmaster?" Squall demanded. "I need to see him immediately. Galbadia has fired missiles at Garden."
"WHAT?" Fujin asked, both her and Raijin's jaws opening in shock.
"Oh, man, we gotta get outta here!" Raijin added, and Fujin kicked him in the shin for his cowardice. "Okay, okay, fine! I guess we gotta warn everyone! This ain't no time for a civil war, ya know!"
"We'll look for the Headmaster," Squall added, glancing to Rinoa who nodded.
"CAUTION!" Fujin added, and Raijin nodded.
"Really, man, be careful!" the big cadet added. "The Garden Master goons are everywhere, and I don't think they'll think twice before trying to kill you, ya know! And from what I've been hearing, the Headmaster's people are taking cover on the edges of the grounds, using the narrow hallways to keep the Garden Master's people out." Squall nodded.
"By the way, who are you with?" Squall asked. Raijin boomed a laugh.
"SEIFER," Fujin answered, and Raijin nodded.
"Like Fuu said," he added. "We're with Seifer. Now and always, ya know! We'll go warn the students!" Fujin and Raijin then rushed off, finding the nearest cadet to warn.
"Where should we go?" Rinoa asked, and Squall scratched his chin. He scanned their surroundings and the cadets rushing about. He noticed that the numbers of the cadets he saw added up to roughly half of Garden's populace, which meant that if anything, the Headmaster's faction had the edge, with both the other half of the cadets and the SeeDs. Things would probably be at a stalemate for a while, which meant that this chaos wouldn't die down anytime soon. And that meant they would be hit with their pants down if the missiles did strike.
Squall nodded in the direction of the infirmary as he noticed a group of cadets led by a Faculty member head that way, weapons drawn. He turned back to Rinoa momentarily.
"Rinoa," he began to say. He intended to tell her that it would be better if she stayed back, as she wasn't yet up to the caliber of SeeD cadets, but she nodded before he could say anything.
"I'll just slow you down," she replied. "I'll go help Fujin and Raijin warn the students."
"Okay," Squall replied with a nod. "Just . . . just be careful." She nodded and turned away, running off after the two siblings. Squall watched her leave for a moment, before turning back to the hallway. the Revolver came into his hands as he strode down the hall deliberately.
Ahead, near the infirmary entrance, Squall saw a standoff as several cadets and a pair of SeeDs barred the entrance, weapons drawn. They were outnumbered slightly by the dozen cadets that the Faculty had mustered to his aid. Squall figured that the Headmaster's people would still win the battle, but he wasn't certain, and quickly advanced anyway. Besides, from the way the Garden Master's faction had treated him thus far, Squall was almost viewing the Headmaster's faction as his allies.
Squall rushed down the hallway as the cadets stepped forward, preparing to wade into battle. The Faculty remained behind, commanding his troops from the back, until squall tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned back, and though Squall couldn't see his expression, it was probably amusing as he backed away in a panic.
"A SeeD!" he managed to cry out, and three of the cadets spun. The others looked back, momentarily confused by the new enemy, and in that moment, the Headmaster's SeeDs charged in. Battle was joined immediately. The three who had turned to face Squall readied their weapons, but one suddenly dropped to the floor, unconscious from Squall's quick sleeping spell. The other two rushed forward, both wielding swords.
The cadets were young; they had likely only recently begun their weapons training, Squall realized, as their initial attacks were almost painfully straightforward, rough swings in Squall's general direction. The Revolver danced between their strikes, parrying blows before they'd even really begun. Squall snaked in a quick hit on the top of one cadet's wrist as he retracted his blade, and the sword went flying away, clear out of one of the hallway's windows. The other student rushed forward in a straight jab. The Revolver turned the weapon aside to the left, and Squall came forward with a rising right elbow that smashed the cadet in the mouth, throwing him to the floor in a daze. He turned to the first cadet, who just put up his hands in immediate surrender.
The battle at the infirmary door was almost over, ending almost as quickly as Squall's. Most of the cadets were unconscious or had their weapon arms disabled. A few had surrendered as well, their battles over before they had even started. The last cadet gave in, dropping his weapon, and Doctor Kadawoki stepped out, shaking her head.
