By Ramsey Anderson
All characters in this fic are property of Squaresoft and were not created by me.
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Chapter 10
"ID 187." I said to Caraway's guard.
"That's correct! Please, right this way."
"Squall was right about the number…but how? There's no way he could've known…" Zell quietly mentioned to the rest of us.
Zell was right, there was no way that Squall could've known but he did know, and none of us could figure out how. We had to continue on though, trying to ignore the impossibility in order to concentrate on the mission assigned to us. We followed the guard into Caraway's mansion.
After awhile of waiting for the General, Rinoa exclaimed, "Hmph... He always does this! So discourteous...making people wait. I'm gonna go complain. Everyone just wait here. Oh, by the way, this is my house. So don't worry. Umm, just don't leave me here, ok?"
My thoughts somehow drifted to Squall, I sure hope he's okay. I know he's strong, and that he can take care of himself, but I'm just worried. I…I don't know what I'm feeling. Lately, he's just been…more kind, friendlier, like the conversation he and l and I had on the way to the Fire Cavern, or how he comforted Zell, and how he was so supportive when I decided to quit being an instructor. I really like his new self. Really like? Maybe… If my thoughts weren't interrupted by General Caraway entering the room, I might've stumbled on some kind of a revelation.
"Umm…where's Rinoa?" Selphie asked the General.
"She has not received the type of training you all have, and may become a burden. It's for the best that she stays out of this operation."
"So you're Rinoa's father?" Selphie inquired.
"I can't remember the last time she called me that."
"So the father's a top military officer, and the daughter's a member of an anti-government faction!? That's bad... Really BAD!" Zell spoke up.
"Yes, indeed. It's a serious problem. But it doesn't concern you. It's our problem…Okay, let me explain the plan." The General said as he walked to the window. "Alright, which one of you is the gunblade specialist?"
"Oh, you must mean Seifer. He's been…dismissed from our team." I informed the General.
"Cid assured me that a gunblade specialist would be provided." The General sighed, accepting the change in plans. "Okay, which of you is the most experienced?"
"I suppose that would be me, sir." I answered.
"Okay then, you and the sharpshooter…" He paused, looking around the room.
"That's me!" Irvine said from across the room.
"Good, he and you will compose the sniper team, the other two of you will compose the Gateway team. I would've preferred to have three for the gateway team, but this'll have to do."
Caraway explained the entire plan to us, taking us out to the streets to show us exactly what the sorceress' parade route was and what we were to do to stop her. I had to silence my many thoughts to get the rundown of my part in the mission. I would have to do some major thinking after the assignment was complete.
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"All clear, proceed." The soldier at the gate told me.
I drove past the gate and parked the Galbadian vehicle in an authorized parking space. Before exiting the car, I opened the glove compartment and retrieved a card key, which would permit access to the facility. I walked towards the entrance vestibule, noting the uncomfortable uniform, Selphie was right, these things are very itchy and smelly.
The card reader beeped and the door opened, which I stepped through. Okay, step one, find the missile control panel. I walked casually by a guard in front of the ciruit room, making sure not to look directly at him.
"Hey, wait!" The guard called out to me.
Can't plan on these things I guess…just play it cool. I turned around and met his gaze. "Yes?"
"That weapon of yours, has it been approved?"
I couldn't believe that I'd forgotten about my gunblade. It was different from most soldiers' standard-issue swords. I had to remain calm, however, "Yes, it has been approved. What about it?"
The man paused, probably giving me a strange look under his helmet, then said, "Man, I've been trying to get a weapon approved for months. I bought it for pretty high and it's great quality, but they say that it's too big for a soldier to carry."
For a moment there, I had thought that I'd been busted, "Well, they do have a point, you know. You don't want to be running after someone with a heavy weapon slowing you down."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe I should get something like yours, huh?"
I gave him a friendly smirk, turned, and walked away. Phew, I handled that quite well. When I reached the bottom of a small staircase, I spotted the control panel right away. I approached it and began fiddling with the buttons, attempting to get it working. A guard posted in front of the nearby command center walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder, "Sir, do you have authorization to access this computer terminal?"
I had figured that something like this would happen. Well, I don't suppose that they'd just watch while I sent their missiles to somewhere in the middle of the ocean. "Listen, would I know the password to this terminal if I weren't authorized to use it? Watch…"
I punched in the password EDEA, just as Selphie had told me, and the main menu was opened up to me. The soldier responded, "Well, I suppose you're right. Only a few people know that password, after all. Carry on."
