Hikari Reika: Thanks for the reviews! Much appreciated :D I've been getting reviews that the story unfolds a little too fast. Really? Heh see I told you, I haven't written a FF8 fanfic in three years. It shows, doesn't it :P anyway, I've slowed things down (a bit. Let the story slow down bit by bit so the flow is there) in this chapter, just for reader's sake. Aight, then! Review and tell me what you think. Thanks again. Cheers!

MY LIONHEART – CHAPTER 5

Guns and Roses

"Aaahhh!" Quistis screamed as another explosion rocked Balamb Garden. She stumbled, falling to her knees. Hard.

"Come on! We gotta go!" Irvine said as he clasped Quistis's wrist, egging her to move. She got up, falling over herself but managed to gain momentum and ran to catch up with them. They ran towards the end of the hall to see students running across the hall, covered in blood. Suddenly the heard gunshots, then a sickening scream that deafened their ears. Then all they heard was silence.

In that silence, Squall heard his heart pounding in his ears. What the hell is going on? He thought. This isn't the work of Doom. It doesn't even shoot friggin' bullets!

Squall's leg thawed and he got up and ran again. He reached the end of the hall and he heard the gunshots going off again. Instinctively, he turned his whole body around and fell behind the hallway wall. The bullets chipped off the wall, the rubble falling to the ground like snow. He took a quick glance behind the wall and hid again before a bullet ricocheted off the wall again.

What the hell? He thought. Who the hell are they?

"Who's that?" Irvine said, falling beside Squall. Quistis instinctively fell to her knees as well, her back leaning against the wall.

"I don't know." Squall said. "They look like someone from the Intelligence Agency. Or something."

"Or something?" Quistis said, shocked. "Squall, they might be after our Doom prototype!"

"But we don't have it! We just lost it!" Squall snapped.

"I know! But they don't know that, now do they?" Quistis yelled over the roar of another explosion. The explosion caused parts of the ceiling to fall down in chunks, missing them my mere inches. When the dust cleared partially, Irvine was on top of Quistis. His hands were on the wall behind her, pushing himself from Quistis but at a goodly distance to shield her from any rubble.

"We gotta get underground!" Irvine yelled.

"Wait! We have to get the others!" Squall said and tried to get up but Quistis's hand immediately shot out and held him, her hand on his chest.

"No! They'll be alright. We need to get underground now!" Quistis said. Another explosion rocked the Garden and Quistis screamed. More rubble fell on them and Squall, Irvine and Quistis started coughing. The dust cleared again and more gunshots and piercing screams can be heard.

Quistis tried hard to shut out all the screams by playing her hands onto her ears.

"Hey Quisty, why the scared look? Think of this as a training mission - You know - In order to become a SeeD?" Irvine said comfortingly, even as a small explosion shook the building. His voice sounded shaky but he tried hard to conceal it. He's obviously scared, Quistis thought.

Quistis's eyes widened and slowly nodded, finding her strength in his words.

"Now!" Quistis said, shifting under Irvine. She motioned towards Squall who had a clearly worried look on his face. "We need to get underground now! Do you have your card with you?"

Squall looked at her blankly, and then slowly nodded. He searched his pockets and he took out a key card.

"Right. Now how do we get over to that elevator?" Irvine said, looking across the hallway.

"I didn't bring my weapon." Squall said simply.

"Here comes Irvine, the only one prepared for situations like this." Irvine smirked as he opened his coat and took out his shot gun. He pushed himself away from Quistis and took a few shots from behind the wall and they heard a few short screams. Irvine coolly looked over from behind the wall and motioned them to follow suit as they scurried across the hallway. Irvine pressed the button and they all pushed themselves in, hoping that the doors would close as quickly as possible. When it did, Quistis let out a sigh of relief and rested her back against the cool, metal and glass walls of the elevator.

Squall held his key card and swiped it, and the elevator shifted and rumbled under their weight. Then it descended.

"Phew." Irvine said, taking off his cowboy hat and wiping the sweat off his face.

Show-off, Squall growled comically.

"I thought it was Doom. I thought Seifer was insane enough to attack us the next day." Quistis said in a small voice, almost to herself. The two looked at her, unable to say anything.

It took a while for them to get underground but when they did, they stumbled out. Irvine's eyes widened and his mouth was agape.

"This place is huge!" Irvine exclaimed. His voice bounced off the big room, creating an ear-deafening echo. He stared at wonder as he stared at gadgets and electronics on the walls, on the sleek metal tables and bigger ones that was placed on the floor.

All this under Balamb Garden? Wow no wonder our fees are so high. Irvine thought.

"You're not supposed to be here so keep your voice down." Quistis snapped as she furiously rummaged through a few drawers. The explosions upstairs seemed soft and less powerful but Squall and Irvine felt their heart sink even lower.

Quistis stopped for a while and put her hands to her face. She let out a long sigh and turned around to face the two of them. "I don't even know what to do down here."

"Any weapons down here?" Irvine asked, tilting his head to one-side.

"Well..." Quistis's voice said but trailed off as she scanned the area. "None which have been approved."

"Let me guess. Prototypes?" Irvine said, stroking his chin.

"Yes. We haven't tested most of them yet." Quistis said, motioning towards Irvine. Irvine turned around and saw tens of big guns mounted onto the wall.

"Well, let's test them, shall we?" Irvine said. "You shouldn't care if it was a tad more powerful than expected. Heck, that's good!"

Quistis exchanged glances with Squall for a long time.

"The problem is; it might even be a tad less powerful." Squall said simply in a monotone voice.

"Uh... Well... Just grab whatever you can!" Irvine said as he preceded taking down the guns. He took smaller ones, stuffing whatever he can into his coat. Quistis and Squall went over and joined him, putting the guns on their belts and pockets. When they were packed and loaded, they got into the lift and the lift slowly closed its doors on them.

"I can't believe what's going on. Everything's happening too fast." Quistis said, feeling a headache coming on.

"You tell me." Squall said, thinking about Rinoa.

Back at the infirmary, Zell, Selphie, Rinoa and Dr. Kawadoki still faced the cold, tiled floor below them. After a while, the explosion ceased and Zell pulled his face away from the floor.

"Everyone alright?" Zell squeaked. He heard groans, but at least they sounded alright.

"What now?" Selphie said as she got up on her knees, wiping the debris off her. Everyone got up slowly, scanning the damage around them.

"Dr. Kawadoki, we need you to take shelter in a closet – or something." Zell said as he straightened himself up, helping Selphie on her legs. Dr. Kawadoki laid still for a moment, but nodded and walked coolly towards a nearby door.

"Be careful," Was all she said as she closed the door behind her. The only ones left in the room were the three of them.

"Like I said, now what?" Selphie piped up after a long silence.

"We fight?" Zell said stupidly.

"No! We have to look for the others!" Selphie said, waving a finger in front of him.

"It's not safe. We can't!" Rinoa protested.

"Well we can't just stay here, can we?" Selphie said, tilting her head to one side.

Another long silence.

"They'll be safe. I can feel it." Rinoa said suddenly. She scanned the room and found a ring on the floor near the front door. Curious, she went over and picked it up.

This is Squall's ring, she thought as she clutched it tighter in her hand. Squall, I hope you're alright.