"Get the wounded inside," she muttered.
"What?" one of the wounded Garden Master cadets asked. "Why are you helping me? I'm with the Garden Master."
"Don't be ridiculous," she responded as one of the SeeDs helped the wounded cadet stand. "I don't care whose side you're on. Get in there so I can fix you up."
Squall bent down, grabbing the dazed cadet by the front of his uniform, and hauled him into the infirmary one-handed. He dragged him in and set him on one of the beds, and turned to face the doctor as she bandaged up a wounded cadet.
"Doctor," he said, catching her attention. "I need to find the Headmaster."
"Cid?" she replied, shaking her head. "I wouldn't know."
"The Headmaster deliberately set us up so we wouldn't know everything," one of the SeeDs added. "Xu, Elain, and Jofey are the only one who know where he's really hiding."
"Where can I find them?" Squall asked, to be met by shrugs.
"Elain?" one of the Garden Master cadets, a bandage wrapped around his head, asked. "I saw her in the Training Center, protecting some junior classmen."
Squall turned to the cadet, confused as to why one of the Garden Master's cadets would be so helpful. At his questioning expression, the cadet shrugged.
"Hell, this place is insane," he replied. "I don't really want to fight. The Master's Faculty said we had to seize the Headmaster, and I couldn't refuse with all those cadets backing them. I'm actually kind of glad I'm injured. Takes me out of the fighting."
Squall nodded and looked back to Kadowaki.
"Doctor, I think you should help with the evacuation," he stated. "Galbadia is planning to launch missiles at Garden."
"What?" Kadowaki exclaimed, eyes widening. "Are you serious?" Squall nodded grimly.
"Then I have to stay here," she replied immediately. "If those missiles hit, I'm the only certified doctor here. I can't leave."
"Then take cover," Squall replied. He didn't waste anymore time there, instead running out the door and back down the hallway to the central structure of Garden.
Squall didn't realize it, but at that moment, a dozen sleek blue missiles had already passed through the clouds far above Timber and were even then turning toward the distant island of Balamb and the Garden located there.
"Over there!" came a shout. "It's one of the Headmaster's SeeDs! She's got some of the junior classmen with her!"
"Catch them!" ordered the Faculty member commanded the cadets. "Don't let them escape!"
Elain dashed through the thick jungle of the Training Center, running deeper into the wilderness, ushering a dozen or more younger Garden cadets ahead of her, most of them not even into their teens. They could hear the pursuing steps of the trio of Garden master cadets behind them, and the slower steps of the Faculty commanding them.
They ducked down a side trail, and ran deeper into the woods, before suddenly stopping as the electrical fence loomed up ahead. Eleain looked around in fear, searching for a way out, another route perhaps, but was cut short when their pursuers arrived, brandishing weapons.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Elain managed to say to the children as she stepped in front of them, readying her halberd. They whimpered, some of them falling back almost to the fence as the cadets spread out, grinning. One child, though stepped up beside her, putting his hands on his hips defiantly. He was one of the more gung-ho and motivated children, Elain remembered, and though she tried to usher him back, he stepped forward, ready to fight.
"Seize them," the Faculty ordered, and the cadets advanced, one glancing to the younger kid with a mocking laugh.
"Fighting you should be interesting," the cadet muttered, slapping the tonfa in his right hand into his left palm. "Not exactly fair, but-"
The kid suddenly leaped forward, left leg snapping forward and smashing up between the cadet' legs. He let out a sudden high-pitched yelp of pain and fell back, clutching his crotch before falling down, eyes crossing.
"I've been training for years!" the kid exclaimed to the suddenly agonized student. "You think its been for nothing?"
"You little brat!" another cadet shouted, stepping toward them, his glaive readied-
-until a black-clad figure dropped into their midst, deftly knocking the glaive into the dirt while at the same time sweeping a leg low, tripping the cadet. A quick motion of his foot lifted the glaive into the air, and he kicked the weapon aside, sending it clattering into the electric fence. The fence protested, sending off a tremendous blast of electricity before the weapon fell behind the startled children.