He strolled back to his post and I began working on the missile destination, accuracy, and other pertinent information related to the launch. Phase one of my operation was going off without a hitch.
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Hey, this'll work great, that man won't mind if I take it… I'd found an Odine Bangle in my father's room, which could be used to suppress the sorceress' powers. The sorceress is working with Deling, and I saw her with Seifer, so she must be as guilty as him. "Wait till the group sees this."
I scurried back to the room that they were in last, bangle in hand. "Look what I found in that man's room." I showed to Quistis, Zell, Irvine, and Selphie and explained what I knew of Odine and his top-quality magical goods. Zell seemed impressed by it, but Quistis looked disapprovingly at me.
She slowly walked over to me, a somewhat worried look on her face, and explained, "Listen Rinoa, I know that you're still very upset about Seifer and I know that you want revenge, but we need to handle this situation. We are SeeDs, and we've been assigned this mission, you have not. I just don't want you to get yourself into any unnecessary danger. I'm sorry."
Quistis turned and walked out of the room, with everyone else following her soon after. Of course I'm still upset about Seifer…and I'm going to get my revenge even if I have to do it alone. Sorry Quistis, but this is something I have to do.
I ran out of the room and went out the back door of the house which led to an alleyway with a bunch of big boxes stacked together. Wow, those boxes are pretty big, but maybe if I climb them, I can get to that ledge, which should lead over there…well, I'm not getting anywhere by just standing here.
I climbed onto the boxes, which was no easy task, from one to the other, grunting and groaning as I pulled myself up. SeeD nothin', I've got this all under control. I encountered a pretty big gap between the box I was standing on and the ledge leading to the rooftops. I took a deep breath, tried not to think, and jumped to the other side, my heart racing like a chocobo.
I traversed the rooftop of the presidential residence and reached a door. I wasn't too sure where it would lead, but I got out my trusty Odine Bangle anyways, in case that sneaky sorceress poofed out of nowhere. When I entered, there were translucent draperies all over the ceilings, mostly pink, very classy. In the center of the room was a single chair, with the sorceress planted on it, probably waiting for her cue to go out and give her speech. No speech tonight, witch.
I would have to act sneaky and trick her into taking the bangle if the plan was going to work. I'd use the old shy fan trick, "Umm... Excuse me... I'm...the daughter of, um...Galbadian Army's, um...General Caraway. I...thought I'd...come pay my respects... You know... 'cause of my father and all... So, I...um...brought you a small gift. Please…" I began inching closer to her majesty, then the next thing I knew, I was looking at a bunch of people in the Deling City square, with Edea nowhere in sight. A large parade float was below me, making its way past the gate and into town. I heard a growl behind me and quickly swiveled around, only to see two huge half-lion, half-lizard things on the rooftop, staring at me with a not-so-friendly look on their reptilian faces. I had no time to figure out how I'd gotten there or what was happening, so I ran, looking for someplace to hide. I couldn't possibly fight those things by myself, after all.
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Irvine and I listened to Edea's cryptic speech, disgusted at her contempt for the people that adored her. After the speech was over, Irvine noticed something on the roof and shouted to compensate for the noisy crowd, "Is that Rinoa!?"
It was indeed Rinoa, and she was being attacked by monsters. I shouted to Irvine, "She's in trouble, let's go!"
We pushed our way through the people of Deling City as the parade began. We crouched while we ran across the street in front of the parade floats, headed towards an alleyway near the presidential residence. Luckily, no guards spotted us cutting across the floats and we found an alley with convenient boxes stacked to the roof. Irvine and I climbed the large wooden boxes with relative ease and jumped to the adjacent building. We swiftly made it to the last place we had seen Rinoa and drew our weapons.
Rinoa had somehow managed to avoid the two beasts by hiding behind large pillars and using a few magic spells to subdue them. When Irvine and I arrived, the creatures turned to us, all four of us with intentions to kill. The things were fast and were able to attack first, tackling me to the ground. Irvine shot the demon's midsection and I quickly got up and slashed it with my whip.
The battle raged on, and with the crowd's cheering for the parade as the background noise; it felt like some kind of terrible sporting event. One of the monsters finally keeled over dead, with the other shortly following it to the afterlife. Irvine and I were scratched up, bruised, and injured, but we survived. Rinoa emerged from one of the pillars, scared out of her mind. Ironically, I ended up soothing her the she healed us with her cure spells.
Rinoa mentioned, "Maybe I should've listened to Squall. He told me that my life would be in danger if I tried to be a hero. He must be psychic or something, huh?"
