Hikari Reika: Thank you so much for all of your reviews I… I… sobs I'm so happy! Haha. I was so overwhelmed by the reviews I've got that I've decided to write the next chapter immediately after I've read them. Haha! Moving on, I haven't thanked Hyvlo about the Gunblade prototype (although I made Squall change just the gun. Oops :P) so I just want to say thanks a lot, aight! Ah, enough of this small talk. Let's get down to Chapter 7!

MY LIONHEART – CHAPTER 7

Locked and Loaded

"Where are we going?" Selphie asked as they all got into the lift. Quistis ignored her question momentarily and mashed the 'up' button several times until the lift creaked and ascended. She wiped the hair away from her sweaty face, thought for a while and finally spun towards Selphie.

"We're going to see if Headmaster Cid is still up there." She said sternly, although her face portrayed a different kind of emotion – a scarred emotion of worry.

"Is… Everything alright?" Irvine asked slowly, tilting his head to one side to examine Quistis's facial features.

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again and shook her head furiously. "I wish I can say yes, but I can feel that everything's going to get a little more chaotic around here."

"What's happening, anyway?" asked Selphie, curious.

Quistis glanced at the numbers over the lift door to see what floor they were on.

"We have a few more floors to go so I'll make it quick," she said. Selphie held her breath, listening attentively to what she was going to say.

"We, I mean, us three, Squall, Zell and Seifer are all in the same orphanage, right?"

Selphie nodded.

"And it was Edea, Headmaster Cid's wife that took care of us, right?"

Selphie nodded again, wondering if there was any connection to that and what was going on.

"Well, I was the closest to Edea so I know where her husband was at that time. You see, he was running an illegal fighting school; all of his students are from his and Edea's orphanage.

Selphie's jaw dropped. "What? Are you sure?"

Quistis nodded slowly. "Yes. The school is a family business, actually. Now he's running it, I think, unless he has siblings…"

"That's ridiculous." Irvine said as he scrunched up his nose. He snorted. "Cid will never do anything like that."

"I wish I can believe you… But it looks like he's back to his old habits again." Quistis said.

"But why does he want to attack Balamb Garden? It's his school, for god's sake!" Selphie cried, outraged.

"Even though he's the Headmaster, it doesn't mean he owns it. This school is owned by the government, mind you." Quistis said, suddenly she changed topic. "His private fighting school was revoked of its license. I've had a feeling that he had been secretly running the school illegally ever since I've heard that he was made Headmaster. Maybe he wanted to learn the ropes or something… I don't know… A cover-up maybe…"

"But still," Selphie said, calming down. Her breathing pace slowed down and she spoke more clearly. "Why does he want to attack this school?"

"Destroy it, probably. But I think the main reason is that he wants the Doom prototype me, Squall and a few other instructors have been working on for two years now. He doesn't own it; he can't have it; so he decided to fight us with force in order to get it."

"I don't believe he did it. I believe he's innocent." Selphie said, folding her arms.

"I hope you're on our side because you know we are the only ones who will protect you." Quistis said in a dead voice. Selphie swallowed hard; then she nodded her head furiously.

'Ding'

"We're here. Locked and loaded, baby." Irvine said; making sure his gun was all fired up and ready.

The doors slid open and they stumbled out into the room. The room was splashed with shades of red, from the carpet to the ceiling. There were plush red carpets and comfortable sofas lying still at the corner of the room. A handsome oak desk sat opposite of them and an empty chair sat motionlessly behind it.

"He's not here." Quistis said silently. She dropped her gun, and she bit her lip.

"Is that good or bad?" Irvine asked with a smug face.

Before Quistis could say anything, she felt like a brute force knocked her from behind and she fell, her hands palming against the floor beneath her. Her guns skidded across the carpeted floor, way out of her reach. Selphie and Irvine fell too, and they groaned as their eyes focused to see who that was.

"Well, isn't this rude." A familiar voice spoke, boring into their sub-conscious minds. The sound of guns loading was heard and each of them felt its cold, metal tip being pressed firmly to their heads. They lifted their heads up from the floor slowly to see who that voice belonged to.

At the vacant lot, Squall was busy shooting at his enemies who were sporting black, padded jackets, navy-green shirts and a dog-tag around their necks. He, Rinoa and Zell formed a circle around the survivors, shooting every enemy that came in their view.

"There's too many of them!" Rinoa shouted; two hands on her gun. It was small, but the energy it created was explosive. Each time she fired, she was dragged back at least a pace and stepped forward again to take another shot. Zell, however, was having some trouble with his gun. He cursed as he took out another magazine, (HR: bullets in a casing for automatic guns. Don't know why they call it either) and slowly loaded it. He took a few more shots, groaned and loaded another mag.

"We need to get to higher ground." Squall shouted above the roar of ricocheting bullets and explosions. "They can make a run for it."

"Lead them up the steps, Zell!" Rinoa called over to Zell who was facing the stairs. Zell nodded and cautiously took a few steps at a time, eyeing the enemies that were in his way. They moved slowly, and then ran for the steps and the enemies opened fire on them, causing more panic to fill the air.

"Go! Go! Go!" Squall yelled as they reached the landing. The students and staff ran into the building while the three fell to their knees, the bullets missing them by mere millimeters. A bullet zipped through the air and scratched Rinoa's cheek. She gasped, trying to wipe off the blood that was oozing down her rosy cheeks.

"Into the building. Now." Squall said as he forcefully grabbed Rinoa by the wrist. Zell was already way ahead of them, signaling them that the coast is clear. After they entered the building, they took in frequent but short breaths.

"Instructor Mitch? Lead the rest to the infirmary. They'll be safer there." Squall said between gasps, trying to catch his breath as he leaned on the cold wall behind him.

A tall, dark man nodded and ran with the survivors towards the infirmary. The three sighed; glad that was taken care of.

"What do we do now?" Rinoa asked.

"They're going to come in here soon, so I think we should either fight them or hide somewhere." Zell said immediately.

"Where are the rest?" Squall asked, ignoring Zell's remark.

Rinoa looked around. Odd, we should be hearing from them by now.

Suddenly they heard sirens go off, and then Squall could hear their enemies yelling and retreating. He poked his head behind the wall to see them running in the opposite direction. In the distance he could make out a few, black armored cars that had its back doors opened. After the enemies got in, the doors were shut and within seconds, the cars were out of sight. Everything became silent. It was as abrupt as when this war started that morning.

I have a bad feeling about this, Squall thought to himself. Really, really bad feelings.