"If you want them, you'll have to go through me," Squall stated, weapon resting by his side. Despite his casual stance, everyone knew that Squall, who had the deadliest reputation in Balamb Garden, was quite ready for battle. The only standing and armed cadet backed away, lowering his sword, and Squall turned to the Faculty.
"Its in your best interests to retreat," he advised, but the man was already backing off. He quickly nodded to his cadets, and they turned to flee. Squall waited for them to get out of sight, before turning back to Elain.
"Thank Hyne you showed up, Squall!" she said, her relief sincere. He shook his head quickly.
"Maybe not," he replied. "Get those kids somewhere safe. Galbadian missiles are on their way for Garden."
"What?" she exclaimed, and he nodded.
"I need to find Xu."
"Xu?" Elain looked up to the west, toward the center of Garden. "She's coordinating defenses on the second floor."
"Thank you," Squall replied. "Get them to safety. I have to report to the Headmaster."
Squall turned without another word and ran back toward the entrance to the Training Center. Soon enough, he was back inside Garden's main complex, and noticed that the havoc he had seen earlier had died down significantly. No doubt Rinoa, Fujin, and Raijin had done a good job. He quickly rounded the central pillar of the structure, hurrying for the elevator, which he noticed was thankfully unguarded. He bounded up the steps, but a call from behind caught Squall's attention. he looked back to see Rinoa running to join him.
"Squall!" she repeated as she neared him.
"How's the evacuation?" he asked, and she shrugged.
"We've spread the word, but a lot of people are seeking shelter instead of fleeing," she replied. Squall frowned, and shook his head.
"Garden won't be able to shelter them all if those missiles strike," he replied, but Rinoa shrugged helplessly.
"They refuse to leave for the most part," she said. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault," he replied. "I've found Xu, she's upstairs. She can tell me where the Headmaster is."
Rinoa nodded and joined him on the elevator. It rose to the second floor quickly, and from the elevated viewpoint, Squall saw that the Garden was indeed calming down considerably. Moments later, the elevator reached the second level, opened to the greeting of the barrels of several rifles and the ready blades of two dozen weapons. Squall quickly raised his hands in a gesture of peace, and the majority of the weapons were lowered as he was recognized as a SeeD.
"Squall, glad to see you back," Jofey stated, sheathing his blade.
"Is Xu here?" he asked, and some looked back, waving his hand. A moment later, Xu filtered through the ranks, a pair of ornate, bladed sai in her hands.
"Squall?" she asked, and he nodded. "What are you doing back here? we could use the help with the revolt-"
"I'm not here for that,' he replied quickly. "I need to find the Headmaster."
"Why?" she asked.
"Galbadia has launched missiles at Garden." The response was the usual he'd been getting, and Squall continued quickly. "Everyone needs to prepare for the missile strike," he added, and everyone nodded. Xu quickly stepped forward, toward the elevator.
"I'll take you to Cid," she explained, and he and Rinoa stepped back inside. She tapped a button, and the elevator rose quickly toward the third floor and the administrative offices.
"He's been up here the whole time?" Squall asked, and she nodded.
"We've been spreading rumors he's hiding in the outer grounds," she replied. "That's why the Garden Master's forces were trying so hard to take the outer facilities. In reality, he's been hiding up here the whole time while we cut communications and locked them out. They really didn't have much of a chance from the beginning, actually. Cid was too well-prepared for this."
The elevator reached the third floor and they stepped out, moving to Cid's office immediately. Xu opened the door, and Cid was waiting for them, looking at his laptop. He glanced up, and the old man's eyes widened in shock as Squall smartly saluted.
"Squall, what are you doing back?" he asked. "Last I heard, you and your team were compromised in Galbadia."
"We were, sir," Squall replied with a nod. "I don't have time for a full report. Galbadia is retaliating against Garden."
"I know," Cid replied gravely. "They have already invaded Galbadia Garden and seized control. We suspect that they may be planning the same for here and Trabia as well."
"No, sir," Squall replied. "They've fired missiles at Trabia and I suspect more are on their way here."
"I didn't expect Edea would do that," Cid muttered, shaking his head sadly, standing up. "I expected the response to be in the form of ground troops, and would give the SeeDs time to disperse. But I guess we have no choice then but to initiate a full evacuation. I want you to warn the students."