He was something, alright. But Rinoa was right, he had known about this too. How did he know that all these things would happen? Amazing…
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Upload complete, that should throw the missiles off course. Now, to delay the launch, I will cut the power to the base. I walked away from the panel and up the stairs to the circuit room. The guard that was there before was there again, but I got through with a few simple words that had worked for Selphie before, "The maintenance team asked me to take their place with the inspection."
"Alright, go ahead." He responded, not knowing of my diabolical intentions.
I walked in, and luckily, no one was in there with me. Selphie had said to simply bang on the panel and press any random buttons. I couldn't make heads or tails with the machine, so I resorted to Selphie's unique method. Somehow, pressing a few buttons and slamming my fist into the machine enough times caused the entire base to go dark. The emergency lights kicked in, but the circuit room was still quite dark. I hid in the shadows where nobody could see me and waited for the technicians to come in. The outside guard ran inside, looking for me, but I knocked him over the head with the handle on my gunblade and dragged his body to the dark corner. After a minute, two men walked through the door, frantically asking each other questions and spouting technical nonsense. I casted a sleep spell on one of them from my hidden spot in the corner, knocking him out immediately.
"Hey, what are doing?…Are you snoring?" The conscious soldier asked the snoozing one.
I ran up to the soldier and jabbed him in the neck, knocking him to the floor. I had no intentions to kill the man, so I gave him a swift kick to his stomach, which seemed to subdue him. I jogged out of the room, heading towards the command center. None of the soldiers suspected me, figuring I was as busy as they were. The guard that had been blocking my path to the command center was gone, so I simply walked up the stairs, gunblade drawn.
When I arrived at the top, there were three solders in the room, two at the computers and one captain wearing red armor hovering over the other two, giving them orders and such. I need to use these machines, and I can't do it with them here, so it looks like there's no room for subtlety…
Before I could attack, the captain turned around and yelled, "Hey, who are you? You're not supposed to be in here!"
The other two soldiers turned away from their computers just in time to see me run up and skillfully trip the captain to the floor, my blade at his throat. "Put down your weapons!" I shouted to the other two, who had pointed their swords at me. While my head was turned to them, the captain pushed my gunblade out of his face and kicked me in the chest. I was knocked back a few feet, only to look down at the captain as he pointed his arm-mounted machine guns at me. I swiftly ran to my right, bullets hitting the wall only a few inches behind me. As I ran, I initiated a thunder spell, dove and cast it down onto the captain. I quickly got up and clashed swords with one of the soldiers attacking me. The other came at me to my left, so I did a quick, hard roundhouse kick to his gut, knocking the wind out of him. My sword still on the other soldiers', we engaged in a brief sword fight, but with I being the better fighter, I was able to disarm him and give him a good couple of punches to the face, forcing him to the corner. The captain that was on the floor grabbed my leg, and out of pure reflex, I brought my gunblade down on his throat, bringing death to the man. The soldier I had kicked in the chest ran to me, sword in hand. He attacked, I ducked under his blow and stabbed him through the chest.
Even though I had killed before, this was different. I had not wanted for these people to die, I had thought that I'd be able to prevent death with my knowledge of the future. Yet, there I was, my gunblade stained with the blood of two human beings. I couldn't figure out how I could've lost control like I had. But I had no time to think, I had to continue with my mission, to save many more lives.
I walked to the only living soldier in the room and talked intensely to him, lying, "I left you alive for one reason, and one reason alone. You're going to get on this computer and cancel any and every launch that is being prepared. I don't have to tell you what will happen if you don't do what I say."
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Quistis, Rinoa, and I found the hidden compartment and entered the designated sniper point. The sniper rifle waited for me there, the weapon that would kill Matron. Everyone was counting on me, the whole operation led to this point. The decision between success and failure was between me and the rifle. I reluctantly picked up the cold piece of metal and got in position, waiting for the platform to rise so that I could put a bullet in a sorceress' body.
I heard Rinoa mention something about me and my sudden change of attitude, but I ignored her. I can't do it, I can't do something like this to Matron. I know that she seems completely different from when I once knew her, but I know that there's still something good in her. I can't simply blow her away without giving her a chance. What will the others think? To go so far only to fail? I think maybe I shouldn't tell them the truth about what I feel. I'll explain some other time, maybe.
"Irvine, are you alright?" Quistis crouched next to me and asked.
"I…I can't do it."
"Oh no, don't tell me this." Quistis responded.