"Fujin and Raijin are handling that," Squall answered. "They've warned most of the students already."
"Then assist them," Cid answered, looking back to his computer, before standing straight, as if preparing for something. "Then evacuate."
Squall frowned. Something was on the Headmaster's mind, but what? did he have something planned?
"You have a problem with that order, Squall?" Cid asked, smiling faintly. "Of course you do."
"You're planning something, aren't you, sir?" Squall asked, and Cid nodded.
"This place is my home," he replied. "SeeD is already dispatched, so there's no true need for it. I'm going to stay here and see this through to the end."
"That's suicide!" Rinoa exclaimed, and Squall nodded in agreement.
"Sir, you can't."
"Rest assured," Cid replied "I'm just going to try something. Balamb Garden used to be a mobile shelter before it was remodeled, and I've learned that somewhere in the basement there is supposed to be a defensive mechanism in case of attack. I'm going to try to activate it."
Squall's frown deepened. If what Cid was saying was true, then that would mean he'd be descending into the Garden's MD Level, which was far from a safe place for anyone, especially an older man like Cid Kramer.
"Sir, I want to do this," he stated quickly. "I want to handle whatever you're planning."
"Why?" Cid asked, curious. Squall shook his head quickly. He had his reasons: he wanted to do something more than just evacuate, he wanted to save his home, and as many people as he could. Cid might screw it up, and there was a distant curiosity about the MD Level and the defense mechanism. He had a hundred more reasons, not all of which he understood, but Squall Leonhart knew he wanted to help.
"My feelings have nothing to do with it, sir," Squall answered, to which Cid simply chuckled.
"Quistis was right," he mused. "You're not very good at expressing your feelings." Squall scowled. Was the old man judging him?
"Here," Cid added, reaching into his desk. He pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Squall, who deftly caught them. "Use these on the elevator, it will allow you to descend to the MD Level. There's some type of control system at the very bottom of Garden's foundations. I don't know what it looks like, or even what it does, but it's our best bet."
"Understood," Squall replied, saluting.
"Good luck to you," Cid replied, matching the salute. Squall turned back, looking to both Rinoa and Xu.
"We're going with you," Rinoa stated immediately, leaving no room for debate.
"The MD Level isn't the safest," Xu added. "You never know what you'll find down there. You may need the help of another SeeD." Squall glanced to Rinoa, wondering for an instant why she was willing to risk her life for a building and an organization she had no stake in.
"I don't have to have a reason, do I?" she replied, putting her hands on her hips at Squall's unasked question. Squall hesitated for a moment, before finally nodding.
"Be prepared," he told them, stepping toward the elevator, though privately, he was glad they were coming along with him into the darkness of Garden's bowels.
"Holy shit!" one of the PFC's shouted, surveying the destruction of the Galbadian missile base. Not a building was left standing in the wake of the destruction, and solid steel I-beams could be found a mile away, sticking out of the desert sands like metallic bones.
Closer to the facility was even worse, as a wide crater surrounded by a haze of slowly settling dust and sand marked where the mighty facility had once been located. Only a few pieces of the various hangars and bunkers remained, mostly warped and twisted support beams and blasted foundations. The survey team shook their heads as their trucks pulled up, headlights cutting on to cut through the haze and dust.
"Not gonna be much to report," one sergeant commented, hopping out of his truck. He flicked on his nightvision, but switched it over to thermal immediately. That didn't do any good either, as the desert sun and the detonation heated the dust. He flicked on the electromagnetic scanner, and suddenly paused, spotting something in the ruins that was, in fact, giving off an electrical field. He moved through the haze, calling his squad over, and almost laughed at what he saw.
"Someone call the captain," the sergeant shouted, shaking his head. "The Iron Clad's still intact! Jeed, get over there, see if the controls are still working."
One of the technical soldiers ran over the battered tank, while the sergeant circled it, awed at how this marvel of engineering had survived. Moments later, Jeed came back around, shaking his head as well.
"Rear hatch is welded shut," he explained. "Must have been melted by the fire from the blast."
"Check to see if there's an external access port," the sergeant ordered, walking around to the other side of the tank, inspecting that side. He had almost finished a search for a port there when Jeed called him back.
The technical soldier had already found an outer port under a half-melted panel, and had opened it. He was fiddling with the port beneath, hooking up a cable from his own personal datapad into the port. He tapped a few keys, and the tank suddenly started up, engine rumbling to life.
"Good job," the sergeant stated. "Get this thing to the convoy, the captain's probably going to want it sent off to Tollane. Heard the Sorceress wanted us to bring this thing to the Fourth Expeditionary Unit for some hunting."
"You think they'll get it operational?" Jeed asked, and the sergeant shrugged.
"Hell if I know. The CO's are weird. Probably'll send it into combat with just that remote control program you put into it!" The sergeant laughed, before patting Jeed on the shoulder. "Get it moving, son. We'll check out the rest of this hellhole and see what's worth salvaging."
Squall took heart when the elevator descended, as the majority of the panic and rioting that had been taking place inside Garden had thinned out. Fujin and Raijin had done a good job of spreading the word of the incoming missiles. The elevator dropped below, past the first level, and descended deeper into Garden's depths.
It descended for several long seconds, and the trio saw nothing outside the windows during that time, until the elevator suddenly screeched to an unexpected halt, the lights cutting. Moments later, a soft blue emergency light cut in, and Squall glanced around the elevator.
"Power must have been cut," he commented.
"The access panel's here," Xu commented, crouching where she had been standing, pulling open a mantainance panel. Squall crouched next to her, peeking down, and spotted a ladder along the elevator shaft's wall, just beneath them. The shaft itself dropped into darkness far below, the bottom too far away for him to guess its depth.
Xu took the lead, with Rinoa following, Squall taking up the rear and climbing down the ladder. They descended the shaft about maybe twenty feet by Squall's estimate when Xu had found another mantainence tunnel and popped it open. She peered in and waved them forward, before dropping itno the tunnel. Rinoa began to step in, when Squall heard something moving up above. He looked up the see the elevator, apparently having regained power, rapidly descending.
Rinoa ducked into the tunnel quickly, and Squall was a second behind her, dropping into the tunnel with less than a second to spare as the elevator dropped past.
"That was too close," she commented. "You okay?" Squall nodded, showing no dismay over his near-fatal experience. It wasn't the first time he'd brushed death within the last week.
Up ahead, Xu had found a switch, which activated a light in the narrow, cramped tunnel. The walls were rusty and reeked of crude oil, a smell that only got stronger when Squall found a sealed trapdoor which took some effort for the SeeD to wrench open. He dropped into an old metallic tunnel below, the smell getting even stronger. Xu and Rinoa followed, both crinkling their noses.
"An old oil stratum," Xu commented. "I heard rumors that there was one beneath Garden, but never knew if they were true or not."
"Garden's sitting on a gold mine," Rinoa added, and Squall nodded, wondering if anyone had really known.
"Keep your eyes open," he warned. "There could be anything down here, so we should be prepared."
"You have elemental junctions, right?" Xu asked, and Squall nodded.
"You think we should be going with fire junctions?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Just be careful if we do find any crude oil deposits," Xu warned, closing her eyes and focusing. Squall did as well, selecting magic from within himself and focusing the energy down into his hands. He felt a warm sensation drift down his arms, and opened his eyes to see a faint reddish-white outline around his gunblade, the power of his Guardian Forces imparting the flame element into whatever weapon he held in his hands. Xu held her bladed sai in front of her, they, too, shining with fire elemental power.
He glanced up at Rinoa, intending to give her a quick crash course on elements, but was surprised to see her crossbow was now shimmering with a similar aura. At his quizzical expression, she shrugged.
"Just like junctioning it into my body, right?" she asked, and Squall nodded.
"You're a fast learner," he commented, echoing the sentiments Zell had expressed earlier that week.
The trio advanced down the metal tunnel, which curved to the right, eventually opening into a vertical shaft with another ladder. They descended, squall leading this time, and moved down about a hundred or so feet to another ladder set into the floor of the shaft. The ladder, however, was sealed off. Frowning, squall scanned the room, and spotted a door nearby. They moved inside to see what looked like a pressure control room, complete with numerous valves and a large locking wheel. The wheel itself was marked "Access to Lower Level."