"I...I can't... I'm sorry, I can't do it. I always choke like this... I try to act all cool, joke around, but I just can't handle the pressure…" What I said hadn't been a complete lie…
"Listen Irvine, you have a job to do, and that is to assassinate the sorceress of Galbadia, so just do it!" Quistis yelled in impatience and panic as the platform we were on began to rise.
"My bullet... The sorceress... I'll go down in history. I'd change the history of Galbadia... Of the world! It's all too much…"
Quistis paused for a moment, attempting to calm down and think of a way to fix the situation, "…okay, I'll attack head on. 'If the sniper should fail, you are to attack the sorceress head on' according to the mission. But I need you to fire a signal shot, just so Zell and Selphie know what's going on, okay?" In the distance, the gates closed, trapping Matron.
I felt like such a wimp then, having a girl doing a man's job, all because I didn't have the guts to shoot someone. "…Just a signal?" I uttered out.
"Yes, just a signal."
I was precise in my miss, as I aimed a foot away from Matron's body. When the bullet left the gun, relief shot me and I let out a sigh, knowing that my part was over. Quistis assured me, "That was good, Irvine. Now if it looks like I need help, Irvine, back me up. Rinoa, stay here and out of trouble."
And with that, Quistis jumped off the platform and ran to the gate, whip in hand, snapping at any soldier that stood in her way as she bolted through the hysterical crowd. Quistis prepared a spell and a large flame appeared at the base of the gate, creating a hole that she slid through. She climbed up the float and was encountered by a blond haired man in a white military coat.
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"Why is it taking so long?" I impatiently asked my captive.
"It just takes time..." He responded.
I looked at the computer screen and noticed the words 'Silent Alarm Activated' flashing in large letters. I held my blade at the captive's neck as I grabbed him from behind. "What the hell is that?! What are you doing?"
"…you killed my friends, I can't let you get away with it."
Out of raw anger, I slid my blade against the man's throat, fatally wounding him as he struggled to let in air, only to have the oxygen escape through the large gash in his neck. He collapsed and ceased moving. That made three kills in ten minutes. I noticed that my left hand was clenched into a fist, anger leaving my body while my conscience settled into realization. Without thinking of the consequences, I let my anger get hold of me, and now I had taken someone's life.
Again, I had to keep moving. The guards would arrive soon and I needed to rig the base to explode. I ran to the room adjacent to the command center and noticed the panel for the self-destruct mechanism. I can't fail here. With a few button presses, I will change the future.
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It was Seifer. Somehow, I was looking at him from afar, him alive and well. I froze for the longest time, trying to figure out what was happening. My quest to get revenge for the death of Seifer yielded an encounter with Seifer. I would've kept thinking if I hadn't observed Quistis readying her whip and Seifer stepping back and drawing his gunblade. "Oh no! I have to stop them!" I yelled.
I leapt off of the platform just as Quistis had moments before and ran at lightning speed towards the float. I could hear Irvine yelling at me, shouting for me to stop as he attempted to catch up with me. I stepped through the hole in the gate and climbed onto the float. Luckily, Seifer and Quistis had not begun fighting.
"Seifer? You're alive?" It was probably the dumbest question I could've asked, seeing as he was obviously alive. I just had to assure myself that this was really happening.
"Oh, I guess you heard about my execution, huh? Sorry you had to hear that, sweetie." Seifer responded.
"…but what are you doing here? Why are you fighting Quistis?"
"I'm defending the sorceress. I am her knight, and I must protect her. Even if it means fighting my dear ex-instructor. I hope you understand."
"Sorceress' knight?…But why?"
"It is my dream, it always has. Remember me telling you about my dream?"
I recalled Seifer telling me about his lifelong dream of being a sorceress' knight. I had never thought that it would actually come true. But here he was, on the enemy's side. I had to defend Quistis. When it came down to it, she was doing the right thing and Seifer was not. I had to do what was right, even though I thought I loved Seifer. "I won't let you hurt Quistis. Just please snap out of it!! I don't want to do this!! I want an end to the fighting, let's just go home to Balamb Garden and live happily ever after!"
"…I'm sorry Rinoa, but I will defend my dream, and my sorceress, even if it means fighting you."
I reluctantly pulled out my Pinwheel weapon then…I felt sleepy. Before I passed out, I heard Irvine saying, "Sorry Rinoa, but I can't let you get yourself hurt again…"
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Indescribable pain. My body felt like it was on fire, even though no flames were resonating out of the blade struck through my chest. Someone must have snuck behind me and showed no mercy. Most people would be thinking about the horrible pain they were feeling in their torso, but I was thinking about the horrible pain that the Trabians would be feeling because I had not stopped the missile launch…