Shrugging, Squall started to turn the wheel, but found that it was wedged in place by decades of accumulated rust, and not even his enhanced muscles could work it. Xu moved up beside him, and together the SeeDs tried budging it, but again to no avail. Then, Rinoa, seeing what she could do, tried to help them move it, and with all three of them pulling hard, they finally managed to free the wheel from its rusty imprisonment and turn it. As they rotated the mechanism, they felt the floor beneath them shudder, until finally the wheel did not move any further. Squall looked outside into the shaft and saw that the entire floor, excepting a small walkway, had opened up, revealing another shaft that extended about a hundred and fifty feet below into a open area far below.
Once again, Squall took the lead down the ladder, and within a minute or so of descending, the trio found themselves looking into a wide expanse, a massive metal cavern with single pillar in the center. The ladder led to a metal walkway that led to the center of the chamber, which they descended quickly. Once there, they found no readily available pathway, or at least, not at first. Squall soon discovered a ladder on the other side of the pillar, which led up to the top of the cavern, where there was located another metal walkway that in turn led to what looked to be a control room about halfway up the wall.
"Who designed this place?" Rinoa complained, and Xu giggled. Squall simply shook his head, and looked up at the old ladder, which was rusty in plenty of places, including where it met the floor. Even though Xu and Rinoa were lightweight, it wouldn't be safe if all three of them went. Shrugging, Squall went up the ladder by himself, promising to check out the control room.
He made it perhaps three-fourths of the way up the ladder before it suddenly began creaking and breaking away from the central pillar. Squall gritted his teeth as he felt the ladder pull away, and held on tight. Moments later, the ladder swung down, falling away from the pillar and toward the control room.
Squall gritted his teeth as they fell, and then suddenly released the ladder, letting himself fall down at the control room and the glass window, his booted feet leading and smashing through the glass. A dozen minor flares of pain erupted along his skin, but he paid them no mind as he hit the floor, rolling away, the ladder crashing behind him. The SeeD quickly checked his body and, finding no real blood on wetting his clothes, excepting the dried blood he hadn't yet had time to clean off, turned to the consoles dotting the room.
The controls and screens were strange things, of a type he'd never encountered before, but as he moved around, poking a few things, he was able to roughly discern what performed which function. He found something he guessed was for opening access to yet another lower level, and activated it.
Instantly, the entire chamber shuddered, and as Squall looked outside, he saw that most of the metal floor between the central pillar and the outer walls rotate away, to reveal even more of the chamber far below. Fortunately, there wasn't too much more below that point, not to mention that there was a ladder that was easily visible from this side, and one that was neither so flimsy-looking nor coated in as much rust, leading down to a platform below, which was located directly above a wide pool of crude oil.
The only real way back was over the ladder that had crashed through the window, so he hopped back onto it and moved back down. The ladder seemed to have been further weakened by the impact, but it held as Squall moved back down to where Xu and Rinoa waited. Both of them seemed worried about him, but Squall waved their concerns away as he hopped off the ladder.
"I was okay," he replied quickly. "It was a bit scary, but we've got more important things to worry about."
They left it at that, Squall leading them to the ladder he'd spotted. After opening a gate blocking access, he led the way down to the lower level. As soon as he hit the floor, he spotted a huge metal doorway a short distance away, just over a metal walkway that hovered mere feet over the pool of oil. Squall didn't see any readily available means to open the door, except a lever nearby. With a shrug, he flipped it, and the door beyond slid up, to reveal a ladder leading even lower. Squall shook his head at all the ladders as Xu and Rinoa joined him, and they moved toward the walkway.
They had advanced about halfway across the walkway when Squall paused, a sudden feeling of unease washing over him. Rinoa and Xu kept on walking for an instant, before they, too, paused, looking back at the SeeD.
"What is it?" Xu asked, but Squall didn't answer, instead turning, looking out over the pool of oil below. His hand dropped to his gunblade, and out of the corner of his eye, Squall thought he saw something move in the oil, the black fluid shifting as if something moved beneath it.
That was all squall needed to justify drawing his gunblade. Xu snapped her sai out as well in response. Rinoa glanced back and forth between them, and started to pull back the wire on her crossbow when the oil to either side of the walkway erupted, and a pair of huge white beasts seemed to explode out of the fluid, landing on the walkway ahead of Xu and behind Squall.
Both SeeDs rushed forward, starting to move even before the creatures had really landed on the walkway. The monsters were huge, white creatures of some kind that none of the group had ever seen before, semi-amorphous blobs of white flesh, looking almost like massive leeches with hose-like mouths. Black eyes peered at them over the long mouths as they began to turn, though neither completed their rotation unscathed, as Xu and Squall hit them hard and fast, Xu's sai stabbing repeatedly, while Squall's gunblade cleaved in hard with one, then two strokes. The beasts shuddered and recoiled from the hits, their skin peeling back as the SeeDs' weapons, enchanted with fiery energy, burned through their vulnerable flesh.
Between the two SeeDs, Rinoa was caught completely off-guard. she looked back and forth, her eyes snapping toward the two SeeDs as they battled ferociously against this new opponent, and she was unsure who to help first.
Xu bore into her opponent hard, slicing rapidly, the blades of her sai cutting into the monster's flesh, but leaving only minor wounds as the small, slender edges couldn't cut too deeply. Nonetheless, she racked up over a dozen cuts across the beast's flesh before it even began to respond. The white-skinned creature rippled forward, whipping its hose-like maw around with surprising strength, impacting across Xu's head. She fell back a step, and the mouth jabbed forward, impacting on her neck, tiny teeth digging in. Xu gasped as she felt the creature begin to suck blood.
Squall went at his opponent with brutal abandon, hacking rapidly. The beast fell back further, roaring, and as Squall chased after it, a mass of black goo erupted from it mouth. The oil, for that was what it was, smashed hard into Squall with the force of a thrown medicine ball, staggering his advance, but only for a moment. The creature slithered forward, intending to get in close and drink his bodily fluids, but Squall recovered faster than it expected and was on it in an instant, slashing with fury at this creature that had dared to attack them during their desperate mission to save Garden.
The monster's teeth had barely begun to sink in and draw blood when a magical blast struck the beast, a barrage of ice that snatched its attention momentarily, but in that moment, Xu struck, snapping her sai around and stabbing them hard into either side of the monster's ugly face. The blades drove into the monster's eyes, burning them away and penetrating deeper. The monster loosed a blood-curdling screech of pain as it tore away, writhing in pain it hasd never known as the burning-hot sai consumed its heat-vulnerable skin and insides. The beast backed away a bit, before sliding to the floor and laying still.
Squall hacked into his opponent brutally, his gunblade burying into its soft flesh, the heated edge devastating its organs and concussive blasts exploding even deeper, tearing apart the creature. The monster, cut, burned, and blasted, was unable to put up a solid defense in the face of Squall's assault, and could only back away. The SeeD paced it, cutting deeper and deeper, until the monster let out a final wheeze and collapsed.
"No time to waste," Xu shouted, turning back. She nodded her thanks to Rinoa for the timely blast of magic, then waved Squall over. He nodded and joined them, Xu already starting to climb down the ladder beyond the walkway.
Less than ten miles from the shore of Balamb, the Galbadian missiles began their descent. The lead missile dropped through the clouds, its internal computer scanning the terrain below and ahead with a large, eye-like scanner located on its underside.
The scanner spotted the coastline of Balamb far ahead, and confirmed it as the destination. Behind it, the other eleven missiles did the same. The missiles continued to drop, skimming the waves of the ocean as they closed with the coastline of Balamb and the Garden beyond. Soon, they neared the coast, and in the distance, the actual Garden itself came into sight.
The missiles armed their explosives and began to rise, preparing to strike.
The ladder was short, thankfully, and as they reached the walkway just below, Squall knew that they had finally reached their destination. He scanned the room, seeing what appeared to be a huge, twisted, metallic . . . something in the center of the room, a massive machine consisting of turbines and strange curving metal, forming a snake-like central pillar shooting up into the ceiling. Squall's internal sense of direction told him that whatever this machine was, it seemed to extend up into that central pillar he had seen above.
Before the machine was a strange control panel, though how to operate it, Squall didn't know.
"What are we supposed to do?" Rinoa asked, echoing Squall's sentiments. He looked over the control panel in confusion, not understanding the function of any of the buttons, switches, or any of the runic script everything was written in. The control room above he'd been able to figure out, but here . . . how the hell was he going to figure it out before the missiles struck? And something told Squall deep inside that the missiles were on their way, or were there already, even then diving down at the Garden.
Squall began hitting random buttons, his frustration growing. How was he supposed to do anything down here when even the Headmaster, the man who had built the Garden in the first place, didn't even know what function this place served? Squall growled in anger and slapped a lever in the center of the panel, the device turning suddenly.
"Do you know what you're doing, Squall?" Rinoa asked, and he spun around, clenching his teeth.
"No!" he snapped. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here!"
Then as if in response, the panel behind began to whir to life, the lever Squall had hit starting to sink into the panel as the floor around them shuddered.
Then, it began.
Chapter title courtesy of LuKuang, Aaron Bru and Ice Hobo of SimRTK, routed to me through my ever-awesome editor. Much kickassness is from them, I say.
What else to comment on? Hmm. To answer some questions and comments:
Why is fire magic used so much?
This should be obvious. Fire and electrical magic are, by their very natures, a more destructive energy source than something like cold or wind or earth-based magic. Fire is used against living creatures, and electricity against mechanical foes, which are enemies largely faced during the course of the story. Furthermore, in the duel between Squall and Seifer, Seifer used fire magic exclusively as part of his fighting style.
Carbuncle? Where is he?
I answered the Carbuncle queston before I reloaded my story in my insert between the two "books," but here it is, repeated:
My answer is in the form of a question, or rather, in the form of a hypothetical situation.
Imagine yourself as Squall in that scene. You've just run through the Palace gates, initiated a fistfight, climbed up the side of a building, all in a mad rush to rescue a woman you sort of care for and are entrusted to protect. You enter the room where she is with the monsters, and see her lying there, bleeding, possibly dead, and the monsters are towering over her with bloody jaws, ready to eat her where she lays. What would you do?
You'd slash the shit out of those bastards, heedless of your own safety, if you're Squall, that's what. I'd already laid out the image of Squall dashing to the rescue, fighting the Iguions singlehandedly while Irvine rushed to catch up, before I'd even written the scene where Squall met Rinoa on the train. And unfortunately, I knew, there would be no logical room for me to have either Squall or Irvine Draw magic from the monsters. It simply couldn't work. Irvine didn't have a Guardian Force, and neither he nor Squall would have any reason to be Drawing magic from the monsters in the first place, nor would they know there was a GF in the monsters. They would have one primary goal, which was to kill the monsters and save Rinoa. Drawing Carbuncle has no place in that scene. There was no point where they would have, logically, taken him, so, like the dog and Squall's outburst, it was left out for the sake of logic. And really, when you consider the situation, it seems strange that anyone would bother with taking the time to Draw the GF in the first place. How many FFVIII players have played that sequence and didn't Draw Carbuncle in the first place? I was one of them when I first played through, because I neither expected them to have a GF, nor did I think to Draw from the Iguions. And guess what? Same with Squall and Irvine. There was no point where they could have gotten Carbuncle, not even with the one Iguion that was dying, since, once again, Squall doesn't know it carries a GF and he isn't really concerned with checking to see if there is one.
That said, I'm not leaving Carbuncle out, just as I'm not leaving Diablos out. The loveable little green bunny/mouse thing will make his appearance later.
Fire in the hole?
For Diego, mostly. "Fire in the hole" is basically a warning that someone is about to detonate explosives or grenades. A soldier about to breach a room with a fragmentation grenade would pass on a warning to his comrades with a quick "Fire in the hole!" before tossing, for example. It comes from tossing explosives into bunkers and holes where enemy soldiers would be hidden.
Irvine/Selphie?
Will take place in my fic before the end, or at least, it will be hinted at.
Anything else? Hmm, not that I can think of. if someone does ask a question in the future, expect me to dutifully answer it. next chapter's gonna be sizable, with some original sequences and plenty of plot revelations.
